Five nights at Sombra's

Chapters

Day one
Night one
Day two
Night Two
Day Three
Night Three
Day Four
Night Four
Day Five
Night Five
Finale

Day one

"Happy birthday, Applebloom!", Scootaloo and Sweetiebelle shouted across the booth.

Applebloom smiled. "Aw, shucks, you two...", The farm pony said bashfully. "You didn't have to come. Scoots, I know you were planning on flying lessons with Rainbow Dash today. Why aren't you with her?"

The pegasus filly grinned. "Two reasons, Applebloom. One; I would never pass up a fellow crusaders birthday! Two; I love Freddy Fazgriffon's Pizza!"

Sweetiebelle looked at Scootaloo with a sly grin. "Then why didn't you show up to my party three months ago Scoots?" She said asked.

Scootaloo wore a grim expression and turned to her friend, "What?" She yelled.

"Relax Scootaloo", Applebloom said. "She's messin' with ya. Her birthday's not for another two months."

Sweetiebelle's grin turned into a huge smile as she began laughing at her friend. "Aw, man, Scootaloo! You should have seen your face. Priceless!" She wailed.

"You sound like Discord, you big jerk", Scootaloo growled. Turning her attention back to applebloom, the pegasus filly said, "Anyway, here's my present." Scootaloo reached under the table and produced a small box.

Sweetiebelle did the same and placed a larger box on the table. "You may want to open my present first, Applebloom. Otherwise, Scootaloo's won't make any sense." She said with a grin.

The farm pony reached towards Sweetiebelle's present and grabbed it. Slowly and carefully, she pried the lid from the box and gasped at what she saw. "A Neightendo 3DS!" Applebloom shouted as she pulled a packaged gaming system from the box. "Sweetie, how did you afford this?"

"Well, really it was Rarity who paid for most of it. She was really sorry she couldn't make it, so she helped me buy it for you." The unicorn filly explained. "Being the sister of generosity has it's perks."

"Speaking of family", Scootaloo began. "Where's Big Macintosh and Applejack? You'd think they would be the first ones here..." She asked.

"They had to finish up some chores down at the farm. Don't worry, they'll be here soon." Applebloom explained. "What about the others? Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy and Twilight?" The farmpony asked.

"Well... Twilight probably has some royal things to do, Pinkie and Rainbow Dash are probably on their way, and who knows with Fluttershy?" Sweetie said. "But enough about that, open Scootaloo's present!" She demanded, pushing the smaller box towards her friend.

The box was much smaller than the last one and wrapped in a significantly sloppier manner, indicating Scootaloo wrapped it herself. Applebloom picked the package up and tore away the paper covering. "Wow! It's the new Super Smash Sisters! Thanks Scoots!" She screamed.

The pegasus filly grinned. "Well, you know. What goods a game system without a game? I saw how much you loved playing Smash on my wii, so when Sweetie told me she bought you a 3DS, it was a no-brainer." She explained with a proud smirk.

"You girls are the best friends a pony could ask for!" Applebloom proclaimed as she looked over her gifts.

Just then a soft voice was heard from behind the group. "Happy birthday Applebloom!" The three fillies turned and saw Fluttershy carrying a box under her wing.

"Thanks, Fluttershy!" Applebloom said as Fluttershy placed her gift on the table.

The yellow pegasus grinned. "I hope you like it", She said. "B-but if you don't that's okay. I can take it back and exchange it for something else... If you want..."

"I'm sure it's amazing Fluttershy!" Applebloom assured the nervous pegasus as she opened the box. "Aw. What a cute teddy bear! Thank you, Fluttershy."

Fluttershy smiled as her ears perked up. "Y-You really like it?" She asked.

"I love it!" The farm pony said as she hugged the plush close to her chest.

"Oh, thank goodness. I was so worried you wouldn't like him", Fluttershy said.

Applebloom grinned. "Relax, Fluttershy. Have a seat."

"Oh. O-Okay", Said the pegasus as she sat down next to Applebloom.

Scootaloo turned around. "Ooh! Guys look! The animatronic show is starting!" She said.

Applebloom shuddered. "Ugh. Those things creep me out."

Sweetiebelle nodded, "I know, right? Those eyes... They're just so creepy."

"What? Wimps", Scootaloo said with a grin. "Who's the chicken here now?"

"Now, Scootaloo, that was uncalled for." Fluttershy scolded. "Everypony is scared of something. You shouldn't make fun of them for it."

Scootaloo bowed her head. "I guess you're right. I'm sorry, you two", She said. Turning back to the stage, Scootaloo said, "Wait a sec... Isn't there supposed to be a fourth robot?"

She was right. On the stage sat a mechanical griffon in a top hat, a phoenix wearing a bib that read "Chow Time", and a large purple rabbit. There was supposed to be a robotic dragon wearing a viking helmet that covered it's right eye.

"Maybe it was shut down for maintenance?" Sweetiebelle suggested.

Applebloom's ears perked up. "Oh! There it is!" She said pointing a hoof towards a green dragon robot walking towards the stages. "Weird... It looks like it's broken" Applebloom said as the animatronic's head twitched slightly, sending sparks a few inches outwards.

Fluttershy looked around. "Hey... Did anypony else hear that?" She asked.

"Hear what?" All three crusaders asked in unison.

Fluttershy looked at the three fillies. "It sounded like somepony laughing", she said.

Scootaloo listened carefully for a sound. "I don't hear anything weird..."

"Huh", Fluttershy said as she looked around again. "It must have been my imagination."

As the four looked back at the green dragon-bot making it's way to the stage, a small little earth pony filly approached it and stuck it's hooves out as if asking for a hug. The dragon stopped and looked at the tiny filly, it's head still twitching.

Just then, a lightbulb above the stage shattered and a black shadow orb of oozed out of it. Several tendrils grew from the mass and stuck themselves into the neck of all four animatronics, like strings on a marionette.

The dragon shook violently while the tendril struck it's neck. Once it stopped shaking, a black crystal sprouted from it's forehead, as one did with all the other animatronics. The animatronic looked down at the little filly. It's head jerked once more as it leaned down and took a large chunk out of the front of the filly's head, causing it's lower jaw to break. The filly dropped to floor as blood poured from her open skull.

An eruption of screams was heard as Fluttershy nearly fell to the floor trying not to vomit at the grotesque sight.

"Come on everypony!" Applebloom shouted with more than a hint of panic in her voice. "Let's get out of here!" She grabbed the gifts off the table a took off for the exit, Scootaloo, Sweetiebelle, and Fluttershy close behind.

As several ponies ran for the door, a wall of crystals not unlike the kind that sprouted from the animatronics foreheads. Ponies began banging on the door and crying for help as the dragon-bot slowly followed behind.

"Guys! Over there!" Scootaloo shouted only loud enough for her friends to hear. "We can hide in there!", she said as she pointed to a door.

The group ran to the room and shut the large metallic doors once they were inside. Inside the room was a single security monitor and a chair.

Fluttershy began to hyperventilate. "Giggle at the ghosties" She kept saying as she rocked back and forth.

A tiny whimpering could be heard from the corner. Applebloom went to the corner of the room and found a small, purplish-grey unicorn filly huddled up. "Dinky?" Applebloom said. "What are you doing here?"

The unicorn turned to the farm pony. "Applebloom?"

"Scootaloo, Sweetiebelle, and miss Fluttershy are here too." Applebloom said as she nodded. "But that doesn't answer my question."

Dinky stood up and wiped her eyes. "M-My mommy dropped me off here so I could play while she delivers the mail... I hid in here when I saw the dragon bite that poor filly" Dinky explained.

"It's okay, Dinky. The dragon can't get us in here. We just have to wait for one of our friends to come and rescue us", Applebloom said to try and comfort the shaking filly.

"Hey, girls", Scootaloo said. "What does 'Door Structural Integrity' mean?" she asked.

Sweetiebelle answered. "It means how sturdy the doors are. When it says the doors are at a hundred percent, that means the doors are as strong as they can be."

Applebloom looked at the clock on the wall. "It's five P.M. Looks like we may have to camp out here" she said.

End of day one

Night one

Meanwhile, at Canterlot Castle

Discord was relaxing on the couch in his chambers when he felt something wrong. That's strange, the draconequus thought. It feels like theres a lot of chaos building up in Ponyville, and I'm not there to cause it. Wait... Fluttershy!

Discord got up from his couch and wrote down a note, telling Celestia and Luna where he went. Discord snapped his fingers on his eagle claw and teleported to Twilight's castle.

"Twilight!" Discord shouted. "Where are you?"

Twilight poked her out from her room. "What do you want, Discord?" She asked with a hint of irritation.

Discord looked down at Twilight. "I think Fluttershy is in trouble. I'm sensing a massive chaos build up here in Ponyville and Fluttershy is right next to the epicenter!" He said.

"Discord, you're on thin ice after what happened with Tirek. If this is one of your pranks..." Twilight began.

Discord put his lion paw to his head. "Will you let that go already? I had a temporary lapse in judgement. Everypony has one at some point!" He said.

"That 'temporary lapse in judgement' nearly doomed all of Equestria!" Twilight retorted.

"L-Look. Can we talk about this another time? I'm being dead serious. Cross my heart and hope to fly. Stick a cupcake in my eye." Discord said as he spawned a cupcake and literally stuck it in his eye.

Twilight sighed. "Alright, Discord. What happened?" She asked.

Discord snapped his fingers and the icing from the cupcake cleared off his face. "I told you. I'm sensing a ton of chaotic energy nearby and I can feel Fluttershy is right by it's epicenter! Grab my tail and I can take us there", The Draconequus said.

"Alright. just give me a second. SPIKE!" Twilight shouted.

Sure enough, the purple dragon came around the door with a dust pan in hand. "What is it, Twilight?" Spike asked.

"I need to go out. I need you to watch the castle while I'm gone." Twilight explained.

Spike saluted at the alicorn. "Yes ma'am!" he said with gusto.

Twilight turned to the draconequus. "Alright, Discord. Let's go", she said as she grabbed the tuft of fur on the tip of Discord's tail.

Discord snapped his fingers once again and transported him and Twilight outside a building called "Freddy Fazgriffon's Pizzeria". Rainbow Dash was there, as was Pinkie Pie. Rainbow Dash pushing on the door, but try as she might the door would not budge. Next to Pinkie was a large cake, with the words on top written in icing, "Happy ninth birthday, Applebloom". Twilight was sure the only time Pinkie had wore such a grave expression was the time, a few weeks after Twilight moved to Ponyville and Pinkie thought all of her friends were avoiding her and her parties.

Rainbow dash saw Twilight and smiled. "Oh, Thank Celestia you're here, Twilight!" She said. She saw Discord standing next to Twilight and her smile turned into a vicious frown. "Discord! You're behind this aren't you!?"

Twilight stepped in between Dash and Discord. "Discord had nothing to do with this... I hope for his sake." She said as she tossed a menacing glare at the draconequus. "Tell me what's going on."

"Gladly", Dash said. "Pinkie and I were transporting Applebloom's birthday cake from Sugar Cube Corner. When we got here, the doors wouldn't budge and we could here screaming from the inside of the building."

"Screaming?" Twilight asked.

Rainbow Dash nodded. "Yeah. It sounded like somepony got murdered in there or something."

"Hey, everypony! What's all the commotion?" A voice rang out. Pinke, Dash, Discord, and Twilight turned to see Big Macintosh and Applejack.

"Applejack! Big Mac! We think Applebloom, Scootaloo, Sweetiebelle, and Fluttershy are trapped inside here!" Pinkie explained.

Applejack looked shocked, and then began laughing. "Good one, Pinkie. You nearly had me there." Said the farm pony.

Dash approached Applejack. "She's not joking! We think they're in danger!" She said.

"Dash, fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice-"

Twilight shouted. "Applejack! We're not kidding!"

The farm pony took a step back. "Twilight... What happened?"

Twilight explained the situation to her friend as delicately as she could.

"Well for Pete's sake!" Applejack yelled. "Big Mac help me bust down the door will ya?"

Big Macintosh nodded. "Eeyup."

The two farm ponies lined up with their rears facing the door. In unison, they lifted their hind legs up and bucked with all their might. "Anything?" Applejack asked.

"Nope."

"Dammit!" Applejack shouted.

Discord approached the door. "Stand back. I'm going to try something." Discords eagle claw morphed into the shape of a drill. "This is the drill that will pierce the door! Giga! Drill! DISCORD!!!" He shouted as he rammed his drill into the glass. As the drill rotated, Discord jumped back in pain. "OW!" He shouted. The drill returned to an eagle claw, albeit a very mangled eagle claw.

"Wait a sec..." Twilight said. "If Sweetiebelle's in there than I can ask her whats going on telepathically! I taught her a two way communication spell a few days ago during 'Twilight Time'."

"Rainbow Dash, Could you go get Rarity? She deserves to know what's going on." Apple jack said.

Dash nodded and flew off for the Carousel Boutique.

Back in the restaurant

"Applebloom, if were going to die you should know I always found your brother extremely attractive!" Scootaloo shouted.

Fluttershy and Dinky panicked even harder.

"I never got to tell Button Mash how I felt!" Sweetiebelle cried.

Applebloom scowled. "Enough, you two! You're scaring the hay out of Fluttershy and Dinky!"

"W-We're sorry, Applebloom", The two said at once.

Sweetie heard something. Sweetiebelle, are you there? She heard a voice say.

"Twilight?" She asked aloud.

Her friends looked at her. "Who are you talking to?" Applebloom asked.

"I heard Twilight. Twilight! Are you talking to me through that spell you taught me?" Sweetiebelle asked.

Oh, thank goodness your okay, Twilights voice said. Can the others hear me?

"No, I don't think so."

Okay. Give me a second.

Sweetiebelle's horn glowed a bright green and a voice was heard. "What about now?"

"Twilight? Is that you?" The four other ponies in the room asked.

"Yes, It's me. What's happening in there?" Twilights voice asked.

Fluttershy explained the situation. "Applebloom, Sweetiebelle, Scootaloo, and I were sitting down when one of the animatronics bit a filly's head off! We ran but got cornered in a security guards office and found Dinky Hooves hiding as well."

"As in Derpy Hooves's daughter?" Twilight asked.

"Yes. We're fine right now but theres no food in here and that robot is still out there!" Fluttershy explained.

Twilight sighed. "Okay. We can teleport you some food and water and we're trying our best to get inside. Just hold on and we'll get you out as soon as possible. Now tell me, Fluttershy. Do you know what happened to the robot to make it attack the filly?"

"Well... Just before it attacked a black crystal came out of it's head. It kind of reminded me of-"

"Sombra..." Twilight interrupted.

Fluttershy gulped. "Mhm."

"Alright. Just hold out until we can get you out of there", Twilight said.

And with that, Twilight stopped talking.

Hours passed with no word from Twilight. Six P.M, eight P.M, ten P.M, twelve P.M.

Fluttershy sat in the corner, cradling Dinky. Applebloom paced around the room. Scootaloo sat on the floor, trying to not fall asleep. Sweetiebelle sat in the chair, spinning around.

"UGH!" Scootaloo shouted. "What's taking them so long?"

Applebloom turned to her pegasus friend. "I'm sure their doing all they can. Give 'em a break!" She said.

Just as Applebloom finished those words, something banged on the door, making all five ponies in the room scream bloody murder. Applebloom looked at the security monitor and switched the camera to the one just outside the door. The screen showed the dragon animatronic pounding on it, trying to get in. The screen showed that with each pound, the door's structural integrity dropped ever so slightly. About point two percent with each bang. The robot banged on the door at a rate of about one pound every ten seconds. Ninety nine point eight. Ninety nine point six. Ninety nine point four.

"It's trying to bust down the door!" Applebloom yelled in fear! Fluttershy held Dinky even tighter as the pounding continued.

After about two minutes, the pounding stopped. Door structural integrity: Ninety seven point six percent.

"I-I think it's gone", Applebloom as she watched the dragon-bot walk away on the security camera.

"I DON'T WANNA DIE!" Dinky wailed as she began sobbing.

Fluttershy began patting Dinky's head while trying to put on her best brave face. "Hey, now. Everything is going to be okay" She said, unsure if what she said was true.

"I-I want Mommy..." Dinky sobbed.

"Everypony. I heard screaming. What happened?" Echoed Twilight's voice again.

Scootaloo jumped down and shouted into Sweetiebelle's horn "I'll tell you what happened! One of those robots just tried to bust down the door and kill us!"

"Okay, I'm going to be completely honest with you five... We still haven't made any progress in getting inside..." Twilight said.

"WHAT?" Scootaloo yelled. "Can't you use that rainbow power stuff you used to defeat Tirek or something?"

"we'd need Fluttershy to open the chest with us, and she's trapped in there with you", Twilight explained. "The good news is Rarity and Derpy arrived. They have messages for you. Sweetiebell, Rarity says to be brave. Don't let those animatronics scare you into thinking your doomed. Dinky, Derpy says when we get you out of there, there's a big chocolate chip muffin with your name on it back home."

"T-Thanks, Twilight. We needed to hear that." Dinky and Sweetiebelle said together.

"Now, we're going to go silent again for a while. Just hold out a little longer." Twilight said before she cut the line.

"Hey, girls! Check this out!" Applebloom shouted as she pointed at the screen. The meter that showed the door's structural integrity was back at one hundred percent. "The door must be enchanted to automatically repair itself after it takes damage!"

"Awesome!" Scootaloo said. "We have some more time before one of those robots breaks in here and murders us!"

Applebloom glared at the pegasus filly. "What did you have go and say that for, Scoots?"

"Hey, I'm just being honest!" Scootaloo said. "Those doors aren't going to hold forever! One of those robots is going to come and bust it down eventually!"

"That's enough!" Fluttershy shouted. Applebloom and Scootaloo stared at Fluttershy, not used to seeing her frustrated. "The last thing we need right now is pointless bickering. Do you see Sweetiebelle arguing? No! Now we are going to sit here until Twilight and our friends get us out of here. Do you understand?"

The two fillies gulped and sat down. Fluttershy was as scary as the animatronics when she was mad.

About three uneventful hours passed. Dinky was trying her best not to cry, while Applebloom and Scootaloo monitored the security feed. Sweetiebelle sat with Fluttershy and helped her to try and comfort Dinky.

Suddenly the banging began again. Once again all five ponies screamed. Applebloom switched the security feed to the camera back outside the door. "It's not the dragon this time! It's the phoenix!" She yelled. This time the banging drained the doors integrity by point five percent per bang, with roughly the same amount of time between each hit as the last time.

Ninety nine point five percent. Ninety nine percent. Ninety eight point five percent. Ninety eight percent.

This time the banging lasted a little longer. Five minutes this time. Structural Integrity: Eighty five percent.

"Okay. I don't think we have to worry about the robots. They give up pretty quick and don't do a lot of damage to the door." Applebloom said.

Sweetiebelle shook. "Every time one of them bangs on the door, I feel a little part of me die. Like being near them is enough to kill me."

Scootaloo put a hoof on her friends shoulder. "Come on, Sweetiebelle. Theres no reason to be afraid. Didn't you here what Applebloom said? They're weak and stupid. We're strong and smart!" She said flexing her muscles in a goofy manner. Sweetiebelle giggled and pushed Scootaloo away.

Dinky spoke. "S-So as long as we stay in here, we're safe?"

"That's how it looks, Dinky", Applebloom replied.

End of Night one

Day two

Twilight paced restlessly, her mane and tail bedraggled and greasy as her left eye twitched like she had a beach-worth of grit in it. She’d been up all night trying to find a way into the pizzeria, with no progress being made whatsoever. She conducted an emergency census on the population of Ponyville, to find out how many ponies had become trapped inside Sombra’s trap. She counted thirty missing ponies; including not only Fluttershy, Sweetie Belle, Apple Bloom, Scootaloo and Dinky, but Lyra Heartstrings and Bon Bon, Rumble, Vinyl Scratch and Red June – who, according to descriptions that Twilight was able to get from her available sources, might very well have been the poor little filly Fáfnir the Dragon bit the head off of.

All through the night, the Princess of Friendship and her friends tried breaking down the doors with brute force, heat spells, and even explosives, after a quick alteration to Pinkie’s trademarked party cannon. But no matter what they did, the doors to the eatery of horrors stood firm, like iron. As far as she was aware, Twilight hadn’t heard of any other deaths during the first night inside the restaurant, but she couldn’t guarantee the safety of Sombra’s captives for long. Sooner or later, another pony could be seriously hurt, if not killed. She had to find a way into that building, at all costs.

Twilight’s horn flickered into life, and a rolled up blueprint of Freddy Fazgriffon’s Pizzeria floated down from one of the top shelves of the library, and unfurled the azure parchment in her aura, laying it out on her desk. She traced the multiple lines that ran through the building’s layout with a hoof, tracking the various entrances and exits, as well as all the plumbing, wiring and ventilation systems threaded through the restaurant. From the scale scratched out on the plans, the ventilation pipes were just big enough for a pony to crawl through, which could offer Twilight a way to get her friends into the pizzeria without risk of getting caught by Freddy and his friends.

However, there was a slight flaw in her plan. Well, when I say slight…

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Fluttershy gingerly opened a bag of gummy bears, pouring equal amounts into four small pots for the young fillies that currently resided in this little prison with her. Scootaloo, Sweetie Belle, Apple Bloom and Dinky each accepted their provisions with heartfelt gratitude, before rationing their sweets to last as long as they possibly could. Scootaloo swapped a few of her green ones with the others, since she wasn’t too keen on the green bears, and Fluttershy busied herself with nibbling on a dry cracker she had retrieved for herself. During the night, Twilight had managed to teleport in a few provisions for the trapped ponies, as well as hiding a few more care packages around the pizzeria for the other captives to retrieve on their own time.

Dinky had managed to get five surveillance cameras operational, so that she and the others could keep tabs on Freddy and company. Philly the Phoenix was currently raiding the kitchen, clanging all the pots and pans noisily as she searched for any escaped ponies. Fluttershy had spotted Bon Bon hiding in a cupboard under the kitchen sink, and silently prayed for the Earth pony’s safety.

Unfortunately, shortly after getting the cameras up and running, the five ponies realised that the power required for the cameras put a massive strain on the enchantment keeping the door stable. This meant that, although the door was still an effective barrier against any raiding robots, the enchantment would take longer to regenerate, so the animatronics could very well bust down the door in a few hours, if they were persistent enough.

One of the cameras Dinky managed to get a picture from was situated in the ventilation shafts, to which Scootaloo argued was a pointless endeavour, as the animatronics were prowling around in the multiple rooms of the pizzeria, and not in the vents. Dinky pointed out to her, however, that the vents were large enough for a pony to crawl through, so by having an eye on the series of tunnels that stretched over their heads, they would be able to see if any of their fellow captives were close by to the security office, and direct them to safety via the cameras.

Sweetie Belle had plugged Apple Bloom’s 3DS into one of the empty mains sockets to charge, once the animatronics had stopped pounding on the door. It seemed that, during the day, the dark magic controlling the robots was weakened, and the freaky machines were only able to roam around the restaurant aimlessly, unable to do more than just opening and closing doors to get in and out of the various rooms. Luckily, they weren’t very bright, so they didn’t think to open any of the cupboards in their search for their prey.

Apple Bloom decided that, in order to boost morale between attacks from the prowling robots, she would share her 3DS with the other fillies, allowing them to take turns playing Super Smash Sisters to distract themselves.

Sweetie Belle’s horn began flickering again, and a sound like radio static crackled through the room.

“Hello?” Came Twilight’s voice, seemingly from nowhere. “Sweetie Belle? Are you there?”

“Twilight!” The unicorn filly squeaked, beaming happily. “Ugh, you have no idea how good it feels to hear a friendly voice right now.”

There was a moment of silence at this remark, before Twilight started talking again, sounding unnervingly fearful.

“W-well, I wish it were under better circumstances.” The room suddenly felt five degrees colder at this comment. “I-I’m afraid I have to be the bearer of bad news.” Sweetie Belle’s blood ran cold at this.

“Wha-what d’ya mean, Twilight?”

“Well,” cam Twilight’s hesitant reply, “I’ve just been looking over the blueprints for the pizzeria, and I found the air ventilation shafts are big enough for a pony to crawl through.”

“Yeah. We found that out, too,” Scootaloo piped up. “Dinky’s gotten some of the security cams online, and one of them is in the vents. So, if anypony tries to climb through the vents, we hope to be able to direct them to us with the camera.”

“That may not be such a good idea, Scootaloo.” Twilight deadpanned. “I’ve run a few calculations, and it turns out that the characters are also able to crawl through those vents.” Dinky let out a short squeak, which would’ve become a scream, if Fluttershy hadn’t been quick enough to nab the terrified filly and clutch her to her breast in a comforting hug. “But it’s a good thing you have the camera working. If any of the animatronics starts crawling around in those vents, be prepared to turn off the lights in the office. If you turn the lights off in time, they’ll lose their point of reference, and they’ll, hopefully, pass right over you.”

The uncertainty in Twilight’s voice as she recited this theory did nothing to quell the rising fear in the room.

“Twilight,” Fluttershy reported, trying to make her voice audible enough with being too loud, not like she should’ve bothered with muting her volume, but it was a comforting effort, “we’ve noticed that the robots seem to be sluggish during the day. I-I think Sombra’s magic must be weakened in daylight hours.”

“That’s good to know,” Twilight noted. “Have there been any more casualties?”

“No, thank goodness,” Fluttershy sighed, receiving a similar response from the Alicorn.

“Excellent. I’ll be sending a report to Princess Celestia as soon as we finish our little chat. I’m getting worried that, if we don’t get in there as soon as possible, the animatronics might very well get more hostile as time progresses. Just keep your wits about you, make sure you don’t draw any unwanted attention to yourselves, and turn your lights off if any of the robots make their way into the vents.”

With her warning issued, Twilight cut the telepathic link to Sweetie Belle, and left the five mares in silence. Dinky nuzzled against Fluttershy’s chest, prompting the Pegasus mare to wrap her wings around her. The unicorn filly took a deep inhale of Fluttershy’s scent.

“Your wing hugs feel just like mummy’s,” she commented, absently. Unnoticed by the four fillies, Fluttershy’s cheeks bloomed with a slight pinkish tinge at the comment. The ponies huddled together, Scootaloo taking it upon herself to check the camera feed, flicking from camera to camera at distantly spaced intervals. She glanced at the corner of the screen. 6 PM. In a couple of hours’ time, the robots would be at full power. And the nightmare would continue.

Night Two

The hours seemed to last an eternity. With no source of natural light, the only way the five fearful ponies could tell the time was with the artificial time keeping apparatus that littered the security office. The clock in the corner of the camera feed stated that the hour was now midnight; the time that they all dreaded. Sure enough, the camera feed from the main party room showed Philly the Phoenix prowling around the tables, dragging her sharp talons over the table tops and causing a terrible din as she stalked the pizzeria in search of flesh.

Over the course of the day, Bon Bon had finally managed to locate her marefriend, and she and Lyra had taken to hiding in a broom closet just down the hallway from the office. Fortunately for them, the animatronics hadn’t searched that corridor for several hours, and they had stumbled across one of Twilight’s care packages.

Fluttershy was also relieved to find that all the fillies and colts that remained unharmed by the rampaging robots had formed a group, and had barricaded themselves inside the arcade. The arcade was spacious, with plenty of hiding places available to the young ponies if the need arose, and only had one way in or out – which was now blocked with a very impressive pile of furniture. Fluttershy had relayed a message to Twilight, which prompted the purple Alicorn to teleport a food hamper to the arcade soon after.

Dinky had managed to gain tabs on three of the four animatronics. Strangely, Freddy Fazgriffon tended to stand guard on the stage in the part room, like some form of grizzly sentry on watch at Canterlot Castle. He never seemed to move from this position. It was like he was biding his time. Nopony dared to dwell on such a thought just at the present moment. Philly the Phoenix seemed to like gravitating toward the kitchen. Every time she found herself inside the mess room, she’d bang and crash around with the pots and pans for a while before giving up her search and wandering off to Celestia-knows-where-next. Fáfnir the Dragon, by far, was the most predictable. He would return to the Horse Cavern; so named after the Horse mythology from which his name originated. If ever he ventured out of his home, he would make a beeline straight to the office to try and force his way in.

The one character they couldn’t seem to find was Busby, the purple rabbit. None of the cameras were picking him up, and Dinky hadn’t managed to get any of the other surveillance cams online. It was as if he had simply vanished of the face of Equestria. Knowing there was an AWOL robot that wanted to rip their insides out through their noses struck the fear of Tirek into the helpless fillies, leaving Fluttershy to be the brave one. Unfortunately, she wasn’t faring much better.

Dinky had resigned herself to snuggling into the buttery Pegasus’ lap, seeking as much comfort as she could while she desperately willed herself to catch a few moments of precious sleep. The ponies had barely rested, managing only to catch a few short, spastic, rests whenever they dared. Fluttershy simply allowed the terrified unicorn to bury herself in her fur and wings. Her maternal instincts took over as she attempted to soothe Dinky and the other fillies through the Tartarus in which they found themselves. Sweetie Belle tucked herself underneath Apple Bloom’s fetlocks, nuzzling her chin as she coaxed the Earth pony to spoon her. Scootaloo had found a few notepads and, using one of her feathers as a quill and a carton of grape juice as ink, had started writing her last will and testament, much to the dismay of her fellows.

