Rainbow Dash & Lightning Dust vs. Evil (2024)

The floodwater rose to Spitfire’s waist, as she stood knocked-kneed by the hole in the hull, there in the bowels of that fearsome warship. Through that splintery window, she could glimpse out at the furious sea and the torrent of rain, beyond where the sun and the stars had slipped away into faraway voids. The black of night was what remained, a midnight sea without mercy, a tossing tempest of churning channels. In those murky depths, shapes and shadows swam just below the surface, ghosts if not for the flashes of lightning that revealed their ghastly forms, glittering green or oily black. Great monsters of the sea they were, some with long necks and knives for teeth, others stocky and sturdy and steady swimmers. Their captors had not been lying, Spitfire thought; they had really sailed to the end of the world.

Nightbound and narrowly weaving through a labyrinth of jagged crags and cliffs that rose from the shallows, the great iron warship sailed through the storm undeterred. The ship, a sea monster in its own right, had slowed its pace as it approached the reef ahead, where great stones sprang from the water like the teeth of some prehistoric beast. There was land ahead, or so their captors were counting on, somewhere buried in the mad maze of rock and the muddy grey fog.

Eventually the stones became too many, and the ship could pass no further. As they weighed anchor, Spitfire could hear the creatures up on the deck scamper and scuttle about, and all the while her fellow prisoners were cowering in the dark, trembling for fear of what awaited them ashore.

Pairs of their snarling captors trotted down into the galley to retrieve the ponies, gradually filling up smaller boats to make the journey to shore. The rest of the army of devils were content to fly the rest of the distance.

Spitfire fell in line with the others, as the few hundred pony prisoners were marched back up to the deck, fettered and whipped, and packed into the boats.

The deck was a cluster of bodies, all of them drenched in the rainfall and hard of hearing, what with the raging tides and ear-splitting strikes of thunder. The sky was coming apart above them, where bolts of lightning scratched erupted from clouds stained purple, black, and blue. The downpour made Spitfire even more sluggish before; her cerulean suit was now twice as heavy. Brushing against a slick floorboard on the deck, Spitfire lost her balance completely, twirling in the air only to smash her skull right into the wood. She thought she had heard her head crack open, but it was only another blast of thunder. She had not reached the ground, in fact, as somepony’s hoof had a hold of the scruff of her neck, catching her before she could wipe out.

Spitfire steadied herself and glanced behind her. It was Breakbones who had rescued her, the stallion Washout with the pale yellow coat and the black mustache. She hardly recognized him in the rain, and had little time to offer any thanks before the guards came to hurry them both along.

She staggered along in line to her designated longboat, where she was joined by a half-delirious, blue-bruised Thunderlane, a seasick, despondent Soarin, and a handful of other hostages. She got to reunite with some other Wonderbolts as well - Meadow Flower, Fleetfoot, Blaze, Sightseer, and High Winds, all of whom were trembling in the rain. They were joined by two of the Washouts, as well - Madcap and Breakbones, who were by all accounts two of the more tolerable ones, Spitfire thought.

Spitfire dreaded which of their captors they would be stuck with on the turbulent trip to shore. Between the monstrous shapeshifter Mimic, the sad*stic brute Grimbol, and the pony-eating arachnid demon Gorgo, she was not sure who would be the least unpleasant prospect.

Luckily she would not have to know, upon finding an unfamiliar face, a spindly insect with a pony’s legs and stature, but with the head of a moth, complete with two huge eyes, antennae, and a pair of moth’s wings, who was called Midge. Some other soldiers filed in behind them, likely to keep the captives in line and help with the rowing and navigation. Two of them were variations of the same demonic species many of the creatures seemed to derive from, complete with pairs of black horns, bat’s wings, forked tongues, and pointed leathery tails.

Despite how close they seemed to be to the shore, the waters remained as restless and wrathful as they had been in the open ocean. This place is cursed, Spitfire thought.

Meadow and Fleetfoot seemed to be faring the worst, sitting in pools of water that had splashed into the longboat, shivering and shrinking in place, with such grim expressions they seemed to have accepted their fates already. High Winds was crying silently into her hooves.

Spitfire crawled further ahead down the longboat. She exchanged a look with Breakbones, who was holding a quivering Madcap in his forelegs.

She found Soarin and Thunderlane at the helm, near where Midge kept a watchful eye over the waters ahead. They were still stuck in the endless fog, and how these creatures were able to navigate at all was a mystery.

Spitfire knelt beside Thunderlane, who, despite a face of bloody pulp, two missing teeth, and a pair of blackened eyes, still couldn’t help himself from smiling.

“This trip better not count as vacation time, Captain,” he laughed under his breath. His voice was haggard and worn, and he sounded like an old pony.

Spitfire put a hoof on his shoulder before sitting up in the boat, glancing past Midge at the helm.

The ship had broken through the wall of fog, and they found themselves in a murky cove. The sea was deep blue here, calmer than before but still wily. Past the mist was where Spitfire could make out the island, with its snowy peaks, treacherous jungles, ancient castles, and charnel pits of fire. At the center of the island was a great mountain, or rather a volcano, whose infernal innards lit up the night sky. The storm clouds remained above, twisting and battling with one another for dominance of the sky, bleeding purples and maroons and blacks, though the rainfall had been reduced to a diminutive drizzle.

Then she saw the winged things flying high above them, and all around the island itself. More creatures like before, black-eyed or red-eyed and all bloodthirsty, gliding in the night. Serpents slithered midair, their scaly hides all scattered in the wind. And the sea itself seemed to come alive with life, where schools of strange fish swam in bioluminescent swirls, setting the waters alight with bright blues, greens, and pinks. More creatures revealed themselves from beneath the waves, some with spiked backs or curved fins, and some with tentacles or tendrils that twisted up with the crests.

Midge made a clicking sound, what might have been laughter, as he glanced down at Spitfire, whose eyes were fixed upon these unearthly wonders, the nightmare that lay ahead, to which they rowed closer and closer.

“Welcome to Pandemonium.”

All she could taste was sand and salt, when a sharp pinch to her thigh sent her jolting awake. Scootaloo swatted at the crab that had a hold of her, before spinning over to cough out half-a-liter of water that had wound up in her lungs, retching into the sea.

Hammers were swinging down on her skull, and she was so weak she could hardly even stay up on her knees. She felt herself bake on the sand, as the sun beat down on her from above. Thirsty, was all she could think.

The tide rocked her about from behind, knocking her back down a total of four times before she mustered up the strength to climb to the steaming hot sand, where she collapsed on her back again, exhausted.

Her eyes fixed toward the sky, she saw that the storms from last night seemed to have mostly cleared, as the rosy fingers of dawn stretched along the horizon further ahead. Threads of vapor were stained pink and lavender by the sun, while the billowy bursts of storm-clouds lingered on in the distance, content to rage on endlessly around the perimeter of the island.

As the fog began to clear, she remembered the crash, and the sound of her own screaming, and the crunching of metal and snapping of wood. She remembered the thunder and those sharp rocks that seemed ready to tear them all to shreds. Where are the others? She felt her throat tighten up and her shoulders fall slack. She was alone. Completely and totally alone.

She wanted nothing more than to collapse right then and there, for how weak she felt. Rainbow wouldn’t give up. Neither will I.
She reached to brush the sand off her coat before inspecting her newest bruises. She thought of Apple Bloom then, who would surely know a quick fix to patch it up, and of Sweetie Belle, who would be scolding her for having snuck on board that insane pilot’s flying machine in the first place. I made it this far. I have to finish this and find them, and bring them all home.
With that thought, she felt some of her strength return, enough to stagger up to her hooves, as the tide brushed against her hooves. She scanned the beach, which stretched to her left and right for miles on end.

A quarter mile from the beach, verdure was plentiful. Beyond the brush, there was bulbous foliage the hue of red or purple or gold, near where serpentlike vines strangled the tree trunks and slithered across the forest floor.

Beyond and above the granite plateau she had washed up beside, several miles deep into the center of the island rose a glittering white summit that reflected the sun’s rays. The lofty, lonely mountain was capped with snow, and so tremendous that its peak was visible from any vantage. There were other mountain ranges that poked their heads out from the canopy, gleaming grey giants hiding in the midday mist.

The remnants of Rocket’s ship were strewn about the sand - chunks of metal and wood were buried in the beach, and fragments of the ship’s canvas wings were ripped to shreds, now decor for the tree branches that grew close to the shore.

“Rainbow Dash!” Scootaloo yelled, as loud as she could, out into the sea. “Rainbow Dash! It’s me, Scootaloo!”

She went on for several minutes, while a squabble of seabirds was gathering overhead, all wondering whether she had any food.

Scootaloo wiped the sweat from her brow and decided she would have to start scouring the beach. The others couldn’t be too far, she hoped.

Scootaloo climbed up the sandbank that ran with the incline of the beach, grabbing onto patches of moss and dusty ferns to avoid tumbling down on her head.

She reached the top after a few minutes, fluttering her wings every now and then to give her an extra boost. Scootaloo hated her wings, more than anything in the world. She could obsess over the Wonderbolts, over Lightning Dust’s stunts, over Rainbow Dash’s records, all as much as she liked, but in the back of her mind she knew would only ever be a spectator stuck on the ground.

At the top of the dune, her eyes widened in relief, when over the edge she caught sight of smoke - a fire had been started on the opposite coast of the bay, somewhere near a huge cliffside. Above the ridge there, the jungle had taken over, and vines and roots hung down along the stone, hidden now in the column of thick grey smoke.

Scootaloo could hardly contain her excitement, squeaking in delight before galloping off down the sandbank.

She had come across countless oddities as she trotted by the edge of the bay - oysters the size of china plates, cyclopean seagulls, and strange shapes in the sea beyond; there were sails and fins and flying fish springing out from the breaking waves, and above, small winged reptiles soared beneath the shade of the marine forests further along the coast. Once or twice, Scootaloo swore she saw what had to be giant flying insects, as big as cats, clicking and flitting across the brush.

The face of the limestone ridge was covered in greenery and birds’ nests, and was a weathered, storied beast, overlooking a narrow shore that wove around the bay towards another far-spanning beach. She approached the smoke with deliberate caution. There were markings in the rock, made with some sharp object. Runes of some kind, like those that she might have seen in one of Sweetie Belle’s Magic For Dummies books, or on a scroll in Twilight’s library.

Scootaloo listened for voices or hoofsteps, but returned with nothing but the crackling of the fire that lingered ahead right near the foot of the ridge. From a distance, she saw the fire was a measly attempt, made with rotten twigs and stray kindling. Still, for as far as she had traveled this was the only sign of intelligent life she had encountered, and so she approached it anyways, with a curious glimmer in her eyes.

She made it one step past the jagged edge of the ridge before she felt herself fly off her hooves.

Scootaloo shrieked at the speed of the attack, before finding herself suspended in the air, trapped in a net. And she found herself a foolish little girl then, strung up helplessly in the air, for the trap that she walked right into unwittingly. She recalled all the things that Gump had said about this place, about savage beasts and killers, all with a thirst for blood.

“Help!” she cried out, flailing her limbs in the net, trying to reach for the edge of the stones nearby. But she was too far from anything to grab on, and she went slack in the net, sighing aloud in dismay.

She had made the mistake of stepping on a trigger-trap, she discovered, prompting a series of knots and ropes to draw her up in the net, strung up along the side of the cliff. She glanced over at the tide strolling in, and she could at least be content to have a pleasant view of the sea, the lone prospect of her predicament.

Scootaloo fought against tears, realizing that she had failed her friends before she even got to begin trying to help them. Who was she kidding, she thought. I’m not like Rainbow Dash. I never will be.

Sulking in indignation, Scootaloo again began wrestling with the net, and even began chewing on the rope in hopes of breaking free. Whoever set this trap up, they appeared to have gone away somewhere, so she might just have some time left to her. That was her hope, which was quickly crushed in a matter of moments.

“Got you! You little - wait…,” came a voice from behind her.

Scootaloo chewed harder at the rope, relentless, as she felt the sweat pour off down her face.

She heard the sound of metal sliding against leather - a knife, it had to be, and she hastened her attempt at biting her way free.

Then she heard the slash of a rope, and in an instant her world turned upside down, as she collapsed down into the sand, hard on her side.

Groaning in pain, she was slow to pick herself up, before scampering out from the netting.

She was still on the ground when a hoof came down towards her, offering her help back to her hooves.

Rocket Fuel was impressed. Partly that the girl had survived that crash landing, and partly that his trap had worked exactly as he had intended.

