The Light Inside Us

Chapters

To Fly
Relation
Danger
Plan
Station
Train
Dream
Crypt
Threat
Escape
Temporary

To Fly

PART 1

“Woohoo, that was awesome!” Rainbow Dash called to Fluttershy, who’d just done her first barrel roll.

“Yay,” said Fluttershy, landing on the cloud next to Dash.

“Okay, my turn!” Dash said, jumping into the air. She cruised up, zoomed forwards, and barrel rolled three times–she could have done way more, but didn’t want to hurt her friend’s feelings.

“Slick moves!” Smolder called out to Dash. Smolder was sitting with Gallus, a griffon with a blue coat. Smolder was a young orange dragon. The two were supposed to be doing their friendship homework, but watching Dash do aerial tricks was way more fun.

“Thanks,” said Dash. She turned to Fluttershy. “Whaddya wanna learn next?”

Fluttershy glanced at Smolder and Gallus, who gave her a thumbs up. “Maybe a dive?”

“Oh those are easy!” Dash complained, before quickly adding, “to learn, of course.”

Fluttershy hopped up into the air. “Let’s go!” she added softly.

“Bet ya ten bits it takes her more than three tries to get that trick,” Gallus said to Smolder.

“I think I’tl take her more than ten tries. Bet.”

“Deal.”

“This is high,” said Fluttershy, looking down at the cloud four hooves beneath her. “Can we try it lower?”

Resisting the urge to laugh, Dash said, “you gotta get way higher than this if you wanna dive.”

Fluttershy shivered. “Maybe another time?”

Dash couldn't hold it in. “Sure,” she said in a strained tone, before flying off and shoving her face into a cloud.

Fluttershy walked over to Twilight and Cadence and sat down.

Cadence was visiting her sister in law, Twilight, and the two had decided to watch Fluttershy and Dash fly.

“Nice job!” said Twi encouragingly, as Flutters sat down next to them.

“Thanks,” Fluttershy responded.

Dash pulled her head out of the cloud, and flew over to Flutters. “You got that barrel roll down.”

“Um… I thought you said my skill was going up?”

“Er… I did, it’s just an expression, or no, really it’s slang, but uh–.”

Now Gallus and Smolder were the ones trying not to laugh.

“When’s Thorax coming again?” asked Twi.

“He should be coming any time now,” Cadence replied.

A few moments passed, but Thorax hadn’t shown up. The skies were completely clear, besides one generic looking brown pegasus.

Cadence sighed. “Seriously, I was half expecting a ‘right on cue’ moment there.”

The brown pegasus landed in front of them, and Thorax dropped his disguise.

“Gotcha,” he said, grinning. “But in all seriousness, I’d never leave you hanging.”

“Hello to you too,” said Dash, performing a front flip for Thorax. She landed next to him.

Smolder rolled her eyes and shoved her homework into her backpack. Gallus followed her lead, and the friends walked over.

“I guess I should have brought food,” Twi said. “We could have had a picnic.”

“I could go for a hayburger right now,” Dash said.

Fluttershy nodded.

“Eh, why not,” Smolder said, shrugging.

“I don’t hate them,” Gallus said noncommittally. “Right now, I’ll go for anything.”

Twiley glanced at Cadence who nodded. “Settled then,” said Twi, “we go get hay–.”

The portal that opened on Dash’s cloud was roughly big enough for two ponies to exit at the same time, and had a black center. The outside pulsed between green and aqua.

And out stepped a pony.

He was a gray unicorn, with an aqua mane and a worryingly confident expression.

As soon as he stepped out of the portal a second unicorn’s horn powered up. She was snow white, with a mane to match.

The first unicorns stepped entirely out of the portal.

Twilight responded first. “Uh, hello!”

“Hi!” said the second unicorn. “I’m Snowy! Well, that’s not my full name, more of a nickname really–.”

“Nopony cares.”

The first pony’s voice was surprisingly cold. His horn sparked menacingly.

“Huh?” asked Snowy.

“Our names are irrelevant here.”

Fluttershy who’d been cowering on the ground said, “Maybe, maybe, knowing ea–each other's n–n–ames could be useful. F–for re–fer–ence….”

“Fine. I’m Theo. Satisfied?” The gray unicorn stared at Fluttershy, who backed away.

“She’s Fluttershy,” Dash said, nodding towards the pony in question. “And I’m Dash, the dragon’s Smolder, the griffon’s Gallus, the changeling’s Thorax, the two alicorns are–.”

Theo cut her off. “Twilight Sparkle and Cadence. Both princesses. Why do you think I’m here?”

Theo took a step towards the group.

The portal was still open, despite the fact that Theo’s horn had gone dark.

“Good question,” said Dash, flying up slightly. “Why are you here?”

Theo laughed. “Your two princesses.”

Twilight and Cadence were on their hooves in an instant, and Thorax immediately threw up a disguise.

Dash was a bit quicker to go on the offensive. She shot towards Theo, throwing him off his hooves. The two crashed into a cloud.

Snowy’s horn glowed brighter, and several more unicorns exited the portal. One of them activated the spell that allowed unicorns to stand on clouds, freeing up Snowy’s magic.

Gallus and Smolder were slower to react, and a spell hit the cloud they’d been sitting on. Luckily they both started flying before they even started falling.

“Why are you doing this?” Dash coughed, as Theo got her in a chokehold.

“Most ponies would probably say revenge.”

Theo tossed Dash off the edge.

Twilight was locked in combat with Snowy. Snowy was holding her own surprisingly well against an alicorn, matching every one of Twilight’s spells with one of her own.

Then Twilight shot a stunning spell at Snowy, who slammed into a cloud pillar, and flopped down, unconscious.

Then Theo shot a spell dead at Twi’s chest. She flew backwards, and slid across the cloud.

“Who are you?” asked Twi, surprised.

“Good question.”

Twi shot a spell at Theo at the same time he shot one at her, and they connected. Twi held Theo’s spell back, as he forced it forwards. Theo’s yellow beam was slowly inching its way toward Twilight’s horn. Twilight forced herself to push the beam back.

The spells shattered.

Twilight felt herself being thrown backwards. She slammed into a cloud pillar, which tore apart. Twi felt blinded, a bright yellow light in her eyes.

Then the light subsided, and Princess Twilight Sparkle felt herself falling.

~~~~

“You weren’t joking when you said that spell was powerful!” Snowy exclaimed.

Theo stared down at the forest below. Sunset had arrived, and the sky was red and pink. Cloudsdale had been torn apart. The few parts that had survived were currently on fire. The pegasi were running around trying to fix everything, but it was a lost cause.

“I don’t joke around,” said Theo. He had several burns down his front, and a chunk of his left ear was missing. The injured ear twitched.

Snowy started to say something, but Theo cut her off. “Are they dead?” Theo asked in a deadly calm..

“Maybe,” said Snowy warily, “Idk really.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“Idk? Acronym or something for ‘I don’t know.’”

“Oh,” said Theo, his left ear twitching. “So you don’t know.”

“I don’t, but I can guess.”

“Do so.”

“I’d guess they're dead.”

“Hmmm.”

Snowy looked over at Theo. He was staring down at the forest below, which had caught fire. He seemed deep in thought.

“You okay?” Snowy asked.

Theo’s ear twitched. “Kinda. Honestly, I’d say you guessed wrong.”

Snowy glanced at the forest below. Pegasi and unicorns were fighting the fire, and had mostly contained it.

“How could they be alive?”

“River.”

“Who’s River?”

“Nopony–” another ear twitch– “That’s not what I mean.”

The river below was fast moving, and Snowy realized that it had been what Theo had been looking at….

“What are the chances?” she asked.

“Probably pretty good. I mean, even If they were blinded, the river’s a pretty big thing. The chances of them landing in it by luck are fine. If they were aiming for it, certain. They all had wings.”

“Why did there have to be a river?” Snowy moaned. “If there hadn’t been one, they’d all be dead right now!”

“Hmmm.”

“Got something?”

“Maybe. C’mon.” Theo’s horn flashed, and a portal opened. He stepped through it without a second thought.

Snowy sighed, and followed him through.

Author's Note

This is my current story. If you wanna see what my current writing looks like, keep reading. Or, if you like a thriller.

Relation

Twilight dragged herself out of the river, and onto the bank. She glanced downstream, and saw Cadence, Thorax, and Fluttershy doing the same.

“You good?” asked a voice behind Twi.

Twi looked behind her, to see Dash standing there. She was surprisingly dry, and only seemed to have a few scratches on her wings.

“I’m fine,” said Twi. “I doubt I even have to ask you. How are you even so– ok?”

“Theo brilliantly tried to ‘get rid of me’ by throwing me over the edge. It did not work whatsoever.” Dash’s voice was bitter. “I thought Theo, or whatever that psycho’s name was, might do something evil. Though of course, I was not expecting my home to go supernova or my whole life to get turned upside-down.”

Twi noticed the bitterness in Dash’s voice. “Maybe I do need to ask you. ‘Cuz you really don’t sound okay.”

Dash snorted derisively. “Who is Theo?”

Twi was surprised by the shift in conversation, and didn’t have a good answer to the question. “I have no idea,” she admitted.

“Great. Just great.”

“Now’s not the time for sarcasm.”

“I know!” Dash snapped. “I know! But what I don’t know, is if you care that my home just got melted!”

Twi recoiled. “Dash, that’s not what I meant–.”

Dash jumped into the air. “Point.”

“Wha–.”

“What’s your point?”

Twi paused. “Look Dash, I know this is hard for you–.”

“Mmhmm.”

Twi sighed. “Let’s just go home.”

Smolder and Gallus came around a corner and landed next to Twi and Dash.

“If only it were that simple,” Smolder said.

“There are plenty of ponies who are not firefighters or cops around in the forest,” Gallus said, pointing upstream. “They might be Theo’s soldiers.”

Twi stared at Gallus. “Theo has soldiers?”

Gallus shrugged. “Who else could they be?”

“Hikers?” Twi suggested uncertainty.

“Who have decided to hike in a burning forest?”

“Downstream it is,” said Dash bluntly.

Smolder cocked her head slightly. Dash and Gallus started heading downstream. After a few seconds, Smolder and Twi followed.

“Did something happen with you and Dash?” Smolder asked quietly.

“Can we fly out of here?” Twilight asked, avoiding Smolder’s question.

Smolder sighed. “No, we can’t. The sky’s being patrolled by pegasi. We’d be spotted immediately.”

“Of course,” Twi grumbled.

Smolder tried again. “Why’s Dash–.”

“It’s the strain Smolder! The strain and stress of this! I don’t know if you get chased by psychos every other week or something, but for us mortals, it’s stressful!”

“Yikes,” Smolder muttered to herself.

Twi didn’t even notice.

Dash and Gallus reached Cadence, Thorax, and Fluttershy.

“Hey,” said Gallus. “Let’s keep going downstream.”

As Gallus briefed the others on what was happening, Twi glanced at Dash.

Dash was staring at the sandy beach. She evidently sensed she was being watched, and jumped into the air.

Twi sighed.

Smolder coughed. “Will I be attacked again?”

“Maybe,” said Twi, not looking at Smolder. “Though I’d say we’re all under risk of being attacked by Theo. I don’t see what makes you special.”

Smolder rolled her eyes and flew over to Gallus.

Cadence slowed until she was side by side with Twi.

“How are you feeling?”

Twi paused for a moment. She felt safe enough talking to her sister-in-law, and so she decided to spill the beans. “I kinda had a fight with Dash.”

Cadence was silent for a moment. “To be fair, her home and probably a good part of her day-to-day life just got destroyed. She has every right to be annoyed.”

Twi sighed. “I guess.”

“You guess?”

“Okay! I, I was a little…tough on Dash!” Twi exhaled, feeling much better about herself. “Thanks.”

“What do sisters do? Now you just gotta say it to Dash.”

Cadence smiled to herself, before looking up. The sky was still red and pink, but it would be darkening soon.

“We gotta set up camp somewhere,” Gallus said. “We’ll have real trouble if it gets night, and we don’t have a place to c–.”

“We get it!” Dash snapped. “No need to keep going around saying how terrible our predicament is!”

Gallus raised his claws in surrender. “Ok, wow. If I’d known trying to help would just cause you to blow up, I wouldn’t have said anything.”

Twi almost facehoofed. Dash wasn’t just being mean to her now, she was being mean to anyone who annoyed her.

Twilight had to fix this.

She quickened her pace until she was side by side with Dash.

Dash glanced over. “I’m not even saying anything about how long this ‘adventure’ is gonna wind up being, cuz if I do I’ll probably jinx it.”

Twi inhaled. “Rainbow Dash I’m–.”

“Found something!” Thorax yelled.

Twi actually did facehoof this time, and Dash groaned.

“Where?” Cadence asked.

Dash shot back to the rest of the group. Twi was a little slower to follow.

“There,” said Thorax, pointing into the forest.

Dash squinted into the forest. The sun was already entirely gone behind a mountain, and the sky was darkening quickly.

Twi arrived and looked into the darkness. There was a small trail leading into it. After about fifty hooves it melted into the darkness.

“A trail?” Smolder asked.

Thorax shook his head. “A clearing. Probably about…maybe a quarter mile along the trail, then about a hundred hooves to the right.”

Even Dash had to pause being annoyed for a moment to marvel at how far Thorax could see, before falling back into annoyance. “No way that you can see that far,” she said.

“I can’t,” said Thorax.

“Uh, what in the world Thorax?” Gallus said.

Thorax sighed. “Haven't I ever told you about my echo-location?”

A second passed, during which the day steadily transitioned into night.

“We might wanna get moving,” said Twi, slightly shocked that Thorax could echo-locate, and more so that she’d never known about it. “It’s gonna become impossible for anyone besides Thorax to navigate, real soon.”

“I can’t really object to that,” Dash said pointedly.

“Thorax should really lead,” Smolder said. “Then Cadence and Twi can light their horns, and we should be good.”

Thorax stepped onto the trail, Cadence nodded, and Twi lit up her horn.

“I, I didn’t know you can e–echo-locate,” Fluttershy said softly to Thorax.

Thorax smiled. Or at least Fluttershy thought he smiled. She couldn’t really tell because of the encroaching darkness.

“Not all changelings can,” Thorax said. “I was trained back at the Hive as an Invader. Basically, my job was to go in after the others had taken out the guards, and capture prey….”

Thorax winced, and this time Fluttershy was sure he did. She already knew Thorax was touchy when it came to his past, and so she took it as a good omen that he voluntarily brought it up. He obviously trusted Fluttershy plenty.

“How does it have to do with echo-location?” Fluttershy asked, trying to get the topic off of Thorax’s past.

“Often, the power had been taken out,” Thorax said gratefully, leading the group to the left of a split, after his sense brought up a large chasm to the right. “Or the location was underground. Anyways it was often dark, and having echo-location was a useful asset to have.”

“Interesting, can I put that in my journal?”

“You have a journal?”

“Mmhmm! I think I might wanna become a zoologist. The prospect of spending all that time with animals excites me!”

In the quiet darkness, and with Thorax by her side, Fluttershy felt calm and peaceful. Maybe even brave.

At which point Smolder ruined everything by asking the question, “Where’s Gallus?!”

Danger

The night had fully arrived and the darkness was completely swallowing the small light produced from the alicorn’s horns. Thorax was the only one able to get a clear mental image of where everything was.

“Everyone relax,” he said calmly.

“How can I relax when Gallus is gone?!” Smolder yelled.

“Quiet!” Thorax said. “You're messing up my echo-location!”

“Sound impares it?” Twi asked, almost slipping into her normal dorky self.

“Yeah,” Thorax said softly. His ears were perked up.

Everyone quieted down, except Fluttershy, who was whimpering, obviously terrified.

Thorax’s senses were on high alert.

“That way!” Thorax said, pointing east.

Fluttershy yelped.

Being annoyed was now completely going against Dash’s nature, and she finally gave in to her conscience.

“It’s okay,” she told Fluttershy, who’d gone white as a ghost. “It’ll all be fine.”

Dash was kicking herself for not being able to come up with something less generic, but it seemed to have a good effect on Fluttershy. Her breathing relaxed slightly.

“Sorry to break this very sentimental moment up,” Smolder said, ”but Thorax, was that signal or whatever it was that you picked up Gallus?”

Thorax shrugged. “I can’t be sure. My sense works better to find areas of blankness, like clearings, rather than pick up individual shapes.”

“It’s in the direction of the clearing,” Twi said.

“What?” asked Smolder, who obviously hadn’t been paying any attention to the conversation. It looked like she’d just been staring in the direction Thorax had said Gallus might be in.

“The clearing,” Twi said. “It was in the direction that Thorax thought Gallus might be in.”

“With any luck Gallus might even stumble across the said clearing,” Cadence added. “I say we just keep on heading that way.”

“What if he changes course?” Fluttershy asked worriedly.

“It’s a possibility,” Thorax admitted. “So we just have to hope.”

“Let’s go then!” Smolder exclaimed. “Quicker we make it to the clearing the better. We’ve just been standing around here! Gallus has a big head start on us!”

Twi nodded. “Let’s go.”

Thorax started walking.

