She arrived in a very surreal looking field made out of purple grass, in the form of a soccer field. But instead of chalk, the field was framed with many towering massive crystal stalagmites of different sizes. Beyond the field were levitating islands. The woman guessed that they were once pieces of a former forest, with trees she never saw or heard of before. Liquid midnight blue magic streamed down in random places from every one of the small islands, like waterfalls. The sky around her looked like made out of purple and white lightning.

Luna couldn't see where the liquid went because of the stalagmites, nor where the source of this magic even was.

She went to the center of the field where a black circle appeared and her opponent came into existence. Luna was sure this fight won’t be easy, but she couldn't lose. Death was, for obvious reasons, not an option!

"It seems the Lady has found another soul to collect. We should kill her. Skin her. Eaaaat her!" two different voices said.

The first voice sounded calm, educated and calculating, but with the typical distortion for a demon. The second voice sounded absolutely insane with the clear wish to spill blood and an unholy echo. Both were male.

Her opponent looked like an ogre. Big, at least 3 meters tall, a body corded with muscles and yet thick with fat at the same time. The entire figure looked massive. It had a round potbelly, but a strange combination of clearly visible muscles under the fat. The rest of the body looked more normal, Luna judged, not having a clue if she was right. Still broadly built, but not so out of proportion like the stomach area. The lunar knight's enemy had two heads, the sources of the voices.

The left head was the one with the collected tone, wearing a little pearlescent violet cloak around the head, face still visible, two small black horns which poked out of the hood and yellow eyes. In addition it had human-like ears, just much bigger to fit the massive body, a thick nose and two long fangs.

The right head wore no cloak but a spiked helmet, very spiked, made of iron, one horn was poking out of the front of the head like a mutated, twisted unicorn horn. It was black and decorated with several silver rings. Of course they were spiked, too. The head with the insane voice was completely covered by it, save the visor, which had only holes for the eyes, malicious crimson orbs focused squarely upon Luna.

The rest of the body was covered in a vermillion multi-layered robe, except the arms, the two human figures she saw upon the portal's frame decorated the chest area. Its arms were covered in many blue glowing symbols in a tongue which made the woman ill when she only glanced at them, it had to be the demons' language, she guessed. The robe was parted at the center from chest to stomach. There she saw one more difference between the two halves. The left side had orange skin, but the right side a dark purple. It was like the colors fought each other for dominance. Lastly, no boots, so that their giant, fat feet were free to see, much to Luna's displeasure.

In the left hand the being wielded a small hand scythe, which was made out of the blue silver metal like the portal Celestia used, the woman recognized. In the right hand, the insane side, was a bloody black meat cleaver.

"You, human, are chosen to engage us in the Trial of Terror as entertainment for our Lady,” the wiser of the two heads began. His partner cackled insanely, "Don't you dare die too fast, I want to hear your delicious screams!"

"I don't think so, demon! My name is Luna and I will use my full power to prevail, if I must!" she replied confidently.

"Foolish woman. Your soul will be ours. But out of politeness I shall share our name with you, we are called Mu'tagh. You think you are better than us, one of the Lady's officers?! I will rape your corpse!" Mu'tagh replied in all of their bipolarity.

Luna summoned her wings and flew up above the ogre. She stretched her arms in her foe's direction and focused. A beam of white lunar magic shot from both hands onto the watching enemy.

She never told anybody, but she hadn't slept since they reached Sweet Apple Acres and always sneaked out to practice magic and her flying skills. It was like second nature for her somehow to use her new wings. And it wasn't like she didn't need to sleep, but closing her eyes and meditating was enough for resting spirit and body. Luna thought it had something to do with her abilities. Still, the woman wasn't sure.

"Too easy. How arrogant to think it would be enough, whore!" Mu'tagh summoned purple lightning around them as some kind of shield and it stopped the attack, but shattered shortly afterwards.

It slightly surprised the ogre for a few seconds.

Luna smiled proudly. She had trained many hours and saw the two-headed demon's surprised expressions, if only for precious moments. A small victory in her book. After the embarrassing encounter with Commander Raga she swore that she wouldn't be defeated that easily again by her next opponent. Celestia shot with full power at that time upon the fire elemental and it didn't even scratch him, so she knew trying to attack on her own was just as futile. He wouldn't have received any damage from her, either.

"I think I know why the Lady wants your soul, now. You just prolong your suffering!" Mu'tagh announced in understanding and glee.

The ogre summoned a black circle in front of them and shot purple lightning at the knight. She dodged masterfully in the air with movements to the side or a change of altitude.

It enraged them, especially the right head, "DIE!" he shouted in fury, not even waiting for this partner to say something, too.

This time, the demon yanked up both arms into the air and two ogre-head sized spheres of more lightning appeared to the left and right. The spheres were connected over a magical current.

"Now you did it," the left head said this time in annoyance because of the right head's impatience.

The spheres flew fast upon Luna and dodging was now much more difficult, because the spheres followed her. One turn to the right, one to the left, vertical flight back to the field, they still followed. It was enough to catch up to her. Luckily, before she got roasted alive by lightning, the woman could shoot two little spheres of her own magic, using them to make her chasers explode. The resulting explosion tossed her to the ground.

She was never this appreciative of her armor before. Only her pride was hurt, because she didn't think about that earlier.

"I have to be much more careful! My carelessness nearly cost me everything, because I wanted to escape the attack solely with my wings," Luna scolded herself angrily.

Her overconfident pursuit of honor nearly killed her.

"It is time to show you why this is the Trial of Terror. Be ready to face your greatest nightmares!" The midnight blue runes on their arms started to glow with an unholy light, same for the two sleeping figures upon the chest.

Suddenly, the environment changed and Luna found herself in a black void, alone.

"Oh, please. You can't show me anything what would scare me here, Mu'tagh! I'm a grown woman, not a child!" she taunted, amused that they thought they could scare her with something like bad dreams.

"So you say. Everybody has inner fears. And as a demon who is skilled in the art of dreamwalking, we are able to let our victims suffer. I can smell your fear. You're nervous deep inside of your mind, worried about what you might encounter. I will enjoy your torment!" Mu'tagh answered in an echoing whisper.

Luna felt weak, tired. She tried to fight against this strong desire to sleep, but her struggle was useless. The lunar knight was exhausted. Sleeping was the right thing to do, yes.

Before she lost her conscious, the magician could have sworn that someone laughed at her. But who? It didn't matter anymore, she just wanted to rest.

Vice-Principal Luna opened her eyes, her cellphone alarmed her with loud noises that she had to prepare herself. School would start soon.

"What?! I can't believe I overslept!" she shouted in panic. That never happened before!

Tia would be mad at her. As the principal of CHS, her big sister always arrived at school one hour before the first lessons started. Normally, Luna would arrive with the students, to ensure that they didn't come too late in the morning. Some of them just loved to talk or did something else, never caring for the time.

After she arrived at school, she drank one big cup of black coffee she bought on the way, it worked like a cure. Suddenly the bell announced that the first period would start in five minutes, so she hurried out of her car and made sure that all of her students made their way to class.

"Vice-Principal Luna!" The meekest of the Rainbooms came running. Tears were running down her cheeks.

"Ms. Fluttershy? What happened?" Luna asked, not having a clue what this was about.

"It's Principal Celestia! Some people from the government came and took her! They are leading her out of the back door, you have to hurry!" Fluttershy answered urgently.

Since when was the girl so forceful? Well, it didn't matter, her sister was much more important right now.

She ran as fast as she could and saw people from the ADF, the Amarerican Defense Force, pushing her sister into a black van. It didn't sit well with her at all.

"What is the meaning of this?!" Luna screamed in fury.

One of the agents turned around to face the angry woman. "Ah, you must be Vice-Principal Luna. Sorry that you have to discover the truth like that, but your sister, Principal Celestia, is guilty of treason and conspiracy against our great nation," the agent explained calmly.

