Chapters Zzzzzzrow! An orange and yellow blur shot through the Everfree Forest.
“Can’t ya go any faster?” Applebloom yelled over the wind.
“I’m going as fast as I can o-” They abruptly banked left to dodge a root that seemed to sprout up to trip them. “-kay?” Sweat dripped down Scootaloo’s face, and she grit her teeth in concentration, ignoring the burn as the salty liquid touched her eye.
Zzzzzzzzooom! At long last they erupted from the foliage, bursting into sunshine and onto more friendly ground.
“We’re almost there!” Applebloom cried, pointing at the library. Scoots narrowed her eyes, and the buzz of her wings managed to pick up just a little bit more. Blood pounded in her ears, and it wasn’t just because of the race to Ponyville. Please be okay, please be okay , she repeated in her head, trying, and failing, not to think about the timberwolves.
“Is there anything else you need before I head out Twilight?” Spike asked as he opened the library door.
“No I should-”
“LOOK OUT!” Scootaloo tried to brake, but there just wasn’t enough time, and the two fillies, dragon and scooter all tumbled into the main room, spilling onto the floor at Twilight’s hooves.
“Oh Celestia are you okay? Why are you in such a hurry?” After a brief pause she added, “And where’s Sweetie Belle?” At the mention of her sister, Rarity perked up, and looked over the top of the novel she’d been reading, eyebrows knitting together.
“We *gasp* were trying *wheeze* to get-” Scootaloo struggled to catch her breath while simultaneously trying to tell their tale. Twilight separated the entangled friends in a magenta aura and placed them on the ground.
“Hold on. Calm down and catch your breath.” Scootaloo shook her head, eyes wide. A bead of sweat formed on Rarity’s temple. Applebloom put a hoof on Scoot’s shoulder and said,
“We was in the Everfree tryin to get our daredevil cutie marks, but the tree we were gonna use fell over. We saw another one, but when Sweetie Belle went through the bush to get to it, she fell into this huge crack!” Rarity was on her hooves now, holding one over her mouth. Somehow, her face had gotten even paler.
“She said she was alright, so we were gonna throw the rope down to her, but then she screamed and took off running a-and some timberwolves came out after her and w-we had to-” The rest of the story devolved into unintelligible sobbing as her resolve broke. Already several items were flying around the room, encased in magenta auras, packing themselves into saddlebags. Twilight turned to Scootaloo,
“Can you lead us back there?” Scoots just nodded. Rarity stepped up beside Twilight,
“Then there isn’t a moment to spare! We must leave at once!” She punctuated the last word with a stomp of her hoof. Scootaloo, in a light blue aura, floated over to Rarity, settling on her back, while the now packed saddlebags came to rest on Twilight’s. With a stern nod, the two friends fled the library.
“Stay here with Applebloom!” Twilight shouted to Spike, “If anypony asks, tell them where we went!” She couldn’t hear what Spike said over her galloping hooves, but she saw him salute from the library doorway, and turned her attention to the task at hoof.
Sweetie Belle was terrified. Fear and adrenaline were the only things keeping her going. Thankfully, timberwolves weren’t very smart, or fast. The hair on the back of her neck stood up when she heard the howls behind her. But they sure didn’t give up easy. Each thud of her hooves on the dirt path sent shocks of pain through her legs, and she sucked wind like a bellows, face aflame with exertion.
"Where am I?" she panicked, eyes darting around the unfamiliar surroundings. She could’ve sworn she’d gotten on the path to head back where her friends had been. Tears stung her eyes and errant strands of her mane were plastered to her face, tickling where they touched. Keep running. Just keep running. They’re dumb and slow. Keep running. She repeated it to herself over and over again, desperately forcing her hooves to stay in motion.
The path ended and she flew into the clearing. And stopped. A stone cliff jutted up before her, surrounded on three sides by the Everfree Forest. She was trapped. Icy panic started prickling in her chest, but then she noticed a crack in the rock face. Before she could form a plan, the brush behind her shook and rustled, and Sweetie leaped into action.
The brief pause had let her fatigue catch up with her, and now her knees wobbled as she ran. Just a little more! Too tired to stop, she simply slammed into the rock wall, the impact barely registering, and rose up onto her hind legs, shimmying into the crevice. Tug, tug! Her leg was stuck! With one final burst of adrenaline, she wrenched it free and fell onto the cold dirt. Slowly, she pulled herself in a little deeper, away from the scrabbling claws and snapping jaws.
Sweetie flopped onto her back, gasping in the cool air, the burn in her chest receding, and moving instead to her limbs and face. For a time she simply lay there, catching her breath and letting the burn fade. Maybe I’ll get a marathon cutie mark! The thought made her smile despite it all, and she huffed a laugh. That’s when she noticed the cold wet thing on her leg.
Her eyes snapped open. Images of snakes, slime monsters, zombie ponies and other horrible things flooded her thoughts, and her flushed cheeks lost some of their color. Slowly, slowly she lifted her head, ignoring the pounding within it, and the snarling dogs just out of reach. Oh. It’s not a snake. Just blood. She sighed with relief, before the implications of the thought sank in. B-b-blood!
They’d gotten their fair share of injuries during their adventures, to be sure. But as she stared at the gaping wound, the stream of crimson fluid coating her leg, the world started wobbling. Flopping back down, she struggled to remain calm, but swiftly lost that battle.
“HELP! HELLLLP!” she cried, voice cracking in terror. Everything started looking funny, like she’d been staring at the sun for too long. Little fireflies danced in her vision, and the world seemed to tilt beneath her, enough so that she pushed her forehooves against the the dirt to keep from flipping over. As the tunnel of darkness collapsed on the jagged line of sky, a single tear rolled down her cheek.
Am I going to die?
*huff* *huff* *huff* *huff*
Twilight and Rarity stood at the top of the cliff, catching their breath. Next to the bush lay the zip-line equipment still sprawled on the ground. Twilight’s head turned,
“Okay. *huff* Let me, whew, let me see your leg Rarity.” The pony in question lifted her appendage, jerking it back in surprise when she felt the needle prick it.
“Ow! What on earth was that for?” she demanded, bringing the wounded leg to her lips. Twilight didn’t respond, horn glowing, laying the pin flat in the air, and setting it spinning. After a moment, the red tip settled to the west.
“Okay! Sweetie should be over here!” As the three ponies took off, Rarity asked,
“Some kind of compass?”
“Right! But it will only point to you or your close family.” For the next few minutes, the only sounds were the pounding of their hooves, and their gasps for air. Despite the burn in her lungs, Rarity’s stomach was ice.
Please be safe. Please be safe. She fought back tears and shook her head to banish terrible images of Sweetie Belle, broken and ravaged, crying out for her. Branches whipped past, bouncing off the top of Scootaloo’s helmet, her face buried in Rarity’s mane. Rarity couldn’t tell if the moisture on her neck was sweat, or the tears of the poor filly. Probably both. Her mood flipped between anger and gratitude; that they would do something so positively foalish, and that they’d had the good sense to come get her right away. As they galloped, a small grin forced its way out of her at how much distance her little sister had covered, and with it, a measure of hope.
She was so wrapped up in her own thoughts she almost missed Twilight’s call to stop, and skidded to a halt just before the cliff’s edge. The needle pointed straight ahead, and with a pained groan, Twilight’s horn flashed, and all three ponies appeared at the bottom. Rarity may have been carrying a filly, but the strain of the compass spell was starting to take its toll on Twilight. She wanted to tell her friend to take a moment to relax, but the thought of Sweetie Belle… Twilight would never have agreed anyways, she told herself.
“I, *huff* think, *huff* we’re getting closer!” Twilight gasped, feeling the needle starting to pull harder. With those words, both mares rallied a second, or possibly third wind, and surged onward with newfound speed. Rarity grit her teeth, spittle spraying out in a most unladylike fashion, I’m coming Sweetie Belle! Just hold on!
Sweetie’s eyes opened. The first thing she noticed was the complete lack of pain. She felt… great! She took a deep breath, reveling in the damp earth and irony tang… Her heart rate skyrocketed. Again her head lifted, and she looked down at her leg, coated with dark, sticky blood, laying in a nauseating pool of the stuff. Breathing heavily, she tried to move it, and saw an ephemeral limb slide out of her skin.
With a shriek she was on her hooves, staring down at herself. Nononononono! Tears welled in her eyes as she looked at her own face, utterly serene. I look like I’m sleeping. Wet drops fell from her eyes, but phased through the ground, vanishing. She cried.
For long minutes she cried. Sniffling, she wiped her nose with a forelimb. Each time she began to compose herself, she’d look down, and her chest would constrict, choking out another sob.
“What is it little filly?”
