//------------------------------// // Finale // Story: A Tale of Two Trixies // by GreyGuardPony //------------------------------// Lulamoon was engulfed in a sea of absolute chaos. The bipedal rats swarmed through the gaping portal in what seemed like an unending flood. They swung rusty looking spears, swords, maces and daggers and brandished ramshackle shields with reckless abandon, chittering and screeching like they were welling up from the depths of Tartarus itself. The only thing that was keeping their position from being completely swamped were the twin efforts of Princesses Cadance and Luna. Cadance had summoned living crystal from the ground, both blocking the exits to the chamber and forming a partial dome over their own position so that the rat creatures could only attack them from the front. She stood in the center of the royal guard line, swinging her crystalline warhammer in mighty wide strokes, bashing whole groups of rats aside with each stroke. Princess Luna however… She was a dervish in the sea of matted brown fur and filth colored clothing. She lashed out with magic and bucks with equal measure, smashing the rat beasts to the floor in great piles, incinerating groups of them with starlight and firing glittering shards of silver right through their bodies. Lulamoon noted that the lunar princess was not holding back, slaying with reckless abandon as the swarm desperately tried to drag her down. Yet more still flowed through the portal, backed up by more of those dog sized giant rats. “Baron Max!” Trixie shouted above the din. “Some information on these things would be appreciated!” Lulamoon’s double and her friends hadn’t pushed into combat yet, hanging back with Baron Max and the stupid noble ponies that had put them in this current mess. “They’re called the Skaven!” Baron Max shouted back. “Race of underground tunnel dwellers that use arcane science to make horrible weapons and monsters. According to Skitch’s files, they’re a manufactured race by their world’s dark gods. Completely devoid of normal pony virtues-” “Weaknesses Max! What can we do against them?” The baron’s face screwed up as he wracked his brains for a moment. “...Fear! They’re cowards outside of large groups, but maybe a good shock will help disrupt them!” Trixie grinned, looking to Lulamoon. “Fear, huh?” Lulamoon grinned back. “You have sounds down. Follow my lead?” “Of course!” Lulamoon nodded and looked towards the ceiling of the chamber, an idea springing to mind. Channeling her magic, she threw a spiderweb pattern of cracks against the ceiling. Then, weaving a second spell right on the hooves of the first, she had the cracks spit and grow larger, a scaled claw pushing through the breaking stone. Trixie added her own magic, weaving the sound of the stone splitting and deep, bellowing roars to the mix. Both watched as a ripple of hestitation rolled across the mass of skaven, so they poored on the magic even more. Now the roof of the cavern came apart, and a purple scaled dragon burst through, bellowing his fury to the assembled mass. Now a foul stench filled the air and the chittering squeaks of the rat creatures became decidedly more panicked. More than a few turned literal tail and ran back through the portal, massively thinning the ranks and sowing confusion amongst those who remained. “Take this!” Carrot Top shouted, tossing a pair of clay pots at the largest group that remained. Lulamoon raised an eyebrow as they shattered, sending thick strands of yellow glue across the skaven and locking them in place for Princess Luna. “That’s a nice trick!” Lulamoon said, giving the earth pony a wide grin. “I got a lot more where that came from!” Turning her attention back to the battle and the illusionary dragon, she had the illusionary creature take up position ontop of the crystal dome. Maybe if they were lucky, they could use its fearsome appearance on the next group through. - - - - “What do you mean, horse-things? Explain-explain!” Grey Seer Quicksquit snarled at the foolish underling lying prostrate before him. “Horse-things! Like the ones the man-things ride! But small-tiny and bright-bright! Fight strong-strong! Have dragon-thing!” Quicksquit extended a paw, green tinged warp lightning leaping forth to flay the worthless coward to ash. He turned his attention eastwards, to where the embattled dwarf-things raised their shields against a fresh round of charges from Warlord Kriktail’s forces. Clanrats broke themselves upon the mighty shield wall, as the dwarf-thing’s guns spat death back into the ranks. No-no! Stupid dwarf-thing allies were ruining the plan! Stupid horse-things were ruining everything! Gripped by raw fury and frustration, Quicksquit bit down on his own tail hard enough to draw blood. He had to think-plan. Risk going into battle himself? No, not yet. Let the forces he had spent so many hard earned warp tokens on deal with the tiny-small horse-things! “Send rat ogres!” he screeched. “Send warpfire throwers! Send poison wind globes! Kill-slay tiny horse-things! For the Horned Rat! Yes-yes!” - - - - Trixie wasn’t so proud as to deny that she screamed when the