Troubles of Equestria: Book One: The Third Duel

(This chapter is quite long… May I suggest book-marks?)

The room lay in shambles, and the Mane Six were out on the middle of the floor in more-than-questionable positions. Adding to the questionability was the untidiness and messiness of their hair and clothes. Some of them even had tidbits of underwear showing, and clearly had a crazy party.

Despite the raunchy positions that the Mane Six were in, the four other, more mature figures in the room simply decided to ignore it, as they all sat at a common table, discussing things.

“We need teams of two… One of you Principals need to stay here, while the other helps those girls with their trek through Tartarus.” Sunset Shimmer suggested.

“That is not a bad idea at all Sunset Shimmer, I feel that your plan is truly the winner.” Zecora said, drinking from her glass of water to help sober up. All four participants at the table had ruffled and frizzled hair and slight bags under their eyes, a price to pay for drinking and staying up late.

“So… Which one of us helps the girls through Tartarus?” Principal Celestia queried, with her own glass of water in hand.

“I’d say that you and Zecora head down into the pits of Tartarus with them. You two have much more extensive knowledge on demons and such than Sunset Shimmer and myself.” Principal Luna declared. “Sunset Shimmer and I shall lead the search for Trixie and the rest. Sound good?” Principal Luna asked. The other three figures nodded, agreeing.

“Great. When do you think we should begin?” Principal Luna questioned.

“As soon as the others wake up would be best; but for now, allow me to close my eyes for some rest.” Zecora said, leaning back against the wall tiredly.

“Agreed, I really do need some sleep.” Sunset Shimmer yawned, putting her head on the table.

The two Principals sighed, eyeing each other. “Leave it up to the adults to take care of things.” Principal Celestia moaned. Her sister laughed and nodded at her in an unspoken agreeance.

“Yep… Well, I’ll go and get some leads on Trixie’s whereabouts. I assume you shall prepare the girls for their trip to Tartarus, yes?” Principal Luna asked.

“Yep… Let’s meet back in here in 2 hours? I say that should be enough time for them to rest.” Principal Celestia proposed.

“Sure… Then we can explain the plan in detail. Meet you back here, sister. Oh, and please do promise to be careful in Tartarus… We both know the kinds of beings that roam those fires.” Principal Luna said in sincere worry.

“I will, sis. I will…” Principal Celestia said, avoiding her gaze, as she downed her glass of water and straightened the tie on her formal suit. “I’ll see you in a bit.” She said, walking out with a comb in her hand to rid herself of the morning look she had.

Principal Luna nodded, as she leaned back in her chair, thinking closely on where Trixie could possibly be staying. She got out a paper and withdrew a pencil from her breast pocket, as she wrote and sketched quietly…

[Nearly four whole hours later]

All participants of the party were sound asleep in the room, including Luna, who leaned back in her chair oddly, breathing softly. Celestia finally walked back in, looking quite tired and exhausted. She donned a face of horror and betrayal as she spotted Luna, sleeping comfortably.

“Luna!” Celestia said aloud, flicking on the bright lights of the room, feeling betrayed. Luna stirred, and eyed Celestia drowsily. “What happened to adults doing adult things?” she asked, hands on her hips.

Luna chuckled, although still slightly drowsy. She rubbed her eyes, and then spoke. “Oh come on sis… I’m a Princess of the Night, what makes you think I wasn’t doing something useful in my dreams? The Tantabus only allowed me to enter other peoples’ dreams; I have a much more extensive set of abilities through dreams, y’know.” Luna explained, shaking her finger.

Celestia pouted at her, clearly annoyed. “Well, it’s nice to know you could work and sleep too…” she said, as Luna glanced over at the clock. She raised a brow.

“Weren’t you supposed to return two hours ago?” Principal Luna questioned. Celestia simply ran her fingers through her hair in a nearly frustrated manner.

“Yep… Things happened. I got dragged all over the place by several organizations and such… I had to inform people of the situation and let them know why two of the major figures in this quaint town have suddenly gone AWOL.” Celestia explained. “There was also the whole talk with several corporations about why their property was damaged… Talks about repairing buildings, sidewalks, and calming the citizens from disturbances… Ugh, the sooner this is over, the better.” Celestia said, sighing and taking a seat.

Principal Luna yawned and stretched. “Sounds like you were busy… Let’s wake the others and get to work then.” Luna said, using her magic to flick on the light. Both Celestia and Luna cringed slightly when they saw the girls lying in such… strange positions. Nonetheless, the light began to stir them from their drunken slumber.

Twilight was the first to stir. A blush immediately grew on her cheeks as she stared into the sleeping Rainbow-Dash’s face, who had her arms around her. Twilight shakily grabbed Rainbow’s arm to move it off of her so that she would be able to get up, but Rainbow-Dash’s eyes fluttered, just barely. She then started to bring her face closer to Twilight’s.

As her eyes fluttered open more, Rainbow-Dash realized what she was doing, and her eyes shot wide open, staring at Twilight as her cheeks grew red in embarrassment. In an instant, she simply ducked her chin to her chest and awkwardly rolled horizontally away across the ground. Twilight couldn’t help but chuckle, as she stood up, pulling her skirt down completely and dusting herself off.

Fluttershy awoke next, waking up to Pinkie Pie sleeping right on top of her. She blushed lightly, and then frowned when she realized that Pinkie Pie was drooling on her hair, and that she still smelled of the harsh beverage. Fluttershy poked her cheek, wanting her to get off so she could get up.

Pinkie Pie opened her eyes, and stared at her. Fluttershy simply smiled back sheepishly under her gaze. Pinkie Pie suddenly grew an ear-to-ear smile, and brought her face close to Fluttershy’s so that their foreheads were touching.

“Wasn’t last night fun!? We did so many things!” Pinkie Pie said, smiling into the incredibly red face of Fluttershy. Fluttershy simply covered her face in embarrassment as Pinkie stood up, smiling at her companions within the room.

Finally, Rarity had awoken, finding herself laying side-to-side with Applejack. As Applejack came to, Rarity playfully poked her nose playfully, and muttered. “Your freckles are adorable, wouldn’t you know it?” she said, winking at her.

Applejack blushed heavily and simply laid on her back, using her hat to cover her embarrassed face.

Celestia was about to speak, but Rainbow-Dash interrupted her.

“Okay, okay! Before anyone says anything, can we all just not talk about last night?” she said, a blush still evident on her cheeks. Everyone nodded slowly in agreement.

“Glad to see everyone is awake. Enjoy your Hearth’s Warming night?” Celestia asked sincerely.

The girls simply nodded. Twilight ruffled her hair in a frustrated manner, however.

“Is this what a hangover feels like? My goodness, I feel like I need to sleep for at least another 16 hours…” she said, groaning.

“I must agree; the feeling is quite unpleasant.” Rarity agreed, as she sat back against a wall.

Fluttershy quietly nodded her head in agreement. Rainbow-Dash, Pinkie Pie, and Applejack, however, seemed to be just fine with the aftereffects of consuming the substance.

“With adult activities come adult consequences. I’d shake it off, girls. We’ve got a busy few days ahead of us… Have you forgotten?” Celestia asked, her face growing serious.

With those last three words, the atmosphere of the room suddenly went from cheery and calm to serious and focused. Sunset Shimmer and Zecora had awoken at this point as well, joining the awoken inhabitants of the room.

Principal Celestia grabbed a remote that seemed to just conveniently pop into existence, which turned on a conveniently placed T.V that was on the far-wall of the room. The T.V fizzed on, as Celestia quickly flicked it to the news channel.

“According to Principal Celestia of the famed Ponyville School, the destruction you’re seeing here was caused by the first encounter between Trixie Lulamoon and the Elements of Harmony in what was described as a harsh and violent scuffle.” A news reporter said, hovering over the aftermath of the battle.

A picture of Trixie with an evil grin under her brown cloak showed up on the screen. “Cameras were able to catch a clear shot of the perpetrator at hand, and it is advised that all officers and physical authority confront and apprehend her at all costs. Extreme caution is highly advised.” The news reporter stated.

“Cameras were also able to catch some of the events that occurred as well. Although blurry, it did capture what it could!” the news reporter said excitedly, as images rolled and short, low-quality clips played.

“The annoying one goes first.” Trixie said. "Huh?" was all Pinkie could utter before she was picked up in Trixie's pale blue magic. At this moment, everything went slow-motion as Trixie hurled Pinkie with great speed towards the brick wall at the back of the park. As Pinkie collided, she made a shriek of pain and despair that echoed through the air. As Pinkie slid off and fell on to her side, she fell unconscious.

Pinkie Pie’s upbeat manner and behavior noticeably drained as the scenes played in horribly low-quality. Just the noises heard was enough to remind her of what Trixie had done…

Trixie brought her elbow vertically down into the back of AJ's head, HARD. AJ flew face-first down into the concrete, and the concrete even cracked slightly from the impact. As AJ punched at Trixie, she missed completely, just missing her neck. "H-huh?" AJ mumbled, slurred still. Trixie just chuckled softly and poked AJ's shoulder, pushing her backwards. AJ lost her balance, and as she fell on her back, she lost consciousness. Moments before AJ hit the ground, everything slowed again before AJ's face was shown; AJ had a few streams of blood running down her face due to Trixie, and was clearly out-cold.

Applejack’s hands balled into fists, as they noticeably shook. Her hat casted an eerie shadow over her eyes, which were leaned in a bitter crave for revenge.

Without warning, Trixie teleported in front of Fluttershy and back-handed her violently. "As an inferior being and an excuse for an acceptable human in this world, you shall not address me unless I address you, understood?" Trixie said to Fluttershy, who furiously nodded in fear, scooting farther and farther back until she hit the brick wall where Pinkie was and just started sobbing silently.

Fluttershy cringed at the sight, and unconsciously brought her hands to her face to cover up the embarrassment she felt at her uselessness. She made a silent vow to not be so weak next time, as one of her fists balled up forcefully.

With great speed, Trixie dashed behind Rainbow, and jumped off of the ground again, doing a few diagonal flips to gain momentum, and then kicked the incoming Rainbow Dash down into the ground hard, making Rainbow skid and roll and tumble a few times, even crashing through a seesaw, before sliding to a stop. Rainbow tried to get up, but soon collapsed under the pain, and fell unconscious. Her body was layered with bruises, cuts, and scars.

Rainbow-Dash huffed at the sight. Though, inside, she was uneasy all over again. The combat prowess almost unnerved her. Trixie wasn’t just another villain, clearly…

Next shown was Trixie inaudibly yelling, which Twilight and Rarity (as they were the only ones conscious at the time) assumed to be Trixie’s rage-induced rant.

Trixie picked up Rarity in her magic and tossed her into the poles supporting the swings, injuring Rarity quite badly with a few bruises and cuts from the impact and fall.

"Don't address me. Just like that yellow one over there, you're too inferior to join in this conversation. Be quiet, observe, and stay in your lane, marshmallow." Trixie spoke harshly.

Rarity frowned, crossing her arms. She awkwardly averted her gaze from the TV, her incompetence embarrassing her. Just as Fluttershy, Rarity too made a vow to not be so useless.

"I am the beginning of your end, Sparkle." Trixie spoke in a sinister voice, much less high-pitched and more calm than her usual one, as her smile grew more sadistic and the amulet glowed a bright crimson. Twilight was quickly pushed with great force back down into the ground, crashing into the centerpiece of the playground, crashing through multiple conjunctions of wood, hard plastic, and metal. Twilight lay unconscious, various bruises, cuts, and other wounds lay all over her. Some parts of her clothing were even stained red.

Twilight shivered, remembering the pain and fear she felt. Her stomach lurked, and her eyes drooped in a sort of anxious fear… She was going to have to take whatever that thing was on… It surely couldn’t be Trixie anymore. Not even Trixie could’ve possibly become so ruthless on her own… right?

“They’ve made us a news story?” Applejack thought out-loud.

“Apparently so.” Luna mumbled, watching the TV. The news report went on, flicking to a scene of the aftermath of the park.

All turned their attention to the television once again.

. . .

“As you can see, our heroes, the Elements of Harmony, went through a great ordeal. This once beautiful park has been reduced to rubble, and is reminiscent of a battleground. But that’s not all. Heading over to Reporter 2 in the air balloon, we can overlook the damage that was further caused by Trixie Lulamoon and her collaborator’s efforts.” The news reporter said, as the scene flicked to another reporter, hovering above the city.

“Yes, it’s true. From what Principal Celestia herself has told us, Trixie Lulamoon is not working alone. As told from a pedestrian who actually witnessed the defeat of our beloved Element of Loyalty, one of Lulamoon’s partners is the very same Starlight Glimmer who was thought to be reformed!” the reporter said excitedly.

The TV flicked to the report of the pedestrian.

. . .

“Yeah man, it’s true! I saw it with my own eyes; she had this steaming skin and this like, super cool pink glow! And anyone with a brain would’ve swore that Starlight was gonna get it! Then all of a sudden, Starlight gets this pink glow too, and after some awesome fighting, we were all struck with this crazy fear-induced awe! Rainbow-Dash, the mighty myth-breaker of the Sonic Rainboom was being dragged across the concrete over to Alicorn Twilight’s mansion, beaten unconscious! It was bazongas man!” the guy said, tugging on his frizzled hair from the excitement of it. The scene changed again to the reporter.

. . .

“Moving on, according to fans of Rarity’s boutique, they were appalled to find the place in an absolutely deplorable condition, with clear evidence of some kind of scuffle taking place within. More on this with an observing… stalker?” the news reporter said confusedly, as scenes changed to a rather shady looking figure. It was unknown whether or not the person was male or female, and the voice was distorted.

. . .

“Hey, don’t say it like that! It’s not like I’m the first person to stalk the beautiful goddess! Gosh, our Element of Generosity is so hot!” the figure said with a grin.

“The story, sir?” the reporter asked, awkwardly fixing his tie.

“Right, right… So here I am, doing what I do, and I notice her, of all people, rushing to her boutique! Of course, I follow… Luckily, the shades were up, so I witnessed it all! Rarity got in a fight with Sonata Dusk, that ‘ol siren! Things seemed all nice and bubbly at first, but then all of a sudden, fighting broke out, and before I knew it, I saw Sonata walk out with Generosity’s little sister slung over her shoulder! About 10 minutes later, Rarity herself stumbled out after her. It was pretty bonkers. I would’ve seen more if I wasn’t focusing so much on Rarity though. I mean, you should see the way her curves are defined when sh-” the man was cut off as the reported cut his feed.

. . .

“Yes, so there we have it. Sources also tell us that our Element of Kindness, Fluttershy and Lord of Chaos, Discord were in the mix, as well as Alicorn Twilight and Trixie Lulamoon at some point. Though, we have no significant news on this, Principal Celestia herself confirmed it. What we do have more interesting news on, however, is of our beloved Element of Laughter!” the reporter said.

“According to Mrs. Cake of the Sugarcube Corner, she witnessed our very own Element of Laughter and source of joy, Pinkie Pie, in a dangerous struggle with Aria Blaze of the Sirens we thought were defeated for good!” the reporter said, the scene switching to the report of Mrs. Cake.

. . .

“I… I’m not sure what I saw… It looked like Pinkie Pie, but it didn’t feel like her… She had this blood-thirsty look in her eyes, and this really scary, sadistic smile… When I awoke, all I heard was that she couldn’t let anyone leave with their limbs intact if they hurt family or something like that…” Mrs. Cake spoke, bags under her eyes. The ordeal seemed to haunt her.

“When I looked up, Pinkie Pie, or… whatever that person was, sent off this nasty invisible force… It was like intent! Just from feeling that force, one could immediately begin to understand the bloodlust in her being. It was… something else.” Mrs. Cake continued, shaking as she remembered the events.

“They clashed knives for a while, and just before our ‘lil ‘ol Pinkie could land a devastating strike, Principal Luna and that yellow Pegasus flew in and stopped her. Everything after that is… fuzzy.” Mrs. Cake said, shaking her head and stepping out of view of the camera. The scene once again changed back to the reporter in the air balloon.

. . .

“There’s the story at Sugarcube Corner! Last and most tragic, here is our story with our Element of Honesty, Applejack over at the Apple Orchard, with Yours Truly.” The reporter said. The camera zoomed into the view behind him.

“Doing our normal rounds around the city in the balloon, we witnessed a great fire in the city! Rushing over, we noticed a few bodies laying on the ground, and two figures clashing with each other. Before tuning in, we quickly alerted emergency services to alleviate the fire.” The reporter started, as the camera overviewed the charred orchard. About 60% of it was burnt to no return.

