Unbound

Back over on the floating island of wood, Rarity and the others stared at the newly arrived threat with wide eyes while Luna busied herself with digging through the chest.

"Umm… Princess?" Rarity spoke up.

Luna grunted as she bumped her head on the side of the chest amidst her search. "Yes? What is it?"

"What is that thing?" Rarity pointed a trembling hoof ahead.

"What is wh—" Luna cut off as she reeled herself out of the abyss and looked ahead. Her jaw fell open at the sight of a familiar foe given a new, monstrous form. "Oh… Oh dear! That is not good!"

"I think we gathered that much," Applejack said.

Then, a faint flapping sound came from behind her. Applejack looked over, only to find both Fluttershy and Isaac grounded. Confused, she turned to the source of the noise, only to freeze.

A high-pitched screech and a fanged maw came charging from above, forcing Applejack to leap to the side with a yelp.

Fluttershy and the others turned to see what was wrong. The pegasus flinched at the sight of what seemed to be a giant bat right in front of them.

"AH!" Fluttershy cried and jumped away from the creature now shifting its focus to her. Then, before the thing could lunge at her, Applejack dealt it a swift kick, sending it flopping into the lava nearby.

“Are you both unharmed?” Luna stepped away from the chest and held a tentative hoof out to the pair.

“Not for lack of trying,” Applejack grunted as she pulled Fluttershy back to all fours. She started to look around, not really expecting to find the source of their sudden attack. “Where did that toothy varmint come from, anyw—” She did a double-take. “Oh. Up there, I’m guessin’.”

In the distance surrounding them, a handful of the same swirling purple and black portals were suspended in the air. Each of these portals infrequently spat out some form of creature. Some they recognized, such as more bats or floating pale heads with glowing purple flames, while others were yet unknown to them.

“Uh oh… that’s a lot of meanies,” Pinkie noted, looking down at her pitiful boomerang. She couldn’t possibly hit that many targets in time.

“H-How…?!” Rarity’s jaw dropped.

Luna glanced between the portals and the area behind them, where Death was still floating with a devilish smirk on its bony face. Her own face twitched into a nervous smile and she rubbed a foreleg. “Umm… that may be my fault. I’m afraid I may have given it ideas.” She gave a dry chuckle and kicked the chest behind her.

Rarity cast a sidelong glance at the alicorn. “Have we learned nothing since we’ve been here?”

“Yes, yes, I’m sure the ‘I told you so’s will be plentiful later!” Luna stated before returning to her efforts, albeit now more urgently. “Isaac, could you give me some assistance?! You’re the only other person who knows what these items do, and we need to be prepared for war… among other facets of the apocalypse!”

Isaac backed closer to his friends as he watched the newly arrived enemies draw closer. Luna was right. Like it or not, the battle was coming to them, and they needed weapons. Flapping his wings rapidly, he shot down and practically dove into the chest beside the alicorn before rummaging through the arsenal within.

As the pair and the four mares behind them raced to prepare themselves, Twilight and her two companions were about to face their deadly foes head on.

“So… uh… w-who’s the new guy?” Rainbow Dash stammered, still stuck staring at the terrifying visage of the newly arrived horseman.

“That, I believe, would be Conquest,” Celestia said.

Twilight chuckled nervously. “Cheery. Any tips for how to not die fighting him?”

Celestia shook her head. “Not the slightest, I’m afraid. Like the others, he was a lot smaller and less scary-looking the last time we fought him, and I would wager he’s stronger now, as well.”

Twilight tensed her jaw as she watched Death and Conquest mutter some incomprehensible noises to each other. It seemed like they were talking, a fact which only grew more troubling as Death pointed at her and her friends, prompting Conquest to tremble with rage and produce an unhinged yell.

“Well, you won’t have to wager for long. I think we’re about to find out first-hoof just how strong he—”

Noticing movement out of the corner of her eye, Twilight suddenly jolted and squeaked with alarm as she flew out of the way of a green ball of bile falling where she just was. She and the other two watched the orb collide with the lava below, sending up a cloud of deathly stink and a volley of other projectiles flying up toward them which they quickly avoided.

Looking up to the source of the attack, Rainbow Dash yelped as she found War lunging down at her, malevolence burning in its eyes. She dodged to the side, narrowly avoiding getting grabbed.

Celestia grit her teeth at the sight of the crimson harbinger so close. Then, her eyes darted to the tooth still held in her hoof, and a smirk started to form. “Hey! Think fast!” she yelled as she tossed the tooth.

War caught the tooth in its nubby hands. It looked down at it, then at the smirking alicorn, a sense of confusion working its way over its enraged face. However, as Celestia glanced up and a noise came from above it, War’s eyes widened.

Before it could react further, a massive, fleshy pink blob of a shape came crashing down. It smashed into War, leaving behind a cloud of blood as it careened into the lava below.

Twilight and Rainbow Dash watched with a mixture of confusion and disturbance on their faces as the blob halted at the surface of the lava and slowly sank in. It was the giant cleft-lipped monster that they encountered the first time they entered the basement, and judging from its blank expression, it seemed just as clueless as they were as to why it was here.

“Do I want to know?” Rainbow Dash asked.

Celestia cringed a bit at the pitiful sight of the creature sinking into the magma. She almost felt bad for it. Almost. “Probably n—”

A white blur zipped between Twilight and Celestia, cutting the alicorn off and nearly striking them. They could feel the burning energy radiating off of it briefly as they turned and watched a spear made of thin white light head straight for Rainbow Dash, piercing clean through the pegasus’ chest.

Twilight gasped and reached out. “RAINBOW!”

However, instead of a spray of blood or a gaping hole being left behind as the spear vanished, Rainbow’s body was left unharmed. The blanket tied around her neck glowed briefly, and a radiant aura in the shape of a cross flashed around her form, just like what happened to Isaac when he saved her earlier.

"Holy…" Rainbow Dash patted herself where she expected a mortal wound to be. A stunned chuckle escaped her as she glanced down to the blanket around her neck.

"Nice cape…" Twilight blinked, her jaw still partially agape.

Another couple spears of light whizzed past, forcing the trio to duck or dodge. They looked ahead, only to find Conquest surging forward on its steed. The radiant bolts were forming in its outstretched hand before it tossed them like javelins.

Celestia and Twilight conjured barriers in midair to block the projectiles. Each one exploded into crackling energy on impact, causing them to cringe as it strained their magic.

Then, Rainbow gasped and flew into Twilight, tackling her out of the way. "Look out!"

Twilight just barely spotted what her friend was rescuing her from on the way down. What could only be a giant maggot with an oversized jaw full of teeth flew past where they just were, chomping the whole way.

Off to the side, Pestilence slowly approached, and its puckered eye trembled and shook as a similar maggot wormed its way out to greet the ponies. Like a shot from a cannon, the maggot fired out at them and guided itself through the air to get at its target.

This time, its target was Celestia.

Celestia tensed as she glanced between the incoming maggot missile and the barrage of light spears still pelting her shield. Spotting the best opening she was likely to get between projectiles, she let her shield fall and conjured a gilded bubble around herself to protect from all directions at once.

The maggot struck the forcefield and stopped dead in its tracks. Celestia smiled with relief. However, she soon winced as her shield cracked at a ravenous chomp. Through her translucent magic, she could see the creature chewing at her barrier like it was made of brittle candy.

Another light spear whizzed toward her. Instead of smashing through her weakened shield, it struck uselessly against a freshly conjured magenta barrier.

Hearing a yell, Celestia turned just in time to watch Rainbow Dash fly up to the maggot biting her shield and kick it off, sending it flopping into the lava below with a disgusting squelch. The pegasus gave her a quick nod before zipping off and heading straight for Pestilence.

“Celestia!” Twilight called, drawing her attention once more.

Looking over, Celestia found her former student preparing to face off with Conquest. However, that didn’t seem to be the source of her alarm. Instead, Celestia spotted Death flying back towards the rest of the group.

“Grr… why couldn’t it be Taxes instead?” Celestia muttered to herself before dropping her shield and flying after the pale rider.

Several feet away, unearthly screeches and howls grew ever closer as a horde of flying monstrosities approached Fluttershy and her friends.

A nervous whine escaped Fluttershy as she watched one of the severed heads with glowing purple flames float toward her. It began charging up a homing attack, and her heart raced as she prepared to do what little she could to protect her friends behind her.

Then, before the creature could attack, an explosion jolted Fluttershy from behind, and a massive watery orb that resembled Isaac’s tears careened into the head, instantly splattering it into gore and even taking out some bats further behind it.

“Woohoo! This thing is so much fun!” Pinkie squealed with delight. Fluttershy turned to find her pink friend astride a large cannon. It was similar in size and shape to Pinkie’s party cannon, only this one was made entirely of glass.

“Careful with that, Pinkie!” Luna shouted over her shoulder as she and Isaac continued digging through the chest in front of them. Many more assorted items were loosely strewn about their wooden island, all of which were apparently either useless to their current situation or too dangerous to use.

Rarity backed closer to the group huddling around the chest. Her eyes trembled as they shifted between each monster heading their way. “Princess, I hate to be that pony, but could you please hurry it up a tad?! We’re about to be up to our manes in a menagerie of monstrous mooks!”

“I will step in and aid you when necessary, but I was hoping to find something more useful in here!” Luna stated, glancing back to check on the advancing horde. So far, not too many of the creatures had reached them, but they were running out of time.

“I would at least feel better if I had something to defend myself with!” Rarity retorted.

Just then, Isaac fell back and landed on the ground. He was holding something, and as he noticed what it was, a smile crossed his face. The boy stood and turned to Rarity before tugging on her hind leg eagerly.

“What is it, darling? I’m a little busy right n—” Rarity trailed off as she turned around and spotted a sharp-toothed smiling face being held out to her.

In Isaac’s hands was a small humanoid creature with no legs, nubby hands, pitch-black skin and curved horns. It almost looked like a baby version of that shell-game keeper from the arcade if it was given the same item that transformed Isaac and let him shoot lasers from his mouth.

