“Mmmf! Ooof! Ungh!” Rainbow Dash grunted as she pinballed through the winding corridors. She bravely took the brunt of each impact, spinning so that her shoulders or back or flank were contacting with the walls. In such a brutal fashion, she shook the monsters off herself and Gold Petals. Finally, she soared out the other end of the corridor and came to a grinding stop just a few feet before the immaculate wall of white metal. “Ughhhh... nailed it.”
“Is this it, Rainbow?!” Gold Petals dizzily stumbled to her hooves. “Is this the structure—Dah!” She yelped as one of the monsters pounced on her backside.
Rainbow Dash snarled, leapt up, and plowed into the creature's side. The two of them flew off of Gold Petals and slammed into a rock wall flanking the metal. After slamming the creature's leather body into the cave material repeatedly, Rainbow Dash spun and body-slammed the twitching attacker into the ground. Sweating, she looked up through a tousled mane to see half-a-dozen abominations emerging from the winding corridor. In a blink, she flashed a glance to her side and saw a pile of lumber. Grabbing one two-by-four, she gripped it in her teeth, spun, and flung the thing at the monsters. It shattered against their approach with a rain of splinters as more and more surged into the chamber.
“This place is filling up!” Gold Petals exclaimed as she hugged the strips to her chest. “How do we get inside the structure?!”
Rainbow Dash spun and stared at the shiny wall of metal. She saw the two symbols glowing under a halo of lavender. “Like this!” She planted her rear hooves against the metal while grabbing Gold Petals with her front limbs. Hovering, she pivoted around in time to face the opening door.
“Okay! I'm tossing them in!” Gold Petals said.
“Not yet.”
“Not yet?! Gaaaah!” Gold Petals shrieked as Rainbow Dash soared the both of them straight into the ancient interior. They soared past the initial elevator shaft and into the corridors beyond. “R-Rainbow...?!”
“I gotta make sure the monsters are inside once we close the doors again!”
“How far do we have to go?!”
“Boy, if I had a bit for everytime a filly asked me that.”
“Rainbow...!” Gold Petals snarled.
“Hang on!” Rainbow Dash gripped Gold Petals hard as she veered in and around pillars, over dormant metal gears, and around dozens upon dozens of marble walkways. All the while, the air filled with the buzzing sound of the monsters giving chase. The place lit up in an eerie trail of bright energy as Rainbow surged through the heart of the abandoned palace. She spun around frozen pistons, dipped beneath pearlescent bridges, and skimmed the surface of polished metal floors.
All the while, the abominations gained distance, their jaws snapping at the two ponies' hooves. There were dozens of them, hundreds of them, a veritable sea of angry leather that hungered for the equines' blood.
Finally, the two fillies' flight took them over a gaping chasm. All was darkness and abandoned metal down below.
“There!” Rainbow shouted. “Toss them!”
“You sure?!”
“Want me to toss you instead?!”
“Away with the strips!” Gold Petals shouted jubilantly, tossing the two glowing artifacts down into the abysmal drop. No sooner has she done this, Rainbow Dash was veering them up in a massive backflip. They came about, twirled, and corkscrewed straight through the surprised swarm of monsters. “Aaaaaaah!”
“Could you hold the screams for when you're face is not so friggin' close to my ears?!” Rainbow snarled as the monsters struggled to reengage them. “I don't want to be deaf for when Windthrow declares a holiday after me!”
“How can you think of celebrating at a time like this?!”
“What?”
“We're monster food if you don't hurry it up!”
“What?!”
“Rainbow!” Gold Petals shouted.
“Hahahaha—Oh snap!” Rainbow Dash jolted to the side to avoid a monster snapping at her ear. Then two more monsters flew aside her flank, stabbing and lancing with its legs. “Darn it! Go play hoofball with a pony who gives a crap?!”
“They're all around us!” Gold Petals shrieked. “We'll never make it out in time!”
“Just gotta make ourselves more aerodynamic!” Rainbow Dash said.
“How do you suppose we do that?!” Gold Petals was dropped in midair. “Gaaaaah!”
Rainbow Dash caught her, only this time they were chest to chest. “How ya doing?”
“Oh, you gotta be kidding m—”
“Hold tight!” Rainbow Dash growled and blurred her wings at an impossible speed. “I mean it!” Her eyes teared as the glowing interior around them turned into one long, indiscernible streak.
Gold Petals stifled a whimper and clutched Rainbow Dash hard, curling into her grip and hiding her face in the pegasus' shoulder. The air around them whistled violently as they bolted past the monsters and towards the exit of the palace. There was a deep ruby glow emanating between the two ponies' chest.
“Oh come on!” Rainbow Dash snarled. The door up ahead was closing slowly. “Fine! You want a race, we'll have a race!”
“Who are you talking to?!”
“The door that's closing up ahead!”
“What?!”
“Nnnngh!” Rainbow Dash's eyes flickered yellow briefly. All around her was a splash of lavender energy. The pendant strobed and strobed as she rocketed forward at nightmarish speed.
“Get us out! Get us out! Get us out!” Gold Petals shrieked.
Rainbow Dash yelled for good measure. The monsters converged on her tail. The glow of the chamber died away as all was absorbed into the pendant. Just as the door closed, there was a bright burst of light, and then there was darkness.