Twilight Sparkle was not having a good day.

"C'mon Rarity! Wake up!" Applejack kept shaking the unconscious unicorn on the ground. Rarity groaned, face twitching slightly, but she would not open her eyes.

Of course, Twilight herself was only vaguely aware of her own dire state, let alone the commotion around her. She gurgled quietly, head throbbing and mind empty from the parasite's motions. With nopony blocking her path, her legs marched her onward once more, a chorus of panicked cries and expressions of fear and disgust trailing her.

"Celestia help us..." Rainbow Dash muttered. She trailed the catatonic unicorn hesitantly, trying to keep the same distance between them. Her forelegs were restless, torn between wanting to help her friend and being repulsed by the parasite.

"What are we gonna do? What are we gonna do?" Pinkie Pie sprinted in circles around the farmpony and the fashionista on the ground, screaming non-stop. Her face was drenched in tears, and her teeth alternated between mauling her tongue and her lower lip. "Somepony do something!"

"H-hey!" Fluttershy said. Her voice remained calm, but it was also too soft to be heard among the chaos. "Everypony, please! Just stay calm! We need to—"

"Twilight?"

Everypony froze, their blood running cold from the familiar voice. Shuddering, they turned to look and watched the little dragon tiptoe a bit closer, a look of confusion and worry on his face.

"Hello?" he called out to the purple unicorn. She did not react. "T-twilight? Hey, can you hear me? Wh-what's going on?"

He ran up to her and stood in her path. Twilight groaned in response and halted again. Spike looked up, and his eyes widened when he noticed the thing on her horn. "Oh my gosh... Wh-what the heck is that?" His claws tugged on the mare's legs, and he trembled from her blank expression. "Twilight? What happened to you? Are you okay?"

Twilight's body jerked, and she gave a more desperate groan. Her mouth moved slowly, and a fresh wave of tears bled from her eyes.

"H-helllp... meeee..."

"Twilight?" Spike whispered. "C-can you—"

Everypony gasped when he cried out, the unicorn's forelegs nudging him aside as she tried to keep moving. Hands shaking, he stood in front of her and grabbed hold again, upon which Twilight's legs gave a more forceful shove, knocking him to the ground. When he tried a third time, she did not even slow down and practically walked over him.

The other mares stood and watched in horror as Spike lay there, staring after Twilight. The drake's body shook, and he let out a long, painful howl that sent a chill down the spine of everypony nearby. Curling up on the ground, he cried and sobbed uncontrollably, akin to an infant who had been torn away from his mother.

Applejack stumbled toward him, slowly coming back to her senses, only to freeze halfway and stare in awe when a white foreleg wrapped around the dragon's head. It gave a gentle rub and pulled him into a comfortable embrace. Spike buried his face into it, his tears and whimpering soaked up by the soft fur.

"I... I w-was..." Spike blurted out between sobs. "I d-don't get what's going on! She... she said she'd make me b-breakfast because I was good all week but nopony w-woke me up and her room was a mess and it was weird and I came down and she wasn't home and I—"

"Sssh!" Rarity cooed. Her foreleg stroked his head gently, while her own eyes welled up with tears.

"Wh-what happened? Why is Twilight... is sh-she... z-zombies or..." His voice turned into incoherent whimpering.

"It's okay, Spikey-wikey," Rarity said. She sniffled and leaned in to nuzzle the dragon's forehead. "Just calm down."

Spike kept clinging firmly to Rarity, though his bawling managed to die down as she did her best to comfort him. Everypony felt an odd mix of pain and relief, and even Rainbow's eyes tingled from the scene.

A cry of surprise in the distance snapped her out of her reverie, and the pegasus turned to look. In the distance, she noticed their friend as she kept stumbling away helplessly, the bystanders staring at her in horror.

"She's getting away!" Rainbow cried to the others.

"What?" Applejack wheeled around. "Oh, for the love of— Well then don't let her!" she shouted back in desperation.

"Okay!" Rainbow Dash prepared to zoom off, only to hesitate at the last moment. "Uh... How?"

"Ah don't know, just do something!"

"Alright, alright!"

Without wasting any more time, the pegasus aimed herself straight at her possessed friend and dove in, forelegs outstretched. Once she got close, they quickly wrapped around the unicorn's barrel and plucked her off the ground, allowing Rainbow to drag her back to the rest of the group. Once there, she dropped to the ground and held on tightly while urging the others to help.

