This time, when Twilight emerged from the time portal, she was ready for Starlight's attack. She created a shield just in time to stop Starlight's attack, and teleported away, launching her own spell in return.
The unicorn stepped to the side, allowing the missing attack to go harmlessly through the cloud she was standing on. "You really need to work on your ai…" She barely managed to create a shield in time when second beam of magic hit her. And another. She teleported to a different cloud, but it gave her only a momentary respite as Twilight was pressing on with her attack. "Woah there, princess, you already stopped the race, see?" She pointed at Rainbow Dash and other fillies, who were now eating popcorn and watching them fight. "No reason to…" Another spell hit her shield, almost breaking it. She fired back, which gave her a moment of reprise. "Hey, I am talking to you!"
Another surprisingly violent magical attack splashed on her defenses. The spell that hit her shield was really strong, she knew that, but only now she realized it was way more dangerous then she thought. In fact, one of the spells cut a huge hole in the cloud she was on. Another straight up tore apart a smaller cloud behind her. "You know, if I didn't know you better than that, I'd think you wanted to kill me."
"Starlight, stop it." Twilight said with an angry look on her face. "I just came back from literal hell, with Discord ruling it. Before that, it was Nightmare Moon's victory. I don't want to go back to those awful futures. Stop your spell." She started powering up another lethal attack, determined to end it here and there.
"Oh, really? And all that just because you never made friends?" Starlight laughed. "What a shame, princess. Shame that you are such a bad liar!"
Twilight's answer never came, as the time portal appeared and sucked her back in, her deadly spell fizzling out harmlessly.
This time, she was ready. She dropped to the ground, and was back up with spells ready before Spike even hit the ground next to her. Twilight looked around, waiting. Who is it this time? Tirek? Sombra? It was night again, maybe she returned to that awful world ruled by Nightmare Moon?
"Um, Twilight, is it only me or do I smell… fire?" Spike asked, dusting himself off. "And what's that other smell? It's nasty."
Twilight, not seeing any imminent danger, looked around and smelled the air. Indeed, while they appeared in the middle of the night, she could see a light on the horizon, above treetops; a huge fire. And the trees, there was something wrong with them. She shone her magical light on the closest plants, only to gasp in shock.
They were in the forest, but it was different. Twisted. Trees lost almost all their leaves, and most of the grass and small plants on the ground were withered and dead. Aside from the smell of smoke and soot, there was also something else, something.. soapy? She couldn't recognize it, but whatever it was, she could smell it everywhere around them.
"That does not look good. You think this fire is coming closer?" Spike looked worryingly at the distant fire. "We should probably move, find Starlight somehow, and get out of here."
"We probably…" Twilight started, only to stop and turn around, shield materializing around her and her assistant moment before stealthy ponies would reach them. "Who are you?!" She demanded, taking a look at them.
To her surprise, she saw Fluttershy, among other ponies there. They carried spears and other weapons, with bow-armed ones staying back and drawing their weapons. All of them were wearing some kind of camouflage, making them difficult to spot; if not for her trauma-fuelled paranoia, they would definitely catch them off guard.
The appearance of her pink shield caused some commotion; ponies closest to her took a step back, eyeing her with… was that fear? Suspicion? It hurt Twilight to see her friend scared and angry like this, but she tried to ignore this. It's not a real Fluttershy, she thought to herself, trying to hold back the storm of emotions inside her. The real one, she is dea… no, she will be fine, they all will be…
"A real magic you use, something most changelings cannot do." Said a familiar voice, and Zecora stepped forward. "But this does not mean you are innocent; tell me, what brings you to this cursed place?"
"Zecora!" Twilight said happily, almost dropping her shield before her paranoia kicked in. "Wait, changelings?"
"We will now see your true form, whether you hide it or not." The wise zebra said, ignoring her and instead throwing some shining dust in the air. "Now, reveal yourself, your true self!"
