Appleloosa proved accidentally perfect for nearly everything I wanted to accomplish. Work? Check. Cherry Jubilee’s plantation didn’t pay very well, but it was better than huddling in hiding. An alibi? Check. Most of the workers on the plantation were runaway criminals like Dry Gulch was. So even if anypony came looking for me, they wouldn’t find me on any paper. Much less know that I was Dry Gulch. An anchor? Unfortunately, check. Cherry put her workers at the end of a contract as well as the end of a sultry, fruit-scented whip. Half of these poor souls couldn’t even read their terms.

I was set for a measly month of work, and I had served to this point three weeks of it. If I ran out, not only would I look suspicious to any searching party, but I’d have Cherry’s hoof pointing directly to me as I ran. Which means that my actions in the Badlands will leave me completely vulnerable, as I’m to stay posted for another week while they mobilize against whoever put a ravine in the sky. They, likely being the EUP, will come looking and find only off-the-book ponies laboring for essentially slave wages. Even if they wouldn’t find me, I loathed the possibility of some General poking around for me.

Who am I trying to fool? They would come looking for me. There was no question that everypony in Appleloosa saw the sky split, they were all at the rodeo while it happened. Sheriff Silver Star wasn’t, but he could hear it crack open from his office. I thought a target would’ve been on my back since I was the only pony out of town at the time, but I was Dry Gulch to them, an earth pony with surreal strength. Only an alicorn could’ve done that kind of magic or somepony with alicorn-like power.

I let out a sigh, shifting in my stiff, rickety cot to face the faded splintering wood in my cramped dim work cabin. I got the top bunk because nopony was going to deny the mare that snapped a tree when she bucked it her place of sleeping. The work was easy, especially when I can’t get fatigued. It left me time at the end of the night in between drowsiness and sleep to think about things like this. I couldn’t discern if it was something beneficial or detrimental. The other ponies barely had any strength left to remain up and fell asleep as soon as their heads hit the pillow.

It wasn’t a possibility that they’d leave me be, the EUP. Likewise, it wasn’t a possibility for me to flee. I had my hooves ensnared firmly in train tracks, and could only watch as it barrels towards me. It made me wonder if this was the end for me, that I’d be captured by some band of sorcerers with power beyond my comprehension and banished to the moon. Or if they’d just kill me outright. Is this my fate? If that is the case, at least I’m blessed to know it. Most ponies wander through their lives uncertain of if their cutie marks dictate their lives or if they do.

I knew my answer, and I knew it before now. Three seconds was all it took to confirm that my path was my own and it was possible.

Take a mouse caught in a shabby trap, a poor creature trapped in a rusted iron bar. Pathetic, really. Its body flattened, its ribs piercing its organs. Did it deserve this fate? I’m not the one to make the call, but I was the one to reverse it. There in the Badlands, my actions were justified. The town would likely be rubble if I set off the energy needed to bring it back, moreover, using magic would reveal who I was. But, in just three seconds in the canyon, the mouse sprang back to life! It gazed up at me, confused. To the rat, it had just been dead traveling down the rat Styx, but here it was among the living again. It scurried away, and I let it go. I had done what I needed to do.

It ran right between the legs of some gargoyle, Scorpan.

He’d been looking for me on his own, searching for me was searching for his forgiveness. Killing me was to earn it, and failing was to die in shame. Scorpan was way over his head, he could barely put up any resemblance of a fight despite his menacing appearance. I tossed him around, played with him more like. Somewhere near the end of the encounter, I found the idea to test my limits. I annihilated the canyon and rended the sky. All that was left of the gargoyle prince was his ornate necklace, now mine, and a pillar of smog overtaking red mist.

A sigh slipped as I turned again, readjusting the thin straw pillow. Come whatever may, but it had better wait a week before coming to find me. If some flimsy contract from a desert cherry farm or some happenstance gargoyle chains me long enough for someone else to snag them in their hooves, I’ll be beyond livid. I will have been prevented from my assured destiny, and Equestria will be permanently set back. If I can prove to the Princesses of my own accord that I can bring the dead back, they’d forgive me! If I’m arrested, I’ll be presumed guilty before I can prove my worth. I can prove it to them. That I can add back what I’ve subtracted. That I, The Great and Powerful Trixie, will be the beacon of the Equestrian future!

