This is...

by WatchMeShadow

The Manehatten Incident part 1

A low growl met Mirror’s ears as she struggled to get free. She frantically pawed at the ground as the monster easily held her flat to the ground. Her heart raced and her nose recoiled at the smell of ripe burnt food from its breath.

“Get off me!” She screamed as she renewed her struggles. The pain from her bitten shoulder was paid no mind. She could just feel the thing opening its maw and chomping down on her neck any second now.

She yelped as she suddenly flew off the ground, hoisted up by the straps of her saddlebags, and was just as quickly flung back onto the ground on her side.

She tried to get up but something kept her in place. Struggling some more, she determined it was her saddlebags that kept her in place. A fearful glance behind herself revealed another one of the wooden creatures partially atop the one that had pinned her down, biting at each other. The one on the ground must’ve got one or more of its thorns stuck in her saddlebags.

With regret, she hurriedly undid the saddlebag straps while they were distracted with each other. The second her restraints were free she got up and ran. She could hear their scuffle get more violent with barks and growls. It faded as she ran. The foreboding forest was silent again, outside of her own hasty hoof falls.

Relief filled her as she began to hear the angry bickering of other animals, but she kept running. Her breath was harsh, body ached, and her shoulder sent a stabbing pain every time she put a front hoof down. She kept running.

In her haste, she dropped down a small bump which was part of a much larger incline. She tried to fly but a branch among the many trees swatted her out of the sky, thanks to her momentum, and sent to tumbling down the incline.

She tried to stop the fall, but she just couldn’t get a grip. She covered her head with her forelegs and tucked in her back legs. Everything came and went as she rolled down hitting things.

Finally, after what seemed like forever she came to a grinding painful stop. After a moment she removed her bruised and slightly cracked forelegs from her head. Pain seared her every movement. She felt dizzy and sick. Her eyelids felt so heavy, her mind burned, and her body hurt. She tried to get up and was rewarded with pain and a strong urge to rest her eyes. She fought to keep her eyelids open but her mind hurt the more she tried.

Slowly her vision faded.

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

“Applebloom wait!” Sweetie yelled holding up a hoof as her friend impressively jumped onto a pony in a large crowd and quickly out of sight. She went to give chase only to be held back.

“Let her go,” Scootaloo said releasing her soon after.

Everything degraded so fast and badly. Applejack was gone. Twilight was gone. Rainbow was gone. Applebloom was also now gone. Sweetie was at a loss, “What do we do? What dowe do? Whatdowedo?” she panicked pacing back in forth. Scootaloo threw a front hoof around her back, and held her in place.

“Isn’t it obvious?” Scootaloo questioned releasing Sweetie who swiveled her head, “that mare up there,” she said pointing to the the dull yellow pegasus in the air, “obviously brainwashed everypony,” she looked at Sweetie expectantly, only to receive a look of ‘what’s your point?.’ She sighed, “...and we need to stop her.”

“Really?” Sweetie asked, eyes trained on the angry mob.

“Yeah,” Scootaloo exclaimed.

“But... how? She brainwashed Twilight, and she’s a Princess! We’re just fillie~s.” Just as Sweetie got near finishing her statement there was a loud cracking from the direction of the crowd that sounded like a rockslide. Trees popped up on the other side of the stage. Scootaloo merely pointed at new line of trees and looked smugly back. After moment Sweetie realized what Scootaloo was doing and she blushed in embarrassment for not realizing it sooner, “What? She still brainwashed Twilight.”

“Yeah,” Scootaloo agreed, “but she didn’t brainwash Applejack, and when Applejack touched her everypony suddenly acted like they had a headache.”

“They did?” Sweetie asked.

Scootaloo to smacked her head, “how could you miss it? There was literally a crowd of ponies doing it all at the same time,” Scootaloo sighed in exasperation, “look we need to do something, I know she’s why my-”

“If you have wings, USE THEM!” the mare yelled, prompting a decent portion of the crowd to suddenly fly into the sky.

“Oh… I don’t think Applebloom will be able to stop them,” Scootaloo said lightly flapping her wings as began to rise from the ground, “find a way to get Twilight away from that mare,” she yelled as she flew higher.

Scootaloo watched as they all began to race in the direction her friend headed, ‘“BUT HOW!?” Sweetie yelled, stopping her just as she was about to get going.

“I don’t know, didn’t you say you got better at magic!?” Scootaloo yelled back hurriedly, glancing at the racing pegasi briefly.

