Five nights at Sombra's

by Fossil-Dragon-Messiah

Finale

“Come on! Just a bit more!” Twilight screamed, as energy pulsed through her horn. The door was so close to being breached the group could almost taste it. Discord and Pinkie had been uncharacteristically quiet throughout this whole affair. Perhaps they had realized how dire of a situation this actually was.

Or maybe all of Luna’s stars have aligned, Twilight mused to herself. Considering who she was talking about, either option seemed just as likely as the other.

The five ponies and draconequus had hardly taking any breaks after arriving on scene with their equipment. Twilight could only remember stopping her laser spell two or three times for food and rest. The only time Discord had stopped was when Fluttershy wanted to speak with him. Twilight couldn’t even recall Derpy or Big Mac letting anything more than their eyes droop.

“I’m back!” a scratchy voice called out from behind. Twilight and the rest of the gang turned around to see Rainbow Dash in a wheelchair, a cast wrapped around her leg.

“Hiya, Dashie!” Pinkie shouted, finally breaking her unnatural silence.

Dash smirked as she flicked her mane back. “Sup?”

Twilight approached the crippled Pegasus with a stern look on her face. “Rainbow Dash, you should be recuperating! How did you get here all the way from the hospital?” She asked.

The cyan mare swivelled in her chair, revealing Spike smiling and holding onto the handles.

“S-Spike? I told you to stay at the castle!” Twilight exclaimed.

The young dragon waved off the statement. “Come on Twilight. I lose my lunch one time and you all think I’ve come down with pony-bola or something.”

“Don’t make fun of pony-bola...” Derpy called out, not turning from the door.

Applejack approached Spike. “Spike”, she began, “I ain’t never seen anypony yak as hard as ya did then. Halfway through it stopped being vomit and just became stomach acid!”

Spike rolled his eyes dismissively at the farmer. “Whatever. I’m fine now and I’m here, and that’s what matters. Isn’t it?”

Rarity approached the baby dragon, gently placing a hoof on his shoulder. “Well I for one, Twilight, am glad Rainbow Dash and little Spikey are here”, the fashionista stated. “Scootaloo is like a little sister to Dash, so I’m sure She would like her to be there after we get her and the rest of them out and Spike deserves to see Sombra defeated after all he’s been through.”

“Thank you, Rarity”, Spike said, blushing slightly.

Twilight had honestly stopped listening to Rarity as well as caring. Spike and Rainbow were there and that was that. “Fine, but Dash, you’re in no condition to head in there.”

Rainbow Dash looked at Twilight. “Ugh, whatever. I wasn’t planning on being able to help anyway...”

Twilight was taken aback by Rainbow Dash’s statement. It wasn’t like her to just accept defeat in any way, shape, or form. In fact, the only time she could remember Dash acting that way was the whole A.K. Yearling incident, and that was just for a short while. Twilight was almost certain she would have to do some convincing to keep Dash out arms way.

“Heh. Stop looking at me like that, Twi. You look like I just said your brother’s hot or something.” the cyan Pegasus chided, earning her a slap on the cheek from Twilight who made it more than obvious at times that she didn’t like ponies having perverse thoughts about her brother or sister-in-law. With a disgruntled groan and a quick shake of her head to remove the vile imagery of Rainbow Dash and her brother doing inappropriate things from her mind, Twilight turned back to inspect the workforce, who were busying themselves with completing the task of melting away the crystal barrier that blocked their only entrance into the pizzeria.

The ominous black crystal barrier melted like ice under the intense burning of the mining rifles. Seconds later, the crystal wall gave way and the safety switch-off on the rifles cut the power, signalling the deed was done. Everypony cheered at their handiwork.

“I’m coming, Muffin!” Derpy called, leaping toward the doors of the restaurant to go and rescue her little filly from the clutches of Sombra’s minions. Before she could reach the doors, however, she was swiftly halted by a pair of Pegasi dressed in armour. The Pegasi lowered their spears in a cross formation and spread their inside wings to block the entrance to the wall-eyed mare. Derpy gave the guards a straight glare, failing to intimidate the burly stallions before her, but striking the fear of Faust into Twilight and company. “Let. Me. Pass.” Derpy snarled, ready to fight her way in, if needs be.

“Ma’am, for your own safety, we must insist that you remain outside the premises until the rescue team arrives,” One guard instructed her, his eyes unmoving from somewhere far across the horizon as he maintained the blockade between Derpy and the restaurant doors.

“And for your safety, I must insist you get the buck out of my way before I lay your flat!” Derpy bit back, attempting to barge past the guards, only to be stopped but a violet aura that held her in place mid-jump. “Let me go, Twilight!” She shouted, squirming against her captor’s hold. “The longer we wait, the less chance we have of Dinky still being alive when we find her!”

“Then we’d better not waste any more time fighting among ourselves,” a voice replied, calmly pulling Derpy away from the restaurant and toward her friends. Everypony’s gaze turned to the newcomer, and Twilight’s eyes lit up at the sight of her big brother standing before them, fully dressed in his Captain-of-the-Guard war armour, smiling confidently like some comic book hero about to storm the villain’s secret lair.

“Shining!” Twilight squealed, throwing herself to wrap her fetlocks around her brother’s shoulders. The stallion smiled and reciprocated the hug, giving her a one hoofed squeeze before pulling out of the hug.

“It’s good to see you again, Twily.” His eyes fixed grimly on the restaurant. “How many are we looking for?” Twilight’s ears flattened against her skull.

“Twenty eight. And two bodies.” Shining Armour nodded and turned to address a small platoon of pony guards, all clad in full fighting armour. From the translucent appearance of the ponies that stood before them, anypony could readily tell that these were Crystal Palace guards, rather than Celestia’s guards from Canterlot.

“Alright, men. We are going in to, what could possibly be, the most gory and hostile hostage situation we’ve ever come across. We are looking for twenty eight ponies; all assorted mares, stallions, colts and fillies and two bodies. Be on the lookout for any hostiles, and keep your guard up at all times. Never travel alone, and always ensure you are within sight of at least two comrades at all times.” The Captain-of-the-Guard turned to his younger sister. “I think I’ll leave it to you to explain who we’re dealing with, Twily.” Twilight gave a mock salute, eliciting a chuckle and a noogie for her BBBFF before addressing the army.

“Inside that restaurant is the last pony any of us would suspect to be behind such a travesty.” The young Alicorn took a deep, shuddering breath to steady her nerves as she gave her report. “The captor of those ponies is none other than King Sombra.” Gasps and murmurs were exchanged between the crystal ponies. How could Sombra still be alive? Why was he holding hostages in a family diner? Twilight spread her wings, enlarging her appearance and commanding total attention. As silence fell once more, she continued. “King Sombra, somehow, survived the Crystal Heart when the Empire returned, and has now returned to seek revenge on my friends and I for his defeat.” Her ears drooped and her eyes softened in sympathy as she thought of the traumatising experience poor Spike had suffered. “Especially Spike,” she added, “he attempted to force him to murder Rarity as comeuppance for his defeat.”

The guards all exchanged condolences and best wishes for the young drake. “He’s possessed the restaurant’s animatronics; Freddy Fazgriffon, Busby the bunny, Philly the Phoenix and Fáfnir the Horse Dragon. It would probably go without saying that they are incredibly strong, and are powered by enchanted crystals that are incredibly resistant to magical attacks. Shutting them down will not be an easy task, but a necessary one. Sombra may also be in there, in one form or another but, at this current time, we cannot confirm nor deny this fact. We don’t know where the characters may be, but we have reason to believe that they may be roaming the restaurant at will, with one or two characters displaying a few behavioural patterns, which I shall brief you on once the search has begun. All I can say to you is this; this is, probably, the most dangerous foe we have ever faced. Robots aren’t like ponies. They don’t think. They don’t fear. They don’t feel. And Sombra has proven to us, now more than ever, that he has no concept of equinity and will resort to torture to achieve his ends. I ask you all to keep your eyes open, keep sharp and, most of all, stay safe.” The guards saluted her with a resounding “YES, PRINCESS” before marching uniformly into the pizzeria, Shining Armour bringing up the rear and hanging back by the entrance to conduct a census of the evacuated ponies.

Fluttershy clutched Dinky as tightly to her chest as her legs would allow, using her wings as an added layer of protection. Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle looked at each other with tears trickling from their eyes as their imminent doom approached. Applebloom couldn’t hold back her screams as one of the robots grasped her tiny neck and lifted her into the air by it.

Freddy tore Sweetie from Scootaloo’s embrace as Sombra’s mechanical vessel let loose a sadistic laugh. Scootaloo began wailing as Sweetie Belle screamed and reached for her maybe-someday lover.

Fluttershy could feel Fáfnir pry open her wings as Dinky let her tears soak her fur. The mechanical drake began to pull at the tiny unicorn as Fluttershy held onto her temporarily adopted daughter with all her might, but Fluttershy’s dainty limbs were nothing compared to Fáfnir’s mechanical strength and she lost her hold on the crying filly within seconds.

All emotion drained from the buttery Pegasus except for rage, fear, and sadness. Fluttershy could honestly say that out of all the several adversaries she had faced, she only really held a grudge against two: Tirek and a much lesser one against the Wonderbolts captain, Spitfire. Nightmare Moon had more than redeemed herself over the time she had returned, Trixie had learned her lesson and was now working as an honest and humble (somewhat) entertainer, the parasprites were just moving on pure instinct and hunger when they came to Ponyville so Fluttershy couldn’t stay mad at them, the buffalo tribe had a perfectly valid reason to be upset during that fracas in Appleloosa, Discord now was one of Fluttershy’s best friends and most trusting companions, the Flim Flam brothers just seemed like typical lying business ponies, Iron Will wasn’t really at fault during Fluttershy’s “Assertiveness” accident, and all the other villains with maybe an exception of Queen Chrysalis didn’t really seem worth holding a grudge against.

Tirek on the other hoof was pure evil, wielding both a silver tongue and enough power to not only level a continent but also turn it to glass. He had tricked Discord and nearly killed Twilight all for the pursuit of power, something that Fluttershy, with all the warmth and kindness within her heart, could not forgive.

Fluttershy’s dislike of Spitfire, however, was rooted in a much less malicious feeling. Not exactly hatred, but the disdain was there. Perhaps it was less of Spitfire that Fluttershy was angry at but rather the ideals that she represented. Rainbow Dash would never cease talking about the Wonderbolts when she and Fluttershy were fillies back in Cloudsdale. When the buttery Pegasus found out that the Wonderbolts captain was such a double crossing hypocrite, she couldn’t help but feel a little resentment towards the one who was corrupting her best friend’s hopes and dreams.

Now, with Sombra’s true depravity revealed she couldn’t help but seethe with anger and hatred as Busby lifted her into his arms.

Fluttershy looked to her side and saw Philly grasp both Scootaloo and Applebloom in her talons as they begged for mercy, heaving them to her sides as easily as one might pick up a stack of paper. The two fillies screamed as they flailed about trying to escape the clutches of their captor, making Sombra practically drop to the floor laughing.

Dinky looked to Fluttershy, tears gently cascading down her cheeks, her sobs muffled by Fáfnir’s mechanical claw. The Pegasus mouthed two words at Dinky, “Be brave...”

The greyish unicorn nodded and did something Fluttershy couldn’t believe... She lit up her horn.

After Dinky’s heart transplant, Dinky had seemingly lost any and all use of magic, rendering her horn nothing but a sharp protrusion of bone and further adding to her list of handicaps. Derpy had nearly starved herself to save money to find out what was wrong with Dinky’s horn, but when the doctors couldn’t find anything physically wrong with her, it became apparent that Derpy had accomplished nothing but waste nearly a month’s salary. Almost all of Ponyville found out of the development and was immediately sympathetic towards the Hooves family, even more so than when Derpy nearly lost her job.