"What?!" she exclaimed in shock.

Luna was now in full panic mode. Had the government found out that the magical incidents since the Fall Formal were real?! Were they blaming Celestia for this? No! Not her big sister!

"I'm honest with you. Your sister will never see the light of the sun again. But there is something more important that has to happen first," he continued with an evil glint in his eyes.

"What are you talking about?" Luna was irritated by this behaviour. And why did the man's voice sounded so strange all of a sudden?

"You just have to die, whore!" The man cackled madly and had suddenly a bloody meat axe was in his right hand.

Luna jumped out of the way before the agent could cleave her in two. Her instincts told her that this was all wrong, like it shouldn't be.

"Begone!" Luna shouted and a white beam of magic impacted with the man, sending him against the wall of the school.

Before she could realize what just happened, her vision went black. The last thing she remembered were glowing blue runes of a language not her own.

"Luna, run!" Celestia pleaded her little sister, tears in her eyes.

"Pathetic! You are unworthy opponents, powerless, like the rest of your race in Canterlot City," Commander Raga announced, greatly disappointed.

Luna looked at her sister, horrified. No matter what they tried, the fire elemental brushed it off like nothing.

He already killed Granny Smith, who tried to sneak into the barn how they planned it, but she stumbled, Raga saw her and attacked. Big Mac tried to protect his grandmother heroically, dying with her, screaming. Applejack wanted to charge at him out of blind anger, but her friends, Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie, held her back, what would be difficult without Twilight's magic to help out. The girl's strength would have made it impossible to stop her from running into her own death.

But there was this familiar feeling again... the feeling of wrongness. Raga pulled her out of her thoughts.

"Die!" He took with one hand his giant bastard sword and pierced Celestia through the heart, killing her instantly.

"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!" Luna screamed out in terror and despair.

Her sister just died in front of her eyes and she couldn't protect her. She was too weak. The loss paralyzed her.

"You are going to pay for this! You monster! You killed my aunt!" Cadence shouted with a broken and furious voice.

She shot with her handgun at the fire elemental, the bullets burned to nothing on contact.

"Don't worry. I will unite you with your family." Raga sprinted at the former dean. Shining tried to pull her aside. In vain. The commander swung his sword and cut Cadence cleanly in two.

Luna could only stare, not able to react. Her sister... her niece... now she was truly alone. No more family at her side. Her biggest fear, losing her family to this new world, came to pass. Worse, she couldn't do anything to protect them. Why was she so worthless? Why?!

"Do you feel true terror, child? I love the expression of absolute despair on the face of my victims!" two unfamiliar voices spoke.

Terror? Who were they? Wait, didn't the fight with Raga ended differently? It was like a fog left her senses. Of course! Nobody died! The commander left Sweet Apple Acres alone.

Her environment dissolved anew.

"What is happening?! Our created nightmares should be perfect! What's this strange power?! She couldn't do that before!" the voices shouted, confused and angry.

More memories returned to Luna, filling her with formerly blocked knowledge of recent events. Then a name came into her mind. A name connected to an demonic ogre, with two heads, two voices. They were responsible for letting her grieve about fakes!

With a volume, that would let her Pony counterpart shed tears of pride, Luna shouted, "MU'TAGH!"

Her entire body was surrounded by midnight blue magic, instead of white. The emitted power destroyed the illusion, bringing her back to the Chamber of Terror.

Luna was ready for round two. And BOY was she mad!

Mu'tagh panted heavily. This strange power from before shattered their created nightmare. Not only that, the magic had attacked them directly and pulled them back to reality with painful force. How?!

Luna opened her eyes again and glared with hostility at the ogre, "I understand now. You blocked my memories and all my senses and twisted them with your foul power. Letting me live through nightmares I feared." A smirk dominated her features, "But in the end I guess I should thank you instead."

"What are you talking about? Tell us!" Mu'tagh asked nervously.

"I have Lunar Magic. It means that I am connected to the night and moon, but there is something else that is a part of the night, mostly: The world of dreams. You used some kind of twisted magic to create nightmares, but through your actions you helped me to discover my own form of dream magic," Luna explained calmly like she already knew that she won the Trial of Terror.

It would really help her in the future to bar nightmares and other ailments from someone's mind. No matter if nightmare or magic or curse. She knew that dream walking was not something she could do right now, like he did, but she could sense distress from now on and could try to help accordingly.

It rubbed the ogre the wrong way, fiercely, "You seem to be very sure of your victory.” The armored head snorted, “ You are bluffing!"

Luna just sighed and shook her head at such stubbornness. She concentrated and closed her eyes and the former vice-principal's entire body started to glow in the same midnight blue magic that destroyed the ogre's nightmare earlier. She opened her eyes again and they were filled with the same colored energy.

A giant magical circle appeared above the ogre. Mu'tagh looked up with both heads just to see how Luna's newest and strongest ability was unleashed upon them.

"Dream Valley!" Luna shouted with finality. A stream of magic shot upon the ogre.

Both heads looked one last time at their oppenent, before the left head muttered silently, "Forgive us, Lady Alandra. We failed to bring you this woman's soul..."

Luna's newest ability ended the demon's life. The Chamber of Terror began to crumble away, because a specially made chamber in Tartarus was connected to its owner. Without Mu'tagh the artificially crafted place had no function any longer.

"You lying fiend! You gave your wo-" before Luna could end her complaint, her body was engulfed in a golden light and she disappeared from the realm of demons.

Celestia hoped that Luna and Cadence would be OK, especially her niece. The poor woman was defenseless still. A handgun alone wouldn't save her for long against a demon who was using magic, she feared.

The former principal observed her surroundings after she went through the portal. Her new environment certainly didn't look like something she expected to see in the realm of demons.

Celestia stood on a small barren black hill and felt how her patience was already tested from seeing her ‘trial’. The entire chamber was built like a giant maze, no ending in sight, it seemed. But not with walls of stone, more walls of towering blue flames.

Why couldn't she be able to summon wings like Luna...

"Let me guess: I have to reach the other end of the maze and it will be guarded by a minotaur," Celestia deadpanned.

She looked around and didn't see any enemies. This ‘officer’ seemed to wait for her somewhere inside of the maze. How utterly annoying.

"Hopefully I don't die on old age before I can finish the trial. This maze looks endless," Celestia thought nervously.

A great number of things happened in the last few days. However, it felt like she was already on a journey for years with the others.

Wonderful, she sounded like an old maid.

So many events took place in such a short time. Lives were lost, friends were made, creatures and new beings were fought and cake was eaten. The last point was most important. Who knew how many chances she would receive in the future to eat sweets and other culinary creations in a world of change?

Celestia approached the entrance of the maze. She looked up shortly and noticed that the sky was red, a black sun completing the picture. Interesting. She couldn't make out anything else of relevance, for now. Except the construction of fire in front of her, of course.

"YOU SHALL NOT PASS, YET!" a demonic like flickering flames sounding voice shouted from... beneath her?

Celestia saw how a humanoid being, made entirely out of black and red flames, broke out of the ground, literally. The earth cracked, no, shattered. Fissures distributed around the duo, mostly where the newcomer arrived with the grace of a concrete block.

The burning entity in front of her fit the description of a demon officer perfectly. At least 20 feet tall, a broadly built giant of promised death and destruction. Armored around the lower body in the same silver blue metal as the portal Celestia walked through. He wore sabatons and a cuisse, silver as main color and the blue colored part of the ore was used as decoration. It ran through all of the armor parts like superficial veins. They were thin or thick in random patterns and had no clear direction in their chosen route, looking like clear sapphire. Otherwise the being in front of the woman didn't wear any armor. Not that it would even be necessary with a big body made of living. Flames.

The knight of the sun wondered if he was somehow in alliance with the fire elementals which burned Canterlot City to the ground. His eyes were golden big, round, burning holes of fire. Their gleam was a little hypnotizing, Celestia had to admit. Her adversary had a fully functioning mouth. The first elemental with one, from what she knew, through the descriptions of the others who had to escape the invasion. She couldn't determine if Raga had one. He wore a closed helmet.

"Couldn't we solve this without the death of someone else?" Celestia asked rhetorically.

She knew that a fight would be unavoidable, but trying didn't hurt at all. Besides, she needed more information before she engaged the giant.

"The Lady demands your soul. What do you think? Regardless of your pathetic attempt to distract me, I will explain a few rules for you.” He cleared his throat, how polite, “Welcome, little mortal, to the Chamber of Hopelessness. My name is Infermo, loyal officer of the Lady and lord of this place. As you surely guessed by now, your trial has to do with the maze behind me," the demonic elemental started in a lecturing tone.

"Seriously? I thought I would have to fight you, nothing more. Is that some kind of game?" Celestia asked, confused but interested in what was exactly planned for her.

She wasn't sure, but had the impression that Infermo would have rolled with his eyeballs, if he could. "What did you expect? That you have to fight on a corpse-filled field, hellfire attacks you from everywhere and I hold a speech about how I would drink your blood? Something to that effect?" Infermo demanded to know, insulted. "What does this woman think I'm doing with her? I'm not Mu'tagh's right head!"

"Err... maybe?" Celestia replied with a smug grin.

Infermo groaned. He couldn't believe this human. She was about to meet her maker and joked around in this situation? It didn't matter now. He had to explain the rules.

"Rule 1: You can't escape this maze underground or through flying. A special spell was cast upon this place. If you break the rule, you will simply be teleported back to the entrance and have to try again from the very beginning. I don't think you want that."

"You are right. I don't," Celestia commented with a smile.

If Infermo had eyes, he was sure they would twitch.

"Rule number 2: In order to master the maze, you have to reach the center and fight me for the right to escape and regain your freedom. It is a battle to the death. Only one of us may walk away alive, because to re-open the portal back to your world, a sacrifice has to be paid to this realm. In form of a life." He waited. The human had no smart comment to that rule. Good.

"Rule 3: To reach the center of the maze, you have to solve riddles, four riddles in a row. Only then you will be able to fight me. This maze is magically created and its paths will change patterns, depending on the number of solved riddles and wrong answers. Just announce your answer loud and clear. Understood?"

"Yes. Thank you, Infermo. By the way, my name is Celestia. It is good that I don't have to run around in this maze forever to find something and end up in countless dead ends," she replied calmly.

"Of course you won't have to do that. Even demons have standards, you know. Besides, I have better things to do than to wait for my opponents and risking death by boredom. Don't think too hard about the solutions, as a little advice before you start. Oh, and be careful. Answer too many wrong and the magic of this maze could trap you for eternity. Your soul, obviously, would be claimed for the Lady in such a case, still. That is one reason why this is the Trial of Hopelessness," the fire elemental replied in a matter of fact way.

Without another word, he opened a portal for him to wait in the center of the maze. After he went through, Celestia could relax and she sighed deeply. Many thoughts shot through her min, "That was way too close. I had to give everything I had to not show him that I was afraid. I can't allow myself to appear weak in front of potential enemies, the others are counting on me to return to them."

She started to walk through the maze. When she reached the first bifurcation, she went the following route over the next minutes: 'Up', 'left', 'right', 'up', 'left', 'right' and came to an end made of, black flames, between the otherwise in blue fire covered metallic walls.

Written in red blazing letters, Celestia found her first riddle:

Celestia loved riddles like that. It remembered her of an old story she once read as a teenager. It was, among other things, about a sphinx, which demanded such answers from the protagonist of the book before he could go further in his quest.

She thought about the answer, "Hmm... always in the past... can be created... never be tainted..."

Of course! Celestia shouted with conviction, "History!"

After a few seconds the wall dissolved into nothing. The path was free.

Anew, the knight of the sun thought of a pattern she would take the moment she discovered the next fork. This time it was, 'up', 'right', 'up', 'right', 'left', 'up'. Another black wall, another riddle:

Celestia knew it. Demons were perverts. Or she was. The magician blushed slightly at the blunt choice of words this riddle had. After she calmed down, the former principal thought about the answer.

"Blowing, the mouth is meant... first hard... later soft. I guess something to chew." Celestia's cheeks exploded in red. She cursed her dirty mind.

Then the answer came to her, but it didn't make any sense, how did this maze know about its existence? "Gum!" she screamed in annoyance.

Good thing that Luna once told her that she bought herself some extra hard gum and it needed a long time before it was softened by the chewing. Celestia's little sister assured her that she was able to produce the biggest bubbles and challenged her sibling to a duel. Both blew it; it was a tie.

After she was free to go, the woman had to decide between two ways in front of her. One led up, the other down. Strange. She didn't see earlier that the maze wasn't flat. Celestia blamed magic for this.

She chose this time, 'down', 'right', 'left', 'down', 'right', 'left'. Riddle three:

"Okay, that is difficult... solely a heart, but no other organs..."

There were no animals she knew that only had a heart, but nothing else. Maybe a plant? Celestia wasn't sure. If something was meant that existed only in a world of magic, like for example the alternative world, then it was all over.

Wait, there was something that had a heart as a symbol, but no organs. Could it even be? Did the demons know about such games as well? Well, they were certainly intelligent. She had to try. Nothing else came to mind. It would only be her first error, so she was fine with it.

"A deck of cards!" Was the desperate answer.

The knight waited. The wall disappeared. She was right!

"Yes!" Celestia cheered mentally and enjoyed her small victory.

It was good that she could keep her emotions so much in check. Just in case Infermo somehow spied on her. OK, that sounded wrong.

Now she had to find the last riddle, hopefully. She did her next pattern like the following, because after every time she reached a new fork, she was teleported somewhere else in the maze and had to pick a new path.

Lastly, Celestia decided to take, 'right', 'down', 'up', 'right', 'down', 'up'.

The last riddle. She hoped she could find the right answer:

"What? Feed, live... drink, die. Come on! What does that mean?!"

The woman couldn't take the suspense and pressure and had to breathe deeply. In and out, like she once showed Cadence. Her niece then told her that she taught someone her own technique, her ‘Ladybug’. Whoever that was, she never asked.

The flash of inspiration came from observing the moving blue flames around her. It was poetic for the woman that the last riddle could be answered with a single word that described her future enemy very well, "Fire!"

A circle of magic composed out of black and red flames appeared under Celestia after a few seconds. A flash of light brought her to the desired destination; the maze's sanctuary.

The ‘center’ of the maze was a levitating giant platform. It was composed out of a simply thin looking layer of golden light, a truly giant area. Through the light the maze beneath them was visible. They had to be 300m above the ground! It was good that Cadence didn't choose this portal.

For one, the former dean wasn't as good with riddles as her or Luna.

Secondly, Cadence hated heights since an accident she had as a child. She fell from a tree and broke an arm in process.

Celestia wondered how it was possible that the giant didn't fall through with his massive body. Oh, yeah. Magic.

"I'm impressed that you came this far, mortal. Nobody has been able to solve four riddles in a row and earned the honor to fight here in centuries! Nor in such a short amount of time," Infermo informed a little astonished, "Tell me, how did you like your riddles? An ancient mind reading spell was cast upon the maze. Its dogged contenders are always surprised how the answers to their riddles were items related to their own culture." The spell was his personal pride, even though his mistress created it.

Her cheeks took a rosy coloration. Of course those demons didn't concern themselves with things like bubble gum or card games. It made all sense now! She wanted to facepalm so badly.

"And now... try thinking your way out of this!" he exclaimed suddenly.

The elemental blew a huge breath of black fire upon Celestia. Like Luna, even though she slept at night, she managed to produce first results after her own few training sessions, experimenting with her magic. The knight could protect herself with a shield which surrounded her entire body. It was made out of the light of the sun. And she was very lucky that she learned to do that. The attack had a cone of 50 meters, easily.

"OK, correction. Cadence wouldn't have survived this fight even in the slightest. Good thing I agreed to come here," Celestia thought, very disturbed from what would have happened to her relative.

"Oho! You survived. I can see why the Lady desires your soul. Your magic is quite unique, indeed." Infermo nodded his head in acknowledgement.

"Why, thank you. I'm curious though. Two of the riddles I faced were very... special, mind reading or not. How does the spell work? And why did the it take such unique items as an answer?" Celestia inquired politely.

"I don't know about this 'gum' or 'card games' of yours, human. But the Lady is a scholar and collector by heart. She searched decades to find a very difficult and advanced form of magic involving knowledge. In the moment the challenger of this chamber appears in my realm, the spell adapts the riddles to suit the being in question, no matter how trivial. For example in the moment you stepped into this place, the spell used your knowledge to create riddles related to it and the existence of things, only known by you. On another note, the magic that infuses the maze takes common concepts of creation, like time, history, order, chaos, light, darkness, to name a few, no matter from which domain the soul in question hails from, to challenge the mind, too. The point is, it wouldn't make any sense to give you riddles related to the history of other worlds, because it is very, very unlikely that a mortal human would know the answers. So you see? If thinking isn't your strongest trait... well, you know the price of failure." Infermo grinned darkly.

"I see. But I think it is time to continue. There are people who await my return. Flare!" the magician of the sun shouted, defying her enemy.

Celestia held her sword high into the sky and 40 fist-sized spheres of her magic hovered around the woman. She swung her sword in an attack-motion, designating the target for them. They immediately started to surround Infermo, who had, meanwhile, to fight an incoming laughing fit.

"Y-you are kidding, right? What do you think that will achieve? I am an elemental of fire and you use a little cute ability based on it. You won't be able to deal any damage," Infermo taunted mockingly.

The spheres indeed had the appearance of compressed golden fire.

"Oh, thank you for a lesson I already know. But what makes you think that my Solar Magic is solely based on your own element?" Celestia asked smugly, much to the elemental's confusion.

She let the forty spheres explode with a single thought and after that she erected a new barrier around her body. The resulting explosions were accompanied by screams of pain. After the light faded away, the fire elemental looked heavily injured, even without blood. His right arm was crippled and his fire couldn't heal the arm's damage where the golden light sat now, same with other ‘light infected’ wounds. But the golden blazing magic of the woman inflicted even more damage. Parts of his armor were slightly melted from the explosion of her magic, which shocked the demon. Fire, magical or not, shouldn't be able to do that to his body at all.

"What have you done!?" Infermo screamed, livid.

"My abilities are not only composed merely of fire, but light, too. I can decide in which percentage one of my abilities applies fire or light-based magic. I chose, surprise, 100% light against you." She didn't know much about magic in general, but she had enough basic knowledge about Solar Magic. "The burning flames of the sun are... very special. The light magic aspect of Solar Magic can damage beings of fire when my attacks are strong enough. From the look of it, it seemingly was enough to give you a fair share of bruises," Celestia answered proudly.

She used the same tactic against Commander Raga. It was embarrassing how he didn’t even receive a scratch. The woman attacked with a complete light-based beam of light and it didn't even make him cough in their confrontation. She was very worried that he would be resistant against her magic, too, much like the leader of the Infernal Guard.

Or, Celestia concluded, Raga was much stronger than Infermo. It was certainly a possibility, a worrying one.

"I'm lucky this demon seems to be much weaker than he was. I couldn't train much, but it seemed to be enough to cause damage on Infermo," she thought, now more at ease.

"I won't lose!" Infermo announced, like a typical villain.

He concentrated his next attack, summoned a huge spear made of black flames and charged at her.

It was time for her to use her strongest ability. Hopefully she could crawl out of here and that it worked. The alternative wasn't good. It would use the biggest part of her already taxed magic.

Celestia engulfed her body in the light of the sun. The air around her started to get thinner within a radius of 60 meters in all directions. Because she emitted heat with her body, the air expanded. A continuous transition from thick, cold air layers to thinner, hot ones was a desired consequence. Because of this, the black rays of light around them were broken the entire way through the air.

A magically created mirage was her plan.

"Illusion of the Sun!" Celestia shouted in her mind.

The spear penetrated her afterwards.

He laughed victoriously. "See? I said I would-WHAT?!" Infermo shouted in fury.

His enemy had disappeared instead of dying. He found her standing much further away in front of him.

"You think your little illusions will grant you victory over me?!" The elemental charged again and rammed his spear into his opponent, who reappeared again in the distance.

Celestia breathed out with problems, canceled her spell, but proclaimed with a smile, "What are you talking about? It worked!"

Now he was more confused than angry. Why did the voice came from behind him? She was clearly in fr-! The platform suddenly had no space for him to move and the demon fell to his death, 300 meters downwards.

What happened?! She was in front of him and the platform had more than enough place left, how?! Then Infermo remembered, the strange looking air around the magician. A Fata Morgana! This witch tricked him!

"NO! My Lady! I fail-"

With a loud bang, Infermo met the unforgiving hardened and magically enchanted walls of fire face first. The power, resulting out of his long fall, combined with his body stature, ripped him to pieces. Only remains of the destroyed armor were left from the once proud officer. In the moment of his death the mighty flames of Infermo ceased to exist.

Celestia sat cross-legged on the ground, exhausted from the last ability. Her sword and shield laid beside her. As long as she could concentrate and nothing attacked her directly, the solar knight could channel a spell which gave her the chance to create, in a 60 meter radius, as many illusions as she desired. Well, if she had enough mana at her disposal left, of course. Creating mirages at chosen positions with magic was difficult in its own right and had its costs.

"I hope Luna and Cadence had as much fun as I had." Celestia thought, amused from the fact that she won the fight in the end, because brain beat muscle.

She couldn't have defeated Infermo solely with her magic in form of pure power alone. She didn't have enough training for such a feat yet. Well, in her mind, it was well done. The result was more important for the woman than the way how she did it.

Of course, if Luna asked, she fought and survived. End of story. The alternative was that her little sister would never stop giving her speeches of how Celestia won, because she ‘cheated’. Honor and a fair fight were something very important in the lunar knight's opinion.

The older sister remembered how Luna could be furious for hours when someone ‘camped’ somewhere in the games she played, instead of facing her head-on.

The chamber started to disappear, but before Celestia could voice her shock, a golden light surrounded the surprised woman. And in a flash, she was gone.

"The other side of the portal would give Rarity a heart attack," was her first thought.

A dark clouded sky loomed above her and only an ancient looking stony bridge connected the portal directly to the upcoming, bar none biggest challenge in her young life. For whatever reason this land had nothing else than the huge flying building, the bridge and crystals in form of a lot of mountains as environment. Beneath the former dean was an endless black abyss, it seemed. The sky was dark, from gray and black clouds.

"The last exams before I graduated were a joke against that," Cadence whispered to nobody in particular in awe and fear at the same time.

It looked like a foreboding cathedral of death. In fact, she was sure it was just one big deathtrap, but she couldn't refuse to enter. She had to win and survive in the process her trial, after all. Well, somehow... without any magic of her own.

She was so doomed, the former dean was sure of that.

Frescoes of war, malicious looking demons, enslaved humans and other dark topics of all kinds adorned the many windows of the building in all their colorful and partially very bloody glory. And not only demons. A few windows showed images of different fire elementals, to the woman's surprise. The cathedral itself was made out of black crystals in all sizes and shades, but black no less.

There were towering spires, walls and statues like flying monstrosities appearing upon the broad ledges of the crystalline roof, doors, everything.

Speaking of doors, Cadence felt like she was being watched. Made out of red crystal, upon the black crystalline main gate, were two big glowing slitted eyes with three-dimensional eyeballs. They even moved! In general the cathedral looked like reinforced by thick layers of crystal and gave the construction the touch of a citadel.

She moved to the left; the eyes followed her. To the right, again. Running a little in both directions? No problem. That was totally not creepy at all. Nope!

"OK, Cadence, you can do this," she told herself helplessly. The eyes looked like they tried to pierce her very soul. "I hope."

As she stood in front of the door the eyes closed themselves and the heavy doors opened... but nobody came. The interior of the cathedral didn't fill her with much confidence either. A huge dark lobby, glowing with its own unseen lights, maybe magical, greeted her. Two chandeliers stood at either side of the beginning stairs. The candles were lit with black flames, inviting the young woman to take the only possible way which led upstairs to the next room. A lot of stairs.

"Whoever created this place was a sadist and clearly had no knowledge of elevators," Cadence thought in annoyance, exhausted just from the sight of all these stairs.

After 10 minutes of taking the longest staircase of her life, the young woman reached another door, this time with smaller red crystalline eyes. They followed her every step like their bigger cousins downstairs.

"Okay, now this is just ridiculous," she thought, frustrated.

Again, the eyes closed themselves after she stepped forward and the door opened, granting her entrance to the next room and relief from the stares.

"It is good that Twily isn't here, I think I just found one of her secret wet dreams," Cadence whispered to herself without a shame in the world.

It was the biggest, most expensive looking private library she ever saw or ever would, most likely. Many bookshelves, strange looking artifacts and scrolls, from ancient to new, from what some titles suggested. Candles with the same black fire were distributed around the room, resting safely in bronze old-fashioned candleholders. Chairs, armchairs, beautifully crafted tables, carpets, quills and ink in masses... it all looked amazing. The ex-dean was sure that this existed with the sole purpose to make it as comfortable and cozy as possible for every scholar.

"This place looks cleaner than Aunty Celestia's kitchen," Cadence commented dryly.

"I don't know who that 'Celestia' is, but I thank you for the compliment no less, my lady," a husky voice of a man replied politely with a demonic echo in it.

She looked to her right and in a taupe colored armchair sat the most handsome man she ever saw, maybe in his mid-thirties. Luckily, appearance alone wasn't everything she desired from a man. It was difficult to keep herself from blushing, still.

He had black voluminous hair and sideburns, gleaming inviting brilliant scarlet eyes with deep scarlet pupils and slightly sharpened teeth, visible because of his charming smile. This man had a prominent face, like it was cast in stone. He was tall, too, maybe 1.95 meters in Cadence's opinion and had a fitting complexion of dark gray.

He wore on his head a silver circlet with two, one shorter, one longer, spikes on the sides. In front of the ring sat a pure ruby crystal embedded in enchanted obsidian.

Very gallant and majestic looking silver armor covered his chest and segmented plates on his legs from above his sabatons to the start of his hip, crafted to leave more than enough space to move. Then he wore Kobarid gloves and the metal completed the armor around his stomach region and arms, sitting tightly around his body.

"You must be one of the demon's officers," she tried to sound brave.

He gave a chuckle that would let lesser women swoon, "Indeed. Please, allow me to introduce myself. My name is Sombra and I will test you in the Trial of Domination," he supported the woman's claim.

"S-Sombra?! As in the Sombra? The man who founded the Crystal Prep Academy in Canterlot?!" Cadence exclaimed, shocked.

"Oh? I fear you have me at a disadvantage here. I'm sure that the humans over 100 years ago decided to erase every official written record about me, because of the... problems I caused at that time and they didn't want to give credit to a ‘lunatic'. Should I know you? Explain yourself, woman," Sombra inquired curiously, but with force in his voice.

Cadence didn't want to mention and involve the others. Her instincts told her to be very careful with what she would say. So she decided to act like she found out everything on her own. The woman would just tell enough to be as convincing as possible. Mostly the truth.

Luckily, she remembered every detail of his notes, still. She listened carefully when Sunny Flare and her friends told her everything and it helped that Canterlot's fall was only two days ago.

"N-no. My name is Mi Amore Cadenza, or Cadence for short, not 'woman'. And I found your old study in the underground sections of Crystal Prep, where I once worked as a dean and helped the students. I discovered a book with the title 'The Art of Summoning' with notes of yours that described how you were always fascinated with crystals and knowledge and how you, because of a given hint from a colleague of yours, discovered the temple of the Scions of the Elementals in Greece. You described how most people believed that the temple was nothing more than a 'temple of religious fanatics' and how you discovered the hidden shrine and the book I mentioned before," she started her explanation. Hoping she was convincing enough so that he wouldn't start asking the wrong kind of questions.

"Go on. You have my attention, Ms. Amore." Sombra waved his hand in a please-continue-motion.

"No, thanks! I really don't want your attention!" Cadence thought, shuddering in her mind.

She calmed herself and continued, "Well, those elementals were more than a myth for you, so you searched for a source of magic you could use and utilized the book as a compass, in order to summon them. It led you to Canterlot, but the source of magic was hidden in a statue in front of a military base, so you searched for another one and found it on the ground of an old church. A crystal. The locals called it the Crystal of Faith. You claimed the crystal and the land where the church was built upon and founded the Crystal Prep Academy. Then you summoned, after 10 years of preparation, a fire elemental, swore your loyalty to gain the position of a Scion and got your own brand of magic; Crystal Magic. You became a mage and then... well..." Cadence didn't know how to continue. Would Sombra be insulted when she said that he lost his marbles?

He grinned at her in malice, "I became insane, huh? That I wanted to be a king? Be the ruler of my own empire? Yes. I was a fool back then, but it wasn't entirely my fault, in my defense." Sombra shook his head in distaste.

"What do you mean?" she asked carefully.

She was very interested in his story now. He was the definition of a saturday morning cartoon villain in her mind. At first, Sombra only wanted to find ancient knowledge, then he went mad because of the very power he sought, declared himself a king and wanted to create his own kingdom. From what she understood, through the explanations of the girls.

Wait. Sunset Shimmer once told them that she came from a parallel world. So in theory, everyone should have a counterpart in her homeworld, right? Had Sombra one, too? She made a mental note to ask the girl later if she knew about it.

"But only when I survive this trial," Cadence thought bitterly.

"It seems some context is needed. Let me explain. After I became a Scion of Fire, I devoured every piece of literature the elementals gave me. I sponged up every little bit of information in me with glee and mastered spell after spell in record time. But then I fell prey to one of the most prominent emotions of mankind. Greed. Soon, I wasn't satisfied anymore with the knowledge about my new powers as an half-elemental." He furrowed his eyebrows. "That reminds me. What became of the tome I used to summon my former master?" Sombra asked and interrupted his story.

Cadence hoped he wouldn't notice how nervous she was. She decided to use a half-truth, she was bad at lying and couldn't come up with lies out of nothing, for what her aunts always teased her when they played games in her years as a teenager and a good poker face was the most important thing.

"The former principal of the school, a woman by the name Abacus Cinch, used this book and summoned her own fire elemental. I witnessed that from behind the door. Her master, some 'High Recruiter Igniticious', tossed magic at me and destroyed in progress not only the entrance, but the support for the lower levels, too. I had to run away after they escaped on their own with magic and the entire underground section collapsed. The book is lost under tons of rubble and ash," she replied neutrally.

A slight growl escaped his throat. "A pity. Some very old books and scrolls were hidden in my former study, but there is nothing I can do about it anymore. This knowledge will be lost by now, even the literature that survived the incident. The spell I once cast that preserved the study, especially the books and scrolls, lost its power the moment the study was destroyed, because the room was used as the foundation for the spell so that only items in the room itself would be maintained by magic." He studied her like a newly found animal. "I'm sure you were wondering how everything stayed clean if nobody entered it in decades; that was the answer. The century of no maintenance, time itself, took its price in the moment the spell stopped working. Everything already turned to dust. Still, that is interesting, indeed. So this principal became a Scion of Fire as well? The irony that two principals of Crystal Prep became Scions..." He shook his head.

The former dean simply smiled awkwardly.

"But to continue my story. My former masters didn't like that I became obsessed with seeking knowledge that was forbidden to me, but I don't fear death and they knew it. So they decided to punish me in a very... creative way. They blocked my powers as a Scion and my Crystal Magic and wanted to imprison me until the moment I learned to be patient, no matter how long. But I managed to slip away and escaped back to earth, returning to my study in the academy,” he continued with distaste, as if remembering something to be ashamed of.

She didn’t like where this was going.

“I couldn't accept defeat and searched for a book that I stole out of the Nemesis Library. A book about what uneducated and narrow-minded beings call 'Dark Magic', because they have the simple idea that darkness is equal to evil, no exceptions. The moment I returned to my office to make last preparations and to uphold my disguise as a principal the local police barged in and took me prisoner,” he admitted stoically.

Cadence’s eyes widened, “I-I didn’t know that happened.”

Sombra snorted, “Presumably they found out, or more the church which owned the ground before me, that I stole the Crystal of Faith from them and switched the original with a replica. Somehow a clumsy altar server managed to let the replica fall and shattered it in thousand pieces. I didn't know that before, but this crystal was in ownership of the church for a few centuries already and it never received even a scratch, no matter what happened. On this way they discovered that the replica was only made of well crafted glass. At first they thought that the crystal lost its powers or that god had forsaken them, because the copy, obviously, didn't glow when they prayed. Like the original always did. Well, it 'stopped working' after they relocated the crystal, or should I say, after the business with me. So they put two and two together in no time and knew who was responsible; me.”

Cadence meanwhile glanced at a few books to get an idea what kind of knowledge he had in his hands, but refocused on him.

“It was no use to even try to tell them the truth. They wouldn't believe me anyway if I would have told them that the crystal was taken away by fire elementals and so they tossed me in prison. With the book I took from my former masters, after they allowed me to keep it. I begged them in desperation, because I needed it to regain power and one act of pity was worth it for me. I lost everything else, but I didn't care. I read the book in the dark of the night and used it to call something like a shade, a Umbrum. In my endless hunger for power I ignored the book's warnings like a blind fool, much to my shame, that a Umbrum was a twisted soul, having no other desire than to spread misery, death and destruction and shouldn't be summoned lightly. I let it into my body to gain power once more and it used my desires against me. The book, it was called, ‘The Ways of Darkness - An Uncertain Path', warned me that these pests would use your very dreams against the summoner and only beings with a strong will and soul should even dare to think about summoning a shade. Of course, I was arrogant and sure that nothing could control me. Oh, how wrong I was.”

Another question surfaced from her mind, “Abacus Cinch changed in appearance after her transformation. How was it possible that the other humans never found out about you when you were still a Scion?”

He smiled mysteriously, “A simple illusion spell in form of an enchanted ring I bought to keep up my disguise as Principal Sombra. My former teacher never understood why I wanted to keep my human body, if only as an illusion. I guess I was sentimental and didn’t want to forget my origin.”

A tea set appeared suddenly on a small table in front of Sombra and with a snap of his fingers another seat appeared. He motioned for her to sit and gave her something to drink. It felt surreal for Cadence, wasn’t he supposed to fight her? Instead he played the humble and charming host!

After taking a sip from his own cup he locked eyes with his ‘guest’, “The shade twisted my thirst for knowledge, made me even more power-hungry and sparked the wish to be a king to all. Worse, it twisted my love for crystals in such a way that it made me wish to create my own Crystal Empire.”

She didn't know what to say, "I-I'm sorry to hear that."

He acknowledged her words with a brief nod and sighed, “Sometimes, life is truly cruel. I made last preparations for a takeover of Canterlot City, but before that happened I met my savior and new mistress, Lady Alandra. She communicated with me in my dreams, my true self that was already trapped in the darkness of the Umbra and told me that she felt how one or more of these shades were summoned to earth. She was the new jailer for them, after the old jailer, some stupid demon with the name 'Hannyabol' or something like that, was fired.”

So the demoness was called Alandra? She decided to keep this information in the back of her mind.

Sombra rolled his eyes, “This embarrassment to any among demonkind flirted with a Succubus and forgot to check the prison seals. They needed to be contained even in the realm of demons because of their insane nature, because these twisted souls have only the wish to erase all creation, no matter if ally or not. He let the Umbrum escape out of Tartarus and nobody knew what happened to them or where they are now. They just escaped into an unknown world and it was impossible to track them down. The realm which had the misfortune to be infested with them has my sympathy.”

The ex-dean nodded her head in understanding, “I see. So now she occupies a higher position, I presume?”

He made no comments to agree or disagree, no hint to give away more than he intended. A clever man, “The point was that it was her duty to contain them and she wanted the shade back to keep her job and please her masters at this time 100 years ago. So she made me a deal. I would pledge my obedience to her and she would in return pull my soul back to Nephariom, Tartarus, hell or purgatory is this plane called by humans. It would, as a side effect, pull my body to her as well. The shade didn't know that something like that was even possible. She said we could solely communicate with each other and make this deal work like that, because I had a Umbrum in me.”

“You mean this strange magical barrier that keeps the strongest demons from turning Earth into their wasteland?” she asked dryly. Her eyes widened and she put her hands in front of her mouth, fearing how he would react.

She was lucky. The handsome mage laughed this time. “Indeed. Demons weren’t able to pass the Last Barricade at this time and so it was easy for her to find the shade. She just had to find the only source of demonic magic on Terra. After the shade and I would be back in the realm of demons, Lady Alandra could banish the shade's conscious deep into my mind. Separating wasn't possible any longer by normal means, because it fused partially with my soul. There was only one logical choice I could make and it wasn't the one where I would be trapped inside my own body forever. Lady Alandra brought us to Nephariom." Nostalgy painted his features. "I remember how it happened in the middle of my study after last notes were made about the wish to be king. You read them. The shade managed to escape with magic of darkness and through a portal back to the study. It happened in the middle of the day in a new session where I should be questioned about where I 'hid the Crystal of Faith', I'm sure the authorities covered my disappearance with a believable story. The truth was... too much, I guess. It doesn't matter anymore. Now, the Umbrum wasn't prepared and immediately banished by my Mistress. After I was once more in control I kept the part of my deal and became her faithful follower.”

“H-how are you still alive? You should be dead by now. Not that I wish you were dead of course! But, well…” Cadence chuckled nervously and stopped talking.

He took her words with an unnerving calm, “Demons don't really age as humans do. The moment I accepted, my new magic gave me back my youth. Since then, for over a hundred years, I learned how to use my new abilities as a demon and refined my skills with my Crystal Magic, too. To cut my link with the elementals, so that they wouldn't find me by chance through my connection to the element of fire, I had to go through a long process of painful purification to erase the elemental magic. I learned for over a century to be patient, learned from my past mistakes. Being trapped in your body and not being able to contact the outside world in any way because of your own greed is surely an eye-opener." The demon shrugged. "Now I sit here before you as an officer of Lady Alandra, one of her most trusted servants and ready to test you in the Trial of Domination, Ms. Amore. Still, I hope you enjoyed my story," Sombra ended his explanations with another charming smile of his.

After Cadence listened attentively to the demon's story and tried to remember everything, like how he was now surely a very well-trained and experienced fighter with his skills and abilities, there was just one thought that went through her mind, "I'm so dead!" she thought in sheer desperation.

The demon officer chuckled knowingly, "I think I have a good idea what you are thinking and I fear I have to concur. You will never be able to defeat me in the upcoming fight, no matter if you find your own magic now or not. You would still be like a newborn in comparison to me when it comes to control and experience. So I want to make you a proposal," Sombra suggested calmly.

"What kind of proposal?" Cadence inquired with a distrustful frown.

She just hoped he wouldn't ask her to become his bride or to follow him or something like that. The young woman wouldn't do something like that and was no object to be used.

"You see, Lady Alandra and I are in a... let us call it, 'stressful situation'. The Umbrum inside me has until this day my soul in its clutches in a way, still. Its corrupting darkness surrounds my soul and tries to make me a shade, too. My Mistress is able to cast spells which protect me from such a grim fate. But it is quite taxing and she has to cast the necessary spells every six months for them to continue working." Sombra created two mirror-like windows on the reflecting floor with a movement of his by magic encompassed hand, showing her aunts in action as they defied Mu'tagh and Infermo. "The other two trials deliver more than enough entertainment for Lady Alandra, but nevertheless, she desires your soul after all, too. I fear that you have to fight for your freedom after all, my dear,” he reminded neutrally.

Cadence gulped.

His tone was almost hypnotizing, “My proposal is that I, with the blessing of Lady Alandra who agreed already, will release the Umbrum and seal away my strongest abilities from him in my mind. You will only fight the shade, not me. It has not my skills nor intelligence, but should be a worthy challenge for you. Umbra take upon the personality of their host, so he will be much like me, just... much more insane. Be careful, Ms. Amore. A beautiful lady such as yourself shouldn't die through the hands of such an unholy being. The portal that would bring you back to Earth needs a soul as a sacrifice to work. In other words, someone has to die. There is no escape or other way out. I will use the shade as my personal sacrifice to escape death. Umbra are twisted souls, but souls no less, so its sacrifice in the moment you 'kill me' will be enough to bring you home. Don't hold back.”

She couldn’t really express her disbelief, or luck for that matter, “B-but why? We never met each other before. Why are you doing this for me?”

“Just remember the following: 'You shouldn't judge a book after its cover'. That being said, not every demon is 'evil', as you might want to believe. Take this shard of wisdom with you in the event that you survive. It may let you make the right decision one day. Good luck," Sombra said with his ever present dark smile.

He teleported them into an arena made of, surprise, black crystal. Huge crystalline formations, like the different sized constructions of a mountain chain, represented the natural borders of the plateau they stood upon.

Sombra focused and a foreboding and sinister aura surrounded his body. He lured the Umbrum to the surface. This was the moment of truth for Cadence and she mentally prepared herself.

So many bad things happened in the last few days. An entire new world awaited them now and they had to stand together in order to survive. She didn't think Sombra lied about anything he said. And these shades, these... 'Umbra'. It made her blood boil that something like them even existed in the first place. She wouldn't tolerate such creatures of insanity! No, Cadence would destroy every shade she might encounter. That, the former dean swore faithfully.

It triggered something inside of her. A brilliant white light with a tinge of pink surrounded the surprised woman. "White Magic," a female ethereal voice stated.

After a few seconds, the magical auras of both fighters disappeared.

Sombra's eyes were changed now, Cadence thought it must be the Umbrum's doing. The formerly white sclera changed color to a poison green and purple vapor left the corners constantly, a gleam of pure madness in them supported Sombra's definition of these shades. His teeth were now sharpened entirely, not only the fangs like before.

"Finally! I don't know why, but such isn't my concern. I'm free once more and his body and powers are mine to command, like it always should be. I have to escape this realm so that I can finally build my Crystal Empire," Umbrum-Sombra thought in malicious glee.

Then he noticed the beautiful woman in front of him.

"I see. Are you here to pledge your loyalty to your king? Such a fine maiden like yourself should become my queen. What do you say? Be at my side and together we will rule Earth one day!" the Umbrum proposed madly.

"Disgusting," Cadence muttered under her breath before she continued loud enough for it to hear her reply, "I refuse. You are just a vile monster and I'm here to end you today, Umbrum!" she declared bravely.

"You know what I am? How flattering, but compliments alone won't save your head. If you dare to defy your future king further, I have no more use for you." It smiled much too widely, "I may reconsider to grant you the honor to be my queen still, but only if you swear to follow me now. This is your last chance!" the shade announced with malice.

Cadence sent her final answer in form of a white slightly pink beam of light. Umbrum-Sombra blocked the attack with black crystals he created out of the ground. They shattered instantly and he was pushed back a few meters by the resulting explosion. Scratches and bleeding wounds from crystalline splinters were instantly healed with darkness and the shards were absorbed from it.

"I see. So you choose death over a position at my side? So be it!" the shade shouted angrily.

It created more crystals, this time beneath Cadence. They should rip her to pieces, but the screams of torment never came. She teleported away in a flash of light, not one moment too late, and tried to orientate herself immediately. Her first teleport and she hadn't emptied her stomach, no matter the ill feeling. The woman was proud of herself. It was strange, her new magic granted the freshly made magician the insight that teleportation counted to the more dangerous and mana expensive spells, but her White Magic was specialized in this type of spells. It was one of its fortes.

She stood now behind the Umbrum, who noticed her just now and shot another beam of light at him. The shade laughed at her.

"You fool! I can regenerate myself whenever I want! No matter how many wounds you inflict upon my body, physical or magical, it doesn't matter. I am darkness itself," it said smugly.

"Exactly," Cadence countered with a smile of her own.

The shade was confused, until the pure light actually hit it. It burned like nothing the Umbrum ever had to feel before, the same with the pain, "AARGH!!"

It disappeared into the ground and formed itself anew a few meters to the left. The body of Sombra seemed to have suffered no damage at all, but the shade was clearly in torment, if its facial expression was anything to go by.

"What was that?! No magic should be able to harm me in such a way! Explain yourself, cur!" Umbrum-Sombra demanded to know in utter fury and hatred for his opponent.

She gritted her teeth at such coarse language, but let it slide, "What you are is your greatest strength. Your darkness protects you and helps to regenerate even the worst damage to your form, flesh or not. But your true body is at the same time your greatest weakness against mages like me for I have White Magic at my disposal. The natural antithesis against monsters like you. It is a form of magic that is entirely based on the element of light and gets stronger, depending on my emotions. My compassion and love for others make me strong and reinforce my abilities enough to cause serious damage to your true form, because you are only made of hatred and darkness!" Cadence explained with great patience.

She could decide if she wished to attack her enemy's body directly or things hidden to the naked eye with her abilities, like the Umbrum which was hiding in its host. Cadence never aimed for Sombra, but the shade. Her new power allowed her to have a better understanding of others’ emotions as well.

And what the woman saw in the Umbrum disgusted her to an extreme.

She couldn't really influence feelings directly, but was aware of someone's state of mind and that was good enough for her. She could even empower herself depending on the amount of mana she had left and Cadence's inner faith. These abilities were more than enough at the moment to take the Umbrum on.

Now she was sure she would win, even as a beginner. Not against Sombra, he would annihilate her in a serious fight hands down, but the shade was another story entirely.

"Curse you!" it spat acidly, stomping with a foot, hard.

The Umbrum disappeared into the ground again in a puddle of shadows and tried to escape somehow out of the arena. Normally it would just use other abilities to kill the woman and continue to fight, but the last attack of Cadence severely injured its own body. It needed to recover somewhere in darkness, badly.

"I don't think so!" the White Magic user screamed after the fleeing entity and concentrated her, for now, strongest ability, "Judgment!"

The entire ground of the plateau was covered by a giant magic circle of a whitish-pink color. It was filled with many words, geometric lines and runes. Three rings, together as one, the smallest covered two meters around Cadence, the second ended in a radius of 20 meters and the last and biggest circle, 50 meters.

The Umbrum couldn't move any longer for whatever reason and was, two seconds later, literally kicked out of the ground. Its protecting darkness was erased from existence. Chains of light surrounded the shade's body and ripped it out of Sombra, cleansing his soul in process from the remaining darkness of the Umbrum. Sombra's body laid still on the ground.

"Wow. I know you are made of darkness, but even for a shadow you are ugly," Cadence commented smugly.

The shade looked like a famished black bald ghost and had the form of a biped being, a little smaller than a human, with rotten teeth, long nails on feet and hands, long pointy ears and empty eye-sockets. The creature in front of her only wore a ghostly grey loincloth.

"Screw you, wench! You ruined everything!" it responded in unknown levels of hatred with a sharp, distorted and painful sounding voice.

"My pleasure." She mock-bowed out of the smallest ring, "It is time that you, monstrosity, disappear forever from existence."

The entire three-layered circle became smaller, until solely the creature who was caged in its chains remained in the smallest ring. Sombra awoke, back to his old appearance. He stood up, claiming his rightful body the moment he felt that the Umbrum was ripped out of him with force. He watched the entire fight from a safe place in his own mind. Sombra never saw or heard of such magic. Truly, this new world, this new Terra, may never cease to amaze him with its wonders. Hopefully his Lady would allow him to visit Earth himself.

"In the name of Lady Alandra, I, Sombra, hereby sentence you to extinction. May your soul be devoured by the void and serve as a sacrifice to grant this brave woman a safe return to her homeworld," he announced like a judge making his verdict.

He nodded his head and Cadence finished her spell. If looks could kill, the Umbrum would have burned them to ashes by now.

A giant pillar of light erupted out of the ground from beneath the shade, no sound could be made by it. The spell obliterated the creature of darkness.

"I must thank you, Ms. Amore, for liberating me from this parasite. Lady Alandra will be pleased, too, even though she didn't get your soul. You took care of an old problem that was on her conscience for a long time and she always keeps her part of the deal she makes. My Mistress gave her word to grant you free passage out of the Ghastly Gorge in the unlikely case you and the other two women succeed. Your souls were the prices in the case of failure. But I can tell you now, it was mostly about entertainment." Cadence couldn't believe her ears and stared at the smug demon, they were fooled. "Farewell," Sombra added with a last graceful bow.

Before she could muster an answer, a golden light encased her body and in a bright flash, the newest magician returned home.

"Maud! Why do you always win!?" Limestone screamed in annoyance.

Her sister won 40 of 41 games of tic-tac-toe on paper or the ground. She would demand one last game, like the last 30 times the teen thought like that, because the girl knew that the answer to her next victory was 42!

"Because I rock and Boulder already knows what you are planning before it even happens. Lime, you are predictable," Maud answered with a faint smile.

The Pie Family sat in the Shadow Maniac made circle for three hours now. it got slowly darker outside and they hoped that the three women would return soon.

It was like fate heard the plea. A black portal appeared and Cadence stumbled out of it. "Well, that just happened," she said, in a deadpan.

Another portal came into existence, the one of Celestia. Said woman stepped into their sight. "Cadance! You won!" The former principal rushed to her niece and crushed ribs with the might of her armor protected body. Or that was how the pink woman felt.

"H-hey, Au-Auntie? Can't b-breathe!" Cadence tried to say. Celestia released her.

"I'm sorry Cadie. I'm just happy that you returned. How was it? Who and what was your enemy? Did you discover your magic?" the younger relative was asked many questions at once. Celestia said them in a moderate speed, but Cadence could just sigh heavily in response.

"Let us spare the talking until we are back on Sweet Apple Acres so that we can tell our tales the entire group. I really don't want to repeat myself and it is important that everybody knows about what happened with us," she reasoned tiredly.

"I agree, Ms. Amore," Igneous Rock supported.

The rest of his family nodded their heads in agreement, mostly because they couldn't wait to find Pinkie Pie, finally.

"Hmm. Where is Auntie Luna? I'm sure she didn't lose either," Cadence stated in surprise, remembering Sombra's words.

"D-do you hear that?" Marble asked in a whisper. The others nearly didn't hear the girl.

They listened closely to locate the source of the sounds and looked up. Above them Luna's portal came into existence. The exit faced the ground.

"Curse yoooouuuu!" Luna shouted furiously and fell out of the portal onto the ground with a loud metallic thud because of her armor.

Celestia rarely laughed this hard in her life at her sister's misfortune before. The facial expression of her sibling was just priceless for the woman.

Maud, Cadence and Marble chuckled, Cloudy Quartz and Igneous smiled strangely. Only Limestone had a good laugh out of the lunar knight's misfortune.

Mentioned magic user stood up grumpily and voiced her opinion about her transportation back to Terra, "You did that on purpose!" Luna shouted into the sky, raising her shaking fist in the air.

"I don't know what you are talking about," the for all, except for Cadence by now, unknown voice said in purest innocence.

Luna fumed silently, Celestia patted her supporting on the shoulder.

"So the trials are over, right? You promised to let us go," Limestone stated unsurely. She didn't know if the demoness was furious, because she lost and didn't get any of her desired souls.

"Girl, I'm not the 'sore loser type'. And yes, like I promised, you can leave the gorge. I thank you for the entertainment. And especially you, young Cadenza," Alandra said the last part in a grateful tone.

It caused everyone to look confused at the woman in question, who blushed in response.

"N-no problem, Lady Alandra.” She was most definitely the center of attention now, not realizing her slip-up for a seconds, her mouth took an 'O'-shape.

"He told you my name?" the lady inquired dryly.

Cadence felt a little sheepish now, "Y-yes."

They could have sworn that the demoness wanted to groan, "I guess I need to talk to him about stealing my thunder." Not that the humans heard her inner thoughts. "I wanted to introduce myself to you on my own, you have earned it. But don't think I'm not sour that you killed two of my officers, especially you, magician of the sun. That last ability was cheap." She always told Infermo that creating his platform above the maze would be a stupid idea, but did he listen?! "Nonetheless, I gave my word. Leave this place and don't dare to return or next time I will rip out your souls myself. Understood?" Alandra clarified warningly.

They all nodded their heads in eager agreement. The officers on their own were more than enough, they didn't need the leader herself.

The Shadow Maniacs disappeared all at once, dissolving slowly from head to toe into nothingness like they were ancient statues and for the first time in eons, a fresh wisp of wind made contact with them.

The group left the gorge, rich on new tales to tell.

On their way back to Sweet Apple Acres, Luna glared accusingly at her big sister, who tried to look everywhere else in a carefree manner, except at the moon blessed woman herself. She cursed Alandra mentally. The demoness just had to tell everyone that she finished her fight in a less than entirely honorable manner, didn't she? Celestia could already imagine the lecture Luna would give her in the moment they were alone when she had to explain herself.

The Warden Magic user smiled excitedly, "I guess we can brag now about how we met and survived demons... wow I never thought I would say something like that in my life," Limestone said, surprised and already waiting for the moment when she could gloat to Pinkie how Maud and she discovered their own magic.

"I-I think this day was something else, y-yes," Marble supported her sister in a low voice.

Everyone had a good laugh at her summary of the day. It made the shy girl chuckle, too. It was time to return home.

Author's Notes:

Greetings my avid readers!

I hope you enjoyed the chapter.

Sorry for the delay and all, I thought a long time about it how I could write the three trials.
I hope you had your fun with the riddles before you read the answers.

And I hid Zelda references in this chapter, it will be interesting to see if someone could find out all of them before reading the solution. Especially the order and implications.

Thank you very much for reading and stay tuned!