Whoosh! All of their bodies haphazardly skidded to a halt in soft dirt. The smell of fire and brimstone hitting their nostrils hard. Gregorgy clamped his hands around his knees, howling in pain. Blood was still spilling from his wound. On his leg, through a tear in his pants, was a narrow hole that extended from just above his knee to the middle of his thigh. He feared that because Rukia had pierced him with one of her tentacles, he was bound to end up as one of those things. Twilight had gotten off of Fluttershy, whom she had awkwardly landed on top of when they teleported to this new location.

Trotting over to her with urgency in her steps, she quickly began to treat and look over his wounds. No signs of decay, or transformation. Though the wound was bad, when she was done giving it a quick analysis she determined that he would be fine after some bandages. Looking around, she grabbed for her bag, which during the whole teleportation process, had been thrown over towards some piles of bricks. Inside, she procured some linen bandages. It was wrapped around a wooden pin, resembling a spool of thread almost. Fluttershy had gotten up at this point, and was now trying to shake off the motion sickness she had acquired. Stumbling around a bit, she started to have conversations with herself. Twilight was too focused on the wound of Gregory's to notice entirely. Despite this, the yellow filly stayed nearby, so it wasn't a major problem anyway.

Another shriek of pain filled the night, as a calm Twilight worked on hand-stitching up his leg. She remembered the motions that a book she had instructed on dressing wounds in such a manner, though it had been some time ago that she had opened up that old dusty tome. Gregory griped through the whole thing, and his pain justified such, but after it was done, and Twilight had wrapped him up with the bandages from earlier, he felt a bit better. She stepped back and watched as he struggled to stand. Using his hands to push up on the dirt, he stood tall, but winced during the process. Twilight eyes waited patiently, examining him from afar, wondering how well he would do traveling. When his eyes met her gaze, he understood what she wanted to see, him walking. Carefully he threaded forwards, but as soon as his injured leg had pressure applied to it, he let out a howl of pain. It was apparent that he wouldn't be able to run for a while, but the fact that he couldn't even walk normally was a hindrance for the entire group and he knew that.

“God damn it.... This is dreadful... How are we suppose to maneuver while my leg is injured?” Gregory shouted, clearly frustrated by this.

“There isn't much we can do about it, Gregory.” Twilight told him. “We just have to make the best of it and keep going.”

Looking around, Twilight analyzed their surroundings while also checking up on Fluttershy. Around her, the area was lit up by patches of flames scattered about. Included in this, were many ruined buildings. None of them were habitable, not a single one. Every structure had been leveled down to the ground, their roves completely eliminated, and the walls reduced to mere stacks of bricks no taller than a few feet. She noticed that Fluttershy was meandering about near trees and shrubbery that lined the edge of the area. Fluttershy was still conversing with herself, as if the others didn't even exist right now. Raising an eyebrow to her friend's weird behavior, she trotted over to her. When she got closer the words she spoke became more clear.

“Hehehehehehe.... time to go to bed.... hush now quiet now.... it's time to lay your sleepy head....” Fluttershy said snorting in the process.

“Uhh... Fluttershy? Are you okay?....” Twilight asked, worried that she had slipped off into another one of her trances.

“Where are my animal friends... I need to take CARE of them.....” Fluttershy ignored her friend, her butcher knife in hand.

Swaying over to one of the trees, she looked at the trunk, and then began to ravage the wood with her knife. Laughing while she did this, Twilight took a preemptive step back, afraid she might be the next thing that knife slashed into. Gregory, who had taken to sitting down on a nearby rock, watched on. He wouldn't be able to do anything right now, his leg was too much of a weight. Twilight softly spoke to her friend once more, attempting to pull her back.

“Fluttershy... come back to us... its me Twilight... your friend....” she called out to her.

The sound of her voice a second time made her stop. Slowly she turned to face the other filly. A smile extended from cheek to cheek, her eyes wide and blood shot. Twilight expected a response, but there was nothing. Fluttershy just stood there staring at her for a long time. It creeped out Twilight so much, that she could feel herself sweating underneath her coat. Even Gregory got a chill up his spine, despite being a good distance away from the two.

