Silent Ponyville: Duet Of Sorrow

Chapters

Chapter 1: Darkness Of The Night
Chapter 2: A Recollection and A Brass Request
Chapter 4: Two Minds, One Prison
Chapter 5: The Fog Cries Out...
Intermission 1: The Eyes Of The Void
Chapter 6: First Stop
Chapter 7: Meeting Memories
Chapter 8: The First Test
Intermission 2: A Little Heart-To-Heart
Chapter 9: The Endless Path
Chapter 10: Moving Forward
Chapter 11: Ghosts
Intermission 3: The Tale Continues
Chapter 12: Visions Of The Past...
Chapter 13: ...and Shadows Of The Future
Intermission 4: Behind The Static
Chapter 14: The Second Gate
Chapter 15 Part 1: Judge, Jury, And Executioner
Chapter 15 Part 2: Glorious Agony
Chapter 3: The Trial Of Shadows and A Fated Meeting

Chapter 1: Darkness Of The Night

Dark. A simple word, yet that was all that came to mind for this. Raspy breaths passed through the shadows as somoene raced through the heavy shadows, deadset on an objective they'd discovered weeks prior. Walls flew by, unable to keep up with the soul now crashing through its uniform interior.

"How long have I been running...?" A thought in the darkness, lost to the edges of the soul's mind. A typical question, one they had asked themselves before... hadn't they? It was becoming difficult to tell. The sound of feet crashing against the metal walkway drowned in the black, an almost ethereal cold having settled in eons before the hall had been intruded upon.

Another sound joined the dull cacophony of steps, splitting it with its clarity; a laugh. A laugh that felt cold, yet sounded like it belonged to a child. It only served to drive the soul's efforts farther, the steps becoming faster, more heavy. A vision finally bled in from the darkness, just barely enough for the soul to lock their eyes on it.

A long dark hallway, green metal walls with a steel grating, inhabited only by the sound of footsteps, the echo reaching away into the darkness, a mad sprint. Off in the darkness is a silhouette, still too blurry to see properly.

“How long have I been running for?” The shadow asks itself, still sprinting towards something in the endless black. A high-pitched cackle is heard, only an echo, almost drowned out by the sound of the shadow’s running.

“That laugh again…who is that?” The shadow mumbles to himself, holding a deep tone, troubled by the ominous laughter in the distance. He picks up his pace, the wind blowing past his face, his silver hair bouncing to the beat of his run. Off in the dark, another shadow can be made out, running away from the man. A smile can be seen on his face, quickly replaced by a frown, then by an angered grimace.
“You aren’t getting away from me this time!” He screams at the shadow. The cackle returns, much closer than it had been before, but the being in front of him seems to be keeping its distance, although running much slower than him.

“How the heck is she keeping this gap so wide?” He asks himself, questioning his own capability to run faster than anyone he’s known. He picks up his pace, trying to catch up to the shadow just outside his reach. The darkness fades slightly, revealing what he’s chasing.

A pink coat, and a hot pink mane whipping in the wind. The head turns slightly, showing a cyan eye, and a sick smile. The thinned darkness reveals a leather dress covered with what seems to be patches of flesh, cut with delicate purpose, shown in different shapes and colors. On her sides are what appear to be wings, three pairs of varying sizes and color. The sound of bone clashing against bone can be heard over the conjoined metal clanging of their sprint, unicorn horns briefly showing themselves, hanging from a string around her neck.

“An…Equestrian?” The man asks himself, almost in shock. An Equestrian, a pony, could outrun him? He only knew of one pony who could truly beat him in a race, and this one certainly didn’t look like her. The shine in her eye and the sadistic look of her smile was all he needed to discount that possibility.

“Cmon, keep up! I’m getting BORED here!” The pink pony shouts back at him, bouncing slightly to each of her steps. This only serves to tick the man off more, who picks up his sprint to his top speed, moving his arms behind him, letting his legs do all the work. The clanging of the sprint quickly escalates into a mad banging of heavy boots on metal, as his speed nearly doubles.

“Woo, so you can run faster! Glad I picked such a good guest, been a while since I’ve had this much fun!” She seemed to be enjoying herself, having fun, as if this mad sprint into the heart of Oblivion was just some competition she’s having with one of her friends. She picks up her pace into a sprint, quickly widening the gap between her and her chaser.

“I said YOU AREN’T GETTING AWAY!” The man screams at her, as she crosses through a space and a door slams closed behind her. He tackles the door, it easily snapping off its aged hinges, and he skids to a stop in the middle of a dark room. He breathes hard, looking like he’s run for hours through a warzone, his feet covered in what looks like blood. He takes in the scenery with quick glances, sharp breaths moving in and out of his lungs, trying to get rid of the sting in his legs.

A single torch lights up the room, revealing a scene he’s never witnessed before. Rusty fences are what make up the walls, only shown in patches through what…seemed to be crawling flesh. The ground moves under his feet, and the room is filled with the pungent smell of rot. The light reveals more of his figure.

He doesn’t seem to have come from Equestria, standing on two legs instead of all fours. Gloved hands and wearing what seems to be military fatigues. Two bangs of hair fall past the ears on the top of his head down past his eyes, and five silver spikes leading across and off the back of his head make up his hair. His eyes are brown and bloodshot.

“Where’d she lead me…?” He stands up straight, taking a few slow steps towards the center of the room. Bodies hang from the ceiling, shown from his adjustment to the darkness. Equestrians, hanging from chains, some coiled up in the chains while others are impaled on large butcher’s hooks like pigs waiting to be cut up and devoured. Most are missing their lower torsos, some remainder of their organs hanging from the bottom of the corpses. All of them have no eyes, and their mouths are cut into a permanent grin. The simple sight of these makes the man feel sick, but he holds it down as he continues his search for the pink mare.

“Over here! Over here! Cmon, I can’t wait all day!” A cry from the darkness. He slowly turns his head towards the sound, and moves forward, reaching towards his back for the sword that should be there, now of all times. He grips only air.

“Heck of a time for Esma to not show up…” He groans, as he proceeds into the black. A sound enters his ears, besides the dripping of water and the slight giggle of the crazy pony he’s been chasing.

“Is that…crying…?” He cocks his head to the side as he asks himself, wondering if that psychopath was even capable of crying. He walks forward further, beginning to make out shapes in the darkness left unlit by the torch on the ceiling. An operator’s table that wouldn’t be out of place in a hospital, a small table next to it, a small bag on top of the table. On the operator’s table is a shadow, a shape that can be vaguely made out to be an Equestrian, and beside the small table, another shadow, the shape of the horns and wings all too apparent.

“What the…” He squints his eyes, trying to adjust to the dark.

“Well, do you like what I did with the place? It took a lot of party guests to get it juuuust the way I wanted it! But they all served their purpose admirably, so I couldn’t be happier!” That inane giggle following the high-pitched sentence sent shivers down the man’s spine. He takes a few steps further, his eyes now adjusting properly, and he stops dead in his tracks.

An Equestrian on the table, definitely young, and the cries were certainly from her, but that isn’t what shocked him the most. The pony on the table looked exactly like the psycho he’d been chasing down the corridor. Take out the dress, the wings and the necklace, and you couldn’t tell them apart.

“Help…me…please…” A quiet sentence breaks through the whimpers, the girl’s eyes full of tears, full of pain. Her body’s been cut up, carefully sutured in places, several holes marking injection sites for some kind of syringe. The man opens his eyes wide at this cruel show, and he quickly becomes angered.
“…Did you do this?” He turns his eyes to the other pony, his brow lowering into a cross look. His bloodshot look becomes worse, the veins slowly reaching inward to his irises.

“Well…I thought it’d be obvious, really. I’m the only one here with the scalpel! But don’t worry, she’s having fun, see? Those cries are of joy, she’s happy to be helping me! And after the fun, she’s gonna help me with some baking, and I’m sure this batch will turn out better than all the rest!” She gleefully exclaims, bouncing over to the crying girl on the table before nuzzling her neck.

“Aren’t I right, Pinkie? C’mon, let’s see that great smile you show everyone else!” The crazy woman prods at the pony named Pinkie’s wounds, causing her to shake on the table and shout in pain.
“Stop hurting her!” The man roars at the woman in the dress, his blood shot look worsening, the veins turning black, almost burning. Black flames grow on the backs of his hands, his vision becoming a red tunnel.

“And why should I? You just want to ruin my fun! I know the kind of ponies like you, always trying to get in the way so you can get a shot at this! This is my game, and you’ll get your turn, you just have to be PATIENT. Know what that means? It means to WAIT.” She seems more annoyed than anything at this show of aggression, taking a scalpel from the bag with her hoof before sticking it in her mouth.

“Well, if you aren’t going to keep quiet, then I suppose I’ll just have to shut you up!” She screams before lunging at the man. The scalpel shunts its way home into his arm, the man growling in pain, an almost primal roar. His gaze shifts to the crazy girl’s eyes, and her pupils shrink in terror at what she sees.
His eyes have now become entirely blood shot, the whites of them now covered in streaks of black veins, veins which should be red. His own pupils are filled with a red hot flame of pure hatred, and his irises have turned blood red. His grimace shakes into a twisted smile, a slow, high laugh coming from him, turning the woman’s stomach.

“Ohhhh, I want a shot at it, DO I? Well, I don’t see the point in going further with the kid on the table…ohhohoho no, I want a LIVE TARGET. And you’ll do juuuust fiiiiine…hehehehehahahahaha…” The man has completely lost himself to the emotion, instinct charging his every action. He flexes his left hand into a fist, his right arm stabbed with the scalpel. The woman jumps away as a flaming fist blows through the air where her head used to be, and the fear in her eyes quickly changes to annoyed anger.

“I KNEW you were just trying to ruin my fun! Now I don’t think I’ll be able to play with you, you’ll get my dress all messy with your flailing! Guess I’ll just kill you now, she’s done playing anyway.” She growls at the man, having lowered himself into a more ready fighting position. His smile has now crept into an insane grin, and the whites of his eyes are a near solid black from the continued spread of that flame in his eyes, the red in his pupils now burning a bright blue.

“Well, you want FUN, here it COMES!!!” He screams at her with a maniacal laugh, and he sprints at her with renewed vigor and blinding speed, as a hand slams her straight in the throat and shoves her into the metal wall. An audible crick his heard as the slam straightens the spine in her neck, the windpipe flattened from the pressure.

“I’m…going to enjoy…every moment of this…MONSTER.” He grunts out the words, moving his left hand back and opening it into a palm. His eyes open wide and his pupils shrink, adrenaline pumping through his system with a mad rush.

“Guess…you…really did…wanna play, eh…heheh?” She gags out, coughing, trying to get a breath into her lungs through her crushed windpipe. She feels herself grind against the wall as she’s moved down, level with the man’s eyes, and they stare at each other.

A dead stare, terror entering neither side, nor is the hatred leaving either side. They simply stare at each other, trying to break the other’s soul before theirs is snapped in two. The man’s left hand shakes, his breathing quickens, the smile expands ever more, and the palm comes forward, aimed right for her muzzle. The strike lands, a crunch is heard, and…

“GAH!” The man shoots up from a bed, banging his head into the upper bunk, knocking himself back into the pillow. He hisses out a breath of slight pain as he holds his forehead, rolling around on the bed before falling out of it onto the cold, concrete floor, landing with a thud and a puff of exhaled breath.

“Awww, that hurts…” He whispers to himself, looking around the small room. Four bunks, three shadows holding his same figure still sleeping soundly. The room is completely dark, his eyes taking in what little light there is coming off the moon through the small window in the wall.

“Can’t sleep?” A deep voice speaks to him from above, which causes him to jerk in shock a bit before looking up. The other man’s face is lit slightly by the pale moonlight, revealing a brown face with red hair, deep blue streaks running along the top of his spikes.

“This sorta thing usually isn’t enough to wake you up, Tyrus…ahhhh my head…” The silver-haired hedgehog faces the floor, gripping the sides of his head.

The red-haired hedgehog on the top bunk simply rolls his eyes, before slipping his legs over the sides and dropping down to the other man’s side.

“Come on, this has gone on for a good while now. How long’s it been since you started having these, month and a half? Two months?” He kneels down next to the man, picking him up the arm.

“Round that, yeah…” He grimaces as he rubs his forehead, a lump forming where he’d hit himself. He sighs, rubbing the back of his neck.

“Time for a late night visit to the Doc, Sehn. On your feet, soldier. Should be taking care of this yourself, seriously…” He sighs, annoyed at this whole burden.

“Yeah, yeah, just take me to the Sickbay…my night vision sucks.” Sehn rubs his face, moving back over to his bunk, grabbing a black shirt and his zip up camo vest. He puts both on before shoving his hands in his pockets and heading out of the barracks with Tyrus.

The heavy door whines slightly as it opens, the hinges having not been oiled lately. They head out of the room and into a long, dark hallway, a thick metal walkway having been put in to separate the two floors of quarters for soldiers. Sehn looks around with a slight worried look.

“Something wrong?” Tyrus asks, beginning to walk off into the darkness.

“Nothing…just, these dreams’ve got me on edge.” Sehn lowers his eyes, obviously put off by the darkness that envelops the hall.

Tyrus simply chuckles to himself, “Aren’t you usually this uneasy? Maybe you’re just telling me this to cover up your usual scaredy-cat traits.” He grins, looking back with a sly glance.

“Shut up. You think I could’ve made the rank of Captain by being scared all the time?”

“Far from it. You got it simply by being recognized. Fear and skill are two different things, brother.” Tyrus shrugs.

“Whatever. How far is it? This hall is way too familiar for me to stay in it for long.” Sehn says under his voice as he looks around.

“Why’s that? Afraid something’ll…” Tyrus vanishes from Sehn’s sight and taps him from behind on the shoulder “GETCHA?”

Sehn jumps, spinning around, fists raised. “Don’t do that! Scared the crap outta me…”

His brother laughs, the simple joke being all too effective. “Sorry, sorry, couldn’t help myself. Sickbay’s right around the corner, pretty sure the Doc’s heard us coming.”

The two round the corner into a short hall, having four doors on either side. The two on the left are marked Armory and Training Hall, and the other two are both simply marked Sickbay. They head into the nearest door on the right, and are immediately greeted by crazed giggling.

“I’ve done it, I’ve done it! Oooohoooohooo, by Jane I’ve done it!” A tall, grey haired hedgehog with a full beard smiles brightly and laughs to himself, rubbing his hands together over what appears to be a large microscope. A purple-haired female sits away from him, leaning against the counter, cross-legged.
“What’s gotten into the Doc this time?” Sehn asks with a smirk, looking over at the lady.

“His typical ‘supreme discoveries’. He thinks he’s isolated an agent that causes cancer in 90% of subjects it’s applied to. Pretty sure it’ll go like all his other projects.” She says with a bored tone, leaning her head on her hand, staring at the old man.

“It’s good for a few laughs, isn’t it, Jen?” Sehn smiles, chuckling to himself over Doc’s insane cackles and exclamations of accomplishment.

“Doctor Fresten, please.” Jen looks over at Sehn, eyes half closed, the rose-colored irises partly covered.

“Ah come on, we’ve gotta be on a first-name basis by now, ‘Doctor Fresten’.” Sehn rolls his eyes, moving over to one of the tables and taking a seat, pulling out a carton of cigarettes. He snaps his fingers, creating a small ball of black flame on the end of his finger, and pulls out a smoke with his mouth.

“Ah ah, no smoking in the operating room. You know what it does to the patients.” Jen takes the smoke out of Sehn’s mouth with a swift motion, putting a hand on her hip, the shadow of her beautiful figure standing over Sehn.

“Killjoy.” Is all Sehn mutters, lowering himself into a slouch. He puts out the flame with a quick exhale, waving his hand, then looks over at Tyrus.

“Right…Doctor Fresten, me and my brother have come in concerning a case of psychological trauma, as far as I can tell. Have you heard about his nightmares?”

“I have, though I don’t think any form of dreaming is meant to cause physical injury…” She strokes her chin as she leans over Sehn to see the lump on his forehead.

“Banged my head waking up from my dream.” He says as he looks up at her neck, trying not to look down, thinking ‘Please sit back down before I get slapped…’

“Of course you did, dear. Anyway…” She says as she sits back down at her chair, leaning on the counter with her left arm, laying her right hand on her crossed legs and staring at Sehn. “Let’s start from the top, shall we? Tell me how these nightmares began.”

“Hoo…alright, let’s see…it began a month and a half ago. The first nightmare I had was pretty short, just a vision of five shadows in the distance. They were all blobs, but the sense I got from them was…foreboding, to give it a word. Like something was coming, something bad.
The next nightmare I had was a bit more vivid. The shadows had form, color. I couldn’t quite make out where they were from, but I definitely heard the clinking of metal and the drawing of swords. The footsteps were all muffled so I couldn’t tell if they were bipedal or not…”

“The nightmares stayed like that up until two weeks ago, sometimes placing me in a wide open desert, or in the middle of a bombed out city. I’d always wake up, feeling confused, but it never bugged me much. Then…they got bad. About a week and a half ago, one of the three really vivid nightmares came up.”

“I was in the middle of a vast desert, and the moon was hanging right over my head. The sand looked white under the light, but I could definitely see that it was just sound around me. I heard footsteps behind me, and they belonged to four Hemoran soldiers. I looked over myself, seeing I was dressed in a Lieutenant’s fatigues, the four that followed me all being Corporals. I looked up from my squad, and saw that another figure had come into being in front of me…except it wasn’t Hemoran…it was Equestrian.”

“A lavender unicorn, dressed in the armor of one of the Royal Guard. The way she looked at me said she was looking for a fight, wanting to cut me down. Behind her were four more soldiers, all unicorns, though their colors weren’t as vivid as hers. The four drew swords from their sides, and she…somehow…pulled a black sword out of nowhere from above her, moving it around with her magic. I drew my own blade, Esma, and the soldiers behind me drew theirs. We stood there for about three minutes before one of the unicorns charged straight at me. Cut him down easily enough, a swipe at the legs through the gaps in his armor, and a swift stab in the forehead, but none of them seemed phased by the death of their comrade. Two of their side and three of mine got into a fight, killing each other after about five minutes of fighting, while the last two foot soldiers on either side just charged and stabbed each other in the heart, right through gaps that would’ve taken real sharp eyes to see.

It was just me and her, and we stood there, staring at each other, not even budging. I counted the seconds going by, keeping my mind on her body and face, watching for any kind of movement, when I heard something flying through the air. I raised my sword, BAM, she was inches away from slicing my head in half, and she didn’t even blink to signal it! It’s like she’d fought in three wars, training with that damn sword every day! The strength pushing that blade down was massive as well, brought me down to my knees before I managed to slip out from under it. I jumped to the left as the blade dug itself into the ground, and charged at the unicorn from the side. Quick stab straight into the edge of her sword! I jumped back, sprinted around to her other side. She was still looking the other way, but I had to assume she knew where I was standing, so I feigned a stab into her side, tapped her block and jumped. I brought Esma down straight for her back, when I saw a flash of black and felt probably the worst pain in my life…

I managed to get my side sliced open, pretty deeply as well. It didn’t stop my fall, but it did mess up my concentration. I stabbed my sword into her back, denting the armor and knocking her off balance, while I jumped back. This wound was bleeding worse than any other I’ve ever had, bleeding way more than it should have, considering it was in my lower left side. I brought my sword back up, looking at her, then looked around her. No sword. Nothing, just her, and those purple eyes, full of anger…

Then a great stabbing pain, as the sword ripped right through my stomach. She’d impaled me from behind…something I didn’t even SENSE coming, let alone see. Went all the way to the guard, about three feet of steel sticking out of my lower gut in front of me. And that’s when it took over…”

“When what took over, Captain?” Jen raises an eyebrow, interested at where this story is going.

“Well…IT…I can’t really put a word or name to it. It felt like what usually takes over…but she wasn’t there in my head. It was just primal instinct, I guess…my vision tunneled, turned red, my eyes shook…I could feel myself losing control, losing feeling, losing my mind. The pain melted away into the intense heat of my own hate for the enemy, and I could feel myself burning. Esma’s edge ignited, my vision went completely red…and I passed out. When I came to, I was standing over the unicorn’s brutally wounded body, ready to strike the final blow, when I saw her face.” Sehn stops, his eyes widening slightly, putting his hands together, looking down.

“Saw what?”

“…She was smiling…she looked…happy…like she’d fulfilled something that she’d always wanted to do. I didn’t give it much thought in the nightmare, I just smiled back and impaled her through the side, aiming for the chest and hitting my mark. Hearing the splitting of flesh, feeling the pain that she felt when that blade struck…and that smile didn’t disappear from her face. She didn’t even twitch or cry out…she just smiled…closed her eyes…and died.” Sehn takes a deep breath, closing his eyes.

“…And this is just the first of the nightmares?” Tyrus looks honestly surprised, eyebrow raised.

“Yeah…and they only get worse from here.” Sehn says back, having a scared look on his face.

Chapter 2: A Recollection and A Brass Request

“The second nightmare…I rarely even want to think about it. I was standing in the middle of a city, tall buildings all around me. What was weird about it is it was like I was in an old film, there was no color to the buildings, the streets, or even the plants. It was all black and white…even me. I looked around at the empty streets around me, and started walking through the town.

There was no sound to my steps, no birds chirping, even though I swear I saw three fly away from a nearby tree…it was like the whole town was stuck in limbo, like nothing there was alive. It freaked me out. I decided to head up a building, see into the distance, so I ran up the side of an apartment building, good thirty stories. It seemed…easier than usual, like I weighed nothing. Weird thing to notice when you’re in the middle of a soundless city-scape, heh.

But, when I got to the top of that building, and looked around myself, I realized something. As soon as I entered that dream, I’d had a feeling that I’ve been in that city before…and when the realization hit me, it hit like three freight trains. I was in Tavin…” Sehn shivers slightly as he tells the story, obviously unnerved by this realization.

Tyrus almost jumps off the wall, staring at Sehn with shocked eyes, “Tavin?! You mean-“

“I mean exactly what you think…I was in Tavin before everything happened. It terrified me, sent electricity down my spine…because as I looked up, I saw her. I saw that devil screaming through the air…” Sehn’s eyes open wide, his clasped hands gripping each other more with each passing moment.

“That damned Equestrian…the one who caused the Tavin Disaster.”

“But that’s impossible! How the hell do you remember that?! You weren’t even there!” Tyrus shouts at his brother, none of this making sense to him.

“I’m not sure, but all I know is I couldn’t move in that dream, like my whole body had shut down. I could only watch as she ascended, further, further into the sky, until she was just a black dot against the sun…like some holy figure from a scripture, wings spread wide. Then she started falling…wings flapping, she fell faster…and faster. I could see the wind bending around her. She was already at her top speed when she passed me, and time slowed down. A second turned into a minute, then five…like the dream wanted, forced me to identify this demon.”

Jen adjusts her sitting position, eyes wide in surprise. “Kind of shocking what happened to her after all this…still, you were on border patrol duty until five hours after the Tavin Disaster…carry on, Captain.”

“Right…time had slowed down, and I managed a good, long look at her. She was the only thing to have any color in that dead city. The blue coat, the rainbow-colored mane and tail, even the air bending around her, like Nature itself trying to stop her dead in her tracks. Those rose-colored eyes looked back at me, and she smiled…a disturbing smile, something that crept into my soul and bit at it with sick desire. I heard a laugh, a crazed one…then, Boom.

The next thing I remember is lying in the rubble of the building I was on, my vision completely distorted. I could barely see past my own hand, but the blood all over me, and the pain stabbing me in the legs and hand were all too noticeable. My breathing was brutally hard, like I was on the edge of death…I heard footsteps…she came into my vision. We just stared at each other for a while, and her smile didn’t disappear. She closed her eyes, leaned in and gave me what felt like a kiss on the cheek, and then I woke up.”

Sehn shuts his eyes tight, rubbing his forehead. He moves his hand over the lump and grimaces, twitching slightly with the pain, using it to get the image out of his mind.

“…Wait, she kissed you?” Tyrus asks, again leaning on the wall, his eyebrows raised.

“Wow, really? I told you a full recollection of Tavin, and THAT’S what you take from it all?” Sehn looks over at his brother, the look in his eye just pure amazement.

“Now now, gentlemen. Let’s remain focused on what’s happening here, alright?” Jen shifts slightly, moving her legs into a new crossed position, getting blood flowing again.

“This is…quite the story you’re telling us, Captain. These Equestrians…you’ve only ever personally known one, haven’t you?”

“Yes, Doctor. A pony named Rainbow Dash, least that’s what she calls herself. Couldn’t stand saying it, so I just took to calling her ‘Amanda’. I know I didn’t recognize the unicorn, though I doubt I could’ve with all that armor she was wearing.” Sehn adjusts his hands, putting on top of the other, letting out a deep sigh.

“So you’ve never seen the unicorn before. I can understand the second nightmare completely, that is a very traumatic experience…but the first doesn’t seem to sync well with what you’ve been through. It’s been 300 years since the General’s battle against Celestia’s personal Royal Guard…” Jen strokes her chin in thought, closing her eyes.

“Perhaps it’s because he YEARNS for the heat of battle once more!?” Doc hops into the conversation, skating over with a slide on his knees. “I know I do, I’m running out of test subjects after all! Could always use an Equestrian or two for some experiments, and POWs are ALWAYS useful! Heeheehee!!”

Everyone just kind of stares at Doc, eyes half closed and a single eyebrow raised on each one, the look simply stating “You barged into this important conversation to say that?”

“No…I don’t think I wanna start killing ponies, sorry. And did you say test subjects?” Sehn looks questioningly at Doc.

“Ahem! I did not mean test subjects as ‘things to be dissected’, I meant ‘things to be tested’!” Doc shouts back, no care for the volume of his voice, leaping back onto his feet. The German accent shakes his sentence, causing Sehn to take a rather annoyed look.

“Would you please keep it down, ‘Doc’? It IS the middle of the night.” Jen interrupts the stare between Sehn and Doc, then turns to face Sehn again.

“What about the last nightmare, Captain?”

“Oh, now this one’s a doozy…and probably one of the more disturbing nightmares I’ve had.” Sehn takes a deep breath, cupping his hands again, and closes his eyes as he recollects.

“I remember standing in total darkness. Everywhere around me, it was like midnight with no moon or stars to light up your surroundings. I stood there for about three minutes, trying to adjust…but my night vision just wouldn’t kick in. I started walking forward, hoping I wouldn’t run into a wall, and my footsteps sounded like I was walking on metal. ‘Alright, a metal walkway, this has to be a hall then,’ I told myself, and continued my walk down…well, wherever I was. I walked for about ten minutes when I heard this cackle in the dark…a rather high-pitched, almost screechy giggle, like some schoolgirl meeting a celebrity crush…though it was sadistic-sounding. I’m still not sure how I came to that conclusion, but the giggle bugged me. I started running towards the source, and the darkness started to lift. I was definitely in a hallway, concrete walls and ceiling above and around me, all painted green, and I was running on a slightly rusted metal walkway, suspended over an abyss. Seemed weird, but something in my mind was telling me to keep running forward, to find the source of that laugh.”

Sehn coughs slightly, rubbing his throat with his left hand.

“Water, water please. Talking this much is drying my throat out.”

Doc jumps up from his cross-legged sitting position, hitting himself lightly in the chest. “I’ll get your water. Just five seconds!” He spins around and dashes off towards the sink, grabbing a glass from the cupboard above it. Sure enough, five seconds later, a glass full of water is flying right at Sehn’s face, which is readily splashed all over him and the floor.

“Ah, damn it Doc! I didn’t ask to be DRENCHED, I wanted a DRINK.”

“You simply must be clear about this sort of thing, my boy! Hang on, lemme get you a proper drink this time.” Doc grabs another cup from the cupboard, filling it with water, then dashes over to Sehn, offering it to him like a butler would offer a stiff drink to his employer.

“Here you are, sir, one water.” He says with a bow.

Sehn just shifts his mouth up towards the upper right of his face, before taking the glass and drinking the water in it in one gulp.

“Ahhh, much better. Ahem…anyway, back to the dream…ahhh, where was I? Oh right, right, the giggling. Umm...” Sehn takes a deep breath before carrying on where he left off, the glass in-between his cupped hands.

“It came again, and that feeling returned, something between fear and annoyance. Something started to smell weird as I ran down that hallway, and I could see cages above me, chained to the ceiling, with some kind of bodies inside them, though I was running too fast to really confirm it. I kept on running for what felt like hours, until another set of clanging entered my ears. I saw a silhouette in front of me, short, and running…well, more like jogging on all fours. I sped up to get a better look at it.

I remember shouting at it, it shouting back at me, though the exact dialogue escapes me. I definitely know I had some kind of purpose for chasing it…and I know what it looked like. It was another Equestrian, pink coat, hot pink mane and tail. I couldn’t see much of her body, just the color really stood out. She was wearing a leather dress, draped over her back, and it was covered in patches of flesh of different shapes and colors. Crudely sewn to it were three pairs of wings, also varying in color…and I could hear bone clacking against bone, and I saw flashes of horns on a string around her neck.

She looked back at me, and I know I saw those cyan eyes glow in the darkness…and she looked rather happy being chased by me. She said something about me having to hurry up or whatever, the comment annoyed me so I ran at my top speed. She was keeping the gap pretty even, even though she was clearly running slower than me, and when she picked up into her sprint, the difference in our speeds was like night and day. She shot off into the darkness, through what I guess was a door frame, and a large wood door slammed closed behind her.

I ran in a shoulder-tackle at it, and the thing blew right off the hinges, like it was made of paper. I flew into the room and tried to skid to a halt, but the floor was so slick I nearly slipped right on to my butt. There was a terrible smell of rot in the room, and the walls were covered in some kind of fleshy material…patches of rusted fence showed through it. My boots were covered in it, and the stuff on the walls and floor was definitely alive, it even started bleeding when I scuffed my boot into it! I started walking forward, blocking out the smell as best I could, and looked around.

The room was lit by a single torch above the door I tackled through, but it lit up a good half of the room. All I saw along the room were chains hanging from the ceiling, some tangled around dead Equestrians, some ending in butcher’s hooks with Equestrians impaled on them. Almost all of them were missing their lower torsos, some remains of their organs hanging limply from the bodies, but they all had something in common. Their eyes were removed, and their mouths were cut into a permanent grin.”

Sehn shivers, closing his eyes tightly, reliving every moment as his story goes on. He starts shaking.

Tyrus comes over to his side, putting a hand on his shoulder. “Calm down, Sehn. You’re simply retelling this, not living through the same nightmare. Keep it together.”

“Believe me, I’m trying…” Sehn rubs his temples, thinking. He continues.

“I was walking towards the center of the room when I heard that giggle again. Can’t remember exactly what she said, but it was something about decorating the room…how many guests it took to get it the way she wanted it, her being happy about it…it’s a blur. She was standing just beyond the light’s reach. There was a doctor’s operating table next to her…someone was lying on top of it, small table next to the operating desk with a bag on it. I moved closer, and what I saw shocked me more than the room itself.

There was a pony lying on the table, sliced up with almost crazy precision. Her flanks were cut up, flesh having been removed. Her body was covered in fresh wounds, most of which were caused by a thin blade, cut deep enough for blood to flow freely from them. She was in terrible pain, and the cries that came from her ripped at me…it was terrible. Even our worst Punishers couldn’t put someone through that kind of torture…what shocked me more about the whole situation was…the crazy pony I’d been chasing, and the tortured pony lying on the table…they were physically indistinguishable. Like perfect twins…if you put them on a wall, you couldn’t tell them apart.

The red tunnel started to come back…I felt myself losing control. I looked over at the crazy pony, asked her if she’d done this. She just replied, saying she was the only one with the scalpel, as if I’d just asked her some simple question. The anger intensified…I could feel the backs of my hands start burning…I was falling, falling faster into the depths of emotion than I’d ever gone before. She laughed, made a few comments…nuzzled her victim like some love-stricken fool. She started poking at the poor mare’s wounds, causing her to cry out…and I just lost control.

I shouted at her, ordered her to stop…and all she did was look at me like I was some annoying fly. She came at me with a scalpel with full intent to kill me, but she must’ve misjudged height since she only got me in the lower arm…” Sehn grips his lower right arm, where the scalpel pierced his flesh. He grimaced, remembering the pain.

“I remember her looking up at me with a moment of pure terror…what she saw in me, I don’t even know. All I know is that something else was speaking to her…it wasn’t me anymore. I was a prisoner in my own body, watching someone…or something, control it. He threw a punch at her, she jumped out of the way. He charged, grabbed her by the throat and slammed her into the flesh-y wall, blood flying from the impact…pulled her downwards to eye-level, and then just stared.

It was that same situation as my last two nightmares…me and my opponent would just stare at each other, and I don’t know why. It’s like we were trying to read each other’s minds…trying to break each other’s souls. I could feel a sick smile growing on my face, the adrenaline coursing through my veins, the complete psychotic rage that commanded my every thought and movement…what I felt then was more pure and hateful than anything I’ve experienced before…the thing controlling my body moved its hand back, eyes opened wide, the sick grin expanded to the fullest extent, and he threw the strike forward.

I heard a crunch…and then I woke up. Now, here I am, with a fresh bump on my forehead.”

The three hedgehogs just stare at Sehn, emotions shifted between horror and confusion. Sehn adjusts himself, and leans back slightly, shaking from the memory. Why was he having these nightmares? He’d seen things worse than what was shown in these dreams, and they didn’t shake him nearly as much as this. Was something wrong with him?

“I…honestly have no idea what to make of this.” Jen breaks the silence, eyebrows raised. The other two simply nod their heads in agreement. “And did you recognize the Equestrian in this nightmare?”

“No. I’ve never seen her before…but she felt familiar anyway.”

“Very strange, very strange…” Doc strokes his beard, an inquisitive look in his squinted eyes. “Month and a half of these nightmares, eh, my boy? Hmmm…”

“Anything in mind, Doc?” Tyrus asks, looking over at the sitting doctor.

“Well, nothing readily leaps to mind. It doesn’t seem like I’d be able to do anything about it, anyway…”

Something yawns in the room, a light yawn followed by an echo. Sehn looks around, lowering his brow, before the voice begins to speak, a light, female voice.

‘Hey, what’s going on? Why aren’t you in bed?’ The voice asks.

‘Had to make a trip to the Sickbay in the middle of the night. Why are you awake, anyway?’ Sehn thinks, speaking to the other personality in his head.

‘Well, I noticed your mind was becoming a little…chaotic, compared to how you usually think. It’s like poking a sleeping lion, with the way that torrent was messing with me. You screwed up my nap, jerk.’ The voice says back, obviously annoyed.

‘Well, I’m SORRY, Loki, I’ve been having a bad few days. And you never wake up without me needing you, what’s so different about this?’ Sehn lowers his eyes, the discussion between the three hedgehogs before him a dull, muffled string of sounds.

‘Well, before, I’ve been able to tolerate you talking to yourself constantly. Now? Let’s just say the little dark corner in the back of your mind grew pretty big. What’s got you all bent outta shape, anyway?’

‘Nightmares, to summarize. How long’ve you been listening?’

‘Not long, just woke up, actually. Hang on, I’ll dig around in your memory, see what’s up.’ The voice grows quieter, as if the being is moving around inside Sehn’s head.

‘Don’t poke anything important, please. I don’t feel like having that incident from a few months ago.’

‘Oh yeah, the Christmas party…’ The voice giggles, ‘that was a blast. You made yourself look like such an idiot.’

‘Didn’t help that I had someone screwing around in my brain.’

‘Yeah yeah…alright, memories, memories…recent…tut tut tut…ah, here we go.’ The sound of flipping papers can be heard. ‘Mmmm…oh…wow. Those are some nightmares.’

‘See what I mean? This is what woke you up. Least it answers my question properly.’ Sehn crosses his legs on the table, leaning on them, still drowning out the conversation happening in front of him.

‘Well, seems I’ve got a whole lot more to ignore, now. Honestly, sometimes it’s difficult living in you.’

‘If you weren’t the one fueling me, I’d say you’re more than welcome to leave.’

‘Well aren’t you rude? That’s hardly any way to speak to a lady, especially one of my stature.’

‘Keep on feeding the ego, kid. Only makes me laugh.’

‘Shut up…anyway, what’re you going to do about all this? Hemora isn’t really known for its psychological treatment.’

‘Pretty well the opposite concerning that. We’re better at breaking minds, not fixing them.’

The conversation in Sehn’s head is broken by a soldier walking into the sick bay, a rather built, green haired hedgehog with a beret and full military gear. He stands with a sense of authority, and a permanent cross look.

“Captain Sehn Darksol.” The soldier turns to Sehn, staring him dead in the eyes.

“Colonel!? Wait, what the hell’re you doing down here?” Tyrus turns to the soldier, shocked.

“I’ve been sent by the General. He’s requested that the Captain here report directly to the War Room for a special mission. I’m afraid I’ll have to break up your little party here.”

Sehn jumps off the table and snaps into a quick, straight salute.

“No party to break up here, sir. I’m on my way right now.” Sehn breaks the salute and runs for the other door leading outside, disappearing in a flash.

“The General also asked for you, Major Tyrus. You’re to report to the War Room in two hours. Both you and your brother have a rather top-priority mission. Go get prepared.

“Roger, sir. Heading out now.” Tyrus leaves the Sickbay as quickly as his brother, vanishing out the door.

“Wonder what those boys are getting involved with now…?” Doc says to no one in particular, returning to his operating table where a corpse seems to be lying.

“Whatever it is, I feel sorry for whoever they have to go up against. Very sorry indeed.” Jen smirks as she rises from her chair, heading over to a nearby microscope. “Is that all, Colonal?”

“Yes. Doctor Stimaus also suggests that you both send your medical reports more readily, and that your late reports, I quote, ‘Completely screw up my paper work schedule.’ Good day to you both.” The Colonal says in his usual deep tone, before snapping a quick salute, turning on his heel, and exiting the sickbay, leaving the doctors to their work.

A few soldiers have begun to make their rounds across the base, some guards talking amongst each other about the surrounding countries or their relationships in the Metropolis, often remarking amongst one another about whos girlfriend is the prettiest or the occasional playful insult about their mothers. Three soldiers in particular, sporting the typical military fatigues and caps of border patrol men, one having the stripes of a Sergeant and the other two the stripes of Corporals, are talking amongst each other.

“I’m honest, it seems like the Royal Guard is getting more and more edgy these days. You should’ve seen the way this stupid pony took an insult, I swear, it was like a volcano going off.” Says the guard on the left, a stout, deep blue hedgehog with four mangled spikes for hair, like he didn’t have the time to fix them before he went on-duty.

“Of COURSE it’s gonna be like a volcano. You’re infamous for picking on em, Steven, you gotta learn to let em just stay focused on their jobs instead of shouting at you all damn day.” Says the Corporal on the right, a deep red hedgehog with very kempt spikes, with brown streaks along the sides. “I mean seriously, your jokes aren’t even that funny! They’re probably yelling at you to drown out your incessant ‘humorous’ banter.” He raises his nose, looking the other way with a posh attitude.

“Oh come off it, Davis, you know I’m hilarious, and you also know how that one lady Guard reacted when I talked to her. I know I saw a blush, hehehe!” Steve seems pleased with himself, a big grin growing across his face.

“Both of you shut up, I need you boys to be focused. You’re on Tower Watch, and your eyes ain’t the sharpest in the world.” Says the soldier in the middle, a buff looking hedgehog with dark green spikes curving outward, dotted with red splotches like war paint. “And Steve, keep your priorities in line, or else it’s a visit straight to Major Tyrus.”

“You too, Sarge? Everyone seems to be on my case today, and it’s not even 5 in the morning!” Steve complains with a yawn, as if all this is just jealous talk of his obvious skills.

The sound of sprinting catches their attention, as they look down into the brightly lit hallway below the metal walkway that separates the two floors of barracks for the soldiers. They spot a silver hedgehog making a mad sprint down the hall, two Sergeants being knocked to the wall, a quick “Sorry, boys!” being shouted back at them.

“Was…that Captain Sehn?” Steve says, looking behind him at the disappearing figure as he rounds a corner.

“Yeah, it was. I’d heard he got a request from the Brass, must be on his way to Command Level now. That kinda sprint can mean only one thing, of course…” Sarge remarks.

“Yeah, the General called for em. And if that’s the truth, then look who’s coming now…” Davis looks down, and acting as a punctual stop to his sentence, a red colored hedgehog is chasing after the silver blur at almost just as quick a pace, but he gracefully dodges around the soldiers walking down the hall.

“Yep, there he goes. Those two never go on missions alone…wonder why?” Davis looks behind him at the disappearing red figure.

“They are part of the Dragon unit, and that always acts as a team. Anyway, c’mon, I’m not gonna be eaten out by Lieutenant Sarah again for you idiots being late to the Fence. Now start running.”

“Yes sir!” both Corporals shout to their Sergeant before sprinting off down the hall, and rounding a corner heading down some steps and outside.

“What am I gonna do with you two…” Sarge says with a grimace before chasing after them.

Wind rips past Sehn as he sprints down the hallway, heading for the elevator heading to Command Level. He spins around numerous soldiers during his sprint, often nudging them enough to knock them over or throw them into the wall. Something felt off to him today, and it wasn’t just the nightmares. He looks behind himself, Tyrus quickly catching up, gracefully dodging around and between chatting troops.

“Honestly, Sehn, watch where you’re going! You’re gonna kill someone running at this speed!” His brother scolds him with a shout.

“Yeah yeah, these guys can get out of the way just fine! CLEAR THE PATH! MAD CAPTAIN COMING THROUGH!!!” Sehn screams in front of him, causing Sergeants and Corporals to jump out of his path as he picks up his speed. Tyrus comes up beside him, causing the troops to crush themselves further into the wall so they aren’t trampled by this pair of bulls.

“I don’t think the past 32 people you’ve slammed into were given fair WARNING of your obviously dangerous sprinting down the corridors! SLOW DOWN, YOU IDIOT!”

“They’re FINE, Mr. Killjoy, now shut up so I can fo-“ Sehn gets cut off as he vanishes from Tyrus’ sight. He skids to a halt and turns around, seeing Sehn get thrown to the ground with a hard slam from a tall soldier, its palm still on his chest.

“Boof! Wh-what’s your problem, bud!?” Sehn screams at the soldier as he gets slapped across the face. He holds his left cheek as he stares up at the hedgehog who just threw him to the ground single-handedly, and immediately shuts up.

A tall trooper in standard camo, but wearing a beret instead of a cap, stands over him. She has deep blue eyes, long pink hair, and a now-very cross look on her face.

“What the hell do you think you’re doing, Captain?!” She shouts down at him, a voice seemingly fit for a young woman.

“D-uh um…trying to get to the War Room as fast as I can? Heheh?” Sehn seems almost dumbstruck, rubbing his chest where the crushing palm had been placed to push him to the floor.

“You can get to the War Room with plenty of time if you’d WALK, Captain. There’s no need to sprint through this hallway and screw up everyone’s morning.” The soldier leans over him, hands on her hips.

“Just calm down, Julie-“

“What were you about to call me?” She interrupts Sehn, his head moving back from hers as she leans in closer.

“C-Colonal Juliet, of course! Definitely wasn’t about to call you ‘Juliet’, nope, not me!” He snaps a salute, lying under her prying gaze.

“That’s right, and you aren’t going to call me anything else. Is that understood, Sehn?” Juliet furrows her brow, as if betting Sehn’s life on how he answers.

“Of course, ma’am, of course! I wouldn’t think of calling you anything else!”

“Yes you would.” The familiar voice lights up in his head again.

“Shut up!” Sehn says right into Juliet’s face, which causes her eyes to light up with rage.

“What did you just say?” She says without raising her voice, allowing her burning eyes to provide the emphasis.

“I said ‘Shut up!’ to Loki! She just woke up and made a rather uh bad comment about me, and I didn’t want it to continue soooo…yes, yeah, it was directed at her, not you, ma’am!” He shakily replies, terror on his face.

“Oh, you better hope that’s true…” the Colonal whispers to him, before raising herself into a standing position and walking off. “All of you get back to work! Show’s over, move it!!!” She starts ordering people around, all of them snapping quick salutes before sprinting off in various directions. After the group disperses, she walks off herself.

“Holy crap she scares me…” Sehn is still stuck in his saluting position.

“Well, it was you who pissed her off in the first place, brother.” Tyrus says with half-closed eyes, walking over to his fallen brother. He reaches down and grabs Sehn by the shoulders, pulling him up into a standing position, his brother stiff as a statue.

“I think I’m stuck.” Sehn says through clenched teeth. Tyrus responds by punching him in the gut, causing his muscles to all unstick.

“There you go. Now c’mon, if we’re late, the General’s going to have a field day with you.”

“Coming, coming…just gotta…” Sehn coughs, “catch by breath. You punch way too hard…” he complains as he rises to his feet, and the two walk calmly off down the corridor, Sehn occasionally looking over his shoulder for that pair of blue eyes that would be digging into the back of his head.

A tall pair of elevator doors stand before the Captain and Major, having two keycard readers on the sides. Above the elevator doors is a sign, reading in bright red LED lettering:

[COMMAND LEVEL LIFT – AUTHORIZED PERSONNEL ONLY]

“I feel sorry for whatever guy stumbles into here after a long day at the bar…” Sehn thinks to himself as he and his brother move to the key card readers. They both draw a card from their pockets, looking similar to ID cards, Sehn’s being silver and Tyrus’ having a sapphire-blue color, and they swipe them at the same time. The elevator dings, and a heavy rumble is heard in the shaft behind the door.

Sehn finds himself re-swiping the card, causing a short buzz to emit from the reader, Tyrus looking over.

“So you’re one of those people, eh?”

“What kind of people?”

“The kind that thinks if they press the button enough, the elevator’ll go faster.” Tyrus rolls his eyes.

“Hey, don’t call me out on a theory that works.” Sehn says with a shrug, moving back in front of the double doors. Tyrus joins his side, and they both stare up at the top of the doors, waiting for the familiar click-clank of the door locks being opened.

Two minutes of waiting later, and the locks open, and the doors slide away with a screech. Sehn covers his ears, showing visible pain.

“I keep saying we need to OIL these damn doors…”

“I keep thinking you just hate loud noises.” Tyrus comments as he heads through the doors, being quickly followed by his brother. The two turn around and face the door as they screech shut, Sehn covering his ears again, warranting a smirk from his brother. The doors slam shut, and the locks bang back into place, as the lift beings it’s long climb up the Tower.

The elevator comes with a wall-sized window to the left of the doors, looking outwards across Hemora. Nothing beyond sandy desert and rocky mountains can be seen, several battalions marching across the dunes on their routine patrols. Way off in the distance, the Border Fence can be seen, reaching up the mountains that act as a natural wall between Hemora and Equestria. The mountains can be seen stretching off in sections, the spaces being filled with numerous guard towers and lengths of fence reaching 20 feet up into the sky.

“Always impressive, this sight.” Sehn says with a smirk, a sense of pride lighting up in him.

“Considering it took us so long to build it, it really is good to see it complete. Real surprising how we started the Country Guard Project fifteen years ago…how long ago was the last length of Fence built?” Tyrus asks with a raise of the eyebrow, that same proud smirk on his face.

“I think it was two months ago. Progress was stunted by the Tavin Disaster, part of the fence and one of the towers collapsed in the explosion.” Sehn says, his smirk disappearing slightly, remember the catastrophe.

“Yeah…I remember. Took us back a full year of work, didn’t help that the Royal Guard got interested. Have to really thank the General’s alliance with Celestia for ending that political mess.” Tyrus says with a simple grimace, looking out at the shadow cast by the Tower from the rising sun.

“Aye…I still find it shocking how that old tale went. Coulda sworn Major Henris was high on something when he told us. Heh, maybe the General will amuse us with a story when we get to the War Room, eh?” Sehn says with a smile.

“Oh, if only. He’s lived long enough to fill the rest of our lives with tales of heroism. Some say he’s lived longer than Celestia herself.” Tyrus says with half-closed eyes and a slight raise of the brow.

“Please. No one on this planet beyond those who sustain themselves constantly with that brand of magic only known by the Royal Family could live that long. Least, that’s what everyone else beyond us believes.”

‘Hey! Hey, Mithril! MITHRIL!’ Loki’s voice screams inside Sehn’s head.

‘Agh, shut up, Loki! He can’t hear you if you’re still in my head! And seriously, why would this shouting even work, you know how much he sleeps!’ Sehn shouts back, his eye twitching from annoyance.

“Loki wake up again?”

“Yeah, she wants to see her brother…she’s being louder than ever right now. Are we at the top yet?”

“About there. May as well pay their father a visit as well…”

“Like meetin’ your girlfriend’s parents…an experience you never want to happen.” Sehn states with a sigh, as the sight of the Tower’s shadow creeping away from the Cerberus Gate, the row of fencing and towers between the great mountains, creating a gateway for Equestrian officials to enter onto Hemoran soil, vanishes from sight. The elevator rises for a few more moments before sighing to a stop, the doors quietly opening.

“See how much better that is? You couldn’t even hear the locks let go!” Sehn says, a hand on his hip with the other gesturing with a sway.

“Yeah, yeah, I get your point. C’mon, we’re late.” Tyrus heads out of the elevator, his brother just behind him.

The corridor they exited into looks far different from the hallways of Ground Level. The flooring is a sparkling blue-granite tiling, with the walls a polished steel. The hallway stretches on for a short while, only two doors between the elevator, and the grand steel blast doors of the War Room. The door on the left is marked with a simple gold plaque, saying “Colonel BRAVO”, while the door on the other side has a silver plaque marked with “Colonel JULIET”.

Sehn and Tyrus close their eyes as they approach the grand blast door, their blocked vision showing the room beyond. The room shows itself in black and white, a single table in the middle of a large, square room, with a simple console in the back. On the wall beside the console is a purple silhouette in the shape of a person, wearing a hood over his head. In his hand is a black knife-shaped silhouette, calmly spinning in the person’s hand.

The shape raises its head, revealing the bottom of his eyes, a deep black, almost moving shape. He speaks without so much as a movement.

“You’re fifteen seconds late, gentlemen…” The shape says with a deep, almost demonic tone. “I was getting worried you wouldn’t show up.”

“Apologies, sir. I kinda got held up…” Sehn says with a rub of the back of his neck, his eyes still closed tight.

“Juliet already informed me.” The shape moves off the wall, moving up to the blast door, a good 10-feet thick, reinforced steel door. As the shape approaches, two more shapes form above him, being forged from the very black that composes most of the room. The shapes slowly open into a sleepy-eyed look, glaring yellow eyes with sharp, red irises, and the pupils a slit of white.

“And here she comes now…” Sehn says with a shiver. He moves his hands out as a black flame appears in front of him, drawing the shape of a circle in the air. The circle fills with black flame, and a body emerges from it, landing on the ground, coated in black, burning ooze.

The black fades away to reveal a small body, purple in color, resembling the shape of a small dragon. It stands up straight, having a thin build with short legs and arms. It has a single protruding fang, and innocent-looking eyes with pink irises and the slit of black for a pupil. She speaks with a rather high, childish voice and tone.

“Daddy! How’ve you been? It’s been months since I last saw you!” The small dragon says with glee.

“Ahhh, Loki, my daughter. My rest has been rather good, haven’t lost a wink of sleep in the past month. Your constant stay in this room has been good to me, Trak.” A voice echoes out from beyond the blast door, the eyes shifting downwards to look at the shape below them, the voice a rasp, evil whisper, as if the very depths of Hell were reaching out to him with words.

“Hmph, think nothing of it, ‘King’ Absinthe.” The shape responds to the eyes, they not having opened more beyond the drowsy look they held.

“Not going to come out and speak to your father, Mithril?” The eyes look over at Tyrus through the blast door, a burning gaze.

“He says he doesn’t want to, that the heights scare him, Your Highness.” Tyrus says with a slight bow, eyes still shut.

“How…disappointing. I did wish to see my son again…I do appreciate you coming out to see me though, Loki.” The piercing eyes look over at the small purple dragon again.

“Always happy to see you, Daddy! These visits are so rare, we never get to talk, and it gets all messy in Sehn’s head when I start digging around in his memories!” Loki says, arms crossed with an annoyed roll of the eyes.

“Wait, what?! You’ve been messing around in my head?!” Sehn says, obviously angered by this comment. He grabs his stomach, recoiling a bit, as if something just punched him in the chest.

“Calm yourself, Captain…you are defending yourself from the air of this room as well as you can, but it is not an iron-walled guard. You will lose yourself if you succumb to anger and hate.” The shape speaks out to Sehn, which seems to calm him down.

“Sorry, General…there’s been a lot on my mind lately, it’s just really easy for Loki to push me off the edge now.” Sehn rubs his chest before returning to his standing position.

“Sorry Sehn, didn’t mean to make you mad. Forgive me?” Loki says with all the cute she can muster.

“Yeah, sure, you’re forgiven…” Sehn says with a smile, as Loki jumps up onto his head, lying on top of his upper spike. “Shall we get down to business then, sir?”

“Of course. It concerns the grave site of Tavin’s Ground Zero. Lieutenant Imira of the Spectre unit has been reporting to me about a disturbance there. She says the ghosts chained there have been becoming increasingly agitated, crying out for something. Considering the time period between this occurance and the Tavin Disaster, we can only relate it to the natural desire for the criminal who destroyed Tavin to be brought before them.

Your mission is simple: enter Equestria and meet with Princess Celestia. She will tell you where the criminal is, and I need not mention her name…you know her all too well, Captain.” The General says from behind the blast door, sheathing the knife and placing a hand in a pocket on his coat.