“I was hoping for a nice meaty jackalope, but instead I end up catching you,” Rocket laughed.

“Not funny,” Scootaloo hissed, swatting his hoof away and jumping up from the ground.

“Sorry about that, kid,” Rocket said, “Here, drink this.”

He offered her a canteen of freshwater from his belt, which she eagerly accepted.

“I gave you up for dead,” Rocket admitted, “I’m glad to be wrong. How in Luna’s name did you make it to shore?”

Scootaloo gulped down the whole canteen in a matter of moments, before glared up at him. There was sand in his orange mane and there were blue bags beneath his mossy green eyes from exhaustion, but she could still consider him handsome. He had an easy smile to him. She would have much rather have been found by Rainbow, or even Lightning, but he would have to do.

“Just because I can’t fly doesn’t mean I can’t swim,” Scootaloo said, defensively, “Where’s Rainbow Dash? And Lightning Dust and the others?”

“Dead, most likely. Serves them right for getting me stranded on this Celestia-forsaken island,” Rocket said, blowing a wad of snot out of his snout whilst filling up his bag with stray debris that had washed up on the shore nearby, “I think I’ll miss that little demon creature the most, actually. Gromp? Gimp? Luna rest his soul, he was the least trouble, surprisingly. Anyways, we should get moving. I don’t want to sit around here waiting to get caught. Who knows what else has seen that fire.”

Scootaloo felt herself go pale, as a thousand thoughts ran through her mind. What if Rainbow drowned? What if she ran into those creatures already?

“If I made it back, then so did they,” Scootaloo insisted, “We all got separated is all. They’re alive, I know it.”

“I hope you’re right. Somepony’s gotta pay me when this is all over,” Rocket grumbled, “Building a raft will go quicker with more hooves, too. The sooner we get off this island, the better.”

“We can’t leave,” Scootaloo said, “We have to save Princess Twilight, and all my friends, and all those ponies that those creatures captured! We’ve got to search the island. And first we have to find Rainbow! So c’mon, get up! We have to go now!”

“Now look, don’t get any funny ideas. I’m not going anywhere.”

“What?” Scootaloo exclaimed, “A second ago you said you didn’t want to wait here to get caught, and now you don’t want to leave?”

“Wandering around the island and letting every one of those damned creatures know we’re on the menu is not what I had in mind,” Rocket replied, “I’ve gotten more than I bargained for already, kid. You can go rescue your princess and your friends if you want, but me, I’m finding a way off this island.”

“But those creatures are gonna kill them!”

“Better them than me,” Rocket said.

Scootaloo turned away, irritated, before an idea came to mind, and she glanced back at him.

“Princess Twilight is rich,” Scootaloo said.

Rocket glanced at her.

“....Rich?”

“Mm-hm. Rich, and powerful too. Look, if you were to rescue her, and everypony else too, the reward would be … more than you can imagine!”

Rocket glanced at her.

“I don’t know. I can imagine quite a lot,” Rocket said, warily.

“And you’ll get it,” Scootaloo replied, confidently.

“I better,” Rocket said.

“You will!” Scootaloo assured.

Rocket scratched at his beard.

“Alright kid. You better be right about this.”

Scootaloo squeaked in delight and helped pull Rocket up to his hooves.

She led him back across the sands, passing by more debris, bones, and seaweed that had arrived with the tide. Scootaloo scampered along, glancing up to squint at the sun. They only had a few hours before the sun would set, and they would have to hurry if they were to have any hope of finding the others alive. Alive, Scootaloo thought, they’ve got to be alive. She could not fathom being trapped on this island without Rainbow at her side. I’ll find you, Rainbow. No matter what.

Though broken spars swung in the netting overhead, the ship’s deck was exceedingly clean and neat, the halliards spiral-coiled in neat circles rather than just lying where they fell. Lightning Dust tried to keep her head tilted back so as not to drip blood onto the oaken deck. Her nose had been bleeding profusely ever since that crash, and the whole left side of her head was beginning to ache.

The splintery wood of the center mast was scraping her back and tearing into her wing tendons. She was tied to the wood with thick wooly rope; her chest was being squeezed by the pressure, though the crash had robbed her of so much energy she could hardly struggle at all. She had spent the last of her strength unsuccessfully fighting off her captors, who had discovered her floating adrift in the sea, within sight of the island.

The sloop had found her not long after dawn. Her captors had not been entirely cruel, having gone so far as to have fed her, let her change out of her soaking wet suit, and given her some clothing to keep her warm. he dress she had been given was golden like her own mane, with three overlapping folds that fell over her rear, and a satin bust done with lace. She would never have been caught dead wearing such a thing back home, though she had been so cold she eagerly accepted it.

Her captors were not like the ones that had crashed the Equestria Games. The mare, Rogue, resembled a pony, and had a pale tan coat with a curly mane of oak and mahogany. She wore a brown shirt and golden jewelry, including several piercings in her ears. She had a red cloth wrapped over the top of her head. She appeared to be an ordinary pony, until Lightning caught sight of the mare’s head toppling over to the side during one heavy collision with a large wave. The mare seemed to be able to detach her limbs at will as well.

The stallion, Cutjack, was more obviously a monster, an equine creature with the head of a shark, complete with two huge black eyes, rows of pointed teeth, and bluish-grey, slick skin.

They were still in open water, near the edge of where the storms raged on in the distance. They were sailing toward the island, though the pirates wanted to fill up their nets with fish before returning home.

Part of her wanted to kill Rocket if she ever saw him again, for crashing that ship, though she knew she couldn’t blame him entirely. This was all her idea after all. She sighed and shut her eyes. She was not entirely sure why she was still trying. Trying to win the respect of ponies who would never, ever respect her. Trying to win over her father, who would never get to know all of the things that she had accomplished, all the things that he said she would never, no, could never do. Maybe they were all right about me, she thought. The Wonderbolts, mom, dad, Pixie, Rainbow Dash. Maybe they all really did see her for what she was, and no matter how hard she worked, how much she thought she was making a difference, nothing would ever change. Lightning gritted her teeth, and felt like crying then, but she got control of herself, recalling that there were more pressing problems at hoof.

Further up on the deck, Rogue and Cutjack had been arguing over what to do with her for what felt like hours.

“Finders keepers,” argued Rogue, “The Queen’s dogs and all those horned f*ckers lost her. She’s ours now. We’re not just turning her back in.”

“If the Queen finds out we had her and kept her for ourselves, she’d have our heads,” Cutjack countered.

“She wants our heads already,” Rogue spat, “The Captain will like her. She looks strong enough to work, and she’s pretty, too. And if he doesn’t want her, well, we’ll sell her to someone who does.”

“Not to butt in, but…” came Lightning, catching the pair’s attention from the mast, “I’m not for sale.”

“See that? She’s got an attitude. Captain doesn’t like it when they’ve got an attitude,” Cutjack pointed out.

“Better to have an attitude than to be boring, Cutjack, maybe take some notes,” Rogue laughed.

Lightning sighed in dismay, helpless.

“Ponies are gonna be looking for me, y’know,” Lightning said.

“What ponies?” laughed Cutjack, finally acknowledging Lightning, “You’re the only one who got away, as far as I can tell.”

“I wasn’t a prisoner,” Lightning said, “I came to rescue them.”

Rogue and Cutjack shared a look.

“You don’t say. Well done, then,” Rogue laughed.

“You don’t like the Queen, right? Well neither do I. We could get along, you and me. I could help you.”

Rogue laughed.

“We don’t like the Queen, yeah, that doesn’t mean we want to pick a fight with her,” Rogue said.

“See that? She’s got no brains. Captain doesn’t like it when they’ve got no brains,” Cutjack said.

“Captain kept you, didn’t he?” Rogue laughed.

“None of you move,” came another voice.

A creature had just climbed over the railing of the sloop, an equid, a male, in a suit of polished silver armor.

“Dire!” Lightning yelled, smiling ear to ear.

Dire Strait’s face was hidden underneath his helm, and his waterlogged armor made it an effort to propel himself over the railing. He fell over in a clanging crash on the deck, much to Lightning’s chagrin.

“My hero,” Lightning said, rolling her eyes.

“There are two of them,” Cutjack said.

“Now I know you can count,” Rogue muttered, taking a step back, “We’re in open water, and he’s wearing plate armor. Chromedome here should’ve drowned, unless he were a - …”

Dire climbed up to his hooves, and revealed his horn, which coughed up some sparks.

Rogue’s eyes widened in realization.

“Unicorn,” Rogue said, terrified. She took a step back, cowering behind Cutjack.

“Dire, don’t do anything stupid,” Lightning warned.

“Nothing could be more stupid than having joined you on this little excursion, Lightning,” Dire grunted, “Looks like it’s off to a great start, as well.”

“Shut up,” Lightning said, “Get me out of this, please.”

“Hey, tinhead, careful where you point that thing!” Rogue yelled, quivering behind Cutjack.

“She doesn’t like unicorns,” Cutjack said, dryly, “And the longer you aim that at me, the more I agree with her. We don’t want any trouble.”

“Neither do I. So cut her loose,” Dire commanded.

“Do it,” Cutjack said, glancing at Rogue.

“But Captain will-”

“Do it,” Cutjack repeated.

Rogue sighed and trotted over toward Lightning, slowly. She drew her cutlass from her belt, and lowered the blade against the ropes.

Then the growl came, some deep bellow from beneath the waves, far away in the distant sea. It was a low rumbling sound, so powerful that the boat began to rock.

Dire almost lost his balance on the deck, while Rogue and Cutjack shared a terrified glance.

“sh*t.” Rogue said. She slashed the ropes around Lightning, but didn’t let the pegasus get far, before putting the blade against her neck.

“Hey!’ Lightning winced. The blade had already cut into the flesh of her neck slightly, drawing blood.

“What are you doing?” Dire demanded.

“Toss her,” Cutjack demanded, “Toss her, do it now.”

“Toss me where?” Lightning stammered, “Dire, do something!”

Rogue hesitated, as Dire took a step closer.

“Throw the chum and the gruel first,” Rogue advised. Cutjack took off into the ship cabin, desperately clambering around his cluttered mess of supplies.

“There’s something out there,” Dire remarked, glancing over into the open water.

“Get us inland! Now!” Rogue yelled.

Cutjack returned with buckets of the aforementioned chum and gruel, and promptly threw it all into the sea over the rear railing, before darting back up to the stern to increase their speed. They were coming upon the island now, closer and closer to a river inlet that bled into the jungles.

“Will it follow us?” Cutjack asked.

“Only if it likes our scent,” Rogue remarked.

Lightning glanced back at the sea, from where they were fleeing, and finally saw it - below the thunders of the abysmal sea, came the beastly terror, winnowing with its giant arms the slumbering blue. Battening upon the breaches, it was a sickly pink monster, slick with slime and dangerously dextrous. It moved at an incredible pace, distant for now but not without motive; the beast was racing right for them.

“Toss her, do it!” Cutjack insisted.

“What? Are you insane?” Lightning exclaimed.

“It’s nothing personal,” Rogue said, “Try to put up a fight. We need you to buy us time.”

“Wait, wait, c’mon, can’t you outrun that thing?” Lightning demanded.

“Nothing can outrun a kraken,” Cutjack corrected, “Sorry, lass. It’s you or us.”

“Don’t,” Dire warned, “Don’t or I’ll-... No!”
Rogue ignored Dire completely, before slamming Lightning over the edge of the railing.

Lightning landed in the water with a heavy splash. She surfaced in time to see the murky shadow of the beast darting beneath the waves a half mile off. The current was strong, and it did not take her long before she found herself in the shade of the marine forests, the edges of the jungle.

“Lightning!” Dire yelled. Without thinking, he dove in after her, stumbling over the railing right as the ship entered into the river. Cutjack glanced over his shoulder, while Rogue bit her lip in regret.

“See that? She can barely swim. Captain doesn’t like it when they-”

“Just drive!” Rogue yelled.

In the water, Lightning was struggling to stay afloat. Her body was so tired that she could not manage to tread water for long, before sinking back down.

Then she felt something grab her by her leg. She screamed, thinking it was one of that beast’s ghastly tendrils, but it was only Dire, swimming up from the depths he had sunk down into. The spell he was using to keep him above water was not made for two ponies, however, and he had trouble keeping them both afloat.

He led them to the roots of the mangroves, where Lightning promptly climbed onto.

Dire followed her, and they climbed up higher until they were a ways away from the water.

Lightning glanced back to see that the beast had disappeared. She saw that the ship had progressed further down the river.

She glanced at Dire, who had to remove his helmet to drain it of water.

