It has been thousands of years since Twilight began her reign; since they froze the evil three in stone.

The elements were never meant to turn flesh into stone, yet, they did it twice.

And for that, the giant price was paid.

“TWILIGHT, NO!” the hellmare screamed, watching as her best “friend”went through the agony of turning into stone. The terrifying look on her face. The words she never got to say…

Who was this hellmare, you ask?

You’re listening to her. It’s me; I’m the hellmare. At least that’s the name I gave to myself when the pain erased my real one from my memories.

Besides, what name better suits a mare who is serving her sentence in hell?

Reliving the same moment, feeling all the pain and suffering, emotions and regrets; unable to change anything.

The sins I never noticed before they became obvious. All the good I did wasn’t enough to pay for them and now they finally caught up with me. They forced me to live through that moment, to see all the bad I did at that party again, and again… and again… and again.

ARGH!

Sorry-sorry. It’s wrong for a lady to lose her patience… and mind.

Who am I kidding? I lost my mind when I lost her. Even now I’m talking to MYSELF TO KEEP COMPANY!

Sorry. It’s been so long.

The light?! It’s… Light! I can feel!

“I’M ALIVE!” I screamed as my body fell to the ground.

Is my sentence over? Why does everything hurt so much? Why is it so cold and bright?

I looked back at my body. I even forgot what colour it was… white. A cutiemark? Was it such a faded blue before? I may have spent an eternity in the stone, but I can always recognize a bad design… What is that?!

“Ahh!,” I screamed as I saw something grey hanging on my leg. That’s-! My voice… It’s been so long, I’d forgotten how it sounds.

Immediately after I screamed, something struck my leg, and whatever the grey thing was that I'd spotted hanging onto it shattered into a million tiny pieces that were now dirtying this weird room.

The room was uncomfortably white. Glowing lights were all around, and the weirdest part was that everything else was straight from the renaissance age, there was a bucking chandelier! Even a table had those hideous clippings depicting unknowingly what.

“Tschh! Princess, we have to go!” said somepony above me. His voice wasn’t very deep, and it sounded friendly. I guess any voice would sound friendly after an eternity spent in stone.

Princess? No-no. I’m not? Twilight! I forgot about her!

I just wanted to open my mouth, but immediately was cut off. All the friendliness disappeared as he began pulling me. I couldn’t do anything better, but try to comply. Even breathing was painful, and I’m not going to mention my hooves. My body wasn’t ready for trotting.

“Darling!” suddenly burst out of me. I didn’t know why I screamed it, but it felt so natural. “I maybe don’t know what’s going on, but I’m still a lady!” I lied, not wanting to talk about my poor physical situation — lack of exercise, a poor habit of eating too much ice cream and a really long time spent like a statue.

He didn’t stop, even the opposite. For sure it would’ve caused my hooves to have bruises. We quickly dashed through a set of rooms, each one of them as weird as the first one; each one of them made in a totally different style: renaissance, modern, or at least what I remembered it to be, pre-celestial with all of those hideous protruding shapes and even prehistoric room made from solid rock! Who in their mind would carve a couch out of rock?!

He suddenly stopped and looked straight into my eyes. “I do not care who you are right now!” His blue eyes were shimmering with something awfully familiar. “If we're still here when they arrive — we’re worse than dead!”

Dead? So I’m still alive after all and it’s not another circle of hell? “Who are ‘they’,” I asked softly, trying to calm him down and order my thoughts. It didn’t seem to work as the fur on his face became wet with disgusting sweat. Only now did I realize that he was wearing a hooded mantle, covering most of his body.

A herd of loud steps appeared from behind. “He meant us,” said someone dully. They sounded just wrong, unnatural. The only thing I felt in their voice was suppressed rage and anger. Nothing more nothing less.

Turning around, I saw a bunch of weird, bulk creatures. Their appearance brought a fun thought in my head — they looked like someone decided to cross Bulk Biceps and a hamster. Almost giggling, I noticed a weird shimmer coming from their necks and eyes. Different colours each, but nothing else seemed to be different.

“Fuck,” the pony who saved me said sadly.

My face turned red and I slapped him. “Don’t you dare to use curses near me!”

He facehooved as a few of those 'Hamster-Biceps' chuckled.

A few minutes later, we were thrown into some semblance of an old jail cell. At least the decor wasn’t that bad. Although the absence of a toilet and separate beds alarmed me. And rust on the jail bars suggested that the room was over-humidified which was really bad for my mane.

