Area: Great Stairway
Year: 1944

Scootaloo, Jonathan, and Charlotte all left the save room and got ready to progress. Scootaloo having a letter appear out of nowhere from an old friend. "Okay, why the hell did Fabricator send me a letter?" She said as she opened it and got to reading.

Dear Scootaloo,

I did it. With help from Wilter and several other demons they had met, I did it. I achieved immortality. And while I know this is sudden but... I think we all can help you during that "battle of 1999" bullshit you're preparing for. Giving the bitches of Castlemania the what for during 1999 well be wonderful and Wilter, who has taken to being called Wilted Bloom or just Wilted, had become THE demon lord of Hell, isn't that a surprise?

I never, in a million years, expected the Pacifistic demon I went to school with to become the demon lord so... things will be interesting. And obviously, I know that this seems random but... I can't wait for you to meet the other friends we made. Anyways... running outta ink now, sorry.

Signed
Fabricator(Second in command of demon lord Wilter)

Scootaloo folded the paper up and put it away. When she did, the trio went farther into the area finding a new boss door. Smiles ran throughout the group.

Scootaloo and friends enter the boss room and find a container and Scootaloo already knew what to do. She bucked the container to the platforms. "Charlotte! Jonathan! Just attack the container, I'll handle Keremet himself!" Scootaloo announced as Jonathan and Charlotte nodded and got to work.

Scootaloo smirked as the gooey demon rose from the container and, using her dash attack, didn't even stand a bleeding chance. Keremet died fast. The container broke... but, like with Dullahan... something changed.

Instead of melting away, Keremet instead took the form of an Alicorn and started creating fake duplicates of itself.

"Shit, okay, now what, Scootaloo?" Jonathan said as he brandished his whip

"Uhhh... each of us take one of the Keremets?" Scootaloo said, uncertain. This was new and unexpected... just like when Dullahan did it.

"Uh, not sure if I should be the bearer of bad news but... uh... Keremet is filled with Equestrian magic and has been the entire fight." That statement from Charlotte caused Scootaloo to go wide eyed.

They had Equestrian magic... from the start!? That added many levels of complication tothe formula, if boss monsters had Equestrian magic... what's to say normal monsters won't have it eventually?! Now that was a thought that horrified Scootaloo. She was shocked she didn't sense the Equestrian magic in Keremet herself but Charlotte did... she remembered the signature of the door and pony zone.

Scootaloo still wanted them to follow through with their plan and so Scootaloo rushed to deal with a Keremet that was charging a heal spell while Jonathan dealt with one who was about to fire a gooey fireball. Charlotte instead charging her Raging Fire spell.

Scootaloo used Hellfire to finish off her Keremet, not proving to be the real one as the other two stayed up. She went and assisted Jonathan who was having trouble fighting his since it used a protection spell after the fire ball failed. "Ugh, this stupid winged unicorn is being a piece of shit that deserves to fucking die!" Jonathan announced without complication as Scootaloo attacked his Keremet and finished it off, it not proving to be the real one either, just leaving the real one.

Luckily Keremet was outnumbered three to one! It fell after not too long.

Now Scootaloo had to think, he noticed that Keremet has no cutie mark and Dullahan's was hidden by armor... but... then he remembered Death. He has a pin like those of the Mirror World... now, is it just a funny happenstance? Maybe, but Scootaloo wasn't willing to take chances.

Moving forward in the Great Stairway revealed more save areas, some warp rooms, and a new Portrait, this time it lead to the Sandy Grave.

Area: Sandy Grave
Year: 1944

Scootaloo and friends went forward, finding Mummies and a new enemy called a Sand Worm which actually hid a HP max up under it's burrowed sand. Then they reached the pyramid.

"Is that a transition door in a portrait?" Charlotte commented as Scootaloo looked at it... it was... out of place.

"That leads to a pony zone, I can sense the Equestrian magic in it," Scootaloo said as the trio went through it and found that it was correct...

Jonathan and Charlotte were ponies again. Jonathan still a pegasus and Charlotte still a unicorn. "Welp, we're back in weird town now," Jonathan commented with Scootaloo shaking her head in disapproval.

After utilizing a save point, Scootaloo and friends ignored the Red Skeletons since they offered no threat and just rose up again anyways. Scootaloo realized that they could do better splitting up to navigate as much as possible so Scootaloo has Jonathan and Charlotte go downwards while Scootaloo goes forward.

Big mistake. Scootaloo found a vampire in a big purple outfit with both Loretta and, presumedly, Stella. "Brauner, right? Been waiting to meet you. I see you brought the stolen sisters as well," Scootaloo commented, taking notice of both the sisters faces and Brauner's own, and his face was her favorite, a look of surprise, as if he thought nobody could have known he didn't technically relate to Stella or Loretta.

"So you enter my painting and deny my relation to my own daughters?" Brauner said, his calm face not surprising Scootaloo at all.

"Yes, father is gifting you with his presence and this is how you treat him, you pathetic chicken!?" Stella said as she drew her sword while Loretta attempts to hold her back.

Loretta gave Scootaloo a look of... contemplation. "If what you say is true, chicken, then... what is the proof to show it?" Loretta asked as Scootaloo smirked.

"Loretta, let's take a look back at what happened when Jonathan Morris tried to attack you with the Vampire Killer in the City of Haze. It failed, not because he couldn't use it, but rather... because of your blood preventing it from being vaible... Loretta Lecarde," as Scootaloo said the last bit, it seemed a bit of a... realization occured in Loretta, she let Stella go but Scootaloo just teleported out of the way. "Now Brauner, let me ask you... why didn't you use the chance Loretta gave you back in the City of Haze to kill me, Jonathan, and Charlotte?" Scootaloo asked Brauner who was starting to visibly sweat realizing he got on the business end of a monsterous creature.

