“I’m not doing it!” Schrodinger insisted, his eyes alight and wide with terror at what had just been proposed. “No vay in zhe nine circles of hell am I doing it!”

“C’mon Schro! You can be anywhere you want! Why the heck can’t you just go in there and get the Heart?” Rainbow whined, leaning against her scythe.

“I tried zhat vith Discord!” Schrodinger answered. “He turned me into an imaginary number for mein trouble!”

Rainbow blinked, “..... I have no idea what the hell that means.”

“Mein ability to be everyvhere and novhere is governed by how I perceive myself, fraulein!” Schrodinger said. “I sink, zherefore I am. Discord made me unable to recognize myself. I vas not alive, dead, or even undead. I vas abstraction. An imaginary number!” He grabbed Rainbow by her shirt. “I saw vhat he did, Fraulein! He thought of everysing. Literally every possibility. Including zhat somevone like me vould come along!”

“Alright alright!” Rainbow cried, backing up, “Alright… new plan… uh… crap, what are we gonna do?”

“That Sombra bloke’s a total arse,” Seras muttered from her spot beside Anderson.

Anderson shrugged, “Aye, but what can we do about it? Nothing to do but to keep going up the stairs and hope our legs don’t give out.”

“Very true, hubby,” Seras purred as she leaned on him and hugged his arm.

Cadance sighed and rubbed her abdomen, leaning against the railing, “I just hope we manage to get the Heart before Sombra breaks the barrier…”

“He’s breaking through the fucking barrier!?” Twilight exclaimed, watching in shock as Sombra’s shadows solidified and warped the barrier far from its original shape, even cracking through the flickering shield in some places.

“Let’s hope it holds long enough,” Facet muttered, his stance tensing a bit.

“Let me out…” a familiar voice in Vinyl’s mind whispered.

Vinyl stepped back, clutching her head tightly as she clenched her eyes shut, forcing the voice back as best as she could. “Fuck fuck fuck not now…” she whispered.

“Let me out, weakling,” Duet whispered. “Let me fight. Let me kill.”

“Fuck off…. I’m not letting you out! Not again!” Vinyl stumbled back, ignoring the concerned looks she received, and continued to pound at her head, a desperate, writhing panic welling up in her chest.

“You can’t ignore me, weakling,” Duet taunted. “You need me. Without me, you’re nothing. You can’t even use my fighting style to its fullest.”

Vinyl dropped to her knees and whimpered, biting her lip hard enough to draw blood as Octavia rushed over to comfort her wife, patting her back and whispering comforting nothings in her ear.

“What’s gotten into her?” Blueblood asked, glancing at Vinyl in concern while inching away from her as he remembered her warning to introduce him to the most feared mass murderer in recent memory.

Octavia looked up and motioned for everyone to step back, “It’s the Ripper part of her personality; it’s trying to force its way through her mental blocks.”

“Of course the Ripper picks now to try and escape,” Facet muttered.

“Let me out, fake!” Duet yelled. “You’re not real! I’m the real one! I’m the original! You’re just some wannabe!”

“SHUT UP!” Vinyl screeched, throwing her head back in a wordless howl, “SHUT UP SHUT UP SHUT UP STOP TALKING DAMMIT!” She slammed her head against the crystal ground, almost cracking it from the sheer force.

“You know you need me,” Duet purred. “I’m your key to victory, fake. Let me out so I can win your battle for you.”

“I don’t need you! I don’t need you now! I won’t need you ever again!” Vinyl writhed, letting out a piercing scream just as Sombra cracked through the barrier around the city, smashing through and engulfing Popo, stifling the strange man’s scream of agony as black, shadowy, impure, filthy, defiling, corrupting, violating smoke flooded into the city, dissolving buildings into blackened spires of obsidian and onyx and slowly, inexorably heading towards the palace.

“ZHE BARRIER IS BROKEN!!!” Schrodinger screamed, grabbing Pinkie in his arms. “VE’RE ALL FUCKED!!!”

“WE’RE FUCKED HARDER THAN YOU FUCKED ME BEFORE WE LEFT!” Pinkie screamed back, latching onto Schrodinger tightly and wailing pitifully.

“We didn’t really need to know that, you two,” Rainbow muttered while shaking her head. “So what now? We have to speed up!”

“Aye!” Anderson nodded, already several steps up, “Come on then! Time’s a wastin’!” He sprinted forward, letting the rest of the group follow behind while Seras leapt over him and took the lead with her vampiric speed.

Seras stopped before an ominous looking door that she stared at. “So… What sort of trap could be on this door?”

Rainbow shrugged, “Well, there ain’t no time to try and figure it out! There’s only one thing to do and that’s this!” She rushed forward and pulled the door as hard as she could, wrenching it open and freezing solid, staring off into space, tears leaking from her eyes.

Slow.

Weak.

Useless.

Flightless.

Fat.

Worthless.

“No! No! Come back!” Rainbow cried, struggling after her friends on wilted, knobby legs, pregnant stomach weighing her down until she couldn’t even stand, “Don’t leave me!”

“Why wouldn’t we leave you?” Fluttershy sneered, stretching languidly and showing off her unblemished, womanly curves, “After all, you can’t fly, you can barely move, you can’t even have an elegant pregnancy!”

Rarity cut in, huffing and leaning provocatively against Soarin, “You even had to resort to Twilight’s magic to make your little mosquito bites grow! How pathetic!”

“No… no! Soarin! Aren’t you gonna help me!?” Rainbow sobbed against the dirt, staring hopefully up at Soarin.

Soarin sniffed and looked away, reaching over to cup Rarity’s breast, “Why would I want you when I got a real woman over here? Besides, you can’t even fly right anymore, you fat pig.”

“G-gilda…?”

A cruel smirk and a shove backwards from a heavy boot to the face, “Sorry, babe, but pregnant bitches don’t cut it for this bird. You either fly high or you go cry. So go cry, fatwings.”

“A-anyone…?”

Silence. Cruel, torturous s͙̲͉̲͎͕̥ͅi̳̳̰͇ḽ̤͙͉̬̭͚̯ȩ͝҉̬̯̬̳̬̻͖̗n̵̝c̳̫͉̥̖͜ȩ̞͜ met Rainbow’s ears.

And then, laughter. The horrible, evil laughter of those that took pride in making others suffer.

“N-no! No! Please no! Don’t leave me! PLEASE! DON’T GO!”

Cold and alone, the rainbow doth fade from ș̮̦̪̥i̺̜g̨̰̫͟͝h̢̛̦̪̥̙̳t̞͈̬͡͝ͅ ̷̶̺̤̘̳̝̰a̗̰̖͞ͅn̙̘̭̫͢d̸̶҉̠͙͎ ̫̬̻̪̦̞̥̮m̢͍͙̣͎̣͇͉̳e͏̱̱͍͖̦̗̖ṃ̸̼͠o̧͎̳̹͚̞̫̣̘̳͘r͖̭͖̩y̗̦͞…

“Rainbow! RAINBOW!!!” Seras’ palm impacted the stunned Aerial’s cheek hard enough to make her stumble a bit.

“What did you see, Rainbow?” Anderson gently asked as he gripped Rainbow’s shoulder.

“G-get away from me!” Rainbow shrieked, sobbing and curling up into a ball, “You’re better off without me! I’m worthless!”

“What’s gotten into you, RD?” Applejack asked, kneeling beside her friend. “Just what in tarnation did that door show ya?”

“I-I was pregnant! And I couldn’t fly! A-and I could barely stand!” Rainbow kept sobbing, a puddle of tears soaking through her shirt, “A-and all of you l-left me b-behi-ind!”

Applejack wrapped her arms around Rainbow. “Now listen ta me, sugarcube. We ain’t gonna abandon you. Not ever. You wouldn’t abandon us, so why would we do it to you?”

“Y-you m-mean it…?” Rainbow looked up, still hiccuping and crying.

“Of course, sugarcube,” Applejack answered, smiling at her. “You know ya can count on us jus’ like we can count on you.”

“T-thanks… thanks AJ…” Rainbow hiccuped a few more times and stood shakily, panting a few times and grinning halfheartedly, “W-well what are we waiting for!? We got the door open, didn’t we? Let’s go!”

“Hold on,” Anderson said. “The spell is still in place. Let me get rid of it first.” He pulled out his bible and stood before the door, glowing pages fluttering around him as he started quietly chanting. “The Lord is my shepherd. I shall not want. He maketh me lie down in green pastures, He leadeth me beside the still waters. He restoreth my soul for His name’s sake. Yay, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil. For thou art with me!” He unleashed the built up holy energy against the door, obliterating the dark enchantment. “Now we may pass through safely.”

“The hell was that, man? Never heard that kinda prayer before,” Rainbow sniffled a few times to clear out her sinuses, tilting her head curiously as she stared at Anderson’s bible.

“My religion is not of this world, Rainbow,” Anderson said. “And though the god I worship does not exist in this world, my faith still holds power.”

“Riiiiight….” Rainbow rolled her eyes and led the way through the open doorway, mostly recovered by now only to find, “.... Oh you’ve gotta be shitting me. More stairs!? We just went up like three thousand and then down like fifty thousand! What kind of fucking asshole made this stupid tower!?” She threw up her hands as nearly everyone in the group groaned in frustration.

Back in the throne room, Guru was quietly laughing as he felt their frustration.

“The kind whose throat I want to rip out,” Seras growled as she started up the staircase. “Let’s just go.”

Sighing in pain and more than a little frustration and desperate urgency, the rest of the Bravo team followed, their legs twinging in pain as they made their hasty ascent.

Spike let loose a desperate torrent of flame, driving back the encroaching shadow for barely a moment before it regrouped and sprouted more eyes, the obliterated ocular growths splattering the ground with smoky, acidic green blood.

“Dammit! How the hell are we supposed to stop a cloud of smoke!?” he bellowed, switching out for ice and wind.

“If I knew that, I’d be doing it right now!” Facet answered as he slashed at offending tendrils with Zantetsuken, its blade glowing red as he worked in attacks with water, courtesy of the abundant snow and ice.

“Less talking and more blasting!” Twilight shouted, using her own mastery of magics to create flaming tornadoes of annihilation while her drones flittered about, blocking off Sombra’s path with massive plates of shimmering, violet, octagonal ripples, her attack drones shrieking and wailing as they tore through the smoke with beams of antimatter and plasma.

“Your golem creatures are rather disconcerting, Ms. Sparkle!” Blueblood yelled as his flames added to Twilight’s tornadoes, his eyes flitting about trying to locate Trixie. “Not sure how much longer we can hold out here!”

