"Miss Miseria?"

"Hmm?"

"Why do you look so sad all the time?"

I look down at the little colt. Head full of questions, eyes reflecting my own despair. Consider lying to him, telling him about exhaustion, day to day workings of running a home for orphaned foals. Small part of bigger picture, ignoring bigger misfortune I'm doomed to live with. I stay silent. Colt still staring up at me. Wish he'd just go and play. Thinking on it, I realize he shouldn't even be here.

"I thought you had lessons with Clover the Clever today, little one," I say, unconvincingly dodging the question with my own. "What are you doing here?"

Colt looks even more disappointed. Find myself wanting to send him away, but then he responds.

"Archmage Clover sent me home," Colt says. "She wanted to spend more time with her old mentor."

Starswirl the Bearded. Former Archmage. Retired. Got old way too fast for his own good.

"Why don't you go play with the others, okay?" I say to the colt.

The colt looks upset at this. Wants to talk about my problems. Adorable, almost heartwarming for a foal that age to worry. Not his problems though. He'll grow up and find someone special. Someone who he can have his own foals with. He's lucky. He's not broken. He's not me. My problems, not his.

He hesitates, but obeys my request to go be with the other children. My Children. No, not my children. Care for, but not mine. Too broken, too alone, to have my own.

Stallion enters, led by one of my employees. Says he's here to see me. I look over him, wears a black cloak and a mask shaped like a butterfly. Says he has a gift for me. Liar. Not a gift, it's a curse. I hate him, or I will hate him. Wished he'd gone away. Wished he'd never come back. Wished I'd never accepted his gift.

~~~~~

Andraste's sword cleaved through the half dozen tentacles of darkness that had Ekchuah in their grasp, separating the spear wielding Persona away from the Beast and bringing Wayfarer back to his senses.

"What the hay?" Wayfarer murmured after a few moments of rapid eye blinking.

The initial charge hadn't gone too well. Tyche and Laetitia had electrocuted and shot the Beast's arms, causing them to flinch back and gave Ekchuah and Andraste a chance to strike at its chest. Their blow had caused the Beast some pain, but it had also almost gotten them stuck as they strained to pull their weapons out of the liquid skin. They managed to get free just as the Beast's hands reached down to grab at them, but as they dodged around to attack its side, tendrils had burst out of its skin, shooting outwards and ensnaring Ekchuah. Some sort of energy surged out from the Beast and caused Ekchuah to start spasming. Wayfarer had suddenly found himself unable to move as his vision dimmed and his eyes glazed over. Flashes of places and ponies he didn't know were injected into his mind, and what felt like minutes turned out to be a very brief yet painful five seconds.

"Wayfarer!" Rainbow Dash shouted as he held his head, trying to make sense of what had just happened. "You alright?"

"I'm fine!" He shouted back, whilst commanding Ekchuah to put some distance between himself and those tendrils. "Just don't let it touch you!"

"No arguments there!"

The Beast raised its left hand and everyone braced for it to drop and try to claw at them again. However, instead of making a downward swipe at them, the entire arm started to crackle with electricity. Twilight, realizing what was about to happen, placed Tyche in front of them just as a bolt of lightning arched right at them. Tyche's arms rose up, and rebounded the arc away, then wound up and tossed her chakram through the air. The bladed wheel spun about until it sliced clean through the wrist of the beast's raised arm. The Beast howled in pain and the arm fell to the ground.

"Wayfarer! Rainbow Dash!" Celestia yelled as beams of light radiated out of Gnowee's staff and marked several key spots along the fallen limb. "Attack here!"

"Right!" The two of them yelled.

Andraste and Ekchuah, criss crossing over the arm as they dashed past each other, sliced over the spots that Gnowee was indicating. The arm exploded apart at the wrist, elbow, and upper arm, then the rest of it simply melted away, back into the pit.

"Yippee!" Pinkie shouted, bouncing up and down a few times in celebration. Then the Beast's shoulder grew dozens of tendrils that began reforming its lost arm. "Aww, rats."

Laetitia brought her crossbow up and started firing at the stump of regrowing arm, Bolts of fire and steel tore through the black flesh to no avail as the tendrils wove together. Ekchuah tried firing wind spells at the other arm, either to make it drop so he and Andraste could repeat the process, or at the very least distract the Beast from the process of regenerating. Unfortunately, the Beast seemed to pay no heed to his efforts as the wind sheared off and the regrowing arm made it all the way to the elbow before he gave up.

"Ughh! This isn't working!" Wayfarer groaned loudly. "Change!"