Concrete clutched a piece of royal paper in a vibrating hoof atop a railroad outside Appleloosa. The page might as well have been a column of fire directed at her. She tore it to shreds and kept the small stone and page of pink paper inside it, quickly stuffing it in her coat. The General scowled, looking to the soldiers before her, one half of them weren’t unicorns and the other was barely trained in combative magic.

“General, Captain Broadside repor-” A lemon-lime colored pegasus stepped forward from the line behind Concrete on the rails.

“Captain you will only speak to me with a fucking response, I initiate conversation.” She looked as though she was completely prepared to mangle this young stallion. She could feel the heat across her leather officer coat multiplying in the desert sun. She tore a hoof across her forehead, flinging sweat from it.

“Aye, ma’am!” He gulped, stepping back into the line, his chest slightly heaving from both the heat and the sudden outburst from a high-ranking officer.

Concrete paced in front of them, shaking her head while her frown only soured and grew. She threw a murderous glance to the line and turned to address them. “I send word to the Princess that the Alicorn Amulet has returned and made its way into our borders, its wearer enacting a killing spree on our citizens. I send a requisition for Solar Team 8 to deal with this threat, and what does she do?” She narrows her eyes, directing her seething eyes directly into the ginger unicorn next to Broadside, she couldn’t have been enlisted for longer than a month. “She sends me you baby-faced sardines! And you’re gonna stop Trixie?”

“Ma’am, with all due respect, we’re Solar Team 12.” The unicorn peeped.

“With all due respect,” she glanced to the mare’s shoulder, “1st Lieutenant whatever the hell your name is, I could kill you right now and make it look like an accident.” She heaved all the air from her lungs in a sigh, regret trickling through her mind. “I’m sorry, Lieutenant. Look, this is an incredibly high stakes operation we’re undertaking today, and I wanted the best fit for the plan. Even if you aren’t the specific Solar Team I was after, you are a Solar Team. What was your name?”

“1st Lieutenant Silver Lining. M-ma’am!” She sounded like she was trying to make her voice deeper, and it wasn’t working very well.

“Silver Lining… Ha. Go figure. The princess must have some sense of humor.” She scanned the rest of the line, she didn’t recognize any of these soldiers. If she was going to execute this plan with any semblance of competence, she’d need to know them. “Attention!” Solar Team 12 somehow managed to stand straighter than they were. “I want all of your names and talents before any of us go any further! From Broadside onward, report in!”

“Captain Broadside! Specializing in stealth reconnaissance flights!”

“1st Lieutenant Silver Lining! Portal magic and illusions!”

“2nd Lieutenant Brass Tacks! Laying traps, invisibility, and head strategist!”

“1st Sergeant Muscle Memory! Swift flying!”

“Staff Sergeant Sea Salt! Navigations expert!”

“Sergeant First Class Peach Cobbler! Explosive magic!”

The gears in Concrete’s head started to turn. She didn’t need to modify her plan that much for it to have the same outcome, but the heat sweltering in her brain wasn’t helping in her formulation process. An idea sprang into her head. “Brass Tacks!” She motioned for her to stand close, and the bronze unicorn obeyed.

“Ma’am!” Her voice was delicate and floaty.

“I haven’t been entirely honest with the situation here, so allow me to brief all of you.” She gave them the details of Trixie’s past, her obtaining of the Amulet and what exactly that means, where she was last seen and what her motives are. “Knowing all of this, my plan is to use this.” She produced the pink piece of parchment. “To seal her in multiple anti-arcane barriers and lead her to the canyon. While I’m leading her there with half of this group, all but one of us is teleported away to a safe location nearby, replaced with an illusionary copy, one by one. And once the last of you reaches the mannequin that will be waiting for you, we’ll teleport them to us. Then, we’ll communicate with her through that mannequin.”

Brass tacks ran a hoof through her mane, wiping the sweat away and letting out a fatigued sigh. “A mannequin?”

