Chapters High above the northern sky in the mountains near the Crystal Empire, beneath the scintillating aurora, one particular star stood out brighter than the rest as it hung outside the auroras veil instead of behind it. Its unnatural grace may have gone unnoticed if it were not for the young Stygian laying in wait with a spyglass. The star tracked in retrograde to the starscape toward the glow of the Crystal Empire which lurked just beyond the horizon. As it was about to disappear a smaller light emerged from it and veered unnaturally toward Stygian's position.
The smaller light grew into a blazing fireball as it streaked closer. Shortly after flying overhead at an incredible rate of speed Stygian was concussed by a thunderous boom echoing through the mountaintops. He watched intently for the sign of an explosion as it disappeared into a nearby valley but when there was none he hastily removed a scrying bowl from his saddlebags and cast a spell on it.
"Stygian? Why are you calling me so late?" A tired voice called out from the bowl.
"Sir, I think we have one." Stygian's voice wavered with excitement.
"Are you sure? Where are you?" the voice in the bowl queried.
"In the mountains- grid three, zero."
"Why that's, hmm." the voice paused.
"Shall I send word to Canterlot as well, sir?"
"I think that it's best we keep this quiet for now. We don't want to cause any undue panic. Prepare an early response team. We'll rendezvous at the Crystal Empire."
Morning, several days later; as Applejack looked down from the purple air balloon, which she rode in with her friends, the military camp they headed for stood out like a sore thumb on the otherwise bare mountainside overlooking the outskirts of the Crystal Empire. She wore a serious and seasoned expression on her face; weathered by the years since she had assumed leadership of the Mane 6. It wasn't a time of war for Equestria but it wasn't exactly a time of peace either and as the balloon moored along side others at the camp and a burly stallion in the Canterlot Royal Guard attire lead her to the command tent she couldn't help but wonder what in the hay Princess Celestia was doing summoning her to such a militaristic looking operation.
"Applejack! I'm glad you're here, my little pony!" Celestia greeted Applejack with a smile on her face, though Applejack got no chance to reply before the beaming, solar smile morphed into a look of grave concern."I know you're wondering why you're here, Jack, so let's cut straight to the chase." Celestia motioned at the guard who then stepped out of the tent. Applejack replied with nothing more than a smoldering stare.
Princess Celestia fired a beam of magic into the air between the two mares and a tactical map of the surrounding area appeared.
"Two days ago we lost contact with a balloon carrying a friendship delegation to help resolve a friendship dispute in a remote village near the border with Yakyakistan." After a dramatic pause a red dot appeared near a valley that was marked on the map. "This is where we lost contact with the balloon." Celestia explained.
"Do your ponies normally fly on the wrong side of the border?" Applejack asked smugly as she observed the dot to be on the Yakyakistan side of the border.
"The whole border along that valley has been in dispute for a while with the Yaks now. We just want to recover the delegates, deal with the friendship problem and then get everypony out to the extraction point here. In and out. One day operation." Another red dot appeared on the map at the southernmost tip of the chasm.
"Ain't this somethin' you'd normally leave up to somepony from the friendship school?" Applejack quizzed.
"This is a very sensitive dispute in a very off-the-grid sort of village. I need the best mares I can get." Celestia explained.
"And some fool went and told her that you and your mares were the best." A smug and familiar voice called from another room in the command tent.
Applejack headed for the doorway between the two sections of the tent as Twilight Sparkle came trotting through.
"Twilight! We'll ain't you a maulwurfs sister!" Applejack beamed excitedly as she thrust a front hoof toward Twilight Sparkle's. After their hooves clopped together they kept pushing against each other with all their might. "You've gotten soft." Applejack taunted as Twilight Sparkle's hoof began to back off slightly.
"Good to see you, Jack!" Twilight Sparkle exclaimed in a strained voice as she gave one last strong thrust back.
"What's the matter, Twilight? Celestia got you pushing too many quills?" Applejack chided as she bared down. Eventually Twilight Sparkle gave way and collapsed back. "You never did know when to quit, Twilight."
The two mares exchanged a lengthy hug.
"You know we could use a mare like you in the Canterlot Guard." Twilight Sparkle said.
"I don't do that kind of work anymore." Applejack sighed. "Friendship operations only."
"Once you're on the ground Twilight will be taking command of the operation." Celestia explained.
"Didn't Twilight tell you I don't take orders from others very well, sugar cube!" Applejack protested.
"Look, Jack." Twilight Sparkle placed a hoof on Applejack's shoulder and the two turned around. "I have friends in that delegation too. This is personal for me."
Applejack looked Twilight Sparkle in the eye and gave a nod of understanding.
Rock and roll music played loudly from a record player as the team of seven mingled on a purple air balloon piloted by a Canterlot Guard stallion. Applejack looked around and reflected on her team with pride as they mingled with each other and checked their gear.
Rainbow Dash quietly polished her weapon of choice if things didn't go as planned; an ornate set of wing-blades- as lethal as any magic when combined with her athletic prowess. Though her attitude could really stir up a storm of controversy she had proven to Applejack time-and-time-again that she owned the Element of Loyalty and would always be at her side in moments of danger.
Starlight Glimmer, although she had joined up with the Mane 6 well before Applejack took over as leader, still stood out of the group as the newest member. When things got tough in the Saddle Arabian friendship affair the team leaned hard on her heavy offensive magic. Her cheeks bulged out as she masticated a mouthful of falafel. Her most important role was stepping up as the new Element of Magic when Twilight Sparkle moved on and up and Applejack often wondered if it was all the salty, deep-fried food she stuffed in her face that fueled her magic. She offered up a bite to Rarity.
"Goodness, no, darling." Rarity protested as she gave the falafel a sniff. "Get that dreary commoner's food away from me!"
