“Get down!” shouts Shining Armor while tackling Twilight and using his magic to drag Ivory Scroll to the ground.

The mares scream in protest, but when Shining Armor's rose colored shield barely goes up in time to block an electric beam, they almost fall into a state of comatose from sheer fear. A muffled thud and ripples of of blue and bright red energy spread across the shield from the electric beam's impact, and the terrified screams of the crowd are overpowered by a barrage of more electric attacks.

Shining Armor stands protectively over Twilight, growling viciously as the onslaught continues, and very impact from the weapon makes his sister flinch and whimper. He expands his shield to cover all of Town Hall and orders a squad of soldiers to take Twilight, Ivory Scroll and Golden Harvest somewhere safe before activating his radio.

“They’re in the inn! Take them out!” barks Shining Armor into his radio.

Terra swivels her cannon at the incoming pests, growling and stepping back as their bullets whiz past her and chew apart her cover, sending splinters of wood and glass flying and the torn curtain flapping.

With the pegasi flying like locusts, she is having a hard time aiming, but when the bullet's start slicing past her, covering her body in burning scratches, she pushes all aiming aside and fires wildly. Dozens of thin streaks of concentrated energy streak into the sky, piercing the armor of the soldiers like knives against tissue paper, sending them falling with burning holes in their chests and missing limbs. She then turns her wrath on the soldiers bogged down by the stampeding civilians and rapidly fires on them, uncaring how many unarmed that are gunned down.

“That's right! Come to Terra!” cackles the insane mare.

She shoots a few more soldiers, forcing them to scatter, and spots Shining Armor putting her target into the safety of the Town Hall, which she knows she cannot breach the shield that surrounds it. Snorting, she backs away from her window and makes her way out of the room, disgusted that her target gets to live another day.

Shining Armor is having a lot of trouble keeping his hooves from shaking. He can see the fear in everyone's eyes. His sister, his soldiers, Ivory Scroll, Golden Harvest. None of them were prepared for this. He even has doubts that the anonymous sender of the letter warning them of the attack knew that this would happen.

“Sir, we got dozens of casualties, most still on the field waiting for help,” says a Ponyville Guardpony.

Shining Armor nods. “Get the shield specialist and take injured off of the field and put them to the medical center.” He turns to one of the Royal Guard officers while waving his hoof towards his sister and the candidates. “Keep those three in here. Nopony will be able to get in, so it is safest here.”

“Yes, sir!” says the guard, hoof snapping to a salute.

Shining Armor returns the salute right as his radio pack crackles with a stallion's static voice. “Captain Sparkle to Staff Sergeant Crumbles, we are moving in to engage the enemy. Over.”

Shining Armor presses his radio. “Roger that. Use extreme caution and apprehend terrorist for interrogation. Over and out.”

Shining Armor releases the radio's button and sighs loudly, running his hoof through his mane, trying to calm his racing heart so he can think clearer about this mess. However, when Twilight starts screaming for Spike over the commotion, his heartbeats jump tenfold and he whirls to Twilight to see her pacing in circles, ears perked and eyes wide with worry as she cranes her neck over the crowd.

“Spike!” calls Twilight again, her voice cracking and tears filling her eyes. “Spike!”

Twilight starts moving between the soldiers and civilians, begging for information about Spike's whereabouts, becoming more and more distraught with every clueless response. When she grabs a guard's shoulders and starts screaming at his face about not knowing where Spike is, Shining Armor runs forward and pulls her away from the guard. He puts his hoof on her shoulder

“Twilight, relax,” says Shining Armor, even though his heart is racing as well since he has not seen the drake anywhere.

“Relax? Relax!? How can I relax when Spike is missing!” cries Twilight frantically. “What if he's- Oh, no! He's still out there, isn't he!? I have to go out there!”

Her horn glows and Shining Armor quickly flicks it, making her yelp and stumble back, tenderly rubbing her horn and whimpering

“No, you need to stay in the shield where it is safe. I will find Spike,” says Shining Armor firmly.

“But, I-I have to find Spike!” stammers Twilight.

“Stay in the shield! I will find Spike, but I need you to stay here, okay?”

Twilight wants to say something, he knows she does by the way her mouth opens and shuts with her whimpers and big, purple eyes begging him to let her go. However, his resolve stands stronger and the stare down between her whimpered pleas and his silent glare leads her to lower her head, nodding in defeat.

“Okay,” whispers Twilight.

Shining Armor's expression softens and he puts his hoof on her shoulder and tilts her head up, not smiling, but not glowering, either. “I promise, Twily, I'll find Spike. Just please stay in the shield. It is too dangerous out there.”

Twilight nods again, blinking the torrents of tears and repeating: “Okay.”

Shining Armor hugs Twilight and rubs her back gently. “I'll be back with Spike. You'll see. I love you, Twily.”

Twilight returns the hug with a trembling hoof. “I love you, too. Please stay safe.”

Shining Armor nods and moves away from her to assemble his team.

Terra limps out of the room, leaving a trail of bloody dots in her wake with her mane hanging past her eyes in sweaty clumps while her magic adjusts the power dial of her weapon. She continues down the hallway and when a group of five Royal Guardponies gallop into view, she fires.