“Yeah, but it’s not like I know a unbrainwash spell!” Sweetie responded from her spot on the ground.

The situation was urgent and Sweetie kept stalling her. She had to move before they swarmed Applejack, “FIGURE IT OUT! I GOT T-” she yelled before facing the crowd again, only to see all the pegasi trapped in large vines behind the row of trees. She blinked her eyes in disbelief, “-uhhhhhh,” she finished dumbly. “...That’s so awesome!” she gushed when she realized what happened. She never would’ve thought of that.

“What is!?” Sweetie asked.

“Applebloom just stopped all those pegasi herself!” She answered excitedly.

“Really? How?” Sweetie asked from the ground where the trees blocked her view.

“Large vines! Kind of like the ones that came from the Everfree that one time now that I think about it. It’s so cool!” She noticed the self proclaimed Charity looking down intensely at the other side of the tree line. It only took her a moment to realize the mare was probable looking for whoever grew the row of trees and vines stopping her brainwashed horde from getting to Applejack, “Sweetie I’m gonna stop that mare before she does anything else, you try and help Twilight if you can!” She yelled as she flew towards the mare who’s at a much higher altitude than she currently was.

“Scootaloo DON’T!” Sweetie cried, her horn lighting up briefly before fizzling out. She grumbled something, noticed the mob of ponies between herself and Twilight grumbled some more pacing back and forth.

Scootaloo ignored her friend as she flew up towards the mare, “Hey you!” she yelled forcefully once she was just out of the mares reach, “What’s your problem!” either the dull yellow mare didn’t hear her or she just ignored her, either way the mare kept her eyes trained below. “HEY!” Scootaloo yelled annoyed. She tapped the mare's shoulder and flew back to safety.

With a frown Charity glanced at her, “go away, little filly. I don’t have time for autographs,” she said gesturing the filly away with her hooves then looked back to the ground.

“Are you deaf?” Scootaloo said circling around in front of her, “I said what’s your problem. What’d you do to everypony?”

“What!?” the mare looked shocked, “I said move it filly!” She demanded, before she held out her hoof as if you stop Scootaloo from moving, not that she was going to budge anyways, “or better yet, be useful and help me find whatever grew all those vines and trees, so I can destroy it!”

“I knew it!” Scootaloo exclaimed joyfully, before she blinked and frowned, “I’m not telling you who made those vines and trees, and I’m not going to let you look for her any longer.”

“Her, you say?” the mare inquired as she fruitlessly continued to try and bypass the filly blocking her view. Scootaloo smacked her head, “Good to know. Now buzz off, if you’re not gonna help,” she said gesturing the filly away, before confusion set on her face and she muttered something.

Scootaloo grit her teeth, “No! Not until you stop brainwashing everypony!” The mare stopped her babble and addressed her.

“MOVE IT!” the mare yelled as her eyes emitted an fiery black magic. Scootaloo was a little freaked out about it, but held firm. The mare frowned and addressed the bracelet around her wrist, “What’s wrong with this stupid thing!”

“Oh, so is that what you’re using to mind control everypony?” Scootaloo asked moreso to herself, “I feel like it should be a helmet of some kind, at least it always is in comic books.” She’s had four previous experiences with mind controlling/altering of some kind and none of them involved a helmet yet. She was disappointed, but glad to have experienced those previous incidents otherwise she would’ve never suspected a bracelet, which currently was the only thing the mare was wearing. It didn’t look like anything special, well besides the black light sucking gem.

“What?” the mare questioned face full of confusion, before it contorted, “it doesn’t matter. Get out of my way filly, that mare did something to me and she’s gonna pay for it, but not before I get rid of the pony who let her get away,” she said in a sinisterly calm way.

“Make me,” Scootaloo challenged.

“move it,” she said her eye twitching but Scootaloo remained, “move it, move it, move it,” she yelled giving chase. Eyes widened, Scootaloo flew back, and circled around before she got cornered by a building. “GAH,” the mare yelled, giving up on the chase, “what’s wrong with this piece of junk!”

“Hah, you can’t catch me,” Scootaloo boasted, “I’m not gonna move until you stop brainwashing everypony!”

“Brainwashing? Ha, mhaha, I’m not doing that. This,” she said gesturing to her bracelet with a frown, “makes people believe in me and feel as if I’m the only pony they can trust. Well it should, but obviously this worthless thing can’t even make a blank flank filly believe in me!” she yelled shaking her braceleted hoof angrily, “Work, you piece of-” she stopped and quickly looked behind herself, “who said that?”