Starlight Glimmer then offered a bite to Fluttershy who simply raised a hoof in refusal. "You girls are a bunch of boorish pushovers! This stuff will turn you into a freaking sexual tyrannosaurus!" she then chided.
Rarity flashed a sinister smile toward Starlight Glimmer as she lit her horn aglow. "Let's see you sit so smugly after I'm done with you, darling." The balloon filled up with boisterous laughter. Rarity often flew under the radar as the underdog of the group. Being a seamstress gave her a very utilitarian personality that was often taken for granted but as the Element of Generosity she didn't seem to mind. In moments when things didn't go as planned she had always proved that she could hold her own.
"Hey Fluttershy Guess what!?" Pinkie Pie called ecstatically. Fluttershy turned her head to look. "I was up all night working on dessert with Mr. Cake and I said 'hey! you weren't supposed to put the icing on yet!' and he said 'I didn't'." Fluttershy stared meekly at Pinkie Pie. "Get it?! Because it wasn't icing." Pinkie Pie rolled her eyes in defeat and went back to her own business. Applejack was begrudging to accept that an Element of Laughter was necessary at all but Pinkie Pie's ability to break the fourth wall came in handy quite often- even if it could only be used as a catalyst to bring about a turning point and not an outright deus ex machina . Fluttershy never spoke much out on missions but the Element of Kindness went a long way solving friendship problems and her affinity for nature proved most valuable in keeping a track of objectives when things stopped going according to plan.
Twilight Sparkle on the other hoof, Applejack thought, was the wildcard in this group now. It had been years since they had seen each other, let alone worked together, and Applejack wasn't quite sure if Twilight Sparkle was still somepony she could trust.
As the group disembarked onto the snowy mountainside from the balloon Starlight Glimmer was working on another falafel wrap and offering around a bite to the group. "That's a real nasty habit you have there." Twilight Sparkle lectured before jaunting off toward the edge of a deep chasm. "Around here is where we lost contact with the balloon." She explained.
"Why is it all melty!?" Pinkie Pie asked excitedly, noting that grass jutted out from the snow toward the edge of the chasm.
"And what's that smell, darling?" Rarity placed a hoof at her scrunched nose to fend off a sulfurous odor.
Applejack Wandered toward the edge of the chasm with Twilight Sparkle. The other mares could see their faces light up from an orange glow as they got close. "Well, I'll be." Applejack said with wonder.
"It looks like a volcanic tube flows out into the chasm." Twilight Sparkle explained as the other mares approached to look.
"Wow. It's so lush down there." Starlight Glimmer observed a dense deciduous forest that thrived in the heat of the lava flow that stretched on for miles.
"Looks like I brought this designer scarf for nothing!" Rarity huffed, as she stuffed the scarf back into her saddle bags.
"Hey! I think I see the balloon down there!" Pinkie Pie screeched as she strained her eyes toward the floor of the chasm. She produced a hoof-full of narrow balloons and quickly folded them into a pair of binoculars and began scanning the terrain below. Applejack grabbed the balloon binoculars from her and took a look around.
"It's a long way down for ponies who can't fly." Rarity sighed as she stepped forward, accidentally kicking a small rock over the edge. The rock bounced several times against the surrounding rock face on its way down.
Fluttershy approached the scene meekly, shuttering quietly to herself.
Applejack hammered a piton into a large boulder nearby, threaded a steel cable through it and looked over to Rainbow Dash. Rainbow Dash nodded, grabbed the cable, and flew it down and across the chasm, hammering a piton into the cavern wall at the other side.
"Ooh! A zip-line!" Pinkie Pie screeched excitedly. She produced some more balloons and created a hoof grip for the line.
"Z-zip line?" Fluttershy stuttered nervously.
"Oh, for crying out loud, Fluttershy! Can't you just fly down?" Applejack buried her face in one of her front hooves.
"But it's so far." Fluttershy protested.
"Come on, Fluttershy, We got this!" Rainbow Dash encouraged as she flew back to the group.
Rainbow Dash held one of Fluttershy's front hooves with her own as the two flew down together.
Pinkie Pie was the first to take the zip-line down, letting out an excited "WEE!" as she went. Somewhere across the chasm the scene was quietly being watched. The shorter wavelengths of infrared radiation from her body popped out in contrast against the longer wavelengths from cooler surroundings at the top of the chasm. She was being watched by her body heat. "WEE!" the observer repeated to itself like a vinyl recording. Its attention turned to another bright heat source taking flight from the top of the chasm directly toward the damaged air balloon which was caught up in a tree some distance away.
"Now wait just a darn minute!" Applejack protested as she watched Twilight Sparkle fly on ahead of them. She quickly jumped on to the zip-line and slid down with her bare hooves on all fours as Rainbow Dash flew the balloon hoof-grip back up for Rarity.
Twilight Sparkle let out a dread sigh as she approached the scene. The balloon was caught up in some trees and there were streaks of blood along the forest floor but otherwise no sign of the delegates.
"This doesn't look good, sugar cube." Applejack sighed as she caught up. The two mares scanned the nearby woods for any signs of life as the others caught up.
"Over here!" Starlight Glimmer called out. Applejack walked over to her side and the two looked over a burn mark on the side of a tree. "There was a magic fight down here." Starlight Glimmer explained. "Whoever fired these blasts was completely spooked."
Rainbow Dash stood and comforted Fluttershy as she looked for tracks on the forest floor. Fluttershy then whispered her conclusion to Rainbow Dash.
"Hey Applejack!" Rainbow Dash called out.
"What is it?" Applejack walked back over to Rainbow Dash.
"Fluttershy says that it looks like three ponies got off the balloon. A yak and two ponies ambushed them from the south east. Dragged two of the ponies off with them."
"Then where's the third? Fluttershy, ain't there a bird or something you can ask?" Applejack asked in a commanding tone.
"Something scared everycreature away." Fluttershy explained nervously.
