The sun was setting in the frozen north, somewhere in the mountains near the Crystal Empire. There was little out there to appreciate the majesty of Celestia’s sunsets, but those that ventured that deep into the mountains, whether for solitude, glory, or other enigmatic motives generally marveled in the colors of the sunset just as much as those who lived in cities or towns. In an old castle in those very mountains, an ancient unicorn stallion whose motives fell into the last category faced the setting sun, waiting with an almost palpable anticipation as the sun descended and the last rays of light vanished from the world for another night.
Turning from the window, he headed back into the castle with a surety that belied the blindfold covering his eyes. His long silvered mane flowed behind him over the dirty brown robes that he wore and a tarnished silver medallion bounced against his chest as he walked. He quickly made his way through the cooling castle and down a spiral staircase behind an ancient wooden door, heading into the catacombs beneath the castle and the ritual room therein.
Eventually he reached his destination, opening the door to greet the ponies assembled there. All of them, dressed in robes similar to his, though of a much finer material, bowed deeply to him as he stood there. His blinded gaze shifted across them all as if he could see into their souls, and many of them shivered when the blindfold turned in their direction. Finally, a pegasus dressed in the finest robes and wearing a golden circlet upon his head stepped forward and began to greet the new arrival. “Greetings, Holy one, we are assembled here –”
The ancient stallion cut him off with a look. “No need for the formalities, my friend,” he replied in a raspy voice. “The time is upon us, and we must make haste in order to capture the perfect twilight moment.”
The pegasus bowed in response and stepped back to allow his leader to address the gathering. The unicorn stallion stepped forward and raised his voice to be heard throughout the room. “My friends, the time we have waited for has arrived. It is time to complete the ritual and release our God from His unjust imprisonment. I thank you all for your years of devoted service and for the sacrifice many of you will be making tonight. Know that it is all for the sake of our God and that you will be well rewarded for your work.”
The crowd in front of him gazed in awe and reverence, devotion plain in each expression as he spoke. Finally, he raised his front hooves, directing them all to take their places around the room. “Tonight, my ponies, we will make history. Of the centuries I have known, only now are the conditions right for our God to reappear. The barrier of Harmony will be shattered, and He will rule all, blessing us and those who serve.”
Lowering his hooves to the ground, he paused as he listened to his followers take their designated places, readying themselves for the complicated ritual. Finally, the ponies formed four rings spreading from a depression in the center of the room, each ring alternating with the one behind it. The most experienced unicorns formed the outside ring, followed by a ring of pegasi to aid in directing the magic, and a ring of earth ponies to stabilize it.
Finally, the newest acolytes, two members of each pony race, formed the center ring, the key to the entire ritual. Each acolyte stood within a single runic circle, each circle connected to the center depression with a line of dark runes. A small slice of obsidian rested within each circle, the dark stone shining with its own inner light.
When the shuffling of ponies ceased, the ancient stallion was about to take his own position when a small sound reached his sensitive ears. He turned his blinded gaze to the center ring, noting one of the acolytes shuffling about nervously as he prepared to do his part for the ritual. Smiling a kindly smile, the ancient stallion made his way through the rings as his flock parted for him until he reached the trembling acolyte.
The acolyte, so focused on his instructions, failed to hear the ancient one approaching and nearly fainted when he spoke. “Troubled, my friend?” asked the raspy voice.
Trying and failing to mask the fear covering his face, the acolyte stammered out a response. “Umm, well, n-not exactly, Faith, sir, it’s j-just that…” He trailed off as Faith raised his hoof, resting it on the acolyte’s shoulder in a fatherly fashion.
“It is all right,” Faith replied. “You are part of a great service to our God. We have all been asked to give in our God’s service, some more than others.”
“R-really?” the acolyte replied, his trembling easing.
Faith nodded. “Truly, my friend.” He gestured to his blindfold and continued. “When our God asked for my sight so that I could better serve Him, I was afraid as well, for I had come to treasure the gift of sight that I had enjoyed since birth. However, He promised to reward me for my devotion, and upon following his orders, I felt his blessing.” He smiled at the acolyte and a feeling of ease spread over the young pony at once. “I now see far better than I ever could have with my natural eyes. Our God is a powerful God, my friend. Your sacrifice will be well-rewarded.”
Faith turned his gaze to the other acolytes in the center ring, and all of them felt their anxieties ease, taking comfort in his gentle smile. “That goes for all of you, my friends,” he continued, speaking to the rest of them. “Your sacrifices will be remembered by our God and will be rewarded. I thank you from the bottom of my heart for your services.” The smile faded from his face, and he turned to leave the circle, taking his place at the head of the ritual. “Now, let us begin. Our time runs short.”
His horn lit up with an amber glow, and he began to recite words from an ancient past, words that had their origins from before Equestria itself. The harsh words of the ritual were taken up by the rest of the unicorns around the circle, repeating the phrases in a round, each line beginning where the previous finished. The unicorns fed their magic into the words, feeling the strain as the magic was being siphoned from them.
The pegasi in the second ring raised their wings, calling upon their natural magic to direct the ritual currents towards the center of the circles. A slight breeze began to form as the pegasi swept their wings back and forth in their efforts. Finally, the earth ponies in the third ring raised their left hooves, placing them on the shoulder of the pony next to them. They all called upon their own natural magic, creating a circle of stability and containing the power of the ritual within the center.