She gasped for breath, and smiled, falling into the grass.

Dire laughed too, wiping his face of sweat and saltwater.

“You look ridiculous dressed like that,” Dire said.

“I thought you liked prim and proper,” Lightning said.

“But you’re neither of those,” Dire replied, “....You’re alright?”

Lightning glanced at him and sat back up.

“Yeah,” she said, “How’d you find me?”

“I was out there clinging to some driftwood,” Dire said, “I saw that ship and swam to it, and snuck on by the prow. I wasn’t sure they were friendly, and it was a good thing too, or I’d be on that mast alongside you.”

“Well, thanks. I owe you one,” Lightning said.

“You owe me more than one,” Dire smiled, stumbling up to his hooves, “We’ve got to find the others. I have to bring Rainbow Dash and the rest of you back to Messara, or Spike will kill me.”

Lightning followed him up, as Dire began to trot through the jungle.

“We’re not leaving until we find where all those ponies are being kept,” Lightning said.

“You couldn’t handle two cutthroat pirates,” Dire pointed out, “Now you think you can take on an entire army of those creatures?”

“I have to try,” Lightning insisted, “And you’re not stopping me.”

“I never could,” Dire sighed, “I’ve done what I can to keep you from the grave, but you seem to yearn for it.”

“I have to do this. Don’t you get it?” Lightning said, “Somepony has to do something to help all those ponies, you know it. You might be happy sitting around doing nothing while all those ponies and my teammates are in trouble, but I’m not. I’m responsible for them. If anything were to happen to them, I’d…”

Dire sighed.

“Perhaps Rainbow will see reason. You clearly can’t,” Dire grumbled.

Dire continued on, while Lightning glanced one more time back out toward the sea. She thought she saw that shadow once again beneath the waves, but it had disappeared just as quickly as it had revealed itself. Lightning crossed her hind legs for a moment before jogging to catch up with Dire, eager to put as much distance between the sea and herself as possible.

Sprawled out on the beach, Rainbow Dash could only open her eyes for a few seconds before she went under once again. Her mane ran with the tide, back and forth, though while she laid on her back, she could breathe well enough. The crash had knocked the wind out of her completely, and when she drifted awake, she could feel a rumbling, aching pain that cried out from every inch of her body.

Then she felt something, no, somepony, grab her by her hindlegs, dragging her up the beach. She might have screamed or asked where she was being taken, before the world went black again.

Rainbow stirred awake when the pressure in her throat became too much, and she had to cough out the water that had ended up in her lungs. She sat herself up too quickly, and winced in pain, grunting and gasping for breath. Her eyes stung from all the saltwater, and she shut them to try and ease the pain. Her vision slowly returned, and she was at a loss to find herself in some sort of shelter. A chamber built right into a foundation of solid rock, by the looks of the walls, which were lit with bronze torches.

Sitting upright, she found she had been propped up on a featherbed draped in soft satin sheets. There were ornate columns near either end corner of the bed, carved from the stone. The cave floor was covered in red and green carpets, and there was a sweet smell to the air, like cinnamon and cloves. Behind the bedframe was a window that looked over the sea. She was several stories in the air, she realized.

She was still clad in her bomber jacket, which stunk like saltwater. Her entire body ached. If Fast Clip or Whiplash were here, they’d surely tell her to rest, to avoid putting any stress on anything. But she could not lie idle, not while her friends remained in certain peril.

Still, there was a gnawing thought in the back of her mind, that no matter how hard she pushed herself, it would all be for naught. Determination and discipline hadn’t saved her when she had to beat Lightning Dust. Rainbow gritted her teeth in anger. Lightning Dust. They were only a few weeks apart in age, and of similar size and build, and yet Lightning seemed to not be suffering to anywhere near the same degree as Rainbow. Even after all those stunts, and accidents, and crashes, Lightning seemed to never slow down.

Part of her felt grateful for the attack at the games; it had the inadvertent effect of distracting everypony from her defeat. She quickly buried that distasteful sense of indignation away. She would prove herself this time, she thought. I shouldn’t be doing this for me. I should be doing it for them.

Rainbow staggered off the bed, struggling to put too much pressure on her legs so soon. Her crash at the games had been bad enough to ensure a week’s stay in the hospital, and that crash landing had done almost as much damage. She could feel her heart beating too fast, even at rest, and she was already short of breath. Was it just nerves?

Glancing around, Rainbow was impressed by the curious decor, though she cared more about what had become of her companions, and who was responsible for bringing her here.

She stumbled over towards the doorway, and pushed against the wooden door, which led to a much larger, open area of the cave. Rainbow stood on a stone path above near the ceiling, which gave her a full glimpse at the chamber below.

A great golden chandelier hung from the cave ceiling, near the stalactites and columns. The floor below was furnished with wood and more carpet, and resembled something of an antique manor, complete with luxurious furniture, paintings hung on the walls, and strange displays. Among these were jewels in glass cases, swords and daggers held in wooden fixtures, a chess board, a giant gold coin bearing the face of some bearded alicorn wearing a crown, and, most striking, a taxidermied dragon, the size of a building, posed with its wings spread and teeth bared. The dragon was a monstrous, devilish thing, with its green scales and orange eyes that glowed in the chandelier light like two miniature furnaces.

“Hello?” Rainbow called out, hesitantly. The chandelier’s fires were all lit, and so somepony had to be nearby, somewhere.

She proceeded down the stone path to a spiraling stairwell, where she got a closer look at the many strange displays. She saw a model of a great warship resting on a table near the lifeless fireplace, and three solid stone statues, each depicting a mare with their hooves raised and their eyes wide with terror.

There was a library nook near the fireplace, with bookcases packed to the brim and chalkboards cluttered with strange symbols written in chalk.

“Anypony?” Rainbow asked; she could hear her voice echo through the chamber.

By the library, however, Rainbow noticed something even stranger. One of the bookcases was left ajar from its place on the wall, only behind it there was no wall, but a passageway. A secret path, Rainbow suspected, that led to where?

“Hello?” she called out again down the passage. She pressed on the bookcase to create a larger opening, and slid herself right along inside.

Torchlight was her guide as she crept down the passageway, which led to another huge cavern. She heard the rushing waters of an underground river somewhere further on, and the cave itself was well-lit with oil lamps hung from wires all along the walls.

In one corner of the cave she saw some huge brass contraption, pumping and smoking and spinning, with its dials and levers and valves and wheels, all moving in a bizarrely orderly fashion.

She inspected the machine briefly, before she continued up towards the edge of the cavern ridge. The cavern continued further below, and she could even make out sunlight at the end, from where the underground river must have gone onto meet the sea. And by the river there sat a boat docked in its calmest rush, some metal monster that managed to float. The boat was half-submerged in the water, and light from its interior shone out through a series of portholes, further illuminating the cave.

Rainbow stretched out her wings, and gave a small groan before taking flight, as her body urged her to take a rest. No time for rest. I have to find the others.

She landed on the wooden dock below, which ran up and over the cave lake.

Trotting towards the ship, or rather, the submarine, as she quickly confirmed, she felt a strange chill run through the air, and she no longer felt entirely alone.

She heard the spark of a horn ignite, and she turned to see a creature’s silhouette back by the edge of the dock, their horn burning bright red.

“Who are you?” the creature asked, in a stallion’s cool low voice.

Rainbow still had a hoof on the ship’s hull, when she gulped and turned to face him completely.

“I’m…Lightning Dust,” she introduced, reflexively choosing the first name other than her own that came to mind.
“Go on then, Lightning Dust, get back on the dock,” the creature commanded.

Rainbow complied, stepping off the edge of the ship to return to the wooden dock. She approached the creature, whose horn was still alight.

“How did you get here?” the creature demanded.

“I should be asking you that,” Rainbow replied, “Where am I?”

The creature took a step forward, into the torchlight. He was draped in thick black robes and a billowing black cloak that concealed most of his face. He had a pair of huge night-black horns that poked at the edges of his hood. His eyes glowed red, like ruby red voids. His eyes were two dying stars contained in a pair of pearls, spinning and dancing and weaving flames that seemed to set his entire skull ablaze. He was broad-shouldered and of a considerable size, twice as large as Rainbow. There was a trembling grey frailty to him as well though, in spite of his size. His beard was dark grey, his coat was a lighter grey, and wisps of his long mane seemed to be an even paler shade of grey. His face was leathery and burdened, grey and rigid like a boulder.

Rainbow watched as the creature’s face began to darken, and he stared down at her with his sad, red, mad eyes.

“This is my home,” the creature said, “The penalty for trespassing is death.”

His horn glowed brighter.

“Whoa! No,” Rainbow said, raising her hoof defensively, “Look, I didn’t mean to end up here, OK? I’m looking for my friends, they’re on this island too, somewhere.”

“Friends?” the creature repeated, “There are more of you?”

The creature’s horn glowed so brightly she was nearly blinded, and Rainbow braced herself to dodge the oncoming attack.

“Wait,” came a new voice, this one from higher above in the cavern, “Don’t.”

Her rescuer was not a pony, not anything close. He resembled a fox, red-orange in color, with a large, slender body, bigger than an adult stallion. He wore a blue cloak and white robes underneath, but what was most peculiar was his nine bushy tails, which curled and danced in the air as he floated about. The creature flew in the air without any wings, sliding and slinging about as if he were swimming in a pool of water. The fox had such a delightful grin on his face, it seemed as though just about anything and everything could make him laugh.

“This one is not an intruder,” the fox smiled, “This one is my guest.”

“I will have no guests,” the horned creature growled.

“You will tonight,” the fox laughed, “Lightning Dust, is that what you call yourself?”

“It was you…You found me on the beach,” Rainbow supposed, “Who are you? Why did you help me?”

“I am Zuki,” the fox introduced, bowing in the air, “And this is the curmudgeon of Chaos Keep, my dear friend Caligo.”

“Why have you brought her here?” Caligo grumbled, “And why did you not consult me?”

“Because I knew you’d say no,” Zuki grinned, “It’s been so long since we’ve gotten to host a pony of Equestria, I simply couldn’t resist. Don’t you trust me?”

Caligo growled and dimmed his horn, finally allowing Rainbow to sigh in relief.

“Only a fool would trust a yako, least of all a conniving pest like you. But I do trust your self-interest, and so I wonder what value she has to you. I’ll soon find out. Bring her to the wailing tower,” Caligo commanded, “Keep her locked up there until I decide what is to be done with her.”

Zuki bowed his head, obediently.

“As you wish.”

With that, the fox snapped his paw, and Rainbow’s world disappeared in a flash of light.

When she opened her eyes next, she was back in the bedchamber she had awoken in, only Zuki was beside her. He appeared smaller than before, and somewhat less evolved.

“How’d you do that?” Rainbow asked.

“It’s been so long since ponies came to rule the world, you’ve even forgotten you’re not the only race with magic coursing through your veins,” Zuki giggled, “Yes, I plucked you out from the sea. No need to thank me.”

“Look, furface, I appreciate the help, but I really have to go find my friends. You haven’t seen them, have you?” Rainbow asked.

“Friends?” Zuki said, “Yes, I have seen them. But these are not things you should worry about right now.”

“Gonna have to disagree,” Rainbow said, taking an aggressive step forward, “If you really want to lend me a hoof, er, paw, then why don’t you do that teleporting trick again, but take me to where all my friends are being stowed away.”

Zuki laughed aloud.

“That would give away the game rather easily, don’t you think?”

“This isn’t a game. My friends could be in mortal danger!” Rainbow exclaimed.

“More than you know. But I’ve helped you quite a bit already. I owe you no more than I owe my dear friend Caligo, or our wicked Queen, who loathes me so. Once you’ve ascended to a high-enough plane of reality, all the choosing of sides becomes rather droll. It’s much more entertaining to watch you lesser beings all squabble among yourselves. Don’t hate me for wanting to steer things every which way now and then, it’s only ever for the better. Every creature on this island has gone mad as of late, madder than usual. When I found you, an Equestrian castaway, I couldn’t resist throwing you into the fold.”

“Is that why you brought me here? To amuse yourself?” Rainbow said.

“My singular goal,” Zuki smirked.

“Why here? What’s so special about this place in particular?” Rainbow asked.

“Chaos Keep has been Caligo’s home for many years. He is known to welcome outcasts and castaways, like yourself. He is not fond of the island’s other denizens, the ones who ponynapped all of your poor friends.”

“Then we ought to get along great,” Rainbow supposed, “Here’s hoping he’ll warm up to me. It’d be nice to have a few friends on this rock.”

