A hoof whipped through the air, smashed against the walls, and sent a shower of debris down on the girls. Past the battered door and the walls, two guards were crumped on the ground. Luffy retracted his leg and shot out another. It flailed around and smacked the walls and the ground in a flurry of blows. A bit of red spittle flew out of his mouth with each gasp he took.
“Tell me where Ace is!” he wailed.
“Cut it out!” Dash smacked a hoof away from her with a blackened wing. She then pulled it back and gave it a small flap. A blue imprint of a hoof marred the metallic surface of her wing with cracks branching out from it. The imprint throbbed.
Fluttershy ducked when a leg sliced through the air. “P-please Mr. Luffy! You’re going to hurt yourself!”
Luffy roared like a wounded animal. He spun around and brought a hoof down on the wall behind him. Stone cascaded down the side of the hospital and sunlight poured into the room. Luffy stared out at Canterlot for moment and then bent his knees.
He launched an inch off the ground before a tether of blue aura pulled him back. With a growl, he snapped the aura like string. A storm a kicks flew up into the air and filled the ceiling with holes.
Rarity went to her knees and groaned. Her horn drilled against her skull and her vision lurched to the right.
“Mr. Luffy,” she huffed, “please just listen to us!”
“Tell me where Ace is!” Luffy screamed.
A rope coiled around his legs. He flipped upside down and smacked onto the cold floor. He flailed around and gnashed his teeth.
Pinkie winced when Luffy coughed up a bit of blood. She tugged and tightened the rope wrapped around one of her legs. “Luffy, please, I never like using party tricks like thi—”
Luffy extended his neck out and chomped down on the rope. He snapped his head back and flung Pinkie across the room. She crashed into a wall and thudded to the ground.
“That’s it!” Dash flared out her wings and covered them in Haki.
She rocketed off the ground and flew at Luffy. He snarled and stretched back a leg. They raced at each other.
“Stop!” Twilight yelled.
Her horn flashed and Dash and Luffy found themselves encased in a thick purple aura. Dash relaxed and looked to Twilight. Luffy still snarled and struggled in Twilight’s magical grasp.
“Nice, Twi,” Dash sighed and looked over the room. “Wish we’d done that sooner.”
“Sorry.” Twilight glanced at her horn and then down at Applejack. She was still lying on her side and her injuries were growing purple and swollen. “Everything happened so fast. Let me just get you down.”
Dash shot to the ground. The magic splintered like glass and sent up a cloud of dust. Dash swung her wings and cleared the air. Her eyes spun and she wobbled before going to her knees.
“Sorry!” Twilight yelped. She shook her head. “I don’t know why it did that!”
“Super alicorn magic?” Pinkie coughed.
“Pinkie!” everypony else cried out.
Fluttershy rushed over and gently lifted Pinkie back onto her hooves. A few scrapes and welts dotted her back and legs now.
“I’m good,” Pinkie said. She cast her attention over to Luffy. “He’s who you should be worried about.”
“What happened?” Twilight asked.
She winced seeing all her friends tremble. She turned her attention towards Luffy while he thrashed in vain against her spell. A few red spots were now smeared between him and the aura. Twilight lingered on the bare fur amidst the bandages the encircled Luffy’s flanks.
“Is it something about Ace?” Twilight bit her lip. “Did he get hurt?”
Luffy froze. Tears bubbled up around Fluttershy’s eyes.
Rarity huffed and wobbled to her hooves but kept her head down. “Twilight, we wanted you to get back on your hooves first but Ace…” Her lips quivered. “He—”
“Don’t say it!” Luffy screamed.
A blast of pressure exploded out of him and sent a chill up everypony’s spine. Twilight’s horn flickered and her aura spasmed. Luffy wailed and smashed the spell to pieces. Twilight’s head jolted back and her vision blurred for a moment, but she remained on her hooves.
“I know he’s here!” Luffy hacked. He veered towards the hole in the wall. “I’ll find him!”
“You’re not running through Canterlot like this!” Twilight gritted her teeth and fired up her horn again. Violet bolts of energy arced and crackled around around her while her horn grew bright. Her pupils then shrank and jerked up to her horn. “Wait! No, no! That’s too str—”
A massive sphere of magic consumed the room. In a flash, it vanished. Only the corners of the floor remained, providing a clear view to a similarly trashed room below. Doctors and additional guards rushed to the scene and stared out at the destruction.
~~~
Rarity gasped for breath and went to her knees again. Just when her vision had cleared, now the world spun even more. Everything blurred and she felt the coffee from earlier at the back of her throat. She closed her eyes and breathed, flooding her nose with the smell of thick foliage.
“Not again,” she groaned.
Something whizzed through the air. The breath she’d regained flew out of her when somepony slammed into her and they both tumbled into the dirt.
“I’m sorry, Rarity!” Fluttershy pleaded. “Luffy would ha—”
“Accccceeeeeeee!” Luffy wailed.
His hooves flailed about. Leaves and branches crashed all around him. A sharp crack erupted from the jagged gap Luffy had torn in a nearby tree. It lurched forward and came crashing down between everypony, leaving Fluttershy and Rarity on one side and the rest of the ponies on the other.
