//------------------------------// // Infinite Labyrinth // Story: The Island of Tambelon // by Rakoon1 //------------------------------// Twilight and her friends advanced towards the castle, finding some stone ponies guarding the entrance. However, together, the six of them were able to get rid of them and burst in the foyer. “Okay, where’s that Dark Mistress?” Rainbow asked. “We have a lot of pain to give her.” “Hello there…” a voice said. They turned and saw Shadow Velvet at the other side of the foyer, with her evil smile. “Welcome to the Tambelon castle. What can I do for you?” “Who tha hay are ya?” Applejack asked. But Twilight knew exactly who she was. “You are the last witch that serves the Dark Mistress” she said. “My, my, you’re really clever… Princess Twilight” Shadow Velvet commented. “Now I see how the other witches were defeated.” “And the same will happen to you, loser” Rainbow Dash told. “Normally, I wouldn’t agree with the choice of words Rainbow Dash normally says, but I have to say I agree with her” Rarity said. “And then we will get my daughter’s soul back” Fluttershy said, with a determination that was unusual to her. Shadow Velvet laughed and then said: “If you think it will be that easy, you’re fairly mistaken.” “Oh please, you don’t scare us” Pinkie Pie said. “Okay, maybe a tiny little bit, but not more than that.” “After I’m done with you, you will be scared” Shadow Velvet replied. “I am the most powerful witch that serves the Dark Mistress and I’ll show you why. Enjoy your stay… in the Infinite Labyrinth.” And her eyes glowed with a strange glow and Twilight and her friends found themselves falling to an abyss… Applejack found herself in what seemed to be her parents’ cottage. “What tha…” she started, not knowing how she got there. “You really should watch your words” a voice said. Applejack turned around and, much to her shock, she saw Scarlet Burn, sitting at the table while taking a cup of tea. “You really need some discipline” she told. “Ya’re… Scarlet Burn” Applejack said, not wanting to believe. Using a compass of quick moves, Scarlet Burn quickly caused Applejack to fall and subdued her. Charging her horn to intimidate Applejack to not move, the witch told: “I don’t really think you want to keep fighting all these battles.” “What…?” Applejack said. “You lack a fighting spirit” Scarlet Burn, while approaching her muzzle to Applejack’s ear. “I can tell. What if I told you that you didn’t have to fight for Twilight Sparkle or the Lord of Order ever again? Wouldn’t it be so much better if you just kept living here, with your parents? Haven’t you have enough time apart from them?” Those words seemed to be working on the orange earth mare. Fluttershy was flying at a hallway, trying to find a way out. She had to retrieve her daughter’s soul as soon as possible. It was then that the environment around her changed to be the one of a forest clearing and then animals started to appear. Fluttershy was astonished with amazement. Some of those animals were something she had never seen and wanted to know. “I can’t believe it…” she said. “It’s like a dream…” “Of course it is…” a voice said. Fluttershy turned and saw… “Crystal Frost…” the yellow pegasus said. “Yes, it’s me” Crystal Frost replied. “Did you miss me? I’m too glad that I got to have you in a place you like… so you can suffer!” Having said that, she launched her Mosaic Sphere, hitting Fluttershy and encasing her. “For how long have you waste your time and abilities fighting for Good?” Crystal Frost asked, smiling. “And how much did you lose because of that? Wouldn’t you prefer to be with your animal friends? They understand you and, better, they don’t make you lose the ones you love.” Just like happened with Applejack, Fluttershy let herself be carried away by Crystal Frost words and just stopped fighting. Pinkie Pie was hooping around, unlike the others, was not very concern. “Oh, this is fun. It’s not every day we get sucked into a deep pit. Although every time we get separated, bad things happen. Well, I guess I just have to stay away from creepy balloons.” It was then that, suddenly, Pinkie Pie found herself in a stage with many ponies watching and lights over her. “Okay, guys, everypony up for the one and only… Pinkie Pie!” a voice exclaimed. Pinkie turned and saw Light Fire. “Hey, I know you” she said. “You’re one of those mean witches.” “And I know you, Pinkie Pie” Light Fight told, while surrounding Pinkie Pie. “And so do all these ponies.” “They do?” “Of course” the witch