The Catalyst

Rarity slid a magazine in her pistol and, looking at the gun, to me, and the gun again, handed me the weapon. It felt heavy in my hand, and the grip cooled down my palm.

“I trust you know how to use one of these?”

“Point and shoot, right?” I had seen enough TV to know how to use a gun, and although the finer points of gunplay were still a mystery to me, I could most likely take care of myself.

Most likely.

“Essentially, yes. Stick with me for the most part, and you should be okay.” She started out the door and looked back to me. “Well? Come on.”

Rarity led the way as we traveled through the abandoned warehouses the Sector had decided to make their base. The place could definitely use some major reworking, what with all the overgrown windows and collapsed ceilings.

Rarity pulled a small gun from her waistband and slung her rifle over her back. She stopped at a door leading into a red brick building. “Through here is where I usually go in times like these. It’s a sniper perch. Since you don’t have a rifle, you’re better suited to move ahead and meet up with Pinkie. She’s in the warehouse marked ‘C’, and she can help you get situated. Okay?”

I nodded. “Be careful, alright?”

“But of course. You too, dear.” She opened the door and began moving up the adjacent staircase. “Now go!”

As she continued climbing the stairs, I pushed forward through the opposite door. As I stepped out, a few shots rang out somewhere nearby and I heard inhuman shrieks of pain.

Continuing on, I eventually came to a warehouse with a fading blue ‘C’ spray-painted above the entrance. When I stepped inside, I heard a few more gunshots coming from the upstairs.

Trying to make as little noise as possible, I neared the stairs and began to walk up them. As I neared the top, I saw a young woman in a pink knit cap and jean jacket firing some sort of homemade grenade launcher out of a large hole in the side of the building. She pulled a small packet of something out of the back pocket of her stonewashed black jeans and emptied it into what looked like an emptied tin can. She dumped a few other powders and a few drops of liquid inside, taped the lid back on, and placed it in the lip of her launcher.

She picked up her launcher and, peering through a makeshift scope made out of a magnifying glass with a little red dot drawn on it, fired. The can shot out of the launcher and landed in a group of changelings and exploded in a flash of fire, smoke, and black ichor.

“Take that, you big meanies! Or small meanies. You guys aren’t really that big.” She took another can and placed it in the launcher and then turned to me. “Hey, Twilight! Wanna do the honors?”

“Pinkie Pie? How did you know I was even here?”

“I heard you, silly! You’re not exactly stealthy, you know.” She held a hand up to her mouth and giggled.

I decided to not question it and just go use the gun. Setting my gun on a table behind us and walking over to her, I sat down next to the gun and took it in my hand. “So, uh, what is this thing?”

“It’s kinda like the party cannon, except it’s less for parties and more for blowing up changelings.” She handed me a can. “Here, put this in there.”

I dropped the can into the lid and took the trigger in my hand. “Okay, now what?”

“Shoot it, silly!”

I pulled the trigger, and the can rocketed out of the entrance. It landed near a changeling, who was knocked back by the force of the blast.

“Yeah! Take that!” Pinkie called out to the now-collapsed changeling.

The fact that Pinkie managed to build a functional grenade launcher astounded me. “How did you even get this thing to work, Pinkie?”

“Simple! I taped a bunch of pipes together and then put a bunch of explodey things in a can. Then, I shot it out of the pipes!”

“That... I mean, how do you get the can to come out of the pipes?”

She shrugged.

“So you have no idea how this thing works?”

“Nope!”

I sighed. “I should probably just accept this and move on, shouldn’t I?”

Suddenly, a large explosion shook the building. Pinkie and I fell backwards into a table. I could feel a large pain in the back of my neck, and then the whole world turned black.

“Is she awake?” a rather motherly voice said.

“I dunno. Hey, Twi! You alright there, sugarcube?” an unmistakable voice said.

“Oh, hello, Applejack,” I said, swinging my arms in front of my face.

Applejack grabbed my arm and slowly pulled me to my feet. “Steady now, Twi. You’re fine, just a bit shaken up.”

“I’m very glad to see you’re alright, Twilight Sparkle,” the motherly voice said. I turned my head, and saw a blonde woman in a white overcoat. At her side was a holster occupied by a single, silver pistol. “I’m very sorry for having to knock you unconscious like I did earlier. I only meant to knock you backwards enough to give me time to enter the building.

“Who’re you?” I said, rubbing my eyes.

“I’m Princess Celestia,” she said, “or what’s left of her, anyways.”

“Left of her?”

“Yes. You see, when I imprisoned you so many years ago, it was at the whim of an ancient evil called Teuflisch, or the Hellhound. My sister and I defeated him centuries ago, but he seems to have returned.”

“Returned? How?”

“Even I do not know for certain. I suspect it had something to do with the corruption of the Elements of Harmony. Their weakness allowed him time to escape from his prison in Tartarus.”

“How did he manage to take control of your body?”

“Teuflisch is a powerful shapeshifter. He disguised himself as a glass of wine. When I drank it, he was inside my body and poised to strike.”

I scratched the back of my head. “So, when Teuflisch was in your body, did he have total control?”

“Most of the time, I was pushed into the back of my mind and he took over. However, when he came through the portal to this world in my body, the separation of mind and soul gave me enough time to separate my consciousness and duplicate my body.”

“So, what there’s none of him left in you anymore?”

“Not that I’m aware of.”

I bit my lip. “How do I know you’re telling the truth?”

“You know much of magic, Twilight.” She held out her palm and it started glowing yellow. “If I were truly evil, my aura would be red, would it not?”

“You’ve got a point.” I turned to Applejack. “Where’d you find her?”

“She came in during the attack. I was about to shoot her, but then she blasted a bunch of changelings to dust. Decided I’d give her a shot to explain herself.”

“So what now?”

“Now?” Celestia said, stepping into the sunlight provided by the hole in the wall. “Now, we take the fight to the Hellhound.”