Apocalypse

Everypony galloped towards Apocalypse Mountain, eager to get this mission over with. It was a very dangerous one, and it just could be life-risking, too. But they all knew that it had to be done, and they were willing to sacrifice themselves for the greater good of all of Mytholand and Equestria.

The ponies quietly snuck past the cave where the sisters lived and, with Future Sight to guide them, they climbed up the mountainside. About an hour later, when the moon was at its peak, they made it up to the Annihilation Abyss and looked down to see nothing but pitch blackness.

"It looks even scarier in person," Flash whimpered, backing away from the ledge a little.

"Flash Fire, I know you're scared, but could you please light the way down the abyss?" Twilight asked gently.

The wisp pony gulped down as much of her fear she could. Nodding, she floated a little ways down into the abyss, then intensified her bodily lighting. The ponies could see a little farther down now, and they noticed that there was what looked like a staircase made of ledges leading downward.

"I guess somepony before us made that to try and make their way down into the abyss," Breakneck guessed.

"Okay, everypony, let's go. And mind your footing." Twilight was the first to step onto the small ledge. It crumbled slightly, but it stayed strong enough to support her weight. She carefully walked along the ledges downwards with the other ponies following, Fluttershy and Strike flying downwards.

"Whatever you do, don't look down," Applejack hissed nervously to everyone else. She yelped at the sound of a squeal and turned to see Pinkie trembling, hugging onto the wall of the abyss for dear life. "Did you not hear what I just said?"

"I-I couldn't help it," the party pony replied. "Whenever somepony tells you not to do something you do it anyway."

The friends all walked further and further down into the abyss until finally Twilight stopped, holding out a wing and gesturing everyone else to stop as well. The ledges had disappeared.

"Do you see anything else we can use to climb down?" Twilight asked. Flash floated around the walls of the abyss, but she shook her head when she couldn't find anything.

"What do we do now?" Fluttershy asked nervously.

"How far down is the rest of the abyss, Flash?" Twilight asked the wisp pony. She floated down until she was just a small flicker of blue light, and she called back up, "There's another staircase down here!"

"How do we get down there without breakin' somethin'?" Applejack asked.

"I guess we have no other choice but to carry the others," Twilight replied before turning to Fluttershy and Strike. "The three of us will need to carry everypony down to where Flash Fire is. Make sure you have a good grip on them so you don't drop them. We'll take one pony at a time."

"But I'm not very strong," Fluttershy reminded the princess.

"Then carry Future Sight. She's the smallest and lightest."

Fluttershy nodded and turned to the espony. "Are you ready?"

"I think so," Future replied, trembling in fear. She climbed up on the pegasus pony's back and rode her down to where Flash was still floating.

"I'll grab Rarity," Strike said. "That is if it's okay with you."

"I trust you won't drop me," Rarity smiled as if trying to convince herself more than the Typhon. She let out a whine of discomfort as Strike wrapped his viper tails around her torso, then he carried her down further into the abyss.

"Ready to go, Pinkie Pie?" Twilight asked.

Pinkie responded by bouncing on Twilight's back with a squeal. "You bet I am!"

"Don't worry, you two, we'll come back for you," the alicorn told Applejack and Breakneck.

"No need," the Sleipnir pony replied. "I've been training how to work my legs so fast I can glide downward a bit slower than free fall. I'll carry Applejack."

"Y-Ya sure about that?" the earth pony asked in uncertainty.

"Would I really risk the life of one of my friends just to show off or anything? I thought you were the Element of Honesty, therefore you should know what's the truth when you hear it."

Applejack smiled warmly, then climbed on Breakneck's back. "You got me there. I trust you."

Twilight ignited a magenta light from her horn and flew downwards, making sure to stay next to Breakneck as she worked her legs into a literal blur, having her glide a little slower down. Once they reached the bottom, Breakneck stuck out her legs and tensed them up, then landed firmly on the ledge. Unfortunately, her landing caused the stone to crack, and the ledge began breaking away from the abyss wall.

Breakneck and Applejack cried out as they both began sliding over the edge. Strike and Fluttershy had to pick Rarity and Future back up so they wouldn't fall over, but now no one could grab the Sleipnir and earth ponies.