Applejack and Pinkie Pie rushed over immediately and pounced on Twilight's thrashing limbs. Fluttershy was more hesitant, while Rarity was still busy keeping Spike calm. The rough attempt to restrain the dragon's lifelong friend did not do wonders for his nerves.

"Wait!" Fluttershy meekly called out. Her forelegs relaxed a bit around Twilight's own. "Careful! I... I think we're hurting her."

Twilight groaned desperately and shook all over. The parasite throbbed furiously, urging her to keep moving. Her limbs flexed, but they could not move. With every second she spent held down, the intruder upped the punishment.

Her friends winced at the gurgling she let out, but they would not let go. At this point, the torture was strong enough that Twilight could manage a few panicked thoughts, since the pressure stayed in her head either way. Her surroundings were a blur. The only coherent thing in her mind was a desire to escape. Get out. Do anything to make her torture stop. And since she could not move, she focused on her only alternative: magic.

A surge of energy passed through her horn. In response, the parasite's grip on it loosened, though it kept up the throbbing in her head. With the lock on her magic released, Twilight gritted her teeth and set off the first spell that came to her struggling mind.

There was a bright flash, and her friends tumbled to the ground. Pinkie got back up first. She let out a cry of surprise and pointed further down the street, where they noticed Twilight standing three blocks away from them. The parasite in her horn slowed almost to a halt, as though the events left it just as stunned as her friends were.

Without thinking, the others got up as well, and they ran after her. As soon as they got close, however, Twilight let out a groan, her puppeteer moving again, and she disappeared in another flash, blinking in over a dozen blocks away now.

"What the hay?" Applejack muttered in disbelief.

Rainbow flapped her wings and zoomed off in pursuit. She managed to get within a few dozen yards of the hapless unicorn, only to gasp when she teleported away a third time. Her head turned back and forth, but Twilight was nowhere in sight.

"Darn it, where'd she go?" she shouted.

A few panicked cries in the distance revealed her to be all the way at the edge of town now. They only lasted a few seconds, after which another bright flash went off.

"My gosh..." Rarity said. "The thing is making her teleport away!"

"Rainbow!" Applejack shouted. "Stop! You're only gonna make it worse!"

The pegasus halted in mid air and turned back with a frown. "Well, what the hay am I supposed to do then?"

"Just keep an eye on her! Don't let her out of sight, but don't get too close! If we lose her..." Applejack gulped. "Ah don't even wanna think about it..."

Rainbow nodded and took off, flying low between the buildings to keep out of sight. The farmpony watched her go and turned back to the rest of her friends, who had varying degrees of confusion and worry on their faces.

"Alright..." Applejack took a deep breath. "Everypony follow me!"

A bright flash and a loud noise shook up the meadow, dispersing a flock of birds nearby. At the center of the phenomenon, a purple unicorn let out a low groan and swayed, ready to collapse on her hooves.

"Uuunnnngh..." Twilight's eyes blinked individually, and her mouth hung open as she gasped for breath. For a while, she just stood there, eyes and ears waiting for the next thing to set her off. When it never came, the pulsing in her skull finally calmed down, and she shuddered in relief.

But her respite was short lived. The parasite only gave her a minute-long breather before it upped the pressure again, forcing her to keep going. The unicorn obeyed, the urge to move coming almost naturally now. The very idea of that tickled her mind, slowly boiling up fear and revulsion inside it, but her thoughts were instantly pushed back down by another throb in her brain.

Twilight moaned, her mind emptying once more. She stumbled onward through the wide green plains, nopony around to disturb her. After an hour of marching, she had to pause again when her stomach growled. This time, the creature did not punish her, merely continued its calm rhythm, while the unicorn struggled to cope with her body's complaints. The grumbling in her stomach was accompanied by a dry sensation in her open mouth. She moved her tongue around and tried to gulp, but it only made her throat hurt.

"Uuuugh..."

Her head slowly turned back and forth, and her ears perked up from the faint noise of water trickling nearby. She shuddered in anticipation and trotted straight toward the source. After only a dozen paces, a clear stream with a rocky bed came into view. Without hesitating, Twilight rushed toward it and dove in to quench her thirst.

