//------------------------------//
// Chapter 15 Part 1: Judge, Jury, And Executioner 
// Story: Silent Ponyville: Duet Of Sorrow 
// by KillerSteel 
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Twilight stares on at the calm-looking Rainbow, currently deep in thought over what the statue told her. She slowly gets up off the ground and walks over to her friend, tears still slowly rolling down her cheeks. Rainbow turns around, looking at her before being quickly grabbed into a hug.

“Oh, Rainbow! Thank goodness you’re safe!” She sobs, her grip tightening, Rainbow starting to push back. “Twi! You’re strangling me!” She struggles to say, cheeks puffing out as she tries to take a breath.

“Oh! Sorry!” Twilight lets go, Rainbow letting out a quick breath, quickly breathing back in in a quick pant. “What’s gotten into you?”

“I-I don’t know…seeing those blades coming down…it scared the life out of me…” Twilight sighs, a big smile on her face. “I’m just glad to see you’re still in one piece.”

“Oh…right, the swords…” Rainbow says, looking back up at the statues, them having fallen lifeless in wait for her answer. They each have a hand or hoof on the hilts of their blades, the other placed against the gate. “Think you could help me with something, actually?” She asks, turning back to Twilight.

“Sure. What’s up?”

“They’ve asked for ‘the phrase that will unlock my path’, but I haven’t got a clue about what they’re referring to. I think it has to be made of the words ‘Lead’, ‘One’, ‘Will’, ‘Five’, and ‘Two’, but nothing’s coming to mind…” Rainbow says, grimacing. “I’ve never been good at this kind of thing, but you’re a wizard when it comes to problems!”

“Flattering, but the word choice seems strange. Three numbers and two words, and you have to make a phrase from them?” Twilight says, walking up to Rainbow’s right side before sitting down and putting a hoof to her chin. “…Hmmm…”

“I think ‘Five’ is talking about the pieces of this key.” Rainbow says, pointing to the faintly glowing blue key in front of her, levitating a good three feet off the ground. “Will and Lead match up…but it doesn’t make sense.”

“Hmm…the words are ‘Will’, ‘Lead’…’Five’, ‘Two’ and ‘One’. Will lead five…five will…one will lead?” Twilight says, the room still silent. “One will lead…five two…two five…one will lead two five…”

“One will lead to five?” Rainbow says, looking over. “Sounds alright…but what’s the ‘One’ refer to?”

“So it’s a word play…interesting. Not sure what the ‘One’ could be, but if you’re right about the ‘Five’ referring to the key…maybe the ‘One’ refers to you?” Twilight asks, raising an eyebrow.

“Worth a shot.” Rainbow says with a shrug, moving back so she can see both statues when she looks up. “Hey! You two awake?!” She shouts up to the statues, them not moving. A voice echoes into the room, the deep voice of a commander.

“Speak.”

“The phrase Fluttershy was talking about…what happens if I get it wrong?” Rainbow shouts in question, staring at the armored Hemoran.

“Dost thy conviction wane in the face of danger?” He asks.

“No, no it ‘dost’ not. I just wanna know.” Rainbow shouts back.

“We shan’t answer thy question; we shall simply await thy answer. Rely on thy own spirit, young one.” He says with finality, the room falling silent again. Rainbow sighs in frustration, turning around to her dad. “Do you have anything?”

“Any what?” He asks back, raising an eyebrow.

“Well…anything for a phrase. The statues were just talking.” Rainbow says.

“Say what? All I’ve been doing is sitting here, watching you and Twilight talk to yourselves and each other. You fell into some random trance and started talking to yourself…you are alright, right?” He asks with a grimace.

“Of course I am! A-wait what? What do you mean ‘talking to myself’? The statue was talking, his voice shook the room!” Rainbow says, squinting and raising an eyebrow.

“Nothing was talking besides you and the Captain. Only thing I definitely saw was the statues moving, and them nearly decapitating you. No voices though.” He says with a raise of the eyebrows and a shrug, seeming to brush off the fact his daughter nearly got killed.

“Wh…what’s with you? You saw me nearly die! Why didn’t you do anything?!” She shrieks, anger rising.

“I…don’t know. Could be because you were the reason my home town got destroyed and taken over.” He says with a matter-of-fact tone. “You didn’t even lead us where we needed to go. We’re in some massive white room with a big door and two statues, not near the travel route to the ground.” He says, his own anger becoming apparent. “I thought you said you knew this place like the back of your hoof!”

“And I do! I don’t know why this area doesn’t lead to the ground! I know there were two chutes here leading straight down, not to mention THIS BIG BLASTED DOOR WAS NEVER HERE BEFORE!” Rainbow shouts back.

“Oh well that’s just FANTASTIC! Not only are we lost, we’re in the heart of enemy territory! Never should’ve followed you, TRAITOR.” Simon hisses, turning around and heading for the metal walkway.

“Hey! Where’re you walking off to, Dad?!” Rainbow shouts.

“Away from here! I’m better off on my own anyway! I KNOW I’ll be better off without you around!” He shouts back, venom in his words.

“What’s wrong with you?!” Rainbow shouts, sadness creeping up through the anger.

“MY UNIT’S DEAD THANKS TO YOU. Not only that, Cloudsdale is under siege, you led us to some random room in the heart of their base with no exit except back up! Sorry, but I’m done following a kid around.” He says, stomping off towards the metal walkway. Rainbow grits her teeth, rage seeping through, trying to find the words. She opens her mouth, but closes it as sadness begins to take over. She looks down at the platform as she sits down, the heavy stomps of her father’s armor growing quiet as he walks back up the stairs. “Darn it, Dad…” She whimpers.

Twilight looks over at her friend, looking back at the note on the ground. “I don’t think they’d mind waiting…” She whispers, looking back up at the statues as she walks over to Rainbow. She sits down next to her. “Rainbow…”

“No…” Rainbow sniffs, eyes closed tight as tears come down in drops, “he’s right…I’m the reason his unit got killed, why Cloudsdale got taken…why Equestria’s in the mess it’s in. I backstabbed everypony and I don’t even know WHY!” She sobs, unable to think straight. Twilight brings her close in a hug, rubbing her shoulder.

“It’s alright…a city can always be taken back, right? All you need to do is show that you’re still with us, that the Element of Loyalty still stands strong for Equestria…even if it seems difficult, we’ve conquered tough challenges before, right?” She asks, Rainbow’s shivering all too apparent to her.

“Th-this is different, Twi…I betrayed what I am for this…I’m not Rainbow Dash anymore, I’m something different…something terrible.” She whimpers.

“Listen to me, Rainbow…the Elements can’t dictate what we do with our lives. Some things we do might go against what we stand for…but don’t forget that your friends will always be there for you, no matter what path you choose or what you do with your own life…your heart’s shattered over this because you’re still loyal to your home, right?” Twilight says softly.

“…Yeah…but…” Rainbow sobs, something just as horrible as backstabbing Equestria digging away at her mind.

“…But?” Twilight asks, raising an eyebrow.

“Sehn and F…Fluttershy…t…they’re…” She shudders, the tears flowing freely now, “They’re dead!!!” She shouts into the room, collapsing and bursting into a full on cry. Twilight sits there in shock, staring at her friend as she breaks down. Fluttershy…dead?

“Is…is that true?”

“It is!! I swear it! I saw their corpses a while ago…Sehn’s dead body fought against me!” Rainbow sobs, holding her hooves over her eyes.

“Rainbow, calm down for a second! Listen to me! You have to fight passed this!” Twilight says, running around to Rainbow’s face and lying down in front of it, prying away a hoof to look her in the eye. “Hasn’t this world messed with you before?”

“Yeah! It has! It’s wounded me and my friends, even showed me my dead marefriend! All it’s done is rip away at me!” Rainbow continues to cry, her eyes turning red from the tears.

