Rainbow Dash hated her dad… how could he say that to Dash?! Blaming her for… for…
She wiped away tears from her eyes. The last thing she needed now was for her reputation to be ruined by the other fillies seeing her weak like this. Her reputation for being so strong was the only thing Dash had in her life.
Not that any of those stupid foals appreciated how great she was. They were all just jealous.
Derpy was suddenly at Dash’s side, looking over her with deep concern.
“Are you okay?” Derpy asked Dash.
No… no this wasn’t Derpy. Who was this filly?
Anger flared up! Dash was trying so hard to hide it. She felt pierced by that empathy.
“Just shut up!” Dash shoved whoever to the ground and kept walking, holding her head up high. “I don’t need your help. I’m the fastest pegasus around and you’re–”
Dash blinked and now she was in the gym. A gym. It wasn’t like how she remembered it.
They were…
They were under lockdown and couldn’t go home until a certain monster was taken care of. But the SA was taking forever to get their ponies on it. And Rain… Shine? Somepony Dash couldn’t remember was still absent.
Dash knew… she knew she could find and rescue her classmate. Then everypony would see. Her Dad would have no choice but to shut up!
She snuck out of the gym.
Yeah! Dash did remember this! It was a memory of that one time. Where she…
And now Dash stood over the corpse of a werewolf. The filly she rescued was there, crying, but not just because of the monster she’d killed.
No!
Dash definitely didn’t manage to kill a monster. Not at this age. And it wasn’t a werewolf… was it?
And yet there it was, clear as day. The mangled corpse had turned back partially as it began to die.
Covered in blood, Dash breathed heavily, trembling at what she’d done. She… she killed it. She’d lost control and… and just kept going after it was already dead. She thought it would make her feel powerful but…
She hadn’t meant to go that far. It… it forced her to kill it! The werewolf lost control first! It would have…
None of it seemed to help. Was this what it was like to be a slayer? Was it this…? this…
She felt a hoof on the back of her shoulder. Dash turned, terrified to see the slayer had finally arrived. Smiling.
They were in a different place now. Dash was washing the blood off of her with a towel. She still wanted to puke. Killing that thing had been so easy. Yet it filled her with fear and disgust.
“What you did today was very impressive,” his words stunned Dash. “For a filly your age.”
“It… It was?” She’d thought for sure she was going to be in trouble.
“Absolutely. Equestria needs ponies like you. Ponies who are… different. Gifted. Willing to put themselves in danger to fight those who threaten us.” He lowered his head to be eye level “I wanted to talk to you about a program called Special Combat Training.”
Dash was… special? For this? She smiled. Maybe somepony would finally…
Dash coughed, pulling her head over the water. It was a sense of choking, drowning, that had pulled her out of whatever that had been.
What was that? It almost felt like one of her memories. She’d felt that way plenty of times but never managed anything but failure until she met Twilight.
Perhaps it was a glimpse into an alternate timeline? One where she had been a badass.
Dash found herself treading water. It was still raining, and the water had swelled high enough for Dash to still be two feet from the ground. Waves of black clouds streamed forward overhead. Zest still hung there in the air, somehow visible through that all that. It was like she had an invisible barrier keeping out this ashy substance. A bubble of clear skies surrounded her. Hell, it didn’t even look dark in there…
The thought of incorruptible blue skies brought a certain memory back to Dash. She’d seen this pony, Lemon Zest. She was one of the ponies in Laughter’s throne room. She was one of the past wielders of the Element of Laughter.
And it looked like Crater Cemetery had a hell of a time keeping her under control with whatever power lingered in her.
Not that it helped Dash in any immediate sense. She could only hope breathing this stuff in didn’t give you anything worse than hallucinations.
Something heavy pressed down on her back. Lightning Dust. Then it all made sense.
Were those Lightning Dust’s memories? Suddenly, she felt just the tiniest bit of sympathy for her.
Dash had to find some way to fight, or at least retreat, with another pony strapped to her back. Maybe two?
Aria was underwater. Dash saw her collapse shortly after the black cloud rolled in. Good thing ghosts didn’t need to breathe.
How had Dash broken out of that illusion, she wondered. She knew psychics started spewing when they got overwhelmed by an aura. So it could only affect ghosts and psychics to the full extent. But then it would have affected Lemon Zest as well.
“Hey! How’d you get out of that?” Zest asked her.
