The Rainbooms resume the trail along a mountain ridge overlooking the snow-capped forest below, following the now-friendly Bug to where Torch could be hiding. “I don’t think we’ve introduced ourselves. My name’s Sunset Shimmer, by the way.” She introduces herself to the Bug.
“I’m Pinkie Pie! I almost destroyed you about fifteen minutes ago!” she introduces herself giddily. “There’s a creepy voice in my head called the Man of Shadows, and we’re trying to pull him outta there. Ya don’t happen to know a neat trick to help with that, do ya?”
The Bug shakes its head.
“I’m Rarity. I see we have similar defensive powersets.” Rarity said as she produces a diamond shield.
The Bug croaks and produces one as well as it walks.
“Rainbow Dash’s the name, and speed’s my game. Sorry for saying you looked too slow. In my eyes, everyone looks slow to me.” Rainbow Dash nudges its arm and passes a chuckle to Applejack.
Then the Bug gives a slightly harder nudge back, to her surprise.
“Hehe.” Applejack chuckled. “I’m Applejack. Just a simple farm girl with simple dreams.”
“Hi… I’m… I’m Fluttershy. It’s nice to meet you, miss Bug.” Fluttershy introduces herself. “Are you still hungry? If not critter snacks, Applejack might have an apple-nut bar.”
The Bug wags its pincer as if politely refusing.
“I’m Spike, and this is Ember. I’m just a dog that happens to talk, but Ember here’s a dragon princess from another world!”
“Hi. Nice to meet you, Bug-thing.” Ember added.
The Bug looks at them, giving them a confused head-cock.
“I’m Flash Sentry, and this is Lil Flash.” Flash Sentry thumbs to his drone. “We take pictures for the record. With the kinda adventures these girls go on, you’d wanna make the memories last.” He explained. Then he looks at Twilight Sparkle beside him, tapping at Juggler’s spy phone. “Ahem. Twi?”
“Huh? Oh!” Twilight Sparkle read the situation and lowers the phone. “Hi, I’m Twilight Sparkle. It’s always a pleasure to meet a species foreign to known science such as yourself.” She introduces herself to the Bug.
The Bug croaks and nods.
Pinkie Pie again comes to the Bug’s side. “In case you don’t know, we’re on a quest to rescue Torch, y’know, that dragon you probs already know. There’s been a few hiccups along the way, like you attacking us last night, me getting possessed by an otherworldly being from the dark recesses of Equestrian history, the subsequent emotional breakdown that deconstructed my psyche and reconstructs it over and over again…” she gets increasingly aggravated as she grasps her face.
Her friends looked concerned for her breakdown. “Pinkie…?” Rarity puts her hand on her shoulder.
Pinkie Pie calms down and whips back into her happy self. “But it’s no biggie. That’s all in the past.”
“So, uh, do you have a name?” Sunset Shimmer nervously asked the Bug after witnessing Pinkie Pie’s mood whiplash.
The Bug places its larger pincer to its facial organ, as if shushing.
“Keeping it a secret?”
The Bug nods.
“You don’t have to keep secrets from us. We’re just trying to help.” Sunset Shimmer then takes the Bug’s hand to access its mind. Unfortunately, she couldn’t get past anything beyond her earlier vision, so she leaves its mindscape.
“Why… why can’t I see anything beyond that?” she wondered.
“Maybe it’s the trauma of turning into a monster stopping you from reading her mind.” Fluttershy suggested to Sunset Shimmer.
“Or maybe she’s been a monster too long, and she’s stuck like this.” Rarity added.
“Wait! Charades! Since you can’t talk, we can play Charades to find out what happened to you!” Pinkie Pie suggested to the Bug.
“It’s a good idea as any right now.” Applejack commented.
“Not just a good idea, a Pinkie Pie idea!” Rainbow Dash cheered.
The Bug starts the Charade by changing its walking stance to mimic jogging.
