Pumpkin's Struggle (Part 4): The Darkest Hour

While things were still going down in Ponyville, Pound was still traversing through the Everfree Forest carrying his weakened sister, Pumpkin. He didn’t really care about carrying her the whole time; in the state that she was in, he knew she couldn’t easily move on her own. But at one point, they reached this huge clearing inside the forest, and there didn’t seem to be any kind of danger nearby.

Pound tilted his head over to Pumpkin and suggested, "Hey, you wanna rest here, sis."

Pumpkin lightly nodded her and responded, "S-sure, okay."

Pound picked a nice soft spot in the grass and carefully laid his sister down on it. He then sat beside her and leaned back on his hooves to relax while watching over her. After everything that has happened, Pound almost couldn’t believe it; a little smile came on to his face mostly because he knew that there was probably no use for feeling scared anymore.

"Heh… I never would've thought that things would come to this. It's like I'm stuck in a horrible nightmare and I'm waiting to wake up from it at any time. I guess now I truly understand of what you've been going through all this time."

"P-Pound,” said Pumpkin weakly, “is this... r-really the end? Is Pinkie and everypony else going to die? Are we... going to die?"

Pound didn’t wish to add on to his sister’s worrying, but he still gave an honest answer, "I don't know, sis; it’s a very likely possibility. But hey, we all saw this coming, right? We did our best to stop this curse, but now I'm afraid that we might have to face reality... and accept our fate."

At this moment in time, Pumpkin seemed to be giving up hope. She knew that it was worthless to struggle against her curse any longer. She laid her head on her brother’s lap, lamenting of everything that had happened.

"All... I ever wanted... was for everpony to stop worrying about me, to be happy for me; all I wanted was to be rid of this d-d-damn curse so that my life could be without a lot of fear... and death. But... who was I kidding; it was never meant to be… it just never was.”

She then slightly looked up at her brother and made a little sorrowful smile, “I guess…even if I lose everypony I know, at least I’ll still have my twin brother.”

Pound smiled back her while lightly patting her on the head, “At least you’re still thinking a little positive.”

Back in Ponyville, Pinkie Pie was racing to the huge panicking scene, and she noticed that most of the citizens were gone. Wanting to get a last crack at the demon for some pay back, she was looking all around the damaged town to try and locate it.

“Okay, if I was an evil, demonic spirit causing havoc, where would I be at this time?”

Pinkie then suddenly heard somepony scream out loud, “Ahhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!” and she recognized very well.

“OMG that sounded like Rarity!”

She ran towards to where she heard her friend scream in terror; right where the Carousel Boutique was.

“Rarity, are you… okay?!” she shouted.

When she got however, she saw Rarity a little scarred standing in front of her shop in a defensive stance staring down the very demon spirit she was looking for.

“Back off, demon! You can try anything you want, but I won’t allow you to burn my boutique!”

The spirit was smiling manically being amused by the unicorn’s confidence, “What’s the matter, afraid that your worthless creations will be destroyed?”

“W… w-w-worthless?!!!” Rarity scoffed, “You have some nerve!”

Rarity then heard her Pink friend nearby, “Rarity!”

“Pinkie?!”

Rarity saw as Pinkie raced down and zipped right up to her with a little smirk, “What’s up?”

“Nothing much, just trying to protect my home from this menace.”

“Nice to see you again, Pinkie” said the spirit in a creepy tone, “What happened to the other two? Were they too chicken to show their faces, or are you just sacrificing yourself to protect them?”

“Forget about them,” said Pinkie staring down the spirit, “you’re dealing with us now!”

“Oooooh, I’m so scared,” said the spirit sarcastically.

“Even if you took us down,” stated Rarity courageously, “more will rise up against you!”

A lustful smirk came on the spirit’s face as it licked its lips, “Good, more toys for me to play with.”

Rarity suddenly shuddered a bit and said, “Oh, um… o-o-okay.”

Pinkie got into an offensive stance while continuing to stare down the creature, “We’re sick and tired of you, you got it?! We will beat you somehow; before you know it, we’ll be rid of you… just like that!”

“You mean like this,” said the spirit as its horn began to glow.

Pinkie and Rarity both got on their guard preparing for whatever the spirit was planning. But unknown to either of them, a little portal was forming behind them, and then a beam shot out and hit Pinkie. She screamed out from being surprised and then she vanished in front of Rarity’s eyes.

“Pinkie!”

“Oops, looks like you’re all alone again,” said the spirit with a smirk as she saw tears forming in the mare’s eyes.

“You monster; you don’t care about anything, do you?!”

The spirit rolled its eyes, “Um, duh; are you only realizing that now, dumb bitch?”