However, the one pony who shouldn’t have found out did... Diamond Tiara. When she wasn’t busy bothering Applebloom, Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle, the stuck up brat was making Dinky’s life a living Tartarus. “The blank-flanked, crippled heiress to the Hooves legacy of retardation” was a personal favourite insult of hers. Yet, whenever Dinky told an adult, Diamond Tiara’s father would bribe and blackmail her daughter out of trouble.

The glow lasted only for a second, but that second seemed to pass in slow motion. Fluttershy let a few silent tears stream down her face. First Dinky’s cutie mark and now this? Derpy should be here for this, Fluttershy thought. Her real mother, not some substitute like me..

None of the other occupants, mechanical or otherwise, not even Dinky herself noticed the spark. Fluttershy wanted to grab the little filly and spin around as she sung sonatas of praise to Dinky, but Busby would allow no such thing as he lifted his free robotic paw and covered the Pegasus’s mouth.

“Alright”, Sombra said, having recovered from his bout of sadistic laughter. “Let’s get them moving, you piles of scrap.”

One by one, the murderous automatons began filing out the demolished door as they carried their prey to Celestia-knows-where.

Fluttershy kept her eyes on the Dinky, who was directly in front of her as the animatronics slowly walked through the halls.

The buttery Pegasus remained silent as she was carried to her fate... Or at least she was until the machines passed Thunderlane’s mutilated corpse, The Germane epitaph still scarred on his lifeless body. Fluttershy lost all control, trying to scream how sorry she was through Busby’s mechanical grip and pleading for her ex-lover to come back to her so she could give him a second chance.

She began flapping her wings frantically as she tried to worm her way out of the metal bunny’s vice, causing Sombra to chuckle as the group left the desecrated corpse behind them.

The guards swiftly combed the rooms in meticulous order. They managed to find two ponies hiding in the main lobby area, making their extraction easy. Setting up a perimeter, and readying their weapons in case of a potential ambush from the murderous machines Princess Twilight warned them about. Small groups, consisting of no less than six guards, then made their way through one of the long, dark hallways, picking their way through the shadows with trained discipline and caution. The group found their way into the kitchen of the restaurant. Maintaining constant formation, the guards filed into the kitchen, with two unicorns hanging back at the door, looking out into the hallway to maintain a vigilant watch over the corridor.

A Crystal Earth pony guard gingerly picked his way around the large metal food prep table centralizing the room, lifting his hooves high over the pots, pans and assorted chef’s cutlery that littered the floor. He picked up a wooden spoon in the crook of his hoof and tapped it against the meal worktop, firmly enough to announce the presence of himself and his fellows, but hopefully soft enough as to not alarm any potential survivors into cowering away further into their hiding spots and complicating their rescue.

“Please do not be alarmed,” he called out in an authoritative tone that he hoped wasn’t overbearing. “We are from the Royal Guard of the Crystal Empire. We have come under orders from Prince Shining Armour to evacuate any and all survivors from this establishment. If any civilians are present in this room, please make yourselves known to us. You do not need to reveal yourselves to us, but we will require your cooperation for your extraction. If you fail to comply, we will search this room until either all hostages are located, or we establish that this room is uninhabited. You will be given one minute to make yourselves known to us, before we begin searching.”

Silence fell upon the kitchen like a thick thermal blanket. The guards remained motionless, aside from the odd sweep of the room with their eyes to maintain constant visuals on their fellows to ensure the safety of all those present. Time ticked by, the Earth pony who had instructed for the announcement of living bodies’ presence silently counting the seconds. After half the allotted time had passed, a timid knocking sound was heard from a cabinet underneath the kitchen sink. All eyes turned to inspect the wooden door, waiting to see if the occupant was willing to reveal themselves or not. As further seconds ticked by, and it became apparent that the hostage was not willing to leave the safety of the cupboard, the Earth pony guard spoke again.

“One hostage has alerted us to their presence beneath the sink,” he announced, “if any others are present, you have fifteen seconds to do likewise.” The waiting resumed, yet no more declarations of presence were offered. The Earth pony turned to his unicorn comrades. “Contact Prince Shining Armour and inform him we’ve located at least one hostage in the kitchen.” The unicorn nodded and sparked his horn, tuning his magic to the appropriate frequency to contact Shining Armour.

Outside, Shining felt his horn crackle and pop with a small amount of magical interference. Lighting his magic to scan the incoming magical aura, he determined the interference to be an incoming message from a search party. Linking his own magic to the incoming signal, he directed the aura into his own ear, allowing only himself to hear what the guard had to say. This was a standard procedure, as he couldn’t allow himself to risk undesirable ears earwigging the sit rep. even if that meant disallowing Twilight and her friends, whom Shining would trust to the ends of Equestria, from hearing the report. After a short conversation with the reporting guard, Shining terminated the com and turned to Twilight with a smile.

“A search party has located at least one hostage hiding in the kitchen,” he reported. “They’re going to try coaxing them, and any other ponies still hiding, out, and get them to safety.” He turned to the army of Crystal ponies, lifting his shoulders into a commanding presence as he addressed them. “Make sure the paramedics are well equipped. I have a feeling we will be nursing multiple wounded civilians.” The Crystal ponies saluted and immediately set about readying the paramedics for the oncoming flood of wounded bodies.

The guards worked quickly, groups dividing, searching and returning with groups of captives with impressive timing. The colts and fillies were retrieved from the prize corner, after having received calls from their parents, thanks to Shining Armour’s communication spell. Vinyl was helped to safety, and was immediately rushed to hospital, having received the worst injuries of all the captives. Lyra and Bon Bon were found in the mare’s toilets, and were treated for their wounds from their scrape with Philly. Within half an hour, the restaurant was cleared, barring two rooms; the animatronic showroom and the security office. A platoon of guards made their way down the corridor leading towards the room that Fluttershy and the fillies had been holed up in, only to find – to their militantly masked horror – that the door had been broken in. And there was no evidence of any ponies.

Outside, the paramedics were seeing to the rescued civillians, many of which were distracting themselves from the painful stitches and first aid treatments they were receiving by talking, hugging and crying to their next of kin. Twilight looked over her list once again – the number of the count since the rescue raid started, she didn’t care anymore. So far, they had retrieved twenty three ponies, each sporting varying injuries of varying severity, but only three or four had to be administered to Ponyville General Hospital. That just left five more; Dinky, the Cutie Mark Crusaders and Fluttershy. And they were still yet to find the bodies of Thunderlane and Red June, much to Twilight’s dismay. She looked out over the scene, watching the paramedics treat the wounded. She glanced over her friends, who were all crowded around Derpy, offering her comforting words of reassurance that her daughter would be returned to her safely, and promising her that there wouldn’t be a single scratch on her sweet little filly’s head. All seemed well until her eyes fell upon Shining Armour, who had his horn lit and seemed to be talking very animatedly at thin air. Curious, Twilight made her way over to her brother, failing to notice Derpy getting rather animated herself, while her friends tried their hardest to calm her down.

Inside the pizzeria, the rescue team combed the security office for any trace of what might have happened to the five ponies that once resided in this room over the last five days and nights. The commanding officer had ordered for one of his colleagues to radio back to Shining Armour while the rest of them looked the room over, but they hadn’t seemed to make any progress on either front.

“Lieutenant!” One guard called to the CO. “I can’t establish contact with Prince Armour!”

The lieutenant turned around. "Come again soldier?"

"Something’s interfering with the signal! I can't get through!" the guard explained.

The lieutenant was about to smack the other guard and say something along the lines of "Don't give me that horseshit excuse!" when something appeared in the doorway.

Something incredibly puppet-like.

"Havoc squad, Report!" Shining Armour called. "Havoc Squad, are you there?"

No response.

"Lieutenant Geode, Come in!"

Twilight approached her brother with a worried expression upon her face. "Shining? What's wrong?" The young Alicorn asked.

Shining let out a frustrated roar. "I lost contact with my last rescue team! Dammit!" The prince stomped his hoof down in anger.

"Relax, Shining", Twilight said. "Just breathe..."

"Out of my way!" A voice cried out. "I'm getting my daughter back!"

The siblings turned in time to see a grey and yellow blur tearing past Twilight’s friends. Applejack appeared to be sporting a rather dark purple circle beneath her left eye, as if she’d just been punched in the face by Iron Will.

“Derpy!” Twilight shouted, far too late for the mailmare to hear her, since she was now long gone and, no doubt, barrelling her way through the rooms and hallways of the pizzeria by now, in search of her daughter. “Buck it!” the purple pony princess swore, galloping over to her friends, who were assisting a paramedic see to Applejack’s shining black eye.

As she approached, Applejack gave her a sheepish, apologetic smile. “Hey, Twi,” she winced as the paramedic applied a lotion to her eye to attempt to prevent it from swelling before reapplying the icepack she was holding over her cheek, “sorry about that. Ah didn’t expect Derpy could pack such a punch. Ah’m awful sorry fer lettin’ ya down.” She looked down at the ground in shame. Twilight shook her head and lifted the farm mare’s face with her hoof to make her look her in the eye.

“You haven’t let anypony down, Applejack,” Twilight told her, nuzzling her unbruised cheek carefully. “Derpy just got impatient, and I sort of don’t blame her, to be honest. But she’ll end up getting herself killed if we don’t go in there and stop her from doing anything reckless.” She turned to her friends, wings outstretched, and spoke to them in her best authoritive, princess-like, voice. “Alright, everypony! Let’s get in there! Discord, make sure Rainbow Dash stays here.”

The draconequus saluted and snapped his fingers, creating a cloud of smoke. When the cloud dissipated, Discord was wearing a Stahlhelm and Germane soldier’s armband. Rainbow Dash could be seen behind the bars of a cage not too different from the one that she and her friends had been imprisoned in during Tirek’s rampage.

“Excessive much?” Dash sighed in an annoyed tone, causing Discord to giggle in that iconic laugh of his as Twilight, Pinkie, Applejack, Rarity and Spike all filed into the restaurant in pursuit of Derpy.

Sombra approached a large set of strange, black doors and threw them open. The doors led to the same room where this whole nightmare had begun. Only now, it seemed to be coated in black crystal and instead of the animatronics being on the stage, five large black slabs of crystal stood erect.

One by one, the robots hopped onto the stage and pressed the back of each pony against a different slab. Sweetie Belle was pressed against the centremost slab with Fluttershy on her left and Applebloom on her right. Scootaloo was placed to Applebloom’s right while Dinky was pressed against the slab to the far left, next to Fluttershy.

Suddenly, the crystal slabs began to morph and twist. Hoops wrapped around each ponies fetlocks and mouth, leaving them unable to do any more than scream into the crystalline restraints.

Sombra approached Fluttershy. His sadistic smirk never leaving his face. Slowly he raised a hoof to the restrained mare’s cheek. “Such an exquisite creature... To be honest, I’ve always admired the sleek, athletic bodies of the Pegasi. But you, my dear, you are the pinnacle of natural beauty. I’ve never seen anypony put so little effort into their appearance and still be as gorgeous as you.”

Fluttershy tensed up at her captor’s words. Sombra, the tyrannical usurper of the Crystal Empire, was telling her how gorgeous she was. The buttery Pegasus wanted to scream as the golden machine slowly slid his mechanical hoof down her side and rested it upon her flank.

“I can see why that Thunderlane fellow thought so highly of you, Miss Fluttershy” Sombra chided.

Fluttershy screamed into her crystalline gag, begging her captor to stop. The longer he kept his hoof on her flank the more and more it began to seem like rape.

Suddenly, the needles returned, filling Fluttershy’s head with pain inconceivable. She screamed and writhed in her restraints, begging for a way to end her suffering, but the needles were just the first part of this torture session.

“...Save us...” Fluttershy heard Red June and Thunderlane whisper into her ears as she wailed like banshee.

“Save... us... Save us... Please... SaaAAaave us”.

Twilight and company picked their way through the corridors of the restaurant as they searched for Derpy. Luckily, the guards had seen where Derpy was headed, and were able to point the posse in the right direction of their quarry. According to the guards, Derpy was headed towards the part of the restaurant the last rescue team lost contact with Shining Armour; the south section. Applejack was jostling with her brother, who had insisted on tagging along, after seeing the damage Derpy had inflicted to his little sister’s face.

