Forest Rangers slammed a fist against the rat-thing, but it seemed to barely feel it as it grabbed both of Forest Rangers’ arms, squeezing hard as Ocellus’ Stand began to fall apart.

“What are you doing?” Shiho shone her light at her. “There’s nothing there. Have you gone mad?”

“It’s here, there’s something here!” Ocellus yelled, her voice shrill and panicked as she fought back against the grotesque thing.

Forest Rangers broke off from the arms, allowing the Stand to get to one side as the rat-thing fell to the ground. The broken off Forest Rangers swarmed on the rat’s legs, holding it down and biting into its skin as the main bulk of Forest Rangers hopped into the air and smashed both legs into the neck of the creature. It shrieked and dropped to the ground, but immediately spun around again as its bulbous growth began to glow a bright red.

“What is-” Ocellus’ mind was filled with images of a burning plane, with crumbling buildings and a mass of rat-things scurrying about the streets, pulling people from their homes as a giant black figure loomed in the distance, raising both arms to the air. “Aa-aaaaaagh!”

She fell back as Forest Rangers immediately crumbled away, retreating from the creature.

All the while, Shiho stood there, completely dumbfounded as Ocellus threw her hands in front of her eyes, still screaming. “Good grief, what is going on?”

“Shiho, my mother. She’s here! You have to stop her! Don’t look at them!” Ocellus attempted to crawl away, but she couldn’t get very far, covering her face with both hands.

Shiho ran over and grabbed her before sending Curtain Call forward, punching at thin air with all its might. She had no idea what Ocellus was seeing, but there was clearly something there for her. It had to be the work of the enemy Stand.

Curtain Call continued attacking, but nothing seemed to happen. It was as though nothing was there. Perhaps nothing was there and it was all in her mind.

“Ocellus, where’s the thing now?” Shiho asked as she got her friend to her feet and rushed down the tunnel with the tracks.

“You can’t hurt it. I don’t know what it is, but it’s coming right for us!”

Shiho let out a sharp grunt and called Curtain Call back before speeding up, trying to put as much distance as they could between whatever was after Ocellus.

“This… this isn’t her Stand,” Ocellus suddenly said. “But I think that’s my mother’s power. She can make you see things, things that come after you. They can harm your Stand.”

“Things that can hurt Stands?” Shiho was aghast. “Impossible.”

“Whatever they are, they’re different. They only pick up on your presence once they know you can see them.”

“Well, then the goal is to pretend we can’t see them.” Shiho suddenly stopped and sniffed at the air. “Do you smell that?”

Ocellus sniffed. “Gas.”

“Ho ho, good, you realized!” Both of them turned to see a woman in a green and purple attire emerge from the shadows, drawing a ‘C’ in the air before her. She brushed aside her long teal hair and cackled. “Hello again, Ocellus. I see you’ve come to finish what you started. And Shiho Sunfast, granddaughter of Sunset Shimmer.”

“Mother…” Ocellus said with poison in her voice.

“You know, I had no doubt you’d arrive on the island…” Chrysalis walked in a circle around the two women. “I even guessed that you might best Flim, Flam, Tirek and Cozy Glow. I was a little apprehensive about you beating Sombra, but here you are, proving you have what it takes to get to me. And I guessed you would also come to the mines looking for Stand geodes.”

“Let me guess…” Ocellus got into a defensive stance, stretching one arm and foot forward while keeping the other arm behind her back. “You’ve already cleared out all the geodes in the mines so that we won’t find any.”

Chrysalis spat out a mouthful of air in a high pitched squeak. “If I could find a Stand geode myself, I’d have already used it on my Stand, Blue Oyster Cult. But sadly, there are no more geodes in the mines. You’ve wasted your time coming here, but you’ve given me a chance to have more time. Once I’ve dealt with your little team, TWI would reduce my sentence, bringing me closer to freedom. The first thing I would do is remove that traitor son of mine, Thorax, and end his reign over my colony!”

“If you think you can trust TWI at this point, then you’re sorely mistaken.” Shiho pointed a finger at her as she tilted her body sideways. “TWI will sooner have you killed than release you.”

