Unbound

Hovering down through darkness, Luna landed on cold stone once more amidst purple-tinted light.

She scanned around the area. Typically, the first room of a floor was safe as far as she remembered, but she hadn't gotten this far by being careless.

The slab covering the opening to this floor resembled something from a tomb or mausoleum. It was an apt comparison, she now realized. Bones and skulls sat forgotten within intricately carved nooks in the stone walls. Candles spewing unnatural purple flames adorned grimly decorative pillars, and a pervasive smell of death lingered in the air.

Hearing the sound of wings and a faint magical hum behind her, she turned to find her companions slowly floating down after her. As they all landed and took in their new surroundings, a palpable sense of unease clung to them.

“I can’t believe I’m about to say this,” Applejack said, “but I think I miss that basement place.”

“Cool mood lighting and all, but just what are we supposed to be doing here?” Rainbow Dash droned. “And please tell me somepony has a better idea than just look around and see what happens.”

As they usually did, the group shifted their attention to the most knowledgeable and dependable among them. Twilight quickly blanked, and so shifted to look at her wise former mentor. However, even Celestia sported a clueless expression.

“Well…” Celestia’s smile twitched. “Any suggestions, sister?”

“To be completely honest, I thought you would have something in mind,” Luna admitted. “Perchance, do you have any ideas, Isaac?”

The boy could only shrug.

Rainbow Dash’s ears drooped, as if any hope was slowly draining from her body. “You’ve gotta be kidding me…”

“This isn’t an exact science, I’m afraid,” Celestia explained. “If we are to discover some way of breaking Isaac free, we must explore every avenue available to us. Seeing as we searched everywhere else a long time ago, looking around and seeing what happens is the most sensible option.”

“At the very least, we can look for that skull room or anything else different from the other floors,” Twilight said.

Luna nodded. “An excellent suggestion, Twilight.” She cast her gaze to one of the doorways around them and stepped closer. “Be on your guard, everypony. There is no telling what foes we will encounter.”

“Surely it can’t be any worse than what we’ve seen already.” Rarity suppressed a shudder at some unpleasant memories as the group pressed forward.

Creeping into the next room, the ponies all halted as more candles flashed to life within, illuminating the area. Ever cautious, they scanned the area for threats—and froze when they found them.

Half a dozen figures shuffled aimlessly around the room. Pale, desiccated skin hung loosely from their bones, and they wore some sort of masks over the tops of their heads. A wave of nausea swept over the group as they realized they weren’t masks at all: Rather, they were half of the skin off their faces, pulled away from their skulls and grinning teeth. Fleshy growths covered one of their arms, forming a sort of whip.

Rarity flinched back, her whole body tensing in refusal to the abominations she was witnessing. “It’s so much worse! It’s so much worse!”

One of the creatures, which had sharper teeth and a single, slitted eye encased in the blackness within its open jaw, turned and spotted its newest victims. It lashed out with its hook-like appendage. The fleshy whip stretched clear across the room and came down toward the group.

Pinkie, Rarity, and Fluttershy screamed fearfully and dove to the sides. They narrowly dodged the whip before it crashed into the floor with a menacing snap, cracking the stonework.

The creature reeled its arm back and prepared to strike again. Twilight and the others started to rally their counter attack, when Celestia and Luna beat them to it. As a second strike from the flesh whip came down, a scintillating barrier of blue magic flashed around them, blocking the attack.

Once her opening came, Celestia shared a nod with Luna and lit her horn. The younger sister dropped her shield, allowing the elder to let loose a fiery beam of energy that completely annihilated the gazing creature. Celestia then shifted her head, crossing the beam over to the rest of the monsters and burning them to ash, leaving behind a smoldering line in the walls.

As the room fell silent, Celestia dimmed her horn. A relieved smile formed on her face. At least the monsters here were still killable.

“Well met, sister,” Luna said. She turned to see the others picking each other up from their sudden evasion. “I trust everypony is unharmed?”

Fluttershy took a moment to rest her racing heart. “Do mental scars count?”

“They should,” Rarity grunted as she looked up from the floor, surprised to see Isaac offering her a helping hand. She took the boy’s aid in getting back to all fours before brushing herself off.

Just then, a hint of movement caught Twilight’s attention. She looked over to the center of the room, where an object was gently floating down and settling to the floor. It was a card.

“Hey, look at that.” Twilight pointed to the item in question. The others turned to find her picking it up and floating it over to her waiting hoof.

Rainbow Dash perked up as she recognized the pattern on the back of the card. “That kinda looks like the card I got from that machine.”

“You mean the one that made you all sparkly and fast?” Pinkie asked.

“Yeah,” Rainbow added. She hummed with intrigue as another thought occurred to her. “You think this one does something cool too?”

“Given where we are, it’s a possibility,” Twilight reasoned. “If we only knew what it did.”

“Let me see it, Twilight. Luna and I encountered many useful items throughout our journeys with Isaac. Perhaps it’s something we would recognize?” Celestia suggested.

As requested, Twilight hovered the card out for the older alicorns to see. Celestia took it in her own aura and held it closer. On its surface, a depiction of a sun with a face was shining down on some other beings like Isaac. The letters “XIX” were written along the top.

Luna’s eyes flashed with recognition, and a pleased smile formed. “Ah, the sun card.”

“The sun card?” Applejack skewed her expression. “You say that like it’s a thing.”

“It’s a tarot card, one of several,” Celestia explained. “Normally, they are used for fortune telling, but here they hold miraculous powers. Judging from your description of what happened to Rainbow Dash, you are already familiar with the chariot.” She turned back to Twilight and handed off the card again. “Hold onto that, Twilight. The sun is one of the more useful cards.”

Twilight stared at the artistic rendering on the face of the card. She offered Celestia a puzzled look briefly before poofing the item away into her magical inventory. “Alright, if you say so. I suppose you are the leading expert.”

“The moon card can be useful as well… Not that I am jealous.” Luna cleared her throat uncomfortably. This earned a restrained giggle from the others, and a less restrained giggle from her sister.

“At any rate, let’s keep moving, shall we?” Celestia took the lead toward the leftmost door. After seeing what was lurking in the shadows of this floor, the others were hesitant to press on. However, they were too deep in to quit now.

As they fought on through the cursed halls of the mausoleum, the group met stiff resistance. Even with Celestia and Luna alongside them, the ponies had to push themselves further than they ever had just to stay alive.