Principality, the angle-like Persona that wore a blue and green toga and carried a staff, took Ekchuah's place. Raising its staff into the air, Principality prepared an attack. A circlet of light appeared under the beast's left arm, and then three massive spell sheets rose up to surround it. Principality slammed its staff down, signaling the spell to activate. At first, it seemed to work, the tags exploded and a beam of intense light seared through the Beast's arm. However, when Wayfarer changed his Persona back to Ekchuah, and he and Andraste went to go and slice off that arm as well, the now healed right arm swung about and collided with both Personas, sending them flying into the cave wall. Wayfarer and Rainbow Dash nearly collapsed to the ground as the pain transferred to them, but they rose up and stood their ground, commanding their Personas to do the same.

Celestia, now sweating slightly as their efforts were thwarted, turned to Gnowee. Gnowee’s staff once more radiated light over the Beast's form, like a searchlight, trying to find some sort of weak spot. But there was nothing, no elemental forces it was weak to, and no areas they could attack that would send the whole thing back into the crevasse.

"Celestia," Twilight whimpered as the two turned to look at each other. "Please tell me you have a plan or something?"

"I- I don't know!" Celestia said, Gnowee's searchlight darting all over the place. "We don't have the strength or numbers to force it back ourselves, even in its weakened state! And we don't have the Elements to--" Celestia froze, she looked past the Beast and saw that the Elements were still suspended in front of the Tree of Harmony, kept from returning by the Beast's tendrils. Celestia smiled as a glimmer of hope rekindled in her eyes. "Or maybe we do."

"Celestia?"

"The Elements!" Celestia shouted at the other four. "Destroy the strands of darkness keeping them out of the tree! If I'm right, the Elements can still revitalize the Tree of Harmony, the curse will reassert itself and drag the Beast back into the earth!"

With a plan that only sounded half crazy, the four nodded and set their Personas up in a formation akin to their initial attack. Laetitia and Tyche shot fire and lightning low at the Beast's sides, causing it to double over and keep its arms low. Andraste and Ekchuah ran forward and leapt as high as they could, kicking off the walls and ceiling and landing right behind the beast. Andraste leapt at the Element of Loyalty, swinging her massive sword around and repeatedly slicing up the tendril holding it back. The tendril fought back, trying to twist about and entangle the assaulting swordswoman. But Andraste was too quick, and after much of the coiling limb was cut away, she stabbed her sword into the socket. Pulling away from the tree branch, the Element was finally able to settle inside and, with a flash of light, returned its portion of the tree to its original blue colouration.

Ekchuah had followed suit, spinning his spear around like a pinwheel as he jumped directly into the tendril. The spear shredded the tendril apart, pieces flying every which way before disintegrating. The Element of Honesty then found its place in the tree, erasing more of the darkness that had afflicted it.

The Beast, realizing what was happening, roared out and attempted to turn about and attack Andraste and Ekchuah. The two Personas leapt away from the Beast's flailing arms and tendrils. The Beast followed the two around the cave, shooting its tendrils out at them as they ran across the walls,barely missing them and embedding deep into the rock. Meanwhile, Laetitia and Tyche ducked under the Beast's arms, leapt over the crevasse, and picked up where the other two had left off.

Latitia wasted no time bringing her crossbow to bear and unleashing a torrent of flame on the tendril holding onto the Element of Laughter. The coil could put up no sort of resistance as Latitia grabbed the Element and slam-dunked it right through the ashen remains of the tendril and into the branch. Tyche didn't even bother with preparing any sort of attack before jumping to the branch and grabbing the tendril, sending thousands of volts into it. The cord was atomized almost instantly, and the Element of Generosity was free to reattach itself to the tree.

With four Elements secured, the Beast began to thrash about even more violently than before, putting everyone in danger despite Luna's best efforts to keep the noncombatants safe and those on the front line doing all they could to dodge and focus on controlling their Persona's at the same time. Rainbow Dash commanded Andraste back to their side. Andraste dropped her sword and pulled out her mirror-like shield which formed a barrier between everyone and the Beast.

Ekchuah, darting in between tendrils, giant arms, and falling rocks, returned to the tree. Just as he was jumping over the crevasse, more tentacles of darkness shot up from the depths to try and grab him. Before they could do so however, a gout of flame, courtesy of Latitia, burned through all of them. Latitia continued to use her crossbow flamethrower to incinerate any more tendrils that came near, giving Ekchuah and Tyche a chance to finish the job.