“Ok. Listen, we’ve got…” he pulled off a sleeve of his grey mantle, which was the same as the colour of his skin. Tasteless. A weird light appeared above his hoof, “thirty minutes. After that, it’s a point of no return and you can wish the future bye-bye.”

What is that thing? It looked fabulous, and those lights — more glorious than Manehattan at night! But what was that about the point of no return? And more importantly, what the hay is going on? So I asked him that.

He raised an eyebrow. “You really don’t know, do you?” His eyes widened up as a realization hit him. “That probably means good… maybe. Listen, In half an hour, our RC… I mean vessel leaves, and that is our only wayout! And I had other things to do here, but right now, you’re my priority.”

He seemed rather similar to Twilight. Not his appearance, but the way he does things, the way he talks, explaining all the smart stuff. The way he walks in circles trying to figure what to do now. The way his eyes twinkle when he looks at me.

“Vessel? Are we in the sea?” I asked nicely, “And what will happen if we’re too late?”

He suddenly stopped and looked into my eyes again. His eyes didn’t seem so blue anymore, they more resembled a colour of violet, adding a point into a piggy bank of his similarity to her. But one thing reminded me that he was far away from her; the shimmer — it isn’t hers, just a close replica.

“Slavery, probably rapes and many other things a sick mind can come up with,” he broke the illusion and my train of thought. What was bad about it was the way he said it, like it was nothing, old news.

Pardon? They are going to do what?!

“Don’t worry, I’ll find us a nice way out… Just need to get to that lever,” he explained. Outside of our old-styled prison, I saw a comically giant lever with a red ball at the end.

How cliched… “Let’s get out then!”

“Didn’t you just hear me?” he asked, probably questioning my sanity.

It’s been… sometime. Hope it still works.

With a simple thought, my horn lit up with a pale bluish light. A soft, barely seeable aura enveloped it. It is surely harder than I remember. Years without practice, I guess.

Sweat began showing through my fur which made me question my decision, but in the end, it wasn’t a matter of beauty, but rather a matter of life and death. Beauty can wait.

“What are you…?”

The same aura encompassed the lever, and it began creaking, resisting to go down. But I wasn’t about to give up.

If I learned at least one thing from her, it would be that you should never give up, especially if there are friends depending on you. I looked back and smiled at his shocked face.

Rusty bastard gave in with a loud click.

I almost fell to my knees, but it was done. Bars slid into the ceiling making our way out free.

The floor met my exhausted body with dirt, dust and drops of my sweat. This disgusting mix became my friend for the next few minutes, while I was rejuvenating.

“Good job! I have no idea what you just did, but we’ll talk about it later. We’ve got to run!” He complimented me and helped me up. A few seconds later, we left the cell and I began following him while he was, as he said ‘orientating environmental map’ on his wrist.

It took us some time, and by his words, we took a ‘stealth’ approach. Although it seemed like we were just walking without any goal. Choosing random doors, suddenly stopping and waiting for no real reason, or even just walking into a broom closet and waiting for minutes!

The only reason for not complaining I found was all the rooms we visited. And more importantly their designs. They all were poorly decorated, but they all were from different eras and the number of unknown unique styles suggested that time I spent in ‘hell’ was longer than I thought.

And then came the weirdest room I ever saw. Pure white box made out of metal plates. A giant gate-like wall. And thousands of, for the lack of a better word, weirdly shaped structures with unique markings on each.

He began banging on a beat-up structure. This one had "RC42gTS" written on it. It also stood up amongst the others because of its smaller and more flattered shape. And it's a disgusting swamp colour.

It really reminded me of a sparrow. A prolonged head. Small wings that are slightly thinner than the body. But it also had a note of something similar to pegasi. Twilight would probably call it 'aerodynamical'.

Something grey in the corner of the room caught my attention.

There was something familiar. Something like a statue that stared right into my soul, at least one of its eyes.

Those eyes… Why is it so familiar?! The Gala… She ruined it for me? Who is she… Why do I remember her and that weird dress?!

Like a sudden flash of a camera, my mind sparked. DERPY! How could I forget this cute muzzle, those beautiful yellow eyes and grey skin… Now it is all gone? She can’t be dead! I’m alive, so should be she, right?

I dropped to my knees and hugged her hooves. She was frozen rearing, with a smile on her face. Even the dirty floor couldn't stop me from embracing her. Her body was hard as stone and it was painful, but I couldn’t let go of her.

Oh god, is she going through the same thing as me?!

"Derpy! Can you hear me?!" I screamed at the statue. My new friend stopped banging on the vessel and turned his attention to me.

The door next to him opened with a loud creak, and he began calling me to come quickly.

