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"AAAAAAAAAAAAAHH!" I jolt awake and immediately begin to writhe around in pain. I can feel every port of magic on my body jetting energy out as the lines begin to slowly burn me away. I groan as the agonizingly slow pain fills every part of my being, gradually burning me to nothingness. I flop onto my back as I feel my arms erupt in even more pain. I force myself to look at my hands and wince when I see the lines on them shining brightly.

"Miles." I look over when a soft, quiet voice calls for me. Luna is sitting beside me, tears streaking her cheeks as she watches me closely. We're in some cavern that is filled with gems... familiar gems. I force my eyes shut when another wave of pain washes over me. I toss and turn as the turmoil within me burns away at my wrists.

"L-luna... Luna... it's... it's... I'm sorry." I force myself to say as I pry my eyes open to look at her. My voice is raspy and feels as if it's being grated against sand, but I force myself to say it. She opens her mouth to say something, but stops herself when I curl up from the pain.

"It.... it's okay Miles. It's alright. We'll.... I'll be here, at your side. Do you-"

"N-no, I'm sorry Luna..... GRRR, I-I couldn't resist it.... I.... I wanted-"

"Shh." I close my eyes again and grieve as she smiles down at me, new tears finding their way down her face. "I know. You've been out for a few days, the others told me all about it. Miles, just know that I still love you. I will always love you, no matter how far you fall."

"Luna... Luna I'm scared," I admit as tears force their way out. "I'm scared Luna, I don't want to die! I don't want to leave you! Please! Please, there has to be something, anything.... please, don't let me join the void."

I'm weak. I know this, but now it's being forced into her face and.... I'm weak. What I would give for just another day, hour, minute. I don't want it to end like this, I don't want to leave her alone. Was there truly nothing in all of Terradisia that could help me? Is there no spell that could stop this? Why is this curse being forced upon me? What did I do to deserve this? Did I not lead a good life? Was I not a good man? Why?

"M-Miles. There's still time left, you need to be strong, for me. There's one last place to go before.... before you leave me."

"I can't.... it's too much..." My arms... they hurt so much.

"Please..... for me.... please." I look up to her crying form and begin to push myself up. Every nerve feels as if it's on hot pins and needles, but I groan through the pain until I'm standing. She stifles a few tears as she guides me down a hall. "Do you remember this place Miles?" She asks slowly as I try to walk down the path, using the wall for support.

"SSS; kind of... where are we?"

"The crystal cavern beneath Canterlot, where the changeling’s held you prisoner. What you've been chasing has been here all along Miles. But we need you to open the door-"

"What door?" We come around a bend that takes us to the entrance. All of the girls are here, along with Celestia and Spike. I stop at the mouth of the entrance and swallow hard as I look away from them.

"Miles," Twilight calls out. I close my eyes as I stand there, unable to look at them. "We... we're here to finish our quest."

"Yeah, no stopping until we get to the finish line." Dash says in a weak voice. She's trying not to cry. Trying.

"Come on, we're almost there. It's not even a hop, skip and a jump away." Pinkie adds, somewhat happily. Even her sad voice is happy. I look back up to them and nod as I push away from the wall and stumble towards them. My steps start to become more and more agitated when I feel my feet begin to burn even more.

"*snniff* thank... all of you. For everything. I... I know-"

"Shh." Fluttershy shushes me as she steps forward and offers me Dominus Clavis. In all of the slots are the gems of my friends. They must have removed them from their weapons and put them in themselves. "We're short one... I think Trixie has it on accident."

"Where's my sword?" I ask as I take it in my hands. Twilight walks over and offers it to me, looking me in the eye as I take it from her. I grab the gem in the pommel and pry it from it's restraints, the heat from my magic making wick work of it. I look over the scepter and push the gem into the top most slot, getting it to glow brightly.

At first the gems just glow brightly, but soon the entire thing begins to shake. It soon becomes too much for me to hold, so I let go of it. It hovers in the air for a second before spinning rapidly around. The lights from the gems spin around, forming a perfect circle that fills the whole room with a white light. The gems in the cave begin to shine as well as the ground starts to tremble.

The massive gem taking up most of the room flashes suddenly, blinding us all momentarily. When I feel the light fade away, I open my eyes and discover a bulkhead. It looks like any of the ones from the cities, only this one has three long, even slashes in it. Outpost Zero is written across the top. A white light scans me over quickly and turns green, making the bulkhead begin to pull up.

"Well... here we go again." I mutter as I begin to shuffle towards the entrance. I feel an arm wrap around me and lift me up slightly, making walking easier.

"I've got you Master." Spike says as he helps me walk in.

"Spike... remember that size is a matter of thought. Reality is at your whim, and you limit it by your own structures."

"Of course Master."

"And that perfection is an illusion. Strive for limits and shatter them-"

"I know Master. You taught me well. But I think the lessons end today." I look away from him as we make our way into the dark room. The when I cross the threshold, the leaking energy from me lights up several gems near by, revealing the room.

The room goes around in a perfect circle with the ceiling being nearly four stories up. A few gems are set in the wall and higher, lighting the entire room. Ahead to the left is a super computer station. Its terminal is set against the ground and goes out for a meter. It's covered in many buttons and switches that are all dwarfed by a large red button on the center. All along the edge of the floor is archaic text that's inside dark lines. The area by the door, where I'm currently standing, has a small circle that connects with the large circle. This one only goes out to the middle of the room. Set high on the far wall is a large cylindrical metallic device that is pointing directly at me. It's at least three meters wide and goes up to the top of the room. The center of it is hollow and there are two metal bars on the side that hold it in place.

"What is this place?" Celestia asks as she and the others walk into the room. I give Spike a look and he lets me go, following Celestia to the computer. I walk in at a slower pace and-

PPPSSSSSSSHHHHHHVVVVVVVVVVRRRRRRRRRRRMMMMMMMMMM

We all pause when the lines begin glowing and the text begins to move. Everyone moves about the room to watch the text rotate around the room. Twilight, Fluttershy, Luna and I stay in the smallest circle to watch text move by. In the background I can hear machinery begin to power up, all from my excess energy.

"What does that say?" Twilight asks as she eyes it closely.

"It's impossible to say. Humans have been trying to crack the archaic text since its founding. The problem is that it varies form person to person-"

CLICK

I spin around to find Celestia pressing the big, shiny red button. I glance up to the machine and see a bright light begin to shine in the center.

"LUNA!" I yell as I push out of the circle.

BRRRRRRRRRRRRRUUUUUUUUUUUUUUMMMMMMMMMMMMMM

I chuckle slightly as I set my scroll down and rise from my seat. Everything is going according to plan, perfectly. We need to move on to the next phase of my plans. I grab my scythe and leave my chambers with renewed vigor. I take the long corridor all the way down and take the only door, where I enter my meeting chamber.

"War, Famine, Pestilence, our day has arrived. Let us begin the next step in our plans." They look to one another and smile as Famine charges his horn. A moment later I find myself on a stage, looking over my army.

"MY FAITHFUL FOLLOWERS! RELISH NOW IN DEATH!"

Arc Two: Cities is now complete. FINALLY! F@#$! Up next is the bonus chapter followed by the beginning of Arc three: Growing Pains. Thanks for reading, and like always,

Brony on!