Suddenly the filly's smile turned sour. Her face becoming very cross and angry. Looking at Twilight filled her up with rage. With a tightened grip on her butcher knife, she growled a bit. Twilight's ears drooped bit in response, as she took a few more steps back. Realizing that her friend would probably try to gut her right now, she started to think out her options. Reasoning with the filly proved futile earlier, but she didn't think that her body was capable of fending off Fluttershy, and Gregory wouldn't be able to make it over here in time or be of any help. Before she could come up with any strategies, her friend swiftly staggered towards her. When she got near Twilight, she tackled her down, bringing her blade close to the purple filly's neck.

“Fluttershy!! Don't do this! Don't you know who I am? We are friend's for Celestia's sake!” Twilight cried out, struggling underneath the weight of her friend.

“Friend?.... Friend?.....WHERE WERE MY SO CALLED FRIENDS WHEN SHIT HIT THE FAN?.... WELL??!....” Fluttershy raged. “I have no friends... they all abandoned me... left me to die all alone!!....”

“Fluttershy.... We have been through this already.... you know we didn't abandon you...” She responded, a bit shaky, still feeling the edge of the blade softly tickling her neck fur.

“Why should I believe you?!.... Hehehehehe.... Give me a reason.... to not gut you right here.... for leaving me..... Hehehehehe.....” Fluttershy smiled again, clearly her sanity fluctuating wildly right now. Twilight could feel the blade having more pressure applied to it.

She had grown fed up with being pinned down on the ground though, and despite being scared right now, she knew she had to act. Focusing some magic in her horn, she pushed Fluttershy off of her. The Pegasus was tossed back, her body sliding a bit in some dirt. Twilight quickly stood up, facing her friend once more. Opening her mouth she attempted to talk more sense into the filly who was climbing back on to her hooves.

“Please Fluttershy! Just hear me out.... I am your friend.... that isn't about to change... ever... I already explained to you what happened during the beginning of this all.” Twilight said, watching as the filly was almost ready to launch another attack. “Please! You have to come to your senses! It's me Twilight!.... And... I'm sorry! I'm sorry for making you feel lonely. I'm sorry for letting you down... but I am here now... and I am not leaving your side....”

Fluttershy stopped short of a charge, looking at Twilight. She looked like she was struggling within herself about the words that were spoken to her. Inside her mind, her actual sanity remained a prisoner of a shell formed from being abandoned. It took the form of her former self, a calm and relaxed Fluttershy. This wasn't the only Fluttershy that existed inside of her mind though, another more serious looking version was right by her side.

“Don't listen to her Fluttershy, she is another evil monster.” The serious one said.

“But... It sounded like Twilight.... and she is my friend...” Fluttershy replied.

“Thats what they want you to think! They are all monsters! I am here to protect you, so just hush!” Serious Fluttershy told her.

“Look.... I understand that you were formed.... from my fear of the outside world.... but... perhaps I should check... gulp this one out.... I mean if thats okay with you....” Fluttershy stated.

“NO! ITS NOT OKAY!” Serious Fluttershy replied.

“eepp.....” Fluttershy curled up in fear as the other, more serious Fluttershy tried to prevent her from going out to talk with Twilight.

The sound of her friend's voice penetrated her mind once more. In the space that she and the serious Fluttershy existed on, this voice echoed all around. Once Fluttershy heard this voice, she was almost certain that her friend was on the outside world. Building up a bit of confidence, and because this shell was a creation of hers, she took a stance against it.

“Listen here.... I know you mean good... but your methods... are... are... scary!... Twilight is out there... and I'm going out there...” Fluttershy stated firmly, while walking away from the more serious Fluttershy.

A look of disbelief appeared on the more serious one's face. Despite this, there was nothing it could do to stop Fluttershy. The yellow filly found herself collapsed in dirt when she came to. Twilight was standing over her, calling her name.

“Twilight?... Is that you?...” Fluttershy asked.

