Temple of Life

Following the short way through the tunnel, Twilight noticed dim light. Stepping out of the tunnel she saw more wooden walkways attached to the walls, lanterns of somesorts hanging beneath them.

Leaning forward she looked down, into a chasm. She gulped as she saw the ground a dozen of meters beneath her. Looking up she saw the walkway split. The two paths leading through rifts in the canyon. Walking the few steps to the left path she glimpsed around the corner, an empty hut coming into view. With a mental note and a nod, she turned around, walking to the right path. The right path seemed to widen right behind the crevasse.

Squeezing through the gap she found herself at a much wider part of the chasm. The ground beneath her lit by more lanterns and even some fires. Looking to her left she saw a walkway leading down to the ground beneath. Adding these information to the map in her head she leaned over the edge, looking straight down.

A Duppie sat at the fire, gazing into the flames, ignoring her for now. Tilting her head a little she saw a tunnel to her right. In the middle of the chasm, and on height with her walkway, was a strange wooden platform on a rack.

Not the platform was strange, more the place it was standing. Furrowing her brows at the weird placement of the rack, she looked back up. To her right, on her walkway, was another tunnel leading deeper into the canyon.

And on the other side of the chasm, far away, was another dark tunnel.

Twilight shook her head. 'I feel like a mole...' Ignoring her mental complaints for now she walked towards the tunnel to her right, glimpsing over to the platform and the other tunnel.

She heard the creaking of the walkway beneath her hooves, groaning at the weight of her small body.

CRACK!

Twilight screamed as the wood underneath her gave way.

Landing with a sickening thud, Twilight screamed at the sudden pain. The unbearable pain flashing through her left backleg. The unbearable pain of...

Twilight hissed in pain, biting her lip as she looked down at her leg.

It was backwards and twisted, the bone poking through the flesh. She twitched with her leg, her groan turning into a loud whine as new pain flashed through her brain.

Tears began to well.

She heard something.

Surpressing her groans and whines as best as she could she looked up.

The Duppie she had seen before... was standing only a few steps away.

"Meat?" He hissed, taking a step closer. "Ohhh.... meeeeeaaaaaaat!" He shrieked at her.

"No!" Twilight screamed, dragging herself away, more pain echoing through her body. "Get away from me!" She sobbed.

"Meat!" The Duppie charged at her, his bladed arms pointing to the sky, ready to strike.

"NO!!" She screamed, firing one of her spikes at him, his chest.

The spike dropped to the ground with an loud, almost deafening clunk.

Twilight's eyes widened, focussed on the spike.

The Duppie was now right over her, his arms slashing down.

His left arm scraped her chest, missing her.

The other dug deep into her chest, piercing her ribs.

She screamed in new agony, looking up into the dark, glimmering eyes of her assailant. Her hooves clasped around his arm, pulling weakly at the blade, as a cough escaped her sore throat.

A second later, her sore throat was gone.

Now it added pierced to it's attributes.

She couldn't even cough now, only soft pained gargles escaped her broken throat. She heard and felt the creaking of her bones, the scraping of the Duppie's blades as he withdrew them from her body.

Falling over, she looked up to the whirling clouds. Her eyes began to jitter. Her breath was gone. Her body became numb.

'So this... is how I die...' Her thoughts were slow. She felt the blade of the Duppie enter her body again.

And again.

And again.

And again.

And...

She stopped feeling the pain.

She looked up, the Duppie was still attacking her, ripping pieces of her flesh out of her body.

But she didn't feel it anymore.

"You are undead." Michael's voice echoed through her mind. Her strangely calm mind.

She opened her mouth...

And her lungs began to work. She felt her strength returning to her body. She saw the Duppie pierce her flesh again and again, frantically cutting through her body. She saw her right frontleg lying next to her, twisted and mangled. She saw her own innards, the soft flesh of her own body. She saw the Duppie pick up her liver, shoving it into his greedy mouth.

And she felt good, awake.

Alive.

Looking at the Duppie she concentrated and flung a spike into his head, ripping it off.

She saw the Duppie continue, he kept on assaulting her already mangled body.

He was still alive.

"Your soul sure is loud." Michael's voice again.

'The soul.' It whispered in her head. Twilight closed her eyes. She was calm, listening to her inner self.