"Umm… thank you," Rarity said as she took the creature in her hooves, "I think?"

"You got anything in there for me?" Applejack asked. "I'm starting to feel left out over here."

"You really shouldn't," Rarity muttered. The demonic baby in her grasp seemed far more excited to see her than she did it.

Luna yipped as a metallic rustling came from inside the chest. She glanced back to the orange mare and the situation at large before cringing tensely and hurrying her search. "Let me see…"

After a moment, she pulled something out of the darkness and peered at it, a smile forming as she did.

"Here we are. I believe you could make use of this, Applejack." She handed an object behind her to the farmer's waiting hooves.

Applejack blinked at the thing she now held. It was a length of rope tied into the unmistakable shape of a noose at one end. "Is… there something you wanna tell me, Princess?"

Luna glanced back to find Applejack giving her an odd look. "I didn't mean it like that!" she insisted, growing a bit red in the face. "You are skilled at the tying of hogs and other rope-based tricks, are you not? I thought you could use it as a lasso!"

Staring at the rope in her grasp a moment longer, Applejack sighed before untying and retying the knot into a less offensive shape. “S’pose beggars can’t be choosers.” She twirled it overhead briefly and turned to stand with Pinkie, watching for any approaching creatures.

After sparing a moment to shoot a few floating heads out of the air, Luna turned and gave one last rifle through the box. However, she soon grew frustrated at her lack of success in turning up anything useful.

“The blasted luck we have in this place…” she muttered to herself. Then, she felt a nudge beside her.

She found Isaac sticking his upper half into the chest next to her. He was holding up a small object and offering it to her. It was a small, ornate box full of cards. Cards which she recognized to be the same tarot cards they had been using previously.

“Thank you, Isaac. This will do nicely,” Luna said, taking the box in her magic. “Now, let me see if I can find you something…” She rummaged around for a few moments. She could feel many different objects, some she immediately recognized and discarded back into the bottomless void. However, she soon came across a shape she didn’t recognize at all.

She scrutinized the object as she pulled it out of the chest. It wasn't a physical item so much as it was a symbol given three dimensional form, much like the glowing red symbol that gave Isaac his laser. It consisted of a glowing yellow orb of light wrapped in blue strips of cloth, with wings sprouting from its sides.

“What is this…?” Luna shared a confused look with Isaac. She had never seen the item before. It was new to her, and so it seemed, even to the boy.

A ripping sound came from above them, drawing the pair’s attention up. They barely registered a swirling purple portal high above them before a blur of a shape flopped down onto another section of floorboards floating ahead.

It was a hideously bloated blob of a shape. Were it not for the head and the four nubby, almost conical limbs, it wouldn’t resemble any animal or creature. An agape, nearly toothless mouth split its pale body, and as it landed, a sickening pop rang out as both of its bloodshot eyes floated out of its sockets, leaving behind bleeding craters pouring a crimson tide down its chin and belly.

Rarity and the others turned at the strange noises, only to pull back at the revolting sight waiting for them. Rarity herself felt her stomach churning just from looking at it. “Ulgh… what is that horrid th—”

“EVERYPONY GET DOWN!” Luna yelled as she raced magic to her horn and lashed it out.

No sooner had she cast a wide barrier in front of all of her companions did the creature let loose its crimson fury. Beams of boiling blood rocketed out of its empty sockets as it flailed and wailed in silent rage. These beams instantly covered the distance between them, only just stopping by the grace of Luna’s shield. Only just.

“Gah!” Luna cried as the attack cracked her barrier. It wasn't as strong as some of the other monsters present, but her waning stamina was starting to catch up to her.

Fluttershy gasped as she and the others got clear as instructed. However, the alicorn was rooted to the spot by her struggle. “Princess!”

Luna shakily tried lifting her hooves to move out of the way, only to flinch at more cracks in her only lifeline. The boiling geysers eagerly spread over her blue forcefield, seeking a way past to annihilate her. A cry escaped her as she faltered to one foreleg, and her already brittle shield started to fail.

Then, a shape crashed into her from the side, just in time to knock her out of the way as her barrier shattered and the blood laser surged past.

Feeling the shape landing roughly on top of her, Luna squinted an eye open to find Applejack looking down at her. “Applejack…?”

“Ngh… sorry for roughhousin’ royalty,” Applejack said as she carefully made her way off of the alicorn and offered her hoof.

Luna turned her head and watched the blood laser dying down, revealing the stunned expressions of their friends. Everything in the beam’s path was gone, which unfortunately included their chest full of items and many of the items they had discarded on the floor.

“I think I can forgive it just this once,” Luna said as she got back to all fours with Applejack’s help. They both turned to see the pale, blobby creature sitting and watching them with its hollow sockets.

“What in tarnation is that critter?” Applejack asked.

“Bad news…” Luna stated the obvious, getting low and pushing herself to get over her magic being strained so much.

Fluttershy started to move closer to make sure the pair was unharmed, when Isaac got in front of her and kept her back. He faced the creature with a steely expression and waited for it to make its next move.

However, instead of the creature doing anything, a zap came from the near distance, preluding a bolt of yellow magic exploding into the chunk of floorboards the monster was using as a raft. The wooden island shattered, sending the creature flopping up and then splashing down into the lava. It wiggled its limbs and clenched its empty eyes shut as it slowly sank and burned before exploding into a gorey cloud.

The group looked up to find Celestia flying by, giving chase to the rider of Death as it attempted to rip open another portal. With another blast from the alicorn whizzing by it, the skeletal horseman growled before zipping off with her in pursuit.

Luna thought to chase after and help her sibling, when she remembered the sheer number of enemies heading toward their flightless friends. She would have to stay and help them, but she couldn’t just leave Celestia without some form of aid.

Thinking fast, she looked down to the deck of cards in her hoof, and then back up. “Celestia, catch!” she shouted before winding back and throwing the deck as far as she could.

Darting her eyes to the side at her sister’s cry, Celestia soon found a small shape flying through the air toward her. It started to fall toward the lava, when she reached out with her magic and caught it. Pulling it close, she realized what it was, and gave Luna a passing smile and a determined nod before returning to her pursuit.

Turning to the worsening situation behind her, Luna grit her teeth and lowered herself into a battle stance. Applejack, Rarity, Pinkie, and even Fluttershy stood by her side with varying degrees of hesitance between them as they faced the small army amassing against them.

Isaac hovered down beside the ponies and prepared to fight alongside them. Then, before anyone could even react, a metallic sound came from behind as a length of chain snaked around his body in a flash and yanked him away.

“Isaac!” Luna reached out for the boy far too late.

Flexing his newfound wings was useless against the crushing weight of the chain whisking him away. Isaac peeked an eye open as the chain turned and came to a stop, only to find the burning eye of Conquest blindly staring through him a dozen or so feet away.

“Gah!”

A nearby cry of pain made Isaac look over. Similar to his own situation, Twilight had been wrapped tightly in a coil of chains, pinning her wings and keeping her horn from lighting.

Twilight panted heavily as another attempt at wriggling free yielded no results. She peered out, only to find the boy floating beside her, just as helpless as she was. “Oh no… Isaac…”

A low, guttural noise escaped Conquest’s grinning mouth. It drifted closer, even its faux steed whinnying and twitching eagerly as its master neared its prey.

With time running out for both of them, Isaac acted quickly. He wrenched his head to the side as much as he could and started blinking rapidly. Watery orbs flew from his eyes toward Twilight. More specifically, they flew toward her horn and the chains wrapping around it.

Twilight flinched as the projectiles impacted, some of which missed their mark entirely and harmlessly struck her face. While they didn’t harm her, they did seem to have an effect on the otherwise sturdy chains.

A metallic creak could be heard, followed soon after by a snap as the chains sizzled and eventually lost their hold.

As the chains briefly fell away from her horn, Twilight didn’t waste the chance she was given. She channeled her magic and pushed any exhaustion she felt aside as she teleported away, leaving the now empty bundle of chains to crush inward and fall.

Blinking back into existence several feet away, Twilight panted briefly and caught her breath. She looked ahead, where Isaac was still trapped. A frown formed as she saw him tensing and cringing from the painful force of the metallic bindings.

“Leave him alone!” she yelled, letting loose a few bolts of magic at the twisted harbinger.

Conquest effortlessly weaved and dodged around each of the magenta projectiles. Then, something unusual started happening.

Twilight felt something move behind her ear. She remembered putting the spoon Luna had given her there. As she pulled the metal utensil down into her vision, she was surprised to find it curling and bending of its own volition.

As the spoon bent itself, some of the bolts of her magic took on a more purple-colored glow and began curving on new trajectories. One bolt whizzed closer to Conquest than should have been possible, and as it turned to watch that one fly past, another bolt that seemed to have missed curved back around and struck the rider in the back.

The chains floating through the air jolted and a pained bellow issued forth from Conquest. Twilight glanced to the strange spoon in her grasp. Part of her wanted to question why or how it worked, but she decided against it and simply slid it back behind her ear with a smirk. “Not so fun when we have the weird powers, is it?”

In response to the alicorn’s strike, Conquest growled and tightened its grip on its stick pony. The white horse-head whinnied once more, opening its maw wide. A radiant light appeared in its mouth, and a low buzz built in pitch before a beam fired out similar to the rays of light Isaac’s doppelganger used.

Twilight scarcely had an instant to dodge. She yelped and jerked to the side, the burning beam grazing her shoulder. Clutching the tender spot, she glanced back to find the beam traveling the whole length of the cavern.

Facing ahead, she grit her teeth as she thought about how best to free Isaac and face this foe. Conquest reeled a hand back and formed another energy javelin, ready to send it careening toward her.

Then, before either could act, bolts of dark blue magic zipped out, hitting both Conquest and some of the chains wrapping around Isaac. This combination of damage loosened the chains and caused a pained cry from the horseman, allowing Isaac to wriggle himself free and hover away.

Twilight turned to find Luna soaring up alongside her. “Luna?”

