Darkness surrounded her once more. The same darkness that had covered Twilight in a strange unsettling stillness. This time, however, the stillness wasn’t unwelcome. In fact, it felt calm, collected, and held a sort of peace in its existence. She wondered if she should even call it an existence, considering there was nothing around her. Looking down, she saw her purple hooves standing on an invisible road. Or at least she wanted to call it a road. Everything was black but she felt grounded, as though she could walk on forever and still not meet anything. What was this place? Where was she? She tried to think of what the last thing she remembered doing was. Ponyville, the horrific news of zomponies, the barn.... Sweet Apple Acres! Yes, now she remembered. She had fallen asleep. Was this a dream?
Twilight Sparkle stepped forward, walking along the non-existent road with no intended purpose. There may not be an end in sight, but walking to nowhere was better than just standing and doing nothing. What a strange dream, if this even was one. Why wasn’t her mind coming up with anything? No buildings, ponies, not even a book for her to read. Wouldn’t her mind think of something to fill this endless void?
Not a moment passed after she thought of this that a piece of paper zoomed out of the darkness and flew past her. Startled, Twilight barely moved out of the way before the paper disappeared from view. How strange, she thought. Turning to continue her journey through endless space, suddenly more papers flew out of the darkness. It were as though the black mass had opened its mouth and released the contents of its belly, for the papers spewed forth and circled the unicorn as if propelled by a powerful gust of wind.
Twilight tried desperately to escape the tornado of shuffling papers, but every time she attempted to step outside of the tornado, it would follow her, continuing to encircle her in its trap. Twilight’s heart began to beat faster as she panicked. With each new heartbeat, the papers would swirl faster and faster until finally they were hardly a blur. Although she wasn’t in any real danger at the moment, she wasn’t sure what would happen next. Was this realm safe? Were the papers a defense mechanism? From what? After a few minutes of trying to escape, Twilight finally noticed something peculiar. The papers appeared to have writing on them. The second she made this realization, she stopped panicking, which caused the papers to slow until she could properly read them. Each paper held no more than a full sentence or less, some even containing just one word. Many of them read her name, “Twilight”, while others read “Wake up!”. As soon as Twilight read one, it would fly off into the darkness to disappear. Was she to read each one in order to make them disappear? One by one, she turned around to read the papers, all of them containing either her name, or a command to awaken. Soon enough there were only three papers left, but strangely enough they did not have the same words as the previous ones. Stepping closer, Twilight peered at the them.
“Elements”
Elements? What did that mean?
“Look behind you”
Twilight turned around but nothing was there.
“Elements”
The papers disappeared. Twilight, confused, stared into the darkness waiting for more messages. What did the papers mean? If this was a dream, then the messages must be coming from her own sub-conscious, right? That made sense to her, but that didn’t explain what she was trying to tell herself. Could the words have to do with her lost memory? Maybe... but maybe not.
Twilight sat down and thought hard. All this confusing information was bothering her more than she could bear. But before she could scream out her frustration, the sound of wind came to her ears. Twilight perked up, looking around for the source of the sound. In this darkness, there was nothing to be seen, but the wind had to be coming from somewhere. It was fierce, flying past her in jagged waves of cold air. She found herself hardly being able to stand as the invisible force brought tears to her eyes. As she stared into the direction the wind was coming from, a white light appeared far off into the distance. Was it the sun rising in this dark world? The bright light became bigger and bigger until suddenly Twilight realized it wasn’t a light at all. It was a collection of papers, hundreds of them, all rushing straight for her. Twilight gasped and turned, running in the opposite direction as fast as she could. But no matter how fast she galloped, the papers came closer and closer until finally they were upon her. Circling her in one giant tornado, Twilight was lifted off the ground in a cluster of papers. The unicorn had squeezed her eyes shut but eventually she opened them, wondering if reading what they said would make them go away.
“WAKE UP!”
“WAKE UP!”
“WAKE UP!”
“WAKE UP!”
They all read the same thing. Each paper was yelling at her to escape the dream, but Twilight didn’t know how to appease them. They weren’t disappearing no matter how much she read them and instead of keeping a respective distance, they were closing in on her. Finally, without warning, they closed in on her completely, giving her only enough time to gasp.
“TWILIGHT, WAKE UP!” screamed Applejack.
Twilight, dazed and dizzy, squinted up at the orange mare. It took a few more seconds to realize what was happening before Twilight felt herself being shaken. Applejack had clearly been trying desperately to wake the unicorn and Twilight hadn’t noticed that she was being tossed like a rag doll until finally her mind caught up to reality.
“What?! Woah, Applejack!” Twilight gasped, pushing her friend away. “What’s going on?”
