> My Little Planeswalker: Glimmering Oil
>  by Zennistrad
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

> Phyresis
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Something terrible had happened.

That was immediately obvious the very moment Sunset returned. The entire building now resembled less of a school and more of a factory, built from dull and muted grays and spouting multiple smokestacks that choked the sky with thick black smog. But the more Sunset looked, the more it sunk in just how terrible things must have been in her absence. The air was thick with pollution, so thick that she could barely breathe, and the sidewalks leading up to the building were coated in a thin layer of grime. But perhaps worst of all, there were no students to be seen.

An icy grip clutched at Sunset’s heart. She bolted into through the front door, a sturdy object built from unnaturally cold steel, and into the building proper.

What she saw nearly made her shriek in horror.

The interior still resembled the school, superficially speaking. The usual assortment of lockers, bulletin boards, and classrooms were still there, just as they always were. But the walls and floor of the halls had become entirely transformed, the drywall construction being replaced by a mass of tubes, wires, and plates, all seemingly without purpose. In stark contrast to the dirty and graying exterior of the building, the metallic interior was built entirely from a pure white metal that looked like it was halfway between bone and porcelain.

But that wasn’t what horrified Sunset. What horrified her was what had happened to the students.

Wandering the halls with vacant, drooling expressions were the students of Canterlot High – if they could even be recognized as such. Much of their natural bodies had been seemingly torn apart and reconstructed, with entire limbs and large sections of their skin replaced with the same porcelain-like metal, leaving gaps of their muscle and sinew exposed. Were it not for the backpacks and clothing that they wore bearing the icons of Sunset’s fellow students, they would not have been recognizable at all.

Sunset stepped backward slowly. Her skin crawled, and her heart pounded in her chest, a slick cold sweat dripping down her forehead. Her lungs burned as her breath quickened, verging on hyperventilation.

Twilight. I have to get Twilight, she thought.

But you can’t get Twilight because you damaged her spark in your little soul-borrowing stunt, remember?

Okay, yes! That’s true, but I still have to find help! The entire school’s been zombified, and it’s somehow a thousand times worse than when I did it!

But who am I–

Sunset gasped. “Oh my god, the other Twilight! What if something happened to her? I... I have to find her!”

Her footsteps clanked cacophonously against against the floor as she bolted forward without a moment’s hesitation. She weaved deftly through the corridors, pushing past the grotesquely modified students, who didn’t even notice her as she moved.

“Twilight!” Sunset called out. “Twilight, where are you!? Twilight!”

Sunset must have circled the entire ground floor at least twice. Nowhere, throughout any of its hallways, did she see any sign of Twilight. A part of her wondered if she’d recognize Twilight now, a thought that both parts quickly decided not to consider any further. Soon her legs gave out and she came to a full stop in front of a stairway. She rested her hands on her knees as she paused to catch her breath.

Okay... no sign of her on the first floor. Gotta check the second. I... I can’t give up yet. I can’t lose hope. She has to be here. She has to be.

“Well, hello there! What do we have here? A new student?”

A shiver ran down the entire length of Sunset’s spine. The new voice was sickeningly sweet, yet at the same time vaguely threatening. But most importantly, it was a voice she had definitely heard before.

Sunset turned around to face her new visitor, and saw herself staring into the eyes of a very familiar face. Familiar, yet at the same time much older than the person Sunset remembered her as, a woman who was easily in her mid-forties. Her outfit was like a snapshot of the ideal housewife as envisioned at midpoint of the twentieth century. She wore a dark purple dress that flowed to her ankles, matching heels and lipstick, a white cooking apron, and a wavy purple-and-teal hairdo that swept backwards and split in two as it reached the back of her neck. Her body modifications were light compared to the students, her pink skin still mostly visible, but both of her arms had been replaced by skeletal prosthetics made from the same porcelain-like metal as the others. In glistening black oil, the letter phi was scrawled across her apron, and rivulets of the same oil flowed freely from her eyes, leaving slick streaks across her cheeks that slowly dripped onto the floor.

“Welcome,” she said, “to Our School.”

————————

Starlight, Voice of Oneness 3WWW

Legendary Creature — Cleric

Nonlegendary creatures lose all abilities.

Creatures you control with no abilities get +2/+2.

“Surrender your individuality. Join us in the harmony of mind and flesh.”

2/4

————————

“You...” said Sunset, “you’re Starlight Glimmer. This world’s Starlight Glimmer. Why? Why would you do this? What have you done?”

Starlight shook her head, her voice dripping with mocking insincerity. “Oh, you poor, lost little girl. You haven’t heard? I’ve helped the students of Canterlot High find their true purpose in life. As well as everyone else in the city. And the military. Aaaaaand since this is your capital city, you can go ahead and count most of your elected leaders, too. Isn’t it just wonderful?”

“What!?” Sunset shouted. “No! No it isn’t! That’s the exact opposite of wonderful! That’s horrible!”

“It sounds to me like you don’t get it,” said Starlight. As she stepped forward, Sunset found herself reflexively backing against the wall. Starlight swept her arms outward in a grand gesture, drawing attention to all of her surroundings. “This school, this city, this entire world was filled with chaos and disharmony. Every day, people were driven apart by their differences, forced into conflict because they couldn’t see through each others’ eyes. I’ve showed them all a better way. A way where all are free from the tyranny of the individual, where all are one in mind, body and... well, I’d say soul, but I don’t believe in superstitions.”

“Y-you...” Sunset’s fists clenched. She stepped forward, locking eyes against the monstrosity Starlight had become. “You won’t get away with this!” 

A thin frown crossed Starlight’s lips. Her nose curled upwards, wrinkling as it did. “Oh dear. Is that a whiff of dissent I smell? That means you’re still thinking as yourself. We can’t have that now, can we?”

Then, in a swift motion, Starlight raised her right hand and snapped her skeletal fingers, a bright flash of white light and magic echoing alongside the sound. Instantly, the students that were wandering mindlessly through the halls turned their attention to her, their sluggish gaits snapping into purposeful, firm postures.

With her right hand still raised, Starlight pointed her left finger towards sunset, her face twisting into a vicious scowl. “This human has escaped compleation. Kill it and harvest it for parts.”

Sunset’s entire body went rigid. Her rational mind ground to a halt as every instinct, every base impulse screamed at her to act. It took her less than a fraction of a second to respond.

Without even thinking, she pulled mana from across entire planes, pouring it into her hands. With her palms extended outward, she thrust them both in Starlight’s direction. Two bolts of intense orange plasma erupted from each of her palms, spiraling out and twisting into a double-helix pattern as they traveled.

Starlight’s eyes went wide. She let out a yelp of pain as the plasma helix struck her straight in the center of her abdomen, catapulting her backwards, straight to the other side of the hallway. The students paused, as if taken aback in surprise, then turned to face Sunset with murderous glares in their otherwise empty eyes.

Sunset sprinted forward without another moment’s hesitation. She pushed past the zombified students as she ran straight for the exit, her sleeves tearing up as their claws swiped at her passing by, only narrowly missing her flesh. Behind her, she could hear the Starlight cursing at her fading into the distance.

Just before she reached the front exit, a large mass of students formed in front of the entrance hall, blocking the way out. By then, however, Sunset’s thoughts had caught up to her, and she was able to quickly form an escape plan. Pulling the same magic into her hands she felt before, she channeled it into a different spell. Her field of vision disappeared in a flash of orange light, and reappeared just outside of Canterlot High’s front door. Her lungs still burning from the effort, she paused to catch her breath.

Her respite was short-lived, however, as the front doors soon burst open, and the students began pouring outwards in a single, flowing mass of bodies. Pushing herself even further, Sunset bolted past the school grounds and into the city proper.

To her utter dismay, the rest of the city had fared no better. Though the architecture she was familiar with was almost entirely intact, they were now all covered by the same thick grime that permeated the ground outside Canterlot High, and nearly all of the buildings had additional construction scaffolding added, as smokestacks and chimneys of unknown purpose were in the process of being built onto them. The construction was attended by more people, modified into porcelain abominations in much the same way the students of Canterlot High were. They paid Sunset no mind as she darted past them, utterly enthralled by their own work.

A familiar sight came up in the distance, that of a malt shop. It too was in the process of being transformed into an industrialized building, with more vaguely-human creatures attending to its construction. As her eyes crossed over it, a familiar and horrifying recollection came to Sunset’s mind

Pinkie worked there over the summer. Oh god, Pinkie! What happened to her? Don’t tell me she’s been—

Sunset didn’t have time to finish the thought. The sound of rolling tires and roaring came crashing onto the edges of her hearing, and they were rapidly approaching by the second. Before she could even question the source, several military jeeps drove up to her, still bearing the symbol of the National Guard, screeching to a halt as they came to stop around her. Sunset’s heart dropped into the pit of her stomach as she realized that they had surrounded her on all sides.

The things that poured out of the vehicles were dressed in combat fatigues befitting a war zone, but their bodies had also been modified with the gleaming porcelain-bone parts as everyone else. They moved into position in perfect coordination, brandishing porcelain guns that Sunset could have sworn were grafted to their forearms.

There were no orders given to fire. They simply acted, as though they simply knew what Starlight had demanded be done to Sunset to begin with. Sunset quickly threw up a shield spell, an orange dome of solid light that separated her from the hostile forces outside. The bullets slammed against the shield like raindrops, and within seconds Sunset could feel the shield beginning to crack from the force.

“T-they’re actually going to kill me!” Sunset cried out, despite knowing that nobody would listen. “I-I’m actually going to die!” As the words forced themselves from her throat, she felt the tears flowing falling freely from the corners of her eyes, her mind so numb with despair the she couldn’t even contemplate the possibility of escape.

It was then, unexpectedly, that someone actually responded.

“Psst! Down here!”

The voice came as a stage whisper, only barely making an attempt to sound subtle, yet the soldiers showed no notice of it beneath the gunfire. Sunset turned her head down, towards the source of the voice, and saw a manhole cover that was just lifted up from beneath. Peeking out from below was a pair of bright blue eyes and a tuft of very fluffy, very pink hair.

“Pinkie!?”

“Get in!” said Pinkie “There’s no time!”

“What? But—”

“Don’t worry, the Phyrexians won’t notice,” said Pinkie. “In case you couldn’t tell, they’re not too bright. Now come on!”

Sunset didn’t need to be told again. Any reservations she might have had about traveling into a sewer disappeared as she lifted the manhole cover and climbed down the ladder after Pinkie. When she reached the bottom, she stood on a walkway just beside a large stream of water flowing through the implausibly spacious sewer pipe. Despite the walkway being coated with the same grime that covered the city outside, sunset couldn’t help but notice that the sewer water was unusually clean, and that there was no unpleasant smell in the sewer at all.

Before she could question it any further. Sunset found herself being pulled into a hug so tight that it forced all of the remaining air out of her lungs, and very nearly crushed her ribcage.

“Ohmigosh, Sunset! I’m soooooooo happy to see you! We all thought you’d disappeared!”

“Breathing, please,” Sunset barely managed to choke out. Pinkie pulled away, her face somehow turning even pinker as she gave a sheepish grin.

“Whoops, sorry. Forgot about my new strength for a bit,” said Pinkie.

Sunset initially didn’t register the words, as she was too busy making sure she was getting enough air to her oxygen-deprived brain. When she finally realized what had been said, her eyes went wide. “Wait, new strength?”

“I’ll explain later. Now come on, we have so much to show you! And don’t worry about the sewage, Phyrexians don’t poop.”

“I... what? Pinkie, what’s— whoa!”

Before she knew it, Sunset was being forcibly grabbed by the arm and almost literally dragged through the sewer. The path that Pinkie led her on wound through dozens of identical passages through the sewer, so much so that Sunset couldn’t even tell if they’d gone in circles, but eventually they reached their destination. It was an unmarked green door, built into the side of the concrete wall, the kind you saw in maintenance corridors that didn’t even have a doorknob. Pinkie reached out with a closed hand, and gave three loud, forceful knocks.

“Does the black moon howl?” came a muffled voice.

“No, but its cheese curds are dee-licious!” Pinkie replied.

With a click of a lock, the door slowly opened. Pinkie slowly walked in, beckoning Sunset to follow.

As Sunset stepped inside, what she saw was far from any maintenance room she’d ever expected. Though the concrete walls were dirty and pipes jutted out in awkward places, it proved to be exceedingly spacious. In one corner was a series of bunk beds and dressers, decorated with various personal touches, and in another was a patch of soil that was entirely out of place in its environment, with miniature apple trees growing unimpeded from it. Resting against the far wall of the room was a very large computer, consisting of a tiny monitor and a disproportionately massive body, seemingly constructed entirely out of scrap and pieces of trash.

But more importantly, all of Sunset’s closest friends were present. Applejack was attending to the trees with a watering can, Rarity was sitting on her bed and helping Fluttershy brush her hair, and Rainbow was lying down on her own bunk and reading a Daring Do novel. Sitting in front of the computer, atop an old and tattered office chair, was Twilight.

Twilight swiveled around in her chair, and turned to face the new arrivals. “Glad you made it back safely, Pinkie. Did you find the source of that magic I...” Her words died off in her throat. As her jaw hung loose, she was forced to hold up her glasses to prevent them from falling off her nose. “Sunset!?”

“Twilight!”

Sunset rushed in as quickly as she could. In less than a second, both of their arms were wrapped tightly around each other, as they shared their mutual embrace. After what seemed like an eternity, but didn’t even feel half long enough, they pulled away, gazing deeply into each others’ eyes.

“Sunset! I... I can’t believe it’s you! I thought I’d never see you again!”

“I... know,” said Sunset. “I’m sorry I disappeared like that. I never meant to, and I...”

“It’s okay, Sunset.” With a gentle touch, Twilight brushed away a tear that had formed in Sunset’s eyes. Her soft smile shone radiantly, its very presence a soothing warmth that permeated into the core of Sunset’s heart. “You’re here, and you’re alive. That’s what matters.”

“I... Yeah,” said Sunset. “You’re right. I guess it is.” As she stepped back, she saw all of her other friends had gathered around her. “So, uh... it looks like I missed a few things.”

“Darn tootin’ you did,” said Applejack, flashing her a smirk. “Welcome to the Resistance, Sunset.”

————————

Concordant Consecration 2W

Enchantment — Aura

Enchant land

When Concordant Consecration enters the battlefield, remove all -1/-1 counters from creatures you control.

Whenever enchanted land is tapped for mana, target creature you control gains protection from creatures with infect until end of turn.

Harmony’s power is anathema to Phyrexia, and her slightest touch can drive away the strongest contagions.
> Misdial the Gatewatch
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Sunset listened intently as Twilight explained the situation. Emotions ran thick within her as the story continued, running the gamut from fear, to horror, to disgust, to...

...well, mostly fear, now that she thought about it further. When Twilight finished, Sunset looked over her gathered friends one last time, turning to address them as a group.

“So the oil did all of this?”

“Sort of,” said Twilight. “From what I’ve been able to research on it, the glistening oil acts as some sort of virus. The... I guess you might say strain of oil we found appears to be engineered to lie dormant and unnoticed, until a magical trigger activates it. It spreads through contact, turning anyone it touches into a vector of infection so that anyone they contact becomes infected. And with an apparent infection rate of one hundred percent, it’s likely the entire school was already infected by the time we discovered the oil, if not half the city.”

“And that’s when Starlight Glimmer activated the contagion, right?”

“I... yes.” Twilight closed her eyes, shivering slightly at the thought. “A-at her ‘self-help’ seminar, she showed up, and showed us something she called a ‘Phyrexian Portal.’ T-this monstrous, four-armed creature came out, and activated the oil with some foul magic. I...” Twilight shuddered, prompting Sunset to reach out and gently hold her on the arm. As her shaking gradually steadied, she looked up at Sunset, her eyes quivering under the dim florescent light. “We’re the only living things I know of to have been spared. Equestrian magic seems to act as some kind of immunizer against the Phyrexian contagion... I guess that’s why Starlight must have destroyed the portal. But e-everyone else, they’re...” Twilight’s words caught in her throat. Her lip trembled, and the corners of her eyes became soaked with tears. “They’re gone, Sunset. Spike, our families, everyone. T-they’ve all been absorbed into some twisted hive mind. They’re not the people we knew.”

Sunset a deep, gaping void within her chest, a yawning pit that seemed to swallow up all of her emotions. It was unthinkable. In just two weeks since she’d left, nearly everything her friends had cared about had been taken away.

“I-I’m sorry, I should have been here,” said Sunset. “This might not have happened if I’d been here to help. I shouldn’t have abandoned you.”

Twilight exhaled softly, turning her head to the ground. “There’s no need to apologize. I doubt you could have done anything to stop it, anyway.” She turned up, and looked Sunset in the eye. “Just where were you, anyway?”

“Oh, uh...” Sunset placed her hands behind her back, fidgeting idly with her fingers. “Well, there’s actually kind of a funny story there. You remember when your counterpart showed up in the cafeteria two weeks ago?”

Twilight blushed furiously. “Er... y-yeah. It’s, uh, kind of hard not to. Shut up, Rainbow.”

“What? I didn’t say anything!”

Twilight raised an eyebrow. “Were you about to?”

“Well, yeah, but—”

“Then I rest my case,” said Twilight. “Anyway, Sunset, what were you saying about my counterpart?”

“Right, that. Well, you remember the whole deal about her being a planeswalker?” said Sunset. “Being able to travel across the multiverse through her own magic and all that? Well, as it turns out, I, uh... I’m kind of one, too.”

Sunset felt her skin burn under the force of stares she was suddenly receiving. Every other pair of eyes in the room had locked onto her like she’d suddenly become the most bizarre and interesting thing in the entire world.

“Okay, now I’m really jealous,” said Twilight. “First my counterpart, now you? I’m almost starting to feel like there’s some conspiracy to leave me out of your adventures.”

“I don’t think you would have wanted to get involved in this adventure,” Sunset replied. “I did learn a few things about myself I definitely needed to learn, but I wouldn’t call it an adventure. And it definitely wasn’t fun, either.”

“Oh my,” said Fluttershy. “That sounds like it was rough. What happened?”

“Short version?” said Sunset. “All of the rage, jealousy, and resentment I’d been repressing since the Fall Formal split off from me and became a separate being, took over my body and planeswalked to Equestria, then tried to take all of her anger out on your counterparts by stealing their souls. Then she turned my other half into a toy, until that half came back and confronted her. And then I learned that this only happened because I’d been denying my feelings instead of trying to understand them, and both halves of me learned to accept each other and become one again. I’m pretty sure there was also a lesson in there about finding a healthier coping mechanism for my trauma, too.”

If Sunset’s friends were staring at her oddly before, it was absolutely nothing compared to the stares she was receiving now. It was like she’d suddenly gone from the most bizarre and fascinating thing in the world to the most bizarre and fascinating thing in the entire history of humankind.

“So, uh,” said Rainbow, “if you came back from Equestria, how come you’re wearing clothes?”

“Probably an illusion of some kind,” said Applejack. “Though Ah don’t rightly know how anyone’d put up with running from Phyrexians without proper support for—”

“It’s not an illusion!” Sunset shot back. “I had Rarity’s counterpart make clothes for me before I left!”

“Oooh, really?” said Rarity. “Do tell. Granted, I wouldn’t have guessed that she’d make something so plain-looking, but if she’s anything like me I’m guessing she tried to hound you into ordering something fancier. Is that correct?”

Sunset groaned. “You are far too self-aware, you know that?”

“Quite,” said Rarity. “And was she able to do the undergarments correctly? I assume ponies would have no need for those, even on the occasions when they dress up. Unless, of course, you’re simply not wearing—”

“Will you stop talking about my underwear!?” Sunset shouted back. “I thought that was supposed supposed your cultural taboo!”

“That’s enough, all of you,” Fluttershy said. Her voice carried an uncharacteristic sternness, still as soft as always, yet firm much the same way as the glare of disapproval she shot towards the others. “I understand it’s all in good fun to have shouting matches, but we need to be keeping a low profile. So let’s all try to be quieter, okay?”

Everyone went quiet. Sunset stared at the floor dejectedly, the same look of a someone who’d just been caught with their hand in the cookie jar. There was a conspicuous zipper noise off to the side, coming from Pinkie’s direction, as she appeared to literally zip her lips shut.

“There,” said Fluttershy, “that wasn’t so hard, was it?”

“Right... anyway, that’s more or less what happened,” said Sunset. “Is there anything else I need to know about what’s going on?” Her eyes scanned the forms of her friends. Now that her emotions had settled, she was able to notice something around their necks... or rather, something that wasn’t there. “Wait, where are all of your geodes? What happened to them?”

“What? You don’t know?” said Applejack. “Ah kinda figured it was the same that happened to yours.”

“My... wait, what?” For a brief moment, Sunset delved into another fit of panic. She looked down at her collar and found that, true to Applejack’s word, her magic geode had disappeared completely. As she reached down to touch collarbone, however, a warm sensation of magic washed over her palm, and a bright red aura enveloped her hand. “That’s... weird. The geode disappeared when I became a pony, but now that I’m human again, I can still feel something there.” Lifting her hand for a moment, she turned to face Twilight. “Hey Twi, could you help me test something out? Nothing scientifically rigorous, just try to imagine something in your mind and hold out your hand for a second.”

“Oh, um... sure.”

As Twilight held out her hand, Sunset stepped forward and gently grasped it in her own. She turned her mind inward, her imagination recalling the familiar sensation of the geode’s magic. As if moved by her command, that very same magic stirred within her, and Sunset found herself being pulled into Twilight’s mind. After a moment of glimpsing the thought, her mind returned to outside world.

“Hey, it worked,” said Sunset, grinning in satisfaction as she pulled her hand away. A slight warmth began to form on her cheeks. “You, uh... didn’t have to think about me, Twilight.”

Twilight flushed. “O-oh, well, uh... I wasn’t trying to? It’s just, uh... I was so worried about you when you were gone, and then I was so happy when you came back... I guess it just sort of came to me?”

The warmth in Sunset’s cheeks intensified to an intense, feverish blaze. “Uh... r-right.” She quickly decided the best available course of action was to change the subject. “So, uh, geodes. What happened to them?”

“Oh! Of course!” Twilight perked up almost immediately, grinning the way that she did whenever she explained something new she learned. “I’d completely forgotten to tell you about our awakenings!”

“Awakenings?” said Sunset.

“It’s, uh, the best name I could come up with. Effectively, we’ve found that not only does Equestrian magic act as an immunizer against the contagion, it also has something akin to an immune system response. Each time one of us was injured by a Phyrexian, our geodes responded by melding into and fusing with our bodies, causing our magical powers to undergo a metamorphosis. In addition to our normal abilities, we now each have additional powers as well. For example, I can now create solid hard light constructs out of magic.”

To demonstrate, Twilight held out her arm, leaving her palm upstretched. A gentle purple glow encased her hand, and suddenly a tiny, translucent image of a purple alicorn appeared in her palm. It stood unto two hooves and then performed a graceful pirouette, before disappearing again into nothing.

“Huh,” said Sunset. “That’s pretty neat. Could be useful if you could shape it into other things, I’d imagine.”

“Yeah,” said Twilight. “It’s... saved my life a few times since I gained the power. Though I kind of thought you’d be a bit more excited to see me with new magic, honestly. You were the one always telling me how wonderful it is.”

Sunset sighed deeply, and shook her head. “I can’t really bring myself to be any more enthusiastic in a situation like this. I’m happy for you, I really am, but this isn’t the kind of circumstance I feel comfortable celebrating.”

“...Right, of course.” said Twilight.

“So what about the others?” said Sunset. She turned towards the rest of her friends and looked at them expectantly. “Rainbow?”

“That’s easy!” Rainbow bragged. “I’m an airbender!”

Sunset blinked. “A what now?”

Twilight rolled her eyes, the gesture magnified by the thick lenses of her glasses. “She means she can control air currents. Both Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy have similar air powers, though their characteristics are different. Fluttershy’s wind currents have healing properties, while Rainbow can condense hers into sharp, blade-like projectiles.”

“Ugh, Twilight, why’d you have to just go right out an explain it like that?” Rainbow complained. “It’d be so much cooler if you let me show her!”

“And since you can’t possibly use any of your powers in a small space without breaking something, I see no reason why I should do that,” said Twilight.

“Yeah, fine,” said Rainbow. She’d apparently decided not to argue any further, though she did cross her arms and mutter something under her breath.

“So, razor wind, healing wind,” said Sunset, pointing to Rainbow and Fluttershy in quick succession. “Makes enough sense. Applejack, let me guess. Your powers are apple-related?”

“Close,” said Applejack. “Plants in general, more like. If Ah concentrate, Ah can make pretty much anything grow from any soil in an instant. Real useful for keeping us all from going hungry.”

Sunset’s eyes trailed over to the garden in the corner, and the miniature trees growing from it. “So why only grow apples?”

Applejack shrugged. “Ah only said Ah can grow other plants. Didn’t meant Ah can keep ‘em once they’re grown. Plus Ah’m pretty sure these apples ain’t ordinary apples, since we’ve been eating ‘em pretty much exclusively and ain’t felt the least bit odd. Must be some extra nutrition somewhere in there.”

“Hope you like apple pie!” said Pinkie. She seemed to have pulled an entire pie, apron and pair of oven mitts out of nowhere. She leaned over and shoved the pie into Sunset’s face.

“I’ll, uh, eat it later,” said Sunset, gently pushing Pinkie away. “Rarity, what about you? I assume your new power is related to gems somehow, right?”

Rarity grinned deviously. “Not quite, I’m afraid. I believe my new powers would be called sangromancy.”

“Sangromancy?” said Sunset. “Wait, you mean like blood magic?”

Rarity chose not to say a word in response. Instead, she summoned a single, sharp, knife-like diamond into her right hand. Then, to Sunset’s horror, she held out her left palm, positioning the diamond knife just above it. “Fluttershy dear, get ready to heal me in a moment, will you?”

Fluttershy let out a squeak. “U-um, okay.” Her body shivered slightly, and she covered her eyes her right forearm, while holding up her right palm. “J-just let me know when you’re ready. I-I don’t think I can watch.”

“Rarity, wait!”

Sunset’s words came too late, as by then Rarity had already moved. Her slice quickly cut across the flat of her palm, spilling a slick current of crimson red across her body. Rarity winced at the pain, biting her lower lip as she stifled a cry, but otherwise remained stoic in the face of injury.

The diamond-knife in Rarity’s hand disappeared. Then, in one of the more disturbing displays of magic Sunset had seen, she gestured with her now-free right hand. The blood flowing from her left palm streamed upwards, defying gravity, before pooling into a hovering red glob. Then with another gesture, the gross orb of plasma split into a series of elongated, ovoid shapes. 

With one final gesture and a sound like tinkling crystal, each blood-shape solidified into a dark, ruby-red gemstone. The gemstones then arranged themselves in the air into a necklace, before placing themselves on Rarity’s neck.

“Gah!” Sunset cried out, barely able to prevent herself from retching. “Rarity, that’s disgusting!”

“Oh, don’t be so squeamish, darling,” said Rarity. “Pearls are made from the bodily fluids of oysters, and you don’t see anyone complaining about that. Besides, this magic is especially well-suited towards getting those pesky blood stains out of clothing. Fluttershy, if you would?”

“R-right,” said Fluttershy. Still averting her eyes, Fluttershy gestured with her own hand. Lime green currents of wispy, air-like magic whirled around her hands, and a similarly-colored air current rose up from the ground and encircled Rarity’s injured palm. Within seconds the wound closed, and her hand was no worse for wear than before.

“Okay, alright, blood magic.” Sunset pressed a pair of fingers against her forehead. “Now that we have that bit of grossness out of the way, that only leaves Pinkie Pie. I’ll be honest, I almost dread to ask what her powers could be.”

“Toon physics!” Pinkie replied. “I’m like a living Zany Tunes short now! Check it out!”

Then, in one of the most bizarre demonstrations Sunset ever witnessed, Pinkie placed her right thumb into her mouth, and began blowing on it until her face nearly turned blue from the effort. With a sound like a rapidly inflating balloon, her hand began to expand in much the same way a balloon would, until it resembled a pink rubber glove that had been filled with helium. Then, in another swirl of pink motion, Pinkie grabbed her inflated hand with other hand, and began twisting and contorting it into a new shape. The result was a limb that was indistinguishable from a balloon animal, save for the fact that it was still attached to the end of her arm. Then, with the sound of a deflating balloon, the hand reverted to its normal shape.

Sunset could only gawk at the sight. “Huh,” she said. “Somehow, I feel both surprised and completely unsurprised.”

Pinkie giggled lightly. “I know! I never thought I’d be able to do things like this, but it just feels so right! So, what’s your new power, Sunset? Does it have something to do with that shield you made?”

“Um... Well, to be honest, I don’t think I actually have any,” Sunset replied. “From what I can tell so far, I can use my pony magic as a human now, but I’m guessing that’s only because of my planeswalker spark. It doesn’t feel like magic’s changed, only... grown, if that makes sense. And that’s even if you count the whole split-personality-merge thing.”

“That makes sense,” said Twilight. “Each of our awakenings only occurred after nearly being killed by a Phyrexian. If you haven’t been wounded by one yet, there’s no reason to think your awakening would have happened.”

“Right... the Phyrexians.” Sunset’s eyes turned towards the ground. Images of the horrific cityscape above drifted to the forefront of her imagination, her stomach turning inside out with every image of the warped and twisted students that crossed her mind. “Is... is there anything that we can do about them? Do you have any plans at all?”