“Of course sir. I’ll have her at Ground Zero three days from now. Should be a good run.” Sehn says with a smirk.

“Oh! Oh! Are you gonna fly there?! It’s been a long time since we’ve stretched our wings!” Loki says with excitement, bouncing on Sehn’s head.

“I don’t see why not…it’ll give me some time to look around the country and look for her anyway. Anything else, sir? Or should I head out now?” Sehn says with a raised eyebrow.

“No, that is all, Captain. You’re dismissed. Major Tyrus, I’d like to have an additional word with you.” General Trak says, looking between the two soldiers of his Dragon unit.

“Of course, sir.” Tyrus says, placing his hands behind his back, as Sehn turns away and opens his eyes. The silver hedgehog heads for the elevator, as the doors sigh open. He gets on the lift, and starts the rather short ride to the top of the Tower.

“Your dad is as creepy as ever, Loki. Dunno how you can stand looking at him…those eyes feel like I’m sitting in a vat of lava.” Sehn says with squinted eyes and a shiver, crossing his arms.

“Oh come on, silly. When you get to know him, he’s like a big, scaly, armored kitten! Hard on the outside and soft on the inside!” Loki says with her usual glee and big smile.

“That’s probably because you’re his daughter. If it was just me in there, I could say one thing wrong and he’d light me on fire. With you around, I can be a little more broad in what I say…just as long as whatever comes out of my mouth doesn’t piss him off.”

“Well, that’s why I come out whenever you’re in front of him! Being Princess has some benefits, you know.” Loki pokes Sehn in the forehead, looking at him from her perch on his head.

“Like being able to act like that in front of the General? I get embarrassed when you come out. It’s been so long since you and I became part of the Dragon unit, and you haven’t grown up a single day!”

“Awww come on, give me some credit! Having me around helps round out that rough loose cannon attitude of yours!”

“My loose cannon attitude is just fine, thank you very much. I don’t need you ‘rounding’ it out with your childish pranks and bad jokes.” Sehn says looking off to the side with a ‘hmph’.

“Well, who dumped your cereal in the toilet, Mr. Grumpy?”

“Ah shoot, that’s right…haven’t had breakfast. Damn, they were serving pancakes in the mess today.”

“Mmmm, pankcaaaakes…” Both Loki and Sehn stare upwards with the same happy look, drooling slightly. The lift comes to a stop at the top, causing Sehn to jump up a bit.

“Gah, that stop is always so rough…how do they keep Command Level in such good condition, then let the rest of the shaft rust away to nothing?” Sehn says, walking towards the door as they screech open, forcing him to cover his ears again.

“And that SCREECH! You’re right, they DO need to oil these doors!” Loki covers her own ears, both of them grimacing in slight pain.

The doors bang into the open position as Sehn walks out to the protrusion at the top of the Tower, overlooking all of Hemora. He looks to his left, the bustling Metropolis where most of the Hemoran citizens live, a single skyscraper reaching into the sky, surrounded by smaller towers. The city is massive compared to the Tower, itself a military base and residential area, it’s skyline constantly inhabited by transportation craft and military police flyers. The shining beacon of Hemora, with its sparkling silver walls and tall polished structures makes Headquarters look like a mossy, aged building being put through constant shoddy maintenance as it continues its long life.

“And THAT, I mean look at THAT. It makes our base look like some shoddy outdated sore thumb sticking out of the ground!” Sehn gestures to Metropolis, tilting his head with an obviously annoyed look on his face.

“Well, think of it this way. Only one kind of Hemoran could live in that city, and it’s the kind that you can’t stand.” Loki says, her head leaned on her hand, lounging on top of Sehn’s hair.

“Who? Colonal Juliet?” He says with a big smirk.

“Not bad, not bad. You’re learning, young one!” Loki says with a fanged smile.

“As if there’s much to learn from you, kid. Anyway, we’re burning day light here, let’s stretch out the old wings, eh?” Sehn rolls his shoulders, doing some stretches. Loki jumps off his head, landing by his left side. “Back in you go.”

Sehn holds out his hand as a small ball of black fire forms from the air, and it draws a small circle in the palm of his hand. Loki returns back to the black, burning form she exited Sehn with, and her body re-enters his body as a stream of fire. The hole in his palm closes, and he takes a deep breath, letting out a sigh and closing his eyes.

‘Alright, let’s see…how’d we do this before?’ Sehn thinks, digging through his memories for any particular ones that would anger him the most.

‘Christmas party, last year.’ Loki reminds him. This seems to make Sehn shake out of rage, and a smile grows on his face.

‘Thanks kid. Alright, here we go!’ Sehn shouts in his head as his eyes snap open, his irises and pupils now looking just like Loki’s. Two black infernos extend from his back into the shape of large dragon wings, and he leaps off the Tower in a sky-diving position. The flames form into large, armored wings, plated with purple scales. More flame forms in front of Sehn, and with a single, mighty flap of his wings, he explodes forward, the flame in front of him surrounding him like a black comet shooting through the sky.

Several soldiers from the passing battalion look up at the comet flying through the sky, and salute it quickly before returning to their patrols.

“Incoming one Hemoran Captain, destination: Canterlot Castle! Dragonflight, FULL SPEED!!!” Sehn screams into the air, letting out a great “WOOOOHOOOO!!!” as he launches over Cerberus gate.

Chapter 4: Two Minds, One Prison

Silence.

Twilight looked around her, now having appeared in a new place, a new…plane of existence. She looked over herself, seeing her coat was now black with grey and white outlines. The world itself was nothing more than a black void, totally devoid of light.

She started walking forward, cautiously. She’d already performed this spell twice, and both times had her see something nopony should ever see. Complete terror, chaos in the mind. The nightmares that were pulling her friends apart were true horrors to perceive. She thinks back to a few moments ago, how passive Silver was about the nightmares. No worry on his face, no pain…not even a grimace when she mentioned she was going to look into his mind.

“Why do I think that’s so strange?” She says to herself, the voice echoing in her mind but her mouth emitting no sound. Every step she took was without sound. She quickly performs her light spell, emitting rays of light from her horn, but they reach out three feet before disappearing, as if being devoured by the darkness in front of her.

“Of course that wasn’t going to work…but still, why is it so dark here?” She asks herself, continuing forward, using whatever light produced by her spell to see where she’s going. She seems to be walking on what feels like very smooth granite. She stops for a moment, sliding a hoof over it, feeling no resistance, like ice. She continues moving forward, looking around, nothing but black around her.

Suddenly, a sound enters her head. The sound of metal, clanking and grinding with a rhythm similar to a colt walking, but it seemed out of beat. The footsteps didn’t count off in a quick one two three four, but rather a slow one, two, one, two.

Twilight stops, looking into the darkness, before a silhouette reveals itself. Unlike her and the void around her, however, this new entity seems to hold some color, some definition. The metal sound becomes clearer, the sound of plates of armor grinding. The shape comes closer, and suddenly lights up, as if it just stepped under a lantern. Twilight looks with surprise at its figure.

It doesn’t look Equestrian…rather, it looks like something she’s seen in an old book. Five spikes extending from the back of the head, contained nicely in a specially made helm of steel. Armor covering most of the body, arms ending in gauntlets who’s backs are covered in spines that curve forward, the fingers themselves looking as sharp as needles. The chest plate is decorative, yet looks thick enough to stop Rainbow herself from breaking through it. The chest plate looks dark purple in color, much like the other pieces of this new beings’ armor, and seems to spread out into spiked shoulder pads. The leg plates look thick with single spikes sticking out, the boots angular in design, shaped into a point. The armor itself looks more like a weapon than protection.

The figure is slouched over, but steps fully into the light. It slowly moves up into a standing position, but has its eyes tightly closed. Its eyelids are silver in color, and it has a tanned skin color around its mouth. It takes a breath in through its nose, and exhales, pitch-black fog coming out with it. It looks towards her, as if having always known she was there.

“…Name…intruder.” It seems to speak to Twilight without moving, the voice echoing within her mind. It carries the tone of a judge, deep, low and commanding.

“T…Twilight Sparkle…where am I?” She asks, instinctively backing away, feeling a force coming off the mysterious figure, a blazing heat. It seems to burn her eyes and torch her skin, yet it only seems to be the feeling of it.

“…Trespasser…” The voice comes through again, now much louder. Twilight holds her head, the words like an explosion in her mind. “…What are you doing here…?” The voice seems to calm a bit, but each word feels like a bomb going off.

“I…Silver was having trouble with nightmares…I came here hoping to find out what was causing them.” She rubs her forehead, looking towards the figure. “Considering I found you…that means you’re the problem.”

This incites a laugh from the figure, it leaning its head back and laughing heartily, the voice no longer echoing in Twilight’s mind. The laugh is a pitch higher than before, now a crazed, high laugh.

“Hahahahahahaha! ME, The problem? Please! I’m the solution here!” It brings its head back down, the eyes now open and the mouth curled into a sick grin. “I’m the solution to every problem he’s ever had!”

Twilight jumps back quite far, trying to widen the gap between her and the figure as much as possible. Something in his pitch black eyes seems to strike pure fear into her…accompanied by another emotion. She feels herself growing angry, sickened by being around this creature. The red irises with knife-edge pupils seem to dig into her skull with a mad thirst for blood.

“Feeling it now? I was wondering when you’d feel me creeping into your soul!” The monster opens his eyes wide, and his grin expands into a toothy smile, his teeth sharp white fangs. “How’s it feel, child?! To have someone prying into your chest without even being near you!”

“Quiet!” Twilight shouts back, severe rage burning in her voice. She has no idea why she hates this creature so much, only that she believes that it shouldn’t exist in this void, or any existence at all. She just wants to see it vanish, hopefully in severe pain.

“Oh look, the little unicorn’s telling me to quiet down! Too bad, sister, you’re in MY WORLD now!” He laughs again, the void quaking under the weight of it. “Ohhh, if only you KNEW the things I want to do to you right now…” His smile grows, and he begins walking closer to Twilight, and he reaches out to her from the light. “Come to me! I’ll make sure your last moments are WORTH IT!”

“Shut up and keep away from me, monster! I want nothing to do with you! Go die in a hole!” Twilight backs away, feeling her body shake from pure anger. Something was happening to her, and it was making her burn with a white-hot hatred she’s never felt before. Her eyes begin to glow as her rage fuels her magic.

“What’s the little unicorn going to do now? Bet she just wants us to die! Isn’t that right, King?!” The figure shouts to the void, no answer coming. “SHE JUST WANTS US TO DIE! Ohohoho, GLORIOUS death! But I’ll make sure we don’t go down without a fight! HIT ME WITH EVERYTHING, UNLESS YOU WANT TO DIE SLOWLY!!!” The monster screams at Twilight, reaching behind him as a black flame grows on his back. It quickly stretches out into a scabbard and blade, and he draws the silver edged sword.

All that’s going through the unicorn’s mind is a repeated message. A repeated message that has never crossed her mind before.

“Kill him.”

The words repeat in her mind, and she finds herself following it. Kill him? Why? The question quickly becomes ‘why not?’, and she focuses her magic into her horn, as much as she can manage.

“Burn, monster!” She roars at him, and without even thinking, she bursts into flames. She feels the inferno consuming her body, and looks over her, the anger quickly being replaced by shock. Her body is covered in black flames, the same that formed that monster’s blade.

“FEEL THE HATE DEVOUR YOUR MIND! Fall back to instinct! Strike me down like I know you want to!!!” The monster screams at her, the clanking of armor now marking a mad sprint at her. She looks up from her burning body towards the shape. He seemed so far away, and now he’s covered the distance in only a few seconds. She widens her eyes and tries to focus her power into an offensive spell when…

“Too late.” The monster says in a matter-of-fact tone, and with a shrug and a light grin, he impales Twilight through the back of the neck with his sword. Seconds of pain become hours, but death doesn’t come. Suddenly she feels herself being ripped out of the world and thrown miles, thousands of miles backwards.

She yelps and jumps back, slamming straight into a bookcase, knocking a ladder over with Spike on it. Everything crashes to the ground, numerous books falling from the shelf. Rainbow jumps a bit, while Sehn just sits there, not looking too surprised.

“W…w…wh…” She can’t seem to find the words, but all the rage she felt earlier seems to have vanished. ‘What was that thing? Was that the source of the nightmares…?’ Twilight thinks to herself, dumbstruck with what she saw.

“Guess I looked a bit too calm for the severity of the nightmares I’ve been having. Sorry about that, Miss Sparkle.” Sehn says with an apologetic smile, bowing slightly.

“I-it’s fine…just…I was surprised, that’s all.” She concludes, before moving over to Rainbow Dash. Her friend, the bravest pony she’s ever known, now has a look of fear on her face.

“Sorry about that. Now we just have to look into your mind.” Twilight takes a seat in front of her friend, the horn now glowing again. The spell seems to short out, though, and the horn loses its power. Twilight furrows her brow, looking up at it.

“Huh?”

“You were just surprised, right? Maybe your mind isn’t all in the right working ways yet. Give it a bit.” Sehn says, as if he has full knowledge of the spell and how it works.

“Alright…guess I’ll just go on with asking you two about the nightmares then. When did they start?” Twilight looks behind her at Spike, who’s now lying on the floor, dazed, Loki shoving him slightly on the shoulder, trying to get him up.

“Awww, my head…” Spike groans, rubbing his forehead. Loki helps him up into a sitting position, and he stands up. “Thanks…”

“Yeah, no problem. Quite the fall you took though, you sure you’re alright?” Loki asks, worry in her eyes.

“I’ll be fine. I’ve had worse happen to me.” Spike says with a smile, moving over to Twilight.

“Sorry…did I do that?” She asks with a grimace.

“Yeah, slammed right into the book case when I was at the top. Knocked the ladder back. I’ll be fine though, don’t worry.” Spike says with a nod, folding his arms.

“Alright. I need a notepad and pen, please.”

“Coming right up.” Spike runs off into another room to gather the supplies.

“Right…which of you wants to start?” Twilight turns back to the pair of ponies in front of her.

“I will, I guess.” Rainbow speaks up, Sehn looking over.

“Got it!” Spike runs back up to the group, carrying a scroll and pen. Twilight levitates them both and holds them in front of her, looking at Rainbow Dash.

“Don’t leave out any details. The more I know, the faster your recovery will be.”

“Right. The nightmares started about a month and a half ago. It started out alright, just small flashes of something chasing me. Nothing bad, right? I wake up, go on with my life like nothing happened. Then, two weeks later, they started getting…more real, I guess. The thing chasing me wasn’t just some black shape, it had a body, a face, four legs, mane and tail. It had a pitch-black coat with a snow-white mane and tail, and its eyes…looked like mine.

But the nightmare wouldn’t stay long. A few seconds after I looked at the thing chasing me, I’d wake up in my bed. I’d be shaken, sure, but I went on.”

“Alright…” Twilight nods, writing down some notes. “Go on.”

Rainbow takes a deep breath before continuing, “Hoo…about a week or so ago, the nightmares took a jump right off the cliff. The thing chasing me had a sword in its mouth, and the irises were still rose-coloured like mine, but the pupils were slits, like Spike’s. She started speaking to me, whispering…I couldn’t make out what she was saying, but it definitely sounded like me. Then…last night…” Rainbow shuts her eyes tight, shaking.

Sehn puts a hoof on her shoulder, and Rainbow looks over. “Keep calm, Miss Dash. This is going towards getting rid of these nightmares, right? Your friend’s here to help us both. Right, Miss Sparkle?” Sehn looks back at the unicorn.

“Of course. You can talk to us without any worry, Rainbow, so just let it out.” Twilight nods with a reassuring look, and Rainbow continues, still trembling slightly.

“The nightmare last night…it…it was…” She shakes, her mouth slamming shut. Sehn sighs.

“Well…if she can’t say it, then you’ll have to see it. It’s been long enough for a mental recovery, I believe.” Sehn says, looking at Twilight.

“Right…alright Rainbow, bear with me for a minute. I’ll help you get through this.” Twilight closes her eyes, the horn beginning to glow again. The spell holds strong, and she brushes Rainbow’s hair away and taps her forehead.

The first thing that enters Twilight’s hearing is shouting. Mad shouting, as if from a tribe of barbarians. Wild growls and insane accusations from all around her.

“She’s the one!”

“KILL HER!”

“Put her to death!”

“Let the others deal with her!”

“We should’ve left her to die there!”

The roars seem to come from nowhere, yet everywhere. Twilight spins around, looking out into the void of white. Red eyes begin to form in the space, surrounded by shadows.

“Guilty! Guilty! Guilty!”

A mad chant begins to form from the echoes of the world. Twilight looks over herself, checking her body for whatever it was that was eating at her in the last vision with Silver. The flames weren’t present on her body though, and the burning hate in her soul hasn’t returned. The chanting becomes worse, and the pair of eyes in front of her, two shining, evil eyes, began to grow a body. The body built itself from the shadows, an inversion of the pure void they were all in.

It grew into the shape of the fiend she’d seen in Silver’s mind, except this one was solid black with blood red eyes, and blood seemed to be coming out of its eyes, instead of tears. The body solidified, but the skin seemed to move with the fluidity of flame. The thing held out an arm, and from it, a sword emerged. From butt to the tip, the blade was pure silver, the guard and blade encrusted with jewels. The shadow seemed to be saying something to her, but the sound was too low to understand.

It raised the blade above its head, egged on by the chanting around it.

“Kill her! Kill her! Kill the bitch! KILL HER!!” The chanting had kept going, on and on, but the earthquake of the noise seemed secondary to Twilight, staring down the shadow in front of her. The world fell silent as the shadow opened its mouth, the inside pure white…

“…I’m sorry.” Is all that is said before the blade comes down with blinding speed, and Twilight is pulled from the world once more.

With a sharp gasp, she jumps back from Rainbow, but manages to stop herself before colliding with the same book case as before, Spike once again at the top of the ladder. He grabs the shelf to keep the ladder from falling backwards anyway, though.

“Careful, Twilight! I’m up here!” He shouts down at the group.

“Sorry, sorry!” Twilight shouts back, turning back to the pair. She has a solemn look on her face, looking down at the ground. She simply sighs, looking over to the right, pulling out a single book from the bookcase next to the front door. She shows the cover to Sehn and Rainbow, on it was printed a simple title, written in cursive.

Dreams: A Psychological Understanding.

Rainbow could feel her spirit suddenly sink, and her pupils shrunk. The shock remained for a few moments before she shook her head, rubbing her forehead.

“Oh boy…I thought we all told you not to use that spell again.” Rainbow looks up past her leg at Twilight, worry on her face.

“Hm? What spell?” Sehn asked, looking between the two mares.

“A spell called the Mind Delve…hang on, let me look at the description again, been a while since I looked it over.” She quickly opens the book and flips through the pages, furrowing her brow, remembering all the trouble studying the spell caused her. “Ahem…”

“The Mind Delve spell is used in cases where the nightmare or psychological problems are not so easily discernible. This often means that the problem is rooted deep within the patient's subconscious and cannot be obtained through normal psychological methods without spending a very long time treating the patient. This spell allows the user to shorten the necessary time needed in order to bring the patient to a full recovery. Each patient the spell is used under experiences different results, as the subconscious is molded by the patient who owns it. No two patients will likely experience the same recovery under the use of the spell." She inspects the spell one last time before slamming the book closed, glaring at it before turning her sight to the two ponies in front of her.

“That’s the whole thing.”

“Interesting…” Sehn strokes his chin, squinting his eyes in thought. He closes them, gears grinding away in his head. ‘Well…this is troubling. This is the exact spell that the General DIDN’T want in Equestrian hands…not like I can take it away though. It seems to be in good hands, but…’ Sehn’s face shows a mark of worry as he looks at the book, thinking to himself.

“I know how the spell works…and where it sends you. Are you sure there’s absolutely no alternative?” Rainbow asks Twilight, brow lowered.

“Absolutely certain. Both your visions were different from the others I’ve seen…they were less automatic. Yours especially, Silver.” Twilight turns to Sehn, and he breaks his focus on the book to look back at her.

“Hm? What was so special about mine?” He asks, raising an eyebrow.

“Something in there…whatever it was. It spoke to me. Told me I was a ‘trespasser’ and ‘intruder’…and I know I’ve seen something that looked like it before…” She looks off to the side in deep thought, the pile of books behind her now finally cleared away, Spike clapping the dust off his hands.

“Spike!” Twilight turns around, the dragon now facing her. “Can you grab me the book on Equestrian history, covering the events of the Eastern War? There’s an illustration in there that I need to see.”

“Roger!” He quickly replies then runs over to the bottom shelf of a bookcase to the back of the room, quickly looking over the book spines before pulling out a thick book. It begins to glow and levitates up into the air, taking Spike with it. “Woah!”

The book quickly moves over to Twilight. “Sorry, you can let go.” Spike lets go as she opens the book and flips through the pages. Reaching the entry on the Eastern War, she looks over a drawing of two whole armies charging at each other, one side comprised of the Equestrian Royal Guard, and the other side, a force of strange, armored beings. The same design of spikes on their heads, the same spined armor, but the weapons all looked different. None of them held the same shape as that silver, slightly curved long sword that she saw in the visions.

“Yeah…I thought they looked like that…creature.” She turns the book to Sehn and Rainbow, Rainbow raising an eyebrow while Sehn takes a quick look at it, then looks away. He mumbles something.

‘Not my best memory…’

“You say something?” Twilight asks Sehn, and he quickly looks back at her and the book.

“Sorry, nothing, got sidetracked…what are these?” He asks, even though he already knows the answer.

“I know I’ve done some studying on this war, and the other side called itself the ‘Hemorans’…” This causes Rainbow’s eyes to go wide from shock.

“Wait! Did you say Hemorans?” She quickly blurts out.

“Y-yes…why?”

“I was being chased by one earlier today!”

“Wait, what? What do you mean ‘chased’?” Twilight asks, both curiosity and worry on her face.

“He was trying to make me go somewhere with him, but I managed to outrun him. Hid in AJ’s orchard, out of sight. He seemed to run off when he couldn’t catch me.”

“Oh dear. Spike, can you take a note? This is really important.” Twilight turns around to face her assistant, who already has parchment and pen in hand. “That was fast…”

“I always keep spares lying around.” Spike smiles. Loki walks past him and jumps onto Sehn’s back.

“Right. This is the note then. Dear Princess Celestia, I’ve been speaking with Rainbow Dash and a new pony here in Ponyville today, and a subject has come up that I believe is of dire importance. It concerns a race that the Royal Guard fought with three hundred years ago, calling themselves the ‘Hemorans’.”

“Hemorans…Hemorans…can you spell that out?” Spike asks, stopping his writing after the H.

“H, E, M, O, R, A, N, S.” Twilight says each letter to Spike, which he quickly writes down.

“Got it.”

“Alright, continuing on. Rainbow Dash has said that she ran into one of these Hemorans, and mentioned that she was being chased by him with intent to capture her and take her somewhere. I can’t place any suspicions yet, but I’m worried it may relate to the Elements of Harmony.”

“Your Faithful Student, Twilight Sparkle.”

“Aaaand…done!” Spike says with a nod, rolling up the parchment. He holds it out in front of him, before lighting the parchment with his emerald flame, it becoming a bright mist that quickly heads out the window of the library. “Now we just wait…”

About two minutes later, Spike immediately puts his hands on his mouth, as if holding something in. Letting go, he belches out a mist that quickly re-forms into a scroll.

“That was fast…” Sehn states, brow raised.

“The Princess has always been punctual with her answers. Alright Spike, read it off to me, please.” Twilight says to her assistant, sitting down while he opens the scroll.

“Alright then…ahem…”

‘Dear Twilight Sparkle, I have read your letter and I share in your worry. There is much we don’t know about this race, but I will send word to our border guard to keep watch for any intrusions. Keep your wits about you, and observe the new…pony…along with any other new faces that may cross into town. Do not raise suspicions, this is simply cautionary.

Your Trusting Mentor, Princess Celestia…’ Spike blinks a few times, slowly looking over at Silver.

“…Wow. That really nails me to the wall, doesn’t it?” He says with a matter-of-fact tone.

“D-don’t worry, I’m sure she doesn’t mean you and you alone. It’s just, when things like this happen, we worry, right?” Twilight says with a worried grin and a chuckle.

“True, true. So…regarding this ‘Mind Delve’?”

“Right! There was a variation on the spell that I did to allow Rainbow and Pinkie to enter another of our friend’s nightmare, and I think doing so this time around will allow for a single treatment to cure you both…but I don’t want to put you through it.”

“Darn straight! There’s no WAY I’m going back there!” Rainbow shouts, standing up. “I’ll live with the nightmares if I have to. I’m not going back to that fog-filled…monstrosity of Ponyville!”

Sehn just looks up at her, raising an eyebrow questioningly. “She did say there was no other alternative, right?”

“Well…yeah…but that doesn’t mean we should use it. The way that place messed with me…I never want to go back there.” She looks at the floor, depression sweeping over her face as she remembered her own inability to protect Fluttershy during her treatment.

Sehn thinks about how his own variation on the Mind Delve worked, his and Loki’s Soul Dive. A black void with voices echoing from the darkness, moving around in the patient’s mind as he interrogated them. The technique was primarily used to extract information, not to cure nightmares though. Maybe this would be different?

Loki hugs Sehn around the neck, looking worried. “You’re totally certain this is the only way, Miss Sparkle?”

“Yes, I am…” she lets out a long sigh, “well…let’s get started. I wrote down that combined Mind Delve spell under the description, hang on.” She quickly reads over the formula before nodding and closing her eyes. Her horn begins to glow again, this time with a more intense color. She opens her left eye slightly, looking first at Rainbow, then over at Sehn.

She seems to be deciding which one to make the source.

“Send me in, too!” A high voice cries out behind Twilight, causing her focus to break and the spell to dissipate. All three ponies move to face the source of the outcry.

“Say what?” Sehn asks, raising an eyebrow.

“I said, send me in too! I’m not letting you take this on alone, Silver!” Loki shouts in reply, walking over to Sehn and jumping onto his back, holding his neck. “I’m not letting you charge into something we don’t know anything about without me there to help you.”

“Mighty sweet of you, kid, but I think this is something I have to take on, on my own. I’ll have Miss Dash with me…at least, I think I will.” He turns to Rainbow for some reassurance.

“Yeah, the last time we did this, me, Fluttershy and Pinkie all started out together.” Rainbow nods, recounting her last experience.

“There, see? I won’t be alone.” Silver turns his head to face Loki, a smile on his face.

“I’m still not letting you just go in there without me! You need me there to help, Silver!” Loki tightens her grip on Sehn’s neck, causing him to throw a hoof onto one of her claws before something important is cut. “Sorry, sorry…”

“Be careful with those things. You’ll hurt someone.” Sehn’s smile quickly changes to a frown, and he rubs the red area where Loki’s claws dug in.

“I said I was sorry…anyway, Miss Sparkle, can you send me in as well?” Loki turns to Twilight, who still seems to be trying to recall the spell. She picks up a book, oblivious to what’s been asked.

“…Miss Sparkle?” Loki asks again, Twilight still ignorant of her surroundings as she flips through the book. Loki rolls her eyes and jumps onto Sehn’s head, before taking a deep breath and blowing a quick shot of black flame at Twilight. The dark line strikes her in the forehead, snapping her out of whatever reading she was doing, causing her to jump out of surprise and slight pain.

“H-hey! What’s the big idea?! I’m trying to get the spell ready!” Twilight rubs her forehead, a light burn mark present. She groans in annoyance and pain.

“Sorry, but you were so absorbed in the book that you didn’t hear me. Can you send me in as well, with these two? Silver’s a klutz as it is, even with me around. I don’t think he’d be able to keep his head on straight without me.” Loki says with a proud smile, folding her arms. Sehn flicks his head back, knocking her off her balance, and she tumbles down his back to the floor with a thud.

“Teach you to stand on someone’s head while you insult them.” Sehn says with a chuckle, turning his head. “Have a bit of faith, eh? I’m not a complete idiot.”

“I try, you know. I really do. I just…” Loki rubs the back of her head, sitting cross-legged. “I don’t want to be separated from you, unable to help.”

“Guess she’s pretty loyal for a troublemaker, eh, Silver?” Rainbow smiles, looking over at Loki. “I wouldn’t really want to do it, but it is possible for her to come along. Who knows, maybe three heads will be better than two?” She says, looking back up at Sehn.

“I don’t want a kid following us in. Just us two will be enough.” Sehn replies, furrowing his brow and frowning, clearly showing he wants to move past this subject.

“I’m not a kid, darn it!” Loki screams behind Sehn, an exasperated groan coming from him.

“It doesn’t matter! You’re not following me in, end of! Now stop screaming, ponies are SLEEPING around here.” Sehn shouts back, causing Loki to immediately fall silent. She gets a depressed look on her face and looks down at the floor.

“Anyone ever teach you to treat a lady properly?” Spike walks by, the comment seething with venom. He sits down by Loki, patting her on the shoulder. “If she wants to go in, and if she really can help, then I say why not.”

“Because she isn’t going in. I don’t expect another kid to understand this.” Sehn turns, and his iris turns a slight shade of red, his pupil crushing inwards into a more slit shape. “I suggest you keep out of it. This is something beyond her.” He blinks, his eyes returning to normal as he turns to Twilight. Spike simply stares up at him, and then shakes his head. Was that his imagination?

“Miss Sparkle, weren’t you going to send us in?” Sehn asks, annoyance in his voice.

“I know, and I will…it’s just, both of you have been having nightmares. I’m trying to decide who’s going to be the patient.” Twilight squints her eyes, her horn glowing with the same intense light of the Multi-Mind Delve spell.

“I’ll be the patient.” Rainbow speaks up. “If I go first, I’ll be able to get a refresher on how this all works and I’ll be able to help Silver better with his nightmares.” She nods.

Twilight nods back, and the light grows more intense. As she leans forward, Sehn feels a familiar feeling stab into his back. He twitches slightly, no pain though, it simply feels…intrusive. Twilight taps Rainbow’s forehead, creating a blue line between her forehead and the horn, and she then taps Sehn on the forehead.

Just as she does so, Sehn gets shoved off a cliff…or at least it feels like he did. Time seems to slow down as he watches his own body simply sit there, on a ledge in the darkness, and he begins falling. Faster, faster, the wind ripping past him, he tries to right himself but ends up throwing himself into quicker barrel rolls and flips, not even the typical sky diving position he takes before Dragonflight is enough to force him to stop spinning.

“Hoooooollyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy CRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA-“ Sehn’s scream is cut off by an extremely hard impact with something solid, immovable. All the wind gets blown out of his lungs, and he falls unconscious.

“Ohhh…my head… I’m never gonna get used to that…” Rainbow sighs, holding her head. She hasn’t opened her eyes yet, but the floor creaks under her rolling body. She rolls onto her belly, and a board under her right hind leg gives way, snapping in two. Out of instinct, her wings immediately open and throw her into the air, and she hangs there trying to get her senses in order. Slowly, her eyes blink open, and she takes in the environment around her.

The library, it’s definitely Twilight’s library…but it looks significantly older than it did before. Dust clung to the walls and floor in thick blankets, and the room held a color of grayscale, like an old film.

“…Just like last time…hopefully things won’t go like they did last time.” Rainbow shivers slightly, remembering everything that happened to her, from the dragon to the Shadowbolts. She shakes her head, casting the memories aside. “I’ve got something more to worry about right now besides that stupid nightmare...have to beat this so I can go back to her with more than just blood shot eyes and a messed up mane.” Rainbow furrows her brow in determination, slowly lowering herself to the floor.

There seem to be sounds coming from the kitchen, footsteps…though not matching that of a pony’s walk. She tilts her head, then immediately remembers what this world can bring about. She jumps up, flying above the door frame leading to the kitchen, about ten feet up, making sure she can’t be seen. She waits for whatever’s in the kitchen to emerge…

And several moments later, it does. The thing has a silver color to it, spikes leading off the back of its head, two bangs leading down past its eyes and ears. It looks around, and then quickly moves to the center of the room, looking around almost in a panic. Rainbow lightly puts her legs to the wall, smiling. “Gotcha before you even knew I was here…” she quietly says to herself, and she launches off the wall, making a beeline for the thing.

Rainbow slams head first into the tall figure, and they both roll in a deadlock into a wall. The impact breaks Rainbow’s grip on the thing, and she jumps back, getting a better view of it. ‘It’ appears to be a he, and he’s wearing military fatigues over a black short-sleeved t-shirt. The fatigues are a zip-up combat vest with several pockets along the right side, and camo cargo pants that seem to bunch up near his heavy boots. He wears leather, fingerless gloves on his hands, his fingers a dark-tan color. He groans, holding his gut and rubbing his head.

“Ahhh…what’s the big idea?! Flying at a guy like that!” He shouts, looking at her, and then his eyes immediately shrink out of shock. “Oh boy…” is all that can escape his mouth.

Rainbow looks back in just as much shock, stuttering as she backs away. “Y-y-y…i…it’s you!!!” She lowers herself into a charging position, hate filling her eyes. “What’d you do to Silver Rush!?”

“S-Silv...I didn’t do a thing! I swear it, Rainbow!” He holds out his hands in a position wishing for mercy, shaking his head.

“Oh that’s a load of crud and you know it! Where is he?! Answer me!” She roars at him, wings spread for a flight-assisted charge.

“He’s right here!” Sehn shouts, pointing at himself. He leans back against the wall, rubbing his chest from where Rainbow slammed into him.

“Wh…what? He’s in your head?”

“No, you dummy. I AM Silver Rush.” Sehn rolls his eyes. “My cover wasn’t that bloody good…”

Rainbow simply stares at him, tilting her head slightly to the side. “You…you mean…YOU were that city-pony I was hanging out with…?”

“One and the same, yeah. I’m not that bad a talker, am I?” Sehn says with a cheerful smile, chuckling.

“Oh this is so WRONG! What the hay were you doing with a pony’s body!?” Rainbow seems even more freaked out by him, thinking he’s some kind of body snatcher who stole a poor pony’s body for his own use.

“Well…it was my body, actually. I’d explain the whole process, but I doubt it’d help much…where are we?” Sehn asks, trying to change the subject away from him.

“Don’t change the subject on me! Why did you look like a pony, huh? You steal it from somepony else?!” Rainbow shouts at him.

“Oy! Don’t go accusing me of stealing a body from some poor soul! I’m not that much of an ass!” Sehn gets to his feet, walking over to Rainbow, staring her dead in the eyes.

“Oh I bet you would, just so you could get close to me! I oughta beat you senseless!!” She shouts, their eyes now inches away from each other.

“Oh you can TRY, kid, I’m sure you’ll be leaving with a lot more than just injuries!” Sehn leans in closer, now their foreheads shoving against each other, eyes full of hate.

“Body snatcher!”

“Egotistical!”

“Idiot!”

“Mule!”

“HEMORON!”

“WHAT’D YOU SAY TO ME?!”

The exchange of insults seems to carry on for a full ten minutes, by the end of it they’re both panting, both their reservoirs totally clean of clever insults and quips.

“Haa…haa…slowpoke…” Sehn grunts out between breaths.

“Huff…knucklehead…” Rainbow replies, just as tired. They just stare at each other before Sehn smiles, backing away. He laughs slightly, crashing onto the floor with his rear. Some of the boards screech out from the impact, splintering slightly. The boards hold strong under Sehn, though.

“Hehe…heh…just like old times…” Another few laughs escape him, and he coughs a few times to clear his lungs of the dust floating around the room.

“What do you mean by that…?” Rainbow asks, still having a suspicious look as she sits down.

“I mean exactly what I said. This is just like old times…” Sehn smiles happily, reminiscing about his time with her two years prior.

“I knew you before…now?” Rainbow raises an eyebrow, tilting her head.

“Yeah…well, I’ll tell you about it. For now, we should start looking around here, shouldn’t we? What’re we looking for?” Sehn asks, getting to his feet.

“Ah…right. Look for anything that doesn’t really belong here, anything that might seem new or polished compared to everything else. Anything you find, bring it to the table here.” Rainbow looks over, pointing a hoof at the table, before noticing a saddle bag lying on it. “Like that. Looks useful.” She moves over to the bag and checks its contents, while Sehn starts wandering around the library, looking for anything that seems new.

Rainbow gives a quick glance at the numerous bookcases for something to point out to the hedgehog now with her, before looking down at the bag. It’s a simple brown bag with four small pockets on the sides, and is colored green, the pin keeping it closed a yellow lightning bolt. She pulls on the pin, popping it off with a click, and looks inside it. She spills the contents of the bag onto the table, pulling out whatever was left inside.

The contents of the bag seem to be a piece of paper, a small handheld device, and several pieces of gold. Rainbow tilts her head slightly at what fell out, moving the gold pieces into a pile. They don’t seem to immediately form any kind of object in her mind, just some small chunks.

“Weird…why would these be in here?” She asks herself before turning to the paper, looking it over.

“Blank?” The page’s white surface seems all too useless. “Oh, wait…” She flips it over, revealing writing. Footsteps coming back from the kitchen snatches her attention away, and the dropping of a pile of books in front of her makes her jump.

“Woah, what are all these for?!” She shouts, looking over the 30-something book tall stack in front of her. Sehn takes a seat next to it, taking the first book off the top.

“You asked me to find stuff that seemed new around here. I grabbed a couple books, figuring something could be in them.” He says with a matter-of-fact tone, flipping through the pages with a bored look on his face.

“Alright, apparently I wasn’t clear…I meant things that were new around here, and at all USEFUL. Like this bag and stuff here.” She points to the objects that fell out of her bag, Sehn following the hoof to them.

“Huh, that’s an old model…” He fixates on the walkie talkie, getting up and walking over to it. He picks it up, and looks it over, clicking the button on the left of it, creating a click. He starts speaking into it.

“Hello? Anyone on the other end of this thing?” He lets go and listens for something, while Rainbow just stares at him.

“Wait, what do you mean ‘other end’? What is that?” Rainbow asks in confusion, never having seen the device before.

“This? Medium range communications device, used to talk to squadrons based all over Hemora. And hang on, what do you mean ‘what is this’? You should know what it is.” He says to her with a grimace.

“What? I’ve never seen that thing before, or anything that could possibly be like it. Ever. Don’t know why you’d think I have.” She rolls her eyes and shrugs.

“I’ve got a looooot of talkin’ to do with you then.” He puts the device back on the table and walks back over to his pile of books. “For your information though…” he says before crashing onto his rear next to them, “we call it a ‘walkie talkie’, because you can speak into it during routine patrols without stopping your march.” He picks up the book next to his feet and continues reading.

Rainbow goes back to the note, looking over the scrawled writing. Seems like whoever wrote this had a bad twitch in their neck, because the letters sometimes sprawled out into random lines. She reads it out loud to herself.

The gates of Destiny don’t open for all
For some, they are a grand iron wall.
Only those of us who are of sufficient worth
Are allowed beyond the gateway’s berth.

Rainbow furrows her brow. “…What?” She asks the seemingly meaningless riddle, scratching the back of her neck.

“Hm?” Sehn looks up from his book, raising his eyebrows. “Something wrong?”

“Yeah, this note. It doesn’t make any sense to me, just sounds like somepony got suddenly inspired and wrote about a wall they were staring at for too long.” She taps the note, reading over it again to Sehn.

“Those of us who are of sufficient worth…hmm.” He mumbles, his head on his hand, sitting in a cross-legged position next to Rainbow, staring at the note. “Yeah, does seem kind of weird. Where’re these ‘gates of Destiny’?”

“Beats me. Did you find anything besides that pile of books there?” Rainbow looks over at Sehn, raising an eyebrow.

“Well, I guess besides some good reading material, I found this.” He walks over to the pile of books, taking something off the top. He shows the leather sheath to Rainbow, a metal guard and handle sticking out one end. The handle seems to have a metal loop running from the guard to the butt, the front covered in small, very sharp, polished spikes. The sheath has an adjustable leather strap running from one end to the other.

He pulls on the handle, revealing a shining blade, eight inches in length. He looks it over before putting it back in its sheath. “Equestrian combat knife used before all your soldiers switched to using long swords and armor. Seems like a step backwards in combat effectiveness if you ask me…but I guess the gold armor does make the Royal Guard look good.” He puts the knife back in its sheath, before seeing something on the side of it. He smirks, tossing it down to the table in front of Rainbow. “It’s yours.”

“Wait, what?” Rainbow asks, looking down at the green knife holster. On the side of it are the initials ‘R.D’, and a worn drawing of a rainbow-colored lightning bolt. “R…D? And that lightning bolt is my…” She looks back at her flank, comparing the drawing to her Cutie Mark. “Why the hay does this thing have my Cutie Mark on it?!”

“Because, obviously, you’re meant to have it.” Sehn ends his sentence with another crash onto the ground, the boards under him crying from the impact with a loud creak of wood. He cracks open the book again, now reaching the end of all the pages. He seems to close his eyes with a sigh, before closing the book. He tosses the book behind him, taking the next one off the pile, cracking it open and starting to read.

“Gates of Destiny…” Rainbow asks herself, turning back to the note in thought. “What gates…?” She takes a look around the entire library, not having checked the full scene before tending to the bag.

The library looks like it’s seen far better days, covered in a thick blanket of dust that makes it almost impossible to see that the walls are, in fact, colored purple and not grey. The boards under her hooves have caved in slightly, just from her standing on them. She gets up and begins walking around the library, first noticing the front door. The door seems normal, no lock on it like when she last came here. The window catches her attention next, but something about it makes her jump a bit.

“D-did something just move outside?” A shadow moves away from the window, and Rainbow runs over to the window to see outside. The next scene that hits her makes her heart sink.

She was in Ponyville, if the only reason that suggested this was the library, and the fog definitely was out there. But the streets weren’t barren…they were full of shadows, barely discernible from the darkness of the fog, all of them completely stationary.

“Oh no…” She backs away from the window, lowering her head quickly to get out of sight. She slides back over to the table, and Sehn looks up at his now-scared companion. He simply raises an eyebrow.

“You look out of it. See a ghost?” He says with a smirk, a questioning brow being raised.

“More like 20…” Rainbow replies, sitting down at the table, “Give or take a hundred…”

The smirk and brow raise quickly disappear from Sehn’s face, now turning into a determined furrow and frown. He gets up, putting the book back on top of the pile, and moves over to the window, looking outside. Rainbow looks at him for a bit, before turning back to the knife on the table. Something flashes in her mind while looking at it and the thought of it burns the back of her head. She quickly closes her eyes and holds her forehead, repressing the pain.

The sound of a window shattering and a loud shout makes her jump and turn her head, now immediately wishing she hadn’t looked.

The thing that broke the window was a knife, and now it was stuck in Sehn’s palm. The blade was mere centimeters from piercing his forehead and ending his life, and he leaps back from the window, another knife spinning into the room and impaling itself on the wall. He hits the ground with a thud and another shout of pain, gripping the knife in his hand.

“AHHHHH THIS HURTS!!!” He shouts as he grabs the knife handle, Rainbow sprinting over to him. Sehn grabs her by the neck and yanks her to the ground, one more thrown knife spinning through the air where her neck had been.

“Holy…!” Is all she can manage to say before a spatter of blood hits her in the face from Sehn yanking the knife out of his hand. She stares, stunned, at all the blood. This didn’t happen during the last time she was here…rooms were meant to be safe from everything outside.

Sehn holds up his arm, squeezing his upper arm to try and stop the bleeding, and sits up. He slides out of the way of the window, and looks at Rainbow, pain in his eyes. “Find me some bandages or…something to cover this wound!” Rainbow just stares at him. “I SAID FIND ME SOME BANDAGES, PRIVATE!” He then shouts right in her face, Rainbow immediately responding with a salute.

“Y-yes sir!” She blurts out before sprinting off to the kitchen, looking for anything useful. Unbeknownst to them both, the walkie talkie on the table has been buzzing, and the buzzing was getting louder…

Chapter 5: The Fog Cries Out...

The sound of drawers being ripped out of their housings fills the kitchen as Rainbow tears the place apart looking for some form of medical supplies. She doesn’t know why she’s so frantically trying to help this hedgehog, especially considering he’s caused her so much trouble before coming here, but the impulse is fuelling her veins and stopping her logic from meaning much, as she pulls apart another cupboard.

“Gah, nothing here either!” She quickly looks around the room, searching for anything she might’ve missed. Two doors under the sink still remained attached to their hinges, and Rainbow immediately pulls these off in order to look behind them. The hinges were weak and rusty with age, a pile of aged cupboard doors and drawers behind Rainbow a notice of all the cabinets she already looked in.

Rainbow’s eyes light up as she finds a small, white box with a red cross on its cover, and a little brown bottle next to it, that same red cross on it. She pulls both out, taking the box with her out to Sehn, leaving the bottle to grab later. The wall next to her seems to be covered with cuts and scratches, but only one knife is still in the wall, no knives lying on the floor under it.

“Here, got it!” Sehn looks up, the blood from his hand painting a clear trail down to his head on the wall from where he was holding his hand against the wall.

“Finally, my arm was falling asleep…put it down here.” He points next to himself, his eyes looking weary. “Lost a bit more blood during your rampage through the kitchen…not feeling too good.” He blinks a few times slowly before reaching over to the kit and popping it open, pulling out a roll of gauze and some disinfectant spray. He removes his glove and sprays the disinfectant into both sides of the wound, hissing in pain as the alcoholic solution burns away whatever may have found its way into the hole. He then wraps the hand in several turns of gauze, biting off the end and shoving the loose bandage into the wrap so it stays tight.

He flexes his hand, and looks over to the window, expecting another knife to fly in. “Guess number 37 isn’t gonna come flying in…” He mumbles to himself, before looking over at the wall, Rainbow following his gaze. The wall is full of scratches and holes, but nothing seems to be stuck in the wall or lying before it. The sound of buzzing finally catches his attention, and he looks over at the table. Rainbow finally notices as well, and she shivers slightly as she looks over at the walkie talkie.

“Oh…listen, we’ve got to move away from the door, now. Get behind the couch over there!” She kicks Sehn lightly in the side, trying to get him to move, as she runs over to the table and packs everything up in the bag, quickly tying the knife sheath to her leg. She leaps behind the couch and crouches down, Sehn running over to join her in their makeshift cover.
The buzzing, becoming louder with every second, is the only sound that fills the room, besides the breathing of Rainbow and Sehn. Panic begins to course through her mind, but she steels herself against the fear, trying to stop the shaking in her legs. Both Sehn and Rainbow peek over the top of the couch, looking around for anything that may come into the room.

The sound of hooves hitting dirt can be heard as something makes its way to the window. The shadow pokes its head in, looking around, and Rainbow moves back down below the couch, grabbing the knife with her mouth. Sehn ducks down as well, looking at his hand, flexing it. He seems to be thinking quite hard, as if trying to make something happen with his mind, but nothing occurs.

“Tsk…” He says with a grimace, looking over at Rainbow. “Listen, if anything comes in here, you’re the one who’s going to have to fight it. I’ll play decoy for you.” He whispers to her. Rainbow shudders, the thought of having to fight one of these things seemed otherworldly to her. She takes a deep breath before nodding, drawing the blade from its sheath. Sehn looks back over the couch, Rainbow moving up with him.

The shadow seems to have left the window, and the sound of wings flapping can be heard. A few seconds later and the quiet, low explosion of a far-away sonic boom enters the room, shaking the book cases slightly. The two behind the couch share a relieved sigh, and come out from behind it, moving up to the front door.

“How do we check if there’s anything outside…fog’s pretty thick, the only reason I could stop that knife from stabbing me in the face was because I saw its shadow…good thing I had my hand over the top of the window.” Sehn says to no one in particular, flexing his wounded right hand.

“Those knives flew in pretty fast…do we have anything we could use?” Rainbow asks, muffled by the knife in her mouth, leaned against the wall behind Sehn.

“Not sure. I doubt that whatever’s out there can see us very clearly…maybe it’s just throwing those knives at whatever moves in the window.” Sehn scratches his chin, thinking.

“What about the books?” Rainbow speaks up, moving over to the pile of books by the table while placing the knife back in its holster. She takes one off the top and brings it back.

“Not a bad idea. Give me it.” Sehn says, holding out his hand as Rainbow drops the book into it. He slides past the door and holds the book up to the window.

He waits several minutes, nothing flying into the book or through the window. He peeks up into the window, trying to instigate a response from whoever was trying to kill him. He raises his face fully into view of the window, nothing sharp or shiny flying at him from the fog beyond.

“All clear.” He says, standing upright with a sigh. He looks at the shattered remains of the window, before turning back to the door. “There’s nothing outside, just a whole lot of fog.”

“Well, at least nothing sharp is going to fly at us now.” Rainbow heads over to the table, noticing the radio has gone quiet. “…Huh…so this thing works just like the music box before?” She mumbles, picking up the walkie talkie and looking it over, “Better this than nothing.” She says to herself as she starts packing everything up. Rainbow adjusts the strap of the sheath on her leg, it a bit too tight from her franticly putting it on earlier. She moves back from the table and takes a few practice draws with it to make sure she’s quick enough to react to anything coming at her, and afterwards puts the saddlebag onto her back, tying the strap around her stomach.

“You said you’ve done this before, right?” Sehn asks, staring out the window as Rainbow turns to him.

“Yeah, I have. Came here with two of my friends, one of them having the terrible nightmares.” She replies, shivering as memories of that horrid time roll back into the front of her mind.

“So what’d you all do first?” Sehn asks, waving his hand behind him, as if to grab something.

“Pinkie Pie said we should head to Fluttershy’s home, since it was the first place she thought of when she was here.” Rainbow says, shoving Sehn out of the way of the window so she can look outside.

The scene is just as bleak as before. Brown fog rolls across the street, blocking out almost all of what you’d regularily see staring out the library’s window. A bush sticks up in front of the window, but even that is blurred slightly by the fog. The sound of a sonic boom finds its way into Rainbow’s ears, and she looks up to the sky.

“You hear that?” She asks, not turning to Sehn.

“Yeah. Is it that shadow we saw?” Sehn asks back.

“If it is, then it’s a powerful flyer. I’m the only thing in general I know about that can go at the speed of sound.”

“You’d be surprised…anyway, where should we go?”

“My house, I guess. It’s North from here, about a hundred meters up.” Rainbow starts moving over to the door.

“A hundred meters up? Wait, you live in the air?” Sehn asks, following Rainbow.

“Yeah? I’m a Pegasus, aren’t I? I’ve got a cloud house in town.” She rolls her eyes and pushes the door open. Sehn follows behind her, his loud boots overshadowing her own footsteps. They both look around at the dim scene before them, Sehn far more amazed than Rainbow. The pathway out to the street is half smothered in brown fog, their visibility cut to only three or so feet in front of them.

“Well, at least it’s bright enough to walk…” Sehn says, walking out in front of Rainbow, hands in his pockets. “Did you grab the medical supplies?” He turns, tilting his head up slightly.

“Oh shoot, forgot.” Rainbow curses herself, turning back to the door, before being stopped by a pat on the shoulder from Sehn.

“I got it.” Sehn says with a wave of his hand, walking back into the library. Rainbow turns back around, and sits down on the dirt path. She looks up at the sky, listening for another sonic boom. There were already two that went off, so why not a third?

And punctually, another sonic boom is indeed heard. She continues waiting and listening. A while later, another sonic boom echoes out from the distance.

“What’re you doing?” Rainbow turns to Sehn, the medkit in his hand. “Found a weird brown bottle in that disaster zone you caused in the kitchen. Says ‘Health Drink’ on it…looks kinda funky though.” Sehn makes a grimace, looking at the bottle in his other hand.

“It’ll be useful. I’m listening to those sonic booms…I think there’s a pattern to it.” Rainbow turns back, one more sonic boom ending her sentence. “Hmm…” she starts counting in her head. Her mental counter reaches 22 before another sonic boom occurs. She starts again, and once more, at number 22, the sonic boom returns.

“22 seconds between each explosion. Hm.” Rainbow and Sehn say at the same time, causing them to look at each other. “Wait, you were counting too?” Rainbow asks.

“Seemed obvious what you were doing. Question is why?” Sehn asks, coming down to a knee so he look Rainbow more straight in the face. He opens one of the pouches on Rainbow’s saddle bag, placing the items inside while checking the contents.

“Kind of taking this from my experience, but a sonic boom is air not being able to keep up with a body moving through it, right?”

“Correct. It’s the sound that can’t keep up though, and the pressure wave that creates the ‘boom’ that you hear is being left behind by that body.”

“Right, so it’s still a wave of air, isn’t it?”

“Yeah.” Sehn finishes packing and checking the bag, standing up and moving over to her side.

“Well, I’m doing the count so I can see if I can cover a distance while flying.”

“Seems strange. Sonic booms are just sounds…the pressure wave isn’t all that strong, is it?”

“Try going fast enough for the Sonic Rainboom. If you mess up, the cone of air around you just bounces you back like a big rubber band.”

“Huh…you think whatever the heck is up there is trying to do that?” The two turn to eachother, Sehn raising an eyebrow.

“I can’t tell. Usually you have to start at a very high height, and then speed straight towards the ground. But I’m the only one who can actually do that stunt…whatever’s making those sonic booms has to at least be as strong as me.” Rainbow says, stroking her chin in thought.

“May as well start walking, and we at least have a pattern now. Which way to your house?” Sehn asks, heading down the path, Rainbow following close behind.

“I’ll have to look at the buildings, get my bearings. We should be able to just take a right at the end of the path and keep going straight. Follow me.” Rainbow says, moving quickly down the path, Sehn jogging to keep up. “The trip might take a bit though, so I have a few questions.”

“Fire away.” Sehn says, moving up beside her.

