"Alright, Everypony", Twilight said to the crowd consisting of Pinkie pie, Applejack, Rarity, and Spike in front of her. "Discord will be here any minute with some new tools to break in. Any questions?"
Applejack raised a hoof. "What kinda tools?" She asked.
A voice rang out, answering the farm pony. "The dangerous kind..."
As if on cue, a ball of lightning appeared next to Twilight. The ball contracted and then flashed, leaving Discord in it's place. The draconequus was holding a large crate with a sign reading "Warning: Fire Hazard" planted on it. Discord dropped the crate down next to Twilight. "Here you are, Twilight", Discord said. "Fresh from the Crystal Empire. OH! And your brother sends his regards".
"Thank you for your assistance, Discord", Twilight said as she opened the crate with her magic.
Spike stepped forward and asked, "What's in the box, Twilight?"
Answering Spike's inquiry, Twilight lifted a device out from the crate. "Everypony", she began. "This is an NCN-R8 crystal laser rifle".
"A what?" Rarity asked.
Twilight turned to the group with the device in hoof. "An NCN-R8 crystal laser rifle. These babies are used in the Crystal Empire to hollow out the crystal's that make up the buildings. They're the most recently designed model after the XL-R8 model had some... defects..."
Pinkie bounced up and down and said, "Ooh! Ooh! So we're going to use those to carve into Freddy's?"
Twilight smiled. "Bingo", she said. "But... there's one problem..."
Spike gulped. "What? Are we going to explode when we pull the trigger or something?"
The purple alicorn grinned. "No. The rifles themselves are perfectly safe. It's just we need one more pony with us. I had counted on Rainbow Dash being with us, so I had Discord pick up five", She said.
Applejack looked confused. "Only Five? What about you, Twi?"
"Discord and I were planning on just using our magic", Twilight explained. She and Discord turned around, towards a pair of bulls-eye targets that had been set up. Discord stuck out his hand while Twilight leveled her horn. Two beams of energy shot outwards; Twilight's beam was lavender colored and focused, While Discord's beam was black and oscillating.
The beams stopped, revealing two large burn marks on the targets. Twilight returned her gaze to her friends with a confident grin on her face. "Now all we need is one more pony", She said.
"I know just the pony", A voice called out from behind. The four ponies, the dragon and the draconequus turned around to see a pegasus silhouetted against the background. The mystery pony took a step forward, revealing a grey coat, a blonde mane, and two golden and crossed eyes.
"Oh. Hello Derpy", Discord said politely.
"Hi, Discord", She responded.
Twilight leaned over to the draconequus and whispered in his ear, "How do you know Derpy?"
"Oh, my dear Twilight. I make it my business to know all the ponies in Fluttershy's life. Even the ones as insignificant as a mailmare", Discord explained.
"Okay...", Twilight whispered. Creepy...., She thought to herself.
Derpy trotted over to the crate an pulled out one of the rifles within. She shifted the weapon in her hooves, trying to get a feel for the weight.
"Derpy! Be careful with that!" Twilight yelled.
Derpy sneered. "With all due respect, Your highness", She said. "I don't need to be reminded. I'm not an idiot".
"Just...", Twilight began, "Just don't point it at anypony".
Derpy nodded. "What are we waiting for?" she asked. "Let's go rescue my daughter"
"Derpy, there are more ponies at stake than just Dinky..."
The mailmare glared at the alicorn. "For you maybe! Dinky is all I have left, and I'm not about to let anything happen to her!" She yelled.
Twilight stepped back. She couldn't believe what she just saw. By all accounts, Derpy never got angry. She was always happy and bubbly, it was part of the reason all the foals in town loved her. Dinky being captured must have awoken some sort of lioness in the grey pegasus, causing her to act this way.
"Derpy..." Rarity said.
"Don't try and stop me. I'm getting my daughter back"
Applejack placed a hoof on Derpy's shoulder. "I get it, Derpy. I really do. Applebloom being stuck in there... The thought scares me. Big Mac and Winona won't eat, and Granny Smith won't come out of her room. My entire family is shaken up by this", The farmer said. Turning back to her friends, Applejack said, "I say if she want's to help, let her help. This is her fight as much as it is any of ours".
"Fine! Derpy, you can help", Twilight said.
Derpy nodded. "Thank you".
The group went straight to Freddy's to carve their way in.
Spike pressed the stock of the gun against his shoulder and looked down the sight.
