My Little Pony: Magic Ripped Away

The six ponies had moved into a room further in the castle after Twilight had been hastily patched up, each of them silent in their own way. The location of the creature outside was unknown, but it wasn’t a threat at the moment. It couldn’t get inside at the very least, but that was a relief that could not be enjoyed.

The room they were in was the castle’s library and amidst the vast piles of books and tables littered with papers scrawled with smart words was a singular red couch, and on it was Twilight.

Twilight was passed out, half of her face covered with thick white gauze, and even with half the roll covering the wound, the thick red tinge of blood could still be seen through it. Her breathing was slow and deep, but she was not out of danger yet. None of them were.

Through the tense silence in the library, a silent sob was heard from Fluttershy, who was curled up in a ball behind one of the largest piles of books. She had been crying ever since Twilight had been bandaged, a sob or two exiting her every so often.

“W-why… why is this h-h-happening to us…?” Fluttershy weakly asked, wanting an answer desperately. “W-what did we… d-do to deserve this…?”

Pinkie Pie, who was sitting next to Fluttershy, gently raised a hoof and placed it on her side as a source of comfort in this scenario, but there was little comfort to be had. What had happened was more than a tragedy.

“We didn’t do anything, Fluttershy,” Pinkie said quietly, trying to reassure her in any way she could. “This just… this is something that we had no control over. It… it’s…” Her voice trailed off, her blue eyes wandering up to the vast ceiling of the library as if the necessary words were up there to be read, but nothing came to her mind.

Rarity, meanwhile, was in another corner, looking down at the darkest spot that she could, her makeup runny from tears of her own. “This is horrible, horrible… what could’ve possibly happened to have caused all of this? She almost died… right in front of us.” Her voice rose in pitch as the weight of the previous moment crashed over her. “She almost died… she could’ve died… Twilight… almost died…”

She held a hoof up to her temple, shaking her head. “No no no… not in Equestria, this is the nicest, most perfect place in the whole world! Nothing could possibly do that… nothing could’ve done this, nothing… so why? How? This is all so…” Rarity grits her teeth, shaking her head harder.

Across the room, Applejack and Rainbow Dash sat close to the couch that Twilight lay on, both of them sat with their heads low. Occasionally, Rainbow would look over at Twilight and just ensure that she was still there, still breathing. Every time she did so, she would silently sigh with relief.

“She’ll be fine, Rainbow,” Applejack suddenly said firmly, catching Rainbow off-guard as she looked back over at Twilight, her head swinging toward AJ. “I know she’ll be fine.”

“How are you so sure?” Rainbow said, wanting to believe her, but at the same time, this was out of nowhere. “She was attacked by that… t-that thing! That monster! You saw it too!”

“I did, Rainbow, I saw it,” Applejack agreed. “But like I said, I know she’ll be-”

“You don’t. We don’t know what that thing was!” Rainbow stood facing Applejack. “One claw, AJ. One claw! That’s what one claw did to Twilight!”

“I said I know,” Applejack said with a firmer voice, her head turning to face Rainbow but her gaze still on the floor.

“We don’t know if she’ll be okay! What if that thing had poison, or was infected!? Twilight could be dying right now and we wouldn’t know!” Rainbow raised her voice, her eyes wide with both fear and heavy concern. “Applejack, check her again! Something could be wrong and we-”

“Rainbow Dash!” Applejack suddenly snapped, causing Rainbow to snap her jaw shut and stagger back. “Close your damn mouth! Your words are worrying the rest of us! We don’t need to hear what could be. So just… shut up for now.”

Rainbow stood there silently for a long moment before her gaze slowly looked across the library, meeting Fluttershy’s wide, terrified eyes for a brief moment before she looked back at the ground, staring at her cerulean hooves. “Damn it…” She grits her teeth, a few tears filling her eyes. “This is all so motherbucking crazy… it’s insanity!”

“I know, Rainbow…” Applejack sat back down, hiding her face with her Stetson. “But panicking will do the opposite of helping, and spreading that panic will do worse. I’m worried about Twilight too, but… we need to stay level-headed.”

Rainbow nodded slightly, sitting back down too, keeping her eyes on the floor. “Sorry… this is just…” She didn’t finish her sentence.

Applejack glanced over at Rainbow for a fraction of a second, letting out a soft sigh. “I’ll check on Twilight soon, and I’ll do so every… I don’t know, hour. Just for you.”

Rainbow’s right ear flicked in response and she smiled slightly, mumbling out a response. “Thanks.”