“Yes, the soldier that gave us the report was given a mannequin by me and ordered to position it in the center of the Badlands. Acoustic Burst is his name, and he should be circling it overhead.” Concrete explained.

“He won’t interfere?”

“No. His orders are to evacuate as soon as he sees a group of three. And being that time is of the essence, I suggest that the two pegasi of the Team go rendezvous there while the others join me to search the town. We’ll need a unicorn waiting to teleport us and keep illusions of us in their place. Silver Lining, you go with Broadside and Muscle Memory to the desert. Now!”

”Yes, ma’am!” The pegasi instantly tore themselves to the sky, while the 1st Lieutenant levitated herself, matching their pace.

“Ok, now that they’re in place, how exactly do you plan to lure out a murderer?” Brass Tacks blinked.

“There’s one thing missing from that scene.” She pointed to the tear in the sky. “Scorpan’s necklace. We find that, we find her.”

“Do you still think she’s in this town?”

“I suspect that she’s on a work contract and values her anonymity. Running out on the contract would give her away if we went looking for her.” She looked into the sky again, unable to break her fixation with the void.

“Smart.” Brass nodded. “So it should be as simple as locating her.”

“It should, but plans never survive contact with the enemy. I want this to be peaceful, but if it gets violent…” Concrete returned the pink page and produced a molten obsidian stone with the symbol of the sun emblazoned across it. “This is a sigil that opens the doors to Tartarus. If we can’t convince her to come with us, or join our forces, we’ll seal her in there. It’ll take all of your combined power to teleport her to the doors. It’s also why we’re communicating through a mannequin, and not face to face.”

“And where are these doors?” She sounded somewhere between curious and terrified.

“At the furthest point South etched into the very walls of the cliff face.”

“Understood. Is that all?”

Concrete sighed. “Assuming she’s still here, and that we can find her. That should be it. The pegasi won’t see much action here, but the glory should be enough for them.” She winked. “That being said. Solar Team 12!” They stiffened. “On me! Today we cancel Equestria’s cataclysm!”

Acoustic Burst was straining under the continuous exertion of circling this plastic mare. He desperately wanted to land, but his pride and his orders kept him suspended in a loop. He flicked his head, tossing sweat below in odorous rain. His wings ached, his thoughts barely came to him but one. The image of Lilac kept him in the air despite the exhaustion. He regretted breaking that photo of her, but he regretted the picture that remained out of its frame blowing away from his tent while he slept more.

Orders are orders, and his were to remain up directly in the sun’s fury. How long was that group gonna take to arrive? It felt like hours, though he probably was airborne for hours. He squeezed his eyes shut to relieve the burning they felt, and when he snapped them open, three figures were barrelling towards him. All uniformed in the special Solar Team garb of brown dusters, a sun patched just above their rank on the forehoof. He let out a sigh and dipped in altitude, before changing his trajectory to his tent. His head spun from going straight instead of making a turn.

His shoulder exploded in pain, and he shot towards the ground. He collided with the earth and searing pain tore its way across his body as sand ripped across his coat. He tried to open his eyes, but his body didn’t respond. A sniffle escaped him at the thought that he was now paralyzed and blinded. A fall with that velocity from that height, it was a miracle that he was even alive.

“Listen, rookie. That General thinks she knows it all and sent us here knowing we wouldn’t see action.” A gruff, nasally voice emphasized with wing beats announced from above. Burst could hear another pair behind him, and the sound of a magical aura close by it. If Burst were in a less threatening situation, he wouldn’t have taken this voice seriously. “She thinks we’re just gonna sit here while she talks down some bi-i-ig threat. And she really thinks that we’re gonna take that disrespect sitting down? She should think again.”

A kick somehow sent even more pain through his aching body. A mare’s voice came with the sound of aura following it. “Aww, look. He’s gone blind. He must not know who we are either. Can you believe that? Who doesn’t know Solar Team 12 by the sound of us?”

Acoustic’s racing heart suddenly stopped. He’s heard of them before from Lilac, they’re the Team that has the nickname of Solar Team Harbinger. They’re known for inching towards the line of a war crime with every operation they undertake. But there’s never a living witness, so the only report the command has to go off of is theirs. Did concrete send for these goons? Just how bad was that azure mare?