The dust went through her shield somehow, and Twilight was ready to blast it away, but instead of something bad happening she just… started glowing? She looked back at Spike, and saw him also glowing with some strange white light. Actually, when she looked close, it wasn't truly light, it was like… he wasn't fully there? Or rather, she realized, like he was real, and everything else was just a cardboard cutout. When she looked at the weird 'light', everything but her and her assistant looked flat. Unreal.
Zecora visibly did not expect that; the shaman took a step back, all ponies looking at her with surprise. "What does this mean?" Fluttershy asked, still holding her spear.
"I see, it is worse than I had ever feared." The zebra answered, deep in thought. "For they are the ones who are real, and we, for contrast, should not be here. Twilight, dear, please explain this to me; but not here, for the changelings are near. Follow us, to the camp."
Twilight reluctantly dropped her shield and followed the ponies, her paranoia still lingering but it's not like she had anywhere else to go. Besides, that way they were moving away from the fire, and she definitely didn't want to get close to that raging inferno on the horizon.
Steeling herself, and prepared for worst, she walked to Fluttershy, who, still armed, seemed to be forming the rear guard. "Fluttershy. Can you tell me what happened here? In this world, did Chrysalis win?" Twilight asked, hoping for some answers.
"What? How can you ask that? You were there!" Her friend, at least in the old world, answered with surprise. "You tried to save Celestia, and failed."
"Fluttershy, look. I'm not from here." At the incredulous look from her friend, Twilight clarified: "I am from a different… future, I guess? Where I'm from, we defeated the changelings."
"That must be a great future." Fluttershy answered, looking around them, at the broken and lifeless trees; in the light of small torches and lamps some ponies were carrying, they looked even scarier than before. "Why are you here? You should go home."
"I will try, trust me." Twilight winced, realizing how this sounded. "Not that I don't want to help you, it's just that…"
"There is nothing left to help." Fluttershy said quietly, and for a moment, Twilight could see her old friend still inside this scarred and traumatized veteran. "They are all gone. All my friends. Even Angel."
"Wait, Angel?" Spike asked, surprised. For a moment, Fluttershy looked at him with a spark of wonder in her eyes, reminiscent of the old days. But that spark died quickly.
"When changelings arrived in Ponyville, I couldn't do anything." The pony answered, her eyes back to lifeless and empty. "I just hid, hoped this was a bad dream. But they came for me, too. My friends fought them, but there were too many. So many." She looked at the dark sky, remembering the fateful day when Equestria fell. "Angel told me to run. Save myself, hide in Everfree. So I run. I couldn't do anything, but run."
"That rabbit gave them a hell of a fight. Beat them up so badly, Chrysalis herself had to come fight him. He gave us time to escape to Everfree." Another pony said, and when Twilight turned around, she saw Rainbow Dash, and gasped. The alicorn looked in horror at the pegasus; she had no wings. Only scarred stumps remained. Seeing her shock, the former weather pony laughed, but there was no happiness in that laughter. "Surprised? War isn't pretty, princess. So, you're an alicorn; you must have blasted Chrysalis to pieces in your happy future, right?"
"We all defeated Chrysalis. My friends and I." Twilight answered, torn between telling the truth and sparing her friends more suffering. "Equestria is at peace. Was. Will be, when I'm back." She declared.
"Good. Make sure it is. I don't wish this hell on anyone." Rainbow said, looking at the trees around them.
"What happened here?" Twilight asked. "Chrysalis took Canterlot, Ponyville, but what about the rest of the world? Surely they couldn't have just ignored what happened here!"
"Funny you ask. I used to be our messenger, before that happened." The pegasus pointed at her wings. "Not that it helped us with anything. Everything went to Tartarus."
"What do you mean?" Twilight asked, dreading the answer and remembering the previous worlds she visited.
"Let's see. Stalliongrad allied with the changelings, and they divided Equestria between themselves. Polar bears capitulated before war even started, and Nova Girffonia got conquered few weeks before we got invaded." Rainbow stated bitterly.