“Honestly, Big mac, Ah’m fine,” the orange mare complained. “Derpy’s just uptight and worried sumpin’ fierce about her daughter, is all. There’s no need in gettin’ all protective o’ me. Jes’ let me an’ mah friends find Derpy, and we’ll be back out in a jiffy, with the fillies and Fluttershy in tow.”

“Eenope,” Big Mac replied, his regular expression of “I’m looking impassive, but I’m worried as all Tartarus” painted all over his face like a Toolaroola masterpiece. “Ah got this dang awful feelin’ that you gals are gonna need a little more assistance than usual for this mission.”

That statement earned Big Mac a few glares from Applejack and Rarity, but Twilight diffused the situation with a grateful smile.

“Well I, for one, am grateful for the company, Big Mac. Thank you.” The atmosphere loosened up a little as the two glaring mares silently conceded that it was rather pleasant to have an extra set of hooves on board, in case things got a little rough for them when they found Derpy and, eventually, the fillies and Fluttershy.

Everypony stepped through the abandoned hall with renewed vigour and confidence. They were able to get the civilians out of this death trap with no incident, so they would – surely – be able to rescue Sweetie Belle, Apple Bloom, Scootaloo, Dinky and Fluttershy in the blink of an eye. And then, they would shut Sombra down, once and for all.

The group approached the adult lounge. Loud metal music was blasting and some sort of strange moaning sound was muffled in the blaring guitar.

“OOH!” Pinkie yelled! “I love this song! Rules of nature! And they run when the sun comes up! With their lives on the line!”

Spike looked around the lounge, before spotting the television. Spikes cheeks went as red as roses as he realized what was happening on the screen as well as causing the moaning sound. As discreetly as possible, the tiny dragon spat out a miniscule ball of flame, not large enough to do any noticeable damage, but enough to overheat the screen and short it out. The young dragon quickly glanced around the room, breathing out a sigh of relief as he affirmed nopony had noticed.

“All clear?” Twilight called from behind the bar.

“Eeyup”, Big Mac responded after checking to make sure nopony was hiding anywhere in the lounge.

Applejack pulled Pinkie away from the jukebox as the group continued their search.

Twilight walked along with her horn illuminating the darkened hallways when she saw a door bashed in. “Everypony! Look!” She screamed as she ran towards the opening.

The entryway lead to a small office with only a few furnishings, a desk, a chair, an extremely out of date computer and some filing cabinets. The window peering into room was smashed and the door busted down.

Everypony flocked into the room and surveyed the scene. Derpy was already in the room, mouth agape and her eyes, unusually, straight as they surveyed her horrifically deformed surroundings. Small pools of dried blood near the desk with yellow and orange feathers scattered around the office. A stack of the Mortality Pad manga books sat in one corner and a 3DS connected to a charger plugged into an outlet, along with three flashlights.

“Uhh... Twi? What does 20/20/20/20 mean?” Applejack asked, her mind slowly coming to several worse case scenarios as she examined the demolished door.

The Alicorn looked at the where Applejack directed her to find the cryptic message inscribed on the bent metal. Her mind screamed at her while she remembered a discussion she’d had with Shining Armour a few months back.

“It’s code Applejack...” Twilight explained. “To the Crystal Empire’s military, 20/20/20/20 means, if I recall correctly, ‘High Priority Target’.”

Rarity began shaking violently. “T-Twilight... You don’t think...”

Twilight nodded solemnly. “It seems Fluttershy, Dinky, Sweetie Belle, Applebloom, and Scootaloo were in this room, then Sombra’s goons came and busted it down....”

Derpy closed her eyes as Twilight spoke. There was no way in Tartarus Dinky was dead. She came this far... She wouldn’t die here.

“... They aren’t dead...” The wall eyed mare said.

Everypony looked at the grey Pegasus with a confused expression.

“They can’t be dead, dammit!” Derpy yelled, angry tears welling in her eyes. “Dinky is with them... They can’t be dead. Dinky is a survivor. She can’t be dead!”

“Derpy...” Spike lifted a claw that was pushed back by Derpy’s wing.

“Ever since Dinky was born, the universe seemed to want her dead”, Derpy lamented. “Nothing ever went her way. She was born with a critical heart condition, forcing her to be operated on five bucking times before she was six years old! When the doctors finally fixed her heart, she lost the use of her horn, which would be like taking my wings and slicing them off! Then, when she was seven, she was bedridden with pony-bola for nine months. She was two weeks away from dying before the doctors finally found a vaccine! Then not two months later, my little muffin had to watch her father die while I was just sprawled out on the wall of a train car unconscious! Dinky can’t be dead! She just can’t!”

Spike stepped back. Even after her outburst two days ago, the sight of Derpy with anything other than a happy-go-lucky smile on her face was completely foreign and scary. “I-I’m sorry, Derpy... I had no idea-”

Derpy glared maliciously at the young reptile. “You had no idea what? That beneath that facade of happiness I wear is a pony who struggles not to cry herself to sleep every night and has considered suicide at least five times in the past three years?” She screamed.

Spike was practically cowering in the corner of the room. Derpy looked and saw everypony staring at her with expressions of pure fear and confusion. “I...I’m sorry I yelled at you, Spike,” the walleyed mare lamented, her gaze softening. “It’s just... Dinky is my whole world... She’s the only thing that makes life worth living for me... The only time I feel important is when that beautiful little ball of sunshine is next to me smiling... I used to be able to look forward to seeing Time Turner and my two beautiful daughters after a long and hard day of work... I lost Amethyst to maturity and Time Turner to an engineering malfunction... I just... I just need Dinky to be alive...”

“Everypony!” Pinkie Pie called out. “Look! Here’s a trail of Fluttershy’s feathers!”

The attention in the room went instantly from Derpy to the pile of feathers Pinkie was staring at. Twilight lifted one of them with her magic, the unmistakable yellow colour was a dead giveaway. Twilight followed the trail with her eyes until they curved around a corridor. “Come on! Let’s go!” The Alicorn yelled as she sprinted away, the rest of her posse following close behind.

Twilight ran along the trail, determined to find out where Fluttershy and the rest were. Don’t worry girls, She thought to herself. It’s almost over.

As she sprinted along, Twilight noticed a large pool of red on the floor near the trail of feathers. As the Alicorn slowed down, she lifted her head, a choice she would instantly come to regret.

“Twilight! Wait up!” Spike called from behind. “Man... I’ve never seen you run so- WHAT THE BUCK IS THAT‽”

Twilight had stumbled across Thunderlane’s corpse.

One by one, the rest of group caught up and saw the mutilated body, each one screaming some obscenity, nearly vomiting, or just being stunned into silence.

“This, I think, was Thunderlane...” Twilight said, trying her best not to look at the carcass.

Applejack lowered her signature Stetson to her chest in respect as she spoke. “Nopony deserves to go like that... Except maybe the rat-bastard who did this!”

“Eeyup” Big Mac agreed angrily.

Rarity seethed in anger. “Such a pony doesn’t deserve to live!”

“When I find that son of a bitch, I’m gonna make him feel every ounce of pain this poor soul felt. I’m gonna... I’m gonna... I’M GONNA SKIN HIM ALIVE WITH HIS OWN CELESTIA DAMNED TEETH!” Spike declared. Derpy nodded enthusiastically at the image.

Twilight looked around the room. “Well, that’s one body found, I suppose,” she mused. “Now we need to find Red June’s body and locate the missing rescue team so they can remove the bodies.”

The Alicorn was pulled out of her musings by a sickly pale pink hoof, connected to a worryingly discoloured Pinkie Pie, whose gaze seemed to be rather fixated on something high up in the rafters of the restaurant’s ceiling.

“Uh… w-well…” the party pony stammered. Her voice was creaky and her eyes had dilated to the size of pinpricks by whatever sight the ceiling bore. “Th-there might be a s-slight… problem with that.” She pointed up at the ceiling, gulping thickly as she spoke. All eyes followed Pinkie’s hoof to the ceiling, and everypony present gave a heavy, simultaneous gag of horror.

There, hanging from the rafters, were the three crystal ponies from the missing rescue team. The three stallions all hung from the ceiling like puppets, the “strings” that let them hang fashioned out of no less than their own internal organs; one of the stallions looked to be hung with his own intestinal tract. From the looks on their faces, the guards had been ambushed, and the last thing they saw had been the most horrendous sight they could ever have imagined, if the frozen looks of pure terror were anything to go by.

Twilight felt numb. All that seemed to exist at that moment was herself and the three hanging corpses, all swinging from the wooden roof beams by their own guts like toy puppets just waiting to be made to dance. The sight was like watching a train wreak in slow motion; it was horrible to see but, for some unholy reason, her head would not obey her screaming brain and look away. After, what felt like, an hour of staring, Twilight became acutely aware of the sound of very unladylike retching and heaving, followed shortly by the wet splash of something liquid hitting a wooden floor. Turning round, she found Rarity busying herself with unloading the contents of her stomach not far away from the group, having clearly failed in her attempt to rush to the little fillies’ room, or to the nearest bucket, in time.

Pinkie, for her part, was worryingly still, her mane now flat and limp, hanging down around her face as she continued to star up at the grizzly pony puppets. The Apple siblings were gawping wide-eyed and slack jawed at the hanging guards, neither making any attempt to speak or move. Derpy had screwed her eyes shut, and was now chanting to herself that “Dinky’s alive”, or “That bastard will pay for this” to herself over and over again. Twilight swallowed thickly to rid herself of the bitter taste of bile that was steadily trying to crawl up her throat before turning away from the gruesome scene that lay before her.

“I’ll have Shining Armour send in another team in to retrieve the bodies after we get our friends out of here,” she promised “But for now…” her face centred into a murderous glower, “let’s find Sombra and utterly obliterate him!” Twilight screamed, earning enthusiastic hollers from the rest of the group.

The six resumed the chase until the trail stopped at a set of large crystalline doors. Twilight could feel massive amounts of magical energy radiating from behind them as she pressed a hoof against the door. It didn’t feel like any gem, crystal or mineral she had ever felt before, and neither Spike nor Rarity recognized the material. I can collect a sample later, Twilight thought to herself.

Applejack and Big Macintosh approached the door with a resolve to end this nightmare burning in their eyes. The two smashed the door open with a single buck, revealing all four of the animatronic mascots, plus a bizarre looking golden one standing atop the stage and in front of five black slabs, the crack on its metal head forming some sadistic grin.

“Welcome, Everypony! Welcome to the main attraction!” A voice called out from within the room.

“Where are you, Sombra‽” Twilight screamed. “Where are our friends‽”

The voice gave a slight chuckle. “Ah, Miss Sparkle, the answer to both questions is the same. Right in front of you...”

The golden robot took a step forward before clapping it’s forehooves together. Slowly, the slabs behind the golden machine began to rotate, revealing Fluttershy, Dinky, and all three of the Cutie Mark Crusaders bound and gagged against them.

Fluttershy writhed in agony, screaming into the crystalline gag, unable to focus on anything but the immense pain she was in or the tormenting voices echoing through her mind.

“Fluttershy!” Twilight and Pinkie screamed.

“Applebloom!” Applejack and Big Mac followed.

“Sweetie Belle!” Rarity and Spike shrieked.

“GET AWAY FROM MY LITTLE MUFFIN, YOU SON OF A BITCH!” Derpy cussed in a livid fury, with no regard whatsoever to the ages a good chunk of the rooms in habitants were, as she rushed to her daughter, only to be thrown back by some invisible barrier.

“Ah, ah, ah”, the voice called out once again. “Not until both the dragon whelp and white one are dead will I release them.”

“We told you, that’s not going to happen!” Spike yelled. “Now get your sorry plot out here so I can kick it again!”

“You seven are a special kind of stupid, aren’t you?”