Sombra’s smoke, suddenly and much too unexpectedly, withdrew in a great, swirling column, collapsing into a great, towering form, almost ten feet tall. Sombra grinned, eldritch shadows still stretching out from him as he indicated the bound and battered form of Trixie attached to his back. “F̤͍͉͙͡o̧̻̱̺͖͓͇͍͜ͅͅo͖͖̬̮̰l̛̬͚̝̻͔̝̫͡i͏̷̳̭́s̫̩̘̩̙̩̹̠͟͡h̦̻̙̼͎,̖͙̳̲̼͉͘͢͡ ̣̠͖f͕̘͇̜͎̬̰͢͢o͍̖̯o͎͕̱͢ͅl҉̢̺̮͕̪̜̠į̼̺̮͓͈͞ş̨̖͘ḩ̴͕̙͕̠ ͉̥͝m̸̩͕̠̳̞̫̮͈̀͠o̷̷̗r̷̤t̵͚̭͓̤̹̼̘͓a̠̜̤͇̬̙̱̺l̴̦̯̀ͅs͚̜͕̤̺̩̟̯.̷̞͈̙̘͚͓͟.̸̛͚̣̩̞̪.̧̫̻̀͝ͅ ̢̨͓̹̲͇̥̯̠͞T̮̜̫̬̝͜͠h͕̖o̡̟͜ư̢҉̯͓̜ ̢̛̮͇̹h̴̪̤̝̠͔̩̙͞a̪̣͢͞s̲̺̩̭̞̬ͅṱ̡̟̝͞ ̦̦͈͍̦̳ç͈͍̖̘̣̣͠͞h҉̹̮a̠̱̫l̻̳̘̬̹l̷͓͔̭͔̞̜̰͘e̵̵͙͓̦̝ǹ̛͓̼͉͘g͙͍͞͝e̥͙̤͎̼͎ͅd̨̩̲̩̼̜̭̼͈͞ ̵̡̫̰͔̖̼͍̗ḿ̴͎̲̭͕̼̠͡i̷͇̭͈̫̗͢ń̴͉̼e̪̘͎̟͉̫̯̕ ̱̲̣̗̖̦r̘u͏̰̳͇̘̼l͚ȩ͚̳͈̮̲ͅ ͈̖͙̰f̷̬͕́o̸̟̬̬̜̕ŗ̝͙̩̰̹͟ ̨͏̷̬͙͓̮̪͇̮f͖͇̣̖͔͇̰̬a͏̲r̬̥͝ ̘̞̼͈̳̪̲̩͘ͅt̷̸̘̬o̟̩͠o̻̲̙͔̪̳͞ ̧̺̭͙͡ļ̧҉͇̱̺̺̣̫ͅo͈͍̙̠͎͎̥̲͇ṉ̗̞̞̮̝̰̞͘g̷͇̺̀͞ ̨̝̯́n̶̡̩̠̤̳̲͈̟̬o̸̝̯̼̖͚̼̩͎͜ẃ̫̬.͔̹̫̜͕̯̣͠ ̸͓̞̥̞͔͓̪̺͓͡H̴̠̣͚͜o̦̖̞͓̖͖̗̫w҉̭̥̳͖͎e͏̢̝͚̗͕̣̫̰̞͘v͍͖͔͍̯͖͘e̪͍̳̥̟̘̥͈r̩̝̤̦̦͈̣͖̻,̵̺̖̞͘ ̷̟̮̫̗͟a͈̥̰͚͔̱̥̪͡s̴̼̤̣͎͎̫͜ ͖̰̮y̴̞̕ͅo͏͏̴͍͙̯ų̢̬̺͎̦͖̠̦ ̸̸̬͕͚̥͕̫͜a͖̭r̦̘̲̘̣̩͟e҉͕̺̯̳̩͓ ̵̫̹̜̬͇̖̙a̦͉͘̕n͕͝t͎̖s̢̺̥͈̙̞͓ͅ ̰̮͚͔̪̪f̬̪̩ạ̶̲̼͎̯r͇͈̬̯̠̳͚͇͘ ҉̯͈̖͍͈̕b̛̩̠͡e͓͙̖̪̤l̶̢͎͙̬̼ơ҉̺͎̰͝w̢̢͏͚̮ ̵̲̝̖̻̹̙m̛̙̯͍͜͡e͕͙͍͕̟͝,̛͏͏̣̘̺ ҉̧̱̗̼̤̼̞I̜̙͖͎̗̤ ̳̠̼͘ͅs҉̷̣̳̥̻̦̱u̸̵͈͉͇̯̠͚̝p̧̲̤̫̀p̫o͝҉͏̙͇̞̱̟͔̖̖s̛͓̀e̶͍͔͙̬͚ ̨̬͓I̶̜̣̱͉ͅͅ ̸̗̺ḿ̶͓̦̗̭̥̙i̢̳̬̲͕g̶̻h̷̼̦̘̯̯̟̩̼̕͜t̛̹̬̩̥͉ ̨̙̹͡t҉̧̻͍̭̬a̙̪̰͕̗̟͔ͅͅk̮̥͇̯͎e̠͜ ̴̹̪̮̜̹̹̕ͅa̳͍̬͔̹̠̗ ̟̲̲͟͡t̩̜̝̳o҉̘̱͍̜̭̜ú͚̦͓͖̱̦̺͜r̨̢͉̜ ̲̠̫̥͚̰̠̀͞o̪̻̥͉͕̫f̶̨͓̱͎͍̭̪ ̶͇͈̜͍̠̘̯̙͡t̟̹h͕̮̤͎͖̭̰̤e̷͚̮͘ ̹̞̤͓K̸̦̹̬̰͕̯̼̝i̢̙̳̠̱͔̙͝n̨̫͉͈̱͔̤̰̘̹g͉d̨̯̹̱̱̭͞o̵̼̥͝m̴̳̹ ̶̥̠̥͚͢͟b͍̝͙̀̕e̛̤̼̥̗̕f͈͖̜͘ǫ̪̹̳̯̤̼̳̦͢r̢̪̬͎̦͓̮̩ͅḛ͓̠̟͖̬͈̝̰ ͙͚̦͔̥̹͕͎̞Ḭ̴̀̕ ̰̣̯̟̦͚̪͉̯s̵̵͓e̦͇͡c̵̛͙͈̠u͏̞̞r̝̺̯̕͢e̶̘̠̺̹̳̳̕ ̛̣͈̗͉m̡̡͇͔̳̺̗̜͔͡y̶̧̜̯͞ ͏͎̖͓̹f̷̧̱̞̰͔̥ḭ̵̩̗̥̘͠n̶̷̠̗̟̯̣͕a̙̩̮̩̺̩̺̩l̪̖͕̯͎ ̬͉̟͖̹̺̩͕͈̕͞v҉̺̭͈̙̦͍i̛̠̯̬̺̠̺̹̭͓c̱͙̬t̨͍̦̟͍̀o̸͏̭͖̤̠̳r̞͉̰͠y̢̖̹̪͖̗̯̯͢.̴̣̹͓͔̣̲͚̲̀̕”

Vinyl fell to her knees gripping her head as Sombra’s voice made it harder to focus, and thus easier for Duet to tear at her, trying to escape. “Shut up! Shut up! I don’t need you, dammit!”

Octavia clung to Vinyl, trying to haul her up and away from the slowly advancing dark king, “Dammit love, this is so not the time! Come on, come on!”

Twilight growled, withholding from attacking for fear of accidentally striking Trixie. “Bastard…”

Sombra smirked and snapped his fingers while turning away, a forest of black crystal spires erupting from the ground and bursting into twisted, monstrous forms, all of them glowing with a horrid green light. "̨͍́̀I̧̭̹͓̥̘̹̜̥ ͚̦̯̫̦͟͝s͏͖͚͙h̷̫̙͍͖͔̣̥ḁ̻l̶̠͍͇̺̗͚̝̘͝ļ̻͙̙̫̠̣͇̠́͡ ҉̶̜̺͙̬̬t̸̴͈̼̮̻͢á͈̝̻͇̘̣͍́͢k͏҉̹͙̝̣͙͇͓̱͕ȩ͎͉̖͖̲̠͈͖ ̧̙̝̜̞͜m̤̰͈̙y͞҉̸̖ ̺͎̺̻ͅl̤̬͙̘͔͉e̯̞͍a͘͏̵͚̠͓v̶̯̺̘̻̼͟ͅe͏͉ ̱̠̱̼o҉͈̥͖̣f̶̡̼͓̮͖̞̕ͅ ̧͉̺͜y̴̸̱̘͖o̢̤̜̱̳̗͍̮̕͟u҉̛̩̬͚̬̜̮͠ ̬͕͚̬̟p̧̬̣̠͔̼̞̝͍e̴̬͖̦̳͚ś̛̖͎̖̪̤͕̤̦t̺̖̤̬̪̳̙͠ś̰͉̮̮̝̭̱̙͚͜.̺̲̼̣̼͖̙͞ ̝̙͜G͓ǫ̸̝͎͍̭ḷ̴e͖̪̭͔m̗̪̞̠͍̀s͉̰̤͚̠̮͚͝.̢͓̣͈͚͜.͙͙͓̫̺͚̩.̩͍ͅ.͇̮̮͓͡ ̷͈̻̼͈̣̩͘ͅK̶͙̥i̙̻͇͍̲̣̣̬͢l̗̲͝ĺ͎̥̞̦̟̟̗͝.͏̻̳̕"̠̰͎̹̭̮͍̜́

“Eldritch golems?” Facet muttered as he looked at Vinyl. “Vinyl. We really need you and your magic to take down these golems.”

“Dammit!” Vinyl muttered, shakily climbing to her feet and clutching her head, “I don’t need this shit RIGHT NOW!” With a magically enhanced scream and a stomp, a blue shockwave burst forth from Vinyl’s body, audibly humming with a pure tone so powerful that it splintered all the crystals around for a hundred meters, meeting the golems and… fizzling out as the eldritch magic warped space around the golems and reduced the damage to almost zero. “... You’ve gotta be shitting me.”

“Let me out, fake,” Duet whispered. “I can kill them. I can kill them all.”

“.... You’d better not kill any of my friends….” Vinyl whispered, desperately staring at the slowly creeping golems, her eyes bleeding into a fierce, glowing violet.

“You worry too much, fake,” Duet mocked. “That’s why you’re so weak. But I guess I can hold off on killing the others.” She pushed harder, one of Vinyl’s eyes beginning to fade to blue. “Let me fight!”

“.... Fine….” Vinyl muttered, pushing Octavia away and stepping forward, releasing her hold on Duet and visibly changing as she cracked her joints.

“Alright you ugly motherfuckers,” Duet sneered, “who wants to die first?”

“And now the Ripper is loose. Perfect…” Facet grumbled as he looked over at Duet.

“That’s Duet the Ripper?” Blueblood asked, a nervous tinge to his tone.

“The one and only,” Duet purred as she drew Benihime and dragged her tongue along the blade.

"̷̤͚̺̱Ś͚̹̣͢͝ͅò͙͉̫̠̀ͅ ̷̯̯̗͢ǫ̥̖͕̟̠̙̩̟́n̷͇̞̬̰͘e̛͕̺̣̖͡ ͖̭̘͎̱͇̻͘ǫ͝҉̰̠͙̥̙͕̗f̧̪̺ ̫̦̭̹̣̯͕̘͜t̵̨͚̥̙̙̼̕h̗͔͓e̴̢͓̪̞̺͔͉͚ ̗͝ì͍̮̭͍̰̮̪̕n͉̫͚̝͓͍s̵̨̘̼è̪̙͇͇̘͕̬̬͡c̪͎͖̝̟͜t̷͕͇̼͉͔̮s̢̬̞͟ ̸̦̜̼̳̤h̶̩͙̞̯̞͚̘̠͠͞á̵̪̼̱͈̰͕͔͈͙s̡̯̺͢ ̡̨̹͎ć̸҉͈͕h̡̘̞̼͜͡ͅa̷̼͍̹͘n̳̹̺͎̩̯͔ǵ̴͇̫̺̘̲e̞̯͠d̵͕͔̤͙̠̗̠ ̨̤i̺̪̳̟͈̭͝t̸̙̝͙̤͍̲͚̥͢ṣ̳͟ ̢̤̞̖̭s͏̫͖̖͈̯h̛̲̮̕ḙ̬̻̝̟l̠̝̟̮l҉̷̬̠̕.̴̳̙͉̰̝͕̗͜.̞̭̻͔.̝ ̡̻̙ͅi̺̫̤̗̘͢ͅn̫̪͢t̡͚̪̭͓͖̪̻͜e͔r̶͖̜̜̩̬̺̗̙̜̀e̵͉̖̙̦̖̕͢s̡̟̫̗̹̖̤ͅt̴̸͓͇̣͖̹͇̳ì̵̮̹͓̗n̖̞͓͡ģ̬̻͘,̦͡͠͞ ̥̹̦̟̩́b̧̧͖̰̳͇u̷͙͓̳̟̜̭̬̮̲t͡҉͉̙̘ ̞̬̗̟͈͍̙d̞͉̮o̖̠̪͔̫̮̻̳̕ ̢͍͖̙͘y̛̤͈̫̰͖o̪̮͘͘u̶͚͕͍̬͔͓͎̦ ̴̰͇̝̱̠̙̪͖͝r̴̢̪͉̦̺̭̀e͏̖̜̠̟̠͟ͅa͍̮͎̮̣̗̲ͅl̯̙̹͞l̢͔͍̭̹̘̼̪͝y͈̟͓̺̪̠͙̜͔͠ ̶̰̺̝͓͔̳̪̳t̳̠̹̪̭͎̪͡h̵͎͖̞̳̰͉͉í̱̱ņ͇͈̺̮̭͍͡k̶̝̻̘̙̳̜͟ ̴̠͘t̻͖̬͇̤̩̳̀͞͠h̗̜̘̠̭͓ͅa̛͓͎͎̳͖̹̱̘͡t̲̝̲̥̮̜̀̕ ̗̮͇̰͞͠w̷͉̘̙͚̕͞i̵̞̗̤͙̺͖̗̤̪l͏͎̪̻̱̩̘l̢̻͎̻̤̗̦̭͡ ̳̰͞ḥ͍͓̳͝e͏͏̻̫͘l҉̪͙̱̼̙̙̺p̧͔͈̘̟̦͘ ̷̞͈̲̞̭͡ỳ͇͔̣̹͢͜o̘̲̝̲̳̩͝͝u̸͓ ̲̀͟͞ş̗͞u̧̟͎͙̰r̲͚̀v̢̤̘̺̟̺͚̖i̹͇̝͚͢ͅv͏̤̻̜̜̦͙̠̘e̢̛̥̜?̛̣"̙̻́ Sombra chuckled darkly and sat back on a throne of obsidian, letting his golems rush forward, claws and crystal tentacles extended and ready to rend the soft flesh of the mortals arrayed before them.