whispered. “They all came to see you so you can make them laugh. Isn’t that what you want, to make ponies laugh? You don’t want to keep fighting. That can only spread sadness and pain. But you can stay here… an make ponies laugh as much as you want.” Pinkie Pie was listening to her and being seduced by her words. “Yes, that’s what I want…” she said. When Rarity found herself, she was on a field of beautiful flowers. “But where am I?” she asked. “In my personal garden” a voice said. Rarity turned around and saw… “Wild Pollen?” the white unicorn asked. The witch hold her hoof and dragged her around the garden, while saying: “Let’s not fight today. Just look.” And then she showed Rarity a part of the field filled with the most exotic and beautiful flowers she had ever seen. “I can’t believe it…” Rarity said. “It’s… absolutely divine. The colors… the shapes… the smells…” And she kneeled to appreciate the flowers. By doing that, her will to fight started to fade away until she didn’t want to continue anymore. She then just laid down on the flowers and fall asleep. But the truth was that those flowers were Wild Pollen’s that started to absorb Rarity’s energy, while the green witch watched. Rainbow Dash was flying around when darkness surrounded her. “Okay, just show your face so I can kick your ass!” she exclaimed. And a laugh was heard and Shadow Velvet’s voice said: “So aggressive… Why do you want to fight for Princess Twilight?” “She’s my friend and because we’re saving the world” Rainbow Dash replied. Shadow Velvet appeared as a shadow behind the blue pegasus and laughed in a mocking way and then told: “And by that you mean that alicorn princess will get all the credit and not share with any of her friend.” “No, Twilight would never do that!” Rainbow Dash reclaimed. “Suite yourself, but I can give you a heroic act all for you” Shadow Velvet whispered. “Think about all the glory you would get. Everypony would admire you… You always wanted that, didn’t you? More than being a Wonderbolt even. Wouldn’t that be nice?” “Yes, it would…” Rainbow Dash said, while giving in to the witch’s words. Twilight was surrounded by darkness. She looked around, but there was nothing to see. “Where am I?” she asked. “Where is everypony?!” And, before her eyes, images of her friends started to appear before her, but without any sign of the good and joy they all expressed beside her. “Rainbow… Applejack… Rarity… Pinkie… Fluttershy…” “Look what you have done to us…” Rarity said. “We’re all fallin’ apart!” Applejack exclaimed, as she and the others started to advance towards Twilight, while turning into wax. “We’re sick and tired” Rainbow Dash said. “We don’t want to fight for you!” And they all melted away, much to Twilight’s shock. The shock was such that she tripped back to the ground. It was then that Star appeared over her, trying to suffocate her with her hooves. She couldn’t believe the hate she could see in her eyes. “You could have stop her from taking Moonlight” he said. “You have power and you didn’t use it to protect her!” Twilight tried to loosen Star hooves, but she couldn’t. “I can’t… breath.” After a few moments, Star let Twilight go, causing her to cough as she felt the air filling her lungs again, while he laughed evily. It was then that, behind him, appeared Time Turner and Bright Night. “Need a hoof, my prince?” Time Turner asked. “Let us help.” “I always found Princess Twilight very annoying” Bright Night told. “She’s nothing like Princess Aurora.” Looking at them, Twilight asked: “Time Turner? Bright Night?” And Blue finally appeared, behind Twilight, saying: “I can get rid of them all.” Twilight turned at him, while Blue continued: “Moonlight… Tempest… and you, Twily… I’ll kill you too!” And he advanced towards Twilight. Her shock was such that it was even felt by the real Star, using his jinchuriki power, while holding Moonlight. He just hopped that his mother wouldn’t let herself be deceived by their dark magic. “Please, mom… fight it” he said. Like if hearing him, Twilight got to know that dark magic was at working on her and said: “You’ll not trick me!” And so, she focused her magic as much as she could, while accessing the light magic in her star seed. That caused an immense blast of light to happen and obliterate the fake Star, Blue, Time Turner and Bright Night. The blast also caused the darkness around her to dissipate, with Twilight now finding herself in a dark hallway. Twilight then realize that, if they did that to her, then the same could have happened to her friends. “I