Train Of Consequences
It was only 11:28 in the morning and the four friends were already tired. What happened to them in the morning coupled with the new task placed on their shoulders by princess Celestia made them realize it was going to be a long day, and for the first time, the real gravity of the situation was finally starting to settle in. A little more than a week ago they were all normal ponies going about their lives, and now, that reality appeared as if it never existed.
After exiting the castle they had made their way to a nearby park, there weren't many ponies around yet, so Alpha and Omega decided it would be the perfect place to stop and analyze the situation. Virtuoso, suddenly being overwhelmed by many realizations, started walking slower until eventually he stopped. Raising a hoof to his chest, he held it there hoping to feel what he knew was no longer there. He started breathing heavily and nearly collapsed before the other three finally noticed. They ran back to Virtuoso when they saw him fall on all four knees and look at the sky with a blank expression.
"Virtuoso, are you okay?" asked Alpha, concern evident in her face.
"Yeah, actually, no, actually...AUGGHH!" stomping his right front hoof against the ground, tears of anger started dripping down the side of his face. "What the hell is happening here?!" he yelled vehemently.
Putting a hoof on the flustered unicorns back, Omega tried to calm him down, "What's the matter Virtuoso? You're not having an emotional breakdown after everything we've been through already, tell us, whats bothering you?"
"Haven't you guys realized whats happening yet?! We aren't legendary heroes, my magic can barely go past casual uses. You three can fly, but how would you deal with giant monsters like the ones we saw on the newspaper? Lightning has his grandfathers earring but even that can only go so far. You saw what Destiny did to Phillydelphia, and I don't think all these monster appearances are a coincidence. Don't get me wrong, If she wants a fight, then I'll give her a hell of a fight, but what if she's just toying with us? What if she already knows we can't defeat her? Can't princess Twilight and her friends do something about this?" The tears had been replaced by the angry scowl of a soul that couldn't understand why all of this was happening. Alpha, Omega, and Lightning had never seen this side of Virtuoso, so it took them a while to react. Alpha looked around and was relieved to find that there weren't any ponies nearby to witness this little scene.
"Virtuoso...I've had these thoughts in my head for a while too, and to tell you the truth, I've silently cried a couple of times since Destiny attacked Phillydelphia..." Omega was surprised to hear this and felt a little guilty about not noticing his sisters pain. "I'm sure none of us wish we had to do this, but we can't just sit by while other ponies do the fighting...slowly wasting away. We have to fight to win back our hearts like Destiny said. And if she really is toying with us, then lets make her regret it." Truth be told, they had all felt similar feelings like Virtuoso, he had just been the first one to express them in open anger.
Omega stepped in, "She's right, and as cheesy as it sounds..." Omega made a silly face as he said this aloud, "...we have each other." He finished this sentence with a forced grin. Virtuoso couldn't help but laugh when he heard something like that come out of someone like Omega. Lightning smiled and started walking again seeing his friends little emotional breakdown had been taken care off.
Virtuoso regained his poise and was a little embarrassed about the scene he had just caused, and so, they made their way back to Alpha and Omega's house. Still, the feelings of dread lingered in all of their heads, and so far this day hadn't been all that great. They were outside of the house when Lightning heard something.
Raaaawwwwrrrrr!!!
Lightning suddenly stopped. Virtuoso had been walking next to him so he immediately noticed and turned around, "Is everything alright Lightning?"
"Did any of you hear that?" asked Lightning while looking around puzzled.
"What? a rumbling? that was probably just my stomach." While Omega laughed at his own joke Lightning listened carefully.
Raaawwwrrrrr!!!
This time everypony heard the roar; moreover, it seemed like all of Canterlot heard it this time. Everything grew eerily quiet, some ponies called their foals back inside their houses, and even all the birds appeared to have grown quiet.
Raaaawwwwrrrr!!!
