Ends Of The Earth
Surrounded. They were surrounded.
Hoarse growls filled the air as they tried to back away. Twilight whipped around, taking in the whole clearing at a glance. The darkness was glittering with hard, glinting eyes. Leaves rustled and dead wood splintered, as a sea of twisted bark and gnarled limbs crept out from the tree-line.
Okay, yeah! Situation assessed! It was time to get the heck out of there!
She didn't have the power for another teleport, so they'd have to leave the way they came. By … flying? Er.
The unicorn glanced over at her companions. Pinkie seemed only slightly nervous, but Fluttershy was clearly terrified. Sweating and trembling violently, her wide eyes were darting around at top speed. Of course. Living so close to the Everfree, the yellow pegasus must have heard tales of the timberwolves, and the carnage they had once caused. Still caused, if they ever got the chance.
The issue here was that Fluttershy couldn't fly when she was scared. Those yellow wings seemed to simply give up, dropping her like a stone. Flying all of them away was out of the question. Twilight didn't even have to ask.
Oh, carp. This was bad. With the best avenues of escape gone, the unicorn couldn't see any other exit available. They were
trapped, hedged in by vicious predators that didn't feel pain, let alone mercy! What were they supposed to do?
Right. Calm down and think. Never stop thinking. Just … think fast.
Since fighting was always a terrible plan, and running away looked almost impossible, diplomacy appeared to be their only route forward. Twilight knew it would take an extraordinary amount of tact, but a peaceful end looked like it might be possible. If she chose her words just right …
Pinkie decided to taunt their attacker. "Wow, meanie-face Gilda! D-did you make some puppets? Why did you pick doggie-puppets? Won't they fetch themselves?" The earth-pony giggled uneasily.
Excellent work, Pinkie. You have masterfully doomed us all.
Or maybe that was a little unkind. Actually, it looked like the baker just didn't realize how incredibly serious the situation was. Time to clarify.
"Uh, Pinkie." The unicorn stepped away from the trees. "Those aren't puppets. Those are timberwolves. Flesh-eating plants. They are absolutely real, and hideously dangerous. They kill ponies." She stressed the point as much as she could. This was no time for antics.
"Oh." Pinkie did her best to giggle in the face of danger.
The attempt failed.
As the wolves grew nearer, Gilda flew up to a branch. It looked like the equicidal gryphon would now be able to watch the massacre from a safe vantage point, without getting any blood on her feathers.
What a jerk! Twilight hated carnivores. The whole 'eating other species' thing was really gross.
Salivating messily, the pacing predators closed ranks in a rough circle around them. One particularly aggressive wolf peeled out from the pack, hunger burning in its beady eyes. It lunged at Fluttershy from behind, slashing out at the quivering pegasus' legs.
"No!" Gritting her teeth, Twilight forced a curved wall of energy to form over her friend. With a crunch, the vicious wooden creature slammed heavily into her hastily-conjured barrier. Sharp teeth and serrated claws scratched deep lines into the weak shield, mindlessly searching for a way in. Fluttershy screamed, and covered her face in fear.
Dirt sprayed the clearing as Pinkie shot around the wall. She screeched a high-pitched war-cry, and kicked the snarling beast in the face, sending cracks down the wood. Clouds of splinters rippled outwards at the force of the earth-pony's blow.
Though it was staggered, the powerful strike wasn't enough to incapacitate the wolf. Wounded, but functional, it slipped back into the reforming pack. Three more monsters rapidly replaced it, each just as strong as the first.
It was hopeless! What were they going to do?
Reacting quicker than Twilight could think, Pinkie dragged the unicorn behind the conjured wall, dumping her next to Fluttershy. The baker with hidden depths turned to face the rest of the beasts, baring her teeth at the teeming horde.
The librarian struggled to hold her magic together. Aside from her shoddily-constructed shield, she could dimly see that Pinkie was the only line of defense they had. Twilight couldn't fight while casting, and Fluttershy was beginning to hyperventilate. Dilated pupils, rapid inhalation – the pegasus was going to pass out if they didn't do something soon! They needed help!
"Come on, you useless idiots!" Gilda flared her wings in anger. "Get them!" The wolves howled.
"Pinkie! Use your Party Cannon!" Twilight gasped out. Sweat was pouring down her coat from the strain of holding up the weak wall behind them.
"I … I can't! I lost it! I don't know where it's gone!"
"For Celestia's sake!" The unicorn screamed in frustration. "What happened to us? This is totally absurd!"
"Twilight!" The earth-pony shouted, real panic in her voice. "We need to get out of here! Now!"
She was right. Focus. Never stop thinking. "Okay! Pinkie, cover me!" The unicorn began to prepare a second spell, her horn aching at the effort of splitting her mind in two.
Pinkie nodded fiercely, and began to jump around erratically, trying to confuse the predators.
It worked. For a few precious seconds, the flips and acrobatics successfully diverted their enemies. Twilight seized the only chance they had, and tossed her head backwards, weaving strands of magic together with reckless haste. Forget safe magic-use, they were going to die! Hurry up!
But the earth-pony's trick didn’t work for long. Growling, a wolf slashed out with a jagged paw, opening up bright-red lines on the mare's pink coat. Pinkie yelped as the next heavy blow threw her into Fluttershy, leaving a gaping hole in their defense. Finally free of distractions, the ravenous monsters closed in, grinning maliciously at the fear and weakness in the prey they sought.
"There we go. Guess this is it, dweebs," Gilda laughed.
The weak, exhausted librarian chuckled as well. She brushed between the other ponies, stepping closer to the wolves. Her violet magic had dulled to a mere shimmer, but she held her head high, a faint smile on her face. "You want to hurt my friends?" She lowered her horn. "Not on my watch."