“Rainbow! Focus! What will they do if they see you like this?!” Twilight shouts into Rainbow’s face, her crying letting up a bit. “They’ll be disappointed! They both put a lot of trust into you, what will they think if they see you crying here for the rest of your life?! Wouldn’t they want you to finish this?”

“It’s…I…I promised them I’d carry on, but…” Rainbow covers her face again, smacking herself in the muzzle by shoving her leg out of Twilight’s grip, but continues going in her cries while ignoring the pain. Twilight just sighs, staring at Dash. “What am I going to do with you…?” She asks herself.


Twilight paces in front of the gate, having thought for several minutes on what the five answers could mean. “It is a word play, but I can’t be sure…One Will Lead Two Five…? It just doesn’t sound right…” Twilight mumbles to herself, throwing occasional glances at Rainbow who’s now sitting in the middle of the room, staring up at the Hemoran statue. Her crying has stopped, but her eyes are still bloodshot from the emotional breakdown.

She sighs. She wasn’t able to comfort her friend, instead deciding to go back to the puzzle, letting Rainbow have her time to mourn. Twilight looks back at the gate, the hand and hoof placed against it, the key still hovering in place in front of the door. “Five words that lead to a phrase…no clue what will happen if we get it wrong…no pressure, Twilight, none at all…” She thinks, shifting the right of her mouth up, wishing she had a quill and ink to write ideas down with.

“One Will Lead Two Five…Will One Lead Two Five…Two Will Lead One Five…Five Two Will Lead One…ONE PLUS ONE EQUALS THREE…GAH!” Twilight shrieks in frustration. A puzzle like this shouldn’t be trumping her so badly. “Last one makes about as much sense as all the others!” She mocks sarcastically, steadying herself. She takes a deep breath, “Ok…five pieces of the key, they’ve come to a door…but I only saw Rainbow recently, was she guided here by those pieces? Wait…” Twilight says to herself, turning to Rainbow.

“Rainbow! Come over here for a second!” She shouts out, Rainbow slowly looking towards her and walking forward. She looks down at the floor as she sits down next to Twilight. “…Yeah?” She says, not looking up.

“Rainbow, what brought you to this room?”

“Um…I thought this room would have an escape route for you and Dad.”

“Ok, but before all that. What brought you here, what made you follow the path you had to here?”

“…Well…first, I woke up on this black street…then I ran into a hooded pony who told me stuff, said he’d be waiting for me at ‘the end of everything’…that questions have answers and answers have questions…then I started finding notes next to windows and in fleshy rooms and…and…” Rainbow slowly widens her eyes as the idea dawns on her. “Those notes…”

“What about them?” Twilight asks, raising an eyebrow.

“Those notes, they gave me pieces of the key…five pieces lead me here. Five Will Lead Two One…but one what?” Rainbow furrows her brow, the challenge before her cloaking any depression she had before. “One…one gate…? Five pieces Will Lead Two One gate?” She says to herself, trying to decide on something.

“Five Will Lead Two One sounds right, yeah. It makes sense as well…but how can we check?” Twilight asks, looking at the key floating in front of them.

“…No way to, I’m guessing.” Rainbow says, looking up at the two statues. “It’s always been one chance to make your move in this place…so far I’ve gotten by using my own skills. Guess all I can do now is rely on myself, like Sehn said…” She says, moving back towards the middle of the room, and faces the gate again. The voice booms in the room.

“…Thy spirit speaks of determination, child. Hast thou come to a conclusion?” The Equestrian asks.

“Be wary in thy decision.” The Hemoran follows.

“I’ve thought about it for a long time now, and gotten help from a friend. Like everything else in this world though, it comes down to me…so yeah, I’ve come to a conclusion, and I’m betting everything on it.”

“Thou shalt divulge this truth to us, and we shall judge thee.” The Hemoran says, drawing the blade up from the pedestal, the metal grinding away against the stone. “Speak your truth from the bottom of your heart, and stand by it until the end.”

“Five will lead to One!” Rainbow shouts to the statues and the gate, and sits still, waiting for the reaction of the statues. The Hemoran turns his head to The Equestrian, and she looks back. They stare at each other for a while before turning back to Rainbow.

“We request that thou complete thy phrase.” The Equestrian says.

“Complete it? W-Wait, I got it wrong?” Rainbow stutters, staring up at the massive sword.

“Not entirely, so we have thought it just to grant thee one last chance.” The Hemoran echoes out, the sword being raised over his head. “Search your soul for the answer.” He says, before the grinding stops and the room falls silent.

“Five will lead to one…five will lead to one…” Rainbow looks down, thinking hard. “What else is there to that?” She shuts her eyes tight, stomping the ground, trying to think of something. “Grrrr…nothing’s coming!”

“What do you mean by ‘complete’ it?!” Twilight shouts up to the statues. No response comes after minutes of waiting, and she looks over at Rainbow. “Maybe we missed something in the note?” She shouts across the room, Rainbow looking back at her.

“Maybe! But how can we tell?” Rainbow shouts back, flying over to Twilight, a good 30 feet. She adjusts her cap as she lands, looking down at the last note, the nail still stuck in it. “’Five’ and ‘One’ have to relate to something…” Twilight says, looking down at the note. “Just what do they point to, though…? ‘Five’ could point at the key…but you also have five friends.”

“Why would it exclude somepony from that th-“ Rainbow stops suddenly, remembering what happened earlier, and looks down. “Oh…right.” She looks down at the note, furrowing her brow. “…Alright…if the ‘Five’ points to you guys, including me…what does the ‘One’ talk about?”

“I don’t know…there’s nothing here that could relate to it. All we have are the five key words.” Twilight says, stroking her chin in thought. “If only we had more data…more reliable data, this would be way safer, way easier.”

“Well…this place never was about being easy…” Rainbow mutters, looking up at the door in front of her. “Every question has an answer…every answer has a question…” She says out loud, Twilight looking over.

“Every…question? Wait…” She looks off to her right, thinking. “Questions have answers, answers have questions, usually it’s a one to one relationship…’One answer’?”

“One truth.” Rainbow says, staring with determination at the door before her. “Five Pieces of the Key Will Lead To One Truth.” She turns around, walking to the center of the room again. The statues look down at her again as she walks, following her as she turns.

“Thou stands before us with doubt in thy heart…we have granted thee time, yet thou shan’t use it?” The Equestrian says, worry in her voice.

“The worry’s always been here…but it’s time I made a choice. I can stand here for years thinking it over, and it won’t move me forward any farther than this room, will it?” Rainbow says, looking up at the two statues, the massive blade still held above the Hemoran’s head.

“Thy assumption is correct. Not one step shalt be taken forward without our answer.” The Hemoran says, looking down at the mare in the middle of the room. “Trust in thy soul, and the answer shall come to thee. Falter in thy conviction, and thou shalt not take one step further…”

“I know, I know…threat of death if I get it wrong.” Rainbow says with a sigh, the pressure still heavy on her heart. It was now or never, but the answer still didn’t sound right in her head…she goes over it a few times in her mind. “All I’ve done is look at this with Twilight’s brain…maybe that’s why it sounds wrong…it’s not me coming up with it?” She whispers, looking down at the platform below her. She closes her eyes, focusing, thoughts rolling through her head. “Five…Five Souls Will Lead To One Truth…my truth…” She thinks.

Rainbow looks up at the two statues before her, and takes a deep breath.


“Five Souls Will Lead To One Truth, My Truth.” She shouts to the statues, and as the echo dies down, the room falls silent. Twilight looks up at the statues, worry shaking her frame. Was it wrong? It wasn’t what she told Rainbow. The room remains silent for what feels like an eternity, before a voice booms through the room once more.

“Thy soul has found the one answer…” The Equestrian says.

“…And has discovered our concept.” The Hemoran follows.

“What thou shalt make of this is up to thee…our work is done.” The Equestrian says, and she begins to move off of the pedestal, leaving her sword impaled in it. She moves around to the gate, the metal flooring surprisingly resilient under her weight. The Hemoran follows suit, spinning the sword around in his hand and impaling it into the pedestal, moving towards the gate. 