Duet vanished in a burst of speed, reappearing in front of Sombra as the golems between her and her starting position crumbled. She gave the dark king an absolutely lascivious look. “Has anyone ever told you that your voice is sexy?” She moaned as she licked her lips. “I’m so fucking wet from hearing it.”

“.... She’s kinkier than I am,” Twilight shuddered, sealing away her drones and activating her normal runes, allowing her personal golems to manifest around her.

Blueblood shivered, “She’s worse than I thought she’d be…”

Sombra’s grin turned deadly as he patted Trixie’s hair, Trixie being chained to the foot of his throne."̨̳̖̘̦̤̤Ḭ̶̷̝̮̞̫͞f̪̠̲̼̘͚͘͝ ̸͔̮̟͖̰̦̩͝m̵̡͕̥̘̝̫̟͢y̶͔͍̣̳̻̗͇̞͓͜͢ ̗̹̯͠v͏̩̗̣̤̼o͔̖͇͖͢i̶͙͇̩̠̫̳̹c̹̤̮͇̖͕̖e҉͓̺̪̰̲̟̻̞ ̵̡̠̲d̨͏̫̻͔o̶͍̫̫͈͈ṭ̡̹̱͞h̷̬̱̥̥̗͟͞ ̼͉̠͝b̶̧̬͙̘̹̟e̞̬̲̫̣͉͎͢͝ ̢̡̻̻̞̀a̹̫̣̦t̡̗̣͚̩̝̞̩̫͎t̡̝̬ͅr͔͓͞a̶͏̜̻̗c̛̝͙̱̰ͅt̴͕̖͉͔͢i̜͚̻͍̲v̶̢̰͍̭̠͈͙̙̘e͈̖̱͎͕ ̪̠̼̲̱̘͡͞ì͔̩̳͙̺͓̩n̨͕̦̟͓̩̼̬̗̝͜͟ ̘̺̻̪͉͔͙͢t͏̣h̢̭̜̠͠i̤̙̩̫̳͍͘n̛͔͎̳̮̭̝̟͔e̡̫̹̰̯̱͡ ̸̢̰͘e̟̼̘̞̬̹y̪̠͉͎̹͚̠͔̫è̡̟̦̜ͅs̮̰̼̫̻̗͚,҉̫̺͓ ̛̛̖͎̫͓̬t̰̮̻̥̠͕̕͢͟ḩ̷̯͉̮͈͎͉̗͍͠e̶̛̯̞̦̩͈̖̩n͈̝̠̰ ̗̦͎̥̕ẃ̸̞̤̭͇͔͟ḩ͇̭͍̣͡y̪̘͘ ̷҉҉̲̬̪͉̥͚͈ǹ̝̝̜͙͞o҉̷̝͙̯̀t͚̱͔͍́ ̭̩̪͚͓̲͟͞j̨͉͖̗͙̻͈̥͡o̧͈̬̦͓͎̱̖i̷̹͈̹̜͎̣͕͡n͚̖͎͞ ̴̸͙̣̖̥̳̤͓̯́ͅm̗̫ę̯̟͠͡ ͏͏̘͇͙̬a͏̝̦͉̳̭͜n̯̭͎̖̲̮͓d̢̛̺̤ ̴͕̟̹͉͘͟b̩̰̫͚͘e̵̟͙̫̙̭͟c̶̱̟̣͡ͅo͏͍͚̣̀m̧̧͍̭͎͙̮̜͝e̠͎̱̞̙̤ ̡̥̼̗̼̬̘̩͠a̷̦̘̪̲̟͕ͅ ̨̳̼͈͓R͚͉̪̱̪͍̰o̙͙̯̥̝̘͇͟͟y̛̛̱͙̲̝̮̻̜a̷͓͙̤̥̹͕l̸̢̤̱̩̲̥̗͇͘ ͍͖̮̠̀C̷̳̮̫̥͕͝ǫ̴͚̬͚͡ń͍̖̥̖̹̭͠c̷̡̬̗͖͉͈u͘͡͏̮b҉̛̝̙̲̭͜i̦ͅn̙̰̩̮̙̩̙ͅe̤̤̯͉͓̳̗͎̲̕?̸̷̪͎͉͘"̧̙̜͉̮̰

Duet shuddered and briefly hugged herself. “I just came!” She let out a mad cackle. “Tempted as I am to let you fuck me…” her eyes went wide and her lips parted in an absolutely insane slasher smile as she stared into his eyes. “I’d rather hear you scream! Nothing gets me more excited than screams of agony from the people I’m chopping into hamburger!” She jumped at Sombra, poised to run him through.

Sombra frowned, "̸̧͖̩̤̠͇͕P̢̛͎̜̘̯̪͘i̛̯͍̺̬͓̼͡͠t͔̲̀y̛̬̹̞̜.̵̛͚͚ ̤̮͍̫̕A̝̪̬̠͚̼ǹ̸͙̦̖̪̘͈͕̖d̸͉̼͔̗ ̱͍́͡Į̝̝̪̭͈̭̳͓̣͠ ͇̠̳̼̰́t̰̟̬̪̫̪h̴̢͓̰̘o̹͈̺u̪̮̜͕̭̹̮̬̲͡g̸̝̰h̷̡͈̘̱̮̥̺͈͓͢t͈̣͔̲͟ ̶̨̺̫̗y̜̤͟͟͠o͏̟̻̮̬͇̠͕̀͡u̪͇̫̮̺͢ ̳̯̰͘w̮͙͍̣̳͝o̻̱̙̰̙̞͘͞ų̩͙͝l̵̠͓̺̘d̸͕̩͓͉ ̘̺̦h̻͓̯͙̙a̼̤̞̱͔͖̫̝͞v̗͔͎̲͈̻̬͡͞e͕̥̻̻̥̥̩͜ ̸͖͍̳̮̭͚̘m̫͟ͅa̷̵̪̭̠̦̻̩̦d̶̯̘̤͢͡e̷̳̱̫͜ ̸̪̘͇̩̪͉̬̭͜ͅf̢҉̟͉̬̙̬̥͍ò̱r͕͚ ̡͍̻̹̬̞̦͜ş̵̶̝̜t̶̹̙͈̝̹͚̦͍̕̕r͏̼̺͍͜o̹̗̼̰̞̲͔̜͘͞ņ̯͙͚g̴̢̞̻͍͍̖̙̦ ̨̡̫̫͖͍͉̯͔̣c̺̹̗̕͜͠h̢̖̩̙̕i̤̮͢l̲̥͎̹͖̞͉͡d҉̸̭̰̙̣̖͚̼́ŕ̶̹̱e͙̗̪͔n̵̠̬̺͙̟̞̪̕.̴̙͚̲̀͢ ̦̹̩̻͚͢͡D̖̭̲̻i̥̗̮̳̤ͅe̡̪.͉̟̮̰̳͟"̡̰̼̖̦̥̩̫̞͘ He waved his hand idly and a massive pulse of eldritch magic blasted Duet back, sending her crashing into and through an entire crystal house with barely any effort on Sombra’s part. "̻̫́͡W̵̛̼̮̩e̠͍͔͕ͅḻ̬̲̮̝l̵̡̦̖?̜͕̦͕͕ ̞̦̩̣̝ͅH̢̜̻̤͍ọ̢͢w̖͉̫̝̙͡͞ ̰̲̫̗͚̕s̖̞̭̟͖̲͡͡h̘̗̟̥͎̰͎̳̯͘͜a̲̝͔̲l̛͏҉̰̺̭͔̲͈ͅt̮̙̥̹͞ ̪̜͈̪ț̛h͓̝͜e̹̯̩̰͕ ̢͖̙̖̼̤͘r̛̲͚̣̕e͏̱͖̤̱̪͡s̭͍̗͟t̷͇͙͉̳͢ ͟͏̘ó̠͡f̡̭̼̯͡ͅ ̖̠͙̣̖͜ͅy̛҉̱͚o̢̫ú̲̣̘͈̲̱̞̯̕ ͞͏҉̹̝̼e͜͏͓̫͕̥̠̞̙n̡̳͔̤͈̰͇͎t̢̧̜̺ḛ̹̝̟̰͖̘͎̖́r͜͏̵̦̩͇̖̦̟̖̱t̡̰̗̕a͚̦͓͝ͅi̬͚̭̖̙n̸̪̳̤͙͈̣͡ ҉̲̙̼͈͚̀͡m̙̜̭̀e̶̮̫͚̳̖͈͜?̘͕̼̙̪̗̼́͢͜"̡̻̼͎̫͙̜̘̘̘

A loud moan echoed from the wrecked house as Duet got her feet, clad in her exosuit completely. “Oh fuck the hell yes!” she moaned. “I haven’t met an opponent that can make me bleed in years!” She licked some of her blood from her hand as she stumbled from the rubble.

Twilight frowned, “How the hell are we supposed to beat this guy, dammit!? With the Ripper right there, we can’t close into melee, and with all the space warping those golems are doing, none of us can do ranged attacks!” She whipped her wires out and snagged a golem, shredding it and throwing its remains into the golem behind her, signalling for her army to surge forth and attack.

Magenta met eldritch green as both tides of crystalline monsters struck each other, the overall quantity of Twilight’s golems providing a small but noticeable edge over Sombra’s relatively few creations.

Sombra merely rolled his eyes and extended a shroud of tentacles, "̸̻̤̙͉̗̕B̢̹̯̻͞o҉̝͉̮̳̳͖͙͡r͚̺͓̥͜ḭ͍̥̫̀͜n̹g̵̷̼̳̠̩̬ͅ.̴̙͚ ̵̫̱̩̙̞̠P̰͎̹͓̬̯͓̗̕e̪ŕ̶̢̩̤̞̦h̗͟a̢͓͚̬̺͍̤̳͡p̻̮s̪̹͎͔͎̣̮̞͠ͅ ͓͈̹̫̣̖I̪͚̫̭̭̪ ̡̯͉̪͔̼s҉̴̳h҉͚̥͇̭͟ḁ̧̥͓̞̯̟̝͎́l̻̜̬̰͓̬l̷͇̥̪͔ͅ ̧̻̲̥̻̳̹̠͓̫͞f͚͓̹̣̪͉̕i̦̝͎̰̻͘ń̛̼̮̰̞͎͙̠̖̦d̺͖ ̤̀͟s̷̞̪̳̮̘͘o͓̘̦m҉̴͇͓̹̟é̡̺̩͕̘̣̦̺͢ ̩̠̣̘̣͡o̗̤͙͓͎̻͓̣f͏̜̲̩̳͖ ̵̢̤̹̫̜̩̗̕t̜͖͇̠͍͘h͏̳͖̝̞͍̮̟͇͢e͉͇̠ ̞̗͓͍̜͝c͇̪̘i̡͎t̺͓̳̞͈̩͜i̯̺̬̦̭͝͝z̴̜͜e͟͏͖͓̖n͕͡͝s̶̨̼̹͎͞ ̵̧͇I̧͉͓ ̱̀h̷̨̞͎̻̰͈͍̭a͏̡̞d͔̥̠͞ ̛͎̲͕̲͈͚̟̝̭s̯̮̘̖͢e͎̦̞̲͇̪̺̖͖͢a̖̺̦̟̼̺͝͠l̳̥̣̘e̜̞͎̱̻d̵̙̯̱̤̟̮̲͔͘ ̘͕̱͎̙̯̪͚͟a̴̟͇̮͙w̨҉̠a̧̩̣̣̦̮̲̖̕͡y҉̧̪̘ ͏̸̼̣͔̲̠̲à̯̼͙͕̫̼n̴̵͔͝d͉͉͕͈͔̬͙̼͓͠ ҉̞̼̮̹̗c̦̼̝̞̞̱̳r͈̀͢͡ų̡̲͉͔͖̱̤̤̯ś̴̶̹̙h̡̙͉̱̦̞̤̱͙ ̷̼̬͘͞ḁ̻͖̠̹͖̰͠ ̥̤͚̀f̴̲̠̹̮̲e̡͚̲̝͔͘͘w̧͚̣̗̟͚̝͉̙ ҉̙̘̟̞̖͕͠o҉̴҉̖͕͔̳̲̟͕ͅf̡̢̞̰̪̫͇͠ͅ ̯͙̞̺͓̱̱̼̝͘t͍̟h̰̻̥̠ḛ̴̛͈m̨̳͕̹̬͉͍ ҉̸̪̼͠ͅt̖͕͕͔͓̙̙́͟͡ǫ̞̻̪̕ ̕ͅm̗̼̭̝y̙̳̞͖̖̣͠ ̶͕̦w̠̙̲͈̼̕ị̛̣̠̖̪̩̮l̴̡̢͎̪͙̝̬̣l̛̳̙̻̺͞ ̵͙͈́͟ǫ̧̢̦͚ͅn̶̸̶͉̯̭̬̦c̵̯̗͚̘̞͈e͏͏̠͚̺̠̣ ̨̡̥͘m̷̩̫̣̣̮͉͇o̸̭̜̜̲̳r̺̲͘ḛ̸̜̞͓͇̟͉͙.̵̙"̡̞̥͕͖̫̙̭́ He stood and began walking away, dragging Trixie’s insensate form behind him without a single care.