Faith continued to chant the ritual words as he carefully gauged the building magic. Finally, when he felt that the growing forces were at the proper point, he raised his hoof and pointed at the acolytes in the center. The one who had been watching for this exact signal lifted his hoof in response, signaling to the rest of the acolytes to begin their part of the ritual.
As one pony, the six acolytes all raised the obsidian daggers, slicing open their forelegs in a single motion.
Faith smiled as he continued to recite, watching the six acolytes press their wounded limbs on the runes surrounding them. Blood poured from their wounds, slowly powering the runes with the crimson liquid as the center depression began to churn with dark power. Faith felt the euphoria grow within him as the power of the ritual increased a hundredfold, and, following the instructions given to him by his God all of those years ago, took hold of that power and flung it at the barrier of Harmony separating his God from the world.
He watched with his gifted sight as the power he had called upon struck the six-part barrier and smiled to himself as he saw the miniscule cracks begin to form. He saw a tiny portion of his God escape through those cracks, infusing each of the six portions with a slowly spreading darkness. His goal complete, he allowed the remaining dregs of power to escape into the air, bringing the ritual to a close and turning his attention back to his followers.
He watched as many of them collapsed where they stood, their energies spent. The six acolytes in the center toppled over lifeless, their souls having been siphoned as the greatest source of power. Of the few who remained standing, the pegasus wearing the circlet glanced around at his companions expectantly. Not finding what he was looking for, he turned towards Faith with a dissatisfied expression, trotting weakly towards him. “Holy one, you said this ritual would free our God. Where is he? Where is Lord Asmoroth?”
Faith stared at him with his blindfolded eyes, waiting for him to calm before responding. “Night Wing, this ritual will free the great Lord. We have cracked the barrier. Now, it is only a matter of time before the final keys will arrive.”
“The final keys?” Night Wing asked, surprised and upset. “Holy one, you did not say anything about keys. Where are they? How will we find them? What do they look like?” He bristled, wings flaring. “It could be years before we are able to locate them!”
Faith shook his head, silvered mane flowing behind. “Not that long, my friend. I promise. Besides, I would imagine that any of us would be able to recognize the Bearers of Harmony. Our contacts throughout the country will be able to help them.” He smiled, and a tinge of madness crept through, causing Night Wing to step back. “The keys will find us, make no mistake.
“After all,” Faith continued, smile twisting slightly. “You have Faith, do you not?”
Chapter 1: Discoveries, Danger, and Death
Twilight Sparkle woke feeling groggy, unrested, and off, shielding her eyes against the bright sunlight peering in through her bedroom window. It had been a troublesome night, with little sleep, something her morning headache was rhythmically reminding her of. She kept having odd dreams, almost nightmares, filled with darkness and unease, but nothing she could definitively pin down. She gazed bleary-eyed at her room and yawned loudly before pulling herself out of bed, fluffing her wings as she moved to her vanity. Glancing into her mirror, she nearly did a double-take at the unkempt face looking back at her. Her disheveled mane was sticking up in all different directions, and her eyes were bloodshot and puffy from her lack of sleep. She noticed a small trail of drool on her cheek and self-consciously wiped it away with her hoof.
No more nachos before bed, she chided herself as she reached for her hairbrush in an attempt to tame her wild mane. A moment later, she heard a loud crack coming from her vanity, and she gazed down in surprise at her hairbrush. It had somehow broken in two the moment she had grabbed it with her magic. She attempted to bring the brush closer to her in order to inspect it for flaws, but instead of gently floating towards her as she intended, it shot directly towards her face with astonishing speed. She let out a yelp of pain and surprise as the brush smacked her in the face, dropping to the floor as she released her magic.
Glaring down at the offending item, she shook her head in confusion, wincing slightly as her headache protested the movement. Maybe this is something I need to get used to as an alicorn? she thought. My magic has gotten stronger since I transformed. Deciding to hold off on further testing until at least after her morning coffee, she reached down and picked up the remains of the brush with her hooves and proceeded to brush her mane, albeit awkwardly. After managing to at least make herself presentable and quickly preening her wings, she headed down to the kitchen, where she could already smell Spike cooking breakfast.
“Good morning, Spike,” she called as she flopped down at the kitchen table, her stomach growling at the delicious scents wafting through the air. “What’s on the menu?”
“Morning, Twilight,” he called back from the stove, not taking his eyes off the pan. “Just finishing up some eggs for you. I’ve got some hay bacon and some toast on a plate over there if you’re starving.” He gestured to a plate on the counter next to him.
“I can wait,” she replied, glancing around for the coffeepot, hoping that the gloriously aromatic brew would relieve some of her pain. “Hey, could you pour me some coffee, please?” she asked.
“Can do,” he replied, deftly grabbing a mug from the rack in front of him and setting it on the counter. He then grabbed the full carafe and poured a cup of the steaming liquid in one fluid motion without taking his eyes off the eggs in front of him. Leaving the cup on the counter, he grabbed a spatula and began to pull the eggs from the pan.