have to worry” she said. And she continued to run. Blue, Time Turner and Bright Night were fighting stone ponies, but it looked like they had no end to their numbers. “These things seem to be endless!” Blue exclaimed, while cutting through the stones ponies with his Diamond Sword. “No matter how much we destroy, they keep coming. Time Turner, how much longer until that special spell of yours?” “It’s almost there…” he replied, while focusing his magic on his Chronosphere. “Done!” And, having said that, he rose up his talisman and multiple shots of magic where fired from it, hitting all the stone ponies. “There, I stopped them in time with my Pausing Spell” the General of Time said. “Now they are really just a bunch of stone statues.” “Statues that are about to become dust” Blue said, while preparing his sword. But, before he could do anything, Bright Night said: “Guys, look!” And she showed them her mirror, where the reflection showed Twilight’s friends imprisoned in a column made of wax, unconscious. “Oh no…” Time Turned said. With anger starting to boil, Blue waved his sword, releasing a powerful wave that destroyed all the paused stone ponies. Twilight returned to the foyer, only to see her friends. “Girls!” she called. And she heard laughs, turning and seeing all the five witches together. They then started to attack her. “Princess Twilight is in danger!” Bright Night exclaimed. “Then we have to force our way through!” Blue Sword declared, while rising the Diamond Sword and creating an orb of energy, launching it then. Meanwhile, Twilight had to fight the five witches alone. Scarlet Burn threw fire at the alicorn princess who was able to dodge, only to face at the place she landed a bunch of Wild Pollen’s flowers she summoned. Twilight hasted to hold her breath to not inhale their pollen, but that only turned her into a sitting duck to Light Fire’s beam. Fortunately, Twilight created a barrier to protect herself, even from Shadow Velvet subsequent attack. But that attack broke Twilight’s shield and, taking advantage of that, Crystal Frost imprisoned Twilight in her Mosaic Sphere. The witches laughed, as they watched Twilight screaming in pain. “Bubble Dimension Implosion!” a voice shouted. And the witches were surrounded by bubbles with the ones where Scarlet Burn, Light Fire, Wild Pollen and Crystal Frost were soon imploding. Twilight was released and started to fell only to be catch by Blue. “I got you, Twily” he said. Twilight smiled, seeing her husband, and said, while passing her hoof through his face: “Blue… you’re here. I knew you would come and help us.” “Yes, you were right” he replied, turning them to the others imprisoned by the wax and releasing them with his magic. “You’re too late” Shadow Velvet said, inside her bubble. “You won’t stop what’s coming. This victory is nothing! You didn’t win anything!” “Bright Night, can you please shut her down?” Time Turner asked. “She’s giving me a headache. “With pleasure” she replied, while charging her horn. And the bubble also imploded. The others started to wake up and the two Generals went to check on them. “Are you guys alright?” Time Turned asked. They all nodded to them. “Thank y’all” Applejack said. “Yer timing was perfect.” “You don’t have to thank” Bright Night replied, with a gentle smile. “We’re all fighting for the same end, despite everything.” Twilight couldn’t help but smile, while hugging her husband. She knew she could count with him whenever she needed. Blue was also glad he had followed his instinct to save the mare he loved. Star was able to feel all that and smiled, glad that everything between his parents had come to normal. Blue helped Twilight to get up and she then noticed her friends and the Generals and now she could see they now were a team and that made her happy. “Well… Let’s save Moonlight and Tempest” Twilight declared. The others nodded. At her chamber, the Dark Mistress was able to sense what happened to her witches, while in the Smooze’s presence. “So, Princess Twilight and her friends even managed to defeat Shadow Velvet and her combined force with the other witches” she said. “No matter. The time has come to make the Lord of Chaos’ vision come true. And so long we have the siren pearl nopony can stop us. We have nothing to fear!” She then removed the pearl from the locket, throwing the later away, and the pink pearl turned into light and was absorbed by Twilight. A slight light involved the Dark Mistress and a wicked smile was drawn on her face, while she licked her lips.