"What was my condition?" Lily demanded, arms crossed as she glared down at her daughters.
The three Wraiths traded chastised frowns amongst each other, but otherwise remained silent. Lily's eyes narrowed as her fingers impatiently drummed on her arm.
"Well?" she urged.
The girls became antsy, none of them eager to incite their mother's wrath, but neither of them were willing to put themselves up as tribute. While they found her affection smothering at times, it was something they greatly loved about her. Instinctively, they knew that such a thing was difficult for their kind to express and to be loved so fully by her was a small miracle on its own. To sense such raw disappointment and worry from her hurt far more than any of the wounds they received from their previous fight. Eventually, Sweetie found her voice, but her eyes refused to leave the ground.
"W-We were supposed to leave if any of the other girls showed up," she mumbled.
"And what did you do?" she asked, raising a brow.
"F-Fight them," Applebloom mumbled.
"Exactly," Lily sighed. "Do you have any idea how stupid that was? You three may be able to regenerate, but you don't have nearly enough energy to use it recklessly! Then there are your individual abilities putting a further strain on your reserves! What do you think would've happened if they blew you apart or decapitated you and you didn't have enough energy to heal yourselves?"
All three of them gasped as their hands flew to their throats.
"Honestly," she continued. "I have half a mind to put you three over my knee for this."
The young Wraiths tensed, their hands flying from their necks to their rears.
"Fortunately for you three, I think you have all been through enough for one night. Until further notice, you girls are grounded."
The CMC groaned in protest, only to be cut off by a hand raised in halt.
"None of that now," she frowned. "Go to your pocket dimensions until I come for you.
Sweetie sniffled as her form shimmered and she faded out of existence. Applebloom hung her head in shame as she did the same a few seconds later. Scootaloo grumbled irritably to herself for a few seconds and looked like she was going to defy her mother's order, but one stern look from the much older Archwraith killed that urge very quickly. When her last daughter went to the closest thing their kind had to a room, Lily sighed tiredly before she made her way towards her throne. It was clear that she was going to need to teach her daughters how to better defend themselves when this was over, given how reckless they were in their first hunt and harvest.
She also had to admit that she was fairly impressed with how the three humans handled themselves. It was rare to see those so young willing to be so restrained when fending off a threat. While the display of power they showed against her Seeds were not anything to laugh at, the finesse they exhibited in the fight against her children was something much more impressive. The fact that they avoided using attacks that would cause mass bodily harm was not lost on her, the fencer focusing on literally disarming Sweetie whenever she got the chance.
"A slight change of plans is in order," she mused, taking her throne. "A small thing, all things considered. This does make things a little easier for me though."
A cold smile spread across her face as she watched the girls progress. The game was set, the pieces moving across the board better than she had initially planned. She casually leaned back in her seat, her smile turning eager the more her prey closed in on her. This was going to be more entertaining than she thought.
***
Sunset was on high alert, her pony ears twitching at every noise with a spell resting on just the edge of her horn and ready to turn any attacker into ashes. Adding to her nerves were the surges of magic she faintly felt through the walls a couple hours ago. Most of them were familiar to her while others felt radically different to her. Of course, she also felt the rancid energy of Lily's creations, each of them nearly identical to the one she fought previously. Now the only thing she sensed was Lily's energy sliding around her. The sickeningly oily energy put a chill down her spine, but it was nothing compared to the worry that sat in her heart.
Were her friends okay? Did any of them need help? Was Derpy safe? She had to know!
She grit her teeth as her magic raged against her control, the thought of something happening to her girlfriend or her friends stoking her inner fire. Feeling her magic start to reach critical levels, she stopped and took a deep breath. Part of what made her magic so powerful was how closely it was linked to her emotions. The more she felt, the more powerful her magic could become. It was also a massive double-edged sword, as her magic also took on the nature of the emotion it drew strength from. Too much anger or panic and it became significantly harder to control.