The sudden sound of clanging above them broke the group out of their individual reveries and Dinky rushed back to the computer monitor to find the source of the noise on the camera feeds. Flicking through the cams with spastic hooves, the unicorn filly finally located their missing assailant… Busby was crawling through the ventilation shafts. The grey filly nearly squealed, if it weren’t for Fluttershy’s quick reactions to silence her with a hoof and cradling her protectively against her breast as if she were a baby bunny being attacked by a Timberwolf. Apple Bloom leapt to her hooves, and jumped at the light switch, plunging the security office into completely darkness. On the security monitor, Busby’s ventilation shaft was plunged into darkness and the camera automatically switched to night vision. Busby paused, unmoving from his position as his artificial intelligence attempted to comprehend the situation in which it found itself. It attempted to pinpoint its location in relation to the last point of reference Busby’s built-in GPS system could refer to. Fortunately for the ponies, the metal vent tunnels interfered with his radio frequencies, so he was forced to find a way out of the shafts to reconnoitre.

Graciously, the sounds of Busby retreating from the vicinity of the security office faded away, and the trapped ponies allowed themselves to breathe once again. Apple Bloom flicked the lights back on, only to shriek in horror as she saw the haunting face of Fáfnir peering into the office through the window to the corridor outside. Her fellow ponies joined her in her screams as the dragon began pounding at the door. He beat upon the iron barricade harder this time, draining as much as point three percent of the door’s power with each hit, and now using both fists to hammer at the obstruction. Ninety nine point four percent, ninety eight point eight percent, ninety eight point two percent, the numbers decreased more rapidly than the night before. After a solid six minutes of nonstop pounding, the dragon had reduced the door’s integrity to ninety four percent before tiring and retreating back to his lair.

“Fl-Fluttershy?” Dinky whimpered.

“Yes?” Fluttershy replied in a hoarse whisper.

“Wo-would you be my second mummy?” Fluttershy’s heart suddenly stopped beating, and all the blood in her body was instantly magnetized into her face to turn her cheeks crimson. “I… I’ve always wanted another mummy.” Fluttershy clutched Dinky closer to her chest without thinking, her mind racing at what the filly was saying to her.

“A-Apple Bloom?” Sweetie Belle sidled up to the yellow farm pony, shifting uncomfortably on her hooves. “I… I don’t wanna die. No-not without…” the alabaster unicorn turned away from her friend with tears in her eyes, prompting Apple Bloom to wrap her forelegs around her neck and offer her what little comfort she could.

“Ah don’ wanna die, neither, Sweetie Belle,” she admitted. “There’s still so much Ah wanna do. Ah still ain’t earned mah cutie mark. Ah haven’t found mah special somepony. And, most of all, Ah don’ wanna say goodbye to mah friends.”

A melancholic silence lingered over the room, with Scootaloo left to read over her last decree while everypony else sought comfort from one another. She looked at the list of her possessions, the vast majority of which she left in Rainbow Dash’s name – having nopony else in her life that really had any influence on her life outside of this room. Being an orphan, she never knew what it was like to have a family. To have the love and support of somepony who truly cared about her. Rainbow Dash, of course, was an amazing adopted big sister, but she couldn’t always be there for Scootaloo when she really needed her.

“I’ve left Rainbow down,” she finally croaked, a weak sob jerking a few tears from her eyes. “I… I never managed to fly with her during any of our training courses. I… I never…” the young Pegasus could hold it in no longer. She wailed openly as she buried her face in her hooves and bawled her eyes out like a newborn foal. Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle trotted toward her before lying down either side of her and cuddling her in an attempt to calm her down.

Their ministrations were cut short, however, but a shrill scream coming down the corridor. They all turned to the security monitor to find Vinyl Scratch running down the hallway towards the office with Philly hot on her hooves, the robot Phoenix dragging her sharp talons across the walls as she quickly gained ground on the DJ pony. Fluttershy shrieked in fear, causing the robotic Phoenix to halt in her pursuit of Vinyl. The robot turned her head curiously to the left, finding a large metal door directly beside her. She turned to face the obstructing barrier, and began clawing at its metal surface in an attempt to locate the source of the sound. With each swipe, she drained the integrity by nearly a full percentage.

Ninety three point one, ninety two point two, the door grew weaker and weaker as the Phoenix assaulted it again and again. The robot didn’t let up for twenty minutes before finally quitting and racing off in search of Vinyl again, leaving the door at a pitiful sixty nine point three percent.

Dinky spared a passing glance towards the monitor screen, and was grateful to find that the clocks had just turned to six AM. Daylight would be breaking again outside, and the animatronic characters would be reduced to sluggish wreaks again, offering the door time to recharge and recuperate. They had survived the second night. But, at the rate they were going, they would never survive the third night, if they robots got stronger with every passing night. They needed to find a way to distract the characters during the night. Dinky heaved herself up into the chair at the security desk and started looking through the security systems. She found a few things she could hack into to distract Freddy and the gang in the nights to come. A remotely controlled music box in the prize corner outside the arcade. A television screen in the bar, usually used for adults to watch sports on. If Dinky could hack into these systems, she might be able to draw the animatronics’ attention away from the trapped ponies inside the pizzeria long enough to keep everypony alive until help could arrive.

She hoped.

Day Three

"Let me go!" shouted Derpy. "Let me through!"

Two royal guards held back the mailmare's advance. "Please, miss!" One of them said. "With out permission, we can't-"

"Permission?" Derpy said, looking at the guard with a menacing expression (Which, when your eyes are eternally crossed, is a lot harder than you would think). "Who gave Sombra permission to trap Dinky in there? Huh? Who?" Derpy turned to the restaurant behind. "Give me back my daughter!" she yelled. "Just give her back! She's... She's all I have!"

"Ma'am, you need to leave! We need the area clear so we can get your daughter out of there!" The other guard said.

As he finished those words, a massive BANG was heard and a rainbow streaked across the sky. The rainbow turned downward to the ground and raced parallel to the ground. The streak of color head straight for the pizzeria, with Rainbow Dash leaving the rainbow in her wake. The cyan pegasus shifted position as she neared the door, getting ready to kick it down at mach speed. "Taste sonic rainboom drop kick, motherbucker!' Dash shouted as she got closer and closer to the building.

Dash's hind leg smacked into the door, throwing copious amounts of dust into the air. The dust cleared, revealing Rainbow Dash clutching her leg and screaming in agony.

The guards let Derpy go and raced towards Rainbow Dash. One of them squatted down next to the injured pegasus and said, "It's definitely broken. We need to get her to the hospital!"

His companion nodded and went to call an ambulance.

Back inside the restaurant

Fluttershy awoke to a loud crash. The mare lifted her head up to find all four fillies sound asleep. Sweetiebelle, Scootaloo, and Applebloom all huddled together in the corner of the room, while Dinky lay next to Fluttershy, using her wing as a blanket. Fluttershy gently lifted her wing off the filly, so as to not interrupt her much deserved and needed slumber. The pegasus trotted over to the security monitor and began flicking through the different camera feeds.

Fluttershy saw Vinyl Scratch stumble into the bathroom with a nasty cut on her leg. The DJ went into one of the stalls and pulled out a roll of toilet paper. She took the roll and began to dress her wound, wrapping it tightly in her makeshift gauze. Once she finished, she pulled out another roll and picked a pen off the ground. Vinyl began scribbling down something and read it aloud as she wrote.

"I, Vinyl Record Scratch, being of sound mind and body, do bequeath the following possessions to my roommate and good friend, Octavia Melody, in the event of my passing", she said as she began listing several items. "As my last requests, I would like my DJ equipment to be auctioned off and have the proceeds donated to a charity of the aforementioned Octavia Melody's choosing. Additionally, I would like Octavia to play her cello at my funeral. Octavia, it's been one hay of a ride. The times we had together were some of the happiest times of my life. I wish it didn't have to be this way, but the curtain has to close on me some time. When you get to heaven, I'll be there waiting, preforming with the angels."

Fluttershy wiped away tears as Vinyl said aloud what the pegasus had been thinking. "Let's hope I didn't need to write that" Said the DJ. Fluttershy switched to the next feed.

The monitor showed the maintenance closet where Lyra and Bon Bon had been camped out. The pair sat on the table looking into each others eyes.

"No regrets?" Lyra asked.

Bon Bon nodded. "No regrets."

The two moved closer. It took a second for Fluttershy to realize what the pair was about to do, but when she did, she flicked the camera as fast as possible. Fluttershy breathed a sigh of relief after avoiding seeing the two mares engage in such... intimate activities. Still, as perverse as it was, Fluttershy realized she never once had known such an embrace of intimacy. The only romance the pegasus ever harbored was with a stallion from Cloudsdale that ended after about three weeks.

Fluttershy shook those thoughts out of her head and looked back at the monitor. The feed showed the entrance to the arcade where the majority of fillies and colts were held up. Nothing unusual here, she thought.

Once again, Fluttershy switched camera feeds, but this time, she screamed and woke everypony in the room up.

"Wh-What's happening?!" Scootaloo shouted.

Fluttershy cowered away from the monitor and pointed at it.

"The... ventilation shaft?" Applebloom asked.

Fluttershy looked back at the monitor. "Ventilation shaft? It's that filly from before!" She screamed. "The one who the robot killed!"

Sweetiebelle examined the monitor. "Um... The screen's just showing an empty vent, Fluttershy..."

Fluttershy wouldn't turn around. For she feared that she would be greeted by the same deadpan face, missing her forehead.

Dinky wrapped her hooves around Fluttershy and looked at her with pleading eyes. "Please, mommy..." She said. "You're scaring me..."

Fluttershy looked down at the filly, then back at the monitor. The screen was perfectly fine now. There was no trace of the face of Red June.

Fluttershy returned Dinky's embrace. "I'm sorry, Dinky!" She sobbed softly.

The unicorn filly smiled. "It's okay, mommy. I know you're just scared."

Everytime Dinky referred to Fluttershy as mommy, the buttery pegasus felt her heart jump. Fluttershy had always wanted a foal of her own, but she couldn't afford to take care of one. She didn't make enough money watching over Ponyville's animals to support a foal and herself, and she didn't exactly have a coltfriend who brought in the dough. Fluttershy wasn't sure how to respond to Dinky's wishes for motherly affection. Every since Time Turner died and Amethyst Star moved away, Derpy had become incredibly protective of her youngest daughter. Derpy was by no means a bad mother. She was friendly and loving, she had a stable career, and despite many ponies claims, she was certainly not stupid. A bit clumsy perhaps, but definitely not stupid. Fluttershy couldn't see the reason for Dinky to suddenly want to have her as a mother.

Unless... Dinky wanted to be by her mother's side when she died.

Fluttershy looked down at the filly. She wanted her mother to be with her when she died, but Derpy wouldn't be able to be there for her this time, so Dinky substituted Fluttershy as her maternal figure.

It made sense enough. Dinky had been in her fair share of life threatening situations, and throughout all of them, Derpy was right by her side. Dinky's heart transplant, her time bedridden with Pony-bola, even the train crash that killed her father, Time Turner.

Fluttershy clutched the filly to her breast even tighter. "It's okay, Dinky. I'm right here."

Inside Twilight's castle

"What do you mean Rainbow Dash broke her leg?!" Twilight yelled.

A guard shifted on his hooves. "She attempted to break down the door by kicking it while preforming a sonic rainboom, your highness" , he said. "Her femur practically disintegrated upon impact."

Twilight put a hoof to her face. She should have known it wouldn't have been that easy.

As Twilight was about to speak, a voice was heard from behind her. "Twilight. I think it's time you told me what's going on."

Twilight turned around. "Spike!"

The dragon nodded. "Now Twilight, tell me what's happening. This is the second time you've been home ever since Discord showed up two days ago! I know you wouldn't separate your self from you books unless something major happened, and I'm insulted that you feel you don't trust me enough to tell me!"

"Spike...", Twilight began. "Applejack, Rarity and Pinkie will be here soon. I'll tell you everything then."

Spike pouted. "...Alright. I'm worried about you, Twilight. I hope you know that."

As promised, Applejack, Rarity, and Pinkie all arrived at the castle within fifteen minutes.

"Are they alright, Twilight? Are they? Are they? They must be so scared in there!" Pinkie spouted.

"Twilight, darling. Wheres Rainbow Dash?" Rarity asked

"Pinkie! Rarity! Let the poor mare breathe", Applejack scolded.

Twilight sent the guard out of the room and turned to her friends. "Pinkie, they are fine as far as I know. Rarity, Dash broke her leg trying to get into the building."

Spike turned to Twilight. "Alright. They're all here. Now tell me what's happening!" He yelled.

Twilight opened her mouth to speak, but winced over in pain and fell to the ground, breathing heavily. Her horn began glowing a purplish black and green, and a black mist emanated from it. A menacing and dark voice was heard. "And so all the murderers are here..." It said. A face emerged from the fog. It was black with green eyes and a red horn. "A pleasure to see you again everypony".

Twilight got back up on her hooves, obviously in pain. "Sombra!" She yelled.

"Greetings, miss Sparkle. I think it's time we had a discussion." Sombra said.

"Buck that!" Applejack yelled.

"Yeah! Get out of here you big grouch!" Pinkie said.

Rarity nodded. "I agree with Applejack. We will not converse with the likes of you!" The fashionista exclaimed.

"Is that so?" Sombra said with a smirk. "And here I was, ready to negotiate for the release of my captives".

Spike stared at the black mist. "Captives?"

Sombra turned to the baby dragon. "Oh, hello there. Spike, Is it?"

"Get away from him, you bastard!" Twilight yelled.

"Ah tut, tut, tut. It's rude to interrupt, miss Sparkle." Sombra said. Twilight reeled backwards as black lightning began to erupt from her.

"Twilight!" Spike, Rarity, Applejack and Pinkie all yelled at once.

"Now", Sombra said. "Let's negotiate".

Spike ran to the alicorn's side. He lifted her up and helped her to stand. "Twilight... What is he talking about?"

Twilight gasped for air. Through the ragged breaths, she managed to say, "Sombra trapped thirty ponies inside a pizzeria, including Fluttershy, Applebloom, Sweetiebelle, and Scootaloo. He possessed the animatronic characters and is using them to kill off his captives!"

Sombra chuckled. "I think you'll find I only killed the one filly."

Twilight gritted her teeth. "That's one too many victims. Don't pretend like your not trying to hurt them!"

This elicited another laugh from the shadowy figure. "The only reason all my other captives are surviving my little trap is because I want them to! But now, I am willing to negotiate for their safe return", He said.

"What do you want?" Twilight asked.

"The dragon whelp... He shall do something for me... And then he shall die." Sombra said with a smirk.

Twilight looked at Spike. "You're insane if you think we'll-"

"...Fine..." Spike said, turning the heads of everypony in the room.

"Spike? You can't be serious!" Twilight said.

"Are you willing to sacrifice thirty ponies to save one dragon, Twilight? Because I'm not!" Spike yelled.

Rarity approached Spike and placed a hoof on his shoulder. "Spike... Please..."

Spike pushed Rarity away. "Rarity! Your sister is in there! I'm not going to let this freak hurt anymore ponies!"

"Spike...", Applejack said. "This isn't what Sweetiebelle, Fluttershy, Scootaloo, or Applebloom would want. We can find another way!"

"Yeah, silly! I don't want have to plan a 'Goodbye Spike' party!" Pinkie explained

"Shut up!" Spike yelled. "Sombra, I accept..."

Sombra smiled, revealing his fangs. "Excellent.... Now, kill the white one", He commanded.

Spike's determined expression faded instantly, leaving only a face of fear and confusion. "What? Why? Rarity never did anything to you!"

Sombra moved in closer to Spike. "You had the largest part in my murder. The white one is special to you. You are going to suffer for your insolence as you feel the despair of ripping the throat out of the one you love!"

"You bastard! Never! I would never hurt Rarity!" Yelled the baby dragon.

"Tsk. Tsk. Such hypocrisy. Was that speech about sacrificing one to save many just a theatrical performance?" Sombra asked with a sly grin on his face.

Spike turned to the shadowy stallion. "Go buck yourself!"

"Very well... I will no longer guarantee the safety of my captives. There blood is on your claws." With those words, Sombra's image dissipated.

Rarity was fighting back tears as she held the baby dragon close to her chest.

Twilight shook her head. "We need to get to the restaurant..."

Back at Freddy Fazgriffon's Pizzeria

Dinky sat atop Fluttershy's lap, trying to find respite from the loud 3DS's noise. One could only hear Shulk from Xenohorn Chronicles shout "BACK-SLASH" so many times, and Scootaloo wasn't to keen on turning down the volume.

Applebloom and Sweetiebelle sat in the corner, monitoring the security feeds. All feeds showed no sign of any increase of hostility from the animatronics.

Suddenly, Twilight's voice cut through the darkness, making the five ponies jump a little. "Hello? Hello, Sweetiebelle? Is everypony alright?"

"We're fine, Twilight", Scootaloo said. "For now anyway".

Twilight's voice came again, only this time with a hint of confusion. "What do you mean, Scootaloo?"

Fluttershy spoke up, "Twilight, it seems that the robots are getting more dangerous as time passes..."

"Makes sense. But listen girls, Sombra is going to be stepping up his game", Twilight said.

Applebloom asked, "How do ya know, Twilight?"

"Sombra contacted us, making demands for your safe return. He wanted Spike to kill Rarity!" Twilight explained.

Sweetiebelle gasped in horror. "H-He didn't... Did he?"

"No, thank Celestia. But Sombra said he's going to start letting the animatronics rampage and kill ponies, you five need to be extremely careful!"

"Hey... Twilight?" Scootaloo asked.

"What is it Scootaloo?"

Scootaloo shifted on her hooves. "Um... Could you check your library for a few books for me?" She asked.

"Of course," Twilight responded. "What specifically?"

"Um... It's a manga written by Scribbler, the same pony who wrote Assault on Colossus. It's called 'Mortality Pad'", The pegasus filly explained.

"hm... I think I have that. It's the series where the super smart colt gets a magic sketchpad, and who ever he draws dies, right?" Twilight asked.

"Yep, that's the one", Scootaloo confirmed.

"Okay. I'll look for it. Mortality Pad by Scribbler... OH! That reminds me. How are you five doing on provisions?" Asked the alicorn.

Fluttershy looked over to the pots where the fillies were storing their gummy bears. Everypony's but Dinky's was nearly empty. "Um... We're running a little low on food", the buttery pegasus said.

Twilight made a mental note. "Okay. Expect some more food in a couple hours. Just stay safe".

With those words, Twilight cut the line, leaving the five ponies in silence. Dinky remained silent in Fluttershy's soft embrace.

Scootaloo turned to Applebloom, "Sooo... Applebloom, do you have a crush on anypony?"

Applebloom blushed. "Wh-What are ya asking that for?! That's not something you just ask somepony!"

Scootaloo shrugged and said, "Well I told you mine when we got trapped in here, and we both know Sweetiebelle has a thing for Button Mash, so that just leaves you..."

"I'm right here!" Swetiebelle shouted indignantly.

Applebloom buried her face in her hooves. "Promise not to laugh?"

Everypony in the room nodded there head, even Fluttershy and Dinky, who thought Scootaloo shouldn't have put her on the spot like that.

Applebloom sighed. "Alright..." She said. "...Pipsqueak..."

"Knew it!" Scootaloo shouted.

Sweetie nodded. "I could see you two together".

Dinky spoke up and surprised everypony in the room. "Um... I have a crush on Dark Echo..."

Applebloom looked at the unicorn filly. "The new thestral kid?"

Dinky nodded. "He's really nice and funny..."

"Our little Dinky has a crush! Who would've thought it?" Scootaloo said. "Hey, what about you Fluttershy? Are those rumors about you and Discord true?"

Fluttershy blushed madly. "R-Rumors? What kind of rumors?"

Applebloom spoke up. "Rumor has it you and Discord are dating Fluttershy. Are they true?"

Fluttershy laughed nervously. "O-Of course not", She said. She wasn't lying. She harbored no romantic feelings towards the draconequus.

"Okay, then", Sweetiebelle responded. "So do you have a crush on anypony?"

Fluttershy shook her head. "No... I haven't had a crush on anypony since I was in flight school."

"Why not, mommy?" Dinky asked.

"I-I just never found the right stallion. Stallion aren't like cutie marks, you know? Not everypony finds theirs", Fluttershy explained.

The four fillies looked down at the ground, each with a sullen expression.

The hours slowly ticked by. At about six at night, Twilight teleported the group more food and a stack of books with a note on top. The note read "Enjoy, Scootaloo."

Scootaloo read her manga, Applebloom checked the monitor, Sweetiebelle played on the 3DS, and Dinky rested on top of Fluttershy. The group was quiet, each member preoccupied with their own task. The sounds that would pierce the silence were occasional groans of frustration or squeals of delight from Sweetiebelle (Who had the courtesy to turn the volume off) and gasps and giggles from Scootaloo.

"Man, Ryuk and Discord would get along so well" Scootaloo said, inciting giggles from her posse.

The rest of the day went on with little happening... Until the dread midnight hour arrived.

End of Day Three

Author's Note

So... it looks like our third author bailed on us. Guess it's just me and Musicalboy. Also, I know Attack on Titan and Death Note aren't written by the same people.

Night Three

Scootaloo flipped the page of her second book of Mortality Pad, ignoring the macabre irony of reading a manga series about a pony with the ability to kill with a single drawing while she was riding the fine, wiry line of death herself. Sweetie Belle had taken it upon herself to help Apple Bloom with her final 3DS game; Professor Hayton and the Lost Alicorn, as the farm filly was having trouble solving quite a few of the puzzles. Dinky was fumbling around with some of the paperwork folders she found in the security guard’s pigeonhole, scanning over a few of the documents to while away the time.

“Hey, guys!” she suddenly squealed, throwing her hooves up in the air in a victorious fashion. The other four ponies near jumped out of their fur as their attention was jerked toward the celebrating unicorn. “I’ve just found a maintenance report on that Fáfnir character. It turns out that his servers seemed to go haywire last week, due to heavy flash photography at a birthday party Fancypants was holding for his niece; Silver Bell.”

Everypony else exchanged confused glances, all sharing the same unvoiced question.

“What’s that got to do with them becoming pony munching berserkers?” Scootaloo enquired, having failed miserably to follow what Dinky was cottoning on to.

“According to his maintenance record, Fáfnir’s servers seemed to completely spazz out because of the rapidly flashing lights. Normally, if the animatronics’ severs were to break down, they’d reset their proxies and reboot their whole systems. But there was so much flash photography that day, Fáfnir just never recovered. He was supposed to be serviced this weekend coming up. But, the longer the repairs were delayed, the more spastic his mechanics seemed to get. That might explain why he was the first to get overridden by Sombra’s dark magic.”

Everypony looked at each other with a renewed sense of dread and doom at this new theory.

“So… how does that help us any?” Apple Bloom asked. Dinky’s eyes twinkled as she shot the yellow Earth pony a confident smile.

“Because, I just managed to hack into some of the restaurant’s lighting rigs!” She squealed as she threw her hooves around Fluttershy’s neck to embrace her, causing the buttery Pegasus to blush heavily. “Now, if any of the animatronics get close to hurting anypony, we can hack the lights to start flickering, and scramble their proxy servers, forcing them to reboot.” She pulled away from her “mummy’s” neck, a hopeful shine in her golden eyes. “Maybe nopony has to die in here, afterall.”

Those words elicited a few more shudders than Dinky would’ve liked, but she did her best to shrug it off and look confident in her statement. She snuggled into Fluttershy’s breast with the widest smile on her lips any of the gang had managed to maintain since this whole nightmare began. Fluttershy looked down at the unicorn filly cradled in her bosom, and slowly joined her in her smile, albeit considerably smaller than Dinky’s. The prospect that everypony could walk away from this Tartarus pit alive filled her with a sense of hope she had started to lose her grip on, and the little filly currently using her chest as a pillow was the little mastermind who would keep everypony safe.

Her thoughts, however, took a macabre turn when she saw something flicker out the corner of her eye. Something on one of the camera feeds. She didn’t get a good enough look to draw any definitive conclusions, but she would almost swear that she had seen the unmistakable coat of Red June, and her half-mauled cranium, wandering around the pizzeria without course or destination. The thought of that poor filly’s lifeless body walking around like some grizzly thrall to Sombra’s corrupted magic made her skin crawl with disgust and horror. She turned her attention to the clock in the corner of the camera feed. Midnight. For the next six hours, the pizzeria would become a hostile house of horrors, with little hope of survival and even less hope of escape. She felt the burn of bile rise in her throat as she pulled Dinky closer to her breast on instinct alone, and offered a silent prayer for everypony’s safety.

The first half hour was surprisingly peaceful. Too peaceful, even. Freddy hadn’t moved an inch from the stage back in the party room, but seemed to be disturbingly interested in the camera, as he was staring very intently the security device, as if peering into the guard office through the CCTV system. Dinky had found Vinyl, with her leg now wrapped up in toilet paper, as she limped through one of the dark hallways in search of a drink and something to eat. Luckily, Twilight had managed to teleport in more care packages, and they were all easy to find while not posing a risk to anypony’s safety by distracting them from the roaming robots. Lyra and Bon Bon had emerged from the maintenance closet, with their manes looking like they’d been vaguely smoothed down in a hurry. Fluttershy made sure the camera wasn’t focused on them too long, not wanting to have to answer any awkward questions if the fillies got curious.

After thirty five minutes, however, there was an almighty metallic scream, and a horrific bang came from the security office door. The five ponies screamed in horror as Fáfnir began slamming his weight against the door ferociously, shredding his scaly fursuit that covered his metal endoskeleton. Same as the cameras, hacking into the lighting systems had cost the ponies dearly, when it came to the enchantment on the door. The magical fortification was now working at just over half efficiency, and the door was slowly bending inwards with the force from Fáfnir’s vicious attacks. After thirty seconds of assault, the door was already at seventy five point three percent, and the dragon was still having a crack at knocking it down.

“What’ll we do‽” Apple Bloom cried, wrapping her hooves around Sweetie Belle for dear life. Scootaloo had already started busying herself with writing out a set of barely legible epitaphs for herself and the others on the backs of the papers that made up Fáfnir’s last maintenance report. Dinky, meanwhile, was cowering into Fluttershy’s bosom, crying in terror as the Pegasus mare looked around frantically for anything they could use to protect themselves. Her eyes fell upon a pocket in the back of the night guard’s chair, where a black handled device poked through the edge. She lunged forward and grabbed the device in her mouth and pulled it out, letting out a tense breath of relief when she found it was exactly what she had hoped it was; a torch. With a few flaps of her wings, she was airborne and at the office window, where she kept Dinky cradled in her fetlocks, hiding her face from the monster that lurked outside and frantically clicked the power button in her teeth, causing the torch to flicker on and off at uncoordinated intervals. The light shone into Fáfnir’s eyes again and again, and the lenses that made up his optic receptors narrowed, as if to try and limit the amount of light that reached his internal processor. Fluttershy continued to dazzle the robotic dragon with her torch for as long as she could, her jaw aching from the repetitive motions of clicking the torch on and off. Finally, after a tense minute since Fáfnir arrived, the banging ceased. Fluttershy dared to open her eyes, which she hadn’t realised she had closed so tightly, and found that Fáfnir was now stood completely motionless, his mechanics whirring and hissing spastically. With juddering, halted movements, he made his way down the hallway, away from the office, and back to his lair.

Everypony dared to heave a sigh of relief, having survived the traumatic experience – physically – unscathed. The door, however, was looking like a train had hit it. A quick look at the computer monitor revealed the full extent of the damage; ‘DOOR INTEGRITY: 50.3%’.

“That was TOO close for comfort,” Sweetie Belle complained, burying her face deep into Apple Bloom’s mane.

“If any more of those robots come by, we’re totally dead.” Scootaloo curled herself up into a tiny ball in the corner of the office, trying to settle herself back into her manga books. Fluttershy returned to her spot in the room to sit in silence, with Dinky in tow. She placed a kiss on the top of Dinky’s head as she cradled the whimpering unicorn in her hooves, whispering comforting words in her ear.

Apple Bloom took up post at the computer desk, flicking through the camera feeds to find the animatronic characters throughout the restaurant. Sweetie Belle slowly plodded over to her and clambered into the chair beside her, resting her head against the farmer’s shoulder. Apple Bloom simply allowed the alabaster unicorn to take whatever comfort she could find from her as she kept her vigil, surveying the cams for any sign of the prowling bots.

“AB?” Sweetie’s eyes rolled up to find the yellow filly watching the screen with all the concentration of a hunting owl.

“Yuh-huh?” Apple Bloom didn’t turn her gaze away from the screen for a single moment as she answered her friend.

“C-can I, um… l-let you in on a, um… little secret?” The unicorn shifted uncomfortably in the seat of the chair she currently shared with her hardworking farmer friend.

