The Darkest Kind of Kindness

[Three days four hours till the return of Nightmare Nebula]

Sunset Shimmer was throwing books off of shelves franticly searching for prophesies involving the return of Nightmare Nebula. That stallion named Dusk Shine was planning on doing something with him and she needed to stop him before it was too late. Sunset knew that he was part of an organization of Moon worshippers and that they were going to invoke a new age of darkness through the Nightmare.

Sunset remembered when she first found out about Dusk Shine. They were a couple back then he was rather charming and mysterious and she was a little brash and impatient, but they enjoyed each other’s company. After their fifth date Sunset walked in on one of the meetings that the followers of Artemis were having. She would have left completely unfazed if Dusk Shine hadn’t been in their midst.

The breakup wasn’t something that was going to end well and she sent him a letter about it in order to avoid being burned alive. She knew that Dusk Shine wasn’t going to let her live down her denial of his practices, and made sure to hire a few body guards that Celestia has on staff for her students. The precaution turned out be justified when Dusk Shine sent a legion of assassins. The guards, having been trained by a paranoid alicorn, quickly ended the threat.

The attacks didn’t stop until Dusk Shine nearly got arrested when he refused to pay the guild for their services. He claimed that since she wasn’t dead that he didn’t have to pay for an assassination. He lost that argument and had to pay over one thousand bits for the amount of assassins that he had hired over the years. Unfortunately he figured out Sunset’s credit card number and used it to buy a large number items that totaled to the amount he spent on the assassins.

Sunset made sure to cancel of her credit cards after that and only kept her bits and other valuables in a special satchel. It wasn’t hard to find but it cancels out spells used on it or in it and it keeps anypony other than her from opening it and taking things out. She cleared her mind and continued looking until she found the correct book and threw it open.

“Okay let’s see here Artemis betrays Celestia… Clestia retaliates… Summer Sun Celebration… Elements of harmony, only five are known the fifth was hidden because Clestia is a douchbag and Artemis rules. Wait what!” Sunset looked back over the book and found that Sompony had scribbled in that last part with an ink pen.

“Uhg. Just great! My ex-coltfriend is going to end the world and I happen to get the one book on the Nightmare Nebula prophecy that has been vandalized! If I find out who did this I will hunt them down and rip their intestines out through their eye sockets!” Sunset looked around sheepishly when her guards gave her an uneasy look.

“Right. Sorry. I’ve been trying to get that under control but my therapist vanished recently. Now back to business!”

After another few minutes of scanning the text Sunset realized that Ponyville would be the most likely place for Artemis to show up at. Celestia was going to be there and there was no way an alicorn like Artemis was going to let Celestia live very long after giving a live performance on the day he returns from exile.

Sunset Shimer packed up her bags and looked out at the rising moon, the only proof the Celestia was still alive, and sighed. Dusk Shine was going to be a pain to try and outwit in the upcoming nightmare that was going to be the Summer Sun celebration. She almost wished that she could avoid doing anything and just let Dusk Shine do whatever he wanted, but that wasn’t going to end well when eternal night set in.

She was going to need special gear in order to even think about taking on the moon worshippers and her funds weren’t high enough to think about that. Changelings were an option if you knew the right ponies and an earth pony in Ponyville named Pinkie could hire them for you, but they needed payment as well. Sunset Shimmer hoped that the changelings would be reasonable enough to afford.

She searched the library for five minutes looking for a phone book and then proceeded to spend another thirty minutes looking up Pinkie’s number. The mare was surprisingly hard to find, even when she works for two different stores. What surprised Sunset the most wasn’t that she worked a lot of different jobs, but that one of her numbers was 1-800-PARTY, which gave her an idea of who she was dealing with.

(_o_==============================================_o_)

[In Sugar Cube Corner]

Pinkamena was relaxing on her bed waiting for the latest victim that she had called over. Pinkie was getting harder to control, but that didn’t bother the homicidal pony. What bothered her was that her counterpart hated pointless murder, which caused Pinkamena to do a lot of digging in order to find criminals instead.

On the wall was a calendar with the date that she had to return to the galactic resistance highlighted.  Pinkie was already freaking out and planning to save the consciousness of a pony named Snow Drop for placing in a robotic version of the pony. Pinkamena liked the technology, but like everything else she finds ways to turn them into something horrifying.

“Now all I have to wait for is the doorbell and I will have a new pony to add to my collection.” The mare said while stroking a knife.

Suddenly her cell phone rang and Pinkamena was shoved into the back of her mind while Pinkie answered the phone.