“You were out walking?” Fluttershy guessed.
“No, power-walking?” Rainbow Dash added.
“At the gym! You were at the gym!” Pinkie Pie kept on guessing.
As they play with the Bug, Sunset Shimmer smiles at seeing Pinkie Pie finally have some fun again. She’s felt like the adventure has been a downer the whole day, and was almost about to get worse thanks to Juggler’s demise, but was glad a familiar sunshine of happiness beams to her friends again.
After some gestures, the Bug stacks its closed fist on the other and puts them to its right, as if holding something.
“Yer holdin’ a rope?” Applejack guesses.
“It suddenly rained and you pulled out an umbrella?” Flash Sentry guesses.
“Oh! Oh! You were ambushed by a samurai?” Pinkie Pie guesses with a dramatic hiss.
“A samurai? In this day and age?” Rainbow Dash scoffed.
To their surprise, the Bug nods.
“Yes! I got another one!” Pinkie Pie cheered.
“S’always the weird answers she gets right.” Applejack chuckled.
“We don’t have samurai in Equestria, so the Bug must’ve been human, not a pony.” Sunset Shimmer postulated, which the Bug agrees.
“Okay, then what happened?” Pinkie Pie asked the Bug.
It clasps its pincers around its neck, as if choking itself.
“The samurai started choking you!” Rainbow Dash guesses.
“No, ya started choking the samurai!” Applejack guesses.
Pinkie Pie thinks back to the fight against the Bug, remembering the Man of Shadows stopped her from finishing it off the moment its collar was destroyed. “No! A collar! It put a collar on you!”
The Bug nods at the last one.
“A collar… wait, lemme find that photo.” Flash Sentry searches through Lil Flash’s photograph reel. He cycles through the photos he took throughout the adventure, and finds one from last night when the Bug first attacked. He compares it to the Bug now, seeing it lacked the band it has in the photo. “There! A collar!”
“A mind-control collar, perhaps?” Fluttershy suggested.
“That’s why it went nuts on us!” Pinkie Pie realized.
“Ember, what if your dad’s wearing a big-sized version of these collars?” Spike suggested.
“Could be. The other Flash Sentry said that he found weird red lights in my dad’s armour when he accidentally flew inside, and that seeing them made him feel… compliant, is what he said.” Ember reported.
“So there really is a connection between Torch and these other two monsters. This parasite must be this samurai that the Bug mentioned.” Twilight Sparkle said while tapping at the spy phone.
“What’s a samurai?” Ember asked them.
“They’re awesome ancient warriors with cool armour and a really sharp blade called a katana. They’re the definition of old-school cool!” Rainbow Dash described.
“I didn’t get a good look at this parasite samurai, just an orange claw and glowing blue eyes. Other Flash did say it had a sword when it attacked him.” Ember continued.
“So let’s get this straight: a samurai kidnaps and turns two girls into monsters, travels to Equestria to brainwash a giant dragon, then goes to our world to unleash it upon the unsuspecting populace!” Pinkie Pie summarised.
“Whatever plan this evil parasite samurai has, bet he didn’t count on one of his own going off-script.” Applejack boasted.
“At least things are starting to make sense, even if it makes the situation all the more concerning.” Rarity commented.
“You’re telling me. How am I supposed to write all this down to the princess?” Sunset Shimmer added. “I just hope we won’t encounter any more speedbumps, ambushes, and weird surprises. I don’t think I can take much more.”
Throughout the stroll, Pinkie Pie notices Twilight Sparkle has been keeping to herself with Juggler’s phone. She peeks over her shoulder and sees a jumble of code scrolling across the screen. “Whatchu doin’?”
“Gah!” Twilight Sparkle yelped, throwing up the phone in the air before it fumbles in her hands as she catches it. “Oh, I’m just trying to access Juggler’s phone. The encryption is incredible! I’m hoping I don’t trigger a self-destruct failsafe.”