Suddenly, a red and black mist began to pour from the five restrained ponies and towards the golden robot. The machine stood up on its hind legs as the mist began to envelope it. A sadistic laugh echoed through the room as Fluttershy began screaming even harder, as did the rest of the captives. The mist flowing from them seemed to leave them unable to feel anything but the purest form agony ever conceived.

The mist dissipated, revealing a large ash-coloured unicorn stallion in the place of the golden robot.

The voice came once again, but now, it’s source was fairly obvious. “Hehehe... It’s me...”

I’m sorry, everypony, Applebloom thought to herself as the last spasms of pain wracked her body. If only I was stronger... We wouldn’t be in this mess.

Sweetie Belle tried to look to Scootaloo, but her restraints wouldn’t allow her to do anything other than mover her eyes. Goodbye, everypony... I’m gonna miss you all...

Suddenly, all five of the captives began screaming wildly as their eyes glowed green gave off a purple mist.

Derpy stood back up on her hooves as she shook off the impact with the invisible barrier. “What are you doing to them, you psychopath‽” She yelled.

Sombra placed a hoof on his chin as he chuckled. “Oh. Them?” He asked sarcastically. “Their simply being forced to watch their greatest fears unfold before their eyes. An experience, I understand, the dragon whelp and Miss Sparkle are both familiar with.”

“I’ll ask you one last time, Sombra...” Twilight said, venom dripping from her words. “Let. Them. Go.”

“Hmm. Let’s see here...” Sombra said as he placed a hoof on Scootaloo’s chest. “This one... Hmm... The ground is caving in around her, dragging down anypony who isn’t a Pegasus. Try as she might, she just can’t get off the ground!” Sombra chuckled maniacally as he walked to Applebloom.

“The earth pony filly... Ugh. How boring. Dying without a cutie mark? Really? That’s her greatest fear?” Sombra spat out in disappointment.

Sombra moved onto Sweetie Belle, smirking as he laid his hoof on her chest. “Oh this one is much more interesting. She’s scared of living forever in her sister’s shadow... Reminds me of a certain moon-controlling princess.”

“Dammit! Enough!” Spike shouted as he blasted flame at Sombra, only to have the inferno blocked by the same barrier that Derpy ran into. The ebon unicorn continued smirking as he looked at Fluttershy.

“Ohoho! How scandalous!” Sombra laughed. “She’s about to raped by the undead body of her ex-lover!”

“Ex-lover?” Twilight said aloud. “Undead body? Fluttershy had a coltfriend?”

Sombra turned to the Alicorn. “Indeed. I believe you saw his corpse on the way in.”

Twilight’s ears fell against her head. “Thunderlane and Fluttershy... d-dated?”

Her words fell upon deaf ears as Sombra continued. “And lastly we have this one”, The sadistic stallion said as he approached Dinky. “Aw... How heart-wrenching. She’s being forced to watch her father die over and over and over again!”

Derpy looked at Sombra with the most hate-filled expression she could manage. Her crossed eyes looked like portals to Tartarus and her breathing grew into a beast-like growl. “I’m gonna take that stupid horn, cut it off, and shove it so far up your plot that it ends up behind your eyes!” She screamed.

Big Macintosh, Spike, Applejack, Rarity, Pinkie and Twilight all nodded.

“Hehehe... I’d like to see you try, Miss Hooves”, Sombra said.

“How do you know her name? Answer me!” Applejack commanded.

Sombra knelt down, staring at the earth pony with a condescending grin. “Miss Applejack, I’m tapping into my victim’s psyches and memories as we speak. Don’t you think the name of her only parental figure would come up at least once?”

Pinkie Pie began bouncing up and down as her mane slowly straightened, something that only happened when the baker was extremely sad or angry. “You are the biggest bully ever! You’re even more sour than a grape fruit covered in gummy worms! The sour kind! Not the tasty sweet ones!” She yelled.

Sombra yawned as he offered his rebuttal. “I’m getting tired of you... If you aren’t going to give into my demands then you can all die. Attack, my mechanical thralls!”

The animatronics began moving as their servos began to whir. They turned the rescue group and began to charge.

Twilight stood her ground as her horn lit up. She blasted at Busby with a magic beam, taking off the rabbit’s face and revealing the metal endoskeleton within. The machine staggered as Twilight blasted it again, this time ripping off its arm, and again to destroy the metal monstrosity.

Pinkie pulled her party cannon out from seemingly nowhere and proceeded to blast Fáfnir into nothing but a pile of confetti and metal.

Applejack wrapped her hooves around Philly’s wrists as Big Macintosh bucked the robotic phoenix in the opposite direction, ripping off its hands. Big Mac bucked once again, knocking Philly to the ground before he stomped the machine’s head into a metallic pancake.

Spike and Derpy dodged a swipe of Freddy’s talons as Rarity snuck up on him from behind. The baby dragon blew a stream of emerald flame at the griffon, burning off part of his suit. Rarity leapt onto the machine and wrapped her hooves around its neck. She gripped the crystal jutting from Freddy’s forehead in a telekinetic aura and ripped it out. As Freddy began to stagger, Rarity rammed the black crystal’s sharp end into where she assumed his CPU was located. The automaton titan’s robotic eyes (Or optical receptors/photoreceptors or whatever the Tartarus you call robot eyes) grew dim as he fell to the floor with a mighty thud.

Twilight looked back at the disabled animatronics and smirked. “Alright, Sombra”, She began. “It’s over. Let them go!”

“Oh? Is it Miss Sparkle?” Sombra replied.

“PLEASE THUNDERLANE! I DIDN’T MEAN TO LET YOU DIE! DON’T DO THIS TO ME!” Fluttershy screamed in her mind as Thunderlane’s mutilated body climbed over her, unaware of the fact that all she was seeing was an illusion.

“You didn’t save me... You must be punished...” Thunderlane responded. “You... Y-You...” Thunderlane’s body began twitching and writhing, his words sounding like an old corrupted video tape.

“Y-You... Must B-Be... Pun... Ished... Pun...Punnnn-NO!”

Fluttershy looked at her would-be-assaulter as he began to back away from her. “Th-Thunderlane?”

“I’m... Not... Gonna... Hurt... FLUTTERSHY!” Thunderlane collapsed to the floor gasping for air. “Fluttershy... Y-you need t-to... W-wake up... D-Dinky... needs you...” He said between gasps.

Thunderlane faded from view and she was greeted with the sight of Sombra, not his mechanical vessel, but Sombra in the flesh, staring down her friends as they stood on the mountains of scrap metal that was once the animatronics.

It... It was just another illusion..., Fluttershy thought to herself.

Movement in on the ceiling cut Fluttershy off from her musings. She looked where she saw the movement and saw Red June’s mask glaring down at her oblivious friends. Fluttershy began to try and warn them, frantically flapping her wings, the only parts of her she could move freely.

As she struggled, Fluttershy felt her wings brush against something. The buttery Pegasus turned her head as far her restraints would allow her to see that she had brushed against Dinky’s hoof. The tiny filly had tears streaming down her face as a bizarre green mist faded from her eyes. Dinky looked at Fluttershy with a worried expression.

Fluttershy did her best to relay a calming smile through her gag as she turned back to Sombra and her friends.

“Tell me, Miss Sparkle... How do feel about puppets?” Sombra asked.

Twilight bit her lip to repress the urge to assail the ear drums of everypony within ten kilometres with every obscene word in the Equestrian language.

Fluttershy saw Red June move as she floated below the ceiling, positioning herself just above Spike. The buttery Pegasus gave one last thrash as she tried to warn her friends of the ghostly marionette above them.

Slowly, the blood red ribbon slid from Red June’s mouth-slit and fell silently behind the group. The tendril lifted itself slightly and stealthily approached Spike without alerting anypony to its presence.

Suddenly, the ribbon wrapped itself around Spike’s neck like a noose, causing the young dragon to gasp for air.

“Spike?” Twilight said as she turned around. “Spike‽”

As Spike tried to rip the ribbon from his neck, it seemed to fuse to his scales, almost like some sort of parasitic worm. Spike dropped his hands to his sides as he began moving in twitchy and clunky movements.

“M-My body... C-can’t... Guys... Run!” Spike screamed as he lifted his arms. The dragon turned to Rarity and began to sprint. “Rarity! Run!”

Spike slashed at the fashionista with his razor sharp claws. Rarity ducked and rolled away. “Spike!”

“What are you doing to Spike, you bastard‽” Twilight wailed at Sombra.

Sombra chuckled. “I’M not doing anything, miss Sparkle. Red June is”, he explained.

Twilight threw her foot down in anger. “Cut the crap! Red June is dead!”

“Isn’t that what you all thought about me?” Sombra asked with a condescending smirk.

Spike continued chasing Rarity, slashing and slicing with his claws as Rarity ducked and weaved.

Pinkie grabbed Twilights withers. “We’ll help Spike, Twilight”, she said. “You and Derpy take down that big meanie pants.”

Twilight spread her wings as her horn glowed with a spell ready to break down Sombra’s barrier. “Gotcha”, Twilight said, earning a similar response from Derpy.

Twilight blasted down Sombra’s shield with a single beam as she and Derpy charged in.

“Somepony stop me!” Spike cried as smoke began to pour from the corners of his maw.

“Sorry about this, Spike!” Applejack cried as she kicked Spike in the chest, sending him flying backwards.

“It’s okay!” Spike said as he staggered up. The young dragon leapt high into the air and brought his claws across Rarity’s face, causing three small scratch marks to appear on her cheek and begin bleeding.

“Oh my Celestia! I’m so sorry Rarity!” Spike said as he rushed her once more.

“I’m fine Spike!” Rarity said as she ignored the pain and continued to dodge Spike’s reluctant attacks.

Spike felt a heat build-up in the back of his throat as he smelled methane gases pour from his mouth. “Watch out! I’m charging up a flame blast!”

“Nope!”

Big Mac tackled Spike just as the fireball left his mouth. The bellowing flame missed Rarity by a hair and collided with the wall, leaving a large scorch mark at the point of contact.

Spike sighed in relief as he was forced to unwillingly attack Rarity and the others. “Thanks Mac!” He said as he struggled to get out of Big Macintosh’s hooves.

The massive earth pony groaned as he maintained his grip on Spike, not tight enough to cause any damage but enough to the young dragon restrained. “Hrg! Eeyup!”

Pinkie jumped at Spike and embrace the young dragon in a big hug with her head just out of Spike’s line of fire (No pun intended), further limiting his ability to move. “Applejack!” The pink pony shouted. “Now! Go for the tentacle thingy!”

Applejack grabbed onto the ribbon wrapped around Spike’s neck and gave a mighty tug. Rarity took immediate action, and sprang into action. She lunged toward the ribbon and, with a single jerk of her horn, cut it clean away from the baby dragon’s neck. The levitating puppet screeched in, what could only be likened to, pain unimaginable, and dropped from the air like a stone, landing on the hard tiled floor with an almighty thud. Applejack turned towards the sound and saw a peculiar sight indeed.

Behind her was a rusty red filly with a green mane and bizarre purple streaks running down from her eyes, like tears, lying on the ground unconscious. Beside her, a strange white mask lay on the tiles, a large crack splitting its face down the middle. “What the?” Applejack murmured to herself as she approached the incapacitated filly.

Applejack walked around the filly and almost vomited when she saw that the little thing was missing her forehead. Even more disturbing was the fact that the filly was still breathing. “Celestia’s mane! She’s alive!” the farmer yelled.

Spike could feel his limbs succumb to his control once again as the remnants of the ribbon diffused from his neck and fell to the ground. “Guys, I think I’m in control again!” He said, prompting Big Mac to release him.

“Spikey-Wikey! Are you alright?” Rarity inquired as she threw her hooves around the dragon.

Spike blushed madly. “I’m fine, Rarity. What about you?”

Rarity raised a hoof to the cuts on her face as blood trickled slowly from them. “It’s nothing a bandage won’t fix. But there are more pressing concerns at the moment.”