“Sure, Sweet. What is it?” Sweetie Belle felt her face heat up as she leaned forward to rest her lips behind Apple Bloom’s ear. As softly as she could, she imparted her secret, graciously unheard by the other three occupants of the room. Apple Bloom’s eyes lost all focus as they widened into an expression of shock and revelation. She turned to face her friend, who was hiding her face in shame, attempting to make herself melt into a puddle so she would be able to soak herself into the carpet and escape from the awkward position she now found herself. The yellow Earth filly cleared her throat, her voice coming out huskier than usual as she spoke.

“Wull… Ah, uh… Ah-Ah don’ rightly know what ta say, Sweetie,” she stumbled, awkwardly. “Ah, uh… never pinned ya ta, um… yeah.” She turned back to the computer screen, hoping to distract herself from the awkward tension that now hung over her and Sweetie Belle like an old dead goose. It didn’t help in the slightest, as now Sweetie Belle’s secret played on her mind like a kitten playing with a ball of yarn. She glanced around the room, finding Fluttershy, Dinky and Scootaloo all caught up in their own business. She licked her suddenly parched lips and leaned aside to whisper into her friend’s ear. “T-tell ya what, though, Sweet,” she stuttered, the heat of bile catching in her throat as the nervous tension in her belly consumed her, “i-iff’n ya’ll help me admit mah feelin’s ta Pipsqueak, then, uh… maybe Ah could, uh…” she cupped a hoof over her muzzle to secretively whisper her offer into Sweetie Belle’s ear. The unicorn’s ears perked every now and then as the odd detail caught her attention. When Apple Bloom was done whispering, Sweetie Belle’s expression was mixed between hopeful excitement and awed shock.

“You…y-you really mean it?” She squeaked, flinching a little at the over eagerness in her tone. Apple Bloom simply nodded, scratching the back of her neck awkwardly. Sweetie Belle mirrored her and gave her a curt nod. “Ye-yeah. I… I’d appreciate that. Thank you, AB.” She beamed as broadly as she could; a gesture Apple Bloom returned as well as possible. The two fillies were drawn away from their exchange, however, when they heard a familiar rattling resonating from overhead. They turned their attentions to the screen and found that Busby had made his way into the ventilation system again. Sweetie Belle, instinctively, jumped for the light switch, plunging the room into darkness, leaving Busby to ponder what was happening. The robot’s internal processor whirred and buzzed for a minute before giving up on trying to locate itself and making for the nearest accessible exit from the overhead tunnels. The ponies heaved a sigh of relief as the clanging of Busby’s movements gradually retreated. Their relief, however, was short lived as the sound of dozens of voices screaming in terror filled the air.

Apple Bloom flicked the camera feed to the arcade. There, stumbling to her feet from beneath a pile of metal shrapnel and debris, was Philly, who had clearly fallen through the ventilation tunnels herself. The colts and fillies all ran around in circles, some of them managing to coordinate themselves just enough to try prying the clutter they’d assembled as a barricade away from the door. The Earth pony’s blood ran cold as she watched the robotic Phoenix stand to her full height and attempt to make sense of the commotion around her. She looked round to where Fluttershy and Dinky were cradled together, and found Dinky frantically worming her way out of her adopted “second mummy’s” hooves and dashing to the desk. She hopped up into the seat and started frantically pressing buttons on the keyboard, her eyes wild with fear and concentration. Everypony’s eyes were glued to the screen as Dinky punched in some sort of sequence of codes and button mashes, her goal – as yet – unclear.

Soon, all the attractions in the arcade lit up and sang with their assorted jingles and theme tunes. The noise was deafening, and the lights were so spastic, they could’ve easily induced a fit. Philly didn’t seem to notice at first, as she swung round to grab Rumble from the top of an air hockey game and lift him high by his tail. She dug her claws deep into his flank, eliciting a scream of pain as she drew blood from the helpless colt. Suddenly, the terrifying Phoenix stopped her assault on the young stallion and froze in place, her cold unfeeling eyes buzzing with binary code as her servers started to break down and reset themselves due to the flashing lights that filled the arcade. A young Earth pony colt managed to wrestle Rumble out of Philly’s claw, draping the injured Pegasus over his back and dashing out the, now unblocked, door to the entertainments room. All the young ponies had fled, and were now making their way to the prize room, where they hid themselves amongst the many stuffed toys.

Fluttershy let out a breath she had held in for too long, judging by the way her lungs burned as oxygen flooded hr respiratory system. She scooped Dinky up in her fetlocks and planted a motherly kiss on the unicorn’s cheek, practically singing praises to the filly as she clutched her to her breast as if she was her prized teddy bear. Dinky happily accepted the motherly affection from the buttery Pegasus, and snuggled into her fur as she tried to get her heartbeat to even out.

Everypony looked up as they heard bells chime six times. Another night successfully survived. They allowed themselves to relax a hair, and they all turned in for as much rest as they could snatch, before the horrible nightmares started again.

As they drifted off into a fitful sleep, the camera fed buzzed a little, flickering from a view of the party room to a pair of dead, robotic eyes that stared out into the security room. After ten seconds of flashing from one image to another, the camera settled on the party room, where Freddy Fazgriffon stood proudly on the stage, staring down at the only other occupant of the room; Red June, who returned his gaze with a cold, unfeeling glare.

Day Four

"Alright, Everypony", Twilight said to the crowd consisting of Pinkie pie, Applejack, Rarity, and Spike in front of her. "Discord will be here any minute with some new tools to break in. Any questions?"

Applejack raised a hoof. "What kinda tools?" She asked.

A voice rang out, answering the farm pony. "The dangerous kind..."

As if on cue, a ball of lightning appeared next to Twilight. The ball contracted and then flashed, leaving Discord in it's place. The draconequus was holding a large crate with a sign reading "Warning: Fire Hazard" planted on it. Discord dropped the crate down next to Twilight. "Here you are, Twilight", Discord said. "Fresh from the Crystal Empire. OH! And your brother sends his regards".

"Thank you for your assistance, Discord", Twilight said as she opened the crate with her magic.

Spike stepped forward and asked, "What's in the box, Twilight?"

Answering Spike's inquiry, Twilight lifted a device out from the crate. "Everypony", she began. "This is an NCN-R8 crystal laser rifle".

"A what?" Rarity asked.

Twilight turned to the group with the device in hoof. "An NCN-R8 crystal laser rifle. These babies are used in the Crystal Empire to hollow out the crystal's that make up the buildings. They're the most recently designed model after the XL-R8 model had some... defects..."

Pinkie bounced up and down and said, "Ooh! Ooh! So we're going to use those to carve into Freddy's?"

Twilight smiled. "Bingo", she said. "But... there's one problem..."

Spike gulped. "What? Are we going to explode when we pull the trigger or something?"

The purple alicorn grinned. "No. The rifles themselves are perfectly safe. It's just we need one more pony with us. I had counted on Rainbow Dash being with us, so I had Discord pick up five", She said.

Applejack looked confused. "Only Five? What about you, Twi?"

"Discord and I were planning on just using our magic", Twilight explained. She and Discord turned around, towards a pair of bulls-eye targets that had been set up. Discord stuck out his hand while Twilight leveled her horn. Two beams of energy shot outwards; Twilight's beam was lavender colored and focused, While Discord's beam was black and oscillating.

The beams stopped, revealing two large burn marks on the targets. Twilight returned her gaze to her friends with a confident grin on her face. "Now all we need is one more pony", She said.

"I know just the pony", A voice called out from behind. The four ponies, the dragon and the draconequus turned around to see a pegasus silhouetted against the background. The mystery pony took a step forward, revealing a grey coat, a blonde mane, and two golden and crossed eyes.

"Oh. Hello Derpy", Discord said politely.

"Hi, Discord", She responded.

Twilight leaned over to the draconequus and whispered in his ear, "How do you know Derpy?"

"Oh, my dear Twilight. I make it my business to know all the ponies in Fluttershy's life. Even the ones as insignificant as a mailmare", Discord explained.

"Okay...", Twilight whispered. Creepy...., She thought to herself.

Derpy trotted over to the crate an pulled out one of the rifles within. She shifted the weapon in her hooves, trying to get a feel for the weight.

"Derpy! Be careful with that!" Twilight yelled.

Derpy sneered. "With all due respect, Your highness", She said. "I don't need to be reminded. I'm not an idiot".

"Just...", Twilight began, "Just don't point it at anypony".

Derpy nodded. "What are we waiting for?" she asked. "Let's go rescue my daughter"

"Derpy, there are more ponies at stake than just Dinky..."

The mailmare glared at the alicorn. "For you maybe! Dinky is all I have left, and I'm not about to let anything happen to her!" She yelled.

Twilight stepped back. She couldn't believe what she just saw. By all accounts, Derpy never got angry. She was always happy and bubbly, it was part of the reason all the foals in town loved her. Dinky being captured must have awoken some sort of lioness in the grey pegasus, causing her to act this way.

"Derpy..." Rarity said.

"Don't try and stop me. I'm getting my daughter back"

Applejack placed a hoof on Derpy's shoulder. "I get it, Derpy. I really do. Applebloom being stuck in there... The thought scares me. Big Mac and Winona won't eat, and Granny Smith won't come out of her room. My entire family is shaken up by this", The farmer said. Turning back to her friends, Applejack said, "I say if she want's to help, let her help. This is her fight as much as it is any of ours".

"Fine! Derpy, you can help", Twilight said.

Derpy nodded. "Thank you".

The group went straight to Freddy's to carve their way in.

Spike pressed the stock of the gun against his shoulder and looked down the sight.

"Right now...", The dragon heard a voice say.

"huh?" Spike looked around, trying to find the source of the voice.

"She's right there in your crosshairs..." The voice said again.

Spike was getting scared now. He tried to drown out the voice by humming. Spike once again pressed the butt of the rifle against his shoulder only to gasp in horror as he saw Rarity right in his crosshairs.

"Right now. She won't even feel it. Just pull the trigger and shoot her right in the head"

Spike began sweating. For some reason, he could not bring himself to drop the rifle. She was right there... It would be so easy...

The dragon took a deep breath and clenched the trigger.

The continuous beam went straight into the door of the building, turning the point of contact bright red as it melt through the glass and into the crystal behind.

"Spike!" Twilight yelled. "We're not ready yet!"

Spike let go of the trigger. The baby dragon let the gun drop to the floor as he put a claw to his forehead, covering his left eye. He breathed heavily, unable to comprehend why he nearly did what the voice told him.

I... I nearly killed Rarity, he thought to himself.

"Spike?" Applejack asked.

The dragon felt his vision blur. He stumbled as he tried to speak, but fell onto his claws and vomited.

"Spike!" Twilight yelled. The alicorn ran to the heaving dragon's side as he released another burst of gastric acid.

"Spike! What's wrong?!" Twilight demanded, concerned for her assistant's health.

Spike looked up as he heaved. Suppressing another upchuck, Spike stammered out, "I.. HURG... I nearly killed Rarity..."

Rarity stepped forwards and said, "What? That beam didn't go anywhere near me, Spike".

Turning his head to face the white mare, Spike spoke once again. "I heard a voice. It told me to pull the trigger when you were right in front of me, Rarity... And I listened..."

The fashionista place a hoof on Spike's head. "Well, that mean's one of two things, Spikey-Wikey. One; You're just a terrible shot. Or two; You didn't actually listen".

Spike smiled a little as he slowly blinked. "Rarity?" He asked.

"Yes, Spike?"

"I love you..." Spike admitted.

Rarity smiled gently. "I know, Spike".

"Do... Do you love me?" The dragon asked.

Rarity looked away. "I'm not sure... But I'd be happy to find out", She said as she planted a kiss on Spike's forehead. Spike felt his body tense at the contact, a warm shot of emotion ran up his spine and forced him to smile. "But for now, my little dragon, you need to go home and rest" Rarity said.

Discord picked Spike up and grinned. "I'm on it", The draconequus said. With a snap of his fingers, the two disappeared, with Discord reappearing only seconds later. "Well that was a touching moment, but now we're back at square one again".

"Oh, shoot!" Twilight yelled. "He's right. We need another pony now".

"Nope. I'm right here". Twilight turned around and saw Big Macintosh trotting gallantly up to Spike's rifle.

"Finally done mopin', Mac?" Applejack teased.

The crimson stallion turned to his little sister with a large grin n his face. "Eeyup".

Big Mac stooped down and picked the gun up in his hooves, eyeing it closely. "A bit fancy for my tastes. But I'm gonna assume that if any gun would do it, you wouldn't all have the same expensive looking gun", he observed.

Twilight blinked in awe. "H-How do you know so much about guns?" She asked.

Applejack spoke up. "What? I never told ya, Twi? Big Mac has an old sawed off he likes to take out back and shoot at empty bottles with. 'Ol Bucky' he calls it".

Big Mac smiled proudly. "Eeyup. I give them bottles a face fulla buckshot!"

Pinkie giggled at this pun and hopped over to Big Mac. "You're so funny Big Mac", she said as she snorted.

"Well, now we have all the ponies we need. Let's get to work!" Twilight yelled.

7 AM inside the restaurant

All was quiet in the office. Fluttershy and Dinky were sound asleep, Scootaloo eagerly read through her manga, Applebloom played on her 3DS, and Sweetiebelle sat in the corner, unwilling to look back at Scootaloo and Applebloom.

Fluttershy snored softly, with Dinky in her hooves, once again using her wings as a security blanket.

Suddenly, Fluttershy began twitching softly. Not enough to wake Dinky or have the other fillies notice, but enough to tell that she was having a nightmare.

The buttery pegasus heard the same thing over and over in her dream, in which she was alone in a completely black room.

"Save us...", The words seemed to come from two voices. One was obviously a stallion, it sounded familiar but Fluttershy couldn't place her hoof on it. The other voice was quiet recognizable to Fluttershy. For she had heard the yelp of pain the voice screamed out as Fáfnir tore out her brain.

"Save us...", The voices said again and again. "Save us... Save us... SaaAAaave us..."

"... You can't..."

Fluttershy's eyes popped open, showing her that everything was alright.

"Why not?" Applebloom asked Scootaloo.

Scootaloo put a hoof to her face. "Because there are no healing items, AB".

"But what if I want to heal during a battle?"

"Shulk learns a healing art in a couple levels and soon you'll get a character who's all about healing", Scootaloo explained.

"What if I want to heal before a boss fight?"

Scootaloo sighed. "You automatically heal outside of combat!"

Applebloom looked at her 3DS. "Oh. That's cool... But what are those blue things all over the place for?"

"Item orbs are just collectables. Some are needed for quests and you can give them as gifts to your party members to raise affinity between them", The orange pegasus explained.

Scootaloo looked over to Sweetiebelle, who sat unmoving in the corner. "Hey, Applebloom. Do you know what's up with Sweetiebelle? She hasn't said anything all morning".

The farm pony blushed madly and stammered out. "N-nope! I mean, how should I know? I-It's not like I can read minds. Heheh..."

"Okay..." Scootaloo looked over to her unicorn friend. She certainly wasn't dead as she was sitting erect and her chest was pumping.

Meh, It's not my business, She thought as she went back to her manga. "I'll take an apple fritter... AND EAT IT!" She read aloud, prompting a laugh from Applebloom.

Fluttershy sat up wards, careful not to wake Dinky.

"Mornin', Fluttershy!" Applebloom said.

Scootaloo looked at the older pegasus. "Man, you were out cold! I thought for a second that..." Scootaloo's eyes widened as Dinky stood up, awakened by the noise. "Dinky... What's that on your flank?"

Sweetie turned around to look at the other unicorn. "Is that a-"

"Cutie mark?!" Applebloom shouted.

Dinky positioned her self so she could get a good look at her flank. Where there was once just purplish-grey fur was now an image of a dark green shield with lighter green angel wings on either side. On closer inspection, the wings were made of a repeating pattern of ones and zeros. "01001000 01101111 01110000 01100101", Binary code for the word "Hope".

Dinky couldn't believe it. She had gotten a cutie mark! No longer would she have to endure Diamond Tiara's and Silver Spoon's blank flank insults. She grinned a smile so large, it almost didn't fit on her face. "Mommy! Look, a cutie mark! What do you think it means?"

Fluttershy smiled brightly as she hugged the unicorn filly. "Remember how you saved all those foals last night, Dinky?"

Dinky nodded ecstatically.

"You protected them, like a shield. You were their guardian angel. That's what I think it means", Fluttershy explained.

"Oh come on!" Scootaloo yelled. "How come she gets a cutie mark but we don't!"

Sweetiebelle snickered, "Unless your special talent is getting scared to death by robots while reading manga, I'd keep looking Scoots". The unicorn filly turned away once she was done speaking, not even bothering to see Scootaloo's reaction. A reaction which would have been one of mild annoyance, had Sweetie not turned around. Now it was one of confusion.

Whispering into Applebloom's ear, the pegasus filly said, "AB? What's wrong with her?"

Applebloom tried to shrug off the inquiry. "I told ya, Scoots. I don't know".

"Horse apples", Scootaloo said. "What's going on?"

"I-I'm sorry Scootaloo... But... It's not exactly my place to tell" The farm pony explained.

Scootaloo pouted. "Well, could at least talk to her? I'm getting really uncomfortable".

"I'll try, Scoots". Applebloom put her game down and trotted over to the alabaster unicorn sitting in the corner, drawing pictures in the dust. "Uh.. Sweetie? Can I talk to you?"

Sweetiebelle turned around. "Um... sure Applebloom..."

Turning to make sure nopony was listening, Applebloom whispered, "About what you told me last night... I think you should tell the others..."

The unicorn's ears fell flat against her head. "What?" She asked. "You... You know I can't..."

Applebloom put her hooves on Sweetie's shoulders. "Sweetie, look at me. Does it look like I think of you any different?"

"No..."

"Exactly", Applebloom said. "I just think it should be you who tells them. We may not get out of this place alive. Do you really want to die with that secret all locked up inside?"

Sweetie sighed and looked into her friend's eyes. "Okay... I'll tell them tonight... Just... Just let me prepare myself".

Applebloom nodded. "It's gonna be okay, Sweetiebelle. Take as much time as you need". With those words, the farmpony walked back to her game and un-paused, filling the room with a voice saying "Now it's Reyn time!"

Hours ticked by. Nopony had said anything until about five o'clock, when Dinky got up from Fluttershy's lap and said , "Oh shoot! I haven't checked the camera's all day!" The filly sat down in the chair and began flicking through the security feeds. The first feed showed Lyra and Bon Bon in their hiding place. Dinky thought their manes looked incredibly messy and that they were breathing kind of heavy considering how little the animatronics roamed that area, but she dismissed it to her imagination and switched to the next feed.

The next feed showed the entrance to the arcade. Apparently, Philly had managed to bust through the barricade the foals had set up and was now gone. Dinky shuddered to think that her group had to worry about another one of those murderous automatons.

The next feed showed Busby and Freddy back in the party room, with Fáfnir walking through on his way back to Horse Cavern. DInky switched the camera, knowing that she wouldn't have to worry about them for another seven or so hours.

The next feed just showed the empty ventilation shaft, nothing unusual there besides the patches of dirty Busby had left during his raids.

Dinky flicked one more time, bringing her to the bathroom entrance with Horse Cavern in the background.

The unicorn filly yawned and reached into her pot of gummy bears, chewing them thoroughly before swallowing. Dinky placed her hoof back on the mouse and flicked the camera, expecting to return to the arcade entrance. What she saw utterly horrified her.

"No... Please... Celestia, please no", She said softly.

Fluttershy heard the filly whimpering and approached her tentatively. Laying a hoof on Dinky's shoulder, she spoke, "What's wrong Dink-" Her eyes fell upon the screen and her mind all but shattered. Fluttershy let out the most horrific shriek ever heard as a torrent of tears ran down either side of her face. "No! Please! Why him?! Why Thunderlane!? He never hurt anypony!"

"What's going o-Oh, sweet Celestia!" Scootaloo screamed.

Applebloom and Sweetiebelle joined the commotion and suppressed the urge to puke at the grotesque image on the screen.

A black pegasus stallion was impaled against the wall by several black crystals. One crystal for each of his hooves, one for each of his wings, and through the front of his head giving him the appearance of an alicorn. His head was slightly off center. His eyes were glazed over and his tongue lolled out of his mouth.

Fluttershy face contained an expression that combined pure fear with the most pitiful display of sadness ever conceived. "Dinky! Switch the screen! Switch the screen!" She commanded.

"I'm trying but nothings happening!" Dinky said.

"Wait... What's that shadow in the corner of the screen?" Sweetie pointed to a small black shape on the edge of the screen, slowly growing larger.

A whirring came through the speakers on either side of the computer, just barely louder than Fluttershy's weeping. A figure came into view and stared at the corpse. It appeared to be a golden, pony shaped endoskeleton, with a black crystal through it's head giving it the appearance of a unicorn. Only five pieces of some suit were placed upon the gleaming machine. Four armored boots and a crown-like helmet.

The automaton approached the corpse. A crack appeared in the metal casing making it look like it was smiling. The android turned to the camera and the crack on it's face actually did smile, like real flesh and bone. The machine's eyes emanated a green mist as it turned back to the corpse. It stuck it horn into the carcass and began carving something into the carrion, causing blood to pour out of the already mutilated body.

"Dinky, the lights! Do the thing with the lights!" Applebloom suggested. Dinky went and punched in the same codes she used to distract Philly the previous night, causing the lights in the corridor to flash violently. The machine took the flashing light's as Philly did for a while, but after the same amount of time passed that caused the phoenix to break down, this endoskeleton's smile only got bigger as he carved.

The lights stopped flashing and the machine took a step back. It faced the camera with a disgusting smile on it's face and blood trickling down his horn. The etching's in the victim's corpse read as follows, "Tod schwebt auf dem Flügel der Freiheit". The machine turned back to the stallion and placed a mechanical hoof on the a pool of blood slowly falling from the stallion's chest. The animatronic pulled the limb back and looked at the crimson liquid staining it's chrome boots. The crack of a smile completely split, revealing a hollow mouth. Out of the mouth came a tongue made of a mess of tangled wires. The tongue pressed against the blood and lapped it up eagerly.

Once the android had had it's fill of blood, it left the screen, and Dinky found she could switch between cameras once again.

Fluttershy collapsed, still sobbing, but now able to speak coherently.

"Did... Did you know that stallion, Fluttershy?" Scootaloo asked.

Fluttershy nodded. "Remember how I told you girls about the crush I had in flight school... That was him. His name is... was Thunderlane."

"Thunderlane... Why does that name sound so familiar?" Applebloom asked aloud.

Fluttershy turned to the farm pony. "You go to school with his brother... Rumble", She explained.

The revelation choked at the four fillies. They had just seen one of their classmate's brother's corpse be desecrated. What if Rumble found Thunderlane like that? The little colt would probably cease to function.

Dinky sat down next to her "mommy" and said, "Do you want to talk about him? When Daddy died, I felt a lot better after speaking at his funeral..."

The buttery pegasus gulped. "Yes... I think I would like that..." She said. Fluttershy took a long and deep breath before venting. "I met Thunderlane in Cloudsdale a few years before I moved to Ponyville permanently. He was always smiling and trying to perfect some flight maneuver to obtain his dream of becoming a wonderbolt. He was a lot like Rainbow Dash, and that drove her crazy. The two had a bitter rivalry that ended after Thunderlane met me. We became friends almost immediately. He was such a gentlecolt, always polite. Eventually, we began dating. We flew across Cloudsdale to unwind on Sundays and talked about any thing that was on our mind". Fluttershy left out one tiny detail in her explanation. She felt perfectly safe around Thunderlane as he shared one of her many fears, genophobia. Well, Fluttershy wasn't a complete genophobe, she just was scared of having sex where Thunderlane completely shut down upon hearing anything even remotely risque.

"What happened between you two?" Applebloom asked.

Fluttershy sighed and wiped away a tear. "I... I wasn't healthy for him. After we started dating, I noticed he was becoming less active and giving up on anything that he felt would have hurt me. He once even told me that he'd given up on his dream of becoming a wonderbolt so he wouldn't have to go away for shows and leave me behind. He just kept compromising and compromising, sacrificing his own happiness for mine. I couldn't stand the though that I was holding him back so I ended the relationship".

"You broke up with him?" Dinky asked.

Fluttershy nodded. "The last time I got to see him was on the train to the Crystal Empire while we were competing in the Equestria Games. I don't think he ever got over me... and I don't think I ever got over him..."

Silence dominated the room as Fluttershy buried her face in her hooves, sobbing gently.

The silence broke when Dinky said, "Um... I'm gonna see if I can't find out what that golden robot was..."

"Good idea", Sweetiebelle said. "I should probably contact Twilight".

Sweetie went to her corner of the room and her horn glowed green. "Twilight? Twilight are you there?" Sweetiebelle asked nervously.

"A little busy right now, Sweetiebelle", Came Twilight's voice. "What is it?"

"We... We need to report another casualty..."

The room was silent once more, the sense of dread when Twilight responded was almost palpable. "Who?"

Sweetiebelle gulped, turning to the mourning pegasus, she said, "A pegasus stallion by the name of Thunderlane". As the name left Sweetie's lips, Fluttershy lifted a hoof and slammed it back down to the ground, letting out a loud sob.

"... Anypony else?" Twilight asked.

"No..."

"Well, that's good. Twenty eight out of thirty is better than zero out of thirty", Twilight said, trying to lighten the mood. "But listen girls, I think we're making some progress on getting you out of there. Just hold on for a little while longer".

Sweetie smiled. "Thanks Twilight. We'll stay safe".

Twilight cut the line, leaving the five in the oppressing silence.

About six hours passed before Applebloom approached Sweetiebelle and said, "Sweetie... It's almost midnight... You may want to tell them now..."

The alabaster unicorn sighed. "Alright, AB Everypony, can I have your attention?"

Scootaloo looked up from her manga, Dinky took a break from trying to get Fluttershy to stand up, and Fluttershy herself just swiveled her ears towards Sweetiebelle.

"What's wrong Sweetie?" Scootaloo asked.

Sweetie blushed madly and took a deep breathe. "I wanted to tell you all that I'm..."

Dinky cocked her head to the slightly. "You're what?" she asked her fellow unicorn.

"Im... I'm..."

"Spit it out Sweetiebelle!" Scootaloo said.

Sweetiebelle closed her eyes as she spat out her secret. A secret that finally got Fluttershy to look up from her hooves. "I'm... I'm a bisexual..."

"A bicycle?" Scootaloo asked.

End of Day four

Author's Note

This is what Fluttershy looked like when she saw Thunderlane. Poor jokes aside, I look forward to seeing what music can do for the next chapter.

Also,Tod schwebt auf dem Flügel der Freiheit means death soars upon the wings of freedom in german. or since this is MLP Ger-mane... Eh? Eh?

Night Four

Silence reigned supreme within the office. Sweetie Belle glanced awkwardly at the clock on the computer monitor; it was now midnight. The distant chimes of the Ponyville clock tower tolled out into everypony’s ears. Fluttershy’s face was painted bright scarlet from the unicorn’s confession, while Dinky tried burying her face into the mare’s breast again. Apple Bloom broke the silence momentarily with a loud smacking sound as her hoof came up to give her face a great big hug.

“No, Scootaloo,” the Earth filly complained. “Not a bicycle. A bisexual. It means that Sweetie Belle sometimes feels attracted to mares as well as stallions.” Scootaloo’s head tilted to one side, a look of incomprehension on her face. Apple Bloom sighed in utter exasperation. “She swings both ways, Scoots!” She declared, rather loudly. Sweetie Belle flinched at her friend’s loud declaration and turned her face away from the group, praying to Celestia to open up the ground beneath her and let it swallow her whole.

Scootaloo just stood in place, and it seemed as if she was waiting for Apple Bloom to get to some form of definitive point on this topic. “So?” she finally asked, causing Apple Bloom to falter and face plant into the carpet. Scootaloo looked at Sweetie Belle as if she had just been told that the sky was blue. “Why should that matter? I don’t see you any different than before, Sweetie.” Sweetie Belle’s heart sank at those words. She knew that, if Scoots knew the true gravity of her situation, she would view her in a very different light indeed.

“Well, that’s the thing, Scoots,” Apple Bloom chimed, having righted herself from her shocked tumble. Sweetie’s muscles froze as her second big secret was about to be revealed from outside of her control. “She, uh…” Graciously, Apple Bloom glanced Sweetie’s way to silently seek her permission to be the one to break the terrible news to Scootaloo. Sweetie Belle simply nodded, numbly, and the farm filly continued. “She… confessed ta me that she’s, uh… well, she’s had a girl crush on you an’ me for some time now. N-not quite as much as Button Mash, though. But she, um… she finds us both attractive.”

Scootaloo’s face contorted into an expression that looked as if she had swallowed a lemon. She looked at Sweetie Belle with an unreadable look in her eyes. Nopony could tell if she was terrified, horrified or mortified. Sweetie Belle hoped that, whatever Scootaloo was feeling right now, her inevitable death at the hooves of one of her closest friends would be relatively painless.