“I thought you could use some assistance,” Luna said before glancing down to the others. “Speaking of which, Isaac, could you go help them? I’m worried they may not be able to handle all those creatures on their own.”

Isaac looked over to see a veritable army of some of the basement’s most terrible foes flying toward his friends. He nodded to the two princesses, leaving them to face their own deadly opponent while he flew down toward the wooden raft Fluttershy and the others were on. By the time he reached them, the fighting had already started.

A sharp cry made Fluttershy recoil from a horrifying visage of emaciated skin and hollow eyes in the shape of a floating fetus-like creature. She prepared to flee further, when the whirring of spinning rope and a flicking lasso cut her off and wrapped around the thing.

Applejack grunted with exertion as she whipped the creature around and let it go, sending it flying into a giant bat about to charge after Rarity.

As both creatures collided and fell into the lava nearby, Rarity spared a brief nod of thanks to her friend before an explosion brought her back to her own situation. Another giant watery orb from Pinkie’s glass cannon fired out, decimating a line of leeches zipping toward her.

“Uh… girls? I don’t want to sound like a party-pooper, but my super-duper cannon isn’t as super or duper as I first thought!” Pinkie yelled, pointing out the steam gently rising from her massive weapon. Between shots, it might as well have been an ornamental cannon for a couple minutes, which was more time than she had to waste waiting around.

More screeches came from above, prompting Pinkie to turn with a nervous wince. She held aloft her only other form of defense, her boomerang, and sent it flying out. The wooden toy thwacked two severed heads, jolting them back and leaving them dazed momentarily.

Rarity stepped in line with Pinkie and looked up at the stunned creatures, then down at the demonic baby smiling up from her grasp. “You’re supposed to do something helpful, right? SO DO IT!” She cringed and held out the impish being.

To Rarity’s surprise, it actually did as she requested. The baby puffed out its cheeks for a moment, and then spit out a thinner version of the blood laser Isaac used. This tiny beam exploded one of the heads, and ripped through the other as she shifted it like a living fire hose.

Once it was done, Rarity turned the baby around and held it with both hooves. Its dopey smile made her crack one of her own. “You know… once you get past the horns, you are kind of cute, aren’t you?” She cooed. As she did, the baby burped up a puff of smoke, which faintly smelled of rotten eggs.

Off to the side, Fluttershy squealed as a bat zipped right for her face. She reached out and caught it with both hooves, managing to just barely hold onto it as it thrashed and bit at her.

“Shy!” Applejack called, prompting her to look down to see the farm pony waiting with hinds at the ready.

At her friend’s prompting, Fluttershy averted her eyes from the terrifying fanged creature assaulting her, winded up as much as she could, and tossed the thing down. On cue, Applejack kicked out her powerful limbs, sending the offending avian, or at least what was left of it, sailing away and into the lava below.

Applejack shared a smile with the relieved pegasus, only for both of them to freeze at a familiar screech from behind them. Not even waiting to see what she already knew was coming, Applejack jumped forward, narrowly avoiding a blood bullet striking her.

Turning, she flinched as she was met muzzle-to-maw with not one, but two floating heads. Her body seized as she realized she couldn’t retaliate in time, with one of them already preparing to strike.

Fluttershy gasped and averted her eyes, expecting to watch her friend suffer an agonizing wound. What happened instead, was a series of familiar plopping noises as a hail of tears came down and obliterated one monster after the other.

Looking up, Applejack deflated with relief as she saw Isaac hovering down to join them. “Phew… thanks a bunch, sugarcube.”

The boy gave her the barest nod and smiled in response before both of them grew serious and circled around each other. More foes came to fill the ranks of those they had dispatched, and they couldn’t yet rest.

Rest was a luxury none of them could enjoy, as Rainbow Dash was quickly finding out.

With her lungs pumping hard, and her wings beating harder, Rainbow flew around the cavern to evade Pestilence’s constant attacks.

Thus far, the diseased harbinger hadn’t given her many openings or reprieves in between the waves of maggots, flies, or gobs of sickly green goo it sent hurtling at her. She was confident in her ability to outmaneuver an opponent in the air, but even she had her limits.

Limits, which were stress tested as a scattered volley of smaller green projectiles came down from above.

Rainbow jerked to the side, but not soon enough to stop a ball of bile from burning through her flank. She drew air between her teeth as she rocketed away.

Looking back to the grinning horror behind her, her gaze shifted to the blanket flapping uselessly around her shoulders, and the bleeding cut it had failed to prevent. “Guess it only works once… great. Not like I had enough reasons not to get hit!”

Her mind and her eyes slowly drifted to the white feather still in her grasp. Supposedly, it was a powerful weapon. However, she didn’t want to waste it when she knew she could get a strike off.

The other harbinger, Famine, had been defeated when Celestia and Twilight destroyed its head. Perhaps if she did the same for Pestilence, it would be undone as well?

Wheeling around, Rainbow flew headlong at the green horseman. As expected, it sent a hail of smaller maggots rocketing out of pores and boils on its sickening body, but she dodged around each one as she made her approach.

Picking up her speed and pulling her body back at the last moment, she smirked as she kicked out with a hind hoof, aiming right for its dumbfounded face. “Take this, you freak!”

A squelch sounded out, and perhaps the single most revolting sensation she had ever felt squished around her outstretched leg. A shower of maggots, green blood, and viscera sprayed in all directions.

Disgusted but satisfied, Rainbow brushed herself off and chuckled. “Not so tough after all.”

Hearing a burbling sound, she turned and froze. The harbinger’s head was gone, this much was true. However, it was still standing, or rather, floating.

A stump oozing sickly colored blood sat in place of Pestilence’s head, emitting a stench like a fermenting corpse. Despite the lack of its brain, it still seemed capable of intelligent movement, demonstrated by it whirling around on its hobby horse and lurching toward her in the air, with a host of flies now buzzing out of the hole in its neck.

Rainbow Dash blinked at the horror flying toward her. “To quote a wise stallion… NOPE! NOPE NOPE NOOOPE!” she yelled as she rocketed off, not daring to turn and see what she knew was giving chase.

Elsewhere in the cavern, a similar chase was taking place between Celestia and Death. Only this time, Celestia was the one on the offensive.

Death never seemed particularly bold or aggressive whenever they fought its weaker version. It had always faced them with cunning, strategy, and would often target whoever happened to be weaker at the time. Now, it seemed as though it felt the best strategy was to flee and wait for another opportunity to present itself, something that Celestia wouldn’t allow to happen.

Celestia tensed her jaw as she whipped through the air as fast as her powerful wings and battered body could go. She would have been overtaking the skeletal harbinger, but Death was using the landscape to its advantage, dodging and weaving around stalactites and lava spouts to confound her attacks or put distance between them.

“I think I’ve had enough of you!” Celestia declared. After concentrating for a moment, she teleported in front of Death’s path.

Surprise briefly flashed over Death’s skulled face as it screeched to a halt in the air. Celestia charged her horn and let loose a powerful blast of fiery sunlight, only to have it sliced in half and explode prematurely as Death swung its scythe.

Celestia prepared to conjure a sustained beam of magic when Death lifted a bony hand and extended it toward her. With a puff of smoke, floating blades appeared behind her, and as Death clenched its fist, these blades spun to life and zipped forward.

Wincing at the added strain on her battered wings, Celestia flapped hard to climb up and narrowly avoid the blades beneath her. She did not avoid the blade swinging across her neck.

“Gah!” Celestia yelped and clutched her neck. Blood trickled out of a lengthy gash running down to her shoulder. With a trembling hoof, she felt out the extent of her injury—and through the stinging pain, she was relieved to find that the cut was only superficial. It was only by luck that the blade failed to nick a major artery, in which case she would be bleeding to death right now.

Speaking of Death, the pale rider was not content with just drawing a little blood. It reeled its scythe back for another strike, this time aiming for center mass.

Acting on instinct alone, Celestia let loose a burst of kinetic energy from her horn. The invisible shockwave slammed into Death, sending it rocketing a short distance away before it caught itself on its stick pony.

It growled silently and shook itself back to clarity. Glaring at the alicorn with its empty sockets, it soon shifted its gaze away and started to flee once more.

“Oh no you don’t!” Celestia grit her teeth against the sharp ache of her wound and pushed forward. She couldn’t let such a deadly foe get away.

Seeing the alicorn giving chase once more, Death grinded its teeth together before lifting its scythe angrily. It slashed down through the air, leaving behind another swirling hole in the fabric of reality.

Celestia barely had time to process the portal opening before she was upon it. She had even less time to process the glowing red eyes gleaming within its swirling depths, and the brighter crimson glow appearing beneath them.

Her eyes flashed with alarm and she dropped. Only by the grace of gravity did she avoid a beam of roiling fury erupting from the portal.

A humanoid shape emerged from the swirling abyss, one that she recognized. Its obsidian form was wrapped in bandages, with one going around the only unbroken one of two horns on its head. A devilish tail dangled beneath it, and sharp teeth curved into a scowl while burning red eyes glared at her.

“Perfect… yet another memory I’ve tried to repress,” Celestia muttered. She spared a passing glance to Death flying away, when a fierce snarl snapped her attention back to her new adversary.

The thing lunged at her, crashing into her shoulder before she could dodge. Even though it was half her size, its strength was enough to shove her through the air. She grunted and pushed it off with her hooves, forcing her to flip and reorient herself.

As both of them turned and faced each other, Celestia pushed past her growing fatigue to pepper the creature with bolts of fire. It floated around most of the strikes, but gave a pained screech as one exploded into its side, scorching some of its bandages.

Enraged, the devilish beast charged forward again with nubby arms held out. This time, it caught Celestia in the chest and carried her with it for several feet before slamming her into a stalactite.

“Ngh!” A yelp forced its way from her chest, along with most of the air in her lungs. The rock behind her cracked from the force, and she was certain her spine wasn't too far behind.

Not giving her a moment’s reprieve, the creature opened its fanged maw. A sulfurous stench drifted out, and her face was painted red as boiling blood gathered in the dark cavity of its throat.

