//------------------------------//
// Chapter 7 
// Story: Torch in the Dark 
// by RevvEmUp 
//------------------------------//

The rest of the group venture through Everfree Forest without Pinkie Pie and Juggler. They all had the same regretful look after leaving Pinkie Pie behind, even Ember, despite being the one who suggested they should leave her behind in the first place. They didn't even say anything the entire way, that was until Ember said something.

"I'm sorry, everyone. I was so scared—"

"You don't have to apologize, Ember. We know you don't have anything against Pinkie." Spike responded.

"Even Pinkie thought this had to happen." Twilight Sparkle said. "The Man of Shadows is becoming too powerful, powerful enough to hijack her body."

"There must be a way to remove it. Princess Twilight said she freed the Pony of Shadows' last host by offering friendship, but we've done nothing but exactly that for Pinkie Pie." Sunset Shimmer added.

"It could be adapting by using her Geode magic to protect itself from our attempts." Twilight Sparkle speculated.

"Last time Pinkie Pie turned into a monster, the situation was so much easier." Flash Sentry sighed.

"Rainbow Dash mentioned that earlier, about her turning into a monster again. You guys never elaborated on that situation." Ember commented.

"It happened a few months ago before Halloween." Fluttershy began explaining.

"What's Halloween?" Ember asked.

"It's the time of year when kids dress up as monsters and go door-to-door to get candy from houses decorated with everything spooky. We're a little too old for that, but our school arranged a costume party to celebrate." Fluttershy explained.

"We agreed to brainstorm costumes to wear at the party. But on the day we were supposed to meet, we woke up and turned into monsters ourselves!" Rarity continued.

"Except Spike, Flash and I, for some reason." Sunset Shimmer added.

"Some of us still were right in the noggin, but some kinda lost it." Applejack said.

"Pinkie Pie…" Rarity muttered.

"Pinkie turned into a pink robot horse that can turn things into jigsaw puzzles, and was crazy obsessed with keeping everyone in line at a party, so much that she even turned her sister into a puzzle!" Rainbow Dash recalled.

"How'd you wrangle her down?" Ember asked for the others to look all solemn.

"Pinkie… destroyed me." Rarity answered softly.

"Excuse me, what?!" Ember blurted in surprise.

"She drove her javelin through Rarity and she blew up. It was because of that Pinkie Pie snapped out of it, realizing she just destroyed her friend over a party." Sunset Shimmer explained.

"Then after that, Rarity just… respawned; reappeared like nothing happened." Flash Sentry continued.

"I still wasn't sure what kind of monster I turned into. I felt, cold, robotic, I had a skull for a head and the ability to not only restore myself as mentioned, but to also freeze time." Rarity described.

"How'd you turn back to normal?" Ember asked.

"When we found Twilight, she also turned out to be crazy, then brainwashed Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie into fighting the rest o' us." Applejack continued.

"I was especially hard to get through. Whatever dark force infected me completely replaced all the goodness in me, turning me into a sinister witch who took pleasure in making people miserable." Twilight Sparkle recalled, then glances over to Spike. "It even made me kick Spike. I'd never do anything like that!"

"And hard. My ribs were never the same since that day." Spike added.

"Rainbow Dash, Applejack, and I battled Twilight, Pinkie, and Fluttershy on the streets until I used my time-freezing powers. I put us all in a circle holding hands, and that was when the Geodes activated and used their powers to turn us back to normal." Rarity concluded.

"To this day, we never found out what caused our sudden transformations to happen." Twilight Sparkle concluded.

"And so far, there haven't been any adverse long-term effects, and we pretty much already moved on from the incident." Sunset Shimmer added.

"That sounds terrible! I'm sorry Pinkie Pie has to go through becoming a monster again." Ember said.

"That's the thing: aside from Twilight, we all had our heads in the right place, even Pinkie Pie after we rescued her. No inner voices, no hallucinations, just regular ol' Pinkie Pie but she can turn into a monster robot." Applejack added.

"That day, we thought that not even a horrific transformation into a monster would falter Pinkie Pie's smile." Fluttershy said, slightly smiling from the thought of Pinkie Pie's smile. "…but we were wrong…" she dropped her smile

Then, Rarity stops in her tracks, and her friends stop to turn to her. "I'm going back for Pinkie Pie!"