"Breath in. Breath out," she whispered, acting out her words. "Derpy is fine. Everyone is fine."
Over and over again, she repeated both mantras, her stress slowly ebbing away. When she no longer felt like she was going to explode, she resumed her march down the halls. What few bits of worry that still sat in her faded when she started to feel several familiar traces of magic. They were still far away, probably half a mile at best, but the fact that she could feel them at all put a smile on her face. That smile grew when she stumbled out the dimly lit halls into a massive ornate ballroom. It was even bigger than the arena she fought in previously and free of any of the glowing flowers she had quickly grown to hate. The floor was made of pure bronze while the walls and ceiling were made of silver and gold respectively. Ornate plant patterns made of brightly glowing emeralds covered the walls and ceiling in an intricate pattern that reminded her of ivy. Eight doorways, including the one Sunset entered the room through ringed its perimeter with a single obsidian door being the only differing path. It didn't take much for Sunset to guess what laid beyond that door, the dark energy leaking out of it putting every cell in her body on high alert.
Forcing her focus away from the door, Sunset took a deep breath and sat cross-legged on the ground. Eyes closed, she tried to zero in on her friend's magic signatures. Most of them were alone, except for a cluster of six moving together not to far away from her. A portion of her previous anxieties faded away as she let the knowledge that her friends were at least alive and moving settle in her. Eager to see them all as soon as possible, she sent out a small pulse of her own magic through the air around her. She sensed them all pause for a moment, then double their efforts as they made their way through the maze. One of them was moving quicker than the others, her eagerness practically shining in her magic field as she ran. A smile spread across Sunset's face as she sent out another pulse, the running girl's identity barely a mystery to her while she waited. Soon, the faint sound of frantic footsteps could be heard coming from one of the paths.
Sunset opened her eyes just in time to see her girlfriend running into the room, a blindingly bright smile decorating her face as she charged towards her. Sunset sported a similar smile as she stood with her arms out, ready to embrace the girl for the first time in what felt like years. The whole world seemed to freeze as the two girls embraced, happy tears sliding down their cheeks as they enjoyed the moment for as long as they could.
"I'm so glad you're okay," Sunset sniffled.
"Same," Derpy giggled, the sound wet thanks to her tears.
Some movement from one of the doorways caught her attention, the pair reluctantly stepping apart from each other to see who it was. Staggering out of the dark was a grinning Vinyl, her cloths slightly tattered and covered with dust. At the same time, a weary Fluttershy made her way into the room from the passage next to Vinyl's.
"Yo! Good to see the power couple's still alive," Vinyl chuckled, waving as she approached the two girls.
Fluttershy nodded, the Thestral-human not far behind the dusty DJ.
"Yep!" Derpy beamed. "It's gonna take more than some freaky storm monster to take me down!"
"You had to fight something too?" Fluttershy asked, her red eyes scanning the other girls frantically for any visible injuries.
"Yeah," Sunset sighed. "Some water monster thing. I think it said it was a Seed."
"That's what the guy I fought said he was," Vinyl shrugged. "Didn't make things easy for me, I'll tell ya'."
"Is that why you're covered in dust?" Fluttershy asked.
Vinyl chuckled and said, "Nah! Got a little antsy when I sensed Sunset's magic and decided to bust some walls down to get here quicker."
On cue, a loud series of thuds echoed out of the entrence Vinyl used along with a thick cloud of gray dust.
"Oops," Vinyl giggled awkwardly.
"Why didn't I think of that?" Sunset muttered under her breath.
Before anyone could do more than laugh at that, the sound of a heralding trumpet could be heard blaring out of one of the doorways. A minute later, eight knights made of pure magic marched past the threshold in two single-file lines, the ones on the right pure white while the ones on the left where jet black. The two rows stopped a foot away from the passage, turned towards each other, backed up one step, and raised their swords above their heads in salute in perfect synch. A second later, Lyra rode into the room on a horse made of red magic with a wide smile spread across her face, before jumping off of its back at the last second. She did a midair flip before landing a foot away from the slack-jawed girls, her summons exploding in to bursts of small lights that were the same color as the magic used to make them before they faded away.