Ekchuah unleashed a sharpened gale of wind to slice up the cord holding the Element of Kindness, and Tyche tossed her chakram into the final one, freeing her summoner's Element of Magic.

"Go back to Tartarus!" Twilight yelled as the final Elements returned to the tree and the last of the darkness was expunged from it. "And take your despicable masked friends with you!"

The Six Elements, now firmly placed in the center of the tree, began radiating an intense light. The beast started howling out in rage as the light spread to the rest of the tree and then into the ground. Tendrils of light instead of darkness rose up from the crevasse, grabbing hold of the beast and wrapping around it like chains. The beast struggled against its binds, but could do nothing more than scream as it was slowly pulled back down into the abyss.

With one last quake of the earth, the crevasse began to close, the last howls of the Beast fading into echoes, until finally, with a resounding crunch, the breach was sealed. A few more rocks tumbled from the walls and ceiling, but soon the cavern was silent and still. The light began to retract back into the tree, leaving no evidence of the crevasse in its wake. Finally all that was left in the cave was a stunned silent group of ponies, and the healthy glow of the Tree of Harmony.

Rainbow Dash was the first to break the silence, she jumped into the air and began whooping and hollering in excitement.

"Whooo! Yeah! That was amazing! Did you see the way Andraste just went whoosh! Shwooo! Swinging her sword around like that! And then Latitia with her flamethrower crossbow! And they were running on walls and dodging those weird tentacle things and AHHH! HAHAHA!!"

Pinkie Pie started laughing uproariously alongside Dash, bouncing up to the Pegasus and giving her repeated hoof bumps.

"That was the most spectacular thing I've ever seen!" Spike yelled out as he, Luna, and the others joined the Persona users.

"You did it!" Applejack cried, tackle hugging Twilight with tears in her eyes. "Ah told yall we wouldn't have anything to worry about!"

Fluttershy, in a rare display of unabashed excitement, joined Rainbow Dash in the air and grabbed hold of her hooves. The two giggled and laughed as she spun the both of them around, before Pinkie leapt up and wedged herself between them, dragging them back to earth and landing in a pile of laughter and tears.

Wayfarer was too busy watching everyone else dance about and hug each other to notice Rarity sneak up to his side and take his face in a hoof. Before he could ask what she was doing, she gave a soft kiss on his cheek causing his entire face to light up with a bright red blush.

"Yep," she said, giggling at his reaction. "Definitely knighthood material."

"I second that," Luna said, smirking at Wayfarer before adding. "Of course, we only knight members of the military. We may think about changes, won't we sister?"

"Oh yes, huff," Celestia said with an exhausted smile. "I'd say he's earned some sort of commendation or - oh my, I need a moment."

Celestia fell to her haunches and started taking deep breaths, the sweat on her brow now obvious in the glow of the Tree of Harmony.

Something creaking in the general direction of the tree caught the group's attention. For one heart stopping moment, Wayfarer thought the Beast was ready for round two, but curiosity overtook fear as they saw a large blue flower grew out of the ground just below the tree. With cautious wonder, they approached the flower, just as it was blooming out. Inside the massive blossom was, of all things, a chest, seemingly made of the same material as the Tree of Harmony.

The chest was large and round, big enough in fact that an average adult pony could fit comfortably inside. Around the chest were a number of keyholes, which Luna counted out as she circled the chest.

"One at the top, seven around the middle, and... fourteen under that... Twenty-two in all. Sister, that's-"

"The number of members in the original Arcana," Celestia said.

"What does that mean?" Twilight asked. Celestia didn't respond right away, she took the time to walk around the chest for herself, examining it from every angle before sighing.

"Some magical theorists believe that the magics of the world have a degree of sentience, that magic can think and act on its own during miraculous circumstances. Maybe... this is a gift from the Tree of Harmony, from the Harmonious magic, as a way of thanking us. This is most extraordinary indeed."

"Well," Rainbow Dash said. "What do we do with it?"

"Nothing. We don't have the keys to open it, so there's nothing we can do. But I don't think the Tree of Harmony would give us a mysterious locked chest if it didn't think we could find out the secret to opening it. For now though, I feel we've all had a long enough day as it is. It's high time we returned home."

"What about that big cave in?" Applejack pointed out.

"I've got it," Twilight said with a confident smirk. "Should be easy now that we don't have an eldritch shadow monster breathing down our necks."

