A Rather Large Adventure

by BradyBunch

Chapter Eighty-three: Devils

Twilight started to recognize it. The ground gradually merged from sand and jagged igneous black rock into interlocking hexagonal basalt columns, looking for all the world like tiles on the ground of a church. They were getting close to the throne, although Garble’s estimate of a few hours turned out to be longer than she expected--after they had to stop for the night.

Twilight almost wanted to take over navigation at that point. But she kept herself in check. She didn’t want to uproot Garble’s responsibility. He even seemed to be getting along with them better. Yesterday, after the incident at the hot springs, Garble and Spike didn’t fight at all. In fact, there was even some strained words as they went to sleep. Twilight didn’t hear all of it, but she did hear Ember’s name fall from both their mouths before she laid down next to Freedom Fighter for the night.

She gave a discreet glance to the side. He was entirely uncovered by anything resembling his original black suit. There was only a scrap on his flanks to hold his folded staves when not in use, allowing the rest of his golden coat to shine in the rising sun. Twilight had hoped she’d be able to give him some peace of mind, but until he went to sleep, he was curt and didn’t talk much.

She did remember him leaning down to kiss her ear before she drifted into sleep, though. So it wasn’t anything she had done. It was most likely Malice’s presence on the same continent as him.

Malice. The very thought of him infuriated her once more. But all of a sudden, the anger evaporated as she realized she could empathize with him.

“I see it!” Garble called down from the basalt ledge he had flown up to. “Just hurry up and climb up!”

Twilight took to the air and gently flapped up until she touched down on the edge of the small cliff. Rainbow Dash landed a moment later beside her.

It was exactly as Twilight remembered: maroon colors below a smoky sky, and in the distance was the throne. What she didn’t expect was the overwhelming presence of Torch on it. He was visible even from a far distance.

“What?” Twilight whispered.

“Yeah, who’s that guy?” Rainbow wondered, squinting.

“My father,” Garble grunted. “Probably filling in for Malice. I don’t think he’d be willing to see me again.”

“So if Ember was Torch’s daughter, that would make Ember your…”

Garble nodded, eliciting a hiss from Rainbow. “Yikes.”

“Once we explain everything that happened around her death, I’m sure he’d be willing to see reason,” Twilight assured Garble.

“You know him. You really think he’d do that?” he deadpanned.

Twilight decided not to answer that. Instead, she turned and looked down the cliff. Freedom Fighter was in the process of jumping from one ledge to another and was almost up to their level. But Spike was still a few feet down, climbing slowly but surely.

“Slow going?” Twilight called down.

Spike paused, his hand stretched above his head. “Look, I don’t mean to be rude, but this isn’t as easy as it looks for you guys who can fly. This cliff is insane! How much more of this do we have to do?”

“The throne is just up here,” Twilight assured him. “So we’re done traveling for now. But Torch is up there too. And he’s probably not going to be happy when he sees us. Especially you or Garble. Malice probably lied about the both of you.”

“That does put a damper on our relationship,” Spike sarcastically replied. He shook his hand in the air, rotating his shoulder next. He was panting.

“Need a hoof?” Twilight offered.

“If you really want to help, you could lower a rope or a tree branch, or use your magic, or get someone else to carry me up,” Spike began listing irritably.

“I’ll get the runt,” Garble volunteered lowly before Twilight could ignite her horn. Interested, Twilight stepped back to allow Garble some room.

“Oh, great,” Spike remarked. “You’ll probably drop me. Get Twilight to do it.”

“Come on!” Garble yelled down. “You know me! If I wanted to kill you, I’d do it fair and square!”

“My confidence is not restored,” Spike muttered.

He sighed. "Just give me this much, Spike. You'll see you're wrong about me."

"I think I'll just take that swan dive you mentioned earlier."

Garble tensed up. "Is there... no way you can trust me?"

"Nothing comes to mind," Spike replied.

Garble, after a moment, lifted his arm to the square. “I swear on the soul of my sister, Ember, you will reach the top alive.”

After another moment, Spike sighed and said, “Pick me up.”

Garble stepped casually off the edge of the cliff, and he dropped like a stone. There came the flapping of wings, a few grunts, and a few seconds later, Garble emerged into view, carrying Spike under the armpits. He dropped Spike off onto his feet, then landed himself. He hadn't even broken a sweat.