Get out of what?! Dash didn’t even figure out what had happened, let alone how to get out of it.
“You don’t know?” Zest looked at her hoof, just about the only part not covered in chains. “Wait. Then that means it was my fault. Oops. Uh. Okay, I’m leaving now. Goodbye!”
She was gone with another blast of lightning.
So that pony wanted there to be distance between the two of them. If she did, that might put Dash back under.
Dust started to stir back awake. Dash slapped her hard and that did sober the other pegasus up just enough to gain some awareness.
“I think we need to follow her,” Dash said to Dust.
“Wait.” Dust regained most of her bearings. “Did you… see anything?”
No time for this!
“See what?” Dash shook her head. “Come on or I’m ditching you.”
Dash took off, carrying Dust at first. The other pegasus soon recovered just enough to brush Dash off and fly forward on her own.
Waves and gusts of black ash consumed every direction, constantly flying towards but never hitting Fleetfoot and Pinkie. That pony had been right. The ash floating through the air didn’t want to get near Pinkie. It plowed right out of their way like Pinkie magnetically repelled it.
“I’m flying blind here, Pinkie!” Fleetfoot called out to the pony riding on her back.
“Me too!” Pinkie tried to focus. “Something about this black stuff is messing with my psychic perception. I’m not sure where Sonata is anymore.”
“My standard plan for this situation is to just go everywhere.” Fleetfoot plummeted to the ground, then tore forward at her unmatchable speed.
In the blink of an eye, they had charged the length of the gorge, then zipped to the other side and began to fly forward at the same incredible speeds. Given a visibility of two feet, they’d have to make this trip several times over to find anything.
“I felt something!” Pinkie’s ears perked up and she pulled Fleetfoot’s ears in the right direction.
Pinkie couldn’t be sure what she felt, but her sense certainly would only have homed in on something important in this storm.
They swerved and saw a silhouette of a pony.
“There she is!”
Sonata hung against a rock, too weak to keep moving. She was unconscious!
Pinkie landed next to her and drew out a spirit bomb with significantly more difficulty. Summoning the familiar blue energy repulsed the ash completely, driving it much further away. And in reaction, Sonata came back to life, moving her eyes wearily to Pinkie.
“I guess this is the end for Sonata Dusk.” She managed only to splay her wings out across the rock.
“It’s only the end of you being enslaved.” Pinkie readied her spirit bomb.
“Well, it’s not like there’s anything I can do about it at this point.” Sonata’s eyes were transfixed on the sky above. “What are the chances I get out of this one?”
The ash vanished!
Not completely, though, just in the immediate area leaving the ponies in a bubble of safety while the storm raged on around them. They all looked around confused for the source of this disruption.
And found a masked pony slowly walking out from the wall of blackness.
That mask dominated her appearance at first glance. Pinkie knew little about zebras but could tell this was an artifact from somewhere on the southern continent. The left half of the mask depicted a black, grotesque face with knotted horns jutting out all along the side, yet its expression smiled brightly. The right half was sleek and white but scowled in self-righteous disgust.
Pinkie knew just enough about zebra culture to tell it was supposed to be an effigy of the zebra gods of creation and destruction. The pony wearing it certainly wasn’t a zebra, but pink like Pinkie, but her hair.
Pinkie recognized that curly purple hair and as the pony stepped forward, Pinkie could see her unusual eyes, eyes with a swirling pattern in them.
“Uh, oh.” Pinkie backed up.
Screwball!
She had quite a bit more equipment than that mask, heavy saddlebags on either side, and small objects strapped to each of her legs. Pinkie could feel it from here, that everything Screwball carried was a magic object of no small power. Her presence was overwhelming, beyond what Pinkie could hope to fight.
“How do I keep getting this lucky today?” Sonata barely managed to pick up her head to see Screwball.
“Don’t get cocky down there!” Screwball turned only briefly to Sonata. “After this, I’m destroying you and your mistress next. Total ghost genocide.”
“Oh, right. I forgot everypony hates me.” Sonata went partially limp again.
“Pinkie!” Screwball held out a foreleg to greet her. “How’s my sister doing, huh? A bit distracted?”
Screwball stepped forward. Nopony else dared move.
“I bet you were expecting me to go for Rainbow Dash, huh? Given she’s the easy one?” Screwball continued forward. “I changed my plan at the last minute. Though I thought you’d be floored by this stuff. You’re psychic and you didn’t wear protection like I did.”
