//------------------------------// // Chapter 4: The Escape // Story: The City of Kransitogo // by 13enjamin_Marshall_MLP //------------------------------// ---- After the city was flipped by the flood, the ponies were stuck on the roof of the dome. Twilight stood up on her shaky legs, looking at all the dead bodies. She was heartbroken when she saw Princess Candace, Shining Armor, and Flurry Heart’s dead bodies sliced in half right in front of her. Plenty of other ponies and other creatures have unfortunately died, including the Background Six, Applejack’s family, Rainbow Dash’s parents, Pinkie Pie’s family, Fluttershy’s family, Rarity’s parents, most of Apple Bloom’s classmates, AND her teacher, Ms. Cheerilee, Sunset Shimmer, Trixie, Daring Do, the Mini Six, Starlight Glimmer and so many others. Twilight started to whimper, but soon sighed with relief once she saw the rest of the Mane Six were still alive. She was also glad that Spike was still alive. “Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie, Applejack, Fluttershy, Rarity, Spike, you’re not dead!”, Twilight cried, as she went to hug her friends. Twilight grabbed on to her friends as tight as she could, with her friends hugging her tightly back. “I am so happy you all are alive!”, Twilight exclaimed. They held onto each other for about thirty minutes before letting go. “What in tarnation happened?”, Applejack asked, to which almost nopony knew. Then Rarity froze in shock when she asked, “Wait, where are our little sisters?!”, with fear drawn on her face. Thankfully, all three Crusaders crawled out of the ashes, to which their respective older sisters hugged them with love and care. The Mane Six, Spike, and the Cutie Mark Crusaders all huddled together. They looked around at the massive pile of dead ponies. It seemed like they were the only ponies left alive in the dome. And even after they looked away from the dead bodies, they noticed that the dome was submerged in water. The nine ponies and the one dragon were worried. They didn’t know what to do. Their friends and families were dead, and they were trapped in a dangerous situation. ---- Just then, the ten saw the Peace Family running and flying towards them at high speeds. “Oh, the Peace Family! You’re all still alive! Thank Celestia!”, Twilight said. “Stephen, can ya’ tell us what in tarnation has happened to the City of Kransitogo?!”, asked Applejack. “Yeah, how did this city flip over like this?”, Fluttershy asked with her voice being calmer than Applejack’s. “We want an explanation!”, demanded Rainbow Dash. Soon enough, all nine ponies started questioning the Peace Family all at the same time, while Spike just backed away from the chaos. “Woah, calm down!”, Stephen quickly said. “Listen, it turns out there was an old hydroelectric dam near the city. A dam nopony knew about since it was outside the dome. It ended up collapsing, and, well, you know the rest” “Your friends and families may be dead, but we do think there is a way for you ten to successfully escape this deathtrap”, Flare Spark added. “See the hotel above us?”, she asked as she pointed her hoof towards said hotel. “If you can get inside the hotel from here, you can try to make your way into the Hotel’s basement, which could potentially lead you outside the dome. Then we could use our train to get you all back to safety. The train can run on any surface”, she explained. “We’re going to try to start up the train. You ten should try to escape the dome before it’s too late”, Stephen told the ponies and dragon. “We understand”, Twilight said with confidence. Afterwards, Stephen teleported himself and the rest of the Peace Family to the train. ---- “Alright, we need to get to the hotel!”, Twilight clarified. “Rainbow Dash, you carry your honorary sister, Scootaloo with your hooves, and let Pinkie ride on your back. Fluttershy, you should let Applejack ride on your back, and you should carry Apple Bloom. I’ll let Rarity ride on my back, and I’ll carry Sweetie Belle. And Spike, you don’t have to carry anypony”, to which Spike replied with, “Yesss!” They put their plan into motion. The two pegasi and the one alicorn carried their assigned ponies, and flew up to the hotel. But as they were flying, the upside-down city started to sink a bit, and the dome started to crack. After they made it to the upside-down hotel, they got inside through the window, and ran through the hallways. Once they made it to the lobby, Spike quickly noticed that water was leaking through the dome, and it was very slowly rising up towards the upside-down city. “We can’t stop now!”, yelled Twilight. “We need to find the basement!” And soon enough, they found the entrance to the basement. Unfortunately, there was a small elevator instead of stairs, so the ten had to squeeze themselves inside. It was uncomfortable. When they actually made it to the basement floor, they walked dow-, er, I mean, up a creepy staircase. While on the staircase, they saw a painting that looked like it was moving. In fact, it was moving. The painting was a painting of what looked like an abandoned pizzeria, with this unsettling rabbit waving at them, with glowing purple eyes, glowing purple skin, and a sinister smile, and it was animated roughly. It was pretty scary at first, but it got worse once the rabbit stopped waving and started walking towards the frame. “ENTITY!!!”, Pinkie Pie screamed with utter terror in her face. The Mane Six, Spike, and the Cutie Mark Crusaders ran up the staircase even faster with utter fear. None of them wanted to be wiped from existence, even with them having little to no