Sugar Valley

Chapters

The Breaking of Pinkamena Diane Pie
Fire on the Horizon
Grand Opening
Reunion
Elements Asunder
All That Remains
The Accident
Desolation
Apotheosis
Salvation

The Breaking of Pinkamena Diane Pie

Gingerbread cookies… strawberry shortcake; no, no, a cookies-and-cream milkshake! Yeah… that sounds good right about now.

Pinkie Pie lifts her face from the dirt and reaches through the bars.

“Hey, I know we’re still playing a game and all, but if you guys could tell me when it’ll be over; I’d reaaally appreciate it!”

“SHUT IT! And keep it shut ‘till the boss is back!”

Pinkie’s bright blue eyes follow the rude mare, as she turns from the cage and back towards the others. Pinkie gives in, and allows her head to slide against the bars and back into the dirt.

“I hope it’s over soon…”

The pink mare’s words are only audible enough for the guard outside to turn and give a threatening stare, before spitting on the dirt floor. The guards were occupying themselves with a game of cards, their backs turned to the prisoners around the room. Pinkie had been the most vocal; in fact, the other two ponies lying in the dirt hadn’t made a sound at all.

Pinkie Pie begins to close her eyes, hoping that when she opened them again, she would find herself back in the comfort of Sugar Cube Corner, surrounded by the many scents it would emit. To her dismay, it wasn’t the smell of cupcakes baking that causes her to lift her eyelids, but a distinct floral scent—iris, perhaps?

When the stallion carrying the scent steps out of the shadows, the room grew deathly quiet. He takes one look at the other cages before striding over to Pinkie’s cell. The colt’s attire is oddly formal; a stylish gray suit, although eroded beyond repair. Pinkie Pie stares into his entrancing green eyes, unable to look away.

“Why wasn’t I made aware that we had captured an Element of Harmony?”

The question had been directed at the guards, but the stallion never breaks his stare away from Pinkie.

“We—we didn’t know she was...”

The brown pony’s response is quick and calm.

“I see. Bring me your knife.”

The ponies playing cards exchange worried looks, before the suited colt turns to see them for the first time.

“Now, please.”

Her face ridden with fear, the rude mare steps forward, removing her blade with her mouth. Craning her neck, she inches towards the mysterious figure until the weapon was in his reach.

The stallion seizes the knife with his telekinesis, and runs it down the forearm of the mare. Pinkie’s eyes grow wide with shock as the bleeding mare howls with pain, and falls to the mud in agony. The colt allows the knife to fall to the earth with her, then turns once again to Pinkie Pie’s cage.

“You’re a long way from home, Miss Pie.”

Pinkie watches behind tears as the guard writhes animalistically in the mud.

“Your princesses want you to believe that the worst out there is the sting of a manticore, or the fire of a dragon...”

The mare on the ground begins to cease struggling as the stallion continues.

“This is erroneous. There are evils out there willing to go to extreme lengths to extract value; and you, Miss Pie, are very valuable indeed.”

Pinkie Pie finally looks away from the horrific scene, and falls once more into the sharp gaze of her captor.

“My name is Lane; and I suspect the two of us will soon get to know a lot about each other.”

The unicorn turns, and walks slowly back into the shadows at the edge of the room. The Element of Laughter can only sob, back pressed to the furthest wall of her cage. The two remaining guards keep their muzzles low, and Pinkie is left alone with the vacant stare of third.

* * *

The next day Pinkie wakes to the taste of dirt, her straightened mane splayed out on the floor. Pain shoots through her head as she lifts it from the earth, fearing another glance at the body. To her relief, however, there isn’t a trace of it. Maybe it had been a nightmare?

“Good morning, friend.”

Pinkie flings her head towards the voice, and its owner steps away from the wall he was leaning against.

“I know things were a bit… disorderly last night.”

The striking green eyes watch Pinkie as they go around the room.

“I want you to know that I regret what happened; and that, if you’re willing to cooperate, we won’t have to witness such chaos again.”

Pinkie throws herself against the cage.

“Why are you doing this? Why won’t you let me go?”

Lane shakes his head, ever so slightly.

“Now now, Pinkie Pie. The time for frivolous questions has passed; I’m going to need answers if we’re to get along.”

The pink pony falls onto her haunches, a confused look on her face.

“What answers could I possibly have for you?”

“I imagine, as an Element of Harmony, there are quite a few.”

Pinkie Pie isn’t much closer to understanding.

“We help Ponyville when it needs it, and sometimes the surrounding areas; but—”

Lane quickly interjects.

“You don’t live in your capital, Canterlot?”

“No, none of us do; but Twilight used…”

Pinkie grows quiet.

“Yes, I know all about Twilight Sparkle. Student turned princess, alicorn from unicorn. Even she lives in the shadow of Canterlot?”

The stallion turns from the cage and begins to pace the room.

“For your sake, Miss Pie, I hope you’re wrong about the Elements’ apparent triviality.”

Lane glances back at the prisoner.

“You see I’m a merchant; I obtain and sell information to ponies. Perhaps you’d understand then, my disappointment when capturing an individual as close as you are to your ruler, from one of the most sought after nations in my line of work, and she tells me her duties are comparable to those of a police officer.”

Pinkie Pie pushes her mane out of eyes before responding.

“It doesn’t need to be complicated. We have each other for support.”

There’s a stillness in the room as Lane looks coldly into Pinkie’s eyes.

“I obtain information, Miss Pie. And in return, I show mercy towards my prisoners, ending their lives quickly.”

The words aren’t easy to listen to.

“Resistance does not warrant mercy, however.”

Lane begins to walk to the shadowed edge of the room, pulling up his shirt cuffs with magic as he does so. The colt reaches a table, and a blade is picked up into a green aura. The metal reflects brightly, catching Pinkie’s eye from behind the bars.

“I can’t tell you anything I don’t know!”

With a turn of his head, the colt responds to Pinkie’s plea in a dry tone.

“I simply can not afford to take chances.”

* * *

Twilight lands abruptly, and attempts to catch up to the figure ahead of her.

“Pinkie, wait!”

The cloaked pony turns around, revealing a long white beard.

“Ah, Starswirl…”

Starswirl raises an eyebrow at Twilight.

“I apologize, but it is only Starswirl the Old and Lethargic.”

Princess Sparkle begins to stutter an apology.

“No no, I didn’t mean—”

Twilight is interrupted by a low, hearty laughter from Starswirl.

“It’s alright, child. I understand that you’re worried.”

Twilight Sparkle takes a brief look around the meadow before responding to the unicorn.

“I just—I keep expecting her to be here.”

Starswirl the Bearded tilts his head back to watch the sky, the smile fading from his lips.

“I too worry about our friend; Ponyville has certainly seemed a little more gray since her disappearance.”

Wings now folded, Twilight moves closer to Starswirl, her mane flowing gently as she does so.

“Do you think… she’ll be okay?”

Starswirl takes a moment to answer. When he is ready, he turns from the sky and towards the alicorn, the smile edging back onto his face.

“Well it certainly isn’t the strangest thing that’s happened to her.”

* * *

“The same dream as before?”

Twilight fidgets uncomfortably on the couch.

“Not entirely; but in the sense of the characters, setting, and theme, certainly.”

The colt adjusts his glasses with the rim of his hoof.

“It’s apparent you’re stressed, as is normal. You lost the library, you’re still relatively new to the crown, and on top of all that, your friend has gone missing. All of what you told me, the lack of sleep and reoccurring dreams... it’s very likely a side-effect of your stress.”

Twilight nods her head respectfully, although unimpressed with the stallion’s observations.

“Maybe take a few days off; I think the Sisters can manage for a bit. Try getting back to your old self and make sure to get plenty of exercise. You don’t want to get comfortable with this new, constantly worrying Twilight.”

The Princess exhales softly.

“Okay; I can do that.”

Twilight risks a quick glance at the clock as the other pony continues.

“I think we’re all starting to feel a little worried about Pinkie Pie. But worrying won’t bring her back. Hang in there Twilight, I’m sure she’ll return soon.”

* * *

The nights grow colder; and at the end of each, Pinkie crawls to the furthest corner of her cell, trying her hardest to ignore the pain from her newly acquired wounds. Food and water are rationed sparingly, and the morsels that are provided are often rotten and barely edible.

Pinkie Pie’s only solace came when her eyes are closed, and she finds herself in Ponyville with her friends, not forsaken in a dark cave. Lane seems to always be there when she opens them again, waiting patiently for answers that would never come. And not for a lack of trying; Pinkie tells the stallion everything she knows about Equestria and its inner-workings, but it’s never enough.

“Not feeling talkative today?”

The guards watch as a glass bottle begins to roll underneath Pinkie’s hoof, until Lane’s magic corrects it. Pinkie Pie never looks away from the ground.

“No?”

The glass shatters as Lane’s magic brings Pinkie’s hoof down into it. There’s a soft whimper before the mare hovers her shaking hoof just above the ground. She closes her eyes, and replaces the pain with fading memories.

“How about now?”

The green aura fights with Pinkie’s hoof, pressing it back into the shards. Blood begins to pool beneath the forehoof, soaking into the earth.

Yet the room remains silent.

Frustrated, Lane telekinetically shoves the pink mare back into the cell, closing and locking it behind her. He didn’t like how long the process was taking, and searches the furthest depths of his mind for an answer.

“I was once in the war against dragons, you know. For a brief time, I thought it was what I was meant to do... This was before I tore the eye out of a fellow soldier’s head, and found myself discharged. During my service though, I learned many of the plans the brigade had designed, and sold them directly to the Dragon Commander.”

Pinkie stares at the cave wall, devoid of emotion. Lane leans in towards her, his head within an arm’s length.

“Loyalty is a blight, Miss Pie, and serves only to constrain and harm its owner.”

There’s no response from the caged pony, as Lane goes on.

“Then again, Loyalty never was your element. No, you represent a far more noble cause... Laughter, was it?”

Pinkie Pie finally turns from the wall, her sad blue eyes barely visible behind her mane.

“Funny; I haven’t heard a giggle from you.”

The pink pony retires her stare back to the stone wall. Lane lingers a moment longer, before turning towards the guards and analyzing their expressions. Not a difficult task, as a wicked grin creeps onto one of their faces. Lane flings the keys towards him, the guard fumbling and dropping them.

“Make it quick.”

Lane leaves the two guards and the prisoner alone in the room, and Pinkie hangs her head and forces her eyes shut, unable to cry.

* * *

“Citizens of Ponyville: it isn’t easy to stand before you today, and deliver the dire news that has been brought to my attention. At this time, we are officially treating Pinkie Pie as a missing pony, and a full-scale investigation is being prepared for launch. In the meantime, I want everypony to remain vigilant, and come forward with any possible leads. Thank you.”

The crowd watches quietly as Mayor Mare walks down from the town hall, only to immediately be bombarded by cameras. A worried Twilight Sparkle turns towards her friends, speaking in a murmur.

“This just doesn’t add up…”

Applejack places her hat atop her head before commenting.

“It does seem awfully strange; even for Pinkie...”

Several of the ponies recoil back as Rainbow Dash flies into the center of the group, arms thrown up.

“We should be doing something!”

Rarity instinctively begins to fix her mane that Rainbow had unsettled.

“Abrupt as she may be, I think Rainbow Dash has a point.”

Twilight lifts her hoof off of the ground.

“What can we do? There couldn’t be a more difficult pony to trace...”

The worried commotion of Twilight’s friends begins to grow before Applejack steps in to stop it.

“Regardless of where she is, all we can do now is hope she’s okay. It won’t do Pinkie no good if we work ourselves into a panic.”

Twilight gives AJ a gentle smile, to which Applejack happily matches.

* * *

Pinkie winces as the knife sinks beneath her skin.

“Wonderbolt commanders?”

Lane twists the blade further with his magic.

“Canterlot emergency bunkers?”

The colt straightens Pinkie’s slouching head with levitation.

“What the princesses do on holidays?”

Pinkie Pie stares vacantly at the dirt floor, further enraging Lane. For the first time, he abandons his magic, and instead strikes the pony with his hoof.

“DO YOU HEAR ME?”

The stallion waits for a response that would never come. Defeated, he removes the blade from Pinkie’s shoulder, bringing a strand of blood with it.

“...Don’t think for a second you’ve won this; I’m quite dedicated to my career.”

The metal clangs loudly as Lane drops it on the table, crimson splattering on the cold surface.

“And ponies have a lot of blood to bleed, Miss Pie.”

Lane wipes hopelessly at a dark splotch on his suit, before maneuvering around the table and towards the edge of the room. He’s making his way out when a peculiar sound draws his attention back to the cage.

“Aheh… ha heh ha…”

The stallion stands motionless as he watches the pony behind the bars give him a chilling grin, her mane no longer hanging over her eyes.

“Aha ha ha ha!”

For once, it was Pinkie’s stare that holds Lane frozen in place. Pinkie presses herself against the rusting bars, her laughter slowly growing out of control.

“HA HA HA HA HE HA HA!”

A tap on the back finally frees Lane from his prison.

“Sir, someone’s broken into the base! What are your orders?”

The suited colt only briefly watches the guard before turning back to the prisoner. She continues to lose herself, blood leaking over her mouth and onto her neck.

“Sir?”

Lane finally makes his way out of the room, and Pinkie Pie’s howling laughter fades into a haunting echo.

Fire on the Horizon

Stern talons roll Lane’s head to the side, revealing a broken arrow protruding from his eye socket. The shot is surrounded by gore.

“Black; they had prisoners.”

The dark griffon turns away from the corpse, looking instead at the dirt-ridden face of his comrade. She’s covered in a lot of blood; but few wounds.

“Show me.”

Pinkie Pie quickly lifts her head as shadows begin to move about the room, her mane bouncing in tandem with the motion. Two fully matured griffons make their way to the cell, stepping over the bodies that littered the floor. The larger of the two approaches Pinkie directly, a meter from the cage.

“What’s your name?”

Pinkie puts on a bright smile, and extends a hoof through the bars.

“Pinkie Pie, the one and only.”

The two avian creatures share a glance, the female shrugging her shoulders briefly. The griffon near the cell grabs Pinkie’s hoof, and shakes it casually.

“Name’s Black. That’s Crow.”

Crow gives a slight nod towards Pinkie. Black lowers the pony’s hoof, noticing a knife wound as he does so.

“Hell; Crow, get some bandages on her... I’ll take care of that one.”

Black points at the figure in the other cell, who lies on the ground enduring panicked breaths. Without a hint of protest, Crow moves next to Pinkie Pie’s cage, and begins to try each of the prison keys. Pinkie watches her with a smile on her face.

“You’re Equestrian, right?”

Pinkie Pie nods her head, watching Crow toss the first key she tried.

“You’re a long way from home, Pinkie.”

“So I hear.”

The second key turns with a click, and for a moment, Crow simply holds the metal with her talons. Pinkie Pie’s smile expands, as she motions towards her shoulder.

“The wound?”

Crow shakes her head, and opens the cage fully.

* * *

Twilight closes the door behind Rarity, and the room falls into complete silence. It appears incredibly normal; which wasn’t going to help the ponies’ search at all.

“I just can’t believe she lived in this drab cellar for half a decade.”

Twilight glances over her shoulder at the white mare.

“Remember why we’re here, Rarity. We need to find any clues at all regarding Pinkie’s location.”

“Of course; clues…”

With a quick scan, Twilight finds the room to be appropriately ‘Pinkie’; party supplies and obscure festivities were piled along the walls. The princess waves a hoof at the chaos.

“Knowing Pinkie Pie, it’s not likely any of this will get us anywhere. But why don’t you skim it just in case.”

Rarity nods her head and takes a deep breath.

“Right.”

Twilight furrows her brow.

“Skim, Rarity.”

The unicorn steps towards the mess and begins to remove items with her magic.

“If you say so.”

Twilight turns back towards the remainder of the room, moving close to Pinkie’s bed for inspection. The bed itself isn’t peculiar; underneath, however, there is a box filled with notebook paper. Twilight squints to read the disastrous hoofwriting.

Song lyrics?

“Twilight… what do you suppose we’ll do if the elements are needed again, and Pinkie remains lost?”

The violet alicorn lowers the papers back into their box, and considers her friend’s concern. She hadn’t thought about it before.

“I’m not sure. But we haven’t needed them for quite some time now; let’s just hope we find Pinkie Pie before we’re attacked by another evil monarch.”

Rarity returns to her work, content with Twilight’s answer.

“Yes I suppose things have been relatively quiet around here… which makes it all the stranger that someone would do something like this.”

“We don’t know if it was ‘someone’. Let’s just consider all possibilities until we have more information.”

Rarity stares at a photo of her ecstatic friend holding a small crocodile tightly to her chest.

“Yes, I suppose you’re right.”

Twilight walks the length of the room, stopping at a small refrigerator. It’s plastered in stickers and small notes; one of which, catches Twilight’s eye.

~~butter~~
~~salt~~
~~vanilla~~
~~sugar~~
~~SUGAR~~
~~milk~~
poison joke

After Twilight silently reads the list over, Rarity approaches from behind, glancing at the paper from over her friend’s shoulder.

“Is poison joke… safe to cook with?”

“It’s certainly not known for its taste; but you can boil out the actual poison.”

Twilight levitates the note down towards her chest, and flexes her wings impulsively.

“Regardless, it’s important to note that she hadn’t retrieved it yet. This may be the exact lead that we need.”

* * *

Embers rise gently into the night sky, as a feathered corpse burns brightly before the others. Black tosses a bow into the flames, then turns his back to the scene.

“Tonight we’ll sail for Equestria. We go our separate ways once you’re safe.”

The frail prisoner the griffons had saved, Violet, steps ahead of Pinkie Pie.

“You mean you’re not going to say anything for him?”

“He was a good fighter. Now he’s dead. I thought that much was obvious.”

Violet stares at the griffon, dumbstruck.

“But—he was your comrade…”

Black turns around, the plethora of equipment and weapons on his back making quiet metallic noises.

“Mud’s murderer was killed while cowering in his room; his guards, slaughtered. There is nothing that can be done to better ease the loss of our brother, and further rituals would only lengthen our journey.”

Pinkie Pie has been staring vacantly at the night sky, deaf to the griffon’s words.

“We are tired, cold, hungry and alive. Mud would want us to move on.”

Why do we only eat candy canes on Hearth’s Warming Eve?

Violet watches the ground before her as she walks slowly behind the griffons. She takes one last look at the fire, noticing Pinkie’s silhouette in front of its light. Violet waves a hoof, unable to grab the pony’s attention.

“Pinkie Pie!”

The mare finally brings her attention to the group, a smile sitting comfortably on her muzzle.

“Yes. I suppose it is time to go home.”

* * *

The sound of dozens of hooves sloshing through the mud of Everfree fills the air, the shadows of several pegasi sliding over the earth. Twilight stands atop a grassy knoll, speaking with Zecora.

“And you’re sure you haven’t seen anyone around here?”

Zecora shakes her head in response.

“I can assure you, my friend; no news on my end.”

Twilight Sparkle sighs softly, pushing aside her soggy bangs. Before she can ask another question, Applejack approaches the pair from behind.

“There ain’t a patch of Poison joke we haven’t checked, Twi. Even if they were here, the rain would have washed away their tracks.”

The violet unicorn listens to her friend’s words, but continues to silently watch the sky.

“Let’s just call it a day; maybe roundup another lead back in Ponyville.”

Twilight finally turns to face AJ, noticing her tangled mane and tired eyes.

“You’re right; we would have found something by now.”

Applejack raises a hoof to the sky, motioning towards a cyan figure above the horizon. Rainbow Dash ceases her gliding, and instead hovers before her party.

“Come on guys, let’s bring it in.”

As the team of pegasi terminate their search, and began landing on the wet ground, Zecora steps close enough to Twilight that the two could speak privately.

“I don’t like where things are heading. I can feel an evil spreading…”

Twilight watches the forest closely, Zecora’s observation raising hairs on the back of her neck.

“We’re going to get to the bottom of this. There has to be an explanation.”

Her gaze settles on a shadowy form in the distance. It looks curiously close to the silhouette of a pony.

“What is…”

The figure ducks underneath a fern. Twilight doesn’t hesitate to break into a sprint towards the pony, her friends watching with a mixture of confusion and worry. Twilight instinctually casts a telekinetic field over the colt as he begins to run, revealing his identity.

“Featherweight?”

“Please don’t tell my mom…”

Twilight releases the young pony from her grasp, watching him cradle his camera.

“What are you doing here? It isn’t safe.”

Twilight’s friends catch up to her as the colt sheepishly rubs his shoulder.

“N-nothing; my ball, I was looking for my ball…”

Applejack approaches the child with a concerned expression.

“You know you’re not supposed to be here; you could get hurt.”

Twilight allows her friends to deal with the situation. She couldn’t admit to being a fan of the colt, or his total disregard of privacy. Rainbow Dash flies over AJ’s shoulder, showing assertiveness Twilight found to be entirely appropriate.

“Tell us why you’re really here, kid.”

Applejack pushes Rainbow Dash back, glaring at her.

“I-if I tell, will you promise to not let my mom know I was here?”

Princess Twilight holds her tongue as her mind grows louder with thought.

Does he not realize that I can imprison him for staying quiet?

“If it won’t cause no harm, we won’t tell.”

Featherweight gulps, uncomfortable with how many eyes were on him.

“I saw—I saw Pinkie Pie, a few weeks ago. She was heading into the Everfree Forest, alone.”

Applejack’s stare meets with Twilight’s, as the colt continues his story.

“You gotta understand, it was a really weak time for stories. But you guys… your stories really sell… So I followed her.”

Rainbow Dash scoffs at the pegasus.