“Hello! This is Pinkie Pie proud owner of Pinkie’s party supplies where every day is a party! How may I help you!?” The pink mare prattled off.

“Oh yes Mrs. Pie. I was wondering if you could hire a few changelings for me. There is an important bit of business that is happening in Ponyville and I would need a few in order to keep things going smoothly.”

“How hard was it for you to act professionally like that Sunset?”

“How did you…!?”

“I have a smart phone!” The pink mare said in a singsong voice.

“Uhh! Fine! Just lend me some changelings I need them to stop somepony from doing something bad.”

“Sure thing! I have several packages you can order! There is the two-hundred changeling pack for four-thousand bits an hour, and there…”

“Could you tell me what your cheapest unit is?!”

“Oh! Of course! That would be a single changeling for twenty bits an hour or the next one up which is five changelings for one-hundred bits an hour.”

“Uh! I’ll take the single changeling when I get there!”

“Oki doki loki! Thanks for shopping at pinkie’s bye!”

After the mare hung up the phone Pinkamena came back to the forefront and started heading down to the front register. Her victim should be here any minute, and Pinkamena was going to love ruining the last few minutes of her life. The bell above the door jingled when the mare that was going to die entered the establishment.

She was rather normal for a mare, light blue body and a white and dark blue striped mane. She bore a cutie-mark that was an hourglass, which Pinkamena found odd for a pony that was known for being the local dentist. Her name was Minuette, but most ponies called her Colgate. Pinkie started squirming in the recesses of Pinkamena’s mind at the sight of her.

The young mare also happened to be a part of the galactic resistance against the aliens and specialized in keeping their time manipulation devices running. Pinkie had begged for the young mare’s life, but Pinkamena ignored the plea. Ignoring the rule of not killing the co-workers didn’t matter to an alternate personality.

Pinkamena handed her a cupcake which the mare eagerly accepted before passing out on the floor. Pinkamena then proceeded to drag the body into the sound proof, and surprisingly smell proof, secret compartment of the basement. The room was made out of several layers of compressed steal and lead and the enchantments placed on it kept noise from leaking out. Pinkie kept it as a fallout bunker just in case the aliens decided to show up out of nowhere, but Pinkamena used as a slaughter house instead.

The mare was strapped to a table that was covered in several layers of blood and a gag was placed in her mouth. When Colgate finally started to come to the room was completely silent. There was nothing but darkness in all directions and the only thing that she could make out was pony shaped silhouettes along the walls. She tried to move but found that she was bound and gagged.

The mare started to cry at the thought of what might be happening. After another half an hour the lights slowly began to brighten in the room revealing that the pony shaped objects where actually life sized dolls with black buttons for eyes. The light stopped when it reached a brightness that allowed her to make out what the cutie-mark on each doll was.

Each doll was surprisingly realistic with what appeared to be actual fur and actual manes and tails. The cutie-marks were excellently designed and looked creepily realistic. They were even faded like real ones when the magic of a pony slowly leaks out of their body after death. Colgate just lay there staring at her horrific surroundings in the low light. The dolls were too realistic and they appeared to be staring right into Colgate’s soul.

Colgate was starving by the time Pinkamena showed up and her mind started to race again when the pony appeared.

“Oh! Do you recognize me? Because I recognize you. Now let’s get started shall we? I wouldn’t want to keep our audience waiting.” The mare said while gesturing to the dolls.

Colgate tried to scream something through her gag but all that came out was a series of muffled nonsense.

“Oh what’ that? You want me to remove your gag? Why didn’t you just say so?!” The mare said before removing the device.

“Pinkie! What are you doing?!”

“Oh I’m not Pinkie I’m Pinkamena. Trust me I’m much worse.” The mare said while laughing.

“Why am I here?” The blue mare cried.

“Now that is an interesting question! Why is anypony here really? But if you want to know about why I’m going to kill you it’s because I feel like it.”

“But… but what about the aliens!”

“Don’t worry even though I’m a psychotic alternate personality of Pinkie it doesn’t mean that I’m an idiot. That small device over there will preserve your mind and soul for placement in a robot, while I get to mercilessly rip you to pieces after carefully skinning you alive.”

Colgate didn’t have anything to say to the pink menace she was too busy calculating the probability of ripping the alternate personality out of Pinkie and containing it. Unfortunately Pinkie would need to die and having two robo-Pinkies with alternate personalities running around wasn’t ideal. Colgate was brought out of her thoughts when a blade sliced in to her neck making sure to get just below the skin.