“Can I try?” Pinkie Pie asked.
“Pinkie, I appreciate your newfound enthusiasm after all the tribulations we went through, but fiddling with military-grade hardware is—” Pinkie Pie suddenly grabs the phone and starts tapping at it.
“Juuust gimme a sec.” Pinkie Pie chirped.
Twilight Sparkle tries to get it back, but is held back by Pinkie Pie’s arm playing keep-away. “Pinkie, wai—” then Pinkie Pie hands it back, showing her the unlocked home screen; a photo of Juggler in a dojo posing with a sword.
“There you go! One unlocked, non-self-destructed spy phone.” Pinkie Pie said cheerfully.
“What? How’d you do it?” Twilight Sparkle asked.
“I took a guess at the password.” Pinkie Pie shrugged.
“What was it?” Twilight Sparkle asked when Pinkie Pie suddenly starts dancing.
“It's a zip-zap-toe-tap Coinky-Dink World!” she sung a little bit. “One word, all lowercase, no punctuation.” She added.
“How’d you guess that?”
“It was my third guess. My first was my name; uppercase for both Ps: not it. Then I thought it was Shine Like Rainbows, no spaces, uppercase for each first letter: not it. Then I remember he said he liked my new single and put that in, and it worked!” Pinkie Pie quickly explained.
“Your sense of intuition is impeccable as ever.” Twilight Sparkle giggled. “If we had that since the beginning, we’d have half of these mysteries solved the moment we stepped out of the car.”
“Considering we already do in the last three minutes, you're welcome.” Pinkie Pie boasted.
Turning away from Pinkie Pie, Twilight Sparkle goes to the contacts and calls Furlong, putting it up to her ear. After the dial tone, it picks up. “This is Furlong. Come in, Agent Bravo. Another report already? It’s only been half an hour since your previous report.”
“This is Twilight Sparkle, Agent Furlong.”
“Sparkle? How’d you access this device?”
“Make no mistake, your encryption is incredible. Even I had trouble cracking it. Pinkie Pie was taking guesses at the password.”
“Why are you calling me? Where’s Bravo?”
“That’s… why I called you. Bravo is… no longer with us.” Twilight Sparkle broke the news with a softened tone. “He was smiling ‘til the end.”
“Oh… I see.” Furlong sounded slightly surprised. “He was one of our best. It’s a shame to hear this about him.”
“My condolences to you, Furlong.”
“Thank you, Sparkle. Bravo will be dearly missed by S.M.I.L.E.” Furlong said. “Would… would you report what happened to him? His last report left with you separating with Pinkie Pie.”
“Okay…” Twilight Sparkle sighed. “Well, we were on our way to find Torch… without Pinkie Pie.” She started her story solemnly.
As Pinkie Pie looks on, an apparition of the Man of Shadows appears walking beside her. She tries her best not to react to it as to not spook everyone. “Keep… it… up…” it looks at her with double thumbs-up.
“Hey, keep it down.” Pinkie Pie whispers to the Man of Shadows, which Fluttershy picks up on. “You don’t have to backseat my thoughts.”
“Pinkie, did you say something?”
“Uh, nothing, Fluttershy. Just humming.” Pinkie Pie awkwardly smiles, attempting to cover her behaviour.
“Trying… to… help… smile… smile…” the Man of Shadows added, tracing a smile on its face before Pinkie Pie fans the Man of Shadows away into black smoke.
As she does this, her friends look at her awkwardly, even the Bug stopped to look at her. “Hehe. Just got gunk on my gloves.” Pinkie Pie chuckled weirdly.
Twilight Sparkle interrupted herself from her call to look at Pinkie Pie. When the trail picks up, she puts the phone back on her ear. “…And that’s where we are now.” She concluded with Furlong. “By the way, what’s happening in Canterlot?”
“The military mobilized in case Torch comes back. Not my call, if you’re thinking that. Considering your track record, I have my full confidence in you girls.”
