It hadn't taken long for Applejack and Rarity to find an open, or rather broken, window back into the ground floor of the castle, and the Earth Pony had boosted the injured unicorn inside, before jumping in after her.
They had gotten their bearings, before taking off at as quick a trot as the ivory mare could tolerate. Applejack stayed close to her, hovering almost, and while the unicorn appreciated the help, she couldn't help but notice the dark look on the other mare's face, whenever she required assistance. "Is something the matter, darling?" She asked, already knowing the answer.
Applejack blinked, looking at her, and frowned. "What? Wha-Of course there is, Rarity! Y'all are hurt, an' it's my fault!" The orange mare said, firmly. "If'n I weren't here-"
"I believe we've had the conversation once already, darling, and agreed to not speak of it again until this situation was over." Rarity said, giving Applejack a look, and the other mare thinned her lips, but nodded.
"Fine." She said, shortly, shaking her head, her loose, blonde waves brushing her shoulders. Rarity blinked, glancing up, and gritted her teeth.
"Oh, Applejack, your hat!" She said, and the other mare glanced over, before reaching up, eyes wide, and brushing a hoof over her mane.
"Dagnabbit!" She snapped, stamping her hoof on the floor. "Prolly up in that room we was in . . . or where we fought Nightmare Moon. Where d' ya think she's at now?" The farm pony asked, and the Fashionista hummed softly.
"I'm not sure. But I've a feeling we'll find out, before it's all over. I only hope the others are okay." She said, frowning in worry, and Applejack nodded.
"Eeyup. Well . . . Let's see if we c'n get y'all upstairs any quicker." She said, clenching her jaw, before bending down, shuffling a shoulder under Rarity's barrel and, with a grunt and a squeak of surprise from the unicorn, lifted her up onto her back. Rarity braced herself, eyes wide, and glanced down, feeling the firm muscle in the other mare's back.
"A-Applejack! This is rather undignified!" She said, as the orange mare began to trot towards the far end of the foyer, the moonlight shining down on her through the hole in the roof.
"Ah, I ain't worried, Rares!" She said, letting a little smirk cross her face.
"I was talking about me!" Rarity exclaimed, and Applejack laughed slightly.
Rainbow Dash trotted down the hall. She wanted to sprint, but she couldn't quite make her legs work that fast, and it pissed her off. Not long ago, just as she reached the top of the stairs, one of the doors further down had lit up with a magic glow, and she'd felt ozone in the air, followed by a shriek and a crash, muffled by the walls and door.
So, she had made a beeline for the epicenter, the door itself. It was still glowing slightly, when she finally got there, and she hesitated, seeing the faint outline of magical sigils carved into the wood. She wasn't some egghead unicorn, but even she knew you didn't mess around with warding sigils. The ones Rarity used to keep ponies out of places she didn't want them in were small time, and even they could pack quite a bite.
This one seemed like it was on another level entirely, judging by the feeling it was giving off. The closest Dash had ever felt to it was flying in the middle of a lightning storm, the ozone so thick in the air she could taste it, like copper on her tongue, her fur standing on end, while the back of her mind was screaming at her that she could get hit at any moment.
Normally, Dash found a thrill in such circumstances, but after tonight? A few really real close calls, and the pain she was currently in, was making her reconsider her life choices, and she wondered if she was really willing to risk getting blasted by this door.
Then, she heard Pinkie Pie's voice on the other side, and was reminded that she was trying to help a friend. Was . . . Was Pinkie her friend? Of course, Pinkie liked to say she was everypony's friend, but that didn't mean everypony was hers. Dash had never really considered the weird earth pony as a friend, before. Had even thought of her as being rather annoying, not to mention how strange she was.
But after everything tonight . . .
Gritting her teeth, she shrugged her wings, grimacing slightly, and reached out for the door.
She squeezed her eyes shut and held her breath, as her hoof connected with the doorknob. No burst of ozone, or sudden jolt of lightning coursing through her body. Instead, it was just a doorknob, old bronze, covered over with a heavy patina, and a hint of gold leaf around the edges.
