The clouds of gray swirled in a circle among the red skies, the snow that burst from its mouths fleeting with the bellowing wind. It was the reddest of nights in view, blackest in calamity, as the twisting screeches of metal and the crunch of concrete and marble fell through the air in a dissonance of noise.
Palgiot Palace fell first, the structure having been severed into two by the shifting plates of the ground. And it was at the higher levels of the broken hallways that Spike and Stellar had landed on, their sight affixed at the rest of their group.
Janus was himself on a platform; an invisible one, if there was any, or one made of air. Nevertheless, the stallion's thin blade was sharp and ready, to damn all those who had dared defied its owner into the sightless, limitless chasm that had opened up between each side of the fractured room.
The dragon spotted Rarity's concerned face at the lowered end of the platform, the immense distance the only thing that reminded his sound mind not to leap to her. He held his dagger tight, though he himself was not used to any weaponry of that sort before.
Harmony shifted into her cloak and mask, her double daggers threateningly raised the moment the wraith-like stallion set his eyes upon her. With a shrill of demonic delight, the two clashed blades, the metals sizzling with an array of sparks upon contact.
"You really have the strength," Janus growled tauntingly.
"But there wouldn't be enough."
With that, the stallion strained her blade down, kicking the mare away before turning around.
He was already anticipating that to happen.
Pinkie's dagger clashed against his sword with a powerful ferocity, the two exchanging intimidating stares.
"Wouldn't you believe it?" the stallion cooed cheerfully.
"Has Miss Pie come to pay her dues?"
Hatred boiled treacherously in her veins the moment his words slithered into her ears, the mare scornfully pushing him away with a grappling swing, tossing him to the other end of the battleground of the ruined palace.
"You will regret the day you killed my parents!!" she screamed past the deafening snowstorm, to which Janus merely laughed with sheer morbidity.
"And you will rue for the defiance you have shown against me."
Before he could launch himself towards her, however, the speeding sound of a gunshot quickly pierced into his head, the stallion instantly raising his blade up in self-defense just in time to deflect a whizzing bullet, the demurring notion of it making him snarl tenaciously.
Rarity's revolver was smoking, the mare holding it up with her two shivering hooves. She stepped back the moment his warped pupils set its sights onto her, before galloping into the ruptured corridors, the stallion chasing after her right behind.
"Rarity!" Spike shouted at the sight, leaping towards a dangling banner before Stellar could stop him. Mercilessly, his claws ripped into the fabric as he fell downwards, narrowly landing on what was supposed to be the roof that once housed the now separated structures, clambering towards the shattered dome of the ballroom.
The white mare herself was frantically rushing through the terrace, the raving winds nearly knocking off her hooves. Her predator lunged towards her, though the two stopped the moment she crept towards a snapped portion of the iron pathway, the road blocked by a stained-glass window.
"Nowhere to run now, my little dearie," he spoke deviously, his blade creeping towards her neck.
"Be nice and accept the fate of death."
Rarity's breathing slowed, her hooves touching the pane of glass behind her. Her head ran through the many memories that she could muster, before stumbling upon the fact that she had required.
The window wasn't one found in the palace, she surmised. She could only guess what was lying behind it; most probably a path of escape. Janus's approach was the only thing standing between it, and the one solution she could come up to deal with that at the most desperate time was the one she had abhorred ever since the day she was born, and she would never imagine breaking her self-promise in the most insane of ways.
She spat at his face.
With a loud cry of disgust, Janus tumbled towards the side, his long blade jabbing the window instead of her heart (fortunately). The stallion fell backwards, with Rarity mirroring his movements the moment she felt the glass pane shatter, hauled into a seemingly new world by gravity.
A loud thud later, and the white mare found herself on a floor of rotting wood. She yelped in pain once she felt the searing burn in her hoof, though she quickly mustered her strength, limping towards the wooden doors.
She was in a dark place. A terrible place, she told herself. All the decay and death around her, not to mention the stinking smell of black, ink-like bloodstains spattered all across the aged corridors. The portraits that hung around here were already engulfed in a field of moss, and those that were not depicted shadowy figures of the older days; the ones that called this place their home.
By this place, it was the desolated building of Academia Nox.
