Book 2: Equestria Lost
Chapter 26
Twilight looked up to see Apollo Dawn looking down at her, a mix of concern, pity, and admiration in his eyes. “You did it,” he said, simply.
“But I failed... I failed again.” She replied. She hadn't been able to keep the shield up long enough... one of the wolves had gotten through... it almost got Sunny... She had almost lost another friend!
Apollo lifted her to her feet, seeing the concern on her face. “You held it long enough. And we'd be lost without you here. That was amazing!”
She looked away, shyly, “It wasn't that much... I'm not very good at that one, or I would have been able to hold it longer... And Shimmer helped.” Wait... Shimmer! Was she okay? Was the spell too much for her?
Apollo must have seen the sudden concern in her eyes, “Shimmer's fine. Albie's over there taking care of her.”
She allowed herself to relax a little. “Whew... I'm glad that's over... I think I'm totally worn out... no more magic for me for a while!”
Apollo's chuckle warmed her heart, but then another one added in with it... It wasn't one of the crew... but still, it was strangely familiar...
“Oh, you have no idea how glad I am to hear you say that my little dear,” a voice said softly from the shadows of the town square. “I was so disappointed when our times together in Canterlot and Manehattan were cut short by teleportation...”
Twilight suddenly felt like her insides had been replaced by a block of ice. “Pestilence,” she whispered.
“Ah, she remembers me, how sweet,” the voice replied with another chuckle, “You know, of all your friends, the yellow one was the most delicious... and the rainbow one put up the most fight... but the pink one was the hardest to track down... had the worst habit of disappearing into impossible places... but, eventually, I got them all.”
Twilight's lip started to quiver and her eyes began to tear up a little. She had suspected it, sure... But she had still harbored some hope that her friends were okay.
“But you... you my little dear...” the voice paused for a moment before resuming, “you were the hardest of all. Every time I thought I almost had you... only to see the trail go cold at another teleport mark...
“You're a master of evasion, sure,” the voice said, “but now your time's up!” The draconequus's form burst out from the shadows into the firelight in front of Twilight. “One last element of harmony to dispose of, and here she is! ... I just hope you don't whine about it like the white one did... ugh.”
Pestilence drew slowly closer to her exhausted target, but stopped when Apollo jumped up in between the two.
“She's a part of my crew now, creature,” he shouted, “and I don't let my crew get hurt!”
Twilight winced. She didn't want to see even more friends lost to Pestilence. “No Apollo... just go... she's too much for you... for any of us.”
“No can do, Twi,” he replied, “I stick with my people.”
“And I stick with my friend!” A little yellow filly jumped up next to Apollo.
“Hmm... all very touching,” the looming draconequus said, “but my pursuit ends here... and there's nothing left in the world that can stop me, now is there? I killed your pony princesses, even if I didn't get to keep them as playthings... and I killed the elements of harmony one by one... except for one...” she licked her lips hungrily, and Twilight could smell her stench. “the last. ... magic.”
Twilight expected to feel fear, dread maybe... or perhaps despair... but somehow, as she looked at Apollo Dawn and Sunny Daze in front of her... she didn't... it was some other odd feeling... a familiar feeling she had last felt when...
She looked up at Pestilence defiantly, a spark crossing her eyes. “You think you can destroy the elements of harmony that easily?” She pushed through in between her two friends, so she was standing in front, with one on each side. “I learned the value of generosity when I helped take care of Sunny even when I was hurt and broken. Apollo Dawn's loyalty and honesty pulled us all together and got us this far... and Sunny Daze healed my heart with laughter and kindness when I couldn't go on.”
Pestilence looked a little worried as Twilight continued, “We three ponies are the new elements of harmony!” As she said this, a brightly shining ball of violet magical energy began to circle around her, and another blue one joined it. Sunny and Apollo experienced the same thing, though they both looked much more confused by it.
As the lights broke away from the ponies and began to circle Pestilence instead, she began to panic, but she couldn't escape. Every time she tried to flee, she would find herself swatted back by a quickly moving ball of magical energy.
“No! It's not possible! You can't do this! I did everything perfectly!” She cried, as the orbs around her spun faster and faster, blending into a single rainbow and Twilight, Sunny and Apollo began to float in the air. Their eyes all opened as one, showing not the eyes that should have been there, but blindingly bright white light that quickly grew to engulf everything in view.
Gradually, a familiar and comforting sight, the draconequus's body began changing to stone, from the ground up, slowly freezing the creature into a petrified stare of shock and anger.
* * *
Twilight Sparkle slowly awoke... feeling a familiar ache along with the growing headache of overtaxing her magic. She was laying on a blanket, she noticed, and the sun had risen almost to its highest point. As she turned her head to the side, she saw Sunny Daze lying next to her, already rising up. She turned to look the other direction and found Apollo laying back with his hands over his eyes.
“The elements of harmony are nice to have, to be sure... but do they have to hurt so much when you used them?” he asked.
Twilight just struggled up herself and leaned over to embrace him, Sunny unexpectedly joining in.
She looked up, startled to see Pestilence's cringing stone form set up on the pedestal of the fountain, now filled with ashes rather than water.
“We thought that would be a good spot for it,” Pebbles spoke up from next to the fountain.
Indeed it is, Twilight thought, considering the symbolism of the ashes there instead of water... It hit her a moment later. “Wait, is everything back to normal, did the elements fix everything?” she cried out, quickly, and perhaps a little desperately.
Albatross floated down close by. “No.” He looked dejected. “We talked with the ponies in the town... all the ponies who were still sick are healed now... but the dead ones are still gone, and all the other damage is still there.”
Twilight sighed. She knew why. The only magic Pestilence had used was creating the disease... it had spread and done its damage on its own. The elements had taken the disease away with its creator... but the effects of it were still there. Crestfallen, she looked up at her new friends, “What do we do now?”
Sunny looked up at her, still in the group hug. “What we always do!”
“Move on, move forward,” Apollo said.
Twilight looked around her. The world was still in shambles... so much had been lost. Even with that monster defeated, how could they ever hope for things to return to normal?
* * *
End of Book Two