Filly Fluttershy: Uprising

by Phazon

The Chaos Vortex

Chapter 21: The Chaos Vortex

Fluttershy stood at the far end of the main sanctum of Celestia’s temple, gazing at a small armory behind the throne. The place had seen better days. No longer did it have the same serenity and warmth that Celestia exuded when she was still here, in happier times. Now it seemed dark, desolate, ruined, and most of all lonely.

In the half hour since Sombra escaped with Celestia’s soul, not a single centurion pony had roamed the halls. Most likely, they were either lost without Celestia to give orders or trying to find refuge somewhere in Skyworld. Fluttershy wasn’t even sure how many were still alive. Shining Armor and Twilight Sparkle were gone too, badly wounded after breaking open the portal to the Chaos Vortex and taken to Luna’s realm for medical care. Rainbow Dash had gone after Sombra on her own, not even bothering to stay with Fluttershy for even a minute. Discord had left too now that the Goddess of Light was gone and Skyworld was all but destroyed. Luna had remained only to shore up what was left of Skyworld’s defenses, and to wait until Fluttershy was ready to enter the Chaos Vortex.

Fluttershy looked back, casting a somber glance at the dark, empty chamber, before turning back to the weapons in front of her. On one of the middle shelves sat a massive club, or at least it was technically a club. The salmon-colored blade attached to its body made it as much a greatsword or a broadaxe as a true club. She didn’t immediately recognize the weapon, or else she would have realized that the club’s purple, scaly body and the blade resembled one of the horns of the Hewdraw she had fought years ago.

Turning away from the Hewdraw Club, Fluttershy was surprised to discover a certain bow resting on one of the other shelves. The bow’s limbs were a deep blue, much like the Silver Bow that Rainbow Dash used, only instead of silver, the bow’s blades were gold in color. A closer look revealed that this bow was incomplete: a silver sheen still permeated one of the golden blades, the other blade was still detached from its limb, and the grip and bowsight were still under construction.

Fluttershy left the unfinished bow alone and looked into another shelf containing a pair of orbitars. The orbitars were made to resemble a pair of lightly armored cherubs each aiming a golden bow and arrow nearly twice their size. She reached for the pair of Centurion Orbitars, but a pang of guilt hit her in the chest, and she withdrew her hoof. The gilded helmets, leather armor, and weaponry made the cherubs look too much like Celestia’s centurion ponies.

Pulling her hoof back, Fluttershy turned toward the last available weapon in the armory, a pair of translucent, platinum-colored braces. She picked up one of the braces, apparently a set of claws, and put it on her hoof. She held out her hoof, and a pair of blue-white lasers shot out of the brace, forming a pair of nine-inch talons. Feeling the heat from the Beam Claws licking her hoof, she allowed the talons to retract, equipped the other brace to her other hoof, and set out from the sanctum. She didn’t get very far before she stopped at an intersection in the hallway, where a pedestal stood in the center. Eight sigils formed a broken ring above the edge of the pedestal, each one of the Zodiac signs, with four empty spaces in between them.

“This must be where Princess Celestia is keeping the Zodiac treasures,” Fluttershy thought out loud. She thought back to the Capricorn Club, which she left behind in one of the prison cells under Skyworld. She still had the Aries Armor power with her, but that still left two missing treasures.

“Maybe one of the Zodiac treasures would help,” Fluttershy said. “There has to be a reason that Princess Celestia wanted me to find all of them. The Capricorn Club is too heavy, but the Aries Armor saved my life earlier.”

Looking over her options, she turned down the Taurus Arm, the Leo Cannon, and the Cancer Claws. They were all too bulky and would make it harder to use the Beam Claws. She wasn’t even sure how anypony was supposed to wear the Cancer Claws. She also passed over the Virgo Palm, still remembering what Celestia told her about palms draining the user’s life force. As much as she wanted to save Celestia, she didn’t want to sacrifice her own life. It hadn’t come to that yet. She prayed it never would.

Fluttershy also knew what the Libra Sponge power did and rejected that too, for the same reason as the Virgo Palm. That just left three choices. She considered the Scorpio Staff for a second, but then turned it down, unsure of how much good poison would be against a monster like Sombra. She briefly raised an eyebrow at the Gemini Orbitars before settling on the last weapon left, the Sagittarius Bow. Reaching her hoof into the sign of Sagittarius, Fluttershy waited as the bow materialized in her hoof. She separated the bow’s limbs and placed them against her foreleg, allowing them to magically attach before finally setting out.

Fluttershy broke into a gallop down the remaining hallways, taking a few sharp turns as she made her way to the exit. She’d lost enough time as it was, picking out her weapons and waiting for Luna’s power of flight spell to recharge. She hoped that Sombra hadn’t eaten Celestia’s soul by now. Reaching the front entrance to the temple, Fluttershy made a hard right turn and spread her wings. As Luna’s magic enveloped her wings and she took to the air, she glanced down at Celestia’s petrified form. “Hang on, Princess Celestia!” she said. “I’m coming for you!”

4:59…

4:58…

4:57…

Fluttershy looked on anxiously as she approached the shattered portal and the Chaos Vortex’s unnaturally orange sky came more and more into view. She took a deep breath, trying to relax the feeling in the pit of her stomach in the face of what was about to come.

“Dark Shy has gone ahead,” Luna said.

Fluttershy raised an eyebrow. “Who?” she asked. It took a second for her to remember the name. “Oh, her! Actually, we’ve been calling her Rainbow Dash for a while now. I think she even likes the name.”

Numerous towers, castles, and structures floated in the air in varying orientations, as if they were ripped from the earth and doomed to float and twist weightlessly in oblivion. Rifts tore open in the space around Fluttershy, and within them giant eyes stared at her. Luna’s magic flared through Fluttershy’s wings, and she gaped at the bizarre scenery as she flew through the environment.

“I’ve never seen anything like this,” Fluttershy said. A group of Monoeyes floated ahead of her in procession. Aiming her Beam Claws, she fired a volley of white-hot needles at them, taking out the whole group.

“That is to be expected from the Chaos Vortex,” Luna said.

Another line of Monoeyes flew ahead of Fluttershy. Fluttershy aimed her weapon again, firing a white laser at them, only for them shift several feet away a split second later. Fluttershy frowned and moved her foreleg to aim at them again, but hundreds of giant eyes opened in the sky and gazed at her. Fluttershy let out an eep and threw her hooves up in front of her face. She lowered her hooves a second later and looked back up to see the giant eyes gaze in different directions and eventually close. She could hear Luna clear her throat, and she gave a sheepish smile.

“Um… sorry,” Fluttershy said. “They sort of came out of nowhere.”

“Once again, welcome to the Chaos Vortex,” Luna deadpanned.

A group of Komaytos floated ahead of Fluttershy in a spiral formation, only to double back toward her. “I mean, I saw something like this in the Labyrinth of Deceit,” Fluttershy said. She flew on through a broken stone bridge and a cluster of houses spinning in the air, readying her claws to slash at the Komaytos. “But that was all an illusion. Are you telling me this is all real?”

“All too real, yes,” Luna answered, guiding Fluttershy over another broken, twisted stone bridge and toward a flying mountain range. “Sometimes I think Discord would be at home in this realm if he didn’t already rule the Underworld.”

4:32…

4:31…

4:30…

A dark, shadowy arm reached out in front of Fluttershy, causing her to nearly crash into it. Luna guided her flight path around the arm, only for Fluttershy to come to an abrupt halt as another arm blocked her way. Fluttershy looked ahead to see a multitude of hands stretch from behind the floating mountains.

Fluttershy kept going, pushed forward by Luna’s magic despite her own hesitation. She maneuvered around the shadow hands, suffering one close call after another as the arms all tried to grab her or block her. With one last swerve to the right, she managed to dodge the last of the hands. Fluttershy turned back, only to see the hands reach after her, blurring together into a mass of darkness. They overtook Fluttershy, surrounding her in shadows, and when she opened her eyes, she only saw darkness. She could still hear her own wingbeats and the shimmer of alicorn magic in her wings, which brought her some comfort.

“Um, okay…” Fluttershy murmured. “Who turned out the lights?”

“Do not be concerned,” Luna said, cautiously guiding Fluttershy through the darkness. “There must be a way through.”

“How do you know?” Fluttershy asked.

“I’m certain of it,” Luna said a little too forcefully. She paused for a moment. “Relatively certain.”

3:55…

3:54…

3:53…

Gale-force winds bombarded Fluttershy, pushing her back as she flew through the void. Fluttershy pushed on through, gritting her teeth and beating her wings as the winds pulled back her mane and threatened to send her hurtling deeper into the darkness. As the winds finally subsided, she could see light spilling out of a doorway ahead.

“There’s a way out,” Fluttershy said. She flew on ahead, passing through the doorway, and found herself staring at the same orange horizon as before. But the shadows still covered her entire body, and she looked down to see her once yellow coat, her white tunic, and even her pink mane completely blackened by darkness. “Luna? We can fix this, right?”

“Settle down, Fluttershy,” Luna said. “I’m certain we can restore your normal colors.” She steered Fluttershy right toward an upturned castle, a rotating coliseum, and a floating mountaintop with a waterfall of steaming water that cascaded into the orange abyss below.

“Is that hot spring water?” Fluttershy asked.

“I believe it is,” Luna said. “I have an idea.” She sent Fluttershy through the waterfall, drenching the pegasus in the hot waters. Almost instantly, the shadows washed off of Fluttershy, and her coat, mane and tunic returned to their usual yellow, pink, and white. “Do you see, Fluttershy? You have returned to normal.”

“Well at least we solved that problem,” Fluttershy muttered, inspecting one of her hooves. “Are we getting closer to finding the Chaos Kin?”

