Twilight Sparkle awoke from her deep, sinister slumber. The morning had slipped in past the ominous clouds created by industrialization and peeked in through the palace window of her room. Twilight groggily sat up on the edge of her bed. She had forgotten about the differences, and the wondrous benefits, of her new body.
She was still the same lavender colored, horned pony, but rather than four hooves, she had two back hooves, each connected to a long leg, and two hands, each connected to an arm. She still had her tail and fur, but she was no longer four-legged. It was the effect of her more recent spell, and she had forgotten that she could balance easily on two legs now.
Twilight constructed an amplification device, to radiate this spell across Equestria constantly. All the ponies within the radius of it suffered an agonizing transformation. Twilight Sparkle worked virtually endlessly on a device that could amplify the spell and spread it across the entire globe, but every time she thought she had the answer, it only became only more puzzling. It was all part of her sinister plans, though, and she was nearly to the part where she would be so powerful that she could not be stopped. Time was running out.
Twilight Sparkle studied her hands. This was her way of increasing production speed. Rather than gather all the unicorns and never have the chance to conduct research on them, she decided to make everything easier for all the ponies. She also didn't think about it, but as a side-effect of this spell, all the affected ponies suddenly felt more civilized by wearing clothing while in public. Twilight didn't think about it as she was the same way. Perhaps it was just the nature of the spell.
The purple mare looked out her window and saw the slaves working. She did not laugh nor did she cry. She was blank and emotionless. She had come a long way, and after six long years of hearing the cries, pleas, and screams of dying ponies – ponies dying by her hands, or actually, hooves at the time – she finally had Equestria, and soon the world, in her control.
Twilight walked over to the window and touched her hand to it, watching the workers carry rocks, lumber, metal, dig holes, mine for gems, or other ridiculous tasks she had assigned them. She sighed gently and turned away. Why was she doing this? Why had she put so much effort into this? She never truly understood why herself, but she knew she craved to kill and watch ponies suffer, along with her desire for scientific research. These reasons seemed insane to her, but she didn't care. She loved it.
Twilight walked over to her wardrobe, and opened it. She was only wearing a simple night dress at the time and needed a change for work that day. The wardrobe contained only three outfits. They were all regal and made for a true queen like Twilight.
One outfit was a large lavender dress. It was sparkling and laced with diamonds recently mined from Hearth’s Warming Cove. She thought about that dress, but shook her head.
“Too frilly. I don’t even know why I own this dress,” Twilight said pushing it to the side.
The second outfit was another dress and, yet again, a shade of purple. It was a darker shade this time, and had a necklace bejeweled with many amethyst gems. The dress itself was shimmering as though it were made from diamonds. Twilight smirked, as it reminded her of Princess Celestia and Luna’s hair.
“That reminds me…”
Twilight grabbed the third outfit, which was a dark purple, seemingly black corset lined with amethyst and crested with a large, brilliant amethyst. The bottom of the dress was simply a skirt concealing her underwear, connected by a belt crested with an amethyst. At the edge of the skirt were dark purple stockings, covered in black chainmail. The stockings and chainmail were visibly cut off at the knee by gleaming boots, made of pure steel. The boots were braced at the top and bottom edge, with shiny, silver rims, while in between was a thinner-looking metal with the matching dark purple color. The boots covered her hooves entirely. The boots were matched with a pair of gauntlets of the same pattern and material that went up to her elbow, but designed and cut so that she could bend her arms. Under the gauntlets were long gloves that stretched up just before her shoulder, made of the same cloth as the stockings on her legs. Along with this ensemble was a regal cloak. She got the idea for this cloak from Trixie. The cloak was long and ended at her knee, and was held together at her neck with a diamond-shaped amethyst. The cloak also had a hood and matched the rest of the outfit in color.
Twilight dressed herself with the intricate dress. This was her favorite outfit to wear even though she felt she needed a change in style. She felt like a true queen wearing it, though. She could handle herself and her own battles, and that’s what a true ruler was in her eyes. But to her, she wasn’t a true ruler.