“How do you know me?”

“Ah, yeah. Honestly, hell of a long story, and half of it likely wouldn’t make much sense to you. If you knew me off the spot when we met in the orchard, this’d all be clear in your head though…” Sehn sighs, “Where to start…?”

“Start with how you know me. Short version.”

“I know you because we served in the army together.” Rainbow skids to a stop from the comment, Sehn jogging a couple meters ahead of her before stopping and walking back.

“Say WHAT?!” She shouts, complete confusion on her face. “I-I’ve never served in the army before!”

Sehn tilts his head, moving up closer so he’s fully in view. He raises an eyebrow. “Yes you have. I wouldn’t be saying it if you hadn’t. I wouldn’t even be here if I didn’t know you.”

“That’s crazy! Why would I forget something that huge?! I’ve never even considered joining the Royal Guard!” Rainbow shouts, this new fact trying to ram itself into her thought process without much success.

“Because you…weren’t in the Royal Guard? We did serve in the army together, but I think you’d remember me, without a doubt, if I were serving in Celestia’s personal army.”

“Hey, where do you get off just calling the Princess ‘Celestia’?”

“Oh, right, monarch. Ahem…” Sehn clears his throat, then repeats in a rather high-class, low tone. “Her HIGHNESS, Princess Celestia.” He finishes by jamming his hands in his pockets, and letting out a “Pbbth”.

“Well aren’t you rude?” Confusion melts away from Rainbow’s face, being replaced with anger.

“Sorry, having a military structure to your society just kind of numbs you to respecting a single leader. PRINCESS Celestia does deserve a lot of respect with how she’s handled Equestria, definitely.” Sehn turns around and starts walking off, Rainbow moving up next to him.

“You really aren’t from around here, are you?” She asks, both of them moving at a slow walk through the fog. They both look around at the surrounding buildings before Sehn answers.

“I’m from out of country, yeah. To be perfectly accurate, my full name and title is Captain Sehn Darksol of the Hemoran National Guard.”

“C-Captain?” Rainbow looks up at him, raising her eyebrows.

“Aye, Captain. Leader of whole battallions, brain behind some operations. We usually leave the creation of the orders up to the Majors and those above them, but I come in sometimes to offer tactical advice.” Sehn shrugs, “The job ain’t so bad. Get to order a lot of people around, and everyone has to salute you before doing whatever you say.” He smirks, enjoying the feeling of power.

“But that doesn’t really explain how you know me. I’ve rarely been outside of Ponyville and Cloudsdale, let alone Equestria itself.”

“That…is a rather tough tale to tell.” Sehn sighs, kicking a rock. One click, two clicks…but then nothing. Sehn stops, furrowing his brow.

“Something up?” Rainbow asks, walking forward further, before one of her hoofs drops off into empty space. She gasps before opening her wings and blowing herself back, looking at where her hoof slipped off. Both Sehn and Rainbow stare wide-eyed at the abyss in front of them, fog falling off the cliff into the dark ravine like a waterfall.

“Now THAT was close.” Sehn remarks, whistling a single note.

“Yeah…good thing I can fly.” Rainbow says, looking at her wings with a sigh of relief. “Still…I remember this happening before. Where are we?”

“Not sure. I can see a couple weird looking trees across the ravine though.” Sehn says, putting a hand over the top of his eyes so he can shade his vision, though it doesn’t get very far beyond the blurry shadows through the fog.

“…Everfree Forest…brrr.” Rainbow shivers, “yeah, I know where to go now.”

The sonic booms have been occurring all during the walk, but seemed to be drowned out by the chat. One more sonic boom comes down on the pair, Sehn getting shoved to his knees as he hears it with a grunt.

“Oof!” He slams his hands into the ground to stop his face from coming to the same fate as his palms. “What the heck was that?!”

Rainbow gets shoved down as well, hitting the ground on her belly with a thud. “Gah! Ahh, it’s like I thought!”

“Wait, you predicted THAT?” Sehn looks over at her, Rainbow returning the look.

“Yeah, it’s like with my Sonic Rainboom. Get going fast enough and the air becomes a wall that you have to break down. When the stunt is done right…” She gets back to her feet, Sehn just pushing himself up into a kneeling position, “the air is pushed out of the way in an explosion, and the shockwave created is strong enough to shatter bedrock.”

“I’m well aware.” Sehn replies, sighing. “Too well aware…”

“Say what?”

“Nothing. Where’s your home again?”

“Should be over by Fluttershy’s…which would be over this ravine.” Rainbow looks over the blank abyss before her, trying to see any silhouette of her home beyond the cliff.

“I don’t think it’d be out there.” Sehn says, folding his arms.

“What makes you say that?” Rainbow looks over with a raised eyebrow.

“Why would we have a destination we both can’t get to?”

“Sure, we were both having nightmares, but aren’t I the patient?”

“Just doesn’t make sense that your house would be across a 50 foot ravine, with a sonic boom happening overhead every 22 seconds that forces you to the ground.”

Another explosion echoes out over the pair, Sehn and Rainbow grunting under the force of the pressure wave.

“You saying I couldn’t get across the ravine in under 22 seconds?”

“I’m saying I couldn’t. Can’t you clear two miles in fifteen seconds?”

“Easy!” Rainbow says with a prideful smile.

“Yeah. No wings. Impossible to get across for me. I bet it’d be impossible for you if you had to carry me as well.” Sehn remarks with a grimace, and he looks up. Rainbow looks at his face as he tilts his head slightly and raises an eyebrow. “Hey uh…what’s that up there?” He asks as he points upwards, Rainbow following the finger. Up above them, about a hundred meters, is a small white dot, clear as day in the fog.

“That’s…my house.” Rainbow says, surprise in her voice. “But, why is it here?”

“Beats me, but you can’t spit on a blessing, Rainbow. How’re we getting up there?” Sehn asks, turning to Rainbow.

“Well, obviously I’m flying. Don’t you have your own wings?” She leans back slightly, looking at Sehn’s back.

“Wings? Well…not usually…I don’t think I can get them either.” Sehn grimaces, looking at his back.

“Well I can’t CARRY you up there. It’s too high and too much for my wings. I may be the best flyer in Equestria, but I can’t go carrying a heavy Hemoran a hundred meters straight up.” Rainbow says with a shrug.

“Hmmm…know where we can get some kind of flying machine?” Sehn asks, turning his sight back to the sky.

“Yep, and I know just who to ask.” Rainbow says with a smile before smacking Sehn in the leg and running off down the road, Sehn in close pursuit.

Intermission 1: The Eyes Of The Void

“Back here again, eh?” Twilight says to herself, looking around the familiar black void she’s visited twice before. She sits in the middle of a lit circle of light, two small monitors hovering in the air before her. One is rimmed by a solid white, the usual static image, randomly changing shape and size, present on the screen, while the other seems different than usual. The rim around the screen is chaotic, always moving, much like fire, but its colored black instead of red and orange. The picture shown on screen is also different, it looks far more stable than the other screen, but the snow is thick, barely showing any form of legible image.

She strokes her chin, again trying to make sense of it all. The images are still as blurred as usual, as if something is trying to keep her out. She moves her gaze back and forth over the two distinct monitors, taking note of the shifting rim and the strange images.

“Hmm…why are these two monitors different? They were all the same during Fluttershy’s treatment. The images on it are also buried under static, but much more clear, less distortion. What does this mean…?” She taps herself on the chin, wracking her brain over it. “Moreover, why ARE these images so distorted? Three times I’ve used this spell, and the images just aren’t any clearer! Am I doing something wrong here? The spell has to be designed properly considering it works at all…but why does it give me so little to work with?”

Twilight scrapes her hoof over the ground, it feeling smoother than fresh ice in winter. The void is completely devoid of both hot and cold, Twilight’s own body heat providing whatever comfort or discomfort she may feel from temperature. The lit circle is white, and beyond the circle is nothing but shadow, besides the two monitors.

Footsteps in the distance catch Twilight’s attention, along with a cry or two.

“Silver…! Silver…!” The cries pick up in volume, and the steps pick up pace into a sprint. The sounds become louder. Twilight looks around herself for whatever could be creating the noise, the voice that sounds strangely familiar to her.

“SILVERRR!!! SILVERRR!!!” The voice quickly picks up into a high screech, the steps coming very near. Twilight spins around to focus on the source of the noise, only to see a flash of purple latch onto her neck in a tight hug.

“SILVERRR!!! Oh thank goodness it’s you! I was afraid I’d lo-“ The voice suddenly stops mid-sentence, a claw moving up and down Twilight’s neck. She shivers slightly and looks down at whatever’s latched onto her. “Wait a minute. Wait…wait…this coat doesn’t feel right.”

“Maybe because you have the wrong pony?” Twilight says with a nervous chuckle, seeing only pink scales.

“Wait, wrong pony? Oh- OH NO!” The small purple thing jumps off, letting Twilight get a good look at it. “Oh, I’m sorry Miss Sparkle! I thought you were Silver, I’ve been looking for him for minutes now!!!”

“Wait, Loki? What’re you doing here, why are you looking for Silver? Didn’t he tell you not to go in with him and Rainbow Dash?” Twilight asks, this new page of mystery added to the book only piling on her stress, and she tilts her head in confusion.

“Psshh! Me, listen to HIM? You’ve got me all wrong. Anyway, that doesn’t matter! Where is he?!” Loki looks around in a panic, shaking.

“Well um…he’s actually there.” Twilight moves to the side, and points to the two monitors, as Loki looks up at them.

“Oh…” Loki meekly whispers, and she drops into a sit with a thud, folding her arms into a tight hug. She starts shaking.

“W-what’s wrong?” Twilight fires one last glance to the monitors before moving over to Loki’s side. The shake has turned into a steady shiver, and tears have started rolling from her eyes.

“I-I should be there with him…!” Loki sniffs, shivering.

“He said he’s fine, though! And he told you to have a little faith, right?”

“I can’t trust that! I’ve known him for way too long to ‘have a little faith’! We’ve never been apart since we met; we’ve taken on everything together!” Loki wipes away her tears and holds her knees.

“Hey hey, calm down…I’m sure he’s fine.” Twilight tries to reassure the dragon, lying down next to it, keeping the monitors in her sight. “I’m certain he’s doing just fine. He is with Rainbow Dash after all, and she’s the toughest Pegasus, toughest pony, I know!”

“…Are…are you sure?” Loki trembles, leaning her head onto Twilight’s shoulder.

“Of course I’m sure. They’ll help each other, and I’m absolutely certain they both know what to expect. No doubt Rainbow Dash is telling him all about what’s over there.” Twilight furrows her brow slightly with the comment, “Wish she’d tell me what was over there, too.” This causes Loki to noticeably twitch with shock, and she looks up at Twilight.

“W-w-w-wait…you d-don’t know what’s in there?”

“Well…I…” Twilight tries to hunt down the words, but just decides to say it, “No…I don’t know what’s over there. And I wish I did. But my friends have always made it through every disaster thrown at them, including this. Pinkie’s done it twice!” Twilight says with a smile, “Now have a bit of faith in your friend, ok?”

Loki sniffs, clearing away more tears, “…Sehn…oh Sehn…please be alright…” she whimpers.

“Wait…Sehn?” Twilight asks, “I thought his name was Silver Rush?”

“It’s not…and I’m sure he’d only get mad if I told you all this.” Loki’s shivering stops, but she’s still noticeably crying.

“Why would he fake his name?”

“No reason…he just wanted a new one, I guess.” Loki shrugs, closing her eyes, forcing her tears to stop coming down. “I just wish I could be there for him…”

“Part of being a friend is depending on one another, but another part is trusting each other when you’re apart, right?”

“…I guess…”

“So come on, all you have to do is trust him. I’m sure he’ll come out of this just fine.” Twilight says with a big smile, giving Loki a light hug.

“…Alright…” Loki sniffs, “thanks for the pick-me-up, Miss Sparkle.”

“It’s what I do. Now, there’s something that’s bothering me, actually.”

“What’s that?” Loki looks up, her eyes slightly bloodshot from the crying.

“How’d you end up here? Usually it’s just me watching these monitors.” Twilight raises an eyebrow.

“Oh…um…I-I’m not sure…I put my hand on Sehn’s back when you were casting that spell, and next thing I knew I was flying towards this dot of light at a really high speed. When I eventually landed and skidded on my face for about twenty feet, I could see a shadow in the middle of the dot…so I ran for it. My sight wasn’t clear until I grabbed onto you.” Loki relaxes a bit, moving into a kneeling position next to Twilight, still leaning on her.

“So you were just touching his back…? Weird…” Twilight strokes her chin. The Mind Delve spell needs a direct tap from the user to the patient. Why would Loki, who was only in physical contact with Sehn, be pulled in as well?

“So…what are the monitors for?” Loki asks, looking up at the two small screens.

“My current theory is that they represent the ponies going through the treatment. I know that during previous treatments, my friends all had that same white border around the left monitor, but the static and shifting images were always different. Time intervals, actual images, amount of static and snow…it’s all variable.” Twilight sighs.

“Then, considering that the white bordered one was always present with one of your friends…does the other one belong to Sehn?” Loki asks, turning to Twilight.

“That, I can’t be too sure about without more data. It seems plausible though…but the fact that it only showed up now puts it on the fence, offers credibility to both sides of the theory.”

“Do you think the borders and images mean anything?”

“If they do, I haven’t been able to figure it out…and that’s what bugs me so much about this. I know tons of spells and magic principles, and their descriptions have always been accurate to what they do. But this spell spins around and slaps me in the face by being completely random! This is the one spell that I haven’t been able to figure out.”

“Well…I’ve got faith that you will, someday.”

“Hehe, thank you for having such confidence in me.” Twilight smiles, “Well, considering we’re here, and I can multitask pretty well…have any stories to share? Anything you can talk about, like Sehn or you?” She shifts her gaze back to the monitors, putting her head on her hoof, the shifting images and swirling snow on the monitors an almost hypnotizing experience.

“I…guess I do have some. They’re probably really boring though.”

“Try me, I study so much a lot of ponies consider me boring.” Twilight smirks.

“Well…alright. I guess I could start with how me and Sehn met…” Loki begins retelling her past.

Chapter 6: First Stop

“So where’re we headed?” Sehn says, running to keep up with Rainbow who’s flying close to the road.

“Sugar Cube Corner, we’re going to borrow Pinkie’s balloon!”

“To get me up there?”

“That and I’ll be more certain about getting up there without being shoved back by the sonic booms happening overhead. 22 seconds is a long time, but I’d be majorly slowed down carrying you, and you can’t fly up there yourself.” Rainbow says with a slight grimace, “You’re sure you can’t create those wings you had earlier?”

“I could, but I can’t be certain about their stability, or mine.”

“Your stability?”

“Yeah, I’ll tell you about it later on. Let’s just say creating the wings now would not be in our best interests.” Sehn says, as Rainbow turns her head to her saddle bag, a familiar noise coming from it. She immediately hits the ground and skids to a halt, looking around. Sehn skids to a stop next to her.

“What’s wrong?”

“You hear that buzzing, right?”

“What bu- oh…yeah, I do. That thing was going off during the attack.” Sehn replies.

“See anything in the fog?”

“…I do. Reference to us, 10 o’clock, 20 feet.” Sehn says, as both Rainbow and him focus in that direction, a faint shadow in the distance. “…It’s pretty far off. What’s that radio supposed to do?”

“If it’s anything like Fluttershy’s music box, it starts buzzing whenever anything dangerous is nearby…and I think that’s what it’s doing right now.” Rainbow lowers herself so she can jump more quickly, and draws the knife off her leg holster. “Alright, keep close. We’ll try and go around it.” She starts heading into the fog, looking behind herself to see Sehn following, also in a crouched position.

As they approach, the shadow becomes more defined, and low growling enters the pair’s ears. A quiet growl, a stomping of metal, and the one shadow becomes two.

“…Two of them?” Sehn whispers, now right next to Rainbow.

“Yeah…I don’t think they’ve noticed us yet.” Rainbow whispers back through the knife in her mouth, as the fog lifts slightly to reveal the two shadows.

One of the things seems to resemble Sehn, but shorter. The face is without eyes, and the spikes leading off the back of its head seem to be made of bone instead of any form of hair or fur, and they’re colored white with strips of red like war paint. It is dressed in mangled army fatigues, torn cargo pants, and very old boots. One gloved hand holds a rusty long sword, much like a katana, but the guard is in shambles, the rust having eaten away at the blade’s edge until it more resembled a saw than anything.

The other shadow resembles an Equestrian, wearing the Royal Guard uniform, golden armor, centurion helmet, and it has a short sword in its mouth. It too is without eyes, but both of the creatures seem completely focused on each other. They exchange grunts and growls, sometimes swinging their blades weakly at each other.

“Yep…just as freaky as before…” Rainbow whispers, moving away from the two corpses, and she bumps into Sehn who was walking on her right.

“Watch where you’re walking, kid!” Sehn whispers, stumbling a bit. He grabs Rainbow’s wing, which she immediately pulls in and yanks Sehn back into a stable stand.

“NEVER grab my wings like that!” Rainbow growls at Sehn, who holds up his hands in an apologetic stance.

“Sorry, sorry! Had to grab something…anyway, let’s keep going.” Sehn looks behind the pair, the two creatures seeming to have vanished into thin air. The walkie talkie continues buzzing however.

“Is…is that buzzing getting louder?” Sehn asks, looking around, while Rainbow checks her bag to see if it is. Sure enough, it is getting louder, and at quite a high rate as well.

“Oh no, something’s coming! Find a place to hide, quick!” Rainbow says through the knife to Sehn, frantically looking around before spotting a house on the other side of the street, “Perfect! C’mon, we’ll kick the door in if we have to!” Rainbow says to Sehn, sprinting off across the street for the house. Something catches her eye off to the left, and she jumps to the right as a blade comes sweeping through the air and impaling itself into the ground.

“Holy! Jeeze that was close!” Rainbow shouts, skidding to a stop from her jump, and she stares at the monster who just tried to kill her. It was that Hemoran…corpse thing, but where was the pony fighting with it?

“RAINBOW! BEHIND YOU!” Sehn shouts, and Rainbow spins around to see a blade swinging at her from the right, the handle stuck in the mouth of the Royal Guard corpse. She quickly ducks under the blade, some of her mane being sliced off by the surprisingly sharp edge. She spots Sehn leaping over the guard from the back, grabbing the sword in its mouth by the flats of the blade, and rolling in the air to yank it upwards, a satisfying ‘snap’ coming from the guard’s neck; its head rotated a good 90 degrees as it collapses to the ground, not moving. The sword gets pulled from the mouth of the dead monster, and Sehn completes his front flip by landing next to Rainbow, sword at the ready.

Rainbow turns back around to face her opponent, the Hemoran’s sword raised over its ugly head. It comes down swift and true, Rainbow stuck staring at the gleaming rusty steel now racing towards her doom. She forces herself to move to the left, to get out of the way of her impending death, heart pounding and her mind screaming “Move!”, but the flash of rust moving towards her was too fast.

A sudden blur of rust moving up through her vision, sparks flying from the impact of blade against blade, both blades shattering from the strike, and a muffled shout from beside her were the only things that entered Rainbow’s senses, before the adrenaline in her blood dulled and the world returned to normal. Skidding along the ground from her sharp jump, she looks to the side to see Sehn and the soldier in a grapple, pushing against each other’s hands, sometimes exchanging headbutts or knees into the gut.

“Sehn!”

“Chill, kid, I’ve got it!” Sehn grunts through gritted teeth as he takes another knee to the gut, winded a bit. The monster roars at him, the jaw cracking as it moves. “Ugly prick, aren’t ya?!” Sehn shouts as he brings his own knee into the monster’s chin, jumping and pulling down on the monster’s arms in order to give himself more power.

The monster’s head recoils back, and the grip is lost between the two, Sehn jumping back. He coughs, holding his stomach while staring his opponent down, the monster seemingly unphased by the assault it just went through.

“Not just ugly, but pretty tough as well. You work out?” Sehn chuckles with a weak grin, the only response being received is a low growl from the monster as it begins running towards Sehn. “And no stamina problems either…great…”, he growls as he braces himself for another impact. A flash of blue crosses his vision as the monster disappears from sight, and he quickly looks to the right to see Rainbow tackling it straight into a wall.

She leaps back, letting the monster collapse, twitching and growling in pain. “Alright, kid, it’s down! Time to go!” Sehn shouts to her, as they both run down the street, away from their assailants. “Which way to your friend’s place?” Sehn says between pants, sprinting down the road with Rainbow slightly in front, flying near the ground.

“Not sure, the fight messed up my sense of direction!” Rainbow shouts back, the ripping air filling their hearing. “GAH! STOP!!!” She screams as she throws herself back with as much power as she can muster from her wings, Sehn just beginning to skid off in front of her…

Before he runs straight into a wall. He bounces off, dazed, stumbling a bit before shaking his head and looking at whatever solid structure he just ran into. “What in the world did I just…awww my head…” He grunts, squinting his eyes at the wall.

“Jackpot!” Rainbow exclaims, looking over the large wooden walls of Sugar Cube Corner. “We’ll find what we need in here!” She shouts over to Sehn, who’s still holding his nose, staring at the good imprint he made on the aging wood with his face. Rainbow checks her bag for any noise, letting out a sigh of relief when no ominous buzzing comes from it.

“All clear then…” she sighs to herself, and drops to the ground. “All that’s left is to get the balloon and head for my house.”

“Anything we should be expecting?” Sehn asks, Rainbow turning to see Sehn’s face badly bruised from the impact, a thin stream of blood coming from his nose.

“Nothing that could mess up your face more, that’s for sure.” Rainbow stifles a chuckle, Sehn rolling his eyes at the comment. “Well, this place has a problem with surprising ponies…we’ll just have to be on guard.”

“Aye aye.” Sehn nods, walking over to the front door. Rainbow follows behind him, and they both simply tilt their heads and raise an eyebrow staring at what’s before them.

An iron gate has been placed in front of the door, the door itself seeming to better belong in a high-security prison, rather than a bakery that Pinkie Pie helps to run. The frame, door and gate all seem brand new compared to the aged wood and cracked, foggy glass of the bakery walls. “Well…can’t say I wasn’t expecting this.” Rainbow mutters in annoyance.

“You did say this place had a problem with surprising you. It loses all its effect when you’re expecting it though…” Sehn mutters as well, still staring at the door.

He moves his attention to the cracked window, walking over to it and staring inside. Rainbow moves over to the gate, standing at the bottom of the steps, looking around.

“Nothing inside…” Sehn says, Rainbow looking over to see him walk over to her, and they both shift their gaze to the gate. “So how do we get this open?”

“Hmmm…” Rainbow rubs her chin, before raising her eyebrows and turning to her bag. She reaches inside and pulls out the note from the library, placing it on the ground to read. “The gates of Destiny don’t open for all, for some they are a grand iron wall…” Rainbow looks up from the note at the gate filling the door frame.

“You think the note has something to do with this?” Sehn asks.

“I do. Grand iron wall pretty well describes this. Only those of us who are of sufficient worth, are allowed beyond the gateway’s berth…only those of sufficient worth…” Rainbow furrows her brow, repeating the lines to herself several times, trying to understand the meaning of it.

“Why’re you running it over in your head so much? It’s not just some random message Twilight left behind?” Sehn asks.

“This isn’t something she’d write. It’s cryptic, something you need to dig into to get the meaning out of.”

“So a riddle.”

“Yeah, pretty much. Any ideas?”

“Well, it does say ‘those of sufficient worth’, is there any way to prove that we are?”

“Nothing comes to mind. It’s an iron gate, it doesn’t have eyes or ears...” Rainbow replies, running her eyes over the aged walls, before settling on a small statue by the steps. “That does though.” She points to the statue, Sehn walking over to it and crouching down to look it over.

The small statue appears to be that of an Equestrian, a hoof held out as if to take something. The design of it is strange though, instead of having the feathery wings of a Pegasus, it has small dragon’s wings, stretched out in full length to its sides, and on its forehead are two sharp looking horns, though they don’t have the usual spiral design of a unicorn’s horn. Its eyes are closed, and there is no mouth carved into the statue.

“Kind of creepy…” Rainbow squints her eyes at the small statue, about half the size of her, then looks at the hoof. “Why does it have that pose?”

“Maybe it wants something.” Sehn says, turning around to face her. “Have anything that it might want?”

“What do you give to a random statue in this world?” Rainbow twists up her face and sits down, slightly confused. “All we have is the note, the walkie talkie, and…wait hang on.” She turns around to her bag again, popping the top open, and looks inside.

In the bag is the walkie talkie, and the five small bits of gold, gleaming in the weak light shining through the fog. They look immaculate, a shine that would even take Rarity by surprise. “I do have those bits of gold from the library…”

“Well, anything’s worth a shot here. Lemme get em.” Sehn says, his hand reaching into the bag and taking out the small bits of gold. He also pulls out the walkie talkie, listening to it. “Did you and your friends run into monsters often here, last time you came?”

“Not really, though I was on my own for most of it. After Fluttershy fell through that trap door, me and Pinkie went out to look for her for a while, before I snapped and went off on my own…I still regret doing that.” Rainbow closes her eyes, facing the ground, and feels a pat on the shoulder from Sehn.

“All in the past, right? Didn’t they forgive you? You Equestrians don’t seem like the kind of race to hold a grudge with each other.” Sehn says, raising an eyebrow.

“Well, yeah they did…but it just says I did it. I betrayed a friend and went off on my own.”

“Buck up, kiddo. You haven’t got a reason to get depressed right now, all that’s in the past.” Sehn says, taking one last look at the walkie talkie, no sound whatsoever coming from it, and he puts it back into the bag, moving his gaze to the gold bits in his other hand. “’Sufficient worth’…worth does have multiple meanings.” He mutters, just loud enough to be audible, and he walks over to the statue. “Here goes everything.”

He kneels down and places each of the bits into the hoof of the statue, and stares at it for a bit. He grimaces, no reaction seeming to come from it. “Well ain’t that a bust…”

“Give it some time. Maybe it just takes a while to do something?” Sehn turns to look at Rainbow, the statue exiting both their views, and as they turn back…

The hoof is empty. “Wh- hey! It ate my money!” Sehn shouts at the statue, getting to his feet. He stares at the statue, and it begins to move, causing him to step back a bit. It begins to speak in an evil tone, deep and gritty.

The gates of Destiny don’t open for all,
But for some they are a passable wall.
You have paid the keeper of the Gate,
No longer will you have to wait.

Two payments, and one remains,
The other isn’t so readily made.
Pass through the door, your tests await,
Three proofs remain; do you have what it takes?

It stops its small poem, and lowers the hoof, the stone in its joint grinding as it moves. With it, the iron gate begins to grind and squeal, rusty chains and pulleys working behind the scenes in the walls of the library, and the gate slowly rises to reveal the imposing doorway.

“…Ominous, and really friggin creepy.” Sehn says in his usual matter-of-fact tone.

“Words can’t cover the half of it.” Rainbow replies, both of their views locked on the door. “Well…anywhere is better than out he-“ A buzzing sound cuts her off, faint though growing in volume very quickly. The banging of boots can be heard behind them. “Oh shoot!”

“Well, there’s our notice! C’mon kid!” Sehn shouts, both of them running for the door, Sehn opening the door with Rainbow quickly running through, and Sehn runs in behind her and slams the door. Out in the fog stands a shadow, though it holds a much straighter form than the monster the pair encountered before. Another shadow appears beside it, much shorter, and their eyes shine through the fog with a soul-piercing blood red. “Let the games begin…” the tall shadow says, his voice deep and strong. The short shadow beside it simply giggles, and they both back away and disappear into the fog.

Chapter 7: Meeting Memories

“This place has definitely seen better days…” Rainbow remarks, slowly moving towards the counter.

“Better days? This place should be a pile of rubble by now.” Sehn says, looking around.

“The aging isn’t that bad.” Rainbow replies, putting a hoof against the counter, and she pushes a bit. The counter easily gives way, her leg now stuck half way through the counter.

“’Ain’t that bad’ my spiky rear.” Sehn chuckles.

“Be quiet. See anything around here?” Rainbow asks with a roll of the eyes.

“Not a lot of light, and the window is too dusty to let in whatever light is coming down from above the fog cover…something about this place is bothering me though.” Both Rainbow and Sehn look at the bag, expecting a buzz, but the bag remains silent. “You’re being paranoid.” Rainbow remarks, looking at Sehn with a raised eyebrow, and he shrugs. “Paranoia is what’s kept me alive.”

The pair begin moving around in the bakery, looking for anything that’s useful. Rainbow heads into the kitchen while Sehn goes upstairs, his boots banging rather hard on the aged steps. One of them splits under a hard step, and his leg nearly falls through.

“Be careful!” Rainbow shouts, leaning out from the kitchen.

“Right, right, building in a condemned state, being careful now.” Sehn shouts back, carefully walking up the rest of the steps. Rainbow leans back into the kitchen, looking around. The room, much like the front desk and surrounding area, looks like it hasn’t been cleaned in 50 years. The stove has rusted to a barely recognizable husk, and the counters are all covered in a thick layer of dust. Rainbow looks up, the sounds of Sehn’s steps clear in the quiet room. “Still stomping around…” She sighs, lowering her sight to the room.

“The Cakes would flip if they ever saw their kitchen like this…Pinkie wouldn’t be any better off, I’d guess.” Rainbow mutters to herself, walking into the center of the kitchen. All the cupboards seem to have padlocks and chains on them, wrapped around the handles to keep them shut. A large cupboard doesn’t share the same lock though, and looks brand new compared to the room. “Well…at least one thing survived all this.” Rainbow says to herself as she moves over to the cupboard. A sound stops her dead in her tracks, and she begins to shiver.

A low buzz, muffled by the bag but definitely audible. Rainbow turns her gaze to the door she came through, seeing nothing, and looks out into the fog. No shadows beyond the window, though it’s not comforting with the fog being so thick. She takes a deep breath and turns back to the cupboard, taking another few steps forward. The buzz becomes louder.

“So it’s coming from that…” She mutters to herself, and slowly lowers herself into a jumping stance, drawing the knife from its holster. She creeps towards the cupboard, inch after inch, and slowly reaches up to the handle, ready for whatever may burst out. She takes the handle in a hoof, and slowly opens the door, focused on whatever’s inside.

She sees something move inside the cupboard, and it immediately moves out in a shadowy blur at her eyes. She rears back and tries to shriek, but the shadow is too fast. She feels something grab her face, and blacks out.

“Where…am I?” The voice echoes in the space. Nothing but darkness surrounds the voice, no vision, no smell, no hearing beyond her words. “What happened?” The voice questions again, pleading to the void for an answer.

“Did…I die?” The voice asks itself, trying to move a body that it used to belong to. Something responds, and it moves up in front of the darkness, a white leg against the black of the surroundings. The vision follows the leg down to a body, to wings, to three other legs. The body moves by itself, and the leg in front of her eyes moves to the side, wiping away the darkness to reveal a landscape.

The next thing the voice notices is heat, unbearable heat, beating down on her back. It sears her skin and burns all the way through to her chest. Sweat rolls down her forehead as she looks down, seeing a small town. The image is blurred from a mirage hovering over the buildings. “Where is this?” The voice echoes once again, and it commands the body to lower itself closer to the town. The wings don’t respond, still beating with a rhythm that keeps the body afloat.

“Bad time for you not to listen to me, wings.” The voice scolds, focusing on lowering the body. The body does not respond, but moves on its own instead. Thoughts begin to roll through the mind disconnected from the voice, and it quickly realizes that things aren’t right. Thoughts of the town, of the people, of how they wronged the thinker and how they should pay. A plan moves through the mind, and the voice becomes panicked.

“What the?!” Rainbow screams out inside her own head, unable to control the body. Something else was in control here, and the plan the body was coming up with terrified her. “No, you can’t do that! This stunt is too dangerous!” She cries out, the mind ignoring her. She suddenly feels a jerk as the body ascends, her prison shooting into the sky. Rainbow fights her warden, the mind next to her, for control over the body, panic spreading through her, trying to stop the mind from performing the Sonic Rainboom. She doesn’t know why, but something just seems wrong about how it’s executed.

The mind ignores her, and the body suddenly comes to a halt. The eyes look down on the town, and a smile grows across the face. It quickly turns into a mad smile, and the eyes widen, the adrenaline pumping through the system. She’d been planning this for a long time now, a show for all to see. The explosion would be seen, felt, heard for miles, and her place at the top of the world of fliers would be solidified. She would be respected, exalted, praised for this act, and all that had to be done…was this.

The voice screams at the back of the mind of her prison as the body starts falling, then flying towards the ground. The familiar cone of air grows in front of her as she accelerates, faster, faster, soon reaching the speed needed for the Sonic Rainboom, but the cone retains itself. The Pegasus holds the air in front of her, building up a thicker and thicker cone, sharpening it into a spear of atmospheric pressure, as she flies towards the ground. 300 meters, 200 meters, 100 meters, her speed well beyond what’s required for the stunt.

Rainbow Dash lets out a loud scream of pure terror as the body meets the ground, and time seems to stop…the hooves touch the ground and push forward, the head moves up and away from the ground, the cone hits the ground under the Pegasus, and she starts running. Sound no longer exists, the world is a blur, and she runs past buildings, shocked faces, everything is frozen in a still image. She runs past a familiar hedgehog, and blacks out once more.

Rainbow’s eyes snap open and she lets out a loud shriek into Sehn’s face, causing him to leap up into the air and slam his head against the low ceiling. He hits the ground with a thud and a groan of pain, as Rainbow rolls on the ground, screaming her head off.

“WHAT THE HELL!?” Sehn shouts, holding the back of his head with one hand and his right ear with the other, looking up at the crazed Rainbow. He gets up and grabs her by the shoulders, and she curls up into a ball, pupils shrunk to a pin prick, shaking uncontrollably, and crying.

“Calm down kid!” Sehn’s voice enters Rainbow’s hearing as a muffled blur, her vision clouded by her tears. She could’ve sworn she died, and then to witness that? What exactly scared her so much? All those faces, the buildings, the speed…she lived for that kind of moment, she’d always wanted it to happen. Eyes filled with shock and surprise, the wind around her incapable of making a sound, the thud of her hooves the only shock the body felt while flying along at such an incredible speed. She LIVED for that…so why did it scare her so much?

“AMANDA!” The shout is quickly followed by a slap across the face from Sehn, snapping Rainbow out of her terrified state, and she quickly grabs her cheek and groans. “What was that for?!” She shouts.

“You were in hysteria, kid. At least now you can think straight. What happened? I was upstairs and I heard a shout, then when I came down here and checked on you, you screamed at me like I was the Devil!” Sehn says, exasperated, standing up. Rainbow rolls onto her belly, holding her forehead.

“I-I don’t know WHAT happened…just…something came to me, and it scared the life out of me.”

“What was it? You’re the bravest Equestrian I know; nothing short of a natural disaster could shake you.”

“I…I…I can’t explain it. I was there but…but not in control, like I was stuck in my own head and…and something else was there, controlling me and there was this void and a city and all these people and I started falling and going faster and faster and faster and I was freaking out because it all bothered me and!” Rainbow stops her rant to take a deep breath, panting, and she flops down flat onto the ground. A wave of exhaustion hits her, and she suddenly feels like she just flew from one end of Equestria to the other.

“Hey, you alright kid?” Rainbow looks over, puffing, and Sehn kneels down next to her.

“I’m…I’m fine…just tired…” she whispers, looking over at the cupboard next to her. The doors are open, revealing a small room beyond it. The walls, ceiling and floor are smooth concrete, like a prison cell, and a single bed with an end table can be seen off to the left. Hanging above the bed is a picture, but Rainbow is too exhausted to lift her head high enough to see.

“I need a break…” she weakly mutters, and Sehn takes a seat in front of her.

“Fine, kid. We seem to be safe for the moment, nothing else in the house…”, he seems to furrow his brow while saying ‘nothing else’, “so we can rest for the moment. Walkie talkie isn’t going off, right?”

“…It isn’t…” Rainbow replies. She closes her eyes and drifts off to sleep, feeling a pat on her head as the bliss of rest consumes her.

Rainbow comes to, the first sound being snores from in front of her. She looks up, seeing Sehn dozed off, not having moved from his spot with her. She gets to her feet, looking at him. His rugged appearance seems peaceful as he sleeps, and Rainbow smiles at him.

“So even persistent guys like you get tired, eh?” She chuckles, and turns to the cabinet near to her left. Looking inside, the room hasn’t changed much, but being able to look over the foot of the cabinet reveals the flooring. On it lies a note and some military fatigues, too small to fit on Sehn. Rainbow walks into the cabinet, the front of it seeming to be a doorway into a completely different space. She moves to the center of the room and looks behind her, seeing the double doorway back into the kitchen, Sehn’s elbow slowly moving up and down as he sleeps beside the door.

“...Why is this place here…and why would this room feel familiar to me? I’d never put myself in a place like this.” She looks around the room, brow furrowed. Looking over at the bed, a simple sheet lies on the rather thin mattress with a design on it. Rainbow moves over to it, seeing the design is a rainbow colored lightning bolt striking down from a cloud. She blinks a few times at it, then recoils in pain, holding her forehead, feeling something clawing forth from her subconscious. “Ow! What?” She says, grunting in pain while backing away from the bed, and steps on the fatigues, nearly tripping. “Gah!” She shouts, stumbling a bit before throwing herself into flight to get her balance back. She looks down at the fatigues, angry.

“Even the CLOTHES here are trying to hurt me! Jeeze!” She lands next to the fatigues, growling at them as if they were a threat. “I’m watching you…” she snarls at the clothing, her eyes squinted. Blinking a few times after registering that the clothes are, in fact, not trying to kill her, she sits down and looks at them for a bit.

“Bit small for his body…hm.” She thinks, picking up the shirt off the ground. It seems to be designed especially for an Equestrian, but carries a design and insignia unlike the Royal Guard. She takes her knife holster off, noticing the knife was put back in, along with her saddle bag, and puts the shirt on, checking it out. “Not half bad…pretty comfy too.” She mumbles to herself, rubbing the clothing down to get all the wrinkles out. The clothing seems alien, yet familiar to her, even though she’s never worn clothing like this before.

She looks on the left chest, above the pocket, noticing a pin on it shaped like a lightning bolt. Raising an eyebrow at it, she proceeds to put on the hat that came with the uniform, along with the knife holster and her bag. It all seems too familiar to her as she sits there, half-expecting someone to appear in the doorway and give her a lecture of some kind. She sits straighter than usual, still as a statue. The room begins to bend and deform, and the kitchen fades from the door.

The cabinet’s central bar disappears, and the two openings merge into one, the green concrete taking on a grey coloring. A shadow appears in the doorway, and it walks into the room, looking around.

“Private.” It says in a deep voice, looking down at her.

“Captain, sir.” Rainbow replies, saluting. It feels like the right thing to do…

“Your room appears to be in order. You’re to report to the border for patrols at o’ nine hundred hours. Don’t be late.” It says, venom present in the voice.

“Yes, sir. Tower 6?” Rainbow asks, the salute still held up, but her brow is furrowing slightly. She feels pain coming from her side, a burn.

“Yes. Get prepared; it’s currently o’ eight hundred thirty.” The shadow says, gaining form as it looks down at its wrist. The body takes on a form similar to Sehn, but slightly taller, and with red spikes with blue stripes along the top, instead of pure silver. His eyes are a piercing light blue, and his fatigues are clean pressed camos. The beret on his head has three triangular stripes in a tower design, with a star below them.

“You’ll be on duty with him again.” It says, finally turning away, the eyes no longer digging into Rainbow’s forehead. She sighs slightly, muttering under her breath “Ass…”, and the Hemoran stops.

“Do you have something to say to me, Private Dash?” He says, not turning around.

“Not much beyond what’s already been said, sir.”

“Be careful with your words then. Just because he supports you, does not mean the rest of us will be as kind…and Mithryl can pick up on even the slightest hate.” He turns his head, his iris now changed to a deep green, his pupil a slit. “Watch yourself.”

Rainbow moves back slightly, her anger being replaced by fear for the Hemoran in front of her. Why was she so scared? She’s seen costumes scarier than him being worn by Twilight of all ponies! Yet those eyes seemed to dig into the back of her mind, and she could feel herself burn, like she was sitting in an open fire.

“Y-yes sir!” Rainbow stutters, snapping a quick salute. The hedgehog’s mood doesn’t seem to change, and he turns back to the door and heads out. The room begins to bend and melt as it returns to normal, the grey leaving the room as color comes back. She looks at the re-built cabinet doorway, and spots Sehn looking in at her, confusion on his face.

“What’re you doing?” He asks.

“Huh?” Rainbow asks, looking at herself, lowering the salute. “What do you mean ‘what’re you doing?’”

“I mean why are you saluting and talking to air, kid?” He replies, raising an eyebrow.

“…Habit?” Rainbow says back with a bit of thought. Sehn raises his eyebrows, then shrugs and gets up. He stretches out and yawns, scratching his stomach over his shirt. He looks into the cabinet and reaches in, grabbing Rainbow by the leg, and he pulls her out of the cabinet.

“Woah!” She shouts as she comes out of the cabinet. There was a good 20 feet between her and Sehn, and she looks back at the cabinet.

It’s just a regular cabinet. Barely enough room in there to fit Rainbow. A picture hangs in the back of the cabinet behind the left door, an old photo of her and Sehn standing in a desert. They’re both smiling for the camera like old friends.

“That photo looks ancient…” Sehn says, Rainbow looking up at him. He looks reminiscent, thinking back to a past time. He half closes his eyes and smiles. “Good times, even with all that happened then…”

A crash in the other room breaks both their gazes from the photo, and they spin around. The walkie talkie begins buzzing louder than ever. Whatever was in the other room, it was a threat, and it was very angry. Rainbow draws her knife, seeing the fatigues still on her, now feeling the cap on her head, and she stares out the doorway. She looks to her side to see Sehn with a fighting stance up, fists raised, and returns her gaze to the doorway.

The room beyond has fallen into total darkness, and two yellow eyes stare at them from it. Something echoes within their minds, a voice not unlike Rainbow’s, but dark and foreboding.

“So, this is the great duo, is it?” The voice echoes, followed by a giggle. “It’s a pleasure to meet you both.”

“You hear that?” Sehn asks, and Rainbow nods. “She sounds like you…” He mutters, and stares at the two eyes beyond the frame of the door.

“What’s with the acidic stares, you two? Don’t like company? In a city this dead, I thought you’d be begging for some action!” The voice echoes out, louder than before.

“As if we’d want anything from some random voice in our heads!” Sehn growls.

“Oh please, I know you’ve both been so bored with the usual monster here and there! I thought I’d come visit, help make things a little more exciting!” The voice says, giggling again.

“As if excitement is something we really need right now…” Rainbow says through her knife, lowering herself into a leaping stance, ready for whatever’s beyond the door frame.

“Oh but believe me, it’s what makes life what it is! I know you enjoyed what you saw before, Rainbow Dash!” The voice exclaims, the eyes moving into a cheery look as the voice giggles again.

“What’re you talking about?!” Rainbow shouts through the knife.

“Why, the stunt you saw, of course! Didn’t you feel the adrenaline?! It was amazing!” The voice exclaims, sounding high off the ecstasy of performing the stunt.

“No it wasn’t, it was terrifying!” Rainbow shouts back, “All those people…that town, what happened to them!?”

“Oho, my dear, you’ll find out in due time…but for now, I think I deserve a little fun of my own.” The voice falls low and the eyes glow red, as the darkness begins spreading like a virus across the room, covering the walls in large tendrils. A siren blares in the distance, piercing every obstacle on its way to Rainbow’s and Sehn’s ears, and they’re both dumbstruck by the scene before them.

The room has fallen into complete darkness, the tendrils consuming whatever light they can, as if it were some life-giving nourishment. A scent invades the area, the smell of rot, of death. Rainbow puts her hoof up to her nose to try and stop the smell from crushing her senses, when she feels something wet splat against her face with her hoof. She squints at the bottom of it, barely able to see what’s on it.

Light slowly returns to the room, as a torch hanging from the ceiling by the chain progressively burns brighter. The light brightens the room enough to see that the bottom of Rainbow’s hoof is covered in red, and she jumps back with a screech, wiping the red off her muzzle. She looks around herself, feeling something moving below her, and she looks down and freezes.

The entire room has been covered in a moving, living flesh skin, some holes in the flesh revealing iron fencing, thick and rusty. The walls and ceiling match this motif, and the doorway has disappeared from sight. “Oh no…not here…not again…!” Rainbow begins to panic, backing up and looking around.

“Ohhhh, what’s wrong, dear? Afraid of the dark?” A voice echoes in the room, sending shivers down Rainbow’s spine. She looks around, chomping down slightly to feel if the knife is still there, and sighs slightly in relief as her teeth bite into cold metal. She looks down, confirming the combat knife is still there. Something bumps into her side and she immediately jumps away, using her wings to provide her jump with some extra strength. She looks around, trying to find what bumped her, but all she can see is more flesh and more iron fencing.

“Where are you!?” Rainbow shouts through the knife, looking around. “What’d you do to Sehn?!”

“Sehn? Ohhh, you mean the Hemoron! Don’t worry, he’s in capable hands…hmhmhmhm…” The voice giggles once again, matching Rainbow’s voice to a note.

“Where is he!” Rainbow shouts out.

“You don’t need to worry about that…” The voice speaks to Rainbow again, right beside her. Her eyes widen, and she slowly looks to her side, and fear settles back into her mind.

It’s like staring into a mirror…her eye meets her eye, she looks down to the muzzle and mouth and can only see herself. She looks back up to the eye, the rose-colored iris still present. Looking over the body, the same fatigues are worn, but there are two differences. The voice’s wings seem to be bigger, stronger than Rainbow’s…and the cap on her head isn’t a cap, but a beret with four stripes and a star.

“Who…are you?” Rainbow asks, trying to move away. Her twin simply smiles, half closing her eyes in a look of longing.

“Like I said…you don’t have to worry about that.” She whispers to Rainbow, only unnerving her more. She moves away slightly from the twin, and walks around to her front, readying her knife. “You want to fight? Are you certain that’s smart?”

“You’re going to tell me where Sehn is, now.” Rainbow growls through the knife, her eyes full of rage.

“Oh, am I? Now I can’t be too certain about that. I’ve no incentive to tell you where he is, you see…” The twin smiles, looking at her hoof, and scuffing the flesh, kicking some blood away. “Making demands like this when you haven’t even crossed swords with your opponent? Silly child.” She chuckles, looking back up at Rainbow.

“I never make a demand without something to back it up.” Rainbow replies, smirking.

“Well, what do we have here? A brave one, are you? Well, by all means, force me to tell you where your precious Hemoron is…” The twin smiles, moving her hoof with a motion saying ‘Bring it.’

Rainbow charges at the doppelganger, moving the knife with a skill she could only wish for. The blade sails gracefully through the air, aimed straight for the neck of her opponent. With the edge just inches away, the doppelganger simply moves to the left, the blade missing completely. With a swift movement, she moves herself into a lowered stance, and kicks out with a single back leg, smashing Rainbow in the side.

Blood hits the handle of the knife as Rainbow flies off from the kick, slamming into the wall with a soft thud, blood and bits of flesh flying away from the impact. She falls to the ground, trying to get her breath back, and feels her side. She goes from winded to shocked as she feels a dent in her side from the kick.

“One kick and you’re down already? I could’ve sworn you were tougher than this.” The twin exclaims, slowly walking towards Rainbow. “Don’t disappoint me now, child…not after all this time. I want to savour this…”

“Crazy…mare…” Rainbow grunts out, getting groggily to her feet, shaking. The impact must’ve done more damage than she thought, as she feels something moving in her chest, and a sharp pain shoots to her brain, causing her to chomp down on the knife and shut her eyes. The kick definitely broke a rib, maybe two. She growls in pain, and slowly opens her eye to meet the eye of her twin.

“…Hm, your suitors are right…you do have beautiful eyes.” The twin says, staring at her with a sleepy look. “It will be sad to see the light fade from them…when you die.” She says with a matter-of-fact tone before kicking off the ground and spinning on her right foreleg, driving a kick right into Rainbow’s leg. The sweep picks her up off the ground as another kick comes racing in, nailing her in the rear and throwing her off towards the wall. Each blow has incredible strength behind it, enough power to shatter boulders.

Rainbow flips in the air and slams into the wall on her uninjured side, though it’s hard enough to knock something in her skeleton out of alignment, and she falls to the ground. Tears begin to roll as the pain turns into an inferno in her chest, and she looks at her attacker with anger. “Who…are you…? Why do…you look like me?” Rainbow says through pained gasps, holding her side where she was kicked. She slowly pushes herself up onto her hooves, and the twin stops her approach.

“You know, I feel rather insulted that you don’t know me. I thought this get up would be notice enough, but apparently you’re too stupid to get the hint…hmph, no matter. I came here to have some fun, it’s too early to kill you still.” The twin says with a pompous tone, “Oh well, we’ll run into each other again, I’m sure. Your friend should be coming back soon as well. Be a dear and wait for your oh-so-precious boyfriend.” She says, ending her sentence with a giggle. She backs away into the darkness, the giggle becoming a chuckle, then a near-psychotic laugh. The darkness begins to fade, tendrils reaching down from the ceiling, down the chain and severing the lamp from the ceiling, moving out from the center of the ceiling quickly to devour all the darkness and flesh. Rainbow looks on, feeling too much pain to be scared, and she closes her eyes, thinking this may be the end.

As the tendrils reach towards Rainbow, one grabs her by the leg as the lantern goes out, cloaking the world in shadow…

Chapter 8: The First Test

“Hey, kid!” A shout echoes out from the void, and Rainbow slowly comes around. Heat beats down on her from the sky, and she looks upwards. The darkness is gone, replaced with a bright blue sky, with the sun hanging overhead. Footsteps crunching on sand become louder, and a shadow looks down at her from above.

“Taking a nap there, Private?” It asks, holding down a hand for her. She puts her hoof in it, and the shadow pulls her up into a standing position. She shakes her head, sand flying off her coat and mane. Looking around reveals nothing more than sand, bedrock, and a massive 60 foot tall fence next to the pair, an even taller guard tower breaking the fence into two sections.

“Huh?” Rainbow says in a daze, rubbing her forehead.

“Whadya mean ‘huh’? You passed out in the middle of patrol. Was worried you got a stroke or something.” The shadow replies, the voice sounding very familiar.

“I did?” Rainbow asks, blinking a few times before the shadowy blur sharpens into a form.

“Yeah, you did. Something wrong with you today?” The form asks.

“N-nothing’s wrong…just a one-time thing, sir.” Rainbow says, rubbing her eyes. The form before her finally sharpens into the body of a silver hedgehog, wearing military fatigues and a beret with a single triangular stripe with a star below it. He puts his hands on his hips and tilts his head, sighing.

“What am I gonna do with you, Amanda?” It says, exasperated. “We’re supposed to be rounding the border today, and we’ve barely gone an eighth of the way. You falling behind on your training?”

“Of course not, like I said, it’s a one-time thing, sir.” Rainbow replies, finally feeling awake. She looks around at her surroundings again, confused. Wasn’t she just in a room made of iron fencing? Where was she now? “If you don’t mind me asking…where are we right now?”

The hedgehog just widens his eyes, raising an eyebrow and tilts his head to the side. “Ok, something is DEFINITELY wrong with you. You’re in the Mira Desert, Hemoran territory! For Heaven’s sake, we just walked by Metropolis!”

“R-right, sorry…something’s off about me today. We should get back to the patrol, shouldn’t we? Tyrus has been having a bad week, right?” Rainbow says, adjusting the knife on her arm so it fits better before standing and walking along the fence beside her.

“Don’t I know it. He’s not making sense anymore, kid, just blabbering on and on about how the Corporals in his unit are all slacking off, scheming behind his back, even their Sergeant being in on it…he’s gotten paranoid.” Sehn replies, putting his hands behind his head, walking along side Rainbow. The click-clack of the sword on his back mimics the rhythm of the crunch of sand under their feet as they walk.

“You sure he isn’t wrong? The Corporals have been acting kind of weird lately. They’ve gotten a whole lot more aggressive.” Rainbow says, looking up at the Lieutenant.

“He’s freaking out over nothing. And whadya mean more aggressive? Ever since that day three months ago, everyone on base has hated and avoided you like some deadly plague.”

“Except you.”

“And I’m still not sure why I don’t hate you. I hate everyone around here.” Sehn replies with a sigh, looking off to his right at the big sore thumb in the middle of the desert simply called Headquarters. He stops as a flame grows on his chest, which quickly expands into a circle as a small body pops out, covered in a tar-like substance. The tar quickly burns away to reveal a small, purple dragon.

“You like me, don’t you?” Loki asks, turning around, putting her hands behind her back and doing the best puppy eyes she can manage.

“You are the bane of my existence every day, Loki. Why’re you out here, anyway? I thought you hated the desert.” Sehn says with a grimace, obviously not wanting this extra annoyance tacked onto his patrol.

“I wanted to hang out with Dashie!” Loki replies happily, jumping up onto Sehn’s head, lying on her belly. “She’s cool, unlike you and the rest of the boring guys back at base.”

“Including your brother?” Sehn asks.

“Yeah! He’s the worst! All he does is sleep all day, and Tyrus doesn’t even teach him proper manners like actually WAKING UP when a lady’s talking to him!” Loki shouts into Sehn’s face, her head hanging down in front of Sehn’s eyes.

“I’m three inches away from you, kid, do you really have to shout?” Sehn replies, eyes half closed.

