Well, I don't really have much to say at this point. I've recently built and setup a new gaming PC, so that's been distracting me for quite a while. Smooth framerates... Ultra settings for games... seriously, how could one NOT go wrong with a Ryzen 7 3700x and an RTX 2060 Super? So, anyway, not to ramble on about that, let's continue with the story!
Aversion, having lost consciousness, found himself in a pitch-black limbo. It was here that he contemplated everything that happened up to this point.
"How did things get this bad?" He asked himself. "I should've never agreed to participate in that cult rite..."
Suspended in nothing, he sulked. He thought worryingly about the thought of what might happen if he were to die. He knew that now was not the time for regrets, but knowing how weak he was in the waking world, he did not think they had enough time to permanently banish the shadow pony from his psyche.
"I could never be able to go on without Luna..." Aversion said to himself, "...whether it's this life, or wherever I would go after death... it would be the worst."
After a bit of sulking... his eyebrows came down, firm with determination.
"No!" He said. "I can't be thinking like that! Lulu means the world to me... and I would go above and beyond anything for her! No matter what happens, I need to grow myself a backbone, and not sit back letting her handle every single problem I have anymore! So... whenever you're ready, Lulu... I'll be ready to help in any way I can!"
(XXXX)
Luna prepared the wards that would allow them both to directly access the Dream Void, and from there, would open a portal to Tartarus in the hopes of luring the shadow pony back to whence it came.
"It sure hope you know what you're doing," Celestia said.
Luna sighed. "So do I, sis."
"So," Scolus began, "is everything ready?"
"I believe so," Luna said.
The wards were arranged around the bed Aversion, who was unconscious, laid in, and a small mat where Luna would sit and enter the meditative state she would require to access the Dream Void without actually going to sleep.
"Okay..." Luna began, taking her spot, "...time to save my love."
The Princess of the Night did her best to clear her mind and achieve proper focus. She blocked out all distraction as Celestia and Scolus silently left the room. The world around her faded, and was replaced with an all-too-familiar realm that extended, seemingly to infinity, around her. Doors of various colors and patterns filled this place. She had successfully tranced herself enough to access the Dream Void while still conscious, albeit in a "sleepwalking," meditative state.
"Huh?" Came Aversion's voice.
Luna looked to her left to see that Aversion's consciousness was now present in the Dream Void with her, just as she surmised would happen. He did not appear very weak, as his physical body is what was being robbed of his energy.
"Good," Luna said. "You made it, Avey! Now comes the part we will need to do very quickly and very precisely. We have little room for mistakes, given your condition."
Aversion glanced around. "So... what exactly do we need to do?"
"First," Luna began, "we need to lure out the shadow pony... using you as bait."
"Me?" Aversion asked.
Luna nodded. "We must get it to come after you, since you're what it's attuned to, so that it may follow us to be imprisoned for eternity in... Tartarus."
Aversion's eyes widened. "Tartarus?! Lulu, are you crazy?!"
Luna hung her head down. "I'm afraid it's the only chance we've got of disposing of it for good, in the limited time we have. If we had more time, there could be a number of other possibilities... but right now, we need to do this, and do it quick."
"Alright," Aversion said.
With that, the two set off right for Aversion's door that led to his subconscious, and soon enough, they found it.
"You will have no need to enter, Avey," Luna said. "If you do, you will simply end up back in your own mind, and we would have to start the rite all over again."
"Okay," Aversion said, stepping back.
Luna turned to face the door to Aversion's subconscious. "Alright, here we go..."
She opened the door and saw the shadow pony, in its massive form, blocking her path again. It let out its shrill scream yet again, but Luna stood her ground.
"FOOL!" Luna shouted in her Royal Canterlot voice. "DOTH THOU NOT KNOW OF THY HOST'S ABSENCE? FOR HE BE'TH OUT IN THE VOID WITH ME!"
Then she took of running, levitating Aversion onto her back, and spread her wings, taking to the air. The shadow pony peered through the doorway, and upon seeing that the stallion it was drawing life energy from was outside of his own mind, its eyes went wide... and then it lowered them into a pure, uncontrollable rage. It was not going to allow anything to steal away its host.
With a great deal of strength, it forced its way through the small door of Aversion's psyche, and galloped rapidly, in midair, to pursue the two. Aversion looked back, and his eyes widened as he clenched his teeth.
"Lulu..." he uttered, "...it's coming after us!"
"Excellent!" Luna said. "It did precisely what we needed it to do."
Flapping at her fastest sustainable speed, Luna powered up her horn, closed her eyes, and readied herself to open the portal to Tartarus. She channeled deep into her magic abilities, subtly chanting the incantations necessary and quickly remembered the type of arcane powers that would allow access to the corrupt plane of reality through the dream realm.