“Well then,” Garble announced, wiping his hands like he had flour on them. “Guess you were wrong after all. That’s one thing that hasn’t changed.”

“Thanks,” Spike quietly said.

Garble turned his head to regard him. His eyes shot to the ground. “You’re welcome. Ugh.”

“We’re very proud of you,” Twilight said without sounding like it, giving him a small shove. “Keep on it.”

“Don’t tell me what to do,” Garble told her.

“But you’ll do it anyway~” Rainbow teased, scooching beside him.

“I can change my mind,” Garble reminded her.

“Whatever you say,” Rainbow waved aside, trotting away.

Garble sighed softly, gesturing at Rainbow. “Can’t wait until I don’t have to see her again.”

“Bet you she’s thinking the same thing,” Spike ribbed.

Garble tilted his head to the side inquisitively as he looked down. “Why doesn’t she want to see herself?”

“Wait, no, that’s not it.”

“I bet it’s because her hair hurts her eyes whenever she looks in the mirror.”

Spike snorted.

Garble and Spike immediately exchanged surprised looks, eyeing each other suspiciously.

Twilight, however, was softly grinning.

---

It didn’t take long before they started their journey once more. Seeing their goal in the distance gave each of them more energy; they walked a little faster, with more of a spring in their step. The throne grew closer and closer. Torch grew larger and larger. It couldn’t have been more than half an hour of walking later before the monstrous throne was fully visible.

None of them suspected they’d come unnoticed. Sure enough, by the time the throne was fully visible, there had assembled a contingent of dragons forming up around Torch. They looked like specks next to his unnatural size, but their presence was more of a statement than proper security.

Finally, Torch bothered to look down at them, even as they were hundreds of feet away. His pugnacious eyes narrowed as he concentrated to make out their features, then they beetled together in anger.

“What is the meaning of this?” he snarled, and a few loose pebbles beneath their feet quivered as if afraid. “I just so happen to see two of the most traitorous dragons on the planet next to a couple of ponies.”

“I’ve never been so disappointed in you being right,” Spike lamented to Twilight.

“For your information,” Rainbow yelled, flapping into the air, “we just so happen to be the guys who can help you!”

Torch tilted his ponderous head. “What was that?”

Twilight held up her hoof as her horn ignited. Five beads of violet light pulsed out of the tip and spread among them all, hitting them in the throat.

“What was that?” Garble immediately asked, but when he said it, his voice boomed like thunder across the fields until it reached Torch. Garble quickly clasped his claws over his mouth.

“What was what?” Torch inquired, growing more impatient by the moment.

Garble gulped, which echoed off the rocks. “Uh, nothing, dad.”

“Dad?!” Torch erupted, straightening in the throne and making pebbles leap off the edge. “You dare!”

“Stop!” Spike cried, shoving himself in front of Garble, for all the good it would do against a dragon like Torch. “You can’t just kill him!”

“Of course I can,” Torch barked, making the rocks tremor again. “Don’t think of me as Garble’s dad. Think of me as your executioner!”

“If you would just listen to him, he can explain everything,” Rainbow promised. Torch turned his head a millimeter to regard her. “All you know about Ember’s death was from some guy you’ve never seen before! And now, based on his word, you want to kill your own son as well? How much more can you take away from yourself?”

“He ran!” Torch yelled over her. “Even if he didn’t kill her, he’s complicit in her death! He didn’t even bother avenging her! If he really loved his sister, he would have given his own life trying to destroy the enemy! But he saved his own hide, and betrayed his kingdom! I have no use for such a weak son!”

“I am not weak!” Garble yelled in return.

“QUIET, BOY!” Torch bellowed, and pebbles tumbled loose from the basalt ground. “THE GROWN-UPS ARE TALKING!”

Garble fell uncharacteristically silent.

“You’re just torn up about her death,” Twilight observed. “You’re confused, and wounded. You don’t know who to blame, or how it could have happened. Trust me, I’ve been there too. I know how you feel. I can help!”

“I don’t care if you’ve been there before,” Torch snapped. “It doesn’t help me now. What can you do to fix this?”

“We can avenge your daughter’s death,” Spike told him. “We know how it really happened and who killed her.”