"Darling!" Rarity called out nervously as she observed a drop of blood descending down from the canopy above.
Applejack looked over to Rainbow Dash and the two nodded. Rainbow Dash pulled her wing blades from her saddle bags and strapped them on. With a mighty leap and a stroke of her wing she cut a thick branch out of the way and the other six looked up and then pulled back and winced in terror. The bloodied body of a pegasus hung from a higher branch, the skin removed. Twilight Sparkle stepped over and with tears in her eyes her horn glowed as a pair of dog-tags began to levitate toward her from the body. Rainbow Dash leaped up and snatched the dog-tags and passed them to Applejack instead.
"Lieutenant F. Sentry." Applejack read out loud and then looked down solemnly.
"They just skinned him alive? Darling!" Rarity shuddered with disgust.
"Ew! That's not very fun!" Pinkie Pie squealed with a jarringly upbeat candor.
Twilight Sparkle sobbed conspicuously as Applejack came up and placed a hoof on her shoulder. "He was our friend too, sugar-cube. We worked with him back in the Great Vanhoover Fiasco. "
"There's still two delegates missing." Twilight Sparkle fought her tears back and held her head back up high. "I want every pony armed and on full alert." She commanded.
"Wow can you believe they skinned Flash like that? That must have been gross to watch!" Pinkie Pie said to Rarity as the mares tracked their way through the forest, following their way along side the lava flow.
"Darling!" Rarity protested the topic of conversation.
Up ahead Applejack walked along side Twilight Sparkle. "Do you mind telling me what in the hay Lieutenant Sentry is doing as a part of a so called friendship delegation? Something tells me this was no ordinary friendship problem." she demanded.
"You know friendship missions can get dangerous, Jack." Twilight Sparkle retorted curtly.
"If I'm going to be putting my mares in harm's way you gotta do me better than that, sugar cube!" Applejack growled.
"Flash and I were very close, Jack. Very close. Do you understand what I'm saying? I wish I could give you more but I can't. There's two ponies we need to rescue and they have loved ones too. So let's get it done." The two mares slowly tracked further away as they continued forward.
"Hey! I think I see the village!" Rainbow Dash exclaimed as she came swooping down and landed on point. Twilight Sparkle signaled for Rainbow Dash to be quiet and Rainbow Dash then cocked her head to one side and slowly crept forward toward a fallen log. All seven mares lined up and peered carefully over the log. Applejack signaled to Pinkie Pie who passed her another pair of balloon binoculars.
"This doesn't look like a village, Twilight." Applejack whispered. "Looks more like some kind of paramilitary camp." Applejack peered around the camp. It was down at the bottom of a shallow drop in the terrain from their position. It was swarming with crystal ponies and some yaks. She panned over just in time to see a stallion bound and being interrogated. Before she could say anything one of the crystal ponies interrogating him swung a blade at his neck and blood spurt forth as he slumped forward lifelessly. Applejack passed the balloon binoculars over to Twilight Sparkle. "They just executed one of those delegates." Applejack sighed.
"Then we need to do something fast before they execute the other one." Twilight Sparkle whispered as she surveyed the camp.
Applejack dished out orders to the rest of the team in the form of hoof signals. "I count about twenty of em'" Applejack whispered to Twilight Sparkle.
Rainbow Dash took flight and perched in a tall tree closer to the camp. Rarity pulled a spool of thick, metallic thread from her saddlebag. Starlight Glimmer quickly crunched down a falafel wrap and Pinkie Pie set up her party canon behind the fallen log.
Rarity, Fluttershy and Starlight Glimmer quietly crept down the hillside and assumed a concealed position at the base of a stockade at the edge of the camp that was manned by three crystal stallions.
"On my mark, Pinkie." Applejack whispered to Pinkie Pie as she crept down the hill toward a break in the crudely constructed wall surrounding the camp.
"What's your mark?" Pinkie Pie whispered as she popped up behind Applejack.
"You'll know it when you see it." Applejack whispered back with a wink. Pinkie Pie acknowledged with a salute and popped up back behind the party canon.
As one of the guards wandered further down the stockade Rarity popped up and pulled him down below; using her magic to hold the metallic thread against his throat as a garrote. She concentrated hard as the pony struggled until he fell limp and lifeless. Rarity then cocked her head to signal to Fluttershy that another guard was heading closer to her position. Fluttershy quickly popped up and clamped her teeth tight against his throat, pulling him down off the stockade. The guard struggled hard and Fluttershy whipped her head to the side, tearing a hole in his throat.
"Sorry." Fluttershy quietly whispered as the guard gurgled and agonized, unable to breathe as he bled out.
Starlight Glimmer jumped up onto the stockade beside the final guard. She quickly cast a glowing blue isolation bubble around him. He bucked against the isolation bubble and yelled but he was completely silent from the outside. Starlight Glimmer smirked devilishly as she slowly contracted the isolation bubble, crushing the stallion inside. His mangled corpse fell lifelessly to the ground as the isolation bubble disappeared.
"What the hay is she doing?" Twilight Sparkle whispered to herself; watching as Applejack crept up to a table where a crystal pony and a yak were sitting and playing checkers. Twilight Sparkle quietly started advancing toward the camp and Pinkie Pie kept watching eagerly for her signal.
Applejack bucked her hind legs at the table, flipping the checker board and all of the pieces onto the ground. Taking it as her signal Pinkie Pie set off the party canon and with a loud explosion its payload flew into a nearby hut which then exploded into a cloud of confetti, debris, and severed limbs. Applejack bucked the yak at the table with her hind hooves and the sound of cracking bone filled the air as she propelled herself from there toward the crystal pony, pinning her to the ground before snuffing her life out with a front hoof to the face.
Noticing the commotion, five crystal ponies charged rapidly towards Applejack's position. Rainbow Dash came swooping past and in a streak of rainbow and blood her wing blades decapitated two of them and she spun to the ground entangled in a third as one of her wing blades became stuck in his abdomen.
