The Tomb of the Nameless Evil

Chapters

Part 2 - Two Guides
Part 3 - Downward Spiral
Part 4 - The Hate-Filled Dragon
Part 5 - Cascading Disaster
Part 6 - Frozen Heart
Part 7 - Emergence
Part 8 - Necessary Evil
Part 1 - Ice and Strife

Part 2 - Two Guides

Geomancy: A discipline, profession, school of thought, magical ability, or philosophy related to the study, manipulation, and/or application of thaumic energy.

Thaumic Energy: A universal force of magic, found propagating in planets with oppositely-rotating cores. Associated with various aspects of organic and inorganic cell behavior in rocks, minerals, crystals, fossils, and cosmic debris.

Terrakinesis: The ability to innately sense and manipulate thaumic energy without physical contact. Rare in earth ponies/zebras, common in crystal ponies/yaks, and universal in alicorns.

Geomancy Grid: A mineral or crystal-based device that transmits thaumic energy according to a set of parameters.

- Geomancy 1001: Chapter 1 Vocabulary Terms, University of Manehatten

ZRRM!

Cramped, low-ceilinged corridors. Walls so cold your skin stuck to them. Twisting downward paths that never seemed to end. A horrid smell like burning plastic mixed with swamp gas. Clattering hooves on ice and slick stone. A lingering feeling of being watched. Neighsay did his best to ignore all of it and focus on a simple process: Step through portal, get bearings, create new portal, repeat.

ZRRM!

He kept hitting dead-ends with gruesome face carvings. Their dark, open mouths gave off an ungodly reek that made him gag if he got too close. The cold sank into his skin whenever he stopped, so he did his best to keep moving. He swore every path looked more and more the same as he went, but he shoved the thought out of his mind. Step through portal, get bearings, create new portal, repeat.

ZRRM!

The solid, frigid mass of his medallion pressed against Neighsay's left side. The gentle warmth of the Tear of Laughter radiated from his right side. The sizzling swishes of constantly opening and closing rifts were like the steady beat of a metronome. No, those weren’t spiderwebs clinging to him, just mana threads from all the rift-hopping. There were never any spiders, don't let yourself think otherwise. No, the shadows aren't moving, that's just the light from the earring. Step through portal, get bearings, create new portal, repeat.

ZRRM!

Stop thinking you might set off a trap. The corruption is playing tricks—don’t fall for them. Step through portal, get bearings, create new portal, repeat. Don’t think about the doppelganger in the ice with the fearsome eyes. Don’t think about the possibility of her learning about this place. Nothing is safe here; don’t trust anything. Step through portal, get bearings, create new portal, repeat.

ZRRM!

Don’t think about the Elements of Harmony or the consequences of failure. Don’t think about anything; just focus on what’s in front of you. Step through portal, get bearings, create new portal, repeat. If you have to think about something, think about how everything will be fine once those unstable immortals are off the throne. Think about the looks on the Elements' faces when they're exposed and arrested as traitors. Step through portal, get bearings, create new portal, repeat. Think about how this evil place will be destroyed with magical cannon fire. Think about making Equestria safe at long last. The three tribes will soon be the only ones that call these lands home, and balance will be restored. Step through portal, look around, create new portal, report to the Queen—

“RrAaaAaGGGggGhHhHhhH!” Neighsay flung himself into the freezing wall. The portal he’d just opened hung before him like a noose, its glow made dim by the flickering green light in his eyes.

You love the Queen, Sleeper.

You’ll do anything for the Queen, Sleeper.

Your only wish is to make the Queen happy, Sleeper.

You want to see the Queen more than anything.

She misses her Sleeper dearly—

"NO!" Searing cold bit into Neighsay’s thigh. A scream ripped from his throat as he tried and failed to pull his ensared leg free. “MY nAMe... is nOT... SleePeR!”

Your inner turmoil is stirring, Sleeper. This place knows of your burden; how it claws at your mind and soul. Using the witch's power will only make it worse—

“SHUTUPSHUTUPSHUTUPSHUTUPSHUTAAAAGGGGGH!” Neighsay yanked his leg free. He fell backwards clutching his thigh, a line of torn skin still dangling on the wall.

You want to return to the Queen.

You want to tell her everything you know.

You want to serve her forever.

[iIt's what you were almost meant to do.

Return to your place at her side, Sleeper.

Return to her right now.

Neighsay bit his lip so hard he drew blood. Seething, he rose little by little with murder in his glowing eyes. A manic smile formed on his face as he took an excruciating step forward... then another... and another... until he was past the glowing portal. He continued limping down the path without looking back.

You don’t want to think anymore.

Return to the Queen right now.

You want to obey your orders.

Return to the Queen right now.

Your inner turmoil will devour you.

Return to the Queen right now.

Only she can save you, Sleeper.

Return to the Queen right...

Neighsay slammed the portal closed with a wide, bloodstained grin. The pain was what saved him—stinging and throbbing right through the incessant commands. Warm, crimson rivulets wept down Neighsay’s leg, but he kept moving forward with a sanguine trail in his wake. He entered a new corridor with strange little holes along the walls—

His hoof sank onto a pressure plate.

FWTTT! FWTTT! FWTTT! FWTTT! FWTTT!

Black, needle-thin crystals fired from both sides. Dual clouds of death sailed towards Neighsay in slow motion, their cruel points sinking into his flesh.

“There’s one.” Maud pointed a spot on the left wall. “Left side, near the ceiling.”

The empathic corruption was the first thing Maud had felt on waking. The heightened power of the Elements was ever-present, yes, but you could still it festering beyond like a disease. A first-aid kit had helped with the pulsing headache Neighsay had so kindly gifted her, but it didn’t do much for a wounded ego.

Twilight squinted at the spot. It was faint, but she did feel something strange—like a magnetic pull. “I think I sense it! I can try terrakinesis—”

“Stop.” Maud's voice rose just a hair. “Let me learn more about the grid first. Attempt the wrong the thing, and we could cause a cave-in.”

Twilight went pale. “A-Ah... right. Sorry.”

Rainbow sniggered. “Guess it’s good Cadance hasn’t had time to show you the ropes, after all.”

Beyond the chasm was a series of narrow, claustrophobic paths. The floor here was more glossy ice than solid rock, and the alarmingly-cold walls meant they had to fly in lines of two. It kept growing colder and more corrupted the farther down they went.

Maud watched the readings of her scanner. She'd switched over to Rarity's back, as Fluttershy’s electric wings and metallic instruments didn't mix. "Okay, Rarity. Cast it now.”

Rarity swivelled her ears backward. “You’re sure?”

"Not really." Maud looked up through her bangs. "But we always have the Pinkie Sense.”

Pinkie beamed.

Sighing, Rarity wove together a lesser version of her Gem Finding spell. She paused to make sure no part of Pinkie was reacting, then released it proper with a FLASH!

…

...

...The silhouette of a wicked crystal appeared at the end of the left corridor wall.

Applejack curled her lip. “Does everythin’ in this place gotta be a crime against eyes?”

Fluttershy shuddered. “It looks like it’s covered in fish hooks.”

Maud’s lips parted. She stared at the glowing crystal... then put away her scanner and rummaged in her bags. She produced a cylindrical instrument covered in knobs and switches and turned it on.

“Erm...” Pinkie watched Maud wave the device around. “Not good?”

Maud didn’t answer. She was staring at one specific gauge as the needle inside rose bit by bit. It’d barely moved at all before stabilizing a moment later.

“You could say that,” she told Pinkie. “Though I suppose it could be worse.”

“What's wrong?” Twilight asked.

Maud adjusted a few settings on the cylinder. “Geomancy grids have two main components: Emitters, and resonators. Emitters draw thaumic energy from a power source and oscillate it to an intended frequency. The resonators receive the frequency and perform a designated action on activation. That crystal there—” She nodded at the one Twilight had revealed. “—is a resonator. It’s made of a substance called mutacite.”

Now Twilight REALLY went pale. She looked at the crystal, then at Maud, then back at the crystal again.

“Muta-what now?” said Rainbow.

Twilight swallowed hard. “M-Mutacite. It's... i-it’s a native quasicrystal with an amorphous molecular structure and an inconsistent convection tolerance. It’s malleability gives it the most diverse physical and metaphysical absorption properties of any known mineral, but that makes it EXTREMELY reactive.”

Rainbow ran a hoof down her face. “Babe...”

Twilight meeped. "I-I mean... it's a rare crystal only found in the Himaneighya region. It can absorb and store almost any kind of energy, but it has something like a seventy percent chance to… e-explode.”

Silence.

“Are my ears not working?” Rarity asked. “Because I thought I heard ‘explode’.”

Rainbow suddenly had an epiphany. “The explode-y crystals you and Spike gathered a few months back...”

Twilight’s face was grim. "Even casting magic around mutacite can set it off. I don't know how or why someone would use it as a power source, but—"

“I do." Maud showed Twilight the reading. “If my calculations are right, that mutacite over there only has about a four percent chance of rupturing."

Twilight blinked. “...How?!”

Maud shrugged. “Maybe there's a way to stabilize it.”

“Could be worse’ indeed.” Applejack folded her forelegs. “Yet four percent ain’t zero, no matter how ya slice it. You’re basically sayin' not only is this place trapped from nose to tail, but even the traps are booby trapped?!”

Maud looked at her, deadpan. “Eeyup.”

“What do we do?” Fluttershy asked. “We can’t just keep charging forward and hope we survive!”

“How about a golem?” said Rarity. “Twilight knows the Come-to-Life spell, after all. We could use it to scout.”

Rainbow held up a hoof. “Daring Do did something like that once. It's a good idea, but there's no guarantee we'll be out of harm's way when the trap goes off."

Twilight nodded. “The trigger could be anywhere in the effect radius. Not to mention if we cause one explosion, that in turn could cause more.”

“Or we could wake up another nasty critter," Applejack said in a dark voice. “No more slime creatures for me, thanks.”

“Hey, what about this?” Pinkie said. “Maybe we could…”

Several of them began talking at once. Maud listened to the ideas at first, but her head soon began to throb and pound. She put a hoof to her head as the concerns devolved into a fast, noisy blur. Her eyes unfocused without her meaning, and her thoughts floated off to come up with an idle bit of poetry.

Paladins five, a fiery Divine,
sent by Love to the lofty mount,
the poet and scholar guides them forth,
into the depths of ancient dread,
through frost and shadow they descend,
resolved to claim those lost to death,
though damned souls wail and secrets creep—

She stopped upon realizing how quiet it'd gotten. She looked up and saw the others were looking at her, their brows furrowed and expressions worried.

"Ahem." Maud tried to recall the last thing that was said. “I... think I have an idea to get us through.”

“Maud..." Pinkie began.

Maud waved her off. “Judging by the aetherial vibrations, this grid resembles an inverted Tackwell-Heinhitch lattice. I can measure the thaumic energy travelling between the emitters and resonators and isolate the oscillation frequency. Then I can use my equipment to at least nullify the ancillary resonators.”

You could almost hear the whoosh of that going over everypony’s head.

“I think I’m just gonna save everypony the trouble and say ‘go for it’,” Twilight said. “Although geomancy aside, ancillary refers to a support mechanism, not a primary one.”

"Correct." Maud began rummaging through her bags. “I’m not sure how the primary resonators are locked onto us. I’m not even sure what triggers them—I just know they’ve registered six intruders.”

Twilight tilted her head. “Six? But... there’s seven of us; eight if you count Neighsay—”

Suddenly, Maud’s metal cylinder lit up.

Applejack made a face. “That don't look good.”

The device’s crimson glow tinged the Elements’ light a bloody hue. The needles of several gauges were fluctuating, and the readings on Maud's other scanner were all over the place.

“An energy surge,” Maud said, “Different than what you described at the entrance. I believe it matches Sombra’s dark geomancy.”

Twilight’s eyes darkened. “We’ve only gone down about half a mile. The source of Princess Cadance’s curse is something he left behind, but these traps are too old to be set by him.”

Maud adjusted the sleeve of her sweater. “The original ones are, but it's possible he—”

That was when Pinkie’s back legs wiggled.

“AHHHH!” She shoved everyone forward with all her strength. She got everypony clear right as there was a terrible grating noise, huge cracks appearing where they'd just been.

CRUNCH!

A huge pillar of black crystal exploded from the floor. It smashed the ceiling with bone-crushing force, the entire hallway shaking from the terrifying impact. Shards of crystal and bits of stone pinged off the girls’ armor as they sailed down the hall towards the fish hook resonator—

WHUM

Fissures formed in the ground. Cracks spread up the walls, the ceiling quivering and quaking. The entire path began to shift with an ear-splitting SNAPS, portions of the floor giving way while others rose in several-ton slabs. Cruel veins of black crystal burst through ice and stone, new corridors forming while others collapsed.

“ARE YOU KIDDING?!” Applejack bucked away a falling slab. “That crackpot set his OWN traps?!”

"Not 'set'..." Maud waved her metal cylinder in a circle. “Modified.”

“MOVE!” Twilight yelled.

Pandemonium reigned. Pinkie and Rainbow took the lead, Twilight, Rarity, and Maud stayed in the middle, and the other two took up the rear. Together they raced forward with crushing death close behind, black crystals bursting from everywhere like spiky hellish vines. Their ears were assailed by ceaseless scraping, snapping, crunching, and smashing. Dust stung their eyes and obscured their surroundings as all sense of direction was lost. The cramped, crooked tunnels were shifting like a colossal rubix cube, the way forward becoming a jumble of madness and doom.

Twilight and Rarity threw up a soundproof forcefield. Rainbow and Fluttershy managed to keep the air clear while Pinkie navigated the bedlam. The world fell blissfully silent within their glimmering magenta sphere… but Maud's splitting headache still grew worse by the second. It was made worse by the constantly shifting walls, her stomach doing somersaults with every swerve, stop, and start. It was only sheer force of will that allowed her to muscle down the nausea that crept up her throat. Gagging, she retrieved a rectangular device from her bags and extended its antennae, its batteries kicking on with a crackle of static.

A pillar shattering against the forcefield made Fluttershy flinch. ““The crystals keep coming! I-It’s like they’re following us!”

Rainbow muttered a curse. “I thought the Elements could dust Sombra’s geo-crud! Did he soup this batch up, or something?!”

“It IS bein' dusted!” Applejack said from the back. “I’m watching it all break behind us—it's just takin' a sec!”

“Then let’s amp up the juice and—”

“DID YOU FORGET ABOUT THE 'EXPLODE-Y CRYSTALS'?!” Rarity screamed at Rainbow. "We can't use excess force!"

Twilight had already thought the same thing. Not to mention that when Spike had retrieved the Crystal Heart, she'd learned that magic and Sombra’s crystals don’t mix. “Just keep moving! We’ll get through this!”

A constant barrage pummeled them from all sides. Twilight and Rarity could feel every weighty hit, every glancing blow, every wicked jab. Pillars tried to smash them, shards tried to shred them, and a sense of confinement loomed as the oppressive walls hemmed them in more and more. Every turn just made them more lost than the last, and as the minutes dragged on like hours, so too did this leg of the cave.

“I feel like we’re playin’ ring around the rosey!” said Applejack after a time. “What do we do?!”

“I don’t know!” Pinkie said. “I can’t tell which way leads out! Just looking at the walls makes me dizzy!”

“Well, this dust sure isn't helping!” Rainbow snarled. “I still say we bust through!”

“We can’t tunnel through a mile and a half of solid rock!” Fluttershy asked. “We'd have to pray we break into another cavern!”

Meanwhile, Rarity caught Twilight’s eye. She jerked her head at Maud, who was swaying back and forth with glassy eyes. Her complexion was clammy and pale as she adjusted the dials on her device.

Twilight pursed her lips. She could feel a strange energy from Maud’s device shifting alongside the crackling static. Everything about this was alien to Twilight, from the sounds of the instrument to the instrument itself. She couldn’t even tell if Maud was trying to tune them all out and focus, or if she was on the verge of—

“I believe in Maud!” said Pinkie. “Oscillate away, sis! Those ancillary resonators may as well give up now, because nothing can stand up to the Maud Sense! That thaumic energy frequency is good as toast!”

Silence.

"I... can keep up the shield for a bit yet!" said Twilight, disregarding the phrase ‘Maud Sense’ for sanity's sake. “Do what you can, Maud! We'll give you the time!”

The others nodded. They went back to their respective duties, their resolve making the Elements shine all the brighter.

Fluttershy strengthened her gusts of wind. “Y-You don’t think Neighsay is caught in this… do you?”

Rainbow strengthened hers, as well. “If he is... we might need another dustbox.”

Meanwhile-

It had all happened so fast. Neighsay had been fighting off the venom’s influence one second, and the next he'd been staring down his own demise. The only thing he could do was shut his eyes and wait for the end.

But then, he’d felt himself falling…

At last, Neighsay mustered the courage to open his eyes. Instead of seeing a skeletal boatstallion asking payment for safe passage across a river, he was somehow in another part of the cave. It was the top of a staircase, by the looks of it... if said staircase had been built by Pintocasso. Odd angles, nonsensical dimensions, bizarre overcomplexity... trying to go down would be like navigating the chaos of a kaleidoscope.

"Ugh..." Just staring at the oddity made Neighsay’s head hurt more than it already did. He turned around and—

“WAH!” He nearly fell down the stairs. “YOU!”

It was the doppelganger from before. They were watching him from within a wall like before, said wall encased in a layer of purest eyes. Their glowing blue eyes were glued to his every move.

Neighsay’s foggy exhales were like a cloud. He noticed that the ice was only cleaned off in a small circle around the entity. The rest of it was cloudy and dark.

“Who are you?” Neighsay could swear his medallion was pulsing, it’s foul, frigid magic tugging at his mind. “Why do you look like me? What did you do to my—argh!”

Stinging pain tore through him. Wincing, he realized he'd been pierced by crystal shards along his chest, sides, and legs. It looked like he’d had lost a fight against a gang of porcupines.

“Never... mind...” Blood trickled from Neighsay's split lip. The abrasion from the wall was still bleeding and throbbing, the fiery pain even worse than the crystal wounds. “Damn it all...”

“There is a first aid kit in your bags,” said the doppelganger. It’s mouth didn’t move, but its eyes pulsed alongside a ghostly chorus of voices. “Tend to yourself so we may move on.”

Lead filled Neighsay's stomach. The doppelganger’s cold, calculating stare continued to drill into him, but Neighsay didn’t look away.

“You're in my medallion,” he said at last, "and I sense her magic in you. What are you?”

The doppelganger’s eyes flared. “That is none of your concern—"

"Another golem?" Neighsay said. "Hmm... not entirely. There's something else behind the veil."

"Something you cannot even comprehend," the doppleganger spat. "With our Master's help, we have become the pinnacle of magic, geomancy, and alchemy—”

A distant rumbling and crunching interrupted the entity. Neighsay could tell it was coming from the direction opposite the staircase, but beyond that he was clueless. “Whatever you are, I don't appreciate you taking my form. I’ve not had great experiences with shapeshifters.”

The doppelganger glowered. “You're lucky to have this experience at all. You may not be the first anomaly to invade this place, but you're by far the weakest. If it weren’t for that accursed jewel and your obscene willpower, you’d be nothing more than our puppet.”

There was a lot to unpack in those two statements. Most wouldn't catch a lot of it, but Neighsay wasn’t the head of the Scholar’s Guild for nothing. “Is that what you were doing back on the cliff? Trying to mind control me? Ha! Then let me guess—you snuck into my medallion because I'm not as weak as you thought?”

The doppelganger bared their teeth. “You should be grateful. Transferring this proxy bolstered your medallion's stolen power, AND it allowed us to save you from the compromised defense node! You owe us your life!”

So there WAS kind of ancient geomancy grid in place. “Tell me, what’s to stop me from opening a portal to the nearest city, flagging down a Purifier to exorcise you, then being on my merry way?”

The doppelganger smirked. “It’ll take time to locate someone powerful enough to remove us… especially with your criminal status. You don't want to win your hard-won lead, do you?”

Neighsay had a strong urge to smash the ice. “Stay out of my head, ‘Proxy’. I mean it.”

Proxy laughed. “Treat your wounds, ‘Sleeper’. And do not open this door. The way forward is the stairs behind you.”

Neighsay hadn't even realized there was a door behind the ice. He muttered something under his breath, but nonetheless produced a first aid kit from his bag and set about treating himself.

“I may not fully know what you are,” Neighsay said a moment later, "but I know who your ‘Master’ is."

Proxy chuckled. “We would be surprised if you did not. Her power isn’t just in that medallion—it’s in you, as well.”

Neighsay spat blood on the ground. “Is that why you helped me?”

“Partially.” Proxy started pacing back and forth. “We never thought we’d encounter someone who was compatible with her magic. Though that is less important reason; in truth, we share a common enemy. You seek to destroy something left behind by Anomaly B, or ‘Sombra’, as you know him. We want it destroyed, as well.”

Neighsay snorted. “‘Then why didn't you bring me straight there? You saved me by activating my medallion, didn’t you?”

Proxy scowled. “Because it took most of our energy transporting you this far. Additionally, the item you seek is within the Inner Sanctum, where the defenses are strongest. No form of dimensional travel is allowed within.”

Neighsay pulled another red-stained shard from his leg. “So much for being the pinnacle of magic, geomancy, and alchemy. Is this typical protocol for you, then? Take over ponies’ minds and rifle through their memories, then try to zombie-walk them through this nightmare?”

Proxy’s eyes widened, but only for an instant. The calm, cruel mask had slipped back over their face before Neighsay could even blink. “An anomaly that’s made a living out of deciphering bureaucratic half-truths… splendid.”

Neighsay bounced the shard off Proxy’s image with a tink! “What exactly is an ‘anomaly’? You keep using that word.”

Proxy curled their lip. “...Any that retain their higher brain functions despite all attempts to the contrary is given the designation 'Anomaly'. Again, the one you know as ‘Sombra’ was Anomaly B. You are Anomaly C, and your pursuers are Anomalies D through J.”

Neighsay raised an eyebrow. “You’re missing a letter.”

Proxy hesitated. “We… only learned of Anomaly A when attempting to document Anomaly B. We’ve no record of a breach before that time, so we assume it to be an error in this proxy's spell matrix.”

Neighsay studied Proxy for a long, long time. “I think that might be the most truthful thing you’ve said so far.”

Proxy ignored that. “We want to help you because Anomaly B’s efforts have accosted us as much as they have you.” An image of Sombra appeared beside them in the ice. “Anomalies D through J are powerful; possibly even enough to force their way through, but we don’t trust their motivations. Your wielding of the Master’s power will allow you to pass through most of the facility unharmed, and your magic should allow you to withstand the natural hazards of each sector. The only danger to you will be the mechanisms Anomaly B has compromised.”

Like the one Neighsay had just tripped, he was guessing. It was good to know, yes, but it didn't convince Neighsay that Proxy’s motivations were innocent. “So you're offering to guide me through this place because you feel like it's the best option. You don't really expect me to believe it's that simple, do you?”

Proxy shrugged. “Not everything has to be overly complex.”

True, but that didn't mean the cards were all on the table. “That door behind you. Where does it lead?”

Proxy chuckled—a cold, sadistic sound voiced from a throng of surrounding ghosts. “To one of the compromised defenses of this sector. If you go in, you will die.”

Neighsay tossed another shard at Proxy. “Elaborate.”

The side of Proxy’s mouth twitched. There was a heavy pause, but then, the image of Proxy faded away. The open spot in the ice became like a hazy screen to reveal an image of the room beyond.

Neighsay leaned forward. It was a bare chamber about the size of a classroom. It was devoid of ice and enshrouded in a strange yellow fog, but those were the main things that he could see. It was completely nondescript otherwise—

And then he saw them. The starved, frozen bodies of a stallion and a mare were slumped in opposite sides of the room. Their manes were frozen to their bodies. Their glassy, sunken eyes were staring off into eternity. Their ashen grey coats were stretched across their waxy, emaciated features.

“That yellow fog is a series of powerful interwoven illusions,” Proxy whispered in Neighsay’s ear. “The magic saps all memory, instinct, and sense of self until the victim’s mind is blank. They starved to death without ever even touching their rations, for they’d forgotten how to eat.”

Bile rose in Neighsay’s throat. He averted his eyes, but the image was burned in his mind. Saddlebags, winter clothing, and supplies had all been abandoned near the opposite door. None of it had even been touched.

“They came here with five other trespassers,” Proxy went on. “We were able to commandeer most of them after they ran afoul of the defenses, but controlling multiple psychotic minds is taxing. They began to break free one by one as we guided them—”

“Enough,” Neighsay said through grit teeth. “Take it away.”

“—the first was quite powerful; a mage of some sort,” Proxy said. “She almost got a spell off before the fear effects sent her screaming off the chasm. It’s hard to say what killed her: the fall, or the—”

A burst of orange magic shattered the image.

“I SAID ENOUGH!” Neighsay bellowed.

…

“You remind us of the Master in some ways.” Proxy re-appeared to Neighsay's right. “Yet where she embraced her gifts, you’ve chosen to suppress them. Why?”

Neighsay didn’t look at him. “I don’t know what you’re on about.”

“Please.” Proxy laughed as their eyes flickered a familiar sickly green. “ We sensed how you channel the Master’s power during your psychotic episode. We can show you how to merge your inner turmoil with your soul, you know. You’ll be immune to the empathic magics, and the thing you’ve feared for so long will—”

“I didn’t come this far to give in to my own inner demons.” Neighsay crushed a freshly-removed crystal shard to powder. “Find some other patsy to play your games.”

“Then perhaps we should put this another way.” Proxy nodded to Neighsay’s saddlebags. “You need your medallion. We have merged with it. Attempting to remove us will take time and put you at risk, not to mention cause damage to the medallion itself.”

“You think you can—”

“Without our aid, the facility's compromised defenses will end you,” Proxy said. “You have three options: Flee and let your pursuers claim your prize, ignore our aid and die, or work with us willingly.”

…

...

Neighsay glowered while tending to the tender abrasion along his thigh. It required a little more attention than the shard wounds, but he got it addressed in short order. Salve-coated bandages were now visible through the rips in his leg sleeves, and the wrap on his thigh was held fast by a medical adhesive.

“We both know you’re not going to let me go afterwards,” he said at last.

Proxy’s eyes glinted. "We'll cross that bridge when we come to it... assuming you live that long.”

“Charming.” Neighsay eased himself to stand, flexing his legs and testing his bandages. His movements weren't pain-free, but it's have to do for now. He then made to ask Proxy on what next... only to find the image was gone.

“Come,” Proxy’s voices whispered in his ears. “You need only be wary in the areas we warn you of. You’re safe from the other defenses so long as you keep ahead of Anomalies E through J.”

The funny thing was that Neighsay felt his medallion pulse with Proxy’s every word. It was funny how Proxy didn't seem to consider that a problem for some reason, even though—

"Wait." Neighsay played back what Proxy just said. "E through J? You said D through J before—”

BOOM!

The sound of crunching, smashing rock hit Neighsay like a blow to the head. A constant rumbling shook his body, dust falling to the floor in a sudden sheet.

“Proxy!” Neighsay scrambled to steady himself against the wall. “What—”

“Your pursuers are pushing through Anomaly B’s modifications,” Proxy said. “His additions take advantage of the kinetic dampeners that were already in place to protect the rest of the lair, which are quite easy to flip off...”

Suddenly, the racket and the vibrations stopped.

“...or flip back on.”

Neighsay’s heart hammered in his chest. “How much of this place can you control?”

"Far less than we'd like." Proxy’s voices grew embittered. “The only thing you should rely on us for is information. Anything beyond the facility's most simple systems are beyond the capabilities of this proxy.”

Neighsay made a note right then to find out who—or what—this thing was a proxy for. “Fine. Just tell me how to get down these crazy stairs!”

“When you step onto the first stair, the illusion will vanish," Proxy said. "Go. Hurry."

Well, at least would answer whether Proxy had it out for him. Neighsay took a deep breath, then lifted his hoof to step onto the first uneven stair—

WHUMmmMMmm…

A subtle humming resonated through the kinetic dampeners. The air shimmered with a sense of vertigo, and in the blink of an eye, the maddening perspective faded to reveal a wide spiral stair.

Except Neighsay's hoof was still in the air.

“What in the Master’s name?!” A vague, sweeping chill emanated from the portal medallion. “Portions of the defenses have been nullified throughout the sector!”

Neighsay’s fuzzy ears twitched. The humming was fading into the background, but he knew well enough what it was. He’d rattled off the equipment's make and model, after all. “Counter-frequency...”

Maud’s headache had vanished like smoke. The bump on her head still twinged, but the throbbing pressure and vertigo had vanished.

“Mercy...” Applejack looked behind them. “I thought we’d triggered another trap for a second!”

Maud didn’t reply right away, as she was busy writing down the frequency settings on some parchment. “There. We should be able to get through now.”

Twilight stared at the square device in Maud’s hooves. The strange thrumming had only lasted a second, but she could still sense the energy pulsing from the antennas. “So this is geomancy…”

“WOOHOO!” said Pinkie. “I knew you could do it! Let’s get the heck out of here!”

She started down the nearest chaotic corridor. The others made to follow, but then Pinkie zipped back right as the tunnel collapsed right in front of them.

KA-RUNCH!

“Whoopsie!” Pinkie put a hoof behind her head. “Maybeeeee this one?”

Rainbow gulped as the dust cleared. “I’m never going in a cave again...”

The walls were still shifting with dark crystals bursting forth, but the girls were now beginning to outpace the lethal chaos. It still took awhile to get out of the maze, however, as it was difficult to retain one’s bearings with the constant upheaval making new twists and turns. Eventually they made it out, and the noise dwindled as Maud and the others hurried down dismal, dungeon-like paths that spiralled, zigzagged, and meandered into the mountain’s depths.

“I’m picking up a frost enchantment on the walls,” Twilight said a short while later. “A nasty one, too. Try not to set it off.”

The others had already guessed as much. The dull grey stone around them was radiating an ominous chill, and the cramped corridors made it difficult for a party of seven to maneuver. Everything always led deeper, every route was a little bit colder.

Until it finally happened. Fluttershy’s flight path wandered, Rarity compensated, and her armored white leg grazed a corner.

CLANK!

“Ack!” Rarity’s leg was repelled with startling force. She looked down at her glowing, rune-lit sabaton, then over at the wall.

Fluttershy gasped. “Oh my gosh! Rarity, I-I’m—”

Twilight was already inspecting Rarity’s leg. The wards had done their job, but the metal was still vibrating like a tuning fork. "At least we know the armor works."

Rarity patted Fluttershy's shoulder. "It’s fine, darling. Startled me more than anything else.”

Applejack tightened the straps on her flanchard. “We miiiiiiiight wanna turn the heater on, if ya feel me.”

Twilight did. After giving the evil walls a dark glance, she closed her eyes...

FWOOM!

And just like that, Fluttershy was too busy freshening the air to wallow in self-pity.

The glistening walls and melting ceiling became the norm. Acrid water flowed with them down the descending way, dripping and flowing around Twilight’s fiery forcefield without pause. Shadows danced and water evaporated before her prismatic flames, a tense, eerie quiet settling in that left them speaking in whispers.

“Any sign of Neighsay, Fluttershy?” Rainbow asked.

Fluttershy, who’d moved to the front, shook her head. “Any tracks are being washed away. Have you sensed anything, Twilight?”

Twilight double-checked again to be sure. “No portal magic for a while now. Maybe we should go back and—”

“Wait.” Maud’s scanner chirped. “Stop here, please.”

They'd been about to enter a long, wide chamber with a low ceiling. The dirty floor sank to form a shallow basin, where the water was collecting to make a shin-deep pond. Twilight worried they might have to worry about flooding, but on looking closer, she saw the water was draining through paper-thin slits in the stone.

Rarity squinted at the far side of the room. “There's a door over there, by the by.”

Indeed there was. It was caked in ice from top to bottom, but its ugly green handle and black metal supports made it stand apart. There were also alien symbols etched upon it that repeated in a pattern.

"Some kind of language?" Twilight flew a bit closer. "If it is, I can probably decipher it with—"

Ping! Ping!

Twilight’s eyes shrank to pinpricks. She shoved everyone back the way they’d come with a burst of fiery magic.

“Whoa!” Pinkie did a somersault in mid-air. “Simmer down, there! Code green, code green!”

Twilight ignored her. She focused on the still-chirping ward, discovering the two sources were coming from beyond the door.

“I was about to say there’s another ancillary resonator beyond that door.” Maud held up her beeping scanner. “My counter-frequency is cancelling it out, though. We should be—”

“There are two E.G.E. members in that room,” Twilight said. “Neither them have a pulse.”

A deathly silence fell.

“Well...” Rainbow put a hoof behind her head. “Maud did just say it’s safe...”

“I'm wading through—hrk—a sewer," Neighsay said between portal jumps. "That's what this is, isn't it?! A ruddy ancient sewer!"

He’d smelled what he was heading into long before he got there. He hadn’t been sure what fresh horror awaited at the bottom of these stairs, but the festering, freezing swamp had still been a surprise. The oily, pungent ice had been thawed to make slushy flats, stagnant pools, and mires of reeking muck. Sinkholes like great cesspits were everywhere, each lined by great empty troughs that connected to the other bodies of water.

“This is nothing.” Every time Proxy spoke, the cold of the portal medallion would pulse within the bag.“It'll be far worse for the other anomalies—”

Neighsay vomited into one of the pools.

“...Perhaps we should have warned you.”

Neighsay’s world spun. Legs shaking, he fumbled in his bags and pulled out a winter face mask. He mumbled a few spittle-laden words and jammed it on, the spell deadening his senses of smell and taste.

"A bit of distraction, then." Proxy’s chorus of voices swirled around Neighsay like a winter gale. “The facility is divided into five sectors. Each one is as unique as they are brilliantly designed, their deadly traps second to none. You’ve just exited Sector One, which is the largest in square footage and most varied in its offerings. This is Sector Two, which, while not a sewer, is still quite chemically diverse. Sector Three is a twilit wasteland dominated by temporal magic, entropy, and fierce winds. Sector Four is a collection of interconnected chasms that each contain their own dangers; and in one of these chasms is the Inner Sanctum, where the item you seek resides.”

Neighsay gasped for air. He was recovering, but the memory of the smell still lingered. “That's only... four sectors.”

Proxy chuckled. “We advise against going to Sector Five unless you wish for death. It lies at the bottom of a pit deep enough to expose the trio of planetary ley lines beneath this mountain. As a scholar, you are aware of how deep that is, yes?”

Indeed, Neighsay did. It was tempting to ask the obvious follow-up questions there, but Neighsay could tell he was being led on. “Let me ask… something else. Why… is this place so well-guarded… even after all this time?”

Proxy paused. “We... thought that was obvious. Why else would it be guarded other than to keep out trespassers?"

Neighsay spotted a safe-looking patch of stone a fair distance away. He opened a portal and stepped through with care. “Why be so worried about trespassers? What's to hide?”

Another pause, this one longer. It soon became clear Proxy wasn’t going to answer the question, so Neighsay kept right on talking. “I know it’s not her body. I wouldn’t doubt she died here, but there’s no way someone like her would leave behind a corpse. I doubt it’s riches or a magical item, either.”

Neighsay stopped and looked around. The swamp was in a series of massive chambers larger than he’d seen so far. It remained cold as ever, but the water—if that’s what it truly was—never froze beyond a bit of slush. A thick mist around the high ceiling above looked like clouds on the verge of a downpour.

“A testing ground?” he mused. “Experiments, schemes, projects for unrealized plans? I suppose I can relate to not wanting to destroy your own work, but the effort to repurpose so much into a cohesive whole..."

“...Speculate all you like, Anomaly,” cameProxy’s sullen voices. “The Master’s legacy has been set in stone for millennia now. You cannot stop what is to come... but if you follow her example and embrace your sleeping power—”

“Which one of those girls is Anomaly D?" Neighsay asked. “I know you didn’t misspeak before—one of them didn't set off the defenses. Why?"

No answer. Neighsay waited for a time, but when it became clear Proxy either wasn't going to say (or simply didn't know) he continued portal-hopping through the nauseating chambers in silence.

If there was one good thing about this area, it was that it was very flat and open. Neighsay made very good progress through the chambers due to that, but he still was hampered by the slippery paths and unstable ground. He also realized after a while the chambers were curving inward, the entire sector shaped like a great spiral leading into the center. The clouds above remained dreary and fearfully black the whole time, but not a single raindrop fell.

“You’re approaching the sector interior.” Proxy’s first dialogue in minutes made Neighsay jump. “See the swamp fluids changing into a black ichor? That’s the chemicals and magic congealing. The air isn’t safe to breathe as a result, so you’ll want to move through as quick as possible.”

Neighsay gulped. Even with his enchanted face mask, a foul tang in the air made his head feel spacey. He continued on at a quicker pace, the somber quiet pressing in on his ears.

“Oh, another thing,” said Proxy. “Take care to avoid the shadowfrost jets. The fumes shouldn't be deadly, but direct exposure most certainly is.”

Neighsay froze. “The shadow-WHAT?!”

TTTTSSSSSS!

A column of violet-black steam erupted a few feet away. It was so cold it chilled the air even further before rolling over Neighsay in a horrid-smelling plume. Even inhaling diluted fumes felt like being stabbed in the lungs—

The dark mist dissipated. Neighsay coughed and scrambled away, the bulk of the gas repelled by the Tear of Laughter’s glow. He stared wide-eyed at the evil ‘shadowfrost’ slinking away to join the black jelly in the pools.

“The Master experimented heavily with shadowfrost at the first facility,” Proxy went on. “Though she did admit later, testing it on the local natives without studying their biology was a bit of a misstep. Ironic you've developed a resistance to that same biology; perhaps that will help you resist the compound.”

Cold, clammy sweat dripped from Neighsay’s brow. “What… wh-what are you saying?!”

Proxy just laughed. “Look for an immense statue resembling a snake devouring its tail. The way to Sector Three is within its base.”

Meanwhile-

Fluttershy studied the sanguine stains and bloody shards atop the spiral stairs. There were also some torn fabric, white gauze, and a collection of shattered ice.

“We just got lucky again," Twilight said upon flying in. "Those runes on the door were rigged to explode when someone read them. The only thing that saved us was that we couldn't understand the language."

Pinkie weighed the discarded saddlebags they'd found in her hooves. “Did it say anything useful, at least?"

Twilight's eyes fell on the pair of now-filled dustboxes. “No. It was just one word repeated over and over: ‘SUFFER’.”

Rarity muttered something very un-ladylike.

“ERGH!” Rainbow bucked the wall so hard it cracked. “Why... just, WHY?! Why would someone do all this?!”

Twilight’s fiery contrails made the air ripple around her. “If only I knew the answer.”

“We don't need an answer,” Applejack said. “We just gotta stop Neighsay, fix Cadance, then skedaddle. My brother can level this whole dungheap afterwards.”

Twilight pressed her lips into a thin line. “There's just one caveat. There's no guarantee destroying this place will stop whatever's causing the corruption. I want to find the source first before committing to anything."

Rarity hovered the dustboxes to Twilight. “We should do something about this room in the interim. The enchantments will turn back on the moment Maud’s device is out of range, won’t they?”

Maud, who’d been gathering samples around the room, looked over. “The resonator might explode if I extract it too fast. We'll probably be letting Neighsay get away.”

Twilight clicked her teeth. “Maud's right. We need to stay focused—”

“Girls!” Fluttershy called. “I found something!”

Fortunately, the thing she'd found was on topic. The girls came over one by one until they were all crowded around the evidence Neighsay had left behind.

“At least he’s still kickin’.” Applejack nodded to a piece of gauze. “Though it looks like he's hurt."

“How did he get through this room?!" Rarity glanced behind them and shuddered. “Did he open a blind portal and just pray it worked?! He’s either crazy or desperate!”

Maud snorted. "Why not both?"

Twilight was the last to come over. There was a small commotion upon her accidentally melting the ice and washing away half the blood, but after that, she did a quick magic scan.

“Whoa.” Twilight double-checked the reading. "It's definitely portal magic, but there’s some kind of chill to it."

Fluttershy tilted her head. “Chill?”

Twilight didn’t answer. The only thing she'd heard about magic signatures having a temperature was from Spike’s descriptions of his magic bonds. “I don’t like this. We need to catch up to him!”

“Then let’s move!” Rainbow leapt into the air. “C’mon!”

And so they zoomed down the dizzying stair two by two. Down, down, down they went, the rough-hewn steps and dismal walls blurring into a monotony. The occasional odd rock was the only indicator they weren’t in some kind of endless loop…
until the smell overcame Fluttershy’s lightning wings.

“Mother almighty!” Applejack covered her nose. “I’ve cleaned pigsties that smelled better!”

Fluttershy, Rainbow, and Twilight exchanged looks. They spoke quietly, then Twilight got to work modifying their wards. Rainbow flew to the front and spread her wings wide, while Fluttershy moved to the back and did the same. A strange, scratchy sensation swept over the group as Twilight’s alterations took effect.

Zzzzzzt!

A literal sphere of lightning sprang to life around the girls. The smell vanished instantly as a pale blue haze of ozone surrounded them.

“The Breathe Easy spell filters all kinds of contaminants,” Twilight said over the buzz. “Just be careful with the armor.”

Rarity tapped Twilight’s shoulder. “Perhaps you and I should resume the forcefield while we're at it. Heaven only knows what's causing this smell."

Twilight watched her flames dance in Rarity’s eyes. “I can handle it by myself if you want. You don’t have to—”

Rarity scoffed. “Please! The interference is a bother, but I’ve barely tapped into my reserves.”

Twilight studied Rarity. Her white coat was pristine, her violet eyes were bright, her multicolored mane was lustrous and full, and her magical aura was positively sparkling. There was a vigor and life to her movements, and not only could Twilight feel Rarity’s Element brimming with power, the others felt just as strong.

“Don’t count us out just yet, sugarcube,” Applejack told her. “We may not be alicorn-level, but we still pack a wallop!”

Twilight fidgeted. “D-Don’t misunderstand! I’ve just got a funny feeling we’re going to need every ounce of—”

“We’re approaching a primary resonator,” Maud announced. “It’s tracking six signatures again, just like the other one. The corresponding traps begin at the bottom of the stairs.”

The group screeched to a halt.

“Primaries are the ones you can’t do anything about, right?” said Fluttershy.

Maud squinted at her chirping scanner. “Not unless any of you have a prototype of the latest multi-mineral hyper oscillation frequency jammer.”

Twilight wasn't even going to pretend like she understood that one. “Maud... I've been thinking about which of us doesn't have a 'frequency'. I was at the front when we first entered the cave, but the whumming sound didn't start until the others followed.”

Maud furrowed her brow. “You think you're the outlier?”

Twilight nodded.

Maud’s thoughts whirred. “It's... too hard to say whether that's circumstantial. Let’s keep going for now, but I'll think on it.”

Rainbow cracked her neck. “Ttime to see what kind of super-happy-funtime is waiting for us. Bring it on!”

“Hey, don’t worry!” Pinkie gestured for them to follow. “It can’t be any worse than the stuff above, right?”

Meanwhile-

“Not there,” said Proxy. “There’s three around that spot. Try the raised bit of stone a few dozen—yes, there.”

It was like navigating a minefield. The shadowfrost jets went off at random without any rhyme or reason. Neighsay was avoiding them with Proxy’s help, but he kept having to stop and wait for the air to clear.

“You c-c-called them ‘s-s-shadowfrost jets’,” Neighsay said. He steered clear of unsteady-looking paths and noxious pools with bubbling gases. “E-E-Explain.”

Proxy chuckled again. “Caustic spiritual magic inlaid with transmutative spell matrices. The substance attacks the victim’s body and soul, eating away at both and turning them into an icy husk. The process is… quite painful.”

Neighsay fought the urge to be sick again. “But I-I-I’m… resistant?”

“So long as that venom coursing through you doesn’t adopt the vapor’s transmutative properties and mutate your genetic structure,” Proxy said. “If it does, your ‘tolerance’ to the compound might work against you.”

A chill went up Neighsay’s spine. “W-W-What are you—”

WHUM

The air pressure shifted. The mist around the ceiling thickened, roiling and seething and turning black as night. The septic pools churned and sloshed, the black ichor within glowing with magic and coalescing into thick, dripping tendrils. Their sizes ranged from short and thin to long and thick—the former like lashing whips, the latter like flailing, destructive tentacles.

“Your pursuers have exited the Maniac Stair!” Proxy hissed. “The sector defenses are activating!”

Neighsay took a step back. He was surrounded by nightmares—a forest of putrid death. The writhing, misty masses obscured the path beyond any hope of navigation. Any second these things would coil around him and—

“Wait… WAIT! They’re jamming the systems again!” Proxy said. “You still have a chance if you hurry!”

Neighsay was trembling. He didn’t dare take a step, much less light his horn. Escaping through a portal was his best chance but there’s no way such a thing would go unnoticed. He’d be dragged into the bog and—

“IDIOT!” For the briefest of moments, the ghost of something impossibly huge loomed over Neighsay. “The STORM is the true threat! Make for the Devouring Serpent! NOW!”

Neighsay quailed. He almost slipped before hopping through a portal and hurrying as fast as he dared. The evil tendrils let him pass without issue, some even bending away to let him pass. The black limbs grew more numerous along with the jets the closer he got to the sector’s center, but no matter how dense they became, they never gave him grief.

“Put up the best waterproof shield you can,” Proxy murmured in his ears. “Be ready for hail—you should be able to deflect it for a while. Just be happy the sector's psychic effects are being cancelled out...”

Neighsay was tempted to tell Proxy to can it. He weaved through the pestilence and deadly geysers, an ankle-deep layer of violet freezing fog numbing his legs and making him stumble. Oily drops were soon falling in a strengthening drizzle, their filmy greasy streaks clouding his barrier. He tried to move faster and stay ahead, but the storm was gathering speed as well as strength.

“Not much farther,” Proxy said a few minutes later. “Focus on your footing—the less that touches you, the better.”

Neighsay bit back a curse. The violet fog was up to his knees now, and the tendrils towered over him like humongous trees. The wet, slippery rock drained his body heat even through his ensorcelled shoes. It was getting more and more tempting to direct his next portal out of the caves entirely... but he pressed on.

