The Land Unspoken

Chapters

Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Epilogue
Prologue

Chapter 1

It was a clear midsummer morning and PonyVille dozed in the heat. The village was slowly awakening, its inhabitants emerging in ones and twos from their houses and going about their business. For one particular pony, however, the wakeup call was rather more abrupt.

“Applejack! Applejack!”

Applejack emerged into the sunlight, blinking away sleep, and her younger sister collided with her at full gallop.

“Applejack! Come quickly!” exclaimed Apple Bloom. “There’s a strange pony in town, he says he wants to meet all the important ponies! That’s you, right?” She was bouncing up and down with excitement.

“Apple Bloom, wha-” Applejack shook her head and refocused as the torrent of speech from her younger sister reached her brain. “A strange pony, y’say?” she began then, as her sister bobbed in agreement and made some more ‘follow me’ movements, “Alright, alright, slow down. Let me get my hat and I’ll come with you”.

Several frantic minutes later the sisters were heading down the hill towards a growing crowd of ponies near the centre of the town.

“Applejack!”

“Hey, Pinkie, what’s up?”

Pinkie Pie fell into step beside the Apples and began talking animatedly.

“Well, there’s a big crowd down outside the hall, someponies were up really early just to get to the front but I don’t know what’s in the middle and Twilight told me to go find you, she said she’d seen Apple Bloom there earlier and wanted to know what was going on so I told her okay and rushed to find you but I thought I could have a look first because you never know there could be sweets or something going spare but there’s such a big crowd I couldn’t see a thing so I came over really quickly to wake you up but you were already awake so here I am!”

There was a pause while the others mentally inserted the necessary punctuation.

“Oh, Pinkie” Apple Bloom replied with a smile. “It’s nothin’ special. There’s just a grey pony in the centre of the crowd, he’s askin’ to see some of the important ponies. So I rushed straight off to get ma sister, ‘cause she’s important, right AJ?”

“Yes, Apple Bloom,” replied Applejack tiredly. She still wasn’t fully awake. “So we came right on over to see what all the fuss was about. Any idea where the others are?”

“Hey Applejack!”

Twilight and Rarity arrived and joined the procession. With them came Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo who rushed off with Apple Bloom. Left to themselves, the four others reached the outer ring of ponies and immediately encountered a problem.

“The crowd’s even bigger than last time! I still can’t see anything!” exclaimed Pinkie in frustration after a short period of jumping up and down.

“Ah?” replied a new voice from above, “well if only you had wings!”

“Quit playing around, Dash, and tell us what you see,” sighed Twilight. Obligingly, the pegasus glided towards the centre of the crowd. She returned seconds later wearing a rather disappointed expression.

“It’s just a pony. He’s not even doing anything, just standing there,” she reported. “He looks dull. Grey mane, grey tail, grey body. I’m going back to bed.”

With that she took off again and was gone within seconds. Twilight opened her mouth to call the pegasus back but she was already out of earshot.

Meanwhile, Fluttershy was having a very gentle argument with Angel. The rabbit had spotted the crowd and was urging Fluttershy to go down but the pegasus remained adamant.

“I’m not that important” she insisted. “Besides, it’s almost time for the morning feed; the birds won’t like it if I leave them hungry. I’m sure Twilight and the others will tell me if anything interesting happens.”

Angel, seeing that the argument was pointless, stalked off and Fluttershy was left alone. Just then, there was a knock at the door.

“Something doesn’t feel right,” commented Twilight. Her dreams the previous night had been troubled and a sense of foreboding had been gripping her ever since she had first lain eyes on the scene in front of them. She now stood with Pinkie Pie, and the earth pony had picked up on her anxiety.

“Don’t worry Twilight; I’m sure everything will be fine. He probably just wants to buy something. You know how it is. Big scary pony, comes into town, scares everypony in fifty miles half to death, turns out the really only want some lunch, right? Remember Zecora? You told us then we had nothing to worry about, and you were right!”

Twilight was about to reply when the crowd began to move away. She shared a glance with Pinkie Pie and they stood their ground. Thankfully not every pony trusted this newcomer, and many others remained as the crowd left the village.

Just then a scream sounded and they all turned in alarm. Twilight’s horn instinctively filled with magic. She saw another, identical grey pony dragging a screaming filly from her house. The youngling was clearly distressed and calling for help so Twilight wasted no time in charging the captor, followed closely by many of the others. Seeing the rescuers the grey pony dropped his charge and turned to flee but a brief burst of magic froze him in place. With Twilight stopping to cast the spell Pinkie arrived at the scene first and stood between the grey pony and the youngster. Her gaze was fierce.

“And just what,” she shouted angrily, “do you think you were doing?”

Twilight released the magic holding the pony’s mouth but he merely hissed at them and refused to speak. Just then another scream came from nearby, followed by another, and Twilight was forced to fully release the magic as she sprang to the rescue with the others. Behind them, the grey pony vanished in a puff of smoke.

The attack subsided as quickly as it had come, but even the short period of action had left Twilight gasping. She was exhausted by all the running; with many of the ponies distracted by the newcomer (“exactly his plan”, she muttered angrily) they had been stretched thin defending the village.

“The first pony was clearly a decoy,” Twilight reported to Celestia when the princess arrived at the village shortly after the raid. “He was there to lead the ponies away from the village so his friends could capture some of us, but thankfully enough of us stayed behind to head them off. I don’t think anypony’s missing.”

It was at that exact moment, with impeccable timing, that Applejack burst through the door. “Twilight!” she exclaimed, gasping for breath. “Fluttershy’s been taken!”

Twilight groaned. The normally reclusive Fluttershy would be the perfect target; if she were taken nobody would notice until it was too late. As, in fact, had happened. Before she could speak, Celestia broke the silence.

“It seems the raid itself was also a decoy. Somepony doesn’t want the Elements of Harmony active any time soon. We must organise a rescue team. Meet me in Canterlot as soon as possible. Bring your friends.” She spread her wings and flew away.

The calmness in her voice reassured Twilight and Applejack and, without delay, they rushed off to alert the others.

Less than an hour later, the five stood, their usual semi-circle now sporting a conspicuous hole, in the throne room at Canterlot. Celestia stood before them with her usual regal bearing in place, but it was clear she was anxious about the raid. According to the reports, the grey pony who had been the distraction had simply vanished into thin air when the raid began, and the confused crowd had been too far away to help until the attack had already passed.

“It is clear we are dealing with something serious here,” the princess began, “and I know of no better ponies than you to investigate. Do whatever is necessary to retrieve your friend and investigate the threat to my kingdom. But be warned, I detected very powerful magic at large earlier today. I have already lost a subject; I would not like to lose five more. Now go!” She flared her wings. “The raiders fled north. Take, once more, the Elements of Harmony, and may they aid you in bringing peace to this land once again!”

The five bowed low, then turned and raced from the room.

The journey back went by quickly, and every second was spent discussing plans. As they re-entered PonyVille, Rarity finally spoke something that had been bothering them for a while.

“But assuming we can follow these kidnappers and find where they are going, what happens if Fluttershy is…” she hesitated “unavailable? With only five of us we can’t properly use the Elements.”

“And not only that,” added Applejack, “but Fluttershy has got us past obstacles where the rest of us were beaten before, what if we encounter one of those without her?”

“Well” replied Twilight, a hint of smugness entering her voice “I think I’ve already solved both those problems in one. We need to take another pony with us, and it’ll have to be somepony who’s kind. Thankfully, there’s no shortage of those in PonyVille. So all we need to do is find somepony who wants to come with us!”

Rarity opened her mouth to reply but was cut short as a voice came from behind them.

“Uhh, Rainbow Dash?”

Four of them spun round. Dash, who had recognised the voice, placed a hoof to her forehead and turned more slowly with the words of denial already on her lips.

“Derpy” she said in the voice one might use on a small child “go away.”

“Rainbow Dash!” exclaimed Rarity “she’s not a child!”

“Eugh” the pegasus exclaimed. She saw the look in Rarity’s eye and dropped her gaze hastily, muttering: “she’ll be as much use as one. Please don’t tell me you’re about to-” but Rarity had turned as soon as Dash dropped her gaze, and now stood between the two pegasi.

“Hello Derpy” she said in a much kinder voice.

“Uh, Miss Rarity” said Derpy “I heard you talking about an adventure. Could I come?”

Rarity opened her mouth to say yes, but Rainbow Dash got there first. “No!” she exclaimed, leaping in front of Rarity to face Derpy. The two pegasi were now nose to nose, and Dash’s narrowed eyes met Derpy’s walled ones. The rainbow pegasus spoke again, a note of a growl entering her voice: “Just go home!”

This time Rarity shoulder charged Dash out of the way, and stood protectively in front of Derpy, facing Dash furiously. “And why,” she snapped, “should she be excluded? Hmm? Is it because she can’t talk very well? Can’t fly properly? Should somepony be excluded, ignored, because they’re different to you? That isn’t very good friendship Rain-bow-Dash!” With the last three syllables she moved her face ever closer to the rainbow pegasus, who was now leant backwards as far as she could go.

“No, no!” exclaimed Dash frantically, her eyes wide “I just meant that- that I don’t want to put her in danger!” the hesitation made the lie obvious and she wilted under Rarity’s glare. “Alright! She’s nice and everything, but she’ll be useless on a quest, okay?”

“That sounds a lot like Fluttershy” muttered Applejack to Pinkie Pie. Her voice was drowned out by Rarity’s screech.

“And just because her talents don’t match yours gives you the right to call her useless?”

“No! I-”

She was cut off as both ponies were lifted into the air and silenced by magic. An exasperated Twilight walked between the two.

“That wasn’t getting us anywhere. Applejack, Pinkie Pie, what do you think?”

“I think we should take her with us” replied Applejack after a short pause. Derpy, who had been cowering under the argument she had caused, perked up at this. “We sure could use some help, and she’s kind enough. If anypony can stand in for Fluttershy, it’s her.” Pinkie Pie nodded agreement and a smile broke across Derpy’s face. Twilight smiled back, and then turned to face the floating ponies, face serious.

“Now then” she said, releasing the magic “can we be civil?” They nodded agreement, neither trusting themselves enough to speak. “Dash, we’ll take Derpy with us and that’s the final word.” The pegasus nodded sullenly. “Now come on! All this arguing is wasting time, and Fluttershy is getting further and further away every second. We need to prepare to leave. Meet me in my house in one hour. Bring what you think you’ll need on the journey. Derpy, you can come with me.”

Soon they were rushing off towards their respective homes. Twilight was left alone with Derpy.

“So” she said as they began to move off towards her house at a brisk trot, “are you sure you want to join us? It’ll be hard going?”

“Yes, of course, Miss Twilight!” replied the pegasus, her eyes lighting up. “I’m not useless, like Rainbow Dash says!” Her face fell a fraction.

Twilight began to feel some of Rarity’s previous anger at the reaction Derpy had to Rainbow Dash’s criticism. She hid it, however, and answered with a smile.

“Of course you’re not! And it’s just Twilight, thanks; we’re not your teachers.”

“Sorry Twilight!” replied Derpy “I just get so nervous around other ponies!”

“That’s quite alright. I’m sure you’ll have time to get used to us while we’re adventuring” replied Twilight as they stepped through the doors of her house. Once inside she called Spike and, together, they began to pack two medium sized saddlebags with various things she considered essentials. She also added a variety of books that could be useful on the journey. In a special container suspended below her belly she placed a bag given to her by Princess Celestia containing the Elements of Harmony. As Twilight worked she continued chatting to Derpy, and it was only a short time later that they were ready to go. Handing one of the saddlebags to Derpy, Twilight settled down to await her friends.

Soon the others began arriving. Twilight eyed them as each walked in the door. They had all brought a bedroll and some food along with other items they considered essentials. Applejack had brought some rope, Rarity had packed many items of clothing, including hats and scarves, whereas Pinkie Pie…

“Pinkie Pie, what in tarnation are those things?” asked Applejack as Pinkie walked through the door.

“These?” replied Pinkie, indicating the two long horizontal tubes resting on each of her shoulders and extending down her back “they’re improved party cannons of course! Now I can fire twice as much stuff!”

“And why” replied Applejack in her best I’m-talking-to-Pinkie-Pie voice “do we need those?”

“For the parties of course!” replied Pinkie.

“But we’re not-”

“Girls” interjected Twilight “this is just wasting time. Pinkie, you can take the cannons so long as they don’t get in the way. I see you were at least sensible enough to bring some non-party related items too. Now move, all of you. Every second we waste takes Fluttershy further and further from us”

They quietened down and turned to leave without further comment.

The sun had already passed its zenith and they made haste, mindful of the half day disadvantage they had. As the sky began to darken with the promise of rain they hurried on, seeking the cover of the distant forest before the bad weather escalated.

Chapter 2

Lightning split the sky.

It was more than a full day after the raid and the rain had hit hard. A thunderstorm raged overhead, the midday sky was as black as night and the wind played an eerie melody through the bars of the cage. Fluttershy cowered under a threadbare blanket, shivering in frozen fear. She was cold and alone, and no longer even had the energy to scream.

Hearing the knock on the door, she had approached it, only to find three of the grey ponies outside. Some instinct had her throw herself aside, but she hadn't been quick enough to escape the tranquiliser dart. She had awoken in a cage with the driving rain her only company.

Her earlier screams had proved fruitless and now she sat in terrified silence, huddled under the blanket like a frightened filly. The rain hid the tears on her face but her fear was obvious, and this hadn’t escaped the attention of her captors. One in particular, a small foal riding on the cart with her, had spotted her fear early on.

“Hey,” he called. His voice was nasal, high pitched and mocking. “What’s your name?”

Fluttershy curled herself into a ball and tried to ignore the voice. A sharp jab in her side shocked her and she couldn’t suppress a whimper at the sudden pain. She rose, turning awkwardly in the confines of the cage, and glared down at the foal who backed hurriedly away. He clearly hadn’t expected her to react so quickly, and for a moment, fear had flickered in his features. But the mocking look returned to his face as he slipped back through the bars of the cage. His tiny body was easily small enough to fit through the bars.

“You didn’t answer my question,” he whined. “That wasn’t very polite.”

Fluttershy pulled herself together as she led down again. Perhaps he was just trying to be friendly. “My name’s Fluttershy,” she replied calmly, “what’s yours?”

“Fluttershy? That’s a stupid name. Why’d your parents think that was a good idea? Were they stupid too?”

The insults came all in a rush, and Fluttershy gasped. “I-I never really knew my parents” she replied quietly. It was not a subject she was comfortable speaking about, least of all to this foal.

“So they abandoned you? Maybe they weren’t so stupid after all. How’d something as stupid as you survive anyway?”

He seemed to have an obsession with the word, and Fluttershy turned her head away again to hide her tears. The words were sharp, and all the more cutting for their truth. Desperately she sought to steer the conversation away from her.

“You didn’t answer my question either,” she replied. “What’s your name? And what about your parents? A foal like you shouldn’t be out without protection on a night like this.”

He paused. “I’m Ditto,” he said proudly “and my father sent these guards to protect me. He’s the one who captured you!” at this he rocked backwards, putting all his weight on his hind legs, and moved one foreleg in a wide arc. The rain obscured everything more than a few meters from the cage, but Fluttershy could see shaped moving in the downpour, other ponies escorting the cart. Suddenly her gaze was caught to the foal, and she gasped as she spotted something. He was pointing with his right foreleg, but all his weight was on his hind legs. This was because his left foreleg was twisted and crippled, held awkwardly in the air, very much a dead weight. When he dropped back down to what, for another pony, would be called all-fours he stood awkwardly, avoiding placing any weight on the injured limb. Then he saw her looking and snarled. Fluttershy jumped.

“What?” quick as lightning the mocking tone vanished, to be replaced by one of anger. Fluttershy’s brief candle of sympathy winked out as her fear returned, now helped along by a torrent of insults and jeering from Ditto. Fluttershy in possession of her wits would be sympathetic and try to help, but the Fluttershy cowering in the cage merely huddled down and cried through the night.

The first few days of pursuit passed relatively easily. By the end of the second day, however, the magic of the endeavour was fast wearing off. The constant rain was depressing, and even Pinkie Pie’s constant bouncing and cheer were somewhat dampened. Also, Twilight could sense some unrest amongst their party. They were so used to travelling with Fluttershy that often one would turn and ask a question directed at the missing pegasus, only to find nothing but silence for an answer. The constant reminder of their loss further damped their spirits and made any conversation brief at best.

On top of this, Derpy was clearly uncomfortable around them. The pegasus had barely spoken since they left PonyVille, answering only when spoken to and keeping her distance from the others, almost as if she wasn’t a part of the group. And, Twilight realised, it felt as if she shouldn’t be. Fluttershy had always been there for them, quiet yet always ready with a kind word. Now Derpy filled the gap. The grey pegasus was kind in her own way, yet too quiet, and in contrast to Fluttershy’s quiet contentment Derpy seemed nervous, as if she knew she wasn’t truly one of them.

Twilight had dropped back to watch her as they walked. Despite the concern she felt for the pegasus she couldn’t find any words of comfort, and any effort to do so lead very quickly to an awkward silence. Before she could convince herself to try again, however, Pinkie Pie broke the silence.

“Hey, Twilight, I’ve been thinking-”

“Take cover” muttered Rarity. Pinkie ignored her.

“-you can teleport, right? Can’t you just poof over to Fluttershy now?”

“I can’t just ‘poof’ over, no,” Twilight replied with a sigh. “Teleportation requires a firm image of where I wish to go, usually meaning a line of sight. I have no idea where Fluttershy is now, so I can’t teleport to her.”

“So you could do short distances then? Hop between treetops?”

“No, Pinkie, I couldn’t do that either. Magic requires energy to cast and I’d wear myself out before I got halfway there. Anyway, I’d have to leave you lot behind which I won’t do; we’re in this as a team remember?” she shot a look at Derpy but the pegasus didn’t seem to have heard. “I don’t know what we’re up against so if we have to confront it, we do so together. Hello, Rainbow.”

The pegasus landed with a splash into the mud. “Hey guys, good news!” she began. “I’ve found a clearing about half a mile ahead! It’s sheltered by trees so we should be safe until this weather clears. And” here she glanced over at Rarity, who was drenched and had a face arguably angrier than the thunderclouds above. “Some of us can, uhh, neaten up a bit.”

Rarity bristled. “Rainbow, you look horrible” she sniffed. “I thought you could control the weather? Can’t you stop this awful rain?”