“Who said what?” Scootaloo asked not seeing anypony else near them, nor hearing anypony else say anything. Glancing down she saw the angry mob fruitlessly trying to bypass the line of trees, and Sweetie watching intently at them pacing back and forth. Her friend either didn’t try to get to Twilight or gave up. She couldn’t blame her though, the crowd was pretty packed.

The mare stared into space, her wings sputtered about but somehow kept her in place.

“You say potato I say pototo, you’re still-” Scootaloo began only to notice the mares mental absence, “-brainwashing everypony,” she finished quietly. Cautiously, she flew closer to the mare whose eyes looked on distantly. “Hey, you in there?”

Sweetie watched from her spot on the ground, since she couldn’t really do much else. She had gotten better at magic but the thought of making somepony vanish because she lost concentration was something that paralyzed her from acting. She’d get trampled if she tried running through that mob. Even if she did manage to make to Twilight she wouldn’t know what to do. Possible talk her into leaving, even though that didn’t help Applejack one bit. So she watched uselessly as Scootaloo confronted the pony who seemed to be behind it all.

Her friend waved a hoof in front of the mare receiving no reaction; even though, she had just chased her friend down moments ago. She was biting her hoof nails during that.

Scootaloo flew above and to the mare's side and tapped the mare’s back. The mare yelped and swatted behind herself, striking Scootaloo who shot towards a building so fast Sweetie barely saw it happen. A loud bang rang out as said building exploded.

Shattered glass and molten debris fell to the street below. The angry mob was quick to get out of its way. Smoke came from the new gaping hole in the skyscraper. Her lower lip quivered, and tears came to bud as realization did.

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Applebloom felt a cold chill go from her forehoof across her back rather swiftly after a loud bang. She heard a crackle along the path the chill went. She opened her eyes and saw smooth ice now covering her hoof that continued along the same path of the chill. It actually kind of felt nice, considering how hot it was outside. The mare however seemed distracted with something behind and above herself. A glance up showed a skyscraper had exploded or something, likely the source of the loud bang she heard.

She didn’t know what to expect from the unicorn but an ice type spell wasn’t it. She didn’t have it in her to fight anymore, looking at the path of destruction she made as she lay there, all the ponies whose legs she broke. Guilt ate away at her. Their initial screams echoed in her mind. The fact she could see most of them fruitlessly nursing their legs didn’t help her feel any better. She’d give up, not cripple anypony else and hope she could heal those she did hurt.

The cold ice really felt good. If anything it made her feel rejuvenated. With a thought she placed her tongue along her teeth, looking for the hole her missing tooth must’ve left. She double checked when she found no such hole. With another thought she felt for her numb leg and was relieved that she could feel something from it now, even if it was a significantly stronger feeling of weakness than her whole body felt, which was slowly ebbing from her. With that, she realized her jaw no longer hurt.

“SCOOTALOOO~!” came a heart wrenching yell in the distance, stopping her self assessment. Dread washed over her. It didn’t sound good. What caused Sweetie to yell like that? Was it the explosion? She had to know.

Closing her eyes she focused on her hearing. She heard so much. She doesn’t know what she was hoping to hear. Through the chaos a familiar sound came to her. She concentrated more to kick out the background noise and focus on what sounded like familiar crying. “WELL!!!” somepony screamed so loud it made Applebloom deaf for a nano-second, “that should hold you, time to take out that changeling!” the mare who casted the ice spell said gleefully.

Applebloom reeled then sighed when realized why her ears felt like a jackhammer was used on them, if only for a brief moment. “She ain’t a changeling,” she grumbled as the unicorn passed her. She didn’t bother to try and stop the mare as she ran towards the direction her sister went. Her mind was on her friends. She also felt confident her sister had enough time to get away. She glanced behind herself and spotted the mare was soon stopped by the other unicorn who proclaimed that she was going to do it. Soon, they were having a meager unicorn battle, with ice spells, shield spells, and that other spell that seemed to do nothing flying about.

Applebloom didn’t pay them any mind though. She had to find out what happened to Scootaloo. The way Sweetie sounded, she feared the worst. She quickly and easily broke out of her surprisingly thick ice entrapment, almost as if it was a light dusting of snow that was on her. She cringed at the sight of all the ponies whose legs she broke. She couldn’t leave them like that any longer right? Should she heal them or go see what’s making her friend cry?