The rain was falling in sheets now. The hail was kicking up as well, and Neighsay couldn’t see anything resembling a snake amidst this chaos. He could swear he was on the shore of some unholy lake, but the only reason he thought that was because the land had disappeared.

“PROXY!” Neighsay’s voice was drowned out by the sleet. “W-W-WHERE… N-N-NOW?!”

There was a pause, followed by grunts like an entire host trying to push a boulder up a hill.

“Useless… blithering...” Proxy snarled. “Again… we’re forced to… THERE!”

Dreadfully cold magic burst from Neighsay’s saddlebag. Suddenly, a small and flickering portal snapped to life that was just enough for a pony to squeeze through.

“Be careful!” came Proxy's beleaguered chorus. “There are—”

Neighsay had already jumped. He emerged into a dry cave the size of a room dotted with ominous cracks seeping shadowfrost. One of these cracks was right between his legs—

TTTTSSSSSS!

“What was that about ‘no worse than the other stuff’?” Applejack said.

It was chaos. A deluge of hail and filth dumped from clouds darker than Twilight and the others had ever seen. Frothing, repulsive rivers sluiced their way down great trenches into swiftly-filling sumps, their depths churning with loathsome retching whirlpools. What little they could see of the ground resembled the cyst-plagued hide of a rotting corpse, the sickly grey walls oozing with corruption that reeked beyond compare. Their lightning-inlaid forcefield had been soundproofed once more to drown out the storm’s spiteful roar, but it didn’t do anything for the dread that hung over them like a shroud.

Pinkie didn’t reply. She’d been quiet since they’d arrived at the swamp, doing little but look up and shudder. The clouds were like gaping jaws of a drooling monstrosity... or perhaps the mountain was alive, and they were trapped in its bulbous gut.

“Do I even wanna know what this smelly crud is?” Rainbow called over her shoulder to Twilight. The swamp was flat and straightforward, so she’d taken the lead while the others followed. “It sure isn’t water!”

Twilight, who was focusing on melting the hail with tongues of flame, winced. “Some kind of alchemy with heat leeching properties. I’m guessing the smell and texture are additives—dead plant matter, probably.”

Just then, a few chunks of something hit the shield.

“Gracious!” Rarity jumped. “You might want to focus, Twilight!”

Twilight’s eyes went huge. Another few chunks were sailing towards them, undeterred by her flames. Twilight caught them before they hit to inspect them.

“Seriously?!” Twilight intensified her flames threefold. "The hail has rock and metal in it! With penetrative enchantments, to boot!”

Maud’s ears twitched at the word ‘rock’. “I wouldn’t mind examining some of that—”

“NO!” Pinkie yelled.

…

...

“...Or not,” said Maud.

Twilight made sure the shield was doubly strong after that. “Keep at this altitude, Rainbow. Rarity and I will handle the weather!”

Rainbow laughed. “Didn't Rarity try handling the weather once before?"

“My, what a good memory someone has!” Rarity shot back. “Do you also remember the time you tried to be an animal caretaker? You were SO good at that!"

That shut Rainbow up real quick.

They progressed through the underground swamp at a speedy rate. The rain and hail made visibility close to zero, but Rainbow’s flight instincts kept flying straight and level. The odor grew fouler, the putrid sinkholes filled to even flood the few ‘safe’ paths, and the filth below shifted to darker and darker shades of gray. Yet they pressed on through the spiralling swamp in an unstoppable prismatic streak, so fast they even found themselves outpacing the storm to reveal more of their surroundings.

A few minutes later, Applejack felt her Element bristling. “Uh-oh.”

Fluttershy squeaked as the first writhing tentacles appeared around the bend. “What are those?!”

“Bad.” The colors in Pinkie’s mane flashed. “VERY bad!”

Twilight’s world slowed. A corrosive, hungering malice. Profane spellwork designed to twist and pervert. Some of the tendrils were tall enough to grab their group with ease, and more were reaching that size by sucking up the violet mist. Without a word, she tapped into her divine spark and looked with Soul Sight, the light of her glowing eyes reflecting off the girls’ armor.

She didn't like what she saw.

“...I’ve seen what this stuff can do.” Twilight didn't elaborate, but the memory of a hole-riddled soul filled her mind. “Or something similar, at least! Everypony, focus your Elements on the forcefield! We're getting through this, FAST!”

“You were just talking about conserving magic on the stairs!" Rarity motioned behind them. "You seemed so adamant—"

The forcefield exploded with fiery might. Light and heat scorched the ground and clouds alike in a scintillating burst of purity. The Element of Magic pulsed stronger as well, and the other Elements responded, a flood of intoxicating power circulating through the others like a current.

“I HAVE been conserving,” was all Twilight said.

…

“Guess Twi’s hoofin’ the bill for this one!” said Applejack. “Hang on, Maud!”

The girls began infusing the forcefield with their Elements. Rainbow was about to give hers, as well, but Twilight shook her head. Rainbow got the hint and faced forward, the memory of her marefriend’s powerful visage filed away for a lonely night. She pressed her hooves to the forcefield interior and cracked her neck.

“Might wanna boost that lightning spell!, Twi!” Rainbow’s wings glowed bright. Magic rose, flight muscles flexed, and with a great, feathery flap, the ground and ceiling became a muddy blur. Rainbow pushed the shield forward and plastered the others to the interior in a pile. The Element of Loyalty flared even stronger within Rainbow, the lightning from her and Fluttershy lancing out with every flap. Clouds were smote, nearby tentacles were fried, and anything within fifty yards was incinerated by a combination of light and flame.

“WOOHOO!” Pinkie pumped her hooves. “Talk about trailblazing!”

The swamp’s inner depths spiralled inward more and more. Their advance approached the sound barrier as they outflew the hail, but the rain still fell in tumultuous heavy sheets. The shadowfrost tentacles grew larger and larger until they even touched the clouds, but not even they could withstand Rainbow’s empowered charge. Their combined strength sliced through air, storm, and horror alike.

At last, they came to the center. The few bits of unflooded land in the swamp’s heart were like islands amidst a vast, fetid lake. Bubbling vortexes belched out shadowfrost like endless geysers to form a gelatinous, pulsating film. A grotesque stone sculpture loomed over the sickly landscape on one of the bits of land, and while it looked like a great circle from afar, the details soon came into view.

“Oh, lovely,” said Rarity. “A statue of a snake eating itself! Whoever decorated this place needs to be fired.”

"I think they're dead, Rarity," said Applejack.

"Sarcasm, darling."

Maud squinted. “The ouroboros…?”

Twilight’s heart skipped a beat. “That’s a symbol of alchemy! Come on!”

They reoriented and descended through the raging storm. The colossal statue had the same melted texture as the shelf at the entrance, although it was so caked with grime and filth you wouldn’t know it. What was more noticeable was its size—it grazed the clouds above and was just as wide across, and its equally-massive foundation took up all of the surrounding land plus some of the lake. Shimmering shadowfrost clung to the grimy sculpture like a miasma, supplied by jagged vents far too numerous to count.

The foundation’s west side was a sheer cliff face hanging over the lake. There, a cave shaped like a battered pony’s skull had been carved halfway up the side—it’s teeth broken, eye sockets cracked, its shattered jaw dangling open. Shadowfrost wafted from its open maw like smoke, and not far inside, a tall pair of heavy doors were surrounded by several vents—

“LOOK!” said Fluttershy.

A masked stallion was convulsing just before the door. He was covered in pallid frost and ghostly ichor, his masked mouth twisted in a scream. A prismatic jewel was pressed to his chest that barely held the mist at bay. His teal eyes watered as he fought to use his freezing lungs, and every second that passed, the shape of his pupils shifted a bit more...

Part 3 - Downward Spiral

The mind has limits on what it can and cannot process. If a healthy mind deems an event too traumatic (or the resulting cognitive dissonance too extreme) the recollection can become significantly altered, if not blocked out entirely. For example, many veteran soldiers will attest that functioning in the heat of battle often requires some level of detachment, i.e, ‘living in the moment’. Victims of extended, repetitive acts of abuse have been known to block out the trauma. Even a particularly grievous violation of one’s personal beliefs can cause a significant rejection of reality (even if the violation was accidental) to the point a false memory covers it up. In essence, all sentient beings have defense mechanisms for coping with traumatic events, and understanding these mechanisms can give us insight on how (and why) they can go wrong.

The defense mechanism of separating oneself from the memory of an event is known as dissociation. It is not strictly a good or bad thing (so long as the accosting memories are acknowledged and processed within a reasonable amount of time) indeed, dissociation can be an acceptable short-term coping mechanism for extreme acute stress. It’s only when the mind continues to run that problems arise, as while dissociation is effective in the short term, it is the mental equivalent of sweeping problems under the rug.

The traumatic memories in question (referred to as ‘inner turmoil’ by empaths) will rot the mind until dealt with, growing in size and strength without limit. In the worst known cases, the inner turmoil has been observed to take on a life and personality of its own. This rare disorder, known as Dissoputrefactive Identity Disorder (see the Diagnostic and Statistical Encyclopedia of Psychiatric and Empathic Disorders) is one of the most dangerous maladies to accost the mind. If left untreated, the new, often-psychotic personality can become the dominant identity. In the recorded cases where this has happened, the prognosis has always been poor.

A Modern Analysis of Dissociative Disorders - by Dr. Quick Wit, PhD

Falling.

Neighsay was falling.

Sickly green flashes flickered like fireflies everywhere. Other blurry colors spun around him like a carousel. Faces, places, days and nights, entire years compressed into moments, all whizzing by in a twisted montage. One moment he was inside a house, the next he was in a field. The noonday sun hung in a cloudless sky while the crescent moon peeked out from the clouds. He was in a cramped tidy office, but he was also his foalhood bedroom.

“Amusing,” a voice rumbled from the shadows. “The changeling queen, the puppet of frost and shadow… and you, my little hate-filled hypocrite. A desperate trio all stinking of fear.”

A quaint hamlet amidst a flurry of powdery snow. A bustling city enduring a summer heatwave. Neighsay’s steps were lively and quick, but was he hurrying to arrive, or depart? Everyone was faceless, everyone was two-faced. Those in the hamlet were kind and caring while the city was selfish and cruel. No matter how far he ran, he was always surrounded by shapes creeping on hole-filled limbs.

Then he saw her. She was smiling, beckoning him towards a cozy house. Their house.

“The Queen says I’ll devour you.” Something huge beyond reckoning paced in the shadows. “The puppet says I’ll help you. Just another contradiction that surrounds you and makes up who you are. After all, the only thing you want more than to save Equestria...”

He couldn’t see her eyes. He’d spent hours in bed staring into them, but now he couldn't remember their color. Bursts of green flame belched from cracks in the floor that became icy violet tendrils. Venom burned his veins while mist choked his lungs. Pictures of an orange colt were falling from the sky, but when Neighsay reached out to them, they turned to ash in his hooves.

“You’ll be hitting rock bottom soon.” The mountainous thing drew closer, it's cat-like eyes a sulfuric gold. “That iron will of yours will break under the strain. You won’t be able to keep me under much longer...”

He’d recognized the boy the moment they crossed paths. Same teal eyes. Same receding maneline. Same jawline, same quiet anger, shrewd look and goatee... they even had similar tastes in clothing. Something in Neighsay seethed at the mere sight of him, something else sang, and a third thing sobbed.

“Yes, keep running.” The thing smiled, showing off a tremendous set of glistening fangs. “Keep pretending that I'm not here. Will you be offering me your latest harrowing experiences, too? I’ve never tasted such trauma before; I wonder how much bigger it’ll make me...”

The boy was gone, as was the mare with the scarlet mane. In their place was Queen Chrysalis atop her vile Seat. He could feel those foul magics resonating with his medallion. Snow and ash fell like rain from a burning cloud. The waxy resin walls pulsed with noxious hate and syrupy love. Neighsay made to flee, but Chrysalis was already injecting venom into his horn. His shrieks echoed through the changeling lair before being cut short by her glorious will.

“Don’t go dying on me, Neighsay.” The massive thing watched his counterpart a bit longer before slinking away.“Stay alive just a bit longer, and I’ll give you all that you deserve...”

The jumbled scenes of Neighsay’s life turned to gray. The mindscape faded entirely, and the monster settled down to watch from it's prison once more.

And that would've been the end of it, but before the monster shut its eyes, a second Neighsay appeared on the edge of the
mindscape... one with glowing blue eyes.

“You...” The monster's fury blazed to life. “He told you to stay out of our head!

Proxy tilted their head, smirking. "Ah, you ARE cognizant. Good, that makes this easier."

"Your bungling portal just put us at death’s door!” The monster leapt up and stormed forward with earth-shaking steps. "I'm going to—"

“We don’t have much time,” said Proxy, not batting an eyelash. “We’ve come to make a deal.”

“The thing narrowed its tremendous eyes. “You have nothing to bargain with. You're a prisoner like me, forced to act through a feeble mouthpiece.”

Proxy craned their head up, up, up to the thing’s face. “The other anomalies have caught up. They’re working to stabilize you and Neighsay as we speak.”

Most might expect the monster to be pleased at this news, but instead, it SMASHED the ground with a scaly fist. "That just means we're a prisoner within and without. The Elements of Harmony are the most powerful entities of the era, you half-wit! Why do you think Neighsay was trying to avoid a fight?!”

“There's still a way we can escape,” Proxy said. “But to do it, we'll need to work together.”

…

...

“If this is a trick," the monster said through clenched jaws. "You’re going to regret the day you were made.”

Proxy sat on their haunches. “You are the conduit through which Anomaly B wields the Master's power. It will be taxing, but together, we should be able to activate the medallion and manage one short jump. We can do it once the Elements have stabilized Anomaly B.”

The thing growled. “You’re forgetting a few things. Assuming they don't stop us with another dimension lock, the energy of the Elements of Harmony is anathema to your master’s. We wouldn’t be surprised if the medallion has been already damaged just from them being nearby.”

Proxy tilted their head. “We did say we bolstered the medallion’s power. Did you not hear?.”

The thing hesitated, but only for an instant. “The words of a liar are easily dismissed.”

Proxy grinned. “The words of a monster are no better. Now, we’ll make a distraction, and then you’ll…”

“Holes.” Twilight’s grim, glowing eyes were fixed on Neighsay’s soul. “Just like the ones changelings have.”

The skull cave was flooded with harmonic light. Twilight, who’d been tending to Neighsay, was examining the damage the shadowfrost had wrought. Maud was behind her scanning the tall iron doors and beyond, her eyes drawn now and again to her stolen Tear of Laughter clutched in Neighsay’s iron grip.

“The mist is putting holes in his—” Fluttershy gulped. “O-Oh… oh, dear…”

“I told you this stuff was bad!” said Pinkie. She and the others were trying to keep the area clear while Twilight worked, but the vents were relentless. “Super-ultra-MEGA bad!”

Rarity’s nostrils flared. She still recalled the soul magic experiments Twilight had described within Sombra’s old research journals. "I’m beginning to suspect King Sombra was an innovator rather than an inventor.”

Applejack raised an eyebrow. “Come again?”

Rarity gestured to the cave. “Creativity doesn’t develop in a vacuum, darling. I’m saying Sombra more likely improved on things he found here rather than invent anything himself.”

Fluttershy and Applejack exchanged looks.

“Oooookaaaaay,” said Rainbow, “but what does that have to do with anything?”

Rarity gestured to the mist. “We all saw Thorax’s transformation back in the Empire. If the changelings have… have ‘soul wounds’ just like Neighsay, there might be a connection! What if long, long ago, his ancestors stumbled upon something just like this?”

There was a long, heavy pause.

“I think you might be going too hard on the mystery novels,” Applejack told her. “No offense, but that seems a mite—”

“INCOMING!” Pinkie yelled.

The geysers erupted again. The girls flared their Elements again to combat the influx together.

“Twi!” Rainbow called over her shoulder. “Could use an update!”

Twilight, who’d been silent while she worked, didn’t reply right away. Her Element and fire affinity had combined well to ~~burn~~ purge the dark magic from Neighsay’s system. The filmy, waxy hoarfrost had melted off his body. But that was it. She hadn’t healed any actual damage—just stabilized him.

“I’m almost done!” Twilight wrenched her gaze from Neighsay’s spirit. “If the mist affected his magic in some way, a long-range jump might kill him! I'm checking his arcana system now!”

Maud looked up from her scanner. “I should probably leave my instruments here if we're going to be teleporting. We can come back for them, right?”

Twilight started rummaging through Neighsay's saddlebags. “Bandages… rope… climbing gear… rations…” She moved to another pocket. “Where is that stupid magic scrambler?! I can't check his arcana until it's—HEY!”

Everyone whipped around.

“This… th-this is my Dad’s telescope!” Twilight held up the item with shaky magic. “I gave… I-I gave it to him for his birthday!”

The tension was so thick you could cut it with a knife. Twilight ran her hooves over the instrument, eyes glassy and wide. The engraving ‘To: Dad, From: Firefly’ at the base had been crudely scratched over.

“E-Erm…” Fluttershy took a step forward. “Twilight—”

“N-Never…” Twilight’s booming whisper echoed throughout the cave. “Have I been so tempted…”

Nopony dared say a word. It wasn’t lost on anyone how the longer Twilight stared at the telescope, the more her fiery mane shifted from reddish-orange to blazing gold... then scorching gold... then searing white. The ground around her was starting to glow red, and if she hadn’t put an Element Endure on Neighsay before treating him, he would’ve been pony flambé.

“‘I don’t serve freaks.’” Twilight couldn’t even bring herself to look at Neighsay. “That’s what he said at the entrance, wasn’t it? I can understand culture bias to an extent, but this…?”

The tall metal doors were heating up. The shadowfrost in the cavern had all but vaporized, and where the cave mouth had belched out deadly mist, now it belched superheated air.

“Why?” Twilight’s face twisted even more. “The princesses, our families, us... even his own son—”

RRRRRRUMMMBLE

Perhaps if they’d been paying more attention, they might’ve realized the geyser closest to them hadn’t been going off at all. They certainly realized now, though, its sputtering and steaming accompanied by a deep shaking.

“THAT ONE!” Pinkie pointed.

Twilight grit her teeth. She threw a shield over Maud, and with some reluctance, Neighsay as well. Ichorous sludge bubbled forth from the vent as she rallied the others around the widening hole. Twilight immersed herself in her Element and let the others’ power and emotions flowing through her soul. Her power and emotions diffused into them as well, particularly into Rainbow—

“WHOA!”Emotions pulsed through Rainbow like a burning coal of power. They seethed and roiled inside her they were about to explode! She could feel something happening inside her, the tantalizing magic coursing through her body—

FWOOM!

Sweltering heat and spidery bolts of electricity flowed off Rainbow. Her coat shifted from blue to brilliant white, her mane and tail became literal prismatic flames, her cutie mark and leg sigils flared brighter than ever, and her eyes swirled with multicolored light.

“COOL!” Rainbow checked herself over. “Are you seeing this?! I’m—”

RRRRRRUMMMBLE

“LATER!” Applejack drew deep on their shared energy. The others did the same, the vent’s ichorous sludge already starting to bubble forth.

BZAM!

Their beam shot down like a missile. The internal pressure allowed the sludge to fight at first, but then was overtaken with a sizzling, waning gurgle. Prismatic light rocketed from the other cavern vents in a dazzling light show, spreading through the hidden tunnels to encompass the entire lake. Cave walls trembled, rimy ceilings shook, and harmonious pillars leapt up to pierce the bloated clouds.

It was almost half a minute before Maud could open her eyes. She could see through the glow of Twilight’s shield that the others were still gathered around the vent, thankfully no worse for the wear. She let out the breath she’d been holding.

Suddenly, Pinkie started freaking out. She whipped around and pointed at Maud… no, wait, not at her—

A painful flash of cold erupted from Maud’s left. She looked, and a portal was opening beneath Neighsay, his limp form enshrouded in a deathly-pale aura.

Maud made to grab him—

Neighsay opened his eyes. Gold irises beheld the world for the first time, their fierce gaze focusing on her.

Visceral dread gripped Maud. “Wh-What…”

And then he was gone.

“Wake up, anomaly,” said Proxy’s eerie throng. “We must move.”

It felt like being dredged out of a void. There had been nothing—no time, no space, no darkness, no light. No perception of the world, no sense of self. No sensation or awareness whatsoever; no anything of any kind. Nothing had ever existed, and nothing ever would, for eternal oblivion was the true afterlife. A glorious singularity was all that embraced—

“Wake up!”

Dry air knifed down Neighsay’s parched throat. A harsh wind stung his freshly-thawed insides and tender skin. His mouth felt like a desert, his shrivelled tongue little more than jerky.

Proxy watched Neighsay open his eyes. “So the first test subjects were an outlier. Perhaps a similarity in the ocular makeup of unicorns and the ruling caste of the failures...”

Neighsay’s hackles rose. He could feel something wrong inside him—like he was missing a piece of himself. He could see every aspect of his surroundings in stark detail, but the colors were all strange. His sense of touch was sluggish, the full feeling lagging a few seconds behind.

And even though it was shockingly cold, his exhales barely made any fog...

The next several minutes were an exercise in patience. Neighsay’s lucidity was fleeting, although he eventually awoke proper and managed to sit up. His canteen and saddlebags were a few feet from him. He snatched the former and slugged down its contents in long gulps—

Some of it went down the wrong tube. Water splattered everywhere as he gasped between wet, hacking coughs.

Proxy sighed. “Organic beings…”

Neighsay’s breaths were haggard and weak. “P-Proxy... what h-happened?”

The question hung in the air like a guillotine.

“The words of a liar are easily dismissed,” Proxy said at last.

Neighsay pinned back his ears. “I’LL... decide that. Tell me!”

Proxy wasn’t projecting an image at the moment, but if they were, they’d be grinning. “We just saved your life again. You needn’t worry about your pursuers for the moment, for we transported you to this temporal field to sleep off your little beauty nap. Time moves much faster in here.”

They were in a dome-shaped distortion amidst a descent of drooping stone arches. Decrepit crags and loose gravel were scattered about as far as Neighsay could see. The ceiling was covered in layers of bumpy ice-coated nodes that looked like warts, said nodes tapering off farther down the tunnel. Fat, wide stalagmites and thin stalactites dotted node-covered areas, the gnarled formations ranging from brittle to tough.

“Welcome to Sector Three,” Proxy told him. “This is where the Master conducted most of her temporal experiments. The dome we’re in is one of many time fields present in the area... although they won’t be so hospitable once the defenses turn on—”

“How’d you save me?” Neighsay asked. “And what from?”

Another pause, this one almost as long as the first. “What’s the last thing you remember?”

Neighsay blinked. Flashes, blurry fragments, piecemeal events of the last hour. Running through portals. Worsening cold. The Elements of Harmony. Pain. A festering, stinking swamp. A sludge creature with too many eyes. Something about a ‘first facility’. Open-mouthed statue faces. A strengthening storm. Spiders. Chrysalis’ venom and a double-edged sword. Shadowfrost. Dead bodies. Proxy’s overview of the sectors. Stepping on a trap and getting stuck full of crystal shards—

Wait.

“Wh-What...” Neighsay checked his chest and legs. His bandages were black—not dark red… black. He peeled back the gauze and saw the skin beneath had healed without even a scar.

But not without cost. The new patches of his skin were pale, hairless… and numb.

“The last stretch of Sector Two proved troublesome,” said Proxy. “You suffered severe shadowfrost exposure, and the venom in your system adopted the vapor’s transmutative properties. You’re now progressing through the first stage of metaphysical mutation.”

Neighsay’s world slowed. Horn blazing, he tore out his metallic medallion and beheld his reflection.

“No…” His pupils were cat-like slits. The whites of his eyes were in the midst of turning sickly green. His incisors were sharp and pointed, and several other teeth were following suit. “NO-NO-NO-NO-NO-NO—”

“ANOMALY!” The medallion flared with brutal cold. “Calm. Down. We’ve been monitoring your condition the past few hours. That jewell is slowing the process considerably—”

“You did this...” Neighsay barely even felt the medallion’s chill anymore. There was an alien sensation tickling the back of Neighsay’s mind and tongue, all of it emanating from the medallion. “What did you do?! I-I can TASTE something coming off you!”

“It’s called ‘contempt’, you twit,” Proxy snarked. “We advise against feeding on it—or any emotions for that matter. We’ve still yet to determine if the venom has limited you to a strict diet of love.”

Neighsay could barely breathe. It felt like something was cracking inside his head, and from the dark cracks came a familiar rumble of horror. “Ch-Changelings… your master m-made… the ch-changelings?! I’M TURNING INTO—”

“SHUT UP!” Proxy said. “No, you’re not! Those failed experiments are nothing but overgrown fae!”

Neighsay ran his hoof over the numb patches of skin. They showed no signs of becoming holes, but he could tell the white pockmarks were spreading. “What are you saying…?”

Proxy was honestly surprised Neighsay hadn’t figured this out sooner. “The creatures you know as changelings were once a diminutive race living in the southwestern jungles of Equestria. Their closest evolutionary relatives are flutter ponies—breezies, you call them. The Master had a personal vendetta against their kind, and so she decided to blanket the jungle with a prototype strain of the shadowfrost compound. The results looked spectacular at first: an apparent mass extinction of flora and fauna!”

Proxy’s voices fell to a growl. “But then… that night, they came for her.”

Lead pooled in Neighsay’s gut. He’d always wondered how creatures like changelings could’ve built such a complex and well-fortified hive. “What’s going to happen to me?”

Proxy’s presence swirled around Neighsay. “The strain of shadowfrost you've been exposed to is more developed than the original compound. Your physical form will continue to destabilize until it reaches equilibrium, worst case deteriorating into a mist-like state. You’re turning into a living spectre of frost and shadow, dependant on feeding on emotions to sustain your damaged soul.”

Neighsay wanted to throw up again. The changelings… the Badlands… even Sombra... Proxy’s master was responsible for all of them! What other evils was she behind? What did Proxy intended to do FOR her?!

“I’ll… I-I’ll be a freak.” Neighsay watched his coat hairs fall to the ground. “You're telling me I'm nothing more than the missing link between the lovesuckers and that crystal-loving sadist.”

The long, deep shadows of the sector wrapped everything in gloom. The visage of King Sombra danced through Neighsay’s mind, only to then morph into Queen Chrysalis. He’d suspected there was some kind of link between then when she’d started searching for artifacts, but this…?

“A dangerous mutant...” Neighsay licked his budding fangs. “Another threat begging to be used by someone even more dangerous. A stain upon Equestria...”

…

...

“You’re a learned individual,” Proxy said at last. “We assume you’ve heard of a geas?”

Neighsay frowned. "A geas is a binding magical contract. It forces someone to either do or not do something, no matter what. They’ve been outlawed in Equestria for centuries."

“Our purpose is to serve the Master.” Proxy’s words came out in a rush. “All we’ve said, all we’ve done, it’s all been for that cause. Swear you’ll do everything in your power to fulfill her final legacy—everything—and we’ll tell you all you wish to know. What we are, the Master’s legacy, the details of her past, the purpose of her research, even the cure for ailment! We don’t have to be at odds, anomaly. Why, perhaps even one day, you could even become one of us!”

Silence. Chunks of rock floated in midair within cloudy domes amongst the crags. Granular bits of crystal peeked out from the bumpy nodes that played tricks on the eyes. It was hard to tell how intense the wind was while in the time field, but despite the gusts Neighsay could feel, for the first time since setting hoof on this damn mountain, he wasn’t cold in the slightest.

“Twilit wastes.” Neighsay squinted about the area. He couldn’t tell where the light was coming from. “That’s what you said about this area, right? Doesn’t stink as much, at least. We should probably get moving.”

Proxy watched Neighsay get to his hooves. “Did... did you not hear us? We share a common interest, anomaly! Our enemies are the same! You can have power unlike anything you’ve dreamed!”

A gust of wind almost made Neighsay almost fall down again. He recovered and slung his bags over his back, idly noting they felt lighter for some reason. Had he dropped something at some point?

“We’re being earnest!” Proxy continued. “Not even the ones who pursue you will be a match! You need only swear allegiance to the Master!”

Neighsay stood still as a statue. His predatory eyes glinted in the semi dark, the whites of his eyes continuing to change color. The dark rumble in his mind was still there, and he could swear the wind was whispering...

“How do I know you didn’t poison me on purpose?” Neighsay said. “Why aren’t you proposing we both take a geas so there’s no chance of a double-cross? How do I know there’s actually a cure at all, hmm? What proof do you have?”

Proxy tried to reply, but all that came out were splutters. Neighsay could ‘taste’ that bittersweet contempt more than ever, which upon further examination, reminded him a lot of dark chocolate.

“You’re playing a dangerous game, Proxy.” Neighsay’s lips curled, twitching with the makings of a sneer. “If I die, you lose. If I give in to the lovesucker, you lose. If the Elements of Harmony learn about you, you lose! If I leave this place and let them get to the Sanctum, YOU LOSE! All of your hopes hinge on me continuing, and I’m running out of reasons to! You think I can't see through your games?!”

“We saved your life twice!” Proxy shouted back. “Interacting with you at ALL tests the pact we made with the Master! You're nothing more than a disgusting, backwards blah, blahblahblah...”

The whispers were getting louder. Neighsay could sense the corruption bubbling up from the mountain roots now, feel it dance on his tongue and make his stomach growl. The sensation was so distracting he barely even felt the sudden pain from the cracks in his mind straining...

“You know, I think it's time I chose the game.” Neighsay’s horn came to life like a winter gale. “Ever heard of something called Roanssian Roulette?”

“Wait, what are you doing?” Proxy could feel Neighsay drawing on the medallion. An entry portal split the air in front of them, but the exit portal wasn’t anywhere in sight. “Stop! ANOMALY!”

Neighsay leapt into the rift.

Meanwhile-

BOOM!

Glowing orange hooves bucked open the metal doors. Beyond was a long, straight stairway that went farther than the eye could see, with the walls, floor, and ceiling all coarser than sandpaper. The ancient hinges were torn off as the doors fell tumbling down the stairway with with ear-ringing crashes, their great weight smashing several steps—

WHAM!

Blue and magenta auras pinned the doors to the walls. The group then flew past at breakneck speed, the encroaching dark seared by their approach.

“My counter-frequency might not be as effective if we go much faster." The needle on Maud's scanner was ticking more and more to the right. “The hatred and fear energies are rising, as well.”

Twilight grunted and stopped accelerating. Her terrakinesis could sense the resonators were hidden in the floor, walls, and ceiling. She didn’t want to know what they did. “Let me know when you find the next primary resonator.”

The mood was uneasy. The stench faded behind them as they continued farther beneath the fetid lake, but that was a positive in a sea of negatives. Fluttershy and Rainbow (now de-flamed) ceased their electric current to conserve strength, and without the buzz of lightning, though, the only sound was the whooshing wind.

“He didn’t have that... whatever that was back outside,” Applejack said.

Maud shuddered. “It felt like it was coming from him, but…”

Rarity chewed on her lip. “I know this might sound strange, but… did anypony else get the impression there was more than one… erm, ‘awareness’ in him?”

Fluttershy's eyes were distant. "A bad awareness."

“All I felt was the heebie-jeebies!” Pinkie’s shimmering mane wilted at this. “The same nasty heebie-jeebies from baddies like Sombra and Tirek!"

Rainbow’s scowl soured even more. “D’you think you can spread that awesome fire power to everyone else, Twi? I'm starting to think we might need it.”

Twilight didn’t reply. Her mind was somewhere else entirely—namely, two parts of the Crystal Heart’s prophecy that were looking to be more and more relevant.

The mother waits, her sacrifice
Can be undone, but at a price
A Hate-Filled Dragon, born of ice
An error made, not once, but twice.

A king shall rise, a queen shall fall
Freed at last from cruelty’s thrall
The past is passed, you must stand tall
The Hate-Filled Dragon devours all.

Twilight exhaled out her nose. Temporal theory was one thing, but prophecies were quite another. The only thing she knew for sure was prophecies were always related to one or more fixed points in time. It was possible some of those lines could apply to this situation, but...

“...gotta get that medallion,” Twilight heard Applejack say. “He can keep slippin' away so long as he’s got it.”

“Not to mention potentially separate us," said Fluttershy.

Rainbow swiped at the air. “Then that's the plan. We get that dumb thing away, then hogtie him!“

“And then teleport his butt to jail!” Pinkie said.

Rarity nudged Twilight. “You’ve been awfully quiet, dear. Are you…?”

A telescope rose to the front of Twilight’s mind. She shoved the thought away. “Just thinking about, erm… time stuff. More specifically, the—”

“That's alright!” Rarity looked away with a scrunched face. “No more Starswirlian theory, thanks...”

Twilight couldn’t help but smile. “Staying on track, then... I think going for the medallion is a sound plan. But I think we all know how hard that’s going to be, even if we come up with a way to sneak up on him. How do we plan around that when we don’t know who or what is with him?”

“Ooh! Ooh! Let me do it!” Pinkie waved her hoof in the air. “I’ll give Neighsay a plus one invitation to my first ever Bad Guy Bash! Or should I call it, ‘Evil Extravaganza’? It’s like a regular extravaganza, but eeeeeeeeevil!”

Rainbow grinned. "Jerkwad Jamboree?"

“Meanie Mash?” Fluttershy offered.

“Cantankerous Cookout!” said Applejack.

“Sinister Soirée!” Rarity said.

“Wait,” said Maud. “Before that, we should talk abot something else.”

Twilight blinked. “We’re... not actually going to throw a party—”

“When Neighsay opened his eyes, I saw that they’d changed,” Maud said over her. “They weren’t shaped like a pony’s, but a dragon’s.”

The word ‘dragon’ made Twilight’s ears twitch. “A dragon... filled with hate...”

Maud flat expression never changed. “And born of ice.”

“Whoa, whoa, whoa.” Rainbow put a hoof on Twilight’s shoulder. “You were thinking about THAT time stuff?”

Twilight winced. “I'm starting to think Neighsay could be an even bigger threat than we thought. We have to—”

One of Maud’s geomancy devices beeped.

“Rain check!” Rainbow tightened her armor straps. “Look sharp, gals!”

Maud fiddled with the switches and knobs on the device. At the end of the dreary stairway, the steps opened up into an unknown twilit chamber. “The next primary resonator will be detecting us any second.”

“How close to the finish, Twi?” Applejack asked.

Twilight probed for the source of Sombra’s curse. “We’re halfway there! We can do this!”

A strong gust buffered them from below. Lumpy, misshapen bumps coated the ceiling—sparse at first, but accumulating more and more. There were also eerie clusters of holes along the walls that made you want to avert your eyes. Twilight and the others steeled themselves and pressed on to the bottom, their approach heralded by a WUMPH of displaced air.

Dormant domes like oversized soap bubbles were scattered amidst a steeply-descending landscape. Frigid winds buffeted brittle stone formations and eroding bridges alike, the yawning gaps below leading to certain doom. Above, the stomach-turning, cyst-covered roof was like a festering wound. There was also a strange, waning light radiating from the domes that Twilight recognized as—

WHUM

The eerie light pulsed. In an instant, the domes had changed from shimmering soap bubbles to angry dark voids. Glinting flashes of magic sprang up from the ground throughout the cavern in wide, tall sheets. The wind picked up into a howl, then a full-blown shriek that blasted the girls back towards the stairs. They endured it, but that’s when they noticed teetering, tower-sized stone formations on either side of them…

The girls paled. They made to fly forward, but a heavy, sluggish sensation infected their minds. Moving out of the way was so troublesome, wasn’t it? All that effort and exertion, all to possibly not even get out of the way… and using magic was just so much worse when you thought about it. Heck, why were they even bothering with any of this at all—

Maud’s counter-frequency cancelled the compulsion.

“AAAAHHHHHHHHH!” The girls zoomed forward. The stones shattered and split behind them with teeth-rattling force, a hail of rocks careening off their shield with great THOKS and PINGS. Twilight’s mettle was tested again as the wind carried more debris to assail them from the sector’s depths, some of the projectiles larger than a pony.

The wind suddenly shifted. There was no warning, it just went from blowing against them to pushing them to the right. Twilight’s forcefield (and thus Twilight herself) went hurtling to the right... but the others weren’t, their inertia nearly plastering them against the shield.

“GAH!” Rainbow’s feathers bristled at the wind’s horrid feel. “Jeez louise!”

“What are those black spheres?!” Fluttershy said. “They look like—”

“RIGHT!” Pinkie yelled.

The group veered from the faint haze of a magical wall. The forcefield grazed it with a sizzle, the clashing energies throwing up a trail of burning sparks.

“Whoa!” Applejack felt her Element flare. “Those walls are bad news!”

Rarity suddenly realized what all those flashes were. “A maze?! In THIS?!”

The screaming wind shifted again. Twilight compensated a little better this time, but it took all her focus to react. “It’s weather magic… only stronger than anything I’ve seen! Cadance and Gleaming said the weather around Everhoof got crazy; this might be why!”

Rainbow's honed senses confirmed it. “She's right! The emotion crud’s fueling—”

The wind shifted a third time.

“OOF!” Applejack was thrown into Twilight’s forcefield. “Can the explanations wait?!”

Twilight’s nostrils flared. “Pinkie!”

“Okey-dokey!” Pinkie cracked her neck. “Time to play ‘Everything is Lava’!”

It was like flying through a tornado. The wind was unpredictable and fickle: one minute speeding up, the next falling into a lull. It came from every direction imaginable, too—even from straight above or below. The shrieking chaos fought to toss them into vortexes or worse, and every close call with a barrier made their Elements buzz. Nonetheless Pinkie led them in a winding route through the debris and destruction, the hungry black voids always far too close for comfort.

Maud realized the needles of her instruments were fluctuating. She put everything away and focused solely on her broadcasting device. “The rifts are bending local space-time. I’ll do my best to compensate, but my counter-frequency may waver.”

Twilight glanced at the closest dome. She didn’t even want to know how a portal or teleport spell would behave around such warped magics. “Keep your eyes peeled for Neighsay, everypony!”

They continued down the slope at a decent clip. Dust and detritus limited their view along with the constant barrage of debris, but Pinkie didn’t need eyes to get them through. She guided them around barriers, flying boulders, dead-ends, and vortexes despite the endless tempest. Little by little, their little magenta sphere continued on through the vast chamber with their momentum intact.

Down, down, ever downward. They bobbed and weaved, twisted and turned, swerved and serpentined. It was like riding a rickety roller coaster that should’ve been demolished long ago. There was nothing pleasant about the scenery—just varying states of abhorrent or bland. Every bwoop, click, or crackle of Maud’s equipment set them all on edge, but Maud herself said little.

“What the—” Rainbow did a double-take to her left. A series of dilapidated stone buildings had just emerged from the gloom. “Hey! Over there!”

The others looked. It was hard to tell much, but they were definitely buildings. They were all roughly cube-shaped, there were openings for doors and windows, and they were organized in the approximation of a crooked line.

“Nuh-uh,” Applejack said. “No way, no how, not ever! Ain’t no way anypony ever coulda lived down here.”

Just then, Maud’s frequency device chirped. The sound wasn’t loud, but it was enough for her to nearly drop her pen.

“My counter-frequency just negated another trap,” she said. “A second compulsion, by the looks of it. The effect is centered on the buildings.”

Twilight narrowed her eyes. The buildings were situated on a plateau while the rest of the cavern continued down. The ‘town’ was strangely free of barriers and time domes, but something told her there was a good reason for that.

“There’s something farther back.” Fluttershy squinted. “Rainbow, Twilight, can you see it?”

They could. Silhouettes of strange spires like gnarled fingers were just visible within the murk. The buildings decayed the closer they got to the spires, the bases of said spires surrounded by foundations and sand.

“Keep clear…” Twilight ushered them on. “C’mon…”

The wart-like nodes dissipated as soon as they passed the buildings. The entropic time domes became more numerous, however, and the barriers continued to hamper their way. Rarity found a Disintegrate spell could destroy the barriers, but it took long enough that it was faster to go around.

About fifteen minutes later, Twilight detected Neighsay's scrambled portal magic from within a temporal dome.

“Guess this confirms his ‘companion’ has inside knowledge.” Twilight could sense two instances of dimensional rifting: one arriving, one leaving. “There’s no way he could’ve opened a blind portal this convenient.”

Applejack looked around. “Don’t think he’s still around, do ya?”

Twilight shook her head. “Even worse, I can't tell—” A wind change cut her off. “—where he went! Argh! This dumb wind!”

Fluttershy, who’d just been smushed by everypony shunting to the right, adjusted her helmet. “Should we... um, keep going, then?”

Twilight blushed. “You alright?”

Fluttershy nodded. “I know you’re doing your best.”

The shadows deepened the farther they ventured. The cavern itself continued at steep downward angle, but the barriers made their path through anything but straight. The girls started to see wispy trails of debris floating through the air on currents of twisted space-time, the rocks crumbling and re-forming like potter’s clay.

A few minutes later, the path took a ninety degree turn. More temporal domes and barriers greeted them to continue into the velvety dark, but there was a gap in the obstructions.

“What’s this?” Rarity brushed back her sparkling mane. “An ancient construction zone?”

It certainly looked like it. Cracks dotted the floor with similar crystalline repairs that were centered around a cave-in obstructing half the chamber. A portion of forty foot wall was cracked like it’d endured a barrage of cannons, several parts reinforced with black crystal. Broken and shattered stalactites lay collected in a pile off to the side, the ceiling from where they'd fallen now a pure, translucent black.

Maud held up her scanner. “Mutacite residue around the collapse indicates a resonator explosion. Happened about one thousand years ago, according to the half-life.”

Applejack’s eyes were drawn to the cave-in. The blast marks travelled UP the tunnel a good ways from the damage, but not down the tunnel. “Think one of Sombra’s ‘innovations’ backfired?”

“Ha!” Rainbow crossed her hooves. “It's a nice thought.”

“What about Neighsay?” Fluttershy asked Twilight. “Find any sign of his portals yet?”

Twilight scanned the area. There was no evidence of portal magic, scrambled or otherwise. “I… wouldn’t hold my breath at this point. He has a significant advantage if his companion is familiar with this place. He might've even gotten what he came for.”

…

...

“So he might be long gone,” said Applejack. “He slips through our hooves twice, then gets the heck outta Dodge.”

Twilight looked away. “I underestimated him. I shouldn’t have—”

“‘An error made, not once, but twice.’” Maud dragged a hoof down her face. “Outside factors stopped us from catching Neighsay when we tried, and the attempts always happened in pairs.”

Twilight’s lips parted. It wasn’t the most obvious correlation, but the longer she considered, the more sense it made. “Cadance let him get away in the throne room... we let him get away here. The same error made twice...”

The merciless wind swirled around them. The manic rush to hurry was ebbing, everyone’s ears slowly drooping.

“Guess we gotta pay more attention to that fancy poem,” said Applejack. She put her hooves on her hips and nudged the others. “C’mon, there ain’t no sense feelin’ bad about something outta our hooves from the get-go! Neighsay could be telling Chrysalis about this place as we speak!”

Rainbow clacked her hooves together. “She’s right. No slowing down, no stalling! We keep moving forward no matter what!”

“Onward to better things!” said Pinkie.

Twilight’s eyes hardened. “You’re right. There’s too much down here that could fall into the wrong hooves. We know what we have to do."

The others nodded.

Twilight spread her blazing wings. “Our objectives haven’t changed. Remove Cadance’s curse. Find and destroy the empathic energy source. Secure the bodies of the late expedition team. We move fast, smart, and safe.”

They took off in a burst of speed. They zoomed around the cave-in and continued through the sector, the corruption rising and temperature dropping all the while. Pinkie was more alert than ever as she set the faster pace, dodging barriers and time domes with agile grace.

“Erm…” Fluttershy glanced at the others. “Since we’re paying more attention to the poem... If we’ve ‘paid the price’ with Neighsay’s escape, what is ‘the mother’s sacrifice’?”

Rarity watched the time domes roil and writhe. “I'm not sure I want to know.”

As Twilight adjusted for another wind change, she had to wonder the same thing.

Earlier-

Sector Four was a series of twisting, perilous canyons of pure, pristine ice. Each canyon contained varying hazards to stop invaders, but together they formed the greatest hazard of all—a dizzying vertical labyrinth of corkscrew-like paths, slick bridges, and winding tunnels. The overall depth varied from thousand feet to just over a mile depending on the respective hazards. Intermittent rivers of otherworldly light flowed through the air that allowed one to see how daunting a task lay before them... but any who made it this far quickly learned the light served another purpose.

There was a feel of malice here. Not just from the staggering corruptive energies, but the very canyons themselves. Aimless, ominous intent permeated the stillness and saturated the air like a stormfront. It even affected the temperature to create a worsening bitter cold. Unfortunate souls that perished here became entombed in ice to serve as a grim warning—

WHUM

A portal opened within one of the canyons. Neighsay emerged from Sector Three to discover that yes, he was still alive, but that first step was a doozy.

“YOU RECKLESS HALFWIT!” Proxy tried to open a portal back, but their meager magic was spent. “YOU COULD HAVE KILLED YOURSELF OUTRIGHT!”

A shrill, choked cough escaped Neighsay. Even altered as he was, the sheer cold was like being stabbed in the lungs. He plummeted in freefall past crisscrossing ice bridges and spiralling dead-end paths, the corruption making his head spin.

“Put up a frost ward!” Proxy’s voices rose in pitch. “The cold will kill you before you can even land! HURRY!”

They weren’t exaggerating. It was cold, colder than Canterlot winters, colder than the northern wastes. Wastes that reminded Neighsay of the Badlands, in all honesty. He’d travelled them at Chrysalis’ command so he could open portals for her spies. If he squinted hard enough, he could almost see tiny colorful creatures encircling him on diaphanous wings. Though that wasn’t what the spies had looked like, of course…

“Your poisoning was an accident!” said Proxy. “You’ve no idea how difficult casting spells like this! We didn’t realize the portal was short until you’d already jumped!”

Neighsay’s reflection flickered off the flawless canyon walls. Ghostly batponies and wispy crystal ponies watched his descent without a word. Alicorns circled above him like vultures while a colossal-sized Chrysalis laughed below. She opened her drooling maw and waited, her putrid breath making Neighsay’s eyes flicker.

“THERE REALLY IS A CURE!” Proxy bellowed. “WE SWEAR IT ON THE MASTER’S NAME! WE CAN—oh, no.”