“Damn, things are going to shit out there!” Shining Armor exclaimed, peering through one of the few windows dotting the spire their group was climbing. “Oh man, how are we gonna get to the Heart in time!?”

“Well we’re not gonna get there any faster if you just keep whining about it!” Rainbow snorted, taking a hold of Shining’s arm and helping Cadance drag him further up the stairs.

“There’s gotta be a faster way up!” Seras yelled, roaring in frustration.

“I concur,” Rarity muttered, humming thoughtfully and groaning, “Oh if Twilight were here she’d have some spell that would bring us to the top without any problem whatsoever!”

Flim blinked, “Well, my brother and I have learned a gravity reversal spell… and the ceiling above our heads is just more stairs with a smooth underside so…”

“Oh you can’t be thinking what I think you’re thinking,” Flam muttered.

“Use the ceiling as a makeshift slide up to the top of the tower?” Seras asked, grinning very darkly at the twin inventors, all her pointy teeth on display.

“Yup!” Flim stated cheerily while Flam groaned.

“Brother of mine, you do remember what happened the last time we tried the spell, right?” Flam asked, shuddering.

“Oh please! That only happened because there was a random beehive hanging in the branches of the library!” Flim waved Flam off, holding his hands out and indicating for his brother to help him cast.

“..... If you’re sure….” Flam mumbled, taking his brother’s hands and lighting the stairwell in a blaze of green magic, the entire group suddenly lifting off the stairs and landing upon the underside of the stairs above them, quickly spiralling up the tower from the slick surface.

Seras screamed in indescribable joy as she took advantage of the rush of defying gravity and quickly ascending the tower. “Now that’s more like it!”

“Damn you Flim! I hate slides! How could you do this to me!?” Flam cried, beating Flim over the head with his gauntlet covered hand while Flim merely cackled at his twin’s misfortune.

Thanks to the reversal of gravity, the group reached the top of the spire in mere minutes. “Bloody hell that was fun!” Seras yelled. “We gotta do that again sometime! Oh hey look! The Crystal Heart!” Said crystal was floating in the center of the open air room.

“Zhere’s our macguffin!” S̯̹̫͔͎̯̗c̶͖h̞̟͎͚͙̣̀r̲o̱̥̘̼̳͡d͝i̢͓̳̤n͚̝g͓͔̱͓e̪͎͇̼̞̕r̮͕̭̤ cheered while hugging Pinkie.

“What the hell’s a macguffin?” Rainbow asked, staring at him with a raised eyebrow.

Pinkie hugged Schrodinger back, “It’s a thing that writers use to advance the plot of a story without seeming like there’s just a blatant skip to some random end result!”

“Zhe technical term is ‘trope’,” Schrodinger added, nuzzling Pinkie with a smile before he and Pinkie glanced at what appeared to be open air. “Und certain people are razher fond of using zhem.”

Stop talking to the readers, Schrodinger! Pinkie! Even if the authors are avid tropers.

“Fiiiine,” Pinkie smiled and waved, turning back to the crystal floating at the center of the room.

Flim cleared his throat, “Ahem, well-”

“-that crystal’s probably booby trapped with something,” Flam stepped forward, activating his chronal displacement drive, “so the two of us will go first, scope things out.”

“How noble of you two to sacrifice yourselves for zhe rest of us!” Schrodinger commended with a thumbs up.

“....” Flim stared at Schrodinger, “.... on second thought….” He picked Schrodinger up by the scruff of his shirt and tossed the catman at the Heart, casually rolling his eyes, “I forgot we had an immortal teleporter thing with us. My bad.”

Schrodinger screamed as he reflexively wrapped his arms around the Heart as he collided with it and continued on over the edge of the spire, reappearing behind the brothers with the Heart still in his arms and kicking both in the nads, one with a third leg he imagined onto himself for the sole purpose of nut checking them before getting rid of it. “You two are bastards! I take back vhat I said about you being noble!”

Flim and Flam collapsed, wheezing with pain and laughter as they high-fived with their non-covered hands. “Totally worth it!” Flam chuckled, still gripping his crotch.

With an audible snap and crackle of mana settling into place, black crystal erupted from where the Heart had previously been, forming into a cage of obsidian and onyx and zapping Schrodinger into it with a crackle of similarly colored lightning, taking the Heart with him.

Schrodinger reappeared beside Pinkie and handed the Heart to her. “Vell zhat isn't ominous at all. Shall ve go put zhe Heart where it belongs?”

A crackle of b̪͚͍͈̰l̦̠̜ạ͚͞ck͉̺̹̩͓̮̰ ̨̟̲̬l͍͖i͚͔̤͍̤̯͈g͓͠h̖̝t̴n͇̭̹̼͖i̪̻̞͙̟̞n̖g̹̝̘̭ zapped Schrodinger back into the cage, this time scoring a few burns across Schrodinger’s back, before Pinkie could react.

“Schrody!” Pinkie screamed, beating on the cage with her free hand. “Are you okay!?”

“I’m fine. Just a little singed is all,” Schrodinger said from beside her, ears twitching.

Another zap, this time drawing a deep gash down his leg, sending him once more back into the cage.

“Okay… I don’t sink I’m going anyvhere right now,” Schrodinger said from within the cage, focusing his power on removing the wound in his leg. “Nutcheck zhose brozhers for me, Pinkie!”

Pinkie nodded worriedly, “R-right! We’ll come back for you as soon as that meanie Sombra is gone! Come on guys! Let’s do this!” She steeled herself and, in a fit of complete insanity, jumped out of the open window with her hammer fully deployed, using it to propel her faster down the spire in a trail of explosions.

“What the fuck!?” Rainbow cried, diving after Pinkie, trying to catch her apparently i̻̣͖͇̦̦̤n͕̝̗̦̗̪͔s͇a͏͈͖̥̻̺̺͚n̹̪͉̖è̪̜̠̼̩ friend. “Pinkie what the hell are you doing!?”

“Fastest way down the tower is falling!” Pinkie yelled back, still propelling herself.

“Yeah but what the fuck was the window thing!?” Rainbow dashed ahead of Pinkie, arms spread to catch her.

Pinkie shrugged, “It seemed like a good idea at the time!”

“You’re insane, Pinkie!” Rainbow facepalmed and grabbed Pinkie barely feet before she splattered on the ground, curving their flightpath at a ridiculous angle and bursting back into the palace in a tangle of limbs.

“Nail!” Guru called after his ears perked at the sound of Pinkie and Rainbow’s landing.

Hammer sighed and put down the pie he was ordered to make five minutes ago, “What is it Guru?”

“Something landed outside. Go see what it is,” Guru ordered.

“Yes, Guru,” Hammer sighed, stepping outside and seeing the pink and rainbow tangle of human limbs on the ground, “..... What the hell happened to you two?”

“We jumped out a window…~” Pinkie mumbled blearily, lifting a finger and spinning it in circles.

“We got the Crystal Heart though,” Rainbow said as she slowly got herself and Pinkie to their feet.

“Right….” Hammer looked back to the throne room, “Well, I’m not too sure, but there is a weird pedestal in the room just behind the throne room. You should probably put it… oh crap.”

Hammer paled, seeing the ơ̤n̢̫̲̬ͅc̲̖̖e҉̣̮̗̩̞̙̲ ̠̥̰m̶̘̤͍̯̰o̯̟͈͙̪̞r̲͝e̜̲̠̲͖͡ͅ ṃo̴͈͓̭̯̠n͖̥s̲̺̻ṭ̵̘̰ṛ̘o̸̘̖ͅu̙̺̗̳s̜̜͖̤ form of Sombra turn towards the three of them and surge forward in a tide of eldritch smoke.

“Well that ain’t fair at all,” Rainbow muttered.

Pinkie shivered, “I don’t think he gives a fuck.”

Twilight teleported in suddenly, a flash of pink announcing her presence as she smirked, “Dumbass… he dropped Trixie.” The next instant, a veritable tsunami of highly destructive spells tore out from the twining mandala of her wire web and her hands, destroying everything in front of Twilight in such a massive cone of destruction that it carved a ten mile long trench down the main street of the city, slagging it and blasting away most of Sombra’s screeching form even as her drones took pot shots at the eldritch king’s many eyes. Twilight herself collapsed backwards, a goofy grin on her face as she blearily looked out at Sombra. “Fuck you, ya bastard….” she whispered, passing out at Hammer’s feet.

“... Holy shit….” Hammer muttered, echoing the sentiments of just about everyone on the battlefield.

Pinkie stared at the destruction and shook herself, running for the palace’s interior with the Heart raised high and screaming at the top of her lungs, “SOMBRA’S COMING MOVE MOVE MOVE! GET OUT OF MY WAY!”

Everyone cleared out of her way, the available fighters doing all in their power to at least slow Sombra down as he came charging back toward the palace.

Sombra roared out in shrieking defiance, turning himself into a twister of blackness and drilling through the opposition, flinging them aside as he chased after the suddenly very, very scared Pinkie.

“No no no no no!” Pinkie cried, slamming her hammer down and launching herself forward, smashing through the doors of the pedestal room and rolling to a halt even as Maud erupted from the ground behind her and slammed a crystal slab over the broken doorway, sealing it shut and allowing Pinkie a precious few seconds to finally shove the Crystal Heart into its rightful place with an anticlimactic clink.

A beat.

And then a glorious pulse of energy swept from the leylines underneath the city, throbbing with the intensity of the planet and the accumulated love and lives of the citizens within. It washed over the city in an expanding bubble, activating the gem forms of each of the Crystal Empire’s citizens and awakening them in bursts of light, destroying the eldritch golems outside of the palace and, most importantly, searing away at Sombra’s own blackened and eldritch soul.

With a hiss of pure agony, Sombra fled before the might of the wave of light, jumping into the only mind weak enough for him to possess: Trixie’s.

"̞̹̙̪͉̜ͅG̶̬̘͖̱̙͈I̫̜̠͈̗͕̝̻V̟̝̘͍̟̙͟͢Ȩ̪̬̮ͅ ̶̦͇͇̟̤͇̫M̷̜̥̥͘̕E̜̝͡͞ ͏̫̺̬͍̘Y̢̫̱̖̰͖̫͎O̫̖͚̭͉̻͡Ù̴̲̥̲͚͠R̻̳̭̼̗͚͞ ̖̗̘̤͔͜B̢́҉̯Ǫ̹̦͙͈̝͔͟D̫̮͚Y̛͉̳̙̘͖̹̱͔,̢̦̭̼̞̻͇͢͞ ̘͚̻̜̹̦̻͘W͖̕̕̕Ę̰̪̝̮͍͖̘N̸̙̥̘̘̘͓C̝̪͉̕͝H͇͍̞̦̹͎̗̀ͅ.͎̪̪̜"̧̹̲̗̲

His answer was a glowing hand slamming into his face. “You can go to Tartarus, you fucking monster!” Trixie snarled as she gripped his face, tears streaming down her glaring face. “You really think I’m letting you live after all you’ve done?! Least of which being mutating and eating my unborn child?!”

Trixie let loose a sound that could only be described as an inhuman roar, a sound full of anguish and rage and hatred that split the suddenly silent atmosphere as she slammed Sombra’s incorporeal form into the ground, splintering it from the force as her glowing mana construction unfolded into a shifting array of runic circles, pinning him down and grinding away at his form, heedless of his cries of agony.