The voice went through her like an icy wind. Shivering, she turned to face its source. Her mouth was open, but no sound escaped, too terrified to scream. A hooded pony with twin emerald flames beneath its black cowl regarded her, an aura of fear and discomfort emanating from it. For a time, they stood like that, neither moving, neither saying a word.
Sweetie’s mouth closed and opened a few times, eyes never leaving the green fires. They tilted, and she knew it was looking at her corpse. The thought made her shudder. After a lengthy pause, they flickered back to her.
“Don’t want to die?” The question carried a mocking tone, and her vision blurred with tears. I’m just a filly! Cold laughter grated out of the thing, each sound painful to her ears. In a flash, everything changed.
She stood in the main room of the boutique, watching a disheveled Rarity staring at a picture on the lounge. Without walking, Sweetie moved to the other side. It was a picture of her. From here she could see her sister’s misery more clearly, her eyes red and puffy, dry despite the sobs that shook her frame. Pain radiated in Sweetie Belle’s chest, hearing her sister’s anguish. Everything changed again.
Now she saw Rarity, pristine once more, packing the picture, and a single pair of scissors into a saddlebag. Sweetie shivered. No.
They were back in the forest, Rarity standing by the crevice, by the stones and flowers that marked the place of Sweetie’s passing. Sweetie tried to get to her, but she couldn’t move. Rarity lay down by the stones, and pulled the picture out of the bag.
“Rarity!” She set it down beside the flowers. Sweetie’s heart pounded.
“Rarity!” The scissors came out next, held in an iron grip by the fulcrum, blades exposed. Sweetie’s legs refused to obey, and she could do nothing but stare as a slow smile spread on her sister’s face. Sweetie shook with effort, and terror, desperately struggling to stop this. Rarity’s foreleg moved.
“RARITY!”
A fountain of crimson shot out of the cut, spraying onto the stones. With a shaky hoof, she managed to grip the blade, and cut the other leg. Rarity lay her head down on her forelegs, face soaking up the blood. Now Sweetie could move, and rushed to her side.
“No no no no no no.” When Rarity saw her, her eyes sparkled, and her smile grew.
“Hi Sweetie,” a bloody hoof reached out for her, passing through her cheek, “I’ll be with you soon.” The vision grew hazy, and once again she stood on the dirt beside herself, chest heaving. It took a long time for her to slow her breathing, to stop crying, to push away the image of the bloody hoof, and that smile. A freezing wind stirred through her,
“Will you let this come to pass?” Sweetie looked up at the flames, and shook with fear.
“W-what do you m-mean?” It laughed again, hammering through her head.
Rarity’s vision was tunneling. She couldn’t seem to get enough air into her lungs. Everything was tingling and burning, but she couldn’t stop. Twilight had fallen behind, but she knew, knew Sweetie was just ahead. She burst into the clearing, hooves slamming the ground as she rocketed towards the crag, and the white shape within it. Tears stung her eyes, and her mouth opened, though she had no breath to scream. Finally, she scooped Sweetie Belle up, and hugged her close, sinking to the ground as she sucked ragged breaths that struggled to become sobs.
“Rarity! I’m sorry, I’m sor-” her apologies were muffled as Rarity crushed her tight. Scootaloo too wrapped her forelegs around the filly, crying with joy, as Twilight made her way through the brush, and smiled at the scene. She tingled everywhere, sore and tired, her horn blazing with exhaustion, causing white fissures in her vision. But Sweetie Belle was okay. That was all that mattered.
As they lay, catching their breath, Sweetie nestled beneath Rarity’s chin, gathered around the portable fire Twilight had brought, they listened to the filly’s amazing tale.
“I was sure I ran the right way, but then I came out here, and they were right behind me, so I ran to the wall and hid in there,” a white hoof pointed to the crack in the cliff.
“Well I for one can not believe you went so far!” Rarity gushed, “I barely made it here myself!” Sweetie blushed at the praise, nuzzling against Rarity’s chest. She sniffled, fresh tears leaking out, and Rarity smiled, her own eyes glistening. Twilight stood, horn aglow packing the snacks and portable flame, while she lifted a barely conscious Scootaloo onto her back.
“It’s getting dark, we’d better head back,” she said, settling the bags behind the nearly dozing filly.
“Yes, very true. I should hate to have run all this way only to be caught in the Everfree Forest at night,” Rarity said as she settled Sweetie Belle onto her back, who was still wide awake despite everything she’d been through. Their return pace was considerably more leisurely, despite the setting sun, and their spirits soared.
As they exited the clearing, Twilight shivered, horn tingling in displeasure. Still sore from the blood compass, presumably. Sweetie clung to her sister, nuzzling the back of her neck.
Ponyville was wild. The moment they emerged from the forest and Pinkie saw they were okay, the party was on! Seemingly from nowhere streamers, supplies, snacks, cakes, punch, cider, the list went on and on. Ponies cheered and laughed, hugging the sisters. Luna and Celestia both received countless praises that night, and on into the morning, and through it all, Sweetie never left Rarity’s side.
Applebloom tackled the filly, tears in her eyes, squeezing her so tight she turned blue, until Mrs. Cake came by and plunked down four milkshakes, “On the house.” By the time the sun came up, things had finally started to die down, and the guests of honor retired to the boutique amidst much fanfare and numerous well wishes.
Together they went upstairs. Together they bathed. Together they went to bed. And not a word was spoken. Nestled side by side, in the warm covers, together they slept.
When they finally woke up, it was late in the afternoon, and the events of the day before seemed little more than a bad dream.
“What would you like for breakfast?” Rarity asked, knowing the answer already.
“Pancakes!” came the inevitable reply from a bouncing Sweetie Belle. Rarity smiled, and led the way. Humming a little tune to herself, she whipped up the batter and set the table. Sweetie had already taken her seat, bubbling with enthusiasm while the pancakes sizzled. Rarity felt a twinge of curiosity at her sister’s attentiveness, but pushed the thought away. She’s just happy to be home, safe and sound.
With a very late breakfast behind them, they washed the dishes, Sweetie Belle extra careful not to drop anything she dried, even if it took a little longer.
“Well then I’m sure you’d like to go play with your friends, and I do need to get some work done today.” For a second, Sweetie looked terrified.
“No no, that’s okay. Can I just stay here with you for a bit? I promise not to get in the way.” Rarity opened her mouth to argue, but something about Sweetie’s behavior stopped her, and she closed it with a snap.
“Why of course you may! How about you bring down some of your coloring books?” Sweetie lit up at the idea, and flew upstairs. The rest of the evening passed in relative silence, save the hum of the sewing machine, the cut of the scissors, and the scratch of crayon on paper. Until Rarity stopped mid-stitch. Something was wrong.
*sniffle*
She turned to find Sweetie Belle staring at her picture, crying.
“Darling whatever is the matter?” Rarity asked as she walked over. The picture was a red heart around a crude depiction of her and Sweetie Belle. Above it read, “BSBFF”. Rarity, concerned, sat beside her on the couch.
“Oh it’s lovely Sweetie Belle!” The filly’s hoof shook violently, wracked by another sob, and the crayon fell to the floor. Rarity grabbed her in a hug, pulling Sweetie tight against her as she cried.
“Shh sh sh sh,” she said, running her hoof through Sweetie’s mane, “it’s going to be alright.” For some reason, that only made Sweetie Belle cry harder. Her grip tightened on Rarity’s neck, and warm tears stained her coat. It was then that she heard the commotion outside. Somepony was shouting, or at least speaking very loudly, and Rarity thought she heard the distinctive rasp of a certain pegasus.
*knock knock knock*
She moved to go to the door, but Sweetie’s death hold on her made it all but impossible.
“Sweetie-”
“Don’t go,” came the muffled cry. Cold dread settled in Rarity’s gut. The door opened. A hooded pony walked into the parlor, each step eerily loud and clear. From behind it her friends swooped in, taking up positions between the two sisters and the frightening newcomer. Despite the balmy air, a winter chill swept through the room.
“It’s time.” The voice seemed to come from within their heads, and hackles raised throughout. Sweetie sobbed.
“What the hay is going on here?” Dash demanded, posturing for a fight. The others followed her lead, widening their stances subconsciously. The hooded pony pointed a black hoof at Sweetie Belle,
“We made a deal.” Rarity shakily rose to her hooves, Sweetie still clinging to her neck.
“What deal? What on earth are you talking about?” For an instant, the room changed, and they stood, impossibly, in the crevice, watching Sweetie talk with the stranger over her own body. In the image, Sweetie sat down, tears falling from her face, and dejectedly nodded. Green-black magic swirled around the wound, pulling the blood back in, before tendrils reached out, snaring her soul, and reinstating it.
