“Okay, Filthy Rich…time to wake up. I believe tonight’s hell might test your limits of being a family man.”
Night 5, Cathedral
Mr. Rich slowly pushed himself off the ground and tried to ignore the chill in his bones. He groaned, “Couldn’t you have warned us, Mr. Voice? That floor’s pretty solid stuff…”
An innocent and terrified voice squeaked, “D-Daddy, is that you?”
Mr. Rich’s eyes locked on to the direction of the voice. Its source made his heart skip a few beats. Sitting there, a few feet from him, was his daughter. The hair of her magenta coat stood up in fear and confusion. Her pale violet mane was sleep-tussled and unruly. The fear was overabundant in the young filly’s eyes.
The stallion stepped slowly closer to his daughter. His voice cracked as he sighed, “Yeah, it’s me…Are you okay, Diamond?” Tears swelled up in his eyes as he slowly made his way to his daughter’s side.
Why did you drag her into this, Astaroth?! She’s just a child! What kind of monster would make an innocent filly suffer through these nightmares?!
Mr. Rich knelt beside his daughter and hugged her, knowing that this could very well be the last night the two of them would spend together. He knew all too well the dangers of the towers in these nightmares, and knew that one of them could easily lose their lives tonight. He prayed that her life wouldn’t be the one to end.
The mysterious voice called to them, “Tonight is the Cathedral, Filthy Rich. For added difficulty, you have to guide your precious daughter to the top of the tower. I wonder, are you as big of a family man as you like to think?” It faded away with an eerie laugh.
Mr. Rich shook his head in anger, and took his daughter by the hoof. He whispered, “Listen to me, Diamond. The only way for us to go home and see Mommy is to go through that door over there.” He pointed his free hoof at the large door next to them. He continued, “When we do, you’re gonna have to follow close behind me. When we get to the top of the stairs, we’ll be able to go home. If I tell you to do something, do it, okay?” He placed his hoof on her head and shut his eyes tightly.
The confused filly nodded and gasped, “O-okay Daddy. I’ll listen…”
The stallion regretfully stood up and opened his eyes. He sighed, “Astaroth, this isn’t funny anymore! How could you bring a child into this hell?!”
He looked back at the door with determined eyes. He slowly stomped toward it, his daughter following close behind him. His mind flooded with horrific thoughts of all the ways he could potentially lose his daughter on the tower. He guided her by the hoof through the door, letting the white light engulf them as they passed through.
There they were, standing on their tower, about to have to climb for dear life to the very top of the tower. Mr. Rich looked up to notice that the tower was extremely short. He also noticed that the blocks were abnormally large. In fact, standing on her hind legs, Diamond was still barely half the height of one block. The stallion immediately realized that he would be pulling Diamond up block by block as they climbed.
This fact didn’t bother him until a childlike voice roared from the void below them. It called, “Why don’t you love us, Daddy?” The body of a filly took shape below them and lunged up to their level. Its features were identical to Diamond Tiara’s, aside from the fact that its eyes were faded and its face had bloodstains on it.
Luckily for her, Diamond was unable to figure out what the creature was supposed to be. Her still-developing mind, added with her confusion and fright, wouldn’t let her piece together the appearance of the demon. She simply latched on to her father’s leg and asked, “Wh-what is that thing, Daddy? Is it a monster?”
Mr. Rich knew what it was. He had run from it for four nights now, and tonight would be the fifth. He shook his head and sighed, “It’s just a creepy ghost, sweetie. Like from those little stories you like to read. We just need to keep going up, so follow me.” He struggled to climb the first block beside him. He reached both hooves down for his daughter to grab and proceeded to pull her up to his level.
The tower was simple. There were no special blocks or movements required. All they had to do was climb up. Every few steps the demon would slam its silver spoon into the side of the tower, but Mr. Rich kept climbing up with his daughter. Everything went fine, until the two of them reached the landing at the top.
The reach from their current row of blocks to the landing was slightly higher than the rest of the blocks of the tower. Mr. Rich completely and utterly struggled to climb up to the landing, and to his horror, he only barely made it. He hung the front half of his body over the edge to help pull his daughter up to him, but found that he was suddenly drained of energy. He strained and struggled to lift Diamond from the blocks below, but no matter how hard he tried, he just couldn’t get her off of the ground…
He looked up to see the demon drawing its spoon back. His mind raced with horrible images of what would happen if he didn’t get Diamond up on the landing. He closed his eyes tight, gritted his teeth, and used every bit of energy he had to lift his daughter up, but it was still to no avail. It seemed that the nightmare didn’t want him to save her.
The mysterious voice called out to them “If it takes the death of a close loved one to make you realize how horrible of a person you’ve been, then I have no choice but to give you that.”
How dare you?! She’s only a child, Astaroth! Why would you do something like this to a child?!
“Because, Filthy, I assume your daughter’s death will hold a greater place in your heart than your wife’s. I’m sorry it came down to this, but tonight is the last trial. Everypony has to learn their lesson one way or another.”
The demon in the distance roared an unintelligible profanity aimed at Mr. Rich. It thrust its arm forward, and in a single instant every block on the final row shattered. All the connecting blocks below them fell into the void. Diamond Tiara, the frightened filly, latched tightly on to her father’s hooves as she dangled helplessly over the void below.
Mr. Rich couldn’t bring himself to look up, fearing that he might see a final attack coming. Tears ran from his eyes as he said, “Everything’s going to be okay sweetie… This is all just a bad dream, okay?”
The filly screamed in fear, “D-Daddy help! Th-this isn’t any fun!”
The stallion continued, “Listen to me Diamond. I’m sorry you were dragged into this. But I swear this isn’t over…” The monster let out an angry roar and drew its spoon back again.
You hear that, Astaroth?! This isn’t the end, you sorry bastard! If I challenge Boss to another night, I can get any wish granted, right? I don’t care what the risk is, I have to try!
“Be my guest, my precious pony. But the fact remains that Diamond will still die in about three seconds.”
The angry stallion looked up at the demon just in time to see it swing its arm in their direction. The tip of the demon’s spoon slammed into his face and sent him flying toward the altar. The force of the impact caused him to lose his grip on his daughter, and the sad realization crashed over him that she was falling into the void. It was a fate that he had witnessed personally once before in his previous climbs, and it filled him with a deeper sorrow than he’d ever felt before.
But he didn’t stop and mourn. He threw himself to his hooves and stomped to the altar. He slammed a hoof onto the glowing book and let his tears pour onto it. The anger was boiling in the back of his mind, and he had no intentions of just letting his daughter die. If it meant he would have to climb for one final night, he would be more than happy to do it.
The light from the altar focused into a beam and shot itself at the demon. Mr. Rich watched as the beast that so closely resembled his daughter shattered into pieces and disintegrated into dust in the void. The demon’s death only dug deeper into his sorrowful heart. He might as well have been watching Diamond die twice.
The white light engulfed him and carried him from the cold emptiness of the large void. The stallion welcomed the warm air of the real world with open arms. His tears continued to fall, even as he awoke.
Filthy Rich cheated on his wife and racked himself with guilt for not telling his family. That guilt kept him from making amends, and he was sent into the nightmares to be judged due to his unfaithfulness and lack of apologizing. His Cathedral challenge was meant to help him decide which of his joys he loved more. Did he love his family more than his own life? The answer was clear to him as he watched Diamond Tiara die in the tower…