"ONE! TWO! THREE!" The broken-down box spring hit the door once again with a hollow clang. Only one small dent had formed; there was no way we could get out this way. I dropped the bed, and the others followed suit.
"Okay..." I paced back and forth across the room, "What about magic? There's got to be a way to use it!"
"They're too young." Burnt Oak complained.
"No, you," I pointed a hoof in his direction, "are not involved in this. You're going to stay right here!"
"Hey!" the colt straightened up quickly, "We both want the same thing right now! Let's just focus on getting out of here!"
I could feel steam streaming from my ears. I wasn't going to stand and take it while that maniac suggested that we were alike in any way. I was ready to say something really abrasive when a lavender aura gleamed into view around the door.
I closed my grimacing mouth and looked around at the group. The only sound to be heard was the humming and clanking structures in the other room.
Then, there she was, the tiny filly with her odd-ball novel was ripping the door off its very hinges. She tossed the door aside with a final grunt of effort, and the group of fillies galloped down the hall at top speed. Some of the pegasi would leap into the air for short bursts of speed.
"Turn right!" A voice shouted over the din of pounding hooves.
"What?"
"RIGHT!" I skidded around the corner of the fork, hooves just barely making it around and slamming into the wall on the other side.
There were several more tight turns before we made it back to the main room. By that time, the sound from the machines was slowing down, and I was a bit worried that we were too late to save the three ponies.
I came to a very sudden stop at the large room. There were quite a number of differences. First of all, the ceiling had swung down on hinges, and a platform was facing the sky. I could see pink hair waving in the breeze, and knew that the dead body of Celestia was strapped to it. Second, a brutal storm was brewing above us, and the electricity in the air was enough to make the fur on the backs of everypony's necks stand on end.
Boiling Blood was wearing the mask now, and it made her voice sound strangely hollow and far away as she shouted at us, "STAY BACK! IF YOU MESS WITH THIS EXPERIMENT I'LL USE YOU AS A REPLACEMENT!"
I back-peddled to a quick stop, several of the other ponies slamming into me, "Oh, no..." I whispered.
"I think I know why she picked tonight to do the experiment..." Thunder Bolt muttered.
It was a full moon. I couldn't see it through the clouds now, but I could see it's glimmer through the raging storm. But a full moon meant-- A vicious roar came from the corner. Full Moon had been curled up in the shadows, but all the noise had jolted him out of sleep. His eyes glowed with a luminous, unnatural green, and were surrounded by a wreath of leaves. His ears had grown, and melted into wood about halfway to the tip. Wooden claws had grown out of the skin just above his hooves, and clicked with each small, calculating step he took towards us. He growled, showing a row of wooden teeth, and flicked his tail, which clanked like wind chimes, as it was mostly made of wood. A string a yellow-ish saliva dripped from his mouth.
"Y-you weren't kidding about the werewolf, were you?" I asked Burnt Oak.
"Did you think I was?"
"Well, somepony DO something!" shrieked a panicked voice. I don't know who it was, but some brave soul streaked by in a rainbow blur. He was a pegasus, and he delivered quite a blow to Full Moon's jaw. A few other ponies followed his lead, and soon everypony was kicking and throwing punches at the monster. That is, everypony except me and Burnt Oak.
We had different goals in mind: I was about to dismember Boiling Blood, and Burnt Oak was climbing to the top of the platform, trying to replace Celestia with himself. I marched right up to the psychotic Professor, not caring how tiny I looked.
"Oh, I figured one of you would try to stop me," she said, seeming bored with me, "Just go away, alright? She's dead. There's nothing you can do."
"I can save her from being a monster!" With that, I lunged at the scientist, hooking my front legs around her neck and squeezing. Boiling Blood gagged and choked, trying to pull me off. As she tossed her head around, I caught a glimpse of Burnt Oak. He was undoing some kind of mechanism, and I saw a purple wing unfold limply off the side.
The Professor was starting to go unconscious, so I let her go and used her head to launch myself up to the piston that raised the platform. I grabbed it, managing to skitter up to the top with almost no loss of momentum.
"What is wrong with you!?" I called to him over the din of machinery and screaming foals, "Don't you understand? This is wrong! It's never meant to happen!"
"I don't care!" he screamed back, "THIS IS WHAT I'M MEANT TO DO! SHE TOLD ME SO!"
"Who told you?" I asked not expecting an answer.
"SHE DID!" he shrieked, "SHE DID! YOU KNOW WHO THAT IS!"
My jaw dropped a bit as I understood what he was saying, "Your mother?" I asked quietly.
"N-no-- well yes-- but-- BOILING BLOOD!" sadness choked his words, and tears poured onto the body below us. I noticed the horn stitched to her forehead, the horn of his own brother, of Boiling Blood's son. She had killed her own son.
"I'm sorry. But you have to let it go. You have to move on! No more death tonight!"
Then, it happened. Before I could react, Burnt Oak was tearing the horn and wings off of Celestia, "It's supposed to be me!" he yelled, almost in some kind of drunken stupor.
I looked down at where Boiling Blood was regaining consciousness. She looked up at me, her mask looking like a squid, ready to eat me whole. Even though the odd ceramic mask obscured her eyes, I knew she eyeing me for the kill. Half asleep from oxygen deprivation, she began a slow climb toward us.
"Burnt Oak, get out of here! She's after you!" I called to him. He seemed completely numb to me, and instead simply stood looking at the storm, the light glinting off the blood that covered his hooves.
I saw a goldenrod hoof reach over the side of the platform, groping for something she could use to haul herself up. She found the back hoof of Burnt Oak, who jumped as she grabbed it tightly. She then gave a swift pull, tossing the startled pony to the floor. I looked for a way to escape her, but there wasn't a safe way down.
She pulled herself up past the edge of the platform, her mask now hanging around her neck. She had a malevolent glint in her eye as she crawled all the way up onto the metal rise.
"You ready to be famous?" she asked me. Her years of work and preperation was destroyed beneath her, and she knew it.
"Wha.. what?" I asked, too scared to think straight. Boiling Blood didn't answer. She just grabbed my neck and twisted.