"Sup?" Lyra smirked, hands resting on her hips and chest puffed out.
"And I thought I could make an entrance," Vinyl gawked, then grew a wide smile as she applauded her friend.
"Hope you didn't waste too much magic doing that," Sunset frowned. "Summoning is pretty taxing after all."
"Eh, I didn't use that much," Lyra shrugged, waving Sunset off.
"Are you sure?" Fluttershy asked, concern heavy in her tone as she gave the girl a quick look over.
"Totally," Lyra said reassuringly, patting her fretting friend on the shoulder.
"If you're sure," she sighed. "You aren't hurt anywhere, are you?"
"Nope," Lyra sighed, her previous joviality replaced with a seriousness seldom seen on the girl as she glanced over her shoulder. "My summons kept me safe, but I had a few real close calls back there. Lily's not fooling around here."
"Yeah," Derpy sighed. "Hate to say it, but I had a few close calls myself. If my barriers had been just a bit weaker, I don't think I'd be standing here right now."
Fluttershy nodded, her thoughts drifting back towards Roethan and the mixed feelings she had about their clash.
"I guess I got lucky," Sunset frowned, pulling Derpy closer to her side. "The seed I fought was a total push over."
"Or maybe it wasn't dragon proof," Lyra chuckled.
"Maybe," Sunset mused.
Before she could think further on her fortune, a series of footsteps echoed out of one of the paths. She smiled as the rest of her party entered the chamber, only for it to fall when she took in their condition. Bonbon, Lightning, and Octavia looked fine beyond a few small rips in their clothes and the shaken look in their eyes, but that could not be said for the rest of the people in their group. Rainbow was covered in cuts, most of them barely healed with just drying blood staining most of her clothes. Applejack was a walking bruise, dried blood leaking out of her nose and her left eye swollen shut as she staggered stiffly with each step. Rarity was the least battered, but it was hard to miss the look of agony on her face as she clutched her left shoulder, the limb attached to it hanging uselessly at her side.
Fluttershy gasped at the sight and was on them in the blink of an eye, the girl moving frantically as she examined all of their injuries. The rest of the girls were not far behind, worry plain on their faces. Sunset's hands shook as she took in her friend's condition, from rage or worry, even she had no clear answer. Fighting back control of herself, she turned towards Octavia.
"What happened," she asked, struggling to keep a growl out of her voice.
"Apparently, Lily decided to sick her captives on them," Octavia frowned, nodding towards the three battered girls.
"What?" Sunset gasped.
"Yeah," Bonbon sighed.
"Are you sure it was them?" Derpy asked, adding herself to the conversation.
"Positive," Bonbon nodded. "I sensed Equestrian Magic in them the whole time."
"Same," Lightning grunted. "And that's not the only thing."
"What do you mean?" Sunset asked, already dreading the answer.
"They had the same kind of power as Lily," she frowned.
"How do you know that?" Sunset asked.
"She decided to say hi," Bonbon shuttered, jamming her hands into the pockets of her jacket. "She apparently got them thinking she's their mother on top of whatever else she did to them."
Sunset gave the ornate door on the other side of the room a passing glance. Just the few wisps of energy she could sense from it made her nauseous. To be exposed to its source at point blank without any prior warning could not have been a pleasant experience.
"Are you all okay?" she asked, turning back to face them.
They took a collective shuttering breath and a reluctant nod.
"She's crazy strong Sunset," Bonbon gulped, turning her head towards the door. "She was just standing there and I froze."
"Y-Yeah," Lightning gulped, doing the same.
"I have been better," Octavia allowed, her professionalism persona hiding her fear. "Though I suppose we all have."
