Chapter 20

Boss Battle: The Gazer

The now massive party carefully approached the Gazer's stronghold. At the bridge stood the two ogres from before, but they were now twisted and malformed, turned into truly horrid monsters to behold. They waved the adventurers near and bade them cross. An honor guard of bone warriors was ready to escort them across. They all a horrid, black eye painted across their foreheads.

"The Gazer is using a spell to control them," Spike whispered to the others. "He'll have a small army stolen from the Squizzard to help protect him!"

"Got it," Twilight said. "Be on your guard every pony!"

The interior of the palace felt wrong somehow. True, there were the walls all painted in black with a strange, purplish ooze coming from between the cracks in the stonework. And there were the creepy blue lights and flames that illuminated the castle. And there were all kinds of pictures that depicted gross scenes or torture and mutilation. But it was the oppressively cold atmosphere, as if someone had sucked all hope from the place.

Spike was glad that he had so many of his friends here to back him up. This battle with the Gazer was going to be a hard one. They were led to the hall where they had first encountered the floating sack of eyes. It was decorated like the rest of the castle, and the Gazer hovered opposite from them on the other side of the hall. He cackled with delight when he saw them enter.

"Wonderful! Wow! This goes beyond even my wildest expectations! Your friends managed to make it here and you even met up with them. That is most impressive! A feat of adventuring and storytelling that few game masters manage to achieve without pulling some dues ex machina or another!"

"Who wants to dance Dosey-Doe with a machine?" Applejack asked confused.

"It's a plot device meant to wrap up everything nicely when there is literally no other way to make a happy ending possible," the Gazer said in his terrible voice. "Now, stop there! And show me the figurines!"

"How do we know that you will let us free once we do?" Starlight challenged.

"You… I had thought I had managed to get rid of you, but I guess one minion wasn't enough. Well, my dear pony, my word is the best that you have in avoiding a terrible fate."

"For whatever that's worth," Applejack muttered.

"Yup!"

"Oh my! He's so much worse in person that what his picture made him out to ne," Fluttershy said with a shudder.

"What, no positive word for how we might be able to redeem him?" Discord asked flatly. "Not that I am complaining, but this feels so out of character for you, Fluttershy!"

"Th-This entire p-p-place f-feels wrong," she stammered with fright.

"Enough!" the Gazer snapped. "I can feel that you have my trinkets. No more stalling!"

Black lightning zapped the Sack of Belonging. Tongs of the black electricity then shot out and hit the four pedestals in the corners of the hall. The figurines appeared there.

Pinkie shouted crossly, "Hey! That goes against the rules! You aren't able to mess with the Sack of Belongings' content unless they are taken out because they exist on another plane of existence that can only be accessed through the opening!"

"Woah! Is that even possible?" Twilight asked, suddenly distracted by this fascinating magical tidbit.

"It's my game, my rules," The Gazer said smugly. "As you might have already deduced, I was the one who locked you all here and made the rules for how this game operates. And you all played wonderfully into the roles and goals I had set for all of you."

Spike felt a chill crawl up his spine as he felt that someone, or something else entered the hall. It was as if another Presence had slid into the room. He couldn't pinpoint where it came from, but he saw the immediate effect as the Gazer grew in size and all of his eyes blazed with magical powers.

"Keys. You are all such lovely forged keys. The insertion was such a tiny one, but it was enough to craft a lock with your own fantasy world, Spike. And then you and your friends became the keys. And I am the result of your horrible mistakes, and the demise of your pathetic wish fulfillment fantasies! Hahahaha!"

Starlight and rarity both placed a hoof on Spike's shoulders.

"None of this is your fault," Starlight insisted. "Whatever this monster is, it has been using you."

"There is nothing wrong in having fun and enjoying your fantasies with friends," Rarity maintained. "He is the one has corrupted something that was just meant to be fun!"

Spike bowed his head and mumbled, "Thanks you two."

"Ha! Friendship! It can be powerful, I guess, but against the powers that I now command, your oversized party is nothing!"

