“Uuuugh…” Pinkie said getting up “My head hurts….wait…. Why can’t I hear what I’m saying?” Pinkie asked getting up, all she could hear was… nothing…
“H-hey, who turned off the lights?” Rainbow got up and looked around but her pupils were discolored.
“Ugh… what happened?...” is what Twilight wanted to say but it came out as nothing, her voice was gone “?!” Twilight got up and tried to yell but her voice wouldn’t come.
“Guys seriously if you locked me in a dark room or something as a prank I am NOT amused!” Rainbow shouted as she stumbled around trying to feel for anything and she wound up tripping on Applejack.
“Ow! Watch it!” AJ said getting up.
“Sorry! Can’t see where I’m going in this darkness,” Rainbow said.
“What?” AJ asked.
“I said, I can’t see where I’m going in this darkness!” Rainbow said louder.
“What?!” AJ asked again.
“Ugh! I said… I CAN’T SEE!” Rainbow shouted back.
“Ah can’t hear ya!” AJ said back.
Meanwhile Fluttershy and Rarity got up and Fluttershy looked around panicked.
“Where did everypony go?! I-I can’t see!” Fluttershy cried.
“It’s ok darling, I’m here,” Rarity would have said if she could speak, upon realizing she’s mute now she began to scream in fright silently.
Zecora got up and saw them all panicking, instead of freaking out like them she simply listened, she could hear, and she could clearly see, so she tried her voice… and it didn’t come…
She sighed and trotted over to Twilight who was still trying to make some sort of noise out of her mouth, and failing, she patted her on the shoulder, pointed at the other ponies, and gestured that they needed to calm down.
Twilight nodded and tried to call to them, only to sigh when she remembered she was mute now.
Zecora spotted some rocks and clapped them together repeatedly getting all but the deaf one's attention.
“What was that?!” Fluttershy said fearfully.
Rarity saw Twilight was trying to get their attention and she put her hoof around Fluttershy’s back.
“Eeep!” Fluttershy jumped.
Rarity wondered how to help the blind ones and saw Applejack, she trotted over and poked her and AJ looked at her.
“Ya need somethin?!” AJ said loudly as she was deaf.
Rarity pointed at her mouth and then at AJ’s mouth.
“Ah, ah get it,” AJ having done charades with Rarity before and knew she wanted her to be her mouth.
Rarity seeing that Rainbow and Fluttershy were blind now, she gestured to both of them and then to Twilight.
“Rainbow, Shy, Rares is sayin ya need to let her guide you to Twilight,” AJ said.
“O-ok,” Fluttershy said.
“Why doesn’t she tell me then?” Rainbow asked.
“Ah assume ya said something snarky Rainbow, ah think ah’ve gone more deaf than Granny Smith and Rares might be mute, either that or ah’m not hearin her talk,” AJ said.
“Gotcha… so, little help here?” Rainbow got up and held out her hoof.
“Ah’ll help ya,” AJ said as she grabbed their hooves and led them to Twilight.
“You got us here Twi, can ya help us out?” AJ asked.
Twilight kept trying to communicate but she was mute now, before she could lose her mind about how she was now unable to communicate a proper strategy she heard some noises and turned to see Spike and Starlight exiting a bamboo hut.
“Ow…” Spike said before seeing the others and going over to them with Starlight.
“Girls? Are you okay?” Starlight asked.
Twilight was about to say something but couldn’t and Zecora just shook her head no.
“Why aren’t you guys talking?” Spike asked.
“What?!” Pinkie called.
“Agh! Not so loud Pinkie you startled me,” Spike said.
Twilight’s eyes widened and she went up to Spike and Starlight and pointed at her ears, mouth, and eyes.
“What?” Spike asked.
“I think she’s asking us something,” Starlight said.
Twilight nodded and pointed at her throat and mouthed some words and then shook her hooves.
“Uhm… your bad at singing? No you got a frog in your throat! Ooor… telling a joke?” Spike said trying to guess it.
“Spike, I think she can’t speak at all,” Starlight said worriedly.
“What?” Spike said.
Twilight nodded and pointed at Rarity and shook her head again.
“And Rarity can’t either,” Starlight said.
“Oh no,” Spike said looking worried.
Twilight then pointed at Starlight and then made a drawing motion.
“Got it,” Starlight said before fetching a stick and giving it to Twilight.
Twilight began drawing a message in the dirt.
“I can’t speak, Chrysalis took our senses, but not yours, how? Why?” Twilight asked through the message.
“I think we somehow evaded the spell… but I have no idea how,” Starlight said.
“Yeah,” Spike said.
“Alright, first we need to find out who has what,” Starlight said before shouting at them “Who can hear this?!” Starlight tested.