“Why, because you listened to this fool?” Torch incredulously demanded, pointing a monstrous arm above Spike at Garble. “How is his account any better than Venom’s?”

“Because I was there when she died!” Garble yelled, despite Torch’s warning. “I saw that purple guy stab her right up front! And the other guys he was with turned on the other guards! All I felt was shock. I did want to avenge my sister! That’s why I didn’t want to die in a meaningless way! That’s why I had to escape!”

Torch’s head, the size of a small cottage, swiveled back to stare him down directly. “I still haven’t decided yet if you’re even worth listening to.”

“That isn’t your choice to make, dad!” Garble retorted. “Who else do you have?”

“Yeah!” Spike spoke up. “Why can’t you trust your own son?”

“I did!” Torch replied. “And my daughter is dead!”

“So help us!” Spike pleaded. “We can set things right. We can’t bring your daughter back. But you also can’t bring your son back. If you kill him as well, you’ll just get even worse!”

“What makes you think you’ll be any happier with my death, anyway?” Garble added. “You’ll still remain the same grumpy old mess you always were!”

“How dare you!” Torch growled, leering down at them like he was observing bugs. His fangs were bared. “I am Dragon Lord Torch! Your father! You think you can get away with saying such things to me?!”

“Oh, so now you say you’re my father,” Garble retorted, and there was a crack in his voice.

Torch’s eyes widened momentarily, and his mouth closed.

Spike was suddenly pushed aside. Garble, not even looking at him, was walking upright towards the massive frame of his father. “I want to do this for you, dad,” Garble said. A glisten in his eye stood out from the rest of his red body. “I lost a sister. I know how you feel. And... I want to set things right. For the first time in my life, I want to do something right! I want you to just… listen! Please, trust me!”

Torch made no motion to stop Garble’s advance, but he did keep eye contact with him for the entirety of his trail in front of the other travelers.

“I love you, dad,” Garble said, and it seemed to clog his throat as he said so. “I’ll do this with or without your help, but I want you to be with me when I redeem myself. If you want something to do because Ember’s dead, I need you to help us!”

Torch’s eyes had softened completely by now. He bent his head to the ground until him and Garble were no more than a few feet away.

“If... you want to... prove yourself to me...” Torch slowly said, as if selecting his words a few at a time, “...You can start… by avenging her. If this is your desire… I will help you.”

“It is!” Garble immediately said. “Oh, thanks, dad!”

“I said I would help you,” Torch was quick to reply. “Because I need proof before I can call you my son again.” He straightened his back. “And it’s because I want in my heart to believe my son loves me that I am doing this. You will not betray me like so many have.”

“Trust me,” Garble said. “If I just wanted to kill whoever killed her, I would have done it. But I came to you because… I want to mend things again.”

Torch, visibly abashed, said nothing in reply to him.

After a moment more, though, Torch broke away from his son and addressed Spike and the ponies. “Dragon Lord Malice left for Mount Nevermore yesterday. He should be arriving soon.”

“Is there some way we can get there quickly?” Twilight asked. “Some of us…” She risked a glance at Freedom Fighter. “...are a little anxious.”

Torch squinted to get a better look at the yellow pony. “Who’re you?”

“You know me,” Freedom Fighter spoke, and his voice echoed up to him. “I am Freedom Fighter. I came here with Firestorm and Noble Blade a few years ago to assist in one of your little civil wars. You have been giving us generous compensation ever since.”

“The Freedom Fighter I remember was in all black and never spoke a word,” Torch observed.

“I have shed my old skin and discovered my voice--to cry in wrath and ruin against my enemies,” Freedom Fighter intoned. “I present this as proof.”

He snapped the two staves off his hips and unfolded them, then twisted them together into a glowing yellow staff. He held it above his head with his mechanical arm. “Hope you remember this.”

Torch nodded slowly, a rumble in his mouth. “You have used this to slay my enemies in the past.”

“It has slain many enemies. Hard to keep track of anymore. You’ll have to be more specific.”

Torch rolled his eyes. “I suppose…”

“I give my word as a princess of Equestria,” Twilight backed him up. “This is Freedom Fighter.”

“Ditto,” Rainbow Dash added, gesturing lazily at him with Stormkeeper.

