Before the end of the beast, when Fluttershy made the decision to fight and made the first move.
At the same time, in another place...
[---]
"What plan?"
A distant rumble, like an explosion, shook the barn. Applejack flinched, but Rainbow Dash only smiled with defiance: the plan was going too well...
At least for her. One explanation later, Applejack was grinding her teeth. She had something to say.
"THAT'S the plan?!!" she bellowed, brow furrowed and a vein pulsing in her forehead.
"Yes, it's a great plan!" Rainbow Dash replied, puffed up with enthusiasm and not a shred of doubt. "And it's my turn to finish it! See you at the library!"
"Rainbow!!" Applejack shouted, but wasn't heard. Her friend, with a powerful leap, had shot off the ground like a missile, punching through the plastic barn's ceiling and vanishing beyond the cartoonish hole she left behind.
Plunged into deep darkness and beneath a rain of fragments striking her back, Applejack could only watch with helplessness the bright hole above her head — her only source of light — through which her friend had gone.
"Knucklehead! Knucklehead! YOU!... Ughhh! This is going to end badly!" She would have bitten her hat in that moment, but she didn't have one, so she could only vent her frustration by stamping her hooves impulsively against the ground.
A growing roar began to echo through the gloomy interior of the barn.
Startled, Applejack came down from her cloud of frustration and touched down on reality at once.
"I've got to get out of here!" she ordered herself, looking around for an exit, while the trembling of the ground rose through her body, pressing her all the more urgently.
As if in divine response, her gaze landed right where the beam of light falling from the ceiling illuminated the silhouette of a mechanical shape parked a few meters ahead of her.
Applejack cracked a smile. It was exactly what she needed.
"If you're going to do things your way... I'll do things mine, Rainbow!"
With a whinny, the farm pony ran toward the machine and, after verifying it was indeed what it appeared to be, turned the key to start it up.
The roar of powerful engines burst through the barn.
[---]
The world around her changed quickly.
The ground fell away like a photograph let go to drift, while the sky opened wide with its artificial brightness. Small pieces of the barn's ceiling still clung to her rainbow mane. However, none of them managed to stay: all ended up peeling away like ashes in the middle of her rapid ascent.
By the time Rainbow Dash reached the highest point of her climb, her mane was as radiant and unmistakable as ever. Perhaps even more so, fueled by the fighting spirit now flooding through her.
Yes, she was tired, with barely any real food inside her aerodynamic body. Even so, those details were insignificant against the mission resting on her wings.
And that mission was a single one.
"Time to make up for my mistakes!" she proclaimed, letting her words dissolve into the air. That summed it all up.
But in that moment, there was no wind to carry them away, and no short explanation for her determination either.
The firm voice and decided gaze of the rainbow Pegasus were the physical response to a long list of mistakes: the attack on the train, Morrigan, the Knights of Order, Twilight, Badwhiz... and every wrong decision that had brought her here.
Rainbow Dash had a long list of failures she hadn't been able to shake from her head since they woke up in that world... but that now, at last, she could put right.
Or so she believed.
A powerful roar was advancing rapidly in her direction, seizing her attention at once.
She smiled with confidence at the sight of its source. It was exactly who she had been expecting.
The beast was charging toward her without restraint, letting loose a deafening bellow that made all the air in that toy world vibrate.
"There you are, you furball!" the Pegasus shouted, set on facing the creature. Without another word, she dove into the brutal charge.
It was a reckless attack, very reckless, considering the size of the creature and how insignificant the Pegasus was by comparison. Rainbow Dash had no chance of stopping her. Nevertheless, she was confident: her speed and agility were all the advantage she needed to execute her plan.
And what was that plan?
"Her eyes! The key is in her eyes!" That was how the Pegasus had concluded when thinking about how to defeat the beast. In truth, she hadn't thought it through very deeply. But, given that eyes were the most vulnerable point on any creature, betting on that target seemed reasonable.
However, with each millisecond of her descent, Rainbow Dash was beginning to realize that her plan... might not be quite as simple as she had imagined.