“Do not overstep the bounds of his hospitality. He is fickle and his mind is scattered. This castle is his way of escaping the rest of the island. It also serves as a place to conduct his experiments,” Zuki said.

“...What kind of experiments?” Rainbow asked, hesitantly.

“Unsavory kinds. So tread lightly or you’ll become one,” Zuki warned, “Try reasoning with him tonight at dinner, if you like. But the years spent in this place have turned him cold and unforgiving, and quick to insult. He’d have killed me a hundred times already if he could manage such a task.”

“You brought me here for a reason, but won’t tell me what,” Rainbow said, “If I screw everything up and get myself killed, that wouldn’t go well for your little game, would it?”

Zuki shrugged.

“Oh, Lightning Dust, If I could control everything, it wouldn’t nearly be as fun,” Zuki said, “Though I doubt you’re arrogant enough to die just to spite me. If you would, perhaps I should have left you in the sea to drown.”

Rainbow narrowed her eyes, as Zuki’s grin grew along his face.

“Well, here’s hoping your gamble will pay off.”

I have to be strong for them, Spitfire thought, glancing back at her companions - Thunderlane and Soarin, Sightseer and Blaze, High Winds, Fleetfoot, and Meadow. The journey down the murky green river had taken all night, and only when the dawn came did they reach their destination.

The Citadel stood in the center of the island, right beside that great igneous peak that coughed out clouds of black smoke. Along the cove, Spitfire saw the skeletal remains of ponies strung up in spiked gibbet cages. Some ponies seemed to be half-alive still, covered in rot or missing limbs. The living had lost the urge to cry out in pain any longer, even while crows came to peck the flesh off their bones, or while the flies and maggots crawled about their exposed innards.

It took Spitfire all she had to avoid vomiting into the water.

There was a city surrounding the citadel, a bustling hive of torchlight and strange smells. The city descended right into the earth, leading to a red subterranean realm, a city right beneath their hooves.

In the dawn, Spitfire’s eyes wandered over to the waterfalls that cascaded off the cliff into the great pits below.

At the docks, they saw other longboats making port, where clusters of captives were rushed along by more spear-wielding sentinels.

The harbor was crowded with sloops and schooners and brigantines, and even a few triple-masted ships, and cooking fires still smudged the air far above the huts and shacks and sailcloth tents that had been pitched on the beach. There were strumpets and black market wholesale buyers sauntering among the crews and watching for incoming craft.

Midge led the ponies out onto the boardwalk, where they were promptly re-shackled and forced into an orderly line.

“I’ll take these ones,” came a voice from ahead of Midge, who turned to find the translucent, ghostly filly with the doe eyes, Specter, hovering in the air.

Midge spat at the ground.

“f*ck off. They’re mine,” Midge growled.

Specter’s face darkened. She was only a little thing, but for some reason she instilled a strange sense of dread in all present.

“Mimic wanted you for something,” Specter said, “I’m supposed to take them off your hooves.”

Midge’s antennae twitched at the mention of Mimic.

“Fine,” he growled, leaving the ponies on the dock with Specter, whose eyes darted over towards Spitfire.

“Are any of you hurt?” she asked once Midge was far enough away. Spitfire eyed her, uncertain of Specter’s intentions.

“Not too bad,” Spitfire replied, hesitantly.

“Consider yourselves lucky. We almost lost an entire longboat to a bog serpent,” Specter said, turning to lead them away. Spitfire struggled to keep up, having to walk twice as fast while fettered and chained.

“Where are you taking us?” Spitfire demanded.

“To your cells, to await adjudication,” Specter replied.

Up the ramparts, Spitfire saw packs of horned creatures toiling in the tar, shoveling and sweating.

“There’s thousands,” Soarin muttered under his breath. All of his escape fantasies seemed to crumble away, the more he saw of this place.

“A bit young to be serving the whims of a murderous despot, no?” Thunderlane said, trying his best to annoy Specter, for his own amusem*nt, “A foal like you should be playing with dolls and doing homework, not wielding a warhammer.”

“Not all of us are so lucky to get to have normal lives,” Specter said, “And I’m not a foal. When I was killed, I was eight, yes, but that was some three-thousand years ago.”

“And you haven’t aged a day. What’s your secret?” Thunderlane laughed. Even Specter cracked a grin.

“You lied, earlier,” Spitfire said, “When you took over from that bug freak. What for?”

“She was drawn to your magnetic charms, no doubt, captain,” offered Thunderlane.

Specter glanced around to see whether any other creatures were nearby to overhear her; she waited until she could lead the group down a stone causeway that brushed against the docks and led up into one of the citadel’s earthen passageways.

“I know Rainbow Dash is alive,” Specter said.

Spitfire’s eyes widened.

“You do? How?”

“The way she supposedly died was suspicious. My superiors were in a hurry to get out of there, though, so they went along with the story they were given. But I haven’t. She probably had help, too. If I had to guess, it’d be the other pegasus, the Washout.”

From behind Spitfire, Breakbones raised an eyebrow.

“Fat chance. They hate each other,” Breakbones said.

“She’s the only Washout we couldn’t find,” Specter pointed out, “If they are working together, and if they do find a way to get here, then the Queen will need to be prepared. That’s why you all need to get to her unspoiled, so we’ll have some valuable hostages to bargain with. Midge was going to bring a few of you back home for his supper tonight, and sell the rest of you as slaves.”

“This place just gets better and better,” Thunderlane laughed in disbelief, “Well, I suppose being a slave beats being cannibalized. Tell me, do slaves get any benefits? Workers’ comp?”

Specter giggled again, to Thunderlane’s triumph.

“She laughs at my jokes more than you do, Spits” Thunderlane remarked, while Spitfire rolled her eyes.

“Not all of us are cruel,” Specter said, “Fear and power is what compels creatures to stay in line, even if it means following the worst monsters of the island. Mimic and Gorgo most of all.”

“I knew Forecheck for years,” Spitfire said, frustratedly, “You’re telling me the entire time it was just some shapeshifter?”

“Mimic isn’t like the rest of us,” Specter said, “He was genetically engineered by the Queen’s top scientist with the explicit purpose of breaking through the seal and surviving its effects, as well as adopting the guise of any creature. He was instrumental to the Queen’s plan, to eventually become the president of the Equestrian Athletic Association, to arrange the Equestria Games to take place as close as possible to our island, and make sure that the Games had all of our targets present in the audience.”

Spitfire shook her head in disbelief. How long have they been planning this?

“What is this place?” Spitfire demanded, “Why are you doing this to us?”

“I can’t say too much, or the Queen would have my head,” Specter said, “We’ve been trapped on this island for three thousand years. Generations upon generations of monsters have worked to discover a way to break free. Only a lucky few have succeeded, and always with grave side effects. But our Queen has devised the final solution, what might be our only chance at breaking the spell permanently and going home.”

“I imagine this final solution bodes well for us, yes?” Thunderlane asked, sarcastically, dreading what her answer would be.

“There is power in blood,” Specter said, “Royal blood, holy blood, the blood of the innocent especially. A sacrifice might be enough to weaken the curse and open the seal, but only for a short while. That’s how we were able to leave on the warship yesterday. But to draw the magic from five alicorn princesses and all six elements of harmony? Even the curse’s magic won’t be able to withstand that. Once we sacrifice the princesses and the bearers of the elements, the curse might finally be broken for good.”

“OK….but why exactly are we here?” Thunderlane laughed, “Last time I checked I wasn’t an alicorn, or a priest, and definitely not a virgi-”

Spitfire jabbed him in the gut, glancing at Specter, who she still saw as a mere foal.

“The more blood the better,” Specter said, “We couldn’t find your friend Rainbow Dash, so a few hundred ponies might just be enough to make up for the missing element, and complete the sacrifice.”

“There must be another way,” Spitfire said, “These ponies are innocent. They shouldn’t have to die because of what some ponies did three thousand years ago. You don’t have to do this, and I don’t think you really want to, either.”

Specter glanced at the ground.

“It doesn’t matter what I want. This is the Queen’s decree. I have to do as she says,” Specter said, “It’s her you’ll have to answer to.”

“Forget the Queen. Where's the king,” Thunderlane said, “I think I’d rather talk to him.”

“The king was deposed and killed many years ago,” Specter said, “It was his own wife and daughter who did it. He was weak, and wanted to embrace peace rather than take revenge on our enemies.”

“We’re not your enemies,” Spitfire said, aggressively, “I’ll tell your queen as much when you take us to her.”

“Save your breath,” Specter mumbled, “We’ve been here for thousands of years. We’ve exhausted every option. This is the only way. I wish that the cost wasn’t so high, but we don’t have a choice. You ponies took everything from us, and now we’re finally taking it back.”

From the green turmoil of vines and palm boles came the breeze, a mild respite from the sun’s endless gaze. The humid air and the heat of the sweltering sandy beach made Scootaloo’s face gleam with sweat. Ahead, Rocket hefted his piece of scrap iron and peered uneasily into the jungle that awaited them further along the beach. He’d heard stories about this island, stories he had opted not to share with Scootaloo, though her imagination might not have been much kinder. Cannibals and giant snakes seemed as plausible as ever to lurk in that primeval rainforest, and the thought gave Scootaloo cause to drag her hooves as they went, hoping to slow their pace.

They found their first sign of ponies after three miles into the trek - hoof prints leading further down the southern edge of the coast.

“Rainbow or Lightning,” Rocket determined, relieved that at least one of them had survived the journey to shore, “Whoever it is, maybe they’ll find the others and save us the journey.”

He glanced up ahead at where the hoof prints led, over a large sand dune.

“How far do you think the trail goes?” Scootaloo asked.

“Far. We might find them today, tomorrow, who knows? All I’ve found so far is more and more pieces of my poor ship,” Rocket said, glumly.

They continued on in pursuit of the tracks, beside the jungle susurrating restlessly in the breeze, which kicked up clouds of sand that wafted over the tide.

“I’m sorry about your ship,” Scootaloo said, “...I shouldn’t have snuck on. A pegasus who can’t fly is bad luck.”

Rocket had only just then noticed her pair of stunted wings, and he slowed his pace, slinging his bag around over his shoulder.

“I consider it lucky enough that we got here each in one piece, and so should you,” Rocket said, “I always wanted to fly too, like a pegasus. That ship was the closest thing to it, and even then it…”

“Wasn’t the same,” Scootaloo continued.

“Yeah,” Rocket said, glancing down at her, “You try to fit into a world you can never belong to, you’ll only wound up like my ship. Completely totaled.”

“Except I was supposed to fly,” Scootaloo said, raising her voice, flapping her wings, “I’m supposed to be just like them.”

“You’re not supposed to be anypony,” Rocket corrected, “That’s what Lightning’s always harping on about to her team of belligerent foundlings.”

“Lightning Dust….We’re not exactly friends.”

Rocket chuckled.

“She doesn’t exactly do friends, as she’s always been so keen on reminding me.”

Scootaloo eyed him.

“You and her, you…”

“A long time ago,” Rocket said, “She left me behind. She left everything behind. All for a slim shot at making it big, and….what d’y’know, she actually pulled it off. One in a million, I told her. Now, was that before or after she told me to go to -?”

“She almost got me killed, y’know,” Scootaloo interrupted. She could hear Rainbow’s voice coming out of her then, and she had to bite her tongue.

“It’s a miracle she hasn’t gotten herself killed,” Rocket said, “Maybe I beat her to it. I’ve had a lot of crash landings, and that one might’ve topped them all.”

Scootaloo hung her head low, her eyes fixed on the sand beneath her hooves.

“Don’t look so glum, kid. I’m sure your friend made it out. She’s been through worse, hasn’t she?” Rocket asked, “We’ve got bigger problems right now. I don’t know how long I can live off of mussels and berries that have an above-zero chance of burning my stomach full of holes.”

“I don’t need to eat much,” Scootaloo assured, “Freshwater would be a nice start.”

“Might be some rivers going through the woods further ahead,” Rocket said, “Might be some game there, too.”

He lifted up his jagged blade of scrap metal, proudly.

“This might do well for hunting,” Rocket declared, “What are we feeling? Fish? Crab? I might even be able to spear a seagull. I wish Dire was here, I could use him for target practice.”

Suddenly, the ground beneath them began to shudder and shake, and Scootaloo almost lost her footing, before Rocket steadied her with his hoof. She fell into his forelegs, as he adjusted his hooves. The portion of the ground they were standing on, roughly six yards wide, was rising up from the beach up into the air, in jerky, shifting motions.

Rocket lost his balance completely, tumbling off the risen portion onto solid ground. Scootaloo wasn’t far behind, tumbling down after him.