“When we were able to tune in, we noticed Applejack clashing with the leader of the Sirens, Adagio Dazzle. The clash seemed heated and emotional, evident from the passionate yells heard as they locked horns in fierce headbutts. Eventually, Adagio would prove too much for our Element of Honesty, and would be cast aside like insignificant memories. Soon, emergency services would arrive, and alleviate the unconscious Applejack, before she awoke and rushed to pursue her attacker.”  The reporter said. The camera focused back on him.

. . .

“Here, we have our final report, with Principal Celestia herself.” The reporter said, as the camera scrolled next to him; Principal Celestia was seen, sitting gracefully on the edge of the balloon. She glanced at the camera, being cued on.

“Citizens of Equestria, know this; Trixie Lulamoon, Adagio Dazzle, Sonata Dusk, Aria Blaze, Discord, and Starlight Glimmer have made themselves our enemies. If you are to locate any of these six, we urge you to not confront them and to contact authorities immediately. We can handle it much better. Do not be afraid, my children. We and the Elements of Harmony are working hard to dispel this evil. Carry on with your lives as you normally would. We apologize now, and in advance, for damages to the city and any inconveniences caused. We will apprehend these evildoers, and see that justice is brought to their step. Celestia signing off.” She said with a small salute, falling off the edge of the balloon and into the sky, as she swooped off through the airs, flapping her wings.

The camera returned to the reporter. “But the question all of us ask ourselves is: just how well will they handle it? As we saw, they made quick work of our beloved Elements not once, but twice. Just what is going on? What will happen? Stay tuned over these next few days to find out. Channel 6 News will be back with an update on-” the news reporter started, but Celestia clicked the TV remote, turning the television off.

The Mane Six all stared at the blank screen, faces showing different effects of defeat and anxiousness.

Twilight looked back at Celestia with a serious gaze. “Celestia, when do we begin our trip to Tartarus? I want to personally see that Trixie is brought down for what she’s done.” Twilight said, her voice quiet.

“As soon as all of you are ready; I’ve already prepped the necessities for the trip.” Principal Celestia said.

“What about finding Trixie’s gang? Who’ll handle that then?” Applejack asked, curious as to how they would accomplish that.

“Worry not, Element of Honesty. We’ve decided to split the adults into teams. I will lead the search along with Sunset Shimmer, while my sister and Zecora will help you descend Tartarus to find Aperture.” Principal Luna informed. Applejack nodded, content with the plan.

“Well? What are we waiting for then? Let’s go!” Rainbow-Dash said, walking out. Rarity, however, stopped her, sniffing her shirt and then dramatically holding her nose in a feigned disgust.

“Not while we stink of that hard cider. Let’s clean up first, hm?” Rarity proposed.

“Agreed… There are a multitude of washroom facilities in my mansion. How about we all go clean up, and then get going?” Twilight agreed.

“No, you’re all fine. Have you forgotten that you’re going to the depths of Tartarus? You will only dirty yourself again anyhow. There is no time for such commodities. Time is of the essence, and you all have no idea how much time you will spend down there. Just get going, I’m sure your hygiene is not so important for the moment.” Principal Luna said in disagreement, urging them to leave.

“Agreed. Come, my students. My Sister is correct, time is of the essence, and we must depart. Form up on me, let depart.” Principal Celestia said, walking out of the door, followed closely by Zecora.

All of the Mane Six excluding Twilight gave quick goodbyes and followed Celestia. Twilight stayed back, giving Sunset Shimmer a hug.

“Guess this is goodbye so soon, huh?” Sunset Shimmer asked.

“Only for a little while, Sunset; we’ll see each other soon, our trip won’t take long… I hope.” Twilight said, giving her goodbyes to Sunset and Luna.

“Oh my, Twilight Sparkle! Do not forget that I’ve designated our regroup point at the school’s statue; it is imperative that she knows this, as your journey back will most-likely be a rushed one.” Principal Luna informed. Twilight simply nodded, putting her hand on the knob of the door, walking out.

Before leaving, Twilight said one last thing. She stared back in the room with an unreadable face. “You two; I don’t mean to pressure you, but you have the lives of very important people on your lives… Do not fail us.” Is all Twilight said before disappearing out of the room.

Sunset Shimmer and Principal Luna eyed each other, nodding.

“Okay then; first thing’s first, Sunset Shimmer. I’ve noticed some things within my dream plane, and I’ve gotten some leads. There are several places where I can sense Discord’s use of the Tantabus. We’ll start here.” Principal Luna said, putting her finger down on her sketched-out, simple map of Equestria. Sunset Shimmer nodded, following along…

“What? What do you mean?” Trixie asked, baffled at the information Discord had just revealed to her.

“I witnessed it myself. They are soon to leave this plane for some time. They wish to go to Tartarus… They’ve left finding us up to the Princess of Night and that ‘ol Sunset Shimmer.” Discord said.

Trixie hummed, deep in thought.

“Sunset Shimmer, hm? Think she’ll still appeal to the idea of evil?” Adagio asked, a cunning smirk on her face.

“Not likely. She’s one of the very few that had a taste of real power, and turned it down to be good… She’s gone.” Starlight Glimmer said, staring out of a window in boredom.

“They must really not care for the well-being of these young ones then…” Trixie stated.  “Those two will not be enough to stop the six of us, even if they can manage to locate us.” She continued.

“Any idea what the lot wants within the depths of that Dark World?” Trixie asked.

Discord half-shrugged. “A conference with some demon named Aperture. Not sure though, I haven’t heard of him before, and I’ve been around for ages.” He said.

Trixie laughed hysterically. “Haha! What a way to waste lives!” she said, still laughing. “That demon is nothing but some myth! Those fools!”

Trixie laughed more. “Poor things… I didn’t want to kill so soon, but I suppose it’ll be the trigger we need…” Trixie mumbled.

“Aperture is real, just a little FYI, Trixie.” Starlight said, blowing on her nails.

Trixie looked at her with great intrigue, and walked right up to her. “Explain. Now.” She said, with a very intimidating tone.

“I’ve met versions of him, through my dimensional timeline ordeals. Very cryptic, powerful, and crafty demon. Though, he seems restrained, somehow, as if he can’t tap into the power he holds… Probably best that it stays that way.” Starlight said.

“Hmm… Although I doubt their ability to make use of that Demon, I cannot take the chance that they will. Sirens, do you believe you can pursue them in time before they leave?” Trixie requested.

Sonata groaned. “But I wanted to see Sunset Shimmer again!” she complained.

“No; if my hypothesis is correct, then this is a battle you’ve already lost Trixie; there is no telling how to even track this Aperture, or even the Mane Six through such a chaotic plane… We should stay here and further prepare our already-developed plans.” Discord said, tugging on his white beard.

Trixie stood silent, indecisive.

“Discord is right. If we are all not here, then there is a good chance that the imbeciles might actually overpower us; the Princess of the Night and Sunset Shimmer are not like the children; they know the ins and outs of a real battle.” Starlight said. “As much as I hate to admit it, we need to take this L. Our presence will be much more needed here.” She explained.

Trixie sighed hard, and nodded her head. “That stupid demon had better put that power I gave him to good use then; I didn’t go through those cursed lands for no darned reason.” Trixie grumbled, slamming the door shut behind her as she left.

“Demon? She couldn’t mean… Nah, Celestia locked him up!” Discord thought out-loud to himself. Starlight eyed him, thinking something similar.

“So? Think they’ve found any of the numerous clues we left around?” Starlight asked Discord, shortly after she left the room.

Discord clapped with a delighted smile. “Ooohhh, I hope they did! I put extra care into putting together the perfect little scavenger hunt.” Discord said with glee.

“Okay girls, all set?” Principal Celestia asked.

“Think we’re all set, Principal.” Twilight said. She then patted the backpack she had on, which seemed surprisingly flat for something that was to carry 3 days’ worth of provisions and necessities.

“You sure these bags have everything?” Twilight asked.

“Yeah, I gotta second that. This thing seems really flat, and I eat like… lots.” Pinkie said, making a wide gesture with her arms.

Principal Celestia smirked knowingly. “Why don’t you all have a look inside, hm?” she offered.

Pinkie was the first inside her bag, as she made out inaudible words of amazement.

As they all searched inside the bag, they found that the inside was infinitely bigger than the outside, and stacked with all sorts of goodies and necessities.

“It’s like a home on my back!” Pinkie said, trying to get inside the bag. Principal Celestia hastily pulled her out with her magic.

“A simple distortion spell; I just played around with space and gravity for a bit until this was possible. No extra burden, and all the supplies we need. Now let’s get going; the Gates to Tartarus lie beyond the Everfree Forest… Don’t get caught off-guard.” Principal Celestia warned.

“Not to worry my companions; I know that forest a mare knows her stallion.” Zecora stated. “Though, the Principal is correct; letting your guard down in there could make for a wreck.” She said.

“Yeah, yeah. We all know about the timber wolves and other monstrosities. But uh, can we get moving already? You’ve said it yourself, we don’t have much time!” Rainbow-Dash said impatiently.

Celestia and Zecora nodded at each other and started to walk, with the Mane Six following closely behind.

[Some minutes later, upon the outskirts of the Everfree Forest]

“Remember, we must move silent, quick, and avoiding of conflict; for even now the clock that determines the fate of your friends and family ticks.” Zecora stated, hastily swiping past the bushes into the forest, as the rest followed her lead.

“S-so… On a scale of one to ten, how certain do you think it is we’ll encounter any conflict in this forest?” Fluttershy asked nervously at the rather dim setting of the forest.

“Oh, that’s an easy ten out of ten; this forest serves as many monsters’ den.” Zecora said, causing Fluttershy to shiver nervously.

“It’s okay Fluttershy. We won’t let no harm come to ya.” Applejack said comfortingly, as Fluttershy nodded, her nervousness dropping.

“But beware, this is the home of the timber-wolves, so take care; they may be preparing even now, with us unaware.” Zecora stated.

They all nodded, moving quickly through the forest.

“So… Do you think we can stop by the poison jokes again? Huh? Huh? Those things were a great laugh!” Pinkie Pie said, hopping up and down around Zecora as they walked. Zecora simply smiled at the hyperactive girl and shook her finger.

“We have no time for a matter so trivial; the moments ahead of us are much too pivotal.” Zecora said, denying Pinkie’s request.

“Aww man! But those things were fun! I mean, Fluttershy’s voice got all deep!” Pinkie Pie said in a feigned deep voice as she smiled in Fluttershy’s face.

“And Twilight’s magic was all blfft, just like my tongue!” Pinkie Pie said with laughter, now hopping around Twilight.

“And Applejack got all tiny and cute! It was adorable!” Pinkie Pie laughed, poking Applejack’s shoulder as she crossed her arms and looked off the other way with a slight blush.

“And then Rainbow-Dash’s wings got all weird! Ah, good times, good times… Man, Spike should’ve been there with us in that poison joke! Spike wo-” Pinkie continued, but stopped in her tracks.

“Oh right… Spike…” Pinkie Pie said lowly and sadly, as they walked on through the forest.

Twilight simply put her hand on Pinkie’s shoulder as they continued to walk.

The sad mood, however, was replaced with a more focused one as the shuffling of shrubbery could be heard within the darker confines of the forest around them.

As they all continued their trek through the eerie forest, wood could be heard cracking and stretching, and bushes moved. It sounded as if there was a gathering of pure wood. All kept quiet and focused, knowing that they were now being stalked.

Communications were now done through hand-signs and gestures. A clearing was seen through the thick forestation of the Everfree. Through the other side, in front of a barren array of mountains, was a giant, sleeping, three-headed dog in front of a fiery gate.

“I can’t believe it! We made it without meeting any mean ‘ol monsters!” Fluttershy exclaimed, running out into the sunlight of the opening, glad to be out of the scary, dark forest.

As she ran, all the others witnessed an unnatural amount of wood slither across the ground after her at a great speed. It didn’t quite register to them until the massive amount of wood started to form something in front of a now terrified Fluttershy.

As the largest timber-wolf ever seen formed in front of them was seen, Fluttershy stood there, now in the shadow of the large beast, absolutely frozen by fear.

The beast roared a deafening cry so devastating that the vision of all bodies present distorted and the ground shook. The beast snarled, and then lifted its front-paw over the frozen Fluttershy’s head.

“Holy wackamoly! That thing’s gonna crush Fluttershy!” Pinkie Pie yelled with excitement, dramatically holding her cheek.

“That’s not good…!” Rainbow-Dash stated, as she took off, leaving the others in the gust of wind. “Flutters, move!” Rainbow said in advance, but Fluttershy was frozen in fear.

Rainbow-Dash wasn’t sure she was gonna make it in time, as the beast began bringing down its paw.

*swoosh! crash!*

Just in the nick of time, Rainbow-Dash pulled Fluttershy from her spot, just as the wolf crashed its foot into the ground, blasting Rainbow-Dash and Fluttershy into the trees, forcefully, slightly injuring them. As the beast lifted its paw and set its sights to the two girls, a small hole in the hard earth could be seen, making Rainbow-Dash gulp at its strength.

“What do we do?” Twilight asked frantically, trying to restrain the beast with her magic.

“I have never encountered one of this size; come now girls, simply try not to meet your demise!” Zecora stated, as she bravely dashed towards the beast, her signature brown cloak flapping around her.

Suddenly, Zecora jumped high in the air, as she dug into her cloak. She seemed to magically float in the air, as her brown cloak fluttered coolly around her. From the darkness of her cloak, she pulled a glass vial that contained a clear liquid that burned a purple flame.

“Taste the ascended flame, beast; may they consume your body like a feast!” Zecora cried out, hurling the small vial at the wolf. As the vial landed upon the shoulder of the dog, it exploded colossally, creating a noticeable gap in the shoulder of the beast. The explosion also created a flame that began to burn away at the wolf’s body.

The wolf roared into the air, as it focused its green eyes on Zecora. With a snarl, the beast ran towards the floating Zecora, its fangs bared.

“Zecora, move!” Applejack yelled, starting to join the fray as she rushed towards the wolf.

Zecora simply smiled, as she started to fall towards the ground. The beast lunged at her with its large teeth, but it just missed her, as she grabbed onto its chin. However, the beast was up to her shenanigans, and swung its head, making her fly back through the air.

Moving quickly, the beast dashed towards Zecora and opened its teeth-covered mouth, intending to eat the woman.

Zecora, realizing that there was no escape from this one, simply devised a plan swiftly. Mustering all of her strength, just as the beast got her into its mouth, she kicked the largest canine tooth out, and jabbed it into the roof of the (poor) beast’s mouth to prevent it from being able to bite down and eat her.

As Rainbow-Dash got back up finally, she watched with awe. “Whoa, she’s definitely stronger and more skilled than she looks! We’d never be able to pull off something with that kind of finesse…” Rainbow-Dash commented.

“She’s really brave too.” Fluttershy added on quietly, holding her injured arm.

The rest of the Mane Six watched her, surprised that the isolated forest girl had such prowess in combat, especially against such a big beast.

As the beast groaned in pain, Zecora stood on the outskirts of its mouth, and chuckled triumphantly. “Come now all of you, let’s not delay! I will most certainly need help with this fray.” She said, as she jumped from the beast’s mouth.

“Oh yeah! Time for some action!” Rainbow-Dash said excitedly, flying to the beast as she quickly evaded its paw-swipe. She then flew towards the beast’s core, cocking her fist back. In a swift move, she flew right through the core, ripping the wood apart. The beast roared in pain again, growling at RD.

“Come on Rarity, don’t just stand there!” Rainbow-Dash invited.

“You know what, I think I’ll stay right here. You guys look you’ve got this.” Rarity said, protecting her clothing and hair. She seemed rather nervous about the dangerous encounter.

Applejack chuckled. “Typical Rarity, always avoiding the dirty work.” She said, as she jumped high in front of the timber wolf, giving its jaw a solid punch which knocked loose a fair amount of wood, bringing its attention to Applejack as it tried to crush her under its paws. Applejack quickly evaded with running and tuck-and-rolls.

Twilight started to walk up, but before continuing, put her hand on Rarity’s shoulder and spoke lowly. “We’ll all have to fight soon, Rarity… Whether you want to or not.”

Rarity watched Twilight strangely, as she flew off, her lavender magical aura covering both of her hands.

“Come now, this beast will soon be gone! With the flames, and our teamwork, this won’t take long!” Zecora said, as she jumped out of the way of a paw-smash, now climbing atop the beast.

Twilight flew high, and formed a rich magical aura in her hands, and aimed at the beast. Celestia soon came up next to her and did the same, smiling at her student.

“Guess I won’t sit by either. This should finish it.” Celestia stated.

“Alright. Guys, keep it distracted!” Twilight yelled down to Rainbow-Dash, Zecora, and Applejack, who nodded, attacking the beast more.

A few more hits, roars, and dodges later, and the aura in Celestia and Twilight’s hands were oozing with power, evident from the drops of magic that were coming out of it.