~~~~

Gallus kept his ears perked up for any sound of the rest of the group. He wasn’t sure when he’d been separated from the group. He’d been focusing too much on who Theo and Snowy were, that when the sound of the group’s walking slowly died down to nothing, he barely noticed it. Eventually though, he became aware that he was all alone in the forest.

Griffons have decent night vision, but Gallus had always felt as though his vision was weaker than the average griffons.

He was able to make out what he felt like was the path, and quickened his pace. Twenty minutes later, he still hadn’t caught up to the group, and was forced to admit that he’d strayed from the original path, and was now on a different one. And he’d still been walking much slower than the others, so chances were that he was now far behind them. He wanted to fly up into the air, and see if he could spot the clearing that Thorax had mentioned, and go there. He decided against it though, because flying was too risky–if one of Theo’s men spotted him, Gallus was gonna have far worse problems than being lost in a dark forest at night.

The path abruptly cut off, and Gallus found himself looking over the precipice of a ravine. Hundreds of hooves below, a river raged.

He looked around for any of Theo’s mercenaries. The area seemed deserted besides him.

Looking across the chasm, Gallus noticed that the trail he’d been on continued.

All he had to do was cross the chasm.

In the total darkness, Gallus made a decision: to quickly fly across the gap. As a griffon, he had better night vision than any pony. The chances of being spotted seemed low to him.

The griffon took one last careful look around, and then, heart pounding, he set off flying over the ravine.

He only fought the urge to look down for a few seconds. There was a river, far below, that could have very well been the one that he had climbed out of, less than an hour ago.

Gallus realized it wasn’t, because they had been walking down the riverbank, before turning left, into the forest, meaning unless his path had looped around, he was looking at a new riv–

A flashlight beam sliced across Gallus’ vision, blinding him. He felt disoriented, and flew in the direction of the path.

Or what he thought was the direction of the path.

There was a yell from somewhere to the left of Gallus, whose vision was slowly returning. He angled towards the path, when something slammed into him.

The collision happened near enough to the edge of the ravine that Gallus and his attacker landed on solid ground.

Gallus was shoved roughly up against a tree, his throat being constricted. He was just able to see his attacker, a pegasus with a black coat and a dark navy mane, who seemed to have a scar across one of his or her eyes.

“Who. Are. You.” said the black pegasus in a deadly calm tone. It also revealed she was a mare.

Gallus couldn’t really speak with his throat as constricted as it was, and so all he managed was a strangled gasp.

“What?” snapped his attacker, loosening her grasp a little.

“None of your business,” said Gallus. His arms, which had formerly been hanging limply at his sides, swung up, and his claws slashed the pegasus’ side.

She screamed. Gallus kicked her in the stomach, and slashed out with his other claw, catching her across her snout.

Another pegasus landed. Gallus was already running.

~~~~

There was a knock at Bon Bon’s door.

“I got it,” said Lyra, rising, and heading over to the door.

Bon Bon let her spoon slip into her cereal bowl.

Bon Bon was a former spy. She’d worked with the CIA (Canterlot Intelligence Agency), before switching to work for S.M.I.L.E.

After that, she decided to settle down in Ponyville. She eventually married Lyra Heartstrings, and had been living with her in a small cottage near the outskirts of Ponyville.

Life was good.

“It’s just the mail,” Lyra called.

The pony standing in the doorway was gray, with a vibrant aqua mane.

“Got your mail,” he said kindly. “A package for a ‘Sweetie Drops.’”

Bon Bon went on high alert. Nopony besides Lyra knew her real name.

“Okay,” said Lyra. “Let me just grab a pen….” She turned around.

“Lyra!” yelled Bon Bon, jumping up, just as the mailpony lunged forward and slammed Lyra into a glass bookshelf. Glass sprinkled the floor.

Bon Bon yanked a knife out of her pocket, but she was far too late.

“Don’t even try.” The kind tone dropped immediately, and the gray stallion’s tone turned venomous. He had grabbed Lyra in a chokehold, and had a knife to her throat.

“Don’t do anything crazy,” said Bon Bon, struggling to keep her calm. She pointed her knife at him.

“Is this normal?” asked Lyra dreamily. “D’you get ponynapped a lot?”

The gray pony flipped the knife around, and Bon Bon flinched. “Don’t try anything either,” he said calmly, unperturbed by Bon Bon’s threat, “or she dies.”

“Well what do you want from me?” asked Bon Bon desperately, not taking her eyes off Lyra.

“You're a spy right?” asked the gray stallion, a broad smile spreading across his face.

“No,” said Bon Bon immediately.

His smile faded. “Cut it. I already know who you are.”

“You don’t have a clue who I am!” Bon Bon yelled at random.

“I know all about you. I’ve read all your files. Even the ones that aren’t supposed to exist.”

“You're lying!”

The stallion’s smile returned. “Let’s not get lost on a tangent. You’re a spy for S.M.I.L.E, and that’s all I need to know.”

“Not anymore,” Bon Bon said. “Now I’m an ex-agent.”

Lyra shook her head slightly. “Huh?” she asked, “why are you telling him?”

Bon Bon’s heart felt like it was in danger of bursting out of her chest.

“So you were a spy,” said the stallion. “Same difference really.”

The focus suddenly returned to Lyra’s eyes, and she yelled, “Let me go!”

The phony mailpony turned and looked directly into Bon Bon’s eyes. “Kill Twilight Sparkle.”

Bon Bon threw herself at him, just as his horn lit up, and a portal appeared in front of her.

Bon Bon crashed into her sofa, just as the gray pony pulled Lyra through the other side of the portal.

Bon Bon shakily got back up. The portal was gone. Bon Bon’s ears flattened, and then she hugged one of the sofa cushions and cried.

Plan

Author's Note

Sorry it took so long for this chapter :twilightblush: I'll try to make the next chapters sooner

Plan

”We’re here,” Thorax said.

He stepped into the clearing, followed closely by the others. The clearing was bigger than Thorax had expected, easily being big enough for all of them to set up tents.

There was a burst of flame, and a campfire ignited, the flames flickering playfully.

Smolder looked around the clearing. “Gallus isn’t here.”

“At least you got us a fire,” said Cadence supportively.

Smolder sighed. “I guess.”

~~~~

Gallus saw the fire from a ways away, whilst taking a rest on a hill. He stopped and sat down on a rock, staring at the fire. His first thought was that it might be an enemy camp. If that was true, it made sense to get as far away from the fire as possible.

But there was a tingling sensation in the back of his mind that said it wasn’t an enemy fire.

Gallus struggled to decipher which direction he was heading. It was either towards Thorax’s clearing or away from it.

Gallus squinted towards the fire, but the trees blocked any view of the encampment. His own path ended on top of the hill.

Without any good options, Gallus headed towards the fire.

There wasn’t any path, and so the trek to the fire took an hour. Gallus looked into the clearing.

~~~~

Smolder heard a rustling of branches. She turned her head towards the sound, just in time to see Gallus stepping into the clearing.

“Gallus!” she yelled, and wrapped him in a tight embrace.

“That makes things easier,” Thorax said to Cadence.

“How’d you find us?” asked Fluttershy quietly.

“I just saw the smoke from the fire and went to it,” said Gallus.

Twi frowned, and put a quick enchantment on the fire.

“Do you think anypony saw the smoke other than gallus?” Smolder asked worriedly.

“Let’s hope not,” said Gallus. “But even if somepony did, there’s no more smoke trail, so I think we’re safe. Let’s just get some sleep.”

Cadence set up some tents with her magic, and everyone entered their tents.

With two exceptions.

Twilight slid over so she was sitting next to Dash. The fire crackled, giving off enough warmth that they weren’t cold. “I’m sorry for what happened before,” Twi said.

A moment passed before Dash said softly, “It’s okay.”

~~~~

Smolder fist pumped. Finally things were working out. Gallus had come back. Twi and Dash had made up. They had a nice place to sleep. Everything was–.

A scroll suddenly dropped in front of Smolder. She quickly opened it.

Dear Smolder, Twilight, Rainbow, Cadence, Thorax, Gallus, and Fluttershy,
We hope you are okay. We’re all starting to get worried about you. Some ponies in suits showed up at Rarity’s Boutique asking about you. They said they were “here for legal reasons,” but I’m not buying it. Bon Bon also showed up, and she’s freaked out. Said she was looking to meet Cadence, but it seemed like she was lying.
Are you OK? If something bad has happened, hopefully you can contact us, and we’ll try to help.

–Spike and the others

Smolder stared at the message for a long second, before running out of her tent, and getting everyone gathered around the fire. She read the message out loud.

There was a long moment of silence.

Dash broke it by saying, “So ponies are showing up at our friends’ places, hunting for us?”

Twi stared at the fire. “It seems so.”

“They won’t hurt them,” asked Thorax, “Will they?”

Twi’s gaze moved to the starry sky. “I really hope not.” What she didn’t say was that if the hunters were any bit as mentally insane as Theo and Snowy, they probably would.

A second scroll flashed into existence right in front of Cadence. She read it, and her brow furrowed.

“Shiny sent this,” she said. “He’s been getting reports of members of the Royal Guard acting strange. The scroll’s a warning.”

“Double agents?” asked Dash worriedly. “That means Theo’s way more than we thought.”

Cadence nodded worriedly.

“Well we’d best stay organized,” Twi said, “What do we know about Theo?”

“He’s a psychopath,” said Dash.

“He’s scary,” whispered Fluttershy.

“He’s crazy,” said Thorax, “and deranged, and mentally ill, and insane.”

“He ran for captain of the Royal Guard,” said Cadence.

Everyone paused.

“Wait, since when have you known that?” asked Smolder.

“Shiny was telling me about some files he was reading up on from the Canterlot Crypts,” Cadence explained. “He mentioned Theo.”

Everyone waited with baited breath, while Cadence remembered the details.

“I think he said that Theo had run for captain of the Royal Guard,” she said finally, “but had been put out of the running when it was discovered one of his close friends was a double agent for the Lunar Republic.”

“The Lunar Republic?” asked Twi in surprise. “As in Luna’s supporters?”

Cadence nodded solemnly. “It was a different time back then. Canterlot was constantly at arms with the Lunar Republic. Finding the traitor would be a key advantage in the battle.”

“Who found it?” asked Fluttershy softly.

Cadence’s expression brightened. “Shiny did! And he was promoted to the captain of the Royal Guard right after.”

“And after that Twilight and her friends helped reform Luna, right?” Gallus said.

“Yes,” said Dash coldly, “we did.”

“I wasn’t saying that you didn’t play a part in it,” Gallus said quickly.

Dash smiled, though it seemed fake.

Thorax summarized. “So one of Theo’s friends got exposed as a traitor, and Theo just got all of his dreams dashed because of it. After that–.”

Dash suddenly stood up, and glared at Thorax. “Yeah,” she growled. “Yeah, that's right. I’m a total–.”

Breathing hard, Dash stormed into her tent, and angrily zipped it closed. She couldn’t slam a door, but it got the point across.

“What did I say?” asked Thorax.