"Uh... I, uh, didn't see you as a threat at that point... it... seems I am wrong," Brauner said as he commanded the sisters to leave... only... Loretta stayed, but Brauner was already pissed enough so he decided to leave.

"Loretta, are you in there?" Scootaloo asked at the seemingly frozen Loretta. But she quickly nodded.

"Yes... I think... we need a purification spell soon, there should be one in this painting, Sanctuary, if we are fast enough I and my sister could be saved," Loretta said as Jonathan and Charlotte entered the room, with smiles.

"Well well, looks like Scootaloo saved Loretta but... what happened to Stella?" Jonathan asked as his smile wavered. But Scootaloo wasn't going to answer.

"Right now we need to focus on finding a purification spell to save Loretta, luckily, there might be one in this painting by the name of Sanctuary," Scootaloo said, focused on the current moment versus the future.

Jonathan's wings flared up and he looked in confusion. "Are my wings supposed to do that?" Jonathan asks and Scootaloo nods... Loretta is just confused why Jonathan and Charlotte are ponies now.

The trio progressed through the pyramid and, with Scootaloo's assistance, found the Sanctuary spell and used it to purify Loretta before moving on and killing a Persephone or two on the way to the boss of the area and picking up a strange object which revealed to be a new Dual Crush called 1,000 Blades.

"So you two can have a variety of Dual Crushes that you just pick and choice from?"

"I mean... yeah. As a team we started out with Rush but we worked together to make Holy Lightning, which was mainly Charlotte's idea."

"Yep! I did my research and so did the church. They figured out how Dual Crushes work through the old method of having subweapons equipped to each person partaking the Dual Crush and took notes of what magic needed to replicated somehow by using information from some of the best mages of Europe and North America, thus by using the law of magical realivity, we could take the metaphysical properties of the magic itself and then alter them without changing the actual magical properties and-"

"Basically, the church did research on how Dual Crushes work and learned how to replicate the effect without the requirement of a subweapon."

"You didn't have to cut Charlotte off, Jonathan." Scootaloo said as Loretta just kinda watched.

"Is this normal for you three?" Loretta asked as all three nodded, "Okay, remind me to not continue exploring with you three after this painting."

"Consider it done," Scootaloo and Charlotte said while Jonathan simply said no problem.

The group went higher before finding a switch and... Silent Night. "Who is that?" Loretta asked as Silent Night turned towards the group, her eyes empty and unfocused.

"You should not be here. This location is not for foreigns to explore." Silent Night spoke but her voice sounded... empty... monotonous...

Scootaloo felt another energy signature in the area... one she's familiar with as it's the signature of a changeling, but not just any changeling... an admiral, none of which gave up loyalty to Chrysalis, who must have done something to Silent Night.

"Silent Night, mind telling me what it is you're doing?" Scootaloo asked but Silent Night never answered as she vanished in a flash of light. "Shit."

"Well, guess we know she's probably an enemy," Charlotte said.

The group went higher in the pyramid until they found the boss room, Loretta stopping Jonathan from entering the room. "What the hell, Loretta?!" Jonathan asked as he watched Scootaloo and Charlotte enter the boss room.

"If I remember correctly, Jonathan, you being in there will be a liability because the boss of this area is Astarte, a temptress using Cleopatra's appearence, so you can't assist without risking becoming her minion and I doubt Scootaloo would hold back fighting you if you weren't the heir to the Vampire Killer," Loretta explains.

Inside the boss room...

Scootaloo and Charlotte enter the room and notice the obvious thing. "Okay, I have no idea why I'm looking straight at Cleopatra," Charlotte said in... confusion.

"I don't care because I notice that she has Equestrian magic as well and take a look!" Scootaloo says as she points at a small heart-shaped tattoo on Astarte's arm, "Seems this one wears her cutie mark on her body like a sleeve."

"That means... she's the temptress Astarte!" Charlotte says as she readies her Tome of Arms while Scootaloo shoots Hellfire, and notices that Hellfire does next to nothing.

"So fire isn't good to use, got it," Scootaloo makes that mental note as she tries various elemental attacks... before giving up with that idea as she realizes just how low damage she's doing.

Charlotte, on the other hoof/hand, was doing magic better by using Gale Force(a spell she acquired back in the City of Haze) to deal massive slash damage. Scootaloo attacks using Fatal Wind to deal massive danage herself as well. And Astarte tries to use Temptation and it fails on both of her assilents... safe to say that Astarte wished she had never met the group.

When Astarte fell, Jonathan and Loretta entered the room and congradulated Scootaloo and Charlotte and the victory and they celebrated with a save to heal the injuries and ready for the oncoming battles.

Author's Note

Bosses beaten: Keremet, Astarte

Sooooooo... uhm... I can explain where this went...

So... I made this chapter to showcase that even the titular portraits aren't safe from the pony zones and that, even if a boss has Equestrian magic, that doesn't mean they'll choose to use it. Both Dullahan and Keremet were desperate while Astarte was accepting of failure. She'll return tho, dw.

Now, since Loretta's been purified early, Brauner will take Loretta's place in the battle against Stella in the Tower of Death, and Silent Night will take Loretta's place in the battle at the Master's Keep :3

"It's hopeless" -Stella

"I'm about to ruin her whole career." -Scootaloo