“Did you hear me, ya putrid waste of spit?!” Revan shouted. Waving bands of waterlight reflected off his blade, and he pointed threateningly at the three figures standing atop the raised platform before the large sepulcher. “I'm gonna murder you harder than your mother killed herself upon seeing what a flank-backwards slimeball she squirted into this world!”
“Nopony steals from the Syndicate and gets away with it!” Cold Stone hollered. He levitated several daggers and spat on the ancient stone floor. “We're gonna make you pay through every organ!”
“Rainbow Dash,” Twilight flew in close, whispering in the pegasus' ear. “There's simply too many of them.”
“What are we going to do?!” Rarity whimpered.
Twilight continued: “These aren't like the small group of pirates you beat up way back over the ocean.” She gulped. “They outnumber us over ten to one!”
“Twitchy Tail!” An undisturbed voice delightfully chirped.
THUNKKK! Behind the Desperadoes, the entrance to the lower chambers collapsed, courtesy of lingering tremors. Bard, Wildcard, and Rainbow Dash coughed and wheezed in the ensuing smoke cloud.
“Well...” Bard waved a hoof in front of his muzzle. “We can't turn tail and run. So there goes my first idea.”
“There's no escape now, pissheads!” Revan hollered, stepping closer towards the stone stairs leading up to the three. “We have the only entrance blocked and there's nothing but thousands of feet of water piled on top of us! You're coming out of this a cold corpse!”
“But... uhm...” Jeryn leaned in, smiling nervously. “If you would be so kind as to testify against the accusations being brought upon us by a certain Theanim Mane—” Revan's hoof slammed against his chest. “Ooof!”
“Just tell us where you've put all our platinum bars from Rust!” Revan shouted. “And we just might kill you off a little less painfully. Ain't nopony's choice but ours. So what it'll it be, ya bastards?” Schiiiing! He dragged the blade across the floor, spilling sparks everywhere. “The bloody way? Or the extra bloody way?”
All of Revan's thugs growled and shook, ready to come charging up the steps at the drop of a hat.
Rainbow Dash panted and panted. He glanced at the many angry faces aimed her way. Sweat formed along her brow in large bulbous drops.
Somewhere, hidden deeply between Rainbow's hyperventilating breaths, Verlax's words rung with a haunting echo: “'Before you reach the edge, you are going to have to do very disharmonious... very dishonest... very unkind things.'”
The mare blinked, and in that blink she saw dead bodies and broken managliders lining the depths of Sapphire Ravine. Somewhere muddy and forgotten, the flesh of Xonan and Ledomaritan soldiers decomposed. Names vanished within the confines of Pale Shelf and Nevlamas' deathly ashes swirled in the air.
“We... we have to act quick...” Rainbow tried speaking, but her words came out in a dry murmur. “If... if we split up... uhm... take out separate groups... we m-might be able to knock 'em all out—”
“Hate to burst yer bubble, darlin',” Bard whispered back, eyes locked on the bloodthirsty crowd below. “But these here folks ain't got nothin' left to lose. They won't stop until the three of us are dead, and knockin' 'em out won't do nothin'.”
“But... but...”
Bard shook his head with a somber expression. “Ponies are gonna die in the next few seconds, Rainbow,” Bard said, tightening his grip of the staff. “And from the looks of it, I dun think their numbers are gonna die faster...”
“He... he c-can't be serious!” Rarity scoffed. “Is he serious?”
“Rainbow, I...” Twilight bit her lip. “I-I can't think of any ideas! This... this...”
“Well?!” Revan started marching icily up the steps. “Where's your bravado now, flankholes?! Come face your death with some balls! I'll feed 'em to you while you're still breathing!”
With thudding hooves, the entire group of stallions stomped up after him. The room shook with noise as the mob grew closer, closer...
Rainbow's eyes twitched. Once more, Verlax's words swam through her brain: “And before you rapture this world from its frigid plight... a lot... and I do mean a lot of souls are going to die.”
“This is it...” Bard spoke firmly, holding his staff out as he stood before Rainbow Dash. “I'm the biggest of the bunch. I'll take the first wave—”
“No,” Rainbow exhaled. She stared a thousand yards ahead. Somewhere, high above, Yaerfaerda pulsed with a dim yellow glow. She couldn't bare to look at it any longer, so she shut her eyes and swam into darkness. “Get behind me.”