She made up her mind, and walked. She continued until she made it to the first of her victims and with a sigh, she continued, only to immediately jump back as something sharp passed by where her face almost would’ve been.

Just ahead of her was the old donkey. With her mind on her friends she completely forgot about him. He wore a tie dye T-shirt, straw hat, and held his cane close, “For such a small filly, you sure seem to cause a lot of trouble,” he smirked, before in one swift movement, he picked up the pony on the ground with his cane and flung him behind himself. The pony slided on the pavement briefly on his good side.

“W-what of it, A-Ah can heal them back good as new!” She countered acting tough as her body shook involuntarily. She couldn’t help but think of how easily he defeated that minotaur back at the Martial Arts Festival. This was an individual who clearly spent his entire life perfecting the martial arts. She didn’t want to fight him.

He chuckled at that, “So you say... I think you’re lying,” he said as he advanced slowly, and she backed up, “after all, you claimed you wouldn’t let anypony pass. Yet, I see two ponies behind you right now. Your word is shaky at best. Maybe you should give me a demonstration, seeing is believing as they say.”

“N-now how am Ah supposed to do that when ya went and threw em behind yourse-” before she could finish her thought he extended his cane, which upon closer inspection she quickly learned it was actually a cleverly disguised scabbard for a sword, ‘oh.’ Then it hit her that he had a sword, without any further thought she jumped back again, just as he swiftly slashed diagonally for one of her legs. “What’s your problem!” She grit her teeth, “Why would you do that? I’m just a filly!” He hummed then took his straw hat and set it on the ground, which for some reason sent a jolt of fear up her spine. “F-fine, you can pass,” she said gesturing for him to go.

“Hmm~,” he brought a hoof to his chin a thoughtful manner, “why the sudden change in resolve. I wonder.”

She frowned, “it doesn’t matter to you. Also, If you hurt my sister, Ah’ll pay you back ten fold! Heal you, then do it again!” she said as she walked out of his path, with wide berth. She gestured for him to go, “...Well, get going!”

“Such a rattle, for such a little snake. It promises doom while it slithers away from its hunter,” he said as he got in front of her path again, “No. I will not let you go back on your word, well more so than you already have. So I propose a new challenge. If you want to proceed, then, you must pass me.”

“Y-you can’t be serious. You have a sword! And I don’t have time for this!” she exclaimed. The more time spent not knowing what happened to her friend the more her mind thought of horrendous things that could’ve happened.

“You don’t? Then you have three seconds to get prepared,” he said. “One.”

“Prepared for what?” Applebloom asked innocently.

“Two.” Appleblooms heart raced.

“We don’t have to-” She tried to argue.

“Three.” Without further warning he unsheathed his sword, which was more like a katana, and gracefully chucked the sheath at her.

Applebloom watched stupidly as the blunt end of the mock wooden cane flew towards her. It promptly hit her forehead in between her eyes. For a moment she was dazed and she closed her eyes instinctively for a moment. When she opened them again the scabbard/cane had hit the ground and the donkey was no longer in front of her. Panicked she looked around quickly, not seeing a sign of where he went, until she felt a slight wind against her back. Without further prompting she dived to the side, moments before he landed where she had been.

“Now hol-” she began as he in one swift motion tried to sweep her from off her hooves. She jumped back narrowly avoiding it, “Stop, we don’t-woah!” She yelled as he picked up his scabbard/cane and yet again gracefully chucked it at her. A little more prepared this time and not wanting a headache she covered her forehead with both her forelegs. She lowered them after it struck and found him missing again. She looked above herself expecting to find him, but saw nothing but skyscrapers and the blue sky above. A slight noise was heard from behind and that was all the encouragement she needed to dive for the ground directly in front of herself. She felt the hairs of her back legs get a close shave.

“Fine!” She yelled as she got up and faced him. He already closed the distance between them with his katana, about to go for a swing. Her eyes bulged at the sight. She dodged to the side as it swiftly came slicing down. He didn’t stop there and kept going, exactly like the minotaur had done with him she noted. Though he only had one weapon held in one hoof, and she was a filly, and his weapon could actually hurt her.

She kept backing up barely dodging his relentless attacks. After about the fifth dodge he seemed to be getting much slower and she began to burn.

Another swing, another dodge.

The next thing she knew his swift almost unseeable weapon was very much seeable and she felt like she was in the Cakes oven. Confusion set in as he continued to ever so slowly lower his katana even though she was clearly out of its way. She couldn’t hear much of anything and what she did hear was strange to say the least. She felt like she was on fire.

