Twilight stretched out her back, the early morning rays of Celestia’s sun peeking through the window and rousing her from unconsciousness. She hopped down from the bed and brushed her mane in the vanity mirror, a contented smile on her face. A quick stop to the attached restroom to clean her teeth and she trotted out into the hallway. Pausing mid-step, her eyes lingered to the left where Rarity, Applejack, and Pinkie Pie’s suites were further down the hall. Timidly she shifted her gaze to the right, violet eyes warily lingering over Fluttershy’s door. Her smile faltered, turning to a small grimace. Inhaling deeply through her snout, she cantered to the right. Lifting a hoof, she tapped gently on the stone door.
A bleary turquoise eye looked around the cracked door as it opened. “Oh, good morning Twilight.” Straightening her mane with a hoof, Fluttershy yawned and swung the door all the way open. “Come in.”
“Thanks Fluttershy.” An edge of apprehension colored Twilight’s voice as she stepped carefully over the threshold. “I talked to Rainbow Dash last night.”
Fluttershy stepped away from the vanity, dropping the hairbrush she had picked up. “Oh? She’s okay isn’t she?”
Twilight smiled. “Yeah, she is. Agmundr eventually listened to her and she got Tyr’s Hoof from him.” At the mention of the artifact, the pegasus silently shuddered, a rolling spasm racing down her spine. Tensing her shoulders, she bit her lip and forced a smile.
“I’m glad she’s okay,” she nearly whispered, picking the hairbrush back up.
“Fluttershy…you, uh, you might want to sit down.” Muscles rigid, the quiet mare slowly turned to face Twilight, brush still held in a hoof. Her mouth was frozen in a neutral line, but her eyes were wide. “It’s about the Element of War.” As Fluttershy winced, Twilight grimaced, swallowing the lump in her throat. “Rainbow Dash found something out from Agmundr Vilmar. Something I have to tell you.”
Fluttershy sat gently. She already knew what Twilight was going to tell her and did not react to the revelation as the unicorn put the suspicion to words and shattered any fantasy of denial she had tried to hold on to. She nodded solemnly as the unicorn finished, her gaze settled on the floor. A lavender hoof caught her chin and brought her eyes to bear on violet. A weak smile on her lips, Twilight gently said, “Rainbow dictated a letter she wanted me to share with you.”
A flash of anger crossed the yellow pegasus’ face. Seeing the surprised recognition in Twilight’s eyes, the mare winced at herself. Biting her lip, she looked away. “…I’m sorry.”
“Fluttershy…” Twilight rested a hoof on a butter-colored shoulder. “This is what I meant about not shutting yourself away from us. We’re here to talk to, even if what you need to talk about is being angry at Rainbow Dash.”
She shut her eyes tightly, her head still turned away. “But it’s not fair to Rainbow. She didn’t want to die. It’s not her fault this happened.” She took a shuddering breath. “…Bad things just happen sometimes.”
A moment of silence hung in the air. Twilight closed her eyes and took a slow, deep breath. “Just…Just listen to what she said, okay? I think…I hope it’ll help.”
Twilight quietly recited Rainbow Dash’s letter back to Fluttershy. The pegasus’ shoulders and wings slowly drooped as the message went on. When the unicorn finished, Fluttershy was trembling.
After a while, the yellow mare found her voice. “…Rainbow said all that?”
“Yes.”
“It doesn’t even sound like her. She’s never been so…articulate.” She chewed her lower lip, brow creasing in thought.
The purple mare nodded slowly. “She’s…” Twilight looked away, her eyes growing distant over a vague frown. “She’s changed, Fluttershy. This whole experience has changed her. It’s…” a smile graced her lips, “…mostly for the better. She’s so gentle and thoughtful now.” She became lost in contented reminiscence until Fluttershy spoke again.
“Do you think she’s right? I don’t feel strong…” The pegasus was meeting her gaze again. Twilight smiled and pulled her friend into a hug.
“Yes, I do. And she’s right about us, too. You don’t have to do this alone, Fluttershy.” She heard a wet sniffle on her shoulder.
“I’m sorry, Twilight. I don’t know how to deal with this. I-I thought I figured it out yesterday, but...”
