Two Sides of One Lie

Chapter 6: Not Home

Chapter 6.2:

The four mares continued their way down another dust ridden hall as they tried to avoid the cobwebs and filth that clung around the air. Twilight took lead of the four, surveying their surroundings as they proceeded.

"How did you girls wake up," Rarity offered a question to her friends in hopes to break the mutual silence that had come over them.

"Ah' woke up on my lonesome on some pile of stone and kept wanderin' 'round till I found Twi, Dash, an Fluttershy," The cowpony spoke with a short glance over to Rarity. Even though Applejack's voice was steady, her green eyes still showed hints of worry behind them. Maybe even fear.

"Oh, I see..." the elegant unicorn felt shaken by the subtle hints of fear she saw in her friend's eyes. Rarity knew Applejack well enough to know that she was a brave mare. Her fear wasn't of anything that might of roamed the halls, it was the fear that they might find Pinkie Pie or Fluttershy dead. She could easily sympathize with the cowpony's worry.

"*Brrr* When did it get so cold?" Rainbow Dash floated down to land as a sudden, cold breeze wafted down the halls, making goosebumps grow on each mares' legs. Twilight huffed as the icy air went into her skin, sending out a cloud of steam from her breath.

"Rainbow's got a point, why is it so cold all of the sudden?" Twilight rubbed her legs to try and generate heat but her attempt was only vain. "Okay," she spoke with a shudder, "Let's try and and keep moving. Maybe it'll pass."

The four closed together to find relief in each other's body heat as they pushed past the wave of invisible ice. They proceeded to round another corner, revealing one more monotonous hall with a window on it's right. Unlike the others they'd seen before, the window cast not the bright, white glow of the sun that'd be expected but an unusually dim-orange silhouette that gave barely enough light to see the edges of the hall.

The cool gusts of air seemed to pick up as they neared the portal to the outside. Once they finally neared enough to glance through it, shock overcame each of the mares.

"How in the name of Celestia is it NIGHT TIME," Twilight stared in disbelief toward an unusual orange-red moon that hung imposingly-large in the sky. The stars that surrounded the alien object and the red glow upon the forest canopy below it gave proof that she wasn't hallucinating.

"That doesn't make any sense, it was morning only a couple hours ago," Rainbow exclaimed, throwing her hooves out at the giant satellite. It's size in the blackened sky was comparable to a volley ball held at arm's length and it took up most of the view through the window. It's surface had a distinct lack of craters, and instead was scarred with vast valleys and canyons and a few small dark patches of mare.

"'Ah don't think 'Ah remember the moon bein' so... large," Applejack spoke.

"Or so red..." Rarity added on to the statement.

Twilight fell onto her haunches staring wide-eyed out the window. "This doesn't make any sense... How... H-How could this have happened?"

"T-Twilight... Dear?" Rarity spoke questioningly. She gazed over to the purple unicorn with a nervous look on her face.

"Yes?"

"W-well... This may sound rather absurd, and please forgive me but... Is it possible we aren't in Equestria any more?" Rarity had to choke back her stuttering as she asked with hesitance. She wanted nothing more than for Twilight to tell her she was wrong. The unicorn as stated however, seemed as though she'd been smacked across the face. It fit the puzzle pieces perfectly.

"That would explain a lot..." Twilight murmured. Each of the mares sat silently staring at the giant looming rock in the sky. It's appearance was both awing, and terrifying.

"So how are we supposed to get home now?" Rainbow Dash planted her head in her hooves and spoke through her muffled position

Twilight wasn't at all prepared for this. How do you find your way home when there aren't any marks or points of reference you can go off of? Even more how do you find your home when you're potentially not even in the same universe altogether. "I... I don't know," Twilight's short sentence had left everypony dumbstruck.

Applejack spoke up over the silence, "C'mon now girls we need ta' be strong. Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy are still out there somewhere and they're countin' on us to find 'em. We can think about how we're gonna get home later."

