“A dungeon?!” Fiddlesticks exclaimed, exasperated. She looked around their new grimy locale and groaned. “If these are all illusions, why can’t we go somewhere nice for once?!”
Marble nodded, her wings rustling at her side. “Mhm. Like a rock farm.”
Lightning Dust snorted. “Uhhh… That doesn’t sound much better, to be honest.”
As a discussion ensued between the three, Twilight, Pinkie, Cadance and Incantation-slash-Rarity focused on the newly appeared Maybe-Real-Rarity-But-Also-Maybe-Not.
“Girls!” Maybity exclaimed, relief evident on her face. “Thank goodness I’ve found you!”
“Rarity!” Pinkie exclaimed. “It’s you!” Her eyes narrowed. “Or is it you?!”
“Yeah!” Ink added, taking on a defensive stance. “How do we know you’re not just another illusion?! Prove it!”
Maybity huffed, her tail whipping against the floor. “First of all, Incantation, I find it very rich of you to accuse me of being an impostor when you still use the wrong shade of blue for my eyeshadow. I have told you countless times that it’s Celeste, not Baby Blue!” she huffed, lifting a great weight off Twilight’s chest now that she’d proved her identity. “And before you say it, they’re not the same!”
“Girls!” Twilight interrupted, ending everypony’s discussions. “We need to focus! We’re so close to finally ending this! After everything we’ve fought for!”
Fiddledust blinked. “Uhhh… Lightning and I got dragged into this.” She turned to Marble. “Didn’t you too?”
Marble shrugged.
“Okay, fine,” said Twilight, rubbing the bridge of her nose. “Some of us have been fighting for this for a long time.”
A sudden tremor interrupted her, shaking the entire dungeon and them too, tumbling them to the ground.
“Holy maracas!” exclaimed Pinkie.
A loud boom sounded off in the distance shortly after.
“Come on!” Twilight said, running off. “That must be Discord!”
As the intrepid bunch of ponies and alicorns made their way towards the source of the tremor, Twilight’s heart drummed in her chest. This was it, wasn’t it? The end of it.
Wow.
“Darling?” Rarity asked, catching up to Twilight. “Are you alright?”
“I don’t know,” Twilight replied, feeling like only to Rarity could she confess such a thing. “I’m scared. What about you? Where were you? What happe—”
“Nevermind me, I’m fine,” Rarity insisted. Her tail flicked to the side and enmeshed with her parner’s. “Twilight, it’s alright to be scared. I’d be concerned if you weren’t frankly. The fate of Equestria is at stake.”
“Rarity. That doesn’t help.”
Rarity grimaced. “Ah, yes, sorry. Ah. Er.” She cleared her throat and tried again. “Twilight, you’re not alone. Remember that.” She gestured to the eclectic group running behind them. “Everypony is here because of you.”
“What if I fail, Rarity?” Twilight despaired. “I’m the only one who can ultimately use the elements! What if it doesn’t work?! And then I’ve let down everypony that believed in me! Ponies have risked their lives for this! And their livelihoods! Like you!” Her breathing got more and more laboured. “When was the last time you sold a dress?!”
“Twilight, I say this with all the love in the world, but I am not lovesick enough to risk my entire financial situation for or on you.”
“That’s literally what you did the first two years of our relationship!”
“Well! Well, that may be so, but—! But—! But REGARDLESS!” she sputtered, red in the face. “I’m smarter now! I made investments! I’m also making passive income from the Dreamland so there!” She took a deep breath. “Sweetheart, look. I promise you this will be fine. You have it in you to do this! Pretend it’s as easy as, I don’t know, writing a book! Didn’t you tell me you wrote a novel once while you were trapped in the library?”
“Rarity, I say this with all the love in the world, but you’ve clearly never tried writing a book.”
“Stars’ above, I can’t win, can I?”
And evidently, no, no she couldn’t, because she just as she finished her sentence, the group reached a massive room in which they found the source of the sound. To Twilight’s dismay, it was not in fact the real Discord, oh no.
It was Rainbow Dash, her stomping around causing large tremors due to the fact that she was twice the size of Spike—who, incidentally, was also there, and looked fairly annoyed.
“Ha ha HA!” exclaimed Rainbow Dash, stomping around the dragon. “Who’s the squirt now?! Huh?! Huuuuuuh?!”
“Oh dear,” said Princess Cadance, ever so awed. “Maybe she can stomp Discord to death?”