“Thank you, Furlong.”
“If that is all, you’re dismissed. Canterlot hopes you come home safe. Furlong out.” Furlong drops the call, and Twilight Sparkle pockets the phone.
After walking for what felt like an hour across rivers, through more woods, and through snowed-over plains, the Bug suddenly stops when they reach the top of a rocky valley. “Hey, why’d you stop?” Rainbow Dash asked the Bug.
The Bug extends its pincer forward, pointing to whatever’s below the valley.
The rest of the group follow her to see below them a rock quarry with a giant cave where Torch is sleeping soundly, sticking the front half of his body out of the cave. Surrounding the entrance are freshly-dug gravel and sparkly gem bits.
“We’ve finally found him.” Twilight Sparkle said in awe.
“It looks like he’s all tuckered out.” Applejack said in awe as she tips her hat.
“Yeah, after rampaging all over our city.” Rainbow Dash groaned.
“He kinda looks cute like this, all snoring smoke outta his nose.” Pinkie Pie cooed.
“Dragons usually take that as an insult.” Ember commented to Pinkie Pie.
“He looks so much scarier from up here.” Fluttershy shivered.
“I think he’s here to fill his tank. I can see gems down there.” Ember noted as she narrows her eyes.
“You were serious about eating gems? I thought you were messing with us again.” Flash Sentry commented.
“So, what’s the plan?” Rainbow Dash asked Twilight Sparkle.
“Thanks to the Bug divulging important information on its abduction, combined with the pony Flash Sentry’s account, we now know that whatever’s controlling Torch is inside his armour, so that’s our main target.” Twilight Sparkle began.
“Again, you’re very much welcome.” Pinkie Pie proudly nodded.
“Dad forged it from really durable metal, but there are two buckles at the sides you can unlatch.” Ember pointed out to the straps under Torch’s armpits fastened by golden plates.
“The Robot and this samurai parasite could be near, guarding Torch.” Sunset Shimmer advised.
“That means we have to split up into two groups: one to combat whatever gets in our way, and another to carefully remove the latches on Torch’s armour on both sides.” Twilight Sparkle continued.
“I’m up for some robot-smashing!” Rainbow Dash volunteered excitedly.
“With the Bug in our party, you should have a better chance of fighting off the Robot.” Twilight Sparkle added.
“And how do we deal with the samurai?” Pinkie Pie shrugs.
“Did everyone forget who’s the captain of the fencing club?” Sunset Shimmer stepped up proudly. “Rarity, blade me.” On command, Rarity produces a fencing sabre out of diamonds and floats it over to Sunset Shimmer, who proceeded to pose with it. “About time I put my skills to good use.”
“Oh, if only I was a dragon. I’d take ‘em both on!” Ember roared.
“So that’s three of us busy. Who’s strippin’ Torch?” Pinkie Pie wondered.
“With them covering us, at least two others will sneak in and unlock both straps. I volunteer first, using my telekinesis to unlock one of them.” Twilight Sparkle continued. “Anyone else willing to get up-close and personal with a dragon?”
“I’d much prefer keeping watch of Spike and Ember. Dogs can only do so much.” Fluttershy said as she backs off.
“If I had a nickel for every time I heard that…” Spike groaned as he rolls his eyes.
“Them latches look mighty big n’ heavy. Luckily for you, I can handle big n’ heavy.” Applejack volunteered.
“I’ll go.” Flash Sentry raised his hand. “If the other me can get that close to a dragon, so can I.”
“Me too! I’ll do whatever I can to help!” Pinkie Pie excitedly waves her hand.
Her friends look at her worriedly, darting their eyes amongst each other as they murmur, confusing Pinkie Pie. “Pinkie, we’re not sure you should go down there.” Fluttershy said.
“I know I said you could come along, but this should be as far as you go.” Ember told Pinkie Pie.
