//------------------------------// // The Final Place // Story: Beyond My Grave: Night Terrors // by AnnEldest //------------------------------// Discord was in a strange place that he did not recognize. It was dark and gloomy with bits and pieces of voices and sounds coming from every direction. He looked around trying to make sense of his surroundings. He walked forward until he finally saw something. He could see the Crystal Empire, or at least a darker gloomy version of it. The sky was black and purple-tinted. There were only faceless ponies walking the streets. Discord tried to ignore and avoid them at all costs. He walked up to the castle and up to were the Crystal Heart stood. There he saw two familiar ponies. Cadence and Rosetta were both on the floor unconscious. Rosetta was glowing quite brightly. Cadence was mostly gray with little of her color left. Discord walked up to them and picked up Cadence. Seen her lying there in pain and fear reminded him of Luna. It was almost an identical situation. He slowly approached her with the same dread feeling in his heart as feeling back at that murderous house. "Cadence, wake up. Come on we need you, you can't let her take you." Discord continued to shake and slap her. "Cadence, please. Your daughter needs you. Flurry Heart needs you. She loves you so much and she misses her mother." Cadence showed no response at Discord's attempts. "Please you have to remember her love for you. I know you're stronger than Rosetta." Discord put his hand on Cadence's head. He began to think of Flurry Heart and the few times he spent time with her. Suddenly, without warning Cadence began to glow and her color came back. I sneakily trotted with Flurry Heart to her room. Before we could leave, I had to get Flurry somewhere safe. I had to be quick before Celestia saw me. I laid her gently in the crib. She looked up at me scared. She was mostly calm down but was still shaking. "It's going to be okay," I said. "But you can't come with us. Your mother would want me to keep you safe." She flew up to me and hugged me. I hugged her back tightly as I tried not to cry. "We're going to save her. We know what we need to do," I said. I didn't know if she could fully understand what I meant and what was happening but she was hurting too. She knew something was wrong. She sat herself down in the crib. I put a hoof on her cheek. "Celestia or your father will be here soon. I love you, Flurry. I promise she will be okay." I took one last look at her and smiled brightly. She was truly adorable. Such a blessing for any mother to have. I told myself she would be safe now. Nothing could hurt her now. She'll be fine. I had to talk myself into believing that. I left her in the room and returned to the others. We had work to do. Spike and I dragged Cadence's unconscious body out to the wagon. Big Mac had a long journey ahead of him. Spike and Discord had told him a little bit of what had happened to them with what was going on. Spike also told me that they told him a little bit about Barry Trat. I was somewhat irritated and annoyed at this. It was something that I had hoped we wouldn't share with others. He also told me that despite what they did share, he knew nothing about my involvement nor my powers. But it still didn't please me so well. Spike could tell that I was slightly angry but he didn't let it affect him that much. I too decided to brush away my anger for there were other things that I needed to worry about. This could wait until later when all of this was over and I could talk to them about that. He had agreed to take us anywhere in Equestria we needed to go. Unfortunately, for him, we weren't going anywhere in Equestria. We had used the chain to tie her to the floor of the wagon. The gag was still safely securing her mouth. I hated to do it to her but we had to take precautions. We road out of the Crystal Empire with no troubles. We left in the dark so it was pretty easy to get by without being noticed by anypony. The next ten minutes were pretty much Big Mac, Spike and me going over what exactly we were gonna do when we got there. We didn't have much to go with and Spikes undetailed description of the town and store didn't help us much either. We had limited time and extremely very few options. As we continued to discuss it, we were all taken for surprise. Cadence randomly woke up in a panic causing Spike to let out a small scream as I jumped back. Cadence seemed to be scared and confused. She tried to stand up only to be stopped halfway by the chains. She began to struggle as she tried to break free. Muffled sounds came from her as she tried to scream. She seemed to be struggling out of fear instead of anger. Spike got up and walked over to her. He slowly approaches her with caution. "Ummm Cadence is that you?" "Spike what are you…?" I trailed off. I was stunned as she started to cry. Spike turned and looked at me to make sure we were on the same page. "Whatever Discords doing, it must be working." Spike smiled as he got closer to her. "What