A loud, enraged roar prompted her to limp faster, ignoring the tempting whispers that were invading her. Her presence wasn't unnoticed, however; the cascading shadows that followed her proved that. Something was calling out to her, though the words that it uttered only enticed her to run.
"Rarity!" a voice called her suddenly, the mare skidding to a halt and turning to the side. Her fear soon diminished into disbelief the moment she saw who was in front of her.
Her father was standing there, his straw hat and casual shirt stowed away. His grizzly mane was waxen, his usually unkempt state nonexistent with the black tuxedo that he was wearing. His hoof was raised with pride, only beckoning Rarity to come closer.
She emerged from the darkness of the corridors into the white, marveling immediately the moment a dress of sparkling white formed around her from the wistful winds. Her surprise soon grew the moment she held her father's hoof, before stepping through the tall, oak doors of what she recognized as Ponyville's town hall.
Rarity could only gasp at all the benches laid out, with the ponies settled onto them rising at the cue of a church organ blaring its notes. Petals of miscellaneous flowers suddenly showered over her path as three fillies threw them jovially from their baskets, the white mare recognizing them as Apple Bloom, Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle.
Her sister turned around, giving her a wink before giggling happily, only soothing her with warmth before she reached steps onto the stage. The guide of petals onto the floor soon stopped like her heart, her eyes looking on with awe at the figure before her.
"Sp-Spike...?"
The dragon gave her a beatific smile, his claws tenderly reaching out to her. Rarity only accepted it eagerly, before the two stood at the very center of the stage, their audience sitting down the moment a voice said:
"We are all gathered here today in the face of this company, to join together this dragon and mare in holy Matrimony..."
Is this a dream, she asked herself whilst the priest's voice droned out, looking at the familiar faces around her.
There were her friends: all five of them, seated happily at the side as if nothing happened. Her family was there as well, her mother's eyes already watering at the sight; one she had never expected to see.
"Spike?" she called out to the dragon.
"Yeah?" he whispered back.
"Am I... is this... real?"
"Of course it's real, Rarity!" Spike chuckled.
"You're the one that set the wedding dates today, didn't you?"
"Rarity!" a voice hissed, making her peer over her shoulder.
Pinkie was waving her hooves frantically, her smile hiding the likelihood that she was trying to tell her something.
"Your tail!" the party pony continued under her breath.
"It's stickity-sticking at the side!"
Rarity wore a thankful and sheepish grin at that, before reaching back to smooth any stray strands. Unexpectedly, however, once she did so, she felt the surface of cold, sleek metal.
The revolver, she gasped, her discovery only making her skin pale. What was it doing here? Wasn't all the chaos that had happened back in Pendant Lakes over already?
She racked her mind, before finally clearing through the haze, the one-word answer that she had attained only making her gulp in horror.
Demons.
Suddenly, it was a silent. Dead silent.
Rarity glanced around, noticing that every single pair of eyes in the room were staring at her. Their confusion and bewilderment was evident in their pupils, the dread beneath her gut making it feel more like a funeral than a wedding, before the priest asked again:
"Do you, Miss Rarity?"
"Huh? What?"
"Do you, Miss Rarity, take Spike as your lawfully wedded husband?"
The words that were laid before her only struck her core, her sights immediately settled upon those of her friends, which were already beckoning and prodding her to continue.
She turned to Spike, the dragon seemingly slightly bewildered at her actions, before she held her breath.
"No."
In an instant, the crowd erupted into a flurry of gasps, especially Spike, who could only look on in pure disbelief.
"Wh-what did you s-say?" he stammered. His haughty tone, however, made her ears twitch, her expression turning into a solemn frown as she raised her revolver towards his head, the mare merely gave an answer:
"You're not my Spikey-Wikey."
Without hesitation, Rarity pulled the trigger, clenching her eyes shut the moment she did so. She could feel something splatter onto her face, though it was only a banshee-like scream that forced her eyes open once more.
She was back in the ruined corridors of the academy, her stomach gurgling the moment she felt the black liquid all over her face. It was only worsened by the sight of the wriggling, black... thing on the floor, the convulsions of the demonic creature stopping as it now laid in a puddle of its own essence.
"Rarity~!" a familiar voice snarled, the mare recognizing it to be Janus's.