Wildcard and Bard looked at her, gawking. “Huh?”
“Her test isn't over...” Rainbow gulped. Rainbow shuddered. Her hoof reached up to her pendant. “...I... I've learned to make peace with my chaotic side before.” She clenched her teeth. “It's about time I showed it.”
Rarity and Twilight peered over, their faces overwrought with both curiosity and confusion. “Rainbow Dash...?”
“Twilight... Rarity... Pinkie...” Rainbow stifled a whimper as she started pulling the Element of Loyalty off. “I'm sorry—”
“Rainbow Dash.” A voice thundered through the mare's head, and it wasn't Verlax's this time.
Rainbow gasped. Her eyes flashed open, red-on-yellow. She clasped the pendant back into place. “Camellia!”
“Fear not,” the Siren's voice rang. “Help has arrived.”
“Help...?!” Rainbow seethed, leaning forward. “Your Majesty, what kind of help?!”
“What?!” Bard sputtered. “Is it Camellia?!”
“Camellia?” Jeryn stammered from down below.
“Huh?!” Revan's brow furrowed. “What the hell are you even going on about?!”
“Oooooooh! There it is!” Pinkie Pie sang.
Rainbow looked over.
Pinkie Pie floated upside down, rubbing her pink face. “My nostril hairs are starting to poke out! Heehee!” She turned and grinned at Rainbow Dash. “That can only mean that a giant scaly sea serpent with razor sharp teeth is about to swallow us whole!”
Rainbow did a double-take. Her eyes tilted up... up... and up...
Suddenly, the whole sepulcher rumbled. A loud wailing noise bounced off the walls. Revan came to a stumbling stand-still, as did all of his frazzled henchstallions. A few of them fell down the stairs, grunting and yelping in surprise.
“Huh...?!” Revan spun about. “Cold Stone?!”
“I... I don't know what's happening, Boss!” The unicorn lackey stammered. “It couldn't be the Siren Bitch's direct involvement! Unless...”
“Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaah! Aaaaaaaah!” Jeryn shrieked and shrieked even higher. He collapsed while pointing out the wavering wall of magic water.
“What is it?!” Revan frowned, turning to stare out into the ocean. “I swear, you're even a bigger puss—” His jaw fell as he dropped his weapon. Cl-Clank! The air around him filled with the collective gasp of the henchstallions.
There was no sign of the ocean any longer, for the entire view was blocked by the enormous girth of a gigantic fish. Its brown and yellow scales loomed closer until soon the massive jaws of the thing lingered just a few mere feet from the aquakinetic barrier. At last, a set of glistening headcrests fanned out, and the leviathan's enormous jaws opened wide, revealing a gaping maw and an even wider throat.
“Oh goddess!” Jeryn cowered, covering his muzzle and shivering on the floor. “Oh Goddess Verlaxion, I'm sorry for everything I've ever done—!”
“Hell's bells!” Bard's voice cracked for the first time since Rainbow met him. He and Wildcard leaned against each other, shivering. “What in tarnation is that thing?!”
“Rainbow...!” Twilight gasped.
The monster's jaws broke through the magic field, collapsing it in a wet flash.
Rainbow gulped hard as the blood rushed into her ears, silencing everything but her own voice: “Ultimo.”
SPLOOOOOOOOOOOOOOSH!
Water came rushing in—an impenetrable wall of it. There was no escape from the relentless deluge, save for one direction—the sea serpent's mouth. Screaming and flailing, every member of the Syndicate was swept off his hooves and carried forcefully into the thing's gaping jaws.
And they weren't alone.
“Aaaaaaaaaaugh!” Bard wailed, thrashing about as the whirlpool dragged him and Wildcard. “Not pretty! Not pretty!”
“Just hold your breath!” Rainbow hollered, reaching out to grab his hoof.
“But... b-but...!”
“Hold your breath!” Rainbow reached her other hoof out and yanked Wildcard by his tail. “Trust me!” She inhaled the last pocket of air—just before the raging rapids dragged her and everypony else underwater. Within a blink, she, Bard, Wildcard, and all her ghostly friends were sucked into the beast's protective mouth. A pink pony sailed in last, her body shrunken into a joyous cannonball.
“Weeeeeeeeeeeee-hee-hee-heeeeee!”