“I think you said Theo’s dreams got ‘dashed’,” Twi mumbled, staring at the ground.

“Oh,” said Thorax quietly.

“Why is Dash being such a jerk?” asked Gallus suddenly. “I mean it should have been obvious that Thorax wasn’t attacking her.”

Twilight thought about it. Then she sighed. Her mind, usually so good at knowing why her friends were having trouble, had drawn a blank.

~~~~

Twilight barely got any sleep that night. She’d been sure that Dash had been angry at her, and that simply apologizing would fix any ill will.

But Dash was still angry, and Twi no longer had any idea why.

The next morning the group gathered around the burned out fire. Twi was pleased to see that Dash wasn’t showing any signs of hostility. Maybe it was just an unfortunate series of events, she thought, and Dash isn’t really mad anymore.

Smolder was glancing at Dash worriedly, noticing the lines under her eyes.

“Did you all get enough sleep?” asked Cadence, evidently also noticing Dash’s visible tiredness.

“Cheap trick,” muttered Dash, “And no, I didn’t get a lot of sleep.”

“We need a game plan,” said Gallus, not letting a moment of awkwardness pass after Dash’s words. “I’m thinking that staying here’s not such a great idea. The smoke from the fire could have been spotted from a ways away, and with Theo’s mercenaries looking for us, this spot seems compromised.”

“Where can we go?” asked Thorax. “Shining Armor said that we have to be on the lookout for double agents within the Royal Guard. That makes Canterlot a risky location to head to.”

“We may have to go anyway,” said Cadence.

“D’you mind me asking why?” asked Dash testily.

“The Canterlot Crypts,” said Cadence. “I only remember some general details from what Shiny told me about Theo’s file. Getting our hooves on it could give us an edge.”

Dash suddenly stared intensely at the burned out ashes of the firepit.

Naturally, everyone else looked at it too.

Gallus was the first one to notice it. “Hey look, there’s paper in there!”

He reached in, and extracted a bit of paper from the ashes. It was severely blackened around the edges, and curled up.

Gallus squinted at it. He looked up sharply. “Raven,” he said. “That’s all it says.”

Dash reached over and snatched it out of Gallus’ claws, breaking some of the burned curls off.

Dash studied it for a moment before saying, “it doesn’t say Raven, It’s signed Raven!”

“Ya’ know,” said Smolder. “Everyone take a moment to consider why there’s a perfectly made fire pit in the center of a pristine clearing.”

“It’s an encampment!” said Twilight, “And probably an enemy one.”

“If it’s an enemy encampment, it would explain why there’s so many ponies in these woods,” Cadence said. “And it looks like that signature from ‘Raven’ means that this particular encampment was abandoned just before we arrived.”

A realization hit Twilight, and it felt like a bowling ball had just been dropped into her gut. “Who said it was abandoned?”

“We have to leave now!” Thorax said, jumping up. “Canterlot seems to be the strategic choice.”

Cadence’s horn lit up, and all the tents vanished.

“Which way to Canterlot?” asked Twilight in a panicky tone.

Dash pulled out a compass. “That way!” she said, pointing to a section of particularly thick trees.

“You're kidding right?” said Smolder.

“Nope, and I don’t think I’m even capable of doing so in my emotionally tense state,” Dash said, tucking the compass back into her mane.

“Looks like Pinkie taught you some tricks,” said Twilight.

Dash nodded.

“Let’s take the train,” said Cadence suddenly.

“Oh, that's a good idea,” said Fluttershy softly.

“The train’s that way,” said Thorax, pointing to the trail leading out of the clearing.

“Let’s just follow the path,” said Gallus. “And then take the Ponyville train to Canterlot.”

Twi felt a sudden pang in her chest as she thought about her other friends.

Dash evidently knew what she was thinking, because she said, “Spike’s letter said that there were ‘ponies in suits’ at Rarity’s for ‘legal reasons.’ Those ‘ponies in suits’ are probably still watching all of our friend’s places. And Bon Bon’s a spy who’s acting ‘freaked out,’ so staying away from Ponyville entirely would probably be a good idea.” She paused. “‘Cept for the train station, cuz there isn’t another one close.”

Twi sighed. “Can we at least send them a letter? I know there’s a post office right next to the station.”

“Of course,” said Cadence comfortingly.

“Better start moving,” said Thorax, glancing up at the sky. It was already almost noon. “We’re running out of time.”

~~~~

Raven sighed, and stepped out of her tent. “How do I look?” she asked tentatively.

There were a couple of scattered responses, all upon the line of, “Not bad.”

“Menacing,” casually said a stallion who was leaning casually against a tree. He had a dark gray coat and red mane. His name was Radcliffe.

He was a serial killer.

He’d recently been broken out of prison by Theo, who’d said they were old friends.

Raven thought they were brothers at first.

“Thanks,” she said.

Raven turned to a cream colored mare with a two tone mane. The mare glared at her. “What do you think, twit?”

Bon Bon gave a derisive snort. “Shut up,” she said with a few more swear words added in.

“Fine!” screamed Raven, and sent a knife into a tree, missing Bon Bon by a few inches. “I don’t care what you think psychopathic–.”

“Chill on the cuss words,” Radcliffe laughed. “Contrary to popular belief, cussing doesn't make you scarier, it just makes you seem indecent.”

“You suck,” said Raven, pulling out another knife. She quickly turned and stormed back into her tent.

“Stop having temper tantrums,” Radcliffe taunted softly, so that Raven couldn’t hear.

Raven was an assassin who was friends with Theo and Snowy, from back in their time in the Royal Guard. She was currently tracking Twilight and co.

Raven grabbed a crossbow and all of her knives, before exiting her tent again, and turning to her colleagues. “We’re leaving!” she said. “To the smoke we saw last night!”

“Why?” asked Bon Bon with a smile.

“Cos Lyra asked us to,” Raven retorted with a smirk.

That shut Bon Bon up.

“Now let’s go!” Raven commanded. She smiled. “Look out Twilight,” she smirked. “Your heartbeats are numbered.”

Station

“We just missed it!” Dash said. “Twelve minutes ago!”

Twilight stared at the board. The next train to Canterlot wasn’t for another six hours.

“That doesn’t make any sense,” Smolder said. “You have trains to Canterlot at 9:00, 10:00, 11:15, 12:30, 1:45, and 7:45. There’s a train almost every hour, and then a six hour gap.”

“There’s a train to Fillydelphia in two and a half hours,” said Thorax, “and nothing earlier going in the right direction.”

Twi sighed, and walked across the platform to the post office. Once inside, she purchased a letter and wrote:

Dear Spike and all my friends

I’ll be direct with you: something terrible happened, and it’s keeping us from heading back home. We’re off to #########, and will be back as soon as possible. I’m afraid there is nothing you can do to help us. Just stay safe, and avoid anypony acting suspicsous. We’ll be back soon.

- Twilight and the others

Twi sighed and was about to mail the letter, when Dash spoke up behind her.

“Why can’t they help?”

Twi jumped slightly, and said, “It’s too dangerous. If they come, their lives will be under intense risk. I don’t want them risking their lives for this.”

“Mail it,” said Dash after a pause. “I think they'd like to help, but you’re right. It’s way too dangerous”

Twi guiltily mailed the letter.

Thorax cautiously stuck his head in through the door. “Hey, we made a plan if you two wanna come out…?”

Dash nodded, and she and Twi exited the post office.

~~~~

Raven entered the camp cautiously, crossbow drawn. It seemed deserted.

“Nopony’s here,” said one of the team, a cerulean mare with an orange mane.

“No one,” said Raven, remembering her encounter with the griffon. “You better get that through your head Carrol.”

“Nothing’s here,” said Bon Bon.

“Not quite ‘nothing’,” said Raven, stooping down to pick up a charred scrap of paper.

“Who was at this camp last?” asked Radcliffe lazily. “They must have left the paper scrap.”

“Jase and Richard, I think,” said Carrol cautiously.

“Jase’s position might be on the line,” Raven grumbled. “He really needs to stop leaving evidence behind.”

“What was the letter?” asked Bon Bon.

“I sent it to request Jase and Richard to patrol farther south. Obviously a mistake.” Raven shook her head spitefully.

“Tracks,” said Carrol suddenly.

All heads turned to some hoofprints leading down a trail.

“Hmm,” said Radcliffe, “I wonder who made those.”

“I think I know,” said Raven. “Now hold on to me–We’re gonna go for a little spin.”

~~~~

“It all works out,” Thorax finished. “The ticket looks like we’re going to Fillydelphia, but we’re really stopping at Canterlot.”

“All we have to do now is wait two hours,” said Fluttershy.

“Actually, she’s coming in early,” said the ticket master, coming up behind them. He glanced at his pocket watch. “Any moment now.”

Twi nudged Dash, signaling that she wanted to talk. There was a sudden rushing and clattering, as the train pulled into the station. Across the platform a few ponies started walking towards it.

“What do you wanna ask?” Dash questioned, as Twi pulled her back into the post office. The desk clerk was gone at the moment.

“What happened last night?” asked Twi quickly.

Dash raised her eyebrows. “You didn’t know?”

“Of course not!”

“Wow, I guess you didn’t ask Cadence?”

“Why would I ask Cadence instead of you?”

“She’s your sister and princess of–.”

“Five minutes!” called the conductor over a loudspeaker.

“Well,” said Twi hurriedly, “I didn’t ask her, but I’m asking you now!”

“I don’t know Twi,” Dash said, “If you didn’t get it yourself, maybe you shouldn’t know. Or ask Cadence.”

“I do want to know!” Twi protested.

“I don’t,” said a voice from behind the counter.

Twi and Dash spun around to see a cerulean mare standing where the clerk had been before. The said clerk was lying unconscious on the floor behind the new mare.

“Who are you!?” growled Dash, advancing on the mare.

“Oh that’s a really bad idea,” the mare giggled. She produced a loaded crossbow, and aimed it at Dash. Twi felt as though she’d lost all feeling in her limbs.

“Two minutes!” the conductor announced.

“Seriously, who are you?” asked Dash, surprised.

Twi was starting to regain feeling in her limbs, and her senses seemed to be coming back online.

“Carrol,” said the cerulean pony, who was now wearing a smile that reminded Twi of the ones the ponies at Starlight’s village had worn.

Dash suddenly lunged forward, and Carrol yanked the trigger back with her magic. Twi moved forward, but the bolt from the crossbow hit the ground.

There was an explosion of light, and Twi was blinded, only seeing bright orange in her eyes.

Dash barely avoided the light show, and instead caught the shockwave. She flew forwards, and slammed into Carrol, knocking her down.

Carrol cursed loudly, and produced a knife, which Dash punched out of her hoof. Carrol swung up, hitting Dash across the snout. Dash blocked Carrol from punching her teeth out, before she shot a hoof out, hitting Carrol dead in the throat. She slipped back and reached for her crossbow.

Dash moved to stop her, but it was too late; Carrol had snatched it up and was now pointing it at Dash. To the rainbow mare’s surprise, Carrol had already loaded it. “Now you're dead, you psycho,” she rasped.

Dash lunged forwards, grabbed Carrol’s knife, and threw it at the crossbow, whilst looking away.

There was a massive explosion, and Dash felt herself slam into the wall. She stood back up. Twilight was standing back up.

The post office was totaled. The racks were lying on the ground, stationary was everywhere, and the counter was a pile of concrete and cracked marble. Twilight was slightly singed and battered but seemed okay for the most part.

Carrol was broken, lying on the platform unconscious or dead.

Twi suddenly reached over and pulled Dash towards the train.

“Final boarding call folks!” the conductor (who hadn't seen the fight or heard the explosions) announced.

“What happened in there?” asked Smolder curiously.

“Are you okay?” asked Cadence worriedly.

“We’ll tell you on the train,” said Twi, “and my vision’s weak, and Dash is worse for wear, but we’re okay for the most part.”

They all entered the train, unaware that Raven and the rest of her team were already on it.

Train

Almost as soon as they were on it, the train began to move. Twilight, Dash, and Thorax seemed to attract attention, but since their group had two princesses in it, they were left alone.

Eventually the group reached the last two cars. Thorax stopped at the first one, and put his belongings on one of the four beds, although he kept his ears perked up to hear the conversation in the other car. Since Thorax had been planning on staying in Ponyville for a few days, he’d packed. Therefore, he was really the only one who had any belongings, although since he traveled light, he only had: a toothbrush, sunscreen, some wire(and other assorted nick-nacks), a sweater, and a cardigan for cold weather. He also had five full vials, although he wasn’t going to talk about those. They were hidden in a secret pocket in the side of his bag. Thorax made a mandatory check on the vials–they were all still there, as they always were. There had once been a sixth one, but Thorax had cleverly discarded it.

Thorax winced. He hadn’t discarded it cleverly at all. It had ended up exploding, when the spill-off magic from Twilight and Theo’s fight in Cloudsdale had hit it.

Thorax turned his attention to his friends in the other car. They were all talking animatedly about the fight sequence in the post office. Thorax wasn’t worried about missing the conversation: he had a recorder attached to Dash’s sweater.

Thorax turned to his bag again. Certain that no one in the other car was watching, Thorax slipped closer to the wall on one side of his bed. Now invisible to the others, Thorax extracted one of the five vials from the secret pocket. It glowed bright golden.

Thorax stared intently at the vial and the precious liquid inside of it.

It was Felics Felix.