Their screams disappear when their flesh is burned away in a beam of blue, and the wall behind them explodes in a display of fire, sending burning wood and smoke billowing out into the alley. She keeps walking to the stairs, though, and she fires another overpowered shot that leaves the stairs a black rail of jagged wood with three burnt bodies at the bottom. Her horn glows and her stones mold into four small, curved blades, then she levitates a table towards her position and uses it as a platform to lower self down to the next level while her cannon spews sparkling exhaust and glows red at the barrel. As soon as she sees the remaining ten guards in the lobby, she unleashes her blades, cutting down all ten in quick strokes to their throats, filling the air with the sounds blades slicing flesh and bloody gurgles, and sending sprays of red all over the establishment.

The stone blades reform into two rocks and float next to Terra as she hurries towards the back exit using the kitchen. She uses a telekinetic blast to blow the door off of its hinges, where it shatters against the brick wall, and she steps into the alley, ready to make her escape. Though, as soon as she steps outside, someone dressed in a full body suit, mask and large fedora consisting of different shades of purple has the audacity of ramming her to the ground.

Terra's world spins and her ears ring, and when she pushes herself up, she is greeted with a hoof to the face that sends her back peddling into the kitchen with a gratuitous amount of blood gushing from her nose. She regains herself quickly, though, and when the assailant goes for another swing, she blocks it with her hoof and lights up her horn, only for the masked fighter to jab it.

Terra swears painfully and goes airborne when her attacker grabs her and slams her body against a metal rack containing pots and pans. Pain erupts in her ribs upon impact, and it spreads all over her head and back when the dishes and rack fall on top of her, sending the dishes clattering to the floor.

Terra growls through gritted, bloodied teeth as she glares at the masked fighter, sneering when she gets her limbs to push her body up. “Who the hay are you supposed to be?”

“I’m Mare-Do-Well,” she says in a disguised voice.

“Well, Miss Well, Charon awaits!”

Terra shoots at Mare-Do-Well with the electric cannon, but she rolls out of the way in a purple blur, sending the electric ball tearing across the kitchen and blowing apart a stove. The stove disappears in a flash of fire and smoke that sends metal, wood and Mare-Do-Well flying. Terra ducks slightly and covers her face with her hoof to block the flying shrapnel, and when she hears a thud and more dishes fall to the ground with metallic bangs, she looks over her shoulder and sees her opponent on the ground, covered in soot with red seeping past the dozens of cuts.

“Well, that wasn't much fun,” grumbles Terra, groaning when she stands up and shakes herself loose. Then she gallops out into the alley, wincing with each spike of pain going all through her limbs and ribs as her magic picks up her stones and activates her radio. “Sky to Ground, the mission went downhill and I need immediate evac.”

“We can tell. You made quite the mess down there, Terra,” says the radiopony.

“What you call a mess, I call art, now get your lazy asses to the warehouse!”

“Roger that.”

Outside, in the midst of the chaos, Spike ducks behind a concession stand when a squad of pegasi are shot out of the sky. He shrinks down even further, swearing and pressing himself against the stand when thin streaks of electrical beams decimate soldiers and civilians alike. It only lasts a few seconds, and when the shooting stops, he gulps and peeks out from his cover, watching with a racing heart and big eyes as a group of soldiers charge the inn. The few refraining from the charge scramble to help those injured by the barrage.

The soldier leading the charge barks some orders before he uses his magic to activate his radio. “Captain Sparkle to Staff Sergeant Crumbles, we are moving in to engage the enemy. Over.”

Spike cannot hear the rest of the conversation because Staff Sergeant Crumbles and his squad go inside the inn. The drake looks over his shoulder at the rose colored shield, gulping, knowing full well that there is no way he can get past one of Shining Armor's shields. He is about to leave to seek shelter somewhere safe until this whole crazy event blows over, but his muscles lock when the inn's interior explodes into chaos. He cannot see it, but he can definitely hear the gunfire, both ballistic and electric, and he sees a plum of smoke rising from the alley end. Just as quickly as it begins, though, it ends with a deathly silence.

“Oh man,” gasps Spike fretfully, claws gripping his cover tighter as he thinks about how many terrorists must be crammed inside that inn if that much damage is being caused. Then he sees a purple blur leap across the roof tops and land on inn's roof. He cringes when the costumed figure slips a little, but whoever they are, they quickly regain their footing and scramble to the top, where they disappear to the other side. The costume looks familiar, and it takes Spike a moment to process where he's seen it, but when he remembers what it is and has a good idea who's wearing it, his eyes bulge. “Oh no.”

Spike runs inside the inn and the first thing he sees are the mangled bodies lying pools of blood and the obliterated staircase. He spots a trail of blood leading from a table that goes into the kitchen, which is billowing smoke. He takes a deep breath, clenches his fist and runs into the kitchen. He spots the open door immediately and makes a run to it, hoping that he can catch up, but he slides to a stop when he hears a familiar groan. He looks to the source and sees Pinkie Pie pushing herself up, wincing in pain.

“Pinkie!” calls Spike.

The costumed figure looks up. “Spike?”

That voice confirms the drake's suspicion, and he runs over to her, almost slipping on the tile when he skids to a halt.

