//------------------------------//
// The Burning Pit 
// Story: Trading Pains 
// by DJSaltine 
//------------------------------//

	“Beautiful, isn’t it?” the statue stated happily looking down to the pit.  “They feed off of the oxygen in anything they burn.  Kind of like us.  Living on the ruin of other beings.”  He looked to Une.  She stared back as if in a trance.
“What are you going to do?” Twilight stated, her face showing anger but her shaky voice indicated her uncertainty.  She began to twitch as several waves of fear passed over her.
The statue cackled.  His eyes showed madness, their dark pupils sparkling at the crackling fire below.  “You are merely one of my sacrifices.”  He looked to her six friends.  Rainbow Dash was struggling to get her entangled wings released from the root.  Applejack tried to loosen her restraints by bucking her shoulders back and forth.  Rarity resisted the constraints, but was cautious not to muss up her hair anymore.  Fluttershy fought the roots rather softly; still in her gentle nature.  Pinkie Pie jittered uncontrollably as if in a state of extreme happiness, making it difficult to tell if she was actually trying to escape or just copying her friends’ movements.  Zecora wasn’t struggling anymore.  She looked like she had just given up.  “But, not to fear.  You are not to be the only ones.”
Twilight’s ears twitched.  She wasn’t watching the giant hole of flames below, but the mad-colt raving before her.
“Remember the ponies of your town.  This shall be the last you’ll see of them.”  Arachlath stepped back a bit.  “Allure, begin the chanting, so that I may be released from this prison.”  The statue turned to Allure.
Allure bowed, his hood falling over his head, and looked beyond the fire.  Quietly, he mumbled an incantation, dusting several herbs downward in a gentle shower.  Against the glow underneath, the powder shined a golden mist, daintily falling lower.  His mumbling rose to normal speaking before entering a crescendo as he yelled out “Enter me, Arachlath, let us become one.  Leave the current host behind and eternally set the sun.”
An odd blaze emanated his statue form, alighting it into a smoldering pile of smoking ash.  From the ashes, a disturbance in the smoke pushed the smoke around it, showing its form.  It appeared to be a small circular being crawling out, its six legs flailing about before standing atop the mound.  It could’ve been a spider, but the number of legs was wrong and it didn’t have any eyes.  The small being then pounced off into Allure’s direction, disappearing out of the smoke.
Allure tumbled back three steps, moaning in agony.  He held his hooves to his face and screamed in intense pain as a second face appeared to split off beside his own, separating excruciatingly slow.  The second face came off paler, almost ghost-like, falling behind his head.  As soon as his second face was completely split off, a full form of the strange, pale spirit stood behind him.  Allure stood half-awake, swaying gently.
Suddenly, the being from behind Allure’s head lifted and glared an evil smile.  It then mutated itself, bones snapping and popping as the thing’s chest grew upward, four new limbs cracked out.  The form began to shape into that of the statue of Arachlath.
The form behind Allure laughed, but Allure didn’t move.  “You see before you the perfect symbiotic relationship!  As I live through his body, I grant him with my limitless powers!”  The shadow form moved closer to Allure’s unmoving body.  “He’ll, in turn, live forever and manipulate objects at his own will.  I shall rule this kingdom!”
Suddenly, Allure’s body started to twitch and spastically fell to the floor, his body twitching as if in a seizure.  Arachlath just smiled.  “Such beings cannot handle such power.”  He looked to Allure’s body.  “So sad…”
Zecora looked at the shuddering body of her childhood friend.  Memories flooded back.  Both of them playing together by a waterfall.  Watching the surreal sunrise.  The world was so simple back then.  They were friends.  They cared for each other.
As Zecora watched him twitch, she saw him as a colt.  Her mind returned her to their fillyhood.  They were both by the edge of the torrential waters flowing over the falls, Zecora stood over him, her face frightened and worried.  Both of them were soaking wet, but Zecora was gasping for air while Allure, however, wasn’t able to get any.