In due time, however, the portal opened up a ways in front of them, and Luna opened her eyes. Aversion bit his lower lip upon seeing the evil, red aura surrounding the gateway to what many often called "hell."
"Oh, geez..." he said, "...Tartarus... how did I get here?"
"It's gonna be alright, Avey," Luna said, the shadow pony in hot pursuit behind them.
They passed through the portal to the dark realm, and the shadow pony had no hesitation following through. The first thing that met them were towering pillars of stone that surrounding several holding areas atop bottomless mountains. Luna and Aversion were both in a spectral form, but even then, the cells were impenetrable. If they were not careful, they would be trapped in Tartarus forever.
"Okay, Avey," Luna said. "Here comes the hard part. Hold on tight!"
She did a half-barrel-roll, and flipped herself back upright, so that she was facing the shadow pony. Her horn glowed briefly, before she fired a bolt of light-blue light at the demon. In response, it shot two side-by-side bolts of dark-red energy from both eyes. Soon, it was an absolute dogfight, with the two going back and forth at each other, trying to hit each other, and swiftly dodging offensive blows from the other.
Aversion squeezed Luna so tight, she could hardly breathe, but her adrenaline was more than sufficient to keep her going. Needless to say, it was very intense, but Aversion did his best to cope, as Luna was clearly the only one able to directly confront the malevolent entity. She flew through several empty cells, trying to trap the shadow pony in one with a magic energy field, only for it to react a few milliseconds too late, reopening as there was nothing inside.
"COME AT ME!" Luna shouted. "FOR THOU ART PROLONGING THINE INEVITABLE, ETERNAL PENALTY FOR ATTEMPTED MURDER OF A LIVING CIVILIAN OF EQUESTRIA!"
Aversion, glancing around, trying to figure out what could be going wrong, realized what might be able to aid in Luna's effort to trap the creature.
It's ME it wants... he thought.
Once they were passing a cell parallel with the stairs, Aversion allowed himself to fall off Luna's back and onto the passageway. He hit the stairs and rolled, but because he was in a spectral form, he was not injured. Regardless, Luna looked back, neglecting to try closing the cell.
"AVEY!" She called back. "What are you doing?!"
The shadow pony noticed that Aversion had fallen as well, and hastily stopped, turning back to face its host. Aversion stood, stomping into the cell, and glaring at the parasitic, dark being.
"I'm right here!" He shouted. "You want me?! Come get me!"
The shadow pony glared right back, and began to make its way toward Aversion, but not at a very high speed.
"I'm not afraid of you!" Aversion shouted.
The stallion then back himself inside of a large cage, which happened to be in the cell he was at. Luna stared, utterly shocked at his impulsive actions.
"Avey, stop!" Luna said. "It's enchanted!"
The shadow pony dart at Aversion as he made his way inside the cage, which began to glow a deep purple color, and began to close. Right as it was about to close, the stallion already planned his next move, thanks to a special perk he received a little earlier. As the shadow pony shot its way into the cage to get him, he grabbed the outermost bar of the closing door, and like a gymnast, swung himself around to the other side, just barely missing the door closing right on him. The door latched into place, and the shadow pony was now trapped inside.
Luna, absolutely astonished by what just happened, glided down next to her coltfriend. "Avey... what was that?"
"I knew it was after me," Aversion said. "The only way it would stop is if it were to get me. So, that's why I did what I did. And, I might just have to thank Blueblood about that night he tried to make me float away, since the flexibility affected my spirit, apparently, too!"
Luna smiled. "That was amazing, Avey! I never would've thought to do something like that."
The shadow pony, now more furious than ever, started pounding on the door of the cage, but it was unbreakable, and it could not do anything to escape. Luna and Aversion watched in relief as his subconscious nemesis was now completely helpless, unable to do anything further to him.
"Well, we did it," Aversion said.
"Indeed," Luna said. "T'was an intense fight, but we managed to make it through."
However, Aversion noticed that the environment darkened briefly before brightening again, and it continued to do so for him.
"Uh, Lulu...?" He asked.
Luna looked at him, and saw that he was fading in and out. Her heart sank as she realized what this meant.
"Oh no, Avey!" She said. "You're running low on life energy! Your link to the living world is beginning to break!"
Aversion gasped as his eyes went wide again.
"Come on!" Luna said, levitating him onto her back. "We must get back and revitalize your physical body, before it's too late!"
Flying as fast as she possibly could, Luna flew back out through the portal they came, the shadow pony letting out a final, vengeful scream at the two. It sat and watched as the portal closed after the two went through it, and it cried so loud, its otherworldly voice could be heard all across Tartarus. As this happened... the parallel world grew much darker, more silent as the scream faded, and colder. Just the power of the shadow pony's anger being released was more than enough to alter the very somber mood of the place, and make it even worse.
Tartarus had become stark and barren, even moreso than it originally had been.
In the meanwhile, Luna and Aversion made it back to the Dream Void, setting down right in front of Aversion's door.
"Go in!" Luna said. "Go back into your psyche! I'll see you in just a moment, Avey!"
"Okay!" Aversion said, going through the door-portal to his mind and closing it behind him.
Luna immediately focused a surge of magic to the tip of her horn, and it shot back down into her brain, giving her a hefty jolt.
(XXXX)
The Princess awoke from her meditation, and saw that Aversion was still as weak as ever. He stirred a bit, but it was not very promising. She immediately rushed over to his side, and focused all her spare energy into him, in the hopes of restoring his lost energy... but given how much she used for the events that transpired, she feared it would not be enough.
"A-Avey...?" Luna stammered, tears filling her eyes.
Aversion opened his eyes, slowly and subtly. "...A-ah... Lulu..."
He took very slow, shaky breaths.
"...We..." Aversion uttered slowly, "...we... did it..."
"Yes," Luna said, "but... I really don't know, Avey... how... w-we..."
She began to realize that Aversion was beyond any chance of recovery at this point, with how much of it has been siphoned out of him by the shadow pony. Even though it was no longer in him, he was basically running on fumes. His spirit was already in the process of departing from his physical body. As far as anypony, even the best arcane scholars knew, there was no way to reverse this process... and Aversion himself could feel that there was no coming back from this.
"...I-I..." Aversion strained to speak, "...I'm scared... L-Lulu... I don't... wanna... d-die..."
"I know, A-Avey..." Luna said, taking Aversion's hoof in her own.
Aversion swallowed slowly, before speaking again, his voice even more slurry and raspy. "...I just... have... to wonder... Lulu. How do... you... cope... with... living for... forever...? How... do you... have the... will... to... keep going...?"
Luna lowered her gaze momentarily, tears beginning to fall. "...I don't know. Even after all this time, I just don't know. But... right now..." she sniffled, "...I-I'm... losing that will... to p-persevere...!"
She then pulled her weak, dying coltfriend into a gentle hug. He did not even have the strength to lift his forelegs anymore. After a good long while of this, she let go and looked him in the eye again.
"...Lulu..." Aversion spoke, "...I just want... you to know... you... made the last part... of my life... the best it's... ever... been..."
He used the last of his physical strength to place his hoof atop Luna's, which made the latter begin to let off her sobs.
"...G-goodbye... Lu... lu..." Aversion barely uttered, using up his final breath. "...I... l-love you... so... m... much..."
His eyes closed, Aversion's head tipped off to one side, his mouth slightly open. The hoof his placed on Luna's ended up slipping right back off, fully limp.
(XXXX)
Celestia was pacing around anxiously... up until she caught sight of the aura stone that was attuned to Aversion. It's minimally-noticeable, dim light, faded completely to darkness as she watched. The breath escaped from her throat.
"No...!" Celestia said. "Oh no... Lulu!"
(XXXX)
Luna was completely unable to process what had just transpired. She remained frozen for a good long while. It was not until the door to the room opened when she realized that Scolus entered the room.
"Luna?" He asked. "How is it going? Did it work?"
Luna, slowly and remorsefully, looked at the changeling drone, and upon seeing her tear-filled eyes, and Aversion laying motionless, the realization hit Scolus... hard.
"...N-no..." he uttered, "...no... not my buddy...! No!"
He rushed over to the side of the bed, taking a good, long look. Hyperventilation took over his regular breathing patterns, and tears began to appear in his eyes. Luna, in desperation, nudged Aversion, hoping, praying, that somehow, someway, he could awaken.
"Avey... wake up! Please awaken!" Luna begged.
She charged her horn with powerful magic, and touch the tip of it to Aversion' chest. There was a flash of light... but nothing happened.
"A-Avey..." Luna said, beginning to cry. "...please... d-don't do this to m-me...! Don't go... wh-where I can't follow...! P-please, Avey...! Please... don't g-go to sleep... forever...!"
"AV!" Scolus uttered as he began to cry. "Y-you're my best b-b-buddy! Best buddies... s-stick together! FOREVER!"
Luna, entirely despondent, pressed her ear to Aversion's chest. She did not hear even a single, familiar thump of his heart. Just literal dead silence. This is when the realization truly, and deeply, hit her. A reality she was just not willing to accept...
...Aversion was dead.
Oh, no... :'( Poor Aversion! Well, this was quite a tragedy, wasn't it? Or... with this not being the last chapter, could I have something else in mind? I guess you'll all just have to wait and find out. Until then, I'll catch you all later! Keep holding on...