Celestia’s entire body stiffened, and her heart raced. With how weak she was getting, she couldn’t teleport in time to save herself.

Darting her eyes around for solutions yielded no results. None of her friends were close enough to reach her. However, she did notice one potential avenue of escape. Right in her own hoof.

The deck of cards still clutched in her grasp had one card poking out of the slot at the top of the box. She couldn’t see what it was, but she did see the letters ‘XVIII’ emblazoned across the top.

A faint memory screamed at her to act and save herself. She didn’t even know if it was accurate, or if the card really would do anything positive, but she didn’t have time to think. With a laser bubbling up and preparing to annihilate her, she pulled the card out and squeezed it.

In an instant, the creature roared as its laser spewed forth, not slowed by even the rock formation in front of it. And when it died down, Celestia was nowhere to be seen. Only steam and ash was left behind in the space she was in.

Then, a moment later, a high-pitched sound signaled a blur of a white shape apparating several feet away.

Celestia’s eyes squinted open. Seeing that she was still intact, and seeing the creature looking around in confusion, her panic slowly drained and was replaced with relief.

Looking down to her hoof, she could just barely see an artistic rendition of the moon against a blue background before the card fully vanished into sparkles of light. A smile quickly formed. “Useful indeed…”

The impish creature eventually noticed her again. Its eyes narrowed and it snarled through bared teeth. Celestia lit her horn and prepared herself. However, before either of them could act—

“AHHHH!”

A loud noise prompted both of them to look to the side. Soon after, a cyan blur whizzed past, with a buzzing swarm of flies leading a headless green horror giving chase.

While her adversary slowly shifted its attention back to her, Celestia let her gaze linger on the pegasus curving around the cavern. Particularly, her focus was on a small white object clutched in Rainbow’s hoof.

A bubbling noise and a red glow caught Celestia’s eye just in time for her to jerk out of the way of another blood laser. Her head darted toward the creature before she took off flying, this time heading towards the cyan mare.

“Rainbow Dash!” Celestia yelled ahead.

Rainbow glanced back to find Celestia flying after her and Pestilence. For some reason, the alicorn wasn't flying directly to her, instead making sure to keep off to the side.

“What is it?! And please tell me it has something to do with getting this freak away from me!” Rainbow yelled back, suppressing a shudder from seeing Pestilence’s headless body still pursuing her.

Celestia grunted as she weaved above another laser. Even Rainbow Dash took notice of that one coming too close for comfort. “I believe we may be able to kill two birds with one stone… or rather, one feather!”

“Huh…?” Rainbow’s brow furrowed briefly before she looked down to the item in her grasp. “You mean this thing?”

“It has an area of effect! If you can get close enough to both these creatures when you activate it, it should destroy both of them at once!” Celestia explained, or at least did her best through the shouting and evasive flying.

Rainbow felt a shiver run down her back as she glanced back to the two monsters. “How close are we talking here?”

“Just a few feet will do!” Celestia replied. After sizing up her own monster, she looked ahead to Pestilence, and then gave the pegasus a pointed stare. “I’ll follow your lead!”

“Alright… get ready!” Rainbow announced. Once she took a moment to psyche herself up, she wheeled back around and headed straight for Pestilence.

Perhaps confused by the sudden change in its prey’s behavior, Pestilence and the flies surrounding it stopped in midair. It tried to fly closer to Rainbow, but she curved around it slowly, kiting it in circles while Celestia drew near.

A tense exhale came as Rainbow looked down to the feather she held. Looking back up to Celestia, and the creature screaming through the air in hot pursuit, she tightened her grip on her supposed weapon.

In a blur of movement, Celestia flew past. As she did, she watched behind her. Thankfully, the imp hadn’t shifted its target and was still ignorantly chasing after her.

Rainbow Dash sweated from more than just the heat as the monster flew closer, and Pestilence shook and undulated in preparation for some kind of attack. She grit her teeth and waited for the perfect moment.

“NOW!” Celestia yelled just before her creature raced past the pegasus.

With every muscle crying out for her to act, Rainbow squeezed the feather hard and gave it a flap in front of her. It immediately glowed white, nearly shining bright enough to blind her.

As the imp flew beside the pegasus, blissfully unaware of the danger it was in, a beam of radiant light came piercing down from the roof of the cavern right in front of it. The moment it entered the light, it sizzled and burned until nothing but ash and a fading cry were left.

More beams of light came down seemingly at random in a radius around Rainbow. She was afraid that they would miss Pestilence entirely, when one burned down just as it approached her and scorched it from existence. And with that, the lights fell dim and the feather in her hooves deflated and sagged.

Rainbow slumped in the air and gave a relieved exhale. She let the feather fall and watched it drift away toward the lava below before looking over to find Celestia flying closer. Her eyes widened as she saw a streak of blood going down the princess’s neck. “Oh my gosh! Are you okay?!”

“I’ve been better, that’s for sure.” Celestia winced and touched a hoof to the stinging slash.

“Let me guess, that skull creep did that, didn’t it?” Rainbow asked, receiving a tense nod in reply. “Where did that thing go, anyway?”

Celestia scanned the area, only to find no sign of Death anywhere. “I’m afraid I lost it in all the commotion. I’m sure it took the opportunity to slink away and hide until it can get another cheap shot in.”

A loud explosion drew their attention across the cavern, where numerous flashes of blue, magenta, and white lights danced through the air as Twilight and Luna did battle with Conquest.

Rainbow Dash’s jaw fell open as she watched the distant battle raging on. “Woah…”

Celestia set her jaw, her eyes growing stern. “Come. Let’s go assist them,” she suggested, to which Rainbow gave a determined nod before the both of them flew off.

With fur soaked in sweat and blood, and the sounds of battle and her own ragged panting echoing through her ears, Twilight did her best to keep up and play her part in this deadly dance she and Luna had unwittingly entered.

Her wings ached as she weaved around a column of lava shooting up, and then coasted above some spears of light zipping past. She pushed these feelings of exhaustion and pain aside, though it was getting harder to do so.

A blue forcefield appeared behind her, blocking some explosions. Twilight turned, stunned to find the spears of light she had dodged previously having curved back around to strike her again.

“Stay on your guard, Twilight!” Luna exclaimed. Then, her eyes darted to the side and subsequently went wide. Racing her magic toward another spell, she put up a barrier in front of her just as a high-pitched whine signaled a beam of radiant death crashing into it.

Twilight gasped as Luna yelped in pain from magical exertion. Cracks had already formed on the blue shield, and it was quickly faltering.

Turning toward the twisted harbinger, Twilight fired out a volley of magenta bolts. One exploded right into Conquest’s hobby horse, rocking it to the side and interrupting the light beam emanating from its mouth. Her other attacks whizzed past, with some of them taking on a new glow and course-correcting themselves under the power of her strange bending spoon.

As two more bolts curved back and exploded into the horseman’s pale hide, it growled deeply. The eerie flame in its milky eye burned brighter, and it snapped its head to glare at Twilight.

Shrinking back at the intimidating sight, Twilight prepared herself for whatever was about to happen. As expected, retaliation came to her in the form of a length of chain unnaturally whipping out from the horseman. It lunged toward her like a striking snake, and she yelped as she dodged to the side.

Then, the chain completely changed its momentum and whipped into her ribs. She clutched it with an agonized yell as it drove her through the air before slamming her into the tip of a rocky outcropping.

“Twilight!” Luna reached out toward the younger alicorn. A blur of movement drew her gaze to the side just in time for her to jolt out of the way of a similar chain striking down toward her.

However, the chain she just dodged proceeded to rise back up, wrap around her hind legs and squeeze tight.

Luna felt her bones creaking as the metal bonds kept squeezing tighter and tighter. She tried to reach down and push them off, when more of the chain floated up and snaked around her neck, strangling her. She sputtered and choked as she raced her hooves to grasp at it.

It wasn't as if Conquest itself was pulling on the chain and making it tight. Rather, it was as if each link in the chain was somehow alive and able to move independently. Like the deftly deadly instincts of a python, it maintained its bind on her limbs as it tightened its stranglehold. Her vision began to blur as the links embedded themselves deeper into her windpipe.

Blue energy sparked and fitted as she struggled to light her horn. Between the pressure on her throat, and her fading energy, Luna couldn’t focus her magic. The light of her horn flickered out, and her strangled gasps and coughs fell quiet as her consciousness slipped further and further away.

Before it could slip entirely, another explosion jolted her awake as the pressure on her throat suddenly lessened.

Fiery bolts of magic crashed into Conquest’s form, immediately breaking its concentration with a pained wail. Soon after, as it whirled around to meet its attacker, a cyan blur zoomed past and delivered a swift kick, sending it toppling back against its stick pony and nearly falling off.

As the chain lashing her to a pillar of rock fell away, Twilight slowly took to the air again. She clutched her aching ribs, taking a brief moment to be thankful for her alicorn sturdiness. That moment had to be brief, as she looked up and noticed Luna starting to dip in the air.

However, before she could get too alarmed, Rainbow Dash zipped up to Luna and helped steady her while nudging her back to full consciousness.

Hearing wings beside her, Twilight turned to find Celestia hovering down.

“Are you alright?” Celestia asked.

Fighting off a wince, Twilight nodded. “Yeah… I think so. I-I don’t know how much longer I can keep this up, though.”

Looking off to the side, Celestia saw Isaac and the others mopping up the last of the creatures coming at them. The boy was actually flying out and destroying the portals spawning them in with his tears.

“Hold on just a little longer. I believe the tide is turning in our favor at the moment,” Celestia said. She gave her student one last assuring smile before returning her attention to Conquest and lighting her horn.

After the surprise attack that left it reeling, Conquest lifted itself up and shook its head. As it shifted its blind gaze around, it found itself surrounded by four of the most formidable opponents Equestria had to offer.

The three alicorns all spread out in a loose circle, keeping their horns lit and at the ready. Meanwhile, the annoying pegasus smirked and tensed her wings, ready to dodge or strike again despite not having any magic.