With a mighty heave, she gripped Sombra once again, this time with both hands and blasted the smoky beast across the city, runes flaring out beneath her in a rippling wall of octagonal matrices and launching her after him. Her arm unfolded and reformed once again, now a blade of words and symbols, as it swung forth like the hammer of the gods, piercing through Sombra with contemptuous ease even as he attempted to solidify and fight back.

“YOU! WILL! DIE!” Trixie screamed, slamming Sombra into the ground again with a shockwave visible from the palace and beating down on the mad king’s form. Magic poured out of her reserves and from her soul in great waves, making a stifling atmosphere and generating six, massive wings of rage fueled, unholy light. Her eyes glowed red, more runes flashing into existence around her and accelerating the necessary particles until a beam of white hot plasma lanced forth and carved a furious trench deep into Sombra’s body.

He wailed and screamed, fury melting away into agony and panic as he realized that the deities he had called too had abandoned him when he failed to make good on his deal.

“No! NO! I refuse to die! I WILL NOT LET YOU END M-” His shout of defiance was cut short by Trixie’s boot slamming into his throat with a sickening crunch, snapping cartilage and piercing flesh in a spray of black ichor.

“You will die. I will end you. And I know just how to do it!” She grinned, wide and mad and vicious as she uncoiled her arm once more and drove it deep into Sombra’s body, past his physical barriers and grasping upon his tainted soul.

“Dinner time.”

And with a great, heaving wrench, Trixie tore Sombra’s soul free from his now desiccated and ruined corpse and shoved it in her mouth, biting down with a spray of necromantic energies and absorbing it. She shuddered, feeling the tainted magics flow through her and settle, purified by the wrath of her soul and sliding forth in a tide of tar-like liquid, encasing the arm of mana she had manifested and weaving through it, solidifying and regenerating, leaving her with an arm of purest black with lines of brilliant blue streaked throughout.

“I’d say rot in Tartarus, but it seems like my stomach will have to do,” Trixie muttered, spitting on Sombra’s corpse and turning away, taking two steps and collapsing on her face, completely drained of energy.

As her consciousness faded away into blessed sleep, she faintly heard the sounds of her friends calling out to her, asking her to hold on just a bit longer.

While everybody else was focused on Trixie, Facet had a more pressing concern to attend to. Heading over to one of the trenches carved into the ground by Sombra’s last desperate assault, he found Duet getting to her feet. “Now that the danger has passed, it’s time to deal with you, Duet.” He clenched Suigetsu in his left hand, ready to draw his blade and attack at a moment’s notice.

“Deal with me?” Duet giggled, running her tongue along her blade, “I’m afraid, my dear Facet, that you are going to die today.” An audible humming cut through the air as she activated her magic, sheathing her blade in blue and swirling a light cyclone into existence at her feet.

“You’ve never managed to kill me before,” Facet said, flicking Suigetsu out of its sheath a bit with his thumb. “And unlike you, I can train regularly. You’re stuck in the back of Vinyl’s mind most of the time.”

Duet shrugged, “And I have Vinyl’s body right now. I have her instincts. I have her reaction time. I know every bit of magic she does and more…. and I have none of that pesky morality that she has.” She rushed forward, sweeping her sword in an arc and blasting a wave of vibrating light at Facet.

Facet, to his credit, dodged immediately, flowing smoothly from stance to stance as he sidestepped Duet’s wind blades. He frowned, switching Suigetsu out for his revolvers and firing a few quick shots, re-holstering them in the same movement he used to pull out the Zantetsuken and rushing forward to meet Duet’s rush in a clash of blades, immediately sliding away from the blade lock and sweeping Duet’s feet from under her.

Duet smirked, blasting Facet away and flinging herself into the air with a graceful somersault and another arc of wind, gathering the air around her into an intense circle and riding the inside edge of it as she literally ran rings around Facet’s guarded form, whipping up a small cyclone from sheer speed.

Facet guarded his face against the wind, slamming his foot into the ground and breaking the hidden capsule in his boot. He whipped his arms out, a circle of highly pressurized water erupting from his boot and freezing outwards in an expanding wave of ice, granting him a temporary reprieve from the cutting winds.

“Dammit,” he grunted, switching once more to Suigetsu. Just as he pulled out his sword, he turned and blocked Duet’s slash, a massive shockwave erupting from her blade and nearly grinding through his defense as he teleported behind Duet and hooked his leg behind hers, dragging her down and allowing him to grasp her sword arm and fling her into the air.

“Bad move, Facet!” Duet chuckled, spinning around and swirling her arms in a continuous spiral, blasting Facet with a violent, compressed cyclone. She dropped back to the ground, dashing forward in a shrinking spiral and peppering Facet with wind blasts, trying to knock him off balance.

For his part, Facet bobbed and weaved through the assault, breaking through the blasts with spears of ice as he went through his calm, fluid stances. “No matter,” he mumbled, “this will be over quickly.”

A small rumble shook the ground beneath the two combatants, cracking through the crystal streets as a flood of meltwater surged through and blasted Duet high into the air, freezing her into a column of solid ice almost twenty feet thick.

Facet chuckled, “Bad move fighting a water user in the arctic, Duet. Plenty of ice and snow to go around.” He sheathed Suigetsu and slipped a concussion bullet into his revolver, taking aim. “Now go back to sleep, Duet.”

“I’m not tired, though daddy!” Duet called out, shattering the ice without any effort, her naturally vibrating magic grinding through and resonating until the entire column collapsed. She drew her sword and posed seductively, “That is, unless you want to come here and put me to sleep with your own two hands?”

Facet growled, sweeping out Suigetsu and arcing out a whip of water tipped with a deadly flail of ice, following it up with a blast of steam to blind Duet. Benihime cut through both whip and steam, another cyclone screeching out its existence against the battered crystal floor.

“Tsk tsk, sloppy slo-gah!” Duet’s head rocketed forward as a chunk of crystal shattered against her skull, the vibrational field around her body disintegrating it before it could do any real damage. “Oh so mommy is here too? Fun.”

Maud frowned, “I don’t like you.” She slammed her foot into the ground, launching up a slab of crystal and propelling it forward in a glittering wall. As it bore down on Duet, she smirked, simply slicing through it like it wasn’t even there.

“Sorry, mother, but that’s not much of a spanking now is it?” Duet teased, goading Maud and waving her behind at her.

Maud’s frown deepened, her normally stoic expression falling into a stern glare. Her arms and legs burst open in a shower of dirt and gravel, revealing shining gold beneath their surface as she took up her stance.

Duet giggled rushing at Maud with a shout of, “Oh mama, don’t do that! Haha! You’re making me feel funny!” She spun and slashed at Maud, who blocked it with a single stomp and an erupting pillar of crystal, knocking Duet’s arm off course and allowing the resulting blast of wind to soar harmlessly overhead.

“I’m not your mother, bitch,” Maud spat, smashing an unyielding fist into Duet’s face and quickly grasping said face, slamming Duet’s head into the ground. A shockwave burst from the impact point, cracking the ground and throwing up dust while Facet, swirling water in his hands, casually strolled forward.

Duet struggled against Maud’s grip, alternating between clawing at Maud’s arm and scrabbling around for Benihime, not realizing what Facet had planned until she was already frozen from feet to neck in a block of ice again.

“You fucker! You think this is gonna hold me!?” she thrashed wildly, already breaking through the ice with her vibrations. As she wriggled, she didn’t notice Maud looming over her, fist cocked.

Ice shattered into the air as Maud drove a golden punch straight into Duet’s gut, slamming her into the ground hard enough to drive her into the air, stunned completely and almost unconscious.

Maud clenched her fist, a stalagmite shooting from the ground and rushing at Duet’s form…

Only to shatter from an intense vibration running straight through the rock and smashing the entire thing with the force of an earthquake.

Octavia bounced back, landing feet first on Facet and driving his head into and cratering the crystal ground and launching off of his face to punch Maud, another vibration blasting through Maud’s skull and rattling her brain just enough to knock her out.

“That’s enough, you two. I’ll be taking my wife back, now,” Octavia sniffed and stood straight, holding out her arms casually as Duet dropped, dead to the world, into them. Taking Duet’s chin in her hand and delicately cupping her cheek, Octavia leaned down and gently kissed her, whispering, “Vinyl, love, it’s morning. Time to wake up.”

Vinyl lightly groaned as her hair faded to electric blue, kissing Octavia back even as she mumbled, “It’s too early for morning, Tavi…”

“Octavia…” Facet growled as he got to his feet, his face a mass of water that moved and writhed with his annoyance before solidifying back into flesh. “Was it necessary to drop kick me in the face?”

Octavia coughed awkwardly, “Ah, ahem, sorry about that…. I um… wasn’t quite looking where I was going…. I was aiming for Maud first and forgot that you were there….” She set Vinyl back down on her feet, sighing in relief… and swatting Vinyl upside the head, “Now how could you be so stupid as to let that bitch free!? I can’t believe you Vinyl! How many times have I told you that your Duet personality is a remorseless killer who would sooner kill everyone on the planet than even think about sparing a single person!”

“Ow!” Vinyl whined as she rubbed the spot Octavia had swatted. “I had to, Tavi! I couldn’t focus with Sombra’s mindfucking screwing up my concentration, and she was getting more and more worked up. I knew you’d be able to stop her, and she’s so fucked up that Sombra’s tricks didn’t work on her.”

Octavia sighed and hugged Vinyl, “Well, as long as there’s no real harm done…” She groaned, staring at the wreckage that Sombra’s defeat and Duet’s almost rampage had accrued, “Oh dear, we’re going to have to clean all this up, aren’t we?”

Facet shook his head and noticed the unconscious Maud. “Maud!” He teleported over to her and cradled her. “Maud! Are you alright?”

Maud groaned awake, “I think I almost gained a concussion. My ears are still ringing. That punch was rather uncalled for.”

“Are you alright?” Facet asked, running his fingers through Maud’s hair as he looked at her in worry.

“Of course.” Maud rolled her eyes and stood, brushing herself off. “... It has occurred to me, though. We survived Sombra. And the Crystal Palace is right there.”

Facet smiled and slipped behind Maud, wrapping his arms around her and resting his hands over her womb. “Vinyl. Octavia. Leave us alone for a few minutes.”

Octavia shrugged and tripped up Vinyl, lifting her into a bridal carry before she could react, “Of course, Facet, Maud. We’ll leave you be. Come along, love, let’s have our own bit of alone time, hmm?”

Once the musicians were gone, Facet closed his eyes and rested his head against Maud’s back. “I know I said lack of rings be damned, but let’s make some before the wedding. A little magic mingling. My artistic mind guiding your power over the earth.”

“Of course, Facet.” Maud leaned against Facet, simply content to just feel him against her back. She held his hands, gently channeling her magic through the both of them.

Facet softly sighed as he felt their magic mingling, a very intimate experience for such a loving couple as them. Without even opening his eyes, he directed her magic to pull up and shape a pair of simple bands from tungsten, before calling up more tungsten and several gems, shaping an ornate engagement ring inlaid with gold and silver with a trio of diamonds. Once the rings were complete, he slowly, reluctantly, separated his magic from Maud’s and had the rings land in his hand. Stepping in front of her, he took a knee and held up the ornate engagement ring. “Maud Pie, will you marry me?”

Maud shook her head and snorted, “As if you ever needed to ask. Of course I will. I would have married you months ago.” She knelt down and took the ring, slipping it on her finger and kissing Facet gently, “We should have that ceremony now.”

Facet smiled as he kissed her back. “Yes we should. Let’s find Mr. Anderson, shall we?” He stood with Maud and kissed her again, his hand resting over her womb. “I felt it while we were mingled. Our child growing inside you.”

Maud smiled faintly, “Yes. Let’s go find him.” She began walking towards the palace, a tiny spring in her step.

Facet’s fingers were twined with Maud’s as they reached the rest of their group. “Mr. Anderson. Maud and I need a favor from you.”

Anderson grinned and tucked his hands into his pockets, “If’n you’re in need of a wedding, I’d be happy to oblige, mister Facet.” He drew out his bible, already flipping through the pages.

Facet stepped to his spot and looked into Maud’s eyes as Anderson got ready.

Anderson cleared his throat, “Sparse though the gathering may be, dearly beloved, but we are gathered here today to witness the union of two souls in holy matrimony. As this ceremony is intended to be quiet, I shall keep this brief. Facet Oleum Acrylic, do you take this woman to be your lawfully wedded wife?”

“I do,” Facet answered, not looking away from Maud’s eyes as he smiled at her.