Rocket turned to see the beast in all its hideous fury, a crab the size of a carriage, with two huge clawed arms and six muscled, pointed legs. Its shell was covered in sand from where it had burrowed itself underground, and its face, a chirping horror of bloody pincers, sent Rocket jumping to his hooves, shoving Scootaloo behind him.

The beast began to turn toward them, as Rocket began backing into Scootaloo.

“Run,” Rocket advised, right as the creature began lunging towards them.

Rocket stuck a shrieking Scootaloo on his back and began galloping off.

But the beast was nimble for its size, and Rocket could sense the crab’s claw darting down towards them. Gritting his teeth, he grabbed Scootaloo and threw her further ahead into the sand, before stumbling to his knees. He turned around right as the giant crab came upon him, and he swung his scrap metal blade against its hard exoskeleton.

The crab hissed and clicked at him as it hesitated against the blade. Rocket had meant to throw the blade right between the beast’s eyes, but the creature was quicker, scooping him up in its monstrous claw. Rocket cried out in pain as the claw crushed his ribs and lifted him up into the air.

Ahead, Scootaloo had reached a large stone to hide behind, and stopped running at the sound of Rocket’s grunting and the crab’s victorious clicking. She glanced back, her whole body trembling.

“Run!” Rocket yelled, hardly able to breathe as the claw crushed him and swung him around in the air. Scootaloo picked up Rocket’s scrap metal blade and ran for the beast, attempting to stab it right through its beady little eyes. The crab backed away and hissed, while Scootaloo continued prodding at it. All the while, Rocket was flailing around in the air as the crab tossed him about.

Scootaloo dodged the other claw as it came down to slice her in half; she tumbled through the sand and immediately returned to stabbing at the crab. She was so small the crab seemed to have difficulty catching her, she realized. Then she noticed the crab almost lose its balance while rearing up to shake Rocket around, and an idea came to her.

Scootaloo darted for Rocket’s bag, where she retrieved his spool of rope. She was so small, that the distracted crab hardly noticed her, as she came sprinting underneath its body. She began wrapping the rope around one of the crab’s hind legs.

She ran back out in front of the beast, holding the other end of the rope.

Scootaloo took the rope from her hooves and stuck it in her teeth, trying her best to hold the crab back from running off with Rocket. But the crab’s strength was too much, and she quickly lost her grip.

Scootaloo practically dove into the sand to grab at the rope, as the crab began scurrying off backwards to make its escape.

sh*t.

Scootaloo pursued the crab over to the cliff they had passed earlier, and a grin quickly found its way to Scootaloo’s face, as an idea came to mind.

Scootaloo scrambled to pick up the rope. She ran in the other direction with all her strength, and found an upright rock to tie the other end of the rope around, tethering the crab near the edge of the cliff.

Scootaloo returned to the crab to stick her blade up from underneath near the beast’s head. She stabbed and prodded some more, and with one hard shove, she thrust her weapon up against the beast’s head, compelling the beast to rear up on its hind legs. Scootaloo then thrust forwards with her blade, sending the crab toppling backwards.

The beast landed on its back, its legs panickedly darting about in the air.

Scootaloo rushed over towards Rocket, who was lying semi-conscious in the crab’s claw, whose grip had finally loosened.

Using her blade, Scootaloo severed the rope with a mighty swing, and began to tilt the crab forwards towards the cliff’s edge.

On the decline of the cliff, the crab eventually began to slide right off the edge, and Scootaloo caught her breath once he watched the crab land in one of the hot springs below. The boiling temperatures were enough to silence the beast after a few minutes of agonizing screeches.

“I never cared much for seafood,” Rocket said, picking himself up off the ground, “Thanks for the rescue.”

Scootaloo smiled.

She smelled the cooked crab before he could see what had happened. Rocket began to laugh, triumphantly.

“Well, I suppose that solves dinner.”

Murmuring among the castle stone, the afternoon rainfall was revealed by the torches lit near each window, beyond the tin-wire shutters that were propped open. There, birds had found refuge from the torrent, darting through the windows to make their perch in the rafters high up in the great hall.

The hall itself was a cozy place, cluttered with bookcases and wax candles, with globes and maps and collections of strange ornaments.

Six soldier columns stood solemnly on the edges of the hall, which were cluttered with all manner of strange creatures. There were huge torch pits around the edges of the hall, and tapestries and paintings hung about the walls. Light poured in through reflective stained glass from somewhere in the ceiling, casting the hall in red, green, and purple.

With each flash of lightning Rainbow could make out more of the castle, which had been built right alongside the edge of a storied cliff, facing the sea. Gargoyles and grotesques served as brooding crenellations along the curtain walls, overlooking the sea. Among these looming statues were depictions of basilisks, co*ckatrices, demons, griffins, hounds, manticores, wyverns, and other strange creatures, all with hunched backs or snarling grins. They were a few stories up from the breaking waves, though Rainbow could still taste the salt wafting in through the windows.

In the rainfall, the towers seemed to creak and sway, and the bricks seemed to move and come apart, though after a second glance, Rainbow Dash concluded it was only in her mind.

While her host’s humble abode gave her pause, his companions unsettled her to a far greater extent.

A rowdy collection they were; she saw wispy, flaming, translucent visages of dancers in silks and ribbons strutting about near the fire, bending and buckling in turn with the restless flames.

The harpers, meanwhile, were all arachnid creatures, plucking instruments wound up with spider silk. And in the crowds of the hall there were creatures of all kinds, pony-sized sentient rodents, and birds, and all manner of devilish, horned beasts.

And near one of the columns was a huge pot containing six huge flowers, each the size of a foal. There was a rose, a tiger lily, a yellow daisy, a tulip, a pansy, and a bluebonnet.

“Hello,” the rose spoke, “Welcome!”

The other flowers tittered on in unison, speaking without mouths, looking without eyes, and Rainbow recalled the strange experiments Zuki claimed Caligo had conducted here.

“You can see me? You can hear me?” Rainbow asked, fascinated, but also wary. She could not be certain how friendly any of this island’s inhabitants really were.

“Of course,” replied the tiger lily, curtly.

“You’re the first pony we’ve ever seen,” said the tulip, “We all thought you’d be uglier.”

The flowers all giggled, while Rainbow laughed in disbelief.

“Uh, thanks,” Rainbow smiled.

But among the strange collection of monsters, there was one face she recognized, one face she had not thought she would be glad to see again. Pouring himself a cup of wine, Gump was alive and intact, catching Rainbow’s eyes from across the room.

“Gump!” Rainbow exclaimed, darting over toward him, “You’re alright!”

Gump growled in response, hardly sparing her a glance.

“That crash should’ve killed us all,” Gump mumbled, “The gods love tormenting me. Why else do they insist I live?”

“I see your sense of humor survived the crash,” Rainbow smiled.

“That’s about the only thing,” Gump muttered.

“How’d you get here?” Rainbow said.

“The fox left a trail for me,” Gump said, “Duplicitous sorcerer, he is. Of course he’d be in cahoots with the wicked pegasus and her foolish friends. Our host, the mad warlock, took me for a deserter, and let me stay.”

“Well, we can’t stay here too long,” Rainbow said, “We still have to find Lightning and the others.”

Gump snickered.

“We? There is no we, stupid pegasus,” Gump spat, “And you won’t find your friends. Not alive, anyway.”

Rainbow glared at him, taking an aggressive step forward.

“You know the land, Gump. I’m gonna need you,” Rainbow said, “...Or, I guess, you could head back home without me, but I wonder what your queen would say when she finds out you let me slip right through your hooves.”

Gump’s grin fell from his face.

“Curse you, pegasus, curse you and your black heart!” Gump growled, “I’m dead no matter what I do. So are you. Once the Queen finds out you’re here, she’ll spare no expense in hunting you down. There’s nowhere on this island you can escape her wrath. She will find you.”

Rainbow rolled her shoulders back and laughed.

“I’d like to see her try,” Rainbow said. As if to punctuate her sentence, the ringing of bells indicated that the feast was ready. Rainbow sat herself beside Gump on the great dinner table that had been brought out into the center of the hall. The table was draped in a huge red tablecloth, sprawling out haphazardly like the tongue of some giant serpent, and it held an impressive bounty of delicacies and exotic cuisine, some of which made Rainbow’s nose curl in disgust.

At the table on her right was Nimbla, or the Killer Mouse, as she had introduced herself. She was indeed just a little grey mouse, ordinary in size, but imbued with the power of speech. She wore a red satin dress with golden fringes, a golden belt fixed with a scabbard, all overtop a white petticoat. Twice already had Nimbla drawn her sword to challenge Zuki to a duel, though the celestial fox would only ever laugh and laugh.

Next to Nimbla was Twitch, a sentient rabbit who dressed himself in a plaid vest and a bowtie, and, as his name derived from, had a dreadful nervous twitch. Each time Rainbow spared him a glance, he was busy checking his pocket watch or thumping his foot in anticipation of something horrible befalling them all right then and there.

But by far the most peculiar dinner guest was the flying head, who only spoke his own name, Tue Tué. Trapped inside a bird cage, the creature appeared to be the severed head of a pony, but adorned with feathers and talons that stuck out from under its chin. The creature had wings in the place of ears, and it seemed to yearn for freedom, though Caligo was content to keep it trapped and feed it his scraps.

“Don’t pity this one,” Caligo growled, noticing the concern on Rainbow’s face, “It thirsts for blood. My blood, to be exact. It does speak, only it chooses who can hear it. Daily and nightly it screams at me through my own thoughts, making its threats, speaking its spells, and casting its curses.”

“And you decide to keep it as a pet?” Rainbow asked.

“The thing does not die,” Caligo said, bluntly, “Believe me, pegasus, I’ve tried.”

Rainbow had nearly forgotten to make pleasantries with each of the creatures, unable to stop herself from tearing into the feast that had been laid out before them - buttered beets and herby bread, dark gravy and roasted red potatoes. She had been starving after consuming too much saltwater in the wake of that crash, and Caligo’s feast hit every spot.

“The creatures who ponynapped my friends,” Rainbow said, “They won’t think to look for me here?”

Caligo grumbled something under his breath.

“The inlanders do not rear their heads past my gates,” Caligo said.

“That’s true,” Gump said, “And for good reason. Every creature’s heard about the mad warlock of Chaos Keep, who steals away children to torture and test upon.”

Caligo guffawed.

“Mad warlock, hm?…What nonsense. The inlanders invent these stories to distract from worse monsters who dwell in their very midst, and fools like you are too blind to see it,” he said, before laughing to himself, “Yes, blind. All of them….You, Miss Lightning Dust, tell me how you came to my island.”

“You don’t have the slightest idea?” Rainbow asked, skeptically.

Caligo’s glare hardened.

“Ponies wash up on my shores every now and then. Most are already dead,” Caligo said, “I expect you flew too close to the storm.”

“You expect right,” Rainbow said, grimly, “There were others with me. What are the odds they made it to land, too?”

“Slim,” Caligo said, “But stranger things have happened, and these are strange times already.”

“I had no idea there was an entire island hidden away past that storm,” Rainbow said, between bites of bread, “It’s not on any map.”

“What? Of course you knew-ow,” Gump attempted, before Rainbow jabbed him in the side.

“Where are we, exactly?” Rainbow asked, glancing up at Caligo.

Caligo stared at her, blankly. He glanced at Gump.

“Could your imp companion not tell you his own history?” Caligo laughed, “Fair enough, he is only a young thing. Who better than I to recall how this place came to be? I was there after all. I watched this island be raised up from the sea, and I watched the storm gather around it, sealing us away for eternity.

“Centuries ago, the first alicorn king, Arcturus, made it his mission to rid Equestria of all monsters. He gathered every wicked creature he could find and banished them here, to this island, what we call Pandemonium,” Caligo said.

“You’ve been here for centuries?” Rainbow said.

“My species do not age like you ponies do,” Caligo said, “In ancient times my race was widespread, but after countless wars, we were whittled down to those that remain on this island still. I am one of the Leliurium, the greatest of our race, the Children of the Night. Your imp friend here is a relative of my kind, slower and weaker and sooner to die of old age.”

“Only the age part is true,” Gump said, defensively.

“We were kept from escaping the island by an unbreakable spell, cast by Arcturus himself. Even if a creature manages to break through the seal, if he should not return in three days’ time, he will surely die,” Caligo explained, “Now that you have crossed the seal, I regret to inform you that the same result will befall you as well. You are trapped here like the rest of us.”

“So no one’s ever escaped?” Rainbow asked.

