Twilight, Applejack, Rarity and Pinkie Pie had been galloping for quite some time. The deeper they got the darker it became. Eventually, the only thing they could follow was a light at the end of the tunnel. They kept running towards the bright, wonderful light.

When they reached it, they entered through a small round entrance, opening up into a larger but less divided system. They stopped for two reasons. The first one was seeing two ponies standing ahead of them, guarding an entrance. It was Solitary and Instrumental. The second reason for their sudden stop was the fact that every inch, every possible surface except for the floor in this cave, was completely covered in gems of every conceivable color, sparkling in their beauty. There was an excess of yellow stones in the walls, being lit by magic. It gave the cave a clear golden hue.

"It's about time you got here," said Instrumental.

"Do you have, like, any idea how long we've had to wait for you?" asked Solitary.

"Give it up, you two! None of you will get to even touch Cesom," said Twilight. She looked at the path beyond the two mares, Misery and that changeling must have kept going.

Twilight suddenly heard something from behind. She turned around just in time to see another Solitary jump towards her, reaching out her hoof to touch Twilight. It was clear from the surprised look on the other three that Solitary had already cursed them. Twilight teleported out of the way, appearing a bit off to the side.

"Twilight, I can't see anypony, not even those two," said Applejack, backing away from any potential danger, but focusing her stare on Solitary.

"I can specify the one you will see, after all... except myself," said Solitary. The pony next to Instrumental turned back into a changeling. Twilight saw Instrumental getting ready to sing, but Twilight was already on it. She cast a spell towards Instrumental, giving her a serious case of tongue-twister. She couldn't speak.

"I won't fall for that trick, Solitary, in fact..." said Twilight, focusing her magic. She teleported Solitary right in between the three affected. They touched Solitary, who was then cast aside by Twilight's magic. "There, done and done," said Twilight.

"Instrumental, go for the extreme!" yelled Solitary. Instrumental nodded and ran towards them. Pinkie Pie jumped ahead and tripped Instrumental just as she was about to dance.

"Ha! We already heard about that from the guards! There will be no dancing today except for the party afterwards!" said Pinkie Pie. Instrumental started to bang her hooves against the stone floor in a quick rhythm. Twilight immediately used her magic to keep her completely still.

From her side, Twilight suddenly saw Applejack run towards her and pounce. She was baring and showing fangs with a his. The real Applejack came in from the side, kicking her very hard. She was launched towards the path ahead, the cave that continued deeply into the mountain.

"Rerry! Go! Warn Mrs. Misery!" yelled Solitary.

"But what about-"

"Now!" Rerry turned around and flew into the dark cave, away from their pursuers.

"Rarity, keep holding Instrumental dow- Rarity!" yelled Twilight. Rarity sprung to attention, having been quite distracted from all the gems around her.

"Right, I got it," said Rarity, using her own magic to keep Instrumental silent.

"Applejack, keep Solitary here. I'm going after those two!" said Twilight.

"Right, er, Princess," said Applejack, keeping Solitary in place. Twilight stopped using her magic and ran ahead. Misery would not get away with this.

***

Several moments ago, right up at the lift that led down into the mountains, Rainbow and Erase had been ready to fight for their lives. Erase stared threateningly at Rainbow Dash.

"Do not think that you are safe up there because you are merely airborne. So typical of pegasi. Staying up there in a futile attempt to stay out of my reach," said Erase.

"Whatever, hotshot," said Rainbow. Erase made a gigantic leap, leaving marks in the floor beneath him as he jumped towards Rainbow Dash. She dodged him, gracefully and quickly making a spin out of the way.

Erase continued until he hit the wall. He lodged the sword into the stone, making him slide down the surface until he stopped. That sword was certainly sharp against things not living.

"If you would show me a little more respect, you might live longer."

"Whatever you say, dude," said Rainbow Dash, already flying out of the way as Erase jumped again. Of course, he missed. "Oh, and guess what, you idiot?" He jumped off the platform, up towards her.

"Would you just-"

"I might be a pegasus..." said Rainbow Dash, suddenly flying towards him from above. Erase was about to strike, but then she collided with him, headbutting him. He was forced down immediately, hitting the platform again with considerable force. "But I'm not afraid to get up close and personal," she finished, landing on the same platform as him. "So, come at me, bro."

Erase struck against her. But while Erase had speed, strength and experience in fighting, Rainbow Dash had even more speed and strength than he did, something that greatly surprised him. He hadn't managed to even hit her wit his blades, but that was because she focused on them. He managed  to kick her in the leg, making her jump back with help from her large wings to get away from the next deadly slice of his blades. This distance she put between them did not give her much time to breathe. Erase was already running after her on his two hind legs, holding his two swords, ready to strike again.

The pain in Rainbow Dash's leg was not so terrible, and she easily pushed past it as she dodged the two swords by stepping back, finding an opening at last, and striking him on his chin from beneath.

"Ah, swords, nature's knives," she said in a mocking tone. Erase looked down on her after the strike, with rage in his eyes.

"You are stronger than me. You are faster than me. But I will still win, because I can endure much more than you can!" said Erase. He struck the platform beneath him with his sword, and then with his sword embedded into the stone, pushed it upwards with such force that a dozen small stones shattered, hitting Rainbow Dash all over, like in her eyes.

Rainbow Dash was blinded, she backed away, flapping her wings to get away. She suddenly felt a pain, such incredible pain. It quickly started to numb, as she suddenly felt incredibly tired. In a fraction of a second she realized everything she had to as she could hear a ticking. She was falling asleep, if she did so now, he would easily be able to kill her. She needed a way to wake up, she couldn't allow herself to just fade away, basically letting him win.

Rainbow Dash fell asleep, but in the best way possible. She fell backwards, down, over the edge. She was falling. The sensation of the fall and the pure length of the drop made her wake up. As she did so, she felt pain from her back where the sword had struck her. The area was red, and she was sure she could hear a ticking in her head. With every heartbeat, with every tick, a pain flowed out from the area out into the rest of her. Fighting trough the pain, she managed to level out, flying up before she hit the water. This pain was quite unlike the one in her leg, this one was agonizing, but she still endured. She couldn't let him win.

"You have roughly sixty seconds to get me to drop these swords, and let me tell you that my grip never lets go while I'm in this form, " said Erase. Rainbow Dash thought it over, she would not be able to hurt him enough at it was, and even if she could, she was simply too distracted by the pain to effectively fight him. She needed a different strategy. Still, the pain was difficult to think through, so was all of the noise these waterfalls around them made.

"The water," said Rainbow Dash, looking around herself. That was it, that was exactly what she needed to win. She flied up, and up, further and further. Erase looked up at her, but Rainbow Dash didn't look back. She started to fly along the round walls, she flied as fast as she could. "It just has to be a small one, a small but powerful one," said Rainbow Dash.

"What are you doing? Have you gone mad?" asked Erase.

"Maybe, just wait and see," said Rainbow Dash.

"Sorry, but I will not," said Erase. He jumped towards the spot she would be in next. Rainbow Dash managed to dodge without slowing down. She kept going faster and faster. She looked inwards at the center of the room. She just needed to go faster and faster. She dodged Erase as he came again, not allowing her to stay safe for her remaining seconds.

"Faster. Faster. Faster!" yelled Rainbow Dash. Outside, with winds and different heats everywhere, this maneuver would have been impossible alone, but in here, in this enclosed round area, it was not only possible, but easy.

She saw the first sign it was working, small drops from the pouring waterfalls were starting to gather towards the middle. She needed to be faster.

Second by second, a wind started to pick up speed inside the circular gigantic room. Erase kept following her with his lethal leaps. The wind got stronger and stronger. It actually reached such a strength that Rainbow Dash's mane was being pulled towards the middle of the room, rather than back from the speed of her flight.

"Wait, are you doing?!" yelled Erase.

"Faster, faster, faster, not much time, faster!" said Rainbow Dash. Suddenly, the winds reached such a point that the water started to pour directly into a single point. The winds made the water starting to take a form, it looked like a small tornado. The first step was basically done. Now she just needed to keep going.

"Stop it, cease this at once!" yelled Erase, he could no longer attack. The winds had gotten too strong. He had to hang on to some of the vines, otherwise he would be sucked into the little tornado. "How are you doing this? This shouldn't be possible! What are you?!" he roared towards Rainbow Dash. He was powerless, but as long as he could keep his grip on the vines he would win within merely twenty seconds.

"I'm a weather mare, you loser."

Against his will, Erase leaped towards her, but the very moment he let go of the sturdy vines he was sucked into the middle, like a leaf in a storm. When he reached the middle, he was spinning so quickly his body felt like it was being torn apart, but that wasn't the biggest problem. In this center of incredible wings and water, he simply couldn't breathe. He just tried to endure it as long as he could, he kept an iron grip on both his blades. Just a few more moments and her back would be cut up beyond help. Just a few more moments. Tick, tock. He had to endure, and he would win. His mind started to drift from the lack of oxygen, and in his last lucid moments he found himself thinking of Solitary.

As Erase lost consciousness, Rainbow Dash swooped in towards him. He still did not drop the swords. She had less than five seconds. She kicked his talons as hard as she could, hurting herself in the process. With merely two seconds to spare, he finally let them go. In an instant, the pain and the red mark disappeared. The ticking had stopped.

It took just a few seconds for the little tornado to die out, basically tossing Erase away from the platform, towards the water below. He tumbled in the air, unable to wake up. He was just about to fall down towards his death when Rainbow Dash grabbed his leg.

"Darn, you're heavy," said Rainbow Dash as she pulled him up to the platform again. She left him lying on the stone, moving a fair bit away from him to sit down and rest. To create such a feat, a miniature tornado, while easy to do, still left her exhausted. Still, she had won. She looked down at the platform just a moment with a sigh. When she looked up, Erase was back on his hooves, looking at her. "Crud, already?!" she yelled, getting up, ready to fight again.

And then something strange happened. Erase just sat down in front of her.

"This is pointless now. You win, Rainbow Dash," he said. He leaned forward, bowing in respect.

"Wait, what?"

"My job was to keep you from following Misery. I only managed to stall one out of seven. Quite pathetic, but you beat me, and at this point so much time must have passed that either Misery is soon going to succeed, or we have lost." Erase turned back into a relatively normal stallion. The change was instant, so quick Rainbow Dash's eyes couldn't even register it. From a battle to the death, all that was in there now was two ponies, talking to each other, listening to the waterfalls around them. It actually allowed Rainbow Dash to calm down.

"Erase, Misery has been lying to you. There is no return of the Cycle," said Rainbow Dash.

"Why do you all insist that? It can't be true," said Erase.

"Why couldn't it?"

"Because that would mean our lives for the past years... have been for absolutely nothing. It would mean so much has been wasted. Do you have any idea how much time and effort she has-"

"She needed you to trust her in order to use you. You might be bad, you've done bad things, but you're still nothing like her. She is far worse."

"I still can't believe you. It would be too terrifying to even consider it," said Erase.

"You're stubborn, but so am I. Let me show you she's lying to you," said Rainbow Dash.

"She wouldn't lie to us," said Erase.

"But she was willing to kill Y. She's a murderer. She always has been. At least let me try to show you she's a liar too." She looked down into the giant hole in the platform. "In any case, I need to go help my friends. You can either stay here, or for once trust someone else and come along," said Rainbow Dash, looking at him.

Erase looked at her, and then the entrance. He was seriously considering it.

"You do realize that if I get a reason to attack you, I will do so without a moment's thought."

"Hey, right back at ya."

***

The surface Rerry was running on had started to become even. She suddenly saw very carefully crafted stairs going downwards. She flied down all the steps. In front of her there were several bright red cloths, creating a sort of wall. To her left the stairs continued. She run down them, realizing she was running in a circle. She could hear Misery on the other side of the red, old fabric. She finally reached an opening, allowing her to run inside the big round empty room.

It was significantly smaller than the first entrance in the sewers, but still quite spacious. It was rather empty, the only thins in there was herself and Misery. The glassy black floor was covered in different marks and straight lines, creating an intricate pattern. The high ceiling was covered in the same red curtains that flowed down, creating the walls. It was oddly warm in there, and despite the fact that there was no visible source of light, it was still bathed in a warm brightness.

"Misery. They've beaten everyone. We don't have much time," said Rerry, looking behind her, being ready for when they would arrive.

"Be silent. I'm figuring out the necessary command to use this," said Misery.

"This?"

"This is Cesom. This black object we are currently standing on is Cesom. Quite fascinating, I expected it to be larger. The angle of the edge lead me to believe it takes up some sort of precise shape, perhaps a icosidodecahedron," said Misery. Rerry just looked confused.

"A what?"

"Let's just say it is a cube with more sides," said Misery in a condescending tone, Rerry's lack of knowledge just annoyed Misery.

"What are we going to d-"

"I told you to be quiet!" shouted Misery. Rerry immediately stopped talking, not wanting to see the wrath of her leader. It was frightening, even when she directed it at someone else.

Misery could not read the inscriptions on top of the massive object, but she knew what she needed to say.

"Misery!" yelled Twilight. Both of them turned around to see Twilight standing in the opening. She walked inside, using her magic to close the entrance behind her.

"You never give up, do you? Rerry, if you please," said Misery, hardly giving Twilight any attention. Rerry showed her fangs, and like an animal she tried to strike Twilight. Instead, Twilight merely forced the changeling to be held up in the air. It struggled as it did so. Twilight didn't focus on Rerry anymore than she had to. Misery was a much bigger threat with her mysterious weapon, and her intent to use Cesom.

At Rerry's swift defeat, Misery swooped around, aiming her gun towards Twilight who immediately moved Rerry in front of her. It was a mistake, and she should have realized that, but with the sudden threat of death in front of her she didn't have time to think. She didn't have time to figure out where to teleport, she didn't have the focus to create a forcefield so quickly.

"Don't, or Rerry will-"

Bang. Twilight dropped Rerry, she was hit, somewhere, all Twilight could see was a nasty wound and a lot of dark red blood.

"Why, Mrs. Misery? Why?" asked Rerry, hissing pathetically in front of her leader.

"Why? Because I've always considered you to be disgusting. You and your kind belong on the ground, dead and crushed like the insects you are," said Misery coldly. "At this point, I have nothing to gain from you. I sincerely hope you never considered yourself part of Group Misery."

Twilight started to focus on creating a protective forcefield, it would take a while, but maybe it would help her. The moment her magic started to give its distinctive sound, Misery pointed the gun towards Twilight again.

"Don't." Twilight was forced to cease it immediately.

"After everything I did for you..."

"Silence, insect. I allowed you to work with us because you had useful abilities and because Random requested it, nothing more. And now, Twilight, for you," said Misery, pointing her gun towards Twilight's head.

"But what are you going to do with Cesom? Take away magic from Equestria, the griffin kingdom? Some targets? Hold ponies hostage?"

"No. I'm going to use it on only one pony."

"And who is that?"

"Celestia," said Misery. Twilight's face was filled with shock and fear. It had gone from bad, to worse, to the absolute worst. She couldn't have known about it, this severe effect. Twilight had to stop her, right now. She only hoped Misery would not assume her to be lying.

"Misery, if you do that, then the entire-"

"Then the entire world will be destroyed, I know," said Misery with a wicked smile. "We will all plummet directly into the sun itself. Our futile existence in the cosmos coming to an abrupt but inevitable end. And I will be the one to do so."

"But why would you do such a thing?! What reason could you possibly have for that?!"

"Because I realized at a very young age that everything must come to an end. Nopony can stop that. It's impossible, and you might as well not even try. I understood that was true for the world itself. My family would die out, inevitable. Its memory would fade forever, inevitable. Any accomplishment eventually meaning nothing, not even in the long term cause and effect. Do you have any idea how infuriating that was to me? So, since everything is merely a candle slowly burning until it goes out, I decided to make it glow twice as bright for half as long. I failed. But now, I have the power to make all things burn... much faster than merely twice. Everything is pointless, Twilight Sparkle. I am merely the one with the glory to make the decision to end it all," said Misery.

Twilight just stared at the insane mare. She was truly a monster, and to Twilight there was no rhyme nor reason behind those words. She was just deranged. She needed to be stopped, but Twilight couldn't do much with that weapon pointed at her.

"But, what about the ponies you've manipulated, don't they mean anything to you?"

"Of course not. They are merely tools for me to use. They've frankly sickened me these past years, shallowing every single lie I've fed them. Such stupidity, such 'trust', is something I'll never understand. It almost made me get away with destroying Canterlot in my youth. It has allowed me to use them for my own goals."

Twilight sighed, looked over at the poor changeling Rerry. She was gasping for air, dealing with the pain. Both of being shot, and being betrayed.

"Fine. But, since you are doing this whole thing, could you tell me one more thing?" asked Twilight. Misery shrugged.

"Why not? The end will be the end, and I'm in no rush since I merely need to speak the words in here to win. Besides, as my role is the villain, I might as well indulge in a few clichés, I think I've earned it, and it might give us both some closure. What is it you want to know?"

"How did you know about Cesom to begin with?"

"It was all thanks to Princess Celestia, and the real Cycle of Destruction. You see, Twilight, about six years ago, I was just sitting in my cell, planning possible ways to get my revenge on Princess Celestia, and that's when it happened. Celestia destroyed Cesom, splitting it into eight pieces that flew all which way."

"Wait, I thought it was seven. Are you cursed too? That's just what I need," said Twilight and sighed.

"No, but your not too far from the truth. This is what happened: those pieces did not all go and curse somepony at once. The eight one contained the Cycle's mind, and it went straight to somepony who could sustain it outside its body. That was me. It came to me in my sleep, whispering all it knew. It offered to make a deal, allow me to host it, and I would get all the ancient knowledge I wanted," said Misery.

"Are you... a host to the Cycle?"

"The story isn't over yet. I asked it specifically for all of Celestia's secrets, something I could use against her. And then it told me about Cesom. I was overjoyed. I knew I could use it to destroy everything. The Cycle, on the exact same day it bonded to me, was horrified at all the destruction I craved. It objected to me, keeping the location of Cesom hidden. I knew enough to get to it myself, eventually. It was of no more use, so I killed it, snuffed out it in my mind. It screamed, but it did not do so for long. It was easy, it should not have entered me. I decided to escape, after... ensuring that the warden would not contact Celestia about it. After that was done, I wandered far away lands in search of the rest of my team."

"And I assume the Cycle told you where to find them?"

"No, the pieces did all not scatter, not in the end. I had all the pieces, and once I found everypony I could use, I made the piece find them all."

"It... it was you, not Celestia."

"They were cursed because of you. So much pain, and you used them," said Rerry weakly. She closed her eyes and drifted away. It was unclear if she was dead or alive. Misery barely even took time to notice of it.

"Celestia merely almost destroyed the Cycle, I made the pieces find hosts personally. I just had to tell them I had heard 'rumors' and that I had been 'searching' for them. They bought each and every lie. It was rather amusing. So, I've told you everything. Is that enough? Is it too little? Did you expect something more interesting?" asked Misery. Twilight glared at her for a moment before she burst out laughing.

"Oh, this is so rich," said Twilight through her laughter.

"What is so funny?"

"Because I've finally outsmarted you," said Twilight, just seconds away from teleporting to safety. Misery didn't waste any more time, she quickly and accurately aimed at Twilight's forehead, and she fired.