“Oh thank Celestia you are alright!” She called out while hugging her friend tightly. “I was so worried.... You slipped into another one of your trances.”

“I did? Was I mean and scary?...” Fluttershy inquired, whining a bit when Twilight confirmed her fear with a nod.

“I'm sorry Twilight. I... I can't explain whats inside of me... it's like a scary me.... but its protecting me at the same time...” She explained as best she could.

“That.... somewhat makes sense...” Twilight understood to a degree what her friend was saying. She remembered reading about cases of ponies developing a shell-like personality that would protect them when they themselves didn't want to face reality. “Well.. Are you okay now?...”

“I think so... We can continue if thats alright with you....” She responded in a familiarly kind and soft manner.

Twilight knew this to be the true Fluttershy, unlike the cold and crude way she was acting moments ago. Helping her friend up, she looked over to Gregory, he was standing up, trying not to put pressure on to his injured leg. The group then moved out slowly, looking deeper into the surroundings they now found themselves in. It was an entire village in ruins. Flames still raged on, even though the structures they had sieged had long since been burned down. Little remained of anything, whatever befell this town, did a thorough job of destroying it. Walking through what were once streets, the three of them continued looking around.

“What in the hay happened to this place?” Twilight pondered out loud. “Even amidst all the chaos, we didn't encounter anything equivalent to this level of destruction.”

“You're right Twilight.. the last city wasn't nearly half as bad as this one, and it was larger compared to this place.” Gregory agreed with Twilight.

“What if... something even scarier came during this madness?...” Fluttershy shivered what she said, gripping her butcher knife tightly.

“If only there were clues to find, though with the shape this place is in, I wouldn't expect to find anything, much less a clue of some sort.” Twilight stated a bit dejectedly.

Moving forwards they came towards a corner. A shuffling sound from behind caught their attention and they turned around swiftly. There was nothing there, but all of them could feel the burning sensation of being watched. None of them spoke, for fear of what they knew could possibly be out there. That spine tingling, cold grip that fright usually instilled upon all of them was in effect right now. Each step they took, was done so in a cautious manner. Attempting to leave no room for errors, they surreptitiously maneuvered around the corner on to another street.

Fluttershy was reaching her limits, and could be seen visibly contorting her face. Her fear of reality forcing her shell-like self out for protection. Once again, her demeanor was replaced with the more serious and frightening version of herself. Gritting her teeth, she prepared for whatever was hunting them. Suddenly, more shuffling was heard near some bushes. Crouching down low, Fluttershy readied herself to jump. Out of the bushes, just as they had all feared, a shukakusha shambled forwards. This one seemed slower than usual, but Fluttershy wasn't about to let that drop her guard. Hopping towards it with her blade drawn, she clashed with the creatures sickle like arm.

“Grrrrraaaaaggghhhhhhhhhsshshhh” It bellowed, spitting it's foul breath in her direction.

“Heheheheehhe.... don't BUCK with me you worthless carcass.....” Fluttershy replied while using her wings to pull back a bit.

Upon doing so, the sickle of the shukakusha fell forwards a little, missing it's intended target by just shy of a hoof. Fluttershy cackled as the thing's aim returned such poor results. Wasting not another second, she sliced the cleaver-like knife of hers at the horrid creature's decomposing and lifelessly gray neck. Easily, serrated edges of her blade carved into the rotting flesh. Still, she fell short of making a clean cut, and had to make a hasty retreat. Shrieking loudly as it's head flopped around hanging on to a small chunk of neck muscle, it prepared to jump. The shukakusha's next attack was another close one, it nearly sliced some hairs off of the filly's body. Twilight and Gregory watched, not believing what they were seeing. Usually, these things caused enough fear that the two of them wouldn't even dare to confront, but Fluttershy was fighting toe-to-toe with one.

“Hyaaaahhhhh.... BUCKING BRING IT!.... Hehehehehe....” She called out, taunting it loudly.