Twilight shrieked in pain as she set her soul on fire. Giving off an unhealthy black light, her horn sputtered, sparks gushing from the blackening tip. Thin cracks crawled along the full length of the spiral of bone, the fresh wounds weeping blood and magic, intertwined. Lines of white-hot agony inscribed themselves onto her skull, and the glow of her magic grew brighter and brighter. The wolves backed away from the display, visibly frightened by the pyrotechnics.
"Pinkie! Fluttershy! Run!" Twilight roared.
Forcing out reserves of magic she didn't have, the unicorn snapped her shield, forcing it to detonate outwards and away. Wolves were tossed aside like twigs in the explosion. Though few of the hardy beasts were destroyed, the real aim of the blast was to create a short-lived escape route for the ponies.
Even so, the monsters were on them in seconds, a gauntlet of razor-edged wood blocking their path. They barely made it out of the clearing alive.
Fluttershy galloped ahead of the other two, tears of panic streaming from her eyes. The small pegasus wasn't made for this kind of battle. Pinkie sprinted after her yellow friend, lines of blood dripping down her flanks as she ran.
Woozily, Twilight lurched unsteadily after them.
The world began to swim. She wanted to collapse, to give into the urge to faint. But if she worked up the effort to listen, she could hear the wolves, bare moments behind her. A fall now would definitely lead to her death.
The unicorn unsteadily shook her head, blood flying outwards, and tried to land her hooves where Pinkie had. One leg after the other, she forged ahead. Somehow, through a generous dose of luck and the swift wings of terror, the three desperate ponies stayed ahead of the baying horde.
But Twilight could feel the claws of broken bark on her tail. She felt her mind going blank as the stabbing pain only worsened. Gilda's cackling slowly faded, and her body trembled from her own labored breathing.
She ran, headed away from the Element they sought.
And the forest shuddered with the snarling of trees.
"Grragh! I hate walking!"
Rarity cocked her head to the side. "Really? That's odd," she mused. "I thought you were rather partial to it, Applejack."
A strange, gray pony turned back, and gaped disbelievingly at the unicorn. "Stop it! Just stop doing that!"
"Stop what? Oh my goodness! Where did that wall come from?" The looming structure had just suddenly appeared in front of her! Most strange.
Applejack popped up next to her, and gently nudged the unicorn back onto the sidewalk. As Rarity navigated the slight step, the orange mare discreetly leant over to her. "Sugarcube … that wasn't me," she whispered. "Yer gettin' confused between ponies again."
"What? Then who was I talking to?" the dressmaker asked, genuinely confused. She glanced around. Rainbow was behind her, Applejack was next to her. Who was the pony in front of them?
The earth-pony sighed and rolled her eyes at the perfectly innocuous statement. "C'mon, really? She's right there, y'know. It's obviously … uh …" the farmer trailed off helplessly.
Well, that was enlightening. Good job there, Applejack. Rarity felt very informed.
"Rainbow. Dash." The pegasus ground her teeth loudly.
Ah. The unicorn glanced behind her, to see no trace of the pony she must have mistaken for the agitated mare. Well, that was embarrassing. Sure, Rarity's mistake seemed obvious now, but she could have sworn that Rainbow was behind her. Still, hindsight was twenty-twenty, as they say.
If only her actual eyesight was.
Actually, Dash seemed less upset at her than at the farmer's lapse in memory. "C'mon, Applejack! Now you're doing it too? Stop forgetting me, already! Both of you! Seriously, I've known you guys for years! And Rarity, can you please try to hurry up?" The pegasus trotted in place, jittery with worry. "We need to go faster, or we'll never see all the craters today!"
"Sorry, darling," Rarity shot her an apologetic smile. "I admit, I do seem to be finding it rather difficult to walk. It's rather disturbing, now that I think about it. Surely mere blindness w—"
Suddenly, Applejack stopped in her tracks, creasing her orange brow. "Hold on." The apple farmer's eyes widened, and she slowly turned to Rainbow. "Dash, Ah gotta quick question fer ya. It's important, okay?"
Rainbow perked up again at the hint of a possible lead. "Yeah? What is it?" She spread her wings excitedly, then folded them again, disgruntled.
The earth-pony nodded seriously. "Why're we in Canterlot? Is it Hearth's Warmin' Eve? Where's th' snow?"
Oh dear.
It looked like Applejack's memory was getting worse.
Dash spluttered furiously. "Wh … You … Aah!" She pulled at her mane. "This is stupid! I don't have time for this! You guys are just slowing me down!" The pegasus spun around and galloped away, leaving the other two coughing on the dust left in her wake.
"Rainbow, wait!" Rarity shouted after her. Hearing no response but thundering hooves, she turned to her remaining partner. "Darling, it's up to you! Bring her back, quickly!"
"On it!" Applejack blew past her after the pegasus. "Don't move, Ah'll come back t'getcha!" the farmer shouted over her shoulder.
She opened her mouth to answer, but the mare was already gone.
Indifferent to their little drama, the city-life kept moving. Blurred pedestrians stepped around the unicorn. Rarity felt much like a stone in a river, parting the flow of innumerable, identical ponies.
Not wanting to be a bother, she felt her way over to a nearby wall. The surface of the stone was refreshingly cool. With a sigh, she rested her cheek against it, glad to stand still after many hours of bruise-ridden, pointless travel. My goodness. The day had been just full of tough, painful work, and they had nothing to show for it. How dreadful. Tired, the seamstress closed her eyes for a moment.
When she opened them, she could see perfectly.
Gasping, Rarity spun around and the city shimmered, bursting into a glittering jewel of color and design. The silhouettes of birds twirled amongst the clouds, and the golden rooftops of the brightest buildings glowed a magnificent auburn red. The sun was setting, and the world simply sparkled in response.
It was beautiful. It was gorgeous.
It was art.
Then the shadows deepened, becoming thin chasms of purest black.