I was only the fifth or sixth time she’d asked that today, and Rainbow Dash tiredly repeated her answer. “We’re too far out,” she replied. “This isn’t my territory anymore. And anyway,” she added, “the clouds aren’t listening.”

“Clouds ain’t listenin’?” Applejack said. “What’re you blabberin’ about? Can’t you just push ‘em out of our way?”

Rainbow Dash gave her a haughty look. “I wouldn’t expect an earth pony to understand about weather,” she replied. “Let’s just say I can’t change this rain and leave it at that.” Applejack shot her a sour look but remained silent

They arrived at the clearing shortly after and gratefully slumped down beneath the trees, finally out of the depressing rain. Twilight hastily began searching through hers and Derpy’s bags.

“I’m sure I’ve read something about this somewhere” she began, her voice muffled by a saddlebag, “something about… Ah-hah!” She emerged and brandished a book dramatically. Unfortunately her only audience was Pinkie Pie, as Rainbow Dash and Applejack had gone to get firewood, Rarity was focusing all her attention on the mess the rain had made of her mane, and Derpy was already asleep. Twilight rather sheepishly opened the book with magic and began to flick through the pages, her eyes searching for something, anything, relevant. Just as Rainbow Dash and Applejack returned with wood, she let out a cry and they all rushed over to see.

“Xerox” she began, reading aloud “A rouge unicorn who was exiled after a string of incidents leading to him casting an illegal spell to on a number of other ponies. The spell leaches colour from its victim’s skin, mane and tail, and causes them to fall utterly under the control of the caster. Xerox is believed to possess extremely powerful magic, but nopony has seen him in many years. Look!” here she indicated a picture drawn near the bottom of the page. The picture depicted a large unicorn with several of the grey ponies standing beside him. They were all a dark, gunmetal grey with grey manes except for the larger unicorn whose mane was blood red. “These are the ponies who attacked PonyVille and took Fluttershy!”

“Replicus?” Pinkie Pie read the caption of the picture, “what does that mean?”

“It’s the name of those ponies under his control. His ‘army’ I suppose it could be called” Twilight replied, rummaging in her saddlebags. After a moment she flourished some paper and a quill pen. “Since Spike isn’t here I’ll have to send the letter myself. Rainbow Dash, can you fly it back to Canterlot for me?”

“At the speed you guys travel?” replied the pegasus with a smirk. “Shall I do it twenty times?” She had frequently returned from scouting throughout the day to hurry the others along.

“Just once will be fine” replied Twilight, ignoring the snide remark. Dash joined the others in moving away, leaving Twilight to write the letter in peace and quiet. But just as she raised the quill, she was interrupted.

“Twilight?” Twilight’s earlier exclamation had woken Derpy. The pegasus had been listening from afar and now walked over, hanging her head shyly. “I could write the letter for you?” This was the first time she had spoken except when asked a direct question since they had begun the journey.

Twilight hesitated. Much as she protested Derpy’s equality to the others, she didn’t think the grey pony’s talents lay in writing. Still, she through to herself, if I dictate to her, what harm could it do?

“Okay,” she replied in a cheery voice, “I’ll say what you write and you write it, okay?”

“I can write!” replied the pegasus “I don’t need help, don’t worry; I’ll make you a letter to the princess!” Her voice dropped in pitch, losing some of its usual uncertainty, and gaining a surprising hardness in its place. “Don’t treat me like a child.”

The final statement came like a whiplash, all the more cutting for its truth. Twilight hid her surprise and nodded agreement. She would probably have to make another in secret and send that instead. Nevertheless, she left the pegasus carefully picking up the quill, and went to join the others.

Later, Twilight went over to Derpy to see how the letter was coming along. What she saw on the paper astonished her.

Dear Princess Celestia the letter read, in elegant, curved writing.

We’re approaching the end of the second day of our journey, and Twilight requested I inform you of something. We have identified the power behind the raid on PonyVille; it was the unicorn named Xerox who, I believe, you exiled many years ago for use of illegal magic.

The letter continued in this style, detailing with surprising accuracy the events up until the present, then ended with:

Your faithful student

Derpy Hooves

“That’s very… nice” Twilight said awkwardly as she finished reading. The simplicity of the statement seemed strange when compared to such an elegantly written letter. “Did you learn to write like that yourself?”

“Oh no Twilight!” replied Derpy “Princess Celestia taught me. That’s why I ended the letter just like you do, I’m her student too!”

“But why?” replied Twilight after a moment’s hesitation. “I mean, it’s all very well, but…”

“I like writing” replied Derpy. By now the others had awoken and were listening in. The hardness in Derpy’s voice returned, and Twilight noted surprise on the faces of the others. “A lot of people say I’m funny in the head, and maybe that’s true, but it doesn’t mean I’m stupid. My thoughts just move a little slower than most people’s, that’s all. But when you’re writing you can think about things as long as you like. So I thought I’d learn to write well, and maybe people won’t think I’m stupid.”

Twilight took a moment to recover from the shock of what was practically a lecture by Derpy’s standards, so it was Applejack who answered “You shouldn’t feel you have to prove yourself to us, sugarcube, we don’t think you’re stupid” she said.

“I know” replied Derpy with simple honesty. The hardness had left her voice as quickly as it had come and now her words held a trace of their usual uncertainty, “but some ponies aren’t as nice as you guys. There was one pony in particular that was really harsh to me, especially when I was younger. She was the one I really wanted to prove myself to.”

“Who?” asked Rarity with an angry glare at Rainbow Dash. Twilight, however, already knew the answer, and her suspicions were swiftly confirmed.

“Myself.” Derpy replied simply, her voice barely more than a whisper. She hid her face, but she couldn’t hide the tears dripping to the floor.

Twilight felt her eyes also filling with tears, though hers were born of sympathy rather than sorrow, and she saw similar sentiments from the others. She had often seen the grey pegasus around PonyVille, but had never really stopped to consider how hard it must have been for her, growing up so different, so unwanted, so often alone. Instinctively she moved closer to hug the pegasus. Without words, the others moved in too, and soon the grey body was lost amongst the colours of the five surrounding her. Even Rainbow Dash, normally so indifferent, was as animated as the others.

“Well, for what it’s worth, we’re here for you Derpy” said Twilight, her voice breaking with emotion, and now Derpy raised her head. Her eyes were still filled with tears, but a great smile lit up her face and these tears were tears of joy. She laughed, words unable to express her thanks, and as they heard this the others joined in. Soon their small clearing was filled with merriment. The sound was punctuated by Pinkie’s cannons firing confetti into the air (and cries of ‘I knew I would need these!’).

It was a long time before they lay down to sleep that night.

Chapter 3

Morning dawned bright and clear, and it was with a much lighter heart that the group moved off. Talk resumed, far more animatedly than before, about trivial matters such as the contest Applejack and Rainbow Dash had had the night before on who could gather the most wood. Applejack insisted she would have won, were it not for her lack of wings. It was the Iron Pony contest all over again, and Twilight was only half listening as she scanned their surroundings. She was curious as to where the tracks in the ground were taking them; this was farther than she had ever been from PonyVille before and she was, to put it bluntly, lost. So it was with complete surprise that they rounded a corner and found the forest abruptly ending.

The greenery gave way to a rugged, open plain. Rainbow Dash hadn’t been scouting, tired as she was after a night spent delivering Twilight’s letter, but she was no longer needed as their view now stretched for miles in every direction. The cart tracks scored a dead straight line through the sand before them, and they began to move, suddenly feeling very exposed.

As Twilight stepped from the woods, however, she suddenly stopped. A voice had called her name. She glanced in confusion at the others, but they continued walking, oblivious. None of them had spoken, or heard, anything. Just as Twilight was about to shrug it off as her own imagination playing tricks on her the voice came again.

Twilight

Realisation dawned on Twilight. “Princess?” she said. The others stopped, turning to look at her in confusion.

Yes. How are you faring?

“Umm… well enough I suppose. You’re using the Mindtalk spell? Isn’t that a bit dangerous?”

Luna is helping me. Do not worry; we are more than strong enough. Now, listen, you are correct that Xerox is behind this, but there is something darker going on. He has found something of incredible power. What it is, I do not know, but it is having an adverse effect on the land. Can you not feel the disharmony?

“I… yes, I can feel it.” Twilight replied in surprise. Just as an engineer can detect a faulty bearing long before even the most sensitive of instruments gives a warning, so Twilight could feel something subtly wrong with the world.

Xerox meddles with forces he cannot control. You must be quick. Follow Fluttershy’s captors, but be ready. Something grows in the air, and I do not like it.

The connection abruptly terminated. Twilight didn’t remember closing her eyes, but now she opened them and found Applejack’s face close to hers.

“Twi?” the earth pony said worriedly. “What happened? What can you feel?”

"That was a Mindtalk spell" Twilight replied.

Mindtalk is a spell designed so that two ponies could communicate even when very far away. It is very draining to cast and maintain, and the danger of using up too much energy is severe. More than one unicorn has wound up dead through carelessness, their only epilogue an abruptly ended sentence inside of the head of another. Twilight swiftly explained her conversation, watching her friend’s faces carefully as she did so. When she mentioned the subtle wrongness in the air Rarity gasped.

“You feel it too?” Twilight asked.

“Yes” Rarity replied. “Like a vibration, but in magic?”

“A vibration in magic?” Rainbow Dash said. “What?”

“Oh, I wouldn’t expect a pegasus to understand about magic” replied Rarity sweetly. Rainbow Dash scowled at her.

“But…” Pinkie Pie broke in, “how can magic vibrate?” Applejack tried to shut her up, but it was too late.

Twilight cleared her throat. “Magic,” she began, “lies behind the usual three dimensions, in a multidimensional existence of its own. When a unicorn wishes to perform a magical spell, he or she draws upon this magical existence, using its power to shape reality and changing it to the world in which whatever he or she desires to happen has happened. So if I were to teleport over here,” she demonstrated and they spun to face her with horrified fascination on their faces, “What I am really doing is using magic to break down the molecules in my body, rearranging them to form a new me over there. The magical co-existence allows me to draw on the power necessary to do this. That is, of course, a simplified version. Any questions?”

Even Rarity was staring at her in confusion. “Anyway,” Twilight sighed, “let’s get moving. We’ve got a long way to go yet.”

For Fluttershy the clearing weather had brought new terrors. By the time she had shrugged off the effects of the tranquilizer the storm was already raging at full force, and so she had never had a chance to properly look at her captors. Now, emerging from under the blanket and into the harsh light of day she saw them. Where she had thought to see perhaps a dozen ponies instead walked more than two hundred. The numbers were not what caused her to gasp in shock, however; only now did she notice something incredibly disturbing about her captors. Each and every one of them sported dull, lifeless grey eyes that matched their dull, lifeless grey bodies, and none had wings or a horn. What was perhaps most surprising of all, however, was that none of them, adults all, had a cutie mark.

It seemed inconceivable; never had a pony gone without a cutie mark until this age, yet here were hundreds. Was their leader, perhaps, kidnapping those who failed to find their talent in time? But then why did they stay? Did some sorcery hold them in line? She mused on this for quite a while, even losing some of her fear as the pity she had felt the night before returned, this time directed at the mindless beasts that walked on either side of her.

Approaching midday, the convoy suddenly stopped, and one of the nearby ponies turned to face her. She quailed inside as his lifeless eyes swept over her, but anger was now creeping into her emotions and it gave her the strength to stand firm and meet his gaze challengingly.

“We are ordered to inform you” he began “that we are passing under the gateway to our master’s territory. You will shortly experience a slight oddity. Do not be alarmed.”

His voice was as bland and emotionless as the rest of him, and Fluttershy merely lifted her head a fraction and remained silent. Receiving no answer, the pony turned and stood identical to the others and, as one, they all resumed movement.

As she settled back down, Fluttershy realised they were approaching the base of a cliff. A rock wall stretched upwards and to the sides as far as she could see, disappearing into the clouds above and over the horizon on either side. It was pitted with cracks and natural caves, and it was to one such cave, the largest, that they were heading.

As the forerunners of the convoy passed into the mouth of the cave they shuddered and began to convulse, yet kept walking. The ailment rippled back through the lines of ponies as each passed into the darkness, and Fluttershy watched with alarm as it approached her. She was being dragged into it, but before she could cry out it was upon her. Blackness filled her vision and she shuddered, glancing around, her earlier fear returning in force. Then a face appeared in the darkness. It was one of the grey ponies, and he spoke:

“Do be alarmed. We will protect you.”

Fluttershy felt relieved to hear the voice. Her relief was short lived, however, replaced by disgust at such a positive reaction to her captors. She stood her ground, but before she could say anything, the illusion dissolved and she was back in the cage. They were now inside the cave, and there was enough light to see the rear-guard of the convoy passing through the entrance. She watched as each shuddered for a few seconds, then stilled as if nothing had happened. Some magic clearly protected them from most of the effect of whatever trap was set here, but despite that it was still numbing. Not only that, but Fluttershy realised she had been nursing a faint hope all along; that her friends would come save her, but without protection how could they get past this? She didn’t even know what it was, but the thought of her friends being hit by such a strong magical force frightened her. So, earlier defiance now broken, and the candle of hope dying down, Fluttershy began to cry anew, hiding her face from the emotionless masks of her captors as they pulled her further and further through the mountain, and further and further from her friends.

The endless plains were beginning to bore Twilight. There was nothing to see for miles and miles, and their endless journey continued. Yet, despite their efforts, the tracks they followed in the dirt grew fainter as they slipped further and further behind their quarry. Fluttershy’s captives set a hard pace, and were moving almost the time, day and night. The gap between them had already stretched from six hours to almost an entire day.

Rainbow Dash had flown ahead to look for signs (at strict orders not to be seen), but reported a mountain range in the far distance she couldn’t get around. The tracks led into the range, through a large cave system that she had wisely decided not to investigate.

Pinkie Pie, meanwhile, was maintaining an attitude of joviality in an attempt to lift their spirits, but it was doing very little to help. Eventually, the sun set and, grateful for the respite from the endless monotony of walking, they settled down for the night.

The next morning they broke camp early and set off while the sun was barely visible over the horizon. Almost immediately an enormous mountain range loomed out of the clouds ahead. They stopped in wonder, each craning to see the top.

“Wow” said Pinkie Pie, the first to speak “that’s a huge mountain!”

“Told you it was big,” replied Rainbow Dash smugly, “but there’s caves running through it; we should be able to get through. The cart with Fluttershy on it went through the big one over there, we should follow it.”

“Well, you know where you’re going” replied Twilight. A wind had picked up, and the cart tracks in the sand had all but disappeared overnight. They set off again, this time with a more determined step now they had something to aim for. By late afternoon they had reached the base of the mountain.

As they approached the entrance to the cave, Rainbow Dash opened her wings and took to the air. Before any of them could stop her she flew forwards into the cave and disappeared in the darkness. Twilight’s horn pulsed with instinctive magic and she called out in alarm, but there was no reply. With a sigh she followed the pegasus.

As she neared the cave mouth, however, her horn began to itch. This became a sharp pain the closer she got. She retreated in alarm and turned to face the others who had wisely hung back.

“There’s some sort of magical barrier protecting the cave” she explained. “I would usually just go around; surely one of these other caves leads through, but somepony decided to fly in there alone. Since I don’t know what the barrier does I don’t know if she’s injured or not. We’ll have to go through.”

Pinkie Pie moved closer and began to investigate the edges of the entrance. It seemed harmless, but the looks on the faces of the two unicorns was worrying her. Having found nothing suspect around the edges, she approached and stood right on the threshold of the cave, then carefully poked her nose in.

Instantly her world went black. Frightened, she stumbled backwards, but nothing changed. She was now stuck here, and her friends had disappeared from behind her. She called out their names desperately, but to no avail.

Just then her world reformed and she found herself, oddly, in PonyVille. She stepped back, alarmed.

What happened? One moment I’m in a cave miles away, next in PonyVille. This isn’t possible. Let me out! I have to help the others save Fluttershy

Have to find a way to escape this…

Have t-

Have to take this flour over to Mrs Cake. Of course. I should really stop getting distracted.

She smiled at the silly moment of confusion and started trotting merrily along, humming a tune under her breath. Shortly, she spotted her friends in a huddle and bounded over.

“Hey guys, what-”

“Pinkie!” Twilight’s voice brought the earth pony up short. It was angry, and when the unicorn turned her eyes were hard and cold. “We told you once. Get out.”

“B-but…” began Pinkie, shock in her voice, backing away, but Rarity interrupted her. The others had all turned and wore identical expressions of hostility.

“Can’t you take a hint?” snapped the unicorn.

“Hint? What hint?” With all of her self control, Pinkie strove to inject some cheerfulness into her voice. The result could best be described as flat. “Do I have to guess? Is this-”

“Are you really as stupid as you look?” interrupted Rainbow Dash harshly.

“I-”

Applejack now broke in. Her voice was gentler than that of the others, and it made her words all the more cutting. “We told you already, Pinkie, we don’t want you here. Leave us.”

Pinkie bowed her head and felt the onset of tears. Something was pushing the boundaries of her memory. There was something she should be remembering but self-centred grief held it back. Then something happened to clear her tears.

“Yeah, get out!” Fluttershy added.

“What? No!” Pinkie screamed, and at that word her memories returned in a rush of anger. She raised her head. “Fluttershy wouldn’t say that! You aren’t my friends; you’re just some magic spell trying to trick me!” Now she directed her voice to the surroundings, which had already become somehow dislocated and unreal under her scorn. “Leave me alone! I’m not scared of you!”

With those words the illusion dissolved. Pinkie found herself facing a very worried Applejack.

“Pinkie! You’re alright!” said the earth pony nervously. “What happened?”

Briefly Pinkie explained what she had seen and it was Twilight who replied. The unicorn’s voice was low and edged with anger, not unlike the Twilight from the illusion, and Pinkie shrank back.

“I’ve seen this kind of thing before,” said Twilight. “It’s a modification of a spell designed to show somepony their greatest fear. Mostly, it was used to try and turn ponies mad, or to blackmail them into slavery, but it’s been outlawed throughout Equestria for hundreds of years. It looks like we’re dealing with something even more serious than I thought here. I’m glad you didn’t give in to the illusion Pinkie, or you’d never have come back.”

Suddenly Pinkie realised she was inside the cave. She must have fallen in as the spell took her, and she now lay safely on the other side of the barrier. She stood and turned to the others. Applejack looked worried.

“I’m sorry you had to see us like that, Pinkie.”

“It’s okay!” she replied happily, and the others smiled back, “makes it all the better to have you all back here and normal!” She hesitated, “well… nearly all of you…”

At the reminder the smiles died as quickly as they had come. Applejack was the next to approach the cave entrance.

