The duo, lost in the dark, bumped into each other, and screamed.

“AHHHHH!” Rarity screamed as loud as she could, instinctively lashing out with her front legs trying to hit whatever had touched her. She hit something soft, and a familiar whimper was heard. Calming down a little, recognizing the voice, she grabbed the object and held it close to her.

The object rapidly squirmed in her arms. “Shh shh shhhhh….” she shushed, trying to calm it down. It worked to some degree, as the object stopped moving, but heavy breathing and crying could be heard from the object.

“Rarity, I’m scared…” the little object said.

“I know, Sweetie Belle. I am too. With Twilight...my friend…” Both sisters silently sobbed. Rarity had a nagging doubt that Twilight would find the basement hatch, but she pushed it down, focusing only on spending what may be her final moments with Sweetie Belle on the mortal plane.

That is, until the rapidly lighting-up torches caught her attention.

Both ponies looked around to see the once dark basement suddenly illuminated. There were three doors leading out of the room. On the floor, they could see what seemed to be drawings of a crying pony.

There were four drawings. The first depicted the pony with four arrows pointing in the four main directions with the word “MOVE” written on top. The second drawing showed the pony throwing what seemed to be his tears at the same four directions, and the word “ATTACK” was written above it. The third showed the pony throwing a sphere with a skull and crossbones, and above it the word “BOMB” was written. The final drawing showed the pony in his only drawing of being happy, as it showed him holding some object that looked to be a book, with the final word “ITEM” being written above it.

The sisters were both intrigued and afraid from the drawings. Only minutes ago the duo had just escaped from a maddened Twilight, and the drawings and overall shift of their bleak situation gave them whiplash. Rarity shivered in a physical form of her whiplash.

“What do you think these mean, Rarity?” Sweetie Belle asked. She looked closely at the first drawing, trying to remember if she had ever seen the pony before.

“I don’t know, Sweetie, but if someone had come in here before, that must mean they managed to escape from these doors!” Rarity, with a new vigor and determination, walked up to one of the doors.

“Wait! Which one is the right one!?” Sweetie Belle called out.

“Well, my intuition says this is the right door!” Rarity opened the door with a smile on her face and entered, closing the door behind her. It was only five seconds before she ran back in the room and slammed the door behind her. Her eyes were shot out in fear, and her hooves were shaking.

“Rarity, what happened?!” Sweetie fearfully asked.

“He was just dead... just hanging up there…” Rarity murmured under her breath. Sweetie couldn’t hear what her sister said, but she judged by her reaction and her heavy breathing that it was something she didn’t want to see. “My intuition was wrong, we take this door! Now come on!”

“Wait, but what was behind the dooOOOOOOR?!” Sweetie Belle was pulled by Rarity quickly into the opposite door. She never got her answer.

“AIEEEEEEE!”

In the room were two little ponies, except these little ponies were spouting little bubbles of blood where their heads were supposed to be. Nothing really new as monsters, but of course, you don’t exactly see monsters everyday, unless your life involves having to deal with said monsters.

This was why Rarity was trying to calm Sweetie while she incessantly pounded on the door.

“It’s not opening! IT’S NOT OPENING!” Sweetie frantically looked for a door knob, bumping her hoof hard on it. Ignoring the pain, she tried to pry open the door, but it wouldn’t pull open or budge out. Rarity pulled Sweetie Belle away from the door before one bubble of blood that had been spouted from a nearby monster splattered on it.

“Sweetie, calm down!” Rarity ordered.

“Calm down? CALM DOWN?! THERE’S MONSTERS IN HERE RIGHT NOW AND YOU WANT ME TO CALM DOWN!?” Sweetie Belle cried out.

“LISTEN TO ME! I can fix this, and I will get us out, I promise. Look into my eyes Sweetie, and promise me that you trust me,” Rarity said. Sweetie slowly looked up at Rarity. The older sister noticed the younger had been crying again, and Rarity held Sweetie close again. They jumped out of the way as another bubble splattered nearby from another monster that was getting close to them.