Twilight quickly runs out of the way of the two moving statues, dodging boots and hooves coming down over her head. Rainbow stares on at the statues as they move in front of the gate, both placing their hands and hooves against it. The key begins to shine a bright blue as it hovers up between them, spinning to meet the lightning bolt symbol.

The key flies into the door and turns with a click, the room exploding with the sound of rolling tumblers and numerous locks letting go. The clouds next to the gate seem to bulge and expand with each quaking lock, and the statues begin to push against the gate, it grinding open as if it hadn’t been opened for tens of thousands of years. A bright white light shines through the gate, and the two doors are eventually pushed all the way open, the statues slowly moving their titanic bodies back to the pedestals.

The Hemoran stands at his blade, one hand behind his back while the other is raised in salute to Rainbow, and the Equestrian stands with her own salute to Rainbow, sitting on the pedestal behind her blade. The light from the gate is near-blinding, and Rainbow shields her eyes from it, Twilight walking up beside her.

“Step forth into the light of the truth and never turn back, young one…your test begins now.” The Hemoran says, maintaining his salute. Rainbow turns to Twilight as her friend looks back, and they both nod and walk forward into the light from the gate, quickly overtaken by the glare. Rainbow feels as if she’s getting sucked into a vacuum, and she flies through the gate with Twilight, the two doors slamming shut behind them.


“What…happened?” Rainbow asks, opening her eyes to the blurred world around her. A heavy gust of wind with enough force to knock a Pegasus out of the sky blows past her, Rainbow shutting her eyes to the sting of the wind. She covers her head with her hoof, looking around. Under her are the usual thunderheads of this Cloudsdale, though something’s amiss. Above her, she can see the red sky above the city, though it’s unhampered by the haze from before, shining through to her vision. A black sun hangs in the middle of the sky, unmoving, and clouds circle around it in a slow fashion, as if following their own laws of physics rather than jet streams. “Defying physics now?” Rainbow sighs, looking down at the floor under her.

A rapid zap of lightning arcs to her leg, shooting through her and kicking her nerves into high gear, the haze vanishing from her vision. “Guess I was just feeling out of it…” Rainbow mutters, blinking a few times while she looks around. Nothing but this platform and red sky enters her sight though, and a shadow in front of her. She looks at it, immediately recognizing the cloak and body.

“Welcome, young one…” He says, his voice the only noticeable reminder of his young age. “I see you’ve brought a friend.” He says, looking off to Rainbow’s right while she follows his gaze, settling on Twilight, who seems to have lost her cloak, moaning. Rainbow stares at the unicorn, dumbfounded as she lays on the clouds, and Twilight’s moans are quickly replaced with a shocked gasp as she comes to the same realization.

“Worry not, I casted a spell that allows you to walk on clouds.” The cloaked pony says, Twilight letting out a sigh of relief. “Thank goodness…” She says, rolling onto her belly then rising up. Rainbow stands as well, surprisingly uninjured despite her flight through that tunnel behind the gate. She looks at the cloaked pony, and takes a step forward. “You said you were meeting me at ‘the end of everything’. Is this it?”

“Mmm…not quite, sadly. Your end is still quite a ways off…this is simply a conjugal visit.” The pony responds. “I am rather happy that you solved the riddle though and unlocked the second Gate.”

“Those statues…did you put them there?” Rainbow asks.

“The statues? Heavens no! I could never sculpt moving masterpieces like the Guardians…it took a great deal of magic and time to create those heavenly pieces of art, I’m sure.” He muses.

“Why did they sound like Fluttershy and Sehn?” Rainbow asks, furrowing her brow at the colt before her.

“A good question, to which I’m sad to say I have no single answer…nor do I believe it will ever be answered. Perhaps you’ll find out down the line though.” He replies, seeming to smile. He turns to Twilight. “I am surprised she came with you though…” He says, walking over to Twilight. She starts moving back before hitting the cloud wall, and the colt continues his approach. Rainbow jumps out in front of him, putting herself between Twilight and the cloaked pony. “That’s as far as you go! Nopony’s going anywhere near Twilight!”

The colt simply sighs, shaking his head. “My dear, you really must realize that things in this world are beyond your willing control.” He mocks, looking over at the lavender unicorn. “I must answer my curiosity, and I’m not going to let you get in the way of it.” He says, turning back to Rainbow before raising his leg. He gently presses it against her side and pushes her out of the way, despite Rainbow’s struggles to stay in place. “Now then, Miss, shall we start with your name?”

Twilight simply stares at him, the colt taking one step forward before Rainbow jumps back in front of him. “I SAID nopony’s going NEAR her.” She says to the pony, sitting down in front of him. “For the love of…very well! If you so insist…” He says, dismayed slightly, and he turns around and walks towards the edge of the platform. “So if she’s here, why didn’t the other Pegasus come with you as well?” He asks, looking out to the red sky before him.

“He walked back up the stairs, said he couldn’t be bothered following a kid around…” Rainbow replies with disappointment, looking down slightly.

“Hm…very unlike a father to act in that fashion…though I do suppose it’s not unlikely. You did kill his Thunderstrike unit and allow Cloudsdale to be taken…” He says, shrugging.

“I didn’t KILL THEM! If the world would LET ME do what I wanted for once, I would’ve gone right through the wall to help them!” Rainbow shouts, insulted by this accusation.

“So what stopped you?” He asks, turning his head though his face is still shrouded by the hood. “I’m not going to accept anything less than an adult dragon suddenly appearing in your path as an appropriate excuse.”

Rainbow opens her mouth to answer, but thinks back to the two doors opening in her way that stopped her. “Well…it was over before I could even get close to the room…” She replies meekly, staring at the clouds below her. Twilight walks up beside her, raising an eyebrow. “Why are you asking her these things?” She asks, sitting down next to Dash.

“Boredom, curiosity, a want for the truth I suppose. All I want is for her to answer whatever I ask, and I’ll be happy.” The pony says, still staring out at the sky before him. “What about the windows, Pegasus? Did you see what you’d wanted to see in them?”

“No…I didn’t see anything good from those images.” Rainbow replies, her mind questioning why she’s answering these questions, but her body acting on its own. Twilight speaks up, “What’s the point of all this?”

“Like I said, a want for the truth is all I have.” He replies with a dark tone, obviously not wanting any more interruptions. Twilight groans with a grimace, furrowing her brow at the pony. “What makes you so important that you get to question Rainbow like this?”

“The world, this one in particular, works in very strange ways…” He replies, turning his head slightly. “It is constructed by her subconscious after all.” He turns back to the sky, falling silent for a while. Neither party speaks to the other for a good minute or so, before the cloaked pony speaks up.

“If you’re wondering about your father, I have some…bad news to give.” He says solemnly, Rainbow immediately looking up at him. “What about my dad?!” She asks in desperation.


“I saw him flying out of the Rainbow Factory from here…he was being escorted by an armored fellow with dragon wings, lined with a black flame.” The pony says with a matter-of-fact tone. “They were both headed for the town center.”

“Wait…from here? But the Factory’s surrounded by all those clouds and, and all that lightning! How could you see them from…wait…” Rainbow stops herself before running for the ledge and looking off it. To her shocked surprise, below them was the massive field of lightning surrounding the Rainbow Factory. She was on top of the central tower!

“HOW’D I GET UP HERE?!” She screams into the abyss below, dumbstruck. “I was just in the Core!”

“The world works in strange ways.” The cloaked pony answers, simply staring out into the sky. Rainbow raises her view across the town, finally seeing it as sharp as daylight. It really was her home of Cloudsdale. She stands up then backs a step or two, taking in the scene, and sits down. “You ok, Rainbow?” Twilight asks, walking up behind the pair, looking over the ledge herself.

“Yeah, I’m fine…just a bit shocking to see it’s really Cloudsdale. As if the Factory wasn’t enough of a hint…” Rainbow says, looking down. “Where were my dad and that armored guy going?”