Immediately, she hastily limped away from the retching scene, the white mare hastily wiping off the taint that had splashed over her face. Her terror grew the moment she saw a familiar sight of a fractured corridor, the twisted echoes of the stallion chasing her back into the palace hallways:
"Come out and play, darling!"
She soon stumbled into the destitute remains of the Patriarch's quarters, heaving her sprained hoof inside. Slotting the bullets into the wheel, she ducked behind the study table, shirking in the moment she heard a creak.
The lump forming beneath her throat stilled, sawing at the edges whilst she detected his presence. Holding back a squeak, Rarity peered from behind her shoulder, though she quickly whirled back at the harrowing glimpse of pale-white hooves.
"You think you can hide?" a voice squeaked, though she couldn't distinguish if it was from her head or from her pursuer. There was that underlying, encroaching tone of provocation beneath those words, forcing her to slam her ears shut with her hooves.
"Well, good luck," it added, prompting her to suppress her fearful possibilities.
In a split second, a loud blast split the wooden table apart, with Rarity barely avoiding the splinters that burst from its fragile core. The powerful blow pummeled her back, launching her out onto the Patriarch's balcony and into the fury of the blizzard.
She picked herself up from her daze, just in time to see Janus approaching her heedlessly, their manes violently tossed about in the storm. Despite his seemingly invulnerable spirit, the white mare could see him gasping for his breath as Janus let out an amused chuckle.
"Fled into the eye of the storm," he cooed adamantly.
"What will be the next move that you'll make, I wonder?"
A thunderous roar broke through the howling skies, the reverberating sound of it plucking at the very veins in her heart as Rarity faced up in the rooftops, gasping the moment the powerful figure landed onto the balcony, wielding what it seems to be a poleaxe.
"Get away from her!" Spike snarled ferociously, his glinting weapon raised to prove his point.
"Or what?" Janus shot back a glare.
"Do you even know how to use that thing, you blithering fool?"
"No..." the dragon admitted breathlessly, his lover holding back a giggle.
"But it doesn't hurt to try...!"
With that, Spike swung his bulky weapon to the side, narrowly trimming the stallion's mane and slamming into the marble balcony. Another swing managed to graze his ashen-white skin, though not before his enemy slammed his longsword's hilt into his chest, snapping the poleaxe like it was glass.
The dragon fell back towards Rarity, who immediately galloped to his side once he skidded to a halt. Janus's cold laugh only made the pair look up with anxiety as he neared the pair.
"Nothing would've entertained me to see a couple withering like a leaf in their fear," he spoke with a perverse grin.
"And one of dragon and pony... now where have I seen that before...?"
Janus suddenly whirled around, his blade facing just in time with a pair of white blades and the dismal frown of Harmony Peridot, which the stallion had ever enjoyed the moment he cast his eyes onto her face the first time they've met.
"You do not want to fight me now, Harmony," he taunted.
"For I know each and every move that you make, from the swing of your blade to the way you straddle the stallions on their beds."
Harmony just crinkled her snout with disgust at that, before she yelled to her identical counterpart:
"Get yourself out of there! Get Spike and run before this place comes down!"
Rarity had to comply, instinctively grabbing Spike's claws as they darted towards the door. Janus could only scowl under his breath the moment they did so, his desire to chase them only slammed to the back of his head by the pink unicorn that had brandished her two blades dexterously with ease.
With a judgmental, queer swing of his longsword, the stallion gave out a loud snarl: one which Harmony could only raise her eyebrow at. Her gaze fluttered with relief the moment they reached the knob, though not before she deflected another jab of his blade.
"What's wrong?" she mewled defiantly to the stallion.
"Lost in your thoughts?"
A loud cry blared from the stallion, before he swung down his sword. Harmony raised her pair of blades like a defensive X into the sky, though the voluptuous force that smashed onto the white surface immediately shattered apart, its owner's eyes turning into slits as small as the tips of a needle.
With an exultant grin, Janus raised his blade at an angle, his cruel satisfaction sated as he thrust his blade forward...
The belching sounds of pierced flesh and blood made both Rarity and Spike turn it alarm before they could run out the door, their voiceless gasps of fear matched by the expression of Harmony herself, who was clutching the metallic blade that had plunged into the depths of her chest, with splatters of red already reigning the white floor.