Countless flocks of birds flew out of the forests that surround Canterlot, it was evident something big was approaching the city. Omega had entered the house and was gesturing to Alpha, Lightning, and Virtuoso to do the same, and soon after the streets were deserted. Royal guards started coming from all directions of the city and headed to the gates that separated Canterlot from the outside world. The ground under their hooves shook and some of the guards started backing away from the gates, fear plain in their expressions. Then...
Raaaawwwwrrrr!!!!
The gates of Canterlot were suddenly struck by something with incredible force, the guards looked at one another in search for answers as to what to do. The gates were assaulted by an onslaught of strikes, more guards joined the ranks forming inside the city and then the gates finally gave way to whatever was outside. The two giant doors fell and what the guards saw made some of them drop the weapons they carried in their mouths. Two giant chimeras were standing over the knocked down gates looking down at all the guards. The eyes of the lion moved from guard to guard while the snake it had for a tail hissed and did the same with it's beady eyes. The goat head on it's back appeared to have no intelligence and just kind of lazily flailed side to side. The beasts were huge and some of the guards started to slowly back away from them.
Lightning, who had been looking outside from inside the house was joined by his friends, they watched in horror as the two chimeras got ready to pounce on the guards, "Guys," whispered Lightning breathing heavily, "The guards won't be able to do much against those things..."
"What do you propose we do?! Those things are huge!" protested Alpha.
"We have to do something, we can't just let them des-" Lightnings words were cut off by an ear piercing roar that shook the house itself.
The two chimeras had jumped at the still guards and easily smashed through their ranks, one of the chimeras slashed at one of the guards who bravely, or foolishly charged him, and cut though his armor with little effort. The guards body hit the ground, a nasty looking cut across his chest. The guards who had initially been too stunned to do anything were knocked back into reality by the realization that they had to protect the city. Some Pegasus guards, swords in mouths, dive bombed into the fray and slashed at the beast. They hit their marks and the chimeras let out horrible groans of pain. This did little to stop the rampaging chimeras however, with their massive size they easily knocked whatever flying guard they could reach. If the sheer impact of the chimeras strike, coupled with the impact of hitting the ground, wasn't enough to kill the brave guards, then the chimeras would make quick work of the injured ponies. The unicorn guards attacked with their magic, shooting all sorts of spells, they were able to damage the chimeras who had no sort of protection against the arcane magics. This proved effective against the beast and for a second, the guards assumed control of the situation. That ended when the chimeras, through brute force, charged into the group of unicorns and 'swipe after swipe' easily decimated the ranks of guards.
With the guards in disarray and in panic the chimeras turned their attention to the buildings, sniffing around as if looking for something. One of the two chimeras set its eyes on a house that was nearby. Standing up on two legs, the chimera smashed its massive body against the side of the house. The walls of the house stood no chance against the brute, and a family of cowering ponies huddled in the corner of the room the chimera had smashed into were starring the beast eye to eye. They closed their eyes as the chimera looked around the room, apparently not finding whatever it is it was looking for he finally turned his attention to the family and was about to strike when a beam of magic hit the goat head. The infuriated chimera fell back on all fours and looked back at the pony who had struck him. A single guard stood in the middle of the street and looked at the chimera. The chimera roared and the guard took off running; the chimera followed him and they disappeared behind some buildings, a scream of agony soon followed.
"They're killing all the guards, I have to go out there and help!" screamed a frantic Lightning, Virtuoso and Omega had to grab him in order to keep him from running outside and getting himself killed.
"Lightning, I know you want to help using the powers your grandfather's earring give you, but those things are way too big for one pony to take on. They'll destroy you!" tried to reason Omega.
"But I have to do something!" tears of anger and helplessness started forming in Lightnings eyes as he tried to break free. Alpha was thinking of some way to help the guards without getting directly involved, that's when all four of them heard an agonizing scream followed by a roar that indicated another life had been taken.
Lightning managed to break free and was about to rush out of the door when a voice boomed.
