Speedrun
The next challenge proved as easily overcome as the last. She had harmed a Manticore and trusted in its blind rage to tear them to shreds. But the caretaker had pulled the thorn from its paw and mollified it.
Twilight questioned her bravery as they left behind a monster reduced to a purring kitten.
“How did you know about the thorn?”
“I didn't. Sometimes we all just need to be shown a little kindness. Manticores aren't monsters, Twilight. They're wonderful, misunderstood magical creatures.”
The smoke boiled and pressed on. Maybe one of her forgotten toys would suffice.
They made good progress through the next stretch of woods, but were brought up short when they were suddenly dumped into pitch darkness. There was a lot of jostling and cursing as they pressed into a defensive huddle.
Chains rattled in the darkness around them, and a sibilant susurrus arose. It seemed to be all around them, driving them together, causing reason to flee. Twilight closed her eyes and lit her horn. She opened them and squinted. Their way was blocked by a ponyquin.
They turned to flee in the direction they had come, halted by two ponyquins. Twilight felt a breath on the back of her neck, and her skin crawled. She slowly turned back around, and her nose touched a ponyquin's.
Peekaboo.
There were no eyes. The merest suggestion of a snout. The face split open in a terrifying grin, showing rows of wicked teeth that stretched too far back.
I see you.
That seemed to be the cue for panic to set in and the screaming to start. Except for one.
Twilight uncovered her eyes and watched as the thing backed up, avoiding the clear peals of Pinkie's helpless laughter. A sharp hiss rose and teeth gleamed on all sides.
“Pinkie! What are you doing!”
Pinkie's hooves glowed, and music echoed. With every step, the beat sped up. Twilight's jaw fell at the refrains of a Heartsong.
“Oh girls, don't you see?”
She bobbed her head and swayed her hips.
“When I was a little filly, and the sun was going down…”
She embraced Twilight and Rarity. The shamblemares seemed transfixed, heads cocking.
“The darkness and the shadows, they would always make me frown!”
She was truly, actually dancing now.
“I'd hide under my pillow, from what I thought I saw! But Granny Surprise said that wasn't the way to deal with fears at all!”
Rainbow spluttered. “Then what is?”
Pinkie bit back a little snort and reached to grasp the offered forehoof of the largest shamble. They swayed and circled in a complicated sort of dance.
“She said; Pinkie, you gotta stand up tall! Learn to face your fears! You'll see that they can't hurt you, just laugh and make them disappear!”
She clutched the shamble mare. “Hah! Hah! Hah!”
Its head cocked. “Peekaboo?”
Her friends gasped as she turned to face them with a massive grin. The thing behind her seemed to smile as well, and followed her as her song threaded and guided. As the soft whispery-wind voices of the shamblemares joined in a chorus and the six fell into helpless laughter.
She finally collapsed against the side of the lead shamblemare, hooking forelegs around her neck.
“And tell that big dumb scary face to take a hike and leave you alone and if he thinks he can scare you then he's got another thing coming and the very idea of such a thing just makes you wanna... hahahaha... heh...
Laaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaauuuugh!”
The music faded, and the shamblemares melted into the forest. The lead paused and placed hooves over her face, and Pinkie mimicked the gesture.
“Peekaboo!”
As they pressed on, Twilight prodded Pinkie in the hip. “How did you know?”
“There are things that want to eat you. She could have killed us at any time, but she didn't. The way she smiles, she just wants us to have a good laugh.”
The group was a happy, chattering clump all the way to the edge of a raging river. A river serpent whose talons were longer than a pony wept on the shore, his long tail lashing the waters into an uncrossable rampage.
They asked him to cross, but he was inconsolable. They asked him what was wrong, and Rarity shrieked as he revealed his face. The vain thing had been paid a visit by Nightmare, and one side of his glorious moustache had been torn off.
The party facehoofed, until Rarity rounded upon them.
“You're all being much too hard on the poor dear! Fluttershy, imagine not having a mane to hide behind!”
Her cannon swiveled as if were the artillery piece and not anatomy. She pointed at each of them in turn.
“Rainbow Dash, imagine somepony came along and bleached you white. Pinkie Pie, imagine those adorable curls laying lifeless. Applejack, imagine your hat destroyed. Twilight, imagine there was something ponies pointed and laughed at and you covered with makeup to hide the shame.”
