Sunset Shimmer and friends must venture across the globe, battling fierce monsters and meeting new allies, to save the human world from uncontrollable magical energies. And they must do it before the portal to her world reopens, in thirteen moons.
A year and a half has passed since Twilight Sparkle departed from the human world. Sunset Shimmer has adapted to life with her new friends, eagerly counting down the days until thirty moons pass, and the portal to her world reopens. But on the eve of the seventeenth moon, her idyllic life is shattered when magic suddenly manifests in the human world, and a familiar face makes an unexpected reappearance. With only thirteen moons remaining until the portal reopens, Sunset Shimmer and the gang must embark on a journey across the globe, battling fierce monsters and meeting new allies, to save their world from the newly unleashed magical energies.
If you are new to the story, please read this before proceeding.
The sun rose slowly over the sleeping city of Canterlot. Nestled in a blanket of thick spring fog, the city and its inhabitants had yet to wake from their slumber. But though the city slept, the world outside its confines had long since awoken, already deeply immersed in its routines and motions.
It was in this early hour that two people emerged from the brush on a bluff overlooking the city- the first was a boy, clad in armor of deep purple and pale green, carved to resemble a dragon. He was followed by a young woman wearing dark blue robes and a pointed, wide-brimmed hat that obscured most of her face.
The young woman approached the edge of the bluff, lifting up her brim to get a better view. “We are here at last,” she said.
The boy in the dragon armor approached the edge as well. “So, this is it?”
“If all of my calculations are correct- and I have no reason to doubt myself- then yes. This is the epicenter.”
“Huh...” The boy in the dragon armor put his foot up on a nearby rock, and leaned out to get a better view of the city. “I have to admit, it’s not at all what I was expecting. It seems so... plain.”
“Places such as this most often are. Now…” The young woman turned away from the edge. “…are you ready?”
The boy turned as well. “Well yeah, I’m ready, but... are you sure this is really necessary?”
The girl brought up a hand. “We are faced with energies the likes of which threaten to destabilize the very structure of the world itself- a certain level of coercion may become necessary.” She closed her eyes and concentrated- as she did, a white glow appeared around her hand. “And at any rate, the chimera will sniff out and lead us to the catalyst.”
She pointed, and a glowing sigil appeared on the ground in front of her, before it let out a brilliant flash of light. The two shielded their eyes; when they looked again, a massive beast stood where the glyph had been. Its four heads roared in fury as soon as it laid eyes on the two- the boy reached, and gripped the spear hanging from his back… but the beast suddenly stopped. It lifted its heads, one-by-one, and began sniffing the air. Then the chimera’s attention snapped towards the town- it snarled, before it charged forward and without hesitation, leapt off the cliff.
A few moments later, the earth shook as the chimera struck the ground, but as the boy and the young woman looked over the edge, they could see the chimera sprinting towards the town, unaffected by the fall.
The young boy pulled the spear from his back. “What now?” he asked the girl.
“Now...” She drew a long curved dagger from her belt. “It begins.”
A piercing sound filled the air. Sunset Shimmer jolted awake and let out a startled cry, flailing wildly.
It took a moment for her to remember that it was her alarm.
Sunset took hold of the buzzing, shrieking cellphone lying next to her and silenced it. It was one of Rarity’s old cellphones, the kind with no touchscreen, and on which one had to slide the screen up in order to use the dial. But while it might not have had the features of newer models, Sunset had found that in this world even an old cellphone was better than no cellphone at all.
Setting the phone aside, Sunset dressed herself and stepped out of her tent- the athletic fields were still covered in a heavy fog, but it would soon disperse as the sun rose. In spite of her jacket, she crossed her arms over her chest and shivered- the morning air still held the cold bite of winter, even this late into March. With little else to do, she pocketed her phone and broke down her tent, storing it in a safe place, before walking around to the front side of Canterlot High.
The front of the school- normally bustling even at this early hour- was deserted, and it would stay deserted for the whole week. Spring Break had come to Canterlot High once again, and everyone who could had already left the town to enjoy their vacation. Even the others- Applejack, Rarity, Pinkie Pie, Rainbow Dash, and Fluttershy- had left town to go camping. They had invited her, but Sunset couldn’t bear the thought of leaving Canterlot even for a week. So here she was, alone.
Sunset Shimmer had settled into a comfortable routine over the past year and a half: she woke up and went to classes at Canterlot High to fill up the seemingly endless amounts of free time she now found herself with. When the school day ended, one of her new friends might invite her to participate in some activity- if not, then she explored this world’s Canterlot, noting any similarities between this one and the Canterlot of her own world. She was always surprised to find more similarities than differences. At the end of the day, she returned to the school to camp out in the fields for the night (or, in the gym, during the winter).
Sunset Shimmer approached the statue set at the front of the school. The statue depicted a horse rearing up on its hind legs, but her focus was not on the statue itself, but its base- specifically, on an unassuming stone slate set on the back. The slate reflected Sunset with surprising clarity, even through the water droplets that had condensed on its surface.
Then, Sunset brought up her hand, and pressed it against the slate. Every morning, and every evening, she did this. And twice a day, every day, she received the same result.
The stone refused to yield.
Sunset looked down sadly. To be so close, to be separated from her world by mere millimeters… it frustrated her to no end. It wasn’t that she didn’t enjoy the time she had spent in this world- she did. She would always be grateful to her friends, and remember their time together fondly. But she missed her world, her old life. She had been in this world for so long, that she could barely remember what she looked like as a pony, what it felt like to stand on four hooves. And, she missed her magic- the technology of this world, wondrous as it may have been, couldn’t replace everything.
Sunset jumped up in surprise, not anticipating company, much less a very familiar drawl. She turned around; sure enough, Applejack was standing behind her, accompanied by Fluttershy, Rarity, Pinkie Pie, and Rainbow Dash. Sunset noticed that all five wore large, heavy-looking packs.
“Guys?” she asked. “What are you doing here? I thought you already left town.”
“About that…” Rarity began. “We all know how reluctant you are to leave Canterlot. So, we had a discussion about our camping trip and decided-”
Pinkie Pie leapt forward, interrupting Rarity. “We decided to camp out on the football field with you!”
Sunset’s eyes widened in surprise. “You’d… do that?” she replied, stunned. “I… that’s…”
“Alright, alright, don’t get all weepy on us,” Rainbow Dash said. “Now come on. We’re gonna go get breakfast.”
Sunset nodded. “Alright.” And with that, she followed her friends down the path to the sidewalk, away from the statue.
Thirteen Moons By: Silent_Witness
Chapter I: Prelude
As the group walked alongside the empty street, Sunset looked to Applejack. “Hey, Applejack…” she began. “How are, um… Apple Bloom and Big Macintosh?”
“They’re doin’ alright,” Applejack replied. “Why do ya ask?”
“Well, I haven’t seen them around lately…”
“Big Mac graduated last year, remember? And Apple Bloom just transferred to a school back in Ponyville is all. Granny Smith said somethin’ about needin’ extra help ‘round the farm.”
Rarity then added, “You know, my parents transferred Sweetie Belle back to Ponyville, too. And their friend Scootaloo is gone as well.”
“It’s not just them, you know,” Pinkie said. “Half the students are gone. Haven’t you noticed?”
Sunset hadn’t really thought about it before then, but now that Pinkie had mentioned it, she was right. Ever since the spring semester had started, the number of students in Canterlot High had been declining, slowly but steadily- all of her classes, which had been full in January, now had at least five students who never seemed to show up.
“Oh, I do hope it’s nothing too serious…” Fluttershy said.
The six of them eventually reached their destination: a small diner about a block away from the school. It was normally a popular hangout for Canterlot High’s students, but with everyone gone for the week, combined with the early hour, it was nearly deserted when they entered.
“Hey guys,” the young man behind the counter called. He was short and stocky, with greyish skin and dull orange hair, wearing an apron over his usual ensemble. “What can I get for you?”
“Hey Snips!” Pinkie called back. “Six orders of pancakes, on the double!”
“Gotcha!” He then called to the back, “Yo Snails! Six orders of flapjacks! Make it snappy!”
“Since when have Snips and Snails worked here?” Rainbow asked, as the group sat down at an empty table.
“Since October. They mostly work on weekends, though,” Pinkie replied. She then leaned over the table and asked, “So Fluttershy, how have things been at the animal shelter?”
“Busy,” Fluttershy replied. “There’re lots of lost animals and strays around town this time of year. But things have gotten easier since Sunset Shimmer started volunteering.”
“I’m glad to hear that,” Rarity replied, before she looked to Sunset. “Speaking of which, you know you can stay with any of us, don’t you, Sunset? Surely it would be better than having to sleep out on the football field every night.”
“Thanks for the offer,” Sunset began “but I’d rather stay here in Canterlot. If I leave, something might happen to the mirror.” She rested her arms on the table, before resting her head on top of them. “Besides, I’m not sure I deserve that sort of hospitality just yet.”
Applejack let out an exasperated sigh. “This again?” she said. “C’mon Sunset. Ya gotta stop beatin’ yerself up over all that already. I’m pretty sure everyone forgave ya by the time ya finished rebuildin’ Canterlot High’s front entrance.”
Sunset looked up at Applejack. “Have you ever thought that maybe you forgive people too easily?”
Applejack glared and opened her mouth to reply, before Snips interrupted her. “Here you go,” he said as he laid a plate of pancakes in front of each person, six in total. “Six orders of pancakes. Hope we didn’t keep you waiting.”
“Alright!” Pinkie exclaimed, before she began shoveling pancakes into her gullet with reckless abandon.
Applejack picked up her fork, and pointed it accusingly at Sunset. “Don’t think yer off the hook just yet, Shimmer,” she said, before she cut into her pancakes as well.
I never did, Sunset thought to herself, as she reflected on the events of that night yet again. Destroying the school, hypnotizing most of the students, almost killing Twilight and the others… those weren’t things that were easily forgiven, if ever. If she was in Applejack’s position, she’d certainly resent her for what she’d done. Heck, she was the one who attacked Twilight and the others, and she hadn’t forgiven herself for it.
However, Sunset’s introspection was interrupted as she happened to overhear the conversation at the table behind her: “Hey. Have you heard?”
“Heard what?”
“People say there are monsters out in the countryside. From what I heard, all the towns around Canterlot have started building walls to keep ‘em out.”
“Is this another one of those ‘friend of a friend’ things?”
“What- no! It’s true! The wall part is, at least. When I went up to Whinnyapolis a few weeks ago, people were building a huge wall around the whole town.”
After the events of the Fall Formal, Sunset had chosen to set herself apart from the rest of Canterlot High’s students, but that didn’t mean she was unaware of the gossip that passed among them. And this was not the first time she had heard this particular rumor. As far back as the previous year, there had been persistent rumors of strange things happening in the world outside of Canterlot: eerie lights, strange creatures, and the like. Sunset had always dismissed those rumors, but the fact that they had endured for so long suggested there was some sort of truth to them.
So she asked, “Hey girls… have you heard about anything… strange happening lately?”
“I can’t say that I have,” Rarity replied.
“Me neither,” Pinkie somehow replied through a mouthful of pancake.
“Well, I’ve been hearing about a whole bunch of weird stuff on the news lately,” Rainbow said. “But I don’t think it’s anything we need to worry about.”
There was an explosion.
Sunset was thrown from her seat and hit the ground hard. Her vision went black, and she could hear nothing,save for the beating of her heart. But slowly, her vision returned, and she staggered to her feet. But as soon as she was upright, heavy footfalls thundered toward her, and something seized her by the throat, hoisting her into the air. She gasped, and her hands immediately shot up to the massive arm holding her. She pulled, she twisted, she flailed her legs, but the viselike grip on her throat refused to loosen even slightly. She’d been holding a fork, but the explosion had thrown it from her grasp- now she had nothing, no weapon with which she could free herself.
The air was filled with a thick cloud of dust, but though it she could see a feral, bestial face glaring at her. The sound of Sunset’s heartbeats hammered in her eardrums, drowning out the cries of the others, and the deep growls of the beast. She couldn’t even cry out in pain as the massive hand tightened around her throat. Her edges of her vision darkened, and her struggles began to weaken…
…until a furious cry met her ears, and a blue hand stabbed a knife into the arm holding her.
A screeching, howling roar drilled into Sunset’s ears as the massive arm released her. Sunset fell onto her knees, gasping, her hand clutching her aching throat. She looked up; a thick cloud of dust swirled through the diner. But even so, Sunset could see two shadows a short distance away: a large, lumbering shadow, and a smaller, much more agile shadow. Only one person Sunset knew was that fast, and the shout that came to her ears confirmed it: “Come on, ya dumb ape! Catch me if you can!”
Rainbow Dash.
In an instant, Sunset was on her feet. Rainbow may have been fast, but it would only take one slip-up for that beast to gain the upper hand and end her life. And after everything Rainbow had done for her- after everything everyone had done for her, she would be damned before she let that happen.
Sunset hadn’t used magic for nearly a year and a half. She’d known for far longer that the world she now lived in was one without magic. But in that moment, she forgot all of that. Her years of training kicked in- she focused, picturing a flame in her mind, oblivious to the bright wisps that surrounded her arms. She took aim at the larger shadow- not a difficult feat, as it struggled to keep up with Rainbow’s superior speed. Then, she thrust her arms forward.
And Sunset Shimmer could only watch in stunned silence when a blazing fireball left her hands.
The fireball shot through the air, and struck the beast. It roared in a mix of pain and fury, the discordant sound echoing in the tiny diner, and stumbled forward. Then, its attention snapped to Sunset. It let out another furious roar, and charged at her, batting aside everything in its path.
There was no time to prepare another spell. And trying to fight this monster unarmed would be suicide. There was only one thing Sunset could do- she leapt out of the way, avoiding the beast’s charge, barely. As she got to her feet, she made a fairly obvious observation.
There was no way she could fight this thing in the diner.
And she couldn’t look for her friends while this thing was chasing her down, either.
But after being hit by her fireball, the beast seemed to completely forget about Rainbow’s existence, which gave Sunset an idea- if she could lure the beast out of the diner, away from her friends, then maybe they would be safe. She looked around, spotting a large hole in the diner’s wall- presumably where the monster had entered. But of course, the beast was standing between her and the hole. However, Sunset was undeterred, and braced herself. “Rainbow Dash!” she shouted. “Find the others! Make sure they’re okay!” And then, Sunset began to sprint towards the hole.
If Rainbow answered her, Sunset didn’t hear it. All of her attention was focused on the beast in front of her, trying to predict its next move. The world slowed as the beast drew back its arm in preparation to deliver a bone-shattering punch. But at the last possible moment, Sunset leapt to the side, narrowly avoiding the beast’s massive fist. She rolled, and in an instant was on her feet once again- it seemed all those times she’d helped Rainbow practice her soccer skills hadn’t gone completely to waste.
She dashed through the hole, and out into the street. There were people there, no doubt drawn by the commotion. “Get out of here! It’s not safe!” she shouted. But it wasn’t until the sound of splintering wood and bending metal met her ears that the crowd turned and fled. And there could only be one reason why. She looked back- sure enough, climbing through the hole after her was the beast.
Now that they were both in the open, Sunset could see the beast clearly. It seemed to be a mixture of several different creatures- it stood on two hoofed legs, and thick, heavy arms grew from its muscular torso. But what truly astounded her were its heads. There were three: a lion’s, an eagle’s, and a goat’s. And all three had their attention firmly fixed on her.
Sunset focused, and flames appeared in her hands. The beast must have realized what she was doing, because at that moment, it charged at her again with a furious roar. But Sunset held her ground as she threw another fireball at the beast, striking it square in the chest. The beast didn’t slow, but as it thrashed in pain, Sunset was easily able to sidestep its charge.
But as the beast passed, something whipped out toward her. Sunset jumped back, narrowly avoiding the fangs of a snake, sprouting from the beast’s lower back like a tail.
The beast slowed itself to a stop before it crashed through the storefront opposite the diner, and turned to face her again. Sunset focused, her hands coming alight, and thought to herself, This just couldn’t be easy, could it?
The beast charged her twice more; each time, Sunset conjured a fireball, threw it at the beast, and evaded its attacks. But with each pass, Sunset slowed, but it wasn’t her muscles that tired. She felt as though a thick fog had settled in her mind, clouding her thoughts; her temples ached, and each fireball she threw took more concentration to conjure than the last. It became clear to her that if she was going to survive, she had to end this, now. Sunset’s head pulsed in pain as she held out her arms and focused, picturing in her mind not a flame, but a powerful thunderbolt. The palms of her hand crackled with electricity…
But the beast struck first. It charged Sunset with incredible speed and struck her with its arm, sending her tumbling across the asphalt. She eventually skidded to a stop- she was battered and bleeding, but Sunset didn’t think anything had been broken. But her relief was short-lived, as she saw that the beast was already almost upon her. Sunset tried to conjure another fireball, but none appeared- instead, she doubled over and clutched her head as a sharp pain stabbed into the sides of her head. The beast reached out toward her…
Suddenly, a black streak shot into the air behind the beast. One of the beast’s head must have seen it too, because all four looked to the sky. Sunset looked up as well- there, seemingly suspended in midair, was a boy holding a long spear, drawn back to strike. As he landed he swung his spear, slicing off the beast’s eagle head in a single motion.
The beast roared, hissed, and bleated in a mix of pain and fury, and charged the boy, drawing back its fist to deliver yet another bone-shattering punch. The boy jumped back, evading the beast’s fist, and swung his spear again, slicing off the beast’s arm with ease. The beast turned, and its snake head struck; the boy dodged again, before swinging his spear, severing the snake from the beast’s body. It lunged forward, the goat’s head lowered in an attempt to gore the boy with its horns; again, the boy evaded the attack, before slicing off the goat head in a single stroke. The beast drew back its remaining arm, but the boy sliced the arm off before it could strike. The loss of several limbs seemingly did nothing to deter the beast, however, and it charged again, the lion’s head roaring and baring its fangs. The boy stood his ground, and thrust his spear directly into the lion head’s face- he slid back as the beast continued to march towards him, but he did not falter.
Gradually, the beast began to slow. Its roars had diminished to little more than deep, growling breaths. It dropped to one knee, and then the other. The boy pulled out his spear and stepped back- with one last snarl, the beast collapsed onto its face, falling still and silent.
The boy remained motionless with his spear at the ready for several more moments, before he stood up straight, and hung his spear from his back. Now that he was standing still, Sunset could see that the boy was wearing what looked like a suit of armor, colored a dark purple with pale green highlights. And when he turned to face her, she could see that his helmet was carved to resemble the visage of a dragon.
The strange boy approached. “Are you alright?” he asked.
Sunset slowly rose to her feet. “Yeah, I’m fine, but…” She remembered something. “Guys?” She looked to the diner.No one else had emerged from within. “Guys!” Without another word to the stranger, she stood and sprinted to the diner.
As she approached, she heard Rainbow Dash call, “Hey Snips! Snails! You aright back there?”
“Yeah, we’re-” Snips’s response was interrupted by several seconds of coughing. “…we’re okay.”
“Oh man… Joe’s gonna kill us when he sees this…” Snails complained.
Hearing Rainbow’s voice did little to calm Sunset- she still had four more friends, and no way of knowing where they were and if they were alright.
She climbed through the hole in the diner’s wall- the dust had finally settled, leaving a thick layer over everything inside. The lights had gone out. Behind the counter, Snips was on his phone, presumably calling the police, while Snails merely stared blankly at the destruction before him. But a pink blur at the edge of her vision caught Sunset’s attention- she looked, her eyes falling upon…
“Pinkie!” Sunset rushed over and embraced Pinkie. “You’re okay!” She pulled away- Pinkie had a few cuts, and a few more tears in her clothes than usual, but otherwise appeared unhurt. “…Where’re the others?”
“Rarity, Rainbow Dash, and I are okay. Applejack’s unconscious, but I don’t think she’s too badly hurt. But Fluttershy…”
Sunset leaned in. “What happened?”
“Well… look.” Pinkie pointed to the far side of the diner.
The others were there. Rarity was sitting at one of the tables, resting a hand on her forehead, covered in a thick layer of dust- at her feet sat Applejack, slumped over and seemingly asleep. At another table were two boys Sunset didn’t recognize, sitting in silence. On the floor between the tables were Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash. At first, Sunset couldn’t see anything wrong with Fluttershy. She did seem to be in pain, though; tears streamed from her eyes, and Rainbow sat on the floor next to her, speaking comforting words to her. But as she approached, Sunset saw the problem.
A large piece of wood had lodged itself in Fluttershy’s right leg.
Sunset knelt down to get a better view- the wooden fragment had pierced one side of Fluttershy’s calf, and emerged through the other. From its position, it didn’t seem to be passing through any bones, but such an injury would still be very debilitating.
…at the same time, however, such an injury would be trivially easy to mend with a healing spell.
Sunset looked up to Fluttershy’s face. “Okay Fluttershy,” she began, “I can fix this. But I’m not gonna lie- this is gonna hurt. A lot.” She looked over to Rainbow Dash. “Rainbow, I need you to hold her down.” She looked back. “Pinkie, I need you to help Rainbow Dash.”
“Sunset, you’re not supposed to-” Rainbow began.
But Sunset cut her off. “I know what I’m doing. Hold her.”
Pinkie and Rainbow glanced at each other nervously, but complied, and held Fluttershy down. Sunset gripped Fluttershy’s ankle with one hand, the piece of wood with the other… and tore it out of Fluttershy’s calf. Fluttershy thrashed and cried out in pain, but the others held her down firmly. As she expected, blood began to pour from the wound, so Sunset wasted no time placing her hands over the holes. She focused, ignoring the pain in her head, and a white light shone from beneath her hands as she recalled Celestia’s lessons, encouraging the wound to heal- for new muscle, skin, and arteries to knit themselves into existence.
When Sunset removed her hands a few moments later, the wound was gone, as though it had never existed in the first place.
She looked up to Fluttershy again. “Can you stand?”
“I… guess…” Fluttershy stammered. Pinkie and Rainbow released her, and slowly, she rose to her feet. She stumbled for a moment, but did not fall.
“Joint stiffness is normal,” Sunset continued. “It’ll subside after a minute or two.”
“What- how did you do that?” Rainbow asked, shocked, as she looked at the place where Fluttershy’s would had been.
Sunset answered truthfully, “…with magic.”
Pinkie looked to Sunset. “But I thought you couldn’t do magic anymore.”
“That’s what I thought too…” Sunset replied.
Just then, Applejack groaned, before suddenly jolting awake, shouting “Apple Bloom!” She looked around the diner, before her hand shot up to her head. “…where’s mah hat?”
Rarity handed Applejack her hat as the latter stood up. “Are you alright, dear?”
Applejack looked down at herself. “Ah think so… but what in the hay just happened?”
The others were silent, attempting to formulate a response. Finally, Rarity replied, “A… giant monster just crashed through the wall and tried to kill us all.”
“No,” a strange voice said. Sunset and the others looked to its source- standing just outside the hole was the boy in the dragon armor. “That chimera wasn’t trying to kill all of you,” he continued, and then pointed to Sunset Shimmer. “Just her.”
Before anyone could stop her, Applejack strode toward the strange boy, glaring. “And just what makes ya so sure of that?” she snapped.
“Hold on, Applejack,” Sunset said. “That guy killed that monster. Why would he do that if he wanted to hurt us?” But Applejack ignored her.
Before the boy could answer, a woman’s voice outside the diner called, “There you are. And I see that you have neutralized the chimera.” Another person approached the hole- she wore dark blue robes, and a pointed, wide-brimmed hat which hid her face. “Does that mean you have located the catalyst?”
The boy looked back. “Yeah, I think so.”
“Excellent work,” the woman in the steeple-hat replied. “Now, it is time for me to begin my work.” The woman stepped into the diner and approached Applejack, putting her hand on Applejack’s forehead.
“Hey what’re you-” Applejack protested.
But the woman paid no attention to Applejack’s protest. Rather, she looked down at her other hand, but after a moment, nothing seemed to happen. So, she shook her head and turned away, before doing the same to Rarity, again ignoring her protests; but again, seemingly nothing happened. It was not until she reached Rainbow Dash that something happened- a faint blue glow appeared in her free hand. Her eyes, now visible in the faint glow, widened slightly in surprise, but once again she shook her head and moved on. Fluttershy whimpered as the stranger touched her forehead- a much brighter white glow emerged from her hand, but as before, the stranger turned away.
Finally, the stranger approached Sunset, and placed her hand on her forehead. As soon as she made contact, a brilliant red light shone from the stranger’s free hand. The stranger looked at the light for several moments, before she pulled her hand away.
“I found you at last,” she said.
Sunset yanked her hand out of the stranger’s own. “What did you just do?” she demanded, as flames erupted from her hands.
The stranger didn’t flinch. “Your aggression is unwarranted. I am not your enemy.”
“Oh yeah?” Rainbow asked. “Then who are you?”
The woman removed her hat- a length of long purple hair parted by a magenta streak fell to her shoulders. Sunset and the others could see that she was young, with violet eyes and lavender skin. And what’s more, she looked extremely familiar…
Sunset stepped back, the fires in her hands snuffing out. “Wait a minute… you’re…”
“My name is Twilight Sparkle,” Twilight Sparkle said.
The boy in the dragon armor- Spike- waved to the group. “Hey.”
Sunset stumbled back, eyes wide, struggling to string her words together. “H… How… How did you get here? The portal isn’t supposed to open for another year.”
Twilight raised an eyebrow in confusion. “…I do apologize, but I do not believe I have ever met you before today. Have you perhaps mistaken me for someone else?”
Sunset was just about to say something else when a hand rested on her shoulder. She looked back- it was Rainbow Dash. Rainbow shook her head wordlessly, before she looked back and beckoned to the others.
As soon as everyone had gathered around her, Rainbow said bluntly, “I don’t like this.”
“No kiddin’. Ah thought the portal was still closed,” Applejack added.
“It is,” Sunset replied, “and it won’t open for another fourteen moons.”
Fluttershy stuttered, “…Do you think she had something to do with that… monster?”
“No way,” Sunset replied. “I mean, it doesn’t make sense. Why would they make a monster attack us, and then turn around and kill it?”
“Well duh!” Rainbow whispered harshly. “They’re trying to lead us into a false sense of security!”
Rarity looked to Rainbow. “Rainbow Dash, you’re being far too paranoid about this.” She then looked to Pinkie and said, “You’ve been awfully quiet, Pinkie. What do you think of all this?”
Pinkie wordlessly rubbed her chin in thought, before she snapped her fingers as though she’d had a sudden realization. “What if this is the Twilight from this world?” she asked.
Applejack looked to Pinkie. “Huh?”
“Think about it. Twilight said her world had counterparts for all of us. So what if the opposite is true? What if this Twilight is our world’s counterpart for that Twilight?”
Applejack merely raised her eyebrow and repeated, “…Huh?”
Fluttershy asked, “You really think so, Pinkie?”
“You have to admit, it certainly isn’t impossible,” Rarity replied.
Sunset had to admit, Rarity did have a point. It wasn’t impossible that a Twilight Sparkle could exist in this world as well, residing in some distant region she’d yet to visit.
“I s’pose it ain’t,” Applejack said in agreement. “‘Sides, the first Spike we met was a dog, wasn’t he?”
“Why don’t we just hear her out?” Sunset asked. “Once we find out what she wants, we’ll decide what to do then.”
The others agreed with Sunset’s idea… save Rainbow Dash. “Well I still don’t like this…” she said glumly.
“And why did you call Sunset a ‘catalyst?’” Pinkie added.
Before Twilight could answer, the sound of approaching sirens met their ears. “…Maybe we should talk somewhere else,” Fluttershy said.
“Agreed,” Sunset replied. “Let’s head back to the school. We can talk there.”
But Pinkie stopped them. “Hold on just a sec.” She reached into her pocket and tossed a roll of bills onto the counter. “There you go, Snips! Sorry about the diner!” She then climbed through the hole, saying to her friends, “Okay. Let’s go.”
As the group left the diner, Snips replied, “Yeah um… no, no problem… Pinkie.”
A few minutes later, the eight were in front of Canterlot High. A few police cars had passed them as they made their way to the school, but seemingly found nothing suspicious about them, since they continued on their way. “Well here we are,” Applejack said. “Now Ah believe ya were just about to explain what y’all were doing here.”
“Wait wait wait!” Pinkie shouted, stepping into the middle of the group. “Sorry. But it’s just that we’ve gotten this far, and we haven’t even introduced ourselves yet.” She pointed to herself. “I’m Pinkie Pie.” She then pointed to each of the others. “That’s Applejack, Fluttershy, Sunset Shimmer, Rainbow Dash, and Rarity.” She looked to Twilight. “Okay, you can keep going.”
Twilight looked at Pinkie for several moments in annoyance, before she said, “I have spent the last several months studying numerous abnormal phenomena that have manifested across the globe over the past year. I have traced these various phenomena to their point of origin, and they have all led me here, to this nation, to this city…” She pointed to Sunset. “…to you.”
“O… kay…” Rainbow said slowly. “…So what?”
Twilight’s jaw dropped slightly, seemingly in disbelief. “…You have absolutely no idea what your actions have unleashed upon the world, do you?”
Sunset crossed her arms over her chest. “Should I?”
Twilight held up her hand. “Yes. You should.”
Twilight then snapped her fingers- immediately, flames erupted around her hand.
The others gasped- even Sunset Shimmer’s eyes widened in surprise. She was no stranger to using magic, but it was the first time Sunset had ever seen one of this world’s inhabitants use it. At least, since over a year and a half ago.
“What you see is no trick, no illusion,” Twilight said. “It is magic.Real magic, returned to our world after an absence millennia long.”
“Wait, returned?” Rainbow said, incredulous. “That’s impossible! Our world’s never had magic!”
“Oh, but it did,” Twilight replied. “There is evidence demonstrating that this world was once saturated with magical energies. But approximately three thousand years ago, the magic simply… vanished.” She clenched her hand into a fist, extinguishing the flames. “…sealed away by the sages of old, if the legends are to be believed. And now, after all this time, it has reappeared. But make no mistake- the return of magic is not a natural phenomenon. I do not know how, nor for what purpose, but whether unintended or deliberate, I know that the return of magic has come through human action.”
Sunset and the others were silent for several moments, before Fluttershy finally said, “…I think we might know what ‘human action’ brought magic back.”
Twilight looked to her, surprised. “Do you?” She held out a hand invitingly. “Then by all means. Share what you know.”
The group looked to each other briefly, before Applejack said, “Ya might wanna sit down for this one.”
Twilight sat, as did the others. And after a moment, Sunset began to tell Twilight everything that had happened. How she had initially discovered the human world after passing through a magic mirror, and how she’d quickly established herself at the top of Canterlot High’s pecking order. How when thirty moons had passed, she returned to her original world and stole a powerful magical artifact- the Element of Magic- and how its owner, Twilight Sparkle, followed her in order to retrieve it. How she used the Element’s power to transform herself into a monstrous demon, hypnotize the students of Canterlot High, and nearly kill Twilight and the others. And how Twilight and the others had used their own magic- the magic of friendship- to defeat Sunset. And, she told how Twilight had taken back the Element of Magic, and returned to her world.
Twilight sat in silence, her hand on her chin. “Hmm… and when exactly did this conflict take place?”
“It would have been… nearly seventeen moons ago,” Rarity replied.
Twilight rose to her feet. “I see. Around that same time, cities across my homeland suffered electrical overloads and blackouts. No doubt they were caused by the magics unleashed during your conflict.”
“Alright, so we know who you are, and why you came here,” Sunset said. “But what does all of this have to do with us?”
Twilight replied, “Simple: You are the cause of all of this. Thus, you will aid me in setting things right.”
“Hey, hold on!” Rainbow shouted. “You can’t just come here and dump this on us! …Well, I guess it is kinda Sunset’s fault, but the rest of us had nothing to do with it!” Sunset immediately shot a dirty look at Rainbow.
Twilight crossed her arms and gave Rainbow a hard glare. “I am not ‘dumping’ anything on you, as you put it. And blame is irrelevant. I require assistance in my mission, and thus am requesting it from you.” She looked back, in the direction of the diner- the faint sounds of sirens could still be heard floating over the buildings. “You saw that chimera with your own eyes, did you not?” She looked back to Rainbow. “Mutations such as those have been occurring almost from the moment magic reemerged. And the situation will only continue to worsen. If the levels of magic are allowed to rise unregulated, they will begin to mutate humans, and eventually destabilize the world itself.” She looked to Spike. “Spike? The map please.”
Spike pulled out a rolled paper from inside his armor as he approached, and laid it out on the ground in front of everyone. On its surface was drawn a map of the world, covered in various multicolored lines, circles, and other shapes.
Twilight tapped her finger on the map. “Ever since my abilities first manifested, I have studied all the documents pertaining to magic that I could find. From my research, I have learned that in ancient times, there were four locations which play some sort of role in directing the flow of the world’s magical energies. Their exact locations have been lost to time, but I-”
“Just a moment, if you would,” Rarity interrupted. “What exactly will happen when the world destabilizes?”
“I cannot say with any certainty what will happen if the world reaches that point. What I can say is that whatever event take place, it will result in the death of every living thing on this planet. Now as I was saying, these locations-”
But Twilight was interrupted again, this time by Fluttershy: “Um, excuse me? How much time do we have before the world is… you know.”
“I cannot give an exact estimate. But if we were to simply do nothing, and taking into account the damage that has been done thus far… then the world will be utterly destroyed in less than a year. Now-”
“Then what’re we wasting time fer?” Applejack said frantically. “We need ta get the hell outta here! Sunset, d’ya think-”
“Calm yourself.” Twilight ordered. “The destabilization will slow as each site resumes regulating the world’s magic currents. But unless all four are activated, this will merely delay the inevitable.”
Twilight looked to the others, agitation evident on her face, as if waiting for another interruption. But there was none.
So she continued, “...Now as I was saying, the exact locations of these four sites have been lost to time, but through my research, I’ve narrowed down a number of potential locations. From this city, Canterlot, the first is far to the north, within the ruins of the Crystal Empire. The second is to the southeast, near the Griffon Islands. The third is to the south, beyond the Zebra Nation and somewhere in the vicinity of the Cape of Storms. And the last is to the far west, somewhere in the Long Zhao Mountain Range in the Land of Fire, across the Ceres Ocean.” As she spoke, Twilight’s hand glided over the map, tracing lines to each location, which were marked by a red circle.
“I have taken dozens of other potential locations into consideration.” Twilight pointed to several other circles scattered across the map. “And from information I have gathered in my research, I have concluded that the four previously mentioned locations have the highest probability of containing a magic site.” Twilight began rolling up the map.
At that moment, Pinkie leapt forward. “Alright!” she cheered. She then cleared her throat and said calmly, “Everyone, please line up in an orderly fashion so I can give you your gear in a timely manner.”
“Gear? Wait, you planned for something like this?” Rainbow asked.
“An adventure all around the world with monsters and magic? Are you kidding? I made costumes for everyone!” Pinkie dropped her backpack on the ground and opened it. “I’ve been carrying around all this stuff for five months. It was killing my back, but today makes it all worth it!” She reached inside. “Okay Sunset, you’re up first! And after what happened at the Fall Formal, I knew there was only one job for you- Red Mage!”
Pinkie pulled something out of her bag and dashed towards Sunset- a moment later, Sunset was suddenly wearing a long red cloak, a black undershirt, white pants, boots, and a red hat with a feather in it. Sunset looked down at her new attire, stunned. “What the- how did you even do that!?”
“Oh you’ll need this, too!” Pinkie continued, and pushed a sheathed sword into Sunset’s hands. Sunset could only look down at the blade in stunned silence as Pinkie moved on.
“I have to admit, I wasn’t sure who else would get magic- so I made sure the White Mage robe would fit everyone. And it looks like Fluttershy is the one who gets to wear it!” Pinkie pulled a long swath of cloth from her bag and sprinted to Fluttershy- Fluttershy yelped, and in an instant was wearing a hooded white robe lined with red triangles. “You get to keep this, too.” Pinkie then gave Fluttershy a carved wooden staff.
“Um, thank… you?” Fluttershy replied, unsure of how to respond.
Pinkie returned to her bag. “Figuring out your job was actually the toughest part, Rainbow Dash. But after reeeeally thinking about it, I figured it out: you’re the fastest runner out of all of us. Which makes you the perfect Thief!” She ran towards Rainbow, holding a green bundle close to her chest…
But she skidded to a stop when Rainbow said, “Just… hand it to me.”
Pinkie did as Rainbow asked, and handed her the bundle. “Here you go!” Rainbow unrolled it, revealing a white shirt, green athletic shorts, and a dark green bandanna. “Oh, you’re gonna need this too.” Pinkie then held out a very strange object to Rainbow- it looked like a wheel the size of a large dinner plate, lined with blades, and with a cross-shaped handle on the inside.
Rainbow took the object, albeit reluctantly. “Uh, Pinkie? Should you really be handing out deadly weapons to all of us?”
“The world outside of this city is not as kind as you may believe it to be,” Twilight said. “You will need means to protect yourself.”
Pinkie skipped over to Applejack. “Applejack, you told me once that you knew your way around guns. So I knew that Gunner was the only job for you. So I got you these!” She handed Applejack a rolled bundle, smiling broadly.
Applejack unrolled the bundle, revealing it to be a long, dark brown duster coat, a pair of long black pants, and a pair of holsters. It was exactly the sort of outfit that would be right at home in a cowboy movie. She looked at the outfit with disapproval. “Yeah… I ain’t wearin’ this.” She began rolling up the outfit, mumbling to herself, “…Ah will take those pants, though…”
“Oh, you’ll need these, too.” Pinkie held out a pair of guns toward Applejack, grip-first- a boxy black semiautomatic pistol, and a dull grey revolver.
Applejack took the guns. “Sugarcube, Ah’m not even gonna ask how ya…” She trailed off, amd looked at the revolver more closely. “…Wait a second… this one’s mine!” She looked to Pinkie. “Pinkie, did ya take this from mah house?”
“No way! It’s the same kind as the one you showed me over Winter Break, but it’s a different gun, I promise!” She then continued as if nothing had happened, saying, “I wasn’t sure if you liked semiautomatics or revolvers more, so I got you one of each!”
“Um… thanks…” Applejack said. She began inspecting the guns as Pinkie turned away, saying to herself. “…well at least they weren’t loaded.”
Finally, Pinkie approached Rarity. “Hey Rarity, remember freshmen year when you told me you were taking martial arts? Because I do!” She reached into her bag. “So there was only one job for you- Monk!” She then handed Rarity a light blue gi with navy trim, before she skipped away.
“Pinkie, dear…” Rarity began, as she looked at the gi with a slight touch of disapproval. “I don’t mean to… question your methods, but where’s my weapon?”
Pinkie turned and smiled cheerfully at her. “Monks don’t use weapons, silly! They fight with their bare hands!” She quickly added, “And sometimes knuckles, but I don’t have any of those.”
Rarity looked at Pinkie in disbelief, before looking down at her own hands. “My… bare hands?”
“Wait, why’re you the only one who doesn’t hafta wear a goofy costume?” Applejack asked. “What the heck are ya supposed to be anyway?”
“Easy. I’m...” Pinkie pulled off her clothes to reveal... the exact same outfit underneath. “…the Mime!”
Rainbow looked at the others, and after a moment of thought exclaimed, “Hey wait a minute, I recognize all this stuff! This is from that game you showed me!”
“That’s right!” Pinkie replied excitedly, as she tied her first skirt around her neck to make a sort-of cloak. “Isn’t it neat?”
“Are you quite finished?” Twilight said impatiently. “The fate of our world hangs in the balance, and you choose to waste time with these frivolities. Now, if there are no more interruptions-”
“Now hold on just a minute,” Applejack interrputed.
“What is it!?” Twilight snapped, making everyone- Spike included- jump in surprise.
Applejack continued reluctantly, “Uh… ya see that statue over there?” She pointed to the statue in front of the school. “That statue ain’t just an ordinary statue. It’s a portal to another world. Sunset Shimmer’s world.”
“The portal is closed right now,” Rarity continued, “but after thirty moons- well, fourteen presently- the portal will reopen. But it’ll only be open for a short time- three days to be precise. After that, it’ll close, and Sunset Shimmer will have to wait another thirty moons for it to open again.”
Twilight’s anger faded, to be replaced by seemingly genuine surprise. “Is that so? May I examine it?”
All eyes fell on Sunset. She hesitated for several moments, before she reluctantly answered, “…go ahead.”
Sunset watched as Twilight approached the statue, tensing up as Twilight reached toward the slate. But Twilight merely rested her hand against its surface and closed her eyes, as if concentrating. She then pulled her hand away, and looked to the group. “The concentration of magic at the base of this statue is abnormally high. This suggests the statue is indeed a magical artifact of great potency.”
Twilight returned to the group. “The full moon is tonight- this means there are only thirteen moons between now and when this portal opens. Having taken this new information in consideration, I believe the best course of action would be to divide our current group into four pairs. Each pair will then venture to one of the four sites independently, and activate it. You may decide amongst yourselves both your travelling partner, and your destination.” Twilight looked to the road. “Afterwards, we must be on our way.”
“Now hold on,” Applejack said. “We hafta leave, rightnow?”
Twilight looked to her. “Yes. We cannot afford to waste even a second. We must leave, now.”
“Okay listen,” Rainbow began. “I’m not gonna lie- I still don’t trust you. But that thing back at the diner was real enough, and that tells me we need to do something. So we’ll help you out with whatever it is you want us to do, but you gotta give us time first.”
Twilight crossed her arms and asked, “Time to do what?”
“To pack supplies!” Rainbow responded, incredulous. “To map out where we’re going! To say goodbye to our families!”
“Journeying halfway around the world isn’t business that can be done at the drop of a hat, you know,” Rarity added.
Twilight opened her mouth to respond, but was stopped when Spike rested a hand on her shoulder. “They do have a point, Twilight,” he said. “Not to mention, we need to restock our own supplies.”
Twilight looked at Spike, before returning her attention to the others. “…Very well. We will reconvene here at noon. Do not be late.”
Sunset and Rainbow walked down the sidewalk leading back to Canterlot High. Their packs were laden with supplies for the journey ahead. For a few moments, the two girls simply walked in silence, until Rainbow said, “I can’t believe you’re still wearing that thing.”
“What’s wrong with it?” Sunset asked in reply. “Sure, the hat was a bit much, but it’s comfortable, and it beats having to fight monsters in a skirt.”
Rainbow adjusted her pack. “Yeah, fighting in a skirt’s a real pain in the ass.”
“And yet you’re still wearing one.”
Rainbow lightly punched Sunset in the arm. “Oh shut up, you.” The two finally reached the school, passing by the sign out front. Only a few hours prior, the sign had read, “Have a Great Spring Break!” Now, it said:
“Closed Indefinitely for the Foreseeable Future.”
Applejack, Rarity, and Fluttershy were already waiting in front of the school statue. Fluttershy was still wearing the robe Pinkie had given her, while Applejack had traded her skirt for her black pants; Rarity’s outfit remained unchanged. “Hello darlings,” Rarity said. “Did you happen to see Twilight and Spike out there?”
“We didn’t, sorry,” Sunset replied.
“Hey guys, can I say something?” Rainbow asked. “And can it stay between us?”
“What is it, Rainbow?” Fluttershy asked.
“Aren’t you weirded out by all of this?”
Applejack asked, “What, with Twilight and Spike showin’ up?”
“Yeah! I mean, don’t you think it’s a little too convenient? First, we get attacked, then they come and save us. And then they explain everything that’s going on, and what we need to do to fix it. You don’t think all that’s suspicious? Not even a little bit?”
Before anyone could answer, Pinkie’s cry of “I’m back!” filled the air. She ran up to the others, smiling broadly, but her smile rapidly faded as she looked upon her friends. “Aw man,” Pinkie said, slumping over. “It took me forever to make all those costumes and you’re not even wearing them!”
“Uh… green isn’t really my color, Pinkie,” Rainbow replied sheepishly.
“I’ll… change when we’re on the road,” Rarity replied, her tone unconvincing.
“I’m wearing mine,” Fluttershy said, trying to cheer Pinkie up.
“Ah’m wearin… half,” Applejack said. “That counts fer somethin’, right?”
“Excellent, you’re all here,” the group heard Twilight say. She approached the group, followed by Spike. “Now, we still have the matter of deciding each of our destinations. The four are-”
“We know what they are,” Rainbow interrupted. “The Crystal Empire, the Griffon Islands, the Cape of Storms, and the Land of Fire.”
“So you do. In that case, I choose to venture to the most inhospitable of the four sites- the ruins of the Crystal Empire.”
“I’ll go with you,” Spike replied.
But Twilight’s response was a flat “No, you will not.”