“Very well,” Torch accepted. “Why are you here now, Freedom Fighter?”

“To slay Malice,” was his simple answer, curt and tight. “It will bring forth freedom.”

“Malice is the leader of the Noxxa,” Twilight provided him. “He is the reason your people are at war to begin with!”

Torch blinked in quick succession. “You give me your word?”

“I should not have to promise you my word,” Twilight replied, remembering a lesson from Noble Blade. “Those who know me know I’m honest. But yes, I give it.”

“Malice is the catalyst for all the suffering in the world recently. He killed your daughter, and the sons and daughters of countless others in the name of his dark God. If we kill him, we can live again!” Freedom proclaimed, pumping his staff in the air.

Torch’s veiny eyes stared at the ground with an intensity that could melt them. “And I commended that devil!” he hissed. His claws clenched, and beneath them stone cracked and crumbled. Torch’s snout flared when he addressed them next. “Where are your other friends?! Why aren’t they doing anything about this?”

“My guess is they are,” Rainbow effortlessly answered. “We just got split up. No biggie. Our goal is still the same. We gotta get to that mountain!”

“Then go there we shall!” Torch roared, swiveling his head to the dragons hovering near his huge head. “Rally the dragons to me!”

After a pause, Torch angrily replied, “So what if Malice took the home deployments? There are still the common dragon folk out there! Gather them! And I don’t care if they want to or not! This is the uprooting of the dragonlands as we know it! If they choose to stay home, they can, but it shall be known forever after that they were cowards when we needed them most! Will any of you not stand in memory of our lands, our country, our wives, children, homes, and freedoms?!”

After some apparent head-shaking that Twilight couldn’t see, Torch roared once more. “THEN GO!”

The tiny dragons zipped in every direction across the land. Torch watched impatiently as they slowly disappeared from view, then sighed. “I’m very sorry, princess. These things take time. And I’m sure we don’t have much of it.”

“What if we show up and we’re the only ones there?” Rainbow hissed to Twilight. “Are we really going to storm the mountain alone?”

“If that’s what it takes,” Twilight grimly replied. “It’s just a mountain, though. It’s easy enough to level.”

Rainbow Dash warily eyed the Element of Magic atop her head. “You’re kidding.”

A quick look into Twilight’s eyes, however, revealed that she wasn’t. Rainbow took a few imperceptible steps away from her.

---

A quiet howl from behind was enough to take Grimm out of her quiet reverie. She craned her head around and tapped her boyfriend on the shoulder. “Valiant?”

“What?” Valiant irritably demanded, following her gaze down the red-tinged metal hallway.

“I thought I heard…” Grimm shook her black mane, stylized around her horn. “No. It’s just…”

“What is it? Spit. It. Out. All this ‘umm’ing and ‘uhh’ing isn’t going to get you anywhere!”

“There was something behind us!” Grimm quickly got out.

“Well, that’s weird. Do I see anything down there? No. So don’t worry your pretty little head about it. Let me worry about stuff that matters, got it?”

Grimm demurely nodded, and Valiant groaned before taking her hoof and leading her further up the hall. “The brothel should be just ahead.”

“I-I don’t get it,” Grimm admitted. “It implies that we’d pay for it, but we don’t. It’s just free for whoever’s in at the moment.”

“Well, there’s no better word to describe it,” Valiant explained, as if to a five-year-old. “So we use that instead. You can find some other guy, and I’ll find a girl, and we’ll meet back in ‘bout an hour. Got it? We don’t want to be late to the ceremony.”

“Look, I-I’m still new to all this. I’m confused. You’re my boyfriend, but we’re still going to a brothel together? I just… grew up thinking those two things were supposed to be-”

“Look,” Valiant interrupted. “There are two reasons why it’s a good idea. First: this is the best way to have a lot of kids really, really quickly. We can’t rely on converts in Equestria like you finding out about us, let alone making the trip here. So we need a new generation, and they’ll automatically become alicorns instead of having Solaris make the change. It took us hundreds of years to build up this population. We aren’t going to let something stupid like chastity halt our progress.”

Grimm rubbed her arm. “I-I guess so…”

“Second: there’s a difference between love and sex. You can do it without loving each other. Think about it: if I have it with a lot of others but still come back to you, won’t that mean my love for you is stronger than anything?”