And there it was. The soft humming of her soul, unaffected by the barbarious mangling that was happening to her body. The rending, the shredding. None of it reached her soul.

She opened her eyes again, shattering her spike to finally kill the Duppie. She saw his soul, the bright, warm pinkish light.

"It will mend your wounds." Michael's voice echoed through her mind again.

Standing up, as good as she could with her destroyed body, now blind on her left side, her right foreleg missing and her innards scattered over the ground. Looking into the warm inviting light of the soul she gathered her strength for a second. Raising to her backlegs she reached up with her foreleg.

The soul dissipated into the sole of her hoof.

Twilight's eye jittered again as she felt it's warmth spread through her destroyed body. Falling back to all three legs she looked over her body. She saw the wounds in her skin close, her missing leg, lying a few steps away, turned to dust. The dust began to swirl towards her, rebuilding her leg. She felt her vision grow back to normal, she felt her trachea recover, her innards returning to their required spaces in her body.

And something deep inside her, her soul, gave off a warm throb. Like a heartbeat, yet so much more.

Looking over herself Twilight noticed that her body had fully recovered. Her wings were still broken and mangled but everything else was the same as before.

'Welcome to Deadside...' Something whispered inside her head. Twilight nodded to herself.

She had finally accepted her state. Before, somewhere in the depths of her psyche, she had doubted what they had told her. She couldn't believe that something as being undead was even a state for a pony.

Yet here she was, standing in a chasm after being torn apart, and partially eaten, and she felt good. She felt okay.

Twilight looked up to the swirling clouds in the sky, her serene mind calming her chaotic thoughts.

She was undead, yet alive.

After minutes of sitting by the fire, staring into the dark sky, she finally stood up.

She looked up to the walkway. Back down to the tunnel next to her.

Walking through the tunnel on this level she found herself in yet another chasm.

She saw four, no five Duppies turn towards her, all screaming.

Five spikes later, the Duppies pinned to the walls, she ignored their thrashing, and walked calmly through the chasm searching for anything interesting.

And at the far end, she found something.

A small, circular button, an arrow carved into the wood. She pressed it, her ears picking up the sound of something flying through the air, similar to the sound of crossbow bolts.

Turning back around Twilight looked at the five Duppies, still struggling. None had managed to escape, they were still caught.

Twilight smiled, a dark smile, an evil smile. She closed her eyes, concentrated... thinking about ways to end the-

She opened her eyes in shock, a gasp escaping her, as she noticed what she was doing, what her mind had tried to do. The five spike shattered, the Duppies fell to the ground, unhurt but apparently stunned.

Panick began to rise in Twilight as she sprinted back the way she came.

What had happened to her? Where did those thoughts come from?

Shaking her head she tried to clear her mind of the sickening thoughts. Back through the tunnel, she quickly sprinted to the walkway, leaping up. Climbing the way up, she saw the same hut she had ignored before and stopped in front of it. She took deep breaths calming herself, fighting the panick.

Something had happened. She didn't know what it had been but she knew that the thoughts she had... She shook her head again, fighting the urge to vomit.

"What... happened?" She whispered.

No answer.

Shaking her head again, she finally managed to get the worst of the thoughts out of her head. She knew that killing was wrong, she felt sorry for every creature she had killed so far and she would continue to feel sorry for each to come. Atleast she hoped so.

Sitting down, Twilight sighed, rubbing her temples.

"No use to ponder..." She whispered, reassuring herself. "I just need to find a way out of here." She looked at her hooves. The hooves she knew so well.

Right now they felt alien to her.

Shaking her head again she stood up.

She had to go, Michael counted on her.

Walking over the upper walkway again she squeezed through the first crevasse, leading to the entrance. Walking around she found herself back at the second gap. Squeezing herself through it she noticed the hole in the walkway, only a few steps away, and gulped.

This time she would be more careful.

Walking carefully up to the hole she looked down. She saw the broken parts of the walkway, scattered across the ground. Looking up she tried to see if more of the wood seemed weak, but sadly she found no way to tell.