do you think you are doing?!" I shouted. He started to grab the chain and began to release her. "She looks normal now. I think it's okay to let her go." "Are you crazy? That is absolutely a bad idea," I protested. I immediately pushed him away from her. He lost his balance and landed hard on his butt. He seemed like he was confused by my response. Maybe he expected that I would want to release her as well. "Why? It's Cadence, Luna. She's really scared right now. Just look at her." She was struggling and crying as she tries to get away. From an outside perspective, our intentions didn't appear to be as innocent as they were. I hated what we were doing but to keep her and her daughter safe, this had to be done. "Spike, we don't know who she is right now. Even if we assume that it is her, we don't know how long she would stay like that. Trust me, I hate this situation just as much as you do, but this is the only way we can help her." I saw the shame in Spike's eyes. What hurt me most was that I knew that it probably was her. He looked down at Cadence as she continued to cry. She was scared as she struggles against her bonds. She looked at us confused and shocked. She cried out for help. She wanted an answer. But it could've just been a trap. It could've been the spirit trying to trick us. Unfortunately, I couldn't take any risks at the time. So I had to bury my emotions. Spike sat down in front of the wagon trying his best to ignore the pain in his heart. I knew that he was because I was trying to do the same. "Cadence, I'm so so sorry," I cried to her. Tears flew down my face. "If it is you, we know how to stop her. We're going to help you but you're going to have to stay like this for a while. Just until we know you're not a danger to any of us or Flurry Heart." I did this to her. She was in so much pain and it was all because of me. I should've never come on this trip. I knew my sister meant well but all I seem to have done was cause her more burden than before. We were supposed to help her and I made it worse for her. I wanted to help her. I wanted to take her pain away and put it all on me. Many ponies deserve a fate such as this but not her. She never heard or done anything wrong in her entire life. So why was it her that had to be in so much pain? I remembered the promise I made to her at the hospital. I told her that we were going to get through this together and I was going to save her. By the stars in the heavens, I was going to keep it. I made a lot of mistakes in my life and I have broken far too many promises than I should've. But I was going to make sure I kept this one. Even if I had to died to keep it, I would. "I promise that we will help you. It's going to be okay. Just give us a little more time," I pleaded to her. The despair in her eyes was so noticeable as she stared back at mine. She was still crying but yet through her panicking and confusion she nodded to me. It was as if she actually understood what I was saying. I could only hope that if it was her indeed, that she knew that I was doing everything I could and I wasn't trying to hurt her. I put a hoof on her mane and gave her a small kiss on the forehead. "I'm so sorry I did this to you. I'm so sorry," I whispered. I sat back and wiped my tears away. Now we just had to wait till we got to where we needed to go. I wasn't used to long journeys like this. Having magic and wings made travel rather quickly. Even when I couldn't fly, I always had my magic, but this was definitely a long journey. I had to do everything I could to take my mind off of the situation. Cadence had started to scream and cry as loud as she could through the gag. I didn't look at Spike but I knew he was mirroring my actions. Face towards the corning and thinking about anything you could to keep your mind out of the moment. Eventually, slumber did make its way to Cadence. That or she had lost control and was possess again. At this point, it didn't really matter. We could never really know what we were seeing in her eyes. I had watched the sunset and rise again. I, of course, rose and set the moon. It was then when I started to think of my sister. I wondered what she was doing. Was she worried about me, looking for me or just carrying on with her day? I tried anything to keep my mind unfocused. It was then that I had wondered. Rosetta had Cadence's body to her control, but she never flew or used her magic. Magic never seemed to work around the dead, was that a reason. Or perhaps was it because she didn't know how to use it, but that didn't explain the flying (of course that didn't seem to work very well around the dead either). Either way, I didn't get an answer. I was just trying to make a mental conversation with myself. But I couldn't help but wonder… "Spike?" "Yes?" He didn't sound like he was really in the mood to talk but I couldn't blame him for that one. "When a Spirit has possession over somepony do they have all of their abilities that come with it?" I asked. "What do you mean?" "I mean like because Rosetta has