“I hope so,” Luna said. “I can sense his presence drawing closer, but I have no way of knowing if the Chaos Vortex is interfering with my power to track him, or to what extent.”

Several Syrens flew in front of Fluttershy’s path, turning back to face her. Fluttershy held up her foreleg, aiming her Beam Claws at one of the Syrens, when a Monoeye flew toward her from the left and hovered right behind her. Fluttershy glanced back at the Monoeye, giving the creature a scowl. “Hey! What are you doing?!” Fluttershy snapped. She turned back to the Syrens just in time to duck under a whirlwind blast from one of them. Another Syren fired another whirlwind at her, and she barely had time to steer left to dodge it. When she glanced back again, she saw a second Monoeye hovering behind her. “Would you get out of my way?!”

“Fluttershy, what is the matter?” Luna asked. “Those enemies are not interfering with you in any way. However, they are making it more difficult for me to guide your flight path through the Chaos Vortex. Hold on.”

A blue aura enveloped the two Monoeyes, and a second later they were catapulted in opposite directions. They smashed into two different islands, lying in their own craters for a moment before fading into purple mist. Fluttershy breathed a sigh of relief, then turned her Beam Claws back toward the Syrens and fired on them.

“Whew. Thanks, Luna,” Fluttershy said. Fluttershy kept going, soaring over one floating island with a few stone houses and in between two castle keeps that were twisted sideways.

3:19…

3:18…

3:17…

“We are getting close to the Chaos Kin,” Luna said.

“Good,” Fluttershy said. Fluttershy scanned the area, looking for any sign of Sombra in the skies, on the buildings, in the alleyways between houses, and on the undersides of every island. It wasn’t long before she spotted the demon unicorn glaring at her from one of the nearby roofs. “There he is!” She pointed her claws at the monster. A spray of white-hot needles burst from her weapon, skewering the armored unicorn and making him fade into black mist, when a second Sombra leaped onto the roof of a nearby house. “No wait, there he is.” One by one, three more Sombras emerged from behind the islands and flew at her. “Wait, which one’s the Chaos Kin?”

“All of them,” Luna replied, her voice faltering.

“I don’t understand,” Fluttershy said, firing on as many Sombras as she could while more appeared. One of them fired a bolt of dark magic at her. Fluttershy dodged and tried to aim again, but could barely get another shot before the Sombras opened fire on her.

“Neither do I. The spell I’m using to track Sombra is identifying all of them as the real thing. Could it be that the Chaos Kin is dividing?”

“It can do that?” Fluttershy asked. She rolled left to dodge two blasts from the Sombras. She fired on one, dissipating it into a cloud of black mist, only to fly back as one of their shots nearly hit her head. “But how are we supposed to find the real one? Only one is real, right?”

“This is the Chaos Vortex,” Luna said. “Technically, they are all real. But only the original will have Celestia’s soul. Good thinking, Fluttershy.”

Fluttershy began to pick up speed. She fired at more of the Sombras as she went, but as she flew past, they stopped coming. She glanced back for a second to see a few more emerge for windows and alleys, but none dared pursue her. The castles and houses gave way to a spiraling tunnel of crumbling stone columns and temple ruins. She felt her wings change direction, steering her through the tunnel of floating wreckage and away from the Sombra copies.

2:54…

2:53…

2:52…

Broken columns and crumbling buildings flew into place as the spiraling tunnel extended further out. Fluttershy continued down the tunnel when a black figure flew past her. As the figure turned around to face her, she could make out a pair of flapping wings, four hooves, a mare’s body, and a flowing mane and tail. The shadow pegasus didn’t have any color to it, but to Fluttershy it was unmistakable.

“Is that me?” she asked. Two more shadow pegasi joined the first one, and as Fluttershy got a closer look, she realized the three of them each had different weapons.

“In a manner of speaking, yes,” Luna said. “They appear to be your shadows.”

Fluttershy fired at one of the shadow ponies, with her claws, and it faded into black mist. Another shadow lifted its hood to aim a blade at her, but she slashed it with her Beam Claws before it could fire. “My shadows?” she asked. “So when those arms swallowed me up before…”

“Possibly, yes,” Luna answered. “But that would be too logical for this realm.”

Fluttershy fired a white laser from her claws, burning through two of the shadows. She spotted another shadow pegasus with a cannon attached to her foreleg and flew at it, slashing through it with her claws before it could attack. “I don’t even use cannons anymore,” she muttered under her breath. She aimed her claws and fired a spray of needles at another shadow pegasus armed with a pair of orbitars, and then pointed her hoof at the next two shadows and fired a laser at them.

By the time Fluttershy shot down the last shadow pegasus, she was being pulled out of the tunnel of spiraling rubble. To her left, there were no more floating buildings or rubble. Only a single massive rock hovered in the horizon – a misshapen black heart at the center of the Chaos Vortex. Fluttershy caught sight of a figure flitting about in front of the rock. Squinting her eyes, she saw the armor covering its equine body, the curved blood-red horn, and the black haze emanating from its eyes.

“There!” Luna shouted. “That Chaos Kin is the real one!”

The Chaos Kin flew into the black heart, disappearing into a massive crevice that extended from one side of the rock to the other. “Where do you think you’re going?!” Fluttershy said. The power of flight flared through her wings, and she rocketed toward the chasm in the heart. Rows of stone dwellings came into view on either side of the chasm, giving Fluttershy the impression that she was flying into a maw with giant teeth, but she kept on going, darting over buildings and between alleyways in pursuit.

2:07…

2:06…

2:05…

For the second time in less than ten seconds, Luna’s magic surged through Fluttershy’s wings. She could swear that she saw the blue aura of Luna’s magic even without looking back to check her wings. Her wings felt stronger, unburdened as they propelled her at breakneck speeds into the depths of the heart-shaped rock. The brutal winds and g-forces were less kind to the rest of her body. Her mane and tail felt like they were dragging her back more than any other time she had flown before. Her head and legs felt like they would snap at every turn. “My face feels like it’s blowing off!” she complained.

“Do you wish to catch the Chaos Kin or not?!” Luna shouted back. “Stay on it!”

Within moments, Fluttershy caught up with the fleeing Sombra. She chased him through twisting caverns, her body protesting with every turn and every burst of acceleration. Sombra tossed back a purplish-green blast, hitting Fluttershy in the chest and sending her in a spin. Flames spread across the front of her tunic from where she was struck. She pawed frantically at the flames with her hoof, trying to put them out, and flew after him.

The skies tore open when she reached the end of the caverns as several giant eyes opened in space ahead of them. Sombra flew into the pupil of the nearest one, and Fluttershy flew in after him. The skies turned from a deep, foreboding red-orange to an otherworldly blue-white, and numerous mountains and islands floated around her. Fluttershy recognized the chain of islands, remembering back to the day she attacked the Reset Bomb Depot as she soared over solitary mountains and lakes and veered in between islands. She lost Sombra in all the chaos as Monoeyes and toxic fungal Shulms emerged from the surrounding islands. Fluttershy ducked past the Monoeyes’ blasts, fired back with her own claws, and flew over the Shulms as she surveyed the skies for the dark unicorn.

Sombra appeared moments later from a cloud of black haze, his horn alight with magic. He shot a magic blade from his horn, slicing Fluttershy across the left shoulder and wing as she tried to dodge and sending her spinning off course. Fluttershy nearly crashed into the side of a mountain before her wings took control again. She flew after Sombra again, speeding past Monoeyes and Centurion ponies and weaving through an airborne fleet of Exo Tanks as she pursued the Chaos Kin.

1:36…

1:35…

1:34...

Fluttershy followed Sombra into the pupil of another giant eye and found herself inside a dark chasm. Sombra warped back to face her again, his horn emitting a purplish-black glow. Fluttershy swerved to dodge the magic blade from his horn and fired back, hitting him with a volley of white-hot needles. She closed the gap, but before she could swipe with her claws, Sombra disappeared into black smoke and flew on ahead.

“I almost got him!” Fluttershy grunted.

“Fluttershy, you have to turn back!” Luna warned. “You are running out of time!”

“Don’t worry about the power of flight!” Fluttershy said. She fired at another purplish-green blast from the Chaos Kin, detonating it from a distance. “I just need a little more time!”

“No! You do not understand!” Luna shouted back. “You are too deep in the Chaos Vortex. If you don't turn back now, I will not be able to recall you. You will be trapped in the Chaos Vortex… forever!”

“F-Forever?” Fluttershy echoed. The thought filled her with dread. If she failed here, she would never go back home. She would be stuck in this twisted place with no way to get back. She would never be able to save Celestia. ‘Princess Celestia…’ That last thought lingered with her. If she failed here, there wouldn’t be a home to go back to. Skyworld would be in ruins, and there would be nothing left to stop Discord. Fluttershy shook her head. “If we stop now, we’ll never save Princess Celestia. Just keep me in the air!”

1:19…

1:18…

1:17…

Fluttershy darted in between crumbling sections of the chasm as she chased after Sombra. The two of them flew into another giant eye, taking them back to the red-orange skies and the crumbled temple structures from the beginning of the Chaos Vortex. The building fragments seemed to fly more wildly throughout the void, and Fluttershy ducked under broken towers and squeezed between temple columns as she kept after Sombra, barely noticing a multicolored streak in the distance.

Splins, Syrens, and Monoeyes all rushed at Fluttershy. She maneuvered past the creatures, firing back at them with her Beam Claws as she passed by. Another purplish-green blast hurtled toward her, and she fired at it before it could explode in front of her. Sombra materialized in front of her again, his horn glowing. Fluttershy dodged another blade of magic and slashed with her claws, but Sombra ducked under her swipe and flew left over the remains of a temple wall. Fluttershy fired a barrage of needles from her weapon, missing Sombra as he fled, and raced after him.