Rarity scowled heavily at the spirit for insulting her, “Oh, so now you’re calling me a bitch?!” She then conjured some magic and surrounded herself with hard-studied diamonds. She aimed it all at the spirit as she shouted, “Take this!”

All of the diamonds launched at the spirit, but it just stood there and took the full blown attack. There was no scratch found on it, and it looked back at Rarity with a grimly smile, “Nice little trick you have there. Care to see one of mine?”

The spirit conjured up some fireballs out of nowhere and launched them at Rarity. Rarity thought it was no big deal as she held up a defensive shield in front of her, but unfortunately, the fireballs completely shattered the shield and made a direct hit on her. She flew back screaming in pain from the burns that she felt on her skin, and she felt some of her coat and mane got singed off.

After the attack, Rarity was trying to get up despite the pain she was feeling. But by the time she did, the spirit was right in front of her sporting an intense evil glare and her horn glowing intensely and said…

“I win.”

And with that, she blasted Rarity as well… and she disappeared just like Pinkie. With the last wielder of the Elements of Harmony now out of the way, the spirit prepared to capture its remaining prey.

It then stared at the boutique that was still standing and in one piece; it was tempted, but then scoffed at it, “Nah, it’s not worth it,” and then turned away from it view.

After being attacked from behind, Pinkie found herself being transported to a different location and landed right on her face. She got up and rubbed her head while groaning immensely.

“Ugh; well… that didn’t work.”

Suddenly, she heard a voice nearby, “Pinkie?!”

She turned around and saw a sight that almost made her cry. It was her friends, as well as Mr. Mrs. Cake, and the main friends of their children. As she saw them come toward her direction, she noticed that all of the Ponyville civilians were all here as well.

“Oh my gosh,” shouted Pinkie with tears in her eyes, “you’re all still alive!”

“Surprisingly, yes; we all are!” said Twilight.

Pinkie tackled Twilight and hugged her tight not wanting to let go, “Oh thank Celestia, I thought I lost you girls; and everypony else!”

All of her friends were glad to see her alive as well, especially the cakes. But they realized that someone else was still missing.

“But what about Rarity?” Fluttershy questioned, “Where’s she?”

“Oh no, I saw her, and I was with her! And now she’s…”

Suddenly right on cue, a bright light appeared above them and Rarity fell down in front of them in the bad state she was in.

“… um, right here with the rest of us!”

They all went over to the bruised mare and helped her up on her hooves making sure she was alight.

“Are you okay, Rarity,” said Twilight, “you looked really bruised up.”

Rarity brushed of some of her burnt fur off of her and responded, “Well… aside from the fact my mane is a total mess, and the fact that I’ll need like 5 spa treatments if we ever survive all this, then yes… I am perfectly fine.”

“Well that’s great to hear,” said Rainbow Dash, “seeing that your mane is the least of our worries.”

Mr. and Mrs. Cake came over to Pinkie, as well as Acer who was feeling better with his wings healing.

“Thank goodness you’re alright,” said Mrs. Cake as she hugged the pink mare, “we were a bit worried.”

“Hey, Mr. and Mrs. Cake; hey, Acer!”

“Sup’?”

Even though it was a relief that Pinkie was safe, was something else that was obviously boggling in Mrs. Cake’s mind.

“Please, Pinkie; please tell me that Pumpkin and Pound are safe?!”

“Yes, are they,” added Mr. Cake feeling nervous himself, “for Cup Cake’s sanity and sake?”

“Don’t worry,” Pinkie responded, “they’re both fine for now; well… mostly Pound is okay. Pumpkin is… she’s a bit messed up right now; that demon really roughed her up. But as long as her brother is there with her, she’ll be fine too.”

Even though Pinkie said that they were still safe, Mrs. Cake still didn’t feel very comfortable about what happened to her daughter as she leaned back into her husband’s hooves.

“Well thank Celestia that she is safe,” said Acer with a sigh of relief, “that’s what’s important.”

After that, Twilight decided to start thinking up of ideas of what to do next, “With you 2 here, I guess that almost everypony has been captured now.”

“Not mah sisters and her friends,” stated Applejack, “Ah haven’t seen them for a while now.”

Rarity was suddenly freaking out about her sister’s safety despite her injuries, “What, Sweetie is still out there?! She’s going to be skewered for sure!”

“Not to worry, Rarity,” said Twilight with confidence, “It seems that demon spirit is only capturing everypony… for now, so those three should be no exception. I guess the bright side is that no pony is dead yet.”

“Not everypony,” said a random voice.

Everyone turned over to a random injured police pony who was being supported by two more members. They were almost afraid to ask what he meant.

“What do you mean… not everypony,” said Spike.