control over Cadence, can she fly and use magic in Cadence's body?" I explained my question more. "Since Cadence can fly and have magic." He thought about my question to himself for a moment. "To be honest, I'm not really sure. Many paranormal investigators have struggled with this." "What do you mean?" I knew that he would know far more about this kind of stuff than me. I didn't know how much he knew of it. I knew he has done the research and read books about it but that doesn't make you an expert on things. However, I was about to be taken for a ride with Spike's knowledge of the supernatural. For soon I would find out that he knew much more than even I figured he would. "Sometimes it appears that the spirit has very little control but others, such as our case, it seems to have all the control. I guess it depends on what is possessing them and how much power they have." I sighed heavily and looked up at the night sky. "I was just wondering was all." "I know," Spike said. "But really, does it matter if they can? Spirits have their own abilities that are far more powerful sometimes than their hosts. Just look at everything Rosetta has done. Does she really need Cadence's magic and wings?" Spike added in. "That is a fair point," I agreed with him. "But magic can't be used on them?" Spike put a claw up to counter that statement. "That's true but however there are exceptions to that rule. Spirits being one of them. Another is the type of magic that traditionally referred to the use of supernatural powers." "Like Black magic?" I asked. "Yes, correct," Spike said. "Or natural magic, Spirit magic or Necromancy. Things like that." He saw my confusion and disbelief look. He saw my face cringe a little as I was trying to hold a bit of laughter in. It sounded unbelievable to me. It seemed that he had noticed this and grew a bit annoyed at it. But I wasn't going to hide the fact that it all sounded stupid to me. "What? Those are real things," he snapped. "Spirit magic?" I asked doubtfully. "Spirit magic is a powerful form of witchcraft that called upon the aid of the "The Spirits". It was commonly used among witches as it was considered a major source of power." "So you could use spirits to help you?" I joked. "You can use Spirits to give you powers when needed," He spat out as he rolled his eyes at me. His cheeks were red with anger. I just covered my mouth so I wouldn't laugh as he explained himself. That would have just been a little too rude on my part. "And Necromancy is a practice of magic involving communication with the dead. They do this by summoning their spirits or raising them bodily," he then said to me. Spike made it clear he wasn't so pleased with my lack of knowledge of these things. But also annoyed that I was joking and laughing them off as meaningless jokes. It just sounded too out of place to be a real thing. But he claimed and was fully dedicated to this and sworn that they were real. "Natural magic?" I almost laughed at the sound of it. "White magic!" He yelled. "The counterpart of black magic. The practice through healing, blessing, charms, and incantations," Spike explained as he threw his arms in the air in anger. I couldn't help but laugh slightly. "White magic is often also referred to as "natural magic" since its ties to traditional Paganism." "Alright, any other strange magics out there?" I was on the verge of just bursting out laughing at this. "Well, we got the witch doctors," he answered. "Is that the kind of magic Zecora uses?" I asked. "I think so but most ponies would identify her more as a Herbalist than a witch doctor," Spike said. I only nodded to say that I understood him. "I'm sorry. It just sounds a little silly to me I guess." Spike shrugged and leaned back. "It's not as funny as it sounds. You will soon figure that out." That's what I'm afraid of... "Spike, there's something that I need to tell you," I said. "What is it?" He asked. "I used magic when Rosetta was around." As Spike previously stated, whatever Discord had done, it had definitely worked. He was now being chased by Rossetta who had a less than stellar greeting for him. He was running past all the faceless ponies. He turned back to see Rosetta in quick pursuit of him. Her skin was dark gray and her eyes will Pitch Black. She screamed in anger and frustration as she kept yelling out to him. "I'm going to shred you to pieces!" He had no doubt in his mind that she was telling the truth. He ran as fast as his legs could carry him. He ended up going into one of the houses and shut the door behind him. He found the nearest furniture to them and barricaded the door. He quickly searches for a place to hide as the door begins to shake as she pounded on it furiously. Discord focused on his heartbeat. He tried to count each beat the best he could. His hand covered his mouth as he lay on the cold hard crystal floor. His heartbeat was all he could hear. The sound of hooves began to emerge from the distance. They had more of a clicking sound to them and came in multiple waves. A normal