Pinkamena carefully sliced into Colgate around the areas her limbs connected to her body and anywhere a normal seem would go. After all of the cuts were made pinkie grabbed a special skinning knife and pulled all of Colgate’s skin off. The once blue mare screamed in agony at the sensations assaulting her. Rolling pain echoed throughout her body as if it were some sort of tormented cave.

The empty skins were placed on special stands made for each piece and then a water proof sheet was thrown over them. Now that the skinning was done however Pinkamena decided that the bloody part of this was now under way. The mare left leaving Colgate to slowly bleed from having been skinned alive.

When the mare came back she was pushing a cart with an assortment of needles and other sharp objects. Colgate whimpered at the sight, but did nothing else in case she angered the pink one. Pinkamena looked at Colgate and smiled devilishly before pulling out a photo book. The book was placed in front of the unicorn who could only expect it to be filled with the most disturbing scenes she would probably see.

True to Colgates assumptions the book was filled with pictures of the mare’s murder victims. The book was placed in a magic field generator that flipped the pages while holding it in front of Colgate. Colgate would have ignored the book if the field generator wasn’t forcing her to look at the book.

“Do you enjoy my work? I find that it helps distract my victims when I start cutting in to them, but I’ve still got adrenaline shots ready just in case you have a week constitution.” The pink menace said.

“Well don’t I feel lucky?” Colgate said sarcastically.

“Trust me I’ve got a big shocker in store for you.” Pinkamena said while pointing at a car battery.

Colgate didn’t have any time to respond before her captor shoved a cheese grater up her anus. This brought tears to Colgate’s eyes, and she screamed while the pink menace continued to shred her insides with the appliance. After a fair amount of brutal torture the mare uncorked a bottle of wine and poured its contents into the bleeding opening.

Pinkamena smiled when the alcohol had the desired affect which caused Colgate to squirm while tears freely flowed down her face. Pinkamena wasn’t done by a longshot though and she pulled out a device that had a small circular saw at the end. Pinkamena proceeded to shove the device up Colgate’s more sensitive entrance causing blood to splatter everywhere while an ear piercing shriek split open Pinkamena’s eardrums. Colgate passed out after two minutes of this torcher prompting her captor to shoot adrenaline into her system which immediately jolted the mare awake.

“Please don’t fall asleep until I’m done. I just hate it when my victims ignore me. Look at the bright side though, at least you didn’t get changed to a hermaphrodite. I would have a lot more to do if that were the case.”

Colgate didn’t have time to answer before her vaginal torture was started up again. Once the pink mare felt that she was done there was almost nothing left of Colgate’s inner walls that wasn’t shredded to slivers. Pinkie poured the alcohol down that passage before shoving the wine bottle inside and smashing it by kicking Colgate hard in the plot. Tears streamed down the mare’s face again signaling Pinkamena to move on to the next part of her torture.

Colgate was nearly blacking out from the burning pain in her marehood right now and the sensations were only becoming worse as time drew on. She could feel the shards inside of her sending icy needles of pain through her body while the alcohol set her entire pussy ablaze. Her anus felt almost as destroyed as her bleeding vagina, but the pain was just as real.

Pinkamena continued by rubbing salt into all of Colgate’s exposed flesh before lowering each limb into a tank of boiling peanut oil. Colgate screamed in pain as her nerves were fried and her flesh was burned to a crisp. The pink mare sniffed the air at the scent that was being produced and drooled while the scent of boiled unicorn flesh reached her.

Colgate looked at her captor who started to slice into her soft tummy revealing all of her internal organs. The pink mare proceeded to rip out all of her internal organs save for the heart and lungs while cauterizing the wounds. The organs were thrown into the oil as well leaving almost nothing left for the insane mare to do.

“So how far are you along in my little book?”

“Why would you care?”

“Oh no reason. Do you remember the day your sister died and I gave you a full sized stuffed doll of her so you could remember her?”

“Yes what of it?”

“That doll is what’s left of her.”

The revelation of the doll’s origin seeped into Colgate’s brain and proceeded to cause her to mentally shut down. Anger, rage, maybe even a little bit of blood lust were all present within the mare. She began to shake violently before her captor while tears began to flow down her still working tear ducts. The mare then let out an unearthly wail before gaining some amount of sensibility.

“No. Nooooooooo!!!!!!!!!” Colgate screamed. “You killed my sister and then you gave her stuffed skin to me as a doll to remember her by! You sick freak!! I don’t care if you are an alternate personality or not, your days are numbered!!” The pony screamed in-between sobs.

