It's the end of times in Equestria, but they're not ready to give up just yet.
After billions of years, the Four Riders of the Apocalypse have arrived in Equestria to Bring the world to it's end. Whilst Celestia realizes that fighting against them is futile, she cannot give up hope against the ponies she rules over. It's a battle royal of Twilight Sparkle, Pinkie Pie, Rarity, Applejack, Fluttershy, and Rainbow Dash, Versus War, Famine, Pestilence, And Death.
Twilight ran through the rain, Carrying with her a very heavy book, and one that she kept close to her while she ran through the rain. She managed to keep most of her body dry with the cloak she wore while she rain towards her house, passing by other ponies with umbrellas in their hands, also running home to get out of the rain. Twilight looked to see Spike holding the door open for her.
"Hurry up Twi!" Spike shouted to her.
Twilight responded by running into the tree house like a bat outa' hell and Spike shut the door behind her.
"So? Did you get it?" Spike asked surprisingly eager to see it.
Twilight took off her cloak and turned to look at Spike, smiling. She unwrapped the book she was holding and held it up for Spike to see. The Book of Revelation. After paying about 500 bits, waiting for about 2 years, and a trip from Ponyville to the Crystal Empire, the purple unicorn finally got it. Twilight had gone through alot of trouble to get this book, and now she had it.
Spike looked at the book in her hand and suddenly got a bad vibe from it. The book was giving him a pretty bad feeling in his gut.
"Twilight?" Spike looked at her with concern in his eyes. "Are you sure we should hang onto this thing? I'm kind of getting a bad feeling from it...."
Twilight rolled her eyes and set the book down on the desk. "Oh come on Spike, its just a book! What's reading it gonna do?"
Spike raised an eyebrow and crossed his arms. "Remember the Necronomicon?"
"That was ONE TIME!" Twilight shouted. She still had nightmares about that book, and the Bad Twilight......
Twilight shook her head and snapped back to reality. "Look, Spike, i'm not gonna read any of the text out loud this time alright? Plus there's nothing in here that could possibly hurt us right?
"Right...." Spike put his jacket on, still looking at the book that lay on the desk. "Well i'm gonna head over to Rarity's if you need me."
"Gotcha" Twilight said she she picked up the Book of Revelation and flopped onto her bed.
Spike shut the door and walked off to Rarity's, as twilight opened up the book and began reading
After around 4 hours, Twilight was already 90% done with the book. She placed her bookmark into the page she had just begun and shut it, Laying on her back, she clutched the book against her chest and marveled at the wonders she had just been reading. So many fascinating things that she had just read about; Angel of Woe, the Seal-bearer Angel, Abaddon, even Michael the Archangel. But what fascinated her most were these four beings she had read about called "The Four Riders of the Apocalypse." Twilight didn't know why, but she found these four mythical being absolutely fascinating!
War, the Spirit of Rage: a woman with a heart as cold as the dark side of Luna's moon, and a blade as hot as Celestia's sun, who rode on a red horse with a flaming mane and tail. It was said that people would start to see War at a time of incoming conflict that would involve death. War herself was strong enough to punch holes in time and space as a way of travel with her bare fists. Despite all of these characteristics War is the weakest of the Four Riders. It is said that War would appear to fight along side those that were about to die in battle.
Famine, the Spirit of Weakness: Famine is a silent woman with a pair of weighing scales that rode a speedy, black horse. Whilst Famine was not the strongest of the Four Riders, her magical abilities were only exceeded by Death's. She was a silent rider who wore a light blue Niqab while she rode around, causing hunger, food to rot, and weakened people's physical bodies. It is said that Famine will appear to those who are about to die of hunger, and she will carry their souls in her arms to the heavens.
Pestilence, the Spirit of Disease: Pestilence was a filthy woman who liked to take the form of a young teenage girl, though she was thousands of years old. Pestilence is the second most powerful of the Four riders and is only rivaled by Death. Pestilence rode a white horse that was followed by a green cloud of stench and a swarm in infectious bugs. Pestilence carried with her two crossbows to directly infect people with disease, and a much larger bow and arrow that required two hands that would spread disease along the path of wherever she shot at. She used these items to create infection all across the world. It is said that Pestilence will appear to those who are dying of disease during their final moments.
Death, the Spirit of The End: Death was indeed the most powerful and the oldest of the Four Riders. Death rode a pale horse that was followed by the mist created from the souls she has taken. Anybody either passed by Death while she rode on her horse or that was directly touched by Death would immediately die. Death used a scythe to reap those who were destined to die, but often made deals with people to turn the other cheek for a while in return for a sacrifice made to her. This sacrifice would usually consist of another human life. Death has been confirmed to appear to anyone next to the other Riders if a person would be passing into the afterlife.
These four legends filled Twilight with complete awe, and she wondered what it would be like to meet them. Quickly though, Twilight realized that this was a terrible thought and forced it out of her head. If the Four Riders were to come to Equestria, it would mean the ends of times. And she didn't want that happening any time soon.
Applebloom, Sweetie Belle, Scootaloo, and Babs Seed were playing in front of their tree house, Applebloom and Babs pretending to swordfight with a couple of sticks, Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle were "Dead". As the two kids sword fought, Applobloom took a swing that hit the stick right out of bab's hand. The stick flew through the air and lightly hit a stranger that happened to be standing right where the stick hit. Applebloom looked and saw the woman that was standing there and went over to apologize and retrieve the stick. She ran over and picked up Babs' "Sword" and looked up and the tall girl.
"Sorry about that mam. We were just play fighting and-..." Applebloom suddenly stopped and looked at the woman before her.
She was clad in heavy red and gold armor, with a red hood that rested over her head, long strands of ruffled white hair, heavy boots with chains hanging from them, and a ridiculously large sword on her back with some kind of script written on the blade. The woman said nothing to the little girl and just walked away, her armor clinking with every step she took.
"Well that was weird, who was that woman?" Scootaloo asked, feeling like their game's fun was over.
"I dunno..." Applebloom asked. "But did anybody see that script written on her sword?"
"Yeah." Babs said. "But i dont know what it said."
"I do..." Sweetie Belle said, wandering over to the group.
"Well what did it say?" Scootaloo asked.
Sweetie Belle looked at the rest of the group and translated to the what the script on the sword said. "War..."
"Well this is an absolute disaster!" Applejack shouted, looking over at the crops that had suddenly wilted away in the middle of the night.
Every single Apple she and her brother had ever picked, planted, or even made something out of had just rotted in a single night. This was bad since apples were Equestria's biggest food source, and now there was nothing to feed anybody with!
"You think it might've been sabotage?" Applejack asked Big Macintosh.
"Eyup." He responded with.
"Well shoot!" Applejack threw her hat to the ground in anger. "Do you know who might want to sabotage Ponyville's biggest food source?!"
"Nope." Big Mac responded.
Applejack sighed and went inside the house. It looked like they were gonna have to find something else to eat for breakfast. Applejack grabbed a box of cereal and poured herself a bowl. The moment she opened up the carton, the smell of way old milk hit Applejack's nostrils. She gagged and dumped the milk down the sink, washing it out afterwords and throwing the carton in the backyard trash bin.
"Ah don't get it. Ah just bought that milk yesterday...." She went back inside and decided to eat the cereal dry.
She ate one piece and spit it into the trash. Stale enough to be used as ammunition. Into the trash it went. maybe she could try a PB&J? Moldy bread, rotten peanut butter and jelly. Into the trash it went. Maybe some of that leftover cheese pizza? Spoiled.... Applejack did a full inspection of all the food in the house and the only thing that wasn't bad was the honey.
"This has GOTTA be some kind of prank set up by Rainbow Dash... Eh, i'll give her a peace of my mind later. I gotta go get some food for mah family....." Applejack picked up her hat from where she threw it down and wet to the store.