“Some have, but always at a terrible cost,” Caligo said, “The centaur lord, Tirek, and the gargoyle, Scorpan, both escaped and survived. But to live freely in the real world, they required a constant supply of magic to withstand the effects of the spell, which kept them weak and starving. Scorpan returned here after some time. He could not live such a life, one where he could only survive by draining the magic from other living beings.”

“Tirek,” Rainbow whispered, horrified to think of what other monsters dwelled on this island.

“So I just have to find a way to break the spell and then I can get out of here,” Rainbow said, deciding on the plan on the spot.

Caligo only laughed.

“For centuries, generations of creatures have sought the same thing. I am sorry, but no, it cannot be done. Our fate was sealed long ago. This is where we belong,” Caligo said. He returned to his bottle of rum, and began muttering under his breath.

He took another swig of his cup.

“Feed yourselves, and rest. You may stay as long as you like. You’re safer here than anywhere else on this cursed island, trust in that,” Caligo said, before stumbling off to fetch more rum for himself.

When he was gone, Rainbow and Zuki glanced at one another.

“I hope he’s a liar as well as a crazy drunk, otherwise I’m kinda screwed,” Rainbow said.

“He speaks the truth,” Zuki sighed, “But it’s not so bad, trapped on this island. It only takes a few thousand years to get used to it.”

“I’m sure there’s a way out of here,” Rainbow insisted, “First I have to find Lightning. And the boys. And Scootaloo. Your friend Caligo is gonna help me, I’ve just got to convince him somehow.”

Gump coughed, aggressively, to Rainbow’s annoyance.

“Yes, Gump?” Rainbow said.

“Oh, nothing,” Gump sighed.

“Go on, Gump,” Rainbow said, irritated.

“Don’t believe his lies!” Gump hissed, “You’re not safe here, and neither am I. This creature has been living up here for years. He’s completely insane, and powerful, too. We need to leave.”

“He’s old. Like, centuries old, apparently,” Rainbow recalled, “He seems harmless to me.”

Gump was dumbfounded, though Rainbow seemed to be affected by his warnings.

“He’s letting us stay here instead of throwing us out to get eaten by who-knows-what. How bad can he be?” Rainbow reminded, before grabbing another roll off the table.

It’s too hot.

The forest grew denser along the southern stretch of the island. Mosquitos warded the mangroves. For half-an-hour the pair splashed, prodded and stumbled through one claustrophobic tangle of vegetation after another; Rocket’s foreleg was shaking with fatigue from chopping vines and tree branches with his sharp piece of scrap metal, but he drove doggedly on, climbing up out of the pools he blundered into and forcing himself to breathe in the harsh, humid air.

Scootaloo scampered along behind. With the setting sun, the fungus heads had begun sneezing, and a grainy powder of spore puffed out from their mouths, like a cloud of pollen.

The sense of a vast, invisible presence was intensifying, and Rocket could feel something bending down out of the sky above them, glaring at these Equestrian intruders with alien outrage.

To the tune of croaking toads and cicada songs, Scootaloo and Rocket continued toward an inlet that fed into the sea. The inlet was the mouth of a narrow, warm-water river that was so clear Scootaloo could see it was teeming with fish, crustaceans, and huge aquatic insects with claws and clicking mandibles.

The river was only about ten yards wide and five feet deep at its deepest point. Wading through the water, she was relieved to find it a cool source of refreshment, as the afternoon sun beat down on them.

They continued on over a log to cross another wide river, and they came to a larger creek clearing on the other side, surrounded by trees and wild vegetation; the river descended down a pebble shore that fed into the forest once again.

Sticking his scrap metal into a tree for a moment, Rocket knelt down to open up his bag, recovering some of his flammable jelly that he had been saving for a fire. But even in the afternoon, beneath the shady canopy it seemed closer to nighttime, and he thought it wise to carry a torch with them before continuing.

“It might attract something,” Scootaloo warned.

“It might scare something away,” Rocket countered, proceeding to rub the jelly on a thick stick, before setting it alight using flint and steel. He might have miscalculated his measurements, however, when after a moment a thick eruption of smoke billowed up and nearly blinded him as he recovered his scrap metal; but when the smoke disappeared up into the canopy, the forest shook with a low roar - a boot-shaking, wrathful rumbling, uttered with undeniable fury, and, just as clearly, having emanated from no organic throat.

Rocket glanced at Scootaloo, who had a concerned look on her face.

“Alright, no fire then,” Rocket said, promptly dousing the torch in the river water.

Rocket glanced at the web of vegetation in front of them, and was the first to notice by a second or two that the vines and branches were moving - twisting - in the still, stagnant air.

Rocket stuck a hoof in front of Scootaloo, planting himself between her and the vines, which had begun to weave away from the wood in their direction.

Gritting his teeth, Rocket lunged forward to heave his scrap metal blade against the vines, slicing the tentacle-like creature in half. Its severed remnant egan flopping on the forest floor like a fish out of water, wriggling restlessly for something to snag. Rocket bent down to inspect the vicious tendril, as close as he could without sticking himself in its reach. He noticed small hook-like feelers etched along the vine’s exterior, razor-sharp and miniscule.

“The tracks stop at the river,” Scootaloo realized, having scanned the area for where the hoofprints picked up again, only to find nothing, “...What do we do?”

Rocket glanced around, scratching at his head.

“She can’t be far,” Rocket said, confidently.

“I hope so. I’d rather not spend the night this deep in the woods,” Scootaloo said.

“Lightning!’ Rocket yelled, abruptly, calling out into the jungle. .

“Yelling might not be a good idea,” Scootaloo warned.

“Lightning Dust!” Rocket continued.

“How many Lightnings do you think are on this island?” Scootaloo muttered.

“Lightni-!” Rocket tried once more, before both of them took notice of a rustling in the brush to their right.

Rocket rose up to his hooves, as Scootaloo stood beside him, petrified.

Ahead down the river, the brush was ripped apart by the emergence of great hulking beasts, elephants, Scootaloo quickly realized. Only, they were slightly smaller versions of common elephants, each about as big as a small carriage. There were at least six in all, wading across the creekbed just ahead of them. The creatures each had a rotund body and huge heads, massive ears, and distinct, long trunks. Two of the six appeared to be toddlers, who waddled by on thick blubbery legs, struggling to keep up with their elders. Rocket lowered his guard, realizing the herd was a family of some kind. The beasts each gave a low trumpet as they crossed the creek, crushing the saplings that got in their way underneath their mighty weight.

Scootaloo’s mouth was agape, marveling at the majesty of the titanic terrors that paid them no notice as they moseyed on by.

Scootaloo went alert when she felt a cloud of hot breath of another creature catch her by surprise from behind; she spun to see another of the beasts storm by right behind her and Rocket, swatting its trunk at its neck to relieve itself from a pesky swarm of insects.

“Don’t even think about keeping one as a pet.”

Rocket froze when he heard the voice from behind him. He turned to find Lightning Dust standing on the log they had crossed over, smirking down at him. She was wearing a yellow dress, something from the Elizabethan era, torn at her knees and stained with dirt and grass. And, to Rocket’s annoyance, Dire Strait was beside her, clad in his silver armor and brown buckles.

“Lightning Dust!” Scootaloo exclaimed. Lightning had to stop herself from smiling. Dire had set his helmet aside in an aura of magic to wipe the sweat from his forehead. Scootaloo had never seen him without his helmet on, and was taken aback, having expected something far worse given Rocket’s many derogatory remarks.

Dire had a slightly larger build than Rocket, and a sharp jaw, shadowed by stubble. He wore a coat of white and a pair of grey eyes. He had shaved off his mane, though a thin lair of grey stubble remained. He was drenched in sweat, which Scootaloo had expected; he must have been cooking alive in that polished suit of silver armor. Scootaloo only looked away when he noticed her staring at him.

“Dusty. Soldier boy. Fancy finding you out here,” Rocket said, “We’ve been searching all over. You’re not hurt, are you?”

“Worry about yourself,” Lightning said, “You’re bleeding.”

Scootaloo glanced at Rocket, whose sides had been slashed by the edges of the crab’s claws.

“I’ll be fine,” Rocket assured. He glanced down at Scootaloo, and suddenly his memory returned. “Any sign of Rainbow?”

“Nope,” Lightning sighed, “We’ll keep looking. If she doesn’t turn up, then we’ve got to go on without her.”

“Don’t say that!” Scootaloo exclaimed.

“We’re losing the light. We need to find somewhere to hunker down for the night. I have a feeling this place gets even uglier when the sun sets,” Lightning said.

“She’s right. We don’t know what’s out here,” Dire said.

“You’re paranoid,” Rocket said, waving him off, “The locals don’t scare me. That face of yours does, though, Dire, for Luna’s sake put that helmet back on.”

“You’re welcome to swim home, if you’d prefer,” Dire said, glancing at the river, “I’m confident Lightning wouldn’t mind.”

“Oh, please. She might have spent a summer knocking boots with her knight in lackluster-armor, but I was on her mind the whole time, don’t even try to deny it,” Rocket said.

“I’m right here,” Lightning grunted, planting her face in her hoof.

“She brought you up from time to time,” Dire admitted, “Usually in the form of I can’t stand him.”

“It was me she came to when she needed help.”

“She needed your ship, not you,” Dire corrected.

“A ship’s only worth as much as its captain,” Rocket countered.

Dire glanced around at Rocket’s piece of scrap metal, the last remnant of the ship, while Rocket growled something under his breath and took a step forward. Lightning jumped between them, however, shoving them away from one another.

“For the record, I can’t stand either of you. We have to work together to save all those ponies, so that means you two need to stop bickering like an elderly couple,” Lightning said, “We should probably get away from the water, too, and find somewhere to make camp. From now on, you two do as I say, got it?”

“Why are you the one calling the shots?” Rocket laughed, “How many times has that team of yours broken up again? Some captain you turned out to be, Dusty. The only place you’ll lead us to is an early grave. I know you get off playing ding-dong-ditch on death’s doorstep, but I’ve got to take care of myself.”

“That’s all you’ve ever done,” Lightning snapped, “Go on, see how far you get without me holding your hoof like always, Rocket.”

“We wouldn’t be here if you had listened to Spike’s orders and stayed put on Messara,” Dire reminded.

“Oh, don’t start, Dire, y’know you really oughta-” Lighting began, before she froze, when she felt the first drop of some sticky liquid splash onto her forehead. She reached for the slime, grimacing as she retrieved a string of sticky green goop. She felt her heart skip a beat, as her head began tilting back. She glanced up just in time for another drop to land right in her eyes, though she had gotten enough of a glimpse to know to start screaming. The creature’s gaping maw was hovering right above her, hanging from the trees, drooling liters of thick green mucus all over Lightning’s shoulders and face. Before she could take flight, the worm released its grip on the tree branches above, colliding down towards the log Lightning was standing on. Its mouth enveloped Lightning’s entire head, landing with a wet smack, silencing her before her scream could reach the others’ ears.

Scootaloo shrieked, as the worm’s body fell down over the log and into the creek below, wrapping around the base of the log to steady itself.

“Lightning!” Scootaloo yelled; the worm was already down to Lightning’s neck. Lightning flailed her wings and legs, screaming bloody murder as she helplessly struggled against the worm’s strength.

“Lightning, hold on, I’ll-” Dire attempted, leaping toward the log to rush over to help.
He did not make it far, before the worm whipped its tail around to smack him across the face.

He fell into the creek below with a splash, and stood above the four-foot depth.

In the corner of her eye she saw more movement in the creek - something no larger than her hoof, but quick, and green like the color of the water. Whatever it was, it was quick, propelling itself out of the water with open jaws, aiming itself straight for Dire’s snout. But Dire was quicker, swatting the bite-acuda with her hoof, sending it flying over to Rocket. The fish landed right on Rocket’s foreleg, chomping down on his flesh. Rocket growled in pain, while Dire turned his attention down to the creek, which began to churn with more and more ravenous fish.

Above him, the worm had looped itself around the log some more, strengthening its grip as it began to lift up into the air, using gravity to help ingest Lightning’s squirming form.

Lightning glanced up through the tunnel of the worm’s gut, which was a spasming pink blotchy hell. She used her forelegs to try and grab and tear at the beast, though the creature wouldn’t budge. The worm shook Lightning back and forth, disorienting her. All Lightning could see was the slimy red walls of the worm’s body, covered in grey sores and green growths. She was drenched in its vile mucus, which made it easier for her to slip down into the creature’s stomach.