"Right now...", The dragon heard a voice say.
"huh?" Spike looked around, trying to find the source of the voice.
"She's right there in your crosshairs..." The voice said again.
Spike was getting scared now. He tried to drown out the voice by humming. Spike once again pressed the butt of the rifle against his shoulder only to gasp in horror as he saw Rarity right in his crosshairs.
"Right now. She won't even feel it. Just pull the trigger and shoot her right in the head"
Spike began sweating. For some reason, he could not bring himself to drop the rifle. She was right there... It would be so easy...
The dragon took a deep breath and clenched the trigger.
The continuous beam went straight into the door of the building, turning the point of contact bright red as it melt through the glass and into the crystal behind.
"Spike!" Twilight yelled. "We're not ready yet!"
Spike let go of the trigger. The baby dragon let the gun drop to the floor as he put a claw to his forehead, covering his left eye. He breathed heavily, unable to comprehend why he nearly did what the voice told him.
I... I nearly killed Rarity, he thought to himself.
"Spike?" Applejack asked.
The dragon felt his vision blur. He stumbled as he tried to speak, but fell onto his claws and vomited.
"Spike!" Twilight yelled. The alicorn ran to the heaving dragon's side as he released another burst of gastric acid.
"Spike! What's wrong?!" Twilight demanded, concerned for her assistant's health.
Spike looked up as he heaved. Suppressing another upchuck, Spike stammered out, "I.. HURG... I nearly killed Rarity..."
Rarity stepped forwards and said, "What? That beam didn't go anywhere near me, Spike".
Turning his head to face the white mare, Spike spoke once again. "I heard a voice. It told me to pull the trigger when you were right in front of me, Rarity... And I listened..."
The fashionista place a hoof on Spike's head. "Well, that mean's one of two things, Spikey-Wikey. One; You're just a terrible shot. Or two; You didn't actually listen".
Spike smiled a little as he slowly blinked. "Rarity?" He asked.
"Yes, Spike?"
"I love you..." Spike admitted.
Rarity smiled gently. "I know, Spike".
"Do... Do you love me?" The dragon asked.
Rarity looked away. "I'm not sure... But I'd be happy to find out", She said as she planted a kiss on Spike's forehead. Spike felt his body tense at the contact, a warm shot of emotion ran up his spine and forced him to smile. "But for now, my little dragon, you need to go home and rest" Rarity said.
Discord picked Spike up and grinned. "I'm on it", The draconequus said. With a snap of his fingers, the two disappeared, with Discord reappearing only seconds later. "Well that was a touching moment, but now we're back at square one again".
"Oh, shoot!" Twilight yelled. "He's right. We need another pony now".
"Nope. I'm right here". Twilight turned around and saw Big Macintosh trotting gallantly up to Spike's rifle.
"Finally done mopin', Mac?" Applejack teased.
The crimson stallion turned to his little sister with a large grin n his face. "Eeyup".
Big Mac stooped down and picked the gun up in his hooves, eyeing it closely. "A bit fancy for my tastes. But I'm gonna assume that if any gun would do it, you wouldn't all have the same expensive looking gun", he observed.
Twilight blinked in awe. "H-How do you know so much about guns?" She asked.
Applejack spoke up. "What? I never told ya, Twi? Big Mac has an old sawed off he likes to take out back and shoot at empty bottles with. 'Ol Bucky' he calls it".
Big Mac smiled proudly. "Eeyup. I give them bottles a face fulla buckshot!"
Pinkie giggled at this pun and hopped over to Big Mac. "You're so funny Big Mac", she said as she snorted.
"Well, now we have all the ponies we need. Let's get to work!" Twilight yelled.
7 AM inside the restaurant
All was quiet in the office. Fluttershy and Dinky were sound asleep, Scootaloo eagerly read through her manga, Applebloom played on her 3DS, and Sweetiebelle sat in the corner, unwilling to look back at Scootaloo and Applebloom.
Fluttershy snored softly, with Dinky in her hooves, once again using her wings as a security blanket.
Suddenly, Fluttershy began twitching softly. Not enough to wake Dinky or have the other fillies notice, but enough to tell that she was having a nightmare.
The buttery pegasus heard the same thing over and over in her dream, in which she was alone in a completely black room.
"Save us...", The words seemed to come from two voices. One was obviously a stallion, it sounded familiar but Fluttershy couldn't place her hoof on it. The other voice was quiet recognizable to Fluttershy. For she had heard the yelp of pain the voice screamed out as Fáfnir tore out her brain.