The moment she fell to the knees, the blade uprooting from her skin with a dangling strand of red the sticky, taut bridge that connects her to the tip of the sword, her watching friends were soon joined by another, more familiar face, the sight of which made that singular pink mare do more than just emit a horrified squeak as the stallion hurled her off the balcony and into the swallowing crevasses below.
She could only smile. At least that was one death she could compensate for her actions, she thought to herself. It was quick, painless, yet she knew in her heart that there will be that one somepony who wouldn't want to see such a horrific event.
And yet, by the cruel hooves of time, Pinkie did.
"HARMONY!!!!"
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Princess Celestia heard a scream.
It was young. Not a filly, but a mare in her twenties. There was the tugging sense of desperation. A resounding choir of apologies, and the faltering shiver of remorse. The volume of it escalated throughout each tiptoeing second of time, snaking through the very fabrics of her breaking conscience that was already straining at the prospect of her injured sister.
Then, the scream dropped into a lake of harrowing silence; one that hung over the air for a crisp period of time, though it was what came after that only made her eyes snap open.
A loud thud.
The sound was more like the collision of boulders in her head, her gaze jerked towards the silhouette of the palace beyond the slate corners of the plaza. It stirred her from any wandering thoughts of sleep, and at a crucial time as well, for she could feel heat: not one of the warmth of the majestic beasts around her, but one that prophecies of a verbal disagreement.
She roamed towards the source of the argument, her look of pity at the various, shivering ponies huddled together the only viable option that was available in her addled state. With a hefty sigh, her sights were set upon the cobblestone fountain that marked the center of the plaza, as well as the various ponies shouting at each other.
"Th're still up there!!" Applejack's shout was the first one she heard.
"We can't just leave them here!!"
"We don't have much of a choice!!" the other voice shouted back, the alicorn recognizing it to be Doctor Arrowfaith's.
"If we wait out here any longer, none of us are going to survive this onslaught!!"
"No one touches the valves!!" came her protege's voice.
"Not until the rest of them comes back!!"
"And we'll perish in the snow together?" Mayor Stencil raised his voice, stomping his hoof defiantly.
"Neigh, Southernfolk!! Nopony has a say of the deeds if our town! OUR TOWN!!"
"SILENCE!!!"
The regal voice: a symbol of the ever-feared and respected voice of Canterlot, even in the audacious wilderness of the north, immediately silenced both the northern and the southern ponies, their eyes trembling before the might of their princess.
She struck her glare at every single face in the crowd, her rage holding their tongues with her stringently fierce demeanor. Jovern settled right beside her once she beckoned him over, the dragon raising his ears as she whispered:
"Jozerv'inh. Hal' ruuk kavar dinh."
The slithering dialect she had resorted to somewhat surprised the dragon, who let out an amused chuckle as he pointed out:
"Your Draconic is fluent, if I must say."
"Age can teach you many things, Jovern," the alicorn said with a wink.
"Harumda'arh, garvanh na'vingh."
"As you wish, my Princess," he replied, before Celestia gazed back at the ponies.
Her choice to resolve the argument beforehand was made up in the very brief session of silence. To voice it out, however, would be equal to the road of suicide, though she had risked much more than this to hold back now.
"Pack your things. Get onto the dragons," she ordered, much to the disbelief of her student and the ponies that had arrived to assist them.
"We'll depart for the nearest town immediately. Cleptius, get ready to set the timer of the valves to thirty minutes. It'll be just enough time for us to escape the explosion."
"Understood, Princess."
"Princess Celestia!"
Twilight soon came galloping up to her teacher, her voice shivering with confusion.
"I-I don't understand...! Pinkie, Rarity and Spike are still in there! They're still trapped in there!!"
The alicorn stared down at her, giving a cold response in the place of words of comfort:
"I simply do what I know it's right."
The violet mare's pupils started to warp with the stirring of wrath, one that she had been prepared from ever since she had scrutinize every pro and con of the decision. She stepped away, ignoring the frustrating attempts that were urging her to calm her student down, instead asking Cleptius once he had turned the valves at the base of the fountain:
"Are we done yet?"
"We're ready to go," the doctor answered.