Everypony but AJ and Pinkie raised their hoof.
“Alright, Pinkie and AJ are deaf, and I can tell Rainbow and Fluttershy are blind now… this could be worse…” Starlight said nervously.
“And Rarity, Twilight, and Zecora are mute now, ok….” Spike said
“So who’s what exactly?!” AJ asked.
“What?!” Pinkie asked.
“This’ll be hard,” Spike said.
After becoming acquainted with their new states of being the group tried to proceed, when Rainbow and Shy kept wandering off the group decided to tie strings around their hooves and Applejack.
“Well… this is great… How the hay am I going to be in the Wonderbolts if I can’t see where I’m flying?!” Rainbow said sounding upset.
“How am I going to care for my animals without my eyesight?” Fluttershy said.
“This isn’t permanent, you’ll see,” Starlight said.
“Ah hope me an Pinkie can get our hearing back, otherwise our jobs back home’ll get alot more complicated,” AJ said.
“What?!” Pinkie asked.
“Pinkie!” Rainbow sighed.
“What?! I can’t hear for some reason!” Pinkie said.
“What conversation are we havin right now?!” AJ asked.
“Talk about deaf leading the blind…” Rainbow sighed.
“What!?” Pinkie asked.
“Ugh…” Rainbow said.
“Everypony quiet! I need to focus!” Starlight said before focusing on the map.
“Be real, we couldn’t beat Chrysalis and her new powers with our senses, how are we going to do it like this?” Rainbow asked.
“We’ll find a way,” Starlight said.
Zecora put a hoof on Starlight’s shoulder comfortingly.
“I just don’t know what to do… What are we going to do against Chrysalis?” Starlight asked.
Zecora nodded and made a gesture with her mouth and writing something.
“Got it,” Starlight nodded and she floated a stick over and Zecora began writing in the dirt like Twilight did.
“Hold up! Zecora’s writin somethin!” AJ said loudly.
“Ease up on the volume, I’m blind not deaf!” Rainbow said.
“Can’t hear ya,” AJ reminded RD.
“Dangit…” Rainbow sighed.
“We should listen to what she has to say,” Fluttershy waved her hoof around until she found Rainbow’s shoulder.
“Gotcha,” Rainbow said.
“Zecora says that we need to stop focusing on the senses that we lack, and instead on the senses we still have,” Starlight said.
“Sounds like a good speech, wish ah could hear it!” AJ said.
“What did AJ say?!” Pinkie asked.
Starlight sighed and pointed at the message Zecora was writing and the deaf ones turned their eyes to it.
“Ah, good point!” AJ said.
“How do we do that?” Rainbow asked and Rarity gave a look that asked the same thing.
Zecora continued writing
“She says, wow that’s pretty good mud writing, um, she says that we need to stop and acclimate to our other senses, ah I see, she means we need to stop trying to push through the senses we lack, like Fluttershy, your blind now, but what about your hearing?” Starlight asked.
“Hmm…” Fluttershy quieted.
“What? What’s going on?” Rainbow asked.
“Shh!” Starlight hushed her.
“....” Fluttershy listened and… heard a birdcall, it was distant… she turned to where the noise came from “There’s a bird nearby,” Fluttershy said.
“What bird? I didn’t hear one,” Spike said.
“Wow, if I quiet my mind I can hear things more clearly than before,” Fluttershy said in awe.
“Really? Let me try…” Rainbow tried to focus on her other senses, but nothing happened “I dunno, it doesn’t seem to be working,” Rainbow said.
“It may take some work, what about the rest of you?” Starlight asked.
Twilight looked speculative and thought to herself.
‘If this is true then If I focus my eyes…” Twilight tuned out the others, focused on the distance, and noticed her vision improved somewhat.
She saw birds in the distance, the very far distance.
She nodded at Starlight, and after AJ and Pinkie read the message they decided to focus themselves.
“Ah, smell somethin… Rarity’s cherry scented mane conditioner,” AJ said with surprise.
Rarity nodded.
“This could work, girls, we need to walk and talk, but I think we still have a chance,” Starlight said as she led the group along with Spike.
“I sure hope so,” Rainbow said.
“Starlight, I don’t know about this…” Rainbow said, she couldn’t see but she could tell she was standing at the edge of a cliff alongside Fluttershy.
“We need air support in this, you both need to fly efficiently again,” Starlight said.
“Hard to be an efficient flyer when I’m freaking blind, what if I hit something?!” Rainbow said.
“I’m scared,” Fluttershy said.
“But, suggesting you guys paid attention, remember what I told you during the study lesson, Pegasi can sense weather magic and attune it to their senses, so if your vision is impaired, you can use the wind to track your position,” Starlight said.
