After making futile struggles against the changelings, Spring Light gets strapped on by a muzzle, with a red halo-like magic seal placed on top of her head, tied up by their ropes, and wrapped a paper bag on top of her head unable to see where she was going. For the Changelings, they hauled the restrained the Kirin all the way to a nearby village at the end of the burning forest. The moment the Changelings entered the village, they bowed before Queen Chrysalis. Ever since the Dark Lord brought Chrysalis' soul into his Demon Realm, he let Chrysalis regain her former glory. Unlike in the mortal realm of Equestria, the Changelings in the Demon Realm made themselves at home here since they, just like Chrysalis, rebelled against Thorax's wishes to share love with the ponies and the other creatures of Equestria. In order to distinguish from their counterparts, the Changelings in the Demon Realm transformed into their red versions of themselves, granting them the power to wield fire-based Changeling magic at will for impersonation and for fighting.

The moment Spring felt herself stop, the Changelings forced her onto her knees before Queen Chrysalis as one of them makes her announcement in person.

"Your Majesty, we have captured one of the intruders in Luster's group." The Burning Changeling announced as he took the paper bag off the Kirin's face.

The moment Spring looked up, Chrysalis held her up with her chin with her hoof as she made an evil smile.

"Well, I wonder who could this little Kirin be up to, trying to achieve what Queen Twilight did when she was still young?? OH BAH!!" Chrysalis spat. "I doubt a little living firebomb like you will ever live to see the light of the mortal realm."

"Don't think you'd win that easily!!" Spring snarled. "Wait until the others get here!!!"

Chrysalis started laughing at the kirin out of disbelief thinking that they will be no match for her in the demon realm. "I highly doubt that. Now that I finally got my army back thanks to the Dark Lord of this realm, I will regain the strength that was taken away from me and storm into Canterlot from below the surface, claiming that city as my own once again!!! Lock her up in the slave cages!!"

Without another word, Spring gets grabbed by two Changelings as they dragged her into a wooden cage inside a huge hovel in the southern corner of the village.

"Luster, I hope you and the rest of our friends come find me very soon." The Kirin thought as she made a silent prayer.

Back inside the Burning Forest, Flurry Heart, who is still hiding inside the bush, took out her rail gun and looked through the scope in case she sees any Changeling nearby. After surveying her surroundings in a 180 degree angle, Flurry confirmed that the area is clear. However, because she still feels a bit of a sting coming from her damaged wing, Flurry went on the ground with her stomach as she slithered out of the bush, trying to lay low before making her way through the forest once again.

"Man, that was really scary. Now that my wing is damaged, I need to find Luster since she has already studied several lessons revolving around healing magic." Flurry thought. "But I don't know where is she or the others. They could be anywhere out in this dense forest."

Feeling lost and nervous, Flurry couldn't tell if she wanted to crawl through the dirt to avoid being seen or stay in one place, hidden from plain sight. Nevertheless, the young alicorn continued to crawl all the way to a nearby tree before climbing up to the branches. As soon as she hoisted herself up to a thick branch, Flurry cast a cloaking spell on herself so that no one will see her from below the tree that she is hiding in.

Down below the ground, Vecra found herself grunting in pain as she felt her stomach churning. Last thing she could remember was when the changelings are all over her before the yak fell straight into the abyss. The moment she got back up on her hooves, Vecra sees a rocky ground all around her. Up above her, she sees a bit of light coming from the hole that she fell through minutes ago. Oddly enough, the changelings that were overwhelming her moments ago were nowhere in sight. It's as if something else scared them away before they had a chance to finish off Vecra. Speaking of which, Vecra raised her chain-gun up to her side in fright. However, since Vecra is surrounded by darkness, she can't tell if whatever creature scared off the changelings is a friend or foe. The yak still doesn't want to let her guard down regardless. Before Vecra knew what is going on right now, she could hear something breathing and growling behind her assuming that she is going to be next. While sweating underneath her helmet, the yak felt fear in making any sudden movement for it may be her last.

Just when Vecra felt that this could be the last thing she would ever witness, the creature behind did nothing to hurt her as it appeared in a very calm state. It circled around before it came to face Vecra in front of her. When Vecra aimed her chain gun at the creature, it appeared to be an old male Yak with scars on its face and with a sad expression.

"Are you here to get me out of this wretched place?" The old Yak asked Vecra.

"I don't know yet. We were sent here by the Royal Ambassador Spike to rescue Queen Twilight Sparkle. Unfortunately for us, we had a fiasco with a group of changelings earlier. The next thing I knew, a swarm of them were on top of me before I fell into a hole and blacked out."

"You mean those little wimps??" The old yak clarified when he pointed his hoof at a mangled pile of Changeling corpses. "Well, I may be old but I still have some strength left in me to crush those changelings."

The moment Vecra saw the dead Changelings, she noticed that all of their faces were beaten to a bloody pulp, all of them on top of each other.

"Well, I was stuck in this hole too for only Celestia knows how long. Speaking of which, who is this Queen Twilight??" The old yak asked further.

"She happens to be the newly appointed ruler of Equestria. Yes, Twilight ascended the throne in Canterlot after her mentor Princess Celestia stepped down." Vecra explained briefly.

"She's the new the ruler of Equestria?! The last time I could remember was when Princess Celestia was on the throne." The old yak gasped silently. "I guess a lot has changed while I was stuck here, eh?!"

"Why were you down here?" Vecra asked in a curious manner.