The unicorn ran her hoof gently over messy pink mane. “It’ll take time, Fluttershy. The first thing you have to do is forgive yourself.” The pegasus sniffled again. “If you forgive yourself, you’ll be able to move past this.”
“…How do I forgive myself, Twilight?” Her voice was tiny, barely audible despite the closeness. “I know I had to do it, and I know I’d do it again if I had to, but…it was wrong. It was the wrong thing to do.”
Twilight tightened her hug. “Sometimes good ponies have to do what’s necessary instead of what’s right. We…one of us would have had to kill that wolf, Fluttershy.” She leaned back, still gripping the yellow mare by the shoulders, and looked into her reddened eyes. “We thought Applejack had killed it, but it had to be you. I’m sorry that’s true, but it is. We’ve been put in a position of compromises. It’s…” the unicorn grew vague, trying to find the right way to finish her thought. Fluttershy beat her to it.
“It’s war.” She hugged Twilight again. “…I’ll try to forgive myself, Twilight. Thank you. And thank Rainbow for me, too. I’m…I’m sorry I was angry at her.”
“It’s okay,” Twilight murmured, “Don’t shut us out. Everypony is here for you. Talk to us.” She felt Fluttershy nod against her shoulder. Their embrace broke, and Fluttershy rubbed her eyes. She turned back to her vanity and began straightening her mane.
As Twilight contemplated standing to leave, Fluttershy broke the silence again. “…You’ve changed, too, Twilight. I, uh, we were all worried about you after Rainbow…” the mare sighed, “You’re better now. Happy again. But you’re not the same. I can tell you really miss her, even if you can see her sometimes.”
The unicorn was at a loss. She eventually managed to nod, a slight frown on her lips. “I do really miss her. And I worry about her being okay. I…” her frown deepened, “…I know she’s gonna make it back to us. I’m not worried about her making it here. I’m worried about what she has to go through. What, uh, we all have to go through to get there.” She looked out the window, watching the sun continue its slow rise. “Rainbow Dash said that she didn’t think she could’ve made it through everything Agmundr Vilmar threw at her without me. I…I don’t know I would’ve made it through these last two months without her.” She closed her eyes, lowering her head. “She’s become really important to me. I…I think about her a lot. I don’t get it, Fluttershy.”
A weak grin pulled at her lips as she set her comb down. “That’s okay, Twilight. I think you’re probably really important to Rainbow, too.” She stood and cantered towards the bathroom. “I bet she had more letters than just mine, huh?” Twilight looked up and nodded. “Why don’t you go see the others? I’ll meet you and everypony else at breakfast, okay?”
Twilight smiled and turned towards the door. She paused. “…You said I’ve changed. Is it a good change?”
Fluttershy looked back, a small genuine smile pulling at her mouth. “I wasn’t sure at first. Now I know it is.” She disappeared into the bathroom. Twilight left the suite, confusion coloring her thoughts.
Twilight made the rounds to the others. Rarity and Applejack both grinned warmly when they heard the missives from their departed friend. Pinkie Pie refused to answer the unicorn’s badgering questions about this secret good news she had predicted. All three were saddened by the knowledge that Fluttershy was to bear the Element of War.
The five mares were in high spirits through breakfast. Fluttershy’s enigmatic grin never left her lips as she thanked them all in turn for their offers of lending an ear. After eating with Princess Cadance and Shining Armor, they split up for the day to relax and gather supplies. Most shops were closed and the streets held very little hoof traffic. The emptiness was unsettling. Each mare entertained the notion that given enough casualties even a victory could reduce such a glorious city to a ghost town of orphans and invalids. When they returned to the palace in the early afternoon, Twilight held aloft in a soft glow of magic five train tickets to Saddle Arabia, dated for seven that evening; the only journey there for a week. No one was upset to cut their visit short.
Restocked, rested, and with a renewed determination to prevent the visions of empty cities all over Equestria, they boarded the train heading away from Twilight’s brother and towards the unknown. Twilight had booked a full car with five cots and attached restroom for their extended trip, the last one before the caboose.
“Next stop, Saddle Arabia, girls.” Twilight set both her own and Rainbow Dash’s saddlebags down carefully next to the small bed.
“This is exciting! How long before we get there, Twilight?” Pinkie flung her saddlebag down. A thunderous crash shook the train car. “Oops.”
