Chrysalis lead Solaris, Pinkie, and her daughter Trill through the castle, heading down to the lowest floor of the castle in her hive. There were no changeling guards stationed around this level of the castle's basement, and after walking through the only corridor, they arrived at a dead end. Before anyone could question why they were lead to a wall, the queen lowered her horn and inserted it into a hidden indention in the wall, twisting her head and using her magic, a click echoing the corridor. The wall before them opened up, revealing a hidden staircase leading further down into the mountain.

"Wow. I never knew about this!" Trill exclaimed.

"For good reason," Chrysalis said drolly. "Ever since you were a hatchling, you kept flying around, touching everything, and annoying many of my guards with your curiosity. Even if you wound up down here, only I could open the way down to the chest."

"So it's like a magical lock that can only read the aura of whoever is allowed access, along with the shape of your horn as an extra key," Solaris said, surprising Chrysalis.

"How did you know what system I had in place for this passage?" The queen didn't receive an answer, Pinkie raising a brow while holding up sign that read "Really?" She realized the reason why, groaning angrily. "Right...You inherited Sparkle's brain as soon as you popped out of her."

"Wait until you here him randomly lecture us on something pointless." Trill took in a deep breath to playfully annoy Solaris by botching an important part of Equestria's history, but the alicorn shoved his hoof in her mouth.

"Don't even, Trill. I'm not going to embarrass myself in front of your mother." The princess grinned as he put his hoof down.

"That would be amusing," Chrysalis said under her breath, continuing leading them down the hoof-crafted stairway. The three following the queen had no idea how far down they were going, having walked down at least fifty flights worth of stairs. Finally, after nearly ten minutes of walking, they reached the bottom, Solaris and Pinkie gasping in awe at the massive room. It was half the size of the hive up above if the castle wasn't in the center of the colony, there were many sizable stalactites spread out along the ceiling, and it looked like it was a natural part of the mountain. "Here it is."

Using her magic, Chrysalis shot a small beam at a nearby gem, causing a chain reaction as several green gems lit up, lighting up the battlefield of a room. Resting in the center was the golden chest, untouched and still locked, just how it was when Twilight gave the queen the mysterious box.

"I thought this was going to be a vault of sorts," Solaris spoke up, Pinkie and Trill too entranced by the golden shimmer of the chest. "Why make a large room the resting place for it?"

"Your mother was vague when explaining what was inside," Chrysalis said. "All she warned me about it was that nopony else opens it except for you. I even shook the dumb thing to see what was actually in there, but it didn't feel like anything was inside of it. Besides, I stumbled upon this area while digging up that stairway on my own, thinking it would be a good place to keep it in case something decided to pop out of that chest."

"...I see..." Solaris sighed, feeling his heart racing, the last of his trials a few yards away from the entrance.

He slowly took off his armor, confusing the three mares. "Solly, why are you taking off your gear?"

"...I have a gut feeling there's something in there that wants to test my real strength, not enchanted enhancements to my stamina and endurance." Solaris had taken off his curiass first, then the ring and pendant, setting them down next. Looking down at his gauntlets, he stared at the six colored gems embedded in them. Each one resembled the same color as the Elements of Harmony: purple for Generosity, orange for Honesty, red for Loyalty, pink for Kindness, blue for Laughter, and light fuschia for Magic. His gaze lingered on the blue gem, knowing once he was able to complete this test, he'll lose Pinkie. He pulled them off his forelegs, laying them next to the rest of his armor. "This last trial is going to be the toughest I'll have to face. I might fail if I have anything assist me...Just as a precaution."

Trill hugged Solaris tightly in worry, the teen hugging her back. "Don't get too badly hurt. I didn't know how much I was able to bear after the last one."

"I can't promise that, but I'll try not to." They shared a small kiss, making Chrysalis's wings twitch from the small aura of love given.

After letting go, Solaris turned to Pinkie, the mare nodded, ready to accept her fate if the alicorn's predictions were true. Turning back to the chest, he took in a deep breath and exhaled, ready to take on what his final test was going to throw at him. He stood by the chest, levitating it up to eye level, looking at the lock keeping it held shut. As he coated his aura around the lock, it automatically unlocked, falling to the ground and able to open the golden box. He gently lowered the chest back to the ground, reaching out to the lid with a shaky hoof, trepidation seeping into him while the others prepared for the worst.