Once she had enough, the mare lifted her snout from the water, stretched her limbs a little, and gave a deep sigh of relief. She sniffed at the air and smiled from the pleasant scent of fresh grass nearby. The pulsing in her head all but faded into the background, along with her own thoughts. After all, there was no need to think about anything as she approached the nearest healthy patch of greens, opened her mouth, and bit down on the fat blades of grass.

With no punishment coming in response, the purple pony grazed happily for a few minutes. Once her belly was full, the parasite lightly pulled her "reins" again, and she moved on.

Applejack leaned over the edge of the cart, squinting as she tried to make out the features of the horizon on her side. The wind tugged at her mane and forced her to hold onto her hat with one hoof.

"How are we even going to catch her?" Pinkie said. She leaned over the other side of the cart and danced on the tips of her hooves, unable to keep still. "She just keeps going 'Blink!' and 'Flash!' and the next moment she's a whole town away!" She gave a sad frown, and her mane looked a lot less poofy than usual.

"Calm down, Pinkie," Applejack said. "Whatever we do, we gotta make sure we find Twilight first." She paused and gave a deep sigh. "Let's just hope Rainbow can keep her cool until we get there."

They soared through the air in silence for a while, everypony scanning the horizon to the best of their ability. After another few minutes without any results, Applejack spoke up once more.

"Ya sure she came this way, Fluttershy? Ah don't see—" Her eyes widened, and she thrust out her foreleg. "There!"

Her friends turned to where she pointed, and they spotted a blue figure with multicolored highlights in the distance. "Well, that's our direction, Fluttershy," Rarity said. She gave the pegasus a reassuring tap on the shoulder. "Go on. You're doing really well so far."

Fluttershy said nothing, merely gulped and carefully leaned to the side, steering the cart in the air in the direction of the other pegasus. Her wings flapped a bit faster, and her friends braced themselves as the cart gained a bit of speed. A few minutes later, they managed to catch up to Rainbow Dash, who hovered in the same spot the whole time, her eyes focused on a point in the distance.

"About time you guys got here," she muttered. Her gaze kept to the same direction, even as they floated up beside her. "Brought a cart? Good thinking, whoever it was."

Pinkie giggled. "Ooooh, it was my idea! What do I win?"

"Shhh!" Rainbow wheeled around, frowning at the pink mare. "Keep it down! If she hears us—"

There was a bright flash on the horizon, right where the cyan mare was looking moments before.

"...she might do that." Rainbow groaned. "Alright, enough fooling around. Everypony keep your mouths shut, and your eyes peeled." She quickly strapped herself into the harness next to Fluttershy, and the two of them got the cart moving again. "We gotta find her. Again."

"There's no need to be a brute, Rainbow Dash," Rarity said. "I'm quite certain she couldn't hear us all the way from over there."

"Yeah, I know, I know..." Rainbow sighed. "Sorry, today hasn't been a very good day so far. And yeah, she seems to do that at random. They're short jumps, so I've been able to keep up so far. Let's just hope she keeps going in the same direction."

With their combined wingpower, the cart was able to fly much faster and more smoothly. Still, for almost ten minutes, they found no trace of Twilight anywhere around them. As they sped further away from home, the lands began to change rapidly, lush green fields and forests giving way to hills, then entire mountains that lined the horizon.

"See anything yet?" Rainbow glanced back over her shoulder.

"Nope..." Applejack hung her head.

Fluttershy whimpered, her wings faltering slightly as she stared at the vast, foreign mountains up ahead. Rainbow Dash shot her a look, but said nothing, while her own wings flapped a bit stronger. The others yelped and braced themselves as the cart lurched beneath their hooves.

"Ugh... Could you please be careful, Rainbow Dash?" Rarity said. "This isn't one of your stunt shows!"

"Just keep your eyes on the ground, okay?" the pegasus shot back.

The fashionista grumbled and leaned over the side of the cart, eyes scanning their surroundings below. Moments later, Pinkie Pie lightly tapped her side of the cart and pointed to their right, not saying a word this time. The others turned to look and noticed a purple figure trot slowly toward the mountain range in front of them.

"Okay, I see her," Rainbow said quietly. She steered them toward their friend and reduced their speed, keeping a generous distance. "Now we just need to stay out of sight. Me and Fluttershy will keep us in the air."