Princess Celestia gave a knowing nod, peering over her shoulder as she glimpsed her student being led onto Kane's back by the rest of her friends or, at least, the ones that were present with her. The disappointment that wavered over Twilight Sparkle was one she had feared to see, yet she had to save every single one of them, even if it means risking the lives of a few ponies.
Settling onto Kane's back as well (Twilight kept a noticeably good distance from her, just right behind Caduceus and Crimson), the fleet of dragons quickly ascended from the ground, their wings keeping them aloft in the harsh blizzard as the scaly necks turned to face south, at the woods that littered around the town's outskirts.
Kane suddenly whirled his head back at the alicorn, asking her a question:
"Where's my brother?"
The alabaster alicorn just smiled.
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"Pity..."
Rarity stirred from beneath the black tides of obscurity, her vision as hazy as her memory precedent to the loud, resounding explosion that she was thrown from. Her hoof reached out, feeling the craggy, jagged texture of rocks that surrounded her like a cage, albeit a weak one.
She strained her back hooves, arching her back in pain as she kicked the one she could feel beneath her. It budged with ease, prompting a second try and a third only for it roll off.
"Death reach unto you..."
The mare slid under the crack she had made, feeling her body wrestling in pain. There was a stream of blood running down the side of her face, not to mention a few, noticeable scars slashed across her body. She felt herself crumple under the intense pain, searing in the air like a vampony in the morning sun.
Spike was nowhere to be seen, though she knew he had to be close by, probably behind the wall of rocks that she was buried under. Her instincts nagged at her to move forward, the glass pendant around her neck like a leash in her mental drag around the fractured palace.
"Yet you broke free..."
The horrendous snow immediately hit her face, the white mare having reached a collapsed portion of the palace. The white hazard was like a wall now, obstructing any line of sight that she could squirm her eyes through.
Where must she go, she wondered to herself. There was nothing but the decapitated ruins she was walking upon, her instincts guiding her up a set of spiral stairs. The chance of going back to Ponyville, smiling with the five of her friends and Spike right beside her... it seemed impossible to her now.
The lustrous air of the summer on the plains outside of town, the friendly chatter of the various folk in the marketplace, the ripe clusters of red apples in the orchard of Sweet Apple Acres and the warm, mouth-watering sensations in Sugarcube Corner to the invigorating relaxation at the spa and her usual assistance with Twilight in the library.
What about home, she asked herself. To be hurled back at the designs and fashions she had stowed away among her 'organized mess', as she had phrased it, all the while entertaining her sister Sweetie Belle with a few journeys around town and in the wilderness. Will she ever have the heart to look at mannequins again after the ordeal, she wondered. Would anything be the same?
Blood ran through her ankles as the unicorn climbed onto the last step of the marble stairway, her teeth clenching onto a bloodied dagger. Her mane ruffled with the smell of decay, her eyes bloodshot from fatigue. The stormy skies behind the broken windows watched her menacingly, as she dragged her bruised hooves along the red carpet. The tapestry on the walls hung torn and battered, guiding the unicorn down the corridor.
Then she saw it. A brass door riddled with a few dents, topped off by the golden glazing of the doorknobs. This was it. The time when it will finally end. She sighed as she turned the knob.
Rarity's thoughts on Ponyville stopped the moment she met Janus's narcissistic visage, her teeth clenching tighter onto the dagger once the stallion strode towards her, his longsword raised.
She was in a room she had never seen before, though a part of her knew that the pony standing before her had knew of it even before her arrival. The marble throne at the end of the room only piqued her interest at whatever origins that the room had hailed from, though she knew there will never be time to find out.
"Parry!" Janus demanded, the white unicorn only looking up in surprise at his words.
"Be a fighter! At least die an honorable death!"
Reluctantly, her horn grew a pale blue, having recovered from whatever darkness that had rooted its parasitic self into her, grasping the handle of the blade in a cloud of sparkling cyan. Its tip started to teeter about like a compass needle, before pointing towards her enemy, which gave her a satisfied grin.
"I've always loved a fight such as this," he said, clutching tight onto his own weapon.
"It really burns the fuel of adrenaline. The anticipation lingering within my restless spirit sated with the pleasure of bloodshed... and the smell of fear."
Rarity raised her blade just in time for Janus's longsword to strike against it with an echoing clang of metal. She nearly fell back from the staggering blow, raising her weapon just in time to defend from another swing.