The pegasus cracked her eyes open, before blowing out a breath, and pushing the door open. "Pinkie?" She asked, stepping through, catching sight of Fluttershy, laying in a semi-conscious heap against the wall opposite the door. Dash came to a halt, blinking and looking around to see Pinkie standing on her hind-hooves by a huge, old four-poster bed. Everything in the room seemed to be in a lot better shape than everything outside it, though still not perfect.
Pinkie Pie was half wrapped up in an old silk curtain, like the others that hung around the bed, and had turned away from the bed itself to face Dash as the door opened. She waved, grinning. "Heya, Dashie!" She stage whispered, gesturing for the blue pony to join her. "Come and lookee! I found a super special sleepyhead!"
Frowning, and shooting a cautious glance towards Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash trotted over to the bedside, looking inside, and her eyes went wide.
"Holy fuck!" She exclaimed. "Th-That's Princess Celestia!" She said, looking at Pinkie who was giggling into her hoof.
"I told you it was Super Special!" She said, before glancing over and looking back into the room. "Speaking of Sleepyheads, welcome back, Fluttershy!"
Wide eyed ,Dash spun, or tried to, only succeeding in falling to the floor in a heap, but it let her see the yellow pegasus, looking exhausted and much worse for wear, trying to push herself up from where she sat. With an eep, which would later be denied on pain of death, Dash scrambled on the floor, ignoring her pain, as she attempted to push herself underneath the bed.
A moment later, she felt something grab her by the tail and haul her out from under the frame. "Nonono, pleasedon'teatme!!!" She begged, before hearing a high pitched chucklesnort, and finding herself turned around on the floor to look up into a pair of big, blue eyes and a grin so bright it was like a sunrise.
"Oh, Dashie, you silly filly! I don't know what a rainbow tastes like, probably super spicy, but I'm not gonna eat you to find out! That can wait until we go to CLoudsdale!" She said, and Dash blinked up at her as the pink mare stepped back and turned, revealing Fluttershy. The yellow pegasus looked . . . exhausted was an understatement. Deep bags lay under her eyes, her mane was frazzled and knotted, her ears and tail both drooped, and she seemed to have trouble keeping her mouth shut. Though she still bore some semblance of the vampire; tufted ears and fangs, albeit much smaller than they had been, her eyes were once again their usual soft, turquoise color, and they were filled with fear and sorrow.
"Oh, I'm so, SO sorry Rainbow Dash! I-I-I just, I couldn't- Oh, please forgive me!" She gasped, breaking down into sobs as she fell to the floor, seemingly prostrating herself before the rainbow maned mare, who staggered up to her hooves, biting her lip.
"Fluttershy, I- Look, whatever! You didn't hurt me or anything, so . . . I guess it's fine." She said, as the other pegasus looked up at her. "Just . . . Why aren't you . . . Ya know, all . . . 'blah, blahblah!'?" Dash said, feigning lifting a cape up in front of herself and putting on a rather spot on impersonation of a hokey Trotsylvanian accent.
Fluttershy frowned slightly as she sat up on her haunches, biting her lip. "We don't sound like that . . . But, um . . I think it's . . . Because of . . . Her." She said, a bit wide eyed as she turned to look at the bed, and the sleeping figure within. "My hunger . . . Demon, whatever you . . . want to call her . . . that . . . other me."
"Flutterbat!" Pinkie chimed, and Dash and Fluttershy both looked at her for a moment, taking in her cheerful grin and wagging tail, before 'Shy cleared her throat and nodded.
"Okay, um . . . If you say so . . . Well, Flutterbat . . . she's terrified of Her. The moment she saw Her, she just . . . stopped thinking of food. And that's not like her at all. All she could think of was getting away. It's like . . . I've seen the same thing happen in the woods, during a wildfire. Critters who would normally be at each others' throats just . . . forget about that, in the face of something so destructive." She said. After a second of the other two staring at her, a deep blush spread over her face, and she ducked her head behind her mane. "Or, well . . . I guess it's like that. But ma-maybe not."