Liquid luck.

~~~~

“So d’you reckon Carron or whatever her name was survived?” asked Thorax over a cup of tea.

It was several hours later, and they were nearing the halfway point of their journey to Canterlot. Thorax had snagged the recorder back from Dash, and had studied up on the conversation. The Changeling’s natural ability to sense others' emotions was coming in rather useful. He was getting confident vibes from Dash and Smolder; worried vibes from Twilight, Cadence, and Fluttershy; and bored vibes from Gallus. Thorax himself was feeling rather lucky, in part due to the bottle of Felics Feilx in the pocket of his lime cardigan.

“It was Carrol,” said Twi, frowning. “And I sure hope she did.”

“I wouldn’t hold your breath,” said Dash, though she too seemed uncomfortable. “Carrol took a firework to the face when I blew up her firework-crossbow. And those rockets were throwing me and Twi around with indirect hits.”

Thorax sighed, looking out his window into the sunset. He was saddened and slightly disturbed by the fact that they’d only made it a day before somepony had died.

“So d’you think Carrot was with Theo?” asked Thorax sipping his tea.

“Carrol,” Cadence corrected, while most of the others laughed.

“I think she was,” said Twi. “She seemed mentally deranged enough to fit Theo’s style.”

“Um, do you think Carrot was alone?” asked Fluttershy quietly.

No one laughed this time, because Fluttershy’s words were the elephant in the room: what if Carrol had friends already on the train.

“Let’s hope so,” said Thorax worriedly. He absentmindedly reached for his bottle of luck, and took stock in the fact that if anything went very wrong, he could always take Felics Felix. He felt bad about his friends more than anything: They didn’t have Felics Felix, and were the active target of assassins.

“Thorax are going to eat?” asked Twilight, seeming concerned. “Or just drink tea?” Thorax glanced down at his plate of spaghetti with meatballs, a slice of pizza, and some baguette. He’d nibbled on his pizza and taken a bite of spaghetti with meatballs–in the last twenty minutes.

“Probably not,” said Fluttershy suddenly. “Changelings don’t get much nutritional value from solid foods. Just from water.”

Twi glanced at Fluttershy, then Thorax.

Thorax shrugged. “Changeling anatomy. I’m different from ponies.”

But I still get the benefits of Liquid luck, he thought. His hoof went back to the bottle. This time he thought he saw Fluttershy noticing the movement, but he assumed he must have imagined it, because when he checked again, she was looking the other way.

“I do hope Angel and the others are okay,” said Fluttershy again, “I asked Applejack to take care of them–I imagine she’s doing a good job.”

Thorax suddenly detected a new emotion: excitement. Glancing around the dining car, he saw all his friends seeming very un-excited. Since the car was empty besides them, Thorax came to the realization that someone was eavesdropping on them from behind the door.

“I’ll be right back,” said Thorax, standing. “Er–bathroom,” he added, because Gallus and Smolder were shooting him suspicious looks.

Thorax donned the disguise of a waiter, then opened the door. Not to much surprise, the door banged into somepony. Shutting the door behind him, Thorax said politely, “Excuse me sir, I didn’t notice you there!”

“Of course you didn’t,” lazily said the pony who’d been hit in a slightly griffish accent. He was gray with a red mane. For a second Thorax didn’t move. His eyes were locked on the pony.

“Whatchu’ lookin’ at scruffy?” growled the gray pony.

Thorax tore his eyes away from the pony who, for a moment, he’d thought was Theo, and glanced down at his beard. It was sort of scruffy.

“I guess my beard is sort of scruffy,” said Thorax, and under the safety of his disguise, he hurried away.

~~~~

After the meal, Twi finally cornered Cadence to ask her about Dash.

“Dash said it straight to my face that I should talk to you about it,” Twi explained. “So here I am.”

“I’m afraid I don’t know why Dash was acting strange,” Cadence said. “Although there are several reasons why she could have mentioned me.”

“I’m all ears.”

Cadence gave a soft chuckle. “I’m afraid I can’t tell you. Although what you just told me makes me certain that once you get it, you’ll be happy that I didn’t tell you now.”

Twi gave a groan. “Ugh! Why won’t anypony tell me what is happening with Dash! Have you all already figured it out?”

“I don’t believe all of us have–In fact I believe only me.” And with that, Cadence walked out of the compartment.

~~~~

Thorax had just entered his compartment, when the door he’d entered through slid shut. The lights flicked on.

Thorax spun around to see Fluttershy standing in front of him. He gave a yelp. “Fluttershy!”

“I was wondering why you kept reaching for your pocket, but never pulled anything out?” Fluttershy said. “Unless that’s rude, of course.”

“Can you keep a secret?” asked Thorax.

Fluttershy nodded.

Thorax reached into his pocket and pulled out the vial of Felics Felix. “This is Felics Felix–liquid luck.”

Fluttershy’s eyes widened. “I won’t tell anyone,” she promised.

Thorax nodded. “Thanks.”

Thorax had just finished putting the vial back into his pocket, when the door rattled. There were hushed whispers on the other side of it.

“Who’s that?” asked Fluttershy in a whisper.

“I don’t know,” said Thorax, “but it might be time to give Felix a go.”

~~~~

Fluttershy accepted the half empty vial from Thorax, just as the door gave another ominous rattle. She’d just finished swallowing it, when somepony yelled on the other side of the door.

“Get out of my way!”

There was a bang, and the door was torn off its hinges. Raven was standing on the other side of the door, with two unicorns standing behind her. One of them was green, with a gold mane. The other was sky blue, with a white mane.

Fluttershy wasn’t sure what made her do it, but she suddenly felt an intense urge to do something reckless. She jumped forwards, and slammed into the blue unicorn, knocking the firework-crossbow out of his hooves. She rolled over, and moved her forelegs across her face to guard against a blow she never could have seen coming. She punched out and hit the blue pony in the jaw.

Thorax sent a spell at Raven, but she blocked it, accidentally sending it into her green friend. He stumbled, and Thorax had a brief moment to see Fluttershy lunging at the blue pony. Raven sent a spell at Thorax, but missed, and shattered a window. Thorax wasn’t sure how he knew who Raven was (just a lucky guess), but he assumed Felics was playing a role in his guesses.

Fluttershy floored the blue unicorn, at which point Raven suddenly yelled, “Felix!”

For a split second, Fluttershy thought their trick had been discovered, but then Raven continued.

“Deal with them, me and Blix can find and deal with the others!” Raven finished, and then she grabbed Blix in her magic, and dragged him into the next car.

Felix pulled out a firework-crossbow.

Thorax punched Felix down, but then he turned, and jumped out the shattered window. Changeling hooves each had special grippers on them, so Thorax was able to climb on the steel of the train. In a moment he was up, and then Fluttershy popped out of the window too, and using her wings, was up on the roof in a second.

“What now?” asked Fluttershy worriedly.

“We have to deal with Felix,” Thorax rationalized.

There was a sudden explosion and the roof behind them tore apart.

“Go!” yelled Thorax, grabbing Fluttershy and dragging her away from the newly made hole in the roof. A moment later Felix climbed out of it.

A firework streaked past Fluttershy, and exploded several cars ahead into green and gold. It wasn’t close enough to do fatal damage, but Fluttershy still felt the heat roll over her.

“It’s because of the train’s direction!” Thorax exclaimed. “So long as we get to Felix’s other side, his rockets won’t work anymore, and we can just tag-team him!”

Fluttershy gave a confident nod.

Thorax grabbed Fluttershy again, and began running down the train. It was against the wind, which made it slightly hard, but the bigger risk was the fireworks, which were constantly streaking by them. Thankfully they still had the effects of Felics Felix, so all of Felix’s rockets miraculously missed them.

It was like running through a light show. There were bright colors exploding all around them, although armed with the effects of luck, Fluttershy had no fear. She was feeling awfully brave, similar to the time back in the woods, talking with Thorax. Both situations had something in common.

But then Thorax stopped her and said, “Now’s our chance.”

Fluttershy glanced forwards, and realized why; the train was ending. One more car ahead was the engine.

Felix was sprinting towards them, a malicious smile upon his face. He thinks we’re cornered, Fluttershy thought.

She nodded at Thorax, who produced a length of wire. “Hold this,” he said, handing one end to her.

They both started running at Felix, who was doing the same. They passed by each other, and in the weak light of dawn, the wire between Thorax and Fluttershy was basically invisible.

Felix tripped, and Fluttershy felt herself getting slammed into Thorax. She heard some bangs, and Felix tumbled across the roof. She and Thorax got back up, just as a slightly battered and winded Felix aimed his crossbow at them. “The game ends now,” he gasped. Then he pulled the trigger.

The rocket burst from his crossbow, but it only made it so far, before the speed of the train overcame it, and Felix hit the firework. There was a massive explosion, and when it was over, Felix was nowhere to be seen. Thorax gave Fluttershy a high-five.

“Now we have to get down,” said Fluttershy.

The train turned, and a valley spanned by a bridge came into sight.

“Maybe we can get the view?” asked Thorax hopefully.

“Sure,” said Fluttershy.

The train pulled onto the bridge.

Fluttershy scooted closer to Thorax.

And then the train slowed and ground to a halt.

“Why are we stopping?” asked Fluttershy worriedly.

“I don’t know,” said Thorax, “but it can’t be good.”

~~~~

“Okay what’s going on?” asked Twilight, setting her fan of cards down, and staring at the roof. “Why are we stopping?”

“Think it’s related to the fireworks we were seeing just a moment ago?” asked Smolder.

Twi nodded. “I think so.” she paused a worried expression coming over her face. “You know,” she said finally, “I just can’t not remember that Carrol was trying to kill me and Dash using fireworks.”

“Okay,” said Dash, “let’s assume that Carrol had friends who are now attempting to get on the train from above. What’s the best option?”

The door to the game car burst open, and the gray stallion with a red mane entered.

But this time he wasn’t alone.

The pony who Twi immediately thought was Raven had a black coat and navy mane. She was standing next to the gray unicorn. Next to them was a light blue unicorn with a white mane. To Raven’s left was a yellow pegasus with a purple mane. He was holding a crossbow.

“Best option is considering that ‘Carrol’s friends’ might already be on board,” said the gray unicorn tauntingly.

“I wouldn’t expect it from you lot though,” said the yellow pegasus with a high pitched giggle.

“Shut up and just kill them, Carmon!” Raven yelled.

Carmon pulled the trigger on his crossbow, but as the firework left the shaft, Twi sniped it out of the air.

Carmon and Raven were thrown to the ground.

“Kill them, Radcliffe, Blix,” Raven growled.

Gallus suddenly shouted, “Hey! You! You’re the one who tried to kill me, back at the ravine!”

Raven’s eyes locked onto Gallus. Her lips curled into a smirk. “And I’ll finish you here.”

A knife flipped through the air towards Gallus, but Smolder tackled him to the floor, and the knife bounced harmlessly off her scales. Blix moved towards Cadence, who attempted to hit him with a curse, but missed when she took a shot from the gray unicorn (who must have been Radcliffe).

Twi sent a spell right at Radcliffe, but he deflected it up–before stumbling back and falling from the power of it. The roof tore open, and before Twi could react Carmon was back on stable hoofing, and aiming his crossbow at her.

Then Thorax dropped in through the hole in the roof. He sank his fangs into Carmon’s arm holding the crossbow. Carmon screamed, before Thorax slammed him against the wall. Carmon slid down, twitching.

Raven changed targets and nearly murdered Thorax, before she somehow tripped over Radcliffe, who was just getting up.

Thorax smiled, glad that he wasn't’ out of luck just yet.

Radcliffe moved towards Gallus and Smolder. Smolder tried to smoke him with her fire breath, but he grabbed a table and blocked it. Gallus lunged towards him, slamming him to the ground, before Radcliffe shot him in the chest with a curse. Gallus tumbled to the ground.

Smolder yelled, and breathed fire at Radcliffe, who wasn’t ready. He stumbled away, but not before sending a curse that tore through the wall and hit one of the bridge supports. It warped, and the train tilted slightly.

“Oh,” said Twilight softly.

Raven threw a knife at her.

Twilight staggered back, the knife protruding from her chest. Her lavender coat was already getting dark around her wound.

Twilight slipped, and fell to the ground.

“Swallow that you psycho,” Radcliffe growled. His face was burned, and most of the remaining fur was blackened.

Blix moved towards Twilight.

“Get away from my sister!” bellowed Cadence, and shot Blix in the chest. His body crumpled, before it was violently thrown from the car. It fell into the valley and out of sight.

Thorax was pale. He stared at Twilight, who was now lying in a pool of her own blood.

Raven lunged at Cadence, who slammed her out of the car. She hit a steel bar that was holding the bridge and slid down, half on the support girder, half off.

The bridge tilted ominously.

“Gallus,” said Smolder weakly, shaking her friend. “Gallus wake up.”

Thorax was shaking hard.

Even Felics Felix couldn’t save him from this situation.

~~~~

Fluttershy stumbled, as the train tilted another few degrees. She was almost at the engine car.

She crossed the last passenger car, and dropped onto the front of the train.

Felix’s crossbow was lying on the smokestack, perched precariously.

Fluttershy took the weapon, cautiously. Felix had dropped it before he was blown up, so it was still relatively intact.

The bridge warped a few more degrees.

Fluttershy gave the glass on the windshield a hard whack with the crossbow. It didn’t scratch. Not wanting to break her one weapon, Fluttershy turned her attention to the door. It was hanging open for an unknown reason, and Fluttershy thought that if she could make it, she’d be in the control car.

Then she could turn the train on, and get everyone out of their predicament.

Fluttershy clipped the crossbow to her yellow jumper (made by Rarity), and began scaling the side of the train, over to the door. She made the first part easily, but then she had to deal with the door.

The bridge warped a bit more.

Fluttershy jumped.

She caught the door, which swung in, before stopping halfway, leaving Fluttershy hanging over the void.

She slowly began inching her way around the door. It was much harder, because she couldn’t see the other side of the door.

Fluttershy felt around with her hoof.

She found purchase and spun around, now on the inside of the door.

Fluttershy triumphantly entered the control car.

Inside were many knobs and levers. Fluttershy randomly started flicking things. She turned one knob up all the way, which resulted in all the lights coming on super bright. Flicking a lever turned on a soft alarm, which Fluttershy thought appropriate for the situation. One button turned off all the power.

Fluttershy was suddenly pitched into darkness, as all the bright lights went off.

Barely illuminated in the moonlight, Fluttershy began punching every button and flicking every lever she could, as the bridge creaked, and several rivets popped out.

The lights flicked back on, as Fluttershy hit an orange button. She glanced at it in the light, and read above it: aux.

Fluttershy saw a large lever far off to the right and pulled down.

Propelled by magic, the train began to move.

Fluttershy let out a soft, “yay,” and pulled the lever down all the way.