next wave came charging through the portal. Monsters were at the lead. Hugely muscled beasts, easily as tall and strong looking as a minotaur, but with a horrible mixture of that and a rat. Even worse, like the giant rats from before, they bore the markings of crude experimentation upon their forms. Stitches and scars, ugly brands, glowing bits of green stone literally hammered into their flesh and in some cases whole limbs replaced with oversized blades. A dozen of the brutes charged across the floor with great loping strides, utterly heedless of their illusionary dragon, driven on by whip cracks from leather clad skaven. Carrot Top threw another round of her glue traps at the oncoming monsters, but she was only able to slow a few before the train of muscle and fur crashed into the lines of the Royal Guard. Trixie could only watch as ponies were smashed aside, armor crumpling like paper under the hammer blows and wicked claws. Even Princess Cadance stumbled backwards for a moment from the wild swing of a particularly large brute that she blocked with her weapon. Trixie’s mind raced. “Carrot Top! Itching powder!” she shouted, even as she channeled and let loose a flash of light right in the massive rat monster’s eyes. Carrot Top’s next pots smashed across their muscled forms even as they clawed at the bright lights bursting in their eyes. “Take out their packmasters!” Baron Max shouted! “Rat ogres are practically mindless without being directed!” “On it!” Cheerilee and Raindrops called out as they rushed forward. Cheerilee slipped between the rat ogres, rolling, twirling and flipping past their now clumsy swings. One of the packmasters swung his whip at her as she came in, but Cheerilee ducked under the swing and lashed out with a sweeping kick. As the packmaster fell, Raindrops dropped on him from above with all four hooves, making the rat slump into unconsciousness. The other three guiding the rat ogres chittered in rage and piled in, swinging their rusty blades wildly. Cheerilee lightly sprang over one and gave him a hard buck, sending him sprawling into his companion. Raindrops, by contrast just powered through, letting the starmetal armor Luna had gifted her turn the blades aside as she tackled the free one to the ground. “Damn it!” Duke Bobbing Fisher shouted. “We have our personal guard! Unbind us and let us help!” “I will point out that this is all your fault!” Trixie snapped back at him. “Save the accusations for when after we’re not in danger of being swept away by vermin!” “Damn,” Cadance cursed, her horn glowing for a moment. “Don’t make me regret this Fisher!” The bonds on the nobles and their bodyguards fell away and the quickly grabbed their weapons, Bobbing Fisher hefting his own mighty warhammer from the weapon pile. “Come on you louts! Fight like your lives depend on it! Equestria prevails!” The guards (and Fisher) pushed into the battleline, swinging weapon and hoof at the disoriented rat ogres to a fresh cry of “Equestria prevails!”. “Well, I’ll give Fisher some credit in this reality,” Trixie grumbled. “If they help us get out of this, I’ll give him a hug,” Ditzy said. Trixie nodded, only to turn her gaze back to the portal and the fresh round of horrors that it vomited forth. They were the strangest contraptions that the skaven had dragged forth yet. Working in pairs, one of the rats hauled a large wooden cask that some manner of hose was attached to. The hose ran to a brass barrel...nozzle, thing that had an odd looking lever connected to it, held in the hands of another skaven. Six of these strange teams scuttled their way, raising the barrels in the direction of the Royal and personal guard. “Barrels! Plug them!” Baron Max shouted, clear panic in his voice. Cadance grit her teeth and channeled, whipping bolts of crystal at the strange machines. They slammed their way into the barrels, the skaven chittering in fear. Trixie found out why a moment later when one of the overeager skaven yanked the lever on his contraption, not realizing that the crystal had actually managed to hit home. The reservoir that the other one was carrying exploded with the sound of a mighty thunderclap, green colored flames rolling outwards from the shattered remains. The other machines immediately caught fire as well, their carriers now running about in an absolute panic. Their own reservoirs exploded a moment later, sending more waves of green flames over the skaven that were trying to push their way into the chamber now. The horrid stench of burning fur now filled the air as inflamed skaven ran every which way, the flames eating away at their forms. “This is monstrous!” Ditzy gasped, flinching away from the carnage playing out before them. “We can’t beat them on a war of attrition!” Baron Max said. “They literally breed like rats!” “We are open to suggestions!” Princess Luna shouted. “Take out their leaders!” Max said. “Skaven backstab and squabble for power all the time. If you take them down, the army will melt away as all the sub commanders squabble for power!” “I’ll handle that!” Luna said. “Are you sure?” Cadance asked. “I know magic to transport between