Applejack’s world turned black. She staggered, disorientated, but she was ready and stood calmly until the darkness faded. When it did she found herself in PonyVille, just as Pinkie Pie had. It seemed, however, that she viewed the village through a lens; everything was distorted and the distant sounds of conversations were muffled.

Confused, she began to walk, looking around for something out of place; something that her nightmares might be based on. The world was grey and had a ghostly look, as if she could walk straight through it. Then another pony rounded a corner ahead and she very quickly discovered that, in fact, she could.

Alarmed, she stepped back, but then shook herself. This was clearly an illusion; she was no more real to the ponies than they were to her. This thought awoke a sense of urgency in her and she began to hurry. It wasn’t long before she found what she was looking for.

A large grey pony, similar to the ones they were chasing, turned a corner ahead and looked straight at her. Applejack felt a chill as the cold gaze met hers, and the pony spoke in a soft, hypnotic voice.

“Applejack” it began “why are you here? The truth is no longer necessary in this place.”

“Uhh, the truth is necessary in most places, friend, and PonyVille is certainly one of them” Applejack replied.

“Ahh, but how it has changed since you left. Now lies and deceit rule. How does that feel to one who clings to the truth always, like a foal with their favourite toy?”

“It feels like a sham, mister. That much ain’t able to change in two days.” Applejack replied, anger edging her voice.

“Ahh how ironic that one such as you should hide from the truth. Look inside yourself, Applejack, think of how easily ponies will believe lies.”

The voice continued to purr, but Applejack now shut it out. She turned to go and looked over her shoulder.

“There’re always some who believe lies, mister, but there’s far more who stick to the truth. PonyVille wouldn’t fall to the likes of you. You’re a fake, an illusion, and I ain’t afraid of you. Now leave me alone.”

As she said the last word, the illusion dissolved and she found herself inside the cave. She turned, shaking off the joyful attentions of Pinkie Pie, and gazed sombrely at those who still stood outside the cave.

“Well that wasn’t too bad, but there ain’t nothin’ much a spell like this could hit me with anyway. I’m thinkin’ you three will have it harder. I’ll take Pinkie Pie and go look for Rainbow Dash, call for us if you need.” With that, and a nod of assent from Twilight, she turned and led Pinkie further in, leaving Derpy nervously approaching the mouth of the cave.

It was very dark inside, but they found Rainbow Dash quickly. She had fallen close to the mouth of the cave and was curled in a ball. Applejack thought for one alarmed second that the pegasus might not have returned from the illusion, but as they drew closer she heard, to her utter astonishment, a sobbing noise, and saw the cyan body trembling with anguish.

“Rainbow Dash!”

As Pinkie Pie called her name the pegasus looked up, her eyes filled with tears. Applejack opened her mouth to ask what the she had experienced to upset her so much, but Dash got there first.

“I’m sorry, Applejack, I just couldn’t!”

“Couldn’t what? What did you see?”

“Save you all! I just-” she gave a choked sob and shivered, then looked up again and spoke in a more normal voice. “PonyVille was burning, I had to try and save you, but it was too much, I wasn’t fast enough…”

“Burnin’? How?” replied Applejack in alarm.

“I don’t know, I just flew into the cave and suddenly I was in PonyVille and everything was on fire. I had to choose one of you to save.”

“Who’d you choose?”

“None of you! I couldn’t decide! And by the time I made a decision it was too late! I was so afraid…”

Applejack nodded grimly. For such a loyal character like Rainbow Dash, being unable to save her friends must have been horrible. Then Pinkie Pie spoke up.

“So how’d you get out? Me and Applejack, we broke the spell by proving we weren’t afraid of it, but you…”

“I tried to save Twilight in the end. She… she was closest. The library was collapsed and she was trapped under this big, flaming beam. I tried to pull her out, but she was stuck fast and I couldn’t move her. Then I tried to get out but the roof collapsed and I was trapped too! I was burning, dying, but then Twilight’s horn began to glow and suddenly I just felt so… peaceful. I remembered it was just a dream, and as soon as I realised that it ended and I woke up.

Applejack nodded again, recalling how Twilight’s horn had pulsed as Dash entered the cave. Clearly the unicorn had, perhaps unconsciously, helped Dash through her nightmare.

They returned to the barrier in time to see Derpy emerging through. Applejack wondered idly what would constitute a nightmare for the wall eyed pegasus, but dismissed the thought as Twilight spoke. She was still stood with Rarity on the other side of the barrier and her voice was oddly distorted.

“Neither of us can get close to the barrier,” she began, “I’m going to have to try a spell to hide our magic and see if we can fool it.” Her horn began to glow. They waited a few tense minutes as the glow gradually increased in brightness until it was impossible to look at. Then all of a sudden it winked out and both unicorns were missing their horn. Cautiously, they approached the barrier then, feeling no pain, ran through together.

This was the first opportunity Applejack had to properly see the external effects of the spell. Both Twilight and Rarity shuddered as they passed the barrier, then fell limp and collapsed to the floor inside the cave. Within seconds they were upright again; clearly whatever ordeal they suffered was already over. Rarity’s pupils were widened in shock and Twilight looked dazed, but neither were harmed and both had regained their horns. Now they were all safely through the barrier, they began to examine their surroundings in more detail.

The cave system they had entered, lit by a further show of magic from Twilight, was huge. A short tunnel led from the entrance into a large dome, and from this dome spider webbed more than a dozen extra tunnels. Upon a quick exploration, they discovered that many of these tunnels almost instantly ended in more domes with subsequent tunnel branches of their own. Glumly, they returned to the dome nearest the entrance and slumped down.

“Now how are we going to follow them?” groaned Twilight.

“We’ll just have to guess I suppose” replied Applejack “we’ll need to split up and-”

Just then, however, Rainbow Dash, who had been scanning the floor around the edges of the dome, gave a triumphant shout. Rushing over, they found very faint track marks in the ground leading to one of the side tunnels. It was one of the smallest tunnels and headed off at roughly a thirty degree angle to the way they had come in. Had their choice come down to guessing they would never have picked it. After congratulating the smug pegasus they cautiously followed the tracks.

The tracks led them many miles through the cave system, and soon they were all hopelessly lost. They lost the trail at one point and had to frantically backtrack, but somehow they picked it up again and after surprisingly short amount of time they emerged into the sunlight. Twilight shuddered as she exited the cave; she had felt the vague magical harmonics that could only be numerous traps throughout the system. If they hadn’t been following a trail they would surely have been caught by one.

It was now evening, and they began looking for somewhere to stop for the night, but almost immediately ran into problems.

“Eugh!” observed Pinkie Pie, “this place gives me the willies!”

Rarity glanced around in shock. “Oh goodness,” she exclaimed, “what in the world happened here?”

As they had exited the cave they had walked into a forest, yet one that seemed more reminiscent of a graveyard, or some nightmare. There was almost nothing living in sight. The few trees that remained standing were bleached, dead husks. Dry brown vegetation huddled in clumps on the ground amongst the corpses of fallen trunks. What was most disquieting, however, was the silence. No birds sang, no forest animals called and no wind stirred the dead air.

“It’s Xerox’s spell” said Twilight. “All magic requires energy to cast and maintain. I know he’s been using some very powerful spells, and I wondered where he got it all from. I guess now I know.”

As the others recovered from the shock, Applejack walked over to the nearest tree and rested her head against it. It had been an apple tree before whatever foul plight that afflicted this landscape had killed it. Now little more than a trunk stood, twisted and bleached white, a once grand tree reduced to a dead husk.

Rainbow Dash appeared next to the grieving earth pony and placed a friendly hoof on her shoulder. “Don’t worry, AJ,” the pegasus said, “we’ll find him and make him pay for this.” Her voice was unusually subdued. Applejack nodded and turned away.

Rarity was shivering. “I… I simply cannot believe power could mean so much, that you could destroy an entire forest,” she said. “Why would he do it?”

“If he’s using the spell I think he is to harvest the energy, the land will be dying from the outside in” replied Twilight, “I wonder if he even knows what it’s like out here.”

“Harvest the energy for what, though?”

“The book says that he controls his servants through some sort of mind spell. He’s also got a spell on himself. He was… deformed at birth; it was part of the reason he was treated so badly by the other ponies, and it was what eventually caused him to turn evil. He keeps the illusion on himself so he no longer has to face the reality of his condition.”

Pinkie Pie shivered. “Why’d he run away in the first place?”

“He made a pact with Celestia. She noticed his unusually strong magic, just as she noticed mine, but could sense his pride and lust for power and was anxious to curb him before anything bad happened. She warned him never to use his magic to hurt others, and he agreed, but later, when the pressure got too much, he reneged.”

“Rena-?”

“He, uhh, broke a Pinkie promise”

“HE DID WHAT?!”

“Easy there!” cried Applejack, her voice severely muffled. Upon working out where Twilight was going, the earth pony had moved quickly into position behind Pinkie Pie. She now held Pinkie tightly by the tail, the only thing stopping her from taking on Xerox all by herself.

“Calm down Pinkie!” sighed Twilight, stepping in front of her as Applejack cautiously let go of her tail. Pinkie Pie stood very still, her breath coming in gasps and a mixture of shock and anger on her face. Then she calmed down abruptly and began talking at normal volume.

“Are you sure? I mean, he is incredibly evil and everything, but really?”

“He seems like the sort to do it” injected Rarity.

“I guess so…” replied Pinkie dejectedly, then straightened up. “We must find him!”

“Yes, let’s go” added Rainbow Dash, who had been standing impatiently at the edge of the clearing with Derpy ever since the conversation began. As they began moving again, Twilight noted idly that the two pegasi had been spending much more time together since Derpy had revealed her writing skills. Perhaps Rainbow Dash was finally coming to the conclusion that Derpy wasn’t quite as useless as originally thought. Twilight smiled to herself.

They were unable to find a good place for a campsite for the night, and instead settled on an area of ground mostly protected on three sides by walls of fallen trees. They decided that, in unfamiliar territory, it would be best to leave one of them on watch while the others slept. Rarity, who had picked the short straw, settled down in a corner. The others, exhausted, fell almost instantly asleep. Twilight’s last thought before she drifted into the world of dreams was a sad one, of how much Fluttershy must be hating this.

Fluttershy hated this. For one so attuned to nature and woodland animals, being surrounded by so much death frightened her. She kept her feelings to herself; she had long since given up crying, yet at the sight of the skeletons of several small animals by the side of the road, half eaten by carrion, she let out a gasp of sorrow. The sadness was now a physical pain in her belly, and every breath she took of the fetid air merely added to it.

What didn’t help was Ditto, who had picked up on her fear for the animals and began pointing them out, speculating in a loud voice how they might have died. Fluttershy shivered and lay down, trying in vain to blot out the voice. She thought of her friends, unable to follow and perhaps now hopelessly lost in the tunnels leading under the mountain they had traversed just two days ago.

Two days, yet it seemed like a lifetime in such a barren, dead, place. She shuddered again and huddled further down under her blanket, as if by curling herself into a ball she could be protected from the horrors that were thrown at her by a cold, uncaring world.

Chapter 4

Pinkie Pie’s usual cheerfulness had returned after the initial incident, and after they packed camp and moved off she resumed talking animatedly. Twilight appreciated the attempt to keep their spirits up, but for one pony in particular, the forced joviality was having the adverse effect.

“Pinkie Pie, will you please shut up?”

Tired from her earlier scouting, and restless from strict orders not to fly in unknown territories, Rainbow Dash’s patience was low, and she was growing more and more annoyed at Pinkie’s jokes. Applejack, being the first to spot the problem, motioned to Pinkie and quietly told her to back off, but that didn’t solve the problem. Twilight settled for positioning herself between the two while they walked but still Dash would occasionally glance over angrily and mutter under her breath. They made it through the day without incident, however, and as the sun set the group encountered an abandoned farmhouse where they could stay the night. The house was mostly intact, but the door and some of the surrounding walls were missing, suggesting it had been hit by some sort of explosion.

As they were readying themselves for the night Rainbow Dash approached Twilight.

“You think I should go out and scout while it’s night time?” asked Dash. “I’ll be much harder to see in the dark.”

“But Dash, you’re asleep on your hooves anyway! You can’t stay awake all the time!” Twilight replied anxiously.

“Pah!” the pegasus replied “I’ll be fine.”

Twilight sighed, seeing the defiance in Dash’s eyes. “Very well,” she said, “but be careful! If you see anything suspicious, come back immediately and report it to whoever’s on watch, okay?”

The pegasus was already joyfully in the air, and only a faint response came back as she disappeared off into the night. Twilight sighed again and turned to the others, who were already led down asleep, although Derpy was reading a book and writing something by moonlight. Twilight was the first on watch for the night and lay down in the doorway watching the stars. Here she remained, seeing no sign of Rainbow Dash, until it was time to wake Applejack for the next watch. After being relieved, she fell almost instantly asleep.

The next day, Twilight woke to find Rainbow Dash was back. According to Pinkie Pie (who had been on watch for the third and final portion of the night) the pegasus had only returned in the early hours of the morning and had not slept at all that night. Gritting her teeth at her friend’s stubbornness, Twilight asked the results of the scouting mission.

“Fluttershy is about two days travel ahead,” the pegasus replied, “they’re slowing a bit; we just need to follow this road and we’ll be able to gain some ground. Like you said Twilight, the land gets a bit nicer as we go on. It is kinda… odd, though.”

“Odd? How?” asked Twilight.

“Everything’s all… weird” answered Dash with a frown. She was clearly struggling to find words to describe her experience. “There’re trees and plants and things but they’re not behaving like anything I’ve seen before… You’ll have to see for yourself.”

Twilight nodded and was about to suggest a late start so Dash could get some sleep when the pegasus picked up her unused bedroll and joined the others. Twilight decided not to mention her friend’s evident tiredness. As they set off she caught Applejack’s eye and they shared a worried glance behind Dash’s back.

Finally the vegetation began to look healthier and Fluttershy’s spirits began to perk up. She hadn’t realised how much the dying flora had been affecting her emotions, but now she began to see greenery as they passed deeper into the forest and just some of the tension she had been feeling over the past days melted away.

Perhaps ‘greenery’ wasn’t the correct word, however. The vegetation that was gradually replacing the barren landscape was incredibly odd. Many of the plants were familiar, but intermingled with the common plants were oddities, many completely out of season. A giant baobab tree on her left was covered in fungus, and next to it grew an apple tree. Next to that was a palm tree, followed immediately by a weeping willow. The vegetation was scattered randomly; trees normally found on opposite sides of the world grew happily side by side. Many of the plants were so exotic or rare that Fluttershy, an expert on plants and animals alike, didn’t recognise them.

It wasn’t only the plants that were strange however. Animals appeared at intervals, many exhibiting incredibly odd behaviour. Fluttershy once saw a field containing a seemingly ordinary flock of sheep, marred only by the darker forms of wolves lying amongst them. Neither sheep nor wolves seemed bothered by the other’s presence. Before Fluttershy could do anything but stare, however, the rapidly moving cart brought her instead a scene of an elephant attempting to groom a tiger with its trunk. Next up was an alligator sleeping peacefully upside down in a tree.

The scenes were almost comical for their ridiculousness, but Fluttershy felt twinges of alarm each time she spotted such a scene. The oddities exhibited here worried her; it seemed as if some sort of illness had turned every animal mad. She settled with watching the scenes anxiously as they scrolled past, a slideshow of madness playing through the bars of her cage, and desperately trying to rationalise each scene, as if by doing so she could remove such oddities and restore order.

Her thoughts were cut short, however, as, approaching midday on their fourth day since crossing under the mountain, the convoy suddenly stopped, and a pony turned to face her. It was the same one who had warned her of the barrier at the entrance to the caves, and when he spoke again, the speech was very similar.

“We are ordered to inform you that we are approaching our master’s castle.” he began. “You are ordered to be respectful to him and obey his will at all times. You are being given a great privilege in seeing him.”

With that he turned and began walking as the cart moved off again, not even waiting for an answer.

Privilege? Fluttershy thought, It’s hardly a voluntary visit.

She considered simply throwing this ‘Master’ an insult and hoping he killed her quickly rather than subjecting her to a life of slavery like the mindless beasts that escorted her. But the thought was quickly rejected; better to feign meekness and find some way of escaping once she had earned his trust. With a firm plan in mind, she began to feel a little more hopeful and turned to face the mountain that loomed in their path with determination in her eyes.

Meanwhile, far behind, Twilight was walking, lost in thought, when she was interrupted by a shout of alarm from Rarity who was at the front of the party. Rainbow Dash’s night-time expedition had given her the confidence, despite Twilight’s protests, to scout in the daytime. Now, however, she was returning at speed, and three black shapes were in hot pursuit.

Rainbow Dash had been fleeing for less then ten minutes, yet it felt like days. It seemed so cruel that now she was in sight of her friends, she was about to be caught. Her bedraggled wings and exhausted muscles gave her nothing of her usual speed and grace and, despite her best efforts, the shadows were closing fast. She began to drop, angling her dive downwards as steeply as she could, hoping gravity might give her the speed she needed. But even as she did so, a shock ran up her body.

The leading bird had hold of her tail in its cruel beak. She twisted in the air and lashed out repeatedly with her hind legs, desperate to shake it off, but her evasive manoeuvres only slowed her down, and brought the other birds in faster. Desperately she gave an almighty kick, and managed to dislodge the bird, turning to see the second about to hit her.

With little time to react, she slammed her wings downwards as hard as she could. Aching muscles protested violently but she shot upwards and managed to evade the second bird, only to find the third about to hit her. She folded her wings and prepared to drop, knowing she would be too late…

A grey blur streaked past her and slammed into her attacker. The bird immediately lost interest in Rainbow Dash as consciousness escaped it. Derpy angled her flight without even slowing and ploughed into another bird as it wheeled to face the new threat. The first impact had stunned her, but the second was still strong enough to knock her new target out of the air.

The final bird, however, had grabbed Rainbow Dash around the midriff as she tried to drop and, exhausted as she was, the pegasus could barely hold her own. She desperately blocked the stabbing beak as they spiralled dangerously towards the ground. About to be overwhelmed, she turned, desperately looking for Derpy, but the grey pegasus was far too far away to help and the moment of distraction cost Dash dearly. For a split second she was unable to defend against the bird’s attacks, and it caught her wing in its beak, crushing the delicate feathers. Gritting her teeth against the pain Dash bit down hard on the bird’s leg but it barely seemed to notice as it spread its wings and halted their descent.