“And do you, Maud Granite Pie, take this man to be your lawfully wedded husband?” Anderson smiled, tears forming in the corners of his eyes.

“I do,” Maud said, a smile forming on her face as she put her hands on Facet’s shoulders.

Anderson’s smile turned into a full grin, “Then by the authority vested in me, I now pronounce you man and wife!”

Facet and Maud’s lips slammed together right as the words left his mouth, the newlywed couple holding each other close.

Pinkie gasped, bouncing up and down in excitement until she almost literally burst, launching herself into the air on a trail of pink and glitter as she cheered and shouted her praise. “Ohmigosh ohmigosh ohmigosh! Maudie got married! Maudie got married! EEEEEEEEEEEEEE!”

Facet and Maud broke apart, smiling as they each slid one of the tungsten bands onto each others ring fingers.

Anderson clasped his hand over his heart, “Ah, such a sweet sight… almost has to be the sweetest thing I’ve ever had the pleasure of seeing…”

“Any sweeter sight than that, hun?” Seras asked while nudging Anderson with her elbow, a grin on her face.

Anderson blushed, “Well, when it comes to other couples, that is. Ah, the sweetest vision I have ever seen is always you, dear Seras. You know that, don’t you?”

“I know,” Seras said while fluttering her lashes at him. “I just like to tease you.”

“Putting aside the momentous occasion of me and Maud getting married for now, how is Ms. Lulamoon doing?” Facet asked.

Anderson’s face fell, “Ah, that’s a bit of a loaded question…” He shook his head, “For the most part, with the support she’s getting, she seems to be recovering, but the trauma she went through…. it could leave scars that simply never heal…”

“What sort of trauma aside from the obvious mental assault?” Facet inquired, looking Anderson in the eye.

“Well, her unborn child was mutated and forcibly grown into a shoggoth, which was then eaten by Sombra. And then she pulled his soul from his writhing body and ate it, which gave her that strange arm that seems more like barely solid tar than anything else.” Anderson shrugged, “I’ll be honest, I’m out of my depth. I don’t know how to help her.”

“Shall ve check on her?” Schrodinger asked, lightly squeezing Pinkie’s hand.

Pinkie nodded solemnly, hair deflating slightly, “Yeah, we should… I hope she’ll be okay…”

Twilight rubbed comforting circles along Trixie’s back as she tried to parse through Trixie’s incoherent sobbing, an expression of sympathy etched on her face, “Oh Trixie… I’m so, so sorry this happened to you…”

The door opened and Big Mac cautiously entered, tears in his eyes at the sight of Trixie’s state. “Gods above…” he whispered, gently reaching out and placing a hand on Trixie’s shoulder.

Trixie flinched away, blindly lashing out with her newly restored right arm and nearly striking Mac, hitting and shattering a crystal table on the tail end of her swing.

Mac frowned, grabbing Trixie’s arm and holding it close. He sat down next to Trixie and sighed, levelling a telling look at Twilight, who nodded and shuffled away, letting him hold Trixie close and whisper gentle reassurances into her ear. “It’s alright, Trixie… it’s gonna be okay. Sombra’s gone now, you made sure’a that… he can’t hurt you no more, Trixie… shhh, it’s gonna be alright. You gotta be strong, Trixie…” Even through his supportive words, he seemed to be not even a single hair’s breadth from his own breakdown- already he was shaking from repressed sobs and tears were visibly gathering at the corners of his eyes.

While Trixie was in the beginnings of getting much needed therapy, Blueblood was on a balcony overlooking the city with Rarity. He took a breath and finally broke the awkward silence. “Well… This is the first time we’ve been alone together in quite some time.”

“Quite.” Rarity muttered disdainfully, “As I recall, the last time we were alone together, you hypnotized and raped me. Though, at least it seems that my son inherited most of his traits from me.” She indicated Elusive, held securely in her arms.

The look on Blueblood’s face at being reminded of his sins could be easily described as pained. “Yes. And words can’t express the remorse I feel for that.” He looked at Elusive. “He does seem to take after you more than me. Karma probably. Or perhaps my… less savory traits weren’t genetic.”

“One can only hope,” Rarity murmured, gently running a hand through Elusive’s hair. “Still, while I may dislike you with an intensity that can only be described as being hotter than twelve of Princess Celestia’s suns, I still want to know: what exactly brought on this change of heart? In my experience, many of the hypothetical people that go through your experience would either simply die or vow revenge. It’s a bit of a confusing prospect, I must admit.”

Blueblood looked out into the distance. “Well… I was full of rage at first. I was a prince, and then stripped of everything. Truth be told, at first I did want revenge. But that was before the harsh dose of reality.”

Blueblood panted and reached for his canteen, removing the cap and tilting the canteen back, his eyes widening in shock as he realized he had run out of water. Putting it away, he kept moving, feeling the heat of his aunt’s sun cruelly beating down on him, his skin reddened and cracked by the sun’s beating. Finally, his strength faltered and he fell, sliding down a dune and coming to a stop, looking up at the cloudless sky. “Is this how I die?” he muttered, closing his eyes and slipping toward blissful darkness.

“Oi! Wait! There’s something down there!” a heavily accented voice cut through Blueblood’s fall, bringing him back into harsh reality just long enough to see a robe covered form slide down the same dune he had and rush to him, dropping to its knees and cradling his head, “He’s alive! If only just barely! We have to help him!”

More robe covered forms slid down the dunes, bringing along a caravan of camels and horses, clanking and clopping down the scorching sands. A rush of foreign words filled the air as Blueblood dazedly noted that he had been lifted into a tent-like structure supported by four camels, one at each corner of the platform that he now lay on. “W-who are you…?” he mumbled, delirious from the heat and the impact of rolling down the dunes.

“A humble band of travelling glassblowers, friend,” one of the figures gently patted him down with a wet cloth, wiping away the filth covering him and soothing his burned skin.

Blueblood lightly sighed at the soothing sensation. “Glass… blowers?” He felt how parched his throat was, which made speaking uncomfortable. “Water…”

A waterskin was raised to his lips, a comforting trickle of cool, refreshing water splashing into his mouth and allowing him to drink- slowly though, to keep from drowning on dry land. “Quite a nasty burn you have, friend, how long have you been wandering for such a thing to happen, if you don’t mind me asking?”

“Three days…” Blueblood murmured once he felt his throat was moist enough to allow speech again. “Where are you taking me?”

“Waha Madina, or in your tongue, Oasis Town.” The man spoke genially as he rubbed strangely fragrant ointments and oils into Blueblood’s skin, healing it little by little and soothing the burn away. “To be honest, foreigner, I am surprised that you survived the nights. They are known as the Windigos’ Hours for a reason.”

Blueblood thought back to the nights. He hadn’t really noticed the cold as he rested during those hours. “I didn’t really notice the cold. Actually, cold weather has never really bothered me.”

“Ah, I see you have much the same heart as our own little clan,” the man spoke, leaning back and wiping off his hands. “We are never bothered by the cold either.”

“What do you mean, sir?” Blueblood asked, curious about what this man meant by having the same heart. “I’ve always been told I have a cold heart. And looking back, my detractors have a point.”

The man chuckled, “Ah, it is not about the personality of the heart, it is about the spirit. Tell me, have you ever noticed that your breathing, whenever you are at rest, always matches a particular cadence? Mine follows the exact same pattern, no matter what I do. This is the power gifted by the sun to us lowly humans: the gift of life, of breath, of fire.”

Blueblood looked at his savior with a renewed curiosity. This was no mere artisan, now that he recalled what glassblowing was. “Who are you? Really? You seem far too sage like to be a simple artisan.”

“An astute observation, friend,” the man chuckled, undoing his turban and exposing the long braids flowing from his scalp, each one tied off with a set of glass beads. “We are a rather secretive sect of warrior monks that live to train our techniques and improve them as much as possible. That much, at least, is public knowledge in any of the larger mudun- cities- in this country.” He scratched at his head, the motion jostling the beads and causing them to catch the light in such a way that his hair seemed to have caught fire.

Blueblood was in silent awe of this man. Three days he had wandered the desert. Three days he thought only of revenge. But now, after being aided by this man, who clearly wanted nothing in return, had made the disgraced prince realize something. Even though she had coldly dismissed him and exiled him from Equestria’s borders to the most inhospitable place on the planet, his aunt still cared about him. Perhaps she had arranged for his discovery by the monks. Perhaps not. He found himself thinking back to all the people he’d wronged over the years. All out of his sense of entitlement. His thoughts then turned to the woman who’d caused his downfall. The woman that he’d doubtlessly left carrying his child. He really had been akin to a spoiled child.

He made a decision in that moment. He had been given a second chance, by design or not, he didn’t know. But he knew that he wouldn’t waste it. He would do better. Be better. And work the rest of his days to right the wrongs he had committed. His will steeled, he looked at the monk. “When I have recovered, could you teach me your ways?”

The man’s face fell into a solemn mask, “I sense that a great change has come upon you, friend. But, I shall not pry. I must warn you, though… the training that we undergo to even become mere adepts is immense and torturous… it takes great strength of will to simply survive. Are you sure you wish to join the ranks of the Rahib Alzzajaj?”

Blueblood nodded, a resolute expression set upon his face. “I’m sure.”

“I can’t believe you actually went through with that, even with the results right here,” Rarity murmured. “I suppose it’s just leftover bias from… well.”

Blueblood nodded. “The training was just as torturous as he said it would be. But I persevered, driven as I was by the desire to right the wrongs I’ve committed.” He looked at Rarity. “Chief among them being to ensure that your son is well cared for.” His face fell as he looked out over the city. “Do you plan to tell him the circumstances of his conception?”

Rarity shook her head, “If he ever asks, I suppose I must just tell him a bit of a foible. No use in having him hate his father forever, even if you were rather despicable.”

Blueblood shook his head. “No. Don’t refer to me like that. I do not deserve to be called his father.”

“I suppose not,” Rarity conceded, “but on another note, what was your training like? I know it was torturous, but what exactly did you do?”

Blueblood coughed and winced, “Well….”

“FASTER!” Blueblood’s personal trainer roared, splashing a bucket of filthy water into the pit where Blueblood and half a dozen other trainees worked.

In the pit, they were forced to use their bare hands to collect only the finest of sand and minerals, with a quota of at least seventeen bucketfuls before sundown, or else they would not eat and would be made to endure the desert night with nothing but the clothes on their back and their breathing cadence.

Blueblood looked around, quietly cursing under his breath. Even with another coach gently teaching him which material was best and how best to collect, he still felt a bit of wounding to his pride at the sight of mere children doing better than him.

“Calm, friend,” the man who nursed him back to health- Raava Alzzajaj- spoke, pointing out the various mineral deposits that he would need to collect. “As you can see, it is not just the children, but also returning members who have been gone for years.” He indicated the various older men working just as hard as Blueblood, in some cases even harder, carrying not seventeen empty buckets, but a whopping thirty five.

“Sundown is in three hours! Keep up the pace or you do not eat!” the cry from above echoed out over the pit, prompting everyone both young and old to return to their digging.

Blueblood stared at Raava, “Is he serious about the not eating part...?”

“Oh yes,” Raava chuckled, “Vaatu is quite adamant that those who fail to make quota during their training must skip their evening meal, even if he allows those who fail to snack both before and after the meal.”

Blueblood nodded and continued digging under his mentor’s guidance. “I’m curious, Sifu. While I’m sure that these minerals are used for glassblowing and only the finest are accepted, what purpose does this serve for my training?”

“Well, friend, this is an exercise in finding the correct materials. When you finally have enough practice, you will develop over time a sense of the exact composition of any sort of mixed material you touch, whether it be sand or rock or even those lovely salads in Ras Almal.” Raava chuckled, “Truly delicious they are. But that’s not the point. The point is to train not only your eyes and fingers, but also your sense of the innate earth magic found within each different material, and at higher levels, the very differences in mana that make up all things.” He poked at the wall of sand that Blueblood was digging in, causing it to immediately crumble and drop a large wad of high quality silica and other starting materials. “At the very highest levels, the innate earth magic found in all things can be used to mimic that of the earth elementals, though not quite to such a degree as that one famous fighter, what was she called again…? Ah yes, in your tongue she is called The Boulder.”

Blueblood lightly chuckled. “I’ve heard the stories. And some of those stories say she’s a force of nature when working with The Maelstrom, whoever that one really is. All I know is that he’s a water elemental.” He pulled a lump of smaller, but equally high grade silica as what Raava had pulled. “A lesson in patience as well. Though I believe I may be starting to get the hang of this.”

