//------------------------------// // The End of the World // Story: Utaan // by Imploding Colon //------------------------------// Wildcard steadied himself against a golden beam. Twin black lenses reflected lightning, stars, and water spouts beyond the sea of glass panels. THOOOM! KRAKKKK! FLASSSH! Swirling tempests—blinding and bold—fluctuated all around the Gondola's free-fall. And yet—with his loyal gaze—the Desperado soon made out the bodies of the two combatants. With a mute snarl, he twirled Bard's staff, kicked off the glass plates beneath him, and flew towards his targets. Ariel gasped through the thunder as he whizzed by. "Wildcard—!" "Raaaaaaugh!" Seraphimus lifted Rainbow by a talon grip to her throat. She raised her other claws to strike— Swooooosh! CLANG! Bard's staff contacted heavily with her shoulder. "Oooomf!" Seraphimus jolted in mid-hover, but she did not let go of Rainbow. Turning around, she met Wildcard's next swing with her opposite talon. "Rrrrrrghh—!" Wildcard snarled back, tightening his muscles to thrust the staff into Seraphimus' skull. Rainbow was gasping for breath when she felt the Gondola sway around them, followed by Rarity's yelp: "Look out!" "Incomiiiiing!" Pinkie Pie hollered, mane billowing. Rainbow's eyes rolled back. She saw the shattered glass entrance to the Gondola... and the wave of water rushing through it. "Hold on!!!" Flynn shouted, erecting a force field around himself and as many Heraldites as he could muster. SPLOOOOOOSH! Ocean water jetted in like a fountain, dousing everypony inside. Ariel screamed until she was gargling brine. When the wave hit the three combatants—accompanied with a crack—of thunder, it knocked them hard to the bottom of the sphere. WHUD! Wh-Wham! Rainbow Dash rolled and tumbled through the shallow pool collecting rapidly at the bottom of the sphere. She tried to get up when— "Another, darling!" "Rainbow—!" Applejack's voice, then nothing... for Rainbow Dash was doused once more. She felt herself cartwheeling head over hoof, spotting refracted images of the universe blurring around her through crystalline windows. At last, she surfaced, rolling onto a curved stretch of dry glass and gold. "Damn crazy bitch!" Logan hollered from above, writhing in his restraint. "Gonna get us all killed—!" "Rainbow!" Ariel sputtered, her eyes flashing from high above the support beams. "Behind you! Coming in fast—!" "Move—!" Fluttershy insisted. "Gnnngh!" Rainbow found the strength to hop up. She swung both front limbs behind her, blocking blindly. She miraculously deflected Seraphimus's attack, but suffered deep cuts in her fetlocks as a show of it. Wasting no time, Rainbow spun around, yanked Seraphimus by her wing, and flung her against the side of the sphere. WHAM! "Ooomf!" Seraphimus quivered all over. She struggled to get up— WHUMP! Rainbow straddled her and—Whack! Thwack! Smack!—pummeled her repeatedly with left hooks and right hooks. Blood and saliva splattered against the glass, blotting out the distant shine of blurring stars and nebulae. But before Rainbow could get a fourth hit in, Seraphimus snaked her prehensile tail down between them and wrapped it around Rainbow's lower fetlock. "Urrrgh!" Rainbow gasped as she was yanked down. "Haaaah!" Seraphimus raked the mare's chest. Sliiiiiit! "Aaaa-aaah!" Rainbow shrieked into her own blood before being dunked into the rising water. She gurgled and struggled as Seraphimus pressed her weight down into her. Seraphimus raised another talon to rip straight into Rainbow's brain-stem from behind. WHACK! Bard's staff uppercutted her. Seraphimus jerked back. Scowling, she crossed both forelimbs to block Wildcard's second attack. As Wildcard angrily shoved the enraged griffon back, Rainbow dove out of the water and flew into her with a violent spear. "Aaaaaaah!" WHUD! Soon, all three were tangling together in a tight bundle of hooves, claws, and metal. But before any of them could make any headway— "Blessed Goddess!" Kepler hollered, leaning closer to Flynn and his glowing horn. "Brrace yourrselves—!" "Ah jeez...!" Ariel tensed up as her eyes reflecting a cyclone of cement-thick water outside. THUDDDDD! A waterspout billowing from the world's edge knocked hard into the shell of the Gondola. Everypony flailed, jerked violently inside their harnesses. Rainbow, Seraphimus, and Wildcard—SWOOOSH—were thrown clear across the hollow the Gondola. Their bodies pinballed off the support struts. Wh-Wh-Wham! Wildcard took the brunt of it. Bard's staff rolled in one direction while Wildcard's body ragdolled in the other. "Ooomf!" Rainbow Dash landed awkwardly on her belly. Straight through the glass below, she could see the obsidian black edge of the plane shifting further and further away. Her eyesight filled with lightning and galaxies. And then—just as swiftly—the Gondola swung back. Along with it came the water—SPLOOOSH!—thoroughly dousing Rainbow in a wave. She collapsed out the other side, rolling up to face the top of the vehicle. She saw Seraphimus gliding down towards her. "Rainbow!" Rainbow flashed a look to her left. Rarity—frenzied—was pointing at a tell-tale rod. "Staff!" "Httt!" Rainbow yanked Bard's weapon up lengthwise and held it out in front of her. CLANK! She connected with both of Seraphimus' claws, and the two wrestled over dominance of the staff. "Rrrrgh—Haaaugh!" She kicked off the floor and flew up into Seraphimus. Seraphimus flew into her. Spinning like airborne tops, the two formed the frenetic nucleus of the runaway Gondola. On the opposite side, Remna huffed. With violet hooves, she ripped the belts free that were restraining her. Logan flashed her a wild look as the Gondola spun and swayed amidst the lightning. "What in the blue Hell are you doing?!" "The Austraeoh must not die." Remna detached completely from her seat and leaned herself forward. "Nothing else matters." Logan eyeballed her, muzzle agape. With a growl, he started messing with his thick restraints as well. "I'll be damned if she gets to be crazier than me!" "Rainbow!" Ariel hollered as Remna was the first to drop. She fought with her own harness but couldn't get the belt loose amidst the turbulent chaos. "Hold on! You're getting help—!" Swoooosh! Remna dropped like a violet anvil, landing in front of Wildcard's collapsed body. THUDDD! Cracks formed in the glass panels below her... before the sloshing water covered them up. Remna charged forward, undaunted, eyeing the two flying combatants above. Rainbow and Seraphimus spun before the heavens, struggling for dominance of the staff. "Austraeoh!" Remna shouted. "Down here!" It was Seraphimus who looked down first, and Rainbow capitalized. "Httt!" She head-butted the griffon and then followed the stunning impact with a massive kick to the midsection. "Grrrgh!" Seraphimus sailed down... down... Thwump! —and into Remna's vice-like grip. "Guhh—!" Seraphimus fought and struggled against the draconian limbs. "Now, Wildcard!" Flynn shouted from up above. His glowing horn illuminated his wide muzzle. "Now! Take her out—!" Scrambling, Wildcard leapt out of the water and sprinted towards Remna and Seraphimus. Remna clutched Seraphimus' skull in both fetlocks. "Die." Seraphimus eyed Wildcard's charge carefully. "Way ahead of you." With one savage muscle movement, she spread both wings into Remna's chest. "Oomf—!" The violet mare was lifted up on her hindquarters. Wildcard came in, flinging his metal fist. "Hnngh!" Seraphimus caught his momentum and flung him so that his metal talons grasped around Remna's throat. Wildcard gasped. He tried to release— "Yaaaugh!" Seraphimus flipped in place and came down with a savage drop-kick to the base of Wildcard's prosthetic. CRAKKKK! Finally, after so much damnable punishment, the base of the limb shattered completely, leaving the Desperado's metal fingers strangling Remna's throat in a mechanical death grip. "Hrkkk!" Remna stumbled back on her hind-quarters, teetering. "Rrrrr—" Seraphimus followed it up by grasping Wildcard's body and flinging him like a battering ram into Remna's chest. WHUDDD! Both Heraldites fell back, slamming hard into the fractured glass from Remna's landing earlier. And the glass gave way. SHATTTTTTERRR!!! The ocean water was immediately sucked out—rocketing towards the edge of the world from which the Gondola plunged. Soon after went Remna and Wildcard, plummeting into the chaotic heavens. "No—!" Ariel shrieked. "Hhhttt!" Flynn aimed his skull at the distant panel below. His horn glowed brilliantly, projecting a telekinetic stream. Miraculously, Remna and Wildcard both jerked in place, hovering in a dead glow two-thirds of the way beyond the panel's shattered frame. The forces pulling at the Gondola's interior ripped Wildcard's prosthetic from Remna's throat. The mare sputtered, her draconian eyeslits watching the metal arm as it sailed off like an onyx comet—only to be consumed by vortices of burning lightning. In the meantime, Rainbow had plunged into Seraphimus again. She spun the staff into her twice, but Seraphimus blocked both times. As Rainbow raised the staff for another strike, Seraphimus punched her in the gut, spun them both around, and shoved her across the Gondola. While wrestling, the two inadvertently crossed Flynn's telekinetic stream. Gasping, Wildcard and Remna plunged once more into outer space— Kepler hollered. "Brrotherr—!" Flynn jerked his head again, eyes bulging and teeth clenched as he focused the telekinetic beam as hard as he could. Sparks shot from the edges of his horn as he slowly—agonizingly pulled the two Heraldites back into the heart of the sphere. "Rrrrrrr—" Blood trickled out of his ears as he tilted his head back at the burning apex of magical leylines. "—raaaaaaaaaaaaugh!" The mental effort knocked Flynn clean out, leaving him limp and silent in his restraints. At last, Remna and Wildcard slumped back onto the intact panes of glass. While above them, Seraphimus and Rainbow Dash traded blows. And above them— "There!" Logan belched victoriously as he finally ripped his tight restraints free. Schiiiing! The stallion unsheathed his axe and jumped out of his seat. "Time to remove her head—!" He blinked as his body refused to fall. Instead, he floated goofily forward in the starlight. "...the buck is this?" Dizzy, Remna and Wildcard regarded themselves as their bodies slowly lifted off the fractured panels below. "What..." Ariel gazed up at her wildly flailing mane. She looked to her left. "What's going...?!" "We've rreached the centerr of both planes!" Kepler sputtered, watching his spectacles fly off his hairy nose. "The Gondola has slowed! We arre losing grravity—!" The golden mechanism with the broken lever shot sparks in random, nebulous directions. Rainbow Dash's last punch against Seraphimus sent herself flying backwards. She gasped, feeling bile and fluids rise up her throat. Her inner organs shifted, and her hair went everywhere. She flapped her feathers in desperation. "Rainbow!" Twilight stammered, hyperventilating. "It's no use! Your wings won't work in this environment!" "T-t-t-tell h-h-h-her th-th-that!" Pinkie Pie pointed across the Gondola, convulsing all over. Rainbow Dash jerked her neck to see— "Haaaaaugh!" Seraphimus kicked off the outer edge of the Gondola, propelling herself at her opponent. "Watch yourself, sugarcube!" Applejack floated upside down, trailing ghostly vapors. "She won't stop until you—!" "Seraphimus—!!!" Rainbow shouted, but to no avail. Seraphimus impacted her, and the two figures went flying weightlessly across the Gondola. They barreled off a golden spoke, pivoted, then braced themselves against another cross-beam. Rainbow steadied herself as well as she could with the aid of Bard's staff. "Dang it to Tartarus! Stop this!" She gnashed her teeth from where she perched. "Don't you see what you're doing?!" Seraphimus panted, bracing herself on a beam across from her. "If it means the end of you, Rogue, then it's worth it." "For Pete's sake, you idiot!" Rainbow waved at the cosmos swirling all around them. "Can't you see that there's more to this than Verlaxion and—" "Say her name!" Charcoal eyes flickered as Seraphimus pushed off her bar, sailing claws-first. "Say her name and perish!" "Dashie—!" Pinkie yelped. But Rainbow Dash was way ahead of her. She blocked with the staff. Seraphimus' claws connected, spilling sparks every which way that mimicked the lightning beyond. Seraphimus met another golden spoke and kicked off of it. Rainbow leapt backwards, deflecting the advancing blows—being propelled backwards by each vengeful strike. She wrapped her short tail around another golden beam and spun herself ninety degrees. Seraphimus followed her perfectly, and soon the two were weaving in and around the web of support struts, trading staff-swings and claw-strikes. At one point, Seraphimus caught Rainbow by a wing and flung her sideways. Rainbow slammed off a beam with a grunt, twirled around, and landed on another beam above Seraphimus. She aimed Bard's staff straight up and twirled it to the best of her ability. Seraphimus aimed up from her position, striking and parrying from where she perched. The clattering bedlam of their impacts rivaled the thunder outside. Logan—meanwhile—flailed uselessly in the air several feet from the heart of the scuffle. He gnashed his teeth, looking at his axe levitating just out of reach. "Rrrnngh... damn it..." He hollered at the Heraldites still fastened to their seats across from the battle. "Flynn! You damn baldy! Give me a boost! The Austraeoh's in—" "I'm afrraid he's out cold, frriend!" Kepler shouted back, shaking his unicorn companion's shoulder. "And we appearr to be stuck out herre—!" "Well... grnnth..." Logan snarled and flailed. "Somepony... spit on the crazy death chicken or something—!" FLASH! In the next strobe of thunder, Logan felt a body shoving him from behind. He started, looking to see that Remna had kicked off the panels below and was giving him a boost. SWOOOSH! They barreled through the starlight, approaching Logan's axe with rapid speed. "Your blade, mortal..." Remna wheezed. "Hell yeah..." Logan snatched the floating hilt in mid-air. Still being propelled by Remna's draconian strength, he raised the weapon high and shouted. "Rainbow! Neck down!" Rainbow gasped and twirled her body away from Seraphimus. Seraphimus blinked. She turned, her reflection spotting the two Heraldites incoming. "Aaaaaaaaugh—!" Logan swung the axe towards her as hard as he could. In a calm breath, Seraphimus kicked off a support beam, and Logan's blade struck nothing but. CLANKKK! "Aw shit—!" Logan yelped as he and Remna flew past their embedded blade. Remna slipped—sailing off—but Logan maintained his grip. Although not for long. Seraphimus pulled herself back by the length of the blade, kicked him savagely in the face, and wrenched the blade free. One second later, she heard the ruffle of feathers. She turned to see Rainbow Dash flying towards her, staff swinging. "Yaaaah!" Seraphimus ducked, twirled aside, and shoved Rainbow past her. Rainbow flailed, then slammed lengthwise into the central storage compartment in the heart of the Gondola. She regained her vision in time to see Seraphimus kicking off a beam and sailing at her with Logan's axe. "Bleed into eternity—!" Seraphimus shouted. Rainbow took a breath. "Nope." She casually stuck Bard's staff down and opened a golden storage panel right into Seraphimus' beak. WHACK! "Ooomf!" Seraphimus started to fly back from the impact— Thwppp! Rainbow caught her in mid-air, locking her shoulders in place with the length of the staff. "This ends." She rubbed a hoof over her pendant as her ghostly friends looked on. "Now." Seraphimus was barely squinting when—Flaaaaaaaaaash!—a steady beam of harmonic energy burned into her eyes. "Grnnnnnnngh—!" She suddenly let go of the axe and placed both of her bleeding palms over the glowing lightning bolt. Rainbow gasped. Seraphimus sneered into her face. "No. More. Blight." Then—with an angry grunt—she yanked Rainbow's pendant clean off and flung it towards the stars and lightning. "Rainbow, she's—!" Twilight spoke... then vanished completely. The colorful shapes of Fluttershy, Pinkie, Rarity, and Applejack fizzled into nothingness as well. "Grkk...!" Rainbow whimpered. In a cold panic, she dropped Bard's staff completely and twirled towards the pendant. It sailed away from her, its ruby edges glinting in the cosmos until the image turned hazy under a fresh curtain of crimson. Rainbow sweated and hyperventilated. Two spots bled from her forehead as she licked her fangs and dog-paddled in futility. Thwump! Seraphimus gripped her from behind, dragging claws to the nape of her neck. "Death becomes you, monster." "Hrshhhh..." Rainbow anchored Seraphimus' claws in place with unshorn fetlocks. "Shhhh-not the firssssssht to call me 'monster.'" Red-and-yellow eyes flickered, dancing with the lightning. "Not the lasssssht!" She stretched both wings out in a blue blur. "Oomf!" Seraphimus was propelled back. Rainbow kicked off her, sailing towards the pendant as it reached the glass panes above... below. "Hrghlkkg.... scrkk..." Her hoof graced the necklace... tapped it... and finally grabbed ahold. Whump! Rainbow's mutating body struck the glass. She rolled over, wincing into the trickle of blood. She slapped the pendant back around her neck. Fl-Flasssh! Twilight, Applejack and the rest materialized. And they were shrieking: "Move!" "Move!" "Go, Dashie—" "—she's coming!" Seraphimus screaming beak phased through their faces, along with the rest of her body as she came straight for Rainbow Dash, axe swinging. "Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa—!" Rainbow blocked the weapon's swing—but not Seraphimus' momentum. Or her weight. CRASSSSSSSSH! Both bodies flew out into the ether, their mortal ears subjected to the nonstop roar of the firmaments broiling against eternity. Glass flew past them like meteorites. The alicorn shards disappeared into the gaping maw of glittering galaxies beyond. Wind and moisture and lightning. TH-THOOOM! It was with miraculous reflexes that Rainbow Dash caught a hoof-hold of a golden spoke of metal bordering the frame of the shattered window. Seraphimus was no stranger to miracles herself, and she clung to the Gondola's frame adjacent to Rainbow. Charcoal eyes squinted. Silver feathers were plucked from their quills—only to shoot past her whipping tail into the everything. She looked aside at Rainbow Dash. Rainbow looked back. She wasn't certain how she summoned the strength to shout it, but: "Don't—!" Seraphimus lunged. Breathless motion, and she found her target. Claws dug into Rainbow's backside, digging deeper and deeper as she tugged and pulled at her bleeding anchor. Rainbow didn't have time to scream. She struggled with her wings, her limbs, her every inch to knock the griffon off of her. The Firmaments tugged and tugged. The chaos of the universe hungered, beckoned. And just when she thought her ears couldn't pop any more— "Rainbow!" Rarity and Fluttershy pointed both at once. Rainbow squinted her tearing eyes opened. Wildcard's goggles glinted from the opposite side of the Gondola's interior. He was perched against a golden stretch of metal, and with his one good hand he tossed a familiar staff back towards Rainbow from where it had bounced. "Rainbow!" Ariel shrieked in desperation. "Catch it—!" Rainbow did more than that. When she freed a hoof to grip Bard's weapon, she used its thrown momentum to slam Seraphimus squarely between the eyes. Whump! Seraphimus took it. Whap! That one too. WHACK! But then— "Httt!" She slipped. Spinning, she flew out into the deathly cosmos... Then something else happened. The former Commander of the Talon jerked in place. Her bloody beak gasped, and her eyes widened—as if she was more surprised than anyone. She looked down the length of her flailing body. Rainbow Dash had her gripped by the tail. Bard's staff had been thrown back into the heart of the Gondola—to be caught by Wildcard. And the look on Rainbow's face was pained... yet earnest. She fumbled for words... ...and Seraphimus found them first. "End it." "You... d-don't understand..." Rainbow hissed, gripping to the shattered frame. "I understand enough!" Seraphimus hyperventilated, tied by her tail in Rainbow's grip. "You came to end Verlaxion! To end Rohbredden! To end me!" Rainbow clenched her teeth. Around the mare, her friends floated. Phantoms from the past. Alive and yet not. "Dashie..." "She's... she's mad..." "Darling..." "There's only one way to stop someone like that, sugarcube." "We..." Twilight Sparkle floated the closest. "...we won't hate you for it... Seraphimus... this poor creature is beyond help." Rainbow Dash gulped. Her next breath came through a murmur, scarcely audible beneath the thunder. "I too have been beyond." Her brow furrowed. "You coward..." Seraphimus spat, sobbing, vomiting. Her charcoal eyes reflected only a hint of color, and it was soon drowned in tears. "...why won't you end it?! Don't you see?" Her claws raked at the emptiness surrounding both of them. "You've taken everything from me! My station! My Goddess! My husband and child!" She hollered. "I've got nothing to live for! Nothing!" Rainbow Dash breathed. "I know." And she did. WHAM! Rainbow's friends winced... and then they gasped... ...for following the savage buck to the skull, Rainbow Dash dragged Seraphimus' body back into the Gondola. From the dazed flutter of the griffon's eyecrests, it was evident that she had been knocked cold. Her raging body was finally still and limp as a bag of bricks, aside from subtle, ragged breathing. "Mrmmmf!" Rainbow Dash pushed herself—and Seraphimus—as far away from the gaping hole as possible. "Okay. Get us moving again." "What the Hell are you d-doing?" Logan sputtered, clinging to a golden beam. Whump! Rainbow shoved Seraphimus to a stop beside Remna and Wildcard. "We're taking her with us." "Taking her with us?!?" Ariel yelped. "Have you finally lost your marbles?!" Logan hollered. He reached out in time to catch his drifting axe and glided down to meet them. "The cosmos have sucked the sense out of you! Here..." He spat on his blade and crawled over. "I'll just make it quick—!" "NO!" Rainbow bucked him hard before he could approach the griffon. "Guhhh!" Logan flailed—only to be caught and anchored in place by Wildcard. Incredulous, the stallion snarled at Rainbow. "Dammit, Rainbow—" "She's coming with us to the Dark Side and that's final!" "She's the reason everything went to shit just now!" Logan hollered back. "The only right thing to do is slit her throat while you still have the chance and you know it—" "No, it's what Verlaxion would want me to do!" Rainbow shouted back. "And you're right. I do know it." She fumed, glaring down at Seraphimus' figure. "I knew it back in the Quade and I knew it in Lerris. And yet I still danced to her stupid frozen tune in Frostknife!." Her ears drooped as the menace faded from her petite face. "Not again. Not any more..." The Heraldites were silent. Fluttershy took a shuddering breath. Rarity and Twilight leaned in to comfort her while Pinkie and Applejack gazed at Rainbow. Rainbow swallowed. "So... like I said..." She waved a hoof as she floated in the air. "Get us moving." "We cannot move, Rrainbow One..." "Dang it, Kepler!" Rainbow spun around with a frown. "I said we're not killing Seraphimus and that's—" "No... I mean we simply cannot move, dearr frriend," the wyvern gravely said, gesturing a claw at the sparking mechanism a few spaces away from where he was harnessed. "When the Talon memberr's assault firrst began, I'm afrraid it shatterred the device that prropels this vehicle completely... hence the violent plunge that we all experrienced..." "Shattered it?" Logan grimaced. "You mean... that crazy turkey broke the alicorn machine?" "We..." Ariel shivered, still strapped in her seat. "We're stuck out here?" Kepler cleared his throat, then spoke in a grave tone. "'Strranded' is the morre apprroprriate terrm forr it, but... yes... essentially..." He pointed at the thunderous cosmos outside the battered sphere. "...we arre caught between two separrate grravitational eddies... empowerred—no doubt—by the technology that Urrohrringrr thrrives on... a technology that we still scarrcely underrstand..." Dreadful silence overtook the sphere. Wildcard looked around nervously. He held Bard's staff close to his chest. "Can... can you fix it?" Rainbow murmured. Her eyes traveled aside to the limp unicorn fastened besides Kepler. "Can Flynn fix it?" "I'm afrraid that is quite doubtful..." Kepler adjusted his spectacles, gazing aside at his unconscious companion. "...by the time ourr herroic frriend herre wakes up... if he wakes up frrom such agonizing mental exertion... I do not think he will be capable of rrepairring the apparratus any morre than me." He gulped. "And... by then, most likely... the Firrmaments' chill will have overrwhelmed the fading harrmonic enerrgy of this damaged Gondola, frreezing us and casting ourr brrittle rremains into outerr space." Ariel sniffled. She looked down at Wildcard and Logan. The male Heraldites stared squarely at the glass panels beneath them. The Gondola swayed gently in an unknown breeze. The gold glow from its epicenter was fading gradually with each blink. Pinkie Pie whimpered inwardly, hovering close to Fluttershy and Twilight. Twilight fidgeted in mid-air, panting. "Maybe... Rainbow... m-m-maybe if you were to contact it with the powers of Austraeoh and—!" Rainbow was already kicking off the glass panels. She floated through a debris cloud of glass and metal shards. At last, she reached the mechanism. In the shadow of Kepler and Flynn, she gripped the shell in both fetlocks, squeezing and shaking it. "Rrrrgh... gnnngh...!" Errant sparks flew out of the mouth of the thing. There was a slight flicker of harmonic light... and then everything faded. The Gondola was dead in the gravitational water. "Mrmmfff... rrr—" Rainbow angrily kicked the broken machine with all her might. Clanggg! The impact propelled her backwards, and in mid-flip she took the moment to scream at the universe twirling all around her. "Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa-aaaaaa-aaaaaaaaahhhh!" Wildcard and Logan winced. Rarity and Fluttershy hung their heads. Rainbow Dash flipped and flipped and flipped, growling to the cosmos: "We were soooooo close!!!" She floated upside-down over Seraphimus' body before gently coming to a stop. Resting on her flank against a stretch of glass, she gripped her skull and hissed into the twinkling air. "I swear to Luna... I did not come all this friggin' way—soaring over wars and continents and religions and grilled cheese sandwiches—just to end it all stuck in a Goddess-dang fish bowl!" Her voice echoed against the harmonic gold beams... then fell silent. Even the thunder had dissipated—to a degree. Rainbow lowered her hooves, hugging herself. She was still fuming. "I never... ever would have wished this on anypony but myself. Never... not... n-not..." She clenched her jaw. Her eyes shut. She shook... and then finally blurted: "That's why... I left the Jury when I did. Because I understood the cost. I did not need to share it." "You had to share it," Ariel said from afar, remarkably composed. "And share it again. If you didn't realize that before... well... we did." A gulp. "And so did Bard." Kepler nodded calmly. Flynn shifted slightly in unconsciousness, and the wyvern rested a claw on his shoulder. Rainbow gazed at Ariel. She tried to keep her eyes firm. She tried. But as she rocked back and forth against the glass, hugging herself, the tears squeezed out. "I'm sorry... I'm sorry that I brought you all to this. I actually believed that we could have gotten... at least a little bit further. And..." She bit her lip, struggling against the pain of what came next. At last—after a torturous effort—she brought herself to look at her ghostly companions. "I'm sorry... I'm so sorry. You all deserved so much more. You... you h-had so m-much hope in me, and now..." "Shhhhh..." Rarity smiled in spite of her tears. "It's quite alright, darling." "Yeah..." Pinkie sniffed, rubbing one eye and managing a crooked smile. "You gave us lots of laughs." "We saw whole parts of the world... entire sights and cultures that Princess Celestia never..." Twilight sucked her breath in, sniffling. "That I never knew about. But... then you showed us more... you showed us the friend we never knew about." Applejack floated closer. She held a hoof around Rainbow's shoulder, even if the gesture was air-thin. "I'm sorry to learn that Granny's left us back home... but I'm plum happy as a peach to know that Apple Bloom and Big Mac and the rest of our friends are doin' mighty fine." She smiled. Freckles in starlight. "You gave us a chance to see that, Rainbow. You gave us a second life." Rainbow whimpered. "AJ..." "We ain't complainin'." A tear ran down Rainbow's cheek. She looked Applejack in the eyes. "This isn't the second life that I wanted." Applejack merely gazed at her. Choking on a sob, Rainbow turned to look at Fluttershy. Fluttershy looked back. "Remna." Rainbow blinked. As did her friends. "Flutters...?" Fluttershy kept looking at her. As it turned out, it was beyond her. Curious, Rainbow turned her head swiftly to the side. Wildcard and Logan also looked up, suddenly realizing how alone they all were. A violet figure was perched on a beam of gold right before the large gaping hole in the glass. Upon noticing the many heads turning, she looked back. Ears twitched against constellations, cold yet firm. Like scales. "Axan?" Rainbow Dash gulped. Pawing against the glass behind her, she pushed herself until she was floating higher. "Axan...? What...?" Without a wasted breath, Remna reached up to the right bangs of her mane... just behind her ear. "The Hell...?" Logan spat. Wildcard craned his neck. "Axan—" Rainbow hummed. "There's something in her possession, darling," Rarity said, squinting. "Hidden in her hair—" Just as the ghostly fashionista said this, Remna produced a slender object in her grasp. It was an ancient chalice, and something sloshing inside blotted out the starlight beyond. "Wait..." Pinkie pointed. "...is that?" "Guh!" Twilight clutched her suddenly-glowing horn. "Such energy! It's... it's—" But it was already apparent to Rainbow Dash. Her eyes locked on the vial, and she was encumbered by a very familiar pulse of gold energy. FLASH! Whitemane squinted into the wet winds at the end of the world, her ears ringing with the chimes of countless dangling vials. “Do not discredit your own potential, my child,” Onyxxus said, strolling closer to a last line of crumbled marble columns. “There is rich alicorn magic in your veins. As such, your foalhood will last several decades. But your adulthood? That will last millennia. And in that time, you will gain more wisdom and more understanding than you can even dream of.” Onyxxus looked to his left. Whitemane's gaze followed his line of sight. She saw Mortuana at a distance, reaching into her velvet vest and retrieving a glowing vial of luminescent fluid. The older alicorn let loose a long sigh, kissed the vial, then approached the platform's extreme edge. FLASH! Rainbow's Dash breath left her along with the golden vision. Her eyes were locked on the very same vial... and then Remna's face. "Axan..." Remna glared back at her. Eyeslits flickered. Then— —in a bounding leap— —she plunged herself out of the Gondola altogether. "Axan, no—!" Rainbow Dash lunged forward. "Don't—!" Wildcard's strong arm reached forward and yanked her back. Rainbow struggled, gnashing her teeth, but it didn't last long. Remna's figure flew off, becoming one with the dark malaise of the universe. Then—off in the distance—there was the shattering of a small glass. This was followed immediately by a brilliant flash of burning red light. Ashen flame spread outward in every direction, enlarging at an alarming rate, until—stretching majestically from side to side—a monumental set of wings blotted out the galaxies beyond. A tail and snout formed soon after, accompanied by a ferocious burning roarrrrrrrr that scraped the very foundation of the Firmaments. Rainbow, her friends, and the Herald all watched in a horrified stupor. Not long after, their bodies jolted—for a gigantic pair of draconian claws was gripping the Gondola from both sides. Glass shards exploded inwards as each knifing talon found its hold, bending the alicorn metal slightly until the Gondola wasn't going anywhere. Anywhere but forward. Sulfur fumed, filling the stale cold air with the unmistakable stench of brimstone. Snarling nostrils flickered with flame, and the Herald craned their necks to see a massive snout reaching up and biting into solid black rock. The dual rows of teeth were joined by two massive sets of claws that dug in and pulled at the skin of Urohringr. CRKKKKK! Axan's body propelled herself forward. She did not go alone. SN-SNAPPP!!! The golden chains ripped completely out of the Gondola's hemispheres. Shiny metal links flew off into starry emptiness. Then—gasping—Rainbow felt herself swaying in Wildcard's grip as the entire Gondola was pulled towards the black, black zenith. Logan reached out, steadying Seraphimus' limp figure as he gazed up at the madness. The bodies of Ariel, Flynn, and Kepler shook and swayed in their seats. The passage was far from a gentle one... and it was about to grow even more turbulent. As Axan's raking claws tugged and pulled the Gondola out of the gravity well, she reached the other edge of the collapsing Firmament, too close to the surface of Urohringr to possibly be safe. Or sane. It was the only path left. Thunder and lightning returned—along with billowing cyclones of chaotic energy. Her body took every impact, but she powered her massive self through it. Flames erupted out the sides of her jaws as she spread her massive wings, finding drag and accelerating the Herald even further to their destination. The obsidian layers of the world blurred by. The lightning and thunder intensified. Kepler hollered something, but Rainbow was no longer paying attention— CRAKKKKK! Lightning struck Axan's backside. She staggered. The ponies inside the Gondola shifted. Snorting, Axan flapped her wings and continued. There was another crack of lightning. Scaley layers of flesh peeled off Axan's frame, and she leaked burning dragon blood into the heavens. She did not relent. THOOOM! CRACKKKK! Rivers of lightning found Axan's body, and they carved through her. The electricity ran deathly rivers down her spine, exploding out her tail. Blood, pulp, and vertebrae littered the edge of the world. The heavens sang with calcified mayhem, only to vanish behind her battered figure. Rainbow Dash screamed into Wildcard's feathers. They tumbled. The entire Gondola tumbled. Ghostly screams phased through Harmonic metal, twist and bent and buckling—but surviving. A final roar. Pained. Yet powerful. There was a knifing edge to the twilight—an end to the blackness—and Axan sailed towards it. At long last, the Divine of Flame reached the precipice. No water. No life. Only rock... and bones. FWOOOOOOOOOOOOOSH! She skirted the edge...