The Last Sunny Days of Equestria

Gales swept over the tropical island and kicked up sand clouds from the beach. Palm trees swayed and dropped a few coconuts. The barely seaworthy ship rolled to a stop and Calaeno dropped the anchor. “Land-ho!” She lowered a shaky bridge with help from her crew, puffs of dust kicking up where it touched down, and the voyagers started to file out. The storms were dying down but still continued to circle around the area, making them worry that Squeak might return at any time.

“Whoo-hoo! Good call, Dash!” Pinkie Pie hopped down with a lifesaver wrapped around her. Hermit crabs scattered away.

“I could use some grub!” Rainbow tapped on a coconut. “Maybe I can ash it with some super speed?”

“I could blow it up,” offered Pinkie with a grin.

“Let's not.” Applejack's body lit up with glowing runes and she cracked one open with her forehooves. “Mmm, tasty!”

Flash Sentry and Flash Magnus carried a rigged-up stretcher between them where the Equestrian Flash Sentry was placed. He was still unconscious, with a number of broken bones and bruises, the medics onboard insufficient to properly treat him. “He's in a bad state,” admitted Sentry who couldn't help but feel guilty his counterpart had taken a bad blow for him.

“If only teleportation was a more common skill,” said Magnus who twitched as he tried to maintain his stoic demeanor.

“I know. No way to find him the help he needs from here.” He wiped his eyes.

Sunny trailed behind them leaving hoofprints in the sand, her head and tail bowed. She knew her double could've taken care of this in a blink; but she hadn't mastered even the simplest spells despite her potential. “Should've asked Princess Twilight to come...” She pulled another daisy from her satchel and started to much it into mush. “Sonata, what about-”

“My sisters are fine!” Sonata trundled along while the spectral forms of Adagio and Aria floated beside her in their pony forms. The duo shimmered in an ethereal fashion, their features warmly lit up, but they appeared unable to communicate with her.

“Spooky...” Pinkie shivered. Wherever the ghosts tread they left a cold trail behind them.

“I still don't trust 'em,” mumbled AJ while she cracked more shells and allowed Rainbow to slurp down the contents. “Sonata never was 'purified', and as for those other two? Pair of rattlesnakes, so far as I'm concerned.”

Rainbow licked the sweetness from her chops with a slurp and burped. “Oops, sorry! Have to keep my strength up after flying around for so long! Anyhow, yeah, they do seem to have part of their powers back, but to be fair, they did use them to help!”

“Still...what if they suddenly decided to switch sides? Not like we'll be able to resist 'em!”

“We'll deal with that later.” Dash tossed an empty shell aside. “I'm more worried about Flash. Maybe I can fly him back?”

“Way too far and you know it.” AJ bowed her head, her tired face shaded by the stetson.

“Yeah...if only I could pull off that Sonic Rainboom...” Dash pursed her lips.

“This ship was only readied to take us here. We'll have to collect some materials and build a better one from this shell,” said Calaeno. “All of you, short break and then get to work! We can't dawdle here too long! Maybe we can make it airborne somehow? Curses, if only we had the proper materials...” She hovered about the beach and stared at the mountains.

Over the next couple of hours trees were stripped, pieces from other wrecked ships that had washed ashore were gathered, and Rainbow Dash kicked away rain clouds with a smirk. AJ carried a thick hunk of metal with ease. Pinkie blew open some caves and searched inside for whatever could be scavenged, convinced there was some treasure buried inside, and a few pirates traveled with her. A short time later between all of them they'd collected a pile of useful junk which they used to work on the ship. Sunny couldn't help but shake her head, feeling useless as ever. At best she could shift a few smaller items.

Clanks sounded when they started to \reconfigure and expand the would-be seaworthy vessel. “Look at what I found!” Pinkie hefted a huge treasure chest and dropped it with a thunk onto the sand. “What'cha think we'll find inside?!”

“Impossible! I Don't believe it!” AJ threw down her hat and resisted the urge to stomp it. “How in tarnation-”

“It's Pinkie, don't question it.” Sunny chuckled while the party pony blew up the lock in a small plume of smoke and threw open the lid. A number of them crowded around to study the contents which seemed to glow in the sunlight. “It's...a bunch of maps?”