purpose living anymore. You know, with their friends and families being dead. The ponies and dragon ran out of the stairway as fast as they could, falling into the secret laboratory the cloaked pony owned. ---- “What?”, Twilight asked. “What is this place?” “Wow, this is creepy! Even I am getting unnerved by this!”, Rainbow Dash claimed. They wandered around the Laboratory, when Twilight noticed a mysterious machine on the ceiling. It was labeled: “Particle Accelerator”, and it was functioning. It had a big metal base with controls, and a giant circular ring with an electric charge inside. Twilight wondered, “Could this be the reason for the existence of the entities?”, but before she could come to a conclusion, Rainbow Dash announced that she found an emergency exit on the upside-down laboratory’s floor. “Aww, great work, Rainbow!”, Applejack proudly said. “Ah’ can’t believe it!”, Apple Bloom said with enthusiasm. “We might actually get out of here!”. “Go, Rainbow Dash!”, Scootaloo yelled with an excited tone. Rainbow opened the door, only to get splashed with pouring water, much to the surprise of everypony else. She quickly closed the door before things got out of hand. “What the what was that?!”, she asked with an angry tone. “Oh no!”, Apple murmured when realization hit her on the noggin like a coconut. “We’re at the bottom of the sea!!” “What?!!”, replied Twilight. “But how?! I thought we were near land!” “The water here was salt water!”, Applejack stated. “The waves must have carried the dome out to sea before sinking!” And that was actually true. They were trapped at the bottom of the ocean. Just then, water started flowing in from the doorway the ponies and dragon entered through, flooding the upside-down laboratory. “Oh no!!”, Twilight yelled. “Somepony, help us!! Please!!”, Spike yelled out. Everypony panicked. They were trapped with absolutely no way out. The ponies and dragon backed up into the corner of the wall. “Apple Bloom, if we die, Ah’ just wanna tell ya’, Ah’ love you so much!!”, Applejack told Apple Bloom, with her replying with, “Ah’ love you too, Applejack!!”, while whimpering. The ponies and dragon told each other how much they loved one another, until the water level started rising faster. They huddled together, watching the water go up to their necks. They took one last breath before their inevitable death. ---- SURPRISE!!! It was all a dream! Apple Bloom’s dream to be exact! Apple Bloom woke up from her nightmare gasping. It was revealed that she was still sleeping on the couch with Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle. It was dark outside, and the clock read 10:26 PM. Apple Bloom looked at her belly, and it was the size of a softball. She quickly concluded that she never left the couch, she never went to the Mexican Restaurant for dinner, nobody was dead, and the slushie didn’t digest as fast as Apple Bloom thought it did. She was utterly relieved when she realized that all that drama was just in her head, and didn’t actually happen. But she did wonder why Princess Luna wasn’t there to help her with her nightmare. She leaped off the couch and to the balcony, getting some fresh air. But her eyes shrunk to a pinpoint when she saw the sky. “No, this can’t be real!”, she whispered to herself, just standing there in shock. She saw the same hexagonal pattern from her dream in the sky. “This city actually does have a dome”, she whispered to herself, with utter shock. She backed away from the balcony, where Applejack entered the door, with Rarity and Rainbow Dash following her. “Hoo-wee! That was darn-tootin’ fun!”, Applejack shouted. “I know! The time we had today was awesome!”, Rainbow Dash replied. “I had so much time to relax!”, Rarity added. “Hey, Rarity, why don’t ya’ take Sweetie back to your room? And Rainbow, why don’t ya’ do the same with Scoots?”, Applejack asked, to which Rarity and Rainbow agreed. Rarity grabbed Sweetie Belle with her magic and brought her back to her room, and Rainbow Dash carried Scootaloo back to her room. “Hey, Apple Bloom! You’re sure gonna have some fun tomorrow!”, Applejack exclaimed, with no response from Apple Bloom. “Sugarcube, what’s wrong?”, Applejack asked with a calm and modest tone. Apple Bloom started tearing up. She turned around and ran into Applejack’s arms, crying into her chest. “Oh, Apple Bloom, what’s the matter?”, Applejack asked with a concerned voice. “I had a horrible nightmare!!”, she exclaimed. Apple Bloom explained the entire nightmare from beginning to end. She mentioned every detail, every plotline, everything. She also mentioned how Princess Luna wasn’t in it, and how the same hexagonal dome from her dream was actually there the whole time. After she was finished, she went back to sobbing into Applejack’s chest. Applejack held on tight to Apple Bloom, telling her, “Everything’s gonna be okay, Apple Bloom. You’re safe now. We’ll talk to Stephen about your nightmare tomorrow. But for now, ya’ best get to sleep”. Apple Bloom looked up at Applejack with tears still in her eyes. “May Ah’ sleep with you tonight, Applejack?”, she asked. “Yes, you may”, Applejack replied, while carrying her little sister up to Applejack’s bedroom. Apple Bloom quickly brushed her teeth, took a five minute shower, and snuggled into bed with Applejack. Applejack held onto Apple Bloom while preparing to sleep. “Ah’ love you, Sugarcube!”, Applejack told Apple Bloom. “Ah’ love you too, big sister!”, Apple Bloom replied while falling into a peaceful slumber. Apple Bloom slept wonderfully that night, satisfied acknowledging that Applejack was there for her. ----