“Okay! Okay… Now what was that spell that Twilight taught me to defend myself from Diamond Dogs again…” Rarity pondered. She desperately tried to remember while dodging blood splatters with Sweetie. There were two close calls, and both of the times Rarity jumped in fright while Sweetie Belle squeaked in fear.

At the third close call, one where Rarity felt some droplets of liquid touch her hooves, she remembered the spell. She turned to the offender that hit her hooves and pushed Sweetie back.

“Sweetie, I want you to stay back. If I don’t survive this, just try the door again,” Rarity ordered. Making sure the other monster was away at the other side of the room, the older sister charged up her horn and shot at the offender with a blue light. The monster stopped in its tracks, unmoving.

“Uh, sis, what did you do—” The monster exploded in a bloody mist, leaving behind some bones and guts. It took Rarity everything she had to not throw up at the sight. She succeeded, but the younger sister was less fortunate.

“Blargh! What did you do to it?!” Sweetie Belle asked. Both sisters turned away from the corpse and started to dodge the other monster’s attacks.

“I don’t know! Twilight taught me that spell!” Rarity answered.

“Twilight?! Well that explains a lot!”

“It was to protect me from those horrid Diamond Dogs! What else did you expect me to do if I was attacked when I was out for gems with Spike!”

“Have Spike shoot some fireballs or something?! He’s a dragon, he can protect you! Oh, if only he was here now…”

“I do—eek!—hope that nothing bad has happened to the poor drake. Goodness knows he’s in shambles to hear about Twilight trying to… trying to…” Rarity still couldn’t fathom the events that transpired only minutes before.

In one dodge, the sisters accidentally bumped into each other. They laid on the floor, dazed for a couple seconds, before a close blood splatter woke them up and they stepped away.

“Shoot it! Shoot it!” Sweetie Belle replied. Rarity charged up her horn before blasting the monster, again making it explode in a bloody mist. This time, the older sister threw up.

“Eugh. Is that all of them?” Rarity asked. She wiped her mouth as quickly as she could, and reviled at the bile both on the floor and what little of it that was burning her throat.

“Ye-yeah. I think that’s all of them. Look! The doors!” Soon enough, three more doors opened, including the one the sisters had come from. One of the two new doors had a golden frame. Rarity walked up to inspect it, while Sweetie Belle hesitantly walked up next to her.

“Uh, Rarity? Shouldn’t we go back where we came from to see if we can get out of here? I don’t want to know what else is down here…”

“Now wait one minute. I think this door may have something for us,” Rarity said.

“Uh uh, come on. We’ve, heh, had enough adventure for today. Let’s get back before your intuition decides to try and kill us again...” It was useless to argue, however, as Rarity already entered the door. Sweetie Belle sighed before she entered too, nervously awaiting what else was out in the mysterious basement.

“What are those?” Sweetie Belle pointed to the center of the room. Two objects were in the middle of the room, with a floating stone pillar right between them.

“Ooo! They’re treasure chests!” Rarity quickly trotted up to one of the chests.
Meanwhile Sweetie Belle hesitantly walked up to the stone pillar, curious. She touched the pillar, and immediately it disappeared. Sweetie yelped in surprise.

“Where did what go?” someone answered.

“The stone! Where did the stone—AIIEEEEE!” Sweetie turned to the voice only to see another creature blinking back at her. Rarity looked up from fiddling with the lock of one of the chests to see her younger sister running and screaming away from another thing that was blinking in confusement at her. It was a small creature, with a grey body, and black bull horns stuck out the sides of its head, and it flew with bat-like wings. It’s face was rounded like a child, and it grinned almost innocently like a foal. Sweetie Belle ran under her older sister as Rarity charged a spell and fired at the offending creature, scared that it was another monster.