Unfortunately for the bird, the halt proved to be its downfall as Derpy dropped in from above. The grey pegasus landed on the bird’s outstretched wing, grabbed hold, and rode the wing as her weight bent it downwards. She locked her jaws around the bird’s other leg. With one wing folded, and now trying to hold both the pegasi in the air, the bird tilted. It was forced to release Rainbow Dash and turn to face the new threat. Derpy dodged upwards then grasped the bird’s head, spinning it upside down and landing on its breast. Now she fell with the bird, just as Dash had done, two creatures of the air locked together and heading rapidly for the ground. Unfortunately for the member of the group currently facing upwards, however, the ground was very close and so the bird was taken completely by surprise when Derpy suddenly spread her wings and slowed her descent.

It was even more surprised, albeit very briefly, by the ground. There was a very audible crunch.

Derpy landed triumphantly, but went cold as she remembered Rainbow Dash. The pegasus had fallen from the bird’s grip but, injured as she was, would be unable to slow her own fall. She spun anxiously but sighed in relief as she saw her fellow pegasus floating in a bubble of magic. Twilight steered the injured pegasus downwards, her horn glowing softly.

The bubble popped when it reached the ground and Dash stepped out. She spread her wings again, nodded a thanks to Twilight, and attempted to take flight once more, but her hooves barely left the ground before her injured wing gave way and dumped her on her face. She rose on shaking legs.

“Careful Dash,” said Derpy sweetly, “you don’t want to cause any more damage than you’ve already done.”

The rainbow pegasus gave Derpy a sour look as Twilight came up from the side and began to inspect her damaged wing. “What happened?” asked the unicorn anxiously.

Dash was still glaring at Derpy. “I just don’t know what went wrong!” she snapped at the grey pegasus. If Derpy’s grin had been any wider the top of her head would have fallen off. Dash ignored her and turned to Twilight. “I was scouting,” she began, “then these three came out of nowhere! I barely escaped alive, and they chased me all the way back here. I guess I invaded a nest; but I didn’t see anything!”

“Rainbow Dash, what did I tell you about scouting in the daytime?” said Twilight.

“I… I thought it was safe. I guess not. Sorry Twilight.”

“It’s fine. At least this wing’ll stop you flying for a while. You can finally get some rest!”

“Yeah” replied the pegasus sadly. She turned to Derpy. “Uhh, thanks for the help. What were those things anyway?”

“Peregrin’ falcons.” It was Applejack who replied. The earth pony was standing next to what was left of the last bird after Derpy had introduced it to the ground. “But they’re huge! I ain’t ever seen a peregrin’ this big!”

It was true. The non-flyers hadn’t noticed it at the distance, but here on the ground the sheer size of the bird was evident. It was fully half again as long as any of them from beak to tail. Twilight shuddered as she looked it over; the beak and talons were razor sharp and looked deadly. She found new respect in her for the courage Derpy had shown in rescuing Rainbow Dash alone.

“Eww!” Rarity exclaimed as she approached the bird beside Applejack “that smells horrible! Where’d you find it Rainbow Dash?”

“I didn’t ‘find’ it” the pegasus replied in exasperation “It… kinda found me. I was some way off to the west, thought I’d have a little rest and BAM! Feathers everywhere. Mine mostly. They chased me all the way back here.”

“Why were you scouting so far off course?” replied Twilight in alarm, “we’re heading north, remember?”

Rainbow Dash mumbled something incomprehensible.

“Didn’t quite catch that?”

“I was following a butterfly!” the pegasus snarled. “It was the first sign of life for days and I was curious, okay?”

Rarity was about to respond, but Pinkie Pie chipped in: “Well! Seems like we haven’t lost Fluttershy after all!” she exclaimed and fell over laughing. The others joined in, all except Rainbow Dash who stood watching them coldly. When they showed no sign of stopping she turned and began to walk away, finding new strength in her anger. Sobering up, the others followed her.

The convoy had begun to climb upwards, taking a path up the slopes of a huge mountain. They had left the forest and its oddities behind, but Fluttershy’s anxiety was replaced by nervousness as their journey approached its close. Her plans suddenly seemed flimsy in the face of their impending arrival.

It took them almost two days to climb to the top of the mountain up the well-worn path, and Fluttershy’s nervousness only increased by the hour as they approached the summit. There, a huge black castle loomed out of the mist.

“Hey Fluttershy!” Ditto called mockingly “how’re you feeling about meeting ‘The Master’?”

The title was spoken in an eerie voice, and the little pony then began to perform a very bad imitation of a terrified Fluttershy: “Ooh, please don’t hurt me Master, I’ll do anything you want!” He sniggered and began to jeer at her, but it seemed half hearted. Ditto’s mockery had taken a noticeable decline over the last few days; clearly he too was feeling the draining effect of being in the shadow of the castle. It was like a physical force, the huge black structure blocked out the sun and suddenly you felt so… cold...

Shortly, they reached the entrance. The front wall of the castle was dominated by a huge set of double doors, made of thick oak and reinforced with iron bars. It swung open soundlessly as they approached. Before they stepped through, Fluttershy’s cage was unlocked and, wings bound, she was escorted in by two of her captors. The rest turned and, leading the empty cage, began to walk back the way they had come.

The entrance led immediately into an ornate throne room. A single huge window covered most of the rear wall, while tapestries covered the other three. The two side walls each contained two balconies from some unseen side rooms and curved upwards towards a high, domed ceiling.

The scene would have seemed almost homely were it not for the shades over the window muting the light passing through, and the fact that each tapestry was entirely greyscale. A grey throne, matching the grey walls, floor and ceiling, sat on a raised dais near the rear of the hall, and a blood red carpet, startling for its colour, led up to it. It was along this carpet that Fluttershy was lead. A cage sat beside the throne, and it was here she was placed and told to remain until the master came to speak to her.

As if I have a choice, she thought sadly.

It was some time later (Fluttershy had already lost track of time; the shaded window showed nothing of the outside and it was impossible to even tell if it was day or night) that a different pony entered the room. He was grey like the others but much larger, and the dull colouring of his body was offset by a blood red mane. The colouring reminded her of the castle itself, and Fluttershy assumed this must be the ‘master’. With surprise, she also noted the resemblance to Ditto, and recalled the foal referring to Fluttershy’s captor as his father. On cue, Ditto emerged into the room awkwardly, following the larger pony who spoke in a voice deep and powerful.

“Fluttershy I presume? How delightful to meet you.” His tone spoke otherwise. “My name is Xerox. I hope you’re comfortable?”

“I’m in a cage” she replied flatly, noting with surprise how level her own voice was.

“You are indeed, and you would do well to remember that. Now then,” He began to circle her, “perhaps you would like to know why you are here?”

Fluttershy stared straight ahead and didn’t reply. Xerox continued after a pause; “Well, my dear, you are here because somepony amongst your useless rulers seems to have finally noticed my work. I decided that if I had a little leverage, perhaps they would be more inclined to leave me alone, hmm?”

“So I’m ‘leverage’?” replied Fluttershy flatly. “But surely that will just make you more of a target? If you’ve captured me, people will come to my rescue.”

“Ah, but that is the wonderful thing! They can’t! Did you like my little piece of protection? It shows a pony their worst nightmare! Even I myself could not pass it! How can anypony hope to challenge me if they must first battle themselves?”

That, thought Fluttershy, is because you’re clearly not as strong as you think you are. The truth in the statement hit Fluttershy hard, however, and she redoubled her conviction to escape on her own. This thought brought with it the memory of her thoughts outside the castle: look meek and accepting, gain his trust. She dropped her head.

“Ahh, much better,” replied Xerox in a softer voice “you see how easy things are if we co-operate? Now I must leave, and do some of my vitally important work. I shall order you something to eat. Ditto!” now his voice was suddenly harsh and his son approached him submissively. “With me.” He stalked from the room, dejected son following behind.

Twilight was walking, once again lost in her own thoughts, when Applejack approached her. The earth pony seemed agitated and when she spoke it was barely more than a whisper.

“Twi,” she began “don’t look back, but we’re bein’ followed.”

“Really?” Twilight replied, keeping her voice low, “any idea what it is?”

“Just another pony, one of Xerox’s lot,” the earth pony replied, “followin’ us a few miles back. Seems to be alone, but I ain’t sure. Want me to take a look?”

“If you like. Be careful.”

Applejack grinned and vanished into the trees while Twilight mulled over this new development. She had been surprised at the complete lack of defences around Xerox’s kingdom, but perhaps now they had triggered a trap and he had sent a pony to investigate. It seemed surprising that, now Rainbow Dash was ground bound and they were less obtrusive, they had only now been spotted. Nevertheless, Twilight was confident in the earth pony’s abilities.

Applejack returned at nightfall as they were making camp. None of the others had mentioned her departure but now she was back they clustered around to hear what she had to say.

“There’s a unicorn followin’ us,” she began quietly, “she’s under Xerox’s control.”

“A unicorn?” Pinkie Pie injected “I thought all of the Reppy-like-us were earth ponies?”

There was a pause.

“You mean the Replicus?”

“Yeah! Those things!”

“Well,” said Twilight, “apparently not. The fact this one’s kept her horn suggests she might be quite powerful. Let her follow us for now. It’s best if we avoid confronting her unless we have to.”

Are they even trying to sneak?

Shuriken Star had long since abandoned her name. Names were fickle things, designed to constrain you and curb your talent. Why should she only be a ‘star’ with shurikens? Why not every weapon?

She had, of course, perfected every weapon she knew of.

The Replicus rarely had a chance to speak to one another, and even when they did they rarely spoke to her, but she had discovered many rumours spread of her deeds. A master assassin, highly trained and able to eliminate any target with any weapon imaginable. A unicorn, with magical power second only to Xerox himself, powerful enough that she was allowed to keep her horn upon Replication (this was the name given to the transformation when a pony fell under Xerox’s spell). Finally, a master diplomat, cunning, manipulative and loyal only to Xerox. She was his personal strike force, solely responsible for the capture of at least half of the current Replicus.

For this particular mission she had chosen a blowgun. It was quiet and deadly. She would strike once to panic them, then pick them off one by one while they chased at shadows. She had carefully assessed the group and decided to strike at the orange one first; the one who had slipped away earlier to spy on the illusion Shuriken had placed following the party.

As they made camp for the night she moved into position. The site they had chosen was one of several possibilities Shuriken had scouted earlier that day, and so by the time the group had laid their bedrolls out she was already in position. From her hiding place, a bush just yards from where the white unicorn was lying down for sleep, she assembled her blowgun, keeping her eyes locked on the orange pony. Conveniently her target seemed to be the one on watch for the night.

Just then, the signals from her peripheral vision alerted her. She turned her head slowly, letting the soft wind mask the faint rustling, and almost swallowed her tongue.

“Hi!” exclaimed a bright pink face inches from Shuriken’s own. “What’s your name?”

HOW DID SHE-

The orange pony spun around. “Hey! What’re you doin’ sneakin’ around our camp?”

Skuriken dropped her blowgun and leapt up with her horn glowing.

Twilight winced as Applejack smoothly dodged the magical bolt and bucked the newcomer into a tree. Pinkie Pie advanced on the comatose unicorn evilly.

“Pinkie!” Twilight’s call brought the earth pony up short.

“Yes?”

“Just… Rarity and I will block her magic, and we’ll take away her weapons. If she struggles too much, let her up, okay? I don’t want to kill her.”

“Okie Doki, Loki!” replied the earth pony, positioning herself on top of the unicorn. Applejack sat alongside her. Twilight readied her spell and nodded to them.

When Shuriken awoke she was upside down against a tree. Two unicorns glared at her and a weight on her back suggested the earth ponies were holding her down. The orange pony’s face appeared in her vision, upside down.

“Try that again,” it said sweetly, “and you’re goin’ into orbit. Now, what were you doin’ sneakin’ around our camp in the dark?”

Shuriken stayed quiet and instead shifted, angrily. Another face appeared in her vision. This one was familiarly pink.

“You reeeaally don’t want to be struggling!” it said dramatically.

“Why?” Shuriken snapped back.

“Weeell, Twilight gave me orders on what to do to you if you resisted. I don’t want to have to do it, but I will. That’s right isn’t it Twilight? You told me very specifically what I was to do if she struggled too much?”

“Uhh…”

Twilight had seen people exploit a bad hand, but Pinkie Pie was bluffing with no cards. As the black unicorn turned to face her she adopted a fiercer look. “I did. I suggest you answer my friend’s question. What were you doing sneaking around our camp?”

Shuriken drew herself up as much as was possible. “I am an expert in magic, armed combat, unarmed combat, stealth, diplomacy, all forms of…”

“Modesty?” interrupted the grey pegasus, dropping from the tree in front of her. Shuriken glared at her.

“I am Xerox’s personal assassin! I am far above the likes of you!” Shuriken felt her voice ascend into hysterics and angrily asserted control over herself.

“Oh for goodness sake,” the white unicorn now stepped forward. Shuriken began to struggle again. “Pinkie Pie, do it.”

Shuriken felt something then that she had not felt in a long time. These ponies had somehow detected and overpowered her, something none had been able to do for centuries.

And she was afraid of them.

She ignored the feeling and faced the white unicorn contemptuously, but could not suppress a wince when the pressure was released from her back.

Several seconds later, when death by ‘It’ didn’t occur, she looked up.

“Remember” said the purple unicorn. “We had your life at our mercy, and we’ve chosen to let you go. Take that for a weakness if you must, but don’t bother us again.”

Shuriken was, as had already been explained, a master of unarmed combat. She could quite easily take on these six, and would probably win.

Probably.

Um.

She turned and slunk off into the trees.

Four pairs of eyes watched the black unicorn go, with the usual slight question mark where Derpy was concerned.

One pair that didn’t was the one belonged to Rainbow Dash who was already asleep.

The second belonged to Twilight who was watching the sleeping pegasus anxiously. Rainbow Dash had taken no part in the proceedings, simply watching the action from afar. Something was troubling her, and Twilight vowed to keep a close eye on the rainbow pegasus over the coming days.

Rainbow Dash’s irritation was growing by the day. The brief period where she had flown made her current earthbound state doubly as bad as it might otherwise have been. She often found herself looking longingly up into the air, but then the stark memory would return of how close she had come to disaster and her injured wing would begin itching again. Pinkie Pie wasn’t helping either with her constant jokes and laughter. To the sullen Rainbow Dash every joke, every laugh, seemed directed at her. Not only that, but they had begun to climb upwards, and the going was tough. Dash’s legs ached. She was tired, unused to walking such long distances, and yearned for the freedom of the air. Then her wing would itch and the cycle of thoughts would begin anew. On top of this, rain had begun to fall again and the constant, depressing, stream did nothing for her mood.

Contrary to Twilight’s thoughts, Rainbow Dash hadn’t even noticed the assassination attempt; she had already been asleep when it started and exhaustion had kept her that way. The next night, however, was eventless and her condition was finally noticed. Rarity noticed the clumsy movements as Dash prepared her bedroll and called over.

“Rainbow Dash! Are you okay?”

“I’m fine!” she replied, turning away “just a little tired.”

“Well maybe if you’d been sleeping as much as I told you too, this wouldn’t have happened.” Twilight added as Dash turned to face her. The pegasus bit back a retort and turned back around. This time it was Pinkie Pie’s face that filled her vision.

“Hey Dash, you know what would wake you up? A party!” she exclaimed “A party always helps!”

“Pinkie Pie, a party I the last thing I want right now. Watch your tongue.” Dash replied, gritting her teeth and turning away.

“Watch my tongue?” Pinkie said, “but that’s impossible!” she demonstrated by sticking her tongue out and going cross eyed. Rainbow Dash turned away again and growled under her breath. Oblivious to this, Pinkie giggled at her own joke and continued talking animatedly. “Ooh, how about a song? They do that in stories!”

Something inside Rainbow Dash snapped. Days of mockery, exhaustion and resentment all came to the fore in one massive surge of anger. She lashed out with her rear hooves, catching Pinkie Pie full in the face and knocking her into the mud. Lightning flashed as she turned, illuminating her face just for a second, and Pinkie cowered at what she saw there.

“Well, Pinkie Pie, guess what? This is NOT a story! Now Leave. Me. ALONE!”

She spun and stalked off into the night, leaving the wide-eyed faces of her friends behind her.

Chapter 5

Fluttershy had managed to sleep for a few hours, but was awoken by a commotion in a nearby room. She opened her eyes and raised her head as the noises grew louder and louder, then gasped as Ditto was hurled bodily through a side door into the room to crash, dazed to the floor. Xerox followed the little pony in, clearly in the middle of a rant.

“-useless! Can you never do anything right? Why I would bother raising such a worthless child is beyond me, but this is how you repay my kindness? You have one day, ONE DAY, to prove to me I should keep you, and if you don’t then you’re gone. This is the LAST STRAW!”

With that, he spun and exited the room, slamming the door and leaving the sobbing foal behind. Fluttershy cleared her throat and cautiously spoke up.

“Ditto?”

The little pony twitched, but ignored her. She looked over his sad little form and, despite everything he had done to her on the journey there; she felt nothing but pity for the crippled pony. She tried again. “Ditto, please, let me help you. You’re in a bad shape, and you might die if you’re not helped.”

“Why should I care?” came the muffled response “I’m nothing.”

“Nopony is ‘nothing’” replied Fluttershy, “we all have our talents; just because yours don’t match your father’s doesn’t give him the right to call you useless. Now, please come over here. I’ll do my best to help you, and it’s cold so you’ll need warmth.”

Reluctantly the pony began to move towards her, his limp even more pronounced with his fresh injuries. Fluttershy looked on, feeling sadder with every tortured step the pony took. Almost as soon as he had reached the relative safety of the cage he collapsed and passed out. Fluttershy quickly took him in (his tiny body was easily small enough to fit through the bars) and began to look over his injuries, assessing which were life threatening. Nothing seemed broken, but the pony’s skin was a mass of cuts, bruises and scars, old and new. Most of the healing would be done naturally by his body, but she made an attempt to close over any cuts that were still bleeding. Once she had done all she could, she placed his limp body on the ground and curled around it, hoping to insulate him with her warmth. Surprisingly quickly, she returned to sleep.

It was some time later she woke again, and found the space she had been curled around now empty. She looked up, alarmed, and met the eyes of Ditto who was standing outside her cage. The little pony seemed to have made a remarkable recovery; he was still standing awkwardly and seemed tired, but was otherwise unaffected by the rough treatment he had received. Fluttershy had only previously seen him with either a mocking or pained look on his face, so it was surprising now to see something resembling shyness in his battered features.

