The Elements of Chaos

Chapters

Ch 1: Summoned
Ch 2: The night mare
Ch 3: A ray of Sunlight
Ch 4: Passing scenes
Ch 5: The deep dark
Ch 6: Bumpy ride
Ch 7: Dark arrival
Ch 8: You can't be serious
Ch 9: Broken
Ch 10: Internal conflict
Ch 11: Split up gang!
Ch 12: Breakout blitz
Ch 13: Let me in
Prologue

Ch 1: Summoned

Pixel stood outside the Crystal Empire palace doors, looking straight up at the intricate designs of fragmented gemstones of pale reds and blues. He sighed nervously. He glanced at the envelope emblazoned with a deep red crystal heart wax seal that he held in his wing. A summons from Princess Mi Amore Cadenza, or Cadence as she was known as throughout most of Equestria. Pixel went to knock on the palace doors, but hesitated. He slumped down against a cold crystal pillar by the doors, putting his head in his hooves.

Why would the princess of the Crystal Empire want to meet him? There was nothing remarkable about him. In fact, he was probably one of the least remarkable ponies he knew. But then again, he didn't know many ponies. For one, he preferred to be by himself. He did have a few good friends, but he hardly spent time out and about with them. He hated crowds. It made him nervous. He couldn't say why, but they always did.

He stared at his reflection in the crystal wall next to the door, searching his mind for any reason that he had been summoned by royalty. Pixel Bit was just a tallish white pegasus with a neon blue mane and black, square rimmed glasses framing his large yellow eyes. His cutie mark was simple. 3 blue pixels, a green waveform behind. He wasn't even sure what this was supposed to mean. Possibly his fascination with technology? That's what he went with anyway.

Pixel Bit stared into the face in his reflection and it stared back at him, saying nothing. Their yellow eyes locked in silent conversation as Pixel thought things over. They held their gaze for at least a minute until Pixel turned away from his reflection and looked back to the letter. For what had to be the hundredth time since he had received it, he shook the pale green letter out of the white envelope and started to read:

Dear Mr P. Bit,

Princess Mi Amore Cadenza, the princess of the Crystal Empire has personally requested your presence at the royal palace at noon during day one of the annual Crystal Fair. Please report to the entry hall, where you will be personally greeted and escorted to the throne room to meet with the princess.

This is a matter of great national importance, and should not be treated lightly.

Thank you.

Dragon Shield,

Temporary captain of the royal guard.

When he had received the letter, it seemed like some sort of dream come true! Traveling to the Crystal Empire, spending the day with the princess, attending the crystal fair! It all seemed unreal to him. He had started to get bored with his life, falling into the same monotonous routine day after day. Get up, eat, work, sleep, repeat. It was really taking its toll. Maybe a holiday was just what he needed. A change of scenery.

Pixel Bit carefully folded the letter and placed it, with the envelope, inside his saddle bag.

"C'mon Pix. You can do this." He stood up and flapped his wings once, readying himself. He walked forward a few paces and once again stood in front of the ginormous palace doors. Mustering his courage and determination, he pushed on the door and let it swing open in front of him.

He almost turned back then and there. The palace completely blew away the pegasus. The high ceilings, the banners that were hung proudly down the wall. All the light that was now streaming through the door was now reflected all around the palace, creating intricate patterns of light on the floor. There seemed to be an infinite amount of doors, stairways as passages carved into the crystal that if he wasn't careful, Pixel Bit could quickly get lost in here. If he had the time to spare, he probably would.

Pixel nervously tapped his back right hoof against the ground as he surveyed the hall. He slowly started walking further in and he was met by the bored look of a grey unicorn in a palace guard uniform, situated by a door at the end of the hall.

"Mr. Bit?" he asked with little to no enthusiasm, his dull voice echoing around the empty hall. Pixel nodded, not saying a word. "You're late." PB stared at his hooves beneath him and apologised meekly. "This way, Mr. Bit." the guard said, waving his hoof towards the massive, regal door at the end of the hall, still showing no signs of basic emotion. It kind of creeped Pixel out.

The guard opened the door next to him with a glow of blue magic and waved Pixel inside. PB stepped past the guard with a quiet "Thank you." and headed inside. Hearing the door close behind him, he headed towards the centre of the room, where a small group of four ponies were all gathered together, quietly chattering with eachother. Glancing towards a back corner of the room, Pixel Bit saw a dark brown earth pony with a cape sitting all alone, watching him come closer and closer to the group in the centre.

Pixel stopped about three meters away from the group and started pawing the ground and flapping his wings weakly just out of nervous habit, hoping to introduce himself. Just as he was gathering up the courage to join the group, the doors to the throne room opened loudly, and a red unicorn with a pale green mane walked quickly through. He was wearing the royal guard uniform, but the spell used to change his coat and mane colours seemed to be absent. Perhaps he was a high ranking officer like Prince Shining Armour?

Every eye in the room was fixed on him. He looked tired, his movements sluggish. He smelled vaguely of coffee and cloud cake. As he passed the guard in the doorway, he saluted the red stallion, getting nothing but a passing glance.

As he reached the group in the middle of the room, he yawned, causing his horn to spark lightly.

"Thank you for coming so soon everypony." he said quietly. The caped earth pony stood up and trotted over to stand beside Pixel. "My name is Dragon Shield. I have taken over captaincy of the royal guard from the prince as he and the princess are both on temporary leave."

A orange unicorn from the group spoke up. "What's wrong with them?" The stallion continued, completely disregarding the question.

"I assume that all of you have heard about the catastrophe in Ponyville?" Everypony nodded in unison.

There was no way they COULDN'T have heard about it. For one, the sun hadn't gone down in a week as Celestia and Luna had both disappeared, and of course the dark, ominous clouds over the ruined Ponyville were a dead giveaway. Word quickly spread from the residents of the now non-existent town that the elements had been corrupted, taking Twilight and the others with them.

"Then you all must know of the fall of the two sisters…" he continued, eliciting another nod from the six. "Well, the princesses had a contingency plan for this very situation. She told me to find six more ponies to represent the new elements of harmony, and defeat the mane 6, hopefully returning them to their normal selves." Everypony waited. "Those six ponies are you." Pixel stood dumbstruck. He didn't know what to say.

Him? Represent one of the elements of harmony? Fight and defeat the mane 6? How? He sat down where he was and started to massage the sides of his head, trying to comprehend it all. Him. Pixel Bit, probably the most uninteresting stallion in the whole of Equestria, had been asked, by royalty no less, to face off against six of the most powerful ponies in all of Equestria…

"Hey. Are you okay.?" asked the orange unicorn mare, cocking her head.

"I…" Pixel started. "I umm… I…" he stopped, stood up and flew into the air. "I just… I think I just need some time to think…" As he flew out of one of the windows near the top of the room, he looked back down into the room below, only to see Dragon Shield shaking his head in disappointment. Pixel sighed and flew into the air. 'I just need some time.' he thought. He felt a light breeze blow through his feathers. He felt so free in the air, he always had, but that didn't stop him from feeling trapped by the princess' request.

It was like an invisible force was binding his soul, trapping him. He felt like this was something he had to do. He didn't want to do it, but he had to. He set himself down on a cloud above the palace gardens, giving him a perfect view of the throne room below. The truth was, and he would never admit this to just anypony,

he was terrified.

Ch 2: The night mare

Pixel sat alone on his cloud. He looked down on the gardens of the crystal palace. Peaceful. The same could not be said for his mind. It was clouded with questions without answers, problems without solutions. He rolled over onto his back and stared into the sky. He thought back. What made him so special? Nothing came to mind. He thought back to his colthood.

He had got his cutiemark fairly early compared to his classmates back in Fillydelphia. He had been one of the quieter ones. He never went over to the hoofball field with his friends. He usually sat outside his class with a book. A lot of other ponies thought he was weird because of it, but he never really cared about what others thought of him. He enjoyed his alone time. It helped him unwind. He still visited the library every so often. By now, every single staff member knew his name by heart.

He got his cutie mark, three blue pixels with a green waveform behind, after he had visited the Fillydephia University's supercomputer on a school field trip. It fascinated him. From then on, he worked his flank off to collect enough bits to buy himself his own computer. And when he did, he worked that thing to death. He still had that computer. So, as time went on, he became this weird computer geek that hung out in the library all day. He didn't mind though. He did get a few odd looks from time to time, but he didn't mind.

His backstory was a bit boring, but he had a skill that not many Equestrians had bothered to learn. But that was pretty much the only thing he had over anypony else. Apart from that? Nothing. Just some autistic computer geek. Then why had he been chosen like this? He placed his head in his hooves and thought it over. Coming to no decisive answer, Pixel dipped down into the coolness of his cloud, content in it's dark embrace. Other ponies had to sleep inside a cold room so that they wouldn't overheat while they slept, but pegasi had the more comfortable option.

He slowly let his consciousness leave him, drifting into the dark, inky abyss.

Sleep did nothing to calm his mind. Nightmares consumed his subconscious. Pixel watched as the dreamscape formed around him. The inky black void quickly formed into a field, grass coming up to his neck. In the distance, he saw a massive gemstone looming above the endless expanse. A purple six point star. The element of magic. It was calling to him. As he got ever closer, the gem was slowly consumed by a mass of shadow, slowly expanding. A strong wind swept up, casting the shadow away, leaving the gem a sickly green colour. Pixel heard the ear piercing scream of a certain purple alicorn.

He turned. No longer was he in the field. He was standing on the outskirts of a town. He knew this town. Ponyville. The buildings were nothing but smouldering husks, and any life that had filled these streets had since left. Torn banners hung from bent lamp posts. Pixel could almost hear a wispy tune played on the wind and see ghostly figures laughing and dancing. This had been a happy place. But no more. He launched into the air, kicking up dust and ash in his wake.

He flew through the ravaged Ponyville, observing the utter destruction and chaos. Life could never be happy here. Not after all this. Landing in the remains of the town square. He was scared. Terrified even. Suddenly, the ground shook, and the hall was engulfed in shadow. He looked up and his ears flattened against his head. He saw the former protectors of Equestria looming over him, each with a deranged grin plastered across their muzzles, each made up of rows of razor sharp teeth. The six were gargantuan. Taller than even the blood red crystal castle itself. Twilight stared at the cowering pegasus in the remnants of the hall, her eyes glowing red. She flared her wings, and with a laugh that instilled fear directly into Pixel's subconscious mind, engulfed him in the shadowy grasp of her wings.

Pain rocked Pixel's body and he awoke in a cold sweat. Or condensation. He couldn't really tell. That was one of the downsides to sleeping in the clouds. It tended to get quite… Damp. His breathing heavy, he rose up from the cloud and let the sun dry his coat. He shivered at the sudden change of temperature and flared his wings. He stood on the cloud, more stressed than he had ever been in his life. Between the princess' request and what he had just endured, he felt trapped. He wasn't sure his sanity could take another hit. One more little tap,

and he would break.

Ch 3: A ray of Sunlight

Pixel stared at the castle from his perch upon the cloud. The sun always warmed the top of the clouds, but below the top layer was freezing cold. He yawned, still fatigued from the lack of a good night's sleep. The sun still hung in its place in the middle of the sky. It hadn't moved for about a week, and it was starting to take a toll on the various plants and crops all throughout Equestria, causing a small food shortage. The problem was minor, but it was taking its toll on ponies who couldn't scrape enough bits together to match the rising food prices. Still, they always had alternatives.

"Hey!" Pixel turned his attention to the palace garden, where a bright yellow mare was staring up at him from the ground. He pointed his hoof to his chest. "Yeah, you! Can you come down here for a sec?" she yelled up at him. Pixel kicked the cloud beneath him, causing it to dissipate. With nothing underneath him, he glided slowly to the ground, circling a few times before landing softly next to the unicorn.

She held out her hoof, two blue bands dangling aimlessly. "I'm Sunlight Bliss." she said with a warm smile. Pixel hesitantly accepted her brohoof. There was an awkward silence. "And you are…?" Sunlight continued, waving a hoof.

Pixel blinked before registering what she had said. "Oh! Uh… Pixel! Pixel Bit. My… My name's Pixel Bit…" He said quickly, giving a nervous laugh. Sunlight Bliss stared at him, one eyebrow up, a smirk on her face.

"So Pixel Bit," she said, "have you thought about Cadence's request?" Now Pixel Bit wasn't the kind of pony that got mad often. He usually had quite a bit of patience. Although, sometimes, it was all too much. He would just snap, the mental barriers he had built over the years crashing down and releasing his pent up rage.

Pixel went from mildly timid to wildly outraged in less than a second. All the stress that had built up suddenly released in a storm of verbal hellfire. "SO THAT'S WHAT YOU CAME OUT HERE TO DO? FORCE ME TO RISK MY LIFE ON SOME CRAZY ADVENTURE THAT WOULD MOST LIKELY KILL US ALL? WHAT WILL YOU HAVE ME DO, HUH? JUMP INTO TARTARUS? FOR WHAT?" Sunlight was backing off slowly as he started yelling louder and louder, her smile completely gone, replaced by fear.

"ANSWER ME THIS SUNLIGHT BLISS! WHY PULL ME ALONG? WHY AM I SO IMPORTANT?!" His vision was stained yellow, and at this point he was just rambling, not really thinking, just shooting things at the gold unicorn that stood, backed up against the wall, almost on the verge of tears. "WHY DO YOU FEEL LIKE YOU HAVE TO PULL ME ALONG? WHAT CAN I DO THAT NOPONY ELSE CAN? I AM A NOPONY! I'M NOT SOME HERO OF EQUESTRIA! I'm not…" Pixel stopped himself. He finally saw the result of his rage. What he saw in front of him was Sunlight Bliss, curled up against the wall, eyes closed, sobbing quietly. He looked at himself in the reflection of the crystal palace walls. His wings were flared, his coat bristled and his mane frayed.

He stepped back quickly, all anger disappearing from him. "I…" Sunlight looked at him, tears in her once happy and bubbly bright green eyes. He turned and stared at the ground beneath him. He hated what he had seen in her. What he had seen in her eyes. Fear. Genuine fear. Not worry or simple nervousness, genuine, real fear. He wanted to comfort her, to calm her down, but he feared that he would only make things worse. "I'm… I'm sorry… Sunlight." he sighed, barely audible, hoping that he hadn't hurt her. And with that he broke into a slow jog and launched into the warm summer air, leaving a trail of scattered leaves in his wake.

Sunlight got up and dried her eyes, sniffing a few times. As she picked thistles out of her mane, she stared at the blue grey smudge that was Pixel Bit in the distance. She watched as he set himself down near a stream and put his head in his hooves. She sat there. And as she sat there, she thought about Pixel. He SEEMED like a nice enough guy, and it was understandable that he would blow up like that. He had seemed extremely stressed after he had flown out. He had been waving his hooves randomly and mumbling gibberish to himself, and she was sure she had heard a scream of frustration after he left.

She quickly teleported near the lake. Close enough to see PB clearly, but not close enough to be seen herself. Sunlight once again heard the scattered mutterings of the blue maned pegasus. Pixel Bit was sitting on the edge of a small fishing platform, staring at his reflection, waving his hooves as if he was having a conversation with his reflection, and to some extent, he was.

Pixel found it helped to talk to somepony. Even if that was himself. He never came to a solid conclusion, but it always managed to make him feel better about things. He was fully aware of Sunlight staring at him from a clump of trees and bushes. He had seen her in the reflection of his glasses. Her bright purple mane stood out amongst the shrubbery. He sighed and ran his wing through the water, watching the ripples. It was almost hypnotic.

He kept his head down. "Listen, I'm sorry, okay? Can you just leave me alone now?" Pixel said somewhat loudly, the annoyance obvious in his tone. Sunlight Bliss stepped out of the bushes. She trotted slowly over to the young pegasus, hooves clopping against the wooden boards. She sat next to Pixel, saying nothing. Sunlight stared at Pixel and Pixel stared at the water beneath his hooves. This continued for a few minutes.

PB payed no attention to the mare sitting beside him until she scooted closer and put a hoof over his shoulder. Pixel coughed softly. "I don't expect you to forgive me for what I've done, but…" He was cut off by a hug from Sunlight.

"I don’t mind." she said, her voice calm. She broke the hug. "You had just been told that you had to travel all the way across Equestria to defeat the mane 6 turned bad! That's pretty insane! Just… Whaaaaaat?!" She said jokingly, waving her hooves over her head. This did get a small smile out of Pixel Bit.

"You're taking this well." He quipped. She shrugged, giving a derpy smile. Pixel watched as one of his loose feathers floated across the water. "This is the best anyone has ever taken one of my breakdowns before. They usually give me the silent treatment or stay away from me for a few days at least. I just have one question." Sunlight's ears perked up. Pixel smiled. "What is wrong with you?" Sunlight laughed.

"If I told you the full list, we'd be here all day." Pixel had to steady himself with a wing to stop himself from falling in the water he was laughing so hard.

"Listen Sunlight, I'm still sorry about the whole 'incident' back there…" Pixel said sheepishly.

