Chapter 23
In the anteroom to Sombra’s throne room, a hushed silence fell after Twilight’s magical outburst. Everyone present--pony, bushwoolie, and snow leopard--had been knocked to the ground. Even the windigos seemed content to hover a bit closer to the ceiling.
And in the center of the room, surrounded by scorch marks in the floor, stood Twilight Sparkle. She panted heavily, her coat ruffled and her face beaded with sweat. “Woo...” She wiped her forehead with a hoof.
Applejack sat up, her mane blown out of its hair bands and her hat missing (it was currently perched atop Pinkie’s upturned rump). “Twi … you okay, darlin’?”
“Y-yeah. Sure,” Twilight said numbly as her friends got to their hooves, approaching her. “Just … a little winded. That’s all.”
“Um, Twilight?” Fluttershy pointed at the unicorn’s horn, which was smoking slightly at the tip.
Twilight strained her eyes upward until she saw what Fluttershy was talking about. “Heheh. Oh. I’ll take care of that.” She licked her hoof and gently pressed it against her horn tip, wincing slightly as it made a slight sizzling noise and then went out. “There we go!”
“So, is the power back on?” AJ asked.
Rarity focused and her horn lit up with magic. “Oh my! So it is!”
“Aww, this is gonna get good!” Applejack recovered her hat from Pinkie’s backside and plopped it back on her head. “We just evened the odds!” She grinned … then she frowned and took the hat off her head, wafting it back and forth as she tried to air it out.
“Sorry,” Pinkie apologized sheepishly when AJ glared at her.
Their attention was suddenly drawn to Fluttershy when she let out a gasp. “Oh my goodness, look!” She pointed behind the others. They turned to see the wall that had separated them from Rainbow Dash. While it was still there, it was now translucent. They could see a pony-shaped blue and rainbow blur confronting a black and gray blur.
“It’s Rainbow Dash!” Twilight exclaimed.
“And I guess that other individual is none other than King Sombra.” Rarity snorted. “The brute who took my Sweetie Belle!”
“We gotta help her!” Pinkie hurled herself at the wall at top speed, only to end up as a pony pancake when she smacked up against it. “Oww...”
Twilight ran up to her. “Pinkie Pie! Are you okay?”
With a wince and a pop, Pinkie peeled herself off the wall. “A huh!”
Rarity cleared her throat. “Darling, as much as I’d like to assist Rainbow Dash in tearing that heartless monster limb from limb!--” she coughed daintily as the others looked at her. “Well, anyway, I fear we have our own issues to deal with.” She pointed to the room full of bushwoolies and snow leopards as they climbed back to their feet, snarling angrily at the ponies responsible for the generous headaches they were now feeling.
“Oh.” Twilight blinked. “Right.”
“No need to worry, gals.” Applejack grinned. “I feel mah second wind comin’ on.”
Pinkie nodded. “Yeah, and I feel my fourteenth wind!”
Twilight nodded, stepping forward. “All right girls. The sooner we finish here, the sooner we can help Rainbow Dash stop Sombra.”
“Then let’s rumble like it’s apple crumble in the jungle!” Applejack hollered as she charged forward, lasso at the ready.
Rarity shot her fellow unicorn a most unladylike smirk as her horn started to glow. Twilight returned it as her own magic began to charge up. That left Pinkie Pie, who turned to Fluttershy and said: “Fluttershy, toss me!”
Fluttershy was understandably confused. “Um, excuse me?”
“It’s easy!” Pinkie bounced up to her. “I’m gonna roll myself in a teeny-tiny Pinkie ball and you can throw me at the bad guys! Easy-peasy, pudding in the freezy!”
“I don’t know if I can do that...” Fluttershy mumbled, tracing a hoof against the floor.
“Hmm.” Pinkie Pie pondered profoundly, tapping a hoof against her muzzle. Then her eyes lit up. “Oh, I got it! Pretend those big ol’ bushwoolies tried to beat up some bunnies!”