She was going to be the ruler of the entire world, in control of all the power. She planned to control everything, and in her mind, she wasn’t just causing suffering, which she didn’t mind, she was hurtling civilization into era after era of technological expansion. She realized that maybe her psychotic plans were possibly quite beneficial to the world, which made her feel special in some way. Either way, she didn’t care. As long as she got her taste of fresh blood and eased her craving to kill, she was satisfied.
Twilight made her way to the dungeons deep within the palace. She exited her room and entered a narrow hallway. She took a left to a staircase going down to another floor. She made her way down to the next floor into another hallway. She walked a while down the hallway and went through a door to her right. Inside was a virtually empty room except for an ominous stairwell in the corner. She made her way down the stairwell, her metal boots clanking against the metal stairs.
After a long descent into the darkness, Twilight finally came into a large room. Two cages sat on the other side, covered in chains and locks. Two tall ponies each sat in their own cage. One with a white coat and a mane and tail striped in the colors blue, green, and pink, shimmering as though it were made of light. The other had a dark blue coat with a mane and tail just like the white pony’s, only purple and sparkling. They both were hanging from their arms by steel chains while covered in pads and tubes. The tubes ran up into the walls, as though leading somewhere. Auras covered the tubes and seemed to be siphoning up through them.
As Twilight entered the room with a smile on her face, the two weakly looked up at her.
“Wakey wakey.” Twilight said, walking closer. “How are my two favorite ponies today?”
“Y- You’re a m-monster, Twilight Sparkle,” said the white pony. She struggled to lift her head.
“Now now, Princess, no need to be so insulting.” Twilight said, smirking and gripping the white pony’s jaw and lifting her head to look her in the eye. "Why won't you just die already, Celestia?"
The white alicorn glared at Twilight, but quickly pulled her head away and removed her gaze.
"You act so high and mighty," Twilight said condescendingly, "as though you rule Equestria or something."
"Y-you are such a cowardice mare, Twilight Sparkle." The dark blue pony told Twilight. She was just as weak and helpless as Celestia.
The purple pony went over to the dark blue one and got in her face. "I am no coward. I can fight my own battles, but I am far too busy with my research." She began. "If I could just tie ponies up without a fight and do what should be done, I wouldn't have to knock them out. Things aren't that easy, Luna."
Luna struggled to get free as if she was wanting to kill Twilight right there, but she was too weak, and even at full strength she wouldn't be able to break free. "We will stop you." She said with the last of her breath.
"Stupid pony. Nopony can stop me now." Twilight told them as she left the room without another word.
~~~~~~
Pinkie Pie gasped as she awoke. Her heart was pounding, and her breathing was heavy.
“It… It was only a dream,” Pinkie Pie’s breathing settled as she looked around. The others were still sound asleep. She rubbed her head and glanced up at a window. The dawn was just beginning to crack, so she decided it would be pointless to go back to sleep.
Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy, Rarity, Applejack, and Rainbow Dash had made camp inside a large abandoned storage building. The windows were mostly boarded up, with slight cracks in between the planks for light to pass through. The interior was an absolute wreck. Smashed wooden crates scattered the rooms, debris of useless scraps in a miniature land-slide pouring from them. There were large, dusty piles of metal scraps that lay under what looked liked the remains of a rusty, metal staircase. The floor was once tiled, but the tiles were broken or torn away, and miscellaneous trash such as paper, candy wrappers, and plastic bags were scattered everywhere.
Beside Pinkie was Rainbow Dash and Rarity on either side of her. Applejack decided to lay over by a stack of crates, and Fluttershy was close to Rarity (She never liked sleeping alone). The five ponies, known as The Elements, had their bags by them at all times, along with their armor or outfits. It was always important to be well equipped during these times for the chances of being attacked were close to very great.
Pinkie sat up and became immediately vigilant. She had not easily forgotten the monstrosity they had just finished overcoming. An overwhelming search golem. Their defeating it proved to them that they had become strong beyond their imagination.