"And what about us?" Rarity said. "Are we to just sit here and wait, twiddling our hooves?"

"Maybe we should let the princesses know?" Applejack joined in. "If anypony will know a way ta fix this, it's them."

"Good idea," Rainbow said. "Well, let's write a letter and have Spike send it."

Fluttershy gasped. "Wait... what about Spike?"

"What about him?" Pinkie tilted her head to the side. "Um... Rarity was watching him, right?"

"I took the poor darling back to the boutique and told him to lie down," Rarity said. "The poor dear, he was so horrified."

"Oh no..." Fluttershy could barely whisper.

"What?" Applejack and Rainbow asked in unison.

"We didn't bring Spike," the yellow mare said. "He's back in Ponyville. So, um... How are we supposed to let anypony know which way they need to follow us?"

They stared at her for a few seconds in complete silence. Rainbow Dash felt her eye twitch, and her hind leg bucked against the cart, making the wood crackle. "Oh, goddesses dammit!" she cried out. Her foreleg slapped onto her mouth a split second later, but it was already too late. Before any of them could react, Twilight disappeared in another bright flash.

"Perfect..." Applejack grumbled and stomped with her foreleg. "Now what do we do?"

They all hung their heads, unable to say a word for a while.

"Well... let's start off by being a bit more organized about this," Rarity suggested. "Get to know whatever we can before we do something." She turned to the pegasi in front of the cart. "Fluttershy, darling... what on earth does this thing even want?"

"Wh-what?" Fluttershy said. "You mean... the parasite?"

Rarity nodded. "You said it infects snails. What does it do to them?"

The timid mare hesitated for a few seconds. "It makes them stay in the light... where birds can notice them and mistake them for caterpillars... and..."

"And what?" Rainbow asked.

"And they eat them."

"Hey! You! Horn-head! Stop right there!"

The griffon thrust out its spear and lowered into a fighting stance. It grimaced in confusion and slight disgust at the sight of the mare before him. He recognized her as a unicorn, but the odd green object pulsating on her forehead was unlike anything he had seen before.

"Didn't you hear me?" he shouted and took a hesitant step closer. His spear shook in his claws slightly. "I said stop! This is griffon territory! No trespassing!"

Twilight gurgled. She had no idea what to do. The parasite kept urging her, and she had exhausted every option. The pressure intensified, to which she responded by trying to think. While that led to more discomfort, her will to end it was stronger.

Her eyes landed on its beak, and the pressure gave a little.

Her horn lit up. The griffon gave a panicked yelp, followed by a series of choking sounds as her magic hoisted him into the air by his neck. Before he could react, Twilight rushed forward, horn aimed at his head. His eyes widened as the soft, squishy thing over her horn thrust into his mouth. The razor sharp edges of his beak cut into the thin membrane of skin almost instantly.

Both gave a garbled scream at the same moment. Twilight shook uncontrollably, pain and nausea hitting her mercilessly, while the griffon felt a bitter, slimy substance flow toward the back of his throat, forcing him to swallow to avoid choking.

Seconds later, the griffon fell to the ground, unconscious. The remains of the vile green fluid trickled from among his lips, and his belly gurgled oddly. Twilight stumbled around a bit and collapsed next to him a few moments later. Her horn was unburdened once more, but a few scraps of green flesh still clung to the base.

Author's Note

Welp, more story time. Apologies for the wait. Not that I didn't think this story was worth continuing, but I got caught up in a ton of other things.

I'm really sorry for torturing Spike like this. I assure you, when the idea came to me, it kicked me in the gonads just as hard as the rest of you.

I recently watched a short gameplay segment from Homefront, which showed the intro sequence of the campaign, i.e "a long and embarrassingly blatant theme park ride that showcases war crime after war crime committed by the invading army." While the whole thing was corny as hell and insulted my intelligence, to say the least, there was one particular scene that really got to me. It showed a couple standing a few yards away from their kid, telling him to close his eyes moments before a firing squad shot them both. It was cliche and exploitative, but goddamn... perfect scene. The kid doesn't even go "Mommy! Daddy!", he just stands there and starts crying really loud, utterly helpless...

Anyway, that's kind of the vibe that I went for...