Fluttershy’s eyes flashed. “They WHAT?!” Her face lit up with an angry red hue as she grabbed the closest thing to her--which happened to be Pinkie Pie--and hurled it at the thickest part of the bushwoolie ranks.
“Thank youuuuuu!” Pinkie shouted as she tucked herself into a ball right before impact. Half a dozen stunned bushwoolies were knocked over like ninepins. From the groaning, furry pile of monsters, Pinkie stood up, none the worse for wear, and started to sing.
“Oh I knew Sombra’s mother, yes, I must tell the truth!
When she was nursing Sombra, her milk was ninety proof!
She wanted to kick the habit, she didn’t know what to do!
But if your baby looked like that, then you’d be drinking too!”
Amid angry snarls, Pinkie leaped down and capered off before they could grab her.
Twilight took a breath and started to levitate a group of bushwoolies with her magic. She tossed her head to the side, slamming the group against the wall. But then she was caught off guard and tackled to the ground by a snarling snow leopard, it’s icy paws sending a sudden chill through her as they pushed down on her.
“Get off!” She grunted, trying to force it off. A sudden paw smack to her horn temporarily disrupted her magic, as well as giving her one merry hell of a headache. Twilight futilely tried to dislodge her attacker, but was out weighed and out muscled by the snow beast. It snarled in her face, its breath icy cold and its icicle fangs sharp and gleaming. Twilight tilted her head away and closed her eyes.
The next thing she knew, she felt the weight of the snow leopard vanish from her chest. “Get off her right now!” Twilight opened her eyes and looked around … to see Fluttershy, her hooves on her hips, scolding the snow leopard like a naughty child.
Whimpering and whining as it cringed against the floor, the leopard buried its face behind its paws. “Now you think about what you’ve done!” Fluttershy wagged her hoof at it for good measure before turning around to see Twilight. “Twilight! Are you okay?”
“I-I’m fine.” Twilight said shakily. “Thanks, Fluttershy.”
“Oh, it was nothing really.” Fluttershy wriggled a hoof against the floor. “I just got so upset to see you being treated that way … those snow leopards should know better!”
Twilight gave a weak laugh. “Aheh heh … right.” She looked around. Applejack was in the thick of a crowd of monsters, bucking and kicking any of them bold enough or dumb enough to try and get close to her. Rarity--Twilight smiled. Rarity was using her magic and some of the supplies in her saddlebags to neatly brush, braid or otherwise gussy up the fur of the bushwoolies. Small ribbons were tied into their fur … and larger ones were used to bind their hands and feet. The big hairy monsters couldn’t run fast enough from her. Twilight snorted.
And as for Pinkie Pie. Well, she was being Pinkie. She was happily bouncing on the heads of the bushwoolies, hopping from one to another with her eyes closed, a smile on her face and humming a silly little tune. She might as well have been back in Ponyville, hopping and skipping her way down to the Sugarcube Corner.
They were all handling themselves well … but still, Twilight frowned. The bushwoolies outnumbered them twenty to one. When she counted the snow leopards in, it was closer to twenty-five to one. Having her (and Rarity’s) magic back helped even the odds, but only to a point.
Twilight was exhausted after her big magical outburst, and Rarity’s own magic was not as versatile or strong as hers. It seemed that they simply couldn’t get an edge on their more numerous opponents.
A loud crack of lightning suddenly caused Twilight to leap up in the air, and she wasn’t alone. Every creature—pony and bushwoolie alike—reacted the same way. She looked for the source of the noise, but nothing seemed different … until she cast a look through the now translucent wall separating them from Rainbow Dash and Sombra.
“Oh no…” Twilight wasn’t aware she’d spoken out loud until her friends turned to follow her gaze. Soon they were all staring beyond the wall at Sombra’s throne room. The upper third of the room was now filled by blackened storm clouds: not the product of any local weather phenomenon, but the byproduct of powerful dark magic.