The tension in the air was palpable, and nopony dared move for fear of disrupting, what could’ve been, a tranquil silence, if it weren’t for the context that the Cutie Mark Crusaders were now looking like they had just gotten caught in the act doing something unspeakable. That tension only grew as the sound of deep, menacing, laughter echoed down the hallway. Everypony froze in place until Dinky ventured out from under Fluttershy’s wing to climb into the chair and flick through the camera feeds. She flicked from camera to camera, before reeling back from the computer monitor with a scream. Everypony snapped out of their individual reveries to turn their attention towards the screen. There, staring into the camera lens from little more than an inch apart, was Freddy Fazgriffon, gazing into the room as if he was watching them through a one way mirror. Fluttershy passed out with barely a sound, prompting Dinky to rush over to her.

“Mummy!” She shouted, fear dripping in her voice. “Mummy, please wake up. Please, you’ve gotta wake up. Please, Mummy, don’t leave me alone. Please!” Dinky tried shaking the Pegasus conscious as she pleaded for her second mother to come back to her. Scootaloo turned to look Sweetie Belle dead in the eye for the first time in the last ten minutes.

“You know what?” She strode toward Sweetie Belle with big, confident, strides, her eyes bristling with fear and resolution. “If I’m gonna die, I’m gonna die having known what it feels like to have had my first kiss.” And with that, she hooked a hoof around the back of Sweetie Belle’s neck and, before the unicorn filly could even notice what was going on, pulled her forward to mash their lips together in a frantic, but passionate, kiss. Sweetie Belle went stiff as a board at the flightless Pegasus’ sudden boldness, her horn sparking on impulse, but she slowly melted into the kiss and wrapped a hoof around Scootaloo’s withers a she pressed her lips back against the orange Pegasus’, a bright pink streak painting itself across her muzzle. After an all-too-long, and yet all-too-short, moment, the two fillies pulled back, each sporting a healthy pink glow on their cheeks. Scootaloo pulled away and scratched the back of head awkwardly. “T-t-tell anypony, and I’ll just, like, totally deny it,” she stuttered, trying to sound as cool as possible, given the circumstances. Sweetie Belle giggled at her friend’s flustered expression.

“What’s there to tell?” She queried with false innocence. Scootaloo gave her an incredulous glare.

“You know. About us…” She halted in her berating of her friend’s feigned ignorance as she cottoned on to what Sweetie Belle actually meant by her comment. “Oh. Th-thanks Sweetie.” She coughed, awkwardly, before wrapping a tentative hoof around the unicorn’s, who offered her friend a reassuring squeeze in return.

The tender moment was brought to a shuddering halt as a knocking sound came from the computer screen. Everypony, including the recently recovered Fluttershy, hesitantly turned to look at the monitor to find Freddy stood in the middle of the party room holding a white modelling balloon in the shape of a pony with two pink balloons fashioned into a mane and tail on its neck and rump. Holding the effigy in one clawed paw and raising the other paw to crook a beckoning claw, Freddy made his silent demands very clear.

He wanted them to turn over Sweetie Belle.

The group shivered in unison, all meeting eyes as they came to a single answer without hesitation. Dinky climbed into the chair once more and started drumming out their answer with the stage lights in Horse code. Flash-flicker flash-flash-flash. The metal griffon’s claws closed around the balloon, squeezing its flimsy rubber flesh until it burst with a heart stopping bang. With the inanimate replica destroyed, Freddy slinked away from the party room, heading off to Tartarus-if-anypony-knew. Dinky sat back in her seat, clutching her chest where her heart was and trying desperately not to hyperventilate. Fluttershy picked the filly up and sat in the chair as she brought Dinky to her chest, singing the most motherly song she could manage.

Apple Bloom and Scootaloo, meanwhile, shrouded Sweetie Belle in their fetlocks, nuzzling her from both sides in an attempt to comfort her after Freddy made his demands to them.

“He… he wanted me,” she squeaked in a pathetic voice. “He… he couldn’t get Rarity, so he… he wanted me instead.” The alabaster unicorn felt her face turn, with help from an external force, and her vision was filled with soft yellow fur as Apple Bloom buried her face into the crook of her neck, stroking her mane softly.

“We won’ let ‘im getcha, Sweetie Belle,” she whispered, comfortingly.

“Never,” Scootaloo concurred as she wrapped her hooves around the pair, offering whatever solace she could at this point.

Fluttershy’s song came to an end, and she simply snuggled with Dinky in the chair at the computer desk, feeling the gentle rise and fall of Dinky’s chest that notified her that the filly was sleeping. She looked round at the food tubs she used to ration out the food Twilight managed to send into the establishment. She noted that the fillies’ pots, except Dinky’s, were once again nearly empty. This wasn’t the first time the CMC had nearly polished off their rations, while Dinky hardly ate at all. Either Dinky was being the most conservative with her food, or she was simply refusing to eat much at all. That second theory worried Fluttershy, as Dinky was a growing mare, and eating as little as she was could not be good for her health. She made a note to ask Twilight for more food, if they were expecting to spend even more time in this death trap.

As she mused to herself, Fluttershy became acutely aware of the voices calling from deep inside her mind. They were faint, but she was aware of their presence.

“Save us” they pleaded. “Please save us.”

Fluttershy’s pupils shrank and her ears flattened against her skull as she realised why the voices were so familiar. She had been able to identify Red June’s voice from the beginning, the brief, strangled scream the filly had let out just seconds before her death was forever ingrained in her brain. But the other… the male voice… it was Thunderlane. She choked back a sob as the voices grew louder and more desperate in her head.

“Save us! Save us! Please Save us!”

The yellow Pegasus hung her head as tears dropped from her eyes into the dull carpet beneath her.

“I’m sorry,” she whispered. “I’m so sorry.”

There was a bang at the door. Fluttershy’s heart seized in terror as she noticed Freddy was banging away at the door, dragging his terrible talons down the metal door to produce an ear-splitting screech. Fluttershy clutched Dinky to her bosom, attempting to drown out the terrible din that surrounded her so she wouldn’t wake up. The door’s integrity diminished quickly. Ninety percent, eighty five point three, seventy one point eight… Apple Bloom dove for the torch and began flicking the switch desperately, letting the blinding beam flood into the robot’s vision. Freddy didn’t seem to notice, or care, however, and continued his assault. In desperation, Scootaloo jumped up into the chair at the computer desk and fiddled with the buttons and controls in a blind panic. The camera feed flicked to the corridor outside the office door, where she noticed the PA system that threaded its way throughout the restaurant. Perhaps if she were to override the controls for the tannoy system… Scootaloo punched in a sequence of codes, similar to the ones she’d observed Dinky using when she overrode the arcade machines, and the PA system whined into life. The speakers let out a high pitched shriek, something akin to a dog whistle being blown while a griffon scraped their claws down a chalkboard. Freddy recoiled at the din, his head sparking and jerking spastically, like he was having something similar to a seizure, and fled the corridor as quickly as he could. Scootaloo slumped in the chair with relief, until she checked the damage counter for the door and noticed that the door’s integrity now stood at a mere twenty nine point seven percent.

Sweetie Belle’s legs buckled from underneath her, and she flopped onto the floor like a rag doll. In seconds, her friends were at her sides, hugging her as she wept uncontrollably into the rough, prickly carpet on the office floor.

“When will it end?” She squeaked. “Maybe I should just… turn myself over to Sombra. Maybe, if he kills me in Rarity’s place, he’ll let everypony go.”

“Sweetie Belle, that’s stinkin’ thinkin’!” Apple Bloom wailed, hugging her friend tightly.

“Yeah, even if you were to just give yourself over to Sombra, I doubt he’d just let the rest of us all walk away from this place.” Scootaloo wrapped her forelegs around her friend and drew her as close as she could. Sweetie Belle sniffled as she was held by her friends. She took whatever comfort she could from the warmth of her friends as they flanked her in a double embrace.

Fluttershy tentatively grabbed the mouse on the computer desk and started flicking through the camera feeds, pointedly avoiding the camera that overlooked Thunderlane’s bloodied corpse. To her relief, nopony else had suffered his grizzly fate. Bon Bon and Lyra were still hot and sweaty, and Vinyl had managed to find some actual gauze for her wounded leg. The colts and fillies were now hiding in the prize corner, among the countless stuffed animal prizes. She allowed her shoulders to sag in much needed relief that everypony was still alive and, relatively, well under the circumstances.

She jumped in her seat, however, at the sound of banging in the vents overhead. She clicked over to the camera feed in the ventilation tunnels, and found not just Busby, but Philly as well crawling towards the office in the vents. With a terrified squeak, she flew to the light switch, cradling Dinky in her fetlocks as she dove forwards and flicked the lights off. The camera switched to night vision as the tunnel was plunged into darkness. The animatronic duo froze as they attempted to relocate their positions and where the main office could be found. They stayed motionless for many minutes, before slowly retreating together, exiting the vents at the party room.

She collapsed to the floor with exhaustion, taking deep, greedy breaths from the night’s excursions. Far away, the clock tower chimed for six AM. Fluttershy shed a few silent tears, her body still, since she didn’t have the energy to sob anymore. They had survived a fourth night of horror in this place. She tensed as a knocking sound resonated from the door. But there was something strange about this knock. It didn’t come from any of the animatronics; the knock was too polite. Fluttershy slowly raised herself to stand, her hooves trembling underneath her weight. Her breath caught in her throat as she peered out through the window and found the single most horrific thing she could have ever encountered.

Outside the office, stood in the middle of the hallway and looking up at the murky window, was Red June, complete with the gaping hole in her head from when Fáfnir bit into her brain. Her eyes were cold and fearful, but she seemed to be attempting to wear a mask of bravery and calm as her mouth worked soundlessly to form words.

“P-ple-ase…” she croaked, with much effort, “he-elp… me.” Fluttershy fainted, her eyes rolling backward in her skull as she collapsed on her back, Dinky landing snuggly between her fetlocks in her breast. “L-let me in?” Red June requested, unsure whether or not she was heard.

Day Five

Author's Note

Trigger warning: Torture

Day Five

Fluttershy screamed as she felt the crystal structure restraining her creep along her spine. She tried to look away from the five robots in the room, but the crystals forced her to meet the eyes of the golden endoskeleton that had butchered Thunderlane's corpse. She could hear Scootaloo, Apple bloom, Sweetie Belle, and Dinky struggling to escape the grips of there mechanical captors.

"Let us go! You stupid robots!" Scootaloo screamed.

The golden machine turned to the orange filly. "Quite a mouth on this one..."

"You... You can talk?" Fluttershy asked.

The endoskeleton returned his gaze to the restrained mare. "Of course. What kind of king would I be if I couldn't speak?"

"Can the other ones talk?" Fluttershy heard Apple bloom ask.

"Unfortunately, no. They are just puppets with no sense of sentience." The golden automaton explained. "This body, on the other hoof, is a vessel for my spirit for the time being. At least until my body can regenerate"

"So you're the Sombra we've heard about." Sweetie said.

Fluttershy could hear Scootaloo grow more and more agitated with each passing moment. "You can't come after us yourself? Huh? Have to use these dumb machines?" She yelled in defiance.

"M-Mommy, Save us!" Dinky yelled.

Fluttershy's eyes widened as the voices began once more. But now, instead of just Thunderlane and Red June, all four of the fillies voices joined them. "Save us... Save us.... Save us... Please... Save us..."

"How does it feel, miss Fluttershy, knowing that no matter what you do, none of you are going to be leaving this room alive. You can't save them. Hehehe" Sombra chastised.

Fluttershy heard Scootaloo spit in the direction of Sombra's vessel. "That's what you think! Our friends are going to get us out of here! And when they do, you'll have to deal with a very angry Rainbow Dash!"

Sombra turned once more to the pegasus filly. He placed of golden hoof on her chest. "I grow tired of your bravado. Dispose of her machine!"

Fluttershy could see Fáfinr nod as Scootaloo began screaming. A loud crack was heard followed by a thud as the dragon robot dropped Scootaloo's lifeless body. Her neck broken.

"SCOOTALOO!" The four remaining ponies screamed as Sombra grinned.

Sweetie Belle began kicking frantically to escape Freddy's grasp. "Scootaloo! Please no!"

"Cease your struggling you little filly", Sombra commanded. "Unless you want to join her right now..."

"I'M GONNA KILL YOU!" Apple bloom shouted. Venom dripping in her voice as she tried to worm her way out of Busby's vice.

Fluttershy raged against her crystalline restraints, all while little Dinky screamed and sobbed. The crystal holding her back began to branch off, preventing the yellow pegasus from doing much more than blink and scream.

Sombra stepped towards Dinky with a sadistic mile on his mechanical face."This one is special to you, is she not?" He asked menacingly.

To his right, a black pillar of crystal erupted from the floor. It morphed and twisted until it looked like a buzz saw blade. "No! Don't hurt her!" Fluttershy screamed in an act of desperation. "Don't hurt my little Dinky! Please!"

The crystal blade turned toward Dinky as she screamed and begged for mercy. The saw-like blade began to buzz as it slowly inched to ward the terrified unicorn's head. The blade made contact almost exactly where Dinky's jawbone met the rest of her skull. Blood splattered as the saw cut through the helpless filly mercilessly.

Fluttershy screamed in horror as the top portion of Dinky's head fell to the ground. Sombra stepped back and laughed manically at Fluttershy's misery. The other two fillies went completely silent. Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle couldn't comprehend how anypony could be so merciless and cruel. The fact that he was the same species as them sent a chill down their spines.

Sombra looked at Sweetie Belle eagerly. His laugh echoing as he raised a mechanical hoof to her horn. "You... You, I have plans for... But the earth pony is dead weight..."

Fluttershy closed her eyes as she heard Sweetie Belle scream, followed by Apple Bloom. The buttery pegasus, opened her eyes and screamed once again. Sombra had ripped Sweetie Belle's horn off and impaled Apple Bloom with it. Sweetie was alive, but unconscious. Apple Bloom gasped for air as she felt her life flash before her eyes, before letting out one final gurgle of pain.

Fluttetshy tried to close her eyes again, but her crystal restraints once again branched. This time crawling under her eyelids and forcing them open. "Now what are we going to do with you, miss Fluttershy?" Sombra asked.

A crystal spike materialized just above Fluttershy's head. The point only a hair's breadth from her eye. "NO! PLEASE!" She pleaded.

The spike fell down into the mare's eye as she screamed horrifically. It slowly began twisting and digging deeper as it drilled into Fluttershy's optical nerve. Every second was a thousand years in Tartarus for the poor mare. She could feel the crystal spike getting closer and closer to her skull as her eye became an almost soup-like liquid.

Sombra rested the tip of the instrument against Fluttershy's skull. He leaned into the mare's ear and whispered softly, "All this can be avoided, my dear. All you have to do is let her in..."

Fluttershy's eyes popped open. Sombra was gone and so were all the animatronics. Apple Bloom, Scootaloo, Sweetie Belle and Dinky were all alive. Dinky was asleep in Fluttershy's fetlocks while the rest huddled in the corner of the office, seemingly terrified of something. The door was still intact. No trace of what had happened remained.

Was it a dream? Fluttershy asked her self. No... It couldn't have been... Dreams don't... Hurt.

Fluttershy looked to the huddle mass of fillies in the corner of room. They all seemed to be chanting something along the lines of "Zombies aren't real" over and over again. The yellow mare turned to the window and nearly fell down again.

"Please? Won't you let me in?"

Red June was staring into the room, knocking on the door in a way that would have been endearing had she not been missing a good chunk of her brain.

"No! It can't be! You're supposed to be dead!" Fluttershy screamed, not disturbing Dinky's slumber in the least.

The undead filly stared at the mare through the window. "Mister Thunderlane said you were supposed to be nice... Please let me in..."

Fluttershy's eyes widened in horror. "You... You can't be real... You're just one of Sombra's illusions! Yes! That's it! Just an illusion!" She said, trying justify the horrific image to herself.

"Let... me... IN!" Red June yelled. Her coat began to turn black. Red bands appeared around her legs and her face, including the gaping hole, was covered by a white mask with purple streaks running from the eyes, like tears.

"LET ME IN! LET ME IN! LET ME IN OR SO HELP ME, EVERYPONY IS THIS BUILDING WILL DIE STARING AT THEIR OWN LUNGS AS I RIP THEM FROM THEIR CHESTS!"

Fluttershy backed away clutching Dinky close to her chest, praying to Celestia that the poor filly wouldn't wake up and have to see this.

The transformed Red June began screaming like a banshee. As scary as she was, she seemed to follow the same limitations as the animatronics. She did nothing but wail loudly and scream. After about two minutes of screaming, Red June left with a frustrated screech. Unbeknownst to the inhabitants of the room, a cryptic message appeared on the other side of the door. It read "20/20/20/20".

"Um... Fluttershy..." Sweetie Belle said.

Fluttershy turned to the filly, "Hmm?"

"Your nose... It's bleeding..." Sweetie explained.

The buttery pegasus pressed a hoof to her nose. Sure enough, a pool of crimson was found when she pulled the hoof back. Fluttershy gasped and went for the box of tissues on the desk. She took out a pair, wadded them up and pressed them into her nostrils.

Fluttershy felt Dinky stir in her grasp. The little filly let out a cute yawn and stared at the yellow mare. "Mommy..." Her eyes began to water and she let out a soft whimper.

"Dinky?" Fluttershy said tentatively, "What's wrong?"

"I... I saw daddy..." The little filly explained. "I... I-I miss him..."

The filly's adopted second mother asked, "...Dinky... Do you want to talk about it?"

Dinky nodded. "We were on a train playing that game we used to play where we stare at each other and wait to see who blinks first. I heard a loud boom, everything went all wibbly and wobbly and then Daddy disappeared." The filly was controlling her emotions relatively well. She did nothing more than let a few tears and whimpers out as Fluttershy clutched her tightly. "I-I didn't want him to go..."

"I'm sure he didn't want to go either, Dinky. I can't imagine what it was like for you, but the only thing we can do is remember your daddy and all the good times we had", Fluttershy said as she comforted the sniveling filly.

Fluttershy could feel the bleeding stop as she pulled out the tissues from her nose and toss them into a garbage bin in the corner of the room.

Suddenly, Twilight's voice came through the room, sounding extremely enthusiastic. "Sweetie Belle! Sweetie Belle! Are you there?"

"Twilight, what's up?" Scootaloo asked.

"Oh thank Celestia you five are still alright! Listen. We think we should be able to get you guys out of there by tomorrow morning!" The alicorn screamed.

The tension in the room lifted a little bit. Everypony in the room thought the same thing. They were so close to being free, all they had to do was survive one more night in this messed up Tartarus-pit. Even if it was twenty four hours more than what they would have preferred, they weren't going to look a gift horse in the mouth.

"Yeehaw! Thanks Twilight!" Apple Bloom yelled.

"Um... Twilight... If it's not to much trouble... could you get Discord? I want to talk to him..." Fluttershy asked nervously.

"Um... Sure, I guess... Give me a second."

The room went silent before a familiar voice filled the room. "Draconequus household. Discord Speaking."

"Discord... I wanted to ask you something..." Fluttershy began.

The draconequus chuckled mischievously, but in a light hearted and joking way. "Oh Fluttershy. Is now really the time to be confessing your affection towards me?"

Fluttershy's ears twitched in annoyance. "Listen, Discord. You're really powerful, right?"

"I should hope so, considering I'm the embodiment of chaos and disharmony."

"And you can do a lot of things right?" Fluttershy asked.

"... Fluttershy... I don''t like where you're going with this..." Discord said. His joking tone gone.

"Just... Please. Answer the question..."

Discord sighed. "Yes. I am a draconequus of many talents".

"Would one of those happen to be... bringing back dead ponies?"

"Fluttershy, we're it any other pony asking me this, I would have only selfish reasons to say no. Celestia would tan my hide for using necromancy and everypony in Equestria would be chasing me down begging me to bring back some loved one. But you Fluttershy... You should know that if I brought back anypony, only their body would come back. They would retain as much personality as a corpse, with no memory of who they once were. I create chaos, not life," Discord explained solemnly.

Fluttershy nodded as she fought back tears. He's gone forever... Thunderlane... She thought to herself. "Thank you anyway, Discord".

The draconequus merely grunted apologetically before leaving the five ponies in eerie silence.

Hours passed. Nopony felt the need to check the camera during the day anymore. It would just raise anxiety, and nopony wanted to be the one to discover another casualty.

Fluttershy felt her mind wander before it stopped at one topic that had been nagging her since last night. "Dinky?" She asked quietly. "Why haven't you been eating?"

"Not hungry..." Dinky answered bluntly.

Understandable. After all they had been through, Fluttershy didn't have much of an appetite herself, but they still needed to eat. "Dinky, could you eat some gummy bears? Please? For mommy?"

Dinky looked at her food pot then back to Fluttershy. She sighed and said, "Okay mommy...." She reached into her pot and ate a good portion of the contents before stopping. Fluttershy scooped up the little filly and nuzzled her gently with her chin.

Apple Bloom, Scootaloo, and Sweetie Belle had been relatively quiet. Fluttershy was amazed that they could sit still for so long. They weren't playing their games or reading the manga. They just sat in silence, practically unmoving.

Eventually Scootaloo broke the silence. "Sweetie Belle... About what happened last night..."

Sweetie Belle turned to her friend with an understanding smile on her face. "I know. I know. It was just a 'Heat-of-the-moment' thing. No harm done", She said.

"Um... Actually.." Scootaloo began. "I wanted to say that... In a couple years, when I know who I am a bit better, and if this thing between you and Button doesn't work... You know where to find me..."

Thee alabaster unicorn blushed. "You... You mean it?" She asked nervously.

Scootaloo nodded. "I can't make any gaurentees but I'd be willing to give it a try, Sweetie".

The tender moment was brought to a halt as Fluttershy screamed in agony. She nearly dropped Dinky on her head as she stumbled backwards, clutching her eye. Blood dripped from the mare's nose as she writhed in pain.

"Mommy!" Dinky screamed.

Fluttershy tried to steady herself as she felt the rushes of pain come over and over again. "Make it stop!" She screamed through the pain. Blood pooled from her nose as Fluttershy reached for the tissue box.

"Fluttershy! What's wrong?" Apple Bloom asked frantically.

"It... It h-hurts..."

Dinky clutched the writhing mare tightly as she tried to stop her from screaming. "Please mommy! It's okay! You don't need to scream!"

Fluttershy felt the pain begin to subside as she placed the tissues in her nose to stop the bleeding. She fell to her hooves and began gasping for air as she trembled.

"What was that?" Scootaloo screamed as Fluttershy continued heaving.

The mare looked upwards to find Dinky pressing up against her. "It... It felt like somepony was sticking hot metal into my eye..."

"Sombra!" Sweetie shouted. "He's messing with us, just like with Red June. He's trying to confuse us."

Everypony stared at the ground, a feeling of dread spread through the room as the ponies thought on just how powerful Sombra is.

"Ugh! We shouldn't just be sitting here with our hooves up our noses! We should be outside, living our lives as normal!" Scootaloo yelled. "But here we are. Trapped like starving timberwolves!"

"At least starving timberwolves die free..." Apple Bloom said under her breath.

Fluttershy clutched Dinky as she tried to keep the little filly calm, uttering kind words in her ear. The Cutie Mark Crusaders began reading their manga and playing their games once again as the tension died down.

Time passed until the dreaded midnight hour arrived.

End of Day Five

Night Five

Somewhere in the darkness of Ponyville, the local clock tower chimed for the twelfth time. Hidden deep within the bowels of the local pizzeria, Fluttershy, Dinky and the Cutie Mark Crusaders each attempted to ready themselves for their final night of horror in the restaurant from Tartarus. Unseen by the five captives, the outside of the security office door bore a cryptic message carved into its steely face, reading 20/20/20/20. Dinky sat with her head cradled deeply into the crook of Fluttershy’s neck as the pair sat in the chair at the desk, her hooves poised at the mouse and keyboard as she diligently clicked the security feed from camera to camera, her eyes never blinking as she kept her ever watchful gaze on the mechanical demons that lurked through the halls.

Scootaloo had rooted through all the drawers and cabinets in the office, and managed to find an extra two torches, in case they needed to defend themselves with the flashing light technique Dinky had discovered. Sweetie Belle and Applebloom stood at the Pegasus’ sides, each filly nursing her torch like a soldier brandishing a loaded pistol; ready to go to war. The alabaster filly spared a troubled glance at her promised “maybe-some-day” lover. She played a million different scenarios out in her head, and lived a thousand lifetimes in the secrecy of her own thoughts as she fantasised what sort of future a life as Scootaloo’s beloved might hold for her. Without offering any words, she leaned forward and planted grateful kiss on Scootaloo’s cheek, causing the orange Pegasus to blush at the unexpected ministration. The Pegasus returned the gesture by catching Sweetie Belle’s lips with her own as she tried to pull away, earning the pair of them a giggle and a playful shove from Applebloom, who watched their exchange with an amused expression.

Fluttershy, for her part, was trying to put on the bravest face she had ever had to force in her life. Her fetlocks were locked tightly around Dinky’s tiny frame, without making her grip feel possessive or uncomfortably tight around the young unicorn. The pain in her eye had subsided for the time being, and hadn’t re-emerged for a good number of hours, but she suspected that that was a temporary mercy. In the hours since Red June tried, unsuccessfully, to worm her way into the office, Fluttershy’s pains from her hallucinated torture at the hooves of Sombra’s mechanical vessel had died down, and she had recomposed herself, somewhat, for the sake of her temporary daughter. She planted a tender kiss on the unicorn’s head, rubbing her belly with a loving hoof. Throughout all this horror, despite all the torture, the death of Thunderlane, and the sick, twisted games Sombra had played with his captives, Dinky had been her rock. Every time Fluttershy fell to pieces, or lost her nerve, her little Dinky was the one to bring her courage.

The buttery Pegasus mentally slapped herself. She’s not ‘your little Dinky’, she chided herself. She was Derpy’s little Dinky. The purple unicorn was only referring to Fluttershy as her “mummy” because her real mummy wasn’t there to comfort her around the clock. The thought that she was now starting to delude herself into thinking that she was a real mother made Fluttershy’s heart ache. She had been really enjoying looking after the little filly, and the thought of having to give her up – even if she was just returning her to her real home – made Fluttershy feel… jealous of Derpy. She extended a wing and discreetly booped herself on the side of her face with its longest feathers. She felt ashamed of herself for even entertaining the idea that she harboured any undesirable feelings towards the life that Derpy had. Sure, Derpy was a happy mother of two, even if Amethyst Star had moved out and got her own place, and… gee, Time Turner’s death must’ve been heart wrenching for her… but at least the wall-eyed mare had sweet, adorable little Dinky to come home to. But then again, Fluttershy had all her animal friends back at her cottage on the edge of town, all sitting in her living room waiting for her to come home, so she wouldn’t be alone, herself. But, somehow, that didn’t seem to be enough anymore. Four days ago, Fluttershy would’ve been perfectly contented to just go home to a cottage full of a couple dozen animals, tuck up in bed with a nice warm cup of tea and dream the night away. But now, after having a taste for what it meant to have a filly under her wing who saw her as the centre of her universe, she wanted more.

The Pegasus mare was broken free of her reverie when she felt Dinky’s tiny frame tense in her embrace. At first, Fluttershy feared she might have unwittingly tightened her fetlocks around the little unicorn to the point of uncomfortable. But, as she tried to pull her hooves away from the filly’s belly, she was surprised to hear Dinky let out a squeak as she hastily grabbed her hooves, pulling them back towards her tummy, even pressing them a little harder than they were, initially, around her abdomen. Fluttershy’s relief was short lived, however, when Dinky dove forward for the keyboard again and started frantically manipulating the controls. The Pegasus lifted her head to look at the computer screen and find out what had caused Dinky such distress. Her muscles tensed and her eyes dilated at the sight that greeted her. Vinyl Scratch was being held high in the air in the pizzeria’s disco hall by Red June, who was hovering under the disco ball and restraining the DJ unicorn with, what looked like, long black ribbons extending from her fetlocks. The emotionless mask that covered the filly’s face looked on unblinking as the possessed youngster began tugging on the ribbons, forcing Vinyl to perform some sort of spastic dance in mid-air, much to the DJ’s protest and horror. The filly-turned-puppet gave a sound that could’ve been a laugh – or maybe a choked sob of anguish? – at Vinyl’s desperate pleas for mercy. The more the unicorn tried to worm her way out of the ribbons wrapped around her limbs, the tighter their hold became. After a while of forcing the unicorn to entertain her, Red June seemed to grow bored of Vinyl Scratch, and began wrapping her ribbons around the defenceless mare’s shoulders and thighs, before slowly extending another ribbon from the slit where her mouth would be to wrap around the DJ’s neck.

The ribbon that extended from Red June’s mouth was different from the other; it was blood red and looked as if it was dripping thick, viscous fluid onto the disco room’s dance floor. Vinyl tried to pry the red ribbon away from her throat with her hooves, but a single sharp tug from Red June saw the end of that; holding her limbs akimbo so she could no longer resist her strong cinch. As Dinky tapped frantically at the keyboard, and Fluttershy watched the screen before her with bated breath, the undead pony puppet suddenly gave all five ribbons an almighty tug, making the bound DJ gag as the streamer around her neck tried to rip her head from her shoulders and her limbs from their sockets. Fluttershy whimpered in fear and helplessness at the sight of the pony’s suffering, while Dinky furiously pounded the computer’s keyboard, imputing code after code in an attempt to save Vinyl’s life. Vinyl tried not to make a sound as the ribbon around her neck tightened its grip, threatening to pop her neck any moment now, in an attempt to conserve her rapidly decreasing supply of oxygen. The puppet made another weird combination of sound and a painful sounding CRACK rang out through the computer’s speakers, followed swiftly after by Vinyl’s screams of anguish.

