Asylum: Gateway

Following Michael through the coffingate, Twilight saw him jump down the bridge, stopping in front of the next gate on the level below.

As before he placed his hands on the cross like pedestal. And just like before the small vein like wires began to pulsate, pumping something into the coffingate.

Unlike before though, something happened to Michael. She saw small arcs of lightning appear around his hands, a dark purple connection began to form between the cross and the slots around the coffin, his whole body was trembling, shaking maniacally.

"Michael!" Twilight jumped down, reaching out-

Twilight yelped as one of the arcs hit her hoof, repulsing it. Twilight looked down at her hoof, at the small singed patch of coat on her fetlock.

A second later Michaels erratic shaking stopped, the cross repelling his hands as the connection between cross and gate disappeared, the door of the gate bursting out, splattering over the ground.

Heavily panting, Michael fell to one knee, sweat rolling down his forehead.

"Michael?" Twilight walked closer. "You okay?"

He nodded.

"What happened?"

"The gate..." He looked up to the slots. "It drained me of the energy, if fed on the Dark Souls."

Twilight's eyes widened. "You mean you lost them?"

He shook his head. "No... The energy will regenerate... I just need some time." His breathing was heavy as he stood up, leaning against the wall.

She looked up to him, a worried expression on her face. "Is that going to happen with every coffingate that we meet?"

He nodded. "Probably."

"You sure you can handle that?" She raised a brow. "I mean... what if it begins to drain your lifeforce?"

He shook his head. "These gates... only drain... the energy of... Dark Souls." His breathing was heavy and fast. "If... the energy is insufficient... it will just stop the connection and repulse me."

Twilight looked at him quizzically. "How do you know?"

"I... found one of those... before." He panted. "It replused me instantly... pushing me away." Raising an arm slowly he pointed at the gate, more precisely at the slots around it. "Look..."

Leaning forward Twilight looked into the dark corner, some of the slots were hidden in the shadows. But she saw that two of them were colored in a deep purple.

"What does that mean?" She looked back at Michael.

Pushing himself away from the wall he wiped his forehead. "That I need..." He took another deep breath, his breathing slowly returning to a normal rhythm. "Atleast that much of energy to open the gate."

"So... two souls?" She asked.

He shook his head. "No, in this case three."

Looking back at the slots she tilted her head in confusion. "Three?"

"Yeah." Taking out the prophecy, grabbing another one of Les Cartes down to Twilight.

Looking at the card she saw that a man, someone very similar to Michael, was floating in the middle of the card. Just like the coffingates, ten slots were around him. Unlike the slots around the gates though, these slots were filled with lines. The first slot had only one line, the second two and so on. The tenth slot was filled by twenty-five lines.

Twilight understood. "So these lines tell you how many souls you need to open the representative gates!"

He nodded, the card disappearing in the tome again. Closing it quietly he burned it again.

Twilight frowned. "But then..."

"Then?" He looked at her.

"We might have a problem later on..." She smiled uncomfortably at him.

"Why?"

"Hehe..." She forcefully giggled, taking a step away from Michael. "I ehm... kinda... tookonesoul." She quickly mumbled.

"What?" He leaned closer. "Could you repeat that?"

"I... took one soul." She mumbled again.

"Again?" He leaned even closer.

Twilight sighed in defeat. "I took one soul." She answered clearly.

Michael looked at her with an indefinable expression. If she had to guess it was somewhere between slowly understanding and disbelief.

"Thats how you got your wings back." He looked at her.Twilight answered with a small nod. He sighed quietly, turning around. "Do you know what that means?"

Twilight flinched, taking a step back. "I guess..." She answered.

"If... and only if-" His expression turned dark. "-I need the soul later, I will take it from you."

Twilight looked at him in shock. "Take it?"

His gun appeared in his hand, poking her muzzle. "My Shadowgun rends bodies, severing all connections a soul may have to its body." Twilight gulped. "Or in short; It rips out souls." He withdrew the gun from her face. Turning around he walked through the coffingate, almost ignoring her.

Twilight gulped, following him with her eyes. 'Maybe I should run away?' Her mind was unsure what she should do. Yes, he might be her only chance to find a way out but at the same time she now became his target. She shook her head. 'He knows this place better than me... even if I try to run away he will find me.'

Maybe she could find a way to extract the soul without killing herself? Preferably with keeping her living body.