Spike looked up at her, surprised. “What? But Twilight-”
“You know as well as I do that I am perfectly capable of defending myself. But there are others in this group who require your skills more than I.”
Spike was silent for a moment. “…Alright, I guess I’ll head east, then. Even without the monsters, the Land of Fire is supposed to be one of the most dangerous regions in the world.”
“Hey Twilight, since Spike can’t go with you, can I go with you?” Pinkie asked, beaming. “I’ve always wanted to go up to the north pole.” In the background, Rainbow called, “Pinkie, there’s nothing at the north pole. We talked about this.”
Twilight brought her hand to her chin and was silent for several moments, in deep thought. Pinkie’s smile slowly faded, until Twilight said, “…You may.”
“I’ll go to the Griffon Islands,” Sunset said as Pinkie cheered excitedly. “I’ve always wanted to go, but I never got the chance to back home.”
“I’ll go with you,” Rainbow said. “I went there once a long time ago. Maybe I can show you around.”
Applejack looked to Rarity and Fluttershy. “…Well, Ah guess that leaves us with either the Land of Fire or the Cape of Storms.” She added, “Personally, Ah’m partial to the Cape of Storms. I got some family down near the southern border- maybe they could help us out.”
“I don’t know…” Fluttershy said. “Both of those places sound awfully dangerous.”
“Well, in either case, Ponyville is just a few miles southeast of Canterlot,” Rarity said. “Perhaps we should make a stop there before finalizing any decisions.”
Twilight replied, “Fair enough. But I recommend you not spend too much time dwelling on your decision. We have precious little of it.” She adjusted her pack. “Now that everyone has their destinations, let us be off.”
“One moment please,” Rarity interrupted. “Suppose we do split up and reach one of these… sites. If we find that there’s nothing there, and with all of us are scattered to four corners of the globe, how are we supposed to contact you?”
Twilight looked to Rarity, crossing her arms. “I was under the impression that the vast majority of individuals within your particular age group owned a cellular telephone.”
Rainbow pulled out her cellphone. “Okay. So why don’t we swap numbers, and we’ll all head out.”
“Very well.” Twilight pulled out a cellphone from her bag- she looked down at it for several moments, before she said, “Spike? Assistance please.”
Spike looked over her shoulder. “Dial pound-100. Then push the green button.”
“…which is the pound button?”
“The one that looks like a number sign.”
Twilight dialed the numbers, and held out her phone. “This is my telephone number.” The others crowded around Twilight’s phone, trying to read her number on the small screen. “Spike, show them yours, please.”
Spike complied, and held out his phone for the others to see. After a flurry of clicking buttons, Sunset said, “Alright. We’ll all call both of you later today. It’ll be faster than for us to try and give you our numbers one at a time.”
“Fair enough,” Twilight replied as she put her phone away.
For a few moments afterward, the pairs simply looked at one another: Twilight and Pinkie; Sunset and Rainbow; and Applejack, Fluttershy, Spike, and Rarity.Eventually, Rainbow said, “Okay guys… I guess this is it.”
“Be safe everyone!” Pinkie said cheerfully.
“Guys?” Applejack asked. “Ah want ya ta promise me something. Promise me that when these thirteen moons are up, we’re all gonna come back to this spot, and we’re all gonna come back alive.” She held out her hand. “Okay?”
Sunset reached out, and rested her hand on top of Applejack’s. “Don’t worry. We’ll all make it.”
Then, one by one, each of Sunset’s friends wordlessly put their hand on top of Sunset’s. The girls held their circle for several moments… before their hands fell away. Then, slowly, the eight turned, and began to go their separate ways.
“…So Rainbow, how do we get to the Griffon Islands from here?” Sunset Shimmer asked. She and Rainbow walked east along the street, in the opposite direction of Canterlot High’s front entrance.
“You got me,” Rainbow replied. “But the Griffon Islands are in the south Auroran Ocean. So if I had to guess, I’d say our best shot is to hop on a boat in Manehattan and sail south.”
“A boat? Why not take a plane?”
“Haven’t you been listening to the news? They say that planes that fly too high get hit with some kind of radio interference. And they said it’s happening all over the world.” Rainbow looked to Sunset. “Hey, you think magic has something to do with it?”
“Could be…” Sunset had a sudden thought. “…but wait. If this interference is blocking radio waves, then how are cellphone signals still going through?”
Rainbow merely shrugged her shoulders. Then she said, “By the way…” before she pulled the bladed wheel from her back and held it out. “Do you have any idea what this is?” She turned the object over in her hand several times. “I can’t even figure out how to hold this stupid thing.”
Sunset leaned in to have a better look. “You know, it looks like one of those… ninja things.”
Rainbow looked to Sunset, raising an eyebrow. “Ninja things?”
“You know… they’re star-shaped, you’re supposed to throw them…”
“You mean a ‘shuriken?’” She held the object out. “Well, it does kinda look like one…” She pulled her arm back. “Couldn’t hurt to try.”
Rainbow threw the shuriken with all of her strength. It flew through the air a short distance, made a hard bank… and began to fly directly toward Rainbow Dash.
“Whoa look out!” Rainbow and Sunset ducked- the shuriken sailed over their heads, and lodged itself deep into a nearby streetlamp.
Rainbow slowly stood up, and approached the streetlamp. “Gee thanks, Pinkie. Give me the one weapon that can kill me as well as the bad guys.” She took hold of the shuriken, and wrenched it free after several pulls. “What, did the weapon store run out of swords?” Rainbow then looked at her and Sunset’s surroundings. “And where the heck are we anyway?” The two were surrounded by tall buildings, none of which Rainbow could identify.
Sunset looked around as well, and after a moment replied, “Downtown.”
“Really? I’ve been to Downtown lots of times, but I don’t remember anywhere like this.”
“We’re close to the Canterlot Gardens, by the Senate House.”
“Oh. I’ve never been to that part of Downtown.”
It was at that moment that a shrill scream pierced the air. Both Rainbow and Sunset looked down the street, the direction that the scream had come from. “You hear that?” Rainbow asked.
“I did,” Sunset replied. “Let’s go check it out.”
“Wait, what?” Rainbow said, stunned. “But what if it’s another one of those monsters? You really think we can take ‘em on our own?”
Sunset looked to Rainbow. “Backing down from a fight, Rainbow Dash? That’s not like you.”
Rainbow hesitated for several moments, before she replied, “…You’re right. Normally, I’d never back down from a fight. But busting up punks is one thing- this is on a whole other level.”
Sunset sighed. “Look, we’re probably gonna be running into a lot of monsters between here and Manehattan. We need to get used to fighting them now, or we’ll end up regretting it later.” She turned, and looked back at Rainbow over her shoulder. “But look on the bright side-you can get some practice using that thing.” With that, Sunset took off, running down the road in the direction of the scream.
Rainbow watched Sunset for a moment, before she shook her head and chased after her friend, saying to herself, “…man, I’ve gotta be outta my mind.”
The air soon filled with the sound of people panicking and running. As Sunset and Rainbow ran down the street, numerous other people ran past them, heading the opposite direction. Oozing down the street behind them a short distance away was a short blue blob, not much taller than a child.
“Is that it? Is that what everyone’s running from?” Rainbow asked. “He doesn’t look so tough.”
Sunset drew her sword. “You should be more careful. In my world there’re lots of things that look harmless, but are actually very dangerous.”
“Oh please! He’s just some weird blob thing. What can he do?”
The blob shuddered, and a bright light began to shine from within its body. It then opened its mouth, and fired a bullet of water from its gullet- the bullet struck Rainbow in the shoulder, making her stumble back.
Rainbow clutched her shoulder. “Ow! That actually really hurt!”
“Told you. Now let me show you how it’s done.” She charged, pulling back her sword, and swung it at the blob with all her might. The blade sank into the blob’s… flesh…
But the blob flexed, and forced out Sunset’s sword, leaving behind no trace of her attack- not even a scratch. Then it reached back, it short, stubby arms extending several feet, and slapped Sunset, knocking her off her feet. Slowly, she rose to her feet, and said, “Well, this might be tougher than I thought.”
“Now what do we do?” Rainbow asked. “Hitting him doesn’t work…” Then suddenly, she exclaimed, “Wait, no! I remember! You have to hit it with a lightning spell!”
Sunset looked over. “What? Rainbow, that’s-”
“Just do it!”
“Alright, alright!” Sunset thrust out her free hand; a bolt of lightning shot down from the sky and struck the blob. It shuddered and wobbled, before it fell back and collapsed into a formless puddle of goo. Sunset and Rainbow waited for a moment, but the goo puddle remained motionless.
Slowly, Sunset approached the puddle. “…Did we get it?” She prodded the puddle with her sword, but received no response.
Sunset sheathed her sword. “How did you know that would work?”
“What?”
“That using a lightning spell would kill that monster?”
Rainbow scratched her head nervously and looked away. “Oh, it was… from these games Pinkie showed me once. That monster looked like one of the ones in the games, so I thought the same strategy might work on it.”
“…What else can you tell me about those games?” Sunset asked as she resumed walking down the road.
Rainbow caught up to Sunset. “Well, what do you wanna know about ‘em?”
“Anything you think might help.”
“Okay…” Rainbow rested a hand on her chin as she thought for several moments. “Certain monsters in the games have elemental affinities. If they’re hit by an elemental attack that’s the same as their affinity, it heals them, but if they’re hit by an opposing element type, it does extra damage.”
“How many elements are there?”
“It depends on the game. But the most common elements are fire and ice, lightning and water, earth and wind, and light and darkness. And each of those pairs is usually opposed to each other…”
Around that same time, Fluttershy, Spike, Applejack, and Rarity were leaving the Canterlot city limits. The suburban sprawl of the city’s outskirts had given way to gently rolling hills and fields, occasionally broken up by a cluster of trees or the odd house. The group itself walked along a narrow road leading to the southeast, discussing Twilight as they went.
“…Twilight certainly seemed to have a great deal of trouble with her cellphone,” Rarity said. “It was almost as if she had no idea how it worked.”
“Ah saw,” Applejack replied. “And did ya see? It was one of ‘em old brick phones. Ah didn’t even know they still made those!” She looked to Spike, who was at the front of the group. “Hey Spike, do they not have cellphones where you’re from?”
Spike looked back. “We have them. Twilight’s just never been interested in owning one. In fact, she only got hers just before we came here.”
“Where are you from?” Fluttershy asked.
“Far away,” he answered.
“Well yeah, we gathered that.” Applejack said. “But where, specifically?”
Spike was silent for a moment, as though carefully considering his response. “…Albion. To the east, across the Auroran Ocean.”
“You’re from Albion?” Fluttershy said. “You don’t sound like it…”
“Not everyone from Albion has the Trottingham or Canterbury accents, you know…”
Rarity no longer listened to the others’ conversation as she watched Spike in silence. There was something about him she found… well, ‘unnatural’ was a bit too strong, but she would have been lying if she said that she didn’t find something peculiar about him. But she couldn’t say what precisely. Perhaps-
“You can tell, can’t you?” Spike said to her suddenly.
Rarity jolted in surprise- Spike was staring directly at her. She took a moment to collect herself, and asked in turn, “Tell what?”
“That I’m not human.”
Rarity blinked in confusion. “You’re... not... human?”
Spike nodded. “That’s right. I’m not.Not entirely, anyway.” He lifted up his helmet slightly, exposing his eyes for the first time. Rarity gasped. Fluttershy covered her mouth and stepped back. Applejack let out a stunned “Whoa…”
Spike’s eyes were a vibrant, near-luminescent, distinctly inhuman green, evenly divided by a long, slit-like pupil. Spike hid his eyes once again and continued, “I’m a dragonling.”
Fluttershy stuttered, “A… dragonling?”
Spike continued down the road- the others followed. “It used to refer to the direct offspring of a human and a dragon. Nowadays, a dragonling is anyone who has a dragon somewhere in their lineage. Or at least, anyone who shows obvious signs of it.”
“A... dragon?” Applejack stammered. “But... dragons are huge! How... how would...”
“Twilight thinks that dragons were very skilled magic-users when they were still alive. So casting a spell to change into a human form would’ve been easy for them.”
“So… is it just the eyes, then?” Rarity asked.
“No, there are other characteristics- increased muscle mass, higher bone density, sharper facial features... if the dragon blood is especially strong, some people even grow horns or scales. But the eyes are usually the most visible trait.”
Applejack called back, “Hey Fluttershy, ya listenin’ ta this? This guy’s half dragon!” She received no answer. So she looked back. “Shy?”
Fluttershy had stopped, and was kneeling down in front of a large bush next to the path a few yards back. “I’ll go get her,” Rarity said, and began to walk towards her friend.
As she approached, Rarity could hear Fluttershy speaking, presumably to whatever was in the bush: “Why don’t you come out? I have food. If you’re hurt, I can help you feel better.” But the creature in the bush, assuming there was one, did not emerge.
Once she was close enough, Rarity leaned over Fluttershy’s shoulder and looked into the bush as well. “What’re you looking at?” she asked.
“I think there’s an animal in this bush, but he won’t come out,” Fluttershy replied. She leaned closer to the bush. “Come on now. I won’t hurt you. I promise.” The bush rustled. “That’s it. Just a little more.”
The bush rustled a little more vigorously, and an angry hiss sounded from within. Then, a huge thing as black as night leapt out towards Fluttershy.
She screamed.
Rarity was the first to react- she pushed Fluttershy away, pulled back her fist, and sucker-punched the object away. She had no idea what the blur was, but she doubted anything that moved that quickly at someone had good intentions.
Applejack and Spike rushed over. “What just happened?” she asked.
“I think I just punched a giant spider in the face,” Rarity said incredulously. She looked to where the thing had landed- she could see that it was indeed a spider, roughly the size of a small dog, righting itself. It may not have been giant, but Rarity thought it was certainly larger than a spider had any right to be.
Applejack drew her guns. “Fluttershy, stay behind us!”
“So they’ve made it this far already…” Spike said as he pulled the spear from his back.
“You’re not going to hurt them, are you?” Fluttershy asked.
“We may not have a choice in the matter,” Rarity replied.
The spider hissed and leapt at Fluttershy again, but Rarity again intercepted it with a devastating punch. A foul-smelling yellowish bile burst forth from the spider and splattered against Rarity’s fist as her blow crushed its body with ease. It flew through the air and hit the ground, but it did not rise again. Disgusted, she shook the bile off her hand, muttering, “Eugh…”
The rabid dog leapt at Spike- he held out his spear, catching its shaft between the dog’s jaws. The dog pushed against the spear, snarling furiously, but Spike was stronger, and with a mighty push he forced the dog back; then he swung with all his might, and cut down the dog with ease.
But Applejack was less successful in shooting down the feral bird- she fired shot after shot from the semiauto, but somehow the bird evaded every last one. Then, it dived at her, leaving a deep gash in her arm as it passed- she cried out in pain, and glared at the bird. “Yer tryin’ mah patience, ya varmint!” she shouted. She brought up her trusty revolver and took careful aim, oblivious to the bright red light that shone from within its barrel. Then, she pulled the trigger.
A bullet wreathed in flames emerged from her revolver, striking the condor dead center. The bird screeched in pain, before falling to the ground, dead.
Applejack looked at the dead, slightly smoldering condor lying on the ground in front of her. She looked at her revolver, and then back to the bird, unsure if what she saw had actually happened.
Eventually, Rarity asked. “Did anyone else see that?”
“What, ya mean the flamin’ bullet that just came outta mah gun?” Applejack asked.
“Yeah…” Rarity- and the others- fell silent for a moment, until she noticed the blood dripping down Applejack’s arm. She rushed over. “Applejack dear, you’re hurt!”
“Wha?” Applejack then looked down at her arm. “Oh this? It’s just a scrape. Nothin’ ta worry about.”
“There’s no such thing as a minor injury where monsters are concerned,” Spike said. He looked back. “Fluttershy. Do you think you can tend to her wound?”
“Oh…” Fluttershy replied nervously. “I don’t know if I can. I’ve helped hurt animals before, but people are-”
Spike rested a hand on Fluttershy’s shoulder. “It’s okay, Fluttershy,” he said, as he began to walk her towards Applejack. “You might not know that much about magic, but I do. I can walk you through what you need to do.” They stopped just in front of Applejack. “First, place your hand above the wound. But don’t touch it.”
Fluttershy did as Spike instructed, placing her hand a few inches above Applejack’s cut.
“Magic is based primarily on visualization,” Spike continued. “You need to form a clear image in your mind of what you want to happen in order to make it so. Close your eyes.” Fluttershy did so. “Now imagine that there is a light in the palm of your hand. Imagine that this light is mending Applejack’s wound- that it its repairing her arteries, knitting new skin and muscle tissue, replacing the blood that she has lost…”
Applejack and Rarity watched in amazement as a white light began to shine from Fluttershy’s hand. But more amazing was what happened to Applejack’s wound: slowly, it began to close itself, as though an invisible knife were cutting into her skin, but in reverse. After a moment, the wound closed, leaving behind nothing, no trace that it had ever existed at all.
“Fluttershy…” Rarity began. “That was… incredible! Stupendous! I’ve never seen anything like it!”
Fluttershy’s face reddened and she looked away, a small smile on her lips. But suddenly, she faltered, bringing a hand up to her head. Applejack- who was the closest- moved to catch her, and asked, “Are you alright, sugarcube?”
After Applejack helped her to her feet, Fluttershy replied, “Yes. My head just started hurting, that’s all.”
“Migraine,” Spike said. “Twilight told me once that using magic puts stress on the brain. Using too much over a short time causes pain, impaired mental function, sensory loss… it can even rupture the blood vessels in your brain.”
Suddenly, Applejack seized Spike by his collar and pulled him close, glaring. “And ya didn’t think ta tell us all that ‘til just now? Fluttershy could’ve been dead because’a you!”
Spike gripped Applejack’s wrist with surprising firmness. “I’m going to have to ask you to calm down. Fighting one another will not solve anything.”
There was tense silence as Applejack glared up at Spike. But then a hand rested on top of her wrist. “Everyone, please calm down,” Fluttershy said. “I’m okay now. See?” After a moment, Applejack let go of Spike’s collar- Spike released her wrist in return.
Spike said to Applejack,” The more life-threatening symptoms only develop if someone keeps using magic after the initial pain. And all the symptoms fade if the person doesn’t use magic for about a minute or so. …Well, except for the ruptured blood vessels.”
Spike then turned to Fluttershy. “It looks like Pinkie Pie was right about you, Fluttershy,” he said. “You’re a natural with White magic. It’s strange, though- it took Twilight weeks until she was able to cast a basic level spell, but you seem to have no trouble with it.” He then rested a hand on his chin and mumbled, “Then again, magic concentrations are higher now than they were back then. That might have something to do with it…” He shook his head. “But anyway, I’d suggest you stick with the basics for now. Trying to cast stronger spells too early can be dangerous.”
“Alright, Ah think that’s enough lollygaggin’,” Applejack said. “Everyone’s safe, and all the monsters are dead. We should head out if we wanna reach Ponyville before nightfall.”
“Agreed,” Rarity replied. And so, the four continued on their way.
But as they walked, Applejack looked to Spike and asked, “Hey Spike, that flamin’ bullet Ah shot earlier… that was magic, wasn’t it?”
“I think so,” Spike replied. “Why?”
“Well, Ah remember back in the diner, when Twilight was checkin’ our magic or whatever, Ah didn’t get a light like Fluttershy and Sunset did. Shouldn’t that mean that Ah can’t do any magic?”
Spike was silent for a moment before responding. “I’m not sure. But I’ll ask Twilight about it later. She might have an answer. She’s the magic expert, after all. Not me.”
“But for someone who claims not to be an expert in magic, you seem to know an awful lot about it,” Rarity said. “Why is that?”
“Well, I’ve been helping Twilight study magic ever since she first got her powers. I guess it was inevitable that something would stick.”
“And when did she first get her magic?” Fluttershy asked.
“It was…” Spike scratched his head. “…it would be a little over a year now. Twilight was tracking some storms that were moving over the country when she rested her hand on a map and it burst into flames…”
Meanwhile, Pinkie Pie and Twilight were travelling through a wooded area to the north of Canterlot. Though the sun was still high overhead, its light could not penetrate the thick blanket of leaves and branches above, leaving the forest floor dark and gloomy. The two walked along a narrow road that wound its way through the tightly packed trees- all the while, Pinkie constantly looked around, as if searching for something.
Finally, Twilight asked in frustration, “What are you looking for?”
Pinkie looked back. “You said there’d be monsters. So where are they?”
“The flow of magic is not as pervasive around Canterlot as it is in other parts of the world. Thus, it has not affected the local wildlife as extensively. But in time, the concentration of magic will rise to a sufficient level as to permit the creation of monsters.”
“How can you tell how much magic there is here anyway? Can you smell it?” Pinkie sniffed the air for a few times, before leaning in close to sniff Twilight.
Twilight pushed her away. “Stop that.”
It was at that moment that Twilight and Pinkie heard the sound of footsteps rapidly approaching them. Reaching for their weapons, they turned, just in time to seea boy slow and drop to his knees behind them. He wore a black leather jacket with a single red and white stripe over the chest, and a pair of plain blue jeans. And what’s more, the boy was one Pinkie knew…
“Flash?” Pinkie asked. “What’re you doing here? And how did you catch up with us so fast?”
“Just a moment!” Flash Sentry gasped. After several moments of deep breathing, he rose to his feet. “I live in Canterlot, you know. So when I heard about what happened at Joe’s, I went out to… find… you…” Flash fell silent when his eyes fell on Twilight. He blinked several times, as if unwilling to believe what he was seeing. “I… I can’t believe it... It’s true! You are back!” Without another word, he ran up and embraced Twilight…
…only for her to immediately push him away. “Release me.”
He looked at her, stunned. “…Twilight? I… I thought you’d be happier to see me.”
Twilight took off her hat. “I do apologize, but I am not the person that you believe me to be. We have never met before this day.”
Flash placed a hand on his chest. “Twilight, it’s me. Flash. Flash Sentry? From the Fall Formal? I know it’s been over a year, but-”
Suddenly, Pinkie grabbed Flash in a headlock and began to pull him away, saying “Oh, hey! Flash! Would you come with me for just a moment?”
Pinkie dragged Flash a few feet away, before he managed to pull himself loose and asked, “Pinkie, what’s going on? Why doesn’t Twilight recognize me?”
“Flash...” Pinkie told Flash about what had happened at Joe’s diner that morning- how the monster had attacked, how Spike had killed it… and how Twilight herself had come. And she told Flash of her theory- that the Twilight with them at that moment was not the Twilight they had first met so long ago, but was the Twilight native to their world.
Flash looked over to Twilight. “So, that isn’t Twilight?”
“It is.” Pinkie replied. “She’s just not the Twilight you met two years ago.”
“Wait, so… she is Twilight, but she isn’t Twilight?” Flash rubbed his temples. “Man, this is making my head hurt.”
Twilight interjected, saying, “I am the Twilight Sparkle of this world. It is my understanding that the Twilight Sparkle previously encountered by your group was a denizen from another world. Does that clarify things?”
Flash scratched his head and admitted, “Not really…”
Twilight turned, and began to walk away. “Unfortunately, I do not have time to simplify things further. Pinkie Pie and I have things we must see to.”
Flash- and Pinkie- caught up to Twilight. “Wait, what kind of things? Where’re you going?”
“Up north,” Pinkie replied. “To the ruins of the Crystal Empire.”
“That sound kinda dangerous,” Flash said. “Do you need any help?”
“Your assistance is not required,” Twilight replied flatly. She didn’t turn around to look at him. “You should return to your home.”
“Hey, I know it might not look like it, but I can handle myself in a fight.”
Twilight stopped, and looked back to him. “Can you?” A skittering sound floated from within the forest, and a strange scaled beast with glowing eyes emerged from the trees, hissing at the trio. Flash immediately pushed past Twilight, placing himself between her, Pinkie, and the beast. “You girls stay back,” he said. “I’ll handle this.”
“Flash, are you crazy!?” Pinkie said. “You can’t take on these monsters by yourself!”
Flash reached into his jacket pocket, and pulled out a short black handle. “I told you, I can handle myself in a fight.” He pushed a switch on the handle’s side, and a gleaming blade shot out.
Upon seeing the blade, the scaly beast clicked its teeth in anger and charged at him. Flash charged as well, swinging his switchblade at the beast wildly. But the scaly beast nimbly evaded every one of Flash’s swings. Suddenly, the beast snapped its jaws at Flash’s chest- the feint caused Flash to stumble back, and lose his grip on his blade. Seeing that its foe was now unarmed, the scaly beast leapt forward and bit down on Flash’s arm. He cried out in pain, before he reached back and punched the beast’s head, but its skull was as hard as a brick wall, and it refused to release him.
Pinkie and Twilight watched as Flash tried- unsuccessfully- to fight off the beast. Pinkie looked over to Twilight anxiously and said, “Twilight we have to help him.”
Twilight stood still, her hand raised, index and middle finger extended. “And we shall.”
“There’s a monster trying to rip Flash’s arm off and all you’re doing is standing there!” Pinkie shouted. “You’ve got a dagger- use it!”
Twilight remained motionless. “I will not allow any serious harm to come to him. You must trust me.”
“Well if you won’t help him, I will! Flash!” She set her pack on the ground and opened it. “Take this!”
She reached inside her pack and pulled out a sword that in no way, shape or form should have fit inside it- setting aside the fact that the blade was nearly as wide as the pack itself, the entire sword from tip to pommel was slightly longer than Pinkie was tall. Pinkie threw the massive sword to Flash- it landed, blade-down, just a few feet away.
Flash immediately rushed over and took hold of the sword. He strained, but could only lift it a few inches above the ground. But the monster wasn’t going to wait- it was already charging at him once again, his jaws wide. Flash gripped the sword tightly, and with all the strength he could muster, swung the massive sword at the scaly beast.
The blade cleaved the monster in two with ease. The two halves fell to the ground; incredibly, they attempted to drag themselves toward Flash for a few moments, until the lights in the top half’s eyes faded, and both halves of the beast fell still.
Flash remained with his sword at the ready for several moments longer, waiting for any more signs of life. When he was convinced the beast was truly dead, he gasped, “There… I got it.” He then turned to face Twilight. “You could’ve helped me out, you know.”
Twilight crossed her arms. “Had Pinkie Pie not intervened, I would have. I was simply waiting for a proper opening so as not to harm you with my spells. I assure you, it is not my wish to see you injured.”
Flash looked down at the hole torn in his jacket sleeve, at the fresh puncture wounds in his left arm, before holding up his arm for Twilight to see. “You have a funny way of showing it.”
“And for that, I apologize.” Twilight approached Flash, pulling a long strip of white cloth from her bag. “But do you understand now?” she asked. “The world is not the kind place you believe it to be. Not anymore. Remove your jacket please.” Flash did as he was asked, before Twilight took hold of his arm and begun to wrap the cloth over his wound. “It is a hostile, dangerous place now, teeming with monsters who wish nothing more than to see your blood.” Twilight finished tying her makeshift bandage. “It is no longer a world for the timid, doubtful the irresolute- such things are weaknesses the beasts prey on.”
Twilight then looked Flash in the eye. “If you truly wish to aid us, then I will not stop you. But be warned: once you set foot down this road, you will not be able to turn back. You must see this journey through, no matter what fate may await us at its end. If you have any reservations- any whatsoever- then you should turn away, and return home.”
Flash looked over to the dead beast, lying in a rapidly expanding pool of black blood. He then looked down to his bandaged arm- a few red spots were seeping through the pure white cloth. He stared down at his wound in silence- his grip his sword began to loosen, and it seemed as though he was about to drop the weapon and turn back… but then, he tightened his grip on the hilt. “No,” he said firmly. “I made my choice when I left Canterlot to come after you.” He looked to Twilight. “I’m going with you.”
“As you wish.” Twilight then pulled a map of Equestria from her bag and set it on the ground between her and Flash. “If we are going to reach the Crystal Empire with any haste, we will need to make as few stops as possible. Originally, Pinkie Pie and I were going to travel directly to Vanhoover before continuing on to the Crystal Empire, but now that…” Twilight stared at Flash for several moments, before asking, “I do apologize, but what was your name again?”
“What? Oh, uh… Flash Sentry.”
“Right. Now that Flash Sentry has joined us, we will need to take a brief detour to Cloudsdale for additional supplies. But afterward, our route is unchanged.”
“Sounds like a plan, Twilight!” Pinkie said cheerfully.
“Cloudsdale?” Flash asked as he picked up his switchblade. “Isn’t that the place with the Equestrian Air Service base?”
“Indeed it is,” Twilight replied, folding up the map before she tucked it away. “Since we are all in agreement, let us be off for Cloudsdale.” She began to walk away, with Pinkie following.
Flash followed, dragging his new sword behind him, its weight slowing him down considerably. Huffing, he called, “Pinkie, I don’t mean to sound ungrateful, but do you have a belt, or a harness, or something so I can carry this thing easier?”
Pinkie looked back. “Sorry Flash, but that was one of my spares. I didn’t get anything for it.”
“Can you give me a different weapon, then?”
“Sorry, but I need all the ones I still have.”
“You have more?” Flash asked. “Can I see?”
Pinkie took off her backpack. “Sure. But just look- don’t take anything.” Then she tossed her bag to Flash.
Flashed opened Pinkie’s bag and looked inside. “What the- you got loads of stuff in here! Look at this!” He began pulling items out of Pinkie’s bag- in order, he pulled out a spear with a long curved blade, a pair of long knives, a curved sword, and a micro-SMG. “You got spear, knives, a katana, a gun, and a…” He held up an L-shaped bit of metal. “…Well I don’t know what this thing is. But why couldn’t you have given me one of these?”
Pinkie walked up and grabbed the metal thing from Flash’s hand. “First of all, I said ‘Don’t take anything.’ Second, this is a boomerang. Third, that isn’t a spear- it’s a naginata. Fourth, those aren’t knives- they’re daggers. And fifth, I need all these weapons for a very sophisticated fighting style I developed.”
Flash stood up straight. “Oh, I have to see this.”
At that very moment, the three heard something crashing through the trees, as though it had been waiting for that exact moment. A moment later, a nearby tree toppled over, revealing a lion with wings and a scorpion’s tail. It roared furiously at the trio.
“What the hell is that?” Flash shouted. He tried to ready his sword, but could only lift it a few inches off the ground.
Twilight replied, “A manticore,” as she drew her dagger. “Strange- the low magic concentration here should not allow for the creation of a monster such as this.”
“Alright then…” Pinkie then reached back, and pulled two weapons seemingly from nowhere- her katana in her left hand, and her spear in her right. “Come on!”
The manticore charged. Pinkie swung her spear furiously, cutting into the beast’s side, before pulling out her gun and hitting it with a spray of bullets. The manticore roared in pain, but before it could strike, Pinkie charged first, slashing it across the face with her dual daggers. The beast stumbled back, before thrusting its stinger at Pinkie- she jumped back and threw her boomerang, which cut a gash into the manticore’s tail, before sucker-punching the beast in the face. On its return, the boomerang slashed one of the manticore’s legs before Pinkie caught it again.
Gun, knives, spear, fists, spear again… Pinkie was switching between her weapons so quickly that Flash could barely keep track of them. Soon, Pinkie’s relentless assault ceased, but the manticore was still standing. “You’re tougher than I thought,” she said. “Guess I have no choice, then. It’s time… to break my limits!”
A red surge of light emerged from the ground surrounding Pinkie's feet. Then, Pinkie pulled out her katana and began to spin, very, very fast. The pink whirlwind approached the manticore, sending out sprays of blood as its blades sliced into the beast’s flesh. It roared furiously and tried to strike, but each time Pinkie pushed it back. The manticore slowed as its wounds mounted, and it lost more and more of its blood. Eventually, the beast dropped to its knees, let out a weak roar, and collapsed.
Pinkie stopped spinning, and fell to one knee, wiping her brow. “Hoo! I didn’t think that would wear me out so much!”
For a moment, all was silent. But then, the manticore was on its feet, and it leapt at Pinkie with a furious roar.
Twilight brought up a hand, and focused.
In an instant, a thick column of stone shot out of the ground and struck the manticore directly in the face. The beast immediately dropped to the ground, before stumbling back onto its feet in a daze.
“The beast is stunned,” Twilight said, looking to Flash. “You will never have a more perfect moment to strike.”
“Got it!” Flash charged, and hefted the blade over his head…
But the manticore snapped out of its daze and leapt back, evading Flash’s attack. Flash couldn’t stop his swing, and his sword buried itself deep into the ground. He pulled, but the sword wouldn’t come loose. Defenseless, Flash could only watch as the manticore leapt toward him…
But a spurt of blood exploded from its forehead. The beast dropped out of the air, and slid across the ground to Flash’s feet. It did not rise again.
“All right!” Pinkie exclaimed, spinning her gun around in her hand before resting it on her shoulder. She then asked, “You okay, Flash?”
Flash pulled again, and the sword finally came loose. “Yeah. I’m good.”
“The sword is a weapon of precision and elegance,” Twilight said as she approached. “Clearly, whomever designed the sword you wield believed in neither, Flash Sentry.”
“It isn’t too bad.” Flash planted his sword in the ground in front of Twilight. “You wanna take a few swings with it? It’s actually kinda fun. Definitely a good workout.”
“I believe I shall pass on that offer,” Twilight replied.
Flash pulled his sword from the ground, and with some difficulty, rested the flat across his shoulder. “Suit yourself.” With that, he began to walk down the road, away from Canterlot and the others.
Twilight looked on after him for several moments. “I fear for him,” she said in a low voice. “The boy is soft. He will slow us down.”
“Just give him time. He’ll toughen up.” Pinkie then looked to Twilight. “And what kind of spell was that? Stonera? That’s pretty high end for this early in the game.”
“I have studied magic for many months now, long before Spike I came to this land,” Twilight said flatly as she began to follow Flash. “My skill should not surprise you.”
The sun descended toward the western horizon. Canterlot now lay far behind Sunset Shimmer and Rainbow Dash, who were setting up their camp alongside a highway to the east of the city. With night rapidly approaching, the two had agreed to set up camp, and resume their travels in the morning.
And as the two set up camp Rainbow Dash was still going on about the games Pinkie had shown her: “…Sleep is pretty basic- you fall asleep. Physical attacks wake you up, but magic attacks won’t. Last up is Zombie- it causes healing items and spells to hurt you instead of heal you. Most of the time, you need a special item called Holy Water to cure it. And that should cover all the common status ailments. Anything else you wanna know?” Rainbow received no answer. “Sunset?”
Rainbow looked over to Sunset- she was standing a few feet away from their camp, looking out toward the eastern horizon.
“What’re you looking at?” Then she saw it. “Oh yeah! Full moon tonight." She approached Sunset, and looked out at the rising moon as well. “Just thirteen more to go, right?”
“Yeah, that’s right…” Sunset replied in a low voice.
“Hey, relax! The full moon comes around every… twenty nine days, right? You’ve still got…” Rainbow began counting on her fingers for a few moments, before pulling out her phone and doing the math on it. “…three hundred seventy-seven days to go! That’s over a year!”
“Yeah, well, those three hundred seventy-seven days will be gone before we know it.”
“Man why d’you have to be all depressing like that?”
Sunset was silent, as she tried to think of something positive that had come out of their situation. “…Well, it is nice to have magic again,” she said. “And being able to see the world isn't so bad. It definitely beats being stuck in Canterlot High all day.”
“Now that’s more like it!” Rainbow said cheerfully.
The next morning came. Rarity was awoken by the shrill sound of her alarm at 7:30, as she was every weekday morning. As she climbed out of her sleeping bag, she looked to the outfit she wore the day before, laid out on the tent floor beside her- it was stiff, crusted with dried blood and various other fluids she wasn’t sure she wanted to identify.
In other words, in was in no shape to be worn.
Rarity gingerly folded the outfit, wanting to touch as little of it as she could, and tucked it away in an isolated pocket of her bag, pondering what she should do. She most certainly couldn’t go forth in her underwear, but Ponyville was still some distance away, and she didn’t think to bring another change of clothes. But then, she remembered something- she still had the martial arts gi Pinkie had given her the day before. She took it out of her bag and looked at it, frowning in disapproval- it was a silly thing, the likes of which she hadn’t worn in several years now. But at the moment it was her only option.
A minute later, Rarity tied the gi’s belt around her waist, and looked down at herself- the gi clashed horribly with her boots, and the colors were completely wrong for this time of year. “…I can’t believe I’m actually going to wear this…” she muttered aloud. She had to admit though, the gi was rather comfortable- she simply had to ask Pinkie what material it was made from.
Rarity emerged from her tent. Only a few feet away, Applejack sat in front of their camp’s fire, talking on her cellphone: “…What was that? Twilight is somethin’ goin’ on over- Twi? Ya there?” Applejack then mumbled, “Darn,” and put away her cellphone.
Applejack must have noticed Rarity out of the corner of her eye however, as she turned to face her. “Rarity,” she said. “Yer wearin’ the thing Pinkie gave ya.”
“Well it certainly wasn’t by choice,” Rarity replied as she too took a seat in front of the fire, a short distance from Applejack. “It sounded like you were talking to Twilight.”
“Ah was. Ah was askin’ her why mah gun can shoot magic fire bullets.”
“And? What did she say?”
“She said it could be a couple a’ things. First, she said it could be that someone enchanted mah gun before Pinkie got ahold of it. She also said it could be something called a ‘focus.’”
“And what, pray tell, is that?”
Applejack shrugged. “Dunno. There was some kinda commotion and she hung up before she told me what it was.”
“A focus is Twilight’s term for an artifact that can amplify a person’s innate magic abilities,” Spike said, as he too emerged from his tent.
“Oh! Spike. You’re awake,” Rarity said.
“I’ve been awake for a while.” He sat down in front of the fire, on the opposite side from Applejack and Rarity. “Anyway, Twilight told me once that some people have innate magical talent, but they can’t use it the way normal spellcasters do. Some can only use their talent in specific circumstances; and for others, they have to channel their abilities through a special artifact first. Twilight called that kind of artifact a focus.”
“Is that right?” Applejack asked. She then drew her revolver and held it out to Spike, holding it by the barrel. “Ya think ya can tell me which it is?”
Spike shook his head. “Sorry, but I can’t. I can’t feel magic the way Twilight does. If she were here, she could tell you.” He handed the revolver back to Applejack. “I can tell you this, though- if your revolver’s enchanted, it won’t shoot anything other than fire bullets. But if it’s a focus, it’ll respond to your thoughts, and your bullets will have different effects.”
Applejack holstered her revolver once more. “Let me guess- somethin’ else ya picked up from Twilight?”
Before Spike could respond, there was the sound of a running zipper, and Fluttershy stepped out of her tent. “Good morning everyone,” she said.
“Good morning,” the others replied, before Spike asked her, “How are you feeling? Have you had any headaches or nosebleeds since yesterday?”
“No…” she replied hesitantly. “…Why do you ask?”
“I’m just want to be sure your magic use isn’t having any lingering side effects.” The others looked at Spike suspiciously. “…Twilight told me once that using magic can have unexpected side effects in certain people. Most aren't serious, but Twilight asked me to keep an eye out for them for her.”
There was silence for a moment, before Applejack stood up. “Well anyway, now that everyone’s awake, we should head out. Ah know that we got slowed down when we ran inta that pack a’ wild dogs yesterday, but Ponyville’s less than a mile away now, so there’s no excuse fer not reachin’ it before nine.”
The four packed up their tents and set out, walking along a road that cut through a sparsely wooded area. Eventually, Spike said, “I’ve never heard of this… Ponyville before. What can you tell me about it?”
“It’s Rarity and Applejack’s hometown,” Fluttershy replied. “I’ve only visited a few times, but it seems like a nice town from what I’ve seen.”
“Ponyville might not be as big as some of the other cities in Equestria,” Applejack added, “But Ah can guarantee ya won’t find a more honest or hardworkin’ people as Ponyvillians.”
“And perhaps if we’re lucky,” Rarity began, “some of those people would be willing to help us. Like some of the ranch hands at your farm, Applejack.”
Applejack looked back. “Ah wouldn’t get yer hopes up too much about that.” She then said, “…Ya know, Ah’ve been thinkin’…”
“About what?” Fluttershy asked.
“Well, these weapons Pinkie Pie gave us are pretty high-quality, so Ah’m guessin’ she bought ‘em, rather than makin’ ‘em herself.”
Fluttershy pulled out her staff and examined it. “I guess that’s true…”
“So, if she bought ‘em, that means someone sold ‘em to her.”
Rarity raised an eyebrow at Applejack. “…What are you getting at, dear?”
“Someone sold these-” Applejack motioned to her guns. “-to Pinkie Pie. Our Pinkie Pie.”
“I… see your point.” Rarity looked around. “…were there always this many trees on this road into Ponyville?”
At that moment, the trees rustled- everyone instinctively reached for their weapons, but after several moments, nothing emerged. Slowly, the group lowered its guard. “Well isn’t this just charming?” Rarity asked sarcastically. “After just a handful of monsters, all of us are jumping at shadows.”
“You should be jumpy,” Spike replied. “Nowadays, even the shadows themselves can be dangerous.”
The group resumed walking. But then, without warning, there was a rustling, and a child with red hair emerged from the underbrush. With incredible speed, she ran past the four, but she wasn’t fast enough for Applejack to not feel the girl slip her hand into her pocket and pull out her wallet.
“What the- h-Hey!” Applejack chased after the child, and the others raced to keep up. The child maneuvered through the trees with near-superhuman agility, but Applejack stayed right on her heels all the while. Applejack reached out, the girl just inches away…
But as she entered a clearing in the trees, Applejack skidded to a stop in the face of the sight before her, forgetting all about the child. After a moment, the others joined her in gawking.
Before the group was a wall, roughly twelve feet high, made from sheets of metal, gleaming steel cables, gutted cars… seemingly anything sturdy enough to form a barricade. Behind the wall, they could see the roofs of houses just barely peeking up over the edge.
“Is this Ponyville?” Spike asked. “I have to admit, I thought it would be a little… nicer.”
“…I assure you…” Rarity began, “it wasn’t like this just a few weeks ago.”
At that moment the group heard a sound, not unlike the sound of an empty soda can being dropped on the ground. The four looked to its source- sure enough, a light blue can rolled toward them, stopping against the toe of Rarity’s boot. Rarity bent down and picked it up, noting its unusual weight, and the numerous tiny holes punched in its surface. “What in the world…?” she began.
Suddenly, the can exploded in a bright light. Rarity’s hand burned, her vision went white, and all went silent. She stumbled back, not hearing her own surprised cry, completely oblivious to the fact that the others were doing the same. Suddenly, each of the four felt someone grab them and wrestle them to the ground. As their hearing returned, they could hear numerous people shouting and barking orders to one another.
But all the myriad voices fell silent when another voice, the voice of young girl, began to shout, “Alright you bandits! We caught you!”
Rarity was stunned- a child leading all of these people? But there was something about the child’s voice, something that seemed… familiar. She struggled to look up- no small feat with people pinning her down- to see someone approaching her. The girl spoke again, her voice now closer: “Hold up just a minute. Let me see this one’s face.”
The pressure holding Rarity’s head down released itself. She looked up, and her jaw dropped when she found herself looking into the face of… Sweetie Belle.
Sweetie Belle seemed just as surprised to see her. “…Rarity?” she asked, stunned. She then stood up straight. “It’s okay! Let ‘em all go!” And in an instant, the arms holding Rarity down released her.
Questions ran through Rarity’s mind as she rose to her feet: Why was Ponyville surrounded by a wall? Were monsters overrunning Ponyville as well? Did they welcome all of Ponyville’s visitors like this now? But as she got a good look at her little sister, the first one she asked was, “…Why are you wearing Apple Bloom’s overalls?”
“For protection,” she replied. “She lets me borrow them while I work on my projects.” Sweetie Belle then looked back over her shoulder and called, “Isn’t that right, Apple Bloom?”
“Yep!” A red-haired girl appeared and leapt down from the top of the wall. She was not much older than Sweetie Belle- in her hair she wore a large pink bow, and more worryingly, a pair of long knives hung from her belt.
“Wait, you’re that thief from before!” Spike said.
“Oh, oops.” She tossed the wallet back to Applejack. “Sorry. Ah thought you guys were bandits.”
Applejack put her hands on her hips and looked down at her sister. “Yer tellin’ me that ya can’t even recognize yer own sister?”
“It was… dark out!” Apple Bloom stammered.
Applejack raised an eyebrow at her, unconvinced. “Uh-huh…”
“You guys can argue later,” Sweetie Belle said. “Right now, we should get inside before any monsters show up.” She turned. “Alright, open the gates!”