Fluttershy crushed her ears against her skull with her hooves to prevent herself being deafened by the agonised unicorn’s wails and Dinky slammed her hoof down on the keyboard, initialising her plan. The disco room was suddenly filled with flashing strobe lights and loud, thrumming, dubstep music, not unlike the kind that Vinyl Scratch was used to. The puppet, being taken completely by surprise by this new development, screeched and screamed an unearthly cry as its senses were relentlessly assaulted by the loud, obnoxious music and gaudy flashing lights. The puppet released its hold of Vinyl’s neck and limbs before fleeing the room, clutching her painful skull as she went. Vinyl went down to the floor like a sack of apples, landing with her full weight on her dislocated shoulder.

“ARGH! BUCK ME SIDEWAYS!” The wounded DJ swore, her voice just barely muffled by the abominable din. Fluttershy blushed and hastily cupped Dinky’s ears with her hooves, stretching a wing out to take hold of the mouse and click off the camera feed to another room in the restaurant, while Vinyl rolled on the disco dance floor, clutching her shoulder and cursing like an off duty nurse.

Dinky sagged into Fluttershy’s bosom, allowing her adopted mummy to hold her close as a relieved smile spread across her face from one ear to the next. The purple unicorn looked down at her flank at her new cutie mark; its dark green shield and binary wings spread proud as an eagle giving her smile an even prouder tone. She always told her mummy that computers could be used to help protect the ponies you care about, despite Derpy’s concerns about invasion of privacy through computer hackers, like she heard about on the news, and now she was living, breathing proof that her belief was well founded. The unicorn’s shoulders slumped at the thought of her mummy outside the restaurant, possibly worrying herself sick over the safety of her little Dinky. She was grateful that Fluttershy had humoured her wish of being a temporary mother to her; it meant that she didn’t have to die alone and, at least, pretend that she had her mother beside her to send her to sleep one final time. She took a moment to think about the things that had happened to her and the other thirty something ponies locked in this death trap of an eatery. She remembered Red June mention something about Thunderlane telling her about Fluttershy, and the kind of pony she was. But Thunderlane was dead and, no offense to either the Earth pony filly or the late Pegasus stallion, but she doubted that they had ever conversed, at length, while they were alive. Then, how would Red June have heard from Thunderlane what Fluttershy was like? Unless – and the mere thought of this theory made Dinky shudder – Red June found this information out from Thunderlane from… beyond the grave. The young filly trembled at the thought. But through hope or terror, she had no idea.

On one hoof, the idea of there being an afterlife terrified her. That would mean she could become a ghost, or a lost soul, if she had left any trace of unfinished business in the living world. But then again… if there were an afterlife… perhaps she would get to see her daddy again. It’d been a few years since the train accident that had taken Time Turner’s life, but Dinky never forgot the happy times she and her daddy shared together. She remembered all the games they’d play, and the adventures they’d have, both travelling to distant cities and distant planets in her father’s magic blue box. She missed her daddy, and that would probably never change about her. But at least she still had her mummy, her big sister, and now she had Fluttershy looking after her, if only until their little group could break out of this Tartarus pit. She looked up to see Fluttershy’s scared, but nurturing, face as she cradled her adopted daughter in her fetlocks. She really enjoyed bonding with Fluttershy these past couple of days, despite the circumstances. But the thought of losing all connection with Fluttershy, despite the fact that she and her mother were friends of friends, when she and the others were finally free of this place… it broke her heart. Dinky may have been a bit younger than the Cutie Mark Crusaders, but she was a bright little filly, and she knew things way advanced for her years. For example, she knew that sometimes two ponies who were both mares, or both stallions, sometimes lived together. She knew that Vinyl Scratch lived with a big name classical composer called Octavia, and it was no secret that Lyra and Bon Bon were living together as very special friends. She was also not oblivious to when grown up ponies weren’t telling her the truth. And her mummy had done this many times.

Since the day Time Turner had died, life for Derpy and Dinky got harder and harder. Derpy worked as a local mailmare and while she was very good at her job, she was prone to more than one or two mishaps while on the clock. For most other ponies, this would be grounds for her immediate discharge from the post office. However, Derpy had very quickly become a well-known, much loved, face to her many patrons, and the ponies of Ponyville were quick to act in protest to the threat of Derpy losing her job. Of course, even though her employers agreed to allow Derpy to keep her job on the condition that she kept to a minimum weekly accident quota, she still had paycheque reductions. Harsh ones, at that. With only Derpy earning a wage, and a barely liveable one it was too, the mailmare took to working two jobs, doing part time shifts for the weather team Rainbow Dash captained. It wasn’t easy, but Derpy managed to scrape together sufficient funds to keep her and Dinky sheltered, fed and watered, and still managed to find the money to buy her presents for birthdays and Hearth’s Warming. Dinky would help out by running the weekend paper round, and doing chores for the neighbours, who were more than generous enough to give her some money for a job well done in return. But despite all of this; despite the undying support of the residents of Ponyville, and everything Derpy and Dinky did to help each other, Derpy was depressed. She was diagnosed not long after her husband’s death, and it made her draw herself into her proverbial shell, blocking out any and all ponies for months on end, including Dinky on a few occasions. Even now, Dinky would hear her mummy cry herself to sleep at night when the pressures of everything that happened to her caught up to her. She closed her eyes and hoped that she may, somehow, persuade Fluttershy to become some kind of companion for her mother, once this terrible ordeal was over.

Dinky was jerked awake from her musings by a powerful slam at the office door. As she turned her head to find the root of the commotion, the CMC sprang into action. In almost choreographed movement, they flashed their torches in sporadic patterns, dazzling their sanctuary’s assailant. As the lights flickered, Dinky noted – not that she was surprised – that the robot at the door was none other than Fáfnir the dragon. Her hoof clenched in anger. He was the one that killed Red June, who only wanted to greet him with a cuddle. It was because of him that everything was now going to Tartarus. As the mechanical drake spazzed and sparked under the blinding assault of the three fillies at the window, Dinky admonished herself for holding a grudge against the robot. It wasn’t actually his fault that any of this was going on. He was an animatronic mascot, for Celestia’s sake. He was nothing more than a pile of metal and wires with software programed into his metal brain. He had no emotions, no morals and no sense of self awareness, so if anypony was to blame for the death of Red June and Thunderlane, it laid solely on the head of Sombra. Fáfnir continued to hammer the door, but at a slower pace than before, due to being dazzled by the alternating lights, until eventually coming to a complete standstill and marching, which noticeably more difficulty than before, back to his hidey hole.

Having held the fort successfully, Applebloom, Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle all slumped together in a tense pile on the floor. Sweetie Belle wrapped her hooves around Scootaloo’s withers once they were settled on the floor and gently nuzzled her neck affectionately; a gesture which Scootaloo was all too happy to reciprocate. Applebloom let the two maybe-lovers cuddle up to each other while she lost herself in her thoughts about her family. The Apple family was well known for being the most hardworking family in all of Ponyville, and nopony would ever dare question an Apple’s strength, either in their morals or their physical prowess. Applejack and Big Macintosh were both well known for their physical strength when working the farm, and nopony would dare raise a hoof in threat of any of their family members, on pain of agonising torture at the hooves of Ponyville’s strongest ponies. Thinking about her family’s strength, however, made Applebloom realise that she wasn’t as strong as her siblings. If she were, she probably wouldn’t even be in this predicament in the first place. The farm filly thought back to when she asked Applejack when she thought she might be as strong as her, and Applejack told her that her strength would come to her when she needed it the most. Well, she thought to herself, Ah could sure use some strength right now, big sis. And yet, she failed to find that strength. The more she searched, the more it eluded her. The yellow Earth filly curled up tightly beside her friends, burying her face in the fur of her fetlocks to catch her tears. Suddenly, the possibility of dying in this place of nightmares and horrors never seemed as real as it did right now.

Sweetie Belle laid motionless in Scootaloo’s embrace, drinking in the smell of dust and pizza that radiated from her snuggly friend. The smell brought her comfort as she thought about how good a friend Scootaloo had been to her over the time they’d known each other. She and Scoots had been good friends for almost a year before including Applebloom in their little group. She always admired Scootaloo for her rough and tumble demeanour, and her tomcoltish personality, but she knew of a side to Scootaloo that very few ponies were permitted to see. Some fillies claimed that Scootaloo showed no interest in her appearance, allowing her mane to grow wild and unruly for instance. But Sweetie Belle knew otherwise. The flightless Pegasus took immense pride in how she looked, but only if she felt she looked cool, and enjoyed being watched when she turned a few heads with her style. Scootaloo was not, by any stretch of the imagination, a girly filly, but that didn’t go to say she was without her feminine charms. She was a cuddly filly, at heart, you just needed to make her feel comfortable and assure her that she wouldn’t be judged if she were to engage in tender displays of affection. Perhaps that was part of why Sweetie Belle developed her crush for Scootaloo to begin with. Sweetie was a very girly filly, enjoying a good pampering from time to time, playing with her dress up figurines when trying out new outfit designs to help Rarity with her constantly changing fashion lines, all the typical things one would expect of a filly her age. Scootaloo, however, was an adventurous filly, who loved showing off her strength and charisma with all the stylish flare of a typical colt. If it weren’t for Scootaloo and her bold, adventurous attitude, Sweetie Belle might never have had half the adventures she’d had crusading with her two best friends.

The pleasant reflection time was once again interrupted by a loud bang crashing around taking place in the ventilation shaft above. Without a moment’s hesitation, Applebloom dove for the light switch, plunging the office into blackout. Dinky switched over the camera feed to find the perpetrator clanging around in the vent. As she predicted, the night vision camera revealed Busby to be the robot clambering through the metal tunnel. However, instead of pausing and scanning for his position like he did every time before, Busby kept crawling through the shaft, blind as he was, in search of a way to the office.

“Ponyfeathers,” Dinky cussed, earning her a light brush on the cheek from Fluttershy’s wing that, she guessed, was supposed to be a disciplinary spank. She mumbled her apology and began pounding on the keyboard, keeping a wary eye on the computer screen to track Busby as he lumbered nearer and nearer to the office. Fluttershy held out her hoof toward the CMC for a torch, just in case Dinky wasn’t able to deter Busby in time. Scootaloo gave her torch a flick with her mouth, and it landed squarely within Fluttershy’s hoof. She gripped the torch’s handle and raised it to point at the grate that separated the vent from the rest of the office. Seconds ticked away to the ruckus of the metal bunny thumping his way through the ventilation tunnel toward his prey, while Dinky furiously hacked her way through the restaurant’s computer systems for a way to divert their soon-to-be-assailant. The numbers and data streams on the computer screen began to flicker, and Dinky took her cue to slam the keyboard and initiate her distraction. A couple of rooms across from the office, the adult lounge’s jukebox and television jerked into life, blaring out a cacophony of sound. The jukebox screamed to a deaf room with some sort of heavy metal scream, while the television bathed the room in a bright red glow with an image onscreen of some mare nopony in the office recognised wearing no more than, what looked to be, a bikini across her torso and lipstick on her lips. Fluttershy felt her face warm up as she realised what sort of channel Dinky had inadvertently flicked the television onto, and hastily flicked the camera feed to the vent, where she caught a glimpse of Busby crawling past the camera in pursuit of the red glow and blaring screamo racket.

With the third attempted attack attended to, the five ponies relaxed once again, analysing the room around them to come up with a sit rep in preparation for any future attacks that would inevitably come. The clock reported the time to be four in the morning, and the door – while somewhat recovered after Fáfnir’s assault earlier in the night – was struggling a little at fifty three percent integrity. Just two more hours, and they’d be free. Fluttershy kissed Dinky on the top of her head, prompting the golden eyed unicorn to snuggle deeper into her lap.

“I love you, mummy,” Dinky cooed, enjoying the calming warmth of Fluttershy’s belly.

Fluttershy tensed at Dinky’s words, unsure of how to respond. Fluttershy was well aware of the fact that Dinky was Derpy’s child, much as she would love to have the sweet grey filly as her own child, but over the last few days she and Dinky just… connected with each other, she felt. She truly felt like Dinky was her daughter, as horrible as she felt to admit that to herself, knowing that Derpy was probably right outside the restaurant right now, waiting to take her little Dinky home again.

“I love you too, my little Dinky,” Fluttershy murmured in reply, nuzzling her chin over Dinky’s hair affectionately. The young filly sighed contentedly, allowing her body to sag into Fluttershy’s lap as the Pegasus wrapped her wings around the little filly lovingly. Fluttershy mused over her feelings for Dinky. The unicorn already had an established family; a big sister, a mother… but no father figure after Time Turner’s passing. For a couple of minutes, Fluttershy entertained the idea of stepping in as a second parental figure for Dinky. She could picture it all in her head. Walks in the park, where Fluttershy would push Dinky on the swing set, or catch her at the foot of the slide. She could picture them both enjoying a quiet little picnic by the riverside, watching the sun set over the horizon before carrying the sleepy filly home and tucking her into bed with a lullaby and a goodnight kiss. The yellow Pegasus shook herself out of her musings with a sobering thought. Dinky already had Derpy in her life. It was Derpy’s duty, as a mother, to do those things with Dinky. As far as she knew, there was no place for Fluttershy in that picture. Unless, of course… she and Derpy were to… Fluttershy’s wings shivered as a cold trill rustled through her feathers. She would never deny that Derpy was a good looking mare. And she and Fluttershy were quite good friends years ago in Summer Flight Camp. But, try as she might, Fluttershy just couldn’t imagine her and Derpy becoming an item. It wasn’t that she didn’t think she liked mares, she’d always been curious since Rainbow Dash told her when they first became friends that she was a fillyfooler, but she just didn’t want to put Derpy through the same things Thunderlane went through when she dated him. If she were to try and pursue any sort of relationship with Derpy, romantic or no, she wanted to be sure she wouldn’t be doing a disservice to Thunderlane’s memory, assuming the very worst case scenario were to happen. To say nothing of potentially disgracing Time Turner’s memory for the same reasons.

A bloodcurdling scream awoke Fluttershy from her inner musings, and Dinky swiftly directed the camera feed to find the source. The camera feed fell on the corridor where Lyra and Bon Bon were hiding in the cupboard. But this time, they were not alone. Standing over them with raised talons was Philly, her razor sharp beak wide open, as if ready to swallow them both whole. The metal phoenix swiped down at the mares with her talons, narrowly missing Lyra’s eyes as the minty unicorn reeled back defensively. Unperturbed by her failed swipe, Philly struck out with her other clawed hand and grasped Bon Bon by the neck, hoisting the sweet maker into the air.

“NO!” Lyra screamed as she dove into the cupboard and retrieved a broom from the back corner. “Let her go, you creep!” The unicorn swung on her heels and lunged towards the murderous machine, brandishing the broom in her magic like a jousting spear. The tip of the broom’s handle embedded itself into Philly’s shoulder, staggering the mechanical monster as her balance was severely impacted from the force of a full grown pony throwing her full weight at her. The phoenix’s grip on Bon Bon didn’t falter, however. The clawed digits wrapped around the Earth pony’s neck slowly squeezed tighter, the claws threatening to burst through her skin and release her blood like a messy water balloon. Lyra grit her teeth, ripping the broom from Philly’s shoulder with a violent jerk before lunging forward again, running the phoenix through the abdomen, making the robot double over, smacking Bon Bon’s head on the doorframe as she buckled forward. The cream coated pony gasped at the collision of her skull to the wooden frame, but the force of the hit knocked her unconscious before she could comprehend why she was in pain. The Earth pony went ragdoll in the metal monstrosity’s grip, her chest barely moving as the grip on her throat tightened once more, the sharp talons slowly splitting the skin of her neck, drawing small trickles of blood. Lyra let out a barbaric battle cry as she savagely tore her improvised weapon from her assailant’s belly and jammed it forward once again, this time ripping into Philly’s jaw, ripping her lower beak off and leaving it swinging limply from the phoenix’s face by a few thin wires. This time, Philly’s grip on Bon Bon’s throat slackened, and the unconscious Earth pony fell to the floor with crack as her right hind leg buckled at an unnatural angle as her full weight collapsed on top of it. Lyra seized her opportunity to flee, swiftly gathering Bon Bon up in her front hooves and ran down the corridor on her hind legs, balancing herself with her tail as she went.

The office rang with stunned silence as the five observers of this amazing scene watched the fleeing couple with awestruck expressions. Dinky marvelled at the grace Lyra displayed as she ran on her hind legs. The young unicorn couldn’t imagine such a position would be very comfortable for a pony to stand in, much less to try and make an escape in. Fluttershy watched with her jaw nearly touching the floor at how valiantly Lyra had fought for her marefriend. Philly could’ve very easily overpowered the two mares and snapped them over her knee like thin twigs, and yet Lyra turned the tables on the robot when her lover’s life was threatened, and emerged victorious through either pure strength, luck or stupidity – although Fluttershy suspected it could’ve been a combination of all three. As she thought about the display of chivalry, her thoughts turned once again to how Derpy and Time Turner used to be, and how little chance Fluttershy felt she had at living up to Time Turner’s good name.

Derpy loved Time Turner very dearly, and it was clear to all her friends that that stallion had made her the happiest she had ever been in her entire life. How could Fluttershy ever hope to live up to such a pony? Time Turner was a devoted husband and father, always putting the needs of his family first. He was made sure his daughters were never wanting for anything, and Derpy was never too far from his thoughts; he would talk about her with nothing but a smile on his face. Fluttershy could never be as much of a parent to Dinky as he was. She was nopony. She wasn’t smart or special or anything more than ordinary. Time Turner was a well-loved stallion who seemed to be known by every being in the universe. If Fluttershy were to stand a chance at being a second parental figure in Dinky’s life, she would have to give Derpy everything she got from Time Turner; which she just couldn’t see herself being able to do.

With all the subtlety of a reaper’s scythe, Fluttershy’s head was suddenly filled with a million hypothetical needles, which jammed themselves deep into her eyes and brain, filling her mind with pain unimaginable. She clutched at her skull and wailed in unholy agony, flopping out of the chair like a beaching whale. She landed on the carpeted floor with a dull thud, screaming bloody murder and begging some unseen sadist leering over her to show her mercy. Unfortunately, her tormentor was not kind and continued to probe her head with its rusty nails and blades, exploring the ways it could accentuate the suffering without allowing her the sweet relief of death’s caring embrace. Dinky, having fallen to the floor with her mother, quickly shook herself out of her temporary daze from having her head hit the deck and rushed to Fluttershy’s side.

“Mummy?” The little filly placed both hooves on the buttercup pony’s shoulder and gently pressed down into her flesh, frantically calling for Fluttershy’s attention. “Mummy, what’s going on‽ Mummy, can you hear me?” Dinky grew more and more desperate as Fluttershy’s body convulsed and shuddered, as if she were having a seizure, and her mouth foamed violently at the agonising sensations that threatened to rip her skull open as messily as possible. The unicorn filly wrapped her hooves around the suffering Pegasus, tears streaming down her face as she begged her mother to be OK and come back to her. The filly could think of nothing else to do to try and ease Fluttershy’s pain, but she tried the last thing she knew that made Derpy smile whenever she was upset; she sang her special song she always sang to her mummy whenever life seemed tough. Fluttershy’s ears turned toward the sound of Dinky’s voice as she struggled to keep her voice strong enough to sing for her mummy without breaking into tears. As the suffering mare listened, the pain in her eyes dulled down to nothing, and the needles finally retracted from her brain, allowing her to resume control of her body. Upon opening her cloudy, tear-filled, eyes Fluttershy found Dinky hugging her neck and weeping openly in fear of what her mummy might be going through. With her brain now clear from the agonising haze, Fluttershy’s newfound maternal instincts kicked into overdrive, and she swiftly enveloped the sobbing filly in her forelegs, peppering her salty cheeks with motherly butterfly kisses. Dinky, noticing Fluttershy was no longer screaming and was now covering her face in loving kisses, squeezed her mummy affectionately, nuzzling her neck as the last of her sobs wracked her body before giving way to giggles of relief.

A violent shattering sound rang through the air, soon drowned out by the Cutie Mark Crusaders’ screams as sharp shards of glass flew across the room. Fluttershy squealed in horror, clutching Dinky to her chest instinctively as she brought her gaze up to where the window once blocked off the corridor outside the office from their sheltered haven. There, staring in at them, was Busby, clawing at the air before him as he tried to reach in and prize one of the young fillies out into the corridor. The terrified ponies all scrambled back to the farthest corner of the room, in an attempt to get as far away from the robot bunny as possible. As they stared out the shattered glass into Busby’s cold, fibreglass, eyes, they noticed he wasn’t the only one stood out in the hallway. Slowly, the silhouettes of Fáfnir and Freddy lumbered into the hallway, followed not too long by Philly, whose jaw was still hanging limply from her maw. All together, the mechanical titans rammed their heavy forms into the door, causing it to bend and buckle under their weight. The ponies trembled, clutching onto one another’s’ fur, hoping and praying that somepony would swoop in and rescue them before the door caved in. Another slam from the door echoed across the hall, the door now bending at such an extreme angle that the hinges would clearly burst under one final shove.

“Sw-Sweetie Belle?” Scootaloo whispered, her voice rough and hoarse from having screamed like she’d never screamed before in her life.

“Y-yeah, Scoots?” Sweetie Belle looked into her friend’s eyes, tears misting her vision at the thought that her next words could very well be her last.

“I-if we don’t survive… or, even if we do, and this thing with Button works… I-I just wanna say… I, um… I wish we had a chance to go out on our first date.” Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo both blushed at the tomcolt’s confession, Scootaloo suddenly finding the shattered shards of glass to be most interesting to look at.

“Me too.” The pristine white unicorn cupped her friend’s chin with her hoof and slowly coaxed her head up, allowing herself to plant a soft, loving kiss on Scootaloo’s lips. The Pegasus showed no resistance or hesitation, and leaned into the unicorn’s face to deepen the kiss.

Dinky nuzzled her face deep into Fluttershy’s fur, streaking the buttercup mare’s chest with her tears. “Mu-mummy… th-thank you for taking care of me.” Fluttershy shushed the whimpering filly soothingly and kissed her forehead to keep her calm. “I love you.”

“I love you too, my little Dinky.”

Outside the door, the animatronics hurled their weight one more time at the ruined metal barrier, breaking it off its hinges and piling into the office. The terrified ponies looked up to see the emotionless glares of the animatronic mascots, and the sadistic smirk of Sombra’s golden vessel standing in the doorway.

Outside the restaurant – as Twilight and company continued to drill their way into the restaurant, just seconds from breaching the black crystals that kept them locked out – the clock tower struck six times.

Author's Note

One chapter remaining :fluttershbad: It's been one hay of a ride, guys. I wish it didn't have end like this but the story has to end sometime. Co-authoring this magnum opus has been one of the most interesting things I've ever done and I hope I can do something similar some time in the future. But for now, let's start wrapping up

Finale

“Come on! Just a bit more!” Twilight screamed, as energy pulsed through her horn. The door was so close to being breached the group could almost taste it. Discord and Pinkie had been uncharacteristically quiet throughout this whole affair. Perhaps they had realized how dire of a situation this actually was.

Or maybe all of Luna’s stars have aligned, Twilight mused to herself. Considering who she was talking about, either option seemed just as likely as the other.

The five ponies and draconequus had hardly taking any breaks after arriving on scene with their equipment. Twilight could only remember stopping her laser spell two or three times for food and rest. The only time Discord had stopped was when Fluttershy wanted to speak with him. Twilight couldn’t even recall Derpy or Big Mac letting anything more than their eyes droop.

“I’m back!” a scratchy voice called out from behind. Twilight and the rest of the gang turned around to see Rainbow Dash in a wheelchair, a cast wrapped around her leg.

“Hiya, Dashie!” Pinkie shouted, finally breaking her unnatural silence.

Dash smirked as she flicked her mane back. “Sup?”

Twilight approached the crippled Pegasus with a stern look on her face. “Rainbow Dash, you should be recuperating! How did you get here all the way from the hospital?” She asked.

The cyan mare swivelled in her chair, revealing Spike smiling and holding onto the handles.

“S-Spike? I told you to stay at the castle!” Twilight exclaimed.

The young dragon waved off the statement. “Come on Twilight. I lose my lunch one time and you all think I’ve come down with pony-bola or something.”

“Don’t make fun of pony-bola...” Derpy called out, not turning from the door.

Applejack approached Spike. “Spike”, she began, “I ain’t never seen anypony yak as hard as ya did then. Halfway through it stopped being vomit and just became stomach acid!”

Spike rolled his eyes dismissively at the farmer. “Whatever. I’m fine now and I’m here, and that’s what matters. Isn’t it?”

Rarity approached the baby dragon, gently placing a hoof on his shoulder. “Well I for one, Twilight, am glad Rainbow Dash and little Spikey are here”, the fashionista stated. “Scootaloo is like a little sister to Dash, so I’m sure She would like her to be there after we get her and the rest of them out and Spike deserves to see Sombra defeated after all he’s been through.”

“Thank you, Rarity”, Spike said, blushing slightly.

Twilight had honestly stopped listening to Rarity as well as caring. Spike and Rainbow were there and that was that. “Fine, but Dash, you’re in no condition to head in there.”

Rainbow Dash looked at Twilight. “Ugh, whatever. I wasn’t planning on being able to help anyway...”

Twilight was taken aback by Rainbow Dash’s statement. It wasn’t like her to just accept defeat in any way, shape, or form. In fact, the only time she could remember Dash acting that way was the whole A.K. Yearling incident, and that was just for a short while. Twilight was almost certain she would have to do some convincing to keep Dash out arms way.

“Heh. Stop looking at me like that, Twi. You look like I just said your brother’s hot or something.” the cyan Pegasus chided, earning her a slap on the cheek from Twilight who made it more than obvious at times that she didn’t like ponies having perverse thoughts about her brother or sister-in-law. With a disgruntled groan and a quick shake of her head to remove the vile imagery of Rainbow Dash and her brother doing inappropriate things from her mind, Twilight turned back to inspect the workforce, who were busying themselves with completing the task of melting away the crystal barrier that blocked their only entrance into the pizzeria.

The ominous black crystal barrier melted like ice under the intense burning of the mining rifles. Seconds later, the crystal wall gave way and the safety switch-off on the rifles cut the power, signalling the deed was done. Everypony cheered at their handiwork.

“I’m coming, Muffin!” Derpy called, leaping toward the doors of the restaurant to go and rescue her little filly from the clutches of Sombra’s minions. Before she could reach the doors, however, she was swiftly halted by a pair of Pegasi dressed in armour. The Pegasi lowered their spears in a cross formation and spread their inside wings to block the entrance to the wall-eyed mare. Derpy gave the guards a straight glare, failing to intimidate the burly stallions before her, but striking the fear of Faust into Twilight and company. “Let. Me. Pass.” Derpy snarled, ready to fight her way in, if needs be.

“Ma’am, for your own safety, we must insist that you remain outside the premises until the rescue team arrives,” One guard instructed her, his eyes unmoving from somewhere far across the horizon as he maintained the blockade between Derpy and the restaurant doors.

“And for your safety, I must insist you get the buck out of my way before I lay your flat!” Derpy bit back, attempting to barge past the guards, only to be stopped but a violet aura that held her in place mid-jump. “Let me go, Twilight!” She shouted, squirming against her captor’s hold. “The longer we wait, the less chance we have of Dinky still being alive when we find her!”

“Then we’d better not waste any more time fighting among ourselves,” a voice replied, calmly pulling Derpy away from the restaurant and toward her friends. Everypony’s gaze turned to the newcomer, and Twilight’s eyes lit up at the sight of her big brother standing before them, fully dressed in his Captain-of-the-Guard war armour, smiling confidently like some comic book hero about to storm the villain’s secret lair.

“Shining!” Twilight squealed, throwing herself to wrap her fetlocks around her brother’s shoulders. The stallion smiled and reciprocated the hug, giving her a one hoofed squeeze before pulling out of the hug.

“It’s good to see you again, Twily.” His eyes fixed grimly on the restaurant. “How many are we looking for?” Twilight’s ears flattened against her skull.

“Twenty eight. And two bodies.” Shining Armour nodded and turned to address a small platoon of pony guards, all clad in full fighting armour. From the translucent appearance of the ponies that stood before them, anypony could readily tell that these were Crystal Palace guards, rather than Celestia’s guards from Canterlot.

“Alright, men. We are going in to, what could possibly be, the most gory and hostile hostage situation we’ve ever come across. We are looking for twenty eight ponies; all assorted mares, stallions, colts and fillies and two bodies. Be on the lookout for any hostiles, and keep your guard up at all times. Never travel alone, and always ensure you are within sight of at least two comrades at all times.” The Captain-of-the-Guard turned to his younger sister. “I think I’ll leave it to you to explain who we’re dealing with, Twily.” Twilight gave a mock salute, eliciting a chuckle and a noogie for her BBBFF before addressing the army.