Rotten bones possessed with occult energy, demons bound in twisted flesh, all these and still more terrible foes stood in their path at every opportunity. It was as if the chest itself was rousing its darkest forces to stop them from freeing its prisoner.

The room flashed with purple light as chilling flames spewed forth. Twilight jumped back, her hooves skidding across the stone floor as she faced her foe. Burning purple eyes met her stare from within a black, horned skull, and more flame gathered in its fanged maw.

Sounds of battle rang out around her. Magical zaps, shouts from her friends, otherworldly growls. Twilight tensed her jaw and lit her horn. “I don’t have time to deal with you!”

A bolt of magic rocketed toward the demonic skeleton. However, just before impact, a white bubble of light pulsed around its form. The blast was completely absorbed, and the monster wasn't even scathed.

Twilight’s eyes flashed with surprise. She looked to the side, following a thin strand of the white energy coming off the skeleton to its source. Off in the corner, a pale creature dressed in ceremonial robes with pure white eyes was seemingly creating this invisible shield.

“What the…?” Twilight muttered before snapping her gaze to the demonic skeleton. It growled once more and stalked toward her, gathering flame in its mouth for another attack. She spread her wings and retreated just in time for the spray of flame to miss her. “Princess, I could use some help!”

Another series of magical zaps came from the other side of the room, where Celestia stood back to back with Luna. Both alicorns were firing at a horde of figures similar to the red, skinless walkers. Only, these ones were purple, and they had a melted appearance about them.

“I have my own problems right now, I’m afraid!” Celestia shouted in reply as she blasted one of the creatures apart. Its goopy form split into two piles of writhing flesh, and each of these piles soon reformed into another exact copy of the creature that joined the advancing horde.

“And it would seem that the problem has doubled!” Luna added as she and her sister backed away.

A few terrified screams briefly drew the sisters’ attention to the side. Fluttershy and Rarity were running as fast as they could away from more of the purple creatures, with Pinkie trailing behind and Isaac riding atop her back.

Pinkie panted heavily as she skidded into a turn along a wall. She looked over her shoulder, only to spot the horde steadily gaining ground on her. Even with Isaac constantly firing tears behind them, any creature that fell would merely split into different piles of goo and regenerate faster than he could dispatch them.

"C'mon, Isaac, it goes against every bone in my body to say this, but: cry harder!" Pinkie shouted.

“I’m the one who’s going to cry in a minute!” Rarity squealed over the unearthly choir behind her. However, one such monstrous groan abruptly came from in front of her, causing both her and Fluttershy to skid to a stop.

Both mares seized up in fright as one of the creatures shambled toward them. Pinkie nearly collided with them, gasping as she noticed the threat far too late. Isaac’s eyes widened.

Then, before the monster could reach them, it sailed into the air, sent on its way by a powerful kick from Applejack. There was no time for thanks, however—no sooner had her hind hooves landed back on the floor had more of the creatures surrounded them.

“Land sakes…!” Applejack cursed under her breath and backed closer to her terrified friends. She tried bucking away each monster that got too close, but even the ones she dispatched merely multiplied and soon rejoined the mob. “There’s too many!”

“Somepony help!” Fluttershy cried. She hid her face in Pinkie’s side as the gaping maws and glowing eyes approached, misshapen hands reaching for them.

“Comin’ through!”

A familiar voice came from above. Before any of them could even process it, a cyan blur crashed through the group of monsters in front of the group. A rainbow contrail was left amidst a sea of flying piles of purple gunk as each creature lost cohesion, and soon enough, a path had been cleared for them.

Applejack blinked at their abrupt rescue before looking around at the piles of goo, which would soon rise again. “Come on, girls! Let’s get outta this corral before the bulls come back!” She took a stunned Fluttershy by the hoof and rushed ahead. Pinkie and Rarity quickly followed suit, distancing themselves from their enemies once more.

Up in the air, Rainbow Dash looked down and saw her friends fleeing. She offered them a quick salute and a smirk before shifting her eyes ahead, only to widen them at a spout of purple flames shooting up.

“Woah!” She beat her wings hard, coming to a dead stop in the air just before the column of flame. She could feel its unnatural cold trying to snuff her out.

Looking down, she found another demonic skeleton like the one Twilight was fighting. While its twin was busy spewing fire over the shielded alicorn, this one was free to shift its focus to new targets.

Rainbow growled and zipped around the beast as it spouted more flames at her. It followed her with its head, but she was faster. She got around behind it, and swooped in for the kill.

“Alright, you little pyro! Take th—”

*Thunk*

“Ow!” Rainbow jolted back in the air as her swift kick slammed into a freshly apparated barrier. “What the…?!”

She followed a string of translucent energy from the shield around the skeleton. It led across the room, where a second stream was also heading to the other skeleton. Both these strings of light originated at a tall, robed figure.

“Rainbow! Go for that tall one!” Twilight shouted from within her magical bubble. With her skeleton constantly attacking, she couldn’t drop her shield long enough to retaliate.

Seeing her true target, Rainbow Dash steeled herself. “You got it!”

Before another spray of flame could come her way, she swooped up and away from either of the skeletons. She headed straight for the corner, where the pale robed figure stood, trembling with the terrible magics it was releasing.

As the pegasus approached the figure, it cast its sightless gaze up at her. With a high-pitched warble, it fired out a shimmering white projectile at her. Rainbow deftly dodged this attack and closed in for a devastating blow.

With a mighty yell, she spun around and kicked out her hinds, striking the creature right in the head.

The monster slammed backward into the wall, its body crumbling like ash upon impact. In an instant, only its flattening robes were left to drift to the floor.

The minute the robed figure fell, the beams of energy leading to the two skeletons faded, as did their shields. Rainbow grinned and beat her wings harder, zooming straight toward the monster keeping Twilight on the defense. She crashed into it with both hooves stretched out, sending its bones scattering.

“Oh, yeah! Who’s the best? I’m the best!” Rainbow pumped her foreleg in the air. She turned to start to engage the remaining skeleton, and grunted as something crashed into her.

As she was knocked to the floor, she looked up and flinched back at a melting visage of purple flesh, with one burning eye staring down at her. A disturbing groan came from the creature’s open maw, and the stink of death blew into her face.

While the horror on top of her was chilling enough, Rainbow felt her blood run cold as she heard the sound of flame gathering. She looked over, her pupils shrinking at the sight of the last skeleton closing in on her, already preparing to attack.

“Ohnonono—!” Rainbow yelped and covered her face with her forelegs. It was too late for any other recourse.