Twilight sat up at the same time Rainbow Dash looked up from her hooves. "Applejack's right. Fluttershy and Pinkie need our help. Besides, if we got here somehow, then that means there has to be a way back," Twillight gave a mostly honest smile as she ended her sentence.

"Yeah, I'm not leaving Pinkie Pie OR Fluttershy out there to die with those things," Rainbow nodded and got onto her hooves. Rarity gave a slight nod of acknowledgement as well.

Applejack smiled, "Well then, let's get goin'."

••••••••••

The four mares walked with their sides as close together as possible. Both to be as far from the surrounding darkness as they could, and to keep back the cold air that had sunken into the catacombs. Twilight led the group, her horn glowing with it's faint purple-white hue. Applejack stood just to her right only a few inches apart, and just behind them Rarity and Rainbow Dash followed.

Their progress was made slow by the darkness due to the lack of the sun now piercing the cracks and windows in the wall. As well the bitterly freezing air that followed it's decent past the horizon. Each of the mares could now see their breath, and their hooves had gone numb from the frozen surface of the stone. It felt to be getting colder by the second.

Twilight glanced to a large hole in the wall. The moon hadn't appeared to have moved from it's position in the sky almost an hour ago. She took her eyes away from the passing window and looked ahead, seeing that they were coming upon an intersection. Her pace briefly slowed as she glanced to each passage, quickly concluding that it was best to keep moving with the hall ahead of her. "L-let's head this way."

*WweeEEEeeE-*

*Clack- clack- clack*

As they passed between the adjacent halls, a sharp cry and a loud rustling noise abruptly broke the silence. Like a steel dagger suddenly ripping apart soft fabric. The sounds were over as quickly as they had begun, leaving the halls as quiet as before. Each mare turned static, refusing to breath for fear of giving themselves away to some unholy creature. Despite their mutual silence they still exchanged glances of worry and questioning.

Hesitantly, Twilight focused her light into a beam, and aimed it down the hall to find that it ended with a large gaping doorway. A pair of iron doors laid flat on the ground in front of it.

"Should we check it out?" Applejack whispered to Twilight. Her breath danced out into Twilight's light.

Twilight didn't take a second to answer, "If there's any chance that Fluttershy or Pinkie Pie might be there, then yes."

Twilight headed the group of four, nervously approaching the doorway at the end of the hall. She stopped as she noticed a pool of blood just outside of the opening. Smear marks trailed off of it and into the room ahead, disappearing into the darkness that veiled everything beyond her light.

"Oh Celestia, this is bad," Twilight had no clue what could've caused so much bleeding, but she had a very bad feeling that whatever was at it's end wasn't likely to be alive.

Rarity gasped at the sight, "I-Is it Fluttershy's or Pinkie's?"

"I don't think so, but we're going to find out." Twilight timorously began to follow the dragging marks on the ground, the scent of the fresh blood weighing heavily over it. She stopped after a few feet when a scratching noise became audible. It sounded like somepony dragging their hooves across the stone. Twilight's heart began to speed up as she unconsciously began breathing through her mouth. She glanced quickly behind her, noticing that each of her friends gave the same, wide-eyed stare back to her. Twilight swallowed in an attempt to keep her throat from closing up as she started moving again.

The trail brought her to a wall, and continued along it's side and further ahead. The space against the wall was littered with clay pots, shattered and some intact that she nervously tip-hooved around. The scratching was steadily becoming louder as she moved forward, growing in intensity until she reached a corner which took a sharp right turn. The blood smears went around the corner, where the scratching noise became almost deafeningly loud in the still air. Twilight swallowed one more time as she prepared to look around the edge; summoning her strength, she leaned around the corner.

Her light suddenly revealed a large grayish figure with thick and muscular legs and a massive jaw, tearing into a carcass which sat against the wall. It was a strange pig-like body. Everything around the carrion was splashed with blood and bits of meat, including the creature itself.

Twilight rapidly jerked her head back behind the wall, praying silently that the beast hadn't seen her. She felt her heart go into overdrive as she attempted to listen for signs that it may not have sensed her.