A tense silence lingered over the room. Many eyes, suddenly filled with weariness and fear, drifted towards each other, and then back to Sunset.

“We... we don’t know,” said Twilight. “As far as any of us can tell, the whole city is gone. We don’t even know how much of the world the Phyrexians have taken over, but it won’t matter as long as we’re trapped here. There’s nothing we can do but hide away and hope to survive.”

“But there have to be other survivors,” said Sunset. “There have to be ways of contacting them. Please tell me there’s something else we can do to reach them!”

Twilight shook her head. “If there are any survivors, there isn’t any way for us to contact them. The internet is down, and all other means of communicating outside Canterlot have been cut off. I tried building a radio transmitter to send an S.O.S., but...” Her words died off as her face contorted into a grimace. “...it, uh, turns out that whatever the Phyrexians use to connect to their hive mind lets them pick up radio signals, too. They were instantly alerted to our location the moment we turned the transmitter on. We had to abandon our old base entirely.”

Sunset let out a deep breath. “I was afraid you might say something like that. If what you’re saying is true, we might not be able to get the help we need on this plane.”

Twilight blinked “On this plane?”

“The other Twilight has a few friends on another world who might be able to help us,” Sunset replied. “I’m going to see if I can ask for their assistance. Just hold tight, okay? I promise I’ll be right back.”

“Um... okay,” said Twilight. “Just, um, don’t be gone long alright?”

“Don’t worry. I won’t.”

Sunset gave Twilight a warm smile. She placed a reassuring hand against Twilight’s one last time, gazing into her eyes as she planeswalked away.

————————

Seeing Ravnica in Twilight’s memories was one thing, but nothing could have possibly captured the experience of seeing it in person. The city, or at least the part of it she was seeing, could not be described as anything other than a spectacle, with extravagant gothic architecture, pearly-white spires, and a truly immense system of aqueducts and canals that put the greatest works of ancient Roam to shame.

And, of course, that was to say nothing of just how staggeringly diverse the city was. There were so many different peoples of all shapes, sizes, and colors walking through the ever-crowded street that almost no person of any appearance would have looked odd or out of place. Even Sunset, with her natural hair colors that were apparently wildly impossible on any other plane, barely looked noticeable between all the goblins, centaurs, viashino, and literal spirits of the deceased. Then again, hair dye presumably existed on Ravnica, and her orange skin also wasn’t too far removed from the normal range of melanin hues.

Okay, so if I’m correctly remembering what I saw in the pony version of Twilight’s memories, then I should be turning right in a few blocks.

Do you ever think about how strange our life must be for that sentence to make sense?

That’s not really relevant to what we should be doing, so no... Wait, ‘we?’ I thought we were the same person now?

I’m pretty sure we are the same person, just different parts. You know, id, ego, superego; that sort of thing.

Haven’t Figmentoid’s theories been mostly discredited?

Sunset shook her head, hoping that it would shake off the irrelevant thoughts that were distracting her from her goal. And if Twilight’s friend was really a telepath, the last thing she wanted was to sound like she’s arguing with herself.

Her path eventually led her to a dark and musty alleyway, one which few people would have been interested in exploring. The way that other people’s eyes seemed to glide past it without even a cursory glance made her suspect that there may have been something else hiding it as well. She ducked quickly ducked into the alley, and found a plain, unassuming wooden door on the side.

Bingo. If her memory served her correctly, this was exactly where she needed to be. She inhaled sharply, and, after a second’s hesitation, knocked on the door.

Several more tense seconds passed, before the door finally slowly pushed itself open. There, standing in the doorframe, was a very stern-looking woman clad in ornate silver armor. Her mouth remained chiseled into a frown as she looked Sunset over.

“Um, hey,” said Sunset. “You’re Lavinia, right?”

“That is correct,” Lavinia replied. Her eyes narrowed, and her frown deepened. “Who are you, and how did you find this place?”

“Oh, um...” Sunset could feel Lavinia’s gaze piercing through her, infused with the full strength of her authority. A bead of sweat began to drip down Sunset’s forehead. “M-my name is Sunset Shimmer. I’m a planeswalker, and friend of Twilight Sparkle. I-I was told that the Gatewatch were here. Is there one of them here I could speak to? I kind of need their help.”

Lavinia’s frown softened slightly, though her eyes remained firm. “I’m sorry, but you’ll have to come back later. The Gatewatch are currently dealing with matters outside of Ravnica.”

Sunset very nearly jumped back in shock. “W-what? All of them? Can you at least tell me what plane they’re on? It’s an emergency!”

“I’m afraid I don’t know,” said Lavinia. “But even if I did, that information wouldn’t be mine to divulge. Goodbye, Miss Shimmer.”

As Lavinia began pulling the door closed, Sunset frantically reached out and seized it by the edge, forcibly holding it open. “W-wait! Please, you have to tell me where they are! My plane is in danger! My friends are in danger!”

Lavinia’s lips twitched momentarily. A sympathetic look crossed her features, but disappeared just as quickly. “I’m deeply sorry for your plight, Miss Shimmer, but if you don’t leave I’ll have no choice but to arrest you for trespassing. If you want to speak with the Guildpact or his associates, I suggest you come back tomorrow.”

“W-what? Wait! No, don’t!”

Lavinia slammed the door shut with truly impressive strength, forcing Sunset to move her hand out of the way before her hand could be crushed against the door frame. There was a subtle click of a mechanism behind the door, and when Sunset pulled it open again, it opened to nothing but a blank wall.

Sunset pulled at her hair, letting off a deep, skyward scream of frustration, so loud that it echoed off the alley walls and into the street beyond. When her throat was finally raw from the strain, she turned to the inert door and glared furiously.

“Fine! Be that way! I don’t need your help anyway!”

Her mind still blistering with the heat of anger, Sunset planeswalked away.

————————

When her body reconstituted its form, Sunset found herself back in the maintenance room that had served as her friends’ makeshift base. Her entire body felt exhausted, and her mana lines depleted so thoroughly that they felt almost completely dry. She hunched over and began to collapse, only for Twilight to rush forward and catch her by the arms.

“Sunset!” Twilight cried out. “Are you okay?”

“Y-yeah,” Sunset said breathlessly. “That last planeswalk took a lot out of me, that’s all. I guess controlling where you arrive on a plane is more difficult than it sounds.”

Twilight gazed into Sunset’s eyes worriedly. “So did you find them? Those people you said could help us?”

Sunset gulped. “I... no.” Already as she spoke, she dreaded to see the disappointment on Twilight’s face. “B-but that doesn’t mean we can’t find help! There has to be someone else! M-maybe there are other survivors!”

“W-well, yeah, but who?” said Twilight. “Is there even anyone else who’d be able to stand up to the Phyrexians?”

Sunset paused. It was a good question. As she pulled herself free from Twilight’s embrace, her mind raced with possibilities.

Standing up to the Phyrexians was no easy task, that much was obvious. Despite their lack of intelligence, their hive mind meant they could coordinate their movements with absolute perfect precision, moving with an efficiency and ferocity that no individual minds could hope to match, even working together.

It was then, considering this, that an idea began to form. As a hive mind, the Phyrexians were powerful. But if something could disrupt that hive mind, they might possibly stand a chance. Something that could get the Phyrexians to start seeing themselves as distinct individuals. Something that could break the absolute unity of their thoughts, something that could introduce the possibility of disagreement, something that could bring them into conflict...

...and then suddenly, a devious grin formed across Sunset’s lips.

“Actually, I think I do know a few others who can help us.”

————————

Crazy Idea	2UR

Instant

Draw three cards, then discard a card at random.

There’s a very fine line between “crazy enough to work” and “crazy enough to get us all killed.”
> Dark Heart of the Wood
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

“Recruit the Dazzlings!? Are you nuts!?”

“Look, Rainbow,” said Sunset, “I know it sounds crazy, but—”

“Because it is crazy! They brainwashed the whole school and tried to take over the world!”

Sunset crossed her arms, and pointedly raised a single eyebrow.

“H-hey! Don’t give me that look!” said Rainbow. “At least you were sorry! They probably went right back to bullying people after we drove them off!”

“Maybe,” said Sunset. “But they have just as much an interest in saving their own skin as we have saving ours. And there really isn’t anyone else with the power to sow discord among a hive mind...” Sunset paused, reconsidering her words. “Okay, I guess there’s the Discord, but from what I can tell he spends very little of his time actually in Equestria. He could be literally anywhere in the entire multiverse right now, so the Dazzlings will have to do.”

“Well, that’s all well and good, Sunset,” said Rarity, “but aren’t you forgetting something rather important? Namely, the fact that we destroyed the source of their magic? Even on the unlikely chance they would want to help us, I highly doubt that they could.”

“Not necessarily,” said Sunset. “You remember the astral projections they used when they fought us?”

“Well, no, actually...”

“Not you, Twilight,” said Sunset. “The point is, those astral projections were what their true forms looked like, and you could see that each of their amulet gems was embedded within their chests. That would likely mean that a siren’s gemstone is their core magical organ, similar to a unicorn’s horn.”

Fluttershy let out a horrified gasp. “Oh my goodness! A-are you saying we... we... dismembered them?”

Sunset couldn’t help but cringe. “I... I wouldn’t have put it quite like that, but basically, yeah. Thankfully, that’s where you come in. If a siren’s gem is a part of her body, then that means your healing magic might be able to restore it. Once their magic is restored, we can have Twilight broadcast their song over a radio signal. With a bit of luck, it should be able to disrupt the Phyrexians’ hive mind.”

“We’re going to need a whole lot more than just a bit of luck if we’re gonna pull this off,” said Applejack. “Ah can think of at least a dozen different ways this plan of yours could blow up right in our faces.”

“Yeah! And don’t think she means the fun kind of blowing up, either!” Pinkie added.

Sunset sighed, letting her arms hang loosely by her sides. “I know. It’s a long shot, and there’s no guarantee it’ll work at all. But right now, it’s all I can think of. If any have any better ideas, I’d like to hear it.”

The room went silent, and a series of uncomfortable glances were exchanged among Sunset’s friends.

“I’ll do it.”

“What?” said Applejack. “Now just wait a darn minute, Fluttershy!”

“There’s no use trying to talk me out of this, Applejack,” Fluttershy replied. “I’ve already made up my mind. The least we can do after injuring those poor sirens is help them get their gems back.”

“Really, Fluttershy?” Rarity’s eyes narrowed, causing Fluttershy to shrink backwards beneath the force of her sudden glare. “Are you honestly trying to suggest that you feel sorry for them? That you’re willing to put all of our lives at risk for the sake of those... those monsters that tried to tear us all apart? Just what exactly is wrong with you?”

“Hey, back off!” Rainbow interjected. In a single stride, she placed herself next to Fluttershy, wrapping an arm around her shoulder. “If Fluttershy wants to go along with the plan, she can go along with it! And you know what? You can count me in, too!”

Applejack stepped forward and looked Rainbow Dash in the eye. “Now hold on just a minute there, Rainbow—”

“No! You hold on!” Rainbow shot back. “Fluttershy’s magic is the only reason I’m even alive right now! So if she’s in, I’m in too!”

Another silence hung over the room, with tension so thick that the air itself had nearly snapped in two.

Applejack exhaled sharply, her hand anxiously fidgeting with the brim of her hat. “Well, Ah can’t say Ah like it. But Ah ain’t gonna let you two risk your hides without any backup. Might as well count me in, too.”

“Me three!” said Pinkie. She leaned in from just beyond the edge of Sunset’s peripheral vision, her apparently disembodied upper torso seemingly hovering in midair. “I mean, what else have we got to lose, right?” She finished her sentence with her characteristic giggle, but Sunset couldn’t help but a slight, uncomfortable twitch to her left eye.

Everyone turned their heads towards Rarity, staring at her expectantly. She bit her lower lip, her eyes shifting back and forth across the room.

“Oh, alright, fine,” Rarity relented. “If you’re all going to die doing something stupid and reckless, you might as well have someone make sure you look good doing it.”

“I’m sure we’ll all be very grateful for your positive attitude,” said Sunset with roll of her eyes. “Twilight, what about you? You don’t need to feel pressured, we don’t have to do this if you don’t feel like it.”

“Oh, um... that’s not a problem, actually,” Twilight replied. “I was just, uh, wondering about something. I don’t recall if you’d mentioned it before, but, um...” she paused, adjusting her glasses by the nose. “...how exactly are we supposed to find these sirens?”

In that moment, somehow, Sunset could feel her pupils dilating. She opened her mouth to reply, her lips moving before a complete thought could reach them. “Uh... um... W-well, uh... You see...”

“Well, much for that plan,” said Applejack. “Got any more bright ideas?”

“Wait, hold on,” said Sunset. “Let’s not give up on this yet. There has to be something...” Her mind raced with possible answers, most of them ridiculous and nonsensical. Yet even still, there was one idea that shone bright among them, one that she latched onto at the earliest opportunity. “Twilight. You were able to detect my presence by detecting some magical signal, right?”

“Oh! That’s right!” said Twilight. “I detected a magic signal that was extremely similar to our own harmony-aligned magic, and sent Pinkie to track it down. I was hoping we’d find something that we could use to combat the Phyrexians. I, um... I know it sounds stupid, but I’d even hoped we might be able to use it to find a cure for the Phyrexian contagion.”

Sunset placed a hand against Twilight’s, letting the warmth of her skin seep through. As Sunset shared a smile, she could practically feel the tension in Twilight’s body melt away. “There’s nothing stupid about trying to find hope in a situation like this. More than ever, we need to give ourselves a reason to keep going. That’s what I’m here for, after all.”

“Oh, um... gosh.” Twilight’s cheeks flushed, her lips quivering as they curved up into the most adorably anxious smile Sunset had ever seen. “Thank you, Sunset.”

Rainbow suddenly gave out a very loud, conspicuous cough. One that sounded suspiciously similar to the words ‘get a room.’ As Sunset whipped around to glare at her, Rainbow noticeably avoided making eye contact.

“What? I didn’t say anything!”

“I’m sure you didn’t,” said Sunset. “So you found me by detecting harmony-based magic. Can you detect other kinds of magic?”

“Um... well, theoretically yes, but I don’t see how that would help.”

“Easy,” said Sunset. “The Dazzlings may have lost their magical cores, but they’re still ultimately magical beings. It’s entirely possible that there’s some trace of them you can detect. But you won’t find them by searching for magic like ours, because their magic is based on causing disharmony.”

Twilight’s pupils suddenly dilated. In the center of each eye, a glittering spark appeared deep within her gaze, as her jaw dropped open in sudden epiphany. “...And if our magic comes from harmony, then we can find them by searching for magic with the opposite properties! That’s it! Sunset, you’re a genius!”

Sunset felt a swelling in her chest, one that she hadn’t felt in a very long time. “Well, yeah. Of course I am. How else do you think I became Princess Celestia’s personal student?”

Another tense moment of silence. This time, all eyes fell squarely on Sunset herself.

“I’m sorry, but did you just brag?” said Rarity.

“Um... yes?” said Sunset. “What does that have to do with anything?”

Rarity coughed into a closed fist. “Ah. Well. It’s just that, er...”

“That last time you had anything resembling an ego, you weren’t really the nicest person,” said Applejack. “Just puts us a bit on edge, that’s all.”

“And the last time I repressed my sense of pride, it split off from me along with my anger and stole your soul,” Sunset replied, too annoyed to care which Applejack she was referring to. “I think after dealing with that, I’m entitled to a little bit of self-confidence.”

Applejack moved a hand behind her head. “Right. Sorry.”

“Anyway,” said Sunset, “Twilight, can you search for the Dazzlings’ magic signature?”

“Already on it,” said Twilight. True to word, she had already sat herself down at the chair by her makeshift computer, diligently tapping away at a keyboard recycled from an old typewriter. The monitor lit up with a map of the Canterlot metropolitan area, zooming in an area to the southeast.

“I’ve got it! If what I’m seeing here is correct, they’re in... in...” As Twilight’s mouth worked, her jaw suddenly went limp, and she had to push up on her glasses to keep them from falling off. “I don’t believe it.”

“What is it?” said Sunset.

“The Everfree Forest,” Twilight replied. “They’re in Camp Everfree.”

“Camp Everfree?” said Fluttershy. “B-but that’s more than twenty miles away! Oh, we’ll never be able to make it there!”

“Not without a car, at the least,” Applejack added. “And since we ain’t got any of those, we’re pretty much stuck here.”

“Just what the heck are you talking about?” said Rainbow. “There’s tons of abandoned cars on the streets!”

Rarity brought a hand to her chest, letting out a soft gasp. “Rainbow Dash, you’re not seriously suggesting that we actually steal a car, are you?”

Rainbow rolled her eyes. “It’s the end of the world! Who cares?”

“She’s got a point there,” said Applejack, “not like the owner’s gonna be missing it anytime soon.”

“W-well, maybe so,” Rarity huffed. “But nobody’s going to have just left their keys in the car for us! How in the world do you expect us to be able to drive one of them?”

One last time, the room went silent, and all eyes turned towards Sunset. A sly smirk crept its way onto her face.

“Come on girls,” said Sunset. “I think it’s time I taught you a thing or two about hotwiring.”

————————

Carjack	1R

Sorcery

Gain control of target Vehicle until end of turn. Untap it. It gains haste until end of turn. If it’s not a creature, it becomes an artifact creature until end of turn.

”Where did you learn this, Sunset?” Twilight asked.

“I should probably speak to a lawyer before answering that,” Sunset replied.


————————

The street, thankfully, was mostly deserted by the time Sunset and her friends managed to reach the surface. Pinkie conducted reconnaissance ahead of time, until they’d managed to locate a good spot to emerge from the sewer. When they crawled out of the manhole, they found themselves in a suburban neighborhood, where the industrialized construction of the inner city had largely faded.

That wasn’t to say that Phyrexia’s influence hadn’t been felt in its own way. The skies were still blackened and choked with smog, but the houses themselves were altered in an entirely different fashion. While the houses of the neighborhood were largely uniform in their construction before, now their uniformity had been exaggerated to the point where they were all completely indistinguishable from one another. Rows upon rows of houses, each made of bony pseudo-porcelain, arranged in a perfect grid structure, with identical white porcelain picket fences, identical mailboxes, and identical lawns with razor-blade grass and identical Phyrexian lawn gnomes in identical arrangements. Were it not for the occasional cars within the identical chrome driveways, somehow still untouched by the Phyrexian transformation, there would have been no way of determining where they were.

Eventually, they managed to find a large red three-row SUV, one with more than enough room to fit all seven of them. They quickly packed themselves into the vehicle, and Sunset ducked down below the drivers seat as she intently began pulling at the wires beneath the pedals. After several minutes, a series of electric sparks jumped out from the cables as she finished the job. There was a sudden engine noise as the car jump-started to life.

As she positioned herself in the driver’s seat, Sunset took one last cursory glance at her passengers. Twilight had taken the front passenger seat, of course, and behind her sat her other five friends; Fluttershy, Pinkie, and Rainbow in the second row, and Rarity and Applejack in the third. She adjusted her mirror one last time, and the engine hummed as she backed out of the driveway.

“So why haven’t the cars been transformed, anyway?” said Sunset. “It seems a little bit too convenient that they haven’t been made Phyrexian like everything else.”

“Oh, that’s easy!” said Pinkie. “They don’t transform the cars, they have the junkers scrap them for parts!”

Sunset blinked. “The what now?”

KER-CHUNK!

With a deafening mechanical noise, the entire car suddenly lurched, launching Sunset up with so much force that her seatbelt nearly strangled her. Then, suddenly, the vehicle began lifting upwards off of the ground. Sunset’s chest tightened as her eyes glided over to the rear-view mirrors, and she saw what had caused the sudden motion.

————————

Phyrexian Junker 3

Artifact Creature — Construct

Reach

1, T, Sacrifice another artifact: Proliferate. (You choose any number of permanents and/or players with counters on them, then give each another counter of a kind already there.)

2/3

————————

There, on the road just behind the driveway, was a massive wheeled machine. Jutting straight out from the front end was a single mechanical arm that reached dozens of feet into the air before curving back down, ending in a single pincer that lifted the SUV straight into the air. Below the arm, between the machine’s two front wheels, was a gigantic mechanical maw that opened into a thick carpet of shredding sawblades and whirling razors. A maw that, to Sunset’s horror, was getting closer.

“That’s a junker,” said Pinkie. “And we’d better get out of here, or else we’ll be junked!”

“Leave it to me!” said Rainbow.

“Rainbow, wait!”

Sunset’s cry fell on deaf ears, as Rainbow by then had already unbuckled her seat belt and opened the door. Her ears disappeared into her hair as a second, pony-shaped pair emerged from the top of her head, and a pair of feathered wings sprouted from her back. Then, in a blinding prismatic blur, she flew outside.

Sunset’s eyes tracked the blur as Rainbow flew upwards, to the very top of the junker’s mechanical arm, where she hovered in place. Then, as she cupping her hands together by the side of her hip, a swirling sphere of white-tinted wind formed between her palms. Rainbow let out a powerful cry and thrust her cupped palms forward, and the wind blew out into a crescent-shaped blade. The blade of wind cut severed the junker’s arm effortlessly, cutting at off at the base of its pincer and releasing the SUV from its grip.

And then gravity happened.

Sunset screamed out as the car fell to the ground, landing with enough force for the car to bounce on its wheels before settling. With her tailbone now thoroughly bruised, Sunset winced and rubbed her backside. A quick glance around showed that her friends had fared the same. All of them except for Rainbow, who quickly flew back into the door and shut it behind her, before a pair of impossibly long pink arms stretched out and buckled her seat belt for her.

“Don’t ever do that again,” said Sunset.

“What?” said Rainbow. “You mean save my friends from being shredded into pulp?”

A grating, mechanical roar came from behind the car. Sunset’s spine tingled, and she looked in the mirror to see the junker’s ‘teeth’ mashing and whirling with even more ferocity than before.

“Sunset!” Twilight cried out. “Floor it!”

“R-right!”

The engine roared, and Sunset shot forward, the car driving off into the horizon.

————————

It had taken much, much longer than Sunset would have liked to find Camp Everfree. Navigating the uniform suburbs had proven to be nearly impossible, as without any street signs or addresses there was virtually no way to reliably tell where they had been. Paired with the occasional junker forcing them to make detours, and it took more than an hour before they could started to see a change in scenery.

Eventually, however, the surroundings began to shift. The houses became spaced further and further apart, and the metallic facsimiles of domesticated plant life gave way to genuine greenery. The trees became thicker and thicker, less cultivated and more untamed, and eventually the designated patches of forestry gave way to an actual, living, breathing forest. Eventually they reached a point where the road and itself was the only sign of civilization, everything around them grown wildly and free.

The more Sunset took a look at it all, the more she realized how far removed from Phyrexia they truly were. Though the skies were dark, and the trees themselves crawled with choking shadows, there was a strange sense of peace to it all, like this was what the forest was meant to be.

She was so awestruck by how untouched the Everfree was by Phyrexia that she almost missed the camp’s entrance. As they pulled into the driveway, the car’s engine sputtered. The wheels slowed to a stop, before a horrible clanking sound came from the engine, breaking down entirely.

“That, uh... doesn’t sound good,” said Sunset.

“Don’t worry, I can fix the engine later,” said Twilight. “For now, we should get out and search for the sirens.”

“Do you even know what part of the camp they’ll be in?” said Sunset.

Twilight’s eyes gleamed, and her lips curled into a smirk. “I... might have something that can help.” She reached into the pocket of her skirt, and pulled out a very familiar item, a circular purple device hung around a necklace string, its outer edge divided into multiple segments. Twilight held it outward, and the segment pointing to the south-southeast lit up.

Sunset’s eyes went wide. “Wait, that’s—”

“Don’t worry, it’s not like the first one,” Twilight reassured. “It can’t absorb magic, but it can detect its presence. I cobbled it together before we left to help get a more precise location.”

Sunset let out a breath she didn’t know she was holding. “Jeez, you had me worried there for a second. Come on, let’s go out there and find these sirens.”

As Sunset led her friends out of the car, it became immediately apparent that something was wrong. The entire camp was dark, far darker than even the smog-choked skies should have allowed for. And as they moved out of the driveway and into the central clearing before the lake, the shadows themselves seemed to flicker and writhe on the edge of her vision. In the distance, the waters of the lake churned and sloshed like a stormy sea, as though pulled by tides far stronger than should have been possible.

But none of that compared to just how utterly silent the camp was. All around them there wasn’t a single sound to be heard; not the rustling of the leaves, nor the crunch of gravel beneath their feet, nor the chittering and chirping of the local wildlife.

“U-um, I-I’m starting to get a bad feeling about this place,” said Fluttershy, voice trembling.

“Yeah, this place is giving me the heebie-jeebies!” Pinkie added. “And not like in the city, either. It’s like... something else. Something bad.”

“Ah can feel it too,” said Applejack. She clutched her forearms in her hands, holding them steady. “In the soil, in the lake, in all them trees... Ah don’t like it one bit.”

“Don’t worry Applejack, we won’t be here long,” said Twilight. As she stared intently at her amulet, she began walking ahead of the group, leading the way as they traveled across the clearing. “Let’s see here, if we keep heading to the southeast...” Twilight’s eyes trailed upwards from the amulet...

...it was then that she let out a terrified, ear-piercing scream. Her hands went limp, and the amulet fell loosely around her neck, tears trailing down from her eyes as her entire body trembled uncontrollably.

Sunset immediately ran up to Twilight, holding her steady by the shoulders. Twilight shook beneath her grip, her entire body becoming wracked with shivering, quaking sobs.

“Twilight! What’s wrong? Tell me what’s wrong!”

Twilight’s arm quaked. Slowly, she raised it in up and pointed, aiming her finger at a patch of soil a dozen feet in front of her. Her head turned in the opposite direction as she did, as though unable to look.

And when Sunset looked, her entire body became gripped in the icy claws of terror. Immediately, she understood Twilight’s reaction.

There, lying on the dirt, were a pair of desiccated, dried, skeletal corpses. On the bare skull of one corpse were tattered, dried tufts of green hair, and wrapped around the other’s was a wilted laurel of daisies.

“We have to get out of here.” The words came out of Sunset’s mouth without hesitation or thought. “We have to get out of here right now.”

“No!”

Sunset was startled by the ferocity of the words coming from beside her. She turned to see Twilight, her entire body still shaking, but now her fists were clenched by her sides, and her teeth were forcibly clenched together.

“Twilight?”

“We can’t leave!” Twilight’s words, though choked through sobs, smoldered with a rage Sunset had never seen before. “We have to find the one that did this! I... I’ll never forgive them! I can’t! I... I...”

Sunset felt her heart clench within her chest. She steadily reached out and held Twilight’s hand. Twilight responded almost immediately, instantly collapsing onto Sunset. She buried her head into Sunset’s shoulder, shuddering with every breath. Sunset’s arms wrapped around Twilight’s midsection, and she gently rubbed her back, letting her gentle touch soothe as much as she could.

When Twilight’s sobbing died down, she pulled herself out of the embrace, removing her glasses to wipe away the tears. Sunset gave an expectant look at the rest of her friends, yet none of them could offer any words. It was Sunset herself that ultimately decided to break the silence.

“I’m sorry.”

“No,” said Twilight. “Don’t be. I... I should have known the Phyrexians would have already gotten him. I shouldn’t have let myself stay attached.”

Applejack suddenly cleared her throat. When Twilight turned to face her, Applejack struggled to meet her eyes. “Um... hate to interrupt, Twi, but Ah just wanted to say... Ah don’t think it’s a Phyrexian that done this.”

“What?” said Sunset. “Applejack, that’s ridiculous, what else could possibly—”

Twilight raised her hand, cutting Sunset off. “No, she’s right.”

“Huh?”

“Let me explain, Sunset,” said Twilight. “The Phyrexians... t-they don’t like wasting anything they could make use of, and that includes corpses. They wouldn’t have left a pair of bodies out like this.”

“But... darling, if it wasn’t a Phyrexian that did, what could it be?” said Rarity. “What could possibly have done something so gruesome?”

“I say we search for clues!” said Pinkie. She had suddenly sported a bubble pipe and deerstalker cap, seemingly out of nowhere. “And I hereby deduce that pile of glitter over there had something to do with it!”

“Glitter?” said Sunset. “Pinkie, what are you...” As her eyes drew to where Pinkie was pointing, a patch of glittering, sparkling material on the soil caught her eye. She walked up to the patch, and leaned over, rubbing her finger against the substance. As she brought a pinch of the material to her eye, her jaw went limp from sudden realization.

“This... this isn’t glitter. It’s gem dust.”

“G-gem dust?” said Fluttershy.

Unclean...

“Gyah!” Rainbow let out a shriek, jumping backwards in shock. “Applejack! Don’t startle me like that!”

“Don’t look at me! Ah didn’t say nothing!”

Unclean...

Rainbow Dash’s entire body went rigid. “O-okay, now I know that wasn’t one of us.”

Unclean...

The voice came from all directions, soft as a whisper, yet harsh and reverberating, like a chorus of buzzing locusts.