I tried to move the statue, but it appeared to be too heavy to even budge. Magic wouldn’t help either. All I could do is to hope.

"I'm sorry Derpy. I'm so sorry. Just keep in there, wherever there is." Tears began dripping down my cheeks. I wished I could soothe her pain.

I began slowly turning around, my insides were screaming 'no!', but the body kept moving. My tears turned black as the millennial mascara washed off my face, leaving a black trail under my eyes.

I looked at him with that 'pathetic face', and I could see that he felt a fragment of what I was feeling. He cringed a little but pushed me into that thing.

He looked at me. His face was taken over by a frown. "Listen. I understand that she also might be alive, but we can't help anyone if we're dead, but I guarantee you, I'll do whatever is in my power to help you and her. That is my promise." He threw another quick sight behind my back and his muzzle turned into horror. The door closed with another creak, trapping us inside.

"What? Why?! Where's the ship you promised me? How the hay being trapped inside of this metal box help us?!" I continued sobbing, thinking about Derpy and others who might still be alive, living through their worst nightmares with nothing they can do. If hell exists, then this is it.

A head of a griffon appeared from behind a corner. "Whaaaat? Who is your new friend?" I easily became jealous of his happiness.

Loud clanks began coming from the door.

The pony stepped further into the ship, "Not now! J, get us the fuck out of here!" He immediately turned to me, his face crooked and rightfully so. "Sorry... I'll explain everything later. Now, please step towards this window and enjoy the scenery. I believe it might provide a smidge of explanation." He pointed at a little oval window.

Wow. It's like a… blanket with billions of gemstones sparkling with any colour imaginable.

At first, I kept looking directly at this blanket. It was beautiful, like she was. But then I realized that we were moving through it. "Are we in space?"

He nodded.

"Twilight and Princess Luna used to speak about it a lot. Even I sometimes took inspiration from it…" That dress she didn't want to leave. The one I made for our first Gala. The one she wore on our last Gala.

He came to me and gave me a white rag. It had some yellow stains on it, but I guess it was better than walking with smeared mascara.

Weird sounds began coming from the door, and it seemed like it became red and deformed. The pony whose name I still didn't know, rushed to, what I assumed, was the front of the spacecraft-vessel thingy. I plodded behind.

"J!" He screamed aggressively, but with a soft lining. It was a tone similar to a married couple who roast each other with love.

'Don't start now' type of voice, I giggled in my mind.

Griffon, whose name, or probably a nickname, was J, was laying on the cold metal floor under a big metal table. By a large amount of glowing and flickering buttons, levers and symbols, I assumed that the table was something like a control panel.

"I'm trying to fix that damn thing!" he loudly struck it. "One of the thrusters isn't responding, and I’m afraid if we turn it on it might brick for good!" His claws were wiggling all around, moving differently coloured wires similarly to sewing. I twitched every time they sparked.

Unnamed pony began walking in a really small circle, trying to jumpstart his train of thought and not to hit a wall. "Fuck! We can… no. We should… it won't work…" he continued mumbling under his breath as the strikes from the outside intensified.

"Fuck it! Just launch without it, chances of it failing are better than whatever might happen if they breach the airlock," he said and immediately pulled the griffon from under the table, helping him get up.

A button was pressed and the ship sped up.

The space moved around us as the ship 'sailed' through it. Gorgeous. The big dim blanket with millions of gems, each one of them willing to tell a story.

I need a notebook.

I asked for one.

"Hmm… you can use this; I guess? Be careful with it, this thing is expensive! " He handed me a swamp coloured bracelet. I noticed that it was the same as the one that he had on his hoof. "Why do you need it?"

I put it on, disgusted by its colour. "Do you have a blue one?" I stared at him, waiting for the answer, while he was staring with the same reason. "Right… to be fair, I didn't want to answer that question because I don't know how to… just looking at that picture makes something in my head shine. It makes me want to note it and use it for something later… "

He squinted his eyes and pushed his bracelet. Floating light appeared a few centimetres above it. Quick few presses and he lowered his hoof."If you want to know how to use it, you can check a guide inside. And what's wrong with its colour? It’s lovely!” He sounded almost offended.

Swamp colour…

A griffon's head appeared from behind a corner. "You can easily change that disgusting colour via any console.'' He burst out laughing when the pony turned to him with fuming eyes.

I get a feeling that Mr. Unknown has some interesting relations with griffon… Though it brings up a question.

I whipped my mane, smoothing it with a hoof. "You never actually told me your name.”