“He he, that tickles!” the creature laughed, rubbing its body in its giggles. Rarity stood dumbfounded.

“Why aren’t you dead?!” Rarity asked.

“I dunno. My friends all told me I would die because I would forget to breathe, but I’m sure they were just joking,” the creature said. It had an sweet child-like voice to it, as if it was a three year old speaking. It smiled innocently enough for Sweetie to get closer to it.

“What’s your name?” Sweetie asked.

“I dunno, but my friends call me Little Brimstone. You can call me Brimy if you want!” the creature smiled at her.

For the first time since they entered the basement, Sweetie Belle smiled too.

Rarity, however, was still suspicious.“What are you, anyway?” she asked.

“I dunno. I think my father called me a ‘failed demon’, but I don’t know what that means. I can do this though!” Brimy turned around and closed its mouth, puffing up its cheeks.

“Um, Brimy, are you oka—”

“BWAAAAAA!” Brimy unleashed a terrifying stream of red light from its mouth, scorching a small part of the wall in front of the group. Rarity recoiled in fear, while Sweetie Belle looked on in awe.

“Woooooow. That was so cool!” Sweetie jumped up in excitement.

“Yeah, right! But none of my friends think it’s cool though…” Brimy looked down in sadness. He was then caught off guard when Sweetie Belle hugged him.

“Well, I’m your friend, and I think that was cool,” Sweetie assured.

“You… you want to be my friend?” Brimy tentatively asked.

“Of course! Who wouldn’t want to be friends with a cute little thing like you?” Sweetie Belle replied.

“Aw shucks…” Brimy blushed. They both looked towards Rarity, who was back with one of the chests, trying and failing to get it open.

“Yes, well, this is all heart-warming and other matters,” Rarity said, “but I must ask of your assistance, ‘Brimy’ on opening this chest. Not even my magic seems to open it.”

“Oh, that chest? You need a key like this!” Brimy pulled out a key from a pocket he apparently had on one of his horns.

“Give me that!” Rarity took the key with her magic (a little forcefully, Sweetie thought) and shoved the item into the designated slot. The chest popped open, and with gleaming eyes wondering what sort of treasures the chest held, Rarity leaned in.

...Only to see a white, sleeping creature with bird-like wings.

“H-hello?” Rarity tentatively said.

The creature’s eyes shot open, and it bolted up out of the chest, surprising all three guests of the room.

“Alrigh’ ya pip-hopin’ squealer. Ya got luckie! I’m your gaaaardian angel, and I’m going tae help ye get through this ‘ell if it doesn’t chew me up, digest me, realize I taste worse ‘en my wife’s haggis, and spit me right out like a stinkin cud-muncher in winter.” The creature had its chest puffed out with its head held high, as if it had trained to give its speech, and was proud in giving it.

Rarity, Sweetie Belle, and Brimy all wore straight complexions on their faces, and simultaneously blinked.

“Eh? What in the ‘ell are ye suppose’d a be?” the angel flew up to Brimy, who cringed in response.

“Hey, leave him be. He’s my friend!” Sweetie Belle yelled.

“Ah! So he’s a bum friend is he? Risky choice, lass, but I like yer tenacity,” the angel replied.

“Bum friend? He ain’t a bum! He’s my little Brimstone! We call him Brimy!”

“Ahh, a li’l Brimstone? Ye got some extreme luck there, lass. I think we migh’ actually git to the boss!”

“Excuse me, but who are you?” Rarity, silent before, now asked the angel.

“Why, did ye not hear me ya old hag? I’m an angel, I protect ye and make sure you don’t git yeself into trouble. Or worse.”

“Well, I never!” Rarity held her right upper hoof up to her chest with a shocked expression. “I am not old, you deranged...angel! And I’m not a hag also!”

“Heh, well ye sure are a nag though. Now then!” The angel turned around to the younger sister, with a horrified older sister behind him. “Let’s get that chest op’n, shall we? Any of ye got any keys?”