"Hey!" Twilight jumped as Michael looked back at her. "You comin?"

Twilight gulped. Slowly nodding she followed him through the coffingate. She had no chance for now.

On the other side, through another short tunnel, was a pit. The pit had a walkway leading up to the level they were on right now. On the opposite side and inside the pit, the one inside facing the way Twilight and Michael were coming from, were two more coffingates. Walking around the pit she noticed another Baton table inside.

She pointed down. "Look, another table for Baton."

"Ether." He answered.

"Come again?"

"The tables, they are called Ether." Twilight nodded.

Jumping down into the pit, Michael drew Baton, slowly walking closer.

Stopping by the Ether he looked at the small crystal hovering in front of him now."Let's see how this works..." He drew the blade through the small crystal. A soft humming began to fill the air as the crystal dissolved, surrounding the blade with a golden light. Plunging the spear into the table, Michael was engulfed in the same light, small arcs of energy zapping through the air.

A second later he dissapeared.

Looking at the Ether, Twilight sat down, waiting for Michael to return.

After two minutes of waiting Twilight stood up pacing around.

'What's taking him so long?' She glimpsed at the Ether. 'If it had been dangerous he would have returned instantly... right?' Her mind wandered. 'Maybe the crystal needs some time to recharge? Or maybe they only allow traveling in one direction? Or...' Twilight's mind was still making up more and more possibilities as she heard the sound of crumbling stones coming from above.

Looking up Twilight saw Michael jump down into the pit.

Raising a brow she looked at him confused.

He shrugged. "Coalpit." He answered nonchalantly.

"You died!?" Twilight stepped away from the Ether.

Michael nodded with a uncomfortable smile. "Yeah, the other Ether, the exit point of this one, was in the middle of a coalpit. All I saw was the orange glow and some wooden platforms before the heat burned me.

Twilight looked at Michael with a shocked expression.

"Did it hurt?" She suddenly asked.

"Well golly." He answered sarcastically. "Does it hurt when you burn your... hoof at a stove?" Twilight nodded. "Well there you have it of course it didn't hurt!" His voice was annoyed and dripping with sarcasm.

"Sorry..." Twilight answered, flattening her ears.

Shaking his head, Michael walked around the Ether. "Did it hurt?" He mimicked Twilight. "Well duh... bitch." Climbing the walkway he glimpsed at Twilight, an angry expression on his face.

'It's not my fault that you burned... idiot.' Twilight's mind replied huffily. Ignoring her mental complaint for now, she followed Michael up the walkway.

Back on the upper level, Twilight turned to see Michael standing in front of a path of shadows.

Walking closer she looked into the dark tunnel.

"Ready?" Michael asked quietly.

Twilight nodded. "Yes."

Nodding himself, Michael began to walk into the path, the darkness quickly swallowing him.

Twilight sighed, a shudder quickly following, ruffling her feathers. "I hate these things." She stepped onto the path.

Following the way, Twilight looked around nervously and like before she saw the walls contracting, taking her deeper, reminding her of a snake again.

'Stupid dumb brain... stop thinking about snakes!' She grumbled, trotting through the darkness. This time though, much calmer, she noticed something. Counting in her head she quickly discovered a rhythm at which the walls contracted. Going a little faster she counted again and noticed a change in the rhythm.

'Before it was five seconds, now it's three seconds.' She began to sprint and again the frequence changed. 'Now it's every second.' And not shortly after she saw a light at the end of the tunnel, a sick and dim light, but a light nonetheless.

After another small sprint the walls contracted for the last time as Twilight walked out of the path, stone underneath her hooves again. She wrinkled her nose, something was smelling badly. Turning around she saw the walls returning to their immobile form and her mind pieced together what the path of shadows were.

'They actually are mimicking a snake.' She looked into the darkness, waiting for Michael. 'The difference: The faster something travels through them, the faster they contract, speeding up the travel.' She was amazed at the construction. 'Very interesting.' She made mental notes. Maybe later, once she got out of here, she would be able to recreate something similar.

Turning around again, and actually watching her surroundings, she found herself in another big cave. A big quadrangular metallic pipe, bigger than Twilight, was protruding out of the ground, leading up to a brick wall. Beneath the pipe, the ground decreasing, was a lake. Walking closer the foul stench began to overhwelm Twilight's nostrils and she saw things floating in the water.