pony hoof was one consistent sound, but not these hooves. The sound he heard was the sound of claws tapping the crystal flooring. He knew that she was looking for him, but he also knew that he had to keep her occupied for as long as he possibly could. He wasn't for sure exactly how but he did manage to get Cadenced back. It was good in the sense that it meant that Spike and Luna could potentially talk to her, but it was bad in the sense that he had to deal with her. Her hooves passed the bed. Discord tried his best to ignore them as he continued to count his heartbeat. By counting them, he kept his heart at one steady beat. His breath was steady and soundless. He was completely silent just as he wanted to be. She looked threw the entire room and surely she would make her way to the bed. Now all Discord could do was just lay there and prepared himself. She made her way to the bed and quickly looked under it. Before their eyes could even meet, Discord screamed as he pushed up on the bed. He stood up and flipped the bed onto Rossetta. She roared as she clawed at the bed trying to get to him. He pushed the bed up against the bed before he ran out of the room and slammed the door shut. He ran outside into the road and back towards the castle. He made his way to were Cadence's body was. She was still glowing and had her color back. Discord stopped and put his hand on her forehead. His vision was no longer his own; he saw through Cadence's eyes. He saw her chained up in a wagon scared out of her mind. She had no idea where she was or what was happening. Afraid and alone. He took him had off as he heard a loud crash. He turned to see his old friend running after him. He got up and ran towards the castle. He realized that he had to buy Luna and Spike way more time than he had originally thought, and he had no idea how he was going to be able to. "Guess I'm going to need that mortician after all…" None of us had slept that night. Halfway through the night, Spike road on Big Mac and tried his best to navigate. He said it was hard for him since he didn't travel there on foot or by train. Discord had teleported them there in an instant. That must have been nice. We had to take the long way by foot since Cadence had an unwelcome guest. Big Mac was struggling as the hot desert heat weighed down on him. I was sweating up a storm and even the dragon was grasping for a drink. Spike had reassured us that we were heading in the right direction. As bad as it was, I still hardly moved from my corner. I still tried to distract my mind. Thinking about the heat honestly was a great help with that. Big Mac was practically crawling across the sand. At last, after about twenty million years, we had finally made it to our supposed destination. "We're here, we're finally here!" Spike yelled out. He ran out of the wagon and started jumping in the air. He started kissing the ground over and over as I got out of the wagon. I rolled my eyes at the overdramatic dragon's reaction. "Spike, we still have to make it to the store, and we still can't eat or drink anything so stop celebrating." "Never say never, Luna. I know of a place where we can get the best food in all of not Equestria." "Spike, we don't have time for this," I said. "Remember, we can't really do anything if we're dying from dehydration." I hated to admit it but he was right. We were all practically crawling for life. If we were going to face anything, then we needed a refuel. The town was a total dump, and residents weren't any better. Many of them walked right up to us and offered to buy one of us. Others made more interesting offers but nonetheless, it was all just horrible. Spike had warned me about the town previously but I was still taken aback. The only good part of the town proved to be a little food stand that was owed by a lizard named Trench. "That was just what I need, right big Mac?" "Eyup!" Finally having some food to eat was amazing. The feeling of a drink rushing down my throat was the best feeling in the world. "Just couldn't get enough of me could you a little dragon?" Trench respectfully nodded in agreement. Admittedly the food was unbelievably good but my mind was still only focused on one thing. I sat there playing with my food for a bit, listening to the guys blabbed on to their new friend. All I could think about is what Kate Cadence was going through and what now Discord must have been going through. I knew he wouldn't have been too happy if he knew what we're doing right now but I only stopped because I knew we had to. Still, I tried to imagine at that moment what Discord was doing It felt like a lifetime had passed by. Discord tried counting the minutes but you would always lose track after every time he had to run for his life. Stalling that's all he had to do but for most of the time that involved running for his dear life. The Crystal Empire was bacon fast with a surprising amount of rooms in cubby holes that he could hide in but even at that, the Castle had never seemed smaller to him. He didn't know