“I just wanted to say... thank you,” he said quietly, “I think you saved my life. I’ll find some way to pay you back.”

“Don’t be silly” replied Fluttershy “I don’t need a reward; the fact that I was successful is reward enough. Nice to see you back upright!”

The concept of not wanting a reward seemed alien to the little pony, but he nodded and scampered out of the room. Fluttershy returned to staring at the walls, her thoughts preoccupied.

Rarity was in a quandary. She was sat by the anguished Pinkie Pie, trying desperately to find words to comfort her, but no words came. Pinkie had fled the scene shortly after Rainbow Dash had shouted at her, and now she sat with her back against a tree, tears running down her face. Rarity had followed, and now merely stood by, desperately racking her brains for something to say. Yet anything she tried sounded meaningless.

“Don’t mind Rainbow Dash,” she had begun, trying and failing to inject some cheerfulness into her voice, “Most of us are really grateful for the laughter and cheer you bring us, you’ve been a great support these past days.”

Gaining no reply, she tried again. “Dash is just a little bit tetchy at the moment because she can’t fly; don’t take anything she says to heart.”

This time she got an answer. Pinkie spoke for the first time since the incident. “I’m just trying to keep people happy!” she cried in anguish. “Is that really so hard?”

“Sometimes, dear, you just need to leave people alone. Not everypony wants to laugh all the time. Sometimes, ponies just need their solitude.”

“I know that…” replied Pinkie, and sighed. Rarity was unable to find any words to say and an awkward silence fell. After a brief delay, Pinkie stood and began walking slowly back the way she had come. “Well I guess I’d better go back and apologise” she said sadly.

Meanwhile, Applejack was having an identical problem with Rainbow Dash. Dash’s anger had swiftly worn off after shouting at Pinkie Pie but the guilt that now filled her wasn’t yet enough to convince her to apologise. Applejack had followed her after the incident, correctly anticipating the change of heart, and hoping to help her find the courage to apologise. But she was having trouble finding words for the grieving pegasus who was led down, her face hidden in a pile of leaves and dirt. Eventually, Dash retracted her head and spoke.

“What have I done?” she whispered, anguish in her voice. “I thought Pinkie was mocking me, but she was just trying to help! Now I’ve alienated her and she’ll never want to talk to me again.”

“Of course she will” replied Applejack “a true friend won’t abandon you after such a silly incident. You just need to go up to her and apologise, and everythin’ll be fine.”

“But I can’t!” the pegasus replied, “she won’t listen, she’ll just ignore me.” Her face fell, if possible, even further “I really hurt her, didn’t I?”

“Don’t you worry yourself about that, sugarcube, everypony makes mistakes.”

“Gah” the pegasus snorted, then sighed. “I guess you’re right. I’ll go and apologise then.” With that she trudged back to the camp, Applejack following on behind.

Meanwhile, Twilight had been left alone with Derpy. She was still shocked at the outburst, and felt an acute sadness in the pit of her stomach. She sighed and dropped her head, too distracted to continue reading her book. Derpy noticed the movement.

“Don’t worry Twilight,” she said confidently, “I’m sure everything will be fine! Rainbow Dash is headstrong, but she knows when to apologise. And Pinkie’s recovered from worse than this before, I’ll bet she’ll be back to normal really soon!”

The cheeriness sounded forced to Twilight, but she appreciated the sentiment all the same, and aimed a smile at the pegasus. Just then, Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash re-entered the campsite from opposite ends and froze, staring at each other. There was a tense silence, which was eventually broken by Dash.

“Pinkie” she began, awkwardly. “I just wanted to say. I… I’ve been really tired lately and I’m a bit tetchy because I can’t fly. I shouldn’t have taken it out on you. I’m… sorry”

Pinkie unfroze at the words, and she met Dash’s eyes. “I’m sorry too. I should have realised earlier that you wanted to be left alone. If you like I can stay quiet for the rest of the journey?”

Dash began to walk across the clearing towards Pinkie Pie. Twilight’s eyes widened in alarm as the pegasus moved nose to nose with the earth pony and spoke.

“Pinkie Pie,” she began, then grinned. “If you stop making jokes, I’m going to throw you off a cliff. Okay?”

Pinkie paused, but then a smile passed across her face. “Yes ma’am!” she replied dramatically, rising onto her hind legs and saluting. She then dropped back down.

“Incidentally,” she added cutely, “there’s a leaf stuck to your nose.”

Derpy, who had been attempting to stifle giggles for the entire conversation at just this fact, now dissolved into laughter. The other’s joined her as Dash’s eyes crossed. Pinkie’s eyes were wide with innocence and, laughing, the pegasus batted the leaf away and tackled the earth pony to the ground. They rolled around for a few seconds, until Pinkie extracted herself and ran to her pack. From here she produced her party cannons, some balloons and a large pile of odd hats, exclaiming “This calls for a party!” punctuating the point with a volley from the cannons.

There was a loud explosion and confetti was blasted into the sky. Derpy took off like a rocket and began chasing the confetti around, trying to grab as much as she could, watched by Rarity and Twilight. Both the unicorns were laughing, their horns glowing as they nudged pieces of confetti this way and that, leading the pegasus on a wild chase across the night sky.

Fluttershy received another visit from Ditto in a similar style to the last one. The pony ran in, frantically, and Fluttershy could hear the sounds of Xerox in hot pursuit. Quickly, she motioned to the terrified foal who ran to her and into the cage. She led down, hiding his body from sight, and feigned sleep. Seconds later Xerox smashed through a doorway and she raised her head. He looked deranged and glanced around wildly, sparing her a suspicious look. The chase had clearly been going on for some time.

“Where is he? Where is my damn son!? Tell me!” he bellowed.

Fluttershy didn’t need to feign her fear; the furious, dishevelled face was enough to make her shudder. She nodded her head towards a side entrance and Xerox ran out, his thundering hooves gradually fading to nothing. After assuring herself that the coast was clear, she carefully unwound herself from around the shaking Ditto and nuzzled his head. He looked up fearfully.

“It’s okay now,” Fluttershy said soothingly, “he’s gone. I’ll keep you safe until he calms down.”

“He won’t” replied the foal tearfully “I failed him again; he’s going to kill me the next time he sees me.” The sadness in his voice struck Fluttershy to the core and she hugged him tight.

“Don’t worry” she replied “I’ll protect you from him. I always protect my friends.”

“Friends?” replied Ditto. For a moment Fluttershy was alarmed, thinking he had never heard of the word, but the little pony merely followed up with; “I’ve never had a friend before…” His voice was dejected, and Fluttershy’s heart went out to him anew.

“Well you have one now!” she replied with false cheer. “When we get out of here, I’ll introduce you to my other friends, you can stay with us!” She spoke with a confidence she didn’t feel, but the sentiment seemed to lift a great weight from the foal.

“Thanks miss, but don’t worry about me, I can look after myself now,” he replied. “I’ll be back soon, and we can talk some more!” With that he smiled, turned, and vanished down a side passage. Fluttershy smiled back, unable to keep the tears from her eyes. She was no stranger to being bullied, and was well accustomed to people laughing cruelly as they ridiculed her, but in all the time she had known Ditto, among all the times the little foal he insulted and mocked her on the journey there, this was the first time she had ever seen him smile.

Chapter 6

After a night spent partying (again), the group slept late into the morning, and it was with some alarm that Twilight awoke to feel the rays on her face from a sun that was almost directly overhead. She rather frantically wakened the others and they set off quickly. Their movement was rushed, but their hearts were significantly lighter than they had been the day before.

They were now climbing even more steeply than the previous day. Clearly their destination lay at the top of a mountain, but yet another day passed with no end in sight. As night fell, the tired group discovered a cave in the side of the mountain. The cave ran deep and at first they were nervous; after the giant falcons coming rather too close to Rainbow Dash who knows what manner of beast could have made its nest here? But after some brief exploration they found the cave empty.

Twilight took first watch and moved out outside, keeping her bags on her. The path they had been travelling was quite narrow and cut into the side of the cliff so on one side the cliff rose sheer above them and on the other it dropped away to nothingness. It was on the latter side that Twilight sat, gazing out at the darkening landscape and marvelling at how far they had come in such a short time. Little more than a week had passed since their departure from PonyVille, yet they were far into unknown territory, and moving still farther away from civilisation. Twilight shivered; the wind had picked up and the air had a frozen nip to it, but as she turned to go inside she came face to face with Derpy.

The pegasus had a piece of paper in her mouth, and walked past Twilight to sit next to her on the edge of the cliff. Twilight cautiously sat down next to her, and Derpy spoke.

“The view is beautiful, isn’t it?” she said dropping the paper onto her upraised hoof. “Here. I wrote this for you.” she offered it to Twilight, who lifted it up with magic, bringing it to her face. With surprise, she saw that it was a poem. So caught up in the thrill of the adventure was she, Twilight had almost completely forgotten about Derpy’s newly revealed writing skills. She began to read out loud, and with every word her eyes widened.

A kidnap, a heist, a friend is in need,

Six hearts will follow the trail.

Two earth, two flight, two of magical breed,

The storm’d seas of fate we sail.

A lightening rainbow, a darkling sky,

A shadow above me does loom.

I feel in my heart the end here is nigh,

As I labour, push on in the gloom.

For before me stands Xerox, a copy, a fake,

In which evil does live and arise.

Like a bruise, or a scar, his corruption does ache,

A land throttled by hatred and lies.

But beside me, so fearless, stands something far greater,

A candle to startle the dark.

Together, as one, we shall cast down this traitor,

With friendship, and courage so stark.

Twilight finished the poem and sat, speechless. “Wow” she began when she found her voice. “Derpy, this is… amazing!”

The pegasus blushed at the compliment. “Thanks. I thought I’d write it as a thank you for you letting me come with you. You know, I’ve never written a full poem before.”

“Wow” replied Twilight again, and Derpy laughed at the expression on the unicorn’s face “I… I don’t know what to say. Thank you.”

“It’s okay. I enjoyed writing it!”

Twilight smiled again, then turned to place the poem carefully in her bag and caught sight of the entrance to the cave. There stood the other four, mouths agape at what they had heard, identical expressions of wonder on their faces. Derpy smiled again, then turned and walked back into the cave, the others moving to allow her in. As she passed, the spell broke and they all began bombarding the pegasus with questions. Twilight brought the poem back out of her bag and began to re-read it, smiling as she did so, and listening to the barrage of questions fade into background murmur as the others returned to the cave. She was still reading when Applejack approached her to take the next watch, and it was a long time before she fell asleep that night.

The next day it began to rain and the going was tough. The bad weather escalated quickly, and before they had covered a single mile they were forced to stop. The low visibility and nearby cliff edge made for dangerous going and so when they found another cave they ducked inside with cries of relief. This cave was much smaller, merely an alcove in the side of the mountain, but it served well enough as shelter. Twilight was first in, and immediately brought her books out to check for damage. As she looked through each one a title caught her eye. One of the books she had packed was on communications and as she flicked through she suddenly remembered something.

“Of course! Mindtalk! I can contact Fluttershy with this!” she said.

“But Twilight,” Rarity replied “are you sure you’re up to using that? You did say it consumes an awful lot of your energy”.

“I’ll be fine. It takes less energy the closer you are, and we should be very close now.” The protest from Rarity had been very half-hearted anyway; she, like the others, had perked up at the prospect of contact with Fluttershy. Twilight looked down at the book open on the floor in front of her and her horn began to glow.

Fluttershy was sleeping, there being very little else to do for the majority of her time, when she was jolted awake. At first she thought the voice calling her name was just in a dream, but then it came again. Her heart surged with joy when she recognised Twilight.

Fluttershy! Fluttershy, can you hear me?

“Yes! Oh Twilight, it’s such a relief to-”

Sorry Fluttershy, but I can’t keep this spell up long. I just needed to check you were safe. Where are you?

“I’m trapped in a castle. It’s at the top of a mountain; there are guards everywhere, but I-”

Again, Twilight interrupted her, her voice now notably strained. Okay, we’re coming up the mountain now. Sorry I can’t keep the spell going much longer. We’ll be there in a couple of days. Stay strong! The spell dissolved, and Fluttershy was left alone.

“Squee!” she exclaimed softly. Her friends were coming. Now, she just had to wait.

As the spell ended, Twilight collapsed. Applejack, who was closest, caught her as she fell and lowered her gently to the ground. By unspoken agreement, the five of them lay down around the unconscious unicorn, protecting her from the cold outside. They remained in this position for many hours while the storm howled outside. Even if the unicorn were to awake there was no way they’d be able to make progress while the gale raged on.

Darkness. A voice.

Twilight Sparkle.

W-What? Where am I?

That is not, perhaps, a question you will like the answer to. Let us just say your last spell drained you to the point at which you are hovering between life and death. You are on the brink of two worlds.

The brink of two worlds? What are you talking about? How can I get back to my friends?

I have the power to send you back.

Then what are you waiting for?

I wish to give you a warning. Xerox is meddling with forces he is unable to control. He is building something beneath his castle, a weapon of huge potential.

What is it?

I cannot tell you that, but you will find out in time. For now, make do with the knowledge that if he completes this weapon before you reach him it will mean untold tragedy for the ponies of your world.

My world? Who ARE you?

My name is not important. What is important is that you find Xerox and stop his weapon.

But how? Does he have some weakness, anything we can exploit?

Yes. The spell on a Replicus dissolves upon his, or her, death.

Great. So all we have to do is kill them and they’ll join us. Thanks. Can you tell me anything that isn’t entirely useless?

So many questions, so little time to answer them. I am sorry, Twilight Sparkle, but I must leave you now. Return to your friends, and may they aid you in defeating this tyrant.

“Wait!”

Twilight sat bolt upright, dislodging her friends.

“Uhh, Twi? You alright?” Applejack asked, leaping upright to find the unicorn staring sightlessly at the wall.

Twilight shook her head and refocused on her friends. She hesitated, then began to tell them what happened. They listened intently, and it was Rainbow Dash who broke the silence once she had finished.

“A weapon? What kind of weapon?”

“I don’t know! The spirit just said a weapon.”

“Is it something like a… a giant cannon or something?” said Pinkie Pie, “or a device that creates zombies?!”

“Somehow, I doubt it.” Twilight replied dryly, “but if Xerox completes it, our world is in danger. We need to end this as soon as possible.”

Fluttershy saw Ditto again the following day. The foal crept into the hall and, seeing the room outside the cage empty, rushed to her. With surprise, Fluttershy noticed a key dangling from his mouth. He pushed it through the bars.

“Here you go Miss Fluttershy!” he said “I said I’d pay you back! The guards almost caught me, but I escaped! Now we can run away together!”

Fluttershy took the key and, to the foal’s evident surprise, hid it under her wing. When he motioned to her to unlock the door, she shook her head.

“This cage isn’t the only thing keeping me here Ditto.” She began telling him of the contact from Twilight. As she spoke the foal moved into the cage to lie beside her and she saw hope blossom in his eyes as she mentioned the prospect of rescue. He settled down happily as she began to tell him all about her friends. Several content hours passed, but then Fluttershy mentioned how badly Xerox treated Ditto. She saw the little pony’s face fall and immediately regretted the comment. But before she could speak again, Ditto began talking.

“You know why he hates me?” he began, his voice the careful neutral of a pony holding back tears, “he’s a cripple too. He uses so much magic to keep himself in the shape he is. I see him sometimes, at night, when he releases the spell. He’s just like me. Small… and weak… I guess that whenever he sees me he sees all his own failures. So all his hatred, all his anger… it just goes to me.”

“Then why haven’t you run away before? Why not just… leave?”

“Go where? You saw what it’s like out there. Even moving quickly, it’d be four days to the nearest village. And with a leg like mine it’d take weeks. Anyway, he’s… He’s my dad. He’s a horrible, evil, person, but… I love him all the same. It’s something about family. No matter what they do, or who they become; something inside you will always be tied to them. I could run, but if he called me back I’d return. I just wouldn’t be able to help myself.”

Throughout the entire speech, the little pony’s voice had been shaking with barely suppressed tears. Fluttershy, only now realising the depth of the emptiness inside Ditto, squeezed him tightly in a hug, and when she spoke, her voice shook as much as Ditto’s had.

“Well… for what it’s worth, I’m here for you Ditto.”

The little pony smiled at this and returned the hug. Just then, however, a booming noise came from a side corridor and Fluttershy saw fresh terror paint Ditto’s face, wiping the brief smile away as quickly as it had come. Quickly she twisted herself into the now familiar position to shield him from sight as Xerox entered the room. This time he was flanked by two Replicus guards. Oddly, both Xerox and his guards now sported a small bag at their sides. The guards stood to attention at the door as Xerox approached the cage.

“Fluttershy…” He spoke softly and she shifted, alarmed. Ditto was not fully hidden under her, and if Xerox came too close he would see him. The stallion stopped some distance away however, and she let out a barely perceptible sigh as he continued.

“How are you? Are you sleeping well?” he began. The talk continued like this for some time while Fluttershy waited impatiently for him to get to the point. The position she had been forced to assume to hide Ditto was very uncomfortable, but she didn’t dare shift around too much for fear of revealing the little pony. She could feel his heart racing in terror against her belly.

Eventually Xerox finished his tirade of small talk. “You’ll be interested to know,” he finally told her, “that my runaway son was seen earlier today. If you see him, tell him I want him back. I’m prepared to give him another chance.”

His words contradicted those of his son, and Fluttershy was in absolutely no doubt who was telling the truth. Xerox did, at least, seem to be treating her with respect, or at least as much respect as could be offered when one side of the conversation was in a cage, so she gave him the courtesy of a reply.

“He ran through here earlier today, but I haven’t seen him since.” She estimated this was the time he had stolen the keys and been seen by the guards. She seemed to have guessed correctly as her lie passed without comment. Xerox merely nodded and retreated. Unfortunately for Fluttershy the guards remained and she was forced to stay in place, concealing Ditto beneath her.

More guards appeared on the upper balconies; clearly the castle was going into lockdown. Ditto, sensing his father had gone, poked his head out but Fluttershy quickly shifted to keep him out of sight and motioned him to be careful. He ducked down then slowly peeked over the top of her wing, spotting the guards.