“Yes I do!” Loki shouts back in answer. Sehn grimaces, looking off to the right again. “Anyway, have any stories to share today, Dashie? I wanna hear about your time in Cloudsdale again!”

“Oho, you do, eh? Which one do you wanna hear today?” Rainbow replies with a smile, the one bright light in her day finally coming out to play.

“I wanna hear about your dad today!” Loki replies with a big smile. Rainbow raises her eyebrows, looking off to the side in thought.

“Huh…I never talk much about my dad, do I? What’s there to say about him…?” Rainbow looks down at the ground, going through her memories. She’d always had some awesome story ready for Loki whenever she came out for patrol, but it was always about her days in school about showing up bullies or breaking some local speed record. Why suddenly ask about her family, especially her father? Worse yet, why did all this seem so familiar to Rainbow?

“Well…for one thing, he’s a Captain in the Princess’ Royal Guard, and leader of his own Pegasus squadron. He’s never around home much, leaving me and Mom alone most of the day, but he sometimes takes me out to practice with him. He’s a great guy, but really cold and calculating unless he’s around Mom, and he’s one of the best fliers I know besides the Wonderbolts. I bet he’d give them a run for their money in a race.” Rainbow exclaims with a big smile, feeling pride for her father. It’s true she’d never thought much about her father, but now things just seemed to be flowing in. Captain Simon Dash, leader of the Thunderstrike Pegasus unit, Special Forces, two commendations for valor on the battlefield, though she never heard about the fights he went through to get them.

He was always out doing practice runs with his unit, sometimes taking his daughter out to watch and learn. Didn’t he want Rainbow to join the Guard? And why the comment about the Wonderbolts? They were Rainbow’s heroes, no one could ever top them in a race.

“He sounds awesome! Wish I had a brother like that, since my dad is already the best one I could ever have!” Loki says gleefully, a big grin on her face.

“King Absinthe scares the crap out of me…I’ve got no idea what you see in him. Those eyes being there just helps the General be even creepier…” Sehn replies, shivering, Rainbow sharing in the fear. General? King Absinthe? These things sounded familiar but so far off. The world begins to blur slightly, and Rainbow puts a hoof to her head, sitting down. Sehn walks a few steps in front of her before turning around, raising an eyebrow.

“You alright, kid?” He asks, the voice becoming muffled. The world blurs and melts around Rainbow, as her vision tunnels, and her breathing quickens.

“I…I don’t think…so…” She replies before falling over and blacking out. The last thing she hears is a screech from Loki, and a pain in her heart for scaring the little dragon.

“Ha!” Rainbow gasps, her eyes snapping open to take in the scene around her. She’s back in that room, the sound of dripping water, the smell of rot…the moving flesh under her. She tries to get up before hearing a crunch in her side and an extremely painful burning sensation, and she collapses, the pain growing worse from the impact.

“Ahhh! How’d…?!” She screams into the darkness, the memories slowly sinking in. That fight with the mare that looked just like her, how she so easily smashed her rib cage and threw her around like a ragdoll, that crazed laugh…though the room remains silent, besides the dripping water. The walkie talkie is quiet, nothing no presence that is dangerous. Rainbow leans her head up, gritting her teeth to bear the pain as she tries to see.

Light from the single lantern in the middle of the room displays the whole room, a simple box of flesh and iron fencing, nothing but a black void beyond the walls, ceiling and floor. She slowly gets to her hooves, careful not to twist anything out of place, and takes a deep breath. Looking over herself, she notes the damage to her hind legs and back from that kick and subsequent impact with the wall, but what she sees on her side terrifies her.

A literal dent has been left behind from the first kick she suffered, swelling around the wound clearly shown. “Oh…that’s…just great…” Rainbow growls through her teeth, the pain near unbearable. “How do you fix a busted rib?” She tries to think through the red tunnel of pain, trying to find a solution.

“The Health Drink…?” She whispers, turning her head slightly to see her bag is still on her back, along with the fatigues and her knife, which seems to have been placed back in the holster. She moves her head to the bag, fighting against the constant tide of agony from her chest, digging around in her bag before pulling out the brown bottle. “If this stuff actually works…” She thinks, taking the bottle in her hooves and twisting the cap off with her mouth, before spitting the cap out and knocking the whole drink back in one go.

The flavor is a cross between strawberries and gristle, and a near unbearable texture, thick yet slimy. The whole drink goes down eventually, and with a slight gag from Rainbow, the pain begins to melt away. “Holy Celestia, it actually worked.” She says to herself, not quite feeling brand new but far better than before, “Gotta keep an eye out for more of this stuff…”, she says to herself, a big smile on her face. Who knew the little brown bottle would be such a miracle pain killer?

“I’m a mess, aren’t I?” Rainbow says to herself, looking over the now ruined fatigues, and coated in dried blood and small bits of flesh. She brushes the dead skin and muscle off her clothing, leaving the blood alone. “Red looks good on me, I guess.” She thinks. Another survey around the room, now with the red tunnel gone from her vision, she sees a doorway carved into the tissue and fencing of the room, leading away into a fenced tunnel. A note lies in the door frame, the same one from the cabinet. Rainbow walks over to it, and reads it.

The three gates of the soul, locked tight,
A power unknown is kept out of sight.
Keys to the heart are within your grasp,
But to gain them is a most perplexing task.

The first gate and key, a test of the mind,
Questioning yourself will only tighten your binds.
Your path will branch in twine,
Which path will take you to your correct place in time?

Rainbow just frowns at the riddle in front of her. “Oh GREAT, another cryptic bunch of nonsense written to try and send me off on some crazy trip around killer Ponyville…sounds like a blast.” She says to herself, the sarcasm so thick you could choke on it. She picks up the blood smeared paper with her mouth, nearly gagging at the sickly copper taste of it, and places it in her bag. “I just know this is a bad idea, but I’ll need it down the road, I think.” She thinks, turning her head to the dark hallway. She gets up and stretches slightly, the pain killer still doing its magic, and she turns to the middle of the room. The lone lantern sits there, burning brightly, fending off the all-consuming darkness around it and the Equestrian, and she walks over and picks it up in her mouth.

“So it’s either this or my knife in a fight, eh…” She whispers through the handle of the lantern, figuring she’ll think of something as she goes, and she walks out of the room and down into the foreboding hallway.

Several minutes of walking through the pungent rot and wet sliding of flesh on the walls has yielded nothing but more fence, more flesh, and more oozing blood under Rainbow’s hooves, and the smell is getting to her. “Covered in all of it, walking in it, can’t smell anything BUT it…I’m gonna be sick.” She thinks, trying to get her focus off her stomach and on whatever could be in front of her. Pangs of thirst hit her through the waves of utter sickness and threatening gags from her stomach, her brain screaming something is obviously wrong here. “There’s enough blood here to stave off thirst for life…wait what?” She asks herself, amazed how she would consider that.

“I’ve got to get out of here.” She grimaces, before the light finally reveals something other than just more flesh and hallway. A thin wall has appeared in her sight, splitting the hallway in two, both stretching off into the infinite shadow. She stops walking, shaking out her sore ankles, trying to get a bit of blood flowing again before leaning left to stare down one hallway. Nothing but darkness. She then leans right to look down the other hallway. Still nothing but darkness.

“Didn’t the note say something my path branching?” She thinks, furrowing her brow, and she puts the lantern down onto the fence while she takes the note out of her bag. She gets it confused with the first note she and Sehn found, finally grabbing the right one, finding it’s completely clean. She places it on the patch of fence next to the lantern, using the light to read.

“Your path will branch in twine…doesn’t that mean two?” She tilts her head, looking up at the two halls then back down to the note. “Which path…will take me to my correct place in time? Huh? What, I’m going for a trip through time?” She whispers, staring at the uselessly cryptic note. “Load of help you are.”

A sound echoes down from the halls, grabbing Rainbow’s attention. It sounds like a cry of sadness, a wail…

“…Fluttershy?” Rainbow’s eyes go wide, the echo sounding exactly like her. “But…why is she here? And that sound came from both hallways…” She asks the space around her, thinking. She looks back down at the note, reading the second verse over in her head. “Questioning yourself will only tighten your binds…what binds?” She whispers, looking at her legs, seeing no shackles or chains. The cry comes again, but no longer sounds exactly the same. There’s a difference in the tone and volume of the cry. Rainbow closes her eyes, focusing on the sound, and the cries come in very slowly timed waves, each time becoming more distinct.

“…The right path sounds like an older version of her…while the left sounds younger. Correct place in time…maybe it means where I belong at this point in my life? Or when, I guess?” She asks herself, still focusing on the sound. “How am I supposed to choose the right path if I can’t even see her?”

“Sight isn’t needed to choose which is right…” A voice, Fluttershy’s voice, echoes out from the void, right next to Rainbow yet miles away.

“Fluttershy? Fluttershy, are you here?!” Rainbow shouts out into the darkness, looking around for her marefriend.

“What is needed is an instinct…” The voice echoes out once more.

“Please, answer me! Is that really you?!” Rainbow shouts again, distraught. If Fluttershy’s here, and that doppelganger is as well…!

“You must see with your heart and not with your eyes…” The voice echoes once more, the void finally falling silent.

“FLUTTERSHY!” Rainbow screams into the darkness, her voice echoing down the hallways. The crying returns, now more distinct than ever. Something seems different in the cry though…it’s no longer of sadness, but of something else. Rainbow closes her eyes tightly, trying to focus on the sound. She feels something grab her, but not her body…something tugs at her soul. She snaps her eyes open and jumps back slightly, terrified by this sensation.

“W-what was that?!” She says, breathing heavily from the shock. Quickly looking around, the survey yielding nothing but shadow and her tail, she calms down again. “…What was that?” She asks herself again, walking back over to the lantern. The crying returns, and Rainbow closes her eyes again.

The tug returns, now a constant pull towards the right hallway. Rainbow tilts her head, trying to focus on the pull. “You must see with your heart…and not with your eyes…? Is…this what you meant, Fluttershy?” She thinks, looking towards the hallway that’s pulling her in. She opens her eyes, staring at the right hallway, and picks up the lamp. She starts walking down the right hallway, the cry turning into a giggle, and the tug disappears.

“I’m glad you chose right, Dash…” The familiar voice whispers from right next to her, and Rainbow looks over to see a ghost of her marefriend. “So you are here…” Rainbow replies, saddened by the look of the ghost.

“I’m closer than you think…stay strong.” Fluttershy whispers, and kisses Dash on the cheek before fading into the darkness. Rainbow smiles, rubbing her cheek, and with renewed strength, she walks down the hallway, ready for anything.

Intermission 2: A Little Heart-To-Heart

Twilight adjusts her lying position a bit, looking up at the two monitors hanging in the air. The static seems to have shifted a bit, revealing a slightly clearer picture, but the images shift so quickly it’s difficult to discern a chronological sequence to it all, let alone derive meaning from it. She feels the small dragon adjust herself against her leg, thinking of where to start with her story.

“Well…how did we meet…it was such a long time ago, I can hardly remember.” Loki giggles lightly, drawing a path back further and further in time. “It was…a really long time ago, probably about four years.”

“I was a little dragon back then, having just been born. I was being cared for by a family out in the desert, a small tribe of Hemorans living disconnected from the main body. Nice guys, took care of me like their own children…” Loki smiles weakly, thinking back. “I dreaded the desert, but they made the heat of day and the cold of night feel like home.”

“Was Sehn one of these hedgehogs?” Twilight asks, turning away from the monitors to look at Loki.

“No, he wasn’t. About a year after I was born, when I was learning to speak, a small squadron of Hemoran soldiers came by the tribe camp. They were led by a rather…mean Lieutenant named Sorale. He was a really mean man with a chip on his shoulder and a bone to pick with everyone. When he found us, Dad went out to greet them, and he had a massive smile on his face when they first came by…like the soldiers that found us were some glorious heroes.” Loki’s smile fades, and she turns around so she can lay her back on Twilight’s leg. “That quickly went down the drain when Sorale started messing with my family and everyone at the camp. There were only twenty or so of us, so Sorale’s threats of bringing more soldiers quickly sank in.”

Twilight frowns, looking back at the monitors. “Sounds like you’ve had a rough life.”

“It was for a while, yeah. That Lieutenant would come by and extort ‘tributes’ out of us, saying it was for the betterment of the Guard. Money, food, even the clothes off the tribe’s backs, anything he could take, he would try and take it. Typical sob story, isn’t it?” Loki giggles slightly, looking over at the monitors.

“I won’t say I haven’t heard of it before…but that doesn’t make it any less an experience.”

“Hmm…well, one day, about four or so months after he first came, Dad stood up. Everyone had suspicions about him, but no one was brave enough to stand and say something…”

“It takes a lot of courage to stand up against something you respect. Your dad sounds like a good man.” Twilight smiles, looking over at Loki.

“One of the best, yeah. When he stood up against Sorale, I was standing near our home, a small house. He was asking Sorale about his real intentions with taking all these things from us, when we weren’t affiliated with the city or army. Sorale replied by saying ‘All who reside within our border must contribute. If you don’t like it, by all means, get out of our country.’, and one of his soldiers, a rather jumpy Corporal, came up and socked Dad in the jaw. Called him a heretic for even thinking the Lieutenant had ulterior motives. It made me angry, really angry.” Loki hisses the last part out, looking at her hand as five black flames grow at the ends of her claws. She shakes her hand and puts the flames out, calming herself down. “Everyone took notice that this man wasn’t good for the tribe, so they started talking to each other. Saying we should capture the Lieutenant, punish him for what he’s been doing, while others said we should take it to the army. Others still said that it was too risky, that we should just lie down and hope he goes away…”

“All understandable standings…so what was done?” Twilight asks, looking at the monitors.

“Nothing was done.” Loki replies, looking down.

“What?”

“That’s just it. Nothing was done…no one wanted to take our issues to the army since we were afraid they’d turn on us. If they were like Sorale and his group, then we didn’t have much of a chance…I thought the same for a while, until I got up enough courage and strength to cross the desert on my own. Mom stayed behind, tried to work things out with the tribe and Dad, saying they were going to move to another spot. We were self-sufficient, so we didn’t need to worry about resources…and moving closer to the city would give us a good trade. No one liked moving, but that’s the life of a nomad, isn’t it?”

“Having to move your entire home just because of one man…it’s unthinkable for Equestria.” Twilight looks down, sharing in Loki’s sorrow.

“I’d left before all the plans were made, and I was given enough food and water for three days. My destination was clear…you can see it from anywhere in the Mira Desert, a giant, green tower. I started my trip at night, using the cold to try and keep my sweating and energy use to a minimum, and I’d walked until sunrise before I ran into some soldiers.”

“Sorale and his gang?”

“Luckily no, it was a passing patrol. Two Sergeants from what I could tell. They asked me where a kid like me could possibly be going, and I said I was going to talk to the army. They kind of looked at each other and smiled, looking back, saying I was too young to register. I didn’t bother explaining my situation, just saying I wanted to try, and they offered to show me the way since they were heading back home.”

“Sounds rather opposite to what Sorale was doing.” Twilight says, still looking at the monitors. She adjusts herself slightly, getting blood back into her legs, as Loki continues.

“Yeah, surprised me too. Took us about a day’s walking to get there, half of it was me riding on one of the soldier’s heads. I helped keep his head cool, and he helped me since I was so short, so he was alright with the extra weight on him. Once we got to the tower, we headed to the front door, where two soldiers were standing guard. Still don’t know why they have guards there, the door is too big for any kind of weapon to even dent…” Loki raises her eyebrow while folding her arms, thinking about it.

“Must’ve been an impressive gate. How big was it?” Twilight asks with a smirk, thinking about Canterlot’s own main gates.

“A hundred feet tall and about three hundred tons of steel.”

“WHA?!” Twilight drops her jaw, staring at Loki in disbelief. “That’s absurd!”

“Huh?” Loki looks over, raising her eyebrow. “What about it is so ‘absurd’?”

“J-just the sheer WEIGHT of the door! It’d take a hundred unicorns to lift something half that heavy!”

“Don’t ask me how they did it, the tower was already there.” Loki leans forward, leaning on her knees in a cross-legged position. “Anyway…one of the guards there walked over to the two Sergeants, asking about me. They said I was some drifter crossing the desert, and that I wanted to sign up for the Hemoran National Guard. He just laughed, looking up at me, that silver hair shining in the sun, those deep brown eyes looking at me like I was some idiot signing up for the Wonderbolts…” Loki giggles, remembering his face.

“I guess that was Sehn?” Twilight asks, still watching the monitors before turning her head to Loki.

“Yep, that was when we first met. He seemed like a really nice guy, though I was nervous around him. I talked to him, he talked to me, asked me why I was drifting through the desert…he was a Captain, so I thought he could help. I told him about my family and home, about Sorale and his gang, about everything he was doing. Sehn just nodded, saying ‘Wait a day or so and we’ll head to your place. I’ll have someone in tow.’ I stayed in his barracks for the time being, didn’t really eat like a king, but it was nice having a good roof over your head.” Loki smirks.

“You were living on a military base, doubt rations would be any good.” Twilight chuckles. She feels a shudder from Loki, and looks over to see her staring at the left monitor, deadlocked. She stands up and quickly runs over to it, jumping up to get a good look at it.

“Come over here, quick! I need your back!” Loki shouts to Twilight, gesturing for her to come quickly. Twilight runs over, Loki quickly jumping onto her head, and they both stare at the monitor.

“What is it? What do you see?” Twilight quickly asks, feeling a discovery about the spell is just within her reach.

“I…I don’t know. It just feels…really really bad. Bad, yet…” Loki stops, furrowing her brow, staring into the static and snow of the screen. Something appears on the screen for just a split second that causes them both to jump in complete terror.

“Woah!” Loki screams, falling off Twilight’s head and onto the ground, while Twilight runs back a few feet, dumbstruck by what appeared. “W-w-wha-wh-who was that?!” Twilight stutters, unable to comprehend the image.

“Th-th-that was Rainbow! What in the name of all that’s good happened to her?!” Loki shouts, the image still processing through her mind. Though it only showed for a split second, the picture remained bolted to the fronts of their minds, the sounds all too real, never ending…

Dash was standing in the middle of a ruined city, crying blood, as hundreds of dead bodies and burning buildings surrounded her. It came with a message, scrawled into the ground in front of her, dirt on her hoof. She was laughing hysterically, screams of pain and sadness breaking through the laughs. The message was one word, but everything needed for what’s been done.

“GUILTY”

Chapter 9: The Endless Path

An hour had passed since her ghost had appeared before Rainbow, and she kept the memory strong in her mind to give herself fuel for the long trek ahead. Worry still pervaded her mind. “Why was she here…? It’s been a while now and I still haven’t answered that…” Rainbow thinks to herself, nothing but the light of her lantern reminding her that she was still locked in that other world.

The squelching of flesh and spewing of blood under her steps would continue for quite a while, but the rhythmic sounds helped her think. Why would Fluttershy suddenly appear here? Guessing the right path was obviously good…but this world had a tendency to mess with your head. Was it some illusion? Rainbow shakes her head, casting aside her doubts that the ghost was just the world trying to disorient her. It had to be a sign for something, but what?

She closes her eyes, allowing her body to continue automatically forward, as she thinks back to the choice she made. What did cause her to pick the path on the right? That…pull she felt may have just been the world doing something. Correct place in time…Rainbow stops her walk, looking behind herself. Off in the darkness, a very faint silhouette can be made out, covering the hall. She starts walking towards it before it reveals itself.

“Well, I’ve made my choice…seems I can’t take it back.” Rainbow says to the iron fence blocking her way. “Just have to hope it was right.” She sighs, whipping some blood off her leg, now used to the smell of the dead hallway. She turns and begins heading forward once more, soon leaving the fence behind. More walking, more of the splatter of flesh and blood, more of that disgusting smell of a graveyard with all the bodies dug up and left out in the sun, and the hallway was still plunged in that eternal darkness.

“Am I actually getting anywhere here?” Rainbow wonders, raising an eyebrow. She could feel her ankles growing stiff from all the blood caking on her legs. Her hind legs give out from under her, and she lands with a thud into a sitting position, tired. “Awww, that doesn’t feel right at all…” She remarks, the wet flesh under her still moving. She shivers slightly before turning to her bag, suddenly feeling thirsty, and pops it open. Two notes, the medkit and the empty Health Drink are all that’s present.

“Shoot…should’ve grabbed an empty bottle and filled it up back at Sugar Cube Corner…” She mumbles, placing the lantern on the ground, and yawns. She figured she’s been walking for hours without any notable progress, and simply stares off into the darkness. “…Fluttershy…” She whispers to herself, looking down. What if she really is here? That she wasn’t just some hallucination? “No…I can’t start thinking that. It’s not…it’s not possible for her to be here without Twilight bringing her in as well!” She shouts into the darkness, trying to bolster her confidence.

“Are you so sure about that?” The darkness answers back. Rainbow jumps, looking around herself, staring out into the darkness beyond the fencing and flesh, the voice seeming to come from all directions. “Are you really sure it wasn’t her…?” The voice asks again, deep and demonic, completely unlike the twin who fought her.

“I’m sure of it! It…it was just…just this place messing with me!” She shouts back, grabbing the lantern again, the adrenaline in her system fueling her. She closes her bag and starts back down the hall. This world was just trying to confuse her, she was thirsty and fighting against whatever was trying to get into her mind. “Fluttershy can’t be here. She can’t be. Whatever I saw…what I saw was a ghost.” She mumbles through the handle of the lantern.

The voice in the darkness chuckles, “Oh, child…if only you knew.” It mocks, a flow of wind brushing past Rainbow as she continues her march down the hall. “Do you even know where you’re going? Or are you simply following this like a sheep follows her shepherd?”

“Of course I know where I’m going! I’m going to the end of this tunnel!” She shouts back, focusing forward. The darkness bends in front of her, something moving through it, and a laugh echoes from the black.

“Hahahahaha! To the end of the tunnel, eh? Are you so certain it has one?!” The laugh returns, the echo like a bomb going off next to her ear.

“Shut up! This tunnel has to end eventually!” Rainbow grits her teeth, shouting through the handle, her ankles becoming more stiff.

“This world has already made it known it’s more than just your reality can bear, child. Even now it lives, breathes, bleeds and feels pain…a living organism, and you’re just a little bacteria in the system. This tunnel, like this world, is endless…a vast path leading into the heart of Oblivion. You chose your path, trusting that ‘ghost’, whatever it was, and now look where it brought you!” The voice shouts, laughing again, seeming to enjoy toying with Rainbow.

“I said SHUT UP! I know this was the right path! Now are you going to leave me alone, or continue ticking me off with that stupid laugh of yours?!” Rainbow shouts back, growing aggravated. Something about this voice took her way beyond any manner of anger she's felt before.

“Ohhh, the poor newborn wants me to leave! I’m so hurt! My tears flow like waterfalls and my heart feels like it’s been run through!” The voice sounds solemn and sarcastic.

“Buzz off and stop bugging me!” Rainbow shouts back, starting to feel a change within her.

“Please, as if I’d leave you alone NOW! I’m having fun with this, it’s rare I get to play with someone like you!” The darkness bends again, and the gust of wind returns. Rainbow feels the flat of a blade pass on her flank, and she jumps to the side, looking behind her. She sees the silhouette of the fence, and her eyes widen.

“Now is it sinking in?” The voice asks, laughing in triumph. Rainbow simply stares behind her, dumbstruck. Has the fence been following her…? Or was she really going nowhere? “What the…?” She mumbles.

“Stupid girl, you really have been going in ‘circles’! Well, more a straight line…hmm, more like walking on a bit. Maybe it really is walking in a straight line…?” The voice says in thought. Rainbow focuses in front of her, noting the movement of the flesh under her. Was it pushing her back? She checks the walls and ceiling, seeing if she has enough room to fly. This was going to burn the rest of her already waning strength, but it was worth a shot if it meant getting to the end of this tunnel…

Rainbow makes a short jump into the air, trying to open her wings. She quickly hits her head on the flesh above her, and her wings barely open half way before slamming into the walls. She flops down onto her belly, her legs now completely out of strength.

“Did you really just try to fly in there? I figured you knew just how big you were!” The voice echoes. “Well, how fat you were…” The shadows bend again, a body stopping in front of Rainbow’s weary face, and two eyes open in the body. Yellow irises and white pupils, surrounded by red and built like Sehn’s own eyes, stare down at her. “Hm…perhaps I was wrong. The figure is rather proportional…” The eyes float around her, looking up and down at her body. She can feel the eyes moving across her. “Hm, yes…I do believe I was wrong. Very nice.” The voice chuckles, coming back around to her face.

“Like what you see, weirdo?” Rainbow hisses at the eyes, getting saliva into her mouth before spitting it meekly at them, the spit passing through the shadow.

“I do, actually. I can see the attraction…heheheh.” The voice chuckles, now inside her head. “It’s too bad we don’t get to play right now.” Rainbow feels a body nudge up beside her, and looks over, seeing those same eyes in a body. The body is covered completely in black armor, the spines leading off of it ending in red blood, the body lying on its back in a relaxed position. It smiles.

“If I had enough strength, I’d beat you to a pulp right now…” Rainbow thinks to herself, simply staring at the hedgehog beside her with as much venom as she can muster.

“Goodness, child, don’t you know staring is bad? Perhaps you need a proper lesson.” The body floats up, carried on a bed of black flame, and the drawing of a blade from its sheath can be heard. Panic quickly enters Rainbow’s mind, and she leaps to her hooves and starts running down the tunnel. She was definitely going somewhere, the fence blurring past her, the laugh behind her growing quieter.

“Keep running keep running keep running!” She repeats in her mind, now in a full sprint down the hall. Whatever was talking to her is now trying to kill her, probably chasing her down the hall right now. She looks behind herself, still sprinting in full panic.

Nothing. Not even the clanking of armor or the echo of that voice. Rainbow continues running, still worried but slightly relieved. She was the fastest Pegasus around, no way that monster could keep up with her. She smiles to herself, using the last of her strength to press on down the hall.

Two pairs of eyes appear in the void, watching the small light pass through the fenced in tunnel extending in two directions infinitely, the wall of fence chasing it.

“She fell for it…?” A young voice asks, coming from the lower pair of eyes.

“Like a child hearing a ghost story.” An older voice answers, chuckling. “She doesn’t realize what that ghost meant…now with my intervention, she’s panicking. Probably full of herself for losing me.”

The younger voice giggles, looking up at the other shadow. “She is rather gullible…though I didn’t expect her to fall for it. Seemed too easy…you’re certain it worked?”

“I saw right into her mind when I drew my sword. She flipped out, started running like a maniac. If only she didn’t pick the right path though…” The older voice answers, disappointed.

“You win some, you lose some. I’ll be sure to make up this loss.” The younger voice says, the second pair of eyes growing a body in the form of Rainbow’s twin. The other pair of eyes grows its own body, looking like a carbon copy of Sehn in black armor, a shining silver blade in his hand, resting on his shoulder. They both smile at the light, anticipation and excitement in their eyes, and they both begin sprinting, following the light.

Five minutes, six minutes, seven minutes…every muscle in Rainbow’s body screamed for her to stop, but she continues heading down the hall, the promise of an exit too sweet a prize to give up now. Questions still circled in her mind, but they rested at the back of it, shoved back by the speed and adrenaline.

“The exit’s…going to come…soon!” Rainbow reassures herself once again, her voice once again lonely in her head. Sweat drips down past her face, some getting in her eyes. She forces them closed to try and push the sweat out, when she trips and crashes to the ground. Instead of the splatter of flesh and spreading of blood though, the ground feels soft, easily shoved out of the way by her tumbling body. She hacks and coughs, the exhaustion and pain in her legs hitting her like a freight train.

She grits her teeth, hissing in pain, and wrenches her right eye open to take in the environment.

“That desert again…” she manages to get out past the pain, and she looks up into the sky. The same sun, the same blue, cloudless sky, the same heat beating down, not a soul around. She rolls over onto her stomach and looks around, nothing but sand extending off in all directions. “Gotta find some shade…sleep this off…” she thinks, looking around. The desert extends into infinity however, and each second brings more pain to her already burning limbs. No shade, no clouds...Rainbow looks at her wings.

“Maybe…” Rainbow flexes her wings, that one hope of flying into the sky and getting a bird’s eye view of the area. They extend fine, they even look spotless despite slamming into that flesh-ridden wall. She gives them a flap or two, testing their strength.

“Like they weren’t even used, sweet.” Rainbow smiles, and with one might flap, she launches into the air. Putting all her remaining strength into her wings, her body hangs limp in the air, each shock from the rhythm keeping her aloft sending a shock of pain through her body. “Stings like heck up here though…just ignore the pain and get your surroundings, Rainbow…” She says to herself, looking around.

A patch of shadow, small, can be made out in the distance. “Jackpot!” Rainbow says to herself, and she throws herself through the air towards the shade. Her speed surprises even her as the wind rips past her face and mane, a sweet reminder of life outside this hell. “The wind feels pretty nice when going this fast…forgot what it was like to fly for a second there!” She gleefully talks to herself, enjoying the flight, the freedom of the sky. A twinge of pain brings her back down to earth, reminding her of her body’s condition. “Shoot…ow…” She hisses, now hovering over the shadowy patch of shade about 200 meters up. She slowly lowers herself to the shade, and as soon as she hits the cover from the nearby rock, the difference in temperature is night and day.

“Oh now that’s good…” She smiles, lowering herself to the ground, laying on her side. She sighs in relief at this miracle, and closes her eyes, thinking. “Alright…I’m in a desert. Heat all around, more sand than all of Equestria would know what to do with, no food or water…what to do…?” She thinks to herself, letting the shade ease the pain of her burning limbs. Memories come swirling back in quick flashes, and she furrows her brow, mulling them over.

“…I’ve done this before, haven’t I…?” She mumbles to herself, opening her eyes. “…I’ve lived out here before…that doesn’t make sense. What’s with this place…?” Though confused, her path is clear. “Well…I’ve got the smarts for this. Better put em to use. First, I’ve gotta nail down where to get food and water…now where would they be in a desert like this?” She thinks, rolling onto her stomach. The pain in her limbs is still there, but her wings are as strong as ever. She slowly lifts herself off the ground, looking at the rock behind her.

“Alright, before I head out, I need a way to see this from a distance. Now how do I do that…?” She wonders, cocking her head to the side. The rock was pretty tall, but the desert extended off in all directions with no real landmarks to discern from. “Getting lost out here would be the end of me. I’ll head out until I can barely see the rock, then start heading back. I can see pretty far when I’m high up…so that should help me find a source of water at least.” She says to herself, before flying up into the air, high above the rock. She keeps looking down, making sure the rock stays within view, then, satisfied with her height, she looks around.

“Sand…sand…sand…shadows…sand…blue…sand…wait!” She snaps her view back to the blue, staring at it. “Is that…?” She mumbles, then starts flying towards the water, looking behind herself to make sure the rock stays within view. “Stay focused, Rainbow…that’s your home now.” She keeps staring at the rock until the blue enters the top of her view. The rock is now a tiny speck in the distance, and she slowly moves down out of the air.

“I’m right above the blue here…so if I just keep going down…oh Celestia, please let it be here…” She prays, hoping for at least one thing to go right for her today. The sand continues to rise in her sight, the rock soon disappearing behind the dunes, and she keeps going down…down…down…

And touches down with a splash. The cold water sends a shock through her body, causing her wings to snap shut and she tumbles into the deep water. Rolling for a second, she quickly rights herself and moves back up through the water, coming up with a gasp. “WATER! Oh thank Celestia!” She gleefully exclaims to the empty sands around her. Treading in the water, she feels something strange, and cocks her head to the side, looking down. Suddenly she feels something crack back into place in her skeleton, causing a massive shock of pain to shoot straight from her chest.

“GAH!!!” She screams into the air, falling back below the surface. The pain quickly disappears, but her chest feels numb. She hits the lake bottom, looking up through the water.

“A good ten feet deep…refreshing…” She thinks, letting the cool water currents sweep over her sore limbs. The sting melts away into the deep blue, but is quickly replaced by a new pain. Her lungs begin to burn.

“Oh shoot!” She panics, quickly launching back up to the surface, exploding out like a dolphin. She takes a quick gasp of air and opens her wings, flapping them hard to keep herself aloft, but the wings are too wet to keep her up. She falls back into the water.

“Gotta get to the beach…!” She thinks, flailing in the water, trying to get some traction. This was easy before, what’s wrong now? Her legs don’t seem capable of moving enough water to push her along. She stares at the sand bank below her, and allows herself to sink far enough to touch down. From there, she starts walking up the bank to the beach, slowly breaking the surface of the water.

“Brrrr…I’ve heard of cold showers, but that’s ridiculous…!” She shivers, shaking off the water. She tries opening her wings to get the water in them flapped off, but they feel glued to her body. She tries again, focusing on moving her muscles one by one, but the wings won’t come off her sides.

“Are you kidding me?!” She shouts at her wings, “Are you really not going to cooperate NOW of all times?!” Her anger hits a fever pitch, but quickly descends into slight depression. “How am I going to get back now?”

The large sand dune at the Northern part of the beach provides a nice view point of the desert, but home seems so far off. A tiny black speck in the distance, one that would likely take days to reach walking. “If only I had my wings…” Rainbow sighs, looking at her two stiff wings, suddenly longing for the sky once more. “Well, there’s water here at least, and I do know where home is now. It’s a start.” She nods to herself, moving back down to the lake. She looks at her clothing and saddle bag, everything drenched to the bone. She grimaces, moving to the edge of the water, and takes off her saddle bag.

Looking inside, everything’s still there, including the empty Health Drink bottle. She takes it out, looking it over. “Not a whole lot to contain water…but any drink is good drink at this point.” She sticks the open bottle back in her mouth, getting whatever remaining drops of that miracle elixir could still be inside, then places it in the water, filling the bottle. After filling it, she puts it to her mouth and drinks away, having walked for hours and flown through the insane heat, no matter how good the wind felt. “Gone in seconds…but it’ll do for a while. Better fill up here while I can.”

After having about six bottlefuls of water, she fills the Health Drink one last time before capping it and placing it in her saddle back, next taking out the medkit and inspecting the contents. “Bandages, disinfectant, needle and string…none of it seems damaged, either.” She mumbles to herself, closing the kit and placing it back in her bag. She looks over her own injuries, lifting up her shirt to check her side, expecting that swollen dent to have gotten worse. To her surprise, it seems to have disappeared.

“No pain either…what the hay did that water do to me?” She thinks to herself, before adjusting her cap. She looks at her leg, now remembering the knife that’s stayed there for who knows how long. “Still sheathed, still there, strap’s still tight…this thing’s stuck with me through thick and thin here.” She smirks, knowing she’s had at least some kind of defense during all this. She looks back at the lake before trying to move her wings one last time, them still refusing to budge.

“Alright…let’s start heading back then.” She says to herself, climbing up the sand dune, and starting her way back to the rock shadow she calls home.

Chapter 10: Moving Forward

“Ahhh, this heat is crazy…” Rainbow wheezes to herself, the rock still seeming so far away. The sun hasn’t budged from its position at the top of the sky since she arrived, and the heat was beginning to get to her. “Living here without my wings is hard…” She thinks, blinking as sweat drips down from her forehead. The cap offers some protection for her eyes and muzzle, but the shadow barely extends past the bridge of her nose, and the sand reflecting the heat and light back into her face didn’t help much.

“Stay focused, Dash…stay focused…stay…” Something moves on her sides, and she looks over wearily. “M-my wings?!” She gawks at the now freely moving wings on her sides. “Did they dry off…?” She asks herself, looking at the wings. She moves them slowly up and down, feeling a slight burn from the joints. She gives them one massive flap, lifting herself into the air, and feels an intense burning sensation come from her back. “Gh…!” She twitches in pain from it, falling to the ground with a thud. She coughs through the cloud of dust rising up around her, and looks at her wings. “Dry…and now on fire…great.” Rainbow slowly closes her wings, keeping them latched to her sides, and she looks around. The rock now stands monolithically tall above her, now only a quarter of a mile away or so.

“When did…you know what, not even gonna ask.” She says, eyes half closed, and she quickly covers the last of the distance in a slow jog. “Shade at last…” She coos, smiling as she enters the shadow. As she enters the shadow though, her legs suddenly lose all their strength, and she collapses, faceplanting.

“What the?!” She thinks as she spits out sand, trying to move her legs. They refuse to budge, instead her wings flap open and beat a few times, feeling brand new. “Is…this some kind of puzzle? Or just the world playing tricks on me?” She asks herself out loud, looking at the powerful wings now ready to be used. She looks around herself before seeing something on the rock she’s never seen before.

There’s a picture of an Equestrian on the rock, a simple silhouette, with a cross drawn over it. It has the design of an earth pony, and it looks just like Rainbow. “Weird…” She whispers, before looking over at her saddle bag. She grabs it in her mouth, taking it off, and inspecting the contents.

“Water’s there, medkit…even the notes, everything looks untouched.” She says, raising an eyebrow in confusion. “I can’t even bother with asking about the logic here, can I?” She says, shrugging, before putting the saddle bag back on, and trying to lift off. No matter how hard she beats her wings or how fast she does, she can’t get off the ground.

“Oh come on, it’s just one thing after another here!!” She shouts at the rock. She looks over the rock near her picture, and spots another image beside it. It’s a picture of her saddle bag, with a pair of wings on it, also crossed out.

“Ok…so my body apparently doesn’t work here, and…my saddle bag isn’t allowed wings…isn’t…isn’t allowed to fly?” Rainbow cocks her head, staring at the image, moving the meaning through her mind. “…Is this like how I wasn’t able to fly when I left the lake?” She asks herself. “So it…is a big puzzle. Hmm…so I’m not allowed to move around here without flying…and that saddle bag with wings must mean I can’t fly with this on. So when I fly up, I’ll be leaving my supplies behind.” She looks down in thought, furrowing her brow.

“So it’s a survival test…I need my bag to move water, but what about food?” She wonders, before taking her bag off and testing her wings again. Sure enough, she easily floats up into the air. “That’s more like it!” She says with glee before blasting off into the air, making sure to keep the rock in view. After reaching her old vantage point, she looks around. “Water’s that way at that blue patch…so what about those shadows I saw?” She looks around, thinking. “What the hay is edible in a desert, anyway?”

“…There they are!” She exclaims with a smile, spotting the group of shadows off in the distance. She launches herself towards it, flying straight towards it instead of simply flying around in messy circles. She had a job to do now, and however much she enjoyed the desert compared to there, it had to be done. Her smile disappears into a serious look as the shadows come into view, and she touches down rather easily, regaining control of her legs. She quickly tests her wings again, floating up and easing herself back down.

“So now I’ve got control over my whole body…but if it’s like the rock, there’s some special rule here.” She grimaces before looking around herself. Apple trees surround her, extending far into the sky, way bigger than what the shadows Rainbow saw from the air suggested.

“Not questioning, not questioning.” She says to herself before flying up towards one of the trees’ branches, looking at the fruit on it. “Fat ones, skinny ones, some as big as my head…” Rainbow giggles to herself, seeing the fruit, some truly as big as her head. She grabs one of the apples and snaps it off the branch, it feeling as light as a feather. “Rainbow Dash, the Hercules of Pegasi!” She heroically exclaims with a big smile, before digging her teeth into the massive apple. Suddenly she feels like she grows heavier, and she starts lowering herself to the ground. Her weight increases still and she starts falling faster, before landing on the ground with a massive thud.

“BOOF!” All the air escapes from Rainbow’s lungs as she hits the ground, feeling extremely heavy. “What’s that apple made of?! LEAD?!” She shouts at the massive apple, seeing a drawing on the side of it. It looks like a large paper weight with a plus sign on it. “Oh I KNEW there was going to be some rule here…so I have full control of my body, but now I feel like someone just put a dragon on my back…” She shoves herself to her hooves, feeling about three times heavier than before. “Dh…shoot, I feel like a tank!” She grunts under her own weight, looking around at the trees. “Ah, curse my hunger!”

“Just have to get this food home…” Rainbow grunts, grabbing the massive apple with her mouth. It lifts off the ground without much trouble, and she heads out of the small group of trees. “Alright…so now I have shelter…food…and water. Now is this puzzle really just survival? When does it end?” Rainbow asks herself, trudging heavily through the sand, each step putting a crater down under her hoof. “Please, no more surprises, world…I really wanna go home.” She grunts through the apple, stomping along the sand.

After five minutes of walking, her legs finally feeling like they’re going to let her torso drop to the ground, and likely fall straight through the desert, she opens her wings and starts flapping. She slowly rises up, but hardly at the same speed as before. “Any flight is good flight right now…” She thinks, flying higher and higher. She lifts up her hooves with hard effort, and takes the apple in her grip, taking it out of her mouth so she can look around.

The rock shows itself to her left, the oasis off to the right. “Well, destination is obvious…let’s finish this.” Rainbow says to herself, slowly flopping through the air towards the shade. A strong gust of wind hits her in the face, and she loses her grip on the apple, it floating away. “No! No no no no!” She screams, chasing the apple through the air, putting as much strength as she can muster into her wings. She shuts her eyes tight and clenches her teeth, suddenly hating the world with an insane fury, when suddenly she feels herself get thrown forward in an explosion of speed, easily catching up with the apple, and she grabs it, then looks at her wings. “What was that?” She asks herself, noticing nothing different with her wings or body. She starts falling again, quickly flapping her wings so she doesn’t kill herself by falling from this height. She slowly goes back to a hovering state, looking around for the rock with her apple in hand. “There it is…” She says, looking at the monolithic rock standing a mile away, and she starts flying towards it.

After half an hour of flying, she finally makes it to the shade, crashing to the ground in exhaustion. “Haaa…huff…I…I did it…!” Rainbow chuckles weakly to herself, staring at the massive apple and her saddle bag in the shade. She gets to her hooves, surprised that they haven’t given out, and looks up at the rock. Three new designs have appeared, replacing the crossed out images.

One is of an apple, another is of a bottle of water, and the last is a picture of a black shape in the form of a rock. All three are checked off.

“Survival…done…at last…!” Rainbow chuckles to herself, moving over to the bag, opening it and knocking back the small bottle of water she got. Then she turns her attention to the apple, devouring a quarter of it, no longer feeling heavy. “Food…water…and now…” Smiling, she collapses onto the ground, passing out from exhaustion before she can finish her sentence.

“…Nice sunset tonight.” Rainbow says, laying on a concrete floor overlooking Equestria.

“It’s rare that we’re stationed here, so lucky us, eh?” A familiar voice says beside her, and she looks over to see Sehn.

“Too true.” Rainbow says with a smile, looking back towards her home. “…Three months left…”

“Yeah…it’ll be tough to see you go, kid.” Sehn says to Rainbow, sounding rather solemn.

“To be honest, I can’t wait to get back to my home country, fly around…experience life. I’ll probably leave and never turn back.” Rainbow says, looking out past the Cerberus Gate.

“Not even gonna give us a parting thought, eh? Mean lady, you are.” Sehn says jokingly, chuckling.

“You and Loki, I’m definitely going to miss…you were the only friends I had during my year of service here. I’ll be sad when I leave you two behind, but…well, I belong in Equestria, not here.”

“True. You’re the one friend I’ve had besides Loki…so it’ll be hard to see you go. Maybe I’ll drop by Equestria, do a fly-by of Cloudsdale.” Rainbow looks over at Sehn with a smirk, him returning it.

“I don’t think the Royal Guard would like one of you guys suddenly traipsing into Equestria…but I think I’d like the visit.” Her smirk grows into a smile.

“Then I’ll drop by as soon as I can after you leave. See if I can get any vacation time or something…doubt it though, my promotion has pretty much quadrupled my paper work, and training all the new Corporals is a pain.” Sehn says with a grimace, walking over to Rainbow’s side of the tower, taking a seat next to her. “Got any friends back home? Never did ask you.”

“Not really…but I do know this one girl, Fluttershy. Real crybaby, can’t stand up for herself, not much of a backbone either…but I like her. Hopefully I can see her again…last time I saw her, I was racing through Cloudsdale.” Rainbow frowns, and feels a pat on the shoulder from Sehn.

“Though I doubt you Equestrians follow the same rules as us, there’s always a pull between friends. We hate each other, yet we get along just fine, don’t we?”

“Rapids under the bridge.” Rainbow giggles, “Such a worn out saying…”

“Hey, it still has meaning, doesn’t it?” Sehn says with a big smile.

“True, true…” Rainbow says, returning the smile. They both look out over the sunset, the mountains at their sides acting as a vent for the light. “Celestia working her magic again…your princess sure can do some amazing things.” Sehn says, staring off into the distance.

“Hmm…she can’t fly as fast as the Wonderbolts!” Rainbow says with a coy smile.

“I bet she could. Probably some spell in there that’d boost her speed. I know I could outfly anyone though!” Sehn says with a smile and a raise of the eyebrows.

“Oh come on, you couldn’t beat me in any of the races we had during patrols!” Rainbow laughs, hitting Sehn in the arm. “Though tell you what. After my service is done, we’ll both train, and in two years, we’ll race again. That’ll decide which of us is really faster. Deal?”

“Oho, you’re ON. I’ll make you eat my dust.” Sehn says with a smile and a laugh. Rainbow looks back out into the sunset in thought. She had all her friends back in Ponyville…but she was friends with Sehn too? This didn’t feel like something shoved into her mind either…it was a dream of her past. Why was she serving with him in the army though? She lays her head down on the small wall surrounding the tower, staring off into the sun set, and slowly closes her eyes. “G’night, kid.” Sehn says as the darkness takes her once more.

“Uuuuh…” Rainbow yawns, rubbing her forehead, the familiar dripping of water entering her hearing again. “That was a nice dream…wish that was real and this was just a nightmare…” Rainbow says to herself, staring off into the darkness of the hall. Off in the distance is a silhouette, more solid-looking than the fence from before. She slowly gets to her feet, surprised that her thirst seems to have disappeared, along with her hunger. “Guess that dream did more than just make me feel better…” Rainbow says to herself, wiping some blood off her side. She picks the lantern up again and heads towards the silhouette in front of her.

“A door?” Rainbow asks herself, looking at the might steel gate in front of her, a single keyhole in the center of the door. A note is taped just above it, and Rainbow moves forward to read it.

The three gates of the soul, locked tight,
A power unknown is kept out of sight.
Keys to the heart are within your grasp,
But to gain them is a most perplexing task.

The first gate lies before you,
A simple task for you to do.
Unlock the gate and open the way,
Let no question in your mind hold your mission at bay.

“Unlock the gate? Using what?” Rainbow asks the door through the handle of the lantern, poking the note. Something falls out from behind it, hitting the wooden flooring in front of the door. It looks like a medal of some kind, containing a cloud design in a hollow circle. “Using…this?” Rainbow asks herself through the handle of the lantern, touching the medal. It begins to shine, an appendage appearing from the side of it in the form of a key.

The key hovers upwards, and hangs itself from Rainbow’s neck by a string. “Cool…” She smiles, taking the key in her hoof and jamming it into the lock. She turns it, and massive tumblers behind the door click and sway away, metal grinding and gears turning, the key tail disappearing from the medal. The door opens, revealing the fog once more, and Rainbow takes a deep breath of moderately fresh air.

“Free at last…” She says to herself, and she walks outside, leaving that dreaded tunnel behind. She turns, watching the door slowly close behind her and lock itself, a simple wooden wall in one of the smaller houses of Ponyville. Rainbow nods lightly in satisfaction, looking around herself. The first riddle is finished, now all she needed to do was find Sehn and get to her house. With that, she sprints off towards Sugar Cube Corner, the last place she saw him.

Chapter 11: Ghosts

“What do you mean she made it out?!” A voice shouts out into the fog, deep and commanding, coming from a tall shadow standing atop a house in the town.

“I mean exactly what I said.” A younger, higher voice answers, belonging to a shorter shadow standing across the street.

“You do realize what she’s heading towards, right? You said you would make this up to me, woman!” The taller shadow shouts, consumed by anger.

“She still has a long way to go! We can still do this! Just stick to the plan.” The younger shadow shouts back, a twinge of fear in her sentence. “I know we still have her within our grasp, and him as well!”

“You had better be right…for your sake.” The older shadow hisses, looking to his right, two piercing red eyes shining through the fog. He turns to a small light source sprinting to the fog, and the younger shadow flies up to the house top behind her. “Here she comes now…as you figured, she’s making a beeline towards the next destination.”

“Then we’d better go prepare her welcome…” The younger shadow whispers, and they both vanish back into the fog.

“C’mon Sehn, where are you?” Rainbow says to herself through the lantern handle, using the houses around her to try and find the right road. “He better not be dead! He still has a deal to keep!”

A buzz from her saddle bag forces her to skid to a stop. She looks around herself, drawing her knife. “I better not die either…” She growls, lowering herself and pressing onwards, staying alert. A shadow moves in the distance, seeming to look towards Rainbow before running away. Rainbow raises her eyebrow, hearing the buzzing grow louder, and she looks around herself again. She looks behind herself, seeing a wall of shadows advancing, slowly, towards her. They all look like Equestrians, the clanking of the armor like a steady march of a full battalion.

“Oh boy…!” Rainbow shakes, turning to face the shadows and backing away, sheathing her knife. They aren’t moving too quickly, but which way was it to Sugar Cube Corner? She looks around herself, trying to find some landmark she could use, before spotting a road sign, her fears settling in. “Gah…of course they’re marching between me and where I want to go!” She hisses, staring down the opposing force. They all draw closer, the shadows not gaining any greater form…instead they remain shadows, floating over the ground, their legs mere stumps ending in moving flame, their eyes a pure, glowing red.

Something about them unsettles Rainbow, and she backs away further, their gaze prying their way into her mind. Voices begin to ring out, varying in tone from a pitch that hurts the ears to a deep baritone that can barely be made out.

“Criminal…”

“Killer…”

“Living disasterrrr…”

“Traitor…”

“Guilty…”

The chants continue to bounce around in Rainbow’s head, easily overtaking her own thoughts. “S-shut up!” She hisses through her knife, trying to block out the voices. She shouts and screams inside her head, the voices echoing louder, trying to push her into a corner, her mind soon becoming an inferno of voices, screams, shouts…pained souls ripping and tearing their way into her subconscious. She quickly turns and starts sprinting, simply wanting to get away. The voices continue to echo, but become quieter until the buzzing of the walkie talkie makes its way into her ears, that soon dying out as well.

“What was that?! Can’t really question this world anymore but…ah, my head…” Rainbow slows herself to a walk, then stops, holding her forehead, some remnants of the whispers sticking in the back of her mind. The screams are still clear as day, but quiet enough to allow her to think. She shivers, her breathing shallow and harsh, eyes shut tight, terror streaming through every inch of her. “Those screams…they were too real to be made by those…things. Why do these things keep happening to me? What’s trying to dig its way out?” She asks herself with a whisper, all the swirls of memories too disconnected to mean much, but she knew they were all connected somehow. The city, the red hedgehog, the uniform, Sehn…the screams and pain…they all lead back to something.

The buzzing from her bag returns, and her eyes snap open. The buzzing is loud, immediate…Rainbow slowly looks up, spotting flames that extend into legs, into an Equestrian’s body, into a head with those deadly eyes. She locks eyes with it, letting her own hoof fall to the ground. “What are you…?” Rainbow whimpers, unable to back away.

“…Remnants…” The shadow answers, the deep voice coming as a far-away echo.

“R-remnants of what?” Rainbow stutters.

“…Of you…of what you left behind…” The shadow whispers, its gaze unchanged. “Your past stands before you…yet you do not acknowledge its presence…you do not accept what’s happened…”

“How could I? None of this makes sense…! Just…random flashbacks that don’t connect anywhere!” Rainbow whimpers back, the buzzing of the walkie talkie all too loud in her head.

“…You will accept what’s been done…you will acknowledge us…and we will have what’s rightfully ours…murderer.” The last word comes as a spiteful, venomous statement from the shadow.

“I’ve never killed anyone! I’ve never even harmed anyone! Well…never with the want to!” Rainbow stands her ground, her eyes shaking from the blazing fire of the red eyes, the back of her head starting to hurt.

“…You will answer…child…answer for what you have done to us…” The shadow growls, moving over to her side without so much as a movement of the body. “Even now, we find our way through you…”

“Leave me alone! I…I’ve never…” Rainbow looks down at the ground, unsure of herself. “Why is all this happening…? Why does this place have to exist?” She trembles, mumbling.

“Be strong, Dash…” A meek whisper catches her attention, and the buzzing from the walkie talkie disappears. Rainbow looks up, seeing the ghost of Fluttershy.

“F-Fluttershy…?” Rainbow stutters, eyes wide in surprise. The ghostly image before her simply stares back with a smile.

“One and the same…”

“You’ve got no idea how much I’ve wanted you here…but…this doesn’t make sense…why are you here?” Rainbow asks, worried about the answer.

“I’m here because you wanted me to be here…or do you not want that?” Fluttershy asks, looking down.

“No, no, I do want you here! It’s just…I don’t know why you’re here…did Twilight bring you in?” Rainbow asks, moving closer to the ghost.

“She did…I came by the library, and found you in the spell…I asked Twilight to send me in as well. I’d suffer through anything just to help you get through your troubles, just like you did with me.” Fluttershy smiles weakly, looking to the side, embarrassed slightly by the comment.

“That’s…brave of you…thanks.” Rainbow smiles back, all her fear melting away. Though she was only here in spirit, it was enough to push her forward. “You saw the silver pony standing next to me, right? His name’s Sehn…have you seen him anywhere?”

“Silver pony…?” Fluttershy raises her eyebrow, looking up in thought. “I-I think so…but I haven’t seen any silver ponies here. What does he look like?”

