//------------------------------// // So you'll laugh and dance and play in the air // Story: Herald // by shortskirtsandexplosions //------------------------------//         When lightning strobed across the heavens that night, it illuminated five equine shadows traveling in a straight line across the muddied streets of Ponyville. Thunder rolled, rippling the rain puddles beneath them as they pierced the endless drizzle, approaching the tall shadow of the Town Hall building in the distance.         "By the goddess..." Cup Cake stammered, trudging through steep banks of mud as she struggled to take up the rear of the group. Her pudgy body wasn't used to this kind of prolonged duress, and the fatigue from an entire day of panic was starting to weigh heavily on her. "This storm refuses to end. Wouldn't they be hurt by their own lightning?"         "You're assuming that they still feel," Amethyst Star muttered back in a low breath. “Much less have the capacity to kick clouds.”  She frowned as she pierced the night ahead of herself and Mrs. Cake. "Maybe some extra-extra gland in their heads is trying to help them kill themselves and end the madness."         "Stop talking about them like they're animals!" Cheerilee grumbled.         "You're one to talk!" Amethyst hissed back. "Would you sympathize with them anymore if they were dead Cloudsdalian birds? Emphasis on the 'dead' part—"         "Shhh! All of you!" Time Turner whispered sharply. "We can't afford to let them hear us! I don't care how high they might be flying!"         The three mares fell silent. They trotted along briskly under rolling clouds. Lightning strobed once again, highlighting fallen, mangled bodies dotting the buildings of Ponyville all around them, like colored ashes on a charred-black grave yard.         Mrs. Cake bit her lip, glancing aside as another flash of lightning reflected the grim procession in a storefront window. In a blink, Cup Cake saw a frazzled old mare covered in bloodstains and bandages. She thought of the first time one of her foals had stumbled and scraped his knee. He cried and cried in pain, not stopping until she held him close, nuzzling him dear. She winced at the thought, her ears ringing for a brief span.  A brisk wind blew at her tattered mane, and she shivered, not knowing when the sky would drop a shadow on her and devour her most precious memories forever.         "Miss Sparkle," Time Turner's voice suddenly murmured ahead in the darkness. "Are we getting any closer?"         "Yes. It appears that we are," Twilight muttered. Her hooves splashed to a stop in the mud, halting the group's movement. She fumbled with the detector in her grasp.  "Let me just catch our bearings really quick..."         "Please say we're close..." Cheerilee chanted. "Please say that we're close..."         "The detector's crystal is hot." Twilight's dark figure turned to look back at the group. A flicker of lightning illuminated a serious expression. "With the Town Hall building directly ahead of us, it's as safe a bet as ever that the source of the vibration is in there."         "Then what are we waiting for?" Amethyst muttered. "Let's get this over with!"         "Twilight, after you," Time Turner gestured. Thunder rolled as Twilight and the rest approached the front facing of Town Hall. Time Turner exchanged glances with everypony. "Keep your eyes peeled on the sky. If a pegasus is about to drop down on us, we'd better know about it before they do."         Cup Cake could only nod. She tried looking straight up, but she was helpless to see anything but utter blackness. Even when the lightning flashed, all she could detect were undulating currents of dark, onyx currents. She wondered what the ponies were going through up, ensnared in the heavens, alone with the stars and each other's screams, waiting to be dropped by their mindless captors at a moment's blink.         She thought of Carrot Cake, and immediately wished she hadn't. She was quite certain the winged predators could hear her sobs through the thunder.         "Shhhhh..." Cheerilee nudged her from across the darkness, her voice melodic and soothing as ever. "Relax, Mrs. Cake. We're almost there."         "I think it's unlocked," Twilight said. Cup Cake turned to see her standing before the door with a glowing horn. "We should be able to open it."         "You suppose it's safe inside?" Time Turner asked.         "It oughta be much safer than out here," Twilight said. "Though, between monitoring the storm and monitoring this detector, it's a little hard to tell."         "We've made it this far, which is pretty miraculous," Amethyst said. "I think we'll be even better off underneath a darn rooftop, thank you very much."         "Right." Time Turner rubbed his hooves together. "Here goes." Ever so gently, he turned a knob, then swung the front door open with a creak. He peaked inside, his shuddering breath producing vapors in the dry air. After a few seconds of peering, he motioned towards Twilight and the others.         On soft hooves, the group hurried in. Time Turner shut the door behind them, and they exhaled in one heavy burst of conjoined breaths.         "Alright, now, ladies." Time Turner pointed at the two unicorns in particular. "I think we can finally afford to shed some light on our situation."         Twilight Sparkle and Amethyst Star simultaneously concentrated, each of them producing a faint glow of manalight from the tips of their horns. The room danced with dark shadows against the pale light as their heads turned, taking a survey of the Town Hall's spacious interior.         "So, uhm..." Cheerilee fidgeted and asked, "Where are we headed, exactly?"         Twilight swung the floating detector around in a slow circle. "Like I postulated earlier, if there's a Sunstone Topaz inside this place, it has to be placed somewhere high up in order to broadcast a signal wide enough to affect all the town's pegasi."         "Meaning...?" Amethyst leaned in.         "Well..." Twilight gulped. "There's an outer hallway on the far end of this room. Past a door, the corridor splits off into two ascending passages that climb up the spiraling height of this building. After several more doors and staircases, there's a single room between the interior and the rooftop."         "So, I guess we should split up, then?" Cheerilee remarked. "Two groups ascending the passages until they meet each other up at the top?"         "Or, goddess-willing, we find the vibrating crystal somewhere along the way," Time Turner said. "The next best thing would be to wait for the others to find them so we could figure out how to deactivate it."         "What if we run into trouble?" Amethyst Star asked, waving her light around.         "You mean like the pony who set the Sunstone Topaz in place to begin with?" Time Turner frowned. "If I was such a diabolical fiend, I would have skipped town long before the pegasi became a danger to me as well."         "No, I'm talking about the pegasi themselves," Amethyst Star muttered. "What are the odds some of them might be inside this place?"         "Given what we've seen of them, acting thoughtlessly under the influence of the frequency?" Twilight Sparkle shook her face and trotted forward. "I find it highly unlikely—"         A gray body swooped down at her.         "Gaaah!" Twilight ducked low, trembling.         Cheerilee, Time Turner, and Mrs. Cake all gasped. Amethyst flung herself to the ground and squeaked, "I told you!"         "Quiet!" Time Turner hissed. He and the ponies looked up, but everything was pure black beyond the penumbra of the unicorns' shimmering horns. Gulping, he crawled over to Twilight and stammered breathily, "Was that a winged pony just now?"         Twilight shivered. "It s-sure felt like it when it br-breezed past me!"         "Where did it go?"         "I've no clue. I can't see."         "Shhh! If it's still here, it can probably hear us!"         "Is it just one of them?"         Everypony huddled in silence, gazing wide-eyed at the shadows above.         "Pssst..." Amethyst hissed. "Twilight!" The other unicorn looked over while Amethyst gestured. "On the count of three, we intensify the light. Okay?"         Twilight mutely nodded.         Amethyst gulped, then murmured, "One... two... three..."         Cup Cake watched, muscles coiled and jaw clenched, as the pale light from the unicorns' horns spread across the slanted wooden rafters of the Town Hall. Everypony's eyes swam across the exposed ceiling. Thunder rolled as more and more stretches of wood were exposed, but still no sign of movement...         Until a gray figure scurried upside down into glistening sight.         "Gaah—Mmmf!" Cheerilee clamped two hooves over her mouth, stifling a whimper.         Twilight blinked, wide-eyed.         The pegasus clung to a ceiling beam like an immense, ashen spider. Long, bloodied gashes swam across its flank, and a chunk of splintery material was lodged in its neck. Still, the pegasus crawled slowly, hooves clinging to the wooden frames as it approached a pane of cracked windows and began bashing its head rhythmically against it, fidgeting.         "Good h-heavens," Cheerilee finally spat out, her eyes wide.         "Does... uh..." Amethyst Star fidgeted. "Does anypony recognize her?"         Time Turner was already squinting. "I think it's Miss Doo, the town's mailmare..."         "Ditzy..." Twilight whimpered, her ears folded back. "No..."         "What was she doing here when the spell began?"         "Your guess is as good as mine," Time Turner said.         Cup Cake blinked. She glanced down from the ceiling and looked at the center of the spacious room. Just beyond the unicorns' glow, the body of a unicorn filly laid like a crumpled, bloody blanket. Mrs. Cake clenched her eyes shut, taking a huge breath. "Miss Sparkle..."         Twilight craned her neck. "Yes, Mrs. Cake?" she whispered back.         "The door to those tw-twin passageways..." Mrs. Cake gulped. "It's on the other side of this room, isn't it?"         Twilight shuddered, but nonetheless nodded. "Yes..."         Cup Cake opened her eyes. "Then I think we'd best be going..." She said, starting to crawl forward. "And quietly..."         The other ponies agreed in silence. Slowly, they shuffled forward, all the while eyeing the danger looming above them.         Ditzy Doo's body mindlessly bashed against the window in sporadic bursts. Outside, lightning strobed, illuminating the mare's crushed nose and lacerated muzzle. As the five ponies slithered far beneath her, she lingered in utmost silence, save for the cicada buzz of her fluttering wings at every other interval. She cocked her head to the side, incidentally allowing a trickle of blood and saliva to leak out the gash in the side of her skull.         Amethyst jolted as the crimson droplet landed on her coat. She shuddered, but held her breath in as she crawled further, weathering a few more splashes of the pegasus' cold blood from above. Thunder rolled through the foundation of the place, accompanied by the further buzzing of Ditzy's tight wings. After an interminable creep, the group finally reached the far end. Time Turner and Twilight exchanged glances. After a mutual nod, Time Turner stood up and grabbed the doorknob. He turned the handle, and a loud squeak filled the chamber.         Ditzy's body jerked, her mutilated face tilting towards the ground.         Everypony froze in place. No one dared breathe.         Ditzy jerked... jerked again, and returned to the cracked window.         Exhaling with relief, Time Turner turned the knob the rest of the way and opened the door.         In an outrageously loud clatter, the battered corpse of a mint-green unicorn fell loosely through the doorframe from the other side. The five equines gasped, their voices adding to the echo roaring up the walls of the chamber.         Ditzy kicked off the glass, spun in the air, and plummeted towards the brightly-lit group like a gray comet.         "Go! Darn it, move!" Time Turner shouted, shoving Twilight in first. Amethyst bounded in after her, almost tripping over the unicorn corpse. Cheerilee and Cup Cake galloped, followed by Time Turner, swinging the double-doors shut behind him.         Ditzy's face came bursting through, snarling and hacking up wads of bloodied gums. Her muzzle forced its way further through the thin space between the doors. Her hooves and wings slammed violently against the frame.         Time Turner struggled to squeeze her back out, pulling with all his might on the doorknob. "Nnngh—Miss Sparkle!"         "Let go!" Twilight leaned forward, teeth gritting as she flung a glowing horn forward.         A wave of telekinesis shoved the thrashing pegasus back, but barely. When she was just barely an inch beyond the frame of the door, Time Turner spun and bucked her away with a grunt. Twilight's magic field shattered, and both Cheerilee and Time Turner rushed forward to fling the double doors shut. They gripped the handles, bracing the frame with their bodies in time for the pegasus to fly back and pound against it from the other side.         Amethyst Star was already galloping back, levitating a tall candlestick rod with her. Mrs. Cake and Twilight placed it down, bracing the two handles in place. Breathing easier, Cheerilee and Time Turner stumbled back, watching numbly as the doors wobbled and shook, eventually coming to a stand-still. A minute into waiting, everypony heard the buzzing of wings grow distant as Ditzy abandoned the door, retreating once more to the rafters of the Town Hall's main room beyond.         