The creature's charge was surprisingly fast, accelerating, and above all, violent. So much so that everything in its path was struck and sent flying by its enormous explosive advance.
Could Rainbow Dash really handle that?
"You can do it, Rainbow! You can do it, Rainbow! You can do it, Rainbow!" she repeated inwardly as she closed in on her target, trying to convince herself. Her initial confidence still held, but it was evaporating at an alarming rate.
While her mind wavered, adrenaline pumped at full force, driving each beat of her wings as an instinctive reflex, detached from the risk.
Though she had held her line the entire way, in the few milliseconds left before impact, her flight began to deviate slightly. She hadn't decided that; her flier's instinct had taken over. A minimal correction, almost imperceptible. Just in case she missed.
But that last precaution turned out to be unnecessary.
"What?!" She barely finished her exclamation in the middle of her braking when the beast — who hadn't even noticed her — struck the ground with a powerful, explosive leap and, in the midst of a surprising spin in midair, transformed into an actual furball (or rather, a cannonball) that continued its parabolic path right over her.
Rainbow Dash couldn't believe it. The beast's impossible agility had outmaneuvered her. But the surprises didn't end there.
Following with her eyes, at the far end of the creature's aerial attack trajectory, right at the point of collision, another revelation caught her off guard.
"Fluttershy?" She blinked several times and rubbed her eyes. She couldn't believe her sight was so exhausted it would play tricks on her like this. Had she really just seen a disproportionate version of her friend, standing over the fake Ponyville?
When she looked back, the scene hadn't changed, confirming that what she was seeing was real. A giant Fluttershy stood in the middle of the fake Ponyville, in a defensive posture, wings bristling and a gaze of cold calculation. She extended her front hooves toward the sky in a posture like a diamond spider about to catch its prey.
And that was exactly what happened, the very next instant, before Rainbow Dash's disbelieving eyes.
The enormous cannonball fell upon the brave Fluttershy. However, contrary to Rainbow's initial impression, her friend did not brace the beast's assault with open hooves — as she had imagined. In a move of pure genius, worthy of the toughest Buckball competitions, Fluttershy spun herself in the opposite direction to the cannonball. She swung her enormous body like a giant windmill, projecting an elastic current of air that absorbed the force of the impact and sent her attacker soaring back into the skies.
Suspended in midair, Rainbow Dash kept her jaw hanging open throughout the whole spectacle.
Then, Fluttershy — still on the ground — beat her enormous wings and, with the same grace of an eagle setting off in pursuit of its prey, took flight and vanished from the speedster Pegasus's sight in the blink of an eye.
A shockwave of compressed air swept across the entire fake Ponyville, sending lightweight debris and loose pieces still remaining flying. At the same time, a gray cloud of pulverized plastic covered the area; however, beyond that, no greater damage was done to the village.
In the sky, congested by a shower of fragments, Rainbow Dash remained transfixed in the same spot, watching events unfold.
A piece of cardboard passed grazing by her.
"Wooou…" Rainbow Dash murmured, dodging it belatedly. More debris passed close by, but she paid it no mind; her thoughtful gaze was still fixed in the direction her friend had disappeared.
Her previous plan could take a break. She had a different mission in mind now.
"Coming for you, Fluttershy! Hold on!" she suddenly shouted, beating her wings with force.
With new resolve shining in her eyes, Rainbow Dash had all the determination she needed to reach her.
And she would have reached her... had it not been for a painting that struck her squarely in the face, leaving her stunned on the spot.
[---]
"Ow... my head... cough... cough..." Rarity murmured, still sprawled on the ground. She felt sick and had not the slightest will to get up. Had she been reclining on her beloved sofa, under warm sheets and in the light of a fireplace, she would have stayed that way until she felt better. But since that was not the case, much to her displeasure, she ended up sitting up, shaking herself off, and surveying her surroundings.
Shattered walls, smashed furniture, and crushed books and props were scattered in heaps all the way to where she lay, beneath a steady shower of tiny plastic fragments. The ruined place was difficult to recognize at a glance, but it was the same spot where she and her friends had been taking shelter over the past few days: Twilight's fake treehouse.