The young dragon nodded as he ran to Applejack’s side, nearly fainting at the sight of the filly’s gaping wound.

“Poor thing needs a doctor! Spike, think ya can get her to Doc Stable?” Applejack asked.

Spike nodded as he tried to heave the filly onto his back. “Yeesh! She’s a lot heavier than she looks! Pinkie, could you help me out here?”

“Okie Doki Loki!” Pinkie said as she rested the filly’s torso on her back while Spike lifted up her rear.

Spike and Pinkie Pie ran out to the door, but not before Spike called out, “Give that bastard what-for, Twilight!”

Applebloom squirmed in her restraints as she was forced to watch her own funeral. Her body was somewhere in the mid-twenties, but there was no cutie mark on her flank. Tears ran down Applebloom’s face as she looked at this aged version of herself, even then she would have no idea who she was or what her purpose was.

A wave of realization dawned on the young filly in the blink of an eye. I-it doesn’t matter if I don’t have a cutie mark, Applebloom thought to herself. What matters now is that you’re friends are gonna die if you don’t do anything and it’s gonna be your fault.

The funeral scene faded from view as Applebloom saw Sombra, Derpy and Twilight fighting each other.

Twilight used her Pegasus speed and stamina alongside the earth pony strength she received when she ascended to hammer at Sombra with lightning speed and a power that would rival Big Macintosh’s, while Derpy kicked at the shadowy stallion with long arcing motions. Sombra barely moved as this assault continued. He offered no counterattacks and in fact seemed rather bored.

“Why won’t you die!” Twilight screamed as she hammered Sombra’s back.

“My skin, Miss Sparkle! It crystallizes in response to physical trauma! You can’t hurt me.” Sombra said with a chuckle.

“Shut up and die!” Derpy screamed as she slammed a hoof down on Sombra’s neck.

“What did I just say, miss Hooves?” Sombra asked sarcastically. “I grow tired of you. Get out of my sight, you wall-eyed idiot!”

Sombra latched onto Derpy’s leg with his magic and threw her across the room. As Derpy stood back up and prepared to rush back in, a wall of crystal erupted around the stage, cutting Sombra, Twilight, and the captives off from everypony else.

“NO!” Derpy screamed as she threw herself against the barrier. “I came so far! I’m not going to stop here!”

“Derpy!” Applejack yelled. “There’s nothing we can do now! Let’s go so Twilight doesn’t have to worry about us!”

Derpy glared at the farmer. “How can you say that? Your little sister is trapped in there!”

“Eeyup. But so is Twilight. She’s gonna kick that bastard’s plot back to whatever hole it crawled out of, no matter what. Us being here is just going to make her worry!” Big Mac yelled. “Let’s go!”

Derpy looked downward. “...Fine... But if Twilight doesn’t win-”

Rarity cut her off mid-sentence, “She will, Derpy. There’s no way Twilight wouldn’t win.”

Sombra chuckled as the crystal wall marked off the boundaries of the arena Twilight and the rest now found themselves in. “Well, Miss Sparkle... Now that we are alone... Let’s dance!”

Twilight ignored the words and rushed at her prey as fast as she possibly could. She channeled as much energy as she could into her hooves as she bucked right into Sombra’s chest, forcing him to stagger backwards a bit, but not cause him any pain due to the black crystals that took the place of his skin at the point of contact.

Sombra sighed in disappointment. “You still think that will work?” Sombra asked. “I’ve already told you. You can’t kill me like that. I doubt you can even kill me at all!”

“And what makes you think that?” Twilight cried out as she continued her assault.

Sombra raised his hooves to defend against the flurry of blows as he spoke once more. “I am practically a god! I am the chosen champion of Phobos! The first necromancer!”

“Never heard of him”, Twilight yelled as she began blasting away with magic energy beams.

“I would assume not, considering his sister, Elpis, nearly erased all records of his existence.”

Twilight recalled that last name from somewhere. Elpis... Elpis... She thought to herself before she remembered. “The unicorn who discovered hope magic?”

“Very good, miss Sparkle!” Sombra said as he clapped his hooves together. “Yes, Elpis used other’s hope to fuel her spells and become one of the greatest healers in Equestrian history. She also used hope to betray her brother, Phobos, who discovered a very similar technique, only instead of the hope of his allies he used the fear of his enemies, just like me. Before I came along, Phobos was the only pony to ever perform a true resurrection, to restore not only a body to life, but also the soul of the one who inhabited it, thus forming the school of necromancy magic.”

Twilight felt Sombra grab onto her hoof with his magic. Sombra hurled the Alicorn into the crystal wall he had created as hard as he could. “Now, Elpis’s power is long dead! The only remnant of her is that infernal crystal heart, but luckily for me, that’s all the way back in the Crystal Empire!” Sombra explained.

Twilight shook the daze off as Sombra rushed at her, his horn ready to skewer her. Twilight rolled out of the way, forcing Sombra to bury his horn in the crystal. “Hey Sombra! You missed!” Twilight taunted.

Fluttershy watched the two combatants trade blow after blow. She had seen the destruction wrought by Twilight’s confrontation with Tirek after the fact, but watching Twilight actually fight, even if she didn’t have the combined power of Cadence, Luna, and Celestia alongside her own, was just... awe inspiring. Glad I’m not Sombra right now, Fluttershy thought to herself as the sound of shattering glass rang out a few feet beside her, and again a few seconds later, only this time, a little further away.

“Wake up Scoots!” Fluttershy heard a husky voice cry out. “It’s not real! Just wake up!”

“W-Wha!? The ground... It’s all here!” Scootaloo shrieked. “And everypony isn’t being engulfed in magma!”

The same husky voice chuckled. “Course it ain’t, Scoots. You were just having a bad dream just like the rest of us.”

“Applebloom? How did you get out of your cuffs?” Scootaloo asked.

Applebloom chuckled once again. “I finally found the strength of the Apple family! But, still no cutie mark. Heh.”

Applebloom trotted a few feet over. A new found confidence making itself obvious in her voice as she spoke. “Now, let’s get you down from there, Sweetie Belle.”

The tiny earth pony swivelled on her hooves. Taking aim at the restraints on either sides of the alabaster filly, Applebloom bucked as hard as she could, shattering the crystal bonds before doing the same to the upper restraints.

Sweetie Belle fell into Scootaloo embrace as she whimpered, still under Sombra’s influence. “Wake up, Sweetie!” Scootaloo cried as she shook the incapacitated unicorn. “Come on!”

“Uhg... My head... Wait a sec... Where’s the Rarity monster?” Sweetie Belle asked as she came to.

Scootaloo sighed in relief. “It wasn’t real. Thank goodness.”

Sweetie Belle looked around, taking in the makeshift arena she found herself trapped inside. “W-What? Where’d everypony go?”

“Sombra trapped them outside”, Applebloom explained as she lined herself up with Fluttershy’s bonds. “It’s just us five, Twilight, and Sombra in here now.” As Applebloom finished speaking, she broke Fluttershy from her restraints with two swift movements.

The buttery Pegasus landed on her hooves as she spread her wings outwards to balance herself. “Applebloom, don’t forget Dinky!”

“Wow, Fluttershy!” Scootaloo said. “How come you aren’t having some nightmare?”

“My wing brushed against her hooves and I woke up.” Fluttershy explained quickly. “Now get her down, Applebloom!”

Applebloom grinned with a proud smirk. “Gladly.”

Fluttershy rushed to catch Dinky as she fell from her shackles. “Dinky...” Fluttershy said, tears welling in her eyes.

Dinky blinked as she wriggled from Fluttershy’s hooves. “M-mummy... Mummy!”

The tiny unicorn threw her hooves around the Pegasus mare as she cried. “I was so scared, Mummy! Is he gone?” Dinky asked between sobs.

Fluttershy gingerly wrapped her hooves around the sobbing filly. “No, not yet, my little Dinky. But now Mummy has to go help Miss Twilight get rid of him!” She explained as she glared up at Twilight as she fought the shadowy stallion. “You four find some cover. I’ll be right back...”

Fluttershy spread her wings as far as the would extend before blasting off the ground, hovering mere inches from it as she rushed to Twilights aid.

Sombra turned to see Fluttershy rushing at him. He chuckled to himself as he charged up a spell. “Say goodbye!” he screamed, though who to, nopony could tell.

Suddenly, Sombra turned his horn to the advancing Pegasus as he unleashed a massive energy beam. Fluttershy screamed as she slowed down and covered her face with her hooves, but she was engulfed in the massive black beam.

“FLUTTERSHY!” Everypony except Dinky screamed.

Sombra threw his head back as a deranged and sadistic laugh escaped his lips. “You had that coming!” He screamed in almost ecstasy.

As Sombra finished gloating, something blasted out from the smoke. A blur of pink and yellow flew at the stallion at lightning speed, hooves poised to strike. “What‽” Sombra screamed as he felt something slam against his underside. “ARGH!”

The shadowy unicorn placed a hoof on his stomach and felt crystal shards fall against it. That... hurt... What the-?, He thought to himself. Sombra looked upwards to see Fluttershy advancing towards him, her face missing any emotion except rage and hatred. Her? As Sombra charged up another blast, he took notice of an anomaly, Fluttershy was supposed to have bluish-green eyes, not blazing gold as she did now.

Those eyes! It can’t be..., Sombra turned around and saw Dinky, her glowing horn barely peeking out from the wall of cover she’d hidden behind. “...Elpis... No!” Sombra cried as he rushed at the young filly’s hiding spot, only to be stopped by another hoof slamming into his side.

“Stay away from her!” Fluttershy screamed as more crystal shards fell from Sombra.

Sombra chuckled weakly. “Now I understand...” He said.

“Understand what‽ That you’re a psychopathic murderer?” Fluttershy screamed.

“Oh no, I’ve known that from the start, my dear.” Sombra laughed. “That little unicorn is Elpis reborn! She’s imbuing you with the power you’re using right now.”

Fluttershy stretched her wings out as far as they would go as she smirked. “Then this beating is courtesy of Dinky.” She lunged forward, missing Sombra only by an inch as he pivoted on his hooves.

The shadowy stallion was about to slam a hoof down on Fluttershy’s neck when he felt something blast into him from behind. “Forget about me?” Twilight screamed.

As Sombra was distracted, Fluttershy shifted her weight and swept her leg, forcing Sombra to fall. As he was about to hit the floor, Fluttershy lifted her leg and slammed upward, launching Sombra into the air at high speed.

The buttery Pegasus blasted into the air, grabbing Sombra by the neck with her left forehoof. Sombra began to punch relentless at Fluttershy who seemed to not even notice the blows.

Dinky and the CMC watched with bated breath as the battle unfurled above them.

“Dinky... Your horn...” Scootaloo gasped.

The purplish filly raised her eyes to see the golden aura surrounding her horn. “I’m... I’m doing magic?” She asked aloud.

“Congratulations, Dinky! Your horn’s not broken anymore!” Applebloom and Sweetie Belle cried out.

Dinky looked back up. “Am... Am I doing this?”, she asked herself as Fluttershy looked at Twilight, who was hovering a few feet off the ground, staring in awe.

“Twilight... Catch”, Fluttershy said in a deadpan voice.

Fluttershy launched her free hoof into Sombra’s neck, shattering the crystal shield and preventing a new one from taking its place. Sombra let out a pathetic scream as he raised a hoof to his injured neck.

Fluttershy changed her stance into one that looked like she was about to throw a hoofball. “This is for Thunderlane, you son of bitch!” Fluttershy exclaimed as she began spinning in the air.

After building up enough momentum, Fluttershy released her grip on Sombra’s neck, sending him flying towards Twilight’s horn.

The Alicorn flinched as she felt her horn pierce the skin of Sombra’s neck, the inertia combine with strength of Fluttershy’s toss forcing the bone structure’s to tip to emerge on the other side.