Taking a few steps back she looked on the other side. Her only hope was to stay as far away from the broken parts as possible. Gathering her courage, she sprinted towards the hole, leaping over it. Landing on the other side, a few steps away she heard more wood creak and break off, the sound of wood hitting the stone ground echoed up. She shuddered, happy that she made it.

She took a step forward-

Crack!

Twilight stumbled as her hoof disappeared in the brittle wood. Luckily, nothing more seemed to break. Twilight groaned as she pulled her hoof out of the walkway. She was lucky again, no splinters found their way into her skin.

Stepping over the hole, Twilight carried on, much slower than before, checking every step.

After a few seconds of carefully checking every step, she looked up and saw that she had made it halfway over the walkway. To her left was the wooden platform. Looking over, she noticed something that hadn't been there before.

A rope was now connecting a slat above the platform and the wall to the far end.

'A way over?' Twilight mused, leaping over onto the platform. Looking up she noticed how thick the rope was. It was created solely for this purpose, creating a way over. Looking over to the other wall, Twilight saw a Govi, it's dark skin almost disappearing in the shadows surrounding it.

Twilight looked up to the rope.

She gulped.

Gathering her courage she jumped up, grasping the rope in fronthooves, wrapping them around it. Pulling herself up, and bending her body she also wrapped her backlegs around the rope.

And like a worm, or a caterpillar she began to inch her way forward.

After a few moments of panicked climbing she felt her head softly connect to the wall, turning her head she saw the stone beneath and took a deep breath, a sigh of relief escaping her.

Pulling herself up again she unwrapped her backlegs, lowering them. Dangling from the rope she let go of the rope. Sadly, the alien feeling of landing on only her backlegs made her tumble down to her haunches.

"Ow..." She complained, standing up she rubbed her buttocks. "Stupid dumb rope..." She looked up.

She was now standing right in front of a Govi, a Dark Soul. Unsure of what to do next, she turned away to the tunnel. Taking a look inside she noticed the darkness.

Turning back around she gazed at the Govi.

Michael had said that the Dark Souls were incredibly evil. Twilight knew she wanted nothing to do with them but the words of her doppelganger came back to her.

'An immortal body.' Twilight mused. 'Possibly even a reversal of the undead state...' She looked at the Govi, it's foul stench made Twilight choke.

Did she really want to risk it? Did she really want to take something so dark into herself?

No, she didn't.

Turning around, she glimpsed into the darkness of the tunnel again.

She sighed.

Snapping around, she fired one of her spikes into the Govi.

And to her big surprise the Govi fell apart, instantly revealing the Dark Soul beneath.

As if the soul... wanted her to take it.

She saw the soul reach out towards her. There was no flailing around, no searching for a new host. The soul knew exactly where she was.

'Think about this...' She looked at the soul. 'It's something incredibly evil, something that might turn you into a monster. Do you really want that?' She argued mentally. 'But it might also bring me back to live.' She countered. 'And I'm already a monster. I'm undead.' She mused. 'Pro? Immortality. Contra? Evil. Pro? Possibly returning back to live. Contra? Still evil.'

After a few moments she shook her head. 'Decide now Twilight, show some backbone! Either you take it, or you don't!' She sighed.

A moment later, and very hesitantly, she reached out to the soul. She felt the dark tendrils of the soul wrap around her leg, pulling itself closer, it's mouth opened wide.

And then something happened.

The soul screeched. And instead of willingly pulling itself closer she saw the worm like creature trying to turn away, to flee, but it's tendrils wouldn't let it. They pulled it closer and closer and-

The worm disappeared in Twilight's hoof.

Twilight looked down her leg, she saw the worm dig through her flesh. Through her shoulder and over her ribcage, stopping over her heart.

Twilight gasped, falling to the floor.

Something happened. She felt the worm dig deeper, tearing his way through her heart. At the same time she felt unbearable pain, echoing through every pore of her whole being, even her soul was aching.

And then she screamed, a loud shriek of agony as the worm disappeared in her heart, his tendrils breaking out of her chest.

But something was different. The former purple appendages were now a bright blue, turning around and snapping back at Twilight, wrapping around her body, melting deeper into her.

She felt something stirr inside, something dark. She felt anger, hate, wrath, agony, fear, solitude and so many more things. Things she never felt before, not in that intensity.

