Equestria’s Speedy Demon

Applejack stood there, feeling so helpless, as she watched Twilight charging her magic, which was now the same hazy reddish brown as the crystal. “We can do this two ways . The easy way, or the hard way. Oh, and a piece of advice: Don’t run.”, Twilight evilly grinned. Nitro sniffed the air before whispering to Applejack, “Get on my back, I smell a D-Cut around here.” Applejack looked at him with a look of confusion, “What’s a D-Cut?”

“Hang on tight.”, he replied, before grabbing her and dashing down the skyscraper, wrapping around the building. Twilight smiled, “Fast it is.” She spread her wings and took off at a high speed, in hot pursuit of the dragon. Applejack turned to see Twilight right behind them, blasting balls of red magic at them, each one closer than the next.

“How is she keeping up?!?”, Applejack panicked, her grip around Nitro tightening. Nitro replied, “I don’t know, but here it comes!” Just when it looked like they were about to smack the pavement, a hole ripped into existence, Ponyville being on the other side. The sudden shift in gravity made Nitro stumble, but he kept running. Twilight followed them through the D-Cut before it closed up, continuing to fire shots at them.

“Ponyville? But...how?”, Applejack asked, her brain still adjusting to the shift in scenery. “A D-Cut is a dimensional cut in space and time, they’re scattered all over Equestria.”, Nitro answered, bobbing and weaving through town and trying to not hit an unsuspecting pony and run them over. Twilight was getting closer, her shots increasing in accuracy.

Celestia happened to standing in front of Ponyville Castle, as they sped by, catching only a nanosecond of their figures. She turned to one of her guards, “Was that Twilight?” The guard simply shrugged his shoulders. Nitro turned so he would start heading towards Sweet Apple Acres. “Here comes another one!”, Nitro exclaimed, his eyes on the new D-Cut, showing Canterlot Castle from below on the other side.

Applejack blinks and next thing she knows, they’re running up the side of Canterlot Castle, Twilight closing up the distance. Nitro starts to speed up, to where his scales start to grow a little warm, but Twilight didn’t seem to be slowing down. If anything, she was getting faster, her feathers started smoking, her shots getting closer and closer to hitting the two runaways.

They speed by a balcony where Luna happened to be having lunch, her sandwich almost flying away. “Twilight?”, Luna asked, looking up in confusion. “I can’t shake her, here...”, Nitro said to himself, approaching another D-Cut, with the inside of the Crystal Empire Castle through the hole. Nitro was ducking and dodging, taking care to not knock butlers and maids over.

Cadence and Shining were about to step in the hallway when Nitro shouted, “Coming through!” Shining jumped in front of Cadence as Nitro and Applejack blurred by and down the stairs. Twilight came speeding by, determined to not let them get away. “Twily?”, Shining muttered, as he and Cadence gave each other a look.

Nitro and Applejack were outside the castle , making their way through the empire. “We can’t lose her!”, Applejack shouted, her hooves getting sore from gripping so tightly. Twilight was right on top of them, charging up one final blast, determined to take out the dragon. Nitro knew he wasn’t going to be able to outrun her, they were coming up to a D-Cut that led right to Appleloosa. Just as they were going through the hole, Nitro spun himself around wrapping his body around Applejack so he would take the brunt of the shot, as Twilight fired her final shot.

Nitro and Applejack went flying through the portal, tumbling in the desert dust until they came to a stop, orange scales scattered all over the place. Twilight slowly hovered through the hole, as she landed in front of Applejack, still recovering from the crash. “What an amazing creature he is. I didn’t even know about these dimensional shortcuts! Just imagine what else we could learn!”, Twilight cackled.

Applejack got up and stood in front of Nitro’s body, ready to fight. “You’re going to have to get through me first.”, she growled. Twilight smiled, “And what makes you think that’s a problem?” She went to charge her magic, when her crystal was snatched from her neck, and destroyed in front of her. “Enough is enough, Twilight.”, a regal voice said from behind.

Twilight turned to find the other princesses and Shining standing behind her. “Twilight? What is going on?”, Cadence asked, worry etched on her face. Twilight replied, “This could be a breakthrough in magic and science! The discoveries could be revolutionary!” Luna glared, “Perhaps, we are not meant to know some things. Perhaps we aren’t meant to control this power that doesn’t belong to us.”

Celestia sighed, “Luna is right. The only reason he uses his magic is to protect himself, as well as his friends. From ponies like you.” Shining looked at her in disappointment, “You don’t need to know everything to be the smartest pony in Equestria.” Twilight turned to see Applejack sobbing over Nitro’s body, a large patch of scales missing on his back, replaced by a large burn. “What have I done....”