*Scratch*... *Scratch* *Schlik*

She peered around the corner briefly again to confirm that the creature hadn't noticed her; and it didn't. She didn't know by what miracle it was that the creature seemed incapable of seeing her light, or that it was too busy ripping apart the dead pig to care, but she was glad that it hadn't seen them.

"Out, now!" Twilight was quick to usher the others back towards the doorway, eager to leave the room behind now that they knew their friends at least weren't dead.

They got only a few feet away when Applejack's hoof hit a pot, knocking it over onto it's side. The sound of the empty container cracking against the stone was sudden and loud, reverberating through the room. Each of the mares cringed, with Twilight suddenly freezing as she listened carefully again.

....

Silence overtook everything, the air becoming terribly calm. The seconds ticked away as Twilight waited for the sounds of the creature's feasting to resume, but it never happened. Her heart beat as though it were ready to tear itself from her chest, yet her limbs were completely stringent, unwilling to move at all for her both out of fear and numbness.

*HOWL*

In the time of under a second, Twilight's legs broke into overdrive as the sound of what seemed to be hundreds of demonic howls recoiled around the walls surrounding her. She made a dead sprint out the doorway, checking back only for a quarter of a second to see her friends were right beside her, and at least five of the creatures trailing just behind them.

The sounds of their jaws smacking eagerly and guttural growls fueled her to push to her limits, barely managing to keep up with Rainbow Dash and Applejack, with Rarity just beside her. They made a sharp left turn and down another corridor, each praying for a way to lose the abominations that eagerly chased behind.

They all sprinted down the hall, making a right at the next intersection. Her legs were already feeling like they were beginning to give out, burning from her exertion. At the end of the hall was a set of iron double doors that hung just open. She and the others began to pick up speed, barely making it through the door ahead of the twisted creatures.

"SHUT IT, NOW," Rainbow Dash shouted as she skid to a stop. As Twilight and Rarity leapt through, she grasped the doors with her magic slamming them shut and sliding a nearby boulder in front of it. The creatures howled madly on the other side, tearing and slamming at the door with hunger to get to them but realized it was a lost cause and shortly gave up.

Twilight stood shaking, her breaths heaving uncontrollably. Her legs burned and her heart ran a mile a second in her chest as she collapsed to the floor. Despite the temperature being easily below freezing, she found herself sweating.

"Is... *huff*... everypony alright?" Applejack spoke between gasps of air. Each mare gave a short groan, indicating that they were unharmed.

"I really wish... *huff*... we had some water... *huff*... right about now." Rarity sat as she panted like a dog.

"Where do we go now?" Rainbow Dash pointed out that they'd run into another room. Most of which were always dead ends.

Twilight held up her hoof as she tried to catch her breath. It took a few moments before she was able to actually talk. "Well... We're not going back out there... that's certain." She stood up and looked around. Her light didn't penetrate very far into the surrounding darkness, but she could make out a pair of pillars to both sides of the door they'd come through. "Everypony stay close to me. Let's hope there's a way out through here.

She had only managed to take a few steps away from the door when she stepped on a stone block with her right fore-hoof, causing it to sink into the ground with a loud click. "Oh Celestia I don't think that's good..." Suddenly the room lit up with an intense glow that forced each of the mares to cover their eyes with their hooves. Twilight held her eyes shut for what felt like minutes, but eventually she glanced out from the safety of her own shadows.

She saw no horror awaiting them within their self-made trap of a room; no creatures, no bodies or pools of blood. The room had instead been lit up by a series of torches that sat upon pillars along the walls. The room was elongated and stretched almost half a hoofball field. The curved ceiling held square, carved murals with unusual diagrams of shapes and lines that were impossible to understand. The torches flickered with a solid yellow light upon their mounts on the pillars. Between each pillar was another ornate mural carved into the stone wall that held writing rather than images. Finally dead center within the room was a small stone table that resembled an altar. From a distance it was apparent something was written on it's surface and in the middle was a rectangular indentation.

"Well... At least something in this heap 'a rubble works." Applejack commented as she took a few steps ahead of Twilight.