She rounded on the serpent, and drew a discarded scale like a rapier. Moonlight glinted along the razor sharp edge, and the collected ponies gasped as she sundered her own perfectly coiffed tail and wound it into the ragged ends of the moustache, making him whole again.
The serpent gasped and the ponies began to ford the river, only to be lifted out of the water and given safe passage across his back.
“Rarity, your beautiful tail…” Twilight prompted.
Rarity sniffed, her hooves rising a bit higher than was necessary. “It's fine. Bobbed tails are in this season, and it will grow back. Besides, look at how happy he is at how smashing he looks.”
She gestured towards the serpent, who was using the calm water as a mirror to curl the other half of his moustache and carefully dye it the same royal purple.
“Giving reflects joy both upon the giver and the receiver, Twilight.”
They shared a small smile as they re-entered the forest.
Eventually they came to the edge of a cliff. Across a yawning gap, they could see the ruins of the old castle. They found the bridge lying in ruins, and Pinkie kicked a pebble off the edge before turning to face her friends.
“Now what?”
Rainbow gave a demonstrative wiggle of her wings, before diving into the ravine. “Duh.”
Pinkie snorted. “Oh yeah.”
Although nopony was watching, on the other side of the chasm Rainbow Dash executed a perfect three-hoof landing and pumped the free one before coiling the rope held in her jaws around the bridge support. As she looked across, she heard her friends call her name.
Her ears twitched as another voice called her name. She reared up and held her forehooves in a perfect stance, ready to bite and fight. Three ponies slid to a stop and fixed her with smirks.
They were clad in the raddest jumpsuits she'd ever seen. Yellow-lensed goggles hid their eyes, as they circled her.
The forepony whispered in her ear with a voice of silk and razors. “We've been eagerly awaiting the arrival of the best flyer in Equestria.”
Dash cocked her head. “Who?”
She chuckled. “Why, you, of course.”
Dash puffed her chest out. “Really?! I mean... Oh yeah, me.”
She nodded. “Rainbow Dash. We want you to join us, The Shadowbolts. We're the greatest aerial team of Nightmare Moon, and soon we will be the greatest in all Equestria, but first, we need a captain. The most magnificent, swiftest, bravest flyer in all the land.”
Dash chuckled. “Yes, it's all true.”
Knowing she had Dash in her grip, the mare smirked and whispered into her ear. “We need... you.”
Dash exploded into the air in a shower of loose feathers. “WOOHOO! Sign me up. Just let me tie this bridge real quick and then we have a deal.”
The Night Mare flexed her leathered wings and grit her sharpened teeth. “No! It's them or us.”
Twilight called across the ravine, and squinted. “Rainbow, what's taking so long? Oh no. Rainbow! Don't listen to them.”
Mist closed in and blocked sight. The mare tilted her head. “Well?”
Dash sighed. “You... Thank you! For the offer, I mean, but I'm afraid I have to say no.”
She turned her back and tied the bridgelines taut, and gave them a tap to show the other side it was safe. She raced back across to join her friends. The ponies vibrated with rage and misted, the black vapor rushing into the stones of the Castle.
Dash landed on her hindlegs and struck a triumphant pose. “See? I'd never leave my friends hangin'. With ya all the way, Twi.”
They shared a small smile and crossed the chasm.
There before them was the Castle, looming dark and foreboding over the party. They gulped collectively and pressed on, through crumbling corridors and stairwells to the old throne room. On one side of the room, two chairs stood proud beneath banners of Sun and Moon. In the center stood an orrery, and the ponies tugged the stones free and set them in a circle.
Pinkie did a quick count. “One, two, three, four... There's only five!”
Dash cocked her head. “Where's the sixth?”
Twilight sat down before the five spheres of stone. “The book said: when the five are present, a spark will cause the sixth Element to be revealed.”
Applejack rubbed the back of her head. “What in the hay is that supposed to mean?”
Twilight shook her head, and gathered magic in her horn. “I'm not sure, but I have an idea. Stand back. I don't know what will happen.”
Applejack nodded and pulled the others to a safe distance away. “Come on now, y'all. She needs to concentrate.”
Twilight gasped and the others shrieked as the stones began to orbit. A black mass snatched them, feeding them into a teleport rune hastily erected in the center of the vortex. Twilight swallowed, and dove into the mist.
When the flash of magic cleared, Twilight and the Elements were gone.