“Don’t worry” he whispered as faintly as he could. Thankfully the hall was very large, and the nearest guards were far enough away not to hear them, providing they spoke very quietly. “There’s a hole in the back of the throne. I used to hide there from father a lot when I was younger. I’ll go under there for now.” He darted away. The throne was very close to the cage and Ditto timed it well, reaching the base of the throne unseen and disappearing inside. Then, out of sight of the guards, he stuck his head out of the hole and grinned at Fluttershy. She smiled back and he vanished again. Fluttershy now settled herself down to wait for her friend’s arrival, the spot in the centre of her curled body now feeling strangely cold and empty.

The top of the mountain was in the clouds, and it was one such cloud that obscured the vision of Twilight and the others, hiding the castle from sight until they were almost on top of it. As it loomed out of the mist, Twilight called a halt.

“Alright” she began “We need to scout out the castle. Dash?”

The pegasus snapped to attention when she was addressed. Twilight gave her instructions, and then, as the pegasus was about to take off, added: “oh and Dash? Don’t go chasing any butterflies this time. Just a nice, simple, scouting mission, okay?”

The pegasus grinned at her then rocketed skywards joyfully, performing some somersaults before heading towards the castle. Twilight watched her go with a sigh.

“I really hope there’re no guards on the wall” she said, failing to hide her amusement. A few hours ago the rainbow pegasus had finally recovered enough to fly again, and since then she had barely touched the ground. She had spent most of her time performing aerial acrobatics and, despite the fact their mission was supposed to be one of stealth, Twilight hadn’t the heart to stop her.

“That or they’re blind” added Applejack from beside her.

“The mist will stop them seeing her,” said Derpy loyally. “She’ll be fine.”

Twilight had to concede the point. Rainbow Dash had very quickly vanished after her flamboyant take off. The mist was thickening, and visibility was lowering by the second. They could now only see the castle as a faint grey smudge through the white blanket that surrounded them.

Worried that Dash would be unable to find them again, Twilight began to move towards the fading grey smudge in her view, but before she had taken five steps the pegasus returned. She gave some surprisingly detailed information about the castle, and the terrain surrounding it, but Twilight’s heart sank with each word. The castle seemed to be in lockdown with guards everywhere. She wondered if their approach had been spotted, but dismissed the thought almost immediately. There must be some other reason.

“Fluttershy’s in the main hall,” Rainbow Dash finished, “there’s just one window in the back and I couldn’t see much, but the front doors lead straight to her. The hall is mostly open space. Four balconies around the sides lead out to the walls of the castle. If we can get onto the walls, we can get into the main room from above. Each of the balconies has a door below them at ground level. There’re twelve guards in the room in total, two on each balcony and one guarding each side door.”

“So no chance of getting Fluttershy out of there without attracting attention?” Twilight asked when the pegasus had finished.

“No way” she replied. “We’ll have to fight for this!”

Rainbow Dash’s voice carried an undertone of excitement that was not lost on Twilight and the others were leaning forward eagerly. They had long been awaiting the chance to get revenge on Fluttershy’s captor, and even Twilight felt a dull anger burning in her stomach at what had been done.

“Alright” she said, turning to face them all. “Here’s the plan…”

Chapter 7

Fluttershy received another visit from Xerox, some ten minutes after the last. This time, having been outwitted by his son, the stallion was looking for a target.

“Fluttershy!” he called to her “where is my son? I wish to speak to him immediately.”

“I have no idea” she replied then, after a pause in which she considered the relative merits of irritating the stallion in his current mood, added “sir.”

Her courtesy had the opposite effect, however. Xerox picked up on the pause and misinterpreted it for sarcasm. Rage twisted his features. “You dare mock me?!” he shouted, “does nopony in this forsaken land appreciate my damn kindness?” Now his voice dropped in both pitch and volume, becoming deathly quiet. “You will show me the respect proper from a captive to her master!”

Fluttershy dropped her head, and Xerox nodded, approaching her. “Good. Now tell me, little pegasus; where. Is. My. SON?”

Fluttershy bowed her head further to hide the smile on her face and kept silent. Xerox completely misinterpreted both actions as submission and grunted, assuming her innocent. He changed tack.

“So how does it feel, little pegasus? So cold and alone. Are you afraid?”

“Not really” replied Fluttershy after some thought, head still bowed.

“What?” asked Xerox, surprise momentarily taking precedence over anger, “are you not afraid?”

“No.” Fluttershy raised her head. “I’m not afraid. Because I’m not alone!”

A faint cowboy call punctuated the sudden silence and Xerox reeled back. He glanced up furiously as Applejack smashed through the window, ripping away the shade. Sunlight followed her through, illuminating the shockwave of dust thrown up as she landed. She released the rope she had swung in on, and drew another as Xerox backed away nervously. The four Replicus at ground level rushed her and a pair on one of the balconies darted away, presumably to fetch help.

So far, so good, Applejack thought to herself.

Each of the Replicus carried a bag at their sides. From this they each drew a short handle and flicked their heads. Two long sticks extended from either side of the handle and locked in place with a loud click. They approached her without a sound.

“Alright” called Applejack, her voice loud in the eerie silence “who’s first?”

Before they could react, her rope whipped out. She looped it around the weapon of the nearest Replicus and wrenched it out of his mouth, dropping the rope and catching the staff as it flew towards her. She spun to catch the attacks of the second and third as they rushed in. As her staff connected with those of the Replicus, Applejack used the impact to launch herself backwards, delivering a thundering kick to the face of the fourth as he approached behind her. Having dropped her weapon, she spun to catch his as he vanished in the familiar puff of smoke, and turned back to face the others.

Thankfully, noted Fluttershy, whatever spell held the Replicus in thrall made them terrible fighters. In twenty seconds Applejack had finished the last of them, who vanished into smoke as he was knocked down. She stood facing Xerox, triumph in her face. Within seconds, however, the side doors burst open and dozens more guards rushed in. They formed a new, larger, circle around Applejack as the earth pony twisted back and forth, trying to keep them all in view.

Xerox stepped forward, his courage restored now that Replicus filled the room.

“Army of one?” he enquired mockingly. “Where’re your friends?”

“Right here!” called a singsong voice from an upper balcony, and Xerox spun. Of the four upper balconies, one was empty where the guards had run to fetch help. The other three were still occupied by guards, and now also sported an extra pony. Pinkie Pie, complete with party cannons, glanced downwards at the floor, then back up at the startled guards on her balcony.

“Oooooh, is this stuff marble?” she asked, wide eyed. They regarded her with confusion. “I love marble! I wanted to get some for Mrs Cake’s kitchen! But you know what she-”

“Get her!” called Xerox, at the same time as Rainbow Dash, on the opposite balcony, yelled “Pinkie!”

“Ooh, sorry!” the earth pony called. She twitched and her party cannons fired. A compressed blast of air hurled the guards off the balcony and towards the floor where they vanished on impact. Before she had time to take stock Pinkie was grabbed from above. Derpy had cleared her balcony already, and now carefully took hold of the earth pony, flying her towards the door. Rainbow Dash had already taken off and joined them.

Dash dropped to the ground to the right of the doors. Derpy dropped Pinkie to the left of the doors and landed beside her. With the attention briefly off her, Applejack leapt into the air, performed a graceful somersault and landed beside Rainbow Dash. They now flanked the doors, a pegasus and an earth pony on each side. All four tensed.

A huge blast of magic lifted the doors from their frame and hurled them across the room. The frame itself collapsed, taking much of the surrounding wall with it into a pile of dust and debris. Through the smoking ruins stepped the two unicorns, their horns glowing with a harsh brightness. After a moment, the glow in Twilight’s horn faded.

Dash, meanwhile, had launched herself towards Xerox with a battle cry, but was pulled up short.

“Woah there!” cried Applejack through a mouthful of tail. “Don’t force a fight!”

Dash subsided, glaring at Xerox viciously. No less fierce was Twilight’s gaze, and she was the first to address him.

“Xerox!” she called. “Release Fluttershy!”

“Or what, my dear? Actually,” he cocked his head, “what if I do? You’ll take me back to your little Canterlot for a trial? Perhaps a nice, civilised execution? Oh no, I’ve come far too far for that now.”

“Why’d you do it anyway?” piped up Pinkie Pie angrily “You’re bewitching innocent ponies to fight for you!”

“Bewitching? But is not equality something to be treasured? There ponies are all equal now. There will never be any bullying or hurtful comments. Nopony is better, or worse, than any other. Isn’t that wonderful?”

“But you’re not just making them equal, you’re just taking their personality away, replacing it with a… a machine!” cried Rainbow Dash. “And I notice you don’t include yourself in this ‘equality’”.

“Ahh, but even equals must have a leader, no? I decided I would make an excellent leader.” He turned to a guard beside him and said: “is that not so?”

“Yes, master” replied the guard, face and voice devoid of all expression.

“Equality?” Rarity spat, “this isn’t equality! This is slavery! Let them go!”

“Oh I don’t think so my dear. And look at you five. When deciding on an extra to bring with you, whom do you choose? Somepony with a mental deficiency. How... idiotic.”

“Just because I-” Derpy began but Xerox began laughing as soon as he heard her voice. She subsided into hurt silence.

If looks could kill, the gaze Rainbow Dash directed at Xerox wouldn’t leave enough for a burial. She snorted furiously.

“Applejack?”

“Wouldn’t dream of it, sugarcube”

Rainbow Dash took off like a rocket, and this time Applejack didn’t hold her back. She streaked through the air with all the unstoppable force of righteous fury and slammed into Xerox. The force of the impact hurled the stallion into the throne, shearing the great grey structure in two. The dislocated upper half ricochet off the back wall and rolled to a halt beside Xerox as the stallion bounced back upright. As Rainbow Dash circled round for another hit he spun and lashed out, horn glowing.

Derpy, meanwhile, had also taken flight. She rose into the air rather more slowly. “I think” she said quietly “communications are over.”

“I think,” replied Twilight, “you’re right.” Her horn began to glow with power, matching Rarity’s. To their left stood Pinkie Pie, body lowered to bring her cannons to bear, and to their right stood Applejack, slowly weaving her staff back and forth.

The guards attacked. Rainbow Dash was still battling Xerox, and the pegasus was easily dodging the furious blasts of magic, so Twilight and Rarity were free to put all their magical strength into offense.

Applejack had already dispatched one guard, but staggered and nearly fell to another as a wave of power washed over her. The wash knocked back the guards and she spun round in the sudden clear air. As her gaze fell on the two unicorns her eyes widened in shock.

Twilight and Rarity stood side by side, heads inclined and horns touching at the tip. Where they connected a purple sphere of magic hovered. It was this sphere that had thrown out the wave of power and, as Applejack looked on, it pulsed again. She threw herself to the ground, but this time the surge passed her harmlessly by, ghosting through her body to slam into the ranks of Replicus. A dozen fell and the rest staggered, but steadied soundlessly and resumed their charge. Applejack turned again and faced them, joining Pinkie Pie in protecting the two unicorns as a third surge hit the massed guards. Pinkie’s cannons fired once, and then Applejacks’ view of her was blocked as Replicus swarmed them. She ducked the swipe of a staff, threw a riposte that disarmed the wielder, then spun to block a vertical slash from another. A third guard aimed a slice at Applejacks’ side, but Derpy dive bombed him, catching the staff in her teeth and wrenching it away. Applejack turned again as the guards retreated under a particularly powerful blast from the unicorns. They had given the fighting earth ponies a moment of freedom, and with it Applejack took a single step forward. Beside her Pinkie Pie fired her cannons again, knocking the Replicus back, and matched her. The unicorns did likewise and, together, the four of them began to advance on Fluttershy’s cage; staff, cannons and magic keeping the guards at bay.

Fluttershy herself, watching from the relative comfort of her cage, looked on in amazement. The bravery and skill of the rescuers was incredible to behold, but for every guard killed another took their place, and soon the ponies began to tire. Less than halfway across the room, disaster struck.

Rainbow Dash’s cockiness let her down. She slowed, taunting Xerox, and the stallion seized his chance. He moved, far quicker than she anticipated, and his staff caught the pegasus on the wing, knocking her out of the air. Dash was hurled across the room, crashing through the line of guards and into Pinkie Pie. The resulting confusion meant Twilight’s flank was momentarily undefended. A staff slammed into her side and she instinctively spun to face the attacker, forgetting she was still connected to Rarity. The jerk pulled the other unicorn around, and then painfully broke the linkage between them. Both staggered, disorientated.

Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie had already been overwhelmed and smothered under the mass of guards. Derpy dived in, seeking to save them, but was grabbed out of the air. Still reeling, and now under magical attack from Xerox, the two unicorns met the same fate. As she fell, Twilight felt something close in her mind. With alarm, she realised Xerox had cast a spell to block her from using magic, rendering hers and Rarity’s horns useless. In the confusion she had been unable to defend herself.

Now only Applejack stood alone, once again surrounded. The guards, at a nod from Xerox, backed off and allowed the stallion to approach her. Applejack was panting heavily but eyed him with contempt as he moved forward.

“Hmm? You again” said the stallion disinterestedly. “Fancy ourselves a bit of a fighter do we?” He drew his own staff as he spoke. The message was clear.

Unlike those of his guards, Xerox’s staff was much more ornate. It looked to be mahogany rather than plain oak and had gold leaf inlaid on complex patterns along its entire length. Overly flamboyant it may be, but deadly it certainly was as the stallion approached Applejack with murder in his eyes.

To Fluttershy, the scene was so unfair. Xerox was a coward; he had waited until Applejack was injured and exhausted before challenging her to a duel. His vanity meant he desperately wanted to look good in front of a crowd, and this was the perfect audience.

Xerox charged. Applejack dodged, turned and whipped her staff down. Xerox also spun, and caught the blow on his own staff. The staffs locked together and they faced each other down, both fighting to push the other backwards. But there could only be one winner, and after only a few seconds the exhausted Applejack was thrown to the ground. Xerox stood contemptuously over her.

“Pick it up” he mocked, indicating the staff she had dropped in the fall. Applejack gritted her teeth and did so, turning to face him again. It was clear the fall had been hard; she could barely stand. But stand she did, tall and proud as Xerox attacked again. This time Applejack lasted four hits before being disarmed. So followed a series of repetitions, and when Applejack had been downed and risen for the sixth time, Xerox spoke.

“Why won’t you stay down?” he snapped angrily. Clearly, he regarded it a fail on his part every time she returned to the fight, and considered it beneath him to restrain her. He wanted her beaten in combat, not held down like her friends. He wanted this victory for himself.

Applejack rose again, rushed him, and was knocked down immediately. She spat dust from her mouth as she stood.

“Pah! I ain’t never bowed to nopony, mister, and I ain’t startin’ with you.” She turned and, to the complete surprise of almost everyone, rushed the guards holding Rainbow Dash down.

The pegasus was ready for the attack and reacted far quicker than her guards. She rocketed upwards as they were pushed off her by the force of Applejacks charge. She hovered, watching as the Replicus overcame their surprise and forced Applejack to the ground. Xerox seemed to have forgotten his magic in a fit of blind rage, and Rainbow Dash easily dodged the furiously waving staff.

Twilight saw the freed pegasus and her hopes soared. If Dash could distract Xerox again, his spell would be broken and Twilight would be free to use magic. There was still hope!

But even as this thought passed through her head, she was astonished to see Rainbow Dash, the Element of Loyalty, flee, shooting out the shattered window and away. The brief candle of hope that had flared in Twilight’s heart was snuffed out.

“Dash…” she said, but the pegasus was way out of earshot. “Why…?”

Rarity, beside her on the ground, was likewise stunned. “Perhaps… she went to get help?” the unicorn said, the words sounding hollow and empty to Twilight’s ears. Even if she had, the help would never arrive in time.

Xerox laughed, his good humour restored. “Ahh, perhaps an Element of courage wouldn’t go amiss? No matter! I have five of the Elements now. Once you are under my command I can hunt the final one down at my will, and Equestria will be mine!” His horn began to glow and he closed his eyes, his face a mask of glee. Before he could finish the spell, however he was interrupted.

As soon as Applejack had swung through the window Ditto, still in his hiding hole at the base of the throne, had stuck his head out to watch. He saw the bravery of Fluttershy’s friends and watched in fascination as they confronted Xerox, then mounting horror as each was trapped under the swarm of guards.

I wish I could be as courageous as them, he thought to himself as Applejack duelled Xerox. But what would I do? I’m too small to make a difference…

He was in an agony of indecision. When Xerox began casting his spell, however, the little pony made up his mind. He shot out from under the throne and leapt at his father, furiously biting at the stallion’s face. Interrupted from the spell, Xerox roared and pulled his son away, holding the struggling youngster in the air. Ditto expected to be shouted at, perhaps be forced to listen to some gloating and mockery, but instead Xerox merely spun and hurled him at the wall.

Twilight gasped. The distraction had broken Xerox’s block on her magic, but there was no way she could react fast enough to catch the foal before he was killed by the impact. She desperately began a spell, knowing she would be too late.

For Ditto, the experience was rather slower. He saw the wall approaching and knew, in that moment, that he was about to die. But as he closed his eyes, he instead hit something soft and warm.

Fluttershy had unlocked her cage and had stepped out as Ditto had made his appearance. With the guards focused on Xerox she went completely unseen and had an unrivalled view of father hurling son to his death. Desperation gave her speed as she took flight and streaked after the airborne pony.

She reached him just in time, and positioned herself between Ditto and the wall, cushioning his impact with her body. The momentum still slammed her into the wall, hard, but although both of them fell dazed, neither was seriously hurt.

Xerox’s rage climbed, if possible, even higher. He came barrelling towards them, but then appeared to stop himself. A slow smile spread across his face.

“Oh no.” he said, almost to himself “I can think of a fate far worse for that one.”

Fluttershy was now covered by guards like the rest. Both her and Ditto had been stunned by the fall and were unable to resist. The foal was alive, however, and as Fluttershy turned to check, she met one of Derpy’s eyes. The pegasus looked terrified.

Then, unexpectedly, Fluttershy smiled.

“Why are you smiling?” Derpy whimpered, “we’re doomed!”

“I’m smiling” replied Fluttershy “because I saw where Rainbow Dash went.”

Across the room, Pinkie Pie’s tail began to twitch.

Clouds

So high… I can barely breathe…

But I need the height… A strong crosswind… Air thick with corruption…

A tiny speck of grey, far below me. Thousands of guards in that speck.

I need to hit them all at once.

And there’s only one thing that’ll do that.

Xerox impatiently began his spell again, but in his anger he had forgotten about Twilight, and the unicorn’s magic was no longer blocked. She began a spell immediately; it was one to quicken her reactions in preparation to break free. The going was slow however, as she also needed to hide her magic from Xerox.