Seeing such defiance made Conquest grip its stick pony hard enough to cause a shrill whinny from the living toy. Its teeth grinded, and its whole form shook with rage, until at last it let its fury explode out.

With a fierce yell, Twilight and the others shrank back as Conquest threw out its arms and began glowing with a pale white light.

In an instant, this white light shifted as new shapes sprang forth. Phantom images of Conquest itself began flying out of the original harbinger’s form. Each one made a cry of its own as it surged forward at blinding speed.

Twilight’s eyes flashed with alarm as the pale army rode forth. She dodged around two of them before having to teleport out of the way of a third. However, her companions weren’t so lucky.

One of the translucent clones slammed into Celestia on its way past. Like a helpless doe clipped by a speeding train, the matriarch of the sun went flying from the impact.

Luna started to reach out for her sister when a blur of movement forced her to duck down. Each phantom image wasn't chasing them directly, but there were so many of them going in their general direction that dodging all of them was a difficult task.

“Gah!” Rainbow Dash spun in the air as one of the afterimages violently shoulder barged into her own shoulder. She could feel her bones and muscles stretching as her forelimb was nearly dislocated. Clutching her throbbing limb, she grit her teeth and tucked her wings in to fall out of the way of another clone blazing past.

Further back, and far enough away that the sounds of the ponies' battle were drowned out by the din of his own climactic struggle, Isaac finished destroying the last of the portals Death had opened up.

The boy flew back and dispatched a few flies that had gotten free of the portal before it vanished. Once they were gone, he took a moment and wiped some sweat from his brow.

With most of the creatures and their noises gone, Isaac froze as he heard a faint yell of pain. He spun around and searched.

None of his flightless friends were having any trouble as they cleaned up the last of the monsters. No, the sound came from ahead, where the princesses and Rainbow Dash were reeling from another of Conquest’s attacks. Seeing them in danger, Isaac gave a silent gasp and prepared to rush off to aid them.

However, he paused as he noticed something out of the corner of his eye, something lying on the floor at the very edge of the platform Fluttershy and the others were on. Flying closer, Isaac realized that it was the last item Luna pulled out of the chest before it was destroyed.

The item took the form of a symbol of a winged orb of yellow light wrapped in blue robes. He hesitated as he reached out to it. Without knowing what it did, any number of things could happen if he used it, both positive and negative. Hearing another yell above, the boy darted his gaze up to his friends before setting his jaw and picking up the strange item.

“AGH!” Twilight screamed as one of the phantom images tore past her side. The copy’s stick-pony turned its head and bit at her, taking a chunk of fur and flesh as it sank its spectral teeth in and ripped away.

With more blood leaking out and draining down her fur, she dipped in the air and wavered before catching herself. Holding one hoof to her latest wound, she shakily lifted her head to look at Conquest.

As all of its duplicates faded, Conquest chuckled madly at the sight of the four ponies reeling from its attacks. The determination in their eyes spoke to their continued will to fight, but more loudly did their panting and unsteady flight patterns speak to the extent of their injuries and exhaustion.

Holding up its hand, light crackled and coalesced once more into the shape of a spear. Twilight and the others tensed themselves as its point slowly trailed back and forth between each of them.

Then, Conquest reeled its arm back to throw. However, just before the javelin could leave its hand, a different sort of radiant fury surged forth, aiming not at one of the ponies, but at the harbinger itself.

A beam of yellow-tinged light crashed into Conquest’s upper half, nearly knocking it off its steed as it sailed past. The rider screamed as its flesh steamed and burned everywhere the beam contacted.

Looking for the source of the beam, the ponies were surprised to find Isaac hovering up towards them. His entire appearance had changed. Now, his eyes and even the ever-present set of tear tracks going down his face glowed yellow, and a set of blue ribbons were draped over his form to create a robe of sorts. Combined with his feathery wings and golden ray of light, Celestia and Luna in particular were reminded of certain angelic beings they had encountered in the basement prior.

“Isaac…?” Twilight blinked, stunned at the boy’s sudden transformation.

Isaac smirked at the ponies before snapping his gaze back to Conquest as the blind harbinger recovered from his strike.

Shaking itself briefly, Conquest lifted its milky eyes. The beam of light had completely burned away its draped blindfold, revealing both flaming white orbs radiating with fury. The forgotten rider issued an angered roar, and its hobby horse whinnied as a high-pitched whine and a glowing light formed in its mouth.

Before it could make good on this attack, Isaac closed his eyes for a moment before opening them. They flashed with golden light, and another beam of energy fired out, striking beneath Conquest and completely engulfing its steed. With a shrill cry echoing into oblivion, Conquest found itself without a mount as the stick-pony vanished into dust.

Rainbow Dash smiled in spite of her exhaustion at the sight of the horseman briefly flailing before floating under its own unnatural power. “Ha! You might as well give up, creep! We’ve got you on the ropes now!” She reeled back in the air, flapping her wings hard in preparation to zoom up and give the harbinger a swift kick.

A rumbling sound from below interrupted Rainbow’s train of thought. Soon after, something breached the surface of the lake of fire and rose up. She grunted as it crashed into her, carrying her with it as it climbed higher and higher.

“Gwahh!” Rainbow flailed as the shape abruptly stopped, sending her flying up and then back down onto a rocky surface of obsidian with a painful smack.

Groaning softly, Rainbow rubbed her head before peering over the edge of whatever mountainous form had sidetracked her. She found herself much higher in the air than she expected, and she could barely spot her friends below looking up at her with wide eyes and pale faces.

“Rainbow Dash!” Twilight yelled.

“I’m okay!” Rainbow waved down from her perch. “I just got caught off guard by this—”

She trailed off as she felt the shape moving beneath her. And as two of three great, slitted red eyes gazed up at her, her spine melted as she realized just what it was she was lying on.

“This… th-this—” A deafening roar shook Rainbow’s very being as the great beast shifted. “—AHHHHHHH!” She shot into the air and put as much distance as she could between herself and the creature.

As its prey fled, the beast whipped its massive body around and raised up, trying and failing to bite at the pegasus before crashing back down into the lava.

Down on the surface, Fluttershy and the others went pale as the creature’s movement splashed up a shower of boiling magma. Rarity squealed, frozen to the spot in fear until Applejack and Fluttershy carried her in their mad sprint for the other side of their wooden raft, where Pinkie was frantically waving for them to hurry.

Turning to see her friends down below fleeing, Rainbow Dash flinched as she realized that they didn’t have enough room to avoid the wave now descending toward them. “Oh, sweet Celestia!” She averted her eyes, expecting to hear the horrific screams of agony as the four mares were burned alive.

Instead, she merely heard the splash of liquid falling and dispersing, and the bubbling of lava. Slowly, she peered out, only to find her friends safe and unharmed beneath a gilded bubble of magical energy.

“Oh… sweet, Celestia.” Rainbow glanced over to find the alicorn with her horn lit as expected.

After making sure the lava was gone, Celestia allowed her shield to drop. She turned to the towering monstrosity and grit her teeth before flying into the distance away from it. She fired a blast from her horn on her way past it.

“Luna!” Celestia cried.

Looking over to see her sister soaring away as fast as her wings could carry her, Luna quickly understood. They couldn’t allow the beast to be this close to their flightless companions. “I’m with you!” she exclaimed as she bolted off after Celestia, sending a few attacks of her own at the titan.

Twilight rushed to follow after the royal sisters, only for a whipping chain to narrowly miss her as she ducked down.

Even without its steed, Conquest growled and gnashed its teeth at her. Its floating weapons writhed and curled through the air like metal serpents before lashing out wildly. A few links even targeted those on the wooden platform, causing some fearful yelps as Rarity and Applejack dove for cover.

Setting her jaw, Twilight briefly looked over and locked eyes with Isaac. Both of them shared a nod before facing their opponent.

Meanwhile, as one fight was starting anew, Celestia and Luna raced to ensure that another wouldn’t reach their companions.

Racing to keep up with her sister, Luna craned her head back to find the great beast blindly charging after them. Even with its monstrous size, it took them a fair bit of effort to keep ahead of it as it sailed through the lava.

With a deep growl, the beast closed its maw. Smoke briefly drifted from its lips, and at once it opened wide and spewed several streams of fire toward the princesses.

Luna felt the scorching heat of these fire geysers surge past as she narrowly dodged to the side. The fire curved to meet her, forcing her to take more evasive action. She could see her sister ahead doing the same thing. Her sibling’s powerful and graceful wings were struggling to keep up with the demand being put on them, and Luna was no different.

Hearing a yelp behind her, Celestia turned to find Luna clutching a foreleg to her chest and barely staying airborne. Her heart raced at the sight of more streams of fire incoming, and her sister’s shaky flying barely staying away from them.

After studying the pattern around her, Celestia jerked out of the literal line of fire and spun herself so she was flying backwards. With a menacing hum, sunlit energy climbed her horn and gathered at the tip before she fired out a beam of magic.

The beam traced up the beast’s skin. It left a smoking trail as it raked up and across one of its eyes. As she had hoped, the fleshy orb wasn't nearly as tough as the creature’s obsidian skin, and a splash of blood burst free before it clenched its ruined eye shut and roared in pain.

Luna trailed her head side to side as she noticed the streams of projectiles ending. She glanced back to see Celestia’s handiwork, smiling with relief and slowing herself to a more comfortable speed. “Well met, sister!”

“Don’t celebrate yet, Luna,” Celestia said. She steeled her gaze as she watched the beast pursuing them. It hadn’t been dissuaded at all by its injury. If anything, it was chasing them faster now with rage boiling in its remaining two eyes. “We aren’t out of the woods yet by any means!” she shouted, sending another fiery bolt exploding into the hulking monstrosity.

More explosions rang out elsewhere in the cavern as spears of light whizzed past Twilight, annihilating any rock formation they struck. She returned fire with a magenta bolt, which curved on target thanks to the metallic missile guidance system behind her ear.