“Guys, we’re ready, move!” Twilight and Celestia yelled in unison, both aiming at the beast.

As all backed away from the beast, the beast seemed to get extremely annoyed and furious, as it let out another roar so deafening that it distorted the vision of all bodies present. Suddenly, as it looked around at its opponents, its green eyes went to eerie red ones, as it growled lowly. It seemed calmer, somehow.

“Now!” Celestia yelled, as both Twilight and Celestia let out a powerful destructive beam of magic that collided with each other into a super beam of lavender and gold, aimed at the large timber wolf.

The timber-wolf simply powerfully roared at the beam, as it distorted into several different beams, two of the smaller beams knocking Twilight and Celestia back into the ground, as they crashed hard into it, making a small trench.

Another one of the beams went off and zapped the Cerberus guarding the gates to Tartarus. It got up with a yelp and growled at the wolf, which it presumed to be the culprit. As it tried to run towards the wolf, it got yanked back by a chain that held it to the gates of Tartarus. It growled, baring its teeth, as it watched the events unfold.

“That beast is smarter than it seems; using the power of its roar to distort the beam.” Zecora stated, watching the injured Twilight and Celestia get up from their ditches.

“You guys… Will have to do this on your own… That beam was more powerful than we thought… We need a little time to recover.” Twilight said weakly as she kneeled on one knee, clearly injured. Celestia stood, but looked just as injured.

“Alright guys, looks like it’s just us. Let’s do this!” Rainbow-Dash said confidently, weaving in between its paw swipes, which became faster and faster. She began to frantically dodge the beast’s swipes.

“Um guys! A little help here? This thing got like, a speed boost or something!” Rainbow-Dash said, her face twisted in focus as she dodged the beast’s swipes. It had gotten so fast that what was seen was simply apparitions of Rainbow-Dash and the paw swiping after her.

“I am coming my rainbow-haired friend; this beast will not be your end!” Zecora said, running at the beast as she jumped high, digging into her cloak once again. However, the beast’s speed caught up with that of Rainbow-Dash’s, and Rainbow-Dash was sent back down towards the earth with a powerful swipe, crashing into Zecora on the way.

Both collided with the ground violently, skidding across the hard earth. They too, were injured from the hit, and were temporarily out of action.

“Dashie, you alright?!” Applejack yelled back. However, as she turned her attention away from the battle, the beast slashed her with its claws, pushing her back against the ground and injuring her chest.

“Whoa there, far enough, bub!” Pinkie Pie yelled, rolling up a large pink cannon decorated with flowers. It was aimed directly at the large timber wolf.

“You’ve got one chance to stop before this thing goes off!” Pinkie Pie said, a serious look on her face.

Twilight, although injured, chuckled nervously. “Pinkie, don’t tell me that’s just cake or something…” Twilight asked in a face-palm.

Pinkie ignored her. The beast roared at her, rubbing its paw on the ground as it got ready to charge.

“Your choice, bub.” Pinkie Pie said, as she pulled on the string, and a large cake flew out towards the beast that now began to charge.

Everybody face-palmed at Pinkie Pie’s innocent pacifist-type attitude, as they saw the cake fly towards the now charging beast.

However, as the cake collided with the beast, it made a nasty smack sound, as the wood of the beast cracked and shook. The cake was baked hard, and was weaponized. However, undeterred by the cake, the beast chomped through it and charged at Pinkie.

Pinkie was able to do nothing, as it smashed the cannon underneath its paw, the force sending Pinkie back next to Twilight and Principal Celestia.

Pinkie Pie got up, shook her head, and smiled hopelessly. “That did almost nothing, huh?” Pinkie Pie said, in a disappointed tone.

Twilight comfortingly put her hand onto Pinkie’s back.

“Pinkie, I know you don’t like to fight, but some things require a bit more… vigor than that. This is serious, and I hate to say it, but you’ll have to drop the whole niceness thing for a while if we’re gonna get through these ordeals.” Twilight said, as Pinkie stared at the ground still.

Celestia chimed in. “It’s true. Whether you like it or not, if you wish to protect those you love, the only we will get through this one is with an acquisition of a taste for battle.” Celestia spoke.

Pinkie Pie’s frizzy and extravagant hair drooped ever-so-slightly at hearing their statements. “I’ll… try, I guess…” Pinkie muttered lowly. She didn’t like violence; she believed most things could be resolved in mostly nice and pleasant ways. I mean, they had the dragon, the cockatrice, the gargoyle, and countless others! She wanted this beast to be no exception.

Rarity, the only one who hadn’t participated in the fight, witnessed things go south more quickly than she could comprehend, and reluctantly decided that she would have to join the fray.

Covering her hands in her light blue magical aura, she walked up to the beast and shot it with a blast of destructive magic, burning away some of the wood on its face. It turned its attention towards Rarity.

“Now now, how about you learn to behave you rowdy thing! Look at the mess you’re causing! And hurting my friends? Absolutely unacceptable!” Rarity said, scolding it.

The beast turned down towards her and attempted to crush her under its palm. Rarity, not expecting it to react so quickly, just barely jumped out of the way, the force making her skid across the ground. As she got up, the paw was already headed down towards her.

Applejack, despite the bleeding slash on her chest and injuries from skidding across the ground, dashed and shoulder-bashed Rarity out of the way as the paw came down upon her.

*SMASH!*

Dust flew, and Applejack had seemingly disappeared beneath the beast’s paw.

“Oh my goodness, gracious me! Applejack!!” Rarity yelled, worried for her well-being.

However, as the dust flew away, Applejack was seen, her arms bulked, and veins popping all over her body as she struggled to keep the beast from crushing her. She was on one knee, both palms on the paw of the beast, holding its massive weight and strength.

Rarity quickly ran at the beast to help, her palms covered in the magical aura once again, realizing Applejack was still there.

“No!” Applejack said, as Rarity stopped in her tracks. “I’ve got this…” she said, her voice strained due to her struggling.

“If I can’t beat some brainless beast…” she started, as the veins became even more apparent. She slowly began to stand, the beast’s paw still over her head.

“Then how will I ever save…” she continued, as she got up further and further. Suddenly, Applejack’s eyes turned a crimson red, much like the hue of the beast’s own eyes. A powerful, orange fire suddenly exploded into existence over both of her fists.

“Applebloom?!” Applejack yelled with great strength, as she fully stood, tossing the beast back onto its hind legs. As she tossed the beast, the large flames that covered her hands were clearly seen, and her crimson eyes made Applejack out to be an entirely different person.

“You’ve caused enough trouble! Begone with you!” Applejack said in a rather city-like accent, as she ran at the beast, who was still on its hind legs.

With a powerful jump, Applejack was in front of the beast’s core, her fist cocked back. As she pushed her fist forward and made contact with the beast, it made a large force that blasted a large hole in the beast’s core. The force was covered in fire, which ate away at the beast slowly as it wailed and whined, thrashing away on the ground, the fire eating away at it.

Applejack landed on one knee gracefully. As she got up, she tilted her hat over her crimson red eyes, creating an eerie shadow over face; a scorch lay on her hat from where she touched it, as the flames still covered her hands. The beast lay just behind her, now motionless, as Applejack’s powerful fire ate away it.

“My goodness, Applejack! You… you did it somehow!” Rarity said, in disbelief that Applejack was able to blast such a hole in the beast with a single punch.

Applejack looked at Rarity with those crimson eyes, her face showing no emotion.

“I didn’t do it for you.” She said, staring at Rarity with her crimson red eyes. Rarity cocked her head to the side slightly, confused.

“Applejack?” Rarity asked, her head tilted in confusion.

Applejack’s eyes flashed back to their original green color as the flames on her hands dispersed into the air. She immediately grabbed her head and fell onto one knee.

“Applejack!” Rarity said again, running to her and holding her shoulders. “Are you alright? What’s wrong?” Rarity asked, worried for her. “Did you stress yourself too hard?” Rarity asked again.

“It’s like… Something tried to share my consciousness… Or steal it.” Applejack mumbled lowly, beginning to stand.

“Huh? Dear, what’s wrong?” Rarity asked, standing up with her.

“N-nothing… Maybe I ‘oughta be more careful, I just think my head injury isn’t all the way healed yet.” Applejack said with a slightly nervous chuckle, tapping her head.

“I… suppose so.” Rarity said, shaking it off for now. The others ran up to the two, in awe at how Applejack just dispatched of the beast.

“Holy cramoly Applejack!” Pinkie Pie said excitedly.

“You were all like,” Pinkie Pie started, turning her voice a bit deeper like AJ’s.

“If I can’t take down this pup, how’m I gonna save ‘lil A-Bloom?!” she said in a horribly feigned accent, acting out what just happened.

“And then you were like, WHAM!” Pinkie Pie yelled excitedly, copying Applejack’s punch.

Applejack chuckled quietly, hiding her blush underneath her hat. "Aw, shucks, it weren't nothin' special." she said, as her accent thickened with her flustered-emotion.

Celestia watched Applejack strangely as the others congratulated and thanked her.

“Something’s off… That may have been Applejack’s body up there, but that sure as heck couldn’t’ve been Applejack herself… They’re not capable of such power. What exactly did this serum do to them? As far as I can tell, it wasn’t exactly bad…” Celestia mused, in curious thought.

Zecora tapped Celestia’s shoulder and nodded her head in the direction of the portal as she walked on, indicating that they should hurry; time was of the essence, after all.

“Applejack, I don’t know how you pulled it off, but you took that thing out in a devastatingly amazing display of strength. I personally congratulate you on that. However, children, time is of the essence, and we must continue on. Let us go.” Celestia said, as she moved on towards the large three-headed dog.. The others quickly followed.

As they got to the Gates of Tartarus, the Cerberus stood in front of them, just as large as the timber wolf, and growled lowly. It brought its head low, right in front of Celestia who was in the lead of the group.

“At ease, Cerberus.” Celestia said, putting her palm on one of the heads of the beast, tasked with guarding the doors to Tartarus for eternity.

“They are with me. We require entry into the cursed lands you guard.” Celestia said, as the large three-headed dog gave Celestia a soft lick.

“What? She tamed that thing?” Fluttershy said in amazement.

“It sure looks like she did…” Applejack answered.

The Cerberus, after a few short inaudible whimpers to Celestia, stepped out of the way to allow the group entry.

“The Cerberus wishes us the best of luck, children. Let’s not disappoint.” Celestia said, standing in front of a demonic double-door. They were crimson red, with 8 square sections on it, each with a demonic golden-gilded horn protruding from them.

“You think they’d like, step their game up for the decoration to the pathway to such a scary and evil place.” Pinkie commented, as she stared upon the door in the middle of a plain mountainous field.

“I don’t think whoever made the gate would like for it to be easily discovered Pinkie. Probably why it’s beyond the Everfree Forest anyhow.” Twilight said, in a matter-of-fact tone.

Pinkie simply nodded slowly, deducing that Twilight’s theory made sense. “Okey dokey lokey!” she said in agreement.

“Cerberus. Open the doors.” Celestia said. The Cerberus walked up to the gates and stood on both hind legs, each of its front paws on either door.

“Stand aside children. Opening the portal to Tartarus is never something that is safe.” Celestia said, standing back, as the others followed suit.

With a large heave and huff, the doors started to grind and rumble as the Cerberus pulled it open, grinding against the earth. As it fully opened, a multitude of spirits and ghouls attempted to rush out, which the Cerberus’s two far-heads quickly devoured, preventing their escape. The Cerberus’ chains and collars clinked and clanked as it moved.

“Man, Cerberus never gets any less cool. Seeing him in person is always awesome! This time is no exception.” Rainbow-Dash said, in awe at the sight.

All that was seen now was a distorted portal; upon the other side were the cursed, fiery lands of Tartarus.

Cerberus stood aside to let the group through.

“Alright guys… This is it. Are you all truly ready?” Celestia said.

All nodded, determined looks on their faces.

“I’m… I’m not really good with these kinds of speeches like Luna is but…” Celestia began, her voice taking on a more emotional tone rather than her serious and more leader-like tone. This sparked the interest of her young audience.

“We are about to trek into the lands of Tartarus.” Celestia continued, turning and looking at the group of children that followed her.

“To these lands I’ve been; they are unforgiving and evil. There is no room for weakness.” Celestia spoke, her eyes on Fluttershy and Rarity.

“There is no room for kindness.” She went on, now looking at Pinkie.

“There is no room for fear.” She continued, her eyes on the whole group, mostly focused on Twilight.

“One little mistake, one wrong show of gratitude, one wrong step, and Tartarus will chew you up and spit out your bony remains. You are to trust nothing and nobody in this land; you are to move quickly, discreetly, and mercilessly; you are to move as if you are an inhabitant of the land itself. Understood?” Celestia finished.

“Understood, Celestia.” Twilight said, as the rest nodded. Their faces were all ones of determination and focus. This trek would be their key – their ticket – to victory, and so, they planned to treat it with the effort and determination it would need and deserve.

“Come then. Let us locate Aperture, and let us get you the combat prowess you will all surely need. Are you all ready to progress through the portal?” Celestia asked, as the portal behind her buzzed and hummed deeply.

“I… I s-suppose so…” Fluttershy said quietly, looking around at her companions for their ready signal as well.

“If we must; I will stop at nothing to save poor, defenseless Sweetie Belle!” Rarity said, proclaiming her readiness.

“If this is the only way I can get revenge on that stinkin’ siren and save Applebloom, then you’re darn right I’m ready!” Applejack said, with a determined smile.

“I was born ready! Let’s do this!” Rainbow-Dash said confidently, her arm on her bicep in a flexing position.

“I’m ready like Big Betty serving confetti in the deli!” Pinkie Pie said with a silly salute, making little sense as usual.

Twilight stared at the portal, as her eyes flashed two familiar colors; one a crimson-red, and the other a pure-sky blue. She shook her head, holding her temple for just a second, and spoke.

“I’m… I’m ready.” She said, looking up with determination. “For Spike!” Twilight went on, her eyes bent in determination.

“I am ready as ever; I will stop at no end to help my very best friends in their endeavors.” Zecora stated, in her African vibe accent.

“Good. Then let us go.” Celestia said, turning back around and walking straight up to the portal. Just before she made contact with it, she turned over her shoulder, and nodded. The others nodded back. As Celestia turned once again and finally walked through, the others followed suit.

[As the Mane Six walked in through the portal, the Cerberus closed the large gates behind them creating a cliché, eerie screech, followed by the slam, shutting off the camera’s view in Darkness…]

[Within the mysterious, ethereal world]

The inhabitants of the room were hard to see, as the room they resided in was still deprived of light, and as such, lighting was very dim.

“Feels like it’s nearly time to wake up…” Flutterbat spoke, hanging upside down from a wooden frame upon the roof. Her eyes were closed, and her smile short and content. A metal staff about the length of her body was strapped to her back. On both tips of the staff were light-blue indents that glowed and crackled occasionally with a silent zap of blue electricity.

“Is it? Nightmare?” Perfidious asked, as she leaned back in her chair coolly, her skin glowing a light-pink color and steam emanating from all parts of her body.

Nightmare giggled in a way that made all inhabitants of the room uncomfortable; she truly was the definition of deranged. Looking up from her throne, she opened those two eyes… One crimson red, and the other a pure-sky blue.

“It’s true… Won’t be long now…” Nightmare stated.

She opened the palm of her hand, as a jet-black, liquid-sphere, appeared in her hand. It spiked out on all directions at random moments, as if unstable.

“Can you sense it? It won’t be long now, before we have our chance, Umbra.” Nightmare spoke, as her smile grew, in that twisted manner. Her hair was still messy and untidy. She soon crushed the ball in her hand, as the substance leaked through her fingers.

“Yes, darling. But how boring! These monsters won’t equate to Trixie and her fellows. Perfidious and Diane are lucky, they got to spar with a real challenge! I need a good fight.” Umbra spoke, wrapping her fists in white bandages. Her eyes were an emerald green glow.

“I second that. I expected that wolf to be a bit more enduring, but nope, one little punch, and boom! I mean, I actually barely even got to get a stretch out of that. It was barely a fraction of the strength I could muster…” Duplicity spoke in a rather disappointed tone, as her hands burned a calm, orange flame.

“I’ll tell you what… I wanna meet this Aria Siren again… She knows how to handle a blade!” Diane spoke, clapping her hands together, amused.

“I would’ve been able to have more fun if my stupid catalyst wasn’t so weak! Bah, can’t even handle a 2.5x as fast body-rate. How pitiful.” Perfidious said, as the steam on her body released in higher levels, indicating her annoyance. She huffed, as loads of steam puffed from her lips and nose.

“Now, now… Let’s all calm down, I didn’t even get to do anything fun either.” Flutterbat spoke. In an instant, Flutterbat had a sharp blade poking at her throat.

