Cabin Fervor

“We don't have much time.” Sunset said. As much as she wanted to stay there with her arms wrapped protectively around Twilight, she knew there was more to be done. “Everybody, start looking for a weapon. Anything sharp, or heavy, or preferably both.” The girls nodded, and spread out to the corners of the main room.

“There's a buncha stuff we can use out in the tool shed.” Applejack started for the door.

“Wait!” Sunset Shimmer blurted. “Don't go outside. As long as we're in here, we have a slight defensive advantage. If you go outside, they'll just pick you off. Maybe even replace you.”

Applejack stopped with her hand on the doorknob. “So much for that idea, then.”

“Keep looking inside the cabin. If it looks useful, grab it.”

“Ooooh, found something!” Pinkie Pie said. She stood up, holding a can of bug spray.

“Pinkie.” Rarity said,“It's going to take considerably more than that to stop those … things.”

“Wait, lemme see that.” Twilight plucked the aerosol can out of Pinkie's hand. “If I get the right parts … “ Twilight ransacked a junk drawer with renewed vigor, until she stepped back with an. “A ha!”

She snatched a trigger-operated lighter and a roll of duct tape out of the drawer. It was a simple matter to tape the lighter to the can of bug spray, nozzle pointed outward. She lit the lighter, and then pushed the button on the spray can, sending a quick orange burst of flame out into the air. “There! Instant flamethrower!” Twilight beamed with the pride of a proper mad scientist.

“That looks dangerous.” Fluttershy said.

“Uh. Well. It is.” Twilight said. “But hopefully not as dangerous as those Changelings.”

“What if we call the police?” Fluttershy's voice cracked in desparation. “Can't they come help us?”

“I doubt the local sheriff’s equipped to deal with this.” Twilight said. She followed Sunset's lead, shuffling through a closet by the door. “That is, if they even believe us. 'Help, we're being attacked by giant bug monsters that look like our friends' is the kind of story that'd get us arrested.” Twilight pulled a battered but still sealed can of kerosene out of the back of the closet. She squinted at it for a moment, and then swished its contents around. She set the can aside, and then started looking.

“Don't worry, Fluttershy!” Rainbow Dash ducked into the main bedroom, Pinkie Pie close on her heels. “It's not like this is the first time we had to save the world!”

“I kinda wish it'd be the last. World saving is scary.” Fluttershy clutched her arms around herself, and shivered.

“Jackpot!” Rainbow Dash's voice echoed from within the main bedroom. She walked into the main hall a moment later, her good hand wrapped around the stock of a long, twin-barreled shotgun.

Applejack made a pained noise, and immediately reached over to grab the gun by its barrels, yanking them upwards. “What n' the hell do you think you're doin'?”

“Saving us all, duh!” Rainbow Dash said.

“Dammit Rainbow!” Applejack yanked the weapon from her friend. “Wavin' this thing around like that, y'all coulda killed us 'fore them bugs did! It could be loaded!”

“Hey, no fair! How come you get the gun?”

“'cuz I reckon I'm the only one here who's ever used one before.” Applejack took care to keep the muzzle pointed in a safe direction as she split the breech open and checked it for shells. “Empty.” Her shoulders slumped in relief.

“Hey, I got a high score at that zombie game in the arcade. Does that count?”

“No.” Applejack said, flatly. “Not like it matters-- unless we got some shells, this thing's just a pricey club.”

“Oh, you mean these?” Pinkie Pie materialized next to Applejack, and held out a small cubical cardboard box.

“Now we're talkin'.” Applejack flipped the box open and peered inside. “Ain't as many as I'd like, but better n' nothin.” She took two shells out and slid them into the waiting breech of the gun, but didn't close the hinge just yet.

“Idea!” Rarity said. She took a pair of scissors from the junk drawer, and then used them to carve a strip of leather from the couch upholstery. She cut and tore at the cushion until she had a lengthy strap in her hands. She tied it into a loop, and then, after briefly examining one of the shotgun shells, set about cutting a series of parallel slits into the leather. She fit the extra shotgun shells into place in the loops, and then draped the makeshift bandoleer over Applejack's shoulder. “A tad crude, but these are extenuating circumstances. Either way, Applejack, you make quite the desperado.”

“Huh.” Applejack looked down at herself. “That's … actually a darn good idea.”

“Why, of course it is.” Rarity said. “It was my idea, after all.”

“Hey guys! Check this out!” In light of the impending disaster, Pinkie finally got dressed again. Though on top of her jeans and sweatshirt, she wore a cobbled together suit of pans and other kitchenware, topped off by an aluminum pot perched on her head. She rapped a knuckle against the baking sheet that hung over her chest. “Armor plating. Get it? Get it?”