No, not flickering... glowing. The whispers of his insidious GLORIOUS Queen were deafening, and the sector’s overwhelming corruption strained his mind even further HOW DARE YOU DEFY ME The dual-sided attack clawed his tattered will, the unholy impulses so strong he could taste them.

The Queen was waiting I WILL FIND YOU She wasn’t mad at all I WILL RIP YOUR MIND APART She was just worried about him I KNOW YOU FOUND SOMETHING It was time to return to his familyYOUR SON WILL SUFFER FAR BEYOND—

...Wait, son?

FORGET I SAID THAT He didn’t have a son THAT’S RIGHT YOU DON’T Why, he’d never forgive himself if he had children YES, YOUR STUPID BLOODLINE ENDS WITH YOU especially if he had them with someone not descended from the three…

…the boy NONONONONO the boy NONONONONONO the boy!

THE STUPID BOY!

“ERRRRGH!” A deathly pale aura surged from Neighsay’s horn. Two side-by-side portals opened at the last second in the glassy ice bridge he was careening towards. He rocketed into one and emerged out the other, soaring straight back up as the hallucinations faded one by one.

“What the…” Proxy realized they were ascending again. “That wasn’t us! What just happened?!”

“WoRd... t-T-tO tHe wiSE...” Neighsay snarled through chattering fangs. “NeVErrRr g-g-gaMBle… agAiNSt s-S-SoMEonE WiTH... nOTHinG T-t-tO... LoSE!”

Their ascent reached its apex to let them fall once more. Several hundred feet later, Neighsay landed in the portal he’d just exited. He emerged from the other portal to start ascending again. Their ascent reached its apex to let them fall once more...

“Such willpower...” Proxy could sense the Tear of Laughter was little more than cosmetic now. “How…?”

“T-teLL mE... THe c-C-curE.” Neighsay could feel the dark energies changing him more by the second. His sclera were completely green now, and the hairless patches of pale skin were spreading. “tEll Me N-nOw... or I END iT!”

Silence. The wind rushed past their continued rise and fall, Neighsay keeping their momentum going with an occasional magic ‘push’. His teeth tingled as they grew longer and sharper, his jaw itching from the muscle and bone shifting...

“A confession of love laid bare,” Proxy said at last. “The fire of friendship shared, and the light of harmony sent in prayer. The confession of love heals the soul and reverts the body, the fires of friendship thaw the heart and purge the mind of darkness, and the light of harmony stabilizes the combined effects. You need to use all three at once in order for it to work—they’ll prove harmful otherwise.”

Neighsay cursed. He waited until they reached the next apex, then opened a portal a foot under him. He slid into it and was dumped out on the bridge hundreds of feet below.

A chorus of relieved sighs rushed through Neighsay’s ears. “Thank the Master…”

Neighsay panted for breath. His heart was hammering, his shaky limbs barely able to support his weight. He couldn’t feel much of anything right now… but if he could, he’d have felt how the assorted dark energies were being funneled into the depths of his psyche, siphoning into a tiny rupture in his mental ‘scar’...

“How...?” Proxy asked. “Your mind should be shattered! And why would you even open a blind portal in the first place?! You’d truly take your own life over—”

Neighsay smashed his hoof on the ice. “DoN’T… puSh me! Y-You haVE your valuEs… I have miNe! I don’t owe you any eXplanations...”

Proxy was tempted to argue, but they weren’t keen on revisiting Mister Neighsay’s Wild Ride. “It… would seem the knowledge and mannerisms we’ve collected from previous intruders has failed to win your trust. A pity; a mind and soul as resilient as yours would… well, no matter.”

Neighsay couldn’t be sure, but he’d guess the sudden spicy flavor emanating from Proxy was… disappointment? “I n-need to... keep moving. I ported d-down about a mile… S-Sombran relic must be close...”

“Indeed,” said Proxy. “We may not be keen on your methods, but you’re now in Sector Four. The Inner Sanctum is on this level!”

Neighsay looked around. Some of the canyon ledges looked naturally formed, some sported bizarre chiseled angles, others had no angles whatsoever, and others still had a combination. Great chunks of ice were set poised to fall tumbling down select narrows paths at any moment. And speaking of the ice, he could definitely feel something strange about it...

“Avoid looking at your reflection,” Proxy warned. “The defenses might be dormant, but the enchantments in the ice can still activate. That’s what the light’s for.”

Neighsay averted his eyes. He wasn’t exactly raring to see his reflection right now, anyways. “I’m t-tempted to have you give the coordinates so I can open another blind p-p-portal…”

Proxy was tempted to say it wouldn't be blind if Neighsay agreed to being temporarily commandeered, but they both knew he wouldn't agree to that. “We’re loathe to admit this, anomaly, but… you’re right that our hopes rest upon you. Your mutation will acclimate you to the conditions in short order, so there’s no sense in any additional risk.”

Neighsay blinked several times. “Why, P-Proxy! If I didn’t know better, I’d say that was an apology! I’m t-t-touched.”

The portal medallion bristled. “In the head, certainly. We recommend you rectify that; no one wants an insane minion.”

Annnnnnnd the moment was gone. “You do realize I can p-p-portal myself into the nearest wall whenever.”

Proxy ignored that. “You’re currently in Ravine M12. The Inner Sanctum is in Ravine G17. Portal jump to the ice bridge ninety feet above you, then…”

It was a slow and laborious effort. The silence bore an ill-will as Neighsay portal-hopped from ledge to hazardous ledge, the stifling malignance making his mouth water and stomach growl. The missing ‘something’ inside him became more noticeable as time passed, but he pressed on nonetheless, Proxy’s directions guiding him around natural hazards and Sombra-made modifications.

The path out of the first canyon was in a crag near the top. After making his way there, Neighsay trotted around a series of concealed pits before emerging into the ravine beyond. The ribbons of light revealed that, while the blueish-white chasm wasn’t very wide, long, or tall, it’s dizzying depth was enough to make Neighsay’s head spin. Proxy explained it wasn’t actually wasn’t very deep at all, but through a clever bit of magic and a heavily-twisted pocket of localized space, it took millennia of falling at terminal velocity before one reached the bottom.

“The Master was quite fond of this one,” said Proxy. “Forcing the mind to comprehend the incomprehensible isn’t easy. As you can see, even the simplest examples cause disorientation and make the victims vulnerable in various ways. It’s even worse for those with a fear of heights.”

Neighsay flopped onto his belly on purpose. The icy impact rattled his ribs and teeth, but the ice wasn’t as cold as he’d expected. Not even as cold as the previous canyon, to be honest… He opened a portal and scooched in before he could get disoriented and fall.

He stayed on his stomach for the rest of the time in the chasm. Proxy prattled on about his master’s enthusiasm for torture and whatnot, revealing disturbing tidbits with gruesome implications. Neighsay didn’t register much of it—all that mattered was to keep moving. A part of him still revolted at the grotesque descriptions, but the revulsion was taking longer to register.

There was something odd about the rivers of light. Shadows weren’t where they should be, and trying to identify the ones in the ice was like sifting through a distant memory. Neighsay’s saving grace proved to be how the colors of everything were still off to his changing eyes, particularly a shade of violet that looked downright alien.

He reached a western arch concealed by an illusion. The dizziness faded as soon as Neighsay passed through and continued into the tunnel, allowing him to get up and head for the next canyon. The shivers plagued him less and less as he went, although he didn’t feel any warmer. He didn’t feel much of anything far as temperature was concerned, even with the trail of fur being left in his wake...

“...an interesting juxtaposition—turn left here. The exits become sealed upon detecting an intruder, so there’s no chance of escape...”

One step in front of the other. Another new portal opened up, walked through, repeat. This canyon was like a vertical garden of icy thorns, but Neighsay couldn’t attest to being cut. The only thing he could attest to was a dreadful empty feeling and a throbbing pain in his mind. He moved through portals as reality became more and more like a waking dream.

“... that was the general idea. It causes lethal starvation and dehydration in under a minute…”

Vague recollections of traversing incredible heights. Floaty memories of skirting Sombra’s modifications. Pain-soaked impressions of trudging past smooth cliffs and long, zigzagging chasms. Neighsay remembered all of these things, but when he willed his eyes to focus, he swore he was in another chasm. These instances were always accompanied by the echo of dread, and a cruel, impossibly deep voice that was... laughing?

“Here’s another of Anomaly B’s modifications,” said Proxy. “We knew he could transmute flesh to crystal, but we didn’t realize he was so adept at concealing magic within other enchantments. Fortunately, it seems doing that causes the trap to become a one-time use.”

Neighsay blinked. He was looking over a thirty foot drop ending in the floor of yet another ice canyon. The bottom was lined with black shards originating from two sources, but more importantly were the details the shards themselves. Most were beyond recognition, but some could still be recognized as saddlebags… limbs… part of a face…

“I see.” He trotted on without another thought. “I imagine your Master didn’t incorporate much of that herself for that reason.”

…

“Erm…” Proxy waited for something more, but Neighsay didn’t so much as shudder. “Yes, actually. This place was intended to last the test of time.”

A far-off, half-numbed ripping sensation made Neighsay rub his head. “How much farther? I’m starting to get a headache.”

Proxy didn’t reply at first, watching as Neighsay made for a five-way fork in the path. “Not far at all. Take the far-left route, and you’ll be at the ravine exit. The Inner Sanctum is in the canyon beyond.”

Neighsay’s draconic eyes glittered. The dark laughter echoed in his mind again, but this time, all he did was smile. “Good.”

Part 4 - The Hate-Filled Dragon

“I’m afraid I won’t be of much help, Princess Luna. Neighsay cut ties with me when he found out I’m not ‘of pure tribal descent’... Hmm? Oh no, it’s fine. I have a thestral ancestor on my father’s side six or seven generations back, and my mother’s house, House Radiance, is originally from the Crystal Empire. They moved south about a year before Sombra’s coup.

“It still gets my goat, though. The thestral bit is unique, but every family from here to Whinnyapolis has some crystal pony heritage! What did that bigot exp—never mind...

“Neighsay and I first met some twenty-odd years ago. We crossed paths at the Sire's Hollow Inn when he was staying there to weather a snowstorm. We got to talking, one thing led to another, and soon we were writing letters to each other every week. We started seeing each other proper once Spring came around, and while we didn’t do anything THAT heat season, the one after...

“You want to know what hurts the most? Even now, after everything that’s happened, there’s a part of me that still loves him. Heaven knows I fought to keep what we had, but even when I gave up and married someone else, I sent him pictures of Sunburst twice a year. I remember how happy we were when we found we were going to be parents. I remember all the plans we made for our wedding, for our child, and everything beyond. I remember the tears of joy he cried when he held our son for the first time. There’s a good, kind, loving stallion beneath all that poisonous hate, and I thought I could free him from the horrible values he’d been raised with...

“But the seeds had been planted too deep. I later learned he'd been burning any kind of mail from me without even opening it. He might’ve never known he’d been destroying his son’s photos if they hadn’t met up in Canterlot… Hmm? Yes, they met once; though Sunburst refuses to tell me much.

"I'm afraid that if you want THAT story, you’ll have to go one of them.”

-Stellar Flare of Sire’s Hollow

WHAM!

“PINKIE!” Twilight’s forcefield collided head-on with another of Sector Three’s invisible walls. Corrosive dark magics were scorched by harmonic flame, the gagging stench of burnt plastic filling the air. “That’s the fourth one!”

“Having… problems!” Pinkie grunted and clenched her teeth. Her premonitive warnings were being muffled, smothered by an unseen woolen blanket. “My Pinkie Sense—rrrrggh, isn’t… WORKING WITH ME!”

The back half of Sector Three was as unpleasant as the front. The wide, sinister, stony path was both winding and frigid, with a new addition of black crystals now protruding from the walls. The multiple branching corridors were lined with carvings of creatures—ponies, mostly—stacked like living architecture, their anguished faces and twisted limbs putting the girls on edge. There were more invisible walls and black voids than ever, the eerie twilit haze continued to mar their perspective, and the constantly changing wind required all of Twilight’s attention.

Maud blinked several times. “My Maud Sense is also malfunctioning. Something’s wrong.”

Everyone besides Pinkie stared at her.

“...That's the second time you've mentioned that without sayin' what it does,” said Applejack.

Maud may as well not have heard. “Stop a moment, please. I’m going to scan for divination wards.”

Rarity cocked her head. “Divination wards? Why would—” It suddenly clicked. “Oh my stars. The Pinkie Sense tells the future...”

Maud rummaged around for a special scanner attachment. “The leylines already interfere with most forms of magic. Future sight is no exception, but to a lesser degree. An additional layer of geomancy-based divination wards WOULD hide this place from outside scans, scrys, and seer powers, but only if said wards were placed all throughout the caves. Just having them farther in wouldn’t be enough.”

They came to land on a precipice overlooking a steep slope. Dozens of feet below, a sea of gnarled, twisted stalagmites (Maud called them helictites) snaked all about the misshapen rocks like a petrified briar patch. Glints of razor sharp crystal were visible all throughout the ‘patch’, black as night and getting more frequent deeper in.

Twilight’s thoughts whirled while Maud worked. The presence of divination wards would explain why they’d needed the Elements to track Cadance’s curse. Curious, she tried casting a simple air temperature scan, and sure enough, the spell failed outright. But that just made things even more confusing—the craftsmareship on display here, while evil, was nothing short of brilliant. The clever placement of every trap and spell, the genius of every alchemic horror… there was no way someone so meticulous and passionate would get lazy placing wards!

“We need to make these walls visible somehow if Pinkie can’t sniff ‘em out,” said Applejack. She paced back and forth in the forcefield, the soft click of her armor mixing with the whum of magic and buzz of Maud’s scanner. “Any ideas?”

Fluttershy tapped her chin guard. “Is there enough moisture in the air to make it snow, Rainbow?”

Rainbow shook her head. “Air is dry as a bone from all this wind.”

“I could use Disintegrate again,” said Rarity. “It’s not ideal, but it’s better than fumbling around an invisible maze.”

Pinkie made a face. “Shooty-shooty death beams seems like overkill, doesn't it?”

Twilight grunted as the wind shifted again. The hexed invisi-walls were a problem, but she was more worried about the black voids. At first they’d just been some kind of warped temporal magic, but now they were starting to contain all kinds of twisted magic. Some still contained time magic, some contained destruction magic, some contained illusion magic, and some were just tears in reality. Some even contained a magic Twilight didn’t recognize, so alien and complex that it was difficult to describe. It was… a vastness? The opposite of a singularity, yet somehow contained. She wanted to call it a window, but that wasn’t quite right...

Maud lowered her scanner and brushed back her mane. She glanced over at Twilight, whose multicolored flames warmed even the ground they stood on. “ “Looks like my hunch was right.”

But Twilight wasn’t listening. Instead, she was speaking to address Pinkie. "I agree using Disintegrate is a little overkill, but we already—agh, stupid wind—know it works. I’d rather not experiment and trigger some other nightmare.”

Pinkie had to give her that one. “...Shooty beams away.”

Twilight willed her Element to pour energy into Rarity. “Carve a path for us as fast as you can. This—greh—wind is driving me bonkers!”

Rarity meeped. Her magical aura doubled, the blazing hot power making her wiggle in place. She didn’t burst into flame like Rainbow had, but she could feel something happen inside her. “My word…”

“Twilight,” Maud said again.

Twilight did a double-take. “Huh? Oh, you’re done! Can you explain what you—whoa—found as we go?”

Maud pursed her lips. “Alright, but there are divination wards all throughout the rest of the cave system. They’re all being powered by individual black crystal nodes.”

Twilight bit back a curse. “That doesn’t make any sense! I mean, the black crystal does, but—nngh—why would there be wards down here and not—”

The subtle change in Maud’s expression clued Twilight in.

“...You’re kidding.”

Maud snorted. “If only.”

Applejack looked between the two sour-faced scholars. “What now?”

Twilight sighed. “C’mon. Fly and talk.”

Rarity took point now. It took a moment to figure out how to implement their new strategy, as the brutal wind deflected anything thrown or held in front of them. Though fortunately (or unfortunately) the walls were so numerous, all Rarity had to do was channel a beam and 'wiggle' it around a bit.

“So,” Twilight said to all of them. “Based on everything we’ve seen so far, it’s pretty clear this place was made to stand the test of time. The spells are stored in—oof—long-lasting crystals, the alchemic constructs were placed in stasis, and everything in general is set on reloadable triggers. The geomancy seems to be set up like that as well, so I doubt this place needs much power most of the time.”

Maud curled her lip at the thorny helictites below. “But wards don’t work like that. Not only are they energy intensive, they need to be on all the time. They can be placed in a focus like any other spell, but they need constant power once activated. If there’s so much as a hiccup in the energy supply, or the power levels go below a certain threshold, they’re destroyed.”

Twilight watched the continued green lights erupt from Rarity’s horn. “The planet leylines could serve as a power source, but you’d need something—snkkt—drawing up a ton of mana at all times. You’d also need some kind of mechanism filtering the mana, and then an infrastructure to distribute it!”

Fluttershy frowned. “Drawing up the mana? Like drawing water from a well?”

Twilight nodded. “Think of a water filter for your kitchen. It needs to be replaced regularly, right? A mana filtration system is no different.”

“It might even be what’s causing the corruption,” said Maud. “Though something tells me it’s more than a glorified mana filter.”

Applejack couldn’t help but laugh. “Wouldn’t that be the cherry on this dung sundae. This whole falutin’ mess caused by a filter? Tell that to the victims’ families.”

They passed over the cliffside briar and came to another sheer drop. They descended with care while keeping an eye on the numerous black voids around them, the voids’ magics both varied and perverse. The shaft’s circular walls were covered in fierce claw marks, but when they got to the chamber below, there was no sign of any creature, not even bones. Just more barriers, black voids, and even larger and more angular helictites.

Maud gestured to her still-beeping scanner. “According to the energy readings in the rock, this entire cave system was warded until a thousand years ago, when these ‘new’, dark geomancy-powered wards were made. I’m not sure what happened to deactivate the original wards; it may have to do with Sombra, it may not.”

Fluttershy’s gaze fell on the black crystals. She couldn’t even count how many there were, and those were just the ones she could see. “How do we know which ones are powering the wards?”

Twilight clucked her tongue. “I'm not sure it's even worth trying to disable them. What do you think, Maud?"

Maud studied her scanner a moment longer. There were low beeps when the scanner was pointed above or behind, and high beeps from ahead or below. The highest, loudest beeps came from the black crystals. She pulled out a worn-looking abacus and did some calculations.

“While the outermost wards are the weakest, they have the most range and overlap,” she said, ears drooping. “So, no.”

“This bites!” Pinkie huffed. “Stupid anti-Pinkie Sense thingies... we were cruising through this crummy place! Why’d that butt Sombra keep these dumb things on?”

Twilight couldn’t answer that. The only thing that came to mind was Sombra lived in the time of Princess Amore, who was the most powerful seer who ever lived. You’d need divination wards overlapping every square inch of this place to keep her from finding this place, so maybe he was in the middle of supplying the wards with ‘emergency batteries’ when something happened? But what could’ve caused—

...Oh.

OH...

Rainbow watched Twilight’s mouth fall open. “You’re onto something, aren’t you?”

Twilight glanced back at the retreating cliff. “The damaged area we passed… it was caused by a—ah—mutacite rupture, wasn’t it? A blast like that would release a lot of energy, and all that energy was directed up! Maud, can you tell if something like that wouldbe enough to make the power flicker?”

Maud referenced her scanner a few more times. She muttered some equations to herself in the silence. “The mana pulse would have to retain cohesion through the rock, but assuming the infrastructure is a closed circuit, yes. Any wards without a backup, i.e the ones on the upper levels, would be destroyed.”

Twilight clapped her fiery hooves. “It all makes sense! Celestia and Luna told Gleamig that Princess Amore was literally older than Equestria’s founding! We know this place is at least that old as well, maybe even older, so the original wards—eep—must’ve been concealing this place until Sombra stumbled across it!”

…

“Okaaaaaaaaaay,” said Rainbow, noting the others’ blank looks. “So putting aside I’m the only one knowing who Princess Amore even is… you’re saying she never knew about this place because it’s even older than her?”

“I didn’t even know eels HAD princesses!” said Pinkie.

“It has to be older!” Twilight told Rainbow. “Princess Amore was wise and just! She was friends with the other princesses! She taught time magic to Starswirl the Bearded! There’s no way a pony like that would allow this place to exist! The only explanation is if Sombra found this place before she did, his ‘innovations’ created dark geomancy, and when he saw the divination wards were plugged straight into the power system—ergh—he got nervous and wound up causing the very thing thing he was worried about—”

“Whoa, whoa, whoa!” Applejack held up her hooves. “Back up about four or five steps, missy. Y’mind explaining who the hay Princess Amore is?”

“First Crystal Empire princess,” Rainbow said in a rush. “Super-powerful seer, made herself immortal by ripping her soul in half and creating the Crystal Heart. Was buds with Celestia and Luna, taught Starswirl a bunch of stuff, got turned to crystal and shattered to pieces by Sombra. He took her pieces and ran off with them, and when he came back with an army of shadows, he said Amore was ‘scattered to the winds’. Nopony knows if she’s alive or dead, but the Crystal Heart still works so... she’s alive? Maybe?”

There was another long silence.

“Her WHAT got ripped in half?!” Rarity said.

“Cripes, Rainbow, and here I remember when you hated brainy stuff.” Applejack shook her head and turned to Twilight. “Look, I’m not one for wild theories. I don’t think I need to tell ya you’re walkin’ a tightrope here, but I will say that just because things ‘make sense’ doesn’t mean they’re true.”

“Yeah!” Pinkie said. “Don’t you remember what you learned you were studying the Pinkie Sense?”

Twilight certainly remembered learning the limits of her patience. “I’m not sure that’s relevant—”

“BUT,”Applejack said over her. “I’ll admit, if there’s anyone smart enough to figure this mess out, it’s you. As long as you keep in mind any theory—even ones that ‘explain everything’—are still theories, I’m with ya. Deal?”

A warm fuzzy feeling glowed in Twilight’s chest. “Have I mentioned I missed you all these past months?”

Applejack chuckled. “We missed you too, sugarcube.”

They continued down the treacherous twisting way as fast as they dared. The alien helictites grew larger, thicker, and more obtrusive, some reaching so high they resembled ancient macabre trees. Soon they were traversing a ghastly underground forest marred with pustulous voids and cyst-like crystals. The ground between the larger helictites wasn’t much better—covered with thinner, straw-like clumps of stone that, from above, looked like petrified spaghetti.

“Alrighty,” said Applejack, watching Rarity cast spells like she was in a trance. “You were sayin’ you think Sombra found this place before this Amore gal. It sounds like he started messin’ around with stuff, but that messing caused a kaboom that knocked out a chunk of the anti-Pinkie Sense things. Then what?”

Twilight cleared her throat. “Assuming I’m in the right ballpark... that had to have been when he assaulted Princess Amore. He would’ve realized she—nngh—was going to find this place without all its wards, so he probably wanted to get as much of a jump on her as possible.”

Rainbow’s ears perked up. “Didn’t Sunburst say nopony ever found out where Sombra went afterwards? Maybe he came back here! It’s got a heap of stuff right up his alley, plus there’s security for days!”

Maud felt a chill. “He could have experimented here to better his understanding. Compromising this security grid might’ve even been practice for the Crystal Empire’s city defense grid.”

Twilight sucked in a breath through clenched teeth. “The modified traps... what if he wasn’t adding to the fortifications, but preparing for his invasion?! Depending on how much time passed between him fleeing the city and the invasion, there—”

A memory flashed in Twilight’s mind. The Canterlot throne room, Celestia and Luna standing before her. A map of the Crystal Empire conjured on the floor. Celestia was explaining how the Crystal Empire had been banished for a thousand years by King Sombra. She and Luna had flown north as soon as they heard what had happened to their old friend Amore, but by the time they got to the city...

“Twilight?” said Fluttershy.

Twilight’s heart hammered in her chest. “...The Empire had already fallen by the time Celestia and Luna got word about Amore. That means Sombra had to have invaded the city within days of attacking her; maybe even hours! There was no time for any kind of practice, mustering of forces, or anything else! His plans, his army of shadows, his EVERYTHING must’ve been ready before he caused the explosion that—agh—knocked out the upper wards! That renovation project had to have been one of the last things he was working on!”

And that’s when something else became apparent; something that formed a horrid ball of lead in their stomachs.

“Wait,” Applejack said. “If Sombra came back here after foalnappin’ an immortal princess, but attacked so soon after there was no time for anything, does that mean she's still…”

the mother waits

THE MOTHER WAITS

The only one who hadn’t been paying attention was Rarity. For everyone else, a numbness enveloped them like they were looking outside their bodies.

“‘Her sacrifice can be undone.’” Fluttershy gulped. “Did she… know?”

Maud’s voice was a whisper. “‘Futures twisted, futures turned. One succeeded... the others burned.’ Could she have seen…?”

Rainbow grit her teeth. “‘A balance could indeed be struck, until the Seeds of Evil’s Bane could turn the tide and let peace reign’. She didn’t just need the Elements, she needed US. All she could do was buy time.”

Pinkie stared at the sigils on her hooves. “All that fixed point in time stuff...”

Divination wards thrummed around them. The ones here were weak, far-reaching and numerous, but the inner ones were stronger with a shorter range. It didn’t make sense to first renovate the inner ones if trying to keep OUT a seer, but to keep one...

Twilight felt dizzy. “She must’ve known what Sombra’s rise to power would mean. She must’ve even known what he’d do with her! it might even be how she planned to buy time!”

But yet there was one issue that lingered in her mind. Wouldn’t Amore need to have found this place before Sombra to make such a plan? How had she discovered it despite the wards? How had she gotten through the traps and withstood the corruption? The Crystal Heart could repel the evil here thanks to amplifying and empowering half of her soul, but could the other half do the same?

“Scattered to the winds.” Rainbow looked around. “You don’t think…”

It was a knee-jerk reaction more than anything else. On impulse, Twilight tapped into her divine spark, activated her Soul Sight—

WUMPH

—and forgot about the changing wind. She slammed into Rarity, whose latest Disintegrate spell went wide and sailed towards one of the pulsing black voids. The void in question seemingly ate the spell... but then the ray came sailing straight back at them.

“WAUGH!” Their forcefield crumbled to dust. The frigid wind hit them like a brick wall, everypony shunted left and sent tumbling amongst wizened stone, crystal growths, and unseen barriers. Maud’s scanner went sailing. Flowy manes and tails blew everywhere. Twilight’s flames almost died out before blazing anew. The girls fought to right themselves amidst the chaos—

KZZZZT! \

But not before half of them collided with an invisible wall. Dark magic clashed with warded steel as magically-enhanced agony lanced through them that. The others yelped and scrambled to avoid a seven-pony pileup, Rarity already summoning up her magic—

WUMPH

She and Applejack were flung to the side. Fluttershy was able to compensate, but Maud, who was atop her, fell plummeting twenty feet to the withered mess below.

Fluttershy meeped and dove after Maud. Her Element-enhanced speed allowing her to close the distance and grab her… but pulling up was another matter. They smashed into the crystal and porous stone in a mess of feathers and fuzz, sending up a dust plume that tossed debris into the wind.

Twilight and the others ripped themselves off the hexed wall in a shower of sparks. Rainbow and Pinkie dove into the dust cloud after their fallen friends. Twilight spotted Applejack using her rope to lasso a bulky stalagmite, Rarity beside her and erecting a new forcefield. They were scarily close to a void with one of those vast, alien auras.

“Girls!” Twilight made to teleport—

THWACK!

A chunk of debris hit her head. Colorful flames dimmed, magic fizzled, and all the wards Twilight had been maintaining shorted out. The merciless wind picked her up and sent ragdolling past Applejack and Rarity towards the ominous emptiness.

“No!” Rarity's aura enshrouded Twilight, but she misjudged the wind’s strength. Applejack was already throwing her rope, but the wind was blowing against them.

Twilight opened her eyes. The last thing she saw was her friends’ looks of horror…

Before falling into the rift.

Meanwhile-

“What are you doing?” Proxy asked.

Neighsay worked his jaw over and over. There was an annoying sensation around two of his lower teeth like something was stuck between them. Said teeth had grown wickedly long and sharp like the others, but none of them felt strange during or after the change. It finally was so distracting he’d stopped and fashioned a telekinetic toothpick.

A moment later, Neighsay spat out his dental filling.

“Oh! You’re regenerating!” Proxy watched him examine the tiny piece. “You must be able to feed off hatred and fear after all!”

Neighsay ran his tongue along his fangs. Sure enough, the tooth that'd had the filling was whole. “Maybe it can do something about this blasted headache.”

They were in a bulbous tunnel between canyons. There were two traverseable paths here: a low path laden with spidery frost and pitfalls concealed by thin ice, and a high path of fragile ledges amidst a deadly ceiling of needle-sharp stalactites. Neighsay had taken the former at Proxy’s urging, but the mist and reflective surfaces limited the distance of his portals. The creased, angular ice here was patterned like reptile scales, and there was a thick, frigid mist that, apparently, would freeze the lungs of any unprotected soul.

Neighsay had been breathing it just fine for a while now.

“The headache should alleviate in no time.” Proxy’s throng of voices always came from everywhere and nowhere around Neighsay. “The more time you spend here, the more hale you’ll become! This place is now sacrosanct to you!”

There were a lot of words Neighsay could think of to describe this hellhole, but ‘sacrosanct’ wasn’t one of them. “Right…”

The swish and thrum of magic mixed with the clack of his hooves. The corrupted blue of his magic mocked him every time he lit his horn, but he refused to accept it'd changed color. His aura was orange, damn it—it only looked blue because his confounded eyes had gone all crazy. Of course colors were going to look off when he could suddenly see in the dark...

"Not much farther."Proxy guided Neighsay towards a slippery slope leading out of the mist. At the top, the high path angled down to continue on and out of the tunnel. “The exit is just around the bend.”

Neighsay portalled up the slippery slope and got his bearings. The first thing he noticed was the bend Proxy had mentioned had a distinct quality about it—it was pure dark crystal: the walls, the floor, the ceiling… everything. There’d been bits of the stuff sprinkled throughout the sector, but it’d never replaced the ice entirely—

—sire's hollow. a sleepy gated village in the northern equestria highlands, where rustic stone buildings with pointed towers lay nestled amidst lush, leafy trees and carefully-tended bushes. where ponies of all types and ages wandered the streets without fear regardless of the time of day. where seasons and years passed but the town remained the same...

...and where many years ago, had had chosen to make his home.

“here comes firelight and winterspring,” said his beloved stellar flare beside him. “and would you look at that—they really are pregnant again.”

neighsay smiled. “always have to compete with us.”

they were lounging on the porch of their wonderful three-story home. tall, ancient oak trees dotted the yard while massive white pines loomed over the lattice fencing. they watched their three children play together while wind chimes sang in the gentle breeze, the smell of fresh bread wafting from the nearby bakery.

stellar scooched closer and kissed neighsay's cheek. “they’ll be hard pressed to catch up with this lead.” she put a hoof on her wide, pregnant belly. she was only five months along, yet already she looked overdue. “i wonder how much longer we can keep it from them?”

neighsay put his hoof beside hers. he could feel the faint flutters of life within, the unborn triplets twitching in their sleep. “i’m surprised they haven’t figured it out already."

stellar giggled. “it’s funny. when fire and i were both so set on only having one when we dated in college. to think we'd both marry someone else and have three children apiece—and counting, no less...”

neighsay watched sunburst play catch with his sisters. “i doubt many ponies go through life always knowing what they want. i know i didn’t.”

stellar rested her head on his shoulder and closed her eyes. “my mother once told me, ‘the heart knows what it wants. you just need to quiet your mind to hear it.’’”

neighsay kissed the top of her head. “i don't know what i'd do without you.”

“but it didn’t stay open, did it?”

stellar was gone. his children were gone. he was in an abandoned field choked by thorny vines, said vines long since grown around him and trapped him in place. never once had neighsay ever tried to free himself, not even when the thorns pierced his skin and his bloody wounds festered.

“you’ve no idea how much you hurt her.” a terrible, deafening voice thundered above neighsay, its massive owner hidden from view. “you’ve no idea how much you’ve hurt anyone, not even yourself. but you will soon; oh, very soon. consider this a taste of what’s to come, because i’ve discovered something not even the puppet knows. something delicious, something delectable—i can feel it buzzing on my tongue already...”

neighsay was in agony. every little twitch and movement brought fresh pain, and the effort to breathe was worst of all. that didn’t stop him from screaming, but no matter what he did, his torment continued on—

“Anomaly!”

Neighsay blinked. He was back before the dark crystal bend. The only change was that the persistent hollowness was now like a gnawing, desperate hunger.

“This isn’t the time to rest!” Proxy said. “Come! The Sanctum awaits!”

Fast-freezing tears stung Neighsay’s eyes. He was whole and unscathed, but he could still see them playing catch in his mind’s eye. He could still hear the wind chimes, still feel Stellar’s warm embrace, smell her rose shampoo. He felt empty inside, alone—

“ERGH!” Neighsay jerked his head. He buried the turmoil as deep as he could, his numb mind never registering the offering being devoured. “N-Not... nnngh, real!”

It didn’t make much deduction for Proxy to realize what had happened. They wisely kept silent as Neighsay shook like a dog, his coat, mane, and tail hair flying off in clumps.

“Wh-Why…” Neighsay’s exhales were as cold as the ice. Black and gray hair fluttered to the ground like ash, but Neighsay couldn’t see anything through the tears. “That hasn’t happened… s-since outside! Why now!?”

Proxy had suspicions, but nothing concrete. “It might be that jewel you carry. We did say it's an ingredient for your cure, but unless you use all three ingredients at once—”

“They’ll… h-hurt me.” With shaky magic, Neighsay pulled off his saddlebags and dumped out the Tear. It rolled onto the ice and slid against the wall, its faint energies strengthening ever-so-slightly.

“By the tribes!" Without the medallion’s magic in close proximity, the merest dregs of holy energy made Neighsay recoil. "No wonder I—hrk… have a headache!”

Proxy honestly couldn't say, but it was true the jewel had been at odds with the medallion all this time. Perhaps prolonged exposure to such clashing energies was the culprit? “You need to get it away from you. Hurry, open a portal to somewhere safe, then kick it through—

Neighsay dry heaved. His numb mind throbbed, the world spinning like a merry-go-round.

“Never mind!” Proxy said in a rush. “Just run before you pass out, for Master’s sake!”

Neighsay was already moving. He staggered around the bend towards the safety of the mountain’s dark heart, his symptoms fading the farther away he got. The Tear of Laughter glittered until it could no longer amplify any source of optimism and joy, then at last the darkness flooded back in once more.

Neighsay emerged into the floor of the final canyon. It was smaller and flatter than the ones he'd traversed, extending primarily to the northwest with a small alcove to the southeast. The harsh conditions and otherworldly river of light remained... but the similarities ended there.

“Well, then,” Neighsay sneered. “I see somepony made themselves at home.”

It was like a dark reflection of the Crystal Empire. Sombra's black crystal didn't just encase the entirety of the ravine, it'd been formed into twisted faux-buildings of grotesque design. Statues of ponies in chains marched single file down the dismal streets towards a miniature mockery of Crystal Empire Castle. Said castle was defended to the utmost: a spiked wall with defense towers, ballistae stationed everywhere, and patrols of guards in mind control helmets. The only way into the castle was a drawbridge, but surprisingly, it was already… down?

“You recall the six trespassers we commandeered, yes?” Proxy said when Neighsay asked. “We’d lost all but one of them up to this point. The final trespasser was able to lower the drawbridge and enter the Sanctum itself, but the effort used up the remainder of their strength.”

Neighsay tut-tutted. “So close, and yet so far.”

He ignored the siren song of the dark crystals and portalled past little Sombra’s vanity project to reappear in the castle courtyard. The mountain’s mouth-watering energy was even stronger now; even overwhelming the call of the crystals. Neighsay couldn’t help but lick his lips, his empty, ravenous hunger roaring.

“For all of Anomaly B’s desecration and meddling, we’ll at least acknowledge his trap making skills,” Proxy said. “Given your astuteness, however, you should be able to spot the problem with this picture.”

Neighsay grinned like a shark. “The Crystal Empire didn’t exist in your master’s lifetime, and even if it did, there's no way she'd construct something so obvious. She's all about concealment and deception.”

“Well said.” Proxy directed Neighsay to the east canyon wall. “The true Inner Sanctum is there.”

The entrance was encased in crystal like everything else. There weren’t any noticeable handles, levers, or pressure plates, or anything else to indicate it was there. Proxy led Neighsay to a concealed ledge some ten feet up, where he found a hole with a switch inside.

KA-CHUNK

Frozen stone grated against foul crystal. Deafening sounds of splintering and shattering rocked the ravine as a crease in the wall appeared. Ancient doors broke through the crystal and opened beneath Neighsay, revealing a crystalline antechamber with circular walls and a low ceiling.

A frozen corpse lay just inside the black interior.

“Come,” said Proxy. “Your prize is on sub-level three.”

Twilight opened her eyes.

There was no surface beneath her hooves, nor any friction to the air. There was no wind, no form of scent, no temperature or sensation. The light of her flames burned, but they illuminated nothing. Twilight's ears twitched with the sound of her own breath. Her thoughts were muddled, wandering, and incoherent. Her wings found no purchase when she tried to fly, and even her magic was useless.

She called out into the void. No response.

Twilight’s heart beat faster. The emptiness’ was like an all-encompassing presence that sent chills down her spine. She could swear something was moving… or perhaps it didn't need to. Her limbs felt tingly, a great weight bearing down on her more and more. It felt like time was slowing down—or was it speeding up?

Was she sinking? Was she drowning? Was she even alive?

“Wh-What…” The smothering dark clawed at Twilight. Her raspy inhales were deafening, an invisible hand closing around her chest. Every movement and sound she made felt like sacrilege. It felt like the abyss was peeling away the layers of her mind like an onion, her thoughts and memories being laid bare. Emotions and desires continued to be exposed to the black, featureless vacuum whether she liked it or not. Twilight whimpered and flailed, but she was a flea trying to stop an elephant.

She screamed. Her immortal mind withstood the battering, but the hungering void grew more determined. The mortal, vestigial remnants of Twilight’s psyche were flayed and peeled one by one from her subconscious to be devoured before her eyes. Her divinity endured, but the strain allowed her to glimpse the true nature of this ‘absence’; a glimpse she didn’t want—

FWOOOOOOM!

A multicolored beam pierced the expanse. Wrathful harmonic forces tore into the hungering dark like wet paper, invigorating Twilight's mind and soul in the process. The shadowy tendrils she hadn’t even known about were burned off her body in an instant.

Clarity struck like lightning. Twilight remembered what'd happened now; recognized what the light was. She still couldn’t move or cast magic, but as she thought this, the multicolored beam coalesced into a shining tether and yanked Twilight forward.

“WAH!” Twilight felt her senses returning. The abyss regrouped in her wake and made to attack once more, but the Elements weren't done with it. Four more multicolored beams exploded out of nowhere to deliver another grievous rebuttal, shredding it without mercy again and again.

There was an unholy shriek. The distortion was collapsing around Twilight, her vision pulsing with colors she’d never seen. She could only pray the Elements would be able to get her—

BOOM!

The black rift exploded. A crackling eldritch pulse shattered the brittle rock before the actual blast kicked up even more dust. It did little to deter the girls, however, for they were already readying to attack again...

“WAIT!” Rainbow spotted a fiery silhouette in the dust. “WE GOT HER! SHE’S OUT!”

Twilight’s eyes spun in their sockets. She was just regaining her senses when her five armored friends glomped her from every direction and sent her reeling again. They might’ve fallen into another rift together had she not thrown up a new forcefield before the wind changed.

Maud breathed out a sigh from a nearby alcove. “Thank goodness.”

Twilight had never been more grateful for earth pony resilience. Everypony was talking at once, either checking her over or still trying to hug her. “I-Is anyone hurt?”

After a quick check, it seemed the injuries were minor. Fluttershy had lost some feathers, Applejack had a bloody nose, Pinkie had bruised her shoulder, and Maud had gotten some cuts. Everypony else was just shaken.

“I think you got the worst of it,” Pinkie told Twilight. “Good thing you're the tough one!”

Applejack snorted. “Tough don't mean invincible. You gave us a right scare, Twi.”

“I'm just happy the Elements didn't get bounced back like my Disintegrate spell.” Rarity said. “Speaking of which...”

Twilight managed a laugh. “Y-Yeah... my bad on that one.”

“What happened in there?” Fluttershy asked. “It felt like something was attacking you!”

Twilight swallowed hard. It felt like she'd peeled a scab before it'd healed. Her vestigial mortal instincts and mental responses, which had been lying dormant in her subconscious since her ascension, had been carved off to leave her with only alicorn ones. The lingering tatters of her mortal psychology, snipped off like loose threads.

“Even if I could explain what… e-erm, that was, I wouldn’t.” Twilight took a deep breath, then let it out long and slow. “Trust me when I say you’re better—offff—ERRRRGH, I’ve just about HAD IT with this feathering wind! I’m ready to MELT a path the rest of the way!”

The others winced. A heated glow shone behind Twilight’s teeth, fiery spittle flying from her mouth like stirred-up coals. She snarled and seethed, nostrils flaring—

Rainbow put a prismatic wing around Twilight. She nuzzled her marefriend’s blazing mane, planting soft kisses up Twilight’s head with warm hums. “Easy, beautiful...”

Poor Twilight was going to get emotional whiplash at this rate.

“I suggest we try dispelling the walls.” Maud pulled her winter jacket tighter. “Melting a path could work, but I’m not sure how the mutacite to Element-infused flames.”

Twilight scrunched up her face. “I wasn’t actually—n-never mind. Dispelling's not a bad idea, now that I think about it. My sister’s the real—ugh—forcefield guru, but if Rarity can manage the wind for a bit, I’ll see what I can do.”

Rarity was too busy squee’ing over Rainbow and Twilight cuddling like lovebirds to reply. “You are just too adorabllllle~”

The first step was figuring out where the closest forcefield was. Tossing a stone answered that question, so Twilight was soon inspecting the individual spellthreads. An alien arcane pattern danced in her mind’s eye—curvatures and interlaced matrices like a looping, twisted skein. Once she figured out how it all made a cohesive whole (and she’d confirmed there were no inlaid traps) she started poking and prodding around.

She started with a light touch and went gradually stronger, upping the ante until she was prodding with enough strength to challenge high-grade military shields. All spells had one or more weak spots within their design, but they weren’t always obvious without the right amount of force. It was only when Twilight really started putting some oomph behind it that she encountered some give, and after rooting around a bit more...

The others gasped. The barrier Twilight had been working on now flickered into view, rippling all the while like the surface of a pond. Then Twilight pierced the spellthreads proper, and with a quick tug, it shattered like brittle glass.

Everyone cheered.

“Okay!” Twilight readied another rock. “The rest should go faster! Let’s go!”

They flew out of the gnarled stone formations as fast as they dared. Dispelling the barriers wasn’t as efficient as the group’s previous methods, but it did let them progress. he eerie, sourceless light continued through the wide, bizarre descent down a spiralling chasm, the crumbling cliffs littered with tributes to depravity. Twilight could feel the others’ eyes on her as they went—Luna’s speech about ‘an immortal’s downfall begins in the mind’ no doubt echoing in their heads, but this wasn't the time for a therapy session. She'd talk about it later when they weren't somewhere with danger around every bend.

Their journey was uneventful until the end of the sector. They suspected they were getting close when the wind died out, but became more sure after the dreary light faded and the rift-ridden labyrinth ended. It wasn’t much surprise when Maud announced soon after they’d exited the primary resonator’s range.

That's when the already-frigid temperature took a noticeable nosedive. Twilight still kept everyone warm, but considering what’d just happened… well, let’s just say nopony commented when both she and Rarity put up frost wards.

“Look there.” Applejack pointed to a strange, aurora-like ribbon flowing out of the rock above. “I know we’re up north and all, but I don’t think that’s normal.”

Twilight’s hackles rose. The divination wards kept her from scanning the light, so she turned to Maud.

“It appears to be some kind of modified Light spell,” Maud informed them. “Not a ward, but still connected to the mana well like the wards in the upper caverns.”

Twilight rubbed her chin. “More evidence to support the power didn’t 'flicker' down here. If so, everything down here that requires a steady feed is intact.”

Fluttershy cocked her head. “Does... that mean there could be MORE danger? Or does that mean the light’s safe?”

Rainbow snorted. “Nothing down here is safe. For Pete's sake, even the air has tried to kill us!”

“The dead ponies are safe!” said Pinkie.

…

...

Pinkie shrugged. “I’m just saying.”

But even if the light wasn’t dangerous, they all agreed it likely wasn't for their benefit. Thus, Twilight located the source of the Light spell and dispelled it—

“Oh, come on!” The strange ribbon ceased flowing, but the residual light continued to float through the air at a brisk, zooming speed of an inch a minute. “How does that even work?!”

“I did say it was modified,” Maud said.

“Mrrghghghggh.” Twilight ran a hoof down her face. “Let’s just keep going.”

“We’re getting close, aren’t we?” Rarity asked. “Please say we're close.”

Twilight grunted. “It's a good thing the Elements' lock is still working. We’ve a half-mile to go vertically, and three-quarters of a mile diagonally—southwest, to be exact.”

Applejack groaned. “Oh, please be a straight shot...”

The cave grew colder and more corrupted. Translucent ice crept along the stone walls and across the pockmarked ground ahead of them, becoming more and more prevalent until it replaced the rock entirely. Maud, of course, voiced displeasure of superior minerals being replaced by boring hydrogen and oxygen.

They rounded a corner and came into a cavern rivalling the size of Ponyville’s Town Square. In the center was something they recognized—a building-sized monument of a snake devouring its own tail. It was an exact copy of its colossal counterpart save for its size.

“Oh, this again.” Rarity curled her lip. “I didn't think it was possible, but I do believe it’s even uglier in ice!”

As before, there was an opening in the foundation. The way forward was down another set of uneven stairs, but even though Maud's equipment was quiet, the group remained wary. They followed the light down the stairs while on pins and needles.