Breathing heavily, Luffy looked over the destruction. A spasm rocked his body and he went to his knees. He shot up hoof up to his face and coughed into it. The bandages around his leg were already tattered and stained, but when he pulled his leg back, a large blotch was colored red.
A blood-curdling shriek erupted out of Luffy. With spooked eyes, he flew to his hooves and barreled into the forest, screaming all the way.
“Get back here!” Dash yelled before taking off after him.
“Rainbow Dash, stop!” Twilight called out, but Dash had already vanished into the thick of the forest. Twilight looked out into the vast woods and then dropped her head. She shook her head back and forth and sniffled.
“What is wrong with me?”
“It’s okay, Twilight.” Pinkie smiled, but it quickly waned. “Okay, so we’re in what I’m pretty sure is the Everfree and Luffy is completely out of control, but it’s nothing we can’t handle, right?”
“I… I don’t know,” Twilight murmured. “I’ve never seen a pony act like that.”
“Count yourself lucky,” Applejack rasped.
Fluttershy and Rarity bounded over the tree and raced over to Applejack. All her friends gathered around her while she remained on the ground. Wheezy breaths escaped her mouth, but her eyes, even with one blackened, glowed bright.
“Don’t push yourself!” said Fluttershy.
“Ain’t got time to worry about that,” Applejack coughed. “Luffy’s hurt a thousand acres worse than I am. If we don’t stop him now…”
Everypony grew pale.
“W-what do we do?” Fluttershy asked, tears already bubbling up.
“Just keep him in one place. I can handle it from there.” Applejack then looked up at Twilight. “Twilight, I need you to get me back on my hooves pronto. I can explain things while you do that.”
“I…” Twilight glanced up at her horn. “I don’t know if I can. My magic isn’t working like I want it to.”
“Rarity?” Applejack asked.
“I can try but…” Rarity bit her lip. Applejack looked like a severely trampled orange. “I may take too long.”
“Then Twilight’s my only option,” Applejack snorted. “Get going, girls, before you lose Dash and Luffy’s trail.”
Pinkie looked back and forth at Twilight and Applejack. “But what abo—”
“Go!” Applejack snapped. She seized up and coughed.
Twilight watched her friends draw close. Something sparked in her eyes. “Girls, listen to her. We’ll be with you in a second.”
The girls felt whatever had ignited in Twilight flow into them as well. They all nodded and then rushed off into the forest. Fluttershy was at the back of the group. She turned around at the last moment. She glanced at Twilight and Applejack and then flew after the others.
Alone with Applejack, Twilight stood up and loomed over her. She breathed in deeply and focused her thoughts on her horn. Closing her eyes, she felt the flow of magic coursing through her.
“Applejack, I need you to stay as still as you can,” she said. “If I get this right, then you can tell me what’s going on. For now, just breath and tell me if anything feels wrong.”
“Got it.”
Twilight inhaled again and turned her thoughts inward. Magic coursed through her body and pooled near her horn as well as in her chest and cutie mark. She tensed feeling magic amassing and extending out from her back. Through those two new points, she felt the wind carrying moisture and heat. There was a faint buzz of electricity in the air too. Perhaps a storm in a day or two.
Her jaw tightened when she felt a third magic racing up and down her legs. It flowed deep into the roots and seeds hidden beneath the earth. The grass rustling against her hooves crept up to her ankles.
“Uh, Twilight?” Applejack asked.
“Shhh,” Twilight breathed.
The two new magic swirled through Twilight. She could feel them melding in with what she knew as her magic, like three streams churning into a massive river. Yet it all flowed with a serene calm, even while Twilight felt herself drowning in it.
She sunk deeper into its depths, feeling the sky above and the ground below teem with magic. At the same time, she felt a warmth in her core as well as her flanks. The end of the fight with Tirek flooded back into her. Her consciousness extended out to the warmth.
Whatever had happened to Luffy, she and her friends would fix it.
Opening her eyes revealed stars glistening within her pupils.
“Hold on, Applejack,” she said. “Everything is going to be fine.
~~~
Luffy’s wails echoed through the forest. Dash zipped through the trees, wings skimming over splintered wood and shattered rocks. Specks of red dotted the carnage. Dash beat her wings faster.
When the screaming stopped, Dash’s wings locked to her sides. Her hooves plowed through the ground, adding deep muddy tracks to the destruction around her. The earth sucked at her legs when she galloped forward into a small meadow.
Patches of the ground were torn up and dirt was piled high around the meadow. Trees leaned against each other, their broken trunks no longer able to balance them.
Luffy stood in the middle of the meadow gasping for air. Bandages dangled off of him, their white fabric swollen thick with sweat, dirt, and blood. A few of his wounds dripped onto the ground. He stared upwards, eyes unfocused, like a foal upon realizing they are lost.
Dash took a step, but Luffy continued to gaze at the sky. She stopped when he muttered something. Her ears flexed around but his words were lost to her.
