Chapter 03: Into the Dark
The street lights had finally flared to life, casting their gentle glow across the streets. They could finally see, and... strangely, nothing seemed to have changed. The cars moving past them had turned on their own headlights, but otherwise the people around them were trekking back and forth on their merry way as if nothing had happened, as if nothing was even wrong. Sugarcoat had to admit though, at least the air was nice and cool. She even put the top down as they rode down the street.
"Does anyone else think it's really weird that everyone's so calm right now?" Lemon Zest asked.
"It's 2016, people aren't going to let Armageddon clouds get in the way of their daily lives." Sugarcoat scolded her friend as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. "They have smoothies to drink and yoga classes to get to."
Indigo Zap's car soon approached Sunset Shimmer's home, pulling in and taking one of the parking spots right in front of the ground-floor apartment. They approached the front door quickly, where Sugarcoat reached out to pound her fist on the top of the door. The three of them yelped as the door slowly toppled inward, landing on the floor with an oddly squishy sound, like a pickle being dropped in a jar.
"Are things getting weirder?" Lemon Zest asked.
Sour Sweet approached the house and knocked firmly on one of the outer walls. Each knock made a different noise, including a cat's meow, the brief sound of a saw cutting through a tin can, and a bullet ricocheting off of something hard and metal. "Nope, I don't hear anything weird." Sour Sweet smirked back at her friends.
"Sunset Shimmer?" Sugarcoat was already heading inside, looking around the house curiously. "We're not breaking in, the door just fell off. Hello?"
"Of course she's not here!" Sour Sweet squeaked. "That would be way too easy!"
"She's probably at work." Sugarcoat turned back to her friends. "Let's just settle in and wait for her, I'm sure she'll understand our position when she gets home. In the meantime I brought lunch if either of you are hungry." Sugarcoat dropped her giant bag of burgers on the coffee table in front of the sofa.
"Are you going to be dragging those around all day?" Sour Sweet asked curiously.
"I may never win anything again with all the fortune I used up winning this." Sugarcoat retorted. "I intend to enjoy my winnings."
"I could think of worse things to drag around with us." Lemon Zest plopped down on the couch and snatched up a burger.
"Yeah, I guess it could be worse." Sour Sweet sat down on Lemon's right side.
Sugarcoat smiled slightly. "In the meantime, I'll be right back. I need to pee."
"Thanks for sharing, we totally needed to know that!" Sour Sweet exclaimed. "It's not like there's such a thing as oversharing!"
Sugarcoat smirked. "Hey, it could be worse. I could have said I'm going to masturbate."
Sour Sweet paused. "... Are you?"
"And now you get to wonder." Sugarcoat waved farewell over her shoulder as she made her way into Sunset Shimmer's bedroom.
She did her business in the small bathroom just beyond and came back out, but she stopped halfway through the bedroom when she heard an odd rapid knocking noise in the bedroom. She turned slowly around the room until she pinpointed that the odd sound was coming from the small nightstand beside Sunset Shimmer's bed. She approached the nightstand curiously and pulled open one of the drawers.
Inside was a tome with a strange yellow and orange symbol etched on the front cover. The symbol almost seemed to be squirming before her eyes, writhing and sparkling like a two-dimensional flame. Sugarcoat opened the book to the first page, but found it covered in strange symbols that also seemed to be dancing back and forth before her eyes. She spent a few moments trying to find any kind of pattern in it, but gave up and closed the book after a moment.
She whirled towards the living room when the light suddenly turned off, and panicked yells could be heard from within. "Yaaargh! Ow! Hey, stop!" Lemon Zest yowled. "It's us! It's us! Guh..." She fell silent as a thump echoed from the shadows.
"Fuck you fuck you fuck you fuck you aaaaaahhhhh!" Sour Sweet's voice came from the darkness.
Sugarcoat felt her way to the bedroom lightswitch and flipped it on, revealing a tall girl with a mess of curly hair sitting on Sour Sweet's back in the living room, pinning her arm behind her. Lemon Zest was already laid out on the sofa with a dazed look on her face.
"Holy crap, Adagio stop!" Sunset Shimmer rushed in through the front door. "I know these girls! They're friends!" Adagio looked back at her, then squinted down at Sour Sweet suspiciously before climbing off of her back.
"Fuck you!" Sour Sweet growled, but didn't push any further confrontation.