0:59…

0:58…

0:57…

“You are running out of time!” Luna nearly screamed.

“I’ve almost got him!” Fluttershy protested back. She shot another volley of needles at Sombra, missing again, and then fired a laser at him from her claws. Sombra swerved around her weapons fire, turning to face her once again, and sent another blade of magic at her. Fluttershy steered left to dodge, but Sombra let loose another blade, and she twisted right as the second one nearly clipped her wing. She blasted Sombra with her Beam Claws, but the dark unicorn shifted aside to avoid her attack. Sombra turned to flee again, only then noticing a sky blue pegasus with a rainbow mane lunging at him from behind, arms outstretched and a blade in each hoof.

The blue pegasus landed on Sombra with all of her weight, her blades plunging deep into his head and the side of his neck. The Chaos Kin growled and gnashed, struggling against the pegasus with all his might. The pegasus held on, keeping him at foreleg’s length with her back hooves planted on his stomach and her front hooves gripping her blades tight.

“Rainbow Dash?” Fluttershy said. The pursuit now over, she stared in awe as Rainbow Dash pinned Sombra down. Rainbow said nothing, her eyes narrowing as she stared the writhing monster dead in the eyes.

“Fluttershy, now!” Luna cut in. “Shoot him!”

Fluttershy snapped out of her thoughts. Aiming her claws, she fired a volley of white-hot needles at Sombra. Rainbow Dash pulled her blades out of Sombra’s head and neck and kicked off of him with her hind legs. The needles from Fluttershy’s charge attack pierced through Sombra’s form and grazed Rainbow’s mane as the latter backflipped in the air, recombining her blades into the Silver Bow. Rainbow spread her wings, righting herself with two powerful wingbeats, aimed her bow, and fired an arrow straight through Sombra’s heart.

Black smoke spilled from Sombra’s wounds as he fell, hurtling toward a lone circular island. Rainbow Dash grinned and gave a hoof pump with her weapon hoof. “Yes! We’ve got ’em now!” she exclaimed. “Come on, Fluttershy!” Angling herself downward, she dove after Sombra.

“We actually did it,” Fluttershy said, still hovering in place. For the first time in what felt like too long, she felt elated. “We might have a chance this time.”

“Yes, let us finish this,” Luna agreed. With the power of flight, she guided Fluttershy into a descent.

* * * * * * * * * *

Sombra’s wounded body plummeted toward the island below, with Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy in hot pursuit. Rainbow Dash was closing in much faster, her Silver Bow separated and one blade gripped in each hoof. Sombra hit the ground with a resounding crack before either pegasus could intercept him. His body began to melt into the ground, black ooze seeping into the rock as crystals sprouted from his dissolving form.

Rainbow recombined her bow and dive-bombed the dark unicorn, spinning and skidding on her hooves as her bow slashed at him. She was too late though, and when she looked back, she had only sliced through the crystal shards. “Ponyfeathers,” she cursed under her breath.

Fluttershy landed just a few feet away, the blue aura evaporating from her wings as her hooves touched down gently on the ground.

0:31…

0:30…

0:30…

Crystal shards sprouted from the ground in patches, surrounding the two pegasi. Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash backed up toward the center of the island, their weapons raised and their eyes darting from one patch of crystals to the next. Their flanks bumped into each other, and their heads spun to meet one another, their eyes meeting for one lingering glance. For a second, they both let their guards down, only to turn forward again to face the crystals.

The crystal shattered around them, and from inside, monsters emerged. Underworld Shulms and Corals rose from the crystal fragments while parasprite Tribytes hovered above them. Rainbow Dash sprang into action first. She shot a Tribyte with a magic arrow and charged at the ground-based enemies, slashing one of the Corals and spinning to slice through one of the Shulms.

“I don’t get it,” Fluttershy said. “Where are these enemies coming from? What happened to Sombra?”

“The Chaos Kin is in hiding,” Luna said. “I suspect he is creating them himself. There are very few other beings with such power in this place, but I cannot be sure where he found the inspiration for them.”

“What do you mean?” Fluttershy asked.

“Underworld troops, parasprite constructs, even the odd Centurion pony,” Luna said. “And it is not just that. From the moment we set hoof here, the Chaos Vortex has taken the form of places that the Chaos Kin could have never seen.”

“The Chaos Kin has Princess Celestia’s soul, right?” Fluttershy suggested, as she fired a volley of needles at one of the Tribytes. She slashed one of the Corals with her claws, and then spun around it to swipe at two of the Shulms. “So maybe it’s pulling them from her memories. But if you’re right and the Chaos Kin created them, then won’t it just make more and more of them?”

“Yes, but not for very long,” Luna replied. “If these monsters are real enough to attack you, then it must take some magic to create them from nothing. Not even the Chaos Kin has the power to do so indefinitely. If you can endure long enough, you should draw him out.”

“Not a problem!” Rainbow Dash said. She shot down an Underworld Boogity with her bow, and then fired a few smaller arrows at a group of Monoeyes. “We can take them, right Flutters?”

Fluttershy smiled back at her. Aiming her Beam Claws, she fired a laser at another group of Monoeyes. Once the last few enemies were defeated, a blue treasure chest materialized in the center of the island. Fluttershy eyed the chest warily as she walked up to Rainbow Dash, who had just noticed the chest herself.

“It looks like a trap,” Fluttershy said.

Rainbow shrugged. “Who’d be dumb enough to leave treasure lying around?” she said with a smirk.

Fluttershy almost smiled at the familiar bit of wisdom, but her eyebrows furrowed. “What do we do?” she asked.

“Easy,” Rainbow said, her grin growing wider as she aimed her bow at the treasure chest. “We spring it.”

An arrow shot from her bow, striking the treasure chest’s lid and blowing it open. A gust of wind issued from the box. Rainbow and Fluttershy both shielded their faces with a foreleg, and when they looked again, new monsters had appeared. Rainbow moved first, shooting another magic arrow at a parasprite Rezda and a smaller arrow at a Handora. Fluttershy fired at a few nearby Handoras, all the while keeping an eye on the Orne at the center of the island and the Rezdas orbiting it like moving shields.

Before long, the other enemies were vanquished, and the Orne vanished on its own. More crystals emerged from the ground and shattered, and from them more monsters emerged. A few plantlike enemies with crab claws for flowers and an eye peering from their stalks hopped around the island, and Tribytes hovered in the air above them. Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash fired at the Tribytes, but they both missed. The Tribytes had shifted, and were now several feet away despite not having moved at all. The two pegasi aimed again, but the Tribytes shifted again and were now another few feet away.

“Weird,” Rainbow said. “Those parasprite troops are doing their best Game and Watch.”

“Game… And Watch?” Luna said quizzically. “No, ignore the parasprite foes. Prioritize the Cacaws.”

“I don’t see any birds,” Rainbow said. One of the Cacaws hopped up to her. “Just these weird plant things.”

The Cacaw raised its stems and opened its claws. An ear-splitting shriek blasted from the creature, and Rainbow Dash fell to the ground. She couldn’t feel her legs, much less tell if she could even move them anymore. The Chaos Vortex faded away as her vision blurred and turned grainy. The only thing she was still aware of was the stabbing, searing pain of the Cacaw’s screech in her ears. The sound felt like a vice around her skull. Her instinct was to cover her ears with her hooves, but she didn’t know if she could move her hooves, let alone if it did any good.

“Rainbow Dash!” Fluttershy gasped. She fired her Beam Claws at the Cacaw near Rainbow Dash and galloped toward her twitching body. One of the Tribytes fired a yellow oscillating blast of energy at Rainbow. Fluttershy leapt, swung at the projectile with a claw, and deflected it away. She stood over Rainbow, putting herself between Sombra’s monsters and the defenseless mare, and fired back at the Tribytes. The Tribytes shifted again, evading Fluttershy’s charge shot. Fluttershy adjusted her aim and fired again, incinerating the enemies one by one with her claws’ laser beam. Another Cacaw hopped toward the two. Fluttershy spotted the troublesome plant monster and blasted it with her weapon, then turned her aim to another Cacaw.

Behind her, Rainbow Dash groaned. She slowly brought her legs underneath her and stood back up. “Urrgh, what happened?” she asked, massaging her head. “How long was I out?”

“Not long,” Fluttershy replied. She turned around to help Rainbow up, placing her hooves on Rainbow’s shoulder and foreleg. “Are you okay?”

“Yeah, fine,” Rainbow grunted. “Did that freaky plant do that to me?”

“Yes,” Luna said. “The Cacaw’s screech impairs neural signals in any foe who hears it. Normally it only disrupts motor responses, but the effect seems to have been more severe in your case.”

“You mean that’s one of your guys?!” Rainbow said. “Why would you put an enemy that annoying in your army?”

“For the same reason other armies use flash grenades,” Luna answered flatly. “But enough about them. The Chaos Kin has summoned its fourth wave.”

Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy looked around. Two Belunkas hovered around the edge of the island at opposite ends. They both opened their maws, and two identical monsters rolled out onto the island. The monsters rose onto their legs, each one wearing a tough, doglike mask with curved horns and spikes protruding from its face.

“Not good,” Luna said. “The Belunkas may spawn Armins indefinitely if you do not destroy them soon. But the Armins are too deadly for you to ignore.”

“Then we’ll double team ’em!” Rainbow said. “Fluttershy, cover me while I go after the Belunkas.”

Fluttershy nodded and watched as Rainbow galloped after one of the whale-like creatures. She turned to one of the Armins and pointed her hoof at it. Her claws fired, but her attack bounced off the Armin’s mask. She shot a laser at the creature, but its mask took the attack. The Armin growled at Fluttershy and took a few steps toward her. Fluttershy heard another growl behind her, and when she looked back, she found herself trapped between two monsters. “N-n-n-nice… doggies?” Fluttershy stammered. “They are doggies, right?”