“I didn’t think it’d actually happen,” Rainbow said nervously.
“You just have to trust me Rainbow,” Starlight said.
“Ok ok! Here goes nothing!” Rainbow held Fluttershy’s hoof and jumped off and took to the air with her, they immediately started panicking
“I can’t see!” Rainbow said flying in circles.
“Aaaah!” Fluttershy screamed.
“Calm yourselves! Remember, sense your weather magic! And attune it to your senses!” Starlight called out.
“I-i’ll try!” Rainbow said and she and Shy went on to slow and flew straight.
Twilight wanted to warn them that they were headed right for a tree, but Starlight shook her head no.
“They gotta do this,” Starlight said.
“Ok… listen and feel…” Rainbow said…
“Sense your magic…” Fluttershy said.
They quieted their minds, and they found that without visual distractions they could hear the wind more clearly, sense the magic around themselves easier… they could sense the wind flowing around something… something ahead of them!
The two managed to swoop around the tree before they hit it.
“Wow!” Spike said.
“Great!” Starlight said.
“We-... we did it!” Fluttershy exclaimed with a breath of relief.
“Thank Celestia…” Rainbow said.
“You both cannot hear so you’ll have to rely on your other senses,” Starlight wrote down in the dirt.
“How’s that?” AJ asked.
“Simply shut your eyes and wait, you’ll see,” Starlight said.
“I dunno,” Pinkie said.
“Trust me,” Starlight wrote.
“K!” Pinkie said.
“Ah trust ya,” AJ said shutting her eyes along with Pinkie they waited… and waited… and waited… until AJ felt a brush against her side.
“Huh?!” AJ spun to see it was a leaf.
“Sense of touch has improved,” Starlight said to herself as she had levitated the leaf.
“Hah!” Pinkie caught a tiny rock that was going to be dropped on her using her Pinkie sense.
“My Pinkie sense is a sixth sense, I almost forgot about that!” Pinkie said.
“Then we have what we need,” Starlight said.
The group hurried through the forest.
“Aren’t we gonna do Twilight and Rarity?” Pinkie asked.
Starlight shook her head “No time! We need to hurry, Chrysalis has a big headstart on us!”
“How can we be lost?!” Chrysalis shouted as she trotted through the woods.
“Well forgive us if the last time we were at the second statues was centuries ago,” Uk chittered.
“It has been awhile, we must get our bearings,” Ak clarified.
“Well hurry it up!” Chrysalis snapped.
“I am starting to hate her more than Uk…” Ek said with a sigh.
“Wait! Pause here!” Ak said and Chrysalis did.
“What? Why?” Chrysalis asked.
“I recognize this rock,” Ak said pointing to a boulder.
“...Seriously?...” Chrysalis sighed.
“Now now, you’d be surprised how often a found rock is the clue to your location, get up high,” Ek said.
“Ok,” Chrysalis said flying up and skimming around.
“Ah, if the rock faces east, and we are facing west then we must head, that way!” Ek said pointing in the direction of a mountain.
“Very well, you’d better be right about this,” Chrysalis said before getting ready to fly off before hearing noises and she turned to see in the distance the six and friends were seen running towards their location.
“What?! How did they find me?! I robbed them of their senses!” Chrysalis demanded.
“Do you have to shout everything you say?” Uk sighed.
“Hmm, perhaps it is because some of them don’t have any affliction,” Ak said and he gestured to the pink unicorn and the dragon.
“How?” Chrysalis demanded.
“Worry not, we have assistance, remember?” Ek said.
“Right,” Chrysalis said before summoning the three monkey golems and some wraiths.
“Capture the purple unicorn and dragon, and bring them to me, they should get to witness the end of pony kind,” Chrysalis said.
“Oook!” The three golems grunted and ran off.
“Now, let us move on,” Chrysalis said as she flew off.
The group got over the hillside and made their way to the next part of the forest.
“Are we there yet?” RD demanded.
“No!” Spike said.
“Well let me know when!” Rainbow said as she tried to keep up with the others.
“According to the map we’re almost there… give or take a few hills,” Starlight said.
“Hmm?” AJ saw something ahead “Heads up! We got company!” Applejack called.
“Huh?” Starlight skidded to a pause when she saw the golems exiting the forest.
“Oh great,” Starlight said.
Twilight lit her horn and fired magic blasts at the three golems but the magic blasts dissipated and the golems charged.
“Magic doesn’t work on them, remember?” Starlight said as she dodged.
‘Sorry’ Twilight mouthed before avoiding the golems as well and the group scattered.
“Fighting time? Bring it!” Rainbow used her weather senses to locate her foe and she lunged and bucked them.
“OW!” AJ grunted as she tumbled.
“Oops! Sorry AJ,” Rainbow said.