“No. At least I don’t think so. Brimy?” Sweetie Belle looked up to the darker flying familiar.

“Nope. That was my last key. I had more before, but I lost them when I gave some to my friends.”

The angel only looked at Brimy in disbelief, and hit his face with his wing.

“Okay, if ye don’ have a key, then we got no business stayin’ ‘round here like a bunch a frogs on them dinky lilypads, jus’ waitin’ for a fish to come round an git us like the stupid fools we were fer standing on them flimsy plants. Let’s go ya slowpokes!” The angel flew towards the door, and Sweetie Belle and Brimy followed, with Rarity close behind muttering about not being a hag. Sweetie took one last look at the unopened treasure chest, and hoped that they would find another key.

When they returned to the room, they noticed an item was in the middle.

"Oi! You two forgot somethin', didn't ye?" the angel said.

"What is it?" Sweetie Belle asked. It was a black sphere, and a skull and crossbones was painted white on the side.

"What? Are ye daft lass? That'd be a bomb right there."

"Oh cool! A bomb!" Brimy flew close to the bomb before the angel flew up and grabbed him by his horns.

"Are ye stupid, Brimy? Familiars can't touch items, or we go boom like the bomb here!" the angel chastised.

"But I've played with bombs before! And I never got hurt!"

"Really? You got some special hand protectors? Or are ye cheating the rules?..." the angel said, looking with suspicion at Brimy.

"Nope! I just grab them and lug them around. But then they explode, and my friends get mad at me..."

All the angel could do was another facewing.

"Don't touch the bomb, Brimy. Jus’ don't."

"Humph! Meanie face!"

"WHAT DID YE CALL ME!?" The angel now flew up to Brimy's face with a scrunched up scowl.

"Meanie face! You're a meanie face!"

"Why you... GIT OVAR HERE!" The angel flew at Brimy and tackled him, sending the flying duo down to the ground. They rolled around the still bloody floor, trying to get whatever hits they could onto each other.

Meanwhile, Sweetie and Rarity walked close to the bomb, inspecting it to make sure it wouldn't blow up in their faces.

"How are we supposed to carry it? We don't have any bags for it..." Sweetie remarked.

"Well, I would ask one of the boys, but..." The duo looked back to see the familiars still fighting with each other.

"AAAH! ME PANCREAS! I'LL GIT YOU FOR THAT YA RIGHT STEAMIN' SLUG MUNCH'R!"

"Yeah..." The duo looked back to the bomb, and Sweetie reached out to grab it. Once she touched it however, it teleported in a white light. Both ponies recoiled.

"Hey! Where did it go!?" Sweetie Belle said.

“It’s right there over your head! Look out!” Rarity ran away from Sweetie Belle, who only looked confused at her sister.

“I don’t see it…” Sweetie Belle looked up to see the bomb floating above her head. She ducked down in reaction, but stood back up when she realized it wasn’t exploding.

“I think I’m supposed to grab it…” Sweetie Belle reached for the bomb before Rarity grabbed her attention, literally by grabbing her.

“No! Don’t… Just wait until you need it. Maybe it will be useful. At least, more than…” Rarity gestured to the still fighting familiars.

“OWIE! THAT WAS MY HORN YOU TWISTED! I’LL GET YOU FOR THAT!”

“How are we going to get their attention so we can leave?” Sweetie Belle asked.

“I don’t know Sweetie… Maybe try to call for them?” Rarity replied.

“Um, excuse me?...” Sweetie Belle walked up to the duo rolling on the floor.

“HEY! DON’T TOUCH MY WINGS!”

“NOT THE FACE, NOT THE FAAACE!”

“Well that didn’t work,” Sweetie remarked.

“Try to be assertive, Sweetie. As if they were soldiers,” Rarity advised. Sweetie Belle breathed heavily before speaking.