As suddenly as it had begun, the image was gone, and they stood in the parlor once more. Even the crickets were silent. The wind stirred once again,
“A life for a life. That was the deal. The deal of the dead.”
“Well that’s a load a hooey! Now see here, ain’t no way I’m letting you take mah friend, so ya best get on.” A general chorus of “yeah” followed, save for one noticeably absent voice.
“Twilight?” Pinkie asked, “You’re about a shade away from being Rarity.” Everypony turned to see tears leaking from Twilight’s eyes, her face pale. She mouthed “Deal of the dead?” as she sank to her knees.
“Twi? Sugar? What’s amatter?” Twilight’s head slowly turned to Rarity, who, surprisingly, appeared more composed than before.
“What is it darling?” It took a few tries to force the words past the lump in her throat.
“It’s a lich. Sweetie traded your life for hers.” Dash’s hooves slammed onto the ground.
“Well too bad! Trade something else!” Rarity’s eyes slid closed,
“I see,” she whispered.
“What?” Pinkie shouted, flailing her hooves in the air. Twilight’s head hung low, and she spoke without emotion,
“The deal of the dead is an exchange made with a spirit or shade. It’s a pact, sealed in blood, bound by fate. It can’t be broken. To go back on it would have ramifications infinitely worse than the fate prevented by its use.” Applejack was wide-eyed,
“But, what about the princesses? Or the Elements? There has to be something!” Tears had formed in her eyes. Twilight shook her head, but said no more.
Fluttershy grabbed Rarity in a hug, weeping into her mane with Sweetie Belle. Rarity merely smiled, hugging the pegasus for a second before gently pushing her away, and setting Sweetie down. When their eyes met, she said,
“Listen to me Sweetie Belle. I love you.” Sweetie sobbed, but Rarity pushed on, “If this is the price I have to pay to keep you safe, you know I’ll do it gladly.” Her hoof came up, cupping Sweetie’s chin.
“Make me proud. I’ll always be watching over you.” Dash angrily blinked tears from her eyes while Applejack wiped her own with a foreleg. Rarity walked over to the lich, turning to face her gathered friends. Pinkie whispered,
“This can’t be happening.” Fluttershy had wrapped her forelegs around Sweetie Belle, who reached out towards Rarity, throat too exhausted to cry. Rarity had to clear her throat before she could speak.
“You’re the best friends I ever could have asked for. I…” she faltered, tears rolling down her cheeks, “I’ll always cherish our time together. I love all of you.” Rainbow’s wings snapped open, finally shaking off the spell caused by her friends’ bizarre behavior,
“No!” The space where Rarity and the lich stood swirled like water down a drain. When it cleared, they were gone. The room was silent. They stared where Rarity had just been.
Rarity.
The Element of Generosity.
Their friend.
Gone.
Akuji stood in the infinite blackness of the Nether, surveying the bizarre rarity he’d acquired. This gamble of his was turning out to be a great deal riskier than he’d imagined, and now there were more problems. His stomach flipped as he remembered the lavender unicorn, and he grit his obsidian teeth. The power of a mind flayer lay at his hooves, and she’d shrugged off his assault like a passing glance! There was some small solace to be had in trapping her in the Nether, however, and he permitted a wry grin.
It vanished the moment that cyan mare appeared in his mind. She should never have been able to come here! These ponies had no training, no herbs, no rituals or knowledge of the rules for traversing the Nether! A black hoof slammed the ground in irritation, reverberating into the darkness, so why do they keep coming? His fiery eyes turned to the inescapable conclusion.
Akuji’s hoof pressed against the barrier, feeling the slight give in it. Still too strong to break, whatever it was. It had been a long time since something so outright baffling had come to him, and for a moment he felt like his old self as he pondered the force behind the shield, and the power that was letting these others into his realm. At the edges of his awareness, something flickered, and, almost subconsciously, his will snagged the errant thought and dragged it to him.
Another scroll.
I don’t know what’s going on in Canterlot, but I hope you have a dam darn good reason for not responding to any of our letters! Rarity’s gone! She’s gone! And you don’t even care? And now I don’t know where anypony else is; the library is empty, Pinkie and Dash are nowhere to be found, and Mrs. Cake said she saw them heading to Zecora’s with Twilight on Dash’s back. Why? Why aren’t you here? Why won’t you DO anything?!
There was a break in the writing, where numerous tears had stained the parchment, then it picked up again.
I… I’m not going to let this go. Not this. If YOU won’t do anything about it, then I will. Sweetie Belle traded Rarity for herself? Maybe someone needs to go trade back.
An icy gale roared through the Nether as Akuji laughed. How perfect! He’d have his mare and eat her too! His mirth was cut short by something else in the letter though. Zecora? A distinctly Zafrican name, and that purple one had known several Phrases, though she was clearly a novice at stringing them together.
He steepled his hooves in thought. Whoever this pony was, she would be instrumental in their plans. A wicked grin spread across his skull. Looks like he had found his next target. In a swirl, reality drained into itself, and the lich was gone.
Fluttershy and Applejack walked side by side into the Everfree Forest.
“Thank you so much for coming with me Applejack. I really want to know what’s going on with my animal friends, I’m so worried about them!”
“Nothing to it sugarcube, always happy to help a friend. Besides, the way things been lately, I think the Everfree Forest might be a nice break.” Fluttershy raised an eyebrow at that, and AJ cleared her throat uncomfortably.
“You mean you ain’t noticed it? This… thing that’s got ahold of Ponyville?” Fluttershy could only shake her head.
“I’ve been so busy, I haven’t had time to go to town lately. I was actually starting to worry about running out of supplies until you showed up.” AJ chuckled, rubbing the back of her neck with a hoof.
“Well I’d noticed y’all hadn’t been around much, figured I’d stop by and make sure you weren’t in any trouble.” Her mirth drained away, slipping from her expression, “There’s something been going wrong in Ponyville ever since, Rares…” Her voice quaked and she swallowed audibly. Fluttershy nodded, gently patting her back with a wing.
“And I hate to say it, but it’s like it comes from Sweetie Belle. Everywhere that filly goes nowadays trouble seems to follow. Even more so than before.” She paused, shaking her head. “I never thought I’d say it, but I miss the days when I only had to worry about their crusadin.” Fluttershy was frowning with worry, pondering over Applejack’s words. The mare was clearly hurting for Sweetie, but she, like the rest of them, didn’t know what to do about it.
“Maybe when we find out what’s bothering the animals, it will help with whatever’s wrong in Ponyville,” she suggested, trying to inject some hope into the conversation. AJ just grunted,
“Maybe…” And their walk continued in silence.
The door to the Cutie Mark Crusaders' club house slammed open, causing Scootaloo and Applebloom to jump.
“Land’s sakes Spike! Ya scared mah bow off!” Applebloom’s admonishment fell on deaf ears, as Spike stomped over to Sweetie Belle. Scootaloo had never seen the dragon so angry before, but she stepped between him and their friend.
“Listen Spike, I don’t hurk-” A purple claw closed around her throat, and green serpentine eyes stared into her own.
“Get. Out. Of my. Way,” he growled, wisps of flame flicking between his teeth. Scootaloo was tough. She was at least as tough as any pony her age. But she would’ve been lying if she’d said she wasn’t scared silly right then. Spike may have been a baby dragon, but the fact of the matter was, he was still older than her, and he was a dragon .
Without waiting for her response, he tossed Scootaloo aside, where Applebloom caught her. Sweetie looked up when he got to her, and he stared straight into her eyes. For a moment, his resolve wavered, looking into those pools of hurt and misery, but he remembered Rarity, and steeled himself.
“How did you do it?” Sweetie just stared at him.
“How did you do it? How’d you get the lich to come?” Her eyes dropped to the floor.
“I died,” she whispered. For a moment, none of them moved, then, slowly, Spike’s claws closed around her throat.
“SPIKE!” Applebloom shouted, and dove for him, but he turned and screamed a gout of flame, catching the floor between them on fire. Through the fire and flames Spike glared at her, never taking his claws from Sweetie Belle’s throat,
“She took everything from me! Rarity! Twilight! Ponyville!” Angry tears leaked from his eyes as he tightened his grip, the edges of his claws causing beads of blood to form on white fur. He turned and stared into Sweetie’s eyes, and whispered,
“Maybe he’ll trade back.” Scootaloo slammed into him, his grip breaking as he was flung across the room, sliding and crashing into the wall. She turned to face him, ready for more, but the dragon lay there, sobbing. After a moment, he sat up,
“I hate you!” he screamed, his voice cracking, “You ruined my life! You ruined everypony’s lives! Why couldn’t you have just died? Like you were supposed to!” Spike turned and ran from the room, ignoring Applebloom’s cries to stop. To come back and apologize to Sweetie Belle. Scootaloo stared at the door for a moment, to make sure he wasn’t coming back, then grabbed her cloak and used it to put the fire out.