“Don’t you guys have any respect for personal—”

“Rainbow!”

Applejack looks from her friend back towards the frail colt.

“What happened next?”

“She kept glancing behind her back—like she felt like she was being watched or something. At first I thought my cover was blown, but then…”

The pony is hesitant to continue. AJ places a hoof next to the colt’s.

“This is important, Featherweight. You’re not gonna get in any trouble.”

“She gathered some kind of plant and then; somepony else was there—”

Rainbow Dash leans in towards Featherweight.

“Who was there?”

“I-I don’t know, I got scared and hid. When I looked again, Pinkie was gone.”

Twilight Sparkle finally intervenes.

“Were you taking pictures?”

Featherweight stares at the alicorn for a moment, then slowly nods his head, unbuckling his satchel as he does so. Twilight removes the photos that are exposed, before Featherweight can even touch them. The princess applies several layers of magic around the pictures, curving whatever rain that gets too close away from the paper. All of the ponies lean in close to see what was captured.

The photo on top of the deck shows Pinkie prancing merrily through the woods, the kind of attitude ponies had found to be synonymous with Pinkie Pie.

The next image shows Pinkie in a more controlled trot, although her smile seems no smaller. Twilight’s friends move closer as she slowly flipps through the photographs, all eager to discover what happened to the Element of Laughter.

The third photo is different than the rest. Pinkie is still the sole subject, but her pose is rigid, and her ears are perked. She stands at the edge of what appears to be a poison joke field.

Featherweight nervously rubs his forearm.

“There wasn’t nothing I could have done!”

Twilight slowly slides the third photo from the deck, exposing the last one in the pile.

“You gotta believe me!”

The final photograph reveals two shadowy figures, grappling with the pink mare. Pinkie Pie was now exhibiting an expression of unadulterated terror, apparent even through the motion blur. Applejack gasps, raising a hoof to her mouth.

The princess tears her eyes from the photo, and instead looks to her friends. Fear had clutched every one of them.

“We need to contact Princess Celestia. This… this is far worse than I imagined.”

Twilight can’t help but look back at the photograph as her friends begin to panic.

“Who in Equestria would wanna harm Pinkie?”

“I don’t care who they are; once I find them, they’ll regret ever laying a hoof on her!”

Twilight Sparkle squints her eyes at the photo. With the distortion, it almost looks as if there’s a grin on Pinkie’s face.

* * *

Black stares into the fire before him, occasionally glancing over at Crow, who is vigorously sharpening arrowheads.

“Are those in case the candy-colored ponies attack?”

Crow only momentarily looks away from her work, no joy in her eyes.

“It’s over, Crow. This is Equestria, remember? We don’t have to fight anymore.”

Crow drops a sharpened arrow into a pile at her feet, watching her friend over the fire.

“I hope you’re right; but hope won’t stop a spear from driving through my chest.”

Black flexes his wings, standing up from where he laid. Crow’s eyes follow Black as he walks around the fire, and stops just before the arrows. He then raises a talon to the sky, drawing Crow’s attention.

“Do you see those stars surrounding the moon? It’s said that they once aided the escape of ‘Nightmare Moon’, whom had been banished to the heavens thousands of years ago. Her return shook the entirety of Equestria, causing nationwide panic. It wasn’t until Princess Celestia and her students rose up to fight that Nightmare Moon’s terror was brought to an end.”

Crow had ceased her preparations, and was listening intently.

“She was defeated by, what I believe the Equestrians call: ‘The Magic of Friendship’.”

Black narrates the tail end of his story with a sweeping gesture of his arms. Crow stares blankly at her friend, and for a moment, the air is silent. Then Black releases a low chuckle, and lays a claw on his comrade’s shoulder.

“I think we’ll be safe…"

Crow hangs her head as the other griffon makes his way back around the fire. She wasn’t scared of Nightmare Moon…

“How can she be that happy?”

Black looks over the fire, a smile still on his face.

“Who?”

“Pinkie Pie. She’s been tortured. And yet she goes about her day as if nothing’s wrong.”

Black falls back into the entrancing dance of the flames, his smile fading.

“I don’t know. Maybe she’s blocked the entire thing out of her memory.”

Pinkie Pie stares up at the dark abyss, her limbs sprawled out on the grass. She grins from ear to ear, feeling an unfamiliar desire rise from within.

“Maybe, while imprisoned in the darkest corner of that cave, she simply found her own light. Something to keep her going.”

Pinkie sits up off of the ground, noticing a peculiar silhouette in the distance. That of a Ferris Wheel, it seemed.

“Or maybe it was the ‘Magic of Friendship’.”

Crow rolls her eyes as Black again begins to snicker. Satisfied with his explanation, Black stretches before the fire, and starts to move his equipment into the tent set up behind him. Crow lingers, watching her pile of arrows as she thinks about Black’s words.

A pink shape walks excitedly into the flame’s light.

“I’d like us to make a detour!”

Black freezes, holding a sheathed machete. He can see Crow’s scowl even in the dark.

“Pinkie Pie, we’re halfway to Canterlot. I don’t think we have any time for—”

“Just a teensy little stop at whatever that is!”

Pinkie flings up a hoof at the horizon, pointing towards the shadowed carnival in the distance. Black observes the park, then removes a map from one of the many packs still lying around the fire.

“It looks close to… Hollow Shades?”

Pinkie Pie begins to bounce uncontrollably as the griffon recalls his studies of Equestria.

“It’s a haven; collection of the lost and misplaced. I don’t think anyone from outside can just approach—”

“I don’t care! Let’s go!”

Crow was beginning to grow sick of the carefree pony.

“We’re not straying the path, you’re free to go wherever you want after we reach Canterlot.”

Pinkie’s expression transforms into a pout, Black responding with a rational explanation.

“She’s right. You’ve been missing for quite some time now; if you wander off and get killed, what’s to stop ponies from blaming the mysterious band of griffon foreigners she came here with?”

Pinkie was no stranger to voices inside of her head; but their words are no longer familiar.

“You guys are no fun.”

The bright pony spins around without another word, making her way back to the second tent. Crow isn’t keen on talking either, instead glaring at Black from across the camp. The tired griffon simply turns his head, moving the rest of the equipment into their tent.

The night grows cold, only the soft ambiance of the crickets and the nearby river audible. Pinkie lies awake, listening to the many words she alone could hear. It is all she can hear.

Pinkie Pie slowly rises from her sleeping bag, momentarily watching Violet’s steady breathing before grabbing their lantern and exiting the tent. Once alone outside, the pony closes the flap and seals it with the pins. A merry tune rings throughout her head, as she douses the tent with the fuel from her lamp. Satisfied, she then places the lantern down, and starts towards the griffons’ tent.

A sudden light from within the tent surprises Pinkie, causing her to quickly duck behind a large boulder. Black appears from the tent, holding a lantern out with his claw. Pinkie can hear his footsteps fade away, towards the river.

Black takes a long moment to observe his reflection, rippling with the soft motions of the river. He isn’t sure he likes what he sees. In an attempt to cleanse the image, Black splashes a clawful of the water on his face, working it through his unkempt feathers. When his talons again touch the ground, he notices a strange pink reflection taking shape in the rippling water.

Pinkie latches onto Black, forcing his head into the water. He immediately begins to thrash wildly under the surface, unable to shake the weight of the earth pony. Black brings his talons as far back as he can, clutching at Pinkie Pie’s shoulders. Blood runs down onto her stomach, as the griffon’s grip tightens. She doesn’t even notice; failing to stifle a snicker that had made its way to her muzzle. As the panicked struggling beneath her slows, Pinkie finds it more and more difficult to suppress her instinct.

Crow’s eyes open wide. She is sure that she had heard laughter. Not wasting a second, the griffon springs from her bed, grabs her bow, and runs outside.

Crow reaches the river on her hind legs, with an arrow nocked. Only one figure is present, slouched over the edge of the river.

“Black!”

A touch to the griffon’s neck with two fingers confirms Crow’s worst fear. Tears began to seep into her vision as she looks over the lifeless body. One detail brings her back, as she focuses on the empty sheath for Black’s machete.

Fighting the urge to break down, Crow returns to the camp, where the lantern’s glow aids her vision. Her breathing increases rapidly, as she swivels on her hind legs, muscles aching to draw the bow. There appears to be nothing beyond the glow of the lantern.

Pinkie attacks with unnatural speed. Wielding the blade awkwardly in her mouth, she slashes at Crow’s chest, drawing a strand of blood from the griffon. Pinkie continues to flail the blade around wildly, forcing Crow onto her back with her arms crossed, a vain attempt to defend against Pinkie's relentless attack.

When the pony had finally stopped, Crow was covered in lines of crimson, unable to do anything but weep in pain. Pinkie Pie tosses aside the blood-soaked weapon, instead grabbing the lantern. She splashed some of its fuel onto the hopeless griffon before her, then pours the rest of it along the way to her tent. Violet begins to fumble with the sealed flap.

“Pinkie? What’s going on?”

With a smile on her face, Pinkie Pie flings the lantern from her maw and sends it crashing into the earth, the flames quick to absorb the fuel on the ground. As Pinkie makes her way back to the flailing griffon on the ground, screams begin to sound from within the burning tent.

“I really do have to thank you guys—”

Pinkie stops just out of Crow’s reach, watching her crawl away from the spreading flames.

“If it weren’t for your little rescue party, I’d be dead in some cave somewhere, never to be heard of again.”

Crow pulls herself as quickly as she can, grunting from the stress on her lacerated arms.

“But thanks to you, things will be much more interesting!”

Pinkie smiles as only she could, waving a hoof in the air.

“Toodaloo!”

The pony leaves the scene in an upbeat trot, heading towards the distant carnival. Crow feels the heat intensify, falling onto her back just in time to watch the flames crawl up her legs. She begins to writhe uncontrollably, howling in pain as the fire consumes her entirely.

Her screams echo through the night, with only the stars to listen.

Grand Opening

“What do you think, Ms. Pie?

Pinkie Pie continues to stare outside of the small room, a slight smirk on her muzzle. Whimsical music can be heard coming from the attractions outside.

“I’ve seen this place before. In my dreams…”

The stallion behind the desk furrows his brow.

“...Ms. Pie?”

Pinkie closes her eyes, yet she can still see the flashing lights. It would need revisions.

“If you could just approve these documents; I’ve got the keys ready for you.”

Pinkie Pie finally turns from the window, and looks at the papers on the desk. Her eyes then focus on the key sitting behind them.

“I’ll just need a moment to look over these, Mr. Top.”

Top slides the documents across the table and in front of Pinkie, who spontaneously removes a magnifying glass from her mane to observe the documents.

“Please, take as long as you need.”

The colt turns to take one last look at his park, before immediately spinning around at the sound of a magnifying glass dropping against his desk.

“Unfortunately, sir, after close inspection of your offer, I’ve concluded I can not go through with it.”

The stallion places his hoof firmly atop the table.

“Pinkie—”

“I seem to be six hundred thousand, two hundred and eight bits short of your asking price.”

“Now Ms. Pie, you told me that—”

In a flurry of action, Pinkie scoops the keys up in her mouth, and pierces them into the neck of Top. A vivid ribbon of red shoots over Pinkie Pie’s shoulder, lacing the floor and her back with warmth. The colt’s hooves grapple helplessly at his attacker’s head, all the while blood sprays against the window with every choke his failing body is able to produce. Pinkie holds him there until his wheezing ceases, and the wild bursts of blood are reduced to a steady stream flowing down Top’s chest. This continues until Pinkie drops her hooves back to the floor, and the stallion’s body collapses into a crimson pool.

“Thank you for seeing things my way, Mr. Top.”

Pinkie Pie lifts her hoof off of the blood-soaked floor and stamps it on the documents, beneath ‘signature’. After carefully stepping over the body, she then stands motionless in front of the glass that separated her from the rest of the park. Hundreds of vivid lights of every color imaginable shine in the night before her, as the music in the distance seems to grow louder in Pinkie’s head.

“Sugar Valley. I’ll name it Sugar Valley.”

And then she leaves in a carefree trot, and Mr. Top again has the room to himself.

* * *

The fields were quiet. Two figures stand among the flowing grass, and floating flower petals. Starswirl is the first to move.

“Evening Princess. It’s strange how we keep running into each other like this.”

Twilight attempts to lift a hoof to move closer to the unicorn, but finds it impossible to do so.

“Always a pleasant coincidence; how long do you plan on staying in Ponyville?”

Starswirl the Bearded shrugs, Twilight hesitant to interpret the gesture. Surely he’d know his own schedule?

“As long as I’m needed.”

Twilight gazes down at her hooves, still frozen in place. Starswirl closes the distance the young alicorn was unable to, and lowers his voice appropriately.

“You’re closer to finding your friend.”

Twilight Sparkle lifts her head. She recalls the images Featherweight had shown her before, hairs rising on the back of her neck.

“It doesn’t feel like it. Even after Canterlot analyzes the photos, it’ll probably be days before we can clamp down on a suspect. And I doubt she was working alone…”

Starswirl gives a surprisingly serious look to Twilight.

“Do not lose faith, Princess. Many ponies look to you for leadership. Give them a leader, and they will follow you to the ends of the earth.”

The wind begins to pick up, as debris joins the petals and blades of grass swirling through the air. Twilight turns around to see a dark, vast collection of clouds approaching from the horizon, bright veins of white striking from within. Concerned, Twilight again turns towards Starswirl, who is slowly walking away from her.

“Starswirl, wait!”

The alicorn fights relentlessly for control over her hooves, but none is granted. Her heart races as she faces the maw of the storm, unable to escapes its reach. Small particles begin to pelt her skin, as she closes her eyes and braces for the end.

Twilight gasps, lurching from her bed. It takes her a moment, but she begins to recognize the room as her own. The little light seeping in through the window outlines the small sleeping dragon across the room from her, a sight that immediately calms Twilight. She lays back down in the bed, pulling the blankets over her with a telekinetic grasp.

It would be quite some time before she would again fall asleep; time Twilight uses to hold desperately onto the fading words of Starswirl.

* * *

Cross was a simple stallion. He found comfort in simplicity. Simple was easy to build, easy to explain, and when it broke, simple was almost always easy to repair.

“Mayor are you telling me that I can’t grow corn in the new fields because we’d then have too much food?”

Cross slides his hoof off of the desk, feeling trapped by the question.

“Snow Lily, you know I have nothing but respect for you and your husband. But I simply can’t allow our storages to become unbalanced. We know precisely how much we’ll need for winter.”

Vivid blue eyes closely watch the ponies discuss.

“Fine. But when famine breaks out, I’ll remind you of this conversation.”

Snow begins towards the door with her nose held high, not even noticing the pink pony standing in the shadows. An earth pony with a light yellow coat nudges at Pinkie Pie, spurring her to approach the two ponies behind the mayor’s desk. Her mane is wildly unkempt, and hastily applied streaks of cyan populate the pink mess.

“Good morning, Mayor. I’ve come to your humble town with a proposition.”

Pinkie Pie offers the ponies a practiced bow, tightening the chain between her hoofcuffs.

“You’ve come to my ‘humble town’ in chains; and rightfully so. No one can just—walk into Hollow Shades.”

Pinkie raises her snout from the floor, lifting her hoof as far as the chains would allow her to.

“Not even an Element of Harmony?”

Cross glances over to his assistant, who is watching the pink pony closely.

“Yes, that’s where I know you; you’re Pinkie Pie. You and your friends defeated the Queen of Changelings!”

“Uh—I also single-hoofedly saved all of Ponyville from a swarm of Parasprites. No one seems to remember that.”

The mayor’s next question isn’t easy to choose.

“Why did you come here?”

The mare’s signature smile makes its way around her muzzle.

“I’ve recently aquired a theme park from my good friend ‘Mr. Top’. I believe I have what it takes to nurture it into something truly spectacular—but I’ll need extra hooves.”

Cross raises a brow.

“And you’ve come to our town to recruit them?”

“I can sweeten the deal. Tonight I invite the entire town of Hollow Shades to the grand re-opening of the park for a magnificent show! Admittance is completely free!”

An awfully ambitious plan, the mayor thinks to himself.

“You have the finances for this?”

Her smile grows.

“Defeating that Queen of Changelings wasn’t exactly community service.”

The four ponies remain silent for a moment, and the soft chirps and barks of the outside world finally make themselves known.

“Please give us a moment to discuss this matter in private, Pinkie Pie.”

In response Pinkie tests the strength of the cuffs, waving an arm before the mayor.

“I’m not going anywhere.”

Cross motions the guard with a hoof.

“Yes I apologize about that; Officer? Could you…?”

The yellow colt nods his head, and begins to unlock the cuffs restraining Pinkie’s forehooves. The mayor steps back to speak with his consultant.

“I don’t like this, Victor. Element of Harmony or not, she looks… off.”

The mayor’s assistant watches Pinkie Pie while speaking with a hushed voice.

“She’s not lying about the money. I know Top personally; that old man loved his park way too much to haggle the price.”

“I’m not concerned about the money, I’m concerned about her.”

The guard finally removes the hoofcuffs entirely, prompting Pinkie Pie to rub the exposed tender flesh. The mayor’s eyes catch Pinkie’s, and she waves playfully in his direction.

“Mayor, our relationship with the outside world is… shaky, at best. We play along, endure her show, and maybe she puts in a good word with the other Elements...”

Cross doesn’t like what he’s hearing.

“...maybe even a good word with the Sisters?”

“Hollow Shades was built to be independant from the ‘outside world’. We don’t need favors.”

Victor steps closer to his friend, lowering his voice even further.

“I mention this because the alternative—to deny her—might not sit well with Canterlot. Do you recall the Wonderbolt incident last year, when we had to beg to keep the outer woods?”

The Mayor cringes, remembering the details vividly.

“What do we have to lose?”

Cross considers the question; the town could use a break. As the two turn towards the lively pony, Pinkie looks back, eager for an answer.

“Pinkie Pie, you understand that we can make no promises about having spare workers for your carnival?”

“Ab-so-lutely!”

The citizens of Hollow Shades share one last glance, before the mayor steps forward and attempts to match Pinkie’s optimism.

“Then I suppose you will have your ‘Grand Re-opening’.”

* * *

Twilight finds Rainbow Dash drifting along the skies, lethargically pushing storm clouds away. Before the princess can approach, a pegasus with a curly blue mane steps between the two.

“Princess Twilight! I’m so glad you’re here.”

Twilight grudgingly plants her hooves back on the earth, and speaks with the mare.

“Hello, Lightning. Is she okay?”

White Lightning follows Twilight’s hoof to find the culprit, her head hanging low.

“I don’t know; she’s been like this all day, and we’re behind on the storm schedule...”

The pegasus receives a nod from her princess.

“I’ll try to talk to her. In the meantime you can help with the town square, if you’d like.”

“Of course, Princess.”

Twilight Sparkle waits until the pony was out of sight, then flies up to the dark cloud her friend held on to.

“Rainbow Dash?”

The cyan pegasus pulls her head from the cloud pillow, and attempts to hide the pain in her eyes.

“Hey, Twilight…”

The alicorn flies closer to Dash, offering a sympathetic expression.

“I’m pretty new to this whole weather thing, but I can try to help out if you like.”

“No, you don’t have to do that. I’m sorry, I guess I fell a little bit behind.”

Rainbow Dash immediately begins kicking at the surrounding storm clouds, dissolving them back into their primal elements.

“Is it Pinkie Pie?”

Dash stops, facing away from Twilight. The answer comes not from Rainbow’s lips, but the stillness of the air.

“You’re worried.”

The pegasus finally looks over her shoulder to face Twilight, her eyes growing pink.

“I’m mad…”

Twilight Sparkle abstains from commenting, instead allowing Dash to explain.

“She’s our friend; she had faith in us…”

The two share a moment of silence as Rainbow strains for her next words.

“...she had faith in me.”

“Dash, this isn’t anyone’s fault. No one could have seen this coming.”

Rainbow Dash turns away from Twilight, not quite satisfied with her coddling.

“I could have been there…”

Distraught, the princess approaches Dash from behind and lays a hoof on her back. Twilight can feel the mare tense up.

“They have to know who she is. When they feel comfortable with their terms, they’ll offer us a deal. And no amount of money will stand between us and Pinkie Pie.”

Rainbow’s eyes again meet Twilight’s, a glimmer of hope present.

“You really believe that?”

Twilight thinks hard. The truth was, she didn’t know these ponies; she wasn’t even sure that they’d be interested in something as mundane as bits. If Pinkie was alive, she was likely facing a fate far worse than death.

“I do.”

* * *

Cross is taken aback by the size of the Big Top. It was impressive from the outside, but its magnitude shines ever more brightly from within. Many rows of seats bordered the tent, cascading towards the center. Ponies rush pass the mayor, eager to find a seat close to the show. Cross stays back, weary of his surroundings.

“Welcome everypony! Please, have a seat; the show will be starting soon!”

Pinkie Pie stands in the center of the stadium, atop a large crate of supplies. Her wild mane had taken every opportunity it had to protrude from underneath her top hat.

“Nothing can prepare you for the marvel and magnificence of the mag-marvelous Sugar Valley!”

A gentle hoof prod draws Cross’s attention to his assistant.

“We’d better grab seats, Mayor.”

The mayor lingers, looking up to find patches of the tent torn through. Not the first indicator of neglect, Cross notes.

“Mayor we should really get moving.”

The stallion finally looks around him, discovering the two ponies were now alone on the ground level.

“Very well, you lead.”

The pair sit in the midsection of the stadium, just off to the side of a set of stairs leading up towards the highest seats. There’s commotion all around, laced with tones of excitement and curiosity. For a few, however, Pinkie’s presentation so far had only been met with skepticism. This includes Cross, who watches as Pinkie circled around the tent, closing the tall metal gates that bordered the stadium. Cross was just close enough to see the sign posted on the bars, bearing a comic depiction of a frowning filly reaching through the bars and getting her hoof mauled off by a tiger.