"Urgh..." Twilight retched, covering her nostrils with a hoof. "What is that?"

"Sewage." She jumped, turning around she saw Michael walk up to her.

"Seriously... stop it!" She complained. "I'm gonna have a heart attack at some point because of you."

Shrugging, he looked at her. "Yeah yeah. I see you got in front of me again."

Twilight nodded, still keeping her nostrils closed, breathing through her mouth. "Yeah. It seems the path of shadows accelerates your movement. The faster you move, the faster it makes you travel."

"Interesting." Michael looked at her.

"Right?" Twilight answered eagerly, gazing back.

Shaking his head he walked up to the pipe, looking up. "Not really, no." He jumped on to the pipe, climbing up.

Following him, she jumped up the pipe, the metal beneath her hooves vibrating weakly. Soft clunks echoed through the pipe as they followed the pipe.

Michael stopped and Twilight looked up. In front of them, the pipe they were standing on, turned down, leading into the sewage. Luckily, another pipe, just a jump away, was protruding out of the water and turning towards the wall, leading to a small entrance on the right side. To the left was a similar entrance, blocked by massive bars.

Michael, unfathomed by the height and distance, jumped forward, grabbing the edge of the other pipe. Hoisting himself up with a small groan he stood up, walking towards the entrance.

Looking up, Twilight noticed quickly that she would never be able to get high enough to take hold of the edge.

"Michael!" She shouted after him.

"What?" He looked back.

"I could use some help." Twilight replied, pointing at the pipe.

He sighed, turning around, he walked back. Laying down on the pipe he reached as far down as possible.

Reaching up as far as she could, Twilight noticed that there was still too much distance between them.

"You gonna have to jump the rest." He stated plainly.

Twilight looked down, into the sickly green water. She gulped.

"I swear by Celestia, if you don't catch me I will kill you."

"I don't know what a 'Celestia' is..." He replied. "But I guess you shouldn't jump to short then."

Twilight crouched a little, tensing her muscles she leaped up as far and high as she possibly could, her leg reaching out to Michael's hand.

His hand wrapped around her hoof.

And Twilight shrieked as the pipe slammed into her muzzle, dangling from Michael hand she reached up with her other leg, rubbing her nose.

A groan escaped her as she glared up into Michael's eyes.

"Hey... dont look at me like that." Michael heaved her up. "Not my fault that you jump like that." A soft groan later, Twilight now standing next to him, he stood up. "You're heavier than you look." He grinned, taking a step-

And groaned in pain as Twilight's backhoof connected with his shin. "Ow... what the fuck?" He glared down at her, rubbing his leg. "What was that for?"

She glanced back, a small trail of blood escaping her nose. "You know... stuff." She snuffled, wiping her nose. "Damn nosebleeding." She walked over the pipe and onto the small ledge leading inside, leaving small droplets on her way.

Michael shook his head. "Woman..." He said quietly, following Twilight.

"I heard that!" Twilight glared back at him.

"Yeah you were supposed to." Michael answered.

Walking through the, thanks to Twilight's magic, dimly lit corridor, they entered another part of the sewage system. Small yellow candles illuminating the room, and that just barely.

Twilight looked through the small room. She noticed small columns, a small rill and another jump that needed to be done. Turning to her left she saw a small entrance in the wall, something akin to a door blocking it.

Looking up the ledge, Twilight saw a small hallway leading deeper. Her eyes wandered and she saw a computer like construction on the left side, pipes and wires leading into the wall.

Walking in front of her, Michael kneeled down.

"Get up." He ordered.

"What?" Twilight looked at him, raising a brow, still a small trail of blood dripping down her muzzle.

Pointing up the ledge he raised a brow himself. "So you suddenly can jump that high?" He asked almost annoyed.

She looked up. And like before she saw that it was far too high, she shook her head.

"Then get up." He pointed on his back again. With a nod, Twilight stepped closer. Wrapping her frontlegs around his neck, pulling herself on his broad back and wrapping her backlegs around his chest.

Twilight blushed a little as his hands wrapped around her backlegs, shoving her a little higher on his back. Walking to the edge of the rill, he looked up.

"Hold on tight." He let go of her legs. Twilight tightened her grip as Michael crouched down a little, she felt his muscles tense as he jumped up, his hands grabbing the edge. With a deep groan but barely any effort, he hoisted them up. After he took a few steps away from the edge she lowered herself back to the ground.