“B-but I want you all to myself,” Grimm mumbled.

“And you do. But you and I also have the freedom to indulge whenever and wherever we feel like it, with anyone we want. Isn’t that such a blessing? If you happen to love the person you’re doing it with, that’s even better! This is a way you can love everyone! Serving Solaris definitely has its perks! Isn’t love a good thing?”

“Well…” Grimm pondered. In a way, it made sense. “I guess you’re right.”

“Of course I am!” Valiant boasted. “But it’s nice to know you agree. Come on, it’s right around the corner here-”

An explosion rocked the hall with creaks of metal, making Grimm collapse and Valiant stagger. Looking behind once more, they saw an orange glow flicker around a bend in the hall, obscured by smoke and simmering heat. Then the color became brighter and more solid as, eventually, a pony stamped out to meet them, leaving scorch marks on the metal.

He was on fire, although the contours of his shape could be seen. The flames licked every side of the hexagonal hallway, reflecting off the dull surfaces. Heat radiated off him and bounced back off the narrow metal walls, creating an overpowering, stuffy presence Grimm could feel from twenty feet away.

“Oh, my gosh!” Grimm exclaimed, scrambling backwards, scraping her skin on the metal surface. “We gotta help him!”

“No,” Valiant refused, and there was a grin spreading on his face. “He’s looking for a challenge!”

The pony crouched and spread his wings, and flame dripped off his wingspan to sizzle and die out on the ground.

Valiant spread his own wings and ignited his horn, tossing his black mane aside in the process. “Come on! You’re not here to stand still, are you? But I’ll have you know I’m several tiers above you in power! You wouldn’t last a sec-”

Valiant’s last words were drowned out by a roar and a flash of fire. The pony had leaped from the floor to one wall, then another, before bouncing to the ceiling, whipping out a sword, and rocketing from above to smash into Valiant.

Valiant’s uneven, cauterized halves fell to the hallway floor. The burning pegasus was paused in the final action of a slash. And Grimm was close enough to him that her mane and coat was scorching.

“Shut up,” the pegasus was hissing under his breath. “SHUT UP! I am so sick of ponies like you!”

Then his gaze was directed down at Grimm, and she could feel her heart stop.

The pegasus’ face quickly contorted from rage into utter contempt. “Oh, great. Your type.”

Grimm probably thought it had to do with her appearance. Was her black, spiky mane okay? Were her black-diamond earrings in place? Was her black eyeliner running on her white coat? Could her-

“Where’s the prisoner holding cells?” he barked.

She blinked. “Whaa?”

“I WILL NOT ASK YOU AGAIN, DEVIL!” he bellowed out of nowhere swiping his sword at the wall just above her head and showering her in sparks. “WHERE ARE MY FRIENDS?!”

“I don’t know!” she cowered, putting her arms over her head. “I’m new here!”

He sigh-groaned. “Don’t have time for this,” he muttered. He gestured back the way he came with his flaming sword. “Run if you know what’s good for you. Oh, that’s right! You don’t, devil-worshipper.”

“Wh-wh-what’s the matter with you?” she trembled out.

“With me?” he screamed, and the heat on his body pulsed hotter. “What’s wrong with you? You dragged yourself a million miles from home and became an edgy, hedonistic freak just to get cucked by some douche! You don’t understand just how bad you messed up, and you never will!”

She ignited her horn lying on the ground, every inch of her body tingling from the intense heat. “Don’t you dare talk about us like that!”

With a crunch, Firestorm’s sword plunged into Grimm’s chest and emerged to rip through the metal floor as well. Grimm squeaked as her magic cut off.

“I think I can,” Firestorm told her, now quiet. “And I think I will.”

He ripped the sword from her bosom and stalked away, leaving Grimm to expire.

---

The brothel was a pink-tinted room with impossibly fluffy beds lined up on either end of the wall. Heart-shaped pillows were at the bedposts. The beds had been conjured up by alicorn magic, which was the same magic that kept every alicorn impossibly handsome and desirable upon their transformation.

It was, by far, Lizzie’s favorite place to go in the entire temple complex. There were others like it, but this was her favorite. Mostly because of him.

Darkness Dementia Ravenblood. It was the most awesome name she could think of, but that was simply where the perks began. He was handsome, as all stallions were in this mountain, but he had the specific colorations that just set her heart aflutter. A red mane, black body, and startling ice-blue eyes, which was a stark contrast from the environment he usually blended into. But here, among the uncharacteristic pink and white environment, he simply looked powerful and inviting, with a dark presence that she couldn’t help but be attracted to.

Of course, her present boyfriend didn’t know. But that was okay; he wasn’t worth it to her anyway.

He frequented this place often. Mostly because she was there often too. And at the moment, Lizzie and Darkness were locked in an embrace on one of the beds. The air was full of passion from both them and the dozen or so other patrons.

Everything was soft in the world. It was warm, and ecstatic. She didn't need to follow Faust to get into heaven; this was it, right here. In his firm arms.

And then a metallic crunch and squeak broke her out of her reverie. Lizzie and Darkness craned their heads towards the only door leading out and froze. A few screams came from the others in the room.

The tip of a flaming sword was in the process of bisecting the entire door in half, filling the air with the ugly sound of tearing metal. Sparks showered to the ground, and the orange wound in the door was growing longer and longer.

The air, once full of passion, was dispelled immediately and replaced by something Lizzie never thought she'd feel again: terror. Her heart, already going fast, pumped faster. That door was the only exit!

“Liz!” Darkness cried, scrambling off the bed. “Get outta here once you get your opening!”

“What opening?!” she screamed. The sword was almost done tearing the door in half!

“I’ll make one!” Darkness promised. His jet-black horn ignited sky-blue.

The hinges were sliced off with two quick swipes. With a deafening pound, the two door halves were hurled inward, crashing into beds and snapping the posts in half. The glowing edges set the soft sheets smoking.

The only entrance revealed a pegasus on fire with a sword in both hooves, who bellowed as loud as he could, over the screams of fright from the other alicorns.

Darkness shot at him, but the fiery pegasus deflected the bolt aside with a spin of his sword. He locked eyes with Darkness and pounced at him like a cat in response. Darkness and the pegasus crashed into their opulent bed, setting it aflame.

Firestorm's arm came up and plunged down again. Darkness’ cry of pain was the last that Lizzie ever heard of him.

Lizzie wasn’t stupid, though. She obeyed his last order and ran, along with several others. The doorway was open now, allowing them to escape.

The fiery pegasus roared, and with a wave of his arm, fire flew off him to envelop the entire brothel in sheets of flame. The unlucky alicorns who hadn’t left in time were consumed by the flame.

Lizzie barely even saw it, though. She just ran, not even using her wings. The mares and stallions beside her were doing the same. However, they were panting for breath very soon as a result of their sedentary lifestyle. But they still managed to get away from the brothel before Firestorm did.

The fiery pegasus erupted into the hallway with a burst of bouncing metal debris pinging off the metal surfaces. He was pouncing and leaping off one wall and onto the other in a race to catch up with the others.

Lizzie shrieked and galloped even faster. She passed two alicorns twisting their heads to return fire from their horns, but the orange pegasus would have none of that. He zoomed at a much faster speed all of a sudden, hurling himself forward. His back hoof met the face of one of the alicorns with a crack, and his body skidded against the metal floor with a harsh screech as the pegasus then used it as a springboard to launch at the second alicorn, and with a sweep of his arm he annihilated him as well.

“Seal off the hallway!” one of the remaining alicorns, a pink one, ordered.

Chiming their horns to life, two more alicorns crossed an invisible line and bowed their heads in effort. A six-inch-thick metal door slid from hollow holes in either side of the walls, met in the middle, and fused together seamlessly just as Lizzie dove through, clipping a few feathers off her wing.

The blinding light coming off their attacker was suddenly extinguished, and Lizzie's vision plunged into darkness.

Lizzie, catching her breath on the ground, was aware that at least one more alicorn had been behind her. He was dead, certainly. Nothing they could do now except-

Almost immediately, the tip of a blazing sword pierced the metal, making her jolt again. It began to make a furious carving, a jagged line of orange in the dull iron door.

“More!” the pink one screamed, in both anger and fear.

