Book 2: Equestria Lost
Chapter 16
“Twilight, wait up!”
Twilight Sparkle turned around to see Sunny lagging behind. She slowed her pace to let the short-legged little filly catch up, but she still kept on trotting down the street, scanning buildings as she passed by. Manehattan was a challenge, of course, given its huge size and complicated streets, but slowly, methodically, she had been getting it completely scanned.
Like most of the cities she had been to so far, Manehattan showed some signs of life... nowhere near the bustle that should be here, but occasionally she would pick up a few ponies in her scan of a building. Strangely though, the ponies in this town weren't rushing out to greet her... they stayed safe and hidden inside their homes. What were the ponies of this city so afraid of? There didn't seem to be anything wrong; in fact, this city seemed to be in better shape than most she had been to... no major signs of damage to buildings, no corpses in the road. What had them so scared?
Yet again shrugging it off, Twilight resolved to find a few and ask them... once she was done with her scan. It wouldn't be long now; she only had a few more blocks to go... which might explain how her pace had picked up in eagerness. Finally, Sunny caught up next to her, going at a full run to keep up with Twilight's still-fast trot... but the filly didn't complain – Twilight couldn't ask for a better companion for her search.
Turning what would be the last corner, Twilight came to a dead stop. “Miss me?” A sultry voice asked from above.
Twilight and Sunny both looked up in horror to see a draconequus hovering above them. Gripped with fear, Twilight fired off a fast teleportation spell, only to reappear right back where she and Sunny had started. As she looked in the direction she had tried to go, she could see a ripple of light traveling upwards and outwards... a spherical shell around the whole city block, trapping Twilight and Sunny inside.
Twilight backed away fearfully as the draconequus edged closer. “Not this time, precious pony.” her voice slid disconcertingly into Twilight's ears. “This time, you're mine!”
In desperation, Twilight fired off a bright flare of unfocused magical light, quickly running off with Sunny as the blinded monster cried out in pain and surprise. She rounded the corner again and headed down the street, only to quickly be stopped short by the spherical shield cutting across it. She took Sunny with her, ducking into an alley quickly before the draconequus came around the corner.
“There's no escape this time, little one,” that horribly smooth voice came through again, “So just keep running! I like the taste of fear in a pony!”
Twilight knew Pestilence was wrong... she could escape, but she would need more time... she needed a distraction.
* * *
Sunny Daze ran out into the street, catching Pestilence's attention just as Twilight had planned. Quickly taking off into a run, she led the draconequus away, giving Twilight the time she needed to complete her spell. The filly couldn't run terribly fast though, and she had no wings to compete with those of the draconequus. She quickly succumbed to the monster's greater speed, Pestilence grabbing her around the middle with one giant eagle claw and holding the screaming filly above her head like a prize.
“Oh Twilight Sparkle! Come out Twilight Sparkle! Come out and I'll let your friend to live!”
* * *
With one final grunt of concentration, Twilight put the final parts of her spell in place. Pestilence had trapped her in here with a three dimensional sphere... but Twilight Sparkle was as well-educated as she was magical... she knew there were more dimensions than that. Holding Sunny close, she walked up to the edge of the sphere, and horn glowing, she simply stepped around it. To somepony watching form the outside, she might have seemed to vanish for a moment and reappear on the other side, something that should be impossible with a magical shield of this kind... but not impossible for a unicorn as well-studied as Twilight!
Confident now, Twilight led Sunny back to the street through another alleyway, so they could see Pestilence still inside the shield, holding Sunny Daze aloft. They drew the creature's attention with a friendly wave before Twilight removed the power from her illusion spell. The Sunny Daze in Pestilence's grip suddenly vanished, leaving her talon to close on a quickly dispersing cloud of yellow dust. Before the draconequus could even cry out in rage, Twilight and Sunny vanished from the street, teleporting away.
* * *