There was a terrible cracking sound the echoed around the entire hall. The group looked around and saw that the figurines were shattering and crumbling to dust. As they did, black, ethereal versions of each boss emerged to fill the rest of the hall. The Windigo, the cockatrice, the hydra, and the chimera. The hall shifted and became an empty plane of existence with a black and reddish sky overhead. The team stood atop a bubbling disc of purple ooze. The Gazer had transported them to another realm, one where he held the sole advantage.

"Despite what five of you think, seeing hell and being in hell are two very different things," The Gazer laughed.

The ball of eyes reared back laughing. Each demonic eye crinkled with mirth at their plight. The four bosses floated through the dark sky, encircling the disc. The bone warriors readied themselves, their own swords and spears ringed with black fire. Murder was in their eyes.

"Enough of this! Let us beg-"

BANG!

The Gazer was cut off with the resounding thunder crack, followed by an immediate splut. Thick, creamy pie covered the monster's entire face and blinded his main, central eye. As he screamed in rage, confetti covered the party. They all turned to see a smirking Pinkie Pie next to makeshift party cannon and the Sack of Belongings on the oozing floor, open.

"That was what all your shopping trips were about!?" Spike shouted.

"Yup! And there's a lot more where that came from!" Pinkie yelled, firing the cannon again. A series of fireworks blasted into the dark sky and went off all around the Gazer. The monster tried to flee from the bright light and sparks that were blinding his other nine eyes. "Some pony throw all the traps we have into the cannon! We can use this to weaken him and bring him down!"

"On it," Fluttershy said resolutely.

The ethereal boss monsters roared and dove for the kill.

"Someone needs to put these guys back into the grave," Discord said smugly, summoning a lance of bright fire on his bow.

"We got this too!" Spike said as he spun to face the Windigo. Starlight turned to face the chimera, and Twilight stared down the cockatrice.

Three powerful spells went off and a magical lance exploded. The ethereal bosses still came in for the kill. A beam of petrifying magic escaped the red, nearly disembodied eyes of the cockatrice. At the last second, a lasso took it around one of its top spines. Applejack and Big Mac yanked hard on the rope and it fell sideways, blasting one half of the bone warriors, turning them to stone.

"They still have all their abilities?" Rainbow Dash yelled in frustration! "No fair! We have to take them out quick, or we're all goners!"

She proceeded to barrel into the remaining bone warriors, trying to shatter them. They slashed at her with their burning blades. She deployed her ball bearing, tripping up some of them. The explosions caused strange ripples to flow across the disc. But better yet, they sent the bone warriors flying. She bucked them right off the disc and careening into the infinite gloom.

The cockatrice screamed and tried to throw off Big Mac and Applejack. The brother charged with his adamantine sword and plunged it into one of the deadly eyes. It was immediately extinguished, and the creature went fuzzy for a moment. Applejack's lasso fell right through it. The sister cursed under her breath and reeled in the lasso to use it again.

Twilight was using her incredible magic to hold the hydra at bay, but one of the heads rose up higher than the others and dispelled her magic. It then countered with a lightning blast right at her. Discord swung around and launched his electric arrow right through the blast. Same as before it absorbed the incredible attack and rebounded it. The magical head conjured up a shield and protected itself. But Twilight too the opportunity to summon magic ropes that bound the mouths and heads of its compatriots together.

Spike leaped back as the Windigo slammed its front paws into the disc. Black, thorny vines erupted from the purple ooze and shot out to entangle the party members. All three magic users, the archer, the bard and the cleric were all wrapped up and squeezed they felt their vitality being drained from them. Strange figures rose up from the ick and began to take form.

"NOPE!" Big Mac yelled as he dashed in and swung in his blade in a whirlwind, severing the vines. His friends collapsed onto the strange floor, gasping for breath.

"Fluttershy, quickly, we need you to cast a Party-wide heal!" Spike cried out as loud as he could; he felt really weak after getting hit by those vines.

The Windigo howled and jumped in for the kill.

Applejack's lasso took it around the paw and Rainbow Dash zoomed in from the opposite direction, a rainbow streaking out behind her. She slammed with all her might into the Windigo and set it off its intended course. Applejack strained but managed to turn the entire boss into a massive melee weapon. She swung it right around into the cockatrice, nocking them both down and into the gloom.