"I used to be one of Yakyakistan's most famous monster hunters. But on my latest assignment, I was trying to pursue a bounty of 5 thousand bits which was placed on a horned demon that came from Canterlot's underbelly. Unfortunately, during my time in this realm, I fell into this cave like you did by accident and was stuck here for 5 years before I ran into you." The old yak explained. "I swear, if I ever find my way out of this wretched place, I will quit hunting monsters for the rest of my life and go back to Yakyakistan to retire."

"That's terrible. Anyway, I'm Vecra. I'm sure we can find a way out of here together." Vecra exclaimed before introducing herself.

"I'm Rushauk." The old yak replied introducing himself. "I do think I might be able to find a way out of this cave but I may need your extra strength first. Follow me."

After hearing what Rushauk said, Vecra followed the old yak from behind as she picked up her chaingun and made her way through the dark cave. Luckily, the moment Vecra put on her helmet again, she activated her headlights to see what's in front of her.

Somewhere back in the burning forest, Luster was laying on top of a pile of leaves while Rubeth was keeping a close eye on her and tending to her injuries. After Rubeth was done, he sees an injured, unconscious Luster have a bandage wrapped around her head, with her helmet on the ground a few inches from her face. For Bright, he was hanging on top of a tree branch a couple of feet from where Rubeth and Luster are at while keeping a lookout for any more demons or changelings in the vicinity. After one hour, Luster slowly opened up her eyes, followed by a painful grunt coming out of her muzzle.

"Easy there, Luster." Rubeth said while trying to hold the unicorn gently with both of his claws. "I just managed to wrap your head injury recently."

"Urgh. What happened?? Where's Spring Light and the others?" Luster groaned in pain, unable to get up for a while.

"We don't know, Luster. We all scattered in different directions while you were out cold and Spring got taken away by those red roaches. We're sorry for letting all of this happen." Rubeth explained briefly while apologizing to the pink unicorn. "Flurry Heart has also disappeared again!!"

"DANGABIT!!!" Luster screamed in frustration. "How are we going to stay together if they keep hindering us??"

"Please calm down, Luster. I'm sure we'll work something out. After all, we're a team and we are in this together." Rubeth said, trying to sympathize with the stressed-out unicorn.

"Sorry, but still we're inside a new world that is terrifying than in the depths of Tartarus and we don't know how are we going to get back once we find Queen Twilight. I may be her best student so far but this is too much for me or us." Luster said, feeling ashamed of herself for dragging herself into this mess.

"Well, what would Queen Twilight do if she was in the same situation you're in?" Rubeth asked, trying to help Luster regain her senses.

"She would try to fight together with her friends." Luster replied, taking a few deep breaths.

"Hey guys!! I think I see a village out in the distance!!" Bright exclaimed.

"Which direction??" Luster asked.

"West!! Oh, and I think I see Spring Light there too. Uh oh!! I think she's being held captive!!!"

"Let's head down there to see what is going on in that village!!" Luster told her group as she grabs her helmet and puts it back on her head.

While underneath her cloaking spell, Flurry walked through the forest very slowly so that her movement isn't heard from a mile away. At the same time, Flurry struggled to hold her breath with her hoof so that no demon could hear her breathing. After hiding for several minutes, Flurry continued to crawl from her hiding spot, still cloaked. But she still fear that every step she makes may draw the wrong kind of attention.

No matter, she has already been trained by her father over a series of stealthy exercises back in the Crystal Empire because Flurry was already told that she may need to partake in battlefields that involve stealth if she ever gain the opportunity to rule over the Empire one day. So, Flurry needs to remain confident during the rescue mission. Eventually, Flurry spotted a nearby hedge face the edge of a nearby cliff. Taking her chances, Flurry peeked out from the hedge to see if there is anything she needs to be aware of from the other side.

In one second, Flurry spots a group of changelings eyeing on a group of pony slaves who were harvesting ore from the caves down below her.

"I wonder what kind of ore are they trying to mine here?" Flurry pondered. "Never mind, I need to regroup with Luster and the others as well as having them treat me of my injured wings."

"Flurry, are you there? Flurry where are you??" Luster's voice whispered from Flurry's helmet.

"I'm hiding inside a hedge somewhere at a cliff!" Flurry whispered.

"They got Spring Light held up in a nearby village. We're heading down there to see if we can find a way to rescue her. Have you seen Vecra?"

"No, I haven't." Flurry answered.

Before any creature could say anything else, Luster started hearing a beeping noise coming from her helmet. As she put her right hoof on it, Luster started hearing Vecra's voice immediately.

"Luster, any pony. Is anypony there??" The yak said, distorted.

"Yes, Vecra. I'm here!!" Luster replied. "Where are you right now??"

"I fell into some sort of unknown cave. I found an old yak that is willing to leave the cave with me. What about you??"

"We are still inside the forest a few miles from a nearby village. The village is being occupied by burning Changelings and they have slaves working for them there. What's worse is that Spring Light got capture and taken there as their prisoner!!"

"That's terrible!!" Vecra gasped in horror, fearing the life of one of her friends. "What do we do?!"

"We have to meet somewhere else so that we aren't being watched!!" Luster suggested to her yak friend. "We also may need supplies to treat Flurry of her injuries as well."

"It's fine guys. I'll hold onto to my injured wings until we see each other again." Flurry heart said, eavesdropping on Luster.

"Are you sure about this?!" Luster asked, feeling shocked about Flurry's stubborn will.

"I won't be seen for awhile so I'll be fine." Flurry said. "For now, just save Spring Light."

"Okay. Just try to stay in touch more often."

Back in the village, Spring Light, who is now chained up by the neck, is seen without her marine armor as it was removed and locked up in the village storeroom next to the slave cages. While heading down into the mines, the burning changelings were hauling the captivate kirin with every tug of the chain they're holding with their magic. The moment they stopped, Spring is left with two other enslaved kirin in small, isolated area.