Rarity straightened her mane with a hoof, willing her nerves out of her voice. “Pinkie dear, were those bowling balls I just heard?”
The bubblegum mare chuckled nervously. “Never know what you might need on an adventure, right?”
“Pinkie…how in Equestria does an earth pony bowl anyway? Don’tcha need unicorn magic to hold those things properly?” Applejack tipped back her hat to scratch the top of her head, one eyebrow firmly raised.
She narrowed her blue eyes, determination set in her features. “Very carefully.”
Twilight blinked. “…Anyway, we should arrive in Saddle Arabia in eight days.”
A collective groan filled the private car. “Eight days? What’re we gonna do for eight days, Twi’?” The orange pony hid her face under her Stetson.
“Well, uh…I’ve got a lot of books?”
They all groaned again.
The train left the station as they finished unloading their packs. After dinner, the five friends settled into their beds and watched the moon slowly rise, the train pulling them inexorably across the Equestrian countryside. As they drifted off to sleep, the frozen north gave way to sunny plains.
Rainbow Dash was stuck. Deep in the heart of the impossibly tall mountain, one of the caverns had a small hole leading into another tunnel and the pegasus had squeezed herself in. Clearing her wings, she thought she had made it, but the narrow passage met her hips and refused to budge. “Perfect,” she grumbled, glaring at the twisting passage in front of her.
Rotating her hips with forelegs braced on the smooth wall, she grunted and pulled. It just wasn’t happening. Admitting defeat, she braced her hindlegs on the back wall and began pushing herself back into the previous room. The rock slid along her barrel, until she felt the base of her wings halt her progress. Wriggling back and forth, she tried to get her wings to lie flat enough on her sides to get them through the hole. That wasn’t happening either. “Drat.” She sagged, all four legs dangling uselessly on either side of the opening, head, tail, and wings drooping.
Muttering darkly, Rainbow scanned the room for something to grab, either to wrench herself free or try and widen the portal. The walls were smooth and empty. Also, she was getting an itch on her flank she couldn’t reach with a hindleg. Swatting it with her tail wasn’t helping.
She regarded the stone gauntlet around her hoof. Eyes narrowed, she focused on the claw nubs. The rounded bumps unfolded slowly, waving in the air like an upturned spider. Tongue sticking up from the side of her mouth in focus, the pegasus brought the claws to the stone wall. “C’mon…” she muttered, “Bend the rock away. Do somethin’.” The claws stretched out, clacking lightly on the smooth stone, trailing and jittering across the surface. The mare huffed out a held breath in annoyance as they folded back up.
“Rainbow Dash, Best Young Flyer winner, Wonderbolt Cadet team leader, one of two ponies in all history that ever performed a sonic rainboom, defeated by a hole.” She blew a lock of red out of her eyes. “Alright Rainbow Dash. You’re a big girl. You can figure this out. Maybe if I pull sideways…” She twisted her hips to the side, hoping to get one half through first before wrenching the other side free. She succeeded in scraping the itchy spot along the rock. She sighed in relief.
“C’mon,” she moaned, hind legs kicking pointlessly, “I can’t get stuck here! This is so stupid!” She hammered her left hoof against the wall in frustration. A loud crack reverberated through the narrow cave, bits of stone showering to the floor around where she struck. She eyed the spot, seeing deep fissures lancing away from the impact. “Whoa.”
Grinning, she began to beat her powerful wings, pulling her body forward and pressing her hips tightly against the narrow hole. Swinging powerfully, she rained blows with her forehooves down on the edge of the opening, flecks of dust puffing out with each echoing clack. After a full minute of solid exertion the bottom lip crumbled, sending the mare tumbling forward into the tunnel.
Panting, Rainbow wiped her forehead with a shaky hoof. She leaned her head against the smooth stone wall and closed her eyes. The purple filament of magic leapt to the forefront of her awareness. As she had worked her way methodically through the cave system, she had been aware of it occasionally growing brighter or dimming, marking the times the lavender unicorn was asleep. The pegasus guessed roughly a week had passed since their last talk. Resting from the strain of freeing herself, she contemplated paying Twilight a visit, but the dimness of the band meant it was probably daytime. ’Ah well,’ she thought, feeling the tremors of her muscles quickly subside.