The magical hydra broke Twilight's spell and the heads all snapped forward for the kill. The chimera appeared right behind Rainbow Dash and smacked her hard, sending her crashing back onto the disc. The remaining bone warriors charged to finish her off. Applejack raced to save her friend, but a fireball came between her and Rainbow Dash.

Fluttershy spoke the magical words to heal her party and Spike cast up a shield. It rebuffed the heads but was shattered in the process. Big mac swung hard and severed one head entirely. He then realized with shock what he had just done.

"Oops."

As one faded away three more sprouted violently from the shorn neck and joined the fight. The Gazer managed to wipe away the cream and blinked back its sight. It began laughing in its deep, horrible voice.

"You should all by now realize how futile this fight is-"

SPLUT!

Another pie took him right in the eye and he fell back, cursing. Pinkie had throw this one and readied her party cannon. With the other monsters preoccupied, she could fire off all the traps and bring down the Gazer. Strong, goopy hooves and claws snagged her from behind and dragged her away from the party cannon.

Fluttershy screamed in terror. The strange shapes that had risen up from the ooze were replicas of herself and her friends. They were misshapen and not entirely formed, since the Windigo's attack had not taken full effect. But still, violet eye gleamed mercilessly back at her as they trooped forward.

She saw a copy of herself, bear down, cackling with a voice that most certainly did not belong to her. She cowered in fright next to the cannon. She was then showered with ooze. She dare not look up until she heard Rarity's voice.

"Come Fluttershy dear, cover me while I try to save Pinkie! And if that cannon is ready, you should use it on the Gazer while we still have the chance."

It was miracle that Fluttershy was able to respond and got up. She saw her friend standing there all elegantly and beautiful with her amazing gown. Her horn was alight as she sent small beams of energy into the bodies of the misshapen clones, blasting them apart. They were trying to pull Pinkie to the edge, so Rarity had her work cut out.

Fluttershy glanced to the sides and saw the others fighting with the chimera and the hydra. They were all so engrossed in their fights that she was left entirely alone. Her lip trembled as she turned around as saw the Gazer drifting off. He would soon be out of range. Her mind then sharpened with focus.

This was the one who had trapped her friends in this game world. And it was he who was now trying to hurt them all! And he was completely unrepentant about it! She would have to teach him a lesson. She took aim with the cannon and fired.

All the traps that she and Pinkie had packed in erupted in maelstrom of grapeshot. Magicked rocks, ropes, and locks all flew at the Gazer. There was a series of explosions and then magical roped tied him up. Locks held him in place, and the stones weighed him down.

"GAAAAAAAH!" The Gazer fell hard into the ooze.

Taking such a violent action kicked in part of Fluttershy's backstory. Something that she had hoped she wouldn't have to use, because it was dangerous. But when she and the other girls had been planning out their characters and discussing what might be in this game, she took a chance…

A violent feeling welled up in her stomach and she collapsed to the floor, heaving.

"Fluttershy! Fluttershy!" Pinkie wailed. She managed to loosed her drums and began playing them.

Given her position, it was not enough to conjure up the explosive ball of energy, but it sent powerful vibrations through the clones, weakening the structure. They lost their hold of her and she fell with a splat onto the floor. Rarity kept up the attack, trying to make sure her friend was safe.

Meanwhile, Rainbow Dash was forced to use every trick in acrobatic arsenal to avoid getting hit with any cursed blades from the remaining bone warriors. She didn't know caused their weapons to be ringed with black flames, but she knew that she most definitely did not want to get so much as a scratch from any of them.

The chimera pounced and tried to bat at her, while the dragon's head continued firing off fireballs at Applejack to keep her at bay. Dash threw a knife at the chimera's face. It clattered off its strange body and fell harmlessly to the oozing ground. Applejack used her lasso to take a hold of the dragon's neck. The tail flailed about and took the Earth Pony for a ride. She yeehawed as she zipped through the air and finally let go to fall behind the lion and goat heads. She delivered two swift kicks, one to each head.

The boss monster tipped forward and fell on top of the bone warriors. Rainbow Dash just managed to get out of the way. Her friend smiled down at her.

"How did you guys ever manage without me?"