The golem stood at least three stories tall. It was made entirely out of thick steel and enchanted by Twilight Sparkle, of course. It was designed to search and capture rebels and bring them to the Twilight immediately. Yes, Pinkie remembered it too well. The fact that they aren’t on a table, breathless, is unfathomable.
Pinkie was wearing a normal tank top and underwear. She slept in her armor once, and swore she’d never do that again. It was very light armor, but very uncomfortable if worn to sleep. It was made from sky-diamond, a type of rare, refined gem found in clouds, made when pure rain is crystallized. The material is very light, if not weightless, but very durable and even flexible. It is a very valuable material and extremely difficult to forge into armor but Pinkie managed to get an entire outfit of it.
It looked as though it were made of pure light. It was a very bright outfit, and it gleamed to any speck of light that touched it. The armor itself, covered the torso and pelvic area, acting as a sort of dress and ending at mid-thigh. Near the edge of the dress were leggings made of the same material and intricately cut to look appealing, as well as being beneficial for movement, and improving agility. The leggings ended near the knee, where small boots made of the crystallized material covered her hooves. The boots matched the rest of the outfit in color. They didn’t cover her hooves entirely, but ended right above the edge of them. The back ends of each boot had three slits on both sides. Her gloves had a similar design; each glove had three slits on the top and bottom of them. She wore a necklace made of sky-diamond cut in the shape of a balloon. The necklace was thick, and looked like her element of harmony, only it was more of a replica than the real thing.
Pinkie Pie played with her balloon-shaped necklace for a bit, sighing as she sat there. She looked up at a window with several planks missing, to look up at the sky. The sky was an ominous orange and red color. All the industrialization has polluted the sky, and left it looking hideous.
Rainbow Dash woke up shortly after Pinkie put on her gear.
“Oh, morning, Pink.” Rainbow Dash said through a drawn out yawn. She also had a necklace, made of an entirely different material known as Angel-gold. The necklace's gem was in the shape of a lightning bolt. “How long you been awake?”
“Oh, not very long. About fifteen minutes.” Pinkie replied. She grabbed a dagger with a blade made of sky-diamond. The blade was cut flawlessly, with no rough edges on any spot of it. The hilt was made out of a metal called cloud-steel, a material of the most brilliant ivory. It is as durable as steel, but as smooth as a cloud. The hilt formed an intricate design.
“Should we wake up the others? It’s almost morning.” Dash asked Pinkie while rubbing the back of her own head. She sat up and groaned and mumbled to herself. “It seems like we pick a worse place to set up camp every stop. Ugh.”
“No, I think we should let them rest for a while longer. That golem did quite a number on us.” Pinkie looked back at Rainbow Dash, pointing at the blood-stained bandages covering her arms and legs. In fact, almost her whole body was covered in bandage wrappings. Rainbow Dash finally noticed the burning pain in various places all over her body as she remembered the bandages. She was the one usually taking all the damage. She cringed and clutched her right arm. That was the arm that took the most damage; a long gash from her shoulder to midway of her forearm.
“Take it easy, Dashie. You’re lucky to be alive. You need your rest.” Pinkie said crawling over to her.
“Nnng, no way, I can still, nng… Fight.” Rainbow Dash struggled to get up. Pinkie only laid her back down.
“You’ll only make it worse. We have plenty of time before we have to face Twilight, and you should rest while you can,” Pinkie told Rainbow comfortingly. Rainbow Dash complied, and laid back down.
~~~~~~
It was several hours later before Rarity, Fluttershy, and Applejack awoke. Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie had been making up random conversations in the meantime. They hadn’t sat down and really seriously talked in a long time. It had been years since their last serious conversation.
Applejack rolled over and yawned. The orange pony was almost completely naked, save a pair of panties. She was the kind of pony that never really cared. She was too boyish to care, really; however, she immediately began covering up her half-nude body with her outfit: A simple outfit made entirely of leather, nothing special. The only thing of interest was the shiny, red necklace she wore made of Pegasus-fire, a gem found commonly in Equestria's low-altitude cloud cities. Her necklace's gem was in the shape of an apple.