Screwball gave the horns of her mask a tap.
“But I don’t see anything on you.” Screwball lowered her neck, then craned it all about. “So what’s your source of divine protection, exactly? Alicorn blood transfusion? I should try that.”
Pinkie could only tilt her head. She didn’t have anything on her. But that mask Screwball wore had a sinister aura of its own, similar in a way to the alicorn magic Pinkie had witnessed more recently.
“Do you know what she’s talking about?” Pinkie asked. “I get the impression Screwball’s saw this move coming.”
“It only deployed that armor once before, fifteen years ago,” said Fleetfoot. “I was just a filly, but Spitfire was there. Left her a little traumatized. And I guess word got out about it.”
So why didn’t Aria warn them about this auric attack? She mentioned everything else.
Big disadvantage here! Pinkie and Fleetfoot wouldn’t be enough to fight a witch.
“How important is Sonata again?” Fleetfoot whispered to Pinkie, taking a step back to ready a retreat.
“Pretty important,” Pinkie whispered back.
“Alright. Well you asked for it, then.”
Fleetfoot grabbed Pinkie tight and moved into a summersault that left the world even more of a blurred mess than the blackness had. The pegasus broke her momentum on a dime, spin-launching Pinkie straight at Sonata.
In almost the same motion, Fleetfoot bounded forward, trying to tackle Screwball at full speed.
Screwball sidestepped away from Pinkie… but didn’t leave the spot she was standing on. There were suddenly two Screwballs! One moved forward to intercept each of the attackers.
The one towards Fleetfoot punched the air once, creating a violent gale just strong enough to blow Fleetfoot off course. Then the copy vanished without a trace.
Pinkie put up her strongest psionic barrier and prepared for impact after seeing how strong this pony punched. Screwball dug her hind legs in, drawing energy out of the earth, then jabbed. The blow was fierce enough to shatter Pinkie’s defenses, cancel her momentum and send her tumbling back through the mud.
But Pinkie just barely managed to avoid a concussion. Yet the way Screwball merely rolled a shoulder told Pinkie this was nowhere near the extent of her power. That had just been a jab.
Fleetfoot was busy now. Claws of rock came up out of the mud, tearing through the ground as they tried to drag Fleetfoot down without success. Screwball had also summoned an earth element. Only Sonata remained unassailed, looking around wildly with no clue of what to do.
“How about we negotiate?” Screwball asked. “If you let me capture you, I won’t hurt anypony else today! It’d be the heroic thing to do, right?”
Pinkie got back to her feet.
Screwball took a canister off her foreleg. Pinkie noticed something off! Though Screwball removed it, the canister was still there. She’d duplicated that too.
This, the witch threw into the air, creating a massive airburst that forced everypony flat against the ground. The explosion stopped exploding too suddenly, vanishing more abruptly than it began.
Pinkie could guess how one of Screwball’s spells worked now. She could create a brief copy of anything, even herself. But for an explosive like that, it was only going to exist for seconds anyway. If Pinkie could get all that equipment away from Screwball, the fight would become slightly more manageable.
Then Screwball smashed a hoof deep into the muddy earth. Pinkie knew why Screwball had wanted to force them to the ground. She could feel her breath, all of her strength getting sucked out of her and into the earth below.
Pinkie had to get up!
Or else…
Fluttershy might as well have been blind inside the mouth of the battle doll. Its fangs and the rain both obscured her sight. Not that there was much to see.
The water shallowed out as they bounded through it, straight towards where Twilight would be waiting. She could feel it looming in front of her.
Fear. Ultimate fear.
For a long time, she’d felt the aura of who she now knew was Nightmare Moon, but she’d never felt any sort of emotion from it. It felt sickly, yet strangely magnetic. But never emotional. Certainly never afraid.
She could see it now, too. The true battle. It looked like the top of a smokestack, billowing blackness out. A smokestack that quickly exploded and sent a wave of ash out in every direction.
“Fluttershy! Get ready!” Sour Sweet’s voice boomed out from her robot. “It will take everything you have to protect us from this.”
Fluttershy flew out of her teddy bear and pulsed her aura as hard as she could. The immense weight of it crashed down on Fluttershy, like pushing against a moving train. But not completely hopeless. She could feel it slowing down just a little.