“Inside that restaurant is the last pony any of us would suspect to be behind such a travesty.” The young Alicorn took a deep, shuddering breath to steady her nerves as she gave her report. “The captor of those ponies is none other than King Sombra.” Gasps and murmurs were exchanged between the crystal ponies. How could Sombra still be alive? Why was he holding hostages in a family diner? Twilight spread her wings, enlarging her appearance and commanding total attention. As silence fell once more, she continued. “King Sombra, somehow, survived the Crystal Heart when the Empire returned, and has now returned to seek revenge on my friends and I for his defeat.” Her ears drooped and her eyes softened in sympathy as she thought of the traumatising experience poor Spike had suffered. “Especially Spike,” she added, “he attempted to force him to murder Rarity as comeuppance for his defeat.”

The guards all exchanged condolences and best wishes for the young drake. “He’s possessed the restaurant’s animatronics; Freddy Fazgriffon, Busby the bunny, Philly the Phoenix and Fáfnir the Horse Dragon. It would probably go without saying that they are incredibly strong, and are powered by enchanted crystals that are incredibly resistant to magical attacks. Shutting them down will not be an easy task, but a necessary one. Sombra may also be in there, in one form or another but, at this current time, we cannot confirm nor deny this fact. We don’t know where the characters may be, but we have reason to believe that they may be roaming the restaurant at will, with one or two characters displaying a few behavioural patterns, which I shall brief you on once the search has begun. All I can say to you is this; this is, probably, the most dangerous foe we have ever faced. Robots aren’t like ponies. They don’t think. They don’t fear. They don’t feel. And Sombra has proven to us, now more than ever, that he has no concept of equinity and will resort to torture to achieve his ends. I ask you all to keep your eyes open, keep sharp and, most of all, stay safe.” The guards saluted her with a resounding “YES, PRINCESS” before marching uniformly into the pizzeria, Shining Armour bringing up the rear and hanging back by the entrance to conduct a census of the evacuated ponies.

Fluttershy clutched Dinky as tightly to her chest as her legs would allow, using her wings as an added layer of protection. Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle looked at each other with tears trickling from their eyes as their imminent doom approached. Applebloom couldn’t hold back her screams as one of the robots grasped her tiny neck and lifted her into the air by it.

Freddy tore Sweetie from Scootaloo’s embrace as Sombra’s mechanical vessel let loose a sadistic laugh. Scootaloo began wailing as Sweetie Belle screamed and reached for her maybe-someday lover.

Fluttershy could feel Fáfnir pry open her wings as Dinky let her tears soak her fur. The mechanical drake began to pull at the tiny unicorn as Fluttershy held onto her temporarily adopted daughter with all her might, but Fluttershy’s dainty limbs were nothing compared to Fáfnir’s mechanical strength and she lost her hold on the crying filly within seconds.

All emotion drained from the buttery Pegasus except for rage, fear, and sadness. Fluttershy could honestly say that out of all the several adversaries she had faced, she only really held a grudge against two: Tirek and a much lesser one against the Wonderbolts captain, Spitfire. Nightmare Moon had more than redeemed herself over the time she had returned, Trixie had learned her lesson and was now working as an honest and humble (somewhat) entertainer, the parasprites were just moving on pure instinct and hunger when they came to Ponyville so Fluttershy couldn’t stay mad at them, the buffalo tribe had a perfectly valid reason to be upset during that fracas in Appleloosa, Discord now was one of Fluttershy’s best friends and most trusting companions, the Flim Flam brothers just seemed like typical lying business ponies, Iron Will wasn’t really at fault during Fluttershy’s “Assertiveness” accident, and all the other villains with maybe an exception of Queen Chrysalis didn’t really seem worth holding a grudge against.

Tirek on the other hoof was pure evil, wielding both a silver tongue and enough power to not only level a continent but also turn it to glass. He had tricked Discord and nearly killed Twilight all for the pursuit of power, something that Fluttershy, with all the warmth and kindness within her heart, could not forgive.

Fluttershy’s dislike of Spitfire, however, was rooted in a much less malicious feeling. Not exactly hatred, but the disdain was there. Perhaps it was less of Spitfire that Fluttershy was angry at but rather the ideals that she represented. Rainbow Dash would never cease talking about the Wonderbolts when she and Fluttershy were fillies back in Cloudsdale. When the buttery Pegasus found out that the Wonderbolts captain was such a double crossing hypocrite, she couldn’t help but feel a little resentment towards the one who was corrupting her best friend’s hopes and dreams.

Now, with Sombra’s true depravity revealed she couldn’t help but seethe with anger and hatred as Busby lifted her into his arms.

Fluttershy looked to her side and saw Philly grasp both Scootaloo and Applebloom in her talons as they begged for mercy, heaving them to her sides as easily as one might pick up a stack of paper. The two fillies screamed as they flailed about trying to escape the clutches of their captor, making Sombra practically drop to the floor laughing.

Dinky looked to Fluttershy, tears gently cascading down her cheeks, her sobs muffled by Fáfnir’s mechanical claw. The Pegasus mouthed two words at Dinky, “Be brave...”

The greyish unicorn nodded and did something Fluttershy couldn’t believe... She lit up her horn.

After Dinky’s heart transplant, Dinky had seemingly lost any and all use of magic, rendering her horn nothing but a sharp protrusion of bone and further adding to her list of handicaps. Derpy had nearly starved herself to save money to find out what was wrong with Dinky’s horn, but when the doctors couldn’t find anything physically wrong with her, it became apparent that Derpy had accomplished nothing but waste nearly a month’s salary. Almost all of Ponyville found out of the development and was immediately sympathetic towards the Hooves family, even more so than when Derpy nearly lost her job.

However, the one pony who shouldn’t have found out did... Diamond Tiara. When she wasn’t busy bothering Applebloom, Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle, the stuck up brat was making Dinky’s life a living Tartarus. “The blank-flanked, crippled heiress to the Hooves legacy of retardation” was a personal favourite insult of hers. Yet, whenever Dinky told an adult, Diamond Tiara’s father would bribe and blackmail her daughter out of trouble.

The glow lasted only for a second, but that second seemed to pass in slow motion. Fluttershy let a few silent tears stream down her face. First Dinky’s cutie mark and now this? Derpy should be here for this, Fluttershy thought. Her real mother, not some substitute like me..

None of the other occupants, mechanical or otherwise, not even Dinky herself noticed the spark. Fluttershy wanted to grab the little filly and spin around as she sung sonatas of praise to Dinky, but Busby would allow no such thing as he lifted his free robotic paw and covered the Pegasus’s mouth.

“Alright”, Sombra said, having recovered from his bout of sadistic laughter. “Let’s get them moving, you piles of scrap.”

One by one, the murderous automatons began filing out the demolished door as they carried their prey to Celestia-knows-where.

Fluttershy kept her eyes on the Dinky, who was directly in front of her as the animatronics slowly walked through the halls.

The buttery Pegasus remained silent as she was carried to her fate... Or at least she was until the machines passed Thunderlane’s mutilated corpse, The Germane epitaph still scarred on his lifeless body. Fluttershy lost all control, trying to scream how sorry she was through Busby’s mechanical grip and pleading for her ex-lover to come back to her so she could give him a second chance.

She began flapping her wings frantically as she tried to worm her way out of the metal bunny’s vice, causing Sombra to chuckle as the group left the desecrated corpse behind them.

The guards swiftly combed the rooms in meticulous order. They managed to find two ponies hiding in the main lobby area, making their extraction easy. Setting up a perimeter, and readying their weapons in case of a potential ambush from the murderous machines Princess Twilight warned them about. Small groups, consisting of no less than six guards, then made their way through one of the long, dark hallways, picking their way through the shadows with trained discipline and caution. The group found their way into the kitchen of the restaurant. Maintaining constant formation, the guards filed into the kitchen, with two unicorns hanging back at the door, looking out into the hallway to maintain a vigilant watch over the corridor.

A Crystal Earth pony guard gingerly picked his way around the large metal food prep table centralizing the room, lifting his hooves high over the pots, pans and assorted chef’s cutlery that littered the floor. He picked up a wooden spoon in the crook of his hoof and tapped it against the meal worktop, firmly enough to announce the presence of himself and his fellows, but hopefully soft enough as to not alarm any potential survivors into cowering away further into their hiding spots and complicating their rescue.

“Please do not be alarmed,” he called out in an authoritative tone that he hoped wasn’t overbearing. “We are from the Royal Guard of the Crystal Empire. We have come under orders from Prince Shining Armour to evacuate any and all survivors from this establishment. If any civilians are present in this room, please make yourselves known to us. You do not need to reveal yourselves to us, but we will require your cooperation for your extraction. If you fail to comply, we will search this room until either all hostages are located, or we establish that this room is uninhabited. You will be given one minute to make yourselves known to us, before we begin searching.”

Silence fell upon the kitchen like a thick thermal blanket. The guards remained motionless, aside from the odd sweep of the room with their eyes to maintain constant visuals on their fellows to ensure the safety of all those present. Time ticked by, the Earth pony who had instructed for the announcement of living bodies’ presence silently counting the seconds. After half the allotted time had passed, a timid knocking sound was heard from a cabinet underneath the kitchen sink. All eyes turned to inspect the wooden door, waiting to see if the occupant was willing to reveal themselves or not. As further seconds ticked by, and it became apparent that the hostage was not willing to leave the safety of the cupboard, the Earth pony guard spoke again.

“One hostage has alerted us to their presence beneath the sink,” he announced, “if any others are present, you have fifteen seconds to do likewise.” The waiting resumed, yet no more declarations of presence were offered. The Earth pony turned to his unicorn comrades. “Contact Prince Shining Armour and inform him we’ve located at least one hostage in the kitchen.” The unicorn nodded and sparked his horn, tuning his magic to the appropriate frequency to contact Shining Armour.

Outside, Shining felt his horn crackle and pop with a small amount of magical interference. Lighting his magic to scan the incoming magical aura, he determined the interference to be an incoming message from a search party. Linking his own magic to the incoming signal, he directed the aura into his own ear, allowing only himself to hear what the guard had to say. This was a standard procedure, as he couldn’t allow himself to risk undesirable ears earwigging the sit rep. even if that meant disallowing Twilight and her friends, whom Shining would trust to the ends of Equestria, from hearing the report. After a short conversation with the reporting guard, Shining terminated the com and turned to Twilight with a smile.

“A search party has located at least one hostage hiding in the kitchen,” he reported. “They’re going to try coaxing them, and any other ponies still hiding, out, and get them to safety.” He turned to the army of Crystal ponies, lifting his shoulders into a commanding presence as he addressed them. “Make sure the paramedics are well equipped. I have a feeling we will be nursing multiple wounded civilians.” The Crystal ponies saluted and immediately set about readying the paramedics for the oncoming flood of wounded bodies.

The guards worked quickly, groups dividing, searching and returning with groups of captives with impressive timing. The colts and fillies were retrieved from the prize corner, after having received calls from their parents, thanks to Shining Armour’s communication spell. Vinyl was helped to safety, and was immediately rushed to hospital, having received the worst injuries of all the captives. Lyra and Bon Bon were found in the mare’s toilets, and were treated for their wounds from their scrape with Philly. Within half an hour, the restaurant was cleared, barring two rooms; the animatronic showroom and the security office. A platoon of guards made their way down the corridor leading towards the room that Fluttershy and the fillies had been holed up in, only to find – to their militantly masked horror – that the door had been broken in. And there was no evidence of any ponies.

Outside, the paramedics were seeing to the rescued civillians, many of which were distracting themselves from the painful stitches and first aid treatments they were receiving by talking, hugging and crying to their next of kin. Twilight looked over her list once again – the number of the count since the rescue raid started, she didn’t care anymore. So far, they had retrieved twenty three ponies, each sporting varying injuries of varying severity, but only three or four had to be administered to Ponyville General Hospital. That just left five more; Dinky, the Cutie Mark Crusaders and Fluttershy. And they were still yet to find the bodies of Thunderlane and Red June, much to Twilight’s dismay. She looked out over the scene, watching the paramedics treat the wounded. She glanced over her friends, who were all crowded around Derpy, offering her comforting words of reassurance that her daughter would be returned to her safely, and promising her that there wouldn’t be a single scratch on her sweet little filly’s head. All seemed well until her eyes fell upon Shining Armour, who had his horn lit and seemed to be talking very animatedly at thin air. Curious, Twilight made her way over to her brother, failing to notice Derpy getting rather animated herself, while her friends tried their hardest to calm her down.

Inside the pizzeria, the rescue team combed the security office for any trace of what might have happened to the five ponies that once resided in this room over the last five days and nights. The commanding officer had ordered for one of his colleagues to radio back to Shining Armour while the rest of them looked the room over, but they hadn’t seemed to make any progress on either front.

“Lieutenant!” One guard called to the CO. “I can’t establish contact with Prince Armour!”

The lieutenant turned around. "Come again soldier?"

"Something’s interfering with the signal! I can't get through!" the guard explained.

The lieutenant was about to smack the other guard and say something along the lines of "Don't give me that horseshit excuse!" when something appeared in the doorway.

Something incredibly puppet-like.

"Havoc squad, Report!" Shining Armour called. "Havoc Squad, are you there?"

No response.

"Lieutenant Geode, Come in!"

Twilight approached her brother with a worried expression upon her face. "Shining? What's wrong?" The young Alicorn asked.

Shining let out a frustrated roar. "I lost contact with my last rescue team! Dammit!" The prince stomped his hoof down in anger.

"Relax, Shining", Twilight said. "Just breathe..."

"Out of my way!" A voice cried out. "I'm getting my daughter back!"

The siblings turned in time to see a grey and yellow blur tearing past Twilight’s friends. Applejack appeared to be sporting a rather dark purple circle beneath her left eye, as if she’d just been punched in the face by Iron Will.

“Derpy!” Twilight shouted, far too late for the mailmare to hear her, since she was now long gone and, no doubt, barrelling her way through the rooms and hallways of the pizzeria by now, in search of her daughter. “Buck it!” the purple pony princess swore, galloping over to her friends, who were assisting a paramedic see to Applejack’s shining black eye.

As she approached, Applejack gave her a sheepish, apologetic smile. “Hey, Twi,” she winced as the paramedic applied a lotion to her eye to attempt to prevent it from swelling before reapplying the icepack she was holding over her cheek, “sorry about that. Ah didn’t expect Derpy could pack such a punch. Ah’m awful sorry fer lettin’ ya down.” She looked down at the ground in shame. Twilight shook her head and lifted the farm mare’s face with her hoof to make her look her in the eye.

“You haven’t let anypony down, Applejack,” Twilight told her, nuzzling her unbruised cheek carefully. “Derpy just got impatient, and I sort of don’t blame her, to be honest. But she’ll end up getting herself killed if we don’t go in there and stop her from doing anything reckless.” She turned to her friends, wings outstretched, and spoke to them in her best authoritive, princess-like, voice. “Alright, everypony! Let’s get in there! Discord, make sure Rainbow Dash stays here.”

The draconequus saluted and snapped his fingers, creating a cloud of smoke. When the cloud dissipated, Discord was wearing a Stahlhelm and Germane soldier’s armband. Rainbow Dash could be seen behind the bars of a cage not too different from the one that she and her friends had been imprisoned in during Tirek’s rampage.

“Excessive much?” Dash sighed in an annoyed tone, causing Discord to giggle in that iconic laugh of his as Twilight, Pinkie, Applejack, Rarity and Spike all filed into the restaurant in pursuit of Derpy.

Sombra approached a large set of strange, black doors and threw them open. The doors led to the same room where this whole nightmare had begun. Only now, it seemed to be coated in black crystal and instead of the animatronics being on the stage, five large black slabs of crystal stood erect.

One by one, the robots hopped onto the stage and pressed the back of each pony against a different slab. Sweetie Belle was pressed against the centremost slab with Fluttershy on her left and Applebloom on her right. Scootaloo was placed to Applebloom’s right while Dinky was pressed against the slab to the far left, next to Fluttershy.

Suddenly, the crystal slabs began to morph and twist. Hoops wrapped around each ponies fetlocks and mouth, leaving them unable to do any more than scream into the crystalline restraints.

Sombra approached Fluttershy. His sadistic smirk never leaving his face. Slowly he raised a hoof to the restrained mare’s cheek. “Such an exquisite creature... To be honest, I’ve always admired the sleek, athletic bodies of the Pegasi. But you, my dear, you are the pinnacle of natural beauty. I’ve never seen anypony put so little effort into their appearance and still be as gorgeous as you.”

Fluttershy tensed up at her captor’s words. Sombra, the tyrannical usurper of the Crystal Empire, was telling her how gorgeous she was. The buttery Pegasus wanted to scream as the golden machine slowly slid his mechanical hoof down her side and rested it upon her flank.

“I can see why that Thunderlane fellow thought so highly of you, Miss Fluttershy” Sombra chided.

Fluttershy screamed into her crystalline gag, begging her captor to stop. The longer he kept his hoof on her flank the more and more it began to seem like rape.

Suddenly, the needles returned, filling Fluttershy’s head with pain inconceivable. She screamed and writhed in her restraints, begging for a way to end her suffering, but the needles were just the first part of this torture session.

“...Save us...” Fluttershy heard Red June and Thunderlane whisper into her ears as she wailed like banshee.

“Save... us... Save us... Please... SaaAAaave us”.

Twilight and company picked their way through the corridors of the restaurant as they searched for Derpy. Luckily, the guards had seen where Derpy was headed, and were able to point the posse in the right direction of their quarry. According to the guards, Derpy was headed towards the part of the restaurant the last rescue team lost contact with Shining Armour; the south section. Applejack was jostling with her brother, who had insisted on tagging along, after seeing the damage Derpy had inflicted to his little sister’s face.

“Honestly, Big mac, Ah’m fine,” the orange mare complained. “Derpy’s just uptight and worried sumpin’ fierce about her daughter, is all. There’s no need in gettin’ all protective o’ me. Jes’ let me an’ mah friends find Derpy, and we’ll be back out in a jiffy, with the fillies and Fluttershy in tow.”

“Eenope,” Big Mac replied, his regular expression of “I’m looking impassive, but I’m worried as all Tartarus” painted all over his face like a Toolaroola masterpiece. “Ah got this dang awful feelin’ that you gals are gonna need a little more assistance than usual for this mission.”

That statement earned Big Mac a few glares from Applejack and Rarity, but Twilight diffused the situation with a grateful smile.

“Well I, for one, am grateful for the company, Big Mac. Thank you.” The atmosphere loosened up a little as the two glaring mares silently conceded that it was rather pleasant to have an extra set of hooves on board, in case things got a little rough for them when they found Derpy and, eventually, the fillies and Fluttershy.

Everypony stepped through the abandoned hall with renewed vigour and confidence. They were able to get the civilians out of this death trap with no incident, so they would – surely – be able to rescue Sweetie Belle, Apple Bloom, Scootaloo, Dinky and Fluttershy in the blink of an eye. And then, they would shut Sombra down, once and for all.

The group approached the adult lounge. Loud metal music was blasting and some sort of strange moaning sound was muffled in the blaring guitar.

“OOH!” Pinkie yelled! “I love this song! Rules of nature! And they run when the sun comes up! With their lives on the line!”

Spike looked around the lounge, before spotting the television. Spikes cheeks went as red as roses as he realized what was happening on the screen as well as causing the moaning sound. As discreetly as possible, the tiny dragon spat out a miniscule ball of flame, not large enough to do any noticeable damage, but enough to overheat the screen and short it out. The young dragon quickly glanced around the room, breathing out a sigh of relief as he affirmed nopony had noticed.

“All clear?” Twilight called from behind the bar.

“Eeyup”, Big Mac responded after checking to make sure nopony was hiding anywhere in the lounge.

Applejack pulled Pinkie away from the jukebox as the group continued their search.

Twilight walked along with her horn illuminating the darkened hallways when she saw a door bashed in. “Everypony! Look!” She screamed as she ran towards the opening.

The entryway lead to a small office with only a few furnishings, a desk, a chair, an extremely out of date computer and some filing cabinets. The window peering into room was smashed and the door busted down.

Everypony flocked into the room and surveyed the scene. Derpy was already in the room, mouth agape and her eyes, unusually, straight as they surveyed her horrifically deformed surroundings. Small pools of dried blood near the desk with yellow and orange feathers scattered around the office. A stack of the Mortality Pad manga books sat in one corner and a 3DS connected to a charger plugged into an outlet, along with three flashlights.

“Uhh... Twi? What does 20/20/20/20 mean?” Applejack asked, her mind slowly coming to several worse case scenarios as she examined the demolished door.

The Alicorn looked at the where Applejack directed her to find the cryptic message inscribed on the bent metal. Her mind screamed at her while she remembered a discussion she’d had with Shining Armour a few months back.

“It’s code Applejack...” Twilight explained. “To the Crystal Empire’s military, 20/20/20/20 means, if I recall correctly, ‘High Priority Target’.”

Rarity began shaking violently. “T-Twilight... You don’t think...”

Twilight nodded solemnly. “It seems Fluttershy, Dinky, Sweetie Belle, Applebloom, and Scootaloo were in this room, then Sombra’s goons came and busted it down....”

Derpy closed her eyes as Twilight spoke. There was no way in Tartarus Dinky was dead. She came this far... She wouldn’t die here.

“... They aren’t dead...” The wall eyed mare said.

Everypony looked at the grey Pegasus with a confused expression.

“They can’t be dead, dammit!” Derpy yelled, angry tears welling in her eyes. “Dinky is with them... They can’t be dead. Dinky is a survivor. She can’t be dead!”

“Derpy...” Spike lifted a claw that was pushed back by Derpy’s wing.

“Ever since Dinky was born, the universe seemed to want her dead”, Derpy lamented. “Nothing ever went her way. She was born with a critical heart condition, forcing her to be operated on five bucking times before she was six years old! When the doctors finally fixed her heart, she lost the use of her horn, which would be like taking my wings and slicing them off! Then, when she was seven, she was bedridden with pony-bola for nine months. She was two weeks away from dying before the doctors finally found a vaccine! Then not two months later, my little muffin had to watch her father die while I was just sprawled out on the wall of a train car unconscious! Dinky can’t be dead! She just can’t!”

Spike stepped back. Even after her outburst two days ago, the sight of Derpy with anything other than a happy-go-lucky smile on her face was completely foreign and scary. “I-I’m sorry, Derpy... I had no idea-”

Derpy glared maliciously at the young reptile. “You had no idea what? That beneath that facade of happiness I wear is a pony who struggles not to cry herself to sleep every night and has considered suicide at least five times in the past three years?” She screamed.

Spike was practically cowering in the corner of the room. Derpy looked and saw everypony staring at her with expressions of pure fear and confusion. “I...I’m sorry I yelled at you, Spike,” the walleyed mare lamented, her gaze softening. “It’s just... Dinky is my whole world... She’s the only thing that makes life worth living for me... The only time I feel important is when that beautiful little ball of sunshine is next to me smiling... I used to be able to look forward to seeing Time Turner and my two beautiful daughters after a long and hard day of work... I lost Amethyst to maturity and Time Turner to an engineering malfunction... I just... I just need Dinky to be alive...”

“Everypony!” Pinkie Pie called out. “Look! Here’s a trail of Fluttershy’s feathers!”

The attention in the room went instantly from Derpy to the pile of feathers Pinkie was staring at. Twilight lifted one of them with her magic, the unmistakable yellow colour was a dead giveaway. Twilight followed the trail with her eyes until they curved around a corridor. “Come on! Let’s go!” The Alicorn yelled as she sprinted away, the rest of her posse following close behind.

Twilight ran along the trail, determined to find out where Fluttershy and the rest were. Don’t worry girls, She thought to herself. It’s almost over.

As she sprinted along, Twilight noticed a large pool of red on the floor near the trail of feathers. As the Alicorn slowed down, she lifted her head, a choice she would instantly come to regret.

“Twilight! Wait up!” Spike called from behind. “Man... I’ve never seen you run so- WHAT THE BUCK IS THAT‽”

Twilight had stumbled across Thunderlane’s corpse.

One by one, the rest of group caught up and saw the mutilated body, each one screaming some obscenity, nearly vomiting, or just being stunned into silence.

“This, I think, was Thunderlane...” Twilight said, trying her best not to look at the carcass.

Applejack lowered her signature Stetson to her chest in respect as she spoke. “Nopony deserves to go like that... Except maybe the rat-bastard who did this!”

“Eeyup” Big Mac agreed angrily.

Rarity seethed in anger. “Such a pony doesn’t deserve to live!”

“When I find that son of a bitch, I’m gonna make him feel every ounce of pain this poor soul felt. I’m gonna... I’m gonna... I’M GONNA SKIN HIM ALIVE WITH HIS OWN CELESTIA DAMNED TEETH!” Spike declared. Derpy nodded enthusiastically at the image.

Twilight looked around the room. “Well, that’s one body found, I suppose,” she mused. “Now we need to find Red June’s body and locate the missing rescue team so they can remove the bodies.”

The Alicorn was pulled out of her musings by a sickly pale pink hoof, connected to a worryingly discoloured Pinkie Pie, whose gaze seemed to be rather fixated on something high up in the rafters of the restaurant’s ceiling.

“Uh… w-well…” the party pony stammered. Her voice was creaky and her eyes had dilated to the size of pinpricks by whatever sight the ceiling bore. “Th-there might be a s-slight… problem with that.” She pointed up at the ceiling, gulping thickly as she spoke. All eyes followed Pinkie’s hoof to the ceiling, and everypony present gave a heavy, simultaneous gag of horror.

There, hanging from the rafters, were the three crystal ponies from the missing rescue team. The three stallions all hung from the ceiling like puppets, the “strings” that let them hang fashioned out of no less than their own internal organs; one of the stallions looked to be hung with his own intestinal tract. From the looks on their faces, the guards had been ambushed, and the last thing they saw had been the most horrendous sight they could ever have imagined, if the frozen looks of pure terror were anything to go by.

Twilight felt numb. All that seemed to exist at that moment was herself and the three hanging corpses, all swinging from the wooden roof beams by their own guts like toy puppets just waiting to be made to dance. The sight was like watching a train wreak in slow motion; it was horrible to see but, for some unholy reason, her head would not obey her screaming brain and look away. After, what felt like, an hour of staring, Twilight became acutely aware of the sound of very unladylike retching and heaving, followed shortly by the wet splash of something liquid hitting a wooden floor. Turning round, she found Rarity busying herself with unloading the contents of her stomach not far away from the group, having clearly failed in her attempt to rush to the little fillies’ room, or to the nearest bucket, in time.

Pinkie, for her part, was worryingly still, her mane now flat and limp, hanging down around her face as she continued to star up at the grizzly pony puppets. The Apple siblings were gawping wide-eyed and slack jawed at the hanging guards, neither making any attempt to speak or move. Derpy had screwed her eyes shut, and was now chanting to herself that “Dinky’s alive”, or “That bastard will pay for this” to herself over and over again. Twilight swallowed thickly to rid herself of the bitter taste of bile that was steadily trying to crawl up her throat before turning away from the gruesome scene that lay before her.

“I’ll have Shining Armour send in another team in to retrieve the bodies after we get our friends out of here,” she promised “But for now…” her face centred into a murderous glower, “let’s find Sombra and utterly obliterate him!” Twilight screamed, earning enthusiastic hollers from the rest of the group.

The six resumed the chase until the trail stopped at a set of large crystalline doors. Twilight could feel massive amounts of magical energy radiating from behind them as she pressed a hoof against the door. It didn’t feel like any gem, crystal or mineral she had ever felt before, and neither Spike nor Rarity recognized the material. I can collect a sample later, Twilight thought to herself.

Applejack and Big Macintosh approached the door with a resolve to end this nightmare burning in their eyes. The two smashed the door open with a single buck, revealing all four of the animatronic mascots, plus a bizarre looking golden one standing atop the stage and in front of five black slabs, the crack on its metal head forming some sadistic grin.

“Welcome, Everypony! Welcome to the main attraction!” A voice called out from within the room.

“Where are you, Sombra‽” Twilight screamed. “Where are our friends‽”

The voice gave a slight chuckle. “Ah, Miss Sparkle, the answer to both questions is the same. Right in front of you...”

The golden robot took a step forward before clapping it’s forehooves together. Slowly, the slabs behind the golden machine began to rotate, revealing Fluttershy, Dinky, and all three of the Cutie Mark Crusaders bound and gagged against them.

Fluttershy writhed in agony, screaming into the crystalline gag, unable to focus on anything but the immense pain she was in or the tormenting voices echoing through her mind.

“Fluttershy!” Twilight and Pinkie screamed.

“Applebloom!” Applejack and Big Mac followed.

“Sweetie Belle!” Rarity and Spike shrieked.

“GET AWAY FROM MY LITTLE MUFFIN, YOU SON OF A BITCH!” Derpy cussed in a livid fury, with no regard whatsoever to the ages a good chunk of the rooms in habitants were, as she rushed to her daughter, only to be thrown back by some invisible barrier.

“Ah, ah, ah”, the voice called out once again. “Not until both the dragon whelp and white one are dead will I release them.”