"Oohhhh..." Lemon Zest rubbed her head with one hand. "Ninja-attack..."
"We're sorry for the intrusion, Sunset Shimmer." Sugarcoat stepped out of the bedroom with an apologetic smile. "We weren't sure where else we could go for help... then your door fell off."
"It's alright, I could've investigated better before sending Adagio in..." Sunset Shimmer rubbed the back of her neck. "I guess I've been a little on-edge about intruders since Sour Sweet almost killed me."
Sour Sweet grumbled as she rubbed her wrist. "I said I was sorry..."
Sugarcoat approached the two newcomers. "We wouldn't be here if the situation wasn't pretty bad. I'm sure you've noticed the pitch black clouds outside by now."
"It would be kind of hard not to." Sunset Shimmer turned towards her, her eyes flicking down towards the book clutched in her arms. "I guess you've really made yourself at home..."
"Oh?" Sugarcoat looked down, then blushed. "Sorry, I didn't mean to snoop... it was vibrating, and kind of drew my attention."
"It was? Let me see." Sunset Shimmer took the book from her and opened it to the first page, then started flipping through pages curiously. "Hmmm... this isn't right..." she mumbled to herself, flipping through page after page.
Sugarcoat turned to Sunset's companion in the meantime, who was looking down at the book curiously with one hand on her hip. "Hello, I don't believe we've met." Sugarcoat held out her hand. "I'm Sugarcoat. The girls you laid out across the room are Lemon Zest and Sour Sweet."
Adagio glanced up at her, then slipped a hand behind her to pull a small flag out of her blue jeans. Adagio Dazzle. She reached out to return the shake with her free hand.
Sugarcoat nodded appreciatively. "I can appreciate a girl with neat handwriting."
Sour Sweet rushed up behind Sugarcoat. "Did that flag thingy say Adagio Dazzle? Sonata has told me so much about you guys! Well, maybe not told me, but you know what I mean! Written fun little notes to me about you guys."
Adagio smirked and rolled her eyes before putting a finger on Sour Sweet's forehead and pushing her out to arm's length.
Sour Sweet's eyes narrowed. "You did not just finger me..."
"Is that what fingering means?" Lemon Zest walked up curiously. "I always thought it meant-"
Sunset Shimmer cut in at the perfect time, still running a finger over the pages of her book. "I think there's some kind of interference happening. But what in the world could cause magical interference in a world without magic?" Sunset Shimmer looked up at Sugarcoat in confusion.
"I don't suppose an Equestrian Lord of Chaos could do the trick, could it?" Sugarcoat asked. Sunset Shimmer and Adagio Dazzle both gave her a long, piercing look.
Sunset closed her book in both hands with a serious look on her face. "You might want to start from the beginning."
Sunset Shimmer listened to her story with an intense look on her face, tapping her fingers on the tome in her lap on the sofa. When the story finished she continued to stare down at the book for several minutes before speaking.
"I've read books that described Discord's actions in the past, but I've never dealt with him myself. Though Princess Twilight has told me she dealt with him. If we can get to her I'm sure she'll know a way to reign him in."
Adagio blinked in surprise, then pulled out her notepad to scribble quickly on it. You have a way back to Equestria?
"Yeah, there's a portal that links our two worlds now." Sunset nodded. "It's actually not far from here. We can hop across and tell Princess Twilight what has happened. I have no doubt she'll be able to bring this to a stop in a jiffy."
Adagio stared down at her notebook while Lemon Zest spoke up. "Oh yay! I get to have wings again!"
Sugarcoat stood up. "Well if we have a plan, no more sitting around. Let's go. Who knows what's happening to Twilight, Indigo, and Sunny right now?"
"Hopefully not much." Sunset stood with her. "Honestly, given his reputation, what I've seen here so far is pretty tame. I hope that means Twilight can still knock some sense into him."
"Tame?" Sour Sweet's eyes bulged. "Falling doors, Armageddon clouds, bedrooms replaced by the black pits of tartarus, and dog barks for knocks are tame?"
Sunset smirked. "According to Princess Twilight, the last time he took over Equestria, chocolate milk rained in checkerboard patterns, the sun and the moon were doing the tango, entire buildings started spinning around like clocks, and everypony in Equestria went completely and utterly insane. Yes, this is tame."