But instead of the expected flames engulfing her, a shimmer and a crack rang out as magenta energy exploded into the skeleton. The demonic visage of fangs and flame was instantly broken apart.

Rainbow squinted open an eye. “Huh…?” She looked up in time to see the purple form on top of her getting whisked into the air by a magical aura. Hearing hooves approaching, she found Twilight rushing over and offering her a hoof off the floor. She breathed a sigh of relief. “Phew… you really saved my tail, Twi.”

“Don’t mention it.” Twilight smiled in return. She then hardened her expression as she looked up to the creature floating in her aura.

In one swift motion, she tossed it to the floor in front of her and blasted it into paste. However, much to her surprise, instead of spreading into multiple piles of goo and regenerating, it actually remained inert.

“Of course…” Twilight’s eyes flashed with realization. Hearing more groans and magic discharging, she turned to find the royal sisters still struggling with the purple horde. “Celestia, Luna! Keep breaking them apart! They can’t regenerate forever!”

Still locked in battle, Celestia stole a look around the room. While it was true that there were still many of the fleshy creatures, some of them were starting to fail to regenerate.

Seeing this as well, Luna’s eyes twinkled. “I see… In that case, shall we make it a contest, sister?” she asked as she picked up her pace, discharging bolts of blue energy every other second.

Celestia picked up her pace to match her sibling, wincing at the added strain on her magical stamina. “Shouldn’t we be taking this more seriously?”

A smirk flashed across Luna’s features. “I don’t see why endeavoring to dispatch more of these creatures isn’t taking things seriously… unless you’re afraid you might lose?”

“Very well…” Celestia huffed, though a slight smile formed despite her exertion. “Although, you might be disappointed by the result. If my count is accurate, I’m already in the lead!”

Any smugness Luna harbored quickly vanished. She returned to her efforts of thinning the horde, now motivated by more than mere survival, but perhaps by something more daunting: the thought of losing to her sibling.

The others all watched as the room filled with magical zaps and flashes of blue and yellow light. Twilight assisted a little bit, but she barely needed to at this point. Most of the creatures had lost their ability to split apart, and the few that still could were quickly pushed beyond their limits.

Soon enough, the room fell silent as one final monstrosity exploded into charred purple gore. The ponies were breathing heavily after yet another pitched battle, but otherwise unharmed.

Luna brushed a strand of her mane back into place and rubbed her temple to ease an oncoming headache. After looking around to ensure nobody was hurt, she turned to her sibling. “I felled thirty two… Perchance, how many did you count?”

“Is it really all that important?” Celestia replied.

“Ah… so, you came up short, did you?” Luna smirked before adopting a more lighthearted expression. “Shall we call it a draw, then?”

Celestia walked over and gave her sister a firm hoofshake. “That seems fair.”

“Hey, everypony! Over here!” Pinkie’s voice drew the group’s attention over to her. She was standing beside Isaac over by one of the doorways leading out of the room. She pointed ahead and waved at them. “I see that skull room up ahead!”

“I’m not entirely sure if that’s something to get excited about, dear,” Rarity said.

“Why not? It means we’re closer to gettin’ outta this death trap,” Applejack replied.

The group made their way over to join Pinkie and Isaac in the next room. As they were walking, Rainbow Dash moved closer to Celestia and leaned in to whisper in the alicorn’s ear.

“You know, you actually killed thirty three of those things,” Rainbow said.

Celestia smiled and glanced toward her sister before leaning over to the pegasus and whispering back. “Oh, you know that, and I know that, but I don’t think Luna needs to know that… at least not until later.” She winked.

Rainbow Dash gave a restrained chuckle before falling silent. Any levity soon left her as they found their friends all standing in the empty room before the skull door.

Even this far in their journey, a firm sense of unease came over the ponies from simply staring at those pulsing red eyes. Each time they crossed through that door, they had faced one of the most terrible enemies they had ever come up against, with each one surpassing the previous in either power, repulsiveness, or both.

Twilight sighed tensely. She tried to step forward and take the lead into the room, but she found herself hesitating. “Here we are…” She stalled.

“I wonder w-what’s in there this time?” Fluttershy quaked at the mere thought.

“Truly, there is no telling,” Luna said. “I just pray it is not as bad as some of the things we’ve seen, like that bloated—”

“Now, Luna, let us not add any more trauma for them. I’m quite sure they’ve seen more than their fair share of horrors in here already,” Celestia suggested. She looked around the group, her eyes shifting between each of them before settling on Isaac.

The boy was standing in front of Fluttershy almost protectively. While he was doing his best to hide it, she could detect some trembling in his form as he stared headlong into the dark room ahead. He truly was as clueless as they were about what could be within, and that in itself was frightening.

Celestia walked over and craned her neck down to their young companion. “Isaac… Do you remember what we promised you when we first met?” she asked.

He looked down in thought for a moment, his features softening as he did. Looking back up and meeting her eyes with his own shimmering orbs, he nodded.

The gentle smile Celestia was known for faded as she continued. “We told you we would help you get out of here, no matter how long it took. I’m afraid it has taken far longer than we intended…” She looked back, sharing a sad look with Luna before facing him once more and putting a hoof on his shoulder. “But, if there is a way out for you through there, then we will face whatever awaits right alongside you.”

Isaac’s mouth fell agape as he looked around at all the ponies’ warm expressions. Craning his head up, even Fluttershy was pushing her fear aside long enough to beam down at him and nod. His eyes sparkled, and he sniffed once before wiping his excess tears and clenching his fists as he faced ahead with newfound determination.

With Isaac leading the way, the group slowly entered the skull door. Wings twitching, horns buzzing with energy, muscles tensing, they all prepared themselves for whatever monstrosity they would have to face next.

What greeted them instead, was an empty room. Empty of monsters, at least.

Sitting in the middle of the room, across a floor covered in blood, was a single stone pedestal. Like all other pedestals of its type they had seen, it held an item floating above it.

The item in question was a wrinkled piece of paper with inky scrawls across it.

“What the…?” Twilight muttered. She cautiously approached the pedestal while the others stayed back, untrusting of the silence.

“And here I thought this place couldn’t confound me anymore,” Luna mused.

“Careful, Twi. What if this is like when Isaac’s mom ambushed us?” Applejack said.

Twilight glanced back to her friends. “I don’t think that’s the case. Usually, things don’t show up in these rooms unless there are no monsters.”

“Speaking of things, what the hay even is that? Some kind of note?” Rainbow Dash gestured toward the scrap of paper.