"Ooh, this feels sooooo good..." Rainbow Dash basked in the warmth of one of the nearby torch's flames. Her tongue hung out of her mouth as she exposed her back and face to the heat. Rarity, while disgusted with the way Rainbow acted, couldn't help but bathe herself in the same heat as her friend.

Twilight ended her light spell, heaving relief at not having to worry (at least too much) about getting assault by any kind of unseen abomination. She began to approach the altar at the room's center, her natural curiosity overcame her instinct to go share in the same warmth as her other two friends. As she neared she could make out a distinct rectangular impression on the altar's surface, surrounded by sprawled writing and symbols. Her eyes went along with the meaningless text as she went up. At the very top of the altar, her eyes were drawn to three small words written in easily recognizable Equestrian.

Dawn of Salvation

The gears within Twilight's mind immediately began turning. She remembered the book they'd found earlier and put into Fluttershy's saddlebag. "Hey, Applejack," She turned to see the cowpony staring at the lettering on the walls.

The orange Earthpony glanced over to her, "Yeah?"

"Is there a book in Fluttershy's saddlebags?"

Applejack seemed puzzled by the question, but nonetheless complied. "Hang on, lemme check," She took the bags off her back and dug into the pouches for a moment. It didn't take any time for her to produce a leather-bound book which she held up for Twilight. "Is this it?"

Twilight nodded, "Yeah, that's the one. Bring it here please." The purple unicorn turned back to the rectangular carving in the altar. She sized it up, noting that the stonework was unusually smooth. She turned around to see Applejack stand only a foot away, presenting the book to her. "Thanks."

"Ain't no problem."

Twilight levitated the book and quickly turned around to look at the altar. She held the book in her telekinetic grasp just above the depression. "Let's hope this works," she pushed the old tome into the carving, it seemed to fit almost impossibly well. She released her grasp on it as she back up, awaiting some sort of effect to happen.

...

"Well, that didn't do us much good, did it," disappointment was mutual between the two mares that sat in front of the stone table. Twilight sighed as she stood when she felt a sudden shock race through her body. Her limbs seized and her vision quickly sank, causing the world to be retaken by darkness; everything went cold again.

••••••••••

Twilight's eyes suddenly sprung open as she attempted to take in a breath, only to have her mouth and throat flooded with water. She thrashed about in an attempt to escape the thick veil of cool liquid that surrounded her, trying in a desperate attempt to get to the surface. Suddenly her hooves made contact with some kind of ground and she lifted herself up, breaking the surface of the pool she was drowning in.

*Cough*

Her nostrils and eyes burned as the water finished pouring out of her mouth and nose, leaving her gasping to fill her lungs. She went rigid as she felt the cool air come into contact with her wet and matted coat and mane. The water on her skin seemed to freeze within an instant, turning to ice which locked up her limbs stringently. She barely managed to move her head upward, staring around herself into a shadowed expanse of nothing.

"W....Wha-..." The only vocalization she could manage was weak and stammered, attempting to express her confusion. She looked down to the water below her, somehow lit up by an unseen light; she stared into her reflection.

What she saw was not at all the Image of herself she had expected to see, but of some malformed opposite towards herself. It shared her pony-like shape and structure, but little else. It's eyes had shrunken into the skull and shaded such a pitch black that they were barely distinguishable. Her mane, coat, and tail had disappeared almost entirely, leaving a loose, bruise and callus ridden sheet of white skin to cover her, showing her oddly elongated ribs and shoulders well. The line of her mouth had been replaced by a twisted arrangement of sharp and jagged teeth which hung open as though ready to be sunken into the flesh of some unknown being.

Twilight froze in place staring straight into the eyes of the demonic representation in the water. As she reared to run and scream the reflection suddenly broke through the water like glass, grabbing at her legs with it's gnarled teeth. She screamed in fear and agony as the creature dug it's teeth into her leg. She could feel her flesh tear as it disappeared beneath the water again, dragging her with it. As the last of her head finally submerged she faded back into darkness.