This is what we do

by Foxgear

Everything is on FIRE!

This is what we do Chapter 35
By Foxgear

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Canterlot Hospital 7:00 pm 11 hours before Mac’s return

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The clocked ticked by slowly from Limestone Pie’s point of view. She was sitting in the corner of Nyx and Sonata’s hospital room reading one of the vastly outdated magazines from the lobby. The rhythmic beep of their heart monitors created a persistent background noise that she longed tuned out. With another turn of the page, she eyed the man, Stryker Six, who sat opposite of her with arms crossed.

For many things she should be thinking about, like her missing sister, her other sister lone at home, and what she’s going to tell her dad when he gets back from vacation and finds out about their injured and dead workers. Anyone of those things where a heavy enough issue on their own, some more than others. So, to keep her sanity; she focused on Stryker’s arms, his big strong arms.

(I’ve never felt so girly that I wanted to be held by a big strong man.) She turned the page of her literature, a faint blush adorning her cheeks when the article headline read ‘3 secret sex tips’. Quickly flipping the page Limestone coughed to recompose herself.

Honestly, she just didn’t want to deal with the problems right now. She should at least call Marble, but she didn’t want to drag her meek sister into this magic mess anymore then she’d been dragged into it.

Still running from her problems Limestone eyed Stryker again, noticing a little grey stubble on his chin. (How fucking old is this guy? Or better question how thirsty am I that I’m finding him attractive?)

She didn’t know if seeing Mac again, who she had a crush on when they were in high school or the fact he was already married and about to have a kid was making her rethink her work ordinated life. Either way, she just wanted to distraction from her current problems. To feel some bliss for just a little while.

Someone rapped on the door. Stryker jumped to his feet his hand reaching behind his waist as he opened the door. Much to his and her shock, an identical person stood in the doorway. Semi-identical at least. The Stryker standing in the doorway had orange hair, but other than that minor difference, their facial features and skin tone was a perfect match. Like a twin that dyed his hair to help differentiate from himself.

“Hello, there.” A grandmotherly voice said from behind Stryker’s look alike. “Sixes move! Let us in the bloody room already.” The woman in a white kimono demanded. She hardly faltered at Stryker and made a beeline for Sonata. “Oh, poor dearie, you’ve had a rough time.”
While the woman rummaged through her kimono sleeve for something, Ferocious entered behind her and shut the door. The red detective limped to the nearest chair and sagged down into it. “Sorry about not calling, but you know the rule, no cell calls in the hospital. This is Commander Sixes, your counterpart. Now it’s your turn to be weirded out.”

Stryker laughed, stepping back to compare himself to Sixes. “Damn, I think you got an inch on me. I’m Stryker Six.”

“Sixes,” Sixes greeted, shaking Stryker’s hand. “With formalities out of the way can we get down to business?”

“Yeah, sure. What’s going on anyway?” Stryker asked while he sat down in the last open chair. He took a second to crane his neck at the Kimono woman, looking concerned. “No offense, but why’d you bring Grandma over there? She a white mage or something?”

Sixes blinked, while the woman ignored them.

“He’s asking if Ms. Kira is a Healer.” Ferocious clarified.

Both Sixes and Kira laughed gut-busting laughs. Kira wiped a stray tear from her eye as she faced them. “I’m sorry, but me? A healer? I’ve dabbled in the skill after my retirement, but it’s laughable to think me a healer. Right, Sixes?”

“Can’t blame them, you’re not as infamous here.” Sixes replied, noting their confused stares. “Sorry, sorry, let me properly introduce you three to Mother Queen Kira Perfecta Shiroyama, Great Mother of the Nation of Nippon and our world’s deadest grandma.”

“I don’t know, Princess Celestia might be gunning to retake that title after her little outburst at Mac’s house. Besides if I’m the world’s deadest Grandma that would make you the deadest Grandpa.”

Confused Limestone spoke up, “Wait, wait, wait, I get you’re a grandma, you look the part, but Sixes over here doesn’t look any older than these two guys. How old are you two?”

Kira and Sixes lock eyes, humming as they did some quick math. “One thousand and twelve years old, I think?” Sixes answered.

Kira scoffed, “That hardly counts! You were asleep for most of those thousand years.”

“So were you.”

“I was awake every other generation at least!”

“Ok enough! What the hell are you three doing here? Because I thought you were here to help find my sister.” Limestone growled bringing the tedious argument to an end.

“We are,” Sixes stated, turning deathly serious. His gaze turned so ice cold that it made Limestone gulp and shrink into her chair with a shiver. She preferred him laughing.

“Ok, good to know.”

“So why are you guys here?” Stryker asked getting things on track. Ferocious merely pointed to Sixes.

“This guy said he needs some of Limestone’s blood.”

“Just a little,” Sixes reiterated.

Limestone extended her hand, but then pulled it back, eyeing Sixes wearily. “How does this work? I mean, how will giving you my blood find my sister?”

“Oh, that’s simple,” Kira interjected kneeling in front of Limestone clasping the pie sister’s hand and singled out her pinkie finger. “We’re going to use the power of love. As strange as that sounds. Trust me, we used this method to track down many others in the past. Providing we had lovers or family to perform the spell on that is.”

“Ok… that doesn’t explain anything.” Limestone reiterated even more confused now. Also, she couldn’t pull her hand free. Kira’s grip strength was scary tight for how old she looked. It was like a vice! Her nerves started to rise as Kira pressed her clawed thumbnail to her pinkie finger.

“Have you ever heard of the red thread of fate?” The elderly woman babbled on, acting like she wasn’t stabbing Limestone with her very sharp talon. Limestone winced as a small droplet of blood seeped out of her finger digit and became of a steady red stream that flowed over Kira’s pale hands. “There that should be enough.”

Kira stood and much to Limestone’s quivering stomach, and amazement tugged at a red string that was now attached to her pinkie finger. The elderly woman then proceeded to tie the rope around her pinkie, ending finishing the knot with a cute little bow.

“That is disgusting.” Commented Limestone holding her free hand over her mouth.