“I can’t believe him!” she snarled, shaking the ashes off. “What a jerk! It’s not Sweetie’s fault-”
“Yes it is.” Scootaloo stopped and turned to face her. “It’s all my fault. I should’ve just died. I was stupid to believe the lich. If I had just-”
SMACK!
Sweetie Belle raised a hoof to her cheek, touching the stinging spot where Scootaloo had struck her. Even now, the filly’s eyes were brimming with tears. She grabbed Sweetie and pulled their faces together.
“Don’t ever say that again,” she whispered, her voice deadly calm. Sweetie was so surprised she could only nod, and only then did Scootaloo release her. The three friends took up their positions once more, and resumed wasting the day away. Sweetie stared at the floor, but now there was a spark in her eye.
Celestia looked up from her dinner, eyebrows bunching together.
“Luna, what’s the matter?” The younger alicorn startled, head snapping up to face her sister.
“Oh, my apologies, I was… thinking.” Celestia raised an eyebrow, waiting. Luna cleared her throat, pushing the brussel sprouts on her plate around with her fork.
“About what, if I may ask?” Luna sighed, and a shiver rippled through her shoulders.
“Something is terribly wrong in Ponyville.” The chalice that had been rising to Celestia’s lips stopped, and floated back down to the table. Luna locked eyes with her as she continued,
“We’ve not heard from anypony there in some time. And…” Another shiver, this one worse than before, brought a tear to her eye. “Their dreams. They’re, so dark!” Somehow, Celestia had moved to her sister’s side, and wrapped a comforting white wing around her, letting Luna bury her muzzle in the soft down.
“I’ve not seen such things in… I can’t even remember! At first I thought it was merely some new problem Twilight and her friends were working on, and we’d hear about it shortly, but…” Her watery eyes turned up, and Celestia’s blood went cold at the fear in there.
“They’re dreaming of murder. Against a filly! But… I don’t know who. I’ve never seen such hatred.” For a long moment nothing more was said, as the two sisters considered what to do. Finally, Celestia’s head whipped around, eyes locking onto a tan mare with a clipboard cutie mark,
“Handle my appointments. Day court will need to be addressed by the council. We have pressing business to attend to that cannot wait. If anypony asks, tell them…” she faltered, unsure what to say.
“I’ll come up with something princess,” the mare said, pen dutifully jotting down her orders and other notes. With a grim nod Celestia and Luna rose, and briskly trotted from the room. Somehow, they both knew the situation was urgent.
Murder… against a child?
In her heart, she knew Luna was right to be worried, but they were together again. She didn’t have to face these obstacles alone anymore, and the thought brought some warmth back to her veins. The moment they exited the castle doors, both kicked off the ground and spread their wings. It would be a hard flight, but there wasn’t a moment to spare.
Pinkie Pie’s hooves pounded against the dirt road, Dash’s calls to her still echoing in her head. Sweat ran into her eyes, but she blinked it away and pressed on, cold dread in her heart. Finally, the boutique came into view, and her spirits lifted, only to come crashing back down. In the second story window she could see Sweetie Belle, leaning out over the sill. Below, at least thirty ponies had gathered, muttering and cursing. The violence in the air sent chills down her spine, and she felt like she might be sick.
“Jump! Get it over with demon!” somepony yelled, while another threw a rock which bounced harmlessly off the building. There was a general murmur of agreement, and the crowd moved closer to the entrance. Pinkie noticed the frontmost ponies seemed to be getting repelled by some force, their faces would waver, like they’d forgotten what they were doing there, but a shadow would pass, and they’d harden once more.
It shook her to the core, and she barreled ahead, pushing past the side of the mob and going through the door, the crowd cheering her on to “Put an end to it.” She put everything she had into getting to that room. She had to. Reality accommodated her, and she crossed the distance faster than should have been possible, bursting through the door to Sweetie’s room mere moments after she’d entered the building.
Time slowed as she watched the filly turn, standing on her hind legs on the window sill. Pinkie’s hooves hit the floor. Sweetie tilted backwards. Somehow, Pinkie was already halfway across the room. It wasn’t enough. She wouldn’t make it in time. Blue eyes narrowed to slits, teeth grit as she poured her soul into her movement, forcing her body to do the impossible as she reached out for Sweetie Belle.
Sweetie felt sorry for Pinkie Pie, as her view of the room was replaced with buildings and sky. She didn’t want any of her friends to see this, but she couldn’t deal with the pain anymore. The looks, the whispers, the cruel remarks.
Kinslayer.
They were right. All of them. She should have just died. Spike’s words echoed in her mind, and the cuts on her neck burned. Maybe she could make it right when they met again. She heard Pinkie slam against the wall, saw pink forelegs reaching for her.
She knew she was too far away, but somehow they stretched, longer than anypony’s legs had a right to be, snaring her and hauling her back up through the window. Like soft fur over iron bars, they pulled her back into the building, and against her friend.
Sweetie’s composure broke, and she bawled into pink fur.
“Shh shh sh,” Pinkie said, stroking Sweetie’s mane with a hoof. “It’s okay-”
“NO!” somepony shouted from below, and the mob grew much louder.
They surged against the building, and Pinkie could’ve sworn she heard Rarity whimper in concentration.
So fast she almost missed it, Pinkie saw a light blue shimmer in the air outside the window, and she knew they needed to move. The bloodthirsty mob bashed the door open, flooding into the boutique and pouring up the stairs, teeth and spit and bloodshot eyes. When they got into the room however, there was nopony there. Just a sheet tied to a bedpost hanging out the window. With a howl of rage, the mob reversed flow. Pinkie ran towards the Everfree Forest, Sweetie Belle clinging to her neck.
Celestia and Luna streaked towards Ponyville, wind whipping through their manes. Alicorns or no, the journey was taxing their strength, and the burn in their backs and wings grew ever harder to bear. As they passed over the perimeter of the town, a wave of dissent hit them, and Luna nearly fell from the sky. Both mares plummeted to the ground, pulling up just in time to land.
Dark energy swirled before Celestia’s eyes, green and black, living and dead. Like a festering infection it had seeped into the town, through the soil, water, and even the air. Each breath brought feelings of hate bubbling up, and her heart rate jumped from adrenaline.
“Do you feel that…” Celestia trailed off when she looked at Luna, who had sunk to the ground, eyes wide with terror. Celestia’s breath caught short.
“N-N-Nightmare?” The serpentine eye flicked to her, and the Nightmare’s mouth opened, but Luna’s voice came out.
“Get me out of here.” Celestia scooped her little sister onto her back, and in a flash they vanished, reappearing just outside the miasma of loathing. Both panting heavily, Luna slumped to the ground, resting on the cool grass. Finally, their breathing slowed, and Celestia turned her head to Luna.
“What was that? What happened back there?” Luna’s cheeks were wet with tears, and she flung herself at Celestia, wrapping her hooves around the older alicorn’s neck.
“I remembered! It was like a thousand years ago. All those feelings; the jealousy, and hate, and misery!” Her tale broke, and she simply sobbed into Celestia’s fur. Magenta eyes narrowed dangerously at the town, and a flicker of magic changed what she saw. The weave of the spell worked deep beneath Ponyville, flowing like an underground river towards the Everfree Forest. Celestia’s teeth pressed together as she thought of the draconequus presiding over it.
“Discord,” she snarled, wings rising. But she felt Luna’s head shaking against her neck.
“No. This isn’t his doing. This is too focused. Too well organized.” Luna had calmed slightly, and also turned to analyze the spell mutating Ponyville. She rose to her hooves, walking closer to the edge of the miasma, and sniffed at the air, recoiling and retching. Celestia shot to her hooves.
“What is it? What did you find?” After a few more coughs and dry heaves, Luna lifted her head.
“Necromancy.”
Dash’s breath came in ragged gasps. She’d suffered a dozen scratches and more than a few terrifyingly close calls. The Everfree was dangerous, everypony knew that, but this? Dash shivered as she ran, trying not to jostle Twilight too much. The added weight of the unconscious unicorn hadn’t been so bad until every horrible monster in the area had started trying to get a piece of her.
What should have taken less than an hour had now eaten her entire afternoon. She’d lost track of the number of times she’d been forced off course, assaulted by some new terror. And Pinkie… Dash struggled not to be angry at her. After all, she had said that she thought somepony’s life depended on her reaching Ponyville in time. Rainbow had tried to tell her that somepony’s life was already on the line, but the pink mare was streaking off into the distance.
Rainbow leaped over a snarling timberwolf, and smiled, thinking of how proud Daring Do would be if she’d been watching. Dash had to admit, her moves so far had been pretty flipping amazing. A snarl from the bush she’d just passed brought her attention back to the present. Her lungs burned, her sides hurt, sweat was stinging her eyes, but through the forest she saw her goal: Zecora’s hut!