Dire, meanwhile, was dodging more of the bite-acuda that came leaping out from the river. Ferocious little beasts, they had scales of green and pairs of miniature dragon wings, and of course full rows of knife-like teeth. They came in bursts at first, before they began to surround him, swarming together and turning the river into a frantic frenzy of foam. Dire fired his horn and kicked them away, all while wincing and yelling in pain with each bite and scratch. His armor was riddled with bite marks.

Rocket, meanwhile, was trying his best to pull the bite-acuda off his leg. The little beast’s bite was so deep he thought he’d lose an entire chunk of flesh if he wasn’t careful. But the fish refused to let go, even as Rocket began smashing it with a rock he found nearby in the grass.

Dire tried to continue making his way toward Lightning, who was still squirming as the worm stretched its mouth over her wide hips. The worm yanked up at her body, preventing her from sliding down out of its mouth. The worm spasmed again, reaching to her hind knees as she continued kicking futilely. Even as Lightning kicked and fought, the worm showed no mercy, engulfing her all the way down to her hind ankles. It spat up more and more of its mucus, lathering up her body. The warmth of the flesh was disgusting, and the smell was even worse. Lightning gritted her teeth as the pressure overcame her. Get this f*cking thing off me!

The worm raised her body up horizontally, before slurping up the remaining portion of her wiggling hooves, slamming its mouth closed around her body, now fully consumed. Lightning squirmed inside, the flesh unbearably tight. She screamed, louder than she ever had before, as she encountered true terror, the threat of no escape.

“Lightning!” Dire yelled again, horrified to find that Lightning had disappeared completely up the worm’s gut.

The river had turned red as the bite-acuda ravaged Dire Strait, who was still struggling to reach the opposite shore. He had begun to stumble and stagger in the water, as more of the bite-acuda found vulnerable spots in his armor, flaying him alive as he desperately trudged on towards the log.

He had lost so much blood he thought he might have fainted right into the river. But before he could, the bite-acuda suddenly began to retreat back upstream. Above, the worm began to groan and grumble, and its body began to convulse upon itself. Before Dire could register what the creature was doing, he watched as Lightning emerged from its maw in a huge splash of green slime, landing in the creek, gasping for breath. The worm’s breath was ragged after vomiting up its lunch, and it scurried away back into the brush. The light behind them began to wither away, just as Lightning sat up to spit out all the stomach acid she had been forced to ingest, and rub at her eyes, which stung like mad.

Rocket, who had smashed the fish on his leg into pulp, rushed to Lightning’s side, along with Scootaloo, who had been cowering behind a rock the whole while, having worked up the courage to help just as the wildlife had all fled.

“You’re alive!” Dire exclaimed, holding up Lightning and helping her to breathe better.

“....If….you ever….say a word about that to anypony, I’ll-....” Lightning warned, before she followed Dire’s gaze up back down the creek, in the direction of the sea.

Dire practically dropped Lightning into the creek, before rising to her hooves and readying himself for another confrontation.

Rocket noticed the water begin to ripple further ahead where the creek was deeper, and he quickly grabbed Scootaloo and stuck her on his back.

Lightning recognized that shadow from ahead, and glanced at Dire, who stood where he was. Lightning shook her head in disbelief. He was the bravest pony she knew. That, or the dumbest. They often coincided, she thought.

“Out of the water,” Lightning said, grunting as she pulled herself to her hooves, “Dire! C’mon.”

Lightning dragged Dire by his hoof back to shore.

Rocket rushed over to embrace Lightning as soon as they reached each other. Scootaloo glanced up at the sky, awkwardly, still sitting on Rocket’s back.

Dire joined them, gasping for breath as she struggled out from the water.

“We need to go now,” Lightning advised.

The ripples in the water grew in strength ahead, and Scootaloo’s eyes widened, as she caught sight of some beastly tendrils poking out from the river.

“It can’t follow us in water this shallow,” Dire said.

“Apparently it can,” Lightning said, “Rainbow might have looked for a freshwater river too. We should follow it, but keep away from the shore, or else that thing will grab you.”

“Yes ma’am,” Scootaloo replied, too terrified to do anything but obey.

Rocket sighed.

“Alright, we’ll do it your way. Oh, and by the way, I’m charging you triple what we agreed to.”

“Don’t get ahead of yourself” Lightning said, “If we don’t find the others soon and get off this island, you won’t be around to spend it.”

Rainbow Dash returned to the feast to find Gump chatting with Nimbla the mouse, who was in the middle of instructing him on some advanced fencing techniques.

“Miss pegasus,” Nimbla said, bowing when Rainbow arrived, “Master Caligo has taken a liking to you. This is a rare thing, you must know. He has never been fond of ponies.”

“I’m grateful for your hospitality,” Rainbow said. Nimbla smiled and left her with Gump, who downed his third cup of wine.

“Be careful here,” Gump advised, “All the creatures of the island are wary of Caligo. It is said that the hermit was driven mad after staring into the sun too long. Or was it gazing into a cracked seeing stone? I cannot remember. The point is, he’s completely insane.”

“Completely insane to you and your little horned friends might just mean totally normal to me,” Rainbow hoped.

Gump grumbled something under his breath.

Rainbow sat beside Caligo near his seat at the head of the dinner table, for the concluding course of the feast.

“Tell me, pegasus, why did you come to Pandemonium?” Caligo asked.

“In peace,” Rainbow replied.

“I said why, not how,” Caligo replied, “...You said you were not alone. Altogether, how many ponies came with you?”

“Enough,” Rainbow said, curtly.

“And you say you are no threat to us,” Caligo said, “You say you washed up here purely by chance.”

“If you were telling the truth about that curse, then it was bad luck that brought us here, not just chance,” Rainbow said.

“You are more correct than you know, Rainbow Dash,” he growled, “Yes, I know who you are. I am not so easily tricked, pegasus. Know that those who come to me in deceit will remain in death.”

Rainbow’s eyes widened, and she felt her grip on the chalice go limp.

“I know you’ve come for your friends,” Caligo said, “And I know too that if you cannot save them by bargaining, then you plan to steal them. But the Queen will never part with them, pegasus.”

Caligo glared at Zuki, before rising up from his seat, taking a few steps forward into the hall.

“We can no longer welcome or entertain you,” he roared, loud enough to silence the entire hall, “Bear witness! The Element of Loyalty. The final part of the Queen’s plan.”

Chaos filled the keep then; creatures were jumping to their hooves, drawing weapons and yelling all at once.

Rainbow planted herself in front of Gump, who felt his teeth chattering in terror.

“She’s supposed to be dead,” came Twitch.

“No matter. She will be soon,” barked Nimbla the little mouse.

“Put away your blades,” Caligo spat, “She is mine to deal with.”

“You’re going to turn me in?” Rainbow asked, gulping.

Caligo’s eyes darted back and forth, and his wrath began to weaken.

“No,” Caligo said, “...I have foreseen what fate should befall us if the Queen successfully breaks the spell. Arcturus spared no expense in exacting his twisted justice. Even if his spell is ever broken, then the island will sink into the sea, along with all its inhabitants. Tens of thousands of creatures will die, all in a vain attempt at defying fate. If the Queen captures you, she will kill you and all your friends, along with all of the monsters that call this island their home. If she wins, everyone loses. I will not let that happen.”

Rainbow smiled, relieved, until she noticed the fury in Caligo’s eyes.

“My friends, where is she keeping them all?” Rainbow asked.

“In the Citadel, I expect, at the center of the island,” Caligo said, “To get there, you would have to travel through the mountains, and then the Haunted Forest, and finally through the City of Dis. Perhaps your companions will find the way there, but you will not join them.”

Rainbow shifted her footing, uneasily.

“Why not?” Rainbow asked, hesitantly.

Caligo sighed.

“Each and every pony that washes up on this island always meets the same fate. I have seen it again and again. They come. They stay here in my hall. They leave to go scour the island for treasure, for glory, for escape. Then they die.”

“I can’t just stay here and do nothing while my friends are in trouble,” Rainbow said, glancing at Gump, who began putting space between her and Caligo, who set his mug of rum down on the table.

“Listen to me, little pony,” Caligo growled, “If you leave this place, they…Nyx will kill you. I am protecting you, don’t you understand? You cannot defeat her, and once she has you….everything and everyone will be lost. As long as you stay here where it’s safe, Nyx can’t complete the ritual. Now, go back to your chambers. I will not ask again.”

“You can’t keep me here as a prisoner,” Rainbow said.

“We are all prisoners here,” Caligo growled, rising to his hooves, “Soon the way will be shut. Do not stand in my way, little pony. This is your final warning.”

Rainbow glanced at Gump, who was quivering in the dark. Rainbow glanced back at Caligo with a furrowed brow.

“If you go out there, you will be the death of us. All of us. Pony and monster alike,” Caligo said.

“Only if I lose,” Rainbow said.

Caligo seemed distraught at Rainbow’s decision, and he set his cloak down on the table. He revealed a pair of great huge red wings that batted a gust of wind down upon them.

“You want to leave so badly?” he asked, drunkenly slurring his words, “You are just like all the others. I am saving your life, and your friends’ lives, but like all the ponies your hubris and your stubbornness has taken your better. You think you have what it takes to survive the island? Prove it then, Rainbow Dash.”

She glimpsed the flash of light before the air was set on fire, and that flaming fist of red magic came darting across the dinner table.

Rainbow took flight just in time to launch herself up into the air; the fires singed her feathers, as she looped around in the air and landed down on the tablecloth. She kicked one of the dinner plates up in the air, catching it with her wing and spinning around to toss it straight towards Caligo’s face.

Caligo’s horn glowed brighter, and the plate burst into a frenzy of porcelain pieces, most of which landed in the Talking Flowers’ pot.

Another torrent of red magic erupted from his horn before Rainbow had a chance to fling anything else. She tumbled off the table onto the ground, and heard the impact of the blast create a crater in the brick behind her. One of the tapestries had fallen off its golden rail.

“It’s just like you said, he’s out of practice,” sighed Twitch.

“Fool. He’s drunk,” Nimbla snapped.

Rainbow glanced away from the bickering pair and saw the mouse might have been correct; Caligo could hardly keep himself upright after that last blast, teetering away from the table with a deep grunt.

“We don’t have to fight,” Rainbow said, “I just want my friends back.”

“Your friends are dead already,” Caligo growled, “I see you’re eager to join them.”

Rainbow caught her breath, before she had to dodge another blast of fire that shattered a marble bust behind her near the fireplace.

The pain in her chest had returned, she realized. She almost lost her balance as her knees had begun to weaken, and no matter how many deep breaths she took she was still straining for air. He’s faster than I thought.

Caligo’s horn sliced through a painting hung up on the wall, its remains toppling down onto the carpet of the library nook.

“Sloppily done, Master Caligo,” complained Twitch.

“Quiet, rabbit,” grumbled Caligo, who was staggering towards where Rainbow had retreated to, back around the dinner table near where Gump was cowering.

“I know a way out,” Rainbow said, “I’m taking you with me.”

“The sun’s about to set,” Gump reminded, “We can’t go out there, the j-j-jungle, it’s a d-d-death trap.”

“I don’t know if you noticed, but I think we’ve worn out our welcome. So are you coming or not?”

Rainbow saw the shadow of the table slip away before she could turn to see the entire dinner table was hovering in the air. Caligo stood on the opposite side, a grizzly silhouette against the fireplace. His horn glowed red like his eyes did, and his cloak was billowing in the stormwind that had crept in from outside.

“If you insist,” Gump squeaked.

Rainbow picked up Gump and took flight just as the dinner table came crashing back down towards them. The table split into a splintery barrage of wood, silverware, and torn tablecloth, after an ear-splitting crash that sent most of the creatures in the hall running for cover. Only the brave little mouse Nimbla remained as she was, hopping along after Rainbow with her sword stuck between her teeth.

“Don’t let them escape!” Nimbla exclaimed, pursuing Rainbow and Gump out through the dining hall into one of the adjacent corridors.

Caligo sighed in exhaustion, as his horn began to dim. His face darkened after catching wind of Zuki’s chuckling.

“She’s quick for a pony,” Zuki admitted.

“She’ll be dead all the same,” Caligo retorted, before storming off towards where the others had disappeared.

While Gump was screaming his lungs out in her arms, Rainbow darted across the labyrinth of Chaos Keep, desperately searching for a familiar cavern.

She eventually located the cavern, and sprinted towards the secret library passage that snuck behind the wall of the rock.

“We’re dead. We’re dead!” Gump screeched.

“Not yet,” Rainbow assured, carrying him through the dark tunnel and out into the larger cavern, where the underground river rushed along below.

Gump’s eyes widened at the sight below.