“Awwww! I was hoping for a better reaction to the reveal that I gave you the skin of your dead sister as gift! Ugh! She was just as dense as you were anyways. Now time to end this, slowly.” The mare said while repositioning Colgate and lowering her whole body into the boiling oil.

Colgate screamed nonstop while her bleeding insides were fried by the oil. She screamed so long and hard that she ripped her throat open and only blood was coming out of her mouth. Her lungs shriveled and her heart stopped beating as soon as her head went under the surface of the liquid.

Pinkamena laughed at the demise of the mare while Pinkie just sat in the corner of her mind and cried. Pinkamena wen t back upstairs while the machine did its work on making a new Colgate and started humming a tune while making a new batch of sweets. Pinkie’s incessant crying in the back of the mare’s mind successfully ruined her good mood though.

“Alright Pinkie what’s up? You didn’t cry so much the other times.”

“Oh it’s nothing. I was just hoping that she wouldn’t have had such a horrible death. Although I am happy about you finally being dealt with.”

“Pinkie being boiled alive may be pretty bad but Colgate still gets to live, technically. She can still do everything and maybe she will one day be considered a living being again when computers are finally considered alive. Also what do you mean I’m going to be dealt with?”

“Oh nothing that will probably happen in the next chapter, but I was hoping the death of Colgate would have been more shocking with the doll thing.”

“Hey I did my best. It’s not my fault that she didn’t react the way we expected.”

Suddenly clanging hoofsteps could be heard coming up the stairs.

“Oh! Pinkamena! I’ve got a surprise for you!!” Colgate sang up the stairs.

“Oh S#$@. I completely forgot about that! I’m am so F#@$%#.” Pinkamena cursed.

“Yes. Yes we are!” Pinkie sang.

(_o_==============================================_o_)

[2 Days three hours until the Arrival of Nightmare Nebula]

Sunset was busy packing up everything that she would need in order to go to Ponyville. She packed all of her cloaks, her bed stuff, her tooth brush, and everything else that she might need on her trip to Ponyville. She was getting ready to arrange all of her things at the front door when a knocking came from the other side.

On the other side of the door was a rather young stallion wearing a mail uniform. Sunset knew him as the local paper colt, but some ponies knew him as the idgit that can’t deliver the mail to the right house. The colt was busy looking through his bags and trying to fish out Sunset’s mail.

“Don’t worry Miss Heartstrings I have your new Lyre in here somewhere.”

“I’m Sunset Shimmer, not Lyra Heartstrings.” Sunset said to the poor stallion.

“Oh! Of course I’m so sorry! Are you by chance related to Lyra?”

“No. At least not that I know of yet.”

“Well we are all related if you look deep enough into the past. Did you know that Dusk Shine just received an article about how genetic research states that everypony is at least fiftieth cousins? It was unbelievable and you will not believe what kind of reading Twilight Velvet is into.”

“Chestnut?”

“Yes madam?”

“If I ever catch you reading my mail I will rip your lungs out through your anus! Got IT!”

The stallion looked at Sunset for a few minutes clearly not getting the message, but before she could say anything else he handed her a group of letters.

“I’ll see you later Princess Celestia!” The stallion said while trotting down the path.

“I swear that pony is as dumb as a rock, or blind, or both.” The mare grumbled.

Sunset looked through the stack of hilariously mixed letters. She was going to send the letters to their correct owners before spotting the latest issue of Milky Mares with Dusk Shine’s name on it. Sunset looked at the magazine wondering what in the world it was about before she quickly closed it after looking through the first few pages. For once in her life Sunset was embarrassed because she saw another mare naked. She went about putting the letters in their correct mail boxes before proceeding to make a magical copy of the magazine to use later as blackmail.

Sunset spent the rest of her day preparing and wound up spending most of her night watching cartoons on the Tele Vision. She was busy watching the fifth episode of season five of the Animated Adventures of Daring Do when she heard a knock at her door. Sunset Shimmer ignored it and continued to watch the episode that was playing. The next set of knocks made her think the pony was trying to break her door down, which elicited a response of Sunset Shimmer going to the door and throwing it open.

On the other side of the door stood the one stallion she didn’t want to see, Dusk Shine. The stallion was well groomed and looked as fetching as ever but Sunset Shimmer wasn’t going to talk to him. She tried to close the door, but her ex moved his hoof inside to stop her.

“Uh! What do you want Dusk Shine! If this is about trying to kill me again forget it!”