“Some think so. Just be lucky I didn’t have to wrap it around your entire leg. That requires much more blood. Now please think of your loved ones, specifically Pinkie Pie.” Kira instructed.

Limestone at a loss did as she was told and thought of her sister. She felt a tug on her finger, which pulled harder the more she thought about Pinkie Pie. “What the hell?”

“Connection established we have our bloodhound Sixes,” Kira said pleased with her work.

“That Nippon magic of yours sure comes in handy,” Sixes grinned, though Limestone found it unsettling. It wasn’t a happy grin. And now that she realized they never made clear what they were going to do when they found Pinkie.

Clutching her hand close to her heart, she eyed the newcomers suspiciously. “You two, you’re not going to hurt my sister, are you?” It was maybe a little late to ask that question, but something troubled her about the odd pair. A shiver ran down her spine when she looked at them.

“No more then we did last time, I hope,” Kira replied sheepishly. Remembering how Pinkie dropped an apartment building on top of her. “I mean we’re not here to kill them, but they won’t get away without a few scratches.”

Sixes sighed, his body visibly relaxing, and the tension in Limestone’s spine dispersed. “Look, Ms. Pie, we can’t promise your sister will get out this unharmed, but she will come out alive if we move now. She has evil inside her. An evil that will hollow out her soul and use her body as a meat suit if we don’t find her. All those girls, Pinkie included are about to hit the point of no return. Please, help us find them. Unless you’d rather us talk to Marble.”

Limestone hissed at the mention of her meeker younger sister. “The hell you will. Let’s go. How do I use this thing?” She indicated the red thread around her finger.

“Just think of Pinkie, and it’ll pull you towards her. Have you narrowed down the area where they might be?” Kira asked Ferocious.

“The wildlife preserve, it’s a few hundred acres of hills, creeks, and trees with a lot of places to hide. Things will get harder if the snow keeps coming down.” He answered.

Sixes stood in front Limestone looking her straight in the eyes, “I hope you’re ready for a hike Miss Pie. You’re Pinkie’s only hope.”

“Ok, let’s do this.” She nodded following Sixes and Kira out of the room.

“Keep watch here, buddy, we’ll be back with good news soon hopefully,” Ferocious told Stryker before hobbling after the three.

In the hospital parking lot where Celestia, Luna, and Shadow Specter were waiting. Sixes had Limestone sit in the passenger seat of her pick up while Luna drove, with himself and Kira in the back of the four-door diesel. Following behind them in Feri’s car was Celestia, Ferocious and Shadow Specter.

The two-car convoy drove through the lightly fallen snow towards the wildlife preserve. Using a map, they tried to find a road that was the closest to the Pinkie’s position. A hard task for Limestone because she couldn’t judge how far away from her sister was. Randomly her hand would jerk and hit the side window. One time it hit hard enough to bruise Limestone’s knuckle. And another time her fist went the opposite way and nearly clocked Luna in the face. This went on for hours. Sixes and Kira marking the reactions on the map. When they arrived at the last entry to the wildlands, they found a car buried in snow.

“This is strange,” Ferocious said as they all gathered around the car. He typed the plate into his phone, the police database reporting it stolen a few days ago. Breaking the driver’s window, he found a bundle of multicolored hairs. “Rainbow Dash was here.”

“Than we're on the right track,” Nodded Sixes looking to Limestone. “I’ll take point. Kira take left, Shadow the right, Limestone will be in the center with the rest of you in the rear.”

“You can’t expect us to make it very far in this weather,” Limestone shivered hugging her body as another gust of wind chilled her to the bone. She wore a heavy jacket, but her gloves and jeans were proving inefficient.

Sixes scoffed, his body beginning to steam, causing the temperature suddenly spiked upwards. “Try to remember I’m part dragon. I’m a walking furnace. Now, which way do we go?”

Limestone held out her fist and felt a sharp tug that nearly pulled her off her feet. “That way.” She pointed. Sixes marched forward, melting the snow with his steps and creating a smooth path for her and the others to walk on.

“It’s about midnight,” Kira said after some time. They were stopped at the edge of a ravine with the sound of water flowing below. Sixes threw a glowing glop of lava down into the darkness, the molten rock sizzled as it hit the cold water below.

“About six hours since we sent Mac and the others across the looking glass then.” Sixes drawled couched at the edge of the small cliff. The drop had to about fifty feet. “I hoped we’d make better progress than this. At this rate, Mac’s going to wake up and come charging back here.”

The two-night patrollers hummed displeased with their slow progress.

“Which way now?” Sixes inquired.

“Still that way,” Limestone answered her hand pulling towards the bottom of the ravine.

They were trying to use a little magic as possible. It would only be a waste of energy to do anything too flashy, and it would catch the attention of their prey and give them to prepare or flee. Molding lava and generating heat were natural abilities for Sixes, it took the tiniest about of magic to use the skill, nothing that would appear on anyone’s radar. Getting down from this ravine in the dark would take more than that. Climbing down would be almost impossible. Lucky, they had a workaround.

Sixes threw another glop of lava down hitting the shore this time. “Shadow if you would.”

The ghost pony nodded and touched Limestone and Luna on the shoulder. He grinned briefly before the three of them disappeared into the earth. Seconds later, Limestone and Luna were at the bottom of the ravine at the edge of the creek. Patting themselves down breathlessly as the sensation of passing through solid rock overwhelmed their senses. In another flash, Celestia and Ferocious were beside them and then he and Kira. Shadow materialized out of the ground panting slightly.

“You ok?”

“I’m fine, just don’t make me do that again right away.” Shadow requested.

“Noted, you are the key to this plan. Which way now, Limestone?” Sixes asked, the Pie sister already walking into the woods ahead of them. “Hey what do you think you're doing?”

“It’s not me!” Limestone screamed, struggling to fight against the invisible force pulling her across the ground. She dug her heels into the snow-covered ground, but force tugged harder, pulling her face first into the snow and reeling her in like a fish on a hook. Making them break into a sprint to keep up with her.

“Go on without me!” Ferocious shouted as he fell behind due to his injured leg.