how time worked from dream to reality but all he hoped was that the waking world moves much faster. If the time between them was equivalent then Discord knew he would never make it through the night. He had already stalled for what felt like an eternity. At that, he had forgotten what is Mission was and his new mission was to Simply stay alive. He didn't know if he was going to be able to even do that. He looked around the corner to see his pursuer stalking around. Her claws dragged across the floor as she searched for her prey. Discord leaned os back against the wall as he tried to collect his thoughts. Dang it Luna you better have one heck of an excuse for why in Equestria you're taking so long. Discord knew that there probably was some good reason. I sat my cup down on the counter. I let out a loud burp as some of my tension came out. My hunger was finally satisfied, but my desperate need for sleep was not. Finally sitting down to take a break really revealed just how tired I was. My body and mind carried so much tension that it kind of hurt to let some of it go. We had little time to relax, but it was short-lived. We all sighed in defeat as we dragged ourselves out of our chairs. Big Mac practically crawled his way to the wagon. Spike road on his back and it appeared that to Big Mac he weighed a ton. "Yup, she's still in here," Spike called to us as we trailed closer to the wagon. We hid the wagon near the stand so we didn't have to worry about anyone "stealing" Cadence. Trench let us use a large tarp of his so we could cover it up. "So now that you've had something to eat and had time to rest, where is her stupid baby." Spike looked up at me with a face that had a clear warning attached to it. He walked slightly past me and pointed at a large old windmill in the distance. I looked sharply at the old building almost with a hatred for it." Then let's give this bitch what she wants." The travel was easy and honestly pretty smooth. Big Mac was a big stallion and It apparently intimidated a lot of the creatures. I was curious why it didn't work the same when we had first arrived, but I wasn't going to complain. The store was smaller than I expected. They made it sound like a humongous maze with no end, but I wasn't getting that at all. The building was quite small and sad. It clearly had been neglected for many years. The odd part was that despite its less than appealing charm; I really wanted to go into it. The was something pulling me to it. "Well, this is the funhouse of hell," Spike introduced. "It has everything from creepy dolls to little ghost children to creepy demon monsters. Oh, yes sir it has the whole nine yards. What do you think Big Mac? Are you eager to be the first in line." "Nope nope nope nope." Big Mac walked back behind the wagon and sat down. He wasn't going in with us and he clearly was going to take a stand about it. "Okay, then I guess that just leaves you and me, Luna. What do you say?" "I say that I would've not said that last part if I were you," I said. Spike chuckled guiltily and turned his glare to the ground. "I say, you're forgetting about somepony," Big Mac reminded us. Spike and I turned to the wagon. Cadence grunted as the light pierced her eyes. She had been in the covered wagon for hours on end. Her eyes couldn't take the light at first. Big Mac helped he chained her hooves together. I could tell he was really struggling. He really didn't truly understand what was happening, and I wasn't really sure what Spike had actually told him. He was watching Princess Cadence be chained up and taken against her will. She cried as we carried her out of the wagon. Big Mac really had to fight to keep himself together. I felt bad for him and it was then that I wished Spike would have just kept it between us. I had gifts and knew about things most ponies never had heard of, but I kept it all to myself. I never shared it with anyone. I knew that if I did the same thing would happen; ponies would get hurt in one way or another. Big Mac carried her through the front door despite his protest earlier. We unchained her hooves but kept the one around her neck. I slowly removed her gag and slowly stepped back. Cadence started coughing as she gasped for air. She hadn't been able to close her mouth ever since we put it on her back at the Crystal empire. She started to gag and bent over as if she was gonna puke. Nothing but buts of desert sand came out. She looked up at us and opened her mouth. She tried to speak but only succeeded at making faint whispers. I then bent over and pulled out a cup that we had taken from Trentch's stand. I put it up to her mouth and tipped it over for her to drink. She gulped the whole thing down in a second. She took a long deep breath before she started to cough again. She then took a long deep breath as she looked at all of us in horror. Her eyes seemed to search the ground as if she was thinking. Perhaps she was searching for an answer to all the questions she must have had. "Luna, what is going on?" Her voice, the