Seeing her friends’ curiosity growing, and unable to deny her own intrigue, Twilight closed the rest of the distance to the pedestal. She reached out with her hoof, hesitating before the paper. After getting a nod of assurance from Celestia, she picked up the note and drew it back.

As she did so… nothing.

No monsters, no giant legs stomping down, just nothing. Although she was confused, Twilight brought the note up and began to read.

‘Dear Isaac…’

The further she got into the note, the more her eyes intensified. A soft gasp escaped her, and she lowered the paper before turning around. Everyone else was staring at her, but the one she was focused on was the boy at the front of the group.

“Isaac… I think this is meant for you,” Twilight said, gently holding out the note.

Isaac slowly walked up to her and took the paper in both hands. He read the look in her eyes—sympathy, sadness, shock. Anxious as to what could have caused such a reaction, he began to read for himself.

The moment he did, something stirred within him. He recognized the handwriting. It was messy, rushed in places, and faded with age, but he knew who had written it: his father.

After he finished, Isaac lowered the paper from his eyes and stared into the middle distance. His brows furrowed, and his pensive gaze shifted side to side before suddenly lowering. His lips began quivering, and a few tears dropped to the floor. Not weaponized balls of water, but the genuine article.

“Isaac…?” Fluttershy spoke gently.

Rarity and the others began slowly approaching the boy. “Are you alright, darling?”

Before they could get a response of some sort from the boy, the ponies paused as the room began to shake. It wasn't as violent as what happened each time Isaac died and they were shunted from the chest, but it was enough to get them to steady their footing.

Along with this, a bright light slowly filled their vision, blotting out everything else.

“What’s going—” Applejack started to ask, but before she could even finish, the ground stopped shaking. The light vanished.

A sound like breaking glass filled the room, almost like a flash bulb from an old camera. Accompanying this noise, was an echoed masculine voice.

“I spent it. It’s gone. Just get over it!”

Soon after, a familiar feminine voice responded.

“What do you mean? What do you mean it’s gone?! How could you have spent our savings?!”

With that, the voices faded, leaving an uneasy silence to fall over the room. Even the crackling of the candles along the walls seemed muted, as if they dared not disturb this moment.

“Was that Isaac’s mother?” Pinkie asked.

Celestia nodded “Indeed. I suppose we are to assume the other voice is his father.”

Shifting their attention to their young companion, the ponies found him staring up at the ceiling, as if he had been listening to the voices along with them. He looked as if he remembered the conversation in question, and it didn’t seem like a fond memory, judging from his frown.

Twilight knelt down beside the boy. “Are you okay, Isaac?”

Isaac didn’t respond at first. He stared down at the note still hanging limply in his grasp for a moment before dropping it to the floor. He raised his head and nodded, though his expression still harbored gloom.

Looking around at the others, Rainbow Dash frowned softly. “So… what do we do now?”

Sure enough, nothing else had changed about the room around them. No exits to another floor had appeared. There was just the door leading back where they came from.

Keeping her hoof on Isaac’s shoulder briefly, Twilight shifted her attention toward the door. “Let’s head back… Maybe something changed somewhere else?”

“Given the lack of other options, I feel that is a good idea,” Celestia added. With that, the group headed back outside.

Fluttershy stayed near the rear with Isaac. She rested her hoof across his back, offering him what little comfort she could. He stared ahead vacantly, but he was walking just close enough to her to brush against her fuzzy barrel.

“I’m sorry about all of this, Isaac,” she said. “It must be awful to have to bring up all these memories. I wish there was another way to help you.”

“Indeed. Facing one’s inner demons is never pleasant,” Luna said, “but, face them we must, lest they overwhelm us.”

Applejack cast a worried frown back at the boy as they all crossed the doorway into the next room, the one they cleared before. “It ain’t right for anyone that young to go through all this. Don’t worry, partner, we’ll get ya through this, no matter w—”

Trailing her head to the side, Applejack froze as she was met face to skull. Fiery purple eyes stared at her, and unholy flame flickered in a fanged maw.

Then, the flame engulfed her.

A scream of agony split the air, and purple light filled the room as a spout of unnaturally cold fire surged forth.

Twilight flinched. In the split second she had to react, all she could do was project a barrier directly in front of her, sparing herself and those behind her. Her heart dropped as she realized that one pony hadn’t been spared.

A series of gasps and cries rang out as the ponies looked to the inferno ahead. They couldn’t even see their orange friend amidst the spray of flame.

“APPLEJACK!” Rarity squealed.

“NO!” Rainbow Dash banged her hooves on the magenta barrier, as if she could do something if it wasn't there.

A second later that felt like an eternity, the flames died down, prompting Twilight to drop her shield. They all collectively held their breath as they looked ahead.

Applejack was still standing, though not on steady legs. Most of her body had been horribly charred, and even her prized hat was burnt. She made a choked noise before her trembling limbs finally gave out and she flopped to the floor.

Fueled with adrenaline, Luna acted swiftly and decisively. She ran forward and charged her horn before letting loose a blast of concussive energy.

The demonic skeleton growled and raised a bony hand to claw at her, but soon it found itself flying back into the far wall, where a white shield bubble formed around it and it bounced off, relatively unharmed.

Hearing familiar growls and groans, Celestia cast a bubble of magic around the entire group. Mere moments later, a small horde of purple figures swarmed the barrier. The ponies looked around the room in shock. All of the same exact monsters they defeated previously were present. It was as if they had never cleared this room at all.

However, their thoughts were far from this odd occurrence.

“Applejack!” Twilight rushed over to her fallen friend. She collapsed to her haunches and gently rested her hooves on the farmer’s side.

Strangely, Applejack was cold to the touch. And while she was badly burnt, she was also deathly pale, her once hale and hearty form now frail and fragile. She whimpered quietly and fought for a sucking breath, barely able to even move.

“How did this happen?!” Rarity asked, dragging her hooves down the sides of her face. “Oh, Applejack!”

“Hang in there, AJ!” Rainbow Dash pleaded. Her mouth fell agape as she saw the sheer lack of life in her friend’s eyes. The sucking breaths soon turned to broken gasps and spasms. “Somepony do something! We’re losing her!”

“This… this can’t be h-happening!” Pinkie struggled to keep from breaking down.

“Isaac, do you have anything that could help?!” Fluttershy asked, setting her trembling hooves on the boy’s shoulders.

Isaac took a moment to break his shocked stare away from the orange mare. It took him even longer to gather the mental focus to just respond with a shake of the head.