The celeste pegasus jerked upright, her back rigid with gooseflesh running under her coat. Eyes wide, she felt a series of vibrations run through the magical connection between herself and the unicorn. Something was wrong.
On impulse, her mind exploded from her body, racing along the magical pathway up through the mountain. As her consciousness blasted through space, she silently screamed the unicorn’s name.
“Hey look everypony! Sand dunes!” Pinkie Pie bounced on her hindlegs with a hoof pointed out the window. Twilight’s eyes shot open and she blearily dragged herself to a sitting position.
“What’s goin’ on, Pinkie?” She rubbed an eye with the back of a hoof and got out of bed. Cantering over to the window, her vision was greeted by an expanse of gentle hills. She cleared her throat, her voice brightening. “Hey, we’ve made it to the San Palomino Desert! Only two more days before we get to Saddle Arabia!”
Applejack, Rarity, and Fluttershy pulled themselves out of bed and hurried over to the window, watching the dunes roll past the window. Twilight broke the silence that settled over them, her voice quiet and reverent. “…We’re out of the country now. We’re no longer in Equestria at all.”
Their still contemplation held new meaning as they watched the scenery. Fluttershy lifted a hoof to the glass. “I hope we make it back. All of us. All six of us.” A murmur of agreement rippled through the group as they turned away from the view.
“Well, whaddya want to do today, girls? ‘Nother game of cards?” Applejack pulled a deck from her saddlebag by her teeth to the mild mumbles of acquiescence. She spoke carefully around the pack. “Care ta join us, Twi’?”
“Sorry, Applejack. I’m still looking for anything to do with that name ‘Fames.’” She levitated a stack of books from her saddlebag, eyeing each one with distrust. “I swear I’ve read the name before, but I haven’t found it anywhere in these books on ancient Bridleon, Saddle Arabia, or any of the other cultures from this part of the world.”
Applejack sat near the center of the car and set the deck next to Rarity. A sly grin on her snow white face, the unicorn shuffled the deck in a flash of blue energy. Applejack and Pinkie Pie joined the circle. “Sorry ta’ hear that, Twi’. Any other cultures it coulda been from?”
“I don’t think so. These books cover all the major settlements in the geographic region, both then and now. Some of these go back another thousand years, too, just to be sure.” The unicorn huffed.
Fluttershy frowned, picking up her cards. “Were there any pegasus cities around then?”
Twilight’s jaw fell open. “Fluttershy, you’re absolutely right!” In a flash of magenta, books cascaded into the air forming a rotating globe around the purple mare. Her eyes raced from cover to cover. “How could I forget about pegasi? Cloud cities have been around for centuries!” Fluttershy, Applejack, and Rarity watched the sphere of rotating hardcovers with wide eyes, attempting to understand how a pony could locate anything in the chaotic jumble. Pinkie Pie glanced sidelong at the cards her friends were holding in slack hooves, hiding a smirk. A flash of triumph crossed the lavender mare’s face as she plucked a tome from the air. “Aha!” In a spiraling wave, the rest repacked themselves as Twilight greedily fell into her new volume. “This has got to be it, I just know it!”
Rarity traded a smirk with her marefriend. “Do be a dear and remember to breathe, Twilight.” Applejack stifled a snort.
Twilight held her head aloft, her voice taking on a false haughtiness. “Laugh while you can, girls. You’ll be sorry when I only tell Rainbow Dash what the next Element of Strife is.” The empty box from the deck of cards flew across the room and bounced off her shoulder.
“Really, Applejack...?” Rarity was struggling to control her giggles.
“She started it.”
“Are we playin’, or not ladies?” Pinkie Pie grinned over the fanned hoof of cards. The four settled into their game as Twilight excitedly flipped through pages. Pinkie won the first game with seeming preternatural luck before Applejack settled into a steady stream of victories.
“It’s kinda hard to keep beatin’ the saddle off you girls with the train shaking so much.” The orange mare set a hoof on the discard pile as it threatened to spread across the floor.
Fluttershy grabbed a bed frame to keep from overbalancing. “Is it supposed to be this rough of a ride?”
“We are going through dunes; this must be from sand blown over the tracks.” Rarity stood slowly, mindful of the mounting tremors. “Hopefully this levels off soon, although it seems to be getting worse.”