Facing the creature, she waited for it to make another move. When it did, swinging it's sickle at her, she ducked. Rolling to the side, she jumped at the shukakusha with a battle roar. Her blade aimed directly at the cut she had made earlier. Going right through for a clean slice, her blade severed it's head. Without the brain attached to the body, the rest of it just fell lifelessly to the ground. Fluttershy watched as the head rolled a distance away from the body. It was still growling a bit. Trotting over to it, she proceeded to stomp her hoof on it. Crushing it instantly, she giggled in scary excitement, rubbing her hoof around, smearing the matter.

“Fluttershy?.... Where the hay did that courage come from?!..” Twilight exclaimed.

“Hehehehehe... none of your bucking concern..” She responded before her face contorted once more. “Oh I am terribly sorry Twilight.”

“Its.... alright Fluttershy...” Twilight told her, even more scared of her serious side.

“We should continue... I mean if thats alright with you...” Fluttershy said softly.

Twilight was starting to really get confused. Every moment it seemed that Fluttershy shifted between her sides. It was unpredictable. She feared that her friend would never be the same, but also that if this continued she could end up taking the same route that Pinkie Pie did, and she did not want that at all. One demented and psychotic friend was enough for one pony. Pondering this dilemma of hers, she started to explore more of the street ahead of them.

“Twilight, I don't think there is anything around here... Perhaps we should just leave this place before we encounter another one of those things.” Gregory stated feeling uneasy about even being in this place, especially after that last encounter.

“Common sense is telling me to leave too, Gregory.” Twilight replied. “But something else is calling me, I'm almost positive there is something here for us to discover.”

Gregory had a funny feeling that she would want to stay in here. A strange aura was all around the place, all three of them could feel it. It wasn't like the dark one from the previous city though, it just felt cosmic, and out of this world. Twilight followed this aura, almost as if it was guiding her. Turning into an alley, she trotted silently. Battered brick walls, and trash cans formed the alley, and it was a pathetic alley too. Yet, it was dark enough to provide a back route through the village. There were no flames nearby to light up their path, so they had to shamble around obstacles with much care. A trashcan falling a distance from their location stopped all of them in their tracks. Something was there, coming at them fast. Fluttershy snapped instinctualy, jumping in front of the purple filly, and blocking a sudden sickle lashing out from the blackness.

“Hehehehehehehe.... Another one.... bring it.....” She stated, thrusting her blade forwards and pushing the thing back.

Twilight used her magic to light up the place, and sure enough, revealed two shukakusha in that alley. She gasped at the sight of them. This was dangerous, even for Fluttershy, and she knew that just one wound of any kind, and her friend was a goner.

“Fluttershy! Be careful! If they cut you or anything, its over!” she told her friend, who didn't seem to be listening right now.

One shukakusha swung at her body, and with much precision she dodged it. Moving close to her enemy, she swung her blade forcefully down on to the shukakusha's skull. This time she was able to carve a vertical wound right through it. Instantly it fell, not moving anymore. This still left the other one, who was already jumping at the distracted pony. Fluttershy felt her body being pushed by the thing. She fell underneath some kind of metal, grated panel. The shukakusha jumped on top of this, and fed it's sickles through the spacing of the metal grates. Fluttershy growled in protest, she didn't feel fear, but the thought of death just pissed this side of her off. She wasn't about to be done in by some lowly minion. The sickles came right near her throat, but stopped short. The bars on the metal panel prevented any further reaching from those claws. Opportunity rose, and Fluttershy snatched it up, pushing her butcher knife through the bars, and towards the shukakusha's neck. It tried to retract, but soon found that it's arms had dug into one of the metal bars, cutting into it about one third of the way, and was stuck. Helplessly, it sat there, it's head being severed from it's body by her butcher knife. Blood sprayed in all directions, but she didn't care.

“Hehehehehehe.... bucking die... BUCKING DIE.... DIE DIE DIE DIE!!!” She stated after one last motion of her hoof. The creatures head fell to the ground, and Fluttershy sliced it in half with one heavy swing.