“I can do this! I won’t let the Man of Shadows take over again.” Pinkie Pie insisted. “In fact…” Pinkie Pie turns to the Man of Shadows standing at the edge of the cliff, then her friends, pulling out her pistol by the barrel and presents it to her scared friends. “…When I pulled the trigger myself and started fighting, it was like I was in charge. Even the Man of Shadows tried stopping me, like it wanted to take back control, and it never did!”
“Your transformation was caused by the trauma of losing Juggler. You may not have lost control to the Man of Shadows, but you lost control of your emotions. Imagine what would happen if you were to see us hurt bad down there.” Twilight Sparkle refuted. “The darkness isn’t something to be taken lightly, nor something one can control.”
“But what if the Man of Shadows isn’t who we think he is? We found out that the Bug’s really just some poor girl who turned into a monster. What if the Man of Shadows isn’t just this creeping darkness?” Pinkie Pie wondered. “Before the Bug found me, I was talking to the Man of Shadows alone in the forest, and—”
“You… talked to him?” Twilight Sparkle said in surprise.
“Yeah, and he sounded… concerned. He kept going on and on about how important my friends are and to keep smi…” Pinkie Pie stops herself to prevent another headache. “Not only that… I don’t think it even knows it what is. It said it can’t remember stuff, like it has amnesia.”
“It could be a trick! We have plenty of experience with villains who lie and manipulate people to do whatever they want.” Rainbow Dash argued. “Sunset, Cinch, Gloriosa, I can go on!”
“It’s just saying what you wanna hear just so it can get close to Ember’s dad!” Spike added.
“It could even be mind-controlling you Dazzlings-style with weird magical suggestion stuff!” Flash Sentry added.
“No, wait, I just realized something…” Sunset Shimmer butted in. “The Bug. Pinkie Pie said herself that the Man of Shadows stopped her from finishing off the Bug the first time, instead removing the collar. We thought it was his minion, but then we learned she’s a normal girl under there. Thanks to it, an innocent life was saved.” She explained as she looks at the Bug.
“And just now, Pinkie said the Man of Shadows tried to stop her rampage. It might just be looking out for her… for some reason.” Rarity added.
“And there we thought she was tryna stop it, when’s the other way ‘round.” Applejack concluded.
“See? He’s not as bad as we thought! I dunno why, but it’s really gotten friendly suddenly. I think all that Magic of Friendship is starting to rub off on him.” Pinkie Pie shrugged.
“Regardless of the true nature of the Man of Shadows, we can’t risk another scare like what happened just now.” Twilight Sparkle concluded. “I’m sorry, Pinkie Pie, but you must stay with Fluttershy, Spike, and Ember up here where you’ll be safe.”
“And I.” Rarity came to Pinkie Pie’s side. “I take it back. Everyone can go ahead without me. If Pinkie Pie needs company, I’d be more than happy to give her just that.”
“Really?” Pinkie Pie said to her.
“Really.” Rarity nodded. “Also, it wouldn’t be a good idea to leave Fluttershy defenceless against a monster ready to pop out of its cage.” Rarity looks at Fluttershy hugging the dogs tightly for comfort as she shivers in fear.
“Fluttershy, could you let go?” Spike asked as Fluttershy tightly wraps her arms around his ribs.
“I never thought hugs can get this constrictive!” Ember groaned as she too is hugged tightly by Fluttershy.
“Do you really think you can handle me if I ever freak out and pull the trigger?” Pinkie Pie asked Rarity seriously.
“It’ll be as easy as a hug.” Rarity giggled before hugging Pinkie Pie tight. As Pinkie Pie enjoys this embrace with giggles, she’s spooked to find the Man of Shadows also hugging them, too.
“Don’t worry about sittin’ back. You’ve helped us plenty already.” Applejack assured Pinkie Pie.