"What about penguins, and yaks? Griffons?" Twilight asked.
"Penguins and yaks were conquered by Stalliongrad. And on the day when both capitulated, Chrysalis invaded her 'allies' as well. They were caught with their armies busy in the Yakyakistan and the Penguin Kingdom, and got cut off. Good for them, shouldn't have helped her in the first place." Rainbow pony added with morbid satisfaction. "I hope they like it in their harvesting pods."
"Harvesting pods?" Spike asked before Twilight managed to stop him. She really didn't want to know.
"Yeah, that's what they do, the changelings. They put you, your friends and your family in the cocoons, and feed off your love. And if you have no more to give, they give you some drugs to make you feel love. And when you are so broken you can't feel love at all, they just dump your body somewhere. And that's if you're lucky." Rainbow said, watching with some twisted satisfaction as both Twilight and Spike grew white and just stopped, unable to accept what they just heard. "Told you, it's Tartarus out here."
It took a moment for Twilight and Spike to be able to say anything in answer to that. The mere idea of being trapped like this, with their love forcefully taken away, knowing that all their friends and family are there with them… it was like a nightmare. But even worse, because they knew it was happening.
"The griffons wanted to invade to take Nova Griffonia back, but they got invaded by the Storm King instead so that plan got scrapped. Between some evil necromancers in the north, and invasion in the south, Griffonian Empire couldn't spare anyone to help us." Rainbow continued. "Entire Zebrica and Gryphus are at war. Dragons were in between it all, so they got invaded by everyone, buffalos are in the harvesting pods, and we're here. Constantly invaded by the changelings." Rainbow pointed to a nearby tree, with huge fruits dangling from it. "If not for the forest, we'd be gone too."
Twilight looked at the tree and whimpered, taking few shaking steps back before falling on the ground. What she thought were fruits were changelings. Dead changelings. Some were impaled by the branches, and judging by the green blood splattered everywhere and their hooves still grabbing the wood, they were alive when it happened. Others were hanging like leaves, their bodies broken and lifeless. And the rocks below the tree, between the roots…
It was too much. Twilight just shut down. She sat there, unable to see, or hear. She couldn't accept this. It was worse than any other future she saw, it was horrible. She couldn't take it anymore. Sounds became distant buzzing, and there was nothing but the white void around her, calling to her…
Somebody hugged her, strongly, but not dangerously. It felt safe. "Twilight." She recognized that voice, somewhere inside her mind, but she couldn't understand it. "Twilight, it's me. Please, wake up. We need you."
"You can fix it." The voice added quietly.
Twilight slowly opened her eyes, and saw Pinkie Pie in front of her. The party pony was also wearing the camo paint, but instead of looking angry and ready to fight she seemed… sad? Her hair was down, and while she smiled, her eyes were closed. "Pinkie?" Twilight asked, trying not to look at the trees around them, but even then her imagination made her see all the dead bodies around. She started shutting down again, only for Pinkie to hug her again.
"Wait, you remember us?" Spike asked, and only then Twilight realized he was also part of the hug. She felt horrible; she didn't even think about her Number One Assistant! She looked at him, and saw fresh tears in his eyes.
"Nope!" Pinkie answered with a smile, and for a moment, it felt like they weren't in this horrible, dark forest, full of dead bodies. It felt like they were in Ponyville. It reminded them of fighting the horror-like trees Nightmare Moon used against them.
"Now I'm an adult, and the sun is going down…" Pinkie sang quietly, and Twilight looked at her with surprise. "The darkness and the shadows, these days they always make me frown..."
"Pinkie?" Twilight asked, hugging her friend.
"I say, Twilight, you gotta stand up tall, learn to face your fears…" Pinkie finished prematurely on a sad note, still hugging them.
"How do you…?" Twilight asked, confused.
"There are… things. Zecora helped me make them." Pinkie answered, without looking at them but still hugging her friends. "They made my Pinkie Sense work better. I could see things, ponies, with it."