"The last four time we fought these guys one at a time!" the rogue protested. "Woah! Applejack! Look out!"

The chimera's body burst into black flames. The tongs of fire nearly took Applejack, but she raced back up the tail and whipped her lasso off the dragon. The monster roared with fury and stood up, becoming a chimera-shaped black flame.

"Oh boy, what do we do now?" Rainbow Dash muttered.

At the same time, the rest of the party was desperately fending off the hydra's advances. With Big Mac's mistake two more magical heads had joined the fight. It took everything from Spike, Twilight and Starlight to keep them at bay. It was spell after spell, and the small wizard knew that if they weren't careful, they could burn through all of their good spells and energy before they even completed the fight.

He chanced a glance behind himself and saw what had become of the chimera, but he thankfully recognized the magical flames. They were a corrupting flame that could be banished with purifying light. Something that Fluttershy could provide. But the normally kind pegasus pony was curled up and out of the fight.

"Fluttershy! We need you to cast some divine light on that chimera! Or it will defeat us all with a single touch!"

"Ugh… I can't… I feel so weak and in pain…"

Without taking his eyes off the enemy, Discord shouted, "You can do Fluttershy! We all believe in you! You are the only one who can do this! As the cleric, you help carry the party!"

Rarity had finally defeated the ooze clones, and she and Pinkie rushed back to pull their friend up. Fluttershy looked grey and about ready to barf, but she focused her swirling eyes on the chimera and reached for her magic.

"Divine light," she mumbled.

From her hoof burst a beam of purifying, divine light. The moment it touched the chimera, it blasted a hole right through its body. The beast did not recover. Rarity and Pinkie guided her hood to take out the three heads. With that, the flames disappeared in a flash and the chimera was no more.

"Well peel my apples and make me a pie, that was amazing!" Applejack exclaimed.

"The Gazer," Fluttershy said weakly.

The other ponies turned to see the final boss struggling against his boned. Each tentacle with an eye was bound up and all he could do was glare at them with his dirtied, massive eye. It began to glow violet and Fluttershy and Rarity both felt their magic fail them. But Applejack and Rainbow Dash did not miss the opportunity and feel on the boss, beating him up.

"Let's throw him over the side! That should finish him!" Rainbow Dash snarled.

Together, they bucked the Gazer right over the side. Cheering, they clopped their hooves together. They had just bested the final boss!

There was a strangled howl and the Windigo leaped up onto the disc. The Gazer was in its mouth. The cockatrice followed, flying through the air. Both of its eyes were perfectly operational once again. The Windigo ground its teeth together and broke the Gazer's bonds, freeing him. He sped away from the ethereal mouth and glared down angrily at the adventurers. They had certainly been more of a nuisance than he had anticipated. He would give them that. And they had even bested one of his slaves.

"You will all pay for this!" he screeched.

One eye reached out and gazed at the party cannon, setting it ablaze. Another gazed down at Rainbow Dash. Her eyes glazed over and her mouth slid open somewhat. Applejack began asking, "Uh, Dash, are you alright?" Rainbow Dash slugged her friend in the mouth.

"He's controlling Dash with his eye of controlling!" Pinkie yelled.

"His what?" Applejack asked furiously.

"Every single one of his eyes can perform a special and powerful spell! Watch out!"

The cockatrice swung around to shoot its petrifying beam right at the rest of the beleaguered party. But it was then that Twilight came in clutch with a brilliant idea. It was something that she thought up of after her last encounter with these foul beasties. She summoned a mirror and reflected the powerful beam right the hydra. The many headed monster howled in surprise as it began turning to stone. Twilight's mirror broke and Starlight tackled her out of the way.

Spike used a levitating spell on Big Mac. He nodded to his friend who gave a sharp nod back. The knight was ready to redeem himself after his blunder with the hydra. Spike hurled his friend in a spiral at the cockatrice, aiming for its gaping mouth. The greedy monster happily snapped down on Big Mac, but not before Spike used on last spell. An enlarging spell.

The cockatrice's eyes opened with shock and pain. Big Mac's sword erupted out the back of the monster's skull and it spun. The cockatrice boss fell apart as if it were an apple being peeled into oblivion. A massive Big Mac and his adamantine sword flew out of the shredded backside and landed on the disc with a crash. Waves of ooze crashed over the party.