“But, you did kiss that stupid gray human though!” Diane said, her voice with a hint of disappointment.

“Now, now, what did we say about sharp objects, hunny?” Flutterbat said soothingly, tipping the blade away from her throat, which in turn, poked into her finger, causing it to bleed.

“Besides,” Flutterbat continued, as Darkness shrouded around her, enveloping her. As it dispersed, she was gone.

In an instant, she was behind Diane, with her arms slung around her shoulders, and her mouth lay close to Diane’s neck.

“Nobody tastes better than you do… It’s not as if I could ever give you up.” Flutterbat cooed, as her canine teeth poked about at the paled-pink neck.

“Alright, alright, enough of that mushy crap.” Umbra stated crudely, tightening the bandage on her fist, as she ripped off the straggler of it.

Flutterbat released her grip on Diane, who could only stare at the wall, her breathing slightly hyped.

“You’re such a bore Umbra… Or do you want attention too?” Flutterbat spoke, looking at Umbra in a seductive manner, licking her lips.

“You keep that body, and your fangs far away from me. I know what you do to those stupid enough to fall into your allurement. I don’t know why you haven’t sucked Diane dry yet, to be completely honest.” Umbra said in a hostile manner, glaring at her with those emerald green eyes.

“Aww, don’t be like that. Besides, Diane is special; you could be too, y’know.” Flutterbat spoke, with a wink.

Umbra scoffed in response.

“Enough.” Nightmare said, as the eyes fell on her.

“Be focused and ready. All of you.” Nightmare said, standing from her throne.

“Of course, my liege; you have our power.” Flutterbat stated, with a formal bow.

“And with it, let us have great pleasure in making an entire new world suffer! And may our power grow ever-stronger.” Nightmare said.

“So… This is nice.” Sunset Shimmer stated awkwardly, as she hopped over multiple rooftops, with Luna flying just above her. They were forced to take this route, as the citizens of the Equestria Town were either too intent on getting info out of Luna, or stalking the clear oddity known as Sunset Shimmer.

“You don’t talk any more than you used to, huh Luna?” Sunset Shimmer said with a faint smile as she quickly vaulted over a ledge onto the next rooftop.

“No more than I need to, usually. Besides, I’m trying to concentrate.” Luna said simply.

“I see. Just thought there’d be more time to y’know… Talk a little bit, seeing as how this is the only time I could return for a while…” Sunset Shimmer stated.

“I see… What’s on your mind?” Luna asked, attempting to fulfill her wish.

“Well…” Sunset Shimmer stated as she weaved past a few walls and obstacles upon the rooftop, before jumping over to the next and changing directions with Luna.

“As I previously stated, my dimension needs me. You remember, right?” Sunset Shimmer began.

Luna nodded, her eyes on the streets below them. “Yes, I remember. On the night of the party when you arrived is when you mentioned this, correct?” Luna asked.

“Yuh-huh!” Sunset said with a grunt, as she quickly vaulted over a high-wall. Luna suddenly dived down, as Sunset Shimmer followed her, landing on the ground from the rooftop with a thud from her boots, as dust flew around her briefly.

“Sorry to interrupt, but for an Arcane Human, you possess incredible physical ability. What is your secret?” Luna asked, as they walked down a more intimidating part of their fair town; even the most innocent of places had the bad backdrafts.

“The state of my world has required that I grow stronger with time. That’s actually what I wanted to talk to you about.” Sunset Shimmer said, as both arrived at a small cavern. The cavern looked torn down and abandoned, yet there was traffic in and out.

Both Sunset Shimmer and Principal Luna stood on the outskirts of the cavern to finish their conversation.

“Oh? Do explain.” Luna said, her interest perked.

“Well, you see, some nasty force is stirring up hate in my world. Everything anybody ever knew about friendship and love seems to be gone. Some, even our very own Twilight Sparkle, have begun to disregard love and friendship, and are caught in their own selfish endeavors. Although it’s not progressed to a level as bad as the evil you all face, I fear that it will quickly transgress to such a point rather quickly.” Sunset Shimmer explained.

“Is that so? Well, former student, you have my word that we will attempt to get help to you at our latest convenience.” Principal Luna stated.

“Thank you so much! No offense, but my dimension’s version of you guys and Celestia are… incapable, to say the least. As a world that exhibits much less magical power, it’s hard to actually pinpoint such things alone, so I’m eternally grateful for the promised help. But enough of that, let’s get back to the task at hand.” Sunset Shimmer stated.

“Understood and agreed. Now let us-” Principal Luna began, but was interrupted by a man shoulder-bumping her out of the way.

“Watch where you’re standing, woman.” The man started, looking them both up and down. “Two pretty girls like you shouldn’t be roaming these parts, hehe.” He said in a scruffy voice, going into the cavern.

“Oh, that rude little…!” Sunset remarked, walking after him. Luna quickly grabbed her arm and shook her head.

“Remember, the plan is that we go in and ask nicely. If feminine charm doesn’t work, then we’re allowed to provoke the denizens. I didn’t pick out these outfits for nothing.” Luna said, gesturing towards their choice of clothing: each wore mini-skirts and rather alluring tight-fitting jackets. Protruding from the mini-skirts were leggings that were about thigh-length. Luna kept classy with short-heeled shoes, while Sunset Shimmer simply had a variation of her heeled-boots; these ones were jet-black, however.

“It is never a good feeling heading into places like this dressed like this…” Sunset Shimmer stated.

“Well, I figured we’d start small; if any would know where that ruthless Trixie is, why wouldn’t it be a hotspot for notorious baddies to hang out?” Luna said, with a half-shrug.

“Fair.” Sunset Shimmer stated. As both of the females walked in.

[As they both walked in, the inside seemed to be a paradise, and was much more majestic than what the exterior displayed. The majestic lights and glamor of the interior soon blinded the camera…]

The Mane Six, with Celestia and Zecora leading them, all stood within the lands of Tartarus. For a land that was described as cursed and evil, the creatures they saw did not look appalling or necessarily demonic, even.

However, everything in the land did give off an incredible sense of evil that caused even Applejack and Rainbow-Dash to shiver, despite the fiery hot temperatures of the lands.

“Remember children, trust nothing and no one. This is the land of the condemned. Move with me, and move quickly.” Principal Celestia said, bravely walking through the creepy denizens of Tartarus which stared at the group with different looks. Some stared with hate and jealousy, others with awe and surprise. Quiet, excited mumbles were heard all around them as they walked on.

“Isn’t that Princess Celestia?” a small imp-like creature whispered in a hush.

“Think she’ll free anybody today?” a shivering small humanoid with three eyes asked.

“That stuck-up old skank? Don’t get your hopes up.” A pale aquamarine-colored human spoke. He looked bitter and dried out.

“Celestia, are you sure some of these people belong here? I mean, some of them don’t even look so menacing.” Twilight said, unsure of whether or not they deserved such punishment; these lands were very harsh.

“Every being here that Luna, myself, or any other Alicorn have banished here deserve to be here. Trust me on this, Sparkle. They know what they’ve done, and must wait for their annual day of judgement by Luna, Cadence, and Myself if they wish to be freed. One day, you too, will learn of what it is to banish people to such a realm, my pupil.” Celestia spoke, walking past and ignoring the gossip of the denizens of Tartarus.

“I see…” Twilight gulped. She had almost forgotten of her Alicorn status. Soon, she too, would have to take up such great responsibilities.

“We must find the Doors of Ultimate Judgement. It is known as the worst and final level of Tartarus, reserved for only the most impure and evil and heinous creatures. Aperture is the only-known creature to have been put there by our hands.” Celestia spoke.

“Excuse me, but how are we to know that this Aperture fellow will even help us if he’s such a dastardly creature?” Rarity queried.

“Yeah; who’s to say he won’t just deceive us and escape? He is like, super powerful, isn’t he?” Rainbow-Dash added on.

“For starters, although Aperture is impure and evil, he is a rational demon; he knows he is trapped within the Mirror of Destitute, and is powerless; furthermore, he has no reason to turn you down, as this is not the dimension he dwells in. Even if he refuses, he will not be able to do anything. And if he does refuse, than I shall simply give him an offer he cannot refuse.” Celestia said, walking with a look of determination as they reached a descending, fleshy staircase.

“Come, we must descend to the very lowest level of Tartarus before we may reach the D.O.U.J. Do not drop your guard; rumor has it that only the most heinous reside in those fiery pits below.” Celestia said.

“The what now? The heck is a dowje, or whatever you just said?” Applejack asked.

“Why, that stands for Doors of Ultimate Judgement, obviously! Silly ‘ol Apple Girl!” Pinkie Pie said in her usual, banter-full tone, poking AJ’s nose.

“Right…” Applejack said in a dragged-out tone.

“So, Celestia, while we walk-and-talk, I have some questions.” Twilight said, figuring that she’d make the walk interesting with some dialogue as they trekked deep down within the pits of Tartarus.

“Whoa there, honey! Look my way!” a guy hooted out with a laugh, watching Sunset and Luna.

The bartender of the cavern, a middle-aged, light-red skinned woman, greeted Sunset Shimmer and Principal Luna.

“What can I get you two beautiful ladies?” she asked.

“A tropical cocktail for me. Make sure the alcoholic content is tapped up a bit, hm?” Principal Luna said, grabbing the attention of several inhabitants of the bar. Both males and females alike gave lewd stares at her. Principal Luna played extra alluring, crossing her legs and leaning over the counter. She propped up her bust by putting her forearm underneath her chest.

“A simple glass of wine will do it for me, thanks.” Sunset said, as she received some looks as well. Though, none as lusty as the ones Luna got.

“These people are just screaming ‘shady’…” Sunset mused silently, feeling uncomfortable as the bar went quiet around them.

As Luna put up a few bits for the drinks, a rather large man sat down next to her and offered his own bits. He was tatted head-to-toe with tattoos of various things, most of them depicting gryphons in various immoral acts. He wore a tank-top and cargo pants, despite the cold of the season. He was clearly built, and must’ve stood tall at about 6 feet, 4 inches. He had a folded pair of fluffy wings, and a tail with a familiar bush at the end of it.

“The usual.” He said in a burly voice.

“Oh great, it’s the leader of the Gryphon Gang; what’re you here for, Metal Beak?” the bartender asked in a stressed tone.

“You know it’s that special week, woman. Do I have to remind you what happens if we don’t get paid in time?” he said menacingly, as she poured him a glass of a dark green drink and handed it to him.

“N-no sir… We’ll have it ready before your week’s stay is over.” the bartender said, quietly retreating to the back where she cleaned some glasses.

“Oh, a tough gang-leader, huh?” Principal Luna said, taking the toothpick and olive out of her cocktail-glass and biting it off seductively.

She leaned over and traced her hand over his biceps. “I do like a notorious man…” Principal Luna purred. The man chuckled lowly and grinned. “I bet you do.” He replied.

“Duuuude, that’s Principal Luna, cooing over some gang member! Oh man, wait till this hits the social medias!” a woman could be heard gossiping in the recesses of the cavern.

Sunset Shimmer quickly pulled Luna to the side and whispered harshly.

“With all due respect, he looks like a bully! Shouldn’t you be putting him in his place?” Sunset asked. Luna smiled and shook her fingers, uttering a ‘tsk tsk tsk’.

“We are looking for shady people. First we try the feminine charm to get information easy, then we can bring them to justice. Priorities, Sunset Shimmer; he won’t be leaving here with the thought of coming back, rest assured.” Principal Luna explained, leaning back to the man, Metal Beak. She pulled Sunset Shimmer closer.

“Meet my friend here. Isn’t she the cutest little thing?” Principal Luna asked, posing suggestively with Sunset Shimmer. Sunset Shimmer said nothing, as her cheeks heated up with pink.

“That’s nice, sure, but I’m really into older women, like yourself… Tell me a little bit about yourself, girl. You must be important; people seem to be making quite the big deal about you talking to me.” Metal Beak spoke, his elbow resting on the counter.

“Older women… Bah!” Sunset Shimmer muttered, walking off. She looked around the bar for someone shady she might get information from. She soon spotted a pale-pink colored girl, about her age, sitting all alone in the corner of the cavern. She strode over to give her some company.

As Sunset Shimmer sat in the booth next to her, whispers arose.

“Guess she doesn’t know…” one man in the next booth spoke.

“Yeah… That’s their underdog.” A woman said quietly, pointing to the girl Sunset sat across from.

“Oh man, the Gryphons are gonna chew her up too, if she’s seen with her too long…” another woman said, sipping her drink.

“You… You shouldn’t be seen with me… Don't you hear them...?” the girl muttered to Sunset lowly, in a sad tone.

“Why not? Are you like, a killer or something?” Sunset Shimmer asked with a half-shrug.

“No…” she said quietly.

“Oh? So what’s your story then? Why can’t we be friends?” Sunset Shimmer asked, sipping the glass of wine she brought with her.

The girl sat there quietly, fidgeting shyly.

“Well, I’m not going anywhere until you talk, so fidget and play silent all you like.” Sunset Shimmer said, leaning back, her glass of wine in hand, as she looked back, eyeing Principal Luna still flirting with the man.

“I’m the child of a rich family that lives in Manehattan…” the girl said quietly, speaking up. Sunset’s attention perked up.

“Do continue.” Sunset urged.

“I didn’t perform to their expectations, so as soon as I was old enough, they kicked me out and bought me a house here… Now I live off of checks they send me…” she muttered quietly, looking around.

“Wow, that’s quite sad; haven’t you tried to get help or anything?” Sunset Shimmer asked, with a sincere voice of worry.

“I would but…” she spoke, her voice reaching a hitch.

“They threatened to get me if I do…” she said, looking down once more, as her head hung low. Her straight, black hair hung over her face.

“Who’re ‘they’?” Sunset Shimmer queried.

“The Gryph-”, suddenly all went silent as the doors slammed open, and three female gryphons walked in the cavern. The two behind the leading gryphon wore black tank-tops and similar cargo pants to Metal Beak.

The leading one wore silky jet-black bandana on her head, and a black sports bra, showing her fit core and rather toned muscles. She wore black cargo pants and a small sleeveless/shoulder-less jet-black leather jacket that went to only her waist. On her hands were simple black combat gloves, which were fingerless. On the back of the palm of the gloves and on the knuckles/finger sections were small spikes. She looked dangerous. As fate would have it, her eyes immediately landed upon Sunset Shimmer and the girl…

“Ohhh, so that’s how you and Luna were able to harness the powers of the Elements singlehandedly.” Twilight said, with a satisfied voice. They were descending another set of fleshy steps.

“Say… Who do you think made Tartarus? Or how did it end up here?” Twilight asked.

“As with many realms, nobody will ever know their creator. However, whoever created Tartarus certainly had in mind that it was meant to imprison the truly evil until their day of reformation. This has been a long passed tidbit of knowledge through the lineage of Alicorns.” Celestia said, as Twilight nodded, listening intently.

These little learning sessions always fascinated her. The others behind her, however, were not quite as interested, as their attentions were set more on the rather… dark sense of decoration Tartarus had: fleshy walls decorated with soft lines of red mushy stuff, burning eyeballs provided lighting where the natural hellfire couldn’t illuminate, and the creatures that roamed around were now far from just simple oddities; the deeper they descended, the more they realized how scary Tartarus really was.

“We’re approaching the final level. Get ready, children.” Celestia said, as they reached the final steps and a long, wide corridor.

“Okay, last question then! What did Aperture do to deserve such a punishment?” Twilight asked, her curiosity at its peak.

“That is… a question I cannot answer, deepest apologies, my pupil.” Celestia said, her head hanging slightly. Twilight let out an annoyed groan.

“I understand.” Twilight said simply, even though she’d really rather here about what could’ve possibly been done to receive such punishment.

“Look, ahead! I didn’t know Tartarus had guards?” Twilight stated, pointing to two humans that were standing on either wall of the corridor. Each held menacing halberds and wore light, metal armor, and seemed to be Earth Humans.

“They don’t…” Celestia said, as she raised a brow in caution. As the group approached them, the two guards, who’s faces were covered by their helmets, stood in their path, blocking the way.

One of them chuckled, and spoke. “Well, well, well… If it isn’t our ‘ol Princess Sunbutt.” He said.

“Wonder what brings her here?” the other spoke, eyeing the group.

“We are headed to the D.O.U.J. Now move out of the way, subjects.” Principal Celestia spoke with authority.

“Oh no, we better move dude! Our princess commands it!” one human spoke, cracking up in laughter. The other laughed with him.

“You’re not passing here. Sorry, but only those with actual authority can pass through here, missy. You and your little posse had better turn around, if you know what’s good for ya.” One of the men spoke, as they held their halberds in an ‘X’, blocking their path.

