Chapter 13: Running the Same Direction
All That Shimmers
Chapter 13: Running the Same Direction
-ooooooo-
“Run!” I shout as the boardroom door slowly opens.
I don’t know what’s going to be on the other side of that thing when it opens, but given the state of the room, it’s unlikely any of us really want to find out.
We all turn and start sprinting towards the stairwell. Well, most of us that is. A brief glance lets me know that Fluttershy is just a step above catatonic mess. Her pupils have shrunk to the size of tiny dots and she’s mumbling to herself. Applejack quickly grabs one of Fluttershy’s arms and drapes it over her shoulders as she drags her along.
Rainbow Dash takes the lead as we round a corner. As I turn, I see a heavy metal door labeled with a big red sign that says ‘stairs’. I suddenly wished I invested a little more time in sports or at least track, though jogging on a treadmill most mornings and not attempting to carry someone who’s going into shock means I’m third, right behind Pinkie.
To my surprise, Rainbow Dash opens the door for us and holds it open.
“Go, go, go!” she says as she motions for all of us to go through the doors.
There is now some sort of heavy, rhythmic thumping noise coming from the hall we just ran from. Sounds like something we don’t want to meet is chasing us.
Pinkie and I make our way past Rainbow Dash quickly followed by Rarity and Applejack who is still dragging Fluttershy along. The heavy steps of our boots against the concrete stairs echo against stone wall in the empty stairwell. My handbag swings against my body again and again as I keep one hand on the metal black handrail and sprint down the stairs. There’s not really time for safety, but the solid concrete steps don’t look like a lot of fun to fall face forward onto.
An inhuman screech that sounds like a claws scraping against a tar covered chalkboard all amplified by a megaphone pierces the air. We definitely don’t want to meet whatever the heck this thing is.
“Rainbow Dash, Hurry it up!” Applejack says.
I pause and look up the stairwell. Rainbow Dash has some sort of mix between terrified and determination on her face as she stares down the hallway we all just ran from.
“Don’t look back, just go!” Rainbow Dash cries. With that she slams the door to the stairwell with her on the side that’s probably occupied by at least one bloodthirsty monster.
“RAINBOW DASH!” Pinkie screams.
I run past Pinkie and reach for her wrist, grabbing ahold of it and pulling her to follow me. We don’t have the liberty of protesting heroic actions if any of us are going to make it out of this alive.
“Come on, Applejack!” I hear Rarity exclaim. “We have to go get help!”
I’m guessing Applejack is having some trouble with leaving Rainbow Dash behind, Pinkie certainly doesn’t seem to be as into the whole ‘fleeing for your life’ thing as me.
We almost make it all the way to the first floor before the slamming of a door several stories above us causes us to pause.
“Maybe it’s Rainbow Dash!” Pinkie cries hopefully.
Suddenly the stairwell reverberates with the sound of heavy thumping and more horrible screeching and I feel Pinkie tense as I hold on tightly to her wrist. Sounds like whatever was chasing us had friends.
“Rarity…” Applejack mutters “… take Fluttershy.” Applejack passes Fluttershy, who basically stumbles in Rarity’s arms.
Rarity begins to protest. “ME?! But—”
I yell up at Rarity, “NO TIME TO DISCUSS THIS AS A COMMITTEE!”
“I AM NOT A COMMITTEE!” Rarity screams back to me.
Applejack begins to run back up the stairs.
“Appleja—!”
“PINKIE, WE NEED TO GO!” I cry as I continue to drag Pinkie along.
One more flight of stairs and we’re at the ground level. I push open a heavy metal door and hold it open just long enough to let everyone through then quickly close it behind me.
I scan the area. The stairwell lead us to a well-furnished, and even inviting under different circumstances, reading area somewhere in the middle of the library. The boardroom is set above the main floors, so of course we’re not lucky enough to be right by an exit.