The younger Zecora jumped on top of his upper chest and began pressing rapidly.  After ten presses, she put her ear to his muzzle, listening for any form of breath.  Quickly, she began pressing again on his chest.  After three thrusts, Allure coughed up a mouthful of salty water.  He looked up at Zecora and smiled bravely.  Zecora breathed a huge sigh of relief and fell to the ground next to Allure, completely exhausted.
The vision faded to her current predicament, lying next to the body of her fillyhood friend.  Allure’s body seemed to slowly regain control as he attempted to stand up.  His shaky movements didn’t make too much progress, as he failed to completely stand up.  After three attempts, he successfully stood on all four hooves, even if the stance was wobbly and uncoordinated, and looked to the seven, his eyes distant and dreary.  He appeared as if he had been become a zombie.
Arachlath’s form looked down to the finally standing zebra.  “Rise and shine.  The awakening for the rest of your existence.”  He looked down to Allure’s form.  “Stand tall, lower being.  My powers are working their magic!”  A deep rumble echoed somewhere inside Arachlath’s throat.  He began to roll his eyes into the back of his head and open his mouth as if to yawn.  Suddenly, a white substance spewed from his mouth and shot to the entrance of the cavern, its form sticking to the roof and running down to the dirt below.  It formed itself to a spider web-like design that encased them inside, completely blocking the exit.  “Merely a safety net, if you will,” Arachlath stated in a smug tone.
Rainbow Dash smirked.  “Is that all you can do?”
Arachlath didn’t appear affected by the words, in fact, he appeared to have requested them.  “My powers are limitless now that I have this form,” he stated, closing his eight eyes in pride.  “It doesn’t matter what you do, I will forever rule from now on.”  He glared at Rainbow Dash, and, in a manner similar to that of magic, created a knife from thin air.
Everyponies eyes were glued to the object, worried on its eventual placing.  Arachlath slid the blade near Dash’s chin towards her throat, close enough to give her fur a bristle, but not cut the flesh.  He then moved the knife next to his form and let it levitate by his face.  He stuck out his tongue and slid the blade underneath in a smooth cutting motion.  No blood nor indication of puncture was present, however as he held the knife by his head.  He looked down to Allure’s staggering form.
“How do you feel, Allure?” Arachlath asked, almost taunting.  “The power too much?”  He stepped closer to the sickened zebra, his front right hoof resting on Allure’s head.  In an instant, he slit the dagger into Allure’s chest, puncturing the heart.  Allure’s eyes widened, not in fear, but more so in surprise.  Blood spewed out, but still Allure stood.  The knife left his body, covered in the sticky blood, and levitated back to Arachlath’s head.
“ALLURE!” Zecora exclaimed, fear shining in her eyes.  “How dare you harm somepony so pure!”
“Funny, little mind you got there,” the beast said, turning to face only Zecora.  “First. you reject him.  Then, you hate him.  Now, you care for him?  What a message.”  Arachlath laughed.  “He has not been harmed.”
“What do you mean, he’s not harmed?” Twilight yelled, her face showing fright and anger.  “You just stabbed him!”
Arachlath didn’t say a thing.  He just smiled, stabbed the knife into the ground between Allure and Zecora, and looked to the zebra he floated above.  Allure still didn’t move, but, with widened eyes and a stuttering voice, he said, “What is pain?  It’s just a feeling.  Pain comes and goes.  But love comes all so revealing.”  He still stood, unable to move.  “My body feels no feelings.  It doesn’t register pain.  For what would a god such as myself possibly have to gain?”  He closed his eyes and stared to the fiery pit beside him.  “Burn it all away.  Let their bodies go.   Go ahead Une.  Get on with the show.”
Obediently, Une stepped forward and extended her vines to allow every pony to dangle above the spewing lava below.  She smiled as she turned her head to her masters.
“Now then,” stated Arachlath in a business-type manner, “let us commence this ceremony.”
Zecora looked to her six friends and their fate.  “Allure, stop!  It’s not too late!  You must rid yourself of this horrid state!”
Allure’s head turned to Zecora.  “Say what you will, my friend, the fires of betrayal burned me so.  Now it’s time for the new king, and those who oppose, to fall below.”
