//------------------------------//
// Chapter LXXX 
// Story: Journey to the center of Equestria 
// by Rarity Belle 
//------------------------------//

The possessed Twilight Sparkle kept on glancing towards the woods of Everfree while the rest of the mares couldn’t believe what they had heard. To them it seemed as if some kind of wild animal had gotten too close to the campsite. But when they saw Twilight standing there in the way she did, they didn’t minded it too much anymore. They thought that the unicorn had already scared it away. They were oblivious to the fact that it was in fact the unicorn who released the growl.

All of them returned back to their sleeping or closed eye modus. They didn’t really minded the fact what the unicorn would have been doing, as long as they were safe. What were they wrong upon the matters as they were. For Twilight began to charge up her horn. The charging sounds of the magical aura weren’t as calm and collected as they used to be. Instead they sounded both sharp and violent. Almost as if there this ancient hatred that finally got out.

Not to mention the fact that the very aura had transformed as well. If they would have looked at the mare, they would have sworn it was the matter with Chrysalis all over again. A little thing they didn’t wanted to do at all.

The charging sounds entered those of Rarity better than of all ears present. The other unicorn of the company listened with the greatest of care before her eyes went open. She knew where that sound came from, or better said: she knew what spell was being charged up. “Impossible, but that can’t be!” Rarity whispered to herself before she turned herself around. With one swift motion had she gotten out of the water and just stood there with nothing on her body.

She kept on looking over to Twilight with a confused gaze before Applejack did the same. The admiral of the navy got out of the water with a little bit more difficulty because of her leg and had to lean on Rarity for a moment. The leg had been taken off as it would have been more comfortable for her to swim that way.

Rarity quickly glanced around and noticed what was going on with the admiral. And almost out utter instinct she wrapped an arm over both of the shoulders of the earth anthrony. She actually wanted to support Applejack to the best of her abilities. A little fact that was greatly appreciated by the other mare.

“What’s goin’ on?” Applejack asked while she looked over to Rarity with a confused expression. The both of them were naked and dripping from the waters, meaning they couldn’t have done much. Rarity had to remove a strand of wet hair out of her eyes before she could answer.

To her it seemed Twilight was preparing something. A spell that she didn’t thought that the mare would be doing, not at that time actually. “I think, she’s preparing herself a long range teleport. The hums of the arcane indicate that at least. But that isn’t making any sense to me.”

Whether or not Twilight knew that both Rarity and Applejack were staring at her, it didn’t matter to her. The force that had taken over the body continued to just blindly charge the amounts of magic that it needed and that it was required to collect. But Rarity was right with her words. The ‘Nightmare Twilight’ –as the thing could be dubbed as– was indeed preparing a long range teleport.

The more Applejack glanced over the mare, the more she began to realize that nothing seemed to have been right with Twilight. “Her hair’s different, the aura’s different. Ya think..?” But much further she couldn’t say her words. The worry for something terrible that would be happening overtook her.

Neither of the mares had anything they could have been protecting themselves with which meant the last thing they needed was to get the attention of the incarnated devil. But Rarity only had one word to say. The word that was the answer upon the question asked. “Possession,” the pirate captain said. It was the only thing that made sense in any way, shape, or form during the matter.

The shiver managed to travel down the spine of Applejack as she quickly shook her head. The thought of warning the others was there of course. But it was quickly stored back again as she realized that Twilight was more powerful than the five of them combined. The only thing that they could have done was just to let the beast take off and pray for the best.

The mares then looked to the fog like hair that Twilight carried and Rarity tried to throw the puzzle pieces together for her own mind. A exhale was then released through her nostrils. One that managed to capture the eyes of Applejack with a worried expression. “It’s nothing, just, you know…like old times.” Rarity replied before she placed a hand upon the gems that were placed upon her body. The gems had the vital task of not letting the musket balls travel any further in her body, as they couldn’t be removed from it.

The admiral nodded gently before they once more glanced over Twilight.