As she said that, the group turned to face their battered friends. One by one, Fluttershy lightly jabbed her claws into them, a faint green glow jumping from the tips of her nails into the girl's bodies. With each prod, the wounds faded away, with the snap and grunts of bones coming back into alinement and mending in the cases of Applejack and Rarity. The sight added more fuel to Sunset's fire, heat raging in her veins in the face of what she knew.
Her head snapped towards the door to the heart of Lily's domain. With clenched fists and a furious glare, she stepped towards it, stopping roughly fifteen feet away from it before she yelled her intentions at it.
"LILY! I AM GOING TO END YOU!!!"
With a voice flowing with fury and flames licking at her heals and wrists, she yelled, "ON THE ASHES OF MY PAST I STAND ALONE! WITH THE WEIGHT OF MY LOVED ONES ON MY BACK I MOVE FORWARD TO A NEW DAWN!!!"
A wild tempest of flames engulfed Sunset, the fire a chaotic mass of colors as a wave of powerful magic surged through the room. The ten girls watched the spectacle in awe, Sunset's magic tearing way the curtain of despair that threatened to smother them. With an explosive burst of heat, the flames parted to reveal Sunset's new form to the world for the third time in her life. Golden scales covered her forearms like a pair of gantlets, her hands equally covered with sharp claws taking the place of her nails. Her hair was pulled into a ponytail with multicolored stands of flame adding two feet of extra length. Her eyes were the same light blue they had always been, only now they were slit like snake's and glowed with power. Her horn had a slight curve and sharp point with a diamond shaped cluster of golden scales at its pace on her forehead. None of that held everyones attention more than the flaming wings the girl now sported, said appendages shining with ever shifting colors as they spread proudly on her back.
Back still turned towards her friends, Sunset said, "We are going to win! All of us have fought too hard, trained for too long, and have come too far to turn back now! The only thing we can do is move forward! Lily thinks she can stop us? Let me tell her something. We will save Sweetie Belle, Applebloom, and Scootaloo! We will stop Lily! And we will all make it home!"
"Damn straight!" Vinyl cheered, stepping up to Sunset's side.
"I have no intention of dying tonight," Octavia smirked, her weapon shining brightly in her hand as she stood next to her sister.
"Final boss time, let's end this!" Lyra beamed, taking a stand next to Octavia.
"I doubt Lily would let us leave anyway," Bonbon sighed, then smirked as she added, "Let's make her." and stood next to her first friend.
"I'll make sure none of us die in there," Derpy nodded, a resolute frown on her face as she took Sunset's unoccupied right side. "You just focus on blowing Lily to bits."
"Save some for me," Rainbow growled, some of her fire back in her eyes as she stood next to Derpy. "I've got a score to settle with that bitch."
"Likewise," Rarity sneered, a shimmering biker outfit covering her as she stood next to Rainbow.
"Ah'm gonna make her regret what she did to Applebloom," Applejack said, her tone as cold as ice as she stood next to Rarity.
Fluttershy simply nodded, her jaw clenched too tightly in rage for her to get any words out as she joined her friends at Applejack's side.
Sunset gave each of them a passing glance, her heart swelling as she felt their magic surge with her own. A warm smile spread across her lips as she pointed her right palm at the door and gathered some of her magic into it. The time had finally come to close this dark chapter in her life. No. It was time to close it for all of their lives.
A ball of fire the size of a bowling ball formed in her hand, a single thought echoing in her head before she fired it.
Here we come Lily. Get ready!
A loud boom shook the air as the door exploded under Sunset's attack and the eleven girls ran through them. They were instantly greeted by the sounds of plants being crushed under their shoes, but that was the only sound they heard. The unnatural silence froze them three steps into the room, forcing them to give their surroundings a more detailed scan. They stood on the edge of a giant flower garden, jet black lilies as far as the eye could see from every direction before the walls of the surrounding labyrinth terminated them. A clear, starless night sky hovered over them with a massive silver full moon shining down on them like an eery spotlight. At the heart of he field, sitting casually in an ornate black throne was the monster they had come to slay.