"Thanks." She nodded at him.

"Yeah, yeah." He walked inside, looking through the adjacent room.

Walking over to the weird construction, Twilight took a closer look at what she thought to be a computer.

Confusion quickly raised in Twilight. The whole construction was weird. She saw no keyboard or any other way to type something, all the thing had was a black screen and a big square shaped hole.

"Hey Michael!" She shouted into the other room. A second later she saw him come back out. "Do you know what this is?" She pointed at the machine.

Shaking his head he walked closer, kneeling in front of it he got a closer look. "Could be a keyhole of somesorts. Or maybe something completly different." He shrugged. "But right now we should just leave it be." Turning around he looked towards the opposite wall. "Oh, almost missed that." Following his gaze Twilight noticed a small hallway in the opposite wall. The walls were drab enough to create a visual illusion if one wasn't able to stare directly at it.

"That's gonna safe me some backpain." Michael walked to the semi hidden entrance, peaking around the corner. "It's clear." He walked inside.

'What's that supposed to mean, "saving him some backpain"?' Twilight shook her head as she followed him.

The hallway lead up and around the other room. Exiting on the upper level she looked back into the room below. 'Oh... that's what he meant.' Twilight walked closer. Down below she saw the entrance they had stood only a few second ago and she saw that Michael would have had to carry her all the way up.

Turning around she saw Michael disappear into the only other hallway.

Shaking her head due to his inability to wait, Twilight followed him.

A few steps into the confined corridor, she flicked her ears, flattening them a few steps later. The sounds of a big machine; Hissing of steam, giant pistons, rattling of chains, was filling her ears.

Looking down the hallway she saw Michael walk down the hallway.

"Michael! Wait for me!" Twilight called out, quickly following him she saw him walk further and-

Disappear behind a massive plate.

Twilight came to a halt, half a meter away from the plate that was now retracting into the wall. A second later it moved out again, blocking the path.

It didn't take long for Twilight to connect the dots. The hidden pistons were moving the plate. The whole procedure repeated itself every two seconds.

Twilight gulped, looking at the plate. She could see that the thing was half a meter thick and would probably be strong enough to crush her. She would have to time it perfectly.

Walking closer to the plate, she was now almost brushing against it. She waited for the perfect moment, counting down in her head.

'1....2....3!' Twilight walked through the small created gap-

And yelped as her tail got caught in the machine, pulling at it.

Luckily, the machine released the hair the very instant that it opened again, leaving only the soft stinging pain in Twilight's hindquarters.

'Stupid machinery!' She groaned, looking back she flicked her tail to straighten it again. Blowing a raspberry at the plate she turned around, looking down the rest of the corridor.

In front of her, maybe a dozen meters away was another plate working in the same fashion.

Walking closer, Twilight saw the corridor end beyond the plate, leading out into an open space. Repeating the procedure she did before, this time her tail carefully tucked away between her legs, she looked out.

Her eyes widened and her mouth stood agape as she looked up.

Right in front of her, looming over her, was the same black tower she had seen before.

But the distance had tricked her.

The tower in front of her, the whole thing-

Was bigger than Canterlot Castle!

More than a little awestruck, Twilight jumped down into the giant courtyard. Looking around the courtyard she felt a tingle run down her spine. The courtyard was a halfcircle, interrupted by massive columns, roofed bridges connecting them with the main tower. Searchlights were panning through the yard, searching for intruders. The whole thing had a sense of dread to it, like a monstrous carcass.

Something grabbed her.

Twilight yelped and kicked around struggling heavily.

"Stop that!" Michael shook her, Twilight calming down a little. "We have no time!" He began to sprint to a small lit bridge in the middle of the yard.

He suddenly ducked, almost dropping Twilight. More than a little confused Twilight looked around.

In one of the columns stood a creature, it's black skin barely visible in the dim window. Apparently it was pointing with something at Michael and-

The object spat out a short burst of light and Twilight saw something flying towards Michael. He ducked again, barely doging whatever the creature had done.

"What was that?" Twilight almost fell out of his grip again as he ducked for the third time.

"They are shooting at us!" Sprinting through the darkness and dodging an upcoming searchlight, they finally managed to get out of the shooters line of sight.