“Pinkie, are you okay?” asks Spike as he gently helps her up.

“I’m fine,” says Pinkie Pie while wincing quietly and cracking her back.

“Where are the guards? Where’s the assassin?”

“I... I don’t know. I think I heard her say something about ground and sky and pickup at a warehouse before I blacked out.”

“The Flim Flam warehouse is on the outskirts of the town and is big enough to land something on it. I’ll go stop the assassin-”

“No, Spike.”

“And you get yourself taken care of.”

“Spike!”

Spike doesn’t let Pinkie Pie finish, he runs down the alley towards the Flim Flam warehouse as fast as he can. The chaos of the stampeding crowd trying to escape the chaos and the soldiers trying to calm them down and help the injured doesn’t make his run any easier, and when he finally makes it there, he gets an uneasy feeling in his gut. He knows the assassin is nearby because a piece of the chain link fence surrounding the place has a hole burnt through it where the edges are still glowing red hot.

Spike takes a deep breath and goes through the hole. As he approaches the warehouse and searches as quietly as he can for the assassin, coming to a stop and fighting to keep himself calm when he hears her in a large, near empty chamber.

“What do you mean you’re having problems?” says the assassin.

Spike takes a double take at the vague familiarity of the voice.

“Well, shoot them out of the sky, you morons! Terra, out!”

Spike gasps when he realizes that the assassin is the mare with the cool communication device that was at the library yesterday. But right after he gasps, the ground shifts under his feet, causing him fall on his face. He is then grabbed by a magical force and launched into the ceiling just to be slammed into the ground. Luckily Spike is a dragon, otherwise his bones would’ve been shattered. At the most they are bruised, but it’s still high on the list of the most painful thing he’s experienced.

Spike groans and his eyes shift up to Terra’s sick, twisted smile.

“Hey I know you!” says Terra excitedly.

Spike swallows his fear and coils himself, growling with his array of razor sharp fangs exposed.

Terra arches a brow. “Is that supposed to be scary?”

Spike lunges at Terra, and she leaps out of the way, barely dodging his swinging tail. His claws scratch against the concrete floor as he slides to a stop, and turns to face her once agai, still snarling and puffing green smoke.

“C'mon, boy, use your fire! Use your fire!” coos Terra. She lowers herself with her hind end raised, wagging her tail like a canine wanting to play. “C'mon, use your fire!”

Something about Terra's theatrics strikes a real sore spot on him, and he takes a deep breath, still on all fours, and shoots a roaring jet of green flame towards her. She merely laughs and rolls out of the way of the flame that scorches the concrete, whooping and laughing while her run just barely keeps Spike's flames out of reach.

“Ooh, look at you go!” cheers Terra.

Her horn then glows a chunk of the floor next to Spike erupt with a ball of stone flying up to hit him in the jaw. Spike's flames are cut off with a yelp and he stumbles before being knocked off his feet by a telekinetic blast. He rolls and skids across the floor, coming to a sliding stop, only for Terra to jump next to him and stomp on his side, pushing all the air out of him. He clutches his side, coughing and swearing in pain, all while the unicorn stares down at him with that same evil smile.

“It's not too often I get to toy with my prey, and you are actually the first dragon I ever fought,” says Tera. She grabs Spike's head with her magic and forces it up so he can look her in the eye as she leans muzzle to muzzle with him. “Not very impressed, by the way.”

She slams Spike's against the ground, making him grunt and spit blood from his mouth. He’s regretting ignoring Pinkie Pie and is now hoping she ignored him and is one her way to stop this lunatic. Maybe with Twilight or Shining Armor tagging along to help.

“Does Mommy Twilight know you're out playing cops and robbers?” continues Terra in her demeaning tone.

“She’s not my mommy,” growls Spike.

“Ohhh, I see. Your marefriend then. Does Rarity know your cheating on her with a naughty librarian?”

Spike screams as he breaks free from Terra’s magical grip and he tackles her to the ground. He has her on her back and throws in a few amazing punches before he tries strangling her. But as soon as he tries strangling her, she stabs him in the side and watches with a satisfied smile as he rolls off of her with one of her blades sticking out of his ribs. He gasps for air while clutching his injury and Terra giggles as she slowly pulls the knife out, enjoying the sounds of his painful cries.

“Aww, what's the matter? Is the poor wittle dwagon hurt?” says Terra with puckered lips in phony sadness.

Spike growls and jumps towards her again, but Terra grabs him with her magic and slams him down on the ground, kicking up dust and sending a thud echoing through the warehouse.

Spike groans again, feeling his wounds sting as the dust collects and rough concrete rubs his injury. He glares at Terra, panting and flexing his muscles to their limit as he pushes himself on is four limbs despite the psycho's magic.

“You’re a monster,” pants Spike, clutching the stab wound to keep his blood from flowing, but it still seeps past his fingers and patters to the floor.

“Oh, yes I am, and I love it!” hollers Terra shamelessly.

Terra bucks Spike on his injured side and when he’s on his back, howling in pain, she stomps on his gut and her teeth and eyes glow in the dim light as she grins and keeps her eye just barely above his eye. Spike pushes against her, but with his blood loss, his muscles are weak and trembling and his eyes cannot break away from the knife threatening to pop it open any second.