“ATTEEEEEENTION!” Both familiars suddenly stopped to look at Sweetie Belle addressing them with her head held up high with her eyebrows scowling.. “GET UP HERE, FRONT AND CENTER!” she yelled. Both familiars flew up to Sweetie Belle, afraid of her wrath.

“I NEED YOU TWO TO STOP FIGHTING, OKAY!?” Sweetie ordered. Both familiars nodded in agreement. “NOW I WANT YOU TWO TO HUG IT OUT, JUST AS FRIENDS WOULD DO!”

Both familiars looked at each other, then at Sweetie, then back at each other. Suddenly, Brimy flew up to the angel and hugged him with tears in his eyes.

“I’m sorry, Mr. Angel! I didn’t mean to call you a meanie face! I didn’t mean to hurt your pancreaaaaaaas!” Brimy cried. The angel could only facewing again before lightly patting Brimy on the head.

“Well, I guess I’m sorry for attackin’ ye. And hittin’ yer teeth. And punchin’ ye. And for callin’ ye a ‘slug munch’r’. Are ye okay?”

“You mean that? Are you really sorry?” Brimy asked though a croaked voice and a tearful smile.

The angel took one last look at Sweetie Belle, who scowled at him, before turning back to Brimy. “Yeah, yeah, whatev’r. I sol’mnly swear that I am up tae no goo-AHEM, that I am sorry for me actions. And I am sorry for twistin’ yer horn like a fine whiskey on New ‘ear’s Eve.

“Aww! Thanks! I accept your apology!” Brimy hugged the angel tighter, much to the discomfort of the angel.

“ALL RIGHTY THEN,” Sweetie Belle commanded, “I NEED YOU TWO TO SCOUT AHEAD AND FIND OUT WHAT OUR ENEMIES ARE. GO!” Both familiars at first flew quickly into one of the doors, before Sweetie Belle yelled back that they went in the wrong direction, to which they obliged.

Rarity stood there, dumbfounded. She was...impressed by how quickly Sweetie had changed to order around the two familiars. Then Sweetie Belle walked back to Rarity, and the older sister did not like the scowl directed at her.

“WELL, WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR? GET A MOVE ON!” Sweetie Belle ordered to Rarity.

“Sweetie…” Rarity charged her horn with magic while sternly looking at her younger sister. Sweetie blushed in embarrassment, and quickly scampered to the door and entered it, with the older sister closely behind.

The room was a nightmare incarnate. Five monsters (two of the same headless ponies from before, and three of the same ponies, now with intact heads, gaping mouths, and bleeding eyes) noticed the four, and the three ponies with heads charged them with a blood-curdling groan.

Fortunately, the four were ready for their nightmares.

Sweetie Belle pulled Brimy with her to another side, bringing two of the three Gapers. This left only one for Rarity to focus on. With a charged-up horn, she blasted the lone Gaper, making it explode into another bloody mist as before. This time she managed to resist gagging, much less resist the urge to throw up.

Sweetie Belle ran with Brimy, making sure the two Gapers were still behind them. They were, and in a straight line too. Sweetie couldn’t afford to miss the opportunity. “Brimy, fire your attack now!”

Still flying with Sweetie Belle, Brimy held his breath before turning back and firing his beam at the two Gapers. The beam completely incinerated the first Gaper in line to a pile of ashes while the second Gaper lost its head. That Gaper started walking around erratically bleeding from its head like the other two headless monsters in the room. Another blast from Brimy destroyed it.

Turning on the final two monsters, Sweetie Belle had Brimy fire at one of the monsters while Rarity shot at the other. Both monsters were annihilated, and the sisters whooped in success.

“Woo hoo! We did it!” Sweetie Belle yelled.

“Yes! And it’s no small amount of credit to Brimy and our angel! Thank you, you two,” Rarity thanked the two flying familiars. Brimy blushed with a small smile, while the angel looked stoic.