Feeling a little impatient and more than a little desperate, Twilight reached out with her magic to grab the coffee cup without thinking. The moment her magic touched the cup it exploded, showering the two of them with ceramic shards and hot coffee. Spike let out a shriek of pain and surprise and dropped the eggs on the floor, nearly knocking the frying pan off of the stove. Twilight let out a yelp as the hot coffee splattered her fur, shards of cup bouncing off of her.
Opening her eyes, she saw Spike sitting on the floor in shock, watching the steady drip drip of coffee from the counter to the floor, pieces of the mug scattered across the kitchen. “Spike!” she cried, instinctively jumping out of her chair and rushing towards him, only to slip on the eggs he had dropped, landing hard on her belly on the tile floor. Picking herself up, she scrambled through the mess and reached out to help him up. “Spike, are you ok?”
Spike looked up at her, and she recoiled at the fear in his eyes. “Spike?” she asked tentatively.
“T-Twilight…?” he replied, hesitantly, “What was that?”
“Oh, Spike, I’m so sorry,” she apologized, babbling, her headache completely forgotten in the wake of her panic. “I wasn’t thinking, I didn’t know, I didn’t think… I just wanted the coffee…”
Carefully picking himself up, he watched her for a moment before reaching out and giving her a quick hug, silencing her apologies. “It’s ok, Twilight,” he replied. “I was just surprised, that’s all.” Releasing her he gave her a look, and continued, “But if you wanted the coffee that badly, you could have just lifted it, you know. No need to crush the cup.”
“But… that’s what I tried to do,” she replied, confused. “I think my magic has just gotten that much stronger since I became an alicorn. I broke my hairbrush this morning doing the same thing,” she explained, and shook her head. “I’m going to need to run some tests later today to determine just what’s going on.”
Spike shrugged. “We could always ask the Princess, you know. She could tell you if what you think is correct.”
Twilight nodded, but tapped her chin for a moment, pondering. “That’s true, but I would still need to run some tests to determine just how much more powerful I am. I certainly don’t want to try lifting anything important before I determine just how much effort it takes. I’d hate to hurt somepony just because I couldn’t control myself.”
Spike nodded, then a horrified expression crossed his face as he remembered how often Twilight liked to pick him up in her magic. Glancing at the remains of the coffee cup, he gulped and nodded once more. “Yeah, yeah… That’s probably a good idea…” he trailed off, then before Twilight could see how nervous he was, perked up suddenly, “Hey let me get you another cup of coffee, ok? Then we can worry about your magic. Just… don’t try to pick anything up until you figure it out, ok?”
She nodded in response, but he was already pouring her another cup and before ushering her over to the table, placing it in front of her before grabbing a mop to clean up the mess. “I’m sorry, Spike,” she said. “I should have thought before I did that.”
“Hey, no worries,” he replied as he cleaned up the spilled coffee and eggs. “You said yourself it only started this morning, right? You’ve been using magic almost your whole life. Why would you think otherwise?”
“It did only start this morning…” she repeated, frowning as she pondered, sipping her coffee. She had been an alicorn for months now. How could it be that her magic suddenly became that much more powerful now?
Lost in her thoughts, she barely noticed when Spike slide the plate of toast and hay bacon in front of her before sitting down to a bowl of gem shards. Unconsciously, she grabbed a piece of toast in her magic, bringing up to her mouth as she thought. It wasn’t until she was peppered in the face with a pile of crumbs did she realize what she had just done. Shaking her head with a grunt of surprise and frustration, she glared down at her breakfast before finally deciding to just lean forward and grab her food with her mouth.
Lucky for him, Spike refrained from openly laughing at her, though he did crack a smile that was quickly covered by a spoonful of gem shards. Twilight transferred her glare to him for a minute before sighing. Draining her coffee, she stood up and placed her dishes in the sink. “Thanks for breakfast, Spike. I think I’m going to go take a walk and think about what’s going on.”
Spike snickered at her before replying. “Sure thing, Twilight. You might want to think about a shower first, though.” He gestured to her front, and she glanced down to see her chest covered in egg bits, coffee, and bread crumbs. She glowered at him before heading to the bathroom, muttering all the way. A scream of frustration echoed through the library a moment later when she proceeded to tear the bathroom door off of its hinges while trying to open it, flinging it into the wall where it shattered.
Finally, with some help from Spike, she managed to get herself into the shower and cleaned up. Heading out the front door after carefully opening it with her hooves, she called back to Spike, who was propping what was left of the broken door up against the wall so they could get it repaired. “I’ll be back soon. See if you can’t find somepony to fix that door, would you?” Without waiting for a response, she headed out into Ponyville to try and work out some of her frustrations.
That same morning, Fluttershy awoke feeling drained and uncomfortable, the regular birdsong wafting in through her open window doing little to boost her mood. She shook her head to try and clear the memories of the nightmares that had affected her sleep so badly, unconsciously avoiding the sunlight slowly creeping into her room. She frequently suffered from nightmares – a side effect of being as nervous and frightened as she generally was – but these had been worse that any of her usual fare, leaving her stiff, groggy, and shaking slightly.
Yawning, she slipped out of bed and headed to her bathroom to wash her face and brush her mane. Her nightmare-recovery routine was well in place by now, taking her only a few minutes to clear up her complexion, and by the time she worked the final snarl out of her tail, she felt better. An odd discomfort still nagged at her, but she dismissed it as being due to a worse than usual nightmare.