sweet innocent voice of an angel. How I had yearned to hear it again. I had a lot to explain but no time to explain it. "Listen Cadence I…." "No Luna, I meant, what is inside of me?" She started to breathe hard as she held back from crying again. Our eyes were locked to death others. I could see all of it in her eyes. I didn't know if she remembered anything or if she had a clue of what was happening, but she knew that at that moment all that mattered was that there was something inside her and it needed to be expelled. I nudged in response. "Something very angry and very jealous, but don't worry we're gonna give the bitch what she wants." Cadence seemed taken back by my response. She was confused at what exactly I meant by it, but I didn't have any time to explain. I turned to the rest of the store that was lined with the creepiest dolls and old toys I had ever seen. "So do you want me to take you to her baby?" Spike asked as he started walking towards a hallway. "No," I answered sharply. Spike turned to me in confusion. "You can go get the baby. You said something about its Dad, didn't you? Discord was almost out of options. He had hid everywhere he possibly could. He had to resort to old fashioned running. He was running up a long set of stairs that went on forever. He looked behind him to see Rosetta still in pursuit. He was starting to rethink his meaning of persistence. He finally made it to the top of the stairs. He was in an open room that had no windows. He could the whole Empire from where he stood. He looked over the edge to see that he was on the very tippy-top of the castle. He certainly didn't have anywhere to run. It was a dead end. He turned around as he heard the sound of claws scraping the crystal. He was a sitting duck and the hunter was rapidly approaching. Spike had gone into a room and down a flight of stairs. Big Mac stayed in front with Cadence. That left me to go meet the father. I walked down the long hallway past the room Spike had gone into. As I walked I went like something was wrong. I felt such sadness just oozing from the walls. I could hear the echoes of screams and cry. Something terrible had happened there, and it started to slowly unfold before me. I made my way to the end of the hallway to a large door. Spike said that beyond the door was a demon with a serious blood lust. I froze for a moment before I pushed the door forward and walked in. The room was nothing special. It was the same as the front. The only difference was that it had a hallway that trailed into a bigger part of the building. I was surprised to see that the building had a whole another section to it. From the outside, the building seemed way to small for any kind of storm, but that proved not to be the case. I walked over to the hallway and peered around the corner. Sure enough, it was more piles of junk, but it was way bigger than I had expected. I heard the echo of another cry in the distance, followed by the screams of youngins. I seriously wanted to know what horrible event took place there. Before I could think any more about the matter, my head was drenched by something. I backed up and wiped my eyes from the sticky substance. It took me a few moments before I realized the horrifying fact that I had been drenched in saliva. I slowly looked up. Spike wasn't kidding when he said demon monster. The pony like the monstrosity that chased me really lived up to its name( well technically it died up to its name but it sounds better the other way). I ran out of the room and back towards Big Mac. I turned behind me to see its pony peels back skeleton face only inches from me. Its jagged teeth were overgrown and hung out of its mouth. I screwed as I continued to run back towards Big Mac. "I know where your mother is. Would you like to see her?" Spike asked Discord was out of options and out of places to hide. He didn't know what to do. He backed up to the edge as Rossetta made it to the top of the stairs. She roared as she saw him. Discord looked down from the ledge. He heard a scream echo in his head. It sounded like Luna. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath. He opened his eyes and once again he could see through Cadence. He didn't know exactly how his abilities work or what he was doing to get them to work, but he was grateful that they did. He could see Luna in the distance running from a familiar face. The same creature that tried to kill him and Spike was trying to kill her. He remembered that the creature was the father of the baby; the husband of Rosetta. He didn't quite know what deranged plane Luna had going, but it was stupid and chaotic. He really loved it. Discord opened his actual eyes and looked up and, Rosetta. He looked back over the edge and then back at Rosetta. He smiled at her and bent over into a running position." Come on Rosetta, let's finish what we stepped back shocked at the fact he said her name." That's right I know who you are and what happened. I know what you want." Discord smiled as she growled at him." You want