I quickly run behind one of reading area’s beige armchairs and start pushing it towards the stairwell door. It’s fairly light and it moves easily as I push it over the carpet floor. “Pinkie!” I shout as I nod towards another chair.
Pinkie sees what I’m doing and begins to protest. “But—”
“If Rainbow Dash or Applejack make it, I’m sure they’ll knock! NOW COME ON!”
Pinkie quickly runs to the chair and stacks it on top of mine. Meanwhile, Rarity drags Fluttershy over to a couch and lies her down.
Pinkie and I both collapse against the chairs and attempt to catch our breaths. Rarity does the same next to Fluttershy.
My heart feels like it’s going to explode out of my chest, and I don’t even want to think what’s happening to Applejack and Rainbow Dash. Still, if we stay put we’re going to find out and I doubt that’s an ideal outcome for any one.
“We need to get out of the library,” I say.
Pinkie shoots me an utterly heartbroken look.
Rarity pipes up. “But Applejack and Rainbow Dash—”
“Did what they did so we could get out!” I say forcefully. “If we stick around here we’re just—”
A heavy thuds reverberates against the door causing us to jump.
God. Damn. It.
“Oh! Maybe it’s Apple—”
“Don’t be stupid!” I hiss at Pinkie. “Hide!”
Rarity tries to collect Fluttershy but the girls eyes are closed and she’s gone as limp as a rag-doll. Pinkie quickly runs over to help as I run towards a tall bookshelf. I motion for the other girls to follow. Rarity wraps her arms under Fluttershy’s legs and Pinkie grabs her arms, they both quickly take her over to my hiding spot before gently setting her on the floor.
No sooner are we ‘settled’ then we hear the door slam open the chairs topple and roll onto the floor.
As stupid as it is for me to risk it, I take a quick peek around the corner of the bookcase. I catch a glimpse of a couple of tall, humanoid shaped things which have fingers and toes that end in pointed claws and a few spikes sticking out of their bodies. They also seem to think the fact that they’re a giant walking collection of pointy bits means they don’t need to worry about clothes. I quickly pull my head back before I’m spotted.
Ever the optimist, Pinkie asks “Was it Applejack or Rainbow Dash?” in a whisper.
As if the, no doubt, terrified look on my face wasn’t enough. I shake my head.
We feel the ground shake as footsteps get closer. At least one of those things is coming our way. I glance at the other bookshelves. If we stay low and quiet maybe we can move… of course there’s no way we’d be able to take Fluttershy…
“They’re going to find us…” Pinkie mutters her eyes starting to look a bit like Fluttershy’s before she passed out entirely.
“Pinkie, shhhhh…” I say as quietly as I can.
Rarity stays quiet but her expression matches Pinkie’s.
Think… think… I don’t want to run in with these things…
Much to my surprise, Pinkie comes up with a plan… just not a particularly good one. She quickly stands up and marches right out of our hiding spot.
“HEY YOU BIG MEANIES! WHY DON’T YOU PICK ON SOMEONE YOUR OWN SIZE?!”
Pinkie is not the same size as these things, by the way. They’re all at least seven foot tall and she is, in fact, a high school girl.
“Pinkie, you can’t—Mmmph!”
I place my hand over Rarity’s mouth. Pinkie making a scene isn’t go to do us a heck of a lot of good if Rarity announces we’re all here. I nod to Fluttershy. Rarity may not be in much of a state to care about her own safety, or have much of a reason to care about mine, but she has to care about Fluttershy.
Rarity gives me a sad, serious look as she nods. Hopefully at least the two of us can get Fluttershy out of here and go find help. As long as she’s in trouble, I doubt Rarity will try anything too dangerous.
We keep quiet even as Pinkie screams in terror and frustration as the sound of boots and fists making contact with what sound like thick leather can be heard. The heavy footsteps and Pinkie’s shrieks get quieter as she’s no doubt dragged away.
