//------------------------------//
// Buried 
// Story: All Apologies 
// by Gpizano 
//------------------------------//

	Everyone was in a panic, students were fleeing from the school a the hole ripped through to Equestria cracked along the edges, creating smaller holes here, even parts of the ground fell away, threatening to swallow up any hapless human that was close enough to fall in. The police officers drew their guns and began to fire on Midnight Sparkle, the girl simply raising a hand, creating a shield that deflected the bullets before she used her magic to throw them back. Poppy took this opportunity to snatch the keys from one so that she could unlock Jackie's hand cuffs while Sunset Shimmer tried to bring Twilight back to her senses.

"Twilight! Stop! You don't want to do this!"

Midnight Sparkle turned her gaze from Chrysalis, seeming amused by what the red head had said to her.

"And what makes you think this isn't what I want? I have everything I could ever want! I will never be pushed around again and I'm free to discover a new world!"

Glancing back, Midnight Sparkle found that Chrysalis was no longer at the top of the steps, but a quick look and she found the woman had made it to the spot where Twilight had been when she opened the amulet she had used to collect energy. 

"And just where do you think you are going?!"

The woman's head snapped up from looking at the ground, the woman in a low crouch before she a light blue aura surrounded her and lifted her up into the air. As much as Chrysalis wanted to struggle, she found her body completely immobile, only allowed to breath so that she did not suffocate as she was pulled up to Midnight Sparkle's eye level in the air. 

"Now... admit to everything you have done to your students."

"I... have done... nothing!"

For that Midnight Sparkle slowly clenched her fingers, starting to make a fist and causing her magic to tighten around Chrysalis, beyond mere discomfort as it felt like the life was starting to be squeezed out of her! Muscles compressed, joints began to creak as pressure was put on her bones, air being squeezed out of her as Chrysalis opened her mouth in a silent scream.

"TWILIGHT! Twilight don't do this!"

As her pleas seem to fall on deaf ears, an idea came to Sunset Shimmer. If her words wouldn't reach Twilight, then she'd have to fight magic with magic! She started looking to the ground, frantically trying to find where the device had fallen when Twilight unleashed the magic, panicking when she couldn't find it. Where had it gone?!

When Midnight Sparkle finally put the pressure off of Chrysalis, the woman was left gasping for air, her whole body throbbing with a dull ache.

"A-Alright... Alright! I will... I will confess. But... But I must tell you something."

"Very well. What is it?"

Chrysalis merely mumbled, making Midnight Sparkle scowl as she floated closer, not realizing she was loosening her magical grip on the woman just a little too much.

"What was that?"

"... you little fool."

Confused by the triumphant smirk on Chrysalis's face, Midnight Sparkle had no time to react as Chrysalis raised the magic collecting device and opened it. The effect was instantaneous as it began to drain Midnight Sparkle of her power... and transfer it to Chrysalis. 

"W-What? No!" 

As Midnight Sparkle reverted back to Twilight Sparkle and slowly floated towards the ground, Chyrsalis seemed to gain altitude, a green and black aura surrounding her as her form began to change. Her skin became pitch black, shiny and chitinous, her pant suit became a long, black and green dress, fingernails becoming longer and sharper as did the canines of her teeth. A long, horn of poisonous green energy formed on her head, the pupils of her eyes became slits, holes appeared at the ends of her limbs and hair, and a pair of translucent, insect-like wings formed at her back.

"Mm, this worked out even better than I had expected!"

The pleased look on her face bordered on the maniacal  as she raised the amulet up as both Twilight and Sunset looked on helplessly.

"And just to be sure no one else gets the same idea..."

Her fingers wrapped around the device as green energy formed around it, the metal bursting into flame and nothing left behind but a pile of ash in Chrysalis's hand. Twilight let out a cry of despair at the sight, knowing that now there was no way to rob Chrysalis of her new found power. The woman turned her gaze to Sunset Shimmer and smirked seeing the high schooler take a step back.

"And you, the one from the other world. You could be a problem as well..."

"Over my dead body you bitch!"

Jackie, Tino and Poppy rushed over, protectively standing in front of Sunset Shimmer while Sandy and Bobby flanked the high schooler. Seeing this caused Chrysalis to laugh, very loudly and in a way that suggested the woman had definitely gone around the bend. 

"Oh this is rich! Do you really think you can stand against me, Vibrato? You are little more than an insect to me now! But I will forgive your foolishness. All you have to do is kneel and submit."

"No way in hell! Even if you do got freaky magic I'm not stepping aside to let you hurt Sunset!"

Then it was Tino and Poppy's turn to speak up respectively.

"Damn right! I dunno what I can do but I'm gonna take you down bruja!"