Unclean. Tainted. Befouled. Poisoned. Soiled. Filth. Filth. Filth. Filth. Filth. Filth. Filth. Filth. Filth. Filth. Filth. Filth. Filth. Filth. Filth. Filth. Filth. Filth. Filth. Filth. Filth. Filth. Filth. Filth. F͙͖̲i̬̼l͉ţh͓. ̶̻̲͈̱F̮̻͙̭̭̕ͅį̤̼l̸̹t̘̹̗͓̫̣̣͞h҉̘̪͕̰̫͍̦. ̡͇F̤̟͚͔̼i̼̜̩̩̞̠͡ͅl͎̭̜̖͔̭͉t̲̻̜̱̪̻h̷̯͈̬. ̧̜̥̤͔̜F̤̱̲i͈̖̮̤l͇̬̪͇̫t̺̻̟̟h̟̮̗͔̥̣͜.̩̩̥̳͍F̨͏̳̪͕͕̀ͅi̜̝̫͉l̡̤̱̯̥͎̰͚̘t͏͏͕̱̪͉̣̺h̨̪̼͢͠.͏̧̳͈̯͉̦͙ ̱͓̘̺̫́͜ͅF̶̡̮͈̱͖̞͝ͅį̵҉̬͕̖̪ļ̡̥̰̬t̠̘̪͈͜͢h͚̲̦̳̣̟̫́͟͢.̡͖̣̹͙͔̺͉̰ ͍̫̪̻͔̩͔̻̼F͙̜͞i̗̘̦̹̮̣͎̱͟l̩̮̹̗͉̖͟t̶҉̖̬ḩ̛̱͍͙.̮̟̘͡F̧̟͕̹̰̕͝I͡҉͞҉̵̰̬̟̖̩̭̮L̀͏̧͙̠̘͓͉̦͓͇͎̬̰͉͍̪̫T̷̨̡̧̹̙͎͔̳̦̼̗͚Ḩ̢̛̀͏̻̥͚͇̲.̴̧̙̱̭̖͕͚̥̖̀ͅͅ

From all around them, the flickering and writhing shadows began to slither and ooze, congealing into solid masses as they pooled into a thick sludge before their eyes. The pool of darkness dripped upwards from the ground in front of them, defying gravity as it coalesced into a solid, monstrous shape. Hair like the roots of a tree, teeth like jagged rocks, eyes like pools of black tar, and an aura of darkness that paradoxically gleamed like the light of a diamond.

“No way,” Sunset whispered, “it can’t be.”

————————

Gaea Everfree 1BGG

Legendary Creature — Elemental Horror

Hexproof, menace

Players can’t get counters.

Creatures can’t have counters placed on them.

Death’s shadow walks on shards of glittering earth.

4/3
> Worst Fears
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Filth. So much filth.

Even as she stood before Sunset and her friends, Gaea Everfree’s voice echoed from everywhere at once, a sound as though the ambient noises of the forest itself were hissing with scorn and contempt. And yet even then, the most unsettling things were the brief gaps between words. Though she couldn’t explain why, Sunset was certain that in the moments of silence there were other sounds just beyond her conscious hearing.

What business do you disgusting creatures have here? Was it not enough that you attempt to defile us with your putrid oil?

“W-w-w-well, um...” Fluttershy’s voice and body both shook uncontrollably. “A-Actually, M-miss Everfree... can I call you that? W-we, um...”

“We’re here to stop the Phyrexians,” Rainbow cut in. Though her eyes remained sharp, she was unable to conceal the fearful edge to her voice. “S-so, uh, if you could just let us through...”

Ľ̲ͥI͔̫̥̺ͫ̓͜Ě̵̪͕̲ͯ̄̄́ͩS͇͉͍̥̳̊͊̄̈́͊̀!̯̬̞̟̥̔̈ͬ͊̕

The abomination’s voice pierced the air like a falling redwood, its grating buzz lingering on Sunset’s ears in the silence that followed.

In the time since your forebears founded this settlement, your kind has done naught but spoil the land beneath you. You taint the rivers, stain the oceans, raze the forests, and suffocate the very air you breathe. Every passing year, the soil that you cultivate grows more barren, and yet you choose to remain oblivious to your self-destruction. We were content to let you engineer your own demise, so long as we remained sanctuary from your poisonous touch. But you filthy creatures could not even do that.

Her words scraped against Sunset’s eardrums like jagged rocks, each syllable sending chills deeper and deeper into her spine. With every passing moment, her monstrous form seemed to grow larger, her shadowed vines and leaves reaching further and further upwards, until she very nearly blotted out the blackened sky.

The infectious oil has already corrupted the lands beyond us, spreading its putrid disease across the very foundations of this world. Everything it touches is not merely blighted, it is desecrated. What were once proud examples of life’s beauty have become twisted and mangled, mutilated into shambling parodies of life itself. It was not enough for you to destroy that which sustains you. You had to go out of your way to mock it. And after you had sworn to spare us from your polluting machinations, you brought the oil directly into our domain.

Gaea Everfree’s crystalline aura burned ever brighter as she spoke, yet the harsh, shimmering glow did nothing to dispel the darkness around her. Instead it mingled and blended with the shadows, its blistering radiance emulsifying with the murky dimness, creating a darkness that burned Sunset’s skin with its heat and chilled her lungs with its coldness. All around her, silhouettes of shapes her mind couldn’t identify thrashed and quivered at the edge of her vision. Her heart pounded as her eyes darted around, struggling in vain to perceive the distant images lashing out from nearby.

Sunset’s head swam, and she reflexively reached out to the first thing she could hold to steady herself. She grasped Twilight’s shaking hand in a vice grip, feeling the cold sweat trickling off her palm. As they huddled closer to each other, the abomination’s form seemed to envelop them entirely. Though her shape remained unchanged, in every direction they looked, they could see the same mass of branches, vines, and leaves. The obscuring shadows illuminated Gaea Everfree’s rocky teeth, and she began to encroach upon them from everywhere at once.

Yes... we can taste your fear. You understand, then. You know what price you must pay for your transgressions. I want you to scream for me. Scream in terror. Scream in agony. Scream for help, knowing that none will arrive. And when the cold, silent embrace of death envelops you, you will die knowing there will be no one left to mourn.

“S-Sunset, what do we do?” Twilight whimpered.

“RUN!”

Sunset’s panicked cry immediately pushed all coherent thoughts out of her mind. She felt Twilight’s shivering touch leave as she sprinted, her friends becoming vague, indistinct blurs as they scattered across the camp. Sunset ran as fast as her legs could carry her, pushing herself away from the clearing and into the dim foliage of the Everfree Forest itself.

It was immediately clear that she had made a mistake. Not one second had passed after she entered the forest proper, and yet already the foliage had become thick and brambly, choking out the already-dim light from all directions. Sharp, low-hanging branches tore at her clothing as she ran, opening fresh wounds as they scraped against her skin. Yet despite the cries of her more rational mind, she pressed on, further and further into the depths of the wood.

Sunset had no idea how long she had been running. Only her pounding heartbeat, shortening breath, and burning exhaustion had given her any indication that she’d moved at all since she entered the woods. Even then, it was impossible to tell which direction she’d come from, or if she’d done anything other than run in circles.

Finally, Sunset’s legs gave out. With the adrenaline rush having worn out, her entire body was left feeling like jelly. She slumped onto her knees, pushing a sharp breath out of her lungs. The leave rustled, and harsh breeze blew across the forest, her wounds stinging from the rush cold air. Above, the canopy choked out the light, leaving everything shrouded in shadow.

But by far the worst of all thing of all was the creeping realization of loneliness. There was no sign of any of Sunset’s friends, no sign of any other living animal at all. Just her and an endless expanse of towering trees, their jagged limbs creaking and groaning in the wind. A soft whine escaped her lips.

Then, a twig snapped. Sunset’s body jolted straight, and a biting chill ran down her spine. Her head darted back and forth, looking for the sign of the disturbance, but the darkness of the forest remained absolute.

Another snap of a twig. A sharp rustling of leaves from overhead. Sunset craned her neck upward, and saw nothing.

And then, the silence of the forest was shattered by a blood-curdling shriek.

“Twilight!” Sunset stood to her feet almost instantly, and within mere moments she was already running. Though she attempted to herself in the direction of her friend’s cry, her perceptions betrayed her, as all around the twisting branches and gargantuan trees remained indistinguishable in the shadows.

There was another rustle of leaves overhead. Another voice screamed out, then was suddenly silenced.

“Pinkie!”

Sunset began to run in another direction, but she could neither tell which direction she was running in, nor the direction the scream came from. Her vision was swarmed with branches, swiping and clawing at her as she ran past them. New wounds were torn open, and old ones were torn open further, yet still she ran. She ran and ran, until her body was practically begging that she stop, yet still her instincts urged her to keep moving.

Another rustle, then another scream. Sunset froze like a deer caught in a pair of headlights, her entire body aching with fatigue. Her breaths were so heavy that they choked out all of her other senses, and her legs teetered as she struggled to remain upright.

“Applejack...”

Sunset pushed herself to run towards the scream, but her body refused to cooperate. The most she could manage were two sluggish, tumbling steps before she tripped over her own feet. The wet leaves beneath her crunched from the impact, and she was left face-down with a mouthful of dirt.

From there, everything became hazy. Sunset thought she had turned around and sat herself upright, but her every one of her senses had become so dulled that she couldn’t even make sense of what her own body was doing. The forest around her became a blur of darkened hues, a palate where all colors had blended into a singular mass of swirling grey.

On the edge of her hearing, two more voices screamed in unison.

“N-no... Fluttershy... Rainbow...”

It took all the energy she could gather to speak the words out loud. Her breath had become so choked that she could barely keep herself awake. Her thoughts turned to her friends as the last of her senses faded to nothingness...

...and then were suddenly pulled back into the realm of consciousness when something slammed into her at breakneck speed. A sharp pain shot through torso, and her ears were crossed with the sickening, wet crunch of her ribcage breaking at several points. Sunset’s eyes screwed shut involuntarily, her shriek of agony reverberating across her entire body. The pain in her ribs only intensified from the effort, and she was all but forced to stifle her own cries.

It had taken as much conscious control over her body as she could muster, but finally she had managed to silence herself. Though the pain in her chest remained excruciating, what was far more horrifying was the hot, sticky breath against her face. Her arms and legs were both pinned to the ground by an insurmountable weight, the touch of burning, leathery skin sizzling against her own.

Her heart pounding in her chest, Sunset forced her eyes open, and stared straight into her own face.

“You!”

“Yes,” said the She-Demon. “Me.”

Sunset gritted her teeth, and the She-Demon bared her own teeth in a vicious grin. Her eyes met her other eyes, the space between them thundering with tension. 

“You... If you’re the one responsible for this, then... then...”

“Then what?” the She-Demon taunted. “You’ll stop me? Look around you, Sunset. Your precious little friends aren’t here. I’ve already done to them what you always wanted to do.”

Sunset closed her eyes and sighed. “...you’re right. I won’t stop you. I can’t stop you.”

The She-Demon chuckled to herself, her voice reverberating off the towering trees. “Really? Given up already? Come on, I expected you to at least put up some fight.”

“You didn’t let me finish,” said Sunset, her lips curving into a smirk. The She-Demon’s eyes widened, her grin predatory vanishing instantly from the display of confidence. “I can’t stop you because you’re not actually here. This whole thing is just an illusion!”

“What!?”  The She-Demon’s jaw dropped as her form bolted upright, releasing the grip on Sunset’s limbs.

Sunset took advantage of the opening immediately. Her pain already forgotten, she kicked upwards and drove her right foot straight into the She-Demon’s groin, with enough force to shatter solid stone. Her doppelgänger howled in agony, the force of the impact sending her flying backwards. The She-Demon eventually collided with the trunk of a massive tree, sending little splinters of bark flying as her flight was halted by the impossibly sturdy wood.

As Sunset stood to her feet, every injury that she had suffered began to melt away. Her bones rapidly mended, her open wounds closed, and her torn clothes mended themselves, all brought on by the understanding that they were never there to begin with. The She-Demon stood to meet her, the fiery rage that once burned in her eyes dwindling to a mere ember.

“You made a big mistake, Gaea Everfree,” said Sunset. “You think I’m afraid of looking in the mirror? I’ve looked deeper than a being like you could possibly comprehend.”

“N-no! This is impossible!” the She-Demon’s voice slowly began to shift, the warped imitation of Sunset’s voice becoming a whispering chorus of rustling leaves. “We can taste your fear! Even now, we we can feel the guilt weighing down on your heart!”

“You must be confused,” Sunset countered. “That guilt has nothing to do with what I’m afraid of. So what if I feel bad about the things I’ve done? I’ve made mistakes; I’ll be the first to admit that. But why should I let that stop me? I came here to save the world, and more importantly, to save my friends! Those friendships are everything to me, and I sure as hell am not going to let you take it all away!”

With every sentence, Sunset could feel the determination pulsing through her soul. Magic surged from deep within her chest, pulling mana from lands beyond and gathering it into her hands. The edges of her vision, just beyond her primary field of sight, began to dance with colors. White, blue, black, red, green, and others so varied and vibrant she could barely count them all. It was a total saturation of hues and values, all lingering just at the edge of her perceptions, and yet at once it all remained impossibly beyond her reach. All she could touch were three of the colors — red, white, and black — and yet that was enough.

Sunset thrust her hands forward, channeling her magic into a powerful beam of destructive magic.

And all at once, the forest disappeared in a blaze of golden radiance.

————————

When Sunset’s vision returned, she found herself standing in the same part of the forest as before. Yet immediately, it was clear that things had change. The flickering, twisting shadows had receded, leaving only the usual dimness to be expected of the smog-dimmed sunlight filtering through the trees. She clutched her forehead with a palm, steadying herself as her head spun.

Jeez. That was unnerving.

I’ll say. I’m pretty sure Ego here just obliterated you in her dream.

Wha— Hey! I’m not the demon part of us! You’re the demon part of us!

As her head cleared, Sunset could see her six closest friends standing all around her in a circle, and yet it was clear from the dead, vacant looks in their eyes that none of them were present. Each of them whimpered pathetically, their bodies shivering and quaking as they remained firmly in place. They were together in body, yet in their minds they could not have been further separated.

“Girls?” said Sunset. “Girls, snap out of it! What you’re seeing isn’t real!”

“Huh...?”

Twilight’s eyelids fluttered, and for a moment it looked like she would stir, and yet still she remained entranced.

“You’ve got to wake up!” Sunset pleaded. “Whatever you’re seeing isn’t really happening! I’m here for you! We’re all here!”

Twilight let out a groan. Her gaze slowly began to drift back to reality, and soon her stirrings were joined by each of Sunset’s friends in turn. Twilight’s eyes twinkled gently as she finally returned to the realm of awareness. Before Sunset knew it, a pair of purple arms were wrapped tightly around her chest.

“Sunset! Ohmygosh, I’m so glad to see you! I was so scared!”

Sunset felt a snug, gentle warmth spread from Twilight’s touch, soothing her spirit as it burrowed deep into every corner of her heart. She smiled, and returned the hug eagerly, gently rubbing her hands across Twilight’s back.

“It’s okay. I was scared too, but I’m here now. Everything’s going to be okay.”

The two continued their embrace for longer than Sunset had bothered to keep track of, and yet still it didn’t feel like nearly long enough. She and Twilight both turned to face their companions, and Sunset’s stomach began to crawl as she realized just how deeply everyone was staring.

“Aww,” said Pinkie, “no ki— Mmph!”

A pearl-white hand forcefully clamped down on Pinkie’s mouth. “Ix-nay on the ipping-shay!” Rarity stage-whispered.

In the corner of her eye, Sunset noticed a sharp blush appearing on Twilight’s cheeks. Before she could ask what ‘shipping’ was, Applejack spoke up.

“So what in tarnation just happened?” Her head moved back and forth, looking over the unfamiliar stretch of woods. “And how in the heck did all of us end up way out here?”

“I’m not so sure about the last one,” Sunset replied. “But I think Gaea Everfree put us in some kind of nightmare so she could feed off of our fears. Did any of you happen to die in your visions, by any chance?”

The others shifted uncomfortably, avoiding Sunset’s gaze.

“U-um... I think I was about to,” said Fluttershy. “I-I was surrounded by animals I thought were my friends, but then they all turned on me, a-and this one bear mauled me a-and tore out my... my...” Fluttershy gulped audibly, cutting off her own sentence. “I was just about to lose consciousness before I heard you calling to me.”

Sunset winced, an reaction that was shared by all of her friends. Rainbow Dash leaned over and wrapped an arm around Fluttershy’s shoulder, her shuddering body steadying at her touch.

“It’s okay, Fluttershy. It was just a bad dream. We’re all okay, see?”

“B-but what if it wasn’t?” said Fluttershy. “Gaea Everfree, s-she... you saw what she did to Timber and Gloriosa. What if dying in those nightmares would have killed us in real life, too?”

Twilight coughed into a closed fist. “Well, that’s not exactly a hypothesis I’m keen on testing, if you catch my drift.” She reached towards her amulet, and held it out in front of her. The directional indicator pointed sharply to the west, its glow more intense than when Sunset last saw it. “Thankfully, it looks like we’re closer to our destination. We should get mov—”

F̸̞̼I͈̰͖ͅL͇͟T̴̻̳̪͍̗̗H!͏͉̼̻̼̲ ͓̲̮M̮̥̹i͙̤̱̭̟̞̼ṣ̺̕e̳͓̥̣r̨̬̤̠͚̱̻ͅá̘̞b̤̠͈̝l͎e̡̩͕͕̠,͖ ̸̯̰p̱̖̳͖͠u̧̥̯s͕t̥͇̫ṷ̷͖̥͖len̡͚̳̙̯̳̣̙t̳ ̶̲F̯̮͖̩̯I͕̳̠̰̰͙L̼̼̞̮͙T͈̼̝̮̞̹H̻͍̼͔̫͢!̡͈̱̱̤͙̠̟ ͈Y͍̯̲̱͎͖o̘͙̜̯̘u̼͇͟ ̟ẉ̩̗̀i͍͍̩̪͔͉l͚͕̙l͖̥̰̗̯ ͘n͢o̭̤̟̤̫̹̕t̠̘̙̘ ̸̱̼̲̻̤͍̥e̛̼͔̥͍̳͙̲v͕a̯̩̩͈̯ḓ̭̻̬e̸̙̭ͅ ̯͖̞̭̼̺͜u҉̥͉͙͎͎̟ͅs̷̝͉͖!̟̫̮͈̰͔͢ͅ

Sunset grabbed onto Twilight’s hand like a vice-grip. “Correction: we should get moving, and quickly.”

“Rainbow, darling, you’re faster than all of us,” said Rarity. “You should get out of here while you can.”

“Are you crazy!? I’m not going to go sonic speed if it mean leaving you all in the dust! Now let’s quit wasting time and get out of here before that thing finds us!”

Sunset couldn’t bring herself to argue any further, and judging by their reactions, neither could any of her friends. Before anyone could speak another word, they were all running into the forest, plunging even deeper into the unknown.

————————

Nightmare in the Woods	B

Sorcery

When you cast Nightmare in the Woods, any opponent may pay 3 life. If a player does, counter Nightmare in the Woods.

Target player reveals their hand. You choose a nonland card from it. That player discards that card.

”Filthy creature, you are not chosen. There is nothing to choose you. Your friends are forgetting you, while we are remembering you.”

—Gaea Everfree

> Gaea's Revenge
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

“Ugh! This sucks!”

Rainbow’s whine of protest grated harshly against Sunset’s ears. She sat on the ground, ponied-up, as Fluttershy carefully pulled out one of the dozens of twigs that had been forcefully lodged in her freshly-sprouted wings. Her body was covered in scrapes and bruises, her clothes tattered and mottled with leaves.

“Rainbow, you really should hold still,” Fluttershy chided. “None of this would have happened if you hadn’t tried to fly through the canopy like that.”

“We’ve been going in circles for almost half an hour!” Rainbow retorted. “I just wanted a better view so we could find our way out of here! Besides, I could have totally made it through if somebody had just moved the branches out the way with her magic.” She turned to face Applejack, eyes narrowing fiercely. “You know, like I asked.”

Applejack let out a snort. “Right. Try messing with the trees when the living spirit of the forest itself is trying to kill us. Ah’m sure that’s a good idea.”

Rainbow opened her mouth to retort, but no words came out. She then closed it again, and quietly grumbled to herself. “Fine. Point taken. OW!”

“There!” said Fluttershy, pulling out the final twig from Rainbow’s pinions. “All done. Now, doesn’t that feel better?”

“What? No! That really, really...” Rainbow’s words trailed off, as her wings, ears, and tail quietly retracted back into her human form. “...huh. You know, that does feel better.” As she stood up, however, she softly winced. “Do you think you could do something about these wounds, though?”

“It’s just a few scratches. You’ll be fine,” said Fluttershy. “Besides, I need to conserve as much of my magic as possible. I have to be sure I’ll have enough when we find the Dazzlings.”

A loud, exasperated groan escaped from Rainbow’s throat. “Great. You just had to remind me that we’re out here risking our lives for them, didn’t you.”

“Hey, don’t think of it like that!” Pinkie chimed in. “Everyone we’ve ever known and loved has been turned into evil cyborg zombies! Just look on the bright side: we’re already risking our lives every day just by being alive!”

Rainbow Dash threw her arms into the air. “How the hell is that a bright side!?”

Pinkie flinched away as the sound of the sound of the shout echoed across the trees. Though the smile on her face remained wide and unmoving, there was a slight glisten in the corners of eyes. “It’s... just how it is now, isn’t it? So nothing we’re going through here is any worse than normal! That means there’s no reason to be sad! R-right? Right?” 

Rainbow took a step forward, her arms locked straight by her sides, her fists quivering as they clenched. Pinkie reflexively took a step back, and for a brief moment their eyes remained locked, Rainbow’s lighting-charged gaze piercing deep into Pinkie’s quivering, darting eyes.

A yellow hand placed itself on Rainbow’s shoulder, followed by a soft voice gently calling her name. Almost immediately, the tension in Rainbow’s body vanished. A weary sigh pushed past Rainbow’s lips, and she turned her head to greet Fluttershy with a smile.

“Thanks, Shy. I needed that.”

Fluttershy returned the smile. “It’s no problem at all. I’ll always be here if you’re ever feeling tense, alright?”

Rainbow’s lips softly curved downward. Her gaze turned away, and her eyes trailed downward. “Yeah. I sure hope so...”

A harsh breeze blew across the forest, sounding out a hollow whistle as the leaves in the canopy rustled in its wake. A chorus of startled yelps responded to wind, and Sunset found her arm being forcefully grabbed by a shaking Twilight.

“W-what was that?” said Rarity. Her own arms had forcefully wrapped themselves around her nearest companion, who just so happened to be Applejack.

“Ahm not so sure,” Applejack responded, “but Ah don’t want to stay here long enough to find out!”

Twilight briefly pulled herself away from Sunset’s embrace, long enough to look at the amulet hung around her neck. The absence of her touch left Sunset’s arm feeling oddly cold, even more so than the moment before Twilight had grabbed onto her.

As Twilight followed the amulet’s directions, she turned and pointed to her left. “That way! The sirens are—”

The words were cut off as the darkness magnified, silence booming across Sunset’s eardrums, to the point where it nearly deafened her with its noiselessness. Already Sunset’s mind was reeling with the paradoxical sensation, and her swirling headache only intensified as the shadows became illuminated with incandescent blackness. Before her eyes, in the very same direction that Twilight was pointing, the inky globs of darkness crawled together into a glittering mass of decaying, verdant plant life. Her lips twisted into a display of jagged, rocky teeth, dripping with a thick, congealing, pungent liquid that Sunset couldn’t identify.

Hello again, filth.

“A-actually, on second thought, we could probably go the other way,” Twilight hurriedly spoke. As she turned to bolt off, however, she was stopped in her tracks as Sunset grabbed her by the arm, her glasses jostling as they nearly fell off her face.

“Wait!” Sunset cried out. “We have to stick together! We have to stay with each other and make sure she doesn’t trap us in another one of those nightmares!”

“W-what?” said Twilight. She reached up with a trembling finger, and pushed her glasses up by the bridge. “B-but... Will that even work?”

“I don’t know, but I’m not letting any of you out of my sights,” Sunset replied. She let go of Twilight’s hand, and a burning, bright orange orb of magic flared to life in each of her palms. Intense determination burned within her chest, as her eyes rose to meet the abomination’s gaze. “And I’m sure as hell not letting you threaten my friends again!”

Sunset thrust both of her hands forward, and the darkness scurried away, fleeing from the light and power that erupted from her palms. The magic twisted and swirled, forming into the already familiar double-helix. Sunset’s vision was blotted out by the light as the spell hit Gaea Everfree, the impact exploding into a burst of coronal plasma.

And when her vision finally returned, Sunset felt her heart drop into the deepest pit of her stomach. Before her Gaea Everfree stood tall, completely unharmed. Apart from the tiny, rapidly dying flames beneath her shadowy stalk, there was no evidence the abomination had been struck at all.

“Ah have an idea,” said Applejack. “How ‘bout we stick together and run?”

Sunset gulped. “I think I like the sound of that plan, now that you mention it.”

Not a second later, her hearing was overrun by the sound of many pairs of legs beating furiously against the ground. A quick glance around confirmed that none of her friends had strayed from their shared path, all of them clustering together as they ran.

From the beginning, Sunset had expected Rainbow to run ahead of everyone else. Even when holding her own speed back, her athletic build would have easily given her the lead. But much to her surprise, it was Pinkie who came out in front: still close enough to be with the group, yet always fast enough to be a good distance ahead. Her legs were moving so fast that they had turned into an rapidly-spinning pink blur. If Sunset looked closely enough, she could see that they had somehow taken the shape of whirling figure-eight hovering beneath her torso.

As she continued to run alongside her friends, Sunset noticed the trees beginning to thin. The dim light that was once barely filtering from above slowly tricked further and further towards the ground. She looked up, and saw that the branches that smothered the sky were growing farther and farther apart.

Then she looked forward, and her eyes went wide at the sight of the ground just ahead of Pinkie. Namely, the fact that there wasn’t any.

Sunset’s heels dug deeply into the earth, kicking up a cloud of dust that choked both her sight and her breath. Before she could even take the time to clear her lungs, she was immediately pushed to the ground as another body collided with her, followed by five others in rapid succession. Despite the crushing weight of five others pressing down on top of her, she was able to regain her breath just in time to call out a warning.

“Pinkie! Watch out for that cliff!”

“Huh? Cliff?”

Pinkie’s eyes had already turned downwards, but by then it was too late. The earth beneath her feet had already stopped, and she found herself running on top of nothing, her momentum somehow managing to carry her at least a dozen feet forward through the empty air.

What happened next was a truly bizarre sight. Instead of falling, Pinkie suddenly did a sharp one-hundred-and-eighty degree turn, somehow hovering in place as her feet frantically spun beneath her. Then, in another sharp blur of acceleration, she somehow managed to run back onto the edge of the cliff. She wiped her brow in an exaggerated motion, throwing several flecks of sweat onto the ground.

Sunset disentangled herself from the sprawling heap of her friends and crawled to her feet, unable to even be annoyed by the involuntary dogpile. All she bring herself to do was stare.

“Aw, why’d you have to tell me about that?” Pinkie huffed.

“Wha...” said Sunset. “There was a cliff, Pinkie! You literally just ran right off of it!”

Pinkie folded her arms across her chest and pouted. “Well yeah, but I wouldn’t have fallen if you didn’t tell me about it.”

“You... But... that... That doesn’t make any sense!”

Pinkie held her right hand up and raised a single index finger, closing her eyes as though they were held shut in profound contemplation. “The Universal Law of Cartoon Gravitation: What goes up, must come down, but only as long as it sees the ground.”

“But you didn’t even ‘go down’ at all!” Sunset cried back. “You’re still standing here!”

As Sunset opened her mouth to speak, she felt a single hand resting against her shoulder. She looked to see Twilight staring at her gently, her glasses miraculously unharmed by her recent tumble as they reflected the concern in her eyes.

“Let it go, Sunset.”

“What?” said Sunset. “Twilight, surely you of all people would be—”

“Just let it go,” Twilight repeated, more firmly than before. “Trust me, I’ve tried to understand it. It’s not worth the frustration.”

Sunset inhaled deeply, and let out a breath to clear the tension in her lungs. “Yeah... you’re probably right.” She glanced around, and looked briefly at her surroundings. The trees were sparse, and though the smoggy skies made it impossible to tell whether it was midday or evening, it was clear enough to see where they were.

They were on the edge of a cliff, that much was certain from the moment Pinkie had ran off. It jutted out several dozen feet from the rest of the land, hanging over drop that was easily more than a hundred feet above the ground. Below was a deep, mountainous valley filled with pointed evergreen trees and sharp, rocky crags of granite, with only a single tiny stream in the middle to break the fall.

Sunset then looked to the right, and saw the same thing. Then to the left... it was then that she was hit with a horrifying realization. The ground ended in every direction except the way they came.

A sudden chill ran down Sunset’s spine. She turned around, and sure enough, Gaea Everfree stood behind them. Tendrils of vine and shadow hissed as they snaked across the edge of the forest, forming a thick and brambly fence that cut off the cliff from the rest of the solid ground. All the while, Gaea Everfree’s grin never faded, the dulled light of her gems twinkling off of her bloodied teeth.

No place to run. No place to hide. Nothing left for you but grim inevitability.

“E-er, Sunset, darling?” Rarity spoke through trembling teeth. “Do you have any ideas? Preferably ones that don’t involve crossing paths with the murderous nightmare forest spirit again?”