"Yak smash!" A large burly yak charged at Rainbow Dash from the sidelines but Twilight Sparkle quickly soared in and struck him with a blast of magic from her horn before landing and facing off against the remaining two ponies. One of the remaining crystal ponies jumped on top of Twilight Sparkle and held her down as Rarity charged in and pulled him off with her garrote thread and Fluttershy jumped in and clamped her teeth around the throat of the other.
Three unicorns popped out from a hut at the back of the camp and started firing magical blasts at the team as they all scrambled behind an overturned cart for cover.
"Those aren't crystal ponies!" Applejack shouted to Twilight Sparkle who offered no reply.
Pinkie Pie lobbed another payload from the party canon at the unicorns, causing them to explode into a shower of blood and confetti.
The remaining inhabitants of the camp began fleeing toward the woods. Starlight Glimmer began sending a rapid volley of magical bolts from her horn, striking and killing two of them but the rest escaped.
"Good work girls." Twilight Sparkle said with a smug smile as the team started surveying the camp.
"Uh, Twilight!" Applejack called out and Twilight Sparkle joined her in what appeared to be the command tent of the camp. Another stallion in Canterlot Guard armor lay lifeless and bloodied on the floor. "This wasn't a friendship delegation was it?"
"We've completed the mission. Spike, send a letter to Princess Celestia requesting immediate evac at this location." Twilight Sparkle ordered.
"I'm glad somepony finally noticed that I was here this whole time!" Spike huffed as he sauntered out of the tent.
Applejack aggressively pounced at Twilight Sparkle, knocking her to her back and pinning her down. "There was no friendship mission here was there!?" She shouted angrily.
"These ponies were part of The Sleepless Dusk , a radical Crystal Empire separatist group." Twilight explained, short on breath as she struggled to get out from under Applejack. Applejack got off of Twilight Sparkle and turned around.
"I can't believe you, Twilight. You used us to carry out your dirty work."
"Wake up and see the truth, Jack. We're assets. We're expendable assets." Twilight Sparkle lectured. "These terrorists were trying to start a war between the Crystal Empire and Yakyakistan and we just took out their forward operating base."
"Not one of my mares is expendable!" Applejack shouted as she headed toward the exit of the tent.
Both mares were stopped by the sound of a cough coming from underneath a pile of debris and after a frantic dig they found Sunburst laying battered beneath.
"Sunburst, what in tar nation are you doing with a bunch of terrorists?" Applejack quizzed.
"It's not what it looks like!" He pleaded.
"I'm taking you back to Princess Celestia for a full interrogation." Twilight Sparkle said.
"Um, Twilight?" Spike popped into the tent.
"What is it, Spike?"
"Princess Celestia says recon has picked up Sleepless Dusk forces closing on our position. She won't risk landing a balloon here and we're to proceed to the extraction point as originally planned." Spike explained.
"Well then he's just going to slow us down!" Applejack pulled a blade from her saddlebag and moved toward Sunburst.
"We need to know what he was doing here!" Twilight Sparkle stepped in the way.
"Fine. He's your responsibility then." Applejack huffed as she put the blade away.
The entire scene was not without a spectator; the same one that watched as they entered the volcanic chasm. It watched carefully from a distance as eight heat signatures crept away from the camp, Twilight Sparkle's remained. The unseen observer slowly crept closer but paused and cocked its head in confusion as she began to sing in a melancholy tone and music began to play seemingly from nowhere.
"This used to be my team and I never did them wrong
They used to stand by me and they used to sing along.
I left them for my crown and used them for its sake.
I've really let them down and put their lives at stake.
What kind of Princess of Friendship can I truly be? When no pony remains that puts their trust in me."
A dark, teardrop shape streaked down the infrared vision of the silent, unseen observer as Twilight Sparkle broke off into a melancholy chorus.
The unseen stalker followed the heat signatures of the party as they cautiously worked their way south through the chasm.
"I have to use the washroom!" Sunburst complained.
"For crying out loud!" Applejack snarled. "This is the middle of nowhere! There ain't no washrooms for a thousand miles. Go anywhere."
"But I need privacy!"
"In case you haven't noticed you're our prisoner, Darling." Rarity cocked her head sideways to remind him of the anti-magic horn cozy she had knitted and placed over his horn.
"Pinkie Pie, escort him somewhere private. Everypony else take five." Twilight Sparkle offered reluctantly. The stalker quietly followed as Pinkie Pie and Sunburst's heat signatures sauntered off away from the group.
"What's the matter, Fluttershy?" Rainbow Dash asked as Fluttershy came to a stop.
"Well I just feel like there's something out there. Something non-pony." She explained quietly.
"Well there were yaks helping them."
"That's not what I meant."
Some distance away as Pinkie Pie waited for Sunburst to reemerge from behind some brush the sound of a branch rustling caught her attention. She strained her eyes against the treetop and noticed a disturbance in the scenery in a humanoid shape. The unseen stalker seemed to be staring back at her waiting for an opportune moment to strike.
"Okay I'm done!" Sunburst said as he popped out from behind the brush, briefly catching Pinkie Pie's attention. The unseen stalker quickly rushed on her position while her head was turned.
The sound of Pinkie Pie and Sunburst's screams filled the woods and the other mares came running quickly.
"Darling!" Rarity shouted as she approached Sunburst who was covered in blood. "This isn't his blood" she noted. Sunburst just stared at the group with a frightened look on his face.
"What in the hay did you do to Pinkie Pie!?" Applejack demanded.
"Applejack, I think you better see this." Rainbow Dash said grimly as she emerged from behind some shrubs.
The mares all gathered around to see a mass of pink skin and blood along side Pinkie Pie's saddle bags.