Mrs. Cake shuddered. She slumped on her haunches, her back to one of several window panes lining the circular, ascending corridors on either side of the group. A light tapping rose behind her, announcing a sudden rain shower that cascaded into a drenching wave of moisture, bathing the windows from top to bottom. When the lightning next flashed, it cast a distorted beam of pale light across the nerve-wracked quintet.         "I know we've seen h-horrible things, everypony..." Twilight turned to look at the rest. Her eyes were moist, but she kept her voice steady. "But we need to put an end to this. My detector's crystal is going off like a Hearth's Warming candle. The Sunstone Topaz should be nearby. Now, let's go and find the source of this vibration."         "And what if it's not here?" Amethyst Star wiped her eyes dry and frowned in the other unicorn's direction. "What then?"         "We'll take things as they come. If we hurry, we'll still have the advantage of night to hide our movements."         "So long as we don't make any more sudden noises," Time Turner said, gesturing beyond the barricaded door. "Like just now..."         "Right..." Twilight took a deep breath. "Now, groups. Uhm..." She fidgeted for a moment, then brightened, "Right. We should do this the obvious way. One unicorn per team, that way none of us will be without a light. Time Turner?"         "I'd be happy to assist you, Miss Sparkle."         "Amethyst? Would you be so kind as to light the path for Mrs. Cake and Miss Cheerilee?"         "Right. I-I can totally do this." Amethyst looked at the other two mares. "You ready, girls?"         Cheerilee nodded. "Come on, Mrs. Cake," she said, motioning with her head as she followed Amethyst up the rightmost stairs. She called out across the way. "Meet you two at the top!"         "Above all else, be cautious!"         "Right. Absolutely."         The group split, though Cup Cake hardly noticed. The air felt as still, as cold as it did all the moments before that night, and her eyes were locked on the dimly-lit steps beneath her. She thought of the near-scrape that had just happened, of the body of the foal that she had seen lying in the center of the room where they previously were. In a blink, she imagined an abandoned nursery in its place, and she felt the cold draft as if she was still standing there on the second floor of her own home.         She didn't know when it was that she collapsed. Her ears rang, and she was vaguely aware of a flash of water-distorted lightning bathing her from a nearby window as she fell to her knees, encumbered in sobs.         Cheerilee instantly heard them. She paused in her ascent, looking back with a concerned expression. "Mrs. Cake?" She grimaced, then turned around. "Amethyst, hold up one second..."         "Huh?" Amethyst turned around, squinting. "Oh, for Celestia's sake, what now?"         "This will only take a minute." Cheerilee trotted over and knelt at Cup Cake's side. "Mrs. Cake..." She nudged her gently. "Please, you have to get up. We have to go find that crystal. For Twilight. For Ponyville." She gulped. "For your family."         "I can't..." Cup Cake shook her head, choking on yet another sob. "I've already lost them! I know it!"         "Shhhh..." Cheerilee smiled. "You can't say that! Not yet! Maybe they're hiding away somewhere! Mr. Cake is resourceful! Plus, he's a good, protective father!"         "Then wh-why did he only pr-protect me?!" Cup Cake looked up, sniffling as a heavy frown crossed her plump blue face. "Why did he lock me up in the bedroom but lose... b-but lose sight of the ch-children...?" She covered her face with her hooves, whimpering with shivering breaths.         Cheerilee blinked. Biting her lip, she spun yet again. "Amethyst, uhm... Could you leave us be for a bit?"         "Huh?!" Amethyst did a double-take, her glowing horn making the shadows of the winding passageway dance. "Leave you be?! What is this, a counseling session?! You heard Twilight! We gotta find that crystal and shut it down or else—"         "This won't take long, I promise," Cheerilee said. "Just go ahead of us and keep looking. Mrs. Cake and I will catch up."         Amethyst opened her mouth to protest. But, upon gazing at Cup Cake's sobbing figure, she let loose a groaning sigh. "Fine, fine. I won't be far ahead. Don't take too darn long, ya hear?" Muttering to herself, she turned and continued trotting up the stairs.         Once alone, Cheerilee clutched Cup Cake's forelimbs and pulled. "Here. Get up, sweetie..."         "Mmmf..." Cup Cake lumbered up to her hooves, sniffling. "Wh-what... why—?"         "You have to pull yourself together, Mrs. Cake. I know you've been through a lot, but this is a time that we have to spend thinking about others and not just about ourselves." Leaning her head aside, Cheerilee gave the mother an imploring look. "Would it help you to get it off your chest?"         "What's to tell? Everything's so hopeless..." Mrs. Cake stammered, shaking her head. She paced in a tight circle before the rain-swept window stretched beside the two of them. "I've been on edge ever since I failed to save Silver Skates' little brother. And then th-there was that foal in the room with Ditzy just now... and... and..." She clenched her eyes shut and shivered.         "Yes...?" Cheerilee leaned forward.         "That's just the thing. I'm not worried about myself, Cheerilee." With tears flowing, Cup Cake gazed fitfully at the schoolteacher. "I'm worried about my children." She gulped. "Pumpkin Cake... Pound Cake..." She shuddered. "I-I'd give anything j-just to hold them in my arms once again..."         Cheerilee stared steadily at her. "Your children," she murmured, slowly nodding.         Cup Cake sniffled and rubbed her cheek dry. "Yes. F-feels like forever since I seen them..."         "Yes..." Cheerilee fidgeted. "You... you mentioned something about that earlier in Twilight's laboratory. I almost said something then, but I thought it was just my imagination..."         "Huh...?" Cup Cake blinked at Cheerilee. "Your... imagination...?"         "I understand that you're concerned about your family, Mrs. Cake, but your children? When you say that, it's almost as if—" Cheerilee froze in place. Like a statue.         Cup Cake gulped. She squinted her eyes awkwardly.         Bearing a deadpan expression, the earth pony pivoted to the side.         "M-Miss Cheerilee...?" Cup Cake stammered.         Without a single word, Cheerilee broke into a gallop, jumped, and plunged straight through the fourth-story window.         