“The town center.” The cloaked pony says, pointing out in front of him, a flash of silver on his coat. He quickly moves his leg back under the cloak. “I can’t fly, so you two will have to go on without me. I’ll see if I can meet you there…and Miss Dash.”

“Hm?” Rainbow asks, turning slightly.

“Don’t die.” The cloaked pony replies simply before heading off to the open hallway behind the trio, his soft steps on the clouds fading away. Rainbow turns back to the scene before her, taking a deep breath then letting it out in a long sigh. “Well…Sehn did say my test begins now…” Rainbow mutters under her breath, turning to Twilight. “Hop on, I’ll at least take you down to the street, and we’ll run from there.” She says, gesturing for Twilight to get on. Twilight climbs onto Rainbow’s back, Rainbow grunting under the strain of all that new weight. “Jeeze, Dad was right, you ARE heavy!”

“Save the remarks on my weight for later, Dash. Giddy up!” She says with a smirk, Rainbow turning to just stare at her. “Sorry, sorry…um, let’s go?” She says with an apologetic look and a shrug, Rainbow smiling and turning back around. “Hold on tight!” She shouts before leaping off the ledge, Twilight quickly wrapping her legs around Rainbow’s neck.

The thunderhead tower screams past the duo, lightning jumping out towards them in massive blue pillars, and Dash quickly maneuvers to miss them, opening her wings and gliding down to the two towers in front of them. Wind tears past them as Twilight holds on for dear life, as they both fly at breakneck speeds straight for the wall of cloud between the two guard towers, sparking with lightning.

“TWILIGHT! Got a spell that could lighten us up?! I’m not gonna be able to ascend like this!” Rainbow shouts, staring at the massive wall of death careening towards them. “Besides levitation I haven’t got anything! I don’t know if it’ll work here either!” Twilight screams back, fear increasing as the wall of electricity comes closer. “WELL DO SOMETHING, OTHERWISE WE’RE GONNA BE CHAR-BROILED PONY IN FIVE SECONDS!” Rainbow screams back, flapping her wings to try and get over the wall, while Twilight focuses on her levitation spell. “C’mon, work! WORK!” She hisses, focusing more power into her horn. The familiar aura of magic surrounds the pair, and they begin to slow down, literally skidding through the air towards the wall.

“We’re not gonna stop in time!” Rainbow shouts, flapping her own wings, trying to push away from the wall. Twilight puts as much power as she can into the spell, the air bending itself around the focused magic energy into a typhoon, and they stop. Rainbow stares at the massive thunderhead just inches away from her face, the lightning jumping from cloud to cloud within it. Twilight’s uncontrollable shivering gets through to Rainbow’s mind next as the pair begins to slowly rise up. “Why’re you shaking so much?”

“Self-levitation with somepony else takes…a lot of focus to make sure nothing goes wrong…!” Twilight hisses out, looking up to the top of the wall. “Don’t talk to me…until we’re over…”

Rainbow simply nods, looking up with Twilight. Thunder rolls just inches from them, sounding like bombs going off right next to their ears with every strike of lightning. Lightning jumps with great arcs over Rainbow and Twilight, Dash looking down to see the bolts slam back into the wall just below them, swearing she sees it explode. “We are beyond dead if one of those bolts even grazes us…” Rainbow thinks, looking back up, sighing in relief as the edge of the wall approaches.

As they rise over the edge of the wall, Twilight’s focus gives out and the aura disappears. Rainbow immediately opens her wings and glides down to the top of the wall, luckily where no massive bolts are jumping out. Heavy panting from Twilight catches her attention as she lands, turning to face her friend.

“You alright?” Rainbow asks, concerned. “I’m fine…just…I feel really exhausted…” Twilight pants out in response, all control of her body giving up as her grip on Rainbow’s neck and chest loosens and her legs fall away. “I feel like I’m going to pass out…” She whispers.

“I’ll take things from here.” Rainbow says with a smirk, and Twilight smiles back before drifting off into slumber. Rainbow turns back to the ledge in front of her, walking over to see the streets of Cloudsdale below, one long road stretching off towards the center. “Why do I always get lucky when I’m not in danger?” She mutters as she opens her wings and runs off the ledge, flying towards the town center, holding Twilight’s legs around her neck so she doesn’t fly off.

_____________________________

“What are you planning, old man?” A small shadow asks, a dimly lit room surrounding her. A badly lit stairwell ascends 30 feet in front of her, a similarly lit golden throne sitting at the top with a larger shadow sitting in it. He lowers his eyes towards her, the red from them piercing through the darkness.

“I figured that, since you’ve failed again and again, it would be my turn to have a bit of fun…” He replies simply with a chuckle.

“You know it isn’t your place to do this!” The small shadow hisses back, her red eyes burning with anger.

“Child, you obviously don’t understand the way things work…” He answers back, leaning forward in his throne. “Though I do acknowledge that you are the greater power here, realize that my sovereignty is paramount, and my word is law…never forget that.”

“The day I listen to you is the day I surrender myself, and you know that’ll never happen. Stop getting in the way!” She shouts. “That throne belongs to one and one alone, and that one is ME.”

“We shall see, young one…there is one other who already claimed this throne.” He answers, his smile gleaming in the limited light. He seems utterly pleased with how things have been going.

“I’m well aware of who already owns that throne…they won’t be much to deal with. I’ll let you go on with this…but any more interruptions, and you’ll regret it.” The small shadow hisses, exiting through the massive double doors behind her, blue in color with a lightning bolt design in the center. The large shadow simply laughs, the cackles blowing through the room. “WELL THEN! LET THE GAMES BEGIN!” He shouts to the darkness, the small shadow simply grimacing and shaking her head as she leaves the room.

____________________________________________


Wind rips past Rainbow as she flies through the conquered Cloudsdale streets, having already dodged an encounter with two Royal Guards dragging their blades through the thunderheads by flying over them. She grimaces from the soreness in her wings, now reaching a flaming burn as she flies over the city, and she heads down to street level, landing and skidding to a stop. Sweat runs down her face as she looks back, the Factory a small tower in the distance. “Just how far did I fly?” She asks herself, looking over at Twilight. “Still out cold…well, it’s not far now to the square…”

Rainbow looks around herself, raising an eyebrow. “Why did I only just notice that this city is all joined on one cloud? Cloudsdale is a bunch of buildings that pegasi have to fly to…but all these houses and business buildings are joined by streets. Did the Hemorans do this...?" She raises the right side of her mouth, lowering her eyelids. “No…this is more of my work, isn’t it? After the Hemorans took over, I helped them make travel easier by joining Cloudsdale together…but how did I do it on my own? The city’s just too big.” She says to herself, bucking a bit to get Twilight further up on her back, and begins walking forward down the street.

Her wings fall slack against her sides, worn out. “Flying’s out of the question now, I guess…” She thinks, her muscles burning from all the work she put them through. She bucks again to get Twilight back up on her back, groaning in annoyance. “C’mon Twilight, now really isn’t the time for you to be sleeping…” Rainbow mutters with a grimace, feeling kind of selfish for saying that.

Hissing from her saddle bag obliterates any passive thoughts in Rainbow’s head, immediately replacing them with worry. She draws her knife, looking around, tapping Twilight in the forehead to try and get her up. “C’mon, wake up!” She says through the knife, Twilight not coming to. The hissing becomes louder, and a shadow enters Rainbow’s vision. It quickly gains the form of a Royal Guard soldier, a Pegasus, dragging its sword along the ground. Rainbow quickly looks to its sides, wondering if it has any reinforcements, smiling from the lack of backup for her enemy.

“Alright, a one on one fight…” She says, lowering herself and her brow, getting ready to fight. The guard saunters slowly towards her, the sword making a grinding sound of metal against stone, even though it’s dragging along clouds. The guard quickly picks up its pace into a mad sprint, quickly crossing the distance between it and Rainbow, and it swings the sword with impressive aim for Rainbow’s neck. She quickly ducks as the blade approaches, stops for a second then yanks herself in a quick panic into the ground as the blade sails past Twilight and shaves off some of her mane. She jumps back, putting a good five foot distance between her and her opponent.