Fluttershy let out a whimper as lightning flashed, lighting up the clouds momentarily. “Rainbow Dash…”
Applejack looked at her Element of Harmony, still gleaming on the necklace she wore. It was one of the most powerful objects in all of Equestria, but without Rainbow Dash’s, it was useless. “We have to git to her somehow! I just know that dadgum pegasus has gotten herself in over her darnfool head again!”
“It’s hardly as if we are faring any better Applejack.” Rarity pointed out.
Pinkie bounced in the middle of their group. “Hey! Lookit those icy-grumpy-ghosty monsters!” She pointed up at the windigos. “They’re getting all circely and stuff!”
“Like a bunch of vultures.” Applejack grunted disparagingly, only to wince when Fluttershy gave her a small disapproving look. She apparently didn’t like unkind comparison to her friendly buzzing buzzards.
“They’re—leaving?” Pinkie watched as the windigos gave a ghostly whinny and charged through the wall to the throne room, passing through it like ghosts. “But why?”
“Sombra must need them for some part of his spell,” Twilight reasoned.
Applejack frowned. “That just means we have to get through that wall even faster!”
“We still have the bushwoolies and the snow leopards to—what are they doing?” Rarity asked, blinking in confusion as the leopards. The snow leopards drew back, blinking and pawing at their eyes. Their heads turned this way and that, as if confused.
Twilight gave a sudden start as she figured out. “Of course! The snow leopards are wild animals, like timber wolves! They wouldn’t be working for Sombra, it must’ve been some sort of magic!”
“How horrible!” Fluttershy gasped. “Those poor snow leopards! How dare he?”
Nopony commented on how a scant few seconds earlier, any one of those ‘poor’ snow leopards would just as soon mauled her as look at her. They knew it wouldn’t make a difference.
Clearing her throat, Twilight gently guided Fluttershy away from a potential berserker rage at Sombra’s mistreatment of the ravenous monsters that almost crunched their faces off. “Yes, well, I guess Rainbow Dash is keeping Sombra too busy to worry about whatever magic he used on them.” She cast a worried look through the wall that cut them off from their friend. “—and now that the windigos are gone, the room is going to get too warm for them to want to stay in. I guess they’ll be looking to heading for a colder climate any—”
Amid roars and yowls, the entire snow leopard pack bolted for the door, knocking aside any bushwoolie who happened to be between them and the exit. The doors groaned as the pack clawed at it. Deciding to help them out, Twilight grabbed the door with her magic and opened it for them. The pack sped through without a moment’s hesitation.
Fluttershy waved after them. “Oh my, stay safe! And please don’t eat anypony on your way out!” She looked to her friends. “Oooh, I do hope they get out okay.”
“I’m sure they’ll be fine,” Rarity assured her, rolling her eyes slightly as she started fixing her mane.
Applejack tossed her hat up. “Whoo-ee! No windigos and no snow leopards! I’d say the odds are turnin’ in our favor!” Just as the doors began to close, the burst wide open against as another twenty or thirty bushwoolies ran into the room. “…aww, nuts.”
Pinkie Pie whistled. “Boy Applejack, you’re really bad at that!”
“Um Twilight, darling, I don’t suppose you happen to have much more magic left?” Rarity asked, a touch worriedly. “I must confess to feeling somewhat … drained after that last bout of unpleasantness.”
Twilight shook her head, swallowing nervously. It just wasn’t fair. Things had finally started to go their way … only for fate to slap them on the muzzle. She felt jittery as the bushwoolies ran down to join their fellows. Her friends looked the same way. In fact, the whole room seemed to be shaking.
Having first thought it was nerves, Twilight then thought it was thunder from the magical storm in the throne room. But a quick look dispelled her of that idea. The five friends huddled together, fearful of what new monster or calamity Sombra was throwing at them. Even as she held her friends close, some part of Twilight’s mind couldn’t stop trying to analyze what was happening. It sounded oddly familiar, but she couldn’t quite put her hoof on it. That’s when it hit her: the sound was the thundering of hooves on the floor. Hundreds of them!