worlds myself!” Luna said. “So if the portal closes behind me, I can find my way back myself!” “Look for grey coated ones with horns! Or the biggest, blackest furred, best armored ones! Those tend to be the leaders!” Max called out. Cadance nodded. “Good luck!” Princess Luna turned and galloped through the portal, vanishing into the rippling blue swirls. - - - - Had the circumstances not been so dire, Princess Luna would have enjoyed seeing another way to travel between worlds. Her own spells were largely instantaneous, just a cast and then one was somewhere else. Whatever was behind the device though, had constructed a marvelous looking tunnel of swilrling blue light that she raced along at speeds faster than she could normally run. And just beyond the walls of this swirling blue tunnel, she could vaguely make out...bubbles? ...Other worlds perhaps? In the end, whatever they may be, she couldn’t focus on that right now. In the next moment, she burst through the other end of the portal and into the scene of another battle. The chamber she was in now was massive, with a high vaulted ceiling supported by carved stone pillars. It was a high enough roof that she was able to soar high to get a full look at the battle playing out below. A collection of stout homids had formed up around a winding set of stone stairs, leading up to a mighty pair of metal reinforced timber doors that had been literally studded with gems. They were fighting hard, decked in sturdy armor that glinted under the torches and glowing runes that lit up the massive hall. The skaven force was truly massive. Almost beyond number in fact. They moved in three mighty columns, the center and the right throwing themselves upon the homid lines, while the left lingered outside the portal, now unsure of the new player on the battlefield. It only took Luna a moment of analysis to realize that the homids were in serious trouble as well. Though their armor was tough and shields strong, the skaven tore great holes in their lines with gouts of that green flame. Other rats threw green glass spheres that shattered and released a toxic seeming smoke. Homids collapsed to the ground, hacking and choking on a poison wind. The wanton slaughter on display turned Luna’s stomach. She was no stranger to the idea of war, but these skaven brought a new level of mechanical detachment to the dirty business. Even when their own were caught in a stray blast, they seemed to care not, instead just continuing to cackle with their deranged glee. She angled her wings, banking low over the homid lines even as she began to channel. The magic of this world was sluggish at first, almost stagnant as she pulled upon its threads. Especially around the homids, it was quite stubborn to move. Yet she was an alicorn, even with part of her magic suppressed and it soon began to answer her call. A mighty wall of wind sprang up over the heads of the squat homids, howling with fury as it blew the glass spheres back into the lines of the skaven. She immediately wove another spell, calling small stars of arcane power to her, before sending them hunting for the fire flinging machines. Soon bursts of green flame were tearing through the rats. Satisfied with her effort, Luna banked again, shooting back towards the column outside the portal. There! A grey furred skaven with spiraled horns growing from his head! He stood on a rickety wooden...almost chariot. It was a raised platform that supported a stone arch, from which hung a mighty bronze bell. She could feel the dark magic radiating from the bell itself, washing out over the assembled skaven with each torpid pulse of its discordant chimes. Folding her wings back, Luna dove. - - - - Grey Seer Quicksquit saw the horse-thing fling magic like a seer and cursed. Grey Seer Quicksquit then saw the horse-thing charge right for him. Grey Seer Quicksquit saw anger and death in the horse-thing’s eyes. “Protect-help me, fools!” he shrieked as he dove behind the bell for cover. The horse-thing slammed into the edge of the screaming bell like a cannon ball. The whole construct was knocked off its wheels, Quicksquit’s world turning into a topsy-turvy ball of motion and splintering wood as he was spilled from his glorious platform like so much garbage. Even as his paws hit the ground, Quicksquit scrambled for cover again, shoving stormvermin aside to get away from the angry horse-thing. But even as he ran, he wove magic of his own, shrieking incantations of worship and curses of blasphemy against the horse-thing to the Horned Rat. And as the magic settled on the stormvermin around him, the black furred killers began to twitch, foam flicking at their lips and the intent of death in their own eyes. Yes-yes! The Death Frenzy would see to the horse-thing! - - - - Back across the portal, another monster pushed its way into Equestria. A mighty brown furred skaven stood on the back of a hulking rat ogre, bedecked in brass armor, that still managed to look battered and stained. He clutched a massive sword in one hand, brandishing it at all around him. A fluttering banner on a pole was lashed to his back, crude icons