Conquest jerked back in the air to avoid the alicorn’s homing shots. It prepared to counter attack, when a beam of yellow light surged over its head as it ducked.

Isaac hovered up and clenched his eyes shut. However, before he could let loose another holy laser, the pale harbinger opened its mouth with a sickening snarl and fired its own beam of white death. The boy fell backwards in the air and waved his arms to find his balance, the blinding light surging mere inches above his nose.

With one target reeling, Conquest flicked a hand toward Twilight and bade one of its writhing chains to whip at her, dissuading her from making any further attacks.

“Grr…” Twilight growled under her breath. The chain lunging after her was keeping up so much that she barely had a moment to focus on anything else. If only she could concentrate for a few moments…

A few moments, she wasn't going to get. Another length of chain whipped up from beneath her while her focus was on the first. It wrapped around her waist before she even knew what was happening, and constricted in an instant.

“Gah!” Twilight yelped. Her wings were crushed to her sides, and one of her forelegs was pinned. No matter how much she tried wriggling free, she was afraid her bones would give before the chain would let her go.

With the twisted horseman grinning at her, she felt a cold sweat starting to form. Shifting her focus to a teleport spell, she gathered energy to her horn once more. However, the magenta light sparked and fitted as she pushed her already spent magical stamina, and soon her horn fizzled out. “Oh no…”

Conquest formed one last javelin of light in its outstretched hand. It took aim and reeled back, ready to put an end to the annoying alicorn before any of her allies could intervene.

Any of her slower allies, that is.

In a blur of cyan color, an equine shape zipped down and kicked Conquest in the back of the head. It was sent tumbling through the air several feet before stopping itself, whereupon it glared up at a familiar rainbow-maned pegasus.

“Hah! Did you forget I was here?!” Rainbow jabbed a hoof toward the harbinger.

Conquest ground its teeth and growled. It lifted its light-spear high and aimed for its new target. However, a series of magenta sparkles forming around its body made it pause, its blind eyes widening as it recalled its previous target.

Looking up through the telekinetic hold over it, it found Twilight hovering in the air once more, free from the chains idly floating now that their master’s concentration was broken. Her horn still sparked and crackled, but was enduring as much as the determination in her eyes from a simpler spell.

“Isaac, finish it off!” Twilight shouted.

No sooner had she finished speaking did Isaac start charging his attack. Conquest barely had time to look up in as much shock as a monstrous harbinger of the apocalypse could before a ray of burning yellow light surged into its form. With little more than a sizzle and a pop, Conquest was unmade in a shower of charred viscera.

Despite the grim spectacle, a hearty cheer went up as Fluttershy and the others celebrated. Pinkie jumped up and down, Rarity waved enthusiastically, and Applejack stood up and kicked her fores in the air.

Fluttershy, meanwhile, simply hovered in the air and smiled at her friends’ good fortune. This smile quickly faded, soon to be replaced by a shocked gasp as something else caught her eye. “Isaac, look out!” she yelled as loud as her demure voice could carry.

Turning to see Fluttershy hovering there with wide eyes, Isaac followed her stare to his side. There, a mere foot away in the air above him, was the grinning skull of Death. A gleam of light reflected Isaac’s shocked face in the blade of a scythe held back in preparation to strike.

The boy barely had a moment to process the threat before him. In a blur of movement, Death swiped its blade down mercilessly. Isaac flinched and prepared for the end.

The end didn’t arrive. In its stead, a sound of flapping wings came just before a magenta glow sparked to life beside him as Twilight swooped in close. In the seconds before impact, she placed the strongest barrier she could muster in front of them and braced herself.

“Don’t worry, Isaac, I’ve—”

Twilight cut off abruptly as a searing pain raced down her horn. Her agonized yell joined a shattering sound, and only by the grace of her flinching back did she avoid the scythe which had sliced through her barrier like it wasn't even there.

Isaac frowned and held his hands to the pained alicorn’s side. He looked back over, gasping silently at the sight of Death already reeling back for another strike.

The scythe leveled itself as if to make a sideways slash. A glowing red pupil shined in one of the pale rider’s empty sockets as it set its gaze on not one victim, but two.

A series of shocked shouts came from Fluttershy’s side as the others yelled for all their worth, as if they could change what was about to happen through sheer force of will. She couldn’t hear them. Her wide eyes trembled, and her whole form followed suit.

Do something…

She shook in the air like a leaf on the wind under the power of her useless wings. Of course her friends were all shouting. It was all they could do from their wooden raft. Being a pegasus, she was the only one who could do anything. But, as always, she was far too timid. Far too useless.

Twilight flinched an eye open and looked up as Isaac clung to her and tried to pull her out of the way. She tried to light her horn to save herself and the boy, but she couldn’t even hold an aura.

Do something…! Fluttershy screamed at herself in her mind. All day, she had been nothing but a burden to her friends. So many times they had gotten hurt saving her when she locked up in fright, just like she was doing now. Twilight wouldn’t even be in this situation if she hadn’t gone back into the chest. Now, the alicorn was very likely going to die because of her.

Time slowed to a halt. Her heart raced, and her vision blurred at the edges as she stared with tears in her eyes at her own failure playing out.

Rainbow Dash flew in a desperate panic to reach Death before it struck. She just managed to grasp the wooden shaft of the scythe from behind and yank back, but she was soon cast aside by a powerful shove.

A small beam of boiling blood careened toward Death as Rarity held her impish weapon aloft, only for Death to effortlessly dip underneath the laser until it died out.

With a small explosion, Pinkie fired her glass cannon. However, the watery projectile couldn’t hold her desperate hopes, and soon reached its limited range and arced uselessly into the lava before even reaching their foe.

Stop it…! As she stared at the fearful faces of Twilight and Isaac, Fluttershy couldn’t stop a flood of memories from flashing through her mind; of meeting a reserved and sweet unicorn who would grow to be one of her best friends, of all the adventures they had and the time they had spent together, and of hearing a cry for help from an innocent, scared little boy under more suffering than she could imagine.

All these memories played through her mind’s eye before suddenly being replaced with the mental image of Twilight lying dead in a pool of blood, and of Isaac’s chest sitting forevermore in some cold, dark room.

Fluttershy… for once in your life, stop being a coward and do something!

It was over in an instant. A blink of an eye. A flap of a butterfly’s wings.

Rainbow Dash looked up after recovering in the air. Her pupils shrank as she watched Death swing its blade. Both Twilight and Isaac cringed and held each other close as the scythe neared them—

—before suddenly finding a different target; a yellow pegasus racing in front of her friends.

*Swish*

A spray of blood flew free like a water balloon bursting, going in all directions from the grizzly slash running diagonally down Fluttershy’s chest. She barely made a muted squeak of pain, and more of the crimson fluid forced itself up her throat and out of her agape mouth. She fell backward and began to plummet.

Twilight’s heart skipped, and the color drained from her face as her friend fell. “FLUTTERSHY!”

“NO!” Rainbow Dash screamed. In a blur, she took off and got beneath Fluttershy. She cradled her friend in both forelegs and carried her toward the only bit of solid land nearby, where the others were already racing to receive her.

Death chuckled to itself at the sounds of the ponies’ despair and shock. However, a different sound soon grabbed its attention.

With tears falling down her face, Twilight clenched her jaw and slowly trailed her fiery gaze from her friends back to the one responsible. Fury and rage overcame pain and exhaustion, and magic crackled to life along her horn. The hissing pops and buzzes were far more menacing than her horn’s usual peaceful hum.

And as the princess of friendship’s eyes vanished amidst a bright glow of their own, even death itself would feel a chill down its spine.

The pale rider started to flee, but before it could get far, Twilight lashed her aura around its form. Even with its immense power, it couldn’t budge an inch as she gathered a ball of energy at the tip of her horn.

This ball grew brighter, larger, and gave off a murderous buzz. She threw back her head before leveling it forward, letting out a pent-up scream of anger. A beam of magenta light surged forward, completely enveloping the trapped harbinger.

Across the cavern, the fierce yell and the light from Twilight’s attack reached Celestia and Luna. Even the great beast paused its furious assault on the royal sisters to look back at the blinding glow.

Celestia frowned with concern and shared a troubled look with Luna. They couldn’t see all of what was going on, but they could tell even at this distance that the others were all gathered together in one spot, with body language that didn’t paint a good picture. Whatever had spurred Twilight to enough anger to let off that much power in her exhausted state, they almost didn’t want to know.

As the light died down, Twilight panted heavily and sank a good few inches in the air. Through her breathlessness, a harsh glare still remained as she looked up to find little more than fading dust where her opponent was.

Feeling a hand on her side, she looked over to find Isaac giving her a worried stare. She made an effort to stabilize her shaky wings and nodded to him, unable to find the energy to speak and say she was okay.

However, both of them soon turned at the sounds of their friends' panicked voices. They could see the group gathered around Fluttershy, with Rainbow Dash hovering over the wounded mare and trying her best to apply first-aid without any equipment. Without a word between them, they both rushed as fast as they could to join the others.

Down on the wooden platform, Rainbow Dash desperately pressed her hooves down onto the bulk of the slash running through Fluttershy’s form. She couldn’t stop the blood running out and soaking her hooves, her friend’s fur, and the floor beneath. Suffice to say, this injury was far beyond what she had learned to treat during her Wonderbolt orientation.

“Flutters! Can you hear me?! S-Say something!” Rainbow pleaded.

At first, the only reaction Fluttershy gave was a pained grimace and some soft groans, but eventually her eyes fluttered open.

“Guh… girls…?” she spoke, her voice sounding even fainter than usual. “Wh… w-where are… Twilight and… I-Isaac? Are… are they… okay?”

Before anyone could answer, the hovering of wings and the sound of two shapes landing drew their attention away to find both Twilight and Isaac rushing up to them.

Twilight caught a gasp with a hoof as she finally saw the full extent of her friend’s wound. She wasn't a doctor, but even she could tell that it was deep enough to hit vitals. “Oh my gosh… Fluttershy…”

“She’s going to be okay, isn’t she?!” Pinkie asked.

