//------------------------------//
// Chapter 13: The Temple Of Alta 
// Story: The Tales Of A Night Stalker 
// by Don Pedro von Poltergeis 
//------------------------------//

	Winter woke up to the sound of soft humming coming from her left side. She shifted slightly to get a feel of her body and was happy to know that she was as stiff as a piece of erect, hard, wood. Not even the warm blanket that was covering her helped with her soreness. If anything, it just made her more inclined to snuggle deeper into the soft cotton, never again to return to deal with current problems that were aptly named, life. 

She opened her eyes, wondering where she was. The first thing she saw was a Night Stalker sitting in a very uncomfortable position that no pony would like to find themselves in but, she knew that Spooks was far from normal. In her hooves, Winter noticed through her bleary vision that Spooks was cleaning one of her guns, but she couldn't say which. She rubbed her eyes clear of the gunk that formed during dream time and sat up next to Daring, who was laying right beside her fast asleep. 

"Hey," Spooks quietly said without looking away from her work. Winter looked around in a daze, learning that she was in a small barracks that had a large fire pit in the center to keep everyone warm. Most of the group was resting in the many beds that surround the fire pit against the wall. She was laying down on a blanket next to Daring Do and underneath her wing, that was keeping her warm.

"What time is it?" Winter asked with a weak groan as she placed Daring's wings back at her side, causing the older mare to frown and grumble at the touch. 

"Around midnight," Spooks calmly replied. "You've been out for a while now. Oh, and here. Found this in the tower on the way up," she said before handing Winter her Desert Eagle that had Ash etched in with the azure-blue markings along the barrel. 

Winter took her gun and holstered it back under her jacket, slightly afraid that her best friend was, almost, lost to the burning tower. She looked over to Daring with a curious look, wondering why she carried her the rest of the way. This silence of thought was broken by the Night Stalker. 

"So, who were you before you came here?" Spooks asked, breaking the silence in the room. Winter froze, pursing her lips in response, causing Spooks to sigh and set down her gun and cleaning tools before looking up at her with soft eyes. 

"Look, if you don't want to talk about it, I'll understand. There are some parts in my life that I'd rather forget also," Spooks said with a sad look in her eyes, shaking her head. "You know what? What if we tell each other parts of our past?" 

"Alright, but you first," Winter replied reluctantly. 

"Okay—" Spooks said before adopting a thought filled expression for a long while. "—It was the year of 1965, I joined the Spetsnaz, the Vympel unit to be exact. My first mission with my squad was a month later after I finished my training and joined up. From what I can remember, it was a hostage rescue mission, but it went south real fast." Spooks said with a nostalgic smile. 

"As luck would have it, the person that we were sent to save was fraudulent. My squad and I were ambushed at the pick-up where the target was supposed to be according to our Intel, however. There was this crazy group that called themselves, 'The Pink Bears.' These motherfuckers were bearded guys with pink beards," Spooks giggled in reverence that Winter thought sounded ridiculous, which it was. 

"So here we were, having a firefight with a bunch of half-naked guys when suddenly, Vladimir, our squad leader, started laughing. We, of course, joined in, that is until I was shot in the chest with a gun that one of the pink bearded guys was hiding, and I still have the scar to prove it too," she boasted with a pat of her chest. "Anyways, the stand-off ended after I was shot, ending my first mission with the Spetsnaz. I know it sounded weird, but it really happened," Spooks finished with a chuckle. "Now, I believe it's your turn." 

"I was, in a sense, without a home. I left the nest when I was sixteen and began to travel all of North America. Why I left, well, the bitch that gave birth to me was completely insane. I-I couldn't stay. If I did, I would have been tortured by her for the rest of my life, but, of course. My luck with finding pain wherever I go always sends me the worst, and she showed up with my psychopathic sisters as well. My left wing is proof of that," she sighed solemnly and flexed the biggest scar on her body, showing Spooks what Teresa did to her.

"Anywho. After I left the nest. I began traveling around the countryside. I ended up in Toronto, where I met this guy who taught me how to play the guitar. It was also there that I bought a silenced 9mm and a Desert Eagle, which my guys in R&D replicated quite perfectly from memory alone," she paused for a moment, remembering something that she wasn't proud of doing. 

"I had to use them a few times. In self-defense of course. The first person that I killed was a crazy fuck that tried to rob me while I slept underneath a bridge. I never got caught because my guns were untraceable and bleach was my friend for removing all evidence that I left behind. The Russian Mafia got word that I killed a few of their trouble makers and offered me a job to be a hitman. The same offer was given to me by the Colombian Drug Cartel, but I declined both of them, even though I could have made hundreds of thousands of dollars offing people that they didn't like. I remember that I woke up in Equestria after I declined the Russians offer, but that isn't important now." 

"Here," Spooks said and extended her right foreleg and brushed through the fur, showing warped skin underneath it. "Ten years later and several successful missions later. We recovered an anonymous tip about a spy from the U.S," Spooks started again. "It was a different time back then and when we got a tip about something like what we found. The KGB always went a little insane about it."

"They sent my and two other squads to capture the agent, but when we arrived at the place where he was supposed to be, it went south as The Pink Beards, but far worse," she growled at the memory. "We got separated. Some of the guys didn't make it. I was the first to arrive at the destination and found the agent waiting for me," her face darkened further. 

"He did this fucked up evil villain monolog before I was knocked out, and when I came to, well. the agent tortured me for about a week, even dipped my right arm in acid. That happened before I was saved by the rest of my squad, after which I killed the bastard. May he rest in hell next to Hitler," Spooks finished with weak, but fond smile. "Though, I didn't have it as bad as you. Windy told me that what I went through was a field trip compared to being de-winged, but you get the idea. Your turn again." 

"Well, I don't have much else to say really. All I did was move from town to town, playing music and shooting the odd gangster that wanted to pick a fight with me. Though there was the Twin Incident, but that is something that I'm taking to the grave," Winter responded with a chuckle.  

“Sounds like fun,” Spooks said with a smirk. "Also, what happened to your horns and eye mark? They aren't there anymore," Spooks asked. 

        "It's the reason I'm into watersports," she shuddered with a slight flutter of her wings. "And I had a chat with Luna while I was out. She got rid of them now that the effect they had has worn off." 

"Huh, well that's nice, but this 'Twin Incident,' thing, I must know what happened," Spooks said with interest.

        "Not going to happen unless you let two Violets have their way with you for five days straight, and trust me when I say this. You won't want to leave, ever, after they have their fun with you," she shot back. 

        “If they let Windy join in I may go through with this,” Spooks answered with a dreamy look.

        Winter stared at her like she was insane, which she knew she was before talking again. "There is a brothel called, Eternal Desire, in the main shopping district in Silent Hill. There is an option called, Insanity, which lasts for seven days, and costs a lot. Many of the Pornstars that fled Equestria in the collapse of the free media love this option because at the end if you survive. You get free sexy-times in any brothel in Arcadia with a complimentary cleaning and sensitivity rework once a week. Beat the twelve changelings that made the Pony Sutra and maybe, just maybe. I will tell you about the Twin Incident." 

“Challenge accepted,” Spooks said without thinking.

"You are insane," Winter said bluntly. "But I hope you enjoy fifty-inch long dildos."

“Meh, I took in bigger,” Spooks answered with a shrug, “One of the benefits of having a Unicorn as a mare-friend, is that you can get real stretchy.” 

"Oh shut up and fuck already! Some of us are trying to sleep!" Redbeard shouted from his being in pure irritation of the noise coming from the fire pit.

        “Отвали!” Spooks hissed back. 

        "Я хотел бы, но я не трахаться палочки!" Redbeard yelled back.

        “Даже палочки трахаться лучше, чем ты!” Spooks quickly shot back.

        "Tell that to Nirvana. That bitch will break you in ten seconds," Redbeard shot back again. 

        "Hey! She is my favorite Pornstar, and she was the one that wrote the Pegasus Sutra. How do you know about her?" Winter asked with some cheer back in her voice.
 
        "I'm her regular that she can't break, and she is my prime informant, also the reason why I'm still single," Redbeard boasted.

        “Mind telling me more about her methods?” Windy suddenly asked with her voice filled with curiosity.

        "She drinks a vial that most Violets can make when they are charged up with Lust. Basically, what it does is make you exploded for seven hours straight with a single kiss, and why am I tell ya'll this? I should be asleep," Redbeard grumbled.

        “Interesting,” Windy said and threw Spooks an evil look, causing the Night Stalker to hide behind Winter in fright of what her kinky mare-friend might do to her in the future.

        “I need an adult,” Spooks squeaked out from her hiding spot.

        “I am an adult,” Windy purred causing Spooks to whimper.

        "Don't use me as a meat shield! I have it just as bad with Summer, however. That vial can only be used by the one that made it. So you should be safe, but what I want to know is if you can hook me up with Nirvana so she can sign my posters of her," Winter asked Redbeard. 

"Not unless you get your ass to sleep," he replied. 

         "If all of you don't shut up, I will murder you all," Night Heart growled with ice in her voice, causing everyone to freeze in fear for their lives. 

        “We should go to sleep,” Spooks whispered very quietly. 

        "Agreed," Winter whispered back.





The following morning, Spooks woke up like usual and tried to stretch the soreness out of her body from yesterday's events of battle and explosions, however. The word 'tried' was the key word as she quickly learned that there were thing's preventing her from advanced movement. Spooks shot awake that there something was wrong with her flexible body, feeling cold metal around her hooves. The first thing that she saw was muzzle and a large group of guards with their weapons drawn and pointed at them.