“Twilight, hurry! They’re here!” Applejack warned, running off out of Twilight’s view.
“What?” Twilight asked to no one in particular, turning over and looking around. The barn was still dark, but this time there were rays of moonlight coming through the cracks in the large door. The blankets that had once covered it were lying in a heap off to the left. Applejack was running towards the barn door, meeting up with Big Mac, Braeburn, and a few other Apple family members who were staring out the cracks in the wood. Twilight shifted her attention to her left to see everypony else either waking each other up or huddling together towards the back. Cheerilee and Zecora were trying to hush the young ponies, while the Cakes were trying hard to keep their two foals asleep. What was happening?
Twilight heard the sound of wings and she looked up to see Rainbow Dash flying above her.
“Twilight, move, we’re gathering everypony in the back.”
“Rainbow Dash, what’s going on?” Twilight asked, looking around in hopes of finding an explanation.
“Zomponies are here.” Rainbow Dash said as though it were obvious, pushing Twilight in the direction of Rarity, who was busy trying to console a white young filly with light lavender and pink colored hair in the rear of the group of young ponies. This small pony was Sweetie Belle, Rarity’s sister, and in this moment she happened to be tearing up, frightened by the collective panic clouding the room.
“Zomponies?” Twilight questioned, looking at Rarity for help.
“If that’s what you want to call them, yes.” The white mare whispered, brushing her sister’s hair for comfort. “They arrived just a few minutes ago. Thunderlane spotted them coming from the direction of Ponyville. They’re not quite at the barn door but they’re dreadfully close.”
Twilight turned around to look at the ponies peering through the cracks of the wood. She was grateful for their bravery. The Apple Family had a history of protecting their farm, but it wasn’t just their heritage that they were protecting this time. Twilight looked down at each young pony at her feet, all of them looking up at her with fear in their eyes. The older ponies were doing a wonderful job at consoling them, but it was clear that their soothing nature was only skin deep. It wasn’t just the little ponies that were scared, it was everypony. And as Twilight began to wonder if the inside of this barn was the last thing they were all going to see in their lifetime, her ears flicked at a sound she had hoped she’d never hear again. Everypony else seemed to hear it too as they all turned to face the barn door with wide eyes. The sound was low at first and barely audible, but slowly it grew until the young ponies were shriveling back to the barn wall and trying hard to resist a whimper.
Moaning deep and loud, the creatures outside made noises that were hardly pony. Their sounds were generally the same, either guttural drawn out notes or grainy teeth-grinding dissonance. The unpony sounds snaked their way into each ponies’ chest as the zomponies drew closer and closer. Twilight was at first frozen, unable to shake the feeling that she had experienced with Ditzy Doo, but after a moment of bracing herself, she quietly walked forward to the front of the barn, sliding in between Applejack and Big Mac to peer out one of the cracks.
If the sounds were horrible, it was nothing compared to the monsters making them. There had to be forty of them, all creeping slowly towards the barn as though they were sleep walking. And while the distorted motions of the ponies were frightening enough, their skins were covered in varying wounds, causing Twilight to regret her curiosity. Some had deep lacerations covering some or most of their bodies, others appeared to be rotting down to the bone from disease or festering infections. Some ponies even had broken bones or missing parts of their bodies, causing those ponies specifically to walk even more stranger than the others. But worst of all, as Twilight watched with trembling hooves, these ponies were ones she knew. They were all from Ponyville, and they all ranged in age. Over to the left was Mr. Waddle, an old light gray pony with hardly any dark gray hair left. To the right was Silverspoon, a young gray filly with light gray hair and blue glasses. In the back she could see Mayor Mare, a tan colored pony with graying hair, as well as Joe, the tan stallion with brown hair that use to sell donuts in his bakery. And right in the front was Golden Harvest, a yellow pony with orange hair. The whole crowd was recognizable! Mr. Breezy, Cheery Berry, Lilac Links, Rainbowshine, so many ponies but there were too many to name.
Never had Twilight seen anything so gruesome. These ponies were their friends, neighbors, and colleagues. They had all been turned into vicious monsters. Zomponies, forced to become mindless eating machines. If only they knew what they were doing. If only there was a cure...
“We have to take them.”
Twilight was so lost in thought she didn’t recognize who spoke. Glancing around, she finally looked up to see Rainbow Dash fluttering softly above her and Applejack.
“Are you crazy?” Applejack asked.
“No!” Rainbow Dash spat. “We have to take them! They could attack the barn and if we don’t get the upper-hand while we still can, then we’re all dead!”
“Or we could stay silent and avoid any possible danger!” Applejack hissed.