“Ok, now’s REALLY not the time to be sleeping, Twi!” She shouts through the knife, looking at her friend. Twilight’s only movement is her leg brushing against Rainbow’s side from the momentum of the jump, and Rainbow groans in frustration. Should she risk letting Twilight down onto the street? It’d help Rainbow move far quicker, but the spell might’ve worn off by now…how did unicorn magic work?

“Grrr, now’s not the time to be worrying about that…I’ll have to carry her and fight.” Rainbow thinks to herself, staring down her opponent over the short gap of cloud between them. The guard simply stares back, lowering itself slowly, its black, empty eye sockets closing in a squint. The stare-off continues for a few seconds, each one ticking by after hours of waiting, before the monster charges forward again, aiming with a wide horizontal strike for Rainbow’s neck. She ducks deep again, feeling the wind blow past as the rust blade slices through where she was, and she tries sprinting forward and striking the legs.

She moves slower, feeling Twilight’s mass pull her back, and her strike misses just short of the creature’s knees. She pushes herself off the clouds and runs to the right of the beast; luckily its massive sword forced it to recover from the slash. Rainbow spins around behind the monster as it brings the sword back around to its right, turning to face her. “Gah, this is never going to work with you on my back, Twi! Wake up!” She shouts, trying to rouse Twilight from her unconscious state, but she may as well have just shouted at a brick wall. She turns back to the monster, feeling her options running out.

“I can’t fight like this, and I can’t just drop her on the clouds…” Rainbow thinks, growling through the knife. She looks down at Twilight’s leg to her left, the blade just next to it. “Ohhh…sorry Twi!” She says through the handle of the knife, and she swings her head…

The blade stabbing straight into Twilight’s leg.

“GAAAAAH!!!!” Twilight lets out a monstrous scream of agony, the blade cutting cleanly into her skin. Rainbow pulls back before it cuts too deep, drawing it out, and Twilight flails on her back. “Twi! TWI! CALM DOWN!” Rainbow shouts through the handle, lowering herself to remain stable. “YOU STABBED ME!!!” Twilight screams into her ear, falling to the right. “Oh woah oh no no no!” She stutters as she falls off Rainbow’s back. Her horn immediately lights up, but she hits the thunderhead before whatever spell she was trying could be completed.


Rainbow screams as her friend falls through the thunderhead, Twilight’s own screams being muffled immediately by the thunder below Rainbow. A loud crack echoes from below the layer of clouds, as if a massive bolt of lightning just struck something. “Oh Celestia…” Rainbow thinks, eyes wide at the hole made by Twilight’s body. The shaking of armor catches her attention as the soldier bares down on her, blade swinging vertically, trying to split her skull. Something inside Rainbow lights up immediately into an inferno, and she swings with her knife for the sword of the soldier. She spots a line of black along the edge as the knife slices through the sword and keeps going, sailing straight over the soldier’s head.

“What was that?” She thinks, her mind now on fire as she looks around, a black tunnel growing in her vision. She spins around to face her opponent, seeing the hilt and guard of a now very short knife with a flat tip, the soldier growling at her with new-found rage. It begins to back away, keeping what’s left of its sword at the ready. “No…oh HELL NO, you aren’t getting away from me now!” Rainbow shouts through her knife, and she jumps forward, an explosion of wind echoing in her ears as she closes the near 20 foot gap between her and her foe in an instant. The zombie can barely lower its head before the knife is up against its chest, as it begins to cut into its flesh. The knife slices through the body of the zombie as if it were air, and Rainbow skids to a halt behind it.

She turns to look at it, seeing blood leaking out from its side from its chest to the rump, as its back leg falls off at the flank. The soldier simply falls over and through the cloud, leaving an exhausted Rainbow Dash as the victor. She breathes hard, wiping her leg on the edges of the knife to clean the blood off, and then she sheathes it, taking a seat. “What was that just now…?” She asks, the black tunnel in her vision starting to fade. “I didn’t feel a thing when I was cutting into that monster…felt like nothing was there at all.” She blinks a few times, looking down at the black sludge on her leg she thought was blood. “Oh, that’s not cool at all…” She grimaces, moving her leg through the cloud below her to try and clean it off. A quick zap of lightning forces her to draw it back out though after only a second or two.

“Well, can’t clean it…guess I’ll live with it for now…” She says, looking over at the hole in the clouds. “Oh…CRAP.” She swears to herself, before leaping into the air and blasting herself down below the cloud level. “CRAP CRAP CRAP CRAP CRAP!!!” She repeatedly screams to herself through the deafening thunder and blinding lightning strikes all around her. Twilight was still falling through this! The fight lasted about ten seconds after she fell, it’s not a lot of time to go through this…

“She’s still alive, I know she is!” She shouts to the clouds, denying the thoughts in the back of her mind about that clap of thunder from when Twilight fell…she’s still alive, she has to be. Rainbow accelerates her mad descent through the thunderhead, it seeming impossibly deep for what it needed to do as a street. “How far does this cloud GO!?” Rainbow thinks to herself, narrowly dodging a gigantic blue bolt of lightning racing passed her. A purple glow amongst the black and blue catches Rainbow’s eye, and she immediately flies towards it.

The clouds rip away from the panicked Rainbow like dust being blown away by a tornado as she tears through cloud after cloud, the thunder becoming dull in its massive explosions. “Starting to lose my hearing…” Rainbow thinks to herself, the world around her blurring. The purple glow becomes stronger, and Rainbow picks up her pace, a smile slowly growing on her face…


Until a dark cackle from her surroundings put fear back into her heart. “Ahhh…my faithful Rainbow Dash…it seems you’re in a bit of a fix.” The venomous voice speaks out to her from the clouds. Rainbow immediately picks up her speed to her max, trying to close the gap between her and the purple glow. The clouds break to reveal Twilight surrounded in a shield, huge bolts of lightning striking at her from every angle, each one putting a new crack in the shield with a massive thunder clap. “TWILIGHT!!!” Rainbow screams, Twilight turning up to her. “Dash!” She cries back, and as Rainbow draws close, the lightning strikes seem to stop. “Oh thank Celestia you’re alright!” Dash exclaims, a massive smile on her face.

“I think you’re forgetting about me here.” The dark voice speaks out from the clouds, the silver-tongued Devil reaching into her soul. The sound comes from above both Twilight and Rainbow, and they both look up…

A shadow stands amongst a literal death storm of lightning crashing into his armor, turning it white with heat. Two flaming red eyes stare down at the pair. “Hello, ladies…such a joy to see you again…” The shadow chuckles, the dragon scale armor all too familiar to them both. The two mares look to each other, Twilight’s strain showing through in sweat and shaking in her legs. “Drop the shield; I’m getting you out of here!” Rainbow shouts, flying under Twilight as the shield finally breaks, shattering into a thousand small fragments, falling around Rainbow like pink snow. Twilight crashes down onto her back, her breathing coming loud and harsh. “If you hadn’t come…when you did…I’d be dead…!” Twilight says between gasps, hugging Dash tightly.

“Such a touching reunion…” The voice speaks to the duo from just in front of them, both of them staring at the blindingly bright white armor of the Colonel. “Sadly…I’m afraid I can’t leave you two together for the moment.” He says, an evil smile creeping across his face. Rainbow backs away, feeling a powerful heat growing within her again. The Colonel widens his eyes and furrows his brow, his smug demeanor being quickly replaced with a look of excitement. “Ahhh…so you’re capable as well! Oh, things just got a LOT more fun…” He chuckles, the smile spreading into a wide, evil statement of his sick desire. He reaches out to the pair, Rainbow backing away further, before she feels Twilight getting pulled off of her.