“Yeah. From what I see, you’re not a denizen of Tartarus, so death for you would be quite… tragic.” The other spoke in an indifferent tone.

Celestia sat in thought for a second. After a few seconds, she decided that there’d be no other way.

Celestia bravely walked up to the two, as her golden aura began to envelope her body.

“Whoa there, woman! What’d we just say!? You trying to get yourself killed?” one of them asked, as both pointed their halberds to Celestia.

“Celestia, be careful! Those men seem ruthless, and their blades are far from dull!” Zecora warned, as she approached with Celestia, in case backup was needed.

Celestia walked on, now a serious gaze on the two, as the golden magical aura lightly enveloped her body.

“She’s asked for it! Go, get her!” one man asked, as he swung the halberd at Celestia.

Before the man could even comprehend what had happened, Celestia ducked under the sloppy slash, and had her palm in front of the poorly armored man’s chest. A golden, glowing ball soon grew in her palm, as the man looked down in fright.

“Wai-!” the man pleaded, but couldn’t even finish, as he was blasted back into the wall with great force, his armor scorched from the magic attack. He laid, unmoving; probably in too much pain to move.

“Oh, you’re screwed now!” the other said, as he lunged directly at Celestia’s exposed back.

Celestia simply sidestepped, inching past the blade, as she brought her elbow into the handle, snapping the handle in half as the part with the blade broke off.

The man backed away, unnerved at the Celestia’s skill.

“Did you think me defenseless? How ignorant.” Celestia said, as she teleported behind the unsuspecting man, and delivered a powerful chop to his neck, as he dropped unconscious.

Celestia stood back as normal, no longer in a fighting stance, as she walked on calmly. The others watched her with intrigue.

“Come children, do not stand there. We have progress to make; the D.O.U.J is just within the room at the end of the corridor.” Celestia said, pointing at the large doorway which led into an unbelievably large room.

As they approached the doorway, pictures of Tirek in all his glory were seen. However, this went absolutely unnoticed by the walkers of the corridor.

They entered the corridor, and were now in a room where there was just a fiery sky with no roof in sight. The room was large, and at the back of it, was a throne. The throne was surrounded by a multitude of different types of humans, and other magical creatures, such as gryphons.

Surprisingly, none of these ones were clad in armor like the guards of the corridor, they simply wore combat-related clothing and a few were equipped with shoulder and knee pads; however, some were armed with dangerous weaponry. Some of the weapons blunt, some of them bladed.

As the being in the throne stood, noticing the presence of others, the faces of the Mane Six, including Celestia and Zecora lit up in a sort of surprised disbelief.

“He’s still…?!” Twilight muttered inaudibly.

“T-this can’t be…” Fluttershy muttered, cowering behind the group.

Celestia walked forward, her stare hard.

“Well, if it isn’t my little captors.” Tirek spoke with an amused tone, as he stepped down his throne, the creatures making way for him.

He stood tall at nearly 10 feet, compared to Celestia’s 6. He looked strong as ever, but for some reason, was not standing 50 feet tall like the last time (Do keep in mind, that in this universe, he is simply a demonic humanlike creature, with two legs and two arms).

“Tirek! How did you escape the prison?” Celestia asked.

“Oh, the Gates of Tartarus may be able to hold me, but a simple magical prison is nothing that can’t be done through with time… Have you already forgotten how long it’s been, Princess?” he spoke, with a smile.

“Tirek! To think we’d see the likes of you here! Are you still up to your old ways?” Twilight said, her teeth gritting instinctively.

“My, if it isn’t the very one who defeated me… Greetings, Princess Twilight Sparkle.” He greeted, a grin growing onto his face.

“Don’t greet us like we’re buds, pal! You know what you did.” Rainbow-Dash spoke, standing up.

“Wait a sec… I can sense that power, but how come you’re not all big like you used to be?” Twilight asked, curiously.

“I have found ways to compress my power; it got quite tedious walking around being the size of a mountain.” Tirek explained. Applejack, however, couldn’t care less about what he had to say.

“Listen, don’t get in our way. We want to head to the D.O.U.J and want nothing to do with ya. Clear?” Applejack stated, walking ahead of the group.

“I can’t allow that, girls.” Tirek said, as he grew a smirk. Several of the humans and creatures now surrounded them, chuckling.

A single changeling, about 4 feet tall, flew up and sat on Tirek’s bulky shoulder, crossing his legs. He was full-clad in combat gear; he wore a flak jacket with metal shoulder-pads. One of the shoulder pads was spiked, and significantly more bulky. He also wore combat pants with metal knee-pads, and combat boots. On his hands, he wore fingerless combat gloves that were spiked on the back of the palm and fingers. On the back of the palm, in the middle of the ring of spikes was a metal plate. The attire was jet-black, to match his skin. It was clear that the small changeling was built as well, as he had bulky shoulders and arms for his size. There was no doubt that the changeling was dangerous.

“Hey, Sunbutt! Remember me?” The changeling called out, waving his hand with a smile. He sounded very, very young, with a childlike voice.

Principal Celestia looked up and shook her head, confused.

“Of course you don’t! You just mercilessly throw all of us into Tartarus, don’t you? Name’s Skrix, in case you forgot.” the changeling spoke, as his face turned bitter.

“You changelings know what you did, don’t give me that mess!” Celestia yelled, her eyes on the creatures that surrounded them.

“Yeah, right; then why am I the only changeling here? You know what, forget it.” Skrix spoke with an eye-roll. “Sic ‘em boys!” he spoke, his smile returning, as he ordered the humans to attack.

All of the surface-dwellers formed an inner-circle, their backs against each other.

“This is looking like an issue. There must be like a hundred of them, and only eight of us!” Fluttershy yelled, her fists up high, despite her clear fear.

Zecora smiled confidently, as she eyed Fluttershy from her peripheral vision.

“Do not stand there in affright; the numbers only make this a fair fight.” Zecora said cofidently, as she too, held her fists high.

“I like the way you think, Zecora; let’s get ‘em.” Applejack said, as the minions slowly, and cautiously approached the surface-dwelling humans.

“Girls, do you think you may be able to handle this alone?” Celestia asked in a low whisper, as she eyed Tirek and the changeling on his shoulder, Skrix.

“I dunno… They don’t look too tough, I suppose. I mean, we’ve beaten a horde of changelings before, so this can’t be that different, right?” Twilight said, looking at the mass amount of enemies that surrounded them.

“Great. Then Zecora and I will have to leave you and take on Tirek and Skrix; it would be bad if we were tired out from this fight before confronting those two; they seem too powerful to wait on.” Celestia said, as she looked around, keeping her eyes on the ominous faces that surrounded her.

“Celestia, you make a very good plan; come, let us go kick Tirek and Skrix’s cans!” Zecora said lowly, as both left the inner-circle, walking ever-closer to the hostile minions. Both the Mane Six and the surrounding minions watched in intrigue.

“Ready?” Celestia asked, as she grabbed both of Zecora’s hands.

Zecora nodded. Celestia picked her up and started swinging her around, faster, and faster, and faster! As Celestia let her hands go, Zecora flew off towards Tirek at great speed. In midair, Zecora aimed her foot at Skrix, successfully kicking him off.

However, while both were still in the air, Skrix grabbed hold of Zecora’s shin, and tossed her into a wall, before crashing into the ground.

Celestia simply jumped over the crowd, and flew towards Tirek, who put his hands up defensively.

“You fools, don’t just stand there! KILL THEM!” Skrix yelled, standing up as he faced Zecora, annoyed that they had not yet moved.

Suddenly, several humans charged at the Mane Six.

“Weapons free, boys!” one of the men yelled, as he swung a halberd at Twilight, who ducked under it and shot him back with a blast of magic.

“Alright girls! It’s go time!” Twilight said, her face now twisted in focus.

“Alright!” Rainbow-Dash yelled excitedly, as she flew fast and roundhouse kicked one of the soldiers, making their weapons fly into the air as they flew back, crashing through others.

“This won’t be tough.” Applejack said with confidence, as she side-stepped the attacks of two more men, and then smashed their heads together, knocking them out.

“Easy for you to say!” Fluttershy said in a scared, quiet yell, as she ducked and dodged the slashes of a man who was attacking her; the girl was agile.

“Oh my, this looks messy!” Rarity said, as she ducked under a swipe of a halberd, her hair barely missing it. “Please, watch the hair!” Rarity said, as she punched the man in throat, causing him to drop his weapon and flop on the ground, gasping for breath.

“Whoa guys, chill out!” Pinkie Pie screamed out, just barely inching by the attacks of a man and woman that stabbed at her.

“So this is Tartarus, hm? Grown adults, looking to kill children at the bidding of some demon and a changeling? You all are pathetic.” Twilight said, as she flew high, holding her hands out. Two large balls of magical energy grew in her palms.

She pulled them together as she released a large beam of magic at one part of the crowd.

However, three Arcane Humans jumped in the way of it, pulling up a gray magical ward that deflected the beam, making it hit Twilight, which sent her crashing back into the ground. Twilight stood up, her chest smoking from her own attack.

“Humph!” she said, as her fists tightened again.

“Careful guys, they’re not all Earth Humans.” Twilight said, watching the smirking, ominous figures that surrounded them.

“Kinda figured that out already!” Rainbow-Dash said, as she was high in the sky, in combat with three others.

[With Celestia+Zecora and Tirek+Skrix, not far off.]

Celestia flew towards Tirek, one hand extended towards him, while the other was pulled back, a golden, glowing ball of destructive energy in it.

“Fool.” Tirek said, as that familiar red ball of magic with black sparks appeared between his horns. He shot out a devastating beam, as Celestia held her other palm out, and did the same. A large explosion ensued, which Celestia used to subvert and keep flying towards Tirek.

Celestia flew behind Tirek, and held her arm around his neck, while pressing a ball of magic to his back.

“Surrender now, and things can be easy.” Celestia said into his ear.

Tirek simply grunted, as he rolled his eyes. In an instant, he elbowed Celestia square in the gut, as Celestia slid back, creating dust beneath her feet. She kneeled for just a few seconds, attempting to catch the wind knocked out of her.

“Surrender? In the plane that I now rule? Now you’re spouting nonsense.” Tirek stated.

“You’ll just be defeated like last time, Tirek! How arrogant are you?” Celestia spoke, standing up at full again.

“The Elements of Harmony will simply subdue you; do you not understand the blunder you create for yourself?” Celestia asked, as she stood in a defensive position, the two circling each other.

“The Elements of Harmony are not synonymous with this world. Did you think they would work in Tartarus?” Tirek spoke, as his grin grew. Celestia fell silent.

“Do you realize your blunder, Princess?” Tirek said with an amused laugh, as he charged at Celestia.

. . .

“You changelings never will learn; no, not until you all begin to burn.” Zecora stated, as she stood straight, her brown cloak enveloping her body, in contrast to the changeling who stood in a fighting stance.

“More cryptic nonsense. Don’t waste my time, woman!” the changeling said in his childlike voice, as he ran to Zecora.

Zecora stayed silent, as she watched the young changeling approach her. “Idiotic fool; you are just being used for a tool.” Zecora stated, as the changeling kicked at her.

Zecora blocked the kick with her wrist easily, as she used her other hand to punch him in the chest, sending him skidding back on his feet. Zecora then ran at him, hand cocked back.

“Do not think I will treat you even close to mild, simply because you stand short and are clearly a child.” Zecora warned, as she got ever-closer.

Skrix recovered quickly, and sent a straight punch to Zecora, which Zecora blocked with the palm of her hand, before gasping.

As they both stood there, Zecora with an angry frown, and the changeling with a knowing smirk, blood dripped from Zecora’s hand.

Skrix chuckled. “Tsk tsk tsk. Those spiked gloves’ll getcha’!” he said, grinning, as his other hand grew a dark green aura.

Zecora’s eyes widened, as she forgot that changelings were capable of using magic as well.

As the changeling put his hand to her chest, Zecora could do nothing. The changeling blasted her back with a powerful display of magic.

Zecora sailed through the sky, her signature brown cloak now partially burned, as her body smoked from the attack.

Gracefully, Zecora back-flipped to level her body out, and landed gracefully, clutching her chest.

Zecora hissed, feeling the scorch marks that were now on her chest. “I’m gonna enjoy this; we don’t get a lot of visitors like you down here.” Skrix spoke, cracking his knuckles, as he charged towards Zecora.

[Back with the Mane Six…]

Rainbow-Dash, was in aerial combat with three other Pegasus Humans; they all wielded blunt objects, such as maces and war-hammers.

“Bring it!” Rainbow-Dash taunted, as two flew at her. The first swung his hammer, to which Rainbow-Dash simply flew back and disarmed the man by grabbing the handle of the hammer and elbowing the man, forcing him to let go of it.

Using the metal handle, Rainbow-Dash uppercut the man powerfully, as he fell towards the ground, presumably knocked out.

The other swung his mace at her head, as RD ducked. “Bad move.” She said, as she brought the end of the hammer flat into his chest, which made a nasty smack sound as he was sent flying into the ground with a crash.

“Hey guys, backup up here!” the last one, a female called out, as four more opponents flew up to confront the cyan-colored Human.

“This isn’t good, I’ll be too tired to fight if I keep up with this!” Rainbow-Dash thought to herself, dropping the heavy hammer and holding both her fists up.

. . .

Fluttershy wasn’t faring any better; she was frantically dodging the attacks of the single man that pursued her. “Can’t we,” Fluttershy began, ducking under a swipe of his halberd.

“Simply just,” she continued, jumping above the low stab that the man executed.

“Talk about this?!” Fluttershy screamed, finally finishing her sentence, flexibly leaning under a swipe, as bits of hair were swiped away, indicating how close her head was to being gone.

The man charged at her again, while Fluttershy frowned.

“I suppose not!” Fluttershy gasped, as she rolled out of the way of the man smashing at her with the weapon. She quickly picked up a large rock and hurled it at the man’s nose, causing him to pause all movement.

He then slowly fell back, unmoving, as his nose leaked blood. Fluttershy breathed a sigh of relief, but was quickly turned back into defensive mode as three more approached her, grinning.

“Oh dear…” Fluttershy mumbled.

. . .

Applejack smirked, as she watched three more men approach her. She side-stepped one, who lunged at her with a spear, and tugged the spear bringing him closer; she then head-butted him hard, immediately knocking him out-cold.

Applejack picked up the spear and held it just beneath the bladed tip. Using the blunt side as a weapon, she smashed the head of one of the men, denting the metal pole.

The other man watched her, unnerved by her strength. He backed away, not quite wanting to confront her. Out of nowhere, a large, burly man stepped up, pushing the other man out of the way forcefully.

He had no weapon, only ragged clothes and large fists. He stood at nearly 8 feet tall, compared to Applejack’s 5 foot, 10 inches.

“Think you’re strong, kid?” he spoke with a deep voice.

“I’d like to think so.” Applejack spoke with a smirk, tipping her hat.

“Try me then.” He said with a grin, he ran towards Applejack, the ground shaking as the heavy man stomped on his way to Applejack.

. . .

Rarity seemed girly and rather defenseless, but she was making it quite evident that looks were deceiving, as another man charged at her.

The man stabbed at her with a spear, as she agilely jumped above the stab and ran across the spear’s length, drop-kicking the man in the face.

“Stay back, all of you! I’ll have you know, I know various forms of the martial arts!” Rarity said in a threatening manner, as she stood defensively, a cluster of humans surrounding her.

Ignoring her threat, two woman ran up to her with daggers and slashed at her. Skillfully, Rarity back-flipped, simultaneously kicking the dagger out of one of the woman’s hands. As the dagger fell through the air, Rarity jumped up and grabbed it.

“Stay back you! I’m armed!” Rarity threatened again. The other chuckled, as she ran at Rarity, stabbing at her with the dagger. Rarity side-stepped the woman and bashed the hilt of the dagger into her forehead, hard, knocking her unconscious.

The other woman ran at her as well, as Rarity threw the dagger aside.

As the other woman punched at Rarity, Rarity caught her fist and twisted it, forcing the woman to kneel in pain. As the woman knelt, Rarity lifted her leg, and kicked her in the neck with her shin, as the woman skidded back, unmoving, most likely knocked out.

“Who else wants some?!” Rarity yelled, now in the heat of the battle.

. . .

Twilight was in a bout with the three Arcane Humans who seemed to be skilled in magical talent.

Dodging the punch of one, she quickly pulled up her own magical shield to block the beam that another shot at her.

The one that just punched at her decided to sweep at her legs, as Twilight jumped up, aiming her hand down at the woman. Before the woman could react, a lavender ball of magic exploded in her face, as she was left unconscious, her body smoking.

Twilight wasted no time in confronting the other two, as she dashed towards another one, her hand outstretched. The man, unsuspecting her sudden assault, could do nothing as Twilight grabbed him by the collar and smashed him into the wall.