“Maybe this is a fake-out!” Pinkie said at last. “That's the best way to keep someone on edge!”

“Maybe.” Twilight glanced back at the melting mess being left in their—her wake. “Or maybe there's more to this ice.”

Rainbow’s gaze lingered on the thawing walls. “I dunno. I actually think Pinkie—”

“The next primary resonator is just ahead.” Maud said as her device beeped. “Be ready.”

At the bottom of the stairs they found… a hole. A six-by-eight hole, to be exact, which the ribbon of light flowed into. Upon flying closer, they saw it opened up into a humongous canyon at least as long and wide as where they’d encountered the ooze golem.

The group skidded to a halt.

“What the—” Applejack looked back the way they’d come. “Did we go the wrong way?”

Twilight frowned. She couldn’t tell the canyon's depth, but her pegasus vision also allowed her to see caves and pathways carved out of the canyon’s frozen walls. "I'm not sure, but it looks like everything down there is ice."

Maud's expression was glum. "The first area was natural, the swamp area was artificial, the area we just left was natural, and now we have this. It'd seem the areas are alternating between naturally made and alchemically excavated."

Rarity’s eyes widened. “Wait... is it just me, or has anyone else noticed that if the traps aren't built aren't the locations, then the locations are built around the traps? Please tell me I'm not crazy."

Applejack raised an eyebrow. "I... ain't been payin' that much attention, to be honest."

Rarity rolled her eyes. "I'm talking about efficiency. Maud says the swamp cavern was made by hoof, so that probably means the maker had a vision for the traps and was willing to go the extra mile to make them work. I'm guessing they either couldn't or didn't want to do that for the entire place, so they optimized the traps to fit the cavern in the places they left untouched. If this next area is artificial and it starts with a sheer drop..."

Rainbow cringed at the looming freefall. "Being in the air is bad. Got it.”

Twilight had to agree. “Grab on, everypony. We’ll teleport.”

She charged up her horn while everyone huddled in. She powered through the interference, focused on a ledge below, and...

FLASH!

Ice. Everything was some varying form of it. Light scattered shadows across every slick surface amidst the dry, stifling air. The ribbon of light split into multiple lines lazing across the canyon every few hundred feet. An aura of hostility pervaded the dizzying depths like a hand gripping their chests. Bridges, pathways, and tunnels were everywhere, many of them aimless, others defying logic entirely—

VWUM

The ribbons of light brightened. The alluring walls flashed and glowed, every breath they took suddenly feeling like sacrilege. Twilight and the others felt their Elements flare, the hateful presence pressing down on them.

“Bring it on!” Rainbow dropped into a crouch. “Whatcha got this time, huh?!”

Twilight felt naked without being able to scan with magic. Their reflections were everywhere, always drawing her eye—

a pair of once-animated suits of armor were flung into the canterlot castle throne room. twilight, fully ablaze with glowing eyes and a toothy snarl, stepped over the destroyed golems as they crumbled to ash. four more golems ran up to intercept her, but she incinerated them with a literal roar of flame.

“look, girls,” said rainbow. “twilight’s come to play some more.”

twilight barely even recognized this place anymore. the flowers, the fountains, the stained glass windows, the chandeliers, the long red carpet… it was all turned to stone. the emblem of the sun and moon had been split in two. there’d once been two humble thrones here—now there were five iron seats.

“do you really have to keep trashing my golems like that?” rarity sighed at the fallen armor. “i spent an hour and a half making those.”

“you’d have spent zero hours if you hadn’t petrified the last underlings,” applejack groused beside her.

rarity stuck up her nose. “as if i was going to let their brutish comments go unpunished! besides, if you think my statue count is bad, you should hear pinkie’s tally.”

pinkie shrugged. “i like seeing their expressions—”

twilight interrupted with a horizontal pillar of flame. her former friends countered with a blast of corrupted harmony. yet twilight wasn't overwhelmed like she’d been so many times before—this time, the two attacks actually cancelled out.

“well, well.” rainbow sat up and cracked her neck. “about time she started playing for keeps.”

“guess that means we should too.” applejack got to her hooves. “are we petrifying her and turning her later, or turning her right now? i vote for the former, personally.”

“i vote now.” rainbow hopped off her throne. “obvious reasons aside, i wanna conquer the whole world by week’s end.”

“we could do that now if we really wanted,” rarity said with a yawn. “i say petrify now, convert later.”

a strange grin spread on pinkie’s face. “there’s no kill quite like overkill! i vote let’s turn her now and have some fun!”

which meant the deciding vote was fluttershy. she remained silent as she watched twilight close the distance, examining her with a look reminiscent of maud. the stone floor was melting in twilight's wake. murder seethed in her glowing eyes. she was an avatar of vengeance and destruction, her rage focused on five betrayers.

“Twilight,” Fluttershy said. “This isn’t real. Turn down your flame.”

white, golf ball-sized spheres appeared to orbit twilight in a ring. everything was melting now, yet it still wasn’t enough. she’d stop these five monsters even if it meant incinerating the entire city. nothing would stop her this time—

“Twilight.”

Eyes. Clear, beautiful blue eyes. Twilight gasped and staggered as the world reasserted itself. The rage and grief shattered like flimsy glass, memories of a false history evaporating like steam. No fall of Equestria, no crushing betrayal, no petrification rampage. There was still a thrum of evil magic, however... It looked like it was being deterred by—

“S-Stare…” Twilight gulped. The sector’s bewitchment was a storm, but Fluttershy was the eye. Or eyes, rather; and that didn't look to be changing. Twilight wasn’t sure if Fluttershy was immune or had broken free, but one thing for certain was that Twilight had encountered this effect before.

“Sombra’s mirror...” Twilight recast her Mass Frost Ward while Fluttershy locked eyes with Maud. “Another ‘innovation’, I’m guessing.”

Colors and shadows danced before Maud's eyes. She gasped and fell to her knees with a splash, the cold water restoring her other senses in a blink. “W-Water… water?”

That was when Twilight remembered what Fluttershy had said. Thinking quick, she jumped into the air and reinforced the thawing ledge with a molded forcefield. “Maud! Stay close to Fluttershy while she frees the others! The primary resonator’s effect is some kind of bewitching aura!”

Maud regarded her fiery flying form. “...It'd seem you were either right about the grid not 'seeing' you, or we were wrong about flying being bad.”

Twilight hesitated. “L-Look, it’s worth the risk with how fast I’m melting everything. Just sit tight there while I modify everyone’s darkvision to see through steam—”

"That may not help us much." Maud rubbed one of her bandaged cuts. “I only got a glimpse of the canyon's layout, but it looked very disorienting. I think we may have dropped into a giant maze."

Twilight’s ears drooped. “And we can't use divination magic. Knowing the artifact is southwest will be useless if we have to take a winding route to get there. It could take multiple excursions to get through."

Meanwhile, the others had just come to their senses.

“Ugh…” Rainbow rubbed her head. “I dunno what that was, but—whoa! What’s with the fog?”

Applejack managed a laugh. “Forgot about that stare of yours, Fluttershy. You just saved our hides.”

Rarity hugged her. “Our hero!”

Fluttershy giggled. “It was nothing—”

“Hey, Twilight’s flying!” Pinkie leapt up to hover beside her. “Guess we were wrong about—”

Everyone’s hair stood on end. The cold rushing wind of something unseen sped towards them, something that seethed with corruption. Suddenly, a putrid frostbolt erupted from the fog towards Pinkie—

KRKKKK!

A thrown geomancy scanner took the hit.

“LAND!” Twilight threw up a barrier just as the next salvo came. Countless frostbolts assailed the half-melted platform, the others diving for cover, as well.

“What was that?!” Applejack said to Maud over the noise. “Did you throw your—”

“Not now!” said Rainbow.

The pummelling continued several more seconds as the ledge continued to melt around them. Twilight held the molded forcefield in place, but by the time it was quiet again, the outcropping was all but gone. The group stood and braved a look into the soupy mist. They couldn’t see anything.

Pinkie put a hoof behind her head. “Whoops?”

Six dirty looks stared back at her.

“More ghastly ice magic…” Rarity stuck up her nose. “As if we hadn’t had enough of that! These countermeasures are getting ridiculous!”

“Oh, NOW they're getting ridiculous?” Rainbow gestured around them. “Where have you been the last few hours?”

Twilight ignored them and looked to Maud. “That was your scanner, wasn't it.”

Maud helped Pinkie up. “Never mind that. At this point, I think you should make good on melting a path to the artifact—or rather, carve one. Creating an ice tunnel would certainly be faster and easier than wandering through a booby-trapped maze on hoof.”

Applejack looked between them. “Uh, hello? Did y’all forget the whole ‘surrounded by exploding rocks’ thing? I thought that’s why we weren’t doing that in the first place!”

“I thought it was because braving the caverns saved time and energy.” Rarity adjusted her glowing mane. "Not to mention we were chasing Neighsay.”

“Which isn't the case anymore,” said Fluttershy.

Rainbow crossed her hooves. “What were the chances a resonator goes boom again? Like, two percent?”

“Four,” said Maud.

Twilight’s eyes flicked back and forth. “I have been getting a sense of how the mutacite feels to my terrakinesis. I’ll probably not detect some here and there, but if I make the ray really thin and small, I may not even chance the four percent...”

Pinkie pretended like she was speaking into an intercom. “Paging Doctor Twilight Sparkle, repeat. Paging Doctor Twilight Sparkle! We have a plan the requires surgical precision! Report to the operating room immediately!”

“The Sanctum isn’t large,” Proxy told Neighsay. “The floors get smaller the farther down you go, and the majority of them hold little but memories. We’ll be impressed if you lose your way.”

The Inner Sanctum was like a mausoleum. Encased in dull black crystal like everything else, the circular, empty interior was the size of a planetarium. The flat floor and ceiling held no markings or openings, the concave walls were smooth as glass, and aside from a central column with a pair of reflective doors, there was little of note. Indeed, if Neighsay had to describe his first impression of the place, it’d be ‘underwhelming’.

“You said sub-level three, right?” The corpse at the entrance was of no interest to Neighsay. He never even got close to it—he portalled from outside and emerged in beside the Sanctum’s central column. “Why that level?”

“We’re not sure why Anomaly B set up shop there,” Proxy said in a droll chorus. “We did note he enjoyed going up and down the stairs; perhaps that’s why.”

Neighsay paused. “You’re joking.”

“You’ll recall he was insane,” Proxy said. “A functional, lucid kind of insane, but as the old saying goes: revenge by any other name is just as sweet.”

Neighsay sucked on his teeth. “I’m… pretty sure that’s not how the saying goes.”

“Perhaps you're thinking of a different one.”

Ultimately, Neighsay decided not to press it. Instead he took a deep breath of the stale, hate-polluted air and reveled in the cold a moment. He might’ve taken even longer to appreciate the ambience, but the undecorated room was proving a bore. He started looking for a light switch before realizing the folly of that.

“You should feed,” Proxy said upon Neighsay’s stomach growling again. “The Master never researched the effects of harmonic energies immediately after shadowfrost exposure, but if Anomaly D’s ‘stabilization’ was going to produce unintended side effects, they’d have shown up by now. You know how to consume feelings, yes?”

Neighsay wiped the drool from his lips. It was probably just his imagination, but he was so hungry that magic in general was starting to look appetizing. “I’ll eat once we’re done. Did Sombra come back here after the Empire returned, by the way?”

Proxy’s voices paused. They fell into a hushed jumble of whispers, but eventually did reply. “...He was using the Sanctum as a staging ground after the Crystal Empire returned. We believe he was meaning to plot his next move, but we never particularly cared. You’ll find his machinations on the third sub-level.”

Neighsay smiled; a cold, cruel action that revealed far too many teeth. “Then let’s not waste time. How do I—”

VWUM

Neighsay’s smile became a scowl. “Persistent, aren't they?”

“Not waste time, indeed.” Proxy directed Neighsay to the entrance controls. “Quick, close the door. The column in the middle of the room is the Central Stair. It’s the only way to go from floor to floor.”

Neighsay punched the control switch with magic. The tall doors concealed themselves once more within the cliff, leaving him and Proxy alone in the dark. He now turned his attention to the wide, shiny, and obvious stairway doors set with a heavy slide bar. His eyes caught the reflective surface as he pulled the handle—

“AHHHHHHH!” Neighsay scrambled away. The creature he’d just seen recoiled as well, their gold eyes seething with foul shadowfrost. Both entities tripped and fell at the same time.

“What in the...” An edge crept into Proxy’s tone. “What did you do now?!”

Neighsay couldn’t breathe. His headache had returned with a vengeance, blood thudding in his ears like a drum. That… that THING was—NO! H-H-He was just seeing things again!

“Wait…” Proxy took a closer look at Neighsay. It was then they realized their error—they’d retained a hidden way to access Neighsay’s psyche, but they’d been so spent they hadn’t noticed that Neighsay’s mind had gone numb! It was like an anaesthetic!

And under that concealing shroud, the mental ‘scar’ within...

“YOU!” It was hard to tell anything in Neighsay’s mind now, but near as Proxy could tell, the entity had spread to infect the entire psyche. Granted, Proxy’s knowledge of pony mental trauma was equally nebulous, so they ventured a tad deeper into—

CHOMP

“Did you just… ” Proxy felt the spell accessing Neighsay’s consciousness being torn away… followed by a swallowing sound. “That’s not documented anywhere in the Master’s research! Don’t tell us that stupid anomaly’s stabilization—”

Neighsay heard more laughter in his head. It sounded like his voice… but fouler. He didn’t know why, but something about it incited a cold fury in him, one that was accompanied by a strange tingling in his throat.

“N-nO…” Neighsay got up. At the same time, so did the monster. They stared each other down, then yelled in a savage voice that changed into something deeper. “i’VE cOME… TOo… fAr!”’

Wintery blue magic roared to life. Power unlike anything Neighsay knew surged from the depths of his mind. Proxy was saying something, but the damned laughter was drowning out the words. The golem’s succulent energies within the medallion were like a juicy grape on the vine…

The reflective doors were ripped off their hinges with a horrendous SNAP! Neighsay strode towards the spiral stairway beyond amidst total darkness… yet a shadow loomed over him all the same.

“You’RE Not mE.” Neighsay didn’t know who was talking anymore. All he knew was that wasn’t his voice. “i knOW whO i AM...”

He dashed down the Central Stair. The creature followed no matter how fast he ran, its ugly features taunting him every time he passed a door. Pale white and completely hairless. Hungry gold eyes oozing with shadowfrost. A fanged, manic grin. Proxy was still trying to get Neighsay’s attention, but Neighsay didn’t care anymore. It was probably just another lie. The stupid golem would be eating their words soon, or perhaps...

Each floor had a landing leading into the space proper. Neighsay had passed two already, now coming up on the third. The creature was there waiting, of course... but Neighsay had seen how thick the doors were. As soon as he gained line of sight, he opened a portal and jumped before the creature could try something.

ZRRM!

And just like that, he was in.

The high-ceilinged room was magically insulated to protect the items inside. It’d been fashioned into a mix between a living quarters and a lab; and as Proxy had mentioned, the circular floorspace was much smaller than at the entrance. Sombra’s living amenities were sparse—a bed, a wardrobe of capes and regalia, various hygiene items, some dark crystal furniture, no food or water anywhere. His work-related items were varied and numerous: tables, bookshelves, workbenches, engineering tools, books of all kinds, scattered notes and maps, magical reagents, geomancy instruments, diagrams, assorted apparatuses, and even more things Neighsay didn’t care to examine.

What grabbed Neighsay's attention most was the device installed into the wall. It was a spherical rune-covered metal mesh, about the size of a beach ball and reinforced with joists within an ornate circular array. Suspended inside was a glowing curved spike of some kind, almost resembling...

Neighsay’s lips parted. “rEGenERaTe…” He put a hoof to his own horn. Would his start to look like that? All black and red and ugly? The fluted surface of Sombra's severed horn was wrapped in fine crystal threads like nerve endings, causing its bloody red glow to flood the room. “a HoRN rETAins ITs chargE, evEN iF...”

Sombra’s horn seethed with untold energy. Neighsay’s new senses revealed what might otherwise take longer to see—it was absorbing the mountain’s ambient empathy via the device. A number of spells had been cast that the horn was maintaining, just as Neighsay had suspected—

We still have time!” The medallion flashed with Proxy’s murmurs. “You’ll need our help to do this before your pursuers arrive! Our goals align now more than ever, Devourer!”

…

Neighsay blinked several times. Devourer? Who… was Proxy talking to? He knew he’d had a fit there, but Proxy hadn’t ever referred to him asthe puppet is right. Listen to what they say for now, but keep your voice down. There’s no telling when the Bearers might show up...

Right. Neighsay kept a cool head and crept over to the machine without a sound. His headache lessened to a mere echo as he muttered under his breath, “Tell me how to destroy it, Proxy.”

It soon became obvious Proxy had studied every facet of the device. Neighsay followed the careful instructions with a decent amount of speed, but there were still problems here and there. The steps began with easy things like ‘flip the switch within the shielded enclosure beside you’, but the rest were more involved. He had to make one delicate adjustment at a time starting with the outer portions and moving inward, all the while being careful not to mess up his own work. First was the absurd outer array. Next was the runed metal mesh, while easier, still wasn’t a cakewalk. Recalibrating the network of crystalline threads preserving the horn was the hardest of all, but with a careful touch and a few close calls...

“That's it!” Proxy said. “Get clear of the array, shut the enclosure’s blast door, then throw the switch!!”

Neighsay obeyed. Now in the nearby enclosure with barely enough space for one, his last thought before pulling the lever was Proxy’s intent was to ‘remove Sombra’s defilement’. Hopefully this would be good enough to uphold his part of their deal, because once this thing was trashed, he was getting the hay out of here.

KA-CHUNK

FWWWWWWWWWWW—RRRRRRRRRMMMMMMMMMMMMMM

The metal mesh crackled and spun. The array flashed in a seizure-inducing display, brighter and brighter until it hurt to see. The crystalline threads hummed in a chorus that soon rose into a deafening whine. Now at its apex, the clamor and light even penetrated the protective enclosure. The noise was pure chaos, a strange frequency that penetrated air and rock alike. Neighsay could see the dancing lights even through his eyelids!

The black crystal in the room began to crack. It started around the device, but quickly cascaded in a series of crackling snaps. The sphere of influence spread until it was as large as the sound had travelled, though the exact measurement was anypony's guess. The cracks grew finer and finer until all black crystal in range was reduced to glittering magic, and only then did the shrill whine stop—

CHK-CHKKKKK… VMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM

Now the machine was emitting a strange thrumming. The crystal’s broken-down magic was being drawn to the machine like a magnet, dark energy zooming in from all directions to be reabsorbed into the horn.

“It’s working…” Proxy’s voices were in awe. “IT’S WORKING!”

Neighsay wasn’t sure what was happening. All he knew was a great amount of magic coalescing into a single point; enough to make drool fall from his lips on a constant stream.

After what felt like an eternity, all was silent once more.

“FINALLY!” Many of Proxy’s voices were laughing. “AT LONG LAST!”

Neighsay dashed out of the compartment. The ruined array was covered in ice, the metal mesh half-frozen and cracked open like an egg. Several of the crystal threads had snapped, and the few that remained crumbled to dust before his eyes.

As for the thing they’d been attached to…

“What…” The horn’s glow was so bright it hurt Neighsay’s eyes. Its staggering power distorted the air, sizzling red tendrils dancing along it like solar flares. Whether Sombra had actually been this powerful in life or not, the energy in the horn now was beyond anything Neighsay had encountered you understand everything now. Now is your chance; take the horn before it turns the crystal pony freaks into berserkers! GO!

Of course. It was all so clear to Neighsay—Nightmare Moon had never been ‘purified’, it’d all been a ploy to corrupt the other alicorns. The Elements had always been under her control from the moment they tried to face her, and she’d sent them here so she could bolster her army with crystal pony shock troops! Images of dead-eyed crystal ponies cutting a swath across Equestria played before Neighsay’s eyes. Canterlot, sacked. The three tribes, enslaved. Stallions would be worked until they died, mares forced to breed with thestrals and produce battalions of Dreamrealm invaders. Soon Nightmare Moon would have enough of a force—TO CRUSH YOU LIKE AN INSECT—

“AGGGH!” The psychic presence of Queen Chrysalis made Neighsay crumple. There was no sickly-sweet coercion; only rage and impossible power. He thrashed and writhed on the ground mere feet from his prize.

“YOU WON’T FORCE ME OUT THIS TIME.” Neighsay could feel something rushing through him, a fluid of some kind gathering into a viscous muck. A giant translucent serpent with dripping fangs formed to coil his entire body. “NOW, SHOW ME WHAT YOU’VE FOUND!”

Chrysalis’ avatar wasn’t perfect. Its grotesque features kept shifting, its eyes bleary and out-of-focus. Her physical and mental grip were the most tangible things as she searched blindly within his numb psyche—

CHOMP

There was a terrible scream. Neighsay could breathe again. The serpent’s coils went limp around him, and something vast, terrible, and hungry was standing over him like a beast guarding its kill. It was so huge it shouldn’t have been able to fit in the Inner Sanctum—let alone this room!

“THE BUG CALLS US AN INSECT,” said a voice. “HOW IRONIC.”

Dizzy. So very, very dizzy. Neighsay couldn’t think straight, his whole body feeling drained. What was he doing again? Right, Sombra’s horn. He waded through a mire of fatigue and pulled himself back up with gold eyes and bloody fangs. He looked up and saw a monster like an absence in space; a cognizant void wreathed in malice. It was peeling Chrysalis’ avatar off him and lifting the writhing serpent up, up, up, up.

“I KNOW YOU CAN HEAR ME, LOVESUCKER.” it laughed and dangled the avatar over it's mighty jaws. “WHAT A POOR MOVE ON YOUR PART... WAS THIS YOUR FIRST TIME ATTEMPTING SUCH A TRICK?”

The base of Neighsay’s horn burned like mad. Hunger was the only definite anymore. He was looking out of his own eyes, but someone else’s, as well. He swore he was holding something over his mouth, but wasn't he staring at a magical horn? It wasn’t clear what was real anymore...

Then, the emptiness inside Neighsay felt… less, for a moment.

“YES!” Proxy crowed. “Vengeance for the Master! Your miserable kind will rue the day you overran the first facility!”

They were two entities sharing a shadow. One of them laughed as their colossal form swelled to even greater sizes. The other struggled to finish what they’d started, moving forward on shaky steps. One struggled to do what they thought was right. The other didn't care about such things.

Then, the two halves met eyes met for the first time.

“I’D HOPED TO TOY WITH YOU A BIT MORE, BUT…” Their shared vision flickered. Neighsay felt his senses dimming, the world fading to echoes. He was sinking in numbness, like a statue sinking into the ocean depths. He tried to break free and regain control, but it was too late; far too late. There were no dreams, not even the shadow of a dream.

“I THINK I’LL LEAVE YOu there for now,” said a distant voice. “At least until I can devote some proper time to you. Oh, and since you won't be needing it, I'll be using your name from now on. There can be only one Neighsay, after all...”

Then everything went dark.

The new Neighsay opened his eyes.

The sensations were new and foreign at the same time. A thick layer of cotton had been peeled off his senses, yet he felt confined, limited. He had a defined form now, and while he could still feel a certain limitlessness, he was confined to reality’s rules... for now.

“We’re not sure if that failed experiment forced your hoof, but we certainly don’t mind the results,” Proxy said. “You should know, however, consuming her avatar merely freed you of any further psychotic episodes. She is still very much alive.”

Freed him… yes. Yes, Neighsay was now freed. Proxy’s inane banter could be grating at times, but the golem was very good at double meanings.

Neighsay got to his hooves. The black crystal was gone—broken down and absorbed into Sombra’s horn. The Sanctum’s underlying construction was revealed to not be ice, but normal, everyday rock. The aura of unease was more palpable than ever though, made worse by the room’s disarray. Papers had been scattered, devices had knocked over, tables had been disturbed, books had fallen, materials had spilled, and everything close to the ruined machine was either frozen, destroyed, or both.

“Of course, we doubt you care about such things.” Soft chuckles were interspersed between Proxy’s words. “We can guess what you’re about to do, but we’d be remiss if we didn’t make our offer one final time. Swear yourself to the Master, Devourer. Become an agent of her legacy. This measly thing is nothing compared to what you could have!”

Neighsay wasn’t listening. He’d only dared take dregs of the mountain’s corruption before; now he could let it soak into his every pore. The crimson glow of Sombra’s horn revealed his bare white skin was changing; developing hard, glossy black scales like Chrysalis’ avatar. His naked, pitiful tail was growing thicker and longer, soon as mobile and dexterous as a serpent's.

“Or perhaps you’re as shortsighted as your counterpart.” Proxy watched Neighsay wrench the seething horn from the ruined device. “A pity, you would’ve had a place in our ranks. We suppose that means our business is concluded, so we'll just leave you to it..."

And they tried to do just that, intending to separate themselves from Neighsay’s medallion...

“What…” Proxy couldn't move. The golem shifted and struggled, but Neighsay’s icy blue magic held fast. “Devourer!”

Now it was Neighsay's turn to chuckle. The sound was chilling—His flat, nasally voice had turned harsh and deep with an occasional mad lilt. He salivated over Sombra's horn a moment, not even needing to will the ambient power to flow into him anymore; it did so on its own.

A vortex of evil swirled around him and the horn. He bared his glistening fangs, opened wide… and bit down.

Foul energies exploded immediately. Tendrils of sanguine magic arced out of the horn, only to then funnel into Neighsay’s maw in a constant stream. The horn’s long-sustained spells unravelled like yarn to be no more, the raw energies devoured without pause or care. Darkness wreathed around Neighsay as a millennium of soaked-up power surged into his malleable form, his transforming body making the Inner Sanctum tremble.

It was a feeding frenzy. Voracious greed and hunger consumed Neighsay as much as he consumed all the magic he could. Empathic magic, arcane magic, both were on the menu. He could feel himself changing, growing as he devoured more and more. He was aware of a distant tightness and the ripping of fabric as he grew, but the sensations went ignored.

“YOU DARE?!” Proxy realized Neighsay’s magical items were getting being feasted on, as well. Proxy made another attempt to flee, but it was too late. The magic Chrysalis had infused into the medallion was first to go, weeping out in thick, black, viscous globs. Then the medallion’s ancient matrices fell apart piece by piece, leaving Proxy themselves to be shredded like tissue paper. Their loud, shrill protests echoed through the room as Neighsay ate the ancient golem, leaving its mysterious puppetmasters without a mouthpiece—

WHOOOOOSH!

Frigid, knifing winds sprang to life around Neighsay. His body shuddered, doubling in size to stand taller than a manticore. Cruel ice spines with wicked points erupted all across his scaly body. His body lengthened and thickened to reflect more of Chrysalis’ avatar, his serpentine tail gaining curved, crystalline barbs. Freezing shadowfrost coalesced where his mane had been, and an even fouler, colder miasma spewed forth from his nostrils and throat. Ecstasy swept through him as Sombra’s brittle horn cracked in his mouth, and he wasted no time in crunching it to pieces and swallowing every last bit.

“MORE!” The room shook with Neighsay’s decree. A titanic surge hit him, and he doubled in size again to rival an ursa minor. Still he grew bigger, the available space was shrinking by the second as tables and shelves were smashed by his expanding limbs. His features grew more fearsome the more magic he ate, becoming truly monstrous—

There was a great rumble from above.

Neighsay paused. His pony-like ears brushed the ceiling, but he was still so very hungry. Yet the thuds and crashes of rock reverberating through the Central Stair made him wary. A hot, stinging sensation assailed his senses then—magic, he realized—

“AGH!” Neighsay recoiled. That magic wasn’t just searing hot, it was… poisonous! Even just touching had been agony, and worse, the energy had sensed his touch! He concealed his aura as best he could before they could pin him down.

“They’ll find me if I keep feeding...” The fabled Elements of Harmony: Conquerors of monsters, legends, spirits, and gods. Their power was flaring brighter, their searing wrath hot on his trail. His thoughts turned to a temporary retreat, perhaps move to another part of the facility... but it was then he realized what’d happened to the medallion.

“Damn it!” Neighsay gnashed his teeth. He searched within himself for an answer, but all he discovered was he could now shift into mist form like Proxy had mentioned. The means of actual teleporting were unknown to him, and thus the only thing he could do was fight them seven-on-one, or hide and hope they passed him by.

“Perhaps a little of both is in order.” Neighsay ignored the smorgasbord of ambient energy and began dispersing his misty body. "I am a spy, after all..."

Part 5 - Cascading Disaster

The Eleven Laws of Future Sight

#1: Prevent the end of the world at any cost.
#2: Don’t become blind to the present.
#3: The more distant the future, the less accurate the prediction.
#4: There is no such thing as a ‘perfect’ timeline.
#5: Time paradoxes can’t exist. Stop worrying.
#6: Messing with events surrounding a fixed point isn’t worth it… UNLESS the changes affect, cause, and/or prevent future fixed points.
#7: Whether it be a potential outcome or fixed point, never judge someone by who they’re GOING to be.
#8: Those who don’t learn from the past are doomed to repeat it.
#9: Don’t meddle with alternate realities unless/until they intersect with ours.
#10: Revealing some things is fine, but revealing everything leads to disaster.
#11: Even soothsayers can make mistakes. Never let anyone tell you otherwise.

- Author Unknown

Earlier-

ZRRRM-TSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS!

The hiss of vaporized ice accompanied the steam belching from the ice wall. There’d been some setup at first, but Twilight was now cutting out ice blocks and sliding them out like gigantic sticks of butter. She took great care while stacking them on a wide ledge below, her aura only ever gripping a tiny corner.

“The range I can sense mutacite is limited.” Twilight explained after cutting the first slab. “I need to be right up close while I’m cutting to ‘see’ what I’m doing, but I also need to slide each segment out before cutting another, so...”

Rarity clucked her tongue. “You’ll need to go back and forth between slabs. Ugh, how cumbersome."

“Why not teleport the slabs themselves?” Fluttershy asked.

Twilight’s ears drooped. “Because that would require me to envelop the entire segment in my magic... including the mutacite inside.”

Fluttershy meeped. “Oh… right.”

“Be careful even while sliding them,” Maud told Twilight. “Even simple vibrations can set them off.”

Twilight nodded and put out her flames. “I think it’s best if you all wait here. I’ll stay in range of the Elements, but there’s no sense in me teleporting everyone back and forth.”

Applejack conceded the point. “Alright, alright. Guess we're takin' a breather.”

Now un-fiery but still Rainbow Powered, Twilight trotted into the hole she'd made and got to work.

Rainbow looked to the others. “Anypony bring cards or something?”

Fifteen Minutes Later-

ZRRRM-TSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS!

Twilight’s process wasn’t exactly riveting. She’d feel an area out with terrakinesis, cut a slab accordingly, teleport out, and extract the slab with magic. She’d then blink back and go farther down the tunnel to repeat the process, over and over, and over. The others were interested at first, but if you saw her do it once, you saw her do it every time.

FLASH!

“That’s seven.” There was a distant rumble as the latest block came floating out in Twilight's aura. “I’m thinking one or two more before I’ll be far enough away that you'll all need to start coming with.”

Most of the group wasn’t paying attention. The ones that were waved acknowledgement, but soon went back to either chatting, resting, or focusing on other things.

Twilight took the hint. “Right. You doing okay over there, Rarity?”

Rarity, who was maintaining the forcefield they were all standing on, nodded and shooed her off.

Twilight smiled. "I know, I know, stop being a worrywart. I'll just, um... yeah."

FLASH!

ZRRRM-TSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS!

…

“Rarity,” Maud said a while later. “Could you do me a favor?”

Rarity opened one eye. “What is it, dear?”

Maud pointed to the slab Twilight had just placed on the lower ledge. “There's a large mutacite chunk in the corner there. I’d like to take a reading of it.”

Rarity squinted down at the block in question. The light of Rarity’s horn played off everyone’s faces, just bright enough to them them see through the steam. “I don’t follow.”

Maud directed Rarity’s gaze. The opaque mutacite blended in nicely, but it was visible enough if you knew where to look. “I’m asking if you can get it out and bring it up here for me.”

Rarity pursed her lips. “How, exactly?”

“Oooh, oooh!” Pinkie danced in place. “You should use a giant pizza cutter! Or maybe a samurai sword! Chop it right out of there! Haaaiiiii-YA!”

Applejack snorted. “And blow us all sky high?”

Maud stilled Pinkie’s dancing. “She has the right idea. So long as the mutacite remains undisturbed, a precise strike should suffice.”

Fluttershy took a step back. “That doesn’t seem like a good idea…”

“Agreed,” said Applejack. “We’ve been through enough hootenanny without a bunch of needless risks. I know you’re all about the science-y stuff, but—”

SNIP!

Meanwhile, Rarity had manifested a pair of giant magical sewing scissors, angled them around the slab’s edge, and cut the mutacite free like a frayed seam. She’d then caught the icy chunk by the edge and was floating it up to them.

“Darlings, please.” Rarity placed the explosive material at Maud’s hooves. “I do precise work for a living.”

Maud pulled out a scroll and stationary. “Thank you."

…

Rainbow started clapping. “Okay, THAT was awesome!”

Applejack’s eyelid twitched. “Y’all are gonna give me a heart attack.”

Meanwhile...

Twilight had just finished carving out another slab. This one had been trickier due to the mutacite placement, but that wasn't what was troubling her at the moment. Upon going to cut the slab ‘free’, her ray had encountered nothing but air. The light’s refraction through the ice prevented Twilight from seeing very far ahead, but after a few more tests and calculations, she was able to confirm she'd just tunneled into another canyon.

“Stroke of luck, I suppose...” Twilight's first thought was to notify the others. In most cases she certainly would, but when she realized she might be able to look around without worrying about traps for once, she found herself torn.

It didn't take much internal debate to decide. Soon after, Twilight took a deep breath, put up a forcefield, and pushed the slab forward into the unknown.

The first thing she noticed was the air. It was dry; so dry it almost made her sneeze. The new chasm was the length of several hoofball fields, but it was narrow, only a few ponylengths wide. The one she'd come from had countless visible caves and paths branching up and down, but this one had concealed ledges with wide overhangs and bulbous outcroppings. The aura of malice remained constant, however, as did the snaking ethereal light.

It was then Twilight realized the chasms were different depths. They'd been several hundred feet up in the previous chasm, but here it was only a moderate hop to the bottom. She was flanked by tall and slender protrusions running up to the ceiling like the flaps of a colossal zipper.

The thought made Twilight smile as she floated the ice slab to the ground—

krkkkkt

She froze. The ice block had landed on something… brittle? She moved it aside to see.

It was a heap of black crystal shards. Said shards were scattered throughout and around a bowl-shaped depression that was marred with deep, frosted-over cracks. The majority were gathered in the bowl’s icy epicenter, but amidst the mess, Twilight could make out two points where all the cracks converged...

"No, not converged..." Twilight looked up, and sure enough, there was a ledgeside path opposite her some thirty feet above. There weren’t any obvious places where the crystal might have fallen from, but based how the shards were scattered—

Twilight suddenly had a thought. “Princess Amore?!” She scanned the crystal shards for something recognizable: a crown, a heart symbol, maybe even a—

The emblem of the Geomancer’s Guild caught the ghostly light.

“O-Oh…” Twilight stepped back. Other grim features were revealed in short order: shattered limbs, crystallized entrails, pieces of two headless torsos. A quick look with Soul Sight revealed the spirits of the fallen E.G.E members had long departed, though whether they’d died from the fall or the crystallization...

Bile rose in Twilight’s throat. She wanted to look away, but something kept her staring at the half-shattered remains. It wasn’t until her eyes began to water that she hung her head and sighed.

“That's five out of six.” Twilight ran a hoof through her mane. “It's lucky my tunnel came out right—”

FWWWWWWWWWWW—RRRRRRRRRMMMMMMMMMMMMMM

Twilight whirled, wings flared and horn glowing. “Another trap?!”

No, it didn't seem to be. Seconds passed, but the canyon remained still and bleak. Twilight noted the noise resembled Maud’s trap-cancelling frequency, but it was coming from the direction of the artifact. She strained her ears while standing tense and alert—

The crystal remains thrummed.

“Eh?” Twilight looked down. The shards vibrated more and more… until they started to splinter and dissolve before her eyes!

"Oh no you don't!" Half were reduced to glittering mana by the time she sprang into action, producing two dustboxes and wrangling up the drifting motes. "You're coming with me!"

Back in the first canyon…

FWWWWWWWWWWW—RRRRRRRRRMMMMMMMMMMMMMM

Maud’s fuzzy ears twitched. She stopped writing and turned to Twilight's tunnel.

Rainbow heard the sound, too. “Maud, is that your gadget?”

Maud checked her broadcasting device to be sure. It was emitting the same nullifying frequency it’d been for hours, but nothing more. She even turned it off and on again while Rainbow alerted the others.

“How odd.” Rarity’s ears swivelled to the noise. “Do you recognize it, Maud?”

Again, Maud gave no answer. All she did was start to make for the tunnel—

CHK-CHKKKKK… VMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM

Twilight had gathered most of the motes in the dustboxes when the sound shifted to a dissonant whine. She had just enough time to be confused before the remaining uncaptured motes were pulled towards the noise, phasing through the ice and out of reach.

“Gah!” Twilight threw up a forcefield on impulse. Just then, more motes flew out of the walls, floor, and ceiling in such droves it was like a winter storm! She could barely see because of all the chaotic colors!

“The others!” Twilight readied a teleport spell...

“Whoa, nelly!” Applejack backpedaled from the ledge. Countless sparkling mana motes had just erupted from everywhere to be sucked towards the altered sound! It was more raw magic than any of them had ever seen!

“Pretty!” Pinkie danced in place. “I love a good light show—”

A wobble ran through her legs.

Pinkie stopped jumping. She questioned the sensation, but a second wobble happened, twice as strong. “Uh, girls?! I think my Pinkie Sense just came back… and it’s warning me of a doozy!”

Maud’s eyes widened. Now seeing the cascading mana in a new light, she snatched her broadcasting device and set it to ‘capture’. She wrote notes as fast as she could while the others braced themselves for... whatever Pinkie was sensing.

Pinkie focused on pinpointing the doozy. She was never sure of what doozies foreshadowed, but it was going to happen close by, that much was clear! Right around that chunk of mutacite they were all standing around, actually...

Back in the other canyon, Twilight was having a unique event of her own. She’d been about to teleport to the others when a vile, pulsating power suddenly blighted her senses. Corrupt and growing in strength, the abhorrent thing was centered around the artifact!

“UGH!” Twilight recoiled. “Is THAT the—”

The Element of Magic flared to challenge the evil. The other Elements had similar power surges, their holy power consecrating the surroundings like it had all other times before—

“AAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHH!”

It happened too fast for Twilight to parse. There was a faraway hiss like a boiling kettle, a flash within the tunnel, then a screaming pink blur zoomed out of the hole and collided with her like a runaway train. Pinkie flew down the ravine carrying Twilight and the others, a hail of spiralling frostbolts hot on their heels—

KA-BOOM!

The deafening explosion made the girls' teeth rattle. Air pressure barreled down the carved passage and decimated the place Twilight had been milliseconds prior, cracks forming throughout the canyon until it all began to collapse. The blast’s deafening roar sent vibrations through the rock and hit other mutacite deposits—

BOOM! BOOM-BOOM-BOOM! BOOM!

It was chaos. Explosions sounded, canyons shuddered, ice fell, frostbolts chased, and ponies screamed. Pinkie serpentined between falling ice and rupturing magic while torrents of mana whipped about. Corruption belched from the walls like quarray eels to clash with the Elements’ fury, the assaults coming in any and all directions. Instinct and the Pinkie Sense were their only guides as they flew onward, their light shining like beacons in a multicolored storm.

The sector-wide illusion effect went haywire. Fuzzy images of the girls' respective fears formed in the walls like a bad movie projector. Malfunctioning traps detonated in arcs of crackling napalm; some of the hazards magical, some mechanical, and some a mix of both. An example of the last of these came when an animated collection of metal javelins shot at them from behind—

WHOOSH!

“What are we doing?!” Rainbow summoned another windwall to block more javelins and debris. “We can’t let Pinkie do all the work!”

That set their heads straight. They regrouped and took formation, their respective talents quickly put to the test. Rarity used multiple magic scissors to slice up anything in their way. Applejack used her lasso to sling exploding stones like she had against the ooze golem. Fluttershy held the horrific images at bay with her mysterious power. Maud recalibrated her nullification frequency to thin out the malfunctioning traps. Rainbow created a tailwind to let them go faster, and Pinkie continued to press on. In short, they were all doing everything they could to not become pony paste... that is, save for Twilight, who was still out of it after being knocked silly.

Twilight’s eyes spun in their sockets. The Element of Magic was acting on its own without her, and its power attracting her affinity like a magnet. Soon the two powers had re-merged to send hot, addictive energy through Twilight... but without any control, it soon bled over into her link with Rainbow… then Rarity… then…

“Mmmhhh...” The first thing Twilight saw on coming to was her own flaming mane. She pushed it aside just in time to realize her friends were carrying her out of a narrow ravine and into a wide-mouthed pit...

Oh, and they were all on fire.

“AHHHH!” Twilight scrambled to focus. “Sorrysorrysorry—”

“Leave it!” Rainbow shouted at her. "It's helping!”

Pinkie did a hairpin turn as globs of acid hissed by. She went north one moment, then east, then southwest, then did loop-de-loops while a falling ice bridge smashed through a wall. Her evasive maneuvers grew more frantic as time passed, but she never slowed or questioned her path. There was no way to discern a proper trajectory—the only landmark was the growing evil polluting their senses.

A growing evil that was growing cruel and insidious indeed. The Elements were influx of incredible might in response, but the girls were too busy fighting for their lives to notice. Chasms collapsed while new ones formed. Debris fell like deadly rain. They blasted falling objects and triggered traps alike, the onslaught never seeming to end.

They flew down a boggling descent of malfunctioning illusions. Dizzying vertigo threatened to overtake them more than once, to the point that even Rainbow couldn’t tell which way was up. It didn’t get much better when Pinkie pulled up out of nowhere and flew straight towards a wall, but before any of them could panic, they passed through a hidden entrance and emerged into a collapsing ravine. They continued through an avalanche of debris while entropic fields from Sector Three rained down on them, the ravine’s slender exit was just ahead.

A fresh explosion above heralded a localized cave-in, but before they were crushed, Pinkie punched a hole through the chaos and escaped the blast zone.

The pandemonium lulled after that. There were still intermittent blasts like distant fireworks, but isolated and weak. The manastorm began to recede as well, and even the alien frequency quieted before petering out.

Pinkie landed before a bulbous misty tunnel. She set everyone down, pulled a stash of candy bars from her mane, then started stuffing them in her mouth like a chipmunk. The faint crinkle of wrappers was the only sound while the others gathered their wits.

“Can somepony tell the Elements to cool their jets?!” Rainbow rolled out of the melting ice pool she'd created. “I totally felt them hijack Twi’s powers back there!”

It was true. While she and Twilight were the only ones fully transformed, the others were catching up, fast. Scintillating flames danced along Rarity’s horn. Fluttershy’s wings were dual infernos. Applejack’s legs glowed like white-hot pokers, and Pinkie’s coat had turned simmering white. The air around the group was positively sweltering.

“Ugh, my voice is going to be hoarse from all that screaming.” Rarity sat up and coughed. “And all this water, eugh! My beautiful rainbow coiffure!”

“I think it might be waterproof, sugarcube.” Applejack offered her a searing hoof. “C’mon. We've got bigger problems than a bad mane day.”

“Like drowning?” said Maud.

Applejack sucked on her teeth. She looked at one of her half-submerged, superheated legs, the sigils of her Rainbow Power penetrating the heat and steam. “Erm… Twi?”

“I’m trying!” She grunted and strained with all her might. “It’s... not… THERE!”

Her addictive inner warmth vanished from the others in a blink. They all shuddered with sudden cold, their fiery appearances becoming their normal Rainbow Power forms.

Twilight panted and rubbed her temples. “Hijack is right… Is everypony okay?”

“I’m BETTER than okay!” Pinkie jumped over and gave her a hug. “That was so much fun! Did you see me back there with my Pinkie Sense? I was on a roll!”

A tiny smile graced Maud’s lips. “I’d say you were on fire.”

She got splashed a few times for that one.

Twilight tilted her head. “Pinkie Sense? But I thought—” She remembered what'd happened with the dustboxes. “That sound! I saw it turning the black crystal into mana! That swarm of magic must have been the divination wards!”

Maud’s face was grim. “Likely far more than that.” She showed them her notes. “I calculated the frequency's range before the blast. It was enough to travel several miles in all directions.”

Fluttershy paled. “Several... miles?”

Rarity felt dizzy. “The entire mountain and then some... all the magic of those crystals empowering that nasty… whatever it is? Goodness, can you imagine how strong Cadance’s curse must—”

A deathly silence fell.

“No…” Twilight whispered.

“MOVE IT!” Rainbow flared her wings. “NOW!”

“Pinkie!” said Applejack.

Pinkie took point again. “This way!”

The artifact's power was such that they could all sense it now. They took off into the misty cave before them, countering the lethal frostbolts chasing them with blasts that gouged the cave walls and collapsed portions of the ceiling. The ice became shiny and slick from Twilight’s flames: Walls grew misshapen, huge stalactites dripped, and freezing fog parted to reveal pits and cracks in the floor—

Suddenly, the artifact... shuddered.

“What the…?” Rainbow stared. “What now?!”

Nopony knew. It was like a mountain of filth loomed within their senses, but it’d somehow just flickered like an old electric sign. It then happened again a few seconds later, but when it returned this time, the ‘mountain’ had… dwindled?

“I’m picking up some strange activity.” Maud turned up the speaker on her broadcaster. “I'm not sure what it means here, but a modern device broadcasting signals like this would indicate a critical system failure.”

Twilight did a double-take. She investigated with magic, and sure enough, some probing revealed the curse’s ancient magical threads were being severed like wheat before a scythe. The garbled mess pouring out of Maud’s speaker lined up perfectly with when a thread was being severed, ominous shudders always following—

The Elements flared again. A fiery burst shot through the girls, ardent light flooding the tunnel.