As quick as he would with a band-aid, Solaris rested his hoof on the chest and quickly opened it, wincing as he awaited whatever was about to attack him. After a few seconds of nothing happening, he opened his eyes, looking at the inside of the chest, but there was nothing inside. He examined the chest from all angles, but there didn't seem to be anything else that was required to begin his final test. Looking back at the worried changelings and earth pony, he shrugged his shoulders, having no clue what he was supposed to do now.

"Ugh," Chrysalis groaned. "I knew it was empty. Twilight Sparkle made me worry over no-" She froze when she saw something slowly floating out of the chest, the alicorn unaware of the black mist rising behind him. "What in Equestria?"

"Solly! Look out!" Pinkie shouted.

Solaris quickly looked behind him, gasping in fright at the large mass of darkness towering him. It quickly fell over him, the teen shouting as he was engulfed in the cloud of dark magic.

"No!" Trill tried to help him, but her mother intervened, keeping her held back. "Let me go! He's gonna die!"

"We have no idea what that cloud of darkness is and what it can do to us!" the queen shouted. "I knew I shouldn't have trusted that mare! She did want to kill us!"

Before the three tried to escape, Solaris was suddenly flung out of the dark cloud, tumbling across the ground as he gasped for breath. Trill sighed in relief, glad to see him unharmed, leaving them all confused as to what had happened to the alicorn. The dark cloud slowly rose up and began to shift into a physical form, starting with its hooves up to its head. As more of its new form was revealed, they all gasped as they saw it taking the shape of Solaris, his fur, mane, and tail darker, even his cutie mark had been altered; instead of Solaris's half sun with six rays rising out of it, with a star in each ray and half of Twilight's cutie mark in the bright semi-circle, the clone's was was a whole sun, but the pink star inside was shattered, and the smaller white ones were outside of the rays, also broken.

"Two Solaris's?" Pinkie asked in shock. The dark Solaris's eyes opened, only instead of blue, they were blood red, his neutral expression turning sinister. "No. Evil Solaris...Definitely evil Solaris."

The dark clone cracked his neck, moving his limbs around as he chuckled in fiendish delight. "Happy birthday to me. Finally glad to be out of that wimp's mind."

Solaris got up on his hooves, staring at his doppelganger, who was quickly getting used to his new body. "Y-You're...me?"

"Of course I'm you, you idiot," he said, stretching his wings. "Were you expecting mom to show up again, crybaby?"

Solaris's eyes widened, knowing exactly what his final test was supposed to be. "...You're my final test..."

"Right on the bucking bit," the evil clone said, still insulting to his lighter counterpart. "Only, instead of this being a test, it's a matter of life or death. And for you, it's going to be death."

"What is happening?" Trill asked, feeling wary of the evil Solaris eyeing her. "I don't understand."

"It's quite simple, sweetheart," the clone said, slowly approaching them as he stared at the changeling princess. "I happen to be the better half of this pathetic excuse of a stallion. The problem was that he kept me in the back of his mind, not wanting to fall down a dark path. News flash, Solaris; there's two sides of a bit, and I happened to be the one you kept placed down on the table. You can't get rid of your darkness, and you know it.

"I'm your hatred, rage, every feeling you don't want to mold you into a villain. And incarnation of your sick, twisted thoughts," the evil clone eyed Trill, licking his lips as he gazed at her. "Even your lust. That night in the cave back in the Crystal Empire, babe? That was me wanting to bury you in the ground as I rammed you, but it was really short-lived. Wait until you see what I can do once I kill the real faker."

Trill felt disgusted, not wanting to imagine this Solaris as the one who she shared an intimate evening with. The real Solaris stood in front of his marefriend, keeping her out of his dark side's sight.

"Not another step closer," he growled, which only made the clone laugh.