Applejack went up to Sugar Cube Corner and saw the "CLOSED" sign hanging on the front door. This was strange since Sugar Cube Corner almost never closed, especially during this time of the day. She looked inside and saw the cakes and Pinkie Pie sitting at the table talking. The cakes seemed to be talking to Pinkie who looked a little sad, like the were accusing her of something. Applejack knocked on the door to get their attention, and waited while Carrot Cake walked up and opened up the door.
"Hey Applejack...." He said glumly. "Sorry but we're closed for today... Things aren't going to well..."
"What's the matter?" Applejack asked, concerned, mainly though for Pinkie.
"Well, all the food and ingredients have just suddenly-" He started.
"Rotted away?" Applejack finished his sentence for him.
Carrot Cake looked surprised at Applejack. "How did you know?"
"Same thing happened over at mah farm!" She stated, much to the surprise of Carrot Cake.
Carrot cake looked back at Cupcake and asked Applejack to wait at the door. She agreed and he went to go and talk to her. After a while, Cupcake came to the door and asked Applejack to come in. She sat down next to Pinkie who wiped away some tears. The Cakes sat down and looked at the two at the table.
"Sorry i couldn't get you anything to drink dear. all of the milk and soda seems to have gone bad and the water's turned green...." Cupcakes apologized.
"Its no problem mam'" Applejack assured, "So what the matter here?"
"Well..." Carrot cake started. "Last night Cupcake and I went to go pick the twins up from their babysitter. We decided to leave Pinkie Pie in charge while we went away. When we came home we didn't notice the light on in the kitchen until the morning. We went inside and saw that all the food had suddenly just rotted away. We think it was because Pinkie Pie might have caused a power surge when she decided to stay up last night playing Kingdom Hearts 2 for hours straight."
"I wasn't on that long....." Pinkie sniffled, "I swear..... I was only on for an hour tops....."
"Well...." Cupcake said to her. "At first it seemed like a ridiculous story that the food just rotted away on it's own, but from the looks of it i'd say she's telling the truth..."
Pinkie brightened up a little, smiling at the fact that they believed her now. Then she looked over at the front door where she saw a woman in a blue Niqab was looking at her. Pinkie waved to the woman who raised the two scales on a chain she was holding. She pressed her finger down on one side and let it go. She then pointed to the glass case that held all the rotten goodies and left. Pinkie looked confused and looked over to the glass case where one, single, cupcake, was not rotten, but fresh....
Twilight drew back the curtain at the hospital to reveal the long lines of sick people, vomiting into buckets, coughing up blood, or just plain passed out.
"What the heck is going on here!?" Twilight asked.
"We dont know..." Nurse Redheart said highly concerned. "All of a sudden we just get a bunch of call from random locations saying that people were coming in extremely sick."
Twilight walked through the corridor looking at all the sick people laying in the beds, nurses and doctors rushing to see if they can find some way to ease their pain.
"Do you know where it came from?" Twilight asked Nurse Redheart.
"Unfortunately no..." She walked over to one other person who was passed out in the bed, her breathing was very forced and hard. "The disease just came out of nowhere, and a large amount of Ponyville has been needed to be shipped out to other hospitals...."
Redheart nodded, looking at the other people in pity. "I just don't understand how such a large number of people could all just get sick at once....."
Twilight thought for a minute. She remembered about the tale of Pestilence. How when pestilence rode into city they were suddenly struck with a plague that would kill thousands of people. It seemed ridiculous at first but now she was wondering... Twilight excused herself from the hospital and ran home to her tree house to pick up the Book of Revelation. She quickly grabbed the book and looked for any specific symptoms of Pestilence's disease but it was hopeless. Pestilence could create any type of disease any time she wanted, there was no way of telling if it WAS her.
Twilight sighed, closed the book and walked outside. Once outside she saw a green haired woman sitting on a white motorcycle waiting for her on the street.
"Hey twilight!" The woman shouted to her.
Twilight raised an eyebrow and wondered how this woman knew her. She took a close look at the green haired woman as she walked up. As Twilight approached she could smell something awful coming from the girl. She saw flies whirl around her and a centipede crawled across her gut next to a cockroach. The woman grabbed the cockroach from her body and popped it into her mouth. Twilight could here the crunching as she got closer.
"Yes?" Twilight asked, resisting the urge to vomit.
The woman just grinned at Twilight, pulled a crossbow out of her brown leather jacket and pointed it at Twilight's gut.
"Get well soon~" The woman pulled the trigger and the arrow buried itself in Twilight's stomach.
Twilight gasped as the arrow flew into her and stumbled back, falling to the concrete. She coughed blood which spilled onto the pavement and looked up at the woman who had just shot her. She grinned as she started up her white motorcycle and drove off, leaving a trail of stench along her path. A man quickly made his way over to Twilight and called out for somebody to get help. Just as twilight was hauled away, she saw a woman dressed in a black robe, her hood up, glowing white eyes, and a scythe, sitting on a pale motorcycle. She looked at the man who had earlier saved Twilight, went up and touched him on the shoulder and walked off. The man didn't seem to notice her touching his shoulder, but he sure as hell noticed when the truck bashed into his side, killing him almost immediately.
Doctor were rushing around Twilight, trying their best to stop the bleeding in her stomach. She had been taken to the ER as soon as she made it into the hospital, her friends waiting in the waiting room, worried sick about her.
"I'm gonna kill them..." Rainbow dash growled, pacing around in the waiting room. "I'm gonna KILL whoever did this to her!"
"R-Rainbow dash..." Fluttershy said, attempting to calm her friend down. "Maybe it was an accident..."
"Don't you even say that!" Rainbow Dash shouted. "This was no accident. If it was an accident why didn't the person come up to help Twilight?! And why would they be shooting arrows out in public!?"
"Calm down Rainbow!" Rarity commanded.
Rainbow Dash was still fuming, but she eventually sat down and took a few breathes.
"Now look." Rarity continued. "Rainbow Dash, I agree with you that this probably wasn't an accident. Somebody definitely did this to hurt Twilight, but we don't know who it is. And besides, this is no reason to go yelling at Fluttershy!"
Rainbow Dash took another deep breath to calm herself down and looked over at Fluttershy. "I'm sorry.... I shouldn't have yelled...."
Fluttershy smiled at the apology. "It's OK Rainbow. You have every right to be upset."
Rainbow Dash smiled and took Fluttershy's waiting hand, gripping it tightly. While she didn't want to admit it, Rainbow Dash was scared. She didn't want to lose Twilight, she was her friend.
A doctor walked out into the waiting room and looked over at the group waiting for Twilight. Pinkie stood up to see if it was them the doctor was looking for. He walked over to the group and sighed.
"Is she ok!?" Pinkie asked, her hair having gone flat out of fear and sadness.
"She's going to be fine." The doctor said, sparking Pinkie Pie's hair inflation. "But she's going to need to stay in the hospital for a few weeks. the arrow buried itself pretty deep into her and we need to let them heal enough for her to move. You can go and visit her if you want."
They didn't even say anything. Pinkie Pie, Rainbow Dash, Applejack, Rarity, Fluttershy, and Spike all ran past the doctor and into Twilight's room, where she was rest on a bed, with a needle in her arm and the TV turned on. Twilight looked over at the group of friends who walked over to her beside.
"How ya feeling?" Applejack asked Twilight, looking at the blood that stained the bandages around her stomach.
"I'm fine I guess.... Not feeling too well though...." Twilight groaned.
Fluttershy went up and felt Twilight's forehead. "Girls.... She's burning up!"
Pinkie Pie went to feel her head, and she said the same thing. "I think she's sick... Did that arrow have some kind of poison on it!?"
"No," the doctor said, "We didn't find any traces of poison what-so-ever on the arrow, and we disinfected the wound so there shouldn't be any infection..."
Twilight grabbed Pinkie's arm. "Pinkie....."
"Twilight...?" Pinkie said, kneeling down next to her friend.