She reached out for the sword before it could finish its decent and clasped it between both her hooves as hard as she could. She felt the katana continue to try it’s decent but she held it in place. Suddenly, she began to cool down, if only a little and she was assaulted by all kinds of sounds. However all those sounds were drowned out by the loud clap almost bang of her hooves followed by a resonating pang of the katana.

She breathed heavily as she held the katana in place. The donkey tried to get it free but gave up when she hadn’t budged. She glared up at him then easily ripped the katana from his grip and slided it away from them. He didn’t seem bothered by that, if anything he let go of the katana.

Her body cooled down, but she felt even more weak all over. It somewhat hurt to breath as heavily as she was. She felt worse when she tried for a marathon cutiemark, but this time around she couldn’t flop on the ground and stay there till her sister came and got her.

He smiled at her in an honest and excited way. It was reminiscent of her friends smiles when they were about to go on a crusade. It only cemented her need to get past this donkey, who was definitely some kind of karate master. “Ha-” she breathed and grit her teeth, “out of-ha my way.”

“Or what? You’ll break my leg too?” he asked joyville with a smile, as he gestured the ponies now around them.

She cringed taken aback by how he could say something like that so happily, “No, Ah-” she began, only to stop as he closed the distance between them and punched for her head but a little too high. She ducked and felt a slight tug from her hair. Her muscles burned to get back up, “Wha-” she asked at the sight of him holding her bow tie, “HEY! Give that back to me!” She yelled, and made to grab for it, ignoring her aches, but he moved it out of her reach, “Give it back!”

“Hmmm,” he hummed looking it over all while keeping it away from her. She jumped for it and he easily side stepped, keeping her in front of himself, “No,” he answered. Appleblooms eye twitched, “I rather like it. I think, I’ll keep it,” he declared.

She shook in place, “It’s not yours,” she said through clenched teeth.

“It is now,” he said as if it was fact, “though I do need to get rid of these ugly stains, what is that ketchup?”

“Raahhhh,” she screamed getting low on all four hooves like a heavy industrial strength spring, and sprung towards the donkey, a forehoof held back. The next moment she shot her forehoof forward in a powerful punch. The donkey raised his free foreleg and misdirected the force of her otherwise devastating punch to harmlessly hit nothing but air.

He whistled, clearly impressed, “scary,” the donkey said as he shook his hoof that misdirected her punch before he took the bow tie and tucked it inside his tie dye T-shirt. The bows could be seen sticking out almost reaching his chin, “you should be more careful little filly, you could break some pony doing that,” he stated. The hoof that misdirected her hit was a little shaky.

She yelled and lunged at him again. He ducked as she flew past him. Again, he rolled out of the way. One more time and he jumped above her as she flew past.

“I should’ve brought my red cape,” he said cheerily as he side stepped her next lunge, “at least you’d hit something then.”

A wave of weakness that’d been slowly building up overcame Applebloom. She stumbled like a drunken sailor barely stopping herself from falling. She stood on shaky legs trying to catch her breath. The unnamed donkey watched her cautiously. She breathed in as if she’d tested how long she could keep her breath underwater and over did it. She felt woozy like she was on capsizing boat. Salty sweat matted some of her mane and dripped down her face.

The disorienting feeling quickly reoriented itself, and her legs regained some strength. ‘What am Ah doin’?’ she thought. She looked down regretfully, which quickly turned to anger when she faced the donkey or more specifically her bow tie. She breathed in and relaxed. She opened her mouth to say something, only for it to hang open at the sight behind and above the donkey. Relief washed over her, like a ship sighting while stranded on an island.

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

A series of random faint crackles could be heard through the darkness. Pain could be felt on her side as she tried to move. It hurt. What happened she wondered trying to remember. The crackling sounded familiar to her, it reminded her of camping, “Fire!” she yelled in alarm opening her eyes and trying to get on her hooves only for the pain to go up a couple notches stopping her in her tracks.

A look around revealed her laying on her back halfway submerged in liquid metal and stone of some kind. A large gaping hole was immediately in front of her. It was as if somepony shot a giant death ray at the skyscraper she now occupied. It billowed black smoke from its sides and the parts near the top she could see looked as if it had dripped molten glass and metal down below. Behind her a wooden desk and an office wall were on fire, and the source of all the crackling. If she had to guess she’d say the liquid floor she rested on was responsible for the fire. Previous experience had allowed her to deduce that much.