Rolling around on the floor in agony she noticed new pain growing in her back. She felt the bones of her wings snap back into position, she felt the tendons regrow she felt the skin crawling back over them and Twilight's eyes drooped, the darkness inside her pulled her consciousness deeper.

Opening her eyes she looked around.

Her eyes widened.

Right in front of her was a gigantic dark soul. But as before, something was different. The soul seemed calmer, the tendrils were groggily waving around, glowing in a bright, yet dim blue light.

"That's..." She heard someone stutter behind herself. Turning around she saw her broken doppelganger lying on the floor, blood escaping her mouth and her broken limbs. "Impossible..." She gasped, coughing up more blood. "That... wasn't... supposed to happen..."

"What are you talking about?" Twilight asked.

"Shut up!" The other coughed up more blood. Twilight's eyes widened again as she noticed that the blood had turned purple. "You... weren't supposed to..." She groaned. "That's...." Standing up on wobbly legs she looked at Twilight. She took a deep breath, Twilight noticed that her cheeks began to rip, the doppelganger unhinged her jaw like a snake, lunging at Twilight, a shout erupting from her throat.

"YOU ARE MINE!"

Shocked, Twilight closed her eyes as the jaw of the monster came right for her.

A second later she heard the sound of ripping flesh, and something warm sprayed on her face. Opening one eye she looked up. Her doppelganger was right above her, gargling, blood dripping down her ripped lips. One of the tendrils had snapped forward, piercing the monstrosity.

"Th.... thi... this.... is.." It coughed. "N... ot over." Taking one last deep breath it looked into Twilight's eyes.

"For... we are... man....yy." It whispered.

A second tendril snapped forward, slicing the doppelganger in two.

Twilight looked in shock, as the purple rain painted the darkness around her. Turning around, she looked at the Dark Soul. Like before, the soul seemed calm. But something was still different. The feelings, the dark feelings from before. All the anger, the hate and all the other feelings, were gone.

And then one of the tendrils snapped forward, slapping Twilight across the face.

She woke up. Lying on the floor between pieces of the Govi. Pain echoed through her cheek.

Sitting up she rubbed her cheek frantically. "Oooooooowwww...." She whined. "Ohh... By Celestia! That hurt!" She hissed in pain.

'Stupid dumb soul...' She grumbled. Standing up, one hoof still at her cheek, she looked around. And then she felt something.

Opening her wings she saw her beautiful feathers. Fluttering her wings she heard the soft rustling of her downs, tickling her coat. Tears began to blurr Twilight's vision as she hugged her wings, rubbing her cheek against the soft feathers.

A second later she looked up at her horn. Concentrating a little bit she saw it ignite, emitting a faint purple light.

She placed a hoof on her ribcage. There it was. Twilight smiled as more tears began to well. The sweet rhythmic thumping of her heart.

She was alive.

For a moment, Twilight felt nothing but bliss. She was the happiest creature alive right now. And nothing would-

Twilight peaked her ears as a familiar rattling reached her ears. Looking up she saw one of the flying monsters right over her, his mouth wide opened-

Jumping out of the way, she barely managed to dodge the bile shot.

Igniting her horn again she looked up.

Nothing happened.

"What?" Twilight yelped as another shot barely missed her. Looking up again she concentated again, her horn ignited.

And fizzed out.

Dodging another shot, she concentrated, creating one of her spikes. The spike flew up, piercing the creatures chest. The creature screamed as it's soul began to burst through it's chest, ripping the creature apart.

Twilight stood there, ignoring the bodyparts of the monster that fell down, she looked up to her horn. it was defintly ignited and working but something...

Her eyes widened as she spread her wings, flapping them as hard as she could. She felt nothing.

She stopped, understanding now. This land, Deadside, was using a different kind of magic. She wouldn't be able to use Equestrian magic here. Her wings and horn were useless right now.

She frowned.

A second later a weak smile replaced the frown. Atleast she had them back.

Shaking her head because of her musings, she looked back at the dark tunnel behind herself. She ignited her horn, hoping to manage atleast a simple illumination spell. And to her delight, it worked. The light was very faint, barely noticeable in anything brighter than that cave but it would atleast allow her to walk through it without breaking her muzzle.