Cup Cake stumbled back, shrieking into the sudden spray of sharp glass and pelting rain. "Cheerilee!" Lightning flashed. Under the roll of thunder, Cup Cake rushed to the edge of the shattered window frame, peering straight down. "Miss Cheerilee! Where..." She gasped; her ears rang. Down below her, framed by a bed of glittering shards, lay the limp body of the Ponyville schoolteacher. As lightning flashed, Mrs. Cake could see a ghostly-white shard of bone sticking out of her throat; the mare's neck was bent at a violent angle.         So numb in shock was Cup Cake, she hardly noticed the thumping hooves of Amethyst Star rushing down to join her.         "What in Tartarus' name happened here?!" the unicorn stammered, wide-eyed.         "She..." Mrs. Cake numbly murmured. "She j-just leapt through the window!"         "She what?!"         "We were t-talking, and suddenly Cheerilee froze in place, and she just galloped through like a pony possessed!" Cup Cake exclaimed, her voice cracking. "It h-happened so suddenly! I didn't even realize it until the glass had shattered and... and..." She trembled, nearly falling to her knees. "Oh Goddess, what's happening to this town?!"         "This doesn't make any sense!" Amethyst thought aloud, shining her light down on the distant, fractured body of Cheerilee. "And with a stunt like that, she's liable to have woken up half of—" Lightning strobed, illuminating the sudden, pallid expression on Amethyst's face as she stared skyward. "Oh crap..."         "Huh?!" Cup Cake gave her a double-take. She looked up into the rolling storm beds. "What is...?" She was answered by the shape of darker shadows looming against the perpetual grayness of the storm. The rain parted as several winged figures converged on Town Hall. "Oh dear Celestia..."         "Come on!" Amethyst Star jumped down a few steps and tugged telekinetically on Cup Cake's shoulder. "We may still have time to make it into a cellar or something! This stupid place has gotta have a shelter!"         "Huh?! Wait—No!" Cup Cake pulled away, pointing up the steps. "Twilight Sparkle and Time Turner!"         "What about them?!"         "They're expecting us up top! They'll be alone on the top floor when the pegasi—"         "You seriously think we now have the time to rush all the way upstairs, warn them, and gallop to safety?!"         "Well it's the sort of thing they would do for us!" Cup Cake retorted.         "It..." Amethyst stammered breathlessly, glancing out the shattered window as the storm raged. "But..." She clenched her eyes and jaw shut. "Nnnnngh..." With bounding steps, she flew up past the mare. "Move your fat flank!"         Cup Cake didn't argue. She followed the unicorn as the two stampeded frantically up the winding, winding steps. Beyond the rumbling thunder, they heard the rustle of wings, followed by weightless hooves clamoring over the wooden exterior of the Town Hall building all around them.         When they reached the top, a glowing light pierced their eyes. Amethyst Star and Cup Cake skidded to a shrieking stop.         Time Turner and Twilight Sparkle jumped in place. Levitating the detector in front of her, Twilight held a hoof over her chest and breathed easier. "Whew! It's just you. Anyways, we've had no luck on our end. How about your group?"         "There's no time!" Cup Cake stammered, wide-eyed. "We have to get out of here! Maybe if we galloped down the way you came—"         "Whoah, whoah, calm down," Time Turner remarked, waving his hooves. He raised an eyebrow. "What's going on? Did you run into more pegasi?"         "No, but they're coming! Th-they're coming fast!" Cup Cake pointed behind her. "We'd better move or—"         "Just one second..." Twilight squinted. "Where's Cheerilee?"         "She's..." Cup Cake grimaced, a tear rolling down her cheek. "I mean, she—"         "Cheerilee's dead," Amethyst grunted.         Twilight gasped, her violet eyes twitching wide. "D-dead...?!"         "What?!" Time Turner leaned forward. "How?!"         "She..." Cup Cake whimpered. "She j-jumped."         "She jumped?!" Twilight stammered, waving her glowing horn towards the opposite stairs across the tiny room. "Like, out the window?!"         "No, through a keyhole—What do you think?!" Amethyst growled. "We came here to warn you because—"         She didn't need to explain it; the hallway behind the two mares was filling with the sound of fluttering, buzzing wings.         "Oh Goddess..." Time Turner stammered, twisting and turning about as the sixth-story walls closed in. "Goddess alive..."         "It's suicide in that direction!" Amethyst said, pointing then behind Twilight. "We'll have better luck running down that—"         Just then, the distant sound of windows shattering lit the air. Time Turner and Twilight spun, shocked to hear the thud of trampling horseshoes coming up the path behind them.         "Oh no..." Cup Cake exhaled.         "Perfect!" Amethyst hissed, tossing her hooves. "Now we're really screwed!"         "Maybe not!" Time Turner thought in fast forward, spinning to gaze breathlessly at the windows immediately surrounding them. "We can get out on the roof!"         "And then what?!" Amethyst squawked.         "There's a line of Equestrian banners on the north side! We can climb it to the nearest building!"         "You can't be serious..."         "I'd rather be anything than dead!" Time Turner grabbed the nearest item—a heavy end table—and flung it towards the nearest window with a grunt. Glass shattered as lightning and rain water poured into the room, drowning out the noise of pegasi charging up the stairs on either side. "Let's go!"         "Hold on a second!" Twilight shrieked, her heart racing. "We haven't even found the Sunstone Topaz yet—"         "Screw the crystal!" Amethyst grumbled. "None of us ran into it! I think we all know by now that it's not inside this blasted building!"         "But... But..."         "Miss Sparkle!" Time Turner tugged on the unicorn's shoulder, pulling her towards the window and the water-soaked rooftop beyond. "There'll be more chances! Let's get out of here!"         Twilight hadn't the strength to protest. Time Turner shoved her out and climbed after her. He leaned back through the frame to give both Amethyst and Cup Cake a helping hoof.         Mrs. Cake soon found herself standing in the pelting rain, with the stormclouds spewing lightning at a distance that felt less than a stone's throw overhead. As the sky churned and bubbled, the herd’s rampage had become deafening inside.         "Stand back!" Time Turner shouted. As the mares scurried aside, he swiveled and kicked the building face above the topmost window with two heavy hooves. "Nnngh!"         Several roof shingles fell loose from the stallion's blow. Twilight assisted with her telekinesis, making the brown plates fall solidly over the shattered window, forming a desperate yet sturdy barricade.         "Wh-where do we go?!" Mrs. Cake shouted above the drenching monsoon.         "Miss Sparkle!" Time Turner exclaimed. "The north side—"         "Over here!" Twilight exclaimed, already galloping towards the edge of the Town Hall building where a waving cord of flapping banners hung in the billowing wind. Across the way, the other end of the cable attached to a third story hotel balcony.         As she ran towards it, Mrs. Cake felt her hooves slipping on the slick rooftop. She shrieked, plunging towards the edge of the building top. A soft hoof held her back from a six-story plunge. Mrs. Cake slumped back against Amethyst Star's chest. She thanked the unicorn with a mute nod. Meanwhile, Time Turner was already crouching besides the cord.         "Everypony!" he hollered, his wet face glinting from the storm's incessant flashes. "Do just like I do! Every hoof clutching the cord, front hooves move first, then the rear hooves follow! Like this!" In a swift dive, he swung himself so that he was suspended upside down from the cord. He proceeded to shimmy himself gradually across the swaying tight-rope. "Slow and steady... we'll be over to the other side in no time!"         "Oh jeez..." Amethyst Star covered her mouth as she shook her head again and again. "Oh jeez oh jeez oh jeez..."         The entire rooftop shook. The mares shrieked and spun to see the barricade of fallen shingles bulging from the inside out.         "They're breaking through!" Twilight shouted. She spun and caught the looks of Amethyst and Cup Cake. "You two go first! I'll follow in case I have to fend them off with my magic!"         "But—" Cup Cake started.         "No arguments!" Twilight pointed a hoof forward through the thundering downpour. "Follow Time Turner, and no looking back!"         "Here goes..." Amethyst Star was already squatting. Holding her breath, she grabbed onto the cable and swung down. She dangled loosely for a bit, stifled a shriek, but ultimately found her rhythm, crawling after the upside-down stallion in a jittery fashion.         The rooftop shook again. Shrieking, bloodied muzzles began piercing through the flimsy layer of shingles.         "Mrs. Cake!" Twilight exclaimed. "Your turn!"         Cup Cake trembled as she knelt down besides the cord dangling from the other two's weight. "I love you, Carrot. I love you, Carrot. I love you." Holding her breath, she flung her rain-drenched body forward and hung limply from the cord. Her lower hooves slipped. But, with a steady breath, she flung them back up and started mimicking the motions that Time Turner had shown. Soon, she was crawling gradually across the tightrope as the wet world throbbed and blasted all around her.         Twilight was becoming a distant, lavender speck. In a flash of lightning, Cup Cake could spot several shingles spraying outward from the shattered window. Twilight spun and fired multiple manabolts at the general vicinity of the breach.         The rope shook. Cup Cake gasped, nearly slipping.         "We're almost there!" Time Turner's voice danced along the whipping winds. "Just a little further!"         Hyperventilating, Cup Cake looked straight down. All she saw was muddied street. The contorted body of Cheerilee lay directly beneath her like a ruby shadow.         The cord shook again, this time from Twilight's weight adding to it. "They're coming!" Twilight exclaimed above the cyclonic tumult. "Don't look back! Just move! Move!"         "Twilight!" Amethyst Star's voice called out ahead of Cup Cake. "The rope! Nnnghh... I-I don't think it can handle all of our—"         Something breezed past all four dangling bodies, something with wings. The wind jostled them, splitting the rain like shattered bullets. Then another pegasus swung by, nipping at Cup Cake's sopping wet mane. She shrieked, not so much because of the figures diving at her, but because of the gale force wind now shaking her and the other three like pendulums. Right at that moment, there was a horrible snapping sound: the tell tale indication at the Town Hall's end of the cord was breaking loose.         "Miss Sparkle—!" Time Turner barked.         "Hold on!" Twilight's voice returned. The air lit up with lavender energy just in time. The cord snapped, but before Cup Cake could experience free-fall, she saw the entire rope glowing with unicorn energy between her limbs. The cord jolted, then jolted again. "Nnngh... I-I can't... c-can't hold it forever!" Twilight grunted, then shrieked. "Watch out!"         The entire cord swayed like a collapsing bridge. While Twilight's telekinesis slowed the fall, the ride was no less perilous. The entire group swung towards the hotel building, colliding with it like a string of pinatas. Time Turner fell first, only to be caught in a lavender field. A similar bubble of energy cocooned Amethyst and Cup Cake, floating them down safely... at least until they were ten feet up, and then Twilight lost her grip.         Cup Cake collapsed to the ground with a sick thud. She saw stars for a brief second, and when the flash of light cleared, all was rain and screaming—Twilight's screaming. The unicorn plunged like an anvil and fell into a cluster of bushes at the base of the hotel.         "Twilight!" Cup Cake shrieked. She got up, slipped on mud, but nevertheless broke into a gallop. Time Turner and Amethyst Star were already crouched by Twilight's side by the time Cup Cake got there. The unicorn was wincing as if giving birth, clutching a huge, throbbing welt in her lower left hoof. "Oh dear Luna, how bad is it?" Cup Cake whimpered. "Is it sprained?! Or... or..."         "Shh!" Amethyst Star held a hoof over Twilight's sobbing mouth, gesturing for the other ponies to keep low. "Stay absolutely still..."         The three ponies huddled around Twilight. Shedding tears, the youngest unicorn of the bunch stared up past the shrubbery's thorny branches, watching as the sky filled with dozens of winged figures pouring out of the Town Hall building. The pegasi spun circles through the rain, their wings slicing like black blades against the strobing storm beds. After several close swoops, they split apart and broke off towards far corners of the village, pursuing other bodies... and other screams.         Time Turner, bruised and soaked all over, was the first to let loose a sigh. Motioning wordlessly, he pulled Twilight up. Mrs. Cake helped out, taking up the other half of the unicorn's weight. With Amethyst Star leading the way, the four hobbled across the muddied downtown district, pausing only when an errant shadow or two darted swiftly overhead.         Soon, they made it to the Ponyville marketplace. The multiple wooden shacks of the bazaar were still open and brimming with wares, abandoned by ponies who found themselves assaulted by their neighbors in broad daylight two agonizing weeks before. Ducking under a wooden shack bearing trays full of rotten fruit, Amethyst Star paused, and the entire group grinded to a halt behind her.         