Sixes growled as he jumped over a fallen tree. “Luna, Celestia, stay with him!” He barked as Kira zoomed ahead with Shadow Specter just behind him. “Kira what’s happening!”

“The red thread can work both ways!” She shouted, picking up more speed as Limestone was now being pulled through the air like a kite. Her body weaving wildly through the trees. “I’ll go on ahead! You two catch up!”

As Kira’s white kimono disappeared into the snowy backdrop, Sixes and Shadow could only wade through the snow-covered ground with Kira’s footprints as their guide.

“Fuck, we’re getting split up!”

“This might be a good thing.” Shadow pointed out as they ran headlong into danger. “This might be a lot easier without the humans around. We can get wild without them raising a fuss.”

“Not yet,” Sixes said tightly. “Not until Limestone is out of harm’s way. Her safety is our responsibly.”

They continued to run when suddenly the ground went from snow covered to green like a lousy movie transition. The both of them came to a full stop wondering if they wandered into some illusion spell, but when they looked up, they saw the trees were still covered in snows, but the ground was surprisingly warm. Touching the ground with his hands, Sixes felt the pulse of earth magic in the soil.

“This is it.”

“I’d say so.” Shadow seconded poking him in the back. Sixes stood up to find that they were surrounded by an assortment of Timber Beasts, from wolves to lions to bears.

With a savage growl Sixes transformed, going full ears, wings, and tail. Lava poured from his palms, he picked up a nearby rock the size of his head and chucked it at the army of timbers before them. The stone shattered into molten buckshot that ignited the timber beasts. The monsters howled and rolled trying to put out the fire, but only succeeded in making it spread. Calmly Sixes marched through the wailing horde, the air burning around him, sparking more fires.

Climbing over the small hill Sixes and Shadow found Fluttershy’s encampment.

Just in front of them was Kira, swords drawn, with Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash, and Pinkie Pie across from her. Limestone ensnared in Pinkie Pie’s arms. The Pink girl giggled menacing fawning over her sister in a disturbing way. Limestone was completely panicked as Pinkie stroked her cheek with her right hand, which was made of Timber.

(Mac did say he half cut off Pinkie’s arm.)
Walking down the hill, Sixes reined in his seething anger. The ones that hurt his granddaughter right before him. His gaze fixed on Fluttershy, master of the timbers that attacked the farm if the oversized Timber Bear at her side wasn't evidenced enough of that.

“So here we are again.” He stated as they flanked either side of Kira. “How many times are you girls going to be turned evil?”

“That’s rude.” Fluttershy retorted. “Calling us evil. My goals are noble, my friends agree too. Right Pinkie? Dashie?”

The two other girls went rigged nodding mindlessly.
(What sort of control does she have over them? They're different from last time. Last time Rarity was calling the shots over Fluttershy, but now Fluttershy is the top evil bitch? If I weren’t so pissed, I would be laughing.)

“You attacked my granddaughter. You could be working for world peace, and I’d still come and kick your ass, SIN.” All three girls flinched as if struck. “I see you are aware of what you are. Let’s stop pretending your nothing more than parasites coiled around those girls and get down to business. Crawl out of their bodies now, and we’ll provide you with some spares for you to live in.”

“You think we’ll fall for that crap?” Fluttershy hissed her jaw unhinging to show off her vampiric fangs. “Besides what makes you think you can separate us now anyway?”

Kira interjected, “Fluttershy…”

“No! Fluttershy is gone! I’m Envy! This body is mine! This world is mine, and everything and everyone in it is my pet! Just like her!”

“Her…?” Sixes did a double take feeling a presence behind him whipped around just in time to see a feral Maddie come crashing down on him. They struggled, Madhoof’s spawn snarling and snapping her fanged mouth in his face. He wondered if any intelligence was left inside her before Kira kicked her off him. Even he had to feel a little sorry for her. Kira had steel plates on the bottom of her wooden sandals.

“Get them!” Envy screamed as hundreds of Timber Beasts emerged from around the encampment. They weren’t run of the mill Timbers either, they were all Alphas. Giant versions of their species. To make matters worse, a lot of them were producing toxic smog or fire. Some did both.

“Never seen these breeds before. What do you call that Fungi Cinders?” Shadow chuckled as they all went back to back. Envy was looking pleased as she stood back with Pinkie and Rainbow. Maddie crawling at her feet.

Envy laughed that typical menacing laugh one does when their evil. “After the attack on the farm, I did some more crossbreeding. I bred in Ironwood timbers to make their bodies as hard as steel, Cinder Wolves to make them immune to fire attacks, and Fungi to increase their lethality.”

Kira listed off all the breeds surrounding them. “Timber Kongs, Timber Mammoths, Timber Cerberus, and Timber Ursa. Quiet the zoo she’s made.” A shadow flew overhead as a dozen Timber Dragons perched themselves on top of the trees. Roaring menacingly as the land creature marched towards them. “I think the Kongs are more original, dragons are too played out. What do you think, Sixes? Um… Sixes?”

He didn’t reply. In fact, the ashen rinin was moving away from them, his hands burning bright with molten gold. “Nothing but little pests.” He growled, crafting the gold into chains and hooks.

“Shadow get back,” Kira warned, pushing ghost man away.

“Why? What’s he going to do with those?”

With a snap of his wrist Sixes snagged one of the dragons and plucked it from its perch crushing a Kong and Ursa beneath it. Next, with his other chain and hook, he snagged a mammoth and whipped in it into the Cerberus. Gold fire sprang up on the Timber creatures’ bodies. The Timber howled as the gold fire slowly burned away their wooden bodies to specks of ash.

“Fucking little amateurs.” Sixes growled flinging his chain at Envy. A wall of roots appeared before the villainized girls, but they didn’t last long as they were consumed by gold fire. A bolt of lightning shot through the smoking brush and Kira appeared blocking it with her swords. The electricity fizzling out on the engraved steel.

“I believe this is my dance partner.” Kira chirped with a smile. As Rainbow Dash flew through the smoke at her. “Come on little Rainbow, time for another time out!”