"What?! We just talked about all the dangers she'll bring! Even Pinkie Pie agreed to be left behind!" Ember blurted.

"And we're already so far from the camp already! You might even get lost!" Twilight Sparkle blurted.

"What happened to taking risks? We certainly took one when we went off to find her! It just doesn't feel right leaving her behind!" Rarity explained. "You can all go ahead, but I'm not gonna leave our friend behind."

"Rarity, wait!" Flash Sentry reaches out to her as she runs away.

Before she even touches her first pace, familiar, trilling beeps echo through the trees, and everyone freezes in place. Rarity fearfully darts her head around to look for the source, when none other than the Bug teleports in front of her. "Th-th-th…"

"Bug!" Fluttershy screamed.

"Run!" Spike screamed for everyone to sprint away from the Bug.

The Bug watches them as it stays still, as if giving them a head-start before teleporting away. As they all sprint through the forest, they see multiple glimpses of the Bug in the surrounding treeline, on the ground or atop branches, blinking in and out as they progress down the path. "It's over here!" Rainbow Dash pointed to her right.

"Here, too!" Ember looked at her left.

"It's everywhere!" Twilight Sparkle shouted.

They run for their lives, not knowing when or how they'll stop, hoping they'll escape from the Bug's pursuit.





Meanwhile at camp, Pinkie Pie and Juggler quietly sit around the campfire, unaware of the danger her friends are in. Juggler sat with one leg arched to support his arm sticking into his jacket, and the other outstretched towards the fire. Pinkie is curled up into a ball, wallowing in her own misery as a dark aura loom over her: the Man of Shadows. She stays quiet, hoping the entity won't do anything to her, which has apparently worked so far, as it's done nothing but stand over her. It could've hijacked her body and chased after them like an animal, but it hasn't… yet.

Juggler gives her a pitying look and opens his mouth. "I'm sorry about asking for an autograph at a bad time." He said, trying to get a response out of her, at least giving her a clue she's in friendlier company.

"It's good." Pinkie Pie mumbled before falling silent.

"I… I really liked Coinky-Dink World. It's a really nice song." He added.

"Please, just shut up. This isn't a backstage meet-and-greet." Pinkie Pie grumbled before realizing what she said, looking up to Juggler's shocked face. "Jugger, I-I'm sorry, I didn't mean it. I… I'm not in the mood to talk now."

"Sorry, it just sucks to see you like this when you're so… y'know, happy."

"Well, I'm trying not to disturb the Man of Shadows back there. Might hijack me at any moment." She thumbs behind her. "Why's a secret agent like you so interested in some indie girl band, anyway?"

"I wasn't always a secret agent. I used to be in search and rescue, and I had a friend who joined same time I did. We were inseparable, throwing ourselves into danger together to save people. For a long time, I couldn't imagine a life without him." Juggler explained, smiling the whole way. "Then he got a promotion." He suddenly took on a sombre tone.

Pinkie Pie suddenly got invested in his story, and stretches her legs out.

"I got jealous, dangerously jealous. Thinking back, he was always the better, more relentless rescuer. Since then, we fought more and more, I've even sabotaged and undermined him, and just got angrier when he overcame those, too. Eventually… I left." He recalled, sounding very, very sorry. "After that, I felt… empty… so empty. I didn't know what it was that was making me feel that way… until I attended a certain Battle of the Bands."

"You mean… that one?" Pinkie Pie asked.

"That one." Juggler nodded. "It was a public event, so I might as well have shown up, see something exciting. Like the rest of the audience, those Sirens put me under their spell, and I started thinking back to him… how he upstaged me… left me behind…" he grits his teeth, getting frustrated at the thought before exhaling calmly. "Then the second act showed up."

"Us…"

"When you and your friends played, I was still thinking of him, but I realized he didn't leave me behind… I did… and I felt empty because I abandoned the one person who made me think I mattered for once in my life. I felt like everything mattered again." Juggler started smiling, really wide, creepily wide. "After that night, I went back to the old station… but he was gone. He quit and nobody knew where he went." He scrunches his lips for a moment before taking out the crumpled album jacket from his parka. "But I didn't leave that night with nothing. I left it with something else filling that hole: a love for your music." He smiles to her.

"Y'know… this is the first time a fan told me I changed their life. This was… nice." Pinkie Pie said with a small smile. "What did you say your friend's name was?"