“There is nothing more exciting than taking the gift of life and crushing it with your own hooves!” claims Terra.

She starts tracing the outer area of Spike's eye, leaving white scratches on his scales. He feels the knife's tip scraping against him, and his heart races as he tries harder to push her off, but she lays down on top of him and wags her tail in excitement as she pokes around the edges, barely able to sit still, much less contain her giggles.

“Daddy is funny, though,” says Terra. “He has this thing about life. Corruption does not deserve it, but purity does. It's all about end corruption, kill corruption, spare purity, save purity, and yadda yadda yadda. But what fun is there in taking sides when you can purge everything equally in glorious hellfire!”

With an unexpected burst of energy, Spike swiftly swipes his claws against Terra’s face, leaving a trail of nasty cuts from her cheek to her forehead and ruining her right eye. She screeches in pain and rolls off of him, clutching her eye and kicking her legs wildly while he crawls to his feet. Terra sobs and thrashes on the ground, swearing in agony as blood pours past her hooves, drenching her face, neck and hooves in dirty red. When she manages to get up on wobbly legs, energy explodes from her horn and she stomps the ground, shaking and destroying the concrete as jagged slabs of stone pop up around her. Spike gulps and steps back, clutching his injury when she turns to him, panting sharply, grinning with her good eye large with its pupil dilated and her injured eye closed with what's left of her eyelid.

“You still got some fight left, huh!?” yells Terra in a mix of pain and fury as blood continues gushing out of her wounded eye. “Then let's fight some more, big boy!”

Her horn sparks again and the stones that erupted from the ground mold into large, sewing needle shapes and lunge at Spike. He tries to retreat, but he barely takes a step before they stab his limbs and side, going clean through him and impacting the ground behind him, where they shatter behind him into crimson soaked shard. He barely has a chance to scream from the pain before Terra leaps towards him with a barbed blade that pierces his scales and shreds his lungs.

He gasps and stumbles back, and he falls to his knees, soaked in his own blood as more fill his lungs and dribble past his mouth. Terra has yet to remove her blade, and tears soak Spike's eyes and cheeks, and he whimpers weakly, as the her electrical cannon charges, bathing them both in electrical light that makes her fur stand and his scales heat up.

“Enjoy Hell, dragon!” cackles Terra.

Pinkie Pie hears the commotion of fighting and Spike's screams bounce off the concrete walls of the warehouse. She outran Shining Armor and his troops seconds after they started moving, but now her legs feel like they are about to rip, her lungs burn and her throat is scratchy and stuffed from her raspy breathing and the panic shaking her.

Every fiber in her body is telling her that Spike is in danger, but she cannot find him anywhere! The noises seem to be coming from every corner of the structure, and the shadows play tricks on her mind, making her see the ghosts in the dark that are not really there. These distractions are making it more difficult to for her to find him, and when Spike's cries go silent after three electric shots, Pinkie Pie skids to a halt, panting and pacing in circles, trying figure out where the shots came from.

“Spike!” calls Pinkie Pie frantically.

Silence.

Pinkie Pie's heart beats like terrified hummingbird and her lips tremble and her eyes swell with tears as she does a short gallop in a random direction, sliding to a stop in a small opening.

“Spike!”

More silence.

Pinkie Pie is about to move again, but she does not even take a pace when she hears approaching hooves. Her ear twist to the source, then it tightens and she barely turns her head in time to see a blood soaked blade flying towards her. Pinkie Pie yelps and stumbles back, narrowly avoiding it, and it impacts the wall behind her.

Pinkie Pie looks at the knife, now stuck in the wall, then snaps to the one who threw it and takes a step back, trembling and swallowing nervously as the figure chuckles in a mix of pain and madness. She recognizes her from Redheart's house and the Sugar Cube Corner, only in a lot better condition. The state the unicorn is in now, with a missing eye and face drenched in blood amongst the bleeding scratches all over her body, it is terrifying to see she is still standing. And walking. And grinning with another knife floating next to her and her electric cannon sparking with its miniscule energy.

“Hello again, Mare-Do-Well,” giggles Terra, her one good eye focused on Pinkie Pie and filled with a lust for blood. “Are you looking for someone?”

“What did you do to Spike!” yells Pinkie Pie.

The blade is yanked out of the wall and lunges at Pinkie Pie. She dodges the blade and it circles around Terra before coming to a stop next to her head. Terra steps forward, grinning dementedly, leaving a trail of bloody dots in her wake and giggling.

“I broke your toy,” says Terra between her chuckles.

“WHAT DID YOU DO WITH SPIKE!” screams Pinkie Pie.

“You should’ve heard him begging for his life.” Terra mimics a cry before returning to her bloody, toothy grin. “Does Twilight know you got her lover killed?”

Pinkie Pie screams and charges Terra, her body buzzing in warning as the psychotic unicorn meets her charge with a smirk.