"See what?" Spike asked, trying to dry his tears with his hand; it was pretty hard to do while in the middle of Pinkie Pie-class hug.
"I failed. Everywhere, and every time." The party pony said, closing her eyes and taking a step back. "I couldn't stop it. Everything went wrong, and I could not do anything. I… she warned me not to, but I drank as much of that as I could, I hoped I can see how to fix things."
"Pinkie?" Twilight asked, scared. "What are you talking about?"
Her friend opened her eyes. Pure white eyes. She was blind.
Twilight hugged her friend. It was an instinct, and impulse, a need to help her friends however she can. The blind pony did not return the hug this time. "Pinkie, I…"
"You must go. Find your way home." Pinkie said, interrupting her. "I could see. Now I am blind, but I could see, and that was enough. You must return. No matter what happens. Promise me. You will return home, and fix it all."
"Of course! I promise, I will return and I will save you all!" Twilight said, her determination returning, even though one look at the trees around them make her shudder with fear.
"Do not be harsh on Rainbow." Pinkie said quietly. "She is not herself. She lost everything she cared about, and she's trying to cope with it. Forgive her."
"I… understand." Twilight looked down, ashamed of herself. She had to help, she was the only one who could, and she had just shut down. She failed her friends.
"And do not be harsh on yourself. Things will not get better for a while, I could see that. But remember, no matter what, you… you are…" Pinkie stopped, suddenly.
"Are you alright?" Spike asked, worried.
"I cannot see. But I could." The pink pony answered, not really here or there, lost in thoughts. "You are, you are… a princess, right? I remember friendship. It was so amazing."
Twilight couldn't hold it anymore. She cried, hugging her unmoving, lost friend. She cried for all the others. She cried for her old world, now lost, and she let her emotions out. She didn't even notice that everyone else stopped, looking at her. Rainbow glanced at Zecora. The zebra nodded her head, now sure that this was, indeed, not an evil impostor.
Twilight didn't know how long it took before she stopped crying, but when she did, and dried her tears with her hoof, she saw Pinkie smiling sadly. "Go on." The pink pony said, gently pushing her towards the others, who slowly returned to her march towards home.
The alicorn nodded and followed the resistance members, still traumatized but determined to return home and fix everything. Pinkie waited until they all disappeared in the woods, before going in the opposite direction.
Pinkie made sure to leave faint, but visible, hoofprints. Not too visible, she didn't want them to be suspicious, but good enough to be tracked back to camp. She knew that by now, the changelings were swarming around the place Twilight arrived, and she needed it to come home. Pinkie could see that, back when she could still see. She needed to give them a better target.
There were benefits to being blind, she thought to herself. She could never see her own death, even when she could still see. And now, she would never see it. There was some comfort in not seeing how this all would end.
The blind pony smiled for the last time. She didn't see the blow that ended her life.
"Do you know what happened to Starlight? Starlight Glimmer?" Twilight asked Fluttershy. However, it was Rainbow who butted in with response.
"That traitor?" The blue pegasus spit at the ground. "She got what she deserved. She helped Stalliongrad, joined them even, and then got captured by the changelings. They drained her dry, not that she had much love to begin with."
"She's dead?" Twilight asked, feeling her determination cracking. How could she come home without Starlight?
"Nah. We found her in one of the dumps, she was still breathing. Zecora saved her, don't ask me why. We should have left her there to rot." Rainbow answered bitterly. "Now we have to feed her and all that, when she would gladly leave us to die or worse!"
Twilight winced. She remembered Pinkie's advice and tried to not be too harsh on Rainbow, after all they were all traumatized beyond belief by this horrible future. But it still hurt, seeing her friends hurt so much, and transformed into this vicious, vengeful person. "I need her to come back home." She explained.
"Fat chance of that, but sure, feel free to try." Rainbow answered with disgust. "Our camp is close, once we get there I will show you her hut."
"Thank you." Twilight said, but her friend did not answer.