"His name's Crimson Horizon. If there's one thing people remembers him by, it's this harmonica tune that he always plays. It's gotten to the point where I get a headache whenever I hear it."

"Wait a minute… Juggler… a harmonica…" Pinkie Pie whispered to herself before opening her eyes wide, remembering something. "Does he wear a dark leather jacket and a cowboy hat like Applejack's?"

Juggler sat up attentively. "Yeah… yeah, he wears that when we hang out!" he said in surprise. "You… met him?"

"I remember a while ago some dude came up to us asking if we've seen a guy named Juggler, and handed us a picture of you. I just started piecing together some stuff when you told me your name and showed your face, and I swore I've seen you before." Pinkie Pie continued. "It looks like your friend wants to reconnect, too."

"After all this time… he really wants to see me again…?" Juggler muttered to himself before smiling. "So it's not too late for me…"

"It's never too late for friends to make up." Pinkie Pie said. "Before meeting Princess Twilight, Rarity and I weren't on the best of terms. After the Fall Formal, I wanted to make it up to her with a holiday souffle. It didn't go as planned, but she appreciated it anyway. It didn't matter that I gave her a sub-par souffle, only that a friend who loves her poured all her love and friendship into it."

"You think I should reconnect with Crimson?" Juggler asked.

"Totes." Pinkie Pie nodded, then sees the Man of Shadows beside her nodding too. She doesn't know why, only staring off into what Juggler perceives is the distance.

"Well, it's about time we bury the hatchet, and have a coffee at dawn like old times." Juggler declared before a happy chuckle. "Look at me: I'm pushing thirty, obsesses over an indie high school band, and their drummer's giving me an epiphany."

"That's the Magic of Friendship for ya. It's not all rainbow lasers and pony ears." Pinkie Pie chuckled back.

Then, the Man of Shadows slinks beside her, growling and huffing. "Friendship… good… more…" it breathed into her ear.

As Pinkie Pie reacts with a cold sweat and a shiver to match, the Man of Shadows suddenly turns around and growls at the frozen pond behind them.

"Is there something wrong?" Juggler asked, noticing Pinkie Pie's distress.

"The Man of Shadows is looking at something. I'm not sure what." Pinkie Pie answered, staring at the frozen pond with her companion.

Cautiously, Juggler gets up and clutches whatever's in his parka and slowly approaches the ice. The ice starts to crack and bulge upwards as something breaches from underwater. With hefty knocks that crack the ice with each it, muffled garbles emanate from the crevices. Pinkie Pie gets up and hides behind Juggler, and sees the Man of Shadows doing the same, putting its cold hands on her shoulders. This only elevated her fear factor.

Then, a robotic golden three-fingered hand punches itself out of the ice before another. The hands grip the ice and pull out from under the water a golden robot with a bulky humanoid frame, constructed with tubing as flexible joints, smooth cylindrical plating on its arms and legs, panels on its chest glowing like colourful aurora, and a head resembling an old-fashioned radio with knobs, a light strip blinking the same aurora-like glow, and a pair of rotating antennae mounted on the sides, not to mention a silver strip below its head resembling the collar the Bug once wore. It steps out of the pond, emitting a low electronic hum not too dissimilar to the Bug's. "A robot?!" Juggler shouted as he pulls out his own pistol.

"Maybe it's friendly this time?" Pinkie Pie suggested, nervously hiding behind Juggler.

"Murder…" A deep, distorted voice grumbled to their horror. "…Kill…" it raises its arms to the sides of its head and the knobs crackle with sparks flying.

"Down! Now!" the Man of Shadows shouted, pushing Pinkie Pie, who falls over onto Juggler to the ground.

The Robot fires an electrical beam from its knobs, striking the ground behind them, kicking up a dirt and snow rain. "Murder. Kill." Failing to eliminate its targets, it slowly marches towards them, hands menacingly raised.

"Run!" Pinkie Pie screamed as she picks up Juggler, then runs away. As they run, the Robot tramples on their campfire, extinguishing it before stopping in place. Its panels shift and loosen with steam hissing out of the joints, allowing it to sprint after them.





Pinkie Pie and Juggler sprint through the snowy forest as the alien garble follows them from behind. "First a bug, now a robot?! This doesn't make any sense!" Pinkie Pie screamed.