“Does that matter?” Luna asked. “You’ve somehow angered both of them.”

“Eep!” The ground shook as both Armins charged at the same time. Fluttershy jumped out of their way. Her hoof stumbled, and she fell onto her haunches. The Armins collided with each other just a few feet away, stumbled back, and collapsed on the ground dazed. From where she sat, Fluttershy got a side view of the Armins. They were protected from both the front and back, but their sides were exposed, and Fluttershy could see their thin legs and bodies. For a second, she marveled at them, wondering how their frail bodies could hold up such heavy shielding. She waved off that thought, pointed her hoof at one of the Armins, and fired at it with her Beam Claws. Leaping back to her hooves, she sliced through the second Armin.

Further away, Rainbow Dash had shot down the last Belunka with a magic arrow. “Ha, too easy!” she said. As she turned to head back to Fluttershy, five enemies dropped onto the island from above. Four of them were small, purple batlike creatures. They formed a circle above the center of the island, seemingly perched in midair. The fifth was a little creature with large hands and a sack on its back. The creature hopped from side to side, inching closer to Rainbow with each hop. “What the hay?” Rainbow asked. “Is that an Underworld enemy?”

“Yes, it is called a Pluton,” Luna said. “If you let it come near you, it will steal your weapons. You had best attack from afar.” Rainbow and Fluttershy lifted their weapon hooves and aimed. “Stop! Don’t shoot! The Shootflies will react to your fire.”

Fluttershy lowered her weapon and glanced up at the Shootflies. “Then what should we do? Shoot or don’t shoot?”

“Do not open fire,” Luna said. “You will have to slay the Pluton from up close. Use melee attacks and be careful not to have your weapons stolen.”

“Melee, huh?” Rainbow Dash said, a smirk forming on her face. “Alright, I got this.” A bright green aura spread through her wings, and she shot into the air. Separating her bow, she went after one of the Shootflies and sliced it in two. She rolled in the air, angling toward the next Shootfly, and slashed it with the other blade. Recombining her bow, she spun around and fired an arrow at the third Shootfly, shooting it out of the sky. The fourth Shootfly stirred, opened its wings, and darted for Rainbow. Turning toward the Shootfly, Rainbow Dash held out her weapon hoof and twirled the Silver Bow in her hoof, spinning it like a pair of propeller blades and shredding the Shootfly as it flew at her.

Rainbow Dash landed back on the ground and pumped her hoof in triumph. But when she looked up, she saw Fluttershy aiming her Beam Claws right at her. Fluttershy’s mouth moved for a brief second, too quick and muted for Rainbow to hear, but she thought she made out the words “get down.” Rainbow ducked just as Fluttershy fired a laser from her weapon just over her head. She turned her head back just enough to see the Pluton caught in midair by the laser. The Pluton flailed its arms against the laser as it was pushed back, sailing over the edge of the island and falling into the abyss of the Chaos Vortex. Rainbow Dash looked up at Fluttershy just as she lowered her weapon. The two shared a smile, until they both noticed another Pluton drop in. Raising their weapons, they took the creature out with a pair of charge attacks.

Black crystals sprouted from the ground around them, a few small patches surrounding a much larger crystal in the center. The outer patches shattered, releasing two Tribytes into the air and three Bumpity Bombs on the ground. The giant crystal split in two, and a Boom Stomper rose up from inside as the crystal fragments fell at its sides and vanished.

“A Boom Stomper and Bumpity Bombs,” Luna thought aloud. “It was only a matter of time before the Chaos Kin reproduced my forces.”

Rainbow Dash could barely suppress a chuckle. “Boom Stomper and Bumpity Bomb? You come up with those names yourself?”

“Unfortunately, no,” Luna said. “Those names were not mine to give them.”

“Huh, okay,” Rainbow said. She swung her bow at one of the Bumpity Bombs as it rolled toward her, sending it spinning off the ground. She uppercut the enemy into the air with her bow’s bladed limb and shot it with an arrow, detonating it in midair.

“Although… I’ve grown quite fond of their names,” Luna mused. “I could not think of a more endearing name for them than Bumpity Bomb.”

“Sure, they roll right up to your face and try to blow you up,” Rainbow muttered. “So adorable.”

Fluttershy uppercut one of the Bumpity Bombs with her Beam Claws, tossing it in the air and blowing it up with a spray of needles from her claws. She did a sideflip off her left hooves, avoiding an oscillating energy shot from one of the Tribytes and shooting back with three short laser blasts in midair. The Boom Stomper jumped up and struck the ground, sending out a shockwave on impact. The shockwave hit Fluttershy, throwing her into the air and slamming her sideways into an outcropping. Her side hurting, she lifted herself back on her hooves. “Ow,” she said.

“You alright, Fluttershy?” Rainbow asked.

“I’m okay,” Fluttershy grunted. “That Boom Stomper just really hurts. Doesn’t it have any weak points?”

Rainbow Dash looked the Boom Stomper up and down. “It’s probably the little tree on its head,” she said. A green aura flowed across her wings again, and she soared up to meet the Boom Stomper’s head. She sliced the sapling on its head twice, aimed her bow, and shot it point blank. The sapling burned away, and the Boom Stomper’s rock body crumbled as it fell over.

A Shildeen floated down into the center of the island, guarded by two Underworld Monoliths circling around it. A Syren floated down alongside the Shildeen just as it raised a barrier around the four of them. Outside the barrier, several parasprite Quoils dropped down.

Fluttershy fired her claws at the Quoils, keeping her distance as she shot them down one by one. “The Chaos Kin must really like the Parasprite troops,” she said.

“Do you think so?” Luna asked. “I see far more Underworld forces.”

Rainbow Dash sidestepped around a whirlwind blast from the Syren and shot at the Shildeen’s barrier with her bow. “Well yeah, Discord’s guys are all over the place these days,” she said. She slashed at the barrier with her weapon, twirling the bow in her hoof to cut through the barrier like a saw. “I just thought we’d get more of your troops. You kept him locked up all these years, right?”

“True,” Luna said. “But consider this. The Chaos Kin was freed during our war with Celestia and Discord. It could have struck at any time, but it waited through our war and through the Parasprite invasion, until Skyworld was at its most vulnerable. It is a far more cunning enemy than any of us knew. Perhaps it spent those few days in the shadows, biding its time and studying our armies.”

With one more shot from her bow, Rainbow Dash shattered the Shildeen’s barrier. She leapt over a whirlwind blast from the Syren, briefly landing on her left hooves before jumping aside and shooting another arrow back at the Syren. “So Sombra spent a few days creeping around Fluttershy and Celestia,” she said. “Big deal. We’ve got him cornered now. Let’s just pound him into the dust and take back Celestia’s soul.”

Fluttershy fired a charge shot at the Shildeen while it was down, finishing the creature off. The Monoliths disappeared along with the Shildeen. In their place, Komaytos descended on the island, and an Orne materialized at the other side of the island.

“You make it sound so simple,” Luna said. “This is the eighth wave, and I do not sense any fatigue in the Chaos Kin.”

“It’s just a few Komaytos,” Rainbow shrugged. Gripping her bow, she started off after one of the enemies when a Zuree appeared from thin air in front of her. “Whoa!” Rainbow fell back on her haunches. The Zuree raised its arms, about to bring its sharp claws down on her, when its body was shredded by a spray of short laser blasts. The Zuree’s body dissolved into purple wisps, and in the distance Fluttershy stood, her hoof raised. Rainbow was about to thank her when she spotted a Komayto hovering over Fluttershy. The green aura flared through her wings again, and she rocketed toward the Komayto, slicing it in half with a swing of her bow.

Rainbow and Fluttershy smiled at each other. Rainbow Dash nodded at Fluttershy and flew across the island, swerving past the Orne and slashing a Komayto with her bow. Fluttershy looked around the island and spotted the purple veil of another Zuree in hiding. The mist moved toward her, taking form, and the spectral creature raised its claws to attack. Fluttershy lifted her own Beam Claws, shooting down the Zuree in one blast. She then spotted the last Komayto and galloped after it, slicing through it with her weapon. With the other Underworld creatures slain, the Orne vanished from the island without a trace.

The ground shook underneath Fluttershy and Rainbow’s hooves as a Crawler landed in the center of the island. Two Urgles dropped down along with it, one on either side of the Underworld tank. Rainbow charged at one of the Urgles. Skidding on three hooves, she twirled her bow by the grip, sawing through the Urgle’s wooden body with the weapon’s bladed limbs, then leapt in the air and shot an arrow at the creature. Landing on her hooves, she sprinted around the Crawler toward its backside. The Crawler turned with her, guarding its rear from the rainbow-maned pegasus, and fired three three purple laser shots from under its armor. Rainbow outpaced the first laser, sidestepped the second, and jumped over the third, and then kept running.

As the Crawler moved to keep up with Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy tiptoed in the other direction completely unnoticed by the tank. She found the weak point on the tank’s rear, aimed her hoof, and fired a charge attack. She kept her hoof up, firing a laser at the Crawler’s back. A light flashed on both sides under the Crawler’s shell, and the ground under her hoofs glowed in a fiery orange-yellow. Fluttershy lowered her weapon hoof and ran, even as the glow under her hooves followed her. A cannon under the Crawler’s shell fired. Fluttershy heard the cannon blast and jumped, narrowly avoiding an explosion behind her.

The Crawler’s treads spun madly. It stopped turning, even as the giant tank continued to rumble. Rainbow kept running, but instead of running around, she dashed out of the tank’s way as it rushed forward. She turned back, spotting the Crawler’s weak point, and fired an arrow back. The Crawler’s treads fell from the fuselage, clattering and scraping against the ground as the main body slid over the edge of the island, explosions tearing through its armor as it fell into the abyss.