daubed on its yellow surface. The creature was so muscle bound that it seemed to walk in a constant hunched stance. Not that it stopped the beast from thundering right into Princess Cadance as she was blocking a volley of poison spheres. She was hauled up in its mighty claws, the monster bellowing its fury right into her face while ropy strands of drool dripped from its fangs onto her muzzle. Cadance responded in the only way that was appropriate when seized by a massive monster. She fired a chunk of crystal right into its face. The monster roared in pain, dropping the princess back to the ground. The skaven riding it kicked the rat ogre forward, urging it to stampede forward. It did just that, its hands and feet hammering across the floor. Trixie’s eyes went wide as she realized what the rider was doing. It blazed right past the crystalline dome and threw the whole of its body into one of the walls Cadance had used to block the exits. A massive crack split right down the middle of the wall. The rider lashed out with his sword, turning the crack into a shatter and again to turn a shatter into a gaping hole. “It’s going to reach the city!” Roseluck shouted over the din, even as she kept lashing out at the skaven around her. As monster and rider pushed through, Trixie galloped after them. “We got this one!” Her friends fell into place alongside her and they galloped after the monster. A tide of skaven raced after them, just as eager to get through the gap and follow their leader. But Cadance channeled again, crystals bursting from the ground around their paws. Trixie and her friends shot through the gap in the wall, another channel from Cadance closing it up behind them. The monster would be up to them. - - - - Luna spun and twirled blades of enchanted moonlight through armor, fur and flesh. The skaven swarmed around her, these black furred ones clearly stronger and more skilled than the others she had encountered so far. Cleaving through the skull of one black rat she whirled about to face another three. But as she turned the sensation of heavy blades hacking at her ran down her right flank. The skaven were relentless, striking at her from every direction, with a speed that was almost supernatural at this point. She could see the dark magic infusing their bodies, pushing them far beyond their normal limits. So much so in fact that she was watching some of them die around her, their hearts just giving out from the strain. Yet their efforts had produced results, as bleeding wounds criss-crossed her body. She felt tired and drained in ways she hadn’t felt in a very long time...if ever. Clearly, she had not gained back her surrendered magic, despite passing from the world she had just been in. Whether something had gone wrong or she was facing a betrayal, she did not know. She also didn’t know what would happen if she fell here. In her home world, she’d be whisked back to the moon to heal. But in a strange land, without some of her magic? Perhaps she was facing true death? Though not if she had anything to say about it. Calling more magic to herself, she plunged forward through the ranks of black furred skaven, her eyes locked on the one behind this magic. - - - - “You wouldn’t think that a thing that large could move that fast,” Lyra said, as she and her friends galloped through the winding tunnels. They could hear the monster ahead of them, it's heavy footfalls, claws scrabbling on stone and the bellowing shouts of its rider acting like a beacon to follow in the winding tunnels of Mount Canterhorn. “We have to stop it before it leaves the mine grounds!” Ditzy shouted. “If it gets into the city proper, who knows how much damage it could cause!” “Judging by its claws and his sword...a lot,” Raindrops snarked. “When we catch up to it, I’ll work on keeping both of them disoriented. Carrot Top? Hit it with glue and itching powder, then pass out some buffing droughts if you can,” Trixie rapidly muttered. “Cheerilee, see if you can get the sword away from the rider. Raindrops?” “Hit them till they stop moving?” “Yup.” Raindrops nodded grimly. “I can do that.” Their galloping took them all the way back out of the mountain tunnels and into the wide (but empty) yard that once saw active workers in another era. Now it contained an infuriated rat ogre and a wicked skaven warlord. Said warlord was staring around at the city around him in what seemed to be a mixture of awe and contempt. “Hey ugly!” Trixie shouted. The skaven twisted about to glare at them. Trixie channeled sending a rolling sphere of glittering light towards the pair. The moment the first  spell left her horn, she wove another and summoned multiple copies of Raindrops. They immediately flew in three different directions, swooping and flying around the rat ogre. It bellowed in response swinging and swiping wildly at the illusions. The rider screeched in fury, yanking on the crude reins to try and get it to move away from the illusions and towards Trixie. But then Carrot Top’s itching powder shattered across the the rat ogre’s back. Roaring even louder now, the ogre thrashed and clawed at its body, throwing the