Appropriately, the rest of the alicorns got to work with their magic, tearing up the metal walls with ear-wrenching shrieks and flattening it before quickly reinforcing the metal door. Before the tip of the sword could get from the center of the door to the edge, most of the available metal walls were peeled off and layered on top of the door. It exposed the carved rock underneath, but it seemed to do the trick; the tip of the sword stopped moving. It was simply meeting too much resistance.

Then, miraculously, the tip of the sword retracted.

Lizzie’s heart jolted once more, however, when a new, heavier impact hit the door. This time, the center of the door steadily grew more and more orange and bulgy.

“He’s still coming through!” Lizzie gaped, pointing limply at the melting door.

“Impossible!” the pink alicorn shrieked.

Moments later, the center of the barricade became limp, and it burst like a bubble. Chunky, orange, viscous liquid metal dripped through their end, and a blazing hoof was in its place, slowly peeling apart the edges of the hole and struggling to fit his furious head through.

“Fire! Fire!” the pink alicorn urged.

The three other alicorns with her and Lizzie, though, took a few steps back. What could an alicorn do against such reckless hate?

The pink alicorn took a glance towards her comrades, then back at the pegasus’ shining head, now fully through the metal doorway and unaffected by the unbearable heat he had just brought into their cramped quarters. The pink alicorn quivered, unable to move a muscle. Reflected in her shrunken pupils were the fires of hell.

The living firestorm finally squeezed himself through his hole and set all four hooves on the metal walkway, snarling for breath. His hoofsteps created bubbling holes.

“Give me one reason why I shouldn’t tear you apart,” Firestorm growled, meshing perfectly into the crackles of the inferno encompassing him.

“Wh-wh-what do you want?” Lizzie asked, much higher than she would have liked.

“I want?” he repeated, taking a step, and everypony else took one back. “My friends, that’s what!”

“Oh, wait! Y-y-you mean the pony prisoners?” Lizzie quickly inferred. “I-I remember! Yeah! Brimstone came in with some just a little bit ago!”

“Those guys!” Firestorm confirmed. “Where are they?!”

“I-I don’t know,” Lizzie said, quickly adding, “which one you’re going to rescue!”

“What do you mean?” Firestorm demanded.

“The prisoners got split up. One of them got taken to the processing cells in the Son. The other was taken straight to the temple at the top of Mount Nevermore.”

“The Son? Temple? Be specific! Spit it out!”

“It’s the northern mountain!” Lizzie hastily spoke. “The southern one is the Daughter. Nevermore lies between them. There’s an open-air temple at the top, where all our worship happens. One of your friends is up there!”

Firestorm bent his head ever closer to Lizzie’s, making her scramble back some. “What are they planning on doing to her?” he asked with furious patience.

“You aren’t going to like it,” Lizzie promised. “Like everything we do, it’s alien for you to comprehend.”

“I understand plenty enough,” Firestorm promised back. “I comprehend that you’re pure evil, for example.”

“From my point of view, you’re-”

“Who cares about your point of view, devil?” Firestorm exploded. “These aren't opinions! This is good and evil, and you’re on the wrong side! At least I know some things are evil! You just think something is good because you have the freedom to do it, and I do not have to sit here and shake hooves and smile and debate the morality of the devil with a whoring abomination!”

“Go ahead, then,” Lizzie invited. “Strike me down and see what you become!”

Firestorm swiftly drew a sword from across his back and planted it in her thigh like an enemy flag on conquered soil. Lizzie screamed from the sudden pain.

“I think I will,” Firestorm replied. “I think I will tread on you, because you would do the same to me. Solaris will tread on all of us to make his wine for him to sip as the world burns beneath him! So you can die here! As you wish! But as for me? I will keep moving forward.” His eyes, hotter than the molten river of Nevermore itself, met the four other alicorns. “Until my enemies are destroyed!”

The Element chained around his neck glowed hotter and fiercer than ever before.

And Firestorm unleashed himself.

---

KABOOM!

Rarity staggered and whipped her head to the source of the explosion. Noble, beside her, did the same. But it was impossible; it was too far away in this metal maze!

The hallways of Nevermore's passages quivered and clattered, and the dull red lights momentarily flickered. Dust fell from the ceiling. But it soon passed, leaving the hallway as it was before.

Rarity and Noble took a few more minutes before turning to each other. "That didn't sound like the volcano," Noble observed.