He started weeping. His life was in the hooves of cruel torturers and they seemed eager to put him down to get to somepony else. What else could he do but weep? Pray. He could pray and hope that somepony came to his aide, but he doubted any would come for him in time. There were only three figures, so he knew the other half was in the town. Concrete told him part of the plan, but he didn’t think to ask for any of the specifics or how long it would take. He was only concerned with his part. On top of all his pain and all his tears, he felt stupid on top of it.

A blow to his ribs sent him flying through the air with a sinister crack. He landed directly on a wing he’d forgotten was outstretched. Every hollow bone in it shattered, lacerating his inner tissue. His guttural scream echoed across the valley, but anypony who could help was too far away to hear it.

“Cmon, Muscle Memory, leave some for the rest of us.” Called the nasally voice.

“Oh, sorry boss.” A voice that sounded like it couldn’t have passed the seventh grade responded. “I don’t know my strength’s all.”

“Pff, you don’t know anything Memory.” Stated the mare. “So what do we do? We can’t keep hitting this kid until she gets back. What’s the plan Broadside?” A bubble sounded like it popped, and a set of hooves hit the sand.

“Ha!” A set of wing beats stopped and another set of hooves crunched into the sand. “What we do is wait until Cobbler gets back, and then, we get him to rig this fucking thing...” He kicked the mannequin, toppling it. “To explode.”

“What about the barriers?”

“What about them? You’re telling me you can’t break some two-bit anti-arcane spell?” Scoffed the voice.

“Well… That’s Celestia’s own magic. I don’t even think that Fever Pitch could break those.” The mare remarked.

“Ugh!” It stomped. “Wait… We don’t have to break it.”

“What?”

“We just have to make an attempt. That’ll freak this psycho out, and then she’ll break the barriers.” He explained.

“If she can break them. I hope for our sake she doesn’t, but it just ruins her plans. What’s the worst that happens? We toss her ass into Tartarus kicking and screaming, won’t be that big of a deal.”

“Bingo! That’s the plan then!” Beamed the voice.

“What would I do, Cap’n?” The dopey voice asked. “And what do we do with this guy?”

“This little shit’s orders were to evacuate. So why don’t we evacuate him to his final destination, eh? As for you... Just uh… Stand there and look pretty.”

General Concrete stood in Sheriff Silver Star’s office, which doubled for a compact jailhouse. There’s no way in Celestia’s name that this was up to any kind of legal standard, but she doubted that she’d be dealing with Celestia’s law in this town. If the cleanliness was any giveaway to their handling of things legal, they’d be in Alcoltraz. She understood though that to catch a crook, you had to sink yourself down to their level. If you tried to reason with them from your position, they’d evade you by going lower. Matching them gave them no quarter.

Concrete’s steely entourage just behind her outside the door. What she was about to do was against regulation, but she had thrown out the possibility of following the law when she walked the rails coming into town. Concrete slammed on the desk and looked down furiously at the mustachioed stallion who fumbled for his place in his chair. Shock snapped across his face, then wrinkled to anger, then fear washed it away within a span of one moment. He wasn’t in the presence of some petty outlaw looking for work, or some vagabond coming to get his fake papers. He was sitting on the weaker side of the table with an EUP General standing on the other.

“I’m looking for somepony new in town.” She glared down at him.

“Now, now. Just hold on a gosh darn minute.” He gulped, searching within himself for dignity. “You gon’ apologize t’ me?”

“No.” She colorlessly replied. “Help me find this mare, and maybe I don’t report your undocumented workers, or falsely documented workers.”

“Ahnd if I don’t?” He shakily asked.

“You will.” The rasp on Concrete’s voice doubled.

Silver Star’s eye twitched while he attempted to find a path in this conversation he was forced into where he’d be the one with power. He glanced over to the pinup poster of Cherry Jubilee, hoping to find some courage there. He sighed, relenting to the clear authority. “Who do you want?”

“Who’s new here?” She smirked.