“Silver spikes, taller than me, brown eyes, camouflage pants and jacket?” Rainbow asks, gesturing to mark the spikes flowing back off the head, raising it above her to mark height, pointing to her eyes and clothing. “His clothes look a lot like mine.”

“Hmm…” Fluttershy strokes her chin, eyes closed, thinking. “Silver…camouflage clothing…brown eyes…tall…I…I think I’ve seen somepony looking like that.”

“Really? Where is he?” Rainbow asks out of spontaneous excitement.

“Well…follow me, I’ll show you where I last found him.” Fluttershy says, walking away, her body easily fading into the fog. “H-hey! Wait up, Fluttershy!” Rainbow shouts, running after her. She stays just within view at the edge of the fog, most of her body faded into the bleak distance, almost floating above the ground. Something comes into view, and Rainbow skids to a stop, kicking a rock in front of her.

It falls off into the abyss in front of her, Rainbow having stopped just at the edge of the cliff surrounding the town. She looks down into the darkness, shocked. “F-Fluttershy! You nearly-!” She looks up, Fluttershy floating above the abyss in front of her. She smiles, “What’s the worry for, Dash? You have wings and can react at the speed of sound…I did say I’d lead you to where I last saw him…” She looks down, Rainbow following her gaze.

“You’re…kidding me…” Rainbow whispers, staring down into the abyss, putting a hoof to her mouth as the realization slowly climbs up her spine in a shiver. Fluttershy simply looks down, and closes her eyes in a moment of silence. “I saw him running this way a few minutes ago, but I couldn’t move fast enough to follow him. He ran in this direction, so…”

“He can’t be dead!” Rainbow shouts into the abyss, shaking. “He…he can’t be!”

“Well…where could he be then? I know he ran off in this direction…” Fluttershy replies, pushed back by Rainbow’s shouting. She looks up at Fluttershy, fear in her eyes. “Are you able to leave this place?! You have to check on him!”

“I-I…what?” Fluttershy stutters, taken aback. “You have to leave here and check his body outside! Check for anything! Just tell me he’s still alive!!!” Rainbow screams at the ghost in front of her, beginning to sob. She moves away from the cliff before collapsing onto her belly. “He can’t be dead…he can’t be…”

Fluttershy floats over to Rainbow’s side, laying down beside her. “Some truths are really hard to accept, Dash…I’m sorry this has to be one of them…”

“You’re crazy if you think I’m gonna believe this!” Rainbow turns and shouts into Fluttershy’s face, the ghost springing away from her in shock. “D-Dash, calm down…!” She stutters, Rainbow quickly looking sorry for shouting at her, tears still freely streaming from her eyes. “I-I’m sorry…it’s just, I don’t want to believe Sehn’s dead…”

“Why? What was he to you?” Fluttershy asks, tilting her head in a confused look. “I thought he was just some pony who came by, looking for help…”

“He was a friend…a friend from a long time ago who I only just remembered…” Rainbow sniffs, smashing her hoof into the ground, “We had a deal, darn it!”

“Why do you care so much about him, though?” Fluttershy asks, still slightly confused. Rainbow just looks up at her, confusion on her face too.

“Wh…what do you mean ‘why’? He was a friend of mine!” She raises her voice, getting up and walking over to Fluttershy, “If it was you down there, I’d be freaking out like this, too!”

“D-Dash…”

“No! You don’t just ask someone why they care about a friend when the answer is right in your face!” She pants, staring Fluttershy dead in the eyes, “…Isn’t it obvious…?”

“N-…n-no, it isn’t…he’s from somewhere else…” Fluttershy mumbles, looking away.

“So he’s like Zecora now? Just because he’s different, he shouldn’t be friends with me?”

“No, no…just…well…” Fluttershy slinks away, whimpering. Rainbow sits down, wiping away her tears and taking a deep breath. She lets it back out as a slow sigh, trying to get herself back under control.

“It…it was a long time ago. I’ll tell you about it once we’re out…he just means a lot to me.”

“Means a lot to you? He means more to you than me?”

“What? No, of course not! It’s…well…how do I put this?” Rainbow rubs the back of her neck, trying to think up the right words. “He…well, he cared for me in a time of need. He showed me kindness in that place…I barely remember any of it…”

“He was just nice to you? That’s why you’re freaking out over him?” Fluttershy turns to face Dash, “You shout at me like I’m the bad guy, just because I told you the truth about him?!” She walks straight up to Dash, now angry. “I’m trying to help you move on, and you’re just wooing over him!”

“W-what’s gotten into you? You wouldn’t do the same in this situation?” Dash asks, leaning back from Fluttershy’s burning gaze.

“No, I wouldn’t! I’d accept he’s gone and move on! But you just want to be with him, don’t you?! You want to be with him more than you want to be with me!” Fluttershy screams into Dash’s face, shock and confusion written all over it. “Well, if you want to be with him so bad, then be my guest!” Fluttershy shouts, then spins around and gives Dash a mighty kick from her hind legs, blasting Dash off the ledge of the cliff. The world seems to slow down for Dash, falling inches a minute, staring at her marefrriend, the one who exclaimed love for her…and now her killer. Dash’s wings felt glued to her sides, the world itself lashing out at her body in maniacal hunger, wanting to devour her soul to feed its endless void.

She was dead…and she couldn’t do a thing about it.

Intermission 3: The Tale Continues

Twilight paces back and forth in front of the monitors, giving quick glances to them. What was with that image that popped up, and why hadn’t anything like it appeared in the past? The picture was still clearly burned into her mind, despite 20 minutes of pacing in deep thought.

“How long are you gonna do that? You’re starting to dig a trench.” Loki says, sitting in the middle of the lit circle, having calmed down from the trauma.

“I’ll keep doing it until I can explain what just happened. Keeping the blood flowing helps me think.” Twilight says back, not breaking her pacing.

“Anything coming to mind then?”

“Well…something might if I knew what to relate that to, but Dash has never mentioned anything to me that could point to what I saw…I’ve got nothing.” Twilight sighs, her pacing still going but slowing down.

“Well, think of the image, at least. What was it?” Loki asks, holding her knees and leaning forward, watching Twilight go back and forth.

“It was a city, but the buildings were made of stone and concrete, not wood like Ponyville…did you see it too?”

“I did, yeah. She was crying blood and howling at the sky…still chilling when I think about it.” Loki shivers, closing her eyes tight to try and push the image out of her mind.

“Rainbow Dash sitting in the middle of a crowd of dead bodies…burning buildings…it was dark out but I know I saw sand dunes off in the distance…was that something random?” Twilight finally stops her pacing to rub her chin, then sets off on her path again.

“I…I don’t know where that would be.” Loki says quietly, tapping her index fingers together. ‘That city was Tavin…but it was levelled, we saw it happen…’ She thinks, Twilight turning towards her.

“I think I know where it was. There’s only one major desert within flying distance for a Pegasus, and that’s Mira Desert. But it doesn’t explain the buildings…that place hasn’t been inhabited for three hundred years…the Eastern War saw a full retreat from the enemy, and they fled across the desert, never being heard from again.”

“I lived in the desert.” Loki speaks up.

“Yes, but that was a small tribe with a couple of shacks, tents, and storage cellars. This was a fully developed city with a large population! It doesn’t make sense…” Twilight sits down, wracking her brain over it. How could a large city with so many living in it exist in Mira without her knowing about it? Her focus may be on history and magic, but geography was always a solid subject with her.

“You think a city couldn’t slip under Celestia’s radar?” Loki asks, Twilight looking over at her.

“No, I don’t think a massive city in the middle of a flat desert could go ‘under the radar’ with my teacher. And she’s PRINCESS Celestia.” She scolds with a bit of a cross look, continuing her pacing.

“Right, sorry…Princess Celestia, she’s only one pony, no matter how much magic she knows or how powerful she is. Omniscience isn’t possible, even for her. But why does it surprise you so much? What about the tower I talked about?” Loki asks, slowly rolling back and forth on her rear out of boredom.

“I knew about the tower, that was the first reported discovery since the War. A massive green tower standing in the center of the desert…and you did mention Hemorans living there.” Twilight says, sitting down again, rubbing her left hind leg. “How long have I been pacing for?”

“22 minutes, thirteen and a half seconds.” Loki says.

“…Wow, that’s…wait, how did you-“

“When I’m bored, I do things like count seconds passively.” Loki cuts her off.

“Impressive. Still…22 minutes straight thinking about that image…can you think of anything, Loki?”

“Hmmm…I didn’t really finish my story, did I…? Since they kind of run into each other, I’ll tell the rest of it then start on that thought.”

“After the day Sehn told me to wait, he packed up my things and told me to wait at the front gate, told me he’d be ready in about a half hour. Considering I had some time, I started wandering around the tower. There were Hemorans living in the tower, lots of them, all looking like they were ready for war at any moment. They talked, insulted each other, fought, joked around like a bunch of brothers and sisters…it was an eye-opener for me then. I talked with a few of them, and despite the rough welcome they gave me, some hitting me on the arm and others rubbing my head with too much push, they were all actually nice.” Loki smiles, thinking back.

“Surprising, I have to say.” Twilight says, moving back over next to Loki, lying down on her belly next to her. Loki leans on Twilight again and continues with her story. Twilight fixes her gaze on the monitors, still thinking.

“I met a lot of lower ranked troops there, and learned some things about them. For one, they’re all pretty well terrified of ticking off the higher ranks, and I found that kind of strange so I asked why. They explained something called the Hierarchy to me.”

“Hierarchy?” Twilight raises her eyebrow, casting a quick look down to Loki before staring back at the monitors.

“Their ranking structure. They base it completely off of strength and intelligence of the individual, and there’s a massive gap in power between the foot soldiers and their commanders. Some of the lowest ranks bragged about being able to take on whole bands of Royal Guard soldiers without breaking a sweat, two of them proved it by getting into a scuffle at the border…”

“And they’re scared of their commanders?” Twilight widens her eyes, thinking about the kinds of monsters that could be leading such a force.

“Yeah, downright frightened whenever they’re around, and it started to rub off on me when I headed for the gate. I was there about five minutes early, and Sehn was waiting there for me. ‘You’re late, kid. I said half an hour.’, he told me. I said back it had been 25 minutes, and he just shrugged in response.”

“You wanna go now?” Sehn asks Loki, standing at the main gate to Headquarters, wearing his typical camos with his beret hung at his waist. Loki looks up at him, the towering figure before her, before jumping up and climbing his jacket up to his head, where she lies down on her stomach.

“Ready as I’ll ever be.” She smiles. Soldiers walk by staring at Sehn and the dragon on his head.

“Friend of yours, Cap’n?” One of the soldiers asks, a male with a deep red look to his spikes, white stripes running along them to the tips. He has a rather young voice, not much older than 22.

“Yeah. You seen Sorale?” He asks, putting a hand on his side above his beret.

“Yeah, he’s on his way now. Doesn’t seem the slightest bit shaken about you asking for ‘em though. What’re you two doing?” The soldier asks.

“Ehhh, nothing you need to worry about, Sarge. Aren’t you running the grid today?”

“Yep, first squad movement I’ve lead. Colonel Bravo is personally overseeing it, nervous as all Hell.” He says, the fear showing in his eyes.

“Buck up, kid. He may be a gigantic ass, but he’s not gonna dock you if you do your job right. Keep the Corporals in line and everything’ll be fine, believe me. I’ve dealt with him enough to be called an expert.” Sehn says with a chuckle, a voice speaking up next to him.

“An expert on me, eh?” A loud voice speaks up from the door, Sehn turning to face him with a slow salute.

“Colonel, sir.”

“Captain. Might I say you haven’t lived long enough to call yourself an ‘expert’ on me. I’d suggest you keep that form of comment to yourself.”

“Harmless banter with the troops, sir, a joke never hurt anyone.” Sehn says with a smirk, keeping his cool demeanor.

“Except you. Let’s not forget what happened last month, Captain. Sorale is on his way, should be right behind me. Finish your business with him and report to Cerberus in three hours, your guard shift is coming up.” The green hedgehog stomps past Sehn, Loki crawling backwards on his hair, trying to expand the gap between her and the Colonel. He stops.

“I don’t think pets are part of protocol, soldier. What is this thing?” Bravo says, looking up at Loki.

“A dragon sir, fully sentient as well. Couldn’t be much younger than Corporal Sam.” Sehn says, maintaining his salute.

“Be sure to get rid of it before your shift is done, Captain. I don’t expect she’d survive long in this environment.” The Colonel shifts his head to Sarge. “And what are you looking at? You were due for first squad movements two minutes ago.”

“R-Right sir! On the way now!” Sarge nearly shouts, doing a quick salute before sprinting off into the desert towards a waiting company of 20 soldiers in the distance. Colonel Bravo slowly follows behind, holding his hands behind his back, soldiers all around him quickly saluting as he passes.

Loki blows a quiet raspberry at him, her brow furrowed. “Well isn’t HE just mean? How dare he speak to a lady like that…” Loki says to Sehn, keeping her voice down.

“Bravo’s earned the right to act like that around here, most respected soldier in the Guard before General Trak.” Sehn says lowering his salute and watching Bravo walk off. “Still, yeah, he can get on your nerves. He sticks to the rules like tree sap sticks to your hands.” He starts walking down the ramp to the desert, passing by a bunch of chatting troops, some throwing him quick salutes while others wave at him.

“Why don’t these guys all salute you?” Loki asks, looking down from Sehn’s head.

“I’ve always made myself out to be the one in a million guy. So long as I can help keep all these guys alive in a fight, it’s enough, and being friends with a lot of ‘em helps teamwork in a battle, which can mean life or death most of the time.” He replies, putting his hands behind his head. A quick run behind him catches both his and Loki’s attention.

“Lieutenant Sorale at your service, sir. You called for me?” The brown hedgehog quickly salutes Sehn, who simply turns to face him.

“Yeah, I did. You’re off-duty today, so you and I are goin’ for a walk. We’re heading out now.” Sehn says before turning away and heading out into the sands, Sorale following close behind.

“Sir…what is that on your head?”

“A dragon.” Sehn replies without turning around, continuing his walk. Sorale looks up at Loki, squinting his eyes slightly, thinking. Loki looks back at him and he quickly turns away, whistling. She turns back around and grabs one of Sehn’s ears.

“So, what’s the plan?” She whispers. Sehn doesn’t reply, instead he just points towards Metropolis, both Loki and Sorale looking off in that direction.

“Apparently there’s an encampment of tribals who are plotting against us. We’re going to clear them out.” Sehn says with a matter-of-fact tone, Loki gasping while Sorale simply stares at him.

“I’m sorry, sir? Just the two of us?”

“Having doubts in your rank, Lieutenant?” Sehn says, his eyes moving to Sorale.

“N-No sir, of course not. Just, it seems strange where we’re headed.”

“Why’s that?”

“Well, there are no tribals over there, sir…my patrol route goes around the city and-“

Sehn stops walking, now a good distance away from the base. A single battalion marches past them about three hundred meters off to the right.

“Sir?”

“There are tribals over there, and I’ll give you one chance to guess why.” Sehn says, turning around. Sorale looks up at the dragon again, his eyes instantly opening wide, her identity all too clear.

“You!” He blurts out, stepping back, staring right into Loki’s eyes with an anger that matches hers.

“Yes, me! It’s time you paid for what you did to Mommy and Daddy!” She shouts, jumping off Sehn’s head, who stares Sorale down.

“Soldier, you have ten seconds to explain yourself before I beat you into an unrecognizable red stain on the sand.” Sehn says with a cold tone that would freeze your blood solid.

“S-sir, she’s lying! Whatever she’s told you, it’s a lie!”

“Nine.”

“I swear it, I’ve only gone to that village a few times! It was purely conjugal, just to check on them!”

“Eight.”

“T-They…dh…”

“Seven.”

“Sir, you have to believe me! I swear, I had all the best intentions!”

“Six, time’s ticking down, soldier…”

“ALRIGHT! I admit I’ve been taking tributes from them, but it’s for the good of the army! I swear it!”

Sehn stops counting, simply staring at Sorale, and he looks down at Loki. “Satisfied?”

“Not even close. He had one of his goons attack Daddy!” Loki shouts with an accusing point at Sorale, Sehn taking a step forward. “You do know what we’re meant to be, right…Sorale?” Sehn hisses, his look growing more aggressive.

“The Hemoran National Guard are the guardians and protectors of both Hemora and Equestria…sir, believe me, I didn’t mean for things to go like this.” Sorale sputters, backing away. Loki jumps back onto Sehn’s head, both of them staring at Sorale, and he begins to run back towards the base. Sehn easily overtakes him, sliding out in front of him and grabbing him by the collar of his shirt.

“What do you think you’ve been DOING, Lieutenant?!” Sehn shouts into his face, “We’re meant to be HELPING these citizens, not extorting things from them!”

“B-but s-“

“DO NOT SPEAK BACK TO ME. Every one of these soldiers is respectable, and you’re meant to be their leader. Now what do you think is going to happen when this news hits the ears of everyone at the base? Eh? You don’t honestly think this was going to stay a secret, do you?” Sehn hisses into his face, their eyes inches away from each other. Sorale squints his eyes, furrows his brow, and smirks.

“I expect to be a secret a little while longer…”

Chapter 12: Visions Of The Past...

“Leave me alone!” Rainbow shouts at three Hemorans, blocking the hall in front of her. “I’ve got a meeting to get to with the Lieutenant!”

“Yeah, I’m sure y’do.” The center Hemoran says, walking forward, “So what makes you so important, eh? What’s it been, a month you’ve spent at a status less than the sand here?”

“What makes me so important is that I’ve got a mission and you don’t. Now stand aside!”

“Stupid little Equestrian, don’t you know where you stand here?! You’re worth less than shit! A petty little Private!” The left Hemoran shouts, stepping forward, now two towering shadows looking down on her.

“You know full well what I’m capable of, and you still wanna mess with me?” Rainbow looks over at the left Hemoran, a blue hedgehog with white stripes along his arms, wearing a simple camo jacket and black shirt. He leans down and looks her dead in the face.

“Considering we’re all capable of killing five of you, with you guys being armed and us not, I think you haven’t got a lot of shove here.” He smiles before spitting in her face. “Go get strangled, bitch.” The Hemoran on the right laughs with an irritatingly high pitch. Rainbow just lets the fury in her go and she spins around, giving a mighty kick into the chest of the Hemoran on the left, then uses the recoil to spin herself around and kick the one in the center into the wall. She makes one more spin on her right front leg before stopping, running down the hall.

“HEY! GET HER! She assaulted us!” One of the Hemorans behind her shouts, and Rainbow sprints like never before. A month in her own personal Hell, where no one could stand being around her, and everyone just wanted her to go out in the desert and starve to death. Thoughts of home broke into her mind, and a twinge of sadness pulls at her heart.

The sounds of heavy boots clanging against the metal walkway fill the hall, a whole force behind her now racing down the hall towards her. She picks up her pace, quickly widening the gap between the mob and her, and quickly runs down a left hall, hiding, and a short wait later, thirty soldiers run past the hall, none of them turning to check the alleys, much to her relief. She lets go of her held breath, quickly panting, looking around the dark green halls for where she needs to go.

“Lieutenant Stroa…Lieutenant Stroa…ohh, where is she?” Rainbow thinks, looking at all the plaques on the doors marking the living quarters for the National Guard’s commissioned officers. “Stroa…Stroa…ah, here we go.” She stops before a solid metal door, the silver plaque nailed into the wall next to it saying “[LIEUTENANT STROA, M.]” with “QUARTERMASTER” printed under it. Rainbow takes a deep breath before putting her hoof on the door, pushing it open.

“Private Rainbow Dash, reporting for duty, ma’am.” Rainbow says with a quick salute, the door swinging open to reveal the Lieutenant, dressed in the typical uniform of a camo jacket and cargo pants with the legs tucked into heavy boots.

“Come in.” She says, adjusting her glasses, writing on papers at her desk, a small lamp lighting the area. The moon shines outside, hanging high in the sky, three strips of light coming through the viewing ports cut into the metal walls.

“You said you had a mission for me?” Dash asks, walking inside and taking a seat next to the door.

“Not quite. You’ve been working hard for the last month, so Captain Darksol came by and personally requested you receive some leave. The request went to Colonel Bravo and General Trek, and they both agreed, so you have the next two days to yourself. I assume you know protocol when it comes to off-duty actions on base?”

“Yes, ma’am. When off-duty, you are permitted to use the lounge and bar area, but are restricted from the armory, training area, and shooting range. You are also restricted from proceeding further than three hundred meters from base, unless given express permission from both the Police and Command to visit Metropolis…and, the Cerberus gates are…off-limits…” Rainbow lowers her gaze, feeling home is even further away now. When allowed to go on patrol, she could often see through the opened Cerberus Gate, the familiar rolling hills and grasslands a paradise compared to the desert heat and sands. To her, Cloudsdale was a simple skip, hop, and jump through the gate…

“You, as a Private, are also restricted from visiting the barracks while off-duty. You are allowed to your own room, but that’s as far as you go. Now that you understand, leave, I have paperwork to do and you’ve already bothered my schedule enough as it is.” The red-haired hedgehog doesn’t even look up from her desk, but the venom in her voice is all too apparent, all too familiar from every other interaction Rainbow’s had from the soldiers.

“Yes ma’am…” Rainbow salutes, then heads out. She walks down the hall, heading straight for the bar. For whatever reason, a drink seemed like the best solution for whatever was bringing her down right now. Few soldiers walk past her, all holding the same demeanor and posture of respected commanders, not even throwing a gaze at her as she walks by. No one seems to question her presence, but none of them seem to want her there either.

She turns down a hallway, then takes a left down some stairs, the dark stair well making it near impossible to go down without moving very slowly. Rainbow slowly climbs down, moving sideways so her body doesn’t shove her forward into a face plant on the metal steps. As she begins to round the corner, a leg lashes out at her and strikes her dead in the face. She stumbles backwards into the wall, holding her nose.

“AHHHHH!” She screams out of pain, “W-who did that?! Watch where you’re walking!” She looks up, tears already starting to flow, before she spots the Hemoran she ran into before, the one she threw into the wall. His eyes seem to glow slightly out of rage.

“Oh, I was watching EXACTLY where I was going. My foot went right where I wanted it to, and it’s gonna keep going there till you ain’t moving no more!” He shouts, stepping towards Rainbow, bringing his leg back and kicking her in the chest. All the air escapes her lungs, the force of the kick tremendous, and another one finds its way into her stomach shortly after. She curls up into a ball, protecting her vital areas as the kicks keep coming, smashing away at her skeleton and flesh. She hears a single step beside her, and the kicks stop.

“So, Sergeant…mind letting me in on the fun here?” A voice rings out behind her, and she can hear a whimper come from the soldier who was assaulting her.

“C-C-C-C…” he stutters, stepping away. Rainbow opens her left eye, her chest and belly like an inferno from the attack. The soldier has a look of terror on his face, and he slides his foot back again, it running into Loki’s hand.

“Oh, no, you aren’t going anywhere.” Sehn says, finally stepping into Rainbow’s view. He grabs the soldier by the shirt and stares him dead in the eyes, Loki running over to check on Rainbow. “Now what do you think you’re doing?”

“N-N-Nothing s-sir! Nothing at all!” He stutters, following with a nervous chuckle.

“Nothing at all, eh…then how did this Private end up so injured? And I could’ve sworn I saw you kick her at least three times from the corner before me and Loki interrupted you…” Sehn hisses, his back turned to Rainbow. A reflection of purple shows in the Sergeant’s eye, and he starts sweating, sputtering, unable to come up with a coherent sentence in front of the Captain. Sehn sighs, putting the Sergeant down, and turns to walk away. The Sergeant sighs from relief, holding his chest, his hand moving slightly from his racing heart…

As Sehn’s fist flies straight into his face, throwing him right into the wall. “You know what I really hate, Loki?” He asks.

“What’s that?” She asks, feeling along Rainbow’s side for any external injuries that may be threatening.

“This. Someone picking on Rainbow because she’s some kind of killer. I’ll treat her with the same vigor when I find out she had intent to do that…but no one was expecting what came then.” He says to the wall, looking down at the Sergeant. “Oh, and you…I know exactly what you were doing, and now I’ll be watching for it. Do it again, and I’m hanging your head from my wall, and throwing your corpse off the top of the tower. You understand?”

The Sergeant quickly nods, his hand on his cheek, and he spits out some blood while standing up. He quickly salutes Sehn, and bows to Rainbow. “I’m sorry!” He exclaims before running away, stumbling a bit on the stairs as he throws a glance back to Sehn.

“How he got promoted, I’ll never know…bloody useless.” Sehn hisses, turning around to Rainbow and kneeling down. “You alright, kid?”

“No, I’m not…I just had the stuffing kicked out of me…ow…” Rainbow wheezes, holding her side. Loki looks up worriedly at Sehn, who returns the gaze, looking over at Rainbow. “Can you walk? We’ll head for the sickbay, have Doc and Jen fix you up.”

“Don’t let Doc anywhere near me…” Rainbow grunts through the pain, trying to stand before collapsing onto her stomach again, crying out in pain from the impact. Sehn sighs, putting his arms under her and picking her up, holding her over his shoulder. “Alright, I’ll carry you in that case. Can’t guarantee how far we’ll go…you’re ungodly heavy for someone your size.”

“Just walk, please…your shoulder is stabbing into me.” Rainbow wheezes, Loki jumping up to Sehn’s other shoulder and looking over at her. “I’m sorry we didn’t stop him earlier…”

“It’s fine…I’m still alive, aren’t I? Had worse things happen to me when I messed stunts up back home…” Rainbow chuckles, wincing slightly from her wounds. She stops moving, simply pivoting her head to try and dull the strain on her body. “…How’d you find me, anyway?”

“You can thank Loki for that.” Sehn answers, Rainbow looking behind her to the back of his head. “She’s a natural sensor, picks up feelings of hate from all over the base. Her senses are too rough to ID anything, and my senses have to target someone…but at least we know the direction to go in.” He chuckles, walking down another flight of steps. Rainbow shakes slightly, squeaking in pain, “Don’t step so hard…”

“Right, sorry, really injured…” Sehn says, slowing his walk down the steps to as soft as he can manage. He finally hits the bottom of the steps and turns left towards the Sick bay. He knocks on the door, it quickly opening into his face.

“HELLO?” Doc shouts into the hall, looking around. “WELL, it seems I’ve been ding dong DITCHED!” He raises his eyebrows, shouting at the wall. “HILARIOUS!” He finally exclaims, laughing and slamming the door. Sehn rubs his nose where he got slammed with the door, leaning forward. “Awwww, that HURT…”

“How do you think I feel? I just got a door slammed into my butt…I feel like my whole skeleton just shifted forward a couple inches…” Both Sehn and Rainbow groan in pain.

“What’s wrong with you two? I feel fine!” Loki brightly exclaims, both Rainbow and Sehn looking over with eyes half-closed. “Be quiet, kid…can you go get Jen? I don’t think my nose can handle another encounter with Doc…”

“On it!” Loki shouts, letting go of Sehn’s shoulder and dropping to the floor. She runs over to the door, leaping up and turning the door knob, pushing the door open. “Doctor Fresten! Patients for you!” The cry echoes out into the hall, the familiar hedgehog coming out of the sickbay to find Sehn holding Rainbow over his shoulder.

“So, which one of you has the worse injury?”

“I got my nose smashed in.” Sehn replies to Jen, rubbing his face still.

“I got my spine shoved an inch or so up…” Rainbow turns and says, teeth gritting in pain.

“Alright, I’ll take care of you both. Sehn, do be careful this time…” Jen heads back into the sickbay, Sehn following close behind, easing himself through the door so he doesn’t get stuck holding Rainbow, and so he doesn’t hit her on the door frame. He lays her down on one of the operating tables in the room, taking a seat on the table next to her, holding his face. Jen walks back with some medical supplies in hand, along with a bottle of painkillers and an ice cube.

“Captain, hold this ice cube on your nose and lean your head back. Keep the pose until I say you can stop.” She says, handing the ice to Sehn. “Yes, ma’am.” He simply replies, holding the cube to his nose and leaning his head back, the bleeding stopping.

“As for you, kiddo. Had another bad run in with the troops, I see…” Jen says, leaning over Rainbow. “Take off the coat please, I’ll need to get a good inspection of your injuries.” She moves over to the end of the table, taking the clipboard off the end, as Sehn gets up and heads over to the main area by Doc. “That’s my cue to stop watching. You ladies do your work, I’ll be here breathing my own blood through my nose.” He says with a nasally voice, sitting down as Doc quickly flies around the sickbay, taking random chemicals from a nearby cabinet before running back over to an Equestrian corpse. Rainbow looks over, seeing the body, her eyes widening.

“Don’t worry, it’s not a recent death. Doc’s expedition team found the poor soul’s corpse out in the desert, his armor still intact. We nailed down the cause of death as starvation and thirst…the desert can be a cruel place, even with a name as peaceful as Mira…” Jen says, preparing her supplies as Rainbow removes her camo jacket and pulls up the shirt under it, revealing purple swelling all along her sides. “This hurts way worse than how it looks.” She hisses out, laying back down on her belly, flat on the table.

“I’m sure it does. I’ll be keeping you here overnight, and I assume the Captain won’t be leaving you alone.” Jen raises an eyebrow, looking over at Sehn, him having turned his head to the side so he can watch Doc do his work. She raises her voice, “I ASSUME the CAPTAIN won’t be leaving you ALONE?” Sehn shifts his attention, turning his head to the left so he can see Jen and Rainbow.

“Of course I won’t leave her alone. She is one of my soldiers after all.” He says in his same nasally tone, inciting a giggle from Rainbow. “What’s so funny?”

“I…ow…I don’t know…you just sound funny.” She smiles, feeling a little better. “I guess laughter can be a medicine. Now hold still, I’m going to start getting this swelling down…” Jen says, moving the curtain over behind her as she works, Sehn turning his focus back over to Doc.

Loud snoring is the first thing that greets Rainbow as she wakes up, still drowsy from the painkillers applied to her last night. She looks behind her, seeing red bandages wrapped around her wounds. “Must’ve…broke the skin or something…” she thinks, moving her head back over to the front of the table, and trying to fall asleep again. Her breathing reveals a weight on her back, and she slowly looks over, seeing Loki sleeping on her back.

“Guess neither of them could leave me alone…” Rainbow smiles, blinking slightly before rubbing her eye, and lets out a big yawn. She looks up at a clock on the other side of the clinic, the hands pointed at the 7 twice. “Seven hundred fourty five hours…quarter before eight, eh…?” She whispers, still blinking slowly. She sees the top of a grey spike of hair in front of her, and it slowly rises up to reveal Doc’s face.

“Good evening…” He whispers, staring her dead in the face. It takes a bit for Rainbow to register what’s in front of her before she screams, Sehn jumping with a yelp and Loki flying off Rainbow’s back onto the floor. She smacks Doc in the face with her hoof, shoving away to the other side of the bed before falling off.

“What the hell?!” Sehn shouts, looking around, “Are we under attack!?”

“Darn it, Doc! Don’t creep up on ponies like that!” Rainbow shouts from the other side of the table, lying on the ground next to Loki who seems to be dazed from her flight through the air.

“Whuzz-ah-wha jus’ happen?” She says in a slur, eyes spinning in their sockets. “I was havin’ good dream ‘bout flyin’…then I’m here on my head…” She flops over onto her stomach.

Doc just laughs, “OPERATION SCARE THE PEGASUS IS A SUCCESS! Back to work!” He exclaims before running off to the other side of the clinic, quickly slapping a band-aid on the red swell on his face before continuing his rather long-going dissection of the Equestrian corpse. Rainbow just groans, rubbing her side before getting up and looking over at Loki. She picks her up and puts her on her back, walking around the table to Sehn.

“He even got you, eh, Sehn?” She asks with a smile, looking down at the silver hedgehog on the ground. He just rolls over with a groan, facing her. “I’m built for terrifying combat scenarios, and I get freaked out by you screaming in your sleep…jeeze.” He sighs, getting to his feet and looks over at Loki. “Got her, too…”

“I think that might’ve been my fault, actually.” Rainbow says, looking off to the side with a slight smirk and an apologetic look.

“Doc! Where’s Jen?” Sehn shouts, looking over at the crazy doctor working away at the corpse.

“I think she headed out with an expedition team! Those bodies aren’t going to find themselves, you know!” He shouts, not breaking his work flow. Sehn rolls his eyes and walks out of the sickbay, Rainbow in close following with Loki bouncing to each step on her back.

“It’s night time, isn’t it?” She asks.

“Yeah, you’ve been out a long time.” Sehn answers, looking back, “How do you feel?”

“Better, much better. Side still kind of burns, but that’s about it.” Rainbow says with a smile, twitching slightly with some pain. Sehn smirks, turning back. “How’s about we hit the bar, eh?”

“Been wanting to do that since yesterday.”

A good thirty minute walk later lands the pair at a dimmer lit section of the base, using red lights instead of the typical white. The walls have an ugly yellow color to them in the light, and the doors are all made from different materials, from mahogany and oak, to steel cells and heavy vault doors. The pair stops in front of a rather stately oak door, the sign above it reading “The Liver Killer”.

“I still think they should change the name on this thing…” Sehn says, walking in through the door, a massive explosion of shouting and singing flying through the door frame at him and Rainbow. This rouses Loki from her sleep, and she jumps from Rainbow’s back to her head, looking inside.

“Awww, why’re we here again?” She complains, looking over at Sehn.

“Oh yeah, I forgot, you’re still a kid, aren’t you? Usual?” Sehn says with a mocking smile, raising his left eyebrow as he looks back at her.

“Yeah, sure…” Loki says, folding her arms, as both Sehn and Rainbow walk in. A mug flies across the room, hitting the wall, two soldiers getting into a bar fight, their friends trying to stop the two drunks from killing each other and tearing up the bar.

“I’lls teach you to talks about mah momma that way!” One shouts out, “Oh yeah?! Well hows about this one! Your girlfriend is UGLY!” The other shouts back in a slur, the words descending into roars at each other.

Sehn sits down at the counter, Rainbow taking up her own spot on the stool, as Loki jumps from her head over to Sehn’s shoulder, holding on. The bartender, a rather posh looking blue hedgehog, wearing a striped jacket and simple black tie, a moustache and small round glasses on his face, the grey eyes looking aged and full of wisdom, slides over to them and bows slightly.

“And what can I get for the fine ladies and gentleman today?” He says as he rises back up to look at his customers, his voice matching his posh exterior.

“Heavy whiskey on the rocks for me, beer for the Private and milk for the kid.” Sehn says, leaning on his hand, elbow on the counter, tapping the counter with his other hand. The bartender quickly slides away, reaching for two glasses under the counter before taking out two bottles of alcohol, pouring the drinks.

“Mark’s on the ball today.” Rainbow says with a smile, looking over the counter. “He always is, kid…he does run this place as a business. Only bar within 400 miles, sadly. Don’t you Equestrians have drunkards?” Sehn asks, looking over.

“I dunno. I’ve never seen anyone stumbling through Cloudsdale with that stupid look on their face, hiccupping and stumbling along before they eventually face plant on the street.” Rainbow turns, seeing one of the Corporals do exactly as she described, slamming his face into the floor, though no beer flies out of the bottle in his right hand. “Like that, I never see that.” Rainbow says, pointing at him.

Sehn smirks, turning back to look at the counter, Mark sliding back over. “Your drinks, sir and madams…” He says with a bow, placing the short glass of whiskey and ice in front of Sehn, the bottle of beer in front of Rainbow, and the glass of milk just beside the whiskey for Loki. Sehn picks up the milk and hands it to Loki, who’s climbed up to his head, and she begins chugging away at it. Sehn takes a sip of his own drink, Rainbow joining in.

“So, what’re you gonna do with your time off, kid?” Sehn asks, looking over at Rainbow, the movement of his head knocking Loki slightly off balance, but she quickly stabilizes herself and finishes half the glass of milk, letting out a mighty sigh of satisfaction.

“I dunno…maybe practice my flying. Not sure about the air restrictions around the base though.” She says, sipping her beer.

“Only ones who can actually fly are in the DRAGON Unit, so air restrictions are pretty much non-existant. You’re wearing the uniform, so you’re not gonna be seen as an enemy. Want a partner? Got most of the day off from patrols tomorrow.” He asks, taking another sip of his whiskey.

“Sure. Wanna make a race of it?” Rainbow says with a smile.

“You’re on.”

A mug flies past Sehn’s head and into the wall of bottles in front of him, and he turns around to see a Lieutenant, completely smashed, looking angrily at him.

“SssssEHN…you bashtard...!” He shouts, stumbling over to the counter. He grabs Sehn by the collar and looks him dead in the face, his eyes shifting from a sleepy look to someone who just came out of a sugar factory after eating all its stock. “I know you know that I know…that HE KNOWS…that…YOU, have something…something…uh…” He stutters, stroking his chin. “S-something thhhat starts wif a ‘g’…g…giiii…girl…girlfin…griffin…A GRIFFIN. Yeah, that’s it, you has a GRIFFIN.” He sputters with an accusing point at Loki, staring at her. She stares back, her cup of milk nearly empty, a dumbfounded look on her face.

“Wait, I’m down here, bozo.” Sehn says, the Lieutenant shifting his gaze downwards. “Ohhh, there y’are, thought you could run away from me, uh? Well I’ll teach you a lesson you will forget…uh…I-I mean WON’T…won’t REMEMBER…um…ahhh screw it.” He says as he raises his left fist up and throws it at Sehn, missing completely and smashing into the corner of the counter. He looks at the fist, moving it back into his sight. “Ow.”

“Wow.” Sehn says, raising his eyebrows. “Mark, cut this guy off, I think he’s had twenty drinks too much!” Sehn shouts over to the bartender, Rainbow laughing hard at the whole thing. Loki joins in the laugh as Sehn turns back, smiling to the Lieutenant. “Aright buddy, you’ve had a lot to drink tonight, back to your room with ya.”

“It ishn’t my bed time though!” The Lieutenant exclaims, complaining like a child. He slouches down and pouts as hard as he can, before turning around and walking towards the door, the whole bar exploding into laughter. Rainbow turns back around, finishing off her beer and laying her head on the counter. She closes her eyes and dozes off with a smile on her face.

Tearing wind greets her ears next, the sound all consuming, the darkness around her having eaten all the light in the world. She tries to right herself, but every movement sends her into a harder and harder roll through the air. She tries to move her hoof in front of her face, and touches her nose, nothing but darkness showing in her vision.

She’s falling fast, far too fast to survive any form of impact with the ground below her…if there was any. How long was she out for? How far was it back to the surface? Gravity seemed to be pulling her from random directions, slowing her down or speeding her up, throwing her to the left or yanking her to the right, the tumble lasting for a long time.

She tries opening her wings, them refusing to budge, and she continues speeding up. She feels a burn in her eyes and on her cheeks, marking that she’s been crying. Gravity pulls at her from below her, now feeling like she’s flying down a road at an extremely high speed, the downward fall slow. She taps the ground beneath her, sending her into a mad barrel roll through the air, and she crashes down onto the gravel below her. Four flips, five flips, seven flips, she keeps rolling and rolling until she eventually comes to a stop, a good sixty or seventy feet from her landing zone.

She coughs hard, spitting out some blood. “Where…how…?” She whispers, looking around, trying to gather her surroundings. Nothing but darkness, but she can definitely feel jagged rocks under her. She moves her legs under her, trying to stand, before a stabbing anguish from her knee plants her belly back on the ground. She looks at her right hind leg, trying to see the damage.

From what she can feel, the knee has been messed up badly, most of the skin on the kneecap and along the shin has been removed, and it’s bleeding profusely. A trickle of light shines down from behind Rainbow, and she turns around, seeing a dim ring of light from above, and just above it, she can see fog cover. “T-the cliff!” Rainbow quickly realises where she’s lying, and looks forward in shock. “I’m on the CLIFFSIDE?!” She shrieks into the darkness, her voice echoing out into the shadows as pain once again shoots up from her knee. She recoils from it, gritting her teeth, the damaged leg twitching as the muscles react to the nerve signals. Her breath exits as a hiss.

“How’d…how’d I end up here?” She asks herself quietly, thinking back. The cliff, the Pegasus with the pink mane she was talking to, the kick…that look on her face. “Right…that’s how I ended up here…” Rainbow sighs, looking down. Fluttershy kicked her down here, and now she’s stuck on a jagged Cliffside, her knee too wounded to move properly and her wings glued to her sides, left to bleed out in the darkness…she looks to her right, seeing drips of red fall past her down into the darkness below the cliff. She tries opening her wings again, them twitching but refusing to give her a hand.

“C’mon, not now…I’m not going to die, not now, I just need my wings to work for once when I need them!” Rainbow hisses out, another shot of pain hitting her in the back of her mind as her leg twitches. Her wings open fully, all the strength in the world in them, and her spirits skyrocket. “Yes! Alright, now to get out of here, find Fluttershy and Sehn, and finish th-“

A loud buzz from the walkie talkie cries out to Rainbow, and she quickly freezes. A few moments later, a loud, booming laugh echoes out from the shadows, all around Rainbow. “AHAHAHAHAHAA!” The deep voice shouts, snorting between laughs, “I-I’m sorry, so sorry…but you, thinking you can leave…sorry, that’s rich.”

“Who’s there?!” Rainbow shouts into the darkness, knowing the answer.

“Who? Well…I’m not entirely sure there’s an answer to that question. I can tell you WHAT I am…but as for who, well…I don’t really have an identity.” The darkness replies, seeming to question itself. Rainbow grimaces, the pain from her leg all too big a reason for her not to fight, but the voice sounds too familiar for it to be something in her head.

“Why’re you talking to me?” Rainbow shouts into the darkness, fighting off the stabbing pain in her mind, trying to focus on the voice.

“I’m not sure. One side of me wants to see how you’re doing, possibly fix your leg...”, The voice shifts to a higher pitch, “Another side of me wants to see you bleed out in agony!” The voice then shifts back to a female voice, regal and commanding, “Another side of me simply wants to see where you’ll go from here…” Finally, the voice shifts to a very familiar, meek voice, “Another side of me wants to see you again…”

Rainbow opens her eyes wide at the last voice, looking around. She looks up, back at the light, seeing it has now faded into the shadows, causing the entire cliff side to disappear from sight. Looking around once more, defeat begins to settle into her soul, the pain breaking through her will. She rolls onto her right side, trying to get the leg to ease its twitching.

“Ohhh, what’s wrong? Is the poor little girl hurt?” A voice echoes from just above her head, and she looks up, seeing two piercing red eyes staring back at her. “How utterly satisfying…” it continues, the voice sounding like a deep, twisted version of Sehn.

“You…” Rainbow hisses back, “Why’re you here, just come to watch me die?”

“Heavens no, I’m here to shepherd you away…for you to die here, it just wouldn’t look good.” He says, as the whole world rolls onto its side, gravity beginning its death pull on Rainbow. The shadow stands on the cliff as the whole world begins to move upwards, quickly becoming a blur as she falls into the abyss.

Rainbow feels herself lying on something soft, something moving under her. It shapes to her body and supports her like a cloud, and it pushes her up and down, as if trying to find a way to support her just right against gravity. She moves slightly, yawning, all the exhaustion of her travels quickly catching up. A nap at this point would be great, until something rocks the very space around her and forces her to open her eyes.

Through the drowsy haze, she can make out the blurs of structures, the street she’s lying on, the red sky above her. A shadow stands in the middle of the street, unmoving, and the world sharpens around it, only it coming through as a clear image through the haze.

“Awaken, child…” It whispers, the robed figure of an Equestrian with a simple looking emerald around its neck. Rainbow gets to her hooves, standing up, finding no pain coming from her knee. She flexes her legs in a stretch to get the blood flowing, opening her wings and flapping them a few times before looking around herself.

The world seems to remain in an unintelligible blur, while the figure beside her is sharp as if she was looking at it in the day time. She looks back at the shadow, not wanting to start a fight, the radio still quiet. “What are you meant to be?”

“A questioner, who has existed here for quite some time.” The pony answers, staring back at Rainbow.

“…Where are we?” Rainbow asks, looking around, nothing coming into focus for her besides the other pony.

“A place created by somepony.” He answers. He sounds very young, not much older than Rainbow Dash.

“Not very clear, Mr. Shady.” Rainbow answers with a grimace, keeping her distance from him.

“A clear answer would be one without a preceding question, Miss Dash.”

“Ok?”

“One must find the question for the answer to make sense, correct?”

“Wha…?”

“Questions await answers, and answers await questions. Without the other, the prior is useless. One without context, the other without explanation.”

“Stop talking like that!” Rainbow shouts.

“The answer you search for resides within the fog…but to attain it, you must complete your trials. One gate lies open, revealing another, and this requires the key that you will find difficult to provide…”

“Within the fog, gate, key, provide? Oh for Celestia’s sake, be straight with me. What are you talking about?”

“I speak of you and your continuing hardships here. Must I explain everything?” The pony sighs, shaking his head.

“You’re not very good at this whole ‘questioning’ thing, you know that, right?” Rainbow raises an eyebrow, staring at the cloaked pony.

“All I’m meant to do is grant to you the answer, and then send you on your way to find the question. The path before you is going to be long and arduous, and this world will be that path until you reach the gate. I shall await you at the end of everything…” The pony nods before turning and walking away, disappearing into the distance. Rainbow simply stares onward, mouth agape.

“What the HAY was he talking about?!” She shouts off into the empty street, demanding the air itself give her some form of answer. She groans in frustration and takes a step forward, stomping down on a piece of paper, the crunch of it catching her attention. She looks down at it, raising an eyebrow.

“This wasn’t here before…” She thinks, sitting down to look at the note. She stares at it, the road around it blurry to the point of being unrecognizable, but the note being clear as day.

The path through life is laden with questions,
But the most important ones live without an answer.
A search for the answer, a look into the past,
Freedom is but a leap of faith in the right direction.

The answers you seek are mentions of the spirit,
The power you wish for is locked away inside.
Find your question, for you have your answer,
‘Five.’

“…I hate this world.” Rainbow mumbles to herself, before picking up the note and placing it in her bag. After taking stock everything and flexing her right hind leg again to make sure it’s not injured, she begins walking through the oily stains of the street. “What kind of question would have such a vague answer? If only Twilight were here…her brain could get around anything.” Rainbow mumbles to herself, looking over the world.

Just as the road had been, the buildings, the horizon, even the sky itself seemed to have this foggy look to it, bending and moving as Rainbow walked through the streets. Nothing seemed to come into focus, even her footsteps sounded like a muffled echo from down a long hallway. All she knew about this world was the road she walked on felt soft and plush, bouncing slightly as she stepped on it. Something opens in a building off to her right, causing her to freeze.

A squeak of a door’s hinges, echoing from miles away, marks the opening of the wall just feet away from Rainbow. A blur walks out, blue in color and as tall as a Hemoran, and begins moving through the street. The walkie talkie begins to buzz, but it sounds as muffled and distant as the door hinges. The blur seems to look towards Rainbow, the eyes impossible to make out. A wave of black radiates from the ground under it, reaching her hooves in an instant, and she jumps from the feeling it carried shunting itself straight into her heart, a feeling of dire hatred, a sickness from being in simple proximity with the blur.

It begins walking away, each footstep leaving behind the same wave, though far smaller. The buzz begins to fade, leaving Rainbow in complete silence, beyond her shallow breathing.

“This world just…keeps messing with me.” She thinks, watching the blur fuse with the environment until it disappears, melting into the haze. Rainbow continues her walk down the street, simply wanting out of this crazed world, until a few moments later she comes to another road, sharp in her vision compared to the rest of the world.

The road is made of clouds, thunderheads, black in color with sparks running across the valleys in it. The buildings along it are still blurry, however, but share the same color. “Where does this go?” She thinks, using her own voice to keep her company in this quiet world, and she proceeds down the side street. A wind blows past her, a very warm breeze as if it were passing over the open mouth of a volcano, and a newspaper being carried by it flies into Rainbow’s face. It comes suddenly, causing her to jump and flail a bit before she can register that the paper is, in fact, not trying to kill her.

She pulls it off her face and looks it over, the writing impossible to make out, but the headline seems important being slightly easier to see than the rest. The words “Eques” and “Hem” can be made out, but the rest seems to meld together into the same black line. Rainbow sighs, “Is this world taking lessons from Pinkie?”, she thinks, shoving the paper into her bag in the hopes it may reveal more later. Continuing down the road, the sharp path seems to begin to blur immediately, marking the end of the street as it leads into another, just as blurred as the rest of the world. She walks to the end and looks around, before spotting a very sharp area on a wall near to her.

It covers a window, the wooden crossbars around the glass look brand new with spots of red across them and the windows. Inside, a shadow can be made out, an Equestrian shape, standing in the room but not moving. In front of it is a blurred image, but holding the same body shape…something seems to be protruding from where its mouth should be. A note hangs next to the window, but it doesn’t grab Rainbow’s attention for some time, her vision locked on the frozen scene in the room. A wave of dread radiates through Rainbow, only for an instant, and she pulls her eyes away from the scene.

“I’ve told myself not to question what happens here, but…why do things here feel so ominous?” She blinks a few times, looking to the left of the window, spotting the source of the sharpness. A note hangs by a rusty nail, puncturing the wall of black clouds, sparking occasionally from the electricity running through the walls. She walks up to it, and reads over the note.

The number of cities in Equestria.

There is a lump under the single line of text, and Rainbow moves the paper up, spotting a small blue medallion, with the shape of a star in the center of it embedded into the thunderhead. She drops the paper back down in front of it, looking at the single line of text.

“The number of cities…? Well…there’s Canterlot, that’s one…Manehatten…Cloudsdale…Fillydelphia…I feel like there should be one more, though.” Rainbow thinks hard, tapping her hoof on the ground. “Ahh, can’t think of any others…but what’s the point of this?” She thinks, squinting her eyes at the piece of paper. “…Questions need answers, and answers need questions…then…” She mumbles, turning to her bag and pulling out the note she’d just gotten. “’Five’ is my answer…so I guess this is the wrong question? I guess it wouldn’t make sense for a question like this to have two answers…” She mumbles before sticking the note back in her bag and turning around. She hears a cracking sound come from next to her, and looks over at the note, seeing blue dust fall from behind the note.

“…I really hope I didn’t need that…” She thinks with a grimace before walking off, the road that was once sharp now just as blurry as the rest of the world. She turns to the left and looks along the road, seeing the static worsen along the clouds until it becomes a steady flow of lightning far down the street, blocking her way. Two alleys open near the field of static where the bolts can’t seem to reach, both of them blurred. She turns around, looking down the other side of the street, until she spots a door that seems clear of the haze. “Well…the path I could see clearly lead to a note…so maybe this will too?” Rainbow ponders, walking towards the door. She stops, and quickly looks up to a rooftop on a short building to her right, feeling something watching her. Two red dots can be seen just over the ridge of the roof, but seem to blend in with the sky. She furrows her brow and moves on, continuing her stare for a couple steps before turning to the door.

The door creaks open, revealing the tall blue Hemoran again, though it seems a bit more defined. Green can be made out on its body, ending in black gloves, and the head seems to run from blue to a blur of color at the tip of the spike. The eyes shift back over to Rainbow, still too blurry to make out, but that same wave of black comes to her and stabs her in the heart. She looks down at the wave at it touches her, and spots her coat lose color for a second. Looking back up, the shape is gone, leaving a small black flame where it was standing.

“W..what…?” Rainbow says, stunned by what just happened. Equestrians don’t change physically unless they go under massive mental or emotional change…but usually it’s through something that happens to them, not from some blur staring at you. She looks down at the flame, and it spreads into a small line across the street, cutting off the path forward. The door doesn’t seem to be cut off however.

“Like a big neon sign.” She thinks before moving over to the door, looking inside. It seems to be a still shot of a briefing for a squadron, four armed soldiers standing at the far side of the room. They seem to be looking at the door, at Rainbow, waiting for somepony. She steps into the room, and the four soldiers stand at attention and salute her. She simply stares at the four Royal Guard members, all dressed in steel armor with swords at the ready in their scabbards.

“Uh…” Rainbow whispers, looking across the four knights, all staring at her in expectance of something. “Um…what are you four doing here?”

“Awaiting orders, ma’am.” The one on the left, a brown Pegasus dressed in silver armor answers with a deep voice.

“From who?” Rainbow asks, looking at the one on the left.

“From our commander.” The one on the right answers, a white Pegasus in the same armor with a feminine, quiet tone.

“Where is this?”

“Classified, ma’am.” The one on the left answers again, the two in the middle, a green Pegasus in gold armor and a purple unicorn in a royal blue robe nod.

“Why?” Rainbow asks, looking at the unicorn.

“Citizens aren’t meant to be here, ma’am.” The unicorn answers, sounding like Twilight.

“Then why are you here, Twi?” Rainbow asks with a smirk.

“I was asked to assist this squad with my magic abilities.” She answers with a matter-of-fact tone, some of her red-streaked mane falling in front of her eyes. She sweeps it away.

“Uh huh…um…while you’re waiting, mind if I look around?” Rainbow asks, rubbing the back of her neck and looking around.

“You should head upstairs until someone comes to take you back.” The gold armored Pegasus answers with an aged tone, a short white beard on his chin. Rainbow nods slowly, looking at the four, and starts walking to the steps. She looks back, seeing them fading back into a hazy state, becoming four blurred shapes, Twilight still slightly recognizable. Rainbow shakes her head and walks up the steps, each one clearer than the last. She rounds the corner, walking up the last few steps before being presented with a hallway, two doors on either side of her and a note at the end of the hall. She walks up to the note and looks it over.