Sunlight smiled. "Think nothing of it. I'm sure I would have done the same." She chuckled. "I might have looked like I was taking it well, but after that whole speech thingy, the palace kitchens were missing a tub of cookie dough ice-cream and a blueberry muffin." Pixel smiled weakly, knowing he wasn't the only one that wasn't handling this as well as he could. "We're all nervous, but it's just something we have to do." Sunlight explained. "With Celestia and Luna gone, and Twilight insane, Cadence is left to rule all of Equestria, and the royal guard have been torn to shreds with the remaining troops are occupied keeping the threat exclusive to Ponyville." Pixel stared into the distance, taking in this new information. "And even if we did have troops to spare, I heard that prince Shining Armour hasn't even been out of his chambers since his sister turned, so we're the only real hope that Equestria has left…"

"Equestria needs the new elements Pixel." Sunlight Bliss said. "Think about it." Before he could stop her, Sunlight got up and started to walk back towards the palace. Pixel quickly flew in front of her. "Sunlight, wait…' he started, slightly flustered. 'Do you… Um…' He searched for the words. 'Do you really think that I could… Y'know, do… this?" She smiled and pulled him down to the ground with her magic.

"Only you can decide that, but I do think you have it in you, yes." she said with a reassuring smile. That calmed him down a bit.

PB pawed at the ground. "I mean, it's completely insane!" Sunlight smirked at pixel.

"Of course it's insane! This is HUGE!"

He glanced back at her. "Yeah. I'm still not so sure though…" Pixel glanced weakly at Sunlight. She walked slowly up to Pixel and put a hoof on his shoulder. "I don’t think you really have a choice." she said calmly. "But if you asked me, I'd say that the entire future of Equestria hangs in the balance here. Just… think about that. You have it in you. I know it."

"Sunlight, I…" Pixel started before getting cut off.

"Pixel! You have to stop doubting yourself! You can achieve so much if you just break out of that shell you're hiding in!" She said as she gave him a few playful jabs at his chest, smiling from ear to ear. Pixel rubbed his chest. She didn't hurt him, but it still felt a little weird. "You can do this. I've known you for less than an hour and I can see that you have a lot of untapped potential! You have the strength Pixel Bit. Just give yourself a chance." She gave one last reassuring smile before a flash of light blinded Pixel. And just as quick as she had appeared, she was gone.

"I…" he stuttered. He stood there, staring at the spot where she had been. He smiled weakly, but with the most confidence he had ever had.

"I'll do it."

Ch 4: Passing scenes

"WAAAAAAAAAAIT!!!" Pixel flew as fast as he could towards the train station. The warm wind flew by his ears, he dove, riding the highest adrenaline rush of his life. He was doing this. He was really doing this! It was totally crazy but he was DOING THIS! He almost couldn't believe it! Granted, he was still freaked out of his mind, but this wasn't a time for thinking, this was a time for doing. He probably would have had another breakdown if it weren't for the adrenaline running through every molecule of his being.

"ALL ABOARD!" The conductor yelled. Pixel continued his mad dash for the train station. He landed less than gracefully, and broke into a gallop. "HEEEEY!" he yelled, almost out of breath. Sunlight turned from the open doorway of a carriage and broke into a massive smile. She watched him approach and come to a dusty stop beside the platform, waving back to her friends before turning to the pegasus collapsed in the dirt.

"I knew you'd come." she said, lowering her head to his. Pixel breathed heavily, but said nothing. The little horse was a little hoarse. "C'mon. The train's about to leave!" she laughed. Pixel let his wings lift him up and over the platform and onto the train, setting down in one of the empty seats, resting his head on the table. He sat in silence for a while, letting his breath return. Rubbing his eyes under his square glasses, he sat up and looked around. It was the standard deal, just what you would expect on the Equestrian express. Few rows of seats with some tables, the essentials. And it always smelled like berries for some reason. He never could figure that one out.

"Pixel!" He looked towards the end of the carriage, where Sunlight was waving to him. "Come on! The rest of the gang are in here!" Pixel slowly got up and trotted over to the door. Inside, there was what seemed like a small lounge of sorts. Pixel lopped himself down on the couch that surrounded one side of the carriage. Sunlight scooted over to sit next to him. "Nice place, huh." She said quietly. "Hmm…" Pixel nodded. "Turns out that a personal referral from the princess can go a long way, huh." She said almost whimsically. She squealed. "Urk!" She grabbed Pixel in the biggest hug in equine history. "You're here! This is so amazing! We're going to go on adventures, and save Equestria, and maybe die, but it'll all be worth it!" Pixel was trying not to linger on the 'die' part.

While he awaited his release from the insane Sunlight, he looked around the room. Okay. So, including himself and the mare currently crushing his ribs, there were two unicorns, two earth ponies, himself and… Was that a bat pony? Yeah. Probably best to stay away from her.

Sunlight eventually did release Pixel, and left with little more than a pat on the head, leaving him feeling a little weird. Grabbing a book out of his saddlebags, he got comfortable against the wall of the carriage and started reading. 'Daring Do and the Dagger of Truth'. Pixel was out of his adventure story phase, now preferring more slice of life stories, but he still pulled out a copy every once in a while if not just for the nostalgia alone. "Chapter 1…" he mumbled quietly to himself. Adjusting his glasses, he stuck in.

It had been about an hour since he had left the station, and boredom was beginning to set in. "Chapter 9… Thrilling…" He slammed the book closed and popped it back in his bags, now hanging from the edge of his seat. He sat in a fairly secluded section of the carriage near the front of the train, but there were still a few ponies there with him. The bat pony snoozing on a table, drooling a bit, and an earth pony with a sketch pad sitting by the window, watching the scenery go by. He recognised this mare. She had been in the throne room when that old guy told them that they were all going on a kamikaze mission to save Equestria.

The mare seemed a bit bored as well, so he considered striking up a conversation. No something he would normally do, but hey, boring times called for desperate measures, and the only things he had bought with him were his journal, a quill and Daring Do. He scooted out of his seat and padded quietly over the red carpeted floor and sat next to the mare. Light blue coat, light pink and yellow braided mane. She looked nice enough. He sat quietly for a bit, just thinking about how to start. He cleared his throat. The blue mare's ears perked up and she turned around a little too quickly, scattering a few pencils on the ground, sending them rolling around the carriage. "Oh! Uh… Damn it. Okay, uh…" She slid under the table and ran around the car, tossing every loose pencil she could get her hooves on into her bag. As Pixel watched the mare skitter around, he felt a little guilty. He never was one for first impressions, and he had seriously botched the whole Sunlight thing, but this was ridiculous. If things kept going like this, pretty much the entire group would hate him before the even formally met.

The mare stopped in front of him and gave a bit of a nervous chuckle. "Sorry. Just a bit jumpy. Kinda been freaking out lately." Pixel watched as she slid back into her seat after ducking under the table. He tried to at least give a bit of a smile. "Sorry about that." He considered going back to his book and just forgetting that any of this had ever happened, hoping she would do the same. The earth pony turned back to him after messily shoving her bag closed. "It's fine, it's fine. I think we're all a bit skittish. Only natural. I mean, this has got to be the weirdest thing I've ever been asked to do." Pixel smiled weakly. "I'm Pixel, by the way." He fluttered his wings nervously. "Pastel Paints." She replied. "Kinda ironic. I'm more of a pad and pencil kind of pony." Pixel glanced down to her flank. A paint pallet.

Pixel lanced out the window at the gradually changing landscape. Gone were the blizzards of the outskirts of the Crystal Empire outside its protective shield, replaced by calm forests filled with various little critters. "Soooooooo…" Pixel said. "Do you actually know exactly where we're all going? I just kinda jumped on the train last minute." Pastel raised an eyebrow. The pegasus chuckled. "Yeah…" "Well," the cyan earth pony replied, "hold on to your flank, because we're going to Ponyville!"

Pixel pulled a blank. "I'm just going to go back to my book now." He stood up and walked back to his booth. It was official. His worst fear had been confirmed. Sitting down and removing his glasses, he slammed his face straight down into his book. He regretted every life choice had ever made that may have led him to this moment. He closed his yellow eyes and waited for the noise in his head to die down. He focused on his breathing. In, out. In, out. In… Yep. Not helping. As he continued his quiet panic attack, Pastel looked over her seat to see her new acquaintance repeatedly thumping his head into the cover of his book.

She probably could have handled that better, telling some random stranger that they were going directly into the belly of the beast. Right into enemy territory with little more than the mark on his flank. For now, she decided to just let the situation die down. And hopefully he wouldn't have permanent brain damage from slamming his head on his book so much. Yeah. She decided to just go back to her drawings. Ignoring the thumping echoing around the train car, she went back to work.

Pixel kept at his cranial assault of his book. He knew that he might eventually knock himself unconscious, but he welcomed the fact, if anything. The same thing kept echoing through his head. Over and over. He couldn't stop it. It was maddening.

He was going to die.

Author's Note

There we go! The long awaited chapter 4! Sorry this took so long. I've had a lot of stuff going on at home. Anyways, I've got big plans for chapters five and onward! See you there everypony! :raritywink:

Ch 5: The deep dark

Darkness. It was all around her. For the past week, it was the only thing she had known. The silence driving her slowly insane. The misty unknown filling her with a sense of chilling uncertainty. The damp cold chilling her to the bone. Though her sister as only a few inches away, she felt more alone than ever before. How could it have come to this? Struck down by the filly she treated as a daughter. Stripped of her title and her crown. She wasn't the princess of Equestria anymore. Celestia sat, chained to a wall, a brace on her wings and an inhibitor on her horn, holding her sister close. It was cold, and the only sound that she could hear was Luna sleeping peacefully. "I'll fix this." she whispered, more to herself than Luna. "I promise." She rarely had the strength to do anything, not that she could. Her magic slowly draining as her mortality slowly approached, and she would slowly waste away, leaving her kingdom without a protector or a ruler.

She focused on her little sister's breathing, watching her chest go up and down rhythmically as she slept. She stroke a hoof through her mane, now short and cyan, having lost the brilliant constellations that always seemed to flow to an unseen wind. She brushed her own short pink hair out of her eyes and tried to focus on the keyhole on the other side of the room. It sat there, light beaming in from outside their cell, taunting her. The light cast into their cell was surely no bigger than a bit, but it was a constant reminder there was hope. A hope that she would escape with her sister and take their rightful places back at the throne.

But that hope was about to die.

Blinding light flooded the cramped room. Celestia's vision swam before her eyes and she could hardly make out the silhouette walking towards her. The small amount of sunlight coming through the keyhole was nothing compared to the relative wildfire that assaulted her vision. She held her sister close, hoping to save her from whatever punishment was about to come. Twilight Sparkle stood over her former mentor, a twisted sneer draped across her muzzle. "The almighty ruler of Equestria, renound throughout the lands as a saviour and a guardian, gone in one single, effortless stroke." Twilight gloated, strutting around the room. "One of the easiest things I've ever done in my life." she said, her voice layered with resent and disgust. Celestia looked down and brushed a hoof through Luna's mane while Twilight continued to boast. She wasn't paying any attention. This wasn't the filly she knew, the filly she raised. That young mare was gone. And Celestia wasn't sure if she would ever come back.

A hoof struck her on the side of her head. "ARE YOU EVEN LISTENING TO ME!?!" Twilight screamed. "You worthless excuse for an alicorn. I can't believe I looked up to you!" Celestia looked up at Twilight. "The ruler of Equestria. I doubt I've ever seen somepony so undeserving of that title. What did you do? I'm the one that settled a peace treaty with Yakyakistan, I'm the one that defeated Tirek, Nightmare moon and Discord, heck, I even saved an alternate world from certain destruction! TWICE!" Twilight walked straight up to Celestia, planting a hoof on her chest, wings flared. She leaned in close and locked eyes with her former teacher. "What did you ever do?" Celestia stared back down to the stirring Luna in her arms. Celestia held her sister close.

"I would be a much better ruler than you ever were." Twilight rambled to herself. "We would have to ditch the princess title though. High Queen Sparkle." she mused to herself. "I like the sound of that." Celestia stayed silent as Twilight turned towards her, smiling with mock sweetness. "And you." She reached down and prodded Luna violently in the chest, rousing her from her sleep in her big sister's arms. She chuckled as Luna's eyes opened and stared back at her.

"And you." She repeated. "I have something special planned for you." With that, she broke the chains holding the princess of the night to the wall with a piercing CRACK and lifted her into the air in an aura of sickly green magic. Twilight pulled Luna from Celestia's grasp, Luna struggling to get out of the young alicorn's magical hold. Celestia was frozen, terror gripping every particle of her being in place. Twilight surely wouldn't hurt her little sister, would she? Celestia desperately hoped not.

Twilight started walking slowly out the door, Luna still held in her magic, struggling with all her fading strength. Twilight rubbed her chin. "You know, there have been almost no records of alicorn biology since before even Star swirl the Bearded…" she stopped in the doorway and turned to Luna. "I bet I can learn a whole lot from dissecting you…" Celestia screamed, shocked out of her terrified stupor. Twilight laughed. "Cutting you open and letting you slowly bleed out on the operating table will be the most fun I've had in years." Celestia struggled against her chains. "NOOOOOO!!!" She tried to rush forward and grab Twilight, but her chains held her back, her horn less than an inch away from Twilight's head. Twilight grinned and walked out the door, a crying Luna in her magical grasp.

A magic wave pushed Celestia back against the wall and held her there for a second before letting her fall to her hooves. The door closed behind Twilight and Luna, leaving Celestia in the darkness once again. But this time, she was truly alone. There was nopony else there. Her sister was gone. Taken from her. And by one of her closest friends no less. Twilight had never been just a pupil to her. She had been special. And now she had found the perfect way to hurt her. Twisting the knife embedded in her chest, so to speak.

Celestia slumped to the ground, defeated. She let a tear fall from the corner of her eye, soon developing into a river of betrayal and hopelessness. She hoped everything would go back to the way it had been before, but the situation seemed so dire that even the smallest glint of hope was snuffed out by the darkness surrounding her. She sat alone, trapped in this hellhole, and sobbed under her breath, letting her tears stain the cold, hard stone floor below her, not even the tiny light filtering through the keyhole comforting her.

"I'll fix this Lulu. I promise."

Ch 6: Bumpy ride

"Well what did you expect? A welcoming party with puppies and kittens?" "Yes, that would be rather nice actually."

It had taken Pastel quite a while to get Pixel to cease his head-on assault on Daring Do, but when she did, she actually got quite a good conversation out of him. It seemed he was more of a drama queen than anything. "I mean, I'm going up against the ponies that took down Celestia and Luna. Freakin' Celestia and Luna! I think that I'm at least entitled to some TLC. Maybe some combat training? I don't know." Pastel smiled at him.

"I know what you mean. Throwing us right into the action isn't exactly the best plan ever." Pixel nodded. Talking with Pastel had helped take his mind off his impending doom, if only for a while.

There was an awkward silence. Pastel scrunched up her face while Pix started quietly whistling tunelessly. Several seconds passed where the only sounds were the upcoming Galloping Gorge and the snoring bat… thing.

"Conversation over?" Pixel asked quickly. "Conversation over." Pastel repeated. Pixel sat there, not exactly sure what to do. Then it occurred to him that it was probably about time to go back to his seat. "Oh! Uh, so I just… Okay." He stumbled out of the booth and back into his own, mumbling under his breath.

Pastel watched her new friend as he sat down on the edge of his seat facing the isle, and promptly fell backwards onto his seat. She heard him chuckle and the sound of wings extending as he began to preen himself. She smiled and got back to her drawing.

Pastel set down her pad and yawned, slumping over the table in front of her. Glancing out the window of the moving train carriage, she saw the same yellow-orange landscape of the galloping gorge, the trees now orange and wilting in the never-ending onslaught of solar radiation, slowly cooking where they stood in the midsummer heat.

Pastel was struggling to keep her eyes open, and quickly glanced at the small clock above the door to the other carriages.

She straightened up instantly, staring at the thin black clock hands, taunting her.

It was two in the morning.

Pastel groaned loudly. It had already been a week since the sun stopped in its tracks, but her body clock still hadn't quite adjusted. Safe to say it was driving her crazy. Well, crazier.

She rolled over and groaned again, purposely rolling off her seat and on to the floor. She hopped back up to her hooves and set towards the door at the end of her carriage. She decided that, even if it was a little late, she was still going to at least get a few hours of sleep in before they reached Ponyville.

Opening the door, she was hit with a rush of hot wind. Startled, she slammed the door closed, a little surprised. She gathered her breath and opened the door. Now more prepared for the rush of air, it actually felt kinda nice. The warm air coupled with the white noise of the passing landscape was almost therapeutic. But, of course, she couldn't stay there forever. She hopped over the gap in the two train cars, closing the door behind her as she did.

Opening the door to the adjacent car, she felt a pair of eyes watching her. She closed the door behind her, the car filling with an overpowering silence. The curtains were drawn back, shielding the carriage from the sunlight outside, casting the entire space in a comfortable gloom. She made out a few bunk beds lining the walls, a few seemingly occupied.

Turning, she saw who had been watching her. A pair of light blue eyes pierced the gloom, staring at her expectantly. As her eyes adjusted to the darkness after being bathed in bright sunlight for so long, she started to make out a dark grey earth stallion with a short, yellow orange mane.

She chuckled softly and stared back. The stallion smiled. "You play?" he said quietly, as to not wake the other sleeping ponies in the carriage. It was then that Pastel noticed a dark green bass guitar resting in his hooves. "Huh? Oh, uh, no. Sorry." She fumbled her words. "Could you give me a little performance?"

He chuckled and started strumming a low tune. It turned out to be short lived though, because soon enough a pillow hit him smack bang in the muzzle. The stallion let out a startled whinny before glaring over to the top bunk across from his. In it, a lump moved beneath the covers. "Shut up." it murmured quietly before rolling over to face the wall.