"Where's the rest of her!?" Applejack shouted.
"I don't think Sunburst could have done this." Twilight Sparkle shook her head with tears in her eyes.
"What happened here!?" Rainbow Dash demanded as she held one of her wing blades against Sunbursts throat.
"A creature emerged from the woods, with some sort of invisibility spell." Sunburst explained.
"Well ain't that real convenient." Applejack turned her head up sarcastically.
"I think he might be telling the truth." Twilight Sparkle said candidly to Applejack as she came up along side her. "He could have ran away while we were looking for Pinkie Pie. He's just as frightened as we are."
"I've read about an encounter with a creature like this in the Canterlot Archives." Sunburst said reluctantly. "Over a thousand years ago. It hunted ponies for sport, used some kind of invisibility spell as camouflage and tracked them by seeing their body heat. When The Pillars were finally able to subdue it; it activated some sort of self-destruct spell that destroyed an entire village."
"Hunting ponies for sport? that sounds awful." Fluttershy said softly.
"Of course, that's why it didn't kill Sunburst. He's a total dweeb. There's no sport in it." Applejack pondered. "Well if it sees our body heat maybe we can blind it by stickin' by that lava flow. Come on girls!" Applejack ordered.
"The lava flow ends over a thousand hoofs before the extraction point and we'll have no cover the rest of the way if we do that." Twilight Sparkle explained as she projected a strategic map from her horn.
"Look sugar cube, I'm takin' charge now. I already lost a good mare and I ain't losin' anypony else." Applejack challenged.
"There's no way I could have known that creature was out there!" Twilight Sparkle snapped.
"And we wouldn't have been out here if it wasn't for your stinkin' lies!" Applejack jumped on top of Twilight Sparkle and pinned her to the ground.
"Stop fighting!" Starlight Glimmer plead tearfully as she used her magic to pull Applejack off of Twilight Sparkle. "We already lost Pinkie Pie and we can't afford to lose anypony else."
"She's right, Darling." Rarity stepped up. "He's just going to keep singling us out and picking us off one at a time." She placed a hoof on Applejack's shoulder as Twilight Sparkle climbed back to her hooves.
"We have to stick together if we're going to make it." Rainbow Dash said in an encouraging tone as an upbeat, plucky, Appalachian melody began to sound.
"With you girls at my side I don't feel afraid anymore." Fluttershy said with a smile as she placed a hoof on Applejack's other shoulder.
"Are we sure this is the best time for a singalong?" Twilight Sparkle quizzed.
"Are you kidding me?" Rainbow Dash beamed excitedly.
"Well if you can't beat em'" Applejack said as she pulled a hoofdolin from her saddlebags and began playing an accompanying melody.
Starlight Glimmer stood tall and proud and began to sing.
"It doesn't matter why we're here; What matters is where we plan to be-"
Before she could finish singing the music was interrupted by a sound like muffled thunder as a bright white bolt of plasma came firing toward Starlight Glimmer from a nearby tree. Her head exploded into pink mist, leaving behind her cauterized, charred, stump of a neck as her body slumped to the ground.
"Get to the balloon!" Applejack shouted. Twilight Sparkle concentrated and in a flash of magic the remaining mares appeared out beside the lava flow.
Twilight Sparkle rapidly cast beams from her horn into the woods toward where the creature was and bolts of plasma came flying back at them. "Spread out!" Twilight Sparkle ordered. Applejack's theory proved right as the plasma bolts were chaotic pot shots in all directions, sparks showering down wherever they struck the nearby scenery.
One of Twilight Sparkle's horn beams broke into a shower of sparks as it struck a positive hit. The creatures camouflage broke momentarily- revealing its humanoid form with brown, almost scaly, skin and dread-lock shaped hair-like protrusions on its head. It reached over on to its shoulder and pulled off its damaged plasma canon and threw it to the ground before camouflaging again. Twilight Sparkle fired another spell at the creature.
"That's impossible!" Twilight Sparkle sighed. "That spell should have dispelled its invisibility."
"Are you saying it's using something other than magic to turn invisible, darling?" Rarity quizzed.
"How is that possible?" Sunburst added.
"Every pony get out of here!" Rainbow Dash ordered as she streaked toward the last place they had seen the creature. A guttural, feral shriek sounded as one of her blades deeply grazed the creature sending a spatter of glowing green blood onto the nearby surroundings.
"Rainbow!" Applejack protested.
"I got this!" Rainbow Dash said staring soulfully back at Applejack- who replied with a grim nod.
"Come on girls!" Applejack ordered as everypony else began running south along the lava flow. Some time after Rainbow Dash fell out of sight the sound of her agonizing screams echoed through the woods. "Keep running!" Applejack urged.
"Ow! My wing! You cut off my wing!" Rainbow Dash's screams echoed across the landscape. Fluttershy stopped and looked back.
"C'mon, Fluttershy!" Applejack trotted back over and stood at her side.
"Ow! My other wing!" Rainbow Dash screamed loudly once more.
"Fluttershy!" Applejack stared sternly at Fluttershy.
"Oh, no! Now what are you doing with that blade. Ah! Oh my gosh, no! That's so painful. You're ripping me limb-from-limb. Why are you doing this to me!?" Rainbow Dash's screams were now also a wailing cry. Both Applejack and Fluttershy winced in horror at the sound, imagining the creature disemboweling Rainbow Dash as she thrashed around defensively. Rainbow Dash let out one last scream of terror and agony before everything fell silent in the distance.
"Let's go!" Applejack slapped her front hoof against Fluttershy's face and the two mares sprinted to meet up with the rest of the pack.
"We're nearing the end of the lava flow! There's the balloon over there!" Twilight Sparkle shouted as the balloon came into sight.
As the mares ran out into the open space toward the balloon the guttural sounds of the creature sounded as it quickly closed on their position. Fluttershy quickly broke from the group in the opposite direction.