Nightmare Twilight on the other end still didn’t gave them an eye. She was fully aware that the two of them were standing there of course. She was also aware on the fact that the two of them were incapable of doing anything. Perhaps that was the fact of the overconfidence that the Dark Witches carried. But in the case of Nightmare Twilight it happened to be true. If Rarity only once made the decision to flat out attack her would the consequences have been gruesome.

She felt that the pair of them wanted to do something. But that they were stopped just because of the sheer amount of awesome power that had been collected so far by the devil herself. She happened to have the advantage of the pair of them and would actually use it right over them.

For the more the horn charged itself up, the more it became apparent to the mares that the hair’s vibration became larger and larger. Almost as if the foggy hair resonated with the fact of the arcane tome. Whether it was right or not remained to be seen though. Yet it did cause the two of them to be terrified.

Then it would have happened. With a deep chuckle that was both in Twilight’s and Nightmare’s tone was the spell released into the world. The body of the soothsayer would have just disappeared straight in an arcane orb that was created by the vast amounts of dark magic.

What happened next, just happened in mere fractions of seconds. For the orb began to shirk fast, up to the point it couldn’t be seen anything. And only after that did the explosion of dark magic happen. Twilight had vanished from the face of the lands and possibly even their plane of existence. She was scattered across both time and space with the devil herself thrown in the mix.

Their heading was the dreaded woods of Everfree. A fact that was unknown to the group of mares. A group who was abruptly awoken from their light sleeps because of the massive explosion. They were all just left there, either asleep or figural dead in the water. Twilight was gone and they had to get her back one way or the other. No matter how impossible the quest seemed to have been. Or how ridiculous for that matter.

All five of the mares were just left there with no context to the situation. They all looked in both utter amazement and terror to the events as they had just happened. None of them could actually have believed what they saw and the doctor and the lamia quickly got out of the water. They had to dress themselves quickly in order to get on with the chase for their friend. They had to try their utmost best to get Twilight back where she belonged, among them.

The only question was just how they would be doing such a thing. Usually it was Twilight who was the brain behind the whole operation, then they had to do it themselves. Terror struck them again as they all released a deep exhale through their nostrils. The time had come for them that they would solve the matter on their own.

The four mares returned to the stacks of clothing and began to dress themselves again. Rarity had one last look to Applejack who nodded calmly. The pirate captain then let go of the admiral who began to skip her way over to her steam powered leg. The biggest inconvenience that she could ever have walked against was the fact that she would lose her leg.

Applejack could even move and work around the fact if the gears in her leg came to a standstill, but a complete removal left her with the greatest amounts of trouble that there was. Something that actually caused her to not wander around and about anymore. Therefore she just felt herself relieved when she strapped the thing back on.

A massive exhale of relief went through her nostrils as the eyes were closed for a moment. The valves were turned open and the leg gently came back in motion. “Thank the heavens,” whispered Applejack to herself. The eyes were then opened again and the rest of her clothing were put on.

It took them all maybe a minute or two before they were all dressed again and looked over to Rainbow Dash. The major of the air force seemed to have a difficult time when it came down to processing the things that had happened. It wasn’t just from that evening that bothered her, but the whole journey just wasn’t sitting right in her stomach.

The admiral approached her with a gentle pace in her hooves. Caution had to be given off by all of them if they didn’t wanted to spook Rainbow too much. Even though it seemed as if the pegasus was deep in thought, she still heard and saw everything that was happening. And she was just angry at everything and everypony.

Whether it was the effect of Nightmare Moon’s presence or not didn’t matter in the moment. For the arm of the admiral stretched itself out in the hope to calm the pegasus down. Though the time to actually place it upon the shoulder wasn’t given to her. For as soon as the hand came too close in the area of the mare did the pegasus spread her wings rapidly.