"Guess that's out of the question then." the stallion sighed quietly as not to disturb the other pony further. "I'm Black Bass." He introduced himself. "Like the instrument, not the fish." Pastel giggled. She noticed the lighter grey bass clef on his flank. She smiled. "Pastel Paints." They brohoofed.

"Sooooooo…" Pastel began. "You on this crazy element mission too?" Bass nodded. "Yeah." he said quietly, a hint of disgust in his tone. Pastel decided to drop the subject, moving on to the next obvious topic.

"Who's that?" she asked, waving up to the occupied bunk opposite them. "Hmm? Oh, right, them." Bass twiddled his hooves. "I think her name's Ember. Not too sure on that front though." "Hey." the lump waved, turning to face them. Like Pastel and Bass, she too was an Earth pony. Red-brown coat and a short, dark blue mane framing light grey eyes. She turned to speak. "Now, I appreciate the fact that you two are getting to know eachother," Her face slipped from neutral to annoyed in less than a second. "but could you two shut the buck up!? Some of us are trying to sleep here!" She turned back over to face the wall with a humph.

The carriage was quiet for a bit, both ponies still knee deep in awkward silence. Pastel made to speak, but she couldn't think of anything to say. Instead, she simply nodded and trotted off to the back of the carriage, picking the bunk across from a snoring Sunlight.

She rustled under the covers and closed her eyes, trying not to think about what lay ahead for her and these ponies.

Pixel stared at the ceiling, almost afraid of what might happen if he fell back into unconsciousness. Would he go back to that freakish wasteland that was the wasted Ponyville? Something worse? Or would he be granted the privilege of an uneventful and dreamless sleep? Pixel knew that he was doing nothing but stalling for time, delaying the inevitable. Everypony needed sleep.

Eventually, he just decided to succumb to the demons inside him and try his luck. Maybe he would have the most retched nightmares he had ever had, but then again, what was the worst that could happen?

Pixel closed his eyes slowly, almost carefully, as if maybe this would ward off any bad dreams. Soon enough, the time, coupled with the emotional exhaustion of the past few hours started taking their toll, pulling him into the land of blissful unconsciousness.

No dreams were had that night.

Ch 7: Dark arrival

Pixel groaned as he was gently shaken awake. Cracking open an eye, he immediately regretted it, as the sun still hadn't moved from its stoic position in the sky. She squinted, moving a wing up to shield his eyes from the light, his mind moving further away from the comfortable familiarity of sleep. As his vision adjusted, he began to make out a pink mane amongst the glare, almost certainly belonging to Sunlight.

He shifted and sat up, rubbing his eyes. "Yep," he said hoarsely. "Still not a morning pony." Sunlight sniggered and handed Pixel his glasses. Now that he could more clearly, looking around, he saw Sunlight and Pastel, along with two other earth ponies and the bat creature all gathered by the door, saddlebags in tow.

He lazily slid off of his seat and on to his hooves, grabbing his saddle bags and fastening them around his barrel, making sure he had everything. He walked over to the rest of the group, who had all gathered around the door. They stood in silence as the train slowed, the wheels screeched, and the train stopped, laying still on the tracks.

The train's doors opened with a happy little jingle, but the scene that lay before them warped the tune into something more unsettling. As the group stepped out into the smouldering landscape, Pixel stood fixed to the spot, unmoving and rigid. He took it all in. Everything, down to the torn banners and purple flames were just as they had been. Exactly the same as his dream.

The clouded red castle of friendship stood just on the horizon, home to the harbinger of all of this needless destruction, the one who would surely end it all, Princess Twilight herself.

Pixel stood, a single step away from a new chapter in his life. Looking towards the group of ponies in front of him and seeing them standing there in front of him, it gave him a spark of courage, a glimmer of hope that everything would turn out okay in the end.

So he summoned every ounce of willpower from his ears to the tip of his tail to help him step off the train and into the wasteland that was the decimated Ponyville. Every strand of his being, every single speck of magic in his soul was poured into this one seemingly simple task.

But he couldn't do it.

He slumped to his haunches and stared off into the distance, his mind going a mile a minute, racing faster than even the Wonderbolts, slowly crumbling his determination and resolve. The feeling was hard to describe, a mix of hopelessness and despair that just made you feel utterly defeated, unable to continue, a feeling that just made you want to curl up and cry.

And he would have, if it had not been for Sunlight. Stepping up to him, genuine worry in her eyes, she turned, and sat beside him. Not a word was shared between them, but PB could feel Sunlight's silent reassurance. It washed over him, making him feel marginally better than he had been before. The feeling didn't disappear completely, of course it didn't, but it was stopped in its tracks, and was slowly creeping back into the darkest corners of Pixel Bit's mind, temporarily forgotten.

Pixel steadied himself, focusing on his breathing. He looked over into Sunlight's eyes, and Sunlight stared back. Pixel quickly looked away. Steeling himself, he coughed, stood up, ruffled his wings and flittered off the train. He put on the bravest face he could muster and smiled back at Sunlight, still sitting within the relative safety of the train carriage. Despite the war raging in his brain, he managed to work up a small chuckle. "Coming?"

Pixel was starting to wish he'd taken the ride back home to Fillydelphia. First of all, it felt like he was reliving his nightmare in full. Second, with every single second that passed, he and the group inched closer and closer to their untimely demise, resulting in Equestria falling into ruin. Thirdly, and, to Pixel, most importantly, he hardly knew any of these ponies.

Now, Pixel wouldn't consider himself the social type by any means, and to be honest, he would rather just curl up with a good book for a few hours and get lost in the pages, meaning that he mostly tried to avoid any attention by hanging out by the back of the group, flying just above ground. Still, his close proximity to the group had allowed him to make out a few snippets of conversation.

"So," said Black Bass somewhat sceptically. "we just walk up onto this she-demon's front lawn, shoot her with some baby rainbow lasers, and make it home in time for the after party?"

Sunlight visibly cringed. Sighing, she said "They're called the Elements of Harmony, and, yeah, if things go as planned." Looking over to Bass to see his reaction, she was met once again with the mask of scepticism that had been plastered on his muzzle for the last five minutes now.

Bass raised an eyebrow, urging her to go on with a roll of his hoof. Sunlight looked him square in the face. "What." She asked. Pixel got a bad feeling down in his gut. Bass sighed. "Then where are they?" he said expectantly.

Sunlight stopped walking and the group stopped with her. She gritted her teeth nervously, as if she was afraid at how the others would react. "I…" She hesitated. "I don't…" She didn't finish, but that was all they needed.

"You don’t actually have them?!" Bass said, trembling on the edge of fury.

Sunlight stepped back, ready to fire a teleportation spell at a moment's notice. "I thought…" She reordered her thoughts. "They're supposed to appear when we go against Twilight!" Bass stepped forward again, prompting Sunlight to step back against the wall of a crumbling building.

"You thought? You THOUGHT!?!" Bass yelled. He raised a hoof. Sunlight yelped and fired her horn, appearing behind Pixel. Black Bass' hoof hit the wall where Sunlight's muzzle had been seconds before with a sickening crack, causing cracks to spider its surface as a result of his natural earth pony strength. "You thought that in this life or death situation, with the whole of Equestria hanging in the balance, that you would go in WITHOUT THE ONE THING THAT COULD SAVE US!?!"

Sunlight whimpered. Pixel hugged her with a wing and stepped back away from this madpony.

"WHAT WERE YOU THINKING!?!?!" He thundered. Pixel was fairly scared, but he put on a brave face nonetheless.

Continuing to step backwards, Sunlight in wing, he still managed to stammer out a weak response. "H-hey man, just leave her alone. She didn't do anything wrong."

Bass sputtered, almost laughing. "Nothing wrong? NOTHING WRONG!?! Look around you buddy! Look where you are!" Pixel glanced around at the decimated landscape of the ruined country town. Wrecks of buildings, eternally burning, purple tinged fires around every corner, businesses and homes in rubble, much beyond disrepair.

Pixel looked over to the rest of the group in a silent plea for help. The caped earth pony showed no signs of helping. In fact, she seemed to be rather enjoying herself and the chaos unfolding before them. The bat creature gave even less help, as it was presently crouched under an upturned cart, her red eyes piercing the gloom. Pastel however, heard PB's silent call and walked over to Bass slowly and cautiously, as if approaching a wild animal.

"Hey, hey, hey. Bass. Calm down, she doesn't deserve any of this!" She said, staying just out of bucking distance. "She's in just as deep in this weird friendship quest as you are!" Bass was still fuming, but Pastel stepped closer to him nonetheless. Pixel had to commend her bravery. But then again, it could have been sheer stupidity. Only time would tell.

Bass shot death glares at both Pastel and Sunlight, looking ready to take their heads off at any moment. Pastel visibly tensed, ready to either run or take the oncoming blow.

But to all of their surprise, Bass stormed off towards the castle by himself, cursing under his breath.

Everypony relaxed, leaving Pixel to take his wing off of the shocked Sunlight. She looked over, giving him a tentative nuzzle. "Thanks." She said. Sunlight coughed, sparked her horn once, and was back to her old, cheery self. "We should probably go check on him. We wouldn't want him to do anything brash, and who knows what he might do on his own."

Pixel nodded. "Yeah. We should all stay together. Whatever comes, we should face it as a team."

As Sunlight helped the bat thing out from the cart, Pixel looked up to the blood red castle of friendship laying on the horizon and sighed. He wasn't going to get out of this unscathed, was he?

Stupid unicorn. Stupid pegasus. Stupid elements and stupid princesses.

Bass walked through the burning Ponyville, the ever present heat really starting to get to him. By now, he was out of sight of the rest of the group and still advancing towards the edge of town.

Towards Twilight's castle.

If that stupid unicorn wasn't going to take this mission seriously, then somepony had to. Why shouldn't it be him? He weaved around a pile of rubble and into what looked like it had once been a marketplace. There were still one or two largely intact wooden stalls, but the rest were either in splinters or bathed in the same ever burning purple fire as the rest of the small country town. Torn banners still hung from some bent streetlights, and they danced with the dust on the eternal summer wind.

He walked slowly, taking care not to trip over any scattered remains. His ears swivelled, taking in all of the sounds around him, looking out for the sounds of the rest of the group catching up to him. He wouldn't stop them of course, but they better not be looking for a nice friendly conversation.

The sounds of the wind and the flapping banners almost gave the market a ghostly feel. He wasn't supposed to be here. Not in this marketplace and certainly not in this town. He was an outsider. But he still had a job to do. And in the name of Celestia he was going to do it.

He turned a corner around yet another ruined building and came face to face with his destination. The clouded and red castle of friendship, maybe 100 or so meters out in front of him, a straight path right to the front doorstep.

Black Bass grinned and continued his advance. The road was clear, and nothing was in his way. It was a one way street to a slow and painful death, but he was confident. He knew he could win this, and some prissy purple princess wasn't going to stop him. He had this. As he neared the door to his destiny, he smiled.

This was going to be fun.

Author's Note

*Ding ding!* Round 1! Fight!

Ch 8: You can't be serious

Pixel scanned the surrounding town from his vantage in the sky. He could see quite a bit from up here, from the blood red castle near the edge, or the guards' outposts loosely lining the outskirts of town, impressively managing to contain the threat exclusive to Ponyville. His eyes fell on ruin after ruin, with the occasional purple tinged fire in there for funsies. By now, his wings were getting tired, and by now he was frustrated as all Tartarus.

"CAN'T SEE HIM!" he called down to the group waiting below. He could almost hear the disappointed grumbles. As he coasted back down to the surface, he glanced once again over to the crystal castle in the distance. He flapped a couple times, ceasing his decent about ten meters from the ground. "UH, GUYS?" he shouted. "QUICK QUESTION. SHOULD THE CASTLE BE FLASHING LIKE THAT?"

The group all turned to look at the blood red crystal castle, that was now flashing with a sickly green light every few seconds. Setting down once again, Pixel adjusted his glasses. "Yeah, that's definitely not normal."

"Brilliant deduction, Sherclop." the caped pony scoffed. Pixel scowled and trotted away. Yeah, he definitely did not like this pony.

Pastel walked a few feet ahead of the small herd, stepping towards the flashing castle. But before she could get too far, she was pulled back in a bright green aura. She came to rest beside Sunlight, who then released Pastel from her magic. "Yeah, you're not going anywhere." she said, planting a hoof on Pastel's withers. Pastel pouted slightly aggressively. "Still no. We need to find Black Bass."

The caped pony chuckled. "Speak of the devil." she said, pointing up into the air. All of the ponies looked up towards the castle and saw an orange maned streak of smoke flying rapidly towards them.

"Huh. Guess we found him." was all Pixel was able to say before he got hit in the face by a smoking earth pony flying a million miles an hour. The two tumbled back for a good distance, both bouncing against the rocky ground before coming to a painful stop, Bass on top of Pixel. Pixel tapped his hooves together. "So… How's it going?" he said meekly.

"Good, good, yeah." Bass nodded. "Fighting a princess, so that's cool I guess." There was a pause. Pixel fidgeted under Bass, glancing to the side. "Yeah, okay. Sorry. Getting awkward." Pixel nodded as Bass got out from over him. Rolling over, Pixel managed to see a golden blur rush towards him.

"OH MY CELESTIA PIXEL ARE YOU OKAY ARE YOU HURT SPEAK TO ME PIXEL SAY SOMETHING PLEASE!!!" Pixel would have. If it had not been for Sunlight collapsing both of his lungs. She didn't seem to notice his frantic struggle or the fact that his coat had changed a lovely shade of purple.

Bass raised his hoof. "Yeah, I'm fine too, just in case you wanted to know." He shuffled his hooves, looking a little hurt. More emotionally than physically, surprisingly.

Cantering over, Ember adjusted her cape. "Yeah, nopony cares, man." She walked calmly over to Sunlight, who had yet to notice Pixel's brush with his impending mortality. "Okay Sunny, fun's over." she said as she roughly removed Sunlight from PB. Pixel fell to the floor, gasping for breath.

Pastel managed to catch up to the rest of the small herd, batpony in tow. "How did you survive that? That looked really painful…" She helped Pixel up to his hooves once again. Pixel coughed a few times, his hide returning to its previous ice white colour.

"It's… *Gasp* It's a peg… *Cough* It's a pegasus thing." He shook his head violently and straightened his glasses, blinking a few times. "Okay, I think I'm fine. Anyway, yeah. Pegasi bones are a bit bendy. Helps with high speed crashes and stuff." He chuckled light-heartedly. "Well, now that we've found Bass, how about we go find the princess?"

Bass coughed, pointing nonchalantly. "No problems there then." A sickly green glow crept over the small herd, and despite the permanent noon sun, it seemed that all of the light and warmth was suddenly sucked out of the air.

"You should not be here." a menacing voice boomed. It seemed to shake the very foundations of Equus. Pixel froze. He couldn't bear to turn to see the one being of whom could end his existence with a single thought.

"Ready for a rematch, Princess?" Bass hopped around on his hind hooves, punching the air occasionally. Twilight, still hovering in the air and seeming to radiate darkness, was not amused. Without reaction, she sent a small green spark from her horn. It was tiny. Pitiful even. It swirled around in the air in front of her aimlessly, looking a bit like a sad firework. Eventually, it stopped in the air for a second, before glowing brighter than anything before and zooming quickly into Bass' skull. There was a thick *crack*. Bass' eyes rolled back into his head, and he fell over onto his side, twitching occasionally.

Everypony turned to Twilight. She continued to stare down at the incapacitated form of Black Bass, now foaming at the mouth, her expression bored and unchanged. Ember grinned. "WHOA-HOA-HOA!" Twilight turned to Ember, her expression not differing in the slightest. "THAT," Ember pointed towards the braindead Bass. "WAS AWESOME!"

Pixel, now over his crippling terror, turned to Ember. "What in Tartarus are you doing!?" he hissed. This sadist was going to get them all killed! Ember looked at him innocently.

"What?" Oh his Celestia this pony was stupid. Pixel gritted his teeth and trotted over to the pony laying on the ground a few feet from him. "Okay man, just get up, come on." he said, slapping Bass' muzzle. This seemed to rouse Bass from his magic induces stupor.

"Eh? Wha? Roun fwee?" Bass said derpily, his eyes still misty. Pixel looked over to Ember who was not sniggering behind a maroon hoof. "Yeah, whatever. Sure." he said, helping Bass to his hooves.

"Leave now, and never come back, lest you face the consequences." Oh right. Her. Pixel flinched and turned slowly. The darkness had completely blotted out the sun, and it now appeared as if they were standing in a black void, unable to see anything but the rocky ground right in front of them.

Sunlight stepped forward confidently, chest puffed out and sparks in her eyes. "We are here to put an end to this reign of terror." she said loudly, as if giving a speech. "My friends and I are here to defeat you, and I know that with the power of our friendship, we can surely prevail!" She looked proud of herself. Twilight however, was unmoved.

"How many times you practice that in the mirror?" Pixel asked quietly.

"I lost count." Sunlight waved her hoof, shooing him away. "But that's not important." She turned back to Twilight, slipping back into her speech voice. "Now! Release the princesses immediately, or face our power!" No reaction from the purple princess. "Alright then! Gather 'round, everypony! It's time for the elements of harmony!" Ember scoffed, Pastel danced impatiently on her tippy hooves, the bat thing hid behind Pastel and Bass rushed over, the biggest grin on his derpy snout. Pixel came to stand beside Sunlight. He honestly didn't think that they would walk out of this alive, but he put his trust into Sunlight. She knew what she was doing.