“RAINBOW! HELP!!!” Twilight screams as she struggles to hold on, knocking Rainbow off her balance as a powerful force rips the unicorn off her back. Rainbow looks up to see a black shadow in a white cloak bolding Twilight on his shoulder, simply staring back at her.

“We’ll be waiting at the square. Don’t be late…” The Colonel says to Rainbow with a smirk as she looks back at him, the heat growing stronger within her. “With that…you may just beat us there, actually.” He looks up at the white cloaked shadow, “Come. If we don’t go now, she’ll get impatient…and who knows what may happen to the Pegasus I captured earlier there.” He says with some annoyance in his voice, the shadow simply nodding before two feathered wings expand off his back, and with a single mighty beat, he launches off at a maniacal speed towards the surface.

“Oh, and I simply must warn you…I was acting as a lightning rod up there. The lightning should be returning any second now. Farewell!” He shouts, and with a mad laugh, he launches himself towards the surface, quickly followed by the deafening explosions of thunder as the blue bolts begin to rain down on Rainbow. She launches herself upwards with speed unknown to her before, feeling almost like the descent towards a Sonic Rainboom. “Stop questioning the world and go with it, Dash…this is your golden ticket to save her!” She mutters to herself, her speed only climbing as the clouds bend and break around her.



The Colonel laughs as he looks down, seeing a streak of darkness flying towards them. “Pick up the pace, Sergeant, she’s catching up! And I know I don’t want a lecture from the Sky Queen about losing to a Pegasus!!!” He shouts, looking back up and kicking the air, blasting him even faster upwards, screaming past Twilight and the Sergeant. Twilight simply watches in awe as the white streak quickly disappears in the upper cloud layer, then feels herself rising faster as the wings behind her beat once more, throwing the two bodies upwards. She looks up, seeing a blue path being drawn from a nearby cloud to the soldier carrying her, and she opens her mouth to scream, ducking her head under her hooves…

As the bolt comes down and hits him face first with a massive explosion of thunder. It doesn’t seem to send him careening down in a burnt mess, however…and as Twilight looks up from her ducked position, she sees the current running along the blade of a silver sword. The soldier quickly sheathes the blade and races up faster, Twilight starting to feel the air being pushed out of her lungs as he tightens his grip on her mid-section.



Rainbow beats her wings like never before as she races past thundering clouds and blinding strikes of lightning, everything seeming to fly passed at a breakneck speed. Two blue paths draw themselves from her to the clouds, and she moves to the right as two massive bolts of lightning flare past, seeming to burn the air they pass through. “Dodging LIGHTNING now!? Where am I getting all this speed?!” Rainbow shouts to the world around her, nothing making sense anymore. The cloud layer begins to thin and turn red, marking the surface, and she quickly explodes out of the street, through two floors of a house, and out the roof, flying way higher than she meant to. She quickly comes to a stop in the air, curling up and doing a back flip to level herself out before beating her wings in a hovering rhythm.

She looks down at the street, seeing a massive black crater from where she came out. “Woops…I’ll uh…help fix whoever’s neighborhood that was…” She says with an embarrassed chuckle, looking around. “He said they’d be waiting at the square…” She mutters to herself as she turns towards the center of Cloudsdale, seeing a white streak flying through the air with no wings. “There you are, you villain!” She says to herself, seeing the square just in front of the streak. She throws herself towards it at a high speed, the wind around her immediately whistling in her ears.

The white streak seems to vanish from her sight as she comes down to the square, the soldier with Twilight never even appearing during her flight. She looks around at the main square of the new city, taking in her surroundings. The square is nothing more than a massive round thunderhead, walled in on all sides by raised housing about 20 feet into the air, all the roads covered by a random combination of monsters, one kind looking completely new to Rainbow as she looks around.

The creature looks like a broken pony, legs completely obliterated and broken in twenty places, its torso is a wreck of its former self, showing muscle and skeleton under flaps of skin and a gray coat, and its face is also missing eyes, most of its facial features burned away, showing the skull and bits of muscle hanging on to it. “As if I didn’t see enough monsters already…” Rainbow says, looking around her at all the monsters. A voice cries out from the distance, that damningly smug, female voice.

“Ah, I was wondering when you’d all get here!” Dash’s twin shouts out, the monsters all turning their heads upwards, Rainbow following their gaze. About seventy feet above her, her twin stands on top of a black cloud, looking down at her and the square around her. Her eyes seem to glow with a blood red color, and her smile wouldn’t be out of place on an asylum patient. “Before I let you through, I thought I’d have a little fun with you, Dashie!” She shouts out, the voice carrying easily across the distance it needed to. “How about a little endurance match, eh? You against…one…two three four…five…twenty…tut tut tut…three hundred monsters!”

“WHAT?!” Rainbow screams, looking around the square, just to meet the many empty eye sockets of the monsters along the roads. They all seem to break their gaze and stare back up at her twin, roaring and screeching. Rainbow looks up as well, seeing her twin staring back in annoyance. “Well, I am an entertainer…to not give the crowd what it wants goes against what we stand for, doesn’t it, Dashie?!” Her twin shouts out, “Alright, ladies and gentlemen! A three hundred man endurance match would be too easy, wouldn’t it?! You all wanna see a SPECTACLE, AM I RIGHT?!” She shouts to the crowd, receiving a chorus of demonic cheering.

“WELL, LET’S SEE HOW LITTLE DASHIE LIKES THIS GUY?!” She shouts as the clouds below Rainbow begin to rumble and quake, the center of the arena billowing and bubbling from something rising from below. The clouds bend and rise in waves, causing the square to ripple like a pool of water, until finally, a podium bursts out from the clouds, about three times the size of Rainbow. A hand reaches up from behind it, grabbing it and pulling something out of the clouds below.

The black shadow rises up over the podium, even bigger than the podium, and the black begins to burn and slough away. The terrible screeches and cheers from the crowd grow even louder, as the form is revealed as Hemoran, his hair is a set of six dark green spikes radiating outward slightly, red lines of blood drawn in a jagged design over them, converging around his face like war paint. He steps around the podium, a towering shadow over Rainbow, easily four times her own height. He grabs something from the podium, raising it high over his head…

And beats the gavel against the podium, the entire crowd silencing immediately. The last of the black fades away from his body, revealing torn military fatigues, bloody, fingerless gloves, and an adult dragon’s skull worn as a helmet. His eyes are a complete black, two red irises with white pupils, red bloodshot veins running just along the outside. He exhales slowly, smoke coming out of his mouth.

Something about this form inspires pure terror in Dash, and she begins backing away from the titanic Hemoran, staring up at the beret on his head, two tarnished gold stars sitting on the front of it. “Ohhh, look, Dashie’s scared!” Her twin taunts, followed by a shrill laugh. The crowd quickly joins in, a combination of gurgles, roars and laughs. The gavel comes down on the podium once more, and all except Dash’s twin falls into silence.

“What are you…?” Dash meekly asks, unable to put more volume into her voice.

The soldier seems to ignore her as it walks out in front of the podium, his footsteps hitting the clouds like a boulder hitting the ground. He looks up at her, straightening his stance and holding the gavel next to him, it looking more like a sizeable sledge hammer in Equestrian hooves. “Equestrian…if I can actually call you that.” The soldier growls, his voice warped to the point of being barely recognizable. “How do you plead?” He asks, pointing the gavel at Rainbow, who simply stares back at it. The voice rolls like deep thunder.

“Wh…what?” She stutters, not breaking her stare on the weapon.

“I said. How do you plead?” He asks again, him taking a step forward.

“T-to what?” Dash replies, moving back.

“No one explained your charges before you arrived here? Well…you have quite the list, girl.” He snarls, walking forward towards Rainbow as she tries to keep the same gap of space between them, his shadow seeming to grow behind him. “Murder…assault…leading the force that conquered this city…orchestrating the deaths of hundreds.”

“NO!” Dash screams, flashbacks to her nightmare of the trial appearing in her mind, fear taking over every inch of her body. “I’d never murder somepony!”