“I’m sorry if I overreacted. I was out of line and I thought that maybe we could be a thing again.” The stallion said sheepishly.

“I’m not buying it. Now what do you actually want.” The mare said indignantly.

“Hmm. Making out under the holy moonlight sounds nice. Its beauty far outclasses that blinding ball of fire that we call the sun, and it doesn’t burn our flesh when exposed to its light for too long.”

“W-well… I um. No! You are not going to distract me! Artemis is evil and we need to stop him!”

“Well my little cupcake I was hoping you would at least accept my offer. Even Celestia was fighting corruption at the time of his banishment and now she refuses to even step out into her day. I am only making a long term investment, Celestia has been very sick lately and there are rumors going about the castle.” Dusk Shine said in a conspiratorial tone.

“What rumors?”

“Rumors that Celestia is slowly dying. Of course rumors are just rumors and we shouldn’t pay them any head unless they have a factual foundation, something that is very hard to get from Celestia. I wish for her to acknowledge the world and view all pony’s as equals instead of standing upon a monument of Aristocracy.”

“You’re delusional Dusk Shine. This hasn’t been an Aristocracy for over two-thousand years. Celestia has almost no political power now.”

“Ah, yes! But you do not realize that she is still an alicorn, a self-proclaimed mater race. She has that delightfully dark and evil power known as alicorn magic no? Something that Queen Umbra uses to please her husband King Tempo no doubt.”

“Didn’t you have a crush on Queen Umbra?”

“I was merely a child. The Queen was unmarried and I thought that being her king would be a pleasing experience before Tempo wooed her. I have no idea what she sees in that stallion.”

“Well maybe his personality doesn’t grate against every other ponies like a cheese grater!”

“Oh, you’re so cute when you’re feisty! Now let’s have a picnic under the moonlight shall we? I have your favorite, Cucumbers on rye.”

“Oh, no ham this time?” Sunset said sarcastically.

“Seriously, how was I supposed to know that your mother hates pork? Tis an unnatural thing if you ask me.”

“Well it looks like you still don’t catch my jokes.” Sunset said causing realization to hit Dusk Shine.

“How dare you call me a ham!?”

“Maybe it’s because you are acting so cheesy.”

“Maybe we should head to the bedroom then? You do tend to start saying a lot of puns when you get tired.”

“Only if you die first!”

“Are you pregnant? You sure do seem to be having a few mood swings?”

That comment got the door slammed in Dusk Shine’s face and the stallion just stared at the closed door.

“Well I’ll just leave her alone then I have plenty of things that need to be done in order to prepare for the return of Artemis.” He said before returning home to take care of Barb.

“How dare he!? He certainly does not know how to treat a mare!” Sunset said while sounding vaguely familiar.

Sunset spent the rest of her night in a fluster of arousal and anger. She still liked Dusk Shine, but his thing for Artemis wasn’t healthy or smart. The attack on the castle had his name written all over it, and there was still nopony that was capable of figuring out who orchestrated the whole thing. Something was up and Sunset Shimmer didn’t like it.

The sun slowly set and the moon began to rise in the distance, giving Sunset Shimmer an odd uneasiness. The mare went to bed hoping that Dusk Shine didn’t do anything funny again, although he was known to take things a little too extremely. The mare had just barely managed to fall into a state of nearly dreamless sleep when a rapid knocking was heard on her door. The mare got out of bed and started cursing Dusk Shine on her way to the front of her house.

On the other side of the door was not Dusk Shine, nor was it somepony that he had hired either. Standing outside of her door was a changeling and a gryphon, both of them were wearing armor and leather belts with odd devices attached to them. The changeling cocked its head at Sunset Shimmer and looked at the gryphon nervously. The gryphon wasn’t fazed however and pushed Sunset to the side.

“Nice place that you’ve got here. Not bad for a pony with no money that is.” The gryphon commented.

“Hey! You can’t just barge into my house!”

“Can and will. Listen, I know that your empty little pony brain can barely comprehend the Everfree so I’m going to spell things out for you. I outrank you! Now I have a meet up with a pony named Pinkie Pie scheduled at this location, and I don’t care if you have a problem with that.”

“Do you even know who I am!? I’m…”

“You are Miss Sunset Shimmer, one of Celestia’s most promising students. You have taken exactly three years of therapy before the disappearance of your therapist. You secretly wish that Dusk Shine was actually sane because you still have feelings for him and you are known for your love of the color burgundy.” The changeling said.