Right when Pinkie Pie jumps toward Terra, the unicorn shoots both of her blades at her. By pure reflex, Pinkie Pie bats the first blade away, slides under the second one, and leaps forward and punches Terra’s injured eye. As Terra shrieks and stumbles back, dropping her weapons, Pinkie Pie bucks her into a rack of supplies. An avalanche of the items cover Terra and create a deafening ruckus that bounces off the walls. Pinkie Pie watches the pile for a few seconds for any signs of movement. When there’s nothing Pinkie Pie turns to look for Spike, but stops dead in her tracks when she hears the ground cracking and a loud rumbling noise radiating from underneath it.

“You thought a kick would stop me?” sneers Terra while rising out of the pile on top of a levitating rock platform. “I'm the Stone Reaper! It's going to take more than a kick to knock me down!”

Pinkie Pie takes a step back and her jaw drops as she watches Terra rise up with more chunks of stones breaking out from under the floor to rise up around her as satellites. The stones are morphed into circular saw blades and then shot at Pinkie Pie in rapid secession.

Pinkie Pie gallops down the warehouse aisles, dodging each of the crude saw blades and making them shatter against the ground or impale into a wall or one of the stacked containers. She looks over her shoulder and ducks down, rolling on her back and watching with a sick stomach as the saw blade spins past her muzzle, barely missing it by an inch, and slices off a piece of the brim of her hat. The blade impacts the wall behind her, shattering into pieces but she cannot relax because her senses buzz again, giving her just enough warning to roll out of the way of pony sized spear head that breaks apart her cover. The pillar she had been hiding behind barely a second ago crumbles with pieces of the ceiling falling down with a cloud of dust and dirt from the roof.

Pinkie Pie leaps to her feet and resumes galloping, ducking and making every sharp turn she can as molded stones of various blades and hammers slice or smash through the aisles.

“Are you running? How cute!” laughs Terra.

Pinkie Pie's tail twitches right as she is about to circle a corner and digs her hooves in the ground, barely avoiding a maw full of hoof. Terra jumps from cover, grinning psychotically, and takes another swing at Pinkie Pie while throwing one of her knives at her with the use of magic. The Element sacrifices a punch in her side to avoid getting stabbed in the head, but the punch sends her doubling over, coughing with a bruise forming on her side. She is then put in a headlock and smells Terra's breath and feels her blood dripping on her from their close proximity.

“C'mon, tough girl, let's see your moves,” sneers Terra.

Terra uses brute strength to keep Pinkie Pie in her grip as she runs full speed towards the remains of a rack that has been crushed by one of her attacks. Pinkie Pie tries to dig her hooves on the rough floor, but Terra levitates her just enough to keep her off the ground and rams her head against a wooden crate.

Pinkie Pie's hears ring and her world becomes disoriented as she falls to the ground, leaving a head sized hole in the box. Terra moves in for another attack, but Pinkie Pie's hind leg snaps outwards and collides with her jaw, sending her stumbling back. Pinkie Pie then turns, leaps and brings her hoof down on her head before upper cutting her. The unicorn staggers backwards and the earth pony lunges forward again, hooking her neck to trap her so she can send punch after punch to her face. After the fourth punch, Pinkie Pie releases Terra and does another round-house kick to her chest, knocking the unicorn off her hooves and into the air, where she crashes back down, flat on her back, panting and laughing.

“Oh, wow! I love your brutality!” laughs Terra, groaning loudly when she gets back up. She whoops, shakes herself off and wipes blood off of her face, even though it does next to no good because of her wounded eye. “Daddy would love you, too! I'll tell you what. Let's call call a truce and you can come with me and together we can do all the-”

“No!” interrupts Pinkie Pie.

Terra snorts. “Well, okay, then.”

Terra's horn bursts with energy and a stone mace bursts from the floor next to Pinkie Pie, showering her with concrete and stone shards that beat against her body and dig into her skin.

Pinkie Pie bites her tongue to keep herself from crying from the burning scratches and blunt trauma as she leaps over the summoned weapon. She twirls in the air, watching with wide eyes how close the blunt object is to her nose as if time itself has slowed down to show her her luck. However, when she sees the deranged unicorn's demented smirk and feels her spine vibrating, she has a very strong feeling that she is in for a world of hurt. That prediction is proven to be painfully true a second later when something round and hard strikes her in the back like a cannon ball.

Pinkie Pie barely has a chance to scream from the trauma on her spine and the crushing pain on her back before she lands face first into the concrete and rolls across the floor. She comes to a stop by another pillar, coughing, trembling and whimpering on the dirty ground with the dust of the floor being grounded in her bloody, sweaty suit.

“You were a lot of fun, Mare-Do-Well,” says Terra, her shoulders buckling and her voice shaking from how hard she is chuckling as her eye gleams in the dirty light like an illuminated blade. Terra steps forward, putting a lot of emphasis on each step as she lifts two maces and two blades with her magic. “Too bad I have to kill you. You actually made things interesting.”

Pinkie Pie pushes herself up on wobbly legs, blood dripping through her lips and past her mask. Her hat is nowhere to be seen and one of her mask lenses has shattered, cutting her brow and exposing her droopy, narrowed eye to Terra.

“I'm not done yet,” wheezes Pinkie Pie, blinking blood out of her eye and gritting her teeth in response to a sharpness in her back when she prepares for a launch.