There was a tremendous groan as the section of wall in front of the group began to swing outward. As the wall opened, the town beyond was exposed, revealing the quaint buildings and narrow streets Applejack and Rarity were familiar with. Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom began walking to the open gate- Rarity, Applejack, Fluttershy and Spike followed, accompanied by their assailants, some of whom the former two recognized.
“Sorry about the welcoming committee,” Sweetie Belle said. “But last time we had visitors, they started shooting at everyone as soon as we opened the gate for them.”
Once the large group was inside the wall, the gate was pulled closed by a half-dozen people. The townspeople who ambushed the four began to disperse, leaving behind only them, Sweetie Belle, and Apple Bloom. “Things have changed a little since the last time you were here,” Sweetie Belle said. She then pointed at Spike. “And I’ve never seen you before. So I should show you all around.”
Thus, Sweetie Belle began to lead the others on a tour of Ponyville. As they walked however, Applejack and Rarity began to notice a small, but very unsettling detail about their fellow townspeople: Everyone who could carry a weapon had one. Even the children. Applejack had seen the knives on Apple Bloom’s belt. And on Sweetie Belle’s back hung a… a…
“Sweetie Belle, dear, what is that?” Rarity asked.
“What, this thing?” She pointed to the object hanging from her back. “I call it an Auto-Crossbow.” Indeed, upon closer inspection, the object resembled an oversized crossbow with multiple strings. “Big Macintosh helped me make it. You like it?”
“Um…” was all Rarity could say.
“I have some other stuff I’m building, but I haven’t worked on them ‘cause I’ve been busy helping with the walls.”
“About that…” Applejack began. “Are those walls meant ta keep monsters outta Ponyville?”
“Yep,” Apple Bloom replied. “Some of the hands ‘round the farm been seeing them out on the edge of the orchards ever since winter, but they’d always been alone- packs of monsters didn’t start showing up until about a month ago. That’s when Granny Smith called me home and everyone got started on the walls.” She looked back. “Is that why y’all came back to Ponyville? Did Canterlot get overrun with monsters too?”
“…Not exactly,” Fluttershy replied.
“So why did you come, then?” Sweetie Belle asked.
Spike intervened before anyone else could begin speaking, explaining how Twilight’s magical abilities suddenly manifested one day over a year earlier. How she spent months researching the return of magic, and how it tied to the sudden appearance of monsters. How she had traced the source of the magic to Canterlot, and how the two of them had traveled there to investigate. He told them of the chimera that attacked Sunset Shimmer, and how he and Twilight had slain it (while neglecting to mention that it had been they who had loosed it in the first place). And he told of how Twilight had recruited Sunset, Rainbow Dash, Rarity, and the others to aid her in a mission of utmost importance- to seek out and activate four long-lost sites in order to restore balance to the flow of magic.
“Whoa…” Apple Bloom said. “That is awesome!”
“Can we help out?” Sweetie Belle asked eagerly.
“Sorry, but no,” Spike replied. “We’re under a time limit- bringing too many people with us will slow us down.”
“Oh…” Sweetie Belle looked down sadly.
“Well that’s too bad,” Apple Bloom said. Then, she stood. “Ah’d love to stay and chat, but Ah need ta get back ta work. Ah’ll be seein’ y’all.” She turned, but suddenly looked back. “Oh, and make sure ta stop by the farm, Applejack. Big Mac and Granny Smith’ve been worried sick about ya.” She looked away again and crouched down- then, she sprinted toward a nearby house, ran up its outer wall a few steps, and leapt back, to another house next to it. She jumped back and forth between the walls until she leapt up to the roof, and out of sight.
Applejack looked on after her, before asking, “...work?”
“Yeah. Apple Bloom has lookout duty, and she has to check all the roofs for monster nests,” Sweetie Belle replied. “Some of them can fly, you know.”
Sweetie Belle then led the four to a street lined with numerous market stalls. So much noise filled the air that it was almost impossible to hear one’s own thoughts, let alone one another’s words. They proceeded on, but after a few moments, a shout silenced the crowd:
“YOU’RE NOT GETTING AWAY FROM ME!”
A wolf suddenly rounded a street corner ahead of the group and sprinted past them, weaving through the crowd; its fur was matted with blood, and it was covered in several deep gouges. It was pursued by a grey-skinned, silver-haired girl who was also covered in blood; she wore blue-framed glasses, and a wolf pelt was tied around her neck. She clutched a bloody axe in her hand, a wild, bloodthirsty look in her eyes.
But suddenly a blur shot past everyone and struck the wolf. It yelped in pain and fell, sliding down the street a short distance, a fresh arrow sticking out of its back.
The wild-eyed girl looked back, to the arrow’s source- standing at the intersection was another girl with pink skin, holding a bow in her hands. She wore a yellow jacket, a grey skirt, and a distinctive tiara-shaped clip in her hair.
“Diamond!” The wild-eyed girl stomped up to the archer. “I told you I had that one!”
“If that were true, you would’ve got it by now,” the archer replied. “And could you not yell so much, Silver Spoon? It makes you sound like a crazy person.” Then, the archer-Diamond- spotted Sweetie Belle. “Well look who it is,” she said in a condescending tone. “Weren’t you supposed to be finished with that wall by now? It’s your fault these monsters keep getting in, you know.”
Sweetie Belle crossed her arms and glared at Diamond. “Why don’t you focus on your job, and let me worry about mine? Besides, if you were any good at killing monsters, we wouldn’t need the wall in the first place.”
Diamond gritted her teeth and gripped her bow tightly, but the other girl- Silver Spoon- touched Diamond’s shoulder and said, “Forget them, Diamond. We have better things to do than waste time with this loser.” After a second, Diamond turned and began to walk away- Silver Spoon looked to the dead wolf sadly for a moment, before she hung her axe from her belt and followed.
Rarity crossed her arms and watched the girls disapprovingly. “A charming pair, those two.”
“It’s mostly Diamond Tiara,” Sweetie Belle replied. “Silver Spoon isn’t so bad when she’s not hunting monsters. Everyone around keeps an eye on her, though. She really likes killing stuff.”
Sweetie Belle resumed leading the four, pushing through the throngs as they continued on our way. As they walked, Fluttershy spotted someone that she recognized- he was a young man with orange hair, light red skin, and who wore a deep red jacket. A shotgun, uncocked, hung from his back. He stood in front of a stall lined with numerous bottles, filled with strange-looking multicolored liquids. The stall was manned by a pair of young women- the one with purple and magenta hair stirred a large cauldron, while the one with green and white hair strummed a tune on a small harp.
Fluttershy tapped Applejack on the shoulder and pointed the man out to her. “Is that-” she began.
“Big Macintosh!” Sweetie Belle called. The man turned to her, and she asked him, “You doing okay, Big Macintosh?”
He nodded. “Eeyup.”
“You’re patrolling out in the orchards tonight, aren’t you?”
He nodded again. “Eeyup.”
“Alright then. Be safe out there.” Big Macintosh continued on his way. Sweetie Belle said to the others, “Big Mac’s part of the City Watch. The Canterlot Police stopped answering calls a couple weeks ago, so the Mayor hired some guys to protect the town.”
“Sweetie Belle?” Rarity asked. “I’m glad to see that you and Apple Bloom are alright, but… where’s your friend, Scootaloo?”
“Close. She’s actually right in here.” Sweetie Belle suddenly stopped in front of a featureless, cube-shaped building at the very end of the stall-lined street. The sole feature of the otherwise blank grey wall facing them was a barred window set a few feet above the ground. Swettie Belle jumped up, grabbing the window’s ledge, and pulled herself up to look in. “Hey Scootaloo!”
A voice inside called back, “Who is it?”
“It’s Sweetie Belle! You got visitors!”
After a moment, a purple-haired girl wearing a black zip-up sweater appeared in the window. “Oh. Hey guys.” She looked at Spike. “Who’s that?”
“My name is Spike,” he replied.
Scootaloo leaned back and forth as she looked through the window, as if searching for something. “Is Rainbow Dash with you guys?”
“I’m sorry,” Fluttershy began, “but Rainbow Dash isn’t with us. She went east, to the Griffon Islands with Sunset Shimmer.”
“Why?”
“Everyone’s going on an adventure all around the world to save it from evil magic!” Sweetie Belle cried. “Isn’t that awesome!?”
“Yeah, sounds… pretty neat.” Scootaloo sounded less than impressed, before disappearing from sight. “Tell Rainbow to send me a text- I wanna be sure she’s okay.”
Applejack looked to Sweetie Belle after a moment. “What’s Scootaloo in jail fer? She get herself inta trouble?”
Sweetie Belle dropped back down. “No, she put herself in there.”
“Why?” Rarity asked.
“Well, a couple days ago, some monsters broke down part of the wall and got in. When they went after Scootaloo, she threw some kind of light up into the sky, and this big bird covered in fire came down and fought them.” Sweetie Belle reached into her pocket. “I took a picture. Look at this.” She held up her phone- the screen showed a massive bird, wreathed in flames, fighting off a large number of monsters.
The others looked at the image with curiosity, but it was Spike who spoke: “Interesting. Can you tell me more about the circumstance that led up to this creature appearing?”
“Nope, sorry.” Sweetie Belle put her phone away. “But we can worry about that later. Come on- you should probably introduce yourselves to the Mayor.”
Sweetie Belle resumed leading the group down the street, only for them to come to a stop just a few yards later. Up ahead, the street was closed off by a short fence. However, above the fence stretched a large bowl-shaped structure- seemingly made from chain link fences- that completely covered the town hall and a number of other nearby buildings.
“That’s ‘the Dome.’” Sweetie Belle explained. “We were supposed to put it over the whole town, to keep out the flying monsters. But we ran out of chain link fences, so we had to shrink it down until it got to the middle of town.” Sweetie Belle opened the gate set into the fence, and allowed the others to enter. “We put one over the school too, but it isn’t as big.”
There were people on the inside of “the Dome” as well, though not as many- mostly young children and their parents. Up ahead, the town hall towered over every other building in Ponyville. “There’s town hall,” Sweetie Belle said. “The front door’s on the other side. Let’s head around.”
The group did just that. But as they rounded the building, the five heard a woman shout, “Oh you can just go to hell!” A few moments later, a cellphone bounced and skittered across the ground in front of the group.
There was a sigh, and another woman’s voice said, “I’ll get it for you, ma’am.”
“No no, let me, Miss Ink Well.” There was the sound of approaching footsteps, and an older woman with grey hair and a dark grey suit passed by. She was followed by a mousy woman with black hair who wore a black suit and glasses.
Sweetie Belle approached the grey-haired woman. “Everything alright, Miss Mayor?” she asked.
“No,” the Mayor replied as she picked up her phone- Sweetie Belle and the others could see a large number of cracks scattered across its screen. “The governor denied my request to send the National Guard to Ponyville again. If he keeps it up, I’m going to go directly to the province Senator. And if that fails, then I’ll speak directly to the Consul.” She then shook her head. “But I’m sure you have more important things to worry about than political squabbles. How’s the wall coming along?”
“Excuse me,” Miss Ink Well interrupted. “But who exactly are these people with you?”
“That’s Applejack and Rarity- they live here,” Sweetie Belle replied as she pointed to each. “And those are their friends Fluttershy and Spike. They’re the bandits we spotted earlier.” She then said, “Anyway, we closed up the hole the monsters made in the east wall, and we’re nearly finished with the bridge over the lake on the south end. We won’t be able to put a fence under it though, since we used all the chain link to make the Dome.”
“I’ll ask the City Watch to double their patrols along the shore. And the west side of town?”
“Working on it. Granny Smith is insisting that I finish the wall around the Sweet Apple Acres farmhouse first.”
“I’ll see if I can find anyone willing to lend you a hand. And in the meantime, I’ll ask the City Watch to increase patrols near the orchards as well. Keep up the good work.” With that, she turned, and entered the town hall, followed by Miss Ink Well.
“She seems stressed,” Rarity said, crossing her arms. “Much more so than usual, anyway.”
“Having monsters outside your town threatening its citizens is probably very stressful,” Spike replied. “And it only gets worse over time.”
Sweetie Belle turned. “Guess there’s only one place left to show you: my workshop. Come on, it’s this way.”
But Applejack said, “Sweetie Belle, do ya mind of we cut this tour short? Ah wanna check on Granny Smith and make sure she’s doin’ okay.”
“That’s fine. My workshop’s on the way there.” She started walking west. “Just keep an eye out on that side of town- the west wall’s not finished yet.” The others followed her.
As the group walked to the western edge of Ponyville, the houses became sparser, and the trees became more numerous. But as the Sweet Apple Acres farmhouse came into view, something else grew in number- car after car sat along the sides of the dirt road, abandoned.
“Uh… Sweetie Belle?” Applejack asked. “Why’re there people dumpin’ cars on our property?”
“The gas station ran out of gas a couple days ago. See?” She pointed back, to the gas station sign rising up in the distance- sure enough, spelled out on the sign in big, blocky letters were the words “OUT OF GAS.” Sweetie Belle continued, “So people’ve been pushing them over here to try and keep the streets clear. But there not dumping them here- I asked people to bring them. I can get a lot of parts from them.”
“And people are okay with you just… taking their cars apart?” Spike asked.
“Yeah. No sense letting all the parts go to waste. And take three or four of them, rivet them together, bolt some metal over the windows and bang! Instant barricade. I mean it’s not like anyone can go anywhere without gas and with monsters running around everywhere.”
“How are Mom and Dad doing?” Rarity asked.
“They’re doing just fine,” she replied. “Dad does patrols down by the lake. We can go visit them later if you want.”
Soon, the five were walking up the small path leading to the Sweet Apple Acres farmhouse- a half-finished wall surrounded the property’s far side. “Hey! Miss Smith!” Sweetie Belle called as she bounded up the porch steps.
“Just a minute, dearie…” Granny Smith said, as he picked up a rifle and looked carefully down its sights. She was still for a several moments, before she pulled the trigger- a deafening bang echoed across the farm, and some beast in the distance let out a pained yelp as the old woman’s bullet hit its mark. Granny Smith then set the rifle down and asked, “What can Ah do ya fer, Sweetie Belle?”
“You’ve got visitors,” Sweetie Belle replied.
Granny Smith looked past her. “Well call me a bushel! Applejack! Why didn’t ya tell me you were comin’ home?” She rose from her chair to embrace her granddaughter.
“Well it was a bit of a surprise fer me, too,” Applejack replied.
Granny Smith released Applejack and opened the front door. “Come on inside. Ah wasn’t expectin’ company, but Ah can make lunch for y’all.”
“That’s very kind of you, ma’am,” Spike replied as he stepped into the house.
The others followed him inside… save for Sweetie Belle. Granny Smith noticed. “Aren’t you comin’ in, Sweetie Belle?”
“Sorry, but I just came to get some supplies for the wall down by the lake. I’ll see you later, Miss Smith.” Sweetie Belle jumped off the porch and ran down the path she came from.
“Take care of yerself now!” Granny Smith called. “I’ll save some apple fritters fer ya!”
“This scheme of yours will not succeed, Flash Sentry,” Twilight said.
“Sure it will,” he replied.
“You’re trying to pick a lock with a switchblade,” Pinkie said.
“Hey, I’ve seen people do it before.”
“Where? TV? You can’t believe everything-”
A loud click sounded from the door. The knob turned, and Flash pushed to door open. “Believe that,” he said.
“And had we simply forced the door, we would already be resting comfortably inside,” Twilight said as the three stepped inside.
“We can’t just smash the door down- this is someone’s house!” Flash protested.
“And picking the lock is better?” Pinkie asked as the three walked down a narrow hall. As she walked, Pinkie noticed a light switch, and flipped it. But nothing happened. She flipped it several more times, but still, nothing happened. “Huh, the lights aren’t working,”
“Monsters have most likely disrupted power lines somewhere between this city and their origin,” Twilight replied. “Such is likely to be the case for many cities in Equestria. I strongly advise that you grow accustomed to living without amenities requiring electricity.”
Earlier that day, Twilight, Pinkie, and Flash had arrived in this small town nestled deep in the woods, named Shady Oaks. However, as they explored the town, it soon became apparent that it was entirely devoid of people- homes, businesses, all stood empty. As the sun set, the three gathered a small amount of supplies, before deciding to bed down in one of the vacant homes for the night.
The trio entered a room with a fireplace set into the far wall, and a couch and armchair surrounding a table in its center- presumably, a living room. “This is creepy,” Pinkie said, collapsing into the armchair. “Where’re all the people?”
“No idea,” Flash replied, as he sat on the couch. “Do you think the monsters got them?”
“Unlikely,” Twilight replied, sitting down next to Flash. “There is too little structural damage to the town’s buildings. And look at the mantle.”
Pinkie and Flash looked. It was empty. After a moment, Pinkie asked, “What about it?”
“Notice the lack of personal effects- these would still be present if the original occupants had been slain by monsters. And as it doesn’t appear anyone else entered this home before us, it is far more likely that after encountering the initial waves of monsters, the town’s inhabitants packed their belongings and fled to the protection of larger cities. Similar events occurred in my homeland.”
At that moment, Twilight became aware of a strange buzzing sound. She listened intently, but could not determine its point of origin. “Uh, Twilight?” Flash began. “…I think that call’s for you.”
Flash’s comment made her realize the buzzing was her cellphone. So she pulled it out and answered it, saying, “Identify yourself.”
“It’s Rarity,” the voice on the other end replied. “Spike says you’re an expert in magic, so I’d like to ask you a question.”
“Rarity,” Twilight said. “It was my understanding that you were to call yesterday. But I digress- ask your question.”
“I met a girl today who said that she can… call some sort of monster down from the sky. Would you happen to know about anything like that?”
Twilight leaned forward, intrigued. “Call down a monster, you say? Were you present when this event occurred? Can you describe the monster?”
“Well I didn’t see her call the monster in person, but someone did show me a picture of it- it looked like a giant, flaming bird.”
After a moment of thought, Twilight said, “A phoenix.”
“So you know what it is?”
“I do. The girl you encountered is most likely a summoner: an individual who can, in times of need, call forth entities of great power to aid them.”
“And what can you tell me about these entities?”
“Aside from the fact that they exist, very little, unfortunately- the biology and behaviors of these entities were not well understood, even by summoners themselves. However, all ancient magic-wielding civilizations acknowledged their existence, identifying them under different names- eidolons, aeons, espers… but modern scholarly nomenclature refers to them as ‘summoned entities,’ or simply as ‘summons.’ In addition, it is believed that all summoned entities were called from the same pool, as different civilizations often depict similar or identical entities, even if these depictions were made hundreds of years apart.” Twilight took a deep breath. “…Is that information sufficient?”
“One last thing: Are these… summons dangerous?”
“Indeed. Many of these entities are quite dangerous. But they are bound to their summoner’s will entirely- they will not attack anyone their summoner does not consider an enemy.”
“That’s a relief. I’m sure Scootaloo will be glad to hear that. Thank you, Twilight.”
“I am glad I could be of assistance. Safe travels to you.” Twilight pulled the phone away from her ear.
But Pinkie suddenly shouted “Wait, don’t hang up! I wanna talk to Rarity!” She leapt over the table, reaching for Twilight’s phone, but Twilight held her at bay with her free arm; all the while, Pinkie shouted, “Rarity! Rarity can you hear me? …Hi Rarity!” When Twilight hung up, she complained “Aw man, what’d you do that for? I wanted to talk to Rarity too.”
“Pinkie, you have a cellphone. You can call Rarity on your own,” Flash said.
“Oh yeah…” Pinkie replied as she sank back into her armchair.
As Pinkie pulled out her phone, Flash looked to Twilight and asked, “So what did Rarity want?”
“A query about a magic phenomenon she observed.”
“Well, I’m glad to hear Rarity and the others are alright.” Flash sank down into the couch. “I wonder if Sunset and Rainbow are okay.”
“I imagine that they are still alive. But if you are unwilling to take my word for it, you also possess means by which to contact them.” Twilight set her bag on the ground, along with her hat. “We rest here for tonight. But we must depart at first light tomorrow morning.”
“Why so early?” Flash asked.
“This town may be abandoned at present, but soon, monsters will come to claim it as their den. It would be wise to move one before they arrive.”
Pinkie pulled a lever on the side of her armchair, pushing it into a reclining position. “Yeah, I guess that’s fair.”
Rarity put away her phone. Although it was dark, Ponyville was still alive with activity- people sat on street corners playing games or musical instruments, a crowd had gathered near Berry Punch’s to watch the television, and townspeople bearing torches and flashlights patrolled the streets, bathed in the soft orange light of glowing street lamps.
However, Rarity’s interest did not lie with anyone on the streets. Rather, it laid with the occupant of a featureless grey building at the end of a street lined with empty market stalls. She looked up at the barred window set into the wall slightly above her head, and called, “Scootaloo? Are you awake?”
She heard Scootaloo moving inside the cell. “What? Who’s out there?”
“It’s Rarity. Sweetie Belle’s big sister?”
Scootaloo appeared in the window. “Oh. What’s up, Rarity?”
“I just got off the phone with a friend of mine.” Rarity leaned against the jail’s outer wall. “She’s very well-read in things related to magic, so I asked her about your abilities. And she said you’re most likely something called a summoner. From what she told me, these creatures you call are completely under your control- they won’t hurt anyone you don’t tell them to.”
“How do I know you’re telling the truth?”
Rarity froze. “I… suppose you don’t. You’ll just have to take my word.”
“Listen,” Scootaloo began. “I know what you’re trying to do. Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom did the same thing. And I’ll tell you what I told them: I’m not coming out of this cell. My… abilities… are too dangerous. It’s better for everyone that I stay in here.”
“That’s not true, dear.” Rarity pushed herself away from the wall. “The creature you summoned helped you, didn’t it? You can do the same for others. You shouldn’t be letting your abilities go to waste when there are others out there fighting with no special powers at all.” Her last few words had more than a small touch of jealously to them. Sunset, Twilight, Applejack, Fluttershy… everyone had seemingly gained some sort of exceptional talent. Except for her. All she had were her own two fists.
There was no reply from the window.
“A day might come where you’ll need to use your power,” Rarity continued. “To save your life. Or the life of one of your friends. And that day might come much sooner than you’d like. Remember that.”
Still, there was no answer.
Rarity sighed, but said no more. Instead, she turned away from the window, and began to walk home.
The next morning dawned over Ponyville. Sweetie Belle had gathered the four together in the Sweet Apple Acres barn, to show them all the things she had made over the last few weeks.
Applejack and Spike stood in front of one of several tables scattered throughout the barn- on its surface were scattered empty cans, small coils of wire, and a collection of strange, slimy, slightly squishy objects neither could identify. “What are all these things anyway?” Spike asked, picking up one of the squishy objects to inspect it more closely.
“Bomb cores,” Sweetie Belle replied. “I use them to make my flash grenades.”
Spike quickly put the object down.
Sweetie Belle noticed Spike’s action. “Oh don’t worry, they won’t go off without a primer.”
“Sweetie Belle, darling? When did you learn to make bombs?” Rarity asked
“The Internet, mostly.”
“And the rest?” Applejack asked.
She beamed. “Trial and error!”
The others merely stared at her in silence.
“What? It only took me six tries. And, I didn’t blow any of my fingers off!” She held up her hands to show that there were indeed still ten fingers attached.
Applejack turned her attention back to the bomb cores. “Ya seriously use these in yer flash grenades? They don’t look like any bomb parts Ah’ve ever seen.”
“You haven’t seen them yet, have you?”
“Seen what, dear?” Rarity asked.
“It’s one of the monster types that show up sometimes- they’re these weird fireball things that blow up if you hit them too much but don’t kill them. People around town started calling them “Bombs” because of it.”
“Really?” Spike asked. “In Albion, there were monsters that exploded if you attacked them as well. Are they fire-based?”
“I think so. Why?”
“Just curious.” He then muttered to himself, “The situation is worse than we thought. Those ‘Bombs’ are highly magical- they shouldn’t be appearing in a region with low magic concentration like this…”
His thoughts were interrupted when Applejack asked Sweetie Belle, “…And Granny Smith is okay with ya campin’ out in the barn?”
“Yeah. She says I can stay as long as I help keep the monsters out of the orchards. And I don’t camp out here- it’s just where I keep all my stuff ‘cause Mom and Dad say I can’t work on my projects at home anymore.”
Applejack approached one of the numerous workbenches, and looked down at the object resting on it. “…Is this what Ah think it is?”
Sweetie Belle looked back. “What?” Then she saw. “Oh. That. Pretty cool right?” She approached the worktable, picked up the object, and showed it to the others- it resembled a rifle, with a gas canister stuck to the side and a multi-pronged hook stuck in its barrel. “Grappling hook gun. This one I made all by myself. Check it out.” She aimed the grappling hook up at one of the barn’s rafter. A small, cocky smile crossed Sweetie Belle’s lips as she pulled the trigger.
The gun made a loud click, but nothing happened. Sweetie Belle pulled the trigger several more times, but other than several clicks, the gun did nothing.
Sweetie Belle checked the side of the gun. “Darn it. The compressed air tank’s empty again.” She set the gun back on its table. “It really does work though, I promise.” She turned. “It’s weird though…”
“What’s weird?” Fluttershy asked.
“You know that blonde girl with the funny eyes from school? She lives here, and the day after I showed this grappling hook gun to everyone, I saw her swinging around town with one of her own. And the day before that, she was casting some spells Miss Ink Well was practicing. And the day before that, I saw her fighting with a whole bunch of weapons I’d never seen her use before.” Sweetie Belle shook her head. “Sorry, getting off topic.”
Fluttershy looked up at a massive, box-shaped thing, suspended from the barn’s ceiling by chains. “…And what’s this supposed to be?”
Sweetie Belle looked up to it as well. “No idea. I’ll let you know when I finish it.” Sweetie Belle approached yet another table- this one covered in a seemingly endless amount of papers. “But anyway, that’s all the stuff I’m working on right now. Now I need to finish mapping out the last part of the wall. Hopefully, Apple Bloom can help me scrounge up more materials before I run out again.”
“Well, Ah’m glad ta see everyone’s doin’ okay,” Applejack said. “But we gotta be headin’ out now. Keep Apple Bloom outta trouble.”
Sweetie Belle looked back. “I’ll try.” She then waved to everyone. “Be safe out there. And good luck with that thing you’re trying to do!” With that, she turned her attention back to her worktable.
“I’m glad to see Sweetie Belle is alright,” Rarity began as the group left the barn, “though I have to admit, I don’t approve of her working on such dangerous objects.”
“Everyone’s just trying to do what they can to survive,” Spike replied. “Weapons, magic, machines; however they do it, it doesn’t matter as long as it keeps them safe.” He then said. “But we have more important things to focus on.”
“Like what?” Fluttershy asked.
“We still haven’t decided who’ll go to the Cape of Storms and who’ll go to the Land of Fire.” Spike looked to Applejack. “I’m guessing you’re still going south?”
“Ah am,” she replied.
Spike then looked to Rarity and Fluttershy. “What about you two? Have you decided yet?”
The two were silent for a brief moment. “…Well, I can’t say I’ve ever heard of this ‘Land of Fire,’” Rarity replied, “but it does sound like an interesting place. I think I’ll accompany you, Spike.”
Applejack looked to Fluttershy. “Sorry Fluttershy, but it looks like yer comin’ with me to the Cape of Storms.” Fluttershy looked worried. More so than usual. “Ya don’t have ta look so down- Ah promise Ah won’t let anythin’ happen ta ya.”
“The Cape of Storms is in the Zebra Nation, right Spike?” Rarity asked. He nodded, and she looked to Applejack and Fluttershy. “Well, you two should be able to ride a train down to the border at the very least. And we can take the westbound train to the coast.”
“The train station’s not far from here,” Applejack said. “We should stop by- maybe we’ll get lucky and the trains’ll still be runnin’.”
A few minutes later, the four climbed the small steps leading up to the train station platform. It was on the west side of town, in-between Sweet Apple Acres and the rest of the town. The wall had yet to reach the tracks, which stretched on to the northern and southern horizons. Rarity looked away from a sign posted at the edge of the platform. “You’re in luck, Applejack,” she said. “According to this schedule, a southbound train should be arriving in just a few minutes.”
“Alright,” she replied. “We’ll just hafta wait fer it.” So, the four sat down, and waited.
And waited.
Some time passed, but still, no train arrived. Eventually, Spike looked to the others and asked, “So… when is this train supposed to get here?”
At that moment, a lanky man with orange hair and wearing a baker’s uniform walked by the train platform. “Hello children,” he called to them.
“Hello, Mr. Cake,” Rarity replied. “How’s business?”
Mr. Cake scratched his neck. “Doing alright, all things considered. What are you kids doing here?”
“Waiting for a train,” Spike replied.
“Well I’m sorry to tell you this, but you might be waiting for a while.”
“Why’s that?” Applejack asked.
Mr. Cake looked down the tracks. “A train was supposed to come up from Appleloosa a few days ago, but it never showed. And with all the monsters around, no one’s volunteered to go looking for it.”
Rarity looked to her friends. “So, that means there’s a train sitting out somewhere blocking the tracks.”
“If that’s the case, it’s probably safe to assume all of the other trains have stopped as well,” Spike said.
“What should we do?” Fluttershy asked.
“The only thing we can do,” Applejack replied. “We go on foot.”
Suddenly, somewhere in the distance, a bell began to ring. It was followed by another, and another followed that one- soon, dozens of bells were ringing all over Ponyville, filling the air with a deafening racket.
“Mr. Cake, what’s happening!” Rarity shouted, barely able to hear her own words over the din.
But Mr. Cake didn’t answer. He was running towards the town hall, pulling an axe from his belt. Without delay, Spike jumped from the platform and followed- unwilling to abandon their ally, the others did the same.
The group followed Mr. Cake toward the east end of town. As they ran, others joined them- men, women, the young, the old… the only thing each had in common was that they wielded a weapon of some sort. The four were pushed by the crowd to the east edge of town, to a small park by the wall, near a gazebo. But before coming to a stop, they saw what everyone was running towards.
Before them was a massive creature, longer and wider than a bus. It stood on a pair of clawed feet, resting its massive wings against the ground. Its bladed tail flicked back and forth, and its mouth hung open, exposing rows of sharpened teeth. Its blue scales gleamed in the sunlight, and its elongated neck gave it a superior view of its enemies. It reared back, and let out a furious, piercing roar.
“Wyvern.” Spike whipped out his spear. “All of you stay back. This is not a fight for amateurs.”
“Like hell!” Applejack drew her guns. “I ain’t gonna let this thing come inta mah hometown and threaten mah family!”
“I must agree with Applejack,” Rarity said. “I too have family here that I must protect.”
The three looked back to Fluttershy. “It’s alright if ya don’t wanna stay, Fluttershy,” Applejack said. “Ah know getting’ roped inta somethin’ like this is the last thing ya’d want. So get yerself somewhere safe- don’t you worry ‘bout us.”
Fluttershy took a step back, seemingly prepared to take up Applejack’s offer. But then, she shook her head and said firmly, “No. I can’t let my friends get hurt while I run away. I’ll fight too.” Her words were brave, but the others could see the trembling in Fluttershy’s hands.
Spike turned toward the wyvern. “You’re afraid,” he said, crouching down. “It’s alright. …I’m afraid, too.”
The asphalt beneath his feet buckled as Spike jumped into the air. He rose ten, twenty feet into the air, and drew back his spear as he prepared a powerful strike. The wyvern looked to the sudden motion and drew back to strike, but it was too late- Spike swung his spear with all his might as he passed, leaving a deep gouge across the beast’s forehead.
The wyvern roared in pain. And as though it were a signal, everyone began to attack. Applejack began to fire her semiauto- Rarity charged, striking the beast’s side with powerful punches. Fluttershy stood behind them concentrating, a bright white light shining from the end of her staff, ready to heal her friends- or anyone else who might be injured- at a moment’s notice. And when Spike landed, he turned and stabbed his spear deep into the wyvern’s scales.
But by no means were the four alone. Silver Spoon charged and hacked at the wyvern’s side wildly, roaring in a bloodthirsty frenzy- her friend Diamond Tiara stood on a nearby rooftop, raining an endless stream of arrows down on the beast. Big Macintosh fired round after round from his shotgun, reloading after each shot. A blonde girl with eyes that pointed in different directions attacked the beast’s left side with magic and melee, alternating between swinging her sword and throwing long spears of ice. The Mayor stood back from the front line, firing an endless stream of bullets from her pistol, while her assistant Miss Ink Well rained lightning down on the beast. Seemingly every person in town aided in the battle against the titanic beast; even the harp player- whose song invigorated the tired muscles of all who heard it- and the potion-maker- who threw bottles of green liquid that scorched anything it splashed over.
The beast roared in pain again as it stumbled back, seemingly unable to decide which of the numerous targets before him to attack first. But then, it drew back its wing and batted aside the people attacking its front. Rarity tumbled across the ground, tucking in her limbs, before she righted herself and slid to a stop. Most of the others who had been knocked off their feet quickly rose as well.
“You okay Rarity!” Applejack called. She focused, and fired an electrified bullet from her revolver.
“Just fine, dear!” she called back. For a moment, Rarity was bathed in a white light, and the pain in her body was lessened- no doubt Fluttershy had just cast a healing spell on her. Rarity began to charge the wyvern, when Sweetie Belle stepped into her path.
“Hey!” Sweetie Belle shouted. “I’ve got something for you right here!” She pulled the massive crossbow from her back, aimed, and fired. The machine let out a loud thunk as a cloud of bolts shot out at the wyvern. Every one struck its mark- the beast snarled in pain, before glaring down at Sweetie Belle. It stomped over to her, ignoring the others attacking it, and batted Sweetie Belle aside- the crossbow flew from her hands as she tumbled across the ground.
“Sweetie Belle no!” Rarity rushed the wyvern, shouting, “Fluttershy, help Sweetie Belle! This one’smine!” She drew her fists back as she prepared to strike with all of her strength.
The wyvern drew back its head and lunged at her. But Rarity held her ground; she swung her fist and struck the beast’s snout with a mighty blow, sending it reeling back. Rarity was far from finished however- she charged the wyvern again, and delivered a series of devastating punches to its face. As the beast was stunned, she drew back, and smashed into its snout with a crushing headbutt. Rarity then swung her leg up, bringing it down heel-first on the wyvern’s head with tremendous force. Finally, she ducked down and pulled her fist back in preparation for her final attack- a leaping uppercut.
In the brief moment when Rarity’s fist was still, a flash appeared within. And as she swung her fist, it was engulfed in a burst of fire.
Her fist struck the underside of the wyvern’s jaw, leaving fire in its wake. As she rose the great beast was thrown off of its feet. The wyvern tumbled through the air, before crashing back down on the gazebo, crushing it. Rarity landed- she could only look at the fallen wyvern, then down to her own fist, in utter disbelief.
For several moments, the wyvern laid still. But then, the beast stirred, and began to rise to its feet once again. “Oh come on!” Rarity shouted in protest. The wyvern focused its full attention on Rarity, slowly drawing back its tail. Spike saw what the beast was about to do- and with blinding speed he rushed toward her and shoved her out of the way, just as the wyvern began to swing its tail. The blow struck Spike dead-center and knocked him off his feet- he skipped across the ground twice, before crashing through the outer wall of the jail.
Scootaloo screamed and jolted in surprise as the wall of her cell suddenly exploded. She jumped off of her bed- through the dust, she could see someone clad in purple armor slumped against the wall, before he rose to his feet.
“Spike?” Scootaloo asked, incredulous. “Are you okay!?”
“I’m fine,” he replied, already striding out of the building- his armor was badly dented and scratched, but Spike himself appeared unharmed.
Scootaloo followed to the edge of the hole. Outside, she could see the other residents of Ponyville battling the wyvern. On instinct, she began running toward the wyvern before she stopped, remembering that she was unarmed. She stood motionless, wanting to do something, anything to assist, but was unsure what to do…
Until a shout snapped her out of it. “Scootaloo!” Apple Bloom dropped down next to her. “You okay?”
“I’m fine, but what’s going on out here?”
Apple Bloom pointed. “That!” The wyvern roared furiously as it swung its tail at another group of townspeople. “You gotta help us out, Scootaloo! Do that thing you did before!”
“What!? Apple Bloom I can’t-”
“Come on Scootaloo! We can’t handle this ourselves!”
Scootaloo looked to Apple Bloom, then the wyvern. Then, she took a deep breath. “…alright.”
She rested a fist against her chest and closed her eyes. Vibrant swirls of red and green surrounded her, and a bright ball of green light appeared her fist. The, Scootaloo looked up, and threw the light into the sky overhead.
The ball of light shot up into the air like a flare- a blanket of thick clouds suddenly rolled overhead, swallowing the light. But only a moment later, the clouds parted to allow a blazing streak of fire passage. It dived toward the ground in a wild spiral, before flaring its wings, revealing itself to be a massive bird cloaked in flames.
The great flaming bird swooped down and landed next to Scootaloo, making the ground shake. Scootaloo reached out to it slowly, her hand shaking, but the bird spread its wings again and took flight before she made contact. Scootaloo then pointed to the wyvern, stammering, “…G… Go get it!”
The firebird flapped its wings and dived towards the wyvern. The beast lashed out, jaws wide, teeth bared, but the bird evaded the attack, and dug its talons into the wyvern’s neck. It thrashed and roared in pain as it attempted to dislodge the firebird, to no avail. Then the wyvern spread its wings and pushed itself into the air, and dropped down on its back- the firebird screeched as it impacted the ground, and finally released its hold. But the flaming bird took to the air once more, its wings engulfed in flames. It drew its wings back, and let forth another powerful flap, raining fire down on the wyvern. The wyvern again roared in pain as its scales shriveled and split open, revealing angry red flesh beneath. But the wyvern charged in spite of its wounds.
With a flap of its wings, the firebird lifted itself into the air, out of the wyvern’s reach. It drew back its head and opened its beak, a ball of brilliant red light forming within. Then, a bright beam shot from the firebird’s beak- it ran along the ground under the wyvern, great flames erupting in its wake. The wyvern screeched as its scales bubbled and melted away under the intense heat.
The wyvern collapsed- great chunks of blackened scales and flesh fell from its body and crumbled to ashes upon hitting the ground, exposing sinews and bone. Despite its wounds, the beast tried to drag itself toward the firebird, roaring and snapping its jaws furiously. But its wounds were simply too great- the great beast’s movements slowed, and with one last rattling breath, it fell forward, and fell silent.
The firebird looked down at its fallen opponent, before it reared back and let out a triumphant screech. Then it dived, landing next to Scootaloo once again. Slowly, she again reached out to the flaming bird. It did not retreat, nor did it make any sound at her movement- it simply stood, utterly still, watching her. Her hand came within inches- she drew it back slightly, but then rested her hand against the bird’s feathers. It was warm… but not uncomfortably so. Scootaloo stroked the firebird’s feathers, and the bird moved closer to her in response.
Rarity was the first to approach her. Applejack followed, as did Spike and Fluttershy. “Are you okay, sugarcube?” Applejack asked.
“…Philomena,” Scootaloo said.
“What?” Fluttershy asked.
Scootaloo looked back. “That’s her name. Philomena.”
“How do you know that?” Spike asked.
“Because she told me.” She looked back to the bird. “You should go.”
The bird seemed to nod to her. It then spread its wings, and flames erupted across its body. Scootaloo and the others stumbled back from the heat; but after several moments, the fire burned out, leaving nothing behind.
For a moment, there was silence. Then, someone shouted, “We did it!”
A deafening roar filled the air as the townspeople cheered and rattled their weapons, with a few gunshots punctuating their cheers. But the cheers died down as the Mayor began to shout, “Alright, alright! The town is safe for now, but that’s not an excuse to slack off! City Watch, resume patrols! Anyone with medical skills, tend to the wounded! Everyone else, start clearing out this body!”
Several people- presumably members of the City Watch- snapped to attention and shouted “Yes ma’am!” before dispersing. The others who remained began either tending to the fallen, or converged on the wyvern’s body.
The four looked on at the activity for several moments,before they turned to one another. “Well, now that that’s taken care of, Ah s’pose we should all be on our way,” Applejack said.
“I suppose you’re right,” Rarity replied. “We’ll try to stay in touch with you two as much as we can.”
“Keep an eye on Fluttershy, and your gun,” Spike said to Applejack. “If anything happens to them, let Twilight know right away.”
“Everyone, be safe,” Fluttershy said. “Please.”
“We will, dear,” Rarity replied. “Good luck, everyone.” She held out her hand. Applejack rested her own on top of it, followed by Fluttershy, and then by Spike.
“It’s strange,” Fluttershy said. “We just said goodbye to everyone already, and now here we are doing it all over again.”
“Don’t worry,” Applejack replied. “Like Ah said before: We’ll all turn on our sites, and we’ll all go home. Together.”
Spike pulled his hand away. One by one, the others did the same. Then, Applejack turned to the south. “No use standin’ around now. Let’s go Fluttershy.” She began to walk away, with Fluttershy hurrying to catch up.
“I believe that’s our cue,” Rarity said. Then, she and Spike turned, and began to walk away as well.
“Hi-yaaaah!” Rainbow threw her shuriken with all her strength. It ripped through the air, cutting clean through the black condor in front of her. It banked and returned- Rainbow jumped, slipping her fingers around the shuriken’s handle perfectly.
Rainbow landed and cheered, “Oh yeah! Getting better all the time!”
Only one foe remained before Sunset and Rainbow- a single rabid dog.
Sunset drew back her sword; but as she did, she saw something stuck to the dog’s fur. “Hold on, that one’s got something!” She looked to Rainbow. “Rainbow, think you can grab it?”
“Think? I know I can!” Rainbow crouched down, before charging the dog. It leapt at her in turn- Rainbow crouched, and leapt over the dog, plucking the object from the dog’s fur. When she landed, she shouted, “Let ‘em have it, Sunset!”
“No problem.” Sunset charged as well, turning her sword around and stabbing it through the dog’s neck. It yelped and snapped its teeth at her for a few moments, before it fell still.
Sunset pulled out her sword, letting the dog fall to the ground, and said to herself, “And then there were none.” She then looked to Rainbow. “So, what’d you get?”
Rainbow looked down at her prize- a small number of rumpled, slightly wet bit notes. “Aw man, it’s just some money.”
“Well, that’s not so bad.” Sunset sheathed her sword. “We’ll need as much cash as we can get if we’re gonna get a boat to the Griffon Islands.”
“I guess you’re right.” Rainbow and Sunset continued down the road- as they did, Rainbow reached into her pocket and pushed a pair of headphones into her ears.
Sunset asked, “What’re you listening to?”
“The news. With all the craziness that’s going on, it’s probably a good idea to ‘keep an ear to the ground,’ as Applejack would say.” She was silent for a few moments. “…You know, it’s a good thing we got out of Canterlot when we did.”
“Why’s that?”
“The National Guard just put up a perimeter around the whole city. No one can go in or out.”
“Guess that explains all the military trucks we saw yesterday.”
The orchards of Sweet Apple Acres now lay far behind Spike and Rarity. The two walked down the middle of a road west of Ponyville; the sun was still high overhead, and despite the gradual rise in the terrain as the road approached a large mountain, Spike expected that he and Rarity would make good progress before the day ended. He looked over to his companion- she kept pace with him, her eyes sweeping over the horizon, seemingly searching for any approaching monsters.
It was at that moment that the young woman- Rarity- looked over to him. “Spike?” she asked.
“Yes?” he asked in turn, quickly turning his attention elsewhere.
“What can you tell me about this place we’re travelling to? The ‘Land of Fire,’ was it?”
“That’s right,” Spike replied, and fell silent for a moment as he recalled what Twilight had told him. He then continued, “The Land of Fire is a region of the continent to the far west, across the Ceres Ocean. From what Twilight told me, it has a lot of volcanic activity- eruptions, ash falls, earthquakes, and so on. In fact, this volcanic activity is so severe that no one’s ever been able to establish a permanent settlement there. So, we’ll need to make a stop in Tang Mo for supplies first, before continuing on.”
Rarity raised an eyebrow in confusion. “…Tang Mo?”
“The so-called ‘Thousand Monkey Isles.’ It’s the largest chain of islands in the world, and its westernmost islands are only a few miles off the coast of the Land of Fire. But we’re going to need a boat to get there.” He looked to Rarity. “Are there any ports on the west side of Equestria that can take us there?”
Rarity thought for a moment. “...The biggest port I know of on the west coast is in Los Andaluzes. If there are any boats that can take us to Tang Mo, that’s where we’ll find them.”
“Alright. So we’re headed to Los Andaluzes.” Spike was silent for a moment, before asking, “By the way, isn’t that…?”
“Yes, it’s where Applewood is.” She shook her head. “I’m afraid we won’t have much time for sightseeing, though.”