ENOUGH!!!
Looking outside, through the window, Lightning saw princess Celestia and Luna descending in battle armor that had not been present during their audience. Luna wore the armor she had when she met with them back at the hospital tent in Phillydelphia, but princess Celestia donned brilliant Golden armor with diamonds in crested in it. The body covered all vital areas and her helmet had a razor sharp blade that stuck out in front of her horn. Just like Luna, the armor that covered her legs had several spikes. There were three spikes on each hoof, and three more on each joint of her legs. The chimeras three pairs of eyes turned toward the princesses, and with a mighty roar, they began charging at them with increasing speed. Celestia's horn glowed a bright yellow and a force slammed one of the chimeras into the ground, the other chimera leaped at Celestia but she paid it no mind because she knew her sister had her covered. Before the chimera even got close to Celestia Luna flapped her wings and flew at full speed into the chimeras side, bashing him right into a nearby abandoned building. Trying to end the fight as quickly as possible, Celestia increased the pressure on the chimera she had pinned down in an attempt to crush it but to no avail. The chimera quickly rose to it's feet, pushing as hard as it could against the force of Celestia's magic. Celestia descended into the ground in order to have more stable footing and tried to stop the beast with her magic multiple times. The chimera growled and began to walk against the force Celestia was imposing on him, it eventually gaining enough strength to jog and finally Celestia's magic seemed to not be affecting it at all. When Celestia saw the beast was getting close she tried to fly into the air and out of its reach. With its giant paw, the lion swung at her and missed, but the snake it had for a tail quickly traveled over its body and smacked the princess on the side, slamming her back into the ground.
"Princess!" Lightning said and rushed outside the door and towards the chimera. The other three attempted to stop him but had no luck as Lightning quickly caught the beasts attention. "Hey buddy! Over here." All three of the chimeras different animal heads turned toward the sound, and Lightning kicked the lions face with all of the momentum behind his charge.
The chimera swung a paw at the Pegasus but he ducked and landed another kick on the chimeras face, driving it into a mad rage. The beast snarled and constantly swung it's paws at Lightning. With his agility and speed Lightning dogged all of them but was headbutted to the ground by the goats head. The chimera immediately pounced on top of him and was about to strike once more but was stopped by Alpha and Omega, they were holding back the lions paw and as indicated by the strained look on their faces it was no easy task.
"Hey Lightning? I think it'd be best to move." Omega said with a chuckle in his voice.
The paw was enveloped by the blue aura of Virtuoso's magic, "Let me help you with that."
The chimera pulled it's paw toward it's body and thrust it back out with full force, sending Omega flying towards a building, and Alpha face first into the ground. Before Omega slammed into the building a yellow aura surrounded him and places him back down on his hooves. Omega turns around and sees Celestia with only a portion of her armor undamaged by the blow from the snake. A huge dent could be seen on the right side of her armor and Omega wondered if her bones were also injured. The sound of Luna's cry reacheed them.
"Sister!" Celestia saw the chimera Luna had tackled into a building was fast approaching, shooting a powerful beam of energy at the first chimera she sent it right back out the fallen gates of the city. Turning back to the approaching chimera it had made its way to her faster than she anticipated with a giant paw struck her, she managed to create a small shield of light but was still tossed to were Lightning stood with his friends.
Lightning was about to help Celestia when she rose from the ground once more and yelled, "I have had enough!" Her horn glowed a golden yellow and an aura appeared around the chimera that had just hit her. The beast was slammed into the ground so hard it caused some of the earth below them to rise, indenting the chimera into the earth. She spread her wings and her eyes glowed a bright white as she soared into the air concentrating her energy on one massive attack. All that could be seen of her was her outline as she twirled her head and thrust a large beam of energy toward the fallen chimera. The beam traveled fast and met with the side of the chimeras torso, this thrust the beast further into the ground to the point were it was no longer visible. The beam disappeared with the chimera, and from the crater, came a blinding ray of light, followed by silence. The princess descended from the sky and gathered her composure.