"I'm going to overlook this act to treachery for now. I've said it before, and I'll say it again. Leave now. Don't. Come. Back." Twilight said coldly, her voice piercing the endless black void. Sunlight stepped forward. "No." she said. "We won't leave, we won't back down, we won't retreat. We are here to defeat you, and that's what we're going to do!" She puffed out her chest again. "With the power of FRIENDSHIP!!!" She closed her eyes and focused her energy into summoning the elements. So did Pixel, Ember and all the others.

Dust swirled around their stoic forms, whipping up a fierce wind. They all seemed to radiate power, courage and determination. The void seemed to retreat a little, giving the ground a little less of a claustrophobic feel. Pixel flared his wings, a warm feeling filling his chest and radiating through his whole body. He smiled confidently and focused all of his energy into blasting Twilight into oblivion. He could do this! He was doing this! He laughed and stepped forward, all fear or nervousness drained from his system. He was here. He was now. Everything in his life had been leading up to this moment! He willed every single speck of his soul to empower the elements, for them to appear and rid Equestria of this demon.

But nothing happened.

He stepped backwards, his confidence almost completely gone, the warm feeling in his heart replaced with only ice cold dread. Why wasn't anything happening? What was going on!? The elements were supposed to appear!

"Yea! Fwenship!" Bass yelled, still partially tripping on magic. Ember facehoofed. "I… I don't understand!" stammered Sunlight. "It should have worked, I…" Pastel paced a hoof on Sunlight's shoulder comfortingly.

Pixel looked up to Princess Twilight, eyes now glowing the same sickly green as her corrupted magic. "I've grown tired of this. Prepare to meet your end." She charged her horn, gathering magic from the air. But suddenly, a grey blur ran past her face, making her flinch and leaving a sizable cut on her face, now dripping blood. "What the?" she whirled around. "SHOW YOURSELF!" she yelled, looking into the black void. She continued to charge her horn, waiting until the blur appeared again. Then, right in her blind spot, the batpony leaped out and left another three parallel gashes along the enraged Twilight's chest.

Pixel watched in awe, seeing the corrupted princess receive blow after blow at the hooves of this creature. Twilight spun around, firing blast after blast of green energy into the void, unable to hit anything but shadowy air.

The bat kept at her assault, leaving the princess covered in gashes. Twilight screamed in anger and grabbed the batpony's tail in her magic before she had a chance to dash away again, finally finding her mark. Twilight touched a hoof to her wounds to see her hoof now covered in her own blood. She snarled. Now hanging upside down, the batpony looked terrified. On the verge of tears even. She whimpered, closing her wings around herself protectively. "YOU!" Twilight screamed. "THIS ACT OF TREASON WILL NOT GO UNPUNISHED!" She then turned to the rest of the group and chuckled. "Say good night." Suddenly, all of the power that had been collecting in her horn was unleashed all at once, sending a large ball of energy straight into the centre of the group.

Pixel couldn't remember much past that. Just the screams of the ponies around him, a bright green flash, and white hot, searing pain. Pixel went limp, offering himself to the void. He could feel his feathers burning and spasming, unable to control himself. He closed his eyes for what could have well been the final time in his life. He didn't care. He just wanted this to be over as soon as possible.

And so, he slipped once again into unconsciousness.

Author's Note

Oh noes they ded x.x

Ch 9: Broken

Dim sparks rung out in the pitch black dungeon, firing over and over again. The sounds of weak magic firing echoed off the rocky stone walls, amplifying the sound tenfold. The noises drove Celestia on. They told her that she was doing something. With every single minuscule spark of her celestial magic, Celestia knew that she was getting gradually closer to finding her dear sister.

One thing that Twilight had overlooked when holding her here was her inhibitor. The inhibitor on her horn was built to detain unicorns, not alicorns such as herself. Twilight didn't seem to this into account. But how could she? A standard unicorn inhibitor had never been applied to an Alicorn in equine history. So with magic channaled through her horn, she could create a spark, however small, and make her way to breaking the chain connecting her collar to the wall.

She was exhausted from all of the magic it had taken for her to even pass the inhibitor, but she couldn't stop now. She wouldn't. Her sister needed her, and it was her duty as a princess and as a sister to help. If she couldn't do that, what kind of pony would she be? There were cities and towns pleading to the eternal summer sun for her to return, but at that one precise moment, only one pony mattered to her.

The sparks, already dim, began to fade, growing darker and darker with every burst. Celestia collapsed from magical exhaustion, her breathing heavy and laboured. The inhibitor on her horn, the collar on her neck and the brace on her wings constant reminders of her entrapment. She closed her eyes and focussed on her breathing, waiting until she had the smallest speck of strength to try again. It felt like she had been at this repetitive task for weeks, months, years, possibly longer. There was no way to know. Celestia yearned for her precious sun, her one eternal companion, the one thing that she could always count on. She lay her head on her hooves and begin to sob. She had hardly began to break her chain. How long then until she accomplished her goal and saved her sister from this psychopath?

She felt utterly defeated. Never before had she felt so hopeless, so utterly devastated that she'd consider giving up,forgoing hope completely and giving in to her fate, letting the days pass slowly, fading away as ponies forgot her name, eons passing, fading into one single hopeless void of emotion. Her life was almost over, her strength almost gone.

Her sobs echoed off of the damp dungeon walls, a constant reminder of her entrapment and betrayal by the one she once called family. This wasn't the grand and Royal Princess Celestia. No. Not anymore. This was a broken and hopeless mare, her last light extinguished and her heart broken more times than she dared to count.

She closed her eyes for what could have been the last time that day. She was tired, defeated and utterly broken. Her will no longer strong, her light no longer shining. As long as she had had Luna, there had always been hope. But now? No. There was no hope in this place. No sunlight shining through the cracks, no knowledge that they would get out alright, no reason to go on. Yet Celestia went on. If there was no hope in this abysmal place, then she would have to be the hope for all of them. She had to. She just had to. For her. For Lulu.

Celestia lifted her head, her muzzle stained with tears. She shakily got to her hooves and drew in all of the magic she could. She channeled it through her horn with all of the power she could, feeling the tingle of her magic once more. Pushing past the inhibitor, she produced another burst of dim yellow sparks, lighting up the cell once more,

filling it with the hope it desperately needed.

Pixel opened his eyes groggily, finding only darkness before him. He shifted, rolling over onto his side. He immediately regretted it. He was aching all over, and on top of that, a massive chunk of metal was bracing his wings to his sides. He groaned. Not good. The memories of the previous day snapped back to him all at once, sending shivers down his back. He could pass on re-living that experience, thank you.

"Sunlight?" he called out hoarsely, his mouth dry. "Pastel? Hello? Anypony there?" He sat quietly for a few seconds, waiting for a response. Any response.

His ears strained, twitching wildly, searching for a sound, a voice, just something that would reveal the presence of another pony.

"Pixel Bit?" He heard in the darkness. It was a small voice he didn't recognise. It was feminine for one, so that was something to go off. He didn't have time to wonder how this voice knew his name before his hopes spiked.

Pixel got to his hooves shakily, the new weight on his barrel making it hard to move. "Yeah, I'm here." he said to the dark. "Where are you? I can't see you." He stepped forward tentatively, careful not to hit anything.

"Wait one second, Mr. Pixel. Stay there." the darkness said quietly, stuttering his name a bit. Pixel obliged. The dungeon was silent for a moment. It wasn't long, but it was enough to make PB think that maybe his surprise companion had abandoned him. But out of the corner of his eye, Pixel could see a soft red glow. Turning, he froze. In the darkness, there were a pair of bright red, slitted eyes staring right at him.

He whimpered, cowering where he stood, frozen to the spot. As the eyes crept steadily closer, he was shocked to find himself unconsciously stepping backwards as well. He continued to step backwards away from those eyes until he felt himself suddenly strangled by a weight on his neck. He stepped forward and being able to breathe again, held a hoof up to his neck. A heavy metal collar shackled his neck to the wall a few feet away. He was stuck. Unable to escape. Doomed to meet the monster that belonged to those eyes.

As the monster crept closer and closer still, Pixel prepared to put up a fight. Sure his whole being ached like Tartarus, be if he was going down, he was going down swinging. He hadn't come this far just to give up now.

"Please don't be afraid…" the voice quivered. "I… I don’t…" Pixel heard a whimper. "I don't want you to be afraid… Of me…" The eyes blinked and turned away. "Why w-would you be any different." the voice said quietly. Pixel was silently freaking out, but right now, most of his fear had been washed away. He stepped forward, letting his chain hang loosely at the floor. He began to step forward, careful not to provoke this monster.

It started sniffling softly in the darkness. Pixel preceded forward again, laying one hoof in front of another in the dark. He stopped just short of the now sobbing creature and blindly placed a hoof on its withers. The creature gasped, and the eyes turned back to Pixel. Somehow, twitching and tearful, they didn't seem so threatening. "Hey, it's okay." he said softly, pulling the creature closer into a hug. It was warm. Obviously pony shaped. A little floofier than normal.

"I…" the pony stammered. "Aren't… Aren't you afraid?" she said, scooting closer and wiping their eyes.

Pixel smiled. "No. Not of you." The pony grabbed him and hugged him, nuzzling into his chest floof. "What's your name?" he asked quietly, stroking this random pony's mane.

Pixel felt the pony noticeably flinch. "My…" She cleared her throat. "My name's Whisper. And I…" She paused, gathering her courage. "And I'm a thestral." she squeaked out. "A bat pony." Pixel nodded. Guess that explained the glowing red eyes then. He wrapped himself around her protectively. She was the bat pony from the train. Now that they had spoken, he had seen her in a whole new light. Or, y'know. Dark.

"And you're the most amazing bat pony I've ever met." he said calmly. Whisper smiled. "Thank you." she said, her namesake showing. They snuggled closer together, sharing each other's warmth. It was cold, and Pixel wished he could wrap his wings around this little thing. Whisper had to be at least 2 or 3 hands shorter than him.

As Pixel held her, he felt her yawn softly, slowly drifting off to sleep. He held her tight, prepared to fight for her life. She had been so brave for him. She had went up against Twilight when all else had failed and their group was in shambles. Stroking her mane, he yawned as well, feeling the exhaustion of the previous day catch up with him once again. He leaned against the wall, their shackled collars not short enough to hold them apart.

Suddenly the dark and lonely dungeons didn't seem so lonely anymore.

Ch 10: Internal conflict

Sunlight's ears perked up. She opened her eyes, her vision foggy. It wasn't like she could see anything anyway, seeing as it was pitch black. She blinked, trying to let her eyes adjust. She had heard something. A voice? Yes. Somepony was out there. Somepony needed her help. She groaned, rolling onto her side. Everything hurt, from the dock of her tail to the tip of her horn.

"Hello?" she heard again, the clarity improving. "Is somepony there?"

She shakily got to her hooves, steadying herself on the nearby wall. "Yeah, I'm here." she called out weakly. "Are you alright?" She tried to light her horn, but however hard she tried, it had seemed that all of the years spent training her magic had suddenly left her.

"Oh great." she heard in the darkness. "It's you."

"Bass?" she called out. There was contempt in his tone. He was definitely still angry about what had happened earlier.

"Of all the ponies," she heard him say, almost shouting. "I had to end up with you."

"Where are you?" she called out. "I'm sorry, okay? It was silly of me not to think ahead like that." She waited quietly, still leaning on the wall for support. Silence. At this moment, she honestly would have preferred furious screaming. Somehow, the silence seemed more piercing. She once again tried to light her horn, but no dice. She lifted a hoof up to her forehead, meeting her horn at the base. Her breath left her. A solid metal ring dug into the base of her horn, stopping the flow of mana from ever leaving her body.

"No…" Her eyes wide, she slumped down to the cold hard ground. She idly kept rubbing her horn with one hoof, while holding her bright pink tail with the other. To be cut off from her magic like this… It was… It was just wrong. It was the worst nightmare to many a unicorn, and that nightmare had just been made a reality. An inhibitor.

The piercing silence, the burning cold, the shame of rejection and the fear of the unknown all forced their way into Sunlight's heart, chilling her soul and breaking her spirit. She had so many questions, where were her friends? Where was she? How long had they been here? And most importantly, would they all be able to get out of this alright? She shivered, hearing nothing but her own racing heartbeat.

She curled up on her side, flopping heavily to the ground. She closed her eyes, holding her tail tight. They were all going to get out of this alright. They had to right? They were chosen! Everything was going to turn out fine in the end, right? It would. It had to. It just had to. Or at least, that's what she kept telling herself. She kept telling herself that it was all going to be alright, but for the first time in forever, the uncertainty that she had kept tucked away in the back of her mind since the start of all of this began to creep out once and for all.

She sniffled, trying to stay strong. There were ponies out there that needed her. Her friends needed her, and she couldn't help anypony if she was a snivelling wreck. She wiped her eyes and stood up shakily, walking a few paces in the darkness, only to be held back by a weight on her neck. A large metal collar. How had she not noticed it before? She sat back down. She was held in place, only being allowed a few paces of leeway in each direction.

She heard Bass shift, his chain clinking out softly, breaking the silence for a brief moment. Sunlight sighed. By now, her eyes had become at least somewhat accustomed to the pitch black cell, and she could make out at least fuzzy pony shapes. She saw Bass, his back to her. "I'm sorry." she said quietly, almost dropping below a whisper. She heard him sigh quietly. He had heard her. He may not admit it, but she was getting through to him. "For everything."

He turned his head to look her in the face. Sunlight's ears perked up. He scowled. "You expect me to forgive you? Just like that?" he growled through his teeth. "I looked like an idiot. I was made a fool of, and now I'm here." He said. "So no, Sunlight Bliss. Not today." He shook his head and turned away again.

Sunlight stepped forward until her chain was pulled taut. "I know that you don't want to forgive me, and I don't expect you to." she said. No reaction. "I just want you to know that I'm sorry, and I wish that I could go back and change things."

Bass scoffed. He stared at the wall, speaking quietly. "Yeah. I wish you could too." Sure it was sarcastic, rude and dismissive, but it was something, and at this point, Sunlight would take what she could get. She opened her mouth to continue, but thought better of it, and sat down. They both sat in silence for who knows how long, neither engaging the other further. Time passed and the cold, dead silence went on, and on, and on. Despite the company, Sunlight had never felt more alone in her life. To not only be disliked, but full on resented? She hated the feeling. It chilled her to her very core.

She laid down, placing her head in her hooves. She was alone. There was nopony there for her. Pixel, Pastel, Ember, Whisper, who knew where they were. For all she knew, they were lying dead at the hooves of Princess Twilight. She forced herself not to linger on that thought. They were fine, she told herself. They were coming for her, she told herself. They were all going to get out of this alive, she told herself.

But was it true?

Sunlight honestly didn't know anymore. Were they fine? Were they coming for her? Were they going to get out of this alive? She started to sob quietly, tears soaking into her fur. Bass' ears swivelled, but otherwise he stayed quiet and unresponsive as ever. She was lost, stumbling in the woods without a light, slowly losing all hope of rescue. She had nothing left to hold on to. Nothing to cling to in the never-ending ocean that she had found herself in. She was alone.

She was alone.

Ember lay still, pulling her cloak around her. It wasn't very warm, but it was better than nothing, she guessed. Everything was quiet except for her and Pastel's breathing. It was dark, and neither of them could see very well. Though they both were alone together, neither had said much. Ember honestly didn't mind. Gave her time to think, to pretend that this wasn't happening, to wish that she was back home with her family. Either way, she really didn't want to deal with anypony else right now.

She closed her eyes and focused. It was almost as if she could hear the white noise of the marketplace near her house, or the chirp of sparrows outside her window. Familiar, homey sounds. They made her feel a little more confident.

Of course they had briefly tried to escape, trying with all their earth pony strength to pull the collars off or rip the chains right out of the wall. But their efforts had been, obviously, unfruitful. Pastel had pointed out that the locks had been enchanted, and nothing short of unicorn magic would be able to unlock them.

Ember never had much hope of escape to begin with, but when she realised that her overall pessimistic outlook was most likely correct, she had just started to feel terrible. Heck, not just for herself, but for the group, and for the innocent ponies of Equestria. She wished more than anything now that she could find a way to escape, be everypony's hero, to go down in Equus history as the pony that saved them all.

But she was abruptly awakened from her daze by the sound of metal on metal. A small hatch in the bottom of the door had opened, letting a small amount of light in. Ember stood and curiously trotted towards the door, as far as her chain would manage. The space wasn't too big, surely not enough to crawl through. A few seconds passed before a small metal tray was pushed through the gap on a cloud of magenta magic. Twilight. "A good and merciful queen feeds her prisoners…" Ember heard her mutter before the distinct *ZAP* of a teleportation spell rang through the dungeon.

Ember felt like yelling out, shouting at the top of her lungs to let this 'queen' know just what she thought of her, but at the moment she simply felt too weak. She just felt like closing her eyes and giving in to her new tyrannical overlord. Maybe she was just hungry.

By this time, Pastel had also taken notice of the tray. A small pile of hay, two apples, and a pitcher of water. Just enough to get by, really. But to Ember, it was so much more. Pastel had already grabbed her apple, but before she could do anything, Ember grabbed it right out of her hooves. "Hey!" Pastel protested, but Ember took no notice of the cyan earth pony. Pastel's annoyance at this madmare was quickly dropped however, when she saw exactly what Ember was doing, rather being replaced with sceptical curiosity.