Pinkie unfolded one with an x marked on it. “Look! Bet there are more chests all over!”

“Or traps.” Sunny rubbed her chin. “Could be a decoy to send the finder on a pointless chase.”

“Can't know until we try!” Pinkie immediately set off.

“Yo, it's not safe to travel alone.” Sunny tried to keep pace with her. “Sonata, want to come?”

“Totes!” She skipped along and her spectral sisters whooshed beside her.

“I have to stay and look after him,” said Flashy Sentry. “Magnus, will you-”

“Yes, I'd best keep an eye on them.” Hefting his spear he flew after the small party.

“So much for a relaxing vacation!” Sunny trundled up with them. They wound down a hillside, heading out to uncover secrets scattered across the island. She shuddered when she spotted the skeletons of a few ponies washed onto the rocks below.

Over the next hour they dug up another chest, silverfish spilling out from the water-logged contents, skittering about. The treasures within had rusted and cracked, what would have been a small fortune reduced to so much trash. Pinkie frowned, then shrugged, collecting the scrap and figuring some of it might be used as spare parts with a little tinkering.

They ferried the items back, and Calaeno had them broken down, using them to help rebuild a new vessel. It wouldn't be elegant, but she hoped it would suit their purposes, aware that efficiency was far more important than style at times like these.

Just went it seemed like everything was going smoothly, the island started to quake. The onlooker s shuddered when dust clouds were kicked up. The earth started to yawn open and a roar split the air. A tidal wave swept from the ocean, and they scattered, as Squirk once more barreled from the seas. “You can't hide from me! This time, I'll finish what I started!”

Sonata and her sisters immediately started to sing, but the sea serpent quickly shook the haunting tune off, opening his jaws and making a dive for the siren. She broke off and screamed, only for Flash Magnus to sweep her off her hooves as he raced away, jaws snapping behind them. “My hero,” she murmured with a smile laying her cheek on his powerful chest.

“Damn, what now?” Flash readied his own spear, protectively standing over his double.

From a fissure another Titan arose. This stone golem-like monstrosity towered over them, shaped like a dog of some sort, crudely carved from gray stone. “Crunch will crush you!” The earth shook when it stalked from the depths.

Squirk rounded on the beast. “You?! Don't interfere, you botched creation!”

“Traitor! Crunch destroy you for master's sake!” The monster rushed to meet his fellow Titan.

“Stop! I simply took initiative, you fool!” He was knocked over by the force of Crunch's weight, the pair rolling, Squirk twisting about its almost unbreakable shape. The spell used to create the Titan had damaged Crunch's core, reducing what was otherwise the most powerful Titan to little more than a mindless animal. Squirk proved unable to throw off its weight.

“Maybe they'll kill each other,” said Sunny while they cowered.

“Or tear us apart in the process,” said Rainbow as storms and tremors shook the island.

“Almost ready!” Calaeno tapped the ship. “Should be able to take us away, at least!”

“Wait!” Pinkie felt her curly tail shake. Is that...?” She spotted the air start to split in the distance. A bluish-white portal manifested, shimmering. “Sunset Shimmer?!” She swore she could catch a glimpse of her inside for a moment.

“Afraid not,” called a voice from within. “Hurry! I'm trying to hold it open, but someone is interfering!”

Sunny crinkled her brow. “Who are you?” The voice was feminine but didn't sound at all like her double's. “Not sure I can trust you, but...” She looked between Calaeno's shaky ship and the portal ahead of her. She figured the wounded Flash Sentry wouldn't last much longer at this rate. “Okay, I'll do it. Everypony, follow me!”

Calaeno saluted them. “Don't worry about us! We'll travel faster with a lighter load, anyhow! Look after them, Rainbow!”

The small party rushed into the portal. At the same time Calaeno's crew boarded the ship which rattled when it sailed into the skies, rotors spinning as the winds threatened to batter it about. Crunch practically snapped Squirk in two with a crunch. The serpent screamed as teeth sunk into his flesh and ripped out his shimmery core. Crunch swallowed it whole and took it into itself. The serpent's body lost its color and crumbled into dust without the sphere to animate its enchanted shape.