She spun around, her eyes narrowing. "What now, huh?" She swung her forelimbs as the steady downpour dwindled to a flimsy drivel over the marketplace around them. "Some search that was! Did you know that the crystal was going to be in the Town Hall? Were you absolutely sure of it, Miss Sparkle?"         "I..." Twilight gulped. "I-I..."         "Well?!"         Twilight sniffled. "I'm sorry. All of my calculations pointed towards it. I guess... I-I guess it must be in another building..."         "Oh, and just how many ponies are we gonna lose while searching through another one, huh?!" Amethyst grumbled.         "Lay off, Miss Star—" Time Turner began.         "No, you lay off!" Amethyst barked, pointing towards the distant edge of the rainswept village. "What do you really know about this damn Sandstone Triangle thingy anyways?!"         "Sunstone Topaz—"         "Look, shut up!" Amethyst hoarsely grunted. "Thing is, we don't know enough about it! For all of your research and book studies, Twilight, you still don't know jack about the vibrations!" She swung her hoof in the air. "For instance, you couldn't have predicted it would have affected Cheerilee as well!"         "Affected... Cheerilee...?" Twilight spoke aloud.         "I don't understand..." Time Turner narrowed his eyes from where Twilight leaned against him. "Just how did Cheerilee die? She fell out a window?!"         Amethyst spun to frown at Cup Cake. "You tell 'em, Mrs. Cake! You tell them exactly what happened!"         Cup Cake sighed, her head hanging as it dripped with tears and rain water. "She and I were... j-just talking. I was having a nervous breakdown, and Miss Cheerilee was trying to comfort me... as sweet and as l-loving as ever." She gulped, then said, "And Cheerilee just stopped all she was doing, turned, and galloped straight out the fourth-story window."         "That...." Twilight slowly shook her head. "That's..."         "Who's gonna be next, huh, Twilight?!" Amethyst Star cackled. "You?! Me?! Mrs. Cake here?! Your dashing knight, Time Turner?"         Time Turner frowned. "I think you need to calm down—"         "I think I need to get some answers!" Amethyst grumbled. "This vibration crap has to do with more than pegasi, huh?! I need to know if I'm going to go nutso on you guys, cuz—I tell ya—I think I'm starting to feel it coming!"         "Amethyst, listen to me..." Twilight tried standing up, but ultimately stumbled from her bad leg. Mrs. Cake took the weight of her this time as the unicorn struggled to stay upright. "Mmmf... Amethyst, I'm sorry, but I don't have the answers for you..."         "Pfft..." Amethyst folded her forelimbs and rolled her eyes. "Naturally..."         "And I'm sorry for what happened to Cheerilee, I really am." Twilight's face grew long as she sniffled and said, "She was as much my friend as she was yours, and I think I speak for all of us here when I say that the last thing I want is for us to lose any more friends. So, right now, I need you to trust me and stay by my side. We need to go back to my treehouse, back to Caramel and Silver Skates, so that I might be able to do some more studies and figure out if there's... any reason for what happened beyond what I know."         Amethyst took a long breath, gradually calming down. "And what of the crystal thingy?"         "I lost my detector in the fall..." Twilight grimaced. "But... Time Turner and I can make another, and we can do the building search another time, maybe in fewer numbers."         Sighing, Amethyst dragged a hoof over her head.         "I'm sorry, Amethyst, but that's the best I can offer. You're welcome to disagree, but I can't think of any other group you'll be safer with than us. And you know what'll happen to you if you try to trot out of this town on your own!"         Amethyst gulped, then nodded with a sad face. "Right," she muttered. "I'll end up like my sister."         Twilight frowned. "Now, I didn't mean to say—"         "Let's just go, alright?" Amethyst said. She turned towards the far end of the market and began trotting. "I've had my fill of surprises for one evening—"         A large, crimson mass fell—hooves flailing—and crashed bloodily through the fruit vendor in front of them.         Amethyst shrieked. She and everypony else hopped back, eyes wide.         The body of Big Macintosh lay before them, his body bruised and sun-bloated in over two dozen places. No less than three seconds later, a lithe pegasus landed beside his corpse in a prismatic blur. On wobbly legs she stood, until the sound of the four ponies' panting breaths caused her blue ears to twitch. Slowly, Rainbow Dash lifted her dazed head, a flash of lightning illuminating the chunks of flesh that had fallen loose from the right side of her skull.         Cup Cake's lips trembled. She felt the body of Twilight squirming against her.         "Run..." Twilight stammered, wide-eyed, then shouted, "Run!"         All four spun around and darted across the cluttered marketplace, kicking up mud and fallen fruit.         Rainbow Dash pivoted about. All she needed to do was flap her wings once. A clap of thunder rolled as her battered body shot after them like a bullet, plowing through vendor stands and filling the air with splintery bits of wood and shredded tarp.         Twilight hobbled alongside Mrs. Cake. The two mares' legs dragged deep in the mud, gaining friction as they struggled to duck under and jump over various wooden beams. As the rumbling pegasus swallowed the distance between them, Time Turner paused up ahead, reaching a hoof back with a wide-eyed gaze.         "Here, Mrs. Cake!" He gestured towards Twilight. "I'm faster! Give her to me—"         Rainbow Dash caught up with them, and so did the thunder. A blast wave of epic proportion flung the mares off their hooves, tossing them through the air along with a spray of miscellaneous debris. They fell amidst the lightning strobes, carving ravines into the mud.         Cup Cake struggled to her hooves. She glanced around her, but only saw Twilight. In a burst of lightning, a winged figure descended. Thinking fast, she grabbed two hooves-full of mud and flung them skyward. Rainbow Dash's snapping muzzle missed Cup Cake's jugular by centimeters; the pegasus went sprawling through the middle of the rain-soaked street, rubbing her face raw against the grass like a dog, blinded by the mud.         Panting, Cup Cake next lunged to the side, hoisting Twilight up over her back like a cloak.         "Ungh!" Twilight whimpered, lying reverse on Mrs. Cake's flank. "Where... wh-where are the others?!"         "Don't know!" Cup Cake panted, breaking into a steady gallop. "Can't know!"         "But we're..." Twilight stammered through the crashing lightning as Rainbow finally shook the mud off her possessed face. "We're not heading towards my treehouse—"         "You really want me to turn around?!" Cup Cake's voice cracked.         Rainbow's ears twitched. Twin eyes of glazed ruby shimmered in the night as she turned, spread her wings, and soared after the two.         "You're right!" Twilight shrieked, gripping hard to Mrs. Cake's flank. "Gallop! Just gallop!"         Cup Cake gnashed her teeth, breaking down a straightaway of vegetable and utensil vendors lined up before her like cemetery plots. She dodged and weaved around the flimsy wooden structures, panting for breath beneath the whipping winds caused by Rainbow Dash's beating wings. The pegasus made multiple dives at them, smashing through rooftops, kicking dents in the wooden surfaces. Twilight shrieked, covering her face as waves of debris showered and pelted her. All the while, Rainbow Dash came closer, her white teeth clapping like a barracuda's in pursuit.         Cup Cake flashed a glance to her right. She saw an immense tent flapping in the breeze. Jerking around a corner, she skidded in the dirt, regained her hoofing, and galloped straight into the canvas hut.         "Mrs. Cake!" Twilight stammered. "What are you doing—?!"         "Hold tight!" Cup Cake dove into the tent, galloped past a stack of boxes, and slid towards the flapping border, skidding low. She squeezed herself and Twilight under the flap, struggled for a heart-splitting millisecond or two, and popped out on the other side.         As she continued sprinting, Rainbow Dash flew blindly into the tent behind them, her spectral body shoving hard against the canvas fabric. With much tugging and struggle, she ripped the tent clear off from its pegs and flew blindly into the ground, wrestling numbly with the coarse material.         Cup Cake took one glance back. To her joy, it slowed Rainbow Dash for just a few seconds. To her horror, those few seconds were hardly enough. With a violent thrash, Rainbow tore a hole through the canvas, flapped her wings, and rocketed towards the two mares yet again.         Mrs. Cake rounded another street corner. She approached an intersection, trying to catch her bearings. Her options were running out, as well as street space. At last, she galloped straight towards an apartment building, but was intercepted by a blue missile flying into her side.         "Unngh!" Cup Cake rolled across the ground, wincing from the fresh bruise to her limbs. She looked up in time to see Rainbow Dash descending like a prairie falcon onto Twilight's crippled body.         "Nnngh—Rainbow, st-stop!" Twilight shrieked, unable to fight off the mute pegasus' clambering hooves.         Mrs. Cake threw herself onto her hooves and galloped over to help, but received a firm hoof to the face for her efforts. Rainbow Dash resumed her struggle with Twilight.         "It's me!" Twilight's voice wavered between sobs and shouts. She tried using her horn, but a swift slap to the skull ended such effort. "Aaugh! It's your friend! Don't you kn-know who you're loyal to?!"         Rainbow Dash said nothing. With the quiet grace of a spider, she wrapped her legs around Twilight, flapped her wings, and lifted the two of them towards the heavens above—         A two-by-four slammed over Rainbow's spine.         The pegasus thudded into the earth, splashing and thrashing wildly through the mud.         Cup Cake rushed to Twilight's side. The two looked over.         Time Turner stood, slumped over with the cracked bludgeon held between two forelimbs. "Go!" he spat, his face awash in blood. "Get somewhere safe! Both of you!"         "But—" Cup Cake yelped.         "I'll keep her busy! Don't waste the opportunity!" He spun and charged Rainbow again, swinging the two-by-four with greater zeal. "Nnngh!"         Rainbow took the blow to the face. Like a rabid panther, she recoiled and lunged at Time Turner. She and the stallion rolled and wrestled through the street, exchanging heavy blows and hoof-strikes to the chest.         Cup Cake panted. She heard a creaking sound and looked across the street.         A familiar unicorn figure was forcing the back door open to a stone cottage. In a strobe of lightning, the pony glanced out, and Amethyst Star's face made contact with Cup Cake's.         Without delay, Mrs. Cake hoisted Twilight once more over her flank. She trotted and hobbled as swiftly as she could across the street. Halfway through, she heard a labored yell. She and Twilight glanced up.         Time Turner was being hoisted up towards the boiling heavens. As he dangled from Rainbow Dash's grip, his hooves dragged and scraped at a building face, finally tugging in futility on the ceiling's rusted weathervane. "Nnnngh—Snkkkt!" He spat and vomited blood, flashing the mares one last, petrified glance. "Hrghhhghh—Go!" And, in a bright flash, he was yanked violently heavenward, shattered weathervane and all. In that same blink, a diving flock of winged equines could be seen diving past him, screaming blackly through the lightning like a murder of crows.         Their shadows converged on Cup Cake as she turned and carried herself and Twilight the rest of the way towards the cottage. Her world blurred. All was screams and ice rain. She ended the charge in a slide, collapsing inside a dimly-lit kitchen. Amethyst Star slammed the entrance shut behind them with a rattling clatter of a lowly pet door.         Amethyst slid the deadbolt tightly shut. Once the pet door lid stop squeaking, all was silent for the span of four seconds. Then the house thundered and shook with religious pounding. The nearby windows cracked down the center and several ceiling tiles fell atop the ponies in a dusty heap. The three mares whimpered pathetically, at least until the howling pegasi had their fill of violence, and abandoned the cottage from the outside.         Twilight's panting breaths were the last to settle. She gulped and stood up, leaning against Cup Cake's body for support. She stared into silence for a few seconds, her face grimacing to find an expression worth registering all that had been lost. Then, slowly, she tilted her head to face the others.         "Well..." She gulped. "We're... w-we're safe—"         A violent hoof swung across her face. Twilight slumped to the kitchen floor, spitting blood into the clumps of mud.         Mrs. Cake sat up, gasping. "Miss Star—!"         "Safe?" Amethyst loomed above Twilight, her eyes brimming with terror and fury. "Safe?! We're not safe, we're dead! We're all dead, thanks to you!" She grunted and kicked Twilight in the ribs once... twice...         Cup Cake dove swiftly forward, shoving Amethyst back. "Stop it! Stop it!" she shouted. "You're not helping—"         "Nnngh!" Amethyst knocked Cup Cake on her haunches with a burst of telekinesis. "What's to help! So far, we've relied on her tricks! We relied on her know-how! And what has it gotten us?! We're screwed!"         "Amethyst..." Twilight sputtered, rubbing her cheek as she calmly spoke to the angry unicorn towering above them both. "I know things are bad, but we mustn't do this! We mustn't turn on each other—"         "Why?! Because only the power of friendship can get us out of this mess?! Take a look outside, genius!" Amethyst cackled, pointing towards the kitchen window. "Half of your friends are either possessed, dead, or both! Did you really think finding and stopping some magic crystal would undo all the craziness that’s happened?! Every single one of the pegasi are screwed! All of us know that! And you think they're just gonna gently let down whatever earth pony or unicorn is left out there?"         "We don't know enough to presume the worst—" Twilight began.         "But we know enough to expect it!" Amethyst hyperventilated, backtrotting from the two as if they were the plague. "Face it, I should have stayed away from you! From all of you! I want to see my sister again!" She panted and pulled at her bruised face muscles. "I want... Nnnngh... I-I want to wake up! I just want to wake up from all of this and—"         The cottage rattled. A pale muzzle burst through the pet door, then lunged forth. Rotting teeth clamped over Amethyst Star's tail and yanked straight back. Amethyst fell flat from the pegasus yanking her. Her haunches slammed into the pet door. Hard. She grunted and sputtered in shock as the pegasus pulled and tugged mercilessly from the other side.         Twilight Sparkle and Mrs. Cake gasped.         "Nghhh—Nuh... No..." Amethyst clawed and clawed at the mud-caked tile. The force of three pegasi tugged this time, and half of her flank sank through the tiny partition. A sickening snap filled the air as her legs and pelvis collapsed to fit the crumbling passage. "N-No..." She vomited up blood and bile, her upper body spasming. "I-I d-don't want to d-die. Please, goddess... d-don't... don't wanna—" Her ribs collapsed, followed by her head twisting at a forty-five degree angle. Her body slipped out through the pet frame, pulling a chunk of the door along with her, leaving behind nothing but bloodstreaks and sawdust before the rampaging storm. Following a flap of wings from outside the cottage, everything fell silent.         Twilight and Cup Cake sat side by side against the far wall of the kitchen, serenaded by the sounds of their muted sobs. It was Mrs. Cake who collapsed first, burying her face in her hooves. She sniffled and wiped at her eyelids, failing with each gesture to dry them.         All the while, Twilight gazed blankly into the space that Amethyst had just occupied—alive and healthy—a few naked seconds ago. She gulped, then stammered, "This is... this is all my fault." She bit her lip, then muttered, "She was right. If I hadn't made presumptions about the research I made... if I-I hadn't made us all take this risk... then she would be alive right now. So would Time Turner. And... and so would—"         "It's n-not your fault, Miss Sparkle," Cup Cake whimpered. Sniffling, she looked up at the lightning flashes beyond the cracked windows of the kitchen. "It's mine. If I hadn't stopped Cheerilee in her tracks... if I hadn't forced her to stop and try and console me..." She choked on a sob and murmured, "Then m-maybe she wouldn't have... have... g-gotten possessed and thrown herself through that window in the first place." She wiped her eyes again and shuddered. "The pegasi wouldn't have heard or seen us, and we'd be finding that Topaz crystal by now..."         "It... It just doesn't make any sense!" Twilight Sparkle hissed, thinking aloud as she rubbed the painful welt in her leg. "Cheerilee's always been strong! Resourceful! Full of unbreakable resolve!" She gulped. "Even in a nightmare as bad as this, she'd never resort to something as banal as suicide! She cared about us too much to abandon us!"         "Then why did she?" Cup Cake cried. "What did we do that was so wrong?"         Twilight's lips moved as she focused on a singular thought. Blinking, she turned to look at her lone companion. "Mrs. Cake, tell me, what were you talking to Cheerilee about exactly? What was the discussion you were having with her when she suddenly threw herself out the window?"         "She..." Cup Cake shuddered. "She was asking me to get stuff off my chest. And so I-I did." Wincing, she explained, "I was telling her how much I missed my family... my children. How much I wanted to cuddle my foals once again!"         Twilight stared steadily at her. "Your children..."         Cup Cake nodded.         "You mean Pumpkin..."         "...and Pound Cake..." The mare brought her hooves to her face once again and outright sobbed. "Ohhhhhh Pound. Pound, I've abandoned you, my little cherub. Carrot, please. Please forgive me, darling. I'm such a b-bad mother..."         She sobbed for the space of several seconds, then felt the soft hooves of Twilight pulling her forelimbs down from her face.         "Mrs. Cake, listen to me." Twilight gulped. "I know you've been through a lot as of late, what with trying to find your family and all, but are you... I-I mean... are you sure you're thinking straight?"         Cup Cake shook, trembled. "Thinking st-straight? Why wouldn't I be?" She panted. "I-I love my family. I have every reason to, don't I?"         "Yes, I can understand your worry for Mr. Cake and Pumpkin..." Twilight nodded. "But, Pound Cake?" Twilight stared at Mrs. Cake squarely. "Mrs. Cake, Pound Cake died a year and a half ago..."         Cup Cake's ruby eyes twitched upon hearing that.         Twilight leaned forward. "Don't you remember that?"         "He... d-died...?" Mrs. Cake stammered breathlessly. "A year... y-year and a half..."         "He never reached six months, Mrs. Cake," Twilight said softly. "It was a growth of the wingbone—a cancer. It destroyed his immune system, and he died in his sleep. The... the whole town had a funeral for him. Everypony attended. Don't... don't you recall?"         Mrs. Cake was shaking her head, hyperventilating. "I... I-I just saw him..." She grimaced. "Just l-last night! I sang him to sleep! I tucked him in..." Her gaze trailed off of Twilight's face as she winced even more. "N-not last night... I mean two weeks ago... I mean..." Her blue brow furrowed. "I just... j-just..."         Twilight took a deep breath. She squeezed Mrs. Cake's shoulder. "Mrs. Cake, you said you woke up all of the sudden in your bedroom, right?"         "Yes. Yes I did. J-just yesterday."         "And you were alone in Sugarcube Corner?"         "Of course! You know that, Twilight! Why do you ask?"         Twilight gulped. "Can you take me there...?"