Chapter 12: More Questions than Answers
Beyond the door lay a wide chamber filled with the violated remains of ponies, minotaurs, dragons, sirens, changelings, and many species that were unrecognizable. There was an altar near the middle, where blue and orange flames roared as they lit the chamber. The altar was stained with blood and held the body of a lifeless pony, its abdomen split wide open.
The chamber reeked with the odor of death and decay, far worse than the nastiest troll den. It was deadly silent. The party could hear the individual drops of fresh blood as they dripped from the serrated kris dagger which floated above the corpse. Faintly luminous streams of energy floated from the corpse and into the two hooded figures hunched over the body, which stopped once they turned to stare at the intruders.
“So, thy meddlesome group hast made it past our defenses?” one of them boomed.
Nopony spoke.
“We can see that you are confused. We suppose that we should elaborate. Did you five really believe that there could have light without darkness? Good without evil? Order without chaos? Joy without suffering?” the other one announced.
Still, the party was speechless. All five stared at the two hooded creatures, wide-eyed.
“Art thou too much in shock to find us here? Thou art so shortsighted and foolish that thy minds cannot yet grasp our true dual nature?”
“With each life we grow stronger.”
“And each death we live longer.”
“Perhaps they would be more engaged in a conflict of steel and magic.”
“It doth seem to be what they prefer. They hath solved the trials with violence more often than nay.”
“And they can't even believe what they see before them, yet they ready their blades and spells!”
Indeed, the party was readying their armaments, preparing for a fight almost as an afterthought, still unable to speak.
“Well, if that be thy preference, then thou shalt reap what thou hast sown!” Princess Luna screamed, her horn and hooves hardening into jagged stones.
“And the royal sisters will double your death!” Princess Celestia shouted, her mane and tail crackling with lightning.
Darting to the right to dodge a relentlessness charge from the princess of the night, the five heard Luna smash into the wall behind them, sending out shards of rock that punched a head-sized hole straight through Iron Will's armor, which leaked blood as he crumpled. “Thy fate hast been sealed, thy hybrid abomination!”
“You were fated to die, you stumbling simpleton!” Celestia taunted, shooting a massive bolt of energy from her angry mane, scorching the floor and roasting Big McIntosh's tail clean off, along with most of his hindquarters.
“Thou art weak and useless!” Luna roared, sending chunks of granite flying to crush Spike's bones. “Thou cannot defeat us!”
“The student cannot hope to defeat her teacher,” Celestia smugly boasted, sending a flash of deafening thunder that caused Twilight's face to quite literally melt off, leaving mostly bare muscle and bits of skin.
The two sisters circled around the defeated party, hunching over their mangled, dying bodies.
“With each life, we grow stronger.”
“And each death, we live longer.”
They began to draw out the same luminous energy from the four heroes. “You should be honored to be the second group to make it this far. Your deaths will ensure our rule of Equestria for many, many years to come...”
“No,” asserted the last of the group. Celestia and Luna turned to face Root Rum, staring directly at him. “I won't let your tyranny continue. Your vile deception and horrible atrocities are not the darkness to your light. The darkness within you has become vile, disproportionate. You kill to prolong your own life while maintaining a facade of false honesty and goodness. Your balance has vanished and the darkness has engulfed the light.”
As Celestia's and Luna's horns began to glow with dark magic, their foreheads each lit up with the same rune.
Root Rum plunged a dagger into each of his forehooves, wincing as he carved a different rune into his own flesh.
The sisters' expressions changed from one of bloodthirsty glee to one of terrified panic.
“That's right, you monsters. You cannot annihilate death with death. Only life can bring forth the true balance!”
Root Rum leaped at the two like a mad kamikaze, hooves outstretched. As the runes on his body collided with the runes on the princesses' foreheads, there was a massive flash of death, life, earth, air, fire, ice, matter, and spirit. The utter chaos engulfed the seven individuals, letting off a dazzling display of multicolored light darkness that annihilated everything.
Twilight Sparkle opened her eyes. Was she alive? Yes, she certainly must be, she thought. She quickly glanced to her left and saw Spike stirring as well, his body completely intact. Big Mac and Iron Will were alive as well, though they all had a pretty nasty headache. In addition, their chains were gone. They were free!
As the four stood in unison as a matter of habit, they examined the bodies of their fallen foes. However, what lay before them bore little resemblance to the princesses they knew. They appeared to be the same hideous tentacled creatures which they had noticed earlier, though their eyes no longer glowed after death. Their foreheads were etched with a single symbol:
Root Rum was nowhere to be found. They looked around the chamber for any sign of him, but they found nothing but a wide set of double doors behind the altar.
As Iron Will pushed open the heavy iron doors with a reverberating creak, the whole party was blinded by the exposure to the rising sun. They were free, at last.