"Fluttershy what in the hay are you doing?!" Applejack demanded.
"It's my turn to do something brave." She said softly as she assumed a firm stance, attempting to use her stare on the creature. The photonic smudge of the creatures camouflage steadily approached her, still, as the others looked back helplessly as they neared the balloon. A metallic spear emerged from the camouflage before thrusting through Fluttershys body. Blood spurt forth from the exit wound as the creature pulled the spear back.
The survivors; Twilight Sparkle, Applejack, Rarity and Sunburst quickly climbed aboard the balloon.
"Where are the others?" The pilot asked.
"There's no time to explain! Get this thing flyin!" Applejack ordered.
The balloon quickly ascended as the survivors all breathed a sigh of relief before reality struck them. They looked over the edge at the chaotic scene below and tears flowed to their eyes, remembering their fallen friends.
"We're headed straight to the Crystal Empire " The pilot explained. "The forward operating base has been compromised. Princess Celestia has been returned to Canterlot and you will be giving your debriefing to Princess Cadence."
Twilight Sparkle leaned forward against one side of the basket of the balloon and stared out and watched as the Crystal Empire slowly grew on the horizon. Applejack saw her and came over and stood beside her.
"I'm so-" Twilight Sparkle was interrupted by Applejack's hoof being held up to her face.
"This has been a mighty terrible thing, Twilight. But you're right. There's just no way we coulda' seen this comin'" Applejack hugged Twilight Sparkle tightly. "So don't blame yourself sugar cube."
"We're almost home-free." Rarity said as the towering capital of the Crystal Empire grew larger on the horizon.
"But that thing is still out there." Sunburst sighed. "And I want to help fight it. Those were my friends too."
Twilight Sparkle used her magic to remove the anti-magic cozy from Sunburst's horn and looked over to Rarity. The mares nodded to each other in confirmation.
"Here, darling." Rarity pulled an ornate and bulky bandoleer from her saddlebags and draped it around Sunbursts neck.
"Will this enhance my magic?" Sunburst asked with a gleam in his eyes.
"Goodness, no, darling. But every band of misfit science fiction heroes needs exactly one character who wears an awkward looking bandoleer that serves absolutely no practical purpose." Rarity explained with a smile. Sunburst replied by hanging his head.
"Preparing for final approach!" The pilot announced as the balloon neared a landing platform on the upper mezzanine of the Crystal Palace. Over the edge the mares could see Shining Armor and Cadence awaiting with a compliment of four guards
Before any pony could react the creature uncloaked from its camouflaged state as it climbed up over the side of the balloon, extended a metallic claw from around its wrist and slashed the pilot's throat.
"No!" Applejack shouted as she pounced on top of the creature, pinning it to the floor of the balloon.
"We're going to crash!" Sunburst cried out as the others began to panic.
"Can't somepony fly this thing? Twilight I swear I've seen you flyin' one of these at least 26 times a year." Applejack complained as she struggled to hold down the tall, muscular, creature with all her might.
"Those are just promotional photo ops!" Twilight Sparkle explained as the balloon crashed into the platform and exploded, sending the occupants tumbling in all directions.
"Twily!" Shining Armor called out as he and Cadence rushed in Twilight Sparkle's direction.
Applejack and Rarity ended up beside each other. Applejack struggled back up onto her hooves but Rarity remained bloodied and motionless on the ground. "Rarity!" She yelled as she gave her a shake. Rarity was dead.
Sunburst landed off on his own, cowering in place as the uncloaked creature began to charge at him.
"No!" Shining Armor shouted and with a blast of magic a protective bubble formed around the ponies. The creature slashed at the barrier with its claws to no avail and screamed in frustration. A trail of glowing green blood droplets followed it around as it paced around and it made no effort to re-cloak.
"The crash must have damaged its invisibility spell!" Twilight Sparkle exclaimed.
"Where are the others?" Cadence asked with concern.
"He got them." Twilight Sparkle explained.
"Well he's not getting through here." Shining Armor said smugly.
The creature turned toward the entrance that went between the mezzanine and the throne room.
"Flurry Heart is still with the royal nannies inside!" Cadence cried out.
"Cadence. I love you." Shining Armor said with a tear as he shifted his focus. The protective bubble disappeared and a new one formed and now only encompassed the creature and himself.
"No!" Cadence screamed tearfully.
"Grab Flurry Heart and get to Canterlot. Now!" He shouted one last time before Cadence blinked away with her magic. The creature immediately turned and began advancing on Shining Armor.
"No!" Twilight Sparkle shouted as she teleported herself inside Shining Armor's bubble and fired a persistent beam of magic from her horn which slowed the towering creature's advance.
"C'mon sugar cube." Applejack pulled Sunburst to his hooves and urged him toward the doorway to the throne room. "We need to regroup!"
"Wait, I-" Sunburst protested
"C'mon!" Applejack Insisted as she tugged him across the threshold.
"Ugh!" Shining Armor called out as the creature effortlessly swiped off his horn with one of its retractable metal claws.
As the protective bubble was dispelled the four guards rushed at the creature but they were just there for visual authenticity and were quickly dispatched. Shining Armor struggled to cast a spell on the creature but his horn crackled uselessly and he collapsed in agony. Twilight Sparkle swooped by and fired a beam of magic from her horn, striking the creature in the head causing it to scream in pain as a shower of sparks flew off of its helmet.
"No!" Twilight Sparkle cried out as she watched the creature pick up Shining Armor from the ground and drive its claw into his heart. Shining Armor fell limp as his blood pooled around him. Conjuring all of her rage Twilight Sparkle fired a mighty beam of magic, striking the creature on the chest leaving behind a charred and bleeding wound as it screamed out in pain.