Her relief was short-lived, however, when she saw the zebra standing outside, wreathed in a green glow and waving a bizarre staff, speaking rapidly in her native tongue. It didn’t take an expert to see the mare was terrified, and Dash soon saw why. The lich stood before her, hood back, exposing his skeletal head. He too was covered in a green aura, though his was laced with black, and pulsed with a sickly rhythm.
The lich’s head swung to face her, and his voice pounded through her head, freezing her blood in her veins.
“DIE!” Dash’s heart stopped. She tried to breathe, but nothing happened. Black spots encroached on her vision, chasing flickering lights as the ground rose up to meet her. Through her tunnel she saw Zecora pounce, slamming the end of the staff down on the lich’s head.
“Direck noctul!” A concussive blast rent the air, the staff exploding into wood and bone fragments, causing the lich to rupture like a popping balloon, vanishing from the mortal plane. With his influence gone, Dash’s heart resumed beating, and she struggled to rise to her hooves.
“A terrible enemy you must face, but come inside where it is safe!” Zecora lifted Twilight onto her own back, grabbing the Necroequicon in her teeth, and helped Dash rise. Rainbow tried to thank her, but simply couldn’t get words out. It was taking everything she had just to keep moving, and she collapsed the moment they were inside. Zecora set Twilight down on her bed, and helped Dash settle onto a seat, before frantically moving about the room, grabbing ingredients and tossing them into the pot on the fire while flipping to different pages in the book.
“When it’s done, you must drink, and be pushed right to death’s brink. If what this lich has said is true, your friends’ lives are depending on you.” Dash weakly nodded, feeling like she was almost dead anyways, but she gathered her strength and asked,
“What did he tell you?” Zecora paused, and a dark shadow crossed her face.
“He offered me power to betray your cause, and deliver you into his grasping claws. When I said I would not, he cursed my name, and tried to bind me to his lich games. I was relieved indeed upon your arrival, it is the only reason for my continued survival.”
Dash struggled to sit up as Zecora resumed her brewing,
“I have to keep him out of my head.” She, with great effort, described the way the lich’s voice would rip through her mind, rendering her helpless. “And I think he stopped my heart just now.” She placed a hoof to her chest, taking comfort in the rhythmic thumping she felt. Zecora set a second pot on and started adding ingredients to that one as well.
“Together these are a dangerous mix, but we don’t have time for a better fix. This should keep his thoughts at bay, but for how long I cannot say. Now lay back while these brew, and prepare yourself for what you must do.”
Sweetie was bleeding from countless wounds. She felt a dull thud as another stone struck her, the shapeless mob cheering. Her legs had collapsed under her, and she couldn’t get up, though at this point she no longer cared. Empty eyes stared at the grey ground beneath her hooves, vision blurring as a rock shook her skull.
Green flames flickered among the crowd, and a pony shaped shadow walked up, kneeling down before her. It stretched its hoof out, and placed a razor on the ground, before rising up and melding back into the crowd. Listlessly, Sweetie picked up the sliver of metal, remembering what Rarity had done in the future the lich had shown her. But just before it touched her leg, a blaring trumpet sounded, and brilliant white light banished the crowd.
Sweetie looked up to see Luna and Celestia lowering to the ground, and tears filled her eyes. Luna’s own were soft, concern evident in her expression. Celestia, on the other hoof, looked mortified.
“Dear child, what could have possibly caused you such distress to have a nightmare like this?” Luna gestured with a hoof at the bleak landscape, the angry mob held at bay by her force field. Sweetie shook her head, lowering her eyes to the ground, while both alicorns knelt by her sides.
“Come now my little pony,” Celestia said, using solar magic to impart literal warmth to her voice, “surely it is not as bad as you think.” Sweetie merely sniffled. After a time, she spoke,
“I… I killed my sister!” Both alicorns recoiled, but quickly schooled their expressions. “I, I was d-dying, and this l-l-lich showed up.” *Sniff.* “And he showed me-” Luna’s hoof met her lips, silencing the filly. They both knew what she’d seen.
“You made a deal with the dead, yes?” Luna asked, getting only a somber nod in response. Celestia looked away, not wanting Sweetie to see the tears in her eyes. Of all the ponies… Of course she would have gone willingly, to save her sister, her selfless sacrifice supercharging her Element. Celestia and Luna locked eyes, both unsure how to proceed.
Suddenly, Luna’s eyes narrowed, and her head snapped to the side. The crowd was dispersing, but it should have already been gone... She rose to her hooves, and Celestia followed suit. From the shadows of the mob, they saw one shape break away, fleeing the Dreamscape. Without a word the two alicorns took off, chasing down the fiend. Luna’s horn glowed for a second, pushing Sweetie’s consciousness into a dreamless slumber. It was the best she could do for the traumatized filly.
Fluttershy and Applejack had been following the animals into the Everfree for some time now, though where, exactly, they were going was as of yet uncertain. It was eerily quiet, with only the steady thud of their hooves, and the occasional groan or growl from a bear.
Thudda-thud-thudda-thud-thudda-thud!
Both mares spun around at the sound of approaching hooves, only to breathe a sigh of relief when Pinkie Pie came barreling down the path. Their worries returned, however, when they saw an unconscious Sweetie Belle on her back. Pinkie skidded to a halt in front of them, panting to catch her breath.
“What happened Pinkie? And what’s she doing with you?” As soon as the words left AJ’s mouth she winced, and again when Pinkie looked up at her, frowning.
“She tried to jump out of a window.” Something in Pinkie’s voice made Applejack shiver, or maybe it was the way her eyes seemed to pierce her soul. At least she had the good grace to look ashamed, a rose tinge on her cheeks.
“Ah’m, sorry. That was a right cruel thing to say. I shouldn’t hold her accountable for what that thing did to her.” Fluttershy patted AJ’s back with a wing.
“I understand how trying it can be, Applejack, but she is just a filly.” AJ just nodded in response.
“So what are you girls doing way out here anyways?” Pinkie asked, her voice back to normal. After clearing her throat, AJ said,
“We’re tryin ta figure out why these critters are fighting their way through the Everfree. Fluttershy says they been at it since a week after Rares, left.”
“Ooooh neato! I wonder if they know where the lich’s hideout is!” AJ and Fluttershy shared a glance, before the farmpony asked,
“Why would they know that?”
“Because Rarity is alive and she was using her magic to protect the boutique and she’s probably-” An orange hoof stopped her tirade. In a quivering voice, AJ asked,
“What was that first thing you said?”
“Rmphly mlff! Bleh. Rarity’s alive! Dashie saw her in a dream but then it wasn’t a dream and the lich pulled her back into the not-dream so Twilight tried to get her out but then she passed out so Dash and I were taking her to Zecora’s when I got a combination on my Pinkie Sense that I’d neeeeeever had before but I just knew I needed to head back to Ponyville right away!” She took a deep breath before continuing,
“That’s when I saved Sweetie Belle and we escaped the angry mob and ran back in here but I got a little lost and ended up following your hoofprints and then we met up and I told you that Rarity’s alive and Dash is going to try to help Twilight fight the lich!” For several long seconds everypony just stood there; AJ and Fluttershy trying to wrap their minds around what had just been said, while Pinkie was trying to count all the different butterflies floating around the trees.
Finally Applejack managed to piece the story together, and stomped her hoof.
“Then we need to go to Zecora’s and see if we can help!” Before anypony could move though, a black bear blundered through the bush beside them and growled something to Fluttershy. Pinkie looked back and forth between the two before asking,
“Well? What’d he say?”
“Oh, well, he says there’s something really bad in the cave just over here, and that we should go see what it is.”
“Now listen here, we ain’t got time-” AJ didn’t get to finish her statement since Pinkie had already bounced off through the bush into the clearing around the pond. When her two friends caught up, Pinkie pointed to the cave just off the shore. There was no denying the icy chill that rolled out of the black opening, and everypony there flashed back to the night Rarity was taken.
Without another word, the three ponies and their sleeping friend moved towards the gaping maw.
Rainbow Dash was speeding across the Nether, desperately hoping to see some sign of Rarity. Shades and other horrible things danced at the edges of her vision, but everything there seemed to pay her no mind. Her heart was pounding, and sweat beaded on her brow. I don’t have time for this!
Finally, she saw something. Something blue, and she rocketed towards it with renewed vigor. She felt the gale of icy winds before she saw the lich, but heard no sound. With a grin of determination, she continued towards her friend. I’m comin for ya Rares!