“H-how did you…”

“I read your file and trust me those were the best things that were written about you.”

“I have no idea what you are talking about. I have a file?”

“All ponies have a designated file and we are given files on ponies that we are going to be dealing with excessively.”

“What do you mean deal with?!” Sunset said while starting to panic.

“Ugh, listen kid! We are here to help you out and we need you to cooperate got it! If you won’t cooperate then we can’t be held responsible for anything that happens to you, even if its death.” The gryphon said.

“Death?! What’s going on?!”

“Your planet had been targeted by alien life forms hoping to enslave you entire race. Our agents are currently keeping most of them at bay but there are several that are trying to invade a currently weakened Canterlot. If this is allowed then you can forget about the nightmare and worry about how you are going to be serving your new overlords for the rest of eternity.” The changeling said in response.

“Wait aliens, as in little green ponies?”

“They are not little and they are not green. Although they do bear a striking resemblance to ponies due to hybridizing alicorn DNA into their gene structures in order to produce a more advanced lifeform. They are mostly a metallic grey with an almost reptilian skin complexion. They do not seem to have a discernable pupil due to an entirely black eyeball and their diet is unknown. They are capable of all forms of magical attack and are known to be capable of smashing through solid cement if provoked. Flight is common among their species unless they are disabled.” The changeling responded again.

“Uhm does he always talk like this?”

“Yeah get used to it. Changelings are super geniuses thanks to their hive mind helping them study. Some colonies are less intelligent than others due to learning requirements among the Queens being different though.”

“So… this is awkward. When is Pinkie getting here?”

“In about five seconds.” The gryphon said while looking at a wristwatch.

Sunset Shimmer was about to say something when a pink blur showed up and landed on the changeling.

“Oh hi Gilda! Ooh sorry Byte, my landings aren’t always the best, but I promise that I will make you feel super-duper in a minute.”

“Why is Pinkie acting so…”

“Hyper… It’s just the way Pinkie is and I wouldn’t have her any other way.” The gryphon said with a smirk.

“Okay… new question. Why are all of you in my house!?”

“Oh that’s easy silly! The aliens want to keep you from stopping Dusk Shine so they can assimilate the Nightmare’s power into their race and become mega-meanies.”

“Mega-meanies?” Sunset said in confusion.

“Don’t question her or I will rearrange your insides.” Gilda threatened.

“Yeah you’re right that was kind of stupid, but they are still meanies though.”

“How do you know, have you ever talked to them?”

“They don’t do talking, just frying your insides if you piss them off bad enough not to enslave you.” Said Gilda.

“All known communications with the enemy have been either rejected or had hostility returned as a result. We are still unsure if they have decoded our language yet and we are unfamiliar with theirs. Now we must be leaving, the enemy is approaching and the longer we wait the longer we risk Sunset’s capture by hostile forces.” Byte said.

“HEY TALONS OFF OF ME!” Sunset screamed at Gilda, who had decided to pick her up and leave the building.

“Not happening! When Byte says the enemy is close that means they will be right on top of us in five minutes. Now stop squirming Sun Butt.”

“Well can you at least tell me where we are going?”

“Sorry, but they could be listening. Now stay quiet until I say that you can talk!” The gryphon said while heading out of Canterlot.

The two continued to move forward, Gilda pressed onward with uncanny speed, and Sunset lay on the Gryphon’s back holding on for dear life. Sunset glanced back noticing that Pinkie and Byte had managed to keep up. The mare felt oddly important now that she was being dragged somewhere by a pony, a gryphon, and a changeling that she just met. Sunset looked back again only to notice a dark shadow move somewhere nearby.

“I think we’re being followed.” Sunset whispered to Gilda.

The gryphon didn’t stop running, but she talked into a headset that allowed for direct communication to Pinkie and Byte, “Pinkie do you sense any enemies nearby?”

“Yep! Those party poopers are nearby all right! Don’t know where though, but it feels like only one is following us right now.”

“Pinkie! Keep it down.” Gilda whispered into the headset.

“Sorry! Yeah he’s close. Thank goodness the moonlight is bright tonight.”

“I thought you ponies could see in the dark.”

“Oh we can! But having a little light helps a lot too!”

Gilda didn’t talk for the rest of the journey, nor did she seem too happy about their pursuer either. Dawn was approaching and Gilda swore that if they didn’t find cover soon then they were dead meat, thankfully the Everfree was only a few hundred yards away now. The shadow that had been pursuing the group had vanished altogether, but Pinkie was still alert and Byte was just looking ahead at the forest.