Twilight tossed her book into the top of her saddlebags, rolling onto her back and burying her face in her hooves. “Ugh, I can’t read with it shaking so much, can’t somepony—”
A scream from a few cars ahead echoed dully through the cabin. Several more voices joined in as the shaking reached a fevered pitch. The mares struggled to their hooves and rushed to the head of the car.
“What’s goin’ on?!”Applejack shouted through the door. “Somepony say somethin’!”
A terrified stallion screamed somewhere ahead, his voice distorted and shrill. “They’re here! Oh Celestia, save us!” Applejack turned to her friends and her eyes settled on Twilight standing at the window. Her eyes were wide and her jaw hung open. The farmpony could see the tendons on her neck working uselessly, her jaw trying to render something into speech from uncooperative vocal chords. The four rushed to the glass.
Six balls of fire hung suspended in the sky, billowing trails of blackness tracing their route back into the mid-morning blue. The train wasn’t shaking; the world around them was shaking. The orbs twisted through the air, angling in from the side, following a line towards somewhere ahead of the train.
“B-but, it’s only been two months!” Fluttershy cried, her forehooves pressed to the glass. “They’re not supposed to be here!”
In a whirl of panic, organization came to save Twilight’s cacophonous thoughts. Her jaw snapped shut and her eyes narrowed. “Get the saddlebags. First priority is getting out of here alive. Second priority is protecting the Elements of Strife. Third is protecting supplies.” She turned from the window and flung herself under her pack, a burst of mulberry energy securing it in place and floating Rainbow Dash’s bag onto her back in front of her own at the same time. Leaping up to her hooves she rushed to Pinkie Pie then Fluttershy, helping them secure their own packs with the haste of magic. Rarity helped Applejack with a flash of blue. They huddled around the abandoned playing cards.
“Alright Twi’, now wha—”
The world lurched violently, the passage of time seeming to slow. A thundering roar blocked all other noise as the train car lifted off the tracks, the back end rising up under their hooves and twisting a few degrees clockwise. The five mares were thrown into the air. Gritting her teeth, Twilight pushed out her will and surrounded them in a sphere of magic, the train car upending around them. A shuddering squeal cut through the roar; the windows on both sides of the car exploding to dust, the frames twisting, the wooden panels making up the walls, roof, and floor buckling and snapping to jagged splinters. Cards, candles, mattresses, and pillows hung in the air around them. The rising floor hit the bottom of Twilight’s bubble and sent the ponies ricocheting against the disintegrating ceiling.
A wrenching shudder pulled shreds of wood free as the car came uncoupled in front. The front swept back and under, the five mares watching the track pass by underneath through the small, shattered window in the door. The pendulous swing smashed into the bottom of the caboose; a cavernous crash of exploding wood and grinding metal. The coupling to the caboose snapped. All at once everything sped up, the heightened awareness and sense of time crawling left the group in a flurry of rolling and twisting wood. Twilight couldn’t hear herself screaming.
The train car rolled end over end away from the tracks, each collision with the ground sending splinters of wood shooting out into dunes and inwards against the bubble of protective magenta. Suspended in the sphere, the five were buffeted against walls and tumbling debris. At last, the front end sunk into a dune, pulling the entire car into a vertical pillar. With one final groan, the metal beams holding the wheels in place bent and the back end collapsed in a hail of wooden chunks.
Twilight gently released control of her magic, guiding her and her friends to the front door serving as the ground. They stood pressed together on shaking hooves, eyes glazed over from shock. The still silence was jarring to the lavender mare; the ringing in her ears muffling any lingering noise. Between pants, she struggled out, “Is everypony okay?” Four heads bobbed numbly. “Okay. Okay, we have to get out of here right now. Does everyone still have their saddlebags? Good. Hold on.” She scrunched her violet eyes shut, and with a loud crack they tumbled into the loose sand and baking desert heat just outside the destroyed train car. Getting to trembling legs, they surveyed the rest of the train.
The engine was gone. Five bulls of liquid fire stood in the remains of the iron mass, bubbling molten metal running around their undulating hooves. The coal car had run headlong from momentum into their burning forms, the sooty chunks spilled around the tracks hissing and smoking. The rest of the cars had bunched and derailed in a winding zigzag snaking behind the fiery beasts, the detached caboose lamely resting on top of the last car. Theirs was the only car thrown free, resting in sand thirty feet to the side of the track. Five eyeless orange faces turned towards them.
