Apocalypse

Breakneck Pace lead Twilight and her friends through the village where they didn't see any other ponies out and about with the exceptions of a few other Sleipnir ponies. They finally came up to a tattered wooden house, the wood rotten and crawling with termites and moss, making everypony but Breakneck Pace shudder in disgust.

"Y-You don't expect us to go in there, d-do you?" Rarity whimpered, slowing down her pace to the point where she's practically standing still.

"I'm sorry about my house, but ever since the Apocalyptic Sisters arrived, Mytholand quickly became destroyed and rotten," Breakneck Pace apologized. "We ponies have no place else to live, so we just suck it up and live with whatever we have or don't have." She approached the door and pushed it open, and almost immediately the door fell off the hinges and landed with a loud bang on the ground, making everypony jump. "I guess the rot finally made its way to the door hinges..."

"Oh, how awful," Fluttershy whimpered. "You ponies don't deserve living in this kind of environment."

"We don't, but we have to."

"Why didn't you ever try to move to Equestria?" Twilight asked.

"Besides the fact that ponies like you would look at all of us differently?" the Sleipnir pony grunted. "Well... The Apocalyptic Sisters won't let us leave."

"Who in tarnation are the Apocalyptic Sisters?" Applejack furrowed her brows in confusion. "They sound awful nasty."

"Believe me, they are. Now, I know there isn't much inside, but please make yourselves at home to the best of your abilities."

All six ponies winced as they slowly walked inside the small house. There were holes and tears in the wooden walls and they crawled with termites and moss. There was a very musty and rather unpleasant scent of dead wood in the building. The floor had no flooring, but rather was the same rough earthy ground as the outside, and the roof looked as though it were going to cave in at any second.

The furniture inside consisted of a firefly lantern; a rotten tree stump to hold up the lantern; clumps of pony hair stuffed in terribly stained and ripped fabric to make pillows; a few large wrinkly leaves sewed together with strands of pony hair to make a blanket on top of a pile of sand for a bed; a jug of dirty water in a corner of the house, and a few rotten apples in a basket next to the jug.

"Sweet Celestia..." Twilight murmured, her eyes widened. How could these ponies survive in these conditions? It's completely inhumane!

"I would offer you some refreshments for your journey, but I don't think you want any dirty water or rotten apples," Breakneck Pace mumbled. "Even though the food and water aren't nearly as bad as most ponies in Mytholand have. We're considered the lucky ones."

"No!" Rarity suddenly shouted, catching everyone by surprise. She turned to Rainbow Dash and glared at her. "Rainbow Dash, you must fly as fast as you can back to Macintosh Hills and collect as much fresh water as you possibly can for these poor ponies!"

"I'll be as quick as I can!" Rainbow saluted before flying out of the house.

"You don't need to trouble yourselves," the Sleipnir pony started.

"Nonsense!" Rarity retorted. "Nopony is supposed to live in these conditions! Applejack, do you have any apples you said you'd pack should the journey to Mytholand be so long it would take overnight?"

"You bet I do!" Applejack reached into one of her saddlebags and pulled out a large, juicy red apple, then handed it to Breakneck Pace. "Here ya go!"

"I-I can't accept this..." she tried again.

"We should give her cupcakes, too!" Pinkie chimed in, reaching into her own saddlebag and pulling out a tupperware of cupcakes.

"And at least a few feathers for your pillows," Fluttershy smiled. She flapped her wings a few times, allowing a few feathers to fall off, and she picked them up and stuck them in the pillow cases.

"And let's not forget about the blankets!" Rarity smiled. She pulled out a needle and thread from her saddlebag, as well as scissors, and snipped up her own saddlebag, along with Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie, Applejack, and Twilight's when they offered their own. She then made four blankets, even if they were smaller than the wilted leaf blankets, out of the fabric of the saddlebags and replaced the leaf blankets with them.

"You'll also need some proper light," Twilight smiled. She charged up a light spell and cast it on the firefly lamp, making it glow brightly to illuminate the entire room.

Rainbow Dash flew in a few moments later with a large raincloud overhead, then she grabbed a large fruit juicer and pushed the cloud through it so that fresh water would trickle in a large barrel. She dumped out the dirty water in the jug and rinsed it out with the remaining rainwater, then scooped some clean water in it and handed it to Breakneck Pace. "Here you go! Fresh, clean water!"