However, they now cheered. The chimera had been healed to death, the cockatrice had been torn apart, and the hydra was now stone. But their celebrations were short-lived as the Windigo slammed its paws into the ground once more. The vines came and entangled the entire party this time. The draining effects of its attack washed over them, enfeebling them all. Clones were once more formed from the ooze.

Pinkie still kept her wits about her and used the drums to play the right song to embolden her teammates, shouting at them to break free. The one who heeded her first was not the player anyone expected. Fluttershy broke free, but she was not herself anymore. She had become Flutterbat.

The turned cleric snapped the vines into splinter with a powerful unfurling of her wings. She hissed and leaped onto the Windigo's face. She sank her fangs into the beast and began draining its life away. It went from ethereal and dark to light pale and began losing form.

"Deal with her," the Gazer instructed.

Rainbow Dash shot out and plunged a knife deep into Flutterbat's side. They both tumbled with a scream into the ooze. But Flutterbat's quick attack had weakened the effects of the Windigo's spell. Spike was able to slip free, and though he felt drained he cast a spell of small lights around the Gazer, blinding his eyes and causing him to blink. Rainbow Dash was freed of the dominance spell.

"Oh no! What have I done?"

"Don't worry about that! Go to the Sack of Belongings; there are some healing potions there! Use them on her," Pinkie said desperately as she pulled out all the stops for her one-pony band. As the bard, this is where she came in to try and rescue everything.

She took a deep breath and then laid into the music. This was not one of her normal peppy tunes, or even some kind of frantic music. It was a noble battle song that she played. Until they got their cleric back into play, they were all weak, but her teammates could be envigored to keep fighting to the very last point of HP. That was what she could do for them.

The song began empowering her friends and they moved forward. Applejack was down before the Gazer, who was retreating from the light. He used his middle eye to dispel the globules of light and free his other eyes from being blinded. He blinked at Spike and shifted right behind him.

"His warp eye!" Spike yelled before being heavily electrocuted.

Twilight spun to help her friend, but her magic was cut off by the gaze of the middle eye. Another eye raised up to cast its devastating spell, but an arrow hit it and the eye exploded. Gore splattered all over the ponies.

"I believe that is your incinerating eye done for," Discord gloated, drawing another arrow. It disappeared as the Gazer swept around to him.

There was another violent blast and a second eye erupted, spraying blood and flesh in every direction. The Gazer howled in frustration and pain before shifting again and this time the Windigo appeared before them. It was slow and lethargic after getting drained by Flutterbat, but it still swept the part aside with its massive paws.

The sound of thunder echoed above and Rainbow Dash dropped like a meteor on top of the Windigo's head, drilling it into the floor. Flutterbat sped after her, fangs ready to bite into the pony who had stabbed her. Fleck of healing potion flew off her lips.

Pinkie directed her music to Flutterbat, changing her tune. The monster flopped right onto Rainbow Dash who pleaded with her friend to not suck her dry. However, Fluuterbat merely blinked and sniffed at Rainbow Dash before turning again on the Windigo and resumed to suck it dry.

"Wh-What was that!?"

"Charming animals," Pinkie replied, exhausted.

"You must all think yourselves really proud to have come so far," the Gazer snarled. "But I shall tear you apart as you fight yourselves! Gaaaaah-ouch!"

He was pulled back with a grizzly ripping sound. Applejack had stumbled back onto her feet and her lasso had taken another eye. "Not even kicks from Rainbow Dash can keep me down for long!" she said fiercely as she gave a massive tug.

The boss screamed with pain and all his eyes contracted as a third eye was torn right out of his body. Applejack then headbutted the floating monstrosity closer to her friends. Because the Windigo's vines had not taken hold of Rainbow Dash or Applejack they were free to attack. The rogue sped through the bodies of the misshapen clones, splattering their ooze everywhere.

"Awesome! Now we just need to take on the Gazer," Spike said fiercely, still feeling emboldened by Pinkie's song despite his exhaustion. "Spread out! He can't look at all of us at the same time. And he's down to seven eyes now!"