The others all turned to leave, but Adagio gripped her sleeve to get her attention before scribbling quickly on her notepad again. I'm not going anywhere without Aria and Sonata.
"I understand." Sunset took her hand and yanked her into a brief half-hug. "Take care of yourselves. We'll get this all sorted out as soon as we can." Adagio nodded and left the building with them, taking off at a brisk jog while the others made their way to Indigo Zap's car.
Sugarcoat threw her bag of burgers in the back seat beside Sunset Shimmer and Lemon Zest as they buckled their seatbelts. "Please don't make me throw those out."
***
The carrots were good. Better than any Twilight Sparkle could remember having, at least. Or perhaps it was these new pony tastebuds that made them taste so delicious. They didn't do much to ease the tension in the room, though, as she, Sunny Flare, and Indigo Zap sat around an unfamiliar living room munching on carrots they had found in a small icebox in what appeared to be the dirtiest kitchen in any universe.
"Hmm..." Sunny Flare mused as she curiously balanced the carrot on the end of her hoof. "I wonder how ponies here usually do things without thumbs."
"Magic, I guess," Twilight answered. "Sunset Shimmer gave me a brief rundown of how to levitate things last time we went through the portal. I never thought I'd be back again to use any of it, though..."
"Do you think you could do it again if you had to?"
"Maybe. Let me try..." Twilight looked down at the carrot in her hoof. her eyes narrowed and her mind raced, trying to dig up the memories of what her friend had taught her. Her horn glowed with a gentle light, and after a few moments the carrot began to lift from her hoof, turned around a couple times, then settled back down. "Yes, yes I can. Barely."
"Well it's something." Sunny nibbled on the end of her carrot for a moment with her eyes glassing over in intense thought. "Maybe if we can get your levitation working well enough we can least get off this rock and find some help getting home."
"You want me to carry around three ponies?" Twilight gulped. "I don't know if I could do that. I've only done it three times in my life, for a total of thirty seconds. If I lost hold of one of you while we were going..."
"You wouldn't, Twi," Indigo Zap interrupted her.
"How can you say that?"
"Because I believe in you." Indigo slapped one hoof down on the floor. "If anybody could master magic and fly us all out of here, it's you."
Twilight Sparkle felt like her face was about to explode, especially because Sunny was nodding in agreement and giving her a kind smile. "Oh my gosh... girls..." Twilight shook her head, returning their smile with a more nervous one of her own. "I-I don't know how quickly I can master it, but I can most definitely try."
"That's all we would ever ask of you," Sunny assured her.
Indigo shoved the rest of her carrot into her mouth and climbed to her feet. "Well, if you need a guinea pig to practice on, I'm your girl! Fly me around the room!"
Twilight finished off her own carrot and climbed to her hooves, giving Indigo a long stare. "Okay, this shouldn't hurt at all unless I mess up."
"Mess up? You? Pfft." Indigo waved off the possibility, though one hoof did knock her goggles from the top of her head into place on her face. "Let's do this!"
Twilight took a deep breath and tried to concentrate. She tried to think back to what Sunset Shimmer had taught her about focusing. Just know what you want to do, and flex that special muscle in your mind to make it happen. She could do anything, she just needed to know how to focus on it properly. She tried and tried, and the light from her horn began to shine out across the cozy living room. She had the magic, now she just needed to reach out with it.
The glow enveloped Indigo Zap, whose body remained stiff as it moved around her. Twilight tilted her head upward, trying to lift her friend, but she felt much heavier than she remembered Lemon Zest being. Maybe it was because she wasn't a pegasus, but Twilight was only able to lift her a few feet off the ground before having to set her down again, and even then she was almost panting with her exertion.
"I'm sorry, I don't think I can do it." Twilight rubbed her forehead. "Lifting just one of you is exhausting, lifting all three of us may be out of the question."
"I don't know if we should quit now, though," Sunny pointed out. "This is a muscle you haven't used before, but that doesn't mean you can't get it strong enough to do what we need you to. Try lifting me this time."
"Okay, I'll try." Twilight turned to Sunny, and her horn began to glow. It was easier to summon the magic this time, she had to admit. Maybe she really did just need to practice a bit. The glow reached out, enveloping Sunny from head to toe. Slowly Twilight lifted her head, trying to lift the pony from the ground.
Without warning, in a burst of rainbow light Sunny slammed into the ceiling with a chilling crack. Twilight yelped in shock and lost focus, bringing her friend plummeting back to the ground in a shower of ceiling bits as Twilight's magic faded.