Twilight and the Elements were cast out of between somewhere else in the castle. Pitiful threads of magic tugged from the hearts of the stones, and Nightmare stood anew between them. Twilight gritted her teeth, and dashed forward. Nightmare cocked a brow and broke into a slow canter, leveling the evil spike of her horn at heart-level. At the last second, Twilight copied the trick and disappeared, sliding to a stop on the other side of the room.
She sent a wave of electricity through the stones. Nothing happened. Nightmare cackled. She raised her forehooves and brought them down, and the stones shattered into tiny fragments.
In her mounting despair, Twilight felt something not unlike indigestion.
Back at the library, Spike coaxed the jewel from the flames. The heat had breathed new fire into its heart. He took a breath.
“Here goes nothing.”
He breathed out, the hottest fire he could manage. Between his claws, something that was not quite gemstone melted and was sent.
Twilight backed away from the Nightmare until her haunches bumped the wall. She grimaced as she felt her horn ignite on its own. A wave of unimaginable heat rushed from her, and smoke spiraled before her. Something had been sent.
In the midst of the flames a pony shape collected into being.
Sunset opened her right eye, and kept the left one closed. Twilight could tell that she hadn't fully reformed by the way it appeared that socket contained nothing. She stood between the Nightmare and her daughter.
”Get away from her, you bitch.”
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Go get her Ripley....I mean Sunset!
Sunset's obviously part of the prophecy now... thanks to some help from Spike.
9380981
Also Molly Weasley.
Nice to see a quick go over of the trip out to the castle. Now I wonder how round two of Sunset vs Nightmare Moon is going to go?
Somebody poked the mama bear.
no one mess with twilight or else the face momma sunset,
I always saw sunset as the type that is she had a child or raise one would be a kin to a dragon with they horde or a momma bear with her cub
Given the indigestion, I half-expected Twilight to belch out Sunset. Wouldn't that have been a sight...
In any case, Sunset's presence means this could go in some very interesting directions from here. Looking forward to seeing which way it does.
I forgot to comment on this chapter when it came out. Idk why I’m doing it now but yeah.
9381070
Also I’m really enjoying this story so far but I’m unsure if it focuses on Twilight mainly and just had Sunset’s POV in the introduction, or if it’s really about Sunset and is just describing the events in Twilight’s life with friends.
Definitely not what I thought would happen.
9380971 Ah, don't know that one ....
9381139
It's an earlier chapter of the fic...
Interesting development in this chapter with Sunset appearing.
I did not see that coming
Quick somepony get Sunset an exoskeleton designed for cargo transport!
9381180
She is etherial at the moment. She dont need such mortal tools.
I wonder if there are any long term effects of combining phoenix and dragon fire.
Sunset's a better mom than Celestia.
Nice work, Spike! Alright Nightmare, ready to take another supernova to the face?
You are never to young, or in Nightmare's case, too old to have vietnam flashbacks, and she most definitely is having 'nam flashbacks when she saw Sunset again.
On deck, the Element Of Buttwhomping.......
9380981
Sunset it from orbit. It's the only way to be sure.
Ehhhhhhhh .... but .... uh ... hmmmm ....
Oh boy, she's fucked
9381424
This is more like Stalingrad level of flashbacks.
9381144 <looks> so it is ... well now I feel silly
”Get away from her, you bitch.”
Is That an Aliens Reference I smell???
9381325
that rock (points to the middle of the Pie Family Rock Farm) is a better mom than the sun tyrant.
did you get the idea for this from Fallout: Equestria? Littlepip used a similar idea to get into that barrier.
9588888
I did not. Also grats on having five eights in your comment number.
First time hearing about shamblemares... I thought it was Slendermane clones, and yes, you just fixed the biggest part of the episode I didn’t like, which was the fact they were scared of spooky trees.
9599434
Shamble-men were created by Patrick Rothfuss. A "shambles" is an archaic term for q place where you butcher animals. Shamblemen are hungry and cold, and the consensus is that they're zombies, or evocative of homeless people or an arcanist with binder's chills (the universe's magic is heat-powered, and you can use your own blood heat as fuel, which gives you hypothermia).
Shamblemares are a combination of things from that one (Taiwanese? Korean?) Horror comic artist, my own phobia of mannequins, etc. They're also evocative of the Blanks.
I just listened to the Lullaby For A Princess PMV in the last chapter, and I've gotta say, Giggle at the Ghostie was just the kind of happy fluff I needed to help rebalance myself after the feels it inflicted.