Sombra let out a gurgle of pain as raised weakly his hooves to his neck before Twilight pushed him off of her. As the stallion fell to the floor, he let out the most primal and horrific scream of pain possible as Twilight wiped the blood from her horn and face. His body writhing as it turned smoky black. It gave off a reddish aura as Sombra’s cries began to quiet down, before dissipating, revealing just a motionless, golden endoskeleton.

Fluttershy hovered to the floor slowly, closing her eyes for a few seconds. When she opened them, the golden glow was gone, leaving only Fluttershy’s natural green eyes in their place. The buttery Pegasus approached Twilight slowly. “Is... Is he gone for good?” She asked.

Twilight bent down and broke the tip off of the black crystal horn, placing it in a conjure plastic ziplock as she spoke. “I don’t think we’ll have to worry about Sombra anymore”, She explained. “But what I wanna know is what happened to you? You absolutely wrecked him! Plus I don’t think I’ve ever heard you swear before, Fluttershy.”

Fluttershy looked down at her hooves. “I... I just felt something guiding me. Telling me what to do and how to move. It was like... Like... I was possessed or something.” Fluttershy felt something wrap around her neck and heard four things squeal in delight.

“Mummy!” Dinky screamed in a state of euphoric jubilation.

Scootaloo raised her hooves to the air as she shouted. “Aw man! Fluttershy, that was awesome! You were all ‘pow pow punch punch’, and he was all ‘oof ow ouch oof’! And then you were all ‘woosh woosh’, and he was all ‘ARGH, GRRR RARGH’ and then he freaking disintegrated!”

“We know Scoots”, Applebloom chided. “We were all there.”

Sweetie Belle giggled. “Doesn’t make what she’s saying any less true, Applebloom”.

Dinky hugged at Fluttershy even tighter. “Did you see me mummy? I helped you by doing magic!”

Gently, Fluttershy shook Dinky from her neck as she crouched down. “You sure did, my little Dinky. You helped mummy stop the bad guy!”

Fluttershy could of sworn if smiles were weapons, the beaming grin across Dinky’s face was a hydrogen bomb. “I helped stop the bad guy!” She shouted into the air. “I’m a superhero!”

Scootaloo wrapped one of her tiny wings against the celebrating filly. “Yeah, you sure are. After all that computer hacking you did, I’m thinking we should start calling you... The Technomancer!”

Dinky giggled as Fluttershy pulled her to her chest, locking the filly in a motherly hug. Twilight placed the plastic bag under her wing and nudged Fluttershy’s shoulder to get her attention. “Fluttershy, we should get going.”

Fluttershy nodded as she grabbed Dinky by the nape of her neck and placed her on her back. “I’m ready whenever you are, Twilight.”

The Alicorn nodded as she turned to the crystal wall, her horn glowing. Twilight blasted through the barrier with a single spell and trotted through the opening. “Um... Fluttershy...”

“What is it, Twilight?” Fluttershy asked.

Twilight shifted on her hooves, a look of nervousness growing across her face. “Um... It’s just that... We’re going to be passing by... the body, on the way out.”

Fluttershy nodded, fighting back the trickles of tears that wanted to leak from her eye lids. “Dinky, Scootaloo, Sweetie Belle, Applebloom, when we leave the room, I want you to close your eyes. Twilight, I want you to tell us when we can open them. When Twilight tells us to open our eyes, do not look back under any circumstances. Understood?”

The four fillies nodded in understanding, linking onto each other’s tails so they wouldn’t get separated.

“Alright then” Twilight said. “Let’s go everypony!”

After walking for a couple yards with their eyes closed, Twilight finally gave the all clear. Fluttershy nervously opened her eyes to find that Thunderlane’s corpse was just hidden from view by the bend in the hallway. “Mummy!” Dinky scolded. “You said not to look back!”

Fluttershy couldn’t help but let out a soft chuckle. “I’m sorry, my little Dinky. Mummy’s a rule breaker.”

Fluttershy heard Dinky pout on her back. Chuckling once again, Fluttershy lifted a wing and tickled at Dinky’s nose with her feathers.

“M-mummy! S-stop that! T-that Tickles! Ahahahaha!” Dinky yelled in between her gasps of air.

“You make a cute mummy,” Twilight said, eliciting a blush from Fluttershy.

“Um... Um... T-thank you?”

The Alicorn laughed as she saw the exit to the restaurant. “There’s the exit! You’re home free!”

The Cutie Mark Crusaders began sprinting towards the shattered glass doors and over the crystal shards surrounding them as they threw themselves outside.

“I’d almost forgotten what the sun looks like...” Scootaloo said.

Applebloom nodded as she flopped into a patch of grass. “Oh grass! I’ll never take you for granted again!”

Sweetie Belle giggled at her friends antics as she scanned the crowd outside the building for Rarity.

“Sweetie Belle!” A familiar, posh-sounding voice cried. Sweetie Belle turned towards the sound and saw Rarity bounding towards her, her mane uncharacteristically messy and a bandage on her cheek.

“Rarity!” Sweetie Belle leapt into the air and into Rarity’s hooves as she nuzzled her elder sister.

Rarity could feel tears trickling down her cheek as she pulled Sweetie into her embrace. “I’m so glad you’re okay! Mother and Father would have killed me if anything happened to you!” She cried.

“Thanks, Rarity” Sweetie Belle said, before tossing a glance at Scootaloo and remembering something important. “Um... Rarity. I need to tell you something...”

“Of course, Sweetie Belle. What is it?”

The alabaster filly gulped as she looked around. The crowd around the building seeming much larger than it was a few moments ago. “Um... Um... Never mind, it can wait till we get home...”

Before Rarity could respond, a young and scratchy voice echoed from the crowd. “SWEETIE BELLE!!!!!”

Sweetie Belle felt a familiar set of brown hooves wrap themselves around her. “Button!” She cried.

The hooves untangled themselves from the young unicorn’s neck as Button Mash came into view. “Oh man, Sweetie Belle!” The gamer cried. “You have no idea how worried everypony at school was! I swear, Miss Cheerilee was about to break down crying two days ago!”

Sweetie Belle glanced at Scootaloo, who was sprinting towards some cage, it’s occupant obscured by the crowd. Turning back to Button Mash, the alabaster filly said. “Oh, Button, I’m just glad it’s over.”

Button nodded. “Well, I bet you’re tired. I should probably get going. See you at school!”

Sweetie Belle waved goodbye to the colt as she hugged Rarity once again.

Spike slowly, unsurely, sidled up to Rarity, fumbling with his claws as his feet scuffed the dirt. “Umm… R-Rarity?” The alabaster unicorn turned to face the stammering dragon.

“Yes, Spikey?” she cooed, tilting her head to one side in curiosity.

“Um… well, I… I-I know this is, like, really crummy timing, considering all the really sucky stuff that’s gone down over the past five days. But… I was wondering if, uh… I mean, th-that is to say… if you’re, um, not… doing anything someday… maybe we could-“

The drake was silenced by a pair of soft, well glossed lips as Rarity planted a tender kiss on his own scaly maw. Spike’s eyes widened to the size of saucers at the surprising gesture, his young mind rushing at high speeds in an attempt to understand the events that were taking place before his very eyes. After an indeterminable amount of time, Rarity pulled away from the kiss and smiled warmly at her young scaly suitor.

“I have some spare time next Tuesday,” she promised with a wink, before trotting off toward the boutique, leaving a stunned Spike stood in the middle of the gathering of ponies to wonder what just happened. Though the smile on his face showed that every thought he was having right now was, without question, filled with elated anticipation for the things that awaited him in the future.

Scootaloo stared at Discord as if he had grown a second head (Which wasn’t exactly unimaginable). “Discord... Why is Rainbow Dash in a cage and why are you dressed like a Ponzi?” She asked.

“Because why not?” Discord answered bluntly.

Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes. “Just let me out already!” She screamed at the draconequus.

Discord snapped his fingers, making the cage disappear and letting Rainbow Dash out. “Bout bucking time!” the cyan Pegasus cried, before turning to face Scootaloo with a welcoming smile. “ C’mere squirt!” She held out her forelegs to the filly, and Scootaloo promptly jumped into her embrace. “Woah there! Watch the leg, Scoots”

Scootaloo pulled back, readjusting herself so that Dash’s leg would be spared from the onslaught of sisterly cuddles to come.

Fluttershy dropped Dinky off her back as she nudged her forward like a newborn foal learning to walk. After being incarcerated for so long, touching the grass was a strange and foreign sensation, ticklish and yet soothing at the same time.

“D-Dinky...” Fluttershy heard a familiar voice whimper.

The buttery Pegasus smiled as Derpy snatched her daughter up in her hooves, tears cascading from her eyes and words of praise and apology spewing from her mouth at a breakneck pace. “I’m so sorry, my little muffin! I should have been there! I’m so sorry!”

“It’s OK, mummy,” Dinky chirped, tears welling in her eyes. “Miss Fluttershy kept me, Applebloom, Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo safe. And look,” she turned to her side to show her mother her newly marked flank. “I got my cutie mark!” she exclaimed joyously.

Derpy smiled, an alien combination of pride and sorrow filling her heart. Of course, as a mother, she was overjoyed that her little muffin had earned her cutie mark, despite the horrible circumstances she’d been trapped by over the last few days, but she was also sad that she didn’t get to see her daughter earn her cutie mark with her own two eyes.

Fluttershy could feel a little part of herself cry in disappointment as Dinky hugged her actual mother. She’s back with her real mummy now, She thought to herself. I have no right to be jealous of Derpy...

Dinky saw Fluttershy smile weakly as she began to turn away. “Mummy... Can I ask you something?”

The grey mare nodded as Dinky leaned into her ear and imparted her question.

“Did she, now?” Derpy asked. “It would be nice to have somepony to watch you while I’m out... I think we can ask her later.”

Fluttershy couldn’t hear the conversation behind her as she began walking towards where she saw Scootaloo run to. Knowing Scootaloo, Fluttershy guessed that she had a 70 to 30 chance of Rainbow Dash being there. As she trotted along, Fluttershy saw Applebloom be swept up by Big Macintosh and Applejack, crying tears of relief. The buttery Pegasus sighed at the prospect that everypony got out alive. Well... Almost everypony...

As everypony hugged and laughed, wept and comforted, all ears were pricked at the sound of mechanical whirring slowly approaching from inside the raided restaurant. Several of the guards raised their spears, readying themselves to attack the approaching figure, in case they needed to defend all civilians present.

Slowly, a dark figure came into view inside the dim pizzeria. The unmistakable whirr and clunk of a metallic form rang out from the building, electrical fizzling accompanying every leaden step. Derpy, Rarity, Applejack and Rainbow Dash clutched their daughter and sisters in their fetlocks, glaring threateningly at the golden furred robot that lumbered close to the door of the ruined eatery.

The withered animatronic was in ruin; wires severed all over its form, the faux fur worn away so much that the stitching underneath was clearly visible along the robot’s fuzzy skin. The animatronic looked like it could easily have been Busby’s older brother or something, as it stood at least half a foot taller than any of the other animatronics the pizzeria once housed, and its design was quite clearly that of a lagomorph. One of its yellow ears was bent back so far that half the ear was dangling from the automaton’s head, and the wicked smile that stretched across its face might have looked warm and friendly, if it wasn’t for the eroded fur that curled inward to expose the teeth in a creepy grimace. The construct halted before the door, not making any attempt to exit the building. Whether this was because the metal monster knew better than to fight the guards in its weakened form, or it was just reluctant to enter the sunlight, nopony knew, and nopony wished to find out.

Two crystal guards near the door trained their weapons on the golden machine, their sharp, piercing eyes scanning for any signs of hostile intention.

“Identify yourself and state your business,” the left guard, a purple crystal unicorn with a metal shield for a cutie mark barked. The robotic beast regarded the stallion for a moment before scanning the rest of the crowd, as if searching for something, but not willing to leave the confines of the restaurant and search for it further. “You will be given five seconds to comply,” the guard warned. “If you refuse to comply, you will leave us no choice than to use force.” Again, the golden machine remained silent, looking out at the small crowd of ponies eagerly.

“One.”