Looking around her surroundings, she saw that everyone else was in the same situation as her. Everyone was awake and in chains with guards keeping them in a circle in the room that they were giving to rest, but she noticed that she was the only one with a muzzle on her face, preventing her from using her fangs to kill the bastard that tied up her mare. 

"Mmm?" Spooks hummed a question. 

"Oh, look! The freak is awake," one of the guards sneered, causing Spooks to shoot a hate filled death-glare back at him. "Hey, I think I've hurt its feelings," the guard continued to taunt. 

"Hey! No one calls my mare-friend a freak!" Windy shouted in anger. 

"And what are you going to do about that, huh? Whine us to death?" the guard laughed again, earning himself some laughs from his peers. 

Winter watched in disgust as the guards laughed at Windy and Spooks. Such mockery as humorless and appalling from the guards just showed how low Celestia's soldiers had fallen into the ranks of the honorless. She looked over to Spooks to see if she was holding it together, and raised a curious brow as Spooks wriggled her way over to her. 

"Ptss, Empress Rose? I have a detonator ready to go," Spooks whispered into Winter's ears. Winter frowned at this, knowing that fighting wasn't going to be viable in their current situation. She knew that if they started to fight their way out, the chances of leaving the flying archipelago would become nonexistent. 

"No," She whispered back. "We need to play this safe. Let them kill themselves in the Temple, don't waste your ammo." 

Winter heard Spooks hiss that she had to put her toys away and the quiet 'Click,' of the detonator being turned off. The Night Stalker moved away from Winter for a moment, causing some to look at the two of them with worried eyes. Winter noted this detail as Evelyn walked into the room in a set of gold and green armor that matched her form perfectly in a strong, seductive way. 

She looked around the room as the ponies she asked for help was lifted up in their chains. The venom in the air was not directed to her, however, but to her guards. Her eyes wandered to the filly that could easily kill everyone in the room without a second thought now that she was well rested and ready to go. 

Standing next to the legend herself, Daring Do, was a calm, passive filly, but something was different. Her horns that told everything that she was a Human, as well as her eye mark was gone. She instantly knew that it was removed with the help of Magic. That thought alone was enough to tell her that there was someone watching them from the shadows within the background. Her fear of the filly grew to a pure terror of what the Black Queen was capable of, even though she was chained with Magic suppressors. 

She put those fears aside for the moment. Worry about what was going through the Black Queen's head was not going to help her deal with the trails of the Temple. She turned to the pony that had a douchey smirk plastered on his face and spoke in a clear, stern tone.  "Are the prisoners ready to go?" 

"Yeah, they are ready, or better be if they want to live," the guard chuckled, causing the venom in the room to concentrate on the guard that spoke.

"Don't antagonize them, just get them going to the entrance and make sure the Black Queen is healthy. She is the only one here that knows how to use the key and bring their weapons. We don't know what's in the Temple," Evelyn ordered. 

"Yes, Ma'am," the guard saluted, signaling the rest to march to the temple's entrance. 

Spooks quietly followed behind the fuming mare that she didn't get to cuddle with last night, making note of where all the guards were stationed in the halls of the fort. As she looked where all the guards were hiding in wait for a potential attack, she probed where her bombs would be most effective in the case of a battle were to happen, but she found it rather difficult to find any weak points in the immaculate stonework. 

"What are you looking at?" one of the guards growled as they passed the main gates into the inner sanctum of the fort. Spooks stuck her forked tongue out at the rude guard and continued following the line into the morning sunlight of the courtyard. 

The smell of fire, blood and morning dew filled Spooks senses as she tasted the air. To her right as she walked was a line of white blankets covering the dead near the wall where Flash Sentry was nailed. His blood stain painted a gruesome mark on the wall where he didn't follow the number one rule of war: Watch your six. To the left, however, sat a ship that was being loaded with food and other supplies. 

'Our trip out of here,' Spooks thought as the group stopped in front of the main gates that had a strange circular mark in front of the doors. 

"Open the gates!" shouted Evelyn at the front of the pack, causing Winter to smile as the pure carnage that covered the bridge came into view for everyone.  

Spooks's jaw hung open as the sight of hundreds of dead, charred, and outright vaporized Ponies, Diamond Dogs, Zebras, stained the bridge in blood, guts, and missing limbs. Many of the guards were hesitant to venture into the gore, but when the call to move forward was issued, they swallowed their lunch and covered their nose to dampen the stench of death. 

Winter walked with a skip in her step for the art that she made that painted the bridge. The guards that thought they had absolute control turned green as they passed a zebra that had half of his body turned into mush. The sounds of splashing blood helped the weak guards loose their last meals as the came up to the ashes where a ship used to be. Two unicorn guards used their telekinesis to clear a path. 

"What did this?" one of the guards asked, to Evelyn's horror. 

Winter couldn't help but chuckle at the question and responded with a dark smile. "Jormungand's training did this." This answer caused all of the guards to immediately look away from the filly, knowing now of the threat that they held in chains. 

"Heh, who's that. Some sort of gay super soldier?" the guard that made fun of Windy snarked, causing everyone to freeze in horror at the end of the bridge.

"Sergent, don't make fun of the strongest dragon in the world that gave birth to the Warden: The Guardian of Tartarus," Evelyn growled. "Or else you will die for dishonoring the name of the one that protected the creation of that demon-filled prison. Keep moving," Evelyn ordered, shutting up the Sergeant and anyone else that had any further comments. 

Spooks came up to a large, sapphire, glowing, stone door with the guards. They spread out around the many white, Roman pillars that lined the flat stone walkway along with green grass and hundreds of flowers. Beyond the pillars to the right and left was a large wall that was beyond her words of beauty from the intricate carvings and artwork that decorated the walls.

"Ooh! Shiny," the Sergeant said, looking around the entryway with a smug grin, earning himself annoyed looks from his fellow peers. 

"Is that the door we need to unlock?" Spooks asked, ignoring the Sergeant as he pranced around the sapphire door like it was the coolest thing in the world. 

"Unfortunately, yes," Evelyn replied, looking at the door herself before pulling out the ocarina, wondering how it was supposed to open the door. 

"So, how do we go about unlocking the door? Do we play another song or something?" Spooks continued questioning. 

"Yes, but it could take days or even weeks to figure out the song. All we know is that it's called: The Song of Time, made by the Knight of Courage to seal off the entire temple with these Sapphire doors," Evelyn replied while she studied the markings on the door. 

"So, does anyone know the song?" Spooks threw into the air. 

Winter rolled her eyes and walked up to the plate, grabbing the ocarina from Evelyn with her mouth and sat in front of the door, causing a few strange look from the guards and her group. Spooks watched the filly take a few practice breaths before lifting up the sapphire instrument up to her lips with her chained hooves. 

Then, just like back at the Altar, the second she played the first note, runes appeared on the door while all the ponies that weren't human went into a trance. Spooks used this opportunity to get rid of one of the guards while Winter played the song that held so much power, the air around her shook the ground like thunder.

Spooks took this opportunity to take out a guard that would cause them problems in the future. With a quick a twist of her hooves, she snapped the neck of the Sergeant that was insulting her earlier. His body dropped to the ground in front of the door with a hard *Thud!* Before she returned to her original spot while watching A.T grab the keys for their shackles from one of the other guards, and waited for the song to end. 

Winter watched the sapphire door part down the middle, and open, revealing something truly haunting, while everyone behind her freaked out about the Sergeant's sudden death. She stood before thousands of dead, corpses that looked like they were trying to claw their way out of the Temple until their hooves became nothing but stubs. Some of the bodies looked like they were eaten by their peers out of desperation, judging from the closest teeth marks on some of their bones. What's worse was the river of blood that dried and stained the floor where it looked like foals were drowned in the center of the circular foyer of the dark temple.

"What the fuck," were the only words that escaped her frightened lips.

“Господи,” Spooks gasped out at the sight of the corpses before muttering out a short prayer. The sight of hundreds possibly thousands that died trying to run from the horrors that may still lurk within the opened tomb made her uneasy to the point of not wanting to find out what killed the bodies and skeletons before her. 

"Well, we know now what happened to everyone, but what did this?" Redbeard sighed as he took a swig from his flask. 

“A lot of things could have done this and pony is amongst them,” Spooks said in an emotionless voice while looking around the room, “A better question is: Why?”

“A sacrifice, maybe,” A.T. said as she entered the room herself.

"Unlikely, you can tell from the hysteria of their collective efforts for freedom. Also, from what little there is about Alta, she wasn't the kind of pony to sacrifice her followers. You can tell since all the bodies are avian, however. Let's not leave out the possibility of a hidden force that did this to them," Daring choked out, slightly sick to her stomach from the overwhelming stench that flowed out from the door. She walked ahead onto the breach, knowing that this tomb might be her last to explore. 

"Spirits protect us," Evelyn whispered from behind, following right behind A.T with the rest of the terrified guard. 

‘Not even the spirits can protect us now,’ Spooks thought with a nervous rattle of her tail.

The group proceeded further into the temple, the smell of death in the air grew stronger with every step that they took. Wherever Winter looked, bodies of all sizes lined the walls, floors stairs of the near perfect dark tomb. Blood stains, bone dust even shredded skin and fur coated the walls and floors. 

Her skin crawled at the sight of so much death and destruction as she walked deeper into the catacombs that vaguely reminded her of The Forbidden lands. To her, as well as Daring can see the lost beauty that was darkened by a lost past. The walls held stories of graduate, carved in a style that intermingled with the Celtic and Roman art styles. The amount of detail that went into every crevice, nook and cranny would be as stunning as the land outside of the ginormous Temple if it weren't for not all of the tormented life that was sealed within. 