Fluttershy raised up from a deep slumber, bracing herself with one arm. She yawned, which sounded more like a tiny squeak behind the hushed, rushing breath. Her gleaming, butterfly-shaped necklace shook around a little on her neck from movement as she stretched. She eventually reached over and shook Rarity, who was awake, but trying to sneak in a few more winks.
“Come on, Rarity,” a gentle voice left the yellow mare’s lips, “we need to get ready for today. We aren’t too far from the palace, now.”
“Hmph, what’s a girl got to do to get her beauty sleep?” Rarity groaned in response, rolling over and turning her back to Fluttershy. Fluttershy sat there and pouted.
Rarity suddenly felt a heavy amount of weight pushing down on her waist. She began to flail as she noticed Applejack, suited in her leathery outfit, sitting innocently on her.
“Applejack!? What the…? Get off me!” Rarity managed to squirm free and push herself away.
“Don’t need to be focusin’ on no beauty sleep, Rarity.” Applejack elicited a confident chuckle. “We’re rebels on a mission to save Equestria AND the world from eternal darkness and sufferin'. And yer gonna tell me beauty sleep is more important?”
Rarity got to her hooves and walked over to Applejack, a diamond-shaped gem on a golden necklace beamed in a ray of light, “Nopony ever said I can’t be deadly AND fabulous at the same time, dear Applejack.”
“Well, yeah, but that doesn’t mean ya need to be killin’ time with yer beauty sleep and all that. We don’t have time fer catchin’ a few more hours of sleep. It’s mornin’ and we have to constantly be on the move. There’s no way we could survive another one of them golem things, especially with RD in the condition she’s in, right now.” Applejack lectured.
Rarity sighed, “I suppose you’re right. We do need to find another place soon. Pinkie and I should also go look for supplies while you guys pack up.”
Pinkie’s ear twitched to her name being called. She got up and left Rainbow Dash to rest a little while longer, walking over to Rarity, “I don’t know, Rarity. We’ve pretty much cleaned out this whole area. But maybe one last little sweep wouldn’t hurt.”
Rarity began gearing up. Her outfit was very simple. Simply a black brassiere made of a jet-black leather, but designed for appealing looks. For the bottom half, she wore only tight underwear and shadow-steel for leggings. The leggings were made thickly, but shadow-steel was synthetically forged for the assassin type; to be light as a feather and thick as the earth's crust. The leggings ended right before the edge of the bottom of her hooves. On her forearms she wore shadow-steel bracers; however, the bracers did not match. The one on her left arm was entirely black, and mainly just a plain bracer for support. The one on her right arm was black as well, but had silver braces on either end of them. In between the braces were thin razors. Rarity occasionally used the razors for close quarters. Usually, she never had to face an enemy head on, though.
“Alright, Pinkie and I will be right back. Make sure Rainbow Dash is rested enough to travel with us. And don’t forget to properly pack the blankets this time! The last time I opened my satchel, it was atrocious!” With that, Pinkie Pie and Rarity exited the main door into the outside.
“Yeesh, bossy much?” Applejack announced. “Fluttershy, get suited. We need to take point and be vigilant in case any Searchers come lookin’ fer us.”
“Hmph. Bossy much?” Fluttershy giggled trying her best to mimic Applejack’s accent. She did a gesture with her hand, as if to assure it was only a tease. She picked up her armor, made of Thorn-mail and Mithril-weed, rare elements of Equestria, found only in the heart of the Everfree, and she properly put it on. She sometimes had to wriggle around to get the armor to adjust and fit right. Fluttershy’s armor was very tranquil for it was in the style of nature. It was made entirely of thick and incredibly strong wood. The names Thorn-mail and Mithril-weed simply imply the sturdiness and durability this plant-life holds. Fluttershy comes to believe that it’s the armor that allows her to communicate with the planet so clearly. While the other ponies tell her she’s just gifted, Fluttershy believes the armor is actually enchanted and infused with part of the soul of nature.