Another firm blow made her stumble towards the throne, recovering as the stallion circled her, cornering her onto the marble seat. She managed to deflect two quick jabs in succession, though a third pricked her at her hoof, making her yelp in pain whilst recoiling from his flurry of attacks.
She ducked in time as Janus gave another powerful swing, the tip of it nearly slicing her mane. With that, she leaped towards the side, narrowly avoiding what would've been a fatal thrust into her body.
Whirling around immediately, Rarity deflected two more blows, before his longsword suddenly spun in a circle, her grinding blade following along. She gasped as her weapon flew from her hoof, falling to the side, far from her reach.
Janus laughed at that, kicking her blade even further behind him as his gaze met the resentful glare of the white mare, his sword raising up to her neck.
"That was a good fight," he said with a mocking laugh.
"Any last words, my lady?"
Suddenly, from out of nowhere, the stallion was tackled down by a flash of pink; one that had caught the eyes of the mare that he had suppressed under his bane. Rarity soon lifted herself up, frantically glancing at the duel between Janus and her savior.
"Pinkie!" she called out, earning her friend's attention.
"Stand back!!" Pinkie demanded, slamming her hooves onto the stone floor as the stallion rushed towards her, his mouth open with a bellowing cry. Her sapphire hoop glinted in the red of the moon, the glimpse of it catching the surprise of her friend.
Instead of the expected clock from beneath her, however, there was instead a translucent flame forming around both of her front hooves, its strength propelled the moment their wielder smashed them together. The raging fury that it contained warped into a ball of flaring energy, her opponent skidding to a halt at the sight of that.
With a resounding howl, Pinkie set it loose upon its prey, muttering bitterly in an unnatural, devilish voice, mixed with her own infuriated tone:
"Let the strings of time send you back to the abyss. Let the shadow engulf you into the void where you come from, and the gates of Tartarus forbid your entry into this world again."
Janus merely yelled with rage, the tight, flaming bonds that wrapped around him searing into his skin, his longsword clattering onto the ground. The wall literally fell apart once she had unleashed her wrath, the demonic strings already prying at their victim's flesh as they lifted the white stallion towards the chasm.
Pinkie let out a concise murmur, guiding herself and her beast towards the abyss, before she dropped the stallion, his yelling erupting through the black silence of the night. She watched with relief as he seemingly disappeared into the darkness, turning to her friend with a smile.
"Let's go," she said breathlessly.
Rarity could only smile along with her. Finally.
It was over. It was all over.
A loud snap of a whip whirled her attention back to Pinkie, watching in horror as her friend was suddenly slammed onto the floor, her hoof wrapped by one of the burning strands that had mummified their enemy.
She immediately started galloping the moment her pink friend was dragged towards the edge of the broken floor, clasping her hoof just in time before she could fall into the darkness below. Pinkie's face was twisted in horror and shock, her eyes starting to water as the white unicorn frantically shouted, their manes violently tossed about in the snowstorm:
"Hold on, Pinkie!! Just HOLD ON!!"
The pink mare could only whimper, her eyes starting to water at her predicament.
Almost as if on cue, a loud rumbling noise echoed from afar, the two mares looking in horror as the town of Pendant Lakes started to fall inwards, collapsing into the jaws of the earth. The voracious monstrosity of it seemed to be coming closer, only limiting her Rarity's mental hourglass, much to her trepidation.
Pinkie could feel something tugging at her hooves, looking down to see a pale, wraith-like figure dangling at the other end of her magical rope, the sight only horrifying her.
"Rarity!"
"There's no time to talk, darling!!" Rarity shouted back, trying to heave her friend up.
"I'm not going to waste any spare moment of the rest of my life wasting with words of remorse when I can save you!!"
"RARITY!!" a masculine voice called out from behind, the unicorn immediately recognizing who it was.
"Quickly, Spike!!" she called back, the dragon rushing across the large expanse of the room.
"I need a little help!!"
"R-Rarity...?" Pinkie cut in again, now receiving her friend's attention.
"If... if I don't make it-"
"NONSENSE, PINKAMENA DIANE PIE!!" Rarity yelled back, fighting back her tears.
"You're going to take back those words, and you're going to LIVE!!"