Winter watched Evelyn lead the charge with her staff providing light to see in the darkness, much to everyone's displeasure. She, like everyone else was absolutely terrified of meeting the monster that killed so many. Sweat beaded down her brow as she subconsciously tried to avoid stepping in places that weren't painted red, but it was nigh impossible. No matter where she stepped, it was impossible to dodge the horror that painted the innards of the Temple.

"So many dead," Night Heart whispered in a depressing tone of voice, clarifying to the others of a fact that they already knew as the walked down a narrow hallway. They took a break to gather their bearings while three guards walked ahead to see how long the hallway went. 

Daring looked around while drinking from the canteen that Evelyn handed her, marveling at the architecture that went into the Temple, as well as pray small prayers for all those that lost their lives in this Catacombs without amore. Her eyes traced at the linework, curious of the past and how they built and worked in such a high environment. As she scoured the walls, she stopped at something strange. One of the lines were out of place in accordance with the rest of the patterns that flowed like the wind around them. 

The line was straight, vertical and circled the entire hallway. She frowned at this discord in the natural pattern, just as the three guards walked over the anomaly. There was a sudden creaking that caught Daring’s ear, followed by a *Whoosh!* Daring's eyes shot open, realizing that it was a booby trap marker, but before she could tell them to run. A giant axe-pendulum swung out from within the line in a blink of an eye, spattering the blood of the three guards on the adjacent wall as they fell into two pieces onto the ground, revealing that many more deaths are yet to come. 

"Damn it!" one of the guards hissed before he ran ahead to check for any more surprises. 

"Watch out!" Daring shouted as she found several more lines of death on the walls, and the guard that ran ahead was heading straight for one, but it was too late. There was another *Whoosh!* Followed by another pendulum coming out of the walls, decapitating the guard and sending his body crashing forward towards his fallen comrades. 

The rest of the group stood there, motionless. All but a few were too shocked to move. Daring took this chance to go ahead to disable the trap before anyone else died from their lack of perception that she gained from traversing tombs such as the one that she was in now. She flew ahead, dodging several moving deathtraps with ease, even though she was chained, but not hindered in the slightest. One of the perks of being captured so many times was the ability to practice and learn how to break out of places where a mare doesn't belong. 

She came up to fork in the road and turned to the left. Following the pattern in the wall, her eyes stopped on an out of place brick in the wall. Figuring that it was a secret button of some kind, she trotted up to it and pushed it into the wall and was quickly rewarded with loud banging that told her that the trap was disarmed. She rejoined the group with a smile, but not everyone was happy to see her return. 

"Enough!" Evelyn shouted, cutting off the guard. "No fighting, from either of you. It's bad enough that we lost a few already without checking to see if the place has any traps left working. Daring, take the lead. The main chamber should be just a few more minutes of walking." 

"Yes, Captain," the guard growled before sending a death glare at the chained Pegasus that cleared the way. Daring returned it by sticking her tongue out at the guard before the group continued down the path, now more wary of any more traps along the way. 

The group walked in silence. The only sounds made were the "clanking" and "clinking" of the guards armor stomping on the cold, hard stone. Daring lead the charge with Evelyn right behind her with her spear pointed at the adventurous Pegasus as an incentive to keep an eye out for traps that would take any more lives. Daring didn't like how she and the others were being treated, but she kept quiet, knowing that her bonds would be taken off once the guards numbers shrank from the thousands of traps that littered the cursed Temple.

She kept leading the group down the halls, making sure to keep the guards and her group from dying by the traps. Daring stopped at another fork in the road with one way being blocked by rubble. The only option was the other way that looked like it opened up to another foyer of the vast Temple. Before they began walking down the path, one of the guards pointed something out on the wall with a trembling hoof. With the light coming from Evelyn's staff, the word "BEWARE!" was clearly reviled on the wall, painted in blood.

"Beware? Beware of what?" Spooks thought out loud with a frown with her tail quietly rattling in worry. Her eyes instantly began tracing the walls along with everyone else, searching for another trap that could potentially kill off more of their numbers. 

Her question was quickly answered as a few of the guards broke off from the group to look down the hall that they came from activated another trap, but no one could react in time as all six of them fell into the floor, down an invisible hole. Their screams echoed throughout the halls for a few seconds before a sickening, *Splat!* Ended their cries before the floor returned to a solid state. 

"I-I vote the prisoners to go first," one of the guards gulped in fear for her life with many of the other guards nodding in approval. Daring rolled her eyes and continued leading the group down the new hall, muttering, "Moronic amateurs," as her trained eyes surveyed the area for more invisible holes in the ground. 

Daring kept leading the group down, hall after hall, making sure no more lives were wasted on stupidity. As they walked, there was a unanimous thought process that plagued everyone. This was noticed by Winter and Daring, who both knew that over focusing on nothing would lead to mistakes in judgment, thus, Winter thought of a song. 

"I am the mare that arranges the blocks that descend upon me from up above," Winter hummed as she walked behind Daring. The guards instantly grew annoyed of the song while a smirk grew on Spooks's face and began rattling her tail to the rhythm of the song. 

"They come down, and I spin them around, so they fit in the ground, like hoof in glove," Winter continued to hum in enjoyment as the guards irritation continue to grow. And to add even more insult to injury, A.T started to tap her hoof along with the song. "Long live, Winter. Kill the Czar. We salute the Moon and Star!"

This break of silence was too much for one of the guards as he stomped ahead of the group down a narrow corridor before he stopped dead in his tracks. Winter stopped her song as Daring stopped the rest of the group with a flick of the hoof just outside the entrance of the narrow passage that the guard stomped down. Many of the other guards frowned in confusion as one walked up with a concerned look on his face. 

"Hey? Brick? Are you alright dude?" the guard asked with worry as he walked up to the one known as 'Brick,' stopping right beside him before tapping his shoulder. When Brick didn't answer right away, the guard that walked up to him tapped his shoulder again, this time with more force. This caused Brick to fall apart into thousands of small cubes right before the guard that went to check up on Brick, also met the same fate. 

"Let's not go down that way," Daring gulped, before guiding the group down a different route. And as if some sort of sadistic being was watching them as they left. One of the cubes triggered another trap. Spooks heard two *Twangs!* echo out from behind them before two arrows flew out of the walls, both of them heading towards Spooks. 

The first one, luckily enough, just glanced off the hardened scales on her back but the other one...“My ass!” Spooks cried out as the arrow hit her into her right flank, just above her cutie mark, causing her to stumble for a bit before finding her balance.

Daring looked back at the loud mare in irritation for shouting and saw an arrow sticking in her rump. Daring quickly made the connection that another trap was triggered. “Run!” She shouted, just as a volley of arrows began shooting out from the walls around them.

The group ran ahead towards an open corridor, leaving Spooks limping behind. She hissed as she pushed forward as the arrow dug into her flank as arrows whizzed by her entire body as she watched the group disappear into safety. 

‘This is how I die,’ Spooks thought solemnly before she tripped on a crack in the floor. 

“Ah fuck me,” she groaned from the fall as she tried to get back up, but the arrow in her flank and the one's fire around her made it quite difficult. 

“We can later, Skittles,” Windy said as she picked up Spooks, much to her surprise

“Heh, my hero,” Spooks sighed happily as Windy safely brought her to the rest of the group that was waiting for them in another foyer laced with hundreds of dead skeletons.

“Glad you made it,” Redbeard said not noticing the wound.

“You too, but I would have liked it if I didn't have an arrow in my ass, which, by the way, can someone take care of!” Spooks shouted, but her pleas only fell on mostly deaf ears.

“Alright then,” Night Heart replied as Windy laid Spooks down on the floor next to a rather surprised skeleton in armour. Spooks frowned at the morbid scenery as she felt the two familiar sets of hooves carefully hold her leg out so that the arrow can be removed safely and cleanly with Windy's magic.

“Oi! What are you three doing?” one of the guards asked. Night Heart turned to him and lowered her glasses to give him a death-glare, which caused the guard to turn around in silence, trembling like a leaf before she put them back on.

While Spooks had an arrow removed from her flank, Winter took the time to view the situation before her. She fluttered onto Daring's back to get a better view of the new room that they found themselves in and to annoy her. Around the group from the entrance that they came in from was hundreds of dead in armour guarding what looks like three unique doors, two of which were smaller than the third in the center of the room at the far wall.

The door to the right had the least amount of bodies which a few of the guards took notice of and decided to go ahead and scout it out, while the other door was blocked by hundreds of bodies, making it rather impossible to venture into, leaving the big door the only alternative to go if there was something bad behind door number one.

“Блядь!” screamed Spooks, causing everyone to jump and turn to the loud Night Stalker. Winter frowned at her for scaring the living shit out of her as well as sending her tumbling off of her perch. As Winter recovered from the sudden scare, she saw that the arrow was out of Spooks's ass and was thrown into the pile of dead right beside Spooks. Spooks looked relieved for having the painful looking object removed from her and was now being kissed by Windy where the arrow once was before leaving behind a bandaid that she must have stole from one of the guards.

"There, there, all better," Windy cooed, before giving Spooks a sweet kiss on the lips, much to most of the guards disgust. Winter rolled her eyes at the display and noticed that the big door in the room was another sapphire door.