At first she thought that night had fallen, but the colors were fleeing too fast. The detail in the world began to disappear. Gold became yellow, yellow turned gray. A swirling fog descended over Canterlot, muffling hue, and hiding form. The darkness crept in from the edges of her eyes.
Rarity went blind.
Branches whipped into her face, scratching her cheeks and clawing at her eyes. She stumbled on the uneven loam as she ran. The forest itself seemed to want to make her fall, bushes and roots transforming into the most wicked of villains.
Fluttershy kept running, too frightened to look behind her. She couldn't spare the time to look back, not even to check for her friends. She couldn't help them now. She had to run! She had to flee!
She was so scared! She was so scared.
She was so …
Worthless.
She was worthless.
What kind of friend was she? Twilight and Pinkie did their best to save her, and she just cried and ran. Cried and ran. The pegasus who couldn't fly, she cried and ran away. What a surprise.
Worthless. Worthless.
Tears dripped down her face, but she kept running. Hooves struck the ground, a steady staccato. Her heart thundered in her ears.
The woods were awash with savage noise, but Fluttershy only heard a single word.
"Worthless."
"Flu … hy!"
A high-pitched voice cut into her cloud of remorse, breaking her out of her blind panic. "Fluttershy!" Pinkie screamed. "Through the gap!"
There, up ahead. It was a crevice in the face of a cliff, thin enough for them to escape the wolves. The pegasus sobbed in relief, and sprinted for the promise of safety, heedlessly scraping her wings through the tiny crack in the stone.
A second later, Pinkie dove through as well, dragging Twilight in after her. The leading wolf lunged at the pair, but those horrible, snapping jaws only ripped a scant few hairs from the unicorn's tail. Fluttershy shuffled back from the hole, but the predators knew they couldn't fit inside. Growling, the carnivorous plants prowled around the cave, waiting for their prey to escape.
Adrenaline gone, the pegasus collapsed to the damp ground, wheezing. Struggling to breathe, she curled up into a ball, and began to weep softly.
There was a groan and the sound of shifting rocks as Pinkie slowly sat up. The earth-pony grimaced, and pressed her hoof against her lacerated flank. Turning to Twilight, tears began to well up in the baker's eyes as well. "What do w—?" Pinkie started violently. "Oh, Celestia! Twilight! Fluttershy, help!"
Help? Her? "B-but I'm just …"
Worthless.
Fluttershy choked her tears down and struggled to her feet. No. Stop it. Stop it at once. Get your problems under control. Twilight needed help. Twilight needed …
Oh no.
The unicorn lay crumpled on the floor, a limb trapped underneath her body, unseeing eyes staring blankly ahead. The horn on her brow was still smoldering and broken. A sudden shock of heat and magic had heavily burned a circle of hair, and a noxious, foul-smelling smoke was beginning to fill the air of the enclosed space. Blood slowly pooled around Twilight's head, trickling down from the cracked and charred bone.
The pegasus forced herself not to gag, not to back away, but she couldn't stop her hooves from shaking. Edging closer, she touched the unicorn gently on the cheek. She got no response.
Pinkie looked at her. "Is Twilight gonna be okay?"
Fluttershy trembled, and mutely began performing basic first aid. She didn't even try to hide the tears running down her face. And she didn't answer Pinkie's question.
"O-okay. I-I'll ask you l-later." The earth pony swallowed, and wiped her eyes. "W-when Twilight's all better, a-and everything is fine, and there aren't … m-monsters trying to eat us." Pinkie wiped her eyes again, for all the good it did.
Still, Fluttershy kept silent. How could she not?
What could she possibly say, apart from empty words and lies? That would be worse, in the end.
A sob escaped Pinkie. "It's fine, you know? I-I'll keep you two safe."
"… you promise?" the pegasus whispered. She wanted to believe it, she really did. They needed all the hope they could get.
The pink mare laughed through her tears. "No. I Pinkie promise."
Rarity sighed.
Applejack was taking a terribly long time.
Now, the dressmaker didn't want to jump to conclusions, but these days, that was just about the only exercise she had. Her work kept her terribly busy, you know. Dieting only did so much.
Still, given the earth-pony's latest … issues, Rarity was forced to entertain the suspicion that Applejack forgot about her. Normally the fashionista would grin and bear the insult, but this blindness situation was practically intolerable. Most disturbing. Speaking of that, this was all rather unfair, wasn't it? Rainbow only lost the ability to fly, but she had kicked up an enormous fuss over it! Really, now. Not only was that quite insulting to the poor earth-pony in their group, it wasn't even like that hadn't happened before. The flighty mare should be used to it by now.
Well, alright. On reflection, Applejack's condition was rather concerning. They should probably have visited a doctor for her, at the very least. Losing one's mind is a disturbing prospect. Yes, in comparison to insanity, blindness and flightlessness were pretty tame.
Hum. Now Rarity couldn't find it in herself to be angry at the farm-pony. Alone and afraid? Lost in the city? Who knows what calamities may have befallen her? Oh, the horror!
"Miss Rarity? Rarity Belle?" A male voice cut in, interrupting her internal histrionics.
Drat, it must be an admirer.
She had a lot of those.
"Ah, yes? Who is this?" she replied, eyes closed so as not to give the wrong impression. "I'm afraid I can't see you, darling. I've had a bit of an unfortunate accident, you see. You, er … have me at rather a disadvantage, I'm sorry to say."
That sounded like fabric shifting. High-quality fabric, too. Not silk. Cashmere? "My word! An accident? How terrible!" At least the pony sounded genuinely concerned. She decided that was quite nice.
With another pleasant rustle of clothes, the mysterious stallion stepped closer, gently placing a hoof on her shoulder. "My sincerest apologies, my dear. This is Fancy speaking. Are you waiting for someone?" Did he say Fancy? As in Fancy Pants, the most eminent stallion-about-town? Oh my.