“Fuck you! I’m Ebony! You’re going down this time hag!” Ebony asserted forming as a lightning lance.

“How joyous,” Kira remarked mockingly as she spread her six wings and lashed out with her tail. Whipping Ebony in the face. The girl let out a scream, a long bloody lash ran across her face. Eyes glowing red Kira stepped towards Ebony and swung her short sword. “This time, Grandma isn’t playing around.” Following up with her long sword Pinkie caught the attack with her prosthetic arm, the blade lodging into the wooden palm. “Please fetch Limestone, Shadow,” Kira growled kicking Pinkie away and dodging an incoming lightning bolt.

“Already did.” The ghost pony replied, appearing at the edge of the clearing with the girl in question. “I’ll drop her off with the others and tell them to get her out of here. I’ll be back. Get them worn down a bit.”

“NO! She’s mine! She’s Spite’s!” Spite screamed, making her fake hand explode.

That caught Kira off guard as she jumped away from the splinters and smoke. Dancing gracefully around the wooden tendrils that came after her. One tendril hit the ground in front of her and exploded, pelting her with dirt and rock.

Sucking a breath, she shot a bolt of lighting form her mouth to clear away the fog. Spite’s fake arm had reformed with more tendrils wiggled their way out of the surface the bark. Several bolts of black lightning catch her attention, and Kira was once again hastily dodged as Ebony went on the attack.

“Plucky little kids.” Kira clicked her tongue about to fly up after Ebony but suddenly found herself flying into the side of the hill as one of the Timber Kongs snuck up on her. Growling she jumped to her feet, only for a Timber Mammoth to shoot fire from its trunk at her.

“Sixes!” She called worriedly to her comrade. He wasn’t in a better position either as Maddie joined the fray, dashing madly about on the ground while Envy fired barrages of roots and other nature attacks at him. He did have one advantage over her. The heat surrounding Sixes' body was so intense that any Timber beasts that tried to get near were reduced to piles of burning wood. Or so it seemed. “Behind you!”

The Timber Kong that tried to attack Sixes became a Cinder Kong and swung a blazing first at the Night Patroller, who countered by hooking the beast with his chain and tossing it into the woods.

Not to be distracted Kira sliced the charging Cerberus only to quickly cover her mouth as nauseous gas rose from the wound. It was a Fungi!

“Damn beast!” She screamed, pointing her finger at it. The tip of her finger crackled with white lighting and the bolt shot through the monster’s magic core highlighted by her Killer’s eye. Turning her x-ray gaze to Spite and Ebony, she followed the pulse of their glowing red heartbeats as they circled around her, firing lighting and explosions. Crossing her arms over her face and torso, Kira had no choice but to take the attacks. Shields weren’t in her skill set. More poisonous gas filled the air as more Fungi beasts surrounded her and sprayed their toxins. With no choice, she flew for the sky, but the dragons rained down streams of fire on her.

“Sixes!” She screamed while shooting up a blast of lightning at the Cinder Dragons.

He heard her cry and plunged his glowing hands into the earth. The action caused everything in the clearing to go still as the ground began to rumble. Envy’s face contorted in horror as she realized what Sixes just did.

“No! You didn’t!”

Sixes pulled his hands free and took for the sky, pools of lava poured out of the holes left behind becoming pillars of fire that shot higher than the trees. More and more volcanic explosion fired off filling the sky with smoke and flaming bits of rock. Not even the snow could stop the trees of the forest from combusting as the fire quickly began to spread.

“No, no, no, no, no!” Envy screamed hysterically. Pillars of lava were shooting up all over the wildlife land, she pulled on her cheeks, screaming as the cries of the animals living in the forest became a haunting song of tragedy as they were literary roasted alive. “How could you do this!” She demanded tearfully, her eyes widening as Sixes held a blazing golden spear in his hand.

“Spear of Solaris.”

---

“Sorry,” Ferocious repeated for what seemed like the fiftieth time as Luna and Celestia aided in helping him walk. Having two women hold him up by the shoulders was embarrassing, and he felt ashamed for his weakness. If he hadn’t tripped, his injured leg wouldn’t be a throbbing swollen mess right now. Correction, it would be less of a throbbing swollen mess. The matter wasn’t helped any by the height difference between him and the sisters carrying him. Celestia could hold him up only being three inches shorter than him, but Luna was struggling though, as she was another three inches shorter than Celestia.

“Think nothing of it!” Luna strained while as she used her magic to prop up her strength.

Celestia laughed as she tried to take on more of his weight. “I hadn’t foreseen doing this when we set off. We might miss all the action. I hope Sixes and the others can rescue Limestone, it burns me that we failed to help another student.”

“Former student,” Luna corrected, “but the feeling is the same.”

“Shush,” Feri snapped suddenly halting the women with his right foot. They looked at him, confused when they too noticed something was different about the forest. “Do you feel that?”

“Yeah,” Luna breathed. “I can’t see my breath anymore. And is it suddenly hot?”

“Same here,” added Celestia wiping her brow. “Do you two smell smoke?”

Snow fell from the branches above. The three of them looked down, hearing a sizzling sound. Then another, and another. All around them patches of steam rose from the snowy ground. Actually, there was a lot less snow all of sudden.

Luna let go of his arm and knelt down, touching the ground with her bare hand. “Impossible.”

“What’s wrong?”

“The ground, it’s warm, no it's hot!” Luna shrieked, pulling her hand back. “Really hot!”

Suddenly something poured out of the ground, it was glowing, bubbling, and smelt like sulfur.

“Is that…”

“What I think…”

“Fly now!” Ferocious commended summoning his wings and dragging the sisters off the ground as lava shot out of the earth. They flew high deftly avoiding raining lava rock. As they cleared the canopy, they saw pillars of Lava popping up all over the place.

Celestia and Luna summoned their wings, and they all starred at what seemed like Armageddon happening right before their eyes.

“Someone must have turned on the heat,” Chuckled Feri. The two sisters looking a gasped at him. “What? Giving a shit isn’t going to bring the forest back.”

“I guess, but what the hell is going on?” Inquired Luna.