Applejack put the realization into words. “It’s a stampede!”
No sooner had the words escaped her throat then the doors burst wide open again, revealing a herd of ponies charging through the door. Applejack whooped. “Looks like the cavalry’s come a’ calling!”
The mass of ponies raced down into the anteroom. The bushwoolies panicked as they saw their numerical advantage nullified. And the sight of a hundred ponies charging headlong at them would unnerve even the most redoubtable of foes, which the bushwoolies were certainly not.
“Where did they all come from?” Twilight asked as she ran forward, trying to help their rescuers rout the enemy. “How could they get through the barrier?” Her face lit up. “Maybe it’s the guard! Maybe the Princess has taken down the barrier and—”
Applejack snorted. “Who cares? Figure it out later, fight now!”
“Wheeheee!” Pinkie bounced around. “It’s a rescue PARTY! Ooh we’re gonna need balloons and streamers and cake!”
“How romantic!” Rarity flung a hoof to her brow. “Just as all hope seemed lost for the beautiful lady, her rescuer came to her—a magnificent steed ready to whisk her away.” She cast a look at some of the more magnificent looking stallions in the herd. “Oh my…” she fanned herself with her hoof, feeling flushed as she looked at one tall and rather muscular unicorn stallion with a yellow coat and delightful teal mane. And his horn was rather … long.
“Rarity!” The sudden squeaky shout from behind her took Rarity out of her romantic fantasies. She’d recognize that squeak anywhere. “Sweetie Belle! Oh thank goodness, they’ve rescued her!” She turned and leaned down to nuzzle her little sister when found herself face to face with a pony’s chest. Tilting her head upwards, Rarity soon found herself looking up into the bright soft green eyes of her little sister. She lifted her head until she was starting face to face with her. “Sweetie Belle?”
“Hi Rarity!” Sweetie Belle squeaked, her voice cracking slightly as she hugged her sister tightly.
“S-sweetie Belle?! How can this be?” Rarity’s jaw dropped as she looked her sister over.
Sweetie Belle gave a little hop. “Oh, um, magic, I guess? All of us are grown-ups now!” She tilted her head. “Does this mean I can stay up late now?”
“Huh, buw bwaaaah?” Rarity cast around, recognizing a pony here or there, now that she knew what she was looking for. There was little Twist, only she wasn’t so little anymore, with her trademark frizzy mane and her crossed candy cane cutie mark. And that orange pegasus zipping through and whacking the bushwoolies with her hooves must be Scootaloo. Her eyes widened. And that must mean … she looked at the stallion she noticed earlier, just now seeing his cutie mark: a snail.
Rarity screamed.
“Applejack!” The blond farmpony looked up in time to be hugged by a yellow mare with a bright red mane and an all-too familiar pink bow.
“A-apple Bloom?!” Applejack’s mind reeled, pulling back to get a good look at her.
Her no-longer little sister smiled at her. “Howdy sis!” She was muscular and lean, looking every inch like the apple-bucking farmpony AJ was. “Ah’m as big as you now!”
Applejack was torn. Half her brain was in danger of seizing up at the sight of her baby sister looking more like her twin than anything else. On the other hoof … buck it, she was her sister. “C’mere you…” Applejack hugged her tightly, sniffling. “Ah missed you something terrible.” She half hiccupped, half sobbed. “Don’t matter none to me if yer as big as a barn. Yer still mah li’l sister!”
“Ah love you, Applejack!” Apple Bloom sniffled as she rested her head on Applejack’s shoulder. “Ah missed you so much!”
As the sisters reconnected, chaos reigned as bushwoolies and aged foals chased after one another. The foals, despite being artificially aged, were still children at heart. The bushwoolies that stole them from their families still scared them and they hadn’t had time to adjust to their new bodies and abilities. However the bushwoolies weren’t paragons of courage either. And after their long battle with Twilight and the others, the prospect of fighting off a hundred fresh ponies filled them with dread. It was a toss up to say which side was the most scared.
Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon hesitantly tried to make their way through the melee. “What’s going on?” Silver Spoon asked, everything a blur with her glasses broken.
Diamond Tiara led her past a groaning bushwoolie. “N-nothing … we’ll be okay, right?”
“R-right.” Silver Spoon offered a weak smile as she held out her hoof. “Bump?”
“Bump.” Diamond Tiara returned the hoof bump. They bumped their front knees together as they chanted together: “Sugar lump!” They spun around to complete their little ritual. However, Silver Spoon was disoriented without her glasses and ended up spinning around too much. So when it came to the last part of their secret hoof shake, Silver Spoon stuck out her hindquarters and shouted “Rump!” away from Diamond Tiara, knocking over a bushwoolie who had been creeping up on them.
“Yay!” Sweetie cheered, bouncing slightly as she knocked a bushwoolie over absently with her magic. “Can I help?”
Rarity winced as she delivered a quick one-two chop to one bushwoolie’s side. “Yes, well … certainly. I suppose. Hmm, I’m thinking something pink and purple, to match your mane!”
“I like green, to go with her eyes…” The woozy bushwoolie groaned right before Rarity hip-tossed him aside.
“No pony asked you!” Rarity sniffed. “Though it isn’t that bad an idea at that…”
As the foals continued to rout the bushwoolies, Twilight gaped as she put the pieces together. “King Sombra’s spell … it must have siphoned off years from their life force in order to re-power himself.”
A surprised sounding “Whoaaaa…” prompted Twilight to turn around. She ended up coming face to face with a fully grown Dinky Doo staring at her. “That sounds really, um, magical-y?” Dinky added.
“Dinky? What are you doing here?” Twilight gave a sudden start right before she was swept up into a bone-crushing hug. “You were supposed to stay with Azure Prism!”
“Ummmm...” Dinky shuffled like the little filly that she was at heart. “Well we did stay with her, 'cause she came in with us! An' she's right ... Um ... ” she pointed at a mare that looked somewhat like her. “There? Wait, no, she's over there!” She pointed in the opposite direction. “Or maybe that's her over there?” She rubbed her head, pondering. “Well, she in wunna those general directions. Ooh, here she comes!” Azure Prism ran past, chased by a pair of bushwoolies, who were in turn chased by a half dozen foals.
Twilight groaned. “Dinky … you shouldn’t have come here.” A thought occured.
“Are Alula and Pip with you?” Dinky nodded, then pointed over at her friends as they fought a group of bushwoolies.
Twilight’s jaw dropped when she saw Alula and Pipsqueak. Alula’s wings were huge, and Pipsqueak was a Big Macintosh-sized giant. He reached out and slugged a bushwoolie with one of his now-massive hooves, sending the monster tumbling head over heels.
Alula grumbled. “Your technique's wrong, Dummy.” Pip responded by sticking his tongue out at her. That made Alula grumble even more and wing-whap him. “You need lessons.”
Dinky rolled her eyes the way she’d seen her mother do sometimes. “You two get so grumbly that you should just get married!”
“Ewwww!” Pip and Alula squealed in disgust. Pipsqueak made a face. “Don't be gross Dinky!”
“At least they're still them,” Twilight sighed to herself.
Having dispatched the monsters, Alula trotted up and saluted Twilight. “Hey Miss Twilight. Everypony's accounted for … I think.”
Pip looked down at her funnily. “You're an accountant?”
“…Pipsqueak?” Twilight reconciling her image of the tiny colt with the behemoth standing over her. Her brain refused to process the image.
Alula nodded. “Dummy got REALLY big.”
Dinky nodded too. “He kinda needs a new name.”
“What's wrong with 'Dummy'?” Alula asked.