"Hey? What happened to Pea, Carrot, and Banana?" one of the guards asked warily. Right before the three guards mentioned bolted from the opened door, twitching, screaming and writhing in pain like they were being shocked with a few hundred millions of volts of electricity. 

"Soldiers, what's wrong?" Evelyn asked with concern while she gripped her staff tightly while the other guards pointed their weapons at their bellowing comrades. 

"Kill...Us!" they all screamed in a dark, mechanical voice that sent pure terror throughout the rest of the guards, causing them all to piss themselves in unison as their tortured friends rushed at them.

Without hesitation, Winter grabbed a bronze battle-ax from the pile of bodies beside her and threw it at the three guards, while keeping an eye on their moving fur that looked like it had millions of worms just beneath the skin. The battle-ax flew through the air like a frisbee and decapitated the three guards in almost a comical fashion, causing all three of them to fall to the ground while the ax fell into a pile of bones.

"Good...Toss..." Daring try to say before the three bodies exploded into a mass of black, writhing tentacles that launched out of the decapitated guards necks. 

"Las Plagas! Get into positions!" Evelyn shouted as the tentacles from the three bodies replicated and spit off of the parent bodies and infected the thousands of skeletons around them all, bringing them back to life. 

"You know what that is!?" Winter shouted, as A.T unlocked all of their shackles and gave the prisoners back their weapons. 

"Yes, it was a plague that infected my homeland for centuries, but to see it here is horrifying," Evelyn replied. 

Winter bit her lip in irritation as she put her weapons back on. The fact that the bane of her Resident Evil 4 experience was real, made her realize how fucked up Equus actually was despite seeing the signs throughout her new life. She took a step back as while she unsheathed her claws and gripped Ash and Cinder. The skeletons around her and the group gained back their muscles through the Las Plagas curse. To her right was Spooks and Daring as well as the remaining guards that were trembling where they stood. To her left were Evelyn and the others. 

“Aim for the head!” Spooks shouted, her inner undead slayer taking over for a while.

"Open fire!" Winter ordered before she unloaded an endless barrage of lead into the small army with lethal precision.

True to her word, Spooks whipped out the Safe Twins and began shooting at the mutating skeletons heads. Meanwhile, A.T grabbed Cue from her back and started to fire the powerful sniper rifle, adding to the deafening sounds that filled the room in the temple.

Spooks back peddled a few feet, towards the hall that they came out of along with a few guards that were being pushed back by several halberd wielding skeletons. Stephen saw that they needed some help and threw a few balls of fire at the skeletons, turning them to ash before he jumped into the air and let out a stream of white flames from his maw, causing Winter and Daring to roll to the side to avoid instant death. 

Winter grunted in annoyance from the thousands of skeletons that were gradually pushing the group back into the hall of death. She jumped up into the air with a heavy flap of her wings, thankful that there were no bowmen amongst the dead. She made a few Air Blades and sent them flying into the hoard, careful not to overexert herself since she knew that she was still too weak from yesterday's events. 

Her Air Blades cut down two-fourths of the skeleton army in one go before she resorted to her guns again, just as Daring sent out a few of her own, but they were far weaker than the young mares. Daring heaved, her eyes blurry from the sudden loss of mana of doing a skill that she never fully understood since she wasn't trained to be a guard. She took a step back to catch her breath, allowing Redbeard to push ahead with a large battle-ax that he borrowed from one of the fallen guards that lost his life from a few spears killing him dead. 

Daring watched in awe as the older stallion swung the golden ax around his body with the grace that only Evelyn, the praetorian guard could match. Both of them teamed together, taking the front as the groups vanguard. They moved their respective weapons like a dancing partner and majestic painter. Each movement was as free and fluid as water. Each thrust and slash as perfect as a master painter. They cut down most of the charging mass of rusty armor and malformed bones with ease that Daring couldn't match, but there was just so many to fight. 

“How many of them are there?!” one of the guards shouted before he was cut down from a small group of skeletons that broke through the group’s defenses.

“A lot,” Spooks replied calmly, before reloading her guns and releasing the slides. Spooks aimed at the location where the guard had died and opened fire upon the skeletons that broke through the defensive line, killing them all and allowing another guard to take his fallen friend's place.

Winter noticed that the number of skeletons was beginning to dwindle and decided to land again. She plopped down beside Daring, who was having trouble staying awake from the exhaustion of using her Air Blades. With the combined efforts of each bullet, sword, and hoof-to-face, all that was left was the giant mass of tentacles with the heads of the three original ponies left alive, that acted as the control center for the skeletons.

“How are we gonna deal with those things!?” A.T. shouted over the sound of the gunfire around her after she fired at the giant mass with Cue, only to see the powerful 7.62mm round collide with it with a *Plop!* and getting absorbed into the mass.

“I have some thermite grenades in my right saddlebag!” Spooks shouted back.

"Not going to work!" Winter shouted from above. "You need to expose the worms that act as the heart and brain. Fire will just aggravate it!" 

“And how are supposed to do that?!” Spooks shouted back. 

"Find tears in the flesh and shoot it!" Winter said as she finished the last of the skeletons with a few Air Blades and accidentally killing a few more guards.

"Felora!" Evelyn cursed at the masses of black flesh that was the size of the door at the far end of the room before jumping back from a large arm that shot out of the monster, exposing a tear that Winter mentioned. "How do you know how to fight it!" she asked, dodging a few more swipes of the monster.

"Practice!" Winter shouted back, remembering the ogre fight from every single Resident Evil game that was good up to the fifth with Chris and Sheva as the mains characters, and lying to the Doe to make herself look even more badass. 

“Got one!” A.T. called out before firing and hitting the tear causing the biomass to screech in pain.

“Good! Now to find another,” Winter said with her eyes scanning the black mass for another tear.

“Now I must purpose we dig dem bones!” Spooks sang out cheerfully as she shot another one of the tears earning herself a confused look from everyone except A.T—Who was used to her antics from spending fourteen years with her.

"Yikes!" Daring said, barely dodging another swipe from the monster as it shrunk down in size with each tear destroyed. She rolled to the side just as another arm shot out to try and hit her, but she was too slow. Winter watched in horror as she was tossed towards the back wall and landing on one of her wings the wrong way. Before she could react to try and help, Night Heart was already beside Daring, and tending to her broken wing. 

Winter bit her lip, and doubled her efforts, and grabbed a few s hundreds spears that were lying around with her Air Kinesis, and brought them to her side. She grunted and dodged the same arm that hit Daring before she charged all the spears with electricity, and sent them all at supersonic speeds into the biomass, destroying half of its body in an instant.

“This seems like the perfect setting for hentai,” Windy said offhandedly from her spot next to Spooks. 

"Now is not the time for—!" a guard tried to say before he was sent flying into a wall, killing him instantly from the impact that created a red stain on the wall, right before the barrage of lightning charged spears were sent at the creature.

Evelyn's eyes went wide at the sight of the young filly and her flaming cutie mark. She could tell, along with her current battle partner, Redbeard, that a glowing cutie mark meant that a pony's special talent was being enhanced by the world's natural magic, making them even stronger in their field of choice. And since Winter's special talent was based around every aspect of combat, she was about to do something really stupid or smart. This, in turn, causing the creature to shriek out in anger as it regained most of its lost mass and doubled its efforts in trying to kill that group.

“What a persistent pest,” Redbeard muttered in distaste.

"I agree," Winter added from hiding behind a pile of dead bodies. "But the main worm should pop out soon, and when it does. Spooks can burn it."

"And why can't you?" Redbeard inquired, pointing at the azure fire outline of her cutie mark. 

"Because I need as much strength as possible if another one shows up, and being energized like this should refill my reserves and then some. So I don't want to waste this boost from mother Lunaris."

“Yay!” Spooks cheered right beside Winter, causing the filly to jump in surprise before both of them had to dodge another swipe from the monster.

“That mare scares me,” Stephen said quietly to Redbeard, who was taken aback at the mention of the Goddess of Peace.

True to Winter’s word the main worm soon popped out of the mass’s back like an eldritch abomination. The worm itself was the stuff of nightmares with thousands of claws along it’s warped, pink flesh. The creature split into two down the middle, and opened up like a gluttonous dragon with millions of teeth, dripping acid and blood onto the floor. It let out a bloodcurdling screech before scuttling like a train-sized millipede towards the group while eating the bodies around it to regain its original size.

"That's one ugly mother fucker," Spooks said as she lit up a cigar in the corner of her mouth. 

"Oi! That's mine!" Redbeard shouted in rage that his Cuban was stolen right from under his nose before he rolled to the side while shooting a few slugs into the eldritch abomination.

“Well, it’s mine now, дорогой,” Spooks said mockingly, causing the older stallion to grumble in irritation before he jumped to the side, dodging one of the thousands of claws that slapped Evelyn to the side, knocking her out cold. 

Spooks, now the only target in front of the beast that towered over her. She pulled out a few thermite grenades from her pouch and pulled the pin on all of them. The creature's mouth opened up in a wild screech that sounded like a million chalkboards being scratched with a trillion, rusty, nails. She rolled the cigar to the other side of her mouth and tossed the grenades into the maw of the beast, just as she was pulled back by Windy's telekinesis. 

Within a few seconds, the stomach of the worm-thing exploded into a fountain of blood and cuts, causing the creature to scream in agony as it burned from the inside out. Spooks smiled as the Las Plagas bug-thing fell to its side as it quickly turned to nothing but ash. She walked over to Daring where everyone was regrouping with Stephen carrying the unconscious Doe over his tired shoulders. 