"Save us...", The voices said again and again. "Save us... Save us... SaaAAaave us..."
"... You can't..."
Fluttershy's eyes popped open, showing her that everything was alright.
"Why not?" Applebloom asked Scootaloo.
Scootaloo put a hoof to her face. "Because there are no healing items, AB".
"But what if I want to heal during a battle?"
"Shulk learns a healing art in a couple levels and soon you'll get a character who's all about healing", Scootaloo explained.
"What if I want to heal before a boss fight?"
Scootaloo sighed. "You automatically heal outside of combat!"
Applebloom looked at her 3DS. "Oh. That's cool... But what are those blue things all over the place for?"
"Item orbs are just collectables. Some are needed for quests and you can give them as gifts to your party members to raise affinity between them", The orange pegasus explained.
Scootaloo looked over to Sweetiebelle, who sat unmoving in the corner. "Hey, Applebloom. Do you know what's up with Sweetiebelle? She hasn't said anything all morning".
The farm pony blushed madly and stammered out. "N-nope! I mean, how should I know? I-It's not like I can read minds. Heheh..."
"Okay..." Scootaloo looked over to her unicorn friend. She certainly wasn't dead as she was sitting erect and her chest was pumping.
Meh, It's not my business, She thought as she went back to her manga. "I'll take an apple fritter... AND EAT IT!" She read aloud, prompting a laugh from Applebloom.
Fluttershy sat up wards, careful not to wake Dinky.
"Mornin', Fluttershy!" Applebloom said.
Scootaloo looked at the older pegasus. "Man, you were out cold! I thought for a second that..." Scootaloo's eyes widened as Dinky stood up, awakened by the noise. "Dinky... What's that on your flank?"
Sweetie turned around to look at the other unicorn. "Is that a-"
"Cutie mark?!" Applebloom shouted.
Dinky positioned her self so she could get a good look at her flank. Where there was once just purplish-grey fur was now an image of a dark green shield with lighter green angel wings on either side. On closer inspection, the wings were made of a repeating pattern of ones and zeros. "01001000 01101111 01110000 01100101", Binary code for the word "Hope".
Dinky couldn't believe it. She had gotten a cutie mark! No longer would she have to endure Diamond Tiara's and Silver Spoon's blank flank insults. She grinned a smile so large, it almost didn't fit on her face. "Mommy! Look, a cutie mark! What do you think it means?"
Fluttershy smiled brightly as she hugged the unicorn filly. "Remember how you saved all those foals last night, Dinky?"
Dinky nodded ecstatically.
"You protected them, like a shield. You were their guardian angel. That's what I think it means", Fluttershy explained.
"Oh come on!" Scootaloo yelled. "How come she gets a cutie mark but we don't!"
Sweetiebelle snickered, "Unless your special talent is getting scared to death by robots while reading manga, I'd keep looking Scoots". The unicorn filly turned away once she was done speaking, not even bothering to see Scootaloo's reaction. A reaction which would have been one of mild annoyance, had Sweetie not turned around. Now it was one of confusion.
Whispering into Applebloom's ear, the pegasus filly said, "AB? What's wrong with her?"
Applebloom tried to shrug off the inquiry. "I told ya, Scoots. I don't know".
"Horse apples", Scootaloo said. "What's going on?"
"I-I'm sorry Scootaloo... But... It's not exactly my place to tell" The farm pony explained.
Scootaloo pouted. "Well, could at least talk to her? I'm getting really uncomfortable".
"I'll try, Scoots". Applebloom put her game down and trotted over to the alabaster unicorn sitting in the corner, drawing pictures in the dust. "Uh.. Sweetie? Can I talk to you?"
Sweetiebelle turned around. "Um... sure Applebloom..."
Turning to make sure nopony was listening, Applebloom whispered, "About what you told me last night... I think you should tell the others..."
The unicorn's ears fell flat against her head. "What?" She asked. "You... You know I can't..."
Applebloom put her hooves on Sweetie's shoulders. "Sweetie, look at me. Does it look like I think of you any different?"
"No..."
"Exactly", Applebloom said. "I just think it should be you who tells them. We may not get out of this place alive. Do you really want to die with that secret all locked up inside?"
Sweetie sighed and looked into her friend's eyes. "Okay... I'll tell them tonight... Just... Just let me prepare myself".