Ember had placed the apples side by side on the tray, and, putting all of her weight onto them, proceeded to crush them to applesauce. Pastel smiled. She was crazy, she had to be! She couldn't see any logic behind this; no rhyme or reason! "Okay, what exactly are you doing?" she asked, moving closer to attempt to try and make sense of his seemingly random act.

"Escaping." Ember answered simply as she focused, pouring all of her earth pony magic into the pile of slush on the tray. "Get over here and help."

Pastel focused and began to give a little bit of her own magic to… whatever this was. Ember flinched, and quickly threw the pile of apple slush into the pitcher of water, quickly discarding the hay, planting the tray on top, and holding it down. She braced. "Get back if you don't want your coat burned off." she chuckled nonchalantly. Pastel's eyes widened and she backed up against the wall, preferring not to be anywhere near the pitcher, which was now bubbling and shaking violently.

The pitcher, being held closed by Ember, gave off a loud *BANG* before the bubbling died down. Ember carefully lifted the tray, inspecting the contents of the pitcher. She grinned and threw her hooves in the air. "Woo! Science, mother bucker!" she yelled, shoving her hoof in the pitcher, which came out covered in a florescent yellow goop. She smeared the goop on her collar and closed her eyes.

The solid metal collar began to fizz, before falling away completely. Ember hoof pumped before cantering over to the door, smearing a generous helping onto the lock. She once again closed her eyes, focusing, before the lock began to melt away as well, leaving the door free to swing open. She smiled and walked out into the dimly lit corridor. "Hey!" Pastel exclaimed, standing as close to the door as she could with her chain, still attached to the wall. "You can't just leave me here!"

"Psh!" Ember waved a hoof. "Don't worry! I'll be back. I'm not that selfish." She started to trot down the corridor, her voice getting smaller and smaller. "Just gimme a sec.”

“I have to find a certain unicorn."

Pixel stared straight ahead into the unending darkness. He was sick of waiting. He was sick of the cold, the dark, and the silence. But most of all, he was sick of just sitting here, helpless, as the world slowly died. He wanted to do something, be of some use. He was chosen for this task for a reason, and he wasn't about to let the good ponies of Equestria down. Elements or no, he was going to do something. He had to. It was his duty.

"I'm getting out of here." he said confidently. It didn't matter how, but he was going to find a way, no matter how long it took him. A pair of bright red eyed began to glow in the dark. Pixel stared back, completely unafraid.

"How?" Whisper enquired, closing the short distance between them. "We're stuck here. We've tried everything." She wasn't wrong. They had tried using one of Pixel's feathers to pick the locks, cutting the chains with Whisper's claws, and even brute forcing the shackles with a rock. "There's no way out!" she said dejectedly.

Pixel ran a hoof through his mane. "I know, I know." he huffed. "I just want to do something!" He stood up and began to pace back and forth as far as his chain would allow.

Whisper sighed. "Eat." she said. "You'll feel better." She slid over a dented metal tray. Pixel stared at the food, but even though he was hungry, he just couldn't find it in himself to eat. Pixel turned away and sat back down against the wall. Whisper sat beside him, her eyes still glowing a frightening red. "Pixel, we've tried everything." she said sorrowfully. "There's no way out."

No sooner had she said that, a striking metallic *THUNK* rung through the quiet cell. The cell door ground open, flooding the small room with blinding light. Whisper hissed and covered her eyes, while Pixel squinted into the light. He could make out a silhouette in the curtain of light currently burning away at his retinas. His blood froze in his veins. Oh crap. Twilight was back. He quivered, trying to make himself as small as possible. He waited or what he hoped would be a quick and painless death.

But nothing came.

He curiously cracked open an eye and stared back at the pony in the doorway. He blinked a few times, his eyes adjusting to the bright light. He gasped and broke out in joyous laughter. There in the doorway was Ember, the rest of the group in tow. "Come on airheads." she said confidently, smirking.

"We're getting out of here."

Ch 11: Split up gang!

Freedom.

After Celestia knows how long he had waited, it was finally his. He could be free, he could fly, he could actually do something! Pixel smiled brighter than he had in a long time, the memories of the previous days momentarily erased in favour of this one singular glimmer of hope.

Pixel stood on shaky hooves and stepped blinking toward the dim indigo light of his freedom. He slowly put one hoof in front of the other, focusing on reaching the others more than on his stiff muscles, his smile not wavering. He didn't get too far though. Before he knew it, he had reached the end of his chain, which bit into his neck, causing him to gag, and stopping him mere feet from freedom. Pixel Bit frowned and clenched his jaw, stopping in his tracks and standing just short of the door, unable to go any further.

From the narrow cell doorway, Sunlight stepped past Ember, heading directly toward Pixel. Without a word, she lowered her horn to the lock, her horn glowing her signature green for a second before a small click permeated through the air and Pixel's thick metal collar and wing brace fell away.

Pixel nodded and flexed his stiff wings, flapping them every which way after he hadn't moved them for the past however long. "Thanks." he said before Sunlight wrapped her hooves around him, laughing quietly.

"We're okay!" she kept repeating, barely audible. "We're okay! We're okay!" Pixel laughed and hugged her back, taking in the sheer ridiculousness of this entire situation. They stayed embraced probably way longer than they should have, but right in that moment, nothing mattered. They were free, and now there was a chance, no matter how small, of getting out of this alive.

"Well, if you're all done over there," Ember tapped her hoof impatiently. "I suggest we get out of here. Like, now." She said, heading down the hall

"Wait." Pixel interjected, stopping Ember with a sigh, and turning to a pair of glowing red eyes huddled in the corner of the ceiling, enveloped in shadow, a chain running up to it from a loop in the wall. The group stepped back apprehensively, evidently noticing them for the first time. "We need to get Whisper." Pixel said matter-of-factly.

Sunlight stepped back, cautious, and flashed her horn once from a safe distance, causing the chains to fall unceremoniously to the ground

The glowing eyes fell lightly to the floor without a sound before slinking slowly forward and into the light. One hoof, two, a muzzle and mane, soon joined by two leathery bat wings. This was the first time that Pixel has gotten a good look at the young thestral, seeing the dark purple coat and raggedy white and mint green mane for the first time. Whisper crept up to stand beside Pixel, not lifting her eyes from the floor.

"Well that's just great." Bass burst out with no small amount of disdain. "We've got a vampony."

Whisper seemed taken aback. "I'm not a vampony…" she mumbled dejectedly, kicking her hoof lightly in the dirt.

"Uh, guys?" piped up Pastel, distress painfully apparent in her tone. "We've should go." It was then that the group heard it.

Hoofsteps.

"Crap." the group muttered almost simultaneously before scrambling to the door and closing it behind them with a soft *CLANG*. Pixel stepped out into the soft indigo light of the dungeon hallways, glowing purple crystals casting long shadows on the rocky stone walls.

Changing a look back towards the dungeon entrance, Pixel could see a dark shadow rapidly depending the stairs, no doubt Twilight coming down after hearing their little conversation.

Pixel ran with all his strength and lifted into the air for what felt like the first time. He granted himself a smirk as he soared over the tops of his friends, who were barely keeping pace, Whisper gliding alongside him.

Now, for a single moment, even if he was about to die, Pixel felt alive. The adrenaline coursing through his system, his heart pounding in his chest, it was enough to tell him that he was alive, and that he had a chance, however small, to get through all this, one way or another. Sure, his muscles burned, he felt like screaming and it felt like the weight of Equus was on his back, but he was going to get through this. For himself, for his friends, for his family, and most of all, for Equestria. He couldn't give up now. And he sure as hell wasn't going to.

Adjusting his flight path slightly, he twisted and turned through countless identical corridors. He flew for what felt like hours before shakily landing and galloping alongside his friends. Before he knew what was happening, Sunlight had quietly ushered them into a little side room, practically empty save for a few wooden crates and a desk, and closed the door behind them, encasing them all once again in darkness.

"Are we all okay?" Pixel heard Sunlight's voice through the darkness. The question was met with various quiet mumbles and whispers of confirmation among heavy breaths, signifying that they had all made it out alright. A few seconds passed, their heavy breathing the only sound audible. Soon though, the unmistakable ring of unicorn magic echoed around the room for a second, before the room slowly lit up in a soft green glow. Everypony turned to Sunlight, a small magelight glowing at the tip of her horn.

The room was silent for a second, no one really knowing what to say. Pixel took a moment to stop and really look at all of his friends. Sunlight had a large purple bump on her head, right next to her horn, and patches of her fur missing, showing reddened skin beneath. Whisper was covered in scratches, running all across her chest and side, dried blood mixed with dirt caking her fur. Ember had burn marks on both her forehooves, and a sizable portion of her tail singed off. Bass, mostly quiet so far, had a black eye, was missing a tooth, others cracked, and walked with quite a noticeable limp. Pastel had gotten off lightly, grime and dirt covering her disheveled mane and tail, a small clip out of her ear.

It was then that he turned to assess himself. He had quite a number of feathers out of place or just plain missing, including a primary or two, explaining the difficulty flying earlier. His glasses were cracked, spidering right across the left lens, and he could taste blood. Then there were the scrapes right down his right side, and a cut just below the wingjoint. He folded his wing over them, starting to sting. The adrenaline was officially draining out of his system, the full impact of his injuries beginning to take full effect on him.

He climbed up onto a crate and flopped down, resting his head down on the hard wood surface. But right here, right now? It might as well been a king sized bed. He chuckled, breaking the uneasy silence filling the storeroom. "You know, this has been fun." he nodded with an air of sarcasm. "We should do this again some time."

"Buck off, flyboy." Bass piped, sitting down at the desk, digging around in the drawer for a few seconds before pulling out a hoof mirror and examining his cracked and missing teeth.

Pixel grumbled. "Just trying to lighten the mood over here man." He sat up, using his left wing to support himself, shifting into a sitting position before beginning to preen what was left of his charred wings. Grabbing one in his mouth, he started picking out all of his broken feathers and adjusting the few remaining into a respectable position. Not exactly the pinnacle of pegasus pride, but it was the best he could do.

Sunlight paced about the small storeroom, causing the shadows to shift. The way she saw it, there was almost no possible way to get out of this alive. But if she was going to die, she was thankful that at least she didn't have to die scared and alone. If she was going down, she would die knowing that she had gone down fighting among friends.

Images flashed through her mind of her family, her friends and her home back in Canterlot. She was briefly flashed with the possibility that she may never see them again, but quickly pushed the thoughts into the back of her mind. "No." She mumbled under her breath. "We will get out of this, we will make it out alive, and we will save Equestria."

Normally, she was so sure of herself, but now? She could hardly shake the feeling that she was just lying to herself just to make herself feel better. Maybe they wouldn't get out okay. They could be found and finally killed as Twilight's mercy ran thin, they could get lost in the endless maze of identical corridors that made up the caverns beneath the castle, or, and this was incredibly optimistic, they could escape, leaving this mission behind as they slowly died with the rest of Equestria. With the ponies that she once called friends. The ponies that had relied on her; had trusted her. And she will have let them down.

No.

She pulled up every little inch of determination she had in her gut and pulled it to the surface. She wasn't going to die today, and she sure as heck wasn't going to let anypony down. She smirked confidently. "Listen up everypony," she announced into the quiet room, making everyone present jump in the soft green light.

"I have a plan."

The group quickly gathered in a loose circle, all eager to get out of this storeroom. "Okay," Sunlight started, her horn almost seeming to glow a little brighter in the darkness. "our first priority is escape. We can't do anything if we're stuck in this castle for the rest of our lives." The group nodded in confirmation, but was otherwise silent.

"Now, we've all seen what Ember can do with almost nothing, getting us all out like that." She said, gaining confidence as she started to get into a good rhythm.

Pixel raised his hoof and gave a little cough. "Uh, yeah, I've been meaning to ask." he shuffled beneath himself. "How did you get out?" he asked, shifting the conversation to Ember.

The red-brown earth pony smirked. "Ran some earth pony magic through some apple mush, increasing the acidity if the malic acid in the apples." Ember waved her hoof as if giving a school lecture. "Then all I had to do was run a little more juice through the compound to make it melt through pretty much any metal. Then I get this hornhead and she can zap the rest of the locks open!" she pointed to a slightly offended Sunlight.

Pixel nodded slowly. "That… makes sense..." he murmured. "…I think…"

"Aaaand back to the plan." Sunlight said relatively loudly, her voice echoing off the cold stone walls, a little annoyed. "Now, as I was saying, we need Ember to make us a way out."

"And how in Celestia's tailhole am I supposed to do that?" Ember butted in, eyebrow raised.

"You made an acid out of an apple, right?" Sunlight asked with a slightly annoyed sigh. Ember frowned before answering.

"Yeah? Where have you been for the past hour?" Ember asked, somewhat peeved. Everyone turned to Sunlight, who had an uncharacteristically mischievous smirk on her face.

"How good are you at making explosives?"

With that one simple question, Ember's face lit up. She smiled genuinely for the first time instead of her traditional jerky snark.

Sunlight chuckled. "Guess we've got our answer then!" Meanwhile, Ember was bouncing on her tippy-hooves, making a strange assortment of high pitched babbles and giggles.

"You're really asking me to blow something up?" Ember asked gleefully.

Sunlight nodded with a trusting smile. "Just be safe." she said simply.

Ember scoffed. "Eh, Tomayto tomahto."

Sunlight chuckled lightly and turned back to the group. "Okay, now, while Ember is blowing our way out," she turned toward Whisper. "We need somepony to find the princesses."

Whisper's eyes went wide and she stumbled backwards. "What!?" she cried, before lowering her voice again. "Why me?"

"Because, Whisper," Sunlight started, her expression growing somewhat somber. She paused, a grave air around her.

"we need somepony to go back into the dungeons."

And, as with Ember, the change in Whisper was all but immediate. The lights dropped out of her eyes and her knees began to buckle as she stared into Sunlight's sorry eyes. Whisper fell to the ground, her legs giving and jaw clenching as she squeezed her eyes shut and hoped to all Luna that all of this was just some kind of sick, twisted nightmare.

Pixel stared at this little filly kneeling on the cold stone floors on the edge of tears and knew that he had to do something. So he set down his glasses and wrapped his wings around the thestral, pulling her to his chest. At this point, Whisper was barely holding on, shivering as she curled up against Pixel's breast, snuggling into his pegasus chest floof.

"I'll go with her." he announced to the group quietly, stroking Whisper's mane. Sunlight nodded and Whisper stared up into Pixel's golden eyes, calming down slightly.

Whisper closed her eyes and wrapped her wings around her friend in turn. "Thank you." she said, barely audible.

Pixel turned his gaze back up to the gold coated unicorn. "I still have one thing to ask." he said flatly, staring right into Sunlight's eyes.

"Yes Pixel?" she asked, a hint of worry in her emerald eyes.

Pixel inhaled, slowly letting it out. "Why her?" he asked tenderly, still stroking the batpony's mane. It was clear to everypony present that he cared for Whisper, and wanted her to be safe as possible.

Sunlight glanced at the thestral before turning her eyes back to Pixel, his golden eyes blinking expectantly. She sighed. "We need someone to get back in there, find the princesses, and get out quickly while staying undetected." she paused with a frown, looking right into his eyes. "Who better to do the job than Whisper?"

Pixel nodded slowly, still holding Whisper in a loose winghug. By now, the young thestral had calmed down, and was sitting with her head on Pixel's chest, staring blankly ahead, dread written all over her face.

Sunlight groaned. "Listen Pixel, I know it's dangerous, but we need to find the princesses, no ifs or buts about it." She sighed again. "Equestria needs their leaders, and as much as I want to curl up into a ball and pretend none of this is happening, and believe me, I do, we need to find them...” Sunlight let out a shaky breath. “They need us." Pixel stayed silent, turning away from Sunlight.

Sunlight clenched her teeth, meeting the complete silence of the room head on. She turned and met the stares of three other ponies, all watching the scene unfold before them.

Sunlight coughed. "Okay!” she addressed the rest of the room. “So, Whisper and Pixel will head off to find the princesses, and the rest of us will try and help Ember to break a way out of here!" she said mock enthusiastically with a wavy smile.

Before long though, she just decided to drop the smile and gave a bit of a dejected sigh. "Okay everypony, rest up for a bit. We set out in an hour."

As the group began to disperse, Pixel releasing Whisper from the winghug, a green light washed over the room, before disappearing as quickly as it had come. Sunlight froze in her tracks, her eyes wide with terror. "No..."

Bass stared at where the light had disappeared, blinking in confusion. "The hell was that?" he asked nobody in particular.

"Radar spell." Sunlight said, her voice shaky. "Radar spell!" she said again, raising her voice. "We have to get out of here!"

Sunlight rushed to door. "Okay! Whisper! Pixel! Find Celestia and Luna! Every pony else, with me!" And with that, Sunlight Bliss burst out the door, Ember, Pastel and Bass following in her wake, careening down the hallway with the sounds of galloping hooves.

Pixel grabbed his glasses and was about to go after them, but stopped just short of the door. He turned and saw Whisper still planted firmly on the ground, her eyes watering, and an expression of pure, unadulterated terror plastered across her muzzle.

Pixel ran back to where the young batpony stood and stared right into her eyes. "Whisper!" he yelled in distress, glancing over his shoulder and past the doorway. "We don't have time for this! Come on!" Whisper's only response was to scrunch up her muzzle and start to tear up. "Whisper! Come on! We..." Pixel sighed and shifted his tone, trying to calm both himself and Whisper down. "Come on Whisper, our friends are relying on us!"