Taking a look around, viewing the carnage that was caused by just a few people. Spooks saw the last of Celestia's Royal Guard, standing in shock of what happened around him. Looking at the stallion closer, she noticed that Winter was making her way towards him. The burly, earth pony stallion, saw the Empress as well and lifted his weapon back up with trembling hooves, and ready to piss himself.

It struck Spooks as very strange that such a big stallion would be scared of someone so small as Winter. Then again, she didn't know of the rumors that were spread about the young mare in Equestria.

"P-Please...Please don't kill me?" the stallion begged, his voice filled with fear. 

“Not going to, but those bullet ants are,” Winter replied, and walked past him towards the sapphire door with the key and quickly opened it.

"What?" the stallion asked in confusion, before the door, releasing a tide of bullet ants into the room. Winter quickly jumped into the air, dodging the river of ants that flowed over the stallion and dragged him screaming into the hall where the Plagas monster came from.

"You gotta love bullet ants," Spooks smiled while petting a bullet ant that got left behind. "By the way, how did you know that there were ants behind the door?" Spooks asked as the ant let out insectoid purrs as it leaned into Spooks's hoof.

"The marks by the door, and a lucky guess, but I was kinda hoping for scarabs instead of ants," Winter replied, fluttering to the ground. 

"That's...Not creepy," Nova said in disgust while slowly backing away from the giant ant. 

"No, it is extremely creepy," Daring deadpanned as she joined Winter's side with her wing tied in a splint. "Anyway. Now that all of the guards are gone. Where next?" Daring asked, ignoring the strange Night Stalker, and quietly praying to Luna that she wouldn't get stung by the ant, knowing from experience how much they hurt. 

"Down the hall that Winter just opened. It leads to the inner sanctum's Oculory, and from there, we can make our way to the throne room," Evelyn explained. She slowly walked up to the gathering group with Night Hearts giving her support. 

“What? Is there something on my face?” Spooks asked, completely obvious to the reason why everyone was backing away from her, with the bullet ant, now dubbed Chewie, perched on her right ear. 

“No, just your ear, and you can’t keep it,” Windy said sternly. 

“But-” Spooks started before being cut off by Windy. 

“No buts, missy!” Windy said causing Spooks to give her the Puppy Snake Eyes, “And that’s not going to help you.”

With a sad sigh, Spooks took Chewie from her ear and set him down on the ground before whispering something to him only Spooks and Chewie could hear.

“What did you say to it?” Windy demanded with narrowed eyes.

“Nothing,” Spooks answered calmly and Windy glared at her for a while before sighing and giving Spooks a look that promised great pain if something bad is going to come out of this.

Winter rolled her eyes at the strange couple and followed behind Evelyn, wanting to know about the thing that made Resident Evil so great in the fourth addition to the franchise. Once she was far enough away from the rest of the group who decided to wait for Spooks and Windy, Winter walked right next to the Doe, causing her to jump slightly at the sudden appearance. She looked away and hobbled ahead of the group, causing Night Heart to frown, but she didn't say anything and went to check up on Daring's wing. Winter frowned that the Doe was trying to avoid her questions and kept up with her pace.

"So, how did you know what that was?" Winter asked incredulously as the voices of the others faded from the ever increasing distance. 

Evelyn staggered in her steps, taken aback at the bluntness of the question. She slowed down her pace as they came up to another sapphire door. "I-I don't know what you are talking about," she stuttered, clearly nervous about the question and what the implications were if she answered.

"Yes, you do. I know what Las Plagas is since it too plagued my homeland. One of the greatest that was trained to fight that threat was Leon Kennedy and Ashley Graham—Who beat the Great Plagas that controlled all of the weaker ones like the one we fought just a few minutes ago," Winter said, but lied about it being real and not a video game. 

"Don't you mean, Leona Kaennedy and Ash Lake?" Evelyn frowned in confusion, giving Winter enough information to tell her that those two were real, and ended up here like Simmon. 

"Well, Leon got turned into a girl, that's a laugh," Winter chuckled lightly, making Evelyn even more confused. "Anyway. You fucked up now talk."

"F-Fine," Evelyn sighed in response as she and Winter stopped at the next door. "Las Plagas is one of the thirteen plagues of Tartarus that has tormented the Deer countries for centuries. Leona, or "Leon," as you know him, was a proud Doe that protected our lands, and eventually married Ash Lake, or "Ashley," as you said before." 

"It was thanks to her as well as Christina Redfield that pushed it back into the northern wastes where it was killed once and for all. Together, with their Praetorian Guard that they created to protect our borders from such a vile threat, defeated the King Plagas, however. As you saw just a few moments ago. There is most likely another one here and must be destroyed before we leave. The fate of the world depends on my great-great-great grandmother's legacy, and I will uphold that honor," Evelyn explained with a slight hint of pride.

"So, do you know how it started here?" Winter asked, wondering if it started with either magic or medicine. 

"Yes, I do," Evelyn sighed. "It all started with a proud Stag that wanted the powers of all of the races of the world. With the help of a talented Unicorn named, Groger—Who 	became the vile necromancer that we know today—He was slowly but surely, transformed into an abomination of miss-matched parts of everything that walked the earth, but it wasn't enough," she spat in anger for the crimes that were committed long ago. 

"He wanted the powers of the strongest Unicorn and at the time. It was Groger. He quickly killed the Unicorn while his guard was down, and had another Unicorn to merge the necromancers horn with his two antlers, however. Once the procedure was complete. He was cursed. He was quickly turned into what was known as, 'The Grand Plagas,' and sought to give the others what he became. Though, at the time, we didn't have a name for him until Leona came to save us from the creature that plagued our lands for centuries. We just called it: The Monster of Groger. And you know the rest," she finished with a sigh.

"Well, I can guess that we will see another one very soon," Winter groaned in annoyance and joy that she gets to cross off "Be a Bio Counter Terrorist," off her bucket list. 

Just as the group passed through the door that led to the hall towards the Grand Oculory, Spooks felt a familiar itchiness spread across her body. "Come on. Not now," Spooks groaned with a scratch of her chest, earning a few, curious looks from the various members of the party. 

"What is it?" Daring asked the Night Stalker as the group walked down the hall.

"I am starting my molting cycle," Spooks replied simply before collapsing to the ground, scratching madly, "and it itches like hell!" Just as she said that a familiar Magical Aura wrapped around her body and spread her legs wide open, causing Stephen and Redbeard to look away with a slight blush and continued to walk towards the Oculory.

"Where is it?" Windy muttered over Spooks’s whimpers as she struggled against her magical restraints, "Here is it!" Windy cried out before pulling on a tear in Spooks’s skin.

"Better?" Windy asked Spooks as she deposited the Spooks-skin-suit on the floor of the hallway.

"Much," Spooks replied softly, relieved that the itching stopped before Windy helped her up while making sure that she didn't touch certain areas that were made more sensitive after the molt.

"That was gross," Evelyn said with a green face. 

"You’ll get used to it," A.T chirped in response. While this was going on, Winter  was having a conversation in her head through her link with Luna.

"Empress Rose!" Luna shouted in Winter's mind. She winced from the sudden volume as the group walked into a Grand Ocalori. 

"What?" Winter thought while looking around the giant spherical room with thousands of mirrors with magic runes painted on them, all pointed at a giant magic circle on the floor in the center of the room. 

"We have a problem. I can't do my duty on lowering the moon and Queen Cadence and King Shining Armor are using Love Magic to power a shield which is protecting their ships on the northern coats, making our counter impossible to proceed," Luna said with worry, causing Winter to stop in her tracks.

"That's a problem. Since the tide there is horrific at night. There must be someone overpowering you to keep the sun up, and we both know who that is." 

"I agree, but not even my sister is strong enough to fight me for long. She most likely has Cadence helping her while using Shining Armor to provide a catalyst. What do we do?"

Winter bit her lip in deep thought while everyone took a break from all the running and fighting that they had to endure. Without the tide in the northern sea taking out ships from the viscous tooth-like rocks Cadence will make landfall and quickly make contact with the Green Hive that has found a home in the awe-inspiring northern mountains away from the Changeling hating country of Equestria. 

But what could she do? 

If she had the power to aid Luna in raising the moon fast and hard, causing the tides to violently hit the enemy forces and giving Luna more time to fight back, but she doesn't. Winter couldn't do anything where she stood, and she knew it all too well. She didn't even notice in her deep thought that Daring was tapping her shoulder, calling out to her with worry in her voice. 

"Hey! Earth to, Runt! Hello?!" Daring yelling in Winter's ears as she cuffed her upside the head, bringing her out of her daze. Winter frowned from the sudden pain at the back of her head and answered her grandmother's call. 

"What? Can't you see that I was thinking?" 

"Yeah, you also walked into the center of the Foci of the Sun and Moon. Ya know? The thing that was used to control the Sun and Moon before Celestia and Luna was born?" Daring replied. Winter's eyes shot open at the epic coincidence that would allow her to help Luna on the war front. Winter leaped up in joy and gave Daring a long, tongue induced kiss, causing the older mare to turn a few shades of bright red as she tried to figure out what she said that earned her said kiss. 

“Thanks Daring, now stand back,” Winter said with glee.

"Luna, get ready to raise the moon, I have a plan!" Winter thought to Luna. 

"Whatever it is, make it quick. The Zebras are in a retreat, but Cadence is going strong." 

Winter looked around with the key tucked under her wing, studying the Runes that were around her, taking note of everything that was needed to activate the Oculory. She already knew the song that she had to play, but she had to make sure that everything was aligned correctly for the spell to work, and when she saw that everything was perfect. She stood at the center of the magic circle, causing Daring and the rest of the group to freak out and back away. 