Two parasprite Urgles dropped down on the island, reinforcing the one surviving Urgle left. Rainbow Dash sprinted after one of the Parasprite enemies. Fluttershy looked from the Crawler’s wreckage to Rainbow Dash and smiled in a mixture of relief and confidence. That smiled disappeared in seconds.

“Rainbow?” Fluttershy asked.

No response. She had asked too quietly.

“Rainbow,” she said again, a little more sternly.

“What’s up?” Rainbow responded, even as she severed one of the parasprite Urgle’s arms and cut a deep gash through its body.

“Not to be rude or anything,” Fluttershy started. “Well, I appreciate how much you’re doing for us, but… why are you here?”

“What do you mean?” Rainbow said. “Where else would I be?”

“Well,” Fluttershy hesitated. “It’s just that you haven’t always been so willing to help. Usually when you show up, you pick a fight with me and Princess Celestia. And I know she’s not really your favorite goddess, so why are you going through so much trouble just to save her from the Chaos Kin?”

“Hey, it’s not just Celestia,” Rainbow shot back. The other parasprite Urgle ran up to Rainbow Dash, slid its arms under her and catapulted her into the air. Rainbow sailed above the island, flipped as she reached the height of her trajectory, and dove back down. Clasping her bow’s grip in both hooves, she jammed her bow into the parasprite Urgle’s eye upon landing. She retrieved her weapon as the creature’s body faded away. “The whole world got screwed up ’cause of Sombra. That’s why you’re here too, right? Beat the bad guy, save everypony. That’s what heroes do, right?”

Fluttershy stared at her blankly. “You’re… supposed to be a hero?”

“Yeah! Why? What did you think I was?”

Fluttershy glanced away, averting her eyes from Rainbow. “Well…”

Defeated, Rainbow let out a sigh. “Fine,” she said. “Something happened to me when you got turned into a ring. It was like I wasn’t there anymore. Like I wasn’t me anymore.”

“What does that mean?” Fluttershy asked.

“It means we’re connected because of that stupid mirror!” Rainbow snapped. “If something happens to you, it affects me somehow. So yeah, I’m doing this because I’ve got to look after you to cover my own flank. And if that means saving Celestia’s flank, then so be it.”

Fluttershy gazed back at Rainbow Dash, giving her a solemn, almost sympathetic look. “Oh…”

Rainbow’s ears flattened against her head, and she almost couldn’t bring herself to meet Fluttershy’s gaze. “You’re not disappointed, are you?” she asked.

Fluttershy was taken aback, but she brought a hoof to her muzzle and thought for a moment. “That depends,” Fluttershy said. “Are you going to drop kick me off the island when we’re done with Sombra?”

“What?! No, of course not!”

“Good,” Fluttershy smiled back. “Then I’m not disappointed.” She lifted her hoof and fired at the last Urgle.

Rainbow Dash flinched at the remark, only giving passing notice as crystals grew out of the ground and broke apart, summoning more monsters. “Ouch,” she muttered. “I didn’t set the bar that low, did I?”

“You and I have much to discuss,” Luna replied. “But for now, you need to defeat the two Guttlers. They become more powerful the more they eat, and they will eat anything, friend or foe.”

Rainbow spotted one of the Guttlers falling over and swinging its purple, gelatinous body, swallowing a Pew Pew in one gulp. “That reminds me,” she said, aiming her bow at the purple blob. “You think Sombra’s gonna copy any more Nature enemies? I’m starving.”

“For the last time, my forces are not food!” Luna grumbled.

“I don’t think they’d be very filling anyway,” Fluttershy said as she fired at the second Guttler.

“Huh?” Rainbow said. “Why not?”

“Video game logic,” Fluttershy replied. “Enemies disappear when they die.”

“What?! Aw, come on!” Rainbow threw her hooves up and shouted. “Like it’s so much to ask for a midbattle snack!” She noticed another enemy crawling on the ground and shot it with her Silver Bow, then let out a sigh and grumbled to herself. “But noooo, we wouldn’t want to overwork the graphics engine.”

Fluttershy put a hoof to her muzzle, trying to stifle a giggle. She pointed her hoof at another Pew Pew and fired, taking the creature out.

A Gyrazer floated down over the island, and another patch of crystals rose from the ground and shattered, releasing another monster. For a second, Fluttershy thought it was a Handora, but it looked different. The two hands were green instead of blue, and instead of an eye in the palm of its hand, it was holding a giant gold amulet in its fingers by a small chain. The amulet had an a single lidded eye in it, and unlike the usually skittish Handoras, this creature was more comfortable standing in place and letting the amulet’s eye peer at them.

“The eleventh wave,” Luna said. “I can feel the Chaos Kin growing tired.”

“Well at least someone’s keeping count,” Rainbow said.

“I’ve never seen that monster before,” Fluttershy said.

“It is called an Igniot,” Luna responded. “The amulet it holds can turn you to stone if you are caught in its gaze. Best you take cover when it opens its eye.”

“Most gods and goddesses have enough power to break you out if you get petrified,” Rainbow said. She shot an arrow at the Igniot, cracking the amulet. She jumped aside as the Gyrazer shot a purple-black laser at her and returned with another arrow, shooting down the Gyrazer. “Also helps if you stole another goddess’s magic. Most earth ponies aren’t that lucky.”

The Igniot lifted up the amulet, aiming the eye in Rainbow’s direction. The eye opened, and a dark purple laser shot across the island toward her. Rainbow galloped out of the Igniot’s line of fire and took cover behind a small rock formation. The Igniot continued to blast the rock, trying to hit her on the other side, but to no avail. Fluttershy fired a burst of greenish-white needles at the Igniot, breaking the amulet and vanquishing the creature.

Another patch of crystal sprouted from the ground, and a second Igniot emerged from inside. A Monolith materialized near the Igniot and began to circle around it as a shield. Rainbow Dash aimed her bow, paused as the Monolith passed by, and fired when she had an opening. Fluttershy fired her Beam Claws at the Igniot, finishing off the enemy. As the second Igniot vanished, the Monolith hurtled across the island toward another patch of crystals. A second Monolith joined the first, and the two flew around a third Igniot as it came out of the crystals, forming a close, protective orbit around the monster.

Fluttershy fired a charge attack, but the spray of needles bounced off of one the Monoliths. She shot a laser from her Beam Claws, but the beam hit the Monoliths instead, only breaking through for one second at a time as they orbited the Igniot. In the corner of her eye, she noticed a Shrip flitting down nearby. It unhinged its shoulder joints, spinning its head and bladed beak, and lunged at Fluttershy. Fluttershy rolled out of its way, firing off three short laser blasts from her claws in midroll.

Meanwhile, Rainbow Dash gave a cocky smirk to the Igniot and spread her wings. The two Monoliths could protect it on the ground. They couldn’t protect it from above. A green magical aura enveloped her wings, and she took to the air. Soaring directly over the Igniot, she shot an arrow down at it and dove back down for a landing. Her shot wiped out the monster, with enough force to toss the Monoliths away before they vanished from the area.

“The twelve wave is here,” Luna said. “It is only a matter of time now.”

As she said this, two Megontas crashed on opposite sides of the island, facing each other. In between them, a Trynamite slowly floated down over the center of the island.

“It doesn’t matter if he throws a hundred waves at us,” Rainbow said, shooting an arrow into one of the Megontas. “We can take whatever he’s got!”

“And I hope for all of your sakes that the Chaos Kin does not force your bluff,” Luna remarked.

Fluttershy studied the enemies more closely. The Megontas were stationary, balanced on the backs of their shells. Occasionally, they would leap into the air, circling around the center of the field until they hit the ground. “That’s strange,” she said. “Those enemies don’t usually do that.”

“It’s the Chaos Vortex,” Rainbow said with a shrug. She fired another arrow into the same Megonta, wiping it out. “I figured the Chaos Kin would do more trippy stuff with everyone’s enemies.”

“Just look on the bright side,” Luna snarked. “He has copied more of my troops. Bon appetit, Rainbow Dash.”

“Are you nuts?!” Rainbow said. “That’s a giant pill bug!” The Trynamite in the center of the island exploded, and three chunks of its body flew out of the explosion and toward Rainbow Dash. Rainbow jumped back as they smashed into the ground near her hooves. “And that was an aerial shrapnel mine!”

“Just think of the Trynamites as rice krispies,” Luna said. “They pop in your mouth.”

“Yeah, unless you swallow them,” Rainbow said, shooting another Trynamite as it descended on the island. “Then they blow a hole in your stomach.”

“Rice krispies aren’t even that good,” Fluttershy said. “They’re too bland.” She fired at the other Megonta, sending it rolling back on its shell before it disappeared.

Skuttler Cannoneers emerged from under the sides of the island, all standing on Monoliths as they hovered over the ground. Some of them circled around the island’s edge and aimed their cannons at the two pegasi while others cut a path straight over it, trying to bash into them with their moving platforms. Fluttershy turned around frantically, trying to keep track of the gang of Skuttlers, while Rainbow tightened her grip on her Silver Bow and darted her eyes from one enemy to the next.

“We’ve reached the thirteenth wave,” Luna announced. “This may be the final one.”

“Then it’s time,” Rainbow Dash said. She fired an arrow at one of the Skuttlers, throwing it off of its platform.

“Time for what?” Fluttershy asked.

“Time for our pre-boss battle rallying cry!” Rainbow shouted, raising a hoof in the air.

Fluttershy gaped at Rainbow Dash. “Um, what?” she murmured. Even the Skuttler Cannoneers exchanged glances between each other.