They must be collecting us one by one… At least, I hope that’s what’s going on. They at least didn’t kill Pinkie on the spot.
We hear the sound of the heavy metal stairway door shut which muffles the screams and steps even more. Soon we can’t hear them at all.
I take a huge breath of air. I hadn’t even realized I was holding my breath.
Rarity shoots straight up. “They took Pinkie!” she cries.
I nod. “Yes… but they didn’t kill her… the must be taking the girls back upstairs…”
Rarity gives me a frustrated look. “Well we can’t just sit here! They must have all our friends!” Rarity narrows her eyes at me.
I hold up one of my palms in the hopes the gesture gets Rarity to calm down even for a little bit. “Look, I’ll just call the police,” I say as I dig my smartphone out of my purse.
Rarity rolls her eyes. “Right, just tell them our friends have been captured by demons! I’m sure they’ll be right over.”
A thought occurs that it might be a good idea to convince Principal Celestia and Vice-Principal Luna to at least come clean with some of what happened when I turned into a demon… You know… assuming unexpected demon attacks are going to become something we need authority figures to take seriously… also assuming we all live past today.
I shake my head. “We don’t have to tell them there’s some supernatural force infesting the library we just need to...” I trail off as I stare at my phone.
Rarity sighs heavily. “Let me guess, you’re not getting a signal?”
“They’re demons!” I cry in an irritated tone as I stand up. “How was I supposed to know they had a magic spell that interferes with cell phones?! Let’s at least try to leave! We can physically track down someone to help if we have to!”
Rarity gives me an angry, disgusted look. “You really just want to abandon our friends?!”
“Well, what else can we do?!” I shoot back as I motion to the unconscious girl below me. “Fluttershy is out and I don’t think either of us could put up much of a fight anyhow! You said it yourself; we need to go get help! We can’t do that if those things get to us.”
Rarity shots me an angry scowl. “I wasn’t thinking straight when I said that!” she exclaims in hushed tone. “From whom shall we get help from at this point? Hmmmmm? The Spirit Spankers?”
“I…”
Dang, that was a good line.
Rarity gives me a sort of probing look as if she’s about to say or ask something kind of stupid and wants to gauge my reaction. “Maybe we’re the most capable individuals to help out here. We’ve certainly dealt with demons before…”
And there it is.
I narrow my eyes. “Yeah. Snips, Snails, and myself. The three of us weren’t exactly veterans at being evil hell-spawn and you had Twilight to help…”
Somehow, despite all the panic and terror, a sudden clarity suddenly comes over Rarity’s face. “Maybe the other Twilight is here…”
“Oh right!” I say sarcastically. “Maybe she got so caught up in her reading that she didn’t run away screaming with everyone else! Assuming that’s not her blood that was used to decorate the board room!” I begin to walk in place for my next bit. “We’ll just stroll about the library avoiding demons until we find her and calmly explain that her other dimension counterpart was able to harness friendship and magic and that we’re sure if she tries, really, really hard and we clap our hands for her, she should easily be able to save us from the rampaging killing machines in the library!” I punctuate my rant by flinging my hands in the air as I scowl at Rarity. Then I stop to catch my breath. Between running and arguing, I’m almost completely out of energy.
Rarity almost looks hurt, but she somehow has found her own determination amidst everything that’s happened. “… At least it’s better than running like a coward…” she utters.
I ruffle my hair with a frustrated growl. I somehow need to convince this girl we need to leave if any of us are going to survive this, but she seems dead set on doing any number of things that will probably get us all captured or killed.
Rarity gives me an almost accusatory look. “You do care about our friends, don’t you?”
I feel my face turn hot as I glare angrily at Rarity. “Of course I care! Why do you think I’m trying to get us”— I motion towards Fluttershy – “out of here?! I didn’t have to run into the library when everyone was running out of it, you know! You and Fluttershy would probably be in that frickin’ blood room right now if it weren’t for me!”