*THWACK!*
Rainbow fell to the ground, vision blurring from whatever had just crushed her nose. She smelled iron, and huffed out droplets of blood, eyes darting around to find her adversary. On instinct she turned to her left and bucked, catching the lich in the chest. Her moment of joy was cut short when she felt cold hooves clasp her legs. Flexing her wings to escape his grip, she flapped as hard as she could.
Dash had been hit by lightning before. Not the little sparks from an errant storm cloud, or a prank from another pegasus, but real lightning. The kind that jumps from a cloud 50,000 hoofspans in the air all the way to the ground. What went through her now was worse than anything she’d felt before. She couldn’t even scream, though she tried, as the current ripped through her. This was it. She was so close, and now-
The pain abruptly stopped, and she dimly felt herself hit the ground.
“Get up Rainbow Dash! You must get to Rar-”
“Bankshvala!” There was a sound like several drums being struck in reverse, and then an explosion of force. Luna and Rainbow turned their heads to see Celestia get flung across the Nether, fading to a white speck in mere moments. From the lich’s hoof erupted a ball of black and green fire. Luna swatted the attack aside with her magic.
“You won’t-” A blizzard swept through the area, and Luna screamed. The sound froze Dash’s blood in her veins. She clapped her hooves over her ears, but the cry went on and on. She’s dying! It was the only explanation, and Rainbow Dash wasn’t about to let that happen. Ears folded tightly against her head, she charged the lich, rearing up for a forehoof strike, but kicking low with her hind leg instead.
It didn’t have much force behind it, but it got the job done. The lich’s concentration broke, and Luna fell to the ground, panting. Before it could counterattack, Dash flew up over and behind it, coming down to stomp on its back. The lich was faster, its cloak undulating and reshaping, leaving it looking right at her. She couldn’t stop her downward momentum before it grabbed her hooves.
“Oh shi-” The rest was drowned out by her attempts to scream, and the roaring pain of the electricity surging through her. After a veritable eternity, the torment stopped, and she was thrown to the side, landing next to Luna, who was quivering on the ground.
It was all over.
The lich calmly walked towards them. A single tear rolled down Dash’s cheek. Sorry Rarity.
“Phloedrudinkla.” A sound like a propeller winding down thumped through the air, and everything slowed. In a flash of fuschia, Twilight appeared, mouth a thin line and eyes narrowed. When she spoke, Dash shivered.
“Baenocoliardiruin.” She practically whispered it, but everypony heard her clearly. Glowing white fissures appeared on the lich’s cloak, and it frantically threw the thing aside. Just as it landed, it flared brighter than a star, and winked out of existence. The rotting body of a zebra stood before them, exposed bones and swollen organs, fiery eyes dancing furiously. Reality swirled in on itself, and the lich was gone.
Akuji reassembled in his body, rage pounding through his head. So close! He’d been so-
*CRACK!*
When everything stopped spinning a moment later, his head turned to face the source of the new fracture in his skull. Applejack stood not two hoofspans away, foreleg cocked for another blow, which Akuji only just managed to dodge. When her hoof hit the wall, the stone cracked.
Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy were back by the entrance, making sure the lich couldn’t flee, and watching over Sweetie Belle. It didn’t matter. In a voice so cold her friends felt it chill the air, Applejack said,
“I’m going to kill you.” Quick as lightning AJ spun, bucking the lich with everything she was worth. The force of the blow shattered his decaying body, splitting bones and crushing what organs were still intact. The stench of rotting meat filled the cave, but Applejack didn’t even hesitate. She reared again, bucking higher this time, pulverizing the thing’s skull against the stone wall. With nowhere to go, the bones exploded under the pressure, and Akuji’s hold on his body slipped away.
It took some time, but finally Pinkie managed to pull AJ away from the mess she’d turned the lich into. Every bone was shattered. Every organ was pulp. It was impossible to tell what the creature had ever been. Slowly, they made their way to the pond, and Applejack began the laborious process of washing the lich off of her. It took everything she had not to vomit, both from the smell, and the horrifying reality of what she’d done.
In her heart she knew, if that had been a living pony, she would’ve done the same thing, and she shivered with fear. Until a soft, downy wing came to rest on her back.
“You did the right thing AJ. I don’t think whoever that was would’ve wanted their body being used like that.” Applejack could only nod as she washed, trying to hold back her tears and her lunch.
Rarity looked around blearily at the ponies before her. She was so tired. All she wanted to do was sleep. Through the fog in her mind she heard muffled voices. Were they asking her something? It could wait, couldn’t it? She just… needed a little sleep.
“Rarity.”
“Rarity.”
“Rarity!” Her eyes snapped open and the barrier fell. Before her hooves gave out from under her another set reached out to hold her up. She smiled, trying to catch their words, but she could only hear the light tones, feel the tears staining her coat. Still, it felt nice.
“Come my little ponies,” Luna said, horn aglow, “it is time we left this awful place. The living have no business here.” Behind her, reality swirled, and the lich reformed. His putrescent corpse had been replaced, and now a young zebra knelt in the Nether, though he was nearly transparent. On his flank he bore a strange pattern of zigs, zags and swirls, somehow giving the impression that his stripes were draining into it. The four ponies turned to regard him, with varying degrees of scorn.
Anger thundered across Dash’s face, cheeks twitching as she snarled. Twilight looked almost serene, but there was a smoldering fire behind her eyes that belied her calm demeanor. Luna… Luna’s was the face of a murderer. Eyes like ice held the zebra, gleaming with cold hatred, though not a single muscle in her face moved. Before any of them could move or say anything, however, Rarity stepped forward, shakily moving closer to Akuji.
“Who are you?” she asked, surprising everypony present. For a time, the startled zebra just stared at her, before he finally answered.
“Akuji. It means dead and awake.” The other ponies blinked.
“Why? Why’d you do it?” Akuji sighed, shaking his head.
“She was just a foal. There’s no strength to be gained from a foal. So I offered her a deal, based on images I was able to pull from her mind before she died. I figured I could get someone with more power.”
“Power?” Akuji merely nodded. Rarity nodded in return, knelt down and hugged the fading zebra.
“What the hay?” Dash shouted.
“Thank you,” Rarity whispered, “I don’t know what I would’ve done if I’d lost her.” Having no idea what else to do, Akuji wrapped his hooves around her as well. With a soft blue glow, the zebra’s image seemed to strengthen, becoming more solid, until he became opaque. His eyes widened in shock.
“But, why?” Rarity gave him a tired smile.
“You gave me my sister back. It’s the least I could do.” She rose, and left Akuji kneeling there, thunderstruck. Twilight and Rainbow Dash looked uncertain when Rarity said she was ready to leave, but she insisted, and, finally, Luna tore her gaze away from the lich and swept the friends up in her magic, carrying them out of the Nether and back into the Dreamscape.
When Dash and Twilight came to, Pinkie, Fluttershy, Applejack and Sweetie Belle had already arrived at Zecora’s hut. There was a tearful reunion, with many elaborated tales of their adventures. But it wasn’t until the door opened, and Celestia, helping a severely weakened Rarity, walked in, that the party truly got underway.
After a long while, the friends headed out, insisting Zecora come visit them for the party in Ponyville. It promised to be one to remember.
For two days the town danced, cooked, ate, drank, laughed and played. Rarity and Sweetie Belle were the mares of the hour, and wanted for nothing during the festivities. When Spike saw Twilight he burst into tears and ran to her, hugging her fiercely, all the while claiming he’d simply gotten dust in his eyes. It seemed like everypony was trying to make up for lost time, now that the pall over the town had lifted.
Innumerable ponies offered gifts and mumbled apologies to Sweetie Belle when they thought nopony was looking, shame making their cheeks burn. Sweetie forgave them all. After all, had she not been about to do the same thing when Pinkie rescued her? She let Spike struggle for a while, trying to find the words to apologize for his behavior, before she finally giggled and pulled him into a hug, whispering that it was all okay. The blush the poor dragon sported as he waddled away caused Scootaloo and Applebloom to snicker behind their hooves for a long while.
It wasn’t until early on the second day that a somewhat shaken Luna showed up on the scene, having presumably just finished a lengthy session of night court. When asked she would simply say she couldn’t discuss it, and proceed to drink another mugful of cider. Though from time to time, if one watched closely enough, one might see her stare morosely into her glass, dark thoughts tempering her mood.
----------------------------------------------------earlier----------------------------------------------------------------
Akuji heard the hooves land behind him, and turned to face the young alicorn. He opened his mouth to ask, and was met with a blast of lunar magic. Quicksilver chains whipped up from the Nether, wrapping around his neck and choking him. Reality started to swirl, but Luna uttered a Phrase of Binding, and the transportation ceased. Akuji fell to his knees, his vision tunneling.
“FOOL!” His voice tore through her mind, shattering the barrier Zecora’s potion had made. The quicksilver chains slumped to the floor, and Akuji rose to his hooves.