"At my house..... A book...... Revelations...... Pestilence...." This was all Twilight could say before she fell into a coma. Pinkie tried hard to shake Twilight awake, but after a while the hospital staff had to force the others out of the room due to them having to see if Twilight was either dying or falling into a coma.
"What do you think she meant when she said those things?" Fluttershy asked on the trip back to her house, accompanied by Rainbow Dash.
"I don't know, but from what she said i'm guessing she wants us to go to her house and find some kind of book. What was it she said again? Revelations?" Rainbow dash said to Fluttershy.
"I think so... And what does "Pestilence" mean?" Fluttershy asked.
"I dunno, probably has something to do with pests like bugs or something like that." Rainbow Dash replied, taking a complete guess.
"Well do you think we should go and try to find that book?" Fluttershy asked as soon as they walked up to her front door.
"I'LL go." Rainbow Dash volunteered, "You stay here and lock the door. If there's some kind of psychopath going around shooting people with arrows, I want you to stay safe, alright?"
"But.... I want to help! Twilight's my friend too!" Fluttershy argued.
"I know Fluttershy..." Rainbow Dash held Fluttershy close to her. "But I don't want you to get hurt. I don't know what I would do if anything were to happen to you... So please, just stay here and lock the door ok? And don't open it for anybody you don't know."
Fluttershy sighed in defeat. "Ok Dash. Just be careful alright?"
Rainbow Dash smiled and kissed Fluttershy on the lips. "I will..." After that she spread her wings and flew off for Twilight's house."
Rainbow Dash landed directly in front of Twilights house and knocked on the door in hopes that Spike was still home. When nobody answered, she picked up the false rock twilight kept behind her bushes and took out the spare key, unlocked the door and walked in. It was a little strange walking into a friend's house who was in the hospital, but Rainbow Dash knew the house well enough to know the basic layout. After a quick trip to the bathroom, Rainbow Dash started looking around for any book with the title "Revelations". She knew how organized Twilight was so she went to check out the "R" section.
"Return of Conan, Revolt in 2100, Rewards in fairies..... Nothing about Revalations!" Rainbow Dash said out loud.
After another hour of looking Rainbow Dash was exhausted. She flopped down onto Twilight's bed and felt something hit her back. Rainbow Dash looked at the bed and saw a square form through Twilight's blanket. She flipped up the blanket and saw the book titled "Book of Revelations". She picked it up and opened it up. She saw a bookmark with the letters FRA written on it. She opened it up and saw that FRA stood for Four Rider of the Apocalypse. Rainbow dash read into it until she saw the "Pestilence" rider.
"Pestilence.... Twilight said something about Pestilence...." Rainbow said to herself.
After reading further, Rainbow Dash discovered how Pestilence was a rider who used two crossbows and a large bow and arrow to infect her victims with disease. She couldn't believe it, if this was true, then this was the end of times for Equestria!
"I need to get to Celestia!" Rainbow Dash closed the book and headed for the door, though she was quickly stopped at the door by a direct punch in the face, sending her flying back into one of the bookshelves and sending all the book falling down.
Rainbow Dash could barely see straight, but she could hear two voices talking to each other.
"Nice going genius! Now we have to look around for that book before she wakes up!" The first voice said.
"If she gets back up, i'll just crush her skull...." The second voice growled.
The first voice sounded young, about Pinkie Pie's age. The second sounded much older, about as old as Princess Luna. Once her vision straightened, she saw two women throwing Twilight's books around, sweeping them out of the way, and throwing them out the front door. One had emerald green hair, with a light brown trench coat open to expose a black leather bra, a cockroach crawling across her stomach which she proceeded to eat, dark brown pants, and a crossbow in one hand.
The second was dressed in red and gold armor with messy white hair, and a large sword. The second one was much larger than the girl with the green hair, so Rainbow Dash figured she could knock out the one with the green hair first and take on the other herself. Rainbow Dash looked around for the heaviest book she could reach, and lobbed a copy of "Moby Dick" At the girl with the green hair.
"Shi-!" Was all the girl managed to say before the book hit her square in the face, knocking her on her ass.
This alerted the other woman who took a hard swing at Rainbow Dash. Dash dodged the first punch which put a hole in Twilight's wall. The second punch however connected with Rainbow Dash's gut, which caused to her topple over since this woman hit like a freight train. Then she proceeded to grab Rainbow Dash by the legs and slam her down of the pile of books that lay on the floor. She did this another three times until Rainbow Dash stopped moving. Blood dripped from her mouth and pain was shooting throughout her entire body from head to toe.
"You OK Pestilence?" The large woman asked.
"I oughta kill that bitch..." Pestilence said holding a rag to her nose.
"Well I already beat you too it." The other woman bragged.
"Damn War...." Pestilence said as she went over and looked at Rainbow Dash, beaten to a pulp. "I don't think she's dead though.... She's still breathing."
"I'll just have to fix that....." War said, drawing her sword from her back.
Rainbow Dash tried to move to get out of the way, but her body was in so much pain she couldn't even blink without sending a shot of pain everywhere. War raised her sword above her head, and brought it down, just barely stopped above Rainbow's body, held by a pale hand. War looked to her side to see Death keeping War's sword at by with a single hand. War growled and swiped her sword away, sheathing it on her back.
"What the HELL Death!?" War yelled. "I thought you were supposed to kill people not save them!"
"I don't kill anyone, i am simply present during the time of their demise. And it isn't this girl time yet. Besides..." Death looked down at the crippled Rainbow Dash. "I have special plans for this girl and her friends...."
Pestilence walked up, still holding a cloth up to her nose, making her voice quack slightly. "What kind of plans? They're gonna die anyway so what does it matter when we kill them?"
Death looked at Pestilence and rested a hand on her shoulder. "Because Pestilence, before the Apocalypse we must show restraint as a law, our powers are to be held back. But...."
Death looked back to Rainbow Dash, smiled, and looked over to Pestilence. "Once the Apocalypse comes, we will be free to use our powers to their maximum. Nothing will hold us back. So i am trying to preserve as many of these mortals as i can before it comes."
Pestilence grinned at this statement. "Well allllllrighty then!" And with that she walked out of the house.
Death looked over to War who was still fuming at Rainbow Dash for being left alive. "Did you find the book?"
"No...." War said. "We looked all around but we couldn't find it."
"She must have it with her then...." Death stated. "Tell Famine we will retrieve the book at the hospital."
War nodded and walked out of the building. Death then looked back and Rainbow Dash and kneeled down next to her.
"My sisters and I.... We are going to enjoy ending your pitiful world..... But do not fret... For your extinction will bring upon a new race. Remember, every end makes way for a new beginning...."
Pinkie was in her home, mashing the button on her controller, trying her best to beat Xigbar on Kingdom Hearts 2, but she was having no luck. This a was probably her 18th attempt and he still gets her every time.
"Ugh! This guys is freaking impossible!" Pinkie yelled to herself.
Suddenly Pinkie's eye started to twitch, and her jaw chattered. "Pinkie sense....." After the jaw chatter, her hair started to tingle.
Pinkie Pie gasped. "Rainbow Dash is in trouble!"
She pressed paused on the game and ran out the door as fast as she could. She ran up to Twilight's house where her Pinkie Sense started to go crazy. She bashed through the door with the brute force of her body and saw Rainbow Dash laying on the ground.
"Rainbow!" Pinkie yelled, rushing over to her crippled friend. "Are you OK!?"
Pinkie listened for a moment to Dash. She wasn't breathing. She felt for a pulse and thankfully found one. Pinkie dialed 911 and started to perform CPR. She breathed into Dash's mouth and started pressing on her chest.
"C'mon Dashie! Say something!" She breathed in and pressed some more.
Rainbow dash eventually woke up and coughed up blood. She rolled to her side to cough the rest up until she could breath clearly. Once she could She pulled the book from her jacket that she had been hiding during the beating she received moments ago.