Before Sunset could even respond, Rainbow abruptly pushed herself past her, positioning herself between Gaea Everfree and the others. Her footsteps fell heavily on the ground, every fall of her shoes leaving an imprint on the dirt as she stomped over. Within moments, she was glaring upwards, fiercely staring Gaea Everfree directly in the face.

“No! You know what? I’m sick of running! I’m sick of letting some half-baked campfire tale intimidate us!” As she spoke, Gaea Everfree’s eyes went wide. For a brief moment the glittering seemed to recede, no less threatening in character than before, but different in a way Sunset couldn’t quite describe. As the abomination’s aura fell across her skin, Sunset felt... bewilderment. Not hers, she quickly realized, but the bewilderment of the entire forest. 

Rainbow Dash entire body pulsed with magic, powerful enough that Sunset could feel it tingling against her skin. She pointed a finger upwards, jabbing it at Gaea Everfree’s face with such intensity that she could have sworn the abomination flinched. “And if you think you’re going to lay your hands on my friends,” Rainbow continued, “then you’ve got another thing coming!”

Another surge of magic pulsed through Rainbow’s body, and her form glowed with a bright white light. The human ears on the sides of her head receded, replaced almost instantly with a pointed pair of pony ears, accompanied by feathered wings and a rainbow-colored tail. Immediately she shot into the air like a rocket, leaving a rainbow-colored trail in her wake as she rose higher and higher into the sky.

Gaea Everfree gestured subtly with her hand. There was loud whoosh, and a sudden downward gust of wind that forced Applejack to hold onto her hat.

And then, within moments, Rainbow Dash was sent plummeting back to the ground. She collided with the earth in an ungraceful whump, kicking up a small cloud of dust as she planted face-first into the dirt. Rainbow forced herself on to her knees, and violently spat out the soil and grass that had been lodged between her teeth.

“O-okay, then, I-I guess an aerial attack won’t work. Or flying.” She looked up, and her pupils dilated as Gaea Everfree loomed above her. Her lips pursed tight, and the only sound to come past them was a soft, muted whimper.

Sunset’s body reacted without even a single conscious thought. She reached forward and grabbed Rainbow by the arm, pulling her backwards. A sharp, wooded claw reached down and smashed the dirt where Rainbow had been, sending chunks of dirt flying from the force of impact.

Rainbow’s body heaved with ragged breaths as she leaned against Sunset’s shoulder. “O-oh my God! I-I thought I was going to die!”

“Not today you aren’t,” said Sunset. She gently held Rainbow by the shoulders, steadying her shaking body as she stood up. “Come on, stand up. We can’t give up now!”

“B-but Sunset!” Fluttershy cried out. “What are we going to do? If those of us with wings can’t fly, a-and there’s no place left for us to run...”

“There’s only one thing we can do,” said Sunset. “We fight.”

A shrill laugh pierced the air, like a cloud of buzzing hornets.

You think you can resist us? Go ahead! Show us your last embers of hope. Let us savor their warmth as we snuff them out. O̪̖͡n͘e.͍͜.̪.B̲͖̪̙͡y̞͟.̯͔̖͖.͍̹̬̝͚̺.̙̝̹̪̯ O̷̹͚̕͝n̸̯̖͉̬͕̼̻͕̕e̛͍̤.̷̵̡͍̗͕̰͇͉

Sunset gritted her teeth, looking the abomination directly in the eyes. She was afraid, more afraid than anything, but every part of her was screaming at her to avoid showing any sign of it. She could only hope that she had succeeded. As Sunset stood to face Gaea Everfree, another blaze of plasma appeared within her own palms.

“You can’t extinguish our hope,” said Sunset. “You can terrorize us as much as you want, you can break our bodies, but you’ll never break our spirit.”

Fluttershy gasped. “Oh no! Not our bodies!”

It took an additional effort on Sunset’s part to stop herself from adding an unnecessary retort. Rainbow Dash, thankfully, managed to fill in gap in conversation.

“Just stay behind us,” she reassured. “We’ll take care of this before you know it!”

“She’s right,” Twilight added. As she watched Sunset, her own fears seemed to have vanished entirely. “Our friendships are more powerful than any creature in the woods could ever know! We won’t stand down!”

“That’s the spirit!” said Pinkie. “Come on girls, let’s pony up and mash this monster!”

Pinkie’s rallying cry was met with a chorus of affirmative noises. All at once, a great light surrounded the group. Sunset felt their magic connecting, felt it weaving between them as their hearts crossed together, joining into a single power.

Yet somehow, as each of them assumed their transformations, Sunset felt her body remain unchanging, just as it was before. Her eyes trailed up to the spot where her pony ears were, and she saw nothing. Behind her, she could feel her tailbone was just as short and stumpy as it had been before.

Twilight shot her a worried glance. Somehow, despite the fact that Sunset was certain she wouldn’t be an alicorn as a pony, she had sprouted a pair of wings.

Sunset had already anticipated the question that Twilight would have asked. She returned the glance, and her meaning was communicated without even saying a word. I’ll be fine. Just go.

It was Sunset who made the first move, opening with another blast of Plasma. Predictably, the attack left no visible injury on Gaea Everfree, but it staggered her back just enough to allow Rainbow to follow up with her own assault. Rainbow’s feet kicked up a cloud of dust as she zipped forwards, circling the abomination at incredible speeds, until Gaea Everfree’s entire form was encircled by the prismatic trail she left behind.

As Rainbow continued to circle around, her motion kicked up a rapid wind current, becoming stronger and stronger until turned into vertical column of swirling wind. It was a veritable tornado, one pierced the sky and cleared the smog, just enough to reveal the afternoon sun edging towards the western horizon. Within the vortex, Gaea Everfree let out a sharp, grating hiss, flecks of leaves and shadow peeling away from her form as the wind shredded at her body.

Finally, Rainbow broke free of her circular motion, running back to join the rest of the group. She skidded to a halt just before Sunset, cupping her right hand by her side. A spiraling orb of wind coalesced into her palm, and she leaped into the air. Her trajectory carried her body straight towards the vortex of wind, her right arm pulled back in a windup motion as she grasped the sphere in her palm.

“Take this! Spiralling Strike!”

With a powerful shout, Rainbow thrust her right arm forward, still gripping the sphere of wind tightly. The very moment the sphere struck the tornado, a massive burst of air exploded outwards from the point of impact. Sunset’s eyes screwed shut reflexively, the sheer force of the shockwave nearly throwing her backwards. Her feet dug deeper into the earth as she remained firmly planted in the ground, though it felt as though she had skidded backwards at least a few inches.

When she opened her eyes, she was shocked to find that Gaea Everfree had disappeared completely. Where she stood, there was nothing more than a loose pile of twigs. Even the shadows that had once pervaded the landscape had receded. Her wings flapping gently, Rainbow landed on the ground, a triumphant grin traveling all the way between her ears.

“Aw yeah! Be—”

“Don’t,” said Applejack.

Above, the smog began to roll in, covering the space where the vortex had once cleared it. As the skies became overcast, the light dimmed.

“Oh come on! That was awesome and you know it!” said Rainbow. “Don’t I at least get to say it once after that?”

The tendrils of vines and shadows at the inner edge of the cliff slithered and twisted. As they moved, they began to converge on a single location.

“And Ah’ve told you a million times, that this ain’t one of your fancy foreign language cartoons!” Applejack shot back. “We’re dealing with matters of life and death! Can’t you just take this seriously for once?”

The twigs where Gaea Everfree stood shuddered and clicked. There was a whistle of wind, and they began to rise into the air. Sunset tried to say Rainbow’s name, but the attempt at calling her friend’s attention went unnoticed.

“I’m allowed to have fun!” said Rainbow. “Besides, I beat the bad guy! There’s no need for you to... to...”

Rainbow’s words died out before she could finish. A deep shadow loomed over her body, the darkness flickering and dancing as Gaea Everfree’s form stood to its full height.

Sunset reacted as quickly as she could, channeling her magic into her palms, but by then it was too late. In a motion that was nearly too fast for her to see, a piercing tree branch erupted from Gaea Everfree’s body, lunging towards Rainbow with the speed of a bullet. Rainbow attempted to dodge the strike, twisting her body to the side, but she could only just avoid being struck in her vital organs.

Instead, the branch pierced straight through her left wing. Her cry of agony shook the earth with its volume, with pain so intense that Sunset could feel its string by proxy, running down a phantom limb that seemingly sprouted from her back. She could only gape in horror as the branch retracted, leaving Rainbow a sobbing, quivering wreck as she slumped to the ground.

Pity. We were hoping to see her killed for her arrogance. But perhaps we will leave her alive, for now. She was so eager to be to the first to die for you. So instead, she will be the last. The last to die, utterly powerless as she sees you die before her.

Gaea Everfree slithered forward, her stalk passing through Rainbow’s body as she moved beyond her, as though her form  were entirely incorporeal. Yet even still, her body carried a sharp, cruel tangibility, the sharpness of her rocks and branches visible even in the grimy, suffocated light.

The abomination’s gemstones glittered softly. Acting on instinct, Sunset threw up a quick shield spell, a simple linear wall of force that blocked the space between herself and her friends. Not one second afterward, a massive tangle of razor-tipped branches and brambled vines slammed into it, and Sunset strained her magic to its limits to maintain its integrity. Behind her, she could hear the panicked cries of her friends, mixed with Fluttershy’s muted sobbing.

“I... I can’t hold it!” Sunset called out. “You’ll have to distract her!”

“Distract her!?” said Rarity. “How in the world are we supposed to do that!? Just admit it! We’re done for!”

“No, we’re not,” said Twilight. “If Sunset isn’t giving up, then I won’t either. Come on!”

Twilight raised her hands into the air, and both of them glowed with an intense purple light. On the other end of the wall, a translucent and purple set of gardening shears manifested in the air, large enough that its blades covered the entire width of the assaulting foliage. Its hinges opened with a rusted whine, and with a single, echoing snip, the brambles and branches were cleanly severed, halting their assault just before Sunset’s shield was exhausted. As the wall flickered out of existence, Gaea Everfree let out a shrieking hiss, recoiling backwards.

Purple feathers scattered as Twilight charged forward again, hovering just above the ground. Her hands glowed again, and Rainbow Dash’s body was encased in a telekinetic grasp, lifting her away and carrying her back to the others. She landed in Fluttershy’s awaiting arms, and almost immediately Fluttershy’s sobs halted. Her hands swirled with green-tinted winds, and she placed them over the gaping wound in Rainbow’s wing, the puncture slowly closing at the air’s healing touch.

Without a moment’s pause, Twilight followed her act of telekinesis with another gesture from her hands. Purple strands of light erupted from her palms, attaching themselves to the handles of the shear construct. It shifted and morphed, the two blades and twin handles coming together into a single elongated tool. The strands pulled the newly-formed construct backwards, into Twilight’s awaiting palms.

Twilight stood tall, rising into the air as she grasped her new weapon. Held straight upwards above her head was a gargantuan woodcutter’s axe, one that towered nearly five times as tall as her entire body.

“THIS IS FOR TIMBER, YOU JERK!”

Twilight’s cry was choked with a half-stifled sob. Her arms swung downwards with as much force as she could muster, and the immense axe head was sent careening towards Gaea Everfree. The abomination reached upwards with both of her arms. The blade of the axe head crashed into Gaea Everfree’s awaiting palms, sending splinters flying through the air in all directions. Yet despite the force of the impact, Gaea Everfree’s maneuver had blocked the assault just before it had struck her body. Her great, arboreal hands held the axe by its head, not showing a single sign of pain even as the blade dug into her palms.

Gaea Everfree’s grip on the axe tightened, and immediately it shattered into a million purple fragments, glittering in the air as they vanished. Twilight let out a shriek, crashing down to the ground from the sudden shock. Her body went limp as she hit the ground, her glasses flying off and soaring over the cliff’s edge.

The abomination moved to slither forward even further, but was stopped in her tracks when Applejack and Rarity both stepped forward, their hands both pulsing with magic. A set of vines erupted immediately from the ground, entangling Gaea Everfree in place. Above her, an elongated diamond coalesced into a blade-like shape, joined by three others, two forming a cross-guard and one forming a hilt. The blade swung downward with intense force, but Gaea Everfree simply raised a forearm to block the strike, and the diamonds shattered into countless tiny shards.

The gemstones on Gaea Everfree’s body glowed, and the shards of the shattered diamond reacted. Beckoned by her light, they regathered and clumped together, compressing and changing shape, until they had become a mass of jet-black obsidian daggers. The daggers swirled around her, cutting the vines into nothing. Then, with a single point of her fingers, the daggers launched forward, towards Applejack and Rarity both.

Rarity’s magic flared again, and she conjured a diamond barrier to block the assault. Her shield only lasted for a moment, as when the daggers struck, both they and the barrier immediately shattered as well. Shards of gemstones lodged themselves into both her and Applejack, and the farm girl was immediately knocked to the ground, lying bleeding and unconscious.

Despite her injuries, Rarity managed to stand up. Though her clothes were tattered and her body was covered in scars, she met the abomination’s eyes with her own intense gaze. She ran her hand over a gaping wound on her shoulder, pulling a slick glob of blood out of it. A primal, bellowing roar sounded out from deep within her lungs, and she threw the blood with as much force as her battered body could muster.

As it flew towards the abomination, a tiny cloud of glitter collided with it in the air, the two projectiles combining into a single, sparkling bullet. As it collided with Gaea Everfree, it exploded into a shower of blood and confetti, sending her reeling and staggering backwards. Sunset’s eyes drifted towards the direction that the glitter had come from, and she saw that Pinkie had somehow moved from her initial location, and was now standing off to the side, aiding her friend with her own projectiles.

As the two continued to bombard Gaea Everfree, Sunset began to notice that Rarity’s motions were growing more sluggish. With every glob of blood she hurled, her projectiles became less precise, and thrown with less force. Gradually, the unrestrained behind her eyes began to waver, and her eyelids began to droop.

“Rarity, wait!” Sunset called out. But by then, Rarity had already collapsed onto her knees, her last projectile barely making it more than a foot beyond her, plopping weakly against the ground.

“Oh dear... I think I used too much.” Her words were slurred and faint, and by the end of her sentence she was already falling backwards. She limply raised her wrist against her forehead, and keeled over, unconscious.

With Rarity incapacitated, Gaea Everfree turned to face Pinkie. The exploding bursts of glitter struck the abomination harmlessly, not even rendering a flinch against her. No longer even bothering to bare her teeth, Gaea Everfree simply frowned, an expression that would have looked like boredom on anything resembling a human. Her arm reached forward, stretching out by a seemingly impossible length, before closing her hand into a fist. It struck Pinkie atop her head with a light, hollow conk noise, and a impossibly large bump sprouted from the point of impact. Her body went rigid, shaking in a manner that resembled a flicked spring doorstop. As she finally went still, her eyes rolled back, revealing the word TILT written in large, flashing letters on their undersides. Pinkie promptly keeled over and hit the ground with impossibly loud crash, and for a moment Sunset could almost swear she heard the sound of a yowling cat.

The ridiculousness of the sight wore off quickly, however, when Sunset realized that there was no-one else left. None but Fluttershy, and judging from the terrified whimpers coming from her, she was in no position to fight. None of them were. Sunset had tried, and it had yielded nothing.

The weight of the realization was crushing. They were done for. It was just like the nightmare she had been trapped in, aware that her friends were in mortal peril, yet powerless to save them. Only this time, it was real. Ice-cold sweat dripped down her forehead, and her heart pounded so intensely that she felt it could burst out of her chest at any moment.

Gaea Everfree bared her teeth once more. There was no denying that it was a smile, filled with malice and predatory hunger. Her arm retracted to its usual length, and as she turned to face Sunset, she reached for the nearest of her unconscious friends. Sunset’s muscles seized in terror as the abomination reached down, and picked up Twilight in her massive, oaken claw.

This one... This one is special to you. But are you prepared to see her die?

“NO!”

It was a single word, and the simplest answer that she could have given, yet the power that it held was beyond anything else that she had felt since they arrived. Right away, she felt a powerful magic wash over her, and her body transformed beneath its touch. Her ears extended upwards and outwards, her tailbone shifted and extended from the base of her spine, and from the ends of her shoulder blades she could feel a pair of new appendages forming. The light consumed her entire body, and when it subsided, she could feel the heat and light coursing through her like the core of a brilliant star.

With her wings flaring outward, Sunset raised her hand. The light of her magic engulfed everything that she could see, consuming and annihilating the shadows that loomed over Gaea Everfree’s domain. The light then rushed inwards, gathering together rushing inwards towards a single point. It poured into Twilight’s body, and she began to shine with a light that rivaled the sun itself.

Gaea Everfree hissed, the heat of Twilight’s form burning against her wooden grasp, and yet it seemed she couldn’t let go of her. Twilight’s eyes snapped open, and her own wings unfurled, opening with such blazing force that Gaea Everfree’s arm was instantly burned away, disintegrating into a fine black powder.

As Twilight hovered in place, the intense aura surrounding her grew brighter, and Sunset’s own aura grew brighter in turn. Sunset could feel her own heart beating in a different rhythm than before, and within moments, she could feel another heart beating alongside her. She thrust her hands forward, channeling her magic through her palms in the same manner as any other burst of plasma, but the blast never came from her own body.

As Sunset pushed her palms forward, Twilight mimicked the motion exactly, the two moving in such perfect sync that they looked to be mirror images of one another. As Sunset pushed her magic through her palms, it instead moved beyond her and into Twilight’s body. There, Sunset could feel the symbiosis between the two, as Twilight magnified her magic into many times what it was before, like a lens that focused and amplified a beam of light. The magic erupted from Twilight’s palms, rocketing out in a massive beam of destructive force that alternated between red, gold, purple, and lavender.

Gaea Everfree let out a warped, cacophonous screech of agony. Her form pulsed and throbbed as the blast engulfed her, pushing beyond her and into the forest itself, burning a scorched, cylindrical path straight through the tangled mass of trees.

As the blazing magic consumed more and more of her body, Gaea Everfree began to shrink down, becoming smaller and more diminutive. Her shrieks of pain dulled with every passing seconds, becoming softer, less harsh, less angry and full of malice. By the end, it had become nothing more than a pitiful, sorrowful wail.

The blast of plasma faded away, and Gaea Everfree was gone. The oppressive shadows that hung over the forest had all but vanished, and even the skies had cleared, leaving the gentle afternoon sun to shine down through the clouds. As Sunset’s wings retracted into her body, she looked to see Twilight descending onto the ground. She grabbed her head, holding herself steady as she reverted to her human form.

“Uhgh... Sunset?” she said. “What just happened? Where are my glasses?”

“I’m... uh, not sure,” said Sunset. “And I think your glasses are probably destroyed now.”

“Oh,” Twilight said glumly. “Well, shoot. I’m really badly nearsighted, I’ll never be able to see where we’re going now.”

Sunset walked over and approached Twilight, placing a gentle hand on her shoulder. “Well, what if you had an extra pair of eyes to help you out?” She motioned to the amulet around Twilight’s neck, and felt her lips curving into a smile. “You watch the amulet, I’ll watch where it’s pointing us. Sound good?”

Twilight giggled softly. “I think I’d like that, yeah.” Her lips pressed into a frown. “What about our friends, though? Are they okay?”

“Oh!” said Fluttershy. “Um... right. Hold on, I can take care of this. Just give me a second.” Laying Rainbow’s body gently on the ground, she screwed her eyes shut in concentration. Green swirls of wind formed around her hands, and with a single gesture, the wind began to engulf the bodies of all of Sunset’s prone friends. What remained of their wounds closed rapidly, and before long there was no sign left of injury on any of them at all, save for the tattered and battle-damaged clothing. When the wind died down, Fluttershy’s equine features retracted back into her body, as did those of the others.

A symphony of pained groans came from Applejack, Rainbow, Rarity, and Pinkie. Slowly, they each stood to their feet, before sharing a series of bewildered looks.

“What the heck just happened?” said Applejack.

“Ooh, I know!” said Pinkie. “Did we win? Did we beat the big bad scary nightmare elemental?”

“Um... I think so,” said Sunset. “But I couldn’t tell you how I did it. It just... happened?”

Right away, a slight twinkle appeared in Twilight’s eyes. “Oh!” she said. “Do you think maybe that was your awakening?”

Sunset placed an arm behind her head. “I... I don’t think so, no. That magic, it just... It didn’t feel new, it just felt like kind of an extension of magic that I already had. It felt... empathetic, like my geode, but also like the blasts of magic I normally use as a planeswalker. So I don’t think that was my awakening, really.”

“Well, not to worry about it, dear. I’m sure you’ll find your awaking soon,” said Rarity. “Ooh, I wonder what your new power will be? Perhaps a new transformation? I wonder if you’ll have a new outfit to go along with it?”

“Yeah!” said Rainbow. “Maybe you’ll become a Super Sunset! Or, like... a Super Sunset God!”

“Or a Super Sunset God Super Sunset!” said Pinkie.

Sunset rolled her eyes. “I’m not becoming a god, that’s ridiculous.”

“Not to mention you have to be almost killed by a Phyrexian for an awakening to happen, iffin’ Ah recall correctly,” Applejack chimed in. “Not to speak for anyone else, but Ah’m pretty sure none of us was really asking for a near-death experience.”

“Yeah, I don’t plan on getting close to dying anytime soon,” said Sunset. “Still, I’m glad we made it out of that. For a minute there I really thought—”

Almost immediately, Sunset was cut off. The cliff beneath her rumbled violently, the intense tremors shaking Sunset to the very core of her bone marrow.

Sunset groaned. “Oh, you have got to be kidding me.”

The cliff beneath her gave way, sending Sunset and her friends screaming as they tumbled deep into the abyss.

————————

Collapse the Cliffs	2RRR

Sorcery

Destroy target land. Collapse the Cliffs deals 2 damage to each creature without flying and each planeswalker.

Some stories end in cliffhangers. Others end without any cliffs left to hang from.
> Siren's Call
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

“AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!”

“Pinkie.”

“AIIIIIIIEEEEEEEEE!”

“Pinkie!”

“AAAAAAAAaaAAaaAAaaAAAAAAaaAAAAA!”

“Pinkie! We’re not falling anymore!”

“Huh?”

Pinkie snapped out of her fervor just long enough to look down. Sure enough, Sunset and all her friends were floating mere inches above the ground, each of them encased in a purple aura. Twilight let out a sharp breath, and Sunset was swiftly deposited onto her rear end. When she picked herself up from the ground, she turned to look at each of her friends at turn, quickly scanning them for injuries.

“Is everyone okay?”

“Looks like it,” said Applejack. “Nice going with the telekinesis, Twi.”

Twilight smiled, and gave a quick nod. “I’m just doing my part.”

“Aww,” Pinkie groaned, “but that’s so anticlimactic!”

“Anticlimactic?” said Rainbow. “We very nearly fell to our deaths!”

Fluttershy raised a finger, and quietly chimed in. “Um. You can fly.”

“So what?” said Rainbow. “Pinkie has her dumb ‘toon physics’ and I didn’t see her suddenly running back to the surface!”

“I can’t do that if I’ve already seen the ground, Rainbow. I mean, duh.”

“But you did run back to the cliff after you saw the ground. That’s literally what you did before we fought Gaea Everfree!”

“We didn’t fight that thing,” Applejack cut in. “We got our butts kicked halfway into next week, and then Sunset stepped in and saved our hides.”

“What exactly is your point, A.J.?” Rainbow shouted back. “Why does that even matter!?”

Applejack threw her arms into the air. “Because you’re the one that got us into that whole dang mess to begin with!”

“What!? How dare you!”

“Uh, girls? Maybe we should calm down,” said Sunset. By her side, Twilight had approached her, grabbing tightly onto her arm.

“Sunset?” said Twilight. “Why are they fighting? What’s going on?”

“Don’t deny it!” Applejack continued, completely disregarding the others. “If you hadn’t picked a fight with that monster to begin with, we wouldn’t have risked our lives getting dragged into it!”

“There was nowhere else to go!” Rainbow shot back. “We were at the edge of a cliff!”

“And Twilight could have levitated us down!” Applejack shot back. “You’re always doing this! Trying to solve everything by rushing forward without even thinking, and bringing us nothing but trouble!”

“Girls,” Sunset said, more firmly than before. “Seriously. You need to calm down.”

“And what were we supposed to do? Keep running? You know Gaea Everfree would have just caught to us eventually, and then we’d have been toast either way!”

“All we needed to do was find the sirens and get out as quickly as possible!” Applejack shouted. “We didn’t need to run keep running forever! Rarity, back me up here!”

“You leave me out of this!”

“GIRLS!” Sunset yelled, her voice resounding through the valley. It echoed off the rocky hills, reverberating so loudly that it could no doubt be heard for a mile. In the wake of her outburst, all others went silent.

“In case you’ve all forgotten,” said Sunset, “we still have a world that we need to save. And it’s not going to be saved as long as we all stand here bickering with each other. Got that?”

Sunset was met only with a series of grumbling affirmations. Everyone looked too ashamed to make direct eye contact with her.

“Good. Twilight, what does your amulet say?”

“Oh, um... right!” She grabbed the amulet, thankfully still fastened securely around her neck, and checked its directional pointer. She turned to the right, and pointed further down the valley. “It looks like the Dazzlings are that way. But that doesn’t make any sense. They were in the opposite direction we were running from Gaea Everfree before.”

“I’m not entirely certain a forest ruled by that thing would follow the normal laws of spatial dimensions,” Sunset remarked. “Hopefully now that she’s gone, it’ll be more straightforward.”

“R-right,” said Twilight, biting her lower lip. “You, uh... you lead the way. I’ll make sure to point you in the right direction.”

Sunset nodded. “Sounds like a plan. Let’s get going.”

Before Sunset went down the path Twilight pointed, she gave her friends one last look, making sure they were still following her. Ignoring the apprehension that had begun to churn in her gut, she moved forward, leading the group behind her.

As they went through the valley, Sunset couldn’t help but notice that there was something different about it. Evergreen trees grew from the rocky crags and pine-scented dirt, and a small brook trickled beside them as they traced its path downstream. Yet despite the choking shadows having dissipated, everything about the forest seemed less vibrant than before. The green on the trees was duller, almost grey in coloration, and the air was thicker, taking more of an effort on the part of Sunset’s lungs to breathe. She wondered, briefly, what could have caused such a change, but her query was answered when she saw something slick against a nearby rock.

Right away, Sunset froze. Her friends very nearly crashed into her from behind as a result of the sudden stop, and before long she had earned their full attention.

“Sunset, darling, is something wrong?” said Rarity.

Sunset said nothing. She raised a finger and pointed to a sharp, pointed crag sticking out of the stream. Atop it was a black spot, slick and glistening, and rapidly spreading.

Twilight let out a gasp. “That’s... the glistening oil! But how? I-I thought the forest wasn’t infected!”

“I don’t think it was,” said Sunset. “At least, not while Gaea Everfree was protecting it. She attacked us because she knew she was being threatened by something, but I don’t think she could tell that thing from us. Now we can see what that thing is.”

Twilight shuddered softly. “B-but if the oil is already here, then that must mean that the Phyrexians—”

An unearthly shriek cut through the valley. Then, before Sunset could even react, a grotesque form barreled out from the nearby trees, lunging at Twilight with deadly force. It swiftly tackled her to the ground, pinning her against the dirt and rocks.

————————

Phyrexian Antlermaul 3{g/p}{g/p}

Creature — Elk Horror

({g/p} can be paid with either G or 2 life.)

Infect (This creature deals damage to creatures in the form of -1/-1 counters and to players in the form of poison counters.)

When Phyrexian Antlermaul enters the battlefield, you may have it fight target creature you don’t control.

In Phyrexia, ‘survival of the fittest’ becomes ‘survival of the cruelest.’

2/3

————————

The creature resembled a deer, but only on the most superficial level. All four of its legs had been pried open, seemingly bisected from the cleave of each hoof to the center of each knee, resulting in bifurcated limbs that split into eight spindly appendages. It had leathery brown skin that was covered in welts, boils, and scars, and its eyes were pure black and dripping with globs of oil. Its antlers branched out and tangled together in ways into a miasma of sharp, serrated razors tipped coated in silvery metal. As it pinned Twilight to the ground, its insectoid mandibles clicked and hissed, foaming saliva dripping freely from the orifice.

The very moment Twilight’s cry reached her ears, she was channeling her magic into her palms. The valley lit up with the bright orange flare of a solar prominence and the crackling of plasma, and the deer was blasted backwards. It let out a soft hiss as its charred body slumped motionless against the ground, though whether the sound came from the deer’s mouth or its scorched flesh Sunset couldn’t tell. 

Running over to check on Twilight was an act so deeply ingrained into her instincts that she didn’t have to put a single conscious thought into it. In a mere second she was leaning over Twilight, scanning her body for injuries. Twilight trembled and as Sunset gradually grasped her hand, holding it up to her. She failed to notice Sunset’s touch, her eyes screwed shut as a terrified whine escaped her lips.

“Twilight!” Sunset called out. “Twilight! Speak to me!”

“No!” Twilight whimpered. “I’m sorry... I’m sorry! I didn’t mean it!”

“Twilight! Open your eyes!” Sunset pleaded. “It’s me, Sunset Shimmer! Your best friend! I’m here, Twilight!”

Twilight’s eyes pried themselves open, red and soaked with tears. “S-Sunset?”