Breakneck Pace looked at her room. It actually looked a little more like what a real house should look like: proper lighting, good pillow filling, comfy blankets, fresh water, ripe apples, and even a few cupcakes. She turned back to the six ponies, tears falling down her face, as she smiled thankfully. "You have absolutely no idea how much this means to me... I haven't known you for an hour and already you're being so incredibly generous and kind like a true friend... Thank you all!" She leaped out and hugged the six ponies, weeping loudly over their shoulders.

They all smiled and hugged back, and Twilight spoke up. "We'd do anything for a pony in need. We're just so happy we could help you."

"You look like you haven't had a decent meal in ages," Applejack commented after the hug was broken. "Why dontcha eat a few apples and drink some water before tellin' us about them Apocalyptic Sisters?"

"Okay, but first I have to fetch my friends," Breakneck Pace replied. "It's just three of them. It would be unfair if I had all this wonderful food without them, and besides, maybe they can help me in telling about the Apocalyptic Sisters. I'll be right back." The Sleipnir pony rose to her hooves and galloped out of the house.

When she was gone, Rarity turned to the others. "I think I speak for everypony here when I say these Apocalyptic Sisters must be stopped as soon as possible!"

"No doubt about that!" Rainbow Dash agreed. "Just look at the conditions these ponies are living in! I wouldn't even wish this upon the most cruel villain in all of Equestria! ...Besides the sisters, that is."

"I think it's clear that these new villains are very strong..." Fluttershy piped in softly, looking uncertain. "What if... What if the Elements of Harmony aren't strong enough to beat them?"

"What makes you say that, Fluttershy?" Pinkie Pie asked, a frown plaguing her face.

"Well, I can't really explain it, but just look at how desolated this place is. These ponies are being left with barely anything to sleep on, contaminated water, and rotten food. Not even the harshest of villains we've faced before limited ponies with these awful resources."

"Be that as it may, the magic of friendship is still the most power magic of all. Remember Tirek?" Applejack argued gently.

"But that's in Equestria. This is Mytholand, outside of Equestria. What if the Elements of Harmony don't work in a place that isn't Equestria?"

"Well, the Elements worked perfectly fine in CHS when the counterparts of you and I defeated Sunset Shimmer and the Sirens," Twilight pointed out. "It doesn't matter where you go. The magic of friendship is still just as powerful in Equestria as it is anywhere else."

"Well, I guess you've had a personal experience with that, so..." The timid pegasus pony then smiled, feeling reassured. "Okay, I believe you."

"Sorry it took so long!" the six heard Breakneck Pace apologize. They turned and saw her walk back in, and following her were three of the most bizarre ponies any of them had ever seen.

The only stallion of the group was dark yellow with dark green hair and eyebrows, as well as golden eyes. He had abnormally long forelegs and sharp teeth with a forked tongue, and in place of hind legs there were two snake tails instead, in which he used to slither into the room. He also had bat-like wings and a cutie mark of a yellow caution sign.

Then there was a mare that looked like she was made entirely out of light blue fire. She had forelegs but no hind legs for in its place is a wispy tail. She also has hair that dances upwards like fire, and the inside of it is white. The scleras of her eyes are dark blue while the pupils are white, and her cutie mark is a pink will-o'-the-wisp light, though it looked more like it was in her rather than on her flank. She also levitated in mid air.

The last pony looked the most familiar for it's the same one Pinkie Pie accidentally insulted. It was the yellow and pink espony. When she looked up at the six, she immediately recognized them and hid behind the green snake-pony.

"Pinkie Pie," Applejack suddenly nudged her pink friend. "There's the pony you need to apologize to. Why dontcha go do it now?"

"Oh... Okay!" Grinning, Pinkie plucked a cupcake out of the tupperware and hopped over to the smaller pony. "Hi, there, I'm Pinkie Pie!"

The espony whimpered and backed away, and almost immediately the snake-pony hissed in her face, causing her to yelp and stumble back.

"It's okay, Strike," Breakneck Pace said. "She's just trying to apologize to Future Sight the way she acted."

The supposedly named Strike narrowed his eyes at Pinkie suspiciously, then finally nodded, giving her permission to talk to the smaller pony.

Pinkie smiled and decided this time to take a gentler approach. She bounced over to the mare and bent down, lowering her voice a bit. "So your name's Future Sight? That's a really nice name! Listen, I'm really sorry for how I treated you, I didn't mean it. Paranoia just got the better of me for a second. I want you to take this cupcake as a gratitude of our friendship, because that's all I wanna be with you: friends!" She smiled brightly and handed her the cupcake.

Future Sight blinked curiously, then she took the bright colorful cake in her own hooves. She then looked up at Strike, who was still eyeing Pinkie suspiciously.