“We told you, that’s not going to happen!” Spike yelled. “Now get your sorry plot out here so I can kick it again!”

“You seven are a special kind of stupid, aren’t you?”

Suddenly, a red and black mist began to pour from the five restrained ponies and towards the golden robot. The machine stood up on its hind legs as the mist began to envelope it. A sadistic laugh echoed through the room as Fluttershy began screaming even harder, as did the rest of the captives. The mist flowing from them seemed to leave them unable to feel anything but the purest form agony ever conceived.

The mist dissipated, revealing a large ash-coloured unicorn stallion in the place of the golden robot.

The voice came once again, but now, it’s source was fairly obvious. “Hehehe... It’s me...”

I’m sorry, everypony, Applebloom thought to herself as the last spasms of pain wracked her body. If only I was stronger... We wouldn’t be in this mess.

Sweetie Belle tried to look to Scootaloo, but her restraints wouldn’t allow her to do anything other than mover her eyes. Goodbye, everypony... I’m gonna miss you all...

Suddenly, all five of the captives began screaming wildly as their eyes glowed green gave off a purple mist.

Derpy stood back up on her hooves as she shook off the impact with the invisible barrier. “What are you doing to them, you psychopath‽” She yelled.

Sombra placed a hoof on his chin as he chuckled. “Oh. Them?” He asked sarcastically. “Their simply being forced to watch their greatest fears unfold before their eyes. An experience, I understand, the dragon whelp and Miss Sparkle are both familiar with.”

“I’ll ask you one last time, Sombra...” Twilight said, venom dripping from her words. “Let. Them. Go.”

“Hmm. Let’s see here...” Sombra said as he placed a hoof on Scootaloo’s chest. “This one... Hmm... The ground is caving in around her, dragging down anypony who isn’t a Pegasus. Try as she might, she just can’t get off the ground!” Sombra chuckled maniacally as he walked to Applebloom.

“The earth pony filly... Ugh. How boring. Dying without a cutie mark? Really? That’s her greatest fear?” Sombra spat out in disappointment.

Sombra moved onto Sweetie Belle, smirking as he laid his hoof on her chest. “Oh this one is much more interesting. She’s scared of living forever in her sister’s shadow... Reminds me of a certain moon-controlling princess.”

“Dammit! Enough!” Spike shouted as he blasted flame at Sombra, only to have the inferno blocked by the same barrier that Derpy ran into. The ebon unicorn continued smirking as he looked at Fluttershy.

“Ohoho! How scandalous!” Sombra laughed. “She’s about to raped by the undead body of her ex-lover!”

“Ex-lover?” Twilight said aloud. “Undead body? Fluttershy had a coltfriend?”

Sombra turned to the Alicorn. “Indeed. I believe you saw his corpse on the way in.”

Twilight’s ears fell against her head. “Thunderlane and Fluttershy... d-dated?”

Her words fell upon deaf ears as Sombra continued. “And lastly we have this one”, The sadistic stallion said as he approached Dinky. “Aw... How heart-wrenching. She’s being forced to watch her father die over and over and over again!”

Derpy looked at Sombra with the most hate-filled expression she could manage. Her crossed eyes looked like portals to Tartarus and her breathing grew into a beast-like growl. “I’m gonna take that stupid horn, cut it off, and shove it so far up your plot that it ends up behind your eyes!” She screamed.

Big Macintosh, Spike, Applejack, Rarity, Pinkie and Twilight all nodded.

“Hehehe... I’d like to see you try, Miss Hooves”, Sombra said.

“How do you know her name? Answer me!” Applejack commanded.

Sombra knelt down, staring at the earth pony with a condescending grin. “Miss Applejack, I’m tapping into my victim’s psyches and memories as we speak. Don’t you think the name of her only parental figure would come up at least once?”

Pinkie Pie began bouncing up and down as her mane slowly straightened, something that only happened when the baker was extremely sad or angry. “You are the biggest bully ever! You’re even more sour than a grape fruit covered in gummy worms! The sour kind! Not the tasty sweet ones!” She yelled.

Sombra yawned as he offered his rebuttal. “I’m getting tired of you... If you aren’t going to give into my demands then you can all die. Attack, my mechanical thralls!”

The animatronics began moving as their servos began to whir. They turned the rescue group and began to charge.

Twilight stood her ground as her horn lit up. She blasted at Busby with a magic beam, taking off the rabbit’s face and revealing the metal endoskeleton within. The machine staggered as Twilight blasted it again, this time ripping off its arm, and again to destroy the metal monstrosity.

Pinkie pulled her party cannon out from seemingly nowhere and proceeded to blast Fáfnir into nothing but a pile of confetti and metal.

Applejack wrapped her hooves around Philly’s wrists as Big Macintosh bucked the robotic phoenix in the opposite direction, ripping off its hands. Big Mac bucked once again, knocking Philly to the ground before he stomped the machine’s head into a metallic pancake.

Spike and Derpy dodged a swipe of Freddy’s talons as Rarity snuck up on him from behind. The baby dragon blew a stream of emerald flame at the griffon, burning off part of his suit. Rarity leapt onto the machine and wrapped her hooves around its neck. She gripped the crystal jutting from Freddy’s forehead in a telekinetic aura and ripped it out. As Freddy began to stagger, Rarity rammed the black crystal’s sharp end into where she assumed his CPU was located. The automaton titan’s robotic eyes (Or optical receptors/photoreceptors or whatever the Tartarus you call robot eyes) grew dim as he fell to the floor with a mighty thud.

Twilight looked back at the disabled animatronics and smirked. “Alright, Sombra”, She began. “It’s over. Let them go!”

“Oh? Is it Miss Sparkle?” Sombra replied.

“PLEASE THUNDERLANE! I DIDN’T MEAN TO LET YOU DIE! DON’T DO THIS TO ME!” Fluttershy screamed in her mind as Thunderlane’s mutilated body climbed over her, unaware of the fact that all she was seeing was an illusion.

“You didn’t save me... You must be punished...” Thunderlane responded. “You... Y-You...” Thunderlane’s body began twitching and writhing, his words sounding like an old corrupted video tape.

“Y-You... Must B-Be... Pun... Ished... Pun...Punnnn-NO!”

Fluttershy looked at her would-be-assaulter as he began to back away from her. “Th-Thunderlane?”

“I’m... Not... Gonna... Hurt... FLUTTERSHY!” Thunderlane collapsed to the floor gasping for air. “Fluttershy... Y-you need t-to... W-wake up... D-Dinky... needs you...” He said between gasps.

Thunderlane faded from view and she was greeted with the sight of Sombra, not his mechanical vessel, but Sombra in the flesh, staring down her friends as they stood on the mountains of scrap metal that was once the animatronics.

It... It was just another illusion..., Fluttershy thought to herself.

Movement in on the ceiling cut Fluttershy off from her musings. She looked where she saw the movement and saw Red June’s mask glaring down at her oblivious friends. Fluttershy began to try and warn them, frantically flapping her wings, the only parts of her she could move freely.

As she struggled, Fluttershy felt her wings brush against something. The buttery Pegasus turned her head as far her restraints would allow her to see that she had brushed against Dinky’s hoof. The tiny filly had tears streaming down her face as a bizarre green mist faded from her eyes. Dinky looked at Fluttershy with a worried expression.

Fluttershy did her best to relay a calming smile through her gag as she turned back to Sombra and her friends.

“Tell me, Miss Sparkle... How do feel about puppets?” Sombra asked.

Twilight bit her lip to repress the urge to assail the ear drums of everypony within ten kilometres with every obscene word in the Equestrian language.

Fluttershy saw Red June move as she floated below the ceiling, positioning herself just above Spike. The buttery Pegasus gave one last thrash as she tried to warn her friends of the ghostly marionette above them.

Slowly, the blood red ribbon slid from Red June’s mouth-slit and fell silently behind the group. The tendril lifted itself slightly and stealthily approached Spike without alerting anypony to its presence.

Suddenly, the ribbon wrapped itself around Spike’s neck like a noose, causing the young dragon to gasp for air.

“Spike?” Twilight said as she turned around. “Spike‽”

As Spike tried to rip the ribbon from his neck, it seemed to fuse to his scales, almost like some sort of parasitic worm. Spike dropped his hands to his sides as he began moving in twitchy and clunky movements.

“M-My body... C-can’t... Guys... Run!” Spike screamed as he lifted his arms. The dragon turned to Rarity and began to sprint. “Rarity! Run!”

Spike slashed at the fashionista with his razor sharp claws. Rarity ducked and rolled away. “Spike!”

“What are you doing to Spike, you bastard‽” Twilight wailed at Sombra.

Sombra chuckled. “I’M not doing anything, miss Sparkle. Red June is”, he explained.

Twilight threw her foot down in anger. “Cut the crap! Red June is dead!”

“Isn’t that what you all thought about me?” Sombra asked with a condescending smirk.

Spike continued chasing Rarity, slashing and slicing with his claws as Rarity ducked and weaved.

Pinkie grabbed Twilights withers. “We’ll help Spike, Twilight”, she said. “You and Derpy take down that big meanie pants.”

Twilight spread her wings as her horn glowed with a spell ready to break down Sombra’s barrier. “Gotcha”, Twilight said, earning a similar response from Derpy.

Twilight blasted down Sombra’s shield with a single beam as she and Derpy charged in.

“Somepony stop me!” Spike cried as smoke began to pour from the corners of his maw.

“Sorry about this, Spike!” Applejack cried as she kicked Spike in the chest, sending him flying backwards.

“It’s okay!” Spike said as he staggered up. The young dragon leapt high into the air and brought his claws across Rarity’s face, causing three small scratch marks to appear on her cheek and begin bleeding.

“Oh my Celestia! I’m so sorry Rarity!” Spike said as he rushed her once more.

“I’m fine Spike!” Rarity said as she ignored the pain and continued to dodge Spike’s reluctant attacks.

Spike felt a heat build-up in the back of his throat as he smelled methane gases pour from his mouth. “Watch out! I’m charging up a flame blast!”

“Nope!”

Big Mac tackled Spike just as the fireball left his mouth. The bellowing flame missed Rarity by a hair and collided with the wall, leaving a large scorch mark at the point of contact.

Spike sighed in relief as he was forced to unwillingly attack Rarity and the others. “Thanks Mac!” He said as he struggled to get out of Big Macintosh’s hooves.

The massive earth pony groaned as he maintained his grip on Spike, not tight enough to cause any damage but enough to the young dragon restrained. “Hrg! Eeyup!”

Pinkie jumped at Spike and embrace the young dragon in a big hug with her head just out of Spike’s line of fire (No pun intended), further limiting his ability to move. “Applejack!” The pink pony shouted. “Now! Go for the tentacle thingy!”

Applejack grabbed onto the ribbon wrapped around Spike’s neck and gave a mighty tug. Rarity took immediate action, and sprang into action. She lunged toward the ribbon and, with a single jerk of her horn, cut it clean away from the baby dragon’s neck. The levitating puppet screeched in, what could only be likened to, pain unimaginable, and dropped from the air like a stone, landing on the hard tiled floor with an almighty thud. Applejack turned towards the sound and saw a peculiar sight indeed.

Behind her was a rusty red filly with a green mane and bizarre purple streaks running down from her eyes, like tears, lying on the ground unconscious. Beside her, a strange white mask lay on the tiles, a large crack splitting its face down the middle. “What the?” Applejack murmured to herself as she approached the incapacitated filly.

Applejack walked around the filly and almost vomited when she saw that the little thing was missing her forehead. Even more disturbing was the fact that the filly was still breathing. “Celestia’s mane! She’s alive!” the farmer yelled.

Spike could feel his limbs succumb to his control once again as the remnants of the ribbon diffused from his neck and fell to the ground. “Guys, I think I’m in control again!” He said, prompting Big Mac to release him.

“Spikey-Wikey! Are you alright?” Rarity inquired as she threw her hooves around the dragon.

Spike blushed madly. “I’m fine, Rarity. What about you?”

Rarity raised a hoof to the cuts on her face as blood trickled slowly from them. “It’s nothing a bandage won’t fix. But there are more pressing concerns at the moment.”

The young dragon nodded as he ran to Applejack’s side, nearly fainting at the sight of the filly’s gaping wound.

“Poor thing needs a doctor! Spike, think ya can get her to Doc Stable?” Applejack asked.

Spike nodded as he tried to heave the filly onto his back. “Yeesh! She’s a lot heavier than she looks! Pinkie, could you help me out here?”

“Okie Doki Loki!” Pinkie said as she rested the filly’s torso on her back while Spike lifted up her rear.

Spike and Pinkie Pie ran out to the door, but not before Spike called out, “Give that bastard what-for, Twilight!”

Applebloom squirmed in her restraints as she was forced to watch her own funeral. Her body was somewhere in the mid-twenties, but there was no cutie mark on her flank. Tears ran down Applebloom’s face as she looked at this aged version of herself, even then she would have no idea who she was or what her purpose was.

A wave of realization dawned on the young filly in the blink of an eye. I-it doesn’t matter if I don’t have a cutie mark, Applebloom thought to herself. What matters now is that you’re friends are gonna die if you don’t do anything and it’s gonna be your fault.

The funeral scene faded from view as Applebloom saw Sombra, Derpy and Twilight fighting each other.

Twilight used her Pegasus speed and stamina alongside the earth pony strength she received when she ascended to hammer at Sombra with lightning speed and a power that would rival Big Macintosh’s, while Derpy kicked at the shadowy stallion with long arcing motions. Sombra barely moved as this assault continued. He offered no counterattacks and in fact seemed rather bored.

“Why won’t you die!” Twilight screamed as she hammered Sombra’s back.

“My skin, Miss Sparkle! It crystallizes in response to physical trauma! You can’t hurt me.” Sombra said with a chuckle.

“Shut up and die!” Derpy screamed as she slammed a hoof down on Sombra’s neck.

“What did I just say, miss Hooves?” Sombra asked sarcastically. “I grow tired of you. Get out of my sight, you wall-eyed idiot!”

Sombra latched onto Derpy’s leg with his magic and threw her across the room. As Derpy stood back up and prepared to rush back in, a wall of crystal erupted around the stage, cutting Sombra, Twilight, and the captives off from everypony else.

“NO!” Derpy screamed as she threw herself against the barrier. “I came so far! I’m not going to stop here!”

“Derpy!” Applejack yelled. “There’s nothing we can do now! Let’s go so Twilight doesn’t have to worry about us!”

Derpy glared at the farmer. “How can you say that? Your little sister is trapped in there!”

“Eeyup. But so is Twilight. She’s gonna kick that bastard’s plot back to whatever hole it crawled out of, no matter what. Us being here is just going to make her worry!” Big Mac yelled. “Let’s go!”

Derpy looked downward. “...Fine... But if Twilight doesn’t win-”

Rarity cut her off mid-sentence, “She will, Derpy. There’s no way Twilight wouldn’t win.”

Sombra chuckled as the crystal wall marked off the boundaries of the arena Twilight and the rest now found themselves in. “Well, Miss Sparkle... Now that we are alone... Let’s dance!”

Twilight ignored the words and rushed at her prey as fast as she possibly could. She channeled as much energy as she could into her hooves as she bucked right into Sombra’s chest, forcing him to stagger backwards a bit, but not cause him any pain due to the black crystals that took the place of his skin at the point of contact.

Sombra sighed in disappointment. “You still think that will work?” Sombra asked. “I’ve already told you. You can’t kill me like that. I doubt you can even kill me at all!”

“And what makes you think that?” Twilight cried out as she continued her assault.

Sombra raised his hooves to defend against the flurry of blows as he spoke once more. “I am practically a god! I am the chosen champion of Phobos! The first necromancer!”

“Never heard of him”, Twilight yelled as she began blasting away with magic energy beams.

“I would assume not, considering his sister, Elpis, nearly erased all records of his existence.”

Twilight recalled that last name from somewhere. Elpis... Elpis... She thought to herself before she remembered. “The unicorn who discovered hope magic?”

“Very good, miss Sparkle!” Sombra said as he clapped his hooves together. “Yes, Elpis used other’s hope to fuel her spells and become one of the greatest healers in Equestrian history. She also used hope to betray her brother, Phobos, who discovered a very similar technique, only instead of the hope of his allies he used the fear of his enemies, just like me. Before I came along, Phobos was the only pony to ever perform a true resurrection, to restore not only a body to life, but also the soul of the one who inhabited it, thus forming the school of necromancy magic.”

Twilight felt Sombra grab onto her hoof with his magic. Sombra hurled the Alicorn into the crystal wall he had created as hard as he could. “Now, Elpis’s power is long dead! The only remnant of her is that infernal crystal heart, but luckily for me, that’s all the way back in the Crystal Empire!” Sombra explained.

Twilight shook the daze off as Sombra rushed at her, his horn ready to skewer her. Twilight rolled out of the way, forcing Sombra to bury his horn in the crystal. “Hey Sombra! You missed!” Twilight taunted.

Fluttershy watched the two combatants trade blow after blow. She had seen the destruction wrought by Twilight’s confrontation with Tirek after the fact, but watching Twilight actually fight, even if she didn’t have the combined power of Cadence, Luna, and Celestia alongside her own, was just... awe inspiring. Glad I’m not Sombra right now, Fluttershy thought to herself as the sound of shattering glass rang out a few feet beside her, and again a few seconds later, only this time, a little further away.

“Wake up Scoots!” Fluttershy heard a husky voice cry out. “It’s not real! Just wake up!”

“W-Wha!? The ground... It’s all here!” Scootaloo shrieked. “And everypony isn’t being engulfed in magma!”

The same husky voice chuckled. “Course it ain’t, Scoots. You were just having a bad dream just like the rest of us.”

“Applebloom? How did you get out of your cuffs?” Scootaloo asked.

Applebloom chuckled once again. “I finally found the strength of the Apple family! But, still no cutie mark. Heh.”

Applebloom trotted a few feet over. A new found confidence making itself obvious in her voice as she spoke. “Now, let’s get you down from there, Sweetie Belle.”

The tiny earth pony swivelled on her hooves. Taking aim at the restraints on either sides of the alabaster filly, Applebloom bucked as hard as she could, shattering the crystal bonds before doing the same to the upper restraints.

Sweetie Belle fell into Scootaloo embrace as she whimpered, still under Sombra’s influence. “Wake up, Sweetie!” Scootaloo cried as she shook the incapacitated unicorn. “Come on!”

“Uhg... My head... Wait a sec... Where’s the Rarity monster?” Sweetie Belle asked as she came to.

Scootaloo sighed in relief. “It wasn’t real. Thank goodness.”

Sweetie Belle looked around, taking in the makeshift arena she found herself trapped inside. “W-What? Where’d everypony go?”

“Sombra trapped them outside”, Applebloom explained as she lined herself up with Fluttershy’s bonds. “It’s just us five, Twilight, and Sombra in here now.” As Applebloom finished speaking, she broke Fluttershy from her restraints with two swift movements.

The buttery Pegasus landed on her hooves as she spread her wings outwards to balance herself. “Applebloom, don’t forget Dinky!”

“Wow, Fluttershy!” Scootaloo said. “How come you aren’t having some nightmare?”

“My wing brushed against her hooves and I woke up.” Fluttershy explained quickly. “Now get her down, Applebloom!”

Applebloom grinned with a proud smirk. “Gladly.”

Fluttershy rushed to catch Dinky as she fell from her shackles. “Dinky...” Fluttershy said, tears welling in her eyes.

Dinky blinked as she wriggled from Fluttershy’s hooves. “M-mummy... Mummy!”

The tiny unicorn threw her hooves around the Pegasus mare as she cried. “I was so scared, Mummy! Is he gone?” Dinky asked between sobs.

Fluttershy gingerly wrapped her hooves around the sobbing filly. “No, not yet, my little Dinky. But now Mummy has to go help Miss Twilight get rid of him!” She explained as she glared up at Twilight as she fought the shadowy stallion. “You four find some cover. I’ll be right back...”

Fluttershy spread her wings as far as the would extend before blasting off the ground, hovering mere inches from it as she rushed to Twilights aid.

Sombra turned to see Fluttershy rushing at him. He chuckled to himself as he charged up a spell. “Say goodbye!” he screamed, though who to, nopony could tell.

Suddenly, Sombra turned his horn to the advancing Pegasus as he unleashed a massive energy beam. Fluttershy screamed as she slowed down and covered her face with her hooves, but she was engulfed in the massive black beam.

“FLUTTERSHY!” Everypony except Dinky screamed.

Sombra threw his head back as a deranged and sadistic laugh escaped his lips. “You had that coming!” He screamed in almost ecstasy.

As Sombra finished gloating, something blasted out from the smoke. A blur of pink and yellow flew at the stallion at lightning speed, hooves poised to strike. “What‽” Sombra screamed as he felt something slam against his underside. “ARGH!”

The shadowy unicorn placed a hoof on his stomach and felt crystal shards fall against it. That... hurt... What the-?, He thought to himself. Sombra looked upwards to see Fluttershy advancing towards him, her face missing any emotion except rage and hatred. Her? As Sombra charged up another blast, he took notice of an anomaly, Fluttershy was supposed to have bluish-green eyes, not blazing gold as she did now.

Those eyes! It can’t be..., Sombra turned around and saw Dinky, her glowing horn barely peeking out from the wall of cover she’d hidden behind. “...Elpis... No!” Sombra cried as he rushed at the young filly’s hiding spot, only to be stopped by another hoof slamming into his side.

“Stay away from her!” Fluttershy screamed as more crystal shards fell from Sombra.

Sombra chuckled weakly. “Now I understand...” He said.

“Understand what‽ That you’re a psychopathic murderer?” Fluttershy screamed.

“Oh no, I’ve known that from the start, my dear.” Sombra laughed. “That little unicorn is Elpis reborn! She’s imbuing you with the power you’re using right now.”

Fluttershy stretched her wings out as far as they would go as she smirked. “Then this beating is courtesy of Dinky.” She lunged forward, missing Sombra only by an inch as he pivoted on his hooves.

The shadowy stallion was about to slam a hoof down on Fluttershy’s neck when he felt something blast into him from behind. “Forget about me?” Twilight screamed.

As Sombra was distracted, Fluttershy shifted her weight and swept her leg, forcing Sombra to fall. As he was about to hit the floor, Fluttershy lifted her leg and slammed upward, launching Sombra into the air at high speed.

The buttery Pegasus blasted into the air, grabbing Sombra by the neck with her left forehoof. Sombra began to punch relentless at Fluttershy who seemed to not even notice the blows.

Dinky and the CMC watched with bated breath as the battle unfurled above them.

“Dinky... Your horn...” Scootaloo gasped.

The purplish filly raised her eyes to see the golden aura surrounding her horn. “I’m... I’m doing magic?” She asked aloud.

“Congratulations, Dinky! Your horn’s not broken anymore!” Applebloom and Sweetie Belle cried out.

Dinky looked back up. “Am... Am I doing this?”, she asked herself as Fluttershy looked at Twilight, who was hovering a few feet off the ground, staring in awe.

“Twilight... Catch”, Fluttershy said in a deadpan voice.

Fluttershy launched her free hoof into Sombra’s neck, shattering the crystal shield and preventing a new one from taking its place. Sombra let out a pathetic scream as he raised a hoof to his injured neck.

Fluttershy changed her stance into one that looked like she was about to throw a hoofball. “This is for Thunderlane, you son of bitch!” Fluttershy exclaimed as she began spinning in the air.

After building up enough momentum, Fluttershy released her grip on Sombra’s neck, sending him flying towards Twilight’s horn.

The Alicorn flinched as she felt her horn pierce the skin of Sombra’s neck, the inertia combine with strength of Fluttershy’s toss forcing the bone structure’s to tip to emerge on the other side.

Sombra let out a gurgle of pain as raised weakly his hooves to his neck before Twilight pushed him off of her. As the stallion fell to the floor, he let out the most primal and horrific scream of pain possible as Twilight wiped the blood from her horn and face. His body writhing as it turned smoky black. It gave off a reddish aura as Sombra’s cries began to quiet down, before dissipating, revealing just a motionless, golden endoskeleton.

Fluttershy hovered to the floor slowly, closing her eyes for a few seconds. When she opened them, the golden glow was gone, leaving only Fluttershy’s natural green eyes in their place. The buttery Pegasus approached Twilight slowly. “Is... Is he gone for good?” She asked.

Twilight bent down and broke the tip off of the black crystal horn, placing it in a conjure plastic ziplock as she spoke. “I don’t think we’ll have to worry about Sombra anymore”, She explained. “But what I wanna know is what happened to you? You absolutely wrecked him! Plus I don’t think I’ve ever heard you swear before, Fluttershy.”

Fluttershy looked down at her hooves. “I... I just felt something guiding me. Telling me what to do and how to move. It was like... Like... I was possessed or something.” Fluttershy felt something wrap around her neck and heard four things squeal in delight.

“Mummy!” Dinky screamed in a state of euphoric jubilation.

Scootaloo raised her hooves to the air as she shouted. “Aw man! Fluttershy, that was awesome! You were all ‘pow pow punch punch’, and he was all ‘oof ow ouch oof’! And then you were all ‘woosh woosh’, and he was all ‘ARGH, GRRR RARGH’ and then he freaking disintegrated!”

“We know Scoots”, Applebloom chided. “We were all there.”

Sweetie Belle giggled. “Doesn’t make what she’s saying any less true, Applebloom”.

Dinky hugged at Fluttershy even tighter. “Did you see me mummy? I helped you by doing magic!”

Gently, Fluttershy shook Dinky from her neck as she crouched down. “You sure did, my little Dinky. You helped mummy stop the bad guy!”

Fluttershy could of sworn if smiles were weapons, the beaming grin across Dinky’s face was a hydrogen bomb. “I helped stop the bad guy!” She shouted into the air. “I’m a superhero!”

Scootaloo wrapped one of her tiny wings against the celebrating filly. “Yeah, you sure are. After all that computer hacking you did, I’m thinking we should start calling you... The Technomancer!”

Dinky giggled as Fluttershy pulled her to her chest, locking the filly in a motherly hug. Twilight placed the plastic bag under her wing and nudged Fluttershy’s shoulder to get her attention. “Fluttershy, we should get going.”

Fluttershy nodded as she grabbed Dinky by the nape of her neck and placed her on her back. “I’m ready whenever you are, Twilight.”

The Alicorn nodded as she turned to the crystal wall, her horn glowing. Twilight blasted through the barrier with a single spell and trotted through the opening. “Um... Fluttershy...”

“What is it, Twilight?” Fluttershy asked.

Twilight shifted on her hooves, a look of nervousness growing across her face. “Um... It’s just that... We’re going to be passing by... the body, on the way out.”

Fluttershy nodded, fighting back the trickles of tears that wanted to leak from her eye lids. “Dinky, Scootaloo, Sweetie Belle, Applebloom, when we leave the room, I want you to close your eyes. Twilight, I want you to tell us when we can open them. When Twilight tells us to open our eyes, do not look back under any circumstances. Understood?”

The four fillies nodded in understanding, linking onto each other’s tails so they wouldn’t get separated.

“Alright then” Twilight said. “Let’s go everypony!”

After walking for a couple yards with their eyes closed, Twilight finally gave the all clear. Fluttershy nervously opened her eyes to find that Thunderlane’s corpse was just hidden from view by the bend in the hallway. “Mummy!” Dinky scolded. “You said not to look back!”

Fluttershy couldn’t help but let out a soft chuckle. “I’m sorry, my little Dinky. Mummy’s a rule breaker.”

Fluttershy heard Dinky pout on her back. Chuckling once again, Fluttershy lifted a wing and tickled at Dinky’s nose with her feathers.

“M-mummy! S-stop that! T-that Tickles! Ahahahaha!” Dinky yelled in between her gasps of air.

“You make a cute mummy,” Twilight said, eliciting a blush from Fluttershy.

“Um... Um... T-thank you?”

The Alicorn laughed as she saw the exit to the restaurant. “There’s the exit! You’re home free!”

The Cutie Mark Crusaders began sprinting towards the shattered glass doors and over the crystal shards surrounding them as they threw themselves outside.

“I’d almost forgotten what the sun looks like...” Scootaloo said.

Applebloom nodded as she flopped into a patch of grass. “Oh grass! I’ll never take you for granted again!”

Sweetie Belle giggled at her friends antics as she scanned the crowd outside the building for Rarity.

“Sweetie Belle!” A familiar, posh-sounding voice cried. Sweetie Belle turned towards the sound and saw Rarity bounding towards her, her mane uncharacteristically messy and a bandage on her cheek.

“Rarity!” Sweetie Belle leapt into the air and into Rarity’s hooves as she nuzzled her elder sister.

Rarity could feel tears trickling down her cheek as she pulled Sweetie into her embrace. “I’m so glad you’re okay! Mother and Father would have killed me if anything happened to you!” She cried.

“Thanks, Rarity” Sweetie Belle said, before tossing a glance at Scootaloo and remembering something important. “Um... Rarity. I need to tell you something...”

“Of course, Sweetie Belle. What is it?”

The alabaster filly gulped as she looked around. The crowd around the building seeming much larger than it was a few moments ago. “Um... Um... Never mind, it can wait till we get home...”