He raised an eyebrow. "Are you sure? Well, my name is," he said while travelling to a little white fridge, similar to one I once had. Sadly, his journey had to end without reaching its final goal.

The sheep suddenly shook, sending him into a flight, and soon he crashed into the very same fridge. It swung open hitting his unconscious body and revealing tons of booze-like bottles.

Not even a single elegant bottle… I need to focus!

"Goddammit, they are onto us!" the griffon screamed from the front of the ship. His voice was really stressed that it felt like it was about to jump off a cliff into the pit of madness. "Goldy! They hit the fucking thruster! It went offline!"

Ahm… oh no?

I slowly went around the corner of the ship and said softly, "I have some bad news about your friend."

Weird name, but I guess it's unique like mine… what was my name… A sudden panic of existential crisis flooded my mind. I should have a name, right? I'm… I'm…

"Fuck!" J pulled me away from my thoughts. "Get into the suit and go out there!" He pointed at a dark corner. A pony-shaped costume was standing there, looking right at me. "I don't know what's wrong with the thruster, but try redirecting the flow around the broken part… if it isn't helping, then use a flux tube. Understood?"

Unknowingly why I nodded.

What a load of gibberish was that? What did I agree to, a trip in the open space? It can't hurt, right? And why do I keep asking myself stuff I don't know?!

Not wanting to face embarrassment or death, I approached the suit. Lights around me immediately turned on and the suit began 'shining' with its green-purple colours.

Around the place where the head should be, was a big bubble made of a weird material similar to some kind of fabric and cellophane. With each movement of the ship, that bubble jiggled. On the place where the pony's cutiemark should be, was a picture of a wrench with "Rotlock'' written below it.

Eugh… they couldn't choose better colours? Or just some better designs in general? It is what it is, it isn't time to be picky, but really?!

Fighting my own disgust and the suit, I put it on. It was rather tight, especially at the back. My horn also was stretching the helmet-bubble. Tail, surprisingly, was hanging through a hole in the suit. It was rather comfortable, and I was grateful to those who created it for deciding to leave the tail outside of the costume, otherwise, it would ruin my tail and make it extremely uncomfortable.

Please, don't pop… why couldn't they make it suitable for a unicorn?!

"So, how do I look?" I approached J. He threw a quick look at me and all of his stress just vanished. Instead, laughter took over. Still, somehow he was controlling the ship without even looking forward. "Just get to the airlock and hang on tight."

How the hay did I become a laughing stock? I was a lady! Yes! That's it! I was a lady.

Turning around and hitting him with my tail, I stepped over Gold's body and approached the door which was called an airlock.

Wait. Airlock. Air-lock. Air lock. Does this mean it locks the air?

The answer came quickly. The airlock burst open and soon I found myself hanging on the other side.

A lot of pain flooded my body. I looked back and saw its source — my tail grasping the pipe, blocking an airlock from locking. If my tail hadn’t stuck, I would have probably just flown into the open space and gotten lost forever. ‘Pain for salvation’

Panicking, my brain began working like it never worked before. Eyes looking around, searching for a solution, hooves jiggling around, looking for something to grab on.

My scream and the sounds of metal would've spread around if there was air for it. My hooves did find something to hand on, sending another stream of pain.

Ouch!

I grabbed for whatever just hit my hoof. My body stopped wiggling, and I finally was at peace. If you can call pain and fright peaceful.

I turned around and my tail got free. Airlock finally closed and I was sealed outside. There was some good news. The pain left my croup. Although my hoof continued itching and every move brought some torture.

Looking back, I hoped that everyone inside was fine and that while the airlock was open, it didn’t suck all of the air.

And the very next second, I was reminded why we were running and why I was outside at all. Lasers flew past me, almost hitting the ship, but with a quick manoeuvre, we dodged it.

I turned around and saw a small fleet of ships. Most of them were the same — bulky constructions similar to eagles. Slightly crooked cockpits of faded yellow colour. Unlike the ship I was on right now, they were taller and more spacious. And all of them had weapons, big things shooting towards us with their beams of light.

One of them was unique. A ship more similar to a falcon with its thin massive wings. A lot of, what I assumed, thruster on each. And black as space itself front.

All of them were threatening to kill me with a lucky shot.

Ignoring the pain, I began climbing towards the thing that was sparkling. I assumed that it was the broken thruster. Thanks to the handrail thingies, it was rather easy, but the pain was awful, worse than that one time when…

With a flashing memory of the past, about some group of fillies, a thought struck me.