It wasn’t nighttime. And that was the worst news that everypony could’ve gotten from Rarity at that very moment.

“It should be night by now, but it’s not! The sun hasn’t even moved an inch in the last few hours!” Rarity paced at the tall library doors, her eyes wide and her mane frizzed unappealingly. “The sun hasn’t moved!”

Everypony else watched Rarity pace, their faces reflecting their shock and disbelief at the news, most noteably of them all being… Twilight, who seemed to have reacted unconsciously to the words.

Twilight stirred, letting out a long, low groan of pain. Immediately, Applejack and Rainbow Dash rushed to her side.

“Twilight! You’re awake!” Rainbow Dash exclaimed, her face flooding with relief. “Thank Celestia...”

“How are ya feeling?” Applejack asked Twilight gently, watching as the purple alicorn sat up on the couch, letting out a whimper of pain.

“Like Tartarus…” Twilight mumbled pathetically, her uninjured eye welling up with tears of both pain and emotion. “This is so cruel…” She wiped the tears away from her left eye with a hoof, sniffling.

“I know, Twilight…” Applejack carefully hugged the alicorn, who accepted it graciously before pulling back. “I’ll get ya some pain meds. That way, you can rest without… y’know…” She grimaced before dipping her head and trotting off, dipping out of the library.

“Mhm…” Twilight slowly repositioned until she was lying on her stomach, staring blankly at the wall, her good eye swirling with unadulterated agony.

Meanwhile, Rarity kept pacing by the door, muttering under her breath and Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy were still in their corner, with Pinkie doing a good job at keeping her sanity in one piece.

Rainbow Dash sat next to the red couch still, her eyes filled with worry. Looking at Twilight’s tattered wings, she was reminded of her own wings. Looking over her shoulder at her left side, she spread her wing with some trouble, wincing in pain as she looked at her feathers. The blood had dried and she noticed that a lot of the feathers had fallen out. The pain was still bad, but it had become a strong, pulsing ache now. Besides, why complain about the pain? Twilight was going through the worst of it, double so now.

Sighing, she gently folded her wing, looking down at the floor, her only temporary escape from the new harsh reality that had befallen them. Judging by Twilight’s reaction, or lack thereof, to the mention of the sun’s frozen position, she most likely did not hear Rarity’s proclamation. Which would change eventually, but for now, she had too much on her plate.

But the very idea of the sun not moving was terrifying. That meant that it wasn’t just Ponyville. As they had feared, all of Equestria had been affected, meaning that the likelihood of the entire world being affected too was a lot higher than before. With the sun frozen, that meant Princess Celestia was affected, meaning that she was probably in just as bad of a state now, or maybe even worse. Everything was so much worse than they had first thought.

Applejack then trotted back into the room, passing by the rambling Rarity, and approached the couch with a bottle of pills in her mouth. She gently placed it on the couch and nudged it over to Twilight with her muzzle.

“Here ya go, Twi,” Applejack smiled softly, watching as Twilight looked over at the small white bottle, simply just looking at it for a few seconds longer before letting out a whimper.

“Ugh…” She looked away from the bottle and closed her eye, leaving Applejack to wonder why she’d not taken it. Then, it hit her and she mentally berated herself.

“Sorry, Twi. Sorry ‘bout that…” Applejack murmured with embarrassment, leaning down and grabbing the bottle’s lid with her teeth and grabbing the bottle itself with her front hooves, ignoring the pain as she held it as tight as she could and twisted, the lid coming undone.

With a tiny victory now earned, AJ placed the bottle on the couch sideways and tapped the bottom of the bottle until a single white pill emerged. She then scooped it up into her hoof and lightly nudged Twilight.

“Open wide,” Applejack said and Twilight slowly looked over, spotting the pill in hoof. In a desperate act to be free of the pain that haunted her, she opened her mouth, letting AJ drop the pill, watching as she swallowed it and mumbled out a slurred thank you before turning away again. “You’re welcome, Twi. Just rest now, ya hear?”

No response came from Twilight except for a flick of her ear, which was good enough for Applejack. Stepping away with a sigh, she looked over at Rainbow, whose gaze was locked on the floor, then at Pinkie and Fluttershy, who were still silently huddled up behind the pile of books, and finally at Rarity who was still pacing back and forth spouting nonsense from her mouth.

Seizing the courage to endure the pain of walking more, Applejack turned and trotted over to Rarity, the pain in her hooves starting to rear its ugly head the more she walked. She weaved around the piles of books, walking over to the white unicorn with a serious look on her face.