"You are to help those two dig into the mines without question." One of the changelings ordered as he shoved a pick ax to Spring's chest before she held onto it with her right hoof. "And don't you dare try to run or you'll be whip-lashed nonstop!!!"

Feeling despair, Spring had no choice but to do as they say since they stripped her of her equipment and gear. However, since her friends are still out there, Spring can only pray that they will find her very soon. If that happens, the kirin would get revenge on her captors even if she were to burn the entire village of slaves down along with them.

"You won't get away with this!!" Spring thought as she held her pick ax with her mouth before hacking onto the rocks on the mine's walls.

On the east side of the village, Luster, Bright, and Rubeth made it out of the forest and skidded downhill from a small cliff but at a careful pace to ensure that none of the burning changelings would hear any noises. The moment they touchdown to a lower elevation the unicorn, earth pony, and griffon hid behind a nearby slave shack readying their weapons as they held them close to their chests.

As Luster slowly turned to her right, she sees several ponies hauling mine carts out from a nearby cave while being whipped by the burning changelings. After turning her sights away from the scene, Luster quietly activates her intercom to stay in contact with Flurry Heart.

"Flurry, can you see anything from your hiding place?" Luster asked in a whisper.

"I just saw Spring Light wrapped in chains as they dragged her into the mines, along with several other ponies." Flurry whispered back in a reply.

"I may need your help in providing distractions!" Luster told the young alicorn. "Stand by."

"I'm on it!!" Flurry grinned as she aimed her railgun, with its barrel sticking out of the bush she's hiding in.

In her sights, Flurry can see three burning changelings whiplashing a group of slaves whom are hacking several veins with their pickaxes without delay. Grunting in pain, the slaves can only beg mercy from Faust before they die. However, Flurry is eager to save the slaves from captivity at the request of Luster Dawn. In her crosshairs, Flurry sees a cart full of dynamite that isn't used yet which is placed on the left of the tunnel's entrance to the underground mines with only two Changelings guarding it with their lives.

Grinning underneath her breath, Flurry slowly squeezed the trigger of her rain gun as it shot out a blue beam of light at the dynamite cart. As the beam struck dead on, the mass explosion surprised the burning changelings in fright as they were all sent flying backwards into the tunnel.

At the same time, the other changelings heard the loud noise from their barracks before they flew down to the tunnels to investigate. In the confusion, the slaves didn't know what is going on as most of the changelings left their posts. Before they knew it, Rubeth, Bright, and Luster swooped in from their hiding place as they grabbed and teleported the slaves away from the worksite, bringing most of them into the forest.

While using her magic to release the slaves from their chains, Luster asks one of them the whereabouts of her captured friend.

"Has anyone seen a kirin here? Anypony??"

As the slaves looked at each other, they shook their heads not knowing anything about a kirin being held up in the village. No matter, Rubeth did his best to keep watch over the slaves inside the forest while Luster teleported herself and Bright back to the village to continue her search for Spring Light.

At the village, Luster and Bright reappeared behind another slave shack close to the entrance of the mines. When Luster slowly peered around the edge of the structure, she sees a group of burning changelings trying to help recover their disoriented comrades. Luster grinned as she turned to Bright before nodding the earth pony. Seeing Luster's gesture, Bright ran up to a nearby mining cart and kicked it with his hind hooves as it is sent crashing into the burning changelings with a big smash. Upon impact, the changelings all splattered into smashed up corpses before Luster and Bright went inside the tunnels while reloading their guns.

After seeing Luster and Bright disappear into the tunnels, Flurry teleports herself to another vantage point where she can give them both covering fire. This time, the young alicorn reappears right above the tunnel's entrance, in-between two jagged rocks where her railgun can maintain balance on top of. As Flurry went into position, she summoned a plasma canister to reload her railgun before concentrating at any burning changelings heading their way.

"Flurry where did you go?!" Luster's voice spoke from Flurry's ear-bud.

"I'm holding position right above the tunnel's entrance!!" Flurry responded as she held her ear-bud with her left hoof.

"Okay. Just don't let any burning changelings enter the tunnel. Shoot them down if they get too close!!"

"Copy that!!!"

Heeding Luster's request, Flurry Heart remains on top of the tunnel entrance while holding her railgun straight and true.

Once Luster and Bright are inside the tunnels, they activated their flashlights coming the right temples of their helmets before proceeding into the dark mining shafts. Even though there is torches lit up on their right, they're still not bright enough to illuminate the rest of the tunnel since most of it is still dark; not to mention that there is burning heat waves coming from deep within the complex layout.

For several minutes of descending into the tunnels, Luster and Bright find themselves in a huge area where more underground tunnels are leading to deeper parts unknown. Worse, the Burning Changelings and demonic imps are patrolling the tunnels in groups of 6, while about 12 of them are watching over the slaves to ensure that they do not slack off. As much as Luster wanted to help free the slaves, she still has yet to confirm the location of her friend Spring Light.

Since their ammo is limited for their weapons, Luster and Bright did their best to stay out of sight by hiding within the shadows of the tunnel's interior. However, because the imps' hands are glowing with a fiery red and that the changelings have glowing red eyes to see in the dark, Luster had to use a shadowy cloaking spell to make sure she and Bright cannot be seen.

When one enemy patrol got closer in about 20 meters, Luster cast a black spell engulfing herself and Bright as they both completely disappeared in an instant before the burning changelings got close. Just like that, one changeling scans the tunnel right where Luster and Bright were at using its red-light screen up and down. Seeing that no creature is here, the burning changelings and imps move on.