Slowly she got up favoring her side that hurt with her opposite forehoof. She glanced down at the liquid metal and stone she now stood on and wondered why it was just like a cloud. On a whim, she removed her hoof from her side and dipped it into the floor and drew the metal to it. Liquid metal quickly amassed around her hoof and slowly started creeping up it. She felt like she was onto something, as it continued to creep up her leg. It captivated her for a moment, until her wits came back to her.

Scootaloo frowned, looked up, and brought her hoof back to her hurt side. It was bruised for sure. Testing her wings and legs she was glad to find moving them didn’t disturb her side too much. She took to air and headed towards the giant hole. She looked back and wondered if she should do something about the fire she unintentionally started. She watched as it started to spread to other office walls and desks. The last time she tried to stop a fire she only made it worse. Now that she thinks about it Twilight handled the fire like it was nothing. If her ability is going to cause fires like this then she should figure out how to put them out.

Before she could decide what to do an alarm went off, water sprayed down from the ceiling, almost outrightly killing the fire. That made her choice easy. She headed past the hole into the outside world. A street full of ponies and a line of trees were far below her, soo much so they didn’t even register to her.

She found the mare, Charity was her name if she recalled, who turned her into a meteor frantically mumbling to herself, “HEY!” she yelled getting Charities attention, “I don’t know what your problem is, but hitting ponies into buildings isn’t a good way to deal with them, even though I think I startled you while you zoned out. Zoning out on people is uncool!”

All the while Charity pointed to giant hole and then the filly who flew out of it in disbelief, “How are you still alive?”

Scootaloo rubbed her side, and something felt off about it. She thought about that. How was she alive? She looked at the destruction. That was something she wouldn’t expect anypony to live through, cept maybe Celestia and Luna. Thinking on it some more she realized Charity hit her very hard and that was after she tried to avoid it. If it wasn’t for the fact she was in the air she’d definitely have more than a bruised side. Heck, if it wasn’t for her new abilities the crash into the skyscraper would’ve been much less destructive, but it probably would’ve done her in though. “...I honestly don’t think I would be if it wasn’t for-” she trailed off as she noticed her hoof holding her bruised side was still covered in liquid metal, “huh… ummm.”

“Actually, you know what? I don’t care. LEAVE NOW!” Charity demanded. Her fur seemed a little less colorful and vibrant, not that it was too colorful and vibrant to begin with. Scootaloo was preoccupied contemplating what to do with the liquid metal encasing her hoof. “I TOLD YOU TO LEAVE!” Charity raged.

That snapped Scootaloo out of her thoughts. Charity charged at the filly forehooves ahead. Shocked Scootaloo extended her free hoof bringing forth a strong gust of wind that sent Charity tumbling back. Charity made a surprisingly good recovery, and charged again. The shock was gone but now she was beginning to feel annoyed. All she wanted to do was have a vacation with Rainbow Dash as a new family. One that had been going great, all things considered, up until this morning. She could only think of one reason why things went downhill, “Take off that wristband! It’s driving you and everypony else crazy!” She yelled with another flick of the wrist.

“How’d you do that!?” Charity demanded, after being sent tumbling back again.

“I’ll tell you if you take off that wristband!,” Scootaloo answered.

“AUGH! You insufferable blankflank!” She insulted before flying down towards the crowded street, “Princess Twilight!” She yelled, “Get up here and take care of this annoying pest!” She said gesturing to Scootaloo.

“How? You told me not to use my wings and magic.” Twilight yelled back.

“THEN USE YOUR WINGS AND MAGIC! JUST GET RID OF HER!” Charity roared.

Twilight rose from the crowd, scattered yet focused eyes trained on Scootaloo. She charged in much the same manner Charity did. Scootaloo flew to the side avoiding Twilight who decently reoriented herself, “Twilight what are you doing?” Scootaloo asked alarmed.

She didn’t answer but instead charged again. Scootaloo raised her hoof but stopped herself. She didn’t want to hurt Twilight. She boosted herself up barely avoiding the tackle. She looked down and Twilight disappeared with a lightshow. She heard a familiar sound behind herself. She quickly flew forward and turned around. Twilight’s horn glowed. A purple spell shot from it and Scootaloo flew upwards barely avoiding it.

She kept her eyes on the brainwashed Princess for whatever insane thing she’d do next. This was crazy. She needed help. She thought about what to do.