Crunch morphed into a more humanoid shape, the core's power added to its own. No more the simple-minded brute, orb-shaped eyes shimmered a dull emerald-yellow. “I am...one step closer to completion,” he wheezed thankful his instincts had at least driven him to seek out another core. But by the time his new shape had settled Calaeno's ship was already in the horizon, while his other prey slipped into the portal, which closed behind them. He punch the dirt, realizing he was trapped here.

In this new form he was stronger, smarter, but also slower and clumsier. Half-finished, he stomped into the tunnel he'd made, and slowly headed back to either seek out a fellow Titan or his master who'd breathed life into the Titans...

*****

A mare with a pale blue coat and white mane lurked within the hollows of Tartarus. A labyrinthine maze of tunnels surrounded Shadow Scythe, one of the many Grim Reapers tasked with escorting souls to the afterlife. A horse skull with a scythe behind it adorned her flanks. “Somepony else who can manipulate portals? Intriguing. But she is an amateur compared to me.”

She'd forsaken her duties to serve a new master. With a forbidden form of magic he could further empower her through the souls she consumed and promised her all she could ever want; however there was a limitation to this power, as the souls needed to have been slain by an actual demon in order to be devoured. And since she'd neglected her duties she was no longer able to obtain spirits for herself. They were dependant upon the other, at least for the moment.

She'd collected a few minor devils who served as her huntresses. Some she'd sent out to seek this mysterious intruder, and they'd almost caught her, but she'd barely managed to slip away at the last second. More of them scurried down the tunnels, succubi and lamia mostly, the atmosphere heavy and oppressive. She started to toy with a grayish-black sphere; Inky Rose's soul.

“More intruders...” From here she could watch the entire netherworld from a murky pool which wafted with thin vapors. A number of ponies were descending into her realm. Normally nopony would ever dare intrude this far, in case they lost their flesh and were trapped within the mists of the unknown for eternity, but she'd knew they'd come to seek her prize.

*****

Twilight Sparkle wiped sweat from her glasses. She couldn't help but shiver, the air simultaneously somehow way too hot and cold. Her team consisted of Rarity, Fluttershy, and the escorts Princess Twilight had offered her, Tempest Shadow and Spike. While it was a rather small party they'd been assured Tempest was one of the most powerful mages in Equestria.

“If something should prove amiss I'll teleport you all out,” assured Tempest. “But I take it you can handle yourselves.”

“W-well...we haven't gotten used to our powers here,” admitted Twilight who blushed.

“It may seem creepy, but the Grim Reapers here are supposed to be pretty chill!” Spike stood tall and wiry, his leather wings flapping behind him. “There has been some weird stuff happening lately, mind you.”

“A potential traitor.” Tempest sneered. “I shall deal with them if necessary.”

“Let's simply finish this and leave this dreadful place,” said Rarity with a swish of her mane.

Fluttershy shivered and hid behind them. “I'm with her. This place is so barren! Eek!” A shadow crawled over a wall. But whatever the creature was it hastily skittered away. A slimy trail marred the stonework.

They hurried onward, navigating the maze, tracking the source to where Inky Rose's soul was supposedly sent. She wasn't supposed to be a part of Equestria's cycle, but perhaps a Grim Reaper had mistakenly scooped it up. Eventually the group arrived where mare awaited them. “Shadow Scythe? I am Tempest Shadow, here on behalf of Princess Twilight Sparkle.”

“I know who you are. And what you've come for.” She raised a forehoof where the grayish-black orb hovered. “Tell me, what can you offer me in return? You didn't think I'd simply offer this up for free, did you?”

“So you have betrayed us.” Tempest took a step forward.

“Careful. I could swallow up her soul,” warned Shadow Scythe. It was a lie of course, as Inky hadn't been killed by a demon, but she doubted they understood her limitations. “Perhaps a trade? Would you like to take her place, Tempest?” Such a powerful unicorn would potentially multiply her potential several times over. She smiled devilishly at the idea.

“Never. I do not deal with traitors. You will release Inky Rose, or face the consequences!”

“Wrong answer.” Shadow Scythe appeared to float backwards with a cackle that echoed through the caverns. Tempest flared her horn with a prepared spell, when a menagerie of monsters suddenly spilled out from around the corners, prepared to overrun the small team. Most of these beasts were female, somewhere between mares and animals.