In the next two minutes after the enemy patrol disappears to the other side of the tunnel, Luster cancels out her spell before she and Bright reappeared again before moving on.

As Spring continued to mine for ore using her pick ax, one of the changelings heard some clanging noise from a distance away behind him. Distracted, the burning, bug-eyed creature flew away from Spring to her left. The moment the kirin notice this, she immediately held her pick ax to her chest before quietly leaped into the shadows to her right, seeing her chance to escape.

When the burning changeling sent to guard of the kirin tried to investigate the suspicious noise, he was met horn thrust into the right side of his skull by a stalking Luster Dawn. While lurking in the tunnel's shadows, the pink unicorn stabbed the changeling in the head with her horn, ending the enemy creature's life as his green blood came spilling from his head wound, dripping onto the rocky ground right where he was standing.

As Luster pulled her horn back, the dead changeling collapsed onto the ground before Luster and Bright continued their search for Spring. When they head towards where the burning changeling came from Luster almost got hit by a oncoming pick ax from the shadows only for the unicorn to stop the weapon from striking her using her magic in an instant.

"Luster, is that you?!" Spring gasped as she appeared from the shadows, still wearing her armor.

"Yes, its me you idiot. You almost hit me!!" Luster snapped before Bright shushed her, aware that there is still enemies within the tunnel complex.

"Sorry about that. I thought you were another one of those changelings." Spring said, apologizing for her foolish reactions. "Say, what happened to the others?"

"Well, Vecra got separated from our group and Flurry Heart is covering our exit. For Rubeth, he is helping the other slaves escape this wretched village."

"Do you have my weapons?" Spring asked, feeling exposed and empty-hoofed.

"Bright does. Well, you still have your magic, right?!" Luster said, feeling ashamed that she didn't find the kirin's plasma gun during their scour around the Village of Slaves.

"Oh yeah, right." Spring said, almost forgetting that she still has her natural born powers as a kirin. "Though, I need somepony to help me with these restraints."

Upon seeing that the Kirin still has cuffs clamped shut onto her front and hind hooves and her horn trapped inside a magic seal, Luster's horn hits up while still wearing her helmet as she showered Spring with her magic. In a small, silent light screen, Luster was able to remove the cuffs and the magic seal off her kirin friend before Spring rubbing her front hooves in releasing the pain coming out of both of them.

Next, Bright took out the plasma gun from his backpack before handing it to Spring. Upon seeing it, Spring's horn lit up as she held onto her plasma gun once more, reloading it with another plasma cell that is in the outside, front pocket of Bright's backpack.

"We may need to rescue as many slaves from this dark tunnel. Ever since I was dragged in here, I started to hear some ghostly cacophony that is coming from deep within this complex. It was making me shiver in fear!!" Spring chattered in fear.

"Well, whatever it is, I hope we can get the slaves out of here before whatever is down here comes after us!!" Luster said, sweating underneath her breath.

Once Spring is free from her restraints, the runes on her horn lit up as she proceeded alongside Luster and Bright as they continued their trek down the mines to help free the slaves.

As soon as they find themselves in an open, cavernous area down below the tunnels with small streams of lava coming down from above the underground ceilings. All around them, they see a huge walkway spiraling from either side lead down to the darkest levels, with huge, tall scaffolds standing next to them. Before they can proceed any further, however, the group spots a horrible surprise from a mere distance away upon hearing the scary whispers silently echoing through their ears. When Spring's horns lit up in a red-dim light to see an immense demonic-like skull jutting out from down the dark pits above them. It happens to be a titanic pony head with huge horns jutting out from both sides of its temple. However, the rest of its body is still buried underneath the dark pits. Luster sees that the slaves brought in this tunnel are being ordered to dig out bits of dirt surrounding its neck while others are excavating black ore from the veins all around the cavernous area underground.

With taking a keen look at the massive pony skull, Luster could see a burning orb flowing from inside its hollow eye sockets. She may not know what that thing it, but for some reason, Luster had a bad feeling that the burning changelings are obsessed in that huge, demonic pony skull for some scary reason. It wasn't long before Luster started to hear the ominous ghostly whispers coming from that skull she sees below her, realizing that it may be what Spring is talking about. However, Luster still needs to keep it together for she still has to help her friends free the prisoners here before sending them away from the Demon Realm.

Luster took a deep gulp before she leads her two friends to her right, ensuring that they trot quietly down the spiraling walkway to their left. In making their cautious trek to one of the slaves, they had to watch their right since that side has a very steep edge. All it takes is one slip for Luster or one of her friends to fall straight to their death in the dark depths. Nevertheless, they have to stay strong in rescuing these innocent creatures dragged in here against their own will.

Instead of using their firearms, Luster and her friends take turns in silently killing the Burning Changelings and Imps looming over the slaves. With moderate, swift movement, Bright raises his right, armored hoof as a small blade jutted out from underneath before stabbing the changeling in the neck.

With the blade penetrating the Changeling's jugular veins, it gurgled as green blood came down from his neck and all over its red body before Bright gently lowered it down on the ground. As the changeling bled to death, Bright's assault rifle became active again after the dead creature spewed out several ammo clips. Once Bright's mounted weapon is loaded, he smirked with sheer confidence in firing his gun once again.

For Spring, she rammed a nearby imp who didn't have the time to react when the kirin smashed the demonic creature with her pick ax, piercing its skull with the tool's curved-pointy blade. Once the imp went down and disintegrated in a fiery flash, several more plasma cells appeared as they got absorbed into the kirin, refilling her plasma gun in the process.