“Sixes must have hit a lava vein or something. Whether on purpose or accident is up for debate.” Feri, Luna, and Celestia all turn their head to see Limestone clutched in the talons of a black and white Timber Dragon. “Glad I was able to find you three. Don’t worry it’s me, Shadow, I possessed this beast here when I escaped with Limestone. Left Sixes and Kira to deal with the girls and things must be going badly.”

Celestia snorted, “You can say that again.”

Shadow extended Limestone to them. “Can one of you take her? I need to get back.”

“I’ll take her,” Feri volunteered solemnly, Shadow dropped Limestone into his arm, she held on tight, wrapping her arms around his neck as she panickily looked towards the ground, which was now covered in lava.

“Thank you, I’m off.” Shadow bowed his head and flew back towards the battle. A bright golden flash filled the early morning sky, followed by a massive explosion. Smoke whirled around, obscuring their view of the fight.

“I’ll take Limestone back to town, you two…” He wet his lips, hesitating, Feri really didn’t like what he was about to say, but he had to.“Go do what you can. I’ll just get in the way half messed up as I am.”

They nodded, “We won’t do anything too reckless.” Luna promised with a smile.

“I’ll hold you to it. Your best bet will probably be long range support. I’ll be back as soon as I can or at least send Stryker your way. I don’t think we’ll have a hard time finding you guys.” He remarked, looking the flaming hell scape around them.

They split up. Luna and Celestia flying towards the danger while Ferocious flew towards town. The fire was raging out of control, and someone was going to notice it. The fire department would be mobilizing soon and given the size of the blaze multiple departments were going to be called, plus every news reporter and disaster gawker would descend here in a matter of hours. Putting a lot of lives in danger. There was no point in trying to fight the fires right now with the Sixes and the others still battling it out.

“Ms. Pie, I’m going to need your help.”

“With what?”

Ferocious stared head long ahead at the glowing lights of town. The flashing lights of the firetrucks pulling out of the station catching his eyes for a second. He didn’t need to look behind him to know it looked like the sun just fell to earth.

“Evacuating the town. I have connections, and you have connections; we need to pull on them as hard as we can to get everyone out of here. Even emergency personnel. It would be better if people weren’t exposed to magic this way, but we don’t have a choice.”

Limestone nodded as he descended toward the ground. “I’ll do what I can.”

“Good.”

(I’m sorry Mac, but you might not have a home to return to.) Were Ferocious thoughts before landing on the road in front of the fire trucks. The truck stopped just short of hitting him the driver visibly freaked out. (There’s no point in hiding it now. Hopefully, we can do some truth bending after this is over, but right now, I can’t afford to be discreet about magic.)

He set Limestone down, and she helped steady himself while he pulled his badge as the Fire Marshall and others surrounded them. “I’m Detective Ferocious of CPD, and I’m ordering an evacuation of all residents. I’ll need your assistance. Unless you want to go die over there.”

The Firefighters looked where he pointed as another column of lava shot out of the ground. They nodded and began chatting over their radios to the other departments no doubt in route.

“So, what do you need me to do?” Limestone asked, helping him to the sidewalk.

“You know a lot of construction and digging outfits?”

“Obviously.”

“Call them, get every bulldozer, excavator and anything else that can move dirt or knock down trees. We’re going to build a fire break. A really, really big fire break.”

She nodded, “On it.”

As he slides back against the random building, Limestone propped him against as she left to make her calls, Feri pulled out his own phone. “Chief, I need a favor, can you patch me through to your mother? I need to talk to Governor Torch. ASAP. Yes, I know what time it is. Trust me, they’ll want to know what’s going on. Right. Thank you.”

---

Envy lay flat on her back staring up at the sky, while Sixes looked down on her. Clasped, in her hand, was the green Alicorn amulet. The green gem glowed with a faint light erecting a shield around her. She had grabbed the trinket out of reflex, thinking if anything could save her it was the strange jewel that found its way to her. Her instincts have been proven right as she was still alive. Alive, but not unharmed. She recognized the attack that had killed Grau, and to be on the receiving end of it was frightening. Sixes seemingly intended to kill her just now. Even now he was crafting another weapon to throw at her. Her eyes widened as a giant golden battle ax filled his palm.

“Axe of Apollo.”

(How did this happen?) Envy wondered as Sixes looked at her with contempt. She had misread his intentions. Misread being an understatement. He appeared to be genuinely trying to kill her! And as her beleaguered mind struggled to regain body functions, she quickly figured out why. The answer was so obvious it was laughable.

No one he cared about was here. Sunset wasn’t on their side, Mac wasn’t with them, and none of the Sirens. They didn’t even have Applejack as a shield. Reasoning since Mac wasn’t present. Sixes had no reason to pretend to even care about them. What were they to him? Some girls that happen to be friends with his granddaughter? What a laughable bond.

If Sunset were with him, he would probably be more tempered with his handling of them. That’s why he left her and Mac behind. Maybe he was trying to save them. Maybe. But it was just as likely he didn’t care if he succeeded or not. He could claim to have ‘saved’ them from darkness by killing them, saying he had no choice. From the dead-eyed glare, he was giving her it was apparent he wouldn’t be losing any sleep over her death.

“Don’t you think you're a little rough? Our hosts aren’t that resilient.” She coughed up blood. Pain flooded her senses as she tried to move. Something was pressing into her back, maybe a rock or something. She tried to wiggle her toes and couldn’t even feel them. “Don’t you want to save these girls? Save poor little meek Fluttershy?”

Sixes pulled back the ax to throw it, “I could go either way honestly.”

Envy gripped the Green Alicorn Amulet so tight it cut her fingers. Rage and fear boiled up inside her and released in a wild scream. From the black haze of smoke, Maddie emerged and jumped toward Sixes, the feral scientist flying high enough to reach him. With Sixes distracted Envy lifted her arm with the Amulet and stabbed the magic jewel into her chest. Its power pulsated through her body, rejuvenating her. She stood up fully transformed into her vampiric form, with fangs and bat wings while vines curled around her body. Leaves and other fauna sprouted reminding her of Gaia Everfree, but much, much stronger.