skaven off its back. The skaven warlord pushed himself back to his paws, reaching behind his back and unhooking a shield from its straps. Chittering furiously, he slammed his sword against his shield a few times before pointing it at Trixie in a challenge. “Not on your life buddy!” Trixie shouted back. While she doubted that the skaven could actually understand her, the intent clearly translated across cultural and language lines. It screeched again and charged, almost dropping to all fours as it bounded across the ground with frightening speed. Cheerilee moved to intercept from his right side, galloping almost as fast. But the skaven whirled about, lashing out with his sword in a flurry of strikes. The first one slammed Cheerilee across her side, knocking her off her hooves. Then he followed up with an over the head smashing chop. Cheerilee threw herself into a roll to avoid the impact, then sprang up and and lashed out with a spinning kick. The warlord snapped his shield up, Cheerilee’s hoof rattling off the wood and metal. The sound of music filled the air as Lyra joined the fray. The unicorn lightly plucked at her lyre’s strings, sending little daggers of sound whistling at the skaven. The bolts ripped into the warlord’s armor, slashing at its straps and knocking a few pieces loose. Turning about, the skaven charged at her slamming his shield into Lyra’s chest. As Lyra stumbled backwards, the warlord followed up with a brutal upwards slash. Trixie’s heart leapt into her throat as the edge of the sword squealed against the starmetal of Lyra’s armor. The tip of the blade passed just above Lyra’s ear, slicing off a chunk of her mane and just barely avoiding carving into her head. Raindrops dropped in from above, smashing her forehooves down on the skaven. With Raindrop’s strength, the strike bowled him over. She wrapped her forelegs around his neck, pulling him into a choke hold. He fought back with equal fury, flexing every muscle in his body he thrashed and kicked like he was possessed. “Gah! Somepony help me with this thing!” “Coming!” Ditzy shouted. But even as she ran to help, the rat ogre bellowed and charged. Frustrated with its lack of ability to hurt the illusionary Raindrops, it barreled forward swinging left and right as part of its frenzied charge. Lyra dove to avoid one of the swings, but the swipe clipped her side, sending her flying across the grounds. “Lyra!” Cheerilee cried. Raindrops threw herself off the back of the skaven as the rat ogre tried to take a swing at her. But as the skaven picked himself up from the ground, Carrot Top struck. All of her remaining glue bombs- four in all- tumbled through the air, smashing against rat ogre and skaven alike. The ropy strands of glue stuck fast to both, practically binding the two together into a cocoon-esq packet of sticky rats. “Get em!” Trixie shouted, moving to channel another spell. Raindrops swooped back in now, hammering her hooves against the rat ogre’s exposed head. Once, twice, three times she punched the rat ogre, its head snapping back and forth from the strikes. On the third strike though that the creature’s eyes rolled into the back of its head and it slumped in the glue, tongue loling out of its mouth. Raindrops turned her attention towards the skaven, who was struggling against the strands of glue. She dove for him, hooves outstretched. The skaven chittered defiantly, managing to rip one of his arms free of the glue, a new weapon clutched in his clawed hands. A miniature hand cannon. Ditzy scooped up a rock and whipped it at the gun. It impacted against the side of the barrel with a crack, just as it fired with a rush of green smoke and Trixie yanked at it with her magic. A glowing green bullet streaked just past Raindrops left ear. Her hooves impacted into the skaven’s head a moment later, blasting him into unconsciousness. For a moment all was quiet, save for the heavy breathing of the ponies that had just gone through the battle. “...Are there any chains lying around?” Cheerilee asked. “We should chain them up, just to be sure.” Raindrops took to the air, scanning the old equipment for a moment. “Nothing there...but the gate was chained up when we got here!” She flew over to the gates grabbed the long length of chain, wrapping it around the glue gunked skaven. “Come on!” Trixie shouted. “Let’s get back to help the others!” - - - - Luna galloped after the seer. The unit of black furs lay dead behind her, either struck down by her hooves or dead from the spell that had turned them into such a spiky ball of death. She was still battered and bleeding profusely, but the seer needed to die to end all of this. He scampered across the floor of the cavern, glancing over his shoulder at the onrushing alicorn. His target was another unit of rats that had advanced forward from the dark tunnels. There was a whole another wave of the vile creatures welling up from the depths of the mountain. This time they were accompanied by some strange looking wheel shaped devices. They were the most bizarre things Luna had seen in her life. Two large wheels seemed to make up the sides of the body, giant