When it is Luster's turn, her horn lit up the moment she sees another burning changeling approaching them from the abyss down the spiral walkway. Before the changeling could see it coming, Luster snarled at it as she aimed her horn at the creature. As soon as Luster's magic went around the changeling's neck, the creature immediately heard a snap that occurred when his head got forcefully twisted. Just like that, Luster breaks the changeling's neck like a twig before it collapsed onto the smooth, rocky floor in front of her. As a result, a small bundle of shotgun shells appeared before the pink unicorn as they flew towards her, reloading her shotgun instantly.

With most of the burning changelings and imps dead, Luster and her friends are able to free about 15 slaves from the mines. Once that is done, Bright volunteered to help escort the slaves out of the tunnels as he left the area along with them. However, by the time Luster freed the slaves that are at the dark bottom level of the cavernous area before letting them meet up with Bright Vermillion, she started to hear low growling coming from the huge, demonic pony skull itself. The moment the skull snorted, Luster could feel it flowing through the back of her mane as her blood started to turn cold. In the next second, Luster is getting a frightful chill crawling up her spine. Luster froze immediately, thinking that the demonic skull is about to get on top of her. Since she is a couple of feet behind the huge demonic skull, Luster could hear some very intense but silent, ghostly voices that made her sweat in terror.

Not wanting to look back, Luster cautiously walked away from the skull that she is hearing the scary voices from. However, it wasn't long before Vecra and Rushauk appeared as they both smashed their horns together, creating a huge gaping hole that appeared in front of Luster.

"Hey there Luster, what's uuuuuuuuuu-AHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!! GIANT MONSTER!!!" Vecra said, waving at Luster only to see the giant, demonic pony skull behind her, much to the yak's fright.

"Vecra, not so loud!!! We are in........" Luster said, trying to shush the freaked out yak.

Unfortunately, it was too late as the demonic skull started to shower itself with a huge-flaming aura that came from within its eye sockets, covering its entire face into huge hellish flames that illuminated the entire tunnel. Before they knew it, the flames disappear all from the demonic pony skull only for Luster to turn around to see an even more horrifying appearance. It is now seen as a huge, demonic pony face with eyes are bright-red as the volcano and with huge teeth as sharp as tall, wooden stakes. The huge demon now glared at Luster, Vecra, and Rushauk with terrifying malice in its eyes. He wasn't happy to see them inside this dark cavernous complex.

When the huge demon's eyes narrow with horrendous fury, it let loose one thunderous roar. At the effects of the demon's roar, the entire tunnel is rumbling violently as rocks are coming down from above the cavernous ceiling. At the same time, Luster, Bright, and Spring started to gasp as they fell backwards during the vibration in sheer terror.

For the rest of the village outside, it started to cause quite an earthquake as the burning changelings nearly lose their footing, forcing them to take flight above the ground. The slaves are all blindly running scared as they immediately fled out of the tunnel and running out of the village impulsively. For Rubeth and Flurry, they exclaimed in horror as they could hear the loud roaring from a mile away.

While still on top of the tunnel entrance, Flurry could feel the vibration on top of her body as she struggled to maintain her balance while aiming her gauss rifle at any enemy interlopers. So far, the white alicorn only sees the slaves exiting out of the tunnel. However, Flurry has yet to confirm the situation that Luster Dawn and her friends are in back inside the tunnels.

For Rubeth, he did his best to watch over the slaves as he sees them approach towards his position in the burning forest while holding up his super shotgun in both of his claws.

In fact, even Queen Chrysalis could hear it too. However, ever since her minions discovered the huge demonic pony skull deep inside the tunnels years ago, during the time the dark lord brought her soul into the demon realm to regain her powers, it gave Chrysalis a wild idea much to her crazed excitement. She already came up with a plan to have the captured Kirin be brought into the tunnels not just a slave but also as living bait to lure in the rest of Luster's group where they will run into that pony demon trapped underground in the tunnels.

"I think that will be our cue to leave!!" Chrysalis smirked as she carried out her order to her fellow changelings.

"What about our slaves? They're all escaping!!" One of the Burning Changelings spoke.

With her eyes narrowed, she makes a cool reply without causing any further scenes.

"We're always going to get slaves from elsewhere. Besides, with Luster inside, we might as well seal this tunnel off. She'll never get out of that place alive." The changeling queen cackled.

"It will be done my lady!!!" The burning changelings exclaimed in unison.

In response to Chrysalis' orders, a group of 6 burning changelings and 8 imps ran past her and headed towards the tunnels that Flurry is guarding. Upon seeing them close in, Flurry opens fire with her gauss rifle, blasting some of the changelings and imps as they disappeared into a bloody mess of green and red goo. In Chrysalis' surprise, she sees that her most of minions and her demonic allies are all turning into a nasty mess of limbs all over the tunnel's entrance after getting shot at by Flurry's gun.

"WHY YOU LITTLE.......!!!" Chrysalis snarled as her horn lit up in a bright-red color. As soon as her horn charged up, it starts to fire a massive yellow-red beam at the white alicorn above her.

"UH OH!!" Flurry gasped as she withdrew her gauss rifle before her horn lit up with magic. Just as Chrysalis' beam is about to hit the white alicorn, she let loose a huge, yellow shield barrier that warded off the Changeling Queen's attack.

"Luster!! You've got trouble from above!!!" Flurry shouted as she spoke through her communicator on her helmet. "The burning changelings are trying to seal you and your friends in this tunnel!!"

"YOU TAKE CARE OF THEM, FLURRY!!" Luster's voice shouted back in a frantic tone. "I'm having trouble down below here already!!!"