Treading carefully through the serpentine tunnel she exited on the other side. Extinguishing her horn she looked up. Right in front of her was an entrance. Walking closer she placed a hoof at one of the walls, looking at it's smooth surface. And she felt the magic residing within the walls, humming quietly.

Stepping over the border between the natural stone ground and the created floor, she exhaled sharply, almost like a cough and in an exhausted fashion, her tongue sticking out. The temperature in the room, the heat, had suddenly become unbearable, beads of sweat already began to roll down her forehead.

She remembered the coal room. 'Maybe... it's the same?' She walked through the hallways, carefully checking the walls.

A bright orange glow caught her interest as she walked around a corner. Her eyes widened and in reflex she took a step back.

The whole room in front of her was filled with magma. Bright glowing magma, it's heat wafting through the temple, almost roasting her alive.

'What is this place?' She looked at the walls, the floor and everything else in the room as she took another step back, her haunches touching the cold walls. The pool of magma appeared deep. Looking over the pool she noticed a Govi standing on the other side, bathing in the orange glow of the magma, a small staircase leading into or maybe more precise, out off the magma. Furrowing her sweat drenched brows she looked at the weird architecture.

'Maybe... the magma can be drained?' She asked herself. 'But for what purpose? She shook her head. 'Why create an insurmountable barrier between unwanted guest and the Dark Soul if you could do something as easy as drain the pool?' She looked at the magma. The more she looked at the staircase the more she felt aggravated. It almost looked like a swimmingpool and the staircase was to leave the pool. But that couldn't be it, right?

She shook her head, turning around. She had wasted enough time and there was no way over right now.

'Still have to check the other tunnel.' She whispered in her head. 'Maybe I can find something in there.' Walking back the way she came she exited the temple, the temperature dropping to the already familiar yet unnatural coldness.

Twilight wavered, reaching up with a hoof. The massive changes in temperature left her dizzy, she shuddered as the sweat on her skin felt like it would freeze.

Shaking her head softly, she began to walk back through the tunnel, not even bothering to ignite her horn.

Back through the tunnel, she returned to the destroyed Govi and the rope. Looking up at the rope, the dizziness made her waver again.

'Urgh.... I shouldn't try that right now...' She grumbled, sitting down, waiting for the dizziness to subside. After a moment she lowered herself down, lying on the cold ground, she closed her eyes, ears peaked, and waited for the world to stop spinning.

Her swirling mind, now in a moment of respite, began to wander around.

And it stopped at the doppelganger in her mind.

'For we are many?' Twilight thought about it's words. 'What did she mean? Who did she mean?' She pondered about it for a few moments, thinking about it from every possbible direction. 'The "we" and "many" means that she wasn't alone. Did she mean that there are more like her in me? Or in the Dark Souls... or in Deadside?' Twilight opened one eye. The world had stopped spinning and she sat up, rubbing her tired eyes.

'Maybe I will find answers...' Standing up she looked to the rope, jumping up and wrapping her legs around it, she began to climb back. 'Maybe...' She stopped as her backhooves hit the slat over the platform. Turning her head she flinched as she saw the edge of the platform. She was in a real awkward position, and hit herself mentally.

She thought about the last time. She had lost her balance and had stumbled to the floor. Last time though, she had the space, the worst that could have happened was a bruised butt.

This time she had the confined space of the platform, one misstep and she would fall down again. And a bruised butt would be the best to happen.

She gulped.

Letting go of the rope with her frontlegs, dangling headdown, she looked at the platform half a meter beneath her.

She took a deep breath.

She opened her backlegs and felt the pull of gravity.

Landing on her outstretched frontlegs, like a hoofstand, she quickly balanced her rear onto the platform before her legs buckled beneath her.

Landing on her back, all four legs splayed, she lay on the platform, a sigh of relief escaping her.

Standing up and dusting herself off, she looked at the rope.

'I hope I never have to do that again.' She shuddered, turning to the heightened walkway.

Leaping over onto the creaking and groaning wood, she pressed herself against the wall. A reliefed sigh later she turned to the tunnel, taking careful steps towards it.

After what felt like an eternity, she finally stepped into the tunnel, leaving the creaking wood behind.