"Look at you! Finally, you grew a pair! Too bad they're the size of grapes." The dark Solaris disappeared in the blink of an eye, only to reappear next to the shocked teen, kicking him hard in the back of the head, sending the real Solaris tumbling across the room. The clone looked at Trill, winking at her. "To avoid confusion, you can all call me Nova Flare. Sounds a lot more powerful than 'Solaris', wouldn't you agree?" For Nova's answer, the changeling spat green web in his face, not even fazed by the disgusting response. Lifting up a hoof, it began to burn a dark flame, similar to Solaris's ability to control flames on a whim, burning away the sticky webbing. "Feisty. I think I'm starting to fall in love."

"Buck. Off." Trill growled, leering at the disgusting twin.

Nova chuckled as he turned to face his lighter self, Solaris struggling to get up as he snapped out of his daze. Glaring at the dark alicorn, he slammed his hooves together, sending green sparks as his hooves lit up with green fire.

"Ooh. Scary. Somepony's acting tough," Nova mocked.

"Shut up!" Solaris flew toward his doppelganger, wanting to end him before he kept insulting him and trying to hit on his marefriend.

He flung a flurry a punches at Nova, but the dark stallion dodged every one, his forelegs crossed as he made no attempt to even block a single hit. Solaris grew frustrated, unable to land a single blow, attempting to sweep his clone off his hind legs, only to leap up in the air at the last second, spin kicking Solaris hard in the face. Quickly righting himself back up, he lunged at the clone, still missing Nova as his kicks and punches were still avoided.

"Is that all you got?" Nova finally used his forelegs, grabbing Solaris's hoof as he tried to punch him, pulling him closer and kneeing the alicorn hard in the chest. Solaris staggered back, only to receive the same speed of punches he gave to Nova reflected back at him, unable to block or avoid each blow that struck him. After what felt like an eternity, the onslaught ceased, but he didn't have time to breath before feeling a swift kick hit him in the stomach, sending him stumbling backwards and lost his breath. "Tsk. This is just pathetic."

Catching his breath, Solaris shouted as he lunged at Nova. He aimed his hoof right in the smug alicorn's face, only for the dark clone to grab it, making him punch himself with his own hoof. As he staggered backward, Nova pulled him back, still keeping a firm grip on his hoof, sending the teen flying into the air with a flaming uppercut. Solaris began to fall back down, and right as he was about to hit the ground, Nova punched the alicorn while shooting a blast of compressed air, making the teen fly across the ground and slamming him into the wall in a crumpled heap.

"This is bad," Pinkie said, her and the changelings growing more scared by the minute. "That other Solly is too fast."

"Like I said before, we're doomed," Chrysalis reiterated.

"He can't lose," Trill said worriedly. "He can beat that bastard. He has to..."

Solaris slowly got back up, struggling to stay standing as Nova began to walk closer. "You should just stay down. We both know who the better you really is."

He growled, sick of hearing his darker self talk down at him. "I...am sick...and tired...of hearing you talk." Though Solaris was hurting, he wasn't going to back down. Thrusting his hooves forward, he began to create a large fireball, making Nova raise a brow, wondering what his other self had planned. With the ball of fire at the perfect size, Solaris knocked it up in the air, leaping up after it as he flipped backward. "Dodge THIS!"

He kicked the fireball hard, sending it hurtling at Nova at blinding speed. The dark alicorn stood still, smirking as he watched it fly straight toward him. The moment it was mere inches from striking, he slapped the green fireball off to the side, shocking Solaris and the mares as it blew up when it struck the wall.

"Cute. Now, here's how it's really done." Nova created his own fireball, only this grew twice the size of Solaris's. Instead of tossing it in the air, he began rapidly punching it, but it stayed in place. He reared his hoof back once more, the flames on his hoof growing stronger. "Your turn!"

With a swift punch, the fireball exploded and shot out dozens of smaller fireballs, all of them hurtling toward Solaris. He flew up, hoping to avoid them, but instead of hitting the wall behind him, Nova manipulated them, using his hoof to guide them at the alicorn like heat-seekers.

"You got to be kidding me!" Solaris shouted as he flew away from the homing balls of dark fire.

He could hear Nova laughing as he commanded his flames to keep on his tail, moving them erratically and getting them to hit their mark. Solaris kept dodging, not paying attention as they began to surround him, moving at blinding speeds around him like a sphere.