The surprise caused the admiral to take a step backwards and she assumed a confused stance. Rainbow was still armed and Applejack didn’t know whether or not she would be able to listen to reason. Most likely she wouldn’t have been, which meant that she could fire her weapons just like that. Only one trigger was needed before the whole company would have walked right into the biggest disaster they had ever seen.

“Rainbow, calmly talk to me. Talk to me what’s on yar mind,” said Applejack to her. She tried to reason with the pegasus to the best of her abilities. The glance in the eyes of Rainbow told a whole different story. They spoke about hatred, tiredness and utter exhaustion. That made the mare even more dangerous than anypony had expected.

Silence was kept by the three other mares as they just watched over the events as they went down. Whatever would have happened next, they all knew that it would be something terrible to say the least. Neither Rarity, Pinkie nor Fluttershy dared to step in between the two titans that were both Applejack and Rainbow Dash.

Deep and loud exhales left the nostrils of Rainbow which expanded with each push of air. The eyes were never away from Applejack and the sights were set firm. Whatever would have caused her to take up arms, Applejack would have been the mare that would have been hit by the bullets. She was the most obvious target and the one closest to her.

“Talk to me, Dash!” the admiral then exclaimed louder. She needed to have some form of information about all that was spooking through the head of the mare. “Please, all Ah’m asking from ya, is to talk to me. Ya can still do that, right?”

But it felt as if she was speaking to ears that never wanted to listen. The eyes of Rainbow turned to red as the veins inside of them were widened. She wasn’t just angry or filled with hatred, but she seemed to be enraged about something. Something that must have been working upon her nails for so long.

All of the frustration would finally be given off at once. All of it, just straight up and in one go. Nopony would have been safe when that bomb would burst. And Applejack continued to taunt her. Which led to the point where she would speak her words. The words were spoken with spits of saliva through the air.

It must have been close to the point where the foam would be found on her lips, if one carefully looked to the pegasus. “I’m so, so, so done with it all!” the mare exclaimed in a growling tone. The cutting glares she gave with her eyes afterwards were the most unsettling set of eyes ever to come from her.

“Done with what?” Applejack asked through. Though her mind was having a sort of idea what was meant with the words. “Done with the journey? We’re on our way back!”

“No, you idiot! I’m done with everything that has to do something with this crap!” Rainbow continued to spew out. “Every, single, time we think we are having things going before the wind, there’s something that just pushes us right back against the wall! Isn’t it the weather, it’s some sort of witch. Isn’t it that, it’s a freaking devil! You see, you see, why I am going, around the way I do?!”

“Ah heard ya partner,” the admiral spoke just before she rose back up to her normal height. The stance of confusion was traded in for one of formality and the hands were placed behind her back. “But what do ya want us to do ‘bout it? We ain’t nearly as powerful as Twilight. We know nothing of the arcane arts, except Rarity a little bit, that is.”

The madness that made the gears turn in the head of Rainbow were still cracked up to eleven. The pegasus could only hear pieces of the words that were being said. The exhales were continued to be done in the way they had been doing for so long and she began to flap her wings a little bit. “Everything you say, doesn’t make sense. You all, can kiss my flanks for all I care! For this mare, is resigning now. Arrivederci!” the pegasus yelled before she jumped up and into the air.

One powerful flap of her wings was given and she was just gone. Rainbow Dash had then just vanished into the skies above them. She was out of reach of the purple flame. She had left the company of mares just like that. Not that she could have been truly blamed for the matter. The insanity that was going through the events caught up with them all.

Each of them felt just uncomfortable with the sights that they had to find out just where Twilight had gone off to. Applejack turned herself around to the mares as the question left her mouth. “Anypony having an idea as of where we be findin’ her?”

Meanwhile and high up above the fog was Rainbow just cruising through the night skies. Her eyes were tearing but she didn’t wanted to cry. Her emotions had turned her into a pinball that went all over the place. At one moment she felt sad about the fact that she left while in the next she was just relieved. Rainbow wasn’t even certain on how she should have felt herself.