“Well a few ponies, Cherry’s runnin’ some kinda plantation an’ givin’ the workers slave wages. New ponies come in now an’ again.” He leaned back into his chair, agitation creeping into his tone.

“Can’t you do anything about that?”

“An’ destabilize the Appleloosan economy? Not a chance, she keeps the trains runnin’ ‘round here.” He started swinging a set of keys around his hoof.

She shrugged. “Still, I’m looking for a pony that’s come here around three weeks ago.”

“You know a name would help me.”

“You know you’re not helping? In fact, keep this up and you’ll be obstructing EUP business.” She lowered her head.

“Fine!” He threw up his hooves. “You wan’ a miracle General! I cahn’t give you much off an estimated amount ah time. You should just go to Cherry’s, at the far end of town.”

“You were very helpful.”

“Ahnd you were very polite.”

“Ohhh Dry Guuulch!” A familiar sultry voice called me from the cherry sorting line. I loathed having to manually do such a menial job when my magic could finish it in seconds. Or the thought that yellow and red cherries would grow on separate trees, and sorting the fruit on harvest would make this job redundant. I wasn’t on contract to improve things though, I was there to work. And for the time being, I was on break for however long Cherry talked to me.

I walked outside, the smell of fresh orchard air pleasantly countering the sterilized factory scent. I inhaled a deep breath as the doors swung behind me, only to expel all of it out in a single instant. There was General Concrete, two stars on her shoulders now instead of one, with three of the toughest looking ponies I’ve ever seen. Impossible! How is it that I slip up and the next day I’m caught?

Was everything I had accomplished so far for nothing? No… They don't know who I am yet. As far as Concrete and these goons know, I’m just surprised to see EUP soldiers. I turned to Cherry, who wore that familiar seductive face, the kind that drew you in with those half-open eyes and perfect lipstick. “What’re these soldier boys doin’ ‘ere?”

She brushed a hoof through her hair, bowing her head. “Why, honey, they’re here to buy some time off your contract. Said it was some kinda important business. Dangerous stuff, the kinda thing somepony with your strength would be thrilled to oblige in.”

I internally winced. She may have blown my cover by giving away my superpony strength. No no, relax. It’s an uncommon disorder, but common enough to be mainstream, you’re in the clear. “What kinda business? And why me?”

“Why, I think you should ask miss Concrete.” She glanced longingly at the black-clad General, who gladly took up her cue.

“Yes, you should ask me what it is I want from you.”

I gulped. I was pinned, I had no other way to go but through them. “Alright, Ah’ll… Ah’ll bite. What’s the damage?

I swore I saw her smirk. “I just want you to come with me. I’ve paid your employer here a handsome retainer for your time. She said you weren’t the type to ask so many questions.”

I slammed pressure onto my teeth. How dare either of them pull this on me. Don’t they know who I am? What I’m trying to do!? “That’s correct.” Cherry rubbed her chin slowly as if searching for a sensation across her own jawline. “Quite a handsome retainer. And it doesn’t, ahem, void, your contract, only… suspends it. Yes, that’s it.”

I wanted to scream and tear all of them apart, and I was well within my own ability to do it. “And if I refuse?” I could atomize them in an instant. I glared at Concrete, she stared back with satisfaction. She saw through me and knew that I was in checkmate.

“Now Dry Gulch! You will do no such thing!” She patted my cheek, restraining the strength needed to make it a slap. “You will go get your things from your cabin straight away! They paid you to be on their clock, and you’re only stalling it.”

“Yes, Ms. Jubilee…” I thought my teeth would explode.

“Oh…” Concrete started, producing a golden necklace from her coat. “That won’t be necessary. This is all she had.” Impossible! She returned it and started walking away, her underlings following closely. I looked to Cherry, and she nudged her head towards them optimistically. I went with them, displaying my scowl. The three with her closed in behind me, forcing me next to Concrete.

“Did you think you could hide, Trixie?” She didn’t look at me, only up at the rift in the sky.

“She thought so, yes.” I stared at the sky with her.

“We have nothing but time, money, and intel. We would’ve found you eventually.” She was smirking!

“What do you want?”