The inside of the forest was a dreary dark place that exuded a sense of unease. The trees grew densely and the sunlight wasn’t known for coming in contact with the ground. Caves were known to exist deeper within the forest and all manners of beasts could be expected within them. Timberwolves were known to roam the wilderness, but Gilda and Byte most likely knew a way to deal with those beasts.

Gilda stopped in a small clearing deep within the gloom of the forest and placed Sunset Shimmer on the ground. The rest of the company began preparing some sort of camp and preparing defenses to keep out stray animals. Sunset was still uneasy with this whole being hunted situation. She had originally wanted to go to Ponyville to stop DuskShine and now she was deep within the Everfree.

Sunset looked around and noticed that Byte was preparing all of the camps sleeping areas while Gilda and Pinkie were setting up the barricades. The mare wanted to be anywhere else but here and that Gryphon was not about to let her leave anytime soon. Their story was still ridiculous, but being dragged somewhere unwillingly hardly counted as believing your captors. Hopefully they would be open to reason.

“So Byte… How can I know that what anything that you said back at my house is real?” Sunset asked the busy changeling.

“I understand that forming trust with a creature that you just met is rather difficult, especially if they went into you home uninvited. I suppose your willingness originally was due to shock, and now that you have recovered you are beginning to question our reliability. Unfortunately I am unable to currently help you trust us, because in order to do so we would need to have an encounter with your hunters, or show you things that will ultimately damage your mentality beyond the point where you will be able to enjoy living with ponies of this era. All data pertaining to you would likely be rejected as proof and no known communication will get you to trust us yet.”

“Figures…”  Sunset Grumbled.

Sunset walked around the camp for the rest of the day being rather bored, and Pinkie was too busy helping prepare the camp. Gilda was nowhere to be seen for a while and Byte had moved on from the sleeping conditions to preparing the cooking pit. Sunset was confused a little by all of this since they wouldn’t likely be in a position to stay still for more than a day. It was getting close to sunset when Gilda finally returned with some freshly captured rabbits and a pile of wood.

“Alright food’s done cooking. Sunset eats last for doing nothing all day.” Gilda said.

“How do you know that I did nothing?” Sunset said defiantly.

“Pinkie told me. Now wait your turn fat flanks.” Gilda said which caused Sunset to examine her figure.

The food was nothing more than rabbit stew, a rather simple dish compared to what Sunset usually ate. She ate slowly poking her spoon at the chunks of meat in the soup while thinking about how to talk to the other three.

“Hey! I thought ponies ate meat because of that Artemis guy. So either you’re a vegetarian or you don’t like my cooking. Both of which are a major offense in my books.” Gilda said.

“Uh Gilda! I told you that some ponies don’t like the idea of eating meat. Now can you please stop being a grumpy wumpykins.”

“Well they’ll pay for it when they get sick and die. You can’t support higher brain functions on just plants there’s not enough nutrients in them.” Gilda Grumbled.

“Please stop fighting.” Sunset moaned, “You two sound like a married couple.”

“Oh we are! Gilda is my big strong stallion.” Pinkie said.

“Oh! Uh sorry… So why are we camping out here when that creature is after us?”

“If I told you it was to protect a whiny, brainless, pansy then I’d be lying. We are here in order to stay close to the target while being relatively hidden. We are not going to escape an encounter with the enemy, they aren’t idiots like you. They will be all over Ponyville when Artemis returns, our job is to make sure you stop your insane colt-friend and nothing more got it!” Gilda replied.

“Oh! Gilda! Why do you have to be so mean to her? She ordered a changeling bodyguard from me today.”

“I was wondering about that.” Sunset said.

“Oh! That’s a past version of me. She currently has a few mental problems and I am not about to go into details other than I’m not sure how I managed to get so much pudding.”

“Wait you’re from the future?”

“Duh! I mean what do you think this hologram thing of an enemy is for?” While gesturing to a creature that had appeared right next to her.

“Uh… Pinkie! I don’t think that’s a hologram!” Gilda yelled.

The creature next to Pinkie let out a blood curdling roar and leapt for Sunset Shimmer. Sunset ran off into the forest barely seeing Gilda body slam the creature and start wailing on it. The forest ahead of Sunset twisted and turned while the mare made her way away from the camp. She knew now without a doubt that the story that they were telling was true.