Upon hearing Luster's panicked tone, Flurry didn't understand what is going on down in the tunnels. As much as Flurry wanted to teleport herself right where Luster's location is at, she is too preoccupied right now for the alicorn is coming face-to-face with Queen Chrysalis of the burning changelings.

Before long, Flurry jumped off from the top of the tunnel entrance before she lowered herself into an aggressive stance before facing the demons and the burning changelings alone.

"Hello Flurry Heart. Remember me?!" Chrysalis sneered maliciously. "I had you held prisoner in my kingdom above the surface many moons ago along with your mother and father!!"

"Wait, what??" Flurry gasped in confusion.

At first, Flurry didn't recognized the big female changeling as it approached her slyly. However, Flurry's eyes widened with shock before she recounted the images of her past back at the Crystal Empire.

"No way!! You're actually here too, in this twisted realm??!!" Flurry shrieked in horror.

"You heard me, my dear!!" Chrysalis added in, cackling like a maniac. "If you want to see your auntie again, you might as well face me first!!!"

Back inside the tunnels, Luster, Vecra, Spring, Bright, and Rushauk got up on their hooves immediately after the roars and vibrations stopped. Not a moment too soon, two two ponies all making a run for it as they are trying to head up back to the surface after seeing the huge demonic-like pony face at the bottom of the level. However, it is a long way up to the entrance in which is going to be a challenge for every pony and creature.

When the demon started bellowing in anger, several rocks came down from the tunnel's ceiling, destroying most of the tall scaffolds as the huge boulders came crashing down on top of them. Luster and Spring both used their magic shield barriers to keep the falling rock from crushing their friends and the elder yak. However, the falling rocks is the least of their worriers as a massive, swirling red-orange portal appeared above the huge demon pony face.

In Luster's aggravated fright, it unleashed lost pony souls, possessed royal Guards, imps, and cacodemons that immediately came after them from behind. On the run, the possessed guards and imps are hurling all sorts of fire-based attacks at Luster, Spring, Vecra, and Rushauk. However, Vecra was able to blast several of them with her mounted chain gun as the barrage of endless bullets turned them into bloodied corpses filled with holes the size of beehives.

"Keep going every creature. We have to get out of this tunnel!!" Luster shouted as she blasted another imp with her shotgun, the moment it came down from the ceiling above her.

As the shotgun blast ripped the imp apart in two, three possessed earth pony guards appeared from a hellish portal on Luster's right. Once they stepped out and snarled at Luster's group, they raised their spears at them and charged head-on.

However, Spring Light was able to advance forward past Luster and fired her plasma gun at the possessed guards. With the stream of superheated plasma cells showering the guards in their faces, their heads exploded into a bloody mush of splattered brains and shattered bone pieces as they fell all over the spiral floors.

Once the possessed guards are down and out, Luster and Spring pressed on while Rushauk made several stomps with his hind hooves, making the imps and possessed guards that are chasing them from behind lose their balance. As a result, the two groups of footsoldier enemies started to tumble backwards while several of them fell off the edge of the spiralling walkway.

However, more Cacodemons appeared hovering as they spewed out huge fireballs at the Luster's group from their left. In response, Luster cast a long-wide shield barrier to block their fireballs from hitting her or her friends as well as from hitting the elderly yak while continuing to run up the tunnel walkway.

"We're almost there!!" Rushauk grunted as he leaped forward, pouncing on top of a nearby possessed guard earth pony and crushing it into a bloody pulp with both of his front hooves. After that, Rushauk then he comes face to face with a pegasus guard-revenant who just appeared from a red-pillar of electricity.

Just before the revenant opened fire with its small-mounted rockets, the eldery yak sneered in fury as he small a huge, fast leap towards the pony demon.

"OH NO YOU DON'T!!!" Rushauk roared as he pounded on the Guard-Revenant in its skull-like pony face, breaking it into a million bone shards before it feel face-flat on the marble walkway.

Rushauk still isn't satisfied with his kills just yet. When three more Pegasus Guard-Revenants appeared from the electrical red pillars, the elder yak immediately leaped up into the air as his huge shadow loomed on top of all three pony demons. Before they even had a chance to fire their rockets or take flight with their fiery wings, the Guard-Revenants are all met with a bone-crunching body slam caused by the huge, elderly yak. Once he was on top of them, Rushauk smashed all of their skulls into the rocky floors with several powerful stomps with his front hooves.

Upon seeing Rushauk's brutal attacks, Luster stood there startled by such an act of aggression. It may be just how the yaks used their method of "Yak Smash" as part of their tradition but here, Luster thought for sure that the demons in their nightmarish realm will blast Rushauk apart before he had the chance to act. But for some reason, the huge yak is more faster than he looked.

"HOLY TARTARUS, how the hell did you managed to take down those demons so fast?" Luster gasped, seeing that the elderly yak just smashed the guard-revenant with its strong hoof.

"I was a demon hunter sent into this realm a few years back. I'll explain later, though. They're still after us!!!" The elderly yak said briefly before proceeding further to the tunnel's entrance.

Hearing what Rushauk said, Luster, Spring, and Vecra did their best to keep up with the elder yak while shooting their weapons at the demons and possessed ponies chasing them from behind.

Back at the Burning Forest, most of the escaped slaves are seen hiding in the woods along with Rubeth and Bright, who are readying their weapons in case any creature or demon is about to close in on them. Rubeth couldn't help but feel concerned over what was all that bellowing and vibration coming from below the surface of the Demon Realm.