Applejack’s heart sank with each agonized murmur or weak shift the pegasus made. “We gotta get her outta here so we can get her some help!”

“But how do we get out of here?” Rarity asked, to which none of them seemed to have an answer.

None of the ponies, anyway.

Isaac stared at Fluttershy for a moment. Yellow, glowing droplets of tears formed in his eyes the longer he watched her suffering. He stepped back from the group and turned toward the lava behind him. If his friends were going to save her, they needed to be free of the chest, and there was only one way he saw that happening soon enough.

However, just as he started walking toward the edge of the platform, a weak voice called out and stopped him.

“Isaac… w-wait!” Fluttershy reached out to the boy before cringing and clutching her chest. The others all turned to find Isaac standing by the lava’s edge, their eyes flashing with surprise at the grim determination on his face.

Seeing the pegasus trying to speak to him, Isaac glanced between her and the lava, both fighting for his darting gaze.

“Hey… kid, don’t do anything stupid.” Rainbow Dash held a tentative hoof out to the boy, her wings twitching at any sign of movement he made.

Fluttershy struggled to catch her breath enough to speak. Every inhale stung, and she could only get air in shallow gulps. Even so, she pushed herself to lift her head until Applejack knelt down and rested a hoof under her neck to help. “Please… ngh… we’ve… come so f-far. Don’t… don’t give up… just because of m-me.”

Isaac sniffled and quaked as he stood there. All of his new friends were looking between him and Fluttershy, equal parts saddened over her declining health and worried about him. He lowered his head and clenched his fists as he looked back to the lava, still contemplating giving them the fast exit that she so desperately needed.

“She’s right, Isaac.” Another voice came from above. The boy looked up and backed up a step as he saw Celestia flying down and landing.

“Princess…” Twilight muttered.

Celestia’s expression fell as she saw the blood gushing from Fluttershy’s form, and the tears staining the others’ faces. She frowned at them before turning to Isaac and forcing her mouth into a set line. “I know death holds no sway over you now, little one. I also know you want nothing more than to save Fluttershy. But with how unstable the pocket dimension is right now, I don’t know what would happen if you were to die. It could collapse the dimension, killing us all. It could leave this path forever closed off to you. It could even rend your soul asunder.

“We all came here knowing the risks…” Her voice grew softer as she glanced over to Fluttershy. “... And we all want to leave this place alive. But if we are to do that, the only way is for us to defeat that beast.”

It was at this point that Celestia drew the group’s attention to the background, where Luna was flying around the monstrous creature and keeping it occupied with occasional blasts of magic.

“Each time Luna and I came here with you, we would always be ejected from the chest after defeating a powerful enemy on the last floor. And given what that thing represents to you, and all we’ve been through tonight, I truly believe that this is it. This is your chance, Isaac… yours, and all of ours, at freedom.”

There was a glint of determination in the ponies’ eyes behind their tears. A shaky smile climbed Isaac’s cheeks, a smile which only grew as he turned and saw a smaller one on Fluttershy’s pallid features.

Twilight stepped up to be in line with the boy and stared out at the titan in the near distance. She bit her lip as she glanced back to see the blood steadily leaking from the wounded pegasus. “If the only way out of here is to destroy that thing, we need to hurry. Fluttershy won’t last long like this!” She took flight, only pausing to turn to her friends. “The rest of you stay here and try everything you can to keep her alive. Isaac, Rainbow, are you with me?”

Rainbow looked back to see Isaac hovering into the air with fists clenched and an eager nod. She glanced down to her wounded friend. Just seeing Fluttershy so weak and hurt made her heart ache and her blood boil.

“We’ll take good care of her,” Applejack assured as she cradled Fluttershy’s head with one hoof and used the other to stifle the bleeding as much as possible. Rarity and Pinkie nodded in solidarity.

Rainbow nodded to them before leaning in close to Fluttershy and resting a hoof on her shoulder gingerly. “You stay alive, you hear me?” she said.

Amidst her shallow breathing and pained writhing, Fluttershy managed a slight smile. “Stay… s-safe… D-Dashie…”

As Rainbow was about to take off, Rarity reached out and stopped her. “Wait just a moment, Rainbow!” She took the imp floating nearby in her hooves and held it out. “Here, take this. It… he…? should help you do some damage.”

Although the sight of the smirking devil gave her some pause, Rainbow took it and nodded before taking off without another word.

And as Twilight, Celestia, and Isaac all followed after, Applejack and the others watched them flying off into battle for perhaps the last time.

A soft whimper drew Applejack’s attention down to the pegasus bleeding out in her forelegs. She redoubled the pressure on Fluttershy’s wound, frowning at the second yip it caused. “Stay with us, sugarcube. Just a little longer.”

Soaring ahead as fast as their collective exhaustion could carry them, Twilight and her three companions approached the fierce combat zone Luna and the beast had made.

Explosions rocked the cavern as a volley of blue orbs fired out, some missing entirely and destroying rock formations in the distance. The beast met this attack with a swift charge, biting down toward the lava and nearly taking Luna with it.

With lungs burning, and wings crying out for rest that she couldn’t provide, Luna watched the shape under the lava like a hawk as it traveled out a ways before resurfacing. Just then, she heard the flapping of many wings and turned to find her allies joining her.

“What is wrong over there?” Luna asked tensely.

Celestia glanced behind her before facing her sister with a heavy frown. “Fluttershy is gravely injured. She needs medical attention, or she won’t survive. We need to end this. Now.”

Luna held in a gasp. However, before she could say anything, a gust of air started sucking her and the others backwards. They all looked back to find the beast with its maw open wide, pulling them toward it with only the sheer power of an inhale.

“I’m afraid that might not be so simple!” Luna shouted over the rushing wind as she and the others began flying against the pull.

Rainbow clenched her eyes shut and flapped hard. She was barely able to gain any ground, like a trout swimming upstream in a monsoon. Hearing a noise ahead, she opened her eyes and flinched. Like the last time the creature did this, balls of fire were being pulled from the lava below and up into their path. “Not this again!”

“Everypony fly to the sides! If this is anything like before, it will use that massive laser attack next!” Twilight cautioned.

Celestia grunted under the effort of just keeping her distance from the beast. Flying sideways was rendered even more difficult, as evidenced by Isaac losing his rhythm and hurtling backwards until she caught him in her forelegs. “Easier said than done!”

Soon, the fireballs were upon them. All the ponies weaved side to side, up and down, anywhere they could manage to dodge the incoming projectiles. A few of them could feel their fur scorching from some close calls, and it was only getting harder as more and more flames started appearing at once.

Then, all at once, the sucking pull ended.

Twilight looked back and gasped. As expected, the beast had its eyes and mouth closed, and spirals of thrumming red energy were climbing up its horns. “SCATTER!”

Like a flock of birds parting around a hawk, they all flew off in different directions. Fear of annihilation fueled them to go ever faster. Twilight in particular thought her heart might explode in her chest from how fast she was flapping her wings.

Until, just as she got clear of the hulking monstrosity, a tingle of energy just barely went up the tip of her tail as a wall of glowing fury surged past.

Twilight and Rainbow Dash turned and watched the laser cross the cavern in mere moments. They couldn’t see Celestia, Luna, or Isaac. Concern started to well up, until eventually the beam died down, revealing their allies on the other side.

“Alright… I’ve had about enough of this thing.” Rainbow Dash glared at the massive creature before looking down to the imp she had received from Rarity. “Uh… ok, little guy, do your stuff!” She held the thing out in front of her and jostled it around like she was trying to free a candy bar from a vending machine.

After its brain stopped rattling around in its head, the imp baby shook itself to clarity before looking up to the beast and puffing out its cheeks. A moment later, it let loose a tiny beam of boiling blood. It might have been a fraction of the size of the ray of devastation from before, but it was still plenty effective as it surged up and cracked off one of the beast’s horns.

A deafening roar came as Rainbow’s reward. She flinched and covered her ears, though she couldn’t help a little smirk at the damage she caused.

This smirk soon faded into uneasy confusion as another sound pricked her ears from below; a haunting wail that sent chills down her back. “What the hay…?”

Looking down, she and the others spotted the source of the noise. Four more spectral forms were rising up out of the lava and flying toward them.

Celestia and Luna immediately paled at the dreadfully familiar sight. “Don’t let them near you! They explode!” Celestia shouted as she began to evade.

Rainbow Dash blinked at that before looking down to find one of the spirits getting uncomfortably close. “Bwah!” She raced away in a spiral pattern, hoping to confuse it and gain distance.

With one of the spirits chasing after her, Twilight swooped down and to the side. Still, in her current state, she could tell that she wasn't going to outspeed it.

Sweating nervously as it grew closer and closer, she prepped her horn as much as she could in advance. Finally, as it was about to touch her, she flinched and turned, shielding her face with her hooves, and shielding her body with a magical barrier.

Like with Death’s scythe, the resulting explosion ripped through the magenta shield with ease, and hid the fledgeling alicorn from view amidst a cloud of black smoke. However, a yell of pain that quickly died out revealed what had happened.

Celestia turned at the sound of her student’s cry. Her eyes widened at the sight of the cloud of smoke, and as Twilight’s unconscious body dropped like a stone toward the lava below, she gasped. “Twilight!”

Reaching out with her own magic, Celestia just managed to catch her former student, though the strain made her cringe.

“Sister!” Luna’s voice called from off to the side.

Celestia grit her teeth, expecting one or more of the remaining spirits to be after her. However, as she looked back, she blanched at the shadow towering over her. An open maw of teeth was lifting up, preparing to lunge down at her to swallow her whole.

She glanced at Twilight, only to find no sign of the younger alicorn waking up. If she moved fast enough to evade, she was afraid that her fragile magical stamina would give out and drop her student.

Then, just as the beast was about to crash down, it paused as a certain cyan blur flew right up in front of its eyes.