“It’s killed or be killed then!” She declared, extending her arm. “If so, then die for your transgressions!”

New plant life exploded out of the ground; under her directions, she began to snuff out the fires as the wetted stems of young trees proved hard to ignite. That wasn’t her real goal. No, she had something much grander in mind. Though it is maybe a little cliché. She called for her Timber Alphas the ones with their magic cores still intact. The horde Iron Fungi Cinders rose, a bit charred, but still useful. Barely fifty remained of the original two hundred she had hastily created before Sixes' attack. These fifty were the strongest of her strongest. The perfect candidates she had been looking for.

With her powers amped up to the tenth degree from the amulet, she flooded the fifty Timber Alphas with fresh material. They accepted her gift and evolved. The fifty becoming three towering monsters that you’d see in a Godzilla movie.

“Rise my Timber Titans! Destroy my enemies!” She declared taking flight. The sight of her towering monsters caused a brief pause to the battle as Spite and Ebony rejoined her, both of them covered in light cuts courtesy of Kira. Standing together She and her sisters exchanged glares with Sixes and Kira who was joined by Shadow Specter. In the distance, Envy caught sigh of someone flying back towards town, and that was when she got a perfect idea.

The Timber Titans who had been lumbering towards the Equestrians suddenly turned and a head east just as Principle Luna and Celestia arrived on the scene.

---

“What the hell are those things?” Luna and Celestia both screamed as they came to a stop beside the Equestrians. The otherworlders showed a frightening lack of concern as they all stroked their chin at the Godzilla sized creatures in fascination.

Kira grinned, nodding excitedly, “I got it, we’ll call them Kaiju Timbers.”

“I thinking Colossal Timbers myself,” Shadow asserted.

“Scientifically wouldn’t they be Mega Alpha Timbers? I don’t know, does this even count? Timbers would never get this huge naturally.” Sixes questioned, unsure how to classify the new monsters before him. “Besides,” He gripped the handle of his ax pulling it back. “They’ll be extinct soon anyway. Axe of Apollo!”

He left the golden ax fly, the double-headed battle weapon exploded into a flying disk of pure energy cutting into the side of the Titan Cerberus. The colossal beast shook and shuttered as a massive chunk of its body was blasted away. Much to Sixes' surprise, the monster kept going forward, not even bothering to turn in his direction. It’s wound already closing as new vines rose from the ground to heal it.

“That’s troubling,” Kira fretted, pointing her long sword at the Titan Kong and summoned a bolt of lightning from the blackened sky. The air shook and cracked with thunder followed by the brilliant blue flash of lightning that struck the Kong in the head. Yielding the same result as Sixes' attack. The monster regenerating instantly. “Very troubling, indeed.”

“Are you seriously saying you can’t stop them?” Squeaked Celestia, her voice cracking in fear as she watched the three-monster march toward town. Interesting enough, greenery was spouting up in their wake. If only it weren’t crazy magic greenery like from Everfree camp. She shuttered, remembering the vines that groped her body.

“Not as long as Fluttershy as the Green Alicorn Amulet, probably not. They’ll just heal. Besides Kira and I can only fire off those big attacks so many times.” Sixes pondered their plan of action, keeping his gaze on Envy and the others. They weren’t attacking. Most likely because they were licking their own wounds, the Titan Timbers were just a distraction, something to take the heat of the girls.

Kira, one-upped him by speaking first, “Ms. Luna, Ms. Celestia, if you be so kind as to deal with those creatures. Or at least slow them down we’ll continue with the original plan. Once Fluttershy is defeated, those monsters should crumble. There isn’t enough magic in this world to maintain those huge bodies without the Amulet’s assistance.”

“She’s right, do what you can. We’ll get this wrapped up.” He seconded shooing the two away, but he remembered something important. “If they get to town, get Sonata and Nyx out and head to the farm. Go through the portal and get help from the Princesses.”

“Wouldn’t it be better if we just did that right away? I mean our counterparts are powerful, right? Plus, Princess Twilight too.” Challenged Luna. Wondering why not just go for help now. Really giant kaiju monsters were running around! This was way above her paygrade. “You can’t tell me you think you can take those things. What if they don’t just disappear after you defeat Envy?”

“I’m worried about what could happen to your world if any of the Princess actually uses their power here for more then ten seconds. Last time was crazy enough.”

“He’s right,” Kira asserted. “If you thought the magic Sunset brought here was bad, just wait after Princess Celestia or Luna have a prolonged fight in this world.”

“How can this get any worse!” Screamed Celestia. “What is stuff like this going to happen every day instead of every other month?”

When neither Equestrian replied, she and Luna could only gulp at the implications. “Ok then… good luck, we’ll do our best!”

The two sisters fly away. Kira strikes out with her short swords, a bolt of lightning flying down in front of Ebony who had tried to give chase. Wagging her finger, Kira broke off from the group to resume her battle with Ebony and Spite. She paid extra attention to Spite who was flying thanks to the set of wings sprouting from her timber arm.

“Come now, children play with Grandma some more.” She egged baiting them as she dived to the ash covered ground.

“Wait for your moment, Shadow.” Sixes advised flexing his claws.

Envy hissed, showing off her vampiric fangs before charging. They met, but a force field repelled Sixes' attack while Envy’s hit home breaking off his shoulder plate. She grinned pleased with her hit.

“Don’t get cocky.” Sixes warned her, making another gold chain and hook, Envy raised her forcefield again but was taken aback when the shield failed to stop the hook. She screamed as the weapon dug into her arm and snagged her bone. Her entire body going limp as her magic suddenly stopped working. She looked on in fear at the glowing runes engraved on the weapon.

“I’m called the Mage Killer for a reason,” Sixes boasted wrapping the chain around her body locking her other arm against her torso, without her magic Envy’s legs hung limply in the air.

“Maddie!”

From the ground came a snarl, Maddie, who had been missing for some time. Fired a concentrated blast of magic from her palms. Envy was thankful she still had the intelligence to such an attack. The explosion hit the chain and severed it. Luckily Sixes hadn’t put anti-magic runes on the chain. Unluckily Envy was free falling because her magic still suppressed.