Suddenly, the asphalt in front of the two exploded, leaving a small hole. And from this hole emerged a creature that resembled a small, craggy boulder. It was short, not even reaching up to Rarity’s waist- still, Spike had drawn his spear and held it at the ready.
Rarity punched a fist into her hand. “Never a dull moment, is there?” Rarity charged the beast before either it or Spike could react, pulling her fist back in preparation for a powerful uppercut. If she could knock a monster the size of a bus off its feet, then one that wasn’t even half her height stood no chance whatsoever. She ducked down, and punched the monster square in its chest…
Nothing. There was no indication that the beast had felt Rarity’s punch at all.
But Rarity certainly felt it. She stumbled back, shaking her hand and crying out in pain. “Oh… oh that hurt!”
“It seems to have some kind of shell,” Spike said.
Rarity cradled her hand and looked at the beast. “I noticed.”
“Let me see if I can make more of an impact.” Spike rushed the rock monster, drawing back his spear fully for a powerful blow, before swinging with all his might.
But Spike’s spear simply bounced off the creature’s outer shell, and he reeled back as the force of his blow was suddenly redirected.
The beast roared and swiped its claws at Spike, but he leapt back before its attack could connect. “…This might be a problem.”
“What do we do?” Rarity asked.
“That girl Pinkie Pie mentioned you were a martial artist,” Spike replied. “Did you ever break any bricks?”
“Well I did break a few boards…” Rarity began. “But I don’t think-”
The beast charged, and Spike swung his spear- the blow again bounced off, but the beast was pushed back. “Well it’s better than nothing.”
Rarity looked to Spike, then to the rock monster, before she replied, reluctantly, “…Alright, I’ll see what I can do.”
It wasn’t that Rarity didn’t remember how to do it- she did, and could even remember exactly what part of her foot to strike with to avoid injuring herself. But breaking a board, and breaking a monster’s skull, were two very different things. Still, she braced herself, and ran towards the beast again- as Spike said, it certainly couldn’t hurt to try.
In moments, she was in range of the monster. Rarity swung her leg up, bringing her foot above her head, before dropping it heel-first onto the monster’s head.
To her own surprise, the beast’s shell cracked open from the force of her blow. It roared furiously and swiped at her with one of its claws, catching her in the leg. She fell back, but Spike placed himself between her and the monster. With a furious cry, he drew back his spear and stabbed into the crack in the beast’s shell.
Blood spurted from the crack. The rock monster again roared in fury and pain, but did not fall- instead, it pressed forward, swiping its claws furiously at Spike, but its pitifully short arms couldn’t hope to reach the dragon knight. He slid back slightly as the monster tried to march towards him, but held firm.
Only a few moments later, the rock monster let out a final roar and collapsed, the ground shaking slightly from the impact. Spike withdrew his spear and hung it on his back, and looked back to Rarity. “Are you alright?” He looked up and down the young woman sitting before him, his eyes falling on the fresh wounds on her leg. “Your leg…”
“It’s just a scrape. I’ll be alright.” She tried to stand, but she could barely draw in her leg.
He looked down at her, unconvinced. “I’ll be the judge of that. And we need to have a look at your hand, too.”
“Spike, I’m fine, really-” But before she could finish, Spike scooped her off the ground and carried her to the side of the road in his arms. She was surprised at first by how easily he lifted her… but really, she shouldn’t have been- from what he’d told her and the others, he’d been fighting monsters long before meeting them. And she’d seen his strength firsthand. But she was no slouch either. So, she said to him as he carried her:
“You could’ve at least let me walk on my own”
“Ah never did like this place,” Applejack said. She scanned the foliage, hand resting on her pistol, ready to draw at a moment’s notice.
“I’m sure it isn’t too bad,” Fluttershy replied, but she jumped when the howl of some beast rang out from deep within the trees.
At the sound, Applejack drew her guns and aimed them in its general direction. She waited several moments, but when nothing emerged, she holstered them again. Shaking her head, Applejack said, “…Let’s just get ourselves outta here ‘fore somethin’ gets the drop on us.”
Officially, the Everfree Forest to the south of Ponyville was a nature preserve, protected from development. But in reality, the forest had been largely untouched by human hands long before any such decree had ever been made. Most people who visited the place felt that it was… wrong, in some unidentifiable way, were eager to leave as soon as possible, and made every effort to avoid it afterward.
But Applejack and Fluttershy had no choice but to proceed along the railroad tracks that cut through the otherwise unspoiled woods. The underbrush that lined the tracks was completely impenetrable, and the trees formed a thick canopy overhead, completely blocking out the midday sun. The forest, which should have been bustling with the activity of various creatures, was blanketed by a complete, absolute silence, save for the two’s movements… which only served to make the occasional break in the silence that much more unsettling.
“It’s so quiet…” Fluttershy said. “That isn’t normal for a forest like this.”
“Yeah well, ya’d be hard-pressed ta find someone ‘round these parts who’d call this place ‘normal,’” Applejack replied.
“Why is that?”
Applejack replied, “Well, look around.” Fluttershy did just that. “…Ya can feel it, can’t ya?”
Fluttershy couldn’t deny the fact that she felt some sort of… presence with them in the woods. It wasn’t an animal, but at the same time, it wasn’t human, either. It simply… was. “…I do,” she replied. “Is it monsters?”
Applejack shrugged. “Could be. All Ah can say is that it’s been this way long before Ponyville was founded. And no one’s willin’ ta stick around and find out what’s out here.”
Silence fell between the two as they continued to walk down the tracks… until Fluttershy suddenly let out a startled cry and fell to one knee.
Applejack stopped and looked back. “You okay?”
“Yeah,” Fluttershy replied, as she began to stand up. “I just tripped over-”
Her words became a high-pitched scream as her foot was yanked back and she was dragged into the underbrush.
“Shy!” Applejack sprinted after her friend, ignoring the numerous branches that cut into her skin and clothes. She lost sight of her friend in the thick brush, but she could hear her screams, hear the sound of a body being dragged over the ground just ahead of her. Before long, Applejack burst into a clearing, drawing her weapons.
Before Applejack was a large tree. But this tree was unlike any she had seen before- long vines hung from its branches, twisting and coiling like snakes, and a bestial, fanged face was set into its trunk. The tree monster let out a deep, rumbling growl as it lifted a screaming Fluttershy into the air.
Without delay, Applejack aimed and shot the vines holding her friend aloft. Fluttershy dropped to the ground, but quickly pushed herself to her feet and ran to Applejack, hiding behind her more combat-capable companion. “What is that thing?” Fluttershy stammered.
“Don’t know. Don’t really care.” Applejack aimed at the beast. “But if it tries to hurt my friends, it goes down either way.”
The tree monster let out another deep growl, before several of the vines hanging from its branches lashed out at the two. Applejack pushed Fluttershy back before diving out of the vines’ path- in an instant, she was back on her feet, and shot several rounds at the monster. Tiny explosions burst across the tree-monster’s face where the bullets met their mark… but they seemed to have no effect whatsoever. But then again why would they? She was shooting a tree, after all.
Applejack reloaded. “Ah really wish Sunset or Twilight were here right now! They could just burn this thing down with their magic!”
Fluttershy hurried over to Applejack, batting away one of the monster’s vines with her staff. “You have magic too, Applejack! Remember what Spike said?”
Spike’s words from the morning before echoed in Applejack’s mind: …some people have innate magical talent, but they can’t use it the way normal spellcasters do. …they have to channel their abilities through a special artifact first… a “focus.” She looked down at the revolver in her left hand. “Yer right. Ah do.” She aimed at the tree monster. “And Ah think Ah’ve got just the thing.”
She concentrated, and a bright orange glow began to shine from inside the revolver’s cylinder. The tree-monster let out a harsh screech as the flaming bullets struck its body, and its vines whipped out at Applejack. She evaded the monster’s first strike… but not its second- a long vine struck her across the chest, knocking her off her feet. Her semiauto flew from her hand, but she held on to her revolver.
Applejack pushed herself up to one knee- she heard Fluttershy approach, but she waved her away. “So, ya like ta play rough, do ya?” she asked, rising to her feet, shaking in rage. She was unaware of the small red bolts of electricity that arced over her body. “Well, Ah have ta warn ya…Ah like ta play rough too.”
Applejack aimed her revolver and fired. The flaming bullet hit its mark, but Applejack didn’t stop with just one- she fanned the revolver’s hammer with her other hand as fast as she could move it, pelting the monster with a spray of burning projectiles. The monster screeched in pain, its vines thrashing wildly, but Applejack’s relentless barrage prevented it from retaliating. She strode toward the beast, still firing endlessly…
…until a sharp pain stabbed into Applejack’s temple. She clutched her head, bringing her assault to a sudden end. But as the pain faded, she could see that the beast had fallen still, its growls replaced by silence. Its body was riddled with numerous, still-smoldering bullet holes. Its vines hung limply from its branches, or rested upon the ground, motionless.
Fluttershy approached, gingerly handing Applejack her semiauto. “Are you okay, Applejack?”
“Ah’m fine,” she replied, holstering her weapons. “Did Ah get it?”
Fluttershy- and then Applejack- looked to the monster, watching carefully for any sort of movement. But there was none. After a moment, Fluttershy replied, “I think so.”
Applejack approached one of the tree monster’s vines, and prodded it with her foot. “So, plants are tryin’ ta kill us, too? Great.”
Fluttershy looked at the tree, and asked, “Do you think Twilight would know anything about this?”
Applejack pulled out her phone. “…S’pose it couldn’t hurt ta ask.”
Applejack dialed, and after ringing for a moment, Twilight’s voice asked, “This is… Applejack, yes?”
“Uh, yeah,” Applejack replied. “Twilight, I gotta ask ya somethin’- can magic bring plants ta life?”
There was a brief silence before Twilight answered, “It can, apparently- in my studies, I have read about sentient plant species that could feed off of magical energies, though I have never observed any specimens for myself. Why do you ask?”
“Ah just killed one that tried ta drag Fluttershy away.”
“…I see. Although I have never encountered these plant monsters before, I can give you all the information I have collected about them. Do you wish to hear it?”
“Lay it on us.”
“Very well. You should be extremely cautious if you believe this type of creature to be in the vicinity- as plants, they are adept at camouflaging with their surroundings. Also, many are capable of emitting spores that induce various effects, such as poison or sleep. However, most of these plant-based monsters are vulnerable to fire. And, the vast majority of them are immobile; should you encounter one that is too strong to fight, you should be able to flee from it with ease.”
“Thank you, Twilight,” Fluttershy said.
“It was no trouble. Safe travels to you.” Click.
As Applejack pocketed her phone, Fluttershy asked, “Applejack? …How many bullets does your revolver hold?”
“Six. Why?”
“…You fired a lot more than just six shots just now.
Applejack looked down to her holstered revolver. “Ah did?”
Suddenly, the ground shook. Applejack and Fluttershy stumbled, and looked to the tree-monster. It swayed and twisted violently- its vines shot out, and wrapped around nearby trees for support, and great roots tore themselves up from beneath the nearby ground. The monster let out a deep, rumbling growl, and an angry orange light began to shine from within its eyes and mouth as it turned to face the two.
Applejack drew her guns. “Shoulda known it wouldn’t be that easy.”
Fluttershy backed away slowly. “What do we do now?”
Applejack aimed her revolver and tried to focus, but received only a sharp, stabbing pain to her temples for her effort. “…Mah plan is simple…” she replied, holstering her weapons. “We run!” With that she grabbed Fluttershy’s arm and dragged her away from the massive plant monster. The beast pursued them, the earth shaking with every footfall.
Spike tied a knot in the bandage he had wrapped over Rarity’s leg. “And that should be the last of it.” He looked up to her. “How are you feeling?”
Rarity pulled in her leg to look at it, before standing. “Better. Thank you.”
“You should get something to protect your hands- gloves, brass knuckles… even some hand wraps would be better than nothing.”
“I’ll look into it once we reach the next town.” She looked at her bandaged knuckles. “But, how did you know what to do?”
“Twilight got hurt a lot when she was first learning to control her magic.” Spike beckoned, and he and Rarity began to walk down the road once again. “Most of the time, she could treat her injuries on her own, but sometimes, when she really hurt herself, I had to help her out.”
Rarity looked again to the bandages. “…I’m guessing she hurt herself quite a lot.” She flexed her fingers. “But I still don’t understand…”
“What’s the matter?”
Rarity looked to Spike. “Well, you remember what happened in town, don’t you?”
Spike nodded. “I do.” Seeing a young woman uppercut a wyvern off of its feet wasn’t a sight that was easily forgotten.
“What I’d hoped was that I’d do the same thing against that monster from before. But… it just didn’t happen. I wish I knew why.”
Several moments passed, before Spike replied, “…Twilight said that not everyone who has magic can use it the same way. Some, like Applejack, need to channel it through a medium first. Others can only use it in certain circumstances.”
“Yes, you told us that yesterday,” Rarity said.
“I’m guessing you’re most likely the second kind. I noticed that it happened right after the wyvern hurt that girl, Sweetie Belle-”
A roar suddenly sounded. Spike pulled out his spear and Rarity raised her fists, ready for a fight… but there were no monsters nearby. “You… did hear that, right?” Rarity asked.
“I did.” Spike looked around- there were no monsters, but up ahead, he could see a bridge spanning a wide riverbed. He pointed. “I think it came from over there. Stay low, and follow my lead.” He crouched down and began to creep towards the river, and Rarity followed.
A minute later, the two peered over the edge of the riverbed- in the dried up bottom, they saw a girl in blue, confronted by a scale-covered monster the size of a lion. The beast roared at the girl, before leaping at her, swinging its claws. The girl stepped aside, but not before the beast managed to leave a number of scratches in her arm.
The girl looked down at her arm. But then, she laughed, and shouted, “Fool! Pain is Trixie’s friend! Allow Trixie to introduce you to it!”
Trixie inhaled sharply, before exhaling a long jet of fire from her mouth. The scales of the beast blackened under the heat of the flames- it roared in fury, before it turned and fled.
Trixie watched the monster flee, before she put her hands on her hips and laughed heartily. “Yes, run! Run before the might of Trixie!”
Spike looked on for a few moments, before he looked to Rarity and said, “Okay, I think I’ve seen enough. Let’s get out of here before she spots us.” He began to back away from the ledge slowly.
But Rarity said, “Wait just a moment. I know that girl.”
Spike looked back. “You do?”
“Yes. She’s Trixie- one of my classmates.” She then stood and climbed down the embankment, shouting, “Trixie! Trixie!” After several moments’ hesitation, Spike stood and followed.
Trixie turned upon hearing her name. “Oh! Fans!” she said in surprise. “Have you come to bask in the majesty that is Trixie the Magnificent?”
As he and Rarity approached, Spike lifted his helmet and raised a confused eyebrow. “I’m sorry, what?”
Rarity reached up to tap Spike’s shoulder. “Let me talk to her, Spike,” She then stepped forward and said, “Hello, Trixie. I’m glad to see that you’re alright.”
Trixie crossed her arms, indignant. “Of course Trixie is alright. Why wouldn’t Trixie be?”
“Well, no one’s seen you at school for a while…”
“Some time ago, Trixie discovered that she has a special talent unlike any other. Trixie thought that this was Trixie’s chance for stardom, so last week Trixie set out to Applewood to show the world her talents!” Trixie put her hands on her hips and posed.
“Last week?” Rarity raised an eyebrow. “We just left Canterlot two days ago. You should be much further along than this.”
Trixie looked away. “…Trixie must confess that she went the wrong way at first.”
Before either Trixie or Rarity could say any more, Spike interrupted, asking, “Is there any particular reason why ‘Trixie’ keeps talking about herself in the third person?”
Rarity looked to Spike. “There’s no need to be rude, Spike.”
But Trixie waved off Spike’s comment, as though to say that she was not offended. “Trixie’s talent is that she can draw the essence of monsters into herself, and learn their special skills. But by taking in a monster’s essence, Trixie becomes more like the monster. So Trixie has to remind herself that Trixie is Trixie, and not a monster.”
“Interesting,” Spike said. “Twilight mentioned something about magic-users who were able to absorb the skills of others and use them as their own- I think she called it ‘blue’ magic.” He then adjusted his bag. “But as much as I’d like to stay and ask you about your abilities, Rarity and I have business we need to attend to. Safe travels to you.” He began to walk away.
But before he could go too far, Rarity reached out and grabbed his shoulder. “Hold on just a moment, Spike.”
He turned. “What’s the problem?”
“You aren’t just going to leave her out here, are you?”
“We have a mission, and a time limit, Rarity,” Spike replied. “We can’t afford to stop and help every person we come across.” He looked back at Trixie. “Besides, she seems to be able to handle herself just fine.” Trixie grinned at Spike’s comment.
“Spike, please. This is… it’s different. We’d be going to the same place. And we have time, don’t we? Surely we could reach Applewood in less than a year. Wouldn’t you agree?”
Spike was silent for several long moments, before he looked to Trixie. “…Trixie, Rarity and I are going to Los Andaluzes. You’re free to come along with us, but once we reach Applewood, you’re on your own.”
“You’d do that? Er- What Trixie meant to say was… Trixie does not need your charity. But, it would be nice to have company on the road to Applewood. Therefore, I accept your request to join me in my journey.”
“Wait, I just said you could-” Spike protested.
But Rarity quickly clamped a hand over his mouth. “We would be honored to accompany you, dear,” she said. “Now let’s get moving.”
“Right! Follow me!” With that, Trixie began to climb up the riverbank… in the direction of Canterlot.
“…Los Andaluzes is in the other direction, dear,” Rarity said.
Trixie climbed down and crossed the riverbed before climbing up the other riverbed, this time going the correct direction. “Trixie knew that. Trixie was simply testing you!” Rarity followed her, and, after a moment’s hesitation, so did Spike.
As they climbed the riverbank, Spike leaned towards Rarity and asked in a low voice, “Why are you going along with all this?”
“Trixie can be rather… difficult at times,” Rarity replied. “In situations such as those, it’s better to simply play along. Besides, it would be safer to travel in greater numbers, wouldn’t you agree?”
Spike did not answer, instead letting out a long sigh, before asking, “…how far away is Los Andaluzes?”
“About seven hundred miles from Canterlot.”
“Seven hundr-” Spike stammered, before he collected himself. “…it’ll be fine…” he said, mostly to himself. “Twilight and I traveled to here from Albion in three months. We can handle seven hundred miles.”
Finally, the group reached the top of the embankment. “Alright!” Trixie shouted. “With Trixie’s strength and cunning, and with the help of Trixie’s minions, nothing will stand in Trixie’s way! Next stop: Applewood.” Trixie pointed dramatically to the road before them… before she glanced back to Rarity and asked quickly, “Applewood is in that direction, right?” After Rarity nodded, Trixie pumped her fist excitedly and said, “Then what’re we waiting for!? Let’s go!”
A screech sounded from above. They looked up, to see a black streak diving towards, them. Then, it flared its wings, bringing itself to a stop before the trio. It was a small creature, with a round body, short legs, and long leathery wings- but most striking was its single eye, set into the middle of its body, above a large mouth filled with sharp teeth.
Spike reached for his spear, and Rarity brought up her fists. But Trixie stepped forward. “Allow me.” She took the coil from her belt and unrolled it, revealing it to be a long bullwhip.
“A whip?” Spike asked. “You’re going to need something a little stronger if you’re-”
Crack.
As Spike spoke, Trixie swung her whip at the beast. As it cracked, the monster’s wing flew from its body and it dropped to the ground. But the monster was somehow still alive- it pushed itself up, its eye glowing brightly, before a narrow beam of light shot out at Trixie. She stepped back, and the beam sailed over her shoulder, missing entirely. Then, the winged monster collapsed onto its face, surrounded by a rapidly expanding pool of dark blood.
Trixie looked back. “See? No beast is a match for Trixie the Magnificent.”
“But, how did… a whip can’t…” Rarity stammered.
“I bought it from a local farm while I was trying to get to Applewood,” Trixie said as she began to roll up the whip. “The noise was usually enough to drive away most animals, but it wasn’t enough to keep the monsters away. So, Trixie made a small modification.” She held up the far end of the whip, to reveal a short, gleaming blade.
“That seems rather dangerous, dear,” Rarity said.
“It is.” Trixie held up an arm and rolled up her sleeve, revealing that her arm was covered with fresh cuts of various sizes, lengths, and directions. “Not all of these came from monsters.” She then hung the whip from her belt.
Spike approached, to examine Trixie’s wounds. “…some of these wounds look like they were pretty serious. If it’s not asking too much, try not to hit yourself anymore. Or us. I’m not sure I have the skills to patch up injuries like these.”
“Trixie never does anything that she does not intend,” Trixie replied, as she rolled up her sleeves. “Now come. It is a long road to Applewood.” With that, Trixie began to walk down the road leading westward. Rarity followed, and after a moment. So did Spike.
“By the way…” Rarity began, “…did we really see you breathing fire earlier?”
Applejack and Fluttershy raced through the forest underbrush. Behind, rumbling growls filled the air and tremors pulsed through the ground as the massive tree monster pursued them. Fighting the beast now would be folly- the underbrush hindered their movement, and concealed too many angles where their foe could strike unexpectedly. So the two had no choice but to press forward, to reach the edge of the forest before their pursuer could catch them.
Up ahead, Applejack could see a bright light shining through the trees. Sunlight. “C’mon Fluttershy!” she called. “Just a little further! We’re almost outta here!” Fluttershy huffed and wheezed in exertion, but did not answer.
After several moments, the two burst forth from the forest, its densely packed trees and underbrush instantly replaced with flat, open grasslands. But Applejack and Fluttershy did not stop running. “Keep runnin’, keep runnin’!” Applejack urged. For while they had left the forest, the growls and the tremors from behind had not ceased.
But then, Fluttershy stumbled, and fell, dragging Applejack down with her. Applejack cursed and reached for her semiauto, and aimed back, expecting to feel the tree-monster’s vines wrap around her at any second…
But they never came.
When she looked back, Applejack could see the tree-monster’s vines had stopped several feet away from the two. They hung in the air for several seconds, rigid, before quickly withdrawing into the darkness of the forest’s foliage. For a brief moment, she thought she saw a bestial face lit up in an orange light glaring out at them… but then it was gone.
Applejack holstered her gun and stood. “It’s alright, Fluttershy. It’s gone.”
Fluttershy pushed herself to her feet, and looked back to the forest. “I wonder why it stopped following us.”
“Well, it is a tree. Maybe it can’t uproot itself like that fer too long.” Applejack adjusted her hat. “Still, Ah should prob’ly let Big Macintosh know that thing’s creepin’ around the Everfree Forest.” She turned, and began to walk to the south, away from the forest. “And Ah should tell ‘im ta keep an eye out, in case any trees out in the orchard are like that.”
Fluttershy quickly caught up with her friend. “These monsters are so strange…” she said. “They’re not like any animals I’ve ever seen before. I wish I could get a better look at them.”
“Well, every monster we’ve run into so far has tried ta kill us,” Applejack replied as she dialed on her phone. “So, Ah wouldn’t hold mah breath if I were you.”
Several days had passed since Twilight, Pinkie, and Flash had departed from the abandoned town of Shady Oaks. Their first major stop, Cloudsdale, lay on the road ahead. But first, the three had to cross the Unicorn Range, a mountain range that cut across northwestern Equestria, from the Whitetail Woods to the Ceres Ocean. Sheer cliffs and whipping winds made climbing directly over the mountains all but impossible, so the three had no choice but to follow a narrow road that slowly wound its way through the stony grey peaks.
Pinkie ran up to the guardrail lining the side of the road, and gazed out into the mountain pass before her, “Wow…” she said. “I can’t believe I forgot about how nice the view was up here!” She looked back. “Hey Twilight, can we stop for a minute? I wanna send some pictures of this to everyone!”
“We do not have time to sightsee, Pinkie Pie,” Twilight replied, as she continued down the road.
Pinkie Pie slumped her shoulders, and let out a disappointed “Aww…” but quickly caught up with Twilight and Flash.
As they walked, Flash leaned in towards Twilight. “Hey, Twilight…” he began, “…did we have to take this road?”
“This road is the most direct route to Cloudsdale,” Twilight replied flatly.
Flash looked up at the rocky wall lining the road’s right side. “…you sure it’s safe?”
“With the current state of the world, can any place truly be called safe?” She looked to him. “But I am aware of what truly concerns you, Flash Sentry. I take it that you are not fond of high places.”
Flash looked away. “That… would be putting it lightly. I just-”
Suddenly, Twilight grabbed Flash’s jacket and yanked him back. “Hey- hey what’s the big idea?” he protested.
Twilight shushed him, before pointing to the road ahead. “There.”
Up ahead, Flash could see something very unusual, even in respect to everything they had seen thus far: a small cluster of brown and grey stones, drifting lazily through the air, separate, but still seemingly bound together by some force. In the middle, he could see a small, glowing yellow crystal.
Pinkie Pie leaned forward, trying to get a better view. “What is that?”
“An elemental,” Twilight replied. “A living mass of magical energy, which manifests in the form of one of the eight elements of magic.” She stepped forward. “I must ask that the two of you stand back. You are not equipped to subdue a creature of this nature.”
Pinkie drew her katana, but took no further action. “Okay, Twilight,” she said. “We’ll let you handle this.”
Flash gripped his sword tightly. “We’re here if you need backup.”
Twilight stepped toward the rock elemental. “Your aid- and your concern- will not be necessary.” She snapped her fingers, flames igniting above her hand. She then pulled her arm back, and threw a ball of fire at the elemental. The fireball missed the creature by several feet, but somehow it noticed the attack, and began to fly towards Twilight, its stones spiraling around its core. One of the elemental stones suddenly rocketed towards Twilight…
Calmly, Twilight brought up a hand. The rock arced towards Twilight, transforming into a white streak, struck her… and vanished. Twilight closed her eyes, concentrating, before she held out her arm and snapped her fingers.
Suddenly, a cyclone of spiraling wind erupted from the ground beneath the elemental. Rocks were thrown from the cyclone until it dissipated, leaving behind the yellow crystal and a handful of its stones. They wavered in the air for a moment, before unceremoniously falling to the ground. Twilight- and the others- waited for several moments, but the elemental did not reform itself. Pinkie Pie then called, “…Is it dead?”
Twilight lowered her arm. “Yes. It is over.”
The three approached the fallen elemental. Pinkie snatched up its crystal core, shouting, “Mine!” But Flash paid her no mind. Instead, he picked up one of the stones that had made up the elemental. He turned it over in his hands several times, but he could see no sign that it was anything other than an ordinary rock.
“I don’t get it…” he said, dropping the stone. “How is this even possible?”
“With magic, many things become possible,” Twilight said. “Life is breathed into the lifeless, continents drift through the skies… even time and death itself can be undone.”
Flash looked up at Twilight. He found something unsettling about Twilight’s comment… but before he could say anything, Pinkie skipped up to her and asked, “Hey Twilight, what was with that bright light earlier? I thought that elemental was gonna get you for sure!”
“Some time ago, I mastered a technique that allows me to absorb any spell cast within a certain radius of myself.” Twilight set off down the road, leaving Pinkie and Flash scrambling to catch up. “Once I absorb this energy into myself, I may then reshape and recast it in the form of a new spell of my choosing…”
The asphalt of the road ahead exploded, and a rocky creature crawled out of the hole.
Rainbow drew her shuriken. “I gotta admit- it was fun at first, but now I’m getting sick of running into these things all the time.”
Sunset brought up her hands, not even bothering to draw her sword. “Let’s make this quick.” A cold mist surrounded her hands, and a crystal of ice began to coalesce in her palm, before she thrust her arm forward; the crystal left her hand, lengthening into a long, sharp spear of ice. The icy lance pierced the rock monster’s shell with ease- it stumbled back from the force of the blow, before unceremoniously falling back.
Sunset blew into her hands, to warm them. “Well, that wasn’t so difficult.”
Rainbow was about to put away her weapon when she spotted something rapidly approaching from the corner of her eye. “Sunset, heads up!” Rainbow Dash threw her shuriken. Sunset ducked, and the weapon cut through a black condor speeding towards her. “You okay, Sunset?” she asked, as she caught the shuriken on its return.
“I’m fine.” Sunset looked to the fallen bird. “Thanks for that. Didn’t even see that one coming.”
“No problem.” Rainbow approached the body of the rocky creature, saying, “Alright, let’s see what you’ve got…” She pulled a few bit notes stuck to its carapace, muttering, “Thank you…” before she looked back and asked, “Hey Sunset, don’t you think it’s weird that these monsters always have money on them?” She held up the notes for Sunset to see.
“…I try not to think about that too much,” Sunset replied.
“Why not?”
Sunset began to head down the highway. “Well, how would a bunch of monsters who always attack people on sight get money on them?”
Rainbow was silent for a moment, before replying. “…I get what you mean.” She then stuffed the money into her pocket and hurried to catch up with Sunset.
Two weeks had passed since Sunset Shimmer and Rainbow Dash had departed from Canterlot. The two had remained on the highway in that time, encountering no cars and coming across only a handful of heavily-barricaded towns. Based on their progress, Sunset estimated it would take another month and a half to reach Manehattan.
Rainbow groaned and hunched over. “Ugh… we should’ve gotten a car before we headed out.”
“We never would’ve made it to Manehattan, Rainbow. You told me there was a… a gas shortage, right?”
“Well yeah, but it still would’ve been faster than walking. We could’ve reached Fillydelphia by now. Or at least Mustangia. But look at where we are now.” She pointed to a set of mountains in the distance. “We still haven’t even passed the Foal Mountains yet.”
“I know, Rainbow: we’re not even halfway there yet, we should’ve taken a car… I get it. You told me all of this already.”
Rainbow shrugged. “Yeah, I know I keep repeating myself, I’m sorry. It’s just really boring, you know? I mean, other than the monsters and us, there’s not much else out here.” Rainbow had a point- the highway was surrounded on both sides by the mostly barren foothills of Foal Mountain, and the one town they’d passed that day had already disappeared over the horizon behind them. “Hey, could you hand me my water bottle?”
“Sure.” Sunset dug through her bag to find Rainbow’s water bottle. But as she did, she noticed something rather… concerning.“Um… Rainbow?” she began, as she handed off Rainbow’s water bottle. “I don’t mean to worry you, but we’re almost out of supplies.”
Rainbow turned. “What!? What happened to all the stuff we picked up at that gas station we stopped at?”
“You ate all of it.”
Rainbow froze. “Oh. I… I guess I did, didn’t I?”
Sunset pulled a folded sheaf of papers from her bag. “Don’t worry. I picked up a map at that gas station. We’ll just make a stop at the nearest town.”
She unfolded the map and laid it on the ground, studying it carefully. “Okay, we switched from Highway 4 to Highway 7, and we’ve been going northeast ever since, so we should be right around… here.” She rested a finger on the map “It looks like there’s a town nearby. Some place called-”
“Hollow Shades,” Rainbow interrupted.
Sunset looked up from her map. “How did you…?”
“I’ve got a map too, you know.” Rainbow pocketed her phone. “It says Hollow Shades is ten minutes away off the next off-ramp. Let’s go.”
Rainbow began to head down the road. Sunset folded up her map, muttering to herself, “…you just can’t help anyone, can you?” before following.
Before long, the two arrived at a small town nestled in a surprisingly dense forest just off the highway. It was small, even in comparison to some of the towns they had passed through before- a gas station and a convenience store sat on opposite sides of the street, surrounded by a small handful of houses. Normally, Rainbow and Sunset would have been relieved by the sight… but there were two details about this town that unsettled them greatly. First, every other town had been surrounded by some form of wall or barricade, to keep monsters at bay; this town had no wall whatsoever. And second, even with monsters about, the towns from before had been bustling with activity.
It was the middle of the day, but the town was still, and silent.
Like a tomb.
Rainbow put her hands on her hips, irritated. “Gee, they sure know how to welcome travelers.”
Sunset’s hand drifted to her scabbard. “Something’s not right. Stay on your toes, Rainbow. I have a feeling-”
“Hey look, there’s a convenience store! I’m gonna go restock.” Before Sunset could stop her, Rainbow dashed over to the store.
Sunset sighed, her hand still hovering over her sword. “…I’ll check the rest of the town, then.”
A bell chimed as Rainbow pushed the door open. The inside of the store was dark, but Rainbow thought little of it- a few of the towns she and Sunset had stopped at had lost power, plunging them into darkness. Just like the town outside, the store was seemingly deserted.
“Uh, hello?” Rainbow called. “Ding-ding, you got a customer.” There was no reply, and the front register was unmanned. “Man whatever.” She wasted no time in winding down the aisles, picking up everything she thought she and Sunset would need. As she wandered, a devious thought came to Rainbow’s mind: if no one was manning this store, what was stopping her from simply walking off without paying for anything? Sunset said it herself- they needed all the money they could carry. And they couldn’t afford to waste even one bit by always stopping to buy supplies-
Those thoughts were immediately silenced when Rainbow rounded a corner and spotted someone standing in the aisle ahead of her. His back was turned, and he didn’t seem to have heard her at all.
“Hey, you work here?” No reply. “Hey!”
The man began to turn upon hearing her shout. But Rainbow immediately regretted getting his attention- the man staggered as he turned towards him, and his eyes glowed a bright, unnatural red in the darkness. He regarded her for a moment… before lurching toward her with a bestial snarl.
Rainbow dropped everything she was carrying and grabbed her shuriken. There was no time to throw it, so instead, she pulled back her arm, and drove it blade-first into the man’s face.
The man stumbled back… but suddenly gripped Rainbow’s arm tightly, seemingly unaffected by the blades jammed into his skull.
She wrenched her arm free from the man’s grasp, making him stagger, before punching him with her shuriken again. And again. And again. Her hand became slick with blood, but she held onto her weapon firmly.
It took six more blows before the man finally collapsed to his knees, and fell back. Rainbow gasped for breath as she looked down at her fallen foe, looking for any sign that he might rise again… but there was none. Unwilling to release her weapon, she pulled out her phone with her free hand, and shone its light on the man’s body.
In the light, she could now see that the man’s skin was a pale, ashen grey, and in places his body appeared to be… rotting. And that was before she took note of deep gouges she’d ripped into his face. She knelt down to get a better view, sure that what she was seeing was merely an illusion. “There’s no way…”
But suddenly, Rainbow heard the convenience store bang open. “Rainbow we have a serious problem!” Sunset called. Footsteps rapidly approached, before the grating screech of shoes sliding against the linoleum floor met her ears. Sunset approached Rainbow and the man, slowly. “…what happened back here?”
Rainbow looked up. “…I… I think I just killed a zombie.”
The sound of shattering glass met their ears. “That came from the front,” Rainbow said. They moved to the front, though not by choice- the front door was the only way out of the building. Sure enough, another zombie had smashed through one of the store’s front windows- this zombie was once a woman, with ashen grey skin and a missing arm. Outside, the two could see several more zombies slowly shambling towards the store.
Rainbow gripped her shuriken. “What should we do, Sunset? Run or fight? These things are tougher than they look.”
Sunset drew her sword with her right hand, a fire lighting itself in her left. “We kill them,” she replied flatly. “A monster’s a monster. No matter what it looks like.” She brought up her hand and threw a fireball at the closest zombie.
The zombie stumbled back with the fireball’s impact, its flesh coming alight… but it once again began to lurch towards the two. What’s more, some of the zombies outside began to enter the store as well. Sunset slowly began to back up. “Okay…” she began nervously, “…I guess fighting’s out of the question.”
“Normally I’d hate to run from a fight, but I’m with you on this one.” Rainbow then threw her shuriken at the burning zombie, severing its other arm. “Let’s get out of here!” She rushed past the zombies, with Sunset racing to keep up- they felt several hands brush against their limbs, their clothes… but the two were too quick for any of the zombies to gain a grip. Rainbow and Sunset reached the middle of the street…
…but their relief was short-lived. They could see that both ends of the street were blocked by rapidly-approaching walls of zombies- two dozen of them in total, at the very least. There were far too many to fight, and they were too tightly packed together to slip through. Sunset began to hyperventilate. “What do we do, what do we do?”
Rainbow forced her breaths to slow and looked around quickly. An 18-wheeler was parked at the gas station across the street- it would be tricky, but they could climb up the truck and onto the awning above the fuel pumps. Rainbow pointed. “We can climb up to there! Come on!”
Rainbow dashed towards the gas station, with Sunset following close behind. With ease, Rainbow climbed onto the truck cab’s nose, then to the top of the cab. She looked back- Sunset was still struggling to climb onto the cab’s nose. And a zombie was rapidly closing in…
Rainbow climbed back down and pulled Sunset up. “Sunset hurry up!” Rainbow climbed atop the cab again, pulling Sunset up behind her. Then, the two jumped up from the cab onto the station’s awning. Sunset looked back- one of the zombies tried to climb up the truck to follow, but it could only claw futilely at the cab’s nose, unable to find a grip on the smooth metal.
Sunset looked away from them, to the street below. Zombies were already gathering at the sidewalk beneath the awning, reaching up as though their arms would somehow stretch and grab them. And still even more came- from the houses, from the surrounding woods, from seemingly everywhere.
Rainbow sat down, and stared out at the horde in disbelief. “Oh man…” she muttered. “How are we supposed to get ourselves out of this one?”
“Are you sure we should stop so soon, Spike?” Rarity asked. “We could still make some progress before the sun sets.”
“That wouldn’t be a good idea,” Spike replied. He flicked a lighter, and the camp’s fire roared to life before him. “Without any landmarks, it would be too easy for us to get lost. And that’s not even getting to the monsters. They’re hard enough to fight as it is in the day- you can’t imagine how much harder it is when you can’t see them.”
“Trixie agrees with Spike,” Trixie said, sitting down in front of the fire. “Trixie doesn’t think her feet could last even one more minute of walking.”
Rarity, Spike, and Trixie had just finished setting up their camp alongside a highway leading westward. The sun rapidly sank toward the horizon toward them, and soon, the land would be covered by an impenetrable veil of darkness.
Rarity sat down next to Trixie, and watched as Spike threw a few dry scrub brush plants into the flames. The young man had pointed them out to her and Trixie earlier, saying that they were an excellent source of tinder, and that they would become more common as they drew closer to the San Palomino Desert. Rarity couldn’t help but marvel at the seemingly endless amount of information Spike possessed- it had proven invaluable thus far, and she had little doubt that it would continue to serve them well on their journey.
For several moments, the three sat in silence, staring into the blazing campfire. But eventually, Rarity cleared her throat and said, “…you know Trixie, you never did explain to us how you got lost in the first place.”
Trixie puffed out her chest in pride. “Ah, so you wish to hear a tale of the Glorious Trixie, do you? Very well- Trixie shall indulge you. It was not long after Trixie discovered her talents. She went to a police officer and demanded directions to Applewood. He told her to follow the highway, and Trixie set out on her way.” Trixie beamed as she finished her story.
“…And you didn’t bother to ask which highway you were supposed to follow?” Rarity asked.
“Trixie was certain that the highway she chose would take her to Applewood. Because Trixie is always right.”
Rarity sighed- she really didn’t know why she expected anything different from Trixie. Still, she said, “You could’ve used your phone to get directions. I know it’s old, but I’m pretty sure it still has GPS.”
Trixie crossed her arms and narrowed her eyes at Rarity. “Trixie doesn’t trust GPS. It’s how they track you, you know.”
Rarity raised an eyebrow. “And who are ‘they?’”
“Exactly.”
Rarity was uncertain of how to respond, so silence fell once more. As they sat, Rarity became aware that Spike had not spoken at all yet, and in fact, had barely spoken over the last few days. So she asked:
“Spike? Is everything alright? You’ve been awfully quiet these past few days.”
Spike jolted ever so slightly when Rarity addressed him, but he replied calmly, “Everything’s fine.”
“Why don’t you come over here and sit next to us?”
Spike was silent for a moment. “…I’m just fine over here.”
“Are you sure?”
“Yeah.” He pulled his legs up to his chest, and wrapped his arms around them. “…I’m sorry. I’m just not used to being around so many people.”
Trixie and Rarity looked to one another, then back to Spike. “…There’s only two of us,” Trixie said.
“Well, back home, it was usually just me and Twilight. As sad as this is going to sound, this is probably the longest I’ve ever spent with someone other than Twilight.”
Rarity could only stare in disbelief. “You can’t be serious. Don’t you have any friends?”
Spike shrugged. “Not really. Taking care of Twilight is pretty much a full-time job for me. If I wasn’t around, I’m pretty sure she’d forget to eat. That’s how seriously she takes her studies.”
“Wait, doesn’t she have any parents? Or any other family? She can’t be much older than us…”
“No. It’s just us, now…”
Spike fell silent. His face was lowered, but from his body language, she could tell it was a sensitive issue. So, she didn’t press the issue any further, and silence fell between the three once again.
Rainbow and Sunset sat across from each other in silence. Night had finally fallen over the town, but they did not sleep. How could they, with such a great threat so close?
After several moments, Sunset said aloud, “We can’t stay up here forever.”
Rainbow stood and looked down at the street below. The zombies had finally lost interested in them, but continued to mill about near the gas station. “Well how are we supposed to get past all of them? …Well, I could probably jump them and make a run for it, but what about you?” She suddenly snapped her fingers, as if she’d had a sudden realization. “I got it! Do you think you could burn all of them with your magic?”
Sunset approached the awning’s edge and counted the zombies gathered below- roughly forty in all. “No way. Not that many. But…” She peered down under the edge, to the fuel pumps below. “…If I can hit those fuel pumps, the explosion might be able to get all of them in one shot.”
Rainbow looked to Sunset in disbelief. “The fuel pumps? Sunset… okay, let’s assume that there’s still gas in those pumps. Do you have any idea how big that bang is gonna be?”
“I know how it sounds. But we don’t really have any other options. We can’t fight all those zombies head-on, and there’s no way we can sneak past them all. And we’re out of supplies. If we’re gonna do something, we need to do it soon. As in, now.”
Rainbow was silent for several moments, before she took a deep breath. “…Listen. I’ve heard a lot of bad ideas, Sunset. But this is the worst idea I’ve ever agreed to.” She approached the edge, near the truck cab they’d climbed earlier. “I’ll go down first. Wait until they’re all chasing me before you head down. Then, I’ll lure them back to the pumps. I’ll let you handle the rest.”
“Alright. Make sure you’ve got a good lead on the zombies. I don’t want you to get caught in the explosion, too.”
“I will.” Rainbow walked to the edge of the awning. An abandoned car sat at the side of the road beneath the awning, easily within jumping distance. So, Rainbow jumped, and landed hard on the roof of the car.
If the metallic bang from her impact didn’t alert the zombies, the car’s alarm almost certainly did. And the chorus of snarls that followed told Rainbow that she now had the zombies’ full, undivided attention. She drew her shuriken as she watched the zombies stagger towards her- it would have been easy to outrun them… but she had a plan she needed to stick to. As the zombies closed in, she waited until the last possible moment, before she leapt from the car and took off running down the street.
From the awning, Sunset watched as Rainbow ran into the darkness beyond the reach of the car’s flashing headlights, with the zombies in tow. There were a few stragglers, but after a minute, the street was empty. Quickly, she climbed onto the truck, and down to the ground- she had no way of knowing when Rainbow would return, so she needed to move, quickly.
Sunset ran across the street. She hid herself along the side of the convenience store, positioning herself so she was close enough to hit the pumps, but far enough away that she wouldn’t be spotted by the zombies, or caught in the explosion… or, so she hoped. She waited- the car’s alarm finally went silent, covering the town with an almost suffocating silence- for a few moments, Sunset feared the worst for Rainbow Dash… until she heard footsteps rapidly approaching. She saw something dart between the gas pumps- Rainbow Dash, she assumed- before it hid behind the truck. A few moments later, a dark mass moved between the pumps in pursuit.
“Do it now, Sunset!”
Sunset heard Rainbow’s shout. A fire lit in her hand, and she threw it toward the gas pumps with all her strength. For a brief moment, her fireball illuminated the zombies- a mass of grey-skinned, dead-eyed bodies. But the light was extinguished when the fireball struck the pump.
A brilliant light shone from the pump, one so bright that Sunset was momentarily blinded. The earth trembled, and a deafening roar filled Sunset’s ears. She tried desperately to form a magic barrier for protection, but it wasn’t enough- there was a sound like shattering glass, and Sunset staggered back as a wave of burning hot air suddenly washed over her. Sunset pressed herself against the wall, trying to protect herself as much as she could, until finally she could hear her own breaths, and her vision returned- slowly, but surely.