"Heheheheh. Gotcha." The fireballs stopped moving by his command, then, with a clap of his hooves, they dove into Solaris, exploding on impact as they formed a powerful blast in the air. The alicorn fell out of the smoke, landing hard on the ground with scorch marks all over his body. "That's a little something I call 'Nova Blast'. Nopony can escape it. And you won't escape from this either."

Nova put his forehooves together, widening his stance as he moved his hooves to his side, a ball of swirling dark flames spinning faster as he powered his magic inside of it. Solaris could barely move as he struggled to stand on four legs. Trill, Pinkie, and Chrysalis couldn't bear to watch what's going to happen next.

"He's dead," the queen said, beginning to back away as the heat from Nova's flames grew higher in temperature. "We're all going to die. Sparkle, you doomed us all."

"This can't be happening!" Pinkie exclaimed. "Why can't this story have good things happen!?"

Trill couldn't take watching Solaris get beaten up anymore. She was terrified of his evil persona, and couldn't win if she tried, but she didn't want him to die. Her wings buzzed as she flew toward Solaris, tuning out her mother's protests. This was yet another horrible plan she didn't think through, but she couldn't let her coltfriend and Equestria's savior die. As she reached him, she stood up and spread her forelegs out, ready to take whatever Nova was going to do to Solaris.

"T-Trill!?" Solaris exclaimed. "What are you doing!?"

"...Something stupid..." she said, wincing as she prepared to get burned.

Nova laughed as his sphere of flames were ready to unleash its power. "How brave of you, little bug! But you can't save him! So, I'll just end both of your lives! Together forever, as they say with two little lovebirds!"

Nova thrust his hooves forward, a powerful torrent of flames shooting out from them and were heading toward the two. Solaris was in a panic, not wanting to get Trill hurt in his fight and wanting to avoid the dark flames that could burn him to death. He remembered how magical his Uncle Spike's flames were, able to send objects, and living beings, from one location to another. It worked on him when he saved him the teen from Lucifer's wrath before it was time for him to fight him.

Praying this would work, he imagined Trill would be sent right back to Chrysalis and Pinkie's side, took a deep breath, and shrouded the changeling princess in his flame breath. She turned around as she felt the flames hit her from behind, her vision covered in green fire as she disappeared in a puff of smoke, floating away from the blast of dark flame's trajectory. She reappeared next to the two mares, the flames around her dissipating into embers. Knowing she was safe, Solaris quickly put up his forelegs to shield himself, even though it wouldn't do much to save him, yelling in pain as he was engulfed in the powerful flamethrower.

While Chrysalis and Pinkie were surprised to see Trill had come back to them after supposedly getting burnt by Solaris and suddenly appearing out of those same flames, the princess stared in horror as she watched Solaris get engulfed by Nova's flamethrower. The dark alicorn ceased his attack, watching as the flames died out around where Solaris stood. He was still standing, badly burnt, his limbs shaking as the last of his strength began to fade, collapsing on his side.

"Solly...?" Trill weakly uttered, tears beginning to roll down her cheeks.

Nova grunted, landing back on all fours as he slowly approached the weak, yet still breathing stallion. "What a sacrifice. Pretty lucky to use your fire like that. Uncle Spike would be proud." Solaris tried to get up, but his limbs failed to help him up. The evil doppelganger stood before his other self, watching him struggle to crawl away, quickly kicking him in the chest to stop him. "What a pathetic waste of time. I didn't even work up a sweat." He began to sniff the air around him. "I should have cooked you well-done. You're not even on the medium side."

Solaris coughed, trying to get the air back in his lungs, getting irritated with his clone's quips. "I-Is that all...you can say? E-Even Aunt Pinkie...would gag at your p-pathetic wordplay..."

Pinkie nodded her head in agreement.

"Hmph." Nova grabbed Solaris's neck, lifting him up and slamming his back hard into the wall behind him. "Witty retorts won't save you in this situation, 'brother'. In fact, you're not even worthy of being Equestria's little hero if you can't even do anything to me. Why mom thought you were destined to save everypony is beyond me.

"Unlike you, I'm not a sniveling little crybaby. I could take Lucifer on my own, without that dumb armor you stupidly took off, with my wings and forelegs tied behind my back. You're nothing but a joke!" Nova kneed Solaris hard in the stomach, making him gasp for air. "You're no hero. All you do is run away and hide. A coward at birth, and a coward now."