“Filth of the land, hear our words!” Rainbow cried out, raising her hoof again. Fluttershy just blinked. Rainbow facehoofed. She bent her hoof and spun it in a circular motion, then mouthed a few words to Fluttershy, as if say “Roll with it!”

“Oh, um…” Fluttershy stammered. “I am Fluttershy, servant of the Goddess of Light!” She shot down one of the Skuttler Cannoneers with her claws.

“And I’m Rainbow Dash, servant to nopony but myself!”

“And together we will rain death on you!” they both shouted.

“So if anyone wants to die…” Rainbow paused as one of the Skuttler Cannoneers raced toward her on its Monolith. She jumped at the Skuttler and swung her bow, bisecting it with her weapon’s blades, and landed on three hooves. “Step right up!”

“And anyone who doesn’t want to die,” Fluttershy started. “Um… uh.” She watched as one of the Skuttlers rode its Monolith around the edge of the island, quite a ways off from where she was. She fired her Beam Claws at the creature, throwing it off of its platform and over the edge of the island. “Too bad!”

“Aw yeah!” Rainbow Dash said with a hoof pump.

“Truly a riveting call to arms,” Luna deadpanned. “Was this rehearsed? Or did your link to one another inspire it?”

“Hey, don’t knock it!” Rainbow retorted. “I spent hours thinking that up.”

“Well, it’s not that much of a link,” Fluttershy said. “I mean, I didn’t even know it was there until…” She shook her head and raised an eyebrow at Rainbow Dash. “Wait, what?”

“Okay fine, I did have to ad lib a few things,” Rainbow said, shooting her bow at a Skuttler in the corner of her eye. “Mostly because of the whole team up with you.”

“So you mean, the whole thing?” Fluttershy said.

“Look, it doesn’t matter,” Rainbow said. She pointed a hoof up at the sky, where a parasprite Dohz hovered down over the edge of the island. Two Bladers flew out from the port on the Dohz’s underside, and an Underworld Snowman dropped down on the island. “This is probably the last wave before Sombra. I’ll take the mothership, you go after all the little E.T.’s.”

Rainbow flew up, her power of flight coursing through her wings. Three balls of light dropped from the Dohz’s underside, hovered in place momentarily, and then shot at Rainbow Dash as three short laser blasts. Rainbow soared over the first, barrel rolled to dodge the other two, and circled around the flying saucer. She fired an arrow through the port on its underside, destroying it.

Fluttershy galloped as one of the Bladers flew overhead, sweeping the ground with a laser from its eye. A blast of cold air issued from the Snowman, and Fluttershy leapt behind a rock for cover. She ducked her head as the Snowman’s blast hovered over the rock, forming a thick layer of ice over its surface, and shot down the Blader with her claws as it made another pass. The second Blader landed nearby and lunged at her with its scythe-like arms. Fluttershy ducked under a horizontal swing and sidestepped as the Blader went for a vertical slice. “So is this still wave thirteen?” she asked. “This feels like a different wave.”

Fluttershy caught one of the Blader’s arms in her claws as it went for another slice, but the Beam Claws’ bluish-white talons cut through the Blader’s arm. Fluttershy’s eyes went wide for a moment as the Blader stumbled. She blasted the creature with her claws’ laser, then slashed it in half.

Rainbow Dash shot an arrow through the hull of the Dohz. The Dohz keeled over, falling over the side of the island as explosions blasted through it. Rainbow dove at the Underworld Snowman, slashing it in half with the Silver Bow as she landed, and then firing an arrow through it.

As the Snowman dissipated into purple haze, Rainbow Dash trotted over to Fluttershy with her bow tightly gripped in hoof. Fluttershy stepped out from behind the frozen rock, which was now beginning to thaw, and walked over to meet Rainbow. They both looked around. No more crystals were sprouting from the ground. No more enemies were descending from the skies or emerging from the abyss below.

“Is it over?” Fluttershy asked.

Black crystals rose from the ground at the edges of the island, all the same distance from one another. The crystals shattered as new ones rose next to them, only for the newer ones to break apart as even newer ones sprouted from the ground. Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash’s gazes darted back and forth as each of the crystal growths traced a path around the island, slowly tracing their own paths to the center of the island in a spiral pattern. The crystals soon found their way to the center, and a giant crystal sprouted, shaking the island as it rose into a great translucent obelisk.

The great crystal split apart at its sides, falling apart like a four-petaled black flower in bloom. At the center, the dark unicorn himself stood on a flat, raised crystal stage, peering down at the two pegasus mares with animalistic fury. His eyes emanating a black haze, he roared at Fluttershy and Rainbow.

Fluttershy took a step back and raised her hoof, aiming one of her Beam Claws. Rainbow Dash twirled the Silver Bow in her hoof before tightening her grip, ready to either slash or shoot with it. “It’s game over, Chaos Kin!” she shouted.

Sombra growled at the two ponies again. His body faded into black smoke, leaving behind only its curved horn and its red eyes. The horn and eyes turned, and with the shroud of black smoke, the Chaos Kin shot toward the other end of the island. It didn’t get far before a bolt of lightning struck the horn, permeating through the black smoke and obliterating every crystal left on the island. A dome made of blue magical energy flickered over them. Sombra’s body reformed again, leaving the dark unicorn’s body sprawled on the ground and seething at the two pegasi.

“There! That should help!” Luna called out. “Now the Chaos Kin cannot run away!”

“Awesome!” Rainbow exclaimed. “There’s nowhere left for him to run!”

“Except right at us!” Fluttershy squeaked.

“Huh?”

Before Rainbow Dash could look, she and Fluttershy were thrown across the island as Sombra rushed at them. The two rose back up and saw Sombra on the other side of the island, letting out a feral growl at them.

“Wow, he’s fast,” Fluttershy murmured.

“Yeah, so what?” Rainbow shot back, her wings spread out. “I’m still faster!” Her wings glowed with a green magical aura, and she took off after Sombra. The Chaos Kin warped past her as she swung her bow, and then shifted back as she went for another slash. Rainbow fired an arrow at the dark unicorn, but he evaded her and retreated across the island.

A blue magical circle glowed on the ground next to Fluttershy. Six toothlike spikes jutted out of the ground around the circle, and a bright blue orb with three spikes hovered high above it.

“I have set a trap for the Chaos Kin,” Luna said. “The trap is keyed to the Chaos Kin’s magical signature. Just lure him in, and the trap will do the rest.”

Fluttershy fired at the Chaos Kin, but missed him as he moved across the battlefield at incredible speeds. “That’s easy for you to say,” she said. She fired again, but each time her claws missed by several feet.

Sombra tossed back two purplish-green blasts as it flew. The first went wide, but the second hit Rainbow Dash head on, exploding on impact. Rainbow hit the ground, rolling forward until she came to a stop in a heap. Sombra turned sharply and lunged at Fluttershy. Startled, Fluttershy stumbled back, managing to fire a laser blast from her claws before falling on her haunches. Sombra rolled aside to dodge and tackled Fluttershy, pinning her to the ground.

Black haze rose from the corners of his eyes as he stared down at her, and he bared his teeth and growled hungrily. Fluttershy whimpered. Her eyes squeezed shut and she turned her head away as she tried to lift up a foreleg and fire her weapon. The Chaos Kin bounded off of Fluttershy just as a volley of needles shot from her claws. He almost pounced on her again, but moved back when a magic arrow flew in his direction. Sombra retreated again, with Rainbow Dash in hot pursuit.

Fluttershy crawled back onto her hooves and looked on, her eyes darting across the island as Rainbow Dash and Sombra continued their chase. “He wasn’t this fast last time!” she stammered.

“The Chaos Kin was in control of Celestia in your previous encounter,” Luna said. “No doubt manipulating an alicorn goddess must have taken a great deal of his focus. That is no longer the case now.”

Sombra sailed over an outcropping and spat a toxic purple cloud at Rainbow Dash. The dark unicorn stopped in its tracks, then turned and went after Fluttershy again. Fluttershy rolled out of the way, then quickly stood on her hooves and turned to face Sombra. The Chaos Kin launched a volley of bright purple shots down at her. Fluttershy rolled out of the way again, this time firing back with three short blasts from her Beam Claws. Sombra swerved out of the way, only to be struck through the barrel with a magic arrow. He took a smaller arrow to the jaw, but managed to leap back and evade two more arrows.

Sombra and Fluttershy turned to the source of the arrows: a rainbow-maned pegasus hovering in the air with a cocky grin on her face. Holding the Silver Bow in one foreleg, Rainbow Dash put her free hoof in the empty space between its limbs and drew it back. A thin, green strand of magic formed in her hoof, connecting the ends of the bow’s limbs to each other, and a second later, a magic arrow flared across the strand and the bowsight.

Fluttershy looked on in confusion. Like any of Fluttershy’s past bows, the Silver Bow could be fired just by pointing the weapon and willing it to fire. The bows could be made to conjure an arrow and bowstring and drawing them back to aim like a normal bow, but none of it was necessary. All the while, Rainbow Dash kept that grin on her muzzle, as if she was mocking Sombra or taunting him.

Fluttershy did a double take. Standing right behind Rainbow Dash was the trap that Luna had placed a minute ago. Sombra took the bait. Roaring at Rainbow Dash, he shot across the battlefield after her. Rainbow relaxed the tension in the “bowstring” and soared up in the air. Sombra stopped right at the edge of the trap and turned up toward Rainbow. What it found instead was the Silver Bow’s arrow, aimed straight down at his hooves, pull upward due to its homing properties and strike him in the chest, knocking him into the trap.

A purple bolt of lightning came down from the orb above, passing through the Chaos Kin and hitting the center of the blue circle. Magical energy pulsed from the point of the lightning bolt’s impact, radiating into the six spikes, and firing back at the Chaos Kin as six blue lightning bolts. The dark unicorn roared, writhed, and gnashed against the trap’s magic, but the trap held, and the magical tethers held Sombra in place.

