Occult Rising

"Hey, asshole. I'll make you a deal, let my dad go and I'll consider letting you live." Wind said.

The unicorn looked up.

"How did you get here? Kill her!" He shouted as the other robed figures stood up and brandished various weapons.

"Oh. You guys wanna step in here?" Wind asked as she readied to fight.

The cultists charged. The fight raged on while the leader of the cult continued to chant in some other language. Wind slashed through one cultist but two more charged at her. She dodged and Applespice took them out with his hammer. Pinkie had pulled a cannon out of nowhere and was blasting random cultists with shots of red hot coal. Dash was slashing through them, desperately trying to get to Jet. No matter how many of them they cut down, there always seemed to be more coming at them. As Wind slashed another's throat, she noticed the pentagram begin to glow red.

"Shit! Applespice, throw me!" She yelled.

"But, Windy..." He began.

"Now!" She shouted.

He picked her up by the waist and hurled her over the crowd of robed unicorns. She tackled the leader and they both fell to the ground. His hood fell down, revealing his face.

"No, that's not possible." Wind said as they both stood.

He just laughed.

"You're supposed to be dead." Wind said.

"Actually, my death was merely rumored. Celestia was a fool to not allow me to perform this spell years ago." Starswirl said.

"I still have time to stop you." Wind said as she readied her sword.

"Actually my dear. You are too late, the spell is in it's final stages now. Your dear old dad will be vaporized along with these other five fools. I will become more powerful than Celestia herself." Starswirl said as he laughed maniacally.

"No..." Wind said, realizing her defeat.

"Daddy!" Wind yelled as she jumped into the center of the pentagram as it erupted in flames.

She grabbed onto her father as they were both lifted into the air.

"W-Wind Storm?" He asked as he opened his eyes halfway.

"I'm here daddy." She said as she hugged him.

"I-I need you to d-do something important, honey." He struggled to say.

"Anything daddy." Wind said.

"I-I need you to..." He began as he cringed in pain.

"Yes daddy?" Wind asked.

"… you have to kill... me." He said.

"What?! I can't do that!" Wind cried.

"You have t-to without a l-living host, his spell w-will not work..." He said.

"I-I can't kill you daddy." Wind said as tears welled in her eyes.

Jet looked his daughter in her eyes.

"P-please. We can't let him win." He said as he grabbed the tip of her sword and leveled it at his chest.

Wind hesitated as he brushed his hand against her face and nodded.

"I'm sorry daddy, I love you." She said as she pushed the sword through his heart.

"T-that's d-daddy's girl..." He said as his head slumped forward and the flames dispelled from the pentagram.

They both fell to the floor. Starswirl began laughing as Wind stood up with tears streaming down her face.

"What are you laughing about? You've lost." Wind said.

"Oh, did I?" He said as he vanished.

Dash came over to console her daughter.

"I'm sorry mom. He said I had to do it." She said as she looked down at her father's body.

"It's ok honey. He knew what he was doing. Your father always had a plan for everything." Dash said as she bent down and shut his eyes.

She kissed his cold lips.

"Applespice, please carry him. He deserves a proper burial." Dash asked as Wind grabbed the spell book Starswirl had been reading from.

The group headed back out of the cavern and back towards the train station.