Nevertheless, for Rarity — who took in all of it through continuous blinking — the vision of so much destruction barely managed to move her. Still disoriented, she let her gaze wander over the rubble until it stopped at an almost intact mirror placed beside her.
"Ugh... what a dreadful mane!" she complained with visible distaste at the mare reflected in the glass. "What could a lady be thinking to go around with such a mane in the middle of... eeeeeh?!"
A flummoxed squeal escaped her mouth and, the next instant, the unicorn began rubbing her hooves over her entire body. Desperate, she tried to shake off the plastic fragments covering her coat. An exaggerated and futile effort, since the constant shower of debris covered her again in a matter of seconds.
More concerned about her appearance than the real danger surrounding her, Rarity would have remained trapped in that endless cycle of pointless cleaning had it not been for the sudden euphoric shouts that reached her from behind.
"That's it, Fluttershy! Give her the bear-crusher hold!"
"Pinkie Pie?!" Rarity replied, spinning around quickly.
Indeed, not far away, on a tall pile of rubble, Pinkie was bouncing with excitement, cheering without pause, her gaze fixed on the horizon.
"Hey! Rarity, you woke up! You have to see this! It's incredible! Fluttershy is fighting a huge beast! And she's winning!"
"What are you talking about? What huge beast—? By my stars!"
Having caught up with her pink friend, Rarity's words barely managed to leave her mouth when a new tremor shook the toy world. The ground vibrated beneath their hooves and a deep echo rumbled in the distance. Far away, right where Rarity had fixed her gaze after her initial fright, an enormous multicolored cloud of dust rose in the shape of a cone — an unmistakable sign of the latest turn in the confrontation unfolding over the candy lake.
Moments before, Rarity had thought she'd seen Fluttershy and the beast crash headlong into the ground. Now, with a tight heart, she was wondering what had become of her friend, so close to the center of that explosion. Her anguish didn't last long.
From within the chromatic cloud emerged an imposing and familiar silhouette. A gigantic Fluttershy became visible in the distance and, after tracing a wide arc through the air, landed with surprising grace outside the area of the deflagration.
Seeing that, Rarity couldn't help letting out a cry, a mix of surprise and relief. For an instant, she had feared the worst for her friend. Now she could catch her breath, knowing she was safe and in perfect health.
"Wait a moment! Why is Fluttershy so large?" Rarity asked, confused.
"Because of the conveniently situational magic properties of the amulet that Queen Novo gave her off-screen several months ago?" Pinkie Pie replied rapidly.
"Hah?" Rarity let out, even more confused by Pinkie's answer-question.
Pinkie, for her part, didn't continue the explanation; instead, she simply shrugged and went back to cheering.
"Fluttershy! Over here! Giant Fluttershy, we're here! We're all right!" Pinkie Pie hollered at the top of her lungs, growing more and more enthusiastic, trying to catch her Pegasus friend's attention at the distance. However, Fluttershy had her back to them, all her attention on the apparently defeated beast in the center of the candy lake.
"I don't think she can hear you, darling."
"Uhm... you're right, Rarity. We're too far. We have to go to her and help!"
With a spring, Pinkie jumped to the ground, set on setting off at her characteristic trot.
"Wait! I don't think she needs our help right now," Rarity tried to stop her, catching up, while the pile of rubble they had been standing on collapsed dangerously beside them. "Ugh... The ones who need help more urgently are us. We have no idea where Applejack or Rainbow Dash are!"
"Applejack is on her way in a mini tractor, and Rainbow Dash is where you are," Pinkie Pie replied, pointing at Rarity simultaneously as her poofy tail started to twitch.
"Where I am?"
"Yes! Watch out!"
With a spring, Pinkie shoved Rarity backward and, the next instant, a body fell from the sky, impacting violently right where Rarity had been standing.
Both ponies looked up from the ground to find themselves face to face with a colorful pony figure they recognized at once.