For Bright, he did a visual scan with his helmet all around the burning forest. Thankfully, there isn't any other creature lurking out in the woods for now. However, Rubeth and Bright still have to be on their guard since the demon realm is no place for an innocent creature that is being forced into enslavement.

While Luster's group is struggling to get out of the tunnels, Flurry continues to block more of Chrysalis' magic. Unlike for her previous fights back in Equestria, Chrysalis' magic was shooting out torrents of inferno-like spells that is inches away from burning Flurry Heart alive.

With her yellow shield warding off the inferno spells coming from Chrysalis' horn, Flurry could feel the sweat coming down on from her mane as she is feeling the heat rupturing her defensive spells. In a few seconds of struggling against Chrysalis' inferno spells, Flurry screamed in rage as she repelled it with a yellow ray of widespread light that blinded the Changeling Queen.

"GAH!!!" Chrysalis exclaimed as she held her right hoof to shield her eyes from Flurry's screen of magic.

Before she was able to regain her sights, Chrysalis was blasted with a powerful rail slug coming from Flurry's gauss cannon which sent her spiraling into a nearby slave hovel. Upon impact, Chrysalis disappeared in a big smash as the hovel structure collapsed into a pile of building rubble. At first, the burning changelings felt horrified to see their queen get pummeled again. However, Chrysalis was able to punch her way out of the fallen rubble before she took flight 10 feet above the ground before she glared at Flurry in frustrated anger.

"IS THAT THE BEST YOU'VE GOT??" Chrysalis roared in fury before she dive bombed Furry like a missile aiming towards its target.

The Changeling Queen wraps herself into a huge, flaming arrowhead-like silhouette before descending straight into Flurry's position, aiming at the alicorn with the tip of her crooked horn.

Again, Flurry raised her yellow shield barrier up high in hopes of halting Chrysalis' dive bombing attack.

*SLAM!!!*

*BOOM!!!*

Upon impact, Flurry grunted as she struggled to push back against Chrysalis' powered charge. With the yellow barrier and the huge, flaming encase Changeling collided against each other, Flurry could feel herself getting pushed backwards slowly as she is getting a big headache while gritting her teeth in fighting against the Changeling Queen.

"RRRRRRAAAAARRRRRRGH!!!" Flurry screamed as she lifted both of her front hooves upon before letting loose a nova-like tremor that shoved Chrysalis back.

The moment Chrysalis fell backwards again, she is met with several more rail slugs coming from Flurry's railgun, forcing her to dodge every shot while up in the air, flapping her red-fiery wings vigorously. Even when seeing the Changeling flying in up in the red-orange sky, Flurry didn't give up in shooting at Chrysalis. Since she has yet to find a way to heal her wings, Flurry did not bother taking flight. Instead, Flurry did her best to hold her ground in front of the tunnel entrance, refusing to move aside.

As Luster and the group sees the light coming from the exit of the tunnel, a swarm of 20 lost pony souls got in the way only to be met with a heavy stream of shotgun blasts, chaingun fire. Just when most of them zeroed into the group in faster speed, the kirin stepped in and fired widespread heat blast coming from Spring's plasma gun's attachment mod.

With one squeeze of the plasma gun's trigger, Spring fired a wide burst of super heated waves of plasma energy that reached out a short distance of 5 feet. Ultimately, the burst took out about 13 lost souls as they all disintegrated into small explosions, in the size of baseballs.

Once all of the Lost Souls have disappeared after getting shot at, the huge demonic pony face came out from the shadows behind Luster's group and furiously roared at them. This time, it hoisted himself upwards using both of his massive hooves to move up the spiraling walkways inside the dark underground tunnels. Every time the huge demon reaches out one hoof towards the group, it lets out a huge stomp that is shaking the entire tunnel instantly.

"You've got to be kidding!!!" Spring shrieked as she sees the huge pony demon climbing closer from the dark abyss.

"RUN!!!" Luster shouted at the top of her lungs, ordering the entire group to head outside at once.

Seeing this, the group immediately disengage the demons and possessed guards in front of them as Luster cast a huge shield barrier around herself, Spring, and the two yaks, bashing their way past their enemies. For the huge demon, it continued to pursue them as he reached out his massive hooves towards Luster and her friends.

When Luster's group are able to get past the enemies standing in their way, they met their demise when the huge pony demon opens up its huge jaws. With the tunnel shaking violently due to the pony demon's massive hoof stomping, the possessed guard ponies came rolling downhill, along with the imps and guard-revenants. Before they knew it, the massive demon swallowed most of the demons and possessed guards that it just summoned with one massive chomp, leaving behind a huge stream of blood spilling all over the spiraling walkways.

Of course, Luster and her friends didn't bother looking back for they can't really picture how gruesome it is when getting eaten alive by a giant demon hibernating below the underground tunnel networks. While on the run, most of Luster's group didn't bother firing another shot when being chased by the huge horned pony demon since it will just slow them down before they get eaten alive.

After evading several more shots from Flurry's railgun, Chrysalis attempts to do another dive bomb attack upon the white alicorn when all of a sudden Flurry could hear the frightening voices of Luster's group coming out from behind her. Just when Chrysalis is getting closer, Luster shouts out at Flurry.

"FLURRY GET OUT OF THE WAY QUICK!!!"

The moment Luster, Spring, Vecra, and Rushauk finally came out of the tunnel's entrance, they ran to the left as Flurry teleported herself away from Chrysalis' charging range.

As soon as Flurry disappeared in a yellow flash of magic, the huge, horned pony demon's face appeared out of the tunnel's entrance with its massive jaws opening very wide. Upon seeing the huge horror appear before her, Chrysalis' eyes widened with shock as she is about to accidentally fly straight into the massive jaws of the giant, demonic pony face.

