Twilight snapped around, blasting a series of powerful bolts into the darkness. They tore through the wall, revealing the torrential downpour outside. Lighting up the hallway, she saw crumbling plaster and smoldering wallpaper, but no sign of life.
“Darling, that simply won’t do any good. Perhaps next time you should aim before you shoot?” She turned to the source of the voice and fired another volley. Cheerilee winced as more plaster fell from the ceiling onto her.
A cold rush of wind went past her back. Instead of firing this time, she turned around and scanned the area around her. A strong trace of magic emanated from the attic above her. There was a certain level of familiarity to it…
She walked over to Cheerilee and kissed her on the cheek. “Don’t worry. We’re both going to get through this. Just hang on for a few more minutes. It’s time for me to end this once and for all.” With a look of grim determination, she lit up her horn and climbed the attic stairs into the inky darkness.
The attic door snapped shut behind her. A massive rush a magic blew through her head, extinguishing her horn and plunging the room into oblivion. The blast had the same trace as before, all but confirming that she was up here with the killer. She reignited her horn and illuminated the room.
The place had changed significantly in the few minutes she had been downstairs. Instead of crates and boxes, mannequins decorated the floor. She went up to the nearest one and gasped. Bits of bone protruded from pink fur, with blood and sprinkles dotting the coat.
Startled, she backed into another mannequin. This one was completely singed, with a barely recognizable white mohawk on top of its head. Two painfully bent wings rested at its sides, covering up a lightning bolt cutie mark. Twilight scurried away from it only to run into another terribly familiar face.
No matter where she ran, she kept running into the mannequins, each shaped like one of the victims. Lyra, Granny Smith, Trenderhoof, they were all there. Eleven grotesque forms, trapping her in a horrific version of a wax museum.
Slowing down her breathing, she quickly recounted the bodies. Cherry Jubilee? Present, with a coat of yellow dust covering her swollen face. She continued around the room, taking in each grisly reminder of the night.
She reached the last few ponies, the memories of their deaths particularly fresh in her memory. The crispy remains of Fluttershy and Rarity, the swollen mass of Bulk Biceps, the surprisingly intact body of a fear-frozen Filthy Rich.
The last one was somewhat of a surprise to her. Time Turner’s frame was covered from head to hoof in sand. If this meant what she thought it did, then she and Cheerilee were the only ones left beside the murderer. She could almost hear him whisper in her ear, “You could have stopped this, Twilight. You could have saved them all.”
She tilted her head. That wasn’t just her imagination, it had actually whispered in her ear. She backed away from it, panicking as Time Turner dismounted his stand started walking towards her in a zombie-like fashion. All around her, the others were acting similarly. Twilight noted that this was unusually surreal, even after what had happened tonight.
She fired a bolt of magic in the direction of Cherry Jubilee. It blasted a hole through her torso, igniting the insulation in the ceiling behind her. The mannequin kept on plodding toward her, unfazed by the gap in her body.
She fired another bolt, this time towards Filthy Rich. His head was torn off by the force of the blast, but it simply rolled on the ground behind him while his body ambled along.
Think, Twilight, think! These things obviously aren’t being stopped by my magic. What should I do? The horde of mannequins was slowly closing in on her, whispering barely audible accusations. Meanwhile, the burning insulation had turned into an inferno, and was encroaching upon the limited space available. A few stray flames were licking the tails of the ponies in the back, melting them like wax.
That’s it! These aren’t the real zombies, they’re just mildly disturbing wax copies! That explains why that weren’t affected by my magic. All I need to do is force them into those flames. She gritted her teeth and stared down the approaching horde.
The moment the first one was in range, she whirled around and bucked it into the blaze. Engulfed in flames, Time Turner quickly turned into a mud brown puddle on the floor. Bulk Biceps and Thunderlane grabbed her legs, but were made quick work of when she spun around tossed them into the fire.
They continued to fall to the flames one by one. She bucked, spun and blasted them into the ever-growing inferno behind them. Their numbers slowly dwindled until it was down to just her and the Rarity mannequin.
She bucked at her face, only to be met with singed hooves. “Did you really think it would be that easy, darling?”
Caught off guard, she put up a shield spell just as Rarity fired a powerful bolt at her. The shield fell, strained under the intensity of the blast. She ducked behind some crates and fired back. They came within inches of her before being dissipated by a previously unseen shield. Flames licked Rarity’s heels as she marched toward Twilight.
“Give up, Twilight! You don’t stand a chance against me when I have the power of the Inspiration Manifestation! How else do you think that I could have done all this? Never have I felt so powerful in all my life!” Her eyes were glowing green, casting an emerald hue across the room. Twilight noticed that she was carrying a book in her saddlebag, glowing the same hue as her eyes.
Twilight felt time practically stop as she assessed her situation. Come on, nitwit! You’ve stalemated Tirek in a fight before. Granted, it was with the combined power of all the alicorns in Equestria, but you can think you’re way out of this. All we have to do is get rid of her powers and it’ll be over quickly. Just have to get that book...
Twilight lunged at Rarity, knocking her saddlebag into the flames. Rarity let out a cry as the cover slowly eaten away. Trails of magic seeped out from the burning pages, breaking the already burning roofs supports above them. A burning beam collapsed next to them, singing their manes.
Twilight blasted the beam away. “Rarity, we have to get out of here, now!” She had collapsed in tears on the floor, unwilling to budge.
“Just go without me, Twilight! Don’t you know what I’ve done?”
“I could never forgive myself if I let another one of my friends die!” She pushed her toward the attic door, which had fallen open in the chaos. Through the smoke and flames, she could make out the body of Cheerilee. She had forgotten all about her in this mess, and her negligence probably killed her. Just another pony to add to her guilty conscience.
Another beam fell to the floor, knocking them both through the opening in the floor. They landed next to Cheerilee, surrounded by piles of burning rubble. She wasn’t moving, but Twilight put an ear to her muzzle and heard the welcome sound of light breathing. So she wasn’t really dead, but if they didn’t make it out of there soon, they all would be.
Rarity had been knocked unconscious during the fall, and had a large bruise on her forehead. Twilight herself had some nasty burns on her body, so carrying two fully grown mares out wasn’t really an options. The fire had managed to spread to the rest of the house as well, so even getting out herself was unreasonable. They were trapped, destined to join the rest of their comrades in death.
Mustering what little power she had left, she did the only thing that she thought could save them: summon a shield spell. A transparent bubble formed around them, falling with them as the house collapsed around them.
The last thing she saw before blacking out was the sunrise poking in above the smoking horizon.
==*===*===*==
To be continued…?