“Thank you soooo much for coming everypony! I’d like you to be the first to bear witness to the birth of something special!”

The lights around the stadium dim, plunging the crowd into darkness. Only Pinkie remains visible, a spotlight shining brightly onto her coat.

“Please; enjoy!”

The stadium erupts into thunderous stomping as Pinkie leaps from the container, the wooden walls falling with her descent. A dazzling display of lights and magic burst from within, many swirling colors gracing the ponies’ eyes. It was spectacular; even Cross finds it difficult to look away. His fixation is momentarily broken by the pony next to him.

“Makes you wonder what she needs us for, huh?”

Cross locates the pink mare, standing in the shadows. With every flash of light, her face becomes briefly visible, bearing a smile that seemed to grow between each burst.

The show goes on for more than thirty minutes, box after box being uncovered by Pinkie Pie. Boxes filled with magic, bizarre contraptions, and elaborate festivities. Confetti and ash blankets the ground, and the one surprise that had not yet been revealed. Curiously, this object is much smaller than the others, a sheet hanging loosely over it.

“Thank you all for being such wonderful guests tonight…”

Cross’s eyes wander once again to the metal bars separating Pinkie and the crowd. The night was full of surprises, but the absence of one element was the most perplexing. The mayor leans in towards his assistant.

“Did you see any caged animals outside?”

“No… why do you ask?”

Pinkie steps closer to the covered object.

“I hate to spoil the fun, but there is still a teeny matter of business to discuss.”

The exhilaration of the crowd begins to dissolve into confusion. As Cross scans every inch of the tent, he finds himself to be more encumbered by fear than anything else.

“I simply can’t run an entire carnival alone; especially if this carnival is to match my… vision.”

A pink hoof rests gently on the covered item.

The mayor’s sweep finally brings his muzzle to the floor, where he peers through the vents under their seats.

“Mayor, what are you doing?”

It was dark behind the metal, but the lingering lights from Pinkie’s show expose the contents beneath the stadium. Pipes, beams, wires—and all of it had been clearly tampered with. Cross turns from his discovery just in time to see Pinkie Pie’s final reveal.

“Nevertheless, this show deserves a finale!”

Pinkie tears off the sheet, revealing a valve attached to a rusty pipe.

The mayor’s stomach drops. He becomes paralyzed, unable to look away from the red valve.

“Mayor; what is it? What’s wrong?”

Pinkie Pie looks over the crowd, eventually meeting the mayor’s petrified gaze. Her bright blue eyes shine brightly beneath her hat, and above her toothy smile.

“I posses the loyalty of two hundred ponies…”

The mayor’s mouth begins to twitch as he struggles to finish his words.

“...and I led them straight into their demise.”

Pinkie grips the metal tightly, twisting it with all of her strength.

Panic spreads like wildfire, as thick clouds of gas begin to leak from underneath the hooves of Hollow Shades. Cross shuts his eyes tightly, the cries of his ponies piercing like two hundred knives.

To Pinkie Pie, the screams were a symphony. Her own personal choir. She closes her eyes and tilts her head back, listening to every angelic voice the ponies offered her. She could see it now; this was her future. This, was Sugar Valley.

If only her friends were here.

Reunion

“And you all received one?”

Twilight pulls open her mailbox, finding a solitary pink envelope in the center.

“...We did.”

The letter is unlabeled, save for “Twilight” written carelessly in blue ink.

“And the letters, they all had the same content?”

Twilight cautiously tears the paper with her magic, pulling out two items. The first is a map, highlighting a section of land Northeast of Hollow Shades.

“...They did.”

The second item is a small red ticket; admitting one pony into a carnival named “Sugar Valley”.

“I see.”

Celestia withdraws to silence as her sister steps forward, hoofsteps echoing throughout the throne room.

“If she had escaped her captors, why wouldn’t she just return home?”

One of the few questions Twilight felt she had the answer to.

“It is strange; even for Pinkie. I suspect she hasn’t escaped her captors at all…”

Princess Luna raises a hoof up to her chin.

“...And now they’re baiting the remaining Elements of Harmony.”

Twilight glances away from the alicorn, distraught by the situation.

“Well we can’t just leave her!”

Rainbow Dash makes her way over the other ponies, most of whom gaze helplessly at the castle floor.

“I don’t care if it is a trap; she’s our friend!”

Careless as it may be, Twilight finds validation in Rainbow’s sentiment.

“We won’t leave her. Our friendship has brought us this far, we can’t abandon it now.”

Celestia quietly watches her student fill with confidence and determination. Perhaps it would be best if she ended the meeting on that note.

“Luna; could you please provide supplies for the Elements of Harmony while I speak privately with Twilight?”

Princess Luna only briefly pauses before nodding towards her sister, knowing precisely why she asked. Luna begins to make her way to the door opposite the throne, motioning towards the others.

“Come with me, please. It isn’t a short trip to Hollow Shades.”

One by one the ponies follow their princesses’ request, until only Applejack remains, watching Twilight with a look of concern. The violet alicorn responds non-verbally, providing a nod of the head so subtle one could have overlooked it; one unlike Applejack, who adjusts her hat and turns to catch up with the others.

Celestia waits until the blonde tail disappears into the hall, and the door closes gently behind it.

“We know who captured Pinkie.”

Twilight’s head spins from where her friends just stood, to the princess standing before her.

“Who is it?”

“The stallion’s name is ‘Lane’. He hasn’t been in Equestria in quite some time.”

Twilight Sparkle watches as golden energies materialize a piece of parchment before her, a scowling unicorn sketched on its surface.

“We believe he has been in hiding within the Griffon Kingdoms, after facing banishment in Equestria.”

Twilight holds the drawing with her magic, studying its details.

“Why would you keep this a secret from the others?”

“Lane’s mind is ill. Heinous crimes like his are unheard of; he’s among very few to be exiled.”

Princess Twilight lowers the parchment to watch Celestia as she continues.

“You know your friends better than anyone, and the truth is, I’m not sure how they would handle it.”

Twilight again studies the drawing.

He seems so… normal.

“What was he banished for?”

Celestia watches her student closely, unsure of how she might receive the answer.

“He’s murdered, Twilight.”

The young alicorn feels a chill run down her spine. There hadn’t been a murder in Equestria in Twilight’s entire life.

“He’s murdered, enslaved and tortured ponies… it’s not the ‘right thing’ to do to send you after Pinkie. I doubt I could change your mind, however; even after telling you these things.”

Twilight’s mouth hangs agape, unable to refute. It was true—her emotions had been overruling her logic as of late.

“I won’t condemn sharing this information with your friends. That decision is yours alone to make.”

Princess Celestia unfurls her ivory wings, using her magic to catch a small object that had been tucked behind her feathers. She passes it to the violet alicorn, who observes it with confusion and curiosity. It appears to be a necklace, a small glass container dangling from the golden chain.

“I do ask that you wear this on your journey. The magic inside is sensitive; if disconnected from the chain, it will immediately alert me, regardless of the distance between us.”

A golden aura places the jewelry around Twilight’s neck, her eyes watching the swirling mist within.

“If there is an emergency, please do not hesitate to use that device.”

Twilight was still feeling a little uneasy from Celestia’s words, but can again feel a growing confidence.

“Thank you, Princess. We will bring Pinkie Pie back.”

With renewed energy, Princess Twilight bows before her mentor, and turns towards the large ornate doors at the end of the room. Celestia’s voice interrupts her walk.

“Twilight…”

Quickly turning around to respond, Twilight finds uncertainty in the princess’s eyes; a rare occurrence.

“...You haven’t dealt with a pony like this before. Your instinct will be to defeat him, perhaps with the Elements of Harmony, and then bring him to justice; but things may not be that simple.”

Celestia takes a moment to prepare, inhaling softly.

“I just need to know. If things falls apart, and your life is threatened; are you… prepared to do what’s necessary?”

The blood in Twilight’s veins seems to freeze over.

* * *

A cool breeze rolls gently through Twilight’s newly acquired throne room, as the young alicorn paces frantically along the crystal floor.

“The diary is safe in my room, there’s plenty of food in storage…”

Twilight stops, suddenly turning towards the small purple dragon sitting on the ledge of the princess’s throne.

“Owlicious! Where is—”

“He’s outside, I just saw him flying around the fields.”

Twilight Sparkle sighs in relief, as the young dragon crosses his arms.

“You haven’t even told me where we’re going yet, you know…”

The princess pauses for a moment, readying herself for heartache.

“‘We’re’ not going anywhere.”

Spike’s expression of irritation is gone in an instant.

“...What do you mean?”

Twilight closes her eyes, her back still turned to her number one assistant. When she opened them again, she turns her head just enough for Spike to see her profile lit by the fleeting sun.

“You’re not coming with me, Spike.”The dragon stares blankly at his caregiver. Twilight continues, hoping to avoid as much pain as possible.

“Pinkie’s in a lot of trouble, and—I just don’t want to put you at risk.”

Spike finally finds the time to retort.

“What about the hydra? Or King Sombra? I can handle risk, Twilight.”

“I don’t think this will be like those times…”

The small dragon suddenly grows cross, gripping the armrest of the chair tightly.

“So, what? You’re just gonna leave me here again while you and your friends go on an adventure?”

“It isn’t easy to make these kind of decisions—”

“I DON’T WANT TO BE LEFT ALONE!”

Twilight stands frozen with a lump in her throat, watching as Spike hides his face within his claws. The princess approaches the dragon slowly, until her muzzle is merely inches from Spike’s head.

“Spike; the truth is… I’m scared...”

The violet alicorn looks compassionately at Spike, who was struggling to keep his eyes dry.

“We won’t have the Elements of Harmony, and I’m not even sure…”

Twilight stops herself, shutting her eyes tightly.

“I don’t want to do this; but it has to be done—”

“Celestia and Luna could go, Pinkie’s their friend, too…”

The alicorn shakes her head gently.

“You know they can’t.”

“Why not?”

Twilight dreaded these moments. Moments where every truth stung; and every lie would weigh her down until resolution came.

“I have spent a lot of time away from home recently. How about this: I go to rescue Pinkie Pie, and when I get back, we take a long overdue vacation together. We can go anywhere in Equestria, or beyond.”

The dragon rubs a claw against his eye, eradicating the moisture. There’s a moment of silence as Spike slowly gives in.

“...I would like to see Neighagra Falls...”

The Princess of Friendship smiles, resting a hoof on Spike’s shoulder.

“Then it’s settled. We can leave as soon as I return.”

The young dragon leans into Twilight’s neck, burying his face in her mane. The pony closes her eyes and returns the embrace.

“I love you, Spike.”

Twilight hated contemplating the ‘worse case scenario’. Even so; the princess finds herself maintaining the hug much longer than usual.

* * *

Pinkie stands motionless, staring deep into the eyes of the pony in the cracked mirror. The mare places a hoof against her reflection, running it down the many fissures. The pony in the mirror smiles; staring unblinkingly back at her creator. The pink hoof presses harder and harder against the glass, as Pinkie’s smile grows wider.

Today is a big day.

A distant voice draws Pinkie out of her self-induced trance, as she pulls her bloodied hoof off of the mirror. Ears perked, she waits eagerly for the familiar voice to return.

“Pinkie!”

The pony turns away from her reflection, instead focusing her attention on the stallion behind her.

“Okay! This is it!”

The colt is dressed in a clown outfit. Baggy, striped pants beneath a white mask, concealing his eyes and snout; the latter covered with a large red ball.

“Remember what I told you: we don’t want to overwhelm them, so it’s best you hold the act until the real show begins.”

The stallion groans quietly, as he stands slumped against the wall.

“Okay!”

Pinkie reaches into her mane with her hoof, making hopeless corrections to the mess.

“Showtime!”The five ponies at the front gate all look up with expressions of concern and curiosity, as a bouncing silhouette transforms before them into the joyful pink mare they had missed.

“Hey girls!”

Twilight, without hesitation, runs forward to embrace her friend; the others, slowly follow suit.

“Pinkie… I’ve missed you so much…”

Twilight keeps her muzzle buried in Pinkie’s wild mane, a few tears making their way to the pink fluff. The princess can feel a frightening amount of her friend’s ribs.

Pinkie Pie suddenly gasps, slipping away from her friends’ embrace.

“What are we doing out here? There’s so much to see!”

With a smile on her face, the pink mare quickly spins around, ready to reveal the many wonders of Sugar Valley to her friends. Applejack reaches out with a hoof, interrupting Pinkie Pie’s trot.

“Pinkie, wait—you been gone for weeks now. We’ve all been worried sick about you. Don’t you wanna... go home?”

Pinkie Pie’s smile disappears.

“But you haven’t even stepped hoof in my park!”

Princess Twilight steps forward, feeling obligated to comment.

“Applejack is right. A lot of ponies are anxious to know if you’re okay.”

Twilight glances at the pony’s hooves—scars on one, fresh blood on the other.

“...And you need medical attention.”

“I got these working on the park! You wouldn’t be-lieve what I’ve done to the place.”

The violet alicorn stares at Pinkie, her eyes revealing only concern.

“Uggggh! Well can I at least invite my besties to dinner?”

Twilight turns her head towards her friends. Rarity rubs the back of her neck uncomfortably, and Applejack simply shrugs.

“Fine. But only for dinner—and you have to let Fluttershy help you.”

The unnaturally bright smile and optimism return to Pinkie.

“Done!”

* * *

Pinkie Pie had led the others to a large striped tent, a long table in its center, only half filled by the ponies. Although the sun was now almost entirely beneath the horizon, the tent stayed lit with many vibrant colors, strands of small lights hanging from the ceiling. The table had been filled with delicacies Pinkie had prepared herself—unsurprisingly, then, they were mostly dessert items. More courtesy than hunger, the ponies had consumed a variety of their friend’s treats; Pinkie Pie insisted they each enjoy a cupcake, and the once whole cake and ice cream was now in pieces.

The evening had been uncomfortably quiet, save Pinkie Pie’s rambling. Rarity interrupts a particularly painful silence, motioning towards the pony behind Pinkie.

“Aren’t you going to introduce us to your friend, Pinkie? The one in the fabulous outfit?”

Rarity hoped her statement came off as genuine, as Pinkie Pie turns towards the pony dressed as a sickly clown.

“Don’t expect much from him; dumber than a flock of parasprites, if you ask me!”

The clown makes a hardly audible moan as the guests look around the room uncomfortably.

“You’ll see actors all over my park, each with a vital role.”

Rainbow Dash cocks an eyebrow.

“Actors?”

Rarity cringes, having just seen the food still in Rainbow’s mouth.

“That’s right, Dashie! Sugar Valley isn’t just a boring old amusement park; it’s an experience. Everything here is made just for you guys!”

The ponies at the table exchange confused glances, before Twilight speaks up.

“For us? Specifically?”

“Uh huh! Well—eventually I hope everypony experiences it… but you guys are my best friends, and it’s important to me that I show you first.”

Pinkie Pie pushes her crumb-ridden plate towards the edge of the table, as the princess shakes her head.

“Show us what, exactly?”

A toothy smile creeps onto Pinkie’s face.

“If I could tell you, I wouldn’t need to show you, silly.”

Twilight looks down at her plate, which held the slice of cake she had maybe taken two or three bites out of. She can’t help but ponder her mentor’s words.

“Pinkie, I think—”

A plate that had fallen from the mouth of the clown pony crashes loudly on the ground, just before Pinkie Pie angrily shoots up from her chair.

“FOR FUCK’S SAKE!”

The room grows deathly quiet. Twilight’s hoof lies trembling against her necklace, as Pinkie scratches wildly at the back of her mane.

“Sorry, I’m sorry… this night is just reeeeally important for me…”

The park owner lightly taps the chest of the pony standing next to her.

“Go get something to clean this up...”

The silence continues to draw, many of the mouths in the room wide open.

“Okay; I think we should be starting the tour right about now.”

Twilight finally intervenes, her hoof staying firmly against her chest.

“Pinkie… I think it’s time to return home.”

“No no no no—”

The mare at the end of the table suddenly stops; and turns to the lights hanging from the ceiling.

“No… now is the perfect time to start the tour.”

Confused, the princess glances around the table, noticing the vacant stares of her friends. Fluttershy looks as if she was going to be sick.

“W-what do you…”

Twilight suddenly finds it a struggle to speak, as her words seem to lag behind her mouth. The lights grow brighter, and she slowly turns her head in an attempt to correct her skewed vision.

“After you, ladies...”

Twilight blinks rapidly, unable to adjust her eyes to the darkness outside. Distant lights spin and dance in every direction around her, and occasionally, echoing music would accompany them.

“After you, ladies…”

The alicorn is back inside of the tent, except this time she is alone. She holds onto the table with as much strength as she can muster, feeling all of the forces of the world prying her towards the sky.

Looking up from the table, Twilight finds herself back in the cold, her friends leaving colorful trails of light all around her.

“P-Pinkie… how much much further?”

A scream sounds brightly over the music, Twilight unable to find the source.

“Come on, slowpoke!”

A pink hoof lays on Twilight Sparkle’s shoulder, the princess gasping as it seems to stretch without end. The violet alicorn stumbles, landing in a sticky mess. From her spot on the ground, Twilight looks up, the world seeming to materialize before her eyes. Tents and rides stretch miles into the sky, their tips quivering and rippling among the stars.

“Ekopwols no emoc!”

“It’s the largest in Equestria!”

Twilight follows the bouncing pink blur to a stall behind the melting roller coaster. Hundreds of shadowy figures surround the two, many in horrific and grotesque costumes.

“Wanna bite?”

Pinkie extends a cone filled with her fluffy pink mane, as Twilight fights to focus her eyes.

Who are they?

The violet mare wonders why Pinkie wouldn’t answer.

“I need to f-f-find my friends now…”

Intense, burning white lights force Twilight to squint as she enters the small room.

“Come on, slowpoke!”

Twilight strikes the air next to her.

“I nnnneed a bathroom…”

Pinkie Pie’s bright blue eyes and smile are frighteningly large.

“What are you doing in here, sillillilly billy?”

The alicorn raises a hoof at the shape on the floor.

“The smell—”

The bright lights begin to dim, and Twilight can make out more of the room.

“Pinkie!”

Princess Twilight stumbles back against the window as the muddled shape before her transforms into a fly-covered corpse.

“Yeah! I can’t believe I haven’t gotten around to that yet!”

Face against the glass, Twilight finds herself trapped by the smell.

“Pinkie…”

You have no idea how happy I am that you’re here…

“G-get out of my head…”

Twilight presses herself harder against the window, a strand of saliva hanging from her mouth. The foul odor is replaced by the scent of candy and cake as Pinkie gently grabs Twilight.

“I’m awake, Twilight.”

Pinkie Pie’s warm breath settles on the alicorn’s ear.

“A thousand voices surround me; and I’m listening to every one.”

Twilight begins to feel her strength fade, as she hears Pinkie with sudden clarity.

“You come to me a foal—deaf to their song.”

A world of darkness begins to slip over the princess, Pinkie Pie’s voice the only thing that remains.

“But I will teach you to listen...”

Elements Asunder

A smiling Applejack looks at Twilight, both hooves wrapped around her family. Aj’s signature hat is resting crooked on Applebloom’s head, her face frozen with laughter. The princess finds herself staring at the framed picture, and the many that surrounded it, longer than she had ever stared at them before.

“I packed plenty food for us all; should cover us through the week.”

Twilight finally spins around to see her friend sealing a saddlebag stuffed to the brim.

“That being said—if you think ya’ might get sick of apples… and, apple derivative foods, you may wanna pack some of your own grub…”

The violet alicorn smiles warmly.

“You’ve always been the most grounded, Applejack. Sometimes I think it should be you wearing this crown.”

Applejack cocks a brow, a bit confused by Twilight’s comment.

“I do my best to protect my family; but I hardly believe I could do the same for an entire country…”

Twilight Sparkle turns back around, slowly walking towards no particular destination.

“...Seems like just yesterday I was living alone in the Canterlot library, a mere student.”

“You feeling alright, Twi?”

The two lock gazes, Twilight staring from beneath her bangs. Her voice feels lodged in her throat.

“Applejack… Princess Celestia told me about the captor; about Lane.”

The earth pony nods.

“Well… what’d she say?”

“Lane, he isn’t like other ponies, he’s done… terrible things.”

“You don’t mean…”

Twilight looks up from the floorboards, allowing the silence to answer. Mouth hanging open, Applejack removes her hat and holds it to her chest.

“I—I can’t believe…”

A breeze rolls through the window in the small room, testing the candle on the desk.

“There’s something else Celestia told me…”

Applejack looks up at the princess, wondering what could possibly follow up the news she had just heard.

The two ponies spend most of the evening in that room. After, they walk out in total silence, making their way to a door open just a crack at the end of the hall. Twilight stays back and watches as her friend steps into the room, talking softly to the smiling filly with a bow in her mane. After a while, Aj pulls the blankets over her sister, kisses her on the forehead, then blows out the candle burning next to her. As Applejack slowly returns to the doorway, Twilight stares at the floorboards beneath her, thoughts drifting back to her assistant.

In silence still, the two ponies then proceed downstairs, and to the entrance. Twilight grabs the door handle with her magic, standing still as Applejack walks into the kitchen. After she could no longer hold her gaze on her own reflection in the handle, Twilight looks over her shoulder, watching Applejack wrap a kitchen knife in thick paper. The alicorn then opens the door all of the way, exposing herself to the chilling night wind.