Twilight charged again, horn alight. She fired another spell that came much faster this time.

She dived down barely dodging the spell, glad she put some distance between themselves after the first spell. She had a goal to get to the only pony she could think of that could help. Her target was currently covering her eyes with both forelegs, “Sweetie!” she yelled as she got closer, “Sweetie!” she yelled again getting her friends attention. Bloodshot eyes met her, which was quickly overshadowed by unrestrained happiness.

“Scootaloo!” Sweetie raspily yelled and jumped all to happily, her ears went down, “I-I th-thought y-you-”

“Listen!” she interrupted, “I need you to stop Twilight from frying me, or whatever she’s trying to do.”

Sweetie’s face scrunched up, before she wiped her eyes one more time, “W-why would Twilight do that?” Sweetie asked as Scootaloo looked elsewhere. Upon closer inspection of her living friend, who’s alive, she noticed a forehoof was held close to the opposite side of her body and she seemed to be cringing a little bit.

“Because she’s-” Scootaloo stopped as she flew out of the path of more balls of magic that flew down towards her. None of which landed near Sweetie, “-brainwashed.”

“Scootaloo wait-” Sweetie tried to request as Scootaloo flew away and Twilight took her place giving chase. She watched her friend continue her limited acrobatics. Scootaloo was clearly trying not to move her body too much. Soon enough Charity joined. That’s when Scootaloo started to struggle.

Charity tried to swoop in, but Scootaloo would blow her away with a flick of the wrist. Twilight kept firing spells. Some of were completely off target, which actually made it a little harder on Scootaloo. Charity charged from behind Twilight forcing Scootaloo evade, “A little help Sweetie!” She yelled.

Sweetie could really only think of one spell she could use to help her friend but it seemed risky to her. It was the most basic spell a unicorn uses. She learned how to do it mostly safely, but that didn’t change the fact she could make something disappear, or rather some pony, if she wasn’t careful. That terrified her. Lost in thought, her eyes trailed away from the game of cat and mouse, to the smoking building left by her friend.

Scootaloo dodged another charge from Charity. Several bolts of purple magic flew towards the filly barely missing or completely missing as she flew around. She blew Charity away again but didn’t notice Twilight coming from below after another teleport.

“SCOOTALOO!” Sweetie yelled. Without thought her horn lit up and encased Twilight in a dense light green aurora, stopping Twilight in her tracks.

“Thanks Sweetie!” Scootaloo thanked, “Just keep Twilight there while I deal with this crazy mare,” she finished flying towards said mare who looked at Twilight clearly agitated.

Sweetie relaxed for a second before she realized something. She freaked out, ‘oh my Celestia!’ she thought, ‘What if I make make Twilight disappear,’ she blinked, ‘okay, not helping. Calm down she’s still there,’ she breathed in and out, ‘Twilight taught me how to deal with something like this. All I have to do is stay calm, relax, close my eyes, and…’ she frowned at her itchy eyes.

Scootaloo addressed Charity ignoring the trapped princess behind herself, “take off that brace. It's driving you loco!”

“Princess get her now!” Charity demanded. Scootaloo just focused on the mare “Why aren't you do-” Charity complained stopping mid sentence when she got a good look at Twilight, “wha- who is holding you!? WHO CAN HOLD AN ALICORN WITH THEIR MAGIC? I’M SICK OF THESE GAMES!” She exclaimed furiously looking around. “YOU!” She yelled pointing a hoof down towards Sweetie whose horn was basically a large light green glowing beacon. “She grew those trees and vines didn’t she?” She asked Scootaloo, “why am I asking you? Of course she did, only a unicorn could pull off weird magic like that! Well, that’s the last time she’ll EVER get in my way!”

Charity chuckled creepily and gave Scootaloo the creepiest smile she ever saw, before she flew straight for Sweetie. Alarmed, Scootaloo went to intercept whatever the crazed mare had planned. Sweetie had her eyes closed and seemed not to be paying attention. Scootaloo picked up the speed as Charity drew closer. Charity stopped and faced Scootaloo just as they were about to collide. She punched Scootaloo in the stomach.

Charity yelped and brought a throbbing sore hoof infront of her face for inspection, as Scootaloo was sent tumbling upwards from the blow.

