//------------------------------// // Kicking, Fighting, Until the End // Story: Urohringr // by Imploding Colon //------------------------------// With a shout, Rainbow Dash plunged into utter darkness. She felt stuffy patches of air nipping at her ears and bangs. Squinting, she ran a hoof over the lightning pendant hanging from her neck. Immediately, a solid ring of blurred stone walls illuminated around her in a ruby glow. There was barely any room to breathe, much less spread her wings out straight. So, she did neither. Squeezing her body into the shape of a blue torpedo, she hurled herself down the near-vertical shaft in the heart of the mountain. It was around this time that she heard a deaffening salvo of echoes and roars. She narrowed her eyes and looked behind her. Just beyond her ruby aura, a solid wall of gray ethereal light came charging down after her. The monsters were gaining inches by the second, their fangs, talons, and scales streaking after her whipping tail. Rainbow Dash stopped looking behind. She set her eyes on the darkness ahead, twirling her body like a corkscrew as she fought the increasing friction of her claustrophobic dive. The walls were smooth and polished from changeling acid, and soon they started spreading apart, opening up into a grand cavern of sorts. When Rainbow pierced her way into the lower depths, she could feel the ghostly echo of her wind-splitting wings. It morphed into a whining sound that echoed off every extremity of the cavern. Rainbow pivoted until she faced the direction from which the last echo reverberated. Sure enough, the Yaerfaerda symbol glistened from beyond. Rainbow hurled herself towards it, wheezing for breath in the deep, deep tomb. Soon, the darkness from beyond swallowed up her ruby pendant altogether, as well as the ribbons of spectral beasts sailing after her. The Jurists congregated inside and outside of the ship. Eagle Eye and Ebon sat on the hangar's entrance, their hooves intertwined as they gently, quietly nuzzled each other. Josho watched from a distance, occasionally staring out into the misty treeline beyond where the Noble Jury was parked. Bellesmith and Pilate sat together in the grass while Kera paced anxiously around them. Several times, Belle tried coaxing the little filly to stop and rest, but the foal insisted on trotting in worried little circles. Pilate tilted his head up. Standing along the port side of the Noble Jury's upper deck were Zaid and Props. Zaid was murmuring something into Props ear, all the while rubbing her shoulder. Props shook, quivered, then clenched her teary eyes shut. In a sad fit, she galloped off and ran down the stairwell. Zaid stood in place, sighing. He glanced towards the cockpit where Josho, Floydien and Booster Spice could be seen, sitting limply against the wooden rails of the starboard side. With a limp breath, Zaid stared back at the forest clearing beneath the ship. He squinted. One shape stood on the treeline's edge, staring ever vigilantly into the mountain mists, not moving a single muscle. Rainbow's wings were growing numb, as were her ear drums. The shrieks of the monsters were all around her, closing in on her, consuming her. She hissed and panted for breath, but she couldn't feel her lungs at this point. The whole world was a soupy puddle at the bottom of a heartless abyss. All that accompanied her was the sickly pale glow of every conceivable abomination from nightmares. As the legions of chaos closed in, she felt the walls doing the same. Something was glowing along the uneven floor of the cavern. Rainbow Dash looked down, and her eyes reflected row after row of tombstones. Only they weren't tombstones, but instead giant silver strips of chaos metal laid side by side for hundreds of meters. Queen Chrysalis' devilish hoofwork was evident everywhere Rainbow looked, and as her living self sailed over the unearthly "nests," she heard louder and fresher shrieks. Like infant banshees, entire flocks of nubile monsters flew up from the metal strips where they were demonically spawned. They joined the hungry crowd flocking after Rainbow's tail, adding to the speed of their malevolent pursuit. Sweat dripped off Rainbow's aching limbs. She took one fateful look back—and that's when it happened. Her eyes flickered, and it tore her lungs inside out. "Aaaugh!" Rainbow yelped, dropping rapidly. She flapped her wings twice as hard, straining against the cold air as dizziness set in. Seething, she lifted up, barely skimming the tops of the silver strips. Tiny serpents leapt out, nipping and snapping at her flesh. She kicked off of them and propelled herself towards the cavern ceiling, bobbing and weaving in a vain attempt to even out. She was panting at this point, hyperventilating. She flung her head forward, trying to look straight ahead. The Yaerfaerda symbol was a twirling streak of alien light. She couldn't center herself—couldn't glide evenly. And this was when the first of several monsters pounced on her body. "Nnnngh—Gagh!" She twisted, twirled, and bucked the thing off. Two more pounced on her, dragging her legs and wingtips down to the jagged cavern floor. "Mmmmgnnngh—Raaaagh!" She bucked and bucked and kicked the things off. Wheezing for breath, she tried ascending once more. The abominable flock closed in all around her. With fangs barred and claws raking, they folded around the pegasus, dragging her into the glowing depths of the swarm, slowing her flight to a bloody grind. Soon, the rest of the legion caught up, bunching up in the center of the cavern, dogpiling on the putrid strip of pony flesh. The stuffy air was ripe with victory roars and clattering jaws. As the suffocating group grew thicker and thicker, their chaotic glow glistened off a solid wall ahead of them... a golden door looming just a few fateful meters away. Ebon was exhausted. He lay his chin on Eagle Eye's forelimbs as he succumbed to dull slumber. Eagle caressed his mane, pausing every now and then to stare at the changeling's finely crafted fibers. He sniffled, his muzzle neutrally caught between and smile and a sob. He leaned down multiple times, kissing the top of Ebon's fuzzy head while staring into the forest. Past where Pilate, Belle, and Kera sat, Eagle could still see the figure of Roarke. The metal mare hadn't sat for one second. Even if her legs trembled, she still remained standing, staring like a stalwart statue into the murky depths of the forest. Her ears twitched every