rats running within them, almost tumbling over each other to push the things forward. Three prongs stuck out from its construction, sickly green lightning dancing around them. She could just make out a skaven sitting in an odd seat at the center of the contraption, centered just ahead of some manner of generator. Another skaven stood on a platform on the back of the device frantically pumping some other lever. The seer waved his staff above his head vanishing in a puff of smoke and reappearing at the head of one of the advancing units. Luna grit her teeth and began to channel, dragging up the magic from the stones around them to forge into another spell. Again, it felt like pushing a boulder up hill as the magic was sluggish and slow to respond. The spell began to take shape against the roof, blue crackles and swirls clashing and thundering as the power built up. As her spell built up, a bolt of lightning lashed out from one of the rumbling wheels to sear Luna’s side. Gritting her teeth through the pain, Luna pushed a little more magic into her spell to finish it off. A massive glowing comet now dropped from the ceiling, landing in the middle of the skaven and detonating. The explosion was massive, sending the rat beasts flying every which direction. The seer chittered in response, chittering furiously as he wove another spell. Extending a clawed paw, he unleashed another crackling bolt of green lightning. The magic washed over Luna again, tearing at flesh and coat with equal abandon. Luna pushed forward under the flow of lightning, inch by inch she advanced on the seer, until she was inches away from the creature. She grabbed the squealing mage in her magic, holding the body in place before grabbing his head in a separate aura. With a strong wrenching motion and a sickening snap sound, the grey seer went limp in her grip. Far behind her, she could hear the portal snap shut, the seer’s magic no longer holding it open.  The skaven near by who hadn’t been struck down by the magic squealed in fear and began to recoil en masse. They were just on the edge, another push just might do it. But despite her determination, Luna’s legs buckled and she slumped to the stone. She had never felt such exhaustion in her life. It was like she was weighed down by a hundred iron weights. The skaven, sensing weakness, swarmed forward swinging with their swords and spears. Pain tore through Luna’s body as the skaven were dead set on sending her to the grave. She tried to channel, but the pain was just so much at this point. “Khazukan Kazakit-ha!” came a thunderous cry. The armored homids she had seen before came barreling into the skaven lines. Their hammers and axes lashed out with a furious vengeance, smashing and hacking all about them. The skaven fell like wheat before the scythe, dark gore soon slick upon the stones. That was enough to break their nerve and the skaven turned and bolted for their lives. One of the homids, dressed in armor a bit more ornate than his fellows pointed to Luna and said something in their guttural tongue. A moment later, Luna felt herself effortlessly lifted by four of the homids, each one taking a corner of her body. With that, they began to back towards the gate again. But even as they began to move, Luna could begin to feel a dark presence seeping into the world around her. A roiling cloud of shadow had appeared behind the fleeing skaven, growing bigger and darker with each passing moment. A massive bipedal form began to emerge from it, almost a skaven made massive. It towered over its fellows and even the rat ogres from before the shadows clinging to its body as it advanced, a wicked looking glaive clutched in its claw like hands. It’s face was more skull like than the other skaven, with four twisted horns and glowing red eyes that shone with malice. As it charged, Luna could only wonder why her magic hadn’t returned yet. - - - - In another world, a thief was running for his life. Creeping Step cursed the day he bartered his soul to Tirek. Sure, it had turned him into a world class thief. ...But it had left him a world class thief eternally in debt to the lord of Tartarus. As he hurried through the endless stacks of Thanatos’ bureaucratic records of the dead, he could hear the hammering of hooves coming from every direction. “Damn lawyers!” he snarled, ducking down a little side corridor. “Only Thanatos would turn the souls of dead lawyers into his personal strike force!” Even wrapped in supernatural darkness as he was, he knew that they’d find him sooner or later. He had to get out here with Luna’s magic before they caught him. The heavy iron cask was stuffed into his enchanted saddlebags already. Now he just had to escape. Peeking around another corner, he could spy one of the magical portals leading out of Thanatos’ realm at the end of the hall. He took off at a gallop, diving through the portal with a dozen ponies on his tail. He blinked on the other side of the portal, finding himself not in the depths of Tartarus, but in an ever shifting landscape of chaotic bits of land and chaos. “What in Discord’s mismatched horns..?” “Speak of the devil