Fluttershy stood in awe. The monster that caused so much destruction and suffering these last three years, that caused her so much grief in just one day, was now immobilized and vulnerable. Her fear and anguish gave way to anger and fury. Not wanting to waste the opportunity, Fluttershy stepped forward. With the Beam Claws’ magic coursing through her four legs, she galloped at Sombra with inequine speed. She leapt at Sombra, slashing into his side with one of her claws. Landing on her other front hoof, she hopped off of it, using her leftover momentum to flip in the air, and fired a volley of needles from her claws before landing on all four hooves.

“You’ll pay for what you’ve done, Chaos Kin!” Fluttershy shouted. She lunged forward again, slashing into Sombra with her claws and tearing into him with a series of fast, brutal swipes. She flipped around, bucking him in the barrel and shoulder with her hind legs, then slashed him with a upward slice and then brought both of her claws down. She jumped back, letting off three short laser blasts into the dark unicorn.

Rainbow Dash dove at the Chaos Kin, skidding on three of her hooves upon landing and twirling the Silver Bow in her fourth. She held out her weapon hoof, letting the spinning blades of her bow slice through the dark unicorn’s peytral and chest. She separated her bow, catching the other blade in her free hoof, and stabbed both blades into the dark unicorn’s jaws. The trap’s electricity surged through Rainbow’s body through her forelegs and the bow’s limbs, but she shrugged it off as she stared Sombra right in the eyes. “I’m with Fluttershy on this one,” she said. “Attacking a goddess is one thing, but stealing souls? Eating them? That’s messed up.”

With her Silver Bow’s limbs still in Sombra’s jaws, Rainbow Dash swung her hooves out, slashing through the dark unicorn’s face. She hopped off the ground, letting the power of flight in her wings carry her as she flipped over, bucked the Chaos Kin in the muzzle, and kicked off of him with the strength of her hind legs. Still flipping in midair, she aimed her bow and fired an arrow into the creature’s head.

With Rainbow Dash out of the way, Fluttershy leaped forward again. But Sombra’s dark magic seeped into the magical tethers holding him in the trap, reaching the spikes in the orb above and the circle below. The spikes shattered, destroying the trap and allowing Sombra to retreat back from Fluttershy’s attack. Black smoke seeped from the many fresh wounds on his form, but Sombra’s body remained intact in spite of them. He narrowed his eyes at the two pegasi who dared oppose him, seething at them with animalistic fury. Rainbow and Fluttershy glanced at one another and exchanged a curt nod. Rainbow spread her wings, taking off after Sombra again. Sombra flew off again, and the chase began anew.

Fluttershy raised her hoof and aimed for the Chaos Kin. She felt a change in her perception as her eyes tracked Rainbow and Sombra. The Beam Claws did more than just make her faster on her hooves. She could see the two ponies more clearly: every turn they made, every deviation in their path, every shot they took at one another, and every evasive move they took. Claw weapons were designed for speed, and Fluttershy felt fast enough to target Sombra.

“Fluttershy,” Luna said. “There is something I should tell you. Even after Celestia was possessed by the Chaos Kin, she resisted being consumed for nearly three years. To hold onto her soul for so long must have taken a great deal of will. As much as it must have pained you to see her in such a state, know that she used every last bit of her strength to resist.”

Fluttershy lowered her weapon hoof. “She must have suffered so much…” she murmured.

“She was waiting for you, Fluttershy,” Luna said. “She had faith in you. She still does, and after all that I’ve seen, I understand why.”

“Yeah, now how about we take every bit of suffering this jerk caused and pay him right back?” Rainbow Dash said. “Not just for Celestia, but for everypony!” She caught up to Sombra and swung her bow twice, but he proved too agile and moved further back. She shot an arrow at him, but he jerked left to dodge and charged at her. Rainbow swerved out of the way. Sombra turned back around, his horn aglow in dark magic, and he fired several reddish-black shots back at Rainbow. Rainbow dodged with a few beats of her wings, and when she looked back at Sombra, she saw him being blasted by a bluish-white laser. Seeing the laser coming from Fluttershy’s Beam Claws, she rushed at him, slashing into his barrel and haunches with her bow.

“Fluttershy, I have set another trap on the field,” Luna announced. “You know what you need to do.”

Fluttershy spotted the new trap across the island and ran toward it. Standing in the center of the trap, she lifted her hoof and aimed for Sombra. She fired a laser at him, hitting her target and stunning him momentarily. Rainbow Dash swung her bow, but the dark unicorn rolled away from her and spat a cloud of toxic purple haze at her. Sombra’s horn charged with magic, and he shot two purplish-green energy blasts at Fluttershy. Fluttershy rolled to the left, dodging his blasts but stepping out of the trap’s circle. Sombra snarled at her as the purplish-black aura around his horn spread across his entire form, and he charged at her. Fluttershy rolled to the left again, leaping out of his way and firing a volley of needles from her claws as he passed by.

The purplish-black aura retreated from Sombra’s body, pooling and swelling around his horn as he spun around and fired a barrage of bright purple shots at Fluttershy. Fluttershy sidestepped his fire, while Rainbow Dash charged at him and swung her bow. Sombra dodged, only to get blasted from behind by a laser from Fluttershy’s Beam Claws. Rainbow swung again, slicing through his chest with a vertical and a horizontal slash. She kicked out with both hind legs, pushing Sombra back, and fired an arrow into him, throwing him into the trap. Lightning struck down from the orb above the trap, pulsing throughout the blue circle of magic and into the six toothlike spikes before hitting Sombra as six blue magical tethers. Fluttershy struck first, jumping at Sombra and slashing into his barrel with a series of claw swipes. She leapt back, firing a barrage of needles into Sombra as Rainbow Dash swooped in. She slashed into him with her bow, then separated her bow into dual blades, not noticing as Sombra’s dark magic leached into the trap’s electrical tethers.

Before Rainbow could get in another swipe with her bow’s limbs, the trap’s spikes cracked and shattered, the magic circle dissolved, and Sombra lunged at her, knocking the bow’s blades out of her hooves and pinning her to her ground. The demonic unicorn growled menacingly at her, opening his jaws as he stared down at his new prey. Glaring back at him and gritting her teeth, Rainbow Dash freed her hind legs and kicked out at him. The force of her kick lifted him off the ground, and a spray of needles from Fluttershy’s Beam Claws pelted him from behind, throwing him off of her. Crawling back on her hooves, Rainbow spread her wings and flew after her bow.

Sombra’s horn charged, and two purplish-green energy blasts hurtled at the two mares. Rainbow Dash barrel-rolled to dodge as she picked up the Silver Bow’s limbs, recombined them, and fired an arrow back at Sombra. Fluttershy dodge-rolled as the second energy blast shot toward her and fired back with a volley of needles. Their two attacks struck the dark unicorn at the same time, and his body exploded in a plume of black smoke and dark magic. When the explosion cleared, Sombra’s body was destroyed, leaving behind broken, smoldering pieces of his armor and his curved red horn.

“Yes!” Rainbow Dash exclaimed, her wings lifting her off the ground in a sort of ecstatic jump as she rapidly spun her bow in triumph. She swooped down next to Fluttershy and gave her a cheerful, harder than intended punch on the shoulder. “Now that was a rain of death!”

Fluttershy’s reaction was more reserved, but even she couldn’t help cracking a smile as she massaged her shoulder. “Heh, yeah,” she said back.

A flash of light erupted from the center of the island, making both pegasi cover their eyes with a foreleg. An orb of intense white light rose up from the ground and floated in place, as if with nowhere to go. When Fluttershy looked, she saw iridescent streaks shimmering back and forth along its surface and an image of the sun in its center: Celestia’s soul.

A shaft of blue light shone close to the soul, swirling with leaves and ivy, and Celestia’s petrified body appeared. Almost instantly, the soul gravitated to its rightful owner, passing into Celestia’s chest like it was finally returning home. White light broke through the newly forming cracks as polished gray stone turned to pure white fur and flowing aurora mane. Now freed from stone, Celestia’s hind legs gave out from under her, and she collapsed on the ground.

“Princess Celestia!” Fluttershy cried. She rushed to Celestia as fast as she could, placing a hoof on her shoulder and looking up at her. Celestia returned her gaze and gave her a weary, yet warm and gentle smile. “You’re okay…” Fluttershy said, the worry on her expression washing away as joy welled up in her. Tears forming in her eyes, she wrapped her forelegs around Celestia in a tight hug and buried her face in her chest. “You’re okay!”

Celestia returned the embrace, wrapping a foreleg around the sobbing Fluttershy and cradling her as tears dampened her coat.

Rainbow Dash looked on at the two of them, letting a smile creep onto her face. She moved a hoof to wipe the corner of her eye, only to shake her head and swallow her smile back down. ‘Let them have their sappy reunion,’ Rainbow thought to herself. ‘My work’s done here.’ A green aura spread across her wings as Rainbow turned to leave, not noticing something stir behind her.

The charred remnants of Sombra’s armor and horn stirred on the ground. Black haze spilled out from them as they came to life, lifting off the ground and hurtling at Rainbow Dash. Rainbow yelped as the Chaos Kin’s remains wrapped around her and knocked her off the island.

Fluttershy looked up when she heard Rainbow’s cry, only to find that both Rainbow and Sombra’s remains were both gone. “Oh no! Rainbow Dash!” Breaking away from Celestia’s embrace, she galloped off the side of the island and dove after Rainbow. When she saw Rainbow, she saw her struggling against Sombra as his dark magic and his remains swirled around her. The black haze wrapped around her body in tendrils, resisting her as she tried to pry them off while batting away the broken pieces of barding with her hoof. She tried to fly, but the haze wrapped around her wings and choked off the green aura around them until it withered away in a futile gasp. “Luna, I need to fly!”