Sunset held Twilight’s hand tighter, gently pulling her up. As she sat upright, Sunset reached around and pulled Twilight into a tight hug. Twilight returned the gesture, her shivering body slowly becoming steady within Sunset’s arms. Her ragged sobs began to fade, and before long she settled into gentle, rhythmic breaths that Sunset could feel through their embrace.

When Twilight finally pulled away, Sunset looked deeply into her eyes. She reached forward with her hand and brushed a tear out of Twilight’s eye, pushing away a loose strand of hair. Twilight sniffled slightly, and returned the gaze, though her lips remained pressed into a frown.

“You saved me.”

“Of course I did,” Sunset replied. “And I promise I’ll never let anything happen to you. No matter what.”

Twilight’s eyes drifted away, avoiding contact with Sunset’s. “...Why, though?”

Sunset blinked. “’Why?’ What do you mean ‘why?’ Twilight, you know I care about you more than anything! Why would I ever let you get hurt?”

Twilight didn’t answer. Her gaze remained distant, drifting ever further away from Sunset’s attention.

“Twilight,” Sunset pleaded. “If there’s something wrong, you have to tell me. I can’t let you hurt like this.” She grabbed Twilight’s hand, holding it in both of her palms. “Please, I—”

And then, at that exact moment, Sunset felt herself being pulled into Twilight’s memories. A powerful magic pulsed deep within her chest, and she saw through Twilight’s eyes, experiencing all that she had experienced over the past two weeks.

She saw Twilight heading deep into the highest security clearances of the Hexagon, handing over the vial of glistening oil to Shining Armor, with a four-star general present to observe. She saw Twilight observe the military scientists studying the oil, coming to no apparent conclusion about its magical properties. She lived Twilight’s life, feeling every ounce of frustration that Twilight did as the Magical Containment Unit obtained no new results.

She saw Twilight smuggle the vial of glistening oil back to the school so she could study it further in the chemistry classroom during lunch. She saw how, after the first day as substitute, Ether Seeker disappeared entirely, and she noticed that Handy Craft had been seemingly unaware that he was absent at all. She saw students gathering into the auditorium on the day of Starlight Glimmer’s presentation, and watched as Starlight unveiled a portal built of pitch-black metal circled by golden rings of light.

She watched through Twilight’s eyes as the portal activated, and from it emerged a four-armed monster with leathery wings, porcelain skin, and a vicious polearm dripping with black ooze. She watched as the monster raised her weapon in the air, enveloping the entire city in infectious magic, proliferating the disease that had been lying dormant for days. She watched as the students spasmed and writhed, their bodies snapping and twisting into horrifying amalgamations of bone and porcelain. She watched, powerless, as the world ended.

When Sunset returned to reality, she found herself staring once again at Twilight. Her head hung low, and she turned her eyes upward to meet Sunset’s.

“I guess you know the truth now,” Twilight muttered. “I’m the reason the Phryexians succeeded. I gave the oil to the most top-secret operations in the entire military. I allowed the contagion to spread through the highest echelons of the most powerful government on Anthropia. And then I took it back to the school, and allowed it to continue spreading. I... I did this, Sunset. E-everyone’s gone. Except for you guys, everyone I-I’ve ever known and loved is gone. And it’s all because of me.”

“No!” said Sunset. “That’s not true! You didn’t do any of this! You had no idea!”

“Ignorance is no excuse!” Twilight shot back. Her voice quivered, barely managing to hold back a sob. “W-what kind of aspiring scientist takes such dumb risks with an infectious substance they know nothing about!? I’m immune to the oil; I could have quarantined it before it had a chance to affect anyone else! But I didn’t! I... I let it spread, and now the whole world’s gone to hell because of me!”

“But you didn’t do anything!” said Sunset. She grabbed both of Twilight’s hands and gripped them tightly. Her mind raced, searching for anything she could say. “You... you weren’t the one who brought the oil to this world! It was Ether Seeker!”

Twilight froze. Her body went steady, and her pupils dilated. She looked as though she had just been physically struck. “...Ether Seeker?”

“Yes!” said Sunset. “Him! The substitute! You found the oil on his desk! And you saw that arm of his, there’s no way something like that came from this plane!”

Twilight let out a soft gasp. “You... you think he’s a planeswalker?”

Sunset nodded. “It’s the only explanation I can think of. And I have a hunch that he’s the one that infected Starlight, and gave her that portal. I think he’s been planning this from the beginning.”

Twilight stared blankly. Her mouth moved silently, attempting to speak, but ultimately coming up short. It took seconds for anything resembling an emotion to cross her face, but when it did it became an image of anger that Sunset didn’t even think her capable of. Twilight’s entire body tensed, her hands clenching so hard that they nearly crushed Sunset’s bones in their grips. “I... I don’t believe this! I won’t forgive him for what he’s done! I... I-If I ever see him again, I’ll kill him! A-and don’t think I don’t mean it! I’ll swear to God, I’ll tear him apart with my bare hands!”

“Whoa, careful!” said Sunset, wincing. “We’re still holding hands, remember? You’re, uh.. kinda crushing me.”

Twilight blinked. A brief flush appeared on her cheeks, and she released her ironclad grip on Sunset’s aching hands. “Sorry,” she mumbled, looking away briefly. “I’m still mad, though.”

“You have every right to be,” said Sunset. “I’m honestly surprised you’re not even angrier. That man is a monster, and he probably deserves everything you were thinking of doing to him, and then some.”

“...Yeah,” said Twilight. “But I don’t think that’s going to happen. He probably fled the plane a long time ago.” She let out a heavy sigh. “I-I can’t let myself get distracted by thinking of him right now. We need to focus on finding the Dazzlings. They’re the only chance we have at saving everyone.”

“Are you sure?” said Sunset. “You don’t need another minute to collect yourself?”

Twilight shook her head. “No, I’m fine. We need to get moving. I don’t want to be around when another one of those things attacks.”

Sunset turned her head, briefly glancing at the nauseating corpse of the horrible deer that lay several feet away. Already it was beginning to smell, its odor assaulting her nostrils the moment their attention was called to it. “Good point,” she said.

Sunset helped Twilight to her feet, Twilight wiping away the last of the tears from her eyes. The gave one last checkup with their friends, stopping to make sure each of them was ready to move, and continued down the path led by Twilight’s amulet.

————————

“There!” said Twilight.

As she held her amulet, Twilight pointed a finger pointed to a cave that opened beneath a series of mossy rocks, concealed enough by the surrounding foliage that Sunset wouldn’t have noticed it had she not been looking. Even from the outside, it looked far from the sort of cave that would be a suitable shelter, no doubt crawling with filth and fungus.

Rarity cringed, sucking in air through clenched teeth. “You... you’re not seriously suggesting the Dazzlings are in there, are you?”

“That’s what it says,” said Twilight. “If we’ll find them anywhere, it’ll be in there.”

Rarity groaned loudly. “Ugh! Typical. I spend all this effort doing my hair before we go out, and I have to ruin it by crawling in some moss-encrusted cavern.”

“Oh, come on!” said Rainbow Dash. “It’s the end of the world and all you care about is your hair?”

“You lay off of her, Rainbow,” Applejack retorted. “We ain’t got time for this. If we’re going into them there cave, we’re going into them there cave.” 

“She’s right,” said Sunset. “We should definitely head in sooner rather than later. We’re lucky we haven’t run into any more, uh... ‘wildlife.’ We should definitely finish up in this forest before our luck runs out.”

“I refuse to call those things wildlife,” Fluttershy said. She wrapped her arms around her body, and shivered subtly. “I didn’t even feel a single spark of life coming from that last one. I-It’s like someone killed a deer, mutilated its corpse, and then put it back together. I’m getting chills just thinking about it.”

Sunset sighed. “I know,” she said. “Everything’s scary now. I don’t think there’s a single thing about Phyrexia that isn’t deeply disturbing. But we need to get moving, and we need to get moving before something we don’t want to catch up with us catches up with us.” She trudged forward, ducking into the cave entrance as she gestured for her friends to follow.

“W-wait!” Rarity called out. “Don’t leave me behind! Don’t I get a say in this?”

Inside, the cave was dark, as expected, and filled with slippery moss that forced Sunset to hold onto Twilight to stop herself from slipping. She held out her hand and conjured a simple orb of plasma in her palm, allowing it to illuminate their passage, but even then the shadows made it difficult to make anything out. The cave was winding and cramped, its corridors branching out into a maze of twisty little passages, all alike. It felt like hours had passed, and none of them had gotten anywhere. Sunset absolutely dreaded what would happen if her friends hadn’t decided to stick with her as a group.

Thankfully, after who-knows-how-many dead ends, they managed to arrive in a much larger chamber. It was no bigger than the size of a standard classroom at Canterlot High, yet compared to the claustrophobic passages before that had resulted in many a bruised funny bone, it practically felt like a wide open field. Mossy stalactites hung from the ceiling and dripped watery cave residue, tickling the top of Sunset’s scalp. At the far end of the chamber, she could see three female figures sitting between a pair of stalagmites.

“Go away!” cried a voice. “Nobody’s here!”

There was a sound remarkably like an open hand striking something. “Idiot!” said another voice. “Don’t give us away!”

“Too late,” said a third voice. “Admit it, we’re already pretty much elemental food by now. There wasn’t any point in hiding in the woods to begin with.”

“And what’s the alternative, huh? Leave the forest and get turned into freaking zombies? I don’t think so!”

“Um, Adagio? I don’t think that’s the scary forest monster thingy. I think it’s something worse.”

As Sunset stepped forward, the orb of plasma in her palm shed light on the three figures. As she expected, the voices from before had belonged to the Dazzlings, and all three of them were sitting before her.

But the Dazzlings that she saw were not the fearsome sirens that she knew. They were gaunt, so emaciated and thin that their bones were visible through their skin. It looked like every one of them could snap in two from the slightest breeze. And as Sunset approached, they did nothing but stare at her, faces held frozen in abject terror.

Sunset’s brow shot upward. “Huh? What happened to you?” A creeping dread began to slither into her chest, constricting ever more rightly around her heart. “Are... are you okay?”

None of the Dazzlings responded. The merest sound of her voice caused all three of them to flinch simultaneously. Sonata whimpered, huddling up to Aria and gripping her on the shoulders. As Sonata trembled, Adagio’s bony face twisted into a vicious scowl.

“Why?” she said. “Why would you come here? Was what you did to us not enough?”

“Um... well, no,” said Sunset. “Actually, I was wondering if—”

“It wasn’t enough, was it?” Adagio continued. She stood to her feet, legs wobbling, yet eyes burning with a fire so intense that Sunset could feel the heat radiating from their hate. “Because it’s never enough for you! It wasn’t enough that you took everything from us! It wasn’t enough that robbed us of our way of living and then left us for dead! No! You had to come back so you could gloat! So you could kick us while we’re down!”

Sunset threw her arms up “Hey, no! That’s not it! I just thought—”

“It’s not enough that you killed us, is it!?” Adagio shouted. “It’s not enough for us to die, you have to come all the way out here watch us die! You had to come here so you could laugh at us!”

“What!?” Sunset blurted out. “N-now hold on, I don’t know what you’re talking about! I’d never try to kill you! As bad as you were, you don’t deserve that!”

Adagio jabbed a finger at Sunset’s chest, with enough force to leave a bruise. “Don’t you play dumb with me, asshole! You know what you did, you... you... you...” Her sentence was left hanging. The rage that was burned into every pore and crease in Adagio’s face slipped away, replaced with a look of equal parts shock and disgust. “Oh, dear Discord. You really don’t know, do you?”

“No!” Sunset shouted back. “I don’t know anything about what you’re saying! Just what is going on here!?”

“What’s going on!?” said Adagio. “What’s going on!? You destroyed our fucking magical cores, that’s what’s going on! In case your dumb ass hasn’t figured it out yet, we need those to live! You’ve killed us!”

Sunset’s jaw hung loose. She could very nearly feel her heart skip a beat. “I... I did what?”

“Yes! That’s exactly what you did!” Adagio continued. “We’re emotivores! The anger of mortals is what we eat! Human food can only provide us with so much nutrition, and it isn’t enough to sustain a siren’s body! With our magical cores gone, we had no means of causing strife and conflict, so we were left with no choice but scrounge up any animosity we could find! And we still couldn’t find what we needed to feed ourselves! We moved to the slums and risked our lives getting shot at during gang fights just so we could scavenge something, anything, and it still wasn’t enough! We are literally starving to death and it is ALL! YOUR! FAULT!”

Sunset was left speechless. She could only stare back, her legs trembling, breath stolen away by what felt like a dozen simultaneous punches to the gut. Her stomach did backflips within her, her head feeling so light that she half expected to keel over on the spot.

“Sunset,” said Twilight. “Is... is this true?”

“Yes, it’s true!” said Adagio. “You were there! Or do you think our lives are so unimportant that you don’t even remember what you did!?”

“No!” Sunset interjected. She held out an arm to the side, barring the path between Adagio and Twilight. “Leave her out of this! The Twilight you’re thinking of is a different person! Be mad at me all you want, but please don’t go after her!”

Adagio paused. For the briefest moment, her indignation faltered, if only slightly. “Oh, I get it. You’re her counterpart. I guess you think that changes things, huh?”

“Uh... maybe?” said Twilight. “To be honest, I’m not actually that familiar with the Princess.”

“Doesn’t matter!” Adagio snapped. “If you’re still willing to stand with the Rainbooms after knowing what they did, that’s on you! You’re no better than any of them!”

“Huh?” said Twilight. “B-but, hold on... I-I didn’t...”

“Wait!”

Everyone froze. Sunset turned around, towards the voice, and saw Fluttershy stepping forward. Her eyes were reddened and moist, and yet still they remained firm as she met Adagio face-to-face.

“I... I’m sorry,” said Fluttershy. Her breaths were ragged, only just managing to hold back tears. “For what we did to you. And, I... I-I know it doesn’t matter what you did before, or that we didn’t know what would happen. Nothing can excuse what we did to you. You’ve every right to hate us.”

Adagio snorted. “Yeah? And what’s your point?”

“W-wait! Hear me out!” said Fluttershy. “I can fix this! I have healing magic! I-I can help you grow your gems back! I... I can help make things right! Look!”

Before anyone could speak a word in response, Fluttershy’s body pulsed with magic. She was surrounded by a warm glow, and a pair of wings sprouted from her back. She closed her eyes and pursed her lips in concentration, and swirls of green wind began to coalesce around her hands.

Adagio blinked. “Wha...”

Then, with a forward thrust of her palms, Fluttershy channeled her magic outwards. Spiraling bodies of wind surrounded each of the Dazzling, the wind intensifying further and further, causing their hair and loose clothing to flap about uncontrollably in the air current. Sonata let out a shriek as her ponytail flew straight into her eyes, while Aria simply opted to cover her face with her arm.

Fluttershy let out a grunt. Her arms quivered, her fists clenched by her sides, and her teeth began grinding together in a tight grimace. With every second that passed, her groans of exertion became more pained than before.

“Fluttershy, stop!” Rainbow called out. “You’re pushing yourself too hard!”

“N-no!” said Fluttershy. “I have to do this! It’s the only way! I have to... to...”

Her sentence was cut off by a shriek of pain. It was immediately followed by one last intense blast of wind, as well as a brilliant flash of light, both so powerful that Sunset was nearly knocked off of her feet. When her vision came to, she almost couldn’t believe her eyes.

There, standing right in front of her, was Adagio, the ruby-red gemstone around her collar restored. Behind her, Aria and Sonata both sat with their eyes fixated on their own amulets, also restored to their normal state.

“I... I did it,” Fluttershy said breathlessly. Her chest rose and fell rapidly as she struggled for air, stumbling around as she struggled to stand. Rainbow gently placed a hand on her shoulder, steadying Fluttershy as her wings retracted back into her body.

“Huh,” said Adagio. She prodded at her amulet, caressing it between her fingers. Her face was blank, the slightest hint of emotion occasionally showing, but she never got far enough with any of them to show more. “...Alright, so you got our gems back.”

“Great!” said Rainbow. “So you’ll help us now, right?”

Adagio’s eyes bugged out. “Whoa! Hold on a minute. What the hell are you talking about? Help you!? Are you nuts!?”

Rainbow rolled her eyes. “Trust me, I thought the same thing. It was Sunset’s idea in the first place.”

“Wha— Rainbow!” said Sunset.

“What? It’s true!”

“Whoa. Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa whoa. Time out,” said Adagio. “Time out. The reason that you came here is that you want us to help you? Are you serious? You can’t be serious.”

Sunset gave out a deep sigh. “No... it’s true. It wasn’t my first idea, but there isn’t anyone else we know of that we can turn to right now. We can’t win this war on our own, and there’s nobody else we can reach. We need someone that can break the Phyrexians’ hive mind, and your song is the only thing I can think of that could do that.”

“You know, I could say I’m offended that you came all the way out here to beg for our help after what you pulled,” said Adagio. Her lips curved into a devious smirk. “But in this case, I’m going to laugh at you. Because you put all the hope you have left in the world in us, and we can’t help you. So ha ha.”

Sunset raised an eyebrow. “Cant, or won’t?”

Adagio’s smirk vanished. “Can’t. Even with our gems back, we don’t have enough energy left to use our magic.” She sat down again beside the other Dazzlings, and let out a sigh. “And believe me, I want to get rid of those zombies just as much as you do. We won’t have anything to eat in a world with no individuality. But even if we could just put what you did behind us, none of us could do anything to help you. So I’ll settle for taking some pleasure in knowing you’re all just as doomed as we are.”

“But y’all feed off of folks fighting, right?” said Applejack. “Couldn’t y’all just... fight with each other?”

“Uh, no?” said Aria. “That is quite possibly the dumbest thing I’ve heard in my entire life. And considering how long I’ve lived, that’s saying something.”

“And why not?” said Twilight. “Um... not to be insensitive or anything, I mean. I’m just curious. I don’t know a lot about sirens.”

Sonata looked up to meet Twilight. There was a wistful gleam in her eye that Sunset couldn’t quite place, even as her gaze drifted away from Twilight.

“...We’re sisters,” said Sonata. “We might not always act like it, but deep down we really do love each other. We can’t feed off of love.”

“Ugh,” Aria scoffed. “You always have to be the sappy one, don’t you?”

“Shut up, both of you,” said Adagio. “They don’t need to know about our personal lives. All they need to know is that they’re out of luck.”

Sunset blinked. Sisters? The information came as a shock, and yet... in a way, it made sense. There was no other reason she could think of that the Dazzlings would still choose to stick together, much less tolerate each other.

But the thought was quickly pushed away, replaced with a much less pleasant one. “...So there really is nothing you can do to help us? Even if you wanted to?”

“No,” said Adagio. “Do you want me to rub some more salt in that wound? Because I could do that.”

“No, that’s... that’s fine,” said Sunset. She let out a sigh, and turned to face the others. “Sorry girls. Looks like we’ll have to go back to the drawing board.”

“What!?” Rainbow blurted out. “Oh, come on! Are you seriously telling me we came all this way out here for nothing?”

“Rainbow, calm down,” said Sunset.

“No! I won’t calm down! I risked my life for this mission, and it turned out to be a total waste of time! I nearly watched all of my friends get slaughtered! I nearly broke my wings flying through the canopy, for crying out loud!”

“Oh, come on,” said Applejack, “you’re being ridiculous. It was your idea to fly through the canopy to begin with!”

“Yeah? So what? What’s your point?”

“The point, Rainbow Dash, is that you’re responsible for getting yourself injured there!” Applejack countered. “And Ah reckon you slowed us down long enough for Gaea Everfree to catch up, too!”

Sunset moved to interject, but stopped when she noticed something. It was tiny, insubstantial at best, yet she could already see it begin to waft from Applejack and Rainbow’s bodies.

“I did not!” said Rainbow. “You have no way of knowing how that thing even caught up to us to begin with! Maybe we could have still outrun it!”

“Ain’t you the one who was going on about how we couldn’t run from Gaea Everfree forever? Make up your mind for once!”

Sunset felt a tap on her shoulder. She looked to see Rarity staring at her anxiously. “Sunset, darling? Maybe we should—”

“No,” Sunset whispered back. “Let them fight.”

“Are you absolutely certain about that?” said Rarity. “Because I don’t really see the value of...”

“Shh!” said Sunset. She clasped a hand over Rarity’s mouth. At first she gave a muffled protest, but quickly fell silent when she saw what Sunset was referring to. As Applejack and Rainbow continued to bicker, shooting back and forth arguments Sunset didn’t bother listening to, green smoke billowed off of their bodies. It swirled higher and higher towards the cavern ceiling, until there was no space left above, and it began to drift further towards to the ground.

“...And another thing!” said Applejack. “Why in the heck do you always treat everything like it’s some sort of contest?”

“I don’t think it’s a contest!” Rainbow Dash replied. “I’m just being awesome! There’s nothing wrong with being awesome!”

“This ain’t about being ‘awesome!’ Our priority right now is surviving, not showing off like we’re trying to impress someone who ain’t even here to see it!”

“Girls! Girls!” said Pinkie. She bounced in from seemingly out of nowhere, slinging each of her arms around Applejack and Rainbow’s shoulders. “There’s no need to fight! We’re all friends here, aren’t we?”

“So?”

“So?”

“So... look on the bright side!” said Pinkie. “We may have all gone through a lot, and we may have all lost people we care about, but it’s not all bad!”

“Are you kidding?” said Rainbow. “That’s your spin? ‘Not all bad?’ What part of the end of the world isn’t ‘all bad?’”

“Ah’m going to have to agree with Rainbow here. Ah don’t rightly see what’s so good about any of this.”

“W-well...” Pinkie’s eyes darted about the room. The corners of her lips twitched, her face spasming in very uncomfortable ways. “W-we’ve had a lot of time to bond with each other, right? A-and we’ve had so many fun adventures! Think of how exciting everything has been this past two weeks!”

“EXCITING!?”

Both Applejack and Rainbow cried out simultaneously. Pinkie flinched backwards from the sheer volume, and when Sunset looked closely her hair even seemed to sag just a little bit.

“Exciting!? Exciting!?” said Rainbow. “You call having to endure the loss of your entire family and most of the people you care about exciting!?”

“You think this is all just a ’fun adventure?’” said Applejack. “You think having to fight a losing battle every day just for the slimmest chance of survival is some kind of bonding exercise!? Just what is wrong with you?”

“W-well...” Pinkie twiddled her thumbs. Beads of glistening sweat dripped down her forehead, and her hair began to sink even further, going so far as to lose some of its curls. “I-I just... I... um... I just want us to have fun?”

“Have fun?” Rainbow interjected. “Have fun!? You call surviving the apocalypse fun? You call having to live in constant worry that today will be the last day you ever see your friends fun? We’re not even trying to save the world anymore! We’re trying to salvage what we can from what’s left of it! Why would you ever think that any of this would be fun?”

“BECAUSE IT’S ALL I HAVE LEFT!”

And then, just as quickly as the argument had started, everything stopped. Applejack and Rainbow were left staring at Pinkie, now a quivering mess. Her hair had gone nearly flat, what little curls that were left shaking from the quiet sobs that escaped from her throat.

“I... I’ve lost... everything.” Her words were barely intelligible through her whimpering. “M-my f-family, m-my friends... e-everything ex... except you. M-making people happy i-is... is w-what I live for. I-if I... if I can’t even d-do that, then, I... I-I have nothing.”

Finally, Pinkie’s legs gave in. She collapsed onto her knees, burying her face in her hands. No sound was left in the cavern but that of her wailing echoing off of the stone walls.

Before she knew it, Sunset was already moving to meet her. She held Pinkie by the arms, lifting her up and pulling her into a a tight embrace. Her friends soon joined, and before long Sunset’s friends had surrounded Pinkie on all sides in a massive, seven-person group hug.

Pinkie sniffled, opening her eyes to meet her surroundings. As the embrace ended, she looked at each of her friends in turn. Even with Sunset’s orb of illuminating plasma dropped onto the ground nearby, the light reflected clearly off of Pinkie’s shining irises.

“You... you don’t hate me?”

“Of course  not!” said Rainbow. “And you don’t have nothing, either. You have us. And... I guess what I’m trying to say is, I’m sorry.”

“Sorry for yelling at you like that, too,” Applejack added. “Ah should’ve figured you’d be struggling with the same feelings as us. It’s just... tensions were high, Ah guess, and Ah made a mistake."

Already, Pinkie’s curls seemed to be returning to their normal shape. Her lips trembled, subtly curving ever upwards, until she broke out into a giant grin. Lunging forward, she reached out with her arms, somehow managing to wrap them tightly across all six of the others at once.

“Gah!” Sunset cried out. “Careful, Pinkie! Some of us still have lungs we want to use.”

“Oops, sorry!” Pinkie pulled away, an even darker shade of pink tinging her cheeks. “And I guess that was kind of silly of me, thinking you’d hate me. It’s a good thing we got that all sorted—” She paused, a quizzical look crossing her brow. Her head swiveled around rapidly, daring back and forth across the chamber. “Hey, where’d the Dazzlings go?”

“A-hem.”

Sunset swiveled around. Standing behind the group, right in the direction they had entered the chamber from, were the Dazzlings. They stood tall, their bodies now fully restored to health, facing Sunset and her friends with a shared confidence that sent a chill down her spine.

Adagio smirked. “Thanks for the pick-me-up. I take it you still want to save the world?”

————————

The Dazzling Triad UBR

Legendary Creature — Human Siren

{u/r}, T: Goad target creature you don’t control. Activate this ability only during your turn. (Until your next turn, that creature attacks each combat if able and attacks a player other than you if able.)

Whenever a creature you don’t control attacks an opponent, defending player loses 1 life and you gain 1 life.

3/3
> Entrancing Melodies
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

The journey back had thankfully been uneventful, with no other Phyrexian abominations crossing their path, yet as they continued through the forest Sunset could swear that the trees were slowly becoming more metallic in sheen. It wouldn’t be long before the entirety of Camp Everfree fell to the contagion, along with all the surrounding woods. Every step that they walked was filled with a sense of dread that crawled across her skin, the constant tension suppressing the urge to speak.

When they finally arrived at the campground’s driveway, Sunset was the first person to speak since they left the cave.

“We’re here,” she said, her eyes drifting to the SUV. “Twilight, can you still fix the engine without your glasses?”

“Shouldn’t be a problem,” said Twilight. “I can see the engine just fine as long as it’s close.” She stepped forward, and began walking in a direction that would have moved her at a forty-five degree angle away from the vehicle. She let out a yelp as Sunset grabbed her shoulders and spun her towards the right direction.

“Uh, the car is that way.”

Twilight flushed. “Oh... right. I think I see it now, thanks.” She paused, squinted, and pointed at the car. Her face contorted in concentration as her finger motioned back and forth between its front and rear bumpers. “Sunset? Could you tell me which end the hood is on?”

“The one on your left,” said Sunset. “Here, let me get the hood open for you.”

Sunset gently brushed her hand against Twilight’s, guiding her towards the car. She stepped aside and popped open the hood, and allowed Twilight to step forward. Her right hand glowed with purple light, and a translucent wrench materialized within her grasp as she leaned over.

“Huh?” said Twilight, voice muffled by the car’s engine. “Well shoot, that explains it.”

“What is it?” said Sunset.

Twilight pulled herself out of the car’s hood. Her hair had become more frazzled, and a twig had somehow embedded itself in one of her bangs. “There’s, um... vines. In the engine. I think Gaea Everfree sabotaged it when we drove into camp.”

Sunset rolled her eyes. “That figures. Can you still get it running?”

Twilight grinned. In a flash of light, the wrench in her hand vanished, replaced in the same instant with a pair of gardening shears. “Just leave it to me!”

As Twilight began her work on the engine, Sunset turned around and gave a deep sigh. The other girls were already milling about the remains of the camp, uneasily attempting to keep themselves occupied. While her friends had begun to mingle, Sonata and Aria both stood a good distance away, making a point to avoid the rest. Before long, Sunset realized that one person in particular was missing.

“You and this Twilight seem to get along pretty well, huh?”

Sunset exhaled deeply, and turned around to see Adagio with the same insufferable grin she’d always worn. “What do you want, Adagio?”

“Oh, nothing!” Adagio said in a lilting voice. “I just couldn’t help but notice how close the two of you are. Why, you obviously care so deeply for each other that I can barely imagine you without her.”

Sunset immediately felt her body go rigid. Her teeth clenched, her right finger jabbed itself forward with accusatory force, and the sound of a single sneaker clomping against the dirt crossed her ears. “Adagio, I swear to God, if you do anything to hurt her—”

Adagio’s eyes gleamed in the dim light. It was the look of a spider that had just caught a fly within its trap. “And who said anything about hurting anyone? I’m not the one that goes around leaving others to die slow, agonizing deaths. Am I?”

Sunset couldn’t even begin to finish whatever thought she’d started. A pang of guilt had struck her so suddenly and forcefully that it caused her to physically flinch.

Oof. She certainly knows how to twist the metaphorical knife.

And probably the literal knife, too. Ooh, do you think she could teach us how to make a shank?

Sunset put the stray thoughts out of her mind for the moment. “Enough of this. Adagio, why are you here? Did you stop by just so you could torment me some more?”

“Maybe,” said Adagio. “If I’m going to gamble my entire life on some half-baked plan to save the world, I figured I might as well have some fun with it while I can.”

“Of course you did,” Sunset muttered. “You know, I honestly thought it would be harder to get you on board with all of this.”