“Pinkie, I promise, once we deal with Torch, we’ll find a way to free you from the Man of Shadows.” Twilight Sparkle assured Pinkie Pie.
“And maybe get to the bottom of what he really is, if not the Pony of Shadows under a different name.” Sunset Shimmer added.
“If that’s all our roles sorted, then let’s roll out!” Rainbow Dash rallied with a fist pump.
“Yeah, we’ve wasted enough time already! Let’s go save ourselves a dragon!” Flash Sentry pumps his fists.
“Good luck, guys.” Pinkie Pie told them as she gives them a slow wave.
The group quickly rushes down the hill, leaving the rest behind. As Pinkie Pie and Rarity sit down at the edge, they realize someone’s missing, and they turn around to see Fluttershy and the dogs sitting a few metres away from them. “Just a precaution!” she softly yelled.
“In case we need a head-start to run away!” Spike added.
“I’ll still bite the Man of Shadows if he shows up!” Ember shouted.
“It’s just us two, then.” Rarity giggled.
“Make that three.” Pinkie Pie added, pointing to the Man of Shadows sitting beside Rarity.
“Oh, um, yes.” Rarity fearfully looks at her empty side, and the Man of Shadows looks back.
“Nice… to… meet…you… Rarity…” the Man of Shadows goes for a handshake.
“It said hi.” Pinkie Pie interpreted to Rarity.
“Um, hello.” Rarity stammered to the empty space beside her. Then, she quickly turns to Pinkie Pie. “So… he talks to you often?”
“Yeah.” Pinkie Pie said plainly. “It’s so weird now. First it kept screaming in my head so much I thought I’d explode, now it’s telling me nice things, like we’re better together as friends, and to find you guys, and keep… keep smiling.”
“Smile… smile…” the Man of Shadows traces a smile on his face.
“Very curious indeed. From what little I read from the princess’ message in the journal; it was not at all like that when she fought it.” Rarity commented.
Pinkie Pie looks at Rarity’s side where the Man of Shadow sits quietly, looking down at Torch. When it turns its head to her, she quickly turns away.
“Pinkie…”
Pinkie Pie again turns to the space beside Rarity to find the Man of Shadows gone, but turns to her right to find it’s sitting directly next to her, getting spooked by its sudden appearance.
“Pinkie… I… am… sorry…”
“Sorry… for what?”
“I… am… sorry… for… everything… possessing… you… the… nightmares… scaring… friends… I… didn’t… mean… it…”
“What’s he saying?” Rarity asked.
“He’s trying to apologize for everything. I think he’s actually genuine about it.” Pinkie Pie interpreted to Rarity. “What do you think about all this?” she asked Rarity.
“Try… accepting his apology?” Rarity suggested.
“You saying I should make friends with the darkness?”
“We do have a habit of forgiving most villains we meet.” Rarity chuckled.
Pinkie Pie chuckled along. “If you really mean it, apology accepted. Just, don’t try any of that from now on.”
“Pinkie… thank… you…” the Man of Shadows nodded in acknowledgement. He extends his hand for a handshake. “Friends…?”
“Uh, yeah… sure.” Pinkie Pie nodded uncertainly as she motions to shake his hand, though to Rarity it appears she’s shaking the air.
“How… to… get… friends’… trust…?”
Remembering how the Bug not only saved her friends, but found her in the forest, Pinkie Pie thought of something. “Maybe… do something nice?”
“Something… nice…?”
“Yeah, a helping hand goes farther than you can dream, after all.” Pinkie Pie added.
“Look, There! There they are!” she pointed to the quarry where they see six figures run across the gravel.
“You go, girls! Be the heroes you know you are!” Pinkie Pie cheered on like her usual self.
“Hero…?” the Man of Shadows pondered. He sees Pinkie Pie standing up and waving thumbs-up at her friends, so he slowly curls his fingers and extends his thumbs. He looks down and extend the thumbs-up to them. “Go… hero…”
To be continued…