“Oh yeah? Okay, let’s say that happens. They avoid the barn. Then what, Applejack? They’re just going to attack other innocent ponies. Do you want that blood on your hands?”
Applejack opened her mouth to speak but stopped short. She appeared to be thinking as she turned her head away from Rainbow Dash to look out the cracks of the barn again. Twilight watched with worry. She could tell without even looking at Applejack that they were thinking the same thing. Defeating a monster was one thing, but when the monster is someone you recognize, what do you do then? Twilight imagined having to hurt one of them and she felt a chill run down her chest. What are they to do..?
Twilight looked around the barn, now taking Rainbow Dash’s idea into consideration. The fillies and colts who were still huddled all the way against the wall, were cowering in fear. Who knew how many innocent ponies were out there right now desperately seeking shelter and not finding any? Were Fluttershy or Pinkie Pie one of them? If they didn’t attack now, would they be ultimately sending the creatures to somepony else’s doom? The barn was perfect protection for now and could be used for a good battle strategy. Wouldn’t it be unwise to not take advantage of the opportunity?
She understood both sides of the argument. Both of them ended with death, which meant they were certainly stuck between a rock and a hard place but as much as she agreed with Applejack, Rainbow did have a better point.
“Applejack,” Twilight whispered gently. “I think we should fight.”
Silence was Applejack’s first response. She said nothing and didn’t move an inch from looking outside. By now Big Mac and the rest of the gathered ponies were looking at her. The right action to take was clear to all of them but no one was going to say anything until Applejack spoke. It would be her word that would be final.
She turned to look at Granny Smith. The old mare stared deeply into her granddaughter’s eyes before nodding once.
“Alright.” Applejack said. “We’ll fight.”
Everypony nodded to each other.
Apple Fritter, a yellow pony with green hair stepped out from her spot by the barn door. “What’s the plan, then?” she asked, looking to Applejack for an answer.
“Ah, well...” Applejack began, staring awkwardly at the ground. “Twilight, any ideas?”
Twilight, who at this point was still in the process of staring outside, was startled. “O-oh! Uhm, well...” she started to say. In past times she had often been seen as a natural leader and organizer but in this situation she felt uncomfortable. Shifting her eyes back and forth and taking a step back, Twilight tried to think of an excuse to not take on the role of battle planning when suddenly Rainbow Dash literally interjected by flying down in front of her.
“This is what we do.” Rainbow said, clearly itching for a fight. “We open these doors and everypony fit for fighting rushes out and kicks them all good and hard. We partner up and stay back to back in order to protect each other’s hides out there. Twilight you will create a forcefield around the barn so that we don’t have to worry about the ponies inside. Are we ready? Let’s go!” Rainbow Dash prepared to zoom towards the door but Applejack snatched her tail with her mouth to stop her.
“Hold it!” Applejack yelled through gritted teeth. “That’s a good plan but we need to prepare.” She let go of Rainbow’s tail as the blue pegasus sighed, frustrated, and landed on the floor with a soft thud.
“Yes, we need to be ready.” Twilight said, finally able to speak up. With a good plan now in place, she could properly handle the situation. Although in all honesty she wished they had more time to think about this, she knew that if they thought too hard about it that they’d never do what needed to be done. She closed her eyes, taking in a deep breath. “Cheerilee and Rarity, stay back in the barn to protect the young ones. Mr. and Mrs. Cake, I assume you’ll be doing the same with your fouls. Zecora, I need you to stand in front of the barn door once everypony is out in case any of them is hurt. Drag them into the barn if they are. I’ll be standing next to you in order to create the forcefield. Everypony else set up to fight. Form two columns and line up two-by-two in front of the barn door. Once we’re ready, we’ll go.”
The next few minutes were filled with nothing but anticipation. Twilight stood by the door where she was prepared to open it with the help of Zecora, watching as almost every Apple Family member lined up accordingly, as well as Rainbow Dash, Blossomforth, and Thunderlane hovering above them. They were all ready to rush forward and face the creatures outside, none of them thinking too hard on what they were about to do. Each one of them was prepared to fight to the death for what they believed in and everypony knew that “fight to the death” was a very real possibility for some of them. As Twilight looked at each pony one by one, she was suddenly filled with inspiration. While before she had only been filled with nervous jitters, the feelings of hope began to seep into her stomach. After all, they had fought plenty of times before this. Twilight hadn’t experienced it yet. She would have to be brave like them in order to properly face this fight.
Taking one last look at them, Twilight nodded to everypony, then turned to face the door.