The constant muted thuds on her magical barrier combined with the monstrous groans and her friends’ panicked yells into a maddening cacophony. Celestia felt her heart racing and her mind threatening to follow, but she resisted the urge to descend into panic. As she struggled to think of something, anything, her eyes suddenly widened and she turned to her student.

“Twilight, use the card!” Celestia urged.

Twilight broke her distraught stare away from her dying friend. Tears were formed in the corners of her stunned eyes, and any mental clarity had since left her behind. “Wh… w-what?”

“The sun card you have!” Celestia said. She darted her eyes between Twilight and the group huddled around Applejack. Her expression fell as she recognized the steady decline of a pony in their last moments of life. “Quickly, before it’s too late!”

With a faint sense of hope urging her to act, Twilight reached into her pocket dimension and poofed up the card. The sun on its face almost seemed to stare back at her patiently. She couldn’t afford to be patient.

Taking the card in her hoof, she held it over Applejack and squeezed it. A moment later, the face of the card sparkled and glowed a vibrant yellow.

All at once, light pierced down into the room from the ceiling. A sizzling sound came as every monster present was scorched into nothing, even the two skeletons being shielded.

Soon, a gentler light came down on anyone that had suffered an injury. Twilight and the others felt a warmth radiate to their very cores, taking away any sign of their previous wounds and leaving them refreshed.

Then, much to the ponies’ relief, a similar light shone down on Applejack’s form. Her healthy orange hue was restored as layers of soot sloughed off her charred-black fur and all of her wounds healed over. Even her hat was somehow restored.

Applejack jerked and took in a deep gasp of air. She coughed once or twice before her lungs were fully rejuvenated. As the light above faded, she just lay there breathing for a moment before sitting up. “Ngh… I gotta say… that plum sucked.”

“Applejack!” Fluttershy rushed forward and hugged the orange mare, shortly joined by Pinkie and Rarity.

“I thought you were toast! Literally!” Rainbow stated.

“Easy, girls. I just got burned alive. I don’t wanna add being crushed to the list.” Applejack grunted softly from being squeezed so tight. Still, a slight smile formed as she brought a hoof around her friends’ sides.

Twilight deflated with relief and smiled at the huddle of ponies. She looked down to the card still in her hoof, only to pause. “Huh…?”

The surface of the card had changed. Instead of the depiction of the sun previously decorating it, it now held a familiarly arranged grid of squares.

“Celestia, look at this.” Twilight beckoned.

Celestia gave a cursory look to the card before nodding in remembrance. “Ah, yes, a map of the floor. I’m already aware of that property, though I must admit that it had slipped my mind at the moment.”

Twilight shook her head and pointed again. “No, not just the map. Look here.”

The younger alicorn was pointing to a single square of the map. It held a slight highlight to it. Not only that, but judging from its location, they recognized where it was.

“The starting room?” Celestia muttered.

“How curious,” Luna said. “Do you think, perhaps, that something important is there?”

“I’m not sure, but I’ve never seen the map act like this, so perhaps you are right,” Celestia reasoned before turning to the others. “If that is our destination, might I recommend teleporting there instead of walking? I think we’ve run into enough trouble already.”

“I second that…” Applejack chimed in. She gave her fur a sniff, wrinkling her nose at the result. Apparently magical healing cards didn’t account for offensive odors.

“Then it’s settled.” Luna smiled and turned to Twilight. “If you’d do the honors, young Sparkle?”

Twilight nodded. “Of course.”

With that, she lit her horn and turned to the group. After ensuring that everyone was ready, and after focusing on the spell and their destination, invisible magic surged out of Twilight’s horn and surrounded the group in an instant. In the next instant, they all blinked out of existence.

A moment later, the group all shifted their eyes around as their entire visual frame of reference changed. They had been teleported all the way back to the starting room. However, while they expected to have to search for some minute change, or perhaps a new door, they immediately paused and stared ahead at something else.

Sitting in the middle of the room, shining down intensely from the ceiling, was a beam of light. It was identical to the one Twilight and the others had seen that took them all to the cathedral.

“Well, I’d say that’s different.” Rarity pointed out as she stared up at the unseen source of the light.

“Interesting,” Luna mused. “Should we go up?”

“I don’t think we have much of a choice. This seems to be the only exit,” Celestia explained.

Twilight examined the map on her card again. As expected, nothing else was out of the ordinary. She faced the beam of light and steeled herself for a moment before stepping forward. “Well, when life gives you a magical beam of light, you step in it.”

The group watched as Twilight took the initiative and walked into the beam. As with the last beam of its kind they encountered, her body lifted into the air and got pulled up and out of sight.

“I don’t think that’s how the saying goes.” Pinkie scratched her chin.

Celestia stepped forward next, joined shortly after by Luna. “Shall we?”

Luna smirked and gestured toward the light. “Age before beauty, as they say.”

“Ah, so you finally show some respect for your elders. How very mature of you, little sister.” Celestia smirked in kind, immediately taking the wind out of the younger alicorn’s sails as she stepped into the light.

Luna grumbled as she sauntered in behind. “It’s like she spent that thousand years I was on the moon thinking of witty retorts…”

Not wanting to be left behind, everyone else soon filed in after the alicorns. Two by two they went, some more readily than others. Eventually, Fluttershy and Isaac were the only ones left, with the boy helping the timid mare overcome her hesitance so they could walk into the light hand in hoof.

Their vision went white as they rapidly ascended. Then, the light faded and they met solid ground beneath them once more.

As the group all looked around and gathered their bearings, they recognized at once the floor they were on. It was the one they had left behind earlier to reach the mausoleum. The depths.

However, before anyone could speak on this, another sound like a flashbulb going off filled the air.

“He’s self-destructive and disturbed, just like his father! Look at who he has to look up to!” The voice of Isaac’s mother echoed. While everyone else stared at the ceiling, the boy lowered his head and kept his trembling gaze on the floor at yet another memory. “...And you’re drunk again, aren’t you?”

The masculine voice from before cut in sharply, causing Isaac and even some of the ponies to flinch with each word. “SHUT UP, MAGGY! SHUT! UP! You just keep pushing me like this, I’m leaving!”

“Good! LEAVE! We’ll be fine without you! Abandon us like you’ve abandoned yourself…”

With that, the voices fell silent again, leaving the group to stew in the uncomfortable void left behind.

Fluttershy frowned as she saw Isaac struggling to keep a brave face. His clasped hands were shaking, and he was purposefully avoiding any eye contact with them. She brought a gentle hoof to his shoulder, causing him to look up. “Oh my gosh. That… that really happened?”