now and then, but her rigid stance was absolute. Eagle Eye bit his lip. He tilted his muzzle down down and nuzzled Ebon in his sleep, closing his eyes before the tears could squeeze out. Deep inside the mountain, the feasting cluster of monstrosities began to relax... to settle. Their scales loosened while their tails and talons went slack. Then, all of the sudden, there was an undulating quiver of flesh, emanating outward from the center of the ravenous pile in a violent wave. A second later— POW! The bodies went flying in every direction, their flesh smoking with trailing embers. In a beam of bright ruby light, Rainbow's body shot out from the center of the horde. She collapsed five seconds later, stumbling across the cold stone floor. Her pendant's ruby glow flickered, highlighting dozens of scrapes and deep cuts along her body. Her breath was a pained shriek. She lurched forward, vomiting blood and mucus onto the craggy granite. Wincing, wheezing, she squinted up with one good eye. The door to the machine world loomed straight ahead. She saw the Urohringr symbol in all its golden brilliance, and through the encroaching fogginess she made out Austraeoh and Eljunbyro and a few others as well. Hissing in pain, she dragged herself forward, leaving bloody little streaks across the cavern floor. The pegasus inched her way towards the door. Shrieks sounded off behind her; she sensed shadows soaring in. "Rgghhh!" She spun around, clamped her pendant with two bloodied hooves, and aimed high. Fl-Flash! With two well-aimed harmonic blasts, she crippled a pair of serpents before they got a chance to touch her. They collapsed in burnt heaps on either side. More monsters rushed in. Rainbow pulled herself up with quivering wings, stumbling towards the door. When her hoof made contact, she could spot the blood splatter before the metal began glowing. Just as the air filled with the tell-tale whine of harmonic enchantment, three beasts leapt on Rainbow's backside. One took a ragged bite of her shoulder. "Aaaaaugh!" Rainbow howled in pain. She shook two of them off and struggled with the third one whose fangs were lodged in her flesh. Hissing, she instead flattened her body against the metal door. A pony-shaped light emanated from the gold surface in response, intensifying in brilliance. Not long after, the serpent biting into Rainbow shrieked as it dissolved from the outside in, finally releasing its grip. As the doors parted, a combination of pressurized air and golden light knocked several of the leaping monsters back. They bellowed in pain, struggling to get closer to Rainbow Dash and finish her butchered corpse off. Rainbow clenched her teeth in pain. She tried standing up, but the blood from her wounds made her slip on the metal floor. Wheezing, she stumbled forward, then moved the only remaining strong parts of her—her wings. Like a limp balloon, she drifted into the halls of the machine world. Her torn body was followed by a golden glow, illuminating rows upon rows of long-dormant pendulums and gears and pulley systems. The immaculate platinum surfaces reflected her ragged body as she fluttered unevenly like a ghost, lost in the abandoned basement of a forsaken world. Her eyes twitched left and right, searching for her center. It was then that she realized that the glow of Yaerfaerda was all around her, blinding her. So, instead, she squinted bravely into the luminous bowels, seeking the focal point of her goal. At last she found it, below her and to the right. Careful not to let her wings go fully limp, she descended slowly through the metallic maze. She heard a crackling echo behind her. The beasts finally recovered from the door's opening, and the whole entire legion soared in, raking their claws against the untouched surfaces of the holy place. They rattled gears and pistons and chains as they searched every crevice for the living pegasus that had opened the domain. When they at last found her, it was at the far end of a bridge, in the center of which loomed a bright golden pedestal with an even brighter flame. Rainbow saw it, and she ignored the resounding shrieks of the monsters as they closed in around her. She angled her wings and glided straight for Yaerfaerda, its six circles rotating faster and faster as she got closer. She held her breath, stretching a hoof straight forward. Wh-Wham! A serpent slammed into her side. "Hrkkk!" She collapsed, rolling off the bridge. She gripped the metal surface at the last second—even thinking to raise a rear hoof up and buck the serpent on its second approach. She pulled herself forward, tugging weakly at the floor. Two more serpents landed. She blasted one with the light from her pendant and uppercutted the other with her hoof. Then, on the next breath, her body went deathly cold. "Guh!" Rainbow fell chin-first against the bridge. Blood pooled around her, but she couldn't feel it. She couldn't even smell it. Every time she opened her red-on-yellow eyes, the world swam blazing pirouettes. She tried whimpering somepony's name, but all that came out was bile. Between the feverish blinks, she realized that something in her legs was mustering the strength to pull her forward, but it was a pitiable crawl at best, and the entire legion of monsters had closed in around her, circling at just a spit's distance. Up ahead, the pedestal was just a trot or two away, though the ruby flame billowed thinner and thinner, dying out—just like another light. Rainbow's eyes darted through the dizziness to see that her pendant was dimming. Half a second later, she was howling in pain, gripping her forehead as two fixed points bled out along her brow. She felt the brush of suddenly hairy fetlocks while a singular fang ripped through the gums in her teeth. Rolling over onto her back, Rainbow hugged herself, spasming in pain. She didn't expect it to be this agonizing... to feel so excruciating. A queer thought entered her mind: that her biggest mistake all these months was fighting it. Upon contemplating that, the numbness returned. Her yellow eyes opened, and she saw the monsters swarming in on her, for they knew—as she knew—that there was no harmony left to keep them at bay. Her eyes rolled back, and she shaded herself from the mess of fangs with a pair of twitching limbs. It would do no good. The creatures descended on Rainbow in a violent, churning mass of teeth and claws. At the same exact time, the ruby flame atop the pedestal went out completely.