The Princess looked tired after what she had just done and the chimera that remained was standing back up. From outside the city it looked at her and she looked back at it. Celestia was getting ready to blast him with another beam of energy when Luna put a hoof in front of her sister. "Sister, allow me to take care of this one, you do not have to handle this alone." The chimera must have sensed something bad was about to happen to it because it seemed hesitant to attack. The lion head continued to roar but the goat and snake were beginning to make horrible noises, as if in pain. The chimera seemed to make its final decision and charged back into the city, this is just one what Luna wanted. She closed her eyes and her horn began to glow, an aura enveloped the chimera and slowly he began to levitate until eventually he dangled in the air, helplessly. The aura around the chimera darkened until it became impossible to see through the magic. The chimeras hisses, roars, and Maaa's of protest began to morph into noises that indicated the beast must have been in great pain. Soon, the entire city was covered in the screams of agony of the three animals that made up the chimera.
"Are you sure there wasn't any other way to deal with it?" said Celestia to her sister.
"I apologize sister, but this is the least...messy way."
The four friends were looking at each other wandering what in the world could be happening to the creature inside of Luna's magic. Alpha covered her ears in an attempt to stop the horrible noises from invading her brain. After about four minutes that seemed like an eternity the beast seized to cry in agony, and so, Luna released her magic.
When the final chimera fell motionless, the four looked at each other in relief and tried to catch their breath. Princess Celestia and Luna landed close to them, also exhausted from the battle. The princesses looked around and seemed to finally notice the damage the beast had done to their city. Celestia looked down, saddened; Luna, on the other hand, looked furious and looking back at the body of the beast, noticed it was fast decaying. All the skin, organs, and even the blood seemed to be sucked into the ground. Only the skeleton remained...along with a horrible smell.
"That's...that's disgusting." said Alpha placing a hoof over her snout in order to protect it from the invading stench. "Is that what happens to creatures from Tartarus when they die?"
Without looking at her, princess Luna answered, "creatures from Tartarus cannot be slain, at least not as far as we know. Once defeated, their souls will return from whence they came and be reborn over the course of time. The process of reincarnation may take anywhere from a couple of days, to centuries."
Princess Celestia had joined her sister and had a hardened expression on her face. Several guards,both solar and lunar, that had been absent from the battle showed up and stood about, ready to carry out any orders their princesses issued. Princess Celestia looked at the solar guards and ordered them to help any citizen that had been injured by the destruction the chimeras had caused. Luna, told her guards to help any of the guards that remained alive. Medical ponies soon began to arrive and just like in Phillydelphia after Destiny's attack, the streets of Canterlot were full of medical tents.
Alpha, Omega, Lightning, and Virtuoso had found a nice tree to sit under while the princesses finished giving out their orders. Lightning wanted to help, but was convinced by his friends that in his current condition he wouldn't be much help. They watched as princess Celestia called her sister over, the princesses looked at the four ponies sitting under a tree and began discuss something. They were however, too far away for any of the four friends to make out anything they were saying. After about 3 minutes of discussing something, the two Alicorns walked over to the shade were the ponies had been resting. When they approached the four ponies stood up and bowed.
"At ease, we believe to have discovered why those monsters came to Canterlot," said princess Celestia with a rock hard gaze.
Omega didn't like the way she was looking at them, "and that reason would be?..."
"You," said Celestia. One word, one simple word is all it was, but to the four ponies it felt like a hammer blow to the ribs. They looked at each other with worried and guilty expression and then back at the princesses. "We believe those beast came to Canterlot looking for you, we received information from surviving guards that the chimeras appeared to be looking for something. If they were here to simply wreak havoc, they could have easily gone on a frenzy and destroyed any building they were closed to. By now you must have realized that Destiny's return and this sudden outburst of monsters is tied somehow. Well, would you not say that it is very likely that Destiny sent those beast here to search for you?"