Rarity takes a step forward. We’re now inches away from each other and shouting at each other to boot. “You don’t know that for sure! Maybe if you weren’t so set on getting out of here we could have stood up to those things together instead of letting them pick us off one by one!”
“Have you even seen one of these things?! They’re covered in spikes and muscles and huge!” I throw my arms up to emphasize that these things, are indeed, huge. “What’s your plan, Rarity? Make them feel bad about their unfashionable choice of running around in the nude? Let them know that spikes are ‘so last season’?”
Rarity’s face turns red as her cheeks go puffy. Her hands are shaking as she focuses eyes full of frustration and anger on me.
Now, I have given this girl many reasons to deck me in the past, but she looks like she might finally channel anger over months of meddling in her friendships and wrecking her chances at winning the Spring Fling in physical blows directed at my face.
I clench my fists as and hold them at my sides I remembered what happened with Gilda, I don’t want to think about what might happen to Rarity if I try to fight back… At least she probably won’t pull a knife on me.
Rarity shifts her body weight and pulls back her fist.
I wouldn’t have expected it, but I think the girl actually knows how to fight.
I close my eyes. This is going to hurt.
“Girls!”
Rarity and I jump as my eyes shoot open. Thankfully Rarity hadn’t yet sent her fist face-ward yet. We look down to see Fluttershy staring up from us from the floor with a look of motherly concern and disappointment, as if she had just caught her children fighting.
“Stop fighting, please,” Fluttershy says in a surreally calm tone. “I think we need to stay quiet if we don’t want anything bad to find us.”
Rarity and I immediately lower ourselves and try to help Fluttershy up into a sitting position.
“Darling, are you okay?” Rarity asks.
“How’s your head?” I chime in.
“Forget her head! Fluttershy, do you remember where you are? Do you remember what’s happened?”
I narrow my eyes at Rarity. “She just said that ‘we need to stay quiet if we don’t want anything bad to find us’! I think she—”
“Girls!” Fluttershy says again, silencing Rarity and I. She looks back and forth between us. “I think we need to get out of here and get help. I mean… If Sunset Shimmer doesn’t think there’s anything we can do on our own, I don’t think I’m going to be much help…”
Rarity gives a heavy sigh as she and I help Fluttershy to her feet.
“Alright, darling… If that’s what you think I guess we can follow Sunset’s lead.”
I’d say I feel a cold sweat come over me, but I’m already soaked from running, screaming, and being utterly terrified. Still, the fact that I’m suddenly responsible for getting the three of us out doesn’t sit well with me. My latest attempt at leading people didn’t go well… Especially since it wasn’t what I really wanted to accomplish and it failed anyhow…
Fluttershy puts a comforting hand on my shoulder. She must have noticed I wasn’t feeling good about the situation. “It’s okay Sunset, I’m sure you’ll do just fine.”
I nod. Freak out later, get us out of here now. “Let’s get out of here first. Hopefully help is on its way already… I mean someone must have reported all the people running from the library...”
The girls follow my lead as we simply walk away from our current location near the center of the library. With everything that’s happened, I’m not certain if we’re heading towards the main entrance, but all four sides of the library have their own entrance. Before long we’re staring down rows of bookcases, desks with computers, tables and swivel chairs on either side of a book and paper littered trail leading right to two metal doors with the word ‘EXIT’ above them in bright red light.
Our pace quickens. There’s still daylight pouring in from massive windows along one of the walls. At least the three of us can get out… and then we can get help. I’m sure the other girls are alive still…
… They’ve got to be.
We’re all sprinting as we get closer to the doors, trampling papers and books under foot as or desire to get out overrides our concern for the condition of the things under us. As much as I’m sure Rarity or any of us would like to personally help our friends, the idea of being out of this building is a welcome one. Even though we’ve all dealt with giant demons on one capacity or another, outside seems to beckon us with sweet promises of safety and others who can help save our friends.