"Rainbow Dash! Are you alright!?" Pinkie asked.
"I-I'm.... Fine....." Rainbow Dash coughed up some more blood. "I need you.... To get this..... To Princess Celestia...."
Rainbow Dash handed Pinkie Pie the book and collapsed to the floor. She passed out just before the ambulance arrived to take her to the hospital.... Pinkie looked at the book Rainbow Dash put in her hands and wondered what Rainbow Dash needed it taken to the princess for. Whatever it was, it must've been important. Pinkie Pie ran home to get a few things, and left for the train station.
Pinkie Pie boarded the train to Canterlot with Rarity, who knew her way around the city and some of the people there. They took their seats and waited as the train started.
"So what is it we need to go to Canterlot for that it's so important i had to drop EVERYTHING and come with you?" Rarity asked Pinkie pie.
"Before Rainbow Dash passed out and went to the hospital, she gave me this..." With that Pinkie Pie pulled out the Book of Revelation and handed it to Rarity. "She told me we need to bring this to Celestia immediately!"
Rarity took the book and looked through it. "Pinkie this book.... This is a very dark book. Why would Rainbow Dash send you to deliver this to Celestia?"
"I don't know... But to be honest, i dont think she was pranking me. Rarity when i walked into that room somebody had beaten Rainbow Dash to a pulp. For whatever reason this book is very important and we can't let it fall into the wrong hands-" Pinkie Pie was interrupted by the sudden stop of the train, as if somebody had just pulled the emergency break.
The people gasped and yelped as the train came to a sudden stop, and people started to murmur as the train just sat there, in the middle of a bridge. Pinkie opened up the window and looked out the door to see why the train might have stopped. There wasn't anything on the tracks, the train was just sitting there. Pinkie drew her head back in and closed the window.
"Well?" Rarity asked.
"Nothing." Pinkie stated. "Nothing in the way, maybe some prankster just pulled the emergency break."
"They would've gotten the train going by now if someone just pulled the emergency break..." Rarity said sounding concerned.
As she said that, Pinkie started to noticed the sudden drop in temperature in the room, shivering and wrapping her arms around herself. "D-D-D-Did it j-j-j-j-just get c-c-c-c-c-cold in here or is it just m-m-m-m-m-me?"
Rarity looked over at the windows and started to notice and layer of ice that was starting to cover over it. "It just got cold in here.... Really cold...."
All of the people in the train started shivering violently, practically on the verge of hypothermia. Pinkie looked around and started to panic as one of the men on the train tried hard to open up one of the doors, but with zero luck.
"What the hell is going on?" Pinkie asked and she looked around and saw little kids that were started to cuddle up to their mothers for warmth
"I don't know" Rarity said. "But we have to do something about it!"
Rarity jumped out of her seat and grabbed her bags from the rack above her, and opening it up to reveal several clothes packed inside.
"Pinkie, you take the left while i take the right, hand these out for people to use as warmth!" And with that Rarity took her precious cloths and started cutting pieces long enough for people to use.
Pinkie Pie went the other direction and did the same thing, even cheering up the kids to make them smile along the way.
Famine and Death watched them from a cliff that gave a perfect view of the train. Death sighed as she saw what the two elements of harmony were doing for the people.
"It's not strong enough, we have to make it colder. Whatever it takes to be able to freeze the girl so we can get the book." Death said to Famine.
Famine held out her weighing scales which held an ice-cube on one side, and a fire in the other. With a single finger, Famine tipped the fire downward, causing the scale with the ice-cube to raise, lowering the temperature in the train even further. Pinkie started to notice the strong drop in temperature again and knew that this was definitely not natural.
"Rarity!" Pinkie shouted from the other side of the train. "I think somebody might be doing this on purpose!"
Rarity turned around after giving the last person a blanket to cover up with and ran over to Pinkie. "What do you mean someone is doing this on purpose!?"
"Look. Temperatures don't just DROP like this in the middle of July! Somebody's obviously using magic to try and freeze everybody on this train!" Pinkie explained.
Rarity scowled at the thought of somebody doing such a thing. "Well if they're going to use powerful magic against us, then we'll just have to use it right back!"
Rarity and Pinkie Pie both pulled out their Elements of Harmony and places them around their necks. They then each other's hands and thought of the happiest memories they could. This triggered a magical heat wave to emanate from them, melting the ice and warming the people. Famine felt this and tipped her scale further, trying to fight against their power. Rarity and Pinkie felt Famine trying to fight against them and they increase their heat, eventually causing the rest of the ice to melt.
Famine had given up trying to fight against the Elements of Harmony. She was going to have to deal with these two herself. Famine jumped from the cliff and bashed her way straight through the ceiling of the train. The people gasped at the sudden appearance of the woman with the scales. Famine slowly looked the two annoyances dead in the eyes.
"Famine....." Pinkie whispered to Rarity.
"What? Look Pinkie I don't think Famine's a good way to help keep my form-" Rarity started.
"No!" Pinkie groaned. "Famine! The second Rider of the Apocalypse. SHE'S the one who tried to freeze everyone on this train!"
"You're kidding...." Rarity said in disbelief. "SHE herself almost withstood the power of the Elements of Harmony? I though it was an entire pack of rouge unicorns!"
Famine lifted her free hand and shook her finger in a "no no no" gesture. Famine then held out her two scales for everybody on the train to see, which still held the fire and ice.
"What on earth is that?" Rarity asked, confused.
With her free hand, Famine waved her hand over the scales, making sure the two saw the fire and ice in them. When she was sure they did, she passed her hand over them, replacing the fire and ice with a steel ingot and rust.
"What the..." Pinkie started.
Famine retreated to the roof of the train by passing through the ceiling like a ghost. Pinkie and Rarity quickly followed by exiting the cart and climbing up the ladder. Before Pinkie and Rarity could reach her, with a single finger, Famine pressed on the side with the steel ingot, causing the rust to rise higher. When she did this, the supporters of the bridge started to quickly rust away, causing it to collapse behind Pinkie and Rarity. The train carts fell into the river one-by-one and slowly it came for them. Famine floated away like a ghost, preparing to let Pinkie and Rarity fall to their doom.
"Pinkie!" Rarity said, being the first to notice the bridge collapsing.
Pinkie looked back and saw the train carts falling one by one. She screamed for Rarity to run which they both proceeded to do, after they jumped from the first cart to the other, Rarity screamed as she broke her ankle after making the jump. Pinkie had no option but to pick her up and try to carry her to the end of the train. She ran as quickly as she could while holding a 110 pound unicorn anthro, and jumped from one cart to the next. As she approached the final one, the last cart began to fall.
"I can't make it!" Pinkie said breathing heavily.
"You have to!" Rarity said.
Pinkie looked at her friend, took a deep breath and threw her safely onto the cliff, off of the bridge. Rarity gasped and saw that the last cart was falling. Pinkie ran as fast as she could and tried to make the jump, missing the cliff by only half an inch. Pinkie thought her life was over until Rarity, at the last second, caught Pinkie's hand, using all the strength she could muster to keep from letting go.
"Pinkie! Are you alright!?" Rarity shouted.
Pinkie was panting both from fear and from the trip across the trains. "Yeah.... I'm alright!"
Rarity smiled at this, holding Pinkie over the edge. Rarity used every once of energy she had in her body, to lift Pinkie onto the land, where they both collapsed taking deep breathes, trying to regain their energy. After roughly an hour, Pinkie sat up and turned around to see Famine waiting for them.
Pinkie stood up and watched as Famine held out her scales, both empty. Rarity turned to see Famine, and tried to stand, but screamed at the pain of her ankle. She could feel the pain of her broken ankle, keeping her from helping her friend in any way.
"Just stay here Rarity... I'll take care of this...." Pinkie said as she prepared for battle.