Her mind had become a scattered mess and if bad luck really was with her, she would be encountering the griffons as well. Which was actually the last thing that she needed in the moment. Which resulted in her eyes scanning the skies for a cloud that was big enough to not just carry her, but also hide her away.

There it then was. The one cloud that was the closest to her. The course of the mare was altered right into that direction. Before Rainbow even realized it had she set her hooves down upon it and dropped her whole body down into the fluffy seating.

She just laid there before the other layer was pulled over her like a blanket. She had enclosed herself completely in the fluffiness of the cloud and could still watch to the outside world. But the outside world would be having a great difficulty spotting her though.

The thoughts that she had were just allowed free of going around and about. The pegasus had to set everything together if she wanted to know what exactly she needed to be doing. All of her anger, all of her confusion, all of her tiredness, it had been vented. Yet the aftermath of her burst still needed to be felt by everypony left.

For the time being there was there only one thing that could have been done by her. And that was to just get some sleep. She had to get those final hours of sleep in the darkness before she would even have been able to think about making her next move. So Rainbow rolled over to one side and closed her eyes.

To be carried away by the wind, to places both far away and of imagination. To be carried away, to the place of her dreams and to that one place where she held the full control over everything. 

Back on the ground did Applejack shook her head. Nopony was having a clear idea as to where the newly formed ‘Nightmare Twilight’ could have been off to. Which angered the earth anthrony perhaps just a little bit more than it originally should have been doing. The mare shook her head calmly from side to side them.

She had to remain the calm force of nature that would have been able to help pretty much everypony out in the dire time of need. She had to be that force that was able to push them all through on the matter. She also couldn’t help but to notice another fact that became more and more apparent to her.

The little fact that everything that they had done was slowly crumbling below their hooves. All the adventures that they had together so far would have been able to make any bond become almost inseparable. But as she looked over to the mares, she couldn’t really see it anymore.

The mare released a gentle sigh through her mouth moments before she tore her eyes away from the group for just a moment. They had gone literally out of the frying pan and straight into the fires. Rainbow did have a point on the matter though. It almost seemed as if their luck always would be turned straight around when it came to things.

But then again, so far they had always been able to get over the troubles. Which in and of itself was actually a massive boost in her own morale. The admiral turned back around to face the mares. They all had to stick together and they needed to get Rainbow Dash back out of her hidey hole. Wherever among the skies that might have been.

The calm and collected eyes of the admiral only hid the sheer amounts of stress that were flowing through her body. She was terrified of everything and with good reasons. Their group seemed to be falling apart and to her it felt as if only she was able to stop it.

The admiral nodded once with her head before she took a gentle inhale of air. All of her available options were given when she then locked on Fluttershy. The doctor gulped a little bit as she saw the prying, green rimmed eyes to have fallen upon her. What would Applejack be doing with her?

Time would have told the matter as far as the doctor knew. Time would always have revealed the matters that were hidden among the darkness. A darkness that seemed to be darker than any time since their journey had begun so long ago.

The earth anthrony did a step forwards as she spoke up her words. “Partners, friends, we have been defeating near impossible odds ever since we began our journey. We have seen sights that are burned on our retina’s ‘cause of how beautiful they are. Now the time’s come, to get back what’s rightfully ours. First, we need to get Rainbow. Then, we need to find Twilight.”

The speech didn’t had the desired effect though. Where the admiral thought that she would be talking courage into the hearts of the mares, she actually just terrified them more. At least that happened to be the case with both Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie. Applejack’s eyes had gone from right to left as she almost seemed to have been scanning for any kind of volunteers that she needed to do a couple of things.

Whether it was liked or not, the gaze always seemed to have returned to Fluttershy for whatever reason. “Why, why do you keep looking at me?” she asked with a nervous tremble in her voice. She was terrified of the glance in the eyes and just prayed that it would stop sometime soon, rather than later.