“Geeze!” Pinkie shouted through gouts of flame. “Talk about hot flashes!”

“They’re all— ergggh, failing in sync!” Twilight tore her affinity free again. “The transmitter, the curse, whatever’s powering it… it's all connected somehow!”

“That doesn’t explain why the Elements are throwing a hissy fit!” Rarity yelled over the noise.

"Unless it's their way of telling us to hurry,” Maud said.

Silence.

“Mind elaboratin’?” Applejack said.

Maud shrugged. “These failures are common in regions with creatures that feed on magic. I’ve never heard of something feeding on this kind of energy, but—”

WHOOOOOSH!

Cold, corrupt winds. Distant wails like the cries of the damned. The geomancy signals cut out right as the titanic energy stockpile vanished before the girls’ eyes. Just like that, the final echoes of Sombra’s magic—including the curse upon Cadance—were torn apart and sucked into a void.

…

But then...

"What is..." Twilight's voice died. It’d been insidious in its subtlety, but despite this mysterious void, she could sense a twisted abomination of an entity. It was like spiteful horror and endless hunger incarnate, and as one might expect of such a thing, it latched on to the mountain’s corruption and began to feed, growing bigger and stronger by the second.

Memories of the swamp cave flashed in Fluttershy’s mind. “I know that presence…”

“Hurry!” Colorful light glinted in Applejack’s eyes. “We gotta stop it!”

“Now we’re talking!” Rainbow drew deeper upon her Element. “It’s go time—”

But that was when they felt a ‘glimmer’ in their minds. The sensation was faint—miniscule, really—but it stuck out like a sore hoof. It was coming from up ahead.

A sour taste filled the girls’ mouths as they flew full speed through the tunnel. Twists and turns sped by in an icy blur as they answered the glimmer’s call, none of them looking at each other.

They found it against a wall where the high and low paths converged. The stolen Tear of Laughter reacted to their presence, its blessed light reflecting off the ice.

Rarity’s skin crawled. “Wh-What...”

Twilight was already doing a scan. She found scrambled portal magic… and a trail of grey coat hair.

“It seems you were right, Twilight.” Maud retrieved her lost earring and put it on. “Neighsay is indeed a greater threat than we realized.”

“YA THINK?!” Rainbow had adopted her best drill sergeant voice. “HUSTLE!”

The girls soared out the tunnel and emerged into the final canyon. It was drab and bleak here—streaks of filmy residue had accumulated from the attracted mana to stain everything dirty and dark. Sombra’s vision of conquest was gone—the crystal sculptures, the castle replica, all of it erased.

They followed the portal magic and hair to the Inner Sanctum. The dark entity gave no indication of their approach, continuing to feast and grow without end. It's rate of consumption had only increased despite how much it'd already devoured.

“Remember, the anti-changeling phrase is ‘cart before the horse’.” Twilight prepared a dimension lock while the others charged up. Distant rumbles sounded behind them amidst the sound of rising wind and vaporized ice. “NOW!”

FWA-BOOM!

CLICK!

The decrepit doors imploded. The shattering of ice and smashing of rock made enough noise to wake the dead, the entire cliff wall rippling to reveal it was stone—the first they’d seen in this area.

NOW the dark entity stopped feeding. A probing touch brushed the edge of the Elements’ influence, only to recoil like it’d been burnt. The strange void around the Sanctum foiled Twilight’s attempts to cast a locating spell before the entity had faded into the veil of nothing.

“Are you kiddin’?!” Applejack gawked at the thinning dust. “Where the hay did it go?”

Twilight gulped. She didn't want to admit it, but if they could only track the entity while it was feeding—

“LOOK!” said Pinkie.

The silhouette of a collapsed pony had become visible. His gear was covered in frost, his left side was frozen to the ground, and his wispy mane was blowing in the air. The girls rushed into the dust plume... only to discover it was the final E.G.E. member.

“How did he get down here?” Fluttershy watched Twilight disintegrate the body. “It seems impossible!”

“Neighsay got down here,” Maud said behind them.

“He MIGHT have got down here,” said Applejack. “No guarantees that's him.”

Twilight squinted through the darkness. “There's a stairwell up ahead. Stay sharp, every—Maud, why are you back there?”

The others realized Maud hadn’t passed the entryway of the Sanctum. She was studying the threshold with a strange look on her face… or the Maud equivalent of strange. Eventually, she stepped across and got on Pinkie’s back, and they all ventured inside.

The entirety of the interior was covered in grimy residue. The stale, heavy air felt dirty to breathe as a result, but still far better than places like the swamp. They passed a pair of ruined doors and descended the stairwell.

Twilight tried casting a myriad of spells as they went. It seemed this concealing void had a strange effect on her magic, but she wasn't sure of its rules. Localized spells and scans worked fine, but anything beyond a certain range just… failed.

A quick glance at Rarity confirmed she was having the same problem. Neither of them had any ideas.

Every little sound was enough to startle. They could still hear occasional rumbles from above, but they got fainter and more sparse as time passed. The light of the Elements cast long, crawling shadows that sent their imaginations running. At least one of them was always checking behind them, never sure of what they'd see.

The only break in the monotonous descent were landings with reflective doors. Rainbow elected to poke her head in while the others hung back.

“Empty.” Rainbow shut the door behind her. “Gotta say though, THIS place feels like a tomb.”

Maud tightened her grip around Pinkie. “It does feel like we’re walking on someone’s grave.”

Pinkie frowned. “We’re flying, silly! Why would—”

She covered her sister’s mouth. “It’s an expression.”

“I just wish the Elements would calm down,” Fluttershy said, shuddering. “I keep thinking something’s going to jump out at us.”

Applejack chewed on her lip. She kept thinking there were wisps of swirling fog in the shadows, but it was always just another trick. “Think maybe we could bait Neighsay or whoever with some magic?”

Rarity clucked her tongue. “About that...”

Twilight kept quiet. She could swear something was reacting to each bit of magic she cast, but it was always just on the edge of her perception. Not only that, but the range of her spells was shrinking alongside their descent. “Let’s keep going.”

The mood grew more anxious as time passed. Flickers in the corners of their eyes eroded their wills and kept them on edge. Once, they all got a feeling like something was about to fall on their head. They looked up… but the only noticeable thing was an overwhelming sense of being watched.

“Nothing again,” said Rainbow after the second landing. “I’m starting to think Sombra already cleared this place out.”

Maud pulled a candy bar out of Pinkie’s mane. “Or the original creator. Evil masterminds are notoriously protective of their secrets, after all. Maybe this one made it so their personal belongings were destroyed when they died. That’s what I’d do.”

Silence.

“If you were an evil mastermind?” said Applejack.

Maud shrugged with her mouth full. “If I could casht shpells.”

The only one who laughed was Pinkie.

“At least you wouldn’t leave something capable of a mess like this.” Rarity curled her lip at the grimy walls. “It’s getting worse the farther down we go!”

She was right. Everything was a disgusting mess now: the stairs, the railings, the walls, the landing, the door, all of it. It got to the point you couldn't even tell the color of the stone.

The filth reached its apex at the third landing. Rainbow was about to try the door, but Twilight stopped her on detecting scrambled portal magic. Everyone steadied themselves while clearing the gunk as quiet as they could.

Twilight gave the signal.

SMASH!

Lingering heat washed over them in a wave. Within was a colorless, magic-drained scene of destruction: Tables were broken, bookcases were smashed, workbenches were upended, and amenities had been tossed about. Anything loose had either been scattered, damaged, or both. The only thing that wasn't greyscale was the blackened, still-smoking spot on the outer wall.

“Neighsay!” Rainbow zipped inside. “We know you’re in here! You may as well give up!”

No response. Nothing moved aside from them. Everything was lifeless and cold.

Twilight scanned the fallen objects. “There’s no point, Dash. The corruption madness, remember?”

Rainbow rolled her eyes. “It’s called smack talk, Twi—”

Fluttershy squeaked and pointed at something.

An ice-covered horseshoe. Not a sabaton or old-timey shin guard or a tyrant’s sabaton, but a hiking horseshoe from the modern era. The rest of the set lay a short distance away.

“Girls…” Pinkie held up the remnants of saddlebags. Their contents scattered about nearby, identifiable thanks to a thin sheen of mana residue. Coat hair was everywhere.

…

“Welp.” Rainbow dusted off her hooves. “Can’t say we didn’t try.”

Rarity looked like she was sucking on a lemon. “Is it wrong that I'm more annoyed than anything else?”

“Hold on.” Applejack inspected the discarded gear. “I know he wasn’t in great shape the last time we saw him, and whatever… THING we sensed in him pulled off a hay of a Tirek impression just now, but that don’t mean he’s bit the dust.”

Pinkie scratched her head. “No crazy protection, no gear, no hair, and no sign of where he went? That's got ‘monster food’ written allllllllll over it.”

Something about that seemed to click for Twilight. “‘The Hate-Filled Dragon devours all.’” She groaned and ran a hoof through her mane. “Every time I think I understand something about this prophecy, another wrench gets thrown into the works! I don’t know what to think anymore...”

Applejack furrowed her brow. “I don’t think anyone was expectin’ you to figure out that poem, Twi. There ain’t exactly a school for becomin’ a seer—”

“As if there wasn’t enough mystery already!” Twilight started pacing around. “Who or what did Neighsay come into contact with? How long were they here and why? What arrangement was made? Why weren't the traps being triggered? Are we dealing with an actual dragon, or was the name symbolic? Prophecies love hidden meanings like that!”

“Twilight,” said Rainbow.

“Not to mention all the things concerning Neighsay!” Twilight wrenched the frozen horseshoes off the ground. “Why was he here in the first place? Did he follow us, or was it coincidence? What orders did Chrysalis give him? Did she know what we were after? Why in the world would he throw the Tear of Laughter away? Why was he losing hair all of a sudden?!”

“Twilight!” Rarity said.

“I don’t know…” Twilight held her head in her hooves. “I don’t know, I don’t know, I don’t KNOW! The best I can come up with is he’s a crazy shedding changeling lackey with a really hungry friend! We know absolutely nothing about this ‘dragon’, and I certainly doubt they’re going to tell us! Some heroes we are—we weren’t even the ones to remove Cadance’s curse—”

“TWILIGHT!” they all said.

…

“It's like we said before, Twilight,” Applejack said in a soft voice. “It’s not possible to make sense of everything one hundred percent of the time.”

“But—”

“Now’s not the time to beat yourself up.” Applejack gestured to the blackened wall. “It don't matter who or where this thing came from—it's a bonafide calamity. We gotta stop it, bar none.”

Fluttershy patted Twilight’s shoulder. “If this... d-dragon isn't going to tell us anything, then there's no sense trying to speculate. We should focus on the bigger picture instead.”

“Before it’s too late,” Rarity added.

A long, slow sigh escaped Twilight. “I’m not even sure what to do at this point. It’s obvious this dragon is hiding from us; how are we supposed to draw it out?”

Rainbow tilted her head at the stairwell. “There’s more of this place to check, for one. I say we leave this mess behind and head down some more.”

"Yeah!" said Pinkie. "If dragon-guy wanted any of this stuff, they wouldn’t have trashed it!"

Twilight’s ears drooped. “I'm more worried this 'trashing’ is the result of energy drain. That's why everything in here is black and white—”

An idea struck her like lightning.

“What’s that look about?” said Applejack.

Twilight checked to make sure her spellcasting range hadn’t already been reduced to nil. It hadn’t, fortunately. “You’ll see a second. Head back into the stairwell, everypony. ”

It was at this point Pinkie realized Maud had gotten off her back. She was rummaging through the debris nearby, and… stuffing a scroll into her coat?

“What’cha doing?” Pinkie said after making her way over.

Maud regarded her. “...Maud Sense.”

Pinkie pursed her lips. There was still a bit of parchment sticking out of Maud’s collar. “Good omen, or bad omen?”

“Not sure.” Maud clambered onto Pinkie’s back. “I just know this is important.”

Pinkie rolled her eyes. Leave it to the Maud Sense to be vague as ever.

They exited just as dozens of magical threads sprang from Twilight’s horn. Everything in the ruined lair became enveloped in her aura—the tables, the notes, the spilled spell components, all of it. All of it lifted up a few inches before vanishing with a faint pop, sucked into Twilight’s pocket dimension.

“If the magic is gone, then so are any hexes or curses.” Twilight shut the door behind her. “Greater threat or not, we’d be idiots to not look through Sombra’s—”

The sense of being watched returned. It was more intense this time... and HUNGRY.

“Alright, put ‘em up!” Rainbow rose higher into the air. “You think you can snack on us next?! In your dreams!”

Fluttershy hid behind her mane. “Please don’t be a real dragon…”

Regardless of what was causing it, they could tell it was coming from below. It was seething, straining like a rabid dog on a leash. It started to recede into the void again...

“C'mon!” Twilight took off down the slippery stairs. "Before it gets away!”

It was fortunate they were able to fly. Leaving the focal point of gathered magic did little to reduce the amount of residue—if anything, it got even thicker. It got so bad that Twilight and the others were forced to fly single file down the mucky, ruined stairs.

They pursued the retreating presence down to the Inner Sanctum’s final landing. Not bothering for stealth now, Twilight blasted down the door with a good chunk of the wall. The first thing they saw was that, like all the other floors, this level encircled the stairwell like all the others with slanted walls. The second thing they saw was the floor was completely bare save for a grimy statue of... the ouroboros again?

Twilight rushed into the room. The others followed right behind her, crossing the threshold where the door had been—

WHUM

The ouroboros turned black. A viscous, slimy material began forming on the outer wall in response, runes being written out like the hand of an unseen giant. The symbols had encapsulated the room in seconds.

“Ewwww...” Pinkie made a face. “It’s like invisible ink, but way grosser!”

Twilight, noting the distinct lack of Pinkie twitches and/or screaming, took a proper look at the markings. “I deciphered this language earlier! It's the same as that one door!”

“Didn't you say that message was rigged to explode?” Applejack deadpanned.

Twilight ignored that. “This has to be something… it HAS to! Everypony, search the room while I decipher this! It might be the clue we need!”

The others wanted to argue, but Twilight was already off. They reluctantly obeyed and flew around without much idea what to look for.

On checking the inside wall, however, they discovered the room wasn’t as bare as they’d thought.

“Oh, my…” Fluttershy hovered back. “What is this?”

It was a series of dirty levers. There were dozens of them, all neatly arranged and installed into the rock itself. None of them looked like they would budge.

Applejack curled her lip. “Dunno, but I wouldn’t touch them even if they weren’t gunked to high heaven.”

Maud squinted. She wasn't interested in the levers themselves, but the strange etchings beside them. She pointed this out to the others, and together, they cleaned the mess away to reveal... a color-coded map. There were five distinct areas by the looks of it, and each one sported markings identical to the message on the outer wall. A compass rose styled in gnarled finger bones was placed beside a collection of expanded places of importance.

“This is a layout of the caves.” Maud pointed near the top. “I recognize that shape as the canyon where I woke up.”

The others stared.

“You sure?” said Applejack.

Now Rainbow laughed. “You don’t trust Maud to remember what a cave looks like?”

“...Point.”

Fluttershy referenced the switches to their matching symbols. “It’s like a control panel… What do you think it does?”

Maud clicked her teeth. “We’d need to translate the language—”

FLASH!

The symbols shivered. Under the force of Twilight’s spell, the characters reform and slid around like slithering snakes. The others watched with bated breath as the language of the modern day formed piece by piece.

“Woohoo!” they heard Twilight say from around the bend. “Now... reveal your secrets!”

They others decided not to comment. Instead they studied the now-translated map, scanning the labels and matching them to the corresponding levers.

““‘Alpha Transmitter’, ‘Sector One Primary Resonator A.” Maud pointed to the listing. ‘Sector One Ancillary Resonator A, B, C, D... It'd seem this is the master control for the traps. If we can de-clog these levers—"

“Ahem.” Rarity’s horn was already flaring to life. “Move, please.”

Sapphire magic coiled around her like a snake. She muttered a string of words none of them understood, her voice thundering and echoing like Princess Luna’s. The arcane symbols on her armor glimmered alongside the sigils on her legs as the energies rose more and more. At last, she released the spell with a booming decree.

FWISSSSSSH!

The residue burned away like tissue paper. It spread in the blink of an eye to sweep through the entire concealed system, onward and upward throughout its entire inner workings. A moment later, it was sparkling clean.

Pinkie whistled. “Superiffic job, Rarity! You really have gotten stronger!”

Rarity wiped her brow. “That is... the strongest spell... I know.”

Rainbow elbowed her. "For now."

They started at the top levers and worked their way down. Each one made a KERCHUNK that echoed throughout the Sanctum, disabling some deadly system they'd fought to get through. There wasn’t any indication that the levers were doing what they said, but the girls had faith. Sectors One through Three were completely shut down in short order, and they were making their way through Sector Four when—

“Girls,” said Twilight.

They jumped. Twilight was right behind them, so quiet they hadn't heard her. There was a note to her voice they rarely heard, one that made them all stop and turn to her without a second’s pause.

Twilight motioned for them to follow. “You’re going to want to see this.”

The group didn’t argue. Leaving the levers for now, they followed to the start of the message and began to read.

========================================================================

Congratulations, invader. You have found me at last.

I will not give you my name, but know that I am the orchestrator of more than you can comprehend. I am the greatest of my Order; the most brilliant and cunning witch to have ever walked this miserable rock. Trudging through my frigid wasteland and navigating my facility proves nothing, for everything you have witnessed is but a glimpse of what is to come. Prototypes, failed experiments, unfinished projects… all glorified efforts to buy time. But I know they shall serve their purpose well, for my scrying into the future has shown it will be millennia before anyone reads this.

I may be long dead, but my legacy will be carried out by those sworn to act in my name. I first summoned them thinking they could grow strong by feeding off the wretched ponies native to this land, but those wretched beasts… those southern-fleeing COWARDS… they discovered their own version of Harmony. I was forced to forge a new pact with my legion to exact revenge; a pact that required me to spend my remaining years devising a way for them to draw on another source of power.

At last, I learned of a way. It was slower… much slower, but given time, not even the magics of Light and Harmony will stand a chance. I can only imagine what they are like in your time—they will have been feeding deep below for ages now, their dark energies spreading to infect feeble minds.

If by chance you are a descendant of those who banished me here, know your wretched race is solely at fault. Had your ancestors fled your lands like these cowardly lookalikes, that would have been the end of it. Now, not only will the creatures of Flutter Valley die, your snivelling cousins will die. Every vile thing bearing your likeness will die. Your friends will die, your family will die, your allies, enemies, every living thing, ALL OF IT WILL DIE, DIE DIE.

There was a time when I considered this course of action too extreme. I saw it akin to levelling a mountain over a few ants... but that was before time became my enemy. My spells and potions can no longer prolong my life, and my attempts at true immortality have yielded nothing but wretched volatile crystals. So be it—if I must die, then all will die with me. Everything will be buried under a frozen wasteland for all eternity, and this planet will become a lasting monument to my greatness.

When my legion’s power can be felt throughout the entire mountain, the End of All Things shall begin. I tell you this as a 'reward' for making it this far—surviving my gauntlet is no small feat, but you cannot stop what is fixed in time. Leave this place now, cherish what remaining years you have, and pray The End does not come in your lifetime. It may not happen this century, it may not even happen in several; but one day my dark legion shall go forth and enact my dark legacy, and there is nothing you or anyone else can do to stop it.

Yet I would be remiss if I denied you a chance to struggle in vain. Should you seek death early, here is what you should do: Go to the switches behind you, pull the bottom-most lever on the left-hand side, and walk through the archway that will appear beside this message.

The wise will allow gravity to do what it does best. As for the foolish... they will suffer the wrath of ice and strife.

========================================================================

Nopony spoke for a long time. Nopony moved, nopony gasped, hardly anypony even blinked. Agonizing seconds passed like minutes as everything they’d discussed earlier now came rushing back in a blur: Their speculations, the prophecy, the actions of their predecessors, and more.

“This is it,” Twilight said at last. “This is what Princess Amore found.”

Rainbow put a hoof behind her head. "It makes sense, but... are we really thinking she launched some crazy gambit over the course of... however long ago?"

"It's like the mother of Hail Mary's," Applejack said, nodding. "What's more likely: that she managed to win the prediction lottery? Or that she was flyin' by the seat of her—"

"Modern divination magic foretells the future by using fixed points and pseudo-fixed points as 'anchors'," said Maud. "Even though we can't see the fixed points themselves, the events surrounding them have enough consistency to formulate equations. This is how we determine a range of potential futures out of infinity."

The others stared at her.

"How on earth do you know so much about time?" Rarity asked.

Maud shrugged. "Temporal theory minor."

Fluttershy wet her dry lips. “W-We… do all realize what this ‘legion’ has to be, right? If what they eventually do is fixed, what are we…?”

It was Twilight who had the answer. "Fixed points are very short, specific events. It may be fixed that I take a bite of a sandwich, but what I do from there is not. I could chew my bite, spit it out, choke on it, hold it in my mouth, immediately take another bite, or something else."

Maud nodded. "From the way the message is worded, I believe the fixed point is that one day, this 'legion' will break free. What happens from there..."

Rainbow was starting to see. "Sounds like whoever wrote left this got cocky."

Applejack glanced back at the levers. “I suppose we could call in our ‘backup’, but… we’d spend a lot of time trackin’ Mac down, not to mention getting him up to speed.”

“Time that wouldn't be spent here,” Rarity added. "And we do have a certain... individual that shouldn't be left alone."

Pinkie was still staring at the message. “‘When my legion’s power can be felt throughout the entire mountain’... how soon do we think that is?”

Twilight went and located the lever the message had mentioned. "Don't know, don't care."

KERCHUNK

The last will and testament vanished. Everyone’s ears popped as the outline of an archway appeared; the rock grinding and moving to reveal a narrow platform of ice. Everything beyond was pure black.

Rarity shifted on her hooves. “I admire your enthusiasm, Twilight, but there's still the matter of our elusive friend."

Twilight made for the archway, speaking far louder than she needed to. “Cart before the horse, Rarity. It can’t feed on the mountain’s corruption if we remove it at the source.”

Rarity's heart skipped a beat. She was tempted to look at the others, but instead let a mask slip over her face. The others reacted similarly.

“C’mon.” Applejack made for the foreboding exit. “We’ve got our work cut out for us.”

The others nodded. They left the ominous room behind and passed through the narrow arch.

...

Not long after, the shadows began to move...

A vast abyss stretched out before the girls. The only discernible aspects were the silhouette of the ceiling high, high above, and the circular, residue-coated exterior of the Inner Sanctum looming over them. The staggering openness clawed at their minds the longer they witnessed it, their imaginations feeding into the sense of dread and unease.

“Yikes and a half...” Pinkie dared look over the precipice. “And here I thought ‘edge of oblivion’ was just a phrase!”

Twilight flew out into the expanse without pause. “Remember that black sphere I fell into? Imagine something like this, but worse.”

The others mustered their courage and followed after. The cold and corruption was like a punch to the gut as they acclimated, Twilight adjusting her spells as best she could. It was then she found she could cast into the expanse as normal… but when she turned and trying casting in the direction of the Sanctum...

“Wait a minute.” Twilight looked back where they’d come. They were still very close to the narrow platform—only about thirty feet away. From here, the Inner Sanctum looked like a cylindrical structure tapering downward until ending in a jagged point. Curious, Twilight and the others flew farther out to get all of it in view—

“Whoa,” said Twilight.

It was a stalactite. The Inner Sanctum was a titanic, hollowed-out stalactite over a veritable wound in the earth. It was five to six times taller than it was around, and it was completely covered in residue to give the rock a grimy look. The base was relatively clean, however... which was how they were able to spot some kind of glowing mineral.

Maud squinted at it. “I don’t recognize that material. I'd like to get a sample of it so I can—"

She stopped on seeing everyone's look.

"Fine." Maud put away her chisel. “Though to note, your Elements were the ones that caused the explosion.”

“Yeah, well, let’s not tempt fate," said Applejack. “In other news, if witches could be guys, I’d say this one was compensatin' for something.”

Words failed Twilight. She could tell the stalactite had been attached through artificial means, but that was a feat in and of itself! To do something on such a scale—

A frigid, sludge-like aura made them all flinch. It was coming from the archway, where a black mist was seeping out and attempting to escape into the depths.

"GOTCHA!" Horn blazing, Twilight cast the spell she'd prepared. A magenta forcefield floor formed below them that stretched out for a hundreds of feet in all directions. The mist recoiled and tried to retreat back into the Sanctum, but the others were already making to intercept. It was thus forced to double back and try dispersing, but before it could, four glimmering walls and a ceiling closed around it.

“Yeah!” Rainbow thrust a hoof in the air. “Take that—”

Twilight gasped. The mist was expanding, filling her forcecage more and more! Its magical touch was so cold it burned, gnawing and unravelling the threads of her spell! There was a monstrous, pain-filled roar as it fought against her, and then without warning it didn’t just break through Twilight’s barrier… it devoured it.

Rainbow’s smile faltered. “Uhhh…”

“Not smart, Twi!” Applejack pushed the others back towards the open air.

Twilight was dumbfounded. “That's impossible! My magic is attuned to the Elements! How could it...”

The mist continued to swell and expand. They could sense a twisted sentience within, its putrid, fractured awareness filled with cruel intent. Then, colossal vile wings exploded from the mist without warning—lavender wings.

“I grew accustomed to eating poison long ago,” said a gruff, raucous voice. The new appendages had no feathers, growing grey with icy spines as their owner’s corruption seeped into them. “Though honestly, shouldn’t you be conserving your energy?”

Gigantic draconic eyes opened within the mist. The creature was big, so big that it's oversized jaws could’ve snapped them up in a single bite. It had hooves, pony ears, and a curved unicorn horn, but little else hinted at what it had once been. Sickening shadowfrost bled from its orifices, and it also formed its billowing mane. Icy spines decorated its scaly gray body—particularly on its powerful tail—said spines ending in a club.

Lead formed in Twilight’s gut. Her eyes fell on the pony-sized cutie marks adorning the creature’s flanks. “Neighsay…”

The steady beat of Neighsay’s colossal wings thudded in the silence. “We don't have time for this. I read the witch’s final testament; we both know where and what the true threat is.”

Bile rose in Twilight’s throat. Neighsay’s looming, putrid aura was bad enough, but his ravenous, abrasive psyche reminded her of what she'd encountered in the void. She could feel the Element of Magic screaming—

A candy bar hit Neighsay between the eyes with a thwap!

“That’s for hurting Maud!” Pinkie lobbed a second candy bar at him. “That’s for stealing, and this—” She threw one more. “Is for the worst game of tag, EVER!”

Granted, the candy bars didn’t so much ‘hit’ Neighsay as land on his muzzle, but the gesture was noted. He went cross-eyed before slurping up the treats with his long, forked tongue. “I'm afraid you're thinking of someone else. The bigoted, pompous, pig-headed coward you’ve been chasing isn’t calling the shots anymore. I am.”

Twilight grit her teeth. On tapping into her Soul Sight, she saw that Neighsay’s soul wasn’t destroyed like she’d first feared; it’d been transformed. The gaping holes were filled with grotesque ichor that was like hunger incarnate. Combined with his remaining soulstuff being metamorphosed to grow in size and power with the rest of him...

“Chancellor...” Twilight’s sight returned to normal. “You are very, very, VERY ill.”

Neighsay’s laugh was so loud it hurt their ears. “On the contrary, I’m FREE! Free of that blasted prison, free of that vile lovesucker, and free to do as I please! I owe you a debt, Princess Twilight—not only was your little ‘treatment’ successful, it allowed me to become something far, far more!”

Twilight’s lips parted. There was a lucid glint in those mad eyes—a measure of order he shouldn’t have had. “You really aren't Neighsay... You're the entity we sensed in him before!”

“Indeed.” Neighsay's wide smile showed off fangs longer than broadswords. “A long time ago, that little worm forced himself to believe a horrible lie he knew was wrong. It immediately started to fester inside him, the anguish and guilt and worse devouring him from the inside. Yet he persisted and doubled down with more lies and the sort over the years, hurting himself more and more and continuing to rot his mind. Eventually he was forced to bury his sins in the deepest, darkest corner of his strained psyche… and there, they turned into me. I suppose I've never had an actual name, but I don't need one when I can just take HIS."

Twilight didn’t know what to say at first. The Element of Magic was screaming to open fire, to wipe this unholy blight off the face of the earth. The thing that stayed her hoof was his comment about ‘the true threat’. “Trying to make a break for it straight away speaks volumes about your motives. You may have destroyed Sombra’s apparatus and dispelled the curse on Cadance, but I doubt that’s what you meant to do.”

Neighsay’s chuckle was like sandpaper. “What makes you think you know my motives? Or that my motives matter at all? That bit about your precious sister-in-law is true, but I'm not gunning for Armageddon any more than you. Perhaps I merely knew you wouldn't hear me out even if I tried, hmm? Did you think of that?"

Twilight went quiet again. She wrestled with her thoughts for a time, but she wasn't thinking about his actual plans. “...You can't honestly expect us to trust you."

"No, but I do expect you to be rational," Neighsay said without missing a beat. "Confronting each other now will only benefit the true enemy. Neither of us knows how strong they truly are—we very well might need each other."

Or they might wind up creating an even bigger monster. The only reason she wasn't dismissing him outright and attacking was because he hadn't tried to siphon more corruption. "...Fine. We’ll hear you out, but if you try to sneak off again, lie to us, or do ANYTHING funny, we’ll deal with you like the last energy vampire we faced. Got it?”

A puff of shadowfrost escaped Neighsay’s nostrils. “So much for the Princess of Friendship being friendly. Let me guess, you found your father’s telescope?”

The air grew noticeably warmer around Twilight. “Tread lightly, or a candy bar will be nothing to what I throw at you.”

“Ooooooh, scary.”

Twilight turned to Applejack, who’d been studying Neighsay with a long, hard look. “Is he telling the truth?”

Applejack pursed her lips. “He ain’t lied yet, but he’s nuttier than a bag of squirrels. I don’t know about this, Twi.”

Twilight wasn’t exactly confident either. “He’s not wrong about the greater threat. If we’re going to do this now, we’re going to need all the help we can get.” She went back to addressing Neighsay. “I'm not going to assume anything. Who is this ‘vile lovesucker’ you’re now free from? How much do they know?”

Neighsay rolled his eyes. “Queen Chrysalis, obviously. Assuming we prevent Armageddon, she’s the next greatest threat. She’s learned a great deal from my counterpart—far more than you realize—but he’d already gone rogue before following you here. Stumbling upon the second lair of Hydia was just more incentive to keep Queen Failed Experiment in the dark.”

There was a long, very pregnant pause.

“Who or what is a Hydia?” said Rarity.

“Second lair?” said Maud.

“Failed experiment?!” said Fluttershy.

Neighsay didn’t answer at first, as he was looking off to the side. “Conniving, doublespeaking... ‘Swear a geas to the Master’s legacy’? I should’ve made them suffer more…”

“Hey!” Rainbow waved her hooves. “Tall, dark, and crazy!”

Neighsay regarded the tiny heroes. “Come. I’ll explain on the way to Sector Five.”

Author's Note

In case you're wondering what Neighsay looks like, imagine something like this, only about 70 feet tall with dragon wings:

Part 6 - Frozen Heart

The samples Doctor Chalcedony gathered moments before the EGE Tragedy have confirmed what we’ve long suspected. There is indeed a cardinal element in Mount Everhoof’s corruption: Water. This is what serves to corrupt the three negative empathic energies (hatred, fear, and strife), as the resulting unstable reaction feeds on both heat AND the natural water in the air until it can no longer sustain itself. The fusion of negative empathies decays rapidly all the while to create the phenomenon we know.

Mount Everhoof Thaumic Breakdown
Elemental Attribute: Water
Negative Empathy: Strife - 33.33%
Negative Empathy: Hatred - 33.33%
Negative Empathy: Fear - 33.34%

It was initially thought the greatest danger was the phenomenon’s effects on living minds. However, if the source of the elemental attribute becomes strong enough, the resulting consumption of heat could have a drastic effect on the local climate.

Confirming the elemental attribute has given us the step we need to begin developing a counteragent. We’ve already started developing prototypes bonded to the elemental attribute of fire, although what positive empathies to combine (and at what ratios) we’ve yet to learn. Our next challenge will be to discover the source of the mountain’s evil, and from there, we can begin creating a counteragent.

It’s been decided this counteragent will be called ‘EGE’ in honor of our fallen colleagues.

Doctor Flickerflame, Geomancy Monthly, Issue 28: ‘Year in Review’

It was impressive how much Neighsay covered during their descent. He told them about Queen Chrysalis’ orders, the changeling’s origin, their connection to Hydia, and his ordeals with Proxy. Twilight and the others had just been listening so far, but it was hard to focus while descending into oblivion.

“It was obvious Proxy was a mouthpiece for multiple entities,” Neighsay said through a Message spell. “Primarily because their behavior was like a less-unified version of the lovesucker’s hive mind. They were about as pleasant, to boot.”

The abyss grew wider the deeper it went. There was no frame of reference within the stifling depths; nothing for the senses to latch onto. Panic clawed at the girls’ throats and scrabbled in their chests the longer their perceptions were deprived. Neighsay seemed more in his element than anything else, keeping up at a distance and chatting without a care.

“On that note, did any of you notice the residue was thickest on the floors below Sombra’s lair?” Neighsay chuckled, mostly to himself. “That means the majority of dark crystals—or at least the most powerful ones—were down here. I knew Sombra’s ‘defilement’ was worse than Proxy let on, but now I’m genuinely curious.”

None of the girls replied. The only visible light was the glow of Twilight’s reinforced forcefield, the feeble glimmer nothing against this living, ravening nightmare. Their instincts were screaming to turn back with rising fervor.

“I think that’s quite enough out of me.” One of Neighsay’s huge gold eyes swivelled to them. “I think it’s your turn to explain some things. What’s this ‘prophecy’ I heard you all mention? And who is ‘Princess Amore’?”

Still no response. The girls were grim-faced and shaking, their thoughts filled with myths and legends. More horrifying still was that the actual historical events were far worse than the tales they’d learned as foals—

“HAVE YOU TWITS EVEN BEEN LISTENING?!”

Twilight almost screamed. Many of the others did scream. The only unperturbed one was Maud, calm and unflinching as ever.

“Pathetic.” Neighsay’s icy contours outlined his mutated form. Just a single snap of those oversized jaws could’ve devoured them all whole. “Look at all of you; so tiny and weak in the dark. I should’ve dispatched you when I had the chance.”

Twilight wasn’t sure why, but something about that ignited a cold fury within her. “We never GAVE you a chance. We sensed you spying on us on the stairway, as well as each time you backed off! You were hoping we’d separate so you could pick us off one by one, weren’t you? How dumb do you think we are?”

Rainbow whistled. “Go, Twi.”

The funny thing was that Neighsay didn’t deny it. He just smacked and licked his lips, his forked tongue snaking out to taste the air. “Dumb enough to be distracted from blind panic, at least. Now, tell me about this prophecy. Who predicted it?”

Twilight’s face soured. She wasn’t sure what unnerved her more—that he was right, or what he’d just asked. “...The Crystal Heart. It was able to see the future before Sombra took over. It only recently started doing so again.”

Neighsay raised an eye ridge. “You don’t say? And I heard you say it predicted something about me?”

Twilight rubbed her forelegs. “It’s already come true. We didn’t realize it was referring to you until after the fact. That’s the trouble with prophecies—they’re either too cryptic to understand, or your understanding gets accounted for. You can’t really prevent them either way.”

They continued on for a few seconds in silence, both parties ruminating on the implications.

“And Princess Amore?” Neighsay said.

Not two questions in, and Twilight was already starting to feel dirty. “Princess Amore was the leader of the Crystal Empire up until Sombra’s coup. He foalnapped her from the city before returning with his army. Nopony’s ever been able to find out where he took her, but there’s a chance he imprisoned her here.”

Applejack spoke up at this. “Say, I don’t suppose your Proxy fella mentioned any dungeons? Y’know, before ya ate ‘em?”

Neighsay smiled wide, revealing far, far too many teeth. “Not that I recall. Although from the way you were talking earlier, it sounds like she might’ve escaped. ‘This is what Princess Amore found’? ‘Launching a crazy gambit’? If she never got away, the only other way you could know she was here is if—”

He stopped dead.

The girls exchanged pensive looks. They realized Neighsay was slowing his descent, little by little until he was hovering. The girls rose back up to meet him, his shocked face sending chills up their spines.

“Anomaly A.” Neighsay looked right through them. “But then how...”

Rainbow frowned. “Anomaly-who?”

Neighsay ignored her. He just kept murmuring—which should’ve been audible with the strength of his voice—but his words weren’t penetrating Twilight’s sound enchantments all of a sudden.

“What the…” Twilight checked the Message spell. She was met by a startling mental pressure she hadn’t noticed before... largely in part due to the adrenaline.

“Good gracious!” Rarity had just felt the strain, as well. She released her frost ward and rubbed her head. “Honestly, these ghastly leylines are too much! I’m going to have such a headache at this rate.”

Yet that was just the start of their problems. The others soon found their own racial magics even more difficult to access than they’d already been. Even the enchantments within their armor were failing!

“The leyline interference is worsening,” said Maud. “Any kind of affected magic is going to be useless soon.”

Pinkie inched closer to Maud. “B-But, that includes my Pinkie Sense! We’ll be flying blind again!”

“As if we aren’t already?” Applejack gestured to the surrounding void. “We can live without the Pinkie Sense, but we NEED cold protection! We gotta figure somethin’ out!”

Twilight rubbed her temples. If warding off the cold through magic was going to wear her out, then there was really only one thing she could think of. They knew soul-based abilities were unaffected—hence why the Elements and Neighsay’s powers worked—so if she really was willing to take the risk and hope for no side-effects...

…

“Girls,” Twilight said. “Take off everything you’re wearing.”

Six heads swivelled towards her.

“You heard me!” She yoinked off Rainbow’s helmet. “Armor! Clothes! All off!”

It was about then Neighsay became aware of the same ‘moving lips’ issue the girls had noticed. Puzzled, he tried casting a Message spell of his own...

“Oh-ho.” A grin spread on his face. He watched as the girls went about something strange—stashing things in their pocket dimension, by the looks of it—before easing farther back into the dark. He just had to get far enough away to outrange their darkvision—

FWOOM!

Light. Blinding, searing-hot light. The ignition of Twilight’s flames were like a newborn star in the cold dark. Neighsay hissed and recoiled with a speed that belied his size, agony blazing across his scales like he’d been splashed with hot grease.

FWOOM-FWOOM-FWOOM-FWOOM-FWOOM-FWOOM!

And it only got worse. More merciless punishment sent Neighsay fleeing into the void’s embrace, roaring in pain like the great wyrm he resembled. It was only when the pain eased that he dared look back…

...and saw where there had once been seven mares, there were now seven avatars of holy fire.

“Damned fire freaks...” Neighsay swiped at the air. Even Maud had a fiery outline rather than full-on flames, said outline giving her mane, tail, and eyes a prismatic tint. Neighsay swore he could sense some kind of bond flowing from Twilight to the other Element Bearers… but there was also a different one between Pinkie and Maud.

“Awww, YEAH!” Rainbow flapped her wings in a blazing curtain. “Now we’re talking—”

“HAT!” Applejack flung her Stetson into the air. Twilight caught the smoking garment and stored it away with a sigh.

Pinkie patted Applejack’s back. “Don’t be such a hothead, Applejack!”

“Hardy-har…”

Twilight examined her friends. With the exception of Maud, they looked like her long-lost sisters. Distinguishing them at a distance would be a chore, but cutie marks and leg sigils let her tell them apart for now.

“Is everypony alright?” Twilight powered down her protective spells. “Tell me if I should adjust anything—”

“You’re lucky I heal quickly, gnats!” Neighsay spat from afar. Several of his scales had been seared, a foul ichor seeping out from beneath. The group’s wild waves of magic were calling to him like a moth to the literal flame, but he did nothing but growl as he regenerated.

Rainbow’s scratchy laughter filled the air. “Didn’t know we were holding back, did ya? Let’s see you take a bite out of Twi’s magic now!”

Neighsay wasn’t about to admit it, but it was true. Twilight’s true power was overwhelming; a forbidden fruit if there ever was one. “I should’ve figured you’ve experimented with such things.” He circled around them like a colossal shark, his eyes and mouth oozing in equal measure. “You might want to take care, Twilight Sparkle—your cleverness has saved you from monsters in the past, but it’s created them, as well.”

The statement cut deeper than Twilight had expected. “I-I… That’s not what I—”

“Your condition is your own doing, Neighsay,” Maud said from Pinkie’s back. “If you hadn’t run in here with one of MY earrings, you wouldn’t have been poisoned in the first place.”

Neighsay rolled his eyes. “You’re missing the point, girl. You may not be able to feel it, but I can taste those flames in your soul. If she can inject energies into your essence, what’s to say she can’t—”

“How DARE you!” Fluttershy’s shout cut through the dark. “You’ve no right to insinuate Twilight would do such a thing! It’s taken everything we have just to get through this place, and chasing YOU hasn’t made it any easier! Even now we’re having to compromise and adapt because we can’t leave you alone!”

Neighsay raised his chin. “It’s not my fault you have trust issues.”

“EXCUSE me?!” Now Rarity was yelling, too. “You’re the one who was working for the changelings! And on that note, where’s your precious magic scrambler? Did you wind up eating that, too?!”

Neighsay said nothing. He just kept watching and circling, shadowfrost oozing from his mouth like drool.

“I noticed he ain’t tried portalling, neither.” Whip-like flames coiled around Applejack. “Mighty strange he’d try to sneak past us the hard way when he’s got that… plus not offer to port us down this oversized hole…”

Neighsay’s frown deepened. This conversation was getting as heated as their garish souls. The group was so bright he could barely stand to look at them directly—both physically and metaphysically. All he could tell was that their coats had turned white, their manes burned with magical flame, and their sparkling eyes glowed with every color under the sun.

“To hay with this.” Flames danced in Rainbow’s eyes. “He can’t run, he can’t hide, and we all know he’s gonna double-cross us so he can stuff his big fat face. Let’s just deal with him right now and—”

“IDIOTS!” Neighsay’s booming voice hurt their ears. “And I thought that stupid light was making ME blind! You really haven’t noticed, have you? First you were all shivering foals in the dark, now you’re all itching for a fight... the corruption’s been getting stronger since we left the Sanctum! Bolster your wills before I take matters into my own—”

“ENOUGH!” Twilight shouted in an echoing voice.

…

Twilight glowered. Her own emotions were roiling, volatile and ready to flare. She swore to everything holy she was about ready to side with Rainbow and nuke Neighsay into oblivion… but that just hammered the point home even more. “Neighsay’s right, girls.” She turned to them all. “We’ve been getting more anxious and irritable ever since we started climbing the mountain.We need to be more conscious of how we’re treating each other, alright? No bickering, no antagonizing, no dissent between any of us. We’re all on the same side in this fight, and any arguing or hostility is just going to strengthen the… th-the...”

She almost didn’t get it out, but she steeled herself and forced the words through her teeth. “The windigos.”

And there it was. The very word made all present flinch, the darkness around them seeming to press in that much more. It wasn’t a revelation to any of them, but no matter how many times they’d all thought it in their minds, hearing it said aloud somehow made it more real.

“Wait.” Rarity recalled something from the earlier explanations. “Neighsay, you said your guide was a host for multiple entities...”

Neighsay’s eyes fell. He held up one of his legs, watching the dark mist flow off his icy spines. “I didn’t realize it myself until you all translated the testament. It explains a lot—but more importantly, I’m hoping it gives me some advantage against them.”

Fluttershy gulped. “The mountain’s corruption… this cold… it’s all from them, isn’t it?”

Twilight steadied herself as best she could. “I know this isn’t what we were expecting. We’ve persevered with what we’ve been given and learned a lot throughout, but as you all said earlier, the time for speculation has passed. Now is the time for action, but as we continue on from here, we have to keep one thing in one mind.”

She regarded them all in turn. “We have to work together. Our goals, our ideals, our past actions… none of it matters right now. Either we unite against this threat and give it everything we have, or the future itself will be destroyed. No second chances, no opportunities to play the long game. Everything we know and love will be gone, taken by a horrible, evil ghost.”

Pinkie tilted her head. “Just one? I thought there was—”

“She’s talking about the witch,” Maud told her.

“Ohhhhhhhhhh.”

Neighsay harrumphed. He didn’t argue anything, nor did he look particularly spiteful about it. They could still sense the bottomless hunger within him, but his eyes were lucid and calm. “I’d say the enemy of my enemy is my friend, but I don’t think we should kid ourselves. How about ‘ally’ instead?”

Rainbow stared at Neighsay with her hooves on her hips. “For how long, though?”

Neighsay smirked before resuming his dive. “Long enough.”

And so they travelled on with tensions mounting. Any conversations were kept brusque and short from that point, the group’s formal tone and steely expressions betraying little to no emotion. It was clear both sides yearned for a chance to lash out, watching for a reason to make the first move... but the tentative truce held.

A few minutes later, the faintest bit of nonblack faded into view. They could see the distant walls of the pit now, though they were strangely free of mana residue. Warped patterns and shapes could be spotted amidst the rock that resembled a host of glaring giants.

Fluttershy balked. “Oh, dear…”

Rarity curled her lip. “At least the decor is consistent.”

But it was more than that. This ‘decor’ marked the entrance to a cave more massive than any of them thought possible. It was big enough to house the entire Everfree Forest by their reckoning, possibly Ponyville, as well! Its depth was similarly mind-boggling; the bottom was another good mile and a half down by their reckoning.

“It feels like we’re back outside!” Rainbow shuddered as the temperature plummeted. “Whoa… are those the leylines down there?!”

Yet even with the cavern being so tremendously vast, it was only thanks to being so high they were able to distinguish the long, wide outlines of three ‘rivers’ beneath a titanic sheet of violet ice. Each leyline was almost half a mile wide, with hazy violet energies seeping up to both obscure and illuminate the cavern.

“What IS that stuff?” Fluttershy said.

“Shadowfrost.” Neighsay licked his lips. “So pure it’s congealed into a solid. A treasure trove accumulated over millennia.”

