Hollow Hope

Long Night staggered back, blood dribbling down her forelegs. There was a fist-sized hole in her chest--bones were jutting out of it.

...no, bones were growing out of it, her body changing to reflect Sunny's expectations of it. Night scowled, as Sunny threw away the shotgun.

"You...bastard. You found me. How did you find me? How!?"

She howled, leaping at him--he grunted, his head bouncing against the floor grating. The odd little vial flew out of his saddlebags, landing close by, its scarlet contents shining in the dark.

Long Night froze. She sniffed the air, and a look of horror slowly crawled over her face.

"What is that? What--how did you find that!? Did that bitch Kerfuffle give it to you!?"

Her face contorted into rows and rows of viciously sharp teeth, her fur shimmering with stripes of black.

"ANSWER ME!"

Sunny watched as she lowered toward him; he laughed softly, as he realized that--from another angle--this could be mistaken for a kiss--an especially lethal kiss, but the idea amused him.

The laugh made Long Night pause, and Sunny took the opportunity--kicking upwards with his hindlegs, he knocked her aside--she twisted through the air, landing on her hooves with catlike grace.

"I'll kill you! I'll fucking kill all of you!" she screamed. "You, and your wife, and your kid, and the whole fucking town!"

"I'm sure you will." Sunny grinned softly, as he reached into his saddlebags. "Say, do you know a fellow by the name of..."

He yanked the pyramid out of his bag. "FLAUROS!"

As soon as he spoke its name, it floated out of his hooves, whirling around, the stone sliding and shifting in impossible ways. A beam of energy shot out of the pyramid, brilliant blue--and it pierced through Long Night, making her screech in pain and terror. Her body sank to the floor...and then rippled and hissed, shifting and twisting until it was unrecognizable. Her hooves lengthened into claws; her body turned a burning orange, striped with black. Her fangs grew even longer, until her face was an endless mess of jagged teeth. Her tail narrowed until it was whip-like, coiling and snapping.

"Sunny Skies," she hissed. "I'll have to remember your name, now. I'm gonna make this last."

By the time she pounced, he was already moving--scooping up the vial as he went. He wasn't sure what it was, but if the Rakshasa hated it, it must be useful.

She slammed into the wall behind him--and he heard it creaking. The metal groaned--and then it gave way. The rakshasa clawed at the grating below her, scrambling away from the abyss. Beneath them, the troughs of blood and sweat and oily slime were starting to leak as they buckled under the strain. The floor was rattling, and at the edges of the room, chunks of it were starting to break off and tumble into the dark.

"Sunny!" Behind him, he heard a crackling noise, and he turned just in time to see the glass break. The awful, foul-smelling ooze spilled out and flowed through the grates, and Petunia coughed up some of it as she struggled to her hooves.

"I've got you!"

She jumped down, and he reached out with his magic, groaning a little as he took the strain. It was just enough to let her land gently.

"I'm with you, Sunny."

"You need to run for it."

"Nonsense. In sickness and in health, right?" She smiled. "Go help Cloudy!"

With that, she turned and charged at the rakshasa, screaming a madmare's warcry.

Sunny ran to the next tank, and gasped as Cloudy jumped down onto his back.

"Don't tell me you want to fight too," Sunny muttered.

"Fuck yes I'm gonna fight," Cloudy said, twirling a knife in her hooves. "What, you think I'd let you get yourself killed?" She hopped off, and ran into the fray; Petunia staggered for a moment as the rakshasa swiped at her, but when Cloudy dug her knife into the beast's paw, it howled in pain.

Sunny turned to the third tank--but Glider was already gone. A moment after that, the pipework above collapsed, crushing what was left of the third tank; there would be no going back for her. Sunny muttered a silent prayer to Luna for safe passage, and grabbed a length of steel pipe.

Petunia and Cloudy were running interference, letting the rakshasa tire itself out trying to chase them. Beneath their hooves, the floor was trembling, and all of the walls had tumbled down. Cloudy yelped as she dodged a falling chunk of wrought iron. They didn't have much time, now.

"Hey! Nightlight!" Sunny laughed, as the rakshasa turned to glare at him. "Yeah, that's right! I'm talkin' to you!"

"I'LL FUCKING KILL YOU!" it screamed.

"Yeah? Come on. Do it. Stack my fucking pancakes."

It screeched and squealed and howled, but soon the noise blurred together into a single, pointless noise. And as the rakshasa threw itself at Sunny, he smiled...and jammed the pipe into its mouth, propping it open. Its jaw strained against the metal, threatening to bring those razor-sharp teeth down on his hoof, but...

The rakshasa felt weightless, as though it were a mere figment of his imagination. He could pin it down with a hoof.

As the rakshasa thrashed, he bit down on the cap of the vial and yanked it off, tossing the red liquid down the rakshasa's gullet.

A low whine filled the room. It slowly rose, in pitch and in volume, as the rakshasa began to glow from within. The floor rattled, the pipes began sliding off into the abyss, and before their eyes the rakshasa melted--skin and fur and bone and muscle, all boiling away, until the last crimson droplets sank through the floor.

"Thank the stars," Sunny said. "It's over."

And then the floor fell out from under them, and they went hurtling into the dark...