“Ready...” Twilight said, allowing her voice to be loud and clear. The sound echoed throughout the barn, causing everypony to crouch down in preparation. The zomponies outside seemed to perk up at her voice and inquisitively began to move towards the barn. “And...” Twilight drew out her word even louder, causing the zomponies to start herding towards the barn.
“GO!!!”
Zecora and Twilight pulled the barn door open with a loud bang. Everypony rushed out of the barn with an angry roar, determined to defend their home. The slam of the barn door added an intimidating affect to the flood of ponies racing towards the creatures. Their battle cry was like the sound of screeching falcons zooming towards their prey. The zomponies, who were too fixated upon their goal to hesitate, moaned louder as soon as the ponies appeared. Their mouths hung open like thirsty leeches as they drooled and breathed heavily. The imagery was horrible but the Apple family and their friends had left their fear behind and continued racing forward. As they became closer and closer, Rainbow Dash was the first to make contact. She claimed to be the best flyer in all of Equestria, after all, and with this reputation to defend, she flew forward with great velocity and lunged at one of the zomponies, specifically Golden Harvest, with her back left hoof. The hit was direct on target and Golden Harvest fell flat against the ground, the first to fall upon the battlefield.
The battle had begun! As ponies and monsters mixed together, there was hardly more than a blur of color against the moonlit field. Two by two, the ponies kicked, punched, and pushed as the zomponies bit, clawed, and shoved. Big Mac could be seen bucking two zomponies at once and Thunderlane was busy kicking out heads from the air. Granny Smith was displaying athleticism that nopony had ever realized she could perform while back-to-back with Applejack who was hardly breaking a sweat from all the practice of collecting apples throughout the years. Rainbow Dash was diving in and out of zomponies, hitting here and there with great force, as Blossomforth was flying in circles to confuse them. The fight was going well, and no pony so far was getting hurt.
Twilight Sparkle, however, was having difficulty. Her job was to create the forcefield around the barn, which was an easy task for a magic student such as herself, but for some reason her magic wasn’t cooperating. At first she thought it was her reaction to seeing so many zomponies at once. It had taken her a while to regroup after opening the barn door and seeing all those twisted disgusting faces to even remember she had a plan involving her magic spell in the first place. But after having choked back her body’s wish to heave, she had gathered herself only to realize her magic was sputtering like it was damaged.
“Twilight Sparkle, what is wrong? Your magic spell is taking too long.” Zecora, the rhyme-speaking zebra looked concerned as she stood next to the purple unicorn.
“I... I don’t know.” Twilight said, concentrating hard on her magic. Her horn would light up and even spark as she tried, but it would do no more than that. Her heartbeat began to race as her panic level began to rise. The fight was doing fine and no zompony was close to the barn, but still she worried that something would go wrong and it would be her fault that the forcefield wasn’t up. She spread out her hooves, balancing herself better against the ground, and closed her eyes, concentrating with all her might. Wincing and even causing herself a bit of pain, Twilight tried with all her might to create a forcefield. Suddenly a bit of magic shot out and a purplish-pinkish bubble appeared around half of the barn. It stayed in tact for only a few seconds before popping.
“Forgive me if I sound a jerk, but I don’t think that’s going to work.” Zecora said. Twilight moaned in frustration and her eyes teared up. Why wasn’t her magic working? Turning towards the ground, she attempted a practice shot against the ground. A blast of light hit the grass, burning a few of the blades. Okay. So some of my magic works... she thought. But why not the forcefield?
“TWILIGHT!” somepony screamed. The unicorn and the zebra looked up frantically at the battleground. Searching the crowd for who had yelled her name, there was suddenly screaming from behind them. Twilight realized that the yelling of her name had not come from in front of them but rather from behind as she turned sharply around to see a horrifying sight.
At the back wall of the barn, the fillies and colts were spreading out like panicked flies towards the front of the barn. Cheerilee and the Cakes were chasing them, trying to calm them down. But there, all the way in the back by the wall, was Sweetie Belle, Rarity’s sister, trapped under the hooves of a pegasus zompony. There was a hole in the barn wood, which was apparently how the zompony had gotten in. Rarity was holding onto her sister’s front hooves, trying desperately to pull her away. The zompony was screeching loud and hard, pulling the frightened and screaming filly towards itself.
“Zecora, get help!” Twilight yelled as she ran as fast as her hooves could go towards the back of the barn.
“LET MY SISTER GO!” Rarity screamed, tears running down her face. Sweetie Belle began to cry, unable to slip herself away from the zompony’s grasp. Twilight continued to run, and just as she was close enough to help Rarity, the white unicorn lost her grip and the zompony, clutching Sweetie Belle harshly, dragged the filly back through the hole.