Isaac made an effort to stop his lips from trembling. He gave a tiny nod.

“Oh, you poor dear.” Rarity walked over and joined Fluttershy in giving the boy a comforting embrace. “There, there, darling. It’ll be okay.”

Meanwhile, the others shifted their attention away from the boy and to their familiar surroundings.

“So, what, are we going up now instead of down?” Rainbow Dash shrugged.

“That seems to be the case,” Celestia said. “We can check the starting room of this floor to see.”

“Here, allow me to do it this time,” Luna offered. She took a moment to recall exactly where the starting room was before lighting her horn.

Once everyone was prepared again, the mistress of the night channeled her powerful magic through all of them. With a flash of blue light, they were gone from one room, and transported into another.

Thankfully, no monsters greeted them in the new space they found themselves in. Judging from the strange door set in the wall behind them, it was indeed the starting room. However, the door was now closed. Of course, they wouldn’t want to go back down anyway.

And, true enough, as they turned around they were all greeted with another exact beam of light shining down into the center of the room.

“I see. It seems as if we are retreading all the previous floors,” Celestia noted.

Twilight rubbed her chin and nodded curiously, her thoughts elsewhere. She trailed her eyes ahead as something occurred to her. “If that’s true, then what happens when we reach the first floor?”

“Maybe we get out of the chest?” Pinkie offered optimistically.

Looking to the beam of light with distant eyes, Celestia snorted softly. “There is only one way to find out. Unfortunately, we weren’t here when Isaac made the trek through the first two floors, so teleporting won’t be an option this time.”

“Oh, what about the—” Twilight started before trailing off. As she reached into her magical inventory for the card with the map on it, she realized it was gone. “Huh?”

“I’m afraid the sun card only remains for the floor you use it on,” Luna explained. “It is meant to be more common than a persistent map, but can only be used a single time.”

“Great… The long way it is, then.” Twilight deflated.

Applejack sighed and settled her hat on her head. “Just as long as there ain’t no fire.”

With their path set out before them, the group ventured into yet another beam of light. They were swiftly whisked away to the next floor, or rather, the previous floor.

Soon enough, they were standing among the familiar rocky caves once more. The space was just as eerie as they remembered it, though curiously not as dark.

As before, a strange sound of glass breaking filled the air. The ponies had come to expect it by this point, but it was no less jarring. They joined Isaac in staring at the ceiling as the disembodied voices of his parents spoke.

“You need to repent. You need to confess your sins, and become saved! Let his light inside you! CLEANSE YOUR SOUL!” Isaac’s mother spoke, her voice at once distant and devout. She became more unhinged with each word, and even Celestia and Luna grew uncomfortable as she rambled on.

Soon after, Isaac’s father responded. “YOU. ARE. INSANE. You are taking this too far! Can’t you hear how you sound?!”

“Pray with me… pray for your salvation!” she continued. “Come, pray with us, Isaac…”

The eerie memory faded into the obscure depths of the caves. Fluttershy felt Isaac shiver against her leg, drawing another sympathetic stare.

Rainbow Dash frowned as she looked at the boy. “You know… in a way, I’m starting to see why you thought it was better in here, Isaac. At least back when it was all pretend, anyway.”

Isaac gave the pegasus an oddly conflicted look. After so long by himself, it was strange to have someone else understand and shed light on his past. He trailed his eyes to the floor before looking up and adopting a determined expression. Then, he headed for the door leading out, pausing before it and looking back to his friends and beckoning.

“He seems eager to go,” Applejack noted.

“I cannot blame him. I feel he’s waited long enough for this,” Luna said. With that, she joined the boy over by the door.

Rarity winced as she followed the others ahead. “Are we sure he can’t wait a little longer?”

Rainbow Dash chuckled. “Relax. These floors were a cake walk compared to all that other stuff.”
.
..
…
The maddening buzz of wings followed Rarity as she ran through the room, ducking and weaving around her friends combating their own horrors.

“What did you call it again, Rainbow?! A cake walk?!” she yelled. Looking behind her, she found the floating abomination closing in on her despite its malformed appearance.

A bloated sack of blood dangled from multiple insectoid heads mashed together into one body, with numerous wings buzzing at odd angles. This was just one of the terrible new beasts they had encountered on their way through the caves.

Rarity squealed and picked up her pace, hoping that somepony would destroy the creature before it could catch up with her.

On the other side of the room, Rainbow Dash zoomed past, being pursued by something that resembled the black exploding flies they had seen before, only swollen in appearance. “Yeah, yeah, already regretting it!”

Before the pegasus could think of a way to dispatch her pursuer, a volley of tears collided with it. Rainbow looked over to see Isaac shooting at the massive fly. And while it took a few moments, the fly eventually stopped in midair, its whole body shaking.

Rainbow paused and flashed a smile. “Nice shooting, Isaac!”

Isaac gave the pegasus one of his signature thumbs-up’, only to stop and turn to see the fly he just dispatched starting to emit an orange ray of light in the cardinal directions.

Rainbow Dash skewed her expression at this ray of light. However, her confusion soon shifted to alarm, as the fly was engulfed in a mighty explosion that started a chain reaction of fiery blasts carrying through the room, following the path of the light rays like a targeting laser.

“BWAH!” Rainbow Dash squawked and scrambled for cover. Many of the others stopped what they were doing and either screamed or flinched before scattering.

Hearing the deafening blasts coming closer, Rarity halted and turned to see the line of fury approaching. She went pale in the face and yelped as she dove to the floor and covered her head.

When the explosions finally stopped, she slowly lifted her head and coughed under all the dust and debris kicked up. As she looked around, she found no sign of the monstrous fly chasing her, or any of the other monsters in the room. It seemed as though the series of explosions had claimed all of their enemies.

“Is everypony okay?” Rarity asked.

Rainbow Dash grunted as she picked herself up. She blinked and rubbed a hoof along her forehead. “Am I missing an eyebrow?”

Twilight let her magical shield dim, allowing Pinkie and Fluttershy to step out alongside her. She looked over to see Applejack and Isaac huddled on the ground, with a yellow-tinted shield around them soon fading.

“And I thought this place was dangerous before…” Twilight said.

Celestia and Luna stepped out from under a blue barrier. They were stunned to see so much destruction caused by a single creature in a regular room.

“Clearly, something is different now,” Celestia stated.