“I’ve already used the power of flight,” Luna said. “If I cast it again now, your wings will catch fire!”

“The Chaos Kin is going to kill Rainbow Dash!” Fluttershy said. “Can’t you see what’s at stake here? I don’t care if my wings catch fire!”

“Then let her fall!” Luna shot back. “She knew the risks, and we cannot afford to sacrifice you too. I’m extracting you now!”

A ray of blue light shone on Fluttershy, and she felt the familiar weightlessness as she was being pulled away. “No! Stop!” she pleaded. “If we don’t save her now, we won’t have another chance. I’m begging you, please! Let me fly, now!”

“Rrrgh, fine!” Luna shouted. The shaft of light disappeared. “But whatever happens to you is not my fault!”

A bright magical aura flared across Fluttershy’s wings, blue at first, but turning a fiery orange in a near instant. Her wings felt hot, as if they were already on fire, but she propelled herself after the falling Rainbow Dash.

0:29…

0:28…

0:27…

The black, smoky tendrils of Sombra’s magic wound themselves around Rainbow’s hind legs, tying them together. Rainbow Dash kicked out with them as best as she could, trying to fight against it. She pulled against another tendril with a hoof as it tightened around her chest. Her other hoof tried to knock away a piece of Sombra’s leg armor, but it clamped down on her foreleg. Her leg went numb, and she watched in horror as deep black veins spread across her leg. “Help me!” she cried out.

Fluttershy’s wings felt hotter with each second that passed, the unbearable heat practically seeping into her muscles and searing her primaries. She saw as the Chaos Kin’s magic constricted around Rainbow Dash, threatening to take her over. She flapped her wings as fast as she could, reaching out with her hooves as she cut through the distance between them.

0:21…

0:20…

0:19…

Rainbow Dash felt the Chaos Kin’s magic taking over with each passing second. His armor pieces and even the blood-red horn swarmed around her. Another tendril wrapped around her throat. She coughed painfully as the two tendrils squeezed around her chest and neck, forcing the air out of her lungs. She realized now that the Chaos Kin wasn’t trying to take her over. It wasn’t trying to kill her either. It was trying to do both.

Desperately, she flailed out with every part of her body she had left. She knew how aerodynamics worked. Drag, air resistance, a pony flailing around in freefall would fall slower than a pony in a straight dive. If she was lucky, it would save Fluttershy a few extra seconds. Even if it wasn’t enough to help Fluttershy catch her in time, it would mean her wings would burn a few seconds less. Maybe her wings wouldn’t burn that long. Maybe the damage wouldn’t be as bad…

0:13…

0:12…

0:11…

Fluttershy gritted her teeth in frustration and desperation. It didn’t make any sense! Rainbow was hurtling through the air in freefall. She was in a straight dive. Her wings were propelling her forward, fueled by alicorn magic. She should have caught up to Rainbow by now. She should have caught up to her right away. She was closing the distance between them, but it was taking too long.

Fluttershy then realized in horror that it made perfect sense. She remembered where she was and what she was dealing with. This was the Chaos Vortex. Things only worked here the way Sombra wanted them to work. And if he had enough power to possess Rainbow Dash, then he still had enough power to bend space between them, to make the distance between them nearly insurmountable. Sombra was trying his best to keep Fluttershy away from his new prey as long as possible, in spite of Fluttershy’s speed advantage, and it was working.

0:07…

0:06…

0:05…

Fluttershy’s wings pumped harder. She pushed the limits of her body and the power of flight spell as much as she could. Any second now, her five minutes would expire. Her wings would burn. And they would both be dead.

She reached out to Rainbow Dash with a hoof, and in Rainbow’s tumbling through the air, she saw her reach back. She was inching closer to Rainbow with each wingbeat. Just a little more time, and she would be able to reach her.

0:03…

0:02…

0:01…

Rainbow Dash watched as the aura around Fluttershy’s wings changed to a sickening red-orange. She watched as flames erupted underneath the aura, starting at the base of Fluttershy’s wings and engulfing every inch of them in an instant. She could hear Fluttershy scream in brutal agony as the flames ripped through flesh and plumage, feathers charred and peeling off before incinerating into nothing. She tried to call out Fluttershy’s name, but the tendrils around her neck stopped her from even drawing a breath.

Desperately, she reached out with her one remaining hoof. She saw Fluttershy do the same, even as tears streamed from her eyes at the pain. Mere inches away, each one tried to grab the other’s hoof, only to miss each other. Rainbow's vision blurred. She felt herself blacking out as the Chaos Kin mercilessly strangled the life out of her. They reached again, finally catching each other, and pulled each other closer. The last thing Rainbow remembered was weightlessness and a blue light surrounding her. She didn’t hear Luna calling out to the two of them. She didn’t feel the Chaos Kin’s grasp on her suddenly release as Luna’s magic pulled the two pegasi from the Chaos Vortex, leaving the broken fragments of the monster to fall into the abyss alone forever.

* * * * * * * * * *

Above Skyworld, the clouds that smothered the skies for so many days had finally parted. The sun had begun to set and dusk was falling over the world, bathing all of Skyworld in a bright, tranquil orange. It would have been a pretty sight if it wasn’t reminiscent of the bleak, perpetual twilight of the Chaos Vortex.

At the foot of Celestia’s Temple, Rainbow Dash groaned as she regained consciousness. Her limbs and body were free of Sombra’s holds, and she began to stand up. Her throat was tender and sore, probably badly bruised, but she could breathe. As she opened her eyes with a grimace and moved her hooves under her, she asked only one thing. “Is Fluttershy okay?” When she opened her eyes and looked up, she froze. Her blood ran cold, and she felt sick.

Fluttershy lay unmoving on the ground, just a few feet away. Her wings were gone, two charred stumps all that remained of them. Scorched bone poked out from underneath their remains, and a few blackened feathers fell away, turning to ash as they hit the ground.

“She…” Luna said, choked up. “She is not well. She can’t fly. She is barely breathing.”

Rainbow bit down on her hoof, fighting back the tears and the sobs. She noticed a bright yellow flash as Celestia teleported in and stepped toward Fluttershy with a somber look on her face.

“Celestia?” Luna asked.

The Goddess of Light picked up Fluttershy’s body and held it in her hooves. She looked down at Fluttershy, from the remains of her immolated wings to her face. She thought back to every failed attempt Fluttershy made to fly in her years, every time she’d wanted to take to the skies. Closing her eyes, she knelt her head and cradled the dying young mare in her hooves.

Comments

[Nova Blaze]

Awww, my favorite joke got left out. Well, at least it was replaced with one of the same caliber. Glad to have you back.

[Tensemasterhalo]

It turns out Fluttershy's only friend is herself, who knew?

I really like the focus on Fluttershy's relation with all of the characters around her. The game used it for comedic effect, making it "Pick on Pit Day", but I like the darker spin of her truly being alone and not being in control of her own path forward. In a way it feels more... realistic. It's not just Pit that's trying to accomplish something, everyone had their own goals coming in to this, for better or for worse. Thanks a bunch for the new chapter. I can't wait to go to Hell in the next one.

By the by, that's a great looking new cover art for the story.

[Phazon]

7591940

Was it the "little Metroids" joke (I still can't believe I left that out, considering) or the part where Dark Pit compares Pit to a Guttler?

7592346

That comment would be just as appropriate on the Celestia's Temple chapter as on The Chaos Vortex, maybe even more so. It's actually for that reason that I was looking forward to writing Celestia's Temple two years ago. It's the part of the game where things take an even darker turn (and that's after the Reset Bomb and the Ring of Chaos). I wanted to take the sense of isolation, torment and remorse that Pit already goes through to an extent and emphasize it for Fluttershy, and so with the exception of a few jokes in the prelude and the Lightning Chariot section, Celestia's Temple is the only intentionally humorless chapter in the entire story. In a lot of ways, The Chaos Vortex is the exact opposite of that, since the emphasis here was more on the team up with Rainbow Dash and the catharsis of going after Sombra.

[Nova Blaze]

7594727 It was the "little Metroids" joke. I forgot about the other. Still a good chapter.

[kurusagi16]

I hope you'll update soon, please!

[Phazon]

7682783

And I hope you'll Like and Favorite soon, but some of us just can't get what we want, now can we? But all kidding aside...

:: Celestia's Temple · 2nd Feb 2015
:: The Chaos Vortex · 24th Sep 2016

Yeah, I can sort of see why you wouldn't expect an update any time soon. But I did promise I'd post two chapters (The Chaos Vortex and the upcoming Scorched Feathers) by year's end, if you've been through my blog posts lately. And even though I'm running very behind schedule on Scorched Feathers, I'm pretty sure I can still make that deadline. I'm also going to put up a sort of recap blog post for The Chaos Vortex soon, or at least as soon as a friend of mine can finish some artwork for me.

Also keep in mind that Scorched Feathers is going to be a heavily Rainbow Dash-centric chapter, and that Discord will be a sadistic, unrepentant asshole. You probably already know that if you played the game (or from the ending to The Chaos Vortex, but I skimmed your page and noticed all the Fluttershy and Fluttercord stuff, so it seemed like an appropriate disclaimer.

[kurusagi16]

7682930

Yeah, I know what happens in-game, but I'd like to see your take all the same. Anyway, take your time and good luck!

[Shazam 25]

Not a bad story. This has a watch on it.

[peace corps general]

OMG I use to play this game all the time and I still have it for the 3DS!

[Phazon]

7683242

I'm sure there must be some situations where nine months later counts as 'soon.' But I'm pretty sure uploading a new chapter to a fanfic is not one of them.