His hooves then shot up and clawed at his face. He screamed again and thrashed on the ground. His head snapped back and came down upon a nearby rock. Blood trickled down his face.
“Stop!” Dash cried.
She rocketed off the ground when Luffy brought his head back again. She was almost upon him when a yellow blur blasted into the clearing. The grass and the trees rustled when it tore across the ground and broke in front of Luffy.
Aquamarine eyes, steeled liked the finest blades consumed Luffy’s vision. Tears were collected at their corners.
“Enough,” said Fluttershy.
Dash firmly planted her hooves back on the ground. One glance at Fluttershy’s eyes forced her head down and sent goosebumps up her legs.
Luffy said nothing. Even under the full brunt of the Stare, his jaw remained locked and animosity still flared in his eyes. A bit of blood dripped from his lower lip.
“I hit my head as hard I as I could,” he muttered.
His lips trembled.
“It’s not a dream,” he sniffled. “It’s not magic either.”
Fluttershy continued to look straight at Luffy, but her eyes were growing wet. She whispered, “No.”
Tears tumbled down Luffy’s face.
“Ace is dead!” he choked. “He’s dead, isn’t he!?”
He bent his head back and wailed. The strength in Fluttershy’s eyes failed and she sobbed in silence. Dash felt the chill running through her give way to a crushing hollowness that kept her rooted to the ground. Nearby, Pinkie and Rarity choked back cries of the own.
“I’m so weak!” Luffy sobbed. “King of the Pirates? Me!?”
His cries devolved back into the sounds of a broken thing.
For how long this continued, nopony could be sure. When something rustled in the nearby brush, the sun had cleared the tree line.
Dash tensed up and turned toward where the noise had come from. Luffy’s cries had died down, allowing the sounds of the forest to permeate the meadow.
Twilight emerged out of the woods followed by Applejack. Dash’s breath escaped her and she sunk to her knees. Her wings felt leaden and her head was equally heavy.
Twilight looked around and sighed.
“Let’s get back to the hospital.” She turned her head toward Luffy. “We can do things there.”
“No,” Luffy rasped.
“Luffy, we’re not going to leave you to tear yourself apart like this,” said Twilight.
“It’s my body, I can do what I want with it!” Luffy snapped.
“Ace probably would have said the same thing,” Applejack snorted.
Luffy bared his teeth at Applejack. “Shut up! You didn’t know Ace!”
Applejack stepped forward and made her way to the center of the meadow. “I knew enough. Now we can either do this Twilight’s way or mine. Either way, we’ve got a promise we have to keep to Ace.”
Luffy snarled and threw himself at Applejack.
“My way then,” Applejack huffed.
A hoof zipped past her head. She crouched and leaned to the left when Luffy swiped his other foreleg at her. He kicked up a hindleg, but it only met the air while Applejack sent out one leg and threw her weight to the right.
Her leg clothelined Luffy below the ribs. His world spun and her smashed into the ground. Applejack bent down and pressed her face close to his.
“I know it hurts,” she said. “But you ca— ”
Luffy sank his teeth into her leg. She roared in pain and then kicked Luffy across the meadow. Everypony rushed closer, but Applejack was already in a gallop. She slammed into Luffy and pressed down on his neck. A strained cough escaped him.
“Applejack!” Fluttershy cried. “You’re hurting him!”
“He’ll do worse to himself!”
Luffy flailed a hoof and sent it into Applejack’s side. She gritted her teeth but kept her hold on him. More blows fell upon her, but she wouldn’t budge. A hoof cracked against her head and sent her hat flying.
She returned the attack with a sharp crack across Luffy’s face.
“You stupid colt!” she shouted. “You and your brother make my family’s stubbornness look humble! You really think running around, breaking everything, including yourself, will help?”
“I admit it, I haven’t know you or your brother long, but I’ve seen what you’ve done. We’ve heard your stories.” Applejack flared her nostrils. “Where’s the pony I watched go to Tartarus and back? Where’s the pony that did everything he could to save his brother? All those enemies, all those challenges and now it feels like it was all for not.”
A tear dripped onto Luffy.
“It feels like there’s no way forward, not where you are,” Applejack said, her voice softer now. “You want to escape it, leave all the things that hurt you behind. You can’t get back what’s lost anyway.”
Applejack’s hold loosened and she bent her head down. She sniffled and then looked at Luffy again.
“But you can hold on to what you still have.” Applejack lifted her head to her friends and then stared back down. “Think, Luffy!”
Luffy gazed up at Applejack. Fresh tears rose up to his face.
“I have my crew!” Luffy cried.
“I know,” Applejack smiled.
A glow cropped up from Luffy’s flanks.
“Zoro! Nami! Usopp! Sanji!” Luffy cried while the glow grew brighter. “Chopper! Robin! Frank! Brook!”
A flash filled the meadow. When everypony’s vision cleared, they looked to Luffy. He was still beneath Applejack and bawling his eyes out, but his mane less wild and his coat brighter.
A straw hat once more adorned his flanks. Now though, a thick X mark rested behind it.
“I want to see them!” Luffy yelled at the top of his voice.