The gas station was gone. Before her, there was now only a towering column of black smoke wrapped in flames. The roar of flames filled the air… and Rainbow was nowhere in sight. “Rainbow!” Sunset shouted into the inferno… but her voice was drowned out by the flames. “Rainbow!” She shouted as loud as her lungs would let her, but she could barely hear herself- there was no way anyone else would have been able to hear her.
Suddenly, there was a tremendous bang, and the flames flared brightly.
“Gah!” At that moment, something struck Sunset’s leg with enough force to knock her on her stomach. She struggled to roll herself over as pain pulsed through her leg and chest, and she looked down at her leg.
A large piece of twisted metal had embedded itself in her shin.
Sunset stomach fell, and she breathed rapidly… before she managed to take a deep breath to calm herself. The wound looked bad, but there wasn’t that much blood- the shard must have been holding it in. Sunset gripped the shard with one hand, a soft white glow forming around the other. She could heal this sort of injury- she knew that. She just needed to stay calm and stay-
From the corner of her eye, she spotted a dark figure approaching through the smoke. Sunset’s hand shot to her sword; she wasn’t in any shape to fight, but it wasn’t going to stop her from trying. But the figure that emerged from the smoke was not a zombie, as she’d expected it to be. Her skin, hair, clothes were blackened by soot, and patches of her skin were colored an angry red from burns, but she was still unmistakably Rainbow Dash.
“Oh man Sunset, that was awesome!” she shouted over the flames. “I can’t believe that actually worked! That was-”
Rainbow fell silent when she saw the gleaming shard of metal embedded in Sunset’s leg. Without another word, Rainbow ran to Sunset and pulled her to her feet, slinging one of her arms over her shoulder. “Come on Sunset…” she said. “We need to clear out. There’s no way that-” She pointed to the column of smoke. “-isn’t gonna get us some unwanted attention.”
Rainbow began to walk Sunset down the road, away from the gas station, steering her way around various pieces of still-red-hot debris that littered the town- navigation proved easy enough, as the column of flames illuminated the entire town. Sunset gasped in pain with every step. Rainbow was hurting too, but she grit her teeth and tried to keep quiet. “Rainbow…” Sunset gasped. “Put me down. I have to… I have to… heal my leg.”
“You can worry about all that later,” Rainbow replied. “Right now, we need to get somewhere safe. Maybe we can hide in one of the houses until-”
Then, the earth suddenly shook. For a moment, Rainbow thought it was another explosion from the gas station… but then the earth shook again, and then again. Rainbow realized the shaking was coming from the wrong direction- it came from the woods to their left, rather than from behind. And its steady rhythm meant it could be only one thing:
Footsteps. Big ones.
And it didn’t take long to find the source- a massive beast emerging from the forest ahead. It stood on two massive legs, and its coppery scales gleamed in the flickering firelight. One, two, three… four pairs of glowing eyes were fixed on the two as it approached, and a full set of sharp, flesh-rending teeth glimmered in its four mouths, each set atop a long neck that towered over even the tallest of the forest’s trees.
Rainbow recognized the beast before her as a creature from Equestrian mythology:a hydra.
She sat Sunset down, muttering “Stay here,” before she began to walk towards the massive beast, pulling out her shuriken. “So,” she began. “You want some too, huh?”
Three of the hydra’s heads roared at her in reply, joined by the fourth a moment later. Then, one of the heads lunged at Rainbow, jaws wide.
Rainbow leapt to the side, and threw her shuriken at the beast’s neck with all her might. Sparks flew from the point where the shuriken struck… but that was all- Rainbow could see no sign that her attack had left even the slightest scratch. Another head snapped at her before her shuriken could return, but Rainbow again evaded the attack.
As soon as her shuriken returned to her hands, Rainbow threw it again, but again, it had no effect on the beast’s scales. Another of the hydra’s head’s lunged at her seeing she was unarmed. Rainbow evaded it with ease… only to see a second head lunging at her from the other direction. It was already too close to be avoided…
But before it could bite down, a white flash struck the head, freezing its jaw under a thick sheet of ice. The head pulled back, and after a moment, bit through the ice. Rainbow- and the hydra- looked to the source of the flash: It was Sunset Shimmer, slowly approaching.
“Sunset?” Rainbow said, incredulous “I thought I told you to stay put!”
“I told you, I just needed a moment to heal myself,” she replied, and readied her sword. “So, what’s the plan?”
“Uh…” The hydra roared and snapped towards them, forcing them to dive in opposite directions. “…I was kinda hoping you would have a plan!”
Sunset thrust out her arm, hurling a bolt of lightning at the hydra; there was a great flash as the bolt spread across its body, but had little effect otherwise. She scrambled to remember her education under Princess Celestia- most of it was focused on magic, as she’d intended to become the next Princess… but she did remember something from one of her magical creatures classes. “Well, hydras are reptiles! And their scales are metallic, so they’re especially vulnerable to low temperatures!”
Rainbow looked back at the column of smoke and flames. “…Not sure how much that’s gonna help, Sunset!”
That was all Sunset could remember. But… “Go for soft tissue! Eyes, the inside of its mouth, places like that!” Sunset had no way to know if those places were even vulnerable, but eyes were almost universally weak spots for any creature that had them.
Out of the corner of her eye, Sunset saw Rainbow leap to the side, and throw her shuriken again. “Got it!” she shouted. Sparks again flew from her weapon’s impact.
Sunset looked back to the hydra- two of its heads glared down at her in return. The other two were turned away, focusing on Rainbow Dash. A head roared and snapped towards her, but Sunset leapt back out of the creature’s reach. She focused, a cold mist forming around her free hand, before she threw a long shard of ice at the hydra’s head. The shard shattered against the underside of the hydra’s chin. It shook off the attack, but before it could strike again, Sunset threw another icy shard. She threw shard after shard, ignoring the pounding pain that grew in her temples. Most of the shards shattered harmlessly against the hydra’s scales, but its movements grew more sluggish as its temperature dropped, just as Sunset hoped it would.
Finally, Sunset stopped her barrage. The hydra’s head snapped towards her again… or, it tried to- its movement was so slow that Sunset calmly sidestepped the beast long before it reached her. The head withdrew slowly, its eyes staring blankly at her, as if only vaguely able to comprehend its situation. But she felt no pity for the beast as she focused once more, and threw another icy spear directly into the hydra’s eye.
There was a spray of blood. The hydra roared in pain and stumbled back. But then, it shook itself, and its heads turned their attention back to Sunset. All four of them. Hydras couldn’t breathe fire or use any magic as far as she remembered, but they didn’t need to- their powerful jaws and massive size were usually enough to deal with any threat they may have encountered. All four heads shot towards her, jaws wide, ready to crush Sunset’s small body with ease. In a panic, she held out an arm, forming a protective bubble around herself. The heads crashed against the barrier- massive cracks spread over the bubble, and Sunset fell to her knees. Her head pounded, but she focused as hard as she could, trying to keep the barrier up.
But the hydra reared back, and rammed its head through the barrier again, shattering it like glass.
Rainbow ran around the hydra, arriving just in time to see the beast smash through Sunset’s barrier. Sunset was sent sprawling by the impact, and she slowly rose to her feet, the hydra stomped toward her. “Sunset!” Rainbow didn’t throw her shuriken- instead, she charged the hydra, spinning her shuriken around her fingers until it was nothing more than a blurred grey circle. Then, she pulled her arm back, and swung with all her might.
There was a shower of sparks and a spray of blood as the shuriken cut through the hydra’s scales like a sawblade. But Rainbow didn’t stop- she sliced into the beast again and again, drenching herself in showers of the hydra’s blood. The beast roared in pain again and stumbled back, as Rainbow was too close for its heads to reach her. But Rainbow pressed on, refusing to let the beast escape, cutting deep into the hydra’s belly with every swing.
Rainbow leapt back. The hydra did not retaliate- it fell to one knee, breathing heavily, blood falling from her wounds like rain. But Rainbow wasn’t about to let the beast recover enough to retaliate- she was going to end this, here, and now. She pulled back her arm, preparing to throw her shuriken as hard as she could directly into the hydra’s belly, seemingly unaware of the bright red arcs of electricity that gathered at her feet. With one last spin, she hurled her weapon.
The shuriken struck the hydra…
…and exploded in a brilliant light.
The explosion ripped into the hydra’s body, tearing it to pieces. The ground shook as massive chunks of hydra rained down from the air. One of the heads landed nearby; it snaked across the ground towards Rainbow, snapping its jaws and roaring in silent fury. But soon, it succumbed to its wounds, curling up and falling still.
Rainbow looked on the fallen hydra, breathing hard, watching carefully for any sort of movement. But there was none. Soon, Rainbow bent over, and let out a pained sigh- the adrenaline was finally wearing off, forcing her to become aware of just how much pain she was actually in.
She heard footsteps approaching, and looked back. “Hey Sunset,” she said. “Are you alright?”
“I’ll be fine,” Sunset replied. “But you should be more worried about yourself.” She pointed to Rainbow. “You look terrible.”
Rainbow looked down at herself. “Don’t worry about me. I’m pretty sure most of this blood isn’t even mine.”
Sunset looked around at the various hydra body parts scattered across the town. “Rainbow…” she began, in disbelief. “…how did you even do all this?”
“Hey, you’re supposed to be the magic expert here. You tell me. But hold on just a sec.” Without another word, Rainbow ran up to the mess of blood and organs ahead, where the hydra had been standing. She looked around for a few moments, before she reached down and pulled out her shuriken… or rather, half of it. “Oh man…” she said as she held up her broken weapon. “Pinkie’s gonna kill me when she sees this.”
“It’ll be fine,” Sunset replied as she approached. “We can fix it. In the morning, we can look for all the pieces. For now, let’s find some shelter before something else finds us.”
Rainbow put her shuriken away. “Yeah. That’s a good idea.” She began to limp towards one of the houses, and Sunset followed.
For several moments, there was silence between the two. But then, Sunset said, “I guess I owe you one now, don’t I?”
Rainbow looked back, and gave Sunset a wide- though pained- smile. “Hey, don’t worry about that. We’re friends. We’re supposed to look out for each other.”
Sunset’s jaw dropped in surprise… but she quickly shook her head to compose herself. “Yeah. Yeah, I… I guess we are.”
Chapter VII: The Woman with the Machine Gun Twelve moons remain until the portal opens.
“…but you guys are okay, right?” Pinkie asked.
“Yeah, we’re okay,” Sunset replied. “Rainbow needed a week to recover, but we’re on the road again now. We’re actually just about to pass through Mustangia.” Silence. “And what about you? How are you guys doing?”
“We’re doing just fine. Twilight says we’ve almost made it to Cloudsdale.”
“That’s good.” There was another short silence. “…How about the others? Have you heard anything from them?”
“Nope, sorry. I’m sure they’re just fine, though. But… I should probably give them a call once we reach Cloudsdale. I’ll talk to you later, Sunset!” Pinkie hung up and put her cellphone away, before climbing out of her tent.
The Unicorn Range lay far behind the trio of Pinkie, Twilight, and Flash. The three were now deep in the Whispering Woods, a thick forest that skirted the edge of the mountains and stretched all the way to Cloudsdale. Although they couldn’t see the city, Twilight assured them that they grew closer with each passing day.
Pinkie looked around their campsite as she climbed out of her tent. Twilight hadn’t come out of her tent yet. Flash sat nearby in front of the fire, his sword stabbed into the ground next to him. For some reason, he was focused intently on his hand.
Pinkie sat down next to him. “What are you doing?”
“I have no idea,” he replied. “But watch this.” He held out his hand, and strained- in response, a number of small white lights appeared in the air just above his palm. Once Flash stopped focusing, however, the lights immediately vanished. He then brought a hand up to his head and rubbed his temple. “Ah…” he moaned. “It really hurts if I do it for more than a couple seconds.”
“Unsurprising,” Twilight suddenly said.
Both Flash and Pinkie jumped in surprise, and looked to see Twilight sitting in front of the campfire across from them. She hadn’t made any sound, or given any other sign to indicate her arrival. After a moment, the two collected themselves, and Pinkie asked, “What’s unsurprising?”
“When first learning to harness their abilities, magic users often overexert themselves in their attempts to cast spells.” She drew closer to Flash. “I must admit, I am curious about your abilities. Could you provide another demonstration?”
“Uh, sure.” As before, Flash held up his hand and concentrated- small white flashes appeared above his palm, but they quickly disappeared, and he once again brought his hands to his temples.
After a moment of silence, Twilight said, “You continue to surprise me, Flash Sentry. I had not suspected that you held any affinity for magic, much less white magic.”
Flash raised an eyebrow. “What are you talking about?”
Before Twilight could answer, Pinkie blurted out, “Ooh ooh! I know! I know!”
Twilight looked to Pinkie. “Do you?”
“Yeah! There are two types of magic: white magic, which can heal people, and black magic, which hurts people.”
“The divisions between schools of magic are more nuanced than that, but your explanation is sufficient for these circumstances.” Twilight looked to Flash. “In ancient times, the two most widely-practiced magical disciplines were known as white magic, and black magic. As Pinkie said, white magic is focused upon healing injuries; black magic harnesses the power of the elements to vanquish one’s foes.”
“Really?” Flash looked down at his hand, then back to Twilight. “Can you teach me? How to do magic?”
Twilight shook her head. “Unfortunately, no. Despite my efforts, mastery over white magic remains beyond my capabilities. I can advise you to the best of my abilities, but that is the most I can do.” She then stood. “But we have more pressing matters to attend to. Cloudsdale is less than an hour away now- to not reach it now would be inexcusable.”
“Hey, not to be a downer…” Pinkie began, “but how do we even know that Cloudsdale is still safe? Like you said before- the world is a dangerous place now.”
“It is my understanding that Cloudsdale is home to one of the largest military bases in Equestria. I highly doubt that monsters could overrun a city filled with highly-trained soldiers, regardless of their number.” Suddenly, the earth shook, and heavy thumps filled the air. Twilight drew her dagger. “Speaking of which…”
Flash pulled up his sword. “I’m really starting to hate that sound…” Soon enough, the source of the sounds was upon them: grass-green dragon smashed its way through the surrounding trees, and roared furiously at the trio.
Pinkie whipped out her naginata and her knives, clutching her gun in-between her teeth. “Alright!” she shouted, her voice muffled by the gun. “Now things are starting to get interesting!” She leapt at the dragon, swinging her naginata and cutting a deep gouge into the side of its neck. Then she grabbed her gun and fired a burst of bullets at their foe.
Twilight thrust out her hand, throwing out a stream of freezing cold at the beast. As it was distracted, Flash charged, and swung his blade with all his might… but it glanced off the dragon’s scales without even leaving a mark. He swung again, but before he could make contact, the dragon whipped its tail at him, knocking him off his feet and his blade out of his hands.
As Flash struggled to his feet, Pinkie Pie attacked- she ran at the beast, pulling out her katana, before she leapt and stabbed it into the dragon’s skull. The dragon roared in a mix of pain and fury; then it reached up, grabbed Pinkie in its claw, and threw her against a nearby tree. There was a tremendous crack, and Pinkie slid down the trunk, motionless.
Twilight threw one last ice shard at the dragon before running to Pinkie. “Flash Sentry!” she shouted. “Distract the creature! I will tend to Pinkie Pie’s wounds!”
Flash grabbed his sword and turned to face the dragon. He gripped his sword tightly, glaring. “Is that it?” he said. “You think you can hurt my friend and get away with it?” Pinkie Pie was everyone’s friend, technically, but Flash brushed that thought aside as the beast moved toward him.
The dragon swiped its claw at Flash, and Flash swung his sword at the dragon. But Flash was faster, and he severed one of the dragon’s talons with ease. The dragon staggered back, but then lunged at Flash with a deafening roar. But Flash stood his ground, and batted the creature’s head aside with the flat of his blade.
As the beast was stunned, Flash swung his sword over his head and leapt into the air, the sword’s momentum pulling him much higher than he could have jumped normally. For a moment, Flash seemed to hang in the air, his sword held back to strike. Then, as he fell, he swung his sword at the dragon with all his might.
With ease, the sword cleaved through the flesh of the dragon’s neck, severing with a tremendous spray of blood.
Flash hit the ground hard. The head hit the ground nearby, lifeless. The dragon’s body stumbled back, a claw reaching up to feel for its missing head, before it slumped over, dead.
Flash stood with his sword ready for several moments. He waited for any movement, not trusting that the beast was dead… but there was none. And as he looked on the dragon’s lifeless body, a thought slowly began to dawn on him:
I just killed a dragon.
Then, he planted his sword in the ground, and stood triumphantly. “I told you no one hurts my friends.”
His pride was instantly shattered when another roar sounded behind him.
Flash turned and raised his sword, to find himself facing a second green dragon.
His jaw dropped in disbelief. “…Now that’s just not fair.”
The dragon charged him- he held out his sword, hiding himself behind its massive blade, but the monster rammed its head into him. Flash was knocked clear off his feet, and his sword was again sent flying from his hands. He scrambled to his feet, but his sword was nowhere to be found, and the dragon was rapidly closing in.
But suddenly, a black object fell from the sky and struck the dragon. It roared in pain and stumbled back, shaking off whatever had struck it. As it backed off, Flash could see that the object was… a ship’s anchor. A man then ran past, and with ease, picked up the anchor and rested it on his shoulder. Now that the man was still, Flash could see that he was blonde with white skin, and had the biggest muscles of anyone he had ever seen.
The man was followed by two more people- a woman with fiery-orange hair armed with a machine gun, and a blue-haired man with a pair of strange blades. “Looks like you were right, Captain,” the blue-haired man said. “There were some stragglers out here.”
The blue haired man scraped his blades together and replied, “Yes ma’am.”
The muscular man slammed the anchor against the ground with an earthshaking thump, before shouting a hearty “YEAH!”
The second dragon roared, and charged at the trio. Without hesitation, the blonde man gripped the ring of his anchor and swung it with all his might. The anchor struck its mark with a resounding clang- blood and teeth flew from the dragon’s mouth, and the force of the blow lifted the beast off its feet, sending it crashing through the nearby trees.
Before the beast could rise, the blue-haired man rushed forward, and stabbed his blades into the dragon’s side. He then began to swiftly climb up the dragon’s body, driving his blades deep into the beast with every movement. The dragon began to reach towards the man, but the fiery-haired woman fired a spray of bullets at it- the creature roared in pain and swiped its claws at the woman, but she rolled back and out of its reach. The dragon thrashed and shook, but the blue-haired man held on, climbing all the way up the dragon’s neck, and onto its head, before stabbing each of his blades into the dragon’s eyes.
The dragon roared in pain. With blinding speed, the fiery-haired woman grabbed something from her belt and threw it into the dragon’s mouth. A moment later, the monster’s throat exploded in a spray of gore and red mist. It let out one last shrieking roar, before collapsing.
Flash could only stare at the trio of strangers in stunned silence. It was clear that whoever these people were, they were professionals: it hadn’t taken more than a minute for them to take down that dragon, and in all that time, the dragon hadn’t managed to lay even one claw on them.
Calmly, the fiery-haired woman hung her gun across her back, and turned to Flash, Twilight, and Pinkie. “Are you guys alright?”
“Our injuries are manageable,” Twilight replied as she helped Pinkie to her feet. “To whom do we owe our thanks?”
The fiery-haired woman approached Twilight. “Commander Spitfire, head of Equestrian Air Service base Camp Easy Glider.” She motioned to the two men with her. “These are my comrades, Lieutenant Soarin’, and Bulk Biceps.”
Pinkie quickly bounded up to the muscular man- Bulk Biceps, presumably. “Hey, don’t you go to our school?” Her freshly-bandaged wounds didn’t seem to slow her down even a little.
“It’s not safe for civilians to be on the road, you know. Especially around here,” the blue-haired man said- that one had to be Soarin’. “Still, there aren’t a lot of people who can take down even one of those green dragons, even in Cloudsdale. So I’ll give you props- you’re stronger than you look.”
“What were you doing out here?” Spitfire asked.
“We’re heading north,” Pinkie replied. “We were gonna stop in Cloudsdale to pick up supplies before heading out.”
Spitfire looked to Soarin’, and then to Bulk Biceps, before beckoning. The two men approached, and they began to speak to one another in hushed voices. But Pinkie concentrated, and overheard their conversation.
“What’s up, Spitfire?” Soarin’ asked.
Spitfire brought a hand up to his chin. “I’m not sure… something doesn’t feel right with these kids.”
“Hey, they’re just kids. I mean if they were normal bandits, they would’ve shot us already. And they seem to know Bulk Biceps. Right, B?”
Bulk Biceps nodded.
“I know that. The other two are okay, but, the purple one…” Spitfire shook her head. “It’s probably nothing. Just forget it.” She turned towards Twilight and the others. “Alright. You don’t look like troublemakers, so we’ll bring you to Cloudsdale. Soarin’, you head to the gate and let the sentries know we’re bringing company. And try not to get yourself killed in the meantime.”
Soarin’ saluted and sprinted off into the trees. As though nothing had happened, Spitfire continued “Biceps, you and I will escort the civilians to the city. Everyone, keep your eyes and ears open. Now let’s get moving.”
A howl sounded from the surrounding woods, deep and alien. Spitfire drew her weapon- the others did likewise.
“It’s best not to stay out here too long.”
“A wandering merchant,” Sunset muttered to herself. “This is almost too convenient…”
“Hey Sunset!” Rainbow called. “You sure you don’t need anything?”
“Why not have a look?” the merchant added. He was a gaunt man, with grey hair and thick-rimmed glasses. “I’m sure I have something that could catch your eye.”
Sunset looked over. “I’m fine, really.”
Sunset, Rainbow, and the merchant were stopped on the road a few miles away from Mustangia. As they’d walked down the highway earlier that morning, they stumbled across a beat-up RV parked on the side of the road, the first car they’d seen since leaving Canterlot. Its driver was a merchant, traveling across Equestria, selling his wares as he went- Rainbow and Sunset had their doubts at first, but once he brought out his wares, they reconsidered.
Rainbow looked at the assortment of weapons laid on the table in front of her- mostly guns, but also a handful of other weapon types. One in particular caught her attention- it was an unusual Y-shaped object roughly the size of a car’s hubcap, with a short blade extending from the end of each arm. She picked it up to examine it more closely. “What’s this?”
“No idea,” the merchant replied. “I picked it up in some refugee camp outside Las Pegasus. If you know how to use it, it’s yours for twenty bits.”
Rainbow turned the object over in her hands, trying to find the best grip. “…Yeah, I know how to use this.” She stepped away from the table, pulled her arm back, and threw the object with all her might. It flew out over the abandoned farmlands that lined the highway, before it banked hard, and returned. With ease, Rainbow caught it.
The merchant adjusted his glasses. “Twenty bits it is then.”
As money exchanged hands, the merchant asked. “You sure you don’t need a lift? To the next town, at least? It’s a tight fit, but I’m sure I could manage something.”
Rainbow looked to Sunset, who merely shrugged. So, she looked back to the merchant and said, “Yeah okay. Kind of sick of walking anyway.”
A few minutes later, the RV was speeding down the highway. The three were crowded into the front- the back was absolutely laden with boxes filled with all sorts of things. Things were silent for a moment, before the merchant asked, “So, where’re you girls headed?”
“Manehattan,” Sunset replied. “You?”
“Well, I just got out of Foaledo, so I wanna go somewhere warm for a change. Mareami, most likely. So, we’ll probably be splitting up once we get to Mustangia.”
“Mustangia?” Rainbow asked.
“Well yeah. It’s the closest town. That’s not a problem, is it?”
“No. I’ve… just heard a lot about it. Country music capital of the world, right?”
“That’s what I’ve heard. You a fan of country?”
“No, but one of my friends is. She’s gonna be so jealous when she hears we passed through there.”
“We’re not on vacation, Rainbow,” Sunset interrupted. “We have a job to do.”
“I know. And like I keep saying- we can handle things.” Silence. “Hey guy, I don’t think you ever told us your name. …You know, in case we ever run into each other.”
He glanced over for a moment. “Shill. Just… call me Shill.”
The walls surrounding Cloudsdale were much different from the walls that surrounded other towns in Equestria. They were not simply ramshackle collections of whatever the townspeople could scrounge up- rather, the walls were made of packed earth, fifteen feet high, held in place by barricades of wood and metal and topped by strips of barbed wire. In front of the wall was a deep trench, with sharp spikes planted in the bottom in some places. In all, it was an expertly crafted fortification- perhaps unsurprising, since unlike the majority of Equestria’s citizens, the residents of Cloudsdale had been specifically trained in the art of war.
The steel gate separating Cloudsdale from the outside world slid open. The group crossed a narrow bridge over the trench and into the city proper. “…Some people have set up shop by the school, but I gotta warn you- pickings are gonna be pretty slim,” Soarin’ said.
“Why’s that?” Flash asked.
“We’ve been rationing supplies for the last few days,” Spitfire replied. “We’ll give you what we can spare, but we’ll need everything we have for our mission tomorrow.”
“Mission?” Pinkie asked. “What kind of mission?”
“Nothing you need to worry yourselves about. Cloudsdale can handle its own business.”
“Very well,” Twilight replied. “I trust you will have the situation under control. We shall gather what we need and take our leave.” She began to walk away…
But Flash reached out and grabbed Twilight’s shoulder. “Hold on, Twilight,” he said.
She didn’t turn, or even look back at him. “You mean for us to stay. To help these people. Do not bother to deny it- I know that is what you intend to ask me.”
“Well…” Flash hesitated, “…yeah. I mean, they did save us from that dragon back there. We owe them one.”
Twilight pulled herself free from Flash’s grip. “These people are soldiers- it is their duty to protect those who cannot defend themselves. We owe them nothing.” She began to walk away once more.
“Oh come on!” Flash shouted after her. “Someone saves your life and this is how you repay them? The Twilight I knew would never turn her back on someone!”
Twilight turned and strode up to Flash, glaring, teeth gritted. “I am not the Twilight that you knew. And it will do you well to remember that.” Her anger faded. “…If you truly wish to stay and assist these people, then I will not stop you. However, if you choose to stay, then you must know that we will not wait for you. Pinkie Pie and I have a mission of the utmost importance, and we must see to it. Farewell, Flash Sentry. I wish you the best of luck.” She turned away. “Come, Pinkie Pie.”
But Pinkie Pie didn’t follow her.
Twilight soon noticed, and turned. “Did you not hear me, Pinkie Pie? We must take our leave.”
“I think Flash is right on this one,” Pinkie replied. “We should give these people a hand.”
Twilight gave Pinkie a hard glare. “Our mission is infinitely more important than resolving the insignificant grievances of one city. We do not have the time to-”
“Then we’ll make time.” Flash had stepped forward to protest, but it had been Pinkie who spoke, in a harsh tone that he had never heard from her before.
Twilight stumbled, as though she too had been unprepared for Pinkie’s sudden outburst. But, she quickly collected herself. “…I can see that there is nothing to gain from attempting to dissuade you any further. And I will not delude myself into believing that I can continue this journey alone.” She approached Spitfire. “Commander Spitfire, we wish to aid you in your… mission in whatever way we can.”
Spitfire, who had been watching in silence, crossed her arms and replied. “Alright then.” She began to walk down the road, the others moving to follow. “I know I said Cloudsdale handles its own business, but right now we’re stretched pretty thin. So I’m glad you decided to stick around.”
“H-Hold on,” Flash said. “Aren’t you gonna tell us what this mission is all about?”
“We will. Just not here. We’re having one last briefing for our volunteers at Cloudsdale High. You’ll learn everything you need to know there.”
Silence fell within the group as they made their way to Cloudsdale High. Pinkie was familiar with the route but Flash was not, so he looked around, taking in the city. The buildings were low, no more than four stories high- no doubt because of the nearby airfield. They passed only a few people on the streets- soldiers, from the look of them, and nearly every one of them was armed. This didn’t concern him, however- Twilight had told them that people in the cities of her home country had armed themselves against the monsters, and perhaps this was doubly so in a town with such a large military presence.
Pinkie noticed something as they walked, however. The other soldiers wore standard uniforms, but Spitfire… Spitfire wore a bright blue jumpsuit, crossed with vibrant yellow lightning bolts. Soarin’ wore darker clothes, but also wore a scarf with the same pattern. And that lightning bolt pattern was extremely familiar. Pinkie said, “Wait, I know you guys. Aren’t you-”
“The Wonderbolts, yeah,” Soarin’ replied. He pulled up his scarf. “We were actually supposed to do a show out here a couple months ago. Then, the monsters showed up, and we’ve been stuck out here ever since.”
“Oh. By the way,” she began, eyeing Soarin’s blades. “Are those… katars?”
“What? Oh yeah, that’s what they’re called.” He held one up so Pinkie could get a better look-a triangular blade, attached to an H-shaped handle. It glinted faintly in the sunlight.
Pinkie leaned in close. “Wow. I’ve seen pictures but I’ve never had the chance to see one up close. How did you get them?”
“A friend loaned them to me. I don’t know how he got them, though. If we rescue him, you can ask him yourself.”
“Your knowledge of weapons is truly frightening, Pinkie Pie,” Twilight said.
Flash looked to Soarin’ “Wait, did you say-” he began.
But he was interrupted when the street ahead buckled, and a tremendous creature shot up from beneath the earth. It was a massive snake with dark grey scales, and great bony spikes emerging from its body. The ground trembled as it slithered towards the group. But they heard someone shout, “Anacondaur!” and in seconds, the creature was surrounded on all sides by armed soldiers.
Twilight drew her dagger, asking, “What is that?”
“Anacondaur,” Spitfire replied. She aimed her rifle. “Big snakes that like to dig under our fortifications.”
Soarin’ stepped forward, readying his katars. “I’ll handle this one, Commander.” He lowered himself down, as if preparing to run forward… and vanished. The great snake recoiled from the sudden motion, but Soarin’ did not reappear. Its gaze settled on Spitfire and the others, and it leaned close, its size transforming its hiss into a deep rumble.
Suddenly, Soarin’ reappeared in front of the monster. Before it could recoil in surprise, he pulled his arm back and stabbed his blade deep into the anacondaur’s neck. Blood fell from the wound like a waterfall, and the snake withdrew. But after only a moment, it wavered, and then collapsed, the earth trembling as its body fell.
For a moment, all was still… but the Spitfire stepped forward. “Alright. The target’s down but that’s no reason to take it easy. You-” Spitfire pointed to one of the nearby soldiers. “-get the work crews over here. We need to get this hole plugged up, ASAP. The rest of you, form a perimeter- there could be more down there.”
The soldiers scattered at her order. Soarin’ approached her and said, “Another anacondaur. That’s… what, the third one in the last two weeks now?” He put his blades away. “Hey B, do you think there’s a nest of them under the city?” Bulk Biceps shrugged in response.
“I hope not,” Spitfire replied. “We don’t have the equipment to handle something like that.” She shook her head. “But we can’t worry about that now. We have bigger problems we need to take care of.”
The group moved on. As they walked, Pinkie caught up with Soarin’ and said, “That… was amazing! I’ve never seen anything like that!”
Soarin’ smiled. “The Deathblow. A special technique I’ve been working on for a couple months now. With the Deathblow, if it bleeds, I can kill it.”
“You’ve gotta teach me how to do that.” There was a twinkle in Pinkie’s eye…
…but Soarin’s response extinguished it. “Sorry, but I don’t take students.”
Spitfire looked back at Pinkie. “Don’t take it too personally. The Lieutenant spent a long time working on that technique. He’s really protective of it.”
After a few more minutes, the group arrived at a white building that was very familiar to Pinkie. The sign out front read “Canterlot High School.” Spitfire looked up at the building and sighed. “Here we are, finally. Field HQ.” She began to climb the steps leading to the school’s front entrance. “Soarin’, take our visitors to the briefing room. I’m going to see if Fire Streak and Wave Chill are having any luck with their project.”
Soarin’ saluted and replied “Yes, Commander” before turning. “Alright, follow me.”
But Pinkie was already bounding up the steps. “I already know my way around, Mister Lieutenant. It’s not my first time here.”
So the group followed Pinkie into the school. The interior was startlingly similar to Canterlot High; the only differences were that the walls were predominantly white… and of course, the soldiers that milled about the halls. Signs were taped haphazardly over almost any surface that could accommodate them, pointing to various rooms: “Barracks,” “Armory,” “Briefing Room,” and so forth. Naturally, the group followed the arrows pointing to the briefing room, until they reached a large set of double doors and entered…
“Hey, isn’t this just the gym?” Pinkie asked. Indeed, the room beyond resembled the gym back in Canterlot High- the bleachers were pulled out, and its hard wooden floor was painted with lines marking the boundaries of a basketball court. But it was clear that the room now served another purpose: its basketball hoops were pushed up towards the high ceiling, far out of reach, and the wall opposite the bleachers was dominated by various maps with unknown markings and other papers with writing too small to make out.
“You guys should go sit down,” Soarin’ said. He didn’t seem to have heard Pinkie’s statement at all. “Spitfire’ll probably want to start the briefing as soon as she gets here.”
Twilight looked to the nearly-empty bleachers. “Is this all the people that will be assisting us?”
“Yeah,” Soarin’ replied. “There were only nine volunteers. Well, twelve now, counting you guys.”
The three- along with Bulk Biceps- took a seat in the bleachers. And not a moment too soon; the room suddenly darkened, and Spitfire stepped forward from the darkness to address them.
“Alright everyone, listen up. I know we’ve been talking about this for the last few days, but we have some new volunteers, so we’ll go over the details one last time to bring everyone up to speed.”
A projector flickered to life, bringing up some sort of map of the surrounding area. Several circles were drawn over it, with all of them crossed out.
“As many of you already know,” Spitfire continued, “monsters have been building nests for themselves in the wilderness surrounding Cloudsdale. Many of you have already taken part in missions to exterminate these monsters and destroy their nests.”
The projector flickered again, showing the same map, but with different markings: an arrow was pointing from Cloudsdale to something marked by a large red circle.
“Two weeks ago, a scouting party tracked a herd of monsters back to a nest in the Smokey Mountain west of the city- the biggest nest we’ve found so far. A team was organized, and dispatched to clear out the nest three days ago… but so far, no one sent out has reported back. Our mission is to head to the Smokey Mountain, determine the fate of the first team, and- if necessary- complete their assignment. Are there any questions?” Someone in the bleachers asked, “Is it really a good idea to send another team out so soon? I mean, some of these missions take us longer than we expect sometimes.”
“We sent out a good number of the city’s magic-users on this mission,” Spitfire replied. “With their support, we expected the mission to be accomplished in less than a day. Besides, if the team did run into trouble, at least one of them should have returned to Cloudsdale by now. Without a report from a survivor, we have no way to know if the nest was destroyed or not.” She turned to the rest of the crowd. “Any other questions?”
“Yeah, I’ve got one,” Pinkie said, standing. “Don’t you guys have any radios you can talk to them with?”
Spitfire crossed her arms as she looked to Pinkie. “Interference from an unknown source has rendered our communications equipment almost completely useless. Even our most powerful radios now have an effective radius of only two-hundred-fifty feet… and Smokey Mountain is seven miles west of Canterlot. Anything else?”
Silence was Spitfire’s only answer.
“Alright then. All of you are to report to the South Gate tomorrow morning at oh-eight-hundred hours.” She stood upright. “You are dismissed.”
“…I always thought the guys in the EAS were pilots,” Flash said.
“We are,” Soarin’ replied. “But even though we’re pilots- and stunt pilots at that- we’re still soldiers. This is part of our job.” He sat down on the curb. “Besides, we can’t fly anymore because of all the radio interference.”
“Interference? Oh yeah, Spitfire said something about that yesterday.”
“It wasn’t too bad at first, but before long it started jamming our signals, and eventually we couldn’t talk with the guys in the control tower while we were just sitting on the runway. That happened right around the time when we were supposed to do our show here… and that was also when the monsters first started showing up. So, we gathered all the equipment we could, and moved it to the school. People go out there sometimes to scavenge for parts- for the wall, or for Wave Chill’s machines, but other than that, the airfield’s a lost cause.”
Flash raised an eyebrow. “…Who’s Wave Chill?”
Soarin’ looked up at Flash. “A teammate of mine in the Wonderbolts. He’s spent the last couple months trying to build a radio that can punch through the interference, but it hasn’t been working out for him so far…”
The next day had come. Flash, Pinkie, and Twilight were waiting at Canterlot’s south gate, along with the other volunteers for the mission. Spitfire had yet to arrive, so the volunteers were clustered in small groups, talking amongst themselves, as Flash and Pinkie were doing. Twilight clung to the edges of the group, keeping to herself.
Pinkie approached a young boy who couldn’t have been any older than ten, and ruffled his hair. “Are you going on the mission, too?” she asked. “You look a little young.”
The boy pulled himself from Pinkie’s grasp. “Hey, cut that out! I’m not a kid!”
“Technically, you are still a kid, Rumble,” the boy’s companion said: she was a girl around Pinkie’s age, with mint-green hair.
“You’re not helping, Flitter!” Rumble protested.
The girl, Flitter, then looked to Pinkie Pie. “I’ve never seen you on any missions before. You from around here?”
“Nope. I’m from Canterlot,” Pinkie replied. “I’m Pinkie Pie, by the way.”
“My name’s Flitter, and that’s Rumble,” Flitter said. “So, what made you want to help us out? You’re not local…”
Pinkie gave a small smile. “Do I need a reason to help people?”
“Alright everyone, form up!” Spitfire suddenly called. Soarin’ and the other locals snapped to and formed a line in front of her- the trio of newcomers scrambled to join them. Once they were in place, Spitfire continued. “I’ve got good news for you all- my good friend Wave Chill ‘s just finished field testing a radio which can bypass the interference.” She held up a small radio. “So, for the first time in over five months, we’ll have a lifeline to the outside world. There’s just one problem- this is the only model Wave Chill has for us. So under no circumstances is anything allowed to happen to this radio.”
Spitfire paused for a brief moment before continuing. “Now let’s get down to business. The scouts’ report says the caves where the monsters have built their nest go deep into the mountain, and have multiple branching paths. To cover more ground, we’re going to split our team into squads. Lieutenant, Rumble, pink, you’re our forward team…”
Soarin’ held out his arm. Pinkie and Rumble stopped, but after a moment, he waved them forward. “Thought I heard something,” he said. “Can’t be too careful- there’s always been a lot of monsters coming out of the west. Guess we know why now.”
Pinkie once again found herself in the Whispering Woods outside of Cloudsdale. But different companions were at her sides: the Lieutenant, Soarin’, and the boy, Rumble. Once Spitfire had divided them into four groups, they set out to the Smokey Mountain, splitting up outside the gate to minimize the chances of running into any monsters that may have been lurking in the woods.
Pinkie couldn’t help but notice something as she and the others made their way through the forest, something… different about Soarin’. True, she hadn’t known him for long, but he seemed much more sullen, and withdrawn from the day before. And he’d pulled his scarf up onto his face, so only his eyes could be seen. She hesitated for a moment, but then she asked him, “Soarin’? Is there something bothering you?”
Soarin’s reply was quick… too quick. “It’s nothing.”
Pinkie knew people, sometimes better than they knew themselves. Which made it easy for her to know if someone was lying to her. “It’s not nothing.”
He glanced at Pinkie briefly, before he looked away, hesitant to answer. “…I have to admit, I’m not really looking forward to this.”
“What, you nervous? That’s normal for stuff like this… I think.”
Soarin’ shook his head. “No. I’m sure the first team is alive, and that we’ll get them out just fine. I’m worried about when-” Soarin’ suddenly stopped again- Rumble and Pinkie froze, until Soarin’ resumed walking. “…when things go back to normal.”
“Why?”
He hesitated again, for much longer. “…there’s a teammate of mine that was on the first team, named Fleetfoot. She and Commander Spitfire are… close.”
Before he could go on, Pinkie said, “You like her, don’t you? Commander Spitfire, I mean.”
Soarin’s scarf couldn’t hide his blush. “Well, yeah. We grew up together, went to the same schools… getting into the Wonderbolts, together, was our dream. We spent so much time together, that I’m not even really sure when it happened…”
Pinkie raised an eyebrow. “You never… said anything to her?”
“I didn’t want to distract her with how I felt, back in the academy. And now that we’re in the Wonderbolts, I’m not allowed to say anything- anti-fraternization policies and all that. But then…” He suddenly glared. “…Fleetfoot joined us. She’s always hanging onto the Commander, always flirting with her, but Spitfire never says anything about it. I know it’s not any of my business, but if Spitfire wasn’t into…” His voice trailed off, as though he wanted to say something more, but thought better of it. Then, he sighed sadly. “As selfish as this is gonna make me sound, it was… nice, to have Spitfire to myself again for a change.”
“Oh come on guys! Focus on the mission!” Rumble suddenly shouted, startling the other two. He chopped through the underbrush with his sword. “You shouldn’t be talking about romance problems right now!”
Soarin’ shook his head. “Yeah. Rumble’s right. I need to focus. Just forget that I said anything, Pinkie.” He continued onward. “We’ll figure something out after we rescue everyone.”
The three pressed on in silence for several minutes afterward. Then, Rumble stopped. He leaned forward, as if trying to get a better look at something up ahead, before he suddenly shouted, “There it is!” And before anyone could stop him, he dashed off into the brush ahead.
Soarin’ chased after him. “Hey Rumble, don’t run off!” Pinkie chased after Soarin’ in turn, into the brush and into a rocky field beyond the trees. But she quickly skidded to a stop near her two comrades when she saw what lay outside the forest.
A great mountain stood before them, rising high- and alone- above the surrounding landscape. True to its name, wisps of smoke rose from various places across its face. “Wow…” Pinkie said. “…it really is smokey.”
“You know, it used to be called ‘Lonely Mountain,’” Rumble said. “A long time ago, people dug a coal mine in it. But then there was an accident, and the coal inside was set on fire. My teacher says that there’s enough coal in there to keep the fire burning for the next four hundred years.” He shouldered his blade and began to walk toward the mountain, with Soarin’ and Pinkie following. “Sometimes, when the fire burns the coal, it makes parts of the mountain collapse, and smoke comes up. And that’s why people call it the Smokey Mountain now…”
“…everything’s been preset, so don’t touch anything other than the on/off switch,” Spitfire said. She handed the radio off to a member of the fourth squad, a young woman with black and yellow hair by the name of Midnight Strike. “Once we’re in, wait one hour. If none of us are back before then, radio in for backup, and then wait for reinforcements. Understood?”
Midnight Strike nodded. Then another member of the squad- a man with dark brown hair- stepped up and asked, “What should we do if our position’s overrun, Commander?”
“If that happens, radio for backup, then fall back into the caves. Try to link up with one of the other squads if you can. Now sit tight.”
The fourth squad turned away from the cave mouth as Spitfire rejoined the other eight volunteers just inside the cave.Everyone was on edge, holding their weapons at the ready, expecting that at any moment some beast would leap out to confront them from the surrounding darkness.
Flash Sentry craned his neck to look up at the ceiling- a good ten feet above everyone’s heads. “Did the monsters dig this?”
“Nope,” Rumble replied. “Miners dug some tunnels deeper in the mountain, and the monsters might’ve dug some of their own, but these caves at the front are all natural.”
Spitfire looked around- there were two paths leading away from the entrance. “Alright, we have two paths,” she said. “My squad will take the left path. Soarin’, Fire Streak, your teams will take the right. If you find another fork, split up and check each path on your own.” She readied her weapon “You’re clear to engage any monsters you come across, but if they’re too much to handle, fall back to the entrance. And if you find anyone from our missing team, bring them back to the entrance too. Now move out.”
Spitfire, Twilight, and Flitter went left, and the other teams went right. The light from the cave’s mouth rapidly faded- Twilight held up her hand, and with a snap of her fingers, lit a fire in her palm to drive back the shadows. The team advanced slowly, expecting that at any moment, a horrible creature would loom out at them from the darkness. But they were alone, accompanied only by the echo of their footsteps.
“Hey, Commander,” Flitter said. “This nest is supposed to be full of monsters, right? So where are they?”
Flitter raised a valid point- they had encountered only a few monsters in the Whispering Woods, but did not engage, and had found no monsters at all at the foot of the Smokey Mountain.
At that moment, the mountain trembled, and the three heard the sound of small stones clattering against the cave floor as they fell from above. “This mountain seems… unstable,” Twilight replied. “Perhaps the first team was successful in their mission, but were trapped by some sort of cave-in. It would explain why none were able to return.”
“I guess so,” Flitter replied. “Rumble told me that the coal fires sometimes make parts of the mountain collapse… but, all of them got trapped?”
“Mission volunteers are divided into squads to avoid being neutralized all at once,” Spitfire added.
“A particularly strong monster may have mandated the entire team’s full attention.” Twilight said. She then came to a sudden stop, as did Spitfire and Flitter. A large rock blocked their way forward… but it was unlike any stone the three had ever seen before. Its surface was unusually smooth and slick-looking, and its surface glinted a strange copper color in the light.