"What's in that thing?" Strike hissed, his S's emphasized and carried out for longer than usual.

"Happiness and smiles!" Pinkie grinned innocently. "It's really good, try it, Future Sight! If you want, I'll eat one so you can see it's safe to eat." She grabbed another cupcake and popped it into her mouth, and swallowed it almost immediately. "See? Perfectly safe! And delicious!"

Future Sight looked back down at the cupcake, then gave the icing a wary lick. She then gasped and ate the pastry quickly.

"Huh. Guess you're not all that bad after all," Strike commented with a bit of surprise in his voice. "All right, I guess I can trust you."

"Yay for new friends!" Pinkie squealed, bouncing up and down.

"This is Strike," Breakneck Pace suddenly introduced. "He's what's called a Typhon pony."

Strike said nothing, but he bowed his head in greeting.

"My other friend over here is named Flash Fire," the Sleipnir pony continued, gesturing to the spirit-like pony. "She's a wisp pony."

"Like will-o'-the-wisp?" Twilight gasped. "I thought that was only a Trottish legend!"

"Nope, we're all real!" Flash Fire giggled, floating around the ponies. Everyone - not including Future Sight, Breakneck Pace, or Strike - jumped when they hear a sudden squeal coming from Fluttershy, who leaped away from the wisp pony, giggling.

"She tickled me!" the pegasus pony tattled.

"Wisp ponies are very playful and mischievous, and Flash Fire's no exception," Breakneck Pace giggled as her friend floated back to them. She finally gestured to the small pony. "And this is Future Sight. You already know that she's called an espony. Esponies may look the size of foals, but in reality this is as big as they can get."

"Aww, how cute!" Pinkie cooed, and Future Sight blushed a bit.

"Allow us to introduce ourselves," Twilight smiled at the three foreign ponies. "My name is Twilight Sparkle and I'm what's called an alicorn pony. Alicorns in Equestria - the land we're from - have the most magical power and are the monarchs of Equestria.

"These two are Applejack and Pinkie Pie. They may look like overgrown esponies, but in reality they're called earth ponies. They have the ability to tend to the land and grow crops. And Pinkie's little skill that nopony else has is... something nopony else can explain actually."

"I have what's called a Pinkie Sense!" Pinkie grinned.

"This is Rarity, and she's a unicorn pony," the alicorn continued. "I used to be a unicorn as well before I became an alicorn princess. We're both able to levitate objects and cast spells, and some can even teleport. Unicorns used to be responsible for rising and setting the sun and moon before Princesses Celestia and Luna - the highest alicorn princesses - came along.

"And finally, these are Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy. They're called pegasus ponies and they have the abilities to change the weather, fly, and walk on clouds."

"We can also make things such as lightning and rainbows," Rainbow Dash boasted.

"Wow! Such foreign pony races!" Flash Fire commented in awe.

"Well, to us, you're the foreign races," Twilight giggled.

"Okay, I think that's enough with the introduction," Breakneck Pace said. "Let's eat first, and then we'll tell you about the Apocalyptic Sisters?"

"Apocalyptic Sisters?" Strike echoed. "What do you need to know them for? Do you plan on joining them?"

"Oh, don't be a feather-brain, we're here to drive them out for you guys!" Rainbow exclaimed defensively.

Strike's, Future Sight's, and Flash Fire's eyes widened. Flash Fire was the one to speak. "You're gonna drive out the sisters? How?"

"We'll explain that later," Twilight replied. "First, go ahead and eat up. You all must be famished."

The four foreign ponies crowded around the apples, cupcakes, and water and ate and drank to their hearts' content. It was obvious to Twilight and her friends that these ponies haven't had a decent meal in a long time, and it broke their hearts just thinking that ponies are being forced to live in these cruel and unusual conditions.

Future Sight was the first to finish since she had had a cupcake prior and her body was quite small. She waited for the others to finish, and then they all turned back to the Equestrian ponies. The espony spoke to them in a tone that was so quiet the six almost missed it, "Thank you."

"You're welcome, sugarcube," Applejack smiled warmly at the small pony.

"So, I suppose we should get down to telling you what you'll face once you confront the Apocalyptic Sisters," Breakneck Pace said. She turned to her three friends. "Who wants to help me explain?"

"Um... Not me..." Flash Fire whimpered. "They're too scary to talk about..."

"I'm good, thanks," Strike muttered uncomfortably.

Future Sight didn't answer, but rather whined a bit and went to hide behind Strike again.