“Technically, I think the term 'plate armor' would be a little more accurate.” Twilight noted.

Sunset Shimmer smiled, despite the situation. Each joke or pun (no matter how terrible) was a tiny step towards normalcy. At least, as normal as things could be for a girl who used to live in another dimension where everyone she knew was a magical equine.

Normal was relative, Sunset realized.

Fighting off strange and magical monsters was something Sunset and her friends were getting alarmingly good at. Sunset hefted a broken chair leg, and tested the point of some of the nails sticking out of one end with her finger. The feel of a weapon in her hand, however improvised, gave her a slight boost in confidence. The Changelings had held off for some reason, long enough to give Sunset and her friends a fighting chance. If they'd just swarmed, Sunset realized, the Changelings could've overwhelmed them easily. As it was, they could just barricade themselves inside, and then there'd be no way the Changelings could get to them without taking heavy casualties. Unless …

“Oh.” Sunset Shimmer said. “Shit.”

As one, her friends looked up from whatever they were doing.

“We have to go.” Sunset said, already moving for the door. “We have to go now.”

“And where can we go? Nobody's found the car keys yet.” Twilight said.

“You can hot wire a car, can't you, Twilight? You're smart.” Sunset already started moving for the door.

“Maybe? I mean, I could probably figure it out eventually, but it'd take time--”

“Then we'll cover you.” Sunset said.

“Hold up.” Applejack tightened her grip on the shotgun. “Didn't you just say we had a better chance iffin' we stayed put?”

“I did. But that was before I realized the Changelings want us here. That's why they're holding back!” She pointed to the glass door, with the lake beyond, and the faintly glowing eyes in the distance beyond that. “They want us to be scared, to stay put.”

“Why?” Applejack said.

“So they can sweep in and get us all at the same time. They're just stalling. I bet they've got another way in, like--”

“The basement!” Fluttershy squeaked. The basement door flew open, and a hissing, chittering wave of Changelings flowed out.

“DOWN!” Applejack shouted, and Fluttershy scampered out of the way. The cowgirl snapped the shotgun's action shut with a resoundingly loud click. Louder still was the roar of the twelve gauge. The head of the first Changeling through the door simply ceased to be. The second load of buckshot hit the second Changeling straight in the chest, tearing a hole in it so big that its body hit the floor with a splash.

Applejack broke the shotgun open, and the still-smoking casings sprung out and to the floor. The cowgirl immediately worked a second pair of shells into the gun, but those few precious seconds were all the endless tide of Changelings needed.

It was impossible to make out individual Changelings in the horde billowing out of the basement. They were almost like some kind of horrible, ravenous liquid, suddenly expanding to take shape of the vessel they were contained in. They scuttled over the furniture, up the walls, blotting out the fancy rustic décor with their ugly inky carapaces.

The girls fought back, and fought well. Chitin crunched and split beneath the kitchen knives and improvised clubs they wielded. Periodically, Applejack's shotgun boomed-- once, twice. Each shot ripped a terrible hole in the Changeling ranks, but there were always more of the horrid, screeching monsters to fill them.

Twilight snapped off quick little bursts with her bug-spray flamethrower, wincing as she felt the heat from each spray. The Changelings on the receiving end had it worse, and recoiled as the flaming poison stuck to their exoskeletons.

“Stay together!” Sunset said, and buried the nailed end of her chair leg into the skull of an approaching bug-monster. As the creature fell, Sunset wrenched her club free with the kind of wet sound she knew she wouldn't forget for the rest of her life (short as that may have been, given the circumstances).

“Working on it!” Rainbow Dash said. Even with her broken arm, she grappled with a Changeling, finally ducking down lower to grab it around the waist. Rainbow let out a primal cry as she hoisted the beast up and slammed it against the wall above the fireplace. By luck or by some natural fighting instinct, Rainbow smashed the flailing changeling against the trophy antlers so hard that one of them stabbed straight through the monster's chest.

Impaled like something out of an entomology collection, the Changeling could do little but flail and scream as great gouts of green lifeblood spouted out of its chest. Rainbow Dash sputtered as the gore rained down on her, but a second Changeling, and then a third, lunged at her in revenge for their comrade. Rainbow Dash went down beneath a pile of grasping, clawing limbs, but she gave twice as good as she got, throwing kicks and punches even as she was pushed to the floor.

“Hold on, Rainbow! I'm coming!” Pinkie Pie waded through the battle, lashing out left and right with a heavy oaken rolling pin. Claws and fangs skittered off her improvised armor. On multiple occasions, Pinkie Pie even headbutted unfortunate Changelings, putting the pot dangling over her head to deadly use.

