"Should we-"Sweetie Belle started.
"Nah. It's not like-"
"No. No way. Probably just a joke, right?'
"Well, he is a time traveller," said Silverspoon. "Maybe we should give that a little thought, you know?"
Sweetie Belle started to answer her, but was abruptly interrupted by a loud knocking at the door. Silverspoon cautiously walked over and pulled open the door very slowly.
"Yeeees?" she said.
"Hey girls!" Sweetie Belle and Silverspoon were greeted by a very familiar purple alicorn. Twilight immediately barged in and started talking.
"So what's this that you guys made? Nothing I have to worry about hopefully?" Twilight said.
Sweetie Belle looked at Twilight, puzzled. "You helped us build it, Twilight. And I thought you were going to go punish Spike. What are you doing back here already?" she said. Twilight chuckled and waved a hoof, dismissing Sweetie Belle.
"Oh pish, Sweetie, it wasn't all that important."
"You never call me Sweetie."
"Of course I do! All the time!" Twilight grinned sheepishly. "Anyways, I thought I heard somepony else in here. Sounded like a colt." Twilight jokingly poked Silverspoon in the side. "Makes you wonder what you would want with a colt, eh?"
Silverspoon's expression suddenly darkened. "Twilight would never say 'eh'. She hates bad grammar like that. Who are you, anyways?"
Twilight tried to laugh it off. "Why, I'm Twilight! Who else would I be? Shining Armor, perhaps?"
Sweetie Belle laughed. "Ha. I was born at night, but it wasn't last night, changeling." Twilight's demeanor suddenly darkened.
"Changeling? I might not be Twilight, but you seem to be getting me mixed up with someone else, scum." The imposter coughed suddenly.
Silverspoon tugged at Sweetie Belle's mane."Um, Sweetie? Maybe the guy on the audio tape had the right idea." Silverspoon tugged a bit harder as the impostor coughed again.
"Come on,Sweetie Belle, let's go!" she said. Sweetie Belle held up her hoof to stop her.
"Just a minute." Sweetie Belle looked very carefully at the coughing fake. "This might be important." The fake Twilight suddenly sprouted suckers all over it's body. Silverspoon screamed. Sweetie Belle stopped resisting Silverspoon.
"Ok, he was most definitely right. Run! Definitely run!" Sweetie Belle shrieked.
Silverspoon and Sweetie Belle turned around and ran. Straight up the stairs and out the window. They heard a gurgling shriek coming from below as the leaped for their lives, right onto a conveniently placed hay cart.
"Well, that was convenient," said Silverspoon. "Thanks, whoever it is driving this cart. Really helped us out." A sucker-headed freak turned around from the head of the cart and grinned at her.
"Ahhhhhhh!" Silverspoon screamed. She and Sweetie Belle ran into Ponyville.
"Isn't anyone else around?" yelled Sweetie Belle breathlessly as they ran down the street.
"Doesn't matter! Can't trust anyone but us!" Silverspoon replied. She glanced around. "Where are we running, anyways!?"
"We can head for the Boutique! Nice and defensible! At least somewhat!" Sweetie Belle replied.
"How is a dress shop defensible!?"said Silverspoon.
"Rarity! Security freak! Don't worry about it, just follow my lead!" Sweetie Belle said.
The two mares crashed through the door. Sweetie Belle ran over to the love seat in the lounge, lifted up the leg and pressed a mauve button hidden in a compartment underneath. Immediately the boutique started to transform into a virtual fortress as stone encased the entire place. Unfortunately, that included the windows. As the last sliver of light left the room, Sweetie Belle sighed. "Whew. Safe at last."
"Yeah, that's great. Mind giving us a little light from that horn of yours?" Silverspoon replied. Immediately a warm glow started to spread from her horn.
'Cough'
Silverspoon whipped her head around and looked at Sweetie Belle. "Please tell me that was you. Please. Because I am really starting to freak."
"Nope. Wasn't me." Sweetie Belle replied, goosebumps forming on the back of her neck.
"Yeah. Didn't think so." Four suckered faces appeared from the shadows around them and started to close in on them, grim smiles on their faces.
"Tell us where he is," one rasped. "You might survive that way." Silverspoon buried her face in the floor, tears welling in her eyes.
"TELL US!"
"We don't know!" said Sweetie Belle. Tears ran freely down her face as she bravely stood up and faced the monsters. Her thoughts went to Applebloom and Scootaloo. She sniffed as she realized she could've been at a housewarming party. Instead of about to die. Sweetie Belle wiped the tears from her face and lifted her hoof. "And even if we did, we wouldn't tell you." She stared at the monster, refusing to blink or back down.
"It's your death," the suckered creature said. It reached for her, a suckered hand reaching for her face. And then it backed away, as an alien noise rang through the boutique. It rang with the fury of a thousand impoverished worlds. The dark recesses of loss in a father's soul as he knelt at his son's tombstone. The glory of a raging sun rising over the horizon, lighting the souls of the broken. It spoke of salvation. Judgement. And most of all, it rang with the promise that no matter what comes, be it monsters, demons, the end of time itself, there would always be a way out. A place to hide. A place to run.
Vworp. Vworp.