The train began moving across the bridge.

~~~~

“We’re–moving!” exclaimed Thorax as the train began to pick up speed.

“Awesome,” murmured Gallus, who Cadence had just revived.

Twilight shakily got up, just in time to get bombarded by everyone asking her if she was alright.

“Yeah I’m–fine,” Twi mumbled, shaking her head to clear the cobwebs. “Hey where’s Radcliffe?”

“Teleported,” said Cadence spitefully. “I didn’t want to risk doing it with you, because of your weak state.”

All of a sudden, a loudspeaker activated. “All right everypony, we had a small delay, but we should be arriving in Canterlot tomorrow.”

“Hey I had an early appointment!” yelled a pony from a few cars up.

“Fluttershy?” asked Thorax.

“Lucky she got to the front in time,” said Smolder.

Thorax licked his lips nervously. He’d felt the effects of his lucky potion wear off before the train started moving, but he still felt bad about keeping it a secret.

“So,” said Thorax suddenly, wanting to change the subject, “Carrol died back on the platform, me and Fluttershy took out Felix, Cadence killed Blix, and Carmon never got an antidote, so he’s dead too….”

“Raven might have fallen,” said Dash, “which brings the possible death count up to five.”

Twilight stared at the ground, before looking up quickly at the sight of her own blood. “I never expected this many ponies to die,” she said softly.

Cadence sighed. “None of us did.”

Author's Note

Sorry for this chapter dragging so long, I had a lot I wanted to put in it

Dream

Author's Note

Some helpful backstory about this AU:

The events of "To Where and Back Again" go down like this: Thorax, Starlight, Discord, and Trixie take down Chrysalis, Pharynx becomes king of the Changelings, and Twilight and all her friends and everyone else is saved.

The Changeling's never get re-colored (hence the reason why Thorax still has fangs)

Dream

Thorax was in a forest. He looked around. He was lying on the floor of a tent.

He stood up and got out of the tent.

“Hello, brother.”

Thorax turned around to see Pharynx, his brother standing in front of him.

“Oh, hey Pharynx. Where am I?”

“You're in a dream.”

Thorax glanced at Pharynx. “I’m guessing your lessons with Luna went well?”

Pharynx nodded. “I’m nowhere near as good as her, however. Ideally I would have contacted you last night about the… shipment.”

“Oh.” Thorax shuffled his hooves. “Well I still have four.”

“Why is that? I’d have thought you could manage keeping five?”

So Thorax told the whole story.

Pharynx shook his head. “This changes the dynamics of this by a hundredfold.”

“Are you certain I can’t tell my other friends?” asked Thorax. “Besides Fluttershy.”

“Felics Felix is a changeling only potion. Nopony or any other creature must know about it.”

Thorax sighed. “Fine.”

Pharynx sighed. “Look, even though you and Starlight and the others defeated Chrysalis, changelings still need to keep some secrets. Like Chrysalis’ lucky potions. The one useful thing she made. If ponies found out about it, they’d probably try to replicate it.”

“And why is that a bad thing?”

“Because, Felics Felix is an extremely useful potion to have for any competitive or combative scenario. Armies become untouchable. Competitions are no longer challenging. Too valuable to let it slip into enemy hooves.”

“They aren’t our enemies!”

“Really? Because you sure seemed to make Theo and Raven and Radcliffe out to be pretty evil.”

“That’s–different.”

“No it isn’t. Now I’m afraid I’ll have to bounce. See you soon, brother.”

~~~~

“Welcome to Canterlot.”

Thorax rubbed his bleary eyes, and nearly fell back asleep. Why hadn’t he been able to sleep after his dream visit with Pharynx? He wasn’t sure. The only thing he was sure of, was that he wasn’t going to be able to tell anyone more about Felics Felix. But why was that bothering him?

Thorax finally forced his eyes open and stared into the curious eyes of the rainbow mare.

“Oh, er, morning Dashie,” Thorax mumbled.

Dash paused for a moment, checked to make sure no one was in the room, and then turned back to Thorax.

“You do know that annoys me right?” Dash said finally.

“What?” murmured Thorax. “Sorry, I’m half asleep right now.”

Thorax tried to pull his covers back up, but Dash stopped him.

“No seriously,” said Dash. “You can’t call me ‘Dashie,’ it’s really irksome.”

“What, are you fifteen?” Thorax gripped sleepily. “Just get over your romantic issues, and leave me to get my sleep.”

Dash gave a frustrated groan. “Look, you can sense emotions. With that ability, how the heck have you not noticed earlier?!”

Thorax yelled into his pillow. “I don’t want to be the bridge between you and Twilight! Leave me alone!”

He’d said something he never should have said.

Dash recoiled. “Wow Thorax, I always thought you were chill. I guess I was wrong.”

“No, wait,” said Thorax, “I shouldn’t have said that–.”

“No,” said Dash coldly. “I come to you for romantic help because you can literally sense emotions, and get rejected.”

“Hang on for a second!” Thorax stammered, slipping out of bed. He got tangled in his blanket and crashed to the floor.

“Well this is awkward,” Dash muttered. “For you.” She turned to the door.

“No, please, wait!” Thorax pleaded. “I didn’t mean it! ”

Dash snorted. “Yeah right.”

“I was just tired!”

“Why?” Dash half-yelled. “I got loads of sleep last night! Why couldn’t you?!”

“Liquid luck!” Thorax yelled.

Dash froze.

The door slid open and Twilight leaned in. She was holding a bowl of cereal in her magic. “What?” she asked curiously.

Dash’s eyes widened. “How–what did you–how much did you–.”

“Thorax was yelling about liquid luck,” Twilight said. “I’ve been trying to make a spell that makes you lucky for the past year or so. It drove me crazy.”

Thorax felt horrible.

Dash was breathing hard.

Twilight took a step back. “Um, am I intruding on something I shouldn’t be?” she asked warily.

“N-no,” Thorax stammered. “Just give us a moment, please.”

Dash reached for the door.

Twilight backed uncomfortably out of the car, and Dash slid it softly shut.

“I hate you,” Dash spat. “Now Twilight’s gonna think me and you have some random crap together.”

“I’m sure she'll understand,” said Thorax desperately. The last thing he wanted was to screw up Dash’s relationship with Twilight.

“She won’t,” said Dash scornfully. “She’s so awfully blind in romance, there’s no way she’ll–.”

“I’m with Fluttershy,” Thorax blurted. “I think. She seems to like me.”

Dash stared at the ground. “Don’t tell Twilight, or she’ll screw it up.”

“I’m sure she’s not trying to!”

Dash froze. “Wait–you’re not–.”

“No!” Thorax half-screamed. He’d already said way too much, and the new last thing he wanted was for Dash to think he had a crush on Twilight.

“Y-you didn’t finish your luck spell did you?” asked Dash suddenly.

“I never made it,” said Thorax quickly.

“O-oh.” Dash seemed crushed.

“Chrysalis did,” Thorax blurted.

Dash’s eyes widened. “S-so is it, like, dangerous or something?”

“No,” said Thorax, “I used it with Fluttershy back on the bridge last night.”

Dash winced. “I–okay. Can I have some?”

Thorax fumbled around for his bag, and extracted a vial. He gave it to Dash who seemed surprised.

“How much of this stuff do you have?” Dash asked.

“Three more,” said Thorax, almost guiltily. He was absolutely causing issues for Pharynx.

“Why did it keep you up?” asked Dash quietly.

“Cos I’m not supposed to tell you guys about it,” Thorax mumbled.

“Oh,” said Dash. “Yeah that’s a dilemma.”

“Sorry,” Thorax murmured. “For screwing with you and–relations and stuff.”

Dash gave a short laugh. “Hey don’t worry about that random crap. I have luck now.”

Thorax suddenly felt really sick. Had he made a horrible choice giving Dash luck? Sure, it had saved him from trouble in the moment, but now Thorax was down another vial and another pony knew about the Felics Felix. Plus that pony was going to use it for romance with Twilight, and that seemed like it could cause trouble. Was having ‘Twidash’ even going to turn out well?

“You’d better get ready,” said Dash. “Cuz we are in Canterlot.”

And just like that all thoughts of romance were pushed out of Thorax’s mind.

It was time to stop Theo.

Crypt

Twilight turned away from the door, feeling uncomfortable. If Rainbow and Thorax had something going on….

Twilight thought that it was the absolute worst time for them to start something, being hunted by Theo’s mercenaries and all.

She sat down around the card table that Cadence had erected and finished her cereal in silence.

“Everything okay?” asked Cadence, vanishing Twi’s empty bowl.

Twilight was about to say something, (“No. Absolutely not! Rainbow and Thorax are making out, and I have no idea what to do about it.”) when the door slid open, and Rainbow and Thorax walked out.

Rainbow seemed extremely happy and confident, while Thorax seemed worried, like he’d just done something he shouldn’t have.

“We need a game plan,” said Dash, sitting down around the card table.

“We probably need to split up,” said Gallus. “Cuz we need a place to stay, and the Crypts.”

“None of you happened to book a five star hotel, did you?” asked Smolder hopefully.

“We could head to the castle,” said Dash.

“Remember,” said Cadence, “we’re trying to avoid the Royal Guard. Therefore the castle’s way too risky. We probably shouldn’t contact the princesses either.” Cadence glanced at Dash warily, but she just shrugged.

“Valid points,” Dash conceded.

“I’ll search around for a place,” said Cadence. “Take this,” she handed Twilight a piece of paper detailing the Crypts and where to go.

“I’ll go with Cadence,” said Fluttershy.

“Me too,” said Gallus. “I’m still feeling that curse.”

“Then me, Thorax, Twilight, and Smolder can go to the Crypts,” said Dash.

Twilight didn’t like the prospect of spending so much time with Dash and Thorax, when they were a thing. Smolder probably wouldn’t be much help either, by how direct she was.

“This train is leaving in five minutes,” said the Conductor over the loudspeaker.

“Better bolt,” said Dash.

“Better dash,” said Smolder with a chuckle.

The group got off the train and stepped into the bright Canterlot train station. It was a bright day, and the group had to shield their eyes against the sun.

Therefore none of them noticed Radcliffe give Theo a covert hoof-bump from across the platform.

~~~~

Theo smiled. He watched as Twilight and her friends split up on the platform.

This is perfect.

“Should we ambush them here?” asked Radcliffe.

“Nah,” said Theo. “Too many ponies.”

Theo glanced around at his team. Apart from him and Radcliffe, Bon Bon was present, looking thoroughly furious at Theo. There was also Jase, who was a green pegasus with a blue mane; Richard, a red earth pony with a yellow mane; Jack, a blue unicorn with a light blue mane; and Vulture, a unicorn with a black coat and red mane, who was also Raven’s brother.

“Let’s move,” said Theo. “You’re dead Twilight, so start running.”

~~~~

“We’re here.”

Twilight looked up at the building that served as an entrance to the Canterlot Crypts. It was grand, with marble pillars, and white bricks.

Twilight and her friends trooped up the marble steps and into the building. The interior was large and surprisingly full of ponies, most of them Royal Guard. Thorax shifted into a disguise that matched one of the Royal Guard.

Since Twilight was the sister of Shining Armor (captain of the guard) and a princess, nopony gave them much trouble. Up until one of the guards with a name tag reading Richard came up to Thorax.

“Ah, Avery, may I steal you for a moment?”

And Thorax was forced to split off from the group.

“Shoot,” said Dash. “We just lost Thorax.”

They turned a corner and came up to a vending machine.

Twilight smiled. “I think you’ll like this.” She typed some keys on the keypad for the vending machine. It swung forwards. “Shiny taught me that trick a while ago,” she said.

“Sick!” said Smolder. “Now where’s your key card?”

“Huh?” Twi turned to the space the vending machine had revealed. There was a steel door with a key card scanner.

“What?!” Twilight exclaimed. “Since when has there been a key card scanner?!”

~~~~

“So, Avery, I heard you have a fix for type-81 magic flyers not working?” Richard said.

Thorax had no idea what type-81 magic flyers were, but he didn’t say that. Instead he said, “oh of course,” he glanced at the name tag, “Richard.”

“Just in here,” said Richard, leading Thorax into an unmarked room. “Don’t mind the lack of nameplate, the maintenance is darn slow here.”

The room was bare and unpainted. It had no furniture besides a battered desk and chair. There were also two windows Thorax hadn’t seen from the outside.

There was a stack of flyers on the desk that Thorax assumed were type-81. On the cover was a picture of some ponies who were apparently escaped criminals. Thorax took a mental picture of them.

Richard waved his hoof at the flyers. “Well, there they are. Fix them.”

Thorax stared at them, at a total loss for what to do. He considered using his Felics Felix, that was stored in his jacket pocket, but ruled it out, cause he’d certainly be seen using it.

“Can’t do it huh?” asked Richard. “I didn’t think you could.”

Thorax’s mind was reacting slowly. “Why not?”

There was a soft thump behind him. “The door’s locked by the way.” said Richard

He turned around to see Richard had ditched his Royal Guard outfit. Thorax turned to the flyer horror-struck. On the cover there was a picture of a red earth pony with a yellow mane. Thorax turned to Richard, now fully aware that he was locked in a room with a psychopath.

~~~~

“We need a key card,” Twilight murmured. “Why didn’t Shining ever tell me about this?”

They rushed down the hallway, and emerged back into the atrium.

“We gotta nick somepony’s card,” Smolder whispered.

“How?” asked Twilight dejectedly.

“I’m feeling lucky,” said Dash. She thought about her luck bottle, and how Thorax had said he had three more. There probably wasn’t a better time to use it.

Dash turned away from the group, and took a sip of the potion.

No sooner than she’d done this, Shining Armor walked into the room.

“Just keep him occupied,” Dash muttered to Twilight.

“Twily!” Shining exclaimed, noticing her.

Twilight had never been so happy to see her brother.

Shining strode up to her, and looked her in the eyes. “You’ve been up to something,” he said teasingly. “Better not be like last time–.”

“That’s enough!” Twilight stammered, reddening.

Dash was looking for the key card. She located it snagged on his uniform. Dash deftly spun around and snagged it.