As she placed her hairbrush next to the sink, she heard a small crack. Jumping in surprise, she looked down at the brush, rubbing her eyes to make sure what she was seeing was real. The brush was now laying there in two pieces, the wooden handle having rotted through. She carefully reached out and prodded the handle, watching in astonishment as it crumpled in on itself.
“But…but I just got that brush,” she said in confusion. “Maybe it was bad to begin with? I…I should tell the shop owner, I guess… But I wouldn’t want to be a bother…” She shook her head. “I’ll just go get a new one. It’ll be ok.”
Her mind made up, she headed out of the bathroom, humming to herself as she trotted down the stairs. About halfway down, she heard another crack and suddenly she was falling forward, her leg scraping through the stair that had just broken under her. She reacted instinctively, wings flailing to catch her, and she found herself upside down in midair, gazing in surprise at the stair that was now cracked and rotted right where she had placed her hoof.
Righting herself, she fluttered closer to the broken stair, prodding it in curiosity. Much like the hairbrush, the stair crumbled in on itself, the previously unnoticed rot spreading almost immediately. “Oh my goodness,” she gasped. “I-I should have noticed this before now. Somepony could have gotten hurt.” She glanced around her cottage, shuddering. “It’s a good thing this happened now. It could have been bad if my friends had been here and they had broken the step. I’ll have to get this fixed right away.”
She flew over to her kitchen to get breakfast ready for her little animal friends, fluttering this way and that as she filled bowls and dressed plates. This ended up taking much longer than normal, as she kept pulling out rotting leaves of lettuce, tossing them into her compost container. “I didn’t think it was that old,” she said to herself. “I just picked these yesterday.” She shrugged. “I guess I’ll have to get some more today. I don’t want anyone getting bad lettuce.” After getting everything together, she brought the food out to the living room, placing the bowls around the room as usual. “Breakfast, my little friends!” she called sweetly.
Instead of the usual miniature stampede of rabbits, mice, ferrets and squirrels, her announcement was greeted with complete silence. Confused, she glanced around the room, looking for any signs of her animals. “I-is anyone here?” she called, unsure. She landed on the floor near one of the mouse holes, peering into the darkness inside. She caught a glimpse of terrified eyes peering back at her before they vanished into the dark. “Mr. Mouse?” she called. “Don’t you want to get something to eat? You need to keep your strength up, you know.”
A small noise underneath her captured her attention and she glanced down, her eyes widening in shock. Small cracks were spreading on the hardwood floor, emanating from her hooves. She could see the wood rotting under her, watching as it fell apart before her eyes. Letting out a squeal of fright, she scrambled back, the rot stopping as soon as she moved. However, wherever she stepped on the hardwood, she saw cracks and rot form almost immediately.
She quickly pushed herself off the floor as it crumbled beneath her, flapping her wings frantically. “W-what’s happening?” she gasped. “I-it can’t be… is my home falling apart?” In her confusion, she didn’t notice where she was flying, and cracked her head on one of the many birdhouses hanging from the ceiling. Briefly seeing stars, she rubbed her head with one hoof as she hovered there, and reached out to steady the rocking birdhouse, its occupant screeching in shock. The moment her hoof touched the wooden birdhouse, rot began to spread through the painted wood.
She recoiled in astonishment as she watched the birdhouse fall apart, the wood crumbling under her touch. The occupant, a tiny chickadee, fell out of the now bottomless birdhouse and scrambled to recover from the unexpected fall. Instinctively she dove to catch the bird, grabbing him before he hit the ground.
The moment her hooves touched the little bird, it squealed in pain and she let out a terrified scream as the bird began to decay in her touch. The skin and feathers rotted away, blood pouring out the jagged wounds and bubbling on her hooves. She almost dropped the little bird in shock, but flew over to the couch, laying it down as it continued to scream and squeal, blood splattering everywhere as it convulsed. “I’m sorry, I’m sorry,” she apologized reflexively, “I-I’ll get you fixed up, just hold on!”
She rushed over to her shelf of bandages, grabbing a fresh roll of gauze and some antibacterial ointment. By the time she got back to the couch, the gauze in her hoof had rotted halfway through, falling apart and leaving a trail of decaying cloth behind her. Tossing the remains of the gauze away in frustration, she reached out to comfort the bird as best she could.
The little bird saw her hooves coming for her and screamed once more, trying to get as far away from her as possible even as its blood continued to coat the couch. “B-but, I’m trying to help,” she pleaded, desperately trying to soothe him with her shaking voice, tears running freely down her cheeks. Her back hooves landed on the floor in front of the couch, and almost immediately the floor began to crumble and rot as she reached for the little bird. The wood gave out under her and she pitched forwards as she lost her balance, her front hooves landing on the flailing creature.
As soon as she touched the bird, the decay increased, and the bird let out a final scream as its features melted away, briefly revealing the bone beneath before the bone itself cracked and broke apart. The bird’s innards spilled across her hooves and the couch as a sudden sour smell permeated the room. Finally, the last remains of the bird turned black, collapsing in and turning to ash.