Applebloom nodded. "It's gonna be okay, Sweetiebelle. Take as much time as you need". With those words, the farmpony walked back to her game and un-paused, filling the room with a voice saying "Now it's Reyn time!"
Hours ticked by. Nopony had said anything until about five o'clock, when Dinky got up from Fluttershy's lap and said , "Oh shoot! I haven't checked the camera's all day!" The filly sat down in the chair and began flicking through the security feeds. The first feed showed Lyra and Bon Bon in their hiding place. Dinky thought their manes looked incredibly messy and that they were breathing kind of heavy considering how little the animatronics roamed that area, but she dismissed it to her imagination and switched to the next feed.
The next feed showed the entrance to the arcade. Apparently, Philly had managed to bust through the barricade the foals had set up and was now gone. Dinky shuddered to think that her group had to worry about another one of those murderous automatons.
The next feed showed Busby and Freddy back in the party room, with Fáfnir walking through on his way back to Horse Cavern. DInky switched the camera, knowing that she wouldn't have to worry about them for another seven or so hours.
The next feed just showed the empty ventilation shaft, nothing unusual there besides the patches of dirty Busby had left during his raids.
Dinky flicked one more time, bringing her to the bathroom entrance with Horse Cavern in the background.
The unicorn filly yawned and reached into her pot of gummy bears, chewing them thoroughly before swallowing. Dinky placed her hoof back on the mouse and flicked the camera, expecting to return to the arcade entrance. What she saw utterly horrified her.
"No... Please... Celestia, please no", She said softly.
Fluttershy heard the filly whimpering and approached her tentatively. Laying a hoof on Dinky's shoulder, she spoke, "What's wrong Dink-" Her eyes fell upon the screen and her mind all but shattered. Fluttershy let out the most horrific shriek ever heard as a torrent of tears ran down either side of her face. "No! Please! Why him?! Why Thunderlane!? He never hurt anypony!"
"What's going o-Oh, sweet Celestia!" Scootaloo screamed.
Applebloom and Sweetiebelle joined the commotion and suppressed the urge to puke at the grotesque image on the screen.
A black pegasus stallion was impaled against the wall by several black crystals. One crystal for each of his hooves, one for each of his wings, and through the front of his head giving him the appearance of an alicorn. His head was slightly off center. His eyes were glazed over and his tongue lolled out of his mouth.
Fluttershy face contained an expression that combined pure fear with the most pitiful display of sadness ever conceived. "Dinky! Switch the screen! Switch the screen!" She commanded.
"I'm trying but nothings happening!" Dinky said.
"Wait... What's that shadow in the corner of the screen?" Sweetie pointed to a small black shape on the edge of the screen, slowly growing larger.
A whirring came through the speakers on either side of the computer, just barely louder than Fluttershy's weeping. A figure came into view and stared at the corpse. It appeared to be a golden, pony shaped endoskeleton, with a black crystal through it's head giving it the appearance of a unicorn. Only five pieces of some suit were placed upon the gleaming machine. Four armored boots and a crown-like helmet.
The automaton approached the corpse. A crack appeared in the metal casing making it look like it was smiling. The android turned to the camera and the crack on it's face actually did smile, like real flesh and bone. The machine's eyes emanated a green mist as it turned back to the corpse. It stuck it horn into the carcass and began carving something into the carrion, causing blood to pour out of the already mutilated body.
"Dinky, the lights! Do the thing with the lights!" Applebloom suggested. Dinky went and punched in the same codes she used to distract Philly the previous night, causing the lights in the corridor to flash violently. The machine took the flashing light's as Philly did for a while, but after the same amount of time passed that caused the phoenix to break down, this endoskeleton's smile only got bigger as he carved.
The lights stopped flashing and the machine took a step back. It faced the camera with a disgusting smile on it's face and blood trickling down his horn. The etching's in the victim's corpse read as follows, "Tod schwebt auf dem Flügel der Freiheit". The machine turned back to the stallion and placed a mechanical hoof on the a pool of blood slowly falling from the stallion's chest. The animatronic pulled the limb back and looked at the crimson liquid staining it's chrome boots. The crack of a smile completely split, revealing a hollow mouth. Out of the mouth came a tongue made of a mess of tangled wires. The tongue pressed against the blood and lapped it up eagerly.
Once the android had had it's fill of blood, it left the screen, and Dinky found she could switch between cameras once again.
Fluttershy collapsed, still sobbing, but now able to speak coherently.
"Did... Did you know that stallion, Fluttershy?" Scootaloo asked.
Fluttershy nodded. "Remember how I told you girls about the crush I had in flight school... That was him. His name is... was Thunderlane."
"Thunderlane... Why does that name sound so familiar?" Applebloom asked aloud.
Fluttershy turned to the farm pony. "You go to school with his brother... Rumble", She explained.
The revelation choked at the four fillies. They had just seen one of their classmate's brother's corpse be desecrated. What if Rumble found Thunderlane like that? The little colt would probably cease to function.
Dinky sat down next to her "mommy" and said, "Do you want to talk about him? When Daddy died, I felt a lot better after speaking at his funeral..."
The buttery pegasus gulped. "Yes... I think I would like that..." She said. Fluttershy took a long and deep breath before venting. "I met Thunderlane in Cloudsdale a few years before I moved to Ponyville permanently. He was always smiling and trying to perfect some flight maneuver to obtain his dream of becoming a wonderbolt. He was a lot like Rainbow Dash, and that drove her crazy. The two had a bitter rivalry that ended after Thunderlane met me. We became friends almost immediately. He was such a gentlecolt, always polite. Eventually, we began dating. We flew across Cloudsdale to unwind on Sundays and talked about any thing that was on our mind". Fluttershy left out one tiny detail in her explanation. She felt perfectly safe around Thunderlane as he shared one of her many fears, genophobia. Well, Fluttershy wasn't a complete genophobe, she just was scared of having sex where Thunderlane completely shut down upon hearing anything even remotely risque.
"What happened between you two?" Applebloom asked.
Fluttershy sighed and wiped away a tear. "I... I wasn't healthy for him. After we started dating, I noticed he was becoming less active and giving up on anything that he felt would have hurt me. He once even told me that he'd given up on his dream of becoming a wonderbolt so he wouldn't have to go away for shows and leave me behind. He just kept compromising and compromising, sacrificing his own happiness for mine. I couldn't stand the though that I was holding him back so I ended the relationship".
"You broke up with him?" Dinky asked.
Fluttershy nodded. "The last time I got to see him was on the train to the Crystal Empire while we were competing in the Equestria Games. I don't think he ever got over me... and I don't think I ever got over him..."
Silence dominated the room as Fluttershy buried her face in her hooves, sobbing gently.
The silence broke when Dinky said, "Um... I'm gonna see if I can't find out what that golden robot was..."
"Good idea", Sweetiebelle said. "I should probably contact Twilight".
Sweetie went to her corner of the room and her horn glowed green. "Twilight? Twilight are you there?" Sweetiebelle asked nervously.
"A little busy right now, Sweetiebelle", Came Twilight's voice. "What is it?"
"We... We need to report another casualty..."
The room was silent once more, the sense of dread when Twilight responded was almost palpable. "Who?"
Sweetiebelle gulped, turning to the mourning pegasus, she said, "A pegasus stallion by the name of Thunderlane". As the name left Sweetie's lips, Fluttershy lifted a hoof and slammed it back down to the ground, letting out a loud sob.
"... Anypony else?" Twilight asked.
"No..."
"Well, that's good. Twenty eight out of thirty is better than zero out of thirty", Twilight said, trying to lighten the mood. "But listen girls, I think we're making some progress on getting you out of there. Just hold on for a little while longer".
Sweetie smiled. "Thanks Twilight. We'll stay safe".
Twilight cut the line, leaving the five in the oppressing silence.
About six hours passed before Applebloom approached Sweetiebelle and said, "Sweetie... It's almost midnight... You may want to tell them now..."
The alabaster unicorn sighed. "Alright, AB Everypony, can I have your attention?"
Scootaloo looked up from her manga, Dinky took a break from trying to get Fluttershy to stand up, and Fluttershy herself just swiveled her ears towards Sweetiebelle.
"What's wrong Sweetie?" Scootaloo asked.
Sweetie blushed madly and took a deep breathe. "I wanted to tell you all that I'm..."
Dinky cocked her head to the slightly. "You're what?" she asked her fellow unicorn.
"Im... I'm..."
"Spit it out Sweetiebelle!" Scootaloo said.
Sweetiebelle closed her eyes as she spat out her secret. A secret that finally got Fluttershy to look up from her hooves. "I'm... I'm a bisexual..."
"A bicycle?" Scootaloo asked.
End of Day four