Pip pouted in a way that totally belied his massive size. “I'm not a Dummy!” Then, as if remembering that he was bigger than Alula now, he grabbed her and started noogieing her.
“Alula, that's not very—” Twilight started, only to weakly trail off as the surreality of everything sank in. She face hoofed.
“That's what we've been sayin’,” Dinky grumbled, but soon smiled as a thought came to her. “Ooh, now that I'm bigger, we can do more magic an' stuff now, huh?”
Twilight rubbed her temples, trying to gather her thoughts. “Well, yes…”
Dinky squealed happily as she tightly hugged Twilight again. “AWESOME!” Twilight let out a startled squeak at the air was suddenly forced from her lungs.
After letting Twilight go, Dinky looked around. “Hey, where's Rainbow Dash? I gotta see her too!”
Twilight winced and bit her lip. “Rainbow Dash … got separated from us. She's on the other side of that wall.” She pointed at the wall in question.
Dinky followed her hoof, undeterred. “A'kay! I'm gonna go find her!”
“But Dinky, you can't get past the wall.” Twilight pointed out.
That caused Dinky to blink as the thought the matter over. “Um…” She pondered. “…dumb wall.”
“Maybe your mom could come sit on it, or something?” Alula offered. The destructive power of Derpy’s rump being a well-known legend amongst the ponies of Ponyville and its environs.
“Ida know, that only works sometimes.” Dinky pouted, then brightened as she got a different idea. “Oooh, but she'd make it get all fwooshy an' stuff! I can try that!” She adorably scrunched up her face and concentrated, pointing her horn at the wall. After a moment of nothing happening, she tapped her horn gently. “Stoopid horn, c'mon an' work!”
Twilight stepped forward. “Dinky, wait! You—” She jumped back with a yelp as a large steady stream of magic fire wooshed from Dinky’s horn and impacted against the wall.
“Gyah!” Alula exclaimed, jumping a little in surprise. “Nice!”
“W-whoooaa … uuuh ... izzit workin'?” Dinky grunted, sweat starting to bead her forehead.
An alarmed look crossed Twilight’s face. “Dinky, that wall is made of magic crystal. we can't reach Rainbow Dash like that!”
“But I gotta try, 'cause she tried for me!” Dinky grunted as she closed her eyes and strained even harder. The intensity of her magic increased, causing the flame to grow and turn from a reddish fire to a blue and white hot inferno.
Dinky whimpered as the strain caused her head to pound. “It's not workin' ... owie … owie, how do I stop it!?”
“Miss Twilight, make her stop!” Alula cried, rushing forward to try to tap Dinky’s horn in the hope of shorting it out.
“Don’t touch it!” Twilight shouted as she stepped in front of her. Her horn flashed as she started siphoning magic away from Dinky's horn. “It’s going to be okay Dinky, just relax.”
“Oww...” Dinky whimpered as she collapsed to her knees. “Mommy … it hurts … IwunRainbow…”
Twilight’s eyes started to water “Shhh. It’ll be okay ... just rest now.” Dinky’s flame flickered and sputtered as it started to die down, her excess magic now pouring into Twilight. Finally, it went out completely as Dinky sank to the ground, Twilight managing to catch her before she fell. Dinky clung to Twilight in a desperate hug, her eyes fluttering as she passed out.
Her lips trembling, Twilight gently held Dinky for a bit as she cautiously laid Dinky down on the floor. “Just rest now, Dinky ... it'll be okay.”
Alula looked Dinky over, talking to convince herself as much as anypony else. “She'll be okay.” Left unspoken was the ‘Right?’ that died on her lips.
Twilight sighed, nodding. “Yes, she will. She just went through magical exhaustion. She used more magic than her body could handle. She just needs rest.”
“I'll stay and protect her from the monsters.” Pip stepped forward, standing protectively over her.
For once Alula said nothing in contradiction, just nodding. “We're her guards, 'til she wakes up.”