"If I don't make it..." the pink pony continued, unfazed by the other mare's sudden outburst.
"W-would... would any of you still remember me...? Not like how I forgot about Winter... not like how I forgot about Harmony... would you guys remember...?"
"O-of course!!" her friend retorted whilst urging the dragon to be quick.
"All of us would! We wouldn't have been the Elements of Harmony without you, Pinkie. You are our friend, our family..."
Family...
The word echoed in Pinkie's head. It's been a long time since she had a family of any sort, ever since the horrific flames that Janus had set upon her house. The Voyagers, the Cakes and now, the five of her friends in Ponyville... there were times she had wondered what her friendship had meant for her: something deeper than only to make her friends happy, and now she finally understood.
Her friends were a family, and she couldn't be more proud to be part of that family. Her family.
With a wide smile, her mane fizzing up into a puff of tangled mess with cheerful delight for the first time in the whole night, the mare closed her eyes, letting peace take her into its shed.
The light of a thousand of Celestia's suns erupted in the distance, giving her a chance to do what Rarity, having been briefly blinded from the captivating sight, would never let her do, not to mention being the only way to save them from the monster she was tied to.
She let herself fall.
"PINKIE!!!!"
Rarity's scream tore through the fabric of silence the moment the mare fell out of her grasp, her tears leaking out slowly as she watched her friend fall into the swirling darkness below, her shock only made her crumple underneath her knees.
Spike hugged her tight before she could jump into the chasm herself, his eyes warping with disbelief at the sight of the pink mare plunging into the dark depths of the mountain. His lover screamed and wailed in his chest, the tears that fell from her face almost forcing his own to fall out as well.
"We have to go..." he hushed, trying to lift the mare up despite his eyes still glued into the infinite black.
"We have to go!"
Before they could start running, however, the floor before them suddenly gave away, falling apart as the structure started to give in to its fragility, their path of escape falling into the darkness.
Rarity gave out a silent gasp, her dragon hugging her tighter as they were stuck on the singular pillar; one which would be consumed by the rumbling jaws of the opening earth.
"Sp-Spike..." she whimpered fearfully.
The dragon turned to her, his frantic expression turning to one of a pained smile.
"Rarity...?" he began, brushing her mane to the side.
"If anything happens to us, just... just remember that I loved you. Just remember all the things I've said, all the things I've done... okay...?"
"Spike..." she uttered his name again, clinging tight onto his claw.
"Are you scared...? Going into the darkness...?"
The dragon gave a firm nod, before hugging the mare tight, the two appreciating each other's warmth.
"At least we're together, my gem..." he whispered, adding:
"I love you..."
"I... I love you too..."
Rarity clenched her eyes, Spike doing the same once they felt the solitary pillar they were standing on giving away, their embrace tightening as they were pulled down into the abyss by the strings of gravity.
She clung onto him tightly, the situation reminding her of the last time they had fallen together at such a height. The fire ruby necklace, his growth spurt, then their dramatic descent. The time when she had silenced him before he could utter his terribly hidden secret, and one she had found cute ever since.
There were two subtle differences, however, apart from his height. Their distance between each other was close the last time, but this time it was closer, and the mare...... she could never want it any other way.
The next came fast, as the dragon was muttering something under his breath. She had to silence him again like the previous time, though she never used her hoof.
Their lips met immediately, with each second of their endless fall lasting like a light year in their blissful, sensual pucker of their kiss. Each of them accepted the fate that was coming to them, especially the mare, who could only enjoy the last feeling of life as she fell into the mouth of the beast...
And landed onto the scaly back of a large dragon.
Jovern laughed heartily the moment he caught the couple, the two of them widened their eyes in astonishment. They were not the only ones riding him: Stellar was there as well, his relieved smile widening at the pair, safe in each other's company.
"Had enough of the kiss yet, you two lovebirds?" he teased, making the both of them blush deeply with embarrassment.
"Get ready to shield your eyes, fellow ponies and, of course, dragon!!" their transport ordered.
"You do not want the explosion to burn them off!!"
In a split second, the town of Pendant Lakes and the falling structure of Palgiot Palace suddenly flared up in an intense glare of light, blasting through the valley in the grandest, most deafening explosion that Equestria would've ever seen.
