Infinite Ponygram

Twilight pulled out the dagger she had started the game with and nicked two fingers. She winced feeling the blade slice through her flesh. Severed capillaries dripped onto the ground. With her unhurt hand, she dowsed the injuries with just enough potion to heal them over. Flexing her healed digits, she looked over to Pinkie.

“There’s really no other way to deal with a fear debuff?”

“Well, there’s a few, but this quirk is the easiest one to go for. You wanna conserve as much MP and SP as possible.” She gave a twirl and when she stopped, she was bedecked in a trench coat, shades, and a fedora. With a grin, she pulled away part of the trench coat, revealing the inside was lined with several flasks made of various materials. “And I am ready to rock and roll up to that queen meanie!”

“You sure I can’t come?” Apple Bloom looked up at Applejack.

“You’re needed more here.” Applejack glanced at the unconscious purple-haired girl Apple Bloom had hitched onto her back. She appeared around Apple Bloom’s age. “Your Embryo is better suited for first aid and support anyhow.”

“I…” Apple Bloom’s grip on the girl tightened. “I understand, but if you need help, I’ll come.”

Applejack reached out and tousled her hair. “Of course. Now, don’t stay up too late. We’re gonna show that Nightmare not to mess with our town!”

“And… there… we… are!” Nearby, Rarity finished inputting commands into a tablet-like device that was connected by several cords to what appeared to be a young girl. Her mulberry and rose hair had a tinge to it that alerted Twilight that there was something artificial about it, more so than any other hair she had seen in Infinite Dendrogram, which all appeared very real, just with fantastic colors. Her alabaster skin had sheen to it as well, somewhere between that of a mannequin’s and gem’s luster.

As Rarity uncoupled the cords from various sized ports on the girl’s arms and back, her eyes lit up like digital displays. Her voice matched her age but it had a mechanical filter over it. “Battle Module successfully integrated… I’m ready to keep everypony safe, Rarity!”

“Good, good.” Rarity bent close to the girl. “Now, Sweetie Belle, the programming should have set clear objectives and limits, but just remember to take only defensive action as needed. Do not actively engage in combat. Retreat if no tian lives are in danger.”

“Roger!” Sweetie Belle gave a salute and then grinned. “Oh, I’m really hoping I get a chance to test out the missile system!”

“Please try to keep the collateral damage to a minimum,” Rarity sighed, foreseeing a future of dipping into her in-game savings.

After Apple Bloom and Sweetie walked off to help out around town, the group checked their gear and status one last time. Dash had traded in her loose fatigues for what looked like a spandex with slits in the back to let her wings pass through. Rarity bore a cloak that scintillated with sapphires. Applejack and Fluttershy appeared the same as when Twilight had met them. Prepared as they could be, they set off for the Everfree.

“Was that your Embryo?” Twilight asked as they walked. “You’d mentioned her charging the other day though…”

“Sweetie?” said Rarity. “Oh goodness no. Conscious Embryos tend to mirror a Master’s personality and I haven’t the slightest clue where Sweetie’s comes from… especially the equestrian additions.”

“Then what is sh—” Twilight was cut off by the group coming to a halt. Ahead, vines and weeds cropped up on the path. Trees, far bigger and more densely packed than those around Fluttershy’s cottage, rose up. It gave off the illusion they were standing at a gaping maw.

“Let’s go.” Applejack stomped forward.

“What do you all know about the Everfree?” Twilight asked. “We’re working with such little time, so it was hard to sort truth from fiction in the books.” Or really anything in this world.

“It’s a freaky deaky place!” Pinkie exclaimed.

“Weather patterns shift on a dime here,” said Dash. “This is an emergency situation, so I’ll cover us if we get in a pinch, but you generally come in all-terrain gear or with sets that can handle whatever this place throws at you.”

“Luckily my outfits are all built to withstand basic weather issues. Although if things get extreme, I’ve also got wards at the ready.”

“Course, the bigger concern is the varmints.” Ahead of Applejack, the trail narrowed and led out to a cliff face. “Everfree ain’t like White Tail Woods. Generally, you’d want to max out a few jobs and establish a decent build before coming here.”

“B-but with all of us together we should be okay.” Fluttershy looked over everyone. “Right?”

“Darn tootin!”

“Yepperoni!”

“Hell yeah!”

“Indeed.”

The girls’ words reassured Twilight as the trees gave way to rock. The path thinned to the point where the party had to walk single-file, pressing closer and closer against the stoney wall. Past the edge stretched the Everfree in all directions. Twilight looked out and tried to spot any clearings or areas where the forest seemed off. Given what the others had said and their experience, she opened her mouth to ask about the path ahead.

Said path then shook under her feet. Everyone paled when a great crack appeared to their left where the path met the cliff face. The ground lurched, then tumbled. Half the party yelped in terror.

Dash did not. Her wings slashed out and she snatched Pinkie up. Strings flew from Rarity’s right hand and she swung over to the cliff. In the chaos, Twilight spotted Fluttershy somehow staying stable midair. That left her and Applejack to fall.

Vines exploded out of the freshly exposed rock nearby. Applejack’s arms whipped around, trying to grab one and snapping several vines before managing to clasp one strong enough to bear her weight. Jabbing a hand into her inventory, she pulled out a single seed which burst out from her hand and into another vine that latched onto Twilight’s left wrist, catching her right before she rolled over a cliff. The first vine, the one supporting Applejack, snapped in a few places. “Twilight! Just hold tight!”

Twilight shifted and grabbed the vine with her right hand. More snaps rent the air. She held on with every bit of strength she could muster, but the fraying did not stop. The vine supporting Applejack thinned faster and faster. In a knee jerk moment, Twilight looked back but could not see over the edge. She could hear the dirt and rocks rolling past them smash into ground far below.

“Twilight.” Applejack’s words became Twilight’s entire world. She felt the vice the vine had on her left wrist loosen. “I need you to trust me on this. My Embryo can support my weight on the fly, but the two of us right now are too much. So, I need you to let go.”

“So, death penalty,” Twilight sighed and started to remove her right hand.

“I didn’t say that! Twilight, there’s no way I’d abandon someone like this. I promise, you ain’t gonna get the death penalty. That’s the honest truth.”

“I…” Twilight took a breath. “Okay. I trust you.”

She let go. Her legs were already over the edge and it only took a few seconds for the rest of her to follow. Even believing in Applejack's words, as gravity took hold, she could not help but scream in fear of what a fall like this would feel like with her pain sensors on. Just as she prayed it would be like a falling nightmare where you woke up right as you hit the ground, she felt a breeze.

Not a rush of wind from below but a slight gust from her sides. There was also pressure on her arms. Opening her eyes, she was greeted with Rainbow Dash to her left and Fluttershy to her right. The gusts came from the flaps of Dash’s wings and the glistening yellow ones hovering just off of Fluttershy’s back.

“Man, that’s a good pair of pipes on you,” Dash chuckled.

“Y-you’re not hurt too bad?” Fluttershy asked while she and Dash guided Twilight to the ground where Pinkie waved up at them. As soon as Twilight’s feet touched the ground, the bat-like wings hovering behind Fluttershy dispersed.

“No, I think…” Twilight looked around. Rarity slithered away from the base of the cliff and Applejack jumped from platform to platform of roots and vines until she too was on the ground. “I think I’m good.”

With everyone gathered on the ground, Applejack took her hat and bowed her head. “Sorry if that gave you a bit of a scare. Didn’t have time to mince words.”

“No, thank you, Applejack. You saved us both.”

“Well, shall we be on our w—”

Something roared with enough force that all the nearby birds took to the sky.