Looking to the side, Luna arched a brow as she spotted something on the ground. “Speaking of something different…”

The others turned to see Luna approaching an object on the ground and picking it up. Another item drop was exciting enough in its own right, but their intrigue rose even further as they recognized the shape and coloring of a tarot card.

“Oooh, is that another of those card thingies?” Pinkie asked.

“What does that one do?” Rainbow chimed in as the alicorn examined the card.

On its face, a depiction of a figure in ragged clothes with a bundle tied to a stick over its shoulder. The numeral ‘O’ adorned its top. Whatever cryptic meaning the card held, seeing it put a smile on Luna’s face.

“The fool card…” Luna almost chuckled. In all her experience with Isaac’s twisted world, fortune rarely smiled on them like this. “I believe this will make things far easier for us.”

Applejack slowly helped Isaac to his feet and dusted herself off. “It’d better. I don’t know how much ‘get-up-and-go’ I got left in me,” she gave a weary sigh. The previous healing they had all received could only do so much against a full day spent fighting and running for their lives.

“Stay strong, everypony,” Celestia said, casting her attention to the next door. Her expression lifted as she saw a familiar light drifting out to meet them. “At the very least, we are almost to the first floor. Presumably, whatever this is all leading to will happen there.”

Following the alicorn forward, the group felt a wave of relief wash over them as they spotted it. Indeed, they had reached the next beam of light. They could finally leave the caves and return to the eerily familiar halls of the basement.

However, the thought of what awaited within those dimly lit rooms gave them pause as they all gathered around the light.

Without further hesitation, Celestia and Luna stepped into the light and were whisked away, prompting the others to follow suit. As always, they flew through a tunnel of overwhelming whiteness before being gently deposited on solid, earthen ground.

Sure enough, the basement waited before them. The creak of rafters and the swaying bulbs above almost seemed like a happy greeting.

While Rainbow Dash and Applejack gave paranoid glances to the doorways surrounding them and what lay beyond, most of the group turned their eyes to the ceiling in expectation. Soon enough, the distant noise of glass shattering confirmed what they thought was coming.

Fluttershy held Isaac close to her side and frowned as another distant memory began playing out for them. The faint sound of a door opening and footsteps came from thin air before the voice of the boy’s mother spoke.

“Where are you going? Wait! We need you! Your son, NEEDS you!”

Her ghostly voice was full of an emotion that none of the ponies had heard from her before. Sorrow. Isaac immediately turned his head to hide in Fluttershy’s fur and grasped her foreleg a little tighter.

Soon after, his father spoke softly.

“I’m doing more harm than good. I just can’t do this anymore… I’m sorry.”

The sound of a door creaking shut sent a jolt through Isaac’s form. Even while hiding his face, the ponies could tell he was crying more intensely.

“Please…!” His mother begged to no avail, her phantom cries gathering nothing but silence even now. “Please don’t leave us!”

A hollow feeling washed over the group as the voices faded one last time. The ghosts of the past returned to their graves, leaving behind only the mournful survivor at their side. They all looked to Isaac with sympathetic eyes.

Fluttershy’s heart ached as she felt the boy fully wrapping himself around her foreleg and crying into her side. She unfurled her wing and gently laid it over him, resting her chin on his head. “I’m so sorry, Isaac.”

After a few moments of watching this heart-wrenching display, Twilight tore herself away and turned toward the door leading out into the basement. It felt at once long ago and just mere moments ago that they left this place behind, but now they were back for what she hoped would be the final time. One way or another.

“I hope we find the starting room sooner than we did in those caves. I don’t even want to think about what new monsters are here,” Twilight said.

Luna held up a hoof, holding her newly acquired card for all to see. “Actually, that won’t be necessary this time.”

Twilight cocked her head to the side. “Huh?”

Luna enjoyed the look of bewilderment on the younger alicorn’s face for a moment. She flipped the card over in her hoof, examining its face and the design on it. “You see, the fool card teleports its user to the starting room of a given floor. Quite useful, especially given our current goal, I’m sure you’ll agree.” She smiled.

Twilight’s blank expression quickly lifted into a joyous grin. “That’s great, Princess!”

“You mean we get to skip straight to the end instead of fighting our way around until we find it?!” Rainbow Dash perked right up.

“Indeed…” Celestia added before her features softened as she turned to see Isaac still crying into Fluttershy’s side. “Of course, once everyone is ready.”

Hearing this, Isaac broke away from Fluttershy’s embrace. Much to everyone’s surprise, he sniffled once or twice and wiped his eyes before making an effort to stand tall.

“Isaac…?” Fluttershy looked to the boy, stunned that he was trying so hard to pause his emotional episode for their sake.

“Are you sure you’re ready, darling? We can wait as long as you need. I know that hearing all of that business with your parents again must have been painful,” Rarity said.

Isaac’s eyes still sparkled with emotion, but he gave a firm nod in response regardless.

“He’s so brave…” Pinkie sniffled and began tearing up herself. “Oooh, come here!” Without warning, she wrapped her forelegs around the boy and picked him up into a tight hug. While Isaac was a bit confused by her sudden emotional response, he appreciated the comfort.

“Very well,” Luna said, looking down to the fool card. “Everypony prepare yourself, as this method of teleportation can be a bit—”

Then, as she applied even subtle pressure to the card, it suddenly vanished with a flash of sparkles. The moment it did, all of them felt their stomachs drop as their bodies were pulled and stretched infinitely upwards in the blink of an eye.

Before they could even scream, it was over. Reality found them once more, and their forms returned to solid matter on solid ground.

Luna had to take a moment to rest a hoof to her heart. “— jarring…”

“Forget that the cards activate at the slightest thought and touch?” Celestia asked as she surveyed the group of ill-faced ponies trying not to barf.

“It has been one round trip to the moon since I’ve been here, sister,” Luna admitted before looking around.

As they expected, they were in the starting room of the basement. And, while it wasn't completely out of the realm of what they thought they might find, it was still surprising to find what was waiting for them.

Another beam of light.

Applejack shook herself back to her senses and stepped toward the light. “What the hay…? I thought we were just tryin’ to get back here? Where even would that lead?”

“Maybe out of the chest?” Twilight offered. “Logically, that would be the only place left to go above here… unless it somehow brings us to that cathedral place again.”

“As much as I like the thought of getting my fur singed off by not-Isaac again, I’d rather pass,” Rainbow Dash said flatly, to which Isaac briefly lowered his head.

“Welp, there’s only one way to find out!” Pinkie stated. Without any hesitation, she waltzed up to the light and got a jumping start into it, clutching her hind legs with her fore in a reverse-cannonball as she got pulled up.