“Did you believe for even one moment you’d be strong enough to defeat me?” Luna had curled into a ball, hooves uselessly clamped over her ears. “A thousand years and more I spent honing my art and growing stronger! While you sat twiddling your hooves on the moon! Did you think I'd fall for the same trick twice?” Icy wind whipped through the Nether, and Luna cried out in pain.
“Imagine the power at my command when I take you, dreamwalker. Imagine what will happen when I can slip through the veils as easily as you!” His hoof stomped on her ribs, she couldn’t even make herself move her legs to cover them, and he ground the hoof in, making her cry out again.
The black hoof retracted, and green and black fire swirled around it.
“Bid your world…” The words died on his lips. Luna lay before him, shivering in fear and pain, eyes wet with shame, shut tight, awaiting her demise. The flickering fires faded from his hoof.
“You gave me my sister back…” the voice in his head said. Something stirred within him, as he watched the others, after all that he’d done, turn their backs and leave. His hoof lowered to the floor, and the psychic assault ceased. Luna groaned in relief, muscles relaxing at last.
The silence stretched on, until Luna finally raised her head to stare at the creature. His orange eyes stared off into the Nether, the black and white stripes of his heritage marking his face.
They will hunt me. To the edges of the Abyss, if I take her. All that I've done, all the power I've gathered... it wasn't enough. What am I missing? His eyes turned to Luna.
Finally, Akuji broke the silence.
“Let it go.” Luna’s eyes widened, and she watched him turn to walk away.
“Let it go.”
It took a long time for Ponyville to return to any sense of normalcy. After the disappearance of Rarity, Dash had turned on the others in the boutique, demanding an explanation. How could they let her just walk away like that? Applejack attempted to calm her, assuring Rainbow that their friends must have a good explanation, though her voice betrayed her lack of confidence.
It wasn’t until Twilight had finished a lengthy exposition on the Zafrican shaponies and their Netherstriders, which took even longer due to her frequent dissolution into a sobbing mess, that the fight finally left her. Dash sat, ears down, wings shivering at her sides, unable to decide if she should be breaking something or crying. In the end, she opted for both.
They packed most of Sweetie’s things, AJ immediately offering to house the suddenly orphaned filly. For her part, Sweetie Belle moved like a zombie, following whatever orders she was given without comment. Each time one of the friends tried to speak to her, the words died on their tongue. What does one say? Worse still, in their hearts, burned a flame of anger at the betrayal.
Kinslayer.
Nopony said it, yet it was said, once word got out about what had happened. Sweetie suffered a score of new bruises and maladies, though she and her friends never went crusading anymore. It only stopped once Scootaloo and Applebloom refused to let her go anywhere without one of them present. Sweetie never said who did it, she rarely spoke at all, and her presence cast a pall over any room she entered.
The silver lining was that Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon didn’t bother the trio anymore. Not after Sweetie had locked eyes with Tiara and said, in a voice like ice and gravel,
“You have no idea. No idea what it means to suffer.”
Now whenever she saw Sweetie Belle, she shivered. It’s like she’s dead. Dead and walking around and she just doesn’t know it.
Twilight researched furiously through everything related to Zafrica she could get her hooves on. Her anger was also directed at the princesses, who proved to be bafflingly unhelpful. Twilight’s requests for information, for aid, for any help at all, went unanswered. It took time, but eventually she found out why,
“Once the deal of the dead has been completed, the fates of the two beings will be forever exchanged. The Weave will reorganize, the living will become dead, and the dead will remain living.”
Her mind stopped, refusing to acknowledge what she’d just read. Violet eyes scanned the passage again. Then angrily read the rest of the page. Then the chapter. Then the book. When she closed the tome, it was jerked into the air in her purple aura, ready to be hurled across the room. For a second, it stayed there, until she lowered it gently to the table. It wasn’t the book’s fault.
Twilight’s vision blurred with tears, staring at the table without seeing it. The spell rewrote the Weave. The very fabric that held the universe together. Her head drooped, and her tears stained the floor.
“Twilight?” Her eyes snapped up to the dragon, whose worried expression pained her, “Don’t worry Twilight, you’ll find something!” Silence. She wanted to console him, to agree, but her body wouldn’t obey. Her mouth opened to speak, but nothing came out, and she simply closed it. Somehow, in that silence, she’d told him everything, and the tray he’d been holding clattered to the floor. The mugs thumped off the ground, spilling tea on the hardwood and soaking the daisy sandwich.
“No,” he said. Before she could move, he was gone, back through the kitchen and out the back door. She looked at the space he’d just stood and whispered,
“I’m sorry Spike.” Twilight curled up on the sofa, and let loose the emotions she’d been holding in.
Fluttershy sweat as she wrapped the gash on the bear’s arm.
“You really ought to be more careful Barry!” she admonished, “This is the third time you’ve come to see me this week!” The bear looked into her eyes, then at the bandaged arm. After he flexed it a few times to make sure the wrappings held, he wandered off, back towards the forest. He hadn’t even thanked her…
Before she could ruminate on his odd behavior, a chittering squirrel ran up to her.
“What? Oh no! Lead the way!” As she flew off after the critter, her eyes worriedly scanned the numerous others she’d been helping. I don’t understand… The animals had been behaving this way for the past week. They’d make their way into the Everfree Forest, fight the creatures in there, then return to her for treatment. Once she’d seen to them, they’d march right back in.
She’d wanted to ask for help, but her friends were all so busy, after… Tears welled in her eyes, but she blinked them away. No time for that! These animals need me.
Pinkie stood across the street from the Carousel Boutique, staring at the immaculate building. Even now, two weeks after Rarity… nopony had entered. Nopony even went near the place, and it seemed as though the elements themselves shied away. No dirt or grime, no stains or dust, like the moment they’d shut the door behind them, time had stopped for the little shop.
“Ain’t natural, is it?” AJ asked, walking up beside her pink friend, who could only nod in response. Applejack blew a breath in exasperation. Living with the zombie-like Sweetie Belle was starting to take its toll on the farmer, and, though she knew in her heart that Rarity would’ve demanded Sweetie make the deal had she been there, part of her still seethed. Pinkie pulled her into a hug.
“Don’t blame her AJ. Who knows what that thing showed her.” Tears formed in Applejack’s eyes, and she grit her teeth.
“Ya don’t sell your sister! Nopony gets ta-” she choked back a sob, “decide who lives or dies.” Pinkie just held her, knowing that arguing would be pointless. She knew as well what Rarity would have said, and indeed did say. It didn’t make it any less painful to hear. After a few moments AJ extricated herself from the embrace.
“Well, I better head inta town. I’ll see ya around Pinkie.” Pinkie nodded in response, watching her friend walk away, and sighed. Some Element of Laughter I am now, she thought miserably. There was a sickness in the town. Something sinister had seeped into the hearts and minds of the ponies of Ponyville, something that had caused adults to act cruelly towards a child. Pinkie was generally a relaxed pony, all things considered, but the bruises she’d seen on Sweetie Belle… even now it got her blood boiling.
With a shake of her head, she dispelled the dark thoughts, and frowned at the pristine structure. Maybe I should visit Twilight later. Her friend had been cooped up in that library for so long, she was bound to need some cheering up. Pinkie forced her mouth into a smile, something she was having to do more and more often, and trotted back to Sugarcube Corner to finish her shift.
Sweat ran down Dash’s face as her wings beat frantically. Rarity was just ahead, walking beside that… lich. The word sounded foul in her head, and she poured more power into her wings, desperately trying to reach her friend, but no matter how hard she tried, they drifted farther away, until they vanished into the blackness. Defeated, Rainbow slumped to the ground, tears rolling freely down her cheeks.
“Stupid dream!” she shouted, slamming a hoof against the ground. She hated this dream. The same one she’d been having every night since... Her hoof struck again. There was no escape, she didn’t even want to wake up, because it would just mean being back in her cloud home above Ponyville, a town she barely even recognized anymore. It was insane, how much the place had changed in Rarity’s absence. She grit her teeth thinking of Sweetie Belle.
On one hoof, she was furious with the sleazy, no good mother-buckers who’d dared to torment the poor filly. And yet, a dark corner of her mind silently applauded them, for doing what she could not. She shivered at the thought, ashamed, but it didn’t leave her. Frustrated, she leaned her head back,
“AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!” She screamed with all her might, until she ran out of breath in a hoarse rasp.
Head hanging in defeat, she stared at her shadow, waiting to wake up. Dash’s eyes narrowed. Shadow? She lifted her hoof, and the slightly darker shade mimicked the movement. Something was wrong. Slowly, her head turned, until it couldn’t go any farther. She couldn’t breathe.
