Applejack, Pinkie Pie, and Rarity watched from above as Twilight dropped like a stone to the grassy plains below. She did nothing to stop herself and they couldn't help but wince as she hit the ground with an earth shattering impact, throwing up all sorts of dirt and debris and causing a miniature shockwave that cracked the walls and shattered the windows of the annex building.

After a few moments the dust cleared and they saw the lavender mare calmly trot out of the crater and look back up at them expectantly - completely ignoring the rampaging golem just a few dozen yards away.

"She's plum lost it..." Applejack muttered as she stared at the mare below.

"I... think she has a point though, darling," Rarity replied with a thoughtful frown, "as... unfortunate as our situation may be, there's nothing we can do about it at the moment," she looked back to Applejack, "we don't know exactly what's going on, and we can't really discuss a plan of action until we've safely made it out of this dreadful place."

She turned back to Twilight and bit her lip. Their eyes met briefly and Rarity made her decision. With an elegant flip of her mane, she straightened up and glanced back to Applejack and Pinkie Pie with a look of conviction.

"Well I suppose if there's no other option, I'll simply have to 'weather the storm' as it were," she turned back to the opening and trotted closer to the edge of the opening, "I expect to see you girls below," she said with an encouraging smile, "don't keep us waiting too long, darlings."

With that, she stepped forward and disappeared below the ledge.

Applejack continued to stare at where Rarity had fallen for a moment more before turning to Pinkie.

"Well, Pinks, what do you think?" she asked the pink mare. She blinked in surprise at the uncharacteristically solemn smile on Pinkie's face.

"Honestly, Applejack," she said trotting next to the cowpony, "I'm just happy to see you girls again," she cast a glance below just in time to see Rarity hit the ground below and trot next to Twilight.

"I haven't had a lot of fun since I woke up, and I think we're all long overdue," she looked at Applejack, her signature cheery smile back in place, "let's get the hay out of here so I can throw you all the biggest reunion party ever!"

She wrapped Applejack in a crushing hug before leaping off the edge.

Applejack watched with a soft smile as Pinkie landed next to Twilight and Rarity. She chuckled to herself and adjusted her stetson.

"Welp, ah guess there's nuthin' for it."

She jumped out of the opening to stand with the rest of her friends.

On the ground below, Twilight watched as Applejack leapt out of the annex building. The orange earth pony slammed into the ground with a deafening boom and trotted up to Twilight with a confident grin.

"So what's the plan, Twi?" she asked, dusting off her stetson.

Twilight turned her gaze to the golem just ahead.

Fluttershy had recovered by now and was repeatedly pounding at one of the giant's massive arms as it blocked her blows. Rainbow Dash was trying to circle around but was stopped at every turn by a surprisingly quick swipe of its other arm.

The lavender mare casually trotted around the perimeter of the battle as she examined the golem's movements. Eventually the metal giant turned away from her and Twilight saw what she was looking for.

"Applejack, Pinkie Pie."

The two mares in question looked at Twilight expectantly.

"I need you two to get behind the golem while Rainbow and Fluttershy are distracting it," she asked without taking her eyes off the golem, "there should be a glowing runic circle on the nape of its neck. See if you can climb up and stab it - and try not to draw too much attention to yourselves."

"Can do, Twilight," Applejack said with a tip of her hat.

"Leave it to me!" Pinkie cried with a mock salute.

"Oh, and one more thing," Twilight added, "the moment you incapacitate the golem, get Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy and meet me on the roof of the annex building."

The two ponies glanced at each other with raised eyebrows but nodded to Twilight all the same. They both turned to the golem and waited for it to look away before dashing forward.

"What do you need me to do, darling?" Rarity asked, trotting next to Twilight.

"I doubt disrupting the circle will actually shut the golem down," Twiiight explained, turning to Rarity, "but, at the very least, I'm assuming it'll stop it in its tracks for a few moments."

"I want you to standby and offer any assistance to the others if they need it," she trotted close to Rarity and rested a hoof on her withers, giving her an encouraging smile, "remember, Rarity, as a virus, you have more control over your body than you realize. Don't be afraid to experiment. I'm trusting you to use your best judgement here."