Fluttershy was also the only pony of the group that did not have a weapon. She had no need for one. If she ever needed a weapon, she could call upon the animals of the wilds; however, in a desolate world, where there is hardly any life, her druidic powers deal mostly with controlling the nature solely around her, including frenzied creatures of the wastelands and what little plant life could possibly survive under the haze of industrialization.
~~~~~~
Pinkie and Rarity scouted around the vicinity. The area was abandoned, with many broken down or boarded up buildings. Pinkie scouted ahead as usual, leaving Rarity in the dust. She waved back at Rarity, who was dragging herself along the way.
“Ugh, this is dreadful. This heat, this dust, the pollution. It’s just simply not good for my comple–" Rarity was cut short by Pinkie’s sudden appearance in front of her.
“Rarity, I found this building I haven’t scouted yet, but I need your help to get in. The wall is just barely too high for me to get up over, and I'm going to see if there is a way in through the roof. I need you to give me a boost.” Pinkie Pie explained. Rarity acted as though she wasn’t listening, but unfortunately, she was, and understood entirely. The sound of Pinkie Pie's voice, especially when being heard in an incredibly long sentence or two, was sometimes very agitating for Rarity, and perhaps most anyone who heard her speak.
The two picked up the pace and made it to the building Pinkie had described. It was a large building, at least four stories high. It was run-down and looked like it had been there longer than either of them were born. Rarity felt she could tap her hoof against it and the whole place come crashing down.
Pinkie stood back a great distance then suddenly began sprinting toward the wall, as she neared the wall, the slits in the back of her boots hummed and shone with a purple light. She continued sprinting until she found herself running up the wall. Pinkie was rushing at an incredible speed up this ninety degree angle of a wall. And as she claimed before, Pinkie just made it before the edge before the humming ceased, the purple light faded to black, and she was forced to jump and back flip off the wall, landing with a heavy thud on the ground.
“See? I just need a slight boost to make it. Think you can give me a push?” Pinkie asked Rarity.
“At the speed you’re traveling? I can try, but I cannot promise success, Pinkie Pie.” Rarity replied with a shrug.
Pinkie stood from a distance once more, Rarity standing nearly pressed against the wall. Pinkie began her sprint once more, the boots humming and the slits lighting purple as before, as well. Pinkie neared the wall, Rarity getting ready. Pinkie Pie reached the wall, and with almost flawless timing, Rarity planted both her hands on Pinkie’s rump and gave a hard push, eliciting a loud grunt of struggle from giving her all. Pinkie’s legs blurred as the boots carried her up the wall once more, the humming flickered and she tried as hard as she could to reach the edge. She extended her arm as the edge came so close to reach. Finally, the humming ceased again, but Pinkie gave one final pushed off the wall, pushing her upward just enough so she could grab the edge and pull herself up.
“Woohoo! It worked, Rarity, it worked!” Pinkie yelled down to her when she finally got to her hooves. “I’ll remove the boards on the door down there and let you in, kay?”
“Alright, Pinkie Pie, but do hurry! We’ve lost enough time as it is and this heat is absolutely killing me!” Rarity replied in an equally loud voice. She saw Pinkie give a nod and disappear over the edge of the building.
Pinkie saw a hole in the roof leading down into the top floor of the building. It was just large enough for her to fit through. The pink pony looked down through the hole to see a dark interior. "I hope my weight won't cause me to fall through the floor." She told herself as she made her way down through the hole.
~~~~~~
The inside of this unexplored house was eerie. More so than the down-trodden storage building where they made camp. There was barely a ray of light to be found and every step, no matter how hard she tried to muffle it, made a loud creak that echoed and bounced along the walls like she’d just kicked a large rubber ball as hard as she could. She made her way downstairs, noting the different little items she passed that she could see. She didn’t really see anything of interest, but made it her top priority to let Rarity in. It’s a strict rule amongst the five to never be alone for too long, and the creepiness Pinkie Pie was sensing from this building was telling her she needed to get back together with Rarity very soon.