"That makes sense, but...why? was she hoping the chimeras would kill us?" asked a puzzled Lightning.
"I'm afraid that is another question I cannot answer," the stern look Celestia had when she began to speak had been replaced by a look of sympathy and sorrow. "I am sorry, my little ponies...but I must ask you to leave Canterlot and go to Ponyville at once, your presence puts the city in danger."
Alpha felt horrible, if it was like the princess was telling them, then it was their fault so many ponies had lost their lives and homes. Could it be true? "Princess...we're so sorry...we didn't mea-"
"I know, and I am sorry, but you must understand you are all targets for whatever monsters Destiny sends to find you. Now, please make haste, gather your things, I will send a messenger to inform the train station you four are to be taken to Ponyville immediately. Is there anything you would like to ask before leaving?"
"No," responded all four of them. In reality, they had many questions, but deep inside they knew neither of the princesses would have an answer, and so, they bowed to their princesses and departed for Alpha and Omega's house to grab whatever belongings they planned to take.
Virtuoso and Lightning quickly grabbed their bags from the two rooms they had stayed in, Alpha and Omega knew what they wanted to take and the four of them quickly gathered everything they would need. Virtuoso, who was drinking a cup of water in the living room while Lightning and Omega took turns going to the bathroom, noticed Alpha take a picture from a drawer and wondered what the picture was off. He realized the siblings probably wouldn't return to their house in a while, so it must have been a picture that held sentimental value. He decided to ask her later, right now they had to hurry to the train station.
After all four of them had gathered everything they thought was needed they walked outside, Alpha and Omega were the last ones to step outside. Wondering how long it would be before they returned, they took one last look at everything they loved and finally Omega locked the door. The four made their way to the Canterlot train station wondering what sort of sick games Destiny had planned for them. No, not games, Destiny didn't seem like the kind of villain that takes delight in pointlessly torturing her enemies, so then what was the point of sending two chimeras after them? a test maybe?
Upon arriving at the train station they were greeted by a pony that must have been one of the trains engineers, "You four look like the ponies we're supposed to take to Ponyville, the conductor has been expecting you, lets go," he said without even introducing himself. Virtuoso thought he either wasn't a very friendly pony or the messenger Celestia sent made it clear this was an urgent matter.
The train they rode on this time was much bigger than the one they took to Canterlot. The cabins were a little more spacious and it appeared to be longer too. The four friends were led to a cabin and soon afterwards the train began to move. Slowly at first, they all looked outside the three windows their cabin had and saw Canterlot slowly being left behind. It was almost night now and they were all tired from the days events. Disregarding the doctors orders and eating a proper meal for dinner, they each had a single hay sandwich and tried to get some sleep.
Virtuoso thought he would never be able to sleep with all the thoughts in his head, but that proved false and he quickly fell sleep. The others thought the same but soon everypony had fallen sleep. The only sounds were the wheels of the train, the occasional train whistle, and Omegas snoring...
Dawn approached and Virtuoso was awoken by a strange sound. In sounded like hooves making contact with metal, but what could it be? a train engineer? no, that couldn't be it because it sounded like it was coming from the roof of the train. The cabin they had been given had two bunk beds, alarmed, Virtuoso carefully got down from the top bunk of the bed he shared with Lightning.
"Pssst, Lightning, wake up,"
The Pegasus slowly opened his eyes, "Virtuoso? what is it?"
"Do you hear that?"
Lightning closed his eyes and listened, at first he didn't hear anything strange, but he soon heard it too, "What is that? it sounds like-"
"Like hooves taking a mid night stroll on top of the train?" said Omega, Lightning wondered if Virtuoso's movement woke him up, or if he had been awake for a while now.
Omega got out of bed and called out to his sister, "Hey Alpha, rise and shine, looks like our day stars early today."