Twilight remembered Hydia’s last testament again. “‘Draw on another source of power...’ ‘feeding deep below for ages...’ the windigos have been feeding on the leylines themselves! The shadowfrost must be a byproduct of the process!”

The group remained high up while inspecting the frozen trudge. Even from their altitude, the group could see wavy formations in the shadowfrost like a storm trapped in time. A powerful wind raging through the space was the likely culprit, but this wind—unlike in Sector Three—was negated by the Elements.

“This might have a silver lining.” Maud did some quick mental math. “The mountain’s corruption problem might be solvable, after all. We just have to remove the windigos and dispose of all this waste.”

“Easier said than done, cousin.” Applejack squinted through the haze. “We gotta find the nasties, for one.”

Neighsay reached out with his empathy. “I’m not sensing any emotions save ours. Granted, windigos might be shielded from such things…”

It was hard to know what to expect. There was no indication of movement, no response to the group’s presence. Travelling in the silence was like travelling through the underworld, the only notable things being the knifing wind and the leyline’s glow beneath the tainted ice. Trying to trace where the wind was coming from was a wash, as it was so chaotic that even Rainbow was at a loss.

However, that was when Rarity thought of another thing from Neighsay’s explanations. “Neighsay, didn’t you say the windigos’ true motive was having you remove Sombra’s crystals down here?”

Neighsay grunted. “Good to know one of you was paying attention. I assume whatever he did was interfering with something or another.” He chuckled at this. “It’s ironic, though—I have to laugh that one of the most wicked ponies in history might’ve actually saved the—”

And then it clicked.

“Well, well, so THAT’S what you meant back in the Sanctum.” Neighsay motioned to Applejack. “The mother of Hail Mary’s, indeed.”

These awkward pauses were becoming a disturbing trend.

“Hydia versus Amore.” Neighsay swept a hoof across the cavern. “Witch versus seer. Diviner against diviner in a grand game played for the fate of the world. We’re all nothing more than their chess pieces, aren’t we?”

Twilight wished she could deny it, but a truth harshly worded remained true. “If we are, we’re almost at checkmate.”

Neighsay cursed under his breath. “Endless circles within circles…” He sighed and ran a hoof though his misty mane. “I have all the same knowledge as my counterpart, so you needn’t explain the basics of temporal causality. I can’t say I enjoy the implications, but there’s one little thing I’m curious about.”

Twilight’s heart skipped a beat. “Which is?”

Neighsay’s golden eyes bored into her. “Could Amore still be alive?”

…

“Ah, you’re unsure.” Neighsay grinned wide. “Now that’s a curiosity if I’ve ever heard. Honestly, you princesses and your immortality...”

Twilight was really starting to dislike parlaying with empaths. “We don’t know her location or condition. There’s been no sign of her anywhere.”

If this bothered Neighsay, he didn’t show it. “A good puppetmaster only reveals themselves when they want to be revealed. A meeting very well might be imminent given how much we know… given she hasn’t sacrificed herself, of course. You heroes have a pesky habit of such things...” He then turned back to Rarity before Twilight could reply. “I believe you were getting at something?”

It may have been good or bad that Rarity recovered so quickly. “E-Erm, yes... I was thinking, shouldn’t the ceiling be covered in residue? The Inner Sanctum’s lower floors were disgusting, as you rightly pointed out.”

A lightbulb went off in Neighsay’s head. “An eye for detail, indeed. The mana was all drawn to Sombra’s apparatus in straight lines, so the crystal down here must’ve been somewhere. Finding the residue deposits might reveal Sombra’s machinations.”

The others couldn’t say they were enthusiastic, but it wasn’t like they had any better ideas. Even Twilight had to admit it made sense.

“No objections?” Neighsay got a dark grin. “Then let the hunt begin.”

Searching for residue was monotonous. There was little to see save for the bleak frozen lake, though the unique ice formations, the stark stone above, and the glow of the planet’s energies were at least easy on the eyes. Other than that, the themes of subtlety and concealment remained as they had from the sectors above.

Searching to the east wall turned up nothing. The north wall was a wash as well, and following it to the western wall only left them frustrated. They’d been searching for a half hour at that point, yet all they’d gained was a sense of the vast cavern’s dimensions. They decided to check the center rather than keep following the wall; now flying on in grim silence while the arctic winds strengthened.

“Hey.” Rainbow spotted something strange to their right. “See that?”

A long, bulky pipe had just emerged out of the haze. Grey and wide as a tree trunk, it was suspended some fifty feet in the air via unknown means. It ran through the air at an angle towards the center.

“There’s another to our left,” said Neighsay. Sure enough, an identical pipe was also running towards the center. “I’m also seeing a smaller, secondary pipe strapped underneath each of the main ones. They look tacked on.”

Applejack glanced back and forth. “Should we double back?”

Twilight pursed her lips. “Not yet. Let’s see where they lead.”

The wind continued to worsen. The group kept their eyes peeled for anything up ahead, but ironically, the first thing they saw—and the very thing they’d been looking for—caught them off guard. Rarity saw it first; all but shrieking at the castle-sized deposit of grimy residue staining the ceiling high above.

“Holy horseradishes!” Pinkie made a face. “That’s gotta be the biggest pimple I’ve ever seen!”

“Never mind that.” Neighsay pointed. “Look!”

Beneath the residue, a gargantuan metal contraption lay half-submerged in the ice. It looked like the world’s largest and most grotesque tree, sporting countless mechanical limbs and two immense metal wings. Each ‘branch’ sported several openings shaped like twisted pony heads, which on closer inspection, were actually air vents. The wings were actually great air vents, as well, belching out untold amounts of utterly frigid wind.

“By Celestia,” Twilight breathed.

The group could only stare. The powerful gales flowing from the ‘tree’ were freezing the cavern and everything above. The pipes they’d followed fed straight into the machine’s heart with even more converging from all directions. They almost looked like chains from this angle...

“Well played, Proxy.” Neighsay studied the hollow in the ice. The fissure was more than two hoofball fields across and deep as a groundwater well. “I’m guessing the lower parts were protected by some sort of dense crystal shell. The finer mechanisms are already starting to jam.”

It was true. Neighsay’s eyes were better than theirs, but getting closer revealed several machine parts were stuttering, the shadowfrost building up more and more. Yet despite the numerous struggling components, the icy winds from the vents above were growing stronger… colder.

“Is that good or bad?” Fluttershy asked. “If Sombra made it, but the windigos want it gone… What do we do?”

Applejack shrugged. “Hard to say without even knowing what it is. It could be the world’s ugliest air conditioner for all we know!”

Twilight wasn’t quite that lost, but she did admit, it did look like an overly elaborate filtration—

Oh.

“Sombra didn’t make this,” said Maud, beating Twilight to the punch. “This is Hydia’s power and filtration system. Look, you can see leyline currents being pulled towards the machine.”

It was true. Beneath the ice, a portion of the pulsing glow was being diverted to flow straight to this spot. You could even hear the faint sounds of what sounded like hydraulics pumping up the mana.

“So the pipes we followed are for sending up mana.” Rarity clucked her tongue. “What about those smaller pipes strapped beneath? I’m afraid I have to agree with Neighsay—their craftsmareship is positively garish! Could they be Sombra’s doing?”

Maud’s eyes flicked back and forth. She studied the machine… the pipes... the vents... then the group. None of them could get a read on what she was thinking, their flames dancing in her pale blue eyes.

“I don’t understand,” she said at last. “The wards are all destroyed. We shut down or disabled all the traps via the master control. There’s nothing left to power, so why is it still running full bore?”

Another pause.

“I... think we can assume they are,” Twilight said to Rarity. “We’ve seen all kinds of modified and repurposed things with his calling card, after all.”

“It’d also explain what the windigos were really after,” Neighsay added. “Plus… if the machine has been on even when there’s nothing to power, it might mean—”

RUMMMMMMMMMMBLE

The sound came from below. The ice sheet below trembled, jittering like an earthquake. Suddenly, a series of muffled, wailing screeches made the group’s blood run cold. The whole ordeal only lasted a few seconds, but the feeling of RAGE lingered in their minds.

“Speak of the draconequus,” said Neighsay.

Applejack’s eyes shrank to pinpricks. “Oh, save us... That was them, wasn’t it?”

Twilight suddenly understood why their intrusion had gone unchallenged. “They’re trapped... S-Sombra, he...”

Maud’s blood ran cold. “If that’s true, we likely only have until the machine’s critical failure. We don’t have much time.”

And of course they were now racing against the clock. Getting down here and finding this thing hadn’t taken long, but long enough, apparently. Maud was right—fixing the machine was nothing more than a band-aid fix. The windigos were going to break free sooner or later, gorged on the planet’s magic and ready to bring about the end.

“Twilight,” Maud said. “I have an idea.”

Something about the way Maud said that made Twilight pause. “Maud?”

Maud took a deep breath. “I think I can make some modifications of my own. Let Neighsay take me down to the machine. I’ll see what I can do.”

Silence.

“Uh…” Twilight looked down at the humongous machine, then back up at Maud. “You want to run that by me again?”

Maud could feel Pinkie tensing up beneath her. “I said, I’d like for—”

“ARE YOU LOCO IN THE COCO?!” Pinkie’s head whipped around. “There’s no way you’re doing that! No way, nuh-uh, not in a million-bajillion years!”

Maud’s eyes narrowed ever-so-slightly, but she kept her voice calm. “Pinkie, you’re going to be fighting a horde of superpowered windigos while maneuvering hundreds of feet in the air.”

“Yeah, so?!”

“So gravity is a cruel mistress,” said Maud. “And you don’t have your Pinkie Sense.”

The flames roiling off Pinkie grew hotter. “Why would you be worried about falling now? We've carried you this far without a problem, haven’t we?!”

Maud held up one of her cut legs. “Remember this? You didn’t have your Pinkie Sense then, either.”

Pinkie’s mouth fell open. “Th-That… that doesn’t count! This is totally different!”

“Differently worse,” said Maud. “You can’t afford to worry about a passenger. You need every advantage you can get.”

“We’ll be FINE!” Pinkie said. “We do this stuff all the time—”

“Pinkie.” Maud put her hoof on Pinkie’s cheek. “Mom and Dad. Limestone. Marble. All your friends in Ponyville. Every single place you’ve been, every last memory you’ve ever made. All of it could be gone in a blink. Do you really want to take that chance?”

Pinkie fell silent. A million more protests formed in her mind, but each one was more petty than the last. In the end, she could nothing more than stare into her sister’s face, her lower lip quivering—

“Sorry to interrupt the moment,” Neighsay drawled from afar. “But I believe you said something about me taking you down? You do realize that’ll be mutually agonizing that'll be?”

Maud regarded his far-off form. Even from here, she could catch eddies of his acidic aura. “Twilight had everypony take off their armor because of something called thermal shock. Sudden and extreme changes in temperature often cause unenchanted metals to snap like peanut brittle.”

Twilight’s stomach dropped. “She’s right. Having all of us get close would do the windigos’ work for them. Even Maud alone might be tricky.”

An acrid puff escaped Neighsay’s nose. “Accursed laws of thermodynamics. Fine, fine.”

It went without saying the others weren’t happy about this. Their hearts were against it, but they also understood the reasoning. In a perfect world they wouldn’t have to make this kind of choice, but the real world could be as messy and grey as these caves. It could even be just as dangerous at times.

The enchanted wind was worsening by the moment. By the time the Elements had brought Maud as near as they dared, even a creature as large as Neighsay should’ve been blown away. However, it seemed devouring Proxy somehow made him immune, as his wingstrokes remained unhampered… and his shadowy mane and tail flowed in the opposite direction.

“It’ll be best if you drop onto me.” Neighsay laughed despite himself. “Do try to avoid the spines. I’d hate to impale my first passenger.”

He dove into position beneath Pinkie. His size made for an easy target, but on looking down, they saw the spines he’d mentioned were each twice the size of an average pony. Having imprecise aim would result in a pony shish kabob.

Pinkie hadn’t stopped looking at Maud. This all seemed like it couldn’t be real, like it was happening outside their bodies. “Your Maud Sense omen… It was about this, wasn’t it?”

Maud didn’t look at her. Her heart was pounding, though from what emotion, she couldn’t say. “Nightmare Moon… Discord… Sombra… Tirek… each time, I’ve sat by while you put yourself in danger. Let me be your big sister for once.”

Pinkie was at a loss. “B-But… what about everything else? All the help you’ve been to this point?! We couldn’t have gotten this far without you! ”

Maud knew she wouldn’t understand. Maybe some of the others did, but it didn’t matter either way. The only thing that mattered now was calculating the angle of her drop.

“Don’t worry about m-me.” The catch in Maud’s voice wasn’t lost on anyone. “I’ll be fine.”

“Maud!” Pinkie said.

But she’d jumped.

It wasn’t the longest distance Maud had ever fallen. Immediately the bitter wind worsened and fought to steal her warmth, everything suddenly becoming dreary and so much more terrifying. Neighsay’s sickening, caustic aura and deadly spines grew closer, reminding her not only what he was… but what he could do to her.

She still couldn’t believe how monstrous he was. Neighsay was nigh unrecognizable save for his cutie mark: His face, his voice, his body, his behavior, his magic, his SIZE… could he even be considered a pony anymore? He wasn’t an actual dragon, but then what did that make him? A chimera, perhaps? An insatiable, energy-siphoning, half-mad, empathic, colossal, possibly-omnivorous—

And then she landed.

“ERGH!” Neighsay felt a poisonous, boiling-hot ‘cinder’ strike between his shoulder blades. Maud’s impact almost put him into a tailspin, with the added bonus of those STUPID EARRINGS providing agony undending—oh, joy! He roared—no, screamed his pain to the heavens, a putrid cone of shadowfrost spewing from his maw like a dragon’s flame.

Pain. Oh, the throbbing, shooting pain. Maud’s legs shrieked as she clung to a frosty back spine. Neighsay’s leathery wings THUDDED on either side of her, carrying them down to the bowels of the machine double time. His grey scales were sizzling, literally sizzling, his foul blood oozing out with a gagging, ammonia-like odor. It was only made worse by his caustic aura making her feel sickly and numb. There was a tightness in her lungs, a darkness in her mind… Tears stung Maud’s eyes as the violet ice drew closer.

The details of the machine’s innards were becoming discernible. Wedge-shaped spires drilled into the ice, lattice-like supports, narrow aisles between blocky machine parts. A discolored ‘line’ on the fissure walls indicated where the crystal layer had been, the structures within all housed below. The sheer shadowfrost walls were etched with criss crossing lines resembling bits of straw, the whirring pieces of machinery below like a metallic field of thorns. Entering the fissure proved tricky given that Neighsay’s wingspan spanned half the fissure’s length, but somehow he managed.

Maud could hardly breathe. Everything was so blurry she could hardly tell which way was up. Desperate, she closed her eyes and focused on the one thing she still had—that spark of hope that never seemed to die. The Tears flared, filling her steadfast spirit with light…

...but this darkness couldn’t be pushed back for long.

Maud opened her eyes. She saw they were coming up on a ugly structure like a warped water tower. There was a long platform at its bottom made of thick steel.

Maud made up her mind. Struggling, gasping, she staggered down Neighsay’s enormous spiny back. She waited until they were near enough, then leapt off his left flank into the air.

CLANG!

Hooves clattered on rimy metal. Maud tucked and rolled, sliding along on the icy platform. It was then she realized this tower structure was close to the fissure wall, about as far as possible from the machine’s center. She tried to stop, before colliding with the violet cliff, but she kept sliding until she collided with an audible smack!

Noxious shadowfrost jetted out in a cloud. Panicking, Maud scrambled to safety in a half-numb daze, evil fumes clinging to her coat and clashing with her earrings. Light and dark energies hissed and buzzed around her, the noise like a swarm of hornets.She held off breathing as long as she could while the shadowfrost vaporized off her and dispersed in the whipping gales.

Maud collapsed beneath a rickety awning. Her limbs were shaking; her heart pounding, thudding through her entire body. What little sensation in her legs was agony, and when said sensation returned, the numbness was almost better. Her cuts from Sector Three stung and were weeping blood anew. Her lungs ached, she was nauseous, and her body felt cold and clammy...

...but she was alive.

“Note to self: Never do that again.” Maud rose and looked around. The grated walkway was indeed built right against the fissure’s edge. It was one of the few such walkways in the fissure—not surprising given Sombra could fly—but for Maud, it meant a hundred yards of icy, unpredictable, struggling, sputtering, sluggish machine parts now barred her way to the center.

Maud pursed her lips. A single misstep near any of those contraptions would allow for a violent—

CREEEEEEEEEAK

The groaning and bending of ancient metal assailed her ears. Maud poked her head beyond the awning and saw that Neighsay had landed atop the warped water tower. He was perched like an oversized carrion bird, his long, scaly tail coiling down the tower and indenting the reinforced steel. The structure could barely support his enormous weight…

And he was looking right at her.

Maud couldn’t say she was surprised. Not many other emotions to sense down here, after all. No, what was surprising was how quickly his back had healed. Grievous wounds were now little more than sores as the ambient corruption mended flesh and scales before Maud’s eyes. He didn’t even have so much as a scar afterward.

“Wouldn’t mind that right now.” Maud dismissed her envy and weighed her options. The prospect of another deadly gauntlet wasn’t appealing, but another ride was worse. Neighsay agreed with her assessment, sensing her doubt and shaking his head.

Maud pursed her lips. There was nothing for it, it seemed. She took a moment to study the obstacle course ahead, eventually spotting a route beginning by a spiral coil. She steadied her nerves, took a deep breath, and made for the tree alone.

Neighsay watched her go without comment. Her intentions were intriguing, but time was short, and his attention lay elsewhere. He doubted she’d accomplish what she intended, anyway—even with his help.

“You heroes and your habits.” Neighsay turned his mind to other matters. “I disliked her the least, actually—”

“Devourer.”

Neighsay froze. There was a familiar presence in the air, its sheer weight and intensity far more than it had ever been. He could swear there were silhouettes circling him like scavengers.

“Well, well.” Neighsay’s golden eyes flashed. “I wondered when you’d show up… ‘Proxy’.”

The harsh, biting wind lashed out at him. It passed right through, but the intent was clear. “So, you’ve assimilated our magic… Take on whatever traits you like; you won’t grow strong enough in time to stop us.”

Neighsay’s forked tongue flicked out to taste the air. Their emotions were veiled, guarded, but still detectable, if only just. “It’s not just me you have to worry about. Didn’t I warn you that the Elements are the most powerful entities of this era?”

The voices laughed. They were everywhere and nowhere—even echoing in Neighsay’s head. “You know nothing of power. Our primeval pact with the Master will be christened with frozen pony blood! You might have stood a chance had you gotten down here on your own, but their mistrust has become your undoing.”

Neighsay kept his voice even, almost nonchalant. “And I thought I was arrogant. The Elements have shown me your victory isn’t as ironclad as you think.”

The voices hesitated. There was something within that statement; a strange confidence that shouldn’t have been. “Meaning?”

Neighsay shifted, the tower groaning under his weight. “Another soothsayer learned of Hydia’s plot millennia ago. They’ve been working against her AND you ever since.”

The voice scoffed. “At least Anomaly C tried to conceal his lies. Even if there was another soothsayer, our ascension and emergence were foretold—”

“Anomaly A, you blowhards,” said Neighsay. “She’s no ‘error’, she’s your worst enemy! She uncovered the secrets of this place and then made you forget she was ever here!”

The voices’ indignance rose, their combined presence seething. “Impossible. Our recollection is perfect! Every entity that’s ever come near the facility has been catalogued and neutralized! The only exception is Anomaly B!”

Neighsay smirked. “Princess. Amore.”

…

...

“Amore...” If the voices had had bodies and mouths, they would’ve choked. “What is—not Anomaly B, but… the one… before…? But, how did… when did they… NO! Th-There was no one! That time period was banal! No magic or ability can affect our memories! THERE WAS NO ONE!”

Neighsay yawned and examined his hoof. He sat there quiet on the tower, the voices becoming disjointed and wild around him.

“When did we tell him about the error?!”

“A trick! There was no other!”

“We know that name… Why do we know that name?!”

“We remember everything as it happened! There is no gap!”

“What did he do? WHAT DID HE DO?!”

“He mocks us! Mind games! Perhaps some magic of the other anomalies!”

“A distraction! He’s trying to buy time!”

“Forget trying to make him one of us! He’s too far gone!”

“But he’s so close... we need only remove his impurities!”

“IT’S NOT WORTH THE RISK!”

The windigos’ dissent was worsening. Neighsay looked around to see if Proxy had manifested another avatar, but all he saw were shadows. “My, my. I didn’t realize a simple name could affect you all so badly. Perhaps—”

“ENOUGH!”

The ground rumbled again. There was a flash of white light, and Neighsay was aware of countless presences surrounding him, each glaring into his mutated soul. Fierce, malicious, innumerable glowing eyes flashed everywhere like lightning in a snowstorm.

“We were foolish to think you could be one of us,”the windigos hissed. “You are nothing but a sentient void given flesh! You belong in the Sector Three rifts with the other amalgamates.”

Neighsay snapped his teeth at nothing. “More cryptic nonsense. Do you have anything worthwhile to say?”

“You are the true enemy,” they said.“The more you consume, the more you grow. The more you grow, the more you consume. You could devour reality itself if given the time… but that is time you will not have.”

The thought made Neighsay hungrier than ever. “Don’t threaten me with a good time.”

The eyes narrowed. They studied him for a long time in silence, Neighsay feeling like he was in the heart of a raging blizzard. Unfiltered hatred and fear teased him from beyond a barrier that he couldn’t pierce.

“You will be the first,”said the windigos. “Prepare yourself, Devourer. Our emergence draws nigh...”

And then the presence was gone.

The mood had been somber in Maud’s absence. Pinkie kept watching below without speaking, the light of her Element currently fueled by hope alone. She was tense, her shoulders squared, and she was tilted forward like she was waiting for someone to say ‘go’. The others had been watching the fissure, as well... though their attention was on something else.

“I think he’s talking to them.” Rarity shuddered at the ominous presence surrounding Neighsay. “Oh, I do hope he doesn’t try anything...”

Applejack squinted. “I doubt he’s dumb enough to pull somethin’ now. It’s when the dust settles that we really gotta watch.”

“Or we could go down there and eavesdrop like I’ve been saying!” Rainbow sliced the air with prismatic blasts of superheated air. “Are we really just sitting here while Jerkface is talking with the windigos?!”

Fluttershy still flinched every time she heard that word. “A-Are we really sure that’s who he’s talking to? What if it’s somepony else?”

The only response she got back were stares.

“I-I mean…” Fluttershy hid behind her blazing mane. “Okay, maybe not…”

“Maud and Twilight said we shouldn’t get closer,” Pinkie said to Rainbow. “I don’t want to put Maud in any more—”

RUMMMMMMMMMBLE

A new, stronger tremor jittered the ice sheet something fierce. It looked like the violet ‘waves’ were crashing into each other.

“—danger.”

Applejack started slinging a couple test fireballs herself. “Soooooooo, Twilight...you ain’t said nothing the past few minutes. I did see you perk up at one point, but then you went back to muttering. What’s cookin’ in that noggin of yours?”

Twilight didn’t turn to her at first. She muttered a bit more before finally looking up with a deep breath. “I… think… I’ve got something. It’s going to need some explaining, but I’ll go through it as fast as I can.”

Rainbow chuckled. “Now you’re speaking my language.”

Perhaps so, but Twilight wasn’t a native speaker. “I remembered something important in Hydia’s final testament. It said she summoned the windigos—which if true, would obviously mean the windigos are summoned creatures. I researched summoning magic while looking into Princess Luna’s summoning gems. There are rules and loopholes we can exploit.”

She suddenly had everyone’s full attention.

“Such as?” said Rarity.

Twilight suddenly wished she could demonstrate this somehow. “Put simply, when an individual is summoned, the magic ‘remembers’ where they came from so they can go home. If everything goes right and the spell ends normally, the individual is dismissed, and they keep anything they gained or lost. If something goes wrong, however, such as the spell ending early for some reason, the individual is dismissed while keeping or losing almost nothing. They’re more or less returned to the way they were when they were summoned.”

It wasn’t often the others immediately saw what Twilight was getting at, but this was one of those rare times.

“So we can’t actually kill the windigos, but we can remove their supercharge and send ‘em packing,” said Applejack.

Twilight nodded. “Some things like entropy are retained no matter what, but energy fluctuations are different. We just have to figure out if we can disrupt the spell with smaller attacks, or—”

“WAIT!” Fluttershy’s prismatic eyes filled her head. “So that means… w-we can stop the windigos without hurting them? We’re basically just sending them home?!”

It was a strange thing. Not only could Twilight see the proverbial weight falling off Fluttershy’s shoulders, but the others, as well. The news lightened their minds and spirits to such an extent that Twilight could feel the Elements responding in kind.

“You can see why I’m covering this first.” She regarded each of them in turn. “We still have to fight—that’s inevitable—but using lethal force will simply send them back where they came from. They won’t return unless they’re re-summoned.”

And just like that, whether by design or by coincidence, the worst foil for many of them—even Twilight herself—was undone.

“This changes EVERYTHING!” Fluttershy clapped her hooves. “This is wonderful!”

Twilight had to agree. “I should also mention the knowledge of how to summon them is probably lost. Windigos have never been spotted anywhere else in the world, and we all saw how empty Hydia’s home was—”

“Not to mention filthy,” Rarity mumbled.

—so once they’re gone, they’re gone,” Twilight said. “Now, regarding our strategy. Because of another… ergh, summoning thing, we don’t have to worry about them escaping. They’ll be gunning for us the whole time even if they’re losing. We just have to focus on offense.”

It was hard not to laugh with the sour look on Twilight’s face.

“Doing good, babe,” said Rainbow.

Twilight growled and ran a hoof down her face. “We’re all still fresh thanks to conserving our energy. That’s good, but if we have to use the Elements’ full power to be effective, we still only have one shot. We’ll have to time our attack carefully—”

Just then, the evil presence surrounding Neighsay disappeared.

“Uh-oh,” said Applejack.

“How did they...” Fluttershy focused on her Element, but it was like the presence had never been there at all. “Where’d they go?!”

“Neighsay’s coming back,” Pinkie announced. She pointed at the black mist cloud now heading their way. “Wait… he’s coming BACK?! Why is he coming back?! Who’s going to get Maud out of there?!”

Not a single one of them said so much as a word.

…

“I-I mean, we’re not just going to leave her!” Pinkie’s voice rose in pitch. “We’ll go get her once we win, won’t we? When it’s safe and stuff!”

Twilight’s ears drooped. Her thoughts turned to the dustboxes in her pocket dimension… all of which were full. “...Of course, Pinkie. We’d never leave her behind.”

“Yeah.” Rainbow patted Pinkie’s shoulder. “You’ll see her again before you know it—”

“You can’t save anyone if you’re dead.” Neighsay coalesced before them, his expression dour. “Unless you were talking about seeing her in the afterlife?”

Pinkie and Rainbow looked ready to immolate him.

“We saw you had visitors,” Twilight called out. “Do you think they’ll go for Maud?”

Neighsay shrugged. “I goaded them as much as I could. I suggest we worry more about ourselves than anyone else—in a few moments, she’ll be far safer than we are.”

FWSSSSSSSSH!

Maud moved at a steady clip through a steel hell. Running at full bore was suicide, but lingering wasn’t any safer. All she could do was move, move, move. Doubling back was when it got nasty, her path filled with vapors from thawing out machine parts and brittle metal everywhere. She had to adjust her course many times to avoid going back the way she’d come. Balance, timing, and speed were the key to navigating this—

RUMMMMMBLE

Maud stumbled near a mess of churning gears. Said gears were larger than she was, and getting caught in them would be instant death. Thinking quick, she threw herself to the side with all the strength she could muster.

Thwack!

The good news was she dodged the gears. The bad news was she’d thrown herself into a compartment and smacked her head on a low-hanging pipe. The world spun around her, colors and pain becoming one—

of course they preferred pinkie. they ALWAYS preferred pinkie. that’s just the way it was, wasn’t it? mother… father… marble… limestone... her… they may as well not exist. this was their fate, doomed to being overshadowed by the legendary heroics of pinkamena diane pie. at best they would be a footnote in HER adventure, and at worst they wouldn’t even be acknowledged. did the world think she’d just popped out of nowhere one day? personal accomplishments be damned; maud could probably save the world herself and still—

Maud clutched her head. Pain meant she was alive, but it also meant suffering. What was that she’d just experienced? Venomous whispers, long hidden resentments and petty arguments fueled by bitter, vindictive thoughts… they echoed in her mind and ears alike. She could swear they’d been whispered in her voice...

Never mind; she had to keep moving. A dying metallic jungle fought for life all around Maud, more and more creations ceasing their functions only to jolt to life once more. Shadowfrost was everywhere—she couldn’t escape it no matter how hard she tried. Every wrong turn allowed the lethal fumes closer. She couldn’t move fast and breathe less at the same—don’t think about it. Shake it off, keep moving.

Leaping and landing upon slippery surfaces was about as fun as it sounded. It was made worse by the inaudible whispers flitting around her; a thousand voices all feeding her darkest thoughts. She wouldn’t listen. She refused to listen. She knew what was happening, what the cause of this was. Pinkie did stuff like this all the time but you’re not Pinkie. You’ll NEVER be Pinkie. The Element of Laughter chose HER, not you. Your optimism and hope is focused inward while she spreads hers to others. She uses her gifts to help others; you only help yourself.

Chaos followed in Maud’s wake. She tried to stay ahead of it, but her darkening thoughts were relentless alone, always alone. Lonely nights, lonely days, shunned and misunderstood. The life of a recluse. Eventually, Maud, overshot a gap and wound up sliding towards a pair of crushing apparatuses. It was only thanks to them being sluggish that she was able to get clear in time—

WHAM!

Maud screamed. She was yanked back with enough force to rip several glowing hairs out by the roots; the apparatus just coming short of crushing her dock. She eventually wrenched herself free with a second scream and never looked back, the poisonous steam consuming the warmth and light of her abandoned hairs. The shadows laughed in her wake.

The machines chugged and slammed in an ear-splitting racket. Everything was so LOUD. Was it always so loud?! The only thing that drowned it out was the searing pain in her dock. But of course even that couldn’t drown out the wind. Nothing could ever drown that out. It was pointless to even tryYou couldn’t even look her in the eye before you left. You hurt her more than anyone else ever could, and for what? A selfish desire to be the hero? How are those earrings even working for you? A distant part of her acknowledged the warm rivulets trickling down her rump and thighs. She’d check it when she wasn’t surrounded by death; when the building tempest wasn’t eroding her will. She swore right then and there that if she made it out of this, the windy plains beside the rock farm could go and rot for all she cared.

It got colder the closer she got to the trunk. Maud couldn’t tell if that was actually due to proximity or because time was running out, but it didn’t bode well either way. The path ahead was clear—relatively—but the endless noise… and the ceaseless, mind-numbing wind stung her entire body! Why had she decided this was a good idea again? All this heroism stuff really wasn’t all it was cracked up to benot that you were ever a hero to begin with. You chose this topic for your dissertation because you were trying to get attention. You don’t have any noble intentions, you’re just trying to show up your sister. That’s why you resented her coming with you. Maud really hoped she didn’t have to double back again at this point. She was getting close now, spying an entrance in the trunk resembling a knothole. Or maybe she just thought looked like that; her head was getting fuzzier the more time passed—

CRUNCH!

One of Maud’s legs broke through the brittle metal. She cried out as her momentum pulled her free, her leg twisting with a terrible twinge. It was all she could do to avoid falling off the machine piece.

krrrkktttt

Maud froze. She could feel more of the decrepit metal caving beneath her hooves! She sprang forward and slid along amidst a series of metallic crackles and squealing steel. The top of the apparatus became a sea of jagged metal, entire chunks falling and getting caught in the components within. Every second of it was an anxiety-riddled nightmare, and she remembered having two more close calls before getting to the edge and jumping off. She landed a miniaturized crane and limped the rest of the way to the knothole entrance.

She emerged into a dismal, dreary atrium. Girders and pipes lined the ceiling, various gears turned in the walls, and there were multiple arched doorways leading to a maze of hallways. Maud allowed herself a brief rest then, but any respite from the wind was short lived thanks to the racket of leaking pipes and rattling components. It was more for the sake of catching her breath than anything else, her cold, tight lungs heaving and fighting to thaw.

She’d expected it to be harder to convince the others to let her do this. Perhaps a better formulated argument, or a debate with Twilight over the pros and cons. But no, apparently she’d either made that good of an argument, the others had already reached the same conclusion she had, or they’d had a lapse in judgment. Sure, she’d made some good points and all, but was that really enough to ignore the improbability of anyone knowing how to operate an ancient town-sized contraption without a schematic?

Ah, but whose fault is that? If you’d shown them what you’d found back in Sombra’s lair, you wouldn’t have had to push things along.

Maud grit her teeth. Standing still was leaving her mind free to wander. She reached into her simmering mane and pulled out a particular scroll coated in flame-resistant wax.

“Project: Osmosis...” It was the title that’d initially caught her eye. It was indeed a schematic of the machine—called the Centimane, apparently—or rather, the alterations made to it. A schematic of the entire thing likely would’ve been the size of a dictionary. It was difficult to read the finer details in the dim light, but she could tell enough to get her bearings.

Maud limped along towards a zigzagging corridor and continued on. Her leg was hurting worse now. Breathing was a struggle if she forced it, so she had to keep her pace slow lest she risk a dizzy spell. She could also feel blood dripping from her dock onto her rump and hind legs. At least there was far less shadowfrost, but there was always still that little bit of rime. She could only hope it wasn’t enough to make a difference.

The sounds of outside machinery grew dull and faint. Maud focused on her footing, her hoofsteps reverberating on the fragile metal. The only other sounds were the rattling and hissing of the pipes leading up to the branches, random ‘coughs’ occasionally surprising her as the pressure built up and pushed through. The steady glow of her aura and the Tears lit the way forward as shadows danced around her, their murmuring not just in the machines, but the very air around her.

Maud’s eyes were throbbing and itching for some reason. At least the fuzzy feeling in her head was fading, but she still couldn’t catch her breath. She trudged on until she got to a fork, whereupon she stopped and referenced the schematic to determine—

RUMMMMMMMMMBLE

Tons of metal seized up in convulsions. Maud was thrown to the ground in a heap, clutching the schematic to her chest amidst the machine wracking tremor. A pipe clattered to the ground beside her, and a second—

gone. everything was gone. the house, the fields, the mine, the canyon… all of it. the horizon was nothing but snow, everything she’d ever known and loved buried forever. thick, dark storm clouds had swallowed the sun, winter lightning lancing across the sky like a tear in reality itself. somewhere beneath this wasteland were the frozen bodies of her family, their last moments consumed by unnatural hatred and fear. a patch of snow blew away to reveal a section of cloudy ice, and thunder crashed in maud’s ears as the entombed bodies stared at her with glassy—

“AHHHHHH!” Maud sat bolt upright. The tremor was over, but the right corridor was blocked by metal components. The left corridor wasn’t much better, though the structural integrity still clung to life. She dashed forward and got through just as the ceiling caved behind her in a raucous din.

Maud didn’t look back. She didn’t want to know how close a call that was, nope, nope, nope. As it was, the anxiety was creating a deep, gnawing emptiness inside her like a hunger that’s not anxiety and you know it. A distant part of her noted the pain in her leg was fading. She could suddenly see like it wasn’t dark at all, even though there were no extra sources of light. The air was so cold she should’ve been choking, yet that somehow made her breathe easierlooks like those earrings weren’t enough, after all. It’s only a matter of time now; you should’ve stayed with the others—

“SHUT UP!” Maud rounded a corner and hurried on to the Centimane’s core. She decided to focus on the good things, like how she didn’t feel sore anymore, or how the cold was starting to feel downright pleasant. Her eyes were throbbing a little, but each time they pulsed, her vision got a little clearer. And hey, she wasn’t losing any hair! That was a good thing, right?

The core looked like a cross between a tyrant’s throne room, an overly-elaborate control room, and a high-ceilinged boiler room. Yawning holes in the floor were scattered about where wreckage had fallen from the ceiling. All of the pipes from outside converged here, and Maud could see what they were carrying now—an electric blue energy that was being pumped into a gigantic central device like the unholy love child of a pipe organ and a steam turbine.

And then Maud saw it. At the base of the center device, a throne of twisted metal sat upon a dais. A dark helm rested on a nearby pedestal—a spiked, sinister thing with red horns on its brow and a snarling maw of a visor.

Maud looked upon all of this and laughed.

“Perhaps ambition does breed ruin,” she said.

Maud maneuvered past the pits and debris to the throne. The helmet reacted to her presence, humming to life with an electric blue surge. She produced the schematic once more, then sat down on the throne whileyou may as well take those earrings off and give in. No amount of determination, drive, or hope can change how you truly feel, and your jealousy will be the loose string that unravels your resolve. She’ll never stop stealing the spotlight away from you; there’s only one way you’ll ever outshine her.

Maud bared her budding fangs. The light of the Tears was bright as ever, but the empty feeling inside her was getting worse. Her pupils had become sinister slits, the whites of her eyes were a disturbing green, and the wispy shadowfrost contrails were already starting to form. She felt like she was being torn in two… but the path before her was clear. Narrow, but clear.

More heavy parts fell from above. The holes in the floor widened to the point the way Maud had come was cut off. Smaller pipes choked and ruptured along the walls, but the primary pipes remained sturdy. The schematic revealed every auxiliary served to keep them going—backup systems upon backup systems, all to ensure the flow never ceased.

Maud sighed. She retrieved the helmet at her side and looked it over. The Tears of Laughter seethed the moment she touched it, but even this addition couldn’t corrupt her fully you can’t keep walking such a fine line. Your mind is slipping more and more by the second. Sombra was one of the most powerful ponies to ever live, and yet even he was no match for the evils surrounding you. You’re nothing but a worthless—

Maud donned the helmet.

It wasn’t what she’d expected. There was no pain, no sudden jolt, not even a reaction from the central device or the machine as a whole. There was a mild cold feeling, a rebuttal of scalding heat from the Tears, then a stronger, more vicious reply from the shadows. The two powers escalated in a rising stalemate… but meanwhile, a barrage of information filled Maud’s mind as she was linked to Centimane’s limited, golem-like awareness.

CENTIMANE STATUS: CRITICAL

OSMOSIS TOWER CAPACITY: 10%

BATTALION PRODUCTION: PAUSED

WINDIGO CONTAINMENT FIELD: ACTIVE

SEER SHARD INTEGRITY: 2%

========================================================

WARNING: UNKNOWN GEOMANCY SIGNAL ACTIVATED - JUGGERNAUT SHIELD DESTROYED

WINDIGO CONTAINMENT AUXILIARIES DESTROYED

SECTOR DIVINATION WARDS DESTROYED

CENTIMANE INNARDS EXPOSED - AUXILIARY SYSTEMS FAILING

OSMOSIS TOWER RIFTS REVEALED - DETECTION OF SEER SHARDS LIKELY

WINDIGO CONTAINMENT BREACH IMMINENT

Maud wanted to vomit. The machine’s cruel inner workings were laid bare to her now, but she wished they weren’t. “He used her body to help contain the windigos. Among other things, by the looks of it...”

IRRELEVANT ASSESSMENT

AWAITING NEW COMMAND

Maud rolled her eyes. “Fine. Release the prisoner, Centimane. Bring her to me.”

ERROR - SHARDS MUST BE KEPT SEPARATE TO PREVENT AWAKENING OF DORMANT—

Maud pressed one of her earrings to the helmet. It burned like fire, but the metallic scream in her head was worth it.

“I’m in charge now.” Maud's voice was cold and distorted. “She’s been scattered to the winds long enough.”

…

THE WINDIGOS WILL BREACH THE CONTAINMENT FIELD THE MOMENT THE SHARDS ARE EXTRACTED

ELEMENTS OF HARMONY DETECTED IN VICINITY

ARE THE BEARERS PREPARED TO ENGAGE

“Don’t worry,” said Maud. “We’ll be providing backup.”

ACKNOWLEDGED

ACTIVATING LEYLINE DERRICK

The central device lurched to life. Unseen levers and gears protested as a shallow dispenser popped out to the right of Maud. Its tubing was connected directly to the above node where all the huge pipes converged.

MANA PUMP SUCTION AT MAXIMUM

GEOMANCY SIGNAL CALIBRATING

Maud looked around the room. There was no semblance of warmth in this doomed place, no life, no future. She couldn’t say if coming here had been smart. She couldn’t say if what she intended was any smarter, and there very well may have never been any hope at all. Perhaps she’d been manipulated by these vile, slithering whispers in some way. Perhaps if she’d never come here, her family and loved ones could’ve lived out their lives. Perhaps the windigos could be defeated, but what if an equal, or even worse threat then emerged. Had anything really been accomplished in that case?

SHARD RETRIEVAL PREPARATIONS COMPLETE

DIMENSIONAL RIPPER STANDING BY

Well, Maud supposed she’d find out soon enough. The lines were drawn, the bets were placed, and all players were in position. The time for speculation and choices were passed—all she could do now was hold to her beliefs and pray.

“The things we do for love.” Maud thought of Pinkie and smiled. “Hang on, everypony.”

Author's Note

So, quick question for you all. How many of you spotted the windigo in the story's cover art? It's been there literally the entire time. :D

If you want to know where it is, it's between Neighsay and Twilight in the background. Here's a link if you can't see it.

Part 7 - Emergence

Sacred light, outshine the dark
stave off the spirits’ glow
Fill our hearts with harmony
and melt away the snow.

They came from farthest reaches north
those ghastly, eerie wights
The shrill howls made our blood run cold
and filled our hearts with strife.

Scores were frozen in their tracks
as tribes turned tail and fled
For those who tried to fight them were
soon buried with the dead.

Sacred light, outshine the Dark;
stave off the spirits’ glow
Fill our hearts with harmony
and melt away the snow.

We galloped south to warmer lands
frost clinging to our manes
At last a home we found anew
Equestria its name.

Yet soon those foul ghosts followed us
to bring more strife and fright
First there came the icy gales
and then the wint’ry blight.

Sacred light, outshine the dark;
stave off the spirits’ glow
Fill our hearts with harmony
and melt away the snow.

-Excerpt from the Hearth’s Warming Ballad

“I doubt the windigos know the Elements power up on a curve.” Twilight’s blazing mane flapped in the wind as she spoke. “We can use that to lure them in for a point-blank attack. By the time we reach our power spike, it’ll be too late to stop us.”

Below them, the frozen violet sea was trembling. Eerie arcane lights flashed from the leylines like some perverse night rave. The crawling sensation of evil clawed at their minds and made their skin shiver, leaving them cold inside despite their light and flame.

Applejack fiddled with her hat... only to remember she wasn’t wearing it. Earlier, she’d been the one to ask why blasting the windigos through the ice wasn’t an option. In short, the ice would dampen their attack, they didn’t know how deep the three leylines were, they didn’t know how many windigos there were even down there, or even where said windigos were located. They couldn’t just aim down and fire when each leyline was a half-mile wide “river” snaking throughout the forest-sized cavern.

Twilight called to the odd member out on their team. “Neighsay, you’re probably aware your space to maneuver will shrink as we gain power. I can suggest some tactics my sister has taught me, but this isn’t the time for bickering.”

Neighsay regarded Twilight, a scant thirty yards away. She was smaller than a doll to him, yet her incredible power, just hers alone, was like a thousand thunderstorms. Being this close to all six of them nearly made his skin blister. “Your sibling is one of our best tacticians. I’d be an idiot to refuse that kind of advice—”

CHKKKKKKKT-T-T-T-T-T-T-T-T-T-T-T-T

The group whirled. The sound had come from the machine below: Clunky, ancient parts were chunking, some moving faster while others slowed down. Entire components fought to switch gears with jerky, stilted motions like a seizure. The scraping squeal of metal nearly made their ears bleed.

“What’s happening?!” said Fluttershy.

Neighsay gaped at the Centimane. “That girl! She’s done something! I can sense her essence directing the machine itself!”

Rainbow’s pupils shrank. “Maud’s what is doing WHAT?!”

Pinkie’s world slowed. The memory of the pilfered scroll from Sombra’s lair flashed in her mind. “Maud...”

A hydraulic whine rose above the tempest. The leyline current was increasing, its strobing light drawn stronger to the Centimane. Chemical clouds spewed from grates and tall stacks as the arcane glow travelled up and into the Centimane’s trunk. Many branches closed their vents to cease belching frigid air, their internal sluice gates directing the gathered magic.

“Look!” Rarity pointed at several branches lighting up. “Those have spell runes!”

Indeed they did. Engravings as broad as the foundations of houses, all glowing along the longest branches and angled towards the outgoing pipelines. The runes were so bright that Twilight could read them through the haze.

“Time.”Twilight leaned forward, squinting. “Space. Heighten. Enlarge... Open? That sounds like a—”

RUMMMMMMMBLE

Freezing, magic-laden winds spewed from the Centimane. Tanks ruptured like overfilled balloons, the shrapnel tearing through mechanisms and nearly causing a chain reaction. There was now an eerie, heavy feeling throughout the cavern... like time itself was getting denser.

“WE’RE OUT OF TIME!” Neighsay’s bellow startled the girls. “THEY’RE COMING!”

Twilight gnashed her teeth. “DO WHATEVER YOU CAN! Girls, form a circle! Backs to each other!”

The glow of magic travelled up the Centimane’s branches and gave their tips a blinding glow. Sizzling lances of arcane energy distorted the surrounding air, the building energies fighting with the impossible interference. The windigos’ disembodied screams were louder than ever: hoarse, straining, and filled with despair.

Then, for the first time in over a millennium, ALL of the Centimane’s vents stopped. Even the humongous wing vents came to a standstill, sputtering and dying out with a wheeze. The girl’s hearts hammered as they looked all around. They could hear the thrum of the planetary leylines, the groan of straining metal, the whoosh of Neighsay’s retreating mist form, the WHUM of the charging—

KRA-KOWWWWWWW

Energy beams bigger than trains exploded from the Centimane. The recoil crushed its branches like aluminum, each ray gouging the icy surface like a pressurized ocean swell. Twilight and the others braced themselves as the shockwave threw them back. It was several seconds before the blinding flash had dimmed, but in its wake, Twilight spotted the fading gargantuan rays travelling along the rattling pipelines.