(This would be some really good music to play for this scene:
Pinkie charged at Famine, who responded by blowing a blast of wind from the scales, and following it up by shooting fire from her free hand like a flamethrower. Pinkie stepped back from the intense heat. She countered this attack by jumping in the air and doing a dragon kicked, which Famine blocked with a wall of ice that she brought from her scales. This may have blocked Pinkie's attack, but she managed to Punch through the wall of ice and give Famine a good right hook. The punch caused her to reel back, until she appeared in another spot a bit further from Pinkie.
"You don't give up do you~?" Pinkie said with a smirk.
Famine said nothing. She just held out her scales in front of her and circular blades came whirling from the scales. Pinkie dodged these attack, but she never saw the large chunk of land come up from under her when Famine threw her hand into the air. Pinkie and the large chunk of land both rose up into the sky, where Famine threw a large fireball at the very top, sending Pinkie flying off the cliff and into the river where the train fell into.
"PINKIE!!!!" Rarity screamed.
There was no reply, Pinkie had fallen into the raging river below where she current swept her away. Rarity turned to look at Famine, rage covering her face. She stood up, ignoring the pain in her ankle.
"You bitch......." Rarity growled. "YOU BITCH!"
Rarity shot a powerful blue beam from her horn, drawing power from her element. Famine reacted quick by firing a similar red beam in Rarity's direction. The two beams fought for victory, swaying between Rarity's direction and Famines. Famine's beam eventually overcame and destroyed Rarity's beam. The blast sent her flying into the river. Famine walked over to look at the river, and arrived just in time to see Rarity plunge into the water.
Famine stood at the edge of the cliff, looking down, imagining the two girls, drowning to death in their watery graves. Death walked up next to Famine, and looked at the train that lay in ruins.
"It's a large number of people we wont get to use our full power on, but it's worth it." Death looked over to Famine. "No one can know the secrets that are written in the book. That book holds the only way our demise is possible. Who knows what would have happened if Celestia had received it..."
Famine simply nodded and walked away.
Death took one last look down at the train. "This is the end........"
Fluttershy sat in the hospital, crying her eyes out into her hands, Applejack trying her best to cheer Fluttershy up, but to no avail. They had been waiting roughly 4 hours for any news on Rainbow Dash. After a couple more hours, Fluttershy had fallen asleep in Applejack's lap. The doctor finally came out and approached the two. Applejack woke Fluttershy up and stood with her to receive the news.
"Believe me... I would love to tell you she's fine but......" The doctor sighed and shook his head. "She's in extremely bad condition. Her ribs are fractured almost beyond repair, her wings won't work for another month, and I'm afraid she'll never be able to walk again...."
"Oh god...." Fluttershy was torn up inside. She couldn't bare the thought of her friend being in such agonizing pain.
Fluttershy collapsed to the ground, tears falling from her eyes once again. Applejack rested her hand on Fluttershy's shoulder and looked up at the doctor.
"Can we at least see her?" Applejack asked, willing to do anything to keep Fluttershy from crying anymore.
"Yes, but don't get her excited. It could turn bad if you do." The doctor warned.
The doctor led them down the hall to Rainbow Dash's room where she was in a full body cast, her arms and legs raised by straps. Her eyes were closed signaling that she was still passed out. The hospital staff were nice enough to place Rainbow Dash in the same room as Twilight in case one woke up before the other. Fluttershy walked up to Rainbow Dash's bed side and got on her knees to get a closer look at dash. Her face was bruised in several spots and she still had blood dripping from her nose.
"Who did this to you...." Fluttershy whispered.
Rainbow Dash gave no response. Fluttershy sniffled, having cried herself dry.
"I cant leave her here like this.... I wont leave her here like this...!" Fluttershy almost shouted.
"Mam you cant-" The doctor started until Applejack grabbed him by the jewels, the he started to squeal. "I think we can make an exception for you"
Applejack released the man and patted him on the shoulder. "Good man~"
(ELSEWHERE)
Pinkie coughed as she dragged Rarity out of the river by the shoulders and onto the bay. After she managed to drag Rarity onto the bay. She then dropped her on the sand. Pinkie layed her back, opened her mouth and breathed into it, pressing on the chest afterwords. She repeated to do this until Rarity re-gained consciousness and coughed up water. She turned over to cough the rest onto the sand and turned back over to rest, panting.
"Where-*pant*-where are we...." Rarity said as she tried to regain her breath.
"I dunno.... Somewhere in the middle of the Ever Free Forest i guess." Pinkie said.
Rarity sat straight up in shock. "EVER FREE FOREST!?"
"Um. yeah?" Pinkie said.
Rarity screamed loud enough for the surrounding animals to cover their ears and run off. "Ew ew ew ew ew! Do you have ANY idea how many filth and muck is in this place!?"
Pinkie rolled her eyes and picked herself up off the ground and looked around. "Doesn't look like we strayed TOO far from Canterlot. Should only take about 3 days travel to get there!"
"Three.... Days?" Rarity fainted at the thought.
"Oh come ooon!" Pinkie groaned. "It's not THAT bad!"
Rarity responded by crying into the sand beneath her. Pinkie rolled her eyes, grabbed Rarity by the arms and started dragging her through the Ever Free Forest.
"We're gonna have to make you a makeshift splinter the first chance we get....." Pinkie said.
Fluttershy was sitting by Rainbow Dash's bedside, reading her the newest edition of Daring Do, her favorite book series. She had been doing this for several days now, acting as if Rainbow Dash was suddenly going to just wake up.
"But Daring Do was too quick. Before he could reach the final staff of Agartha, Daring swung from on of the wires that hung from the ceiling and snatched it right out of.... Ah-hu-zo-tl's..... Hand, and leaped onto the pillar of lightning and ran off with a wink-"
Suddenly, Fluttershy's eyes widdened as she looked at Rainbow Dash, who was slowly waking up into consciousness. Fluttershy dropped the book and shock and ran out into the hallways to find Applejack. Applejack was sitting in the waiting room, just finishing up a crossword puzzle when Fluttershy came running out.
"She's awake!" Was all fluttershy said before she rain back to Rainbow Dash's room.
That was all Applejack needed to hear. She dropped her crossword puzzle and ran after Fluttershy. When they got to the room, Rainbow Dash was by now fully conscious. She smiled and tears filled her eyes, as Rainbow gave a very weak wave of her hand to say hi.
She walked in and knelt beside Rainbow Dash. "Ah can't believe it... Ah'm so glad you're alive!"
Applejack was almost too close to giving Rainbow Dash a hug. Thankfully she remembered the injuries.
"So?" Rainbow Dash looked around. "When am i gonna get to walk outa this place?"
Fluttershy and Applejack went silent. They remembered what the doctor had said about Rainbow Dash. She wasn't going to be able to fly for another month, and she would NEVER get to walk again.
Fluttershy whimpered but eventually spoke up. "U-Uh.... Rainbow.... Theres something you need to know...."
At that moment, the doctor walked into the room, and smiled to see that Rainbow Dash was awake again. "I see your feeling well! And your friends even came to greet you."
Rainbow Dash chuckled. "Yeah. I dont know what i would do without them~"
Applejack sighed and began to walk out of the room, until the doctor stopped her by grabbing her arm, and he whispered. "Does she know yet....?"
Applejack shook her head no. "We dont know how to tell her......"
The doctor sighed and gave Applejack a pitiful look. "It'd be best for her to hear it from a friend"
Applejack couldn't bare the thought. Rainbow dash's entire life mainly revolved around her ability to fly and walk. To hear that one of then would be ripped from her forever, and another for a month, it would destroy her. Then her emotions turned to anger, she thought about the woman who did this to her, and she balled her fists up, and if the doctor hadn't been there to break her out of her trnace, he would've ended up with a hole in his face.
"Applejack?" The Rainbow Dash questioned. "What's going on?"