"What are you talking about? It can't be more than-" she was cut off by a loud smash that couldn't have been more than two carts away. They also heard some ponies scream and gasp, "...What was that?"
Virtuoso was preparing for the worst, "I think the most rational answer would be more of Destiny's pests, guys, I think we should get out of this cabin...and probably this cart."
Lightning was the first to step outside, the halls were dark, as expected, but numerous lights were beginning to turn on as more ponies were waking up. Lightning heard another loud smash coming from the cart right in front of theirs, followed of course, by startled gasps and screams. A deep threatening voice demanded, "Where are they?!"
"Who are they?!" asked a stallion, panic and fear in his voice.
"The vessels, we can smell them nearby. Now tell me where they are or I'll smash your skull open!"
We? Great, that meant there was more than one, and that last sentence alarmed Lightning. "Guys," he said quickly, "go to the back of the cart, where all the carts carrying commercial materials are, I'll lead them there and we can dispatch of them there."
"Are you crazy we don't even know what these things are, how are you so sure we can get rid of them?" protested Omega.
"Well what else can we do? if we don't show ourselves they'll hurt the other passengers!"
"You won't tell me then?" came the same deep voice from the cart, "then I guess you're of no use to us,"
"NO!" screamed a mare and a filly, they must have been the stallions family.
"Ok, hurry Lightning, we'll be waiting at the cart with coal I saw before we got here, maybe once whatever those things are get on it we can open it and they'll fall out." Omega, Alpha, and Virtuoso ran to carts that trailed in the back of the train. These were the carts that carried coal, lumber, etc.
After they had exited the cart Lightning hurried to the door that connected his cart with the cart containing the monsters. "Are you looking for me?" he exclaimed as he opened the doors. He saw three Minotaur, they were a bit smaller than a Minotaur called Iron Will he saw while passing by a town once, but they definitely looked meaner. Unlike Iron Will, the're coats were black as night and they had red eyes that gave them a menacing look. Their horns were sharper too and they appeared to be wearing mantels over their muscular bodies made of skinned animals. The one holding the stallion dropped him before doing any damage and told his comrades, "Hunt him down!"
Lightning quickly took off in the direction his friends ran and hoped they had figured out how to open the door to the cart containing coal. The Minotaur were much bigger than Lightning so they had trouble chasing after him, eventually they must have gotten tired of being careful. One of them stopped and after letting out a deafening "RAAAAA" charged at Lightning, smashing through anything that got in his way. The brutes went right through everything disregarding their own bodies, they smashed through metal bars, anything left in the hallways of the train, and Lightning even stopped closing the door every time he entered a new cart because he realized it was pointless. He finally entered a room that was full of coal, and figuring they only had a couple of seconds before the Minotaur were upon them looked around for his friends. Walking over the coal was uncomfortable and he was relieved to see Virtuoso waving to him across the room, he saw that Virtuoso and Alpha entered the next cart and Omega was ready to pull a lever. He ran past Omega almost tripping on all the coal and seconds later he heard the horrible stomping of the Minotaur. that particular cart didn't have a roof and there was a pillar of coal in the middle of the cart, so, they couldn't see if all the Minotaur had entered but Omega didn't wait and pulled the lever.
The train was now on a bridge, and to either side was a long drop leading to a lake. When Omega pulled the lever, the door fell wide open and the coal started falling to the lake below. They heard two bodies hit the coal with an "hoof!" and two of the three Minotaur were slipping with the coal out of train. They tried to crawl back into the train, but the current of coal was too difficult to go against and they fell to the lake. One of the Minotaur remained, he had grabbed the edge of the door and managed to hold on while most of the coal fell out of the cart. He was regaining his footing and looked at the four ponies, anger evident in his gaze. Omega realized they couldn't keep retreating into the back of the train or they would be trapped, so...
"Guys, we have to fly out!"
'What!" exclaimed Virtuoso.