"Rainbow Dash!" they shouted in unison.
Yes, it was their Pegasus friend, but in quite a sorry state. Thrashing on the ground, her body was tangled in plastic cables and cellophane; her head was embedded in an exquisite portrait of Applejack and her mouth was full of cardboard fragments. The image of the prodigious athlete looked more like a seal beached on the shore, caught in rubbish and very bad luck.
Without waiting for any signal of distress from their choking friend, Rarity and Pinkie set to work, freeing her from the cables and pulling the cardboard out from between her teeth. It wasn't until Pinkie yanked hard on the painting that was squeezing her neck that the Pegasus was finally able to breathe again and say her first words.
"Thanks, girls... good work... ughh..." she murmured, before losing consciousness once more.
For an instant, silence fell over them.
"Rainbow! Nooooooooooooo!" Pinkie howled, heartbroken, holding her friend's body against her chest. Beside her, Rarity bit her hooves, ears drooping and breath catching. Her eyes didn't leave the pallid face of her beloved Pegasus friend.
The scene, so loaded with drama and emotion, would have gone on indefinitely... if not for Pinkie Pie herself, who suddenly stopped dead.
"Wait a moment..." she tilted her head quickly, bringing her ear close to Rainbow's muzzle. "Rainbow is still breathing. She's tough. She'll be fine! Fluttershy is the one who needs our help. Mm-hmm, mm-hmm..." the pink pony nodded, convincing herself, then set Rainbow Dash down with the utmost care on the ground and resumed her trot toward the candy lake.
Pulling herself out of the confusion caused by the rapid chain of events, Rarity barely had enough time to step in and block her unpredictable friend's path.
"Pinkie Pie, wait! You can't leave us like this. You need to take me... I mean, we need to take Rainbow Dash somewhere safe."
"Ehh, I'm not leaving you. Applejack will arrive any moment and take care of things. It's Giant Fluttershy who needs Pinkie Pie's help right now!"
"I don't see how a tiny Pinkie Pie could be of much help to a giant Fluttershy in a fight of monstrous proportions like that one. Besides, the situation is already under control!"
Before Rarity could say anything more, a bright light crossed the sky above their heads, startling both ponies.
"What in the—?" Rarity exclaimed, confused.
More lights crossed the sky, followed by the thunder of violent explosions that lit up the horizon.
With their faces tinted by the reddish glow coming from the distance, Rarity and Pinkie Pie, overcome, fell silent, watching the spectacle unfolding before them.
"Perhaps Rarity is a little bit wrong about the situation."
"Pinkie Pie also probably shouldn't be in such a hurry to go to Fluttershy," as she spoke, a greater number of projectiles crossed the sky, "staying to wait for Applejack alongside her other friends is also helping."
"Very much helping!" Rarity concluded, hugging a Pinkie Pie just as frightened as herself.
[---]
Finding a providential mini tractor inside the barn had turned out to be a real stroke of luck for Applejack. Not only had it helped her get easily out of the place where she and Rainbow Dash had been captured by the beast, but it had also served as protection during her complicated journey back to Twilight's fake treehouse.
Of course, going at a gallop would have gotten her there faster, but considering the current state of the terrain — and how it changed with every meter — that would have been a very bad idea.
"Oh, come on!" Applejack shouted, her words accompanied by the roar of the mini tractor's engine. "Is that all you've got?!"
Letting her driving skill shine, Applejack had just dodged the impact of a rolling cardboard house. It was the ninth one to cross her path without warning.
"Yeehaw! It's like dodging cider barrels in Appleloosa," she whinnied with enthusiasm, pressing the accelerator and leaving a tenth attempted impact behind.
At the same moment, as if answering her spirit, the vehicle let out a whistle from one of its sides.
"Hey, easy now... don't stress yourself, Big-Root. We're almost there with my friends."
Yes, for anyone who might wonder who in the hay Big-Root was, the answer was right beneath Applejack. She herself had given him the name just minutes before. Though it had been a spur-of-the-moment thing, she had grown fond of the mini tractor in very little time. She had no idea how it worked on the inside, but it responded too well to her reflexes.