She then turned to the last one, another woman, who called for backup as three more joined her, the four slowly forming a closed diamond around Twilight.

“We’re gonna just be tired out at this rate…” Twilight thought, looking to-and-fro, her teeth gritted in focus.

. . .

“Guys, can’t we settle down and have some cake or something?” Pinkie Pie asked, as she jumped back from the two assaulters that attacked her, pulling out a plate of cake.

“C’mon now, I don’t wanna have to actually fight you…” Pinkie Pie said, a hint of sadness in her voice. “Fighting’s bad!” she continued.

The two men ignored her, charging again with their halberds.

Pinkie ducked under the first one, dropping her plate of cake, and jumped above the smash of the other one, landing on the tip of the halberd, in turn causing the handle to swing up and smack the woman in the face, knocking her out.

“Oopsies! Oh my gosh, I’m so sorry!” Pinkie Pie said, looking at the unconscious woman.

“You will be!” the man said, swinging his halberd at the unsuspecting Pinkie Pie.

Just as she Pinkie noticed, it was barely enough time; she attempted to dodge, but could only partially do so, as she was still sent back by a powerful swipe to the upper right portion of her chest.

As Pinkie Pie slid back on her feet, she looked up at the man with an unforeseen look; instead of pain, or disbelief, or even anger, her whole being had changed.

As she held the bleeding wound, she looked up at the man with an amused grin, as a jet-black aura faintly covered Pinkie Pie’s body…

[Back with Celestia+Zecora and Tirek+Skrix.]

Skrix charged at Zecora, who prepared to defend. As the changeling was in front of Zecora, he quickly used his wings to divert to the side of her, and powerfully shoulder-bashed Zecora with his spiked shoulder-pad, further injuring Zecora as she rolled back over the ground.

Zecora quickly recovered, and held her now scarred arm. With a glare, Zecora charged at the changeling, who simply dodged by jumping over Zecora with the help of his wings.

However, he didn’t jump high enough, as Zecora jumped as well, grabbing hold of his boot. With a few powerful swings, Zecora let go of Skrix, sending him crashing and skidding across the ground.

Giving no time for recovery, Zecora immediately began to charge at Skrix, taking another vial from within her partially burnt cloak. This one had a cold mist emanating from it. As Skrix got up, he noticed the vial flying towards him.

He quickly jumped back, as the vial landed and popped in front of him. He didn’t jump far enough, as the entire ground around him was frozen up to his ankles, restricting his movement.

“Grr…!” he grumbled, holding his palms out and shooting small beams of magic at the approaching Zecora, who effortlessly dodged them.

Zecora jumped high, hovering only slightly above Skrix, before she flew down towards him with great speed, her foot extended.

Skrix could only watch, his teeth gritted, as Zecora approached.

*SMASH!*

Zecora had delivered a powerful kick to Skrix, evident from the small crater that he laid in, his face twisted in pain. He coughed up blood, as Zecora jumped back, watching him.

He got up, but then quickly fell back down on all fours, coughing more as he clutched his chest, attempting to catch his breath.

“You… Are definitely… About to DIE FOR THAT!” Skrix yelled furiously, as he suddenly appeared in front of Zecora.

He punched at Zecora’s face, which Zecora simply ducked under.

Suddenly, he brought his knee up, smacking it into Zecora’s chin, which made her stumble back.

In an instant, he dug his hand into his boot, and got out a black hilt. As he flicked it, a sharp blade flipped out, shining in the light of the natural hellfires that were in the cursed lands.

Before Zecora could even realize Skrix moved, Skrix was executing an upward slash towards Zecora’s throat. Zecora, with a lean back, just barely dodged the attack, as the knife scraped her cheek, and cut off a significant portion of her beautiful black hair with white stripes.

“Be careful with that knife; you would not want to take a life!” Zecora stated, jumping back as he swiped at her with the blade. She felt blood leak down her cheek, before quickly wiping it away.

“After what you just did? I definitely want to take your life!” Skrix yelled, running at her with the blade in hand.

“Do you understand what is meant by life and death? Do you understand what it’s like to witness someone take their last breath?” Zecora warned, inching past a lunge from the young changeling.

“I understand that I want you to die!” he said, swiping at her once more, this time, cutting off a bit of her cloak.

Deciding there was no arguing against it, Zecora stayed silent, dodging the boy’s attacks.

Zecora removed her cloak and balled it up, just as Skrix lunged at her again; on Zecora’s waist was a belt with many tiny vials tucked inside. There were also straps and belts all upon her chest and thighs containing vials as well. Zecora caught the blade inside of the cloak, and kicked the cloak-stabbed dagger into the sky.

Both looked up at the dagger, and then at each other. Skrix struck first, delivering a punch to Zecora’s face with his spiked glove. Zecora quickly recovered and grabbed his hand, lifting him and then smashing him into the ground.

Zecora then quickly took out a vial that seemed to be literally swishing with fire. As Skrix got up, he was met with this vial mere centimeters from his face. As it made contact with him, a large explosion ensued, as Zecora shielded her face from the fiery blast.

Zecora caught the dagger that fell from the sky, as she held it defensively.

From the fire and smoke, rose a persistent, young changeling. His confident grin and cocky demeanor were now gone, as he walked towards Zecora, the smoke trailing off of him.

“Playtime’s over.” He said simply, his voice sounding much more mature.

Suddenly, he appeared in front of Zecora, elbowing her back, as the dagger dropped from her hands.

Not even bothering to pick up the dagger, he dashed at Zecora again, and twisted around, attempting to hit Zecora with a powerful back-hand.

Zecora caught this in her fist, but Skrix was ready, as he quickly head-butted her. As Zecora stumbled back, Skrix charged at her, picking her up in a display of strength.

He kept charging, going faster and faster, with Zecora in his grip, as Zecora smacked and smashed his head and backside. Suddenly,

*smash!*

Skrix had smashed her into a wall. As Zecora was bouncing off the wall, Skrix removed another black hilt from his other boot, flicking out another blade.

“They were twin blades!?” Zecora thought, as she fell towards the ground, still immobile in the middle of the air.

Before she could move Skrix lunged the dagger towards her.

*ϟschtk!ϟ*

Skrix had impaled Zecora back into the wall with the dagger. Zecora let out a sharp “Ack!” as the knife entered the upper-right region of her chest.

Zecora could not move, as the dagger had gone through her, and pinned her to the wall. She held the area in pain, as blood stained her clothes.

“Y-you know not what you’ve done…!” Zecora gasped, the pain overpowering her.

“You will not have this b-battle won…” Zecora stated, as she struggled to move.

Skrix grinned, as he used magic to pull the other blade towards him. He looked at Zecora with his now scorched and burnt clothing, smoke still emanating from it. “Is that so?” he said, playfully flipping the blade up and down as he stared at his victory.

. . .

Tirek ran at Celestia, as Celestia prepared to guard. Tirek jumped high, and fell towards Celestia, his hands interlocked.

Celestia quickly jumped back, just before Tirek smashed the ground, causing a shockwave to travel across the ground that would’ve surely damaged her.

Tirek looked up at Celestia with a grin, as he jumped again, fist cocked back, aiming at Celestia who was in the air.

Celestia barely dodged Tirek’s punch with a lean back. She then used his fist as leverage to pull herself above the large demon, and aimed a golden ball of magic at him from above.

Tirek did nothing but smirk, as he disappeared and appeared above Celestia. “He moves fast!” Celestia thought, thrown off by the sudden display of speed.

Celestia looked up above her, only to be met with a destructive beam of magic by Tirek which sent her crashing down into the ground.

As she looked up, Tirek was already flying down towards her. Celestia could only side-step out of the way, as the shockwave blasted her through the air.

Forcing her eyes open, Celestia saw Tirek already running at her as she sailed through the sky.

“He’s fast; relentless too!” Celestia thought, as she brought herself to a full-stop using her wings.

“This will go south fast if I don’t step it up!” Celestia thought to herself, as her body was enveloped in her golden magical aura.

Tirek punched at her, as Celestia punched back. Their fists collided, as a large shockwave was sent through the air. Tirek smirked at Celestia, while Celestia frowned back.

Both jumped back before charging at each other again.

Celestia threw a right hook, but Tirek inched past it and kneed Celestia in the gut. Coughing, Celestia quickly recovered, before shooting Tirek back with a beam of her golden magic.

Tirek seemed mostly unaffected by the beam, however, as he barely moved back from being hit by it.

“How powerful is he? That beam was anything but weak…!” Celestia mused, worried as she felt herself getting tired.

Tirek opened his mouth wide, as a beam came from within and shot at Celestia. Celestia immediately pulled up a magical ward, and tried her best to defend, but it proved too much, as the beam broke through and shot Celestia back with great force. She was sent skidding and tumbling across the ground before crashing into the throne, damaging it.

She stood up, her breathing staggered.

“Using your little magical power-up tiring you, Princess?” Tirek mocked, as the golden aura still enveloped the slightly fatigued Principal.

“Nothing I cannot handle.” Celestia retorted, dashing towards Tirek. She held her fist cocked back. As she punched at Tirek, he simply side-stepped. However, Celestia saw this coming, and held her other hand at his chest, as a large ball grew in her hand quickly.

As the ball exploded fiercly, Tirek was sent flying back this time, slightly injured; however, using that much power had tired the Princess, evident from the magical aura leaving her body, as she panted.

Tirek got up and patted himself off. He then ran at Celestia, who watched him tiredly.

She attempted to dodge his punches, but her movement was slowed from her fatigue.

“Getting tired, Celestia?” Tirek mocked, as Celestia sidestepped to-and-fro, just barely dodging the attacks.

Celestia ignored him, jumping high in the sky to escape him. However, Tirek did something Celestia was not aware that he was capable of; Tirek teleported right behind the tired Celestia, his hands interlocked.

“Game over.” He stated gruffly, as he brought his hands down into her head, smashing her into the ground.

He then formed a powerful, destructive, ball of black magic in between his two horns.

Celestia attempted to move, but she was too weak to break free from the rocks that lay upon her body. All she could do was watch the powerful beam now approach her.

*Boom!*

The beam reached Celestia, and an explosion ensued with the collision. Tirek landed and walked over to the rubble. Punching into the rubble, he pulled the defeated Celestia out and tossed her across the ground, laughing.

Celestia’s clothes were ripped and burned away at various spots, and her body smoked from the magical assault.

She was half unconscious, as her eyes fluttered. She coughed, as Tirek turned her over onto her back and picked her up by the neck.

“Look at you; so pathetic! Hah! Your power isn’t even worth absorbing.” Tirek mocked as he tossed her back onto the ground. Celestia laid there, unmoving.

Tirek’s eyes fell onto Skrix, who was also victorious. He smiled, as his eyes turned to the Mane Six’s struggles.

[With the Mane Six… Again.]

Pinkie Pie looked up at the man, holding her bleeding wound. She chuckled creepily.

“Did you… Did you just cut me, mister?” Pinkie Pie asked rhetorically, as she stood up, letting her limbs hang unnaturally.

She looked at the confused man with icy dead, blue eyes. Her skin seemed to literally pale beneath the dark aura that now covered her being.

She leaned down and picked up a sheathed dagger that was on the back of an unconscious body. She unsheathed the blade, tossing its sheathe away.

She took one step to the man, holding the dagger tight. “Do you know…?” ‘Pinkie Pie’ began.

“What you’ve…?” she continued, holding the dagger up.

“Just done?!” ‘Pinkie Pie’ yelled, as she took another step. On the next step, the jet-black aura that covered her thickened and an invisible shockwave shot out to everybody within her radius, including Tirek and Zecora, as well as the Mane Six.

As the shockwave was sent out, Pinkie Pie’s extravagant hair lost its shape as it slung down, straight and fine. A dark aura floated around her, and it was clear that it was no longer Pinkie Pie.

All eyes went on her. Nobody was unfamiliar with that force that the pink girl was emanating… It was that same bloodlust that Aria once felt in the Sugarcube Corner. (Diane)

“Is that…? Pinkie Pie? Holding an actual weapon?” Rainbow-Dash asked, after ducking under the swing of an attacking woman.

“Diane’s gonna slice you up for cutting her!” she said in the 3rd Person, with a big grin.

Quick on her feet, Diane was already in front of the man. Mercilessly, she slashed upwards at the man’s chest, as he fell back, immobile, gasping as he held his wound.

“Whoa, that’s not Pinkie Pie guys!” Twilight said, ducking under another magical blast, as she noticed that aura around her and that sadistic grin.

“That’s what Mrs. Cake saw! Don’t you all remember the news?” Rarity yelled out, elbowing a woman in her throat, as she fell to the ground, flopping around for breath.

Diane licked her lips as she watched the figures that surrounded her. “You all want to get cut too? Be my guest…” she said, charging into the crowd of minions, her dagger held high.

. . .

“Focus here, lady!” a man yelled at Rainbow-Dash, as he knocked her down into the ground with the end of his hammer.

Rainbow-Dash stood up, wiping the blood from her now bruised mouth.

“Oh crap!” Rainbow-Dash yelled, jumping back as three more smashed hammers down at her location.

Rainbow-Dash soon found herself surrounded by about 10 figures.

She was already tired from the fighting she had to beforehand, now this…

“You guys are persistent, y’know that?!” she said, as two dashed at her. She jumped over the first one, kicking him down into the dirt as she simultaneously kicked his weapon into the other one, knocking him back as well.

Rainbow-Dash landed on one knee, breathing more heavy.

Three more dashed at her. She ducked under all of their attacks, as she jumped back, panting.

“This is bad, I’m already tired!” Rainbow-Dash thought, looking around. She didn’t notice the man approaching behind her, and in a sudden moment, had a mace smashed into her back as she flew forward into the other three.

One of those three head-butted her back, as Rainbow-Dash got up, her back cut from the mace, and her forehead throbbing from the head-butt.

“For Scootaloo…!” Rainbow-Dash thought, as she side-stepped past a man who charged at her. She immediately drove her fist into his gut and kicked him back, as he skidded over to the other two running at her.

They jumped over his body, and the first one swung his mace at RD.

Rainbow-Dash blocked the attack by grabbing the handle and stopping the weapon’s descent.

However, the other man was able to bring his hammer back, and swing it with great strength into Rainbow-Dash’s abdomen, as she flew back into a wall.

As she hit the wall, she slid down onto her butt, her rainbow-colored hair now covering her face. Blood leaked from the corner of her mouth, and her lips were straight and still, as if she was unconscious.

“She’s done for.” A man said, walking up to her with his mace in hand, chuckling.

However, the girl’s cyan-colored skin began to glow a light pink, as her lips twisted into a smile. The light red stripes over her body appeared, more prominent than the last time this phenomenon occurred. She began to get up slowly. (Perfidious)

As she stood, an invisible aura floated around her, making her clothes float seamlessly around her.

“To think that this girl couldn’t even handle such simpletons… Leave it all up to Perfidious, huh?” she thought. As her light-pink glow became brighter, steam started to emanate from her skin.

She looked up at the figures surrounding her, counting.

“1… 2… 3… 4… 5… 6… 7… 8… Eight of you, huh? I say you all last about 30 seconds, tops.” Perfidious spoke, her rainbow-colored hair floating calmly in the invisible aura that emanated from her.

“Cocky talk from a girl wh-” the man began, but was interrupted as Perfidious drop-kicked him into the dirt, immediately knocking him out-cold. All that was left in the spot that Perfidious was once in was a rippling force in the air, showing the speed she took off at.

The others instinctively backed away, knowing for a fact that they hadn’t even seen the lady move.

Perfidious took her foot out of the man’s face and grinned. The others watched her strangely.

Her eyes fell on two women, who immediately got nervous.

“25 seconds left.” Perfidious said, with a smug grin. Another gust of air appeared where she was standing, as she disappeared.

Immediately she appeared in front of the two women, who couldn’t even comprehend her movement.

Before they could even react, Perfidious punched one square in the face sending her flying back with great force.

She then jumped and twisted in the air, delivering a powerful spin-kick to the other one, which made her smash down into the ground.

“20 seconds left, and 5 of you left… Will you make it?” Perfidious asked in a menacing tone, which made the others back away slightly. One tried to run, but Perfidious immediately appeared in front of him and punched his throat, hard, making him fall to the ground and thrash around for air.

“Okay guys, form up! She’s too-!” one man began, attempting to make a plan, but Perfidious was already in front of the man her back-hand approaching him. With a nasty smack, he was sent crashing down into the ground as well.

The other three decided that they wouldn’t wait to be taken out and charged at Perfidious, weapons ready.

“10 seconds.” Perfidious stated, as she ducked under the attacks of all three.

In lightning speed, she delivered swift and powerful punches to all three of their guts, making them hunch over; she then uppercut each one into the air separately.