I reach the doors first and push them both open. I’m suddenly blasted with a dry heat as I stare out across a familiar looking barren wasteland dotted with holes that glow red with fire and heat. All of this under grey skies that seem to cover the already depressing looking landscape in gloom.
The girls quickly grind to a halt behind me. They say nothing, but I can practically feel their shoulders slump to match my own.
Seems today is the gift that keeps on giving… even when you beg it to stop.
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Great chapter. Just one thing.
Extra inverted commas.
By the way, I caught the Star Wars reference!
And now we get to find out what hell is like this time of year. Hope they brought some fireproof clothing.
I read the title of this fic and all I thought was
5581611
So glad someone can joke around at a time like this. 
5581751 Hey, sometimes, when you're literally staring Death in his big, bony face, all you need is a little joke to boost your morale.
Well that turned ugly really fast.
That escalated quickly.
I NEED UPDATES!
Well, I suppose trying circumstances would push Sunset's new friendships, since she was their enemy for longer than their friend.
What the heck is going on here!? First the gang is chased by apparently demonic humanoids, with AJ and RD being captured or worse, and now the outside world has been replaced with the landscape from Sunset's dreams? Who or what is doing this and why!?
I think Sunset fell asleep in the car.
THE DESU CONTINUES TO RISE!
Things have definitely taken a turn for the worse. My guess is human Twilight experimenting with demonology.
Also, it's kind of depressing to see that only Fluttershy and Sunset Shimmer have a hint of common sense here, everyone else keeps putting themselves in danger with no way of helping their friends, leading to the demons having another hostage/sacrifice. Thank Fixer Rarity could at least be talked down in the end.
Sunny's journey to recovery certainly is certainly an enjoyable one. Keep up the great work.
5590568
Brian Clevinger's humor is imprinted on my bones and Pinkie makes an excellent channel for Fighter. Of course now that we have Sonata the fun has been doubled.
5591444
Well, I have to say, this has been an excellent story so far (a number of grammar and spelling errors notwithstanding) and is now, probably the only Equestria Girls based story I've actually really come to enjoy (I was NOT a fan of the movie). Largely this has to do with your portrayal of Sunset, who was already one of the most interesting characters in the mythos (at least in potential, though the movie did not handle her well). I love the voice you've given to the character and the general setup feels actually believable, which is difficult to do in this setting.
I think if I really had any criticisms it'd be Pinkie Pie. She actually seems a little too vapid. The way she doesn't seem to even understand a single figure of speech and takes everything even more literally than Drax from Guardians of the Galaxy makes me wonder how she could ever even function in daily life. She seems to be oblivious to pretty much everything around her and it makes her feel grating at times. The occasional 8-Bit reference not withstanding
That said I eagerly await more.
This is not looking good... This is not looking good at all....
did you know that this story has it's own TVtropes page?
5637400 I did!
Though one thing that surprises me is I've gotten more hits off the TV Tropes page than I have from Google!
5637424 I will start reading this story later tonight.
5637424
i.imgur.com/aXILvNO.png
You were saying?
Wait... I was right? Crap. I was really hoping it wasn't Sunset's demon.
i think we are forgetting the most in portent part of this chapter Rarity's parents need to have a long talk with her about what is OK for her to view online because that dos not sound like a pg 13 film to me. also Dash Pinkie is right
also yes I know I fit into the same block as her.
5581566
Got this! Thank you!
Okay, probability A) Sunset is asleep and having a nightmare (like many of you have suggested);
B) This is real, and the source of the magic has somehow tapped into Sunset's dreams/possession (thus the familiar hellscape);
C) This is real, but all of the magic flying about is letting Demon Sunset affect the material world (once again explaining the familiar hellscape)
I'm actually hoping for A, because the other two options are just neck-deep in the kimchee.
Yup! Fucking daemon shit!
I am very glad I just get to hit "Next."
Awww... </3 :c