“I want you to follow me into the Badlands, we’ll discuss what I want when we get there. We don’t want a fight, mind you.”

“Oh, you don’t want a fight. Right, that’s why we’re going to an open area with no civilians, and that must be why you brought these bruisers with you.” We passed the railroad and were close to the desert.

“I don’t appreciate sarcasm. They are here in the event that there is a fight. You know me, Trixie.” She tossed a glance my way. “I don’t want any deaths.”

“Right” I rolled my eyes. “Vilomahs and all that.”

As we walked, I picked up the magical presence of another unicorn nearby, but they must’ve been hiding. An ambush? No, Concrete wasn’t underhanded like that, she would lay her cards out on the table, not keep some hidden up her sleeves. Along the way, the three behind me had teleported away and been replaced with copies at the same time. They thought I wouldn’t notice, so I let them have that thought. Deception is the key to all wars, that old General Sun Song once said. In doing this to me, Concrete had declared war on my army of one.

Then Concrete was teleported away. All of them vanished and all that was left was a mannequin perched precariously in the sand in front of me. I could feel all of them behind cliff faces, but which one. They seemed to be coming from two opposite directions. East and West? No. Northwest and Southeast? That was it, I could pinpoint them. They weren’t expecting that I could line all my ducks in a row right under my boulder.

I threw off my disguise, it wasn’t required of me to hold my cover anymore, they had me where they wanted them, I might as well look the part they wanted too. The plastic pony spoke, bobbing up and down as Concrete’s voice came from it. “Now that we’re in a position to negotiate, tell me what it is you want?”

I glanced at the cliff face Concrete was behind. “Trixie doesn’t want anything you can give her.”

“Think again, Trixie. The Crowns can give you whatever you want.” The plastic was smooth, and the voice sounded perfectly like Concrete’s.

“Then why haven’t they?” I glared at the orange stone wall.

“They haven’t been made aware. I can make them aware.” It leaned in.

“Impossible. Trixie’s read the papers. Celestia’s called her a Threat to Tranquility. She wants me dead or on the moon.” I waved my hoof as if brushing away her offer.

“She’ll come around. Or Luna might.” It tilted.

“Concrete.” I sighed. “You asked Trixie some time ago if she knew what a Vilomah was. She knows it personally.”

“I know, I want to help you.”

“Do you? She died because ponies like Celestia in their ivory towers let her die! The papers said it might as well have been Trixie’s fault Sabrina died!” I felt my muzzle quiver.

“Do you think that? Do you blame yourself?”

I paused, what a parry of a question. “She does. But she can make it right again. She can take from the world to make up for what it took from her. Trixie shouldn’t be a Vilomah, and Sabrina should still be alive.” I hung my head, searching for any morsel of sadness to feel, but found none.

“But look what you’re doing. You’re creating Vilomahs just so you don’t have to be one.”

“She knows! You don’t think she knows!?” My body rattled. “Trixie knows what she’s doing is wrong and she knows everypony thinks so too! But she can’t feel anything but this yearning to make it right. To get even.”

“Get even with who?”

“The world!” I roared.

“No! You want to get even with yourself! You blame yourself for her death! Even if you did revive Sabrina, you wouldn’t forgive yourself.”

“You don’t know that, Concrete. Trixie was her hero! Trixie was her guardian! Trixie was supposed to raise her!” I desperately yearned for tears, but none came.

“And you still can. I’m giving you a chance now to turn this around, do the right thing.”

“And what’s that? Get arrested and accept that the world was right to take Sabrina?”

“No. We’re offering amnesty and aid in your cause.”

“So long as Trixie’s under your hooves?”

“So long as we’re helping each other.”

Concrete was making it hard to resist joining over. Complete amnesty and aid in my resurrection? I knew that I wanted to do this on my own, that it was my mission and not the EUP’s. But in involving them and setting my sights to aiding Equestria after I brought Sabrina back, I had made it their mission too. As much as my mind screamed this was the wrong move, I relented. “Trixie… Would like to -”

The mannequin exploded, molten plastic shrapnel hurled itself in every direction at mach speeds. I effortlessly deflected them away and instantly teleported every pony within the desert to where it stood, holding them firmly in my telekinetic grip. Concrete looked surprised like this wasn’t part of her plan, and the rest of her group looked stunned like this wasn’t part of theirs. “They’re here in case there is a fight, huh? Which one of you spineless fools did this?”