“Maddie!” She screamed again. The feral scientist jumped and caught her. They’re landing was rough, but not as harsh as Maddie pulling the hook from her arm without warning! “Son of a bitch!”

Thankfully with the hook gone, the amulet quickly healed her arm, leaving behind heavily scarred skin. With her legs functioning again Envy hopped out of Maddie’s embrace and looked up to Sixes who was busy crafting another weapon.

“I think you need to evolve.” Dropping her fangs Envy plunged her teeth into Maddie’s neck, injecting her with vampiric genes. The results were instantaneous as Maddie suddenly sprouted leathery wings from her lower back. For a brief moment, Envy smiled at the irony that the one who had created them, who had mixed and played the genetics of so many was now a cocktail of who knew what and a complete slave to anyone that could impose their will on her. Karma truly exists.

With her slave properly outfitted, they both took the sky as Sixes finished his next weapon.

---

1 hour before Mac’s return

---

Moon Dancer drove recklessly towards rural Canterlot, the roads completely empty which worked out great for her. In the passenger seat rested all the hard work she’s spent the last few days of her life investing in. Hopefully, it would pay off.

“What the hell is with all this haze?” As she eased her foot off the throttle, letting the car coast through the small-town streets. A thick greenish haze covered the entire town. A hard cough assaulted her as the outside air went through her air conditioning system. “Is this smoke?” She gasped, covering her mouth. The smoke was so thick that she could no longer see the road, and she pulled off the side, fashioning a crude mask to cover her mouth.

Grabbing the leather bag out of the passenger seat, she wandered into the thick smoke following the wall of flashing flight. She arrived in the hospital parking lot which was filled to the brim with emergency vehicles of every kind from Police to Fire Department and other agencies. She stepped towards the officers to ask was going on when the ground shook. Moon Dancer swayed on her high heels and fell on her knees.

“What was that?”

“Here it comes!” Someone shouted.

(What’s coming?) Moon Dancer wondered feeling a sharp spike in heat.

The smoke surrounding the area suddenly lifted as a powerful updraft stirred up the wind. Wading through the town was a giant, nearly sixty-meter-tall, flaming mammoth. The police fired their guns while the firefighters sprayed the beast with water, creating scorching columns of steam.

It occurred to Moon Dancer sitting on her knees was not the wisest thing to be going as the tar she was kneeling on was heating up like it was summer. The parking lot surface cracked and exploded as the cold stone and hot air clashed wreaking havoc on the infrastructure.

“What the hell is going?” She muttered, standing up.

A high-pitched battle cry caught her attention, Moon Dancer looked up to see Celestia, Luna, and Stryker Six flying through the sky attacking the flaming Mammoth with all they had. Stryker suddenly broke off, and she followed his flight path to see there was another giant monster, an ape, raging through another part of town. If that didn’t seem bad enough, she spotted another one in the south part of town. The sound barrier broke as a squadron of fighter jets flew through the sky firing their payload.

“Holy sweet Mary’s tits this is fucking hell!”

With not much else to do Moon Dancer made a break for it, but not to her car, like a smart person would do, no she ran for the hospital because it was the tallest building in the area and hopefully one of the flying magic sisters would see her. So, she fought against the follow of traffic as the hospital staff carried patients outside to be evacuated. No one took the time to stop her because of all the chaos. After fighting through the first and second floor, she finally ran into an empty hallway. From there, she made it to the roof. Running out onto the helicopter pad, the chopper gone, probably transporting patients. She saw the pure disaster clearly before her.

Three giant monsters, acres of new enormous greenery that trailed from town to the wildlife preserve which was ablaze. The were rivers of lava, and in the distance, she could make out stray blasts of what could only be magic. Another squadron of jets flew over the new greenery dropping a payload of bombs. She wondered what the point was and then realized they were trying to make a fire break. Several trees fell outside of town as dozen to maybe a hundred different types of construction equipment worked to take down the trees. A blast of dynamite roared over by the more giant trees, toppling one of the hundred-foot redwoods to the earth.

“There’s going to be no covering this up.” She droned. There were too many people involved. And even though they were told to stay away, there was always some stupid news reporter around somewhere. She just knew it.

“Moon Dancer?”

Moon Dancer looked up to see Luna floating above her. The Vice Principle was looking worse for wear. She didn’t know what Luna was wearing earlier, but given the recent chill, probably wasn’t half burned of pants and tatters of a tee shirt.

“What’s happened to you?”

“There’s no time for that.” Luna snapped. “I need you to get Nyx and Sonata out of here, take them to the farm for us.” Just then Celestia swooped down carrying a girl with her face half covered in blood Moon Dancer hadn’t met before.

“Take her too.” The Principle insisted. “She’s gone all she can here.”

Moon Dancer clutched the strap of her bag but held back on telling them about her work. They had their hands full here. The infected girls were nowhere in sight. This was more pressing. “Alright, my car is the yellow bug, leave her there, I’ll get Nyx and Sonata. Where are they?”

“Room 201.”

Nodding Moon Dancer was about to run back downstairs when Luna grabbed her and carried her down to a second-floor window, kicking it in with no hesitation before depositing her there. Not bothering with formalities Moon Dancer raced down the halls, finding the room just as a team of nurses was pulling the two out of their rooms.

“I’ll take them, I got a car!” She volunteered. The nurses looked beside themselves until the fiery creature outside bellowed, and they reluctantly nodded, following her outside to her little yellow bug, where the two patients were carefully transferred.

“They’re not in bad shape, but please be careful.” The nurse insisted before running back into the hospital.

Filled to capacity Moon Dancer skidded off into the night with her three passengers. Wondering if the world was finally coming to an end.

---

Luna and Celestia let loose a series of magic blasts at the flaming mammoth, while the police and firefighters did their best from the street. They were thankful there was so much chaos that no one questioned the two magical girls providing air support. There would be some through grilling later, but hopefully, they didn’t end up having to immigrate to Equestria to avoid becoming lab rats.