Pinkie squeed, bouncing over and hugging the demure pegasus mare, grinning. "Ohhhh, she's just so adorable when she gets all self-conscious!" She said, looking at Dashie, who shook her head.
"Okay, Pinkie, let the poor mare up. I think she can't breathe." She said, and Pinkie looked down at Fluttershy, who was turning vaguely blue in the face from how tightly the pink pony was holding her around the neck.
"Oopsie-poopsie!" Pinkie exclaimed, releasing her and bouncing back, looking actually abashed. "Sorry, Fluttershy! I . . . wasn't sure if you actually needed to breathe." She said, and Fluttershy waved a wing, coughing and getting herself back under control.
The yellow mare looked up and gave a weak smile. "It's . . .It's alright, Pinkie Pie. I do need to breathe, though. I'm not undead, like stories say. I'm just . . . Well, I guess I'm a predator." She said, looking sadly at the floorboards at her hooves.
Pinkie nearly melted into a puddle on the floor, from the sheer force of adorableness that lay before her. It could've been weaponized to good effect.
"Yeah, yeah, whatevs!" Dash said, waving a wing and turning away, cunningly avoiding the worst of the cute bomb that had been dropped in the room. "I think a bigger question here is . . . What's she doing here? And, why isn't she awake? We're not exactly being super quiet in here." The blue pony said, looking over the sleeping, and rather massive, form of the Alicorn princess.
Pinkie blew a raspberry. "Pfft! That's simple, silly!" She said, and Dash and Fluttershy looked at her.
"Oh, yeah?" Dash asked, quirking an eyebrow. "How do you figure, Pinks?" At this point, Pinkie smiled before sucking in a deeeeeep breath, and Rainbow Dash's eyes went wide in realization of what was coming.
"That's it! Put me down this instant or shall I have to scream!" Rarity fussed, and Applejack rolled her eyes. She wanted to be annoyed or frustrated at the mare. She was only trying to help, after all, and it wasn't like the unicorn was getting up all those stairs without help, and yet here she was acting like it was the most insufferable thing she'd ever experienced.
And, heck, part of Applejack WAS annoyed with her. But, at the same time . . . Rarity had helped out just as much, if not a lot more, during this little misadventure, than Applejack herself had. In that way, she supposed the ivory mare had earned the right to be a little picky and finnicky about things. So, having reached the top of the landing, and spying a long hallway, lined with doors, she stopped and gently helped Rarity down off of her back.
Once on all fours, Rarity stepped away, shaking a moment, before sitting down on her haunches. Applejack stepped over to her, but the unicorn waved her away. "No, no! I'm fine! I just . . . need a moment to get my legs under me." She said, grimacing slightly, and Applejack felt her jaw tighten. How could she have lost control like that? It was so . . . Sudden! It was like earlier, in town. A sudden, crushing weight of darkness, of fear and sadness and anger that had bore down on her and had ripped down every defense she'd been keeping up through the night. It had all been torn apart in a few seconds, and then all Applejack could remember was an overwhelming desire to get out, to get away.
And poor Rarity had gotten in the way. Looking at her, how the unicorn's jaw clenched and she took a breath before shakily getting to her hooves, Applejack felt her respect for the mare, already having grown through the night, going up even more. She was a lot tougher than she looked or acted. Applejack could imagine how much pain she must be in, but she was pushing through it, because she knew she had to.
Taking a breath, the unicorn nodded, smiling tightly. "Alright. I think I can make it . . . on my own. Thank you, Applejack." She said, the last tinged with a touch of geniune gratitude, and Applejack smiled back, nodding stiffly. SHe didn't deserve that gratitude. If it hadn't been for her, Rarity wouldn't be hurt in the first place. Sighing softly, she turned to look down the hall. They'd been trying to find where the scream from earlier came from, but other than narrowing it down to one of these upper floors, they'd failed to find the source. Applejack was worried she already knew the source. Something inside of her had recognized the sound of another predator in that scream, the sound of a hunting call, of something that had found its prey.