"W-What are you doing?" Evelyn asked with new found worry in the young Empress and her current choice of actions. 

"Luna needs some help lowering the sun, so I'm helping," Winter replied and started to play the Sun Song. 

Spooks watched and listened to Winter as she played the song, each note causing one of the mirrors to light up and shine on the filly with an orange glow before turning a dim white. After a few seconds more, the mirrors started to move in a circular pattern and shined even brighter, however. Once the song reached its climax, the contraption ceased to move. Winter frowned and hissed at the key, shouting, "Fucking Celestia! I bet Cadence is helping her! Well, I'll show them. Luna, try again, I have an idea."

Spooks stared at the filly with even more concern as she pulled out her guitar and, somehow, attached the ocarina to the instrument and fiddled with a few nobs, just as the others came out of their trance. They all watched in horror as Winter tested a few notes, causing the key to light up before they were put back under the trance, and Winter played the same song, but each note sent a bolt of lightning into a mirror, causing all of them to spin faster than before. 

(Elsewhere) 

Celestia's magic struggled with Cadence's trying to keep the sun up, but it was a futile effort. It was like that there was something helping Luna. Something so powerful that not even Discord could stop. The immense power was too much to fight, and they were thrown from the negative feedback from within the throne room in Canterlot, allowing the moon to raise right on time and knocking them both out cold.

(Back)

Winter played a radical riff on her guitar, causing the dome-like roof to open up. Spooks and A.T watched in awe at the complex machinery ascended for a moment, lifting Winter off of the ground by a few meters before all of the mirrors turned and aimed at the sun, and sent out a ginormous stream of magical energy at it. As the stream of Magic flowing towards the sun, the device slowly descended back into its original place and as it did so, the moon quickly replaced the sun in the sky, causing millions of stars which was never seen in Equestria, to appear just as Winter finished the song and the dome closed back up.

"What did you do?" Daring asked, coming out of the trance as Winter rejoined the group with a smile on her face. She stopped in front of the older mare and jumped up with her arms in the air and grabbed her neck and gave her a hug. 

"I raised the moon," Winter giggled as she nuzzled Darings neck before letting go and started to trot towards the other door that Evelyn said would lead straight into the throne room. 

"What?!" Daring shouted along with everyone else except Spooks and A.T, who watched the young Empress commit the act of raising said moon. 

"How?" she continued to ask as the young Empress vanished behind a smaller doorway. 

"With one, epic guitar solo," Spooks answered. 

The group caught up to the young Empress once they came back to their senses from the motion that the young filly raised the moon. Evelyn, in particular, couldn't fathom how powerful Winter was. Even Daring had the same question in her mind, however. Unlike Evelyn, she knew how to tell how strong an individual was magically by measuring the electricity that flowed around that individual, and Empress Rose was no stronger than Rainbow Dash when she met the cyan Pegasus and her friends that helped her with the Rings of Destiny many months ago. It was after Equestria was saved from that instance that she learned to trust family when they offer help, but her guitar was something to be feared. That’s where all her power came from, but Evelyn didn’t need to know that. Not yet anyway. 

Daring followed the young Empress down one last hallway that ended in another sapphire door. As she and the group stayed close behind the bubbly filly that did the impossible, they all noticed that the hall was clean like the Oculory. The artwork that blanketed the wall was crisp and immaculate, telling a story that couldn't be seen because the rest of the temple was covered in; blood, guts, and gore. The stories, however, showed a tale of peace and prosperity. The final door was quickly opened by Winter, which opened up to the throne room.

Daring turned her attention away from the art on the walls and to a beautiful sight. She walked into a room that had a clear, blue sky painted on the ceiling that looked more real than what was outside. Clouds hovered all around the room that made shadows on a mirror that made up the floors and walls that reflected the ceiling perfectly. 

One side of the room had another door that was carved to look like a Pegasus mare welcoming anyone inside the throne room with opened wings and arms. The other side of the room had a crystal throne in the shape of large, white wings that sat on top of a cloud. She instinctively looked at the base of the wings for anything and saw two, rusty winglets, glowing brightly in a soft, white glow. 

"Okay, my throne room is going to look like this when I get back," Winter muttered as she walked towards the throne with her eyes trained on the winglets. 

“I have seen Kremlin but this takes the cake,” Spooks said in amazement as she took in the beauty that was the throne room. She walked up to one of the lower flying clouds and tried to touch it, but to her disappointment. Her hoof went right through with no resistance. 

“Yeah,” A.T. said with the same level of amazement as Spooks, not noticed the anger her older sister was showing as she tried to touch a cloud. 

"Having trouble there?" Winter chuckled with a cheeky smile from on top of the cloud that Spooks was struggling to grab. 

"It's not fair! I just want to touch the fluffy," Spooks sulked, falling back on her haunches with pouty lips. 

"There, there, Skittles. Clouds are overrated anyway," Windy whispered into Spooks's ear before leaving a sweet kiss on it with a smile. 

"You say that now, but back home. We had storms so big, that the clouds spanned over one hundred miles in diameter and three miles high. And it wasn't hoof made either. If it was, Cloudsdale would have gone out of business in just one hour," Winter said with a smile, causing the Lunar Unicorn mare to freeze in horror at such a giant, uncontrollable force of nature.

"That's...How did you survive such a horrific storm?" Windy asked with worry in her voice as she held the Night Stalker in a death grip.

"With a titanium umbrella, candles, and monopoly," Winter simply replied. 

"At least it wasn't as bad as the winter season back home. Ten-foot high walls of snow is a bitch to dig through, and speaking of Bitches. Windy, can you let go? I'm dying here," Spooks said as her face turns purple from lack of oxygen reaching her lungs.

"Oh! Sorry," Windy smiled sheepishly and let go of Spooks, allowing her to breathe again.

"Anywho," Winter said, rolling her eyes. "I'm going to check up on Daring. You guys check our supplies. We might need to fight our way back out."

"You got it," Spooks and Windy saluted before taking off towards Night Heart, who was checking up on Evelyn and her injuries. 

Winter hopped off her cloud and flew next to Daring as she walked up to the throne at the far end of the room. Without saying a word, she glided next to the calm Pegasus that took a quick look at her and rolled her eyes before she jumped up onto a cloud that was close to the ground, and from the cloud. She jumped up to the throne like an experienced gymnast. With a sigh, she rejoined Daring next to the throne as the mare rummaged through her saddlebags for a moment to ignore her, and her questions.

Knowing that she was being ignored, Winter thought of something evil. She sat in front of Daring and tilted her head to the left slightly while drooping her ears cutely. She dropped her wings and quivered her lower lip as she made her eyes as wide as saucers. 

"What kid—" Daring said looking up to see an absolutely, horrific sight. Sitting before her was the very definition of cuteness incarnate. The very thing that could kill any stallion with a single glance. Her heart fell into a protective urge to wrap the filly in front of her in her arms, and never let go. 

"Cwuddles?" the filly asked, lifting her arms up for a hug, causing Daring’s heart to explode, twice. She tried her best to fight her maternal instincts to give said, 'cwuddles,' to the filly. She looked around, hoping for something to remove the pest before it was too late, but it was futile. 

"Am I ugwee gwandma Dawing? Is that why you won't wug me?" Winter said, starting to cry as she dropped her arms. "I'm ugwee arwn't I? No one wubs me."

The cuteness was too much for the adventurous mare as she dropped her saddlebags and wrapped the little filly in a hug, praying to Luna that the others weren't watching. 

"You are evil. You know that?" Daring Do said as she nuzzled the filly lovingly. 

"I know, but Spitfire is a better hugger," Winter giggled, before receiving a smack upside the head. "Hey! What was that for?" Winter said with a pout.
 
"You are not allowed to be that cute," Daring frowned at her while pushing her back.

"Whatever," she replied, sticking her long tongue out of her mouth at the mare. "You know you love me."

"Just like her mother," Daring muttered quietly, with a soft smile as she looked away and turned her attention back to the winglets, ignoring Winter's last remark. 

"So these are the Winglets of Alta?" Daring muttered to herself and jumped up on the throne with Winter watching her with curiosity and worry. She inspected the winglets for a quick second to make sure that they were real. 

Winter watched with worry as the air around them turned sour. Her wings itched to move away like there was something dark watching over them. She couldn't quite hone in on what was causing it, but she knew that they weren't alone in the room.

"Uh...Daring? Something’s wrong," Winter said with worry as she equipped her weapons. 

"Just a second. I just figured out how to remove them from their pedestals," Daring said, reaching out towards the glowing winglets. Winter looked around incredulously, searching for what was bothering her as Daring took one of the winglets off without a problem, but once it fell of the wing, the dark presence grew stronger. 

"Daring, we have to go. Now!" Winter warned just as everyone else begins to feel the darkness enveloping the room. 

"Just...One...More..." Daring grunted as she struggled to get the last winglet off of the pedestal. "Done!" she cheered as the last one fell next to its brother. "Now we can...what's happening?" she asked as the winglets began to float into the air. 

The fur on the back of Winter's neck stood on end as she winglets floated in front of startled Daring. The winglets white glow turned a putrid green, She instantly aimed her weapons on the winglets, now realizing that they were the cause of the darkness in the throne room. 

"Kiddo, run!" Daring yelled before tossing the filly with a gust of air off of the throne and towards the group, just as the winglets attached themselves to Darings wings.