Pixel sighed again and sat down next to his friend, placing a hoof on her withers. "Whisper," he started quickly, really in a rush now. "There are ponies out there counting on you to return their rulers to them. I know you wouldn't want to let them down." Pixel stood again and turned to face his friend. "Do it for the ponies of Equestria, Whisper, for the unicorns of Canterlot, the earth ponies of Appaloosa, and the pegasi of Cloudsdale." Pixel held out his hoof. "And if not for them, then do it for me." Whisper slowly nodded and, after a couple long seconds, accepted her friend's hoof up, tears still in her eyes.

Pixel nodded and glanced back towards the door. "Good, because I don't think we have much time left." Rushing over to the door hoof in hoof, Pixel pulled Whisper through and galloped down the hall with her, hooffalls echoing off the cold stone walls.

Both ponies soon took flight, mighty wings beating at the air, propelling them both forward. Sure their wings were tired, sure their muscles were burning, but right then, it didn't matter. They were side by side, flying as fast as they could from their deaths. And with a tilt of their wings, they turned a corner and were out of sight, never drifting apart, and never stopping for even a second. They had escaped for now. They had a mission to complete, and there was nothing now that could ever stop them from doing just that.

Because they were together.

Ch 12: Breakout blitz

"Pixel!" Whisper huffed, her wings burning. "Please! We need to stop!"

Pixel looked back towards his little bat friend, who was drooping lower and lower every second, threatening to fall in a heap to the ground. So, he slowly came to a stop, landing softly, kicking up a small cloud of dust. "Hey," he turned to face Whisper as she landed behind him. "you okay, Whisper? We can walk for a bit of you'd like." Whisper nodded, trying to get her breath back.

"It's just…" Whisper coughed, noise echoing softly off the walls of the forever twisting hallways. "it feels like we've been flying for ages!" She massaged the cuts running over her chest, wincing. Time passed, neither of them moving, much less setting off as they'd said, not feeling up to anything, both a little disheartened. Whisper stared off into the distance, where she for the life of her couldn't see the end of the hallway. It seemed to just go on and on forever. Whisper continued to massage her cuts before turning to her friend, who was poking at his cracked glasses lens.

"Pixel?" Whisper asked in a small voice.

"Hm?"

"Are we lost?"

Pixel looked off in to the never-ending hallway, then back the way they came. Miles and miles of nondescript corridors stretched before him, a door or archway here or there, but otherwise identical. He sighed. "Yeah." He looked back to Whisper, meeting her eyes. "We're lost." It felt like they were going in circles, not getting anywhere. Heck, they'd retraced their mad rush out of the dungeons as best they could, but, if anything, it felt as if they were getting even further away.

They were well and truly lost.

Pixel turned with a sudden yell and punched the wall beside him at full force. It really didn't do much but hurt his wrist, but it made him feel just that little bit better. Get a bit of anger out. He stayed stock still, breathing angrily through clenched teeth. Whisper skittered back in surprise, her eyes wide as sparks seemed to fly from her friend. Pixel lowered his hoof and took a deep breath in, and out. His face softened again and he returned to normal once again.

Whisper stepped tentatively back towards her friend as he straightened up. "I just don't know what to do…" she heard him say quietly, his voice strained. Whisper put a careful hoof on Pixel's withers, prompting him to stare right at her, his eyes discouraged, sad even, devoid of all hope.

"Maybe we can still make our way out of this?" she said, squeezing his shoulder.

"Maybe." Pixel sighed, disheartened. He continued to stare at the ground, empty, ears splayed back.

"Pixel?" Whisper tried.

"Hm?" Pixel grumbled, not really caring at this point.

"Pixel, look at me." Pixel turned to look at Whisper hoof still on his shoulder. "I might have a way to find the dungeons."

Pixel's ears flicked up and his eyes lit up. "Wait, what, really?" Whisper smiled and nodded. "Well why didn't you tell me this earlier?!" Pixel said with a grin, getting a bit skittish. "Come on then bud, let's go!" he exclaimed, waving a hoof for Whisper to follow, but looking over to the young thestral, there was obviously something wrong.

"Okay," he said, tapping a hoof impatiently. "what's the catch?"

Whisper grimaced. "It might help us find the Princesses… but…" Pixel raised an eyebrow. "It will mean that Twilight will be able to find us too…" Pixel nodded, brushing back his mane and letting out a huff, conflicted.

"So wait," Pixel cantered back over to Whisper. "how does this work, some sort of magic map or something?" he inquired.

Whisper coughed. "Well you know how bats can use echolocation?" she mumbled.

"Yeah, but I don't see how tha-" But Pixel was hit by a sudden wave of realisation. "Oh! Right! Ah! Yes!" he started trotting in circles. "Wait, batponies can do that?" he turned to Whisper with a questioning frown. Whisper just nodded, meeting his frown with a neutral expression.

Pixel nodded again. "Well, it's our best bet, and I really don't want to starve to death down here, so I say we give it a shot!" Pixel broke out into an optimistic grin.

"Wait," Whisper shuffled her hoof into the ground. "I don't want to do this until you're sure…"

"But do you want to do this?" Pixel asked.

Whisper stared at the cold hard floor beneath them as she felt Pixel put his hoof on her withers, as she had done for him. "I don't want to do this, but I feel like I have to…" Whisper murmured. "But I… I… don't want to die down here…" She began to tremble again, anxiety building.

Pixel pulled Whisper closer to him with a wing. "Hey, just remember, nopony's making you do this." he spoke. "If you want, we can just keep on going and hope for the best!" It was clear though that Pixel was only trying to make Whisper feel better if she decided not to go through with it. Without it, they would most likely continue wandering around down here for the rest of their lives. The two shared yet another moment of silence as Whisper came to a decision.

Whisper looked up from the ground and looked right into her friend's eyes. "I'm going to do it." she said somewhat confidently. "But when I do, get ready to run. We have no idea how close Twilight is." Pixel nodded and let go of Whisper, ready to dash in either direction.

"Okay, ready?" Whisper murmured anxiously.

"Yeah. Whenever you're good."

Whisper stood up as straight as she could, widening her stance and reaching inside herself, digging around inside until she found what she was looking for. She took in a breath, and let it go. An air shattering shriek filled the air, forcing Pixel down on to the ground, ears squashed against his head, teeth gritted. The sound seemed to reverberate through every single atom of the veritable catacombs under the castle of friendship, almost shaking it to its core.

Whisper gasped and coughed for a second before turning and bolting off past Pixel. "This way! Come on! Quickly!" Pixel was all too happy to oblige, still trying to work the ringing out of his ears as he lifted off the ground, following Whisper as she navigated the corridors effortlessly, eyes closed, only working on sound.

"I hope you know what you're doing, buddy." Pixel mumbled as he followed Whisper around yet another series of corners.

"What was that?" Pastel's ears perked up, swivelling to try and find the source or the sound.

"What was what?" Ember complained as she dug through a large wooden crate filled with various types of magical paints, really not caring in the slightest. The two were alone together, searching a small side room for anything that might be useful, while the others were next door tossing together something to eat from what they had found. It had been a few hours since they had been fed back in their cells after all.

Ember levered the lids off of a few cans with her teeth, casting the lids aside and peering into the cans. "Okay, let's see what we have here. We have speedy paint, bouncy paint, paint that will give you cancer, I don't even want to know what that one is, and a bucket filled with wood shavings."

"Can you do anything with those?" asked Pastel, who was slowly picking her way through a crate full of multi-coloured feathers.

Ember groaned. "No…" Closing the crate, she sat down on the hard, cold floor, resting for a moment. "I can only get a reaction sometimes. And when I do, nine times out of ten I'm not even trying!"

"Wait, really?" Pastel raised an eyebrow. "What about back in the cell?"

Ember shrugged. "A hunch?"

"Plot convenience?" Pastel offered somewhat unhelpfully.

"…Yeah, no, let's go with hunch." she muttered, running a hoof through her hair. "Granted it was a good hunch, but still... It seems that I can hardly make anything when I want to, and when I don't, everything just goes up in smoke!" she sighed. "After all my life, you'd think I'd actually be better at this sort of thing. Heck, I made a flashbang out of a water balloon and a toothpick!" Ember chuckled, remembering. "Actually how I got this puppy." she pointed at her flank. "Wasn't a very good flashbang, but still."

Pastel could see Ember's cutie mark, a gilded golden flame, now that she wasn't wearing her cloak. Now that she thought about it, Pastel hadn't seen Ember in her cloak in a while. Probably burnt to ashes or confiscated when they were thrown down here. Both mares sitting in silence for a second, Ember turned without a word and began to rifle through another crate, tossing anything she didn't deem valuable onto an ever-growing pile of useless junk, Pastel following suit.

"Hey," Pastel turned to face Ember. "can you do anything with this?" Pastel held up a leathery orange sheet.

"Wait, salamander skin?" Ember smiled. "This is great! Wait, I think I…" she trailed off, moving to a previously searched box. "I know I had… Ah-ha!" she pulled out a softly glowing yellow jar and held it in the air. "Liquid lightning!" She took both items and set them in the middle of the room, moving over to the junk pile. Digging through it for a few moments, she tossed a clump of moss with the other items. "Peat moss! Now, I need something a bit unstable…" she trailed off.

"How about this?" Pastel asked, hoofing Ember a pouch full of a coarse powder, slowly changing colours. "I found it earlier, and I thought it looked pretty." Ember took one look inside and chucked it with the others, smiling. "I was going to keep it, but if you really need it…" Pastel trailed off, rolling a hoof in the air.

"This is great, thanks!" Ember grinned. "I swear, you are on fire today, Pastel! Now if you could find me some sort of conductive residue, that would just take the cake."

With a completely straight face, Pastel climbed onto one of the crates still nailed shut, turned to face the maroon earth pony, lifted a hind leg, and bucked one of the glowing crystals illuminating the storeroom, smashing it to pieces. An eyebrow raised, Ember watched as the cyan earth pony pulled a glob of mauve goo out of what remained in the wall. "Conductive residue." she stated with a smug grin. "You are welcome."

Ember stared, dumbstruck. "Okay, how are you doing that?" she asked, graciously taking the glob from Pastel.

Pastel shrugged. "I notice things."

Ember nodded. "Yeah, but what about that?" she gestured to the divot in the wall where the glowing crystal had been.

"Well, the magic in the crystal has to come from somewhere, doesn't it? That-" Pastel gestured at the glob in Embers hooves. "-is magical wiring."

"Huh." Ember moved to grab the rest of the items. "Well, we better get back to the others." And with that, the two trotted through the door and out into the dimly lit hallways.

"You're a little overpowered, you know that?"

"Mhm."

Princess Luna stared at the ceiling through tearful eyes. She lay still, having given up struggling hours ago. All it was doing was wearing her out. She lay strapped to a cold metal examination table, a single flickering light hanging above her. The entire room had a certain uneasiness about it, a veil of dread and anticipation hanging loosely over her.

She focused on her breathing, trying in vain to calm herself. The truth was, she was scared. But not just afraid, but utterly terrified. She was unable to do anything; she was completely helpless. Her wings and hooves were restrained, her magic blocked, and she could hardly move her head in either direction. For all she knew, this room could go on forever.

All she wanted was her dearest sister, to be held in her hooves once again as she tried to get as much rest as she could in these never-ending catacombs. But even if she did find a way to escape, she wouldn't have any idea how to find her way back to her sister. She couldn't even remember the route that Twilight had taken if she tried. It seemed that Twilight had gotten fed up with her kicking and screaming, so one sleep spell was all it took to silence her.

The first thing she saw when she finally managed to pull herself awake was the manic grin of a crazed Twilight, scalpel in hoof. And she was about to plunge it deep into her chest before Luna heard a crash from upstairs, followed by a distinctly male voice yelling for Twilight, demanding she show herself. Twilight had obviously heard it too, as she threw down her tools and stormed out of the room towards the invader, grumbling angrily under her breath. Luna guessed she should be thankful, but all that the stallion had accomplished for her was to prolong the inevitable.

Luna had laid there, tears silently welling in her eyes for what must have been hours upon hours, alone with herself. Occasionally she could hear something echo through the winding halls, a bang rocking the foundations of the castle, or a high-pitched screech piercing the silence and ringing in her ears. She really didn't want to think about that one.

Luna could only wonder what was going on up there, back on the surface. She sighed. She missed the moon, her moon, more than anything. What she wouldn't give to see it again. Just once. But now, there was no way of knowing if she ever would again.

Luna's ears perked up as she heard the large metal door grind open. She tensed, shutting her eyes tight as she prepared for what she knew was to come. The shine of a knife, the pain of torn flesh. Luna's ears swivelled as she followed the sounds of hoofsteps, getting closer and closer by the second. Soon, her captor would be upon her. Luna gritted her teeth as she resigned herself to her fate.

"Princess Luna?"

Luna raised an eyebrow. She didn't have any idea who it was standing behind her, but it certainly wasn't Twilight. First off, it sounded nothing like Twilight, sounding more like her friend Fluttershy if anything, and second, Twilight would never call her by her title except out of spite, much preferring 'useless' or 'disgrace to Equestria'.

"We're here to rescue you."

Luna relaxed slightly, cracking open an eye. She tried to turn her head to this new pony, but it was still bound to the table, leaving her to stare straight up at the ceiling. Rescue. It was something she had feared would never come. Of what importance was she? Sure, she could move the moon, but her sister had done that for a thousand years by herself. She had been all but forgotten; a whisper on the wind. What was stopping that from happening again?

*CLANG!* The shackle holding Luna's right forehoof to the table fell away, letting her finally work the sleep out of her arm. "Thank you…" she murmured, her mouth dry. Luna continued to flex her hoof as a still unseen pony worked on undoing her head brace.

Slipping the heavy leather strap off her forehead, short blue mane stripped of all magical properties falling into her eyes, Luna was able to lift her head and take a look at her saviours. One, a white pegasus with a bright blue mane and black-rimmed glasses, was busying himself buy clumsily picking the locks on her shackles with one of his own feathers. He obviously had almost no idea what he was doing, but be it learned skill or dumb luck, he managed to unlock the second shackle.

The other pony, a dark purple thestral with a white and mint green mane had continued on her head, trying as hard as she could to pry Luna's inhibitor off with a claw, slitted eyes squinting in determination.

"Are you okay Princess?" the pegasus asked. Luna stared blankly for a second before fully registering the question, and nodding weakly.

"Yes… I am…" she murmured, seeming a little distant. "Thank you… Thank you so much…"

Whisper grunted as she was finally able to pull Luna's inhibitor off, it flying backwards out of her hooves and hitting the wall behind her. Luna could feel her magic slowly returning to her, mana beginning to flow back into her veins. Pushing what little magic she now had into her horn, Luna carefully unlocked the remaining shackles, allowing her to finally go free. She sat up and groaned as her stiff limbs cried out in a dull ache.

Slipping off the examination table, she finally let her hooves touch the ground, but let out a pained breath as her legs almost buckled beneath her. Quickly, both her saviours held her up with their bodies, allowing her to at least try to regain her strength.

"Thank you, my little ponies." she repeated, beginning to sound like a broken record. "May I ask your names?"

"I'm Pixel Bit, and she's Whisper." the blue pegasus answered, introducing them both.

Whisper shifted, trying to keep the alicorn up, having a bit of trouble due to how short she was compared to the Princess. "We were sent by Princess Cadence-" she grunted, shifting again. "-to fix Princess Twilight."

Luna nodded, beginning to stand up straighter and lean away from the support of the two ponies. "Am I correct in assuming that your endeavours were fruitless?"

Pixel nodded, stepping away from the Princess, letting her stand on her own. "Yeah. Apparently we were supposed to be the new elements of harmony or something like that, but I'm pretty sure Cadence was wrong about the whole thing."

Luna nodded slowly, just letting the silence of the room drag on for a bit. She took a tentative step forwards, testing her legs. Her legs ached, but were otherwise completely fine. She headed towards the door. "Have either of you seen my sister?" she asked, stepping slowly out into the dimly lit hallway, ponies in tow.

Whisper shook her head. "No. You were the first we found."

Luna frowned. "I see…" she uttered, eyes downcast.

Pixel followed Luna out the door, closing it behind him. "Don't worry, Whisper can find her! Right Wisp?"

Whisper gave a bashful smile and nodded, taking a deep breath in.

"You might want to cover your ears for-" Pixel insisted before his eyes caught a dark purple smudge in the distance. Before anyone had a chance to think, Pixel clamped his hoof over Whisper's mouth and tackled both her and Luna through an open doorway and into one of the many side rooms lining the hallway.

Scampering into the shadows, Pixel kept his hoof held tightly over Whisper's mouth, watching as Twilight flew into view before stopping in the air and glancing down the various hallways. Right now, Pixel was glad that he had shoved the others into a room without lights, making the three ponies almost invisible.

Twilight continued to hover in the air for a few seconds, time seeming to stretch out, mere moments seeming like hours.

Which a scowl, Twilight finally darted down one of the corridors and off into the catacombs under her castle. With the danger momentarily gone, Pixel let out a breath that he hadn't known he had been holding, releasing his hoof off of Whisper's muzzle. With Pixel's hoof finally removed, Whisper quietly coughed and spluttered, gasping for air.

Luna clumsily got to her hooves again, moving to peer out the doorway after the long-gone Twilight. "You two alright?" Pixel asked quietly, helping Whisper up. Both mares nodded, letting silence reign over them once again.