“Oh, yes you are!”

Terra lunges with all of her weapons flying towards Pinkie Pie, and in turn she tenses her muscles, bringing tears to her eyes from the burning and agonizingly tight feelings. Her eyes zero in on Terra's horn, waiting for the perfect moment to dodge the attack and shatter the appendage.

“Freeze!” barks Shining Armor suddenly.

Terra freezes, both blades stopping just shy a few feet of Pinkie Pie's heart and the maces coming in from two directions to crush her head. The grotesquely wounded unicorn slowly turns her head, grinning to expose her bloodied teeth at the Captain and his troops.

“Captain Sparkle? What a surprise!” says Terra sardonically.

“Disarm your weapons and get down on the ground!” orders Shining Armor.

The soldiers he brought spread out, carefully forming a circle around Terra. Pinkie Pie does not look away from Terra, though. Despite how much her battered body is shaking and how fast her heart is beating from the adrenaline rush, she can still tell that Terra is planning something.

“My daddy is a fan of yours,” says Terra eerily, her good eye twitching and grin widening. “He really loves how you are trying to end the corruption destroying our society.”

“That's nice. Now, get on the ground!” says Shining Armor sharply.

“But I am not my daddy.”

With a vicious yell, Terra launches her two blades the nearest guards while simultaneously swinging her maces against two more. The two hit with the blades drop to the ground with slit throats while the ones hit by the maces fly off with crushed chests, crashing somewhere out of view.

Pinkie Pie screams in rage and gallops forward at full speed, mane flattening and hot air blowing from her noses. The last two escorts are killed with a stab to the eye and a caved in skull by the time Pinkie Pie manages to tackle Terra to the ground. The two roll over each other in a blur of purple and brown with sparks showering around them. They both snarl and deal swift, brutal punches to each other, with Pinkie Pie trying to shatter the horn and Terra blocking and retaliating.

Every punch to Pinkie Pie's face shakes her vision and blinds her white and a flash of pain, but she still keeps on hitting with barbaric ferocity, hoping to tire down Terra so her defense can fall. But, right as she is about to land another blow, the unicorn's horn glows and a solid punch of pure energy strikes her in the chest, sending her soaring into the air and belly flopping on a crate. It shattered on impact and Pinkie Pie rolls on the ground, shifting weakly and straining herself to watch Terra roll to her hooves and shoot at Shining Armor with her cannon. Pinkie Pie brings her hoof up to shield her eyes when he puts up his shield, making the electric shot burst on impact with a blinding display of light that burns the concrete around him.

“Oh, sure! Now you work right, you piece of crap!” snarls Terra. She fires again and again, with each shot meeting the same resistance. “What's the matter, big guy? Scared of a little girl!”

Pinkie Pie seethes quietly and pushes herself up on her hooves, stumbling over to a pile of rubble where she collapses on her stomach again.

Terra continues shouting her taunts and shooting her cannon at Shining Armor, and Pinkie Pie reaches for a slab of concrete attached to a rebar, using it to help her stand.

Suddenly the crack of a rifle rings out and before Pinkie Pie can comprehend what happened, Terra's cannon explodes and her right side is engulfed in electric flame.

Pinkie Pie watches in horror as Terra shrieks in agony and thrashes on the ground as the electric fire burns through her coat and melts her flesh down to the bone. The unicorn's skin and muscles drip off quickly, leaving charred bone behind, but before the fire can consume her completely, it is blown out by a wave of magic.

Shining Armor's shield drops and Pinkie Pie looks at him in utter shock as he marches towards Terra destroyed, smoking body with a deep scowl and a lust for vengeance in his eyes. The injured unicorn tries standing up, but he kicks her down so she is lying on her back and he steps on her chest and tilts his battle saddle towards her muzzle.

A tense silence passes between the three of them. Shining Armor glares down at Terra, his breathing heavy and furious tears swelling in his eyes, and she, in turn, looks back up at him with her good eye darting to random points on his body. She is trembling and wheezing with a half charred skull face grinning back at him, and Pinkie Pie looks between the two, waiting to see what will happen next.

“Resist arrest. I dare you,” says Shining Armor darkly.

“Oh-oh-okay-okay, big guy. Ye-You want-you want me to. You want me to, huh?” chuckles Terra through pained gasping.

Shining Armor furrows his brow and Pinkie Pie tenses, neither liking the way she’s laughing at him. Terra’s horn unexpectedly glows and one of her stone blades shoots clean through the bone of the leg holding her down. Shining Armor screams and collapses to the ground and Pinkie Pie yells for Shining Armor while Terra clambers on top of him and starts stabbing at his armored chest. Despite his best efforts to fight her off, she still overpowers him and starts stabbing his blocking hoof while beating his horn with her hoof until it cracks, nearly snapping it off in her assault.

“Ha-ha-how-how do you like that! How’s THAT for resist, huh!” screeches Terra’s horribly distorted, scratchy voice over Shining Armor's screams of pain.

Terra yanks her blade out from Shining Armor's hoof and she lifts it above his eye right as Pinkie Pie swings her crude, rebar-concrete weapon against the side of head. Terra stumbles off of Shining Armor, cackling and squirming, and Pinkie Pie screams and bashes it against her head again. This time she falls silent and limp like an old rag doll.