But suddenly, the stone began to move, and uncoiled itself. The three backed away, readying their weapons. The light flickered as Twilight divided her focus between maintaining the flame, and readying a second spell. But it remained strong enough to see that the stone had in fact been a slumbering dragon, its copper scales glinting in light.
“A monster such as this, for instance,” Twilight said.
The dragon stepped towards them, and let out a tremendous roar. It reared back… but suddenly, a second roar echoed through the caves from somewhere deep within the mountain- one much louder than the first. The dragon looked back over its shoulder, before it sprinted past the three, not even giving them a second glance.
Twilight watched the dragon disappear into the darkness, before looking the other way, in the direction of the second roar. “We are not alone after all, it seems.”
“That didn’t sound like any monster I’ve ever heard before,” Flitter said. “It sounded big, too. What do you think it was?”
“I have no idea…” Spitfire replied, before thinking to herself, …but if it can scare off a dragon, do we really want to find out?
“…and then I jump up and bang!” The red-haired man thrust out one of his pistols. “I put a bullet right in his eye. And then bang!” He thrust out his other pistol. “I put another one in his other eye!” He lowered his arms. “Oh, you would not believe how loud that anacondaur was roaring. …I’ll admit, it smashed right through part of the south wall and almost crushed a couple civilians, but… aw man, it’s just something you had to see for yourself. Anyway, I got another one for you…”
And that’s how it had been since Flash’s group separated from Pinkie’s: the Wonderbolt attached to their group, Fire Streak, had shared a seemingly endless amount of stories featuring him slaying all sorts of monsters as they wandered down the dark tunnels, guided only by a feeble light mounted on one of Fire Streak’s guns. The truthfulness of his stories seemed… dubious at best.
As Fire Streak began yet another story, Flash leaned close to Bulk Biceps and asked, “How do you put up with this?” Bulk Biceps merely shrugged in reply.
Fire Streak glanced back. “You say something?”
“What? No,” Flash replied quickly. “No I… didn’t say anything.”
“You know, you really should’ve traded in that beast for something more manageable,” Fire Streak said, eyeing Flash’s sword. “Something that big is useless in close-quarters like these.”
Flash reached back, and gripped his sword tightly. “It… was a gift.” He looked to Fire Streak. “Besides, what about him?” He pointed to Bulk Biceps. “That anchor’s bigger than I am!” Biceps shrugged again, objecting to being pulled into their debate.
“Besides,” Flash continued, “who fights with an anchor, anyway?”
“Hey, sometimes life throws you a curveball and you have to improvise,” Fire Streak replied. “Like last month- a big flying monster called a Garuda got past our AA guns and crashed into the Museum of Military History. Biceps was there, but didn’t have a weapon, so he grabs the closest thing he could. And it turns out to be the anchor for the E.N.S. Snowdrop, the Equestrian Navy’s old flagship. Then-”
Something leapt at Fire Streak from the shadows and tackled him to the ground. His light was extinguished on impact, plunging the cavern into darkness. Flash and Biceps grabbed their weapons- they could hear Fire Streak struggling to fight off his attacker, but they didn’t dare to strike in fear of harming their comrade. After several seconds, the light flickered to life again, to reveal Fire Streak, his guns pressed against… another person’s forehead.
The stranger squinted, seemingly unfamiliar with the light, as he looked up at the Wonderbolt. “…Fire Streak?”
“Silver?” Fire Streak lowered his guns. “Holy crap! Silver, what were you thinking? I almost shot you!”
“Wait, hold on a sec,” Flash interrupted. “You know this guy?”
Fire Streak looked over. “Yeah! This is one of the people from the missing team!” Fire Streak shone his light on the stranger. “Sergeant Silver Lining. He’s a Wonderbolt pilot like me.” Now that he was in the light, Flash got a better look at Silver- though it was blackened by dirt and soot, he was indeed wearing the unmistakable Wonderbolts uniform.
Fire Streak looked to Silver. “What happened to the rest of the team?”
Silver held up a hand to shield his eyes from Fire Streak’s light. “Everyone’s just fine. They’re not too far from here. Follow me.”
Silver Lining led the three a short way down the tunnel, and into a small, dimly lit cavern just off the main tunnel. Fire Streak counted the people inside the den- seven in all. They were ragged and disheveled, but they were still alive. All eyes fell on Silver as he entered.
“Hey, you’re back,” one of the people said. “Any luck?”
“Aw man, you thaid you’d be bringing uth food!”
“Hold on, Fleetfoot… there’s someone else with ‘em.”
“…It’s Fire Streak and Biceps!”
“Yeah, you’re right! But who’s that other guy?”
“Who cares? They finally sent someone to rescue us! We’re finally getting the hell outta here!”
“Everyone settle down,” Silver said, causing the other team to fall silent. “Until we figure out what’s going on, no one’s going anywhere.”
As Silver turned to Fire Streak again, the latter asked, “Silver, what the hell’s going on here?”
“I’m guessing Spitfire sent you to find us,” Silver replied. “But you wasted your time. I can’t go back with you- none of us can. It’ll find us first.”
Fire Streak narrowed his eyes. “What are you talking about?”
“Okay, hold on,” Flash said. “Back up. Just start from the beginning.” Bulk Biceps nodded.
Silver took a breath. “…Three days ago, we arrived here for the mission. Things started out easy enough- lots of monsters, but most weren’t too strong. So we went in deeper, into the mines near the coal fires. And that’s when… it found us.”
Flash asked, “What? What did you guys run into?”
“It was huge. You wouldn’t believe it. Picked up an anacondaur and ripped it in half right in front of us like it was nothing.” Silver shook his head slowly. “Then it came after us. We threw everything we had at it, but nothing could even slow it down. So we ran. Hid here in this cave where it couldn’t reach us. We’ve been stuck here ever since. We head out sometimes to hunt for food, but we can’t be out for too long- it comes by every couple hours.”
Fire Streak turned towards the cave’s exit. “Which way did it go?”
“What?” both Silver and Flash asked.
“Which way did the monster go?”
“And just what are you planning to do?” Silver asked.
Fire Streak looked back. “My job. We came here to find you, and finish your mission. So where is it?”
“You don’t get it.” It was not Silver who said this, but someone else- a young man with dark grey skin, and light grey hair. “This isn’t just some monster, Fire Streak. If we couldn’t take it down as a team, what makes you think you can do it on your own?”
“Did you forget what Spitfire said?” Flash added. “We’re supposed to bring the first team back to the cave entrance.” Bulk Biceps again nodded in agreement.
Fire Streak glanced between Silver, Flash, Biceps and the grey man, glaring. But eventually, he asked, “…how soon will it be coming back?”
“It just passed through here about an hour ago. We should have another half hour before it comes back.” Silver again looked to Fire Streak. “You do know the way out of here, don’t you?”
Flash and Fire Streak did not reply… but Biceps did- he nodded, and held up a ball of string. A thread trailed across the cave floor and into the tunnel behind them.
Fire Streaked looked at the ball, and then at Biceps. “When did you…?”
“Thinking ahead, just like always,” Silver said. “That’s the Bulk Biceps I remember.” He then looked back. “Alright everyone, pack your bags. We’re getting out of here.” There was a tremendous clamor as the members of the first team gathered their things. “Keep quiet. We don’t want to draw any unwanted attention to ourselves.” The racket quieted almost instantly.
A few minutes later, the first team and the squad from the second team emerged into the vast tunnel. Silver listened intently for any approaching sounds, but all he could hear were the movements of his comrades.
“Okay,” Fire Streak began. “We shouldn’t be any more than two hundred meters from the entrance. Biceps, you take the lead. Silver and I will cover the-”
There was a deep rumble, and the earth shook. The group staggered, but quickly regained their footing. “What was that?” Flash asked.
“Probably just the fire collapsing a tunnel somewhere,” Fire Streak replied. “There’s no way any monster could-”
It was followed by another tremor, and then a third a few moments later.
“No…” Silver began. “No no no no no! It’s too soon!”
“Fall back to the entrance!” Fire Streak shouted. “Follow Bulk Biceps!”
But it was too late.
A deafening roar rang out from the tunnel behind them.
“Well, there’s no way around it,” Soarin’ said. “This is definitely a dead end.” Indeed, the tunnel he, Pinkie, and Rumble had chosen had suddenly ended in a mass of piled rocks. In spite of their best efforts, they couldn’t clear the path.
Rumble pushed against a stone with all his might, but it wouldn’t move. After a moment, he gave up and looked to the Lieutenant. “Now what do we do?”
“We’ll have to go back to the cave entrance. We’ll report in with the team there and pick a different path.”
The mountain trembled. The debris pile shifted slightly, but no openings appeared. Soarin’ looked up to the cave ceiling. “The mountain’s been awfully active. Is it always like this, Rumble?”
“I don’t think it’s just the fires,” Pinkie replied. She then put her ear to the wall and listened. After several moments, she replied, “No. It something else. Something alive. …And it’s heading towards the entrance.”
At that moment, the roar of some creature echoed from somewhere deeper in the caves. “Alright,” Soarin’ replied. “We need to move back and support the rear guard. Let’s move!”
The trio rapidly retraced their steps, arriving at the entrance a few moments later. The squad stationed there were sitting just outside, watching the forest. One of them- the girl, Midnight Strike- heard their approach and looked back. “Lieutenant? What’re you guys doing here?”
“We hit a dead end,” Soarin’ replied. “And we’ve got bad news- something’s headed this way. Something big. We came to back you up.”
“What?” She and the rest of her squad scrambled to their feet. “How big are we talking?”
Pinkie again pressed her ear against the stone and listened. “…No idea. But it’s gonna be here any minute.”
Soarin’ looked to the others. “You heard her. Form up around the entrance, stay close to the wall- we might be able to take it by surprise.”
The two teams flanked the cave mouth, three on each side. The earth trembled beneath their feet as something drew closer. The air was filled with a rumbling sound, as though many creatures were approaching the cave entrance. The two teams tightened their grips on their weapons as the sound grew louder, and the ground trembled more and more. Suddenly, a dark figure streaked out of the cave. Rumble twitched, but Soarin’ held him back as more figures emerged… eleven in total. They were ragged, blackened by dirt and soot and blood… but they were unmistakably human.
And what’s more, the Lieutenant recognized every last one of them.
“Stand down, stand down!” Soarin’ called, sheathing his katars. The others lowered their weapons as well as the first team collapsed to the ground, panting.
“…It’s the first team,” Rumble said. His sword fell from his hands, and he sprinted to one of the strangers and leapt on him, embracing him tightly. “Thunderlane! You’re okay!” he cried, before letting go. “Oh man. Mom would’ve killed me if something happened to you.”
Thunderlane didn’t answer. For that matter, neither did anyone else on the first team- they simply hunched over or sat on the ground, breathing heavily. Silver Lining silently lifted an arm, and pointed back to the cave entrance.
Soarin’ looked to the cave mouth. “Yeah, we’ll go in and find Spitfire’s team. Just wait here. Crescent, radio HQ, let ‘em know we found-”
But Pinkie interrupted. “Uh, Lieutenant? They aren’t what I heard.”
The earth shook, much more violently than before. But it wasn’t the steady rumble of before- rather, it shook in tremendous pulses, like that of a beating heart… or of approaching footsteps.
Pinkie Pie pointed to the cave entrance. “That is.”
From the darkness emerged a creature that resembled a massive bear. It stood at least three times as tall as Bulk Biceps- the tallest of their number- and its body was a strange translucent blue, filled with points of light that resembled stars. It pushed itself up onto its back legs, and as it towered over the group, it let out a deafening roar.
Fire Streak finally caught his breath, and looked up at their massive pursuer. “Oh, hell…”
Soarin’ glanced at the first team- they were ragged, trembling, obviously weak from their time in the caverns. Even if they had the creature outnumbered, it was clear that they were in no shape to fight. “Silver, take your team and fall back into the forest. Rear guard, you go with them. Radio HQ for support. We’ll cover you.”
Silver Lining and Midnight Strike said nothing, but nodded in reply, unwilling to argue. And their teams withdrew, disappearing into the nearby trees. Now, only six stood against the beast. They still held the advantage in numbers… but Soarin’ had never fought a monster this size before. Nobody in the group had. Soarin’s grip tightened on his weapons- he regretted sending away the rest of the team.
But then, Flash stepped forward, lifting up his great sword. “Well, what’re we waiting for!?” And without waiting, he charged. He swung his sword back and leapt at the bear, the momentum carrying him high into the air. Flash pulled back his sword to strike… But the bear was faster, and swiped its claw at him. He tried to bring around his sword to shield himself from the blow… but he was too slow, and the beast’s claws raked across his chest, leaving deep gouges in their wake. Flash slammed into the ground with a thump, and did not rise again.
Immediately, Pinkie Pie whipped out her boomerang and threw it at the bear with all her strength- it arced through the air, before plunging directly into the bear’s eye. It stumbled back, roaring in blind pain and fury. And at this moment the remaining five charged. Fire Streak fired round after round from his twin pistols, but they simply ricocheted of the beast’s skin, sparks flying from each impact. Soarin’ ran under the beast, to its back legs, and stabbed his blades into its ankle- the blades sank into its flesh… and that was it. The wounds didn’t even bleed. And as the bear turned to confront one of its attackers, he could see that the wounds had not crippled it in the slightest.
The great bear roared and swiped its claws at the humans standing against it. But they evaded the lumbering beast with ease, and Pinkie and Rumble rushed the beast, driving their blades into the monster’s leg- Rumble his sword, and Pinkie her daggers. But as before, their attacks had no effect. The bear lifted itself up, as though to crush the two under its feet, but Bulk Biceps threw his anchor at the beast, striking its chest dead-center. It staggered back from the blow and fell against the mountainside- the mountain trembled, and great stones fell to the ground, knocked loose by the impact. But the bear soon righted itself, and slowly began to advance on the group.
But all of a sudden, the beast stopped. A trail of white smoke began to flow from its body to somewhere behind, and the stars within its body dimmed and winked out one-by-one. The bear turned around, roaring in pain, and began to stalk towards something at the cave entrance. But after just a few moments, its last lights winked out, and the bear collapsed with an earthshaking crash.
The group slowly rounded the fallen beast, unsure of what would be waiting for them on the other side. But what waited for them on the other side was something they did not expect: Twilight, her arm outstretched, the white smoke flowing into her palm. At her sides stood Spitfire and Flitter- they stared at Twilight in disbelief.
Members of the first team also emerged from the woods. But one of their number sprinted towards Spitfire’s without hesitation, and lifted the commander up in a tight embrace. Pinkie recognized her- someone else on the first team had called her Fleetfoot. “Commander! I knew you’d be alright!” Fleetfoot said.
Spitfire shoved Fleetfoot away without a word, before saying, “Lieutenant, status.”
Soarin’ did not respond.
“Lieutenant!”
Soarin’ snapped to attention. “Um, Fire Streak’s squad found the first team. All eight members present and accounted for.”
Spitfire approached Soarin’, circling around the beast- Fleetfoot never left her side. “Casualties?”
“Just one- Flash Sentry. Needs a medic ASAP.”
Spitfire looked to Fleetfoot. “You heard the Lieutenant, Fleetfoot. Hop to.”
Fleetfoot reached towards Spitfire, and opened her mouth as though to say something else… but withdrew and merely replied, “Underthtood, Commander.” She then hurried over to Flash and knelt down next to him- she held her hands over his wounds, a white light shining from her palms.
Fire Streak approached the fallen bear- which had turned from blue to a dull grey- and prodded it with one of his pistols. “What the hell is this thing?”
“An Ursa Minor,” Twilight replied. “One of the species of Stellar Beasts that roamed across the ancient world. They feed upon magic, and were said to have gone extinct with its decline in ages past.”
Fire Streak prodded the Ursa Minor several more times, but it did not respond. “…You might wanna get those textbooks updated, then.”
Pinkie Pie approached the fallen beast as well. “What did you do it?”
“I drained its stores of magic energies. Creatures such as the Stellar Beasts must consume magic regularly to sustain themselves. Without it, they will rapidly die.”
But at that moment, the ground began to tremble once again, in a familiar, pulsing rhythm. “Oh you can’t be serious…” Flitter began
But the group’s fears were realized as a second Ursa Minor emerged from the caves. It stood up on its hind legs, and roared in fury. As it lowered itself, a third Ursa Minor followed it.
The ones who were closest to the beasts rapidly retreated. As he joined the others, Fire Streak asked, “You ever get that feeling there’s someone out there who really doesn’t like us?”
“What do we do?” Soarin’ asked. “We’re not equipped for something like this, Commander.”
Spitfire didn’t answer- she aimed her rifle at the beast silently, slowly backing away.
Fire Streak held his ground, but did not fire. “Commander, we need orders!”
Spitfire continued to do nothing.
“Spitfire!” Soarin’ shouted.
“Fall back, fall back!” Spitfire shouted. The group turned and ran, fleeing into the nearby woods… all except one, who stood her ground.
Pinkie skidded to a stop and looked back. “Twilight! What do you think you’re doing!?”
Twilight didn’t look back, or give any other sign that she’d heard Pinkie at all. Instead, she held out her arm, closed her eyes, and focused. As before, white smoke began to rise from the first Ursa Minor’s body, and flow into Twilight’s outstretched hand. Like before, it staggered as the lights in its body winked out, and when the last was extinguished, the beast collapsed, dead.
Then Twilight brought her hands together- the smoke swirled between them, transforming into blinding bolts of electricity. The second Ursa reared back, raising its claws high in the air. But then, Twilight thrust both arms forward, and a massive burst of lightning flew from her hands. The bolt blasted a hole straight through the bear’s chest and continued on, shattering the stone of the mountain face behind. The beast staggered, and let out one last, weak roar, before it fell to the side, and the earth shook one final time.
Slowly, Pinkie approached Twilight. “Uh… Twilight?” she asked, hesitant.
Twilight did not reply. Rather, she removed her hat, and silently handed it to Pinkie Pie, before she began walking towards the entrance. “Where’re you going?” Soarin’ called to her.
Twilight stopped. “I sense the presence of more Ursa Minor within the mountain. So long as they live, they will continue to pose a threat to your city.” She resumed walking.
Spitfire approached. “Listen. I’m not gonna lie- you saved all our asses just now. But I’m not letting anyone go back in there. Like the Lieutenant said, we’re not equipped for this. We need to retreat for now- replenish our strength, raise another expeditionary team-”
“No.” Twilight turned, and gave Spitfire a hard glare. “Do not make the mistake of assuming that I am a soldier under your command, or a young girl incapable of defending herself. I assure you: my strength far exceeds even your wildest imaginings.” Twilight held up her arm and clenched her fist- bolts of magical lightning arced up and down her arm. “I am going in. And you will not stop me.” She turned away. “I suggest you retreat from the mountain as far as you are able. I cannot guarantee your survival should you linger.” With that, Twilight walked away, and disappeared into the darkness of the cave.
Twilight lit a new fire in her palm, driving back the shadows. She navigated the caves with ease- she could feel the magic of the Ursas lingering in the air, leading her ever onward- and soon enough, upward- to the heart of the mountain. But suddenly, something loomed out of the darkness ahead: a dragon. The same copper-scaled dragon she and Spitfire had encountered earlier. It dug its claws into the ground, seemingly unwilling to retreat as it had before, and roared at her.
Twilight snarled at the dragon in kind, her eyes flashing in the darkness. And at once, the beast backed down. Twilight continued past the dragon- it was swallowed by the darkness beyond the reach of her flame, and did not emerge again.
Very soon, Twilight could see a light shining in the tunnel ahead. But even at her distance, she knew it was not sunlight- it was too dim, and it wavered and flickered. And as she drew ever closer, the heat in the tunnel began to rise. But Twilight pressed on, loosening the collar of her cloak, before stepping into Tartarus itself.
…or so one might have believed. The tunnel ended in a massive cavern which stretched high over Twilight’s head. Black veins of coal snaked over the cave walls, wreathed in flames- their fires painted the cave in an angry red light. Hot air rushed all about the cavern, making Twilight’s cloak flutter behind her. The air was boiling hot, and what’s more, it was positively saturated with magic.
There was little doubt in Twilight’s mind. This was the place. This was the Ursas’ den. And speaking of Ursas…
A massive creature slumbered in the center of the cavern. In inhaled deeply, and began to stir, apparently catching Twilight’s scent. As it rose, she could see that it resembled the Ursa Minors from before. But two things set it apart from the others: first, it was colored a deep purple, rather than blue. Second was its size- an Ursa Minor could have easily stood beneath it, with room to spare.The beast reared up on its hind legs, its head brushing against the cave ceiling, and let out a deafening roar that echoed endlessly in the cavern.
Twilight knew precisely what this creature was: an Ursa Major. The mother of the brood of Ursa Minors they had encountered before.
Her eyes flashed again, and for the first time in a long while… Twilight smiled. “Yes…” she said. “You will do nicely.”
She focused, readying an ice spell- the excess magic in the air made her spell flare violently, but she was not shaken. She threw her arm forward, and the crystals hardened into a massive boulder of ice. The boulder struck the Ursa, shattering on impact… but the blow seemed to have no effect. Again, the beast roared and swung its claws at Twilight, its nails tearing through the rocky wall with ease. But Twilight held her ground, focusing her energy into another spell. And just as the bear’s claw was about to rend her flesh, she thrust her arm forward, and a massive spire of rock erupted from the ground before her. It shot upwards, and struck the beast square in the chest, piercing its skin. The Ursa let out a choking sound, and stumbled back.
Now Twilight had the initiative, she focused, and a black sphere of pure ruin formed in her hand. But suddenly, she spotted yet another Ursa Minor bounding towards her in a berserk fury. She dispersed her spell, and instead launched herself toward the new threat with another rocky spire. The Ursa Minor tried to stop itself, not expecting Twilight’s sudden attack, but it was too late- she landed on its head, and gripped firmly, before slamming her other hand into the beast’s forehead. Then, she sucked the magic out of the beast, as a leech draws blood, and the bear fell- she leapt from its already lifeless body. And with the new magic that flowed within her, she recreated her ruinous sphere, and threw it at the Ursa Major with all her might. It struck the bear’s arm, and in an instant, cracks spread across the beast’s hide, as though it were glass.
The beast roared in pain and fury. Twilight looked on, disappointed- she had hoped her spell of ruin would have shattered the beast completely. But she brushed that thought aside, and electricity arced across her arms as she readied a new spell. “A resilient one…” Twilight began, “…aren’t you?” But as she readied her spell, a thought occurred to her:
She was hidden from the world. There was no reason to restrain herself like this.
So, Twilight held out her arms, her eyes glowing brilliantly as she focused. Slowly, the Ursa Major began to rise into the air, before it was viciously slammed into the cave wall. Great rocks fell from the ceiling, shaken loose by the impact. Twilight swung her arm, and the bear flew across the cavern, and slammed into the opposite wall. The Ursa Major fell to the ground. Twilight held out her arms, and at once, all the falling stones stopped, and hung suspended in the air. Then, she brought her arms together, and the stones rocketed toward the bear like a hail of rocky missiles. The stones pelted the beast, shattering against its body and cracking its skin. It yelped in pain and fear, helpless against the onslaught.
Twilight grinned, baring her fangs for her foe to see. It felt wonderful, to wield such power again, without a care for who saw. To dominate another so completely. To be feared. But still, the Ursa Major approached, in spite of its wounds.
Her grin widened. “So you seek death,” she laughed. “Then you shall have it!”
Then Twilight drew all the magic of the cavern into herself, preparing one final, terrible spell. She was lifted into the air, and her entire body began to shine, overtaking the light of the nearby flames. So bright was she that the Ursa had no choice but to turn away. But it did not flee. For before such thoughts could enter its mind, Twilight let out a roar of her own, and a brilliant light exploded from her body.
“You’ve gotta lift him up,” Fleetfoot said. “He’th thtill out of it.”
Pinkie lifted up Flash- the gouges in his chest had stopped bleeding… but they were still very deep. And he hung between Pinkie and Fleetfoot lifelessly. “…Is Flash gonna be okay?” she asked.
“I thtopped the bleeding,” Fleetfoot replied, “but he needth a lot more work. We’ve gotta get him back to HQ, before thomething elthe happenth to him.”
Pinkie simply looked to Fleetfoot in silence, worry etched into her face.
Fleetfoot pressed her fingers against the side of Flash’s neck. “…He hath a pulthe. And he’th thtill breathing. He’th okay… for now.”
Pinkie Pie, Fleetfoot, and the rest of the two teams slowly made their way through the Whispering Woods, retracing their steps back to Cloudsdale. The group moved slowly, due to both its size, and because Fleetfoot feared that moving Flash too quickly would cause his wounds to reopen.
Suddenly, the ground began to tremble. The group reached for their weapons, before realizing that the rumble was not that of footsteps, but a continuous tremor- one that seemed to grow stronger with every passing second.
“What is this?” Rumble shouted. “An earthquake?”
Soarin’ looked back, and pointed. “Back there! Look at the mountain!” They looked- great shafts of light shone from the Smokey Mountain. Then, the lights disappeared, just before the mountain exploded in a brilliant flare of light.
The group stumbled, blinded by the brilliant flash. Before they could recover, a powerful gust of wind rushed over them, knocking them to the ground. There was a great cracking sound as countless trees were snapped by the force of the wind, and the earth shook as countless stones rained over the countryside.
Several moments passed. Slowly, Pinkie pushed herself to her feet. Her ears rang, and the air was choked with dust, stinging her eyes. But slowly, her hearing returned, to be met with the sound of people shouting and barking orders to one another. The trees around her had been bent backwards- some were snapped, and some had simply been ripped from the ground altogether. Then, Pinkie realized Flash wasn’t with her. She looked around, but couldn’t find him. “Flash?” she called. “Flash! Has anyone seen Flash? I can’t find him!”
“Over here!” she heard Fleetfoot call. She rushed over- Fleetfoot was already pulling Flash to his feet, his arm slung over her shoulder. “He’s alright,” Fleetfoot said, before Pinkie could say anything. “Get his other side.”
Pinkie did as Fleetfoot asked. “Um…” she began. “…what just happened?”
“Dunno,” Fire Streak replied. “I’m not sure I wanna know, either. Look at that.” He pointed to the mountain.
Through the dust, everyone could see that the entire top half of Smokey Mountain had been blown away. In its place was a smoldering crater, belching forth a rapidly-growing column of smoke. As she looked at the blasted mountainside, Pinkie Pie could only whisper, “Twilight…”
But then, a dark shadow appeared in the dust, coming away from the mountain. The group raised their weapons, but Spitfire ordered, “Stand down. It’s not a monster.”
And indeed it wasn’t. For as the shadow grew closer, they could see that it was a human- a young woman with dark purple hair, wearing a dark blue cloak. Her hair was pulled forward, obscuring her face. But in spite of that, Pinkie recognized her right away.
“Twilight!” she called. “You’re okay! I can’t believe it! I mean, there was that light, and that big explosion and then-”
“My hat.” Twilight had strode up to Pinkie and made that demand, seemingly ignorant of everything she had said.
Pinkie backed away slightly, taken aback. “What?”
She seized Pinkie’s collar. “Give me my hat.”
Cautiously, Pinkie held out Twilight’s hat- the black mage snatched it from her grip and forced it onto her head, pulling its brim low to hide her face. But for the briefest of moments, Pinkie could swear that Twilight’s eyes were glowing, with a bright green light.
Twilight looked to the others. “I expected you to be further along than this.”
Spitfire walked up to Twilight. “We’re transporting a casualty in critical condition over rough terrain. If you think you can move him faster, you’re welcome to try.”
Twilight’s expression- whatever it may have been, was hidden from view. “…I see. Then allow me to… ease your burden.” She raised her hand- at once, Flash was lifted from Fleetfoot and Pinkie’s grip by an invisible force. He was flipped onto his back, and floated to Twilight’s side. Then, she began to walk towards Cloudsdale, with Flash’s unconscious body in tow.
“Hey, hold on just a minute!” Fire Streak called. “You’re not going anywhere until you explain what the hell just happened!”
Twilight didn’t look back. She didn’t even stop walking. “I completed the mission we set out to accomplish. Nothing more, nothing less.”
Flash groaned. A light that was far too bright was being shone into his face, and he felt as if an elephant had stepped on his chest. Slowly, he opened his eyes; above him was a fluorescent light set in a ceiling of white panels.
“Hey. You’re awake.”
Flash looked to the source of the voice: a white-haired woman in a Wonderbolts uniform. Fleetfoot, he believed her name was. Then he looked down at himself- someone had taken off his jacket, and his chest was wrapped in bandages. He touched his chest, wincing from the pain. “…How long was I out for?”
Flash laid back. “I feel like I got run over by a truck.”
“A truck would’ve done leth damage. Let’th thee…” Fleetfoot picked up a clipboard. “…Theven broken ribth. Five fractured vertebrae. A broken thcapula. A dithlocated thoulder. Fractures on your humeruth, radiuth, and ulna, along with a broken writht. A fractured hip. Minor latherations on multiple internal organth. And your thternum wath cut clean in half.” She leaned forward. “Like I thaid- it’th a miracle you aren’t dead.”
Flash heard the sound of a door swinging open, and Spitfire’s voice said, “Fleetfoot we need to talk.”
Fleetfoot looked away. “What, now? I’m with a pathient!”
“Yes, now. It’s about your conduct. Both today and in the past.”
“But-”
“My office. Now. Wait for me there.”
Fleetfoot looked away, but replied, “Underthtood, Commander.” Then she stood, and left his field of view.
With some difficulty, Flash sat up. He appeared to be in a school infirmary- no doubt the one in Cloudsdale High. He looked up to Spitfire, and asked, “How’s everyone else?”
“Slightly malnourished, but they’ll be fine,” she replied. “You got the worst of it. Fleetfoot says she’ll need a few more days to heal you completely.”
Flash sighed. “Twilight won’t be happy to hear that.”
For a moment, there was silence. Then, Spitfire said, “Listen… you and your friends have done us a tremendous service. So before you leave, if there’s anything you need from us- anything at all- we’ll be more than happy to provide it. …Within reason, of course.”
Flash sat in silent thought for several moments, before remembering something. “Well, there is one thing.” He held up his hand, and concentrated- small white flashes appeared around his fist. “Twilight told me I might be able to learn healing magic, but she can’t teach me. If it’s alright, could Fleetfoot help me with that?”
Spitfire raised an eyebrow, not expecting Flash’s request. But after a moment, she replied, “I’m sure I can make some sort of arrangement.”
Pinkie skipped happily down the Canterlot sidewalk. The sun was setting, and the great column of smoke to the west of the city had finally been blown away. Spitfire had told her and Twilight that Flash was awake now, and she hoped she could visit him before it got too late.
But as Pinkie approached Cloudsdale High, she saw Soarin’ sitting alone on the front steps. He didn’t look very happy. Most of his teammates had been celebrating throughout the city, but she’d noticed that Soarin’ himself had been absent- presumably, this is where he had been the whole time.
Pinkie approached him. “You okay?”
Soarin’ was silent for several moments before replying, “…I will be.”
She leaned forward. “Is something bugging you?”
He looked away. “I don’t think it’s the kind of problem I can be helped with.”
Pinkie sat down next to Soarin’. “Tell me about it anyway. It might help you feel better.”
“Oh, it’s nothing too serious.” He rested his arms on his knees. “Just what happens when you fall in love with a childhood friend who turns out to be a lesbian. But… these things happen. They seem to happen to me, mostly, but they do happen.”
Pinkie frowned, and sat in silence. Soarin’ was right- it wasn’t the sort of problem she could help him with. But she wasn’t about to walk away without saying anything. “Hey,” she began. “Look on the bright side. All of your teammates are okay. That’s gotta count for something, right?”
He didn’t reply. Disheartened, Pinkie stood, and began to climb the steps to the school entrance.
“Hey.” Pinkie stopped. “…What would you say if I taught you the Deathblow?” Soarin’ asked.
Pinkie turned. “…What made you change your mind?”
“You said you were leaving soon, right? I don’t know where you’re going, but if you’re still heading out even with everything that’s going on, it must mean you’re doing something important. We don’t have much here in Cloudsdale, but after everything you’ve done for us, it wouldn’t be right to see you off without giving you something. The Deathblow’s all I have to offer, so… that’s what I’m putting on the table.”
Pinkie climbed back down to Soarin’s level. “…Why me?”
“I’ve seen how you all fight. You’re all good, but you’re the only one who has the skill to pull it off.” He looked up at Pinkie. “So how about it? You game?”
Pinkie Pie rubbed her chin, thinking for a moment, before nodding. “Yeah. I’m game.”
“Just promise me something first.”
“Hmm?”
Soarin’ turned away again. “Now that Fleetfoot and the others are safe… I’m gonna be leaving Cloudsdale real soon. I’m not sure where I’m going yet, but I just need some time to clear my head. There’s no way Spitfire would ever let me leave with things the way they are now, so… don’t tell her that I’m going. She has enough to worry about as it is looking after the others.”
Now Pinkie hesitated. “Are… are you sure that’s a good idea? I mean, you are Spitfire’s lieutenant.”
He looked down. “Spitfire’s strong. She’s had to do things no one else could these last couple months. She can take care of herself. She doesn’t… she doesn’t need me.”
“…There. I’ve done what I can,” Fleetfoot said, pulling Flash to his feet. “You know enough to handle the retht on your own.”
“Thanks.” Several days had passed. In that time, Fleetfoot had taught him the basics of white magic- enough at least for him to heal the few injuries he still carried.He stretched his arms, and his back- the healing sessions always made him feel stiff. “I really should be going. I’ve already taken too long.”
Flash left the infirmary and began to walk through the school to the entrance. Fleetfoot followed him, giving him advice: “Remember not to puth yourthelf too hard- you have a limited amount of magic that hath to recharge in ith own. And never touch any woundth directly. It interfereth-”
Flash cut her off as he opened the school’s front doors. “I know, I know. I’ll remember everything you told me- I promise. Now I really need to go.” He began to climb down the steps…
But Fleetfoot called to him one final time: “Hey, Flath.” He looked back. “Good luck with… whatever you guyth are gonna do.”
“Thanks. And thanks for teaching me about this magic stuff. I get a feeling we’re gonna need all the help we can get.” With that, Flash turned away once again, and climbed down the steps.
Pinkie and Twilight were already waiting for him at the bottom. “Are you all better now?” Pinkie asked.
“I’m good enough to travel, at least,” Flash replied. “I can take care of the rest on the road.”
“Good,” Twilight said. We have already spent too much time here as it is. We cannot linger any longer.”
So the three set out, toward the gate on the northern end of the city. Pinkie began to walk down the road, but before he could follow, Twilight grabbed Flash’s arm and pulled him close. “Your detour may have brought a measure of peace to this city- for a time,” she muttered, “but how long do you believe that will last? And what worth are a few lives, as compared to the survival of the world?”
He glared, pulling his arm from Twilight’s grasp. “Just because the world is ending, it’s not an excuse to stop helping people.”
“Your idealism would be admirable,” she began, “if it were not so grossly misplaced.” She resumed walking. “But worry not. The weight of this world will crush such thoughts from you soon enough.” Then Twilight walked away, past Pinkie- who had stopped when she noticed her companions were not following- and continued down the road, alone.
Pinkie approached Flash. “What was that all about?”
Flash didn’t follow Twilight, and he didn’t answer Pinkie either. He merely crossed his arms and looked on after Twilight, before saying to Pinkie, “...I don’t like this Twilight.”
Pinkie didn’t reply. Normally, she would have defended Twilight, saying there was no way to know what she had been through before they had met her. But after what happened at the Smokey Mountain, she wasn’t so sure. She couldn’t put her finger on what just yet, but she could feel that there was something about this world’s Twilight.
“Hurry, hurry!” Rarity shouted. She, Spike, and Trixie ran towards a great spire of rock rising from the dry ground. Rain poured down over the desert in sheets as thick grey clouds rolled overhead. The ground sloshed beneath them, and splattered them with mud, but the rain washed it away as soon as it landed on them.
After a few moments, the three stumbled into the relative dryness of a cave at the base of the rocky spire. Rarity sank to the ground, trying to catch her breath.
Trixie leaned against the cave’s wall, pushing her hair out of her face. “Agh…” she groaned. “Trixie hates the damp.”
Spike looked out from the cave at the rain. “It doesn’t look like this storm will let up any time soon,” he said. “Twilight would hate it if we fell behind schedule, but we don’t have a choice. We’ll have to wait it out.”
After catching her breath, Rarity asked, “Spike, would you be a dear and help me set up my tent?”
He looked over. “We’ve already found shelter. Why would you need your tent?”
She crossed her arm and glared at him. “Are you really expecting Trixie and me to change out of our wet clothes in front of you?”
“…I’ll get started right away.”
It was short work to set up the tent. And as the girls changed, Spike wasted no time in starting a fire for their camp. And once the flames were burning steadily, he took off his armor, piece-by-piece, and laid them next to the fire to dry.
From within the tent, Rarity asked, “Spike, if it’s not too much trouble, could you get a fire started too?” She stepped out, now wearing a set of pajamas. “I’d like to dry off my clothes before…” Her voice trailed off as her eyes fell on Spike. He was still dressed, wearing a black long-sleeved shirt and pants- but they were thoroughly soaked and clung tightly to his body, revealing his physique. Rarity could feel her face burn as she looked at him.
Spike looked back at her. “…What?”
Rarity shook her head. “It… it’s nothing. I’ve just never seen you out of your armor before.” She laid her clothes down by the fire, and sat down next to Spike. “Aren’t you going to change out of those wet clothes, darling? You’ll catch a cold.”
He scooted away from her ever so slightly. “My body temperature’s much higher than a normal human’s. I’ll be fine.” He glanced around, trying to think of some way to continue the conversation. His eyes fell on the clothes Rarity had laid out next to the fire- he noticed her purple boots were missing, replaced by a pair of black low-top shoes. “…What happened to your boots?”
“Hm? Oh, I left them behind while we were in Ponyville. They’re… not exactly cut out for ‘roughing it,’ as Applejack would say.” She looked to him. “You didn’t notice until now?”
At that moment, Trixie emerged from the tent as well. “At ease, minions. Your master is here,” she said, and sat down next to the fire as well. “Now tell me minions: how long will it be before we reach Applewood?”
“We still have quite a ways to go before we reach Applewood, dear…” Rarity replied. “Even if the trains were still running it would be a relatively long trip: two days at the earliest. But we should be coming to a city soon enough.”
“Which city would that be?” Trixie asked.
“The City of Sin itself: Las Pegasus.”
“I’ve heard of that place,” Spike said. “Isn’t that the city with all the casinos?”
Rarity nodded. “That’s the one.”
“How far away is it?” Trixie asked. “Trixie is tired of all this walking.”
Rarity didn’t answer. But Spike pulled out a map and unfolded it on the ground in front of the fire, examining it carefully, after several moments, he said, “…If I had to guess, we’re at Chimney Rock right now, right on the edge of the San Palomino Desert. So Las Pegasus is… just over a hundred miles away.” He looked over at Trixie. “Based on our average speed so far, it would take us another five days to get there.” He brought his hand to his chin. “And the next full moon is in a week. Then we’ll only have eleven…”
Rarity rested a hand on his shoulder. “You shouldn’t worry so much, Spike. We’re making good progress.”
He looked over. “You can’t forget, we have to take the return trip into account, too. And if something were to happen to the others, then we’d have to go to their sites and activate them.”
Trixie perked up upon hearing this. “Sites?” she asked. “You never mentioned anything like that before, minion.”
Spike was just about to begin his explanations… when a hiss sounded from the darkness beyond their campfire.
“What was that?” Trixie asked. But all three knew precisely what it was. And sure enough, a monster slithered from the darkness beyond the edge of their campfire: a serpent drawn back upon itself, with two long limbs growing out from below its head. A single red eye glowed from the center of its forehead. It hissed at them again as it approached.
Spike drew his spear from the ground and readied it. “We should’ve checked the rest of the cave before assuming it was safe. Lesson learned.”
But Trixie suddenly stepped forward. “Stand aside, minions. Allow Trixie the Great to handle this.”
She raised her hand toward the serpent, before suddenly pulling it back- the serpent staggered, and a glowing sphere flew from its body and into Trixie. She staggered and fell to one knee… but after a moment, Trixie took a deep breath, stood once more, and then looked up at the serpent. For a brief moment, her eyes shone red, before a bright beam shot forth from them. It struck the reptile, and in an instant, the beast was turned to stone.
Trixie’s eyes returned to normal, and she flipped her hair. “Trixie prevails again. Was there every any doubt?”
Rarity could only stare in stunned silence. But Spike approached the creature, and examined it, saying to himself, “A petrifying gaze…?” He then suddenly shot up and backed away from the monster. “This is a basilisk.”
“A what?” Trixie asked.
He looked back. “A kind of monster whose gaze can turn living things to stone. We’re lucky it didn’t get the chance to do that to any of us.”
Rarity shuddered. “Goodness. Is there a cure for that? Being turned to stone?”
“There is, thankfully. Certain types of spells and potions can dispel petrification. And, it weakens on its own over time. Of course, you can’t let anything happen to someone if they’re petrified, or else…” He turned to the petrified basilisk, pulled back his arm, and punched with all his strength- the basilisk’s head flew off, and bounced across the stony cave floor.
Rarity stepped back slightly, in disbelief. “Why did you…?”
Spike returned to the campfire. “It would’ve broken out on its own eventually.”
The rain stopped late that night. And at the dawn of the next morning, Spike roused Rarity and Trixie, and the three set out down the highway to their new destination: Las Pegasus. Even at that early hour, the air above the asphalt rippled in the heat, and the sun’s rays rapidly erased the puddles left by the rains of the day before.
With a huff, Rarity unzipped her sweater and tied it around her waist. “Trixie thought you were supposed to travel at night when crossing a desert.”
“That’s true, if you’re lost in the desert,” Spike replied. “Not when you’re walking down a desert highway with a convenience store on every off-ramp.” He looked over. “Besides, would you really want to wander around in the dark with a whole bunch of monsters creeping around?”
“Yes, you’ve mentioned that already,” Rarity said. She looked at their surroundings- to the left, a few low mountains rose above the horizon. To the right, drying earth seemed to stretch on forever. Thick brush choked the ground on both sides of the highway, flowering vibrantly thanks to the recent rain. But nothing disturbed them, not even the wind. “…but speaking of monsters, shouldn’t we have run into some by now?”
“Twilight told me that monsters adapt to their environment, like any other creature,” Spike said. “In a desert, they would focus on conserving their energy. Wait for their prey to come to them before…” He trailed off as a strange sound came to their ears. It was not a monster, however, but something else entirely. “Do you hear that?” he asked.
The three stopped, and Rarity listened to the sounds intently. It had been so long since she’d heard it, that she almost didn’t recognize it. “They’re… engines.” She and the others looked back- sure enough, a number of black specks were on the highway behind them, rapidly approaching.
Spike looked for a moment, before he grabbed both girls and began to run to the brush, dragging them in tow. Rarity tried to pull herself free, struggling to stay upright. “Spike, what is the matter with you!” she protested.
His reply was curt: “We need to get off the road. Now.”
“Why?”
But before Spike could answer, there was a squealing of tires, and a man on a motorcycle skidded to a stop in front of them. He leapt off his bike and pointed at them, shouting “Now you just stay right where you are, ya hear!?” He was bald, wearing a faded tan jacket covered by patches.
Three more motorcycles skidded to a halt around them, followed by a dune buggy with a skeletal frame. Their occupants climbed out and surrounded them- eight in total. They looked like a rough bunch, all clad in leather and ragged clothes. Then, of their number in particular stepped forward: a red man, clad in all-black. He wore an eyepatch over his right eye, leaving him with a single red eye.
“Well now…” the red-eyed bandit said. “What do we have here?” He looked back to his posse. “Axel, tell me what we have here.”
“Hmm, I don’t know boss,” the bald man replied- presumably, he was Axel. “…but it looks like a trio of trespassers!”
“Can we cook’em boss?” another man asked- this one had a vibrant blue mohawk, and twitched incessantly. “Can we?”
“Now hold on just a second, Twitch,” the red-eyed bandit said, and began to approach the three. “Lovely young ladies like you shouldn’t be travelling alone.” He stopped in front of Rarity, and touched her face. “Why don’t you… come with us? We can give you anything you-”
Rarity pulled back her fist and sucker punched the bandit in the chest, just under his sternum. He let out a choked cry, and for a moment he was lifted off his feet, before he dropped to the ground and curled up into a ball, choking and gasping for breath at Rarity’s feet.
Rarity glared down at the bandit. “The next time you touch me with those filthy hands of yours, I’ll snap them off.”