“Yet you did. You killed ‘somepony’ on your way here!” He roars, Dash now nudging up against the wall of the square. She looks behind herself, feeling the thunderhead hit her rear, then looks back to the gavel just inches away from her face. “How do you plead?!”

“I plead innocent! I killed that monster in self-defense!!!” Dash shouts at the gavel, unable to take her eyes away from it.

“Monsters? You believe all those around us are MONSTERS?! ARE YOU BLIND, GIRL?!” The soldier roars, the creatures on the walls all around the square roar and shout, stomping the ground, creating a rolling thunder around the arena. “You blatantly killed an Equestrian in cold blood, yet claim yourself innocent?!”

“It was trying to kill me! How could I not fight back?!” Dash shouts, feeling the fear ebbing away.

“’It’ was trying to capture the mare who did this to this city, this…HUSK of a city! You lead the charge to it, and you continued to kill in order to ensure your control!”

“SHUT UP! I…! I’d never kill another pony, never!”

“Then explain the blood on your hooves, girl! All of it!” The soldier roars, a shadow growing behind him, quickly expanding outwards into a twisted, monstrous version of the soldier. His body is completely black with scaly armor, the gauntlets massive, spiny claws. The soldier moves his arm out, the monster following his movement perfectly, and a flaming battle axe forms itself from the shadow’s armor. “Look upon yourself and feel your guilt, the cries of the souls you slaughtered and maimed!” The soldier shouts, “And serve your SENTENCE!” The shadow bellows, his voice like a cry from Hell itself, quaking the arena.

Rainbow simply looks on at the shadow before her. The battle axe alone is at least ten times her size, and the shadow at least fourty. “Meet your Judge and Executioner, Dashie!” Her twin shouts from her cloud, cackling.

“Executioner…?” Dash mutters, eyes opening wide.

“What say ye, Jury?!” The Judge cries out to the crowd, the shadowed Executioner following his every move. A chant picks up around the ring, the voices sounding just like living Equestrians, three voices joining the crowd that seem to bounce around in her head far better than any of the others.

“Guilty! She’s guilty!” Pinkie screams at the top of her lungs.

“I can’t believe I loved you…” Fluttershy mutters, her volume so quiet it should have disappeared amongst the mad chanting.

“Element of Loyalty my big hoof! Yer just a liar and killer!” Applejack shouts out.

“GUIL-TY! GUIL-TY! GUIL-TY!” The crowd shouts out, Rainbow’s friends joining in the chant. The stomping enters a two beat rhythm, matching the chant, and the arena seems to explode with sound. Dash shakes uncontrollably, looking around in terror at the crowd. Something warm runs down her leg as she begins to cry, wind running past a large object forcing her eyes to the battle axe, the soldier raising his gavel.

“We, the Judge, Jury, and Executioner, those who have fallen to your wicked ways and cruel actions, hereby sentence you…

TO DEATH!” The Judge shouts at the top of his lungs, and he brings the gavel, along with the axe, down towards Rainbow. She simply freezes in place, the blade speeding towards her, completely unable to move. The world begins to slow, the axe growing inches closer with every passing hour.

“Pinkie…AJ…” Dash’s voice echoes in her mind, watching the blade slice through the air, a visible current flowing passed it. The tears run down her face as Fluttershy’s face passes by in her mind. “Fluttershy…I never meant for any of you to find out about this…” She sobs, resigning herself to her fate. She sits down, seeing a yellow line along the inner part of her left hind leg, and she simply looks down and closes her eyes. The whistle of wind draws ever closer, loud in her mind like the cry of the Grim Reaper.


“Disappointing…” A voice echoes out in Dash’s mind, her eyes opening slightly with a blink. “Is this really how it’s gonna end?”

“They all know, though…I’m evil…a criminal.” Dash says, the whistle of wind drowning out, the axe nearly stopping in midair. “I killed, I let Cloudsdale get captured…I’m the reason everything went wrong…”

“Gonna start saying you’re the Apocalypse given wings, now?” The voice scoffs, chuckling.

“I may as well be! Ever since this horrible world took me in, I’ve been the reason of so many deaths!”

“Yet I showed you mercy, didn’t I?” The voice says, a vision of Sehn entering her mind’s eye.

“…You said you weren’t really sure why you didn’t hate me though.” Dash says, despair everywhere on her face as she looks up, the edge of the axe slowly moving towards her.

“I’m still not sure why…but I do know that if you give up here, things won’t end well for the rest of us. What will Twilight do if you just up and died, eh? All your other friends, too.” Sehn says, raising an eyebrow.

“They all hate me…they all know what I did. It was something so terrible that they all just turned on me…” Dash says, tears running freely. Sehn just sighs, putting his hands on his hips. “Let’s assume they do…how long have you all been friends for?”

“…A long time…haven’t really counted the days.” Dash whispers.

“You wanna go back to them, don’t you? What was the point of making friends if you were just gonna up and kill yourself?” Sehn says.

“But-“

“No buts. Real friends will stick with you, no matter what you’ve done. You’ve gotta trust in them, Amanda…hold em close, just like they do to you. Dying here will just put a hole in their hearts that could never be fixed.”

“…I guess…” Dash mutters, wiping away her tears, the axe now just inches away from her face.

“You don’t guess, you know. Am I right?”

“Yeah…yeah, you are. I know my death here would just hurt them.” Dash says, her brow furrowing.

“Now look at the one who’s about to take you away, about to put that hole in your friends’ hearts. What do you feel?”

“…Hate…”

“Right. Let it boil, feel your soul burn. This monster is going to hurt you in the worst way possible, and it’s going to radiate outwards. You can’t let that happen, right?”

“No, I can’t!” Dash shouts in her mind, standing up, the axe drawing ever closer. Something within her begins to burn, and it slowly grows.

“You can’t die here! Not when everyone’s waiting for you at the end of this!” Sehn shouts, a smile on his face.

“I’m not gonna die here! Not after everything I’ve gone through!” Dash shouts, the flame in her stomach growing into an inferno. Her vision begins to tunnel, the black walls closing in. Her vision flashes red, and the world begins to speed up again.

“Now move, Amanda! Fight with everything you have!!!” Sehn shouts finally, vanishing from Dash’s mind, and she pushes off to the right. The axe comes down…

And slams into the thunderhead below it. “What the?!” The Judge exclaims, looking at the empty space he just cut through. Dash’s twin looks down from the cloud. “What are you DOING?!” She shouts. The Judge looks around, as does the Executioner as he draws the axe from the clouds. “Where’d she go?” He growls, both of them holding their weapons on their shoulders. They look around before spotting Dash, all the way across the arena.

“Holy Celestia, where’d that come from?” Rainbow says, looking over herself. Nothing seems different, but she can feel a heat coming from her chest, like a furnace. “Wow that feels weird…doesn’t hurt though.” She mutters, looking over the rest of herself before the shaking of armor catches her attention. The Judge sprints towards her, crossing the distance in a short amount of time, the Executioner raising his axe. “I won’t miss this time! Pay your bail in BLOOD, CRIMINAL!” The monster roars, and he brings the axe down, Rainbow easily jumping out of the way. That simple jump flings her a good ten feet to the left, and she drives her hooves into the thunder head to slow down. She lowers herself and draws the knife from its holster, staring down her opponent.

“I can’t die here, ‘Judge’! Not now! Whatever crime I’ve committed, I’ll serve the sentence once I’m back with my friends!” She shouts at the soldier, new anger showing through his face. “No! Your crimes cannot wait until you’re ready! You will pay for what’s been done, and you will serve your death sentence here and now!” He shouts, swinging the gavel at Rainbow. The Executioner follows the movement, and the axe head pops off the handle, flying on a massive chain. Dash leaps over it, the head flying into and through the thunderhead wall, the cloud rippling under the incredible force of the impact.