“Oh my Celestia.... Fluttershy! Relax!” Twilight shouted. She had never seen her friend relish in delight over somepony's blood being covered on her body. Just witnessing the once shy pony cackle as she literally bathed in the blood was revolting.

Fluttershy instantly heard her voice, and came to. From speculation, it could be determined that Twilight's voice was undoubtedly able to pull her from within her shell. This relieved the unicorn, who rushed over to help her friend from under the metal grate. A look of worry and distraught from the events of recent, made Fluttershy realize what the effects of her 'Shell' was having on her friend.

“Oh dear me... I am soooo sorry Twilight.... I just can't seem to control my inner shell....” Fluttershy was upset, she didn't want to be like this, but being alone for an extended amount of time caused her shell to fuse with herself, to the point that they were almost as one being. Twilight huffed a bit, knowing that she couldn't provide any immediate remedy. Hugging her friend, she comforted her as Fluttershy began to pout a bit.

Gregory was meandering towards them when something caught his eyes. A thick dark red stain on the ground. Despite the darkness, he was still able to see it's trailing composition. From their position, the blood led on further down the alley, turning right at the far end. Nudging Twilight, he pointed at it.

“Should we follow that?...” He asked.

“I don't know... its a trail of blood, which means whatever is or was at the end of it, had to of died by some means.” Twilight told him, while softly pulling from Fluttershy.

“Perhaps it could lead us to a clue though, I mean what else have we got to go off of in here, besides your instincts.” Gregory responded.

“You have a point, not to mention the blood has seemed to have dried up already.” She said while walking over to it, and putting a hoof against it. Dried blood flaked off of her. “Fluttershy, you think you can carry on some more?”

“Mh-mmm.....” She timidly responded, getting up from her spot and readjusting herself.

With a smile, Twilight lead the group out of the alley, following the trail of blood. Around the corner, they came across another street. Down the middle of this street, there had been many rectangled garden fences. Within them, were trees, but now, most of the trees had burned down, leaving nothing but blackened oak. On either sides of the streets, more remnants of structures could be seen. This section was not spared from the sporadic amounts of raging fires. Many buildings still were on fire, leaving smoke to roam in the air. Along with that smoke, the scent of ash, brimstone and burning wood entered the nostrils of the group. Amidst the lights of the dancing flames, more blood trailed on the cobblestone streets, stopping short at one structure.

Within the confines of what little walls remained, a message painted in blood was there. Across the largest wall; “Four houses... down....” was painted. Twilight pondered about this, placing a hoof up to her chin to do such. Obviously it was some sort of old instruction, but why would it need to be painted in blood, and in ruins such as this? With nothing else of importance in that place, they left, looking for the fourth house down. Blood led the way once more. Sure enough, just after three homes and sandwiched between two stores, was the house they were searching for. Another message awaited them. When Twilight stepped inside, she swore she could have heard voices whispering to her. Shrugging it off, she examined the next message; “The library..... across the street from the bakery....”.

“What the hay kind of messages are these that they needed to be painted in blood? Is paper not sufficient enough?” Twilight was clearly aggravated, Of course underneath it all, the blood was unsettling to her.

Huffing she lead the group out of the house, and into the streets again. Fluttershy was hacking and sputtering while they maneuvered from structure to structure. The smoke all around the area was starting to get thicker the more they stayed within the village. Twilight looked from her to Gregory. Both of them were concerned for her well being.

“We should hurry on to the next location....” Twilight said, picking up her hooves a bit, while guiding Fluttershy along.

“Right.” Gregory responded while also quickening his pace.

Finding the bakery wasn't that hard, though they had to walk around for a block before noticing one of the signs nearby said establishment. Across from that bakery, was a large library. Like the rest of the village, it too had suffered greatly from the inferno raging through the area. It resembled every other building too, no doors, windows, walls, or even a roof. Stepping up the stair case, they shuffled inside. Walking a bit they found a lone table that was still untouched by the fire's tongue. Twilight began to tense up when she saw what the table had on it. A piece of parchment, matching the quality that Pinkie's notes used.