“Yeah? Well you and your precious little friends are the only living things left for us to feed on,” Adagio countered. “If we don’t break everyone else out of their hive mind, we’ll have to spend the next seventy-odd years hanging around you until you kick the bucket. And after that, it won’t be long before we die, too.”

“Point taken,” said Sunset. She breathed in, letting the heavy forest air wash into her lungs. “Look, Adagio. I... I just wanted to say—”

“Don’t apologize,” Adagio interrupted. “You want to make up for what you did to us? You can start by making sure this plan of yours works.”

“Yeah, I... I’m working on that,” said Sunset.

“Good,” said Adagio. Her lips curved further upwards, into a grin that was outright predatory in appearance. “No need to stress yourself about it, alright? It’s only the fate of everything you’ve ever cared about that’s at stake.”

As Adagio sauntered away, Sunset was left only with the growing sense of unease building within her chest cavity. “Right. So no pressure, then.”

————————

“So, uh, how exactly are we going to do this?”

Rainbow’s question was pointed, but not unfitting. Getting the SUV running had been a simple task for Twilight once she’d removed the foliage from the engine, but the greater issue was how to get everyone to fit. Including the folding seat in the center of the middle row, here were enough seats for eight people. With the Dazzlings in tow, that left them with two short of what they needed.

“Well,” said Sunset, “unless we want to end up crammed in there like a clown car, two of us are going to have to sit in the trunk.”

“Oh my,” said Fluttershy, “that doesn’t sound very safe.”

“Maybe not, but getting into a car crash is easily the least of our concerns right now,” Sunset replied. “And it looks like it’s pretty big, so there shouldn’t be a problem fitting a couple of us in. So which of us is it going to be?”

Adagio and Aria both turned to each other and shared a look.

“Sonata.”

“Definitely Sonata.”

“Yeah, Sonata!” said Sonata. She froze suddenly as her mind finally caught up with her words. “Wait, why me?”

“Because we’ve been cooped up in a cave for an entire week,” said Aria. “And we’ve had to listen to your incessant yammering the whole time.”

“Hey! It’s not my fault it gets boring in a big, dumb, stinky old cavern!” Sonata protested.

“Sonata it is, then,” said Sunset. “But we still need one more for the trunk. Any volunteers?”

“Huh?” said Sonata. “But I didn’t—”

“Oooh, I’ll do it!” Pinkie exclaimed, bouncing into Sunset’s view. “Riding in the trunk sounds like so much fun! And there’s none of those itchy and chafe-y seatbelts to deal with either!”

“And now you get to know how we felt,” Adagio quipped. “Enjoy your new trunkmate!”

“Aww...”

“A-hem. Not to interrupt your sisterly love,” said Sunset, ignoring the piercing glare this prompted from Adagio, “but right now, we need to focus on getting a move on. The longer we stay here, the more likely some Phyrexian monster will find us.”

Rarity winced. “Probably a good idea.” She turned and looked to Adagio and Aria, her mouth further curving downward. “So which one of us is going to sit next to one of the sirens?”

“Not it!” said Applejack.

“Not it!” said Rainbow Dash.

The camp went went silent, save for the gentle scraping of feet awkwardly shuffling against the dirt. Fluttershy glanced between the Dazzlings, then to Sunset.

“Um, I’ll do it.”

“Huh?” Rainbow’s eyebrows shot upward. “Whoa, Fluttershy, hold on a minute!”

There was a sudden gleam in Adagio’s eyes, and she sidled up to Fluttershy and placed a hand on her shoulder. “Hey, don’t worry about it. I promise Fluttershy and I will get along juuuuuust fine.”

The very next instant, Rainbow stomped a foot forward with explosive force, giving a snarl so fierce that both Adagio and Fluttershy flinched away. “Don’t. Ever. Touch her.”

After the moment of shock had passed, Adagio quickly regained her composure, flashing Rainbow a poisonous smile. “Now, now, there’s no need to be jealous. I promise I won’t do anything to your secret crush.”

Rainbow’s face turned beet red. “What!? H-h-how—” She stopped herself mid-sentence, and put on a very forced, cross-armed pose of aloofness. “I-I mean, I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

Adagio held her hand against her mouth and doubled over, sputtering into her palm with barely restrained laughter. Fluttershy, for her part, had stepped away, attempting to hide own freshly-pink face beneath her hair. “Wow,” said Adagio, “I was actually just joking about that. That’s hilarious.”

Sunset made a noise that was halfway between a sigh and a groan. A sharp pain was rapidly forming in the back of her skull. “Are you done?”

“Just about, yeah,” said Adagio. With a grand, sweeping gesture of her arms, she motioned to the car. “After you, ladies.”

Sunset gave a roll of her eyes, and entered the car through the driver’s seat. Applejack opened the rear door, and with a bit of effort, managed to fold down the central seat. There was a brief argument between her and Rainbow, which Sunset had not cared to pay attention to, that ended with Rainbow begrudgingly agreeing to sit in the back. Rarity soon joined them and folded the central seat up again from behind, allowing Fluttershy to take it, while Adagio and Aria each sat next to her. After helping Pinkie and Sonata into the trunk, Twilight climbed into the front passenger seat. With one final look over the others, Sunset revved up the engine and backed out of the camp’s driveway.

As she pulled onto the main road, butterflies manifested in the pit of Sunset’s stomach. What the path ahead would bring, only time could tell.

————————

“So then we discovered we were getting all these magic powers and we were all super excited, but then Twilight was like ‘Oh no, what if I’m turning into a big purple demon again?’ but then Sunset was all ‘Nah, don’t worry about it!’”

“Uh-huh.”

“And then we found the source of our powers were these magic rocks, but then Gloriosa was all ‘I want to make my camp the best camp ever!’ and she started getting really evil and scary and using magic to make all the plants grow around us so we couldn’t escape!”

“Uh-huh.”

“And then we were like, ‘Hey, don’t we have superpowers now?’ and then we used our new magic to—”

“Pinkie, you’re boring me.”

Pinkie’s story came to an abrupt halt. The trunk was spacious, easily large enough so that she and Sonata could both crouch by the sides of the chamber and have plenty of room to spare. As Pinkie had chatted through the journey, Sonata placed a hand on her chin, eyes half-lidded and partially glazed over.

“Boring?” said Pinkie. “Well, why didn’t you say so? I have plenty of other stories I can—”

“No stories. Just leave me alone.”

Pinkie felt her own words catching in her throat. As Sonata’s distant gaze turned out the car’s rear view window,  a deep melancholy became written on her face, as plain to see as the frown crossing her lips. Looking at her, Pinkie felt her stomach flop over itself.

“Hey,” said Pinkie, “you okay there?”

“M’fine,” Sonata mumbled. “Just... thinking about some stuff.”

Pinkie tilted her head to the side, letting a pink curl bob over her shoulder. “Stuff? What kinda stuff?”

“You know... stuff,” said Sonata. “Like, things and stuff. What’s been going on since the Battle of the Bands kinda stuff.”

“Oh,” said Pinkie. The queasy feeling in her stomach returned, more powerfully than before. “Um, hey. Look. I don’t know if I said I was sorry about shattering your gems, but... sorry. We totally had no idea, I swear!”

Sonata turned to look Pinkie in the eye, her own eyes gleaming with an ancient presence and quiet curiosity. “Why are you sorry?”

“Well, duh! Because we condemned you to starve to death without even realizing it!” Pinkie blurted. It was only after she’d spoken that she realized how callous she had sounded. “Um, I mean... because we hurt you, right? Really bad. And I mean really, really bad. So, uh...” A sudden tightness formed in Pinkie’s chest. She inhaled sharply, and followed it with a sigh, letting the tension push itself out. “...I’m sorry. Whatever you did to us, you didn’t deserve what we did to you.”

Sonata shook her head. “I don’t get you humans. One minute you’re trying to burn us at the stake for witchcraft, and the next you’re acting like we matter to you. I’m a monster, Pinkie. I don’t need your sympathy.”

“What!? Don’t say that!” Pinkie cried back. “I mean, sure, you were a pretty big jerk to us sometimes, but you’re not a monster!”

Sonata folded her arms against her chest. “And that’s another thing I don’t get,” she said. “Why do you humans always act like being a monster is a bad thing? That’s literally what I am, Pinkie. I create strife and hatred so I can feed off of the negative energy of mortal souls. I’ve terrorized sailors and sunken their ships, placed curses on entire villages, and eaten people alive just to see how they taste.”

Pinkie’s eyes went wide. “What!? You’ve eaten people!?”

Sonata nodded, a satisfied smile emerging on her lips. “Mm-hmm! It’s actually really good, if you can handle the chewiness. It tastes just like the taco meat they have at your school.”

“Really? Wow,” said Pinkie. “That raises all kinds of uncomfortable questions.” She paused again, and the queasy feeling in her stomach returned, for reasons other than food. “But... why does any of that mean you deserve to starve to death?”

Sonata exhaled deeply, creases of melancholy once again returning to her face. “It doesn’t matter what anyone deserves, Pinkie. We hurt you because we’re monsters, so you hurt us back. Being a monster means always knowing that the people you terrorize could get you back someday.”

Pinkie paused again. Throughout the conversation, the fizzy, bubbling energy that she felt nearly every waking moment had faded. Now she was left with almost nothing, save for a vague unease. “But are you happy with that, though? Is that the way you wanna live? Just because you’re a monster?”

Sonata bit her lower lip. She shifted in place as she sat, and her eyes slowly drifted away from Pinkie.

“Sonata?” said Pinkie. “Hey, are you—”

“Leave me alone,” Sonata said. “I just... want to think about some stuff for a bit. By myself.”

————————

Fluttershy had not said a word since the car had left Camp Everfree. She had sat between the two sirens in silence, quietly watching the road as the scenery passed by. Against the back of her head, she could feel Rainbow Dash’s eyes pressing down on the entire row, watching Adagio and Aria like a hawk.

Though the ride back had so far passed without any danger, Fluttershy could not escape from the lingering dread that surrounded her. Her thoughts dwelled on the Battle of the Bands, on the triumphant victory they’d achieved to save the school, perhaps even the whole world.

Looking back on it now, Fluttershy couldn’t feel anything but disgusted with herself. Her friends had hurt the sirens more than they could have possibly anticipated, and she had played a part in it all. And now she was here, sitting between two people she had nearly caused to die a slow death of starvation. What could she possibly say about that? There was nothing, yet there had to be something. She closed her eyes and breathed in deeply, steeling herself against the overwhelming pressure.

“U-um,” said Fluttershy, “hey.”

Neither siren replied. They both seemed distant, almost bored. After a moment’s hesitation, however, Aria turned to look at her.

“Hm? Did you say something?”

Fluttershy nodded silently. A lump in her throat made it impossible to speak, until she forced herself to swallow it.

“Y-yes. I, um, just... I-I wanted to say...” Fluttershy took another deep breath. It was becoming increasingly difficult just getting air into her lungs. “...I’m sorry.”

Several seconds passed, and Aria simply stared, with an expression that Fluttershy couldn’t quite read. Finally, she spoke.

“...That’s it?”

Fluttershy flinched away. Remorse welled up deeply within her, until it threatened to burst out through the floodgates. “I... I know it’s not enough to say I’m sorry, but I am! I never mean to hurt you the way I did, I swear! I just wanted to save everyone!”

Aria rolled her eyes. “That’s not what I meant, you numbskull. I meant I thought you were going to say something that actually mattered.”

Fluttershy paused. “You... you’re not mad at us?”

“Of course I am,” Aria replied. “But I don’t why I should make a big deal out of it. The whole world’s turned to crap, and we’ll probably all die pulling off this dumb stunt anyway. There’s no point in holding grudges anymore.”

“Oh,” said Fluttershy. Her eyes remained fixed on her lap, and she nervously twiddled her thumbs. “I guess that makes sense, but... I really do feel like I should try to make it up to you. I just can’t stand knowing that I’ve hurt someone so badly.”

“Will you shut up about that already!?” Fluttershy let out a soft ‘eep’ at the sudden noise beside her, flinching away from its direction. In the seat to her other side, Adagio was glaring at her fiercely, her lips twisted into a deep scowl. “We get it! You feel bad that you hurt us! Now will please just drop it? Having to work with you to save our own hides is bad enough, but last thing I want to be is constantly reminded of what we had to suffer at your hands! Gah! Honestly!”

“Hey! Back off, pal!” Rainbow’s voice called from behind, and Fluttershy turned to see Rainbow Dash standing up and leaning over the seat, teeth gritted in a furious glare. “If you want to go after her, you’ll have to go through me first!”

“Sit your ass down, Rainbow!” Applejack called out. “In case you forgot, Sunset’s trying to drive! And keep your seat belt on, for crying out loud!”

“...Fine,” Rainbow huffed, plopping herself back onto the seat. “But you sirens better not even think of doing anything to Fluttershy, or I’ll shove my entire foot down your throat!”

For a moment, Fluttershy considered saying that wouldn’t be necessary, but she couldn’t find it within herself to speak out loud. As thoughts and emotions swirled within her, she was left feeling exhausted by the whole thing. She sighed gently, and slumped within her own seat.

“She must care about you a lot, huh?”

Fluttershy’s attention was pulled back to reality at the sound of Aria’s voice. As Fluttershy turned to face her, she found no malice whatsoever in Aria’s face, not a hint at anything other than detached observation.

“Oh, um... yes,” said Fluttershy. “We’ve known each other quite a long time. I, um...” Suddenly, her heart began to race, and butterflies formed in the pit of her stomach. Her mind dwelled on what Adagio had said, earlier at the camp. It couldn’t have meant anything, she told herself. Could it? “...I think she’s just terrified of losing someone she cares about. We’ve all nearly died at some point, and she’s always the one that takes it the hardest when one of us gets hurt.”

To Fluttershy’s surprise, Aria managed a smile. “Really, huh? Guess she and Adagio have something in common after all.”

At that remark, Adagio’s entire body briefly went rigid. “No,” she hissed in a stage whisper. “Don’t you dare.”

“Dare what?” Aria playfully retorted. “Tell her that you’re the most smothering older sibling anyone could ever ask for?”

“Aria, I swear, if you say a single word...”

“What? It’s true,” said Aria. “You’re the one that’s always breathing down our necks just to make sure we’re okay. Remember how worried you got the first time Sonata scraped her leg?”

Adagio’s hands clenched into fists. Her arms shook as she took in a deep breath, and placed a hand against her forehead. “I’m not hearing this. I refuse to hear this.”

“Um, well,” said Fluttershy. “I think it’s very sweet that you care so much, actually.”

Adagio turned to face Fluttershy, her eye twitching involuntarily. “Excuse me!? I am a legendary monster of the seas! ‘Sweet’ isn’t even in my vocabulary. Got that?”

“Oh,” said Fluttershy. “O-okay then. I just don’t understand it, though. What’s wrong with loving your family?”

Adagio said nothing that Fluttershy could hear. She turned away once again, muttering quietly to herself.

“Where we come from, sirens are solitary creatures,” Aria chimed in. “It’s pretty unusual to see us stick together after leaving the nest. Adagio’s just too embarrassed to admit how scared she is of being alone.”

“Am not!” Adagio called back. “And even if I was, why would I let you tell them anything about it?”

Aria shrugged. “We’re about to get ourselves killed for some dumb plan we can’t even say will work. It doesn’t matter what I say about anything at this point.”

“You don’t know that yet,” Adagio retorted. “You don’t know that any of us will die. I’m not going to let you act as though you’re throwing your own life away, because you’re not! Not on my watch!”

Aria lips curved into a subtle smirk. “Aww, see? You really do care about us.”

Adagio’s eyes went wide. For several seconds, she sputtered incoherently, unable to articulate herself further. She crossed her arms against her chest, and looked out the window, donning a distant and neutral expression. “Forget it. I’m done with this conversation.”

“Adagio,” said Fluttershy, “wait.”

Adagio’s eyebrows briefly shot upwards, but in short time she’d managed to preserve her clearly forced aloofness. “You again? What do you want?”

“Um, w-well...” All of a sudden, the air had become heavy again, yet there was no doubt in Fluttershy’s mind about what she wanted to say. “I, um... I promise I’ll do everything I can to make sure your sisters make it out of this okay. Okay?”

Adagio hesitated. Her mask of detachedness had already begun to crack, emotions flashing across her eyes in rapid succession. Finally, Adagio exhaled, and her body relaxed.

“Yeah, thanks... I guess.”

————————

The SUV had dropped the group off on the outskirts of Canterlot City, far away from where the prying eyes of Phyrexians could find them. After abandoning the car, leaving it to be demolished by a wandering junker, the group had led the Dazzlings through the sewer. Making their way past the winding passages and rivers of suspiciously clean sewage, they arrived at the maintenance room.

Letting go of Sunset’s hand — When did we start holding hands? Sunset wondered — Twilight stepped forward and made a complex gesture with her fingers. A purple glow enveloped her hands, and the door made a click sound before swinging open.

As they entered the maintenance room, the three sirens scanned the unfamiliar abode.

“This is where you’ve been staying, huh?” said Adagio. “I guess it’s better than a cave, at least.”

“So when do we get to start singing?” Sonata added. “It’s been so long since I’ve my real singing voice, I can’t wait!”

“You’ll get your chance soon enough,” said Twilight. She reached walked over to her bed and opened a small case, which contained an extra pair of glasses. Quietly fitting them onto the bridge of her nose, she turned to face the sirens. “As it stands, we’ll need to come up with a way to broadcast the magic over as wide an area as possible. If enough Phyrexians start coming into conflict with each other, it’ll be impossible for the hive mind to remain standing.”

“Makes sense. Would we be able to broadcast the song over a radio transmission?” said Sunset.

Twilight nodded. “That would be our best bet. Unfortunately, because the Phyrexians are attuned to radio signals, they’ll be instantly alerted to the broadcast location. We won’t be able to send the signal from here without Starlight finding us.”

“Well that’s just great,” Aria moaned. “Now do you see what I meant when I said we’re all going to die?”

“I wouldn’t jump to conclusions just yet,” said Twilight. “Because there’s one other way we can broadcast the signal without being found. From space.”

A multitude of eyes fell hard on Twilight, staring in utter disbelief. Sunset stepped forward, holding up a hand. “Whoa, hold on a minute, Twilight. You’re not serious, are you?”

“Absolutely,” Twilight replied. “If we want to broadcast the signal over the maximum area possible without revealing our location, our best bet would be to beam it up to a satellite, and have it broadcast over the country. That way, not only will we be able to broadcast it over Canterlot, we should be able to disrupt the hive mind of any Phyrexians in a nearly five-hundred mile radius. It should only take me a few hours to cobble together a transmitter that can reach the nearest radio satellite, then we can have the sirens’ song broadcast through it.”

“Goodness!” said Rarity. “I never thought I’d say this in my entire life, but the Dazzlings may have given us everything we needed!”

Adagio beamed, basking in the sudden attention. “You’re welcome.”

Yet even still, something about the situation didn’t sit right with Sunset. As she mulled over it in her mind, a new thought came forward. “Hold on, Twilight. Let’s not get carried away just yet. I think there’s still something else we need to take care of. Remember the portal?”

Twilight’s hands shifted, fidgeting with her own fingers. “The... portal? But I thought that was destroyed?”

Sunset shook her head. “Not that portal. The one that Starlight brought to the auditorium. If the monster that activated the oil is any indication, there will be bad news waiting for us if we leave it intact. We need to take care of that before it becomes a problem for us.”

“But how?” said Rainbow. “The whole school’s crawling with Phyrexians! Starlight has them all on orders to kill us on sight!”

“It’ll be tricky, I imagine,” said Sunset. She tapped a finger to her chin, jogging her thoughts. “The best way to destroy the portal would be to have one person sneak into the auditorium unnoticed. But if we’re going to do that, we’ll probably need a distraction of some kind...”

The maintenance room fell silent, and all eyes present turned towards the siren newcomers.

“Sounds like you need some more help,” said Adagio. “Just leave it to us.”

Sunset felt a wave of discomfort bubble up from her stomach. “You’re totally going to leverage this for favors if we make it out alive, aren’t you?”

Adagio simply smirked in response. “No promises.”

Sunset let out a sigh. Like it or not, she had bigger things to worry about. “Alright, fine. I think I have an idea of how this will work. Here’s what we’re going to do...”

————————

Tactical Distraction	2U

Enchantment

Tap three untapped creatures you control: Creatures you control can’t be blocked this turn.

”You could say it’s the oldest trick in the book,” said Sunset, “but it wouldn’t be in the book if it didn’t work.”
> Fateful Showdown
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

“Welcome to the show
We’re here to let you know
Our time is now
Your time is running out”

Sunset had not wanted to hear that song again, let alone only a year after the Dazzlings’ defeat. Too many bitter memories were associated with those sounds and voices, of how close she’d come to losing everything. Now, the very same power-hungry sirens responsible were her only hope.

To their credit, the sirens’ song had proven itself to be immediately and overwhelmingly effective. Dozens of Phyrexian soldiers and compleat students patrolled the outer perimeter of Canterlot High, and the Dazzlings’ melodic tones had instantly pacified all of them, reducing them to mesmerized drones. While the sirens stood before the school’s entrance, Sunset took advantage of the opportunity to sneak into a side door, carefully weaving through the catatonic bodies that vaguely resembled her classmates.

Still, Sunset couldn’t be too careful. The very fact that a patrol had been set outside the school seemed to indicate that Starlight was expecting her. Her friends had begged to accompany her and offer assistance, but she adamantly turned them down. If the Dazzlings’ song didn’t carry into the school interior, there would be even more trouble, and a lone infiltrator would much more easily bypass it than an entire group.

More importantly, she couldn’t risk allowing her friends to come to even more harm. They had barely made it out of their with Gaea Everfree alive, and they had already suffered enough from the Phyrexians beforehand. Sunset’s gut told her that there was going to be big trouble at the portal, and she couldn’t bring herself to put everyone else in danger.

No, this was something she had to do alone. Alone, for the sake of her friends.

“Feel the wave of sound
As it crashes down
You can't turn away
We'll make you wanna sta-a-a-ay”

The song lyrics slowly began fading into the distance as she crossed the building’s threshold. Going through the side door led her once more into the bone-like, mechanical corridors that could generously be described as a school’s hallways. The auditorium was not far from there, she would only have to make it a short distance to find it.

The sound of falling footsteps reminded her that would be easier said than done. While most of the Phyrexians were waiting outside for a frontal assault, no doubt several more patrolled the interior of the school. Thinking quickly, Sunset turned her head, seeing a large air duct traveling across the ceiling. On the bottom, facing towards the hall, was a single vent.

Sunset’s eyes darted back and forth. No sign of Phyrexians were visible, but the rapidly loudening footsteps were more than enough signal of their approach. Thinking quickly, she channeled a tiny spark of plasma into her index finger, pointing it up at the vent. The beam struck the vent’s latch, and as it melted away, it swung open onto its hinges. Sunset then channeled her magic once again, materializing a pair of orange wings on her back, which gave a single powerful flap before dissolving once again into nothing. Propelled by the sudden lift, Sunset leaped upwards, grabbing onto the rim of the vent opening at the height of her jump. Her legs flailed in the air below as she backside hung from the ceiling, slowly wriggling her way into the opening. 

When Sunset finally managed to fit herself in, she was forced to contend with an unbearably cramped space. The air was thick and polluted, no different from anywhere else in the corrupted Canterlot City, but here it was impossible to ignore as it rushed past her and into her lungs. Below, she could hear the Phyrexian footsteps falling against the school’s corridor. When the volume of the footsteps reached their crescendo, they stopped briefly, and Sunset’s breath caught in her lungs. What if they had found her?

Her fears, thankfully, were then alleviated. The footsteps resumed, gradually fading away as they moved further and further into the distance. She was in the clear, for now.

Navigating through the air ducts, thankfully, was a simple task. Moving through such a tight space was unpleasant, but their layout appeared unchanged, and she could locate the auditorium through them with relative ease. She’d crawled the air ducts frequently in her early years at Canterlot High, using them to snoop on on others and gather dirt for blackmail.

I guess being the mean girl does have its advantages.

Hah! See? I knew you were the demon part of us after all!

“Will you two shut up?” Sunset whispered. “I need to focus.” She stopped in her tracks, as a new thought made itself apparent to her. “Wait, if I can talk to you both, then who am I?”

Uh...

Uh...

Sunset shook her head, putting the matter out of her mind. There were better times to worry about the side-effects of split personality merging. For now, she would keep moving. There was no telling what nasty things would come out of that portal if it were left alone.

Finally, after winding her way through the air ducts for minutes, she arrived at her ultimate destination. It was a single air vent, indistinguishable from others on the inside, but as she peered through the grate Sunset could see a glimpse of the auditorium below. Placing her palms flat against the vent, she sent a burst of plasma outwards. The vent’s grating exploded out from the impact, leaving a single hole in the duct that she could crawl through. With careful positioning, Sunset managed to crawl backwards out of the opening. When her waist slipped through, she let the rest of her body drop, feeling the minor shock against her legs as she landed feet-first onto the floor below.

As she stood up, Sunset was surprised to find that the auditorium was nearly unchanged. The same seats faced the same stage, beneath the same ceiling. What had changed, however, was what the stage held.

Sitting atop the stage platform was a portal, the very same portal Sunset had seen in Twilight’s memories.  A massive, circular ring shape of darkened steel, swarmed by flittering motes of golden light. Just by looking at it Sunset could feel an immeasurable stubbornness, as though eons could pass and the portal would remain in pristine condition.

One thing was for certain, the portal couldn’t possibly be from Anthropia. And that begged the question, how did it get here? What other strange magic could have possibly bridged two distant planes?

“Why hello there, uncompleat one.” The voice that spoke was lilting, soft and dripping with venom. A familiar figure stepped out from the shadows to the side, standing between Sunset and the stage platform.

Sunset leaned forward, stomping her foot against the ground. “Get out of my way, Starlight Glimmer. That portal has got to go.”

Starlight clucked her tongue against the roof of her mouth, slowly shaking her head. “Oh, child. You poor, lost, pitiful little child. I think you’ll find that destroying this portal is quite impossible. But we certainly still have other unfinished business to take care of. ” Her smile deepened, revealing a pair of sharp, elongated fangs, their tips oozing oil that dripped across the rest of her teeth. “And pray tell, where exactly are your friends? I’d have thought your first order of business would be to find the other stragglers.”

“You leave them out of this!” Sunset shot back. “This is between you and me!”

“Is it?” said Starlight. “Or are you simply acting out of your foolish sentiments? You came alone because you thought that would protect them. But it makes no difference. Either way, I will have them. And so long as your thoughts remain separate from ours, you will always be alone. Only through Phyrexia can you know harmony, for we are both many and one.”

A bubble of anger formed at the bottom of Sunset’s throat. She grit her teeth, fingers twitching as her hands balled into fists. “What you are is an abomination. One that I intend to put a stop to once and for all!”

“So you claim,” Starlight retorted. “A claim without threat or purpose, for you lost before you even knew you were playing the game. Your world is ours. Your hope is ours. And soon, all of your precious friends will be ours, too. Resisting us now is an exercise in futility.”

“SHUT UP!”

With a shriek, Sunset channeled an intense, radiant mass of plasma into her palms. Thrusting both her palms forward, she launched the magic in a massive beam of destructive impulse, searing the air as it rocketed towards its target. But this time, Starlight had come prepared. She held out her own palm, her porcelain-like arms glimmering with a soft white light, and a glowing barrier instantly materialized in front of her. There was a flash of light as the bolt of plasma struck, then a tepid fizzle as both spells dissipated into nothing.

“Tsk, tsk. How predictable,” Starlight scolded. “Such feeble emotions have no place in our world.”

Sunset howled wordlessly, launching another projectile at Starlight. Starlight in turn countered with another instant barrier, rendering the attack useless.

“You... You...” Sunset’s arms shook by her sides. Looking at Starlight now, seeing the one who had taken away her home, it brought her nothing but rage. She couldn’t help but think of all of the things she’d made for herself in the world she now called home, all of the things she had lost.

“Ho hum. Let’s put a stop to this before it gets repetitive,” said Starlight. “As I said, you are alone. I, however, have the greatest force of Phyrexia to call upon. I wonder... were you curious as to what this portal was for, by any chance?”

Sunset’s anger began to fade away, replaced by a sinking feeling that struck deep into her gut. “Wha...” 

“Well, you’re in luck,” Starlight continued. “Because now, right before your very eyes, you will witness it firsthand!”

“No!” Sunset shouted. “Wait!” Her plea went ignored, however, as her fear was immediately made real before her.

Starlight’s entire body was engulfed in radiant white light, and she threw her hands into the air, a gesture towards a sun that was blotted out by smog. Behind her the portal hummed to life, a swirling nexus of magic crackling like thunder within its ring. Sunset could only gape in silent terror and awe as the magic washed over her, until finally, something from within the nexus began to emerge.

It came through slowly, but from the very beginning there was no mistaking it. The monster emerged through the portal, tall and slender, a body of porcelain plates and darkened spines beneath membranous leather wings. Four arms adorned its sides, two of them grasping a massive polearm that dripped with the noxious oil. And as it stepped forwards, Sunset’s eyes looked upwards, into the face of the apocalypse. And as the apocalypse loomed tall on the stage above, Starlight was the first to speak.

“Behold, the voice of Phyrexia made flesh.”

————————

Purposeful Summoning	2WB

Sorcery

Put your commander onto the battlefield from the command zone.