The Sleipnir pony sighed before turning back to the Equestrian ponies. "Guess I'm the one who's gonna explain them. Okay, I'll start with Famine."

"Famine?" Rarity echoed in disgust.

"Famine is the youngest of the Apocalyptic Sisters," Breakneck Pace began. "She is a dark gray pony with a black mane and tail. She look a lot like a larger espony with a smaller head - what are they called again, earth ponies? - as do the other sisters, but they have devastating powers. Her power is to drain the nutrients from ponies to the point of starvation, and she can also touch a source of food or water and make it absolutely unsafe to eat. Even if you tried eating a mushy, gooey, rotten apple you'll probably end up throwing it back up. Mytholand lost quite a number of lives due to the Famine Period all because of her.

"The second youngest sister is named Pestilence, who has a white coat and gray hair. Her power is to spread disease which we Mytholanders called the Pony Plague. All she has to do is breathe in the faces of ponies to transfer her disease and the ponies will end up dehydrating from constant vomiting and diarrhea, losing their strength and powers, and grow many excruciatingly painful wart-like bumps all over their bodies. Once those wart things burst, they end up bleeding to death, but that's if the disease doesn't cause total organ failure first.

"Next is War, the second eldest sister. She has a red coat with a darker red mane and tail designed to look like fire, kind of like Flash Fire's mane. Her ability is to start fights and wars, and not those prissy little arguments the Sirens would make - before you ask, we have heard of Starswirl the Bearded as well - but real battles that would shed blood and destroy lives. She caused a war between Typhon ponies and esponies versus Sleipnir ponies and wisp ponies about a year ago, and that's one of the reasons why there's so little of us left.

"And the last is the most dangerous, the eldest sister..." Breakneck Pace hesitated and gulped nervously before speaking again, and the thing she said chilled everypony to the bone, "Death."

"D-Death?" Twilight whimpered, drawing her ears back in fright.

"Death has the power to take away ponies' lives. She's usually the one responsible for all the deaths in Mytholand when ponies were injured, sick, or starving. Sometimes she'll even kill a healthy pony just for the fun of it. She stares into your eyes with her pure white ones and sucks out your soul from your eyes. Legend even has it that if you look straight into Death's eyes without having your soul taken away, you can just faintly see the spirits of other ponies she claimed the lives of floating around and trying desperately to escape."

Nopony spoke a word or even dared to breathe for a few moments. All of them were far too stunned by what they had just heard. They had encountered masters of chaos, Tartarus and moon escapees, and even a swarm of bug-pony hybrids, but never in their life had they ever have to face villains who killed other ponies!

"Will the Elements of Harmony be enough to beat them?" they suddenly heard Fluttershy squeak, and the other five realized that she had voiced their same exact thoughts. The magic of friend was strong enough to deal with hatred, of course, but how could it ever compete with death itself?

"What are the Elements of Harmony?" Flash Fire asked tilting her head in curiosity.

"The Elements of Harmony are powerfully magical artifacts that each represent an element of friendship," Twilight explained. She and her friends pulled out the elements from the pile of items dumped out of the saddlebags and pulled out the five necklaces and one crown, then placed them around their necks and on their head.

"I represent the Element of Loyalty!" Rainbow declared proudly.

"I represent the Element of Generosity!" Rarity added with a pose.

"I represent the Element of Honesty," Applejack chimed in, crossing a foreleg over the other.

"I represent the Element of Kindness," Fluttershy smiled sheepishly.

"I represent the Element of Laughter!" Pinkie squealed, sending confetti and streamers scattering to the ground that came out of nowhere.

"And I represent the Element of Magic," Twilight finished with a smile. "With these six elements, we were able to defeat every single villain we came across."

"Do you really think the magic of friendship can compete with death itself?" Breakneck Pace asked, raising an eyebrow.

"We can only hope," Twilight replied. "So, where are the sisters now?"

"They're in a cave on the base of the mountain on the edge of Mytholand," Strike replied. "It's called Apocalypse Mountain. It used to be called Olympony Mountain, but after the sisters came along..."

"We'll head down there as soon as possible!" Rainbow declared.

"Hold on," Breakneck Pace interrupted before the pegasus pony could fly out. "It's almost nighttime. Why don't you all rest here tonight? I know there's barely anything for you to sleep on, but at least it's shelter."

"Thank you, Breakneck Pace, we appreciate it," Twilight smiled warmly before yawning. "Okay, let's get some shut-eye. Tomorrow's a big day."

As the six ponies settled in for the night, a thin shadow whisked past the house and towards Apocalypse Mountain...