Fluttershy stared in complete shock at the horror in front of her, tears welling up in her eyes. Shaking her head in denial and fear, she failed to notice the decay affecting her couch where she was touching it until the couch cracked in half, dropping her onto the floor with a thud. She lay there, crying as the floor beneath her crumbled, giving way after another minute. She flapped her wings desperately, horror on her face as she stared wildly around her destroyed cottage, looking for somewhere she could possibly rest without doing any more damage.
Finally, she settled on the kitchen, looking down at the tiled floor. Speeding over there, she landed on the tiles, slipping slightly on the thin stone as she hit with unexpected speed, but managed to keep her balance. She glanced down hopefully, and sighed in relief as she floor beneath her remained intact. Sitting back on her haunches, she stared down at her bloodstained hooves as fear and panic coursed through her, sending her heart racing and her ears pounding. “W-what’s going on? What have I done?”
She heard a noise from the kitchen door, and she turned in fear to see Angel standing there, a look of shock on his face. Seeing the blood coating her, his expression changed to one of horror followed by determination. Fluttershy shook her head at the look on his face, and said, “N-no, Angel, no, I-I didn’t mean to, it was an accident, please, please, believe me…”
He ignored her pleas and shook his head, gaze boring into hers. Her eyes widened in response, pupils shrinking to pinpricks as fear spiked throughout her body. “What? I-I’m a… demon? No! I-I can’t be! Please, Angel,” she babbled, fear controlling her, “help me! I-I’m scared!”
He disappeared for a moment, and she began to hyperventilate, panic welling up inside of her. Suddenly, he reappeared holding a large wooden bat, launching himself at her with his teeth bared in hatred. “ANGEL!” she screamed, propelling herself away from him. The bat landed just in front of her hooves, cracking the tile. Angel used the bat like a pole vault as he flung himself over the handle towards her and brought the bat back up behind him, aiming for her head.
Fluttershy threw her hooves up instinctively to defend herself, closing her eyes. She felt two impacts, one hard impact on her left hoof from the bat, cracking the hoof slightly from the force of the blow, and a soft impact on her right hoof as Angel collided with her. Immediately, she heard a small scream and her eyes flew open to see Angel’s body decaying before her, writhing on her hoof. She flung him away in terror, the now-rotten bat going one way and him going the other, until he struck the cabinet with a loud crack that sent shockwaves through her entire body, blood splattering everywhere. He dropped to the ground and remained still, blood continuing to pool around him.
Fluttershy froze, staring at her little friend. “A-angel?” she called hesitantly. “Angel, please, I-I need your help.” Forgetting that he had been trying to kill her only moments ago, she pushed herself up and carefully approached him, hoping against hope that he would spring back up. She slowly reached out with her hoof, stopping just short of touching him, frozen in terror and indecision as she waited for him to move.
After what seemed like forever, she sat back, shaking her head in despair. “A-angel,” she stammered, “n-no, it’s not possible, I-I didn’t, I-I can’t…” She started shaking all over as she stared, unseeing, at the half-decayed corpse in front of her. “N-no, no, nononononononono!” She let out a scream of anguish and loss, tears streaming down her face, before she collapsed on the floor, curling into a ball as she sobbed.
At that moment, Rarity was bustling around her kitchen, getting ready for the day. Humming to herself as she made breakfast for herself and her visiting sister, she expertly chopped some vegetables while beating some eggs together with a little milk. Sweetie Belle hadn’t come down yet, but that was no reason to not have a nice little breakfast ready for her when she finally got up.
I swear, that filly sleeps later and later every morning, Rarity thought. “Of course,” she mused to herself, “if she didn’t stay up so late with her crusader friends, she might get to bed at a decent hour.” Tossing the eggs and vegetables into a frying pan, she muttered, “I do hope she gets up soon. I’m going to have to open the boutique before too long and I won’t be able to have breakfast with her.
“Not that I blame her for sleeping in,” she continued muttering to herself, enjoying the satisfying aroma of perfectly-cooked eggs emanating from the pan. “I certainly didn’t sleep well last night. Not at all. Such ghastly nightmares.” She flipped the omelet with precision and care, lining the edges up just so. “Why, I haven’t had a nightmare that bad in ages. Took me forever to get the snarls out of my mane.”
Suddenly, her concentration wavered as she felt a flash of heat from within, and a bout of dizziness hit her. Leaning against the counter until it passed, she fanned herself with her hoof for a minute before resuming cooking breakfast. “That was odd,” she murmured, wiping a few tiny beads of sweat from her brow before promptly washing her face. “I do hope I’m not getting sick. I can’t afford to take any time off right now.”
Turning her attention back to her pan, she finished up breakfast, carefully scooping it onto a plate before arranging everything perfectly on the table. Moving to the base of the stairs, she called up to her sister. “Sweetie Belle, time to get up! Breakfast is ready!”
Heading back into the kitchen, she paused for a moment as another wave of heat rose up within her. Another bout of dizziness hit her as well, more intense than the first, and she swayed in place before dropping to her knees. “O-oh my,” she stammered. “S-sweetie Belle!” she called upstairs. “I… I think I need help!”
“Rarity?” she heard Sweetie reply, somewhat groggily. “C’mon, I’m tired. I’ll be down for breakfast in a little bit. I’ll help you clean up after, ok?”
“N-no, Sweetie,” she replied as another wave swept through her. She tried to stand, but the heat became too much to handle as sweat poured off her and she collapsed completely. “I-I’m in trouble! I n-need help now!”