* * *

There was a strong, metallic scent in the air. Twilight, returning from a foggy sleep, begins twisting her head from side to side. Bright lights and sounds surround the pony, leaving Twilight unaware of her environment.

“Where…”

A pink blob emerges from the array of dark and dry colors.

“Don’t worry, Twilight. You should be back with us soon enough.”

Pain shoots through Twilight’s back, as she slips in and out of consciousness.

“Pinkie…”

The pink mare’s chest rubs against Twilight’s head as the earth pony moves closer. The metallic scent of before is briefly subdued by the strong smell of cotton candy.

“There’s so much to show you!”

Twilight Sparkle looks up at her friend’s smile, Pinkie’s head blocking out the vivid light behind her. Twilight’s surroundings are briefly visible, and she’s finally able to deduce her position.

“The others…”

The smile grows larger, and Pinkie playfully pushes against Twilight’s chest, sending her into a dizzying spin.

“Don’t worry about them; our friends are all as safe as timber wolves in a forest fire!”

Twilight’s eyes widen in shock.

“Oh—no, that came out wrong, didn’t it?”

“Please, Pinkie… I need to find them…”

The princess winces as Pinkie pulls her face close to her own, Twilight noticing dark bags under her friend’s eyes.

“Worry, worry, worry. That’s all you ever do, Twilight!”

It feels as if all of her blood had rushed to the alicorn’s head. The mare fights relentlessly to maintain consciousness.

“I’ll worry about the others, you worry about having the time of your life! ‘Kay?”

Pinkie’s hooves clop sharply against the floor, as she releases the alicorn and quickly turns away.

“Our friends… please, I have to know if they’re… if they’re…”

Exhausted, Twilight allows her head to fall all the way back, as she again slips into the abyss.

* * *

“T-twilight…?”

The princess stands motionlessly in the Ponyville plaza, watching the only other pony there with her.

“Twilight c-can you hear me...?”

The pony’s back is turned, not willing to greet Twilight. He didn’t have to; Twilight knew who he was.

“Oh, please wake up…”

Twilight opens her eyes to find herself nearly muzzle to muzzle with a familiar pegasus.

“Fluttershy; you’re okay!”

The violet pony eagerly wraps her forehooves around Fluttershy’s neck, laying her own head against the pony’s soft coat. Fluttershy manages a weak smile, then slowly brings a hoof up to complete the embrace. As Twilight regains all of her senses, she pulls back from her friend and stares into her tear-glazed eyes.

“The others; do you know where they are?”

Fluttershy tenderly rubs her eyes as she responds.

“No… Pinkie Pie; she took them somewhere, s-she wouldn’t tell me where…”

A hoof prods frantically at Twilight’s chest, searching for a particular amulet.

“I can’t believe this… What happened to her?”

Fluttershy sits quietly, looking just off to the side of Twilight. The alicorn closes her eyes and inhales slowly. As she exhales, she opens her eyes and begins scanning the room before her.

“Okay; we need to regroup. Which means we need to get out of here.”

It was a poorly cared for, dimly lit room. There were metal shelves full of strange tools and electronic components, the stone floor cluttered with stains and debris. There were no windows, and there was one door.

“We have to go, we don’t know how long—”

As Twilight stands up, sharp pain surges through her head, bringing the pony back to the floor.

“Agh!”

The princess sets a hoof on her forehead, just grazing the base of her horn. With a worried look on her face, Fluttershy leans in to console her friend.

“Twilight, you’re in no condition to move around right now; please, just—”

The alicorn brushes the yellow hooves off of her, intent on leaving the room.

“Our friends could be in danger! We can’t just sit here…”

The sharp pain immediately returns as Twilight stands again, but she fights against it, using the shelves as support while she slowly makes her way to the door.

“Twilight, please; you can’t.”

Grimacing in pain, the violet pony turns her head over her shoulder. Her gaze first looks over the pegasus’ face, tears again edging Fluttershy’s eyes; then, Twilight looks further down, noticing something she hadn’t when her friend was sitting partly obscured by the shadows.

“Fluttershy… you’re bleeding…”

The pegasus briefly looks down at her hooves, which were both caked in blood.

“No, it’s not mine.”

Twilight cocks a brow as she sits one of her forehooves against the shelf for stability.

“Who’s—”

“Pinkie, she—she said she ‘has rules’… and that we were all violating them…”

Fluttershy’s lips quiver as she struggles to carry on.

“A-after… she asked that I help everypony get better… to save—”

“After what?”

Tears begin to make their way down Fluttershy’s cheeks.

“She—she… Twilight, I-I couldn’t…”

The pony begins to break down before she can finish, sobbing uncontrollably as she runs for the door.

“Fluttershy, wait!”

The pegasus bursts through the door, it squealing as it swings on its hinges. The door slams against the wall outside of it, then drifts almost all the way back into its original position, a crack of light remaining. Twilight slowly makes her way to the exit, hobbling with three hooves as the other continued to use the shelf for support. She stops at the end of the rusty shelves, able to smell the dew-ridden grass on the other side of the door. Instinctively, she consults her magic to open it.

“AHH!”

The pain doubles as she attempts a simple levitation spell. A moment after the shock, Twilight looks back at the spot she had woken up in, realizing the stains on the floor had actually been small pools of blood.

Twilight’s heart skips a beat. Sweat begins to surface from under her coat as she again searches the room. She can see a small reflection peaking out from under an object covered with a tarp. The alicorn stands deathly still for a moment, watching the small reflection near the floor. Pushing off of the shelf, she then begins to make her way over to the tarp.

Her pain ridden journey across the room ends shortly, leaving her alone with the covered mirror. Twilight’s heart begins to beat violently as she pushes a hoof against the dirty cloth separating her from her reflection. In one swift motion, the pony tears off the tarp, revealing a tall mirror with a large crack running down the center.

Tears begin to seep out from under Twilight’s eyes. The alicorn shakes as she can finally see herself, her midsection covered with bloodied bandages. Her wings were gone—and her horn had been crudely sawed off, only chipped bone remaining. Twilight stares at her reflection in disbelief. Flexing the phantom muscles, she can still feel her wings flapping.

The pony’s head slowly comes to rest against the cold mirror, as Twilight loses all composure, and cries relentlessly together with the mare in the mirror.

* * *

The sun was preparing to rise over the park. A low hanging layer of fog rolled through, obscuring the already faded booths and attractions. Litter was strewn about; newspapers, plastic cups, and wrappers all surrounded the two ponies who walk solemnly through the fairgrounds. They remain in close proximity, eyeing the many costumed ponies that drifted aimlessly around them.

“Why won’t any of them help us?”

Twilight had retired her stare to the ground, only half listening to her friend.

“I don’t know. Maybe Pinkie Pie asked them not to.”

The princess’s eyes creep up to Fluttershy’s back. Her wings were bandaged—poorly. As the pegasus had described it, Pinkie had opted to break Fluttershy’s wings instead of removing them, fearing the blood loss from cutting may have been too difficult to manage by herself.

Twilight Sparkle closes her eyes, attempting to ignore the reality.

“What’s that?”

When the alicorn again opens her eyes, she didn’t even need the pegasus’ pointing hoof to find the tower of smoke in the distance.

“Stay close!”

Twilight abandons her slow walk in favor of an energetic canter, excited by the prospect of distracting her mind.

The light gray fog begins to give way to heavy, dark smoke as the two near the point of interest. They keep their distance, but even several meters away the flames batter the ponies’ coats with heat. Twilight squints, attempting to make out what was burning so vividly.

The makeshift bonfire appears to be raging over a wooden chariot, surrounded by piles of lumber. The paint had all burnt away, but the design seems somehow familiar to Twilight.

“HELP!”

Fluttershy and Twilight look towards each other, both silently asking if the other pony had heard the cry as well.

“PLEASE, ANYONE!”

The princess tenses up.

“It’s Applejack!”

Twilight and Fluttershy race towards the desperate cries, stumbling upon the entrance to a western-themed rollercoaster.

“APPLEJACK!”

“Twilight! Please, hurry Twilight!”

The alicorn can’t actually see up into the station where Aj’s voice came from, but only a short set of wooden ramps lies between the two ponies.

“Hold on Applejack, we’re coming up!”

Hastily, Twilight Sparkle makes her way up the ramps, Fluttershy following closely behind. When they arrive at the top, they find two cars designed to look like train engines docked at the station, Applejack struggling against the ropes that bind her to the one in the rear.

“Quick, come untie me!”

Without hesitating, the two ponies gallop over to their friend, Twilight immediately checking the ropes behind Applejack. The bindings seem to wrap over the pony’s abdomen dozens of times.

“Where’s Rainbow ‘n Rarity?”

“We don’t know; I was hoping you were all together…”

Twilight steps back around the car, and faces Applejack.

“I’m going to have to chew through it.”

Aj nods, and Twilight leaps into the front seat of the car, beginning to bite through the thick ropes. Fluttershy stands on the platform above the tracks, shaking ever so slightly. She notices a figure standing near the coaster control panel, wearing faded clown apparel.

“P-please, help us?”

Twilight briefly pauses her chewing, looking over her shoulder at the mysterious pony. Applejack turns her head as far as she can, being able to just make out the violet pony in her peripherals.

“Twilight; she took our bags...”

The calm tone Applejack used surprises the princess. When she turns back around, Aj’s face explains everything.

“I know.”

Twilight returns to gnawing, small threads getting stuck between her teeth as the ropes severe.

The three ponies freeze in shock, as the station abruptly comes to life. The dim lights hanging from the ceiling light the tracks, a rusted cowpony animatronic springs awake, and cautionary boom gates lower themselves on either side of the cars, accompanied by the familiar warning tone and flashing lights of a railroad crossing. Twilight looks up to the control deck, watching the masked clown pony slowly slide a hoof off of the panel in front of him.

“Wooohoo! Y’all ready for a rodeo?”

The animatronic makes metallic grinding noises as it shifts its limbs about.

“Twilight—”

“Right…”

Sweat begins to creep down the alicorn’s forehead as she chews relentlessly at the ropes. The pony at the controls brings their hoof back up, this time pulling a large lever. Twilight ignores the sound of a pneumatic release in front of her, focusing all of her concentration on getting her friend out of there.

She hadn’t made it halfway through ropes as the clown pony begins to make their way down to the station.

“T-twilight!”

The violet pony lifts her head, then spins it the direction Fluttershy’s pale face is looking. Just as she had done so, the clown-dressed pony swings a heavy hoof at Twilight, striking her in the muzzle. She recoils in pain, nearly falling to the ground. The clown pony continues to silently move towards Twilight.

“Ahh!”

Pain washes over the alicorn as she instinctively attempts a stun spell. During her recovery, she is again struck by the pony walking towards her, this time causing blood to run out of one of her nostrils.

“Oh my goodness!”

With a sudden burst of adrenaline, Twilight dashes forward, tackling the other pony to the ground. The two begin to struggle, hooves on each others’ necks, as Twilight refers to Fluttershy from behind a grimace.

“The ropes!”

“R-right…”

Fluttershy leaps onto the rollercoaster car, picking up where Twilight had left the bindings.

A mechanical whirring grows louder and louder; Aj momentarily ceasing her struggle as she watches a thin piece of metal bound to chain slide underneath the car in front of her.

“Guys—”

Twilight grunts in pain as she’s thrown onto her back by the clown. Pushing her attacker’s head away, she’s able to look behind her, watching the lead car from an upside down perspective. The chain system latches, and begins to pull the mock train engine up the long wooden incline, producing a loud, rhythmic clicking.

“AAGH!”

The princess rolls over, exchanging positions with the clown pony. Applejack’s eyes are unblinking as they run up the hill before her, to the towering apex the car is headed towards. It appears that in the distance, the tracks simply end, ramping straight into the raging bonfire.

“I don’t mean to pressure ya’, Fluttershy; but I seriously doubt we have much time…”

The pegasus responds with a frightened whimper, working as fast as she is able. Applejack can barely hear Fluttershy over the two ponies fighting behind her. It frustrates Applejack how helpless she is; she can’t even turn her head far enough to see her friends. All her eyes can focus on was the car ahead of her, the chain having successfully brought it to the top of the hill. A lump forms in Aj’s throat as she watches the car speed relentlessly down the hill, off the tracks, and crashing into the flames below.

The train that Applejack is bound to slowly moved forward, tears edging Fluttershy’s eyes as she fights to cut the ropes.

Near the back of the room, Princess Twilight stands a good distance from the her attacker, catching her breath as she waits for the pony to lunge. Twilight lays a hoof on her shoulder, rubbing the bruised spot lightly. She can hear the stallion panting like a dog, the alicorn fixated on the mask’s lifeless plastic eyes.

Twilight is ready when the clown pony again charges, dodging to the left and then following through with an elbow to the pony’s abdomen. The stallion makes a muffled grunt, losing his balance and tumbling onto the wooden tracks. Twilight hops down to join him, unloading a string of wild punches directed at the face of the colt before her. Adrenaline courses through Twilight’s veins as she connects several hits, the fourth of which knocks the mask loose, exposing the pony’s chin.

Gritting her teeth, Twilight makes one last powerful attack, sending the entire mask flying off to the side. The now exposed pony slowly returns his head to its original position, Twilight gasping in shock as she sees the stallion’s face for the first time. His coat had been peeled back past his eye sockets; bone visible at the muzzle, dark layers of flesh and muscle running all the way back to the flaps of skin dangling around his head, creating a sort of grotesque lion’s mane.

The car behind her jolts to life, the shock knocking Twilight onto her bandaged back, sending waves of pain through her muscles. The alicorn shakily drags herself backwards with her forehooves, attempting to escape the nightmarish scene before her.

The stallion had begun to flail about wildly, creating blood-curdling howls that pierce deep into Twilight’s ears. The pony brings a hoof up to his face while making fiendish cries, in an effort that almost appears to be some form of embarrassment. Twilight freezes in place as the creature before her locks its soulless, bloodshot eyes with her own.

“Twilight!”

The alicorn turns on her back and faces Fluttershy, who had paused her task to show her concern for Twilight.

“Keep cutting!”

With animalistic fury, the tormented stallion grabs Twilight’s back leg, pulling himself closer to the pony. The princess responds with a violent kick to his head, freeing herself to catch up with the coaster. She climbs the tracks to where the car is slowly being dragged to the top, the warmth of the rising sun suddenly resting on her coat.

“How close?”

Fluttershy turns her head to answer, before her eyes widen in shock.

“WATCH OUT!”

Twilight turns just in time for the sickly pony to hit her square in the jaw. The pony stumbles, her phantom wings extending themselves as she wobbles on the edge of the track. With no time for recovery, the princess is shoved by her attacker, Twilight’s heart dropping as she’s sent over the edge of the wooden tracks. A hoof just barely grabs the ledge, preventing the pony from making a twenty meter drop. Even so, the stallion above her falls to his haunches, extending his head far enough down to be within biting distance. Twilight closes her eyes and turns her head, blood and saliva raining down on her as the creature gnashes and bites like a rabid animal.

The pony’s grip was slipping. Twilight attempts to drown out the horror above her, tears seeping from her tightly shut eyes as she prepares for her fate. Just as her hoof is preparing to release, the creature howls out, Twilight opening her eyes in time to see Fluttershy standing in his place. The princess briefly turns her head, regretting her decision when she finds the beast laying still on the ground, his leg twisted at an unnatural angle.

“Pull me up…”

Fluttershy helps her friend regain her grip, aiding the princess as she uses the last of her strength to heave her body back onto the tracks.

“Applejack.”

The two rush to the pony bound to the car, now nearing the fifty meter apex of the coaster. Twilight tears aggressively at the ropes, before instead climbing to the front of the train and pulling the earth pony from under her exposed arms. Applejack muffles a scream of pain, using her strength to slip out of the remaining ropes.

The train makes a distorted whistling sound as it plunges into the flames below, Twilight and Applejack watching it from above. Twilight Sparkle bows her head, struggling to catch her breath.

“I wouldn’t of made it if you didn’t show up, Twi’…”

A violet hoof rests against Twilight’s stomach, as she suddenly feels close to vomiting.

“We’d both be gone, if Fluttershy hadn’t saved my life.”

Fluttershy turns her head towards her friends, but refrains from saying a word.

“We gotta find the others. Who knows what Pinkie has planned…”

Fearing that more than words would spill out if she opened her mouth, Twilight opts to nod in agreement with Applejack.

The ponies begin to make their way safely back down to the station, Aj pausing to lay a hoof on Fluttershy’s shoulder.

“It’s a big park, Twi’... where do we even start?”

Twilight and Applejack walk slowly and cautiously down the incline, rubbing shoulders in their effort to keep clear of the ledge.

“I don’t know. Actually, maybe we should take advantage of the coaster and get a better vantage—”

After carefully turning around, the alicorn freezes in place. Fluttershy’s tear-stricken face keeps Twilight glued to the tracks beneath her.

“Fluttershy.”

The pegasus sniffs, a tear drop making the long fall to the grass below.

“T-the stallion… I…”

Twilight slowly steps into the light, cast from the magnificent rising sun behind her.

“He wasn’t—’pony’, anymore. You—you had no other choice.”

Fluttershy shakes her head, a stray hair getting stuck on her face with the help of the leakage from her eyes and nose.

“I c-can’t do this!”

Both Twilight and Applejack had been slowly stepping towards the pegasus, freezing immediately as Fluttershy’s back hoof steps halfway over the edge.

“Fluttershy—listen to me, Fluttershy. We’re gonna find our friends; and we’re gonna get home. Okay? W-we’re gonna be alright, just please step back from—”

“Y-you don’t know that!”

A pain sinks through the two ponies trying to save their friend. Twilight’s throat goes dry, the alicorn knowing perfectly well how in the dark they really were. She swallows the lump in her throat, her composition seemingly bound by a single thread.

“...No. But I believe it. Please—come with us.”

A silence settles over the ponies, Fluttershy’s sobbing becomes softer and softer, until the pegasus can hardly be heard at all.

“Come on; take my hoof…”

The princess stands unwavering, violet hoof extended, and bathed in the warm morning light. Applejack holds her breath as Fluttershy’s glance swaps between the open hoof and its owner, all ponies under a blanket of silence.

Fluttershy then speaks with sudden clarity.

“I’m sorry.”

Twilight’s eye twitches. In the next moment, she is diving towards the edge, reaching as far as her muscles would allow.

But Fluttershy had been quicker. The pegasus leaps gracefully backwards, legs limp at her sides. Twilight lands on her stomach, with her empty hoof dangling off the side of the tracks. She lies there, wide-eyed, fixated on the yellow blur that quickly grows smaller and smaller.

She lies there, petrified with shock. Applejack falls to the tracks, over encumbered with misery, wailing into the chipped wood beneath them.

Twilight doesn’t hear any of this. Every neuron in her brain had dedicated itself to rendering the image of Fluttershy, just as her weight had shifted over the edge. There’s an empty look on the pegasus’ face; her pink mane enveloping it quickly, flapping violently in the wind.

Tears begin to pour down Twilight’s face, as she slowly realizes that images were all that remain.

All That Remains

The door swings open with force, Shining Armor coming through with an intense scowl. Princess Cadance stirs from her spot on the bed, utterly clueless as to why her husband is so upset.

“Shining…?”

“I can’t believe her.”

Cadance sits up, wings stretching out.

“Who?”

“Fucking Celestia!”

Shining Armor flails his head away from the princess, and begins to pace vigorously.

“Okay… calm down; what happened?”

The ivory unicorn suspends his trot around the room to speak with his wife.

“You remember ‘Clay’, from Canterlot?”

Princess Cadance leans her head back, ever so slightly.

“Ah, maybe; we visited with a lot of ponies on our last trip—”

“He’s in the Guard—it doesn’t matter, point is he just sent me a letter explaining that Princess Celestia sent my sister and her friends after a fucking psychopath!”

A scroll suspended in a magenta field of magic lands on the bed in front of Cadance. She unfurls the crackling paper, reading over the letter as Shining approaches his closet.

“‘Lane’? I’ve never heard of him…”

The alicorn cranes her neck trying to understand her husband’s intentions.

“It’s like reading a horror novel, looking at his file.”

A frown forms on the mare’s muzzle as she watches Shining Armor walk out of the closet with his helmet under his leg.

“He’s killed ponies, Cade.”

The princess rests the scroll on the sheets next to her, looking sympathetically at her mate.

“I don’t doubt that he sounds insane—but you read the letter, they have Pinkie Pie!”

The helmet hits an end table with a metallic clack, Shining returning to the closet to retrieve the rest of his gear.

“She should have told us!”

“I’m sure she has her reasons.”

The ivory unicorn steps out of the closet with a suit of armor held in his levitation.

“Why are you defending her?”

“Honey, you have your own obligations now.”

The metal plates lay down on the wooden floor with the help of Shining Armor’s magic.

“It’s in the interest of my ‘obligations’ to protect the Elements of Harmony.”

“I mean as a father.”

Shining freezes, his back turned to his wife. Princess Cadance seizes the moment.

“It’s your decision to make. I just don’t want you to make it on an impulse.”

The unicorn’s nerves relax, and Shining Armor has a moment to reflect on the princess’s words.

With the dawn having made its way well beyond the horizon, Shining Armor now finds himself in a small room with a mare from the Crystal Guard, as she configures the numerous straps and buckles on the unicorn’s armor. For a while, Shining is able to look sternly in the mirror before him, a sense of duty permeating his stance. But as he stares longer from behind his helmet, his shoulders begin to slouch, and his eyes sink toward the floor. Only a framed image on the desk of his wife and foal lifts his gaze back up.

“Sir.”

The ponies in the photograph watch Shining Armor with unmoving, gleeful eyes.

“Commander, sir.”