“Well, how can I say this? That demon spirit gave one individual no mercy at the detention center. Many officers including myself were wounded but captured just like everypony else. Unfortunately before I was captured, right from the corner of my eye I saw that thing corner one of our newest prisoners, Envy Rose; and it… it struck her down… right in front of her own daughter.”

Everyone who heard became silent upon the stallion’s words. They couldn’t believe what they heard.

With slight grief in his heart, Acer voice trembled as he said, “Envy’s… dead?!”

The Mayor was nearby too and her everything. “That is… some very unfortunate news.”

“But why her I wonder,” said Mrs. Cake, “Did it have something personal against her?”

“Poor Ruby,” said Pinkie sadly.

Despite everything Envy had done in the past, they all still grieved for her and her daughter who probably had to watch her die. However, a certain unicorn wasn’t planning to dwell on this tragedy for too long.

“Well, as sad as that is,” said Twilight, “we need to focus on finding a possible way out of here; every second counts.”

“What’s the use, Twilight,” Fluttershy lamented, “even if we do break out, that demon will just hunt us down all over again; so what’s the point?”

“You might be right,” Twilight partially agreed, “but at the situation that we’re in, I would rather die trying to stop that thing from killing anymore innocent lives than to stay here and wait for whatever fate awaits us!.”

Everyone thought about what Twilight said and realized that she had a good point. They were now at the point of no tomorrow, and they figured that they were either going to die or die fighting.

Twilight looked at all of them with a strongly determined face and questioned…

“So… who is with me?!”

Back in Ponyville, within its destruction, the demon spirit was still wandering around it’s grounds searching for more targets that it may have missed. But it smiled knowing that there still was a few that needed to be caught, meaning that it’s fun was about to go into phase 2.

“Everything is going perfectly; almost everypony here has been caught. Soon my plan will be complete, and poor little Pumpkin will be scarred for the rest of her cursed life.”

But suddenly in the middle of its thoughts, it sensed something nearby; something that seemed familiar. But at a split-second, it just avoided a powerful blast that came from above.

“UGH! What the…”

After getting up, it looked up in the sky and saw two figures racing toward it. One being Princess Celestia of Canterlot, and her sister, Princess Luna. It seemed that they came to end her progress of destruction, but the spirit wasn’t counting on letting that happen.

“This has gone on far enough demon,” Celestia shouted as she and her sister landed on the ground and glaring at the creature, “Did you think that you could do all of this without me knowing?! Your reign of terror ends here!”

The spirit didn’t flinch one bit and wasn’t worried at all despite her position.

“Ah, Princess Celestia,” it said with a sarcastic smile, “how wonderful it is to see you again. I see that you also have your young sister with you as well. So let me guess, you’re here to try and stop me?”

“That is enough out of you! Times have changed since I went against you back then. But now that Luna is by my side again, we will finish what I had started.”

Luna spoke a few words at the demon herself with her Canterlot voice. “Thou hast caused continuous pain for the young filly, Pumpkin Cake, and trapped her family in a nightmare for many years! We know now of what my sister hast told us about you, and now… we shall help put an end to all of that; right here, right now!”

The spirit just laughed at the two alicorns; thinking of their threats as nothing more than amusement, “Such powerful and threatening words; too bad that it will all be for nothing.”

“That is highly unlikely,” Celestia protested.

Both sisters intertwined their horns to emit a powerful combination spell that was guaranteed to destroy anything. They both glared back at the creature who was still standing there not moving an inch.

“This is good-bye,” said Luna, “fare thee well, demon!”

They both sung their horn forward and their spell landed right on top of the demon, and all that was seen was the huge explosion that the impact of their spell had left.

“It’s finally over,” Celestia sighed with relief, “Well done, Luna.”

“Glad to be of assistance, Sister,” she responded with a smile.

But their relief was cut short as they witnessed the explosion of their spell swirling inward.

“What, no!” Celestia shouted.

When it disappeared, the creature was still there standing tall and slightly chuckling feeling the power that it absorbed.

“It… i-it absorbed our spell?!” Luna shouted.

“What was it that you said, Celestia?” said the spirit, “You were going to finish what you had started?” It then started to gather up the power that it absorbed in its horn and then grinned grimly back at the two sister rulers, “Once again… you failed.”

Before any of the two Princesses could react, the demon creature shot the absorbed power back at them in full force. The power was too overwhelming as both of their cries were heard throughout the surrounding lands; and their bodies became hardened until they were nothing but a couple of rock statues.

“Don’t you fools understand,” the demon shouted to the heavens, “I was highly unbeatable back then; and now I’m even stronger than before! Not even the combined powers of two Alicorns can stop me!”

While the creature was claiming her victory, three young mares, formally known as the C.M.C was nearby hiding behind a partially destroyed building and witnessed the royal sisters’ defeat. It truly was a frightening moment for them.