The number of souls in the room below.

“Well, that’s easy…it’s four, isn’t it?” Rainbow asks, tilting her head. “But…what about that blur?” She asks herself, rubbing her chin before a sound echoing up from the stair well grabs her attention.

“Alright, troops, this is the game plan. We’re currently in enemy territory, in a forward base they set up, and we’ve infiltrated without as much as a whisper. This is going to continue until we find and capture her. Twilight, you’re taking Robertson to the southern end of the cloud, while me and Sarah are heading North. Jacob, you’re holding position here and evaccing all civilians still in the Red Zone. Is that understood, Thunderstrike?

“Yes, sir!” The four voices reverberate back through the hall, and footsteps can be heard moving.

“Wait, it’s five!” Rainbow quickly spins around to the note and raises it, grabbing the blue medallion under it. This one has the design of two wings within a hollow circle, and seems to have a hole for something to be inserted into it at the bottom where the two wing roots touch. The note bursts into green flame, and the sounds of somepony climbing up the steps can be heard. Rainbow quickly stuffs the medallion into her bag and blows out the green flame, turning around to see the brown Pegasus.

“Civilian, we’re leaving. Do you live here?” He asks.

“I-uh-um…I-I don’t know, where are we?” Rainbow says with a shrug and a look of confusion.

“As was said, that’s classified. Now come on, I’ll assume you don’t live here. I’ll take you to the edge of the cloud and you can fly off.” He says with a tone demanding no questions, and turns around to walk away.

“Wait! I-I heard someone downstairs say ‘Thunderstrike Unit’…is-“

“That is the name of our squadron, yes. Miss Sparkle is a soldier sent under express order by the Princess, as she will be invaluable to this. Now come along, we don’t have much time.” He cuts her off, and begins trotting off to the stair well. Rainbow follows close behind before the two doors on the sides of the hallway immediately open up, cutting off her path. A few seconds later they close, and the guardsman is gone.

“Oh, shoot!” Rainbow exclaims, running for the steps and heading down them, not feeling the gaze of the entity standing at the end of the hall behind her. She skids to a stop at the bottom of the steps, absolute terror entering her from the scene of the room.

Blood is splattered all across the walls, and three bodies are grouped together on the floor, another body lying against the wall. One of the bodies moves, the white Pegasus, and she rolls onto her gut, coughing hard. Rainbow sprints over to her, looking over her armor. It’s full of slashes, cuts and dents…the poor mare was caught in a three on one fight.

“A-Are you OK?!” Rainbow shouts, going for the medkit in her bag. She pulls it out as the Pegasus puts a hoof to her face.

“Don’t waste that on me…” She wheezes, looking at the floor, blood slowly trickling out of her mouth. She looks to her two fallen allies, then to the body on the wall, spotting that it’s still moving. She growls at it, getting slowly to her feet, revealing a disastrous wound on her belly, spilling blood and revealing some intestine, all of it still being held inside by her armor. She drags herself over to the body on the wall, taking a sword out of the floor, lethal intent in her eyes.

“Oh no…” Rainbow mutters, looking at the corpse on the wall. It’s a green-colored Hemoran, impaled against the wall on a short sword, his camos nearly completely coated in newly-spilled blood, though he himself doesn’t seem wounded beyond the sword stuck through his lower stomach. He looks up at the approaching Pegasus and smiles, “This has been a long time coming…”

“Silence, monster…” She hisses through the sword, wincing under the inferno of pain in her legs. She begins to fall slightly, but Rainbow sprints over quickly and supports her using a wing, lifting her and her heavy armor back up. “I need to treat you, ma’am, please, let me help y-“

“I don’t need help!” The mare shouts into Rainbow’s face, turning quickly and hacking up a cloud of bloody mist, collapsing under her own weight. Rainbow falls with her, yanking out her wing before it’s crushed under the armor. “I…I’m already too far gone…” She whispers, staring at the Hemoran with a blood thirst that radiates off her. She hears the drawing of a knife, Rainbow stepping into her view.

“What happened here?!” She hisses through the knife, staring into the Hemoran’s eyes. He opens them wide, shocked, then slides his right hand over to a small knife on the floor. Rainbow follows it as it brings the blade up towards her, and goes to step back…

As the blade flies past her and straight into the Hemoran’s forehead, a sickening crunch sounding out as it easily splits his skull and enters his brain, killing him instantly. He dies with a permanently shocked look, as if he was about to scream…

Rainbow drops her knife, mouth agape at what just happened. She turns to the Pegasus, who also seems to have died…but with a smile on her face, happy that at least the killer of her friends was dead being the only guess Rainbow can come up with. She sits down, looking around at the room, numb to her own emotions. When did this fight occur, and why didn’t she hear it when she could hear the discussion so clearly?

That all aside…where was Twilight?

Chapter 13: ...and Shadows Of The Future

“There…done.” Rainbow wipes her brow, looking down at the clouds before her. Four simple towers of cloud stand at the front of four piles of clouds, draped like a blanket over what lies underneath. She bows and closes her eyes, saying a prayer. “Even though he attacked you…everypony should get a proper burial.” She mutters, opening her eyes half way, a solemn look on her face.

“I’m sorry I wasn’t there to help you.” She says, speaking to the spirits of the four now buried, and turns to her left, seeing the door is now covered in haze once more. “Time to move on…” She says to herself, walking towards the field of static at the end of the street. She looks at her bag, the medallion still in her possession, and looks down at the medal hanging off her neck, still hanging on strong.

The street jumps with lightning, just feet away from Rainbow, the two side streets stretching off into hazy oblivion. Neither are sharpened, but both cross into proper areas. “Eeny meeny miny..ah to heck with it.” Rainbow says, walking down the left path. The sound of the rolling static fades behind her as she proceeds forward, the world itself beginning to shift and change around her…

A siren echoes off in the distance, quiet, and a smell of rot enters Rainbow’s nose. She freezes, knowing what comes next, and backs away from the bending fog in front of her, the siren fading away as she does so. “OK, right path this time.” She says with a tinge of fear in her voice, as she quickly turns around and runs back to the static field. A voice echoes out from behind her.

“And where’s the little filly running off to now?” It says, laughing.

“Away from here, that’s for sure. Now I’ve got more reason with you here.” Rainbow says, continuing her run down the alley. The exit seems to extend further and further away, something closing over it. Rainbow speeds up her sprint before seeing a flash of silver before her, three sharp blades flying through the wall. Rainbow stops just as they stab into the opposite wall, creating a wall before her.

“Please, this is easy…” She mocks the blades before her, trying to open her wings. They feel glued to her sides, and she just looks on. “…I hate this place.” She exclaims, staring at the swords, then turns back around towards the bending fog, sighing. “I really, REALLY, hate this place…”

“Oh, come now, Amanda! It’s so fun here!” The voice echoes out, surprising Rainbow.

“Wh-how do you know that name?!” She shouts into the void, stopping.

“My dear, I know a whole lot more than you give me credit for…but for you to find out exactly what, you’ll have to come find me. I’m even feeling generous enough to give you a hint as to where I am!” The voice exclaims in a sarcastic tone.

“And what’s that hint? ‘Dig till you hit lava’?” Rainbow smirks, looking around for the source of the voice.

“Aha, clever, but no. The hint is…” The voice echoes out, “RIGHT NEXT TO YOU.” It shouts, right next to Rainbow’s right ear. She spins around to see a shadow fading away. She stops breathing, stumbling a bit and colliding with the wall on her left, the static from the thunderhead jumping through her and starting her on an erratic breathing rate, collapsing to her belly with a stunned look of terror.

“PAHAHAHAHA! Oh, the look on your face…priceless!” The voice laughs, that sickeningly twisted version of Sehn. “I couldn’t resist, you see…this is a very bad pastime of mine. You’ll find your hint in front of you. Farewell…” The voice says with a vocal bow, and fades into the haze along the pressure on Rainbow’s lungs. She takes a deep breath to try and ease her lungs, before letting out a long sigh and standing up. Her eyes search along the path in front of her before they settle on a piece of paper nailed to the wall, it and some of the cloud around it clear as day. She walks up to the paper, spotting another window and looking into it.

Through it, she can see a bright, pink room, strewn with streamers, confetti, treats and presents. In the middle of the room, she can see Pinkie Pie entertaining her friends, her leg around what should be somepony…but instead just air. She can hear Pinkie’s laughing as she looks in through the window, feeling a sense of welcoming…but also foreboding. Rarity, Twilight and Applejack are all there, but she and Fluttershy seem to be missing. “…Life wouldn’t be the same without you guys…” She smiles, looking in the window. She looks to the note next.

To be viewing this means you’ve guessed correctly,
The question you sought matched the answer.
Further onward, your path only grows more treacherous,
Your pain more agonizing, your sadness more crippling.

To find your answer is to fight these emotions,
To find the one way home and follow it to the end.
Find your own way, using this answer as your guide,
‘Will’.

“Yet another cryptic riddle…” Rainbow sighs, taking the note off the wall and popping the tab off her bag, only to see that there are two notes in her bag instead of three. She raises her eyebrow, placing the note on the cloud in front of her, taking the other two out. It seems the one with the answer ‘Five’ has disappeared. “Weird…but at least it’s not threatening for me…I hope.” She thinks to herself before placing all three notes in her bag, staring down the path and into the haze, the window having faded from the wall. She wills herself to move forward, but her legs won’t budge.

“C’mon Dash, you’ve faced harder challenges in the past…the Sonic Rainboom, you saved the Wonderbolts and Rarity back at the Young Flyers Competition…all those stunts you invented…all of them were harder than taking a few steps into that world. So what’s holding you back now, right?” She says to herself, trying to steel her nerves and calm her mind so her legs will move.

“So move, Dash…everypony’s waiting for you!” She says to herself as she starts walking towards the fog, the siren sounding out again, becoming louder with every step she takes into the bending world before her. Before long, her hoof meets the familiar, squishy flesh of the iron fenced floor, and the smell of rot comes to her in full force.

“Feels just as bad, looks just as bad…and I think it smells worse now…” She says to herself, looking around at the walls. She reaches into her bag and pulls out the lantern, surprised to find it sitting in the bag, waiting to be used. It lights up the room around her, though not revealing a whole lot of the room itself. The darkness seems to expand much farther than the hall, or even the last fenced room she was in before, the floors covered in moving, dark red flesh, with columns of bone flying high into the room from them, the columns seeming to move upwards every few minutes, the floor constructing new bone.

Choir can be heard in the distance, an eerie opposite to the room in its near-angelic tone and soft follow-through. The sound bounces around the room, echoing over itself, almost syncing up yet falling apart. Rainbow shivers, looking at the room, before walking forward, revealing some more of the room. Figures can be seen standing along a stained red carpet leading up a stair well, all very still. Rainbow begins to walk along the carpet when her walkie talkie starts hissing softly, and she looks around while proceeding, wishing she had some kind of strap for the lantern so her knife could be used.

As she moves past the figures, what they are unnerves Rainbow. Dead bodies line the carpet, struck in heroic or tragic poses on marble pedestals, unmarred by the blood and flesh of the room. The left side showing Hemorans while the right side has Equestrians. They all seem to have inscriptions on the pedestals they’re all standing on.

The armed soldiers, holding their blades with the tip stabbed into the pedestal, have armor and blade stained with blood, rusting slightly, while the unarmed soldiers are all perfectly clean. The Hemoran side is completely inhabited by bladed soldiers, all holding the exact same pose, staring across the red carpet at the Equestrian side, which is inhabited by armed Royal Guard soldiers, mages with horns lit, earth ponies ready to fight, but the final two corpses strike Rainbow with a sense of despair that could only be felt through stories…

The final two corpses, just before the steps begin, are Sehn and Fluttershy. They stand facing Rainbow instead of each other, Sehn covered in blood splattered black armor and wielding a silver long sword with a saw-like blade, while Fluttershy wears a pure white robe, hood draped over her back. They’re both frowning, looking down at Rainbow as if the one before them had made a wrong that could never be corrected. Sehn looks down with a venom that poisons the soul and cripples the heart, while Fluttershy simply looks down with a depressed look that would simply crush an individual. Rainbow’s hind legs collapse under her, sitting down with a thud, all strength gone from her body as she looks on.

“Oh my God…” She whispers, her bottom lip trembling as she raises a hoof to her mouth. The one friend who showed her any kindness during her time in the desert, and the one whom she loved so dearly now stand before her, all light gone from their eyes…and they look at her with a sense of disappointment. Tears begin to flow from Rainbow’s eyes, looking from body to body. “W-What happened…to you two…?” She asks, her hoof falling away from her mouth and landing with a splatter on the fleshy ground. She shudders, looking at the stair well, as a laugh echoes from the darkness…

“Well? How do you like it?” The darkness asks, as if wanting praise for an artistic masterpiece. Rainbow just shudders with depression and rage at the voice, unable to find the words to express her emotions without exploding into a crying fit. A shadow fades into view, sitting on the third step in front of her, something that looks like Sehn, but with yellow eyes with red irises and white, slit pupils, while his armor is jagged and sharp like the scales of a dragon. “I asked you a question, Dash. It’s impolite to not answer.” He says again in a matter-of-fact tone, looking at the two bodies before Rainbow.

“You…you did this…didn’t you?” Rainbow hisses, looking up, nothing but anger in her eyes.

“Well, I’m not going to say I FOUND them like this. I suppose I’ll let you derive the rest…” He says, looking at his left gauntlet’s finger tips in boredom, leaning his head on his right hand. He blows on the tips, rubbing them on his armor, and he looks at them again, a slight glint being shown in his eye from them.

“You monster…”

“Grade A sleuthing, Detective Dash. What will be your next great discovery? That what you’re standing on is flesh? That the room stinks?” He says, raising his eyebrows and smiling. “Or perhaps it will be simply that your friends are dead?” He says, moving his gaze over to Fluttershy, getting up and walking down to her body. He runs a hand along her mane, rubbing his chin with his free hand.

“Leave her alone!” Rainbow screeches at him, being ignored.

“That is hardly the way you speak to a Colonel, Miss Dash. But I’m feeling especially kind today, so I’ll let it slide just this once.” He says, smirking as he feels along the corpse’s chin, as if appraising artwork. “Magnificent build…very feminine, proportions are all correct…if only I’d met her first instead of you, I’d be rather happy.” He says, not looking away from the corpse as he places a hand on his hip.

“I SAID LEAVE HER ALONE!” Rainbow shouts with all the might she can muster, trying to stand up. Her hind legs feel numb under her, as if frozen from this man’s presence. He looks over at her, and his gaze immediately presses her spirit to the floor, the feeling of him a towering shadow above Rainbow.

“And I said you don’t speak to a Colonel like that…must I teach you a lesson?” He growls, furrowing his brow. He walks away from Fluttershy’s corpse and towards Rainbow, crossing the distance in a few steps. She looks down at the floor, trying to avoid his gaze by staring at his boots, and he kneels down in front of her. “You seem troubled, child…what could possibly be terrifying the great Rainbow Dash?”

“No-Nothing…” She stutters, moving her gaze to the left quickly. All she can feel is pure, bone-shattering terror and fear from this man’s simple presence and voice. He hasn’t even raised a fist and she already feels like running away.

“I’m certain there’s something…these eyes have never lied in the past. Every one of my victims…” he says, grabbing Rainbow by the chin and pulling her look to him, “…had the same, beautiful look of terror in their eyes…those little gems of light, a doorway into the soul…a doorway I happily jarred open…” he says, moving a hand up into Rainbow’s view, her eyes locking on it. “…and pulled their soul from…” the hand moves closer, “…Just to watch them die.” He hisses, finally shoving his hand forward, Rainbow immediately blacking out.

The hissing of the walkie talkie awakens Rainbow, her eyes snapping open to take in the environment around her. She’s still in that room with the red carpet, but all the corpses except for Sehn and Fluttershy seem to have vanished, leaving empty pedastals, covered in blood. Rainbow immediately jumps to her hooves, feeling the strength in her hind legs return, and she quickly picks up the lantern lying sideways in front of her. She looks up at Sehn and Fluttershy, both of them holding the same disappointed look.

“I’m…sorry I couldn’t be there for you two…you both deserve a proper burial when this is over…” Rainbow whispers through the lantern handle, slowly walking forward towards the steps. The drawing of a sword beside her forces her to jump back, the silver, saw-edged blade stabbing down into where she was just standing. Rainbow’s fear further increases by the sound of the walkie talkie emitting a banshee’s scream, alarming her to a danger she’s never faced before.

Sehn’s corpse draws the blade back from the ground, the eyes closed and blood trickling from the mouth, and he takes a heavy step off the pedestal. He brings the blade up to balance on his shoulder, and looks over at Fluttershy. He growls at it, turning to face it, bringing the blade tip up to her face.

“STOP!!!” Rainbow screams, launching herself forward into Sehn’s side, throwing him into the stair well with a mighty crunch. She plants a hoof down onto his sword arm, keeping the blade pinned to the stairs, and stares him dead in the face. “NO ONE desecrates her body! And after I’m done here, I’m going after your twin!” She shouts before being thrown off by a kick planted against her belly, it easily catapulting her across the room. The lantern crashes down onto the carpet, lighting several trails of fire leading across the room, the flames reaching up to the ceiling, lighting the entire room.

The flesh retreats from the fire as the sound of dangling, clinking chains finally enters Rainbow’s hearing. Both she and Sehn’s corpse look up at the chains, and Rainbow gasps at the sight of ponies being hanged from these chains, all completely immaculate. They were all executed, and not even a fight was put up…Rainbow takes a step back before the sound of clanking armor forces her view downwards towards Sehn, who’s now sprinting towards her, sword raised. Rainbow quickly draws her knife and jumps to the right out of the way of the simple vertical slash, running forward while bringing the knife in a horizontal slice across his gut. The knife grinds along his armor, and Rainbow feels him turn to the left…

Followed by the burning pain of a sword being jammed into her side, easily piercing her camo jacket and skin. She leaps to the side, blood spurting from the wound in the left of her belly, slowly skidding to a stop on the slippery, bloody flesh, looking at where she struck Sehn’s armor. Barely a scratch was left behind, a simple white line being the only discernible mark from the strike. “One exchange and I’m already wounded…” Rainbow thinks, her train of thought being interrupted by a quick stab of pain from her wound. Sehn slowly turns towards her, sword balanced on his shoulder, and he begins walking over. Rainbow swallows a bit of saliva, thinking of a plan. The head of the corpse is unarmoured, lacking a helmet, but the rest of the body is covered in that extremely hard armor. The sound is very distinct, and the body seems capable only of swift sword strikes.

“Alright…so if I stick to speed…” Rainbow mumbles, opening her wings and flapping them a few times, “…No, Dash, it’s not Sehn…it’s some possessed corpse. Aim for the head…aim for the head…” She repeats in her mind, looking behind her quickly to see she’s right next to one of the trails of fire lighting the room. She moves left, the corpse following and walking straight to her. It leans down and leaps forward, grabbing the sword with both hands and crossing the distance in only a moment. It swings with deadly aim at Rainbow’s neck, which she ducks under, feeling the top of her mane be shaved off by the sharp blade. She looks up, seeing the body rolling in the air, and jumps forward as the blade comes down where she was, opening a large gash in the ground, cutting through both the flesh on the floor and the fencing that builds it.

“Jeeze that’s sharp!” She says through the knife, spinning around and skidding to a halt, the heat of an open flame coming closer to her from behind. She jumps, easily passing over the trail of fire, and hovers in midair, staring down her opponent. “Let’s see you touch me now!” She shouts, the corpse simply staring up at her. “Now to wow it with speed it’s never seen before…” She thinks, smiling as she throws herself forward to the corpse’s left side, spinning around him in circles, moving faster and faster as the wind builds up into a tornado. The corpse simply stands there, the sword held in two hands in front of it.

Rainbow breaks the circle just behind the corpse, and brings the knife up to the back of his right temple, and meets the steel of its blade as the knife skids across, just centimeters away from the target. She goes back into the wind and the corpse returns to his neutral stance. She tries again, bursting out right in front of him and aiming for the left eye, but the knife edge meets the edge of his own blade and glances off, completely missing the head. The trend of strikes continues, with Rainbow flying in from some random point in the tornado, and the corpse seeming to predict where she’s going to strike, blocking and glancing the knife off without effort.

“How is he keeping up?!” She thinks, speeding up her strikes to no avail. She flies straight up, panting from the thirty strikes she attempted and failed, the corpse simply looking forward with his sword in a neutral stance. She bites down on the knife and furrows her brow from frustration, before turning to the stairwell. It seems to reach up to the fenced wall in the back of the room, entering a hallway that doesn’t seem touched by the light of the room. Simply a black square marking the entrance. She looks back at the corpse, then to the door thinking of whether she should simply run away or fight.

“…The more time I spend fighting him, the exhausted I’m gonna be…and right now, I haven’t got the speed I need to beat him…” She thinks, looking back at Fluttershy’s body with a solemn look. “…I’ll come back for you.” She says, sheathing the knife and flying down to the ground, picking up the lantern from the floor and launching herself to the hall. Clanking armor can be heard as she makes her escape, the lantern lighting the hallway to mere feet in front of her, the steps flying past all covered in the red carpeting of the previous room. She looks behind herself, seeing the corpse only a few meters away, easily keeping up in its own sprint.

“Oh come on!” She thinks, looking forward and flying up faster, praying for an exit. No light appears at the end of this tunnel, the weak flame of the lantern being Rainbow’s only savior in the hall. The chase continues for another five minutes before the sound of the corpse’s armor banging to a sprint begins to fade. Rainbow looks behind herself, sweating and panting hard, the glint of the silver sword slowly disappearing into the darkness. The banshee’s scream of the walkie talkie quiets as the last of the shining blade is devoured by the dark, and Rainbow slows down, planting herself on the steps. She breathes hard, the adrenaline covering up the pain from her now torn wound, and the agony of it hits her like a freight train.

“Hngh…!” She wheezes, closing an eye, trying to block out the pain from her side. She slowly reaches around to her bag, seeing the blood from the stab has spread across her clothes and dripped down her left hind leg, drawing a red trail. She reaches into the bag and pulls out the medkit, opening it to reveal the small roll of gauze and the disinfectant spray, and she starts taking her coat off. She lifts up the shirt to reveal the wound, and takes out the small tin of disinfectant, spraying the wound. She grits her teeth from the burning sensation of the alcohol cleansing the stab, and she starts wrapping it up with the gauze.

“Hope I find some more supplies soon…” Rainbow thinks, her rapid breathing from both the pain of the cut and the burning exhaustion from that maniacal chase up the stairs preventing any words from coming out. She pushes her shirt back down and puts the coat back on, adjusting the cap on her head, surprised to see it’s stuck with her all this time. She places the gauze and disinfectant back in the medkit carefully, and places everything back in the bag before finally crashing on her right side against the wall, staring up into the darkness.

“I was flying so quickly, too…where’s the end to this?” She asks herself, her wings lying slack against her body, completely spent from the fight. She starts walking up the steps, each stair proving more difficult to climb than the last. Before long, she’s struggling to pull herself up one more step, the darkness unyielding around her. “The exit’s there…just…have to keep moving…!” She grunts, forcing herself to move forward. The stairs begin to blur in her vision, covered by the same haze as that town she was in before. “Hopefully this means something…” She whispers, her breathing finally balanced out.

Thirty minutes of climbing later and Rainbow’s given up, flopping down to her right side and lying on the jagged metal steps. Her legs twitch and burn from the constant stress of climbing the steps, now all but completely numb and useless, and her eyes wander down to the bottom of the steps. Darkness consumes both paths up and down, providing no discernible distance to each end, or even if she’s covered any at all. “I need to get out of here…” She whispers, the lantern hanging loosely in her mouth, and she tries to move her legs back under her. She pushes upwards with all her strength, but can’t seem to manage even getting herself off the ground.

Silence pervades the hallway, Rainbow’s breathing and the dripping of water somewhere being the only sounds to accompany her, the flesh creeping silently along the walls. The carpet at least feels nice under her, taking some of the stab away from the sharp metallic steps. Rainbow lays her head against the step just in front of her, planting her legs under her torso so she doesn’t start falling backwards, and closes her eyes, her drowsiness quickly dragging her into the void of sleep.

Weightlessness and darkness, no feeling of air or ground, existence itself not present around Rainbow. She stares off into the darkness in thought, looking back at what’s happened to her, the accusations from her nightmares, her efforts through the world amounting to nothing but it holding her hoof and guiding her along…the dead bodies of her friend and lover. Was it worth coming here, sacrificing those she cared about in order to solve her nightmares? Should she even go on, having already failed to protect them?

“Starting to cry now, are you?” A voice speaks out to Rainbow, her looking around before settling on an Equestrian in front of her, the one in front of her being Rainbow Dash.

“Is…is this another-“

“No, it isn’t. You and I are the only ones here.” The other Rainbow says, staring on at her double. She doesn’t have the camos on, or the cap, or even the knife. She looks at Dash with a look of pride on her face. “What’s got you down?”

“Wait, who are you, first off? Why do you look like me?” Rainbow asks her unclothed double.

“Why do I look like you? Shouldn’t I ask that? You seem too depressed to be Rainbow Dash.” She says with a smirk. “So why do you look like me, Cloudy Dash?”

“Cloudy- my name’s Rainbow Dash! And…well…” Cloudy Dash looks down, her knife glinting in some kind of light, feeling depression boil up in her gut. “…I feel like I…I failed somewhere down the line…and now it’s all catching up to me…”, She shakes, feeling tears start to roll, “And…and now that they’re dead…I don’t know if I should go on or not…”

“Wow, I picked a good nickname then, Cloudy. You’re like a rain cloud, putting a shadow on everypony’s sunny day. Buck up, smile, shine with that pride you always do!” Rainbow says with a big smile, putting a hoof to her chest. “You already know this world, this is your second time being here! Things don’t happen without a reason…so didn’t it seem kind of weird seeing them?” She says, tilting her head to the side and raising an eyebrow.

“I know what I saw, I know what I felt…I know who tried to kill me then…t-they were both dead! Sehn died because I got separated from him, and Fluttershy died because she was too worried for me to let me do this alone! I got them killed, me!!!” Cloudy Dash sobs relentlessly, finally letting her emotions just boil over. Rainbow sighs looking at her depressed twin, and walks over, putting a hoof on Cloudy’s shoulder.

“Are you really certain they’re gone?” Rainbow pats her twin’s shoulder, Cloudy looking up at her. “Sehn’s too tough to go down that easy, and Fluttershy may be a scaredy cat, but she can hold her own. So why’re you letting it get you down now? Think of how they’d feel if you gave up now.”

“They’d…resent me…they’d want me to keep moving…but I can’t. Them being dead…it makes all this useless…I’m the reason they died, Rainbow!” She shudders, the tears still falling, and her voice joins in the depressive cycle. Rainbow brings her close into a hug.

“If they are really dead, then you just have to accept that and move on. If they can’t live their lives, you’ll have to for them…don’t forget they joined in this fight fully expecting what could happen. Show them what you have that all the other ponies don’t, Cloudy…” She smiles, moving away from her twin and letting go. “Show them that pride, that iron-strong will that you show to everypony every day. Stand strong.” She nods with a big smile, pounding her chest with her hoof in a salute before fading into the void, and Cloudy stares into the darkness that once contained her…or what she was before; The great flyer that saved the Wonderbolts, the proudest pony that ever lived.

“…You’re right…well, I’M right. Of course I’m right! It won’t be the same without them around…but I have to press on, for them.” Rainbow says, the depression melting away and turning into determination, strength. Visions of the two fallen appear before her, Sehn with his usual coy smirk while Fluttershy has a gentle smile on her face. “I promise the both of you, I’m making it out of here. I will live!” She cries into the void, the spirit’s smiles growing as the void closes in around her…

The sound of dripping water enters Rainbow’s hearing, her body and head in the same spot she’d left them before falling asleep. She lifts herself, the stab wound still stinging a bit but far better than before, and her legs move with new strength. She looks up into the darkness before her, and furrows her brow. “Well, after that pep talk I gave myself…I can’t let me or them down now!” She says into the shadows, smiling, and she picks up the lantern and begins walking forward. Only a few moments later, hissing from her walkie talkie enters her hearing, and she quickly looks around for anything that may attack her.

“Again…and again…and AGAIN! Why won’t you give up?!” A voice, sounding like a twisted version of her own, rings out in frustration. “Just lie down and die! They’re gone, you’ve got nothing left to live for!”

“Well don’t you sound angry?” Rainbow smirks, sounding pompous in her new confidence. “I’m not gonna just lie down and die now! I promise them that much!”

“Stupid child…you’ve just pissed off the wrong pony.” The voice growls, the sentence dripping with venom, and the entire stair well shudders. The walkie talkie quickly rises in volume as a silhouette appears down the stair well. Rainbow looks behind her to see a wall of living flesh, piles of it stretching off into wildly swinging tentacles, charging straight for her with surprising speed.

“Oh come on…” Rainbow says with a sigh, and she opens her wings and launches up the stair well, beating her wings harder and faster. The wall continues chasing her, the fencing that makes up the hall bending and squealing, trying to contain the mass moving through it. Both bodies accelerate through twists and turns in the hall, Rainbow allowing her body to do the flying while she did the steering through the sharp turns and corners, every turn followed by a wet smash of the wall running into it.

“DIE! DIE DIE DIE!!!” The voice screams out, the wall accelerating even faster.

“Nah, this is too fun now! I missed this thrill!” Rainbow cries back, moving through the hall with more speed than ever before. A corner comes and she turns through it like an easy bend in a race track, every collision having her look behind to see the wall slowing down. “Can’t keep up, can you?!” She shouts, mocking the wall, as one of the tentacles quickly grows and swings past her, impaling the flesh below. “Feisty!” She whispers, raising her eyebrows as she rounds more turns to the left. The lantern flails in her mouth, the handle squeaking from the strain of holding itself and the lantern together and in Rainbow’s mouth.

“C’mon, freaky wall thing, keep up! Betcha can’t touch this!” She mocks, rounding a hairpin turn, leaving the wall in her dust. She looks forward to see tentacles leaping out from the walls, trying to bar her path. “An obstacle course…” She whispers with a smirk as she easily moves through the tentacles, the turns quickly becoming sharper as they move closer together. The wall catches up, crashing through the flesh, tearing it to pieces as it all gets ground into the fencing and added to the wall. “And here comes the second part of it. Well, I always love a challenge!” She growls with a smile, moving through the tentacles. Two more tentacles from the wall lash out at her, stabbing into the ceiling and walls, one moving past Rainbow far enough to see they have blades on the end of them.

“And one of those actually came…woah, that was close!” Rainbow thinks, raising her eyebrows at the close shave she had with the first tentacle. She looks behind herself, barrel rolling through another wall of tentacles as one from the wall rips through the air just over her belly. She straightens her neck so her chin isn’t impaled, and the tentacle flies into the ceiling as Rainbow completes her roll. “Felt some of my coat come off with that one…” She thinks, continuing to fly forward. A wall of flesh grows across the hall, attempting to block her path. Rainbow speeds herself up and braces for impact, slamming straight into the wall and bursting through it, torn flesh and blood coating every inch of her. “OH WOW that smells bad!!!” She says through the handle of the lantern, blocking her nose.

The rumbling of the hall continues on until a light appears at the end of the tunnel, and Rainbow uses every last bit of her energy to explode forward towards it.

“YOU ARE NOT GETTING AWAY FROM ME!!!” The void screams out, every bit of the flesh on the walls reaching out to Rainbow, trying to snag her, grab her, impede her way, doing everything it can in order to drag her down and get her killed. Wires of flesh grab onto her body but get ripped off from the force of her flying, all her energy going into a final, break-neck sprint to the light. The fencing bends and rips around her as the wall speeds up, and she looks behind herself, the wall only twenty meters behind her.

“C’mon, c’mon…!” She looks forward, moving even faster, until something lights up inside her. She begins to feel her wings burn, and she looks back before a sudden explosion throws her towards the light at maniacally fast speeds, leaving everything behind her. “WH-“ Is all the void can manage to get out before Rainbow flies out of the tunnel and into the world beyond.

“WOAH!” Rainbow screams, flying out of the tunnel and into a nearby wall, the black thunderhead feeling cushiony yet painfully shocking as she collides with it, and she bounces off, falling into the street. She twitches from the static still coursing through her, eyes spinning in her head.

“What in the hay was that…?” She asks herself, shaking her head to stop the world from spinning in two directions. She looks around, seeing she’s in a small room with two tables at the sides of the room, two notes above each, and a large steel door at the front of the room. The world has that same haze except for the two sets of notes, and the tables they stand over.

Rainbow sighs with relief, finding herself in a quiet room, her breathing being the only sound accompanying the quiet sound of static jumping from mound to mound on the black clouds around her. She turns off the lantern, putting it in her bag before moving into the middle of the room. She takes out the note, spotting the newspaper sitting next to it, and pulls it out as well before walking over to the left table and laying them out. “’Will’ is this one’s answer…and…” She looks from the note to the newspaper, seeing it more clearly but still blurry. “Equestria…Hemora i…liv…st…” She reads it off to herself, furrowing her brow and stroking her chin. “Something to do with Hemora and Equestria?”

She looks up from the newspaper to the two notes over the table, reading the one on the left first.

One of your friends.

“That one’s out of the question, I don’t have a friend named Will.” Rainbow nods, looking over to the right note next.

An unrelenting drive.

“…Closer…but I dunno. What do the other two say…?” She mumbles, putting the note and newspaper back in her bag before walking over to the other table. “Hm?” Rainbow looks at the set of notes before her, then back at the other table. “Why are they different colors? This set’s red…and the other’s gray…” She looks back, rubbing her chin before shrugging. “Nah, can’t mean anything…I’m looking for a single question with a single answer.” She quietly says, looking to the left note at this table.

Intense determination.

“Now that sounds more like it…still, don’t want to make the choice without reading the other note.” She looks over to the right one, reading it to herself.

_son.

“Blank son? Then…well, it relates to ‘Will’, maybe it’s Willson. But ‘Wilson’ is spelt with one l, not two.” She turns back to the note on the left, “Leaving you and that other one…” She turns around, seeing only one note, the other having vanished. A scorch mark is left on the table below where the left note used to hang. “An unrelenting drive, and ‘Intense determination’…which one has the answer of ‘Will’?” Rainbow asks herself, walking into the middle of the room before sitting down, a bit of static running up her spine and through her muscles, causing a quick twitch before they relax. “Woo…that felt kinda nice.” She thinks, raising her brow before returning to her usual train of thought.

“An unrelenting drive…intense determination…one of those has the answer…a drive to move forward and complete what you start…that’s willpower, isn’t it? So if that’s true…” She rubs her chin, facing the note on the right wall, seeing it standing on its own. “Intense determination is will.” She says, and the note immediately bursts into green flame, an ember shooting across the room and touching the other note. They both burn with a bright green, lighting up the room, and pull off the walls, floating towards each other. The green flames get pulled into a singularity just in front of Rainbow, and as the notes disappear, an object builds itself from the flame.

Rainbow covers her eyes as the light intensifies, and something lands on the ground with a thud in front of her. It looks like a thin, blue rod, two tiny fins extending off the end of it. Rainbow raises an eyebrow at it before turning to her bag, popping open the pouch with the winged medallion inside, and she takes it out to look at it. The hole on the bottom near the roots of the wings has two small notches ground into it. “Hmm…” She looks down at the rod, placing the medallion next to the rod, and she tries pushing the rod into the notched hole. After fumbling with it for a bit, she gets it into the medallion, and turns it. She lifts up the medallion, and the rod falls out.

“Did I guess wrong?” Rainbow asks herself, a saddened look growing on her face. She looks up at the door, seeing another note nailed into it. Placing the rod and medallion into her bag, in the same pouch so they don’t get lost, she walks over to the note and expects a message of failure.

You who look upon the door to your destiny,
Observing this note implies your success.
Another piece to the grand door is in possession,
Another step towards your freedom has been taken.

The path from here on shall be dark as pitch,
The strength to press on shall be tested.
Allow this answer to be your guide,
‘Two’.

“And again…well, at least I got it right. ‘The grand door’…” Rainbow thinks, pulling the note off the door and placing it in her bag, before putting her hoof on the door and taking a deep breath. “Alright…you’ve made it this far, you aren’t going to stop here.” She says to herself, making a quick nod before shoving open the door. The world reveals itself in its typical haze, but something seems different. The rolling thunder of the static field is definitely closer, but it’s coming from another direction…Rainbow looks out the door, first to her left, seeing an empty street with branching paths, then to her right, seeing the static field.

“I’m…on the other side?” She says, walking out of the room, allowing the wall to close once more. She hears tumblers thud into place beside her, locking the door permanently. She looks around, the buildings seeming taller now, and starts walking away from the static field. Three paths stretch off in front of her, separated by two triangular structures shooting high into the red sky. As she walks forward, the central path lights up with electricity jumping from the two structures, massive bolts of lightning barring the way. Rainbow stares wide-eyed at the light show, backing away.

“Ok…DEFINITELY not going that way!” She shouts over the incredible sound of thunder and electricity arcing through the air, looking to the two paths beside it. One stretches a short distance to a house, while the other is cut off by the horizon of haze, turning red as she looks down it. “The short path seems like a good choice…” She says to herself, moving down the left path to the house.

A short walk reveals the house as a large, rolling cloud, with a simple wooden door and two circular windows. Light shines out of the windows, a bright yellow stretching out to the thunderhead of the ground in front of the house. A note stands by the window on the left, the haze clearing away around it. “…Wonder what I’m going to see this time…?” She says, steeling her nerves for what’s about to be revealed to her. She walks forward to the note, staring into the window, hearing voices.

“…But sir, we haven’t received our orders yet!” A voice cries out, sounding like a young colt. “She needs time to read over all this data!”

“You think I’m going to stand here and let these rats crawl around?!” Another voice shouts back, a commanding roar. “This is our city, and we’re going to defend it, with or without her go ahead! Gather your weapons, we move out in thirty!”

“But sir-“

“NO BUTS! Captain Sparkle can do as much thinking as she wants, I’m not sitting here any longer, and neither are you two! Is that understood?!” The roar cuts the young voice off, and clattering can be heard inside. “Wait, Captain ‘Sparkle’?” She whispers, moving to the door and pushing it open, finding three soldiers standing around a table, all wearing the armor and crests of the Royal Guard. They all turn to the door, a blue Pegasus in gold armor opening his eyes wide.

“What the?!” He says, turning around to face Rainbow fully. “What are you doing here?!”

“I heard you say Captain Sparkle-“

“I said what are you doing here?!” He roars, demanding an answer.

“I’m not completely sure myself, alright?! Now who’s this Captain Sparkle you’re talking about?” Rainbow shouts back, walking forward, feeling nothing wrong about intruding on this. The other two soldiers simply stare at her, a sense of fear coming over them, as their leader steps back.

“None of your business…” He hisses, staring at her, a gleam of anger in his eyes.

“What do you mean, none of my business?! If she is who I think she is, I’ve been looking all over for her!” Rainbow shouts, facing the older Pegasus.

“Oh you have, have you? I don’t suppose I need to ask why…” He growls, looking at the door, then back to Rainbow.

“I’m glad we’re on the same page here. Now is her name Twilight Sparkle, first off?” Rainbow asks, staring him dead in the eyes.

“…Yes, her name is Twilight Sparkle…” He growls, frowning.

“Now where is she?”

“Like I said before, none of your business.” He looks to the two soldiers standing behind the table, Rainbow following his gaze. They both look at the two pegasi before them, frozen, shifting their looks back and forth. “S-Sir…y-you don’t expect us t-“

“You’re both soldiers! Don’t tell me you’re backing out now when you’re needed most!” He shouts, both the soldiers shuddering under the force.

“Exactly! Now tell me where she is!” Rainbow also shouts, the soldiers shifting their gaze to her.

“Don’t, she’s too important!”

“Tell me!”

“Don’t say a WORD!”

“SHUT UP!” Rainbow shouts at the older Pegasus, turning to him. “Shut up now and tell me where she is! I need to know she’s safe and sound, and listening to you is ticking me off!”

“Same to you, you just BEING HERE is making me feel SICK!” He shouts back, the soldiers starting to move around the table.

“What’s wrong with you?! We’re both Pegasus, and I’m just trying to find my friend!”

“FRIEND?! How DARE you even call yourself a Pegasus after all that’s happened!” The older colt shouts back, fuming with rage.

“Wh-what the hay are you talking about?! What happened?!” Rainbow shouts, just as she’s grabbed from behind by the two soldiers. She gasps as she’s lifted up by her forelegs, and begins to flail and struggle to break their grip.

“What the hell do you mean ‘what happened’?! I oughta ask you that question!” The soldier shouts, walking forward, before a calm ‘ahem’ is heard from the corner of the room, a door squeaking open. All four ponies turn to face the door, a robed unicorn walking into the main area. “Twilight!” Rainbow exclaims, all too happy to see a friendly face again. Twilight lowers her hood, flicking out her mane, and walks into the center of the room.

“Captain Dash, I heard all the commotion out here. What’s going on?” She says, walking to the group.

“Wait, Captain? I’m not a Ca-“

“We had an intruder walk in, started yelling at me to tell her where you were, Twilight.” The older Pegasus answers, cutting Rainbow off. She looks at him, dumbstruck.

“W-wait, wait wait wait, Dash? The-“

“Then that makes my first name Simon, doesn’t it?” He says, looking back, just as cross as before. “And I couldn’t be more surprised to see you show up.”

“Dad! It’s been way too long!” Rainbow shouts with glee, smiling.

“Yeah, it has been.” He growls, walking over to Twilight, both of them moving away. “So, did you finish your analysis?” The conversation carries over to Rainbow and the two troops.

“Yes…I’m afraid they’ve set up their base in the center of the city.”

“That puts them at-“

“Yes, it does. Due to the chaos around here, the clouds have gained a crazy high electric charge. All the currents seem to be running back into their base, creating a form of natural wall.”

“Any way to get past it?”

“Not as far as I can tell. All the routes are blocked off, that means the entrances as well. The clouds are all charged, so it’s suicide to try and break in through the walls…”

“Let me help, then!” Rainbow shouts, both Twilight and Simon turning around.

“Let you help? That’s crazy!” Twilight speaks up, raising an eyebrow.

“Why?”

“You know exactly why.” Simon says back, both him and Twilight turning back around. “Chuck her outside and guard the entrance. If she tries to get back in…” he lowers his voice, “Kill her.”

“Yes sir.” Both the soldiers reply, walking over to the door with a shocked Rainbow in their grasp. The door gets pushed open and she’s chucked outside, crashing onto the ground, and the two soldiers take up a defensive position at the door, drawing their swords. Rainbow gets to her hooves, looking at the ground, completely awe-struck at what just happened.

“K…kill me?” She mumbles, looking back at the guards. She starts walking back to the door when they cross their blades over it.

“The Captain’s orders are absolute, and unless overruled by Captain Sparkle, you will be taken down if you approach any closer.” The soldier on the right speaks up, sounding a bit older than Rainbow, a mare. Rainbow simply looks at the ground, then over at the note. She walks over to the note, not being stopped by the two soldiers, and she looks in through the window. Both Simon and Twilight are talking to each other, but the conversation is too muffled to make anything out. They seem to be leaning over a map of some kind, the name of this place cut off except for a lonely ‘C’ at the beginning.

Rainbow simply sighs, looking at back of her father. It’s been a year and a half since she last saw him, and before that it was rare visits between his military service at the castle and running flight patterns with his team. Rainbow furrows her brow, looking over at the two guards. “Hey, mind if I ask you two a question?” Neither of them look over, the mare speaking up. “Go ahead.”

“Are either of you in the Thunderstrike unit?” They both seem to be surprised by this, looking over at Rainbow. She stares back, raising her eyebrows.

“The Thunder…?” The soldier on the left mumbles, a young colt, then he shakes his head. “We aren’t to speak on that.”

“Well…ok…” Rainbow nods slowly, turning back the note, already knowing the answer from the three dead bodies she found before. She looks over the note on the wall, reading aloud to herself.

The number of members in the Thunderstrike Unit.

The number of paths already travelled.

The number of pedestals in the Throne Room.

The number of ‘you’s currently present.

“Four questions on the same paper…?” She says to herself, the female guard speaking up.

“What are you looking at?”

“Oh, um…this piece of paper here?” Rainbow replies, placing her hoof on it and looking back at the two guards. The mare raises her eyebrow.

“There’s only cloud there…” She says, before leaning back, raising her eyebrows and rolling her eyes like Rainbow’s crazy.

“Oh…” Rainbow says back, looking over at the paper. The four questions are clearly written out, a rusty nail holding the paper in place. She rubs her chin, thinking back. “Number of Thunderstrike units…there were four in that room counting Twilight…and the fifth that came in was my dad. He’s leader, and he called them all ‘Thunderstrike’…but the unit is exclusively Air Force. That means the answer is 1.” Rainbow nods, moving her eyes down to the second question.

“Number of paths travelled already…too many to count, honestly. Though in this…area, anyway, I’ve already gone down more than 2. Way more if you count the rest of my travels.” Rainbow says to herself, keeping her hoof on her chin as she looks down to the third question. “Number of pedestals in the Throne Room? Way more than 2…” She shudders, thinking back to that horrid room, then moves her eyes down to the fourth question. “Number of ‘you’s currently…present…wait, this is the last question…” Rainbow opens her eyes wide, slowly looking into the window. A shadow stands just under it, and a glint of steel shines next to where the head would be. “Oh Celestia, DAD!!!” Rainbow screams, jumping through the window, the shadow quickly charging forward out of the way. Rainbow makes a grab for the shadow before it swiftly moves out of the way and kicks her in the head, knocking her out.

“Oh…my head…” Rainbow thinks, rubbing the side of her head where the monstrous kick was placed. She opens her eyes, taking in the room, the haze having settled back In, blurring the environment. The map is left on the table, torn into unrecognizable shreds, and the table is splattered with blood. Fear sinks in as she sees the red dripping off the table, and she gets to her hooves, looking around. Scars from a sword fight are present all over, a chair lies in sliced splinters on the floor. The door squeaks open slightly, a light breeze flowing into the room, carrying the smell of blood.

Rainbow runs to the door, looking outside, seeing some drips of blood leading off down the road. A note sits in the middle of the road between the two trails, and Rainbow runs up to it, seeing it’s the note with the questions on it.

“The number of ‘me’s present is 2!” She shouts at the paper, it bursting into green flame. The paper quickly burns away, revealing two pieces of blue metal under it, and Rainbow gathers them up and puts them with the blue rod and medallion in her bag. Twilight’s vanished again, along with Simon and the guards…but what was wrong with them? She was best friends with the unicorn, what made her act so strangely?

“Gah, no time to think about that right now! I have to find them!” She says to the air around her before sprinting off down the short path, quickly arriving back at the street with the wall of lightning blocking the central path. She sprints down the right path, racing into the darkness, seeing the two trails of blood spread into four leading down it. “Oh, please be ok…please be ok, Twilight, Dad!” She thinks, sprinting forth into the darkness. The trails of blood suddenly end, a massive steel structure appearing in Rainbow’s view, stretching upwards into the red sky. She looks up towards the top, unable to see even half way up through the cloud cover of the red sky, as the grinding of steel doors catches her attention, and she looks down. Two Hemoran soldiers walk out, suited up in cloth uniforms, dropping one of the Royal Guard at the step of the door, the mare. They both look up at Rainbow, tilting their heads.

“Uh, may we ask why you’re out here?” The one of the left asks, a red hedgehog with green stripes along his spikes which radiate outwards, him raising an eyebrow. He sounds older than Rainbow, but not by much, having a deep tone.

“W-wh…” She can’t find the words, looking at the two soldiers standing out on the clouds, something only Pegasi can do. She walks forward, looking at them suspiciously. “What are you two doing here?”

They both snap into a quick salute. “We’re standing guard outside Outpost Delta, one of the six guard towers around Base Alpha.” The one on the right answers, a white hedgehog with black stripes running along her arms, sounding about the same age as Rainbow. They both hold the salute, facing Rainbow.

“Why is this structure here?” Rainbow asks, wanting to avoid one of her critical questions for as long as she can.

“This structure allows us to stand upon the clouds, ma’am, by generating an EM field which our boots react with. The thunderheads are a natural side-effect to the generators running in the guard towers.” They both break their salutes and stand to the side. “You’re expected inside, ma’am, unless you’d prefer direct transit to the Base?” The white Hemoran asks.

Rainbow looks down, spotting a note next to her feet. “Hang on a second.” She says, still looking at the note, reading it quietly to herself.

Beyond the haze and clouds,
Passed the anger and hatred,
Freedom is but a stone’s throw away.
Steel yourself, for the truth approaches.

The second Gate is just within your grasp,
Two pieces remain, of which to one,
This answer shall prove to be your guide.
‘One’

“Cryptic, cryptic, and more cryptic…but at least it makes more sense than before.” She whispers to herself, picking up the note and putting it in her bag, noticing the previous question note has vanished. “And that keeps happening…ah well.” She turns back to the two guards, them now standing at attention beside the gate. She starts walking forward passed the Royal Guard member, before a hoof lashes out and grabs her by the chest. She looks down at the soldier, rage in her eyes. Before she can say anything, a boot comes down on her head, a heavy stomp that causes her to grunt in pain.

“NEVER lay your hands on the Major!” The man shouts at the guard, grinding his boot into her face. Screams come out from under it, and the female troop comes over, placing a hand on Rainbow’s shoulder. “Wait, stop stomping on her!” Rainbow speaks up, the soldier immediately stopping and backing away, lowering himself into a deep bow.

“Very sorry, ma’am!” He says into the clouds below him. Rainbow looks down at the wounded soldier, the grip on her chest still strong. Rainbow turns and sits down in front of her, a solemn look on her face. “Why’d you stop me…?” She asks.

“B-Because…you…Simon…” She wheezes out, spitting out some blood. “T…Tra…Trait…” She whispers, before the hoof falls away from Rainbow’s chest and crashes to the ground, the mare closing her eyes as the light fades from them. Rainbow quickly leans down, pushing the mare, trying to wake her up. “Wait, what? What were you going to say?! Tell me! What about me and my dad?!” She shouts at the dead mare, the blood pooling out to her hoof.

“I’m…I’m sorry, ma’am…I didn’t-“

“You idiot! You killed her!” Rainbow shouts at the soldier who stomped on the Guard, him stepping back in terror. “You complete idiot!!!”

“I-I’m sorry ma’am, I am! I didn’t mean to kill her!” He crashes to the ground in a deep apologetic bow on his hands and knees, forehead to the ground. “I’m sorry!”

Rainbow walks over, fury taking over, and she spins around, giving him a hard kick in the side. He rolls away across the clouds, his whole body except for his hands and boots falling through. He screams as the other Hemoran runs over to help him up, Rainbow looking at herself in shock. She nearly killed him…a scream coming from the door catches Rainbow’s attention, filling her with dread. “Oh Celestia…Twilight!” She says, blasting off through the door in flight, leaving the Hemorans and dead Pegasus behind.

The inside of the outpost doesn’t have any of the features of the world outside. A small steel cell covered in metal walkways leading up and down the tower, the floor Rainbow standing on being a simple metal grating, stretching far down. The quaking thunder of an electric generator comes from below, the screams overtaking it. Rainbow quickly turns to her right, seeing a path down, and starts running before leaping off the side and diving down through the center of the tower, beating her wings occasionally to make sure she doesn’t fall too fast and crash into the ground.

The metal walkways blur past, a few having one or two armed Hemoran soldiers walking up and down them, all turning and saluting as Rainbow falls past. The screams continue to grow in volume, and the Hemorans walking around Rainbow begin to change in look.

Instead of typical camos and caps, they all wear black robes and carry large blades across their blacks, hoods lowered. Their eyes are cold, soulless, and they salute by putting a fist to their left pectoral instead of the typical salute shown by the other soldiers. “Those robes and swords…why are they so familiar?” Rainbow mutters, asking the wind ripping past her as she falls. A metal floor quickly comes into view, and she stops herself just above it, a banshee’s scream knocking her off balance and onto the grating with a hard thud. “Oof!”

The massive thunder of a generator rumbles the air around Rainbow, as she looks down to see a gigantic green structure taking up all the space under her, the platform just inches from a massive turbine. She looks up, widening her eyes in shock to see Twilight and Simon lying on tables, four robed Hemorans standing around them. A fifth standing at the end of Twilight’s table, near her head and wearing a red robe, seems to be giving them orders. “Increase voltage to five thousand!”

“Sir, we’re getting close to killing them!” One of the black robed Hemorans speaks up, holding two metal plugs in his hands.

“I don’t care! It’s the information or their lives!!” The red robed soldier shouts back, before he turns to his left, seeing Rainbow and lashing into a quick salute. “Greetings, ma’am! I apologize, but the information we need has not yet been retrieved!”

“What the HAY are you doing?!” Rainbow screams over the thunder of the generator, running forward to the two tables. All the soldiers stand back, surprise and raised eyebrows on their faces. All their colors are white with black stripes along the spikes, and the red robed soldier has scars across his face, his right cheek having a cross-shaped scar on it. “W-What, ma’am?” The Hemoran to the left of Rainbow asks, as she hefts herself up to Twilight’s table, staring at her body. Her robe has been torn away and most of her coat is covered in burn marks from the torture, and her cheeks and eyes are red from crying in pain. She looks back at Rainbow.

“Come to continue this…yourself…?” She hisses out, furrowing her brow.