A red-headed mare stamped her hoof weightlessly in the air above the sand. “This was Peach Cobbler’s doing, his talent was explosive magic.”

“Thank you, traitor.” I released every pony but Concrete and forced a shield around her. At that same moment, she produced a scrawl of pink paper and instantly it incinerated itself and three bright pink anti-arcane barriers, each bigger than the last, closed me in my place. “IMPOSSIBLE!”

“Now!” Concrete roared. The unicorns enveloped me in their auras and I popped from where I was to the southernmost end of the Badlands, looking forward into a cliff face. Concrete snapped next to me and ripped a stone from her coat, the cliff face trembled, fiery blue light radiated across the cliff until it resembled a door. It couldn’t be.

“Concrete… Did you want this to happen?” I asked, optimism dying with each word.

“No.” She hung her head. “Plans never…” She trailed off.

“Survive contact with the enemy.” I closed my eyes, picking up her sentence. “Well, I need you to tell Celestia three things.”

“Those being?”

“My condolences for the death of Solar Team 12.” I knew that there was one flaw in the barriers around me: They didn’t protect underneath me. I teleported all of her soldiers in front of me and forced an inky black barrier around them. All from energy sent into the ground. Concrete’s eyes shrank in horror, then slammed shut as her troop became an explosion of bone and blood within the forcefield. Gore hit the sand in a series of wet slaps, sand caking across the pieces of muscle and coagulated the blood. “And that she needs to have these barriers protect below me too.” I gravely laughed. “One more thing. May the Unyielding Wall never falter.”

The doors howled open and Concrete walked forward with sorrow in her eyes, pushing me with any strength she could find. It wasn’t her aim for this plan to fail, and it wasn’t mine to be banished to Tartarus. The last view of the world above was heaven’s fissure and Major General with tears in her eyes beneath it as I sank into hell. I could’ve sworn I saw Sabrina clutching Concrete’s coat.

Impossible darkness sprawled in every direction around me. My barriers remained up, and it turned it more into a bubblegum night. Then the silence set in. In the waking world, silence never happened, I remember hearing in school about how in silence your brain makes a sound because it can’t process silence. Yet, here I was in absolute silence.

My barriers shattered, and the pink shards fell below me and became eclipsed by the infinite black below. I looked at what I thought was forward and sighed. This is life now.

Then failure set in.

I wept, all my tears running down my mane. I let out a shaking, wailing, roar letting all my emotions ring out into the unending expanse. Sabrina’s gone! I’m gone! Even if neither the General nor me wanted it, I’ll be touted as a victory over evil, this wasn’t the day that Equestria won at all… This was the day a monster died.

I stood there nebulously, sobbing, time stretching on for hours. Hours turned to days turned into weeks. Then again, it may not have been. It could’ve only been the span of minutes, but there was no time but mine running out, no sound but my own sadness and no light but my own dying flame.

Emotions. I’m feeling emotions! Why? The Amulet kept me from them before, even when I committed atrocities, so why can I feel them here? Perhaps it’s part of hell, letting your emotions finally seep through and haunt you for eternity.

Then there was light. In the distance, a pink and light brown visage approached me. It looked to be a pony wrapped in bandages with glowing pink runes. At least, the figure certainly seemed like a pony, but its shape kept shifting around like sand in a bag being grabbed from various points. On where its forehead should be, a single red eye dimly sat, staring into me. Then it snapped down to my neck, then back to me. The bandages around its mouth stretched into a misshapen smile, much too wide for any real pony to wear.

It spoke directly into my mind, the caustic sound coming from all directions, deafening and rattling me all at once. The noise burned to process as if I refused to acknowledge it. It reverberated painfully into every fiber of my physical and mental being. “Hello, Trixie. I am Arkon, the previous Amulet Bearer.”

Author's Note

Oh, how exciting!
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