She heard a thud as Sweetie landed on the floor and the scrambling of her hooves as she ran to the stairs. “Rarity?” she called, concern now present in her voice. “Are you ok?”
The heat built inside until she felt like she was burning up, and she screamed. Suddenly, she was burning, flames sprouting from her limbs. Her eyes widened in terror and she tried to pull her hooves away from the flames, but they followed her. She saw the flames licking at her tablecloth, catching the delicate cloth on fire almost immediately, spreading across the table and up her drapes. She heard Sweetie Belle coming down the stairs before stopping with a cry. “Rarity! Oh my gosh, the kitchen’s on fire! YOU’RE on fire!”
Rarity turned to look at her sister, terror plain on her face as she saw Sweetie’s fright. “S-Sweetie, help me!” She pushed herself to her hooves, legs wobbling, and started towards her sister, flames trailing behind. Sweetie flinched back up a few stairs, and Rarity watched in horror as her sister ran away from her. She collapsed at the base of the stairs, surrounded by raging flames, despair welling up within her as she lay there. She could feel the flames engulfing her entire body, yet oddly enough, she felt no pain.
Suddenly, she felt a heavy cloth land on her, and she looked up to find Sweetie just above her, a heavy blanket in her mouth. “Rarity!” she mouthed around the cloth, “Use this to put the flames out!”
She nodded, and proceeded to weakly roll on the floor in an attempt to put out the fire. Unfortunately, all that happened was that the blanket itself burst into flames, sliding off of her and spreading the fire around. She looked around in despair, realizing that there was no way she could salvage her home, should she even survive. At the least, she could try to make sure that her sister got out.
“S-sweetie, get out of here!” she cried, making her way to the door. Somehow, she managed to get herself through the main room of the boutique, flames trailing her every move, not realizing that she was completely blocking Sweetie’s exit. Her only thought at the time was survival. She vaguely heard the sound of her sister running back up the stairs as she pushed her way out of the boutique before collapsing into unconsciousness on the front walk, her home burning brightly behind her.
Twilight trotted through the loud and lively marketplace, thoughts jumbling around in her head, barely noticing her surroundings. She absently nodded to the ponies greeting her, even forgetting to feel uncomfortable whenever a pony addressed her as ‘Princess.’ She quickly made her way around the stalls, ignoring the cries of the salesponies calling to the crowd as they hawked their wares, looking for one pony in particular. The thick press of the morning crowd was making her search even more difficult than she had initially anticipated, and more than once she found her way blocked by a small throng of customers waiting near a particulary in-demand stall. Finally slipping around a large group of ponies that had, for whatever reason, decided to stop in the middle of a thoroughfare and chat, she found Applejack’s stall set up in her normal spot and hurried over.
Applejack glanced up from hawking her apples, and smiled at seeing her friend approaching. “Hey, Twi, how’s it going?” she called. “Ya hungry? Here, on the house.” She grabbed an apple from her cart and tossed it Twilight’s way.
Instinctively, Twilight reached out with her magic to catch the apple, and it exploded in midair, showering the two of them, along with anypony nearby, with fruit chunks and seeds. Stunned, Applejack stared at her as Twilight inwardly cursed herself for her inattention, shooting apologetic looks at the muttering seed-covered crowd. “Uh…” Applejack uttered, mouth opening and closing for a minute before continuing, “Um, Twi, if ya didn’t want an apple, ya could’ve just said so. Ya know Ah wouldn’t’ve been offended.”
Twilight hung her head for a moment, taking a deep breath in order to master her frustration before approaching Applejack, the crowd moving on in favor of a less messy area of the market. “I’m sorry, Applejack. Something’s up with my magic right now and I don’t know what’s going on. That’s not the first thing I’ve broken today without trying to.”
Applejack sighed in relief and began cleaning herself and the cart up. “Oh, good. Ah was afraid you’d gotten a bad apple of mine or something.” Concern spread across her face as Twilight’s words caught up with her. “Wait, ya broke something else today?”
Twilight nodded. “Yes, it’s been a rough morning, especially since I didn’t sleep well. I broke my hairbrush this morning, and then Spike was making breakfast –”
“Don’t tell me ya broke Spike?” Applejack paused mid-wipe, looking horrified.
“Wait, what?” Twilight shook her head emphatically. “No, no, I didn’t break Spike. I did break my coffee cup, my breakfast, and my bathroom door, though. It’s like everything I do is exponentially more powerful and I don’t understand why. It’s making controlling my magic so much more difficult. I’m afraid I’m going to hurt somepony.”
“What d’ya think happened?” Applejack asked, her brow furrowing curiously. “Ya don’t think it’s because ya became an alicorn, do ya?”
“I don’t know, that’s the problem,” Twilight huffed. “I’ve been an alicorn for months. You’d think that if that was the reason, I would have been dealing with this before now. But it didn’t start until this morning.”
Applejack leaned on her cart, staring off into the distance as she attempted to puzzle it out. “Ya didn’t feel any different or anything this morning? Just your magic?”
“I’ve felt off since last night, but that’s not surprising. I had some odd nightmares last night.”
Applejack started, eyes flicking to her friend. “You too?” she asked.