Yet Applejack didn’t know of any stopping. Instead she would have continued with the madness that she truly had planned ahead. The plan could have been witnessed as madness at least in their eyes. For the plan that she came up with was most likely just that.

Rarity crossed her arms over one another as she gave a shady look towards the admiral. Though she kept on listening to the words that were spoken. “Fluttershy,” the mare began as she clapped her hands together. “Given how, ya’re the only other pegasus we’re having here in the group, Ah have to tell ya that yar the most suited candidate to go up there.”

“A-And what, do I have to d-do then?” the mare squeaked up in fear. She wasn’t in the real mood to do anything that had been ordered by the admiral, yet at the other end of the spectrum had it to be done as well. Slowly but surely it came up in the mind of the pegasus just what she had to be doing, or was ought to be actually.

“Ah want, that ya be flying up there, find the cloud where Rainbow Dash has landed upon, and talk some sense right into her, she needs it more than any of us,” explained Applejack pretty much as bareboned as she ever would have gotten.

The emotions of Fluttershy went almost through the roof as she heard the demands. The admiral wanted that she went to talk with the angered pegasus? Just how mad did she happened to be in the first place? There was no way that Rainbow would ever had been able to talk to Fluttershy. Let alone that Fluttershy had the persuasion power to make Rainbow come down again.

It just wouldn’t happen and Rarity realized that little fact. She shook her head gentle from left to right before the hands were just placed in the sides of her body. The seeming nonchalant motions that were made by the pirate went unnoticed by the admiral.

Pinkie Pie on the other end shared the fear that Fluttershy was having. She had seen Rainbow in action and listened to the tales that were told about all of the mares. Fluttershy was in fact incapable of going up there and perform the task demanded of her. Which lead to a great worry inside of the pair of them. 

Though Applejack seemed to have been persistent with her words. She really wanted that Fluttershy would fly up there and just talk to Rainbow. What she didn’t knew though was that the angered Rainbow happened to have been more than capable of delivering a couple of good punches and kicks. Not to mention that she had her flintlocks and still was trigger-happy.

The doctor was unarmed and had no way of defending herself. The worry of Fluttershy only grew greater as she thought about the things that could have happened. Anything was possible and she knew that little fact. A deep exhale was released through her nostrils before she shook her head. She couldn’t do it, she wouldn’t do it even.

“You, you really want me to go up there, don’t you?” she asked, just to be certain about the facts. The admiral nodded firm with her head. Fluttershy knew in that moment that there perhaps was nothing more that could have been said against the mare. She was determined to actually let the pegasus fly up there and do what needed to be done.

“Oh-kay, guess it’s for the greater good,” the doctor spoke in a weak and fragile tone. She really didn’t wanted to make the journey above the clouds and risk being kicked, punched or shot by Rainbow Dash. But she was the only remaining pegasus in the group, which meant that she was the only one that was able to actually fly through the skies.

The wings of the pegasus began to gently spread themselves out as both Rarity and Pinkie had to move aside just a little bit. The doctor took a deep breath just before she looked to the lamia. The creature did glance back in her eyes, but it didn’t have the slightest of ideas about what could be done.

So much comfort wasn’t to be found in the eyes of Pinkie. 

Then she turned her attention over to Rarity. The pirate captain realized that she was being watched. In her ears she could almost hear the silent screams for help coming. The screams that were spoken by the eyes of the mare. She really didn’t wanted to do anything that she had been ordered to. Perhaps, just perhaps could Rarity bring in a word or two that could have prevented her from not going.

The pirate captain was fully aware of what wanted to be done. She too didn’t thought it was an actual good idea to make the pegasus go up there. But Applejack was blinded in one way or the other. She was blinded by the fact that she wanted to bring the group back together. Time was a pressuring matter as they had to get Twilight back. Only problem happened to be that they didn’t even knew where Twilight had been gone off to.