The Archwraith smiled as they moved closer, not a trace of fear or concern present in her features. Sunset could feel her rancid energy swirling around her, but it was faint compared to the raging inferno that was her presence. In time, the eleven girls stood twenty feet away from the monster, each eager to attack, but none foolish enough to do so recklessly. Even with Sunset so close, the Archwraith refused to show anything more than mild amusement.
Can't she sense our magic or is she just that confidant? Sunset thought, locking eyes with her enemy.
"Now look what we have here," Lily purred. "Friends and sisters in arms standing together to fight the queen in her domain. Quite foolish, but impressive all the same."
"If you're a queen, then I'm a talking donkey," Lyra spat.
Lily's eyes drifted towards her and with a small giggle she said, "Perhaps not a donkey, but you are quite lonely, correct?"
Lyra flinched at that, but stood her ground as the Wraith's eyes drifted towards each of her friends in turn.
"Perfectionism. Regret. Addiction. Alienation. Depression. Self-loathing. Doubt. Emptiness. Nihilism. Rage. So many different flavors. I feel like a child in an ice cream parlor."
"Where are they?" Sunset growled.
"Who?" Lily asked, her smile replaced by a confused frown.
"Applebloom, Sweetie Belle, and Scootaloo."
Lily's eyes narrowed, an equally sharp edge entering her tone as she said, "Far from your grasp, monster."
"Are you fucking kidding me?!" Vinyl demanded. "You kill people and you're calling us monsters?!"
"I need to eat," Lily growled. "Is a lion a monster because it must eat other animals to survive?"
"No, but you are as far as we're concerned," Rarity growled, fists clenched tight at her sides.
"We are not prey!" Fluttershy screamed, pure hate radiating from her crimson eyes.
"Indeed," Lily sighed, rising from her throne. "Show me then."
https://youtu.be/zDXgbdhj5Zc
As she said that, she took three steps towards them and raised a hand over her head. A ball of dark energy formed in it before it morphed into a jet black spear. She expertly twirled it around herself then straightened her posture, a confidant smile present as she stared her opponents down. A dense wave of the Archwraith's energy washed over them like a cold gale, its weight and pressure telling them just what kind of demon stood before them. Sunset risked a glance at her trembling hands, the palms coated with a fine layer of sweat. A heavy silence filled the field, a silence that broke when Rarity charged towards Lily.
"DIE!!" she shrieked.
Lily stood there, still smiling even as Rarity moved into striking range and threw a punch. The blow connected, a blast of raw magical force echoing across the field with a cloud of dust hiding Lily from view. When it settled, Rarity's rage gave way to shock. With the form Ineffigiatus was currently in, her punches should've been strong enough to level a skyscraper, but Lily didn't even have a bruise as she stood there with Rarity's fist planted firmly in her cheek.
"Is that it?" she asked sweetly.
Rarity barely had time to react before a backhand from her opponent sent her flying to the other end of the field. A quick cast from Derpy was the only thing that kept the stunned girl from becoming a smear on the stone wall, the cubic barrier covered with spider cracks before finally collapsing under the force it was forced to endure as Rarity fell limply to the ground. Shock filled the group for a moment, before Applejack and Rainbow aimed pure hate at the Archwraith.
Rainbow shot into the air, wind howling around her as she prepared to drop everything she had onto Lily. At the same time, Applejack gathered as much of her magic as she could, ready to do to Lily what she did to her seed. Lily sighed, barely even paying the two girls any mind as she continued to stare at Sunset. She never took her eyes off of the Equestrian as her two friends were hit by pillars of dark energy that shot out at them from below. She turned just in time to see them fall to the ground, eyes wide, blank, and empty of life.
Sunset's mind froze, her fear muted as she watched her friends fall. She couldn't hear anything. She barely felt anything. All she could do was watch as their bodies hit the ground. The last few seconds played in her head like a maddening recording of her worst nightmare come to life. Images of the rest of her friends falling prey to the same fates came to mind and something in her snapped. Red hot rage filled her veins as she turned her head towards Lily, her fear completely consumed by the hate boiling within her.