Twilight willed the quiver from her voice, lifting the saddlebags off of Applejack, Fluttershy, and herself in a glow of magic. “Rarity. Pinkie. Take the bags and get behind the dune. Try to keep the bulls on the other side of it from you if you can. Our priorities are protecting the Elements of Strife and supplies now.”
“But—” Pinkie’s protest was cut short.
“Go!” The two mares raced across the sand as fast as they could with three bags each, trying to use the upended train car as cover for their path. “Applejack. Fluttershy. Get any survivors out of there if you can.” Her eyes narrowed. “I’m gonna try to draw their attention.”
The earth pony’s green orbs widened. “Twilight, that’s crazy! We can’t leave—”
“We can’t leave those innocent ponies to burn to death! Take them to the far side of the train from here, then come back to help me! Go!” Without another word, Twilight charged towards the beasts slowly stepping from the ruined engine. “Hey! You things! Here I am!” Her horn sparked to life. Gritting her teeth, Twilight flung the force of her mental fortitude into her magic. With a cry of effort, she locked her limbs and slid to a stop through the sand as the biting smell of sulphur invaded her nostrils, a cone of cold energy erupting from her horn. The cone spread wide, the far ends of its circumference meeting the glowing liquid iron of the ruined engine. The orange metal flashed black with a high-pitched squeal, frost forming on the crackling surface. The cone struck two bulls head on; filtering past them to glancing hits on another two. The augmented cold spell sent deep ripples through their liquid flesh, the fiery substance peeling back over the dark silhouetted shapes making up their cores.
The one on the left staggered back, a rumbling howl erupting from its whole being as its coating hissed and bubbled back over the frosted core, shoulder, and forelimb; stripped clear by her magic. The one on the right had its head lowered into the blast, the liquid sheared from nearly its entire upper torso. The beast staggered forward uncertainly and then collapsed, its oozing skin running into the flash-frozen iron and spewing gouts of real flame. Its interior was left bare on the ground; irregular hunks of rock, gray and lifeless. The four remaining beasts leapt over the remnants, unfathomable faces directed at the unicorn.
Twilight sagged on her shoulders. Relief that she had killed one, that they could be killed by conventional magic at all, washed over her. Fatigue quickly followed, her mind filling with a low buzzing and her protesting muscles growing unresponsive. She squinted and fired a smaller, more directed cold spell at the foremost bull, catching it from its head down to its shoulders. The beast swayed to the side bumblingly with a rolling groan, but didn’t fall. She shakily wiped the sweat from her brow and began to back away, drawing the bulls’ attention away from the train and their wrecked car. One creature lowered its head, twin streams of smoke curling around its quivering horns. It pawed the ground, leaving a streak of black and bubbling glass. Twilight swallowed thickly as it charged.
Closing her eyes, the unicorn disappeared from under the bull’s cloven hooves in a flash of light, reappearing further along the dune. In her haste and weakened focus, she materialized a foot off the ground and tumbled down the loose sand several paces. Panting, she forced her focus on the advancing bulls. Grunting with effort, a glow of mulberry magic surrounded the closest and contracted around its form. The creature screeched; the magic pressing on its flesh. Eyes screwed shut, she strengthened the shield, blocking the flow of gases through the energy and compacting tighter with all her might. She let out a gasp as she heard a grinding crunch.
The bull she had held weaved drunkenly. The unarticulated rocks making up its structure were a loose gravel swimming in reds and yellows. Its head and limbs distorted, bulging orbs of flesh bunching around knees, horns lopsided, one might-be nostril shut while the other poured a torrent of inky smoke. It continued its advance on unsteady hooves.
Twilight was having trouble keeping her eyes focused; a haze of red vibrating her vision with each thundering heartbeat. Gasping huge lungfuls of air, she trembled as one of the three uninjured bulls lowered to charge. Standing, she switched her tactic from any offense to pure defense and evasion, backing away and up the dune. Drawing as much will as she could she prepared to teleport.
Flashing up and down the sandy hill, the unicorn kept her opponents to her front, wary of being flanked. Keeping a solid distance between her and the creatures, she slowly regained her breath, but her mind was reeling from the magical exertion and her hooves trembled on the uneven surface. The constant teleportation was having its effect too; the practiced spell growing more and more difficult to cast. Twilight sighed in relief when she spotted a yellow and orange speck flying away from the wreckage towards her.