Chrysalis let out another bout of laughter and placed a hand on her chest, close to her neck. “TWI is still Princess of Friendship. She keeps her word. She will reduce my sentence if I accomplish my mission. And that’s the end of your team here and now. You and your friends were lucky to escape the last time, Ocellus, but not this time. Behold, the power of my Stand, Blue Oyster Cult!”

Chrysalis reached up and out with both hands, hanging them over her head like some sort of boogeyman. What looked like an astronaut floated out from her back, copying her stance. It tilted its head to one side as though it were studying them through its little broken hole in its helmet. Where its feet should’ve been were two hooves, also clad in its spacesuit and eyes all over its body flicked around, rapidly looking around the environment while occasionally glancing at Shiho and Ocellus.

It sped out in front of Chrysalis, readying a punch as Curtain Call yelled and met its fist in the middle, releasing a burst of air as both Stands fought against one another, trying to overpower the other. Then its purple eyes began to glow and from its backpack, it fired out three green energy balls at Curtain Call.

Shiho’s Stand took a step back and whipped out its cloth, swiping it over each energy ball, turning each one into coal. But all of a sudden, Shiho spotted something behind Chrysalis, something that seemed to phase in and out of reality. It looked up at her with its tentacled face and a single red eye in the center of its head blazed into existence.

“What is that?” All the hairs on her arms stood up. It stalked forward on its two arms, its legs seemingly nonexistent as a wave of geometry followed under it, incomprehensible to her eyes.

“I told you!” Ocellus grabbed her arm. “There are things out there that come after us.”

“Yes! Blue Oyster Cult’s true power!” Chrysalis cackled and walked backwards. “It opens your mind and reveals to you the truths of the world! That humanity is not king of your realm. No, it belongs to beings older and more monstrous than you can ever imagine and the best part is… they can feed on magic. That means they can harm your Stands!”

There was a skittering from behind them, and from the tunnel they had come from, Shiho could now see the rat-thing as it clawed at the rocky ground beneath itself.

“It-It’s back!” Ocellus scrambled back a few steps. “We’re trapped!”

Shiho looked between the rat-thing and the new creature, then gritted her teeth together and snarled. “We’ll have to fight them both.” Then she glared at Chrysalis, who was watching them with a smug face. “We’ll have to fight her too. Perhaps if we take her out, the monsters will disappear.”

“In this tight tunnel?” Ocellus called forth Forest Rangers. “This is going to be a tough fight.”

“We’ve gone through worse. Curtain Call!”

Shiho’s Stand charged straight for Blue Oyster Cult, but Chrysalis’ Stand swerved out of the way as the tentacled monster barged right into Curtain Call, knocking it down before pouring its tentacles over the Stand’s body. Her mind was immediately filled with images of a destroyed world, nothing more than the size of an asteroid as it floated in deep space, surrounded by different broken off portions of the planet as fire and lightning raged all around them.

Shiho shut her eyes and grinded her teeth together as she fought against the psychic attack. Tentacles began to slither into every part of her Stand and she fell to her knees as she fought against both physical and mental attacks.

“I’ve got you!” Ocellus’ Stand flew through the air with a kick, knocking the entity aside as it split into a swarm of tiny Forest Rangers, scattering in all directions as they attempted to attack both the tentacle monster and Blue Oyster Cult. “You’re not winning today, mother!”

Forest Rangers reformed into a fist in front of Blue Oyster Cult, but it glided up into the air with a burst of flames from its backpack, then spun upside down as it grabbed the fist and tossed it into the cave wall. Blue Oyster Cult spun around again and released a beam of energy, disintegrating a swathe of Forest Rangers as the rest formed into two smaller bipedal Stands about half the height of the original Forest Rangers. More of the swarm attacked the tentacle monster, chewing through its tentacles as Ocellus hauled Shiho to her feet, who gave her eyes a wipe.

But the attack wasn’t over just yet. From behind them, the rat-thing pounced at them, claws raised, but Curtain Call swiped its cloth around its face and stepped aside, pulling hard as it yanked the creature down on its back.