They reached the camp soon after. It was a primitive village, with many small building made out of wood. The forest was thick in this place, and barely any light reached the ground even during the day, making it hard to spot it from above. In this part of the forest, trees still had leaves, but the smell of soot and that weird, soapy aroma was still in the air. Spike looked around, slightly relaxed, although still with dried tears on his face. "Whew, at least these trees look normal!"
"Don't get used to it." Rainbow said, her voice bitter as always in this dark future. "Chrysalis destroyed most of the forest already. We had to move camps multiple times, not counting those left in the Castle. We are almost out of places to hide."
"Wait, but how? Even Luna and Celestia together were unable to tame the Everfree Forest!" Twilight protested, her nerdy side coming out for a moment now that they were in a safer place. "What magic is that?"
"Effective." Rainbow said, her voice changing from bitter to hateful. "Changelings created some poison that removes leaves from the trees, leaving us visible. Sometimes they just drop napalm and burn it until they run out, then they make more of it and drop it again."
"What about the Castle of the Two Sisters?" Twilight asked, trying not to imagine what this 'napalm' was. "Can't you hide there?"
"Chrysalis dropped her first Balefire Bomb there." Rainbow answered, and for the first time, under al the bitterness and spite, they could see a small sign of fear.
"Balefire Bomb?"
"It's gone. The Castle, the forest around it, even underground caves and passages there. It's just a huge, poisonous crater. No one survived."
Twilight couldn't even imagine what she heard. She fought Tirek with all her power and the powers of all Princesses, and when they clashed they created a big crater, blasting the ground below them to ashes. But to hear that changelings had the power to do the same, it was horrible!
"Anyway, you wanted Starlight, there she is." Rainbow pointed to a tiny hut on the outskirt of the resistance camp. "Hope you'll make some good use of that traitor." With these spiteful words, Rainbow moved away, towards her own hut.
Twilight almost rushed to Starlight immediately, only to stop when suddenly Spike hugged her. "Spike?" She asked, only for her assistant to hug her even more. "What's wrong?"
"It's horrible." The small dragon answered, shaking, tears pooling in his eyes. "Why is this place so horrible? I just want to go home!"
"… I know, Spike." Twilight said, hugging him back. She also started crying. "I know."
They didn't know how long it took for them to calm themselves, but the morning was coming, the rising sun barely visible in the thick forest. Twilight and Spike, ready to support one another, entered the hut.
It was a small place. Just a bed, a desk, small chair. Starlight was laying down on the bed, while Fluttershy was slowly feeding her some soup, spoon by spoon. It was a comforting sight, reminding them of their own Fluttershy taking care of her ill pets, but the fact that she was taking care of another pony made it alien enough to remind them where they were. "Oh, right, you wanted to ask Starlight something." Fluttershy said, yawning. "Can you feed her, first? She doesn't talk much these days, but at least she won't be hungry, and I could really use some sleep."
"Why are you feeding her? What's wrong?" Spike asked, coming closer. Starlight did not react at all to their appearance, just looking mindlessly at the ceiling. "Starlight?" Spike asked, still without any reaction.
"Changelings got her when they took over Our Town." Fluttershy explained, getting up and stretching. "They were sucking love out of her for a year, and when they couldn't get anything out of her even with their drugs, they just left her to die. We have some other ponies like her in the camp, Zecora is trying her best to help. But they are just…" Fluttershy looked at her patient and shivered. "Not here."
When Fluttershy left, Twilight just stood there, unable to understand. She saw Starlight three times recently; once in her own world, able to match an alicorn in a battle for a short time; in the future ruled by Nightmare Moon, when she fought against all odds; and in Discord's world, when she resisted him with all her might.
But this Starlight… "Can you hear me?" Twilight asked, but there was no answer. No reaction. "Starlight, I need your help. Get up! We can still fix it!"
There was no reaction. Twilight came closer, and shouted in Starlight's ear, without effect. She tried to push her off bed, but that was also ignored, until finally Spike grabbed her hoof. "What?!" Twilight screamed, turning to her assistant, only to stop. Spike was scared. Of her.