“Buck,” said Apple Bloom in distraught, “now what do we do, girls? Not even Princes Celestia and Princess Luna could stop that thang; so how can our plan ever work?”

Sweetie Belle was holding on to her stomach feeling a bit queasy of their situation, “I think I’m going to be sick.”

“Not on me, please,” said Scootaloo inching away from the unicorn mare.

Realizing how hopeless their situation was, Apple Bloom made an important decision. “Ah’m afraid that we have no choice girls, we have to flee.”

“But what about the others?” questioned Sweetie Belle.

“Sorry, Sweetie,” Apple Bloom sadly responded, “but let’s face it; they’re gone, and there’s nothin’ we can do about that.”

Her other friends didn’t want to believe it, but what else could they believe. They looked around the town to make sure that the coast was clear, and then they made a break for it; running out towards the entry way of the town.

“So… where do we go now?” questioned Scootaloo as she flew above her friends.

“Anywhere but here,” said Apple Bloom, “Ah’m afraid that we have to leave our home behind; and don’t you dare look back!”

Suddenly, a huge explosion ignited in front of the three mare’s path and caused them to screech to halt.

“Aw Crap!” shouted Scootaloo.

They all stood still, a bit worried of what caused their sudden obstacle. But then a familiar figure came out from the debris, eyeing its last victims straight in the eyes.

“There you are, I’ve been looking for you young mares. Wanna join your friends?”

The former crusaders were now in the spirit’s sights and were suddenly frozen still; that is, until Sweetie Belle freaked out and yelled…

“RUN!!!”

All three mares quickly turned around and ran the other way to get away from the spirit. However, they only got about 40 feet away before they were dragged right back into the same spot by the spirit’s magic. They knew now that it was impossible to escape as they slowly looked up and saw it approach them like a predator ready to pounce on its prey.

“I almost forgot to tell you; you don’t have much of a choice. After this, my plan will be in full swing; and then I shall roam and spread fear and destruction throughout this land forever!”

A little burst of courage suddenly ignited inside Sweetie Belle hearing the spirit’s plan and she shouted out, “No, you’re doing no such thing!”

Apple Bloom and Scootaloo suddenly stepped back as Sweetie suddenly caught the spirit off-guard and trapped it in a magical barrier. She then triggered a secondary move that caused the barrier to explode from the inside. Even at her level of magic skill, Apple Bloom and Scootaloo just stared felling shocked of what she accomplish.

“Whoa; impressive, Sweetie,” said Apple Bloom.

“Remind me to not get on your bad side,” added Scootaloo with a smirk.

Sweetie smirked as she blew the smoke off her horn and looked at her friends, “It was nothing; I just…”

But before she could even finish her statement, and beam came from the smoke and impacted on Sweetie; and she disappeared in a flash.

“SWEETIE BELLE!!!” both of her friends shouted out.

The uninjured demon emerged from the debris wearing an expression of irritation, “She was a bit of an annoyance; but that’s the end of that.”

With tears in her eyes and believing that her unicorn friend was dead, Apple Bloom just charged at the demon head on. “You ungrateful, demon witch!”

The demon remained unfazed as the earth mare was charging at it full-throttle, and Apple was preparing to knock it into next week. But as expected when Apple Bloom came upon the creature, it held up its hoof and easily held her in place.

“I don’t think so.”

Its horn glowed and then struck down on Apple Bloom, causing her to vanish too; and now Scootaloo was left alone.

“No, Apple Bloom!”

“And then there was one,” said the spirit with a smirk leering at the shuddering Pegasus, “Don’t make this any harder than it has to be; just give up.”

Scootaloo stood down and lowered her head seeing that there was nothing that she could do now. She regrettably bowed down in front of the spirit and surrendered herself, “Just… get it over with.”

There was nothing the spirit liked more than to see an individual mortal grovel at its hooves and begging for mercy. But for that, it decided to spoil some minor details to her.

“Since you’ve decided to give yourself up, “I’ll tell you this; none of your family and friends are dead… yet.”

“Wh-wh-what?!” Scootaloo said holding her head up, “They’re all… st-still alive?”

“Indeed they are, but you’ll all be dead soon enough once my plan is finally done.”

“What plan?!” Scootaloo strongly questioned.

But the demon didn’t answer; instead it blasted her with its magic and made her vanish too. With her gone, the spirit could now move on to whatever menacing plot it had. It smiled while gazing upon the art of its destruction of the town; it was just how it envisioned it in Pumpkin’s nightmare… without all of the dead bodies and blood of course. But speaking of Pumpkin, it knew of what it was time for now.

“Now then… where can I find little Pumpkin… and her darling brother?”