Rarity nodded before raising a quizzical eyebrow.

"What are you going to do, dear?"

Twilight giggled and raised her head to the sky, her sudden wide and toothy smile making Rarity shiver.

"I'm gonna try to kill two nuisances with one airship."

Rarity's eyes widened and she followed Twilight's gaze. Sure enough, she spotted the behemoth of an aircraft floating overhead just above the annex building - presiding over the battle below like some great sentinel.

She looked back to Twilight in confusion. Before she could respond, Twilight patted her on the shoulder and practically skipped away towards the annex building with a wave.

"Don't worry Rarity!" she called back, "just meet me on the roof once Pinkie and Applejack immobilize the golem! If everything goes well, you and the rest of the girls will get to see something amazing~"

Rarity watched in bewilderment as Twilight launched herself several meters into the air and hit the annex building, galloping at an incredible speed along the wall towards the roof.

"...I don't know what that crazy mare is up to," Rarity muttered to herself, watching Twilight ascend the building, "but I don't think it's anything good."

Rainbow Dash was getting frustrated.

For all her newfound strength and speed, she couldn't manage to hurt the metal monstrosity in any real way. She flew down low, dropping to the ground and galloping towards its legs at top speed.

She had modified her whip scythes so that, rather than having countless wiry whips, she now had one large bladed tendril on either side of her barrel.

She charged between its legs, bladed whips outstretched in an attempt to trip it up, but learned very quickly how sturdy its spindly legs actually were when it dialed one back and swung it in her direction.

Rainbow Dash, not expecting the sudden retaliation, couldn't react in time and the silvery limb smashed into her charging form, punting her across the open field like a hoofball.

Reforming her cyan wings, she flipped herself so that she hit the ground hooves first, leaving deep furrows in the dirt as she skidded backwards a few yards. She launched herself back into the air and towards the golem, her tendril born hoofblades forming as she poured on the speed.

This time Rainbow had opted to focus on a rapid hit-and-run tactic, slashing at the giant repeatedly as she blurred by.

Fluttershy, for all her mindless rage, was having no more luck than Rainbow Dash. In her state, she couldn't form any kind of plan of attack and simply zipped around the golem, pounding her armored hooves into whatever she could reach.

The impacts were heavy, but did little more than stagger the thing for a second or two before it righted itself and countered with a swing of its fists.

She was sent screaming to the ground more often than not due to her rather clumsy attacks, but she was never down for more than a few seconds before flying back into the fray with a feral roar. In short, they seemed to be in an odd stalemate of sorts.

All the flailing about wasn't doing too much to help Applejack and Pinkie's situation.

They were able to stay out of the golem's sight well enough, but the constant movement made it difficult get any kind of leeway to climb the thing. Pinkie had eventually gotten the idea to just leap up onto its back, but every time she or Applejack tried, they were either forced to dodge a stray swipe from the golem or a blind charge from Fluttershy.

Rarity stood by, biting her lip and trying to figure out how best to help her struggling friends. Something was nagging at her in the back of her mind - telling her that she was forgetting something.

Something important and obvious.

Unfortunately for the life her - and her friends - she couldn't figure out what it was. She cast a glance upwards towards the roof of the annex building. She spotted Twilight sitting on her haunches and observing the scene below, her patient smile firmly in place.

As she swept her gaze over the field, she met Rarity's eyes. They looked at each other for a moment and Twilight could see the indecision in her eyes, even from where she was sitting.

She glanced at the golem and her other friends briefly before turning her attention back to Rarity. Without a word, she slowly raised a hoof and tapped her horn a few times - never taking her black eyes off the white mare.

Down below, Rarity furrowed her brow in confusion before it shot up in realization.

She was a unicorn.

She had access to magic.

Rarity would have facehoofed had the situation not been so dire. Instead she turned to face the golem, sizing it up. She wasn't sure how the virus had affected her magic and the idea that anything could happen was enough to make her hesitate for a few seconds.