“Thank you.” Twilight dipped her head as she took stock of the situation. The bushwoolies had camped out in one corner of the room, packed in tightly as they tried to stay as far away from the ponies as they could get. They had enough for a while.
She then turned to the wall separating them from Rainbow Dash. Dinky’s magic had scorched and even partially melted a section of the wall.
“Twilight! Twilight!” Pinkie Pie bounced around her. “What’s the plan? What do we do? Can we go help Rainbow Dash? Can we stop that big meanie Sombra weenie? “If you take cranberries and stew them like applesauce do they taste much more like prunes than rhubarb does?”
“Give ‘er some room!” Applejack grumbled as she came over, using her hat to shoo Pinkie away. “Go on, git! Ya ornery, nonsense-making…”
“A-anyway.” Twilight cleared her throat. “I think the wall has been weakened … but magic isn’t going to break through it. We need something more hooves-on.”
Applejack nodded. “Hooves-on, eh? Well we got plenty of hooves ‘round here.”
Rarity gasped, looking down at her hooves. “How barbaric! Twilight, my hooficure! Surely you can’t be suggesting…”
“That we buck this here wall like mah Granny’s first apple tree?” AJ nodded firmly. “You bet your finely-styled mane she does!”
“It’s the only way.” Twilight tried to assure Rarity. “We need to get to Rainbow Dash before the King completes his spell. Or…”
“Um, or what?” Fluttershy asked hesitantly.
“Twilight?” Rarity pressed.
Twilight fidgeted. “Or Sombra’s spell will keep draining the foals life force until they’re completely … gone.”
A horrified gasp tore itself free from Rarity’s throat as she snapped her head around, trying to check on her sister, Applejack joining her. They let out a relieved sigh as they saw Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo hoof-bumping each other as they bragged about how strong, magical or fast they were and how many monsters they beat up. Then they all turned to look at their flanks and let out a groan when they saw they were still blank.
Rarity swallowed. “Well, then, shall we get started? That wall isn’t going to break itself down, after all!”
Applejack pushed her hat down. “Right!” She tossed her head to the one hundred plus ponies milling about the room. “All right you not-so little ponies! Line up along this here wall and get a bucking! Break this wall, break this wall! One, two, three, four! Together we can break this wall! One, two, three, four!”
Hang on Rainbow Dash. Twilight thought as she took a place alongside her friends and began pounding on the wall. We’re coming.
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Doesn't Dinky still need to deliver that message to Rainbow Dash?
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Yes, as a matter of fact. Don't worry, I haven't forgotten.
Is it just me, or did it seem like there was a missing bridge scene with Twilight getting to the throne room?
3157588
Maybe
3157866
She's not in the the throne room. She's in the anteroom, with the others. That's why they're trying to knock down the wall, to get to the throne room where Sombra and Rainbow Dash are.
So we rejoin the Elements of Harmony minus Rainbow Dash.
Twilight's little magical nuclear explosion has taken out the anti-magic crystals, but left her pretty drained. And the others are facing similar problems, what with their enemies having the numerical advantage.
Pinkie Pie tells Fluttershy to pull a Fastball Special, but Fluttershy doesn't know if she should do it. At least, until Pinkie Pie tells Fluttershy to think that the bushwoolies tried to beat up some bunnies. She know's 'Shy's Berserk Button pretty darn well, and after being tossed, she gives us a The Villain Sucks Song as she bounces through the bushwoolies!
Twilight, despite being drained, is doing pretty well, at least until a snow leopard manages to pin her. Luckily, Fluttershy is able to get it off of her just by scolding it.
Still, the odds aren't looking that great. Just then, however, they hear a loud thundering sound. It's being created by whatever spell Sombra is using.
Just then, however, the windigos leave, called away to some other mission by his magic, and the snow leopards, which were only serving him because of a spell, regain their senses and leave.
Applejack then pulls a classic Tempting Fate as she says the odds are finally turning in their favor, only for more bushwoolies to rush in.