And maybe…
In her bedroom. The middle of the day but all the lights turned off. The curtains up to fill her life with darkness. Sometimes Fluttershy felt safer in the dark.
Dark? This wasn’t how darkness was supposed to look. Not anymore.
Fluttershy lay in her bed, holding her teddy bear. She really should go to school. But… it was so hard. At some point, going outside had become impossible. She’d go outside just a little bit now and then, but it got harder each time, not easier. Always, always something would get to her. Make her regret trying to be brave.
There were so many horrible things out there. There were so many monsters. Ghosts… And slowly, other ponies were becoming the most horrible thing of all. Just thinking about it was so hard.
Fluttershy struggled against the memory. That’s what this was. This was how her life used to be. This was what Fluttershy was before she became a ghost.
Sir Dread. Her plushie. Her crutch. This place was comfortable but not in a good way.
She shouldn’t still be clinging to this. As of two months ago, she was a teenager.
Maybe if she could throw Sir Dread away… cast her crutch off from her but…
That was right. Fluttershy never managed to get rid of her crutch. She was stuck with it now…
Just throw Sir Dread across the room. Then walk outside alone, without him. With a rare spot of determination, Fluttershy took off the covers and got ready to enact her plan.
Do it.
She had to do it.
She hesitated a long time.
The door opened. Her father came in.
“Fluttershy? I was thinking maybe we could just walk down to the post office. I was about to head there,” he said. “You won’t have to talk to anypony.”
No! Her plan was ruined! Maybe Fluttershy could have gone outside by herself but being forced into it was just too much! She retreated under her covers and shook her head.
Her father gave up much faster than he would have a year ago… he was already losing all hope for her…
“What if you talk to Dr. Clear Mind again?” He asked. “He could come to your room.”
Those psychiatrist types never really helped…
Fluttershy really had been that bad, hadn’t she? She could feel herself being drawn back into that shameful cocoon with her old self.
Her father was gone again. It was dark again. Her father had ruined everything! Broke her courage. Fluttershy just had to give up now. It’d be a few more days until she worked up the courage to try again. But for now…
No. No, this wasn’t Fluttershy’s father’s fault. And Fluttershy… she wasn’t like this anymore! She’d gotten over even her worst fear. She had to get up.
There simply wasn’t anything Fluttershy could do… her body felt too heavy. She should just sleep. Anything else was… impossible.
Her body did feel heavy but Fluttershy moved it, even in this memory, however so slightly. Maybe she couldn’t change the past but…
The sheets pressed down on her. Fluttershy struggled to lift them. Not because they were heavy but because she was weak.
But not too weak to move. Fluttershy winced as she cast them off. It took all of her strength, but with a single motion, she rolled off the bed, hitting the floor with a thud.
She became just slightly lighter, enough to stand. She turned her head to Sir Dread.
“Come on… let’s go.”
Fluttershy grabbed him in her mouth and opened her bedroom door.
Fluttershy shook her head… Sir Dread’s head.
She was back in her stuffed doll, back in reality. At the moment, that consisted of a whirlwind of ash and rain.
They weren’t moving anymore. Sour Sweet had fallen into that impossible malaise Fluttershy had been in just a moment ago, and was being forced to live Fluttershy’s lethargic horror.
But Fluttershy was out. She pulled Sour Sweet out.
“I think I did it,” Fluttershy called out to her, but her voice still shook from her encounter with her shameful past. “We have to keep going.”
“Right.” Sour Sweet’s voice wavered in unison with Fluttershy’s.
Fluttershy didn’t know if she’d seen that memory, but she’d felt it.
Sour Sweet began walking forward again, pushing through the storm. So powerful the gale that even with the body of a giant, Sour Sweet had to dig in her hind legs and claw her way forward with each step. Even that much was only possible with Fluttershy protecting her from the brunt of it.
Fluttershy could see why there needed to be two of them. It took all of her effort to hold that hideous aura back.
The nexus still lay so far away. Would they be able to get there in time? Or at all?
“How long were we in that illusion?” Fluttershy asked.
“Longer than it seemed. Careful. It’s going to come again,” Sour Sweet warned. “As far as I’ve seen, a specter is the only one whose aura is strong enough to get out of the illusion. Last time–”
Fluttershy held Sir Dread closer. She looked at the calendar. May 1304.