Sunset Shimmer left the nails of her chair leg in the throat of one Changeling, kicked the next monster in the stomach, and then turned to scramble across the lodge. The idyllic cabin had been transformed to a hell of blood and gunsmoke, populated by an endless tide of ravenous monsters. One by one, Sunset saw her friends fall. They went down fighting, but they still fell. Applejack fired the last of her shells and then switched to using her shotgun like a club. Rarity sank a pair of long-bladed scissors into the eye of the Changeling that wrestled her to the floor, while Fluttershy could do little more than cower as more of the insect monsters bore down on her.

“Twilight!” Sunset grabbed the bespectacled girl by the back of her collar and started hauling her towards the door. “You have to get out of here!”

“What, me?” Twilight sputtered. Sunset ignored her protests, and dragged her towards the door. When a Changeling sprung in front of them, Sunset swung Twilight around like a weapon, who in turn whipped her aerosol flamethrower up to burn a path through.

“You're the only one who can hotwire a car! You've got to go get help!” Sunset said. “Get back to the school-- get Vice Principal Luna, or go through the portal and get Princess Twilight. She's faced Changelings before. She'll know what to do.”

“Wait!” Twilight yelped. “What about you?”

“I'll buy you time.”

Sunset grabbed a fistful of Twilight's shirt and pulled her in for a brief, though no less urgent kiss. She also took the opportunity to pluck the can of bug spray from Twilight's suddenly limp fingers.

“Guh.” Twilight said, heart pounding even harder than it had when something was trying to kill her.

“Consider that incentive to stay alive.” Sunset said, and shoved Twilight out the front door. “Now go!”

“But--”

“Move!” Sunset spun around, just in time to hose yet another Changeling down with flame. The last thing Twilight saw before the door closed was a dark, jagged shape pouncing upon Sunset from behind.

Twilight held a hand up to her mouth, staring in shock at the closed door. Muffled screams, hisses, and the crackle of open flame came from within. Twilight blinked back the tears she told herself weren't there, and then backed away from the cabin.

“Right.” Gravel jabbed into her bare feet. “Hot wire a car. Get help. Simple. Easy.”

Twilight turned around, and headed for Fluttershy's minivan. It was older than Cadance's convertible, and therefore easier to hot wire.

The Changeling perched on the roof of Fluttershy's minivan would make hotwiring a lot more difficult.

Where the Changelings inside had whipped themselves into a violent, nigh suicidal frenzy, the one atop Fluttershy's van was different. Its translucent wings flickered behind it as it slowly sighted in on Twilight, savoring the smell of her fear. Drool dripped from its fangs as it slid down over the windshield and onto the hood of Fluttershy's van.

Twilight froze, and forced herself to size up the situation as best she could. Alone. Barefoot. Unarmed. And, to judge by the pairs of glowing eyes flickering to life in the trees, terribly outnumbered.

The Changeling on Fluttershy's van sprung forward in a nightmare of claws and mandibles. The only reason Twilight didn't scream was because she'd already tired her voice out too much already. Instead, she could do little but whimper as she dove out of the Changeling's way. She staggered, and briefly scrabbled across the gravel driveway on all fours before she was able to get to her feet and run somewhere. Anywhere. The cabin was a death trap, the cars were Changeling perches, and the woods were too dark and unknown to brave-- but then, Twilight realized, there it was!

The tool shed.

Twilight sprinted for the pre-fabbed shed as fast as she could, kicking up bits of gravel as she did so. Maybe the Changeling that followed her was slow and lazy, or maybe it was just toying with her, but Twilight never felt the shar agaony of claws in her back. She made it to the tool shed and barged through its door, slamming it shut behind her. Twilight turned the bolt, just in time to feel the entire structure shake as an angry bug monster slammed into it.

“Think, Twilight.” She told herself, both to get her bearings, and also to hear something besides angry Changeling chitters. “It's not so bad! You're just alone. In a tiny wooden box. Surrounded by horrible monsters that want to eat your brain.” Twilight laughed, mostly so she wouldn't break down and cry. “But … that's it! Your brain! Your wonderful, brilliant, delicious brain. Surely you can think of something, can't you, Twilight?” She laughed again, and then another thump at the tool shed's wall jarred the shed hard enough to make the various tools hanging from the walls rattle. Twilight's eyes flicked to one tool in particular.

“Yes, Twilight.” She told herself with a more than half mad giggle. “You can think of something.”

She took the chainsaw off the wall.