"...N-Not...a c-coward..." Solaris uttered weakly, getting kneed hard in the stomach again.

"Don't lie to yourself!" Nova shouted. "Fifteen years wasted away in a cave, hidden from Lucifer for your own protection? That's a load of manure, and you know it! He finds you out, you hit and run! You even froze when you met again in Saddle Arabia, scared out of your mind and didn't even try to hit him again! You ran away from your family, ran away from the Resistance fighting against the Shadow Knights, and you even ran from a bunch of giant cockroaches!" He heard Chrysalis hiss in anger at the insult, but he paid her no mind. "You run from everything because you are weak.

"I am better than you. I have no heart, which means I don't care what happens to those around me, and I won't even care about how they died. And right now, we proved which of us is worthy to live." He slammed Solaris down to the ground, lighting his hoof with his dark flames. "Once I kill Lucifer and take over the throne, I'll rule Equestria how I see fit, and do whatever I wish. But before I go off to do your job, I'll spend some quality time with your little marefriend.

"I'll use her as my own little slave, tie her up and make her wear a collar, with the dogtag that reads 'King's Personal Slut'. And to make sure she doesn't try and escape, I'll chop her horn off, rip off her fragile wings, and keep her mouth gagged so she won't annoy me with her screams for help." Solaris's eyes widened as his body shuddered with rage. "I would love to see your expression when I rape her right in front of you, but that would be too much work to keep you tied down. Oh well. Killing you will make it so much more satisfying. Goodbye, Solaris, failure son of Princess Twilight Sparkle!"

Nova thrust his hoof forward, the mares unable to watch Solaris get killed by his psychopathic twin. Solaris grabbed his hoof, slowly engulfing itself in green flames, keeping Nova's hoof from getting closer to him. The evil counterpart struggled to pull his hoof away, but Solaris's grip was somehow stronger than his own strength. As the burnt alicorn slowly got back up, his eyes closed, painfully twisting Nova's leg, the green fire began to glow white, dissipating the dark stallion's own flames.

"You...will not...touch a single hair...on Trill's head..." Solaris twisted Nova's leg hard, a resounding snap echoing in the large room. Nova screamed in agony as Solaris broke the alicorn's leg, the furious teen letting go as his evil copy writhed in pain. His foreleg hung limply in his other leg, completely useless. Nova glared at Solaris, which slowly turned to fear as his gaze fell on the slowly building white flames engulfing his hooves, lighting the cavern to nearly blinding everyone present. "I will not let you hurt her, or anypony else." He opened his eyes, his pupils alight with the same white fire around his hooves.

"...T-Tsk. Y-You think that little light show scares me!? You just got lucky! Just because you broke my leg doesn't mean I'm not able to fight!" Nova teleported in front of Solaris, swiftly kicking the alicorn hard in the face. His eyes widened, his hoof had connected with the teen's head, but he didn't even flinch. "W-What?" Nova leapt back, growling in frustration as he rushed at Solaris again. Each hit he inflicted on the leering alicorn struck with perfect accuracy, but it didn't seem to affect him. Nova backed away, terrified, unable to harm Solaris anymore. "H-How!? What's happening!?"

"What's the matter, Nova? Afraid?" Solaris asked, stepping toward Nova while he kept his distance. "I thought you were supposed to be better than me. I have fears. You aren't supposed to have them, or am I wrong?"

"S-Shut up! I'm not afraid of anything!" Nova shouted, not convincing Solaris in the slightest.

Chrysalis's jaw had dropped as she had witnessed what looked like a losing battle for Solaris, only for him somehow turn it around with the strange light fire he had from inside of him. Pinkie was suddenly in a cheerleader outfit after hearing Nova scream in pain, randomly cheering Solaris on as she shook her pom poms around. Trill was just as shocked as her mother, having seen his white fire back in the Resistance Base before, but to see him this angry was beyond what she had seen earlier.

"You're backing away. What's the matter? You afraid of the light?" Solaris kept walking toward Nova, failing to hide his trembling.

"SHUT UP!" Nova shot a fireball at Solaris, only to burn out as he held out his hoof, the light from his fire disintegrating the dark flames. He kept firing, each fireball disappearing from the light. "JUST DIE!"