Winter landed on the floor and splashed her way and towards the startled group as the mirror-like floor turned into an inch-deep puddle. She stopped right in front of Spooks, wet and alert. She jumped back up just in time to hear a bloodcurdling screech fill the room. 

"Daring!" Winter shouted in horror as green lighting erupted out of her screaming body as it convulsed in agony. Then, after a few petrifying seconds of pure horror. Daring collapsed on the throne, twitching violently for a moment before going still. 

"D-Daring? Daring Do?" Winter asked with worry as she took as step forward before Spooks placed a hoof in front of her, preventing her from getting too close. 

"Daring Do? So that's the name of the one we control now. How...Wonderful," purred a warped, smooth, female voice that came from Daring's limp body as it stood up with a glowing, green aura encasing its wings. 

“Демон,” Spooks said with hatred. Her eyes glaring pure death as the possessed Pegasus took her seat on the forgotten throne.

“Ah! Thou art a, Night Stalker!” The female voice purred evilly. “Thou wouldest make a wonderful pet for us,” the voice continued. Before anyone could react, the possessed Daring shot out a green lightning bolt from her hoof into the water, causing a sphere of water to float into the air, showing hundreds of images of the tainted temple. 

“Now we believe it wouldest be appropriate to cleanest our temple," the voice cooed as she viewed the floating orb of water in morbid curiosity of the grotesque sights that she, and everyone else, was seeing. 

"And how are you going to do that?" Redbeard asked, unimpressed at the sight of power that the possessed Daring was showing. 

"Why it art so simple, Earth Pony," the voice purred with a paralyzing, icy voice that sent chills down the earth pony's spine. "Thou sit where you stand, and watch." After she said those words, everyone was lifted up into the air, trapped in a green aura that prevented them from escape. Winter and the others watch the floating orb of water against their will.

An evil smile grew across Daring's face as the orb showed her grand palace being cleansed of all the filth that filled her halls. The corpses, gore, and grime that littered the whole temple started disappearing one by one, leaving behind only pristine halls and rooms as if they were freshly cleaned the night prior. 

“That’s...That’s impossible,” Nova said, horrified of the immense power that the possessed Daring had.

“Tis’ not impossible, Thestral. Thine ol’ Unicorn slaves gave us this power in the shape of our winglets, but enough of that.” the possessed Daring said before turning towards Winter with a dark smile. “Thy current host is fine, but the potential of this foal is more suitable for our ascension.” 

“Leave her the fuck alone,” Spooks growled in a tone so dark that it seemed to suck in the light in the room.

“A defiant little pet art thou not?” Daring laughed slightly, lifting Spooks higher into the air. “Thou pet needs to be punished. “ With a flick of a wrist, Spooks was sent flying to the other side of the room, crashing hard into the wall and falling limp into the water bellow. 

“Spooks!” Windy called with both worry and anger for the love of her life. This distress brought, even more, joy to the demon possessed Daring, 

“If thou cares about thy pet so much. Then you shall be reunited.” To Windy’s horror, she too was lifted up into the air and sent flying right at the limp Night Stalker. Winter winced as the Lunar Unicorn skipped across the water in strange, and awkward ways before colliding hard against the wall, causing it to crack from the impact of her body before landing right beside her mare, bleeding from her back.  

“Windy!” Night Heart growled with pure venom in her voice. “How dare you harm my daughter like that!” 

“Tis’ your daughter? How quaint,” Daring mocked before sending Night Heart at the pair without a care in the world.

Night Heart flared her wings in a vain attempt to stop herself from impacting the wall but it was all for naught and she impacted the wall head-first.

“You fucking cunt!” A.T. shouted in anger at seeing her older sister and friends tossed at the wall, “When I get my hands on you I am going to rip your wings off and beat you to death with them! And then-” A.T. didn’t get the chance to finish her threat because she was thrown at the wall too.

“Now to get rid of thou, Servants of Celestia!” Daring said in the same evil purr as before she started very slowly pulling  Evelyn, Redbeard and Stephen towards a pit that she had opened in the ground causing all of them to struggle in her magical grip. That is until Steph launched a fireball at her causing her to lose her grip on them to dodge the incoming fireball.     

Meanwhile, Spooks recovered from being tossed at a wall, once more the hardened scales covering her back proved to be very useful, and rose into a sitting position and she immediately noticed Windy laying next to her.

“Windy?” Spooks said in a voice filled with worry for her mare-friend and nosed the side of Windy’s head causing Windy to groan weakly and flutter her eyes open.

“Spooks?” Windy asked weakly before adding, “Why does my back hurt so much?”

Looking at Windy’s back Spooks saw long gashes on her back which were bleeding, tinting the water around them red.

“You’re bleeding from your back,” Spooks said as calmly as she could, “Don’t move, I’ll go try to wake up Night,” Spooks said with a reassuring kiss on Windy’s cheek. 

“Night?” Spooks said while poking said mare into her side causing her to open her eyes with a groan, “Windy needs your help,” Spooks told her and Night Heart gained a determined look in her eyes before she walked, more like stumbled, over to her daughter and started treating her wounds.

“You rise? How...Admirable,” Daring mused at the Night Stalker. “But such a sentiment is unfounded for thy intruders need to be removed from our palace.” 

To Winter's horror, Alta lifted up Evelyn before her, taking the key from Winter's grasp and turned it into a beautiful, curved, sapphire sword. She brought it up to Evelyn's neck with her ethereal grip, smiling evilly as the tip made contact with her cheek, but before Alta could kill the trembling Doe. Stephen sent out a jet of black fire from his maw, causing the possessed Daring Do to drop everyone in order to protect herself. 

"Luna!" Winter shouted in her mind as she went invisible to temporarily hide from the recovering possessed, Pegasus. 

"Yes? What do you need?" Luna inquired, her metal tone telling Winter that she was very tired. 

"Daring has been possessed by Alta! What do I do?!" she begged with worry. 

"HOW DARE YE!" Daring shouted, causing the entire room to reel back from the immeasurable volume as her entire body was wrapped in armor made of the wind itself. 

"Hurry!" Winter begged to Luna before firing a few Air Blades at Daring. The Air Blades flew at her before being completely obliterated by Alta's wind armor. 

"It will take some time. Give me a minute. I have to access my personal library," Luna said, leaving Winter alone to deal with Alta. 

Winter bit her lip, ducking from a body that belonged to Redbeard as he was tossed to the other side of the room with his shotgun in his hooves. She took to the air keeping a safe distance as she launched Air Spears at Alta as Stephen and Evelyn tried to break through her wind armor with their unique flavor of magic. The Air Spears were instantly sent back at Winter, causing her to dive back down to the watery floor before she was skewered by her own weapons. 

"Damn it," Winter growled, flying at full speed in the large room around Atla. The possessed mare took instant notice of her retreat and sent a wave of green lightning out from her, causing Stephen, Evelyn, and A.T reeling for a few meters before collapsing into unconsciousness. Before the wave hit her, she sent one out of her own. The two waves of pure electricity collided, creating a horrid sound of static as Winter landed on the floor, panting from such a strong spell and so was Alta.

"Thou art such a nuisance, but thy body is so powerful and beautiful. So holdeth still my young filly, and embrace me!" Alta screamed, sending out another green lightning bolt at Winter. 

Winter’s eyes went wide as she couldn’t dodge in time from the attack. She closed her eyes, taking the bolt into her chest. The impact cracked her ribs and sent her flying into the wall, causing cracks to appear on the mirror-like finish. She cried out in pain as she fell into the water bellow. Her back hurt, but nothing was broken except for her cracked ribs.

“Luna, I need some help here!” Winter called out, causing Alta to laugh at the gesture.

“Thine Princess of the Moon won't save you from thy nightmare I shall befall upon ye, filly.” Winter looked up, pain strong on her chest as she tried to stand up to face the possessed Daring Do.

'Winter, I have something, but it may be difficult,' Luna said in Winter’s mind. Winter hissed as she fell to the ground from a feeble attempt to stand, sending a shock of agony throughout her body as Alta strode closer with a smug smile.

'Tell me, Luna, because I might not make it without using my Limit Break,' Winter responded while trying to stand once again.

'You need to take off the winglets and place them on another. They act as a Soul Jar so once they move onto another, Alta's spirit will surely follow,' Luna explained as Winter hobbled away from the wall to give her some fighting space. This gesture brought joy to the possessed Daring's face, electing another response from her.

“Thy foal has some will. Tis' makes us wonder who was thine mentor?” she asked with glee. “Thou wouldst love to have such a strong bond but names are hidden from us.”

“Fuck you,” Winter spat back. 'Luna, she's too strong at the moment and we don't have anyone to move the winglets too. So do you think you can give me Snowball and my swords, if they are finished, I have a plan?' Winter asked mentally to Luna.

“Oh? Hath thou blood taught you any manners? Or is that wonderful tradition still among the race of the pure and holy?” Alta beamed before slapping Winter across the room again with her magic.

“Ow,” Winter cried while trying to stand again from the abuse caused by Alta. 'Luna? How's that plan? I need some help here?' Winter choked, coughing up blood that she spat on the floor.

'I've sent them there by following your unique Dreamscape signature. Give it a moment,' Luna said with growing worry, knowing that Winter's life was on the line.

“Such wonderful hair, gorgeous eyes, and delightful scars. Tis' reminds us of our old body. Such battle we faced. Such love, we stole. Our daughters loved our touch as much as we loved theirs. Oh, the moans and pleas for release! Such music to thy ears,” Alta cooed as she rubbed the tip of her sword against her groin before bringing it in front of her with a smile and licked the liquid from the edge of the blade. “Mm, thine host has a wonderful taste does thou not agree?” she purred, licking her lips.

