Revenge of the Shadow Pony

Sunset, Tempest, and Apple Bloom kept moving through the forest as far away as they could from the prison. It seemed as if they were far from the chaos, but they could see the blast from the prison coming a mile away.

“Watch out!” Sunset shouted, looking at the oncoming blast.

Seeing this, Tempest moved to the left side with Apple Bloom, avoiding the blast in the process. They continued to run a great distance, having galloped a great distance away. But just then, they see various manticores, timberwolves, and corrupted ponies hot on their tails.

“There’s more of them!?” Sunset shouted as she ran.

“Let’s split up! We’ll throw them off this way!” Tempest suggested before separating from Sunset and Apple Bloom.

Tempest ran to the left side and a handful of corrupted ponies and manticores chased after her. She ran past various trees and bushes to throw the creatures off. However, it did very little to lose them and they just got even closer. A select few unicorns converted their heads and grew an elongated spine nearly resembling a human torso, giving it a near-identical of a centaur. Then its skull opened up, revealing the brain and separating the horn.

“Are you kidding me!?” Tempest shouted upon witnessing the transformations.

The corrupted unicorns proceeded to fire black magic beams at Tempest like a machine gun, prompting her to run away from them even faster. The manticores were nearly close to her as well. They breathed fire at her from all different directions, but Tempest kept a safe distance away from the creatures.

“Just where is Grubber when you need something to shoot at…?” Tempest lamented as she kept running.

Having no other choice, Tempest jumped towards the trees and ran across the branches. Using various parkour moves, she did a good job at keeping away from the creatures. Even as the manticores started flying and the unicorns fired very strong blasts at the trees from the ground. Pretty soon, the trees started dropping like bricks and Tempest was running short on options. So she used her horn to create these green orbs and kick them at one of the unicorns, turning it into an obsidian statue in the process.

“I hope Sunset and Starlight are doing okay…” Tempest thought as she kept jumping across the trees.

***

Sunset kept running and blasting her way through the forest while carrying Apple Bloom and being chased by the creatures. All the while trying to avoid being caught in the blast from the prison. The creatures continued to gain on them, but Sunset was able to shoot them away at a safe distance. But there were more and it was a lot for Sunset to chew. Eventually, Sunset saw a broken bridge from across the gap.

“Dead end!” Sunset shouted as she looked ahead.

The other side was pretty far and it seemed that Sunset had almost no hope of making it across. But it was either that or get eaten by the creatures that are pursuing them.

“Apple Bloom, hold onto me as tightly as you can!” Sunset ordered as she started running at high speed.

“Don’t tell me… we’re… we’re-” Apple Bloom nervously said before being cut off by Sunset.

“Just don’t look down!” Sunset shouted as she began dashing.

Doing as she was told, Apple Bloom held onto Sunset as tightly as she could and closed her eyes out of fear. Focusing her energy on the jump, Sunset dashed extremely fast and leapt as far as she could like a rabbit to avoid being a predator’s prey. It was a far distance. In fact, it was so wide that Sunset and Apple Bloom nearly fell. But then the former fired a blast powerful enough to launch them straight to the other side of the gap. Getting off the ground, Sunset and Apple Bloom saw the creatures from the other side. The manticores and corrupted pegasi spread their wings and flew to the other side.

“LET’S GET OUTTA HERE!!!” Apple Bloom shouted before Sunset picked her up and started running once more.

***

Tempest continued to jump across the trees while doing everything she could to avoid being shot at by the manticores and the unicorns. But just as she was about to jump the next tree, she was suddenly knocked down by one of the pegasi in the air. She fell to the ground and was immediately surrounded by the creatures.

“Oh great, some more playtime!” Tempest shouted before getting into a fighting stance.

One of the manticores charged at Tempest, but she evaded the lunging lion-scorpion hybrid and kicked one of her activated orbs at the manticore, turning it into an obsidian statue and destroying itself in the process. One of the corrupted unicorns fired several of its skeleton bullets, grazing Tempest a tiny bit before receiving an orb from the unicorn. Then Tempest used her broken horn to create lightning and stun of the corrupted earth ponies before grabbing and kickflipping its head off. Then one of the manticores grabbed Tempest and threw her across the forest before lunging itself at her in an attempt to bite her head off. Tempest resisted with all her might before seizing the opportunity to send lighting from her horn into the manticore’s mouth, burning its insides in the process. Then Tempest looked around and saw the creatures surround her. Wasting no time, Tempest turned around and dashed away from them as they gave pursuit.

“I hope Starlight and Sunset are doing better than I am…” Tempest said as she continued to run.

***

Meanwhile at the prison, Starlight was worn out and exhausted from fighting Midnight too much. Cornering her, Midnight walked towards Starlight while the poor defenseless unicorn tried to think of a way to fight her off.

Stop fighting me, Starlight. It’s pointless. You are already on the brink of death and you still continue to defy me. I will admit that you gave me a few nicks and scratches in our little confrontation. But even entertainment such as this must come to an end. Wouldn’t you agree, Starlight?” Midnight taunted before charging up her horn.

Starlight tried to set up a force field, but it was too late before Midnight fired a shot at her. Even as the force field was set up, it was too weak to deflect the shot. So Starlight moved herself out of the blast’s way, closing her eyes in the process. After it was finished, Starlight opened her eyes and scanned her surroundings. But as she looked around, she found something familiar in the dirt. It had the same color as Starlight’s skin. She grew scared. Touching her forehead, her fears were correct. Her horn was blasted off as she dodged Twilight’s attack.

"No… My… My…" Starlight stammered as her eyes widened.

"That's right, my poor deluded protege. Your horn is gone~." Midnight venomously taunted before smashing it with her hoof.

But before Midnight could do any further damage, a mighty, angry roar was heard from across the forest. Midnight turned to the right to see what was up. Starlight, on the other hoof, seized the opportunity and ran away from the prison, escaping her fate whilst Midnight was distracted.

"So he has finally lost it…" Midnight stated with sadistic glee before flying over to the battlefield.