“Aww, thanks!” Brimy said. “It was nothing, really. It was a lot of fun! I never fought monsters before, but now I can brag to my friends I did!”

“Don’t thank me, lass. I didn’t do anythin’ this time,” the angel contemplated.

“What do you mean?” Sweetie asked.

“I only hav’ tae protect the old hag—”

“Excuse me?!” Rarity growled.

“—and make sure no ‘arm befalls ‘er or whatev’r bloody nonsense they said I needed tae do.”

“Who’s they?” Sweetie inquired.

“Oh them? Don’t w’rry your little ‘ead about it, lass. No ‘un ye gonna meet, that’s for sure.”

“Okay. So! Now that we’ve cleared this room, I suppose we go on to the next…room…” Rarity turned around only to see a sinister looking door in front of her. The door frame was different like the treasure room, only this time it wasn’t gold, it was made of bone. At the top of the frame was a goat’s head. While it was a dead head, it seemed to look menacingly at the four. Strange evil whisperings could be heard coming from behind the door.

“Well, we’ve seemed to reach tae boss room rath’r quickly, didn’t we lads?” the angel remarked.

“I’ve never seen a boss room before,” Brimy added, flying closer to inspect the door. “They say it’s always a new one every run, and sometimes you can get extremely unlucky with the boss on the other side.”

“Wha...what’s a boss?” Sweetie tentatively asked. She and Rarity were very scared with how reverent the familiars treated the room. They looked to each other with worried eyes in mutual understanding that it wasn’t going to be anything like they had already experienced.

“It’d be the final enemy, lass. Once ye defeat it, ye can go on to anoth’r lev’l, but consid’ring ya two ain’t exactly the runn’rs we’d trained fer, I doon think we're in for a lev’l one boss.”

Both sisters took one look at the door before collectively gulping.

“Well, I suppose now is the time than any other to ‘defeat’ the boss, eheh…” Rarity gulped again before she entered the door, and the other three slowly followed behind.

The entire group nervously looked around. The walls were significantly darker, made of grey rock rather than the wood walls they had seen in the other rooms. The room had darker lighting than the other rooms. That darkness could be felt too, and Rarity shivered. It felt as if an impending doom was to befall the sisters. The worst part was that she felt completely helpless to the aura and the subtle voices of her fate in her room. She realized the only word that could truly describe the room.

Evil.

“RARITY!” a loud booming voice was heard. It was so tremendously loud it shook the ground as if there was an earthquake.

“What the bloody hell was that?!” cried the angel. The demon familiar could only shrug, but both sisters’ eyes shot open.

It was Twilight.

“OH RAAAAAARITY!” Twilight called. Both Belle sisters froze. They looked behind them to see the door slam shut, then suddenly disappear.

They looked back in front of them to finally see Twilight, and they were horrified. They didn’t get a good look back up top at the boutique, but now they could see how much of a mess Twilight was. Mane disheveled, cuts and burns all over her body, and twitchy eyes told Rarity that her friend Twilight wasn’t Twilight anymore.

“Twilight! Wha-what happened to you?” Sweetie Belle fearfully asked.

“Oh, t-t-this? N-n-nothing, really. J-j-just experiments while I was s-s-studying those magical artifacts I found in the Everfree!”

“Wh-what kind of experiments?” Brimy asked.

“Oh, just some b-b-blood and tissue s-s-samples. After I used s-s-Spike, there was no other test subject than m-m-me. But now I have a c-c-couple of new subjects I can use!”

“Yer, yer a bloody lunatic!” the angel cried. Most of the group was backing up as Twilight slowly walked up to them.

Most of them, except one.

Rarity only looked with unexpectedly angry eyes.

“What did you do with Spike?…” Rarity asked in a dark manner.

“I j-j-just used him to figure out what kind of magic w-w-would one vase do to a dragon. Apparently it traps a d-d-dragon’s soul and tortures them for et-t-ternity. It could be very useful for when we need to w-w-ward off dragons!”