Pinkie Pie holds the weapon above Terra's head, panting and shaking with dilated eyes and her sweaty, flat mane sliding in front of her exposed eye as a clumped mess. She really wants to bring that weapon down and watch Terra's head explode on the floor for all that she has done and what she would have done if she had not stopped her.

'Just one more swing,' says the voice in her head. A toothy grin spreads across Pinkie Pie's muzzle and tears clean a trail of blood and sweat off her cheek as the weapon shakes from her trembling hoof. She is so close to ending this she can taste it. 'One. Quick. Little. Swing. And that is one less meanie for you to deal with.'

“Pinkie,” coughs Shining Armor weakly.

Pinkie Pie blinks, her eyes back to normal, and she looks at Shining Armor, jaw dropping at the sight of the Captain. Blood and a translucent rose colored fluid flow down his damaged horn, matting his blue mane to his face and wetting the grime on it. His destroyed hoof is pressed against his chest, covering his armor in a sleek layer of blood, and his stabbed hoof is extended to her.

“Pinkie, don't. She's done for,” says Shining Armor through his heavy breathing, with his eyes glazed and tears of agony rolling down his cheeks.

Pinkie Pie stares at Shining Armor, wordless about his request. Then she looks down at Terra and sees how horribly scarred she is. Half of her body is covered in third degree burns, with some burnt bone exposed and all her wounds cauterized in disgusting black scabs, and the entire right side of her face is a charred skull. Not even her eye remains and the cracks from the concrete's impact are seen spreading out around her cheek in a spiderweb pattern. If she is not dead now, she will be in just a few minutes.

Pinkie Pie gasps and drops her crude weapon and stumbles away from Terra, hoof to mouth and tears flowing down her cheeks. Seconds later, her muffled sobs echo in the warehouse that turned into a battlefield.

“I-I killed her,” whimpers Pinkie Pie. “I just killed somepony!”

Shining Armor shakes his head. “We both did, but it had to be done or else she would have killed both of us and who knows how many more.” He winces and shifts on his spot. “Help me up. I need to find Spike.”

Pinkie Pie's ears perk and she looks at Shining Armor, shaking her head. “No, you can't move! I-I will find Spike, you stay there and call for help.”

“But I need to find Spike! I promised Twilight I would find him!”

“I need to find him, too.”

And with that, Pinkie Pie gallops off, ignoring his calls, and runs to where she first encountered Terra. She needs only to take a peek down the hall to see the destruction and Spike's body lying in the natural light shining in through a dirty window.

“Spike!” Pinkie Pie runs towards Spike and sees him lying motionless, lying in a thick pool of blood blood with more coming out from the multiple stabs over his limbs and body. She whimpers and scoops him up in her trembling hooves, shaking her head in disbelief at the sight of his destroyed body and the three large, grotesque holes burnt into his chest. She hugs Spike tighter and nuzzles him as her sobs echo in the building, not caring about all the pain she is in or the drake's blood soaking her. She wants to hug him and never let go, hoping that doing so will bring him back and prove that all this is just a nightmare. “Oh, Spike, I'm sorry. I'm so, so sorry.”

She stops crying for just a second when she hears Spike take a weak breath and drape his arm around. She opens her eye to see Spike looking at her, barely able to keep his eyes open and a weary, and curious, smile slowly stretching across his face.

“Hey, Pinkie... How'd we do?... Did we get her?”asks Spike weakly, managing to make his tone light.

Pinkie Pie smiles and removes her mask to reveal her bloodied and bruised face, nodding and sniffling. “Yeah, we got her.”

Spike coughs blood and tries to hold her tighter by digging his claws into her shoulder, but he is so weak he barely presses the fabric of her costume. “That's good... I... I think I'm ready... For my nap.”

Spike closes his eyes and presses himself as tight as he can against Pinkie Pie's barrel. In turn, Pinkie Piecloses her eyes and lowers her head as she runs her hoof along his spine, letting her tears run freely with her teeth grinding and eyes squeezing shut as her whole body quivers with her whimpers.

“Sleep well, Spike,” sniffles Pinkie Pie.

She sits there for an indefinite amount of time, whimpering and rocking Spike back and forth, wishing herself to wake up on her bed so the two of them can do something together. Maybe play a prank on Twilight or have an ice cream eating contest. Spike's breathing becomes weaker each second and his heartbeats become heavier and more parted, and Pinkie Pie continues hugging and nuzzling him, apologizing every second her breath will allow. But her apologizing and hugs come to an end when she hears a crackle of energy down the hall.

Time does not exist in the shielded town hall. It has not been existing ever since Shining Armor and his assembled team left the shield to find Spike. Minutes blur to seconds and seconds to microseconds. There are no hours or security in the shield, only worry.

Worry is all Twilight can feel as she anxiously paces in large circles, ears flicking and eyes darting every which direction they could. The soldiers are zipping to and fro like frenzied ants, Mayor Ivory Scroll is staring straight ahead, stuck in a state of shock, and Golden Harvest's eyes are particularly large and following everyone's movements like Twilight. Though, her eyes are gliding along like she is taking her time taking in the details as she rubs her hoof, like she is suspicious of everyone around her.