The bald man ran up and pulled the red-eyed bandit away, asking, “You okay, boss?” Then he looked back at the three, and drew a blade made from a long, sharpened length of metal. “You’re gonna regret that.”
Rarity punched a fist into her palm. “Oh really? And who’s going to make me regret it?” She cracked her knuckles. “…You?”
Another of the bandits- a brawny man who towered over the others- cracked his knuckles in turn. “Oh I love it when they fight back!”
Spike drew his spear and glanced over to Rarity, asking in a low voice, “Are you sure about this? Fighting people isn’t like fighting monsters.”
The bald man rushed towards Rarity, raising his blade high. But before he could even finish his swing, and without even thinking, Rarity sidestepped behind the bald man, looped her arms around his waist, and bent over backwards, lifting him off his feet and slamming him headfirst into the ground behind her. She quickly slipped out from underneath him, and he fell to the ground. Then, slowly, he tried to push himself to his feet; before he could rise, Rarity pulled her foot back and kicked the side of his head as hard as she could. The blow flipped the man onto his back, and he lay on the asphalt, unmoving.
The other bandits shrank away slightly. Rarity herself could only stare at the bald man, stunned into silence. But a shout brought her back to reality: “You… you bitch!” She looked up to see the giant man charging towards her, fists raised.
But then there was the crack of a whip, and a spray of blood flew from the giant man’s shoulder. He cried out in pain and stumbled, falling to one knee. He strained, but seemingly couldn’t move his right arm. “You should really watch your tongue,” Trixie said as she coiled her whip. “The Powerful Trixie abhors such vulgar language.” She glared, and her eyes flared red; a bright beam shot forth, and in a flash, the bandit was turned to stone. The petrified bandit fell with a thump, but did not shatter.
Terrified cries and gasps rang out among the bandits, and they fell back even more- some seemed to be on the verge of running away. “What the hell do we do now?” one asked.
“Keep it together!” Another shouted in reply. “There’s six of us, and only three of them!” Then, he began to swing a long, thick chain over his head.
The asphalt buckled as Spike launched himself toward the bandit, spear raised. The bandit choked, and his chain flew from his hands as Spike buried his spear deep into his chest. Then Spike gripped his shoulder and forced his spear in deeper, and out through the bandit’s back. “Numbers won’t save you here,” Spike muttered. Then he ripped his spear out of the bandit’s body- the bandit fell to his knees, clutching his wound, before he collapsed, blood rapidly pooling around his body.
The others could only look at their fallen comrade in stunned silence. Rarity’s stomach churned at the sight of so much blood, and she brought a hand to her mouth. But she shook her head, and tried to block it out. The other bandits were distracted, and she had the perfect chance to strike. She looked to the closest bandit and pulled her leg back, preparing a devastating roundhouse kick…
But all of a sudden, a gunshot rang out. A sharp pain lanced through Rarity’s leg. She fell, and saw a trail of blood streaming from her leg. “Rarity!” Spike braced himself, preparing to lunge at the bandits again, but a second gunshot rang out. Sparks flew from the center of his chestplate, and he was knocked onto his back. He did not rise again.
Trixie looked, to see the mohawk man aiming a rifle at Spike. “Yeah you’re fancy armor’s not too good at stopping bullets, is it?” He aimed at Trixie. “Now you! Get on the ground!” Trixie complied.
Rarity struggled to rise, but her leg trembled, and she couldn’t move it. And as if someone had heard her thoughts, a voice said, “I would stay right where you are if I were you.” She looked- the red-eyed bandit with the eyepatch was glaring down at her, clutching his chest. “It’s been a while since we’ve run into someone with as much fire as you. But don’t worry- we’ll crush all that out of you soon enough.”
At that time, the bald man awoke, and rose to his feet, rubbing his head. “Oh… I feel like a truck ran me over.” He soon noticed his leader. “You okay, boss?”
The red-eyed bandit tapped his chest. “This is nothing. Now load the girls into the buggy. Leave the boy.”
Suddenly, the ground shook, making everyone stagger. The red-eyed bandit looked over, to see Spike pulling his fist from a small crater in the asphalt. Slowly, he stood up, tossing away his spear. “Still alive, are you?” the red-eyed bandit asked. He then looked to the bald man. “Axel, please fix that.”
“Sure thing, boss.” Then the bald man charged Spike, swinging his blade.
Spike caught the blade with his hand. His grip tightened around it- the metal groaned, before shattering like glass. He looked up at the bandit, his eyes blazing.“...I’m going to make you regret that.”
Green flames erupted around Spike. The bald man stumbled back, startled by the sudden flare. And Trixie and Rarity looked to the blaze in stunned silence. But as soon as it had come, the green fire was gone.
And so was Spike. In his place stood a beast, with dark purple scales, and a ridge of green spines running down his back, from the top of his head to the tip of his tail. His hands and feet ended with wicked claws, and sharp, glinting fangs filled his massive jaws. The beast stood at least seven feet tall, and its eyes blazed in a brilliant green light.
The bald man stumbled back, before he turned and tried to run away…
But the beast was too fast- he seized the bandit by the leg, before raising up to eye level. He glared at the bandit for a moment, before he whipped him back and threw him at another bandit. The second bandit leapt to the side, just barely avoiding the body of his comrade. The bald man skidded and bounced across the hard desert ground until he slid to a stop some twenty feet away, motionless.
“Twitch!” the red-eyed bandit called. The mohawk man took aim at the beast, and fired.
There was a spark where the bullet struck the beast’s scales… and nothing more. It didn’t even leave a mark. The mohawk man pulled the trigger several more times, but each round simply rebounded from the beast’s scales with a spark. But then, an empty click sounded from his rifle. The mohawk man fumbled with his pockets as he tried to dig up more ammo. “No! No, not now!”
But it was too late. The beast was already upon him.
The beast snatched the rifle from the bandit’s grip, and with ease, snapped it in two. Then he pulled his arm back, and stabbed the rifle barrel into the side of the bandit’s head.
The last two bandits staggered back. Then, the red-eyed bandit turned and ran. The last bandit looked to his leader and called “Boss! Where’re you-” It was the last thing he would ever do. The asphalt buckled as the beast launched himself toward the bandit. He dragged his claws across the ground, leaving deep gouges in his wake, before swinging them at the distracted bandit. His claws tore through the bandit’s flesh with ease, and he collapsed as his blood rained down on him and the beast.
The beast then turned to his last quarry. The red-eyed bandit had abandoned the others, and was running away down the highway. But then, he tripped. And before he could push himself back onto his feet, the beast’s clawed hand seized him by the shoulder and pulled him upright. The red-eyed bandit could only stare paralyzed as the beast growled at him, too terrified to reach for whatever weapon he may have held. Then the beast reared back, and slammed his forehead against the bandit’s own- the bandit flew from his grip and struck the hard ground in a crumpled heap.
Then, slowly, the beast looked over his shoulder, at Rarity and Trixie. Then, he began to walk towards them, the earth trembling slightly with his every footfall. Rarity tried to crawl away, but the pain in her leg kept her pinned in place. But then Trixie stepped forward, placing herself between Rarity and the beast, and cracked her whip with a thunderous crack. “Stay back, beast!” she shouted, and cracked her whip again. The beast stopped at the sound… but only for a moment, and it continued its advance. Trixie began to back away. “Trixie doesn’t suppose you have any ideas, do you?” she asked.
But then, the beast dropped to its knees, and let out a deafening roar. Steam erupted from its body, and through the cloud, Rarity watched as it shrank down to a normal human size.After a moment, the steam faded away, leaving behind a kneeling Spike, sweating profusely and gasping for breath. After a moment, he inhaled deeply and rose to his feet, before looking to Rarity and Trixie. “Are you two alright?”
Rarity didn’t reply. But there was a clatter as Trixie’s whip slipped from her grasp. “What…” she stammered, “…What in the world was that?”
Spike looked down. “…something I’d hoped no one would ever have to see again.”Spike drew in a long breath, before continuing. “In some dragonlings, the dragon blood runs so strongly, they’re basically human-shaped dragons.” He approached, and looked down at Rarity. “…What you just saw is… how I really am.”
“But wait,” she began. “Until just now, you looked like a normal person. How…”
“…Despite what Twilight told you, magic didn’t disappear from the world completely three thousand years ago. It lingers in some things- enchanted artifacts, and in creatures like… me. Because of this magic, I could change my appearance- make myself look more like a normal human being.” He shook his head. “…It didn’t help. Most people back home already knew the truth about me.” He looked at Rarity. “Can you imagine, being born looking like that? Because I don’t have to. I don’t have to imagine what it’s like to be treated like…”
Before he could go on, engines roared from the highway behind them. Trixie looked in the roar’s direction. “There’s more of them coming!”
Spike dashed off to retrieve his spear, before he began searching the bodies of the fallen bandits for something. Rarity sat herself up and looked on at him, but could do no more. “What do you think you’re doing!?”
“We’re not going to outrun them on foot.” Spike pulled something from a dead bandit’s pocket. “And these bandits were kind enough to donate a vehicle.” He threw the object to Trixie, and she caught it- it was a set of keys. “I hope you know how to drive.”
Then, Spike picked up Rarity and carried her to the dune buggy, setting her in the passenger seat- at the same time, Trixie climbed into the driver’s seat. Spike didn’t climb in, but simply held on to the side of the buggy, clutching his spear in the other hand. “Go, go, go!” he ordered.
Trixie jammed the keys into the ignition,and the buggy’s engine roared to life. There was a squeal of tires, and the buggy was speeding down the highway. But before long, the rumbling of the buggy’s engine was joined by others. Spike looked back- sure enough, a trio of motorcycles were rapidly gaining on them.
Spike looked to Trixie. “I’ll be right back.” The buggy rocked as Spike launched himself from its side. He rose high into the air, but did not ready his spear- he had something else in mind. He descended upon one of the bikes- he turned and extended his foot. “What-” the rider began, before Spike’s foot struck him in the chest, knocking him off the bike. But Spike fell into the seat, and grabbed the handlebars with his free hand. The bike wobbled wildly, but Spike managed to keep it upright. Then Spike gunned the throttle, catching up to the other two bikes. One of the bikers saw Spike and aimed a pistol at him.
But he never had the chance to fire. Spike stabbed his spear at the other motorcycle’s tire- it exploded with a deafening bang and pitched forward, throwing its rider against the unforgiving road and tumbled end over end, sending up tremendous showers of sparks with each impact. The bang drew the attention of the last biker- he slowed until he was alongside Spike, and swung a machete at him. Spike blocked with the shaft of his spear and thrust at the bandit, but missed. Spike stabbed again and again, but the biker stayed well out of his reach. In frustration, he swung his spear with all his strength.
But by some stroke of luck, Spike’s attack hit its mark, and the biker fell from his ride- it continued on without him for a moment, before drifting off the road and crashing, throwing up a cloud of dirt and dust. With his foes dispatched, Spike gunned the throttle and sped up until he was alongside the buggy. As he pulled up, Trixie looked to him and shouted over the wind, “Is that all of them!”
“I think so!” Spike called back.
But suddenly, the harsh blare of a horn sounded from behind. They looked back- a black semi-truck cab sped down the highway behind them, blaring its horn and belching black smoke.
Spike could only ask out loud, “…Really?” He then looked to Trixie. “I can handle this, Trixie! Just keep going! Don’t wait up for me!” Trixie complied, and the buggy sped ahead of him. Then, Spike braked, bringing the bike to a screeching halt. He stabbed his spear into the ground and climbed off the motorcycle, but gripped its handlebars tightly. The truck sped towards him, but he held his ground, waiting for the right moment. “Come on…” he muttered. “Work with me.”
The truck’s horn blared again, and it was finally close enough. Spike spun to build momentum, lifting the motorcycle off the ground, before throwing it with all his might at the truck. For a moment, he feared he might miss, but his aim was true, and the bike crashed through the truck’s windshield. Its tires squealed and it swerved back and forth across the highway, before it suddenly tipped onto its side, sending up showers of sparks. Spike stood his ground at first, but as the truck slid across the road, he quickly stepped to the side of the road and out of harm’s way.
For a moment, the truck was still, and the only sound was a faint hiss coming from its engine. But all of a sudden, the truck’s side door flew open and a man clambered out. Spike saw that it was none other than the red-eyed bandit from before. He tried to climb down, but slipped and hit the ground hard. But he rose to his feet, and drew a revolver from within his coat. “You!” he shouted, staggering towards Spike. “Did you really think… you could get away from me?” Spike strode towards the red-eyed bandit, and the bandit aimed his revolver, and fired at Spike.
But the bullets simply bounced off Spike’s armor, and when he was in range, Spike grabbed the red-eyed bandit by the neck, and lifted him into the air. The bandit dropped his gun and grabbed Spike’s arm, but he could not pry himself loose. “I’m going to put this in simple words that even you can understand,” Spike said. “If I see even the briefest glimpse of you anywhere between here and Applewood, I will kill you, and every last member of your worthless gang. Do you understand?”
The red-eyed bandit’s response was but a series of chokes and gasps.
Spike tightened his grip on the bandit’s neck. “Answer me.”
The bandit’s legs kicked wildly as he struggled for breath. But somehow, he managed a nod.
Spike threw the bandit to the ground. “I’m going to count to thirty. When I turn around, you will be gone. And just so you don’t get any ideas about shooting me in the back…” He raised his spear, and stabbed it into the red-eyed bandit’s revolver, cutting it neatly in two. Then he turned away. “One.”
The red-eyed bandit scrambled to his feet and started sprinting down the highway he’d come.
Spike turned. As he did, he saw the buggy stopped on the side of the road up ahead. He hurried over and said to Trixie, “I told you not to wait for me.”
“We can’t leave you behind, Spike,” Rarity replied. “We need you to guide us.”
Spike grabbed the side of the buggy. “Fair enough.”
Trixie watched the red-eyed bandit flee in the buggy’s rear view mirror. “Are you sure it’s a good idea to just let him go?” she asked. “Shouldn’t you… take care of him?”
Spike looked back “I think I’ve made enough of an impression on him. Now let’s get moving.”
The sun was sinking towards the horizon in front of Spike, Rarity, and Trixie. The bandits had seemingly given up their pursuit, for none had followed in the hours since their escape. The buggy sat abandoned on the side of the road, its fuel tank empty. Nearby, Spike and Trixie were tending to Rarity’s wounds.
Spike pulled his hands away from Rarity’s leg, putting away his needle and sutures. “I’ve done what I can,” he said. Then he looked to Trixie. “Trixie, do you know any healing spells? The sooner we can get this wound closed, the better.”
Trixie nodded and replied, “Trixie thinks she has something,” before she brought up her hands. She blew across her palms- a white dust was blown from her hands, and settled on the fresh stitches. Slowly, the wound began to close, until it was little more than a dark brown scar.
Spike set Rarity’s leg down, on top of his pack. “Okay Rarity, we’re finished. Try to keep your leg elevated as much as you can, and don’t put any pressure on it. We’ll check on it again in an hour or so.”
“Alright, Rarity replied. “Thank you.”
“Aren’t you going to take out the bullet?” Trixie asked.
Spike shook his head. “No. In this environment, removing the bullet would do more harm than good. There wasn’t that much blood in the wound, so I don’t think it severed any major arteries. For now at least, it’s best to just leave it where it is.”
“Trixie will trust your decision, then.” She stood. “Trixie is going to gather wood for a fire. Watch Rarity until I return, minion.” With that, she headed into the brush.
There was silence between Spike and Rarity for several moments, until Spike looked up and asked, “So… How are you feeling?”
“I can’t exactly say that being shot is a regular occurrence for me,” Rarity replied,” “…but I feel alright, all things considered.”
Spike looked down and sighed. “I’m glad. I like to think I know a lot about treating injuries, but this is the first time I’ve ever worked on a gunshot. I wasn’t sure I could do it.”
Rarity sat up, and reached for him, setting her hand on Spike’s shoulder. “Well with any luck, it’ll also be the last time, darling. I promise to be more careful from now on.”
There was more silence between them.
“Does it…” Rarity began, “…Does it frighten you? Knowing you have something like that inside of you?”
Spike drew in his legs and hugged them against his chest. “Of course it does. Every day I live with the fear that I’ll lose control and end up hurting someone I care about.” He hung his head. “…That I’ll become the monster everyone sees me as.”
Rarity looked to him. “I don’t see you as a monster.”
Spike looked up at Rarity, surprised… before he looked away again. “…You’d only be the second person who didn’t.”
“I’m guessing Twilight was the first.”
He nodded. “Twilight… she said something to me about all this, once. She told me that having the dragon blood didn’t make me evil- that evil isn’t something that’s determined by blood or by heritage. That it’s a choice. She told me… that I’m only as much of a monster as I choose to be.” Then Spike sighed. “It helps at times, but words can only do so much.”
“Twilight must mean a lot to you.”
Spike shook his head. “No. Not a lot.” He looked up to Rarity. “Everything.” He stood up. “If not for her, I’m not sure I’d even be alive right now.” But then, he smiled. “Sometimes she treated me more like a science experiment than a brother. But I didn’t mind- it was enough for me, to not be… you know, hated.”
Spike then looked down at Rarity. “And before you ask: no. I can’t breathe fire. Twilight tried for three years, but she could never get me to do it.”
Miles away, Applejack and Fluttershy trudged along a set of train tracks under the heat of the setting sun. There was no shelter to be had from the harsh rays- no trees grew from the dry, cracked earth, and there were no stones tall enough to take refuge behind. The only relief to be had would come from the rapidly-approaching night.
Fluttershy struggled to keep up with Applejack, panting and sweating profusely. “Applejack…” she gasped. “Slow down… I can’t… keep up…”
Applejack looked back, but didn’t stop. “C’mon now,” she replied. “We can’t stop here. Not when we’re so close.”
Fluttershy stumbled to a stop and took a moment to catch her breath. Then she looked up at Applejack. “…Um, Applejack? I don’t mean to be rude, but there’s nothing here.” She looked to the flat, dry, empty badlands surrounding them on all sides- all that could be seen were strange, flat-topped mountains with steep sides rising above the horizon far in the distance (“mesas,” if Fluttershy remembered correctly). “What could we possibly be close to?”
Applejack stopped as well. “Ah wouldn’t blame ya fer thinkin’ there’s nothin’ out here. But Ah’m startin’ ta recognize this landscape- we’re real close to a town called ‘Appleoosa.’”
Fluttershy wiped her forehead with the sleeve of her robe. “Is that… good?”
Applejack nodded. “Yeah, it’s good. Appleloosa’s only a couple hours away from the southern border. And on top of that, a cousin of mine lives there. So if nothin’ else, we gotta safe place ta stay fer the night.”
“…How close are we?” Fluttershy pulled back the hood of her robe and tugged at its collar, in a fruitless attempt to cool herself off.
Applejack looked at their surroundings. “Not sure. But these tracks go right through the middle of town; we just gotta keep followin’ ‘em.” Then she turned and resumed walking. “…We should be able to see it once we get to the top of this hill. C’mon now.”
Fluttershy hurried to follow. Applejack had been to this area more than once- she knew the two of them were very close to Appleoosa now. But as they climbed a short hill alongside the train tracks, she could see something slowly rising above the hill’s crest, something that hadn’t been there in all the times she’d visited before: a rocky spire rising from the ground. And as the two neared the top of the hill, Applejack realized that the spire was…
The two reached the top of the hill. The train tracks stretched onward a short distance, to the place where Appleoosa should have been… but the town- with its dusty main street and wooden buildings with their great facades- was gone. In its place, a steep, rocky mountain rose high above the surrounding badlands.
Fluttershy looked out over the landscape. “…I don’t see a town anywhere, Applejack. Are you sure we’re in the right place?”
Applejack fell to her knees. “…It… It’s gone…”
Fluttershy looked over, surprised. “Applejack?”
“Appleoosa… it should be right there.” Applejack raised her hand and pointed at the mountain. “But, I don’t understand…”
At that moment, there was a distant pop, and a bright flash flared at the bottom of Applejack’s vision. She looked down, and a saw a wall surrounding the base of the mountain- more bright flashes flared along the top of the wall, followed by a distant crackle. At the same time, numerous black dots circled in a barren field just outside the wall.
“What’s that?” Fluttershy asked, looking at the commotion.
“That sounds like gunfire,” Applejack said, before drawing her guns. “C’mon. We gotta help.”
Fluttershy looked to her friend. “But what about Appleoosa?”
“We’ll have time enough ta worry about that later. Now let’s go!” Then she ran down the hill towards the mountain.
For a moment, Fluttershy hesitated, and said, “I still don’t think this is a good idea…” But all the same, she gripped her staff and ran after her friend.
As the two approached the mountain, the black dots they saw grew more distinct; they became beasts resembling wolves with black coats, but they were bigger, and had long, bony spikes growing from their legs and spines. As they ran, Applejack took aim at the beasts, and fired. Her bullets missed their mark, but all the same, the sound drew the beasts’ attention. And when the two reached the flat field at the bottom of the hill, the pack rapidly surrounded them.
One of the wolves stalked toward the two. Applejack aimed her revolver at it- it froze for a moment… before continuing its advance with a defiant snarl. Applejack glanced back. “Stay behind me.”
Fluttershy held out her staff, in a feeble attempt to ward off the other wolves. “Um… where would behind you be?”
But suddenly, something launched itself over the wall, and landed nearby with an earth-shaking impact. The impact threw up a cloud of dust that soon cleared away, revealing a large man kneeling in a shallow crater. Slowly, he stood; as he rose, one of the wolves snarled and charged, leaping at the man with its fangs bared.
…but the man seized the wolf mid-jump with a single hand. He held it up by the neck, the beast twisting violently and snarling. Then, the man tightened his grip- there was a loud snap, the wolf yelped… and then fell limp. The man tossed the wolf’s body aside, and cracked his knuckles.
The rest of the pack turned its attention away from the girls and towards the man. Another charged at him. The man punched, despite the wolf being nowhere near him… but then a spire of rock erupted out of the ground and speared the wolf through its side. It kicked and writhed, suspended in the air by the rocky spear, but after several moments, it too fell limp, blood dripping from its wounds.
The rest of the pack withdrew, letting out fearful whines… but one wolf among them stood its ground: it was larger than the others, with a silvery coat, and was covered in scars. The man noticed this lone wolf, and said aloud, “You.” The man held out his arms- at once, countless stones flew from the ground, and coated his arms in a thick shell. “Lobo… we meet at last.”
With a snarl, the silver wolf charged. The giant man cocked back his fist, and punched the ground- great spikes made of stone erupted from the ground in a line aimed directly at the wolf. But the wolf weaved through the spikes with stunning ease, avoiding impalement. Then, the man held out one arm, and ran his other hand over it- a swarm of stones flew from the rocky shell to the wolf, like a spray of bullets. But again, with seemingly impossible speed, the wolf evaded the attack, closing the distance between itself and the man. The man brought up his arms and slammed them down, trying to crush the wolf- his fists struck the ground, leaving a deep crater… but as before, the wolf dodged the attack and circled around behind the man. Before he could turn, the wolf leapt at him.
“Get down!” Applejack shouted, aiming and firing at the wolf. The man immediately dropped down to one knee, and Applejack’s bullet struck the silver wolf in the chest. The wolf flew back and slid across the ground, but quickly rose to its feet. But it stumbled, and blood flowed from the fresh wound in its chest. So it reared back, and let out a deep howl, before it turned and ran, the rest of the wolves following in its wake.
The man rose to his feet, before his attention snapped to the fleeing wolves. He looked on at the beasts for several moments, body tensed as if to give chase… but then he relaxed, and the stones coating his arms fell away.
Now that he was standing still, the two could see that the man had long black hair and dark brown skin. He wore jeans, a sleeveless denim jacket, and a headdress adorned with countless feathers. But what truly astounded the two was his size- Fluttershy was the taller of the two, if only slightly, but she barely reached up to the man’s chest.
The giant man then turned, and began to approach Applejack and Fluttershy. Fluttershy shrank back from the stranger, but Applejack held firm. The man stopped before the two and looked down at them, folding his arms across his chest. “Had you not intervened, that beast would surely have struck a lethal blow,” the man said. “You have my thanks.” He paused for a moment as he regarded them further. “Hmm… it is unsafe to travel the roads these days, especially for ones as young as yourselves. Tell me: why have you come here?”
“We were headed down to the southern border,” Applejack replied. “But when we heard the shots, we figured someone needed help and came ta lend y’all a hand.” She looked past the man, to the massive wall behind. “But from the looks of things, Ah’d say ya’ve got everything taken care of.”
“Attacks from these monsters are not new to us. But all the same, I thank you.” The man fell silent as he regarded Applejack and Fluttershy again. “…It would not do well to turn you away at this late hour, and I am in your debt.” He turned away from them, towards the mountain. “Come. I have a few beds to spare for the night. And I’m certain my daughter would appreciate the company.” With that, he began to walk towards the mountain, and after a moment, Applejack and Fluttershy followed.
The three approached the wall- it was smooth and completely featureless, without gates, ladders, steps, or any obvious means of getting through. But then, the giant men held out and, and slowly lowered it. As he did, section of the wall before them slid into the ground, seemingly at his command. And within the wall, Applejack could see… houses. And people. And as her gaze drifted up the mountain, she could see more houses set into its side, bright lights blazing in their windows. How in the world had she not noticed them before?
The three entered the wall, and the man closed the hole he had made. As he did, Applejack looked at the people. Their clothes were thick and tough, intended to protect their wearers from the rough environment. But what’s more, she thought she recognized a few of them…
But before Applejack could ponder this thought any further, a stranger leapt down from on top of the wall, and landed next to the giant man. “Gee Chief, that was somethin’ else!” he said excitedly. “Ah’m glad y’all’re livin’ with us- Ah don’t think we would’ve made it this long without ya!”
The Chief looked down at the man. “I see no reason to celebrate. Lobo escaped..”
“Hey, don’t worry about that!” The stranger clapped his hand on “Chief’s” shoulder… or tried to, at least- he could only reach up to the small of his back. “You’ll get ‘em next time! You’ll see!”
“Hey! Get back to yer post!” a voice suddenly shouted from atop the wall. “You ain’t finished with yer shift yet!”
“Oh, sorry about that, sir!” The stranger scrambled up a ladder to the top of the wall, calling out, “See ya later, Chief!”
Applejack looked over to the Chief. “Lobo? Was he talkin’ about that silver wolf back there?”
The Chief nodded. “Yes. I understand that this monster- the Silver Lobo, as the locals call it- has plagued this town for some time now- no matter how many are sent to hunt it, no matter how many wounds it suffers, it always seems to escape to menace the town in the future.”
Applejack raised an eyebrow. “‘Locals?’ Yer not from around here, then?”
The giant man shook his head. “No, we are not. We are of the Buffalo tribe, from the northeastern plains. And I am their chief, Thunderhooves.” He began to walk toward a cave at the very foot of the mountain. “Come. It would be best if you introduce yourselves to the Sheriff.”
Applejack and Fluttershy followed. As they did, Applejack looked around at the other people. Although all wore the same protective clothes, some were unmistakably different from the rest- their hair was dark, long and braided, and they wore various decorations: beads, feathers, and charms of bone. But before Applejack could examine the strangers any further, she and Fluttershy were led into a cave at the base of the mountain, and began to climb up a roughly-hewn stone staircase. A flickering string of lights hung from the stone ceiling lit the way forward.
As they climbed, Applejack asked Thunderhooves, “What’re y’all doin’ in a place like this? Ah thought people in the Buffalo tribe were supposed ta be ‘one with the land,’ or some such. Ya know, livin’ in harmony with nature and so forth.”
“Yes, that was the way of our tribe, not long ago,” Thunderhooves replied. “But that was before… they came to our lands.”
“They?” Fluttershy asked.
He glanced back. “The monsters from the south. When these creatures came to our lands some months ago, we reached out to them, as with any other. But they lashed out against us, without warning, and without mercy. These beasts… they are not creatures of this world. The threat of death or injury does not dissuade them. For then, pain and dismemberment are only minor inconveniences. They are soulless, evil things. And I will see my people protected, by any means necessary. Even if I must kill every last one of these monsters myself.”
Thunderhooves brought up his fists- for a moment, they trembled in anger… but then they fell to his sides once more, and he let out a deep sigh. “…but I’m certain you didn’t come all this way to be burdened by tales of others’ suffering.”
Fluttershy looked over to Applejack. “Ah know what tha look means…” Applejack began. “But we got a job ta do. Ya remember what Twilight said.”
“But there has to be something we can do to help them,” Fluttershy pleaded.
“What can we do?” Applejack asked back. “It ain’t like we can go around huntin’ down every last monster in the world by ourselves…”
As the three climbed the stone steps, they could hear voices floating on the air- indistinct at first, but growing clearer as they climbed: “…and what about the electricity problems?” a deep, gravelly voice asked.
“Still workin’ on ‘em,” a second voice replied- a younger man’s. “We’ve got some more windmills lined up, but we’re gonna need some time before they’re finished. Whispering Wind thinks he can make some solar panels, but he’s short on materials, and there’s no way he can get to the mines on his own.”
“Can’t we just wire everything to the windmills we already have?”
“Nah, that won’t work. Goldengrape says it’ll put too much strain on the electric grid as it is- could cause a blackout in the whole town.”
Thunderhooves finally came to a stop at a small landing, in front of a door marked “Sherriff.” He looked back at the two and said, “Wait here for a moment,” and knocked.
“Just a sec!” the gravelly voice called, before saying “Alright… Ah’ll see if I can rustle up some free hands to work the mine. And some more free hands to protect ‘em.” Then he called again, “Alright, c’mon in.”
Thunderhooves opened the door and stepped inside. But his massive size kept Fluttershy and Applejack from following, or from seeing into the room.
“Chief!” the younger voice asked. “Yer back already?”
Thunderhooves nodded. “I am.”
The gravelly voice asked, “And Lobo?”
“…Escaped.”
“Damn…” the gravelly voice muttered, before saying out loud, “Well Ah can’t really say Ah’m surprised. That Lobo’s one slippery varmint- even with yer help, Ah wasn’t sure we could bring ‘em down.”
“I have more to tell,” Thunderhooves continued.
“Ya do?” the young voice asked.
“There were a pair of travelers outside the wall. They saved me from Lobo, and they seem to be an honest sort, so I brought them to meet you.”
“Ya brought them inside!?” the gravelly voice shouted. There was silence for a moment, before he sighed. “…well, bring ‘em in. Ah’ll see how trustworthy they are with mah own eyes.”
Thunderhooves looked back and said, “You may enter,” stepping aside so the two could pass.
Inside the door was a small cluttered office. In the center of the room was a desk with various maps and diagrams laid across it. Behind the desk stood a dark-haired man with a mustache, a silver sheriff’s star pinned to his desk. But there was another man standing in front of the desk, one that caught Applejack’s attention. He was just a little older than her, with blonde hair, a brown leather vest, and a hat much like her own. And as he looked over, he blinked several times, as if unable to believe what he was seeing.
He began to approach them, slowly, his attention focused on Applejack. “…AJ?”
Applejack recognized the stranger… but to her, the man was no stranger at all. “Cousin Braeburn? …Is that you?”
A bright smile broke across his face. “‘Course it is!” he replied happily. “Who else could Ah be?”
“But… Ah don’t get it. Ya told me once that ya’d never turn yer back on Appleoosa. That ya’d-” At that moment, something clicked in Applejack’s mind. “Wait… this place… is it…?”
“Just startin’ ta put it all together, huh? Well Ah wouldn’t blame ya for not seein’ it sooner.” Braeburn tipped his hat to the two. “Welcome to the new and improved Appleoosa, cousin. Hope ya like what we’ve done with the place.”
“Aw, come on Sunset! Why would you pass up a chance to sleep in a real bed?” Rainbow complained.
“We need to hold on to every bit we can.” Sunset replied. “Besides, didn’t you say you liked camping?”
Rainbow sat down next to their unlit campfire. “Yeah, camping. Not… whatever you’d call this.”
Sunset and Rainbow had set up camp in the wilderness a few miles outside of Mustangia. Their pace was slow, but it was the safest route, even with the monsters- Rainbow Dash had heard on the radio that gangs of outlaws were roaming up and down the highways all over the east coast, attacking everyone they came across.
Sunset snapped her fingers, summoning a small fireball into her hand, before tossing it into the kindling- their fire roared to life, and Sunset said, “That’s better.” She watched the flames in silence for a few moments, before asking, “…Hey, do you think that Shill guy is okay? He said he was driving down the highway to Mareami…”
“I’m sure he’s fine,” Rainbow replied, her attention turned to her cellphone. “I mean, you saw all the stuff he had, right? The guy could take on an army!”
Silence fell between the two once again. Sunset looked away from the fire, and to the stars overhead. “You know,” she began, “call me crazy, but despite everything that’s happened so far, things are kinda… nice.”
Sunset let out a small laugh. “Well, it’s definitely starting to feel like my old world. But that’s not what I meant. It’s nice to be away from Canterlot.” Her smile faded. “From the school. From… everyone.”
Rainbow looked to her companion- she knew what was coming next. “Sunset…”
Sunset looked at Rainbow. “They hate me, you know. The other students, the teachers… they do their best to hide it, but even Principal Celestia and Vice-Principal Luna resent me.” She looked down sadly. “…and after what I did, who’d blame them?”
With a sigh, Rainbow put her phone away and sat up. “Come on Sunset, we’ve talked about this before. Sure, you did a lot of bad stuff before- like, a lot of bad stuff, and-” Rainbow immediately stopped once she saw Sunset’s expression. “-but the point is is that you’re not like that anymore! The old Sunset Shimmer is gone and she’s never coming back!”
Sunset hugged her legs against her chest. “Maybe. It’s too bad that the old Sunset Shimmer is all people see when they look at me.”
Rainbow searched for something- anything to reassure her friend. “…Think about it this way- once you help save the world, people’ll have to change their minds about you!”
Sunset doubted that other people’s view of her would be changed so easily, even if she did save the world. But she decided not to voice her doubts. “…I guess we’ll see.” She looked to Rainbow. “And speaking of saving the world, do you have a map of Manehattan on that thing?”
“Uh, yeah.” Rainbow pulled out her phone and brought up a map of Manehattan, before handing it off to Sunset.
Sunset examined the map in silence for several moments. “…huh, there aren’t as many bridges into Manehattan in this world…” she said. “It looks like this-” she tapped a bridge on the map. “-is the closest route into the city. …Unless you’d prefer to swim…”
“I will, Papa,” a young woman replied. She was a small girl- smaller than Thunderhooves, of course, but even smaller than Applejack and Fluttershy- with curly light brown hair, and a headband adorned with two feathers.
Thunderhooves rested a massive hand on the girl’s shoulder. “Spirits keep you, Strongheart.” Then he turned, and left the room.
The girl, Strongheart, turned to Applejack and Fluttershy with an excited gleam in her eye. “I’m glad to meet you two. I wasn’t expecting company but I’m sure I can cook something for all of us. I’ll get started once Papa comes back.”
“Sorry to intrude on y’all like this,” Applejack said. “We really should be stayin’ with mah cousin Braeburn, but Mr. Thunderhooves insisted.”
Strongheart smiled. “It’s not a problem at all. He might not look like it but Papa loves to have guests stay with us.”
Night had fallen over Appleoosa. Although he had his misgivings, the Sheriff allowed Applejack and Fluttershy to stay for the night in town. Despite Braeburn’s appeals, Chief Thunderhooves insisted that the two spend the night in his home. And it was there that the two were introduced to the Chief’s daughter, Little Strongheart.
“Speakin’ of yer Pa,” Applejack began, “where’d he run off to?”
“Papa went to listen to the earth.”
Applejack raised an eyebrow. “…Huh?”
Strongheart paused for a moment, trying to figure out the best way to explain. “When you helped Papa earlier, you saw how he can move the earth, right? Well, Papa can move the earth with his mind, but he says that the earth also… speaks to him. It tells him where the tunnels and walls are weak, when monsters try to dig into the town, sometimes it even tells him where gold and stuff is buried. So every evening, Papa goes out, and listens to the earth…”
As Applejack and Strongheart talked, Fluttershy looked around the small house Thunderhooves and his daughter called home. It was one of the many wooden houses that clung to the side of the mountain- though small, Strongheart, Thunderhooves, and guests each had their own room (Applejack and Fluttershy would have to share). The common room was sparsely furnished, with only a stove, a table, and a few chairs- no doubt because Thunderhooves and Strongheart spent little of their time here. But there was something draped across one of the walls that caught Fluttershy’s attention: a long, wide strip of fabric, painted with all sorts of pictures. It looked very old, and very important- Fluttershy approached it and looked at the paintings closely, wishing she knew their meaning.
“Curious about that, huh?” Strongheart asked. “Guests usually are. Papa’s usually the one to explain things, but I can tell you all about it if you want.”
“Would you?” Fluttershy replied. “If it’s not asking too much…”
Strongheart walked up and gazed at the fabric as well. “It’s one of the Buffalo tribe’s most precious relics,” she explained. “It shows the history of our tribe.” Strongheart then pointed to a square section in the middle- there, a group of people had been painted, facing towards a white winged monster. Four other figures had been painted in each of the square’s corners. “This right here is the most important part. It shows the ancient shamans of our tribe forming a covenant with the Great Guardian Spirits. And this painting is proof of our covenant- as long as we have it, the Guardian Spirits will come to our tribe’s aid when we call them. …At least, that’s how it’s supposed to work.”
Fluttershy looked over. “Guardian spirits?”
Strongheart scratched her head in embarrassment. “Oh, right. You wouldn’t know about them. Well, a long time ago, our tribe’s shamans could speak to spirits, and call upon them in times of need. There were a lot of spirits- as many as there are humans on the earth, according to the legends- but there were five our tribe revered above all others. Those five are the Great Guardian Spirits.” Strongheart pointed to the center of the cloth, where four figures had been painted. “They’re the Vermillion Bird, the Woman in Shadow, the Winged Man, and the Thousand-Handed Giant,” she continued, pointing to each in turn.
Fluttershy looked at the figures in turn, but was the Vermillion Bird in particular that caught her attention- it was a red-and-yellow bird, painted as if wreathed in flames. She muttered to herself, “I wonder if that could be…”
“What? Did you say something?” Strongheart asked.
“Eep! No, um, i-it’s nothing,” Fluttershy stammered, shaking her head. She then pointed to one of the other figures- the white monster in the center. “W-What about this one in the middle? Is he a Guardian Spirit too?”
Strongheart looked at the figure. “The Albino Dragon. The lord of all spirits,” she replied, her tone reverent. “Our shamans could speak to him, but he was the only one they couldn’t summon. He said that he would only come forth when the entire world itself was in danger.”
The room was silent for several moments… until there was a loud knock on the front door. “Chief?” Braeburn’s voice called from the other side. “Ah hate ta bother ya so late, but ya said mah cousin was stayin’ with y’all.”
Strongheart crossed the room and opened the door. “Papa stepped out for the moment. But your cousin is here. Come in.” She stepped aside, and Braeburn entered, removing his hat.
His eyes fell on Applejack. “There ya are, AJ. Ya got a sec?”
“Ah always got time fer family,” she replied. “What’s up?”
“Well, Ah know y’all can’t stay long, so Ah was hopin’ you and me could squeeze in a little shootin’ practice. It’s been a while, and Ah wanted to show ya some new tricks Ah learned.”
“Ah s’pose Ah could do that.” Applejack looked to Strongheart. “If Miss Strongheart don’t object.”
Strongheart shook her head slightly. “Papa should be coming back soon,” she replied. “The two of you can head out after we eat. …Would you like anything, Mr. Braeburn?”
Braeburn took a seat. “Nah, Ah already ate. But Ah hope ya don’t mind me stayin’ fer a spell.”
“Not at all.” Another short silence fell, before Strongheart asked. “Applejack, Fluttershy… is it true what Papa said? That you’re headed for the border?”
Applejack nodded. “Yep. The road between here and Canterlot was rough, but we ain’t even close ta being finished.”
“Canterlot? You came all the way from up there?” Strongheart asked, taking a seat as well. “What could be so important that you’d risk getting ripped apart by all these monsters?”
Fluttershy glanced at Applejack, before she began to tell that had happened, starting on that fateful day in Canterlot: “It started… about a month ago. It was Spring Break, and Applejack and I were getting ready to go camping with our friends. But then… a monster attacked us. We had no idea what was going on outside of Canterlot at the time, but a girl named Twilight Sparkle came, and saved us…”
The rising sun painted the sky a brilliant orange. But even at this early hour, Rarity was awake. She hadn’t taken any martial arts classes in many years- not since she was Sweetie Belle’s age- and she hadn’t needed the skills she’d learned from them until fairly recently. But now, she was thankful for what she’d learned.
“Haah!” She threw a punch with all her might… but Spike blocked the blow with his forearm. She threw another punch, aimed at Spike’s stomach, but again, he stopped the blow. Then, she dashed to his side and threw out a high kick aimed at his head… but he caught her leg before she could make contact.
She was surprised by how fast he was- every time she thought she found a hole in his guard, Spike blocked her blows with ease. And he never staggered, or flinched- he didn’t even wince in pain when she struck.
Rarity spun, letting out one final roundhouse kick… but as with her other strikes, Spike blocked it. “You’re healing faster than I expected,” he said.
“I’m glad to hear that,” Rarity replied. “And thank you for helping me train, Spike. I’m not sure I could’ve spent any longer sitting-” But all of a sudden, a sharp pain shot through Rarity’s leg. She cried out and fell to one knee, unable to rise again.
At once, Spike rushed to her side. He moved, as if to pick her up in his arms… but Rarity held out her arm to stop him. “No, it’s alright. I… just need a moment.” And after a moment, Rarity rose to her feet once more. But she staggered, and had to grab Spike’s shoulder to keep her balance.
“Still, with an injury like yours, magic can only do so much,” Spike said. “Time will have to take care of the rest.” He began to walk slowly, back towards the camp, with Rarity limping at his side, holding onto him for support. After a minute, they reached the campsite. Spike lowered himself down, allowing Rarity to sit next to the campfire. Then, he stood. “Wait here. I’ll wake up Trixie.”
“No,” Rarity protested. “I’ll be fine. I just need a little time, like you said.”
Spike sat next to the fire as well, next to Rarity. “If you insist.” There was a brief silence between the two, before he said, “By the way, since we haven’t had the chance to stop for supplies, I took some time to make these for you.” He then pulled out two objects- they looked like a pair of small curved metal plates, with handles on the insides. “…they’re supposed to protect your hands.”
Spike handed the knuckle guards to Rarity, her arms dipping from their considerable weight. Rarity had always had an eye for craftsmanship, so as she examined the plates, a number of details stuck out to her: one was slightly smaller than the other, the edges were covered in rough metal burrs, and the center of the plates had numerous small craters, as if they had been struck with a hammer numerous times. What’s more, the knuckles were incredibly warm- not burning hot, but much warmer than they should have been if Spike had simply been carrying them around. Despite the answer being somewhat obvious, she still asked, “…did you make these yourself, dear?”
“I finished them just before you woke up,” he replied. “I took a few parts from the buggy. It’s not like we can use it for much else.”
Rarity was silent for a moment- if what Spike had said was true, then it meant he’d stayed up all night working to make them. She slipped her hand into one of the knuckles- a perfect fit. “…Well, I certainly appreciate the thought, dear,” she said. “But do try to think of yourself as well. We need someone to guide us to the Land of Fire- it wouldn’t do anyone any good for you to work yourself to death before we get there.”
But Spike simply replied, “Don’t worry about me. I’m a dragon- I can take it.”
“…So Chief Thunderhooves made all that by himself?” Applejack asked.
Braeburn nodded. “Yep. Couple other people in the Buffalo tribe helped out, but the Chief did most of the heavy liftin’.” He scratched his head. “Ah gotta admit, Ah’m mighty jealous of everyone in the Buffalo tribe- that magic seems like it would be real handy.”
“Quiet back there!” Strongheart hissed. “We don’t wanna scare off Lobo if he’s nearby.”
The next morning had come. But although they had left town, Applejack and Fluttershy were not on the road to their destination. Late the night before, Braeburn had shared the plights Appleoosa had suffered with Applejack. Unwilling to leave the town and her kin to the mercy of the monsters roaming the countryside, the two agreed to hunt down the Silver Lobo, and bring back his head as a trophy, no matter what. Fluttershy had been reluctant at first, wanting to press on and continue their mission, but it didn’t take much convincing to change her mind. And so, after dawn, the three, accompanied by Strongheart, had set out to track the beast.
The trail proved easy enough for Strongheart to find, and the party followed it into a deep canyon to the east, about an hour’s walk away from Appleoosa. But they had yet to find their prey- the party’s only company as they trudged through the canyon was the sound of the wind, whistling as it swept across the stony walls.