"So even magical girls like you have a sense of normal, huh?!" Juggler commented before narrowly dodging an electrical beam from behind.

Pinkie Pie looks behind and sees the Robot stiffly sprinting with its arms swinging back and forth like a steam train's rods as lightning blasts from its face. Appearing beside Pinkie Pie's face suddenly is the Man of Shadows floating along with her. "Pull the trigger! Pull the Trigger!"

"No! I'm not gonna let you take over my body again! Even to fight an evil robot!" Pinkie Pie audibly refused.

Juggler turns around and fires his pistol at the machine, but the bullets are deflected by an invisible force field, flashing a yellow on impact. "This is useless." Juggler said before pocketing his pistol.

"Juggler, what do we do?!" Pinkie Pie cried.

"Split up!"

"Split up?!"

"If we split, it'll be forced to follow one of us. The one not being followed should find your friends! They can't be that far!"

"But… what if I have to find them? If I get close, the Man of Shadows might hurt them, or worse!"

"Do you have a better idea?!"

Pinkie Pie stays silent, looking into Juggler's desperate eyes. "Oh, fine. Let's split!"

Juggler nods before he ducks left, then Pinkie to the right. The Robot turns to both of them before suddenly stopping as they escape. Then, its plating loosens further with even more steam releasing, separating itself into four drone craft: its legs, a saucer from its abdomen, its chest, and its head with arms hanging below. The legs and saucer pursue Jugger, and the rest towards Pinkie Pie.

Pinkie Pie was already a good distance away from where she lost the Robot, almost thinking it lost interest. That was until she hears the Robot's message. "Murder. Kill."

She turns around to see the chest, and head and arms pursue her, blasting another beam at her. "It flies now?!" she screamed before dodging the electrical blast. "That's half of the Robot, that means the other half's after Juggler! So much for that plan!"

"Trigger! Trigger! Trigger!" the Man of Shadows screamed into her ear.

"What did I just say?! You can't make me!" Pinkie Pie rebelled. "Even if it means leading a killer robot to them, I gotta find my friends!" with whatever energy she has left, she runs and runs and runs, miraculously outpacing the Robot's drones. While running, she sees glimpses of the Man of Shadows that she passes by scattered along her path. "Focus, Pinkie. Focus on your friends, not the Man of Shadows…" she chanted to herself softly.

"Aaah!" she hears distant, familiar screams.

"Woah, I must be focusing a little too hard." She said to herself before hearing it again.

"Aaah!" this scream is different; very shrill, and more sustained.

"Wait, that's Rarity! That means they must be near!" Pinkie Pie realized before dodging another blast. Unfortunately, she trips and skids on the ground before quickly turning over to see the drones hovering above her.

"Murder. Kill." The head charges another beam as Pinkie Pie gets up and ducks behind a tree. The drone strikes the tree at the base, causing it to lean towards it. Just before hearing a loud thud behind her, Pinkie Pie flees without looking back.

She reaches the edge of the forest, pushing away branches and bramble to find herself at the shores of a frozen lake.

Without the trees to buffer the snow, Pinkie Pie's vision is blurred by the heavier snowfall in this open space. She knew she couldn't stop, not when the drones could still be after her. She kept running along the shoreline blindly until she bumps into something… or rather, someone.

"Pinkie?" a dainty voice spoke up.

Pinkie Pie sits up from the snow, and sees blurred figures standing around her. When her eyes adjust, she recognizes them as her friends, with Rarity standing directly in front of her, looking very relieved. "Everyone… Rarity…" then, Rarity picks up Pinkie Pie and hugs her tight.

"Pinkie, am I glad to see you!" Rarity cooed.

"Wait, what're you doing all the way here? I thought Bravo was supposed to watch you." Rainbow Dash asked.

"Me… Juggler…" Pinkie Pie panted tiredly. "We were chased!"

"You too?" Fluttershy shivered.

"Huh?" Pinkie Pie raised an eyebrow.

"The Bug found us again!" Spike informed her.

"We've been running from it, and I think we lost it." Flash Sentry added.

"The thing was relentless! We couldn't even stop to catch our breath!" Ember added.

"That was until we left the forest and ended up here." Sunset Shimmer continued.

"We didn't let our guard down, though. It could still appear at any moment!" Rainbow Dash added.