"WHAT THE?! YAAAAAAAAAAAGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHH!!!" Chrysalis screamed in horror as she tried frantically to flap her wings in reverse, attempting to stop herself from blindly charge forward from the air.

*CHOMP!!!*

By the time Chrysalis turned around to fly away from the huge hungry pony demon, it was too late as the huge demon jaws clamped shut right on top of the Changeling Queen, trapping Chrysalis in its mouth.

"YOUR MAJESTY!!!!" The burning Changelings screamed, seeing that Chrysalis has disappeared into the huge jaws of the demon.

In sheer terror, they see the huge demon belch with satisfaction, still clamping its jaws shut. The demon then pulls withdraws its head back into the darkness of the tunnel networks disappearing from sight. Not standing around, the burning changelings frantically flew back into the tunnels in hopes of rescuing their Changeling Queen before she gets inadvertently digested by the pony demon.

As for Luster and her friends, they all took a breather while seeing the burning changelings all disappear back into the tunnels.

"That should buy us enough time to help the rest of the slaves escape this twisted realm." Luster pointed out. "Let's get out of here before they come after us!!!"

Seeing the changelings distracted, Luster's group and Flurry made their way out of the Village of Slaves to meet up with Bright and Rubeth.

Back in the Burning Forest, Rubeth and Bright led the slaves to a nearby small stone altar where they see a blue portal in the middle of the half-buried platform. At first, they felt hesitant of going through the portal because there is still a chance that it will take them somewhere deep within the demon realm. However, one of the slaves is practically staving due to the fact that they haven't eaten for several days when being put into slavery by the Burning Changelings. Thankfully, Bright still has some Crimson Zap Apples inside a small bag tucked within his backpack.

As soon as he dumped the apples in front of the slaves, they started grabbing as much as they could gouging themselves out of desperation. Bright couldn't blame them for only Twilight knew how long have they been trapped in this world for. For Rubeth, he few up above the trees now that his wings are finally healed from all of that burn injuries. Once he was on top of one tree, he could see from a clearing behind them that Luster's group is finally approaching them.

In just 30 minutes later, Luster and the rest of her friends are finally able to make it back to Rubeth and Bright. Though, they still have to think about how are they going to get the escaped slaves out of the Burning Forest. When Flurry notices the portal, she fired a beam of her magic at it in hopes of knowing where the portal will accurately lead to. In a startled surprise, the portal is another shortcut that leads back to the main gates of the Demon Realm, back to Canterlot's palace.

However, since Luster and her group still have a long ways to go to rescue Queen Twilight, Rushauk volunteered to lead the escaped slaves to safety.

"Are you sure you want to do this, Rushauk?" Luster asked, showing concern for the elder yak.

"What choice do I have?! I'm done demon hunting." Rushauk said, feeling breathless after all that running, leaping, and smashing. "I maybe old but I still refuse to hold back when facing foul creatures like that."

"If that's true, what were you trying to hunt here?" Vecra asked in curiousity.

"Well, there was a tall monster walking on two huge legs. It was armed with a giant cannon that fires multiple rockets that lies somewhere in the far northern fringes of the Demon Realm. They said that they guard the battlements of the Hell Keep for it is where the Dark Lord currently lives at. I used to be accompanied by a team of demon hunters as well, mostly yaks. We were sent by the Royal Family of Yakyakistan to hunt down those monsters and destroy the Keep. We managed to reach Hell's Keep and took down several of them, but we were immediately overwhelmed by the endless waves of the lesser monsters dwelling there. As a result, we were not able to accomplish our mission in destroying that demon fort. When we tried to escape from Hell's Keep, most of my team was eliminated and I was the only survivor left, being forced to hide underground for 10 years until now." Rushauk explained briefly.

"That was terrible!!" Spring said, trembling in fear.

"Hell's Keep is nightmarish stronghold that you all might as well stay away from in the Demon Realm. The Northern Fringes surrounding that fort is very dangerous."

"Dangerous or not, we still have our mission to rescue Queen Twilight from the Dark Lord." Luster Dawn said, feeling confident and determined once again. "They may be tough and relentless but since she's my mentor, I'll do anything to help the queen!! Anything."

"Well, if you happened to stumble into the Hell's Keep, you might as well take this!!" Rushauk added in as he handed down a small, orange pony skull. "This happens to be a skull key used to unlock the gates that lead to Hell's Keep!! Keep this with you since my mission in destroying the hell keep is now yours. So, if you think you can do this then try not to make the same mistakes that I did, okay?!"

"I know I won't Rushauk!!" Luster said as she took the skull with her magic before putting it inside her backpack. "Take care of the slaves!!"

"Thanks Luster!!" Rushauk acknowledged as he leads the slaves to the blue portal. "See you back to the surface!!"

Rushauk was the first to go through the portal. Once the eldery yak disappeared, the other slaves followed him from behind in a single-file line. As soon as the slaves all disappeared, Luster, her friends, and Flurry Heart continue on their journey to the Northern Fringes of the Demon Realm.

Author's Note

I apologize for the long chapter. I thought for sure that since I barely got any reviews or likes from this story, I would have it cancelled or on hiatus. Nevertheless, I should at least try to finish up on what I had started years ago, on the day I posted Luster's Knee Deep in the Dead.

I already had other important stuff to take care of anyway, such as finding a job worthy of my career goals in accounting and helping my parents maintain the house.

Anyway, thanks for reading MLP and Doom Fans. I'll be back to posting more on this story periodically.