The group had come to a stop as Strongheart searched for Lobo’s trail. The wind swept through the canyon, bringing a foul scent to Applejack’s nose. “Ugh. What is that smell?”
Braeburn sniffed the air, wrinkling his nose in disgust. “…Smells like somethin’ rotten.” He looked down to Strongheart. “Hey Strongheart, do you think Lobo’s den is close by?”
Strongheart was silent for a moment as she crouched over the tracks- she touched the earth, making strange marks in the dirt next to the tracks with the handle of her tomahawk. She then answered, “I think so. There’re a lot of tracks here going both ways- some of them are weeks old. Even if his den’s not here, we’re definitely going the right way.”
“What’re we standin’ around fer, then?” Applejack asked. “Let’s keep goin’.”
“Hold up.” Strongheart stood. “There’s something else here. More tracks.”
The others looked around the canyon floor, but nothing stood out. “…where?” Fluttershy asked.
Strongheart pointed. “Up there.”
The others looked up to where Strongheart was pointing, on the canyon wall behind. At first, they didn’t see anything. But then they saw a series of white scratches in the otherwise red stone. They started near the top of the canyon, stopping just above their heads, and continued down the canyon opposite from where the party had come.
“Geez…” Applejack said, looking up at the marks. “Did Lobo make these too?”
Strongheart touched the scratches, rubbing the dust from them between her fingers. “…No. And look at the other side.” On the other wall was another set of scratches- they were a near-perfect mirror of the first set, only set into the stone a few inches lower. “Look at how the marks line up. Whatever made these, it was by itself.”
“One monster made these?” Braeburn said in disbelief, looking between the two canyon walls. “But this canyon’s gotta be at least twelve feet wide! Whatever made these has ta be huge!”
“I know.” Strongheart put away her tomahawk, trading it for the bow hanging across her chest. “We’re not the only ones chasing Lobo anymore.” She drew an arrow and notched it. “We need to be ready for anything.”
The others drew their weapons in turn: Applejack her pistols, Fluttershy her staff, and Braeburn a knife and revolver- one in each hand. The four continued down the trail with Strongheart leading, expecting that at any moment, something would leap out to confront them from the rocky outcroppings surrounding them. And all the while, the foul scent in the air only continued to worsen.
Fluttershy and Braeburn brought up the rear. As they walked, Fluttershy noticed the strange way he held his weapons: he held his revolver in his left hand, and both steadied his gun and held the knife in his right. She didn’t know many people who handled weapons, but even then, it was something she’d never seen before.
“Yer wonderin’ about the knife, aren’t ya?” he asked. Fluttershy jolted in surprise, but nodded. “…It’s somethin’ the Sheriff showed me. Ya probably know this already, but most of these monsters like ta get up close an’ personal. And when that happens, a knife can be more handy than a gun. So by holdin’ both like this, I can keep the gun steady, and-”
All of a sudden, Strongheart hissed “Hide!” Without warning, Braeburn grabbed Fluttershy and pulled her behind a nearby rock outcropping. Fluttershy simply froze up in surprise, unable to even cry out. But after a moment, she regained control, and asked, “What’s going on?”
“Strongheart must’ve spotted somethin’,” Braeburn whispered in reply. He looked over- on the other side of the canyon, Strongheart and Applejack were hiding behind another outcropping. “Hey,” Braeburn called, as quietly as he could. “What’s goin’ on?”
Strongheart motioned to the canyon ahead. “Take a look. But don’t lean out too far.”
The others peered around the side of the rocks. Ahead, lying on the ground was… a thing. A massive, green thing seemingly made of dozens of tentacles. Though it was still a ways away, it was easily twice the height of anyone in the party, and nearly blocked off the canyon completely with its body. Applejack looked to the others, and muttered, “What the hell is that thing?”
“Xylomid,” Strongheart replied, hiding herself behind the rocks. “The Creeping Death.”
Applejack raised an eyebrow in confusion. “…What?”
“People ‘round these parts call ‘em ‘Malboros.’” Braeburn explained. “Ya wanna know why the wall ‘round Appleoosa is so smooth? It’s ‘cause of these varmints. They can slither up damn near anything if they can get a good grip on it. And their breath… it can do all kinds ‘a nasty things ta ya. Even the Chief says the best thing ta do if ya find one is ta run away.”
Fluttershy glanced at the mass of tentacles. “What should we do?”
“Ain’t much we can do with it blockin’ the way. It’s got about twenty eyes- there’s no way we can sneak past it without it seein’ us.” He looked to Strongheart. “…Maybe we can head to the other end of the canyon, try ta pick up the trail there.”
“This trail is our best shot at finding Lobo,” she replied. “We can’t just give up on it now.”
“What’re we supposed ta do then? It ain’t like we can take a Malboro in a straight fight…” Braeburn and Strongheart argued about what to do for a few moments, until Fluttershy asked, “…why is it just laying there?”
“Well it ain’t dead,” Braeburn replied. “See it breathin’?” The slow rise and fall of the monster’s body showed that it was indeed still alive.
Fluttershy was quiet for a moment, before she said, “…I’m going to take a look.” She then stepped out from behind the rocks and began to approach the Malboro.
Applejack sprang out and chased after her. “Fluttershy, wait! You can’t-” But she stopped, and gagged as a powerful, rancid smell struck her nostrils. It was the foulest scent Applejack had ever had the displeasure of smelling. Eyes watering, she pinched her nose and continued on.
As she drew closer, the Malboro only seemed to become more and more horrific. Many of tentacles that grew from its body ended in a single, beadlike black eye, a few of which turned to watch her as she approached. Its entire body, tentacles and all, was covered with what Applejack though was fur… but on closer inspection, it more closely resembled grass. And as she rounded to the front of the monster, she caught a glimpse of its mouth- large enough to swallow a person whole, and lined with jagged, broken teeth. And inside its mouth, near the back, was another set of teeth, the function of which she wasn’t even willing to speculate on.
As she circled around the Malboro, Applejack could hear Fluttershy’s voice. She was… talking to the horrible thing: “…I know you’ve been through a lot, but don’t you worry. I’ll have you fixed up before you know it.” The beast let out a deep rumble, as if replying to her. “Now, now, you leave Lobo to us. You should find somewhere safe.” Applejack finally spotted Fluttershy- she was standing next to the monster, stroking just underneath its mouth. She must have seen Applejack as well, as she turned and said, “Oh. There you are, Applejack.”
“Fluttershy, what were you thinkin’?” Applejack shouted. “Why’d ya go runnin’ off like that? Ya didn’t know what thing could’a done to ya!”
Before Fluttershy could reply, rapidly approaching footsteps sounded, and Braeburn called, “AJ! You okay!?” He and Strongheart emerged from behind the beast, covering their noses and mouths as best they could while keeping their weapons aimed at the monster. The Malboro watched them with a few of its eyes and let out a deep growl, but that was all. “Whoa. There ya are. C’mon, let’s get outta here before this thing decides to have us for lunch.”
“It’s okay,” Fluttershy said. “This… Malboro was hurt pretty badly- I don’t think he’ll attack us.”
“It’s… hurt?” Applejack asked, confused.
“She’s right. Look.” Strongheart pointed to the Malboro. Applejack could see that the beast was covered in bites and scratches- dozens of them, in fact- with a thick, sap-like fluid still flowing from some of the wounds. “It must’ve been following Lobo’s trail as well. It looks like things didn’t go too well.”
Braeburn shook his head, saying, “I know these monsters are nasty critters, but Ah’ve never heard of ‘em fightin’ each other before.”
“Me neither,” Strongheart replied. “The Buffalo tribe ran into many different monsters before coming to Appleoosa, but they all had one thing in common- they only ever attack people.”
“All the more reason fer us ta find Lobo and put ‘em down,” Applejack said. She turned away from the beast. “Strongheart, ya think ya can pick up the trail again? If there was a fight, I’ll bet Lobo left somethin’ behind.”
Fluttershy looked back at her. “Wait, we’re leaving?” she asked. “We can’t go yet! We have to help him!”
Applejack stopped, and looked back. “Fluttershy…” she began. “Ah really though Ah wouldn’t have ta spell it out for ya, but that isn’t a puppy someone dropped off at the animal shelter. It’s a monster that could kill any one of us without even tryin’. I know ya can’t stand it ta see animals gettin’ hurt, but this… even you have ta get that this isn’t a good idea.”
“I know we’ve run into monsters before, but… there’s something different about this one. I’m sure of it.” Fluttershy stroked the giant beast again. “Let me heal it. Maybe it will help us.”
Applejack could only stare at Fluttershy, mouth agape, at an utter loss for words. She looked to Strongheart and Braeburn, and said, “Can y’all help me ta explain how much of a bad idea that is?”
Strongheart was silent for a moment, resting her hand on her chin. Then, she replied, “The monsters our tribe ran into before were never this… docile around people, even if they were hurt. I think Fluttershy might be onto something.”
Applejack looked to her cousin, stunned. “Brae, tell me you’re not thinkin’ of goin’ along with all this…”
“Ah don’t know what ta think of all this…” he replied, scratching his head. “But Strongheart’s right- if that Malboro were fixin’ ta kill us, it woulda tried somethin’ by now. Ah say we should let yer friend fix it up, see what happens after that.”
Applejack buried her face in her hands in utter disbelief… but took several deep breaths to calm herself, before looking back at Fluttershy. “…alright. You do yer thing. But Ah don’t like this one bit.” She pulled out her guns and aimed both at the monster. “If it tries anything, Ah’m puttin’ a bullet in it.” She glanced back at the others. “Help me cover Fluttershy.”
“No problem,” Braeburn replied, aiming his gun at the beast. Strongheart simply aimed her bow in silence.
Fluttershy nodded. “Okay. I’ll get started.” She then turned to the Malboro, and held out her hand, concentrating. After a moment, the beast was bathed in a brilliant light. The scratches and bites faded, and after a few moments, the light faded as well. The beast drew itself up, and shook itself, as if testing its injuries. It then turned to Fluttershy and the others, letting out a deep, rumbling growl.
Fluttershy backed away. “Oh boy…” Braeburn mumbled. Applejack tightened her grip on her guns, her fingers hovering over the triggers.
The Malboro rose up to its full, terrifying height, looking down on the party with its numerous eyes…
…before it turned and slithered up the canyon wall with incredible speed, disappearing beyond its upper edge.
Applejack, Strongheart, and Braeburn aimed at the spot where the Malboro had vanished and waited for several moments, but it did not reappear. “It ran away…” Braeburn said, lowering his gun.
Applejack holstered her guns as well. “…well, Ah guess things could’ve gone worse.” She turned to Strongheart. “We should get back on the trail. Strongheart, do you-”
She fell silent when she saw that Strongheart was already examining the surroundings for signs of Lobo. There were footprints, claw marks, and dried drops of blood scattered in every direction. Applejack couldn’t make sense of it… but somehow, Strongheart did; she touched a dark brown stain, and rubbed it in between her fingers. “Blood,” she said. “Hasn’t completely dried yet.”
“Lobo?” Fluttershy asked.
“Or one of his pack. Should make them easier to follow.”
The four didn’t have to follow the new trail very far- it led them to the mouth of a cave set into the canyon wall after only a few minutes. Though almost noon, the light of the sun only illuminated the first few feet within the cave, plunging the rest into an inky, impenetrable blackness.
Applejack leaned in, in a futile attempt to see further within. “That cave looks pretty deep.”
“Great,” Braeburn said. “Anyone got a light? Ah wasn’t expectin’ ta have ta dig through any caves.”
“Oh!” Fluttershy exclaimed. “I think I have something.” She set her pack on the ground and searched through it, pulling out a pair of small flashlights. “I still have some camping supplies,” she explained. “Before all of this happened…”
“Good thinkin’.” Braeburn took a flashlight and passed it to Strongheart. “You hold onto that one. Me and AJ are gonna need both our hands free.”
Strongheart wasted no time in tying the flashlight to the front of her bow. “Alright,” she said. “We might have Lobo cornered, but that just makes him more dangerous. Anything can happen in there, so be ready.” She then flicked on the flashlight, and advanced into the darkness of the cave.
The others followed in her footsteps. The air was warm, and filled with a strange musk mixed with the scent of blood- something lived in this cave, and recently, too. The party moved through the cave slowly, expecting that at any moment, the beams from their flashlights would reveal a monster poised to strike. But for several long, agonizing minutes, there was nothing, and the group soon stepped into a wide cavern.
“Keep that light steady, Shy,” Applejack said.
Braeburn then said, “Ah really hope that Malboro doesn’t decide ta follow us. Ah get the feelin’ we ain’t gonna be able ta slip past ‘em in here.”
“Keep your voice down,” Strongheart ordered. “How many times do I have to say it?” She was crouched down in front of the trail of blood, examining it. “…I don’t know if there’s another way out of this cave, but Lobo didn’t come through here too long ago- no more than a few hours.” She began to stand. “We’ve almost got him.”
As she stood, the beam from her flashlight wavered, and for the briefest of moments, two small points of light shone from the darkness some ways away.
Applejack didn’t wait to ask if anyone else had seen the lights. She simply aimed her revolver at where the lights had been, focused, and fired a flaming bullet. For a moment, the fire drove back the shadows, revealing a wolf-like monster skulking nearby, before Applejack’s shot hit its mark.
The wolf cried out in agony as the flaming bullet set its fur ablaze. It sprinted around the cave, slamming its body against the walls in a desperate attempt to put itself out. It sprinted past the party and out of the cave, its pained yelps echoing from the darkness.
But soon, the cave echoed with new sounds: dozens of growls and snarls. Strongheart held out a hand and snapped her fingers under the head of her arrow- there was an electric spark, and small electric bolts arced across its metal surface. “So much for subtlety,” she said.
“They woulda sniffed us out sooner or later,” Braeburn replied. “Least this way, Lobo’ll come straight ta us.”
Fluttershy’s grip on her staff tightened. “Should we go back?” she asked. “Those wolves might surround us if we-”
Suddenly, another wolf entered the light and leapt at the group. Strongheart let her arrow fly- it struck the wolf, letting out a brilliant blue flash. The wolf yelped in pain, and dropped to the ground, twitching.
But it was far from alone. Others darted around in the darkness outside the flashlight beam’s edge- only the reflections in their eyes and the occasional paw gave them away. Applejack didn’t wait for the pack to strike first- she fired into the darkness with both guns, the muzzle flashes briefly revealing over a dozen wolves. Braeburn fired into the darkness as well- Strongheart snapped her fingers under her arrowhead again, setting it alight, before she too fired. Fluttershy, in the rear, had no way reach the monsters- all she could do to help was sweep her flashlight across the cavern, trying to reveal as many of the wolves as she could. One of the wolves closed in and leapt at the group…
But Braeburn stabbed his knife into the side of the wolf’s neck, before he pressed the barrel of his revolver against its forehead and fired. “C’mon!” he shouted. “Ah’ve had enough of these small fry!”
Strongheart grabbed her tomahawk from her belt and buried it in the skull of another wolf that had gotten too close. “Fluttershy’s right. We need to fall back to the entrance. This fight’s as good as over if we get surrounded.”
But at that moment, an angry roar sounded from the tunnel behind the party. Not the snarl of another wolf, but a deafening roar that sounded like it belonged to something much bigger. Fluttershy turned around, shining her light into the tunnel they’d emerged from.
Filling the tunnel and rapidly approaching was a mass of green tentacles twice their height, emitting the most putrid odor one could imagine.
“It’s that Malboro again!” Applejack shouted.
“What do we do now!?” Braeburn shouted. “Fightin’ that bastard would be bad enough on its own! How’re we supposed ta-”
By then, the Malboro was upon the party. But then, it did something none of them had expected: it slithered past the four, and into the middle of the cavern. It let out another deafening roar, seeming to ignore the four entirely.
The wolf pack turned their attention to the greater threat. One leapt at the great beast with its fangs bared, but the Malboro grabbed it out of the air with one of its tentacles and slammed it against the cave floor. But others pounced and latched on with their fangs- the Malboro whipped its tentacles and snapped its jaws, but a half-dozen wolves latched onto its body. The massive beast let out a pained roar, before it opened its mouth wide, and spewed forth a thick, toxic green cloud.
“Aw jeez, look out!” Strongheart called. “Back to the entrance!” The party scrambled to retreat from the rapidly expanding cloud, fleeing all the way back to the entrance. They stumbled into the canyon, momentarily blinded by the sun’s light, but they recovered and looked back at the cave entrance. Thick green clouds spilled out from within, but despite the commotion, all was strangely quiet.
Suddenly, the clouds billowed, and one of the wolves stumbled into the open- its skin and fur had been burned away, leaving only bleeding, angry red flesh behind. It snarled at the group as soon as it laid eyes on them, and staggered towards them. But after only a few steps, it collapsed, and laid motionless on the ground.
Applejack slowly began to approach the wolf. “Is that-”
But at that moment, there was a heavy thump and a yelp, and another wolf flew from the cloud, and slid across the ground. Chunks of its flesh had been burned away, but there was no mistaking the silver fur that still remained. It struggled to its feet, and its attention snapped to the cave entrance.
The Malboro slithered into the open. A few toxic wisps leaked from its mouth as it let out a deep growl. Lobo growled in turn, before charging the larger beast. The Malboro whipped one of its tentacles at the wolf, but Lobo leapt to the side, evading the attack. He then bounded up the larger monster’s body, before biting down on one of its numerous eyestalks. The Malboro roared in pain and shook itself violently, but Lobo held on. Then the larger beast slammed into the canyon wall, crushing Lobo between the stone and its body. Lobo’s grip loosened, and the Malboro seized the wolf’s leg with one of its tentacles, before throwing him against the canyon floor.
Before he could rise, the Malboro grabbed Lobo in its tentacles and lifted him into the air. Lobo bit down on one of the tentacles, but the Malboro held firm, and began pulling the wolf’s body in opposite directions. Lobo tore into the larger monster’s flesh, but the Malboro refused to let go. Then, the Malboro twisted its tentacles- there was a loud snap, and Lobo yelped, falling limp in the larger monster’s grip. For a moment, the Malboro held out the silver wolf in one of its tentacles- it simply hung lifeless in its grip.
The Malboro unceremoniously dropped Lobo, before turning its attention to the party. It slithered toward them slowly, letting out another deep, rumbling growl. The group huddled together, weapons readied. “Knew we should’ve taken this thing out when we had the chance…” Braeburn mumbled.
Then, Fluttershy pushed past the others and stepped forward. “Fluttershy!” Applejack called. But Fluttershy didn’t say anything. She didn’t even look back. She simply set her staff down, and waited.
The Malboro stopped in front of Fluttershy, and stared down at her with its numerous beady eyes. Slowly, Fluttershy brought up a hand, and held it out towards the massive beast. The beast simply stared down at her in silence, before slithering closer, opening its mouth wide.
“Fluttershy!” Applejack called.
“No!” Fluttershy glanced back for a brief moment, her face set into a hard glare. “I can handle this. You just have to trust me” she said, before looking back to the Malboro. The beast let out a deep, rumbling breath. Her eyes watered from the smell, but Fluttershy didn’t back down- instead, she stepped toward the massive monster, laying her hand on one of its numerous tentacles. For a moment, the beast stood motionless. But then it did something the others didn’t expect- it pushed itself against Fluttershy’s hand, and let out another deep rumble. To Applejack, it sounded… content.
Braeburn stepped forward. “Uh…”
Fluttershy then looked back. “It’s alright,” she said. “He won’t attack us.” She glanced back at the Malboro? “Can you move back a little? I think the others want to see Lobo.” To their shock, the beast obeyed, slithering back a few feet.
For a moment, all was still, until Braeburn nodded. “Right then. Ya keep that thing under control- Ah got some business with Lobo.” He walked over to Lobo’s body, readying his knife. As he glared down at the body, he said, “Ah’ve been waitin’ a long time fer this…” He then knelt down next to the fallen beast…
Lobo’s eyes shot open. It rolled over, and with his front legs, he launched himself at Braeburn, fangs bared and aimed at his throat.
The world slowed to a crawl. Without even having to think about it, Applejack grabbed her semi from its holster and fired. The bullet spiraled through the air, and struck Lobo in the side of the head. Blood sprayed from the wound, and the silver wolf fell to his side as the world sped up once again.
Braeburn fell back in shock, reeling from Lobo’s final attack- it took several more moments for him to realize what had just happened. He looked over, and with a shaky hand, gave the others a thumbs-up. “That’s mah cousin fer ya,” he said, voice wavering. “Fastest draw north of Appleoosa.”
The four returned to Appleoosa, with Lobo’s skin as their trophy. But they were not alone on the return trip- the Malboro had followed them the entire way back. Or rather, it followed Fluttershy. Upon returning, the townspeople nearly shot the beast to pieces, but with some quick thinking, Strongheart and Braeburn were able to call them off. But although they lowered their weapons, the townspeople were less trusting of the Malboro than Fluttershy, and refused to allow it into the town. So, Braeburn went into town alone, to present Lobo’s skin to Chief Thunderhooves and the Sheriff- the rest of the party waited for him in a small camp they’d erected at the base of the wall.
Strongheart slowly approached the Malboro, extending a shaking hand towards it. But suddenly, the beast snapped at her. “Ah!” She stumbled back, falling onto her rear. She took several breaths, before rising. “I can’t believe this. My tribe’s shamans tried to reach out to the monsters before, but…” She looked to Fluttershy. “Why does it obey you? What do you have that we don’t?”
“I… I don’t know.” Fluttershy replied, brushing her hair out of her face. “Applejack and I have run into monsters before, but… there was something different about this one. I… I’m not sure how to explain it.”
Strongheart crossed her arms over her chest, unconvinced. “Well isn’t that convenient?”
“Well, Fluttershy always had a special way with animals,” Applejack said. “And Twilight told us these monsters were just normal animals that got messed up by magic. Maybe they’ve still got some normal animal left somewhere inside them.”
There was a great grinding noise, and a nearby section of wall sank into the ground. Braeburn emerged, but he was not alone- Chief Thunderhooves followed him. “See?” he said. “Told ya Ah wasn’t lyin’.”
Thunderhooves- who to Fluttershy and Applejack seemed completely unshakable before- jolted in surprise when his eyes fell on the Malboro. After a moment, he collected himself and replied, “…so I see.” The two approached- the Malboro tensed and began growling, but fell silent when Fluttershy touched its side. Thunderhooves stopped at the camp and said, “Braeburn told me all about what happened earlier. I am glad to learn the hunt was a success…” He looked to the Malboro. “…in more ways than one.”
Strongheart approached her father. “Papa…” she began. “If Braeburn told you everything, then you know what Fluttershy did. How she can reach the monsters when our own shamans…”
He rested his hand on Strongheart’s shoulder. “Yes, I know. It is certainly strange… but then, these are strange times we live in now.” Thunderhooves then looked to Fluttershy. “I don’t know how or why, but it’s clear to me that you were given a gift. It would do you well not to squander it.”
“I won’t,” Fluttershy replied. “…But what about you? What will you do now with Lobo gone?”
Thunderhooves folded his arms over his chest. “The threat of the Silver Lobo is no more- even now, his hide hangs with the other trophies Appleoosa’s citizens have claimed. In time, I’ve no doubt a new monster will come to menace the town… but until then, I believe we’ve enough time to celebrate your victory today.” He turned away. “Come. I’m certain the rest of the town is eager to hear the tale.”
Thunderhooves walked away. Strongheart followed him, saying, “Coming, Papa. Not like we did all that much, though…”
Applejack and Braeburn followed. As they walked, Braeburn looked to his cousin and asked, “So, Ah guess you’ll be on yer way after tomorrow, then?”
Applejack nodded. “Yep.” She looked to him. “But Braeburn… if anything happens ta Appleoosa, anything at all, don’t hesitate ta-”
But Braeburn interrupted: “Now Applejack, Ah don’t wanna hear that. Y’all’ve got yer own business ta worry ‘bout- ya don’t need ta go runnin’ yerself ragged frettin’ over us. Ah mean, we made it this far on our own, didn’t we?”
“Ah’m just tryin’ ta keep an eye out fer ya is all. The Apple family looks after its own, remember?”
“Ah know. But don’t forget- you ain’t the only one lookin’ out for me.” Braeburn glanced ahead, toward Thunderhooves and Strongheart. Then, he looked back and called, “Hey Fluttershy! What’s keepin’ ya!?”
Fluttershy called back, “I’m coming!” She looked back to the Malboro. “I’ll be back later to check on you. Don’t wander too far, and stay out of trouble.” The Malboro grumbled in response, before slithering off into the desert. Fluttershy caught up to the others, and the stone wall surrounding Appleoosa sealed itself shut once again.
“Trixie sees something up ahead!” Trixie stopped, and pointed to the road ahead. Spike and Rarity stopped, readying their weapons, but soon saw that it was not a monster Trixie was pointing to- rather, it was a blue sign posted alongside the highway a short distance away. It read: Las Pegasus. 18 mi.
“Oh,” Rarity said after reading. “Las Pegasus. That sounds like a lovely place to resupply. This last stretch of highway has been rather barren.”
“True,” Spike replied, before continuing forward. “And at our pace, it should only take us a few more hours- if we hurry, we might even get there before-” Rarity cried out from behind- he stopped and looked back. “Rarity?”
Rarity was kneeling by the side of the road, her injured leg trembling violently. She tried to stand, and failed. “Nngh… I’m… alright.”
In an instant, Spike was at her side. “No. You’re not. I should’ve known that it was still too early for us to move on. You needed another day to recover, at the very least.”
Rarity strained. “If I… can’t pull my own weight… then I have no business travelling any further.” She stumbled to her feet- her knee buckled, but she remained standing. “…The last thing you need is extra weight slowing you down.”
It’s a burden I’d be willing to bear, is what Spike wanted to say. But he didn’t. Instead, he simply said, “Well, don’t push yourself too hard. If you hurt yourself again, it’ll only take longer to recover.”
“Well, if that’s all, then let’s be on our way,” Rarity replied. She then began to walk down the highway. “Maybe we’ll even find some proper food once we get there. Not to put down your cooking skills dear, but I’ve always found the meat from those monsters you hunt rather… suspect.”
Spike looked down sadly. “…I always thought they tasted fine…” Then he looked up. “…but, it would be nice to sleep in a real bed for a change.” And with that, he began to follow Rarity.
Spike and Rarity trudged down the shoulder of the same desert highway they’d been walking for the past several weeks. Spike had wanted to wait a few more days, so Rarity could make a full recovery, but Rarity herself insisted that they move forward. So, at dawn that day, the three continued on their journey to Los Andaluzes. The sun was to their backs, and the three were lucky enough to not have run into any monsters (or bandits) since resuming their journey.
“Hey, what about me!” Trixie called. “The Great and Stupendous Trixie will be not be ignored!” After a moment, Trixie ran to catch up with the others.
Far from the San Palomino Desert, bolts of lightning shot across the sky. But the black-and-white bugbear darted around each one with ease that should have been impossible for a beast its size. Twilight fired yet another bolt, but the beast dodged it yet again. “Annoying insect…” she muttered.
Flash drew back, and threw his sword at the bugbear with all his strength. The massive blade spun through the air… but almost immediately fell back to earth after only a few seconds, coming nowhere near the beast. He ran to reclaim his blade, mumbling, “Yeah, don’t really know why I thought that would work.” He looked to Twilight. “Can’t we just make a run for it?”
“A bugbear’s territory can occupy several miles,” Twilight replied, throwing another fireball at the circling bugbear, “and it is unlikely we will escape it before it can catch us. In this situation, standing our ground is the best course of action.”
“Besides,” Pinkie added, “if we always run from fights, how’re we supposed to get any stronger?” She drew her boomerang, and aimed it carefully before throwing. It arced through the sky, before striking the bugbear’s wings. The bugbear roared as it dropped out of the sky, and into the nearby brush.
Flash gave Pinkie a thumbs-up. “Nice shot, Pinkie!”
“Don’t compliment me yet,” Pinkie replied, catching her boomerang. Sure enough, the bugbear was rising to its feet, as if nothing had happened. “Gotta finish the job first!” And Pinkie charged the monster, drawing her daggers.
“Hey wait up!” Flash called. But Pinkie easily outpaced both him and Twilight, and closed in on the bugbear. It raised its claws with an angry roar and swiped at Pinkie with its arms. But she nimbly dodged the beast’s attack, drawing her naginata and thrusting it into its side, following with a spray of bullets from her gun. The bugbear turned and thrust its stinger at Pinkie- again, she dodged, before she drew back her katana and stabbed it into the bugbear’s chest. The beast let out a choked breath, and looked down at Pinkie. But before it could do anything else, Pinkie drew her daggers and stabbed them into the bugbear’s neck, one in each side.
Pinkie retreated as the beast fell down onto its six feet. It slowly crawled towards her, snarling, its wounded wings buzzing in an attempt to take flight. But after only a few moments, the bugbear let out one last roar, and collapsed.
The others skidded to a stop not too far from Pinkie and the bugbear. “Pinkie, are you okay?” Flash called.
“There,” she said, and looked back to the others. “That wasn’t-”
But suddenly, the bugbear suddenly stood up, and thrust its stinger into Pinkie’s back. Pinkie gasped in pain, and looked down- a black stinger dripping with venom was sticking out from the center of her abdomen. Then, the stinger pulled itself back- Pinkie wavered, and then fell.
“Pinkie!” Flash charged the bugbear, and with a single swing, sliced the beast in half. The two halves fell to the ground- the bugbear’s upper half began to drag itself towards Flash, but he stabbed it with his sword, pinning it to the ground. Then he knelt down, and picked up Pinkie, cradling her in his arms. “Pinkie! Pinkie are you okay!? C’mon, talk to me!”
Pinkie coughed violently, splattering a few drops of blood on Flash’s face. “Yeah… okay… probably deserved that one.”
“C’mon, don’t say that,” Flash said, looking at her wound.
It was bad. Worse than bad. Sure, he’d had plenty of chances to practice using the White magic he’d learned in Cloudsdale, but this… it was the worst wound any of them had suffered so far. He could see the ground through the hole in Pinkie’s stomach.
“That is a very serious wound,” Twilight said as she looked down from over Flash’s shoulder. “If there is to be any hope of Pinkie Pie surviving, then you must begin healing her immediately, Flash Sentry.”
But he was cut off by Twilight’s cold glare. “This is not a situation where ‘I don’t know’ is an acceptable response. You are the only one with the necessary skills present, Flash Sentry- if you cannot do this, then Pinkie Pie will die.”
Flash looked to her, mouth open, ready to trade barbs with Twilight… but he was stopped when Pinkie touched his face. “You’ll do just fine, Flash,” she said. “Just… concentrate.”
Flash shook his head, before looking back to Pinkie. Pinkie was right- he needed to give her his full attention. “Alright…” He brought his hand up to Pinkie’s stomach, and focused, just the way Fleetfoot had taught him. A white light glowed in his palm, and Pinkie’s wound slowly, slowly came undone.
“Hah…” Pinkie shuddered. “It tingles…”
Flash replied simply, “You shouldn’t try to talk, Pinkie.”
The wound slowly closed under the healing light in Flash’s palm. But then, after several agonizing minutes, a sharp pain in Flash’s temple forced him to stop. He looked at the wound, dismayed. He was far from finished- he’d mended Pinkie’s organs, but there were still two frayed, fist-sized holes in her skin. He tried to continue, but a second pain, sharper than the first, stopped him. “I… I’m sorry…” he stammered, looking to Twilight. “I can’t…”
“I know. You have almost completely drained yourself of mana- continue, and you will only put yourself at risk.” Twilight knelt down, and wrapped Pinkie’s abdomen with bandages. “Still, your efforts should be sufficient for the time being- once you have fully recovered, you may resume.” Twilight looked to Pinkie. “Pinkie Pie… I would suggest that you refrain from your normal antics.”
Pinkie brought up a shaking hand and gave a thumb’s up. “No problem, Doc…”
Twilight turned her attention back to Flash. “I do not believe we will be progressing any further today. If you would assist me in setting up camp…”
“Yeah, okay.” The two set up their campsite in short order. Pinkie Pie slept in a sleeping bag next to the fire, where Twilight kept an eye on her. Flash stood at the edge of the camp, watching the horizon for any signs of approaching monsters.
Flash looked back to Twilight. “Hey,” he began. “You, uh… mentioned something earlier. Something called ‘mana.’ What is that?”
Twilight looked back at Flash. “‘Mana’ is the technical term for the magical energies released by one of the crystals. All living creatures absorb ambient mana into their bodies from the environment- but those able to use magic, like yourself and I, can subsequently mold and release the mana we absorb in the form of spells. However, should we attempt to cast a spell after exhausting our internal store of mana, our bodies begin consuming their own life energies to fuel the spell, a process which can be fatal in certain circumstances. The pain you felt earlier is our bodies’ defense mechanism against this.”
Flash nodded thoughtfully. “Okay. …but, what are those crystals you mentioned?”
Twilight’s eyes widened in surprise, as if she hadn’t meant to reveal that particular piece of information. But after a moment, she composed herself. “…the crystals… are our ultimate objective. There are four of them in total, and the site we are currently travelling to houses one of them… if my predictions prove accurate.”
Flash turned to face Twilight completely. “…Why didn’t you tell us about them sooner?”
Twilight was silent for several moments, as if carefully considering her response. “You would not have believed me. Even after all of my investigations into the subject, even I cannot be certain of their existence.”
“Hey. I’ve killed about two dozen kinds of monsters, seen people shoot fire out of their hands, and I’ve almost died more times than I’m comfortable admitting. If we’re all gonna go through that, then we should at least know why.” Flash stabbed his sword into the ground and sat down across from Twilight. “So now you’re gonna tell me everything, from the beginning. And this time… I want the truth.”
“Are you ever going to answer my question?” Rarity asked, glaring.
“What question?” Spike asked in response, from the other side of the road.
“About how long you were planning on keeping us in the dark.” A few hours before, Rarity had gotten a rather unexpected call from- of all people- Flash Sentry. After explaining he was traveling with Twilight and Pinkie, he began to explain, in full detail, what exactly it was they were looking for in the Land of Fire, and why their mission was so important. After confronting Spike with what she learned (and his subsequent lack of explanation as to why he hadn’t told them anything), she deliberately set herself away from Spike as they travelled… but no so far that they couldn’t assist one another should a monster decide to surprise them. “…Well? We’re still waiting for an explanation.”
Spike was silent. As he had been with all of Rarity’s questions. She fumed. “You can’t bite your tongue forever!”
Spike looked over to her, and answered: “…Twilight specifically asked me not to share certain information with anyone until it became relevant. I assure you that once we reached the Land of Fire, I would’ve-”
But he was interrupted when Trixie shouted, “Trixie sees something again!” She had stopped in the middle of the road, and was pointing to something up ahead.
Spike breathed a sigh of relief. But Rarity very quickly said, “Don’t think that you’re off the hook just yet, Spike,” before turning her attention to the road ahead.
In the distance ahead, a massive wall rose high above the desert. The sun was sinking toward the horizon behind the wall, but in spite of that, the wall seemed to shine in a bright white light.
Rarity shielded her eyes and leaned forward, trying to get a better view. “What is that? A mirage?”
“It’s a little late to be seeing mirages,” Spike replied. “Let’s go take a closer look.”
The three pressed on, drawing closer to the wall- as it filled more and more of the sky, they became convinced that the towering structure was no mirage. Finally, the party came to a stop in the wall’s massive shadow. “…is this it, then?” Rarity asked. “Is this… Las Pegasus?”
As if to answer her, a glittering, wing-shaped sign a few yards away flickered to life. Its glowing neon letters read, “Welcome to Fabulous Las Pegasus.” Rarity looked at the sign and said, “Well, I suppose that settles it.”
“Trixie has only ever seen pictures, but she don’t remember there ever being a wall around Las Pegasus,” Trixie replied.
“Lots of cities have built walls to keep monsters out,” Spike said. “I won’t lie, though- that wall is a bit taller than necessary- it must be at least a hundred feet tall. Anyway…” Spike eyed the wall’s smooth, featureless surface. “…any ideas on how to get inside?”
“There’s lights over there,” Trixie said. “Trixie thinks that could be a way inside.” Sure enough, lights- or rather, a light brighter than the wall itself- could be seen shining from beyond the wall’s south edge. “Trixie will go see.”
“Wait, don’t wander off without us!” Rarity protested as she followed. The three circled around the massive wall for a few minutes, before reaching the source of the lights: a group of spotlights hanging over a massive metal gate set into the wall. Two guards, in what looked like SWAT gear, patrolled the street just outside the gate.
“Looks like a security checkpoint,” Spike said. “Good eye, Trixie.”
“Of course- Trixie has always had superior vision.” Trixie adjusted her sweater. “Now prepare to witness Trixie’s superior diplomacy skills.”
“Uh…” Rarity began hesitantly. “Trixie? Are you sure you want to be the one to talk to them?”
“Don’t worry about a thing, minion.” Trixie looked back and winked. “Trixie has a way with people.”
Trixie then marched into the road, stopped in front of the two guards, and shouted, “The Glorious Trixie demands that you let her inside at once!”
The guards wore thick opaque visors, hiding their faces, but Spike and Rarity could imagine the utter disbelief in their expressions at the moment as they looked at each other. But after a moment, the guard closest to Trixie looked to her and said, “The city’s closed. Step away from the gate.”
Spike let out a disappointed sigh, then stepped into the light, patting Trixie’s shoulder as he passed. “Nice try, Trixie.” He turned to the guards. “Sorry about all that. Anyway, my companions and I have been travelling these past couple weeks. One the way here, one of my friends got shot in the leg by some bandits- we think she’ll be okay, but we’d rather take her to a hospital to be sure.”
“You heard us the first time. City’s closed- no exceptions.” The guard pointed. “Now step away from the gate.”
Spike stepped forward. “Did you really turn away someone who might need to go to the hospital?”
The two guards raised their rifles and aimed them at Spike. “Move back. Right now.”
Spike pulled out his spear in turn, fangs bared, his eyes shining brilliantly. “You should really point those somewhere else. Before you do something I make you regret.”
“Spike!” Rarity called, sprinting to his side. “That is not helping our situation!” She grabbed his arm and tried to pull him away, to no avail. “I think it’s rather obvious that they’re not welcoming visitors at the moment. And if you’re doing this so you can avoid answering for yourself, then-”
Rarity was interrupted by a deafening screech, as a yellow blur streaked by, and knocked one of the guards to the ground. In the brief moment when the blue was standing still, the three could see that it was a strange birdlike creature with long legs, a thick beak, and short, stubby wings. But then, it charged the other guard before he could raise his weapon, and kicked him in the chest- he slid across the ground, coming to a stop near the feet of a man with curly brown hair, wearing a yellow polo shirt. Before the guard could react, the curly-haired man raised a guitar and bashed it across the side of his head.
“Nice work, Boneless!” the curly-haired man called. He then pointed to the three. “You! This way, hurry!”
Spike, Rarity, and Trixie could only stare at the man in stunned silence. He yelled again, “Come on! More of them will be coming!”
An alarm sounded from the gate, and the giant yellow bird ran toward the man. Trixie followed it- Spike picked up Rarity and threw her across his shoulder before doing the same. As they ran, they could hear guards shouting from behind, a few gunshots… and then only the sound of their feet hitting the ground as they rounded the wall.
After a few more moments of running, the curly-haired man slowed to a stop, and bent over to catch his breath. “This… should be… far enough…” he gasped, before turning to face them. “You guys okay? Saw your run-in with the Strip’s security guards. Trust me, you have no idea how lucky you are- most guards would’ve just shot you as soon as you got close.”
“Spike, could you put me down, please,” Rarity asked; once he did so, Rarity dusted herself off, and looked to the stranger. “Right, now… what just happened?”
“What happened is that you-” he pointed to the three. “-almost got filled with holes. But me and Boneless- mostly Boneless here- put a stop to that.” He turned away and beckoned for the three to follow. “C’mon- I’ve got a place not too far from here.”
The three followed the curly-haired man and the yellow bird. As they walked, Spike looked back over his shoulder, expecting that more guards would round the wall and chase after them. Eventually, he asked. “…Aren’t those guards gonna come after us?”
“Doubt it,” the curly-haired man replied. “Their job is to watch the gate- they don’t really care about anything else that happens out here. …Though it probably would be a good idea to avoid going back there from now on.” He then muttered to himself, “Always wondered why they have a gate if they never let anyone in, but…”
After a few minutes, the party finally arrived at a ramshackle town that hugged the outer edge of the wall. Old, abandoned houses stood alongside newer, hastily-constructed hovels. There were no lights, save for a few lamps, torches, and flashlights, but they were hardly necessary- the massive wall itself illuminated the shantytown, bathing it in a soft white light. A few people wandered the narrow streets, all just as ragged as the curly-haired man.
Rarity was instantly repulsed at the sight. “Ugh… don’t tell me we’re staying here…”
“Hey, don’t judge Southside too harshly,” the curly-haired man said. “It’s safe, we’ve still got running water, and our guards are a lot friendlier.”
Hearing this made Trixie perk up. “Running water you say? Then Trixie demands you take us to your finest showers!”
“Sure, sure.” The man began to head into town, but stopped and looked back. “Oh that’s right. In all the commotion, I forgot to introduce myself.” He brought his hand up to his chest. “I’m Cheese. Cheese Sandwich. You’ve already met my partner, Boneless.” He pointed his thumb to the giant yellow bird, which squawked at them in reply.
“Thank you for helping us, Mr. …Sandwich.” Rarity hesitated on the last word, still not entirely willing to believe that was actually his name.
He took no notice. “Just Cheese is fine.”
“…Cheese, then.”
The group continued onward, unaware that one of their members was lagging behind. Spike had stopped, and stared up at the glowing white wall. He might not have been able to use magic the way Twilight could, but he could still feel its flow in the world- anyone could, with the right training. And a tremendous amount of magic was radiating from somewhere behind that wall… or, perhaps, from the wall itself-
“Come along, minion!” Trixie called, pulling Spike from his thoughts. “Trixie requests that you test the showers first!”
Spike looked up at the wall a few moments longer, before he called back, “…alright, I’m coming.”
It was late- around midnight, Rarity guessed. But she wasn’t sleeping. She was listening to the constant parade of music coming from outside. She wasn’t sure if it had been there before, but the stillness of the night forced her to become keenly aware of it. She didn’t understand how the people living outside the Wall could stand it.
Or for that matter, the people inside it.
Eventually, Rarity climbed out of her sleeping bag and left the house. It was small, run-down, and without power, but as Cheese had promised, it did indeed have running water. At dinner, Spike asked to have a closer look at the Wall. “Sure,” Cheese had replied. “But it’ll have to wait until tomorrow.” So the four turned in for the night- any furniture the house may have had was long gone by the time Cheese arrived, so they laid out their sleeping bags on the floor to rest. Or at least, that was the plan.
Rarity sat down on the front porch and looked ahead. In front of her, not too far away, was Las Pegasus… in theory, at least- she couldn’t see any buildings thanks to the Wall, but she could see a brilliant light shining into the sky from somewhere behind it. Even in the dark, the shantytown was bathed in a soft white light that seemed to shine from the Wall itself. Perhaps it was, as Spike speculated, made from some kind of magic- it certainly wasn’t impossible, with all the fantastic things she’d seen so far.
“Newcomers always have a hard time getting used to it,” Cheese said. “The noise, I mean.”
Rarity looked back, and saw Cheese standing in the shack’s doorway. “I’m sorry if I woke you,” she said.
He waved her off. “Hey, don’t worry about it.”
“I just don’t understand it.” She looked back to the wall. “There’s monsters all over the place, but it sounds like they’re having the time of their lives in there. Do they care that there are people suffering right outside that wall? Do they even remember that there’s a world outside of it?”
“Who knows? If you ever got inside, you could find out for yourself.” Cheese approached, and sat down alongside Rarity. “…You know, a little while ago, I went around Southside and asked people trying to break through the Wall why they were doing it. Some people want more protection, some want better resources, a few wanna take revenge on the people who left them out here…”
“And what about you… Cheese?” Rarity couldn’t get over how ridiculous that name was. “What do you want?”
“To be honest… I still want the same thing I wanted before I got here- a spot on one of Las Pegas’s stages. Doesn’t even have to be a fancy one.”
She looked to him. “You’re a performer?”
“Yep. I’m a Bard- a musician. When all this monster business started, I headed here- people were gathering in the big cities for protection, and I thought this could be my chance to break into the business.” The smile rapidly faded from Cheese’s face. “I was wrong. All I got for my trouble was a bullet to the back. But, some people in Southside saw what happened to me and got me to a doctor. I’ve been here ever since…”