"Holy crap! Sunny! Are you okay!?" Twilight and Indigo rushed to their friend's side, kneeling beside her.
"Say something!" Indigo pressed a hoof against the top of her head to push it aside. Sunny's eyes were spinning, but she seemed to be breathing. Indigo raised a hoof in front of her face. "Quick, how many fingers am I holding up?"
"I'm okaaaaaay..." Sunny's assured them in a wobbly voice as one hoof swatted Indigo's away. "What happened...?"
Twilight blushed. "I don't know, I did exactly what I did with Indigo Zap, but it was... well, a lot more effective."
"That must've been some workout." Indigo Zap quipped.
Sunny sat up with one hoof rubbing her head. "Do you have any idea why your magic would affect me differently? I mean, we look the same, right?"
"Almost..." Twilight cocked her head curiously. She looked up slightly as she tried to focus. A tiny pinpoint of purple laser light shot from her horn at the ceiling. She took a few moments to make sure she could turn it on and off and maintain it before bringing it down to point it at Sunny Flare's side.
The light hit Sunny's crystalline flank and continued straight through her body, emerging from the other side of her in a dazzling array of colors that coated the far wall in shades of all kinds. Twilight turned the light on and off a few times, but with the same results. She even pointed the light at Indigo, but the laser pointer just hit her chest and stayed there like one would expect. It spread again when she pointed it at Sunny.
"Well that was groovy." Indigo turned to Twilight. "But what does it mean?"
Twilight's scientific mind was already spinning, taking in this new information. "I don't have much actual experience with magic, but it looks to me like somehow Sunny Flare's body is acting as some kind of magic enhancer. All of the magic I put into her is being put back out several times over."
Sunny rubbed her chin curiously. "So I'm a walking magic amplifier?"
Indigo chattered excitedly. "Does that mean you can pump your juice into her and use that to make us fly?"
Sunny gave her a sour squint. "Please think before you speak."
"I can certainly give it a try." Twilight's horn sprang to life once again, and the world faded away somewhat as she focused. Her spell enveloped Sunny's body, than flared back out to Indigo and Twilight. It was so easy now, it only took the slightest nudge to lift the three of them from the floor. It was only a couple of moments before they were floating freely in the center of the room.
"Alright! I knew you could do it, Twilight!" Indigo pumped her hooves in front of her. "We're getting outta here!"
"Alright! Here we go!" Excitedly Twilight pointed her hoof at the door, and suddenly the three ponies found themselves embedded in the wall right above it with a sickening crunch. The entire building shook just before the three of them collapsed to the floor in a tangled heap of legs, fur, and moans.
Sunny Flare grunted. "Ugh... maybe... a bit more practice first..."
"Yeah... I'll get right on it..." Twilight grinned sheepishly.
***
"Come on! Things are starting to get worse!" Sunset Shimmer charged up the front lawn of Canterlot High school. The inky black clouds had finally rescinded, but the sight that lay behind them boggled even her mind, and she was used to powerful magic. The sky looked like it was contained behind a veil of roses loosely scattered across the open air, through which they could now see that the stars and moon were out. A glance at her phone told Sunset it was almost seven PM, so at least that part was natural. It was possible even that people didn't notice if they didn't bother looking too closely into the dark sky... but how much longer would they be able to trust the people of this world not to panic with the entire natural order slowly dissolving?
"You know, I kind of like this Discord guy's style," Sugarcoat quipped as they jogged.
"Excuse me?" Sour Sweet shot back.
"I can appreciate a creative psychopath."
"No! Psychopath is bad! Very bad!" Lemon Zest ran up to the statue in front of the school. "Alright! Let's go! Me first!" Lemon Zest got down on all fours and walked on her knees through the mirror, vanishing in a portal of light that materialized before her.
"Do we really have to crawl through?" Sugarcoat asked.
"Crawling is optional, just be ready to become a quadruped on the other side." Sunset Shimmer winked and walked forward with confidence. She sank smoothly to her four hooves once she was inside Princess Twilight's crystal palace, turning to the mirror to wait for their final two guests.
Sour Sweet came through first with a flourish of wings, though not the wings Sunset Shimmer would have expected. The leathery membranes spread out between long fingerlike bones, and her sharp, vertical pupils retracted even in the fairly dim light of the mirror room.