They're in no condition to fight against odds like those, and the whole building's shaking for some reason. But that shaking ain't no spell of Sombra's, it's a stampede!
A whole bunch of ponies show up to lend a hoof helping them out! Rarity quickly goes into a romantic fantasy, especially when she sees a handsome unicorn stallion. Just then, however, she hear's Sweetie Belle's voice, and after seeing her little sister's grown up form, she notices Twist and Scootaloo, and just as she's starting to realize who that unicorn must be, she sees the snail cutie mark on his flank. Well, she needs some Brain Bleach after that.
As the battle continues and Apple Bloom is reunited with Applejack, however, even though they're able to beat back the bushwoolies, Twilight realizes something. The reason all of the foals are grown up is because of Sombra's spell siphoning years off of their life force!
Then, when the forcibly aged-up Power Trio of former foals are reunited with Twilight, Dinky decides to try using her magic on the crystal wall. It...doesn't go well, and she's only saved by Twilight siphoning off her magic, causing her to faint. Luckily, Pipsqueak and Alula are there to look after her.
With the bushwoolies all defeated, Twilight then says they'll need to get physical in order to get through that wall. Luckily, they've got plenty of hoofpower to help them with that. And hearing about what will happen if Sombra's spell is allowed to continue, even Rarity is willing to help break it down.
Prepare to receive badges! And Web of Hope, before you try anything, know that I'm friends with Cloud Strife and Sephiroth, and while it may take some work, I can get them to work together if I have to. So if you try to take them, the Fusion Sword and Masamune will cut you down to size in an instant.
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So next chapter, either we'll get to see Princess Cadance realize that she should Never Give Up...
...or we'll get to see how Rainbow Dash, the Hero of the Skies...
...is doing against King Sombra, the Dark King of Immortality!
Later!
Well, I'd hope they still have flanks. If they didn't, it'd make getting Cutie Marks rather difficult. (Although, technically, the show got it wrong; Cutie Marks appear on a pony's haunch, not their flank)
3158021
Fixed. Yeah, I know, but 'blank flank' is a kinda canon word so I was just going with that.
Great
3157951 Either way, she is not in the room she left with Shiny and Zecora and she is also not in the magic doorway thingy which is where she was at the end of the last chapter so my point stands. She just sort of moved between the end of the last chapter and the start of this one with no explanation of any kind and it feels very wrong.
3157866 No, this scene picked up right where the last chapter we had with Twilight left off. Although a recap or something would have been nice since that was, what, 4 chapters ago? Which is HOW MANY months? (Checking would be easy, but I'm lazy.)
3158105 No, I checked before I posted that. The last chapter was Twilight in the doorway's illusion, not the actual room.
3158090
Twilight was never with Shining Armor and Zecora. Cadance was. Twilight has been with Applejack, Pinkie Pie, Rarity and Fluttershy in the anteroom.
What Cadance experienced last chapter was all an illusion. Twilight and friends never got through to the throne room (not that Cadance knew that at the time).
3158197 Oh right, I totally forgot that Cadence was where Twilight was in the episode.
I cracked up at the Whose Line drunk mother hoedown. Sombra better get in a revenge verse, though I wonder how you're gonna make it appropriate, unlike Colin's.
*your
Also lol. Great chapter as always Tri.
Poor Snails.
Giant Pipsqueak is awesome.
I've an idea on how the climax will work. Just gonna wait see if I am right about it. Sitting over here Leonard Nimoy and Judd Nelson waiting to see how close this' ll get.
On a separate note, I imagine Trinary being voiced by Victor Caroli, wonder why...
3158197 Sure hope Cadance is going to be okay.
Yay everypony's coming for Rainbow Dash, even little foals!
What the heck was Dinky trying to tell Dash again? I forgot...
Whoa whoa whoa.
I have just one question. I do not know if this is addressed in the sequels, but is the Scootaloo/Rainbow Sister thing in this story?
I was just curious, as I haven't seen it this far.
wuttt