Its claws shredded through the cloth, but Curtain Call was already on it, barraging it with furious punches as it yelled, “Neigh! Neigh! Neigh! Neigh!”

It got smashed all around its body, but the rat-thing still somehow recovered and sprouted appendages from its back akin to wings, but without the membrane. It swiped at Curtain Call, who ducked away just in time to be kicked in the face by Blue Oyster Cult.

Shiho’s head flicked to the side and blood dripped from her broken lips. She kept herself from falling over, but then Blue Oyster Cult grabbed Curtain Call around the throat and lifted it up before delivering a solid punch to its right cheek. It slammed its head into the tunnel wall and Shiho did the same as she clutched at her head, groaning in pain. Blue Oyster Cult delivered two kicks to her gut, sending her into the wall two more times before she stopped moving.

“You cannot beat the creatures of this plane!” Chrysalis laughed, curling up her fingers as she bent her legs forward and her body back. “They will chase you until you’re dead. You’ll never defeat me! Haha!”

The tentacle monster was thrust into her and she stopped laughing. She fell back in a heap as the weight of the monster pressed her into the cavern ground, cutting at her skin as she yelled in fury. Blue Oyster Cult threw the monster off of her and zapped it with its green blasts, dissolving it as Forest Rangers stood between them now, reformed and ready for a fight.

“So you can take them away.” Ocellus slid the edge of one hand against her brow and put the other one up in front of herself horizontally. “That’s how I’ll defeat you, mother. I’ll use them against you! If they get in your way, you’ll have no choice but to eliminate them. You don’t control them any more than I could. If they are aware you are aware of their existence, they’ll come for you too.”

Forest Rangers ran forward, throwing its whole body at Chrysalis with a fist. Blue Oyster Cult put both palms forward and fired more energy blasts from them, but Forest Rangers dissolved into its swarm and spun around the projectiles before reforming before Chrysalis’ Stand, clawing at its covered face. Scratch marks appeared over the front of Chrysalis’ face and she staggered back clutching at it as she screamed. Forest Rangers delivered two quick punches to Blue Oyster Cult’s abdomen, launching it into the ceiling before spinning a roundhouse kick to the side of its body, knocking it into the wall where Chrysalis collapsed, holding her side as she panted hard.

The rat-thing ran at Forest Rangers from behind, but it deformed into a puddle of smaller Stands as it crashed into Blue Oyster Cult, smashing it into the wall a second time.

“This is for my friends,” Ocellus said as she stood over her former queen. “I’ve served you most of my life, but Thorax showed us a better path. You should’ve embraced the change he brought, mother.”

“That all means nothing.” Chrysalis spat blood on the ground and growled. “You forgot that it is I who now serves TWI and it is you going against the princess. You are against Equestria. You are the traitor!”

“And it is my duty as protector of Equestria to remind the princess of who she truly is. Whatever it is she has become, she has lost her way, but I am sure she’ll see the light again.” Ocellus panned a hand in the air from left to right. “Your days out in the sun are over, mother.”

Chrysalis wiped at her mouth and grinned. “You think… a few punches are all it takes… to put me down?”

Blue Oyster Cult got back up, spreading its arms to the sides as its multiple purple eyes began to glow brighter than ever. A green aura spread out like a shadow on the walls of the mine tunnels, creeping along like a creature on its own.

All of a sudden, Ocellus found that the tunnel was filled with more entities, each one more horrific than the last. There was a beast that resembled a wolf, but at the same time, it had the tail of a lizard that had two hands at the end of it, and there was another one that was just darkness and a mass of tentacles, each one filled with red spikes all along their ridges.

“Behold, The Reaper!” Chrysalis got back on her feet and pointed skyward. “Blue Oyster Cult’s ultimate move! All I’ve been doing is revealing one being at a time, but if I reveal them all at once, what do you hope to accomplish!”

Ocellus looked at all the entities between her and her mother and got herself ready. Things looked daunting, but she wasn’t going to give up here. Not here, not ever.

“I don’t fear The Reaper. I will defeat you and bring you to justice!” Ocellus roared and sent Forest Rangers charging towards the horde of beasts. “For my friends! For Equestria!”