"Mr. Pants!" Rarity gasped. "Goodness! Well … I, uh, yes. I … was waiting for a friend, but I fear she … er, may have forgotten about me."
"Forgotten about you?" Fancy sounded aghast.
"Possibly. Do you recall my acquaintances from Ponyville? I had a group of about five mares come to visit me, if you recall."
The stallion harrumphed. "Well, of course. It isn't often one meets the Elements! Perhaps you were unaware, but the dashing exploits of your little coterie have been all over the news, as of late! Most impressive. Is the friend you were meeting one of those young ladies?"
"Mhm," Rarity nodded her assent, mercilessly strangling a blush at the compliment. She cleared her throat to gain time. "You see, we may have all had a slight magical … difficulty recently, and dear Applejack seems to be losing her memory. Sacrificing my sight was certainly price enough, but I simply can't imagine what the poor thing is going through."
"I see." There was the unmistakable sound of a tie being straightened. "Then I'm afraid I must insist you accompany me to dinner. My valet can guide you to the guest quarters, where you may freshen up before dining. In the meantime, I must go inform the Royal Guard that your friend is missing, and likely lost."
"Oh!" The white mare became terribly flustered. "You are simply … You are far too kind, Mr. Pants. I am truly in your debt," she bowed.
"Not at all, Miss Belle. Not at all."
Rarity smiled. Despite her bleak condition, things were looking up. "I only wonder what happened to Applejack," she mused.
Applejack was lost.
To be perfectly honest, being lost was a darn strange feeling. Why, she couldn't even remember the last time she got lost!
Taking stock, it was pretty easy to see that she was in a city of some sort. It wasn't Ponyville, though, that's for sure.
Canterlot? No, the weather wasn't right for Hearth's Warming Eve. Mighty strange. Was this a dream? Was it one of those dreams? Nope, she wasn't wearing any clothes, thank goodness. Things were normal.
Well, at least that house over there looked familiar. Oh hey, so did those two unicorns coming out of it! Blue and white, huh? That's great. Can't quite seem to remember their names, though.
Wait, they’re looking right at her. Did they see her?
Okay, yeah. Definitely saw her. And now they're headed over this way. Quick, what were their names? Think!
Blue … and … White?
The orange earth-pony struggled to keep a smile plastered on her face while the mysterious duo cheerfully approached. Consarnit, brain! Now's not the time to have a mental blank! Argh, too late! Just play it cool, Applejack. Play it cool. Nothing's wrong at all.
"If it isn't Applejack! What a pleasant surprise! We haven’t seen you since the wedding!" the blue stallion called. Whoever he was. "How is Ponyville treating you?"
The farmer grinned uneasily, and felt herself begin to sweat profusely. "Oh, uh, jus' fine, thanks!"
The smaller of the unidentified figures happily trotted closer. "Are you here with your friends? Did Twilight come too?" The white mare peered behind the earth-pony, as if she had somehow managed to hide all her friends there. Plain silly, that was.
Applejack's eyes darted left and right. Her poker face was breathtakingly terrible, so she had to escape while they didn't suspect anything. "Ah don't … er, y'see …"
"Velvet, honey, don't be selfish," the stallion chided his partner. "Twilight will come to see us when she's good and ready. We just need to give our daughter a little space, that's all. Trying to keep her to ourselves will only push her away."
"Oh, I know, but it's so hard to let go. In my mind, Twilight will always be that adorable little filly who turned me into a pot-plant." The mare chuckled, her eyes twinkling at the memory. Turning back to Applejack, ‘Velvet’ lowered her voice to a stage-whisper. "I wasn't the only one transmogrified, though. Twilight turned Moonlight here into a cactus!"
The blue stallion rolled his eyes, but laughed anyway. "Indeed, I was a cactus for a short time. I got better, though."
Applejack tried to sidle away.
Both unicorns blinked in unison, and focused on the farm-pony. Drat! That 'Moonlight' character looked bemused. "Are you feeling well, Applejack? You're acting a little odd."
She stretched her smile wider, hoping that would somehow make it seem more genuine. "Uh, yup! Definitely nothin' wrong with me! No siree!"
"That didn't actually reassure me very much," the stallion pointed out.
Velvet placed a hoof on the earth-pony's shoulder. "Please, dear. If there's any way we can help, don't hesitate to ask."
"Well … okay," Applejack relented. Maybe if she admitted just a bit of the truth? Directions could be helpful, at least. She just didn't want to let on that they looked like complete strangers to her. That would be embarrassing. "Ah admit, Ah might be a little lost."
The married couple smiled in relief. Velvet relaxed, flicking her mane out of her eyes. "Oh, is that all? Don't worry, we're very familiar with the area. So, where are you trying to go?"
"Uh, just …" Applejack turned away, but didn’t recognize the street she was on. The heck? She furrowed her brow. "That's funny. Where was Ah goin'?"
She scanned the street for a while, but her memory remained mysteriously un-jogged. This certainly wasn't Ponyville. Was this Canterlot? "Well, that’s darn strange," she muttered. What the heck was going on? Was it Hearth’s Warming Eve or something? Weird.
Giving up, the farmer began to turn around. She wasn't expecting to find two ponies standing right next to her, though! "Woah! Where'd you two come from?" she shouted in surprise.
"We … we've been standing here the whole time." The stallion replied, looking very confused.
"Huh. Shucks, guess Ah wasn't payin' attention, then. Sorry 'bout the hollerin'. Ah'm Applejack, pleased t'meetcha!" The farm-pony held out a hoof, a ready smile on her face. She was always real happy to meet new ponies, and this strange couple seemed nice enough.
A worried glance passed between the two mystery unicorns.
_______________________________________________
The doctor clicked his little light off, allowing Applejack to blink.
