I... I can't choose...

"I... I can't choose..." you say just as Ray counts down to three.

The griffon stares at you in slight surprise, but his gaze quickly turns to amusement and he bursts out laughing. "Ahahahaha! No, of course you couldn't! You couldn't choose before when we last spoke, and you haven't changed at all!"

He steps down from the altar and walks up to you with a extremely serious look on his face. "You know, it's extremely unhealthy to keep on stalling every time I ask you to make a choice. Are you sure you can't decide?"

You shake your head, unable to condemn one of them to a horrible, slow death while the other one lives a life as a crippled pegasus.

Ray sighs and returns to where Dash and Spitfire are tied up. "Well, my little slutty mares, your friend couldn't choose so I have to choose for him. So, I choose to set you both free."

All three of you are stunned by his decision, but he slices the ropes away from Rainbow and Spitfire's wings. You sigh with relief but spot two griffons come up and hold the two mares down as Ray walks up to Spitfire and delicately holds one of her wings. She freezes at his touch but he continues to caress her fragile body part. Without any warning he suddenly twists his arm and bends her wing the wrong way, a sickening crack echoing through the cavern followed by Spitifre's scream of pain. Out of instinct her other wing extends and flaps as she tries to pull free but her doing so allows Ray to catch a hold of it and quickly snaps it also. Spitfire cries in pain and anger as her wings fall limply to her side and tears fall down her face. Ray smirks and moves over to Rainbow Dash, who is frozen in fear.

"No... not my wings, please, anything but my wings." she pleads to Ray. You yell at him to leave her alone, knowing that getting her to start flying again was the biggest hurdle you had to helping her, and now Ray was going to take it all away again.

Ray laughs as he pulls one of her wings out from against her body. "Oh, NOW he wants to talk. Well, it's too late now. You couldn't choose, so I'm choosing for you." He snaps Rainbow Dash's wings just like he did Spitfire's, and as before he quickly grabs a hold of her other wing and he quickly breaks it also. Dash doesn't scream out like Spitfire did, instead she silently suffers the physical pain burning through her body as well as the mental trauma of possibly never being able to fly again.

"You see how easy it is to choose? It's not that hard!" Ray laughs down to you. "If you had just chosen, you could have saved at least one of them, but now you must suffer the consequences of your actions." One of the griffons gives Ray a dagger; more specifically, the poisoned dagger that Princess Luna gave her. "I guess he didn't want to keep either of you around." he says as he lowers the dagger towards Rainbow's throat.

"S-STOP! Don't!" you shout at the top of your lungs. The dagger is pressed against Dash's throat, one more little bit of pressure needed to cut her. She looks at you with fear in her eyes and she tries to pull away from the deadly dagger, but the griffon holding her down prevents her from moving. With a quick slice he slits Rainbow's throat, not deep enough to cut her artery but still enough to ensure the poison coating the blade finds its way into her body.

Ignoring her own pain and the fact that she was bound, Spitfire launched herself at Ray in a surprise attack, but Ray reacts too quickly and buries the dagger straight into her chest and knocks her body aside. You watch in slow motion as Spitfire crumples to the ground and Ray tossed Rainbow Dash's body on top of hers, both of them rolling down the stone steps and coming to a rest just feet in front of you.

"Rainbow Dash! Spitfire!" you yell out. Ray nods to the griffon holding you down, and as soon as you feel the griffon release you from his grip you rush over to where the two mares lay crumpled and broken.

The fall caused the dagger to go deeper into Spitfire's body, and her body lies still, her chest not rising and falling as it should be. Her eyes are closed and a pained expression is forever frozen on her face, and from the amount of blood pooling on the ground it is safe to say that the knife found its way to her heart.

Rainbow is still breathing but barely. The poison was working its way through her body and her eyes were already becoming heavier and heavier. You cradle her head in your hooves and look down at her, a few tears falling down your face and dripping onto her cheek. "Rainbow, I'm sorry, I'm so sorry..." you say to her.

She smiles weakly at you. "It's okay, master, it doesn't hurt as much as the other things did."

You choke back a sob and hold her against you. You couldn't care less about her blood getting on your body, nor do you care that Ray and his minions are still all around you. Your world only consists of you and Rainbow Dash, and as you hear her breathing become raspier you lean in and kiss her one last time. Her soft lips against yours cause your mind to think of what could have been; settling down and living in peace with Rainbow Dash, helping her regain her old personality and confidence, tenderly loving her and taking care of her... but it was all now shattered hopes and dreams.

As you slowly draw back away from Dash's lips you hear one last ragged gasp escape her lips before she goes still. Her body goes limp as the poison finishes its work and claims its second victim of the day, leaving you as the lone survivor.

Ray walks up behind you and looks down upon you. "Hmph, you reap what you sow. And you can't reap anything if you don't take risks. But they're now free, they don't have to witness the horrors I shall unleash on the world." he says darkly before walking off to the exit. His griffons follow him wordlessly, leaving you alone in the cavern that was now a tomb. You don't move, unable to let go of Rainbow Dash's body, not even as you hear a loud rumbling noise far away. No doubt Ray has caused a cave-in somewhere and has now sealed you inside the new tomb, but you had no intention of leaving your two friends behind.

Going over to your saddle bags that had been tossed aside by the griffons, you retrieve the bandages you had packed and clean the wounds on Rainbow and Spitfire's bodies, taking care to treat them gently and setting aside the knife in Spitfire's body for now. Once their bodies have been cleaned up you carefully carry them up and place them on the alter where Sombra's horn once resided, taking care to gently fold their wings back in place against their bodies. Once you are finished you find yourself having trouble breathing as the air seems heavier and hotter. You know you don't have much time left, and you pick up the knife on the ground and ascend the alter one last time.

You kiss Spitfire's lips, asking her to forgive you and you're sorry that Soarin will never learn of what became of his marefriend. Turning to Rainbow, you kiss her cold lips one last time, staring at her closed eyes. "I love you, Rainbow Dash. I'll be with you soon." you say.

Taking your place on the floor in front of the alter you take a deep breath and use the knife to slice open your leg. The cut is not very deep but the burning pain caused by the poisoned blade causes you to grimace in pain. You can feel the burning sensation rapidly spreading up your leg and once it hits your chest you feel your heart beginning to beat faster. You start sweating and your head feels like it's spinning around, and as you begin to lose strength you collapse on the ground and close your eyes. You feel a cold sweep over your body and your thoughts begin to slow drastically, the last thing you think being of the two mares you will spend eternity with.

BAD END

Author's Note

Well... that was a very close vote. The difference between this end and the other path(s) was a mere two votes. I was saddened to see this choice won, and I began to write a chapter giving a second chance to vote again, but I did promise that I wouldn't cheat and skew the planned outline I made.