Raava shook his head in approval, “That’s the spirit!” He laughed boisterously, clapping Blueblood on the shoulder as the bell rang for lunch. “Let’s take a break, friend. You’ve been working all morning, and I’ve been standing here next to you working up an appetite as well!”

Blueblood stood and dusted his hands off, nodding as his stomach made its displeasure at being empty known. “Yes. Food sounds good.”

“Who would have thought that your impressive mastery of fire came from first digging in a sand pit,” Rarity mused, tapping her chin thoughtfully.

“Indeed,” Blueblood agreed. “If someone had told me several years ago that I would end up in that position, I would have laughed at them.”

Rarity chortled, “I think anyone would have done the same, to be honest. It seems like such a fantastical way to survive the desert. But, how did you end up learning your fire magic? It seems like that sand pit was geared entirely towards earth magic.”

Blueblood chuckled. “That came later. After we had learned how to identify materials by touch alone and had also learned discipline.” He conjured a fireball in his palm. “The Boulder and Maelstrom are masters of earth and water, and Ms. Scratch is a master of wind. Those elements can be commanded. But fire can only be contained and aimed. It consumes everything if left unattended. So before lessons in actual fire spells began, we first had to learn discipline. Of both mind and body.”

Blueblood sat, precariously balanced on a slab of rock perched atop a tall spire, meditating quietly. Of course, that is, he would be meditating if Raava and some other instructor weren’t constantly blasting the base of the pillar with sand and fire, causing him to continually readjust his position in order to not fall off.

“Come on!” Raava shouted, “Keep meditating up there! You’re putting far too much effort into keeping balance!” Nevermind the constant barrage of flame and sand that whittled away at the pillar and shook it almost to pieces.

Blueblood’s eyebrow twitched in irritation as he tried to meditate despite the constant shaking. Meditate he says. How exactly was Blueblood supposed to do that while those two kept messing with his balance? Then he got an idea. The slab was encased in a light glow of blue light, held steady by telekinesis and allowing Blueblood to meditate. Sure he was having to partially divide his attention to maintain the spell, but perhaps that was the point? Using telekinesis as second nature to help him balance while he meditated?

“WRONG!” Raava shouted, working in tandem to utterly dissolve the pillar into sand, letting Blueblood fall into a heap on the softened pile. “You’re supposed to use not telekinesis, but your natural earth magic.” He poked Blueblood’s forehead, directly in the center. “Maybe I need to unlock the chakras in your body for this. They seem rather… clogged.”

Vaatu snorted, “Only clogged, brother? They’re about as stuck up as Harq Alghaz was when you fed her chocolate that one time.”

“She wound up fine!” Raava protested, stomping his foot at the mention of his favorite camel.

Blueblood winced at the choice of words from Vaatu. ‘Stuck up’. Two words that once described him quite perfectly. And now he was being unknowingly reminded of that time by one of his mentors. “Sifus? What is this about my chakras? I do not know how they might be blocked. I’ve never had problems with the use of magic before.”

“That’s because your chakras are not on the flows of your normal mana coils,” Raava explained. “The chakras are, in fact, gates that connect your body to the world around you, spiritually, mentally, and physically. For you see, the chakras are-”

“Oh get on with it,” Vaatu muttered, idly inspecting his robes for tears.

Raava shot a pointed look at Vaatu, “I was getting to that, brother. Ahem. The chakras deal with ki, or chi, depending on how you wish to spell it. This is physical energy, that which is produced by life itself. On a different note, do not confuse ki with Ripple, that is, the energy of the sun which is produced by a certain breathing pattern not unlike the one used to stay warm during cold nights.”

“Raava, Raava!” Vaatu bopped Raava on the head, “Get back to the point!”

“Ack!” Raava whined, pushing Vaatu away, “Alright alright already! Ahem. The ki produced by your body flows through your chakras and, at certain points, mingles with your inner mana coils, those that deal not in the flow of mana, but the production of it. At these points, the ki filters your mana, adding in certain ‘flavors’, such as an affinity for the elements, or perhaps certain effects for Aetherials. I notice that whenever you use magic, the haze around your hands always points north; that is a byproduct of the ki filtering through your system. Along with filtering ki into your mana to give it a distinctness all its own, the chakras also take in the natural energy of the world and purify it into ki as well. The amount absorbed varies depending on mental state, physical health, spiritual leanings, and the dilation of the chakra points.” He took a deep breath and allowed Blueblood to speak while Raava took a swig of water for his parched throat.

“So ki and mana are distinct from each other?” Blueblood asked as he stood up and dusted himself off a bit. “Ki handling the physical and mana the ethereal. Is that about it in a nutshell?”

“Quite,” Raava nodded, setting aside his water skin and dusting himself off. “This is why mana can so easily break the all the laws of accepted physics- it is quite literally powered by willpower and imagination. This also explains why that girl up in Canterlot, I believe her name is… Twilight Sparkle… yes, Twilight Sparkle is so powerful. She is completely and totally insane and incapable of recognizing that some things shouldn’t work the way that she makes them work. That being said, the fact that she has actually discovered three laws of physics is an interesting thing to no- why are you on the ground like that?” Raava blinked, staring down at Blueblood who had fallen into a shivering fetal position with a look of abject terror on his face.

“Wait wait wait- you mean to tell me that just the mere mention of Twilight’s name used to send you into the fetal position out of abject terror?” Rarity asked, barely holding in a snort of completely undignified hysterical laughter.

“You’ve never been the one she’s giving her undivided attention to when she’s feeling completely and utterly murderous,” Blueblood muttered with a blush. “It’s a very traumatic experience. Realizing that you are dealing with someone to whom you are an insect in comparison, and they would love nothing more than to kill you in the most painful ways imaginable.”

Rarity blinked, “... Suddenly your previous, erm… reaction seems all the more justified. Just being around dear Twilight when she’s murderous is terrifying enough, to be honest.” She shook her head, wiping the memories from her mind. “But what about the physical training? How did that go?”

Blueblood shook his head. “Right. Back to the story, away from insane, murderous vampire queens with a penchant for playing god…”

“Breathe in…. breathe out. Breathe in….. breathe out….” Raava’s warm and soothing voice filled the candle lit chamber. Within its cavernous depths sat a total of almost one hundred eager students, all of them sitting perfectly still and breathing together in perfect cadence.

The flames of each candle flickered in time with Raava’s instruction, flaring when the students breathed out and dimming when they breathed in. The swaying, rippling sea of flames lended the scene an even more mystical quality than it already had.

“... Rise, pupils,” Vaatu intoned, hands clasped behind his back as Raava finished his meditation instruction. “Today we start what you have all been waiting for: Combat training. It will be torturous. It will not be kind. In fact, expect to go home covered in blood and bruises. However, do so knowing that each day you come back is a step forward in carrying on the traditions of the Rahib Alzzajaj!” He almost roared his last sentence, the flames flaring into a mighty inferno and providing an absolutely dazzling amount of dramatic lighting to Vaatu’s speech.

Blueblood didn’t bat an eye at the suddenly flaring flames. He had changed a great deal since coming to the Rahib Alzzajaj. He had discovered early on that he had a natural affinity for their arts, which made him a fast learner, and he had quickly caught up with more experienced peers. At one time, he would have been filled with pride at that knowledge. Well, he felt pride in his achievement. But he had learned the hard way that allowing pride to run unchecked would lead only to a downfall. As it had to his own fall from grace.

Out in the the flat expanse of packed sand that served as a courtyard, Vaatu breathed deeply and began his lecture, “Breath and control. The two most important facets of the Rahib Alzzajaj style. Without Breath, we have no flame. Without Control, we have too much flame. Thus, we moderate and bring the two together.” He took up a stance, allowing everyone to watch his form and copy it as best as they could. “This is our beginning stance: the Crane. With it, we take Control with continuous motion, like the flapping wings of the crane.”

Blueblood held the stance, familiarizing himself with how it felt as he listened to Vaatu’s words attentively, not wanting to miss a single detail.

After holding the stance for a few minutes, Vaatu smoothly shifted into another stance, this time much more solid and aggressive looking. “Behold the Tiger stance. The second of the beginner stances, this is where we draw Breath from. Note the solidity of the stance and replicate it. Feel the way your Breath flows through the form with unparalleled ease.”

Blueblood did indeed feel his breathing flow far more easily than it ever had. He could tell immediately that the Tiger stance was meant for offense. To strike before struck, and overwhelm the opponent. Like fire consumed its fuel.

Vaatu strode among the students, correcting posture and offering tips to better adjust for each individual student’s body type. As he completed his rounds, he finished with Blueblood. “Impressive, foreigner,” Vaatu observed Blueblood’s stance. “It’s almost perfect.”

Blueblood nodded in acknowledgement of the praise, but noted the ‘almost’. “What is my error, Sifu?”

“Your left arm is slightly too low. It’s compressing your lungs just a bit.” Vaatu raised Blueblood’s arm three inches and half an inch back, relieving the minor strain on his lungs. “See? Even if slightly, is it not better?”

Blueblood inhaled and exhaled. “It is better, Sifu.” He took great care to memorize the position for his practice later.

Vaatu strode back up to the front platform and cleared his throat, “Alright, students, eyes forward. Now, for your first lesson using the Crane stance, we will learn control through the Feather Fall kata.” He shifted into a ready stance, one that seemed almost too delicate to match Vaatu’s admittedly impressive form. “The Feather Fall Kata emphasizes lightness on the feet. Note how that I am standing on my toes and shifting my weight around.” He swept into a simple array of kicks and sweeps, each movement as light as the impact of a feather on snow.

Blueblood followed the moves closely, not even blinking as he watched Vaatu in motion. Each strike was solid despite the fluidity of the kata. Barely thirty seconds later, the kata finished, and Vaatu stood straight to the sound of applause, “Thank you. However, to truly emphasize the nature of Feather Fall, I shall need a volunteer.” Vaatu scanned the room, waiting for someone, anyone to raise their hand.

Blueblood stepped forward without hesitation. “I volunteer, Sifu.” He stood across from Vaatu, awaiting his instructions.

“You’ll soon wish you hadn’t,” Vaatu murmured, taking up the ready stance for Feather Fall once more. “Try to land a hit upon me and allow the class to see the true ability of Feather Fall.”

Blueblood nodded and assumed the Tiger stance, taking a couple of breaths before lunging at Vaatu with a highly telegraphed punch.

Vaatu merely stepped back daintily, snapping into the first move of the kata and kicking upwards, knocking Blueblood’s arm off course as Vaatu struck forward with move five, a single double palm strike to the solar plexus.

Blueblood stumbled back, coughing and wheezing. He slowly stood, catching his breath and watching Vaatu warily. “Shall I still come after you?” he asked.

“If you dare,” Vaatu answered, holding his position and waiting for Blueblood to make another move.

Undaunted, Blueblood attacked with a combo of punches and kicks, this time trying to avoid telegraphing his moves.

Vaatu avoided every single attack, using the defensive stance to idly flitter around the platform while counter attacking with light taps and blows to redirect Blueblood’s fists and feet just barely past him.

As he attacked, Blueblood paid attention to the way Vaatu moved, filing it all away for later practice on his own time. No detail went unscrutinized. This was why he volunteered. To get the best possible look at the techniques.

“Good, good!” Vaatu praised Blueblood, already noting the way he had unconsciously begun shifting to mimic some of Vaatu’s movements. Vaatu knew that, though a foreigner, this one would be an excellent student in all he had to teach. With that, Vaatu finished the kata, one last almost too-delicate kick snapping out in a drifting, featherlike motion, and catching Blueblood in the chest, sweeping around and over to drag Blueblood into an undignified flop to the ground.

Blueblood grunted as he broke his fall, looking up at Vaatu with a look of determination. He knew this was just the beginning, but he was going to persevere. Getting his breath back, he got to his feet.

“That sounded rather… intense,” Rarity murmured, placing a hand on her cheek in surprise. “And all this under the hot desert sun…? Simply dreadful.”

Blueblood laughed and grinned. “You think that’s hot? That was before the actual pyromancy training began. Now that? That was hot.”

Rarity raised an eyebrow, “What, was your trainer female?” She chuckled lightly at her own joke.

Blueblood chuckled with her. “No. Raava and Vaatu were my teachers throughout. An odd pair of brothers. Sometimes they seemed ready to kill each other, and other times they were joking as if the previous near killing hadn’t happened.”

“Interesting….” Rarity muttered.