Softly lowering Twilight to the ground, Michael panted as he looked up. Twilight saw that they were at the foot of the tower. A wooden bridge was connecting the entrance with the rest of the courtyard, an orange glow escaping the uncovered parts pit. Following Michael's gaze up the tower she gulped.

She felt like an ant.

Looking down again she noticed more weird architecture.

This monstrosity of a tower, this insult to the eye-

Had an entrance the size of a standard human door.

'That is...' Twilight looked at the door, tilting her head slightly. '...in a disturbing and weird way somewhat cute.'

Walking towards the small door she placed a hoof on it, she felt the cold metal and saw the two massive braces in the middle, keeping the wings of the door closed tightly.

"How do we get in?" She looked back, at Michael.

Who wasn't there anymore.

"Michael?" She furrowed her brows, looking around.

Nothing.

"Michael!?" She raised her voice a little.

A soft groan to her side made her shriek and jump, summoning one of her spikes.

"Seriously..." Michael groaned, hoisting himself up. "We are on enemy territory and you scream around like that." He shook his head.

Blushing a little she looked away as the spike disappeared again. "Sorry."

Shaking his head again he pointed over his back. "There is no way for you to follow me through this." He stated plainly.

"What?" She walked over to the pit, looking down. She saw a metalic walkway leading to a corridor and deeper into the tower. "But there is a walkway we could-"

"A few steps deeper we would have to climb again." He folded his arms. "And I'm not particularly fond of the idea of jumping over burning coals with you on my back." Kneeling down her looked into her eyes. "And what if someone shoots at us again? I can't dodge like I usually do with you on my back."

"But-"

"No buts..." He interrupted. "This is for our best."

"And what about me?" She looked at him with pleading eyes.

Shaking his head, standing up, he looked down into the pit again. "I don't know... maybe you can look around. There are probably more than just two ways in." Looking back at her, a smile on his face, he shrugged. "And if not, just wait here." And with that he jumped down, a soft clunk of the walkway echoing up as he disappeared into

More than a little shocked she looked into the pit.

Turning around, she groaned quietly. 'This... idiot! He's just going to leave me here!?' Pacing over the bridge she looked around, the searchlights still wandering from left to right, back and forth.

There was no use, she would have to-

The door gave of a massive clunk. Shocked, Twilight turned around looking at the door.

The two massive braces had moved, unlocking the door.

"Michael?" She whispered.

The door split.

Twilight shrieked as a monstrosity walked out of the door.

The skin of the monster was a deep dark black, like moving coals. Wearing a heavy, leather apron, covering it's upper body, the creature looked at Twilight.

Twilight gulped as the creature began to move closer, a long black rifle in it's hands.

And then it groaned, a deep distorted scream of a pig as it raised the rifle, pointing at Twilight.

Twilight ducked, a reflex she didn't know she had, as an earnumbing bang echoed through the courtyard.

Ducking deeper, Twilight took a step back, looking at the monster as it pointed the rifle at her again.

Jumping out of the way, Twilight summoned one of her spikes, sending it straight into the creatures chest.

A groan escaped it.

And that was all the spike did. The creature raised the rifle for the third time and-

Twilight felt a massive pain in her shoulder as the shot pierced her flesh. Gasping and panting she fell to the ground, grasping her shoulder as her blood began too splurt out, drenching her coat.

'Stand up!' Her mind screamed at her, looking up she saw the creature point the weapon at Twilight's head. 'STAND. UP!'

Twilight rolled out of the way of the shot, jumping up she ran towards the creature. Using her unharmed shoulder she shoved the monster over the egde, right into the coals.

A massive loud scream echoed through pit, almost deafening Twilight as she sat down, covering the wound.

The creature burned, flailing around as it's dark skin began to crumble off, revealing green skin.

Twilight smiled in triumph. And then her head began to waver, she felt dizzy. She felt the world twist and move around her.

Falling onto the bridge and into the puddle of blood her wound created, her eyes dropped, a tear escaping.

"I'm sorry..." Was the last thing she whispered.

Author's Note

Not much to say about this.

Okay I have a lot to say about this... but I won't.

My only complain? I still suck a writing atmosphere... I read this chapter and I feel... disconnected. Please guys, if you think so too, let me know in the comments.

And *cough cough* spoiler (not really though) Twilight is not dead.

Well...

Whatever...

See ya next chapter.