Twilight strains her ears for any verbal clues of Shining Armor and Spike, but she cannot get much but basic responses and brief glances in her direction. She whimpers and goes to the nearest soldier, grabbing him with her magic and pulling him close to her.

“Have you heard anything from my brother, yet?” asks Twilight.

The soldier shakes his head. “No, ma'am.”

Twilight releases him and grabs another soldier, who just happens to look like an officer.

“Have you heard anything from my brother, yet?” she asks desperately.

“Classified,” replies the officer bluntly.

He shrugs himself away from Twilight and presses his radio with his magic as he trots away from her. “Roger that. Send Sentry's unit for perimeter security.”

Twilight's colors drain and collapses on the floor, staring straight ahead into the enothingness. She has no idea what's going on, and the guard's blunt “classified” response with him talking about perimeter security is sending her brain in a more panicked state. Did something happen to Spike? To Shining Armor? Are the hurt? Are they...?

Twilight does not finish her thought. She does not even want to think about such a horrible fate. She knows that they are alive. They have to be!

But, her gut is telling her that they are not alright. She can feel that something is wrong, like they are hurt. How bad, she does not know, but she knows that Shining Armor went to find Spike, and as much as she wants to split herself in two to find them, she is below that power. Twilight whimpers and looks around, trying to think what she should do.

'You need to find Spike!' scolds her subconscious. 'Let Shining get mad at you, but Spike is your son! Find him!'

Twilight nods to her thoughts, knowing that they are right. It is not fair that Shining Armor is out there, looking for Spike in all this when she is the one that has been taking care of the drake since he was an egg. He is her responsibility and sitting in the chamber, fidgeting for an indefinite amount of time is near criminal behavior for neglecting him. She will find Spike, with or without her brother's approval.

Twilight takes a deep breath, closes her eyes, and blocks out everything. A light purple mist oozes out of her horn as she focuses solely on the memory of her and Spike. Everything moves in a near blur, from waking him, to him poking fun at her about a breakfast mishap, and on to leaving Golden Oaks Library to set up the election ceremony. Then comes him sneaking away from the stage to get a strawberry ice cream cone and him enjoying the said cone while she announces Ivory Scroll to be the winner. And then comes the attack.

The imagery of he civilians and soldiers alike being slaughtered makes Twilight cringe, and is confused when Spike converses with someone in a Mare-Do-Well suit. She really wishes she could hear what they are saying, but whatever they said makes Spike run through the alley, past the retreating crowd, all the way to the Flim Flam warehouse. There, she sees the tourist that went to her library wanting a map of Ponyville.

Never before has Twilight seen such evil. Discord and Chrysalis cannot compare, and the joy that unicorn is getting from Spike's pain and his desperation to stay alive is terrifying. Twilight wants to stop the spell as she sees through Spike's eyes the psychopath stabbing and shooting him with a bloody grin, trembling and single glowing with glee from the slaughter. Tears soak Twilight's cheek and she grinds her teeth, shaking her head, not wanting believe that Spike is lying on a warehouse floor, bleeding to death while she is safe inside a shield.

Her horn glows brighter, and in a blinding flash of light purple and loud pop, she disappears. Her body turns to dust in the magical vortex and at speed rivaling light, she travels over Ponyville and lands inside the warehouse. Being reconstructed lasts only a second, but it is still odd and leaves her feeling tingly all over, but when she has not an ounce of care about that. She opens her eyes and finds herself in the warehouse. Or what's left of it.

From her position, she can see the destruction of crushed and sliced racks and crates, crushed floors, broken pillars and light pouring in from the caved in portion of the roof. She gulps and trembles as she looks around, knowing she is close to Spike and is hoping that she is not too late. Twilight does not need to look long, though, for when she steps forward and looks down the hall, she sees Spike lying out in the open, limp and bloodied.

“No,” gasps Twilight, shaking her head and legs feeling weak at the sight of Spike's limp form. Twilight gallops forward, tears flowing down her cheeks, heart racing and suffocation threatening her the closer she gets to her surrogate son. “No. No, no, no, no! No! SPIKE!”

Twilight stops by the pool of blood and the crimson hoof prints leading from it, whimpering and pacing around Spike, trying to see if there is any sign of life. She collapses next to him in his blood, weeping and whining incoherent words while her hooves pay at him, grabbing him so she can feel him with her own hooves and not her magic.

“No, please, no,” whimpers Twilight, dragging Spike closer to her and hugging his head against her chest. Her hole body trembles and she hugs him tighter, then she tilts her head up and screams, then she hunches over and weeps over Spike's body.

From the corner of the next hall, Pinkie Pie watches Twilight sobbing over Spike. She takes a step, wanting to call Twilight and give her comfort, but she closes her mouth and steps back, not sure how she would comfort her friend. Especially in a death that had been her fault. With that thought, Pinkie Pie closes her eyes and runs away as fast as she can.

They had won, they had defeated the League of Justice and saved Ivory Scroll's life, but had it been worth it?

From what Pinkie Pie has seen, the answer is no.

Author's Notes:

Added on 5 Sep 2014