"I'm not afraid of you, I've been waiting way too long to take my shot!"

With Sandy and Bobby in agreement, the solidarity they showed and the willingness to face down someone with dangerous magical powers... Sunset was left speechless. A warmth grew in her heart and from that there came light. All six of them Ponied Up, growing ears, hair lengthening, and in the case of Jackie, Tino and Poppy, they grew wings as well. Surprise turned into confidence, the six getting ready to rumble as they faced off against Chrysalis. 

"Aw yeah! What do you gotta' say now, Chrysalis?!"

Surprisingly, the woman didn't seem bothered by Jackie's words, instead analyzing their forms before the toothy smirk came back. 

"How... quaint."

Glancing over the field, she spotted Applejack, Rainbow Dash, Rarity, Pinkie Pie, and Fluttershy around the field, the girls helping their classmates that had been holding on for dear life at the edges of holes, five of the Shadowbolts were also helping but they were nothing of importance to Chrysalis. Raising her hands, bolts of green magic shot out, engulfing the five girls she had her eyes on. All cried out and struggled as they floated into the air, all helpless! Applejack held her head tightly in both hands as she struggled to speak.

"What... are you... doing to us?!"

"What does it look like? I need subordinates and all of you will do nicely. The lot of you are nothing but craven creatures that submitted to me before... and you will do so now!"

As much as they fought it was a losing battle, the magic seemed to work deep into their psyche, bringing to the surface all of the fear, resentment and anger that they had ever experienced, shaping them into what Chrysalis desired. All of their skin darkened, pupils becoming slits as they changed into very different pony modes than what they had before. Their hair grew longer, becoming ragged and wild, as did their ears and Fluttershy's wings. Applejack's clothes warped until she was wearing a sort of black, wild west studded leather armor, with a pair of ebony six shooters at her waist. Rarity and Fluttershy's clothing turned into more slinky dresses, Fluttershy's seeming to be completely composed of leaves and plants, a thorny, rose bow and arrow in hand. Rarity's was more leather with a BDSM feel, especially in the sharp stiletto heels, and her weapon a wicked looking leather whip.

Pinkie Pie was outfitted with a purple suit and a large, spiked hammer, a manic, wild eyes grin on her face. Perhaps the most intimidating was Rainbow Dash, she appeared to be wearing what looked to be sports armor, made of a sort of flexible, light woven material, cleat shoes, and perhaps the most intimidating part were that instead of feathers, her wings looked to be made of a shiny, sharp living metal. All of their eyes glowed green, their expressions either neutral or twisted and cruel as they stared them down.

It was at this point that all six on the opposing team gulped at the same time, suddenly feeling that their own transformations were a little... lackluster? Possibly under powered? 

"Uhhh, Sunshine... I'm suddenly not feeling so confident."

"I know."

Glancing down to her hands, she saw a small spark of yellow magic aura. They had power, it was there... she turned her gaze back up to Jackie and gave a reassuring smile.

"But we have to try. We can't let Chrysalis run amok." 

"True... but another point Sunshine. I'm kind of an adult and in addition to feeling weird about beating up on minors... I won't get arrested right?"

Her gaze snapped up to Rainbow Dash when she heard the athlete speak up.

"What's the matter? Scared? I'm not surprised, from the moment I saw you I knew you were a coward. Why don't you go crying home to gay ass Los Pegasus and cry into a beer, loser?"

"... okay, conflict resolved."

At the drop of a hat the two were off, Rainbow Dash flying in for the attack but Jackie making a good move in flying lower so that she could tackle Rainbow Dash's mid-section, sending the two tumbling through the air as they began exchanging punches. Poppy would be the next to move, charging towards Applejack but having to dodge at the last second as the other drew her guns and began to fire at her. Tino squared off with Pinkie Pie, the blonde ducking  and jumping up into the air as she tried to break his skull open with her spiked hammer. 

That left Fluttershy and Rarity, both standing in front of Chrysalis, ready to defend her. Sunset eyed all three before speaking to Sandy and Bobby.

"I need to deal with Chrysalis without interruption."

"Which means we will need to distract those two. But will you be okay facing off against her Sunset? The power she has..."

Sandy stopped speaking when Sunset smiled to her.

"I know, but I'll be fine. Come help me when you can."

As confident as she tried to be, even Sunset had her doubts. Jackie and the others seemed to have magic of a sorts, but it wasn't like the elements of harmony. And those that were the original elements were essentially corrupted. Could they win? Sunset had to shake those doubts from mind as she watched Sandy and Bobby move past her, Rarity moved to meet Bobby, her whip lashing out as the man dodged while Sandy began to dodge the piercing rose arrows that Fluttershy shot at her, the actress raising a hand and finding to her surprise that she could create magic shields!