Applejack turned to Rainbow Dash, and tears began to fall from her eyes. She couldn't bear to see Rainbow Dash's sorrow, so without a word, she turned and left. she ran out of the hospital where she finally broke down and cried. After a few minutes, she heard the cry of Rainbow Dash's sorrow, making it apparent that Fluttershy finally told her.
Applejack walked back into the building and stopped when she saw the two mysterious girls as the counter. One was dressed in red and gold armor with a large sword on her back, and the other had green and black hair with a brown trench coat. It only added to her curiosity when the larger woman asked the receptionist to see Twilight, at this point, Applejack was suspicious.
As she followed the two down the hall, making sure to keep some distance, she started to noticed the green haired girl's hand keeping close to her crossbow. Applejack knew that blood was about to be spilled, so when the larger girl stopped suddenly, Applejack was able to react quickly enough to duck under her left hook as she spun around to face her. Applejack managed to hit her with a hard enough uppercut to send her flying 10 feet away, but in that motion, the other girl sent a wave of arrows her way. Applejack ducked behind a metal car set near one of the hospital rooms.
As Pestilence reloaded her crossbows, Applejack took the opportunity to give the cart a hard kick in her direction. Pestilence looked up just in time to see the cart sailing through the hair, knocking into her and managed to hit her hard enough to knock her cold. Applejack huffed in exhaustion, but before she could pat herself on the back in victory, she noticed that War was no longer where she had landed.
"Shit...." Applejack mumbled to herself in panic.
Applejack looked around the immediate area and noticed that Twilight's door was open. Her heart sank as she thought about what that woman would do to Twilight, if her intentions were was Applejack thought they were. She sprinted toward's Twilight room and threw the door open. Twilight was merely sitting there in her bed, still in her coma. Applejack sighed in relief and walked in. She looked around and saw no sign of War what-so-ever.
But all of her thoughts of the brutish woman faded as she looked at Twilight and fell into a despair. It was a scary thing, seeing a friend so close to death that she just might lose her. but her thoughts were interrupted as her ankle was grabbed and she was thrown through the hospital wall and into the hallway. She coughed up some blood and looked to see War stomping towards her.
"It'd be best if you just give up. The harder you fight me, the stronger i'm gonna get..." War said as she placed her boot onto Applejack's head and began to press down.
The pressure from her boot quickly started to crush her skull, her ears were ringing and she could feel her eyes bulging from her skull. Applejack closed her eyes and waited for her head to become nothing more that a smashed watermelon. As war grinned a small wheel from the tossed cart hit her in the side of the head, barely even causing her to flinch. She looked to her side and saw Fluttershy standing a few feet away, trying her best to look brave, But war could see right through it.
"Y-You leave my friends alone!" Fluttershy squeaked.
"Heh...." was all that left War's lips as she raised her foot off of Applejack's head and walked over to the shy little Pegasus.
Fluttershy's false bravery melted away as she saw War walk towards her. Her knees buckled in fear and she began to shake violently. Just as War was about to unsheathe her sword, she heard the jingle of the FF7 victory music, recognizing it as Pestilence's ringtone. After 2 more rings, Pestilence threw the cart off of her, stood, and pulled her phone out.
"Yello?" She answered, pausing as the person on the other side spoke. "So you found it? ......... Alright then, we'll wrap things up here......... Alright Alright, we'll bring the girl...... Adios~"
Pestilence hung up her phone and looked to War.
"Well?" War questioned with an attitude.
"We're supposed to head to the castle in Canterlot ASAP" She said, giving back just as much attitude.
"Of-Fucking-course...." War grumbled, letting go of the handle of her sword.
"Oh, also, we're supposed to bring a hostage, and I think we have a volunteer~" Pestilence said looking to Fluttershy.
Fluttershy whimpered as War chuckled. "Just close your eyes, and you won't have to see it coming~"
But before Fluttershy could react, she saw War's fist fly at her face, as everything suddenly went black.
"But there MUST be something we can do!" Luna insisted as Celestia paced around the room in worry.
"I'm sorry sister.... I too wish there was something we could do, but this lies in the hands of fate, we cannot interfere..." Celestia said, though she knew deep inside there had to be a way.
"This isn't right.... It's far too early! The Elements of Harmony aren't ready yet!" Luna yelled in frustration. "Forget the laws, i cannot simply sit by while these four riders kill millions of innocent people!"
"Luna!" Celestia shouted.
But it was too late. Luna already made her way out of Celestia's window and flew to her own. She knew if she was going to try and stop the four riders, she she would have to make sure she wasn't recognized by the other citizens. She threw on a black cloak and raised her hood, grabbed the two Katana swords engraved with her moon-like design, and turned one last time to look at Celestia, who did nothing to try and stop her as she flew into the night.
"Luna..... Be careful...." Celestia whispered.
Celestia sat in her seat and sighed. She wanted dearly to try and stop the riders as well, but the laws of Fate prevented her from having to do anything.
"It's not fair.... I shouldn't have to sit back while this all unfolds..... Luna can't do it by herself! She's strong but she's not strong enough!" Celestia went on she she tried to argue with herself to forget the laws, much like Luna did.
"That's the problem Celestia, you play by the rules too often~" A familiar voice chuckled.
"Discord.....?" Celestia questioned.
Discord sat in the very window Luna had leaped from moments ago, sipping on a cup of Hot chocolate. "You know, rules were MADE to be broken~ That's what i do, i bend the rules until they snap."
"And look where that's gotten you, on a short leash, under watch by the entire Equestrian guard...." Celestia growled, not in the mood for his funny attitude.
"Ah, yes, the watchmen.... However, if i were to say, ooooh, i dunno, be untied from my leash, i'm sure i could find a few more big dogs that would rather NOT have their world come to an end~" Discord chuckled, taking another sip from his cup.
"You want me to release you? I'm desperate but not THAT desperate...." Celestia said.
"Or ARE you~?" Discord said with a sly smile.
"No...." Celestia said bluntly.
"Not even a little-" Discord started.
"NO!" Celestia yelled. "Odds are you'd lead them right to our front door!"
"Why would i need to do that when they're already there?" Discord questioned.
"What?" Celestia said, having a little trouble believing discord.
Discord pointed with his free hand to the gates of Canterlot. Celestia walked over to look and sure enough, the Four Riders were making their way across a field on their motorcycles, heading straight for the front gate. Celestia's eyes widened in panic. Her horn lit up as she sent a red light into the sky, exploding. The guards recognized this as an emergency signal to lock the gates, and alert all the guards. Shining armor immediately went to work, barking orders at the rest of the guards, telling them to take their positions and ready their weapons.
"Shit.... They spotted us!" War yelled.
"Well duh, we weren't exactly being stealthy!" Pestilence said as a smart remark.
As War flipped Pestilence the bird, Famine raised her hand in front of her and launched a large black fireball at the gate, blowing it off it's hinges. The blast caused several guards to fly back from the blast, and few were crushed by the gate doors. As they reach Canterlot, War and Pestilence jumped off of their rides and landed in the middle of the guard's swarm. Famine created a large wind that carried her and Death over the large army of guards and into the windows of the castle where they landed.
War and Pestilence stood back-to-back, facing the wave of guards that surrounded them.
"So, think you can handle yourself?" Pestilence joked to War.
"Heh, might be tough if a couple more show up." War responded with a grin
"So then we'll split it, half and half." Pestilence said, drawing her crossbows.
"What? You're fighting too~?" War said, taking out her sword.
Death and Famine made their way through the halls of Canterlot castle. Since there were so many guards outside fighting away at War and Pestilence, they were able to easily fight off the few guards that came their way, with the exception of one, blue haired unicorn who stood in their way of reaching their destination.
"And you are?" Death questioned the man.
"My name is Shining Armor. And just who do you think YOU are!?" Shining Armor shouted at the two trespassers.