"… I need some rest…" The alicorn said weakly, taking few steps back and sitting on the wooden floor. Spike, seeing this, braced himself, grabbed the soup and started slowly feeding Starlight.
There was a moment of silence, before Spike said something, quietly. "You know, this feels familiar."
"Hm?" Twilight asked, still trying to understand her emotions.
"Remember when you got super-ill after drinking that potion you made?" Spike asked. "I had to take care of you for entire day before you even had strength to eat."
"That's totally different!" Twilight protested, her anger flaring up again. "I just made a mistake in the brewing, and Starlight, she, she…"
"Made a bigger mistake?" Spike asked quietly, contrasting with how loud Twilight was getting. "You know, I remember you making this potion to impress your teacher. I even warned you not to do that, but you still tried, and when you failed you got very angry."
"What are you saying, Spike?" Twilight said, trying to not raise her voice. She only partially succeed. "That I'm like her? is that what you're saying?!"
"I think you do have something in common." Spike answered, putting the now empty bowl aside. "Twilight, you almost gave up in that forest. And you just… shut down in Discord's world." He pointed at the still-unmoving Starlight. "Just like she did here."
"I would never, no matter what, become as twisted and evil as she is." Twilight declared with utmost certainty. "She is unhinged, Spike! She destroyed entire Equestria, trapped us here! How can you say that we are similar?"
"What about Nightmare Moon? Is she not a corrupted version of Luna?" Spike pointed out. "I'm sure if you asked Luna before she transformed what she thinks of someone like Nightmare Moon, she would be appalled. But she changed, and now she is back to normal."
"I still don't get what you're saying." Twilight stubbornly said.
"I think there is more to why ponies, and others, are evil then just who they are." Spike slowly said. "Even your friends could be corrupted by Discord, remember? And you also managed to save Sunset, after all, and you can't tell me you and she aren't similar."
"No, I… that is…" Twilight found herself stumped. "Since when are you so smart, Spike?"
"Hey, I was always smart. Hero of the Crystal Empire, remember?" The dragon smiled, remembering his blunders and then the quite heroic actions during the Equestria Games. "I learned a lot from you, Twilight. And I know you well."
Twilight couldn't find an answer to this; her emotions once again overwhelmed her, and she hugged her friend. "Thank you, Spike".
Twilight still did not believe that she herself would ever be capable of doing anything like this. But for now, she decided there were simply more important things to do, so she dropped the topic and braced herself. She needed to succeed here, somehow.
She then turned to Starlight, and cleared her throat, trying to keep her emotions in check. She opened her mouth to speak, but couldn't find the right words to say. She tried again, and again, and at the fourth try she finally managed to say something. "Starlight? If you can hear me… I am here to help." Still no reaction. "I come from the past."
Starlight moved slightly. Hoping it was an actual reaction to her words, Twilight continued. "I have a way to fix all this. But I will need your help." This didn't get any reaction. Why? Twilight tried a few more things, but nothing worked. What was it that she said that got this reaction?
Maybe, Twilight realized, we are just tiny bit similar. I am of course not evil, but maybe we do share something… "I know how to finish Star-Swirl's the Bearded time-travel spell. But I cannot do it alone; I will need your help. You are amazing at magic, and only you can help me."
Starlight slowly, very slowly moved her head to the side and looked at Twilight. "Time travel?" She asked quietly, in a hoarse voice that wasn't used for a long time for nothing but screams.
"Yes, we can travel back in time and change everything. But only if you help me." Twilight said, now slightly more hopeful. "I have a scroll here, with me." She levitated the piece of paper in front of Starlight's eyes.
The almost-comatose pony slowly read through it, a tiny bit of life coming back to her. "Yes. It can work. Needs two ponies." Starlight slowly got up from bed, standing up and wobbling a little. She was barely able to walk after long imprisonment and being bedridden, but she tried. "We can. Lead on."