In a display of speed, she was already above the three in the air. Perfidious flew towards them rotating her body with her legs extended towards the flying bodies. She progressed into a horizontal spin.

As each came up to Perfidious, they were kicked down with great strength, in succession. All collided in the ground, making three separate pillars of dirt and debris, due to the power that they were hit with.

Perfidious flew and cockily rubbed her nose. “28 seconds… Too easy!” she said, her skin steaming as she eyed Diane slice unsuspecting people up.

“Looks like she’s having fun.” Perfidious said quietly, as she leaned back, dodging the attack of a foolish Pegasus Human that thought she stood a chance.

As Perfidious leaned under the attack, she grabbed the foot of the woman and swung her down into the ground, creating another pillar of dirt and debris, which soon fell back down.

. . .

Fluttershy fell onto all fours, dodging the swipe of a halberd that came her way. The woman wielding the halberd then smashed down into the ground as Fluttershy rolled out of the way with a small shriek.

“G-guys, we can talk this out!” Fluttershy bargained.

“Not likely.” The woman retorted, stabbing at Fluttershy. Fluttershy frantically side-stepped, afraid for her life. In a miraculously lucky chain of events, a body came out of nowhere and smashed into the woman, knocking her into the dirt, out-cold.

Fluttershy shielded her eyes from all the dirt and debris that flew.

“Phew!” Fluttershy breathed, relieved. As she looked up from where the body flew from, she noticed ‘Rainbow-Dash’, but her skin was… steaming?

Suddenly, Fluttershy was interrupted by a large man smashing his hammer at Fluttershy. Luckily, he missed, but the force was enough to throw Fluttershy off her feet.

“Darn, missed!” the man grumbled, picking up his hammer in one hand.

Before Fluttershy could get up, he picked her up by the neck relentlessly, choking her. Fluttershy struggled, clutching his arm and dangling her feet.

“So cute and helpless… Shame you had to waltz into Tartarus; this is Lord Tirek’s land, you were asking for this the second you stepped foot on these lands.” The man said with a chuckle.

“No, not like this! I said I wouldn’t be so weak!” Fluttershy thought, as she struggled, her vision going hazy as her throat was tightened by the man’s grip.

She then squeezed the man’s arm harder, digging her nails into his skin, drawing blood. Using her other hand, she punched him directly in the eye.

“You bastard!” He yelled in pain, picking her up high and smashing her into the ground, hard; Fluttershy arched her back in pain as she slammed into the ground. She lay there, motionless. He then stumbled back, holding his arm and eye.

The man looked at the hole Fluttershy was in and growled. “Stupid girl deserves it!” he grumbled, walking up to her. As he was about to pick up her body, the pale-yellow girl’s hand stopped him.

She sat up, two fangs protruding from her mouth. As she opened her eyes, her irises were now a crimson red. She had a vampire feel to her. (Flutterbat)

“Don’t you know how to treat a lady?” Flutterbat asked, annoyed as she stood up. She had a whole different feel to her that gave the man a chill.

“Um…?” the man stuttered, confused.

Flutterbat flew up to the man’s face and held his cheek affectionately, enthralling him; she slowly eased the heavy hammer out of his hand. Surprisingly, she was able to hold it one hand.

“Let me show you…” Flutterbat began, with a soothing voice. Suddenly, she flew back a little and held the hammer up.

“Let me show you what happens when you don’t treat a lady right!” Flutterbat yelled, bringing the hammer up and smashing it into the man’s face ruthlessly. As she landed, she didn’t even bother to look back at him, as she walked off, dusting her hands.

“Simpletons; and they wonder why I’m not into men.” Flutterbat muttered, walking off in Diane’s direction.

. . .

Applejack fought with the burly man. She caught his fist and then lifted him over her head, preparing to smash him into the ground. However, the man turned it around by using the leverage to pull Applejack into the air as he landed, smashing her into the ground instead.

“You’re pretty strong.” Applejack commented, getting up from the ground as if she wasn’t even injured. She did, however, breathe mildly. The amount of people she had to deal with before this guy puckered her out.

“You’re not so bad yourself lass. Barely know anyone that can even lift me a millimeter off the ground.” He retorted, running at her.

Both punched at each other, their fists making direct contact with each other’s face, sending them both flying back. The man immediately got back up, but AJ was growing tired.

“Is it just me, or are your punches getting weaker?” the man mocked, running to her.

Applejack stood in defensive mode. As he approached, she sent a powerful punch to his chest, which seemed to leave him unaffected. He then grabbed Applejack in a bear-hug.

“Ready for a hug?” he asked, chuckling lowly.

Applejack tried her best to separate his arms, but was weak and tired. “Grr! Get off me, ya big hunk ‘ah junk!” Applejack commanded.

“Make me.” He stated, squeezing her in his arms. Applejack looked up into the sky in pain, feeling her bones crunch.

“He’s really strong…!” Applejack thought to herself as she struggled to get out of his grip.

He squeezed harder, forcing a small yelp out of Applejack. “But… I have to persevere! For Applebloom!” Applejack thought, struggling harder. The man’s arms came apart just slightly.

“Oh? I don’t think so!” he said, pulling his arms together even harder, as Applejack could’ve sworn she felt her bones grind against each other in a crack. All of a sudden, Applejack squelched and fell limp.

“Is that it? All ya got?” the man asked, still squeezing, as Applejack’s hat covered her face.

Suddenly, a powerful orange flame appeared over Applejack’s hands, as she looked back up with those crimson red eyes from before. (Duplicity)

“What am I, your doll? You squeeze like a child!” Duplicity spoke, in that city-like accent.

Duplicity simply brought her feet up to his chest, and ripped his grip off by extending her arms. She seemed to do this effortlessly. As soon as the grip was released, she delivered a powerful kick to the man, as he flew back, crashing through several other figures before skidding off to a stop. Duplicity landed on the ground gracefully.

Duplicity watched him, waiting for him to get up. After about 10 seconds, he got up slowly, disoriented.

“At least you’re not an absolute weakling.” Duplicity spoke with a smile, walking up to the man.

The man turned and backed away, preparing to defend himself.

“But how? You were just tired!” he said in disbelief.

Duplicity was silent as she ran to the man who prepared to defend himself. As she jumped up to the man, the man held his arms in an ‘X’ hoping to block the punch.

As Duplicity cocked her fist back, the flame on it grew considerably. In a display of strength, Duplicity sent a single punch that sent the man skidding in great speed towards the wall that was behind him.

He crashed into the wall, bouncing off with a look of pain in his eyes. Before he could fall to the ground, Duplicity dashed up and punched the man back into the wall, embedding him within it.

He lay there, head hung and his chest smoking from the fire, now unconscious.

“Easy.” Duplicity said, eyeing Perfidious, Diane and Flutterbat. “Looks like things are starting, huh?” Duplicity said quietly with a smirk.

. . .

Rarity ducked underneath another swipe of a halberd, tugging on the handle of the weapon, bringing the woman closer, before rendering her immobile by driving her fist into her stomach.

As she turned, she just barely noticed a man swinging another halberd at her. She ducked just in time, however…

*Schling!*

… her luscious hair was not so lucky; Rarity fell on both her knees her mouth agape. She felt her hair, then looked at the man and horror. That horror quickly turned to fury as Rarity looked up at the man, her eyes flashing to an emerald green. (Umbra)

“You’re going to pay for that!” Umbra spoke with seething rage. She dashed up to the man and grabbed hold of his face with her palm. An emerald green glow started to appear, and in an instant, the man’s face was covered in a magical explosion, as he fell back, unconscious.

His face smoked from the explosion. “Stupid men, never know the value of hair.” Umbra spoke, her emerald green eyes bent in anger as she felt the portion of her hair that was missing.

Another two women ran up to her as she was inspecting her hair, however, as the first one swung, Umbra inched to the side and stomped on the end of the weapon, making the handle smash her in the face.

Umbra then turned to the next woman, and before she could swing, disarmed the woman by grabbing the weapon and smashing the handle of it into her face, which disoriented her enough for Umbra to pull it away and toss it to the side.

The woman shook her head and punched at Umbra. Umbra caught her fist, using it to toss her into the air.

As she was in the air, Umbra blasted the woman with an emerald-green beam of her magic.

The woman fell back to the ground, smoke trailing off of her.

“Trivial.” Umbra said, observing her surroundings. Her eyes fell on Twilight.

“Looks like you’re the last one…” Umbra said to herself.

. . .

Twilight blocked another beam of magic with a shield, but was growing tired at the drawn out fight.

“Don’t you guys ever quit!?” Twilight yelled, as three more replaced the two she had just taken out.

Twilight was full-on panting for breath, tired beyond belief. Her eyes looked past the few that surrounded her, as she laid eyes upon the defeated Zecora and Celestia.

“This is looking bad.” Twilight muttered, not noticing the completely different five other people that had taken out the rest of the horde of minions.

While Twilight was distracted, however, she got shot back with a blast of magic.

Twilight lay on the ground, feeling too weak to move.

“We didn’t come down this far… Not to have this happen…! Not to lose Spike…” Twilight thought, inching off the ground slowly, despite her fatigue and injuries.

She walked slowly onwards to the three Arcane Humans that opposed her.

A single beam was shot into Twilight’s chest which made her stumble back a bit. Nonetheless, determined, Twilight recovered and walked on.

Another, and another, they shot, as Twilight persistently walked on, her chest smoking from the attacks.

Soon, all three shot at once knocking Twilight back onto the ground, where she lay on her back, slipping out of consciousness.

As her eyes blacked out, they reopened, her lavender orbs turning into one with a pure-sky blue, and the other a crimson red. Her lips twisted into a deranged smile, as she looked straight up at the sky. (Nightmare)

A jet-black ooze, which resembled darkness, seeped from Nightmare’s back, lifting her off of the ground and back onto her feet. Nightmare stood, her head hung, and the rest of her limbs hanging unnaturally. Her messy hair covered her face.

As she slowly began to look up, her deranged smile was revealed, slightly unnerving the three arcane humans that stood across from her.

Nightmare made a magical aura envelope her hand; however, this aura was jet-black and seemed to have tentacles of darkness oozing from it.

She aimed her hand at the one in the middle, shooting a small beam of magic. As the magic hit the man, he flew back, skidding across the ground. Immense smoke rose from his chest, and through the smoke, one could see the vaporized shirt and his scorched flesh.

He fell unconscious, grasping the wound in disbelief.

The other two looked back at the man, then back to Nightmare. They backed away slightly.

“Shoot her!” one yelled, shooting beams of magic at her; the other followed suit, not wanting to face off with such magic.

“Fools, the lot of you.” Nightmare spoke simply with her wide, deranged grin. She held up her hand, and instead of a magical ward to block off the magic, she held up what seemed like a black hole with the jet-black tentacles whipping from it, which simply absorbed the magic into nothingness.

Nightmare stepped forward just one step, and suddenly, disappeared, dust being left in her place.

“Where is she?!” one of them yelled, looking around frantically.

They both looked up simultaneously, but it was too light, as a large black beam already headed down towards them, engulfing them. Nightmare landed, stumbling around like a crazy person, laughing.

“How easy!” she said to herself, looking around and noticing the amount of bodies that lay around them. She stood, quiet observing around her; she could feel their presence. Yes, they were all here…

The five others walked up to join Nightmare, finding nobody left to defeat.

“Correct me if I’m wrong, but this definitely isn’t the surface-world, is it?” Flutterbat asked, in almost a rhetorical manner.

“Clearly not… But it seems there is still some fun to be had.” Perfidious said, as she hissed, steam releasing from her mouth. She pointed over to Tirek and Skrix.

Tirek turned to face the altered version of the Mane Six. Unbeknownst to their transformations, he walked up to them, dragging Celestia behind him.

He picked up her body to show them. “Do you see how futile it was coming down here? You know, a girl named Trixie came down here, warning me to not let you guys tread this land if you wished to escape her wrath… Funny that I find you all here so soon.” Tirek said, tossing Celestia aside. The “Mane Six” watched him with slight intrigue.

“Not even your Princess could stand to my might; what do you lot hope to do?” Tirek continued. He then laughed.

“You can do nothing. You all may have gotten lucky the first time, but it won’t happen again! After the power Trixie has granted me, there are none in this realm that can oppose me! Word around Tartarus has it that you all seek Aperture…” Tirek spoke, not noticing the significant difference in the bodies of the amused eyes that stared him down.

“Such foolishness! Do you hope that by consulting with the demon that you may, what? Find a means to defeat Trixie and stop what is to come? Hah! Aperture will not even entertain bugs like you.” Tirek mocked; he seemed to know of Aperture’s existence, somehow. He waited for them to speak, but they were silent, which slightly annoyed him.

Tirek noticed their silence, and grunted. He turned and spoke lowly.

“Skrix. Get them.” Tirek ordered, walking towards his damaged throne.

“With pleasure, my liege.” Skrix said, walking away from Zecora before flying to the ‘Mane Six’.

“Brilliant speech.” Umbra commented. She walked ahead of the rest of the group and looked the changeling up and down.

“I say it’s fair that I get to handle him; everybody else did get their chance with significant figures anyway.” Umbra stated, walking ahead the rest.

“Have at it.” Nightmare offered.

“Gladly.” Umbra smiled, facing the changeling.

“No offense, but you don’t really look like the fighting type, miss-” the changeling began, but was interrupted by a kick to the chest that made him slide back and fall onto one knee

“I’m sorry, what was that?” Umbra asked.

“Absolutely nothing.” Skrix said, recovering and running at her. As he punched at her, Umbra sidestepped out of the way. He then swung his fist in her direction as Umbra ducked under it. Skrix then quickly swept at her, as Umbra jumped above his feet.

“My, how slow.” Umbra stated, standing across from the changeling, yawning.

The changeling growled. “Shut up!” he yelled, punching at Umbra once more. Umbra inched past the punch and elbowed the back of the changeling’s neck, pushing him into the ground, hard. The changeling stumbled up, clearly hurt from the attack.

“Oh, you’re gonna get it now!” Skrix yelled, getting up and flicking out the blade. As he swiped at Umbra, Umbra effortlessly dodged and slid past his attacks. In an instant, Umbra caught Skrix in a counter-attack; when Skrix lunged at her, Umbra grabbed his arm, twisted it so his elbow was backwards, and elbowed it.

*Crack!*

An unsettling shift in bone was heard, as Umbra kicked the boy, sending him flopping over on his back as he held his arm in pain; the young changeling shrieked, holding his now limp arm that was twisted in an unnatural position.

“Oh my, did I do that?” Umbra said, in a feigned surprise. “Sorry, sometimes I just can’t tell how fragile you creatures are.” Umbra said, covering her mouth as she giggled.

The changeling backed away, fearing that this woman would cause him more pain. His frightened eyes shook at the sight of her; he had never felt a pain so intense before! And she treated the battle as child’s play! This woman was something entirely out of his league.

“Come now, don’t tell me you’ve lost your nerve, kid?” Umbra said with a frown. Skrix was quiet as he backed away from her, gingerly holding his broken arm. Tirek rose from his throne once more, realizing that something was amiss; there was no way that these girls could’ve possibly done so much damage to Skrix in such a short amount of time.

Umbra suddenly appeared in front of the frightened Skrix. “Be glad I’m allowing you to live, brat.” She said menacingly, as she chopped his neck. He fell unconscious, and fell onto Umbra’s body.

Mercilessly, Umbra pushed the boy off of herself violently, as he tumbled across the ground.

“Who are you?” Tirek demanded to know, now noticing that these girls were very different from the ones he knew.

“None of you… None of you seem like what you were when you first came.” Tirek observed them, now with a modest amount of caution.

Nightmare looked up at Tirek with her deranged smile. “Forget about us, more about you! Tell me… are you strong?” Nightmare asked, completely ignoring Tirek, as her grin grew even wider.

“Strong enough… Are you plagued, Twilight Sparkle?” Tirek inquired, confused by this change in behavior.

Nightmare said nothing as she created a black ball of magic in her hand, staring directly at Tirek. The rest formed up behind her, all with anticipant smiles and grins.

Tirek stood tall, as a single bead of sweat rolled down his forehead. “Something’s up… I would do well to be careful…” Tirek thought to himself, watching the girls closely.

“Whoa, there’s my favorite badass!” the large man, Metal Beak, spoke crudely, with a hardy laugh, raising Luna’s attention. The female gryphon gave a small salute to him.

“Sup Boss. See you scored yourself another pretty lady tonight; think you’ll take her back home for a bit of fun?” the gryphon asked with a devious smirk, licking her lips.

The man grunted, nervously eyeing the midnight-blue colored woman that leaned on him.

“Answer some of my questions properly here tonight, and maybe we’ll get somewhere.” Principal Luna said.