"That was much too close..." Luna fretted, turning away from the door and sparking her horn in a futile attempt to light up the room. After trying for a few seconds, Luna gave up and settled for the futile light emanating from the slightly open door, that barely managed to light up the first few feet of the room. It would seem that her magic had yet to return to her. The room seemed empty, just as many others in the catacombs were, seemingly left vacant as it really had no purpose other than to take up space.

"We have to be more careful." Pixel muttered. "Twilight is still out there, and Celestia knows what she'll so when she gets a hold of us…" Luna winced, turning away for a second before Pixel realised exactly what he had just said. "Sorry…"

"We'll find her." Whisper moved to comfort Luna, folding a wing over her back. Well, she tried at least, as Princess Luna was about three times her size, and her wing only managed to awkwardly caress Luna's belly. Luna nodded grimly, sitting down where she stood.

"I'm sure we will…" Luna said slowly, though it was clear that she was having trouble believing it.

"We should rest for a bit." Pixel sighed. "Get our strength back."

The group said nothing, but a silent agreement was made as they all moved into the shadows, Whisper curling up, huddled in the ceiling, Luna and Pixel sitting below, wings curled around themselves. Soon, the only sounds were of light breathing and the occasional rumble from the depths of the catacombs.

"Thank you…" Luna said one last time before she finally let herself relax, feeling magic begin to slowly run back into her systems.

Sunlight's horn glowed brightly as she tried to keep the small storeroom lit up in her fluorescent green aura. Shadows shifted as she walked between open crates, levitating out various foodstuffs and inspecting them, from apples to oats, bread to beans. Most, of course, had spoiled after being neglected down here for so long, but so far Sunlight had managed to find a couple cans of creamed corn, and some surprisingly edible apples. Not much, but it would do.

Suddenly, dull mauve light filled the room as the door ground open, scaring the living daylights out of the unicorn. Eyes wide, she turned to the doorway, only to relax at the sight of Ember and Pastel striding triumphantly into the room.

"Hey girls." she sighed in relief, heart-rate slowly returning to normal. Both Earth ponies met her with a 'hey'. "Find anything useful?" Sunlight asked, walking over to slowly close the door, leaving only her horn to light up the room.

Ember nodded with a smirk. "Yeah! We got a lot of really good stuff!" She dumped all of her materials onto the floor. "Salamander skin, liquid lightning, it's all here! I can probably make something pretty sweet with all of this!"

Sunlight gave a little chuckle as Ember started to lazily piece her materials together, messing about with them and seeing what came of it.

"Where's Bass?" Pastel asked, grinding the door closed, leaving Sunlight's florescent green aura to light up the room. "Wasn't he here with you?"

Sunlight visibly flinched. "He..." she hesitated, sighing. "Bass left... I couldn't stop him. I'm sorry..."

Pastel's throat caught. "He's out there all on his own?" she asked, her voice strained. Sunlight nodded solemnly. "What if Princess Twilight finds him!?" Pastel was openly panicking now, slowly pacing back and forth in the soft green light. "I need... I need to find him, I..."

Pastel never got to finish that sentence, as Ember had strode calmly up to the panicking mare and slapper her across the face. As Pastel recoiled from the blow, she brought her goof up to her cheek, staring wide-eyed at Ember, while Ember simply stared back, unamused. "You were rambling." she said simply, shrugging.

Sunlight, coughed, grabbing the attention of the other two mares. "So... We good?" She asked, eyebrow raised and ready to step between the other two at a moment's notice.

Pastel vacantly nodded, still running her cheek and mumbling something unintelligible.

"Well," Ember chimed, pointing towards her junk pile. "I think I'll just go work on my bomb now." She didn't wait for a response before she moved towards the edge of the room to work in peace. "I'll try not to blow you two up."

So after Sunlight quickly made sure Pastel was okay, the room eventually lapsed into an ever-familiar silence, an uneasy tension hanging over the three mares, the only sounds being Ember clumsily pricing together their only hope for escape. She felt slightly guilty about hitting Pastel, but she was being annoying, and she really couldn't have Pastel breaking down in tears right then. Was it mean? Yeah, yeah it was, but it had worked, hadn't it? She wasn't mewling about that stupid stallion anymore, was she? Just needed another taste of reality.

As Ember ground up the peat moss in her hooves and put it into the rainbow powder's pouch, carefully mixing it in, she could only hope that her lucky streak would continue.

Pixel, Whisper, and Luna trotted briskly down one of the many winding corridors in this annoying labyrinth. They had only rested for maybe ten minutes, but Luna had claimed that her magic had returned in full force, and she was ready to set out into the dungeons once again. Though Luna claimed to be fine though, Pixel was skeptical. Something about the way she carried herself, head held a little too high, strides a little too long, it just felt off to the pegasus. But really, there was nothing he could do but follow behind her as Whisper lead the way.

As for Whisper, seeing as they had all agreed that getting her to screech her lungs out was probably a bad idea, seeing as Twilight had already gotten frighteningly close once before and they didn't want another encounter like that, Whisper had decided to tone down the volume. Now, instead of screaming as loud as she could and following the echoes, she was now releasing a continuous 'eeeee' that scanned the immediate area, including behind doors and around corners. Apparently, it was some form of batpony communication that Pixel didn't really understand. A bonus of this was that it could hardly be heard unless you knew what you were listening for, or you were right on top of it, meaning the chances of Twilight finding them because of it were fairly slim. A downside though, was that the noise made Pixel fairly uncomfortable. He was willing to put up with it though, if it meant that they could find Princess Celestia sooner, and hopefully escape these endless winding corridors.

Princess Luna stumbled, using a flutter of her wings to right herself with a soft grunt. Whisper glanced back, but said nothing and continued scanning the doorways as they passed. Pixel frowned, raising his hoof to say something, but lowering it a second later with a dismissive shake of his head. She wouldn't listen to anything he had to say, her desire to find her sister was too strong. Pixel could imagine how she felt, being separated from the one she cared about most. Sure, he hadn't had his older sister taken away by a mentally unstable alicorn, but really, who had? This wasn't exactly a common occurrence.

Luna clencher her teeth as she felt a headache coming on. Her magic was returning, yes, but it hut. With this new influx of magical energy rushing into her mana pool all at once, it made her dizzy. But she couldn't let it get the best of her; she would not falter in her mission. Her senses dulled as she diligently pushed on, staring through a bad case of tunnel vision. She had to find her sister, no matter what. Twilight had gone absolutely mad, driven to hurt anyone to make Celestia suffer. Luna was lucky Twilight was pulled away when she was, or Luna might be no better than a surgical cadaver, lying dead on that cool metal table. The thought made her shudder, and she couldn't bring herself to think about how Celestia would react, slumped over her sister's beaten corpse, sobbing into her mane.

A single tear escaped Luna's eye, weather from fear, pain, or thoughts that she hoped to Faust would not come to fruition, the world would never know.

Whisper stopped moving, almost being bowled over by an unfocused princess and a zoned-out pegasus. She coughed quietly as her 'eeeee' came to an end. The lack of sound was deafening, the small team having grown used to the constant high pitched whine after a couple minutes. Pixel peeked over Whisper's shoulder as she stood in front of a door. It looked just like any other in the dungeons, a cold metal slab, a small, barred window with a shutter that kept the room inside in a constant state of gloom.

"Is she…" Luna faltered, a tiny smile slowly making its way onto her lips. "Is Celestia here?"

Whisper nodded. "Maybe. There's someone in there, but it might not be Princess Celestia."

Pixel moved to stand between Luna and the door. "We should be ready to fly if it's not." he said, flaring his wings to emphasise.

Luna nodded and muttered a confirmation under her breath. Satisfied, Pixel nodded to Whisper to open the door, the metal grinding on the rocky stone ground.

"Sister?" Luna whispered, flaring her wings, ready for escape in case things went screwy. "Are you in here?"

The small group peered into the gloom for a moment before they heard the rustling of chains, and a pair of violet eyes peered back, half-lidded and broken. As the door was pushed slowly open, more of the beaten figure was unveiled. A filthy, off-white coat, broken wings and a blackened eye now marked what had once been the protector of Equestria for a hundred generations. As Celestia looked up at her younger sister and the two ponies she carried with her, her eyes few wide.

"Lulu?" She asked quietly, sitting up straighter and leaning towards the door.

Luna nodded, and with tears in her eyes, moved over to stand before her sister. She smiled, her knees shaking, before she gave in and let herself fall into her sister's embrace. Luna relished in the feeling of her sister's hooves wrapped around her, weak as the hold was. As she nuzzled into Celestia's breast, Luna absently sparked her horn, quickly undoing her sister's locks and inhibitor, freeing the raw skin underneath. That little spark of magic sent pangs through her brain, worsening her headache, but right at that moment, as she felt her sister's limp body fall onto her, Celestia grinning wide, her eyes flooded with tears, Luna couldn't possibly care any less.

"I thought…" Celestia wheezed, wrapping her forehooves around her little Lulu ever tighter. "I thought you were gone… I was so scared…"

"Me!?" Luna fretted. "What has happened to you!?" Luna looked over her sister's body and was able to see a plethora of scratches, bruises, and a veritable pool of dried blood running down Celestia's side. But most pressing to the younger alicorn, was the black eye and broken wings. Luna silently sweared that she would send Twilight to Tartarus for this, or whatever force held dominion over her; she would not rest until they were laid at her hooves, begging for mercy from a mare that would give none.

"I am fine…" Celestia said, her voice strained. Though it was evident to everypony in the room that their princess was in fact not fine. Far from it in fact.

Luna saw this, but nodded anyway. "Can you stand?" she asked, offering a hoof.

Celestia nodded and accepted the hoof, but she had hardly gotten off the ground before her legs gave out and she fell, breathing heavy and pained.

"Princess, I-" Pixel spoke up, before being silenced with a hoof from Celestia.

"I'm fine." she said sharply. "Just let me…" Staggering, she levered herself up using her sister a support, resting most of her weight on Luna, who was, in turn, leaning on Celestia. As they supported each other, they started toward the door and into the light, nuzzling into one another.

"Do you think they're going to be okay?" Whisper said, only loud enough for Pixel to hear.

Pixel simply shrugged. "They've got each other, so I guess?" He turned to walk out the door after the two alicorn princesses. "I mean, they've survived this long together, so there must be some sort of dynamic there."

"Eh, good enough…" Whisper muttered as she followed after the group, shutting the door behind her once she was out in the hallway.

Princess Celestia and Princess Luna watched as Whisper moved in front and stared scanning the hallways, letting loose another quiet 'eeeee'. "I'm so glad I have you back, Lulu." Celestia said quietly as she leant into her sister's side, hanging a limp and broken wing over Luna's back.

"As am I, Tia…" Luna smiled.

"As am I."

"You know, I'm worried about the others…" Sunlight confessed to Pastel. "Whisper and Pixel, I sent them into the most dangerous part of the castle, and Bass, well, I can't help but feel that his leaving was my fault…"

Pastel put a tentative hoof on Sunlight's shoulder. "I'm sorry?" she offered.

"No, it's fine. I just think that we should have found a way to keep in touch." Sunlight wilted, her shoulders slumping where she sat. "And how are they going to get back to us?" she sighed. "Why did anypony ever listen to me? My plan was horrible…"

Pastel smirked. "You came up with it on the spot. It was bound to have a couple holes." she offered, getting up and trotting around the room.

"I guess you're right…" Sunlight said quietly. "But that doesn't fix what has happened."

Pastel chuckled. "Let's just focus on getting out of here. You can mope when we're back in The Crystal Empire."

Sunlight nodded before turning her head behind her. "Ember!" she called into the darkness. "How's the bomb going!?"

Ember walked quietly within range of Sunlight's magelight, setting down a fully completed bomb. "Actually, I finished about five minutes ago," she stated matter-of-factly. "but you guys were having a moment, so I decided not to ruin it." You could practically hear the snark hanging in the air, and frankly, it was annoying Sunlight.

"Well, if you're all done with it, then we should find a wall that leads outside." Sunlight said, gingerly taking the bomb in her telekinesis. "Then the only thing we need to worry about is finding the others, then we can get out of here."

Pastel shrugged. "They'll probably turn up sooner or later, plot convenience and all."

Sunlight smiled. "Well," she said slowly, sounding somewhat sceptical. "everything's worked out pretty well so far, so I'm willing to go along with that theory for a little bit if it helps us out…"

Pastel grinned and gave Sunlight a light punch in the arm. "There y'go Blissy! Just let everything go its course! Everything'll be fine!" Pastel trotted over to the door, wrenching it open, letting the soft violet light fill the room. Sunlight cast aside her magelight, letting it dissipate as she followed Pastel out the door, gesturing Ember to follow.

"So…" Sunlight muttered only loud enough for the others to hear. "I guess we just find a wall leading outside and blast our way out, right?"

Ember nodded. "Should punch a hole right through." Ember paused, thinking. "Or fizzle almost instantly, trapping us in here forever to either starve or be blasted into atoms by a psyco princess. It's kind of a fifty-fifty shot."

"Not very encouraging." Pastel deadpanned. "But speaking of encouraging, here comes our plot convenience!" Pastel stopped walking and waved her hoof down one of the numerous side passages, smiling like an idiot. Stopping with her, both mares began to stare at Pastel, a little confused as to what she was going on about. But then, ears swivelling, they heard it. A small, high-pitched whine that, once you heard it, cut through the relative silence like nothing else. Ember wondered if she ever would have heard it if Pastel hadn't pointed it out, but more importantly, how in Celestia's name Pastel had heard it in the first place.

But, just as quickly as it had appeared, the whine abruptly cut out.

Pastel's smile wavered as she turned and walked a few steps into the passage. "Whisper, it's us." she stated simply.

Nothing.

Pastel sighed. "Come on Whisper, you're making me look bad."

Slowly though, a dark purple muzzle slowly crept around the corner, followed by a tentative hoof and deep red eyes. Whisper visibly relaxed once she laid eyes on the small group of ponies assembled before her, gesturing to the group of her own, who followed her as she walked to meet back up with the others. As Whisper walked off to the side of the group and Pixel annoyedly accepted a hug from Sunlight, Celestia and Luna had been left respectfully off to the side, simply enjoying each other's embrace.

The group stayed together, casually chatting and revelling in the feeling of being united once again. The conversations warm and, for the first time since this whole debacle had begun, more or less free of the constant overhanging stress of being re-captured by Twilight. Actually, it was a real miracle that Twilight hadn't found them right then and there, as they really weren't making any effort to conceal themselves, even going as far as to stand literally right in the middle of the hallway.

But then again, an alicorn attack really would have ruined the moment.

But of course, there was one pony that couldn't enjoy the moment like the rest of them. Ember cleared her throat loudly, shocking everypony in the hallway out of their warm and fuzzy stupors. "Well, this is nice and all, but if it's okay with everyone, I'd like to go blow stuff up already."

The group let out a collective sigh as they all nodded and begun to move again, following Ember, who had started walking off without them. As they caught up, Sunlight spoke up. "Okay, We should split up again to search for a wall that we can-"

"Shhhhhhhhhhhh…" Sunlight found herself cut short as Ember held her hoof against Sunlight's lips, rudely silencing her. "Blissy," she started. "the help is appreciated, but please shut up. I've handled it. There's a crumbling wall in one of the cells down the hall."

"Wait, how did-" Sunlight began before she found herself silenced yet again.

"I got bored of the stupid cuddle party and wondered off, that's how. Seriously, you were at it for over five minutes. Now are we done here, or can we finally get going?"

Sunlight raised her hoof to object reply, but lowered it and simply nodded, waving her hoof for Ember to continue down the hall.

Smirking, Ember led the small group through the maze that was the lower levels of Twilight's castle. Soon, they came across an open door that lead into a room like many of the others. One major difference though, was that the back wall was cracked, letting small amounts of the never-ending sunlight stream through. Roots seemed to spider in through the cracks, as if a tree had decided to have its way with the cold crystal wall intruding on its home.

"Whoa…" Pixel whispered, hardly loud enough for even himself to hear. It felt as if it had been ages since he had seen the sun. He stepped into the small beam of sun, feeling it flow through him. He was so close, and he wasn't about to give up now.

Celestia stared through the crack, eyes wide in the same kind of wonder you would see on the face of a filly on Hearths Warming day. After all this time, there it was. Her sun. Her beautiful, beautiful sun. Even through her broken wings and blackened eye, she broke out in a smile, tears beading at the corners of her eyes. Throat catching, she began to happily son into Luna's neck, who began stroking her mane as she supported her older sister.

"There it is." Sunlight murmured. Taking the bomb in her levitation, she set it down at the base of the wall, stepping slowly away.

"We should probably get back…" Pastel announced, and was met with a round of murmurs and nods. Sunlight led everypony out the door and behind the wall, helping along Luna and Celestia, who was still happily tearful.

"Would you like to do the honours?" Ember inquired Sunlight.

Sunlight simply smiled. "I'd love to." Sending her magic up and through her horn, Sunlight focused her aura around the fuse of the bomb, sparking it. Everypony there could hear the fuse tick down, until the hissing sound quieted, and air pressure built.

A loud bang ruptured through the catacombs, sending rubble flying out the door of the little side room and scattering in the hallway. Dust flew through the air as the noise from the blast rung through everypony's ears.