"Don't worry Virtuoso, we'll catch you." Alpha and Omega were already flying besides the train. Lightning quickly jumped out and only Virtuoso remained in the train. The only remaining Minotaur was carefully making its way to were Virtuoso stood with a conflicted expression. Virtuoso looked at the Minotaur and jumped out. He closed his eyes and sure enough Alpha and Omega caught him by the front hooves. The sudden gain in weight made Alpha and Omega drop in altitude and lose a bit of their balance, Virtuoso expected to suddenly feel himself falling again but Alpha and Omega quickly regained control. The three Pegasi, along with Virtuoso, flew to the front of the train and entered the conductors cabin.
The windows in the conductors cabin didn't have any glass, and aside from the trains controls the only other thing in the cabin was a door that separated it from the room were the firemen adds coal to a furnace to fuel the train. The conductor was startled by the four ponies who suddenly flew inside his cabin through one of the big windows.
"What are you four doing here?" he asked after getting over the initial shock.
"There is no time to explain," started Omega, "Is there any way you could stop the train and get everyone of board?"
"Why would you ask something like that?"
"There is a marauding monster on board, and we need to get rid of hi-"
A frantic pony ran into the cabin, "There is a Minotaur making his way here," he stopped to catch his breath, "all the passengers are inside their cabins and he hasn't barged into any of them, but he keeps yelling something about vessels."
Lightning exchanged look with Virtuoso who was just recovering from the little flight he had just taken. The cabin started to shake, the Minotaur was getting closer. Virtuoso looked at the conductor, "stay here, we'll take care of him," he said not sounding too sure in his own words. The four friends went the the furnace cabin and waited for the Minotaur to walk in. None of them were sure of what to do, Omega noticed one of two point pitchforks used to poke coal once inside the furnace and picked it up with his mouth. What were they thinking? what could they possibly do to such a beast?
The Minotaur burst through the door of the furnace room and looked around. Lightning, Omega, and Virtuoso were standing in the middle of the room and Alpha was in the far corner. The Minotaur moved closer to the three stallions standing in the middle and made a swing at Virtuoso, he missed and before he could regain his posture the three stallions leaped on him. They were trying to wrestle him to the ground with little success, Alpha, not sure of what to do began maneuvering around the struggling Minotaur. She was passing the open furnace when the Minotaur managed to fling Omega into one of the carts walls. The impact of Omega hitting the wall shook the cart and made the furnace door fall and almost hit Alpha. Alpha had slightly unfolded her wings due to the heat coming from the furnace and managed to duck before the heavy door hit her. The door, however, managed to shut on the wrist of her right wing.
"Aah!" she screamed, catching the attention of the Minotaur. Looking at her, the Minotaur flung Lightning and Virtuoso off his body and approached the trapped Pegasus. Alpha frantically tried to free her wing, it wasn't exposed to the fire of the furnace but without freeing it she wouldn't be able to move. The Minotaur, who had a sadistic grin on his face, put a massive hand on the Alpha's neck, opened the door to the furnace, and slowly started to push her head in. "NOOO!" screamed Alpha as she struggled, but there wasn't much she could do against the brute force of the Minotaur. Omega, who had just recovered from hitting the wall, saw this and had one thought. I need to kill him. Now.
Looking around, he found the two point pitchfork he had picked up when he had first entered the room and picked it up with his two front hooves. Since the room wasn't too big he only needed a small propulsion of his wings to reach the Minotaur. With a scream of rage he thrust the pitchfork into the Minotaur's neck, instantly releasing his grip on Alpha. She fell to the floor and rolled away from the Furnace, the Minotaur tried to pull the pitchfork out, but it was lodged far too deep. He gagged for a while before falling to the floor of the furnace room. The Minotaur's skin began to turn into black fog and after a while the only thing that remained of him was his skeleton. Alpha ran to Omega and he comforted her as she cried...
The sun was rising and Ponyville could be seen in the distance.