"Ok! Final stretch!" she exclaimed, pushing the accelerator even further.
She was finally on the straight road that led directly to the center of the fake Ponyville... or at least that was what her visual memory of the place told her, since much of the road was now blocked by a large number of cardboard trees that had arrived there from who knew where.
This last obstacle did not discourage the intrepid Applejack in the slightest, as she zigzagged at full speed between them without much trouble. By the time she reached the end of the grove, she barely had any sweat on her brow.
"Finally here!" adjusting her mane under the hard hat she was wearing, the pony allowed herself a brief rest before taking in the disastrous scene spread before her.
And barely had she seen it when a quiet:
"Ho... huu..."
escaped her lips.
The ruined state of Twilight's fake treehouse was jarring to the eye. Anguish would have overtaken her in no time, had something far more pressing not demanded her attention.
Or rather... shouted for it.
"Applejaaaack!!"
Pushing at her from the side, a euphoric and clearly urgent Pinkie Pie appeared out of nowhere beside her seat, making her lose control of the mini tractor for an instant.
"Pinkie Pie? Where did you—?"
"No time! Hit the accelerator! Let's go!"
"We have no time for explanations, Applejack! Drive!" ordered another voice at her back, in an authoritative tone.
One glance in the rearview mirror was enough to confirm it was Rarity, alongside an unconscious Rainbow Dash, held in the air by her magic.
Applejack's response was immediate.
"Where to?"
"Toward Fluttershy!" Pinkie Pie replied firmly, pointing with her entire body like an arrow toward one of the streets that led outward and, beyond, to the candy lake.
[---]
On one occasion, Twilight had joked that putting Pinkie Pie in charge of a ship in the middle of a storm was just as bad an idea as missing one of her parties. And, taking that premise as true, if on top of that the party happened to take place inside that same hypothetical ship, the result would be a situation capable of giving rise to a curious boolean decision ellipsis.
Having finished explaining this last part to her friends, the princess couldn't help bursting into laughter. The others followed suit, without the slightest idea what she meant. With the exception of Applejack, who, with concentration, turned the matter over in her imagination. And of Pinkie Pie herself, who, smiling, was very busy captaining a ship... also in her imagination.
Now, in the present, Applejack found herself in a situation very similar to the one Twilight had described. Only instead of a ship, she was on a mini tractor.
"Left! Right! Left! Right! Right! Left!"
How many times had the farm pony turned at full speed? It didn't matter. She wasn't thinking about that. She couldn't even see the obstacles in her path. Her thoughts, caught in a loop, left no room for anything else, stretched tight between Pinkie Pie's pressing commands and the desperate race to save Fluttershy, whom she had seen fall from the sky moments before.
And as if that urgency weren't enough, seconds after Fluttershy had dropped to the ground, an immense explosion had gone off on the horizon, covering all visible space with a white and multicolored mist.
Wrapped in that milky, sweet-smelling atmosphere, neither Applejack at the wheel nor Rarity with her magic would have had any way of continuing forward, had it not been for Pinkie Pie's voice, which, urging them not to stop, began to guide them even when they could barely see one another.
That was how they had kept up the pace of their mission, until a new command brought their journey to a halt.
"Stooooop!" Pinkie Pie shouted, her tail trembling without pause.
"What is it?!" Rarity shouted from the back, as baffled as Applejack by the sudden braking that nearly sent her flying off the mini tractor.
In response, Pinkie Pie simply looked toward the sky... or so it seemed, in the charged atmosphere around them.
An instant of silence later, a dark silhouette, resembling an enormously tall column, seemed to materialize inside the glowing mist before them. Unable to make out what it was, Applejack and Rarity could only watch, while a sound like a waterfall quietly passed alongside them, drawing near for a moment before vanishing along with the same shadow from which it seemed to come.
"What was that?" Rarity shouted, terrified.
"A candy tornado," Pinkie Pie replied, narrowing her eyes.