Slowly she trotted over to it, picking it up with her hooves and lighting up her horn to read it.:

“Dear diary.... This place has been the absolute most bucking horrible place in all of equestria, everypony here is rude and downright bucking crazy. Nice quaint little town my hoof! Of all the hayish places in Equestria this is the worst of them. I am gonna put it out of it's misery once I gain power. That is for damn sure! I don't give a flying feather about harvesting this town full of featherbrain ponies. In the end I slaughtered many ponies here, as many as I could so as to be discrete, though I wanted to kill them all. Bucking ponies aside, I did find the information I needed pertaining to that amulet. It seems to have been made by some sort of cosmic beings originating from Equestria. From the information gathered, I think I need to pay a visit to multiple dimensions, as a precautionary measure. Can't let anypony figure out the vulnerability in my scheme!”

“Oh dear Celestia...” Twilight stammered a bit, realizing fully what Pinkie Pie had been seeking. “This is bad.... I remember reading about this.....”

“Reading about what?...” Gregory questioned the now panicking Twilight.

“Twilight what is it??...” Even Fluttershy was worried.

“I think I know what further helped plummet Pinkie Pie into madness.... The amulet she was looking for.... is referred to as the pendant of the Lunatic Mare in pony legends....” Twilight stated. “It's said that the amulet grants incredible power and strange abilities, but at the cost of one's sanity. I'm guessing this was the straw that broke the camel's back.... seeing as she was already losing it when she left Ponyville....”

“What kind of abilities can it give? Just how powerful could she possibly get?” Gregory continued to ask.

“Well... As far as I can remember from that old dusty tome... she is seamlessly able to pass through the multiverse, traveling from dimension to dimension with the slightest of ease.” Twilight stated. “Her five senses are also increased by ten fold.... other than these two attributes... the rest of the amulet's capabilities are unknown being that the artifact was never actually found....”

“That doesn't bode well for us.” He replied.

“Well..... Wait a second! I just remembered something else! It is said that upon the creation of this amulet, another amulet was made to counter-balance the first amulet. It was said to have vanished into a land of..... ORB NOW! I need to contact those ninja! Stat!” Twilight was completely serious right now, as Fluttershy shuffled through the bag of her's to locate that orb, handing it to the purple filly.

Shaking it a bit, Twilight soon found herself gazing into the rob at the ninja who covered most of his face in masks. “I am sorry to have called so suddenly, but there has been a change of plans.”

“A change of plans? Inform us quickly, because we are very close to the border already.” The silver haired ninja known as Kakashi stated.

“Do you know of a 'Black River?” Twilight asked.

“Yeah, what of it? Is there something in particular about that region?” He replied.

“Yes. A very vital artifact called 'The Mare's Amulet of Tranquility' resides in a small hidden temple somewhere near that river.” She told him.

“Why is this amulet so vital?” He asked, being speculative was like second nature to him, and he wanted details asap.

“The one we are after... has the amulet whose powers can only be dealt with using the one I am requesting of you to locate.” She continued to inform him of.

“I see... The Black River isn't that far from our location, I think we can manage to acquire it for you in no time. What about our means of transportation?” Kakashi pondered, unsure of where this talking pony even existed.

“I will take care of the measures for your travel on my side, no need to worry.” Twilight told him.

“Alright, is there anything else we should be aware of?” Kakashi was making sure to extract every ounce of information as he possibly could.

“No, nothing at the moment. I will keep you updated if anything comes up! Twilight, over and out!” Twilight said

“Understood. Kakashi-out.” With that Kakashi had hung up the orb.

Twilight was about to hang up her orb, when among the static of the disconnected call, a voice began playing. Flickering in the white noise on scree was an image of a very familiar place, but even more familiar was the voice. Though a ghostly touch was distorting the voice, no doubt about whose it was. When the screen had cleared, on it a dark factory on clouds appeared.

“The Rainbow Factory....” Fluttershy shuddered from the dark image of the industrious structure, but what Twilight said next brought both of them to the brink of tears. The voice calling from the orb freshly reminding them of a friend.

“Rainbow Dash.....”