“It’s really great to see you, though,” said Shining. “I’ve been getting frantic letters from all of your friends, they all want you back. Me too.” And Twilight saw the look in her brother's eyes, telling her he was telling the truth. It hurt her.

“C’mon Twily,” said Shining, taking hold of her and steering her towards the halfway they’d just come from.

Dash flashed the key card at Twilight.

“Hold on,” said Twilight. She cleared her throat. “Why don’t you,” she turned to her friends, “Just wrap up without me?”

At which point a window shattered, and a red earth pony hit the ground hard. Thorax leapt deftly through the shattered window.

There were screams, as some ponies recognised the convict.

“Somepony get him an antidote!” yelled Thorax. “I’m so sorry Twilight! He’s a serial killer, and he was trying to murder me! I wasn’t thinking straight! I don’t need anypony else to die on this adventure!”

“Ponies have already died?!” Shining yelled. “And Twilight was in danger?!”

“The crypts!” yelled Dash, moving towards them.

“Twilight!” Shining yelled, desperation seeping into his voice as Twilight kicked out and escaped his grasp.

Dash noticed Theo and Radcliffe before Twilight, due to Felics Felix. “Twilight, Theo’s here!”

Twilight gave a startled scream, and turned to Theo, just as he sent a curse at her.

Dash slammed into Twilight, and Theo’s curse seemed to bend around her.

Twilight recovered, and sent a spell at Theo, and two spells connected. The marble all around Twilight shattered and cracked from the power of the spells.

“Theo?” Shining murmured, and he seemed close to passing out.

Twilight forced herself to keep pushing her spell towards Theo.

Dash caught Shining as he fell, and dragged him to a safe place.

Radcliffe moved towards Dash, and one of the doors burst open and three ponies burst out of it. They were all holding the signature firework-crossbows.

“Be careful!” yelled Thorax, “They're on Theo’s side!”

Twi’s attention flickered for a fraction of a second, and Theo immediately overpowered her. She flew back and slammed into a wall.

Thorax drank some of his potion.

Jase shot a rocket at Thorax, who jumped and clipped Theo with his fangs….

“Rad, I’m hit!” yelled Theo, and he seemed slightly concerned, which was more than Thorax had ever known.

Twilight stood back up, as did Shining. Both siblings seemed dazed.

“The crypts!” yelled Smolder. “We have to get there! And fast!”

Thorax nodded, as Radcliffe sent a vial spinning across the marble littered floor towards Theo.

Twilight gasped, and then focusing all her willpower began sprinting towards the vending machine.

Dash followed Twilight, as a pony with a black coat and red mane stunned Shining.

Twilight opened the secret passage, and used Shining’s key card to get into the crypts.

Dash bolted into the passage. “Find ‘T’!”

The passage was stone, and claustrophobically small at first, before it opened up into a brick tunnel with steel boxes lined up on the sides.

A firework missed them by inches, and shot down the main hall. Thorax and Dash turned down a side hall, and Smolder and Twi followed, although Twilight sent a spell back, and hit Jack.

“Here!” said Dash, opening a small metal box with Shining’s key card. She pulled out a scroll.

Theo rounded the corner, and for the first time, Twilight thought he was actually very concerned.

She shot a spell at him, but Radcliffe showed up and blocked the spell, Jase and Vulture shot fireworks at them, which exploded right in front of them.

They headed blindly into the bright colors.

And hit a dead end.

Feeling the effects of Felics Felix wearing off, Dash pulled her vial out, but Theo shattered it, and the precious liquid disappeared.

Thorax tried to get his vial out, but Radcliffe shot a spell into his chest. Thorax felt the vial shatter.

“Crap,” said Dash.

They were trapped.

“This is the end,” taunted Theo. “Sorry Twilight… But you lose.”

And trapped as she was, Twilight realized he was right.

Threat

Author's Note

This chapter contains two parts that have been blacked out. You can read them by hovering over them. They are both #Gore tagable, but since my story isn't tagged that, I just wanna give ya'll a fair warning.

For the first blacked section (since it's kinda critical to the plot), here's what happens: (DO NOT READ UNLESS YOUR READY FOR MASSIVE SPOILERS) Gallus kills Raven

The second blacked section is just a sorta graphic description of Cadence's injurys.

Threat

Earlier….

“Where, exactly, are we heading?” asked Gallus.

“An old place I know,” said Cadence. “The Lockwood manor. Me and my old friends would stay there instead of a hotel whenever we were in town.”

“The Lockwoods?” asked Gallus. “Never heard of them.”

“They were friends with my dad. I never met them, but apparently they left the manor to dad in the will.”

“So the’re,” Fluttershy said quietly, “y’know. Gone?”

Cadence shrugged. “I think so. Maybe not all of them. But the newest generation has been… well, a bit psycho.”

“Oh,” said Gallus.

“Here, I wonder if we can find any records of them,” said Cadence, steering them into a small store, with a fading sign above the front door.

Fluttershy glanced up at the unreadable sign, then shot a quizzical glance at Gallus.

The interior of the shop was completely empty, besides some detritus and cracked cement. Cadence paused for a moment, shaking her head sadly.

“It used to be a record shop,” she said, leading them down a fading yellow hallway with peeling wallpaper. The dim lights flickered. “I think I still have some old records from here back at my castle. After this is over, maybe.”

She stopped abruptly at a seemingly normal bit of wall. “Let’s see if the demolition crews figured out the trick.”

Galus pushed against the wall. “There’s literally nothing here.” he turned to Cadence. “Look, maybe there was something here during your foalhood. That was a long time ago. So maybe–.”

Cadence’s horn lit up, and a section of the wall hinged outwards like a door.

“Wow,” said Fluttershy.

Cadence entered the room first, and a second later the lights flicked on. Gallus and Fluttershy followed her in.

The room was larger than Gallus expected, around fifty by fifty hooves. There was a metal table bolted to the floor in the center, and metal lockers lining the walls. The reason Cadence had come however, was along the back wall.

“Wow,” said Gallus.

The back wall was covered entirely by an intricately designed picture frame of sorts, framing in the largest family tree Gallus had ever seen. Due to the glass covering it, the tree was mostly intact. Only one part was shattered.

Cadence smiled. “In retrospect I’m pretty sure this place was shown to me by a member of the CIA.”

“Wait–” said Gallus. “Why is there just a massive family tree with all the ponies of Canterlot just sitting under an abandoned record store?”

Cadence shrugged. “I never really questioned it as a foal.”

“It’s probably a government secret,” said Fluttershy. “Wouldn’t it be helpful to have a map showing who’s related to who?”

“Probably,” said Gallus.

“Here,” said Cadence, pointing to two portraits. One of them was green, and wearing a funny top hat. The other was pink, and wearing her yellow mane in curls.

“Max and Magerate Lockwood,” said Gallus.

“Then Ben and Poppy,” said Cadence. “They were the ones my dad was friends with. Then Maxamillion and Ginny. Then–.” Cadence stopped.

“Oh yeah,” said Gallus. “I see what you meant when you said the newest generation was mental. Carrol and Carmon. Those assassins who attacked us.”

“Why are you missing?” asked Fluttershy suddenly. She pointed a hoof at the spot where Cadence should have been. The glass was missing, as was Cadence's portrait.

“Uh oh,” said Gallus. “I don’t really wanna stay here anymore.”

“Here!” said Fluttershy, pulling a camera out of a locker. She snapped a picture of the tree.

Cadence flicked the lights off, and they exited the secret room.

There was a startled gasp from behind them. “Why are you here?” asked Bon Bon.

“Go,” said Cadence, and they started running.

“It’s that psycho who tried to murder me!” screamed a voice from behind them.

Cadence and the others slowed down, then spun around.

Bon Bon was standing in the hall behind them, with a few other ponies behind her.

And Raven. She had a scar down her muzzle, and on one of her wings.

“You're alive?” exclaimed Gallus.

“What, you thought you could just throw me off a bridge, and I’d die?” Raven laughed scornfully. “Right, Bon Bon, let’s find out why Theo wanted you here.”

Cadence threw up a shield, as a silver blur flickered towards her in the dim light. Something exploded in the hall behind them, as the secret room burst into flames.

Cadence and the others hurried out of the hall as the smoke cleared.

In a moment they were back on the street.

The door was torn off its hinges, as Bon Bon and the others exited.

“This way,” Cadence muttered, dragging Fluttershy and Gallus across the road. They entered a supermarket.

“Why are we here?” asked Fluttershy. “Do you need some cereal?”

Cadence turned down an aisle just before the doors slid open behind them.

“But then why are we in the cereal aisle?” asked Gallus.

“Because,” said Cadence in an undertone. “We’re hiding. I don’t think we have much of a shot against them right now.”

“Ooh, chocolate,” said Gallus, grabbing a cereal box out of the wall.

“C’mon!” yelled Cadence suddenly, sending a spell through the hole in the wall.

Several curses flew at them, causing several shoppers to scream. Cadence shot a spell right at Bon Bon, who dove out of the way and crashed into a display of oranges, which rolled all over the place.

Raven flipped a knife at Cadence, but Gallus dragged her out of the way. The knife flew past them and hit a power box.

The lights went out.

There was even more panic, as ponies ran for the exits. Cadence grabbed her friends and dragged them further into the store.

A random curse missed them and hit a refrigerator. Fluttershy yelped.

“That way!” yelled Bon Bon.

Cadence spun around, and shot a spell at her. Bon Bon saw it coming and ducked. The spell hit an earth pony behind her, and stunned him.

A spell flew through the air and hit Gallus.

“Oww,” moaned Gallus, as he slammed into a box, and fell to the ground.

Cadence lit up her horn.

Then she felt an intense burning pain in her wing. She moved out of the way as several more knives flicked past her.

Cadence ducked down an aisle. Bon Bon lunged at her, but slipped in Cadence’s blood, hit the ground, and slid away.

Cadence’s horn was still lit and to her surprise she found herself on the medical aisle. She snagged a med-kit, before sending a spell down the aisle. The two racks crashed over, and she heard a startled curse from behind her. Cadence’s horn was now dark, and she ran blindly forwards, before emerging on a long straightaway. Several carts were abandoned, and the ponies who hadn’t run were using flashlights to make their way around. A beam flashed across Cadence’s vision, and she slammed into an abandoned cart. It tipped over, and Cadence felt a sudden sharp pain in her skull. She was disoriented, unsure of which way was up. She tried to get up, only to roll over onto her injured wing. She gave a sharp gasp, and rolled the other way, lighting her horn up to see.

Raven burst around the corner, and Cadence got a brief image of a knife flying towards her, before she shut her eyes, and was violently thrown to the ground. Pain surging through her, she felt that she was on carpet. Her horn was dark.

Raven let out a startled scream.

Cadence shakily got back up, and staggered down the aisle she was on. There were microwaves and coffee makers, so she assumed it was the electronics or home aisle.

Cadence felt her adrenalin rush start to wear off, and all her aches and sharp stabbing pains came back to her all at once.

She couldn’t keep going.

And then Princess Mi Amore Cadenza collapsed.

~~~~

Gallus felt himself hit the ground. He was only halfway aware of what was happening. He’d just jumped at Cadence, knocking her to the ground. The knife flew over his head, and embedded itself in a wooden shelf.

Gallus got back up, just in time to see another knife flip past him and skitter across the floor.

The only light was from a flashlight that somepony had dropped. It was pointing at Gallus, making it hard to see where Raven was.

“We meet again,” Raven snarled.

“Hello to you too,” Gallus snarled. He dove at her, sending a knife out of her hoof. Gallus slashed at her, and he felt the warm rush of blood.

Then Raven slammed Gallus to the ground.

“Bye you freak!” she screamed.

Gallus flipped the light around and blinded her. She let out a startled scream. “How'd you like?” Gallus spat, before sprinting away.

He didn’t know where Fluttershy was, and he was currently making it his top priority to find out.

Bon Bon rounded the corner. Gallus leapt up and hit her across the snout. She tumbled to the ground.

“You animal!” screamed somepony.

Bon Bon slid something across the floor, and Gallus leapt into flight, as the explosive detonated below him. He felt himself flipping out of control. He crash-landed on top of a support beam on the roof.

Somepony swore. Gallus rolled onto his back as curses flew past him on both sides.

“Take the beam out!” screamed Bon Bon.

“Are you insane!?” yelled a pony with a gray mane and yellow coat. “D’you wanna bring the whole roof down?”

“So what? Who freaking cares if a supermarket collapses!”

“We’re in the supermarket, you moron!”

Raven slid across the floor, and lept into flight. “Perhaps he’ll be dead before y'all stop fighting!”

Gallus backed up, as Raven landed on the bar.

Gallus charged, and swung his claws out, tearing Raven’s injured wing. He leapt around Raven, and for a brief moment, he was above thin air, suspended by nothing. Then he landed on the other end of the beam.

Raven howled.

Gallus’ heart was beating very fast.

“Bye,” said Raven coldly, pulling out a knife.

They rushed each other. Gallus parried the knife, then in one swift motion, put it through Raven’s throat, and cut her stomach open.

Raven fell silently from the beam. Gallus jumped, and glided across the top of some racks.

Curses incinerated them behind him, and Gallus jumped behind a row of TVs, as cursed fire spread across the floor behind him.

Gallus started sprinting again.

Bon Bon blocked his path.

Gallus rerouted, but found himself blocked by another pony.

He turned again, racing down an aisle of ovens and slow cookers. At the end there was another pony, who’s mane and coat colors were remarkable like Twilight’s.

“Get out of my way, or I’ll kill you!” Gallus yelled.

The pony pulled out a firework-crossbow.

Gallus barely avoided the rocket, and slammed into the pony. He slashed out, but the pony punched him in the face.

Gallus recovered, and moved out of the way of an incoming blow.

Then a knife struck the pony in the chest. Gallus turned around to see Bon Bon flick another knife at him. She didn’t seem particularly concerned that she’d just killed her colleague.

Gallus sprinted around the corner. Bon Bon sent a knife after him. She missed, and shattered the glass out of a microwave.

Bon Bon rounded the corner. Gallus was waiting for her.

Gallus swung out, but Bon Bon was unafraid, and simply twisted Gallus around, sending him to the floor. Gallus felt the wind knocked out of him, before Bon Bon aimed a crossbow at him.

Gallus knew it wasn’t a firework, but he also knew that dodging an arrow at this close of a range was impossible.

The crossbow splintered in Bon Bon’s hooves. She turned around to see Fluttershy holding a crossbow of her own, and aiming at her.

“That’s my friend,” said Fluttershy. “Now I know you know I don’t wanna do this, but right now, I will.”

Bon Bon stood stock still.

“Three.”

Bon Bon pulled out a knife.

“Two.”

Bon Bon was gonna do this for Lyra.

“One.”

Never back down.

Fluttershy pulled the trigger.

Bon Bon leapt out of the way, as did Gallus.

The arrow shattered on the floor.

Bon Bon threw the knife, but her aim was so horribly off, that she almost hit Pseudo-Twilight again.

Fluttershy reloaded.

“So your trigger happy,” Bon Bon remarked right before Gallus slammed her off her hooves.

Fluttershy fired again, and this time Bon Bon couldn’t move in time. Maybe it was her consciousness, not allowing her to kill her former friends, or maybe her nerves were just fried from Fluttershy of all ponies trying to shoot her.

Whatever the case, Bon Bon wound up with an arrow in her chest, and Gallus and Fluttershy wound up getting away.