Were all of her friends really about to graduate high school? She supposed they weren’t her friends anymore. Not after last time. The one attempt she made at going out had ended horribly. Everypony hated her now. Just the thought of going back out there…
Things were so much worse now. It was just Fluttershy and Sir Dread now. The few friends she had stopped visiting long ago. Her parents had given up on her. They loved her enough to let her stay here, keep her from dying but…
Fluttershy knew it was an illusion. She wasn’t alone. She could get up this time.
They knew Fluttershy was hopeless. If she hadn’t gotten rid of her bear by now, she never would, would she? She was 18. She was supposed to be an adult.
Not… not this helpless.
She wasn’t helpless! She wasn’t even weak. Fluttershy was a specter and other ponies relied on her! She had to get up! It was so much harder now. But she couldn’t give up.
Maybe Fluttershy could at least go watch the others graduate? That wouldn’t be so hard. She could throw Sir Dread out and… and just that would be her coming of age.
Fluttershy never managed to get rid of her teddy bear and never managed to become an adult. She felt heavy again…
No! Just thinking of it was too much. Too scary. It was too hard to do today. Fluttershy relaxed. Maybe tomorrow…
“No.”
Fluttershy threw herself out of bed much harder than last time. She’d overcome the barrier but overshot it a good deal and found herself across the room.
“I have to…” Fluttershy found her footing on trembling legs.
She grabbed Sir Dread and began walking towards the door. It felt so much further away this time. But…
“Out…” Fluttershy shoved the door open and fell to the other side. “I won’t…. stay here.”
Back in the storm!
Coming out of that nightmare, the chasm of her past, made Fluttershy feel light by comparison. Maybe this wasn’t as bad as she’d been through.
Sour Sweet picked up on that lightness and began moving forward at a pace closer to walking than crawling. They would get there now. But would it be in time?
“You really are pathetic, aren’t you?” A unicorn threw Sir Dread down at Fluttershy who desperately grasped her bear. “How old are you? And you’re clinging to that thing like a baby? You’re not even going to beg or anything? Normally ponies are brave enough to do that much.”
Fluttershy sat in the corner, trembling, too scared to say even one thing. She was face to face with a unicorn with deep crimson coat. The witch Crimson Tide.
The witch that killed Fluttershy! That killed everypony! The sight shocked her confidence into submission however briefly.
There was nothing Fluttershy could do against a witch! Nothing! She thought she had it bad before but now… now this witch was going to kill her if she was lucky.
It was just a memory. The witch was dead. Fluttershy was the one still here!
“Hm.” Suddenly, the witch smiled. “Just stay down. I’ll tell everypony you ran away to give them false hope. Ponies behave better when they have that much. Can you do that for me? Just sit here in paralyzed terror? You might just survive.”
Fluttershy knew that was a lie. She was going to die either way.
Fluttershy trembled. Maybe it would be bad for everypony else but what else could she do?
The witch smiled knowing she could just barely manage a nod. Fluttershy began to but stopped. She shook her head hard instead.
The illusion stared in surprise at this sudden change in character, at the future Fluttershy taking control. Fluttershy got back on her feet.
“I… won’t.”
They had some speed now!
It was awkward, halfway between a limp and a jog, but they were moving at a decent pace. Twilight wouldn’t have to hold out much longer.
This was the worst things had ever been.
No! Fluttershy began struggling the moment it hit her this time. She knew what this was.
She was in the sewers now, had wandered endlessly for days before losing even the will for that.
It was impossible now.
No.
Everypony was truly and seriously gone. Fluttershy could never get rid of Sir Dread. Never.
Her whole life things only got worse. Just existing was getting harder every day.
It was getting easier! Already a hoof was lifting to the sky.
How could she exist as such a disgusting thing? As a…
No! Fluttershy… she could love other ghosts now! Maybe even…
She gritted her teeth and flew up out of the sewers.
This time, the two of them came out of the illusion already running.
Sour Sweet bounded through the storm! Fluttershy could see the nexus now! There was Twilight and the armor controlled by Nightmare Moon.
This was easy! The last one hadn’t been hard at all. Charging into the battle no longer seemed difficult. She could–
Fluttershy was lucid from the start! The illusion would be nothing this time.
She got ready. The sewers again. So all she had to do was fly off one last time.