“Rarity?” she whispered. Suspended in a cylinder of blue light, was Rarity, looking no different than the day she vanished. Unable to believe it, Dash rubbed her eyes, and looked again, but she was still there. The dull ache in her eyes faded, and suddenly her heart was pounding. Stance wide, wings out, her head snapped from side to side, knowing there was something dangerous here. She needed to get Rarity, now!
With a mighty push she… didn’t move. An icy gale whipped through her, the chill biting to her bones.
“How did you get here?” it demanded. Dash shook with the cold, struggling to move, but her limbs refused to obey. Another cold wind struck, less intense, yet somehow seeping in deeper, filling her gut with ice.
“Then I will pull the answer from your corpse.” Even without the chill, Rainbow’s blood would’ve frozen at how calmly it spoke of murdering her. Her limbs shivered with effort, but she couldn’t budge. It was then that the lich appeared, its emerald flames regarding her steadily, and raised a black hoof. Terrible black-green magic gathered, and fresh tears leaked from Dash’s eyes.
She had to get out of here. Rarity was alive! They just needed to find her! But nopony was going to do that if she couldn’t get her bucking, legs, to, MOVE! The hoof descended, but the magical power remained swirling around it. The flames flared out, extending almost beyond the edge of the hood. Both heads turned towards Rarity.
Cold blue eyes looked straight into ruby ones, and her mouth moved. Go! The shockwave that ensued was like nothing Rainbow Dash had ever experienced. She flew away from the scene so quickly that in mere moments the blue glow had faded from view. She kept rocketing backwards, until the blackness itself flew away from her, like a sheet in the wind, and she was suspended in an infinite white light.
Her eyes darted around, but all she could see was white, until she jerked her head back and out of the cloud pillow of her bed. She was tangled in her sheets, and soaked with sweat, and it took some effort to finally disengage herself. Panting, she walked to the sink and filled her glass with water. Rainbow lifted her head, and screamed, dropping the glass. In the mirror, the skull of a pony stared back at her, with eyes of green flame and a mouth of obsidian teeth.
In time with her scream, the thing’s mouth opened wide, and a horrible hum emanated from the glass, bringing her to her knees, her forehooves pressed tightly against her head. The hum grew deeper, and her head pounded in response, until her fumbling hoof found the stone soap holder, and hurled it into the mirror with all her might. Never in her life had the sound of breaking glass seemed so beautiful.
For long minutes she knelt there, panting, waiting for the pain in her head to subside. When it did, she took off. The others needed to know about this, and they needed to know now.
“Twilight!”
Ordinarily the sound of two ponies shouting her name would have gotten her immediate attention. Today, however, had been far from ordinary, and she blearily lifted her head, turning to face the source of the commotion. Pinkie Pie stood in the doorway, Rainbow Dash hovered above her, having come in through the balcony. Twilight sniffled,
“What do you want?”
Pinkie opened her mouth, but Dash was faster.
“I know Rarity’s alive!” Whatever the other ponies had expected to hear, this definitely hadn’t been it. Twilight fell off the couch in a tangle of limbs, Pinkie just stared, slack-jawed, until her hoof came up and closed her mouth. Twilight finally got her hooves under her,
“What did you say?”
“I know Rarity’s alive!” Twilight glanced at the other mare, then back to Rainbow,
“How?”
“I had a dream, okay? I was chasing her and that… thing.”
“The lich?” Twilight asked. Rainbow shivered.
“Yeah that! But I couldn’t catch up, they kept getting farther away until I couldn’t see them anymore.” Twilight frowned, eyebrows scrunching together, and she opened her mouth to speak, but Dash plowed ahead.
“So I landed and waited to wake up, cause I knew it was a dream. That’s when something freaky happened. Everything was black, but I had a shadow, and when I turned around, Rarity was there!” Twilight spoke up,
“But that doesn’t prove anything. You-”
“I’m not done yet!” Dash glared at her, and Twilight snapped her mouth closed, huffing. When Rainbow was sure there wouldn’t be any more interruptions, she continued,
“She was in some kind of blue force field, but when I tried to get to her, I couldn’t move.” Twilight’s ears perked up. Once the dreamer knows they’re dreaming, they should have full control. If Dash couldn’t move… The pegasus grinned at her reaction.
“Exactly! And then that,” she shivered, remembering the way it had spoken to her, “lich showed up. It wanted to know how I got there, but I had no idea.
“So it said it would,” she swallowed nervously, “take the answers from my corpse.” Pinkie shivered. Dash’s hooves moved, mimicking the lich’s.
“It gathered some kind of black and green energy on its hoof, but when it tried to blast me, Rarity stopped it! I looked up at her and she told me to ‘Go!’, and I got flung out of there, until the black vanished and I woke up.” Twilight’s mouth was open, and her hoof had unconsciously come to rest on the copy of the Necroequicon she’d gotten from Zecora. What Dash had just described… it couldn’t be! Her eyes fell to the thick tome.
“It gets weirder. After I woke up, I went to the sink to get a glass of water, but, when I looked in the mirror, I s-saw it, its…” Rainbow’s face had gone pale, and her pupils had shrunk to pinpricks. Twilight took a worried step forward,
“Dash?” Rainbow’s gaze darted to her, and she whispered,
“...face.” Her eyes rolled back in her head and she collapsed onto the couch, convulsing. Twilight jumped on her, attempting to restrain her flailing limbs, and getting a bloody nose for her efforts.
“Hold her thnill! I need to uthe a thpell!” Pinkie broke out of her stupor and leaped on her friend, finally managing to pin her legs. Rainbow Dash screamed, the shrill shriek freezing their blood in their veins. Twilight’s horn glowed, and she touched it to her forehead. Abruptly everything went still, and Twilight found she was no longer standing in the library.
Her eyes darted around, and she turned about, looking for some clue-
“Mistake!” Icy wind roared through her, freezing her to the spot. Before her eyes the lich took shape, twin emerald flames twisting beneath its hood. She felt the telltale pressure on her horn of a psychic assault, and steeled herself on instinct. As suddenly as it began, the pressure eased, until it was barely noticeable.
What was noticeable was the lich’s anger, its fiery eyes dancing wildly. Emboldened by her success, and snarling at it for all the pain it had caused, Twilight took a step forward, her mind bringing everything she’d read in the Necroequicon to the fore.
“Driglar kor, ul zyresh pan veil!” The lich screamed in pain, backing away. Twilight pressed forward, each step landing more solidly than the one before it, more Phrases taking shape in her mind.
“Ardol fier!” Liquid flames danced across the thing’s cloak. Twilight’s tongue struggled against her, the bizarre language coming out broken and stuttering,
“Ziarkahn shel dora!” The flames became infused with lightning, and a web of shocking fire burned across the lich, which howled in furious agony. Twilight’s hoof slammed against the ground, the sound thundering across the Nether, and she roared, pouring her hate, and sorrow, and rage into each syllable.
“Eigel-lighnel! Fio tie baenocen!” Brilliant white light erupted from the black, a column of iridescent fury burning the lich to ash before her eyes. Huffing with exertion, but grinning elatedly, Twilight turned around to…
An icy chill went through her, and she heard the lich’s laughter. Spinning around, she prepared for battle, but there was nothing there. All evidence of their fight had vanished. Eyes darting around once more, she turned and made her way back… Twilight gasped.
There was nothing there. In all directions, only blackness. In her mind’s eye, she saw the fires dancing harmlessly on the lich’s cloak. The lightning merely coating it before bleeding off into the Nether. She saw her own hooves, becoming more solid with each step, with each Phrase she uttered. Twilight faltered, and fell to her knees. She wasn’t a shapony. She didn’t have Zafrican magic. And she was trapped in the realm of the dead. Teeth clenched and eyes squeezed shut, she wept bitter tears of despair.
Twilight lay unconscious on the couch where her friends had placed her. The moment her horn had touched Rainbow’s forehead she’d gone limp, and the pegasus had been awake. Pinkie reported that she seemed to be doing fine, but it didn’t look like she’d be waking up anytime soon.
Rainbow frantically paced the room. She’d seen the lich, had been trying to fight him in the blackness, when she’d suddenly been ripped out. She knew now that Twilight had taken her place, and, though she desperately wanted to trust in her friend, her chest prickled with cold. Somehow, she knew Twilight couldn’t win this fight alone. Her friend was trapped, and she couldn’t help but feel responsible for it. With a snarl, she turned to Pinkie Pie.
“Pinkie! Get that book.” She pointed at the Necroequicon.
“What? Why?” Rainbow just grinned.
“Twilight said that all this Nether stuff is Zafrican magic right?” Pinkie nodded. Dash hoisted Twilight onto her back. “Then we’re gonna go see somezebra who can help us.”