The creature pulled out his spear and threw it towards Twilight Sparkle. The Spear stuck deep into her chest as she slumped to the ground and began twitching. It reached up and pulled two tubes from its helmet which then uncoupled and fell from its face which was now bruised and leaking its glowing green blood. It limped over to Twilight Sparkle and looked down as she kicked her hooves and convulsed. The creature grabbed the spear and twisted it around until Twilight Sparkle lay motionless and then limped its way through the door.
"Sunburst!" A familiar voice called out as Applejack and Sunburst ran through the door. It was Starswirl standing along side Stygian. "Excellent work."
"Wait, wha?" Applejack stopped and looked across the scene as the creature came limping in.
With a blast of Starswirl's horn the creature collapsed to the ground. "I can't thank you enough for weakening him enough to do that." Starswirl said smugly.
"What's goin' on?" Applejack was puzzled as she kept looking back and forth between the stallions and the creature.
"We're part of a secret division of Canterlot's already secret and unnamed monster hunting agency." Starswirl began to explain.
"That's why I was in the valley. I was part of the early response team sent to track and capture the creature." Sunburst explained.
"Capture?" Applejack asked.
"Yes." Stygian piped in. "We needed the creature weakened so that we could cast a sleeping spell on it."
"Celestia used us!?" Applejack burst out angrily. "All my friends are dead now because of this!"
"Goodness, no. Even Celestia knows little of this matter. Your friends are but a small price to pay. Now we can study this creature and know more of it and its kind. They are a threat to Equestria. We need to study it and interrogate it so that when more of its kind come along we can protect Equestria. Countless lives will be saved." Starswirl explained.
"You knew about all of this!" Applejack growled as she paced over toward Sunburst.
"The laboratory in Sombra's lower chamber is prepared and ready to go, sir." Stygian said calmly.
"First let's tie up this loose end." Starswirl's horn began to glow with energy.
"Wait, why!" Applejack backed away as her voice quivered with fear.
"This operation is top secret. You aren't supposed to know about it. Nopony is." Starswirl lowered his head ready to fire.
"Wait!" Sunburst piped in. "I mean I think I should interrogate her first. She sent a letter to Princess Celestia on the balloon ride over and we need to know what it said."
"Very well. Meet us in the lab when she is disposed of." Starswirl huffed as he and Stygian disappeared down the spiral stairway to Sombra's lower chamber with the creature.
Sunburst stared at Applejack nervously until the others were out of earshot. "Run! Go! I'll tell them you knocked me out and escaped."
Applejack pounced at Sunburst, knocking him on his back and then kicking a front hoof at his face. "Oh I'll knock ya out alright! You knew about this. If you told us maybe our friends would still be here!" Right as she hammered out the words her and Sunburst's cutie marks began to pulsate. "Oh for cryin' out loud, not now!".
"I'll set up a remote link to the cutie map." Sunburst fired a beam of magic into the air and a translucent projection of the cutie map appeared before them. "Looks like we're already where we need to be." As he spoke and Applejack stared in his direction the air became distorted behind him and Applejack backed away nervously.
"Uh, sugar cube." Applejack pointed. Sunburst turned around and started backing away as well. This visual disturbance was larger than the creature they had faced.
The visual disturbance peeled away revealing four creatures similar to the other all standing in a group. Two of them seemed female in their demeanor and features. Applejack assumed an attack posture as the creatures began making guttural sounds at them.
"Wait. I think these ones are trying to talk to us!" Sunburst called out.
The taller of the two female creatures pressed a control on the side of its helmet and stepped forward. "Is this better?" It began speaking in a clear female voice. Sunburst and Applejack nodded in reply. "You are the one called Applejack?" The creature stepped closer to Applejack.
"Y-yes" Applejack stuttered nervously.
"We are the t!cz'kor . In our tongue it means 'storied hunters' ". The t!cz'kor explained.
"Well miss t-" Applejack was interrupted
"You lack the biology to pronounce it properly so it's futile to even try." the t!cz'kor explained. "I am !c'kt!a'l and this is my husband, and my eldest son and daughter" The other t!cz'kors waved as she pointed to them during the introduction.
"Why are you slaugtherin' us like this?!" Applejack demanded.
"Our people are a race of hunters. We travel the stars, hunting the most dangerous creatures in the universe." !c'kt!a'l explained.
"Ponies, dangerous?" Applejack sneared.
"You underestimate yourself." !c'kt!a'l replied.
"We have feelings and families this is just awful." Sunburst chimed in.
"It is the belief of the t!cz'kor that the souls of all creatures, t!cz'kor and otherwise, who die in the endless hunt are returned to the great lifestream where they will be reborn after a time of blissful rest." !c'kt!a'l explained.
"And just what do ya'll want from us?" Applejack huffed skeptically.
"The t!cz'kor you were battling is our youngest son. He is currently taking his coming of age trial where he must select a primary target and then either kill or be killed by that target. You are his chosen target. He has until the end of this day to complete his trial." !c'kt!a'l pointed out the throne room window at the sun as it plummeted toward the bottom of the horizon. "Those others of your kind have taken him prisoner and we are not allowed to interfere with his hunt otherwise his trial is considered abandoned." !c'kt!a'l explained grimly.
"Well what if he fails?" Applejack asked.
"The soul of a t!cz'kor who abandons a hunt is doomed to eternal suffering and torment." !c'kt!a'l cringed as she explained, her family shuddered along with her. "We need you to free our son and then fight him to the death so that his soul may find the lifestream either this day or another.
"I somehow don't think we have much of a choice." Sunburst sighed as he eyed the heavily armed t!cz'kors over.
"If you defeat him you will be duly rewarded." !c'kt!a'l offered. "He has already been weakened by his injuries so you stand a chance."
"Very well. Don't think I'm not still mad about our friends though." Applejack sighed.
"You know for a moment I was worried that there would be a gigantic one of them when they were cloaked." Sunburst sighed.