She made it to the second floor. The constant fog of shadows made it hard to get around and was a huge reason why she couldn’t find anything interesting. Pinkie happened across the next stairway down. She went to descend down the staircase, when a sudden rhythmic beat caught her attention. Beneath her hooves she could feel a sort of quake. But this quake felt like a heartbeat in the floor, in the house itself even.
Pinkie made no hesitation and hurried to the bottom floor. As she predicted, the main door was boarded up. She unsheathed her dagger and gripped it tightly. The shiny, glass-like blade radiantly shone a bright purple. With two swift, simple strokes of her arm, the blade cut right through the planks, as though it simply phased through them.
Before Pinkie Pie could even open the doors, Rarity swung open the doors and strutted in as if the sound of the planks breaking and falling were her cues to make a dramatic entrance.
“Ah, thank you, Pinkie Pie!” Rarity said after trotting in like a diva. “Shall we begin looking?”
“I don’t know, Rarity… I felt something earlier. While I was on the second floor, I felt a trembling, like a heartbeat, but I could feel it in the floorboards. Maybe it’s best if we just go ahead and leave while we can.” Pinkie replied a little paranoid. Pinkie Pie was always the more paranoid one. She was the group’s key savior, and the group ALWAYS respected her senses.
“Nonsense, Pinkie. We already went through the trouble of getting here. We should at least browse a little.”
Or not. Rarity began to look around, moving deeper into the house.
“Rarity,” Pinkie groaned out to her, “this is a really really really bad idea.” Pinkie Pie felt shocked that Rarity wasn’t trusting in her senses. This was a first, and she was wondering why Rarity was acting like this.
“Oh please, Pinkie. We took down that massive golem, didn’t we? I'm sure we can handle whatever creature in the shadows might be– YIIIEEEEEE! Mouse! MOUSE! Kill it. KILL IT!” Rarity squealed in a high pitched voice. Suddenly, before Pinkie Pie could realize, Rarity had clung to her in fear of the tiny rodent.
“…But you’re afraid of a mouse? Look, Rarity, just because we just barely managed to take down a top notch search unit golem, doesn’t mean we’re invincible. We seriously need to go!” Pinkie tried once more with a little more seriousness behind her voice.
“Fine, okay, we’ll go.” Rarity agreed, finally. The two began walking toward the main door, but before they could get to it, it slammed shut on its own.
“You will not leave alive.” A voice from nowhere seemed to scream quietly, as if speaking loudly in a whisper. Rarity and Pinkie Pie immediately stood back to back and readied their weapons.
“Who’s there?” Rarity called out.
“I,” a creature said emerging from the shadows, “am Never-Et.” The creature was entirely black with radiant ivory specks for eyes. It seemed to be made entirely of a black fire, but it was only a form of shadow that shifted in the way fire does. "I was created as a living shadow. I am the heart of the darkness."
“W-well, what do you want with us?” Pinkie asked turning to him.
“I am a creation of Lady Sparkle’s, and I have come to return you to my Lady. Now, comply or be terminated.” The black figure began to disappear into the shadows it seemed to be birthed from.
“Pinkie,” Rarity turned her head and whispered, “he’s a shadow shifter. I know how these things work. I use a lot of the same tricks. Let me handle most of the fighting, okay?”
“Okay, Rarity. Just be careful.” Pinkie said nodding.
“Come on out, you big blotch. You can't take us!” Rarity called out. And with that boast, the entire house lost all color, all light. Before Rarity could react, she saw two tall figures walking toward them from the shadows. To her surprise, two exact copies of herself and Pinkie Pie emerged.
“Uhh, Rarity, was this part of your plan?” Pinkie leaned over and asked her.
“Not at all, Pinkie. Not at all.” Rarity replied. The two copies stood before Rarity and Pinkie, silent, ready to strike. The tension was heavy, and they all waited to see which one would strike first.