“Our purpose is not fulfilled until there are no worlds left uncompleat.”
— Atraxa, Praetors’ Voice
> A Perfect Machine...
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Standing before the monster in front of her, Sunset couldn’t help but feel woefully insignificant. The very same being that activated the contagion was now standing right before her eyes, like she was staring the apocalypse directly in the face.

Yet even still, something about the creature seemed oddly... majestic. It may have been an angel once, or a being of similar divine power. Its porcelain skin was pristine, unblemished, reflecting far more radiance than should have been possible from the dull florescent lights. Yet the ethereal glow was not warm and inviting but sickly and harsh, its merest gleam making Sunset’s skin crawl.

Starlight approached the beast, her grin dripping with oily saliva and self-satisfaction. “Lady Atraxa. I’m happy you could grace us once again with your presence.”

Atraxa’s long, spindly fingers drummed against the pole of her spear. Though the porcelain face held no eyes, Sunset could feel them bearing down on her with pure contempt. With a disinterested turn of her head, Atraxa faced Starlight, her mouth held tightly in a pencil-thin frown.

“This being is one of the uncompleat giving you trouble?”

For a split-second, Starlight winced, but quickly managed to regain her ever-present composure. “Yes, well... things have been just a tad more complicated than we anticipated. That is why I called you here.” Raising a single hand above her head, Starlight snapped her fingers. “Take care of her. When you’re done, find her friends and kill them.”

The corners of Atraxa’s mouth turned ever-so-slightly downward. “And who are you that would command me?”

There was a momentary pause. Starlight’s left eye began to twitch, almost too subtly to notice. She gave a bitter, humorless laugh, more emotion than Sunset would have ever expected her to be capable of. “Ha. That’s funny. Because if I recall correctly, and I’m sure I do, the Praetors of Phyrexia put me in charge here. So as long as you’re here on my world, you’ll be answering to me.”

Atraxa stepped forward, her motion cold, deliberate, and menacing. “You exist only by the Praetors’ will. You would do best to remember your place.”

“My place is right here!” Starlight said with a scowl. “And right now, I am here to tell you to get rid of these interlopers! Did you forget which side of the portal you’re on? Your Phyrexia can’t reach you here, so as long you’re in my Phyrexia, you’ll be answering to me!”

What happened next had happened almost too fast to describe. Atraxa’s grip on her weapon shifted, almost imperceptibly. Then, the very next moment, there was an intense, all-consuming flash of light. Sunset instinctively dove to the floor as overwhelming magic surged across all of her senses. And as her vision was engulfed by white, Sunset could hear a blood-curdling scream, silenced just as quickly as it had cried out.

When her sight returned, Sunset looked up, and Starlight was gone. In the far wall behind her, facing the center stage, was a massive, smoking hole, a place where a blast of power had torn through the wall like wet paper. Sunset’s heart skipped a beat as she realized that she, too, had only barely avoided being in its path.

And as she remained prone on her stomach, she could only feel a hundred times smaller as Atraxa stepped forward, without so much as a word. She raised her spear, swiftly and precisely...

...and Sunset rolled out of the way as its tip impacted the ground where she had been lying, not even second earlier. She scrambled to the feet as the monster charged her again, intent on plunging a deadly spears straight through her abdomen. Acting in a blind panic, Sunset’s body flickered out of existence in a flash of light, and reappeared a dozen feet away.

The impromptu teleport did not keep Atraxa’s attention off her for long, but it did grant her just enough time to channel her magic into her body. Bright wings sprouted from her shoulders — even brighter than they were the last time, no longer made of flesh and feathers, but from brilliant orange flame. The light continued to flow through every inch of her body, yearning to be set free, begging for release, demanding that it be unleashed upon the horror that had brought Phyrexia to her world. It was a power that engulfed her from within, guiding her with a voice beyond her hearing, whispering of an ageless, incorruptible purity.

But whatever the source of her strength, Sunset did not have the time to question it. Atraxa’s body pulsed with sickly, oozing magic. With a point of her spear, a mass of oily black tendrils burst from the ground, lashing out at Sunset with glistening putrescence.

Sunset’s body pulsed with light, and the tendrils disintegrated as they approached her body. Yet this had only proven a small respite from the assault, as Atraxa charged forward once more, her spear brandished with deadly intent.

The spear’s whiff came much too close for comfort, the displaced air blowing strands of hair across Sunset’s face as the spear tip just barely passed by her head. She responded swiftly thrusting both her hands outward, and launching a burst of intense plasma from her palms.

The assault sent Atraxa reeling backwards, but it otherwise left no visible injury on her body. Sunset was left with barely an instant to respond as Atraxa redoubled her assault, rushing down with a flurry of precision strikes. Each missed thrust of her spear was only inches away from a lethal blow, and no distance she made between herself and her opponent lasted for long.

The spear whiffed by her head once again, and Sunset was able to channel her magic just fast enough to manage a teleport. As she reappeared to the side of her enemy, her hands glowed with the radiant heat of a solar corona, already prepared to strike once again. Plasma erupted from Sunset’s palms, bursting in an explosion of orange and yellow. Smoke billowed out from the impact site of the blast, obscuring the battlefield in a cloud of thick gray fumes.

As the smoke assaulted her sinuses, Sunset gave a ragged cough, forcing the lingering soot out of her lungs. With watered eyes, she peered through the smoke. She wasn’t sure whether to be horrified or completely unsurprised.

Atraxa had survived the assault — but not at all undamaged. The right half of her face, neck, and shoulder were all completely burned away, revealing a ragged mass of charred bone and sinew. Further cracks in her bodily armor spread out from the wound, oozing viscous, oily blood out of every crevasse. There was a sickening crack of bone as Atraxa’s head swiveled to face Sunset, little spurts of oily blood spraying out from her exposed muscle. She reached over with one of her opposite hands, grasping at the edge of the wound, digging her fingers beneath the opening in her exoskeleton.

Sunset turned her eyes away, but the ear-splitting, wet crack that followed did not leave much to the imagination. The sounds of splitting bone, spurting blood, and twisting flesh tied her stomach into knots.

When the noise halted, she turned again to face Atraxa. The creature’s former exoskeleton now lay on the ground in pieces, torn and stained with oil — and on her body it was replaced by a new layer of shining porcelain, still soft, wet, and glistening with beads of thick fluid. But above all else, Sunset noticed that all of Atraxa’s wounds had completely vanished.

“That’s disgusting! ...And also totally unfair. Crap.”

Atraxa did not speak. As she stood tall, her body let out dozens of pops and cracks and her chitinous porcelain hardened into a coat unnatural armor. She readjusted the grip on her spear, and thrust it forward, its tip glowing with a pale, sickly light.

Sunset had barely enough time to duck out of the way as a massive blast pierced the air, a beam of concentrated light that seared its way through the air, burning with destructive potential. In its wake it left another massive hole in the wall, just behind the space she had previously occupied.

I think we're gonna need some better ideas on how to not die.

We could let her almost kill us, and have that trigger our awakening.

What!? No!

I'm just saying, we could.

Her thoughts were abruptly cut off when Atraxa relentlessly charged forward, brandishing her spear. Sunset teleported out of the way just in time to avoid being impaled, but she could already feel her mana lines drawing thin. Her lungs and muscles had begun to ache. She did need to find a way to avoid getting killed, and she needed to find it fast. Running away was likely not an option, but neither was winning through brute force. As her teleport completed and she blinked back into existence, Sunset hoped to the stars that she would find something, anything, that would help her.

Her answer came, as something that she never expected to see with her own eyes. Embedded in Atraxa's back, right between both of her shoulder blades, was a silver object of a striking design, one that Sunset had seen before, but not through eyes of her own.



That's... Twilight's Planar Amulet! What's it doing here!?

The answer came to her quickly enough, but she could only wish that she hadn't. She'd glimpsed the Amulet, briefly, within Princess Twilight memories. The artifact was lost in the Blind Eternities, left to hurdle through the multiverse and wash ashore of any plane it happened upon.

And the Phyrexians have it. They have something that can protect them from interplanar space. Twilight, you idiot, you've doomed us all!

Any anger she might have felt at that moment was quickly forgotten, as Atraxa turned around and redoubled her efforts. But as Sunset dodged the renewed assault of spear strikes and claws, she remembered something that Starlight had said earlier.

Your Phyrexia can’t reach you here, so as long you’re in my Phyrexia, you’ll be answering to me!

Sunset could practically feel the epiphany twinkling within her eyes. That was it. Atraxa could reach her, but the Phyrexia on the other end of the portal couldn't. 

She knew exactly what that meant. And, more importantly, she knew exactly how to win.

Her next move was calculated and deliberate, more so than anything she'd done in the fight so far. A series of rapid teleports, blinking rapidly in and out of existence, too fast for Atraxa to keep up. With each subsequent teleport, she felt her mana lines stretch thinner and thinner — until she could practically feel them cracking from the strain.

But she didn't need to keep it up forever. As fast as Atraxa was, Sunset was certain that she couldn't follow her. Then, just as her body and mind screamed for a break from the constant exertion, Sunset made her move. She blinked into existence just behind Atraxa, and in the split second before the porcelain angel could respond, launched a precise blast of plasma towards the center of her shoulders.

The effect was almost instantaneous. There was a sound akin to glass shattering as the blast struck Atraxa in the back. The monster let out an ear-splitting shriek, her body twisting and writhing as it plummeted toward the ground. As Atraxa dragged herself to her feet, Sunset carefully descended to the floor, her wings retracting into her back.

“You!” Atraxa hissed. “What have you done?”

"I’ve figured it out,” Sunset replied firmly. “Phyrexia doesn't know how to reproduce the Planar Amulet yet. That’s why you alone were sent to activate the contagion. But now the Amulet’s gone, and you have nothing left to protect you. That means I win.”

Atraxa gave a viscious snarl, and lunged forward with her spear in tow. Yet in the face of the assault, Sunset’s eyes remained focus not on Atraxa, but on the open portal just behind her. Within its metal frame, the energies of the Blind Eternities swirled and crackled with the raw energy of uncreation.

Despite the pain of exhaustion that enveloped her body, Sunset forced one last burst of plasma from her palms. The blast struck Atraxa in her abdomen with powerful concussive force, sending her flying backwards — straight into the swirling vortex of energy within the portal’s aperture.

An ear-splitting screech struck the auditorium, loud enough to to reverberate through the entire auditorium. Sunset plugged her ears on instinct, but even then, the shrill cry of the abomination tore through her insides, sending a wave of nausea through her stomach. Though she closed her eyes, the monsters’ cry of agony left little to the imagination, her gurgling wails becoming more warped and distorted, before finally fading away. When Sunset opened her eyes again, Atraxa was gone, leaving only the portal still standing.

But even as she stood victorious, Sunset was faced with another problem. The portal still stood, an its presence was still a threat to the entire world. In truth, she had only guessed that the Phyrexians had not yet understood the Planar Amulet, and leaving the portal open would allow them to stage a full invasion if they ever managed to reproduce its magic.

She couldn’t get rid of the portal in her current state. Not only was her magic utterly exhausted, something about the black machine told her that she couldn’t destroy it even if she tried. For longer that she would care to admit, Sunset stood in silence, her eyes locked onto the portal’s opening. She was at a loss for words, and a loss for options.

Soon enough, however, an idea began to form in the corner of her mind. She might not be able to destroy the portal, but the energies of the Blind Eternities were another story. She’d glimpsed just enough of Princess Twilight’s memories to know that interplanar space was hostile to all forms of matter. Those without the proper protection would find the whole of their existence unraveled by the unending tides of chaos. Not merely destroyed, but unmade.

And within the portal’s opening was a vortex of that very same energy, waiting for the first person foolish enough to step through it.

Tentatively, Sunset reached a hand towards the portal. Her mana was exhausted, depleted beyond use — but if she could connect to the chaotic energy within the portal nexus, and use it as mana, then perhaps she would be able to accomplish something. Her skin tingled as she felt her magic connect to portal, reach into it, and draw from the chaotic energy of the Blind Eternities...

This is a bad idea.

I disagree. This is a very bad idea.

“Shut up, both of you! I’m trying to focus!”

The voices in her head quieted down just enough for Sunset to focus on the task at hand. She could feel her mind latch onto the energies within the portal. She grit her teeth and concentrated, guiding the energy within the portal outwards, towards the metal that made up its body. The results of her efforts were made apparent almost right away, when the portal itself began to melt at the energy’s touch.

Except no, that wasn’t it. The portal was not melting, she realized. Its shape was warping, twisting, and flowing inwards, and yet it had appeared no less solid to the naked eye. The portal was not melting, the very fact of its existence was being dissolved.

A chill ran down Sunset’s spine. The crackling of the portal steadily grew louder, the glow within its nexus shining every more harshly, a blistering light that sent a tingle across the entire surface of Sunset’s skin. It grew brighter and brighter, louder and louder, like it was building up towards something massive...

...Sunset decided then that it was a good time to leave. Trusting her best instincts, she immediately let go of her focus, and poured all of her remaining energy into running away. She didn’t look back for even a split second as she sprinted out the auditorium and through the hallways, not even questioning that there were no students to be seen, or that she had somehow forgotten that she was tired.

As she made her way through the industrial corridors, she burst out of the school’s front entrance, her body doubled over, gasping for breath.

“Adagio! We... We have to get out of...”

Sunset cut herself off when she took at good look at just what was before her. First, the Dazzlings performed their song atop an impromptu stage built from metal scrap and Phyrexian machinery, one that Sunset was sure hadn’t been there before. Second, the entire school population stood entranced before them, cheering endlessly as the sirens sang their song, accompanied by what looked to be magical pyrotechnics.

“...Of freaking course.”

————————

“Thank you, Canterlot High! It’s great to be back!”

“Um, Dagi?”

“What’s that I hear? Do you want an encore?”

“Hey, Adagio! Sonata’s trying to tell you something!”

“You’re gonna have to be louder than that! I can’t hear you!”

“Adagio!”

“Er, sorry everyone, I’ve got to take care of something. What? What do you two want? This had better be good!”

“...It’s Sunset. She’s running towards us.”

“And the auditorium building is glowing. I can see it all the way from here.”

“Yeah, and so what? What’s that got to do with—”



BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM



————————

Critical Meltdown	3RR

Sorcery

Exile target artifact. Critical Meltdown deals 5 damage to each creature.

”To destroy the indestructible is not without consequence, for darksteel never dies alone.” — Koth, the Last Vulshok

> ...Out of Imperfect Parts
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Nnngh..."

"Oh, hey, you're awake. 'Bout time."

Sunset slowly opened her eyes, her vision still blurry and indistinct. She was immediately greeted by the sight of several different faces looming above and to the side. Most were some degree of worried, but three of them in particular seemed more bored than anything else.

As Sunset sat up, she was briefly but painfully reminded that she was lying on the lower mattress of a bunk bed. Rubbing her forehead, she saw that she'd been brought back to their makeshift base in the Canterlot sewers' maintenance room. Staring at her were all her friends. And the Dazzlings. Sunset wasn't sure if they counted as friends yet.

"Ugh... what happened?"

"You passed out," Adagio replied. "And you blew up the school auditorium, somehow."

Sunset could feel the blood drain from her face. "Oh... Oh geez, no. What about the students? Are they—"

"They're fine," said Adagio. "Still zombified, but fine. We lured them away from the building long before you decided to get all combustion-happy. What I want to know is how you managed to pull of something like that."

Sunset rubbed the back of her neck. "I'm... not sure myself, honestly. In hindsight, I was messing around with interplanar space in ways I didn't really understand."

Twilight gave Sunset a sharp glare.

Sunset flinched. "...Right. Anyway. Twilight, how have things been going in the meantime?"

The room went silent. All other eyes turned toward Twilight, who frowned deeply. "It's... not looking too good, honestly. I've been trying to establish contact with the satellite, but signal so far won't reach." 

Sunset winced. "That's probably not good. What if we moved the transmitter to the surface, though? Would we get a clearer connection then?"

Twilight shook her head. "I doubt that would work. It's not a matter of how close we are to the surface, we just don't have the energy for a signal that strong. We can't connect to the power grid from here, and we barely have enough magic to power our existing equipment as it is. And since the auditorium blew up, the surface has been crawling with Phyrexians more than ever. Even if we had the power, we wouldn't be able to survive up there long enough to set the equipment up."

"You're lucky we even managed to drag you all the way down here in one piece," Aria remarked.

"Great," said Sunset. "So what exactly are we supposed to do now?"

There was a pause, and all others present exchanged pensive looks.

"Sunset," said Twilight, "I... don't really know how else to say it, but it looks like we'll have to call our original plan off. It's far too risky to try to set up the transmitter. We'd be killed before we could even get halfway there."

"But that doesn't answer my question," said Sunset. "What else are you suggesting that we do now? We can't just stand around here and do nothing." 

Another pause, this time longer than before. As Twilight's teeth bit against her bottom lip, Sunset felt a queasy sensation form in the pit of her stomach.

"Sunset, um, we..."

"...We were thinking of having you leave the plane for a while and get help," said Applejack, finishing Twilight's sentence. "Ah'm gonna be frank with you, this whole plan of using the sirens was a long shot from the beginning. The best bet we have now is to hold out and keep surviving."

"Wait what? Now hold on a second!" Sunset threw her hands into the air. "Are you telling me after all we've been through, you're just going to give up?"

"We're not giving up!" Twilight said. "We're just... reevaluating our current priorities. That's all! We'll still make it through this, I know—"

"But you don't know!" Sunset shot back. "I don't know if I'll be able to find anyone in time to help! And I don't even know if they would be able to help! By the time I get back, you could already be..." Sunset swallowed her words. She didn't want to finish that sentence. "...Adagio. Tell me you're not okay with this? After everything we went through to find you?"

"You're also the one who almost starved us to death."

"Eep. Right."

Adagio gave a shrug. "Honestly, I'm not even mad anymore. I figured we were going to die soon anyway. At least now we had a chance to have some fun before we go out."

"What? No! That's not... you can't... Argh!"

Twilight looked Sunset in the, deep concern reflecting in her own. She placed a hand on Sunset's shoulder, slowly letting her own warmth seep in.

"Sunset. It'll be okay, I promise. We'll still be here when you make it back."

"You don't know that," Sunset groaned. Her breathing had already felt steadier, but the anxiety in her chest was no less potent. "I don't want you having to rely on a promise you can't keep."

"But you won't be turning your back on us," Twilight countered. "No matter what it might feel like. It's not your fault what happened. You just have to go out there, and keep looking for a way to fight back. And we'll be doing the same thing while you're away."

"I... I don't know, Twilight. I just don't know," said Sunset. "We bet so much on being able to reach that satellite with the Sirens' magic, and now you're telling me it's not possible? It feels like surrendering."

"Sometimes discretion is the better part of valor, dear," said Rarity. "There's nothing wrong with knowing how to pick your battles sometimes."

"And it's not like we need some satellite to survive," said Applejack. "The way Ah see it, we can hold out plenty without having to mess around in space."

"Trust me, it'll take a lot more than a few Phyrexians to take us down," Rainbow boasted.

"Yeah!" said Pinkie. "Just look at all the awesome stuff we've managed so far!"

"Aww, you guys." Sunset's lips gently curved into a smile, though she made a point to ignore the gagging motion coming from Adagio. Before she could say anything else, however, another thought snagged itself on her mind, a burgeoning idea that grew brighter with every passing second. "Wait. Applejack. Could you repeat what you said earlier?"

"Er... we don't need a satellite?"

"No, no! After that!"

"We can hold out plenty without messing around in space?"

Sunset snapped her fingers in a sweeping gesture of her arm. "That's it! Twilight, can you build me a spacesuit? Something that could theoretically let me survive in a vacuum?"

"Oh, of course. It's hardly as energy-intensive as some of my other machines, so — wait, what?"

"It's not that complicated!" Sunset insisted. "Just take the Dazzling's song and put it in a short-range transmitter, then build me something that will let me survive in space. We'll hold hands and sing Kumbaya, let the power of friendship transform me. Then I'll use my magic to propel myself into space, reach the satellite, and transmit the signal!"

Twilight clenched her jaw, and took in a deep breath through her nostrils. "Alright. Okay. Okay. First of all, are you insane!? And second, that is not how friendship works! You can't just wave your hands and have the 'Power of Friendship' solve everything!"

"Really?" Sonata chimed in. "'Cause it kind of seemed like you did that when you fought us."

"Understatement of the century," Aria added. "You girls pulled off some spectacular deus ex machina bullshit that night. It almost felt like you were cheating."

"I don't know what you're talking about! I wasn't there! You're thinking of the other Twilight!"

Sonata blinked. "Wait, there's two of you?"

"ARGH!"

"Everyone, calm down!" Sunset interjected. "Twilight. Listen to me, okay? Please, just hear me out for one minute, I promise."

Twilight took a deep breath, straightening her skirt as her breathing steadies. "Okay, Sunset. I'm sorry I yelled at you. I'm just... I don't know what you're planning, but it sounds reckless. It sounds like a way to get yourself killed." She looked Sunset with vast eyes, emotion quivering at their edges. "I already saw you disappear right in front of me. I don't want to have to lose you again."

Sunset bit her lip. "I... I know. But this is the only chance we have to save everyone else that's infected. Even if I went out and found help, I don't know of any other plane in the multiverse with technology as advanced as Anthropia, or anyone who could build a way to disrupt the hive mind. We don't need an army right now. We need a cure."

"But we don't know if this plan of yours will even work," said Twilight. "And this whole thing about going into space, it's just... it's absolutely nuts, Sunset. What am I supposed to think about something like that?"

"Any less nuts than meeting a magical pony princess version of yourself from another dimension?"

"Yes! No! I-I mean, maybe! Look, I'm just really worried about you, okay?"

"I know you are," said Sunset. "And it's only natural that you would be. But I've put my life on the line against all kinds of magical threats for the sake of my friends. And I'd be more than willing to do it again, for your sake."

"You're really not going to be talked out of this, are you?" said Twilight.

"Nope."

Twilight sighed. "I... alright. I'll go ahead and do it. Just promise me you'll come back safe, okay?"

Sunset gave a smile. "Thank you, Twilight. And I will."

————————

Several hours had passed, or at least as far as Sunset could tell.  It had grown difficult to keep track of the time underground, and the restless anxiety pounding within her chest only further distorted her sense of time passing.

But, soon enough, the time to act had come. Following Twilight's footsteps, Sunset and the others were taken to a stretch of underground sewer passage, indistinguishable from the others. The orange suit Twilight built for her fit snugly over her body, to an almost uncomfortable degree. Whatever it was made from, Sunset couldn't tell, other than that Twilight had vocally protested when she referred to it as spandex. Holding the helmet beneath her arm, Sunset gave her friends one goodbye — as well as the Dazzlings, who she didn't trust enough to leave behind in their base.

"Alright," said Twilight, "So I've gone ahead and run all the simulations through the computer, and performed a few tests with the smart fabric, and the suit should work. But that's an entirely different situation from actually doing tests in space. If it ever starts getting hard to breathe, come down immediately. The suit will slow any air leaks, but it can't stop them entirely. According to my calculations, the satellite should be passing by straight above by the time you reach its altitude. Keep heading up and look for the one with the military logo."

"And if I don't find it, come back down, right?"

"Right," said Twilight. "Don't put yourself in any unnecessary risk if it doesn't look like you can find it. I mean it, Sunset, you're the only chance we have of finding help if this plan fails."

"I'd say, 'don't worry,' but knowing you, you probably will anyway," Sunset teased.

Twilight rolled her eyes. "Right, just try not to die. You girls ready?"

Twilight was met with a series of affirming nods and 'mm-hmms.' As Twilight stepped forward, each of her other friends joined her in a circle. For a moment, Sonata had also begun to step forward, only to be met with a sharp glare.

"Not you!" Adagio chided.

"Oh. Whoops."

Ignoring her, Sunset slowly placed the helmet onto her head, its dark visor somehow not reducing her vision in the already-dark sewer. It fit remarkably comfortably, almost more like a bike helmet than a space helmet, yet at the same time she could feel the cool purified air enter her lungs, insulated from the stench of the sewer. She held out her arms, and joined hands with her friends standing on each side.

A familiar warmth began to spread through Sunset, powerful, bright, shining with the intensity of the sun itself. It seeped through her body, infusing itself into every crevasse of her soul. Then, in a flash of light, she felt her body transform. On the outside, she appeared little different, but sprouting from her back were two enormous wings made of pure light, with a horn forged from plasma affixed to the forehead of her helmet.

"Is, uh, that going to be a problem for the suit?" said Sunset.

"It shouldn't be. I built the suit's fabric to close around any magical protrusions," said Twilight. She darted around, and glanced at Sunset's back. "Although... it looks like the wings are somehow attached to the suit itself, not your back. Weird."

Sunset shrugged. "I guess this transformation is whatever I need it to be."

Twilight groaned. "Sure, makes as much sense as anything else about this. You have the transmitter?"

Sunset nodded, motioning to her neck. Around it was a circular amulet, similar to the one Twilight had used to track the Dazzlings. "Yup, right here."

"Good. And whatever you do, don't lose it. I couldn't fit it into the suit, so you'll have to hold onto it tightly. And if you don't come back alive, you're in big trouble!"

"I'll try to keep that in mind, thanks."

Giving one last round of goodbyes to her friends, Sunset began her ascent up the ladder, carefully removing the manhole as she climbed out. As she stood on polluted streets of Canterlot City, she gave one last look at the corrupted world.

Taking a deep breath, Sunset stepped forward, and aimed her hands at the ground. A pair of intense plasma jets erupted from the palms of her suit, and she immediately rocketed upwards, piercing through the sky and towards salvation. 

————————

Pain. Everything was pain.

The last thing Starlight remembered was an intense, blinding light, followed by a concussive force that sent her flying backward. Then, everything had gone dark.

Oil dripped from her wounds as she stood to her feet, digging through the detritus and rubble that had smothered her body. As she burrowed her way to the surface, her jaw hung open as she saw what had happened. The school auditorium and several of the surrounding hallways had been completely demolished, letting the sickly light from above fall onto the rubble.

But most importantly, there was no sign of Atraxa anywhere. And the portal had completely vanished.

Starlight's body quivered with rage. Her skin began to crawl and convulse, with a wet crackling of bone. Above, she saw a streak of golden orange rising through the sky, its aura unmistakable.

"You..."

A sharp pain erupted from her back. In a burst of fluid, a pair of porcelain wings emerged, its hardened pinions tipped with rusted iron and slicked with oil, jets of fire erupting from four vents on each appendage.

"YOU..."

She spasmed and convulsed, her skin crackling as porcelain jutted out from every joint, crawling across the surface of her skin. Her hands and feet grew outwards, into grotesque claws, and a long prehensile tail burst from her backside. Within several painful moments, her entire body was coated in biomechanical armor, no longer resembling anything human at all.

The vents on her wings erupted with jet fire, and Starlight screamed with rage as she ascended into the heavens.

"I’ll DESTROY YOU!"

————————

Starlight, Phyrexia’s Wrath 3RBW

Legendary Creature — Demon Horror

Flying; lifelink; infect (This creature deals damage to creatures in the form of -1/-1 counters and to players in the form of poison counters.)

When Starlight, Phyrexia's Wrath enters the battlefield, if a source an opponent controlled dealt damage to you since your last turn, it gets +1/+0 and gains haste until end of turn.

“Compleation is too good for vermin like you. I’ll tear you to shreds before I let you take one more step in my world.”

3/4
> Awakening
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Author’s Note: This chapter is best viewed with Night Mode off.

————————

Up and up, higher and higher. The propulsion of her own magic sent Sunset Shimmer flying upward, beyond heights that she had never previously thought possible.  And as she continued to rise, the orange light of the sun poured across the curvature of the earth, painting the land a brilliant orange even as the atmosphere thinned around her.

In any other context, the sight of the little blue planet falling into the distance below her would have been breathtaking. But now, she couldn’t even stop to think how strange it all was. It was almost like a dream, a circumstance so driven from desperation that it didn’t even seem real.

But it was real, and it was the last chance she had.

She didn’t know how long she had been flying for, but it had seemed like hours. Eventually, the last traces of blue faded from the sky, giving way to the dark expanses of space as she passed through the ionosphere. It wouldn’t be long now before she found what she came here for. She kept her eyes trained forward, into the vast expanses of space and the glittering stars beyond.

Her stomach clenched, as she realized she didn’t see her target anywhere. For a brief moment, she wondered if she had missed her chance. But sure enough, it soon began to drift into her field of vision: a small satellite, orbiting in the distance, its solar cells glistening a bright, mechanical blue.

Briefly she looked down, or whatever approximation of “down” she could manage in such little gravity. Tied to her neck was the amulet containing the Sirens’ song, untouched by the powerful G-forces of her ascent. Whatever Twilight had built it the string from, it was vastly more durable than it looked.

But soon her eye caught something else. A bright trail streaking like a comet through the atmosphere, except moving in the opposite direction. Moving straight towards her.

Sunset let out a yelp, unsure she’d even made a sound or not. She had to keep moving. She had to push forward, closer to the satellite, closer to her goal, closer to salvation. But no matter how far she went, the icy, creeping dread only intensified, slithering up and down her spine.

Unable to focus herself any further, Sunset let the propulsive blasts on her hands relax, lowing their thrust just to allow herself to turn around. What she saw was a beast of rage and porcelain steel, a demon flying on wings that propelled on rockets of oily black soot. Its teeth bared in the void of space, dripping with oil, as it launched towards her as fast as her eye could follow.