Fluttershy flew up higher and used the stare… on Pinkie.
“Aaah! Scary eyes!” Pinkie jumped.
“Oops!” Fluttershy turned off the stare.
Rarity ran over to a golem and fired a magic shot but the golem swatted it away at Rainbow.
“Rainbow! Look out!” Rarity would have cried if she could talk and the blast hit the brash pegasus and sent her tumbling.
“Ow! Who shot that?!” Rainbow demanded.
The three golems looked at eachother and shrugged before walking past them and toward Starlight and Spike.
“They're after us?!” Spike asked.
“I get the feeling why,” Starlight said as she grabbed Spike in her magic and took to the air with her levitation magic and got out of their reach.
At least until a monkey wraith blindsided her and sent her to the ground.
“Aaah!” Starlight cried as she and Spike fell into the arms of the golems.
Twilight yelled for them but she had no voice, so she teleported up to them with Zecora at her side and they tried to get them out but the Golem with free hands swatted them away.
“TWILIGHT!” Spike cried as the golems vanished in a puff of smoke with their prisoners in tow.
“NO!” Pinkie cried as she saw them disappear as she leaped for them and she hit the ground “GUYS! They kidnapped Spike and Starlight!” Pinkie shouted to her friends.
“Oh no…” Fluttershy said fearfully.
“As in our friends who weren’t afflicted?.... Not good…” Applejack said getting up and the group gathered.
“Well… this went from bad to worse, without Starlight and Spike… we’re lost in the forest…” Rainbow said fearfully.
“Nopony give up hope, we can still do this,” AJ said.
Twilight nodded and gestured Applejack to read aloud what she was writing in the dirt.
‘We may be deaf, blind, and mute, but we’re not without hope, remember what Starlight said,’ Twilight wrote and Applejack relayed it.
“What do you mean? Starlight and Spike were our other senses for this, without them we’ll be lost for sure,” Fluttershy said.
“Not if we remember what she taught us, we have to use our other senses,” Applejack read.
Zecora nodded and pointed at Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy.
Twilight nodded “Rainbow, Fluttershy, your up,” AJ said.
“Ok!” Rainbow said and she grabbed Fluttershy’s hoof and led her into the air as far as the ropes would allow and she tapped into her weather sense using her pegasus magic.
“Sense anything?” Rainbow asked.
“No…. wait…” Fluttershy could feel the air currents… and smell something… something… non pony…
“It’s coming downwind from us!” Fluttershy pointed.
Twilight nodded to the others and when they got back down they hurried off.
Except Rainbow who ran in a different direction and tripped.
“Uh wait… which way again?” Rainbow sheepishly asked and Twilight facehoofed.
Starlight and Spike were tied to a pair of rocks and were being carried by the golems.
“Chrysalis you fiend! Let us go!” Starlight demanded.
“Hahaha! When you're about to witness my triumph? Not a chance, I will let you keep your sense simply so you’ll be able to see, hear, and scream at the end of Ponykind,” Chrysalis said.
“Twilight and the others will stop you!” Spike said.
“As if I have anything to worry about from seven mares who have been robbed of their senses,” Chrysalis said.
“You think their disabilities make them weak, but they have ways of making themselves stronger!” Starlight said.
“Either way it is too late, we have arrived,” Chrysalis said as they found themselves at the second statues, three giant monkey statues covering their mouth, ears, and eyes.
“No…” Starlight said.
“Yes,” Chrysalis said.
“Now speak the rhyme to the statues, and end this!” Ek cheered.
“Yeah yeah, end it!” Uk hopped around.
“Don’t!” Starlight cried.
“Ek, the one who listens, Ak the one who watches, Uk, the one who speaks, I summon thee to this shrine of darkness to do as I seek, ARISE ARISE ARISE!” Chrysalis cheered and the statues moved their hands from their mouths, ears, and eyes and a loud rumble filled the area.
“What’s happening!?” Spike asked.
“Something bad!” Starlight said and then the entire shrine suddenly lifted off of the ground and floated into the air.
“I’ve done it! Now the monkey’s power is mine!” Chrysalis said.
“AHHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!” Uk, Ak and Ek chittered as the statue began floating away.
“Now… to Canterlot, and then Equestria!” Ek said.
“Can we do it now?” Uk asked.
“Not yet, we need to take care of the Princesses first,” Ek said.
“Aww,” Uk said.
As the group made their way over a hill crest they paused as they saw the flying statue.
“WHOA! Flying monkeys DO exist!” Pinkie said.
“What? Where?!” Rainbow looked around.
Twilight pointed at the statues and nodded to the others.
“Twi sayin this is it, let’s go!” AJ said and the others nodded before they ran off towards the statue.