"You said you were chased." Rarity noted. "Was it the Bug? Did it try to get you, too?"

"No, it wasn't it. It was… a robot!" Pinkie Pie answered.

"A robot?!" her friends repeated in disbelief.

"What's a robot?" Ember asked.

"A robot is… well, it's a little complicated to describe." Spike told her. "At least, they're like Lil Flash up there." He looks up to the drone flying beside Flash Sentry.

"It was almost seven feet tall! It was gold, had a T.V. screen for a body, and a radio for its head!" Pinkie Pie described manically. "And I could be mistaken, but I'm pretty sure it kept saying 'Murder. Kill. Murder. Kill.'" She imitates the Robot's stiff stature. "Then it split into flying drones and chased us!"

"First an alien bug, and now a robot? Where are these things coming from?" Twilight Sparkle wondered.

"Ya said Juggler's with you. Where's he now?" Applejack asked.

"He's… oh… oh please don't tell me it got him! He must be lost in the forest!"

"Then we must go back for him!" Rarity declared as she stomps back towards the forest, but stops when a ghastly croak echoes through the air. With a split-second trill, the Bug teleports behind everyone, and they turn their attention to it with Rarity holding up her shields.

"It's back!" Fluttershy panicked.

They run the other direction back where Pinkie Pie came from, but four shapes emerge from the thicket and assemble into the Robot goosestepping towards them. "Murder. Kill."

"Is that the robot that's chasing you?" Applejack asked her.

"Yes! Yes, it is!" Pinkie Pie answered as she hugs Rarity tight.

In an effort to protect everyone, Rarity extends her shields into a dome covering her friends, and Flash Sentry readies a yellow-marked battery. Before he could insert it, Sunset Shimmer puts her hand on his briefly. "One shot, Flash. Make it count."

"Yeah… got it…" he nervously puts in the battery. "No pressure." he then holds up Lil Flash and darts between the Bug and the Robot, anticipating who'll strike first.

The Robot charges up another beam, evidenced by yellow sparks crackling from its face, and everyone under the dome braces themselves when the electrical beam blasts from the robot's face towards the dome. Pinkie Pie spots the Bug disappearing, and grows paranoid, again dreading the moment it appears again.

However, none could anticipate the Bug appearing a second later in front of the beam, holding out its claws to catch the arcs and channel the energy into its arms. Everyone was simply in awe as the Bug absorbs all the energy from the beam before the Robot stops and takes a step back, as if surprised. The Bug’s arms were crackling and surging with the same energy that composed the beam, and sends it back to the Robot by thrusting its arms forth, rocking an explosion that knocks the Robot off its feet. Afterwards, the Bug tiredly collapses onto its side into the snow.

Rarity breaks off the dome to let everyone gather around the Bug. “Did… it just save us?” Spike wondered.

“Even though it just tried to destroy us a few hours ago?” Ember added.

“Don’t stop now, let’s get to safety before the Robot comes back!” Pinkie Pie hurried them.

“Wait, I hear somethin’.” Applejack said as the brush rustles again. They all get into the defensive as Fluttershy sits the Bug up. They wait for the Robot to come at them again, but instead Juggler emerges, covered in dirt and branches.

“Juggler!” Pinkie Pie yelled in relief, waving back to him.

“Pinkie! Everyone!” Juggler waved back to them. He runs towards them happily, but fails to react when the Robot dashes up behind him. When Juggler turns around it was too late, as the Robot punched him out cold onto the snow with its heavy fists.

“No!” everyone screamed in terror.

“Murder.” The Robot picks up Juggler’s barely-conscious body to its face and blasts him point-blank with its electrical beam, launching his body to crash into the lake, breaking a hole into the foot-thick ice sheet. “Kill.” it sets its sights on the group and menacingly marches towards them.

“It… it ki—” Rainbow Dash stammered at the lake before catching a fainting Fluttershy.

Pinkie Pie stares at the Juggler-shaped hole in the ice, her heart racing into a panic. “Juggler… no… Juggler…”

“Pinkie… don’t…”

As darkness clouds her eyes, Pinkie Pie grits her teeth and aggressively reaches into her jacket, pulling the pistol on the Robot. “Juggleeer!” she screams furiously before inserting a dark magazine into the pistol.

Before anyone could stop her, she fires a shot and blankets the shore in darkness.

To be continued…