and he shall appear!” a gleeful voice exclaimed from behind him. Creeping Step swallowed hard as he turned to see the lord of chaos in all his glory. Before he even had a chance to react, Discord snapped his taloned claw and Creeping found himself dangling upside down. Discord casually waggled a talon, shaking Creeping back and forth and spilling the contents of his saddlebags loose. “Gah! What do you want?!” Creeping exclaimed. “Oh, don’t play coy with me little pony. You know what I want,” Discord answered. “No!” Creeping Step shouted, grabbing the cask and trying to pry it back from Discord. “Lord Tirek will skin me alive if I don’t return with it!” “Your horrible choice in negotiations are not my or anyone else’s problem,” Discord deadpanned, easily yanking the cask away from Step. “I mean, really. I’m almost personally insulted that you chose to strike a deal with Tirek over myself.” “You were a statue!” “That just means you’d have to work for it a bit more!” Discord declared with a snake like grin. With another snap of his talons, the cask blew open and Luna’s magic went streaking away. Discord watched it go with a grin. While he didn’t particularly care for the alicorn, he wasn’t about to let Tirek get anymore power than he already had. Besides...that Luna had a date with destiny involving her worlds incarnation of his handsome self. And he wasn’t about to let a race of jumped up vermin ruin that show! - - - - The giant skaven creature tore through the front rank of the homids, cutting them down as easy as they had been cutting down the skaven a moment before. Still, despite the fury of the attack, they didn’t give an inch of ground, instead raising their shields higher as they hacked at the beast’s legs. Luna struggled to rise into the air and help. Something had to be done. Despite the stubbornness of the homids, the monster was going to tear them apart without help. Not to mention that she’d then be helpless against the beast itself. She had to...she had to… Power surged through her all at once as her magic suddenly returned to her. Wounds knitted closed, the aches and exhaustion were banished all at once and now she was brimming with power again. Now she rose into the air with a single flap of her wings, shooting straight for the monster with her horn glowing with power. It roared back at her, bearing its razor sharp yellow fangs. “Die-die moon-thing!” it shouted in a voice that spoke in multitudes. “I think not!” Luna fired back, wrapping the whole of her body in shimmering moonlight and magic. Her hooves plunged into the chest of the creature and she thrust all of that magic deep into its body. It roared in pain as the shimmering magic tore through its form and set the whole thing alight. Luna followed it up with bringing more magic to bare, firing glittering miniature stars through it over and over again. “You will pay-die!” it screeched again. With that, it fell apart into shadows, leaving the hall empty save for the few skaven that were now fleeing for their lives. This battle was done. Luna examined the homids for a moment they were taking on a defensive stance, clearly unsure of her attentions. Luna nodded to them once, cast her spell and vanished away from this strange world and its strange inhabitants. - - - - Cadance slumped on the now quiet field of battle. The skaven were either dead or unconscious and restrained. With a sigh, she let her crystal walls fall. It wasn’t long before she heard the sounds of approaching hooves, Trixie and her friends galloping into the chamber a moment later. “Is everypony okay?” “We have some wounded,” Cadance answered. “But it could have been much worse than it was.” “I’m not seeing a portal,” Lyra said. “I guess that Princess Luna succeeded?” Princess Luna appeared with a soft pop. “Princess!” Trixie exclaimed. “You’re alright.” “After a fashion, yes. And I see that you are likewise unhurt.” “Thank the stars for your armor,” Cheerilee said with a smile. Cadance allowed herself a small smile at seeing the bond that existed between this other Luna and her subjects. “We should leave. I need to get more guards down here to finish cleaning up the aftermath. And you all have to get back to your universe.” Trixie eyed Greengrass and his fellows. “And what about them?” “Don’t worry. We’ll take it from here. Your work is done.” - - - - Goodbyes were exchanged, perhaps with a greater sense of urgency than might normally be done. Princess Luna had no desire to trespass upon this universe with her full power. So they gathered in the same garden they had arrived in to leave. “Thanks for helping out my world,” Lulamoon said to her double. Trixie smirked back. “Apparently, I could say the same for you.” “Ehh. I just took down a crook. You’re the Element of Magic here.” “I still appreciate it.” Luna began to channel her spell, so Lulamoon took a step back and waved to her double. A moment later the seven ponies vanished, whisked back to their world. Lulamoon sighed, glancing over at Princess Cadance. “I don’t suppose you could help me get a train back to Neigh Orleans?” Cadance chuckled. “Of course Trixie. Of course.”