The gryphon’s eyes turned to Sunset Shimmer and the pale-pink girl sitting across from her.

A wicked smile crept onto the gryphon’s lips, as she walked over to the table, the other two gryphons not too far behind.

Suddenly, she slammed the palm of her hand on the table, startling the girl. Sunset frowned at the obvious set of troublemakers.

“Get another check from your dad for us yet, ‘ol Bonnibel?” the gryphon asked, pushing her head back violently.

“Bonnibel… So that’s her name.” Sunset Shimmer mused, watching the ordeal.

The girl whimpered back in the booth. “I-I told you, he only sends so many bits so often, DeathTail…!” Bonnibel whimpered.

“And that’s DeathTail, huh…?” Sunset Shimmer mused more, her fists balling up, witnessing the bullying.

“Now leave me alone you ghetto thugs!” Bonnibel cried out, slumping back into the booth seat.

In a display of violence, DeathTail slapped her. “Don’t you ever talk to me like that; you’re our property, so you better treat your owners with respect!” Deathtail yelled at the now shocked Bonnibel.

“Enough!” Sunset Shimmer yelled, silencing the entire cavern.

“Who the Tartarus to you think you are?! Leave the woman alone, she doesn’t want to be bothered!” Sunset barked, standing up with her fists balled and raised high, as all eyes fell on her.

Even DeathTail was surprised at the outburst. Her surprise was soon replaced by a smug look.

“You must be new here, girl.” DeathTail said, with a chuckle. She grabbed a bottle of wine from an unsuspecting woman’s table, and refilled Sunset’s glass of wine, then pulled the bottle away still holding the half-full glass bottle.

“Sorry for disturbing you ma’am, please, sit down and accept my apologies.” DeathTail spoke with a smile, as she gently seated Sunset Shimmer into the seat and gestured towards the drink.

All eyes in the room watched the two, intrigued at DeathTail’s behavior.

“Now that’s not a bad change in behavior…” Sunset Shimmer said quietly, as she began to pick up her glass to take a sip, in respect for the apology.

“They’re not so bad Bonnibel.” Sunset Shimmer commented, as she brought the glass closer to her lips.

[An eerie silence followed through the Cavern, nobody uttering a word, as everything played out in slow-motion.]

As Sunset Shimmer was bringing the glass to her lips after uttering her words to Bonnibel, DeathTail’s smug smile returned, as it grew wider and evermore wicked.

In an instant, DeathTail clutched the nozzle of the half-full wine bottle ever-harder, raised her hand high, and with great strength, began to bring it down towards Sunset Shimmer's forehead.

*Pop, Smash, Clingk!*

[Everything returned to normal]

The entire cavern went into an uproar of cheers and laughter as the bottle smashed into Sunset’s forehead. Sunset Shimmer’s head was lowered, her uniquely-colored hair now messy with wine.

As she looked up at DeathTail with a blank face, DeathTail pointed at her and broke out in laughter.

Upon Sunset’s face was a single stream of blood, as well as splashes of wine all over her upper shirt and face.

“Condescending female dog! Learn your place!” DeathTail said crudely, with a hardy chuckle.

Sunset, not saying a word, brought her hand slowly to her forehead, and pulled it away, looking at the blood that now lay on her fingers. She smiled, standing up to face DeathTail. Her lips were shiny with blood as well, as the glass she drank from popped and cut her.

“You’ve just made a near-fatal mistake.” Sunset Shimmer spoke, cracking her knuckles as a faint amber-colored magical aura enveloped her entire body.

In an instant, before DeathTail could even comprehend anything, Sunset Shimmer delivered a powerful roundhouse kick directly to the gryphon’s face, sending her crashing through several tables, as people got up and scattered to the walls of the building to avoid and watch the fight.

DeathTail’s arms hung over debris, her dangerous combat gloves being in clear view. She felt her lips, as it leaked that red color. The other two gryphons stood defensively in front of her.

“If you think bullying is okay, I’m gonna teach you a thing or two, and then send you to the authorities after I beat you up!” Sunset Shimmer said, dropping into a fighting stance.

DeathTail lifted herself up, ordering the other two gryphons to the side. “You’ve just made a colossal mistake yourself, lassy.” DeathTail spoke bluntly, wiping the blood off as she held both of her spiked fists up.

[Everything drew out here, as the two stared each other down in a standoff, the participants of the bar, including Metal Beak and Luna, watching them with great intrigue.]

Zecora pulled the blade from out of her body, clenching her teeth as she felt the wound throb and as the blood leaked down her body. She withdrew two vials, and stared at it for a few seconds.

She shook her head, throwing away the thoughts of the pain. She poured the contents of the vials on either sides of her wound, from the front, and the back. As the clear liquid touched the stab wounds, the flesh around it bubbled up, and the bleeding became minimal, despite the significant wound. Zecora’s head shot up, looking into the sky as the process caused sharp pains.

Hissing at the intense burning the bubbling caused, she slammed her fist into the ground, as if transferring the pain there. She dug into her bag that Celestia had equipped them with and withdrew a roll of white bandage, which she wrapped around her entire upper-right chest, covering the wound. She held the wound in pain, as she walked over to Celestia to treat her as well, being careful not to arouse Tirek’s attention.

. . .

“So, you say you’re strong hm?” Nightmare said, taking a single step forward, as a jet-black aura covered her body. Tentacles of darkness whipped from the aura.

Suddenly, Nightmare disappeared and appeared in front of Tirek, her fist cocked back.

Tirek, not expecting the sudden burst in speed, or the sudden attack, held his fists up in defense. However, the punch still caused him to slide back greatly. “What? Impossible, you shouldn’t be this powerful! You aren’t even holding the power of another Alicorn!” Tirek said in disbelief.

Perfidious was seen next, hovering in front of Tirek, her fist cocked back as well. Tirek hadn’t even seen the steaming girl move!

“H-how?!” Tirek said out-loud. The girl smirked, as all Tirek felt was heavy force blasted him back. It felt like a fist, but the girl didn’t even move! “What is…?” Tirek stuttered, confused at this new display of power.

Before he could recover, Duplicity was running at him next, the flames engulfing her hand expanding.

“Enough of this nonsense!” Tirek yelled, shooting a beam of magic at Duplicity. Duplicity ran straight at it, punching right through the beam with her fiery fist.

“I-impossible!” Tirek gasped, as Duplicity jumped and punched Tirek into the ground, leaving a scorch mark on his face.

Diane and Flutterbat were next, running in intertwining paths towards Tirek. Diane dodged a punch that Tirek threw, and slashed him across the length of his chest as Tirek stumbled back with a groan.

Flutterbat ran, and jumped over a magical beam that Tirek sent her way, landing on her the palms of her hands, directly beneath Tirek.

Pushing off of her palms, Flutterbat launched herself up, kicking Tirek straight in the jaw, sending him into the sky.

Umbra, who stood behind them now, ran up and jumped up and approached the airborne Tirek.

With a graceful front-flip, she brought the heel of her foot into Tirek’s head, sending him crashing down into the ground.

The six girls stood around him, awaiting him to get up.

Tirek rose from the rubble, his teeth gritted in anger. “How?! How is this possible?!” he yelled in frustration.

“You are, all of you, vermin! Trixie said you were but bugs, waiting to be crushed! Am I this weak, or was she so wrong? Which is it?!” Tirek barked, confused and frustrated, as the girls surrounded him, enjoying every second of his anger.

The girls stayed quiet, smiling. They were only interested in making this creature suffer.

. . .

Zecora smothered Celestia’s injuries in different liquids. After some time, Celestia returned to consciousness, sitting up frantically.

“Tirek!” she yelled. Zecora quickly covered her mouth and laid her down.

“Shush, now is the time to rest; the girls are dealing with that pest.” Zecora said, hushing her.

“The girls? What?” Celestia sat back up, and looked around, noticing the mass amount of unconscious bodies lying around the area.

“They defeated them?” Celestia asked. Zecora nodded, and then pointed in Tirek’s direction. They seemed to have Tirek injured.

“They are certainly stronger than I thought, if they can have Tirek in that position… Either that, or Tirek and I are weaker than I presume.” Celestia said in disbelief that they had forced Tirek to such injuries.

Upon a closer inspection, however, she noticed that ‘Rainbow-Dash’ had a light-pink glow and steaming skin, and Applejack’s hands were ablaze.

“Wait… Something’s off.” Celestia said quietly, now noticing the dark intent that washed over the area.

. . .

“Will you answer me?!” Tirek roared, losing his ability to compress his power, evident as his size began to increase.

“How? How have you all gotten so powerful!” Tirek roared more, growing up to 20 feet tall.

“Or have I gotten weaker? Has Trixie lied to me, perhaps?!” he yelled more, growing up to 35 feet.

“ANSWER ME!” Tirek roared in frustration, now standing tall at 50 feet.

Nightmare gestured for him to come down with her finger, giggling like a crazy schoolgirl. Tirek knelt, facing the now small Nightmare, listening intently.

“You talk way too much.” Nightmare said simply, flicking Tirek’s nose with great power, which caused Tirek to stand and stumble backwards, holding his nose in pain.

“You dare to mock me!? I will teach you puny lot more than just a thing or two!” he said, looking at the small girls that surrounded him.

Duplicity jumped up high, her fist cocked back. “As if! Your size only makes you a bigger punching bag, mister!” Duplicity said with laughter, as the flame on her hand grew an immense size, and turned into a majestic blue color.

As she punched his chest, the fire impacted a bigger area, exploding on Tirek’s bare chest, leaving a large burn/scorch mark.

“Ack! You pest!” Tirek yelled, as he swatted at Duplicity with his large hand. Duplicity, refusing to be hit, punched the hand back, as she fell back onto the ground.

Perfidious flew up to Tirek’s back, as her legs donned a brilliant glow of light-pink, and the steam nearly covered her legs, increasing in quantity

Aiming at Tirek, she kicked so furiously that only many apparitions of her legs were seen, as many foot indents appeared in Tirek’s back, knocking him forward.

Umbra, using her magic to blast her high into the sky, was now in front of Tirek’s face. With a few powerful spins, Umbra’s boot made contact with Tirek’s face making him stumble back.

“Argh!” he yelled, swatting at both Umbra and Perfidious, who both evaded.

“Ready, hun?” Flutterbat asked. Diane nodded, putting the hilt of her dagger into her mouth, as she grabbed both of Flutterbat’s hands.

Flutterbat flew above the ground and started swinging Diane in great speed. After several rotations, she let go, sending Diane flying towards Tirek.

Tirek instinctively drew his forearm to his face to block. Diane happily stabbed the blade into his forearm instead. As gravity dragged Diane down the length of his forearm, opening a wound on Tirek’s wrist, he shook his wrist, flinging Diane off high into the sky.

Diane had no intention of stopping however, and as she fell she aimed her blade towards his bare chest. Failing to swat her out of the way, Diane impaled his chest and dragged her blade down, using his flesh as her buffer to slow the fall.

Tirek yelled in pain as Diane landed. As she flicked the red substance off of her blade, she smiled at her work; Tirek now had two slashes upon his chest, creating a makeshift ‘X’.

Nightmare flew in front of Tirek, and spoke. “I expected you to give us a fight. You are disappointing, just as the rest. Tell me, demon, where is Trixie? She is sure to put up more entertainment than you.” Nightmare requested.

Tirek raised his fist and punched at Nightmare, however, Nightmare was no weakling; he stopped his large fist with her bare palm; she made it clear that size and power were not synonymous, as Tirek reacher nearly 10x as tall as Nightmare, and was much more built. Tirek watched her, now feeling fear.

“Y… you’re not Twilight! You can’t be!” Tirek said in a stutter.

“Double double, toil and trouble; may the fear in your heart boil and bubble.” Nightmare said ecstatically, her smile widening, as she thoroughly enjoyed breaking Tirek’s will.

“Answer the question, and I may just spare you, demon.” Nightmare said simply.

“I will answer no such thing!” Tirek yelled, smacking Nightmare down towards the ground. As Nightmare collided with the ground, a very small crater engulfing her, the other five looked up at Tirek with a surprised face.

“That’s right, be very afraid!” Tirek roared, mistaking their faces of surprise for ones of fear.

“I will end you insolent imbeciles!” Tirek roared again, as a large, destructive ball of magic formed between his horns. It grew, and grew, becoming more chaotic and unstable.

Nightmare casually pushed the rubble off of herself and stood, the others watched her, noticing that her smile had disappeared. She looked up at Tirek with a frown, dusting her minor injuries off.

“Let’s see if you have enough power left to stop this!” Tirek yelled, donning a fear-fueled, confident grin. His eyes were strained, and the blood vessels in them could be seen, indicating the stress that he was under.

As the ball in between his horns compressed, it reopened as a powerful, large beam of magic that was easily 100x the size of the tiny Nightmare.

Nightmare watched the beam approach her, standing still. The other five watched, full-well knowing what was about to happen; they all knew what Nightmare was capable of; otherwise they would not be under her leadership.

Moments before the beam was within range of Nightmare, Nightmare held both her palms out sideways, aiming at the beam, and more specifically, at Tirek.

[Everything zoomed out until Nightmare was but a tiny speck, and Tirek was seen in full. The large beam that Tirek shot at Nightmare could be seen approaching her.]

In a sudden moment, with no buildup or indication that it was even about to happen, a large, jet-black beam of magic released from Twilight’s hands, easily 5x as large as Tirek’s beam. The beam absolutely devoured and overpowered Tirek’s own, and engulfed Tirek. The beam was so powerful, it enlarged the crater that Nightmare stood in by many times, due to just the force it took to sustain using the attack.

[The sudden display in power was so extravagant, that it was emphasized in a stuttercut.]

(Stuttercuts are those things they do in anime and other visual arts when something dramatic or eventful happens, and they replay the scene three or more times in immediate succession to draw out the emphasis.)

[The camera zoomed back in to normal.]

The beam engulfed Tirek, as he yelled in pain. Through the beam, his form could be seen shrinking, until he was but a tiny speck in the powerful beam, back to his original 10 foot tall self.

As Nightmare let down on the beam, and it dissipated, Tirek fell through the sky, a mass amount of smoke trailing from his scorched and burned body.

As he smashed into the ground, Nightmare picked him back up and suspended him in the air with her magic.

“You will talk, or suffer the loss of your life, your choice.” Nightmare said menacingly, her smile returning.

Tirek coughed in pain, his body still smoking from the beam.

“Where is the one you call Trixie?” Nightmare asked, as the other five stood behind her, grinning.

“On the surface… You are in a land called Tartarus; your only escape is through the Gates of Tartarus…” Tirek spoke in a croaky voice, obviously in pain. He coughed again.

“Where can we find these gates?” Nightmare interrogated.

“She,” Tirek stated, pointing towards Celestia, who watched them, her eyes wide in disbelief at the power she just witnessed. Zecora was the same.

“Will be able to lead you to, and take you through those gates… In that world, you will find Trixie.” Tirek said. Nightmare nodded, obviously satisfied at his newfound cooperation.

“Why did you not answer me when I asked you earlier? Why did you not save yourself the pain and troubles?” Nightmare inquired, curious.

Tirek stayed there in her grasp, silent.

“You know, you caused this extent of punishment on yourse-” Nightmare began, but was interrupted by an angry bark by Tirek.

“Spare me your insolent talk, monster.” Tirek said, his teeth grit.

*smash!*

Nightmare had bashed him into the ground with her magic. He brought the beaten Tirek back into suspension in the sky.

“You will watch your tongue when you speak to me!” Nightmare hissed, angry at his disrespect.

“Bah! I’ve lost my taste already. Begone with you!” Nightmare insisted, as she flung him away. He skidded and tumbled over to Skrix’s body, lying motionless next to him.

Nightmare strode over to Celestia and Zecora; both stood in defense, knowing that this was not their Twilight.

“Who are you? You are not our Elements of Harmony!” Celestia said, standing in a defensive position with Zecora.

“No… We are from the ‘other’ side.” Nightmare spoke, as the others stood beside her.

“But, I hear you know how to get to the surface-world.” Nightmare continued.

She out-stretched her arm towards a defensive Celestia, a childlike curiosity on her face. “And you’re going to show us the way.” Nightmare said in a menacing tone, as the others crept forward as well.

Celestia and Zecora inched back in extreme caution, remembering what had happened to Tirek... Any being that could cause that kind of devastation in an instant with no buildup was... Simply a creature too powerful to handle without caution... A creature too powerful to exist...

[Everything drew out here, showing Celestia and Zecora backing away from the approaching evil Mane Six. Nightmare was seen, almost touching Celestia with her outstretched arm and face of childlike curiosity. The others crept over forward as well, grins and smirks on their faces… Behind all of them was a wall of Darkness that stretched over and beneath them, seeping over to Celestia and Zecora…]