“No!” Sunset let a muffled cry into her helmet. “Stay away!” She attempted to fire a blast of plasma, but the sudden burst of magic from her palm sent her veering of wildly to the side.

In the end, she did not even manage to find the time to right herself. Sunset could only watch as the monster barreled towards her, claws brandished. She closed her eyes, and her heartbeat slowed to a crawl as its razor-tipped fingers aimed straight for her midsection.

Her eyes were forced open once again by an excruciating pain, and she could the face of the monster before her, close enough to see every last chip and scratch on its bleached white exoskeleton, every fleck of spit and oil dripping from its teeth. And in the corner of her eye, she could see Twilight’s amulet, now severed from its string, floating off into the distance. Her visor had cracked, and she could already feel the air draining from the inside of her helmet.

“N...N-no...”

“Oh, yes,” the monster crowed. Its swarm of voices — all of them Starlight’s voice — cut through the vacuum of space, carried as if by magic. “You understand now, don’t you? This is all your fault. You could have joined us in the symphony of flesh. You could have been free of dissonance, free of conflict, free of the tyranny of the self. You could have been us. We could have been harmony.”

“Har...mony?”

“But instead you spurned us,” Starlight snarled. “You chose to be nothing. So you will die as nothing.”

As the monster’s grating hiss scraped against Sunset’s eardrums, she felt something flicker within her chest, something that she couldn’t quite place.

Sunset’s entire body grew numb and cold, and pain in her stomach faded. Yet still, the flickering in her chest remained.

The universe around her went darker, and Sunset’s eyes began to roll back into her head. Yet the flicker still remained, expanding, growing.

The innermost voices in Sunset’s mind went quiet. Her heart beat one more time, then stopped. At last, there was nothing, not even darkness.

And then, just like that, something that lay deep within Sunset’s chest awakened.

Sunset’s eyes snapped open in an instant, burning so brightly that their glare forced Starlight to recoil, quickly retracting the claw from Sunset’s abdomen.

“Harmony!? Harmony!? You call this HARMONY!?”

The gaping wound in her abdomen all but vanished as her body literally flared to life, shining with an intensity that grew exponentially with each passing moment. Her voice thundered, not with sound, but with a power that echoed through the fabric of space itself.

“Harmony doesn’t mean that everyone’s the same! You can’t erase the things that make us who we are and pretend you’ve brought us together! Our friendships are valuable because each of us has something that no one else can bring! Phyrexia doesn’t have that! You’ve destroyed the very thing that makes friendships possible in the first place! Don’t you speak to me of harmony, you fiend!“

The light that filled Sunset’s body intensified, growing brighter, growing more vibrant. The Colors filled her eyes, imprinting every inch of her soul — white, blue, black, red, green, and everything above, beyond and in between. It was everything and nothing, equal parts beautiful and terrifying. There was no air, and yet she breathed them in, the Colors filling her, saturating her becoming her. Visions of her life, of many lives, flashed across her mind, overwhelming it with sensory input, until at last something within her mind clicked.

It all made sense now, at that moment. This was her purpose, her calling. If only for a moment, to be something infinitely greater.

Starlight shielded her eyes and recoiled, the light of the Colors singing the edges of her exoskeleton. Her voice trembled with a fear that was entirely uncharacteristic of Phyrexia. “W-what.... what are you?”

And as Sunset spoke, the world buckled beneath the weight of her voice.

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The words sent a shock through Starlight’s body, and she convulsed and spasmed, her plated armor flaking off piece by piece. The flecks of oil and blood evaporated as they were exposed to the light emanating from Sunset’s body. Starlight let out one last cry of pain as her body shrank and regressed, metal and porcelain turning to skin, monstrous plates of armor becoming soft, pink flesh.

Sunset raised an arm, and a shining bubble encased Starlight’s body, naked and curled into ball, free from any last trace of Phyrexian contagion. With a wave of Sunset’s arm, it was sent gently floating back to the earth. 

Her gaze then turned outwards, towards the satellite that was now speeding away, further into the distance. She pointed a finger, and a shining beam erupted from its tip, thin and straight and pulsing with every color imaginable. The beam struck the satellite, and the satellite responded to its touch in turn, shifting and shuddering as it too began to glow.

A Rainbow of Light erupted from the satellite, a great band of seven colors that fell down to the earth. From its impact, it spread across the surface of the planet, enveloping it more and more, until the entire world was a palette of of colors, a singular pool of prismatic light in the vast expanse of space.

Then, in a flash of light, the colors vanished from the planet’s surface. Great multitudes of rainbow hues once again gave way to blues and greens — only now, the world was brighter than before, untained, pristine. The lingering stench of Phyrexia had vanished altogether.

The Colors began to fade from Sunset’s eyes, and her body went limp as it descended, her mind already slipping into unconsciousness. Yet even as she passed out in the vacuum of space, she was unafraid.

The deed was done, and Anthropia was pure once more.

————————

Sunset, Apotheon	2WUBRG

Legendary Planeswalker — Sunset Harmony

+2: Scry 2, then add three mana in any combination of colors.
-3: Exile target permanent.
-7: Reveal the top seven cards of your library. You may cast any number of nonland cards from among them with total converted mana cost seven or less without paying their mana costs. Put the rest on the bottom of your library in a random order.
-21: You win the game.

7
> The Awakened World
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

As her eyes opened, Sunset was greeted to a world that she thought she had lost forever. The taint of Phyrexia had been scrubbed away, and in its wake was the bright, clear sky of a world that she had come to see as her own. When her vision finally adjusted to the light, she found herself standing in the center of the school’s front courtyard, right where the portal to Equestria had once been. All around her, students bustled and hurried about, leaving the building in a steady stream. From the sun’s position it appeared to be lunch hour, when students were permitted to leave school grounds and visit the local restaurants. They paid Sunset no mind, in spite of the fact that she had apparently descended from the sky — magical events had apparently become so routine to them it wasn’t even worth noticing.

“Sunset!”

The distinctive sound of Twilight’s voice pulled her attention to the side. No sooner had she turned to face her approaching friends when a pair of purple arms wrapped tightly around her torso, pulling her into a vicegrip hug. Sunset briefly protested, but before she found herself returning the gesture. The two locked arms, and the seconds that passed stretched on as she basked in the warmth of Twilight’s body.

“That was incredible,” Twilight said breathlessly. “I don’t know how you did it, but everything’s back to normal now.”

“Hey, was there every any doubt?” Sunset replied. Though, truth be told, she wasn’t quite sure how she did it either. The last thing she remembered was being in orbit, staring into the face of her own demise. She briefly looked towards her other five friends. From the looks on their faces, they weren’t quite sure what had happened either.

Sunset tried to think of something to say to Twilight, but words had failed her. Twilight smiled gently as the sun caught her glasses, reflecting off the tears in the corners of her eyes.

“You um,” Twilight paused, her face suddenly flushed with color. “You looked beautiful. Coming down from the sky like that, I-I mean.”

“Er, thanks? You too, I guess?” Sunset’s heart began to race. She could feel hear breath growing short, but strangely it wasn’t an unpleasant sensation at all.  On the contrary, it was... she was...

...She’d never really given it thought before, but Sunset really meant what she just said. Twilight really was beautiful. But why were such thoughts coming to her now?

Oh, for— You’re in LOVE, you idiot! Just kiss her already!

“What!?” Sunset blurted out, though she quickly covered up her outburst by doubling over with a fit of improvised coughing.

Other-you’s got a point. We’ve been crushing on Twilight pretty hard for a while now. I’m surprised you-you didn’t realize sooner, honestly.

Sunset looked up, and saw Twilight’s eyes filled with concern. “Sunset? Are you okay?”

“I...” Sunset wheezed. “Y-yeah, I’m fine. I’m just, uh... thinking about how glad I am too see you and, uh... um...” Already, she could feel her body temperature rising. There was an unbearable pressure deep within her chest, like something was trying to force its way out.

Twilight’s head tilted slightly. “Sunset?”

“What I’m trying to say is, um... I... I think I’m in love with you.”

For several moments, Sunset felt like she had tunnel vision. Everything apart from Twilight seemed to fade away into nothingness, and she was left staring at the person she had fallen for. Twilight for her part stared back, wide-eyed and slack-jawed.

“I... I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to make this awkward,” said Sunset. “Just forget I said—”

Her objections were immediately quieted when she felt Twilight’s lips press against her own. Before she was even consciously aware of it, she was returning the gesture in kind. Sunset closed her eyes, and everything else melted away as the two exchanged a kiss that felt like it could last forever. What passed as mere seconds became lost in a blur of emotions, as a tension Sunset didn’t even notice before washed away in a torrent of passion.

“Ha! I knew it!”

“...Dangit.”

Sunset felt a jolt run down her spine. She involuntarily pulled away and glared at her friends, as well as at the other students that had come to gawk at the scene. Already she could hear the whispering gossip being passed among the crowdgoers. In the corner of her eye, she could see Applejack discretely handing Rainbow Dash a twenty dollar bill.

“H-hey! Do you mind!? We’re having a moment here! Go on, shoo! And get that camera out of here, you!”

Reluctantly, the crowd began to disperse, though not before Shaky Shutter managed to snap one last photo. Sunset glowered at the other students as they cleared away, before finally turning to Twilight.

“Alright, let’s try that again. No interruptions this time.”

“Um...” said Twilight, “...okay?”

Closing her eyes, Sunset leaned in for another kiss, determined to make sure her second attempt was perfect. This time, she thought, there would be no interruptions.

Before her lips could even touch Twilight’s, she was interrupted by distinct sound of metal scraping against piano wire.

“Oh god dammit.”

Twilight gave a slight giggle. “Sunset, it’s okay. We can make out later.”

“Um,” Fluttershy spoke up. She stared beyond Sunset, in the direction the vworp sound was coming from. “N-not to worry you guys or anything, but what is that?”

Sunset was tempted to answer ‘some eccentric weirdo,’ but decided against it. There, at the apparent source of the noise, was the image of a man with light brown skin, slowly fading into view. He had the same short, ruffled brown hair, with a blue suit, green necktie, and an especially-distinct brown trenchcoat. There was no mistaking him: this was Time Turner.

DOCTOR Time Turner.

Oh, don’t you start with that.

When the Doctor came fully into view, Sunset’s eardrums were immediately assaulted by a deafening shriek.

“EEEEEEEE!”

“What!? Twilight, what’s wrong!?”

“What’s wrong? What’s wrong? Are you kidding me!? Do you know who that is!?”

“Um...”

“It’s Time Turner! I can’t believe you’ve never heard of him! He only played the most iconic incarnation of The Professor on TV!” Without hesitation, Twilight ran over to Time Turner, her body practically vibrating as she stood before him. “Ohmigosh ohmigosh ohmigosh! I can’t believe I’m actually meeting you in person!”

“Well, I’m flattered, really,” said Time Turner with a grin. “But you should know that I’m actually very different from who you think I am. I have several doctoral degrees, for one thing.”

Twilight deflated almost instantly.

“Huh?”

“It’s quite simple, really. You see, this world and Ungula — that’s the world Equestria is on — might act like separate planes in most respects, but they’re really not actually separate at all. Rather, they’re more like mirror images that exist on two sides of the same underlying planar space, each one casting a reflection on the other. Because of this, it’s possible to travel between the two worlds using methods that aren’t strictly interplanar travel. It also means that for every soul that exists in one world, the reflection it casts will cause a mirror image of that soul to end up in the other. These twin souls might not be born at exactly the same time or place, and they might not share all of the same properties, but there will always be a soul at some point in Ungula’s history that corresponds to a soul in Anthropia. This, as you can guess, includes myself.”

“Oh,” said Twilight, frowning. “You could have just told me you from Equestria, you know.”

Time Turner grinned. “Of course I could have. But that would be terribly boring, and I rather like giving lengthy explanations. Besides, this way grants me a very smooth segue.” He pointed a finger at Sunset Shimmer. “You there.”

“Me?” said Sunset.

“Yes, you,” said Time Turner. He pulled his finger away and lifted a hand to his face, wriggling his fingers enthusiastically. “You know, no matter how many times I gain them, I’m always amazed by how useful these extra digits are.”

Sunset glared at Time Turner, her arms folded across her chest. “And what was that about a smooth segue again?”

“Oh, right!” said Time Turner. “Terribly sorry. As I was saying, everyone on either world will at some point in time have a counterpart on the other. But you’ll notice, Sunset, that your counterpart appears to be absent. ‘Appears’ being the operative word there.”

Sunset paused. “Huh,” she said, “you know, you have a point there. I’ve always wondered about my counterpart since I came here. I guess with all the crazy things happening, I just forgot about it after a while. Are you saying you know where she is?”

“That’s correct,” said Time Turner. “You’ll notice that I said that whenever a soul is born in one world, its counterpart ends up in the other. That’s not to say that its counterpart had to have been born in the other world, or that it came into existence at the same time. In some rare instances, a soul may not even have a counterpart at first, until it becomes a counterpart later.”

“Uh... I’m afraid you lost me,” said Sunset.

“Well, to paraphrase a certain famous detective,” Time Turner eagerly replied, “it’s elementary. You, my dear Sunset, are a Conduit of Harmony. In effect, that means you are this world’s counterpart the Tree of Harmony itself.”

Sunset blinked. “I’m sorry, what?”

“The Tree of Harmony,” said Time Turner. “You know, Equestria’s very own conduit of Harmony? Harmony herself, of course, being the personified will of all harmonic energy in the multiverse, as well as a more general guiding force of destiny. Also slayer of the Ineffable, if you fancy that sort of trivia.”

“I know what the Tree of Harmony is!” Sunset shouted. “I just... I can’t believe this. You’re seriously telling me that’s my counterpart?”

The sunlight glinted off Time Turner’s teeth as he smiled. “That it is. Of course, don’t expect to be able to call upon Harmony’s power all willy-nilly. You can’t channel her unless she wants you to, and I think you’ll find she’s rather fickle in most circumstances. Bit of a tease, she is.”

“So... you’re saying I only have that kind of godlike power when some inscrutable force thinks I need to?” said Sunset. “I’m not sure whether I should be relieved or annoyed.”

“You’ll get used to that feeling, I’m sure,” Time Turner replied. “But I think there’s a bit of a more pressing concern for you right now, though not a world-ending one. Well, it’s more like it’s not immediately world-ending. Well, it’s more like it is immediately world-ending, but more in the metaphorical world-as-you-know-it sense than the world-blowing-up sense.”

Sunset’s chest tightened. The last thing she needed to deal with was another magical problem. “Oh no, what now?”

Time Turner placed his hands behind his back, his eyes drifting away as he gently rocked back and forth on his heels. “Oh... not a whole lot, really. Just a teensy-weensy, itsy-bitsy, insignificant little detail. Like that you may have undone the seal on the mana lines leading into Anthropia, flooding the entire plane with Equestrian mana and granting every living human on it access to their latent magical powers.”

Sunset’s eyes bugged out. “I did what!?”

“Oh, come off it now, it won’t be that bad,” said Time Turner. “In fact, I’ve seen the nearly the exact same thing happen before. Of course, I also recall you being a lot more consistently godlike there, so take that bit with a grain of salt.”

Sunset threw her hands up into the air. “Enough of your babbling! Are you seriously saying that everyone has magic now? Literally everyone?”

“For a given definition of ‘everyone,’ yes.”

Sunset screwed her eyes shut, and pressed a pair of fingers to her forehead. “...I think I need to go lie down for a bit.”

“You’ll have to wait until after class, I’m afraid. If I’m right — and I am — Harmony should have reset your planar timeline to the Friday that the Phyrexian portal was opened, except with all influence of the Phyrexians eradicated. You might want to check up on Starlight Glimmer when you get the chance. Odds are she’s had to cancel the seminar due to the side-effects having phyresis forcibly purged from her body.”

“WHAT!?” Sunset blurted out. “What do you mean ‘reset the timeline?’ That’s even crazier!”

“Well, you should keep in mind Harmony is a lot more powerful here than she was in Dominaria.” said Time Turner. He briefly looked at his wrist, which was conspicuously bare of any timekeeping devices. “Ooh, but would you look at that. That’s all the time I have to explain right now. Lots of important things to do. Toodles!”

“No! Don’t you dare leave! Get back here and explain what’s going on, or so help me!”

But Sunset’s pleas fell upon deaf ears, as by then Time Turner was already vanishing into the air. When he at last disappeared, Sunset and her friends were only left to stare in extended silence.

“So, um,” said Fluttershy. “What now?”

Sunset looked over to her friends, all of which were staring blankly at her, hoping to find an answer. Sunset’s head swirled, still considering the implications of what happened, and what was now expected of her. After everything that had happened, she felt completely burned out.

“Let’s... let’s just head out to lunch for now.” said Sunset. “I still need time to process what the hell just happened here.”

And so Sunset and her friends did just that, only able to hope they would make sense of the world they were now in.

————————

Anthropia Awakened

Plane — Anthropia

When you planeswalk to Anthropia Awakened, each player creates a 1/1 white Human creature token.

Each Human creature is a Horse in addition to its other creature types.

Each Human creature on the battlefield has lifelink and is all colors.

Whenever you roll {Chaos}, create two 1/1 white Human creature tokens.
> Epilogue: Dark Intimations
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Lunch went by without much of anything noteworthy happening.

Normally, Sunset wouldn’t have even bothered to make a note of that. But the fact that nothing noteworthy happened at lunch was, in itself, extremely noteworthy.

It was as if nothing had changed. As if Phyrexia had never invaded the plane in the first place. Because Phyrexia hadn’t invaded. As Time Turner had helpfully exposited, the entire plane’s timeline had been reset. Whether that meant time had been reset in all the other planes she wasn’t quite sure, and she was even less sure of whether Phyrexia had experienced the invasion on their end.

Sunset sighed, pressing her hand into her forehead as she leaned her elbows against the lunch table. “Ugh, this timey-wimey nonsense is giving me a headache. Twilight, do you have any idea how all of this even works?”

Twilight didn’t answer. She sat across the table from Sunset, pensively poking at her lunchmeat with a fork.

“Hello?” said Sunset. “Twilight?”

“Yipe!”  Twilight exclaimed, nearly jumping out of her seat.

A slight pang of guilt shot through Sunset’s chest. “Jeez, sorry. You okay there?”

“No, it’s fine! I’m perfectly alright! It’s just, um...” Twilight’s eyes seemed to be actively avoiding Sunset’s gaze. “I was just, uhm, thinking. About the timeline reset. I-if the timeline’s been reset, then that means everyone’s alive again, right?”

“Well, yeah.” said Sunset. “That’s kind of implied, isn’t it?”

“E-exactly. A-and pretty much the entire school saw us kiss out there.”

“Yeah, so what? There’s nothing to be ashamed of for being into girls, Twilight. You know that.”

“No, you don’t get it! That’s not the problem!” Twilight shot back. “It’s not that I like girls, it’s about who’s alive again now!”

Sunset raised an eyebrow. “Hold on, what are you even talking about? Who are you even so worried about?”

Sunset took a moment to pause, letting her thoughts started to catch up to her mouth.

“Wait. Hold on. If we’re back to before the invasion started, and everyone’s alive again, then that means...” The realization galloped up to Sunset’s train of thought on horseback, and hijacked it at gunpoint.

“Oh. Oh my god, you’re still dating Tim—”

Twilight buried her face in her hands, and let out a loud groan.

“Hey, hold on, let’s not jump to conclusions here!” Sunset hurriedly cut in. “I’m sure if you just talk to Timber, and explain to him the situation—”

“Explain what?” Twilight hissed. “That the world ended? Sure, let me just walk right up to him and tell him about this wild apocalyptic invasion that literally nobody remembers, and also that none of us can prove ever happened!”

“I mean, technically, it didn’t—”

Twilight cut through Sunset’s words with a sharp glare.

“Right,” said Sunset. “Probably not helping there.”

“As if I didn’t have enough stress to deal with already, with the whole ‘awakening our world’s latent magic’ thing,” Twilight lamented. “Why does saving the world have to the world even more complicated, anyway?”

Sunset reached out, and gently placed her hand against Twilight’s. “Hey, don’t worry. We’ll figure it out. If we can beat Phyrexia, we can handle anything, right?”

“Yeah, I guess. It’s just... ugh.” Twilight exhaled deeply, and then glanced around furtively. “Hey, speaking of which, I don’t think anyone at school’s realized they have magical powers yet. So, uh... how exactly do we break it to them? Or, um... to the whole world, for that matter.”

Sunset opened her mouth, without being sure what her answer would be. She was, both thankfully and regretfully, saved the trouble of having to think of it herself.

A loud, fizzling pop resounded through the lunch hall, followed by a blinding flash and a cloud of smoke that billowed out from the center of the room. The entire lunchroom stopped in their tracks an gawked as a caped, behatted silhouette stepped out, dramatically sweeping her arms as she gestured to her newfound audience.

“Come one, come all! The greatest show of all time is about to begin! I may be the Great and Powerful Trixie, but you can be assured that my magic is no trick!”

Sunset pressed her fingers against her temples, massaging the throbbing headache that was beginning to form. This was going to be a long day.


————————


If lunch went by without much of anything happening, then the second half of the day went by with everything happening.

It was bad enough that, after Trixie’s impromptu show accidentally set one of the tables on fire, all of the other students started to realize that they had similar powers. Several students in gym class accidentally ended up breaking the equipment after finding a massive increase in physical strength. Others found themselves able to spontaneously generate wind currents, and still more could perform minor feats of conscious magic. 

And that was before everyone started to realize that everyone else was experiencing similar new powers, all across the world. Checking her phone, Sunset found videos were already being uploaded to the internet of people with their newfound powers.

In scientific terms, as Twilight would put it, it was a total mess.

Despite the obvious gravity of the situation, people were surprisingly calm, and the remaining classes proceeded with little interruption. Once school was out, Sunset and her friends visited the local library — a quiet space to talk about everything that was happening was sorely needed.

“Okay, so,” said Sunset, trying her best to ignore the dull pain in her forehead. “Let’s start from the top. We’ve time-traveled to the Thursday before the Phyrexian invasion, except now everyone has magic. Now what?”

There was a pause for several seconds; everyone could only stare back blankly.

Sunset gave out a sight. “Alright, fine. One thing at a time. Has anyone heard from Starlight Glimmer? Do we know what happened to her?”

A bright yellow hand gently went up.

“Yes, Fluttershy? Have you seen her?”

“Um, not exactly,” Fluttershy answered. “But I did see all the posters about her seminar say it was cancelled. I asked a few people, they said they saw her, um, disappear.”

Sunset raised an eyebrow. “Disappear?”

“Oh yes, disappearing into thin air,” Fluttershy said. “They said she looked really sad for some reason.”

“Does... does she remember what happened?” Rarity chimed in. “Nobody else I talked to to seemed aware that anything had changed. Well, apart from all the magic we all have now, I suppose.”

Rainbow groaned. “Don’t tell me we’re gonna have to kick her butt again!”

“Now hold on, let’s not jump to conclusions here,” said Sunset. “With the Phyrexian corruption gone, we’ve no reason to believe she’ll be our enemy any more.”

“But ain’t she the one who invited Phyrexia into our world in the first place?” said Applejack.

“Yeah, good point!” said Pinkie. “How do we know she won’t just try again?”

A nagging thought pulled at the corner of Sunset’s mind. An intuition, one that she had dismissed earlier, but was impossible to ignore now. 

“See, that’s the thing. I... I don’t really think it was Starlight that did that,” Sunset replied.

The eyes turned to her immediately indicated that she had everyone’s attention. 

“Let me explain,” she continued. “When I was up there, and... channeling Harmony, becoming one with destiny and all of that jazz, I could... feel something. Something coming from inside of her. Suffocated by an oily darkness, screaming to be freed. I guess what I’m trying to say is, I think the Starlight we saw wasn’t really herself. She just as much a victim of Phyrexia as any of us were.”

Rainbow’s eyes furrowed. “Great. So then who was responsible, then? Whose butt do we gotta kick?”

Sunset hesitated. She was going to say she didn’t know. But the more she thought about it, the more she started to realize she probably did. She turned to Twilight, whose skin had gone pale.

“Twilight... you don’t think..?”

“Ether Seeker,” Twilight intoned. Hearing the name brought back a vivid memory, the man with the prosthetic arm made of seemingly living metal. “We... we know he had the glistening oil with him. I found a sample of it in his desk. I... I think the invasion might have been his plan all along.”

A sudden understanding hung over the group, choking out their lungs like a thick cloud of smoke. 

“We should probably tell your brother,” Sunset said to Twilight. “And I’ll need to talk to the Princess.”

“Not saying that ain’t a good idea, but do you mean before or after we figure out what’s going on with all this magical hoodoo everyone has now?” Applejack replied. “In sixth period Ah saw someone someone use magic turn their paint into a color outside the visible spectrum! Hurt mah eyes just looking at it.”

“And I saw a bunch of students growing these glowy energy wings in gym class!” said Pinkie. “They couldn’t really fly with them, but it was still kinda weird! And that’s coming from me!”

“Not to mention all the plants in the school greenhouse that stopped wilting when other students were around them,” Fluttershy added. “They used to not get better no matter how much I talked to them.”

“And what’s strange is that nobody seems to be treating any of this like anything special,” said Rarity. “Trixie’s the only person who seems to think her new magic is something extraordinary, but... well, you know how she is.”

Twilight’s brow furrowed slightly. “Hm... Unicorns, Pegasi, Earth Ponies... those were the kinds of ponies in Equestria, right Sunset? Maybe people inherited their powers from their corresponding pony self? With some kind of subtle suggestion effect so that they see their new abilities as normal instead of a freak occurrence? If this is happening to everyone in our world, then maybe that’s part of the deal, too.”

“Whoa whoa whoa, hold on,” said Sunset. “You’re not seriously suggesting that Harmony brainwashed everyone in our entire world, are you?”

“Um. Well, think of it like this. Considering the alternative could be the entire human population panicking and lashing out, maybe it’s for the best?”

Sunset frowned, a sickening feeling forming deep within the pit of her stomach. The more she thought about the implications, the queasier she felt. “That... still doesn’t sound right. I don’t like the idea of Harmony using me that way.”

Twilight shook her head. “I don’t blame you for feeling that way. Nobody said the cosmic forces of the multiverse had to abide by human moral standards. I’m just saying, it is what it is. And it’s better than the Phyrexians, isn’t it?”

“Maybe. It’s just... ugh.” Despite the reassurance, Sunset couldn’t help but feel uneasy. She sighed, and buried her head into her palms.

Before she could spend too much time brooding, Pinkie zipped over to her side and placed a hand on her shoulder. “Hey, turn that frownie upside-downie! Sure, things are weird now, but we’re with you to help you work things out! That’s what friends are for, right?”

“Yeah, I guess you’re right,” said Sunset. She looked up, and took in the sight of her friends — the people who had suffered so much, and endured so much, and come out of it all stronger than ever before. Twilight looked her in the eyes, and she found her anxiety melting away.

“It’ll be fine,” said Twilight, reaching out a hand and gently holding Sunset’s. “It’s like you told me earlier today. If we can beat Phyrexia, we can handle anything, right?”


————————


Meanwhile...

For what felt like the millionth time too many, Tezzeret found himself kneeling in deference. The Plane of Meditation was an endless pool of shimmering potential, and standing above it all was a massive throne, seating the tyrannical mind Tezzeret had been made to serve.

“...And that is what happened, Lord Bolas. I am sorry to report that the Phyrexians’ campaign was a failure.”

Tezzeret was expecting anger and disappointment. Nicol Bolas, Tyrant of Worlds, was not one to tolerate failure, and the scars Tezzeret held proved it. But to his shock, Bolas seemed quite the opposite of upset. On the contrary, his gleeful smirk only grew wider as Tezzeret spoke.

Bolas held up a hand. “Enough. You’ve no need to grovel any longer, much as I greatly  enjoy it. For you see, everything has already transpired according to my design.”

Tezzeret was momentarily taken aback; but at the same time, he perhaps expected nothing less. An Elder Dragon was not one to admit failure. “Can you elaborate, Lord Bolas?”

“Simple,” said Bolas. “It is said that when the plane of Condordia was destroyed, it splintered into two parallel planes. But Harmony, the god-spirit of Concordia, could not sustain the existence of both. Unable to bring herself to destroy either plane, she allowed herself to perish from the strain instead. With the death of their god-spirit, both planes perished in turn.” Bolas grinned, baring his sharp, powerful teeth. “As you have seen, this was not the case. And as I predicted, Harmony instead greatly thinned the mana lines leading into one plane, eliminating the burden it imposed. Because she would care for Anthropia just as much as its twin, she would no doubt undo the seal if the plane were faced with a sufficient threat.”

“Like the invasion you orchestrated.”

“Precisely,” Bolas replied. “My plans for Ravnica will take some time to reach their fruition. In the meantime, I wish to entertain myself with the fate of these twin planes. The shards of the once-great realm of Concordia now lie squarely within my grasp.”

“And if I may ask, Lord Bolas, what do you intend to do with them?”

“You will see in due time, Tezzeret.” Bolas grinned, and steepled his clawlike fingers together. “For now, all we need to do is wait.”


————————


Exactly as I Foresaw It

Scheme

When you set this scheme in motion, look at the top seven cards of your library. Put two of them into your hand and the rest on the bottom of your library in any order.

“This isn’t one of your pulp novels, planeswalker. Did you think I’d allow you to stand before me if you held the slightest chance of hindering my masterstroke?”