The ivory unicorn pries his eyes away from the photo, to the mare at his side who presents his sword in her telekinetic grasp. A distraction that lasts for only a short moment, as Shining Armor soon finds himself again staring at the photograph.

As the stallion re-enters his bed chamber, he finds his wife up and moving, combing her mane in front of a lavish vanity. Shining approaches the mare, standing at her side as to converse with Cadance’s reflection.

“Okay. You’re right...”

The unicorn removes his violet helmet with magic, tossing it onto the bed at their side.

“...I imagine it’s time to take a break from that life.”

Princess Cadance pauses her brushing, looking up and smiling warmly at the unicorn.

“I know she’s your little sister; but she’s far from the innocent foal you used to fly a kite with.”

Shining’s own smirk appears as he nods in quiet agreement with the alicorn.

“I know. Truth is, Twilight’s more capable of handling a fight than I am.”

A warmth grows inside of Shining Armor as the princess reaches up and kisses him briefly on the muzzle. In response, the stallion rests a leg over Cadance’s shoulders, caressing her coat gently.

“She’s going to be alright.”

The two fall into a comfortable silence, Shining Armor admiring the familiar image before him.

* * *

A cool breeze tousles the manes of the two ponies who stand alone in the shadow of wooden colossi. Both of the mares stare solemnly down at a mound of dirt, raised just above the grass around it. Applejack turns her attention to Princess Twilight, who seems to be cradling a small object with one of her hooves. As the hoof rises, the earth pony discovers the curiosity to be a yellow feather, held closely to Twilight’s chest.

A moment passes where the two ponies stand frozen in place, before the princess extends her leg outward, and releases the feather into the wind. Applejack bows her head in silence, wrestling the urge to cry.

Silence draws out long into the evening. The setting sun to their backs, Twilight and Aj watch the crackling flame the earth pony had managed to kindle, keeping the two warm amidst the chilled air. A second, more complex contraption Applejack had built sits behind the mares, a stretched tarp collecting the occasional sprinkling the clouds bring. Neither pony says a word, instead both quietly continuing their futile fight to mentally move onward.

Applejack, still far from content, is the first to overcome the blanketing stillness.

“We should move East tomorrow—toward the back of the park. We woulda seen something up there, if it’d been near the entrance.”

Twilight Sparkle sits motionlessly, continuing to peer into the fire with reddened eyes.

“...I don’t understand… how Pinkie could—”

Suddenly fixated on the hat lying in front of her, Applejack begins to impulsively play with the stitching as she responds to her friend.

“I know. Pinkie had herself some bad days, that’s for sure. But something like this, it—It just don’t add up.”

The violet alicorn closes her eyes and attempts to envision the warmth of the fire coming from a hearth in her castle, listening intently to her friend’s words.

“It’s something I don’t wanna say… but saving Pinkie? I dunno, it just—it feels kinda like…”

“...like there’s nothing left to save?”

Aj’s eyes meet her friend’s for the first time in what seems like forever. The earth pony never mutters a response; but her silence and despairing expression say more than enough for Twilight, who slowly turns her head back toward the flames. The warmth of the fire surrounds the princess, calling her softly to the retreat of a dream.

“It feels like a nightmare…”

Applejack notices her friend begin to nod off. The orange mare stands on her hooves, dusts off her hat, then places it back onto her head.

“Why don’t you get some well deserved rest, Twi’. I’m just gonna go find a little privacy for… you know; private business?”

Twilight’s eyelids momentarily lift back open to give the pony a chance to look at her friend.

“Okay; but be careful, alright?”

The farm pony nods.

“I will. And I ain’t gonna go far, so just holler if you need me.”

Twilight Sparkle returns to the fire’s trance, resting her head against her forehooves.

“Okay…”

Applejack is given a moment to study the alicorn, a pain growing in her chest at the sight of Twilight’s bloodied bandages highlighted in the fire’s glow.

With the brim of her hat hanging low, Aj turns from the scene, and walks into the moonlit fields engulfing their camp. Chills quickly make their way down the pony’s spine, Applejack having left the fire’s glow, its soft crackling replaced with the distant cheerful faire tunes. To the mare’s left lies an alley of glowing booths and attractions, some calling out to her with loud, overly-enthusiastic voices. To her right, a single tree surrounded by a tall chain-link fence, its gate left wide open. The mare begins a slow trot over to the tree.

The gate is surrounded by torn posters and rusting signs, the gate itself blowing softly in the wind, occasionally creating a grating metallic whine. Upon arriving at the tree, Aj supports herself against a plain wooden bench situated under the slow falling of leaves. The area is bare. Aside from a restroom made of concrete, there are no buildings, only garbage bins and dying foliage.

Applejack removes her hat and runs a hoof through her mane, upsetting the mostly uniform direction of her hair. The mare’s hat falls to the ground, as her eyes grow misty, her lips quivering. A soft croak—the remnants of a suppressed sob—escapes from the pony’s mouth. Hopeless to resist, tears begin to make their way steadily out of Applejack’s eyes, her head leaning carelessly against the bark of the tree. The uncharacteristic croaks turn into quiet moans as the mare’s coat collects bits of bark, and tears run uncontrollably down her neck.

Eventually, Aj finds her knees no longer able to support her, and the earth pony falls helplessly from the support of the bench and into the grass. From here, she remains for a moment, viewing the world sideways as she waits out the sobbing and blurred vision. The earth is cold; colder than the wind above it, yet there’s almost a comfort in its touch. To the mare, it was a feeling to embrace when all other feelings have abandoned her; something to remind her which way was up.

After a while, the crying ceases, and Applejack is left alone on the ground with dirt and bark smeared across her face, a long strand of saliva lifting from her mouth and toward the sky. None the less, her dry eyes finally give the pony a chance to see what lies ahead of her, at the edge of a strange jut in the ground.

Slowly, the mare rises to her hooves, taking the opportunity to wipe her muzzle with a forearm. The closer she approaches the scene, the stranger it appears. The earth had been torn open, that much was certain; but it was a small red object at the edge of the rift that holds the pony’s attention.

Upon arrival, Applejack lifts the apple off of the ground and into her hoof. Turning it, she discovers a single large bite had been taken from the fruit. The pony turns her head around, eying the tree behind her. She hadn’t been mistaken; it was a Dogwood that grew alone in the area.

Aj turns back around and slowly creeps toward the edge, peering down at the base. There she lays eyes on a large sewer system; the stone tunnel ceiling having been torn away in what Applejack guessed to be a botched landscaping job. And there on the metal grating floor, lying haphazardly in the corner,

“My bags!”

In a flurry of renewed energy, Applejack rushes to the left of the rift, where the slope is even enough to traverse down. Before she begins her descent, however, the earth pony turns and peers over her shoulder, watching the distant glow of the campfire through the chain-link fence. A small part of her tells her to go back, and return in the morning. Of course, there was no guarantee that she wouldn’t need what was in the bag until tomorrow.

Small rocks and debris cascade down the dirt hill as Applejack slides onto the ceiling of the sewer tunnel. An appalling smell assaults the pony standing above the tunnel, who’s forced to turn from the opening and take a moment to resist vomiting. After recovering, she’s able to cautiously peek over the stone ledge, and get a better look at the room. Conveniently, storage crates had been stacked intermediately between the metal grating and ceiling, allowing an easy way down; and, perhaps more importantly, an easy way out.

Upon landing in the room, lit only by a flickering light hanging above a rusting door, the stench delivers a painful punch to Applejack’s gut, sending the pony dashing for the railing. Aj throws her hooves her over the peeling metal, and vomits violently into the murky water below. The mare remains still for a moment, taking a moment to regain her senses and acclimate as best she can to the environment.

Once recovered, Applejack turns from the railing and looks around to get a better sense of the area. The pony stands in a corner room; behind her and to her right are seemingly endless tunnels, where the grating gives way to a creek of filth surrounded by thin walkways on either side. As the area Aj stands in connects the two tunnels, the creeks meet one another and collect in square space under the metal mesh. And in the corner of the room, propped up against the stained stone wall, are Applejack’s saddlebags.

The pony canters over to the supplies, excitingly opening the flap with her teeth. A burlap sack is the first item visible to the pony, one Applejack immediately recognizes as the bag of apples she prepared for the trip. She gently sets this aside; although not ecstatic about eating food that had sat in a sewer system for twenty-four hours, she feared she might soon not have a choice. As she releases the burlap from her mouth, a figure underneath the grating draws the pony’s attention.

A pony corpse with dried blood leading from its ears and nostrils appears to be lying amidst the waste, its back against the wall. The longer Applejack stares, the more details she notices, like how it appears the mare had had her eyes sewn shut before death.

Aj grimaces, disgusted and baffled by the horrors the park seemed to consistently surprise her with. Unable to stare longer, she returns to the saddlebags.

Two items remained from underneath where the apples once were. Applejack pushes aside the first item, a rolled up map, in favor of the second. She grabs hold of the wrapped item with her teeth, then brings it out of the bag so that she can inspect it. Desperate for assurance that it was still there, she unravels the thick paper to find a familiar blade, gleaming in the light.

“Oh… Thank Celestia…”

Applejack wasn’t excited about using the weapon; but Sugar Valley had long since revealed its ruthless nature, and it came as a relief to know that she could at least fight back.

Remembering that her friend was still lying helplessly next to the fire, Aj rushes to repack her bags. She grabs the burlap sack in her mouth, and hurriedly drops it into the bag. Next she quickly folds the paper back over the knife, nearly cutting herself in the process. Finally, she lifts the covered knife with her teeth, and aims to place it in the bag.

Only the paper isn’t secure; and the blade comes sliding out the end. Applejack scrambles to catch the knife, as it briefly clacks against the rusting metal mesh. The pony’s heart drops as the handle slips between her hooves, and through the metal grating.

For a moment, Applejack can only stare with wide eyes, watching the small ripples dissipate around the spot the knife had just sank through the water. After the cloud of filth that the blade had stirred up fades away that, Aj can just barely make out the gleam of her weapon.

“...SHIT! Shit, shit, shit, shit!”

The pony stands up, unable to believe the situation.

“Damnit!”

Images of her defenseless friend flash before Applejack, who paces the small room in distress. The mare’s eyes eventually settle on the corpse beneath the grating, watching it closely for any signs of movement. Finding none, Applejack squeezes her eyes shut and sighs as her plan comes together.

“Aw, hell…”

The mare drops her hat onto the metal floor, before trotting down a short stairway onto one of the walkways surrounding the sewage. Her reflection is barely visible behind the layer of waste that floats in the water, the stench enough to claim any contents of the pony’s stomach, had it not already been emptied.

With a grimace and an inhale, Applejack forces herself into the river of filth. Her insides immediately find a way to twist themselves further into a knot, the water seemingly eroding the fur surrounding her hooves. Once the grating is reached, Aj is forced to lower herself enough to fit under, so that her belly just grazes the muck.

Having worked on a farm all of her life, Applejack was no stranger to dirty jobs; but wading through a creek of excrement turned out to be a far cry away from the chores she performed at Sweet Apple Acres. The pony opts to pry her focus onto the objective, eyes set firmly on the corner of the room. The mare’s sloshing through the waste only pauses when a sound comes from behind her.

Applejack quickly turns her head, being just able to make out the creature from over her shoulder. The body she had inspected earlier lifts its hanging head, the last of the ripples from Aj’s movement splashing against the ‘corpse’.

The room grows deathly still, as Applejack strains to not move a muscle. The sickly pony against the wall allows its jaw to drop just a few inches, revealing a mouth full of blackened and chipped teeth. Applejack’s heart begins to pound as she silently begs for the creature to be immobile. The orange mare is situated in the center of the room, the creature much too close to either exit for an easy escape.

Fear sinks over Aj as the decaying pony leans forward off of the wall, and lands on its stomach with its hooves extended. The earth pony turns toward the corner once again, and desperately begins to push forward. The soft sounds of the creature behind her—almost like cackling—grow louder as the tortured pony drags itself closer to Applejack. Just before the mare’s destination is reached, a shriveled hoof grabs ahold of her back leg, violently pulling the earth pony back.

The cloudy water splashes all around the two as Aj flips onto her back, flailing helplessly as the creature draws closer in. With a firm grasp on the lively pony, the demon pulls itself up and opens its mouth just above Applejack’s knee, biting down with animalistic force.

“AAAUGH!”

Clouds of blood form around the mare, her cries of pain echoing throughout the tunnels. Adrenaline now coursing through her veins, Applejack lifts her health leg up to her stomach, then ferociously brings it down into her attacker’s face. She does this until the creature is torn from its prey, taking bits of the earth pony’s flesh with it. Now covered in a thickening layer of sweat and muck, Applejack twirls around and begins furiously thrashing toward the corner of the room. Sliding her hooves on the canal floor, she’s able to quickly locate the knife, but is unable to get enough traction to hold it. A quick glance over her shoulder reminds the pony how pressed for time she is, the cackling monster blindly limping toward her.

With all other options exhausted, Applejack seals her eyelids and lips as tightly closed as possible, and forces her head under the water. The creature is quick to follow, grabbing ahold of Aj pinning her down. The earth pony can feel the beast snap and bite at her neck, just scratching the skin. Applejack’s muzzle meets the stone floor, searching desperately for the weapon. Strained for breath and trapped by the weight of her attacker, the mare takes a chance with an object her muzzle grazes, opening her mouth just enough to slip it between her teeth. With her head wound all the way to the right to avoid the monster’s assault, Applejack springs to the side, swinging the object in her mouth.

The edge of the blade sinks into the creature’s neck, who recoils back and off of the earth pony. A long strand of dark blood ejects from the wound, as Applejack resurfaces, and turns on the beast. Amidst hellish squealing and panicked thrashing, the creature is stabbed over and over by the mare, who only ceases after the blade is driven deep into the victim’s eye socket. The monster’s death cry tapers off in a gargled, drawn out moan, the creature itself left lifeless in a growing crimson cloud. Aj prys the knife from its fleshy resting spot, the body delivering one last twitch in its hoof.

Applejack climbs to the walkway, and limps to the nearest wall for support. The blade drops from her mouth, clattering loudly on the stone floor. The pony begins to collapse under herself, shuddering and dry-heaving as she drops. There she remains, just able to lay her head far enough back to see her worn hat resting at the top of the stairs.

“AH!”

Aj winces, receiving a painful reminder of the wound on her leg. The pony is barely able to prop herself up on the stairs, giving herself a better chance to inspect the damage. Blood pours from the open gash, torn muscle clearly exposed.

The mare’s dirt caked mane flops down as she hangs her head in a hopeless attempt to ignore the pain. When she slowly raises it again, it’s not the wound or the hat that holds her attention; but the blood-stained blade, lying just within Applejack’s reach.

* * *

The sky over Ponyville is painted with a myriad of colors, warm reds settling near the earth that give way to a violet streak, and finally end in a vast swathe of blue. Broken and unorganized clouds dot the scene, casting incredible rays of light above the two ponies who stand in awe on the ground. The young, violet mare is the first to speak.

“It’s beautiful…”

Starswirl the Bearded nods quietly in agreement.

“It’s real.”

The princess turns to the side, confused by her friend’s words.

“What do you mean?”

“That—”

The stallion lifts a hoof toward the sky.

“—that’s not our work. No weather team in Equestria could create this.”

Twilight Sparkle turns back again, further studying the intricate chaos.

“This is what was gifted to us; and what was our response?”

A distant, unintelligible voice echoes throughout the field.

“To build a wall around ourselves, one of stone and magic. There’s a world out there, Twilight Sparkle.”

The distant voice returns, more clearly now.

“Twilight!”

Having again worked up the strength to tear herself from the canvas in the sky, Twilight turns her head so that she can watch Starswirl.

“You’re not afraid?”

The bearded unicorn doesn’t move, instead directing his response toward the lurid horizon.

“I’m terrified by it.”

Twilight snaps awake, taking a moment to recognize the crackling fire before her. Her ears perk up, the mare unsure if reality had seeped into her dream.

“Twilight!”

Rushing toward her friend’s cry, Twilight quickly finds herself in a dark field surrounded by a chain-link fence. The desperate pleas for help subside as the alicorn reaches the top of a tear in the ground, Princess Twilight finally able to see her friend.

“Oh my gosh—”

Applejack looks up, her eyes red and her hat lying crooked atop her mane. She’s struggling to limp up the incline before Twilight races down to help.

“Applejack! What happened?”

The stubborn mare extends a hoof to refuse Twilight’s aid.

“I need you to carry my bags back to camp…”

Shifting her weight, the earth pony is able to help her friend move the newly acquired cargo to her own back. Twilight gets her first good look at Aj’s wound in the process.

“Applejack—your leg!”

“I know; we’ll deal with that later…”

The earth pony winces in pain as she takes the last few steps to clear the hill.

“Boil what’s in the water catcher… use it to… disinfect the knife…”

Applejack pauses at the top of the hill, using the time to catch her breath.

“Don’t let me ‘ave swallowed a mouthful of sewage for nothin’... heh…”

With a trembling smirk and tired eyes, Applejack collapses onto the moist earth.

“Applejack! Applejack!”

The soft grass surrounding the mare relaxes Aj, gently coaxing her into a nap.

“It’s alright… just… need some rest…”

Now panicked and shuddering with fear, Twilight Sparkle anxiously nuzzles her friend in an effort to keep her awake.

“Applejack, please! I can’t do this without you!”

Tears begin to pour from the alicorn’s eyes as her muzzle rests against the wounded mare’s chest.

“P-please! Please, I need you!”

The mare’s pleading drifts along the cold air with no one to answer, and the ponies lie alone under cover of the shedding tree.

The Accident

Rainbow Dash gnaws furiously at the thick cloth binding between her hooves. The material is ragged and frayed after having endured hours of desperate gnashing, the blood it drew on Rainbow’s forehooves all dried. Jaw aching and mind frustrated by the short carnival song that had been playing nonstop, Rainbow Dash breathes a sigh of relief at the sound of the binding snapping.

The pony closes her eyes and leans back in the metal cabin. Pain still lingers on her back, near the severed appendages where her wings once were. Freeing her hooves is a relief, but Rainbow Dash continues to feel the crushing defeat about losing the two things that practically defined her. A hoof reaches behind the pony’s back, rubbing the sore spot beneath the bandages gently.

Your friends still need you.

Determination returns to the face of the pegasus, who leans out of the car’s window to get another glance of her surroundings. She sat alone in a capsule that had been rotating slowly on a large, creaking ferris wheel, the base of which was surrounded by an expansive web of barbed-wire. The last thing she notices is a dark, blooming tower; smoke rising over the distant horizon.

“Is that you guys?”

Rainbow’s eyes narrow, and she leans just a little further to watch the car beneath her. Shadowy figures appear to be huddled around each other, quietly enduring the seemingly infinite ride.

“What the hell?”

One of the figures looks up, watching Rainbow Dash with vacant eyes. The others soon follow suit, leading the pegasus to slowly lean back into her cabin.

“Okay… I think it’s time to get out of here.”

The aching mare stands on top of the metal bench, placing a hoof on the edge of the capsule. As the wheel makes yet another slow rotation, Rainbow Dash bends her knees and prepares for a jump. She would have to make an extraordinary leap to clear the barbed-wire.

“Come on!”

The car skirts the ground, having reached the lowest point and quickly rising again for another loop. Fear grips the cyan mare, who stands frozen at the edge of her cabin. The barbed-wire begins to grow smaller as the cabin ascends out of range.

“Fuck!”

Rainbow retreats to the interior of the car, slumping against the opposite window. Peering out, she discovers that all of the cars had occupants; and every one was leaning out of their cabin to quietly watch the pegasus.

Dash’s heart begins to pound. She slowly leans back into the center of her car, in an attempt to avoid their frightening gaze. Her eyes again lock onto the distant smoke as the capsule passes its apex, the pony trying to focus every passing thought in her mind with escaping.

THUD

The cabin suddenly shakes violently, a leg protruding from the roof appearing in the window. Rainbow Dash instinctively moves to the opposite side, further swinging the car with her sudden movement. Metallic scraping sounds make their way across the roof, concluding with a thin figure falling off of the ride. The wide-eyed pony stands petrified, barely listening to the sound of the creature making its painful descent into the barbed-wire below. Coming back to her senses, Dash quickly leans out the window to get a better view of the cabin above her.

Another beast had already climbed out the window, and was hanging just above Rainbow’s car.

“No—”

The pegasus pulls back just in time, a second thud sounding above her. More prepared this time, Rainbow Dash throws herself into the side of the cabin, causing the creature to slide loose before being left hanging in front of the cyan pony’s window. The sight locks Rainbow in place, who’s now able to get a good look at the demon. The tortured mare’s ribcage is clearly visible against its tight, splotched skin. The jaw had been completely removed, a grotesque display of dangling bits of flesh and rotten teeth in its place. Before Dash has time to regain her composure, the last of the occupants from the car above her throws itself onto the roof, flailing madly for something to grab. It kicks the jawless beast in the head, knocking it off the side of the cabin.

Rainbow backpedals away from the window, slamming her back into the opposing wall. The wheel had made another full rotation, and as Dash turns her head to see the car in front of her, she finds yet another creature preparing to board the pegasus’ ride. The beast rolls on its landing, sliding off of the roof but managing to grip the bottom edge of the window. Rainbow Dash lunges toward the hooves peeking into her cabin.

A brutal strike to one of the sickly forehooves dislodges it with a meaty thud, leaving the demon clinging to the ride while its back legs drag through the barbed-wire. Dash continues onto the second hoof, striking it with every fiber of energy she has. Utterly distracted, the mare doesn’t see the attacker climbing off of the roof and in through the window behind her. Its black, contorted arms grab hold of Dash before she’s able to react, tearing her air supply away from her.