Twilight nodded, and slowly led Starlight out of building, only to notice a sudden commotion the moment she did, ponies grabbing weapons as something run loudly towards the camp. Zecora grabbed some potions, ready to throw at a moment's notice.
Pinkie Pie ran into the camp, almost hitting a tree. She was covered in blood. "Changelings! There is a patrol nearby, we must move the camp and deal with them before they find us!"
Twilight almost forgot her mission and run to her friend, but to her horror Zecora suddenly threw a potion at the pink pony. It hit, and Pinkie screamed as it started burning her… only for her scream to turn into laughter, as Chrysalis dropped her disguise.
Twilight gasped and everyone got ready to fight, as the Queen of Changelings looked over the camp. "And to think I wasted some ponies's life to get that much blood on me. Oh well, they would be disposed of anyway. What a pathetic sight. This is what escaped my generals, my spies, my armies for so long?" She looked at Zecora with a predatory smile. "Oh, yes, there is so much love in you, little zebra. I rarely have the occasion to taste such… exotic love. You will serve me well."
"I would rather let you taste my anger, then become your chained prisoner!" Zecora angrily said, lobbing another potion at the monster. A blast of magic hit the potion, and it promptly exploded. In this moment, thousands of changelings dropped from the trees above, and hundreds more poured into camp from behind the Queen.
Starlight tried to run, but she fell on the ground, unable to move in her weakened state. Twilight grabbed her with telekinetic magic and run, hoping she remember the way correctly. One or two changelings tried to grab her, but she managed to use her magic to teleport away and into the forest.
While most of the changelings were busy with the camp, some still remained in the forest, ready to capture any stragglers and prevent any from escaping. Twilight, with Spike riding her and Starlight floating behind her, run face-first into such trap, two changelings dropping on her from above with heavy chains, trying to tie her. The alicorn panicked, and fired her spells blindly, hitting the changelings and throwing them off. When her regular spells proved too weak to break the steel chains, Twilight fired a spell so powerful it cut right through the metal… and hit the changeling behind it.
Three runaways were already far away from the site of failed ambush when one of the changelings got up, coughing some green blood. The crazy unicorn with wings – looked like alicorn, but weren't they supposed to all be in the pods already? – got him good, her spells banged him up quite badly. "Dammit, they got away. Thorax, get up, we need to alert the rest that they slipped away!"
There was no answer from the other changeling. "Thorax?" Pharynx asked, limping closer and moving his brother's body, only to see a hole going through his body. The younger changeling was hit with the same magic that cut the chains; he died instantly.
Pharynx stood there for a moment, before crying in anger.
Twilight reached the crystal table, and dropped Starlight next to it, wheezing from exhaustion. She was never one for sports, and all this running – most of the forest was too thick for flying – was too much for her body to handle. Still, they got here, and that was important. "Starlight?" She asked.
The unicorn looked at the table, and at Twilight, before firing a tiny bit of her magic. It hit the scroll, and the magical portal to the past started to appear. The alicorn and Spike started slowly levitating towards it, when they suddenly heard Starlight's quiet voice.
"Twilight. Save me."
Twilight wanted to ask so many questions. How much did Starlight deduce? Did she recognize her own hoofwriting in the scroll? What did she mean by that? But both her and Spike already flew towards the portal, leaving the unicorn alone.
Moments later, Pharynx, his wounds only agitated by the careless chase through the forest, run towards Starlight. "YOU KILLED MY BROTHER!" He screamed, no longer caring about capturing her; he wanted revenge. He wanted to kill!
Starlight looked at the now-empty crystal table and smiled. For the first time in years she felt hope, even as her life came to an end.
"Save her."
Twilight really doesn't work well under pressure, as we've seen multiple times in the show. Add some recent trauma to the mix, and the poor Princess just cannot deal with it. On the other hand, Spike has one of those personalities that work very well under stress and in horrible situations, and break down only after the situation has passed when they finally relax.