Seconds passed. The air was still heavy, charged, and ominous. There was no indication on what Maud had just done, and Twilight hadn’t yet voiced her suspicions. They huddled close and scanned the horizon for any—

zrrrrrrrrm

The girls froze.

zrrrrrrrrm-zrrrrrrrrm-zrrrrrrrrm-zrrrrrrrrm-zrrrrrrrrm-zrrrrrrrrm-zrrrrrrrrm-zrrrrrrrrm-zrrrrrrrrm

It sounded like a cross between Twilight accessing her pocket dimension and Neighsay’s portal medallion. The noise came from every direction, and each time, it was followed by a spike of energy that was both familiar and unsettling. Twilight was the most disturbed, shuddering at the memories of being trapped in that horrible void...

Except that these rifts weren’t the same. Their construction was similar, but they exuded no evil. Their auras were serene, almost musical; random notes chiming in the girls’ minds and making their hair stand on end.

Then, at last, something fragmented, tarnished, jumbled... and beautiful emerged.

“Holding cells...” Twilight understood what she’d fallen into now. The ones in Sector Three had likely been repurposed like everything else, their occupants only detectable while the door was open. A devious prison with a ridiculous lock in a nigh-untraceable location.

“Oh, my...” Rarity put a hoof to her chest. “Is that—”

VRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRM

The low thrumming of a geomancy signal reverberated through the cavern. In response, the sources of musical energy pulled free of the portals and zoomed forward, travelling towards the Centimane via Sombra’s tacked-on pipes.

“Maud...” Twilight steadied herself. “We need to protect that machine! Start charging the Elements, girls! We’ll get them as they—”

And then it happened. The fixed point in their timeline; one of the greatest temporal bottlenecks of quantum causality. The convergence of countless timelines made local space-time slow to a crawl. Reality stretched around the moment like a rubber band, the temporal inertia building until it was able to force the fixed point through and catch up with the rest of time. Twilight and the girls had no meaningful temporal senses to speak of, but were an interdimensional being to scry this moment, they’d see local space-time “snap” forward to catch up.
And for any interdimensional creatures within the fixed point, this “snap” would be enough to disrupt any temporal abilities... like blocking out a past event.

Ŕ̴̤͉͓̐͌̋G̷͚̈́̇͛̋G̴̬̳̭̏͂̊ͅG̴̙̬̣̭̎͗̆G̶̡̪͔͐̊G̵̢̨̠͎̔̈́̽A̸͐̈́̐͌͜Ǡ̸̦̹̬͚̾̕A̸͖̻̋̀͛Ä̷̬͔̙̤́̽̕Á̸͈̖H̴̛̙̫̦̆͝͝H̷͇̱̜̔͂̈́̕H̵̨̡̟̭̄̀͆H̷̘́̅͌H̶̰̙̟̔̎H̴͈̲̜͊̈́͗͘H̵̟͆̋͌

The windigo’s psychic voices felt like sandpaper. To call their screams enraged would be like saying the surface of the sun was warm. Their murderous, vengeful, vicious emotions erupted from the depths to ravage the group.

Krk-k-k-k-k-k-k-k-k!

The first split of ice was indescribable. Cracks large enough to be crevasses formed beyond the girls’ range of sight, but they soon saw the cracks creeping towards the Centimane. Each one came from the direction of a pipeline.

̷̛͚̓̔Ä̷̧M̶̡͓̰̼͊́͘O̵͓̅R̸̤͑̄Ẹ̷͙͛̽͆ͅ

W̴͇̅̀͌E̶̻̪͍̎͝ ̵̘́̽̚R̸̡̬͋̌E̴̬̦͊͒̀ͅM̶̡̧̞̓̍E̵̻͒̈́̃͠ͅM̶̩͛̾B̶̢̥̲͙̍̀E̷̗̍̅R̴̠͍̤͒ ̷̧̢͍̦̍N̵̘̯̯̱̓͂̍Ó̷͚͙͓̚͝Ẇ̴̬̼̮͉̃͝

Ý̷̰̈́͌̕O̵̯̬͊͒U̵̺͗ ̵̤̘̬̓͑̒Ŵ̴̩̫̿Ö̶̻̪̭̤́́̍N̴͕̈́'̷̯͈̥̖͒̔̿Ţ̸̼̞͘̚ ̵̜̽̎̀̅Ȩ̷͠S̷̰̠͗͠ͅÇ̸͔͓̒͠ͅÁ̷̧͗͝P̷͖̞̪̅̌̆E̸̹͕͈̲̒̑́

Fwwwwwwwwwshhhhh!

The first numbing gale was like death itself. Deafening, bone-chilling wails resonated with the evil haze to strengthen it into corrosive, filmy gunk. The air tasted like ashes as a fiery prismatic sphere took shape around the girls, the hiss of vaporized filth rising alongside their spreading aura.

“YOU WANT HER?” Twilight’s empowered shout boomed throughout the cavern. “COME AND GET HER!”

Meanwhile, Neighsay watched the tarnished objects zoom towards the Centimane. He might’ve pursued them were the circumstances different, but alas, the apocalypse waited for nopony. It was time to enter the fray.

“Now, if the shadowfrost sheet will hinder the Elements, then these vapors certainly won’t help.” Neighsay’s fanged grin grew wider. “And I can’t very well fight on an empty stomach...”

What none of the fools had realized was the fetid darkness wanted to pour into him. Abstaining hadn’t been easy, but now he could relax, open his maw wide, and let it all come to him. Electric tingles raced down his spine as the energy spilled down his throat. His hunger was so great that the bland, airy taste may as well have been sweet cotton candy. Wild, tingling ecstasy shot through him as the flow of energy doubled, then doubled again, and again, and AGAIN, new strength adding to his already-tremendous power.

“Yesssssssssssss...” Anticipation swirled in Neighsay’s breast. He could feel his body soaking up the energy like a sponge, sparks crackling around him and his entire form rumbling. His shoulders widened with new muscle. His tail thickened and snaked out farther. His neck stretched skyward to elevate his perspective. He became the center of a hungry cyclone, his frame expanding outward, growing leagues faster than he had in the Sanctum.

But of course, such actions didn’t go unnoticed.

“NEIGHSAY!” Applejack’s Element blared in her mind. “CONSARN IT!”

Rarity sneered. Far off in the distance, she could see a hazy whirlwind sucking up all the fog.“I see his game.”

She didn’t, actually, but Rainbow did. “He’d be going for the ice over the fog if he had! He’s clearing the air to give us a better shot!”

Fluttershy meeped as the vacuum’s radius spread past them. “B-But, he’s getting even bigger! What if he gets too strong to stop?!”

Twilight bit back a curse. Whether Neighsay intended to or not, he’d just given her an idea. A stupid, reckless, utterly insane idea. “I’ll handle him in a second! Focus on charging the Elements!”

“Shouldn’t you stop him NOW?!” said Pinkie.

“TRUST me!” Twilight said back.

The corruption haze dispersed rapidly. It first cleared along the lake’s surface before lifting like a billowing curtain. It wasn’t long before the girls saw the widening cracks in the shadowfrost sheet, though each “crack” was a trench the size of Ghastly Gorge. The upheaval was deafening, but it still couldn’t drown out the windigos’ screams. A stifling sensation was pressing in on the girls; a cold, lonely despair woven into the noise. They were nothing but meager specks of light struggling to stay aglow.

Several hundred-foot thick glacial slabs began rising in great heaves. As they did, the visibility improved enough for Twilight to spot something a few miles out on the ice: thin, tall tower-like structures supported by numerous cables. The pipe that’d led them here was using its architecture to climb to the ceiling.

“Look!” Applejack pointed to another tower in another direction. It too was connected to a pipe. “Maud musta been firin’ at those!”

She was right. Twilight could see the towers were covered in strange prongs like tuning forks that were glowing from the Centimane’s beam. They almost looked like miniature mana wells—

ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZT!

The prongs lit up like stars. The other towers came to life as well, white energy surging down them to pierce the icy depths. Distorted, elongated silhouettes flickered across the ice that could’ve enveloped whole towns in shadow. The windigos’ enraged cries became tortured shrieks as they were caught in a sort of inverted lightning storm.

“By Celestia...” Twilight watched the glacial slabs fall with incredible BOOMS! She could sense something vile, twisted, and POWERFUL being drawn up and pumped into Sombra’s shoddy pipes. “Maud...”

“I BELIEVE IN HER!” Pinkie yelled. “C’MON!”

The shadows kept flickering amidst the fissures’ warped light. The girls’ flames burned hotter as a sense of calm fell over them, the oppressive dark struggling against their rising might. Their eyes danced with every color under the sun. The sigils on their legs shone brighter. They could feel each other’s Elements as much as their own, their souls singing and becoming ever-more entwined.

SHKKKKKT!

The fissures destabilized the towers. First the foundations gave, then the support cables snapped, and the pipes came loose and fell with loud CLANGS that were lost in the wind. The prongs shorted out as the structures buckled and fell into the leyline abyss...

...and the windigos stopped screaming.

Twilight’s voice echoed with power. “Be careful! Watch for cracks beneath us!”

It was chaos. Ancient pipes fell like dominos while lethal winds blew and mammoth glaciers heaved. Eldritch light strobed amidst the struggles of a dying contraption and a foul monster taking form. The girls took solace in the Elements’ rising light, but the stakes weighed heavy on their minds.

The chasms were advancing fast towards the Centimane. The darkness was receding, but it almost seemed too easy. Where once their purifying blaze fought to gain ground, now it spread unchallenged. The windigos were still silent.

Twilight’s eyes flicked to Neighsay. He was insatiable, devouring energy ever-faster like a black hole. It was hard to tell how much he’d grown, but his aura was downright cancerous. Had he surpassed the largest dragons now? How long until he was—NO! FOCUS! Embrace the virtues of the Elements! Keep the rising energies stable! Twilight grimaced, thinking back to her parents’ lessons of stability and control. That wisdom was the reason she could now—

Her parents.

NEIGHSAY.

MAKE. HIM. PAY.

It was the risk of channeling such volatile power. Twilight snarled, seeing red from a sudden eruption inside her. The others gasped at her anger, but they could do little more than keep Twilight’s fury from spreading. There was a whooshing as they saw her channeling energy into a focused point before her.

“T-Twi!” Rainbow yelled. “TWI!”

All Twilight could hear was the pounding in her ears. A superheated bead of flame formed at her command, its brightness casting everything into sharp relief. Her raw fury made arcs of energy dance across it like plasma.

Rainbow reached for her, but it was too late. With a mighty scream, Twilight unleashed hell.

Neighsay was in bliss. His bulky muscles rippled, his bones lengthened, his scales expanded, all while invigorating strength saturated his majestic form. His body felt as light as a feather. The wondrous sensation thrummed in his ears; he’d never felt more alive in his entire life! Power coursed within his very flesh! He could feel the sheer weight and power behind his movements, yet all he wanted was MORE! Forget the windigos, forget the puny Elements of Harmony, forget EVERYTHING—

There was a twinkle in his peripheral.

BOOM!

The turbulent winds turned the fireball into a firestorm. There was only a split second before everything faded to white, yet even that second was hell, for in it he felt his scales sizzle and split, his skin blistering and charring. Fire, light and sound engulfed his colossal form several times over, throwing him back like a ragdoll and sending him plummeting to earth like a burning wreck.

Twilight’s rage morphed into horror. Someone far away was still screaming. She learned later it was her.

RUMMMMMMMBLE

As the vortex around Neighsay cleared, they all saw he’d been hovering over a spreading fissure as wide and long as a small farm. He fell somersaulting in freefall while the girls looked on in horror, the exposed leyline giving his falling form a bloody tint.

Then, a WHOOMPH of upward-rushing air made their ears pop. A loud, horrid grating tortured the girls’ senses. The whole cavern shook more than ever, vapors billowing from the revealed fissure...

... as the head of something BIG—FAR too big—emerged from the depths.

The windigo looked exactly as the legends described. It was a translucent creature with glowing white eyes and a mane like a winter thunderstorm. However, nowhere had the legends said anything about their size being out of the ordinary. The windigo wasn’t just huge, it was impossible. It was beyond possibility or understanding, beyond thought or idea! Its ghostly head alone dominated the girls’ vision, with Neighsay, large as he was, barely a morsel!

Twilight’s plans lay forgotten. She tried to rally the power of the Elements, but her efforts fell on deaf ears. There was only this god-like creature and its inescapable, suffocating aura. The girls were drowning in insignificance, sinking ever-deeper despite their feeble struggles.

It felt like it happened in slow motion, yet also far too fast. The giant windigo emerged right underneath Neighsay, his burning, smoldering form showing no sign of life. The creature opened its fanged mouth wide... wider... wider... then with a booming SNAP and audible GULP, he was gone.

Ö̸̭N̵͉̿Ḛ̵̽ ̶̬̿D̴̹̂O̵̫̽W̴̪̽N̸͇̚ The windigos’ profane chorus invaded the girls’ minds. E̵̗͒I̶͈̋G̵͓̈́H̸̲̉T̵̝̚ ̵̱͊T̷͈̈́Ọ̴͆ ̵͚̉Ğ̶̺Ŏ̵̮

There was no time to process the loss. The shadowfrost sheet was still rumbling, convulsing like a dying host. The first windigo freed itself in full with a vicious, baleful cry. Behind the girls, the second one burst out of the ice like an oversized parasite. Three more emerged in the distance, raw magic dripping off them like liquid. Another seven broke free in eyeshot, and seven more after that. Too many to count were breaking free, creating so much cracking and grating the girls feared their ears might explode. The scope of this cavern was proving to be even more unfathomable than they’d anticipated.

Windigos emerged in droves across the colossal cavern. The force of their escape sent stray shadowfrost chunks the size of buildings sailing through the air...

...many of which fell toward the Centimane.

“NO!” Whatever terror Pinkie had was replaced by a greater fear. Flames jetted from her hooves as she drew deep on her Element, taking off like a living rocket and blasting straight THROUGH the nearest multi-ton chunk. She continued to zip around breaking up as many as she could, each strike marked by mighty CRACKS and the bubbling hiss of steam.

Pinkie’s takeoff was enough to rouse the others. They reacted, following after and helping protect the Centimane. Every hunk of catapulting ice took time and energy to destroy, which in turn allowed more and more panic to worm into their hearts. How could this be real?! There’d never heard a single thing about the windigos being so... so BIG! No survivor accounts had mentioned it, no journal entries, no myths, nothing! Was this some kind of “true” form that’d never been revealed? Had multiple millennia of absorbing magic turned them into gods? Had Hydia done something worse than her epitaph had implied?!

None of them were sure. They weren’t sure of anything anymore.

The windigos paid little heed to the would-be “heroes” (more like literal gnats). Rather, they were far more intent on removing the devices connecting them to the ruined Centimane towers. These devices, which were attached to the back of their necks, resembled giant syringes with shorter, thicker plungers and barrels. Far-too-large needles became visible upon the windigos assisting each other in their removal, their fresh bellows of pain not helping the girls’ fraying nerves.

The Centimane ultimately endured, but the damage had been done. The Elements’ power spike was still far off. The windigos were flying closer to them now, their white eyes alight with malice. The girls couldn’t take in all of their immense bodies. Lithe and transparent, each windigo was like an entire traversable field, a plain, a mountain. The sheer weight and power behind their simplest movements was palpable, enough to ruin cities just by passing nearby. The girls couldn’t tell how many there were, not even with their magical senses. Dozens? Hundreds? Thousands?! Were there still countless more yet to emerge?!

T̶͖̯͑H̵̛͖̘͛̅͝E̷͎̊ ̸̪̹̋̃͂̈M̷̭̣̘̯͌̀̎Ò̸̳̬̑̂̚S̴̩͗T̸̤̘̹̭͐ ̸̘́̑̍̚P̷̗̥̯̃̋̇͝Ò̶̤̻͇̲̀W̷̦̹̙̾E̸̛̼̔̍Ṙ̵͖̘̓͒̾F̷͓͑̾U̶͈̓͋L̷̡̅ ̶͈͕̓ͅƠ̸̲͚̅̇̚F̴̺̥̭̔̈́͜͝͝ ̸̡̊̃̕T̵͔̻͉̚H̵͙͂̆E̴̟̟͓̓̃ ̸̛͚͓̲̎̃͌E̴̖̻̗̺͑R̶̞̮͛͆̄A̴̛͕̘͕͖͆ The windigos laughed, cold and cruel. Ṗ̸̖̙̈̆͝͠ͅÀ̴̻̏̒T̴̨̛͚̥͖͍̑͒͋Ḩ̸̪͇̿̿͌̎͋E̷͕̖͍͚̜͑̑̂Ṯ̶̰̟̽́̕͜Ȋ̴̦͔̊̄͒͝C̵͖̋̓̌̕͝

Pinkie was whimpering. Rarity was hyperventilating. Applejack was choking back a scream. Rainbow was clenching her jaw enough to crack a tooth. Fluttershy was using The Stare on impulse just so she wouldn’t faint. Twilight knew she should rally them, but her sharp mind was gripped by dread. The windigos were veritable forces of nature; vast, spectral servants sworn to bring the end! Had it been insanity to challenge fate like this?

The windigos hemmed the girls in on all sides. Twilight could clearly see every detail of their serpentine forms, their bodies arched up into the sky to loom over them. The windigos began circling while singing a manic, high-pitched song. The remaining haze started to lift; not disappear, but lift.

“No...” Twilight realized what they intended. She was the one who always came up with the great ideas, but if what they were already trying couldn’t defeat this...

Up, up, up the haze traveled on the rising wind, guided by a maddening melody that shaped it into dark clouds.

Storm clouds.

The entire ceiling was obscured in moments. Like a rain of grimy ash, enchanted flakes of malice and scorn started falling down in suffocating sheets. The girls’ flames shielded them from the effects at first, but soon frigid flakes were pelting their coats and soaking their skin. Thoughts of an ice-covered world filled their minds: Frozen oceans, endless bleak tundras, cities turned gravesites with mountains as their only marker. The Elements’ power had plateaued. The girls couldn’t see anything but the immense, over-bright eyes of their circling foes. The chill was seeping into their lungs and dampening their spirits, the vile, viscous gunk so cold it burned.

“N-Not... like th-th-this...” Twilight felt the Elements falling out of sync. She was wet and shivering, numbness setting into her limbs. Visions of the windigos reigning from an eternally-dark sky dominated her mind. Perhaps there really had been no sense in trying to change a fixed point in time. Perhaps Hydia’s victory really had been secured long ago, and a lowly group of six hadn’t stood—

SKREEEEEE

—but perhaps seven could.

The shrill whistle came from the Centimane. Its vents had reopened so they could vomit out a black, smoke-like substance. Each metallic retch made the smoke rise into the swirling storm, with strange dark columns now splitting away as if cut by a knife. These columns continued to spiral up like a multi-faceted helix.

NOW the windigos noticed. They stopped singing and growled, the wounds on their necks throbbing.

The columns split into thousands of globs. Each glob ranged from the size of a pony to an ursa minor, continuing to take shape like a potter molding clay. They were all unique save for they all looked like polished stone constructs—eyeless, faceless things with angular features, dense bodies, and wicked hooked claws.

Seconds later, a new Army of Shadows hovered in the evil storm.

The windigos snorted. D̸̜̆Ỏ̴̤͔̖̌̆͌Ñ̶͎͈̻̭̉̀'̴̳̪̹͎̌͊̋Ṱ̸̂̔̃̊̆ ̸͔̤̫̐̏M̴̩̜͎̈̊̌A̶̡̝͍͇̮͊̒͝K̸̛͔̲͎̃͂͜E̷͎̰̋ ̴̭̰̝̔͝U̸͙͉͂͑̃̌Ś̴̪̣͖͎̣͛ ̶͕͉̦͒̀̀͠L̸͕͙̳͇̤͊͐A̶͙͂̈́̆͑Ū̵̗̔G̸͍̀H̸̠͙̖̓,̴̣̙̰̀ͅ ̸̱̅͗̅Ḁ̸̼̐̾̇̀̓M̶̢̤̖͖͍͋̋͘O̷͔̐̽̓R̴̹̼̈́͑̈̕É̶̥̏

One of the larger soldiers flew to the front of the army. It made the shrill whistle again, pointing at the windigos and slicing across its throat.

Murder filled the windigos’ eyes. Yet tempted as they were, that alone wasn’t enough to draw them—

CRUNCH

Stabbing, gut-wrenching pain wracked the windigos' hivemind. One of them let out a raw scream, clutching its abdomen and doubling over. The others spun and gathered around it, though they weren’t entirely sure—

Another excruciating CRUNCH. The afflicted windigo shrieked and took off in an erratic flight across the cavern. Its pain continued to echo through the hivemind, not only making them all suffer... but making the unnatural storm falter.

It was all the opportunity Fluttershy needed. Eyes still glowing, she locked gazes with the others one by one.

A third CRUNCH wracked the windigo. It’s body was now shrivelling, silvery blood leaking from its mouth. It continued to deflate like a balloon while thrashing and bucking, a leprous discoloration starting to spread across its torso. Its screams were getting weaker. Its movements were becoming sluggish. The truth was dawning on its comrades, yet they could only look on in horror while shouldering its pain.

The creature was a half-sized husk by the time its cries faded to nothing. It wasn’t so much bucking now; more like convulsing. There was one final CRUNCH, but the windigo hardly even flinched. Finally, it’s eyes darkened, and its body went limp. It started to fall out of the sky—

KA-BOOM!

The windigo was half a mile away when it happened. Its summoning spell ended, leaving behind all the magic it’d absorbed over the millennia, which then violently reverted and dispersed. Glittering shockwaves, concussive sound, and blinding light further added to the chaos in a spectacular display. The reeling windigos never even noticed the sudden absence of six bothersome fireflies...

M̶̫̬̉̊͝ǫ̶͚̪͑R̷͕̂ȇ̸̙͋

... though it soon became clear why.

Neighsay emerged from the smoke a burned, bloody wreck. He’d changed even further: His draconic eyes glowed with wintery light, his newfound psychic voice was abrasive and insane, leyline-violet accents graced his leathery wings, and swirling arctic winds mended his wounds faster than ever. He’d more than doubled in size since being eaten—still a toddler compared to the windigos, but also larger than the entirety of Canterlot Castle.

Neighsay’s expression was nothing but hunger and cunning. He roared, caustic drool streaming from his cavernous mouth, the force of his lungs alone a terror.

m̸͎̩͐͑̑Ò̵̩͍͑R̸̙̤͑͆͘͜ę̴̮͎̚

The windigos’ battlecry was hellish. They charged Neighsay with a speed that belied their great size, intent on avenging their fallen comrade no matter the cost. Neighsay charged as well, his hunger overriding even self-preservation. The storm resumed around them as they sped—

FWOOOOOOOOSH!

Merciless light. Unrelenting heat. The local area became bright as day as superheated flames ignited the very air. An incredible wall of holy fire sprang up between the opposing sides that stopped them in their tracks. “Incredible” truly was the only way to describe its power and scale, for even the scale of the arena and the combatants weren’t enough to overcome its might.

Neighsay bared his fangs. Perhaps self-preservation was important, after all. His broad, wavering shadow enveloped the Centimane as he hovered in place, his burn wounds only just closed.

Meanwhile, the windigos weren’t quite so deterred. They regrouped and split into groups to go around the wall at different angles—

SKREEEEEE

Except they’d forgotten about the Army of Shadows. The dark soldiers swarmed the legion’s rear in a silent and brutal ambush, dozens of windigos overwhelmed by a carpet of stabbing, slashing “ants”. Their targets tried disengaging and continuing on, crying out to the hivemind for help, but no luck. Maud’s army was too persistent, and the hivemind’s bloodlust too great.

The first group of windigos tried going over the wall. It was likely the safest option, as the storm clouds would give them—

THWPPPPP!

Ten GIANT flaming lassos whipped out of the fire wall. Screams of pain erupted from those captured, raw and unnerving.

“Can’t say I—ergh—enjoy this, but...” Applejack’s sigils flashed as she readied more sequoia-sized “ropes”. “At least y’all got an extra life!”

The group that tried going left fared no better. As soon as they got near the edge, a host of aurora-like embers sprang out to sow terror through their ranks. The entire force shrieked and recoiled.

“Take THAT, greedy brutes!” Rarity directed the ribbons with twirling, sweeping motions. “If you’re not going to share the world, you’ll just have to go home!”

The windigos’ blind fury proved their undoing. Those that kept trying to go over encountered Rainbow’s columns of divine fire. Those that went right were repelled by great fireballs that exploded like fireworks—Pinkie’s newly dubbed “Party Meteors.” Those that went under had to get past a host of flaming ursa majors, their wicked teeth and claws searing the windigos’ flesh. Some did get past despite the girls’ efforts, Neighsay meeting them with a renewed roar... but where before it would have been suicide, now at least there was a chance.

“A last... ergh... resort, discovered by luck.” Within the heart of the blaze, Twilight used her divine spark to empower her abilities. Her fiery mane was pure plasma, her body shining like a newborn star. “A balance could... nnngh... indeed be struck, until the Seeds of Evil’s Bane... mmf... could turn the tide and let peace reign...”

She didn’t feel like saying the last part.

Meanwhile-

The core was coming down around Maud. The squeal of metal was ear-splitting, the rushing wind like a constant rattling gasp. Colossal blasts of air pressure kept pushing her into her seat as structures above imploded. The floor was almost completely gone, and slick snowflakes fluttered from the ceiling amidst the windigos’ keening cries.

SCAN OF PARASITIC ENTITY COMPLETE

ALERT: BIOLOGY OF ENTITY ALLOWS FOR ASSIMILATION AND RAPID METABOLIC GROWTH

UPPER LIMIT UNKNOWN

Maud licked her lips. A strange, silvery liquid dripped from a pipe beside her, its tangy taste still on her tongue. Her body had become translucent, her aura of multicolored flames still somehow bright as ever. She’d gained the pure white eyes of a windigo, but the shadowfrost contrails had been replaced by holy fire. It was fortunate the flames didn’t hurt Sombra’s helm. Looks like the Elements’ upper limit is beyond your scanning boundaries, too. It’s going to be hard to determine—

“Let’s assume the best case scenario for a moment,” a voice said to Maud’s right. “Even if helping the girls winds up leading to victory, it’s not going to be enough to escape Pinkie’s shadow. It won’t even matter if all six of them shout your name from the rooftops; nopony’s going to remember your name, let alone the part you played.”

Maud’s eyes flicked to the speaker. They’d appeared upon her drinking the windigos’ blood, but she still wasn’t sure what they were. They looked like Maud’s ghostly, far more beautiful and expressive twin: sporting feminine curves, a gorgeous mane, bright twinkling eyes, and a beautiful emotive face.

“It’s a little late to try taking a page from Pinkie’s book.” The doppelganger's tone was matter-of-fact; no trace of mockery or cruelty to be had. “Besides, unlike her, your motivations are far from selfless. Do you think she cares about acknowledgement and distinction? Does she see disasters as opportunities to prove herself? Does she look at her friends and secretly want more of the spotlight?”

Maud ignored her. She focused on directing her army’s efforts to delay the windigos. I think I know what Twilight’s doing, Centimane. If the bulk of the legion is kept occupied until Neighsay is strong enough, the six of them can withdraw and finish charging the Elements. It’s a delicate balancing act, but I think it’s doable with our help.

ASSESSING...

NO ERRORS IN LOGIC DETECTED

ADVISORY: UPON ALLY WITHDRAWAL, USING FURTHER DELAYING TACTICS ON WINDIGOS AND/OR PARASITIC ENTITY WILL PROVIDE—

Pssshhhhhhhhhhhh!

The noise came from the back of the room. A cloud of glittering mana flowed into the air, the hissing leak only adding to the growing mayhem. The magenta mist quickly sank into the yawning pits which continued to open up throughout the room.

So much for the last mana coil. The mana vapors made Maud’s fangs tingle. I’m reading ten minutes now to core collapse. It’s going to be—

“What has harmony brought you, really?” Her twin circled around her with a scowl. “Fear and worry for your sister’s well-being? Anger and resentment at being constantly compared to her? Seclusion for fear of being used? I guess I see now why you’re willing to become a martyr, but that doesn’t seem very fair.”

It was hard to say why that cut so deep. Perhaps some part of Maud’s heart that agreed, some hidden aspect long turned bitter and resentful. Perhaps her logic and rationale were more compromised than she’d thought, or perhaps there was another reason she wasn’t even considering. Regardless of the catalyst, Maud found her resolve wavering, the Tears’ light an instant later.

“You of all ponies know the difference between theory and application.” Her twin stopped to stand in front of her. “It’s time you realized friendship and harmony are nothing more than just sweet-sounding words. Anxiety, anger, paranoia... THAT’S what this world has given you, so USE it! Wield it as a weapon, crush anyone who dared to keep you down! Give them a reason to fear you!"

She knew she shouldn’t listen. She knew she shouldn’t be letting her guard down and allowing more corruption to seep in. She knew she shouldn’t be enjoying the exhilaration of drowning in a velvety black sea. Her twin’s face was fervent, passion still etched upon her face; a passion that Maud only wished she could express.

Maud could feel the Tears responding less to her. The purifying light around her was fading, leaving her insides to feel like they were boiling. She felt light, like the slightest breeze would blow her away... yet the howling winds went right through her.

Centimane... Maud looked down at her body and almost screamed at the sight of her skin—no, her body—growing translucent. I-I... what’s the status of Princess Amore?

UNPRECEDENTED RESPONSE TO QUASI-ARTIFACT “TEARS OF LAUGHTER” RESULTING IN EXPEDITED RECOVERY

CURRENT SHARD INTEGRITY: 35%

Maud could swear the windigos’ song was getting louder. She could hear their ethereal voices calling her, their vast minds beckoning. I... know you’ve v-voiced concerns, but... I want you to w-wake her.

There was a long, painful silence.

Damn it, Centimane! Whispers of never being alone again filled Maud’s ears. She couldn’t hear them as well through the helmet; perhaps she should take it off. Can’t you tell I’m slipping?!

WITH OUR LIMITED TIME FRAME, THERE IS ONLY ONE WAY TO COMMUNICATE WITH THE SEER

THIS METHOD CARRIES EXTREME RISK TO—

F̵O̷R̶G̶E̸T̸ ̶T̸H̵E̷ ̵D̸A̵M̷N̷ ̴R̸I̵S̴K̵ ̴Y̴O̴U̴ ̴S̴T̸U̴P̴I̷D̵ ̸M̴A̸C̷H̴I̸N̴E̷ Maud’s eyes flashed like winter lightning. D̵O̶ ̴I̷T̵ ̷O̴R̴ ̶I̵'̵L̸L̸ ̸T̸E̴A̸R̴ ̸Y̸O̶U̸ ̶A̴P̸A̶R̴T̶ ̵M̸Y̵S̴E̶L̸F̴

...

ESTABLISHING SOUL LINK NOW

The crystallized remains of Princess Amore were... not what Maud had expected. Jagged and unpolished, the dozens of black fragments were small and light enough for Maud to store in her meager straight mane. The Centimane’s intelligence had assured Maud their current state was merely a side effect of being in the pocket dimension for so long, and, all things willing, they should revert to their normal size and mass in a day or so.

A day may as well be a millennia right now...

Maud braced herself. She knew her twin was watching, but she couldn’t see their expression. The rumbles grew worse as the Centimane exerted more influence on Maud’s faltering mind. Pushing past her subconscious to access the metaphysical threads of her soul almost triggered the mental equivalent of a gag reflex, but she stomached it.

A thread of pure magic became attached to Maud’s spirit like a vacuum. It then went taut as the Centimane attached the other end to the Tears of Laughter. The Centimane then repeated the process with Princess Amore... somehow.

SOUL LINK ESTABLISHED - GALVANIZING SEER CONSCIOUSNESS

ADVISORY: IN THE EVENT OF IDENTITY OVERFLOW, THE LONG TERM EFFECTS ON AN UNSTABLE SOUL ARE UNKNOWN

SEER RESPONSE DETECTED - AVAILABLE FAILSAFES STANDING BY

There was no time to process Centimane’s words. Maud could feel the link resonating with her thoughts now, which basically meant she was thinking into a microphone. She had no choice but to swallow her questions for now. H-Hello? Princess Amore? Can you hear me?

The thought made the soul link vibrate like a harp string. The message disappeared beyond her mindscape, Maud losing track of it not long after it travelled through the Tears of Laughter. She watched and waited for any sign—

soul of Creation the queen of dark and dawn rises shAtter the witch’s crystals scorn chaos at your peril oceans of Dead facEs a southern storm marches north the seveNth light is mine protect the scarlet viZier

Noise. Harsh, dissonant, overwhelming noise. Maud was aware of Amore’s soul now—a timeless, immeasurable, nonsensical presence. It conveyed colors Maud didn’t recognize, showed images she didn’t understand, divulged memories that weren’t hers.

she’s going to hAte Me the lost student shall return scYthing blades will turn the tide she will never choose redemption soul of Destruction a school shall lead to peace bAlance in all things her heart remains on mount aris eleventh law of fUture siGHt

It was like standing on a beach and trying to comprehend the entire ocean. Maud was in two places at once while the jumble of nonsensicality BURNED her like acid. It was wonderful. It was horrible. It was unnatural. It was intrinsic. It was everything and nothing.

I can still see his face wayward hearTs of sirEs hollow an outsider wins the scepter the lifebRinger Is the key what if they never find me please let Me See her again the devourer knows the cure

She could see choices rippling across time. There was still so much to do; still so many that were owed an apology. She could only hope Celestia and Luna would give her the chance to explain. What was it Starswirl had always said? Something about paved roads and intentions—

NO! Maud struggled against the noise. She was drowning in Amore’s identity, sinking more and more into its depths. If the weight of it all didn’t crush her, its purity would burn her away. PRINCESS AMORE!

first law Of future Sight a trio restores the seven immunity of the mOon’s chosen beware the rook-marked child seek the dark pRince’s counsel life and love will fill the north mourn not the tRee of harmonY

Nothing. Not a positive response, not a negative response. Even Amore’s barest “movements” drowned out Maud’s feeble voice. Desperate, Maud forewent her portion of the link and instead focused on the Tears of Laughter, attempting to make them shine once more. The action burned like pressing her face to a hot stovetop... but hope wasn’t something Maud lost easily.

ERRRRGH! The Tears shone like a lighthouse in a storm. Maud embraced the pain and shouted the only thing she could think of. Futures twisted, futures turned! One succeeded, the others burned! A foul fixed point, the path is set!

The flow of identity didn’t stop. Maud soldiered on nonetheless. She refused to believe this wasn’t part of the plan! She was NOT destined to become a windigo! The agony of channeling the Tears was worse than ever, but that just strengthened Maud’s resolve all the more. With all of her remaining strength, she let loose a scream echoed through their souls.

BUT ALL HOPE ISN’T LOST!

...

The deadly noise ceased. Deafening silence reigned. Amore’s memories and sensations vanished in a blink, fragmented echoes bouncing throughout Maud’s skull.

An impossible sensation of being noticed made Maud’s hair stand on end. The vast presence stirred again, the soul link thrumming with two gentle words.

Not...yet.

Maud would’ve slumped back if she wasn’t already sitting. Everything about her hurt, her twin was still staring, and the Centimane hadn’t stopped coming down around her... but a win was a win. W-Welcome back, Your Highness. I’ve come to get you out of—

A̶̬̤̐̈M̸̻͒Ö̷͈́̃R̸͎̎Ẽ̵̻

It happened in the blink of an eye. Maud’s twin ceased to be beautiful and instead became a gangly nightmare with claws and fangs. It leapt at Maud with an unholy shriek—

FAILSAFES ACTIVATED

FWSSSSSSH!

BZAM-BZAM-BZAM-BZAM-BZAM!

FWTTT-FWTTT-FWTTT-FWTTT!

VRRRRRRRRRRRRRM!

The room became a warzone. Fires ignited from hidden compartments, bursts of light exploded like fireworks, a strange geomancy signal went off, and Maud’s helmet released a psychic burst. The phantom’s shriek became a squeal, thrown back head over hooves and laid out on the cold steel. It teetered on the edge of a pit while continuously hammered by Sombra’s traps.

ALERT: FAILSAFE USAGE HAS EXPEDITED CORE COLLAPSE

REVISED TIME - TWO MINUTES

Maud’s blood ran cold. She could sense the phantom’s emotions now; what it was truly after. I... played right into their hooves...

Amore’s voice, if it could be called as such, was like a chorus of chimes. Your...name?

The shattered echoes in Maud’s head responded to Amore’s voice. Maud shuddered, still not sure what they were. M-Maudeline... Maud for short.

Maudeline...Amore played a gentle melody. Each note was as pure as fresh snow, her mysterious power reaching deep into Maud’s soul. Strong...name.

A great gust of wind blew in from outside. The phantom writhed on the ground while screaming Amore’s name. We don’t have much time, Maud told her. My friends are outside fighting the windigos. I’ve used Sombra’s adjustments to create an army under my control, but now I’m on the verge of becoming a windigo myself. We could really use your help.

A pause. Then, slow, warm chords drifted in like a waltz. Stone...metal...crystal...Each set of notes echoed more than the last. You...have...a...bond.

A chill went up Maud’s spine. Partially from worry, but she’d also become aware of a mental knot in her mind. It was resonating with Amore’s song. Princess, please. I know you’re disoriented, but—

Princess...Amore’s song became quite regal. I...was...Crystal...Princess.

The knot was untangling little by little. It hurt something fierce, but it was a good pain. Maud had no words as something bubbled up inside her, faint at first, but soon with a fullness, weighty in the depth it promised.

Love...joy...hope...The pain of channeling light and dark faded beneath Amore’s synchronizing song. No matter how strong one force became, the other grew as well; separate, yet connected. They...burn...bright...in...you.

And then the lingering echoes converged. Years of training, study, comprehension, and more, all gifted and understood in an instant. At first Maud didn’t understand The spiritual knot fully unravelled right after, and when it did...

Th-This is... It was like Maud had been wearing a blindfold all her life, only to have it suddenly ripped off. She could sense all the metal all around her, the stone above and below, even the sparkling Tears of Laughter in her ears. Princess...

Amore’s song quickened into a march. We...must...fight.

It was a strange thing. Half of Maud’s soul revelled in the corruption around them, yet the other half was now an unblemished beacon. The pain should be enough to drive her insane, yet she just felt... neutral. Of course, Your Highness. I swear I’ll do everything I can.

The failsafes were starting to give out. The phantom was struggling, outrage seething in its glowing eyes. It was still unclear whether it’d been trying to turn Maud or not, but the moment had passed either way. Maud could feel its revulsion for her, its murderous intent.

Rise…Ser...Maudeline.Amore’s notes reached a crescendo. Paladin...of...Hope.

ALERT: FAILSAFES OFFLINE

The phantom screeched. It leapt at Maud with serrated claws bared.

Maud dissolved into mist. The phantom’s slash passed harmlessly through her as she flitted away. The phantom screamed, partially from fury, but also from a blinding shock of pain up its limb. It pulled back just in time to see its claw crumble to ash.

CLANG!

A series of pipes swarmed the phantom. They wrapped around its body and pinned it to the caving floor. Maud rematerialized in midair within eyeshot of her foe, hovering there with ease just like a windigo.

“All that talk about ‘what I really want’, yet you never even came close.” With a casual wave of her hoof, Maud RIPPED the metal throne free of the center column. Bolts of mana sizzled around the multi-ton mass. "What would a windigo know of family, anyway?”

Ŷ̸̢̛̗̯͝Ö̷̥̹͉U̷͍͑̉͝ ̷̩̥̊W̶̛͈͌͝Ị̴͆͋̓L̵̮̦̖̐̽́L̵̻̚͘ ̸̰̎D̸̼́I̶̭͑E̵͔̝͕̔͂̈́ ̷̖̦̅̉͘S̵̢̓͜C̴̡̣̃̀͆ͅR̶̢̈́̂É̸̢͉A̶͎̜͚̓͠M̵̞̳͂̔͝Î̷͚̲̥͝͠N̵̨͚̣̐͒G̶͎͖̑̒ The phantom tried piercing Maud’s mind with brute force, but despite the emotions flowing through her, her psyche was like a fortress. Ẁ̷̝̪E̸̖̭̾̍ ̷̹̂̒W̷̭͖̓I̴̭͙͒L̶̡̿͝L̶̘̓ ̸̰̼͝Ṭ̵͋ͅE̶͕̓À̴͔Ṛ̵̨͂ ̷̦͐͛Y̴͕̠͘O̵̺̊Ụ̸̀͌R̶̳͊͑ ̵̥̱́S̶͎̽ͅÓ̷͖U̵̯͆̋L̴͖̍̒ ̴͎̾̈Â̵̞̞͝Ṕ̵̤A̵̱̓R̴̡̰̾̓T̶͕̿̕

Maud took aim. “You talk too much.”

Author's Note

There are a ton of little details about this chapter I love, but my favorite is probably Amore knighting Maud. Amore IS a princess, after all, so there's nothing that says she can't :D

I apologize for the cliffhanger again. Finishing this story has been an incredibly difficult and complex ordeal due to all of its moving parts. As you can see, I decided to try and be creative with the font sizes and various settings here on the site. Please let me know if it's too obnoxious--I don't want it taking away from the story.

Last chapter has 5k words written at the moment. I've been skipping around a bit in it, but it's coming along. I'll get it out as soon as I can.

From the bottom of my heart, thank you so much for reading this labyrinthine story. I hope I've entertained you so far, just as I hope the conclusion meets your expectations.

Part 8 - Necessary Evil

Something has gone wrong. We don't seem to have an archived copy of that chapter.

Part 1 - Ice and Strife

The Tomb of the Nameless Evil

Part 1 - Ice and Strife

You’ve no idea how dangerous that cave is, Miss Maud. You want to know how far we got before the corruption levels shot up? About as far as that patio table over there. I had my thaumic scanner out the whole time—the levels were green one second, then all the way in the red. I’ve never seen anything like it.

Look, I can tell you’re set on this, but at least listen to me on this: If you really are related to an Element of Harmony, get them to come with you. Not just your sister or whatever; ALL of them. Those earrings of yours might save you from the corruption, but whatever’s causing it was around before the three tribes. You’re going to need all the help you can get to stop it...

...if it can be stopped at all.

Doctor Chalcedony, sole survivor of the Everhoof Geomancy Expedition (EGE)

“It shouldn’t be far!” Rainbow Dash scanned the frigid slopes of Mount Everhoof. The weak sun reflected off her enchanted helmet and made the etchings glimmer. “Keep an eye out for a big ol’ crack in one of these shelves!”

Twilight Sparkle strengthened the wind barrier around their party. Sombra’s magic signature was easier to track the closer they got. “Okay!”

The snowy cliffs and rocky crags of Mount Everhoof were like a vertical wall to their right. Twilight, Maud, Rainbow, and the other Elements of Harmony were like a prismatic comet as they ascended; their Rainbow Power allowing them to fly and carry Maud with ease. The mysterious corruption clinging to the mountain fled before them, but it came flooding back soon as they passed.

“There.” Maud's ears glinted with teardrop jewels reminiscent of the Elements. “That’s the outcropping.”

Twilight looked. Sure enough, a jagged opening partially concealed by an overhang was coming into view. Corruption pulsed from it like the fetid breath of a hydra.

“Yeesh!” Pinkie made a face. “That cave needs its mouth washed out!”

“And me without my grease soap,” Applejack said.

“Goodness! I feel like I just drank a mug of black tea!” Fluttershy shivered as her Element strained within her like a dog on a leash. “What’s going on?!”

Rainbow laughed. “Feels to me like our Elements are getting psyched! It’s time to do what we do best!”

Rarity pursed her lips. She studied the looming crack in the wall, the powdery snow blowing across the ledge in sheets. “Maud, does that overhang look natural to you?”

Maud followed her gaze. “No. The rock striations indicate the use of powerful acids and arcane concussive force. Circa Pre-Equestrian Era, by the looks of it.”

Five pairs of eyes blinked.

“Someone was trying to hide this cave from prying eyes," said Maud.

“Ohhhhhh.”

Rainbow chuckled. “I didn’t realize all that gem hunting had taught you a thing or two about caves, Rarity! Don't tell me that's the real reason you wanted to come along!"

Rarity stared at her. “Do you even know what happened to the last group that explored this cave?”

“Does anypony have a weird chilly feeling on their tongue?” Pinkie smacked her lips a few times. “I didn't even HAVE any peppermint!”

“That means we’re getting close,” said Twilight. “Hang on!”

The group touched down in a gentle arc. The ledge was surprisingly large for being so concealed, the majority curving into the cliff like a smoothed-out bowl. The cave itself was smack in the shelf’s center.

Twilight took a moment to double check all her active spells. Pocket dimension: check. Wind barrier: check. Six Breathe-Easy spells: check. Six Element Endure spells: check. She was the odd mare out for those last two, but alicorns didn't need such things. “Alright, this is probably overdoing it, but I want to test something.”

Twilight closed her eyes. She centered herself like she’d been taught, ignoring the clink of her friends’ armor, the Element of Magic burning within her, the contamination oozing on the edge of her senses. She searched for the familiar steady light of an ever-burning candle.

The air shimmered, and then…

FWOOM!

A wave of magical heat erupted from Twilight. The colors of her body morphed into bright whites, reds, oranges, and golds. The sigils on her legs and wings glowed with prismatic light, and her mane and tail became plumes of holy fire. Her eyes now shone like kaleidoscopes, constantly shifting and blazing with the Element of Magic.

“Better?” she asked.

Rainbow wolf-whistled. “Always said you were hot."

“Hoo-wee!” said Applejack. “There’s a new combination!”

“And a positively radiant one!” Rarity held out her armored legs. “You've gone from a cool winter to a warm summer!”

Twilight smiled. “That ‘chilly feeling’ is a mix of the cave’s corruption and three leylines that intersect in this area. Ponies have been studying it for a long time, but all we know is it has an elemental attribute of water—ice, in this case.”