“What?! No, I came to get you out of here! Both of you!” She shouts back, all the Hemorans gasping in surprise.

“Ma’am, this is crazy! The Colonel is coming here from the Base, he’s expecting them to be transferred!” The red robed one speaks up, Rainbow quickly turning to him.

“Then I’ll transfer them myself! Undo the restraints, NOW!!!” She screams, and all the Hemorans quickly run about, cutting the restraints on Simon and Twilight. Simon shoots up to his legs and starts kicking at them, the soldiers quickly avoiding and drawing their swords. Twilight twitches slightly, unable to move, and all the Hemorans begin to gang up on the wildly kicking Simon.

“STOP! ALL OF YOU!!!” Rainbow shouts with a commanding tone, every single one of them stopping dead in their tracks, including Simon. “Move these two up to the ground floor, and do it now! Do not wound them, but if they begin to lash out, restrain them as best you can!” She shouts her orders, and all the Hemorans immediately grab Simon by his appendages, the armed soldiers sheathing their blades and helping out. The red robed soldier picks up Twilight in both his arms and starts walking to the walkway leading up. “Move it!” Rainbow shouts, all of them starting to run up the steps while she lifts off, flying up through each level as they run up.

“What’s the Colonel going to say?!” One of the black robed soldiers shouts to another, six of them restraining Simon as they run up. “He’s gonna have us for lunch!” Another shouts.

“All of you shut up! The Major’s orders are paramount right now, worry about the Colonel later!” The red robed soldier shouts, all of them shutting up. Simon starts shouting now.

“What the hell are you doing?! Where are you taking us?!” He shouts, facing Rainbow.

“Out of here, that’s where I’m taking you! I’m personally transferring you to Base Alpha.” She shouts back, smirking with a wink. Simon just seems aggravated by this, “I’m not letting you take me alive!”

“You don’t have any CHOICE!” One of the soldiers shouts, smacking Simon in the back of the neck, him falling limp as he passes out. They all struggle to hold him up as they run up, already having climbed four of the eighteen floors Rainbow fell. Twilight twitches slightly, looking up at Rainbow.

“…Why…?” Is all she can manage, a quiet whisper that’s quickly drowned out by the roar of the generator below them. The floors quickly pass by Rainbow and her small squadron, and the roar of the generator quiets down to the rumble of the ground floor. All the soldiers pant and heave as they heft Simon up to the ground floor, the red robed soldier following close behind, with Rainbow popping up from the walkway in flight.

“Where can I get transit to the Base?” Rainbow asks, landing next to the red robed soldier.

“Top floor, ma’am. But are you really sure you want to do this?” He asks, Rainbow’s determined stare all the answer he needs. He nods, “Also, expeditionary teams investigating the structure we took over as Base Alpha have reported on finding a large blue gateway leading to the second floor. All attempts to open the gate have failed.” He says, and lays Twilight gently onto the ground, her slowly getting to her hooves, wheezing in pain. He backs away, gesturing to the ground to his other troops, them just dropping Simon onto the ground, the impact waking him up. “Gah…which one of you bastards hit me?!” He shouts at the soldiers, and they all reach for their blades.

“Please, Dad…just go along with this. I don’t want anyone to get hurt more than they have.” Rainbow says calmly, both Twilight and Simon turning to her. Simon grimaces, his armor a tattered mess of metal and chain mail, “As if I’d go along with anything you came up with…” He growls, spitting through the grating before turning to the walkway leading up. He flexes his wings, finding them not strong enough to carry him, as Twilight slowly follows behind, limping slightly. Rainbow runs over to her and puts a wing under her, holding her up.

“Why…are you doing this…?” Twilight asks, her voice a meek whisper, most of her coat torched and blood showing through her lavender coat. “I always help a friend in need…I’m sorry I couldn’t be there for you earlier though…” Rainbow says, leading her to the walkway and starting the walk up, looking at the grating below her. “I…I wish I could’ve stayed with you when I first saw you. I was worried I’d never see you again after that…” She says, looking at Twilight.

Twilight returns the gesture with a simple ‘hmph’ and turning her view to her front, looking at Simon. The walk continues in silence for the next thirty floors before they reach a pair of steel doors, far bigger than what’s required for an Equestrian or Hemoran, as one pair opens up revealing a trolley on a wire. Someone is standing in the trolley, and he looks over.

“Major. I assume you came to deliver the prisoners to me?” Sehn’s twin steps off the trolley, his hands held behind his back. A smirk grows across his face, “Punctual as always.”

Rainbow furrows her brow while taking a deep breath, trying to find the right words. “I’m here to deliver these prisoners to the Base myself…sir.” She says, moving up in front of Simon and Twilight, who is now moving on her own. “I also heard about a large gate leading to the Core?”

“Ah, yes, that…I’ll show it to you once the prisoners are delivered. I have some business here and at Beta, so go on ahead.” He thumbs behind him to the trolley before walking by Rainbow, her quickly saluting him as he passes. She looks up at his face, seeing a dark smile grow across it. “Come along then, prisoners. Get on.” Rainbow says, walking onto the trolley platform, followed by Twilight and Simon. A motor roars into gear behind them, and the trolley begins its slow movement through the large double steel doors, revealing the area outside the tower.

Rainbow looks around herself, seeing the ground far below the thunderheads drowned in shadow, but grassland can easily be made out. Looking up, she can see five massive guard towers extending both down and up equal distances. Huge walls of lightning spread between them, creating bright blue natural walls behind the thunderheads, some of the gigantic bolts arcing to the structure in the center. Rainbow looks up at the central structure herself, gasping in shock as Simon simply looks down and to the side, Twilight looking down in shame.

“You’re kidding me…” Rainbow says, walking forward a step, looking at the massive structure. “The Rainbow Factory is Base Alpha?!” She shouts, staring at the three huge towers, a single rainbow spread between the central tower and the shorter one to its right, storm clouds being sent out from the shorter left tower. Spectra runs from the pools on the cloud down to the ground, vaporising and spreading into the atmosphere from the bolts of lightning that arc to the fall.

“Of course it is…” Simon says, looking up at Rainbow as she turns around. “That structure belongs to Colonel Darksol…and you’re the one who allowed him to take it.” He says, staring at her with nothing but fury in his eyes. “My own daughter…betraying her country…unthinkable.”

“WHAT?!” Rainbow shrieks, shock running through her. “I’d never betray Equestria, or my home city!! What the hay is going on here?!”

“It’s just…as you see it, Dash.” Twilight says, holding her left foreleg as she sits, Rainbow looking over. “You lead them here…”

Rainbow simply collapses to the platform, stunned. She was the Element of Loyalty…this sort of thing was impossible for her, the mere thought of backstabbing Equestria and letting Cloudsdale fall to another country…

It wasn’t possible!

Intermission 4: Behind The Static

“Sehn!” Loki shouts as Sorale draws a knife and quickly stabs Sehn in the side, Sorale holding him in place so the knife digs in as deep as it can go.

“I expect both of you to keep quiet about this…” He says with a dark tone, quickly pulling out the knife and pushing Sehn onto the sand. He turns to Loki, flipping the knife around so the edge points out the bottom of his hand, and he starts walking over to her. “Because neither of you are walking away from here.”

“Crazy bastard…” Sehn grunts, getting to his feet while holding his wound, blood gushing out from under his hand. He shouts out in pain while falling to a knee, holding up his body with his free hand. He looks over to Loki, backing away from Sorale, looking at the glinting red knife.

“D-don’t kill me!” Loki whimpers, backing away as quickly as she can from the towering shadow in front of her, the steel of the knife coated in red.

“Oh no, I’m not lettin’ you run away, especially since you’re the root of the ‘problem’ right now…” Sorale hisses, quickly leaping forward and grabbing Loki by the neck, easily lifting her up to his eye level, a good five feet off the ground. He looks her dead in the eyes, his own glinting with the red of bloodthirst. “Night night…” He says, bringing the knife back behind him, Loki covering her eyes. She suddenly feels a jerk, shouting outside the darkness of her vision, and she’s thrown through the air.

Her eyes open to a struggle between Sehn and Sorale, grappling with each other for control over the knife. “Let go of the knife, traitor!” Sehn shouts, the sand below his trembling legs slowly turning red from his open wound.

“I’m not going to be the traitor once we’re through, Darksol!” Sorale shouts, adjusting his body and bringing a quick knee up into Sehn’s gut, knocking the wind out of him. He brings his foot to Sehn’s chest and kicks hard, throwing him to the sand, and Sorale jumps on him, driving the knife towards his face. His arm gets grabbed and pushed back, the knife driving itself into the sand, and a fist flies up into his face, followed by another. Loki simply sits there, watching the two hedgehogs beat the snot out of each other. She gets to her feet, watching Sorale get the upper hand, pushing the knife towards Sehn’s right eye, him pushing back against Sorale’s arm.

Loki creeps up behind Sorale, both hedgehogs absorbed in their death struggle, and she jumps up onto Sorale’s back. Quickly running up, she grabs his shoulders and drivers her fangs into the back of his neck, shredding the skin. Sorale leaps back in a cry of pain, reaching around to Loki’s head before a fist is driven into his stomach. He collapses to his knees, Loki keeping a tight grip on his spine while Sehn grabs him by the throat, holding him in place. “Get ‘em!” Loki mumbles through Sorale’s neck, Sehn driving his head into Sorale’s in a large headbutt.

Sorale recoils back, Loki biting down harder, and he falls backwards onto her. He shouts into the sky in agony as Loki’s fangs dig further into the back of his neck, and he grips the knife in his right hand harder before bringing it around to stab Loki through the temple. The knife blade meets the back of Sehn’s hand, and his right fist flies straight into Sorale’s nose, crushing it. His fist comes back and flies into it again, Loki grunting under the impact while Sorale shouts in pain, and the punches keep flying until Sorale stops moving, twelve being counted.

Loki rolls out from behind Sorale, spitting out a pool of blood. She hacks and coughs, getting her breath back after a few tries, “I nearly drowned in that!!!” She wipes her mouth, grimacing at the horrid taste of the blood and flesh. “Tastes like copper and rot…” She says, spitting out the last glob of blood still in her mouth. She rubs her nose, having bashed it a few times from Sorale’s head recoiling into her from the punches.

“Ngh…” Sehn grunts, falling to his knees. Loki spins around and runs over to him, “Oh no, are you ok?!”

“N-No…I’m not ok. I got stabbed in t-the side…by the Gods this hurts bad…” He pants, the blood still freely flowing from his wound. His clothes are stained red around the wound, and Loki starts to panic.

“Oh no, oh no, oh no! Where can I get you help?!” She shrieks, looking around in a frantic haze before settling on the battalion that passed them before, still within running distance. “Wait here, I’ll get help!” She shouts at Sehn, him simply nodding slowly as she sprints off towards the field of shadows. She leaps over a sand dune in a mad dash towards the patrollers, panting hard from strain and worry. “Help! I need help!!!” She screams to the battalion, one of the soldiers turning around and elbowing another next to him. They both shout to their commander, halting the patrol as they turn around and walk over to Loki.

“Hey hey, what’s with the racket?” The taller hedgehog, brown in color, leaning down and asking with a gravelly tone.

“T-There’s been a fight, and Sehn’s hurt!!!” Loki shrieks in complete panic, shaking uncontrollably.

“Sehn?! Oh crap, that’s the Captain! Hang on, I’ll tell the Sergeant! Jessie, you go with the kid!” He shouts to the soldier next to him, a short dark-purple hedgehog with amber eyes, her nodding and picking Loki up. “Alright kid, tell me which direction and we’ll get there in a snap!” She says with a young, energetic tone.

“That way! Go that way, fast!” Loki shouts, sitting on Jessie’s shoulder, pointing off to the right slightly. She takes off in a sprint, easily three times faster than Loki could ever run, and they quickly cover the distance to the wounded Sehn and the knocked out Sorale. She jumps over the sand dune between her and Sehn, almost flying through the air and landing next to him.

Sehn’s laid out on his back, having a drowsy look to his staring at the sky. He slowly looks over to the two rescuers, still holding his wound closed. “About…time…” He whispers, moving his eyes back to the blue sky overhead.

“Don’t worry sir, help’s on the way. You were lucky Sarge was out on patrols over this way…” Jessie says, taking Loki off her shoulder and putting her down next to Sehn. “I’ll go up to the sand dune and help the patrol find their way, you stay here and make sure the Cap’n doesn’t bleed out.” Jessie quickly says, Loki nodding. She nods back before sprinting off to the sand dune about fifty meters out, waving her hands in the air to act as a beacon for the patrol. Loki turns away from her to Sehn, looking at his wound. “Anything I can do to help…?”

“…Doubt it…unless a kid like you can breathe fire…not much to be done until I get to Sickbay…” He wheezes out, clenching in pain. He breaths come in shallow, harsh intervals. “Please don’t die!” Loki whimpers, kneeling next to Sehn, looking over his side as she tries to think of some way to help. She turns around and takes a deep breath, letting it out in a harsh blow in the hopes that a stream of fire would come out, but to no avail. She tries again, nothing. She turns around, Sehn looking over at her.

“Don’t worry…I ain’t dyin’ here…” He says with a smirk, gesturing for Loki to come closer. She does so, and Sehn puts his left hand on her head, patting it softly. “Without you, Sorale would’ve gotten away with what he’d done…you’re a good kid.” Sehn says with a smile, looking back up at the sky. Loki looks up with him as the crunching of sand from many feet comes closer, Jessie shouting back to them.

“Sergeant Kayl’s here! Oy! This way!” She shouts to the patrol, Loki turning to see several soldiers burst over the sand dune and over to Sehn. “What the hell happened here?!” One of them shouts, while the other two run over to the Captain.

“Sehn and Sorale got into a fight, but Sehn won! Sorale’s a bad man!” Loki shouts to the soldier, and he just raises an eyebrow in confusion. One of the soldiers shouts over to the pair, “The Cap’n’s really messed up! We have to get him to Sickbay or he’s not livin’ another thirty minutes! Gimme a hand, Brad!” The soldier in front of Loki nods, quickly running around her, as the rest of the patrol comes over the sand dune to help out, Jessie bringing up the rear. Loki runs over to her as Kayl runs past, her recognizing him as the young Sergeant talking with Sehn before. “Don’t worry, kiddo, Sehn’ll be just fine once we’re done.” Jessie says, picking Loki up and putting her on her shoulder. The entire patrol starts running back to Headquarters, a good two hundred fifty meter sprint away.

Thirty soldiers run down the thin halls and walkways of Headquarters, some soldiers jamming themselves up against the walls while others join in the mad sprint, two doctors carrying Sehn on a stretcher in the middle of the mob, while two more doctors follow close behind, carrying Sorale on another stretcher. Loki sits on the stretcher next to Sehn, Jessie right beside her. “Don’t worry kid, we’ll get him the help he needs! No one’s ever died here.” Jessie says, Loki looking up at her. “Doctor Fresten’s a medical genius, and even though Doc’s a little crazy, he’s good enough to do a heart bypass with his eyes closed. Sehn’s in good hands.”

“I hope you’re right…” Loki mumbles, looking back at Sehn, passed out since the patrol arrived at the main gates to Headquarters. The mob quickly reaches the Sickbay, two metal doors with a red cross in the center between them, and one of the soldiers kicks in the door, running in.

“Doctor Fresten! Code Red, Sehn’s in critical-“ The sound of the soldier getting shoved to the side into a table, and a crash comes out of the Sickbay as Jen runs out, staring at the two patients. “Get them inside, now! One of you go get Doc from his quarters!” One of the corporals quickly nods, dashing off down the hall as the four doctors bring Sehn and Sorale in, Jen picking Loki up off the stretcher.

“Sorry, no non-wounded allowed inside while I’m working!” She quickly says, handing her to Jessie, and she runs back inside, shouting orders the doctors. “Get me my tools and an IV, STAT! Let’s move it people, lives are on the line!”

Loki shivers on Jessie’s shoulder, staring at the metal door. “Please don’t die…I don’t want him to die…”

“I’ve said it again and again, kid. He’ll be fine. Doctor Fresten has been with the army for five years, and she’s saved every life that ever ended up in her hands, the best medic we’ve ever had.” Jessie says with a big smile, looking at Loki. “So don’t let it get you down! Sehn’s been at this line of work for years, longer than a lot of the younger soldiers around here, and he’s well earned his rank as Captain through his efforts in the line of duty. We all know he’ll make it through.”

“Still, I can’t help it! I don’t want him to die because of me!” Loki cries, folding her arms tightly and looking down. “If only I’d stayed with Daddy…Sehn never would’ve been hurt…”

“He knows what he signed up for…though why do you care for him so much? I’ve never seen you around here.” Jessie asks, raising an eyebrow. “Oh…um…he was helping me with a problem and…well…” Loki says quietly, twiddling her thumbs, wondering if she can be open to the soldier next to her like she was with Sehn. “Sorale was taking things from my family…”

“Sorale? That’s weird…some of the Corporals running guard patrols around the base would often see him and his Sergeant walking off to some random corner of the desert. They always said it was for searches along the Rim…guess they found something and didn’t spill.” Jessie sighs, looking over at Loki. “You did good today for a shorty. Shouldn’t be long before Sehn gets released, so I’ll leave you here, I got work to do on the second floor.” Jessie says with a nod, taking Loki and gently setting her down on the ground. “Try not to get stuck under anyone’s feet now, y’hear?” Jessie says with a smirk, waving and running off down the hall. Loki lets out a short sigh, looking over at the metal door, before walking over to it and cracking it open.

“It’s alright, you can come in now.” Jen says, opening the door fully from off to the right. Loki walks in to see her reading a magazine, sitting in a chair next to Sehn. “He’s unconscious right now, but stable. It’s a good thing you guys got him in here this quick as well…guess that ‘rigorous’ training Bravo puts all these soldiers through paid off today.” She sighs, looking over at Sehn. “What’d you get yourself into this time, Sehn…?”

“Um…th…that was my fault…” Loki looks down, feeling crushed as she walks over to Sehn’s table, leaping up and pulling herself up to Sehn’s side, kneeling next to him and holding his hand. “I went to him with a problem I had…and he tried to help me by fighting Sorale on his own…”

“Sehn’s a brave man, but he can be crazy at times. Still…he doesn’t do this for just anyone.” Jen says, leaning forward slightly, closing the magazine. “He must think you’re pretty special to him.”

“Still…it was because he tried to help me that he got hurt so bad…” Loki looks down, feeling tears starting to well up.

“I heard you talking to the Corporal outside, and she’s right…he knows what he signed up for. To him, protecting the honor of another is just as important as saving a life. It tends to land him here more than anyone else, but the troops respect him for it.” Jen says softly, smiling. “You should be happy to have such a man fight for you.”

“Well…I guess so…” Loki turns slightly, still laying her left hand on Sehn’s right. “My name’s Lokiria, but my family calls me Loki. What’s yours, lady?”

“I prefer doctor, but my name’s Jennifer Fresten.”

“Oh! Doctor Fresten! I heard about you, you’re the best medic ever!” Loki says with a big smile.

“Well, I don’t think I deserve that much praise…but go ahead.” Jen says with a smirk and a throwaway gesture, leaning back and returning to her magazine. “He should be able to be released in a few hours.”

“Thank goodness…” Loki sighs, turning back to Sehn, a few tears rolling down her cheeks as she smiles and grips his hand.

“Wow…that’s pretty emotional.” Twilight says, Loki looking over. Her eyes are locked on the monitors, the snow letting up slightly.

“Yeah…Sehn saved my life back then. I left after he recovered, and he came by the village a few days later, wanting to hang out with me. We shared stories, and he quickly got close to my mom and dad. It was like I finally had a big brother I could look up to…” Loki says with a smile, leaning her head back against Twilight’s side.

“Quite the story though! Heroism and saving a damsel in distress, like a cheesy romance novel.” Twilight says with a giggle.

“Hey! Unlike those novels, this one’s true!” Loki smirks, looking off to the right, happy that her story is setting in right.

“I’m sure. The monitors’ve been rather stable in their static until now…they’re becoming clearer.” Twilight says, furrowing her brow slightly as both she and Loki get up, walking over to them. As they draw closer, the flame around the right monitor intensifies.

“How long has this spell been going for…?” Twilight asks herself, looking at the left monitor with a solemn look, the sepia-tone snow still clouding the image.

“Forty minutes, thirteen seconds.” Loki answers, staring at the right monitor with a serious look. “Do you think the spell’s about to end?”

“Can’t tell…I hope so, though. Every time I used this spell, my friends came out shaken…and they all demanded that I never use this spell again, so the shorter the duration, the better for the patient, at least to me.” Twilight says, not breaking her gaze on the monitor.

“Agreed…though should it really be taking this long?” Loki asks, looking over at Twilight.

“No…it shouldn’t take nearly this long. Forty minutes is about twenty times longer than it usually takes…” Twilight says, lowering her eyes slightly with a frown. “I can only pray that they’re both alright…whatever’s in there isn’t good for ponies…or Hemorans for that matter.”

“Sehn survives everything…and just like you told me before, I have to have a little faith in my friends when I can’t be there for them.” Loki says, looking back at the black rimmed monitor. “I’ll do what I can from here…just make it back to me, Sehn…” Loki says under her breath.

The images on the monitors continue their snowed-away blur, but an image shows itself on the other side of the snow. Each monitor contains a different looking shadow, staring back at the observers within the Void…the observers look into the souls locked within Hell itself, and the souls stare back at their watchers, showing no feeling, no emotion…yet saying much about themselves. Twilight sits down, staring at the monitor, and Loki does as well.

“…Why do I feel so sad?” Twilight asks herself, unable to break her gaze with the monitor. The Equestrian shadow stares back at her, no eyes, no mouth, no movement or speech.

“…I feel angry, personally…” Loki says, staring at the Hemoran shadow before her.

The snow begins to clear itself, the images revealed to be the two shadows against a white backdrop. Twilight and Loki stare into the shadows, unable to break their gaze. The world around them blurs…

The shadows reach out to them…

Chapter 14: The Second Gate

“I can’t have betrayed my home!” Rainbow shouts, lying down on the platform, holding her head in a panic. “I’d never help ponies who only want to hurt those I care about…!”

“Oh for the love of Celestia, pick yourself up…you’re pathetic…” Simon says, turning away from his sobbing daughter. Twilight slowly walks over, leaning down to Rainbow. “Rainbow…”

“No, don’t say anything! I can’t…I can’t possibly stick a knife in everypony’s back…I’m the Element of Loyalty, a living symbol of trust! Something like this…I just can’t do it!” Rainbow sobs into the grating below her, eyes tightly closed. She was the cause of all this…of their deaths, of Cloudsdale being taken over, of Equestria being in the sorry state it was in…she betrayed them and brought the enemy in.

Twilight sighs, backing away, looking up at the approaching shadow of the Factory. She looks down, defeat settling into her eyes, as Simon looks forward over Rainbow. “And so comes our doom…wasn’t expecting things to end like this.” He says with a gruff sigh, sitting down with a clang from his armor colliding with the metal flooring. He shakes his head, staring down at Rainbow. “So why aren’t you thinking of anything, Rainbow?”

“…Huh?” Rainbow sniffs, looking up from under her hooves at her father, him making a grimace and furrowing his brow. “Stand up and start thinking of something! You said you were going to help us!” He shouts, his daughter immediately shooting up into a standing position.

“I-uh…r-right, thinking of a plan! Ok…so we all go into the Rainbow Factory…Dad, can you carry Twilight on your back and fly?” Rainbow asks, looking at her father.

“You’re looking at the leader of Princess Celestia’s personal strike force. If I can’t do it, you’d drop like a rock.” He says with a smirk, gesturing for Twilight to hop onto his back. She does so, settling into a comfortable position so she doesn’t get thrown off. “So what’s the plan?” He says, stretching his legs and testing his wings.

“The plan, the plan…well, I have to get you two past the guards and out of Cloudsdale, that’s for sure. We’ll have to go down through the Factory’s basement for a transit route down to the ground. Heading down now would just land us in that lightning field below us.” Rainbow says, pointing down with her hoof, Simon nodding.

“Alright, so how do we get there?”

“Don’t worry, I know the way. Just follow me and try to keep up.” Rainbow says with a smirk, turning around. Simon simply grimaces at the taunt, crouching slightly. “I’ll lead the way and do all the talking. If anyone asks you anything about Twilight, say that you’re carrying her because I can’t be bothered to.” Rainbow says, taking a deep breath and letting it out slowly, opening and flexing her own wings. She focuses on the shadowed entrance now consuming the trolley and its passengers, the rumble of a motor within the facility echoing through the tunnel. The trolley stops before a massive set of steel double doors, slowly creaking open.

They reveal a brightly lit transit station, a few armed Hemoran soldiers walking around, not having caught whiff of the three that just entered. Rainbow’s walkie talkie starts going off, causing her to turn towards it with a look of fear on her face.

“What’s wrong?” Simon asks, looking at her.

“Something very bad. Just focus on the plan…” She says quietly, turning back around. She opens her wings one last time to make sure they’ll work in an emergency, then walks off the trolley with Simon close behind, focusing on an open tunnel of cloud to the far right of the station. One of the Hemoran soldiers walks up to Rainbow and moves with her through the tunnel.

“Welcome back, ma’am. Base renovation on the second floor has been proceeding smoothly.” He says with a quick salute, Rainbow nodding. “Good. Anything else to report, soldier?”

“Nothing at the moment, ma’am. The gate at the core of the facility is still being a problem…we may need to requisition support from Home.” He says with a slightly worried look on his face.

“Request what you need, I’m sure the Colonel will want the gates opened ASAP. Continue with your duties.” Rainbow says, dismissing the soldier. He quickly salutes and turns around, walking back down the tunnel. Rainbow lets out a heavy sigh, glad to see her ploy worked.

“Not bad…spoken like a real soldier.” Simon mumbles, walking up close behind Rainbow. “So where’re we going?”

“Down this tunnel is going to be a stairwell to the Core, and below that will be the emergency transit routes to the ground. Don’t ask me how I know all this...it all just came to me.”

“Don’t ask, don’t tell. Just lemme know when I can get Twilight off my back.” Simon says, adjusting himself so Twilight is better supported. “Can’t put her down here, obviously…”

“Just try and stay quiet.” Rainbow says, the hissing from the walkie talkie still quite audible. She looks around in the tunnel, taking a right before facing a short walk leading to a stair well heading down into the dark. A note hangs on the clouds next to Rainbow as she rounds the corner, and she looks up at it. Four questions are written on it. “Here we go again…” She mumbles, reading the first one aloud to herself.

The number of guard towers.

“Six.” She says to herself, looking down at the next one.

Those still loyal to you.

Rainbow looks behind herself at the Pegasus and unicorn, grimacing slightly before looking back at the paper. “I’ll come back to that one…” She whispers, looking down to the next question.

How many who still stand in your way.

“Next…next…” Rainbow mumbles, looking down to the last question.

The way to unlock your path exists in how many pieces?

Rainbow looks back at her bag, popping open the pouch with the items she’d been picking up. Four pieces lie within, two metal plates, a thin rod and a medallion surrounding two wings. “The way to unlock my path…?” She mumbles, closing the pouch and looking back at the paper. “I can take out the first question…but the other three are tough…I want to say five to the second question…” She says to herself, looking down at the floor, lowering her eyelids, “But I don’t know…”

“What’ve you been staring at this whole time?” Simon speaks up, Rainbow turning to look at him. “Aren’t we going somewhere?”

“Right…right. Listen, I need to ask you something.” Rainbow says, turning to face her dad. “Um…how do I put this…would you follow me into a fight?” She asks, her father moving back in surprise.

“Wha…? You’re too young to be leading me into battle. And besides that, you haven’t got the tactical knowledge of a warrior or the strength of one.” He says with a straightforward tone.

“I-I would…” Twilight says, raising her head slightly to look over at Rainbow. “I’d follow you…” She twitches slightly in pain, Simon turning to look at her. “If it means I could protect you, then I’d follow you to the ends of the earth.” She coughs, lowering her head again onto Simon’s neck.

“I can’t say I’d do the same…family goes a long way, but not far enough for this.” Simon says, turning his eyes away from Rainbow. She looks down at the ground, dismayed but at least certain of the answer to one of the questions. “Well…that’s one, at least.” She mumbles, looking back at the questions. “How many still stand in my way…?” She tilts her head, thinking back. “They’ve been showing up pretty often…”

Rainbow nods, moving down to the last question. “Now is this one talking about the things I’ve been picking up? They do seem to be pieces of a key…and I already have three, so…” She takes a deep breath, looking back up at the third question, saying outloud.

“Two still stand in my path.” The note bursts into green flame, taking Rainbow by surprise as she jumps back, putting her leg in front of her eyes. Simon seems to react to this as well, jumping in shock. “What in the?!” He shouts, waking Twilight up in a huff. “W-what’s going on?!”

“Calm, calm down!” Rainbow hisses, looking at the hallway behind them. The walkie talkie doesn’t seem to increase in volume, and she turns back to the note, seeing a loop of metal wire with five spikes on it, hanging on the rusty iron nail that held the note. “Guess it was right…” She takes the loop off the nail, stuffing it into the pouch with the other three pieces, and looks down the hall towards the stairs. “This stairwell should take us to the travel route. C’mon.” Rainbow gestures for Simon and Twilight to follow as she starts walking down the steps.

The shadows quickly consume the steps, forcing Rainbow to take her lantern out and switch it on before proceeding. Sparks run along the walls, but the metal steps of the stairwell seem out of place in the Factory. The clanging of hoof against metal fills the hall, followed by the quick, quiet rumble of thunder from the lightning jumping along the walls.

“Doesn’t make sense…why isn’t this stair well electrified?” Simon asks, keeping his voice down. “These thunderheads should easily arc to it.”

“I don’t know, but the Hemorans have to get around somehow. Maybe it’s made from a special kind of metal?” Rainbow asks, turning her head slightly. Simon comes up beside her on her right, looking at the stairs below them. “Construction choices aside, why are there no railings? For a pony to walk down here without being a Pegasus, it’d be suicide. Those bastards must have it worse off, so why put their own lives at risk…?” Simon asks, aggravated over being concerned for the monsters that destroyed his home.

“I don’t know how these guys work, Dad, all I know is where we need to go…where you need to go.” Rainbow says through the handle of the lantern, looking over at Simon. “…This really got under your skin, didn’t it?” She asks quietly, Simon glaring at her.

“Oh, I’m not sure how I should feel…first I find out that my home city’s been taken over by a race that hasn’t been heard from for 300 years, then I find my bloody DAUGHTER wearing their uniform. I don’t know if I should be depressed, angry, or just breaking necks right now.” He growls, staring forward into the pale light of the hallway lit by the lantern. Rainbow simply looks forward with him. “…I’m sorry…” She says quietly.

“Apologies wore out days ago…” Simon sighs, looking at the walls to his right. The silhouette of a door begins to come into view, a dark shape at the end of the stairs. Rainbow speeds up her descent down the stairs, reaching the door a couple steps in front of Simon, and she puts her hoof to the massive locked steel. She gives it a shove, not budging an inch, and starts pushing harder. Soon she’s shoving at it with both hooves, flapping her wings to give a bit of extra force against the door. “Gah…these are usually unlocked when I get to them…!” She grunts, getting off the door and sitting down. Looking over the door, there’s a wheel in the center connected to two angled bars leading into the frame. She puts her hooves on the pegs of the wheel, pushing against it as hard as she can. It gives with a high shriek of rusty metal against metal, and slowly unlocks the door.

The bars come away with a loud slam, the door already leaning open slightly. Rainbow pants slightly, gathering up her breath, thinking about what could be on the other side of the door. She looks behind herself, seeing Simon and Twilight looking back at her. “Well? Push it open, this kid on my back is getting heavy.” Simon says to her, and she turns around and places her hoof against the door. Pushing lightly, the door silently swings open, revealing something completely unlike anything she’s seen within the facility, or even the city.

The room is massive, far larger than any other location in Cloudsdale, and the walls and ceiling are a pure white instead of the typical dark thunderheads outside. In front of them lies a gigantic blue gate, two statues standing to either side of it, just as massive. The one on the left is a statue of a Hemoran soldier wearing armor covered in spines like dragon’s scales, while the other is an Equestria wearing a robe. Rainbow walks towards the center of the room, the statues and gate barely shifting in size as she grows closer.

“Incredible…” Twilight says, looking down below Simon to see that him and Rainbow are walking a massive metal platform, easing herself off his back to stand on her own legs. She stretches slightly before walking towards the statues, Rainbow walking beside her. “I’ve never seen statues like these before.”

“Me neither…they look familiar, too…” Rainbow says, still walking forward. The sound of stone grinding quickly fills the room, and the platform begins to shake with crazed ferocity. The statues begin to move, the Hemoran placing his hand on the sword on his back, both statues moving their eyes down to Rainbow. A deep voice rings out into the room, a loud explosion.

“Thy quest has led thee through despair.” The voice seems to come from the Hemoran, but it’s hard to tell with the sound bouncing around the room.

“Thy quest has led thee towards an answer…” Another voice speaks out, gentle and familiar.

“One question lies within thy path, the truth lies beyond, cloaked in shadow…” The Hemoran says, gripping his blade. The Equestrian produces her own blade, drawing it from under her cloak.

“I…I recognize these voices…” Rainbow says, her eyes widening. Twilight looks over at her before looking back at the Equestrian statue. “F…Fluttershy?!” She gasps, staring up at the statue before her.

“Sehn and Fluttershy!” Rainbow shouts, the statues drawing their swords and holding them away from the door.

“To every answer belongs a question…but to every question, an answer must be created. Thou must answer our question, and find your own definition for what lies before you.” The Hemoran says, the two swords leading off towards the walls left and right of Rainbow. “Answer correctly, and you move one step closer to the end…answer incorrectly…” He places his other hand on the sword’s hilt, “And thy quest ends here.”

Rainbow simply stares up at the statues, the gigantic blue gate between them, jaw hanging. Terror filled her veins and invaded every piece of her mind. Standing before her was her death, absolute and undeniable…and all she had to do was get a single question wrong. She swallows her saliva, breathing quickly.

“Rainbow, calm down…” Twilight says beside her, placing a hoof on the shivering mare’s shoulder. “I’ll stand with you…no matter what happens, you’ll always find me by your side.” She smiles, Rainbow looking over, fear still in her eyes. “H-How can you say that so…calmly?” She says, her voice trembling.

“Getting scared now…after all we’ve been through…we can’t die now, but this is how we have to proceed. There’s no point in being scared now, since if we stop here, Equestria’s done for.” Twilight says, her smile turning into a frown. “Prove yourself, Rainbow Dash…prove you’re as true a Pegasus as you were before all this happened.”

Rainbow turns back to the statues, swallowing again. All that’s happened, all that’s befallen Equestria…it was her fault. Restoring Equestria now wouldn’t bring innocence back to her name…the trust she’d gained through her years was shattered now. She closes her eyes, looking down at the ground with a furrowed brow, frustrated with herself. “How can I prove I’m still…still a Pegasus…I let Cloudsdale be taken by the enemy! What am I after that?!”

“A Pegasus who simply lost her way, that’s all. You can still redeem yourself.” Twilight says, Rainbow looking over at her. “You…we, can still make things right. All that’s between us and rescuing Equestria from the Hemorans is one gate…one gate that you can open.”

“Gather thyself, Equestrian, for your path begins now. Answer our question or be silenced under the falling blades of judgement.” The Hemoran statue says, both he and the Equestrian statue crossing blades over Rainbow’s head, the swords colliding with a heavy bang of metal.

“Thy question is one of countries, nations. One of soldiers and great heroes…” The Equestrian says, “One will bring unison to a broken state and be regarded as a savior. The soul of that hero carries on for a thousand years, acting as the body that binds the country together.”

“Thy people have a term for such a spirit. They call her ‘Princess’, thy great saviour and prosperous monarch…” The Hemoran speaks up.

“She leads us through the dark and prepares us the storm…” Rainbow continues, looking like she’s in a trance, “A disaster awaits us the horizon, one that cannot be stopped by any one existence…”

“What’s she going on about?” Simon says, walking up between Rainbow and Twilight, looking at his daughter. “Hey! Snap out of it!”

“The storm will consume us, darkness everlasting…” She continues, staring up at the crossed blades over her head. “The answer to a question of nations…all nations require one to unify them…one to bring them together under a single banner…” She snaps out of her trance, shaking her head. “W-What happened to me?!” She says in a panic, putting a hoof to her forehead, looking around.

“You…you were hypnotized, I think.” Twilight says, looking over at her friend with worry in her eyes. “Are you alright?”

“Yeah…yeah I am…just, really freaked out, that’s all.” She sighs, looking back up at the gate. It’s a massive double door structure, overpowering and impenetrable. Very small scars line its surface from the Hemorans’ attempts to open it, small white lines along the shining blue surface. An inscription of a lightning bolt lines the center of the doorway, spanning nearly the entire height of it.

Rainbow stands up and walks towards the statues, the cross of swords following her. She looks at the pedestals of the statues. The left, the armored boots of the Hemoran seen just above, reads CONVICTION while the other, the Equestrian standing upon it with her robe draping over the sides, reads KINDNESS. “Describes them pretty well, I’d say…” Rainbow mumbles to herself, looking up at the door and spotting a note.

Thy quest leads thee to one final door,
Freedom but a single step away.
Two questions remain unanswered,
A concept left not understood.

One is a question of nations,
Of great heroes and prosperous leaders.
All look to these souls with hope,
To guide them, to ____ them.

“To guide them…to…blank.” Rainbow rubs her chin, the answer seeming obvious, but the threat of death hanging fifty feet above her head makes it a dodgy guess at best. She stares at the note, then at the seam of the two grand gates just to the left of it, thinking.

“Our question remains unanswered, young one. Thy time runs short.” The Hemoran booms out.

“Our concept remains unknown…we require our answer, young one.” The Equestrian follows.

“I’m thinking, I’m thinking…! If I didn’t have these blades hanging over my head, this would be easy…A question of nations…the Princess…monarchs and heroes…everypony looks up to these figures with hope…a hope for a leader. To guide them…to…to…!” She taps her forehead, before the grinding of metal above her shocks her out of her stumped trance.

“Time for thee runs low…answer now, or forever be lost…” The Equestrian says, sadness reverberating in her voice. Rainbow looks up, her pupils quickly shrinking to the sight of the two blades, their edges now pointing down at her.

“To guide them…to guide them…think of something, Dash!” Rainbow whispers to herself, terror clouding her thoughts. The blades grind slowly down towards her.

“RAINBOW!” Twilight screams out, starting to sprint towards her friend. The blades let go of each other, falling freely.

“Thy time is now…farewell, young soul…” The Hemoran booms out, finality in his voice with a sense of bitterness. The Equestrian simply sobs, letting her blade fall with the other.

“TO LEAD THEM!” Rainbow shouts out, now or never for the answer. The blades slam into the platform, easily cutting through it, and the edges stop short of Rainbow’s ears, mere inches away from slicing her cleanly in half. Twilight falls to the ground, breathing heavily, still ten feet away from her friend. “Oh…oh Celestia…Rainbow, Rainbow!” She shouts, tears rolling down her face. Her friend turns around, a big smile on her face.

“I did it…” She chuckles, still scared slightly, but happy that her time wasn’t cut short here. She turns back to the gate, seeing the note burst into green flame.

“We are satisfied with thy answer…thou shalt not fall here.” The Hemoran says, bringing his blade up out of the platform.

“We are also satisfied…relief fills our soul.” The Equestrian says with her usual quiet tone, bringing her blade out of the platform as well. Two giant scars rest next to Rainbow, the fencing easily split by the extremely heavy swords. Both statues plant the tips of their blades into the pedestals, and place hand and hoof on the gate.

“Withdraw thy key, and speak the phrase that will unlock your path!” The Equestrian says with loud determination in her voice. Rainbow nods, turning to her bag and pulling out the four items she’d picked up before, laying them next to the new piece that fell from the green flames; a small blue jewel. The pieces begin to levitate in front of Rainbow Dash, and combine themselves into a key. The spikes rim the medallion as the rod locks itself into place, the two small plates locking into the rod as teeth, while the jewel locks itself in between the wings. The wings expand outside the medallion, flowing outwards, as if taking flight.

“Right…now the phrase…” Rainbow strokes her chin, thinking back to anything that might hint at it. “What could be a key phrase…?” She thinks hard, looking down at the platform, seeing a note nailed into the floor.

Thy conviction rests as a relief,
Thy soul stands strong against the wind.
Before thee are the gates of Destiny,
Through these, thou shalt find the truth.

Steel yourself, for your future is dark,
Your past fraught with shadows and terror.
Hold true to yourself and your friends,
And speak the phrase of the five.

“Phrase of the five…?” Rainbow whispers, her mind locking on ‘five’. “The five…the five pieces of the key…the five answers!” Rainbow taps the ground, nodding, and recalls the five answers. “’Lead’, ‘Will’, ‘One’, ‘Two’, ‘Five’…those were the answers…” She says to herself, thinking.

“What’s the phrase…?” She says, looking up towards the gates of her Destiny, determination filling her soul, while something dark creeps forth from the depths of her mind…

Chapter 15 Part 1: Judge, Jury, And Executioner

Twilight stares on at the calm-looking Rainbow, currently deep in thought over what the statue told her. She slowly gets up off the ground and walks over to her friend, tears still slowly rolling down her cheeks. Rainbow turns around, looking at her before being quickly grabbed into a hug.

“Oh, Rainbow! Thank goodness you’re safe!” She sobs, her grip tightening, Rainbow starting to push back. “Twi! You’re strangling me!” She struggles to say, cheeks puffing out as she tries to take a breath.

“Oh! Sorry!” Twilight lets go, Rainbow letting out a quick breath, quickly breathing back in in a quick pant. “What’s gotten into you?”

“I-I don’t know…seeing those blades coming down…it scared the life out of me…” Twilight sighs, a big smile on her face. “I’m just glad to see you’re still in one piece.”

“Oh…right, the swords…” Rainbow says, looking back up at the statues, them having fallen lifeless in wait for her answer. They each have a hand or hoof on the hilts of their blades, the other placed against the gate. “Think you could help me with something, actually?” She asks, turning back to Twilight.

“Sure. What’s up?”

“They’ve asked for ‘the phrase that will unlock my path’, but I haven’t got a clue about what they’re referring to. I think it has to be made of the words ‘Lead’, ‘One’, ‘Will’, ‘Five’, and ‘Two’, but nothing’s coming to mind…” Rainbow says, grimacing. “I’ve never been good at this kind of thing, but you’re a wizard when it comes to problems!”

“Flattering, but the word choice seems strange. Three numbers and two words, and you have to make a phrase from them?” Twilight says, walking up to Rainbow’s right side before sitting down and putting a hoof to her chin. “…Hmmm…”

“I think ‘Five’ is talking about the pieces of this key.” Rainbow says, pointing to the faintly glowing blue key in front of her, levitating a good three feet off the ground. “Will and Lead match up…but it doesn’t make sense.”

“Hmm…the words are ‘Will’, ‘Lead’…’Five’, ‘Two’ and ‘One’. Will lead five…five will…one will lead?” Twilight says, the room still silent. “One will lead…five two…two five…one will lead two five…”

“One will lead to five?” Rainbow says, looking over. “Sounds alright…but what’s the ‘One’ refer to?”

“So it’s a word play…interesting. Not sure what the ‘One’ could be, but if you’re right about the ‘Five’ referring to the key…maybe the ‘One’ refers to you?” Twilight asks, raising an eyebrow.

“Worth a shot.” Rainbow says with a shrug, moving back so she can see both statues when she looks up. “Hey! You two awake?!” She shouts up to the statues, them not moving. A voice echoes into the room, the deep voice of a commander.

“Speak.”

“The phrase Fluttershy was talking about…what happens if I get it wrong?” Rainbow shouts in question, staring at the armored Hemoran.

“Dost thy conviction wane in the face of danger?” He asks.

“No, no it ‘dost’ not. I just wanna know.” Rainbow shouts back.

“We shan’t answer thy question; we shall simply await thy answer. Rely on thy own spirit, young one.” He says with finality, the room falling silent again. Rainbow sighs in frustration, turning around to her dad. “Do you have anything?”

“Any what?” He asks back, raising an eyebrow.

“Well…anything for a phrase. The statues were just talking.” Rainbow says.

“Say what? All I’ve been doing is sitting here, watching you and Twilight talk to yourselves and each other. You fell into some random trance and started talking to yourself…you are alright, right?” He asks with a grimace.

“Of course I am! A-wait what? What do you mean ‘talking to myself’? The statue was talking, his voice shook the room!” Rainbow says, squinting and raising an eyebrow.

“Nothing was talking besides you and the Captain. Only thing I definitely saw was the statues moving, and them nearly decapitating you. No voices though.” He says with a raise of the eyebrows and a shrug, seeming to brush off the fact his daughter nearly got killed.

“Wh…what’s with you? You saw me nearly die! Why didn’t you do anything?!” She shrieks, anger rising.

“I…don’t know. Could be because you were the reason my home town got destroyed and taken over.” He says with a matter-of-fact tone. “You didn’t even lead us where we needed to go. We’re in some massive white room with a big door and two statues, not near the travel route to the ground.” He says, his own anger becoming apparent. “I thought you said you knew this place like the back of your hoof!”

“And I do! I don’t know why this area doesn’t lead to the ground! I know there were two chutes here leading straight down, not to mention THIS BIG BLASTED DOOR WAS NEVER HERE BEFORE!” Rainbow shouts back.

“Oh well that’s just FANTASTIC! Not only are we lost, we’re in the heart of enemy territory! Never should’ve followed you, TRAITOR.” Simon hisses, turning around and heading for the metal walkway.

“Hey! Where’re you walking off to, Dad?!” Rainbow shouts.

“Away from here! I’m better off on my own anyway! I KNOW I’ll be better off without you around!” He shouts back, venom in his words.

“What’s wrong with you?!” Rainbow shouts, sadness creeping up through the anger.

“MY UNIT’S DEAD THANKS TO YOU. Not only that, Cloudsdale is under siege, you led us to some random room in the heart of their base with no exit except back up! Sorry, but I’m done following a kid around.” He says, stomping off towards the metal walkway. Rainbow grits her teeth, rage seeping through, trying to find the words. She opens her mouth, but closes it as sadness begins to take over. She looks down at the platform as she sits down, the heavy stomps of her father’s armor growing quiet as he walks back up the stairs. “Darn it, Dad…” She whimpers.

Twilight looks over at her friend, looking back at the note on the ground. “I don’t think they’d mind waiting…” She whispers, looking back up at the statues as she walks over to Rainbow. She sits down next to her. “Rainbow…”

“No…” Rainbow sniffs, eyes closed tight as tears come down in drops, “he’s right…I’m the reason his unit got killed, why Cloudsdale got taken…why Equestria’s in the mess it’s in. I backstabbed everypony and I don’t even know WHY!” She sobs, unable to think straight. Twilight brings her close in a hug, rubbing her shoulder.

“It’s alright…a city can always be taken back, right? All you need to do is show that you’re still with us, that the Element of Loyalty still stands strong for Equestria…even if it seems difficult, we’ve conquered tough challenges before, right?” She asks, Rainbow’s shivering all too apparent to her.

“Th-this is different, Twi…I betrayed what I am for this…I’m not Rainbow Dash anymore, I’m something different…something terrible.” She whimpers.

“Listen to me, Rainbow…the Elements can’t dictate what we do with our lives. Some things we do might go against what we stand for…but don’t forget that your friends will always be there for you, no matter what path you choose or what you do with your own life…your heart’s shattered over this because you’re still loyal to your home, right?” Twilight says softly.

“…Yeah…but…” Rainbow sobs, something just as horrible as backstabbing Equestria digging away at her mind.

“…But?” Twilight asks, raising an eyebrow.

“Sehn and F…Fluttershy…t…they’re…” She shudders, the tears flowing freely now, “They’re dead!!!” She shouts into the room, collapsing and bursting into a full on cry. Twilight sits there in shock, staring at her friend as she breaks down. Fluttershy…dead?

“Is…is that true?”

“It is!! I swear it! I saw their corpses a while ago…Sehn’s dead body fought against me!” Rainbow sobs, holding her hooves over her eyes.

“Rainbow, calm down for a second! Listen to me! You have to fight passed this!” Twilight says, running around to Rainbow’s face and lying down in front of it, prying away a hoof to look her in the eye. “Hasn’t this world messed with you before?”

“Yeah! It has! It’s wounded me and my friends, even showed me my dead marefriend! All it’s done is rip away at me!” Rainbow continues to cry, her eyes turning red from the tears.

“Rainbow! Focus! What will they do if they see you like this?!” Twilight shouts into Rainbow’s face, her crying letting up a bit. “They’ll be disappointed! They both put a lot of trust into you, what will they think if they see you crying here for the rest of your life?! Wouldn’t they want you to finish this?”

“It’s…I…I promised them I’d carry on, but…” Rainbow covers her face again, smacking herself in the muzzle by shoving her leg out of Twilight’s grip, but continues going in her cries while ignoring the pain. Twilight just sighs, staring at Dash. “What am I going to do with you…?” She asks herself.

Twilight paces in front of the gate, having thought for several minutes on what the five answers could mean. “It is a word play, but I can’t be sure…One Will Lead Two Five…? It just doesn’t sound right…” Twilight mumbles to herself, throwing occasional glances at Rainbow who’s now sitting in the middle of the room, staring up at the Hemoran statue. Her crying has stopped, but her eyes are still bloodshot from the emotional breakdown.

She sighs. She wasn’t able to comfort her friend, instead deciding to go back to the puzzle, letting Rainbow have her time to mourn. Twilight looks back at the gate, the hand and hoof placed against it, the key still hovering in place in front of the door. “Five words that lead to a phrase…no clue what will happen if we get it wrong…no pressure, Twilight, none at all…” She thinks, shifting the right of her mouth up, wishing she had a quill and ink to write ideas down with.

“One Will Lead Two Five…Will One Lead Two Five…Two Will Lead One Five…Five Two Will Lead One…ONE PLUS ONE EQUALS THREE…GAH!” Twilight shrieks in frustration. A puzzle like this shouldn’t be trumping her so badly. “Last one makes about as much sense as all the others!” She mocks sarcastically, steadying herself. She takes a deep breath, “Ok…five pieces of the key, they’ve come to a door…but I only saw Rainbow recently, was she guided here by those pieces? Wait…” Twilight says to herself, turning to Rainbow.

“Rainbow! Come over here for a second!” She shouts out, Rainbow slowly looking towards her and walking forward. She looks down at the floor as she sits down next to Twilight. “…Yeah?” She says, not looking up.

“Rainbow, what brought you to this room?”

“Um…I thought this room would have an escape route for you and Dad.”

“Ok, but before all that. What brought you here, what made you follow the path you had to here?”

“…Well…first, I woke up on this black street…then I ran into a hooded pony who told me stuff, said he’d be waiting for me at ‘the end of everything’…that questions have answers and answers have questions…then I started finding notes next to windows and in fleshy rooms and…and…” Rainbow slowly widens her eyes as the idea dawns on her. “Those notes…”

“What about them?” Twilight asks, raising an eyebrow.

“Those notes, they gave me pieces of the key…five pieces lead me here. Five Will Lead Two One…but one what?” Rainbow furrows her brow, the challenge before her cloaking any depression she had before. “One…one gate…? Five pieces Will Lead Two One gate?” She says to herself, trying to decide on something.

“Five Will Lead Two One sounds right, yeah. It makes sense as well…but how can we check?” Twilight asks, looking at the key floating in front of them.

“…No way to, I’m guessing.” Rainbow says, looking up at the two statues. “It’s always been one chance to make your move in this place…so far I’ve gotten by using my own skills. Guess all I can do now is rely on myself, like Sehn said…” She says, moving back towards the middle of the room, and faces the gate again. The voice booms in the room.

“…Thy spirit speaks of determination, child. Hast thou come to a conclusion?” The Equestrian asks.

“Be wary in thy decision.” The Hemoran follows.

“I’ve thought about it for a long time now, and gotten help from a friend. Like everything else in this world though, it comes down to me…so yeah, I’ve come to a conclusion, and I’m betting everything on it.”

“Thou shalt divulge this truth to us, and we shall judge thee.” The Hemoran says, drawing the blade up from the pedestal, the metal grinding away against the stone. “Speak your truth from the bottom of your heart, and stand by it until the end.”

“Five will lead to One!” Rainbow shouts to the statues and the gate, and sits still, waiting for the reaction of the statues. The Hemoran turns his head to The Equestrian, and she looks back. They stare at each other for a while before turning back to Rainbow.

“We request that thou complete thy phrase.” The Equestrian says.

“Complete it? W-Wait, I got it wrong?” Rainbow stutters, staring up at the massive sword.

“Not entirely, so we have thought it just to grant thee one last chance.” The Hemoran echoes out, the sword being raised over his head. “Search your soul for the answer.” He says, before the grinding stops and the room falls silent.

“Five will lead to one…five will lead to one…” Rainbow looks down, thinking hard. “What else is there to that?” She shuts her eyes tight, stomping the ground, trying to think of something. “Grrrr…nothing’s coming!”

“What do you mean by ‘complete’ it?!” Twilight shouts up to the statues. No response comes after minutes of waiting, and she looks over at Rainbow. “Maybe we missed something in the note?” She shouts across the room, Rainbow looking back at her.

“Maybe! But how can we tell?” Rainbow shouts back, flying over to Twilight, a good 30 feet. She adjusts her cap as she lands, looking down at the last note, the nail still stuck in it. “’Five’ and ‘One’ have to relate to something…” Twilight says, looking down at the note. “Just what do they point to, though…? ‘Five’ could point at the key…but you also have five friends.”