Something grabbed Fluttershy before she could act, then slammed her against a wall of ice. Fluttershy wouldn’t easily be able to escape in such a position, bound by claws made of ice, surrounded by enchanted ice.
This was when…
She struggled to remind herself this was just a dream of the past. Still, Fluttershy slowly looked up at the inevitable. At a face she’d hoped to never see again.
Boss Rattler.
Fear. Not just the illusion, but actual fear flooded Fluttershy! She couldn’t – not this one! Even facing Nightmare Moon seemed easy.
A ghost! Ghosts!
Fluttershy couldn’t!
She trembled, tears gushing from her eyes. If she had a heart, it would have given out by now. Her whole life the only good was that she’d only run into ghosts once!
How could she exist like this?!
Fluttershy was up against a wall of ice! She couldn’t retreat underground! Her only comfort, only safety. There was nothing she could do.
Her body was all scratched up. She’d never felt pain as a ghost before. Nothing other than that horrible burning feeling in her mind.
“This specter doesn’t seem much of a threat, huh?” Chains asked the much larger ghost.
“Oh, a little patheticness is just how I like em,” said Rattler. “Even just sittin here all useless like, she could be useful to the two of us. Keep that black wind off our backs, eh? Listen. I’m going to be in charge from now on. You’re going to be our little ghost shield, yeah?”
Fluttershy knew she could say this with one word… It felt impossible to move but that was all she’d need!
Fluttershy couldn’t.
She had to.
She could never.
Just once!
Fluttershy gritted her teeth, her face contorting into a painful wince as she looked up. Just lifting her head was harder than anything she’d had to do in these nightmares so far. The effort and strain alone were enough to bring tears to her eyes.
Just one word…
At last, Fluttershy’s head had climbed just enough o put her face to face with Rattler, eye level. She’d never even looked him in the eyes before.
She breathed in and out in massive breaths. She caught just one of them and said something she’d never once managed to do before.
“No!”
They stumbled, then gave a leap through the air!
Fluttershy could see Twilight and her enemy clearly now!
Fluttershy flew out of Sir Dread and flew at Nightmare Moon herself.
“Twilight!” Fluttershy sundered the thick aura surrounding the area, clearing a path.
Just one more!
Fluttershy stumbled forward, needing a moment to regain her bearings. She wasn’t even slightly affected by the illusions anymore. Not mentally anyway.
She found herself in a familiar place, one she’d hoped to never find corrupted. It was Twilight’s house, where it originally stood by the river.
“That’s right. After I escaped.” Fluttershy shook her head. “After Dash rescued me I came here.”
This was the first place where Fluttershy had ever been happy. It was the first time she’d finally made a serious attempt to change, too.
But had she really changed?
Twilight’s tree house had become overgrown and surrounded by thorny vines. A hideous aura emanated from inside.
Fluttershy swallowed some ectoplasm and flew inside the house.
Twilight Sparkle!
She was wrapped in vines and roots, but not exactly restrained. She sat quietly with her eyes closed in an almost dignified manner, the vines holding her forming something not unlike a throne.
Before Twilight stood the cauldron she often used. It bubbled away violently, the steam swirling above, coalescing into a vortex.
Was this a memory? A manifestation of Twilight’s psyche? Or something else? Fluttershy had no idea.
“Twilight, I’ll get you out of here!” Fluttershy ripped one root off only for another to come to life and throw her aside.
“Stupid child. I am protecting Twilight.” The voice was low and rumbling, cracking and breaking every so often as though manifesting from a crackling fire.
That voice? Fluttershy looked to find Twilight’s doll, or golem. Smarty Pants? Fluttershy never liked it.
Did that thing just talk?! The scarecrow didn’t move… but Fluttershy was certain that was what spoke to her.
“Twilight would have very nearly died without me,” said Smarty Pants, its mouth made of carrot-sized spikes not budging an inch. “Look.”
The room changed, blackened. Everything took on a faint glow. The walls were covered in something far blacker than the darkness, the hyperbolic black that only ghosts could see. From it came jutting tendrils of the stuff, all of them thrust towards twilight as if to stop her.
Vines that seemed to merely hand before were now revealed to have been holding back these blades of darkness. Fluttershy wasn’t sure how long that could hold out, though. The vines were slowly wilting, rotting, and crumbling.
“It thinks it can destroy me… the real me,” said Smarty Pants. “They all underestimate what I can become. Let it complete the summoning. I will destroy Nightmare Moon then. We will.”