"Derpy," she said, voice a cold whisper. "Keep them safe."
The girl's eyes widened as she nodded then turned towards Lightning.
"Get Rarity, Applejack, and Rainbow Dash over to Fluttershy. Now!"
The girl nodded, momentarily shaken by the sudden edge in her friend's tone before she sprang into action.
"Get around me everyone!" she Demanded.
Everyone quickly did so and a second after Lightning managed to complete her mission, Derpy erected a massive barrier around them and herself. Lily watched the whole line of events in intrigue, not entirely sure what was going on or why they chose to keep Sunset out of their defensive line. No sooner had she finished that moment of wonder did Sunset charge towards her. Lily's smile returned as she watched the flaming girl close in on her. With a casual thought, she summoned another pillar of dark energy below the girl, only for Sunset to side-step out of the way at the last second with a single flap of her flaming wings. Her smile grew at that, happy to see that the girl could make this a little more challenging.
"LILY!!!" Sunset roared, bringing a flaming fist down on the Archwraith the second she got within range.
A thunderous boom echoed across the field as a massive explosion wracked the place Lily stood, wild flames devouring the flowers all around that portion of the Archwraith's domain. Lily's smile threatened to split her head in half, what few specks of damage she received from Sunset's attack already healing as she held back the girl's fist with her free hand. Such raw hatred made her heart dance with glee as she stared into Sunset's glowing blue eyes.
"Why so angry dear?" she cooed. "Weren't they the ones that left you at my mercy? Didn't one of them try to hurt you at some point? Why do you care what happens to them?"
"Because they're my friends!" Sunset snarled, flames leaking out of the corners of her mouth. "And I've already forgiven them for that!"
"Really? Then why did you lead them here?" Lily asked, leaning closer to Sunset's face.
"To kill you!" Sunset snarled.
"No dear," she cooed. "It was to kill them."
Sunset let out a furious scream, her magic bursting out of her as a wild maelstrom of flames. Lily did nothing, letting the inferno wash over her like a hellish ocean as her eyes burned into Sunset's own. They jumped back from each other, Sunset immune to her own flames while Lily's body healed itself at such a quick rate that she barely noticed it. The two stared each other down for a moment before they charged, Sunset's flames spiraling around her like a prismatic armor from hell while Lily leveled her spear with a maddening grin. The two clashed like a pair of monsters from a nightmare, Sunset literally roaring as she slashed and punched at the Archwraith while Lily dodged and stabbed at Sunset with her spear. As the two fought, Derpy and her friends watched, tension heavy in them as they silently cheered Sunset on.
"I can't stand this!" Vinyl growled, unable to tear her eyes away from the fight. "We should be out there too!"
"Yeah!" Lightning nodded.
"No way," Derpy sighed. "We'd just get in Sunset's way."
"WHAT!?" everyone still conscious demanded.
"Sunset told me once that her magic is linked to her emotions," Derpy frowned, her eyes still locked onto her girlfriend as she ducked under a wide swing of Lily's spear. "The more she feels, the more power she can use, but she loses some of her control too. Normally, her fire can only burn what she wants it to burn, but if she gets mad enough..."
Bonbon cringed at that, the rest of the sentence not needed to be completed for her to get the message.
"So," Bonbon gulped. "I take it the barrier isn't just to protect us from Lily then."
Derpy nodded, then said, "This should let Sunset fight without worrying about us getting hit in the crossfire."
The seven girls ran that through their heads for a minute, the frustration and helplessness they felt growing by the second. A solemn expression formed on Lyra's face before she nodded and stepped up to the barrier's edge. Her magic flared as she stared out into the burning battlefield beyond.
"Lyra?" Derpy asked, caution heavy in her tone.
"We can't head out there with her, but that doesn't mean we can't help her."