The machine turned to face the guard, cocking its head sideways, having seemingly given up on trying to find what it was looking for.

“Two.”

The construct’s metal jaw clicked and whirred, but refused to move. The golden right hinge had been heavily rusted, locking the jaw firmly shut.

“Three.”

The robot’s endoskeleton made a loud groaning sound, as if straining to open its jaw and will itself to converse with the crystal pony. Sparks flew from the severed wires, causing the robot to spasm violently.

“Four.”

The guards took a single, careful step, readying to run the automaton through, should it prove unwilling or unable to comply to its command.

“Five.”

“Turner!” Everypony present halted, all sucking in a short, shocked breath at the robot’s reply. It had only been a single word but, for two ponies present, it held more meaning than anything else the metal construct could’ve said.

Shaking his head to dislodge the shocked awe he was experiencing, the guard relaxed his poise slightly, but kept his weapon aimed at the machine. “Repeat,” he ordered.

“My name,” the automaton replied, shakily, “is Time Turner.” The sound of two hitched breaths cut through the silence like a red hot knife, and the golden robot finally trained his camera-eyes on his targets; Derpy and Dinky. “And… I would like to say my goodbyes,” the robot continued. His voice didn't sound robotic. Nor did it sound like the evil tone of a tyrannical overlord. It was soft, gentle and kind. It had feeling, and pony emotions. And the most noticeable feature was the accent. It wasn’t as posh as a Canterlotian accent, but it wasn’t as rough as a Trottingham one. It was a peculiar balance between the two, often referred to as Proper Equestrian. It was, indeed, Time Turner’s accent.

Dinky gawped in disbelief at the golden furred vessel that had somehow emerged from some unseen part of the pizzeria of doom where, not an hour or so ago, Dinky found her life threatened by the robot’s kin, along with the lives of her friends and adopted mother. The smile, once cooked and creepy from the deformed felt furl, was now soft and inviting, the robot’s lensed eyes gazing at her with a soft, caring expression, not like she was a lump of meat fit only to be thrown to a two headed dog and cruelly toyed with.

“Daddy?” Dinky took a hesitant step, her mother’s forehooves having slackened from her withers and instead climbed upwards to cover Derpy’s mouth as she stared down the metal monster with tears welling thickly in her eyes. The golden vessel offered no movement towards the filly, but simply nodded the affirmative to her question. Dinky rushed toward the animatronic, not caring whether this was real, a dream, the afterlife or a cruel and vicious final trap laid out by Sombra. All that mattered to her was that her daddy was back. And she had a lot of lost cuddles to make up for.

She threw herself into the metal construct’s breast, the large metallic robot readjusting its position to allow itself to safely land on its haunches and wrap an arm around the sobbing unicorn’s back and nuzzle her hair, shushing her tenderly as she wept openly into his chest.

“Daddy,” Dinky wailed, “I missed you so, so much.” She looked up at the machine’s face with tear soaked cheeks. “Why did you leave me and mummy like that?”

Time Turner siled apologetically, kissing the young unicorn on the forehead and wiping away a few errant tears from her face. “It wasn’t planned, Dinky,” he cooed softly. “It’s simply one of those things. Wibbily wobbily…”

“Timey wimey,” Dinky finished her father’s sentence with a half-hearted giggle/sniffle, and nuzzled into his cold metal chest once again.

“Everything has its time, my little Dinky,” Turner said, stroking the filly’s head lovingly, “and everything must end. It just seems that the universe had decided it was my time to go, I’m afraid.” Time Turner lifted his gaze to meet Derpy’s who was still sat flat on her haunches with her hooves over her maw, staring with watery eyes at the mechanical construct that contained the soul of her late husband. “Hi, Derpy,” He greeted his wife, with a loving smile. He beckoned her over with a soft wave of his head, and Derpy slowly, and hesitantly, complied; her hooves moving her forward without her conscious command.

Derpy stood nearly muzzle-to-muzzle with her husband’s metal frame, her crooked eyes finding momentary focus to stare into the lifeless cameras, only to see her perfect reflection staring back at her.

“T-Timey?” Her voice was dry, and it cracked as she uttered the nickname she never thought she would be able to mention again, receiving a mechanical nod in response. Without another word, Derpy hooked her hooves around the robot’s neck and pressed her lips roughly against Turner’s, ignoring the cold, unmalleable metal that greeted her tongue and the bitter taste of tarnished gold and burning wire rubber. Her metal lover returned the kiss as best he could, both restricted by the filly that found herself sandwiched between her embracing parents, and the physical restrictions of the metal vessel he found himself in. After a solid minute of their embrace, Derpy finally relinquished her husband with a wet pop of her lips, panting to regain her breath. “But… how?” she enquired, once she had finally recovered.

Her question was met with a shrug. “I don’t know, love,” he admitted. “But I remember somepony whispering to me about somepony wanting to see me, and that she was really having a hard time and needed a little bit of hope right now.” His eyes fell on Dinky, who was looking up at him with a tearful smile. “Dinky, I’m so sorry that I can no longer be here for you and your mother. But please, always remember that no matter where you are, and no matter what you do, I’ll always be looking over you, my little ray of hope.” He planted a soft, loving kiss on Dinky’s forehead, allowing the filly to spill tears along his metal chest again as he lifted his eyes to look into Derpy’s, once again, crooked gaze. “And Derpy, my love, please don’t lament over my death anymore. I understand that you’ve been through so much before and since my passing. But please,” he placed a mechanical hand under his wife’s chin to prevent her from trying to look away from him, accentuating the point that his next words were his most important, “it’s time to move on, my love.”

Derpy lost her strength and threw her fetlocks around her husband’s shoulders, weeping openly into his shoulder as years of heartache and grief finally shattered the dam that had held back her tears for so long. Time Turner allowed his wife to unleash her sorrows, patting her on the shoulder as she wailed, and offering both her and their daughter the much needed comfort they deserved. Once Derpy’s tears had run their course, and her eyes her dry – though red and puffy and streaked with tear stains – Time Turner saw fit to continue his train of thought.

“I would like you to focus on our daughters, Derpy,” he told her, calmly. Derpy nodded, silently. “And, I know this is going to be a big thing to ask of you… but I would like you to try and find another parental figure for our little Dinky.” Derpy sniffled at this request, but her lopsided eyes glanced sideways to Fluttershy, before refocusing on Time Turner. The robot’s eyes followed Derpy’s brief line of distraction, before resting on the buttery Pegasus mare, who had been watching the affair before her with outstretched wings, slack jaw and watery eyes. The golden construct smiled once again and extended a hand to gently beckon the shy mare over. Fluttershy felt her breath hitch in her throat, and her stomach flip as she felt her hooves slowly edge her forward toward the metal bunny’s patiently waiting hand. With a shaky leg, she rested her hoof on Time Turner’s grasp and allowed herself to be gently pulled forward into a gentle, careful embrace, which she found more welcome than her brain wanted to admit to. Every nerve in her body was telling her to run. To run away and hide from the big, bad mechanical monster that who’s fellows had once tormented her and her adopted daughter for five nights in that dark, evil house of nightmares. But the thought that this was a pony inside the robot and not the one who had inhabited the metal endoskeleton before somehow calmed her fears, and she hesitantly accepted the kindly gesture.

“Miss Fluttershy,” Turner addressed her, never breaking the embrace. “I want to thank you for keeping our little Dinky safe through this awful ordeal.” The reanimated stallion finally extricated himself from the hug, looking into Fluttershy’s eyes with a grateful, yet sombre, expression. “And I’m so sorry for your loss.” Fluttershy’s pupils shrank, and she instantly wanted to curl up into a ball and die of a broken heart. She whimpered weakly, but a gentle ,barely fur covered hand guided her face to look up at Time Turner’s glassy eyes. “But he doesn’t blame you,” Turner told her, “and he wanted to apologise for being used as a puppet to torment you in the way he did. He wants you to know that he never would’ve done that to you, even if you were at fault. He wants you to know that he’s very proud of you for what you did for my daughter, and he wishes that he could’ve given you a chance to show the world what a wonderful mother you could’ve been. He wants you to be happy. To not worry about whatever pain he went through in his final hours. He wanted me to tell you that his final words were that he loves you. And he will go on loving you forevermore. He won’t promise to wait for you, where he is now. He understands if you fall in love with somepony else. But he hopes that someday, whenever that time may come, and you yourself pass on and go to the place where he now calls home… he hopes that you’ll look him up.”

Fluttershy smiled, despite the tears that now streamed from her eyes, but gave a soft sniff and a confident nod. “It’s a Pinkie Promise,” she affirmed. “Cross my heart, and hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye.” Time Turner smiled as she went through the familiar motions.

“I’ll be sure to tell him.” The mechanical vessel that made up his temporary mortal form began to creak and heave, its circuits and wires beginning to give way to the heavy damage it seemed to have sustained from, seemingly, years of neglect and decay. “Dinky,” the filly looked up into her father’s face, “Derpy,” as did his wife, “goodbye.” The mechanical construct’s camera-eye shed a single, lonely tear, that slowly streaked down his golden face as a soft smile graced his metal lips. “I love you so much.” The robot’s internal computer systems powered down with a descending whirr, the metal joints falling limp, allowing the decrepit robot to collapse in a heap, never to rise again.

Derpy scooped her daughter up in her hooves and the two wept once more in each other’s grasp. Fluttershy shifted awkwardly on her hooves, unsure whether she should engage with the mother and daughter, or just let them get their emotions out in each other’s hold. The decision was made for her, however, when Derpy lifter her head to address her.

“Fluttershy,” the walleyed Pegasus croaked weakly, wiping the last of her tears from her eyes. “Thank you so very much for protecting my little Dinky.” The mailmare slowly approached her daughter’s guardian, much to Fluttershy’s nervous apprehension. The grey mare embraced her, nuzzling her cheek gratefully. “I owe you so much for what you’ve done,” she whispered hoarsely, planting a weak kiss on the timid pony’s cheek, which caused Fluttershy to blush profusely and shrink away to hide underneath the veil of her mane. “Hey, listen, how about Dinky and I stop by your cottage sometime next week? Dinky wants to talk to you about something.”

Fluttershy’s blush intensified by twenty percent, and she let out a timid squeal of nervous excitement – or “nervouscitement”, as Pinkie would say – but offered a brief nod in response. “O-OK. Um… it’s a date.” Only after she had said those words did Fluttershy realise the implication of what she had just declared. “NO! Um… I-I didn’t mean it like that. I mean, I’m it’s a date for, uh… uh, a meeting! Yes, that’s what I meant. Yes, completely and totally just a meeting between two mothers and a daughter. Wait! That… that came out all wrong! I meant… oh…” Fluttershy deflated after realising her ramblings were just digging herself a deeper hole. Derpy giggled at the display and lifted the shy mare’s face with a hoof to make their eyes meet.

“It’s a date,” she confirmed with a cheeky wink.

Fluttershy blushed redder as Derpy picked her daughter up with her head and allowed her to slide down onto her back, making her way home with her daughter, asking the purple-grey filly for all the exciting details on how she got her brand spanking new cutie mark. Fluttershy felt her eyes wander over the gathering of ponies before her before settling on Rainbow Dash in a wheelchair, Scootaloo snuggling up against her in a sisterly embrace. “Rainbow Dash! What happened to you?” Fluttershy asked.

The cyan mare turn to Fluttershy as an embarrassed blush made its way across her face. “Well, as it turns out, pony plus sonic rainboom plus crystal door equals broken leg! Who knew?” She explained

Fluttershy giggled a bit before she remembered why she sought out Rainbow Dash in the first place. “Scootaloo”, She began. “Do you mind if I borrow Rainbow Dash for a moment?”

“Not at all, Fluttershy”, Scootaloo chimed as she climbed down from Dash’s leg.

Dash turned to Fluttershy, a confused expression upon her face. “What’s up, Fluttershy?” She asked.

Fluttershy shifted on her hooves. If anypony knew what to do it would be Rainbow Dash, but Fluttershy was having trouble finding the right words. “Dash... I-I think....