“Feel the energies of the sun,” Raava intoned, breathing deeply. “To learn the way of fire, one must first take the power of the sun and make it theirs.”

Blueblood breathed slowly and deeply, taking in the rays of the sun and making the energy his own through his ki. Where before the heat had been unbearable, now he was unaffected by it. Not even a hint of sunburn on his skin.

“Breathe, students, breathe. Breath is the energy of life. And like those trained in Ripple- stupid glowing lightning-y bastards- the way one Breathes is absolutely crucial. With smooth, careful breaths, one creates the fire within. With strong, quick breaths, one releases that fire. Still with strong and controlled breathing, one retains control over the flames that are so crucial to our way of life.” Raava breathed steadily, the circle of flame that he sat in flaring in time with his breath, creating a hypnotic effect that only grew over time as the circle expanded along carefully etched lines in the ground.

Blueblood continued to breathe, his eyes closed as he focused on all his other senses. Feeling the heat of the sun and the flames, hearing the flames crackle, smelling the sand in the lines melt and turn to glass, tasting the burning vapors in the air.

“Smooth breaths… that’s it… feel the fire inside you grow, feed it with the sun and your breathing. Let it grow, but control it. Do not let it control you. Have no fear of your flame, for your flame is naught but the instrument of your will.” Raava chanted quietly, melting glass and creating a thick cloud of superheated fumes at the very top of the room and banishing it into the smokestacks.

Blueblood immersed himself in the sensations, feeling as though he was leaving his body behind. He felt as though he and the flame around him were as one. Without the flame so much as flickering up or down, it stayed contained, melting the sand it burned on into pure, liquid glass that was diverted out of the lines and into a bucket before him. The fumes were redirected into the smokestacks and out of the room. All the while, Blueblood’s breathing never faltered from its slow, steady, smooth rhythm.

The crackling of fire and the slow, steady breathing of the adepts filled the room along with the trickle of liquid glass flowing into buckets set into the ground. As the day wore on, wills were tested and minds were pressured, the strain of keeping up a constant flame wearing down on even the most advanced of the adepts. Still, Raava mediated, producing his own steady supply of glass and directing the much larger flow into a metal trough set at the base of his platform.

Blueblood kept pace with Raava, never faltering in his control, even as several others near him did throughout the day, unable to keep up with their current skill level. Blueblood shut out all distractions and focused on the flames, more and more losing himself in the feelings. He was beginning to have difficulty telling where he ended and the flames began. They were as one to his perception.

Finally, just as the sun set and the energy provided by the glorious star vanished, Raava opened his eyes and breathed sharply out, instantly dispelling his flame and the flames of those too weakened by the day’s exertion to continue, finally allowing them to simply collapse unconscious and sleep. Raava smiled a mysterious smile, taking in the few students whose flames still stood strong. “Good work everyone. You all managed to make it through the day and managed to create a good amount of glass as well. However, do not rejoice just yet. Your efforts will be graded on a scale of both quality and quantity. Now, if those of you still standing would help your fellows back awake and over to their bedrolls…?” he raised a teasing eyebrow, eyes glinting in the dusky twilight.

Blueblood did not move from his spot. So caught up in his deep trance was he that Raava’s words and the movements of those around him didn’t even register in his mind. There was only him and his flame, his breathing ever steady. Not even the setting sun had disturbed him.

“Ah, to be young and strong again,” Raava murmured, walking around Blueblood and admiring his dedication. “For a foreigner to be such a prodigy…. almost unthinkable, at times…” Still, the evening meal beckoned, and Raava wasn’t one to let anyone skip a meal if they could help it otherwise. So, with a quick motion and a jab of the feet, Raava exhaled and pushed his hands lightly forward and out, extinguishing Blueblood’s flame and startling him awake.

Blueblood looked around and up at the night sky. “Seems I lost track of time in my focus.” He got to his feet and stretched some kinks out after having sat still so long. Various joints audibly popped as they were loosened and made limber again.

Raava chuckled, “Quite a way to lose track, eh? I was much the same at your age, do not worry, friend. Now come, the evening meal beckons and my stomach is already ensnared by its siren call.”

Blueblood nodded as his own stomach growled loudly. “Yes. Dinner would be lovely, Sifu.”

“A whole entire day?” Rarity asked incredulously, “You meditated with fire burning around you for an entire day without once stopping for a rest?”

“Without even noticing the passage of time until Raava roused me,” Blueblood said, grinning at the memory. “Imagine my surprise that Aunty had set the sun and I didn’t even notice.”

“Mmm, that must have been a tremendous force of will.” Rarity nodded in respect, recognizing that Blueblood perhaps really had changed for the better… even if he was probably still a slimy git in some capacity.

“Maybe to some people, but honestly I felt like it was easy,” Blueblood said. “The flame and I were one. I couldn’t tell where I ended and it began.”

Rarity blinked, “That must have been an interesting experience.”

“Words can’t describe it, really,” Blueblood said. “It’s something you’d have to experience for yourself.”

“Hmm,” Rarity murmured, “well, I’m not much for elemental magic. Though, I must say that when I activate my speed boost…. it’s intoxicating…”

“I imagine it was especially so when you humiliated me at the gala,” Blueblood said. “Not that I didn’t thoroughly deserve it.”

“Ahem, well…” Rarity coughed awkwardly, “We’re both adults… and er… I think enough time has passed that we can reasonably move on from… er… that incident.”

“Of course,” Blueblood agreed, looking at Elusive, staring in wonder at the city lights from his mother’s arms. “After I go to Canterlot and speak with Aunty, I’m considering moving into Ponyville. Put my new skills to use.”

“If what I’ve seen out of the Rahib Clan’s glasswork is any indicator of what you’ve learned, then I’m sure you’ll be a millionaire again in no time,” Rarity smirked, twirling a string of beads in her hand. A string of beads that seemed to glow and almost catch fire in the light.

Blueblood looked at the beads. “May I see those beads, Rarity?”

“Hmm? Oh, these. Of course.” Rarity handed the beads over, letting them slip through her hands. “You know, I bought these a few years ago when on business to Saddle Arabia. They said that the particular pattern would bring good fortune in my love life.”

“Just a confidence booster to make a self-fulfilling prophesy,” Blueblood said as he examined the beads. “They’re just ordinary beads with a particular creation process.” He looked very closely at the beads. “Oh yes. This is definitely Raava’s work. You got some of the highest quality beads the clan has made.”

“Well that certainly explains why they cost me half my entire spending budget for the trip even after almost an hour of haggling,” Rarity muttered.

Blueblood chuckled as he handed them back. “Why do I get the feeling that you were haggling with Raava himself?”

Rarity shrugged, “Is Raava a surprisingly jolly man with fiery beads in his hair and looks a bit pudgy with his outfit?”

Blueblood laughed loudly at the description. “Oh yeah! That was definitely Raava!” He grinned at her. “You’d have had to pay even more for Vaatu’s work. He’s a lot more difficult to haggle with than his brother.”

“I shudder to imagine just how my poor wallet would fare against him if he’s worse than that Raava fellow,” Rarity shuddered and clutched her hip unconsciously, grasping the area where her wallet normally hung from.

Blueblood chuckled. “You’d probably be fine. Vaatu may be a harsh taskmaster but he’s a sucker for a pretty face. You’d have no problems charming him.”

“Hmm, well in that case…” Rarity’s gaze turned teasingly thoughtful, “Ah well, no matter. Tell me, Blueblood, what are your plans for the future?”

“Aside from making amends with Aunty and setting up a shop in Ponyville?” Blueblood asked. “Well… I’d like to settle down with a nice woman.”

“Stay faithful too, I hope,” Rarity teased.

“Of course,” Blueblood said, nodding. “I’m a different man now. I just want to atone for my sins. Especially the ones against you.”

Rarity smiled gently and patted Blueblood on the back, “And I’m sure you will.”

“So you’ve finally decided to forgive him?” Seras asked disbelievingly, leaning against a wall in Rarity’s room.

“Well yes, I thought it was high time that I let it go, since it seems that he’s become a better person,” Rarity replied, idly brushing her hair while breastfeeding Elusive. “I mean, he’s honestly sorry for what he’s done, and to be fair, while it was a horrible thing to do, well… I could hardly be the bearer of Generosity without handing out a few second chances every now and then, now could I?”

“I suppose not,” Seras agreed. “I’m not sure I’d be as forgiving if I were in your position. I’d have probably snapped his neck on sight. And that’s if I was feeling merciful. Otherwise I might have drank his blood.”

Rarity grimaced, “Yes, well, I’m fairly certain that I couldn’t do that, seeing as I’m not a sanguinarian.” She chose not to mention the neck snapping part. “Anyway, enough about me… what about your love life? How are things going with Anderson?”

“Oh things are absolutely wonderful between me and my dear hubby,” Seras said, swooning and falling back onto the bed. “Such a wonderful man. He’s handsome, sweet, strong, chivalrous, and an absolute beast in bed.”

“Oh my~” Rarity tittered, “You simply must tell me everything!”

“Everything, Rarity?” Seras asked, grinning at her. “Well aren’t you a naughty little gossip?”

“Well of course, darling!” Rarity smirked, “After all, we’re both grown women here.” She set down her brush and put Elusive in his cradle, covering it with a soundproofing spell.

Blueblood sighed as he looked out over the city, brooding a tad even as he idly juggled a flame between his fingers.

“Well, ain’t this but a sorry sight to see?” Anderson joked, patting Blueblood on the shoulders. “What brings you up to this tower, eh?”

“Just thinking about things,” Blueblood said, extinguishing the flame in his hand. “I want to apologize for how I behaved toward you at the gala.”

Anderson waved him off, “As a good, practicing Christian, it would be blasphemous of me if I didn’t turn the other cheek. And since you’ve proven yourself to be a good man this time around, there aren’t any hard feelings… Okay, there might be a few.” He chuckled and looked out over the city as well, simply content to just watch it gleam in the light.

“The stories don’t do the Crystal Empire justice,” Blueblood said. “Its beauty has to be seen in person to be believed.” He looked at Anderson. “Do you think Aunty will speak to me again?”

Anderson nodded, “Aye, I believe so. Your aunt is a kind hearted woman, no matter what. If you show her that you’ve truly changed your ways, I have no doubt that she’ll welcome you back with open arms.”

“I doubt the general public will be so welcoming,” Blueblood said. “Then again, they never really liked me to begin with. I was always hated.”

“When you hit rock bottom….” Anderson mused idly, tapping his fingers against the railing, “... There’s nowhere to go but up.”

“Easier to hit rock bottom than to climb back up,” Blueblood replied. “So how did you end up with that Seras lady?”

“Well….” Anderson blushed, “It started with a beach trip to Princess Celestia’s private island, and afterwards she moved over to Ponyville. And then, well, Princess Cadance’s wedding happened.”

“Let me guess. She spiked the wine with her fertility and love magic,” Blueblood said.

Anderson said nothing, merely coughing uncomfortably and nodding in agreement.

Blueblood facepalmed as he chuckled. “That cousin of mine. Always the matchmaker.”

“She is the Goddess of Love, more or less,” Anderson hummed, shaking his head ruefully. “I suppose it comes with the territory. Thankfully, at least it only works on pre-existing feelings.”

“Of course,” Blueblood said. “Love cannot be created out of nothing. It’s why the best of a love potion can do in that area is make a deep infatuation. No. The most effective love potions are mere amplifiers. Enhancing what’s already there and bringing it to the surface.”

“Mmm, interesting,” Anderson shook his head. “Still on the topic of love, do you think you’ll ever find the right woman for you?”

“I certainly intend to try,” Blueblood said. “Question is, will any woman be willing to look past who I used to be and see me as I am now?”

“There’s always someone,” Anderson shrugged and ran his hand through his hair. “Perhaps all it takes is just finding someone who doesn’t know your reputation.”

Blueblood let out a bitter laugh. “I sincerely doubt there’s anyone who doesn’t know.”

“You’d be surprised,” Anderson retorted mirthfully. “As the saying goes, ‘There are more things on Heaven and Earth, Horatio, than are dreamed of in your philosophy’.”

Blueblood chuckled. “Perhaps you’re right, Mr. Anderson. Perhaps you’re right.”

Author's Note

This is why Twilight is the main character. Not because she’s the strongest or the fastest or even the most skilled, but because she has the absolute highest damage per second out of everyone shown so far barring the Princesses.

On another note. Will Blueblood ever find true love? Will Rarity ever date again? Will Trixie ever get better? Find out in the next chapter of "I Have Vacation Days?!".