Walking through the dimly lit, serpentine tunnel she exited into the same pit she had been before, the pit with the button, this time though on an higher level. Twilight's eyes widened. In front of her, across a bridge, was a big entrance. It's circular shape giving the whole building a weird look. Carefully walking over another wooden walkway, a much less creaking one, she stopped at the bridge. The building reminded her of the hut she had seen before.

'Weird architecture...' She looked at the weird alcoves that were on both sides of the entrance. 'I wonder who build this.' Walking slowly over the thin bridge, she entered the building.

Heat was radiating through the entrance.

'Another set of magmapools? Or coalpits?' She pondered, small beads of sweat already appearing on her forehead as she noticed two paths. One left, one right.

Following the right pathway she quickly noticed that the whole entrance was shaped like an eight, the ways were connected in the middle. Stepping out of this weird hallway she stopped as the heat became almost unbearable again.

With an exhausted sigh she looked through the small hall she had entered.

Right in front of her was a small wooden... table? She wasn't sure, the whole thing was weirdly shaped, an obscure crystal hovering over the surface. Walking closer she noticed a small diamond shaped hole in the wood, the crystal covering it.

Reaching up to the crystel she felt it scrape her hoof sending a small jolt of pain through her leg.

Lowering her hoof again she looked around, ignoring the table for now. Tilting her head a little she walked around the table, quizzically furrowing her brows.

In front of her were two doorways, apparently leading into the same room. The weird thing about that was that their floor, was part of the coalpit that was surrounding Twilight.

'How did they get through?' She asked herself. 'Maybe the coals were added later? Maybe the building was abandoned and to protect their secrets they layered the floor with those coals?' She shook her head, a few drops of sweat flying off her forehead, interrupting her flow of thoughts. 'Maybe, maybe, maybe. I don't have any informations, all I can do is speculate, and I don't have time for that.'

Looking to her right she saw another room, a small leap across the coals later, she searched through the new room. The room looked like one big hallway, another coalpit dividing this side with the opposite side. With a raised brow she walked closer to the coalpit. Inside was something like a metallic raft, it's trellised surface wavering over the coals.

Looking up she noticed that it would be impossible to get to the other side without tools, more than five meters seperating the two sides. Looking back at the raft she began to understand.

'It's there to get to the other side.' She raised a brow. 'But why would anyone build this?' She scratched the back of her head. 'If these people wanted to protect something inside, why would they add something like this?' Interrupting her trail of thoughts again, she sighed. 'I guess I should just stop asking questions.'

Jumping onto the small raft she felt it sink into the coals.

And she instantly regretted her former questions.

The raft began to sink deeper, to melt into the coals.

Panick grabbed Twilight as she balanced over the raft as quick as possible, the loud hissing of the metal in her ears. After a second of panicked balancing she jumped over the coals and onto the other side of the hallway. Gasping and with widened eyes she turned around.

The raft began to float back up, it's molten form returning to it's former solid state.

Twilight gulped, wiping the sweat off her forehead. The raft had been a trap, yes a tool to get over, but also a tool to scare an intruder. If she had been a few seconds slower...

She gulped again. Turning around she looked down the new, much longer, hallway in front of her. She saw a few adjacent rooms, all seperated by the same coalpit and Twilight understood. The floor of the pits were never supposed to be used. The doorways she had seen before had been used to fill the gaps with the coals. Precautions to keep intruders out.

The whole setup reminded her of a temple.

She nodded, answering a few of her own questions. 'The wooden construct at the entrance...' She thought about it and the weird hole in it. 'Maybe some sort of sacrifical altar?

Twilight peaked her ears, her thoughts interrupted by a distinct yet distant sound.

It almost sounded like gunfire.

Walking through the hallway, and leaping over the small gaps, she stopped as the sound became more audible. She nodded. The sound was gunfire coming from within the temple. Closing her eyes and flicking her ears she concentrated. She tried to indentify which direction the sound came from.

After a second of silence she heard new gunshots, coming faintly from her right.

Jumping over another gap she looked around, a quizzical expression appearing on her face.

The room had two paths leading into adjacent rooms but no obvious way to reach them. Searching for a few seconds she found a small ledge at the walls, leading into the two rooms, conveniently big enough to hold on to.

She gulped. Their purpose was clear, the question now; Should she risk it?