Before Rarity could respond, a young and scratchy voice echoed from the crowd. “SWEETIE BELLE!!!!!”

Sweetie Belle felt a familiar set of brown hooves wrap themselves around her. “Button!” She cried.

The hooves untangled themselves from the young unicorn’s neck as Button Mash came into view. “Oh man, Sweetie Belle!” The gamer cried. “You have no idea how worried everypony at school was! I swear, Miss Cheerilee was about to break down crying two days ago!”

Sweetie Belle glanced at Scootaloo, who was sprinting towards some cage, it’s occupant obscured by the crowd. Turning back to Button Mash, the alabaster filly said. “Oh, Button, I’m just glad it’s over.”

Button nodded. “Well, I bet you’re tired. I should probably get going. See you at school!”

Sweetie Belle waved goodbye to the colt as she hugged Rarity once again.

Spike slowly, unsurely, sidled up to Rarity, fumbling with his claws as his feet scuffed the dirt. “Umm… R-Rarity?” The alabaster unicorn turned to face the stammering dragon.

“Yes, Spikey?” she cooed, tilting her head to one side in curiosity.

“Um… well, I… I-I know this is, like, really crummy timing, considering all the really sucky stuff that’s gone down over the past five days. But… I was wondering if, uh… I mean, th-that is to say… if you’re, um, not… doing anything someday… maybe we could-“

The drake was silenced by a pair of soft, well glossed lips as Rarity planted a tender kiss on his own scaly maw. Spike’s eyes widened to the size of saucers at the surprising gesture, his young mind rushing at high speeds in an attempt to understand the events that were taking place before his very eyes. After an indeterminable amount of time, Rarity pulled away from the kiss and smiled warmly at her young scaly suitor.

“I have some spare time next Tuesday,” she promised with a wink, before trotting off toward the boutique, leaving a stunned Spike stood in the middle of the gathering of ponies to wonder what just happened. Though the smile on his face showed that every thought he was having right now was, without question, filled with elated anticipation for the things that awaited him in the future.

Scootaloo stared at Discord as if he had grown a second head (Which wasn’t exactly unimaginable). “Discord... Why is Rainbow Dash in a cage and why are you dressed like a Ponzi?” She asked.

“Because why not?” Discord answered bluntly.

Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes. “Just let me out already!” She screamed at the draconequus.

Discord snapped his fingers, making the cage disappear and letting Rainbow Dash out. “Bout bucking time!” the cyan Pegasus cried, before turning to face Scootaloo with a welcoming smile. “ C’mere squirt!” She held out her forelegs to the filly, and Scootaloo promptly jumped into her embrace. “Woah there! Watch the leg, Scoots”

Scootaloo pulled back, readjusting herself so that Dash’s leg would be spared from the onslaught of sisterly cuddles to come.

Fluttershy dropped Dinky off her back as she nudged her forward like a newborn foal learning to walk. After being incarcerated for so long, touching the grass was a strange and foreign sensation, ticklish and yet soothing at the same time.

“D-Dinky...” Fluttershy heard a familiar voice whimper.

The buttery Pegasus smiled as Derpy snatched her daughter up in her hooves, tears cascading from her eyes and words of praise and apology spewing from her mouth at a breakneck pace. “I’m so sorry, my little muffin! I should have been there! I’m so sorry!”

“It’s OK, mummy,” Dinky chirped, tears welling in her eyes. “Miss Fluttershy kept me, Applebloom, Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo safe. And look,” she turned to her side to show her mother her newly marked flank. “I got my cutie mark!” she exclaimed joyously.

Derpy smiled, an alien combination of pride and sorrow filling her heart. Of course, as a mother, she was overjoyed that her little muffin had earned her cutie mark, despite the horrible circumstances she’d been trapped by over the last few days, but she was also sad that she didn’t get to see her daughter earn her cutie mark with her own two eyes.

Fluttershy could feel a little part of herself cry in disappointment as Dinky hugged her actual mother. She’s back with her real mummy now, She thought to herself. I have no right to be jealous of Derpy...

Dinky saw Fluttershy smile weakly as she began to turn away. “Mummy... Can I ask you something?”

The grey mare nodded as Dinky leaned into her ear and imparted her question.

“Did she, now?” Derpy asked. “It would be nice to have somepony to watch you while I’m out... I think we can ask her later.”

Fluttershy couldn’t hear the conversation behind her as she began walking towards where she saw Scootaloo run to. Knowing Scootaloo, Fluttershy guessed that she had a 70 to 30 chance of Rainbow Dash being there. As she trotted along, Fluttershy saw Applebloom be swept up by Big Macintosh and Applejack, crying tears of relief. The buttery Pegasus sighed at the prospect that everypony got out alive. Well... Almost everypony...

As everypony hugged and laughed, wept and comforted, all ears were pricked at the sound of mechanical whirring slowly approaching from inside the raided restaurant. Several of the guards raised their spears, readying themselves to attack the approaching figure, in case they needed to defend all civilians present.

Slowly, a dark figure came into view inside the dim pizzeria. The unmistakable whirr and clunk of a metallic form rang out from the building, electrical fizzling accompanying every leaden step. Derpy, Rarity, Applejack and Rainbow Dash clutched their daughter and sisters in their fetlocks, glaring threateningly at the golden furred robot that lumbered close to the door of the ruined eatery.

The withered animatronic was in ruin; wires severed all over its form, the faux fur worn away so much that the stitching underneath was clearly visible along the robot’s fuzzy skin. The animatronic looked like it could easily have been Busby’s older brother or something, as it stood at least half a foot taller than any of the other animatronics the pizzeria once housed, and its design was quite clearly that of a lagomorph. One of its yellow ears was bent back so far that half the ear was dangling from the automaton’s head, and the wicked smile that stretched across its face might have looked warm and friendly, if it wasn’t for the eroded fur that curled inward to expose the teeth in a creepy grimace. The construct halted before the door, not making any attempt to exit the building. Whether this was because the metal monster knew better than to fight the guards in its weakened form, or it was just reluctant to enter the sunlight, nopony knew, and nopony wished to find out.

Two crystal guards near the door trained their weapons on the golden machine, their sharp, piercing eyes scanning for any signs of hostile intention.

“Identify yourself and state your business,” the left guard, a purple crystal unicorn with a metal shield for a cutie mark barked. The robotic beast regarded the stallion for a moment before scanning the rest of the crowd, as if searching for something, but not willing to leave the confines of the restaurant and search for it further. “You will be given five seconds to comply,” the guard warned. “If you refuse to comply, you will leave us no choice than to use force.” Again, the golden machine remained silent, looking out at the small crowd of ponies eagerly.

“One.”

The machine turned to face the guard, cocking its head sideways, having seemingly given up on trying to find what it was looking for.

“Two.”

The construct’s metal jaw clicked and whirred, but refused to move. The golden right hinge had been heavily rusted, locking the jaw firmly shut.

“Three.”

The robot’s endoskeleton made a loud groaning sound, as if straining to open its jaw and will itself to converse with the crystal pony. Sparks flew from the severed wires, causing the robot to spasm violently.

“Four.”

The guards took a single, careful step, readying to run the automaton through, should it prove unwilling or unable to comply to its command.

“Five.”

“Turner!” Everypony present halted, all sucking in a short, shocked breath at the robot’s reply. It had only been a single word but, for two ponies present, it held more meaning than anything else the metal construct could’ve said.

Shaking his head to dislodge the shocked awe he was experiencing, the guard relaxed his poise slightly, but kept his weapon aimed at the machine. “Repeat,” he ordered.

“My name,” the automaton replied, shakily, “is Time Turner.” The sound of two hitched breaths cut through the silence like a red hot knife, and the golden robot finally trained his camera-eyes on his targets; Derpy and Dinky. “And… I would like to say my goodbyes,” the robot continued. His voice didn't sound robotic. Nor did it sound like the evil tone of a tyrannical overlord. It was soft, gentle and kind. It had feeling, and pony emotions. And the most noticeable feature was the accent. It wasn’t as posh as a Canterlotian accent, but it wasn’t as rough as a Trottingham one. It was a peculiar balance between the two, often referred to as Proper Equestrian. It was, indeed, Time Turner’s accent.

Dinky gawped in disbelief at the golden furred vessel that had somehow emerged from some unseen part of the pizzeria of doom where, not an hour or so ago, Dinky found her life threatened by the robot’s kin, along with the lives of her friends and adopted mother. The smile, once cooked and creepy from the deformed felt furl, was now soft and inviting, the robot’s lensed eyes gazing at her with a soft, caring expression, not like she was a lump of meat fit only to be thrown to a two headed dog and cruelly toyed with.

“Daddy?” Dinky took a hesitant step, her mother’s forehooves having slackened from her withers and instead climbed upwards to cover Derpy’s mouth as she stared down the metal monster with tears welling thickly in her eyes. The golden vessel offered no movement towards the filly, but simply nodded the affirmative to her question. Dinky rushed toward the animatronic, not caring whether this was real, a dream, the afterlife or a cruel and vicious final trap laid out by Sombra. All that mattered to her was that her daddy was back. And she had a lot of lost cuddles to make up for.

She threw herself into the metal construct’s breast, the large metallic robot readjusting its position to allow itself to safely land on its haunches and wrap an arm around the sobbing unicorn’s back and nuzzle her hair, shushing her tenderly as she wept openly into his chest.

“Daddy,” Dinky wailed, “I missed you so, so much.” She looked up at the machine’s face with tear soaked cheeks. “Why did you leave me and mummy like that?”

Time Turner siled apologetically, kissing the young unicorn on the forehead and wiping away a few errant tears from her face. “It wasn’t planned, Dinky,” he cooed softly. “It’s simply one of those things. Wibbily wobbily…”

“Timey wimey,” Dinky finished her father’s sentence with a half-hearted giggle/sniffle, and nuzzled into his cold metal chest once again.

“Everything has its time, my little Dinky,” Turner said, stroking the filly’s head lovingly, “and everything must end. It just seems that the universe had decided it was my time to go, I’m afraid.” Time Turner lifted his gaze to meet Derpy’s who was still sat flat on her haunches with her hooves over her maw, staring with watery eyes at the mechanical construct that contained the soul of her late husband. “Hi, Derpy,” He greeted his wife, with a loving smile. He beckoned her over with a soft wave of his head, and Derpy slowly, and hesitantly, complied; her hooves moving her forward without her conscious command.

Derpy stood nearly muzzle-to-muzzle with her husband’s metal frame, her crooked eyes finding momentary focus to stare into the lifeless cameras, only to see her perfect reflection staring back at her.

“T-Timey?” Her voice was dry, and it cracked as she uttered the nickname she never thought she would be able to mention again, receiving a mechanical nod in response. Without another word, Derpy hooked her hooves around the robot’s neck and pressed her lips roughly against Turner’s, ignoring the cold, unmalleable metal that greeted her tongue and the bitter taste of tarnished gold and burning wire rubber. Her metal lover returned the kiss as best he could, both restricted by the filly that found herself sandwiched between her embracing parents, and the physical restrictions of the metal vessel he found himself in. After a solid minute of their embrace, Derpy finally relinquished her husband with a wet pop of her lips, panting to regain her breath. “But… how?” she enquired, once she had finally recovered.

Her question was met with a shrug. “I don’t know, love,” he admitted. “But I remember somepony whispering to me about somepony wanting to see me, and that she was really having a hard time and needed a little bit of hope right now.” His eyes fell on Dinky, who was looking up at him with a tearful smile. “Dinky, I’m so sorry that I can no longer be here for you and your mother. But please, always remember that no matter where you are, and no matter what you do, I’ll always be looking over you, my little ray of hope.” He planted a soft, loving kiss on Dinky’s forehead, allowing the filly to spill tears along his metal chest again as he lifted his eyes to look into Derpy’s, once again, crooked gaze. “And Derpy, my love, please don’t lament over my death anymore. I understand that you’ve been through so much before and since my passing. But please,” he placed a mechanical hand under his wife’s chin to prevent her from trying to look away from him, accentuating the point that his next words were his most important, “it’s time to move on, my love.”

Derpy lost her strength and threw her fetlocks around her husband’s shoulders, weeping openly into his shoulder as years of heartache and grief finally shattered the dam that had held back her tears for so long. Time Turner allowed his wife to unleash her sorrows, patting her on the shoulder as she wailed, and offering both her and their daughter the much needed comfort they deserved. Once Derpy’s tears had run their course, and her eyes her dry – though red and puffy and streaked with tear stains – Time Turner saw fit to continue his train of thought.

“I would like you to focus on our daughters, Derpy,” he told her, calmly. Derpy nodded, silently. “And, I know this is going to be a big thing to ask of you… but I would like you to try and find another parental figure for our little Dinky.” Derpy sniffled at this request, but her lopsided eyes glanced sideways to Fluttershy, before refocusing on Time Turner. The robot’s eyes followed Derpy’s brief line of distraction, before resting on the buttery Pegasus mare, who had been watching the affair before her with outstretched wings, slack jaw and watery eyes. The golden construct smiled once again and extended a hand to gently beckon the shy mare over. Fluttershy felt her breath hitch in her throat, and her stomach flip as she felt her hooves slowly edge her forward toward the metal bunny’s patiently waiting hand. With a shaky leg, she rested her hoof on Time Turner’s grasp and allowed herself to be gently pulled forward into a gentle, careful embrace, which she found more welcome than her brain wanted to admit to. Every nerve in her body was telling her to run. To run away and hide from the big, bad mechanical monster that who’s fellows had once tormented her and her adopted daughter for five nights in that dark, evil house of nightmares. But the thought that this was a pony inside the robot and not the one who had inhabited the metal endoskeleton before somehow calmed her fears, and she hesitantly accepted the kindly gesture.

“Miss Fluttershy,” Turner addressed her, never breaking the embrace. “I want to thank you for keeping our little Dinky safe through this awful ordeal.” The reanimated stallion finally extricated himself from the hug, looking into Fluttershy’s eyes with a grateful, yet sombre, expression. “And I’m so sorry for your loss.” Fluttershy’s pupils shrank, and she instantly wanted to curl up into a ball and die of a broken heart. She whimpered weakly, but a gentle ,barely fur covered hand guided her face to look up at Time Turner’s glassy eyes. “But he doesn’t blame you,” Turner told her, “and he wanted to apologise for being used as a puppet to torment you in the way he did. He wants you to know that he never would’ve done that to you, even if you were at fault. He wants you to know that he’s very proud of you for what you did for my daughter, and he wishes that he could’ve given you a chance to show the world what a wonderful mother you could’ve been. He wants you to be happy. To not worry about whatever pain he went through in his final hours. He wanted me to tell you that his final words were that he loves you. And he will go on loving you forevermore. He won’t promise to wait for you, where he is now. He understands if you fall in love with somepony else. But he hopes that someday, whenever that time may come, and you yourself pass on and go to the place where he now calls home… he hopes that you’ll look him up.”

Fluttershy smiled, despite the tears that now streamed from her eyes, but gave a soft sniff and a confident nod. “It’s a Pinkie Promise,” she affirmed. “Cross my heart, and hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye.” Time Turner smiled as she went through the familiar motions.

“I’ll be sure to tell him.” The mechanical vessel that made up his temporary mortal form began to creak and heave, its circuits and wires beginning to give way to the heavy damage it seemed to have sustained from, seemingly, years of neglect and decay. “Dinky,” the filly looked up into her father’s face, “Derpy,” as did his wife, “goodbye.” The mechanical construct’s camera-eye shed a single, lonely tear, that slowly streaked down his golden face as a soft smile graced his metal lips. “I love you so much.” The robot’s internal computer systems powered down with a descending whirr, the metal joints falling limp, allowing the decrepit robot to collapse in a heap, never to rise again.

Derpy scooped her daughter up in her hooves and the two wept once more in each other’s grasp. Fluttershy shifted awkwardly on her hooves, unsure whether she should engage with the mother and daughter, or just let them get their emotions out in each other’s hold. The decision was made for her, however, when Derpy lifter her head to address her.

“Fluttershy,” the walleyed Pegasus croaked weakly, wiping the last of her tears from her eyes. “Thank you so very much for protecting my little Dinky.” The mailmare slowly approached her daughter’s guardian, much to Fluttershy’s nervous apprehension. The grey mare embraced her, nuzzling her cheek gratefully. “I owe you so much for what you’ve done,” she whispered hoarsely, planting a weak kiss on the timid pony’s cheek, which caused Fluttershy to blush profusely and shrink away to hide underneath the veil of her mane. “Hey, listen, how about Dinky and I stop by your cottage sometime next week? Dinky wants to talk to you about something.”

Fluttershy’s blush intensified by twenty percent, and she let out a timid squeal of nervous excitement – or “nervouscitement”, as Pinkie would say – but offered a brief nod in response. “O-OK. Um… it’s a date.” Only after she had said those words did Fluttershy realise the implication of what she had just declared. “NO! Um… I-I didn’t mean it like that. I mean, I’m it’s a date for, uh… uh, a meeting! Yes, that’s what I meant. Yes, completely and totally just a meeting between two mothers and a daughter. Wait! That… that came out all wrong! I meant… oh…” Fluttershy deflated after realising her ramblings were just digging herself a deeper hole. Derpy giggled at the display and lifted the shy mare’s face with a hoof to make their eyes meet.

“It’s a date,” she confirmed with a cheeky wink.

Fluttershy blushed redder as Derpy picked her daughter up with her head and allowed her to slide down onto her back, making her way home with her daughter, asking the purple-grey filly for all the exciting details on how she got her brand spanking new cutie mark. Fluttershy felt her eyes wander over the gathering of ponies before her before settling on Rainbow Dash in a wheelchair, Scootaloo snuggling up against her in a sisterly embrace. “Rainbow Dash! What happened to you?” Fluttershy asked.

The cyan mare turn to Fluttershy as an embarrassed blush made its way across her face. “Well, as it turns out, pony plus sonic rainboom plus crystal door equals broken leg! Who knew?” She explained

Fluttershy giggled a bit before she remembered why she sought out Rainbow Dash in the first place. “Scootaloo”, She began. “Do you mind if I borrow Rainbow Dash for a moment?”

“Not at all, Fluttershy”, Scootaloo chimed as she climbed down from Dash’s leg.

Dash turned to Fluttershy, a confused expression upon her face. “What’s up, Fluttershy?” She asked.

Fluttershy shifted on her hooves. If anypony knew what to do it would be Rainbow Dash, but Fluttershy was having trouble finding the right words. “Dash... I-I think....

Dash turned her ears towards her timid friend. “You think... what?”

“I... I t-think I... have a ‘thing’ for Derpy...”

Rainbow stared at Fluttershy in stunned silence, her mouth hanging open in shock at her friend’s confession. “A… a ‘thing’?” she repeated. “As in… a sort of “maybe I love her” sort of thing?”

Fluttershy mutely nodded, turning her face away from her friend in an attempt to shroud her blushing face with her veil-like mane. Dash worked her mouth like a fish, trying to formulate a response to Fluttershy’s confession.

“Wow…” she murmured, finally. “Fluttershy, I… I never thought you swung that way, if I’m honest.”

“Neither did I,” Fluttershy concurred. “But… well… while we were stuck in that horrible place, Dinky… D-Dinky asked me to be her mother, in case she died during the course of this past week. I think… I think she wanted a parental figure with her if she was going to die, just like how Time Turner passed away.”

Rainbow Dash smirked a little, knowingly. “You know what I think? I think you love little Dinky there. I don’t think, however, that you’re IN love with Derpy. I may not be as smart as Twilight, but I’m smart enough to see that.”

Fluttershy considered Rainbow’s words. They made sense in a way. Fluttershy didn’t want Derpy, she wanted Dinky and being involved with Derpy would allow her to be with Dinky all the time.

Dash interrupted Fluttershy’s thoughts once more. “Plus, there was that whole deal with Thunderlane a few years ago.”

Fluttershy’s heart sank as she heard her friends words. “Dash... Thunderlane... H-He’s dead...”

Rainbow Dash’s eyes widened. Her mouth opened but the words that came out were not her own. “T-Thunderlane’s... Dead?”

The two mares looked to their side to see Rumble, eyes wide and tears welling up. “It’s a joke right? Please... Tell me it’s a joke. Please!”

Fluttershy rushed to the young colt, tears falling from her eyes as well. “I wish I could say it was, Rumble... But... But it isn’t...”

Rumble felt his entire body lock up. The only thing keeping him upright was the hold of the sobbing mare embracing him. Rumble could feel the tears falling, but aside from that, all sensations just stopped, there was no up or down, no sound, just a cold vacuum of shock and sorrow.

“... He loved you, ya know...” Rumble said.

Fluttershy froze, the words echoing in her mind. “What did you just say?”

Rumble sniffled. “Big bro... He loved you, Fluttershy... he was always trying to find a way to ask for a second chance with you... Would you have given him one, Fluttershy?”

“Yes... Without question...” Fluttershy answered, without pausing for thought.

Rumble nodded, the tears flowing slightly slower than before. “Thank you... I-I need to go...”

“Don’t worry, Fluttershy”, Dash said. “I’ll make sure he gets home safely.”

“Thank you, Rainbow Dash...” Fluttershy and Rumble said solemnly.

Rainbow Dash gave a half-hearted smile as she wheeled herself over to Rumble. Placing a hoof on his shoulder, the cyan mare said, “Come on, buddy. Let’s get you home.”

The colt nodded as he turned away in silence. Fluttershy sat down as she collected her thoughts. She had seen animals die before, but never had she dealt with the death of anypony close to her. Thunderlane, Fluttershy thought. If you can hear me wherever you are, I want you to know... I’m sorry.

Despite the crowd around her, Fluttershy couldn’t hear anything. All sound was drowned out by the emotions swirling around inside her like a hurricane. She thought over everything that had happened since escaping the nightmarish restaurant. She thought about what Time Turner had said, both to Derpy and herself, about moving on and finding somepony else. She knew it would be hard, especially for Derpy. Derpy and Time Turner were married, afterall, a stage she and Thunderlane had never even talked about during their short-lived courtship. And finding somepony else to love as much as she loved Thunderlane seemed like a daunting, if not near impossible challenge, for her. Her thoughts returned to Dinky, and the way she turned to her as a second mother, and how good it felt to be looked at through the eyes of a daughter, she thought to herself. In many ways, she envied Derpy for having something like that, whereas Fluttershy couldn’t have such a joy in her life, what with her work as an animal caretaker taking up so much of her time, and the idea of what came before foalbirth made both her and Thunderlane freeze in fear at the mere mention of it when they dated. Then her thoughts turned to what Rainbow said about her loving Dinky, and associating that love as having a crush on Derpy. It made sense that by wanting to be Dinky’s mother, she’d associate that with the fact that Dinky already had a mother, and that by being with Derpy, she would then become a second parental figure to the filly. But then, as she thought about it, Derpy was, in her own right, a good looking mare. Fluttershy, while never once thought of a mare in more than a platonically friendly way, was perfectly able to acknowledge and appreciate a mare’s beauty. And while she may not have looked at a mare as a potential partner in the past, maybe – she thought to herself – just maybe…

Fluttershy was snapped out of her mournful reverie by a lavender hoof. “Fluttershy...”

The buttery Pegasus curled tightly into a ball as she mumbled out her response. “What do you want, Twilight?”

“Fluttershy, I thought you should know... Red June... She’s alive.” Twilight explained.

Fluttershy’s ears perked up. “H-How is that possible? I saw her get her brain ripped out!”

Twilight raised a hoof in matter-of-fact way and spoke in much the same way. “Well, only her frontal lobe was damaged, and neurologically speaking, the only part of the brain that REALLY needs to remain intact for the body to stay functioning. Doctor Stable is reading some spells to help her brain regrow as we speak."

Fluttershy had trouble deciding what emotion should be felt. She felt relief of course, but... There was also some sort of anger as well. Anger that Thunderlane is still dead while Red June gets to live. Anger at Sombra for putting a little filly through that kind of horror. Anger at herself for feeling being mad at Red June.

Before Fluttershy could respond, Shining Armour approached Twilight and laid his hoof upon her shoulder. "Twilight..." He said gently. "Havoc Squad... I need to tell their next of kin, don't I?"

Twilight turned to her older brother and nodded solemnly. "Yeah," She whispered.

Shining nodded and ran a hoof through his mane. "Alright..."

Suddenly, the prince's eyes lit up as if he had remembered something. "Oh yeah!" He shouted. "Twilight, Cadence wanted me to tell you... You're gonna be an aunt in a few months!"

"Wait... Cadence is pregnant?!" Twilight shouted, completely turning away from Fluttershy. "For how long?"

Shining giggled. "She's about two months pregnant. We just found out last week."

Fluttershy Looked at Shining Armour with a strange expression. She felt... Kind of jealous. She had just lost her "daughter" and now Shining Armour was bragging about his unborn foal. Fluttershy realized how selfish she was being and offered a gentle smile. "Congratulations, Mister Armour. Do you know what you're going to name it?"

The prince smiled gently at the yellow mare. "Thank you, Fluttershy. And yes. If it's a filly, we're naming her Glistening Aegis, and if its a colt we're naming him Crimson Arrow."

Twilight threw her hooves around her brother's withers and laughed enthusiastically. "I can't believe it!" She cried. "My big brother's gonna be a dad!"

"Heh. Yeah," Shining giggled before his expression became more hardened and serious. "Well... I send a team to retrieve the bodies and then I'll get out of your mane."

Twilight nodded. "Okay... See ya around, BBBFF." She said quietly. "Oh! And Shining?"

"Hm?"

"When you get back to the Crystal Empire, could you look up as much as you can about where the Crystal heart came from?" Twilight requested. "I have a name I need investigated: Elpis."

"Sure, Twiley." Shining said. "I'll look into it."

The young alicorn smiled. "Thanks Shining. I'll let you get back to your soldiers." Twilight turned back to Fluttershy, who was slowly starting to walk away. "Fluttershy? Where are you going?"

"Home..." The yellow mare responded. "I appreciate everything you've done, Twilight. More than you'll ever know. But... I just have a lot to think about..."

"... Fluttershy, if you need to tell us anything..."

Fluttershy shook her head. "No... This is my problem, Twilight." She said. "I just... I just need to be alone for a while..."

"All right..." Twilight said. "Just remember... You have not one, not two but five friends who are ready to help you out. And that's not even including Spike and our other friends."

Fluttershy nodded silently and turned away. She spread her wings and flew into the sky towards her cottage at the edge of the Everfree Forest, a sanctuary she couldn't wait to finally return to after the horrors and torment she had endured over the past five days.

Home... She thought as she landed on her doorstep. Slowly she wrapped her hoof around the knob and twisted it.

Almost immediately, Fluttershy felt something latch onto her fetlock. Looking down, Fluttershy couldn't help but smile to see Angel Bunny snuggling up to her. "Hi, Angel," She greeted softly.

The rabbit looked up at his caretaker and twitched his nose in relief. Slowly and reluctantly, Angel released Fluttershy's fetlock and allowed her inside.

One by one, the Pegasus mare greeted every animal in the cottage, offering them snuggles and pets. Every animal that had been there before the incident was still there, ready to welcome Fluttershy home after such a nightmarish ordeal that nopony should ever have to go through ever.

Once, she had made sure all her animal friends were there and accounted for, Fluttershy realized just how dirty she was. All the dust from the restaurant was still on her coat, dulling the buttery yellow colour. I need a shower... Fluttershy thought.

Fluttershy went into her bathroom and turned on the water to her shower, letting the water heat up for a few minutes before finally stepping inside. The mare let the water cascade over her fur and through her feathers, getting her mane soaked. Fluttershy gripped a bar of soap in her hoof and began to scrub herself down, washing away all the dust and grime she had procured over the past five days. It felt good. Really good. All that dust was gone, just like all that happened was in the past. Being free of that burden... Well... It just made Fluttershy feel good. Some things would never be the same again, of course, but at least now it was all over.

Once she felt she was good and clean, Fluttershy stepped out of the shower and wrapped herself up in a towel before heading to her room.

There, as she flopped down onto her bed, Fluttershy thought over everything that happened in the last week. She questioned everything about herself. Her strength, her courage, even her sexuality was no longer certain to Fluttershy, but it didn't matter. It was over, and that was that. She was alive, maybe scarred, but alive.

Fluttershy thought of something Thunderlane once said to her. "To live is the duty of those given life." Fluttershy giggled at the time at how pretentious that sounded coming from a total doof like Thunderlane, but now she thought of the sad, sad irony of those words.

Fluttershy sighed and pushed the thought away. She was alive, and she had to move on. She knew she wouldn't get over everything immediately, but as Twilight had said, she had all her friends there to help her.

A yawn passed through, the buttery mare's mouth. Fluttershy looked to the clock on her nightstand and saw that it was extremely late. With a tired yawn, Fluttershy turned off the lamp and got herself under her blankets.

There, as she drifted off to sleep, Fluttershy felt for the first time in five day's, safe. Lonely, but safe.

Author's Note

You guys have no idea how hard it was for me to click that completed button. But anyway, this was honestly the most fun I've ever had writing, and I want to thank TheMusicalBoy93 for sharing this adventure with me... And for helping me find out that DerpyShy is my official new OTP! Also, keep an eye on Music... He's got something good planned :raritywink: