//------------------------------// // Go Ahead, Make Your Choice // Story: Bloodlines // by Zeck //------------------------------// “You cannot win, Keket. Not without my help. You know what you must do to win.” —Keket’s new ally, moments ago   Bon Bon was starting to have serious doubts about accepting this mission. As another rebel rounded the corner, she swung her foreleg out, caught the Unicorn in the neck, and spun as fast as she could, slamming the pony into the wall. He crumpled with a groan, and Bon Bon ducked back around the corner as the place she had been standing was lit up with magic. “We’re in trouble,” Lyra panted. She fired a blast of magic past Bon Bon’s shoulder and a scream rang out a moment later. “Ice Air!” Bon Bon called to the reformed rebel. “Where are we heading?” Ice Air was further down the hallway than Lyra and Bon Bon. She looked back over her shoulder and waved. “Keep moving! If we stop, they’ll overrun us!” Bon Bon’s body felt like it was coming apart. All she wanted to do was lay down and sleep. All four of her hooves were aching, and blood was leaking out of her from countless places. Her curly tail had chunks missing, and she was fairly certain she was deaf in one ear. She had long ago run out of any semblance of potions, so she had be forced to rely on her close quarter combat skills, which meant that the Unicorns had plenty of chances to land attacks on her before she was in striking distance. Lyra was not much better. Her mint green coat was stained with dirt and matted with blood. Several burn marks scored her body, and her tail was all but gone thanks to a rather powerful attack from before. Her left eye was almost swollen shut, and blood was trickling out of her mouth. The fur around her horn was singed away from so much magic usage, and she looked like she was barely able to stay on her hooves as she half ran, half staggered after Ice Air. Even Ice Air was looking ragged, her body covered in wounds as she reached the end of the castle’s hallway and rounded a corner, vanishing from sight. The first time she had done that, Bon Bon had been certain that she had just taken off to save her own hide. That had been dozens of hallways ago, and since then Bon Bon had seen her save their lives several times. Lyra rounded the corner and Bon Bon quickly followed, the stone floor behind her exploding as another crystal spell erupted from the ground, showering her flank with debris. She pushed her body as hard as she could, willing limbs beyond their limit to reach the end of the hallway. Bon Bon stumbled into a large room and a second later, giant stone doors slammed behind her. She collapsed on what was left of some fancy rug and nearly passed out there. Only Lyra limping over and nuzzling her kept her conscious. She forced her eyes open and met the two pupils staring down at her with a weak smile before she turned her gaze back toward the door. Ice Air was leaning against it, her horn blazing as she struggled to drag the barricade bar across it. When she finally succeeded, she sagged against the stone doors and gasped for breath. She fell to the floor and shivered as her horn dimmed. “What…now?” Bon Bon asked as she tried to stand. She found the effort taxing, even with Lyra’s help, so she stayed where she was. A second later, Lyra collapsed next to her in a heap of tattered mane and clothing. “Ice Air?” the Unicorn called when the rebel didn’t answer. Ice Air remained silent by the door, her body still. For a horrifying moment, Bon Bon thought the mare had succumbed to her wounds and that they would be joining her shortly, but then Ice Air raised her head. “We…wait,” the Unicorn whispered. She slowly picked herself up and staggered toward Bon Bon and Lyra. She looked like she wanted to cry, but was too tired to even attempt it. Simply making her way over to them looked to be killing her, and when she made it to the rug, she fell on her face and didn’t move. “This is…the last point,” she mumbled as her body deflated. “What’s that mean?” Lyra demanded, but Bon Bon thought she knew. She forced herself to look around the room they were in. While all the furniture was smashed, decayed, or simply gone, she did notice a few things. All the windows were high up and narrow, so that the only things able to slip through them were light and small animals. A fireplace was at the far end of the room, so old that not even ash remained in it. A single door was over to the right, no doubt leading to what would have been a private bathroom some time ago. “This is a siege room,” Bon Bon said. “You led us to a dead end.” “It’s…all we have left,” Ice Air mumbled. She rolled her head so one of her eyes appeared beneath her ruined mane. “I couldn’t…go any further. Sorry.” Under normal circumstances, Bon Bon would be furious, but she couldn’t help but agree with the Unicorn’s decision. All three of them were beyond spent. They had been fighting and running through this castle for the past half hour, maybe longer. They were wounded and exhausted, and it had taken all Bon Bon had left to simply make it into this room. She knew full well that if she had been forced to keep running, she would have collapsed and been killed. At least in here, they were safe for the moment. “Those doors should hold for a while,” Bon Bon said. “Great,” Lyra said. “So we either starve to death, or wait for them to break it down.” “Or…wait for…my master,” Ice Air said. “She’ll…come for us.” “You know she doesn’t want you calling her that,” Lyra said with a weak smile. Bon Bon’s thoughts jumped to the ash colored cellist and the fire that had been raging in her eyes when she had stormed into the castle. She had seen Octavia’s skills back when they had rescued Octavia and Vinyl from Ice Air’s cave. To say Octavia was skilled would be an understatement, but Bon Bon doubted that even she was good enough to defeat all the rebels gathering outside the door now. As if to confirm her thoughts, the stone door shook as something slammed against it. The entire room vibrated from the impact, making Bon Bon’s teeth hurt as the three of them huddled on the rug. The door was hit again, the impact louder the second time. “Then she’d better hurry up,” Lyra whispered as all three of them stared at the door. No cracks were showing in its stonework, but with every blow, small amounts of dust and debris fell from its frame.   *                                                  *                                                  *   “Now that we have taken care of—” Octavia’s hoof slammed into Keket’s twisted, cracked face before she had a chance to finish speaking. The Earth pony put every ounce of her strength behind the blow, hoping to at least snap the Unicorn’s neck, if not take her head clean off. Her hoof screamed in protest from the impact, but she paid it no mind. Rage beyond her understanding was the only thing in her mind now, and she was bent on making Keket feel every last part of it. The blow sent the Unicorn flying. She slammed into the wall with enough force to cause the stonework to shift and crack. She stayed there for a moment, blood flowing from her mouth as she adjusted her jaw. Her corrupted eyes rattled around for a moment before they focused on Octavia. “Impressive,” she said with a smile. “I expect nothing less from my—” Octavia was on top of the Unicorn again before she had a chance to finish. She slammed both of her front hooves into the Unicorn’s chest. The room shook for a moment and then the wall gave way. Keket’s body was launched through the stonework and into the hallway. Octavia would have followed, but she was forced to jump back as the wall collapsed. She did not wait long, however. As the last stone fell, she jumped to the top of the rubble, ignoring the burning pain in her body. From her perch, she spied Keket’s body crumpled against the hallway wall. Die! The thought seared its way through Octavia’s mind and into her soul. She let out a roar that would have given a dragon pause as she dove toward Keket a third time. She aimed for the Unicorn’s neck, hoping to crush it beneath her forelegs. She wanted to see the life leave her eyes, wanted to see the fear in them as she realized it was over. She wanted Keket’s last sight to be Octavia standing over her, knowing that her dreams and hopes ended at her hooves. “Hold!” Keket said. Her new red horn glowed the color of blood and a wall of dark crystal sprang up between Octavia and her target, but the cellist did not hesitate. She flipped in the air and kicked her hind leg forward, using both her inertia and training to power the kick. The crystal wall shattered like glass, several shards slicing into Keket’s body as they fell. Keket’s green-red eyes went wide, allowing the purple flames to rage from her sockets as she realized Octavia was not slowing down. She scrambled out of the way of the kick, barely making it to safety before the cellist’s blow landed, cracking the stone of the castle’s wall. “Stop, you—agh!” Keket tried to protest, but before she could get her balance, Octavia delivered a blow to her hind leg that nearly broke it. She rolled forward, but Octavia chased her like a cat hunting a mouse. The Earth pony overtook her in a flash and spun in the air, whipping her hind leg out in a spinning kick that connected with Keket’s face. The blow was so powerful that the Unicorn went flying across the hallway. She would have slammed into the wall again, but Octavia had launched her attack just as the two were passing the door to the room where Vinyl’s body was. Octavia watched as Keket’s body crashed onto the floor and rolled back into the room like a sack of rocks. Somewhere in the back of her mind she knew this fight was over, but she paid it no heed. The only thing she wanted now was to hurt Keket in every way possible. She needed to hurt her. She needed to feel the mare’s bones break beneath her hooves and feel the life leave her wretched body. “I grow…” Keket tried to stand, her gravely voice cracking as her body struggled to endure the pain it was in. “I grow…tired of…your disobe—” Octavia charged forward and delivered blow after blow to the Unicorn’s warped body. She did not stop when her hooves started to bleed. She did not stop when blood started to splatter in her face. She did not stop when Keket fired a blast of magic from her red horn that grazed her shoulder. “ENOUGH!” Keket shouted, her voice now deeper than it had ever been. Octavia was thrown back as a wave of magical energy exploded from Keket’s beaten and broken body. She rolled once and then sprang back on her hooves, ignoring the burning pain in her shoulder as well as the aching of every joint in her body. “Do you know who you challenge, you—” Octavia lunged forward again, driving her hoof into the bottom of Keket’s jaw with enough force that all four of the Unicorn’s hooves left floor. Octavia then spun up onto her hind legs and lashed out with a fierce kick. The blow was not meant to send Keket spiraling away, but crush her insides so that she folded over Octavia’s leg. The cellist could not help but get a twisted sense of joy when she heard a bone crack. Finally, as Keket’s body was hunched over Octavia’s hind leg, the cellist spun again, bringing her foreleg out. She caught the back of Keket’s neck with her outstretched limb and pulled her down, slamming the Unicorn’s body as hard as she could on the floor. A fine coating of dust flew into the air from the impact, but Keket’s body remained still. Octavia, her blind rage finally cooling into icy fury, rolled the Unicorn onto her back. The only hint that she was still alive was the rising and falling of her chest, which was now covered in so many wounds that her black fur was almost purple. “I…” Octavia heaved as she stood over Keket’s beaten body. “I…know…who you are…” Octavia reached her hoof out and pressed it against the red jewel that was embedded in Keket’s forehead. She then began to press down on it, slowing crushing it between her hoof and the floor. “AAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!” The scream that came from Keket’s mouth was sheer anguish, and Octavia relished it. It almost matched the pain in her heart at the moment. “Feel that?” she asked as she leaned down to whisper in Keket’s ear. “That feeling of your life slipping away? That is what you did to Vinyl!” Octavia pressed down harder. The terrifying sound of the jewel scraping against the stone filled her ears as it mixed in with Keket’s scream. “That is what you have done to me!” “Stop!” Keket screamed. “I demand…you stop!” “You have been nothing but a plague on my family,” Octavia said quietly. “Even when you vanished, we still had to live in fear of you. No more.” Octavia started to put as much pressure as she could on the jewel. She saw that Keket’s wild black mane was starting to revert to its original midnight color, and the purple flames from her eyes were receding. In fact, it looked like all the magic flowing through the Unicorn’s body was slowly pulling back into the jewel in her forehead. “I am ending your reign of terror on my family. Not for them, not for myself, but for the love of my life that you took away from me. This time you will not return.” Octavia put as much force as she could on the jewel. “Die, Somb—” “Your marefried will die!” Keket shouted just before the jewel was crushed. “Vinyl is already…” Octavia could not bring herself to say the word, but the horror of the thought made her stop short of crushing the jewel for a moment. She blinked her purple eyes for a moment and then shook her head, pushing the thought aside for her revenge. “You saw to that.” “She lives!” Keket protested. “Although not for much longer.” Liar! The thought screamed in the Earth pony’s head. She knew what this creature was trying to do. It would say anything to save itself. All she had to do was flex her foreleg and its life would in. The shame would end. The horror would end. But the pain would not. The anguish she had felt as she had watched Vinyl’s limp body being tossed aside would haunt her until the day she died. No matter how much she enjoyed ending this creature’s miserable existence, it would never heal the wound she had suffered. With her thoughts dwelling on Vinyl, Octavia turned her head toward the lifeless pony. She could barely make out the crumpled body across the room because tears were flooding her version. She saw the pool of blood that was slowly staining the D.J.’s beautiful white coat. Octavia closed her eyes and allowed the tears to fall down her face for a moment before she opened them again. She could not leave Vinyl here. She was going to carry her all the way back home, even if it broke her. She would bury her, and she would visit her every day until she joined her again. She would make sure her music was— “No…” Octavia whispered. She had imagined it. Her bereaved mind was tricking her, and the tears in her eyes were helping. Vinyl was dead. That small movement of her chest was just— It happened again. Vinyl’s body moved just a hair. Her chest rose and fell for a brief moment. It was barely visible, and Octavia still refused to believe it. It had to be a trick, or her mind desperately wishing for some sign that the unthinkable had not happened. “See?” Keket groaned beneath her. “If you do not want her—ARGH!” Octavia did not even look in the corrupted Unicorn’s direction. Still pinning her jeweled horn to the floor, the cellist brought her other foreleg down on the Unicorn’s front knee. There was a sickening crack as the joint was crushed, followed by Keket’s agonizing scream. “Stay there,” Octavia said as she pulled her hoof away from the horn, completely ignoring the Unicorn’s thrashing as she cradled her ruined foreleg. “Do not try anything, or I will finish the job.” She took Keket’s screaming as confirmation and then rushed toward Vinyl’s body. When she was only a few steps away, she slowed, terrified that Keket—and her own mind—were playing tricks on her. “V-Vinyl…?” she whispered as she slowly reached out toward the body. She stopped just short of touching it, afraid that if she did, it would vanish along with all of her memories of the Unicorn. And then she saw it. Vinyl’s chest moved again, just barely rising as her lungs tried to fill with air. Octavia heard the desperate gasp, and her body nearly collapsed at that moment. Renewed anguish flooded her limbs as she realized how much pain her love had to be in at the moment, but it was mixed with joy as she realized that Vinyl was still alive. There was still a chance to save her. There was still a chance to save them. They still had a chance at a future, at a family, at a— Octavia was positive she screamed, but she could not remember doing so. Her senses all went white as something slammed into her back. She did not remember flying through the air or skidding across the floor, but she knew that both of those things must have happened, because when her vision cleared, she was no longer standing over Vinyl. She was now almost across the room from her. Her back felt like it was on fire, and when she tried to stand, she found it impossible. Her body had been at its breaking point before the fight had started, and now it refused to obey her anymore. But all of the pain she was in paled when she saw Keket. The beaten, bloodied, and broken Unicorn was standing over Vinyl, using magic to support her crushed leg. Blood seeped from her mouth and a dozen wounds as a twisted smile spread across her ruined face. Her flaming eyes locked with Octavia’s for a moment, and then she slowly lowered her gaze toward Vinyl’s body. “N-No…!” The cellist whispered. She tried to force her body to obey, but her limbs simply could not move any longer. Keket’s jeweled horn glowed a deep crimson, bathing her face in a bloody light. “Please!” Octavia screamed. Her legs refused to stand, so she began to drag her body across the cold stone floor. “I…I…! Not again! Do not take her from me again!” Keket’s horn flashed with a dazzling light and a sound left Octavia’s lungs that she had never heard before.   *                                                  *                                                  *   “Hey…Sweetie Drops?” “Yes?” “Love you.” Bon Bon felt a small kiss on her cheek. “You too.” Bon Bon returned the kiss as the massive door to the room cracked open. The three ponies had been sitting on the rug, struggling to stay awake as the pounding on the door continued. They had watched as the first cracks appeared in it, and with each thud, the cracks had grown, spreading like a disease through the door. Now, with one final blast of magic, the door split open. Massive pieces of it fell to the floor, sending dust and debris flying into the air and tremors through the ground that threatened to knock the three ponies off their hooves. “I…would have liked to see it…” Ice Air whispered. Her auburn colored mane fell past her eyes as she hung her head, and Bon Bon thought she saw a tear fall from beneath the mare’s mane. “What?” Lyra asked, her tone reflecting a kindness that she had not shown Ice Air before. “A land where you two exist,” Ice Air replied quietly. “Where an Earth pony and a Unicorn can be like you two and no pony cares.” Bon Bon looked at her wife, memorizing every curve and line of her body one more time before death claimed them. “Yeah, it’s pretty nice.” The last of the debris fell and the three ponies faced the crumbled doorway. Bon Bon could make out several sets of glowing green eyes through the settling dust, along with half as many glowing horns. She swallowed, the action causing her throat to burn, and readied herself as best she could. She knew this wasn’t going to be a fight, not really. She had no potions left, which meant she had to cross the room before she could even think about fighting back, and she wasn’t sure her body could handle the effort. Under better circumstances, Lyra might be able to raise a magic shield around her as she closed the distance, but the green Unicorn was nearly all used up, along with Ice Air. The three of them stood up not to fight, but to stare death in the face. This was going to be a slaughter. If the Unicorns were smart, they would just blast them right now, pouring enough magic into the room until not even ash remained of the three ponies. “Find me on the other side?” Bon Bon whispered as she moved closer to Lyra. “Not if I find you first,” Lyra replied, and Bon Bon couldn’t help but smile at the Unicorn’s mistake. She would miss Lyra’s free-loving spirit and crazy antics. She always brought a bright side to any situation, and now with their lives about to end, Bon Bon found herself wishing she had told her more often how much she made her smile. “What are you—ugh!” One of the pairs of green eyes suddenly looked away and then a glowing horn vanished. “What happened?” a Unicorn in the front asked. The dust from the collapsed door was beginning to settle, so Bon Bon was able to see him as he turned around to look back. A second later he cried out as a stone the size of a small ball smashed into his head. He staggered for a moment, and the Unicorns around him jumped in surprise, all turning to look at their wounded companion. As the confusion boiled over, Bon Bon noticed one of the Unicorns still had their hood up. She was slowly shifting to the side of the group and making her way forward. She raised her head and Bon Bon was surprised to see that the mare’s eyes weren’t the same glowing green like all the others. When the mare noticed Bon Bon looking at her, she opened her mouth and formed a silent word. “What?” Bon Bon said quietly, cocking her head to the side. Was this Unicorn trying to tell them something? “Who threw that?” the stallion demanded as he rubbed his head. “What happened to her?” another one asked. “I thought they were all trapped in this room?” “Was it Lady Octavia?” The Unicorns all had their backs to Lyra, Ice Air, and Bon Bon now. They seemed to be looking down, and through many sets of legs, Bon Bon thought she saw the form of a pony on the ground. “What’s she doing?” Lyra asked as she nodded toward the hooded Unicorn. Bon Bon looked back at the strange figure and saw her mouthing a word again. This time, she also gestured toward her head. “It was not Lady Octavia. She is with Master now.” “Did they bring reinforcements?” “If they did, it is too late. Kill them.” At those words, Bon Bon’s blood ran cold. The world seemed to slow down as she watched the Unicorns lift their heads. One by one, they began to turn back around, their glowing eyes slowly coming back into view. “Key?” Ice Air mumbled as she stared at the hooded pony. “Key…? Key! Earth pony! The key!” “What?” Bon Bon asked. Ice Air’s statement was so unexpected that she couldn’t help but turn to look at the dark purple mare. “Where are you going?” one of the Unicorns demanded. Bon Bon looked back just in time to see the hooded Unicorn break into a sprint, rushing straight for the trio of exhausted ponies. “Get the key!” the pony yelled. Bon Bon suddenly felt her tattered saddlebag being ripped off of her body. She nearly collapsed, but Lyra steadied her. Both mares turned toward Ice Air as the Unicorn dumped the remaining contents of the saddlebag on the rug in front of them. “Where’s that key?” she said, using her magic to fling stuff away until finally she found a small black key that Bon Bon vaguely recognized. Why had that been in her bag? The sprinting pony threw her hood back, revealing a long snow-white mane with long streaks of silver mixed in spilling from her white head. Bon Bon thought she recognized her too, but just like the key, she couldn’t place remember why. It wasn’t until she saw the magic collar around the running Unicorn’s horn that she suddenly remembered the key’s purpose. “Unlock it!” the Unicorn shouted as she skidded to a stop right in front of the three of them. “Hurry up or we’re all dead!” “Traitor!” “Kill them all!” Bon Bon could only watch as the Unicorns by the door charged their magic. In a moment, it would all be over. She wondered if she’d feel any pain, or if it would happen too fast for even that. The Unicorns fired and a massive blast of magical energy roared toward Bon Bon and her companions. She closed her eyes and leaned on Lyra, taking in one last breath of her scent before she was wiped away from existence. There was a deafening roar and Bon Bon’s teeth rattled against one another as the world shook. The world grew brighter with each passing moment until she was forced to close her eyes. She wasn’t sure if she screamed, but she knew she opened her mouth to do so. She waited for the moment of blinding pain to wash over her. And waited. And waited. After several agonizing seconds, Bon Bon opened one of her blue eyes. She wasn’t dead. None of them were. Instead, she was greeted by the sight of a magic shield surrounding them, still sizzling from the blast it had absorbed. It had cracked in several places, but it was still solid. “What…?” she whispered as she looked around. Her eyes fell on the Unicorn that had come running toward them. Her horn was blazing white with magic and her whole body was trembling with effort. At her hooves was the magic collar, the key still in its lock. “Thanks, Snow Drift,” Ice Air whispered from the floor next to her. “Talk…later,” the Unicorn said, sweat pouring down her face. “Any…pony have a…plan? I…can’t do this…much longer.” Snow Drift. The Unicorn who had lead them to this castle, and whom Octavia had managed to fling out of the way of her comrades’ attack at the last moment. Bon Bon had completely forgotten about her in the heat of battle as they had stormed the castle. What in Celestia’s name had made her decide to come help? Bon Bon quickly pushed the question aside. Snow Drift was right: they needed a plan. Unfortunately, as she looked at the seething faces on the other side of Snow Drift’s shield, it became painfully clear that there was no plan, and that all Snow Drift had accomplished was giving them a few more minutes of life.   *                                                  *                                                  *   Octavia would not rise, even if she were able to. Twice now, she had been forced to come to the crushing realization that she had lost Vinyl. It was cruel beyond measure for her to have her hope restored, only to see it ripped away a second time. Her mind could not take it. She simply wanted to curl up on the floor and vanish from the world. She wanted to find the white Unicorn, wherever her soul was now. “Raise your head, girl,” Keket’s body said. Octavia refused, keeping her muzzle down and her eyes closed. She would not give Keket—or rather, Sombra in Keket’s body—the satisfaction of seeing her hollowed eyes. “I command you to raise your head!” Octavia suddenly felt a tug on her onyx-shaded mane as her head was lifted by Keket’s enhanced magic. She did not try to fight it, nor did she even try to support herself. She just let her body hang limp, the magical grip on her hair the only thing keeping her up. “Pathetic,” Keket said as her red and green eyes looked over Octavia’s beaten form. She shook her head in disgust, but then her magic flickered and went out. Octavia’s head slammed onto the floor, and the magic Keket had been using to support her smashed knee vanished, causing her to collapse on the ground in agony. “You…you must listen to me, child.” “I am not your child,” Octavia mumbled. Her entire body felt loose, as if the only thing keeping her together was the outer layer of her skin, and even that was threatening to come apart from all the pain. But Keket’s use of the word had stirred a cold hatred in Octavia’s core, forcing her to stand in spite of the agony it caused. Kill. Him. Kill. Her. Those four words sounded in her head as she forced herself to take step after step, slowly closing the distance between them. She saw the fear swell up in the Unicorn’s eyes, but she took no joy in it this time. All of her emotions were numb; all that matter was finishing this task, so that neither of these monsters would bother anypony ever again. Behind Keket’s struggling form was a new stone statue. It was not impressive, and if Octavia had seen it in a museum or out in public, she would have wondered what would have caused the creator to make something so dull. It was a statue of a pony, lying on her side with her four legs sprawled out. Her entire form looked like one who had collapsed in a heap on the spot. There was nothing artistic about it, no hidden beauty, and not even some strange interpretation she could think of for it. She would not have even given it a second look under any other circumstances. But instead, Octavia found it impossible for her to look away because it was no statue at all. It was Vinyl, turned to stone by Keket’s possed body. The Unicorn, and the evil being now living in her body, had denied Octavia even the comfort of carrying Vinyl’s body back to Ponyville now, for there was no way she could carry a stone statue of that weight, even if she was uninjured. Vinyl’s final resting place would have to be here, in a forgotten tower that was barely holding together, lost in a land that was ruled by ice and hatred. It was not fair. The wild and exciteable Unicorn deserved to be remembered in her homeland, not forgotten here like some castle decoration. Maybe one day…I can return, Octavia thought as she took a final step toward Keket. She did not even see Keket’s struggling form beneath her, nor did she feel anything when she pinned the Unicorn to the floor by her throat with one front hoof and then slowly began to crush the jewel in her forehead with her other hoof. Everything was simply there for her, coated over in a grey haze as she slowly began to push down. She did not feel the tension beneath her hooves, nor did she hear the sound of stone beginning to crack once more. All the while, her swelling purple eyes remained transfixed on Vinyl’s lifeless body, only a stone’s throw from where she stood now. Just a few more moments, and then it will be over… There was no joy, no sick sense of pleasure, not even the comforting coldness of vengeance flowing through the Earth pony as she slowly crushed the life out of the two beings beneath her. She was beyond rage, beyond grief, beyond satisfaction. She just wanted this nightmare to end, and the small part of her mind that was not adrift knew that for all this to cease, she had to push down slowly, deliberately. Push through the pain. Push through the anguish. Push through the haze. Push. A strange noise suddenly filled Octavia’s ears. She ignored it at first, her mind too broken to pay it any attention, but then something clicked in her head. What she had first thought were more last-minute pleas from the pony beneath her as her throat slowly caved were not pleas. If anything, the noises sounded almost like… Laughter? Octavia could not help but pull her eyes away from Vinyl’s statue and look down at the ruined pony beneath her hooves. The flaming eyes were nearly extinguished, and saliva was running out of her mouth, pooling on the stone floor by her head. She was, for all intents and purposes, at death’s door. The red jewel embedded in her forehead looked no better, with its once fiery red light now little more than a dull ember, and countless cracks were running through it. And yet, Keket was laughing. Or was it Sombra laughing? One of them was laughing. Laughing at her. Laughing at her pain. Laughing at her loss. Laughing at Vinyl! “Stop! LAUGHING!” Octavia shouted. The sound of laughter broke the foggy haze in her head, but as it cleared, a deluge of emotions swarmed into her so fast that she could do nothing by scream. She wanted to kill these two monsters, but she did not want to let them have the final laugh by doing the deed. She wanted Vinyl back, but she was no longer sure if she could face her after everything that had happened between them. She wanted to run away and hide under her covers back home, but she dreaded returning to a place where she and her love had spent countless hours together. “I…ack!” Keket choked between words as one eye slowly rolled up to look at Octavia’s. “Win. My—ack!—My daughter. Hah ha h—ugh!” “I am not your daughter!” Octavia screamed. “Denying…the truth…does not make it…false,” Keket said, although nearly all traces of the Unicorn’s original voice were gone. Now all Octavia could hear was Sombra’s voice, weak though it was. “ARGH! Enough! You are both done speaking!” “Very well,” Sombra’s voice suddenly seemed to grow stronger, causing Octavia to hesitate for just a moment. “I have won, child.” “You have won nothing!” Octavia screamed. “Unless you consider death and damnation victory!” “True,” Sombra’s voice replied from Keket’s throat. He was being surprisingly calm for a tyrant facing execution, and that unnerved Octavia. Everything she had ever heard about this stallion painted him as a coward. “I suppose you could kill me still, but I doubt you will.” “Why is that?” Octavia asked, gritting her teeth. She did not want to listen to this monster talk. She wanted to crush the last trace of his being beneath her hoof and scatter him across the frozen landscape, but he was acting so oddly that she felt like any action she took would only play right into Sombra’s hooves. “Because I am the only pony that is keeping your precious Unicorn alive,” Sombra said as a dark laughter swelled up in Keket’s throat. “You…are lying,” Octavia said, fighting the urge to believe the words. “Am I?” “You…you killed her!” Octavia wanted to press her hoof down, but to her dismay, she found that she was loosening it instead. “You stabbed her in front of me!” “But she was still alive then, was she not?” Keket’s eye narrowed, and a twisted grin spread across her smashed face. “You saw, did you not? She was still breathing.” “She is not anymore,” Octavia spat. “Because of YOU!” “No, but her life blood is no longer spilling out of her body, is it?” Sombra said quietly. “Think about it, child. Even if you had slain me immediately after, do you honestly think that Unicorn would survive the trek back to Equestria?” Octavia opened her mouth. She wanted to shout at this monster, wanted to deny what he said. Vinyl would have been fine. She would have patched her wounds and then they could have— “Do you think those ponies back in Earth would have helped her?” Sombra asked, as if he was intercepting Octavia’s thoughts. “They hate Unicorns. They would have killed her then and there, and simply told you to buy another slave. If they were feeling generous, they may have even paid you a small sum for destroying your ‘property’, but that would have been all.” “No…” Octavia whispered. “I…I would have made them help her!” “You know that would not have happened,” Sombra laughed. Octavia’s hooves were now completely off Keket’s ruined body and the jewel in her forehead. She had no memory of removing herself from her killing position, but she had. “My crystal spell does not kill,” Sombra said. He tried to make Keket’s body stand, but he could not, so he simply remained on the floor. “Not unless I want it to. Your mare is very much alive at the moment. I can sense her life, albeit barely.” “Release her if you want to continue living!” Octavia was ready to jump on Keket once more, but the possessed pony gave her a smile that froze her in place. “I do that, and she dies. You know that.” The look on Keket’s face made Octavia’s blood run cold. She suddenly understood what Sombra had meant when he said he had won. The only thing keeping Vinyl alive—or whatever state of being she was in while she was encased in Sombra’s stone crystal—was Sombra’s magic. He could release it at any time no doubt, but he was right. If he did, or if his magic failed because Octavia crushed the last piece of his essence, Vinyl’s wound would be open once more. She would no doubt die before they could reach any form of help. “Bon Bon!” Octavia suddenly said. “She must have something! She mixes potions together all the time. She could—!” Keket’s eyes galzed over, and the jewel pulsed deep red for a moment. A second later, Sombra let out a small chuckle. “Unexpected, but also in my favor.” “What are you talking about?” “Your other friends are moments away from death as well,” Sombra answered coldly. “I do not think this Bon Bon will be of much help as a corpse.” Tears spilled from Octavia’s purple eyes. She bit her lip hard enough that she felt the blood trickle down her chin. Sombra was right. He had won. Octavia had no move left save for one. Swallowing the lump in her throat, she whispered, “What do you want?” “To reclaim my empire!” Sombra shouted, putting more force behind his voice than Octavia thought possible in his state. “Twice now, it has been stolen from me! I will have it back! And this time, I will keep it under my hoof!” “The Princesses will never allow that,” Octavia whispered. “Naturally,” Sombra replied. “I will have to deal with them eventually, but in order to build a castle, you must lay the foundation first. For that, I need to return to my own form. You will help me with that.” “I…” Octavia wanted to say that she would never do such a thing. She would never help a pony enslave an entire country, nor unleash a power as dreadful as Sombra back into the world. She wanted to smash his jewel on the floor and leave here with Vinyl. She wanted to believe that the Unicorn would be alright, and that the wound was not as bad as it looked, and that Bon Bon, Lyra, and Ice Air were all fine. She wanted to believe, but… “Here is what is going to happen, my child,” Sombra said. “This body has reached its limit. I am going to tear my horn from it. When that happens, you will be left with a choice: pick it up and place it on your own forehead, or leave it, and wait for the last of my magic to fade and all your friends die.” “What will happen to Keket?” Octavia asked, simply as a way to stave off the horrible decision she was moments away from making. “As I said, this body is at its limit,” Sombra replied, forcing a grin. He slowly, painfully, raised a hoof to the glowing red jewel in Keket’s forehead. “So what will it be, my child? Your friends’ lives? Your marefriend’s life? After all, choosing to sacrifice them guarantees that I die here. Surely they will all understand. You let them die for the good of Equestria, for the good of the Crystal Empire. You will likely be honored by the Princesses once they hear of your deeds. You will stand before them, alone, with praises and countless thanks heaped upon you, and all it will take is the death of your loved ones.” Octavia wanted to cry, but she had no more tears to shed. “Or you can save them, and hope that the Princesses are strong enough to stop me. After all, they have done it before. And I am in a weakened state. There is a chance that they will be able to stop me before I even have a chance to put my plan into action. So is it worth the risk?” “I…I do not…” “I look forward to seeing your choice.” With that, Keket’s hoof ripped the red jewel from her forehead. There was a sickening sound of flesh tearing, and a piercing scream that Octavia suspected matched the one she had heard at the execution back in the city, and then Keket’s body sank to the floor like a sack of flour. Her eyes went dark immediately and magical energies fled her body like steam escaping into the air. She lay on the stone floor, still as the castle itself. Clink! Sombra’s red horn hit the floor, and whether through cruel chance or the evil Unicorn’s will, it rolled until it came to rest directly in front of Octavia. There it stayed, pulsing deep red, as the cellist stared down at it.