“I don’t understand,” said Fluttershy. “Who are you, exactly?”
“I am Twilight’s only true friend. She doesn’t need you.”
Fluttershy didn’t understand. But the scene looked all too familiar. Twilight had spent so long trapped in this place just like…
Fluttershy carefully took in the scene, skeptical. The blackness hadn’t managed to reach Twilight. It came in front of her. Could it even do that in time? No. No, there were branches around her head, around her from behind.
It wasn’t Nightmare Moon keeping Twilight asleep… it was this… thing.
“If you’re Twilight’s friend, you know she needs to get out of this place,” said Fluttershy. She knew the right answer was to help Twilight get out.
Its head twitched just slightly.
“You have caused me enough problems!”
Roots burst through the floor, impaling Fluttershy from all directions. She couldn’t phase through this wood, whatever it was.
Fluttershy had no idea if she could die here or not! An injury like this wasn’t necessarily lethal to a ghost either way. The pain felt real and yet.
“Twilight!” Fluttershy’s telekinetic touch reached out to grasp Twilight even as the roots twisted. “We have a leave!”
Fluttershy shook Twilight hard, dislodging the branches ever so slightly. And Twilight… slowly opened her eyes.
“Leave?” Twilight turned wearily to Fluttershy. “But…”
Fluttershy felt it! That same fear. Twilight was stuck in a memory of herself, with an older self still afraid to leave.
“Twilight! I know it’s hard, believe me. But you have to come with me.” Fluttershy offered her hoof.
“Twilight.” Smarty Pants cracked its neck. Its fire-like voice crackled and snapped. “Just a little longer and you won’t need anypony else ever again. Can’t you feel the power emanating from this place? Nightmare Moon’s strategy will backfire on it. Just a little longer…”
“I… I can feel it.” Twilight looked up at the ceiling.
“Twilight! Don’t you remember me?!” Fluttershy called out.
Twilight turned her head. Her eyes were dim at first, but…
“Fluttershy…?”
Twilight lifted a hoof. Fluttershy grabbed on, wincing through the pain as she pulled Twilight forward. Just that little budge was enough to awaken some strength in Twilight, enough for Twilight to free herself and fall onto the floor.
Twilight staggered onto her feet.
“Very well!” Smarty Pants withdrew all of its roots and vines at once!
And that meant… it was no longer holding Nightmare Moon back. The black tendrils flew forward into the image of Smarty Pants first, tearing it to dust. Then they shot toward Twilight and Fluttershy.
“Twilight! Run!”
Fluttershy ran blindly into the tendrils. She pushed all of her aura against it just as Twilight ran out the door!
“Fluttershy!”
Fluttershy had flown forward and grabbed onto Nightmare Moon. The feedback! It had managed to stun the armor for just a moment. This was the opening Twilight had been looking for!
“Hold her for just one second!”
Twilight had no idea if Fluttershy could manage, but wasn’t about to doubt her now. She opened a portal beneath Nightmare Moon, one leading much further into the air than before. Both the armor and Fluttershy fell through as Twilight began to gather energy for a full-force attack.
Twilight herself jumped through, now finding herself just above the two ghosts, high enough that she could barely make out the landscape below. Most of that soot remained below. This would be it!
Nightmare Moon blew Fluttershy off herself, but that only served Twilgiht’s goal now. Twilight threw Fluttershy back through the portal and unleashed her plasma attack.
A blinding pillar of light shot forth, hitting the armor unprepared, and sweeping over it completely. Firing such an attack on the ground would have caused far too much devastation to control, would have melted a wide path forward for miles and miles, would have blinded and heated the area enough to burn everypony else nearby.
Twilight pressed harder, pulsing the magic only harder. The soot inside pushed back at first, clawing its way out of its protective shell.
But then the momentum shifted and Twilight’s plasma pressed inside, quickly eating away at all the ash. Light poured out of every crevice of the armor, the darkness exploding out into every direction before being carried away by the stream.
Even still, Twilight find just a tiny bit more strength inside and pressed onward. Her caution was rewarded with one final pulse, one last rupture from inside as the auric core exploded.
Finally, panting, Twilight ceased her attack.
The armor was completely unphased, but nothing remained inside.
Exhausted, Twilight allowed herself to fall through another portal.