The most effective thing she could think to do was try to hold the golem down with telekinesis, but did she even have enough power to do such a thing?

She glanced back at Twilight nervously.

Twilight, who hadn't taken her eyes off the mare, nodded with an encouraging smile.

Rarity looked back towards the golem and let out a sigh of resignation.

"Well," Rarity muttered, "here goes everything..."

She lit up her horn.

It blazed and sparked with a black aura.

And Rarity cried out in shock as the golem was suddenly thrown down and pinned to the ground.

The sudden and complete dichotomy of absolute power and crippling weakness she felt was enough to send her crumpling to the ground. It didn't hurt exactly but Rarity found the sensation extremely unpleasant.

It felt as though a claw had reached into her wellspring and wrenched all of her magic out at once

Still, she grit her teeth and fought through the jarring experience, struggling to get back to her hooves as she maintained her telekinetic hold.

The rest of the girls had been caught unprepared by the sudden assistance.

Pinkie had overshot one of her jumps when the golem fell and crashed into a distracted Rainbow Dash, causing them both to fall to the ground in a heap.

Applejack had the misfortune of being below the golem when it fell and wasn't able to completely escape being pinned under the thing, her hind legs now stuck beneath it.

Fluttershy had immediately taken the opportunity to drop down onto the metal giant and continue her frenzied attack - incidentally striking the runic circle at the bottom of the golem's neck.

The circle suddenly sparked and a bright blue jolt of electricity sent the yellow pegasus flying backwards off of the construct. The blue glow in the golem's eye began to flicker and its body started to spasm against Rarity's hold.

Far above, Twilight giggled at the ridiculous situation her friends had found themselves in before turning her attention to the airship with a wide grin of anticipation.

"Showtime~"

Her horn flared to life, glowing a deep black.

The feedback from the destroyed runic circle had knocked Fluttershy out cold before she even hit the ground.

Rainbow Dash cried out as the yellow mare rolled to a stop, unmoving.

"Pinkie!" she growled, squirming under the pink pony, "get off of-"

Rainbow blinked and looked up in confusion.

Pinkie was no longer sitting on top of her.

"...me?"

she stood up, looking around and eventually spotting the pink mare. She was already busy pulling Applejack out from under the golem. Looking closer, Rainbow could see what looked like desperation on her face.

"...What the buck?" Rainbow muttered narrowing her eyes.

"Girls!" Pinkie suddenly cried, "we need to go! Now!"

"What?" Rainbow called back in confusion, "Why? We finally got this thing on... the... ropes..." Rainbow Dash trialed off as she heard a low familiar rumble that seem to grow louder by the second. It was also then that she noticed the sky getting progressively darker and darker.

She swallowed nervously, looked up, and froze.

The airship was falling.

The entire bucking airship was falling from the sky.

And it was set to crash right on top of them all.

"...Oh buck me."

Rainbow could swear she heard maniacal laughter somewhere in the distance but she was in too much shock to pay it any attention. She was snapped out of her shock when a frantic Pinkie Pie grabbed her face.

"Grab Fluttershy and get to the roof!" Pinkie cried before releasing the cyan pegasus and galloping over to help Applejack with an unconscious Rarity.

Rainbow Dash looked from Pinkie to the airship that was slowly but surely making its fatal descent to the ground. She shivered and sped off to grab Fluttershy, completely ignoring the spastically twitching golem.

"What in Tartarus was she thinkin'?" Applejack growled as she hoisted Rarity onto her back, "ah swear to Celestia, when ah get mah hooves on that mare..."

"Threats later, escape now!" Pinkie said, pushing the orange mare towards the building. It was then that Rainbow Dash flew by overhead carrying Fluttershy in her hooves.

"I'll meet you girls up top!" she called out before rapidly ascending to the roof above.

Pinkie and Applejack were left to gallop the rest of way to the annex building as the airship continued to fall. As it got closer, the ground began to shake underneath them and they stumbled slightly, though it was enough to slow them down.