As the last couple pebbles rolled to a stop, Sunlight peered around the doorframe to see a gaping hole in the wall before them, rays of sun streaming through, jagged vegetation clearly visible through the hole that, moments before, had been a more-or-less solid wall. Slowly trotting back into the room, Sunlight stepped into the large beam of sun that spattered the ground, feeling its rays warm her coat.

The blast had left a pile of rubble and dirt from the outside forest to tumble down into the now vacant space, making an unstable ramp of sorts that led out into the open.

"Well," Luna smiled up at the sun, nuzzling her sister softly. "shall we proceed?"

"Wait!" Pastel spoke up. "What about Bass? We can't just leave without him!"

Whisper coughed quietly, grabbing Pastel's attention. "I… I could try and find him?"

Pixel shrugged. "She does a thing." He said to Pastel.

They were met with an uneasy nod from Pastel. "I guess it's worth a shot... give it a whirl!"

Whisper looked to Sunlight, who nodded, a 'why not' look on her face. So, she let loose another shrill cry that ran through the corridors of the Castle of friendship. Everyone's ears flattened against their skulls as the noise rocked the ground beneath them. As the nose began to die down and the echoes began to sound, Whisper's ears swivelled wildly. Her expression turned grim and her eyes widened. "I..." She mumbled, mostly to herself. "No, that can't be right, I-"

She was cut off when a pair of dark grey hooves stepped forward out of the hallway, only them and the tip of a muzzle visible. With the bright light now streaming in from behind them, the group could only barely see the outline of a pony. Anything past his hooves and muzzle though, was lost to the relative darkness.

"Bass!" Pastel exclaimed, jumping forward. But she was soon stopped by Whisper's hasty hoof. For one reason or another, she really didn't want anyone getting close to him.

Bass gritted his teeth, unmoving. "I'm sorry..." He said stiffly.

Sunlight smiled. "Bass, is this about earlier? Because if it is, just know that I don't hold anything against-"

She never got to finish that thought.

"Oh, this is rich!" A voice rang through the group, sending chills up their backs despite the warm sunlight. "Such sentiment! Such pure, unbridled affection! This, ladies and gentlecolts, is true friendship!" Bass was pushed forward roughly, his hooves giving beneath him and falling bodily to the floor. As his form entered the light, the ponies before him could now see a large magic shackle biting into his neck, a familiar transparent green. "How ironic" Twilight sneered, floating softly into view. "that all of the values that I once stood for wholeheartedly, I would come to utterly despise."

Everypony held their ground, despite the fact that most felt like running as fast and far as they could, trying as hard as possible to get out. And escape was so close! It would have been easy, just turn, run, and don't look back… But, for a reason that nopony could place, maybe fear, determination, or some other random quality, they stayed.

"But look at you!" Twilight continued, tugging at the magical chain connecting Bass solidly to her hoof, eliciting an undignified yelp from the pony in question. "Banded together, working as a unit, all desperately trying to escape… Well done, by the way, colour me impressed."

"Wh-what are you going to do to Bass!?" Pastel yelled, her voice breaking.

Twilight chuckled. "Well, seeing as he tried to kill me earlier, plus the little incident in the dungeons," Bass shrunk away as Twilight spoke, squeezing his eyes shut, as if he was trying to disappear completely. "I was thinking maybe some light torture, maybe a red hot iron, y'know, whatever I'm in the mood for, really." All the while, Twilight's malicious grin remained apon her muzzle as she pondered what to do as she slowly killed what had become an annoying little thorn in her side.

"Wait! You can't! I… I…" Sunlight fretted, her throat choking up as she tried to find a way to rectify the situation. "Take me instead!!!" she cried, eyes welling up as she shot forward, standing before a mildly surprised Twilight.

Twilight raised an eyebrow, slightly loosening her grip on Bass' magical chain.

"I…" Sunlight stuttered as the full weight of what she had just said began to dawn on her. "I would be of more use to you… And I couldn't bear to see someone else get hurt… Anyone else…"

Black Bass was now looking up at Sunlight Bliss, who now stood beside him, teeth clenched, tears beginning to roll down the sides of her face. Bass looked up at Sunlight, eyes wide. What was she doing? She was going to get them both killed! Why endanger the both of them if it gained nothing? And why the hell would she put herself before Twilight for him of all ponies? He had done nothing but ridicule her since he had met her… Was he really worth trying to save? Even if it was sure to end in failure?

Twilight chuckled darkly, her smile growing ever wider, almost to the point of being unnatural. "A noble act…" she said as she considered. "Very well," she announced. "I shall accept your offer!"

Instantly, the sickly green shackle around Bass' neck vanished, leaving him to cough violently as he was able to finally breathe fully again. Though, at the same time, the shackle moved to around Sunlight's neck, causing her to choke as she was pulled beneath Twilight's feet.

Twilight laughed as she stared at Sunlight, looking straight down into her scared, emerald eyes. Oh, those beautiful emerald eyes…

Sunlight slowly pulled herself up until she could stare into Twilight's murky green eyes herself, trying to show herself to be stronger than she felt.

"Now," Twilight started as she charged her horn. But she hesitated, her smile wavering somewhat, but it was gone before anyone knew it was there. "get out. Leave, never to return, or I promise you that you will die."

Nopony there needed to be told twice, Pixel and Whisper flittering up to help the land-locked up the unstable heap of rocks and out into the forest outside, each giving special attention to Princess Celestia, who seemed to have zoned out, numb to the entire situation.

As soon as the entire group had been helped outside and Celestia had been given back to her sister, Twilight began to retreat back into the relative darkness of her castle, her sickly green aura encompassing the pile of rubble and levitating it back into place, rebuilding the wall, solid as when they had started. As the very last piece of the wall was sealed back into place, Pixel watched as Sunlight was pulled around the corner and out of sight, Twilight's psychotic laugh ringing in his ears.

And so Twilight's magic locked the last piece of the puzzle back into place,

stealing Sunlight from them for what could have been the final time.

Author's Note

And there it is! Wow, it really feels great to get this out. I swear, I have been working on and off on this for just over four months. I started writing this back in December. Hope you guys enjoy this ridiculously long chapter. Seriously. This takes up a third of my Word document.

^*^

Ch 13: Let me in

Pixel Bit stared at the cold crystal wall that had once provided his escape, quietly examining the quiet stone structure through the one good lens of his glasses. He was standing in a small crater of sorts that used to hold all of the earth that had cascaded into the catacombs when they blew the wall out, disrupted soil shifting beneath his uneasy hooves. The deep red stone seemed to taunt him with a quiet, smug satisfaction. Looking closer, Pixel could see the patterns of the clouded crystal shifting slightly, the dark magic within them flowing throughout the structure. He tried to search for any sort of crack or fracture in the wall, but it was solid as ever, possibly even more so. It seemed that even the breach in the rock resulting from the roots of the old tree outside had been sealed up, pristine and foreboding as ever.

This effort was futile. Pixel knew it was. Even if he had found his way back in, would he really have the courage, energy, or stupidity to set hoof back inside that blasted maze? No. Probably not. He just couldn't help thinking about what Sunlight was inevitably going through... Who knew what Twilight was willing to do? She was obviously far gone from the princess she once was, twisted by whatever magic was holding onto her with its malicious tendrils, slowly bleeding away every ounce of her equinity.

Though, a niggling thought kept rising to the top of Pixel's mental pool. Back outside Twilight's castle, she could have easily killed him and his group with relative ease, blasting them all to quarks in less than a second. It would have been easy, what with her powerful alicorn magic, natural affinity for spell crafting, and virtually non-existent restraint, yet, here he was, alive and mostly unharmed save for a couple minor flesh wounds and missing feathers.

And she could have easily slit everyone's throats while they were unconscious, but no, she had thrown them all down in the dungeons after confiscating their stuff. And hell, she could have just left them to starve, cold and alone! But no, instead, she had left them with sufficient food and water to sustain them, most likely with the intent of keeping them alive! As far as Pixel could gather, she had nothing to gain from keeping them as diplomacy seemed to not be much of a motivator for her.
And if she had really wanted them dead, she could have simply struck them all down while they tried to make their escape, but instead, she had let them go... And Pixel wasn't sure, but he thought that maybe he had seen Twilight hesitate, maybe for less than a second. It was simple, but it was there, and with all the information stacked against her, there was something that Pixel was sure of. Twilight didn't want them dead. There was something holding her back.

He guessed he should be thankful, what with the fact that without that mysterious force, he would have been blasted to Tartarus and back a couple times over, but he still couldn't help but feel the slightest bit uneasy at the concept of another piece in play...

Pixel felt a hoof on his withers, looking over to see Whisper standing beside him. "Pixel, c'mon. We're going." She said quietly, waving him towards the rest of the group, already on their way to depart. Pixel glanced back towards the wall for a second. He must have zoned out for a minute or two. "The princesses say they know a safe spot for us to rest for a bit." Whisper continued as Pixel followed close behind her. "They said it wasn't far, so we shouldn't be walking too long."

Pixel was thankful for that at least. Now that he was out in the open air, he could feel all his strength fading away, the idea of simply passing out for a while seeming reasonably appealing right now. Focusing on his breathing, he let himself go into autopilot, one hoof in front of the other, as the sounds of the forest blended into the background. He stretched out his wings, feeling a warm breeze filter through the blue-tipped feathers, letting all the craziness of the last couple days fade away, if only for a second.

Breathing slowly, Pixel overheard snippets of light conversation from the group in front of him, all the conversations melting into nondescript noise. He tried not to let it concern him though, as he followed loosely behind the group, folding his wings back by his sides.

Whisper glanced back at Pixel before focusing back on the loose path that the princesses were leading them on. She shielded her eyes with a wing, the thin membranes keeping most of the midsummer heat out of her eyes. Now that the sun was beating down on her like this, she almost wished she was back in the cool, dark labyrinth. Sure, she was being chased by a psychotic purple alicorn, but at least she didn't have to deal with this Celestia damned sun!

She kept her eyes on the ground beneath her as she weaved through the trees, following down the same unmarked path as the others before her. Now that she thought about it, she was starting to wonder how Pixel was navigating it all, all spaced out like that. Must have been some sort of weird pegasus thing… Flight instincts or something.

Regardless, weaving through the wilting greenery, sun shining brightly through the browning leaves, it made her miss her home, with her little cottage in the forest. Truth be told, she had never been away from her village before. Not really, anyway. Sure, she had taken the occasional trip into the forests surrounding the town, but that was about as far as she got. She could never really bring herself to leave the safety of the town, usually preferring to slink quietly back into the shadows of her home. Nothing could ever hurt her in there...

But now she was here... Away from home... Where there was danger around every corner, and a monster almost certainly breathing down her neck. It wasn't the best arrangement, but she guessed she would have to make do. She guessed she was relatively safe, at least compared to back in the labyrinth. She should have been happy that they were all out of there, but the fact that Sunlight had stayed behind, voluntarily or not, it made her question if maybe she would be the only one to meet the same fate, whatever that happened to be. There was really no way to know what was being done to Sunlight, but chances were it wasn't nice.

Whisper blinked, gazing skywards as her surroundings darkened. It seemed that as they proceeded further into the forest, the trees had grown thicker and thicker, eventually beginning to blot out the sun. She lowered her stiff wing, letting it fall unceremoniously by her side. She was thankful that the sun was a lot more bearable at least, but this sort of place really wasn't helping her nerves. At least she had these ponies with her. She hoped that they were at least faring better than she was. She had heard whispers of a name. Everfree, she thought. Whatever it meant, it undoubtedly wasn’t a good sign.

Sunlight followed closely behind Twilight, who had just begun back up the staircase to the ground levels of the castle. She was tense, and she had every right to be. She was being held in a mazelike castle by a veritable goddess that could tear her to shreds in a million different ways the second she got on her bad side. Following that lavender tail through the winding halls of the corrupted castle of friendship, she could only wonder what the deranged princess could possibly have in store for her.

"You're probably wondering what I could possibly have in store for you."

That was fast.

"I… yes…" Sunlight admitted. "Why keep me? I'm not useful to you."

Twilight chuckled as they reached the main hall of the castle. "My subject, Sunlight was it? You're going to be very useful to me, Sunlight. You just don't know it yet…"

Twilight's answer made Sunlight fidget uncomfortably. She still didn't really know what was going to happen to her, but she could only hope that her friends would return for her.

But would they? They had only known each other for a few days at most. She had spent a lot of time with them, sure, but they had never really gotten to know each other. And for Celestia's sake, Bass clearly hated her. It made her wonder if she had found a group of true friends that would go to the ends of Equestria for her, or if they were only putting on a show, hoping to appease her long enough to ditch her when the mission was over.

The thought was scary, the concept of being taken advantage of, ponies pretending to be someone that you could confide in before getting what they needed and moving on. Was that what she had with the others? Were they just working with her because she had been assigned to them, or did they actually care for her, despite their short time together? Was the sacrifice she made worth it?

Well, she guessed it didn't matter now. She had been taken by Twilight, and by some sort of miracle, she had decided to spare Sunlight's life. It didn't really matter if she was saved or if she wasn't, she was most likely going to die here anyway.
She looked up, realizing that the gigantic doors to the throne room were slowly being wrenched open by Twilight's magic, crystal grinding crystal as the door refused to budge, but opened anyway, compelled by Twilight's sickly green aura.

Inside, a crystal table stood, a map of greater Equestria projected onto it. In the center, a dark cloud hovered over their current position, tracking Twilight's influence. Luckily, it didn't extend past the outskirts of Ponyville. Behind the table, a singular throne stood, bearing the cutiemark of the princess. Around the table were six piles of blackened rubble, what remained of six identical thrones. Even the stained glass windows were shattered into a million tiny shards, swept haphazardly to the edges of the room, the beautiful patterns lost to the ages.

But what Sunlight saw at the edges of the room was what shocked her the most. Standing tall in clouded formations of solid crystal, stood the other elements of harmony, faces contorted in rage. Their widened stances and thrashing hooves, locked in a single instant were a telltale sign of a fight, one which they had obviously lost.

"W-what happened to them?" Sunlight asked, her voice quivering.

Twilight frowned, stepping into the center of the room. "They forgot their place."

Sunlight continued to stare, stunned. "D-did you... Are they-"

"Of course they're still alive..." Twilight snarled. "Not much use to me dead." She paused, taking a moment to recollect herself, staring off out the broken stained glass window. "They were my friends. They don't deserve to die. Besides, what kind of queen would I be if I had killed my most faithful subjects?"

Sunlight turned to Twilight. If she hadn't been scared of her before, then she certainly was now. But she still felt a sort of understanding. This Twilight was the same as she had ever been, but… different. She wasn't quite sure how to explain it to herself, but it was like a switch was flipped that had changed her moral alignment. She still wanted the best for everypony, but she had a different way of going about assuring that.

"Are you going to do the same to me?" she asked, glancing at the five ponies, frozen in crystal. "Are you going to take me as some sort of twisted trophy?"

Twilight smiled sweetly, which given the circumstances, didn't tend to be too comforting. "No Sunlight, you're going to help me." The phrase sent chills down Sunlight's spine. "I wasn't able to get through to my friends. They all rejected my gifts of power. They had said I'd changed, and they were right. I'm not too foolish to not know that I've been corrupted. But I was rash. If they wouldn't join me, to help me expand my empire, to bring me into a new age of prosperity, I would just have to… convince them… You see, I gave them a portion of my insight. A portion of my magic. And it would seem that they were not able to bear this gift of mine, and lashed out, their minds much too far gone."

Sunlight quivered. "But what does this have to do with me?" she asked, voice uneven.

"Over time, I have perfected this spell," Twilight said carefully, lighting her horn. "worked out all the missteps, the little kinks in the incantations that would keep me from my goals."

"You mean-?"

"Let me into your mind, Sunlight Bliss. Into the corners that you hide even from yourself. Let me see your secrets, your fears, your doubts. Let me in, and I will change you, moulding you into the perfect specimen… Let me into your mind…"

Sunlight felt a searing pain run through her skull as Twilight's magic took hold, her magical aura arcing between their horns, each unicorn's power battling for domination. It wasn't long before Sunlight gave out, her aura dissipating as she fell limp to the floor. Her vision began to blur as she felt Twilight's influence in every aspect of her being. She could feel Twilight's rage, her pride, and the evil energy melding Twilight to its will. And Twilight was letting that energy into her mind. She could feel herself slipping away from the mortal realm, her only thoughts being of her friends, and the frightening cackle of the corrupted alicorn.

"You will make a wonderful ally, Sunlight. A wonderful ally indeed…"

Prologue

The elements of harmony. Six magical gemstones that can harness the magic of friendship to protect the land of Equestria. Magic, honesty, kindness, loyalty, generosity and laughter. The bearers, known throughout the land as the mane six, had the purest of hearts and the strongest of bonds. They could not be broken as long as they were together. They had overcome countless evils that threatened the land of Equestria, and had come out on top every time.

But they were not invincible…
Every good must fall…
Every legend must die…

Overcome by a mysterious dark magic, the tree of harmony withered, taking the elements with it. And as the elements became clouded, shattered and died, the mane six, with their strong magical connection to them, were consumed by chaos, becoming manic, demented, insane reflections of themselves wanting nothing more than to destroy Equestria.

Celestia and Luna tried to bring down the new threat, but the power of the elements and a fellow alicorn princess was too much for just them alone to handle. As they fell, the mane six turned their attention to Ponyville, taking only minutes to burn it to the ground, leaving only the castle of friendship, clouded and red. There were no casualties, but left without their rulers and protectors, the end seemed near for Equestria.

But there are always two sides to a coin…