With that, her magic gathered outside of the barrier into a summon. Black and white magic congealed outside the protective space Derpy created and slowly took shape. A six foot tall female human shape took form, six feathered wings of light and shadow formed on its back, the left arm garbed by a black claw gauntlet while a shining sword of light was griped in its right. The angel turned its faceless head towards Lyra, the girl leveling a friendly smile at it.
"Go Alara. Go help Sunset."
The angel nodded, then shifted its attention towards the fight ahead of it and flew into the fray. Lyra flashed an impish smile at her friends, a smile that slowly spread to the rest of them. While they couldn't jump into the fray like Alara, they were not completely out of options. Catching on, Bonbon took a meditative seat on the ground and began channeling her magic into the ground, dozens of calculations coming into her head. Fluttershy doubled her efforts to heal her fallen friends, the shine from her claws glowing righter as she did everything she could to speed up their treatment. Vinyl took point next to Derpy, her body literally vibrating as her magic surged through her. Octavia held her rapier up above her head, the blade letting out an eagle's cry as a spell she hadn't had a chance to cast before now echoed through everyone.
All of their eyes widened as a sudden surge of power shot through them, the magic forming Alara surging wildly as she struck at Lily while the barrier Derpy constructed shined with a nearly blinding light. Vinyl leveled a shocked glance at her sister, an act mirrored by all of her friends.
"While I can't do it to myself, I can replenish and amplify the magic of overs around me," Octavia beamed. "I call it Charity Bell."
"Awesome," Vinyl smirked.
"I'll say," Lyra chirped, watching her Summon ram her sword into Lily's chest.
"Ditto," Bonbon smirked. "Show time."
As she said that, diamond spikes burst out of the ground, a few of them managing to impale Lily's free arm while the others bent at odd angles to avoid Sunset and Alara. Lily frowned at the crystal spikes before she ripped the useless limb off to resume her attack. A new limb regrew seconds later, just in time for her to call a wall of darkness to block Alara's sword. The Archwraith showed herself to be an incredibly adaptive fighter, easily alternating between blocking her combatant's attacks with her spear and dodging the attacks coming at her from the ground. Every now and then she would strike out at Sunset or Alara with her spear or a blast of dark energy, but those would get either parried or canceled by Sunset's fire or Alara's weapons.
As the three combatants clashed, Derpy started to notice that something was off about the Wraiths movements. While they were as precise as one would expect from a seasoned fighter, her attacks seemed to have far too many telegraphs. Her swings with her spear seemed too broad and her blasts took too much time to charge for Sunset to not see them coming. Then there was Lily's smile, as if the Wraith was simply playing a game instead of being pushed into a corner by two equally powerful threats. When the Wraith suddenly stopped moving and her smile grew, Derpy's blood turned into ice.
She's toying with us!
No sooner had the thought crossed her mind before a huge burst of dark energy exploded out of Lily, Alara screaming as she was torn apart by the maelstrom of power. Sunset's fire raged against it, drawing on all of the girl's rage to fight against the wave of destruction, but even that wasn't enough. The darkness whirled around her like a tornado, the dragonic teen trying to force it back with her bare claws to no avail. She tried to call upon her flames, but they refused to come. The darkness washed over her, thick as tar as it covered her mouth and nose. She struggled to fight against it, Lily's power literally suffocating her as she fell to her knees.
"Fire. Quite an incredible force in its own right," Lily mused, the Archwraith casually walking through the darkness as she stepped in front of the girls's blurring vision. "It can destroy almost anything that crosses its path like a wild beast. But just like any beast, it can't live without air."
Sunset gasped, desperate to take a breath as her panic riddled mind began to spin. Lily just smiled, the girl's fear and desperation sustaining her as she kneeled to her eye level.
"Don't feel bad my dear Sunset. None of you had a chance from the start."