Rainbow met the confused and angry red eyes with a smirk. She glanced down for a moment before saluting the creature and preparing to speed off.

Although the beast was unsure of what the bold pegasus was doing at first, an eerie howl from below soon made it realize what was happening. Before it could do anything to stop her, Rainbow Dash bolted off in a different direction just as the specter following her got close enough and exploded.

As the shockwave struck, the beast wailed in pain and rocked back, splashing down into the lava as it fell onto whatever equated as its bottom. The remaining two spirits chasing Luna exploded on their own, seemingly destroyed by the creature’s lapse in concentration.

Rainbow gave a satisfied chuckle as she watched the mighty beast fall from its own attack. Meanwhile, Celestia breathed a sigh of relief before shifting her attention to Twilight.

Flying over, she found her student still out cold from the explosion she endured. Celestia let her magic fade and took the unconscious alicorn in her forelegs, shaking her gently. “Twilight… Twilight, can you hear me?”

After a moment, Twilight’s eyes clenched under their lids and a soft murmur escaped her. She stirred slowly, managing to lift her head and open her eyes. “Ngh… Princess?”

Celestia smiled with relief. She then glanced at the stunned beast. “Can you still fly?”

“I… I think so.” Twilight twitched her wings. With some help from Celestia, she rolled over and flapped her feathery appendages. Although she was a bit shaky, she managed to hold her own in the air.

Looking to the side, the pair found Luna flying alongside them, with Isaac joining in soon after, and Rainbow Dash forming up on their other side.

“Now’s our chance!” Luna stated as she lit her horn. “Hit it with everything you have!”

With that, the group did as she suggested. Rainbow Dash readied her living weapon, and Isaac closed his eyes to charge his eye-beams. In unison with them, all three princesses of Equestria gathered every drop of magical power they had left in them to their horns. Scintillating magenta, sunlit gold, and moonlit blue light climbed each spiral and focused at their tips. Teeth clenched, and sweat beaded along their faces as they concentrated.

Then, all at once, they fired.

The beast roared in agony as multiple lasers impacted its obsidian skin. As the first barrage faded, Isaac and Rainbow charged another set of attacks while the magic users switched up their spells. Luna fired a barrage of blue orbs of light, while Celestia conjured massive flaming spears which exploded on impact. Twilight kept her beam up for longer than the others, until she too had to take a moment to breathe and recover before switching to a less taxing spell.

Blood leaked from their opponent in streams. Another of its two remaining eyes flinched shut as bolts of magic exploded into it. Many of its teeth shattered or fell out. Its whole form sagged from the toll it had taken during the battle.

However, the beast wasn't finished just yet. With a quick breath, the creature let out a particularly fearsome roar. A shockwave went out that nearly blew the group back. They prepared themselves for some kind of attack.

Little did they realize that they were already under attack.

Amidst the fight, Pinkie Pie and Rarity cheered their friends on from the edge of their platform, while Applejack watched from further back as she remained by Fluttershy’s side.

Applejack tensed her jaw as she looked down. Fluttershy had lost so much blood that it was pooling beneath her. Much of the healthy yellow color in her face now held a paler tinge behind it, and her eyes looked like they could barely stay open.

She forced a smile as the pegasus trailed her sickly gaze up to her. “Don’t worry, ‘Shy. I’ve got ya. Just stay awake for me, okay?”

Fluttershy opened her mouth to try and respond, but all that came of it was a slight whine and a weak shudder.

“How is she?” Rarity asked. Applejack looked up to find the unicorn making her way over while Pinkie kept watching the fight.

Applejack started to think of something comforting to say. She bit her lip as she failed, and whispered, “Rares… I ain’t gonna lie, I think she’s knockin’ on death’s door and waitin’ for him to answer.”

Rarity drew her mouth into a line to keep her lips from trembling. She knelt down and rested a hoof on one of Fluttershy’s, holding it tightly in her own before looking up to Applejack. “She’ll make it. She has t—”

A fierce roar cut the unicorn off, nearly making her jump out of her fur.

All of them, even Fluttershy, looked toward their friends. The beast had just let loose a deafening sound, but it seemed to be doing nothing else.

Then, the whole cavern started to shake.

“Woah!” Pinkie steadied herself and took a few steps back from the edge as lava trickled over the sides of their platform. “What’s happening?!”

Neither Applejack nor Rarity had any response for her. However, before they could even try to say something, a faint yell of pain snapped their attention back ahead.

“Oh no…” Rarity held a hoof to her mouth.

Over by Twilight and the others, a veritable shower of smaller rocks and stalactites was falling from the ceiling far above. Even some of the larger rock formations were breaking off and falling. Luna cried out in agony as a stone spike tore through her wing.

Although she too was busy dodging, Celestia turned and noticed her sister starting to go into an uncontrolled descent. “Luna!” she shouted, but she could do little else as the shower of rocks kept coming.

“Princess!” Twilight reached out and started to rush to catch the falling alicorn, only for a twinge of pain to snap her attention away. One of the rocks cut through her side, and many more were falling to join it, forcing her to evade.

Luna grit her teeth and held a hoof to the bleeding hole punched into her left wing. She knew that she couldn’t fly anymore, but with the lava below fast approaching, she had to do something to save herself. Spotting a wooden platform below, she forced herself to endure the pain as she held out both wings and used what little air resistance she had to glide toward safety.

Seeing Luna make a rough landing on semi-solid ground, Twilight was free to direct her attention back to her own wellbeing. She tried to form a shield above herself. The beginnings of a magenta barrier flickered into existence for all of two seconds before it shrank and then fizzled. She let out a fearful yelp as she covered her head and did her best to dodge the bigger chunks of rock.

“Somepony finish it off!” Rainbow Dash yelled over the rumbling around her. Doing her best to keep steady while dodging the falling sky, she held up her imp friend and let it start to charge its attack.

However, before it could let loose its tiny laser, it was engulfed in flame as a ball of magma leapt up just in front of Rainbow Dash, nearly burning her hooves and forcing her to yank them back.

“Agh!” Rainbow clutched one sizzling hoof to her chest, and flailed the other to cool it off. She watched the ball of magma falling back down, barely taking a second to process the loss of her companion and weapon before her eyes widened at the sight of more fireballs flying up to greet her and her friends. “Holy cow!”

As his friends struggled to stay alive, Isaac couldn’t help but to have flashbacks to when his doppelganger almost killed them. Glancing back toward the group behind him, he knew that time for Fluttershy was running short.

He gazed ahead at the beast, at this twisted incarnation of his mother borne in equal parts from her rage toward him and his fear toward her. He couldn't deny a touch of anger himself—both at the things she had done to him, and the harm she had wrought on his friends—but now, at this very moment, all he felt was pity at what she had become.

Flying high above the creature, drawing on his ages of experience honing his agility to dodge each falling rock or rising fireball, he moved himself into position and charged his attack.

His eyes flashed open, and a radiant beam carried all his anger and retribution to the beast. The laser lanced its one remaining eye, and a final burst of blood sprang forth as it flinched closed.

There was a pause. And then, as its whole form trembled and started erupting into blood, the beast let out one last roar of agony as a blinding light pierced the cavern and came down.

Twilight flinched open an eye to look at the creature. The light shining down had split and disintegrated it into bubbling chunks, and what was left of its body was sinking into the lava. Still, despite their apparent victory, the cavern shook even more and more rocks came falling down on top of them.

“W-What’s going on?! Did we do it?!” Twilight asked, having to shout over the increased rumble around her. “Did we win?!”

“It doesn’t feel like we won!” Rainbow added.

As she waved her companions close and casted a shield over herself and her sister below them, Celestia looked around for the boy that had apparently struck the final blow. She didn’t find him at first, until she looked up into the light. “Isaac…?”

Isaac glanced down to his friends as he climbed higher into the light. He would soon reach the roof of the cavern, yet somehow the light seemed to come from a hole that wasn't there before. He felt a strange pull that compelled him to fly toward it, and while it pained him to leave without saying goodbye, he knew that the ponies wouldn’t last long with the cavern falling apart.

A smile framed his features as he looked down at them, and a tear formed in one eye. However, this joyful expression soon faded as he looked elsewhere in the cavern.

Across the way, as her friends were shielding themselves and each other from the falling rocks and struggling to steady themselves, Fluttershy looked out from under the three mares huddled around her.

She could just barely make out the sight of the boy climbing higher and higher into the light. Somehow, the light radiated a comforting warmth that she could feel even from where she was, and it almost seemed to numb her pain. A smile formed as she watched Isaac disappearing from sight. Soon, all else started disappearing from sight as the edges of her vision blurred.

Applejack cringed at the rocks falling around them and the lava roiling from the tremors rocking the cavern. She was afraid their platform was going to tip over and spill them into the magma.

Looking down to check on her wounded friend, her pupils shrank as she watched Fluttershy’s tired eyes drifting closed. She felt her friend’s head fall back into her foreleg, and all tension faded from her body.

“Shy…?” Applejack muttered, her small voice inaudible over the clamor. She started to shake her, when a more violent shake interrupted her.

“AHH!” Pinkie yelped as the platform they were on jolted and rocked to one side. She would have stumbled and fallen off if Rarity hadn’t grabbed her and hugged her close.

“Hold on!” Rarity shouted.

Elsewhere, Luna also nearly fell off her wooden sanctuary, until Rainbow Dash flew down and picked her up with some help from Twilight’s magic.

Luna lit her horn and scanned the energies of the pocket dimension. She grew pale as the result made itself known. “Sister… I believe the pocket dimension is falling apart!”

“Ya think?!” Rainbow Dash retorted.

“W-What’s going to happen to us?!” Twilight asked.

“I’m… not sure!” Celestia admitted. Even she couldn’t hide a twinge of fear in her voice. “Hold on, everypony!”

As they all huddled together in the air, the shaking grew worse and worse, until the noise drowned out all else. The light shining down seemed to brighten and grow, until it filled their vision entirely.

Then, gravity and all sense of orientation failed them, and they fell screaming into the void.