He built up a large fireball, hurling it at Solaris, this time striking him as it exploded. Nova smirked, but it faded as he saw white flames appearing from the smoke. Behind him, the alicorn teleported with his magical flames, wrapping his foreleg tightly around Nova's neck in an unbreakable choke hold.

"Now, what was it you said you were going to do to my marefriend? Chop off her horn?" Solaris gave Nova a swift punch, his hoof smashing through the dark doppelganger's horn, shattering it to pieces as he yelled in pain, darkness seeping out of the wound in place of blood. He was then shoved down hard to the ground on his stomach, hooves firmly pressed on his back as he felt his wings forced open by Solaris's forehooves. "Tear off her wings!?"

Nova screamed as he felt his wings being pulled from his sides, feeling every sensitive nerve wracking him with pain as he writhed underneath Solaris's hold. He ripped them off, burning the appendages to ashes. Nova tried to squirm away, only to be dragged by his tail and flung up high into the air. Solaris gave chase, throwing a flurry of punches that were impossible to see, sending the dismembered faker higher and higher until he slammed into the ceiling.

"Whoo hoo! Go, Solly! Use that white fire!" Pinkie cheered, only to stop and began to think. "Wait. Can fire turn white? I've heard of blue fire, and that's hotter than red for some reason when blue is a cool color. Green fire first came from the changelings and their transforming, but can actual fire look green?"

"...You are seriously overthinking the hue of flames right now?" Chrysalis asked, Pinkie's tangent snapping the queen out of her shock. "What is wrong with you?"

"...I don't know," Pinkie shrugged, having no clue herself.

After pressing Nova deep in the ceiling, Solaris flew back down to the ground, standing directly underneath where he was imprinted.

"I'm ending your existence, Nova." On one of Solaris's hooves, the flames began to morph into the head of a dragon, making a low growling sound as he looked up at the dark clone. Nova began to slip out from the indent of his body, the alicorn's light glowing brighter as the dragon head began to move, baring its fiery fangs. "You will not take over my life, and tarnish what I'm supposed to be! You may be me, but I'll never be anything like you!"

The instant Nova began falling, Solaris shot up from the ground, thrusting his hoof forward. The flame dragon head's roar echoed throughout the room, the alicorn's hoof slashing through the dark alicorn as he was engulfed in light. Nova screamed in agony as the light burned his body, turning his body back into the dark cloud he was before, disintegrating into nothingness.

The light began to fade away, leaving Solaris's glowing hooves the only source of the white light in the cavern. Seeing his dark side was gone for good, he hovered back down to the ground, the flames turning back to green and snuffed themselves out as he adrenaline withered away. He nearly collapsed as his strength waned, feeling his injuries finally catch up to him before he was enraged at his evil side's sick plans he had for Trill if he had won.

With his test completed, the chest, having been left untouched after being opened, began to glow, hovering on its own and floated up to Solaris. It hovered in front of him and began to shift its form underneath the bright orb of light that surrounded it. His ears perked up as he heard his mother's voice in his head.

"Congratulations, hero. You have passed the toughest of trials anypony would have difficulty succeeding in; facing your inner demons," her voice echoed in his mind. "Your evil intentions were manifested in a physical form of your body, holding what you refuse to become. This test was to prove you can stop yourself, to keep your darker self from taking over and ruin what you strive to be. Though you have won, that darkness still lurks in the depths of your mind and heart. As long as you continue following the just path you seek, then everything will remain peaceful under your rule.

"You are now ready to save Equestria, and take the throne back from Lucifer." The light shone brightly as the chest finished its transformation, the light disappearing and revealing a golden helmet. On the back of the helm was his cutie mark, but the small stars in the rays of the sun had something inside them; the cutie marks of the other Elements of Harmony, while one of them was a green dragon head. Solaris reached out and grabbed the helmet, looking at the smaller stars closely. "This golden helm will help you freely unlock the hidden potential of your Element, along with the power of the Elements of Harmony. The gems embedded on your acquired gauntlets hold a small piece of each element, but their power will only awaken and aid you with your Element's power."

"M-My Element?" Solaris asked

"It is the same power the Elements of Harmony use to stop evil from destroying the land; Light. Hope. Faith." Inside the helmet, a bright white light shone. He flipped it around, finding two glowing halves of a platinum plate with three indents in each, made to fit on his gauntlets. "You are Equestria's hope. Your destiny is upon you, hero. Save us all, and rule Equestria as it once was. We all have faith in you."

The voice stopped and the glowing plates dimmed down. Solaris pulled out the curved halves and placed them together. They had formed a heart shape, and where the gems on his gauntlets were located, they would fit perfectly. The pieces flew out of his grasp and past the surprised mares, automatically fitting themselves onto his gauntlets, the gems and plate shining brightly as they fused together.

Pinkie hopped over to Solaris's armor, holding up the gauntlets and pressed them together, seeing the new plates create a heart. "Oooh. That's pretty cool."

"...I still can't believe he won..." Chrysalis said, staring at the alicorn in disbelief. "...He's stronger than he looks..."

Solaris limped over to the changelings and earth pony, levitating his new helmet with his other pieces. He soon approached Trill, still in shock, her cheeks stained with tears as her eyes were glued to the alicorn's injuries.

"Trill," he said, leering at the changeling princess in irritation. "One: think before you act. Two: never, EVER, pull a stupid stunt like that again. I appreciate you trying to do something like that for me, but so far, from what I've seen from you, you're not meant to fight, and you were going to get yourself killed! You're lucky that my dragon fire Uncle Spike gave to me before he died was able to teleport you out of harm's way, because if you died, I wouldn't-!"

Trill suddenly lunged at him, wrapping her hooves tightly around him, and cried against his shoulder. Solaris winced as she squeezed him, inducing more pain to his heavily bruised and slightly burnt chest, but he fought through it as he hugged her. Chrysalis watched as the son of her mortal foe and her daughter/heir to the hive held each other, still finding it hard to believe that they actually cared for each other this much. Love was supposed to be food for their hive, a weakness to their prey when they seek companionship. And to see what it could do if one of them truly feels love for another outside the hive, it produces more food than stealing it.

"So, you gonna allow them to be together?" Pinkie asked, suddenly appearing next to the changeling queen, without her cheerleader outfit on. "Ponies do crazy things when they're in love. And Trill did two dumb things in total: one where she could have been burnt by evil dark fire, and the other time when she walked through a blizzard to find Solly outside the Crystal Empire."

"She what!? She almost froze to death!?" Chrysalis shouted.

"Almost, but she made it back safe with Solly." Pinkie soon began to worry, unsure of when something bad might happen to her. "...You know, my other friends were supposed to be here to see him and travel with him, make sure he's safe. But, terrible things had happened to them, and he thinks that they died because of his tests." The changeling looked at the mare, her brow raised as she had wondered why Pinkie was the only one. "And...now that his final test is done...I'm next."

"...I cannot tell if you are serious or you're pulling my leg. It's all probably a bad coincidence." All of a sudden, Pinkie began shuddering, her body bouncing rapidly up and down. "What are you doing?"

"M-M-M-My P-P-Pinkie S-Sense is a-a-a-acting up!" she said, unable to stop her jittering. "I-I-It's a doo-oo-oo-oozy!"

Solaris heard Pinkie's shuddering, and hearing it was some kind of Pinkie Sense, he began to worry. Suddenly, the ground began to shake violently as the hive was struck by an earthquake of a dangerous magnitude.

"Ahh! An earthquake!" Solaris yelled, feeling his and Trill's balance faltering, mostly his since he was badly injured in his fight.

"That's impossible!" Chrysalis exclaimed. "There has been no seismic activity in this area! Our hive wouldn't be here under this mountain if we knew it wasn't safe!"

While the quake continued shaking the earth, Pinkie felt her tail begin to twitch, gasping in horror. "TWITCHY TAIL!"

"What is it with your muscle spasms!?" Chrysalis asked.

Solaris knew what twitchy tail meant. He looked up, and hanging directly above them, were dozens of stalactites perilously attached on the ceiling. With the ground shaking this powerfully, they began to break off from their resting place, threatening to crush or impale them. One of them began falling directly over Chrysalis, the queen unaware of the dangerous spire of earth ready to strike her.

"Chrysalis!" Using all of his remaining strength, Solaris flew into the older changeling, tackling her out of the way as the stalactite smacked the ground, shattering to pieces.

Chrysalis didn't even know what had happened until she heard the stalactite break where she stood, surprised to know she was saved by Solaris. Pinkie and Trill began to flee for their lives, avoiding the falling spires while trying not to get tripped up by the ground shaking under the magnitude of the earthquake. The quake finally managed to cease, but the stalactites still fell, Pinkie winding up on the other side of the room as many of them kept trying to fall on her.

Trill managed to group up with her mother and coltfriend, no more stalactites falling in their section of the cavern. The three were helpless to watch as the pink mare kept dodging, as if the God of Death wanted her more than anypony else. The last one that fell was far bigger than any of the others, and it was headed right for Pinkie. She looked up at the last moment, cringing as it smashed into the ground.

"Aunt Pinkie, no!" Solaris cried out, collapsing on his side as he felt his chest ache from Nova's bone cracking strength.

Even if he was able to move, he wouldn't have made it in time. Not even teleporting with his flame breath would have done any good, unsure if he would have been crushed along with Pinkie. Tears welled up in his eyes as he stared at the large spire, but a moment later, Pinkie slowly moved her head around, still alive and thankfully unharmed.

"Wowie zowie!" Pinkie said, breathing a sigh of relief. "Heh. That was a close one. Missed me by several noses! Must be my lucky day!" Pinkie bounced with glee at her luck, but immediately stopped as she heard loud cracking sounds underneath her. The ground began to crumble, large cracks growing around a large radius where the last stalactite stood. She looked up and gulped, any sudden movement could give the ground away. "Spoke too soon."

To make matters worse, her "Doozy" Pinkie Sense acted up, making her shudder once, the ground finally caving in as Pinkie, along with the ground, fell into a crevice the went another half mile deeper into the earth. Solaris cried out again, but couldn't move in the pain he was in. Trill flew off to try to help her, Chrysalis right next to her, as they heard Pinkie's scream echo in the cavern, her form disappearing in the darkness below. The changelings looked over the edge, finding no sign of the ground far below, Pinkie's screams slowly growing silent.

"...No..." Solaris uttered, his fears ignoring the pain as he got up and weakly flew toward the newly made pit. "No. No. No no no no no!"

"Solaris!" Trill stopped the alicorn before he was able to fly down into the pitfall. "Stop! You're in no condition to move!"

He didn't listen, shrouding himself in green flames, spooking the changeling as he appeared down below, his horn alight with fire as he descended deeper. Trill and Chrysalis flew after him, lighting up the darkness with their horns, catching Solaris just in time before his wings gave out on him.

"You know you're about as stubborn as my daughter," the queen said. "Why are you bothering trying to find her!? She's already dead from the fall!"

"Mom, shut up! You're not helping!" Trill chided, but Solaris didn't seem to hear what Chrysalis said.

His struggling kept moving them further down until they finally reached the bottom, limping over to the debris as soon as his hooves touched the ground. As the flames lit up around the pile of broken earth, Solaris froze when he saw Pinkie's body lying still, a pool of blood underneath the mare's head from the fatal fall.

"...No..." He reached out to her, pressing hoof against her chest, unable to feel her heart beat. He gently shook her, denying that the mare who was able to defy anything was really gone. "...Aunt Pinkie...Wake up......T-This...isn't funny..."

Solaris received no response. She was already gone. Trill and Chrysalis felt his despair, the negative emotion coming off him strongly, being able to feel his pain. He shed tears, but he couldn't cry. He knew this would happen, and the last member of his family, the one that had always made him laugh and smile and was fun to be around, was gone.

Trill gently pulled the grieving alicorn away and held him close, Solaris's eyes glazing over as he fell unconscious, his mind and heart shattered in sorrow. Chrysalis could only watch as her daughter comforted the stallion, grateful for him saving her life, and pitying him for the overwhelming anguish he had expressed, knowing her subjects above them could feel his sadness.

"...It wasn't a coincidence, after all..." she said to herself. "...Twilight Sparkle's premonition has come true so far...But, to have all our fates be left in a broken teenager...We're all doomed..."