Sunset ran for what felt like hours remembering that is what had been done the night before. The darkness of the forest was a supreme darkness that dampened Sunset’s ability to see in the dark, causing the young mare to trip and stumble over the gnarled roots that lay before her. The mare wound up lost in the forest and the trees were beginning to get denser around her. She briefly wondered if Dusk Shine’s fear of Slender Mane was warranted before banishing such nightmares from her thoughts.

Sunset found a small opening under a tree and crawled into the tangled nest of roots hoping that a snake wasn’t living there. Fortunately the space was unoccupied and Sunset hunkered down into the farthest corner. Night seemed to go on forever in this forest, but Sunset was not privy to sleep. She was not about to fall asleep with that thing hunting her.

(_o_==============================================_o_)

[6 hours until the arrival of Nightmare Nebula]

Sunset got up with a start and banged her head on the underside of the tree she was hiding under causing a cascade of dirt to blind her. Roaring pain grabbed the unicorn while she cried out from the pain in her eyes. She crawled out from under the trees roots and spotted a small pond in the distance. After she washed the dirt out of her eyes the young mare began to munch on the small amounts of grass nearby.

The grass itself was horrible to eat, it was twisted and strange much like everything else in the Everfree. Sunset sat down after that and tried not to be nauseas while her stomach tried to handle her meal. She noticed the sun was descending and cursed herself for having stayed up so late. She needed to stop Dusk Shine soon and she was lost in the Everfree.

Sunset whirled around when a snap resounded through the now silent forest. Something deep within the mare told her that the silence was a warning of worse things to come. Hoofsteps could be heard approaching and a small legion of birds flew off into the distance at their approach. The bush right before Sunset Shimmer began to quiver and the young mare readied her horn for an oncoming attacker.

Sunset stared at the bush slowly backing up and preparing for a quick flight if needed. The bush shook again and from it came tumbling a young, foolish looking creature. The creature matched the description of the enemies, but its height only came up to Sunset’s barrel. It eyes looked up at her and it seemed almost as frightened as she was.

“Halp Mea.” The creature said.

“Help? Why should I help you? You are trying to kill me right?”

“Whay do yoa faer mea?” The creature implored.

“Oh really! You need to wonder why I fear a creature that enslaves ponies for their own amusement.” Sunset said while slowly backing away.

“Iah aem but ah chield. Iah know naot what mia paeple do.”

“I figured that you were a child. So why would you need my help?”

“Iah aem lost. Iah nead halp. Iah weish to know aebout thea ponies aend wai they faer us.” The creature said while slowly approaching the defensive unicorn.

“Why do you wish to know about us? It seems like your people are quite keen on using us only as slaves from what I’ve heard. Why are you even here anyways?”

“Slaeves? Mia people do noet use slaeves. Mia faether said theiy are frea aend thaet theiy willaengly searve us. Yoa daer to say thaet mia faether lies? We are libearators not enslaevers.”

“Yeah that’s a lie. Your people were here to capture me and steal power that is going to be used to enslave my species. Now that brings me back to my question, why are you here?”

“Iah geot mia faether to breing mia here on the only ship thaet was coming haer soon. Iah noticed yoa running aend Iah followed because yoa wear ah pony thaet could answer mia question.”

“Let me guess. You wanted to know why we fear you. So you followed the only ponies in the city running for their lives. So I’ll answer your question, your kind is evil and they enslave the ponies. You’ve been lied to and you are too young and vulnerable to know otherwise and when you do get older you will have been conditioned to view my race as nothing more than slaves. Happy.”

“Yoa lie. Whay must yoa lie.” The young creature began to sob.

Sunset Shimmer looked at the crying creature and felt a small amount of pity for it. The rest of her stayed aware that it could just be trying to get her to let her guard down. The kid was a little irritating with that strange accent, how the kid even knew equish was another problem. So Sunset just waited for the kid to stop crying.

“So… Do you like pizza?” Sunset asked to liven the mood.

“What is piezza?”

“Figures… So what do you eat?”

“We faed off the sun.”

“Well there has to be some physical food that you eat.”

“Sustaenance caen’t be found on your plaenet. It is ah waest land.”

“Sure it is. So how do you know my language?”

“Yoar miend is no seacret to us.”

Sunset just stared at the creature and it stared back at her with its black, pupil less eyes. It unnerved the unicorn and she wished she could be anywhere else, especially if the kid could hear her thoughts. For the first time in her life Sunset was hoping the Pinkie, Byte, or Gilda would show up. The kid looked up at here and gave a reassuring smile, but the rows of sharp teeth suggested other things.

“Oh come on girls, I need to get out of here soon.” Sunset said into the empty forest.