"Ah, horseapples!" Applejack yelled over the roar of the airship, "ah don't think we're gonna make it, Pinkie!"

"Oh, we're gonna make it!" Pinkie called back, narrowing her eyes. Applejack looked towards her pink friend in confusion.

"What are ya-"

A mass of tendrils suddenly swarmed Pinkie's entire body for a brief second before a dark gray thestral appeared in her place. Before Applejack could comment, the thestral formerly known as Pinkie leapt into the air and flew over her, grabbing ahold of Rarity as she passed by.

"I'll take care of Rarity!" she yelled out, "if you can't change, then run! Remember, AJ, you're a superpony now!"

At that, she flew upwards towards the others.

Applejack stared after her for a moment before furrowing her brow and shooting the building a determined look.

"A superpony, huh?"

With a snort, she pounded her hooves into the grass beneath her and shot towards the building at a speed to match Rainbow's in the air. Tendrils wrapped themselves around her legs as she galloped and with a grunt of effort, she pushed herself off the ground and into the air clearing half the building in a single leap.

She hit the wall of the building galloping at top speed and as she got closer to the top, she could feel the vibrations from the airship as the cone of the envelope passed her by. Looking up she could see Pinkie - once again sporting her bright pink coat - frantically gesturing her to hurry.

No sooner did the pink mare call out to her than she flipped herself up and over the edge, landing right next to Rainbow Dash. She wanted to say something but found herself heavily distracted by her lavender friend.

Twilight stood near the edge of the roof, laughing with perverse joy as she watched the massive ship descend further and further to the ground where the giant construct still lay, prone and twitching.

Each of the still conscious mares stared at Twilight with a mix of worry and outright horror. They turned to each other, each silently begging the other to talk to the madmare.

Eventually it was Applejack that stepped up to the plate. She swallowed and slowly trotted up to Twilight. As she got closer she cast a quick glance at the airship.

It was now close enough that she could see a faint black aura surrounding the entirety of the ship. She couldn't help but shudder as she observed the ponies and griffons still in the airship, pounding against the windows of the gondola in vain. She could see a few griffons that had made it out of the ship, only to be pinned against the hull by the oppressive aura.

"Uh, Twilight?" she asked hesitantly, stopping directly behind the laughing pony, "Sugarcube?"

The laughter stopped abruptly.

Applejack's heart skipped a beat as the lavender mare casually turned to face her orange friend - a warm smile on her face and her horn still alight and burning with a black aura.

"Applejack," Twilight greeted pleasantly, "I'm so glad you and other girls made it up here," she turned to face the ship as she spoke, "looks like my plan worked just like I intended. I'm honestly a bit surprised. Although..."

She frowned as she continued to observe the airship.

"I think we might still be within the blast radius."

Applejack stared at Twilight.

"Well, it shouldn't be too much of a problem," Twilight continued with a shrug, "my magic has gotten way more of a boost than I was expecting so I should be able to at least redirect the explosion away from us."

"Twi-"

"It's strange though," Twilight said, tapping her chin with a hoof, "apparently I don't have access to my viral abilities while my magic is in effect. And then there's this odd feeling of-"

"Twilight!"

"Yes, Applejack?" she asked innocently.

"What the buck is wrong with you!?" Applejack shouted, "ya'll nearly got us killed with this little stunt o' yours! In fact," she gestured to the airship, "we're still about ta be blown straight to Tartarus!"

"Well, theoretically we'd probably be-"

"Don't gimme any o' yer theories, Twi!" Applejack interjected, jabbing Twilight in the chest with a hoof "ya bucked up and ya need ta own up ta-"

Applejack's tirade was cut short as Pinkie yanked her backwards towards the opposite end of the roof.

"Pinkie!" Applejack cried struggling in the pink pony's grip, "What are ya-"

The airship exploded.

Twilight reacted in an instant.

She whipped around to face the oncoming shockwave, a second layer of magic enveloping her horn. The blast from the impact sped towards the annex building and crashed against a large black dome that had flashed into existence at the last second.