“Our village will thrive, just you wait!  Stop this now, it’s not too late.”
Arachlath also turned his head.  “I am one with him, now.  No matter what you say, you can’t get to him!”
“We are together, there’s no going away.  We cannot be separated.  They’ll all fall at my say.”  Allure looked into Zecora’s eyes, her iris gleaming in the light.  Beads of sweat and streams of tears flowed from her face.  Allure thought to the time they went for a run by the river, the cool breeze blew through their manes and excited them all the more.  They felt free from all rules and became one with the spirits of the wind.  Then, with a misplaced hole, Allure slipped into the river and was quickly heading for the falls.  He bashed his head onto a rock and blacked out.  When he came to, he spat up water and saw Zecora’s relieved grin looking down on him.  They both lay there, watching the sun set slowly in the distance.  Allure promised himself that he’d save her too one day.  He just never got the chance.
Until now.
“Une, I command you to…” Arachlath started before noticing something wrong.  He was moving.  Not his floating form, that is, but Allure was walking to the pit.
Noticing the advancement, Zecora quickly flopped over to the knife and began to cut through the ropes.
“What are you doing?” Arachlath questioned, his face showing slight fear.
“I wish to get a better look, my lord and god above me.  I want to watch them writhe in pain down below in the fiery sea.”  Allure stood at the precipice of the pit, several pebbles falling into the lava.  He looked down to the six ponies’ demises.
Zecora finished snapping through the ropes and stood up.
“Right, now then…” Arachlath began, his smugness returning.  “Une dro…”
Before he could finish, Allure stood up on his hind hooves and tilted to the flames.  Zecora rushed to catch him before he fell.  She grabbed his hoof as he dangled towards the flames.  “You fool!  What do you want to do?  Suicide doesn’t suite you!”
Arachlath was already howling in pain, his form pulsating and starting to blacken.  Une simply stood in place, a worried look replacing her smile, however.  Yet, despite her creator’s torment, she stood there, dumbfounded.
Allure looked up at Zecora.  “You saved me, now I’ll save you.  This is how it should be.  A life for a life.  Besides, Arachlath’s forever in me.”
“You can’t give up!  We’ll find a way!  You can still live another day!”
“If I would, I might; the probability is low.  Let my hoof go now, we must fall below.”
Zecora’s face was streaming tears.
“Just don’t forget me, Zecora, I’ll never forget you.  My closest colthood friend, and savior, too.” With that, he pulled his hoof away and plummeted down, both Allure and Arachlath’s forms becoming encased in fire as they neared the lava below.
Rainbow Dash quickly struggled the vines loose and tackled the plant-pony away from the pit, sending her friends flying in the same direction.  Everypony stood on solid dirt as a magnificent light glowed from the lava below.  Howls from Arachlath echoed throughout the cave until they slowly died away.
Zecora stepped away from the chasm and returned to the others.
Rainbow Dash held Une between her hooves and glared at the being, its face showing confusion and pain.  Just then, Une smiled and slowly disintegrated into ash.  A wind picked up and whistled the ashes through the cave, a voice echoing ‘thank you.’
Twilight ran to Zecora.  “Are you hurt, Zecora?”
“I’m not sure if any of us will ever be alright, my dear friend, Twilight,” Zecora stated in a depressed tone.  She looked to Twilight’s eyes.  “We may live another day,” Zecora gave a brave smile.  “That, perhaps, makes us ‘okay.’”
Everypony helped each other move towards the mouth of the cave, the beautiful sun glowing down to their bodies.  Twilight looked down to Ponyville.  “As soon as we get more of the antidote, we can cure everypony.”
Zecora said nothing, her eyes almost dreamy, but definitely distant.
“Don’t worry, Zecora, we won!” Rainbow Dash stated proudly, her wings flapping rather loudly as she hovered over the other six.
“In a way, Allure has also won…” Zecora said, staring off into the sunset mysteriously.  Everypony present looked to her in confusion.  “He gave use new pain under Celestia’s sun.”