“What do you mean?” Twilight asked, curious.
“Ah had a really hard time sleeping mahself. Bad nightmares. And Ah’ve felt odd ever since Ah woke up.”
Twilight shook her head. “I don’t really see a correlation. Ponies have nightmares all of the time. It’s just a coincidence.”
Applejack looked unconvinced, but replied, “Ah suppose. It’s just a little weird, ya know?”
Twilight smiled at her. “I understand, but without a larger sample size, I’d consider it just a coincidence.”
Suddenly, a scream cut through the marketplace. “Fire!” screamed a pony from the crowd. “Carousel Boutique’s on fire!”
Applejack and Twilight looked at each other in horror as the cry was taken up throughout the crowd, and panic started to spread. “Rarity!” they cried at the same time. Applejack leapt over her stand, kicking the closed sign down before sprinting off into the crowd, followed shortly by Twilight. “I’ll meet you there!” Twilight called, before launching herself into the air, wobbling slightly as she flew over the buildings and towards the flames rising in the distance. On the way, she was passed by Rainbow Dash, who was hauling a large, dark cloud along with her.
“Hey, Twilight!” Rainbow called as she passed, a look of determination on her face.
“Rainbow!” she replied, causing the speedster to slow down just enough to talk. “Do you know if Rarity’s ok?”
Rainbow shook her head. “Dunno. I just got the call about the fire and had to grab this cloud from our stores. The rest of the weather team is gearing up for a cloud brigade.”
“Applejack’s on her way over as well,” Twilight replied.
“Got it!” Rainbow replied, before shooting off towards the burning boutique with her cloud. Twilight watched her speed away and strained herself to keep up, putting all of her flight training to the test, grunting in frustration as her speed increased only marginally. Below her, she saw Applejack racing along the streets, easily pacing her despite having to dodge and weave through the crowd. Here and there she also saw a flash of pink as Pinkie Pie came out of nowhere, following Applejack towards the boutique.
Twilight pushed herself as hard as she could, trying to resist the temptation to teleport directly there. With her enhanced magic, she wasn’t sure how close or far away she would end up without further testing. Finally, after much frustration and flailing of her wings, she reached the boutique, where Rainbow Dash was already emptying the cloud in an attempt to contain the fire and reduce the size of the blaze. Twilight landed, exhausted, her eyes already scanning for any sign of survivors as gouts of black smoke poured into the air. She winced as a particularly hot ember landed on her shoulder, quicky brushing it off with her wing.
Her gaze lit on a still form on the front walk and she gasped just as she heard Applejack and Pinkie Pie approach. “Rarity!” she cried, rushing towards the unconscious unicorn, feeling the waves of heat pouring off of the building, causing sweat to bead all over her body. Twilight quickly examined her, and aside from being surrounded by a blackened scorch mark, she appeared completely unharmed. She sighed in relief before a scream sounded from the boutique, and she glanced up in horror to see Sweetie Belle at one of the upper windows, a look of terror on her face as the white-hot flames climbed higher and higher.
“Sweetie Belle!” Twilight heard Applejack yell. “Hang on, girl, we’ll get ya down!” Applejack turned to Twilight. “Twi, you gotta get her out of there!”
Twilight stared back at her, horrified. “Applejack, I can’t lift her! I don’t have that much control yet! I’d crush her!”
A look of frustration crossed the farm pony’s face, and she snarled in exasperation. “Isn’t there anything you can do right now?”
Twilight felt helpless as she shook her head, panic welling up within her. “The most I can do right now is push clouds, and I’d just get in the way!” She turned, looking for Pinkie Pie to see if the party pony had any ideas. “Pinkie, can you – Pinkie?”
Applejack looked around as well. “Pinkie? Where’d you go, girl?” She spun around, her anger rising. “Where the buck did you go, Pinkie!”
Pinkie Pie stared at the burning boutique, for once at a loss for words. This was one of few things she couldn’t laugh at. Fire was never anything to laugh at, as she knew all too well, being a baker. There had been enough fire scares in the kitchens at Sugarcube Corners to give her a healthy respect for fire. The first time she had dealt with a grease fire had been especially memorable, considering she had tried to put it out with water. She had been lucky that the pan hadn’t exploded on her.
She shook her head, trying to clear her thoughts. She was getting distracted again. She turned to Twilight and Applejack, looking for ideas on what to do when she heard Sweetie Belle scream. Pinkie stared up in horror at the little filly as Applejack and Twilight had a hurried argument before turning to look at her for help.
She heard Twilight calling for her. “Pinkie, can you – Pinkie?” Twilight looked around, confused.
Pinkie felt confused herself. They were standing not more than a few feet from each other, yet both Twilight and Applejack seemed to be pretending not to be able to see her. “Twilight, I’m right here!” she said, concerned. “You know I like hide and seek as much as the next pony, but this isn’t the time.”
She watched Applejack spin around, calling, “Where the buck did you go, Pinkie?”
Pinkie huffed. “Now, Applejack, such language. Especially when you’re obviously pretending to ignore me, even though we don’t really have time for such a thing, since we’ve gotta do something for Sweetie Belle there.”