With that, she turned her head towards Derpy's barrier, the shining cube barely standing in the heart of Lily's destructive power. She watched as the girl fell to her knees, the teen putting everything she had into keeping her friends safe. Lily rose to her feet and made her way towards it, the sheer pressure of her power crushing any diamond spikes Bonbon tried to attack her with as they came out of the ground. She watched as Octavia cast another Charity Bell to help her friends, but it did little against Lily's raw power. The Archwraith chuckled to herself as she walked. Had they attacked her while she was still weak from hunger, they may have had a chance of beating her, but thanks to her daughters, she had more than enough power to crush them under her heal. A fact that she was more than willing to display when she finally found herself standing in front of Derpy's barely standing barrier.
Still smiling, she gently pressed her finger against it and every so slightly pressed forward. Derpy let out an agonized shriek as the barrier shattered, her glass eye not far behind as she fell to the ground. The rest of her friends could do no less as the darkness washed over them like a tsunami. Lily stood at the heart of the maelstrom of destruction, a satisfied smile spread across her face. When she felt the girl's consciousness start to fade, she raised her free hand over her head.
The dark energy instantly vanished, eleven black vines taking its place. Each vine held a girl, each of them barely conscious as they hung limply in their grasp. Lily casually approached them, her smile growing steadily more proud with each girl she passed. By the time she approached Sunset, her smile practically oozed with pride. All of them held the same blank look, some part of them desperately clinging to life and the vein hope that they could win this. This belief burned brightest in Sunset's eyes, even as she hung helpless in Lily's clutches a part of her still believed that she could somehow turn this around in her favor. Oh how Lily was going to enjoy destroying that hope.
"Don't worry my dears," she cooed, her eyes slowly drifting over the girls. "I won't kill you. Not yet anyway. None of you are ripe yet and my dear daughters need practice when it comes to that. No. We will slowly strip you girls of every trace of hope you all have. Then, when you are all drowning in despair and begging for death, we will allow you to do the deed yourselves."
A happy purr slipped past her lips as she turned towards Sunset, spear pointed at the bound girl's chest as she said, "Shall we begin?"
Before the scene could play out any further, a small bit of space next to Lily's head started to ripple. A second later, a pink hand emerged holding a gun. Lily had just enough time to turn her head towards it before the weapon fired, blasting her head apart in splatter of black blood and viscera. As the Wraith staggered away, her free hand clutching at her slowly regrowing head, the small portal quadrupled in size. Out of the now larger portal walked a girl wearing a lightly tattered red hooded trench coat. Under it, a black tank top could be seen along with a matching pair of pants and boots. The coat's left sleeve was missing with a long red open-fingered glove covering the girl's left arm up to her shoulder to compensate. A gold ring shined brightly on the girl's left ring finger, its shine barely hidden by the gun she held in that same hand.
The girl holstered her weapon on and examined Sunset, her blue eyes carefully scanning the girl before giving a resolute nod that revealed her straight dark pink hair with curls at the tips.
"It's going to be okay Sunny," the girl said, summoning a knife from another portal and hacking at Sunset's restraints. "I'm going to get you all out of here. I promise."
Sunset's eyes cleared slightly as she stared at the girl trying to free her, a single dry question making it past her lips.
"P....Pinkie?"
"Yep," Pinkie smiled, a small giggle coming out of her as she cut the last of Sunset's vine. "Sorry I'm late to the party."
Sunset just smiled before she collapsed into her friend's arms. Pinkie held her close, a well of emotions filling her that she needed to push down. As happy as she was to see her friend again, she had something important to take care of first. She looked to her left just as the front of Lily's head finished regenerating, the rest of it still a writhing mass of dark energy.
"Who are you!" Lily demanded, her voice a demonic echoing hiss that sliced the air.
"My family calls me Pinkamena," she frowned, drawing her gun as she held Sunset close to her. "My friends call me Pinkie. You can call me Red Hood if you want."
She pointed the gun at the Archwraith and in a voice colder than the waters of the River Styx said, "It doesn't really matter what you call me, because you just need to know one thing. Lily Bouquet, I'm the one that's going to kill you."