She watched him scribble something illegible down on his clipboard, before turning to the older pair of ponies and shaking his head. "Look, I've done a full checkup, and as far as I can tell, young Applejack here is perfectly healthy."
"Perfectly healthy?" the mare repeated disbelievingly. "We had to introduce ourselves three times on the way here!"
Lies! The farmer didn't remember that at all!
The white unicorn nodded somberly, his stethoscope bobbing. "Yes, I understand that. I've observed some of the symptoms of quite severe anterograde amnesia, even in the short time she has spent here. However, Ms. Apple has no abnormal magical residue, no pathological complications, and the magical tests show no sign of any psychological issues. Quite frankly, I'm stumped. Her magic levels are a little low, but not enough to cause results like what we're seeing. It's unheard of!"
"Please, you have to help her!" the white unicorn pleaded.
"I'm sorry, Ms. Sparkle," the doctor closed his eyes. "As far as I'm concerned, this young mare has an entirely new medical condition. Her mind, her nerves, they're all in perfect working order. It's … like she doesn't know how to remember things."
Eh? Remember things? What's all this about?
Hey, wait, this looked like a doctor's office. Why was she at the doctor's? She felt fine!
"What?" the blue unicorn cut in, outraged. "What does that even mean?"
At least the quack had the good grace to look embarrassed at his most-likely ridiculous statement, whatever it was. "Ah, yes. Like I said, this is new to me, too. I can only give you some advice, and it may not even work."
"Some advice?"
The doctor nodded. "Try teaching her memory techniques. It may be difficult at first, given the … er, nature of the problem. But if I'm correct, you should see results very quickly." Levitating his pen, the medical unicorn began to write out a script.
"If I'm incorrect," he continued. "No harm will be done by the effort. Applejack's memory should improve drastically, but you must come and see me if that fails. In that case, I'd have to enlist the help of many more professionals, and we'd have to run a very extensive range of tests. Better we try the easy solution, first. Do you have some reference books on memorization? Studying tips?"
The mysterious mare tapped her chin, nodding slowly. "Yes," she replied. "Our daughter used them quite heavily. I think we still have a few."
The stallion finished scrawling, and held out the slip of paper, which the mare took, folded carefully, and tucked away.
Clearing his throat, the doctor gently ushered them all to the door. "Very well. If you have any problems, there are dedicated tutors for this sort of thing. I'll send you a list of further references tonight. Remember, if there's no improvement, visit me again, and I'll request an in-depth study." He walked away.
The mare bit her lip, but smiled reassuringly at the farmer. "Is that alright with you, Applejack? We can start going over a couple of these books tonight over dinner, okay?"
At the mention of dinner, the earth-pony's stomach rumbled. She flushed at the knowing looks sent her way. "Well, Ah'm not entirely sure what's goin' on, but Ah wouldn't say no to a good meal. Do y'have any apple salad?" she asked hopefully.
The stallion laughed warmly. "We'll see what we can do."
"I … I'm sorry, Pinkie." Fluttershy turned to her friend. The conscious one. "Without bandages, there isn't much else I can do."
"Oh," the earth-pony replied, staring at Twilight's unmoving form. The unicorn twitched slightly under her gaze.
It was the horn, that was the problem. The cracked and burned enamel wouldn't stop seeping blood all over the dirty cave floor. If the librarian didn't stop bleeding, then that would be the end. Pinkie would have to watch her friend die.
She rubbed her eyes, red and puffy from crying. Crying wasn't the answer, she chided herself. Twilight needed her.
Taking a deep breath, Pinkie struggled to her hooves. Her cuts were scabbing over, but the pain was still sharp enough to make her wince with every step she took. That didn't matter, though. Nothing else could ever matter, compared to keeping her friends safe and happy.
The earth-pony slowly limped around the cave, looking for anything, anything at all that they could use. Even a single plant would be enough. A leaf to wrap the horn in.
No luck. The walls were bare stone. Smelling of limestone and dust, the damp air was filled with the sound of water slowly trickling from a spring somewhere above them, flowing further down into the darkness. Pinkie knew her rocks. She knew the trace amounts of water and soil here would be too alkaline for most plants. If any leaves or moss were going to be in this cave, they would be at the entrance, near the light. Going deeper wouldn't help, and the entrance was still being watched. In the end, they had nothing.
She breathed in shakily, and ran a hoof through her mane. The pink strands were still annoyingly curly.
Maybe it was stupid, but that was really bothering her. Her personal changes should have been overshadowed by everything else, but she kept seeing her springy, bouncy hair out of the corner of her eye, and it was a constant reminder of how wrong everything was.
It made Pinkie so mad. This just wasn't right! Her mane should have been flat and dark, not bright and curly. Her hairstyle didn't match her mood at all.
… Hair.
_______________________________________________
Fluttershy finished wrapping Twilght's horn, deftly tying a bow in the ends of the makeshift bandage. She spun around, a genuine smile brightening her face for the first time in hours. "Oh, well done! That was really clever of you, Pinkie! I would have never thought of that!"
The earth-pony gave a bitter smile. That wasn't true. No, she had been far too slow. Rarity would have seen that solution in an instant. Come to think of it, Applejack or Dash might have not been as quick on the uptake, but they would have been so much better at fighting the wolves! Anypony else would have been a better team-member than her! She was the weak link in the party.
The yellow pegasus seemed unsure how to take her silence. "… Pinkie?"
Fluttershy was so much better than her. The pegasus had saved Twilight. Twilight, who had been wounded because she had needed to protect all of them. And from what? Gilda had only attacked because a stupid, idiotic, pink mare taunted her.
That meant that Pinkie had nearly killed Twilight.
The earth-pony stared at the damp wall of the cave. Her own thoughts had led her to a shocking, but inescapable conclusion.