"You mean you don't know already~?" Death giggled at the man's oblivious attitude. "Then please, allow us to give you a hint~"
At these words, two, short handled scythes appeared in the woman's hands. Realizing this as a challenge to battle, Shining Armor's horned glowed a bright blue, and in a flash, a sword and shield appeared in his hands. Death stepped forward while Famine placed a barrier around the two, making sure they wouldn't be interrupted.
"You made a big mistake coming here!" Shining Armor shouted.
"On the contrary," Death said soothingly, "Everything is going according to plan~"
And in a flash, Death appeared inches before him and swung her scythe in a downward motion, Shining reacted just barely quick enough to block the attack with his shield, but in another flash of black smoke, she appeared behind him, and gave him two hard slashes, the first knocking him into the air, and the second throwing him into the wall of the barrier. Shining cough up a little bit of blood and stood back up.
"I'm surprised, most people would be dead by now" Death mocked. "But then again, i'm sure you're the captain of the royal guards for a reason."
"Damn right...." Shinging said as his horn began to glow again.
Beneath death, a glowing circle began to appear, which exploded in a gust of fire. The blast surprised death and managed to knock her back far enough, but she stuck the landing as if she merely did a simple back flip. Shinging took this opportunity to make a run for Death, his sword raised high. Death merely stood as Shining came ever closer to her, and took a hard swing at her, but before the blade connected, she was gone.
"Too slow~" Death mocked as she appeared behind him, hovering several feet above the ground.
Shining turned around and blasted an energy orb from his horn at her. Once again, just before the orb landed, she disappeared and reappeared elsewhere, causing the orb to only cause collateral damage. He fired off several more rounds before she disappeared for good. cautiously, Shining armor scanned the room, only to find an empty hallway. Just when he thought she had retreated, his body suddenly dropped through a black portal that appeared beneath him. Inside he only saw darkness, as far as the eye could see.
"What-!?" Shining started.
Death appeared once again in front of him, but this time without her cloak. This time, in her true form. She was dressed in black and purple tatters, with skull-like mask and belt buckle.
"I've run out of time, no more playing around" Death said seriously.
She came forward and appeared as a giant version of the very being Shining armor previously saw. Her scythes appears once again and began to slash away at Shining armor. The slashes appeared all over his body, nothing that would kill him immediately, but soon he would bleed out. As soon as she was done with him, Death brought him back up into Canterlot castle, at the very place where they previously fought, and she returned as well, resuming her normal size.
Shining armor lay on the floor, practically torn to pieces. His sword and shield lay too far for him to muster up the strength to crawl to them. Once she saw that Death had won the battle, Famine lowered the barrier. She wandered over to Death, being sure to step across the destroyed captain, and stood in front of their destination; Princess Celestia's room. Death opened the door and walked in, ready for anything. But to her surprise, nothing happened, Princess Celestia didn't even appear to be in the room.
Famine wandered in and took a look around. There were certainly signs that she had been here only moments ago. That's when it hit her, after she hit her own forehead for being so stupid, Famine raised her scales and blasted an icy wind across the room, causing Princess Celestia, who had used the manipulation of light to turn herself invisible, to become encased in ice. Death pat Famine on the back in appreciation and walked over to the now defenseless Princess.
"Oh, poor Princess Celestia, such a mighty and power god, reduced to nothing but an ice cube~" Death mocked, dragging her finger across the ice that held her face.
Death nodded to Famine, who's scales turned into a Pendulum with an ax blade, and used it to hit Celestia out of the ice, also giving her a puncture wound in her chest. Celestia shouted in pain and help her chest where the ax pierced her. She looked up at the two riders, and she knew exactly what was about to follow. Death made her way toward Celestia and picked her up roughly by her dress and threw her through the glass door and onto her balcony.
"I'm.... Not afraid of you....." Celestia said through the pain.
"Pity...." Death said as she pulled out a knife, brought the princess up one more time and plunged the knife into her gut. "I love it when they show fear....."
Celestia coughed a spout of blood and whimpered as the knife burrowed itself in her gut. She looked into the eyes of Death, and muttered her final words. "Kill me if you want.... I'm not afraid to die. Twilight... She'll take my place, and she WILL save our world from you four....!"
"That's if she ever makes it out of the hospital. And even if she does, she'll be too busy trying to save her friend~" Death said.
Death grabbed Celestia's wings, placed her foot on Celestia's chest and ripped her wings from her body, while pushing her off the edge of her balcony. As Celestia fell from the tower, her final thought, and her very life began to play through her head. Luna, Discord, Twilight and the others, all of her best memories, good or bad, all finally started to play through in her mind, and she smiled one last time, just before she hit the ground.......
Pinkie Pie awoke to the sound of Rarity screaming. Her eyes popped open and she sprung out of her tent that she somehow managed to hide withing her hair and ran over to Rarity's tent, also hidden in her hair, and with speeds unimaginable, she burst into the tent to see what was wrong, only to see a little grasshopper lying in the middle of the tent, while Rarity was huddled in the corner, shivering.
"Oh Rarity~" Pinkie said rolling her eyes.
She picked up the grasshopper lightly and let it hop off into the forest. Turning back, she saw that Rarity was calmed down now that the insect had left.
"You should have seen the look on your face~" Pinkie pie giggled, while Rarity stared daggers into her.
"YOU may take the infectious diseases that those insects carry lightly, but i prefer NOT to catch Ebola from a grasshopper! What if it hopped into my ear?! What if-" Rarity stuttered in a panic
Pinkie put her finger to Rarity's lips and shushed her lightly. "We have more important things to worry about besides a little grasshopper. How's your ankle?"
"It's better..." Rarity said looking down at her broken ankle. '
"Can you walk?" Pinkie asked.
"I'll try..." Rarity said.
She stood up with her good leg and tried to put pressure on the other, but as soon as she began to, she cried out and fell over. Pinkie was quick enough to catch her before she hit the ground.
"I'll take that as a no~" Pinkie said, trying to cheer Rarity up with a smile.
It seemed to slightly work and Rarity gave a slight smile and nodded. Pinkie lifted Rarity up over her shoulder and carried her out of the tent. The two walked over to the bonfire Pinkie had lit the night before. Somehow it still managed to stay lit, and while Rarity wondered how she managed to keep it lit, she learned to stop questioning the actions of Pinkie, because really......
"Now it's not gourmet, but wait here and i'll go over to the river and catch us some breakfast." Pinkie said as she set Rarity down and threw a few more logs into the fire.
"It's OK dear, i don't really mind the quality THAT much...." Rarity said, though she could KILL for a Chicken Parmesan, she could deal with unseasoned fish for now.
Rarity Sighed in relief as the pain started to fade away from her ankle. She looked around at her surroundings and pondered her thoughts. The everfree forest wasn't as bad as she though, but she would still rather be at home in her bed....... That was when Rarity noticed the woman in red and gold armor walking through the forest roughly 30 feet away. Admittedly, the first thought in her head when she saw the woman was 'obviously SOMEBODY has no sense in fashion....' But this thought left her as soon as she saw the bag she was carrying over her shoulder. It was roughly the size of a human being, and she could have sworn she saw the outline of a body in it.
Rarity quickly shook this thought from her mind, not wanting to get into anything that would put her or her friends in any further harm. But then she saw something drop from the bag. It was small, but shimmery. Rarity tried to go and see what it was, but soon she was reminded of her broken ankle in a very harsh way. After roughly 10 more minutes, Pinkie Pie returned with a string of fish in each hand, and one string hanging in her mouth.
She spat out the string of fish in her mouth and beamed with a smile. "Hope you're hungry~!"
"Pinkie darling...." Rarity said, pointing to where she saw the small object fall. "Do you think you could carry me over there real quick?"
"Mhm!" Pinkie said, setting the fish down and picking up Rarity.
The two staggered over to where Rarity could have sworn the item was dropped. Much to her disgust, Rarity searched the ground for the item. After searching around for a couple of minutes, her fingers hit something metal. Rarity dug up the item held it up for her and Pinkie to see. Pinkie Pie gasped and Rarity dropped the item in disbelief. Now, on the ground in front of them, lay Fluttershy's necklace, that held her element of harmony.....