Neither Applejack nor Rarity managed to add anything. With a brief signal from their pink friend's tail, the mini tractor set off again, though this time moving with greater slowness and caution.
After covering what they imagined were about twenty more meters, the tractor stopped short.
"Is this it?" Applejack asked, in a voice that couldn't hide her worry.
Pinkie Pie, deeply concentrated, didn't reply. She clung to her poofy mane, turning her head from side to side, searching for a direction that only she seemed able to see on her internal radar. Then, finally, she found it.
"Yes! There she is! I won't be long! Coming for you, Fluttershy!" she exclaimed, a nascent smile spreading across her face.
With a leap, she launched herself off the mini tractor, disappearing from her friends' field of vision.
A few seconds of uncertainty passed. Around them, the thick mist only increased the anxiety of the wait... until, suddenly, the vehicle rocked again, this time from a boarding that turned into commotion at once.
"Fluttershy!" Applejack and Rarity whinnied at the same time, upon seeing their friend slumped across the back of the just-returned Pinkie Pie.
However, despite the hopes they had harbored, the Pegasus didn't respond.
Anguish fell over them at once.
Pinkie Pie no longer had any smile on her face when she handed her over to her friends.
"What's wrong with her?! She's...!" Rarity cried, unable to finish the sentence.
"Unconscious..." Applejack replied, carefully checking Fluttershy's vital signs. "No visible wounds... nothing broken, I think."
"We must take her somewhere safe. At once," Rarity insisted.
"Yes, I know! But where?" Applejack questioned, finding no solution among the thick mist surrounding them.
"Rainbow Dash's lookout cabin!" Pinkie Pie suddenly pointed out, breaking the silence that had enclosed them for a few seconds. "It's not too far, and it seemed like a high and safe place. Remember?"
Applejack's eyes lit up at once. It was exactly the answer she had been looking for.
"Of course! That place is perfect. Great thinking, Pinkie!"
"But... isn't it a bit far?" Rarity asked, still hesitant, watching the mist intensify.
"No... well, yes, but it's also a high and safe place," Applejack confirmed. "It's either there... or back to the fake Ponyville and hoping things are better than here."
Rarity made a face and looked at her two unconscious Pegasus friends. She had no argument to object.
"All right... I just hope things don't get any worse than they already are," she murmured, exhausted.
Almost at once — as if some wicked genie had heard her words — the toy world's light, which until then had been the source of the intense brightness reflected in the mist, began to flicker... and then to dim slowly, until it was nearly out altogether.
Wrapped in the growing darkness, the uncomfortable glances of Applejack and Pinkie Pie crossed before settling on Rarity, who, feeling guilty over her comment, lowered her head without wanting to say another word.
Seconds later, the mini tractor's engine roared to life again, lighting up the mist with its headlights.
"Right!" Applejack announced at the wheel, giving one last look to her friends, now settled into the other seats of the vehicle. "Things can only get better from here. Don't doubt that for a second!"
She finished saying it firmly, then added in a more somber tone:
"But hold on tight... it's not going to be a pleasant ride."
"That's the spirit, Applejack! Follow me, ponies! I'll guide you to the lookout-cabin-refuge-for-friends-desperately-in-need-of-a-good-lunch..." Pinkie Pie rounded off, having with a spring settled herself on the front hood of the mini tractor, adopting a pose that made her look like a living radar.
Rarity and Applejack opened their mouths, trying to say something, but ended up holding themselves back. It wasn't the best moment for their pink friend's whims; however, when it came to Pinkie Pie — and considering how well she had guided them so far, not to mention the urgency of the situation — there wasn't much point in arguing with her logic either.
Guided by Pinkie Pie through that misty and shadowed atmosphere, with a candy storm drawing dangerously close at their backs, the ponies left behind the boundaries of the fake Ponyville, in search of that new shelter — as hopeful as it was uncertain — on the horizon.
High above them, beyond the cracked walls of the toy world, the only light still illuminating that convulsed land flickered between sparks and discharges, revealing, in its faint core, a star-shaped silhouette...