It was now a race to see who could cast their spell the fastest, and twenty tense, silent, seconds passed, before Twilight triumphantly completed hers. The room fell deathly silent and, to her heightened senses, everything now moved at a snail’s crawl. She saw Xerox’s eyes open in glee as his spell begin to take hold and prepared a counter spell, hoping desperately that she would be quick enough. Both Xerox and Twilight were interrupted, however, before either’s magic could take effect. Twilight’s enhanced senses meant she saw what happened next in extreme slow motion.

Rainbow Dash returned in spectacular style, blasting a hole in the ceiling with the all too familiar shockwave encasing her body. Twilight saw it tighten around the pegasus and a horizontal line appear in the centre. Suddenly the bubble snapped and the two halves pulled away from the centre. The line remained, however, and just as Dash reached the floor it suddenly blasted outwards in a multi-coloured spray, almost seeming to overtake the dancing shadows it threw upon the walls as it spread. Milliseconds later Twilight’s concentration was broken and she flinched, cowering down as the world returned to normal speed in a rush of sound and colour.

The Sonic Rainboom was perfectly timed. Twilight and the others had all been pushed to the ground by the Replicus, so the Rainboom passed over them. It was still low enough, however, that the guards standing over them were hit with the full force of the blast. Twilight’s entire body shook at the onslaught to her eyes and ears, and she covered her face with her hooves until the roaring died down.

Then something happened that none of them could have predicted.

Xerox’s castle didn’t only look like him. It mimicked its master in many ways, and one of these was the corruption that lay beneath the pristine exterior, courtesy of centuries of neglect. The fighting and destruction over the past hour had weakened the already unstable structure to the point of collapse.

There was a reason Rainbow Dash only ever performed her Sonic Rainbooms high in the air. The sheer force of the blast dealt the already weakened walls a hammer blow and the entire structure began to shake. The balconies fell, the window shattered and the walls began to crumble.

Twilight glanced around, desperately seeking an exit. She was equidistant between doorway and window, but either might have been a mile away. And Pinkie Pie’s tail was still twitching.

Then, with a rumbling crash, the ceiling fell in.

Chapter 8

Twilight threw up a shield at the last instant. Rarity was near her and together the two held off the onslaught as a barrage of stones came crashing down, some larger than houses. The castle was huge, and many floors occupied the space above them so it was some time before the echoing rumbling, gradually growing more distant, finally stopped. With a monumental effort of will the two unicorns began to levitate themselves upwards, moving the shield with them as they did so. Great slabs of rock were forced aside and crumbled as they rose. Eventually, having ascended some twenty meters from floor level, they emerged blinking into the sudden sunlight.

Twilight now stood atop a mountain of stone, remnants of the once mighty castle. Barely a wall still stood to indicate what had once been. Then a crushing realisation hit her at the same time as Rarity, having the same thought, spoke.

“The others…”

“They’re dead.” Twilight replied flatly. Some part of her had been hiding from this fact ever since the collapse, but as she said the words she felt the cold hard truth hit her like a hammer blow. “There’s no way to survive that without magic. Only we could have protected ourselves from the debris. Oh, and Xerox. And neither of us is strong enough to fight him, even were we not exhausted!” Even as she spoke, she heard the hysteria in her voice and realised how tired she really was. Now their friends were dead, they might as well give up anyway. Tears began to form in her eyes as Rarity spoke. The other unicorn’s voice was trembling.

“Maybe… maybe they got out… Rainbow Dash could have…”

“Did you see how hard Rainbow Dash hit the floor?!” Anger gave Twilight’s voice power. She didn’t even notice when Rarity flinched at the volume. “Do you really think anypony could survive that?! Our friends are DEAD, Rarity. They’re dead, and Xerox isn’t!”

“He… he could be?” Rarity leaned back, startled at the abrupt change in her friend, “he might not have got a shield up in time?”

“I’m afraid I did, my dear.”

Xerox was standing a little way away. He seemed unharmed and not even slightly fatigued, and as he spoke he began to walk towards them.

“Well?” Twilight demanded. Now that she was trying to sound angry it wouldn’t come. Tears choked her voice and revealed her true feelings. “What’re you waiting for? Kill us and be done with it.”

“Ah, but how little you understand.” Xerox replied. It seems to be the sort of thing said in these situations. “Would I... eliminate such powerful unicorns such as you two? No, I have a better use for you. Come, I wish to show you something.”

As they followed him Rarity whispered to Twilight; “he’s forgotten to block our magic!”

“Yes,” Twilight replied sourly, “because he knows we’re not strong enough to fight him. For now we’ll have to do as he says. I think he’s going to show us this ‘weapon’ of his so we’ll need to find some way to disable it. Give me time. I’ll try to think of something.”

The stallion led them away from the ruins of the castle and into the nearby forest. It was midday now, but the thick canopy blocked all but the most persistent of the sun’s rays so that Twilight and Rarity appeared to be walking in a perpetual half-light. Shadows danced and spun amidst the trees, calling and beckoning, and Xerox’s bulk was only just visible ahead, a black outline guiding their way through the blackness. Twilight had no idea how long they continued in silence, heads bowed and minds despairing, until Xerox suddenly stopped. A somewhat unremarkable clearing greeted them, bland yet light as the canopy parted above them. The sudden sunlight hurt Twilight’s eyes, but she forced herself to look upwards, finding new strength in the warmth from above.

Xerox, meanwhile, had approached a tree nearby and had inserted his horn into an otherwise natural looking knot in the trunk. There was a brief pulse of magic and a yelp as a hidden trapdoor flipped up right where Rarity had been standing. Twilight moved over to the affronted unicorn and peered into the hole. A spiral staircase curved downwards into the darkness, and Xerox led the way down without a word.

As they descended the stone steps a sense of foreboding gripped Twilight. Candles sat in alcoves at intervals, and instead of illuminating the darkness they merely gave it sentience. Shadows crept and leapt at every turn, and the pressure in the air, the sense of wrongness that Twilight had been feeling for their entire journey was climbing. Whatever was causing it was down here. She began to shiver as they descended further and further into the heart of the mountain.

All of a sudden they reached a thick steel door which Xerox opened with a pulse of magic. As the door swing open Twilight had to suppress a gasp.

A huge space greeted them. Lit by a massive chandelier in the centre was a room that could quite easily have accommodated most of Ponyville with room to spare. Blank, grey walls stretched out on either side, the far being lost in distant shadows. Twilight mused that were they, by some significant effort of engineering, to get rid of the ceiling it would quite likely remove the entire mountaintop.

It was not the sheer size of the room that prompted such astonishment, however. In the centre of the room hovered a huge web of magic, many multi-coloured lines twisting and interlocking in ways that hurt the eyes. It was humming too, a constant drone of noise so strong it brought vibrations up through the floor. And in the centre, at floor level…

“Is that what I think it is?” Twilight demanded, her voice unexpectedly loud. Echoes bounced back from the far walls several seconds after she had finished speaking. Such a delay told its own story of the sheer size of the room.

“An adaption of your very own teleporting spell, my dear.” Xerox replied. “But this one takes you a little farther afield.

Rarity approached the device cautiously and peered into the centre. “It’s a… portal?” she hazarded.

“Oh how right you are my dear!” Xerox’s voice was patronising and Rarity bristled, but Twilight was already beside her. She inspected the device, checking all around it for clues as to what it might be, but when she peered into the grey, shimmering mass in the centre her blood ran cold.

“Oh no…” she said.

“Oh yes,” replied Xerox smugly. “A portal to the underworld. Did you really think a few dead trees powered my magic? This is where it comes from. For centuries now I have leeched power from this world, a world where none are alive to resist me. Once I have Equestria, who can stop me from conquering the underworld itself? And then, not even death shall be an escape from my power!” He laughed then, a booming, evil laugh that echoed from the walls and surrounded the two huddling unicorns in manic glee.

For a moment Xerox was distracted, and it was quite likely Twilight could have done something, perhaps attempted to disable the portal or attack him while his guard was down. But she was frozen to the floor at the implications of the complex structure that stood before her. It explained the huge amount magical power the unicorn possessed; Xerox was not only looking to dominate this world, he was drawing his power from another. She shivered as the echoes of the manic laughter died down and Xerox spoke again.

“But of course I need a sacrifice; some burst of magic to open the portal fully. Apparently they need to be…” here the unicorn twisted his lips around an unfamiliar statement “…pure of heart. But now, fate has seen fit to deliver you two into my hooves. How very convenient.

There was a pause. “Am I not making this clear enough for you?” he snapped when they stood their ground. “Open it!”

“No!” snapped Rarity. “What makes you think th- Aah!”

“How rude.” Xerox said to Twilight, holding the struggling Rarity in the air. A bubble of magic held the unicorn in place and appeared to be causing her some pain. “Would you care to be a little more accommodating than her? Or would you like to lose another friend?”

Twilight glared at him as thoughts rushed through her brain. No matter how hard she tried, however, no solution presented itself. They were beaten, and Xerox held all the cards. As she thought this the stallion, growing impatient, flicked his head and Rarity screamed as another lance of pain shot through her.

“Alright,” Twilight snapped, “I’ll do it. Let her go.”

“Now isn’t this so much nicer?” Xerox purred. He flicked his head again and Rarity dropped to the floor with a crunch. She ran to Twilight and they linked their magic again, horrified at what they were about to do but seeing no alternative.

It was almost easy. With barely any exertion at all the portal widened. The twisting strands that had once encased it now expanded and concentrated to form a circular entrance over a meter wide. Within the sphere was a rushing maelstrom of colours. They stepped back.

“Wonderful.” Xerox said dryly. “I could almost believe you meant that. Now for the second part.”

“Second?” Rarity said, aghast, “haven’t we done enough of your evil work for you?”

“But the portal isn’t open yet, my dear,”

“But…”

“Oh, but did you not hear me correctly?” Xerox moved over to stand in front of the two unicorns, his back to the portal. With a flick of his head and a pulse of magic the steel door they had entered through slammed shut.

“I did say a sacrifice, did I not? Who wants to volunteer?”

Little did Xerox know, however, that while linked, as Twilight and Rarity had been doing, two unicorns can communicate without words. As he mentioned a sacrifice both turned and, still linked, attacked.

The element of surprise gave them the advantage and Xerox even took a step backwards towards the portal, a rare surprise crossing his face. But then, with a sigh and a contemptuous flick of his head he disarmed them both and replaced the blocking spell.

“Really?” he said, “how tiresome. Did you really think you could beat me; after all we’ve been through? You haven’t even seen a tenth of my power yet!”

“We weren’t trying to beat you.” Twilight replied quietly.

Xerox drew himself up.

“–” he began.

The portal, weakened by the discharge of magic, exploded. The magical blast twisted the room, filling it with roiling colours and a deafening roar filled the air, blocking out thought by sheer volume. Xerox screamed, a silent scream of terror as he was dragged backwards into the rapidly expanding blur of colours. He loosed a single, desperate, blast of magic as he vanished. The bolt shot over Twilight’s head, singing her hair as it passed, and earthed itself somewhere behind her.

Then, pulled by the inexorable force of fate, Twilight and Rarity followed him through.

Chapter 9

Twilight groaned as she awoke amid randomised images thrown at her by her tired mind. On the canvas of her closed eyelids she once again blasted aside the door, fought side by side with her friends and witnessed the spectacular Sonic Rainboom and subsequent collapse of the castle. Finally, she saw herself taken down to the bowels of the castle and forced to open the portal, which had then sucked her in to… to…

Urgent signals from other parts of her body suddenly found themselves in the spotlight. She felt sand under her hooves, tasted something metallic in the air and heard…

Nothing at all. Her eyes snapped open and she glanced around for a moment.

“So this is the underworld” she said expressionlessly. It was strangely unimpressive.

A grey world surrounded her. She was in what appeared to be an abandoned settlement. Ruined buildings ringed what appeared to be a town square in which she lay, their grey sandstone walls crumbling and decayed. Under her hooves and extending for as far as the eye could see was sand, an endless greyscale desert. Although no breath of wind stirred the cold, dead air she shivered in apprehension.

First she began to walk, then to run, fear building in her belly. She called for the names of her friends but to no avail. Desperately she tried to use her magic, but nothing she could do would help. Her head seemed fuzzy, thoughts and all but the most basic of her spells eluded her. She felt like screaming.

I’m not dead! I don’t belong here!

Why did you have to take me...?

Although no sun shone in the sky a soft grey light illuminated everything. Twilight retreated to a crumbling wall, all that was left of a once sturdy hovel, and lay down with her face pressed to the ground. It was in this position that Rarity found her.

“Twilight!” said the unicorn joyfully. “You’re okay!”

“Oh,” Twilight replied without looking up, “hello Rarity.”

“Come now,” chided Rarity, aghast at the resignation in her friend’s voice, “what do you think you’re doing, hiding your head in the sand? Our plan worked! We took Xerox through the portal with us. We can defeat him here! Look, you still have the elements!”

Twilight raised her head, but instead of facing her friend she instead turned away and rested her forehead against a wall. “I have the necklaces, Rarity, but in case you haven’t noticed we no longer have our friends to work them. We can’t defeat Xerox by ourselves. Our friends are dead, Rarity. How many times do I have to say it?”

“But Twilight,” Rarity replied, “we’re in the underworld…”

Something in her voice made Twilight turn and finally face the unicorn. Her eyes widened in shock.

“…where the dead go when they die!” finished Rainbow Dash. “Hi Twilight!”

They were there, all of them. Even Ditto stood in the line. Their bodies were oddly translucent and colours were muted as if seen through a veil, but their smiles were bright and cheerful, made even wider by the look of sheer shock Twilight knew to be on her face. She merely stood and speechlessly watched them until Fluttershy broke the spell.

“Oh, Twilight!”

Twilight had been worried that her friend’s ghostly forms would be unable to touch her, but the crushing hug delivered by the yellow pegasus was incredibly, joyfully, real. It broke the fear and tension that had been knotting in her belly ever since their journey began, and the warmth of the arms that surrounded her melted away the frozen layer already placed on her heart by her short time spent in this cold, dead land. She laughed then, for the first time in days, and her friends laughed with her, joining the hug until Twilight’s form was lost amid those of her friends, a barrier of colour and warmth protecting her from the grey cold of the outside world.

After some considerable time they disentangled themselves and stood. Twilight was now covered in sand, and made some vague attempt to dust herself off as she spoke.

“So,” she began, “any idea where we start?”

“Well…” began Rarity, and stopped. “No, not really.”

Twilight was about to continue when something odd struck her. “Rarity,” she said, “why do you look like a ghost too? You came though the portal with me. Shouldn’t you be, umm… alive?”

“No,” said the unicorn. Her voice was sad. “Xerox killed me too. He hit me with his magic just before he got sucked through.”

Twilight recalled the blast of magic that had missed her by inches as Xerox had been sucked into the portal. Perhaps it hadn’t missed after all. “Oh,” she continued, “so… I’m the only survivor?”

It was Rainbow Dash who replied. “Rarity says that because we all died close to the portal we aren’t properly dead. Something of… of who we are is kept in the real world. It’s why we can stand here and talk to you like this. Most spirits are barely here at all anymore.” She shivered.

“So…” Twilight replied hesitantly, not daring to voice the question for fear of getting an answer. Rarity answered it anyway.

“We might be able to come back,” she said, “but first we need to find Xerox.”

“He went through alive like you, Twilight,” added Pinkie Pie, “so he probably ended up somewhere nearby.”

“Right,” replied Twilight. With her fears put to rest for the time being she took command. “Take your Elements, girls.” She threw each element to its owner, placed the Element of Magic atop her own head, and stood. “Let’s do this.” They began to run.

Despite himself, Xerox was impressed. Twilight had been rather cleverer than he had anticipated. Still, her little trick had only delayed the inevitable and had, in fact, made her own situation worse. The Replicus who had faced Twilight and her friends in combat were barely half of Xerox’s full army. The rest had been asleep in their quarters, deep in the bowels of the castle.

They had, of course, been pulled through the portal with him. Now he stood at the head of a small army.

He would have to find the portal soon; it couldn’t be far away. Once there it would be the work of a moment to reactivate it and repair the damage. Twilight’s friend had even provided the sacrifice, so once the portal was reactivated it would work fully. Xerox began to hum happily to himself. Dominion of the world was just around the corner.

He would, of course, have to deal with a tiresome little problem first. Xerox looked forward to seeing Twilight and her friends again. His Replicus were simple beings, but they respected power, and Xerox smiled to himself at the thought of how powerful he would look were he to defeat the Elements of Harmony themselves.

He’d read all about the Elements, and knew that Twilight and her friends had only succeeded in using them twice; once to subdue Nightmare Moon and the second to defeat Discord. The former had been caught by surprise and the latter had been overconfident. Neither had capitalised on the one weakness displayed by the elements. The jewellery held a great power, but it required time to charge once activated. When Twilight and the others faced him there would be thirty seconds where they were completely defenceless.

He shivered in manic anticipation. What a glorious thirty seconds it would be.

“Xerox will try to escape!” Twilight said as she ran. “We have to find the other end of the portal before he does.”

With Applejack holding Ditto in her mouth the seven of them ran onwards through the endless sandstone maze. Whatever broken civilisation had once called this place home was certainly large; the settlement sprawled as far as the eye could see. Eventually, fearing they were wasting too much time, Twilight reluctantly allowed Rainbow Dash to give them some aerial guidance, despite the risk of her being seen by unwanted eyes.

“Well that was quick” commented Rarity as they emerged from the buildings mere seconds later.

“Yep,” Rainbow Dash replied smugly, “got you out in ten seconds fl-”

Twilight cut her off. “Come on! We’re wasting time. The portal should be nearby; I can’t have gone far from it when I came through.”

Rainbow Dash landed and joined the others as they loped across the sand. The seven of them now ran side by side, following a wide arc around the edge of the settlement. Occasionally one would stop and shout, having spotted something, but it would turn out only to be an abandoned building or a lonely, dead tree. Soon Twilight began to tire, but just as she was about to call a halt she felt a pulsing in her horn and stumbled in shock.

“My horn!” she gasped as the others crowded around. “Rarity… can you feel this?”

“No,” replied the unicorn, “my magic doesn’t seem to work now I’m dead. What’s it telling you?”

“The portal’s over there,” Twilight pointed towards the village. In the far distance one of the outlying buildings was glowing with a faint, multi-coloured light. “Once we’re there I’ll work out how to reactivate it. Now hurry! Xerox can’t be far!”

They ran as hard as they could, sand flying from their hooves, adrenaline holding exhaustion at bay as the portal got ever closer. Even as they reached it, however, Xerox emerged from the village nearby. He approached them, and an army of Replicus followed along behind.