Flash tried to grab Breakneck by the tail in her teeth, but she wasn't nearly as strong as she had hoped. The two ponies were now dangling over the edge by their forelegs, and Applejack clutched onto Breakneck's chest for dear life, screaming.

"They're gonna fall!" Pinkie cried. "Somepony do something!"

Before anypony could react, the ledge finally broke off and Breakneck and Applejack were sent plummeting into the abyss. The sudden movement caused a clump of hair to be ripped out of Breakneck's tail, the clump Flash was holding on to, and everyone cried out as their friends plummeted into the darkness.

Suddenly, an explosion was heard from above and everyone looked up to see a giant sonic boom of colors erupting overhead, turning the night sky clear blue for a split second. They all winced as a stripe of rainbow zoomed downward into the abyss, and seconds later it zoomed back up, carrying Breakneck Pace and Applejack.

"Rainbow Dash!" everypony cried out in delight and disbelief.

The pegasus pony slowed down and placed the Sleipnir and earth ponies down on the ledge staircase, then landed next to them, panting heavily in pain.

"Rainbow Dash!" Applejack exclaimed before leaping off of Breakneck and hugging her tightly. "How in Equestria did you manage to rescue us in the condition you're in?"

"You ponies all seem to keep forgetting that the feathers on a pegasus pony's wings grow back rapidly," she replied, wiggling her newly feathered wings a bit. She then turned to them all looking irritated. "Why did you guys go off without me? Don't forget, this is my Element."

"We're sorry, Rainbow," Twilight apologized. "You just seemed too injured at the time to come along."

"I'm still in a lot of pain, yes, but I won't let that get in the way of doing the best I can for my friends."

"You really are the most loyal pony I've ever met," Breakneck smiled thankfully at the pegasus pony. "Thank you for saving our lives."

"Don't mention it! Anything for a friend!"

"Well, I guess we're all moving on all together now," Twilight smiled. "Come on, everypony!"

The ponies all walked down the staircase deeper and deeper into the abyss. A few of them looked up and saw that the night sky was now blended in with the darkness of the abyss, making it look as thought they were all trapped in a large cave.

There was another end of the stairs and Flash floated down again to find no more staircases, but rather the floor of the abyss. It was just a hop, skip, and a jump away, according to Pinkie Pie.

Once they all made it to the floor, they all looked around, using Flash's body and Twilight's horn for lighting. They walked around in search of the missing Element, and soon enough they saw the glistening of something red.

Rainbow Dash zoomed towards it and grabbed the red object, but found that it was liquid rather than solid. "Eww, what is this? It can't be my Element, it can't melt!"

Future walked up to inspect it, then she gulped nervously. "It's fresh blood."

"Blood?" The pegasus pony cried out as she tried to shake off the scarlet liquid from her hooves.

"It's fresh you said?" Breakneck asked. "That must mean that somepony recently fell in here or something. Who-" She trailed off as Flash floated over to them to look. Her blue light shone on the body of the pony the blood belonged to. It was a Sleipnir pony colt, and he had a slightly darker shade of gray than Breakneck's fur. The Sleipnir pony mare teared up and fell to her knees. "No... No!"

"Who is it?" Rainbow asked urgently after removing most of the blood from her hooves.

"I recognize him," Flash replied quietly. "That's Stampede. He's Breakneck Pace's younger brother."

Breakneck began to weep as she nuzzled her dead brother's head, covering her face in his blood. She picked him up and hugged him tightly, breaking into loud sobs, getting his blood all over her gray fur.

"How could this have happened?" Twilight asked sadly. "We didn't see anypony fall in, and we were on our way down for about an hour now."

"Take a look at his wounds," Applejack suddenly pointed out. She gently gestured Breakneck to put Stampede down, and she pointed to many gashes in his body. "No broken bones, only deep cuts. He didn't fall do his death, he bled out."

"Who would murder another pony?" Rarity breathed in horror. She gasped when she heard the sound of hooves clacking against the stone ground, echoing eerily throughout the abyss. Everyone turned and saw four ponies approaching them, all four of them mares. The leader had glowing white eyes.

"You..." Twilight gasped, her eyes widening. She then narrowed her eyes. "You! Why would you do this to an innocent pony?"

"You attacked our sister, now we killed that Sleipnir pony's beloved brother," Death replied apathetically.