~~~~

“We gotta get Cadence and get outta here,” said Gallus. He and Fluttershy were running towards the aisle where Gallus had split up with Cadence.

“We need a light,” said Fluttershy. “I can’t see anything.”

Gallus squinted around in the darkness.

“Down here,” he said, “this is the camping aisle, I think.”

They walked down the aisle quickly, until Gallus stopped Fluttershy.

“Here,” he said. “‘Camping Lanterns. 1500 lumens.’ Perfect.”

Fluttershy opened a pack of them, handing the crossbow to Gallus.

“I feel kinda bad for stealing these,” she said.

“We’re not stealing them, ‘cuz they'll never leave the store,” Gallus said.

“But isn’t opening something without buying it vandalism?”

“I don’t think so? Besides, we’re only using them to find Cadence, then get out.”

There were some yells and gasps from where they left Bon Bon.

“I don’t think they liked what you did to Bon Bon,” said Gallus.

“I don’t like what I did to Bon Bon,” said Fluttershy quietly. “But she was going to kill you, what could I do?”

Gallus sighed. “C’mon. Let’s get Cadence.”

~~~~

There was something very creepy about the area where Gallus had left Cadence. Was it the fact that there was a flashlight, abandoned, but still on, illuminating… blood? Cadence’s blood? Or Raven’s? Probably both.

Gallus shivered. The yells had stopped. The silence was overwhelming.

Gallus snatched up the flashlight, and aimed it forwards. There was a trail of blood staining the carpet.

Gallus aimed the flashlight at the carpet, before beginning to follow the trail.

It wasn’t very long.

Fluttershy let out a soft scream.

Cadence had collapsed. Her wing was lacerated, covering her side in blood. She also had a small gash on her forehead, which had spilled blood across her snout.

“Look around for a medical kit,” Gallus croaked.

Fluttershy snatched up the flashlight, and headed for the medical aisle. With her light she was able to somewhat easily locate the medical supplies aisle. At least it was a semi-decent distraction of Cadence.

The aisle seemed to have collapsed, but Fluttershy had no issues locating a med kit that wasn’t damaged. Right next to a pony who’d been crushed by the falling shelves. Fluttershy shivered.

She walked apprehensively over to Cadence and Gallus.

Gallus nodded and quickly patched Cadence up.

Gallus waved some salts under Cadence’s nose, and she woke with a start.

“Ohhh,” she moaned. “My head….”

“Calm down,” said Fluttershy soothingly. “It’s all gonna be fine, I promise.”

Cadence gave her a weak smile.

“‘Kay,” said Gallus. “Now that you're awake, let’s get outta here.”

Cadence gave a short glance around. “Employees only door. Most major stores have a backdoor for employees.”

“Clever thinking,” said Gallus.

They headed for the door.

They headed into the employees only ‘common room.’ It was basic, with a glass coffee table in the center. The walls were yellow and decorated with a wallpaper of flowers. The coffee machine was off, but the aroma of coffee lingered.

Still it was creepy in the darkness, illuminated only by the flashlight’s weakening beam.

They walked over to the door at the back.

Fluttershy pushed it open.

And everything changed.

It was suddenly so bright, the colors all so vibrant! Perhaps it was just an effect of being trapped in darkness for so long, but Gallus was content to never see the dark again.

“We made it!” said Cadence softly.

They had escaped.

Which halfway across Canterlot, Twilight and her friends were trying to do as well.

Escape

Twilight stared at Theo. She was trapped and cornered in an underground crypt with Rainbow, Thorax, and Smolder, by Theo, Radcliffe and some others.

Plus, Theo had just shattered a vial, and Rainbow seemed horror-struck by it.

“Murder time,” said Vulture, pulling out a crossbow.

This is it, Twilight thought, We’re dead.

But a stronger voice was telling her, NO!! You can’t give up hope!!

So Twilight thought hard about what to do. Her mind wasn’t drawing anything.

“What?” Theo smirked, noticing Twilight’s blank expression. “Your mind finally failed you?”

“Mine didn’t,” said Thorax, and without warning he sent a spell flying at Theo.

Theo casually deflected it, doing exactly what Thorax had wanted–distracting him.

Thorax’s second spell hit the lights.

“Calm down!” Thorax yelled, as Smolder screamed.

Theo ignited his horn. Twilight hit him with a spell.

Theo responded with a verbal curse.

Radcliffe sent a spell into the darkness. There was a brief moment, then Thorax lunged up and sank his fangs deep into Rad’s side.

With his echo-location, Thorax had the advantage of being able to see in the dark, while the others were fighting blind.

Vulture fired his crossbow.

Dash’s world went spinning. She hit the ground and the scroll slipped from her hooves. “No!” she cried.

Thorax was fighting several ponies at once. He sent spells at them, knocking them unconscious.

Then Thorax felt a curse miss him by inches.

Theo’s horn was glowing red in the dark, and Thorax attacked….

There was a very intense scuffle, and Thorax wasn’t entirely sure what was happening. He killed his original spell, and the lights came on.

Theo and Radcliffe were lying on the ground wounded, but most of the team was still conscious.

Dash grabbed the scroll. “C’mon!”

“You psycho,” growled Vulture. “die.”

Twilight and her friends made it to the entrance tunnel, just as a firework exploded behind them.

Smolder flicked the key card on the scanner, and the secret entrance opened.

Vulture entered the tunnel, and Dash slammed the door on him.

Vulture’s muffled yells were drowned out as another firework exploded behind them.

Twilight spun around, in time to see Snowy fire another firework at her.

“Hey!” yelled Smolder. “You again!”

“‘Course,” said Snowy, sending a spell at the vending machine. It tore off the wall, and Vulture stepped out seeming unfazed.

More ponies were now flooding into the atrium.

Smolder sent flames at the carpeted floor, and it burst into flames.

“C’mon!” she yelled.

They started towards the door, but Smolder, having a crazy idea, pulled them towards the back stairwell.

“This way!”

Twilight glanced back, and was glad to see Shiny wasn’t in the burning room anymore.

They entered the stairwell, and started running up.

Snowy entered second, followed by Vulture.

About halfway up, Twilight fell back, and threw Snowy back. A spell cracked the stairs.

Dash threw the doors open.

“Why are we here?” asked Thorax, as the enemies began exiting onto the roof.

“Jump!” yelled Smolder, leaping to the adjacent building.

“‘Course we’re gonna do this,” muttered Twilight.

She leapt, and sent a stunning spell back. An assassin fell to the ground, six stories below.

Smolder ducked behind a heater.

A pony tackled Dash to the ground.

A second later the giant fan on the heater burst off and struck him.

Smolder flashed a thumbs up.

“You just stole that from Daring Do,” Dash said, getting up.

The next building was up.

“Window!” Thorax yelled, and dropped, smashing through somepony’s balcony window. He hit a sofa, and was unhurt.

His friends dropped in after him.

Thorax ducked behind the kitchen counter, as Snowy tried to kill him with a curse. It exploded a case of water bottles, flooding the kitchen. The fridge door opened.

A pony charged Thorax, slipped on the water, and smashed into the fridge, knocking the shelves out. Thorax slammed the door on him.

Thorax sent a spell at Snowy, and knocked her over the sofa.

Vulture blew up the counter. A chunk of marble hit Thorax in the head.

Twilight blasted Vulture off his hooves.

Jase tackled Twilight to the ground, and pulled out a knife. Twi wrestled it out of his hooves, then threw it out the window. Jase punched her in the mouth.

Ignoring the coppery taste of blood in her mouth, Twilight threw Jase off her, and he slammed into an orange unicorn with a green mane.

The orange unicorn stumbled onto the balcony.

Vulture recovered, but so did Thorax, and they launched themselves at each other. Vulture sent a punch at Thorax, but was blocked. Thorax launched a combo at Vulture, who stopped it, before rolling on top of Thorax. Thorax felt the air slowly being crushed out of him.

Twilight threw Vulture off Thorax with her magic. Vulture hit one of his teammates, and they all tumbled onto the balcony.

Twilight severed the balcony from the building, and Dash and Smolder slammed the doors shut.

Vulture jumped right before the balcony fell, and shattered one of the glass doors, but Dash kicked out, and Vulture fell.

Snowy (who was now fighting solo) sent a spell at Smolder, knocking her into the other glass door, which cracked. Smolder dived out of the way, and Snowy’s follow up spell shattered the glass, before blowing a sizable crater in the neighboring building.

Thorax jumped up, but Snowy punched him in the face, before tossing him out of the hole.

“Thorax!” yelled Dash.

A spell hit Dash, throwing her out of the building, but she extended her wings, and recovered. She noticed Thorax had landed on a fire escape, and was fine.

Snowy sent a curse at Twi, who parried, before wrapping Snowy up in her magic.

Snowy broke free. Smolder snatched a paper weight off the floor, and hurled it at her. It struck Snowy in the head, and she crumpled to the ground.

“We have to get down,” said Smolder, as sirens wailed on the street below.

“Here!” Thorax called. “Fire escape!”

Twi and Smolder jumped to it. The steel crumpled and warped under their weight. Dash, who’d been right under the platform, let go. The structure crumpled right above her, and Dash wondered if she'd be crushed. At the very bottom, Dash extended her wings, and slipped out, but not before the structure hit her. She skidded across the asphalt, bleeding.

“Oh Dash we’re so sorry!” Twi exclaimed, jumping down and kneeling beside her friend.

“Should've realized that would happen,” said Smolder sheepishly.

“Don’t worry,” said Dash through gritted teeth, “I’m fine. Now let’s get out of this place!”

“Not so fast!”

Twilight turned to see Vulture and the orange unicorn aiming their horns at her.

“You’re so dead you psychos!” the orange unicorn growled.

“Shut up Zapp,” said a voice calmly.

Twilight felt her heart drop. She turned to see Theo striding towards them. He stood at the edge of the alley. Twilight wasn’t sure if it was a result of the fight or not, but Theo was missing a bit of his ear. He also had a scar across his face.

“Wow what happened to you,” Dash mocked. “Got hit by a train or something?”

Theo’s ear twitched irritability. “I could ask the same about you. Been through a meat grinder as of lately?”

Dash scrunched up her face. “Lemme think… No, no, I don’t believe I have. Are you speaking from personal experience?”

Theo actually took a step back. “You’ve been trained in insult school or something?”

“Nah,” said Dash airily. “And I doubt you’ve been. You’re insults suck!”

“Well my magic doesn’t!” Theo yelled, lighting his horn up.

“Wow,” said Dash, “you’re making your horn glow. I’m so scared–.”

Theo fired, and Dash dodged, before slamming into Theo. They hit a wall.

Vulture cursed, but before he could do anything, Twilight paralyzed him.

The orange unicorn just backed away. Thorax stunned her.

Theo flipped Dash over, and slammed her to the ground. Dash yelped.

Twilight blasted Theo away.

Theo backed slowly into the street, sending curses back at Twilight and her friends.

Twilight sent a spell at Theo. It somehow missed all the oncoming spells, and hit him. Theo staggered.

Smolder wrenched open a door set into the wall of the alley.

“Here!” she yelled.

Twi sent another spell, before turning, and entering the door. She slammed, and magically locked it. It was pitch black, and oddly, smelled of mushrooms, pizza sauce, and pasta.

“Bingo!” said Thorax and flipped a switch. The lights flicked on.

They were in a kitchen. Pizza ingredients and sauce were littered haphazardly on tables. There were ovens along one wall, and sinks all along another.

“Er,” said Smolder. “Maybe I should have considered the possibility that we’re trapped here….”

The door tore off its hinges. Vulture was standing there. Theo brushed past him and entered the room.

“You nutters!” he yelled.

“You coward!” yelled Dash.

Theo sent a spell at Dash. Dash ducked out of the way, before grabbing a pizza cutter and throwing it at Theo. Theo jumped out of the way, and hit a sink, tearing it off the wall. Water spewed from the wall.

Theo howled.

All the others entered the room, and for the first time, Dash realized truly how many ponies Theo had under his control.

She didn’t like it.

Twilight sent spells flying at the assassins, while Thorax started fighting Vulture again.

Thorax threw Vulture over a table. Vulture threw a table at Thorax. Thorax hit the ground, and Vulture pounced. Thorax blocked a one-two combo, before punching Vulture in the throat. Vulture kicked him in the stomach. Thorax blasted Vulture in the chest.

Vulture tumbled out the door.

At which point all the sinks exploded. Ceramic flew everywhere, and water began rushing out.

Theo staggered out the door. Vulture slammed it.

“Huh?” asked Dash. “They ran?”

Twilight finished subduing all the enemies.

“I guess so. Let’s get outta here.” Twilight grabbed the door in her magic, but it didn’t budge.

Smolder glanced down. The water was already covering her feet. “I think I see their strategy,” she said, trying to stay calm.

“Aww,” said Dash. “That sucks.”

Twilight yanked back, but the door remained firmly shut.

“We can teleport out!” said Thorax.

Twilight’s horn glowed, but nothing happened. “Excellent,” she said. “It appears the Royal Guard have shown up and cast anti-teleportation spells over the whole block.”

“That’s oddly specific,” said Smolder.

“Shiny told me about it.”

Dash gave a sort of half wince.

Thorax rolled his eyes. Dash grabbed Thorax and pulled him to a corner. “Can’t we use Felics Felix?” he asked.

Thorax sighed. “I left my bag back in that unmarked office. And I get a feeling that it's considered a crime scene right now.”

“Did you put your initials on that bag?” asked Dash worriedly.

“No,” said Thorax. “They won’t know who’s bag it was. I left no identifiers either.”

“Can you hurry up over there?” asked Twilight desperately. The water was now up to her chest.

They were going to drown.