“Oh, excellent.” Xerox said. “How kind of you to save me the effort of looking for you. If you’d care to lay down and die, well, it wouldn’t do anything at all since most of you are already dead. But, it would make your lives, I’m sorry, deaths much easier. What’ll it be?”

“Xerox!” snapped Twilight, “we have the Elements now! Nothing you can do will prevent your destruction. Surrender now, and-“

“Oh really, how tiresome” Xerox sighed. “You know, I really thought you’d see reason? But no, it’s all heroism here and pointless bravery there. Listen to me, you stupid little unicorn, your elements are nothing! To use them you need protection while they charge and nothing, nothing, is here to defend you. You think I don’t know about Nightmare Moon, or that fool Discord? You think I’ll make the same mistakes they did? Now I repeat my earlier demands; submit to me or your existence will be forever destroyed!”

“Submit?” Rainbow Dash said quietly, “I don’t like that word. You know what I think, Xerox? I think you’re scared. You’re finally facing a power that can beat yours, and you’re scared of what we can do.”

Xerox laughed then. “Hah! Are you even listening to me, featherbrain? You cannot defeat me alone! I have an army!”

“So do they.”

They all spun at the unexpected voice. From the village emerged another large group of ponies. These, unlike the Replicus, appeared to have their normal colours, though many had the muted look Twilight recognised from her friends. A unicorn with an odd green and brown colouring headed the army and as they formed a semi-circle around the portal (the Replicus occupied the other half) she came to stand beside Twilight.

“And who,” Twilight began, “are you?”

“My name is Shuriken Star” replied the camo unicorn. “I believe we’ve… met.”

“Shuriken!” snapped Xerox “attend to me!”

The unicorn treated Xerox to a baleful gaze, and when she spoke it was with malice dripping from every word. “You really believe I’ll side with you after you killed me for my failure?” she snapped. “Your spell is gone now, master, and I am free! Free to see just what a lowly, arrogant, power hungry COWARD that you are!”

Xerox froze, anger flashing in his eyes, and as he attempted to splutter words past his lips Rainbow Dash spoke.

“But who’re all of these ponies?” she asked “I don’t recognise them. Did Xerox kill them too?”

“Some, but not all.” Shuriken replied with a shrug. “You killed many. Many of these are the Replicus who died fighting you, or from the collapse of the castle. Remember Twilight? Xerox’s spell dissolves upon death.”

Understanding dawned on Twilight. “The spirit who warned me about the weapon! That was you!”

“Yes. When I returned with news of my first failure ever my master was… less than pleased. I gather he was angry at his son and took it out on me. He does that quite frequently, murdering innocents under his control, but he’s never dared kill me; I’ve always been too useful. I don’t think he realised just what an army he was building against himself beyond the portal. And now they have a leader.”

The army behind Shuriken began to stamp their hooves and growl. The unicorn continued, her voice rising to a shout over the noise. “He’s spent his life in control, but now somepony has a debt to pay! To all of us! Get them!"

With a roar the ex-Replicus army charged, hurtling across the sand and forcing Xerox’s legion back a step as the two armies collided with an almighty crash. At a barked order from Xerox they reformed and began to push back and the charge broke down into a series of messy melees. Shuriken calmly nodded at Twilight.

“We’ll keep Xerox’s army off you. Do what you need to do.” She left the circle and joined the fight. Xerox laughed at her retreating back.

“This changes nothing,” he said, “you still can’t use your elements without-”

Twilight knew her only hope was surprise. If she could catch Xerox off guard…

Simultaneously, the six of them opened themselves up to their elements. But even as Twilight began to rise into the air and felt power flooding her veins she knew she was too late.

Xerox sighed and readied a spell. So it all came down to this. It would have been much better had Shuriken not turned up (he vowed silently to make her suffer for what she had done). He was unable to make quite the dramatic killing that he had hoped, but nevertheless…

With the spell prepared he took aim.

And Derpy was there.

They grey pegasus had remained at the back of the group during the drama, almost hidden from view and entirely forgotten about. This was for one simple reason.

Death seemed to have barely affected the others, but to Derpy it was as if she had spent all her life looking through a keyhole and had only now opened the door. Her thoughts, normally so sluggish, now flowed through her brain in a cold clear stream, and one came to the forefront time and time again. Here was somewhere she could make a difference. Her newfound friends needed her.

So she stood between Xerox and the Elements of Harmony, a fragile wall between light and dark, and subjected Xerox to something nobody had ever experienced from her before.

A direct stare. Death had also straightened her eyes. Now both locked onto Xerox’s face, and the ferocity of her gaze forced even the mighty stallion to look away.

“Courage, Xerox?” If Twilight had heard Derpy’s voice now she would have been shocked. Her voice had been hard when she had first revealed her anguished past, but that was the hardness of cast iron; solid yet brittle. Her resolve, tempered in the fires of friendship and by her death, was now steel, and her voice reflected this. It was as solid and immovable as a continent, and Xerox had to force himself to stand his ground, rage building, as she continued.

“You told us before that we lacked an element of courage. Yet courage isn’t an element; it’s not something any of us specialise in, it is something we all have. Any one of us would take my place here and be prepared to die for her friends. That is what our friendship is all about. Individually, we are weak and our power is far inferior to yours, yet together we are strong, and we will destroy you!”

Xerox attacked in a wordless fury. Arranged before him was everything he had sought to quash in his kingdom; defiance, friendship, hope and pride. He drew together all his power in one mighty bolt of pure magic. All his anger, all his rage, went into this missile as he launched it towards the grey pegasus who watched it calmly.

A magical surge announced the Elements of Harmony joining the battle and a multi-coloured whip knocked the missile out of the air.

They say that even a rat will fight in a corner. As the elements fired a rainbow bolt toward him, Xerox stood his ground and met it with a bolt of his own. For a timeless moment he stood, defiant, challenging even the power of the Elements. Then with an anguished cry his power failed. Now Derpy was forced to turn her head away as the ensuing explosion seared through her closed eyelids. The roar from the blast was huge, but she forced herself to stand and listen, then to open her eyes as the noise ended as quickly as it had come.

Applejack landed beside her with a thump and a puff of sand. Elsewhere the others landed, blackened and bruised by the fight, but alive. Derpy looked around and suddenly realised something. Her eyes were once again off-centre. Gone was the brief spell of normal vision, back came wall eyes, and never had she been so happy to have it back.

A few weeks ago she would have relished freedom from her condition, but Twilight and the others had treated her with friendship and equality despite it. Now she discovered that, in fact, she preferred herself to be like this. It was simply a part of who she was.

Unsurprisingly, there was no sign of Xerox. His death had ended his spell over the Replicus, and now they milled around in confusion amongst the remnants of Shuriken’s army. The unicorn herself seemed unaffected by the fight and was already addressing the mass of ponies.

“My friends,” she began, “You are here because you fell under the control of Xerox, a rouge unicorn who has since been defeated by these brave ponies you see before you.” Here she hesitated. “You see around you the underworld, the world of the dead. Some of you are dead, others aren’t. If you’re still alive, step over to the portal and we can take you home. Those of you who are dead, remain with me.” It was a very short speech and would be unlikely to go down in history, but a calm, authoritive voice was a welcome relief for many and they followed her orders without question.

Derpy moved over to Twilight. She was in the centre of a respectful ring of space as the remains of the two armies moved about. The unicorn groaned as she rose. “Did we… win?” she asked.

“Yep” replied Derpy happily. Normality also brought her thoughts back to their usual speed and only one was currently occupying her mind. “Can we go home now?”

“Yes,” agreed Rarity, rising. “Let’s. All this sand has ruined my mane!”

Twilight spluttered. After the seriousness of the past few weeks, to hear such a basically Rarity-ish statement was somehow hilarious. Her legs gave way through a combination of exhaustion and uncontrollable giggling, Derpy collapsed next to her and the others weren’t far behind. The next few minutes were spent rolling around in the sand, laughing uncontrollably under the gaze of an amused Shuriken.

“Girls?” Rarity pleaded. The unicorn was still upright and looked on with an affronted air. “Please?”

Applejack stood. “But Rarity!” she exclaimed, “we did it! We won! Ain’t that cause for some celebration?”

“I’m fine with celebration,” the unicorn replied, “but this is just rolling around in the sand! How… uncouth!”

Pinkie Pie rose up behind the unicorn. Sand covered her completely and poured off her in streams, giving her the appearance of some kind of sand demon. “Awwhh, you just need a big hug!” she exclaimed, doing just that.

Rarity’s screech of indignation was drowned out by more laughter from the others. After a few seconds Shurkien broke in.

“Girls? Can we get the portal open, please?”

“Yes ma’am!” Pinkie Pie went from lying down to standing up so fast that she didn’t seem to pass through the intervening space. She was also still holding Rarity and now proceeded to throw her at the portal with a cry of ‘incoming!’

Twilight was already there and deftly caught the flying unicorn. As their horns touched and minds linked she felt from Rarity an overwhelming desire to do something horrible to Pinkie Pie and almost lost the spell in her amusement.

Unsurprisingly, the Elements of Harmony had provided enough of a magical surge to fix the broken portal. Now all it needed was somepony ‘pure of heart’ to open it. They did so and stepped back expectantly.

With a huge surge of magic, nothing happened.

Twilight broke the silence after a moment’s hesitation “It’s… not working?” she said in confusion.

Shuriken was beside her. “It needs a sacrifice to fully open,” she said. Her voice was quiet but it rung out amongst the suddenly silent crowd.

“But…”

“Unless you want to open it like you did last time I suggest doing it the usual way” interrupted Shuriken. “You’ll need a living sacrifice to make it work. I’m sorry; it’s the way Xerox made it.”

There was a pause, an absolute silence. None of them wanted to volunteer, but none could face asking the question. Shuriken spoke again.

“I would… willingly be your sacrifice; I would love to do what I can to make up for the deaths I’ve caused over the years, but I can’t. Once you are all through the portal must be closed from this side, and I’m the only other one with strong enough magic to do it. I will remain here with those who are dead and close the portal behind you.”

Suddenly something struck Twilight. “’Those who are dead’?!” she exclaimed, “you mean the dead can’t pass this portal?”

“No,” replied Shuriken, confused at the sudden outburst, “their proximity to the portal upon death allowed them a stronger form here in the underworld, but they still can’t pass through back to the world of the living.”

“But…” Twilight turned to her friends, “you’re all…”

“Look again, Twilight.” Derpy said quietly. “I don’t really know what happened when you released the power of the Elements, but something certainly did happen. We’re all alive now.”

Twilight stared, dumbstruck. It was true. Her memory of defeating Xerox was hazy at best, but whatever she had done with the Elements had restored her friends to life. She hadn’t noticed the change because they had all been covered in sand, but now she knew her friends were alive. How had she missed their colours shining so brightly, even through the sandy mess that encased them?

“We still need a sacrifice, though…” she added, sadly. “It’s going to have to be one of us, isn’t it?”

“That depends,” came the reply. “Am I one of you?”

Ditto had been entirely forgotten for most of the fight, but now he raised his head from the sand and stood. Eight pairs of eyes went to him and he shivered but stood firm under the gazes. “I can be your sacrifice. Ever since Fluttershy showed me there is such a thing as kindness in this world I wanted to do something to make up for my father’s wrongs. Your world won’t want me. I’m a cripple, I’m the son of a murdering tyrant. Let me at least die in saving you all. Please?”

Twilight looked at the others, and their expressions said it all. She nodded once, too overcome by tears to speak.

“Very well.” Shuriken was touched by the heroism shown by the little pony, but sentimentality had never been a particular perk of hers. Brusqueness, however, was. “Just walk through the portal, Ditto, it’ll open around you.”

“What will happen to me?” the little pony asked. He was afraid but hid it well.

“I… I don’t know,” Shuriken replied. “I’m sorry”. Ditto nodded and approached the portal. Just before he reached it he was interrupted. Fluttershy landed beside him.

No words needed be said as the two ponies hugged. It was an embrace that went beyond mere words to mix a cocktail of joy and sadness that could end the world or rebirth it anew. Here, it seemed to say, is the end of a friendship. It was one tragically cut short, but the memory of the laughter and tears shared in the few days spent together would last a lifetime.

Rarity choked back a sob and buried her face in Twilight’s shoulder. Pinkie Pie, with the exact opposite reaction, laughed and gave Applejack a gleeful hug of her own, which the other earth pony awkwardly returned. Twilight heard from behind her a cry of ‘Derpy! Don’t you d-‘ from Rainbow Dash, abruptly cut off with a thump. She smiled and placed a hoof around Rarity’s shoulders, drying the unicorn’s tears, and together they faced the portal where Fluttershy and Ditto still embraced.

Eventually they broke apart. Ditto nodded once, turned quickly, lest his nerve fail him, and entered the swirling vortex.

The portal opened.

Epilogue

Shuriken stood watching the portal as, one by one, the living ponies followed Twilight and her friends back into the world of the light.

As the last of the living crossed the threshold she moved forwards and, without ceremony, closed the portal. It winked shut, now just an empty frame that would never again mix the living world and the dead. The scar was finally healed.

As she stepped back one of the ex-Replicus ponies approached her.

“What do we do now?” he asked.

Shuriken had never really thought this far but as she scanned the hopeful faces that surrounded her, her eyes alighted on the ruins of the village. With a little work and, of course, a strong leader…

“Now?” she replied. “Now, we build ourselves a new home.”

Once Xerox’s spell wore off, the Replicus all returned to their own colours and sizes. For some, this meant a significant shrinking as they had been barely more than foals or fillies when they were taken. Now, released from the spell, the youngsters crowded around a single figure, one who was even smaller than the rest.

“Aren’t you the one who stopped the portal?”

“And he’s friends with the ponies who destroyed Xerox!”

“That’s so cool! How’d you get friends like that?”

“Wanna come play hide and seek with us?”

Ditto had never had much of a childhood, so he was now determined to find out what it was like. A face swam into view in his mind’s eye. It was a yellow face haloed in pink hair with soft, blue eyes that held a kindness unlike anything he’d ever seen before. A light in the darkness of his life.

He smiled. At least now he knew the kindness of a mother and how it felt to sleep warm and safe beside her while she healed all the hurts the world dare throw at you.

And who knows? One day, Fluttershy too would die.

He’d be waiting.

Several weeks later and a whole world away, Twilight awoke. It seemed odd to wake up in her own bed for once, especially since her last memory had been stepping through the portal. She yawned and opened her eyes, obtaining a face-full of Pinkie Pie for her troubles.

“She’s awake!” the earth pony screamed gleefully.

The others bounded into the room with rather less noise but no less enthusiasm.

“Oh Twilight!” Fluttershy began “we were so worried for you!”

“Yes,” added Rarity, “the way you just collapsed when you went back through that portal. We all thought something just terrible had happened!”

“You thought something terrible had happened,” said Rainbow Dash, “the rest of us realised she was just tired.” Rarity glared at her.

Derpy broke in; “some of Xerox’s ponies we rescued were pegasi and they agreed to fly us all home!”

“But when you didn’t wake up for days we were just a teensy bit worried.” Rarity supplied.

“I’m fine, don’t worry,” Twilight said with a smile, “I guess these past few weeks have just tired me out a little. So what’ve I missed?” A babble of voices answered her.

“Everything near the castle, all the poor plants and animals that were acting so oddly, have gone back to normal!” said Fluttershy.

“And all the dead trees further out were startin’ to regrow before our very eyes! I ain’t seen nothin’ like it in all my days!”

“It was so awesome!”

“So I threw a party…”

Twilight let her friend’s fragmented storytelling drift over her. It was over. Finally. Everything was back to normal. Soon the land subjected to Xerox’s reign of terror would become inhabitable once again.

Now there was just one thing left to do. She raised a hoof to quiet her friends and glanced around. She quickly found who she was looking for and spoke.

“Spike. Take a letter.”

Dear Princess Celestia

I think that in recent days we’ve all learned something very important about friendship.

I learned that you should always treat others fairly. Those who seem, on the surface, to be simple are quite often the ones who have great hidden depths. All it takes is a little friendship and kindness, and they might just surprise you.

Applejack learned that no matter how difficult the fight, no matter how much you despair, you must always try your best. Because while you continue trying there is still hope. Once you give up, however, you’ve already failed.

Fluttershy learned that, even in the darkest of situations, you must do all you can not to give in. Even if all others seem evil, you should always do what is right. Because someone has to be the first. Someone must light the way so that others can follow.

Pinkie Pie learned that it is a fine thing to be able to make your friends laugh, but laughter doesn’t always solve the problem, and trying to cheer someone up this way can often have the opposite effect. Laugh with your friends when they’re happy, but always be ready with a kind word when they’re sad.

Rainbow Dash learned that negative emotions can often cloud your judgement. When you are feeling frustrated or angry your brain can twist the words of even your closest friends to insults or mockery when in reality it was merely an honest joke, or even an attempt to cheer you up. Be free with good emotions, but learn to control the bad, or else you may end up saying or doing something you’ll live to regret.

Rarity learned that it is easy to stand up to your enemies, but it can be much harder to stand up to your friends. But nobody is perfect, and friends can be wrong too. Stand by your friends in their good decisions, but don’t be afraid to stand up to them in their bad.

And Derpy learned something that is perhaps the most important of all. Although an ape cannot swim as fast as a fish, if a fish is judged on its ability to climb trees, then it will live its life believing itself a failure. Have faith in yourself and your talents, whatever they are, as it is in this faith that your true strength lies.

Your faithful student:

Twilight Sparkle.

Prologue

The Land Unspoken

A fanfiction by spamakaze

...

Imagine a beginning. A real beginning.

Many things seem to be beginnings. The curtain goes up, the first pawn moves, the first shot is fired, but those things aren’t truly the start. The play, the game, the war, they’re all just scenes in the grand story that is life; played out against the canvas of the universe. There is always a prologue, always something that came before.

This story concerns the magical world of Equestria, a land of great wonder and joy.

It concerns the tale of a great evil that brought this world to its knees, and the heroes who fought and died to defend it. It concerns love and friendship, strength and courage.

It concerns the Elements of Harmony.

Long ago, before civilisation as it is known today developed, a mysterious event occurred. There is a long standing philosophical debate that if a tree falls in a forest yet none are there to hear it; did it, truly, happen?

So if a catastrophe occurs to shatter the boundaries between worlds, but nopony was yet alive to witness it, did it actually happen?

And if it were to heal, over millennia, until no trace remains, does it matter?

It does matter.

Because scars never truly heal.