Fluttershy’s eyes continued to look over Rarity with a horrid expression. She wanted to see anything, or something that could have indicated on the fact that she didn’t had to move up to the skies. But just as she thought that there was something to happen, the unicorn turned her attention over to the skies themselves.

She had to take a deep glance first before something else would have been done. All kinds of matters played out in her head as she looked over the heavens high. All the stars just twinkled as the moon gently moved over the skies. The unicorn didn’t saw it fitting for Fluttershy to go.

When Rarity turned her head back towards Fluttershy, she gestured in silence that she didn’t had to go up. Relief came to the pegasus as the wings were tucked back against her back. “Thank you,” the doctor whispered in a gentle to the pirate. There was no amount of words nor deeds that could have proved just how thankful the pegasus was to the unicorn.

Applejack on the other end looked up a little bit strange. She carried her looks over to Rarity who already had her answers ready for her. “Rainbow said she was done with it right? And you planned on sending up Fluttershy? You don’t understand the context of done, do you? She needs time, Applejack. She needs time to recollect her mind to the best of her abilities. The last thing that she needs in this moment is even one of us, trying to get her back down and force her again through the hell she tried to escape.”

“But,” said Applejack just before she was silenced again by the pirate.

“No buts, just believe me on this one. We have bigger issues at hand, remember?” Rarity replied before she turned around to make it back to the sleeping bags. The time to sleep for any of them wouldn’t be there as they had an investigation to complete. The mares silently followed Rarity back and Applejack was the first one to divert of the course.
 
The admiral seemed to have been going to the place where Nightmare Twilight stood. It was just the nickname that the group had given to the changed unicorn. It might have sounded daft and perhaps a little bit clichéd, but that was how they saw the mare in the moment.

Fluttershy was still relieved that at least one other anthrony in fact seemed to be caring about her wellbeing. In silence she continued to just thank Rarity for the deeds that she had done before she dropped down on her bag.

Pinkie did pretty much the same while Rarity began to roll up those of Rainbow, Twilight and herself. The other two could be doing it themselves if they wanted to. In the moment she gave Applejack the time to figure out if there was any kind of trail that could be found. All while she charged up her horn to keep the fires going.

Whether they had noticed it or not, the fire that was initiated by Twilight seemed to have gotten weaker the more she was away from it. So it was up to Rarity to keep it burning for as long as it was needed. Though all sorts of manners was it done. But the most important one had to be the fact that it was to keep them warm and make the griffons think that nothing had changed.

Applejack was wandering around the spot where Nightmare Twilight had teleported away from and she noticed something unusual. She hunched down through her legs as one of her eyebrows rose up. The grass seemed to have been scorched by something powerful. At least at the places where the teleportation spell had hit the ground.

Yet no teleportation spell that she was aware off caused that kind of burning. She was a mare of Canterlot, she had seen countless unicorns perform the teleportation spell to hop from ship to ship. Yet never had she seen any kind of burn marks. Which could only be explained by the dark magic then.

Rarity had joined her in silence, after she had cleaned up the bags and lowered through her legs as well. “What do you think of it?” she asked while a hand went over the scorched grass.

“Dark magic, that’s all Ah know for certain. Other than that, Ah have no idea. Seems like not even Twilight was able to outmatch the thing that took her over. Perhaps, she’s turning in a Dark Witch herself? Ah mean, ya saw her hair right?” Applejack replied. But she only guessed about what it could have been. She was dead on ideas and only tried to make sense of what she knew.

Which led to Rarity nodding with her head. The direction she was looking for was good. Except for one little thing that didn’t really add up to anything. “I don’t think that Twilight turned on purpose in a Dark Witch. No, a force more powerful than her most have taken her over. And knowing her magical capabilities, not much can do that… Whatever it is, it looks like we’re in for a whole other adventure right on our tails.”

The pirate captain would have risen back up before she turned her body around. She remembered well enough the direction in which Nightmare Twilight stood and stared into the same air as she did. “What is there, in that direction? What are you looking for..?” she questioned aloud.