A sword flies past Rainbow’s face, as she looks down to see several soldiers starting to wind up and throw their weapons at her. She dives down, two swords and a javelin passing through the air where she was, and she lands on the axe head, feeling it tremble under the tugs from its master. “Can’t kill what you can’t catch!” She scoffs, immediately feeling sort of guilty for the comment.

“Justice will be had, Equestrian!!!” The Judge shouts, his eyes seeming to flare to an even brighter red than before, and with one mighty tug, the axe head comes loose from the cloud, pulling Rainbow along with it. She ducks down, wind ripping passed her, and feels a sudden jerk as the head hits the handle. She comes face to face with the Executioner, the smell of rot from him overpowering. “Shoot, ugly AND SMELLY? I didn’t think it was possible, big guy!” Rainbow smirks, standing up on the axe head. He swings the axe through the air, the wall of wind blowing Rainbow off it, and he quickly brings it back in a slicing motion. Rainbow rolls onto her back and flaps her wings, throwing herself down into the thunderhead as the axe slices through.

Rainbow rolls again and crashes down onto her hooves, her body trembling under the force of the impact. “Where’s all this strength coming from?!” She says to herself, confused. She spins around to see the Judge upon her, and he swings his gavel, Dash ducking under it. She feels a bone crushing impact as his left fist slams into her side, the sound of bones breaking echoing in Rainbow’s ears, and the punch tosses her up into the air. A painful burn cries out from her side, and she screams in pain just as loud. The Executioner comes into view, a sick white smile spread across his face, axe already raised above his head. Rainbow opens her wings to move out of the way and he swings down…

The axe blade slices along Rainbow’s belly, moving herself out of the way just in time to not suffer a critical injury, and the wind from the blade blows heavily along her neck and chin. “JEEZE that was close!” She says, re-orienting herself so she hovers with a clear view of the Judge and Executioner. She bites down on her knife slightly in thought, wondering how she’s going to bring down such a monster. The Judge moves his gavel arm back, the Executioner matching his movement. Something clicks inside Rainbow’s brain just as the monster swings the axe, throwing the head straight at her with crazy speed.

“WOAH!” She shouts as she throws herself upwards, the axe passing just under her. She feels it snag on her tail and yank a clump of it out, causing her to yelp in pain from the burn. The Executioner smirks as he whips the handle a bit, sending the chains towards Rainbow, one of the links slamming into her exposed chest with the force of a truck. “POFF!” Is all she can get out as the air in her lungs explodes out, her broken ribs searing with new fury. Her wings give out and she falls to the thunderhead below, landing with a soft thud.

“Feisty…” The Executioner hisses, as the Judge walks over to Rainbow’s body. She tries getting her hooves under her, only to feel something pop in her chest, the pain putting her back down on the cloud with a sob. She looks up at the approaching soldier, gavel over his shoulder. She slowly rolls over onto her belly, crackling sounds coming from her chest, and tears run down in drops from her eyes.

“It’s about time you gave up.” The Judge says, adjusting the gavel on his shoulder. “Ready to accept your sentence?”

“Not…on your…life…” Rainbow hisses out, her breaths shallow and harsh. She opens her wings, laying them against the clouds, staring deep into The Judge’s eyes. “I’m…not…letting you…take me…not now…!” She says, wincing in pain as she raises her wings.

“You don’t have much of a choice. Your ribs may as well be powder, and you’re bleeding badly. Pretty soon you won’t be able to even move, let alone fight.” The Executioner says with a matter-of-fact tone, lowering his battle axe to his side as the Judge does the same with his gavel. “Give up.”

“Never…!” Rainbow hisses, biting hard on the knife as she holds her wings high above her. The Judge simply scoffs and raises the gavel above his head. “Very well. You’ll die here…we, the Judge, Jury, and Executioner, sentence thee to DEA-“

The Judge is cut short by the sound of flesh being sliced into, as a knife is driven into his heart. Rainbow hangs, slack, from the handle of the knife, her body screaming out in agony. The Judge hacks up a cloud of blood, the gavel still raised over him, looking down at the knife in his chest. Rainbow puts a foreleg to his stomach, pushing against him lightly to pull the knife out until it gives way, sending her down seven feet to crash on the thunder head. The Judge falls to his knees.

Dash’s twin stares down from her cloud, stunned by the chain of events, and her jaw hangs, eyes wide with shock. “How…? Wh…where…? Dh…WHY?!” She screams into the square below, all the monsters shifting their gaze to her. “WHY?!?! WHY DO YOU KEEP SURVIVING?!” She screams, her eyes shining red with rage. All the monsters turn their gaze back to Rainbow, and they ready their weapons, the soldiers leaning back.

A glob of blood lands on Rainbow’s side as the Judge coughs again, collapsing next to her. The Executioner vanishes as the Judge gives his dying gasp for air, and he sinks below the clouds, the podium following close behind. She looks over the world around her in a blur, the pain coming to her in the same rhythm as her heart beat. Monsters start dropping into the arena, while the soldiers’ weapons fly through the air towards her.

“No…not here…!” She thinks, opening her wings as something crunches in her chest, knocking the wind out of her. Her wings and legs shut down from the pain, and she screams in pure anguish as the monsters crowd in around her. The soldiers come upon her first, and drive their blades down as the rain of steel approaches, and Rainbow shuts her eyes, continuing her scream…

As the blades hit steel, and a gust of wind passes over Rainbow. She sobs in pain, opening her eyes slightly, the world a blur through her tears, and she sees a Hemoran in white armor standing over her, 20 blades locked on his own. He pushes outward, and the monsters are flung off in all directions, all the others backing away.

“No…no, no no no HELL NO!!!” Dash’s twin screams, leaping off her cloud and crashing down in front of the white soldier. “FIRST SHE GETS THROUGH MY TESTS, THEN SHE KILLS THE JUDGE, NOW YOU APPEAR?!” She screeches, staring down at the crying Dash. “Shut the hell up, you big crybaby!!” She shouts, and begins stomping up to her before a sword tip is drawn up towards her face. She backs away slightly from it, staring at the soldier with a white-hot glare. “Stop getting in THE WAY, DAMN IT!”

The soldier simply shakes his head, sheathing the sword and turning around. He pulls out a strange syringe from a pouch on his waist, and drives it into Rainbow’s side, the liquid passing through her veins feeling like Paradise. The pain quickly melts away as her body begins to slowly rebuild itself, bones cracking back into place. He then pulls out a medical kit, and begins wrapping up her cut wound to stop the bleeding.

“Stop helping her!” Dash’s twin commands, the soldier ignoring her as he continues his work. He finishes up the wrapping, pulling out a small brown bottle marked ‘Health Drink’, and he pops the top off, offering it to Dash. She looks up at him, seeing a dragon’s skull helmet covering his face, no features showing through. She takes the bottle and downs it in a few seconds, the gritty taste now desired by her to soothe the pain. She spits out the bottle, it passing through the cloud, and she simply lays there in bliss.

The soldier gets to his feet and turns around, walking over to where the podium once stood. Dash’s twin watches him walk away, and she turns back to Dash. “You…are BEYOND lucky, Dashie…luckier than Celestia when she was born an immortal…” She hisses, walking with the soldier. A gate rises up out of the clouds where the podium once stood, a large blue gate with a lightning bolt design on it, the winged key from before already in the lock. It creaks open, both the soldier and Dash’s twin walking through. The monsters all walk away, climbing or leaping over the thunderhead walls and vanishing from sight.

The hissing of Rainbow’s radio finally enters her hearing as it dies out. “What…just happened…?” She says to herself, looking to the gate, exhaustion hitting her hard. “Have…to get through there…before it closes…” She says to herself, getting up and slowly walking over to the gate. She stumbles slightly, but continues on her slow pace up to the white of the open gate. She places one hoof inside and falls into the space, a slow fall through a white void. The gates creak then slam closed, and Dash closes her eyes.


It didn’t matter where she ended up now. Her ordeal was over, and she quickly fades into the bliss of sleep…