(All of a sudden having magic doesn’t seem too great.) Luna mused shooting a beam from her hand. Really there was no telling if they were actually doing anything. She and Celestia were amateurs at this, saving the world thing.

“Enemy on the ground, incoming!”

“Oh my god! Is there no end to this!” Luna bemoaned as rank and file timber wolves invaded the town. She glared at the greenery the Titan Timber were leaving in their wake, the smaller Timbers spawning from the newly created trees.

Automatic gunfire erupted from below, she expected the army, the air force was already here thanks to Feri, but no it wasn’t the army. At least not current members.

“Mr. Gator?” She inquired confused to see her elderly neighbor with a machine gun fighting off a horde of magical wood wolves. Nothing should surprise her now.

“Ah, Miss Luna, glad to see you’re alright. The town is nearly evacuated. We need to just hold off these creatures a bit longer. The boys and I will cover in any way we can, Bailey would want us too.”

Rather than argue, she only nodded, “Don’t strain yourself.” He merely chuckled at her worries and proceeded to mow down another wave of monsters.

“Alright, boys one last ride! Let’s show these bastards what’s for!”

“Isn’t that your neighbor?” Celestia asked when they regrouped.

“Yes, yes, it is.”

“Ok, then. So, what are we going to do about that thing?”

The two sisters observed the rampaging mammoth as a jet flew by shooting it with its cannons. No real effect was observable. Not that their magic was doing any better, and they were starting to feel the strain of the prolonged fight.

“It’s so hot!” Luna bemoaned swiping her brow. The heat was making it really hard for her to think. “Heat… hmm.” There was fire all around, and it felt like summer, but there was still snow on the ground outside of town. “Come with me!”

“Where are we going?” Celestia asked as Luna lead her to the outskirts of town. The temperature dropped dramatically feeling like winter again as they landed on the soft snow. Picking up a handful of snow Celestia watched it melt in her palm while Luna was trying to do something with her hands. “Are you trying to use the force?”

Luna puffed her cheeks. “No, I’m trying to lift the snow! If we can harvest all of it and drop it on the mammoth, it might be enough to put it out!”

“Or you could cause a steam explosion and wipe out the town. This is basic science, Luna.”

“There won’t be a town left either way, so you going to help me or not?”

Celestia resigned herself because she couldn’t think of anything else to do. Closing her eyes, she imagined the snow floating off the ground and pulled on her magic. When she opened her eyes, the snow was floating in front of her.

“Follow me!” She declared taking to the sky, with Luna on her tail. Pulling more and more snow off the ground as she flew. With each pass, she compressed the snowball tighter and tighter. The wet, packed snow hardened into ice and became too heavy for her carry. “Now what?”

Luna landed on top of the building size snowball, touching it with her fingers, a quarter of it broke off and reshaped into a giant icicle. “Still know how to throw a javelin?” Her sister inquired levitating the giant ice dirk back and released it. The ice arced through the sky impaling the Cinder Mammoth. The monster let out a horrible wail as the frozen spear pinned it down, the ice was so dense that the monster’s flames couldn’t melt it instantly. When the ice did melt the water further weakened the beast as bits and pieces of its body exploded from the temperature difference. Slowly the Cinder Mammoths flames dimmed.

“Second volley!” Luna announced cheerfully firing another ice missile. The attack struck, the mammoth giving one last wail before its flames died and it fell to pieces. “Oh yeah! Put that one on the scoreboard for me!”

“Still only counts as one, and I made the damn snowball” Celestia grumbled jealously. She’ll never hear the end of this for the rest of their lives.

“Alright so do we kill one more or weaken them both?”

“I can always make another-ugh!” Celestia’s wings disappeared, and she belly flopped on the snowball next to her sister. Her entire body tensing up.

“Celestia! What’s wrong? Are you hurt?” Luna panicked cradling her sister’s head on her lap. “Talk to me.”

For her part, Celestia could only stare up at Luna’s worried gaze, her entire body locked up, she tried to move her arm, but all her muscles just spasmed out of control. “I think… I’m out of magic. I overdid it, I guess. You’re probably not far behind, you better hurry up.”

Luna nodded as she flew Celestia to the ground, her elder sister snoring softly like sleeping beauty on the ground. She was about lunch her attack but hesitated before deciding to move Celestia closer to the town where someone could find her. At the very least it was better than leaving her on the cold forest floor.

“Ok,” Luna created two more giant ice dirks, her body becoming heavy and sluggish, this would be it for her too. “Kill one or weaken them both?” She debated eyeing the Cerberus and Kong Titan Cinders. If she killed one, then Feri and Stryker could team up to take on the last one. “Alright, time to put the doggie down!”

With the last of her strength, she tossed the two ice spears at the Cerberus Feri was fighting. The moment the blocks of ice where out of her control, her body locked up, her wings disappeared, and she free fell through the branches for a rough landing and a painful kiss with the earth

“That… could have gone better.” She shivered as her exposed skin touched the cold ground. Her eyes fluttered close while she stretched out her hand toward the heat that was less than fifty yards away. (Am I going to freeze to death before anyone finds me?)

As her hand falls and her vision goes black Luna feels her body being lifted off the ground and carried toward the warmth.

“It’s ok, I’m here.” A voice assured her as the owner placed her somewhere. She felt another body next to her and hugged it for warmth. The scent telling her it was Celestia.

“Thank you.” She mumbled before falling unconscious.

“Your welcome,” Mac said, smiling at his slumbering godparents. “I’ll take it from here.”

Author's Note:

I did not think this chapter would be so long. I did debate if it was necessary to show how Sixes and crew found the girls and the town got messed up, but I was already fairly invested, so I hope this chapter is enjoyable. Next time will be the big final battle!

Comments

[Fernando1717]

Awesome chapter dude, can't wait for the next one, thanks.

[Foxgear]

You're welcome, thanks for reading and commenting.

[Lunardragon22]

Yeah this chapter was really good loved the action and giving sixes more than the spear of Solaris wasn't expecting that. And sixes basically starting a volcano crazy. Can't wait to see what macs gonna do.