Scootaloo stopped her upward accent by spreading her wings and straightening herself, the bruise on her side hurt with that. She inquisitively glanced at her hoof still covered in liquid metal. She thought she saw it some of it solid and dented in, but pain made her quickly move it back to its place on her bruised side. She had more important things on her mind. Angrily she flew back down. That mare threatened her friend, and that was all the encouragement she needed to move. She flew slightly below the mare still distracted by her hoof and sent a powerful gust of wind upwards.

She cringed as Charity rapidly ascended into a skyscraper way down the road, almost as if she was a ball hit by a baseball bat. She stared at the scene open mouthed. She watched as Charity crashed into a window, shattering it. She didn’t mean to do that. Maybe it didn’t horrible mangle Charity. She hoped. “Sweetie! Are you okay?”

Sweetie’s magic was significantly less of a beacon but it was still obvious she was casting a spell. Eyes closed in concentration, it was hard to tell if she heard or not, “Yeah,” she answered raspily, “I-I just,” she hacked a little bit, “need to stay calm.”

“Are you sure you’re okay?” Sweeties opened her eyes and after a little searching, found Scootaloo and nodded. “Well, I might have done something unforgivable… I need to see for sure, I’ll be back.” Slowly she flew towards the building. She had to know how bad it was. It was an accident she told herself.

Before she could get near it the mare flew out. Scootaloo let out a sigh of relief. The mare flew towards her, leaving a black and yellow contrial in her wake. She kept coming, gaining some more speed. Scootaloo prepared herself, as Charity suddenly stopped, “That hurt you blank flank!”

Scootaloo was a little freaked out at the black fire around her eyes and wings. She was also annoyed, “Good, maybe you should stop brainwashing ponies!”

Charity roared and charged. Scootaloo tried to fling her back as she’s done before with a gust of wind, though not into a building this time. Charity fought her way through strong gust of wind but not fast enough for Scootaloo to realize something was wrong. She barely got out of the way. “Ha!” Charity exclaimed in manner that any mad scientist would approve of, “couldn’t stop me that time! So much power, it feels so... invegerating!”

“You need to stop,” Scootaloo said wide eyed at the mare facing her. More black fire slowly enveloped the mare, “that’s dark magic! Nothing good comes from it.”

“YEAH!” Charity yelled in a way that confused Scootaloo. It didn’t sound like Charity agreed, “and what do you know about anything Blank Flank!” She clearly didn’t want that answered, “to you life is just all lollipops and rainbows isn’t it? Well, I’ll show you the real world! That ponies will ALWAYS abandon you for something better!” She smiled, “and right now. Nothing is better than me!” With that she flew towards the crowds, “Hey everypony! ”she yelled getting the crowds undivided attention, “There’s a filly over there,” she yelled pointing at said filly, “that hurt me and Princess Twilight, she also stopped all you from getting that other mare who hurt me. I think you all know what to do.”

The crowd roared an unholy mish of anger and threats. Scootaloo watched in shock at the sudden turn of events. That mare has completely lost her mind. She looked around at all the destruction and damage that’s already been caused. To her friend who was just standing there calmly, seemingly unaware of the mob now rushing towards her. What does she do?

She was sick of this. She just wanted a nice vacation. There was really only one thing she could think to do. Flying down she heavily landed a couple steps away from the closest approaching crowd member, punching a hole through the cement. A moment later a thick section of road between herself and Sweetie rose into the air until it was about equal in height with the trees behind her. The closest pony barely had time to react to the sudden cliff and slammed into on his side, as the rest of the crowd stopped and piled ontop of each other.

With that done, Scootaloo scowled at the mare looking at yet another one of her attempts to have brainwashed ponies do her dirty work being stopped. With a flap of her wings she shot towards the mare, and flared out her wings stopping herself instantly just below said mare, who was being encased by significantly more black magic. With both hooves she sent Charity straight up far far above the sky scrapers. With the next flap of her wings she followed, blowing any ponies near them away.

She might’ve put a little too much power in her own accent and over shot Charity pretty quickly. It turned out to be a happy accident as Charity reached where Scootaloo ended up stopping, “You’re wrong about ponies!” Scootaloo yelled, “NOW STOP RUINING MY FIRST FAMILY VACATION!” With that she spreaded both her wings fully and flaped them. Within that moment a powerful slipstream had been made starting from Scootaloo and extending somewhere in the heart of Equestria. Charity could not escape it let alone fight it as she quickly vanished from Scootaloos sight. She sighed in relief. It was finally over. Before looking down.

Author's Note:

Sorry for the wait. I want thing to be good and I'm not the best writer :/

Hope you enjoyed this one.