Applejack’s voice was strained. “We helped everypony we could, Twi’.” Fluttershy set the orange mare down on the dune, hovering on beating wings. “Now whadda we do?”
The unicorn’s voice had a strained tremor, her eyes darting between three bulls spread evenly apart from them a hundred feet down the dune and the hobbled one slowly limping its way from further along the train. “I don’t know, Applejack. I’m running on empty here, and we’re not sure if these things can be killed without magic.”
“Weren’t there five a minute ago?” Fluttershy frowned at the beasts, eyeing them distrustfully. Twilight smirked.
“I got one, but we can’t let the rest run free. We need a plan.” The three bulls charged, sprays of sand and black glass marking their hoofbeats. The soft footing hindered their speed, Twilight’s fatigued mind working desperately in the earned moments. “Scatter to the sides, loop back behind them. They’ll gain the high ground, but they won’t use it to their advantage. Keep them occupied; I’m gonna try to kill the wounded one.” In a pop of collapsing air, the unicorn was gone.
Shoulders bunched, Applejack charged to meet the oncoming beasts, angling down and to the right. The middle and rightmost diverted to pursue, hindlegs sinking deeply into the dune as they changed direction and leaving dark craters of molten glass behind them. The left bull slowed, torn between the pegasus in front of it and the unicorn on lower ground. Fluttershy dived, seizing its attention and weaving away back towards the orange earth pony.
Directly in front of two with a third coming from the left, Applejack’s haunches tightened. Powerful leg muscles propelled the mare in a leap over the heads of the rushing creatures. Their fiery forehooves lifted at the last moment, meeting empty air a few feet too low to touch the pony. Feeling the heat of proximity crisping the ends of her belly fur, Applejack twisted mid-jump, landing in a fighting crouch and sliding down the hill backwards for a foot, eyes locked on the evaded beasts. Off-balance and struggling to stop, the two kicked up sand and half-buried themselves in the dune. The bull pursuing Fluttershy slid on locked legs into the two with a wet splat, the yellow mare zipping down to meet her friend.
“You alright, ‘Shy?”
“Just…just let me…catch my breath.” The three monsters were a puddle of liquid flesh and rock, undulating lethargically in a running bowl of smoking glass. Slowly, they began to disentangle themselves.
Twilight circled the malformed creature, studying its movements. The thing could not run and it was having trouble tracking her. Perfect test subject. Breathing slowly and deeply through her snout, she conjured a shield of magenta around it, stepping in a slow circle to its right where she had determined its vision has been disrupted the worst. She shrunk the field and cut off the flow of air, watching the beast’s flaming body.
Dancing ineptly, it twisted and turned away from the ever-present magic, the yellows of its body turning to red as the fuel for combustion was cut away. The undulations grew more violent; the lamed bull arching and twisting. Twilight’s victory was cut short when at the point she believed the fire would snuff, the bull tucked into a sphere, its flesh bright and even.
’Of course,’ she thought, straining to maintain the rather simple shield spell, ’It has to fly through space; it can protect itself from a lack of oxygen.’ She released the magic, drawing in her focus again as the creature slowly reformed its attempt at quadrupedalism. She sent a lancing bolt of energy, tearing through the quivering liquid. A plume of flame leapt from the wound, a rough, gravelly bark emanating from the beast, but the wound sealed itself quickly. ’Okay Twilight. One more spell you want to try.’
The mare stopped her circling and shut her eyes as her horn flashed to life. Two smaller fields of magic formed around the bull, one encasing its lopsided head, the other just below its neck and covering its shoulders. Eyes clenched, teeth grit, the unicorn fed power and will into the bubbles, clamping down and tightening around the struggling creature. A growl began to grow in Twilight’s throat as she poured energy out of her horn. It grew in volume, her horn pulsing fervently, into a howl with one last wave of magic flashing blindingly bright to punctuate the effort.
The two magic fields wrenched apart from each other. Stretched and pulled, the bull’s neck ruptured, spewing thick jets of flame into the air. Her magic fading, the creature’s head dropped to the sand, its liquid flesh pooling and burning away. The shambling malformed body shot a torrent of flames from the former neck in a geyser, the rough gravel interior spreading the dwindling flesh like a dropped sack of marbles across the sand. The fire quickly guttered away, scorched hoof-sized hunks of stone on a sheet of glass the only thing marking the creature’s former presence.