~~~~

Twi felt funny. Dash had gone to Thorax. This just further increased her certainty that they were a thing. Before she’d been able to pawn it off as just a hunch, but now she was almost certain.

She wasn’t sure how she felt about that.

“Look for another way out!” Smolder said.

Dash turned away from Thorax, and started searching.

“Just blow the door open!” Dash yelled.

Twilight sent a spell at the door, but only succeeded in knocking herself out cold.

“Twilight!” Dash yelled, lunging over to her, and dragging her out of the water, which was now up to Dash’s neck.

The others were already swimming. “They put some spell on it!” Thorax called, thinking of what could bypass it.

“Twilight!” Dash yelled again, shaking Twilight desperately. “Twily wake up! Please!”

And in that moment Smolder understood.

“Smolder!” called Thorax. “Any ideas?”

“Negative,” said Smolder. “You?”

“Maybe,” said Thorax, getting a sudden inspiration. He sent a spell across the room. It hit the wall, which cracked a little.

“It’s working!” Smolder exclaimed, swimming over to Thorax. Dash pulled Twilight over as well.

Thorax kept chipping away at it.

The water was rushing in faster than ever.

And then, without warning, Smolder’s head bumped into the roof. “Running out of time Thorax!”

Thorax kept shooting at the same spot. “Please,” he murmured.

Smolder started taking deep breaths. She was gonna have to start holding it soon. Dash knew what she was doing, but kept shaking Twilight, trying to wake her up. “Twily WAKE UP!! You’re going to DROWN!!”

Thorax saw a tiny bit of sunlight. He focused all his energy on the spot.

Then, without warning, he was underwater.

Thorax fired.

The wall shattered.

The water burst out like a tidal wave. Everything in its path was picked up and thrown. The guards in the street scattered, as the wave dispersed.

And then it was over. Dash suddenly realized she was hugging Twilight hard. Dash was considering letting go, when Twilight opened her eyes.

And threw up.

Dash immediately released her, as Twilight’s lungs purged themselves of all the water she’d swallowed.

She shakily got up.

“Well that was something,” she murmured softly.

Dash smiled.

Smolder and Thorax rounded the corner.

“Oh now you wake up,” Smolder huffed.

Dash glared at her.

Strangely, everyone there knew what was happening between Dash and Twilight, and they all seemed to be pretending they didn’t. Except for Twilight, who was way too weak to pretend.

“Let’s, er, get outta here,” Thorax suggested awkwardly. “I’m not really in the mood to get arrested.”

Dash helped Twilight to her hooves.

Smolder glanced at Thorax and whispered, “Do you know?”

“Yes,” he whispered back.

Smolder checked to make sure that Dash and Twi were far behind them, then whispered, “D’you think it’ll work out?”

Thorax smiled. “Yes, I think it will.”

Temporary

“How’d you break it?” asked Smolder.

“The wall?” asked Thorax.

“Yeah.”

“I used an old Changeling demolition spell. It was designed for destroying Changeling rock. Chrysalis eventually scrapped it, because it was too inefficient for anything else.”

“Why did it work?” asked Twilight weakly. “None of my spells worked.”

“Your spells were well known,” Thorax said, “and so Theo must have blocked them with a charm or something. My spell was out of fashion, plus it was a Changeling exclusive, so Theo didn’t know about it.”

“Oh,” said Dash.

“We made it to the platform,” said Smolder.

Cadence, Gallus, and Fluttershy were already standing there.

“Gosh, what happened to you?” asked Gallus. “It looks like you got hit by a tsunami or something.”

“Eh,” said Smolder, waggling a claw. “I’d say you get around… an eighty-seven percent. Because the tsunami only happened at the end. Also you missed the whole five hour chase sequence, and Theo locking us in a flooding room.”

“You ran into Theo?” asked Cadence worriedly.

Twilight nodded. “We made it out though.”

Dash nodded. “And took Radcliffe out of commission as well.”

“Really?” asked Gallus excitedly.

“Yes,” said Thorax in a flatline tone. “More ponies getting hurt.”

That dampened the mood.

“Forever,” said Thorax. “Forever.”

Dash sighed. “We just have to stop Theo. Then all this violence ends.”

Thorax nodded. “That’s still gonna be really hard though.”

“Well,” said Fluttershy. “There is good news. We found a place to stay, and we have a complete family tree for everypony in Canterlot.”

“A family tree?” asked Twilight. “No offense, but how is that helpful?”

“You have Theo’s file right?” asked Gallus.

“Oh!” said Dash, pulling out the scroll. She’d completely forgotten about it in light of recent events.

“Let’s walk,” said Cadence, “We should make it to our temporary home in less than an hour.”

“Good,” said Smolder. “It’s getting dark.”

“You have the file,” said Gallus. “It should state anypony who Theo worked with during his time in the guard. And then we can check all the names, and estimate how many ponies Theo has under his control. Then we can decide how aggressively to play.”

“That sounded thought out,” Thorax said.

“Well to be fair, we were waiting at least half an hour for you to show,” Cadence said. “Though as you ran into Theo, it’s not really too surprising.”

“I actually have a question,” said Dash suddenly. “We’re all talking about me, Twily, Thorax, and Smolder’s adventure.” She frowned. “But no one’s mentioned the fact that Gallus and Fluttershy are wounded, and that Cadence seems to have been downright lacerated. So what happened on your side of the adventure?”

“We ran into Raven and Bon Bon,” said Gallus. “They chased us into a supermarket. Then the power went out, and we wound up getting an overly long fight sequence.”

“Yikes,” said Twilight.

“On the bright side,” Gallus paused, looking at Thorax. “Well maybe dark side, I’m pretty sure that both Raven and Bon Bon are dead.”

Thorax scoffed. “No surprise. Even more deaths, but who cares now?”

“We didn’t really have a choice,” Gallus retorted. “It was kill or be killed. And we chose the option where no good guys die!”

“Fine,” said Thorax hollowly. “At least you had reasonable logic. I suppose.”

Gallus seemed surprised. “So you're not really mad?”

“Not really,” Thorax replied, “more sad really. I mean, even if they were totally evil, they still had lives. And Bon Bon was even married.”

“They found Bon Bon,” said Fluttershy in a much quieter tone than usual (which was already very soft). “So she might not be dead.”

The group finished the rest of the walk in silence. Dash wasn’t sure, but she thought Cadence might have let a tear fall.

~~~~

Shining Armor was in a state of shock. First Twily had shown up at a military point. Second, Theo had resurfaced after nearly four years. And third, the Anti-Terrorisim Squad (ATS) apprehended five known criminals, and a serial killer. In one day.

Naturally it was a lot to take in.

The worst part, however, was that Theo’s file had disappeared from the crypts, and it seemed the only thieves possible were Twily and her friends.

Shining had immediately tried to push it off on Theo, but had ultimately failed, when Alias (head of the ATS) picked up Twily’s magic traces all over the case.

Shining was not looking forward to the meeting he was about to enter.

He opened a door, and began walking up a spiral staircase. He thought about Twily.

If she’d stolen Theo’s file, she'd have committed a crime, and Twily certainly wouldn’t do that unless there was a very good reason. Upon further thinking, Shining realized that the most pressing reason for her to do that, would be if Theo was hunting her. It made sense, matching with the fact that Theo had immediately attacked her. It also matched the fact that she and her friends had seemingly vanished from Equestria. But that was very concerning.

Twily was being hunted.

By Theo. He was the wildcard, as he had no real reason to hunt Twily. Sure, Theo could have been angry for being disqualified in the race to become the captain of the Royal Guard. That would have made sense. But simple anger wasn’t a good enough reason for attempting mass murder. That would need something worse. Spite. Fury. Rage. All of which weren't plausible for what had happened. Which led Shining to his next logical assumption: Theo was mentally ill. It matched up well enough, and it would explain why he was so willing to attempt murder multiple times. The only major flaw with that idea, was Shining himself. Theo had every reason to be angry with Shining, but had no good reasons for attacking Twily. Which made Shining think about who’d been with his sister. Thorax, Rainbow Dash, and the orange dragon who attended Twily’s school of friendship. The most plausible target there was Thorax.

If Thorax was the one who was being hunted, the dynamics would be very different. It made sense why Twily was involved, as she was friends with Thorax.

Shining reached the top of the stairs. There was a single door on the landing. Shining pressed his hoof to a scanner and entered.

The room was dimly lit by a single light hanging over a battered table. There wasn’t anything special about the room. There was a lot special about its occupant.

Alias was the head of the ATS and a former member of the CIA. He was a spy at heart, and the pony that Shining had climbed the stairs to meet.

Alias checked his watch. “You’re late.”

Shining sat down in a chair opposite Alias.

“I had to stop by the infirmary,” Shining said.

“Whatever,” said Alias. “Who’s involved in this mess?”

“Twilight, Rainbow Dash, Thorax, Smolder, Theo, Radcliffe, and a few others,” said Shining.

Alias was quiet for a moment. “Theo’s back?” he asked finally.

“Yes,” said Shining quietly.

“Have you checked his file?” asked Alias.

“That was the one thing that was taken.”

Alias frowned. “By who?”

Shining was a little startled by that. “I thought you found Twily’s magic traces on the case.”

“That’s interesting,” said Alias. “Because I found no such thing.”

Shining felt as though a weight had been lifted off his chest.

Alias continued. “The case had some hoofprints on it, but they were all unreadable. And around the whole hallway we found what appeared to be fireworks detritus.”

“Why would somepony set off fireworks down there?” asked Shining.

“Great question,” said Alias. “I can answer you. They were weaponized.”

“Fireworks being used as weapons?” Shining said. “I thought all fireworks were made non-lethal.”

“Apparently somepony found a way to get rid of the enchantment that makes them so,” said Alias.

Shining frowned. “Why wasn’t this in the report I received?”

“Because the report was tampered with,” said Alias. “D’you know about type-81 magic flyers?”

“Yeah,” said Shining. “They’re what everyone sends reports on.”

Alias shook his head. “Still?”

“Yes?”

“Well then,” said Alias, “you obviously don’t know how easy it is to tamper with them.”

Shining shook his head. “How do you even tamper with a piece of paper?”

“The enchantments on the ‘piece of paper’ are supposed to make it so that nopony can change them,” Alias explained. “Nopony realized that you could just get rid of the enchantment?”

Alias phrased the last part as a question.

“It’s not my job to deal with how tamperable the reports are,” Shining said irritably.

Alias waved this off. “I never said it was. I just said that somepony tampered with them.”

“Wait,” said Shining, “somepony tampered with them? What does that mean?”

Alias sighed. “It means we have a mole.”

~~~~

“We’re here,” said Cadence, as they turned a bend. There was a break in the hedge they were walking beside, and there was a path, leading towards a handsome manor.

“That might be better than a five-star hotel,” Smolder said, nodding.

They walked up to the front door, and Cadence pulled out a key, and unlocked it. Inside was a long hallway, with a staircase leading off to one side. Everything was dusty.

“Glad we made it,” said Thorax. “It just got dark.”

Sure enough, the sun had just set, and darkness was approaching rapidly.

“Let’s get some rest,” said Twilight.

“Yeah,” said Dash, yawning. “I’m tired.”

“We can check Theo’s file tomorrow,” said Thorax.

They headed upstairs, and Cadence summoned beds for everyone.

Thorax slipped into bed. It had been a long day. He thought about the incident at the Canterlot Crypts. He still felt bad about what had happened there.

Thorax drifted uneasily into sleep with a far from pleasant feeling in his chest.

~~~~

Thorax was in a forest again.

He stood up. The forest was wet and dewy.

“Hello brother.”

Thorax turned around to face Pharynx.

“Hello, Pharynx.”

“We have much to talk about,” Pharynx said. “Much.”

“Right,” said Thorax. “Lots of things to talk about.”

“For starters,” said Pharynx. “What’s the death count as of right now?”

Thorax sighed. “Honestly, I don’t know. Probably close to twenty, or something.”

Pharynx frowned. “Unbelievable. I’m assuming that none of them we’re changelings? Only asking because as king, I well….”

“No changeling casualties,” said Thorax.

“So it’s basically war then,” said Pharynx.

“Theo could probably bring war,” said Thorax. “If he truly wanted to. I hope war won’t be the end result of this.”

“If it is, I can assure you that changelings will not be a part of it.”

“I’m still hoping that won’t happen. It probably won’t….”

“No one on your side dead?” asked Pharynx.

“No,” said Thorax irritably. “And if you’re just gonna ask me a bunch of irritating questions, I might as well wake up.”

Pharynx frowned. “I wasn’t trying to hurt your feelings, brother.”

“I–yeah. Okay. Just–.” Thorax broke off.

“There’s nothing more to do,” he said finally. “I’ll just stay in hiding. The Royal Guard probably has a full-scale ponyhunt going on right now. Theo’s bound to get caught. Then this will all be over, and we can go back to normal.”

“Right,” said Pharynx. “And if you need any support, just message me, and I’ll contact Psycho.”

Pharynx stared intently at Thorax. “No harm will come to you. I promise.”

Author's Note

Due to the way I plotmapped this story, this chapter is the end of part 1! Congratulations on making it to the first major milestone! :yay: