One by one, Taraiel placed her hooves upon the six bearers of the Elements of Harmony. She whispered a prayer in an ancient tongue as she blessed each one, warding them against the forces of evil. She came upon Celestia and smiled. Taraiel plucked a hair from her mane and wrapped it around the princess' horn.

"When you have subdued Baphomeena, say my name and I shall arrive to aid you," Taraiel said.

"Are you sure you can handle two of the sisters by yourselves?" Celestia asked.

The Unliving Queen turned towards Celestia. "I can feel great strength in these Horsadrim. We should be fine."  

Taraiel looked at the four unicorns and the dragon and nodded. "Do not worry about us. Now, go towards the tomb. It will not be long before they investigate the disturbance caused by the undead."

"I have something to help with that," Star Swirl said. His horn began to glow as he cast a haste spell upon the seven ponies, causing their forms to blur as they moved at great speed. "Good luck."

As the seven waved and went with rapid speed towards the tomb of the first Horsadrim, the Horsadric dead began to arrive. The Unliving Queen organized them in orderly rows, then said to Taraiel, "They are all here."

Trixie yelped as the Valkyr pulled a hair from her tail, then plucked one of her own feathers. She wrapped the hair around the feather and blew it towards the Horsadric dead. The hair and feather disintegrated into dust and as the dust touched the mummies they gained sentience. They yanked the linens from their faces then fell to their knees at the site of Taraiel. A pegasus mare mummy scanned the gathered Horsadrim, noticed the skies above, and frowned.

"The divine founder of the Horsadrim has returned, and the situation is dire if we have been awoken from our eternal slumber. I am Stormherald, fifth grandmaster of the Horsadrim. What are your orders, Valkyr?" the pegasus mummy, Stormherald, asked.

"Stand," Taraiel commanded.

The Horsadrim rose to their hooves.

"The three evils you brave ponies vanquished long ago are now on the verge of reclaiming their bodies. We have a plan in motion to prevent this. Lucifiona or Azazandra should arrive shortly. With any luck, both will come," Taraiel quickly explained.

Taraiel pointed towards Trixie, "We have with us the last of the Horsadrim. Protect her at all costs, we do not know if the evils breaking of the seals may have also dispelled the Horsadric magic that shields her from them."

Stormherald nodded and turned to address the Horsadrim. "We have our mission, brethren. Unicorns, ready your spells and prepare the pits. Earths, prepare your plants. Pegasi, conjure the clouds. Go!"

Star Swirl cast another haste spell on the Horsadrim as they began preparing the battlefield. The unicorns stared in amazement at the power wielded by the ancient unicorns. Horsadric unicorns used their magic to dig massive pits which the Horsadric pegasi filled with water. The Horsadric Earth ponies already had a waist-high sea of grass grown along with bushes and trees, forming a perimeter around Trixie.

Taraiel noticed the looks of awe on the modern day unicorns and laughed. "Behold, the Horsadrim!"

* * *

Deep inside the tomb of the original Horsadrim, the possessed Fizzle Hooves, Storm Watcher, and Ravenmane stood with their hooves on an altar, whispering in an ancient tongue. Lucifiona paused. She felt a disturbance. "The Horsadric dead have risen, sisters."

Azazandra scowled. "Did we trigger a rune of protection?"

Baphomeena shrugged. "Lucifiona, go deal with our guests."

"With pleasure!" Lucifiona cackled.  She shimmered away and her sisters continued whispering the ancient spell.

Azazandra tilted her head closed her eyes. She could feel hatred emanating from the canyon. "I can sense great hatred out there, Baphomeena. It is more than just the pesky Horsadrim. I can almost... yes. The Valkyr is there. The one you said you had taken care of."

Baphomeena sighed. "And if she is there, we can presume she has brought all the little meddlesome mortals we've been toying with. Go help Lucifiona."

As Azazandra shimmered away, Baphomeena muttered, "These ponies are really starting to annoy me..."

* * *

Lucifiona soared through the skies over the canyon and dove through the clouds towards the circle of trees. She licked her lips in anticipation of the pain she was about to deal. A Horsadric pegasi spotted her and yelled, "It's Lucifiona!"

Stormherald smirked. The demon had flown right into their trap, just like the old days. "Earths, do your thing! Unicorns, hold steady!"

The Horsadric Earth ponies were already moving to meet their foe. They placed their hooves on the ground and the sky filled with flying spears transformed from the blades of grass they had grown. The plant lances swarmed around Lucfiona, thrusting and jabbing at the possessed pegasus, but as they neared her they became chilled by her infernal aura of cold. Lucifiona slapped the brittle lances out of the sky and continued her descent.

Undeterred, the Horsadric Earth ponies moved towards the bushes they had planted. They placed one hoof on the bushes and pointed the other towards Lucifiona. A deadly barrage of thorns sprayed up into the skies. Lucfiona didn't even try to evade this attack, instead relishing the sensation of the thorns tearing into her body to give herself more power.

Without hesitation, the Horsadric Earth ponies maximized the opportunity the distracted Lucifiona presented and vines lanced up from the ground, tangling around Lucifiona's wings and legs. The Horsadrim directed their vines towards one of the water-filled pits the unicorns and pegasi had created. As Lucifiona was dragged over the pit, Horsadric pegasi dove into the water, swimming rapidly.

The water began to rise in a swirling, cylindrical column, towering eighty feet into the air. Lucifiona and the vines were sucked into the destructive vortex of water and the Horsadrim cheered. The Horsadric pegasi immediately followed up by ceasing their waterspout and creating a maelstrom instead. Helplessly whirling around in the water, Lucifiona was dragged down into a sucking, drowning cone, pulled farther and farther underwater, fighting for breath as the vortex pulled her towards the bottom.

Azazandra watched her sister fall into the trap and swore under her breath. She charged towards the Horsadrim, casting chain lightning and skull missiles into their ranks. Azazandra shimmered towards the pool of water and stomped, freezing both the water and the nearby Horsadric pegasi with a nova of frost magic. Soaking wet and her robes in tatters, Lucifiona smashed up through the ice, her eyes seething with fury.

Lucifiona snarled and clapped her hooves together, sending a nova of flames in all directions. As the flames approached Trixie, Horsadric Earth ponies leaped in front of her, thrusting out their hooves which were surrounded with a pulsating shield of darkness, 'flame shields' that absorbed fire spells. Lucifiona's flames were harmlessly absorbed by the shield spells, infuriating her even further. The Horsadric Earth ponies followed up their gain with a counter attack by planting staves in the ground and speaking a mystical word. Their staves transformed into treant-like plant creatures, which charged towards the two evils.

Azazandra countered the treants with a stomp that produced a nova of poison, which began to wither away the treants. The Horsadric Earth ponies stomped as well, sending deep furrows through the ground at Azazandra. Azazandra staggered and fell into the hole the Earths had just created as the dying treants piled in on top of her. Lucifiona laughed at her sister's predicament, then pointed her hoof towards the pile of treants, shattering them with a wave of hoarfrost.

As Azazandra climbed from the trench, Horsadric pegasi flew down from the clouds towards her. Swirling, sword-shaped formations of jagged ice shards extended from the Horsadrims' hooves. Azazandra pointed her hoof at the winged attackers, sending them plummeting to the ground as bolts of lightning coursed through their bodies. Lucifiona touched her wings to the ground and tentacles emerged from the sand which grabbed and tore at the stricken Horsadric pegasi.

Stormherald scowled and took to the air and pointed her hooves towards the two evils. Gale-force winds began to tear through the canyon, whirling around the evils and forming a great tornado. The surviving Horsadric pegasi flew towards the clouds, sending a deadly barrage of hail and lightning into the tornado. The berries from the Horsadric Earth ponies' bushes were sucked in, exploding in brilliant flashes of flame as they impacted on the evils. The Horsadric Earth ponies faced the tornado and stomped, causing spikes of rocks to emerge from the ground. These jagged stones were also sucked up into the tornado, ripping at the evil's bodies as they whirled around.

The Horsadric pegasi held out their hooves and shimmering, multi-layered bows of rainbow hues conjured into existence. Each pegasi fired seven arrows into the tornado, one for each color of the rainbow.

Spike touched Taraiel's wing. "Why aren't the unicorns doing anything?"

Taraiel smiled. "Magic is powerful, but the nature powers that the pegasi and Earth ponies wield is not quite as... restricted. The Horsadrim use the other tribes to weaken the evils before striking with their magi." She laughed and pointed towards a group of Horsadrim, "You do not want to miss this, little one."

A group of Horsadric Earth ponies and pegasi were circled around large boulders. They held hooves and began to chant a spell. As the spell ended, the boulders transformed into flaming hot magma and went sailing through the air into the tornado. As the molten boulders crunched against the evils, Stormherald set down on the ground and the tornado began to die down. Azazandra and Lucifiona plummeted towards the earth and impacted with a bone-rattling crash.

The Horsadric unicorns immediately began attacking, sending a fearsome volley of spells towards the fallen demons. Star Swirl and the Unliving Queen eagerly stepped forwards, wanting a piece of the action. Taraiel nodded at them. "Go ahead."

Above the two stricken evils, the sky burned with sheets of roaring flame that cascaded down upon them as two-foot diameter meteors streaked from the sky and burst into them. Star Swirl pointed his hoof and cast a spell, summoning a telekinetic sphere. He captured Lucifiona in the sphere and mercilessly directed her into the paths of the meteors. Azazandra staggered to her feet, and Star Swirl stood on his hind legs and pointed his other hoof towards her, pinning her to the ground under a huge, magical, disembodied hoof.

As the fire storms and meteor swarms died down, a steady stream of lightning, frozen orbs, and fireballs were directed against the evils.

The Unliving Queen teleported forwards, thrusting her hoof out and channeling a spell. Seven shimmering, multicolored rays of light flashed from her hoof in a triangular spray towards the evils. Star Swirl's crushing hoof spell dissipated and Azazandra began to rise, sneering at the undead unicorn. Azazandra pointed her hoof towards her and laughed as she channeled a torrent of lightning at her. The Queen shrieked as Azazandra's lightning arced through her body for just a moment before her contingency spell (a preemptive spell that triggers upon certain conditions being met, such as being hurt with magic) activated, protecting her with an anti-magic shell.

Trixie smirked as she hurled orbs of pure energy at the evils as the Queen fled back towards the others. Despite all the attacks, Azazandra slowly helped Lucifiona to her feet. Azazandra knew that her sister would gain in power as more pain and destruction was dispensed, no matter who was being hurt or what was being destroyed, so all she had to do was make sure Lucifiona was not incapacitated and the battle should be theirs.

Spike's eyes went wide. "How are they still alive?"

Taraiel wrapped her wing around him. "Stand strong, my friend. We have inflicted much injury upon them, but they are powerful."

Spike watched the two evils as they struck back at the Horsadrim, resulting in many of the mummies collapsing into dust. He glanced nervously towards Star Swirl, "I sure hope Rarity and the others are doing okay."

Spike looked back towards the battle and saw that a vile effigy of Lucifiona had been created, and the two of them were silencing the unicorns with a magic draining attack.

Spike gulped. "I really hope they are doing okay..."

Azazandra and Lucifiona gained momentum and cut a swatch through the Horsadrim as they charged towards Trixie and her stalwart defenders. As Azazandra quickly assessed the gathered threats before her, her eyes went wide with surprise as, for but a moment, she beheld two pairs of radiant wings amongst the ponies before her. She snarled and thought to herself, Has Shariel returned?

As she contemplated the situation, time began to slow and ultimately came to a stop. Azazandra felt a twinge of dread tingle over her spine as a shadowy figure materialized before her. The shadow's features began to define themselves as it ran a 'hand' across Azazandra's muzzle, revealing hooved goat legs, a long, forked tail, gnarled horns, and a horse-like face. The shadow's touch was strangely comforting to Azazandra, and she tried to push her paralyzed body forwards to stay in contact as the shadow withdrew.

"Azazandra... My beautiful Azazandra," the shadow cooed in a feminine voice.

"Who are you?" Azazandra demanded.

"All shall be revealed to you, but not right now," the shadow said. "Your life, and the lives of every demon that walks amongst the shadowed lands, are in peril."

The shadow appeared to fade, then moved forwards, gently clasping both of its 'hands' around Azazandra's face. "You must run, Azazandra. You can not fall here."

The shadow's voice and touch brought forth some long forgotten memories to Azazandra's mind. She closed her eyes and began to witness a vision from the past. She was very, very young and lying in a hammock made from vines. A figure appeared by her side and began to gently rock the hammock while reciting a verse. "Wrapped in the guise of a foal shall She walk amongst the innocent..."

The vision ended and Azazandra looked at the shadow in disbelief. M-mother? She wasn't certain, but in her heart she knew it to be true. "What do I need to do?"

"You must return to Netheria at once, Azazandra. My power is quickly waning in this wretched place, but I will provide the means for your escape," the shadow said.

The shadow placed one of its 'hands' on Azazandra and the other on Lucifiona. The shadow used Lucifiona's simulacrum powers to create a copy of Azazandra's host, Ravenmane, then sighed. "Do not worry about your sisters, Azazandra. These Valkyr can only trap them, not slay them. Soon the prophecy shall be fulfilled, and we will be reunited at last. Now, flee, my darling, flee before you are destroyed and all hope is lost!"

Azazandra shimmered herself away from the canyon floor and hunkered down behind a rocky outcropping and gazed towards the time-frozen battle in the canyon below. She felt the shadow's presence behind her and turned to see the shadow form into a swirling vortex - a portal to Pandemaneium.

"Come, Azazandra. It is time for you to claim your destiny," the shadow whispered.

Azazandra's instincts told her to be wary of the strange shadow, it possessed incredibly powerful demonic abilities after all, but her heart told her it had spoken the truth. Time began to return to its normal speed as Azazandra took one last look at the combatants in the canyon, then stepped through the portal, leaving her sisters and the simulacrum to face the Valkyr's so-called justice.