Twilight’s vision throbbed in strobes of red. Her head was threatening to split in two, throat raw, knees shaking even when locked. She fell to her side in the sand.
The two mares on the dune turned when they heard the unicorn’s cry. Leaving the three beasts to sort themselves out, Fluttershy took to the air and the two rushed towards the crumpled purple mare.
“Twilight, you alright?” Applejack cupped the mare’s head gently, patting her cheek with a hoof. Twilight’s eyes fluttered, her mouth opening and closing weakly.
“Water,” she croaked.
“I ain’t got any water; it’s in the bags with Rares an’ Pinkie.” The earth pony glanced over her shoulder. The three bulls were standing together, eight or nine legs struggling apart from an amorphous floating blob of flesh and rocks.
“Please, water…”
“Fluttershy, can you get her over to the girls? We have a few minutes, I think, but I’ll keep ‘em busy.” The pegasus nodded, carefully scooping up the dazed unicorn and flying to the far side of the dune. She spotted the huddled mares, their ears fitfully twitching as they moved side to side to keep the sounds of battle on the other end of the hill.
“Twilight needs water,” she panted, “Me too. Gosh, it’s hot.”
Rarity floated a canteen from her bag, popping it open and tipping it to Twilight’s lips. The unicorn drank greedily, breaking away to weakly pant. “Th-thanks.”
Pinkie gave Fluttershy the canteen and rested a hoof on a lavender shoulder. “You alright, Twilight?” The unicorn nodded gingerly, struggling back to her hooves.
“Come on, I need to get back to Applejack.”
The three blocked her path, Rarity’s forehooves holding her shoulders. “Twilight, you’re a wreck.”
“But—” The thumps of heavy hoofbeats echoed over the hill. Three bulls crested the gentle peak, thundering down towards the party. Applejack raced behind them, uselessly calling to get their attention.
“Applejack!” Twilight waved frantically, beckoning the earth pony to get to them. “Fluttershy, she’s not gonna make it here first.” The pegasus took off, eyes narrowed in determination. The earth pony’s powerful legs pistoning, she flung herself above the charging bulls in an arching bound, gripping the yellow mare’s outstretched hooves in her own. Turning sharply, the two crashed down with the group just as the bulls started their own leaping attack. A dome of mulberry surrounded the five as cloven hooves descended, sparks of magic throwing them back as they made contact. Twilight shuddered, nausea and vertigo spinning her head. Hooves thundered down again on the dome, which contracted as the unicorn sunk to her haunches, shoulders sagged and trembling with effort.
Rarity’s cobalt eyes were wide, watching the three fiery monsters circle them and hammer at their shield. “Is there anything I can do, Twilight?”
“Magic bolts hurt them,” she strained out through clenched teeth, “But you’d need to hit one roughly two hundred times in a minute to kill it.”
“I…I don’t think I can do that,” the fashionista muttered.
“Can ya teleport us, Twi’?” Applejack backed into the tightly packed group of friends, their shield shrinking around them as liquid hooves hammered down.
“N…no. I don’t think I can do anything but hold this barrier up…And I don’t know how long—” she winced as the three struck down at once, willing the magic back outwards to reclaim half the lost ground, “How long I can keep this up.”
Pinkie looked frantically around, from the three attackers to her four friends. “What do we do?”
Twilight lowered forward to her knees and then onto her belly, eyes scrunched tight, teeth locked in a grimace, sweat pouring down her forehead. “I don’t know.”
The mares fell silent, hooves wrapped around each other for comfort, wide eyes directed at their foes. Blow after blow earned the bulls inches, the shield shrinking tighter and tighter around them, the rotten egg stench growing overpowering. Twilight was shaking violently, tears streaming down her cheeks from tightly closed eyes. ’Rainbow Dash, I wish you were here,’ she thought faintly.
A distant, cavernous echo filled her mind. Distorted and hollow, shouted across unfathomable distance through a mist of shadow, a single brash voice filled with fear, concern, and effortless confidence bypassed her ears directly into her brain.
“Twilight!”