She thought about Fluttershy, and the secret the other mare had held, and worried for their friends, especially Rainbow Dash. Some pony bleeding like that probably smelled like a buffet to a vampire.
. . . . You damned idjit! She chastised herself, reaching up and hoofing herself in the face hard enough to bruise.
"Goodness, Darling, whatever is it?!" Rarity asked, and Applejack sighed, putting her hoof back to the floor.
"Oh, nothin'. Just realizin' I ain't half so bright as I think." She said, shaking her head at the perplexed look on the unicorn's face. Lifting her head up, Applejack closed her eyes, focusing on the air around her, and on taking deep breaths, slow and steady through her nose. Instantly, she became aware of the smell of rot, and must and mold, who knew how many centuries old. Under that, though, fresher and sharper, was the smell of blood, and under that, fainter but still fresh, was the petrichord and ozone smell of Rainbow Dash, along with the flour and sweet smell of Pinkie Pie and the not-a-smell that marked out Fluttershy.
Opening her emerald eyes, she glanced aside at Rarity. "I got their scent. Come on, this way." She said, nodding her head at the slight widening of the other mare's eyes, and began leading the way down the long corridor, moonlight shining in through the broken windows to the left, doors, aged and some rotted beyond repair, lining the wall to their right. At the end, Applejack could see another flgiht of stairs, a good hundred meters away. She supposed, complaints or not, she'd have to pick Rares up and carry her again, if the group had gone up.
As they moved along the corridor, Applejack's ears twitched, catching a faint, distant sound, but one which was growing louder. It made her ears immediately want to lay back, and her Beast whined somewhere inside of her, a sound which inadvertently found its way out of her own throat. Rarity glanced at her. "What is it, Applejack?" She asked, and Applejack frowned, looking over at her.
"I dunno . . . A voice, I think? It's quite a ways off, probably the other end of the hall. It's real high pitched, I think. Annoyin' as heck, too." She said, before going quiet for a moment, pausing in her step, and Rarity paused as well, pursing her lips as their eyes met.
"Pinkie Pie." They both said at the same time, before turning and picking up their pace, as much as Rarity could, trying to reach the source of the voice.
As they grew closer, Applejack began to catch traces of something on the air, a scent that was unfamiliar to her. It smelled of . . . A warm summer morning, hot earth and grass, and something like but unlike ozone.
And with that scent came a feeling. A feeling of something old, and powerful, more so than anything Applejack could fathom, and it was terrifying. Within, her Wolf quailed, and Applejack stopped in her tracks, knees locked as she shook, choking on her own breath, trying to get the sudden fear and bone deep panic the Beast was experiencing under control, before it tore its way out of her, again. She could feel it, digging at her, writhing and screaming from within, wanting out, to run. This power was too much, and against such strength the only options were to run or grovel and beg, to submit.
Applejack stood, barrel heaving as she stared at the floor, eyes glowing slightly as her fur shimmered with magic. She couldn't. Couldn't fight it, couldn't stop it. She didn't understand this, and that confusion only added to her panic and fear, as she fought to hold this inside of her, to no avail. The monster would get out, again. It would run free, and who knows? This time it might even kill one of her friends or family, instead of only hurting them. This time-
"Applejack!" Rarity's voice broke through the fog of despair that had fallen over the earth pony's mind, and she found herself looking up, blinking emerald eyes at the ivory unicorn. Rarity stood before her, concern and, yes, fear evident in her eyes. Good. She should be afraid! She was no match for them! They could easily- No! That was the wolf! Not her! She couldn't fight it! Couldn't stop-
"Applejack. Look at me!" Rarity said, and Applejack felt the other mare's hoof on her wither. Blinking in surprise at the contact, the orange mare looked at Rarity, throat working as she swallowed. The fear was still there, in the unicorn's body language, pungent in her sweat, and yet . . . She did not flee, and her concern was there, as well. "Applejack? What is it? What are you feeling? Speak to me!" She said, begging, almost.