Oh god. If I fail, are they both going to die? Not even just them. Derpy, what will happen to her?! Is Twilight still alive? What if she is still turned into stone, reliving her worst nightmares? There must be others. Those ponies that flash through my memories. I have to save them! If not me, then who?

There is no other explanation for why I woke up — fate must have plans for me. And if I fail now, those plans will be ruined… Gold and his 'friend' J. Whatever is between them will also be over… I can't let that happen, can I? I can't die now. Not until I see her smile one more time.

Screaming internally, I continued my mission.

So this is the thruster? I'm not a mechanic, but I'm sure that those wires shouldn't be hanging out exposed like that. I should've asked how to fix this thruster…

I sighed.

My memories were the only thing I had then, and something did resurface. Mind is a weird thing.

A crusaders party, whatever it is. The party where I got shocked so many times… The one I really didn’t want to attend. If I can carefully put together and…

With a few easy telekinetic tricks, I twisted the wires together, grouping by colour and it seemed to work. At least they stopped sparkling. But still, that thing didn’t want to work.

Hmm? What's that?

I looked back at the thruster. There was something glowing right next to it.

A little shiny stone was stuck between the thruster and the hull of the ship. I slightly pushed it with telekinesis, and it flew from there like a bullet, hitting me in the face, bringing even more suffering.

The thruster began erupting purple fire and I assumed it meant that everything was ok.

Ships began to slowly fall behind as I began my venture back through space.

A laser hit me in the leg which almost forced me to let go of the ship. Pain surged through my body once again, but it didn't feel like usual, it was dull and calming, almost pleasant.

A sudden feeling of warmth and comfort erased all the pain and thoughts that were filling my mind. It became hard to breathe. A big lavender glowing silhouette appeared in front of me.

T-twilight, is that you?

I tried to scream, but almost nothing came out. I didn't even feel my mouth moving.

Twilight, slightly higher than me, horn as pointy as a needle and hair as beautiful as evening, came closer and lifted my face with her gentle soft hoof. I could feel it's warmth on my face. That very warmth.

"Rares…" She spoke everywhere and nowhere at once. Her voice was calm and beautiful like I remembered. The voice I couldn't get mad at no matter what. "You have to save them… "

The void-black space and the ship my body was barely hanging onto were becoming even darker. Twilight became blurry. I began shaking.

"Save them? But Twilight, they are too far away, and I heard that they are made out of hot gas!" I told her with a weak, almost drunk voice.

Twilight looked straight into my eyes. Tears were running down her cheeks. Then, she looked behind me, at the fleet, her horn lit up. "I'm so sorry…" She gave me a kiss and her horn blinked.

"Aghhh," I shouted as yet another wave of pain shot through my body. Twilight disappeared, leaving nothing behind. I looked back at my leg and saw a hole in it. It was awful to be able to see through it. At least blood wasn't leaving my body. I felt dizzy.

A sudden angry, harsh voice burst into my ears, "Get the fuck back!" It was Gold.

The sleeping beauty finally decided to wake up.

I finally saw something important. A hole in my bubble-helmet. I was barely breathing, but I wasn't ready to believe that Twilight was a hallucination. She was there, I knew it. And if she wasn't, what are my reasons to live? You have to save them… What did she mean by that?

"Bwah!'' I finally entered the airlock. Gold kindly opened it for me, rubbing his head. Booze hit the head. I almost chuckled at my own joke through panting.

Dropping on the ground, I began coughing. My throat, as well as the rest of my body, hurt as hay. My head was spinning, and I couldn't leave the floor. That beautiful metal floor.

"Go-go-go!" Gold screamed and almost immediately my body felt the dash of the ship, trying to throw me back into the open space.

I turned over and lay on my back laughing. "We survived! Hahaha. Haha. I'm never going back there!" I raised my hooves in the air, happily waving them.

Gold raised his eyebrows. "Yeah, I guess we did… Most ponies usually are more excited about spacewalks. He looked at me, judging" I guess you have your reasons… are you feeling alright? "

I saw the J looking around the corner. He looked pretty shocked.

"Yeah! Better than ever!"

He coughed a few times. "That's what I thought… Can you quickly stand up and lay on that table?" He pointed at a small green room next to where I took the suit.

I asked him, almost laughing, "Why?"

"Well, soon, the effects of adrenaline and drugs from the suit will wear off, and I can guarantee, you won't like feeling additional holes in your body."

Through the agony, I fell asleep on the ‘medtable’, as J called it. They promised that it would make things better.

But that pain was nothing compared with what was to come. As I fell asleep, the scene of Twilight's soft, kind smile on that last Gala of ours came back again.

Author's Note

Hope you liked reading it!