The room was deathly silent. Twilight had her eyes closed in a characteristic grin of scientific satisfaction, while the backed-up three looked at the alabaster unicorn who was charging her horn with every angry huff and snort.

Suddenly, a blue blast erupted from Rarity’s horn directed at Twilight. It sent her careening into the far wall, her entire back laid on the stone. Her eyes were closed in pain, while Rarity’s eyes blazed with an inner fire, the ire of which was directed entirely at the crazed alicorn before her. Again, the room was silent, save for Rarity’s breathing, and a cough from the angel with a mumble about Brimy’s pancreas crunching punches.

“You shouldn’t have done that.”

These words echoed around the room with a sinister air, as Twilight Sparkle opened her eyes and stared at her attacker. Rarity would be lying if she said she didn’t flinch, but she still had a job to do: protect Sweetie, and get out of this mess.

Unfortunately, she didn’t react fast enough to dodge, and was sent flying into the wall near where the three had been by a an spell, landing right in the middle of them with her back skidding across the ground.

“Rarity!” Sweetie Belle cried. The older sister opened her eyes and grunted in pain as she stood back up.

The four looked to see Twilight now flying steadily in the air. Her pupils were now gone, leaving her eyes just an empty white. They were glowing though, and another spell charged and blasted from the alicorn’s horn.

The angel came up and blocked the shot with his body, and looked back at the three. “A’right, here’s ‘ere the fun starts! I do me best tae protect ya lassies, but we ain’t goin’ any’ere without attackin’ the boss. So, what da ya suppose we do?”

At that moment, Twilight shot another spell, and the angel had to react quickly in order to block it.

“Brimy! Attack Twilight along with Rarity! Angel!...uh, just keep doing what you’re doing, I guess,” Sweetie Belle ordered. The four nodded and cracked their bones to prepare for the fight. With one final creak from Rarity’s neck, the four were ready to take on Twilight, who was now at the top of the room. Her wings had stopped beating, and the alicorn floated on her own.

Just then, she yelled out a banshee scream, and more monsters were summoned from nowhere, appearing in a lavender light. It was four of the headless ponies along with two Gapers, who now started to charge at the four.

“Eek! There’s more monsters! What are we gonna do?!” Sweetie Belle cried out.

Rarity sighed loudly. “Brimy, stay with Sweetie Belle. I’m going to see if I can get to the real Twilight trapped inside that…thing.”

“What?! No! Don’t do it! She’ll incinerate you!” Sweetie Belle replied.

“I agree! Ye hav’ tae be one crazy mare to try and reason with a bloody boss, of all the crazy whackos here!”

“She is my friend, and I believe—” Rarity dodged a swipe from one of the Gapers before Brimy made work of it and the other Gaper nearby, “—that she is still in there somewhere trapped by that demon of a friend!”

“Hey! What’s wrong with demons?!” Brimy asked, annoyed at the implication.

The angel blocked another shot from Twilight’s horn. “Ugh! Brimy, now ain’t tae time to argue!” The angel quickly rushed to block another shot.

“Twilight!” Rarity called. The alicorn turned towards her, but otherwise remained unfazed by the name.

“You must listen to me, Twilight! I know you are there, somewhere! Maybe you are trapped in whatever dark force has claimed your heart, but you must come back!”

The final monster was taken out by Brimy as Rarity poured out her heart to Twilight, trying to get the alicorn out of what she thought was a darkness that had corrupted her, no doubt from the artifacts from the Everfree. The room grew silent once again as Twilight lowered down to Rarity, no spell charging up in her horn.

“Do you believe this, Rarity Belle?” A low, dark, and sinister distortion of Twilight’s voice spoke to Rarity. A cold chill creeped down her spine, but she resisted the urge to shiver as the alicorn, a deeper purple than Rarity remembered, floated closer. She did visibly cringe when the eyes, devoid of pupils, were right near her eyes.