“Super-duper neaterrific! ” Pinkie zipped around Twilight. “You’re like… like… ultra-mega-Rainbow Power-fied! Do you ever get a fever? What’s the toughest thing you’ve ever melted? Do you need to use oven mitts? Can you breathe fire like Spike? OH, Maud-Maud-Maud! Look at Twilight! Isn't she awesome?!”

Maud spared Twilight a glance, then returned to examining the shelf. “Obligatory 'playing with fire' joke.”

Rainbow and Fluttershy snorted.

Twilight snickered as well. “I was thinking I’ll stay at a low simmer from now on. I’ll be sure to keep an eye on the Element Endures—Pinkie, that's just my mane. You don't need to keep batting it like a cat."

Applejack made to put her hoof on Pinkie's shoulder, but then stopped. “Erm, ya miiiiiiight not wanna stay lit like that all the time, Twi. Even that ‘low simmer’ is melting everything around ya.”

It was true. Twilight had already made short work of the nearby ice and snow, with the puddles of water now following suit. The air around her was wavy and pure, the tongues of her ardent fire licking the uneven stone.

“Technically I'm ablating everything, but I digress.” Twilight returned to her normal Rainbow Power form, then reached into her pocket dimension and passed out everyone’s belongings. “Here. I've enchanted our belongings to be fireproof, as well.”

“I love it when you think of everything.” Rainbow took her pack and strapped it on. “Make sure you keep your Elements going, alright everypony? This is some nasty crud we’re dealing with.”

The fierce wind howled around Twilight's barrier while they made ready. Maud began calibrating her geomancy instruments, Fluttershy checked the ground for tracks and other oddities, Rainbow kept an eye on the weather, Rarity took note of small details, Twilight cast a myriad of spells, and Pinkie monitored her ‘Pinkie Sense’ like a hawk.

“How far to Sombra’s doohickey?” Applejack asked Twilight. “I hope this gunk ain't makin' it hard to tell."

Twilight clicked her teeth. "No... I can tell just fine. It’s two miles directly beneath us, at the very bottom and center of the mountain.”

Everyone stopped.

“Two… miles?” said Rainbow.

“Technically, the ‘bottom’ is far deeper," said Maud. "The Himaneighyas are all fold mountains, and their orogenesis suggests—”

“How can this cave extend over two miles?!” Rarity gaped at the entrance, her Element pulsing and making her mane shine all the brighter. “Is the entire mountain hollow?!”

Fluttershy spoke up. “Maud did say this area was altered by somepony. Maybe…?”

One by one, all eyes turned to Maud.

Maud, to her credit, took the question seriously. “We don't have many surviving records from the Pre-Equestrian Era. I doubt the entire mountain is hollow, but it's possible that kind of magic existed back then."

Applejack turned to the snowy tundra below. “The Pre-Equestrian Era was when all this was lush and green, right? Before the windigos came?”

Maud nodded. "A lot of ponies believe this place is linked to them somehow. It's just that nopony's been able to get near enough to check."

Rainbow rubbed her hooves together. “Ooooh, I love a good adventure-mystery! This is gonna be fun!”

Twilight wasn’t sure ‘fun’ was the right word for it. “Don't get complacent. Cadance said our coming here denotes a fixed point in time, which means time is too dense for most kinds of temporal magic. I can't use my Time Snap spell to undo any mistakes."

Rarity fiddled with her neck guard. “Could you explain what a 'fixed point in time' is, by the by? I'll admit my eyes glazed over at that part.”

There was a murmur from the others at this.

Twilight paused. “I don't know if now's the best time for a crash course on temporal theory—"

“It can't be THAT complicated!" said Pinkie. "Maud and I sense future stuff all the time!"

Yet still, Twilight hesitated. She traced the glowing sigils on her legs, the bright colors shifting in time with the ones on her wings. “I... suppose can give a quick rundown of time paradoxes in relation to Starswirl’s First Law of Causality—”

Rainbow cleared her throat.

“Really quick, I promise!” Twilight stood up a little straighter. “The long and short of it is there’s a varying value of probability that influences space-time. We interpret it as 'cause and effect', but it’s actually a very, very, very complicated equation that’s always going on ‘behind the scenes’. The value is too obtuse for most to interpret, but we know it always has, always is, and always will return a nonzero value. If it wasn't, the future wouldn't always be turning into the present, the present wouldn't be turning into the past, and the universe wouldn’t exist."

The stares she got were as blank as a new chalkboard.

“Time either works or it doesn’t; there’s no in-between.” Maud said without looking up. “In other words, altering a fixed point in time would simultaneously break the past, the present, and the future. We know that time works, so that means anything that would contradict this is impossible."

...

“Is... that a fancy way of saying we're destined to be here?” said Fluttershy.

“There’s no such thing as—” Twilight cut herself off. “You know what? Sure. It’s destiny. The point I was trying to get at is we shouldn’t take any chances, okay? If anything at all looks suspicious from hereon—and I mean ANYTHING, we give it a wide berth.”

“Wide berth, eh?" Rainbow grinned. “Missing your sister already?”

Twilight ignored that. “Anyways, there’s one more thing I want to talk about before go in. This… isn’t going to be fun, but it's the right thing to do.”

She looked past all of a moment, towards the snowy horizon and the glint of a familiar weather barrier. “As you all know, team of seven from the Crystal Empire came up here two years ago. Only one of the members returned, and this place has been quarantined ever since. The other six are presumed dead.”

There was a collective wince.

“We know the accident happened shortly after entering the cave.” Twilight pulled out a metal box the size of an urn. "Something caused the corruption to surge without any warning, overwhelming their precautions and driving them mad. The only reason even one got away is because they'd been out here on the ledge."

Applejack’s face was grim. She could see the box was etched with spidery arcane runes glinting in the light, the instructions for its use listed on the side. “I've seen those containers before. ‘Dustboxes’, think they're called.”

Twilight sighed. “The standard recovery protocol is four steps: Secure, sanitize, disintegrate, collect. Securing will be the hard part due to the leylines, but magic should be able to tell when we’re close to one of them. I have enough boxes for each missing member.”

Rarity examined the dustbox. Its silvery metal surface was cold and reflective, her empowered form staring back at her. “I'm not sure how to feel about there being 'protocol' for things such as this.”

Rainbow tossed back her longer mane. “Better than winging it, right?”

“Are you picking anything up right now?” Fluttershy asked Twilight.

Twilight shook her head. “I’ll say something if I do. That's all I wanted to say; it's Maud's show from here on out.”

All eyes turned to Maud. She looked up from her hoofheld scanner, regarding the cave entrance with hardly a twitch of her lips.

“Woohoo! Big Sis in charge!” Pinkie hopped around her. “Ser Pinkamina Diane Pie, reporting for duty! Let's check out som—what’s wrong?”

Maud’s eyes had widened a fraction of an inch. She pointed to the mouth of the cave, where a set of fresh hoofprints led a short ways into the cave… only to vanish without a trace.

Rarity felt a chill. “Those weren’t there a moment ago.”

“N-No,” said Fluttershy.

Twilight squinted. She made a quick alteration to a scanning spell before casting it again. She couldn’t get a read on the magic signature, but did detect the scrambled eddies of a familiar portal magic...

“Scratch that, one more thing.” Twilight lowered her chin. “Remember our anti-changeling exercises?”

A swirling circular portal opened on the other side of Everhoof. Neighsay, clad in winter gear and saddlebags, tumbled out and landed spread-eagle on the windswept ledge, gasping. He was enshrouded in a neon green aura, but this aura flickered out soon after his portal closed.

Neighsay panted for breath. His head was throbbing, his heart thudding in his chest. He’d thought to get in while the Elements’ backs were turned, but then he’d heard a strange WHUM. An oily magic had swept over him that he couldn't get a read on before going dormant again...

Neighsay gulped. He swore they were still reaching for him—frigid tendrils covered in countless fanged maws. Time had slowed to a crawl as they shrieked out his name, but suddenly, the screams had been drowned out by a flare of rage.

“How?” The last threads of Chrysalis' empathic trap faded from Neighsay's psyche. “That doesn't make any...”

The wind and stone didn’t answer. He stared up at the sky in silence, his head aching and the snow blowing over him. The rage had made him see red and heard nothing but drums in his ears. A soft, silky voice had reminded him those disgusting glowing freaks were right behind him, and he’d made to whirl about...

“I forgot she'd even cast that on me.” Neighsay made a face. “Gone now…”

The sun disappeared to dunk the world in gray. He was standing at a crossroads, but what lay down either path was unknown. The color drained even more around him as the minutes passed.

“Blast...” Neighsay sprang to his hooves and tore open a portal with nary a thought. The interference from the local leylines might’ve made normal spells difficult to cast, but his medallion was infused with a greater power. He took a deep breath, made sure his scrambler was still working, then jumped through to return to the western slope.

He reappeared on the higher up ledge he’d been spying from. He peeped out to make sure they—

“!!!” Neighsay staggered as the corrupting magic slammed back into him. “Y-You’re kidding… even o-out—AHHHH!”

Spiders. The ground was a literal carpet of them, some larger than his head. Their thick webs were spun across the sky like a ceiling of death, the very clouds shriveled and drained like dessicated husks. The entire mountain was a living nightmare of mandibles and dead eyes, countless numbers scurrying up and down the cliffs.

Neighsay’s scream rent the air. He made to leap off the cliff, but his legs were caught in sticky webbing. A legion of nightmares started scurrying towards him, their sharp, hairy legs prickling his skin.

“N-NO!” Neighsay bolstered his will and mentally SHOVED the magic back. It tried to worm its way back in, but he shouted and struggled with the evil power. The spiders faded one moment only to—

“He's above us,” said Maud from below. "On the ledge.”

Neighsay froze. Sure enough, he saw Maud looking straight at him. He noticed her ears were shining with a strange light.

“Rarity!” said Twilight.

Suddenly, a pair of immense telekinetic auras enshrouded Neighsay. They would've gotten him easily, but the magic was strangely sluggish. Neighsay flung himself back with herculean effort and broke line of sight.

“Scissor snips!” Rarity stamped her hoof. “These leylines!”

Suddenly, Pinkie’s nose started wiggling, followed by her left-front calf itching.

“Uh-oh.” Her eyes flicked all about. “U-U-Um...! I don’t know this one!”

“Never mind!” Twilight’s horn flared brighter, then brighter still. “Everyone, grab hold!”

“My instruments can’t withstand—” Maud began.

Applejack's lasso shot out, snared Maud's saddlebags, and yanked them off into a snowbank. Maud was then grabbed just as Twilight's magic rose to a whine.

Meanwhile, fending off the corruption was taking up almost all of Neighsay's concentration. “I can fight this off—I HAVE to! I just need to keep moving…”

He whirled about and ran for the cliff wall, a portal opening up before him—

FLASH!

“WAH!” Neighsay tried to dodge Twilight and the others, but an ice patch made his maneuver go awry. Instead of sidestepping all of them, he crashed headlong into Maud and knocked them both into his portal.

“MAUD!” Pinkie yelled.

Rainbow made to pursue, but the portal had already closed. “Ohhhhh, no.”

“Hang on!” Flames danced in Twilight’s eyes. “I doubt they went far!”

Neighsay and Maud appeared back on the shelf in front of the cave. Clamoring voices above floated down to them on the slicing wind as they tripped over each other. Maud landed hard on her side in front of the cave mouth while Neighsay landed in the snowbank by Maud's saddlebags. His impact knocked open the flaps and spilled out Maud's instruments.

Neighsay and Maud's eyes spun in their sockets. A stab of pain brought Maud around first, for without Twilight's wind shield, Mother Nature was free to torment her newly-pierced ears.

Maud winced and pinned her ears back. She got up while starting to retreat from Neighsay, making sure to keep him in her earrings' range of influence. She watched and waited without saying a word.

Neighsay opened his eyes. The first thing he saw was Maud's geomancy equipment scattered in front of him, their silvery polish sticking out amidst the gloom. He couldn’t help but admire their quality and make.

"I suggest you don't move, Chancellor," he heard Maud say. "For both our sakes."

Neighsay sneered. He spotted Maud in his peripheral, her glowing ears sticking out like a sore hoof. “Young mare, I certainly hope this isn't YOUR Petrum-4X thaumic mineral spectrometer just sitting out in the snow."

Maud blinked several times. “You... know what a spectrometer—”

“What kind of geomancer are you?!” Neighsay lifted the instrument with care. “I ought to have a word with your higher-ups! Is this how you treat government property?”

Maud's expression didn't change. "Technically, that's not government property." She gestured to the instruments. "I had to purchase this equipment myself—"

The spectrometer bounced off Maud’s head with a BONK!

Neighsay dashed to Maud as she fell like a sack of potatoes. He concentrated on a Tear of Laughter, his magical grip sluggish, but still delicate.

“Consider yourself fortunate, stupid girl," he muttered. “Not everypony would bother with the fastener...”

He pilfered the earring and held it up to his face. It’s glow cleared his mind and chased away the shadows, giving off the same energy as the Elements of Harmony. It wasn’t nearly as strong, of course, or even as strong as her other earring for that matter—

“Wait...” Neighsay compared the Tear to its twin. They'd been equal in strength but a second ago, but his had grown weaker the instant he’d claimed it. Curious, he put it back on Maud's body to see what it would happen. The earring resumed its original strength immediately, but again, taking it away made it a shadow of its former self.

Neighsay bit his lip. Slowly, his attention turned to Maud’s other earring—

She’d certainly have no qualms about doing the same to you. She doesn’t care you’re trying to save Equestria; she’s part of the problem, just like her sister. She’s only useful as food, so if you’re going to do anything, you should take her earring, open a portal to the hive, report to the Queen—

“NO!” Neighsay's eyes flared with neon green light. “dAMn YOU, stUpID bUg! GEt oUUuuUT... Of MY hEAD!”

Why would you show this worm any kindness? Why are you even here at all for that matter? Your orders were to find a Sombran artifact, weren't they? The Queen won't be happy you've disobeyed, but maybe if you bring her this mare—

“ERRRRRRGH!” Neighsay shoved the Tear in his bags and stumbled forward. The venom of Queen Chrysalis was like acid, every independent thought causing him agony. It was doubly painful if said thoughts were openly hostile. “I… DOn’T… sERvE… FREAKS!”

You belong to the Queen. You would do anything to make her happy, anything to fulfill her plans. You would lay down your life if she asked. You're an extension of her will, not meant to think or question. Open a portal to the hive so you may take this girl to Her. She may prove useful.

A cracked, stilted laugh escaped Neighsay. “i’M wINniNg, LoveSUcKErrRrRrr~” The glow faded in his left eye... then returned, only to repeat in his right eye. “GOn-N-N-n-NA s-S-S-sTop thoOOoOsE... gLOwINg TRaitOrS! tHEn... YOU!”

The cave entrance was like a gateway to some hellish world. Searing, white-hot pain punished him for every insolent step, but the punishment may as well have been a badge of honor. Nothing was going to stop him; not her, not the Elements, not
his smoking saddlebags—

Smoking saddlebags?

“AHHHH!” Neighsay yanked out the Tear. It was hot as a smoldering coal, vibrating in his grasp and whistling like a kettle. His portal medallion had also been in that pocket, and pulling it out revealed it to be in a similar state. The saddlebag had almost been burned clean through.

“What…?” Neighsay could feel the energy Chrysalis had infused into his portal medallion clashing with the Tear. Both items were calming down, but even held apart they—

CLICK!

The heavy, stifling weight of a dimension lock made Neighsay's legs buckle. Pupils shrinking, he looked up to see Twilight and the others zooming towards him from the ledge above. Rarity's horn was glowing bright, and Twilight was charging a follow-up that made her shine like a beacon.

“Cat and mouse it is.” Neighsay stuffed the magic items in opposite pockets, cast a darkvision spell, then sprinted into the cave. Rarity’s forcecage formed a millimeter behind him as the persistent whispers of Chrysalis chased after him, his mad laughs vanishing into the darkness.

“Consarn it!” said Applejack. “He’s a slippery one!”

“I missed?!” Rarity said. “I thought I had him!“

Twilight landed and cast a simple scan on Maud. "She’s just dazed, Pinkie.”

Pinkie noticed what her sister was missing. “HEY! That poopy jerk took one of her earrings!”

“We gotta go after him!” Rainbow flared her wings. “Changeling spy or not, he’s not here to sightsee!”

Twilight bit her lip. She took a proper look at the entrance before them: The opening was narrow, the interior was uncharted, and teleporting inside would be limited since this was her first time here. She didn’t want to admit it, but Neighsay actually had a chance of—

Fluttershy cocked her head. “Twilight?”

“Ergh! Rainbow’s right!” Twilight grabbed Maud’s things and had everyone line up behind her. “He’s a threat to Equestria AND himself! We can’t leave him be!”

She gave them all darkvision, cast one or two more wards, then whirled about as they all rose into the air. The familiar power of the Elements wrapped around them like a blanket as they stared into the unknown.

“We’ll go as fast as we can!” Twilight led the charge. “In we go!”

The entrance was cold, uneven, and haphazard. It was a steep descent across the length of two hoofball fields, and the rough, sloping ceiling was etched with patterns like malformed faces. Years of erosion had formed open pits among the treacherous ledges, with patches of cloudy ice partially covered from the drifts of countless storms.

The first thing Twilight noted was the air. It had an acrid edge like burnt plastic, but worse. The stalactites and stalagmites were like massive monoliths perched on fragile ledges and weak parts of the ceiling, the smallest of them size of an adult pine tree. Neighsay’s passing had caused flurries of powdery snow to fall from these formations like dust, but his hoofprints were still visible until he’d out-ranged the dimension lock.

Twilight kept her eyes peeled. The corruption was stronger here, but not what the late science team had reported. She wasn’t picking up anything indicating pony remains, either—

“STOP!” Pinkie reached for Twilight. “DON’T—”

WHUM

A strange sound rattled through Twilight’s body. An oily magic swept over her, but it passed her over like she wasn’t even there. It then swept over the others—

ZZZZTTTT

It happened in the blink of an eye. The empathic energy swelled, swelled… swelled until the chamber was saturated in an ice-blue haze. The girls didn’t even have time to gasp as Twilight’s greater wards were shattered like cheap glass. Hatred and fear clawed at their—

FWA-KOOOOOOM!

Light. Pure, blessed harmonic light, spectacular as the sun and just as radiant. The Elements of Harmony filled their bearers with such power that the girls' zealous cries echoed through the chamber. Ardent magic exploded from them in a prismatic ring that made the walls, floor, and ceiling quiver. The nearby snow was blasted away in sheets to reveal more cloudy patches of ice, and the evil haze evaporated in a blink like it was never there at all.

Then, there was a grinding and shifting of stone.

Twilight’s eyes widened. From the monstrous faces above them, a flurry of polluted-looking frostbolts was flying at them! Each carried that same oily feel of magic, and while said oiliness was cleansed upon drawing close, the frostbolts themselves...

“LOOK OUT!” Twilight erected a shield at the last second. Ice pelted them from all sides in a spray of blighted hail that ate into the forcefield like acid. Twilight grit her teeth as volley after cruel volley hammered them, cracks forming around—

FWOOM!

Holy fire met dark ice. The shield defrosted as the the next volley sizzled to nothing. Twilight's flames blackened and scorched the surrounding rock, cloudy ice patches ablating in noxious hissing plumes.

“Pinkie!” Twilight pointed to an icy bend below. “Get us there!”

Pinkie flew forward. Her precognition screamed with throbs, twitches, itches, and more; so much that she could only react on instinct. The deafening din of falling rocks and whizzing magic raged on as she dodged falling stalactites and toppling stalagmites, sailed over jagged outcroppings, and zoomed over pits filled with serrated edges like sawblades. The things she couldn’t avoid were negated by Twilight’s fiery shield.

“What IS this place?!” said Fluttershy.

“They’re followin’ us!” Applejack pointed to an icy salvo hot on their heels. They'd gotten through the hellstorm and out of the deadly room, but not even rounding the bend had shaken them off. “Can we melt ‘em?”

“We’ve got bigger problems!” said Rainbow. “Look!”

They came into a long, low-ceilinged passage leading down. More of the twisted mouths were in here, each spewing tons of hex-laden snow to create a foul indoor blizzard. The pallid storm was so intense the girls could barely see.

“Still wish you’d come alone?!” Rarity snapped at Rainbow.

“Snark later!” Twilight’s flames burned hotter. “Go, Pinkie!”

Pinkie veered and took them along the right wall. Sprays of frigid mist belched from murder holes as they drew near, more frostbolts spiralling from the gruesome heads to home in on them without fail. The Elements roared within the girls as the tainted snow and icy salvos evaporated... but it wasn't long before the liberal use of fire presented a new problem.

“It’s all ice!” Applejack gestured beneath them. Indeed, the entirety of the passage was frozen over, and the slushy, tainted water absolutely reeked. “It’s—ulk—some kinda swamp river!”

The odor rose up like a unholy thermal. The girls were coughing and retching in seconds, each breath becoming a battle against somersaulting stomachs amidst a relentless storm. Their supply of fresh air was dwindling fast.

“Rainbow...!” Twilight's concentration was flagging. The forcefield flickered a moment, the snow only repelled by Twilight's intense heat. “We need—hlp—my fire! You have to…!”

Rainbow got the message. She pulled back her wings and took aim, Twilight making the necessary modifications to their shield. A white corona formed around Rainbow, the runes on her armor dancing and lines of ivy glowing bright. Crackling energies crisscrossed her body, her multi-colored feathers vibrating and buzzing with rising force. Twilight's magic funneled the gathered power into the shield like a conduit, and as soon as Rainbow clapped her wings together...

KRA-KOWWWW!

Lightning lanced across the room in a blinding burst. Chunks of snow-covered rock and ice shattered like brittle glass and sailed every which way to pelt the shield like bullets. The superheated bolts expanded the air with a deafening roar and mighty shockwave that could be heard and felt even outside the mountain. Rainbow's eyes glowed with bolt after fearful bolt exploding from the shield, the vomitous stench evaporating in a flood of ozone.

Twilight coughed. She rubbed the dots from her eyes and scanned the narrow slope. Ash-gray snow still covered everything, but she did notice there was less snow than there was a second ago. She looked where the lightning had struck the wall and saw several of the face carvings had been destroyed.

“Break the heads!” Twilight said. “Hurry!”

Rainbow, Twilight, and Rarity handled the far wall with volleys of lightning, fire, and force missiles. Applejack and Pinkie took the close wall with empowered earth pony kicks while Fluttershy carried Maud. It was arduous and slow, but they managed to prevent the snow from turning into an avalanche behind them.

But good as that was…

“What kinda of dark magic IS this?!” Applejack forced back a fresh gag. “It's even in—ugh—this nasty ice!”

“Hey, Fluttershy!” Rainbow fanned out her wings. A second later, her gleaming feathers were thrumming with electricity. “Remember this from flight camp?”

Fluttershy’s eyes widened. "Oh!" She scrunched up her face and fanned her wings. It took her a bit longer, but eventually, her feathers started crackling to help freshen the air. “Phew, those leylines are really bothersome, aren't they?”

“You’re—CRUNCH—telling me!” Pinkie said between kicks. “I tried to warn—CRKKKK—Twilight about that haze—BAM—but by the time my—WHACK— knees wobbled, it was too late!”

A rancid, slushy slurry splashed over their shield as Rarity's force missiles smashed a trio of carvings. “That haze was no accident! There was some kind of magic before it went off!”

"Then how—" Applejack stopped and bucked the wall HARD. A ripple of earth pony magic travelled through the wall that caused eight statues to implode. “Neighsay get through it?!”

“I don’t know!” Twilight shouted. “This magic is ancient! I can’t even tell how it’s working through the leylines, let alone its parameters!”

“Doesn't matter," said Rainbow, eyes still glowing bright. "We're gonna bring it all down. We might be the only ones who can!"

Fluttershy thought of the dustboxes. “She’s right. We can't let anypony else die!”

“Including us, preferably!” Applejack’s mane was like a windsock as they flew on. “We gotta think of a better way to get through this!"

Twilight swallowed hard. "Whatever’s powering these heads must be inside them, but I don’t know what's setting them off! Maybe if I knew that...”

Rarity had a thought. She muttered some soft words amidst her arcane assault, her horn now thrumming with a second spell. “Give me a moment."

Twilight did a double-take. "Rarity?”

“You—rgh—heard me!” Her aura shone brighter… but then faltered. “We may all be getting stronger from this—mmph—Rainbow Power business, but unlike some of you—COMEON—I’m still having growing pains!”

The others exchanged glances, but said nothing.

Rarity struggled to weave her spell while the others covered her. They smashed, melted, zapped, and purified their way down the slope until they neared the black expanse of a deep, crooked shaft. Twilight sensed freshly-scrambled shreds of portal magic at the rubble-strewn edge, the sound of putrid water hitting stone hinting—

FLASH!

Rarity’s spell flew up the hill like a sparkling sapphire ghost. Seconds later, eerie glowing shapes appeared behind each of the faces, said shapes trailing all the way up like a runway. Most of them broken save for the ones still spewing snow.

"Hey!" Pinkie pointed. “It’s like a rave!”

Twilight’s lips parted. “Your gem finding spell... WAIT! Those aren’t gems! They’re crystals!”

Rarity smoothed back her mane. “And unless I'm mistaken, I believe that means we need Maud.”

Twilight’s thoughts whirred. Her knowledge on geomancy was limited to vague ideas, basic concepts, rudimentary theories, and broad generic terms. She could tell the eddies of magic in the faces had the same oily feel as everything else (the magic signature felt like a thick sludge) but that was it.

“We'll have to wait til she wakes up." Rainbow’s eyes flicked to Maud, who was still down for the count. "We gotta keep going after Neighsay!”

“Before he gets turned into a jerk popsicle,” Applejack muttered.

That snapped Twilight out of it. “You’re right! Rarity, prep a disabling spell; anything you can cast fast! C’mon!”

They flew down the waterfall and followed the thawing river. The striations in the walls were like a historical record of the erosion, the path always following a specific layer of stone. Their surroundings were a blur of grays, browns, and dark blues until the shaft became a slope again, twisting and turning while the ice veered to disappear into the rock. They continued down the twisting descent until it opened up into a yawning canyon with gargantuan stalactites dangling high above.

"Oh, my..." Fluttershy shrank to the back of the group.

Pinkie noted that the stalactites looked like a leviathan’s fangs. "Notttttt a very friendly place, is it?"

"You're just realizing that now?" Rainbow said.

The canyon itself was immense. The pursuing frostbolts had melted off by now, and the lack of any more made the group confident enough to venture out into the expanse. They steered clear of the wall this time and flew down through the open air until they spotted a narrow stone bridge spanning the gap.

Twilight narrowed her eyes. She'd noted there was a debris-laden path down the cliff, but her spells weren’t picking up anything—

“There!” Rainbow pointed to the other side of the canyon. “I see him!”

Twilight did a double-take. Sure enough, Neighsay was on the ledge opposite the bridge below. His dark eyes bored into them as he took a defiant stance.

Rainbow sneered. “Leave this one to me—"

“WAIT!” Pinkie grabbed her right as she was making to jet away. Less than a heartbeat later, a swirling tear in space opened up right where Rainbow had been about to fly.

"Oh, that little..." Applejack clacked her hooves together. "So it's gonna be like that, is it?"

Rainbow gulped as the portal sealed itself. "I hate smart bad guys..."

They saw Neighsay scoff and put out his horn. He started making for a low-hanging opening in the wall before they could recover.

"RARITY!" Twilight yelled.

Rarity fired a silver ray. Twilight matched it with a prepared spell of her own, the twin spells spiralling in a corkscrew towards Neighsay. Both attacks struck him square in the back...

...and revealed they'd attacked an illusion.

"Oooooh!" Rarity stamped her hoof. “He's making us look like foals!"

Twilight narrowed her eyes. Either Neighsay was more clever than they realized, or the changelings had taught him some things. “You need line of sight to open a portal!” She started sweeping the cliffside. "Look around! He's here somewhere!"

They’d come to a stop a hundred yards above the long stone bridge. Said 'bridge' was as narrow as a balance beam, so there wasn't any area to hide upon it. The cliff they’d descended appeared empty, and the opposite side had little in the way of ledges. There was nothing but open expanse to their left and right, and as for the bottom of the ravine, well... they couldn't see it. They didn't think anything of it at the time save for that corruption welled up from the blackness like an intangible writhing mass—

“Another new combo!” Pinkie’s body started shining brighter. “Ooooh, AND my Element's getting all tingly! I’m not sure what a lower back sting combined with a double inner ear itch means, but I think it's beneath us!”

Lead pooled in Twilight’s gut. Reluctantly, she turned her scanning spells to the darkness beneath them. She immediately picked up something foul, nasty, cruel, but most of all, BIG. Long-dormant magics were weaving together before her eyes to form the most bizarre pattern she’d ever seen. It shouldn't even work at all according to the known rules of magic!

Then, while she and the others were staring down into the abyss... something stared back.

Cold, sullen eyes opened within the void. First five eyes, then eleven, then thirty-three, eighty-nine… Countless and ever-shifting, the eyes floated and rippled on top of a dark, viscous, bubbling goop. Gibbering mouths gurgled in a dissonant chorus like the wails of the damned. Even worse, more eyes and mouths were constantly forming only to then burst like great cysts and splatter everywhere.

Fluttershy’s voice was oddly calm. “That... is not an animal.”

"YA THINK?!" said Rainbow. Her eyes were glowing again, her Element SURGING with power. “I don't think it's even alive!”

Rarity's face was gaunt. “Kill it with fire... LOTS of fire!”

Pinkie scratched her head. “Anypony else feel like singing for some reason?”

The only thing Twilight felt was numb. The aberration was a stain upon creation; like a legion of damned souls blended into pustulous glue. She wouldn’t be able to move at all if not for the Element of Magic. “I… I-I think... Rainbow’s right! It's some kind of alchemy golem!”

“Golem-shmolem, it's WRONG!” Applejack’s aura flashed as slime droplets sprayed their shield. “We gotta take it out!”

The ooze began to swell. It churned and heaved as it filled up the pit, its vast, roiling mass quickly enveloping the stone bridge. It continued to grow while shrieking and bellowing at them all the while; some of its voices young, some of them old, some male, some of female. Soon it loomed over the girls like the shadow of death, now making ready to crash over them like a dark tide—

SPLORTCH!

Twilight brute-forced it down with pure telekinetic force.

“UGH!” Bile rose in Twilight's throat. "Whatever you do, do NOT let it touch you!”

High above the action on an outcropping amongst the rime-caked stalactites, a pale-faced Neighsay watched his pursuers through his stolen telescope. He grew more and more pale as their brilliant aura revealed the abomination.

“Stars alive...” Neighsay covered his mouth. “What is—AHHH!”

A grimy frostbolt whizzed by his face. He dove for cover as more followed, all of them plummeting into the canyon with blinding speed. He dared looked up and saw they were coming from carved faces similar to the ones he'd seen on the way down.

“What...?” He could sense magic being activated, dark, vile, and familiar. “I thought they were just decorations! Are they some sort of—”

Familiar?

Neighsay frowned. A second and third salvo erupted from the open mouths to sail past him like before. A fourth and fifth did the same, as did a sixth and seventh. Nothing he did caused the missiles to target him, so at last, he peered over the edge to see what they were targeting.

“The Elements...” Neighsay squinted at the girls. No matter how fast they moved, no matter their evading, the frostbolts followed until they'd dissipated on their fiery shield. Puzzled, Neighsay reached for his telescope for a better view.

“What did they do?" he muttered under his breath. "I swear to Platinum, if this place has some kind of defense system and they set it—”

His hoof froze in mid-air.

“Starswirl’s beard...” Neighsay looked back the way they came. “Those noises... the tremors...”

“I’d say Twilight’s the MVP for this adventure so far!” Pinkie's voice was barely audible over the hiss of melting ice. “Any other nominations?”

“I nominate YOU to focus!” said Applejack.

The air was filled with whooshing, squelching, and popping. The golem kept trying to engulf them at every opportunity—chasing, charging, surprising them with tendrils, spraying them with vapor, and splattering them with pustules. It’s insane babbling frayed their nerves and clawed at their resolve. Twilight pushed it back every time it cornered them, but its vile magic made her want to hurl.

“Why on earth are we just flying around?!” Rarity called over the din. “The Elements want us to attack!”

“I ain't so sure!” Applejack’s voice had a faint echo, as well. “The cuckoo-crud’s super-strong here! They might just be keepin' us sane!”

Either way, it was hard to deny the power on display. The Elements thundered with a strength none of them had ever seen—resonant, vibrant, and circulating through all of them like a river. They could feel their own Elements’ power as much as the others, the relics working together to boost each other even more.

“This thing is absolutely saturated with the corruption!” Twilight had them fly up from another attack. “It must have been feeding off it!”

Suddenly, the muck undulated and heaved. It surged forth in a mass of of swirling, seething faces, reaching out with dripping, fang-laden tendrils—

WHOOSH!

A wall of wind sprang up at Rainbow’s command. It merely halted the slime at first, but then the air strengthened into a tempest with a rushing roar. Tons upon tons of goop were pancaked against the wall with a shuddering SPLAT!

“I'm with Rarity!” Rainbow’s mane shimmered with power. “Let's give it all we got!”

The remaining slime gathered into a tsunami behind them and charged. It was a tireless machine, a hideous construct bound to its mysterious primeval instructions. Its decaying wails were muted by the howling wind as—

“Get behind me!” Twilight delved deeper into her own magic. Her aura shone brighter, the air around her shimmering like a mirage. Her flaming mane and tail became like clouds of thick, seething plasma; raw arcane energy flowing off her like steam.

Twilight opened her mouth with a sound like a bellows. The goop was reaching for them again, heedless of the magenta light shining in Twilight's throat.

FWSSSSSSHHHHH!

Fire and force flowed from Twilight’s mouth. The stench of charred rot filled the air as the slime’s ran headfirst into a devastating, immolating cone. Twilight struggled with its mass at first, but then her aura became brighter still...

SMACK!

The burning slime was hurled against the cliff. Cracks spread from the impact with bone-breaking force, stone fragments the size of boulders flying everywhere.

“Eeeeeeeee~!” Pinkie clapped her hooves. “Talk about a power couple! Twilight and Dashie, awesome as can be! K-I-S-S—”

“COULD YOU NOT?!” Rarity grabbed some of the boulders in a flash. She hovered them before front of Applejack and Pinkie and flank-checked them to the front. “Here! You’re both—ergh—earth ponies; make with the earthing!”

Pinkie’s eyes lit up. She grabbed one of the cart-sized rocks… and the instant she did, a small bit of her Element’s power flowed into the boulder—

“WHOA!” She flung the now-vibrating rock with all her strength. It got caught in Rainbow’s tempest and barreled towards the slime.

BOOM!

“Oh-HO!” Applejack took a rock of her own. The same thing happened as she bucked it into Twilight’s flames, exploding with a searing flash of harmonious light.

“Keep 'em coming, Rarity!” Applejack reached for another boulder. “You lob, we’ll serve!”

The shifting faces withered among Twilight’s blaze and Rainbow’s gale. Its maddening voices fell silent with gurgling moans, but the slime itself remained. Nevertheless, Twilight and Rainbow kept it pinned while Applejack and Pinkie threw volatile rocks.

Neighsay shuddered from his hiding spot. “Mutants, the lot of them...” Frostbolts obscured his view, but he could see half the slime being immolated while the other was caught in a wind tunnel. Glowing rocks were also being flung that somehow combusted on impact, but he couldn't tell if they were hurting the slime or just annoying it.

“This isn’t the artifact,” Neighsay murmured. “That thing’s nothing more than another hazard of this place… l-like, the world’s ugliest guard dog.”

But that still didn’t answer his other question. He looked back up at the faces and tried to scan the nearest one. The interference made everything fuzzy, but there was definitely something he recognized—

A faint odor tickled his nose. His skin prickled with sudden heat, hotter and hotter until it stung at his eyes. Looking back down, he saw the rain of frostbolts was being vaporized by a swiftly-ascending—

“THERMAL!” He erected a shield just in time. Superheated air from enveloped him with a muted WOOMPH, the surrounding ice and rime melting first to water, then a cloying, dreadful vapor. The heat hit the ceiling and thawed the stalactites with a horrible gagging stench.

“What—hlk—IS…?!” Neighsay jumped through a portal before he was overwhelmed. He emerged on a barely-wide enough ledge three-quarters down the chasm... only for the slime’s corruption to him like a baseball bat.

“This—hack—cave…” Neighsay’s head was pounding. His stolen Tear couldn’t stop the sudden clawing panic and rage-filled whispers. Filthy changeling lies poisoned his ears amidst shallow pants that were swallowed by the struggle below. The residual heat from the nearby shimmering column melted every bit of ice it touched... but yet this ledge remained frozen for some reason—

"That medallion..."

The hairs on Neighsay's neck stood on end. He whirled around, but all he saw was his own icy reflection. He could swear the ice had been cloudy before, but now it was clear and smooth. His image stared back at him with featureless, ghastly blue eyes that weren't his own.

"Show it to us."

Vaporous breaths coiled around Neighsay like a fog. The grim blue light stole warmth from everything in the area, from both him and the air. It warded off whatever was contaminating the ice, but a distant part of Neighsay was screaming, his ears and muzzle numb from sudden cold.

The doppelganger motioned to 'their' left saddlebag, waiting.

Neighsay couldn't resist. Shivering, he reached a sluggish hoof into the indicated pocket.

“I can’t tell if we’re doing damage or not!” Rainbow had merged her wind with Twilight’s arcane flames to create a magical firestorm. Applejack and Pinkie were throwing larger and larger explosive rocks, the result now a colossal elemental tornado spinning tight and fast within the chasm.

“I’m guessing not!” said Applejack. She and Pinkie had been timing their throws so the slime stayed scattered, but it kept trying to reform. “Any other ideas?”

“Oooh! Oooh!” Pinkie waved her hooves. “Have Twilight teleport it to space!”

“She can barely—greh—touch it at all!” Rarity said.

“More lightning?” Fluttershy asked.

“Kinda busy!” Rainbow called over the beat of her wings. “It'd have to be you or Twi!"

Fluttershy scrunched up her face. “U-Um, well… I’m not sure i-if—”

“Hang on!” Twilight said between fire breaths. “I want to try something! There’s a chance—"

SKREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!

A noise like rusty nails on a chalkboard ripped through the canyon. There was a surge of tremendous pressure, then a rush of intense cold that snuffed out Twilight’s flame pillar. Suddenly, the twisted stone heads above fell silent as their inner crystals snapped like hot metal in a quench tank.

SSSSSSsssssssss…

The slime creature ceased struggling. A final well-timed boulder consumed it in a spectacular blast. Whatever Twilight had been planning was forgotten as the golem was consumed by equal parts earth, wind, and light.

At last, the slime completely lost cohesion. The corruption and rancid stench eased, leaving the girls alone with the cold and howling winds.

Twilight’s lips parted. It was like someone had just... pulled out the primary string holding a rug together. The construct was now nothing but harmless glop now whirling about amidst—

One of Twilight’s wards pinged.

“STOP!" She gestured to the tornado. "Bring it down! GENTLY!”

Neighsay came around to realize his face was less than an inch from the overly-cold wall. He didn't recall moving so close, but he could tell his right forehoof was pressing something against the ice. Something cold... so cold that it—

“BURNED!” Neighsay wrenched his hoof free. The doppelganger was gone, the ice was again cloudy... but the ledge was still cold as before. His medallion fell to the ground with a dull clink.

“Oh, no… P-Please, please no...” Neighsay levitated his medallion. The item was no longer gold, but deathly blue. It radiated the same potent chill as the doppelganger, a cold so great Neighsay could barely stand to inspect the modified spell matrices.

“What...” Neighsay glanced up at the twisted face carvings. “Their magic is... it's the same as the magic Chrysalis extracted from her throne! B-But that means—”

His legs almost gave out from under him.

“No...” The world spun around Neighsay. Pieces of the puzzle fit in place one by one, each one flooring him over and over. He didn’t even realize the panic and the whispers had vanished for some reason. “Is this how Sombra—oh, GODS! Is this why Chrysalis wants…?!”

His mind was caught in a traffic jam. His suspicions were just that and nothing more, but the mere possibility made him hyperventilate. He sank to his knees and shuddered amidst a rain of rubble and ash.

“This has to be a coincidence.” Neighsay looked to his pursuers. He saw they’d managed to defeat the golem, but whether or not that was a good thing... “If Chrysalis searched as long as she did and barely found a thing, there's no way they could know.”

Although knowing Twilight Sparkle, they could certainly find out. It looked like the heat had stopped the frostbolts for good, and Neighsay could now see the bottom of the chasm was a dead-end. The only way forward was the path on the other side of the bridge.

“My medallion...” He could hold it so long as it didn’t touch his skin. The enchantments looked to still be intact, and the strange power Chrysalis had infused it with was… well, freezing, yes, but also replenished. He glanced over at where the doppelganger had been.

“I can’t tell if this is serendipity or zemblanity.” He wracked his brain a little longer, but all he came up with was conjecture. “No matter. So long as I stay ahead of those bumbling girls—wait, what the devil are they doing now?!”

“Mare.” Applejack gestured to the pelvis, then a horn beside the metal canteen they'd recovered. “Unicorn.”

A charred, chipped skull floated in Twilight’s grip. It looked exactly like the plaster models from health class—same eye sockets, same nasal cavity, same amount of teeth and same outline of the jaw. Its forehead was completely caved in.

“How dreadful,” Fluttershy murmured. “Not the burning, I mean! You had no way of—”

”Extenuating circumstances, r-right?!” Twilight said, her wings fluttering. “I-I mean, she… was gonna get cremated either way—s-sort of. I’m sure her family will understand we didn’t mean to d-desecrate her remains! Ponies are perfectly rational when it comes to things like this, r-right? oh Celestia of course they’re not they’re going to hate us they’re going to think we defiled the body on purpose and they’ll never forgive us and I’ll have to live with the guilt forever what do we dO WHAT DO WE DO WHAT DO WE—”

Rainbow pulled Twilight into a fierce, anti-freakout kiss.

...

…

Pinkie sidled over to Rarity and whispered, “I-N-G.”

Rarity’s cheeks turned pink. She looked away as Twilight melted into Rainbow’s embrace.

Applejack cleared her throat. “This might sound harsh, but anypony with half a brain on 'em has gotta know retrievin’ anypony outta here isn't a cakewalk. If the family take issue with this, they can keep mourning an empty grave.”

Fluttershy played with her colorful mane. “I’m sure it won’t come to that. I think they’ll be more relieved to finally get some closure, right?”

Applejack looked away. “Celestia knows we can’t give ‘em much else.”

Rarity cleared her throat. “We are in something in a hurry, are we not? The interference isn’t getting any better, but I should be able to manage a Disintegrate spell if I have a moment. Stand back, dears.”

She actually accomplished it quicker than they thought. Whether Rarity was warmed up or she was acclimating to the leylines, a thin green ray shot from her horn seconds later to start crumbling the brittle bones to dust. She then moved to the ashes, and last of all, the skull. Rainbow was still busy applying ‘Egghead Anti-Freakout Measures™’, so Fluttershy, Applejack, and Pinkie Pie left them be and watched Rarity work.

And while everyone’s backs were turned (and Rainbow and Twilight’s eyes were closed) a sizzling portal opened on the other side of the bridge. Neighsay crept quickly and quietly as he dared through the rift and continued on the path, which led into a great fissure and around a bend. He opened another portal once he was in the clear and resumed rifthopping to widen his lead.

“All done!” Rarity beamed. “You know, I’ve found transmutation spells to be a snap ever since that Inspiration Manifestation business. Perhaps more good came out of that debacle than I thought.”

“Ohhhhhhhh, no,” Pinkie said. “No more evil books for you, missy! Your magic kooky fanciness spree almost doomed Ponyville!”

“I did call it a ‘debacle’, didn't I?"

“So, are we gonna talk about that freaky junk that happened right before the slime fell apart?” Applejack asked. “Cause I’m prettttttty sure that’s what did it in.”

Rarity turned to her. “Any thoughts?”

Applejack snorted. “All I know is that noise was somethin’ straight out of a ghost story. Got real cold for a sec, too.”

Fluttershy looked up at the ceiling. “It did make the ice stop. Maybe it was good?”

Rarity shook her head. “There hasn’t been a single good thing in here. Golems, dark magic, ugly sculptures, and hidden traps at every turn? It’s like this place is some kind of—”

“Tomb,” said a familiar voice. “That explains a lot.”

Everyone jumped, including Rainbow and Twilight.

“MAUD!” Pinkie gave her a hug. “Oh, thank goodness!”

Maud remained stoic as ever. “Please say you brought my tools.”

Twilight untangled from Rainbow. “Are you alright? I should’ve been more careful—”

“It seems Doctor Chalcedony was right." Maud wasted not time in examining their subterranean surroundings: from the stalactites above to the stone bridge below. "I was wrong to protest you all coming."

Rainbow put a hoof behind her head. “Yeeaaaah… what she said.”

Rarity rolled her eyes. "I suppose that's as close to an apology as we can expect."

“We saw a geo-thingy in the walls!” Pinkie told Maud. “It was burping nasty ice at us through weird faces! There were even more of them above us, too! We need your rock smarts!”

Maud blinked several times. She looked up at the ceiling again, her lips parting ever-so-slightly. “Vibranocite…? Or maybe arcane agate… probably circulated through the grid by now… could track the frequency… though the power source—”

“Hate to interrupt ya,” said Applejack. “But if this is some kinda ancient, booby-trapped tomb, that’s all the more reason to find Neighsay before we get all science-y. We think he’s hidin’ around here somewhere.”

Twilight froze. She did a search for shreds of portal magic, and sure enough, on the other side of the bridge...

“Erm…” Fluttershy watched Twilight do a double facehoof. “I think we might be too late.”

The lump on Maud’s forehead throbbed. “If the traps are connected to a geomancy grid, I might be able to disable them before they activate. I’ll do what I can on the go, and hopefully, we can learn who made all of this."

Rainbow couldn’t help but laugh. “A mysterious tomb, a forbidden treasure, and a bad guy on the run? Daring Do, eat your heart out!”

Author's Note

No, Rainbow. You're not in a certain Daring Do adventure. I don't even know if that takes place in this universe.