As consciousness came back to Fluttershy, she felt the shackles that were hooked around her hands. She opened her eyes and tried to look around, only to see darkness all around her, pure pitch blackness. She swung her feet but couldn't find any ground. Fluttershy tried to sprout her wing, but when she tried, she felt the hold of chains on her back. She began to cry, she was scared as hell and didn't know where she was. She tried to call out for help, only to hear her voice echo through the darkness.
She shackles weren't extremely tight. In fact, if she could twist her wrists and swing just right, she could get out. She learned how from Rainbow Dash when they-
"THEY DON'T NEED TO KNOW THAT!" Fluttershy screamed in embarrassment, breaking the fourth wall.
"Sorry, sorry~" The narrator responded.
Fluttershy would be able to escape, but with the total darkness around her she couldn't know how high she was. She kept swinging her feet lower, seeing if she could hit some ground. After swinging desperately for about 5 minutes, she remembered a few math facts she learned from Twilight. After remembering the full formula for a falling object and the speed of sound, she removed her shoe and let it drop down. After she heard her shoe hit ground she did the math and found that she was hanging roughly 15 feet in the air. It wouldn't be fatal but due to her fragile bone structure, she might break a leg.
"C'mon Fluttershy, you can do it....!" Fluttershy said, trying to give herself confidence.
Fluttershy twisted and turned her wrists until she slipped out of them and fell to the ground. She yelped out loud in pain at impact, but surprisingly she didn't break any bones, though she did walk with a limp. Fluttershy felt her way around, to see if she could find her way out. She could feel large metal crates, and smooth metal surfaces. She guessed she was in some kind of warehouse, and felt along the wall for some kind of switch or door. After roughly an hour of feeling the wall continuously, she came upon a switch, and when pressed, two elevator door open, providing a bit of light. Before she stepped into the elevator, she looked back into the room and was shocked to see that she was indeed in a warehouse, but it was filled with large nuclear missiles.
"What is this place?" Fluttershy wondered, before stepping into the elevator and closing the door.
Twilight groaned, her gut aching and her head felt like she had just gone 10 rounds with a semi.
Beep....
Twilight opened her eyes, and the hospital lamp felt a hell of a lot like she was staring into the sun.
Beep....
Groaning, Twilight sat up and took a look around, taking her time to fully open her eyes, like a newborn kitten.
Beep....
Twilight look towards the source of the beeping and saw the hospital machine hooked up to her.
Beep...
The beeping was getting on her nerves, so she pulled all of the equipment off of her, only making the machine even more annoying.
Beeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeep
Twilight got out from her bed and collapsed next to it. She must have been out for a while. As the blood flowed back into her legs, Twilight grabbed a couple of crutches and stood herself up. She could already tell something was wrong, since no nurses or doctors had bothered to come and check why one of their machines had suddenly gone off. Twilight opened her hospital door and made her way out into the hall where she saw that clearly, something had unfolded.
There was a crashed hospital cart of one end of the hall, a small blood splatter (probably from somebody getting hit in the nose) There were dents in the wall and some fully destroyed, and just a few feet away, she could see....
"Applejack?!" Twilight shouted, making her way to her fallen friend as quickly as she could.
When Twilight reached Applejack, she dropped her crutches and knealed down next to her.
"Applejack! Open your eyes! What happened?!" Twilight said, trying to shake her friend awake.
Applejack groaned in pain. She slowly opened her eyes and awoke to see Twilight just inches from her.
"Applejack!" Twilight sighed in relief, giving Applejack as strong of a hug as she could muster.
"Hey there now Twi, simmer down. What are ya'll doing out of yer bed?" Applejack questioned.
"First, how about you explain to me what happened here?" Twilight said with more worry than demand.
"Well, I was in the waiting room after Rainbow Dash had woken up, after she got attacked by a couple of creaps who were trying to search your house for something, when i saw two girls who said they were looking for ya. Ah was kinda suspicious so ah admit i followed them. But, just as we got to your room, they turned around and attacked me outa nowhere!" Applejack explained.
"Did you get their names?" Twilight questioned.
Applejack shook her head no, but described the two beings to Twilight. Twilights eyes widened as she realized that the very being Applejack was describing were two of the riders of the Apocalypse. Before she could tell Applejack that she knew who the two were, Applejack gasped and jumped up.
"Fluttershy! They've got Fluttershy!" Applejack yelled as she picked up Twilight and ran to Rainbow Dash's room.
Applejack threw open the door and was surprised to see Zecora rubbing some sort of green lotion on Rainbow Dash's legs.
"Twilight!" Rainbow dash yelled in excitement.
Zecora turned around and smiled at the two. "Applejack, i can see from the hallway your battle held much heat, please, relax and take a seat."
Applejack nodded and set Twilight down in a seat next to her, taking her own seat. Zecora turned back to covering Rainbow Dash's legs until she was finished. Zecora stood up and turned towards Applejack and Twilight and sighed.
"A fight against War you fought... But unfortunately, it was for naught." Zecora said to Applejack, peeking Twilight's interest.
"W-War?! As in, the Rider!?" Twilight shouted.
Zecora responded with a nod.
"So it's true.... They've come to...." Twilight started, until Zecora interrupted.
"Bring our world to and end... But perhaps the chains of Fate, you can bend~" Zecora said with a smile filled with hope.
"What do you mean?" Twilight questioned. "You're not REALLY suggesting we FIGHT the Four Riders of the Apocalypse!"
Zecora nodded to Twilight. "The Four Riders offer a test, for our world to send out it's best.... If the Four riders you can beat, Then our worlds will not taste defeat!"
"Hold on now..." Applejack said, a bit lost. "Just what in Tartarus is going on here!?"
Twilight did her best to explain everything to Applejack, about everything she read about the Four Riders in her book. She told Applejack about War, Famine, Pestilence, and Death. As Twilight went on and on, she could see Applejack's eyes widening, either from fear, shock, or both. After Twilight got done explaining everything to Applejack, she waited for a response. But Applejack said nothing, she just stood up and walked out of the room.
Twilight sighed and looked over to Zecora and Rainbow Dash. "So what's that stuff supposed to do anyway?"
"Zecora said that it would help me to be able to walk again. Guess she figured i'd need to if i was gonna fight the Four Riders of the Apocalypse!" Rainbow Dash exclaimed.
"F-Fight?" Twilight said, surprised.
"Well yeah! I'm not about to give our whole world up to some stupid Riders who think they can just come in and destroy everything! Those Riders want a fight? I'm gonna give it to them!" Rainbow Dash said confidently.
"But.... Rainbow Dash... We can't just-" Twilight Started, but Rainbow Dash interrupted before Twilight could officially give up.
"Of course we can! We've faced gods of chaos, powerful kings, hordes of shapeshifting bug people, even a magic-sucking overlord! Do you really think a few women on motorcycles are gonna take us down? Hell no! I don't care if i gotta go it alone, i will NOT give up our world without a fight!" Rainbow Dash said, trying to see if she could raise Twilight confidence.
Rainbow's attempts seemed to work. Twilight smiled and stood up. "You're right Rainbow. We've protected Equestria numerous times! No reason this should be any different! I'm gonna go find Applejack. If we're gonna take on the four Riders, we'll need her, Pinkie, Rarity, and Fluttershy!"
Twilight ran out of the room in a dash, while Rainbow cheered her on from her room, "Yeah! The Elements of Harmony never give up!"
So for those of you who still follow the story, i owe you a massive apology. for well over a year now, i've completely ignored this story due to being busy as all hell, eventually forgetting about it all together. i've also been jumping from fandom to fandom, such as FNAF, Undertale and such, so once again, i apologize. luckily, i fully intend to start uploading again seeing as how i'm about to begin uploading again.