"Were you ponies looking for this?" Pestilence asked, reaching behind her and pulling out Rainbow Dash's Element of Loyalty.

"Hey!" Rainbow shouted. "Give me my Element back!"

"I'm surprised you recovered from my beatings so quickly," War sneered. "Perhaps I didn't a thorough enough job. I'll be sure not to make that same mistake again."

"You killed my brother!" Everyone turned to see Breakneck standing up, her brother's blood smeared on her fur, and glaring at the sisters with malice. She reared up on her hind legs and flung herself towards them.

War leaped up immediately and slammed into the Sleipnir pony's side, knocking her away and into a wall. She snarled viciously, warning everyone else to stay back, in which they did.

"I see I've been playing nice a bit too long," Death spoke coldly, glaring at the Equestrian ponies. "You ponies are such thorns in my side. We were all doing just fine until you all came along and ruined everything. But now you are going to be taught a lesson you won't forget in a hurry."

"You're the punks who are gonna learn a thing or two!" Rainbow roared. She flew at the green pony, only to be grabbed by War, her teeth fastened in her wing. The red pony yanked back as hard as she could, dislocating her wing once again, and flung her to the ground in front of her friends. The pegasus pony screamed in agony and slammed a forehoof in the ground, finding the new pain to be unbearable. "Come on, not again!"

"You leave everypony alone!" Applejack shouted in anger. She galloped towards the sisters and skidded to a halt before whipping around quickly and kicking out her hind legs into War's chest, bucking her over her sisters and sending her crashing into the wall. Almost immediately War was replaced with Famine, who placed a hoof on the earth pony and began to drain out all her energy. Applejack managed to escape and retreat, but she was incredibly feeble now, almost unable to stay up on her hooves.

"Ready to give up?" War sneered with a wicked grin.

"Not in a million years!" Strike spat. He leaped out for the red pony, only to be knocked away by Pestilence.

Meanwhile, through all the battling, Death calmly walked through, smiling evilly. She had her eyes glued to Twilight, who was trying to blast the sisters with her magic. Unfortunately, she didn't see the eldest sister approach and she was tackled and pinned down.

"Ow! Let me go!" Twilight exclaimed as she struggled.

Death turned to her three sisters, still keeping the alicorn in place. "War, Pestilence, Famine! Keep those ponies away! It's time I teach them all a lesson!"

The three younger sisters broke away from their brawls and stood in front of Death and Twilight, snarling and spitting at anyone who tried to come closer.

"I didn't want to have to resort to this," Death spoke to Twilight once the chaos died down, "but you simply gave me no other option. You're all much stronger than we thought, and we underestimated you quite a few times. But now you will never be able to defeat us, for what are the Elements of Harmony without their precious Element of Magic?"

"You'll never prevail, Death!" Twilight retorted acidly, glaring at her but making sure not to look directly in her glowing white eyes. "You villains never learn, do you? Bad guys always finish last!"

"But you are finished for good." The green pony used a hoof to lift up Twilight's head and she looked straight into her eyes. Her eyes glowed a piercing bright light, and the alicorn found that she couldn't look away no matter how hard she tried.

What everypony else saw made their hearts skip a few beats. There was a wispy, transparent purple gas being sucked out through Twilight's eyes, and with a jolt of realization they saw it was her soul. The ponies tried to stop Death, but her sisters made sure to keep them at bay. All they could do now was watch helplessly as the eldest Apocalyptic Sister took away their best friend's soul.

Death flung her head back to yank the remaining of Twilight's soul out, and the purple ghostly pony was sent flying into the air. She stopped in midair and was then sucked downward into Death's glowing eyes. She struggled to escape, flapping her wings as hard as she could, but it was no use.

"Twilight!" the Equestrian and Mytholander ponies cried out as they tried once again to save their dying friend, and this time the sisters let them pass, knowing alongside Death that no matter what they did it was too late to save their friend.

"Even after death," they all heard a soft, echoing voice, and they recognized the voice belonging to Twilight, "you all are still my best friends. I'm sorry I failed everypony. This is good-bye. I love you all!" Before anypony could even think of replying, the last of Twilight's soul was sucked into Death's eyes and they glowed purple for a split second before fading back into white.

Twilight Sparkle was gone.