Rainbow Dash strains her muscles in an attempt to defend against the assault, helplessly striking the beast in the muzzle. Giving into the weight of her assailant, Dash rams herself into the window behind her, the creature howling with pain at the impact. With oxygen briefly returning, Rainbow is able to reach behind her, tightly gripping the peeling skin of the pony attached to her back. The pegasus grits her teeth tight enough to sever wire, pulling the creature by its head up and over herself, before slamming the body onto the metal floor. Blind with rage, Rainbow Dash delivers a powerful stomp to her attacker’s muzzle, eliminating her with an unsettling crunch. Not losing her energy, Rainbow proceeds to ram the rusting metal door in front of her, knocking it and the creature that was attempting to crawl through it into the mess of wire below.

Commotion draws the pegasi’s attention to the car behind her, where a hulking beast violently pushes past the capsule’s other occupants. It leans out of the window to watch Rainbow, then howls loud enough to send echoes through the air, and chills down the mare’s back. It huffs and growls, its pony shape only vaguely recognizable behind the masses of flesh and muscle, a creature nearly twice the size of the others. Finally, Dash notices a long, flat blade that had been embedded into its flesh on the right, front hoof. By the time Rainbow Dash regains her senses, her pod is already halfway to another apex, where she would be a mere meter away from the monster’s car.

Dash quickly starts to panic, knowing she was still without a plan of action. The cyan mare decides it’s time to put more distance between her and the creatures, hastily climbing to the roof of her cabin. She reaches the top just before the maximum height of the ride is met, glancing back at the demon behind her. It was following suit, easily lifting itself to the roof of its own car, then impatiently pacing back and forth while watching Rainbow Dash. The pegasus forces her attention forward, then quickly leaps across the gap between her capsule and the empty one ahead of her. The jump is managed quite well, the mare holding the roof until the hanging car steadies itself from the recoil.

Looking over her shoulder, Dash finds her pursuer to become seemingly more aggressive, launching itself toward Rainbow’s original pod with energy unseen by the smaller creatures. The impact sends the cabin into a dramatic swing, the aging and unkempt beams screeching under the sudden increase in pressure. While the car is at almost a ninety degree angle, it dislodges from the wheel, quickly falling towards Rainbow Dash. The pony is able to scurry to the opposite end of the roof, just before the mass of metal and monster crashes into the car, then drops further still, breaking loose the cabin below and sending all of its passengers into the growing expansion of bodies and barbed-wire. To Rainbow’s dismay, however, one very large and angry beast had survived the fall, clinging desperately to the roof with its blade driven into the metal.

Rainbow Dash fights desperately to maintain the high ground, her phantom wings pumping furiously to keep her from sliding into reach of the monster on the other end of the roof. The cabin leans at a forty-five degree angle, just enough for the assailant to slowly make its way upward, cutting through the metal with every slash it uses to hoist itself up. Dash looks to the side, near the edge of the barbed-wire beneath her, then back to the growling beast that would soon be within reach. Heart pounding and mind panicked, the mare launches herself up and off of the roof, toward the smoke in the distance. Her eyes remain locked on the horizon, even as her rear leg just barely grazes past the reach of the monster, and as she instinctually and violently flaps the wings not there. As her descent hastens, Rainbow squeezes her eyes shut, knowing only fate could save her now.

Rainbow Dash crashes into the earth with forehooves on the ground; and hindlegs buried in the barbed-wire.

“AAAAHHHH!”

Opening her now tear soaked eyes, Dash falls onto the support of her right foreleg, turning to get a look at the damage on her lower body.

“Ahh—ah!”

Blood begins to poor relentlessly from the newly gained lacerations all over the mare’s legs and stomach. She gently holds her free hoof toward the wire, placing it under in an attempt to gain enough leverage to dislodge herself.

“—FUUCK!”

Rainbow Dash grimaces, even just budging the wire having caused excruciating pain. She bows her head against her foreleg, her thoughts drifting to the sight of her friends. Dash holds the image and buries her head as deep as she can into her leg, again positioning her remaining hoof under the wire.

“AaaGGHHUH!”

One leg is freed, Rainbow taking a short moment to recuperate. The second leg is too far away to be saved by her forehoof, instead forcing the pony to use brute force.

“AAAAUUGGGGH—AH!”

The second leg is finally dislodged, gaining several new cuts on its way out. Dash falls into the grass, unable to do much beyond writhe in agony. The wire mesh is painted with her blood, clumps of fur and tail hair clinging to the organic adhesive.

After enduring what seems like hours of pain, Rainbow Dash shakily brings herself to her hooves, and takes one last look at the scene behind her. Bodies lined the barbed-wire, some still flailing their legs like helpless infants. The hulking beast had made its way into the interior of the car it once clung to, still watching the pegasus with vicious eyes. And as Dash turns, and begins trotting away determinedly in spite of a limp, the creature howls relentlessly from the wheel, having lost its first decent meal in days.

* * *

Applejack shakily gasps as her friend tightens the improv bandaging around her leg. Blood had soaked through the sweater once worn by a prize stuffed animal, the ferris wheel decal turning from a sky blue to a deep shade of crimson. Once assured it is as tight as can be, Princess Twilight releases the cloth from her muzzle, and takes a moment to get a better look at the earth pony.

Despite the fire’s efforts, Applejack had spent most of the night shivering, only managing simple one or two worded responses to Twilight. The alicorn had spent every second of her time within just a hoof’s reach of Aj, providing her with comfort and warmth. She wishes she could do more; unable to look away from the weak mare resting before her, troubling thoughts weigh down her mind about their future. Twilight wasn’t a doctor—nor did she have to be, to know that time was running out.

A figure in the distance prys away the pony’s attention. After watching it for a few short seconds, Twilight quickly discovers it to be coming closer. Panicked, the violet mare reaches for the blade lying next to her, the indents of her hoof feeling the smooth wooden handle.

“Who’s there?”

The figure suddenly stops with its ears perked.

“...Twilight?”

Disbelief suspends Twilight’s muscles, her eyes straining to see the other pony’s face.

“Rainbow Dash!”

Without wasting anymore time, Princess Twilight rushes to reunite with her friend, leaving the knife in the dew-soaked grass. Tears begin to break loose from Twilight’s eyes as she wraps both forehooves tightly around the pegasus’ neck.

“Dash, I’m so glad you’re alright!”

Rainbow returns the hug with one arm, the pony able to manage her trademark smirk even under the circumstances.

“Well… mostly alright.”

Twilight pulls off, giving her friend a worried glance. It doesn’t take long for her eyes to make their way down toward Rainbow’s abdomen, where her legs and hips are laced with dried blood, and familiar bandages cover the joints where her wings should be.

There’s a still moment of realization between the two, each of the ponies scanning the other’s lost appendages. Rainbow Dash’s lips part, but no sound makes its way out.

“Is that Dash?”

The cyan pegasus looks toward the voice, then rushes to its owner after quickly identifying her.

“Applejack! What happened?”

Aj suppresses a groan as she turns to see her friend’s face.

“It’s nothin’... Twilight’s been taking good care of me.”

After getting a good look at the earth pony’s wound, a sense of urgency suddenly overcomes Dash, who turns back around toward the Princess.

“What the hell is going on here? Where are the others? What’s wrong with Pinkie?”

Twilight pauses, carefully choosing the order in which she answers Rainbow’s questions.

“Frankly—we’re not sure. I don’t care to imagine what sort of evil befell her while captured… but suffice it to say, the Pinkie Pie we knew is long gone.”

“So we hunt her down, and then torch the place! I’m sure there’s something the princesses can do about Pinkie Pie…”

Applejack looks solemnly at the ground beneath her, not nearly as sure as Dash was, but unwilling to tell her as much. The violet alicorn fills the gap.

“We haven’t even seen her since the dinner; we were looking for you!”

Princess Twilight stares sympathetically at her friend, who stubbornly huffs in response.

“She’ll need a lot more than a couple of goons to stop me. We do what we have to, then the five of us quit this place.”

There’s an intermission in Rainbow’s plan which she uses to scan the area around the ponies.

“By the way—where are the other two?”

Twilight had delayed as long as she could; but now it was time to face the storm. Dash deserved as much.

“...We don’t know where Rarity is. And Fluttershy—”

A lump forms in the mare’s throat.

“What about her?”

Unable to utter a response, the princess instead locks her reddening eyes with Rainbow’s.

“You don’t—”

Applejack watches the two silently, Dash shaking her head at Twilight. The alicorn finally swallows, then finds the courage to continue her explanation.

“We were attacked by one of those creatures. Fluttershy, she—”

Again, the princesses’ voice fails her. The words just seem impossible to get out, leaving the explanation open-ended; perhaps for the better. Rainbow Dash pouts her lip and looks off to the side of her friend, an attempt to hide her expression.

“Why didn’t you save her?”

Applejack stirs at the comment.

“Rainbow!”

A single tear breaks free amidst Dash’s crumbling display of apathy. As much as the words hurt, Twilight finds it in herself to stay strong, and quietly close the gap between the two mares. The pegasus weakly resists at first, shuffling back a step as she continues her futile attempt to hide her emotions.

Twilight Sparkle stops, heart aching at the sight of her normally bashful friend. It doesn’t take long before Rainbow Dash breaks, falling like a filly into the warm embrace of the princess, crying loudly into the mare’s chest. Twilight rests her head against the rainbow mane, stroking Dash’s coat softly in an effort to soothe the pegasus. Nearly five minutes would pass before Dash could stand on her own again.

After the stillness of the air returns, and the wailing tapers off, the two ponies slowly make their way to the fire, and join Applejack in rest. Only embers remain within the kindling, the fire demanding a second glance to reveal any life at all.

One pony remained lost; and as the princess rests her head on her forehooves, and glances away from the fire, her thoughts are attacked by images of the fragile, violet-maned unicorn.

* * *

Bright, buzzing lights sear Rarity’s corneas, and flood the room with their vividness. The mare lies motionless, lacking the energy needed to pull herself from the cold, flat surface beneath her.

“...Water…”

A shapeless pink blur moves close to Rarity’s head, presenting itself with sudden clarity.

“Rarity?”

The unicorn’s lips part slowly, but no sound escapes.

“Huh. Guess I used the wrong dosage…”

The fog begins to lift as Rarity squeezes her eyes shut and allows them to re-acclimate to her surroundings. Pinkie Pie stood above her, closely inspecting a small bottle in her hoof.

“You know—this is actually good! I think I’m going to need your help anyway.”

A small glass crash draws Rarity’s attention, who turns her head in an attempt to locate the remains of the bottle Pinkie had tossed.

“...Water.”

Pinkie Pie leans in closer to the unicorn.

“Huh? Oh!”

The earth pony pulls back from the table and turns to communicate with a mare who had been standing lifelessly against the back wall.

“My friends thirsty! Get her a drink—now!”

The mare, who’d been dressed up as a nurse of sorts, follows Pinkie’s pointing hoof toward a vending machine on the other side of the room. The Element of Laughter returns her attention to her guest.

“So, after dinner the other night, there was a teeeeeny tiny accident…”

Rarity squints as she lays her head back again, against what she had just discovered to be a folding table covered with a white cloth, and not an operating table.

“I don’t want you to worry, though! The hardest part is over. Well… for me, anyway…”

The pseudo nurse appears at Pinkie’s side, hoof extended with a bottle full of pink beverage. The earth pony retrieves it from her assistant, then effortlessly removes the cap with her teeth.

“Here…”

Rarity’s parched mouth desperately latches on to the bottle as Pinkie tips it her way. She’s able to down a few swigs before the intense rush of sugar forces her to pull away. Pinkie Pie stifles a laugh as the white unicorn spits the remaining liquid out on the tablecloth.

“Sorry; it’s a prototype! I still need a name, actually, if you have any suggestions—”

The mare’s bushy, blue-streaked mane bounces about as she suddenly shakes her head violently.

“Nevermind that, we were talking about the ‘hardest part’!”

Rarity finally musters the strength to lift her head up and inspect her torso, which is almost entirely concealed by a blue tarp.

“I guess that batch of cupcakes I cooked up was a little too much for a first trip; long story short, you wandered off and had yourself a bit of a spill… well, maybe I should just show you. Like a bandaid, right?”

Rarity’s eyes widen as Pinkie tears the tarp off, revealing a wide, open gash across the unicorn’s stomach, exposing frayed meat and her loose intestine. The mare nearly faints, a choked shriek filling the room. Pinkie Pie looks toward her assistant and raises a hoof in confusion.

“Was that not the saying? ‘Rip it off, like a bandaid’? Because this doesn’t seem like a good reaction…”

Tears begin to stream down Rarity’s face, who’s unable to look away from the ghastly sight.

“N-NO, NO NO NO!”

Pinkie Pie casually leans in toward the patient again, this time lifting a long, sharp object from underneath the table.

“Ta-da! You can relax, alright! It’s out!”

The air feels painfully cold to Rarity, the mare pressing her hooves forcefully into the cloth beneath her.

“How you ended up with Tetra’s horn a hoof deep in your tummy is a story you just have to tell me later. I actually think she had the longest one on the carousel!”

Rarity had managed to grow a lighter shade of white, barely able to focus on the bloodied object Pinkie held. It looks nearly half a meter in length.

“This’ll make one heck of a souvenir!”

A loud moan from Rarity draws the park owner’s attention back to the table. She places the metal horn on the floor beside her, then leans in toward the sobbing pony under the lights.

“Right, the boo-boo. Unfortunately, I used the last medkit a looong time ago, back when I’d just hired my employees. Buuuuut, I have the next best thing we can use!”

The unicorn is barely listening, instead staring into the lights with her mouth agape as Pinkie Pie trots off to retrieve something. The sound of a squeaky wheel quickly fills the room as the pink mare pushes a medical tray across the floor tiles.

“And… viola!”

A pink hoof waves over the tray, Rarity’s pupils dilating at the sight of a large sewing needle and coiled thread.

“Get—get… Twilight…”

“Twilight? Oh, I don’t think there’s much she could do for you in her condition.”

Rarity grimaces, rolling her head over to see Pinkie Pie.

“W-what?”

“Look, it’ll be just like making one of your dresses! You’ll do fine!”

Shock continues to shake Rarity, only a quick, violent shake of the head manageable in response to the earth pony.

“Well, I guess that just leaves ‘bleed out painfully over an excruciating long period of time’. Might as well not let this go to waste.”

Pinkie punctuates her statement with an outstretched hoof that wraps around the soda bottle. She takes a quick sip, then pulls up a dusty lawn chair from the back of the room and unfolds a pair of sunglasses that seem to appear from the air just behind her tail. Rarity struggles to lift her head up, watching the relaxed earth pony with tear-soaked eyes. Pinkie Pie has already checked out, her head leaning over the back of the chair and facing the ceiling, the bubbling soda hanging loosely in a hoof.

Rarity risks another peak at her abdomen and nearly vomits at the sight. It was a twisted, disturbing situation to be in; but Pinkie was right. The wound wasn’t going to heal itself.

The white mare winces at the tray to her side, the lights creating a large glint on the metal needle. Rarity closes her eyes and lays her head back toward the ceiling, muttering softly to herself.

“I can’t… I can’t. I—”

The tray again draws her eye. Hoof wound tightly against her chest, Rarity focuses on the needle and thread, shakily bringing them into the air with her magic. Another unavoidable look at the wound—specifically, the exposed intestine—tests the mare’s steel. She cautiously envelopes the organ within a blue aura, then gently nudges it back into its original position, until it slides in with a sickening, wet noise.

Sweat pours from virtually every pore of Rarity’s skin, who closes her eyes tightly and attempts to mentally push past what she was just forced to do. She was on the edge of consciousness, and consciousness was desperately needed for her ‘procedure’. With a violent shake of her head, she forces a small boost of energy to pump through her veins, finally gaining enough pep to lift herself up and bring the needle close to her unkempt coat.

Don’t think. Do.

The needle and thread hover over her stomach in a shaky field of magic. Rarity effortlessly knots the thread, the engraved knowledge coming easily even in the mare’s dire state.

Do this, then find your friends. Then we can go home.

A yawn coming from the lounging pink mare briefly pry Rarity’s eyes away from the wound, the unicorn taking the opportunity to distract herself with all of the ‘why’s surrounding her once best friend.

Get it over with!

Rarity’s breathing begins to accelerate as the needle quickly levitates down into the exposed innards, the mare’s magic forcing it up through the flesh.

“AAAHAH—”

Clenching her jaw, Rarity fights past the pain and directs all of her focus into her work. Pinkie Pie’s attention is finally regained, the pony leaning forward and lifting her sunglasses as Rarity winces at the sensation of the coarse thread being pulled taut against the skin.

Keep going, don’t think.

The needle dives back into the skin, just enough to hold the thread in place.

“Aaah!”

The mare in the back of the room shifts like an excited dog as her master stands up from the lawn chair. Rarity involuntarily holds her breath, bringing either end of the torn flesh as closely to each other as possible as the needle returns for another dip. The hole slowly begins to close, each careful motion from the needle creating a longer zigzag pattern across the unicorn’s stomach. One particularly painful slip-up forces the patient to stop, gritting her teeth as she throws her head back.

A smile creeps onto Pinkie’s face.

“Missed a spot!”

Before she has time to react, a pink hoof sends waves of pain throughout Rarity’s body, as it prods carelessly into the open wound. Instinct takes over the unicorn’s magic, driving the needle deep into the earth pony’s shoulder. The attack elicits a strange sound from Pinkie, like a hybrid of a yelp and a laugh. Rarity’s now narrowed eyes meet Pinkie’s, pulling the weapon out for another strike, only to be stopped by Pinkie Pie’s flailing hoof that knocks the needle out of its telekinetic cradle. Pinkie’s other hoof swings upward from beneath the table, turning it over and spilling its patient out onto the cold floor with a loud crash.

The fall nearly knocks Rarity unconscious, who quickly brings a hoof up to clench her half-sewn stomach wound. All eyes lock onto the needle, which had rolled toward the center of the room after Pinkie’s disarming attack. Now entirely thoughtless, and instead driven by a primal urge to survive, Rarity pulls herself along the tiled floor, reaching toward the bloodied object with her free hoof. Pinkie wastes no time vaulting over the flipped table, landing atop of Rarity with enough force to knock the wind out of the unicorn. The earth pony straddles Rarity’s back, pulling her head off of the floor by her mane, exposing the fragile flesh covering her throat. Blue embers pop up inconsistently around the needle, Rarity’s frantic attempt to free herself from the attack. Pinkie’s assistant stomps down onto the weapon, a move that turns Pinkie’s smile into a snarl with frightening haste.

“STAY THE FUCK OUT OF THIS!”

Rarity’s muzzle turns just enough so that she can see Pinkie Pie’s face as the unicorn takes advantage of the sudden interruption, and drives an elbow straight into the pony’s jaw. Pinkie takes the hit without making a sound, twirling backward from the strike and landing with her chin against the floor. With a long strand of drool dangling from her mouth and a fire in her eyes, Rarity turns and pounces the pony, striking uncontrollably at the back of her head. The sound of the needle being rolled away from the two can just barely be heard, the assistant pony returning to her spot against the wall.

The sight of her blood-stained hooves momentarily pulls Rarity out of her attack, Pinkie quickly retaliating by spinning around and biting down on the nearest hoof with an evil grin. Rarity cries out in pain, recoiling back off of Pinkie. The earth pony follows, releasing the bloodied hoof from her mouth only when she’s standing over Rarity, placing both forehooves on the overturned table before her and kneeing the weakened unicorn in the head. The Element of Generosity slides hopelessly against the table and down onto the floor, having expended nearly all of her adrenaline.

“Ha-ha! That’s quite a lot of fight for a mare who spends two hours a day on her mane!”

Pinkie Pie pauses her taunting to spit out some of the blood in her mouth.

“I’m impressed—really!”

Rarity is barely able to lift her head again, finally noticing all of the blood she’d lost in their scuffle. The next item she scans for is the needle; which is found to be way beyond her current magic’s range.

“Shame you really didn’t get to see the park. Oh well…”

The unicorn sits lifelessly with her back against the table, eyes half open and watching Pinkie’s hooves.

“This—”

Pinkie motions toward nowhere in particular.

“This was never what it was about, anyway.”

The pony leans in on her forehooves so that she can be face-level with Rarity.

“Sugar Valley is about what it finds in you.”

A blood-stained hoof bumps gently into Rarity’s shoulder.

“...And I think it found quite a lot.”

Given the sudden break, an idea begins to sprout in Rarity’s mind. Pinkie slides her hoof up and around Rarity’s chest, lifting her chin so that their eyes can lock with each other.

“Do you hear them now...?”

Pinkie Pie suddenly forces her foreleg against Rarity’s throat, quickly cutting her oxygen supply. The unicorn grapples hopelessly with the pink limb as her magic goes to work scanning the floor behind the table. The life begins to flicker in Rarity’s tear-glazed eyes, but she continues her desperate search with magic, eventually feeling out a long, sharp object. Levitation pushes it against the table, slowly rolling it up toward the edge.

Pinkie’s twisted smile remains unchanged, her wide eyes ignoring the metal horn floating above her in a blue haze. Every fiber of energy had been stripped from the unicorn; and as she strikes with the bloodied horn, it does little more than break Pinkie’s skin, creating several new wounds on her abdomen. As the seconds go by, the stabbing degrades into helplessly waving the horn around, until the magic surrounding it dissipates, and the weapon falls to the floor. Pinkie Pie remains in her position, even as Rarity’s struggling ceases, and her bloodshot eyes reveal no sign of life. Finally, Pinkie relaxes her hoof, allowing the white mare to fall limp against the cold tiles.