“A submersible!” Gump exclaimed.

“Can you pilot it?” Rainbow asked, “Please say yes.”

Gump was sweating buckets.

“Gump!”

“Gump can try,” Gump said, gulping.

“Get in there and get it going, hurry! I’ll hold them off,” Rainbow said, practically shoving Gump down the dirt path that led below to the dock.

Just as she turned her head, he was upon her.

She felt the ground give out from beneath her, slipping backwards with her hooves up in the air. She landed right on her right wing, with an excruciating crunch.

Shrieking in pain, Rainbow had no time to inspect her newest injury before tumbling over to her stomach to dodge the next strike.

She scrambled up to her hooves, wiping the blood from her nose, as Caligo studied her from a few yards away.

“You have courage, pegasus,” Caligo acknowledged, “Tell me, did you really come here to save all those ponies? … Or was this effort all to prove something to yourself? That you’re some kind of hero? Is that it?”

Caligo’s laughter unsettled her, as she took a step backwards towards the edge of the cliff. Below,s he could hear Gump had swung open the hatch to the ship, scrambling inside to find the co*ckpit.

“You are no hero. You’re weak,” Caligo growled, “Just like all the ponies. It was treachery and deception that trapped us here, not strength, not courage.”

“I don’t want to hurt any creature,” Rainbow said, through rasped breaths, “It was your Queen who started this, by ponynapping all my friends.”

“They are beyond your reach. All you will accomplish by going is giving the Queen exactly what she wants,” Caligo spat.

“I’m not afraid,” Rainbow insisted.

“You should be. The Queen will stop at nothing to catch you once she discovers you’re here. She will send every monster she has at her disposal,” Caligo said, “You think you can withstand her? I should put you out of your misery right now. It would be a kinder end than what the Queen has planned for you.”

Rainbow dug her hooves into the dirt.

“Come and try it,” Rainbow warned.

Caligo’s eyes seemed to glow brighter, and he rushed towards her.

But Rainbow was quicker, darting down low to trip him by his forelegs. In the same motion, she snagged a rock with her left wing and swung back around, clocking Caligo in the back of his skull.

Thrown off balance, Caligo spun around to blast Rainbow through the head. Rainbow launched herself backwards off the edge of the cliff, catching the edge of the blast right against her cheek, scalding her flesh bright pink.

Below, Rainbow glided down to the ship, landing against the black steel with a smack.

She glanced back up, expecting him to follow after her, but he remained where she was.

Rainbow forced herself up to her hooves.

“Gump! Anytime now!”

“I’m….trying!” Gump replied; she watched him fiddling with the control below in the glass of the co*ckpit. She heard the engine come alive not long after, and glanced back up at Caligo up on the cliff.

Rainbow almost fell off the slick edge of the submersible, when out of the corner of her eye she realized Zuki had appeared beside her.

“He will not follow,” Zuki assured, “He fears the jungle. Though I would not dawdle. If you get him irate enough there is nothing that can stop him.”

“Peril awaits you, pegasus,” Caligo said. “This island will be the death of you, when all manner of monsters rouses with the setting sun.”

“I never said thanks for dinner,” Rainbow smirked, “I’d say it’s been lovely, but…”

“You must stop her,” Caligo gasped, “Nyx. You must stop Nyx, before she claims your soul and completes the ritual. It’s your soul she needs, your blood. All of us will die if she succeeds. And should any monsters survive, your friends in Equestria will never know peace again. But…. please, do not think of her as so wicked. There is good in her. There is good in her. I know it.”

Rainbow darted back down into the submersible hatch, and found Gump in the co*ckpit.

“You did it!” Rainbow exclaimed.

“Must hurry,” Gump said, “Bad to be in water. Never the water…”

“That could’ve gone better,” came Zuki, who had appeared behind Rainbow abruptly.

“You told him who I was!” Rainbow yelled, enraged.

“I did no such thing. He could sense your thoughts, I expect,” Zuki said, “You are bolder than I anticipated, Rainbow Dash. You amuse me, as well, so I will help you. But only three times. Simply say my name and make your request, and I will offer you guidance.”

“Why should I trust you?” Rainbow demanded.

Zuki giggled.

“You will not find many friends on this island, my dear. Use me, I beg you, and you might prevail where countless others have not,” Zuki said.

“We’ll see,” Rainbow said, skeptically. Zuki smirked, and disappeared in a cloud of pink smoke, leaving Rainbow to watch Gump struggle with the steering. Rainbow crouched down beside him, peering out the co*ckpit window as the ship began to submerge underwater.

“Let's get the hell out of here."

To Rainbow Dash’s right lay the vast swamp that penetrated the jungle - a region where land and water blurred into each other, where snakes swam in the pools and fish crawled along the banks, where the very arrangement of channels and wooded islands would, like a diabolically animate maze, change. This land was unnavigable, Rainbow thought, if anypony were to try.

Gump had advised they ditch the submersible as quickly as possible. He seemed terrified of water, a phobia of which Rainbow found bizarre, yet she acquiesced to his demands. He knew this island better than she ever could, she reminded herself. They left the ship in the river once Gump thought they were suitably far enough from Chaos Keep.

Aside from Caligo’s castle, she had encountered no other signs of intelligent life. The jungle was just as Gump said, an unruly, savage place, where only the strongest and the smartest could endure for long. The still air became stagnant like still water, so miasmally thick that large, crawling insects could manage the otherwise-impossible task of flight. Deeper in the marsh she saw emissions of phosphorescence that lifted beyond the wispy surface of the fog and bounced about cypress branches and dangling masses of moss, and then, just as slowly, returned to the river, where the glow turned too nebulous and faded away.

“Keep up,” Rainbow chided, noticing Gump beginning to lag behind.

“Not all of us are professional athletes,” Gump growled between gasps for breath, “We shouldn’t be down here, anyway. This is a bad way to go.”

“How’s that?” Rainbow asked.

“Mustn’t go near the water!” Gump hissed, pointing at the swamp and the creekbed nearby, “Never in the water. Creatures are drawn to it - creatures that would be glad to make a meal out of you. Cragadiles…spitslugs….eels…No shortage of wicked things dwell in the woods. It’d be smart to turn back, pegasus.”

“The others might have gathered near a river, to have access to water,” Rainbow said, “Don’t drag your hooves. We’re not stopping until we find Scootaloo and the others.”

“Of course. What do I know? It’s not like I’ve lived on this rock my entire life,” Gump mumbled.

The first wild creatures they came upon were a pair of giant birds, as large as a full-grown pony, each with purple feathers, long ostrich-like legs, and a crest atop their heads.

“They look friendly. They are friendly…right?” Rainbow asked.

“As friendly as things get around here,” Gump said, putting Rainbow at ease, “They’re anzu birds. We use them as beasts of burden. Powerful beasts. Ugly to look at, though.”

“Aw, don’t say that. They’re actually kind of cute, sort of,” Rainbow said, admiring the squawking beasts as they grazed on ground-bound seeds and slurped up mouthfuls of puddle water, “Fluttershy would love this.”

“Flutter-shy … the element of kindness?” Gump recalled from his pre-mission prep, “...Er, tell me, pegasus, what is this kindness?”

Rainbow laughed and glanced at him, while Gump’s frown hardened.

“Oh, you’re serious?” Rainbow said, “Um, kindness. It’s like, y’know, being nice to creatures. Being there for your friends, through thick and thin.”

Gump rubbed his chin.

“What if the creature is a rank below me? I owe them nothing,” Gump said, confused.

“It’s just a general thing, like treating every creature with basic respect and politeness. You could learn a thing or two about that, Gump,” Rainbow said.

Gump spat at the ground.

“Friendship is the way of the ponies,” Gump scowled, spitting at the ground again, “Here, a creature only gets what he earns. He is given nothing, and no one owes anyone else a thing. That’s our way.”

“No wonder you’re so miserable,” Rainbow said.

“Wha-? I am not - …. Listen to me, idiot pegasus,” Gump growled, “You’ll never find your foolish friends. If they were lucky they drowned. Otherwise they’ve been ground to bloody bits, rotting in the belly of some monster. You’ll end up the same, no doubt about that.”

“You’d think surviving that crash would have made you a bit more optimistic, Gump.”

Rainbow felt her heart skip a beat, turning to find Lightning Dust standing on the ridge above them. And she was not alone - Rocket and Dire were with her, and….Scootaloo!

“Scootaloo!” Rainbow exclaimed, darting up to reunite with the squealing filly.

Scootaloo wrapped her forelegs tightly around Rainbow, who was laughing in relief.

“Looks like you’ve had a rough time all on your own,” Lightning smirked.

“Speak for yourself. You’ve got slime in your mane,” Rainbow said, bluntly.

“I do?” Lightning said, her smirk falling off her face as she felt around her mane for any of the worm’s residue.

Storms were gathering overhead, and the air was warm and humid. Rainfall was imminent, as the sun finally slipped out of the sky, and faint glimmers of faraway stars began to shimmer in the sky.

Lightning led Rainbow and Gump to the cave her group had found earlier, where a fire had been left to ward off any predators. Rocket and Dire had already spent an hour or two inspecting the caverns inside, and found no sign of life, sentient or not.

They had found evidence of former occupants, however. A firepit in the dirt, some maps carved into the rock, and dusty bags of supplies. And, strangest of all, a guitarrita, still intact, left near the stones of the pit.

Lightning shared her bounty of berries and leaves with Rainbow, who insisted that they save the food for themselves, as she was still full after Caligo’s feast. The six of them sat around the fire, anxiously, as the sounds of shrieking beasts and crooning creatures in the wilderness beyond kept them alert.

Rocket plucked at the guitarrita, serenading Lightning who pretended not to enjoy it. He actually knew how to play, to some extent.

“Just don’t start singing,” Lightning warned.

“I was not planning on it,” Rocket laughed.

They had locked eyes for a few moments, and Lightning quickly turned away, curling herself up by the fire.

“...I’m sorry I called you a lousy captain,” Rocket said, his smile fading Lightning eyed him, and sat up a bit, as Rocket continued. “I didn’t mean it. I shouldn’t have said that.”

“I’m sorry too,” Lightning said, “The truth is…I’m glad you….Y’know…That you’re here with me.”

“I thought you didn’t need any help,” Rocket said.

“I don’t,” Lightning insisted, “But I’m glad to have it.”

Rocket smiled.

“Well, that’s something,” he said, resuming his strumming.

Rainbow sat herself down beside Lightning, who pulled herself away from staring at Rocket.

“It’s good to see you in one piece,” Rainbow said, glancing over at Lightning.

“Yeah, you too,” Lightning said, begrudgingly, “Any sign of the others?”

“I know where they are,” Rainbow replied, “But even if we do find them, we’ve got bigger problems.”

Rainbow took the time to inform them all of what she had learned from Caligo, of the curse and the Queen and the perils ahead.

“So that’s it? We’re trapped here forever?” Scootaloo asked.

“Unless we break the spell for good,” Rainbow said.

“And by doing so, release all these monsters out into the world?” Dire said, “We’d be bringing about the doom of Equestria!”

“There’s got to be a way to save our friends and get off the island,” Rainbow said.

“One problem at a time,” Lightning said, “How do we get to where they’ve stowed away everypony?”

“Into the mountains,” Rainbow said, recalling what Caligo had told her, “There might be creatures there who could help us, too.”

“Foolish pegasus,” chimed in Gump, “No island-dweller would ever betray the Queen.”

“Only because they live in fear,” Rainbow said, “Once we show them there’s another way, they might be willing to lend us a hoof.”

“Please, tell us of this other way you speak of,” Gump laughed.

“I don’t know, but I know that the Queen’s way isn’t right,” Rainbow said, “Even if it does work, hundreds of ponies will have been murdered to make it happen. Nothing could be worth that. We’ll do what we can. Together.”

Lightning winced at the utterance of together, but nodded her head, reluctantly on board.

“My orders were to -” Dire began.

“Forget about your orders,” Lightning said, “Are you with us or not?”

Dire glanced at Rocket, who was smiling with his eyes closed, picking at his instrument. Dire frowned.

“Well, I’m surely not going to leave you to roam this island with him,” Dire said.

Rocket laughed, but gave no reply. He seemed to be lost in another world then, and the only time he would look away from his music was to steal a glance from Lightning.

Rainbow Dash glanced over at the entrance of the cave as Scootaloo crawled over to rest her head on Rainbow’s shoulder.

Rainbow saw the snowy peaks of the mountains beyond. She took a great deep breath and narrowed her eyes. They would find them, she told herself, they would make this right. No matter what.