Leaning over the coals she could see into the other rooms. They seemed to be copies of the one she was standing in. She would have to leap up to the ledges to get over the coals and then, on the other side, leap back from the ledge to the floor.

She gulped again.

'Can I do that?' She thought about the task at hoof. 'Am I even strong or dexterious enough for that?' She heard more gunshots. 'That could be Michael. Maybe he came through a different entrance?'

Crouching down she looked at the ledge, concentrating.

Leaping up, her hooves connected with the ledge on the left wall, almost bouncing off of it, panick began to raise in Twilight as she felt her hooves slip.

Tightening her grip she managed to stay at the wall, dangling from the ledge over the coals. She felt the heat in the soles of her backhooves, the soft beads of sweat rolling down her body and hissing as they were evaporated.

'Great... I'm here...' She groaned, lifting herself a little. 'Now... I have to...' She moved her left hoof a few inches over. She gasped, already feeling exhaustion gnawing at her muscles and that after just two sets of climbing sidewards. She whined as she did another set.

Gasping quietly, she turned her head. She was now between the first and the second room, a small wall right behind her. She had to move atleast three more sets to get onto the other side. Concentrating on moving her aching muscles, she groaned, as she forced her hooves to another set.

She felt her hooves slip again, her strength depleted. 'No! Nonononono!' She begged. 'Come on! One more!' She groaned, turning her head she saw that indeed it was only one more set she needed to do. Mentally screaming at her muscles, she moved her aching body. Now, hopefully, in the right position she placed her backhooves at the wall, her grip getting weaker.

Twilight closed her eyes, taking a deep breath.

And jumped backwards.

She felt the warm floor graze her haunches, tumbling backwards, she stopped as the back of her head hit the wall. Slumping forward and curling into a ball, Twilight groaned, wrapping her hooves around her head. She hissed at the pain in her head.

And at her own weakness.

"I swear, by Luna's bright moon." She murmured. "When I'm back I will go exercising with Applejack and Rainbow..." Sitting up she looked around. Her face went pale.

She was in a dead end. Standing up she looked around, the room was completly bare, the only way out was the way she came and-

Twilight groaned. The ledge continued on the other side, leading into another room.

Flattening her ears she sat down, rubbing her upperarms, trying in vain to get the exhaustion out of them.

Twilight flinched as she heard more gunshots and the screaming of a Duppie echo through the temple, not too far away.

"Hello?" Twilight shouted as the shots subsided, a soft growl escaping the Duppie.

"Yes?" She heard the distant voice of Michael LeRoi.

"Michael?" She pressed herself against the wall. "Is that you?"

"Yeah, it's me... ehhh..." She heard soft steps leading to the room next to her.

"Twilight." She answered.

"Yeah, Twilight." The steps stopped. "Where have you been?"

Walking over to the edge, leaning over the coals, she looked down the hallway, seeing Michael do the same, he looked back at her.

"What do you mean?" She raised a brow. "You knew where I went."

"Well... you've been gone for hours." He answered. "Get over here."

"What?" Twilight looked at him. "Hours? That can't be..." She looked at the ledges. "And I can't get over... My legs are too fatigued."

He shook his head. "Really?" An annoyed sigh escaped him. "Wait a minute." She saw him disappear behind the wall.

A second later he jumped at the ledge.

And with kittenish ease he climbed over to her, jumping back on her platform and landing almost grazefully next to her.

"I hate you." Twilight groaned.

"Why?" He looked at her, raising a brow in confusion. "Did you... change?"

Fluttering her wings she smiled. "Yeah... got my wings back. And... for no particular reason." She added.

"Why didn't you..." He flapped his hands. "You know... fly over? Or are they just decoration?" He grinned at her.

"They are not!" Twilight pouted. "The magic here in Deadside is different. I can't use my wings or my magic."

A quizzical expression appeard on his face. "Okay... if you say so." He shrugged. "Whatever..."

Looking down at his equine companion he shrugged again. "I guess that's that then."

"Huh?" Twilight looked at him. "What do you mean?"

He pointed over his shoulder. "I've already cleared everything back there. Nothing left."

"Then... all the gunfire?"