"Ow! Why's it so bright in here?" Sour Sweet's voice shrieked unusually shrilly as she covered her eyes with one hoof.
"Hey, quiet down!" Sunset Shimmer rushed over to her. "Do you want to scare everybody in the palace?" Sunset pulled her away from the portal with a comforting half-embrace. "You're a bat pony, so things might look a bit bright to you. I'll see if I can find you some glasses or something, okay?"
"Ugh, just my luck..." Sour Sweet grumbled.
Sunset Shimmer blinked in surprise when there was a thud back near the portal. The three ponies all turned to see their final friend lying on the floor flopping around as if trying to move forward, though her sea pony fins refused to cooperate.
"Well... you're luckier than her." Sunset Shimmer couldn't help a short quip.
Lemon Zest cackled as she approached Sugarcoat. "I always knew there was something fishy about you."
Sugarcoat glared up at the pegasus through her glasses with her chin on the ground. "I hate you all right now."
"Okay, enough kidding around." Sunset Shimmer's horn levitated Sugarcoat over to her, where she let the sea pony rest comfortably across her back. "This is Princess Twilight's palace, so she has to be around somewhere."
"Like right here?" Twilight marched into the room. "Honestly, how could I not hear a shriek like that in an empty castle like this?"
"Twilight!" Sunset whirled on her. "We have an emergency! Discord is loose in the human world and he's... kinda sort of messing things up? Maybe accidentally, maybe not? I don't even know."
"Discord is in the human world?" Twilight blinked in surprise. "But why would he go there? Things have been going so well for him here. He has all the love and friendship he could ever want. Ugh, I'll never figure that guy out..."
Sunset Shimmer was almost yelling. "It's only a matter of time before there's a panic in the human world. Please, we've got to get him to come home!"
"So he..." Twilight blinked slowly. "But if this started today, that means he left today, at the same time..." She trailed off and turned back toward the door at the sound of hoofsteps approaching. The face of a pink pony that could only belong to one pushed its way into the room with a patient smile.
Pinkie Pie's hair was almost distressingly straight as she approached. "Is everything okay Twilight? We still have six more chapters to go."
"Twilight?" A more unfamiliar voice approached the door as another mare poked her head in. "Is everything okay in here?"
"And who are you?" Sunset Shimmer demanded.
"Excuse me, I live here now." The mare pushed her way inside. "I'm Starlight Glimmer, Princess Twilight's personal pupil."
"A princess' pupil huh?" Sunset looked her up and down. "Well, I guess someone needs to be. Nice mane."
Sugarcoat spoke from right next to her ear. "Are we going to have a pony catfight while our world is sinking into chaos? Because I could go sell tickets. Well, if I could walk."
"Of course we're not." Sunset Shimmer marched back up to Twilight again. "I can take you to him, he's still staying at our Twilight's place, as far as we know."
"I..." Princess Twilight hesitated, casting an unsure glance at Pinkie Pie, who had a confused look on her face. After a moment Twilight sighed and turned toward her. "Pinkie, we'll have to finish your memoir later, okay?"
"Oh, okay." Pinkie smiled. "It's no big deal, I have a lot of life left, maybe more to put in the book!"
"Yeah, I'm sure there will be more." Twilight smiled, then turned back to Sunset, suddenly all business. "Unfortunately, I'm not the one who can get through to Discord. I'll have to go get Fluttershy. I think she's still out in the field having her picnic with Rainbow Dash."
"Thank you." Sunset Shimmer smiled. "We'll wait here, if that's okay. My friends aren't exactly used to being ponies, and this isn't the time to get used to it."
Twilight nodded. "Agreed. Starlight Glimmer, please see to our guests until I return."
"I'd love nothing more." Starlight Glimmer's teeth were clenched so tightly they could use her as a wrench, but Twilight didn't seem to notice.
"Great, I shouldn't be too long!" Twilight whirled to rush away from the other ponies, leaving the others all facing Starlight Glimmer and Pinkie Pie. The silence was thick enough to stab with a horn until Pinkie Pie spoke.
"Does anypony want cake?" Pinkie suggested.
Lemon Zest pursed her lips in thought. "If we gorge ourselves on sugar here, will we carry it over to our real bodies?"
Sugarcoat raised one fin. "I can think of one way to find out. For science!"
To Be Continued