The Gazer glared at Spike, cancelling out his magic. He shifted Applejack with a blink and sent her careening right into a spell fired from Twilight. Another eye glanced over at Starlight and covered her in ice. Discord went slack jawed and dreamy eyed ad he turned and began firing shots at Rainbow Dash, forcing her to swerve away from the battle.

"I may not have the firepower that the other bosses have, but even three eyes down, I am more than enough for this!"

One eye snaked out and blinked at the petrified hydra. The stone began cracking and the statue started squirming. He was dispelling the very spell that had petrified the hydra! Big Mac crashed into the boss monster and tried to push the massive thing over the side. The Gazer laughed at his vain efforts.

Pinkie summoned a ball of energy and fired it at the Gazer. He turned towards he and nullified the spell's effects. This gave Spike enough time to whip to the side and shatter the ice around Starlight. She thanked him in a quivering voice, plums of frost rising with her breath.

The Windigo collapsed into nothing and Fluttebat charged the Gazer. The boss gave her a frightened look and the eye that had been used on the hydra blinked at her. She squeaked and crashed into the ooze, rapidly turning back into her normal self.

"She gave herself a curse. Foolish girl," the Gazer muttered. "Finish her off!"

Discord aimed an arrow right at her. The shot went wide as Big Mac turned to tackle him. The hyrda roared as it began breaking free of the stone.

"Ugh! This is not the kind of game I like to play," Applejack complained.

"I'm so sorry!" Twilight apologized. "His magic is not like anything I've seen before."

"We know that he still has his controlling eye, his teleporting eye, his dispelling eye, and the eye that cancels out all of his magic. Not to forget his ice eye, too," Spike said quickly. "He hasn't used his shocking eye or incinerating eye, which might mean that we've already blinded them."

"Like I would tell you," the Gazer sneered.

"Which means that the others could be his sleep eye, his gravitation eye, or his cease eye," Spike continued. "All of those can still be dangerous in this case."

"I think the hydra will soon require more of your attention," The Gazer laughed as one head belched a thick cloud of poisonous gas.

"Quick! Get Fluttershy up so she can heal us from the poison," Spike called to anyone who would listen

Rainbow Dash fell again out of the sky with the force of a falling mountain, determined to flatten the Gazer. One of his eyes snapped upwards and stopped her in midfall. As Rarity dove for Fluttershy, she was teleported right into Spike, knocking him down. Twilight began to use a spell and the Gazer turned to her, cancelling out her magic. Applejack fought her way back to her feet but the collapsed into a heap as another eye peered out at her.

"We're forcing him to use all of his powers!" Spike shouted. "He wants to pin us down for the hydra to finish us off!"

"Clever little dragon," the boss hissed.

"Exactly," Spike said with a grin. He cast a small spell to tear Rainbow Dashes pockets. All of her exploding ball bearing fell on top of the Gazer. They exploded and a cloud of ashen smoke enveloped the boss. He coughed and wheezed, moving out of the plume of smoke. But more importantly, he lost visual contact with the party. Discord returned to normal, as did the others.

Rarity again dashed for Fluttershy and shook her awake right as the poisonous gases fell. The hydra was nearly completely free, and all the heads were raining down attacks on the party. Twilight and Starlight tried to shield everyone from the downpour of devastation. Discord took wild aim and punctured a fourth eye on the Gazer.

Freed from the Gazer's ceasing eye, Rainbow Dash came boxing, hitting the central eye and making the boss reel backwards once again. She reattached her horseshoes and zapped the Gazer, discombobulating him. Spike rushed forward and cast his own fireball, further damaging the final boss.

Fluttershy was up once more and cast her highest curing spell, ridding the air of the poison and restoring massive health to the party. The Gazer shouted in frustration, but he was now on the ropes.

The hydra was not entirely free, its feet were still petrified. Applejack and Big Mac shared a look. They rushed to work together and tip the last ethereal boss over. With their impressive strengths combined, they toppled the roaring beast, sending it crashing right towards the Gazer. An eye snaked out and made the hydra lighter than air. It floated over the battlefield.

"He's going to drop it down on top of us and flatten us," Spike warned.