~~~~~

'Anger' was not a word that Judgement would use to describe itself right now as it stood at its altar in the cloaked ponies sanctuary. Judgement was angry when the Dark Mother tried to eat Twilight Sparkle on her way to the Tree of Harmony, almost ruining their plans entirely. Now though? Anger was too soft a word. Judgement was incensed, enraged, furious beyond belief. The Dark Mother's impatience was like a self destroying prophecy. Rising up to try and free itself in the fraction of a second when the Tree of Harmony was resetting the curse had torn her apart so thoroughly, that it was a miracle she wasn't dead. But now, she might as well be for how much of a wreck she'd become.

"Almighty idiot," Judgement whispered in cold wrath. "That's what she is."

The doors at the other end of the hall barged open, Emperor and Empress walked in followed closely by Death.

"The vines have disappeared," Emperor reported. "There's no sign that they are or ever were a blight on this earth."

"Death filled us in on what happened at the Tree of Harmony," Empress said."'Hunger' is an awful name to go by if you ask me."

Judgment made a noise that was somewhere between a hiss and a growl. Empress and Emperor flinched back, but Death continued forward until it was a low hanging fog around the base of the alter.

"Do not antagonize me right now! All of our efforts in the last decade are about to go up in smoke! All because that addlepated wretch couldn't be patient enough to stay where she was and let us do the work! No, the fool has to go and tear herself apart only to get shoved back into her bottle! And now, there's no guarantee she'll survive long enough for us to bring her out!"

"Excuse me?!" Emperor said, stepping forward. "How dare you speak of her that way! I do not care how powerful that way! I do not care how powerful you think you are, you are the Dark Mother's servant, same as us!"

Judgement made the same growl again, its eyes visibly glowing from behind its mask. Emperor flinched, but did not move backwards again. Seeing this, Judgement took a moment to compose itself, standing up straight and clearing its throat.

"I am no one's servant," Judgement said. "But you are right, I should not let anger cloud my thoughts and temper my words."

Emperor, seemingly satisfied with this response, returned to Empress' side before he spoke again.

"So what do we do now? Surely this setback is not so damaging that continuing on isn't a fruitless option?"

Judgement remained silent for a moment, lost in its own contemplation. Then it cracked open the large tome that sat upon the altar, flipping to a page around a third of the way through. Judgement stared at the page, carefully thinking through its plan. They couldn't afford any more foul ups, they would need to increase the aggressiveness and frequency of their plots in order to provide enough sustenance for the Dark Mother. However, at the same time, they would need to add a massive jolt of power to make up for the time lost. Sighing, Judgement closed the book.

"Much as I am loath to take a page out of my enemies' play book, I may have to resort to a rather dirty trick used against me in the past." Emperor and Empress looked at each other in confusion before Judgement summoned up a circle of black fire around itself. "Continue on as we have been, as if this day did not happen. I will return before the next new moon, hopefully with good news."

"Wait a minute!" Emperor yelled. "Where are you... going?"

But Judgement was already gone. Away from their sanctuary, away from the Everfree Forest, away from Equestria all together.