The victor dips her head low and sighs, eventually rising to her hooves with her smile gone and the action finally taking a toll on her usual pep.

“Oh, Rarity…”

Pinkie Pie looks down at the motionless body and wipes the still warm blood from her chin with a hoof. She doesn’t break her stare with the unicorn, instead referring to her assistant with her tail facing the mare.

“This isn’t suitable for a pony of her status, you understand?”

A sliver of Pinkie’s face exposes itself to the mare in the back.

“I want her cleaned up; keep her looking sharp. And find Fluttershy!”

The pony dressed in a nurse outfit nods with obedience.

“We need to keep my friends together…”

Pinkie Pie walks over to the window behind a counter, and bends the blinds with a hoof so that she can watch the lights littering the park.

“...the rest will join us soon.”

The party mare lingers for a while, giving her assistant time to clumsily grab hold of the corpse with a hoof. Dozens of colorful lights reflect in Pinkie’s eyes, her pupils dancing curiously around their flat prisons. When she finally grows tired, Pinkie Pie turns from the counter and heads for the exit, passing by her struggling assistant as she does so.

“Hurry up.”

The ‘nurse’ grunts quietly, nearly tripping over herself as she forces her hooves to peddle faster. Rarity is dragged out of the light, leaving only a trail of blood and a metal horn lying on the floor, its tip stained with a steady crimson drip.

Desolation

The radiant sun beats down on the vast fields, the earth pony farmer shielding his eyes with a hoof. The land appears to stretch endlessly, crops lining the expanse. The farmer’s wife, a young mare with an orange coat, canters toward her lover whilst quietly singing a tune sung by her mother before her.

“I know of a land; so sweet and full with fruit~”

The gray stallion turns his head as his wife approaches his side, giving the mare a small but earnest smile. The mare happily returns the favor, then continues her trek out into the fields, her song once again floating freely on the wind.

“...where metal spires and a thousand hooves, do clutter every route.”

The orange mare walks down a thin path surrounded by the tall stalks of wheat as her eyes wander above the crop, to the crooked branches of a dead tree on the horizon.

“And every mare, she dreams of a life the same~”

A creek can be heard gurgling softly as the mare nears the tree, revealing itself as she emerges from a thin wall of the crop. The pony gently lies down to rest before the bank, taking the opportunity to watch the small creatures darting about beneath the surface.

“...but I know where its secrets lie, of the beast that cannot be tamed.”

The mare extends a hoof down into the water, and creates a mesmerizing ripple. Only the sight of a small, black item draws her attention away from the reflection. She gingerly scoops the feather out of the creek, and studies it closely as her song comes to an abrupt end.

“Its claws grown sharp, its belly full, its maw ‘tis once to be seen...”

Confusion grows within the mare, as she looks upstream to find several other feathers just like the one before, intermittently floating down the stream. The pony rises to her hooves, then carefully walks along the bank as she follows the supply of black feathers.

Eventually, the mare finds their source to be a rather large object caught within a patch of tall grass. The orange pony freezes; and suddenly a tinge of fear rises within her. She cautiously steps toward the edge, a small cloud of dirt crumbling into the water under the weight of her hoof. With a squint and the drop of her heart, the young mare is finally able to identify the object. Her scream carries effortlessly across the open fields.

The rotting corpse of an adult griffon is nestled among the grass, the empty sheath where a machete once reside still strapped to his waist.

* * *

The three remaining elements of harmony trudge slowly through the mists of Sugar Valley. All eyes are cast downward, only coming up occasionally for their owner’s to avoid a collision. No one wanted to admit it, but the ponies hadn’t a shred of a lead to go on in their efforts to locate Rarity. And so they head East; and quietly hope an explanation would find them.

“Twilight—”

The princess turns suddenly, first watching the blue pegasus who had called for her, then the earth pony who grimaces, and places a hoof against a ride support beam.

“I’m fine… just need a moment, s’all.”

Rainbow Dash rushes to her friend’s aid, slinging the farm pony’s hoof over her shoulder. Twilight can see the look of hopeless under the brim of Aj’s hat, the freckled mare’s eyes tinged with a sense of shame.

“You should stay with her, Rainbow. I can go look for Rarity alone.”

Dash almost immediately condemns the idea.

“Like hell you will! If anyone should go, it should be me—I’m in the best condition.”

“All of our ‘conditions’ our beyond helpless, Dash. But I’m the one who got us into this, so it should be me.”

The pegasus angrily takes a step forward, nearly pulling Applejack along with her.

“Don’t you dare start that Twilight! Celestia asked all of us for help!”

“Dash…”

The cyan mare turns her head toward the pony slumped against her side.

“...let me down here.”

Carefully, Rainbow Dash releases her friend and helps her slide down into a sitting position against the concrete beam foundation. Twilight steps closer to the two, regarding the pegasus while her back is turned.

“Celestia told me about Lane! She confided in me what had been done to Pinkie, how bad things were—and I kept it all to myself!”

Silence ensues. A part of the alicorn hopes Rainbow would be mad; like getting ‘what she deserved’ would help comfort Twilight.

“...Well it doesn’t matter now.”

Rainbow turns so just a section of her profile is visible to Twilight.

“And it never did. Even if I’d known exactly how bad things were, I would have come. I would have tried.”

Finally, the pegasus rises from the earth and turns to face her friend.

“We’re here, now. And after Fluttershy—”

Rainbow Dash’s voice gets caught in her throat and she’s forced to look away briefly.

“You and I both know that saving Pinkie Pie is no longer an option. After Rarity is with us again, we end it.”

Twilight’s pulse quickens after hearing Rainbow’s plan. Even as her mouth hangs open, no words of refusal come from the princess.

“Brav-o!”

All of the ponies dart their attention to the sound of hooves clopping, the park owner herself standing on a ledge above the others, sickly clown-like figures standing on either of her sides.

“You’ve got quite a knack for theatre, Rainbow Dash! Have you ever considered it professionally?”

Dash ignores the mare’s comment, instead spitting her own inquisition at Pinkie.

“WHERE’S RARITY?”

In mock thoughtfulness, Pinkie Pie raises a hoof to her chin.

“Hmm… if I tell you, will you ‘end it’ right here? Are you capable of doing that, Dashie?”

A toothy grin is shot toward the pegasus, who replies with a growing snarl. Pinkie Pie points at the three ponies, then turns to one of her assistants and demonstrates a hug to the air.

“Restrain them.”

The two creatures in makeup leap down the ledge, then gallop toward their victims. Dash manages to resist for a while, throwing punches at her attacker; but the sound of Twilight yelping as she’s stricken with a hoof interrupts the pegasus’ concentration, leaving her vulnerable for a grab.

“You fuckers!”

The smiling mare atop the ledge playfully leaps into the puddle formed at the base of the inclination, leaving her hooves to slosh across the field as she approaches the commotion.

“We’re doing a little bit of streamlining, girls. Your time here is running out, and there’s still a ton of stuff to see.”

Now that Pinkie Pie was close to them, Twilight, amidst her struggle, is able to identify the familiar necklace dangling against the earth pony’s chest. The enchanted item Princess Celestia gave to her; she was sure of it.

“You two will come with me. Applejack stays.”

The orange pony barely has the strength to lift her head at the sound of her name.

“We’re on a schedule now, and we can’t afford to be dragging her all around… by the looks of it, she won’t be with us much longer anyway.”

Twilight surges against her holder, crying out toward Pinkie Pie.

“Please! She needs help! You can still save her!”

The park owner sticks her muzzle up into the air, making a small ‘hmpf’ noise as she does so.

“Oh, noooow you want my help?”

Applejack’s eyes don’t move from the saddlebag in the grass, the wooden handle of the knife just visible from one of its pockets.

“I’ve done nothing but help! I tried to help Fluttershy when she wouldn’t stop crying! I tried to help Rarity with her stupid cut! Well I’m not trying anymore!”

The dangling bits of dirty mane covering Rainbow’s face are pushed to the side as she slowly raises her head to look at Pinkie Pie.

“...What did you say about Rarity?”

Pinkie’s bright eyes roll off to the side.

“Yeah, some seamstress she was. Couldn’t even sew up a her own wound!”

Something snaps within Rainbow Dash, who tosses her head back and breaks the nose of her captor, quickly using the moment of confusion to free herself and dart for the Element of Laughter. A smile breaks loose on the mare’s muzzle as she turns and sprints with frightening speed away from Dash and toward a large haunted house in the distance.

“Rainbow, wait!”

Oblivious to her friend’s plea, Rainbow Dash only interrupts her pursuit to duck near the saddlebag, and pull the knife out with her teeth. She then returns to a full sprint, carelessly entering the rickety old building behind Pinkie. Twilight watches helplessly as the last strands of Rainbow’s tail slips into the darkness.

“No! ...Please!”

The pitch dark shocks Dash, but her eyes only need a moment to provide enough functionality for her to navigate the corridors. A speaker somewhere crackles to life, playing cheesy high-pitched horror music, although not loudly enough to mask the sound of Pinkie’s laughter coming from deep within the house. Dash refuses to even take a look over her shoulder at entrance, its light drawing a long shadow in front of the pony that fades completely as she turns a corner, the lingering scent of sweets Rainbow’s only lead.

A mannequin draped with a tattered sheet spontaneously springs out in front of Dash, her shoulders tensing in response. She angrily pushes past one of its limbs as an exaggerated ghost call emits from another hidden speaker, the mare tightening her grip on the knife in her mouth.

The boards beneath Rainbow Dash’s hooves creak as she pauses before a perpendicular hallway, turning her head back and forth in an effort to track the distant laughter. Frustrated, Rainbow chooses the hall where light is coming from, just a short walk from the fork. Once near its source, she turns to look behind a corner, where the warm glow is discovered to be produced by a hoofful of candles—in addition to dried rose petals—placed haphazardly around two ponies. Rainbow cringes as she realizes that one of them was wildly humping the other; of whom which had clearly been dead for days, judging by the cloud of flies and the rancid stench. The still living creature turns and watches the pegasus with bloodshot eyes, panting like a dog amidst the sticky sound of its thrusts.

Rainbow Dash turns and presses onward, trying desperately to leave the image behind her. Once out of range of the sick sounds and smell, Rainbow’s ears perk in an effort to locate the fading sound of Pinkie Pie’s laughter. Eventually, it stops all together, leaving the pegasus to stand alone in the pitch black with only the buzzing speakers and their music to listen to.

Dash’s adrenaline begins to fade, fear and confusion taking its place. The sensation of a presence behind her draws the pony’s attention, but only darkness occupies the space. The realization that the room was too large for her night vision to even locate the walls sinks in, Rainbow Dash cautiously taking a step forward as the knife trembles between her teeth. For all she knew, creatures could be surrounding her, silently waiting for her to take a misstep. The pony freezes, closes her eyes and simply waits for her panicked breaths to subside. During this time, the music fades out, leaving the pony’s breathing as the last noise to listen to.

Rainbow’s ear flaps at the sound of a board creaking on her side. She quickly opens her eyes and spins her head to see what caused it, careful not to drop the knife she holds to dearly. Nothing greets her. Instead, the pegasus is left to wander the room aimlessly, her throat dry and her fur covered in sweat.

Outside, the princess remains restless against her assailant, fighting to see a glimmer of her friend’s colors. She pauses only to squint at the sight of smoke rising from the roof, black against the blue-gray night sky. Its appearance distracts the clown holding Twilight as well, leaving it open to be elbowed in the chin by the alicorn. Finally free, Twilight Sparkle gallops for the building, crying for her friend as she draws nearer.

“Dash, get out of there!”

The surprisingly agile creature catches up to the mare, lunging for her neck. Twilight ducks under the attack, the clown tearing up the grass as it slides past the princess. The violet pony back-peddles slowly, raising her hoof to defend against the creature making a second attempt to subdue her. But before the two crash into one another, an ear-splitting explosion sends both flying backwards.

Twilight cries out in pain as she lands awkwardly against her head, vision blurred and ears ringing. Slowly, the pony lifts her face from the earth, bringing up a mask of dirt with it. Splinters of wood lace the ground around the mare; and on closer inspection, the body of the creature who lies motionless in front of her. The next thing she looks toward is the mansion, which is naught but a smoldering pile of ash and rubble.

“RAINBOW!”

Tears begin to pour from Twilight’s eyes, who struggles to even hear her own screaming. She’d collapse to the earth again, were it not for a single item shimmering in the distance that spurs her on. Slowly, the sobbing mare begins to crawl toward her amulet Princess Celestia had given her, which landed among the splinters and ash. One forearm in front of the other, again and again, as she makes the long journey over the corpse of the clown and across the field. With one last outstretched hoof, she reaches for the necklace before her, only to watch it disappear beneath a pink hoof.

“You know, I can’t remember the last time I saw you with jewelry, Twilight.”

The alicorn lies facedown into the grass, Pinkie’s words coming to her as a muffled, unintelligible mess. The park owner lifts the amulet with her other forehoof, bringing it close to her face for inspection.

“What is it? Some kind of magic protection spell? Oooh, wait, don’t tell me—a way to contact the princ-ess!”

Twilight finally manages to lift her head up from the ground, watching Pinkie’s smile grow as she holds the necklace up to the sky. With a few spins around her hoof, and a playful ‘hup’, Pinkie Pie hurls the item into the distance. Twilight doesn’t even try to follow its arc, instead resting her head back against the mud.

Pinkie suddenly cocks her head at the horizon, raising a hoof toward the remaining clown-pony.

“Hey! Bring it here!”

The ringing in Twilight’s ears finally begins to subside, and she’s able to hear the quiet hoofsteps of Pinkie’s assistant just before they stop in front of the fallen alicorn. She watches Pinkie’s hoof lift up and retrieve something from the creature’s mouth, looking over it whilst murmuring to herself. Finally satisfied with her inspection, she drops it into the mud in front of Twilight, allowing the pony to get a good view of the item.

Before the princess lies Applejack’s hat, torn and frayed. Pinkie kneels down so that she can talk to Twilight face–to–face.

“Looks like it’s just you and me, Twilight!”

The alicorn closes her eyes without a word, her lips quivering as she expends the last of her tears. Pinkie Pie returns to her original stance, leaving the hat to rot in the mud.

“...And I wouldn’t have it any other way. I need a little bit of time, but soon the grand finale will be prepared and the two of us can witness its splendor together!”

Twilight’s crying briefly pauses, the mare holding her eyes shut tightly as she opens her dry mouth just enough to mumble a single request.

“Kill me…”

“Leave the orange one, Bradley! We’ll come back right after our most important guest is warm and—”

“Kill me.”

Pinkie leans her head downward, watching the still pony at her hooves. A smile creeps across her muzzle.

“Ah…”

The pink mare leans down again, this time bending all four of her legs.

“Death does seem rather easy to embrace, doesn’t? This is good—you’re close now… enlightenment lies just beyond the hill of desolation.”

Every word Pinkie utters floats unheard abroad the wind, Twilight’s mind gone as numb as it could have without turning off completely.

“Do you know why I was captured? Why… I was freed without effort, or why I could walk into Hollow Shades in hoof-cuffs, and leave with an army?”

Pinkie turns her head off to the side, away from the pony on the grass.

“...Why you’re lying here before me, your life in my hooves?”

The mare’s voice grows quiet as she looks off into the distance, staring at nothing in particular.

“It’s destiny.”

The three ponies remain motionless as the remnants of the haunted house burn brightly behind them.

“It’s lead you to me; just as it lead me to ‘them’.”

A single tear forms in the corner of Pinkie’s eye, and her most genuine smile since the park’s opening appears on her face.

“I’m a prophet, Twilight.”

Pinkie’s voice is shaky and hushed, her speech almost driven entirely by emotion. After a moment of drawn out silence, the mare slowly rises to her hooves, and nods at the horizon.

“I’m a prophet.”

Twilight remains amidst the dirt and rubble, with no intentions of moving. It’s not the crackling of the fire, the quiet whispers of the wind, nor even the fading buzzing in her ears that she listens to—but the rustling leaves and chirping birds of the Golden Oak Library.

Apotheosis

The midday sun shines brightly down on to the orchard, Twilight Sparkle in comfortable silence as she watches Winona sprint around the open fields. Rarity stands to the princess’ left, a smile growing across her muzzle at the sight of the Cutie Mark Crusaders chase after the dog, who refuses to give back the stick they had just thrown.

Twilight turns to her right, catching a friendly glance from Applejack, Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy talking quietly to the farm pony’s side.

“I wanna thank y’all for the help today; don’t know how long I’d be out there if it weren’t for the spare hooves.”

Rarity, gently placing her brightly colored drink down, is the first to respond.

“It was no trouble at all, darling.”

The violet alicorn situated between the two mares takes a moment to outstretch her wings, the brilliant radiance of the sun warming her exposed down.

“Yeah; and the weather couldn’t have been more perfect.”

Rarity ‘hmm’s in agreeance before bringing the glass back to her lips. Silence resumes, and Twilight is given the time to simply bask in the comfort and familiarity of the scene. The five ponies remain in their positions for not nearly long enough, before Applejack refers to Twilight without changing her expression or even turning her head.

“Let go.”

The princess turns to look at her friend, unsure of what she meant.

“What?”

“Let go, and you’ll be safe.”

A pink hoof quickly emerges from behind Twilight, grabbing the mare’s shoulder. She gasps at the sensation, and with a quick leap forward to escape, Sweet Apple Acres crumbles around her, replaced by off-white walls and small holiday lights lining the room. Pinkie Pie stands less than a meter from Twilight, her right forehoof raised in the air.

“Sorry! I didn’t know you were—’elsewhere’.”

Twilight Sparkle gives no indication of a response, or even the intention of one. Pinkie uses the silence to cast a glance at the corner of the room, where a large pile of deserts are stacked up.

“You sure you wanna do this without eating anything? You might need the energy…”

Dozens of colorful lights reflect in Twilight’s empty gaze, her lips remaining still. Pinkie Pie slowly lowers her hoof to the ground, then gives her ‘friend’ a smile.

“Okie dokie loki!”

* * *

A full moon blankets the park, revealing every ride and attraction in a silvery light. Twilight isn’t sure how much time she’d spent in confinement, or even what Pinkie had spent that time doing. The park owner had mentioned preparing a ‘finale’, but what exactly that entailed was a detail Twilight had made no attempt to deduce.

The princess stands lifelessly as Pinkie Pie fights with the rusted mechanisms of the ride she’s prepared. An uncostumed assistant stands quietly a leg away from Twilight, but their presence had proved unnecessary as the alicorn had made no escape efforts.

With a loud smack of the car, and a shrug of her shoulders, Pinkie Pie finally leaves the ride alone and instead approaches the violet mare staring blankly at the grass.

“Okay! It’s ready—I think. Just one more ride, and your Sugar Valley experience will be complete!”

Twilight lazily shifts her eyes up and over to the attraction, a rickety wooden track leading straight into the closed mouth of a giant, smiling clown face.

“I put a lot of effort into the decoration, you know. Rarity would be proud…”

The alicorn’s ear twitches at the sound of her friend’s name, but she continues to stare only at her hooves. Pinkie Pie watches the mare with wide eyes and a smile, proud of how far she had brought her pupil. She extends a hoof toward the princess, motioning to the ride with her head.

“Shall we?”

Pinkie’s assistant steps closer as Twilight utters no response, nor does she acknowledge the outstretched hoof. With the creature behind Twilight now close enough for her to feel their breath on the back of her neck, the princess continues to ignore Pinkie’s hoof, but does slowly make her way to the track. Pinkie Pie’s still hovering hoof turns then points in the sickly assistant’s direction, and then at the control panel next to the car. The creature nods, eager to follow their master’s command.

“Get comfy!”

Pinkie Pie pats the seat on the left of the car before making her way to the right side and settling in. Twilight hesitates for just a moment, then climbs into the ride and slumps against the back of the seat. Pinkie Pie strains her forelegs as she reaches up and pulls down the safety restraint, locking the two in behind the peeling styrofoam padding.

“Grace!”

The pony at the control panel begins to bring the attraction to life, using the help of the colored sticky notes Pinkie had left all over the console.

“Remember Twilight; eyes open, mind free.”

The bulging eyes of the giant clown stare down at Twilight, just visible over the short climb in the tracks laid out before her. The clown’s mouth isn’t immediately at the top of the hill; instead, a straight section of track lies beyond the climax and just above the Big Top to its right, giving the ride’s occupants a fair amount of time before entering the clown’s maw. Twilight continues to focus on the exaggerated teeth even as the ride stirs to life, and the chain lift begins its journey down the hill.

“There’s all kinds of magic out there. I believe the strongest comes from right here:”

Pinkie Pie gently prods her chest as the chain latches underneath the car.

“Sometimes, we need a little push to see that.”

The ride shrieks and moans as its aging metal is dragged to the top of the hill, the mouth of the clown starting to slowly rise to allow passage. The princess’ eyes, however, have already moved on to the more immediate focus of the rattling hoof restraint.

“Who knows…”

A small, dislodged piece of the car can be heard falling through the tracks below.

“...you might even see some familiar faces in there.”

Twilight’s muscles tense and her eyes narrow as a grinding sound coming from within the coaster grows louder, and the restraint starts to rattle violently.

“What is wrong with—”

With a sharp metallic click, the lock on the restraint comes loose, and the padded bar flies up above the two mares. Twilight doesn’t waste a second, driving a hoof straight into the park owner’s jaw, dislodging a tooth. Pinkie Pie immediately begins to giggle, using her forehooves to intercept the barrage of attacks Twilight follows up with. Pinkie is pushed back, grabbing ahold of the alicorn’s neck as her assault starts to force Pinkie over the side. Twilight resists too late, rolling out of the car with Pinkie before both are sent tumbling over the side of the tracks, a violet hoof full of splinters the last thing to go. The alicorn’s heart drops as she realizes she’s headed straight for the roof of the Big Top, shielding her eyes with a hoof as she barrels through the striped cloth.