"Duppies.... a lot of 'em." He answered. "But..." He materalized a spear with an surprisingly short handle in his hand. "Nothing my new friend here can't handle."

Looking at the long blade she raised a brow. "What's that?"

"It's called Baton." The spear disappeared from his hand as he drew out the prophecy, opening it he took out one of Les Cartes, holding it down to Twilight.

The card had a small picture of the same altar Twilight had seen before, the spear plunging into the hole on it's surface. "'That blade which pierces the nether and carries the spirit through it.'" She read the small text underneath the picture. "Okay, so this allows you to... teleport?" She looked up.

He shrugged. "Sounds like it, but I don't really care." He placed the card back in the book, desintegrating it again. "Stabbing my enemies is enough for me."

Twilight facehoofed, a sigh quickly following. "Whatever..."

He smiled. "Come on let's get out of here."

Twilight nodded, she looked back at the ledges.

"Hey." She looked back. "What are you doing?"

She raised a brow. "You said..."

He nodded. "Yeah but weren't you too fatigued?"

She nodded.

"Here." He materalized a worn out and patched up teddy bear, holding it down. "Touch that, and don't move."

"Eh? Okay..." Twilight raised a hoof to the teddybear.

A loud high pitched scream assaulted her mind.

Twilight jumped, a yelp escaping her as she took a step away from Michael and the bear.

She felt emotions run through her mind, emotions and sensations. Fear, agony, disappointment, panick.

"What was that!?" She looked around. She was hyperventilating, searching for the source of the scream.

Michael looked at her, dumbfounded. "You... heard his voice?"

"What do you mean his voice?" She almost shouted at Michael.

He kneeled down in front of her. "This teddy belonged to my little brother... he died while holding it. His feelings and emotions are contained in the bear and create a link between Lifeside and Deadside." He explained, his voice sad. Looking at the teddy he frowned, his expression turning desperate. "Only I should be able to hear his voice."

Twilight gulped as the panick began to subside. "Tell me, what the bear does."

"He allows me to transport my soul to preassigned places in Deadside." He held the teddy down to Twilight. "Come now."

Twilight hesitated. "Do you... hear his scream everytime you hold the bear?" She asked.

He looked down at her. "Sometimes." He answered. "Most of the time it's just his voice, things he said before he died."

Twilight gulped again. Slowly reaching up she felt the soft fur of the bear brush her hoof and she heard soft sobs echoing through her mind. Pain, fear and sadness accompanying it.

Twilight felt her heart ache. Tears began to well.

And then she felt something, in the back of her stomach, something like an undertow. She felt her body begin to bend, to twist, her vision became blurry.

She heard a voice, anticipation and happiness residing in it.

"Come on slowpoke!" The voice echoed through her mind.

Twilight gasped as she felt her body land on ground, her hooves connecting softly. She wavered, her stomach churning.

"You okay?" She heard Michael ask her.

"Ohh... my head..." Twilight sat down, grabbing her head.

She heard his soft chuckle. "Hey, the first time I used the bear it made me so sick I had to throw up."

Twilight nodded. "Sounds... like a plan." She turned away emptying the content of her stomach on the floor.

"Wow..." He looked at Twilight and the 'contents' she had just lost. "Did you happen to drink some of the Deadside water?"

Twilight retched, looking at the bile in front of her. It was dark red, almost blood like and it smelled like iron. She nodded.

"Well..." He patted her back. "Be happy you got that out of your system before you found a way back to Lifeside."

Taking deep breaths she stood up, wiping her mouth, more coughs exiting her.

"Where... are... we?" She asked between coughs, looking around. A second later her eyes widened. They were back where Michael had found the prophecy.

"Back at the Hall of Prophecy." He answered.

"Why... here?" She turned away, spitting out in hope to get the foul taste of her tongue.

"The second coffingate is just after this room." He explained. "Closest point." Looking down at her he raised a brow. "Better?"

Twilight nodded, spitting again. "Yeah..."

"Then let's hurry." He turned towards the ramp.

"Right behind you." She whispered following him the way up.

Author's Note

Okay... this chapter feels.... too long. And it feels like I suck at creating an immersive atmosphere. I still hope that it's just me.

Let me know what you think about this.

Well...

Whatever...

See ya next chapter.