“Rares,” Applejack said quietly, hoping that this would be enough.

“-that could mean that the entire empire could collapse into irreparable anarchy, which would be the end of them because there’s no way to-”

“Rarity,” Applejack tried a firmer tone, stepping closer to Rarity.

“-and that would come back to us where we’re stuck here surrounded by horrible pony-eating monsters who want nothing more than to hurt us and to kill us, which is-”

“Rarity!” Applejack stepped closer, close enough that Rarity was pacing just an inch away from her, but even then she didn’t stop.

“-so we’re all going to die here, we’re all going to die to the claws and jaws of those rabid otherworldly beasts out there, and I don’t want to die, and neither do any of us, because we’re all too young to die since we’re just-”

“For Celestia’s sake, Rarity, snap out of it!” Applejack stepped in front of Rarity, getting close to her face and snorting.

“I am snapped out of it, I’m fine!” Rarity shouted with a hoarse voice, her eyes wide and shaking. “I’m just having a little revelation, that’s all! So move!”

Rarity slipped past Applejack, who gawked at the look in her eyes, and yet, she snorted and turned to face her again.

“No, you’re not fine. You’re gone and worried yourself into a damn panic attack!” Applejack trotted after Rarity, her hooves complaining as hard as they could, making her wince. “Just… sit down and breathe, Rarity, breathe!”

“I don’t need to breathe, Applejack, I already am and I’m breathing perfectly clear and fine!” Rarity marched onward, looking back at her with a weird look. “Maybe you should be the one who should sit down and breathe because you’re obviously not worrying about the sun not moving!”

“Shush it, Rares!” Applejack shushed loudly, pressing a hoof against Rarity’s muzzle and flashing her a glare. “There are more pressing issues at the moment, and that involves one of your friends.”

Rarity looks down at Applejack’s hoof like it’s a disease and pushes it away, but at her words, she looks over at Twilight, her face falling for a moment. “Well… maybe, I just… this is all so chaotic and unexplainable that I just, well, I just couldn’t stop myself from thinking about all the things that could go wrong.”

Applejack’s face softened, her eyes glancing over at the resting alicorn. “It ain’t healthy, not for you nor Twilight. Try to keep a clear head, ‘kay?”

“I’ll try,” Rarity nodded, looking back at Applejack. “Just… j-just cut me some slack, I’m not as good at staying calm as you are, Applejack. I’m not as composed as you always are.”

“You don’t have to be as composed as me, just as composed as you need to be,” Applejack said gently, stepping forward a bit. “I’m as lost and confused as you all are, but… all you need to do is focus on the present rather than the future. It’ll help a lot more than you think.”

Rarity’s eyes searched Applejack’s, her blue eyes glistening with unshed emotion before she looked away and wiped the building moisture with a hoof, her makeup being smeared in the process. “Well… you’re right, I suppose… thank you.”

Applejack smiled and took the final step forward, wrapping her forelegs around Rarity. “You’re welcome, Rarity.” The two hugged for a few seconds, both of them at temporary peace, but then, Rarity began to strain, her eyes opening with frustration.

“What’re you doing?” She asked, wondering why Applejack was getting so heavy all of a sudden.

“My hooves… they’re tired and hurtin’...” Applejack chuckled slightly, slumping into Rarity’s forelegs, who eventually just dropped her onto the ground with a loud thud. “Ow…”

“I’m not in any better condition than you, what makes you think I can carry all of that muscle?” Rarity snorted before letting out a single chuckle. “You’re a lot stronger than I am anyway.”

“Not strong enough, apparently,” Applejack let out a single chuckle as well, getting into a comfortable lying position on the floor. Rarity just shook her head and took a seat just next to her, looking across the library.

“Strong enough to keep us all in one piece, at least,” Rarity mumbled, letting out a sigh. “We’d probably have killed each other without you.”

“Don’t say that, we’re all just scared and confused. Sometimes, you just need an anchor to latch onto, but… even anchors come loose eventually,” Applejack yawned, laying a head on the floor. “And this anchor’s ready to get some rest.”

Rarity just silently acknowledged her words, her eyes flitting between Rainbow Dash, who was now sitting straight next to Twilight’s couch, her eyes on the red fabric, and Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy, the latter of the two now in a restless sleep, while Pinkie remained awake and watchful, her blue eyes strangely empty.

This was tough for all of them, no doubt, but there were two ponies having it the worst, and one of them was the reason why they were all still together, mostly. At the very least, with Applejack still here, they would last a little longer, enough to see why it all happened.