Without really thinking about it, Applejack obliged. Later, when thinking about it, it would seem almost as though there were some . . . thing, like a rope, tenuous and thin, but there in her mind, that seemed to connect her to the other mare, grounding her. So, she spoke, gently, voice shaking and rough, partially growling.
"There's . . . Somethin' there . . . Somethin' ahead, I think, maybe with 'em. It's . . . There's . . . So much power, Rarity! I ain't . . . Can't think . . . It could kill me! Kill all of us! It's like . . . Like Nightmare Moon, but . . . Different." She said, choking as she shivered in place. Rarity stared at her, eyes wide, and bit her lip.
"Different how?" The mare asked, confusion and worry in her face and voice, and Applejack took a shaking breath, shaking her head.
"I . . . It . . . Nightmare Moon's . . . All emotion. Anger, hate, fear, spite . . . All of it . . . Comin' through, boilin' over and just . . . drownin' me . . . Makin' the monster feel like it can't get away . . . This . . . I can't . . . Really feel anythin' like that . . . Just a sorta . . . calmness, quiet, patience . . . like its waitin'. Like a hunter, in the dark! So much power, I feel so small and I gotta get out! Gotta get away!" As she spoke, Applejack's voice grew rougher still, until she was nearly snarling at the end, her teeth sharpened into fangs, ears perked, tufted slightly, as the magic of her curse washed back and forth over her, barely held back.
In spite of this, Rarity held on, even moving closer and rubbing Applejack's withers. "It's alright, Applejack! Shhh." She shushed, not breaking eye contact with the werewolf. "It's alright. I'm here. Your friends are here, Applejack. Think about that, yes? Think about us. We are your friends, and we won't let anything hurt you."
Applejack took a shaking breath, frowning at Rarity, ears snaking back. "Are . . . Are ya my friend, Rarity? In spite o' what I done? What I . . . am?" She said, the last coming out almost as a whine, as, for just a moment, the wolf seemed to hesitate, as something else seemed to stir in the depths of her heart and soul.
Rarity took a breath, eyes gleaming, before smiling slightly and nodding. "Yes, Darling. I believe I am." She said, softly, and Applejack felt something, something new that she'd never felt in her life. The sense of something within her stirring grew, and she felt it, then, a power from within and without, a power which made whatever had terrified her Demon so much seem pale in comparison, like a child in its shadow. It reached through her, not violently, nor with any ill intent, but rather with a warm, soft touch, like an embrace. It slid through her soul and stroked across the Wolf inside, and, slowly, the Beast calmed, and Applejack could see her, in her mind's eye, slinking back into her hole, disappearing back into sleep.
Applejack found herself kneeling beiside Rarity, her breath short while the other mare rubbed her withers, frowning down at her in concern, even as a small smile pulled up the corners of her mouth. A similar smile had touched Applejack's face, and the farm mare wasn't sure why. She simply felt . . . good for some reason, like with Rarity and the others there, nothing could stop her or get her down. She slowly stood up, breathing in shakily, and reached out, putting a hoof on the other mare's wither in return, nodding down at her. "Thanks . . . Rares. I . . . I dunno what that was, any of it. But . . . Thank you." She said, smiling a little awkwardly.
Rarity smiled back, nodding. "Of course, Darling. Anything you need, you only have to ask. However . . . I do think perhaps we should find our other friends. They may well be in danger."
Taking a breath and feeling determination flood her veins, Applejack nodded. "Eeyup." She said, turning and continuing down the hallway, hooves tapping the floor in a quick trot. Whatever it was that was ahead, that was with the others, they'd face it together, and they'd beat it that way.