"I … I'm no good," she said. It was almost a relief to let it out.
"W-what? Pinkie! Don't say things like that!" Horrified, Fluttershy rushed over to her.
"It's true, though!" Pinkie shouted, spinning back around. The other mare took a step back at the ferocity of her answer. "You and Twilight and Rarity are really smart! Applejack and Dashie are super strong! All of you are amazing!"
She knelt, miserable once more. "I'm just weird," she whispered.
The only noise for the longest time was the solitary song of the wind, throbbing and whistling through the cracks in the stone.
Then Fluttershy exploded. "Pinkamena Diane Pie!" she barked.
Shrieking in surprise, Pinkie jumped back at the shout, but tripped over her tail and collapsed in a heap. "Gaah! What?"
"How dare you?" The pegasus narrowed her eyes and took to the air in rage. She swept over, staring a confused Pinkie down. "How dare you!"
"Wh-Wha?"
A hard prod to her chest. "Never say things like that about yourself, ever again!" Fluttershy visibly fumed at her. "You're a wonderful friend, and you do not need to be like everypony else. Don't you remember all the times your Pinkie Sense saved someone? Or when you stopped us from being scared by Nightmare Moon? If you had been just like the rest of us, we would have lost!"
The pink mare opened her mouth, but no sound came out. She closed it with a clack, feeling tremendously foolish.
Fluttershy's determined gaze was locked on her, as her wings beat steadily. The yellow pony's voice rose in a crescendo, the light from the entrance framing her form in a halo of pink-tinted gold. "You saved the world from Eternal Night, Pinkie!" she cried. The mare's tone softened. "If you're weird, then so are we. And I wouldn't have you any other way."
This was her shy, timid friend? Pinkie was shell-shocked. "… Fluttershy?" she rasped. "What the hay?"
With a squeak, the pegasus seemed to realize just how aggressive she was being. She dropped back down to the ground, cheeks glowing. "… oh, I was really very rude just then, wasn't I?" she mumbled. Quickly ducking back, she hid her reddening face behind her hair. "I'm … I'm so sorry, Pinkie."
The earth-pony blinked. She shook her head wildly, her frizzy hair flying about. Wobbling a bit, the pink mare stumbled upright, back onto four hooves. Sure, she was dazed, but she felt better than she had for hours!
"No," Pinkie stated resolutely. "Apology not accepted. You're right. I gotta stop being such a misery-pants. Tomorrow is another tomorrow."
Hey, was this how that grumpy old dragon felt? She felt sorry for the big guy, now. No wonder he started crying. That had basically been weeks of therapy condensed into a couple of seconds. Ouch.
The earth-pony paused. No, the moment still wasn't right. It felt … strange. She was waiting for something that never came. It needed something extra! More 'oomph'. Pinkie turned to Fluttershy, who backed away under the attention.
Blushing, the baker rolled her shoulders awkwardly. "You know, I'd feel a lot better if—" She cleared her throat. "Could you, uh, do the thing Twilight does?"
"… thing?"
"You know, where you point out that my ideas are silly," she tried to explain. "Twilight does it really well. Rarity's not bad, but she isn't as good."
The pegasus seemed a little disturbed. "Um, okay? If … if it makes you feel better?"
"I gotta stop being such a misery-pants," Pinkie repeated herself, blatantly winking at her friend. Come on, Fluttershy! You can do it!
"… you … you don't wear pants?"
The earth-pony grinned. That was more like it! Not quite up to the Twilight-standard of dry wit, but pretty good for a first attempt. "Of course I don't! Otherwise I'd wear myself out! Hahaha!"
"What?" Fluttershy looked pretty bewildered at the sudden mood-swing. Spinning around for no reason, Pinkie sighed loudly.
"Wow! I feel much better now!"
Gravel scattered the street as a cerulean pegasus dug her hooves into the center of a rubble-filled hole.
Biting back a curse, Dash stumbled back against the side of the pit. "It's not here. It's not in any of these." A hefty dose of panic had stealthily wormed its way into her voice. Okay, she really needed to chill out.
What time was it? The dirty mare looked up to the sky. Checking the atmosphere was a reflexive habit for many pegasi, especially those who worked in weather control. Useful for predicting storms, calculating wind-speeds, and telling the time without a watch. But on that particular evening, the delicate orange hues of the sunset didn't help Rainbow to relax.
It was getting late.
She lived in the clouds, and her wings were useless.
Dammit! So, what, she needed a stupid necklace to fly, now? Why? That was so dumb! Discord took it once, and Nightmare Moon smashed it once, and she didn't have the stupid thing at all, before then! What gives?
But Rainbow wasn't some super wizard-scientist like Twilight. She wasn't the princess' apprentice, she couldn't do any really fancy math, and she wouldn't be able to figure all this out as fast as the unicorn would. It looked like the pegasus would just have to wait for her answer. That was probably the safest solution, too.
"So I just wait?" she whispered.
There was nopony else around, and her anxiety was mounting fast. "I really thought I could. But what if I need it to fly? And what—" She swallowed thickly. "What if I never find it?"
The empty street told her all she needed to know. Dash chuckled grimly, seeing her dreams fade in front of her eyes. Soon she could barely suppress manic laughter. "Th-then I'll never be able to fly again! I-I'll never be in the Wonderbolts!" She forced out a smile.
Never.
Something snapped deep inside her, and she began to cackle wildly, her pupils glazing over and drifting apart. The world wavered, and began to grow dark. Where was she? It felt like she was floating in an endless void. For how long, she didn't know.
"What's so funny?" someone asked.
Reality burped. Everything flashed white, and snapped back into place. Rainbow spun around with a growl, ready to tear into the interloper, only to see a certain yellow pegasus in a blue flight-suit.