A moment later, the car enters the clown’s mouth slowly, fading into the darkness without its passengers.

* * *

Moonlight pours through the freshly torn hole in the Big Top, providing a sliver of illumination in the otherwise pitchblack tent. Twilight cries out in pain, holding her rear leg with her forehooves. A brief interlude amidst the crying allows the pony to observe the hoof she’d landed on, its direction protruding grotesquely backwards. She grits her teeth painfully hard, and attempts to redirect her focus.

On the dirt ground beneath her, a trail of hoofprints can be seen, leading out of the moonlight and into the darkness that surrounds her. Twilight pulls herself from the earth, and hobbles along the tracks, wincing with every step. The princess stops at the edge of the darkness, feeling out one of the prints on the ground with a forehoof. Once comfortable with its shape, she enters the darkness with a grimace and narrowed eyes.

“Look how far you’ve come…”

Pinkie’s voice floats around the otherwise silent Big Top with haunting resonance. Twilight is unable to locate the source, instead focusing on the imprints beneath her hooves.

“I wonder how much of the old Twilight is left?”

The princess stops, suddenly feeling a deviation in the tracks. Upon extending her hooves in either direction, she discovers dozens of indentations; even of different sizes.

“...Well?”

A shadeless lamp suddenly comes to life, projecting the shadow of a pony with a large mane on a covered crate in front of Twilight. She hurriedly spins around, only to discover a dusty ponequin wearing a rainbow afro wig to be the source. Once her breathing is relatively calm, Twilight takes advantage of the light to learn as much about her surroundings as possible.

There were hundreds; maybe even thousands of hoofprints embedded in the dirt, heading in every direction imaginable. Attempting to follow Pinkie’s was no longer an option. Instead, Twilight looks around her, covered crates and attractions surrounding the alicorn on all sides.

Twilight chooses a direction at random and shambles toward it, moving her eyes between the bizarre shapes hidden under the covers and the ragged bottoms of the cloth, where the cover would often just come up short, and leave a sliver of the object exposed. And, as the princess hopes, the hooves of anyone hiding under them.

“You’re a hoot, Twilight.”

The alicorn’s ears perk up, and she stops in her tracks. That time she could clearly tell that the voice came from behind her. Twilight pivots slowly on three legs, then begins her painful journey back the way she came.

Twilight Sparkle stops before one of the few uncovered objects, a large mirror similar to the one found on her first night in Sugar Valley. She steps closer to her reflection, grunting as she settles before it, just close enough to see the red in her eyes.

There were several small cuts surrounding her dirt-stained hooves, bruises along her legs and abdomen. The bandaging around where her wings once were is faded and peeling, loose pieces of the cloth dangling freely at her sides. The last part of her that she looks at is the face, where her narrowed eyes are pronounced with heavy bags underneath, her right eye further highlighted by a large bruise surrounding it. Twilight’s snarl—teeth lined with cracks of dirt—begins to fade; and her brows relax. The pain in the mare’s leg momentarily subsides, as the grimace transforms almost entirely into a much more calm, if not somber expression.

“That’s right, take a good look.”

Twilight spins around just in time to see Pinkie emerge from seemingly nowhere behind her. A pink hoof comes crashing down into the alicorn’s face, sending her and a long strand of saliva into the dirt. Pinkie paces expectantly as the cloud of dirt around Twilight dissipates. The alicorn groans as she turns her head to see that all-too-familiar smile prancing around her, mocking the miserable princess.

Slowly, Twilight rises to her hooves again, back to the mirror and muzzle facing her attacker. Once steadied, she begins to wind up a punch, but Pinkie Pie moves in much faster and sweeps a leg under Twilight, sending waves of pain through her dislocated hoof as she crashes back into the dirt.

“You’re still resisting! You’ll never get anywhere like this!”

Again, Princess Twilight painfully brings herself up, grunting as she barely reaches a full stand. Pinkie moves in for another attack, but Twilight blocks it with a hoof quickly thrown in front of her face. The impact jolts Twilight back, the mare unable to do anything as Pinkie’s alternate leg returns from the other side, and elbows the alicorn in the jaw. She falls to the earth in another cloud of dirt, the taste of blood now present in her mouth. Pinkie falls back, clicking her tongue disappointedly at the mare on the ground.

“You know, up there on the ride; I really thought you’d seen it.”

Twilight slowly rolls her head the other direction so that she can watch the earth pony, having lost the determination to stand up again.

“We aaall went and muzzled ourselves. Castrated one another, in a feral world...”

The alicorn helplessly attempts to prop herself up on an elbow, as Pinkie circles around and smirks at her efforts.

“Do you actually think any of that is real?”

A violet forehoof extends out to grant more leverage for Twilight, her unkempt mane hanging over her face.

“Pain is real. Lust. Impulse. Those are our masters; not any princess.”

Twilight looks up from the ground to catch another devilish smirk from Pinkie.

“Heh—no offense…”

The alicorn’s face again pivots toward the earth, before she forces herself up once more. She nearly stumbles over, and it takes much longer than the last time, but Twilight finally stands once again before the Element of Laughter. Pinkie Pie pauses her pacing to stare at the other mare, who’s mouth hangs open just beneath the lines of blood tracing a path to her nostrils.

The two watch each other quietly for a moment, muscles itching to spring into action. Pinkie is again the first, closing the distance between the two of them with a short sprint and her head down. Twilight is defenseless against the ramming attack, which sends her flying back into the mirror, cracking it on impact. The next hoof to fly up is a pink one, which Twilight narrowly dodges with a bob of her head. The splitting crack resonates in her ear as Pinkie’s hoof lands directly against the mirror, not even flinching as blood quickly fills the freshly made crevices. Twilight quickly follows with a strike to the chest, earning nothing but another attack from Pinkie, this time straight to the princess’ muzzle. The princess closes her eyes and raises a hoof, but nothing can be done to stop the fury of her once best friend, the cracks and blood on the mirror spreading until Pinkie finalizes her assault by grabbing Twilight’s head and forcing it through the glass. The alicorn cries out in pain as the grueling sensation of dozens of shards piercing through her flesh, most sticking as Pinkie pulls her off and tosses her backwards.

“You’re the one who wanted this, remember? All I wanted to do was take a peaceful ride together!”

Twilight writhes in agony against the dirt, holding a hoof up to her bloodied face. Her cries are ignored by Pinkie, who heaves the pony up in her arms so that Twilight can watch the two of them together in the mirror.

“What do you think?”

The alicorn’s right eye is forced shut because of countless lacerations and small shards of glass, but her remaining eye is able to just make out the violet shape slumped before her.

“Maybe not a total loss. Sugar Valley can always use more employees!”

Twilight whimpers helplessly as she allows her head to fall against her chest, staring down at the blood and glass surrounding her hooves.

“You’ll be a bit of a fixer-upper, but; I’ve seen worse.”

There’s no response but that of a gargled cough, Twilight driving one of her forehooves deep into the ground beneath her.

“Do you wanna stick with the purple theme? I’m sure I can find something.”

Twilight’s good eye opens with a deep slant, and her mouth curls into a venomous snarl as her hoof pulls up, bringing strands of blood and a collection of glass with it.

“Oooh! How about a—”

With her last surge of adrenaline, Twilight turns and sends a hoof-ful of glass straight into Pinkie’s eye, causing the pony to recoil in shock. Wasting no time, the alicorn makes a full rotation and leaps into Pinkie, who lands against the hard ground with Twilight on top of her. The princess holds her victim down with her left hoof as her right drives again and again into Pinkie, blinding her and slashing her throat. The sound of flesh tearing and gargled laughter echoes throughout the Big Top, Twilight ignoring every sensation but one.

Eventually, the strikes slow, and the laughter tapers off into a haunting gurgle. Twilight finally places her glass-ridden hoof off of the pony, and instead on the ground next to her. The princess’ breathing is ragged and loud, offering no relief as she slowly pulls herself from the corpse. She can only drag herself a forehoof away from Pinkie before collapsing into a heap in the dirt, closing her eyes and simply listening to the sound of her own breath.

The only recognizable feature left on Pinkie’s face is her smile, frozen amidst the gore and the glass. Two gaping holes remain where her eyes once were, putrid pits filled with rendered flesh and still seeping blood. And off to the deceased’s side is Twilight—who lies with her back turned to Pinkie, warm blood slowly pooling around the alicorn. Mind and body faltering from total exhaustion, she’s able to do nothing but curl into a ball, hopelessly trying to think of an escape plan, the will to get up; even the image of her brutalized companion would be favorable over the crushing nothingness she feels.

With her breathing finally steadied, Twilight finds comfort in the approaching embrace of sleep, her bloodshot eye disappearing behind a heavy eyelid. After a moment, there are wild flashes of bright light that surround the mare, and what sounds like distant voices settling in her ears. These sensations grow louder and brighter, drawing nearer to the princess until she finally drifts off, blanketed by the shadows of many.

Salvation

A bright, dazzling light is the first thing Twilight sees upon opening her eyes. She reaches a forehoof up to rub them, and the blinding light fades from the room, replaced by the soft glow of several candles placed about. The second thing Twilight notices is her forehooves themselves; washed fur, and mending cuts.

“Twilight?”

The princess winces as she props herself up enough to see where the voice is coming from, a tinge of disbelief in her eyes when she finds them.

Celestia leans against the opposite end of the bed Twilight rests in, eyes edged with tears.

“Oh, Twilight!”

Princess Celestia races to meet her pupil, gently wrapping her forehooves around the young alicorn’s neck. At first, Twilight is unsure of how to respond, feeling confused and terribly drowsy, unsure if it was even real or not. But slowly, her own hooves rise over the shoulders of Celestia, and Twilight learns for certain that it’s real.

“I’m so glad you’re okay…”

The smaller mare’s eyes open after a long moment of basking in the embrace.

“The others? What happened?”

Celestia hesitates to respond, eventually pulling away from her student to face her and the truth.

“Your journey was taking longer than expected, and when we heard news of another one of Lane’s prisoners discovered at a camp near Sugar Valley, Luna and I immediately set out to determine the status of your efforts.”

Twilight’s eyes continue to peer into Celestia’s for the answer she wants, but is afraid to hear.

“...We were too late.”

The words hit Twilight like a blade, the mare glancing solemnly down at the bed beneath her.

“...You and Applejack were the only ones we could save.”

Twilight’s eyes shoot back up.

“Applejack is still alive?”

A simple nod from Celestia is more than enough to elicit some matter of relief in Twilight.

“We had to revive her; she had an infection on her leg that if gone longer untreated would’ve almost certainly been fatal. But the doctors tell me she’s due for a recovery now; I have the best in Canterlot watching over her.”

The bed creaks as Twilight lifts herself all the way up, the mare determined to head off.

“I’ve got to see her—”

An ivory forearm extends out to gently restrain Twilight, who almost immediately groans in pain at the sensation of her muscles moving.

“Twilight, please; you need rest. You’ve been unconscious for days, and a large amount of recovery magic still pulses through your veins.”

The violet alicorn leans back into her bed and closes her eyes, frustrated by the numbness in her body. When she again opens them, she tilts her head to watch the table next to her, which is filled with cards and flowers left by a myriad of ponies.

“I’ll go get the doctor, and if she thinks you’re ready, then we’ll get you out of here.”

Princess Celestia prepares to leave the room while Twilight stairs tiredly at the newly acquired cast she’s wearing. Pausing at the door, Celestia eventually draws the attention of her student again, gifting her a warm, teary-eyed smile.

“I’m so glad you’re back.”

Silence fills the room, Twilight unsure of a response. The pony can’t shake the images of her closest friends, their expressions frozen with the same bitter-sweetness Celestia displays her now.

Eventually, Twilight musters a small smile in response to her mentor, hoping that would be enough. As the older alicorn leaves the room, Twilight again turns to the table at her side, rotating one of the many cards toward her so that can read its message, a short but sweet note hoping for her recovery. The princess reads the name beneath the note, narrows her eyes, then reads it again. She isn’t sure, but suspects that she had never met the pony in her life.

* * *

The evening is a blur of concerned faces and cautious hugs, Twilight relieved to be in Canterlot to experience it all. Perhaps the most distraught pony she confronts is Shining Armor, who’s unusually scraggy appearance suggest that he had received very little rest in the past few days. Even amidst her reassurance, Twilight couldn’t shake the feeling that her brother had cast blame on himself, leaving the colt with an internal struggle.

No longer able to bare the sight of so many smiling ponies admit how thankful they are she’s returned safely, Twilight instead seeks out the company of her closest friends. She stands quietly before one of four monoliths, Pinkie Pie’s cutie mark engraved near the top. The weather team were busy preparing for a storm, large brooding clouds casting slowly moving shadows over the otherwise sun-bathed courtyard.

“I’m sorry, Princess…”

Twilight doesn’t turn toward the voice, instead maintaining her long stare at one of the other monuments.

“...It looks like there was a mistake in the engraving, the dates are wrong on—”

“No.”

The princess turns just enough so that the side of Pinkie’s grave is visible, the shadow of the guard on the ground before it.

“The dates are correct.”

The guard takes a small step back, his years of servitude to Canterlot overriding his confusion and curiosity.

“Understood.”

Twilight Sparkle continues to watch one of the other large stones; one embossed with butterflies, and standing tall before a draconequus with his head hung low.

The soft clip-clop on the marble does little to alert the slim creature as Twilight approaches from behind, a slight hobble in her walk.

“Hi Discord.”

The Lord of Chaos spins around in shock.

“Oh, Princess Twilight! I heard you were awake and I was just on my way, when…”

Twilight waves a hoof.

“I could barely breathe in there, all those ponies up to see me. I’m happy to be out in the fresh air.”

The base of the monolith draws Twilight’s eye as silence between the two ensues. Magic had sunk into the speckled stone, leaving flowers and grass to protrude out with abnormal life. Twilight takes a step closer to the scene, so that she can stand side-by-side with Discord. The draconequus tilts his head ever so slightly away from the mare; perhaps so that the tears are less evident.

“I’m sorry about the…”

Discord lifts a shaky claw toward the plants.

“...I didn’t really realize what I was doing.”

The princess glances over to her friend with a small smile on her muzzle.

“Don’t worry about it; she would have liked it.”

The scene again grows quiet as Discord begins to fidget with his fingers, and Twilight gets lost in the smooth, mastercrafted stone. A gentle breeze blows through the fur of the two friends as a large, shapeless shadow rolls over the monolith. Eventually, Twilight’s lips slowly part, and the mare breaks the silence.

“...She always saw the good in you...”

Discord glances up from his hands, but remains quiet.

“...even when none of us did.”

The Lord of Chaos’ eyes begin to grow noticeably red as the two remain next to each other. Twilight turns to look up at the draconequus, her brows arched in concern.

“I’m sorry, Discord.”

A quivering smile grows on Discord, and the creases catch a single tear that rolls down his face.

“It’s okay.”

Twilight turns her attention back to the stone in front of her, heart aching for her friend. The two remain alone for a while in the vast memorial, the sprawling fields and farmland of Equestria visible just beyond the marble railing.

* * *

The soft, pleasant sound of rain coming down in sheets can be heard just outside the hospital, the window next to the princess distorted with the constant pouring. Twilight is transfixed on the door in front of her, wide open so that it reveals just the foot of the bed in the room inside. The mare brushes the frayed brim of her headware—a worn ten-gallon hat made with a black material—then steps through the doorway into the patient’s room.

Twilight freezes at the sight of her friend lying in the bed, head propped up and eyes half open. A tinge of relief flares up within Twilight; although one that’s completely overshadowed by a sense of heartache. After collecting herself, the mare slowly approaches the side of Applejack’s bed and removes her hat.

“Hey Applejack.”

The earth pony utters no response, nor even gives an indication that she hears her friend. Twilight knows this is due to the strong magic that’s subdued her, in the interest of a painless recovery.

“I uh… brought you something.”

Twilight looks sheepishly down at the worn hat hanging from her forehoof.

“I know it’s not really like your old one; of course black was the only color they had…”

A steady hoof places the hat on the table next to Applejack’s bed, where the princess notices several cards standing. One from the princesses, one from the rest of the apple family, and a hoof-made card from Applebloom specifically.

The alicorn tilts her head back toward Applejack, watching the steady, rhythmic breathing in her chest.

“The whole thing feels like a nightmare. The things she did…”

There’s a brief pause in Twilight’s monologue, even though her mind has no trouble imagining the words to come next.

The things that I did…

A violet, scarred hoof makes its way up to the edge of the bed, where it comes down to lay across Applejack’s own forehoof. Twilight holds it there while listening to the quiet storm outside. After a long moment of the two sharing the silence, the alicorn’s eyes begin to grow misty, and Twilight sheds a tear for the first time since Sugar Valley.

“I close my eyes—and it’s all I see…”

Twilight grips her friend’s hoof tighter as she continues with a shaky voice.

“The lights, the creatures…”

A second tear makes its way down the dry half of Twilight’s face.

“I see our friends, Applejack. Their lifeless faces—”

Twilight’s voice gets caught in her throat, and she hangs her head while fighting the urge to break down. When her muzzle rises again, it rises with red eyes and a runny nose. The princess keeps parting her lips like she’s ready to say something, but struggles to make more than a quiet whimper. When she does finally manage to talk, it’s in a strained, hoarse voice that comes out in between the sniffling.

“I don’t know what to do…”

The alicorn leans in against the bed, her arched back shaking as she cries into the space between her and her friend.

“I’m so scared…”

Rain continues to pour over Canterlot in great excess, the calming sound of its descent filling the room, and the halls that lie beyond. Twilight Sparkle stays in the room with the earth pony until the last of the raindrops fall sparsely beyond the windows, and the city is once again lit by the sun’s brilliance.

* * *

Mist envelopes the area around the bridge as Twilight stands alone at its ledge, watching the colossal falls before her. The chilled air and gentle breeze relaxes the princess, who shuts her eyes and allows the powerful sound of the falls to hold her in a trance.

“Twilight—”

The alicorn yelps, her phantom wings extending out as she spins to escape the claw that just settled on her leg. Spike stands frozen on the bridge with her, pupils dilated and claw raised away from Twilight.

“Sorry…”

Twilight relaxes her muscles and waits for her breathing to steady.

“It’s fine, just…”

The mare shakes her head, deciding it’d be better to just move on.

“How’s your drink?”

Spike looks down at the cup in his claw, the plastic covered with stylized lemons.

“It’s good. Not sure if I can finish it all, but—oh! Your bits!”

Spike offers a pair of coins to Twilight, who shakes her head in response.

“Keep it.”

The dragon makes a confused face, then retracts his arm and manages a small smile.

“Oh; thanks!”

Twilight returns the smile, then tilts her head back toward the falls, again almost immediately mesmerized by its motion.

“Is it what you imagined?”

After first taking a quick sip of his drink, Spike walks up to the railing next to Twilight and peers over the edge with her.

“It’s way bigger than I imagined. I don’t think anyone could have imagine this, actually. You really have to see it to believe it.”

The princess leans into the railing, silently agreeing with her assistant as she continues to stand in awe of the scene’s natural beauty. Nearly the entire horizon was alive with motion, seemingly infinite amounts of water bombarding the river below. It was pleasant to be so distracted by something; so much so, Twilight allows the world around her to again slip away, the young dragon turning toward his mentor and raising a brow.

“...Twilight?”

One last breath of the fresh, humid air is inhaled by the princess, before it’s slowly released in a drawn-out exhale.

“Alright… let’s head back to the hotel.”

Spike takes the lead as the two make their way off of the bridge, leaving behind the resplendent view of the falls. Although a small limp remained, Twilight is thankful for the lack of a brace on her hind leg, every hair on her coat and mane receiving the air’s light shower. The two begin their lengthy journey back to the hotel, as the falls continue their thunderous descent into the wild rapids below.

* * *

The wet grass sloshes beneath every step Twilight takes toward the figure in the distance, a shovel held in his sparkling blue telekinesis.

“...Starswirl?”

The bearded unicorn looks up, the bells on his hat making a soft jingle with the sudden motion.

“Ah, Princess Twilight Sparkle! Good to see you again.”

Twilight approaches the scene curiously, noticing that Starswirl stands up to his elbows in a large pit.

“Sorry to hear about your friends, Princess.”

The alicorn flaps her wings a few times to shake out the water.

“It’s fine.”

Starswirl gives his friend a small smile and a nod, then uses his magic to resume digging the hole. Twilight twists her face in confusion while quietly watching the elder unicorn.

“I thought I wouldn’t be seeing you anymore; after I returned home, I mean.”

The shovel slides into the dirt once more with a strangely soothing noise.

“Oh, I think I might be hanging around for a bit more, if that’s alright with you.”

Twilight doesn’t answer, instead refocusing her attention on the ground above Starswirl. There in the wet grass lies a plain wooden casket, just next to the growing pile of dirt. The mare looks back down into the pit, and continues to watch the bearded unicorn work.

“You know you don’t have to do all this, Canterlot is handling all of the arrangements.”

Starswirl responds to the princess while shoveling out more dirt.

“This—hmpf—isn’t for your friend.”

The mare standing at the edge of the pit cocks her head.

“Well who’s is it?”

The shovel is thrust once more into the ground before Starswirl releases his telekinetic grasp on it, and turns to look up at the princess.

“It’s yours.”

Twilight goes quiet, mouth hanging agape as Starswirl resumes his efforts. After a short moment, the mare seals her lips; and with only the sound of the shovel against dirt to listen to, she gives the bed under the stallion’s hooves another look.

It does look rather comfortable.