Twilight's scream of agony was drowned out by the boom of the explosion as it washed over the magic barrier. After a few more moments the barrier began to crack under the strain. The rest of the girls looked on with increasing worry as Twilight grit her teeth against the pain in her horn.

"This... isn't... fun anymore..." Twilight grunted out. With an astronomical effort, she turned to her friends with watery amethyst eyes.

"Girls... gather round... hurry."

Seeing the intense pain evident on Twilight's face, Rainbow, Pinkie, and Applejack rushed over to where Twilight was standing - Rainbow and Applejack carrying Fluttershy and Rarity respectively.

Once they were gathered, Twilight clenched her eyes shut, and began the mental preparations for a blind long range teleportation spell.

I didn't want to do this, she thought worriedly, I have no idea where we are and we could end up anywhere, but I don't have a choice anymore.

Her vision began to fade.

I'm sorry, girls.

With another scream of pain, she wrapped her horn in a third layer of magic, dropped the barrier just as the blast ended, and - before any of her friends could react - they all popped out of existence.

Twilight never saw where they had reappeared.

Elsewhere, approximately 1200 kilometers north of the Griffonian Empire, a griffon with white feathers and a light gray coat stood atop a tower, gazing straight ahead with eyes glazed over from boredom.

Svanhild Sharp Talon had an easy job.

Don the Squawken Town Guard uniform, grab her mom's old crappy rifle, fly up to the guard tower, stare at the snow covered wilderness outside the town gates for five hours until her shift ended.

That was it.

That was her job.

That was her life.

She hated her job and her life.

She remembered a time long ago when she was just a hatchling, running up to her mother with stars in her eyes as she begged her to take her up to the guard tower with her. Her mother would just laugh as she picked up her rifle and patted Svanhild on the head.

"Trust me, Svanny," she would say, "this job is a lot less glamorous than you think it is."

And then she would take off to the tower, leaving her pouting daughter behind.

Despite her mother's warnings, Svanhild insisted on joining her mother, and her mother in turn would tell her the same thing every time, but Svanhild didn't believe it.

She wouldn't believe it.

Her mother and the rest of the Town Guard were heroes!

Squawken may have only been a small hamlet at the base of the snowy Tassel Mountain Range, but they still did everything in their power to protect it from the monsters and bandits outside the gates!

Being part of the Squawken Town Guard was an honor among honors!

She was a fool.

There was no honor in pacing back and forth on a small platform all day.

Staring at nothing for hours on end wasn't heroic.

There were no monsters to defend against, no bandits to drive away.

There was nothing.

Nothing to do but blankly stare at the endless white wilderness and pace this Emperor forsaken tower, day after day.

She wanted something to change.

She needed something to change.

At this point she didn't care what it was, she needed some excitement in her dreary life.

So naturally, when she witnessed a sudden flash of light about a mile out of town, she jumped at the opportunity to investigate.

Sure, it was a bit farther outside perimeter than she was allowed to go, and sure she should've at least taken another guard with her, but she wasn't thinking about that.

The only thought on her mind right then was what new - and hopefully exciting - thing she would find when she got there.

Whatever it was, it had to be better than just standing around all day.

Author's Notes:

I'd like to take a moment to talk about Twirus.

I love writing her as much as I'm assuming you guys love reading about her. That said, my aim here was to show her strengths as well as her flaws. She's not infallible, she's prone to arrogance, and, just like regular old Twilight, she can be pretty single minded.

Okay! Back to business!

For those who haven't read my blog, this is the last chapter before the epilogue. I'm going to be working on my other stories for awhile, but I will be back with a sequel in the near future.

In the meantime if you'll allow me to shamelessly plug for a moment, I have a (relatively) new story that I'm writing called The Ties that Bind. If you haven't read it yet, I suggest checking it out. The chapters are a bit smaller but I try to update the story everyday.

Oh, and one more thing.

Regarding Twilight in the sequel, I'd like you all to keep this phrase in mind:

You reap what you sow.

Anyway, on to the epilogue!