Forest Rangers collided with the first beast, a goatman with six eyes and split off a portion of itself to begin eating through its flesh as it connected a fist to the jaw of a fishman. Blue Oyster Cult and Chrysalis were just there, a little beyond Forest Rangers’ reach. If she just gave it her all a little more, she could get to her and end this once and for all.

The fishman recovered and opened its maw, revealing a glowing yellow orb within it. Burning hells filled Ocellus’ eyes, shining in all its devastation over a ruined landscape, with giant tentacles coming from the ground.

“N-No, I can’t look!” Ocellus shut her eyes and had Forest Rangers swing its arms around, clubbing the fishman aside as it ran past it, but all of a sudden, a searing pain erupted through her body, straight out the abdomen. “Aa-aaah!”

Ocellus looked down to see a white and green fist coming out of her abdomen, stained red with her blood. Blue Oyster Cult pulled its arm out and sprayed blood along the back of the tunnel as feeling in Ocellus’ legs already began to fade.

She reached for her injury with both hands as she collapsed to her knees, as her body began to tremble.

“No, Ocellus!” Shiho pushed herself up, her head bleeding from hitting the wall earlier.

Ocellus looked up as the monsters surrounded her, looking down at her with mad eyes as multiple arms and tentacles grabbed her. Their eyes and mouths began to glow as more images of the end shone into her mind, ranging from multitudes of dead humans to flooded or burning cities. Already, her consciousness began to fade, but she wasn’t ready to give up, not yet.

“No… No…” she gasped for air as the visions overwhelmed her mind. “Forest Rangers…”

Her Stand scuttled around under her, but most of them got trampled under the feet of the monsters. Ocellus grabbed one of their arms, attempting to fight back, but the monster, the mass of tentacles, pulled her forward and slithered its shadows over her arm, melting her skin into some kind of black liquid.

“It’s over! I’ve won! I’ve defeated this Sushi team!” Chrysalis cackled and began hopping into the air with glee. “How does it feel, Ocellus, to end up like this after betraying me?”

“I failed. I couldn’t do it…” Ocellus spat out a mouthful of blood, which dribbled down her chin, sticking to her skin and clothes. “I am sorry… Gallus. Smolder. Yona. Sandbar. Silverstream. But my friends… the ones I made along the way to this island… they’ll continue fighting for what’s right. For me…” She weakly turned her head to Shiho, locking eyes with her. “Shiho. You have to do it. I know you can… Forest Rangers has already… been working to heal you. You can defeat my mother. I know it. Stop my mother. Stop TWI. Save your grandmother…”

Shiho got on her feet, feeling the tiny Forest Rangers working within her body to repair the damage inflicted during this fight, but her vision was blurry from the tears pooling within her eyes. “Ocellus…”

With one last burst of determination, Ocellus turned to her mother, unwavering. “You’ll never win… Chrysalis. Friendship is still the strongest magic there is. It’s because of friendship Shiho will defeat you here… You have lost.”

Ocellus’ head drooped down as the rest of her body was sucked into the void of the tentacle monster, but all the way, her smile never faded.

“No, no no no, you have lost!” Chrysalis swiped through the air angrily, snorting hard through her nostrils. “You’ll die here and so will all your friends! I am queen of the Changelings and I will rise again!”

Shiho looked down at her arms, feeling her friend’s Stand fade from within her body. She was truly gone. She flicked her gaze back on the queen, pushing the brows as low as they could go as she clenched her fists hard enough to draw blood. “This ends here, Chrysalis. Ocellus has given me what I need to finish you off once and for all.”

“Oh?” Chrysalis pretended to look at her nails and began flicking her fingers with her thumb. “Tell me how you plan on getting through all my beautiful creatures.”

Shiho pointed at her before shoving both hands into her coat pockets. “Watch me. I’m going to walk right over.”

Chrysalis spat out saliva as she tipped forward laughing. “I’d like to see you try! Come on over and join your friend, Ocellus!”

The monsters stepped closer before her, roaring to the air as Shiho took her first step.

• To be Continued...-

Author's Note

Press 'F' to pay respects.