Applejack either didn’t hear Pinkie or wasn’t listening as she continued to frantically search the area. Pinkie bounded over to her friend and tried to tap her on the shoulder, but her hoof simply passed through the normally-solid farmer. Staring down at her hoof, she looked around in confusion. “Hey, Applejack, what just happened? Did you do something to make it so I couldn’t touch you? ‘Cause that isn’t very nice, you know. If you didn’t want me to touch you, you could have just said something.”
She leapt to her hooves, pointing at the boutique. “Besides, we don’t have time to play! Sweetie Belle could get really hurt!” She looked up towards the window she had just seen Sweetie Belle at, watching Rainbow Dash attempt to get through the flames before being pushed back by the heat. At that moment, Pinkie noticed something really odd.
She could see the burning building through her raised hoof.
While Applejack was searching for the vanished Pinkie, Twilight looked up at Rainbow Dash who was now trying to use her speed to pull some of the oxygen away from the fire. “Rainbow! Can you help Sweetie Belle at all?”
Rainbow Dash finished her last circuit of the building, frustration building within her. She wasn’t making any headway against the flames, and the roiling heat and flaming embers coming off the building were making it difficult to stay close. She glanced away from the building, and noted with some relief the rest of the weather team a short distance away, hauling the rain-heavy clouds in an organized line. Signaling to her second-in-command, she gave him his orders. “Thunderlane! Keep up the cloud brigade, just as we practiced. I’m going to see what I can do to rescue Sweetie Belle.”
Thunderlane threw her a quick salute as he raced by with his cloud, prepping it to drop a deluge of rain on the burning building. The rest of the weather pegasi followed behind in an orderly fashion, each readying their clouds as they did their best to avoid the choking smoke filling the sky, and once Thunderlane was in position, the rain began. Rainbow nodded in satisfaction before diving down to the window where she had last seen Sweetie Belle, calling her name.
As she approached, a sudden surge of flames covered the window, and the ensuing heat caused her to halt in place. She could feel the fur on her face singeing from the blast of heat, the pain on her cheeks signifying that she would have a few blisters once this was over. Letting out a cry of frustration, she pulled back, calling down to Twilight, who was carefully pulling the unconscious Rarity away from the doorway. “I can’t get through! It’s too hot!”
She heard Applejack’s voice calling up to her. “Rainbow, get a raincloud down here! Ah got a plan!”
“Roger!” she replied. Dashing up to the cloud she had initially used, she compacted it together as densely as she could, preserving as much water as possible, before flying back down to where Applejack was standing, her eyes set with determination and more than a little fear. “What’s the plan, AJ?”
“Douse me,” she ordered, taking her hat off and tossing it to Twilight, who nearly fell over trying to catch it with her hooves. “Ah’m going in.”
Rainbow stared at her friend for a moment, speechless. “…Are you crazy!?” she asked.
Applejack turned to glare at Rainbow. “Don’t argue with me, RD! Do it! Afore the whole thing falls apart and we don’t got another chance!”
“O-ok,” she replied, and she grabbed the cloud, wringing it completely dry over Applejack, tossing away the remaining wisps. Now completed soaked, Applejack gulped in apprehension before dashing directly into the open door of the boutique, ignoring the rush of flame that followed in her wake. Rainbow just watched in frustration and apprehension as her friend ran to her almost certain demise, a feeling of wrongness building inside.
Oh, Celestia, this was a damn stupid idea, Applejack thought as she dashed through the inferno, flames biting at her heels and reaching for her mane and tail. The water on her fur was protecting her from some of the heat and fire, but she was still feeling the pain of the heat on her skin as the water quickly evaporated. She bounded across a burning ponyquin, and dodged quickly as a burning beam fell nearby, fire chewing through the thick wood. Spotting the stairs, she rushed towards them, coughing as the heat stole all of the moisture from her throat.
Moving as quickly as she could up the burning stairway, she called as loudly as she could for Sweetie Belle. “Sweetie Belle! Where are ya, girl?”
A wracking cough was all she received in reply, barely heard over the crackling of the flames screaming in her ears. She somehow reached the top of the stairs before they collapsed behind her, idly noting that her tail was on fire as she rounded the corner towards what she remembered as Sweetie’s room. Keeping her head low to try and stay under the dense smoke, she pushed open the burning door to find her friend’s sister lying on the floor, flames dancing on what was left of her fur.
Panicking, she dashed into the room, scooping Sweetie Belle up in her mouth and running towards the window. She glanced out to see an anxious Rainbow Dash hovering nearby, and she frantically waved her hoof to get her friend’s attention while trying to stay under the smoke. Twilight noticed her, and pointed her out for Rainbow. Applejack pointed at Sweetie Belle, and Rainbow nodded, holding out her hooves in preparation, her eyes focused and determined.
With a quick spin and a jerk of her head, she launched Sweetie’s unconscious form out of the window and into Rainbow’s waiting hooves. At that moment, another surge of flames engulfed the window as part of the building collapsed. Applejack stepped back, intense pain striking her as she felt her mane and fur catching on fire, skin quickly blistering painfully under the immense heat. She glanced out the flame-filled window once more to see the horrified expression on Twilight’s face, followed by the alicorn’s horn glowing with the familiar violet light of magic.
At that moment, the entire top floor of the boutique imploded. The last thing that Applejack saw was a jagged support beam flying directly towards her before her world went black.