your baby? Then come and get it. Rosetta charged at him and lunged right at him. Discord jumped at her and they collided. Both of them went over the edge and they took a fast way down. They landed hard on the crystal ground. Discord was shocked to see that he was still alive. He rolled over in pain as he looked over to Cadence's glowing body. He started to crawl towards her body. His legs went completely numb and his arms felt like jelly. He crawled towards Cadence. Rosetta stood up and turned towards him. Her neck was broken and her arm was twisted. She cracked her neck back in place and twisted her arm back. Discord made it to Cadence's body. He looked back at Rosetta and made eye contact with her. She growled at him as he put his claw on Cadence's head. Discord smiled as he closed his eyes. Rosetta ran towards him and jumped on him. She grabbed him by the neck as her mouth opened to reveal an ocean or razors. She went for his neck and Discord screamed. Discords scream echoed throughout the old store. I was quite shocked to see him next to Cadence with an all to familiar face. It was Rosetta in the flesh. She was on top of Discord ready to rip his throat out. Her face was twisted with huge teeth. She looked up at me and her face returned to normal. I stopped in my tracks, even though I was being chased by a monster. The creature chasing me seemed to be as shocked as I was. It stopped right next to me and started to walk forward towards Discord. "Discord?" Cadence asked more shocked than me. "Did I drop in at a bad time?" Discord struggled to say as he was being choked. "YOU!" We all turned to Rosetta as she spoke in anger. We had all heard what she had sounded like but this time her voice was somehow different. She let go of Discord and stood up. The monster looked as shocked as it looked scared. "You took everything from me," she said as she pointed to the monster. The creature turned to look like a normal pony, it was an earth pony. It had a dark blue coat with a red and white mane. Its hair was short and stood straight up. Its cutie mark was two swords in an X formation. "Well well well, my little whore finally came back to me. Even in death you always come back to me." His voice was dark and sinister. It was smooth and calm. "I'm not scared of you anymore, Comet." Comet, we finally had a name for the beast. He looked up in amusement. "You should be." Comet ran forward and lunged at Rosetta. They went flying across the floor. Their forms returned to their monstrous demonic version. They roared as they dug into each other. Rosetta dodged a huge swing from comet and went underneath him. She lifted him and slammed him against the ground. The floor cracked under the sheer force. "I killed you once before you bastard, and I'm gonna love to do it again," Rosetta roared. "But this time I will make sure I send your sorry ass to Hell." I ran over to Discord who was coughing. He sat up and crawled over to Big Mac who was up against the wall. I leaned up against the wall and I pulled Discord next to me. "How in Equestria did you manage to pull this of Dizzy?" "To be honest I really couldn't tell you. I don't have a clue how my abilities work but they somehow worked while I was there." Discord duked as a large piece of wood flew at him. "What about you? It seems you guys have been busy. By the way, how you doing Big Mac?" "I've Been Better," Big Mac said as he curled up trying to avoid getting hit. "Ya well she wanted her stupid baby so that's exactly what I did," I pointed out. "Where's Spike?" "Getting her baby. Not quite sure what's taking him twenty years." Discord looked down the hallway and then back at the fight. "Well, this seems like one great family reunion. They really seem to love each other." I rolled my eyes." Ya, I don't know if you ask me a little couple counseling might not hurt." "Something tells me that we now know what happened here." I looked up and Discord as he stared at the two fighting. "Rosetta really isn't the demon we've been thinking of. She's really just a loner who had an abusive partner. She felt lost and had nothing until she got pregnant. Her baby was finally something good and so she fell in love with it. I don't know who but I guess Comet didn't like the independence and happiness that baby brought her, so he did what he could. He took her baby away from her. After that, she snapped and killed her oppressor and perhaps even herself. Now all she wants is her baby." "No kidding. I think she made that quite obvious now," I said. "Eyup." I turned to see the two of them fighting. She really was fighting out of vengeance. He had taken everything from her and all she wanted was for him to finally be gone for good. It was then that I felt a weird sensation. I turned to the hallway where it seemed to be coming from. Discord seemed to share the same sensation. He looked down the hallway and then back at Rosetta. He looked at me and nodded. I nodded back in agreement as we both knew what it was. Discord walked closer to the two beasts trying to