Dash turned her ears towards her timid friend. “You think... what?”

“I... I t-think I... have a ‘thing’ for Derpy...”

Rainbow stared at Fluttershy in stunned silence, her mouth hanging open in shock at her friend’s confession. “A… a ‘thing’?” she repeated. “As in… a sort of “maybe I love her” sort of thing?”

Fluttershy mutely nodded, turning her face away from her friend in an attempt to shroud her blushing face with her veil-like mane. Dash worked her mouth like a fish, trying to formulate a response to Fluttershy’s confession.

“Wow…” she murmured, finally. “Fluttershy, I… I never thought you swung that way, if I’m honest.”

“Neither did I,” Fluttershy concurred. “But… well… while we were stuck in that horrible place, Dinky… D-Dinky asked me to be her mother, in case she died during the course of this past week. I think… I think she wanted a parental figure with her if she was going to die, just like how Time Turner passed away.”

Rainbow Dash smirked a little, knowingly. “You know what I think? I think you love little Dinky there. I don’t think, however, that you’re IN love with Derpy. I may not be as smart as Twilight, but I’m smart enough to see that.”

Fluttershy considered Rainbow’s words. They made sense in a way. Fluttershy didn’t want Derpy, she wanted Dinky and being involved with Derpy would allow her to be with Dinky all the time.

Dash interrupted Fluttershy’s thoughts once more. “Plus, there was that whole deal with Thunderlane a few years ago.”

Fluttershy’s heart sank as she heard her friends words. “Dash... Thunderlane... H-He’s dead...”

Rainbow Dash’s eyes widened. Her mouth opened but the words that came out were not her own. “T-Thunderlane’s... Dead?”

The two mares looked to their side to see Rumble, eyes wide and tears welling up. “It’s a joke right? Please... Tell me it’s a joke. Please!”

Fluttershy rushed to the young colt, tears falling from her eyes as well. “I wish I could say it was, Rumble... But... But it isn’t...”

Rumble felt his entire body lock up. The only thing keeping him upright was the hold of the sobbing mare embracing him. Rumble could feel the tears falling, but aside from that, all sensations just stopped, there was no up or down, no sound, just a cold vacuum of shock and sorrow.

“... He loved you, ya know...” Rumble said.

Fluttershy froze, the words echoing in her mind. “What did you just say?”

Rumble sniffled. “Big bro... He loved you, Fluttershy... he was always trying to find a way to ask for a second chance with you... Would you have given him one, Fluttershy?”

“Yes... Without question...” Fluttershy answered, without pausing for thought.

Rumble nodded, the tears flowing slightly slower than before. “Thank you... I-I need to go...”

“Don’t worry, Fluttershy”, Dash said. “I’ll make sure he gets home safely.”

“Thank you, Rainbow Dash...” Fluttershy and Rumble said solemnly.

Rainbow Dash gave a half-hearted smile as she wheeled herself over to Rumble. Placing a hoof on his shoulder, the cyan mare said, “Come on, buddy. Let’s get you home.”

The colt nodded as he turned away in silence. Fluttershy sat down as she collected her thoughts. She had seen animals die before, but never had she dealt with the death of anypony close to her. Thunderlane, Fluttershy thought. If you can hear me wherever you are, I want you to know... I’m sorry.

Despite the crowd around her, Fluttershy couldn’t hear anything. All sound was drowned out by the emotions swirling around inside her like a hurricane. She thought over everything that had happened since escaping the nightmarish restaurant. She thought about what Time Turner had said, both to Derpy and herself, about moving on and finding somepony else. She knew it would be hard, especially for Derpy. Derpy and Time Turner were married, afterall, a stage she and Thunderlane had never even talked about during their short-lived courtship. And finding somepony else to love as much as she loved Thunderlane seemed like a daunting, if not near impossible challenge, for her. Her thoughts returned to Dinky, and the way she turned to her as a second mother, and how good it felt to be looked at through the eyes of a daughter, she thought to herself. In many ways, she envied Derpy for having something like that, whereas Fluttershy couldn’t have such a joy in her life, what with her work as an animal caretaker taking up so much of her time, and the idea of what came before foalbirth made both her and Thunderlane freeze in fear at the mere mention of it when they dated. Then her thoughts turned to what Rainbow said about her loving Dinky, and associating that love as having a crush on Derpy. It made sense that by wanting to be Dinky’s mother, she’d associate that with the fact that Dinky already had a mother, and that by being with Derpy, she would then become a second parental figure to the filly. But then, as she thought about it, Derpy was, in her own right, a good looking mare. Fluttershy, while never once thought of a mare in more than a platonically friendly way, was perfectly able to acknowledge and appreciate a mare’s beauty. And while she may not have looked at a mare as a potential partner in the past, maybe – she thought to herself – just maybe…

Fluttershy was snapped out of her mournful reverie by a lavender hoof. “Fluttershy...”

The buttery Pegasus curled tightly into a ball as she mumbled out her response. “What do you want, Twilight?”

“Fluttershy, I thought you should know... Red June... She’s alive.” Twilight explained.

Fluttershy’s ears perked up. “H-How is that possible? I saw her get her brain ripped out!”

Twilight raised a hoof in matter-of-fact way and spoke in much the same way. “Well, only her frontal lobe was damaged, and neurologically speaking, the only part of the brain that REALLY needs to remain intact for the body to stay functioning. Doctor Stable is reading some spells to help her brain regrow as we speak."

Fluttershy had trouble deciding what emotion should be felt. She felt relief of course, but... There was also some sort of anger as well. Anger that Thunderlane is still dead while Red June gets to live. Anger at Sombra for putting a little filly through that kind of horror. Anger at herself for feeling being mad at Red June.

Before Fluttershy could respond, Shining Armour approached Twilight and laid his hoof upon her shoulder. "Twilight..." He said gently. "Havoc Squad... I need to tell their next of kin, don't I?"

Twilight turned to her older brother and nodded solemnly. "Yeah," She whispered.

Shining nodded and ran a hoof through his mane. "Alright..."

Suddenly, the prince's eyes lit up as if he had remembered something. "Oh yeah!" He shouted. "Twilight, Cadence wanted me to tell you... You're gonna be an aunt in a few months!"

"Wait... Cadence is pregnant?!" Twilight shouted, completely turning away from Fluttershy. "For how long?"

Shining giggled. "She's about two months pregnant. We just found out last week."

Fluttershy Looked at Shining Armour with a strange expression. She felt... Kind of jealous. She had just lost her "daughter" and now Shining Armour was bragging about his unborn foal. Fluttershy realized how selfish she was being and offered a gentle smile. "Congratulations, Mister Armour. Do you know what you're going to name it?"

The prince smiled gently at the yellow mare. "Thank you, Fluttershy. And yes. If it's a filly, we're naming her Glistening Aegis, and if its a colt we're naming him Crimson Arrow."

Twilight threw her hooves around her brother's withers and laughed enthusiastically. "I can't believe it!" She cried. "My big brother's gonna be a dad!"

"Heh. Yeah," Shining giggled before his expression became more hardened and serious. "Well... I send a team to retrieve the bodies and then I'll get out of your mane."

Twilight nodded. "Okay... See ya around, BBBFF." She said quietly. "Oh! And Shining?"

"Hm?"

"When you get back to the Crystal Empire, could you look up as much as you can about where the Crystal heart came from?" Twilight requested. "I have a name I need investigated: Elpis."

"Sure, Twiley." Shining said. "I'll look into it."

The young alicorn smiled. "Thanks Shining. I'll let you get back to your soldiers." Twilight turned back to Fluttershy, who was slowly starting to walk away. "Fluttershy? Where are you going?"

"Home..." The yellow mare responded. "I appreciate everything you've done, Twilight. More than you'll ever know. But... I just have a lot to think about..."

"... Fluttershy, if you need to tell us anything..."

Fluttershy shook her head. "No... This is my problem, Twilight." She said. "I just... I just need to be alone for a while..."

"All right..." Twilight said. "Just remember... You have not one, not two but five friends who are ready to help you out. And that's not even including Spike and our other friends."

Fluttershy nodded silently and turned away. She spread her wings and flew into the sky towards her cottage at the edge of the Everfree Forest, a sanctuary she couldn't wait to finally return to after the horrors and torment she had endured over the past five days.

Home... She thought as she landed on her doorstep. Slowly she wrapped her hoof around the knob and twisted it.

Almost immediately, Fluttershy felt something latch onto her fetlock. Looking down, Fluttershy couldn't help but smile to see Angel Bunny snuggling up to her. "Hi, Angel," She greeted softly.

The rabbit looked up at his caretaker and twitched his nose in relief. Slowly and reluctantly, Angel released Fluttershy's fetlock and allowed her inside.

One by one, the Pegasus mare greeted every animal in the cottage, offering them snuggles and pets. Every animal that had been there before the incident was still there, ready to welcome Fluttershy home after such a nightmarish ordeal that nopony should ever have to go through ever.

Once, she had made sure all her animal friends were there and accounted for, Fluttershy realized just how dirty she was. All the dust from the restaurant was still on her coat, dulling the buttery yellow colour. I need a shower... Fluttershy thought.

Fluttershy went into her bathroom and turned on the water to her shower, letting the water heat up for a few minutes before finally stepping inside. The mare let the water cascade over her fur and through her feathers, getting her mane soaked. Fluttershy gripped a bar of soap in her hoof and began to scrub herself down, washing away all the dust and grime she had procured over the past five days. It felt good. Really good. All that dust was gone, just like all that happened was in the past. Being free of that burden... Well... It just made Fluttershy feel good. Some things would never be the same again, of course, but at least now it was all over.

Once she felt she was good and clean, Fluttershy stepped out of the shower and wrapped herself up in a towel before heading to her room.

There, as she flopped down onto her bed, Fluttershy thought over everything that happened in the last week. She questioned everything about herself. Her strength, her courage, even her sexuality was no longer certain to Fluttershy, but it didn't matter. It was over, and that was that. She was alive, maybe scarred, but alive.

Fluttershy thought of something Thunderlane once said to her. "To live is the duty of those given life." Fluttershy giggled at the time at how pretentious that sounded coming from a total doof like Thunderlane, but now she thought of the sad, sad irony of those words.

Fluttershy sighed and pushed the thought away. She was alive, and she had to move on. She knew she wouldn't get over everything immediately, but as Twilight had said, she had all her friends there to help her.

A yawn passed through, the buttery mare's mouth. Fluttershy looked to the clock on her nightstand and saw that it was extremely late. With a tired yawn, Fluttershy turned off the lamp and got herself under her blankets.

There, as she drifted off to sleep, Fluttershy felt for the first time in five day's, safe. Lonely, but safe.

Author's Note:

You guys have no idea how hard it was for me to click that completed button. But anyway, this was honestly the most fun I've ever had writing, and I want to thank TheMusicalBoy93 for sharing this adventure with me... And for helping me find out that DerpyShy is my official new OTP! Also, keep an eye on Music... He's got something good planned

Comments

[Fossil-Dragon-Messiah]

5722184 hope you like it!

[TheMusicalBoy93]

5722233

Also, keep an eye on Music... He's got something good planned

[The electric bomber]

almost 20 thousand words

JEEEZUS!

[Fossil-Dragon-Messiah]

5738068 Well, hopefully it was a good 20k chapter:3

[The electric bomber]

5738256 It was amazin'!

[Red and Black Alicorn OC]

It's awesome! Made my illness become 20% more bearable!!!

[Fossil-Dragon-Messiah]

5828334 I'm so glad to hear that

[pokefreak13]

And done. Good job

[Fossil-Dragon-Messiah]

6844727 Thank you very much! Be sure to Subscribe to Music and check out the sequel in development!

[pokefreak13]

6844738 Okay!

[Fossil-Dragon-Messiah]

7268618 Thank you very much! It's great to know that we've written a story that's good even after FNaF has lost its relevance. I hope the ending is to your satisfaction