“Yes, I-I do, Twilight Sparkle. Come back to us. You don’t have to please Celestia like this. You can think, why would our princess of the sun want to have me-” Rarity gulped, “-killed? And my sister too, who is completely innocent in this matter! Please, Twilight. Please, my good friend. Come back to us. Come back to your friends. Come back to me!”

Twilight stared with her empty eyes at Rarity, who was trying her best not to completely break down at both Twilight’s stare, and the idea of her friend forever lost.

“YOU DARE QUESTION THE PRINCESS’S WORDS!” Twilight yelled. She flew up to the top of the room, and the room started to swirl in a storm conjured from Twilight.

“Twilight, please!” Rarity cried.

“NO! YOU DO NOT UNDERSTAND, RARITY. I HAVE ALWAYS BEEN THIS WAY. I FOLLOW THE PRINCESS. SHE GIVES ME COMMANDS. I FOLLOW THEM.

“YOU ARE FILTH. YOU ARE UNCLEAN. THE PRINCESS KNOWS THIS. I KNOW THIS. AND I WILL PURGE YOU FROM THIS WORLD!” Twilight began charging her horn.

“T-Twilight!” Rarity weakly cried out.

“Forget it, lass! She’s gone! Git ov’r ‘ere before she-” the angel was cut off when a boom shook the room, and the three saw Rarity flying back into the wall where they had witnessed the ordeal.

“Rarity!” Sweetie Belle rushed over to her sister’s side, helping her recover.

“Oh no...Cor silente… Sweetie Belle?...” Rarity held her hooves to her chest, tapping it once, before she reached out for her little sister.

“Sniff...Yeah?” Sweetie Belle started crying. She wanted to get Rarity back up, but Rarity suddenly jerked and held her hooves back to her chest.

“Sweetie, I need you to get out of here. Find a hole in the wall, have Brimy blast it, and...ergh…run!” Rarity ordered. She jerked and held her hooves back on her chest again.

“I don think we can do that, lass…” The sisters turned to the angel, who pointed at the new monsters that were now headed for them. The Gapers, who were now red, were too numerous to count.

“Sweetie! -UGH- The bomb! Use the bomb-ack!” Rarity jerked again, and pointed towards the group of monsters, who were now led by Twilght, whose body was now rapidly deteriorating to its bones, the corruption now taking physical form.

“Don’t w-w-worry, p-p-princess!” Twilight said maniacally, “I w-w-will purge them, just l-l-like you said. I w-w-will make you p-p-proud, my princess. I always m-m-make you proud, don’t I? ha. A ha. A ha ha! A HA HA! A HA HA HA HA HAAAAH!” Twilight moved closer, leading her army of Gapers towards the group.

“I can’t shoot them all! I’m sorry, friend!” Brimy cried.

The angel held its arms out to stop the attack, but visibly gulped as he did so. “‘Arity’s ‘ight, lass! Ye gots tae use the bomb!”

“Okay. Here it goes!” Sweetie reached up to grab the bomb that had materialized above her head. With a grunt, she threw it as far as she could, right at the the mob of monsters.

The bomb exploded on contact with Twilight’s horn. A bright flash filled the room, as a scream from Twilight could be heard. “RAAAAARIIIIITYYYYYYY!”

Sweetie Belle held her hooves up to shade her eyes, but not even them could relieve her of the blinding light that was soon encompassing the whole room. Her last thought was that she was by her sister.

Author's Note

I do enjoy the Binding of Isaac games. A lot of fun to just run and laugh at whenever a couple friends came over.

Thanks to RQK for editing the story! Go check them and their story out!

I will add an epilogue chapter to this later on, don't worry about the ending just yet.

Disclaimer: This was written as my submission to the Playstation Gamers contest.

(If the author's note seems to be duplicating, trust me, I don't know why. Anyone have a reason why it's doing that?)