destroy each other. "Hey Rosetta," Discord yelled as he waved his arms. Both of the creatures turned to look at him." You want your baby? Then come and get it." Spike came barging through the door carrying a little pony. He froze in shock at the scene before him. "Did I come at a bad time?" Rosetta gasped as she saw the one thing she had wanted for a very long time. "My baby," she said slowly. "Perfect, now I can kill both of you. That's my baby bitch." Rosetta screamed as he pinned her against the ground. She struggled to get free as he laughed at her. She continued to struggle to try to get to her baby. The little pony jumped down from Spike's arms and ran towards its mother. "Mommy?" Rosetta froze and looked over to her baby's voice. She looked back at Comet and slowly started to push him back. She growled as her eyes started to glow. "That..is..my… BABY!" She screamed as she clawed Comet in the face sending him flying across the room. She got up and ran over to him. She picked him up and slammed him against the ground. She flung him around like a rag doll. she through him up to the ceiling and then stuck her claws straight through his back as he landed. He gasped as blood rushed from his mouth. He looked at his stomach to see her entire arm went through him. He started to laugh as he leaned his head back. His eyes locked onto mine before they turned white. His body turned to mist and faded away. Rosetta stood there vicarious. We all stood there starstruck. We had just witnessed something truly extraordinary. Rosetta started to cry as she turned to her baby. They ran to each other and she scooped her baby up into her arms. She hugged her baby with all her might. She returned to her normal pony state as she and her baby started to glow. Tears poured down her face as she continued to hold her baby. She spun around a few times before finally coming to a rest. She opened her eyes and looked at us. She smiled as a large tear rushed down her face. "Thank you. Thank you so much." Her body began to glow incredibly bright. The light intensified until we couldn't look at it anymore. When the light finally dimmed, there was nothing left in its place. Rosetta was gone and so was her baby. "Can someone please explain what the heck was all that about?" Cadence asked. Big Mac took the chain off of Cadence. She sat down next to me and Discord; just as starstruck as the rest of us. "Luna, please I wanna know everything you know about this, I want to know why I was chained up and taken somewhere I never even knew existed, and I want to know where my daughter is." Discord walked over to Cadence and put his paw on her shoulder. "Listen, Cadence, we'll explain everything on the way back, but first can we please get out of here." We walked out of the building together sort of the same way we had walked in. The sun was bright and lit up the store in a way that it hadn't before. Discord yawned as he cracked his back. "Man I can't wait to get back home. This whole ghost situation is ready tiring." "Wait what, ghost?" Cadence asked in total shock. "Come on Cadence, I know you've drawn that conclusion a long time ago. Surely, you couldn't explain your tormentors' actions and abilities. It all adds up doesn't it?" Spike sat on the ground quite confident that she understood him. Cadence sat next to him and put her head on his shoulder. Discord stood and stared back at the store. "Hard to believe where this journey has taken us. I thought we were done with all of this, but we were drawn right back into it." I walked next to him and sat down. "Ya it seems like someone else needed help, and so we were forced back into this shit. Lucky us." "Well, we were the only ones who could help her, you know?" "What do you mean help her? She doesn't deserve anyone's help after what she did to Cadence." I knew very well what he meant but I wasn't ready to let go of what Rosetta had put Cadence through. I wasn't going to just forgive her for it. "Luna, it isn't like that. She was lost and scared. Her life sucked and her death mirrored that exact thing. She wasn't a demon she was a lost scared mother. She needed our help to move on from this darkness, and only we could've done it. That's why we were dragged into it. Cadence was just unfortunate collateral damage. None of it was meant to happen, and none of it should have happened." Spike walked over to us. He sighed as he too pieced everything together. "Yup, it really is a tragic set of events. An abusive husband who killed her only child. She killed him and then she dies only to have to continue the torment in death. She was confused and angry because her whole life was bad. Not much to show for and all she had good in her life was that child," Spike said as he fell flat on the floor. "No wonder she wanted it so badly." Discord walked over and sat next to me "Well, would you look at that? Turns out, in the end, she really was just a lost mother looking for her baby." I groaned and rolled my eyes. "Ya ya so sweet, I guess. Whatever...she's still a bitch."