"That would be jumping the shark" !c'kt!a'l snickered. "The only way that could be any stupider would be if we were sent here to steal the genetic code for some developmental disability."
"Imagine if you got a one-two punch of amazing Sci-fi movies and then waited 28 years for a canonical follow-up and that's whatcha got!" Applejack snickered.
"I'd be awful angry!" Sunburst piped in.
"Please make haste. The day is nearly over." !c'kt!a'l pleaded as the family of t!cz'kors cloaked and wandered out of sight.
"Injured or not we're going to need a plan to fight him!" Applejack complained.
"Well you're at least as strong as he is now that he's wounded." Sunburst said.
"Yeah but I don't got none of them there fancy gizmos like he does. If only we had magic." Applejack sighed.
"I have magic!" Sunburst objected.
"No offense sugar cube but it's going to take more than stacking books to take care of our friend down there." Applejack chided.
"Just trust me!" Sunburst walked over to the Crystal Heart and pulled it off its pedestal. "There's a geographical leyline that runs through King Sombra's lower chamber. We could use it to overload the Crystal Heart and I can use my magic to direct the resulting energy discharge at him."
"I don't know what that means but we better get hurryin'!" Applejack huffed as the two proceeded down the spiral stairs with the Crystal Heart in tow. They crept down a hall at the end of the stairs and slowed their approach as they listened in on an open door at the end.
"I've disabled the self-destruct device." Stygian said. He and Starswirl lurked over the young t!cz'kor which was asleep on a gurney in the middle of the room.
"Who's out there!?" Starswirl shouted angrily as he heard the duo approach the door.
"This ends now, sugar cube!" Applejack burst into the room and charged at Starswirl who quickly knocked Applejack down with a blast of magic.
"Stop!" Sunburst charged in and pointed his horn toward Starswirl and Stygian.
"What are you going to do?" Starswirl chuckled. "You don't know any combat spells."
"I remember a wake up spell I used to use for late night study sessions!" Sunburst boasted smugly as he cast a spell at the t!cz'kor, causing him to burst wakefully to his feet.
"No, what are you doing!?" Starswirl shouted as he turned around just in time for the t!cz'kor to grab him and Stygian by the neck. Its muscular forearms flexed as it closed its fingers down around their necks with a snapping sound and then tossed their lifeless bodies aside like rag-dolls.
The t!cz'kor extended one of its wrist blades and let out a guttural scream as it charged at Applejack. Applejack turned around and met his charge with a hefty buck from her hind legs, knocking him to the ground.
"Now would be a good time sugar cube!" Applejack complained as she jumped on top of the t!cz'kor and struggled to pin him down.
Sunburst concentrated and his magic levitated the Crystal Heart in the middle of the room and it began to crackle with energy. Applejack let out a scream of pain as the t!cz'kor slashed a deep bloody gash into one of her front legs and then threw her across the room. A bolt of energy discharged from the Crystal Heart and struck the t!cz'kor, vaporizing one of his arms and causing him to slump to the floor and scream in agony.
"Not so tough now!" Applejack coughed up a spurt of blood and limped toward the t!cz'kor. She jumped on top and then the floor beneath them began to crack. "What the!" the floor beneath them shattered and collapsed into a chamber below the laboratory.
A loud, metallic, commotion sounded as the debris from the room above and the bodies within rained onto the top of a large space craft which was coincidentally parked below.
"Wow." Sunburst eyed the craft over. "This must be how he travels through the stars."
Applejack strained her eyes at a sunset colored glow down at the end of the chamber. "I reckon this opens up to the street outside."
"Amazing how they managed to park a giant interstellar space ship underneath a building in a secret tunnel that opens up to the street without anypony noticing." Sunburst held his hoof up to his chin in contemplation.
The wounded t!cz'kor struggled to its feet and pulled out its spear with its remaining arm and screamed at Applejack, as though taunting her to finish the fight.
"Ya'll want it ya'll got it sugar cube!" Applejack pounced at the t!cz'kor and parried a spear strike with one of her front hooves as she pinned it to the metallic surface. "This is for ma' friends!" She began furiously stomping her front hooves down against the creature's head as it screamed in agony becoming more blooded and bruised with each blow until its skull caved in and exploded into a spurt of glowing green blood.
"I think he's dead now." Sunburst put a hoof on Applejacks shoulder to calm her down.
"Oh, right." Applejack snickered and stepped down from the creatures broken body.
!c'kt!a'l uncloaked from the shadows and approached the duo.
"We can't thank you enough for this." !c'kt!a'l sighed. "Here." !c'kt!a'l offered a hefty burlap sack toward Applejack. "Here are the skulls of your fallen companions to thank you."
"Uh." Applejack winced. "Hows about ya'll just stop comin' to Equestria and we'll say we're all squared off."
"Very well." !c'kt!a'l melted into the scenery and then disappeared. A short time later the chamber began to rumble.
"I think they are taking off! Let's get out of here!" Sunburst exclaimed. He grabbed a hold of Applejack and the two hobbled toward the light at the outside of the chamber and on to the street. A gout of flames came shooting out right as they exited. The Crystal Palace collapsed as the craft shot up into the sky out of it toward the stars.
Applejack collapsed to the ground with Sunburst on top of her and then rolled off on to his back. The surrounding streets were deserted as the sun made its final descent below the horizon. The duos cutie marks began to flash, indicating that they had completed their friendship quest.
"Who'da thunk a friendship problem could be solved by beatin' some creature's skull in." Applejack huffed.
"So if we're the only two survivors does that make us a 'ship' now?" Sunburst looked over to Applejack and asked.
"You know come to think of it, sugar cube." Applejack climbed onto Sunburst with a devilish grin. "All this skull bashing has gotten me a might' bit horny." Applejack and Sunburst began to kiss passionately.
"I'm still here !" Spike protested with a groan and a roll of his eyes.