“Pinkie, wait!” Twilight reached for her friend, only to sigh in defeat. She was already gone.

“I mean, she does have a point. We all know we have to go in… we might as well get it over with,” Rarity conceded.

Rainbow failed to hide a chuckle. “I see we’ve reached the acceptance stage of grief.”

Deciding to not keep their friend waiting, the ponies all filed into the light one by one, until eventually only Fluttershy and Isaac remained behind.

Fluttershy stared up into the light, and then looked down to her new friend. He had an almost nervous expression on his face as he glanced between the light and the basement behind him, what had been his home for countless years. Whatever waited for them, it was something new. Something he hadn’t imagined.

Feeling a hoof gently grabbing his hand, Isaac looked up to the pegasus beside him. She seemed nervous as well, but she wore a soft smile on her face as she stared at him with the same kind eyes she had when they first met.

“Are you ready to go, Isaac?” she asked, tightening her grip on his hand ever so slightly, as if to say that whatever was to come, they would face it together.

Isaac smiled as well and tightened his own grip as he nodded. Then, they both faced the pillar of light and stepped forward.
.
..
…
As the feeling of ground came to them once more, the ponies and even their young companion all realized that something was off.

It wasn't some cold stone, or damp earth. It was soft, albeit thin, carpet.

Opening their eyes and blinking away the lingering brightness, they all looked around. Initially, they were stunned, confused even, but eventually it silently dawned on them. And as Isaac looked up, he discovered something that he never thought he would see again.

Home.

They were home. Specifically, his home, as it was in his life.

Unbroken, slightly dirtied white walls plastered sparingly with drawings and crayon scribbles surrounded them. A single, clean bed stood to their right, with an empty yellow chest at its foot. The floorboards around them were a little scuffed, but otherwise whole and crack-free.

“What the…?” Twilight muttered.

“Isn’t this Isaac’s room?” Pinkie said.

“So it would seem,” Celestia said.

The ponies turned to their young companion, only to find him looking around in bewilderment. Isaac took in the sight of all his drawings, his bed, his chest full of toys.

Rushing to the edge of the throw rug the group was standing on, he started to pull it up, prompting them to step back. As he revealed the blank floorboards beneath, he looked surprised, as if he had been expecting something to be there. His shoulders lowered, and an odd look of contemplation came over him.

“What does this mean?” Fluttershy asked. “Is… is this some sign of Isaac facing his past?”

“It is certainly possible,” Luna said. She turned to look at the lone door in the room, noting the crack in it just barely offering a glimpse of the hallway beyond. “But something tells me it will not be so simple for his wounds to heal.”

Twilight and her friends shared a hesitant look at that. They had faced many terrible foes in the chest already. What could possibly be left for it to throw at them?

Finding no answers in Isaac’s bedroom, the group opened the door and slowly made their way out into the rest of the boy’s home. A long hallway met them, with two doors. One directly to their left led into a simple closet, while the other at the end, opened into a larger space.

Stepping out into a humble living room, Twilight felt a chill run down her spine. While it was no longer decrepit and bathed in dim light, it was an exact match to the room she had seen in her dream of Isaac and his mother, right down to the massive red couch and carpet before a dormant television.

While Twilight stared at her faint reflection in the blackness of the television screen, her friends examined the rest of the room.

Fluttershy hovered up and grabbed a picture off the wall. It was of Isaac’s parents holding him as a baby. She looked back to see the boy staring at the empty couch. She set the picture down and walked over to join him.

Celestia found herself frowning as she looked back to the television behind her. “I presume this is where Isaac’s mother spent much of her time, watching those religious broadcasts.”

“What kind of religion did she follow, anyway?” Rainbow Dash suppressed a growl. “I thought the whole point of religion was to tell you to be a good person, not scare your kid into hating themself.”

“From what little we learned, the religion itself wasn't to blame. Many of its tenets were good spirited, but the interpretation drilled into Isaac’s mother’s head from the broadcasts she watched was… shall we say, more dogmatic,” Luna explained.

“All of that just because someone else told her how to act…” Applejack shook her head.

“Her circumstances, her state of mind, it did not help matters.” Luna closed her eyes and sighed. “It was the perfect storm for perversion and abuse, and Isaac, a mere child, was fated to suffer for it.”

Looking over, the group found Isaac walking away from them. He headed toward another doorway across the room, which seemingly led to an identical hallway to the one they just came from.

Deciding to follow him, the ponies left the living room behind and joined the boy into the next area. Up ahead, another room stood, with the door slightly ajar.

Isaac hesitated before it. He looked like he didn’t even want to go in. Hearing a slight creak, he lifted his eyes to find Celestia pushing the door open slightly, pausing to get his permission. He looked back to find all his friends offering him reassurance, prompting him to give a timid nod.

The elder princess pushed the door open, revealing another empty bedroom. This one clearly belonged to Isaac’s parents, given the larger bed adorned with purple sheets.

Beside the bed, a dresser stood with a familiar leather-bound book adorned with a cross on it. There was also a purse, with a bottle of pills poking out the top. Off in the corner, a vanity mirror stood with makeup and a bottle of perfume sitting on it. A box of dusty clothes and other items sat forgotten under the bed, bearing more masculine themes than the rest of the room.

Standing in his mother’s room, Isaac felt her overbearing presence, even though she was long gone from this place. He could still imagine coming to her to ask for something, be it to play a game, or for her to make dinner, only to be rebuffed, sometimes vehemently.

After his father started gambling and drinking, his mother fell deeper and deeper into a pit that she never quite got out of. It only grew worse after she was left alone with him.

His mother always told him that religion was supposed to be a beacon of hope for people in despair, but she turned it into something ugly that would haunt him for the rest of his life, and for much of his afterlife.

A familiar hoof on his shoulder returned him to the present. Isaac turned to find Fluttershy and his friends standing behind him, ever willing to bear the shadows of his past along with him. For all the horror in his life and this post-death world of his, he had finally found true friends that would stand by him no matter what.

Then, the lights in the room flickered abruptly, and died.

“W-What the…?!” Pinkie darted her eyes around in the dark.

“Okay, what gives?!” Rainbow Dash asked.

However, before any of their magically inclined friends could cast a light spell, light returned to them on its own. Pale, dim light. It was coming from behind them.

The group turned to find the door leading back out into the hallway. It was still open where they had left it, and they could see the opening to the living room up ahead awash with a white glow.

And in the distance, they could just barely hear the crackle of static in the still air.