That left Sunset Shimmer to square off against Chrysalis, both staring at each other for a long time as the woman slowly floated to the ground. As soon as Chrysalis touched don, Sunset Shimmer charged, her hands lighting up with a yellow, fire-like aura as she shot off a blast off a weak blast of magic at Chrysalis, who effortlessly batted it away with her hand before returning fire of her own. Sunset Shimmer was constantly on her toes, forced to dodged as she watched the woman for any sign of an opening. If she just had one good shot!

The battle between magical beings raged on, Jackie and the others struggling against the sheer power that Sunset Shimmer's former friends had but they found ways to work together. Jackie would find ways to set Rainbow Dash up, leading her into just the right spot so that Poppy would slam into her and send her to the ground. Tino dodged and lead Pinkie Pie into Applejack's firing path, although it seemed like the girl could teleport with the way she was able to dodge each and every bullet.

There was even help from the sidelines when Bobby found himself at Rarity's mercy, having tripped over his own feet and finding himself with that leather whip wrapped tightly around his neck, pulling him to the ground choking as Rarity raised her foot to stab him in the chest with her stiletto heel. It was at that point Abacus Cinch had surprised her from behind, striking her with a piece of broken stone that had been blown off from the front of CHS. The rock shattered to pieces in her hand, not even drawing blood as Rarity slowly turned her head, a murderous glare in her eyes that caused the Principal of Crystal Prep to start sweating.

But it gave Bobby the opportunity to apply his strength and snap the whip before grabbing Rarity by the ankles, flinging her away and sending her skidding across the ground.

"Miss Cinch! Are you okay?!"

"I-I'm fine, yes."

They didn't have long to recover since Rarity was already on her feet, the damaged whip reforming back into pristine shape as she stalked towards them.

"Be careful."

"You got it, get somewhere safe Miss Cinch."

"... Abacus."

Having no time to celebrate over being on a first name basis with the very attractive woman, Bobby let out a slightly unmanly yip as he jumped back, the whip cracking as it struck the ground where he had been standing.

Meanwhile, in the air, Jackie had Rainbow Dash in a full nelson, trying to talk some sense into the other as they struggled.

"Come on you jocktard, snap out of it! You don't want to do this! You don't want to let Chrysalis have control!"

"Shut up! You're the reason we couldn't patch things up with Sunset Shimmer! You took her away and she'll never be friends with us again!"

"She's fucking with your head!"

Grabbing Jackie's shirt, Rainbow Dash pulled off a front flip that threw the guitarist off of her and rolling through the air before, with a flex of her wings she shot half a dozen metal feathers at Jackie. While the blue haired woman managed to recover and avoid major damage, she could feel them slice along her arms, legs, and one even cut her cheek! Gritting her teeth, she blocked a punch from Rainbow Dash and the struggle continued on.

Poppy wasn't having much better luck talking with Applejack, but she had managed to get close and grab her wrists, forcing the blonde to point her guns up into the air. 

"Dammit, don't make me have to put you down!"

"... do... it..."

Having not heard a peep out of the farmer until now, Poppy's eyes widened, thinking she had misheard. Looking closely, she saw the sickly green glow faded back into Applejack's normal green eyes. 

"Stop... me. Please.

But soon her eyes glowed once more and Applejack brought her leg up, viciously kneeing Poppy in the stomach and knocking the wind out of her before striking Poppy's head with the butt of her gun. However, before she could line up her sight and pull the trigger, a movement in her peripheral vision caught her attention. Poppy spotted it just in time as well and jumped away just as Applejack did before Sunset Shimmer nearly bowled them over, the red head rolling back up onto her feet and grimacing. The high schooler looked very battered and bruised while Chrysalis looked perfectly fine, the woman up in the air again and smirking down to Sunset Shimmer.

"Well, it certainly has been fun. But I'm more than finished playing this little game, it's time I ended this."

Raising both hands, she shot a concentrated blast of green magic towards Sunset Shimmer, who tried desperately to raise a shield to defend herself. It held for only a moment before it shattered, the magic blasting a hole through her chest and sending her flying back until she hit the far wall of the school building. As she slid down into a sitting position, a large, smear of blood trailed behind her as blood poured out of her wound, staining her clothes and the grass beneath her. Her eyes were wide, the shock of the attack making her numb to the pain, some blood escaped the corners of her mouth as she let out one last, shuddering breath before her entire body became slack and un-moving. 

The silence that fell over the area was deafening, no one moved an inch, all eyes drawn to Sunset Shimmer. Even Applejack and the others stopped and stared as the sight of their former friend's lifeless body. All were in shock, the spell only broken when one, winged guitarist let out a loud, sorrow filled scream.

"SUNSEEEEEEEEEET!