Right from the core, a narrow beam of light pierced through the heavens, the monument of light glaring enough to be seen from all the corners of the world. From the alleys of Manehatten to the regal streets of Canterlot; from the deserts of Saddle Arabia to even the thatched houses in Ponyville, all of Equestria marveled at the blade of piercing light that had awakened them from their sleep, with most of them only able to gape in awe.
The moment the ray diminished, the blinding glare of the explosion quickly died down, leaving the town to be smothered and blasted apart as it disappeared into a giant cloud of rubble, the sight only making Stellar bite his lip.
"And thus falls the town of Pendant Lakes," he mused solemnly as Jovern soared further away from the flying debris and over the remaining mountains of Aston Peak and the wild woodlands of Rattleraw Forest.
The black dragon immediately skidded to a halt once his claws touched the slate floor of Fenderville's Piazza di Incendio, regrouping with the herd that had departed before him. All around, doctors and nurses rushed throughout the plaza to tend to the refugees that came from the destroyed town, with Tourist Trap and Penny Royal already offering rooms to the many needy ponies around them.
As Rarity and Spike helped each other onto the slate floor, their presence was quickly noticed by a bunch of ponies galloping towards them, their overjoyed faces enough to tell them who they are.
"Rarity!! Spike!!" Twilight exclaimed with tears of delight, hugging the both of them tightly.
"Thank Celestia you made it... thank Celestia..."
Rainbow soon joined in, giving the couple a hug as well.
"I knew you guys would make it," she declared with a grin, earning a shake from Soarin', who added, much to his marefriend's annoyance:
"She was worried sick about you guys!"
The rest of them could only laugh as Rainbow Dash struck a glare at the pegasus, blowing her trademark mane to the side as she tackled the Wonderbolt onto the ground, only heightening the group's laughter.
Fluttershy and Big Mac soon stepped up, the yellow pegasus happily wiping her tears away as she spoke:
"I thought you guys would've been gone! But I'm so glad you guys are s-safe...!"
Rarity noticed the small bump that her friend was sporting, the white unicorn musing with delight:
"Did something happened between you two while I was away?"
Both of them blushed furiously among their friend's undying laughter, before Octavia and Crimson stepped up, the gray mare hugging Rarity tightly with a small sniffle.
"Good to see you alive, Rarity. Vinyl was right."
The two turned to see the other unicorn waving towards them in her streaking blue hair and her signature glasses, sporting an 'I told you so' face to her fellow musician, who only stuck her tongue out in response, the sight of which making Rarity giggle.
"But I put all my faith to see you safe."
"An' she came out safe 'n sound, didn't ya Rarity?"
Applejack's voice was music to the white mare's ears, as the two mares gave each other a tight hug.
"Glad to see ya still in one piece," her orange friend said, placing a hoof onto Rarity's shoulder.
"Great to see you too, though I have been hearing things as of late; something that interests me at the moment." she began suddenly, nearly catching her friend off guard.
"Rumors. Not any demoralizing ones, pardon you, no. I have noticed some ponies saying that you've taken up acquaintance with a dragon of sorts, did you not?"
"How in tarnation did ya-"
"Doesn't matter."
Rarity suppressed her giggle, instead giving a wink at the sight of Applejack's pouting face, before she continued:
"Where is he? I want to have a glimpse of him. See if he really is your kind of dragon."
The orange mare just rolled her eyes, instead sticking her hoof out at Kane, who was happily chatting with Jovern at the other side of the plaza.
"We're not tryin' t'a be intimate or anythin'," she added, much to Rarity's oblivious delight.
"Don't try ta be a neighsayer and spread any false words. If Ah found out yer did, Ah'm gonna make sure Spike has one 'nlucky flank to catch across Ponyville, ya hear?"
"Alright, alright," Rarity answered, shaking her head.
"Don't be so uncouth, darling. It was only a small joke."
The giggles and chatter died down the moment Twilight stepped towards her again. Instead of the relieved smile that had aligned her face a brief moment ago, there was now one of uncertainty and slight disbelief, the sight only tingling her heart.
Her worst fears were realized the moment her librarian friend opened her shivering mouth, asking a question that she had dreaded to answer the moment she stepped off Jovern's back and down onto the slate plaza:
"Where's Pinkie Pie?"