"Precisely!"

"Every creature in!" Twilight shouted.

The entire party dove for their friend as she used a teleportation spell. Spike threw himself into the middle of the Gazer's field of vision so he could not cancel out Twilight's spell. The hydra dropped with increased weight due to a manipulation of gravity. The disc nearly broke under the beast's fall. The party appeared in a burst of sparkles right on top of it. The Gazer was livid.

Discord shot off a normal arrow and punctured a fifth eye, the one capable of teleporting. The Gazer realized with sudden clarity just how much trouble he was in. He was down to half of his eyes and had lost most of his support. He blinked a wave of ice washed over the party.

Starlight was ready for him this time and she broke the ice. He canceled out her magic but was then blasted with numerous other spells. He was wounded all over and slumping towards the rippling ground.

"Now that it comes to it… I don't want to die," he said softly.

A massive sword took him right through the pupil as Big Mac delivered the killing blow. The large pony had rushed him right in a moment of self-doubt and distraction. It had cost him his life. The final boss gurgled, and foam spilled out of his crooked mouth.

"Fine," he frothed. "Be free."

There as an explosion of darkness that washed all over the party. For a moment they were all blinded.

The sun was nearly down, and the shadows were lengthened. Night was on the horizon and the first few stars were beginning to appear above Ponyville. The map room was still locked tightly shut. There was no one in the hallway. A black mist leaked out from underneath the doors and a Shadow pulled itself free.

It quickly crawled along the ground, seeking to escape the castle. Phase two of the mission was about to begin. It disappeared into the darkening twilight hours.

The party found themselves outside in the middle of a scorched ring. There was a bridge with two undead ogres guarding it. They looked at the party and roared, charging forward. However, the rest of the Squizzard's palace was nowhere to be seen. It had been entirely obliterated.

"Soooo, did we win?" Rainbow Dash asked, trying to keep her knees from shaking.

"Let's see," Discord mused. He snapped his fingers as the two ogres approached. They were immediately changed into shrubberies. "The answer is yes!"

"Then get us out of here!" Rarity pleaded.

Discord snapped his fingers again and they all reappeared in the map room. They collapsed into a heap, totally spent after that final battle. The doors swung open and a nice, cool breeze wafted into the room.

"You know Spike, I think we need to talk about your hobbies," Twilight weakly joked.

"Yeah, next time I need to read the label more closely," he admitted.

"And next time I think we should just keep guys' night between us guys," Discord whispered. "Trying to impress the girls requires too much effort!"

Spike sat up and then realized something. "Hey! We actually all managed to play together! That is what I wanted, though it didn't happen the way I expected. I was hoping that it would be more gradual, and um…"

"More enjoyable?" Pinkie prompted.

"Yeah, that," Spike replied, blushing.

"Well, that dress was quite lovely. If we could tone it down on the fighting, maybe?" Rarity asked.

Big Mac shook his head.

"What?" Rainbow Dash gasped. "But that's the best part!"

"It was fun working together, but we can do that outside of games like these," Applejack said. "However, take away the likeliness of death, and it could be entertaining for one good go around."

"Yup!"

"Like I said, next guys' night is just us," Discord maintained. The others laughed at that.

Finally, Twilight asked, "Spike, where are the things that you guys were using that might have caused this whole curse? It was unlike anything I have ever before seen!"

The little dragon hauled himself up to the table, but his new game master manual and game pieces were nowhere to be seen.

"I think that this is something that could wait until the morning," Starlight yawned. "How far could a book get on its own?"

"You'd be surprised," Discord muttered.

"I agree with Starlight, we should all get some sleep and then work this out in the morning."

The group finally agreed and Twilight summoned sleeping bags for all of them. But as Spike began nodding off (which did not take long for any of them!), he felt the oppressive nature of the curse game lift off him. They were free and the quest was done. They all slept well.

Spike and his friends never found the book. The ponies in the game shop could not remember what they had sold him. The receipt was missing, too. All traces of the curse left Ponyville. But they were felt far away, as something began stirring.

A power that sought something precious. Something that could be discovered out there in the wide lands of this world, or maybe even at the very heart of Equestria…

TO BE CONTINUED…