"We're not the first ones here," Rarity deduced. "But who else?"

"We need to find them," Noble finished.

"How?" Rarity helplessly asked.

"Is there something you can do?" Noble asked.

Rarity paused. Actually, there probably was. She'd have to experiment.

"Point me," she whispered to her Element.

The Element glowed, but made no other response. Maybe she needed something more.

"Could you mind cutting a piece of the metal off?" Rarity implored.

"Sorry," he said, rubbing his horn and hissing as he touched it. "It's still exhausted from cutting an entrance into this place. Might need to give it a bit of time."

Rarity nodded in understanding. They had entered literally not more than two minutes ago. If he was still recovering from carving a hole into the mountain, then she'd have to do it herself. But was her magic strong enough?

Chiming her horn and concentrating, a thin blue beam hit the wall and made it smoke. Gritting her teeth, Rarity swiveled her head to slowly carve a piece of the metal wall out. She finally telekinetically lifted the metal patch, exposing the black rock behind it.

Levitating it in front of her, she concentrated again. "Point me."

The metal did not respond to the command. Rarity growled, balled it up, and tossed it aside.

"What do you need?" Noble inquired.

"Something to act as a compass," Rarity answered, placing her hoof on the exposed rock. "If the Elements are connected, darling, they’d know where each other is. I know what to do. I just wanted to see if it would work with anything."

Her hoof finally grasped a thin emerald, and she pulled it from the rock like a stick from water. She levitated the green gem in front of her and concentrated once more. "Point. Me."

The gem obeyed. It quivered up as if at attention, then swiveled to point in the opposite direction they were facing.

"Wow," Noble whispered. "You have a very versatile gift."

Rarity gave a small "Aww," before brushing it aside and concentrating once more. "You're very kind."

With nothing more to say, Rarity galloped in the direction the gem was pointing, and Noble quickly followed.

---

Malice had personally never seen Mount Nevermore, but he knew of the denizens within. A few of them had volunteered to be in his service, declaring themselves to be fallen from pony society. So, under this disguise of Fallen, Malice had used them in the past to wreak havoc in specific campaigns. The most recent example was to destroy the Castle of the Two Sisters and prevent the Element Bearers from learning about the other Elements.

One of which now resided in this very mountain.

It made Malice quiver in his insectoid legs, even in the middle of his flight. His God had a work for him to do. He would not fail! It all depended on if Twilight Sparkle showed up, however.

He needed her to be there.

Dipping below the smoke cover, Malice finally spotted it. Looming as a monolith among the ashes of the wasteland, with its pathetic Son and Daughter on either end, all surrounded by a ring of liquid fire, Malice understood how Mount Nevermore was awe-inspiring to even the firmest of Solaris followers. It captivated his entire attention.

He loved to see the temple. He'd been promised he'd go inside someday and make the covenant with his Father to awaken him completely.

That day was now.

"To glory," Malice bespoke, for his ears only.

---

Under the smoke of a poisoned sky, Solaris waited.

Solaris was everywhere and nowhere, insubstantial, yet very much real. But he was concentrated into a very small spot on Equus, which was the temple of his servants.

His followers gave him strength. Here, Solaris drained every ounce of light from his followers. And from Mount Nevermore. And from the planet. And from the universe.

Solaris was like a black hole, a singularity, in which all things met their end. Even light.

He could sense every breath of every pony in every corner of the world. His awareness was sharp enough to chop through any creature and cut through immortals.

He could feel his priests preparing for the ceremony, and it was good. He could feel Malice gliding towards Mount Nevermore, and it was good. He could feel the Noxxa reach Canterlot and begin to besiege it. And it was good.

He could feel the fury and wrath of the pegasus as he burned alicorns into cinders. He could feel the rallying cry across the dragonlands to fight against him. He could even feel the presence of the Child of Light on the same continent as him.

All this, too, was good.

As he could feel this happen, Solaris sent his presence into a small device, which had been waiting in darkness--darkness beyond darkness--for millennia.

Waiting for eternal hell to fall upon Equus.

This was the purpose for which Malice had been commissioned. To take this device and unleash it. With it, Solaris would turn into his Godly self once more. The best part was, the Element Bearers would help him.

And the Element of Redemption would be their own undoing.