“I...I d-don't...Fucking care how my grandmother's pussy tastes like. All I care about is this!” Winter screamed just as two flashes of light appeared beside her, electing a raised brow from the possessed Daring.

Within a flash of a second, Snowball appeared right beside Winter with concern in her eyes, but she knew what to do. She backed away, keeping an eye on Daring as two, black, three-foot long, straight-edged katana's, appeared in their eloquent sheaths. Winter instantly grabbed them and drew them from their scabbards, revealing the blades that looked like the night sky. This motion made Alta's smile grow three-times larger as she did a curt bow with her sword to Winter as she took them in her dragon's claws.

“I know how to beat you, Alta. I just hope I don't hurt the greatest explorer in all of Equus with my Limit Break!” Winter bellowed while pointing the tip of one of her blades at Alta.

“Hahahaha! What a humbling yet pitiful sentiment! Thou wish for us not to play with ye? Then so be it!” Alta laughed before lunging at Winter with blinding speed, but this didn't phase her in the slightest.

Just as Alta hit the halfway point of her lung, Winter's body erupted into white fire and blue lightning. The whites of her eyes turned black and the pupils into razor sharp slits. She let out a venomous hiss and charged at Alta faster than her eyes could track. Her smirk was whipped off of her face as Winter's foot impacted her chest, breaking ribs and sent her flying faster than what she did to Winter just moments ago into the wall, creating a large crater in on impact. Winter stopped just next to the throne worried that she might have killed her grandmother, but that worry vanished as Alta stood back up, laughing like a maniac.

“Thou art more powerful than what we could not have imagined! Thy shall be our host forever and more! Just think of thy children could produce! My bloodline shall return, stronger than before!” Alta screamed, her body healing itself like there wasn't any damage in the first place. Winter bit her lip and got her fangs ready. She knows she has to drink the mana straight out of Daring to weaken her just enough to pull Alta out from her and into Snowball, who shouldn't be able to sustain the demon because she didn't have a soul.

“Sorry to disappoint you, but I'm not having kids,” Winter hissed. “The pain would be just too much since I took a cream and pill to make me three times more sensitive in all my lady parts.”

Alta tilted her head, licking her lips. “Thou feels more pleasure than an average mare? Thy filly is turning into more than I could have ever wanted! I must have you!” she proclaimed before lunging at Winter again, this time at full speed.

Winter jumped back, barely dodging a downward swipe that cut the throne in half and crossed her blades to block another that caused the water around them to splash away, making a dry spot where they stood from the immense pressure from the clash of the blades. She pushed forward, forcing Alta to jump back as the water returned where it once was.

Without hesitation, Winter strafed to the right, sending Air Blades and Spears at Alta, whom just batted them away with a demented smile on her face. Winter growled at this and charged head-on at Alta with her swords flipped around so that the tips were facing behind her with the hilt in front. As she charged, so did Alta. Both ran at each other, their hooves didn't disturb the water with one holding an expression of insanity with the other of pure calmness.

Winter ducked from a thrust and parried with her right blade, giving her enough room to spinning into her recovery to land a kick that forced Daring's stomach to implode for a second before she went tumbling towards the far wall again. Alta was quick to recover and stabbed her sword into the floor, stopping her from colliding into the wall again.

To Winter's horror, the insane mare cracked her head before coughing up blood, most likely from the kick. She licked her lips, moaning at the taste with a flutter of her wings of demented pleasure before charging at Winter once again.

She hissed that she had to go for another round and met Alta halfway again, this time, she was even faster than before.

'Where is she getting all this speed?' Winter thought, deflecting a few of Alta's Air Blades with a flick of the wrist as she brought up her twin blades again, just in time for a mad barrage of wild swings and jabs for her body.

This answer would never be answered as she locked blades with Alta, the mare who was no stronger than Autumn when Winter and her first fought. She shoved the mad mare back while throwing on of her swords up, causing the mad mare to look up at it on instinct. Winter pulled out Ash and fired three rounds at the cross guard of the sapphire sword. Alta hissed in pain as she was forced to drop it from her mental grasp. Before she could re-take it into her grip, however. Winter teleported it to the Oculory where Alta couldn't use it before teleporting herself right behind her.

Winter caught the sword she lost and sheathed it with it's sister before jumping into the air in a spin, bringing her hoof around with untraceable speed. Alta looked back in surprise just in time for Winters hoof to collide and send her sprawling with a bloody face towards Spooks, who was recovering with the aid of Snowball.

“Thou can't defeat us! We are Alta Tempest! The Goddess of Storms!” she screamed in defiance as she stood up, coughing up blood that was healing far slower than before, making Winter realize that she must have wasted most of her power, cleaning the temple. “You art just a foal! A child! How can YOU be so strong!?”

Winter raised her head, tall and proud as she walked up to the recovering mare as she sheathed her claws. “My mentors are the Goddess of the Moon, The Elder Dragon Jormungand, and my mother, Spitfire Hawk Moon, Daughter of Hawk Fury the first Wonderbolt. You never stood a chance against me, Alta, because I represent freedom and just like the wind. You can't stop nor bend me to your will!” she proclaimed, earning herself a long, insanitary laugh before Spooks whipped the butt of her rifle into the back of the laughing mare, causing her head to jerk forward and eat the ground with gusto.

Seeing this as an opportunity to finish the fight. As Alta stood back up and violently attacked Spooks, she bolted at the mare with her fangs out. Before the possessed mare could react, Winter chomped down on her neck and started to suck the mana out of her.

“What art thou doing!” Alta screeched in pain as her body went limp from the shock, but Winter didn't answer. “Let us f-free!” she demanded as the colour faded from Daring's coat telling Snowball to put on the winglets like she was instructed to by Luna.

As Alta thrashed weakly, Winter watched Snowball put both winglets on, causing the frighted demon in Daring to be pulled into the Flesh Golem in a haze of sickly green smoke that entered the mare's mouth, nose, ears and eyes. The process was so fast Winter almost forgot to pump Daring's mana back into her so that she wouldn't die.

After a few moments, Winter pulled away from the whimpering Pegasus and watched with scrutiny at the twitching Flesh Golem before it stopped and the left eye changed from red to amber.

“Snow. Are you alright?” Winter asked weakly, being the only one able to talk to her since everyone else is sleeping from head trauma.

“Yes, Mistress Rose. The spells that Princess Luna placed on me has successfully trapped the being known as, Alta,” Snowball replied.

“Is...Is that a good thing?” Winter asked again.

“Yes, however. Since we are now sharing one body, her powers have been complexity nullified. She is just a soul, trapped by the Soul Jars that are her winglets. She won't have any influence unless you command me to do so.”

“But?” Winter sighed with a long breath of relief as her Limit Break turned off, bringing her back to normal.

“She is quite angry and wishes to torture you slowly and painfully. How should I respond?” Snow asked curiously.

“Tell her that I like pain just as much as pleasure,” Winter chuckled lightly.

“...”

“What?”

“She thinks that having scarabs birthed in your womb would not feel that pleasant.”

“Sounds like a weird fetish of sorts,” Spooks coughed as she walked up to them with her right hind leg held close to her body with Winter and Snowball looking at her the whole time, one in confusion and the other in curiosity.

“How are you still up?” Winter asked the Night Stalker. "You've been beaten pretty hard." 

“Takes a lot more than a few slams against the wall to knock me down,” Spooks replied with a tired smile, “Anyway. Is there a place where we can get some rest and tend to the injured?” she added with a nod towards the knocked out members of the group.

“Alta should have a bedchamber near the main hall,” Winter replied causing Alta to rage inside Snowballs head.

“Right, let's go,” Spooks said before walking over to Windy and helped her up with Night Heart draping A.T. over her back.

While they did that, Snowball helped carried the unconscious members of the group towards the bed chamber with the raging Alta screaming various creative ways to torture Winter and Spooks with their own tails in her head.

Winter limped along with them, keeping an eye out for any more traps that could cause them harm. The main hall looked like all the others in the Temple, but it was far bigger and had more pillars than the front entrance. She used what little energy she had left to use her Air Sight to find the secret door that should lead into private bedchambers of the demonic being that once called this place home.

It took Winter a few minutes to find the door and the switch to open it. After she opened the secret passage, she lead Spooks and Snowball down a beautifully painted hall that opened up to a round room with various doors and halls that spanned out like a web. She blinked for a second, her vision starting to blur from the immense strain that she pushed herself through and guided Spooks and Snowball down a hall towards a large door that had the same carvings as the throne rooms door. 

She opened it up, revealing a large room with a giant, cloud bed. The walls were painted to look like there were standing in a meadow of twilight. Even the floor looked like there were grass and flowers around them, however. When Winter took a step into the room, she quickly learned that it was real grass and flowers. 

“Wow,” Spooks exclaimed in awe as the group walked into the bedchamber. "This is insane."

"Yeah, makes my room look like crap," Winter chuckled weakly. "But enough of that. I can't go on for much longer without falling asleep on my hooves." 

"I agree," Spooks yawned as she placed the group on their bedrolls around the bed and before she too fall asleep. She wrapped her hooves around Winter with teary eyes. 

“Umm, Spooks, what are you doing?” Winter asked, taken aback at the warm hug.

“Hugging you,” Spooks replied calmly.

“Yes, I noticed, but why?” Winter asked again.

“To thank you for saving my little sis."