"S-S-Spitfire?" Dash yelped. She tried to run away. Obviously her legs didn't agree, because she somehow managed to plunge her face into the dirt instead. Wonderful. The pegasus felt her cheeks heat up, even as she was forcefully brought back to earth. "W-what … why are you here?"
The Wonderbolt raised a perfect eyebrow. "It's off-season. I was shopping. Got a bit late to keep going, though, so I thought I'd call it a day." Glancing down into Rainbow's pit of shame, she snickered lightly. "So, uh, you going to tell me why you're down there, kid?"
Dash hung her head. "It's a long story."
"Uhuh?" Spitfire smiled.
"Well, okay, not really long. Just embarrassing. Uh, let's see." Rainbow scratched her head. "So, Discord broke free, right? And we tried to throw Harmonicas at him, but they exploded, and I lost my awesome lightning-bolt necklace. Also, I can't fly any more for some reason," she concluded.
"Uhuh." Her idol stared blankly at her.
Rainbow shrugged. "Yeah, I'm a little hazy on the details, myself."
"I can tell." Spitfire rolled her eyes. "Still, can't fly, huh? That's gotta suck. Hold on for a second." The professional flyer trotted down into the rocky depression, and began nudging around Dash's wings.
Her blush came back in full force. Today had been a really terrible day, but now a real-life Wonderbolt was touching her! Willingly, even! "W-what are you doing?" she croaked.
"I'm checking your flight muscles. As far as I can tell, you haven't atrophied or anything. No degeneration."
Rainbow blinked. "Er, trophy-what?" That sounded like something Twilight would say. Why did Spitfire care about that kind of boring stuff?
Spitfire ignored her, and continued the examination. "To be honest though, I wouldn't have thought that a pony of your musculature could hit high speed at all, let alone pull off a Sonic Rainboom. That is, if I hadn't seen it for myself." The orange mare grinned.
"A pony of my what?" Dash widened her eyes. Was that an insult or a compliment? Or both?
There was a heavy sigh from the Wonderbolt. "Sure. You steamrolled the practical tests at the Academy, but had no time for learning basic theory, right? Geez. Look, kid. If I had to guess, I'd say you just need practice. There's no damage done to your body, or anything like that. If you did it with those wings before, you can do it again. Hey, maybe you need to get your head back in the game, you know? Tell you what." Spitfire slung a suspiciously casual hoof over Dash's shoulders, and the younger pegasus stiffened in response. "I'll haul you on up to a cloud to rest for tonight, and tomorrow we'll go training, okay?"
Rainbow was having a hard time thinking coherently, but stammered out a reply. "T-T-T-Training? W-With You?"
There was a smirk from the older mare. "Sure. I think it sounds fun."
Dash felt her panic begin to rise again, this time for a totally different reason. There was no way she could pull this off. Rainbow couldn't even support her own weight anymore, and Spitfire would be able to see that. Would the Wonderbolt leave her in disgust? Was this the end of her dreams?
A cold dread settled into the pit of her stomach. "Y-yeah! Of course! Fun! Ha! Hahaha!"
Blueblood stopped in front of the great wooden doors, and waited impatiently for the guards to pull them open. The fools fell over themselves in a tangle to obey him before they managed the simple task. Striding forth, he headed towards the thrones, nose raised high.
The empty thrones.
What? He grimaced openly at the sight, slamming a flawless ivory hoof onto the strangely-sticky floor. This was outrageous! At this time, there should have been at least one princess here! This was open visiting hours! How disgraceful.
A side-door creaked open, the sound echoing throughout the hall. A harried-looking bureaucrat shuffled in, back bent under the weight of countless years of compromise. The rather aged pony appeared despondent at first, but upon seeing Blueblood, his face lit up.
"Your Highness!" he called out. "Oh, what excellent timing you have!" Marching forward, the elderly pony sketched a quick, creaking bow to the prince.
Blueblood nodded ever-so-slightly, careful not to grant him too much respect. "You may rise, Prime Minister. What seems to be the problem?"
Straightening his crooked back with a few muffled cracks, the old stallion deftly tugged at his mustache. "Ah, well, you see." He coughed. "It appears that both of Their Majesties have taken leave of the throne. Princess Luna sent the Parliament a messenger saying the two would be unavailable for a time."
"I suspect they have also taken leave of their senses. I can see the empty thrones from here, Mr. Minister. Get to the point," Blueblood ordered.
The politician got to the point. "Er … I'm afraid the government is in uproar, Your Highness. The nobles are threatening to revolt, and our neighboring countries are suspicious. We need the strength that a monarch provides. We need a royal candidate to take control, if only for a short time." He looked piercingly over his spectacles at the prince. "Therefore, I am asking hereby you to become the temporary regent of Equestria."
Blueblood raised his eyebrows, unimpressed. There was always a catch with this type of thing. "And what would I be required to do?"
"Well, the best possible scenario would be for the royal candidate to … raise the sun. Alone." The elderly pony winced at his own proposal.
This was a waste of time. "I refuse. Goodbye."
"Wait! Is it impossible?"
"Impossible? It's ludicrous!" The prince scoffed. "How am I supposed to perform such duties? Alicorn magic is orders of magnitude beyond that of a unicorn's. It would take much more than one pony to accomplish that, no matter how noble they were."
The other stallion seemed to have expected the dismissal, turning to go with a sigh. "I understand, Your Highness. And you are certain there is no way you can attain, or even … feign such an ability? Neither of Their Majesties revealed any trick to you? Maintaining our control over the cycle of day and night would be an immense support to Equestria's current international standing."
Blueblood shook his head regally. "I apologize, but I am abso—" He paused.
Wait.
Wait just a moment.
Power, eh? In all the excitement, he had forgotten the original reason why he had come here. His strange new ability had slipped his mind.
His mind turning over a new plan, he quietly smirked to himself. Rusty mental cogs began to rotate once more, bending his thoughts into an idea that he liked very much.
"Your … Highness?" Prime Minister seemed oddly nervous.
The prince gave him a savage sneer. Forget those incompetent acting coaches – he no longer cared how 'creepy' his true smile appeared. Blueblood had a manifest destiny to fulfill. The world would have to get used to him.
"I accept your offer, Mr. Minister," he hissed with pleasure. "I believe I have found a way."
Twilight’s head felt like it was splitting open.
She cracked open an eye, and light lanced in, stabbing directly into her brain. The unicorn let out a groan, and squeezed her eyelids shut. Her poor, delicate liquor cerebrospinalis.
Okay, wow. That was … genuinely painful. Use shorter words to think, Twilight. Soft, cushioning words.
Words like 'trout'.
Aah, much better.
"Hooray, she’s awake!" somepony loudly shouted in her ear.
Hey, Pinkie? No. Screaming at the injured patient really wasn't helping her massive headache. Twilight presumed it was Pinkie. Who else would try to blow out the ears of someone recovering from a dead faint? Certainly not Fluttershy, that was for sure.
With a bit of help, the librarian sat up, holding her aching head in her hooves. She tried to re-open her eyes, initially without success. Slowly but surely, Twilight managed to raise the boulders that had somehow replaced her eyelids.
There was a sugary earth-pony unbearably close to her, grinning her usual sugary grin. As usual.
Twilight sank her head back down into her hooves, and let out a heartfelt sigh. With a high-pitched laugh, Pinkie began a devastating nonstop-chatter-attack, undeterred by a series of agonized glares. Some of the liquid nonsense even seeped into the unicorn's ears, despite her best efforts.
"… without soap! By the way, how's the horn? It looks super-duper painful! Like when I thought my cannon was clogged up, so I leaned over to check the …"
Hold on. The horn looked painful? Twilight's eyes widened. Oh, that was awful! If the enamel was damaged, then there were all sorts of horrible conditions she could get! She glanced up, only to suddenly lose her train of thought.
"Why do I have a pink bow on my horn?" she asked dully. The librarian wasn't sure what she expected, but it wasn't that.
Fluttershy finally peeked out from where she had been hiding behind Pinkie. "Well, um, you see, we needed to stop the bleeding, and we didn't have any bandages."
She nodded slowly. Bleeding was very bad, but at least her problems were somewhat treated. Magical medicine could fix everything later. Hopefully. "So you used party supplies? I guess a ribbon would make sense."
"Um, no. That's not it." Fluttershy giggled lightly.
Pinkie glanced away, looking incredibly guilty. "Uh, sorry, Twilight. I think I left my party stuff with my party cannon. I … don't have any of that stuff."
That expression! Did Pinkie just lie to her? About party supplies? Why?
"No, we didn’t have any ribbons, and there weren't any plants in the cave. So we used the next-best thing!" The earth-pony gave her a goofy grin.
Twilight glanced up at her forehead. Next best thing? Well … the color was familiar. She knew she had seen that particular shade of pink before.
The fabric also looked like it was made of two different kinds of thread. That was odd.
A strange observation slipped into her head. Pinkie and Fluttershy seemed to have had twin impromptu haircuts. It didn't look bad, not at all. But in combination with the ribbon, it meant that they had both—
Oh. The unicorn tried to hide the fact that her eyes were watering a little. After she got her composure back, she made a vague gesture in the direction of her horn. "You mean you two …" The butter-yellow pegasus nodded shyly, and Pinkie laughed.
"I-I'm touched, girls. Thanks." Twilight smiled. That was really sweet of them.
Gee, the others were handling this situation much better than she had expected! There weren't any emotional breakdowns or anything! Yes, she was very proud of her little team. With her spirits buoyed, the unicorn began working her way up to her hooves.
The light that had once poured through the entrance was fast disappearing, and the color of the cave was darkening into a pale orange. Trotting over to the crack, Twilight peered outside.
Fluttershy hugged her wings in concern. "Are the w-wolves still out there?"
"Yes." The unicorn nodded as she squinted through the fissure. "Timberwolves don't need to sleep, and it looks like Gilda never told them to stop chasing us. This way is a no-go."
"Oh dear. That d-doesn't sound very good."
There was a silence as Pinkie shrugged. "Well, I guess we'll have to go cave-explorering, then!" the baker clapped her hooves together, and pointed into the pitch-black tunnel to their rear.
"Spelunking, Pinkie."
"Bless you!" the pink earth-pony replied mischievously, waggling her eyebrows. Twilight first snorted, and then she dissolved into giggles at the terrible joke.
After a revitalizing laugh, they sat around in a pleasant silence, simply happy to be out of danger.
Then Fluttershy's ears pricked up, swiveling backwards. The pegasus gulped, before raising a hoof. "Um, excuse me, Twilight? You said the timberwolves are outside, right?"
"Yes?"
The yellow mare began to tremble again, her teeth chattering with the motion. "T-Then what's making that growling noise?"
Twilight slowly turned her head around, pointing her ears at the darkness. The sound was soft, like the rasp of bone on gravel. With all the echoes, it was hard to tell where it was coming from. But the unicorn listened, really listened, and she could tell it wasn't the wolves behind them.
The growling was coming from deeper inside the cave.
Without fanfare, the final rays of sunlight flared and vanished, dropping the three ponies into a world of shadow. Fluttershy's yelp of surprise bounced into the murky gloom, traveling far further than their sight could reach. She blushed luminously, and whispered an apology, but the damage had already been done.
The wooden watchdogs by the entrance stirred, but barely shifted.
Inside the cave, though, a shiver ran through the rock. The deep foundations of soil and stone breathed like a living being, lifting and falling in a rhythmic, crumbling motion. The ground beneath them started to rumble, and suddenly, they weren't alone anymore.
In the darkness, something moved.