The rooms in Ner'Ghalad's evil fortress of evil didn't often stay in one place for long. Whenever it was practical, or whenever he was bored, Ner'Ghalad would use a bit of minor spatial distortion magic to shift things around. Theoretically, he could abuse this power to trap any interlopers in inescapable loops filled with death, but where would the fun be in that? A proper villain always allowed at least one major confrontation between himself and his nemesis, a confrontation that was fast approaching.
There was one specific room that Ner' had dubbed his "chillaxing room." It was filled with all manner of plush and comfortable sofas, recliners, bean bags, and other nice things to sit upon. He kept it well stocked in all manner of snacks and drinks too, so one would always have something to munch on while chillaxing.
An earsplitting screeching, grinding noise echoed throughout a place that didn't actually exist when Ner'Ghalad moved his chillaxing room into place and connected it to the four challenge rooms. Four doors popped into existence along one wall, each door lead to a different challenge room. A fifth door appeared on the opposite wall, one that lead to the chamber Ner'Ghalad himself was currently in. Ner' wiped a few drops of sweat from his brow, relieved that he was finished with the strenuous reality shifting.
And not a moment too soon. Almost before the dust settled one of the four doors opened to reveal Aquapony. Ner'Ghalad scrambled over to his magical computer. The window currently on the screen was a bird's eye view of the chillaxing room. Ner' slipped on his magical headset and checked to make sure it was broadcasting to the correct room while the water-themed superhero glanced about in confusion. Ner' made one last double check of his notecards before clearing his throat and speaking into his microphone.
"Welcome to my chillaxing room, Aquapony!" Ner' grimaced when he realized his microphone was on mute. He un-muted and repeated himself. "Welcome to my chillaxing room, Aquapony! Feel free to have a seat and a bite to eat, the rest of your friends should be along shortly."
After making sure that Aquapony had taken his advice, Aquapony chose to recline on an interesting piece of furniture which was sort of like a cross between a futon and a water-bed, Ner' tabbed through to his other windows to check on how the others were doing.
Courier was being badass. Fphantom was showing off. That interesting earth pony that Ner' still didn't know the name of was hopping about. Ner'Ghalad made a sticky note reminding himself to ask for his name later.
Ner' tabbed back to the window showing his chillaxing room just as Fphantom walked in. The mirage looked about for a bit, spotted Aquapony, and walked over to his friend. "Hey Aqua," Fphant said as he flopped down onto a blob-shaped chunk of memory foam. "I'm surprised to see you here already, I thought I'd be the first one done."
"I probably just got a super easy challenge," Aquapony said humbly, but Ner' knew better. Aquapony's challenge was actually the second hardest, behind the challenge Ner' had thrown at the unnamed pony.
While the two down in the room waited for their friends, Ner'Ghalad tabbed to a different window and proceeded to look at humorous pictures of cats. Every so often he would check back in on the chillaxing room, and it just so happened that Courier made his entrance during one such period.
The door burst open violently, expelling a panting Courier and a loud rattling noise. It only took a second for Courier to slam the door behind himself, but it was almost too late. A single bony arm managed to thrust itself through the door before it slammed shut, intending to jam it open for the rest of the undying horde. Luckily, for Courier and his friends, the force of his slam was enough to snap the limb clean off, trapping the rest of the skeleton on the other side.
Courier slumped down to the ground, back pressed against the door, panting hard. To his credit, it only took him a couple seconds to catch his breath and compose himself. After taking a moment to smooth out his rumpled clothes, Courier wordlessly surveyed the room. Something seemed to catch his eye, as he set off walking between the couches almost immediately. Ner'Ghalad watched intently and was just barely able to spot several non-perishable snacks disappear when the man walked next to them.
Several minor thefts later, Courier reached his destination. Unceremoniously and with a loud groan of relief, he threw himself face first onto the plushest, most luxurious couch in Ner's collection.
Until that point, Fphantom and Aquapony had watched their friend in silence. "You alright there?" Aquapony asked, concerned for his friend. "Was your challenge too hard?"
The only response Courier gave was to lift a single arm with his hand balled into a fist and the middle finger extended. He held the gesture for a second before letting his arm drop.
"Meh," Fphantom shrugged. "He's probably fine. Let him rest."
And so, the three lapsed into silence.
Silence, Ner' thought, just simply would not do! "So, by now I imagine you're all wondering where the final member of your group is."
"Uh, not really," Aquapony said.
"Nope," Fphant agreed.
Courier simply repeated his gesture.
"He's a big pony," Aquapony continued. "He can take care of himself."
As if to emphasize his point, the conversation was interrupted by a tremendous crash. All eyes turned towards the fourth and final door... then refocused twenty feet above said door, where a decaying dragon head had smashed clean through the wall. Small bits of stone and dust cascaded down upon Ner'Ghalad's entire collection of couches.
Riding atop the dragon's head in a parody of rodeo was the earth pony in question.
Before anyone could pick their jaws up off the floor he said to the dragon, "Thanks for the dynamic entry, Skittles, you can go home now," and then, with a blinding flash of light which obscured his exact method, promptly beheaded the undead dragon. Instead of falling to the ground like you would expect a severed head to do, the dragon instead dissolved into thousands of tiny black motes which drifted off into nothingness; presumably back to wherever the dragon came from in the first place.
The dragon-riding pony, on the other hand, was very much subject to the whims of gravity. As soon as the dragon finished dissolving he plummeted like a flailing rock straight down towards a chaise lounge - only for Ner' to subtly shift the lounge a few feet to the side - and impacted the ground with a thud.
For several seconds nobody moved. Everyone, even Courier, stared at him as he lay in a heap on the cold stone ground. Then raised a single hoof triumphantly and said, "And he sticks the landing!"
It wasn't until after the crazy pony had righted himself and joined his friends on a couch of his own that Fphantom found a voice to speak with. "I think I'm not alone in wondering what the hay just happened," he asked.
"Well!" the crazy pony grinned his craziest grin as he started to recount his tale. "It all started when Ner' told his summoned dragon that I was 'thataway.'"