“Why would it exclude somepony from that th-“ Rainbow stops suddenly, remembering what happened earlier, and looks down. “Oh…right.” She looks down at the note, furrowing her brow. “…Alright…if the ‘Five’ points to you guys, including me…what does the ‘One’ talk about?”

“I don’t know…there’s nothing here that could relate to it. All we have are the five key words.” Twilight says, stroking her chin in thought. “If only we had more data…more reliable data, this would be way safer, way easier.”

“Well…this place never was about being easy…” Rainbow mutters, looking up at the door in front of her. “Every question has an answer…every answer has a question…” She says out loud, Twilight looking over.

“Every…question? Wait…” She looks off to her right, thinking. “Questions have answers, answers have questions, usually it’s a one to one relationship…’One answer’?”

“One truth.” Rainbow says, staring with determination at the door before her. “Five Pieces of the Key Will Lead To One Truth.” She turns around, walking to the center of the room again. The statues look down at her again as she walks, following her as she turns.

“Thou stands before us with doubt in thy heart…we have granted thee time, yet thou shan’t use it?” The Equestrian says, worry in her voice.

“The worry’s always been here…but it’s time I made a choice. I can stand here for years thinking it over, and it won’t move me forward any farther than this room, will it?” Rainbow says, looking up at the two statues, the massive blade still held above the Hemoran’s head.

“Thy assumption is correct. Not one step shalt be taken forward without our answer.” The Hemoran says, looking down at the mare in the middle of the room. “Trust in thy soul, and the answer shall come to thee. Falter in thy conviction, and thou shalt not take one step further…”

“I know, I know…threat of death if I get it wrong.” Rainbow says with a sigh, the pressure still heavy on her heart. It was now or never, but the answer still didn’t sound right in her head…she goes over it a few times in her mind. “All I’ve done is look at this with Twilight’s brain…maybe that’s why it sounds wrong…it’s not me coming up with it?” She whispers, looking down at the platform below her. She closes her eyes, focusing, thoughts rolling through her head. “Five…Five Souls Will Lead To One Truth…my truth…” She thinks.

Rainbow looks up at the two statues before her, and takes a deep breath.

“Five Souls Will Lead To One Truth, My Truth.” She shouts to the statues, and as the echo dies down, the room falls silent. Twilight looks up at the statues, worry shaking her frame. Was it wrong? It wasn’t what she told Rainbow. The room remains silent for what feels like an eternity, before a voice booms through the room once more.

“Thy soul has found the one answer…” The Equestrian says.

“…And has discovered our concept.” The Hemoran follows.

“What thou shalt make of this is up to thee…our work is done.” The Equestrian says, and she begins to move off of the pedestal, leaving her sword impaled in it. She moves around to the gate, the metal flooring surprisingly resilient under her weight. The Hemoran follows suit, spinning the sword around in his hand and impaling it into the pedestal, moving towards the gate.

Twilight quickly runs out of the way of the two moving statues, dodging boots and hooves coming down over her head. Rainbow stares on at the statues as they move in front of the gate, both placing their hands and hooves against it. The key begins to shine a bright blue as it hovers up between them, spinning to meet the lightning bolt symbol.

The key flies into the door and turns with a click, the room exploding with the sound of rolling tumblers and numerous locks letting go. The clouds next to the gate seem to bulge and expand with each quaking lock, and the statues begin to push against the gate, it grinding open as if it hadn’t been opened for tens of thousands of years. A bright white light shines through the gate, and the two doors are eventually pushed all the way open, the statues slowly moving their titanic bodies back to the pedestals.

The Hemoran stands at his blade, one hand behind his back while the other is raised in salute to Rainbow, and the Equestrian stands with her own salute to Rainbow, sitting on the pedestal behind her blade. The light from the gate is near-blinding, and Rainbow shields her eyes from it, Twilight walking up beside her.

“Step forth into the light of the truth and never turn back, young one…your test begins now.” The Hemoran says, maintaining his salute. Rainbow turns to Twilight as her friend looks back, and they both nod and walk forward into the light from the gate, quickly overtaken by the glare. Rainbow feels as if she’s getting sucked into a vacuum, and she flies through the gate with Twilight, the two doors slamming shut behind them.

“What…happened?” Rainbow asks, opening her eyes to the blurred world around her. A heavy gust of wind with enough force to knock a Pegasus out of the sky blows past her, Rainbow shutting her eyes to the sting of the wind. She covers her head with her hoof, looking around. Under her are the usual thunderheads of this Cloudsdale, though something’s amiss. Above her, she can see the red sky above the city, though it’s unhampered by the haze from before, shining through to her vision. A black sun hangs in the middle of the sky, unmoving, and clouds circle around it in a slow fashion, as if following their own laws of physics rather than jet streams. “Defying physics now?” Rainbow sighs, looking down at the floor under her.

A rapid zap of lightning arcs to her leg, shooting through her and kicking her nerves into high gear, the haze vanishing from her vision. “Guess I was just feeling out of it…” Rainbow mutters, blinking a few times while she looks around. Nothing but this platform and red sky enters her sight though, and a shadow in front of her. She looks at it, immediately recognizing the cloak and body.

“Welcome, young one…” He says, his voice the only noticeable reminder of his young age. “I see you’ve brought a friend.” He says, looking off to Rainbow’s right while she follows his gaze, settling on Twilight, who seems to have lost her cloak, moaning. Rainbow stares at the unicorn, dumbfounded as she lays on the clouds, and Twilight’s moans are quickly replaced with a shocked gasp as she comes to the same realization.

“Worry not, I casted a spell that allows you to walk on clouds.” The cloaked pony says, Twilight letting out a sigh of relief. “Thank goodness…” She says, rolling onto her belly then rising up. Rainbow stands as well, surprisingly uninjured despite her flight through that tunnel behind the gate. She looks at the cloaked pony, and takes a step forward. “You said you were meeting me at ‘the end of everything’. Is this it?”

“Mmm…not quite, sadly. Your end is still quite a ways off…this is simply a conjugal visit.” The pony responds. “I am rather happy that you solved the riddle though and unlocked the second Gate.”

“Those statues…did you put them there?” Rainbow asks.

“The statues? Heavens no! I could never sculpt moving masterpieces like the Guardians…it took a great deal of magic and time to create those heavenly pieces of art, I’m sure.” He muses.

“Why did they sound like Fluttershy and Sehn?” Rainbow asks, furrowing her brow at the colt before her.

“A good question, to which I’m sad to say I have no single answer…nor do I believe it will ever be answered. Perhaps you’ll find out down the line though.” He replies, seeming to smile. He turns to Twilight. “I am surprised she came with you though…” He says, walking over to Twilight. She starts moving back before hitting the cloud wall, and the colt continues his approach. Rainbow jumps out in front of him, putting herself between Twilight and the cloaked pony. “That’s as far as you go! Nopony’s going anywhere near Twilight!”

The colt simply sighs, shaking his head. “My dear, you really must realize that things in this world are beyond your willing control.” He mocks, looking over at the lavender unicorn. “I must answer my curiosity, and I’m not going to let you get in the way of it.” He says, turning back to Rainbow before raising his leg. He gently presses it against her side and pushes her out of the way, despite Rainbow’s struggles to stay in place. “Now then, Miss, shall we start with your name?”

Twilight simply stares at him, the colt taking one step forward before Rainbow jumps back in front of him. “I SAID nopony’s going NEAR her.” She says to the pony, sitting down in front of him. “For the love of…very well! If you so insist…” He says, dismayed slightly, and he turns around and walks towards the edge of the platform. “So if she’s here, why didn’t the other Pegasus come with you as well?” He asks, looking out to the red sky before him.

“He walked back up the stairs, said he couldn’t be bothered following a kid around…” Rainbow replies with disappointment, looking down slightly.

“Hm…very unlike a father to act in that fashion…though I do suppose it’s not unlikely. You did kill his Thunderstrike unit and allow Cloudsdale to be taken…” He says, shrugging.

“I didn’t KILL THEM! If the world would LET ME do what I wanted for once, I would’ve gone right through the wall to help them!” Rainbow shouts, insulted by this accusation.

“So what stopped you?” He asks, turning his head though his face is still shrouded by the hood. “I’m not going to accept anything less than an adult dragon suddenly appearing in your path as an appropriate excuse.”

Rainbow opens her mouth to answer, but thinks back to the two doors opening in her way that stopped her. “Well…it was over before I could even get close to the room…” She replies meekly, staring at the clouds below her. Twilight walks up beside her, raising an eyebrow. “Why are you asking her these things?” She asks, sitting down next to Dash.

“Boredom, curiosity, a want for the truth I suppose. All I want is for her to answer whatever I ask, and I’ll be happy.” The pony says, still staring out at the sky before him. “What about the windows, Pegasus? Did you see what you’d wanted to see in them?”

“No…I didn’t see anything good from those images.” Rainbow replies, her mind questioning why she’s answering these questions, but her body acting on its own. Twilight speaks up, “What’s the point of all this?”

“Like I said, a want for the truth is all I have.” He replies with a dark tone, obviously not wanting any more interruptions. Twilight groans with a grimace, furrowing her brow at the pony. “What makes you so important that you get to question Rainbow like this?”

“The world, this one in particular, works in very strange ways…” He replies, turning his head slightly. “It is constructed by her subconscious after all.” He turns back to the sky, falling silent for a while. Neither party speaks to the other for a good minute or so, before the cloaked pony speaks up.

“If you’re wondering about your father, I have some…bad news to give.” He says solemnly, Rainbow immediately looking up at him. “What about my dad?!” She asks in desperation.

“I saw him flying out of the Rainbow Factory from here…he was being escorted by an armored fellow with dragon wings, lined with a black flame.” The pony says with a matter-of-fact tone. “They were both headed for the town center.”

“Wait…from here? But the Factory’s surrounded by all those clouds and, and all that lightning! How could you see them from…wait…” Rainbow stops herself before running for the ledge and looking off it. To her shocked surprise, below them was the massive field of lightning surrounding the Rainbow Factory. She was on top of the central tower!

“HOW’D I GET UP HERE?!” She screams into the abyss below, dumbstruck. “I was just in the Core!”

“The world works in strange ways.” The cloaked pony answers, simply staring out into the sky. Rainbow raises her view across the town, finally seeing it as sharp as daylight. It really was her home of Cloudsdale. She stands up then backs a step or two, taking in the scene, and sits down. “You ok, Rainbow?” Twilight asks, walking up behind the pair, looking over the ledge herself.

“Yeah, I’m fine…just a bit shocking to see it’s really Cloudsdale. As if the Factory wasn’t enough of a hint…” Rainbow says, looking down. “Where were my dad and that armored guy going?”

“The town center.” The cloaked pony says, pointing out in front of him, a flash of silver on his coat. He quickly moves his leg back under the cloak. “I can’t fly, so you two will have to go on without me. I’ll see if I can meet you there…and Miss Dash.”

“Hm?” Rainbow asks, turning slightly.

“Don’t die.” The cloaked pony replies simply before heading off to the open hallway behind the trio, his soft steps on the clouds fading away. Rainbow turns back to the scene before her, taking a deep breath then letting it out in a long sigh. “Well…Sehn did say my test begins now…” Rainbow mutters under her breath, turning to Twilight. “Hop on, I’ll at least take you down to the street, and we’ll run from there.” She says, gesturing for Twilight to get on. Twilight climbs onto Rainbow’s back, Rainbow grunting under the strain of all that new weight. “Jeeze, Dad was right, you ARE heavy!”

“Save the remarks on my weight for later, Dash. Giddy up!” She says with a smirk, Rainbow turning to just stare at her. “Sorry, sorry…um, let’s go?” She says with an apologetic look and a shrug, Rainbow smiling and turning back around. “Hold on tight!” She shouts before leaping off the ledge, Twilight quickly wrapping her legs around Rainbow’s neck.

The thunderhead tower screams past the duo, lightning jumping out towards them in massive blue pillars, and Dash quickly maneuvers to miss them, opening her wings and gliding down to the two towers in front of them. Wind tears past them as Twilight holds on for dear life, as they both fly at breakneck speeds straight for the wall of cloud between the two guard towers, sparking with lightning.

“TWILIGHT! Got a spell that could lighten us up?! I’m not gonna be able to ascend like this!” Rainbow shouts, staring at the massive wall of death careening towards them. “Besides levitation I haven’t got anything! I don’t know if it’ll work here either!” Twilight screams back, fear increasing as the wall of electricity comes closer. “WELL DO SOMETHING, OTHERWISE WE’RE GONNA BE CHAR-BROILED PONY IN FIVE SECONDS!” Rainbow screams back, flapping her wings to try and get over the wall, while Twilight focuses on her levitation spell. “C’mon, work! WORK!” She hisses, focusing more power into her horn. The familiar aura of magic surrounds the pair, and they begin to slow down, literally skidding through the air towards the wall.

“We’re not gonna stop in time!” Rainbow shouts, flapping her own wings, trying to push away from the wall. Twilight puts as much power as she can into the spell, the air bending itself around the focused magic energy into a typhoon, and they stop. Rainbow stares at the massive thunderhead just inches away from her face, the lightning jumping from cloud to cloud within it. Twilight’s uncontrollable shivering gets through to Rainbow’s mind next as the pair begins to slowly rise up. “Why’re you shaking so much?”

“Self-levitation with somepony else takes…a lot of focus to make sure nothing goes wrong…!” Twilight hisses out, looking up to the top of the wall. “Don’t talk to me…until we’re over…”

Rainbow simply nods, looking up with Twilight. Thunder rolls just inches from them, sounding like bombs going off right next to their ears with every strike of lightning. Lightning jumps with great arcs over Rainbow and Twilight, Dash looking down to see the bolts slam back into the wall just below them, swearing she sees it explode. “We are beyond dead if one of those bolts even grazes us…” Rainbow thinks, looking back up, sighing in relief as the edge of the wall approaches.

As they rise over the edge of the wall, Twilight’s focus gives out and the aura disappears. Rainbow immediately opens her wings and glides down to the top of the wall, luckily where no massive bolts are jumping out. Heavy panting from Twilight catches her attention as she lands, turning to face her friend.

“You alright?” Rainbow asks, concerned. “I’m fine…just…I feel really exhausted…” Twilight pants out in response, all control of her body giving up as her grip on Rainbow’s neck and chest loosens and her legs fall away. “I feel like I’m going to pass out…” She whispers.

“I’ll take things from here.” Rainbow says with a smirk, and Twilight smiles back before drifting off into slumber. Rainbow turns back to the ledge in front of her, walking over to see the streets of Cloudsdale below, one long road stretching off towards the center. “Why do I always get lucky when I’m not in danger?” She mutters as she opens her wings and runs off the ledge, flying towards the town center, holding Twilight’s legs around her neck so she doesn’t fly off.

_____________________________

“What are you planning, old man?” A small shadow asks, a dimly lit room surrounding her. A badly lit stairwell ascends 30 feet in front of her, a similarly lit golden throne sitting at the top with a larger shadow sitting in it. He lowers his eyes towards her, the red from them piercing through the darkness.

“I figured that, since you’ve failed again and again, it would be my turn to have a bit of fun…” He replies simply with a chuckle.

“You know it isn’t your place to do this!” The small shadow hisses back, her red eyes burning with anger.

“Child, you obviously don’t understand the way things work…” He answers back, leaning forward in his throne. “Though I do acknowledge that you are the greater power here, realize that my sovereignty is paramount, and my word is law…never forget that.”

“The day I listen to you is the day I surrender myself, and you know that’ll never happen. Stop getting in the way!” She shouts. “That throne belongs to one and one alone, and that one is ME.”

“We shall see, young one…there is one other who already claimed this throne.” He answers, his smile gleaming in the limited light. He seems utterly pleased with how things have been going.

“I’m well aware of who already owns that throne…they won’t be much to deal with. I’ll let you go on with this…but any more interruptions, and you’ll regret it.” The small shadow hisses, exiting through the massive double doors behind her, blue in color with a lightning bolt design in the center. The large shadow simply laughs, the cackles blowing through the room. “WELL THEN! LET THE GAMES BEGIN!” He shouts to the darkness, the small shadow simply grimacing and shaking her head as she leaves the room.

____________________________________________

Wind rips past Rainbow as she flies through the conquered Cloudsdale streets, having already dodged an encounter with two Royal Guards dragging their blades through the thunderheads by flying over them. She grimaces from the soreness in her wings, now reaching a flaming burn as she flies over the city, and she heads down to street level, landing and skidding to a stop. Sweat runs down her face as she looks back, the Factory a small tower in the distance. “Just how far did I fly?” She asks herself, looking over at Twilight. “Still out cold…well, it’s not far now to the square…”

Rainbow looks around herself, raising an eyebrow. “Why did I only just notice that this city is all joined on one cloud? Cloudsdale is a bunch of buildings that pegasi have to fly to…but all these houses and business buildings are joined by streets. Did the Hemorans do this...?" She raises the right side of her mouth, lowering her eyelids. “No…this is more of my work, isn’t it? After the Hemorans took over, I helped them make travel easier by joining Cloudsdale together…but how did I do it on my own? The city’s just too big.” She says to herself, bucking a bit to get Twilight further up on her back, and begins walking forward down the street.

Her wings fall slack against her sides, worn out. “Flying’s out of the question now, I guess…” She thinks, her muscles burning from all the work she put them through. She bucks again to get Twilight back up on her back, groaning in annoyance. “C’mon Twilight, now really isn’t the time for you to be sleeping…” Rainbow mutters with a grimace, feeling kind of selfish for saying that.

Hissing from her saddle bag obliterates any passive thoughts in Rainbow’s head, immediately replacing them with worry. She draws her knife, looking around, tapping Twilight in the forehead to try and get her up. “C’mon, wake up!” She says through the knife, Twilight not coming to. The hissing becomes louder, and a shadow enters Rainbow’s vision. It quickly gains the form of a Royal Guard soldier, a Pegasus, dragging its sword along the ground. Rainbow quickly looks to its sides, wondering if it has any reinforcements, smiling from the lack of backup for her enemy.

“Alright, a one on one fight…” She says, lowering herself and her brow, getting ready to fight. The guard saunters slowly towards her, the sword making a grinding sound of metal against stone, even though it’s dragging along clouds. The guard quickly picks up its pace into a mad sprint, quickly crossing the distance between it and Rainbow, and it swings the sword with impressive aim for Rainbow’s neck. She quickly ducks as the blade approaches, stops for a second then yanks herself in a quick panic into the ground as the blade sails past Twilight and shaves off some of her mane. She jumps back, putting a good five foot distance between her and her opponent.

“Ok, now’s REALLY not the time to be sleeping, Twi!” She shouts through the knife, looking at her friend. Twilight’s only movement is her leg brushing against Rainbow’s side from the momentum of the jump, and Rainbow groans in frustration. Should she risk letting Twilight down onto the street? It’d help Rainbow move far quicker, but the spell might’ve worn off by now…how did unicorn magic work?

“Grrr, now’s not the time to be worrying about that…I’ll have to carry her and fight.” Rainbow thinks to herself, staring down her opponent over the short gap of cloud between them. The guard simply stares back, lowering itself slowly, its black, empty eye sockets closing in a squint. The stare-off continues for a few seconds, each one ticking by after hours of waiting, before the monster charges forward again, aiming with a wide horizontal strike for Rainbow’s neck. She ducks deep again, feeling the wind blow past as the rust blade slices through where she was, and she tries sprinting forward and striking the legs.

She moves slower, feeling Twilight’s mass pull her back, and her strike misses just short of the creature’s knees. She pushes herself off the clouds and runs to the right of the beast; luckily its massive sword forced it to recover from the slash. Rainbow spins around behind the monster as it brings the sword back around to its right, turning to face her. “Gah, this is never going to work with you on my back, Twi! Wake up!” She shouts, trying to rouse Twilight from her unconscious state, but she may as well have just shouted at a brick wall. She turns back to the monster, feeling her options running out.

“I can’t fight like this, and I can’t just drop her on the clouds…” Rainbow thinks, growling through the knife. She looks down at Twilight’s leg to her left, the blade just next to it. “Ohhh…sorry Twi!” She says through the handle of the knife, and she swings her head…

The blade stabbing straight into Twilight’s leg.

“GAAAAAH!!!!” Twilight lets out a monstrous scream of agony, the blade cutting cleanly into her skin. Rainbow pulls back before it cuts too deep, drawing it out, and Twilight flails on her back. “Twi! TWI! CALM DOWN!” Rainbow shouts through the handle, lowering herself to remain stable. “YOU STABBED ME!!!” Twilight screams into her ear, falling to the right. “Oh woah oh no no no!” She stutters as she falls off Rainbow’s back. Her horn immediately lights up, but she hits the thunderhead before whatever spell she was trying could be completed.

Rainbow screams as her friend falls through the thunderhead, Twilight’s own screams being muffled immediately by the thunder below Rainbow. A loud crack echoes from below the layer of clouds, as if a massive bolt of lightning just struck something. “Oh Celestia…” Rainbow thinks, eyes wide at the hole made by Twilight’s body. The shaking of armor catches her attention as the soldier bares down on her, blade swinging vertically, trying to split her skull. Something inside Rainbow lights up immediately into an inferno, and she swings with her knife for the sword of the soldier. She spots a line of black along the edge as the knife slices through the sword and keeps going, sailing straight over the soldier’s head.

“What was that?” She thinks, her mind now on fire as she looks around, a black tunnel growing in her vision. She spins around to face her opponent, seeing the hilt and guard of a now very short knife with a flat tip, the soldier growling at her with new-found rage. It begins to back away, keeping what’s left of its sword at the ready. “No…oh HELL NO, you aren’t getting away from me now!” Rainbow shouts through her knife, and she jumps forward, an explosion of wind echoing in her ears as she closes the near 20 foot gap between her and her foe in an instant. The zombie can barely lower its head before the knife is up against its chest, as it begins to cut into its flesh. The knife slices through the body of the zombie as if it were air, and Rainbow skids to a halt behind it.

She turns to look at it, seeing blood leaking out from its side from its chest to the rump, as its back leg falls off at the flank. The soldier simply falls over and through the cloud, leaving an exhausted Rainbow Dash as the victor. She breathes hard, wiping her leg on the edges of the knife to clean the blood off, and then she sheathes it, taking a seat. “What was that just now…?” She asks, the black tunnel in her vision starting to fade. “I didn’t feel a thing when I was cutting into that monster…felt like nothing was there at all.” She blinks a few times, looking down at the black sludge on her leg she thought was blood. “Oh, that’s not cool at all…” She grimaces, moving her leg through the cloud below her to try and clean it off. A quick zap of lightning forces her to draw it back out though after only a second or two.

“Well, can’t clean it…guess I’ll live with it for now…” She says, looking over at the hole in the clouds. “Oh…CRAP.” She swears to herself, before leaping into the air and blasting herself down below the cloud level. “CRAP CRAP CRAP CRAP CRAP!!!” She repeatedly screams to herself through the deafening thunder and blinding lightning strikes all around her. Twilight was still falling through this! The fight lasted about ten seconds after she fell, it’s not a lot of time to go through this…

“She’s still alive, I know she is!” She shouts to the clouds, denying the thoughts in the back of her mind about that clap of thunder from when Twilight fell…she’s still alive, she has to be. Rainbow accelerates her mad descent through the thunderhead, it seeming impossibly deep for what it needed to do as a street. “How far does this cloud GO!?” Rainbow thinks to herself, narrowly dodging a gigantic blue bolt of lightning racing passed her. A purple glow amongst the black and blue catches Rainbow’s eye, and she immediately flies towards it.

The clouds rip away from the panicked Rainbow like dust being blown away by a tornado as she tears through cloud after cloud, the thunder becoming dull in its massive explosions. “Starting to lose my hearing…” Rainbow thinks to herself, the world around her blurring. The purple glow becomes stronger, and Rainbow picks up her pace, a smile slowly growing on her face…

Until a dark cackle from her surroundings put fear back into her heart. “Ahhh…my faithful Rainbow Dash…it seems you’re in a bit of a fix.” The venomous voice speaks out to her from the clouds. Rainbow immediately picks up her speed to her max, trying to close the gap between her and the purple glow. The clouds break to reveal Twilight surrounded in a shield, huge bolts of lightning striking at her from every angle, each one putting a new crack in the shield with a massive thunder clap. “TWILIGHT!!!” Rainbow screams, Twilight turning up to her. “Dash!” She cries back, and as Rainbow draws close, the lightning strikes seem to stop. “Oh thank Celestia you’re alright!” Dash exclaims, a massive smile on her face.

“I think you’re forgetting about me here.” The dark voice speaks out from the clouds, the silver-tongued Devil reaching into her soul. The sound comes from above both Twilight and Rainbow, and they both look up…

A shadow stands amongst a literal death storm of lightning crashing into his armor, turning it white with heat. Two flaming red eyes stare down at the pair. “Hello, ladies…such a joy to see you again…” The shadow chuckles, the dragon scale armor all too familiar to them both. The two mares look to each other, Twilight’s strain showing through in sweat and shaking in her legs. “Drop the shield; I’m getting you out of here!” Rainbow shouts, flying under Twilight as the shield finally breaks, shattering into a thousand small fragments, falling around Rainbow like pink snow. Twilight crashes down onto her back, her breathing coming loud and harsh. “If you hadn’t come…when you did…I’d be dead…!” Twilight says between gasps, hugging Dash tightly.

“Such a touching reunion…” The voice speaks to the duo from just in front of them, both of them staring at the blindingly bright white armor of the Colonel. “Sadly…I’m afraid I can’t leave you two together for the moment.” He says, an evil smile creeping across his face. Rainbow backs away, feeling a powerful heat growing within her again. The Colonel widens his eyes and furrows his brow, his smug demeanor being quickly replaced with a look of excitement. “Ahhh…so you’re capable as well! Oh, things just got a LOT more fun…” He chuckles, the smile spreading into a wide, evil statement of his sick desire. He reaches out to the pair, Rainbow backing away further, before she feels Twilight getting pulled off of her.

“RAINBOW! HELP!!!” Twilight screams as she struggles to hold on, knocking Rainbow off her balance as a powerful force rips the unicorn off her back. Rainbow looks up to see a black shadow in a white cloak bolding Twilight on his shoulder, simply staring back at her.

“We’ll be waiting at the square. Don’t be late…” The Colonel says to Rainbow with a smirk as she looks back at him, the heat growing stronger within her. “With that…you may just beat us there, actually.” He looks up at the white cloaked shadow, “Come. If we don’t go now, she’ll get impatient…and who knows what may happen to the Pegasus I captured earlier there.” He says with some annoyance in his voice, the shadow simply nodding before two feathered wings expand off his back, and with a single mighty beat, he launches off at a maniacal speed towards the surface.

“Oh, and I simply must warn you…I was acting as a lightning rod up there. The lightning should be returning any second now. Farewell!” He shouts, and with a mad laugh, he launches himself towards the surface, quickly followed by the deafening explosions of thunder as the blue bolts begin to rain down on Rainbow. She launches herself upwards with speed unknown to her before, feeling almost like the descent towards a Sonic Rainboom. “Stop questioning the world and go with it, Dash…this is your golden ticket to save her!” She mutters to herself, her speed only climbing as the clouds bend and break around her.

The Colonel laughs as he looks down, seeing a streak of darkness flying towards them. “Pick up the pace, Sergeant, she’s catching up! And I know I don’t want a lecture from the Sky Queen about losing to a Pegasus!!!” He shouts, looking back up and kicking the air, blasting him even faster upwards, screaming past Twilight and the Sergeant. Twilight simply watches in awe as the white streak quickly disappears in the upper cloud layer, then feels herself rising faster as the wings behind her beat once more, throwing the two bodies upwards. She looks up, seeing a blue path being drawn from a nearby cloud to the soldier carrying her, and she opens her mouth to scream, ducking her head under her hooves…

As the bolt comes down and hits him face first with a massive explosion of thunder. It doesn’t seem to send him careening down in a burnt mess, however…and as Twilight looks up from her ducked position, she sees the current running along the blade of a silver sword. The soldier quickly sheathes the blade and races up faster, Twilight starting to feel the air being pushed out of her lungs as he tightens his grip on her mid-section.

Rainbow beats her wings like never before as she races past thundering clouds and blinding strikes of lightning, everything seeming to fly passed at a breakneck speed. Two blue paths draw themselves from her to the clouds, and she moves to the right as two massive bolts of lightning flare past, seeming to burn the air they pass through. “Dodging LIGHTNING now!? Where am I getting all this speed?!” Rainbow shouts to the world around her, nothing making sense anymore. The cloud layer begins to thin and turn red, marking the surface, and she quickly explodes out of the street, through two floors of a house, and out the roof, flying way higher than she meant to. She quickly comes to a stop in the air, curling up and doing a back flip to level herself out before beating her wings in a hovering rhythm.

She looks down at the street, seeing a massive black crater from where she came out. “Woops…I’ll uh…help fix whoever’s neighborhood that was…” She says with an embarrassed chuckle, looking around. “He said they’d be waiting at the square…” She mutters to herself as she turns towards the center of Cloudsdale, seeing a white streak flying through the air with no wings. “There you are, you villain!” She says to herself, seeing the square just in front of the streak. She throws herself towards it at a high speed, the wind around her immediately whistling in her ears.

The white streak seems to vanish from her sight as she comes down to the square, the soldier with Twilight never even appearing during her flight. She looks around at the main square of the new city, taking in her surroundings. The square is nothing more than a massive round thunderhead, walled in on all sides by raised housing about 20 feet into the air, all the roads covered by a random combination of monsters, one kind looking completely new to Rainbow as she looks around.

The creature looks like a broken pony, legs completely obliterated and broken in twenty places, its torso is a wreck of its former self, showing muscle and skeleton under flaps of skin and a gray coat, and its face is also missing eyes, most of its facial features burned away, showing the skull and bits of muscle hanging on to it. “As if I didn’t see enough monsters already…” Rainbow says, looking around her at all the monsters. A voice cries out from the distance, that damningly smug, female voice.

“Ah, I was wondering when you’d all get here!” Dash’s twin shouts out, the monsters all turning their heads upwards, Rainbow following their gaze. About seventy feet above her, her twin stands on top of a black cloud, looking down at her and the square around her. Her eyes seem to glow with a blood red color, and her smile wouldn’t be out of place on an asylum patient. “Before I let you through, I thought I’d have a little fun with you, Dashie!” She shouts out, the voice carrying easily across the distance it needed to. “How about a little endurance match, eh? You against…one…two three four…five…twenty…tut tut tut…three hundred monsters!”

“WHAT?!” Rainbow screams, looking around the square, just to meet the many empty eye sockets of the monsters along the roads. They all seem to break their gaze and stare back up at her twin, roaring and screeching. Rainbow looks up as well, seeing her twin staring back in annoyance. “Well, I am an entertainer…to not give the crowd what it wants goes against what we stand for, doesn’t it, Dashie?!” Her twin shouts out, “Alright, ladies and gentlemen! A three hundred man endurance match would be too easy, wouldn’t it?! You all wanna see a SPECTACLE, AM I RIGHT?!” She shouts to the crowd, receiving a chorus of demonic cheering.

“WELL, LET’S SEE HOW LITTLE DASHIE LIKES THIS GUY?!” She shouts as the clouds below Rainbow begin to rumble and quake, the center of the arena billowing and bubbling from something rising from below. The clouds bend and rise in waves, causing the square to ripple like a pool of water, until finally, a podium bursts out from the clouds, about three times the size of Rainbow. A hand reaches up from behind it, grabbing it and pulling something out of the clouds below.

The black shadow rises up over the podium, even bigger than the podium, and the black begins to burn and slough away. The terrible screeches and cheers from the crowd grow even louder, as the form is revealed as Hemoran, his hair is a set of six dark green spikes radiating outward slightly, red lines of blood drawn in a jagged design over them, converging around his face like war paint. He steps around the podium, a towering shadow over Rainbow, easily four times her own height. He grabs something from the podium, raising it high over his head…

And beats the gavel against the podium, the entire crowd silencing immediately. The last of the black fades away from his body, revealing torn military fatigues, bloody, fingerless gloves, and an adult dragon’s skull worn as a helmet. His eyes are a complete black, two red irises with white pupils, red bloodshot veins running just along the outside. He exhales slowly, smoke coming out of his mouth.

Something about this form inspires pure terror in Dash, and she begins backing away from the titanic Hemoran, staring up at the beret on his head, two tarnished gold stars sitting on the front of it. “Ohhh, look, Dashie’s scared!” Her twin taunts, followed by a shrill laugh. The crowd quickly joins in, a combination of gurgles, roars and laughs. The gavel comes down on the podium once more, and all except Dash’s twin falls into silence.

“What are you…?” Dash meekly asks, unable to put more volume into her voice.

The soldier seems to ignore her as it walks out in front of the podium, his footsteps hitting the clouds like a boulder hitting the ground. He looks up at her, straightening his stance and holding the gavel next to him, it looking more like a sizeable sledge hammer in Equestrian hooves. “Equestrian…if I can actually call you that.” The soldier growls, his voice warped to the point of being barely recognizable. “How do you plead?” He asks, pointing the gavel at Rainbow, who simply stares back at it. The voice rolls like deep thunder.

“Wh…what?” She stutters, not breaking her stare on the weapon.

“I said. How do you plead?” He asks again, him taking a step forward.

“T-to what?” Dash replies, moving back.

“No one explained your charges before you arrived here? Well…you have quite the list, girl.” He snarls, walking forward towards Rainbow as she tries to keep the same gap of space between them, his shadow seeming to grow behind him. “Murder…assault…leading the force that conquered this city…orchestrating the deaths of hundreds.”

“NO!” Dash screams, flashbacks to her nightmare of the trial appearing in her mind, fear taking over every inch of her body. “I’d never murder somepony!”

“Yet you did. You killed ‘somepony’ on your way here!” He roars, Dash now nudging up against the wall of the square. She looks behind herself, feeling the thunderhead hit her rear, then looks back to the gavel just inches away from her face. “How do you plead?!”

“I plead innocent! I killed that monster in self-defense!!!” Dash shouts at the gavel, unable to take her eyes away from it.

“Monsters? You believe all those around us are MONSTERS?! ARE YOU BLIND, GIRL?!” The soldier roars, the creatures on the walls all around the square roar and shout, stomping the ground, creating a rolling thunder around the arena. “You blatantly killed an Equestrian in cold blood, yet claim yourself innocent?!”

“It was trying to kill me! How could I not fight back?!” Dash shouts, feeling the fear ebbing away.

“’It’ was trying to capture the mare who did this to this city, this…HUSK of a city! You lead the charge to it, and you continued to kill in order to ensure your control!”

“SHUT UP! I…! I’d never kill another pony, never!”

“Then explain the blood on your hooves, girl! All of it!” The soldier roars, a shadow growing behind him, quickly expanding outwards into a twisted, monstrous version of the soldier. His body is completely black with scaly armor, the gauntlets massive, spiny claws. The soldier moves his arm out, the monster following his movement perfectly, and a flaming battle axe forms itself from the shadow’s armor. “Look upon yourself and feel your guilt, the cries of the souls you slaughtered and maimed!” The soldier shouts, “And serve your SENTENCE!” The shadow bellows, his voice like a cry from Hell itself, quaking the arena.

Rainbow simply looks on at the shadow before her. The battle axe alone is at least ten times her size, and the shadow at least fourty. “Meet your Judge and Executioner, Dashie!” Her twin shouts from her cloud, cackling.

“Executioner…?” Dash mutters, eyes opening wide.

“What say ye, Jury?!” The Judge cries out to the crowd, the shadowed Executioner following his every move. A chant picks up around the ring, the voices sounding just like living Equestrians, three voices joining the crowd that seem to bounce around in her head far better than any of the others.

“Guilty! She’s guilty!” Pinkie screams at the top of her lungs.

“I can’t believe I loved you…” Fluttershy mutters, her volume so quiet it should have disappeared amongst the mad chanting.

“Element of Loyalty my big hoof! Yer just a liar and killer!” Applejack shouts out.

“GUIL-TY! GUIL-TY! GUIL-TY!” The crowd shouts out, Rainbow’s friends joining in the chant. The stomping enters a two beat rhythm, matching the chant, and the arena seems to explode with sound. Dash shakes uncontrollably, looking around in terror at the crowd. Something warm runs down her leg as she begins to cry, wind running past a large object forcing her eyes to the battle axe, the soldier raising his gavel.

“We, the Judge, Jury, and Executioner, those who have fallen to your wicked ways and cruel actions, hereby sentence you…

TO DEATH!” The Judge shouts at the top of his lungs, and he brings the gavel, along with the axe, down towards Rainbow. She simply freezes in place, the blade speeding towards her, completely unable to move. The world begins to slow, the axe growing inches closer with every passing hour.

“Pinkie…AJ…” Dash’s voice echoes in her mind, watching the blade slice through the air, a visible current flowing passed it. The tears run down her face as Fluttershy’s face passes by in her mind. “Fluttershy…I never meant for any of you to find out about this…” She sobs, resigning herself to her fate. She sits down, seeing a yellow line along the inner part of her left hind leg, and she simply looks down and closes her eyes. The whistle of wind draws ever closer, loud in her mind like the cry of the Grim Reaper.

“Disappointing…” A voice echoes out in Dash’s mind, her eyes opening slightly with a blink. “Is this really how it’s gonna end?”

“They all know, though…I’m evil…a criminal.” Dash says, the whistle of wind drowning out, the axe nearly stopping in midair. “I killed, I let Cloudsdale get captured…I’m the reason everything went wrong…”

“Gonna start saying you’re the Apocalypse given wings, now?” The voice scoffs, chuckling.

“I may as well be! Ever since this horrible world took me in, I’ve been the reason of so many deaths!”

“Yet I showed you mercy, didn’t I?” The voice says, a vision of Sehn entering her mind’s eye.

“…You said you weren’t really sure why you didn’t hate me though.” Dash says, despair everywhere on her face as she looks up, the edge of the axe slowly moving towards her.

“I’m still not sure why…but I do know that if you give up here, things won’t end well for the rest of us. What will Twilight do if you just up and died, eh? All your other friends, too.” Sehn says, raising an eyebrow.

“They all hate me…they all know what I did. It was something so terrible that they all just turned on me…” Dash says, tears running freely. Sehn just sighs, putting his hands on his hips. “Let’s assume they do…how long have you all been friends for?”

“…A long time…haven’t really counted the days.” Dash whispers.

“You wanna go back to them, don’t you? What was the point of making friends if you were just gonna up and kill yourself?” Sehn says.

“But-“

“No buts. Real friends will stick with you, no matter what you’ve done. You’ve gotta trust in them, Amanda…hold em close, just like they do to you. Dying here will just put a hole in their hearts that could never be fixed.”

“…I guess…” Dash mutters, wiping away her tears, the axe now just inches away from her face.

“You don’t guess, you know. Am I right?”

“Yeah…yeah, you are. I know my death here would just hurt them.” Dash says, her brow furrowing.

“Now look at the one who’s about to take you away, about to put that hole in your friends’ hearts. What do you feel?”

“…Hate…”

“Right. Let it boil, feel your soul burn. This monster is going to hurt you in the worst way possible, and it’s going to radiate outwards. You can’t let that happen, right?”

“No, I can’t!” Dash shouts in her mind, standing up, the axe drawing ever closer. Something within her begins to burn, and it slowly grows.

“You can’t die here! Not when everyone’s waiting for you at the end of this!” Sehn shouts, a smile on his face.

“I’m not gonna die here! Not after everything I’ve gone through!” Dash shouts, the flame in her stomach growing into an inferno. Her vision begins to tunnel, the black walls closing in. Her vision flashes red, and the world begins to speed up again.

“Now move, Amanda! Fight with everything you have!!!” Sehn shouts finally, vanishing from Dash’s mind, and she pushes off to the right. The axe comes down…

And slams into the thunderhead below it. “What the?!” The Judge exclaims, looking at the empty space he just cut through. Dash’s twin looks down from the cloud. “What are you DOING?!” She shouts. The Judge looks around, as does the Executioner as he draws the axe from the clouds. “Where’d she go?” He growls, both of them holding their weapons on their shoulders. They look around before spotting Dash, all the way across the arena.

“Holy Celestia, where’d that come from?” Rainbow says, looking over herself. Nothing seems different, but she can feel a heat coming from her chest, like a furnace. “Wow that feels weird…doesn’t hurt though.” She mutters, looking over the rest of herself before the shaking of armor catches her attention. The Judge sprints towards her, crossing the distance in a short amount of time, the Executioner raising his axe. “I won’t miss this time! Pay your bail in BLOOD, CRIMINAL!” The monster roars, and he brings the axe down, Rainbow easily jumping out of the way. That simple jump flings her a good ten feet to the left, and she drives her hooves into the thunder head to slow down. She lowers herself and draws the knife from its holster, staring down her opponent.

“I can’t die here, ‘Judge’! Not now! Whatever crime I’ve committed, I’ll serve the sentence once I’m back with my friends!” She shouts at the soldier, new anger showing through his face. “No! Your crimes cannot wait until you’re ready! You will pay for what’s been done, and you will serve your death sentence here and now!” He shouts, swinging the gavel at Rainbow. The Executioner follows the movement, and the axe head pops off the handle, flying on a massive chain. Dash leaps over it, the head flying into and through the thunderhead wall, the cloud rippling under the incredible force of the impact.

A sword flies past Rainbow’s face, as she looks down to see several soldiers starting to wind up and throw their weapons at her. She dives down, two swords and a javelin passing through the air where she was, and she lands on the axe head, feeling it tremble under the tugs from its master. “Can’t kill what you can’t catch!” She scoffs, immediately feeling sort of guilty for the comment.

“Justice will be had, Equestrian!!!” The Judge shouts, his eyes seeming to flare to an even brighter red than before, and with one mighty tug, the axe head comes loose from the cloud, pulling Rainbow along with it. She ducks down, wind ripping passed her, and feels a sudden jerk as the head hits the handle. She comes face to face with the Executioner, the smell of rot from him overpowering. “Shoot, ugly AND SMELLY? I didn’t think it was possible, big guy!” Rainbow smirks, standing up on the axe head. He swings the axe through the air, the wall of wind blowing Rainbow off it, and he quickly brings it back in a slicing motion. Rainbow rolls onto her back and flaps her wings, throwing herself down into the thunderhead as the axe slices through.

Rainbow rolls again and crashes down onto her hooves, her body trembling under the force of the impact. “Where’s all this strength coming from?!” She says to herself, confused. She spins around to see the Judge upon her, and he swings his gavel, Dash ducking under it. She feels a bone crushing impact as his left fist slams into her side, the sound of bones breaking echoing in Rainbow’s ears, and the punch tosses her up into the air. A painful burn cries out from her side, and she screams in pain just as loud. The Executioner comes into view, a sick white smile spread across his face, axe already raised above his head. Rainbow opens her wings to move out of the way and he swings down…

The axe blade slices along Rainbow’s belly, moving herself out of the way just in time to not suffer a critical injury, and the wind from the blade blows heavily along her neck and chin. “JEEZE that was close!” She says, re-orienting herself so she hovers with a clear view of the Judge and Executioner. She bites down on her knife slightly in thought, wondering how she’s going to bring down such a monster. The Judge moves his gavel arm back, the Executioner matching his movement. Something clicks inside Rainbow’s brain just as the monster swings the axe, throwing the head straight at her with crazy speed.

“WOAH!” She shouts as she throws herself upwards, the axe passing just under her. She feels it snag on her tail and yank a clump of it out, causing her to yelp in pain from the burn. The Executioner smirks as he whips the handle a bit, sending the chains towards Rainbow, one of the links slamming into her exposed chest with the force of a truck. “POFF!” Is all she can get out as the air in her lungs explodes out, her broken ribs searing with new fury. Her wings give out and she falls to the thunderhead below, landing with a soft thud.

“Feisty…” The Executioner hisses, as the Judge walks over to Rainbow’s body. She tries getting her hooves under her, only to feel something pop in her chest, the pain putting her back down on the cloud with a sob. She looks up at the approaching soldier, gavel over his shoulder. She slowly rolls over onto her belly, crackling sounds coming from her chest, and tears run down in drops from her eyes.

“It’s about time you gave up.” The Judge says, adjusting the gavel on his shoulder. “Ready to accept your sentence?”

“Not…on your…life…” Rainbow hisses out, her breaths shallow and harsh. She opens her wings, laying them against the clouds, staring deep into The Judge’s eyes. “I’m…not…letting you…take me…not now…!” She says, wincing in pain as she raises her wings.

“You don’t have much of a choice. Your ribs may as well be powder, and you’re bleeding badly. Pretty soon you won’t be able to even move, let alone fight.” The Executioner says with a matter-of-fact tone, lowering his battle axe to his side as the Judge does the same with his gavel. “Give up.”

“Never…!” Rainbow hisses, biting hard on the knife as she holds her wings high above her. The Judge simply scoffs and raises the gavel above his head. “Very well. You’ll die here…we, the Judge, Jury, and Executioner, sentence thee to DEA-“

The Judge is cut short by the sound of flesh being sliced into, as a knife is driven into his heart. Rainbow hangs, slack, from the handle of the knife, her body screaming out in agony. The Judge hacks up a cloud of blood, the gavel still raised over him, looking down at the knife in his chest. Rainbow puts a foreleg to his stomach, pushing against him lightly to pull the knife out until it gives way, sending her down seven feet to crash on the thunder head. The Judge falls to his knees.

Dash’s twin stares down from her cloud, stunned by the chain of events, and her jaw hangs, eyes wide with shock. “How…? Wh…where…? Dh…WHY?!” She screams into the square below, all the monsters shifting their gaze to her. “WHY?!?! WHY DO YOU KEEP SURVIVING?!” She screams, her eyes shining red with rage. All the monsters turn their gaze back to Rainbow, and they ready their weapons, the soldiers leaning back.

A glob of blood lands on Rainbow’s side as the Judge coughs again, collapsing next to her. The Executioner vanishes as the Judge gives his dying gasp for air, and he sinks below the clouds, the podium following close behind. She looks over the world around her in a blur, the pain coming to her in the same rhythm as her heart beat. Monsters start dropping into the arena, while the soldiers’ weapons fly through the air towards her.

“No…not here…!” She thinks, opening her wings as something crunches in her chest, knocking the wind out of her. Her wings and legs shut down from the pain, and she screams in pure anguish as the monsters crowd in around her. The soldiers come upon her first, and drive their blades down as the rain of steel approaches, and Rainbow shuts her eyes, continuing her scream…

As the blades hit steel, and a gust of wind passes over Rainbow. She sobs in pain, opening her eyes slightly, the world a blur through her tears, and she sees a Hemoran in white armor standing over her, 20 blades locked on his own. He pushes outward, and the monsters are flung off in all directions, all the others backing away.

“No…no, no no no HELL NO!!!” Dash’s twin screams, leaping off her cloud and crashing down in front of the white soldier. “FIRST SHE GETS THROUGH MY TESTS, THEN SHE KILLS THE JUDGE, NOW YOU APPEAR?!” She screeches, staring down at the crying Dash. “Shut the hell up, you big crybaby!!” She shouts, and begins stomping up to her before a sword tip is drawn up towards her face. She backs away slightly from it, staring at the soldier with a white-hot glare. “Stop getting in THE WAY, DAMN IT!”

The soldier simply shakes his head, sheathing the sword and turning around. He pulls out a strange syringe from a pouch on his waist, and drives it into Rainbow’s side, the liquid passing through her veins feeling like Paradise. The pain quickly melts away as her body begins to slowly rebuild itself, bones cracking back into place. He then pulls out a medical kit, and begins wrapping up her cut wound to stop the bleeding.

“Stop helping her!” Dash’s twin commands, the soldier ignoring her as he continues his work. He finishes up the wrapping, pulling out a small brown bottle marked ‘Health Drink’, and he pops the top off, offering it to Dash. She looks up at him, seeing a dragon’s skull helmet covering his face, no features showing through. She takes the bottle and downs it in a few seconds, the gritty taste now desired by her to soothe the pain. She spits out the bottle, it passing through the cloud, and she simply lays there in bliss.

The soldier gets to his feet and turns around, walking over to where the podium once stood. Dash’s twin watches him walk away, and she turns back to Dash. “You…are BEYOND lucky, Dashie…luckier than Celestia when she was born an immortal…” She hisses, walking with the soldier. A gate rises up out of the clouds where the podium once stood, a large blue gate with a lightning bolt design on it, the winged key from before already in the lock. It creaks open, both the soldier and Dash’s twin walking through. The monsters all walk away, climbing or leaping over the thunderhead walls and vanishing from sight.

The hissing of Rainbow’s radio finally enters her hearing as it dies out. “What…just happened…?” She says to herself, looking to the gate, exhaustion hitting her hard. “Have…to get through there…before it closes…” She says to herself, getting up and slowly walking over to the gate. She stumbles slightly, but continues on her slow pace up to the white of the open gate. She places one hoof inside and falls into the space, a slow fall through a white void. The gates creak then slam closed, and Dash closes her eyes.

It didn’t matter where she ended up now. Her ordeal was over, and she quickly fades into the bliss of sleep…

Chapter 15 Part 2: Glorious Agony

“Run me through it again.” A shadow wearing armor constructed from the scales of long-dead dragons says from his golden throne, his throne room still as dimly lit as ever. A small shadow sighs from the bottom of the steps, looking up at him. Their red eyes seem to glow in the dark.

“Is your memory getting bad, old man? I already told you the plan when we entered into this. There are three tests, obviously, until that kid gets to where she needs to be. Those tests concern her, and her alone, and though some ponies, and Hemorans, want to help her, it comes down to her in the end, right?” The short shadow asks, sounding like Dash, only a few years older.

“True, true. And she’s now approaching that second ‘gate’…I’ve always questioned this method, however…” The tall shadow says, laying against the armrest of his throne, his voice sounding like a warped version of Sehn.

“Your method would’ve just up and killed everypony here, and you know that.” The short shadow replies, half-closing her eyes. “That’s not good for either of us.”

“True…but it’s oh-so much more fun.” The armored shadow smiles, chuckling. “I don’t know you waste your time though…why so many precautions?”

“She has to be ready before I can do what I need to. That’s why it’s all taking so long; she’s a resilient one, but no less what I’d expect.” Dash’s twin replies, smirking. The room seems to light up slightly, revealing the two shadows as the twins of Sehn and Rainbow, the gleaming throne made up of golden fencing and creeping ichor, while the stairwell is a roll of red carpet over a rusty fence staircase.

“Don’t go forgetting what she’s capable of…” Sehn’s twin says, sitting upright in his throne, staring down at his counterpart. “You may end up in a somewhat…bad position.”

“I’d never forget an enemy’s capabilities…though it is starting to annoy me with just how tough she is.”

“You’re well aware of what she did in the past…this shouldn’t be a surprise.”

“I know her better than anypony, so that should make this easy. Ahhh…doesn’t matter, she’ll be here soon.” Dash’s twin says, turning to the gate behind her. “This is your show now…don’t screw up, Colonel.”

“You have nothing to fear, Major. She’ll be a blubbering pile of muk by the time you come back…” Sehn’s twin grows an evil smile, chuckling. Major Dash walks off under the stair well, the sound of a gate creaking open below the throne echoing through the room. A slam quickly follows, and the Colonel stands up from his throne.

“Well then, little Rainbow…let’s see just how well your vibrant colors can stand up to the storm that’s coming for you…” The Colonel smiles, chuckling.

“Where…?” Rainbow mutters to herself, muffled sounds surrounding her. She manages to pull her eyes open, the world a complete blur around her. “Where am I?” She asks herself, even her voice a muffled echo in her mind. The smell of smoke enters her mind first, then a bright blob of red next to her. The world sharpens to reveal what’s around her, and she takes it in with a numb expression.

Buildings, all on fire, either toppled over in horrid ruins or completely vanished from their foundations, bits of brick and mortar litter the rocky streets around her. Her hearing sharpens next, the muffled sounds being cries of pain, screams of agony. Bodies cover the street, very few are still moving, the ones that are are mangled and broken, but their look seems to be worlds better than the dead around Rainbow.

The dead are either simple bloody patterns on the ground and walls of the destroyed structures, or torn limbs from torsos, many are simply blown clean apart, torsos torn in half. The bodies are comprised of both Hemorans and Equestrians. “Wh-what happened here?!” Rainbow says to herself, her feeling coming back as she feels a burn coming from her cheeks. She wipes her eyes, finding tears, but the chaos around her simply replaces the removed tears with new ones. She quickly runs over to a pony who’s leaning against a structure, leg torn off but hanging by a strand of muscle, the bone snapped in two. His coat is light green, but so covered in his own blood that it’s barely noticeable, while his mane is a dark brown.

“Y-You…why…why did…” He gasps out, Rainbow looking over him for any wounds should could stop the bleeding at. His leg was too far gone, but she could at least stop the cuts from killing him. She quickly looks around for some kind of cloth, but instead just plants her hooves against the two biggest cuts she could find, trying to stop the bleeding. “What happened here?!” She asks, looking up from the streams of red, pushing harder than she’d want to in a panic. The grown pony shouts in agony, staring at her with a look that can only be read as bloodthirsty hate.

“You know…exactly what happened…”, he says as he hacks up blood, holding the stump of his leg. “Don’t try…and ask me what happened…as if you don’t know!” He growls, blood seeping out from between his teeth.

“Please, I don’t know what happened here! I-I just want to know!” Rainbow stutters, the pony in front of her laughing between gasps.

“You? Help? You’ve done…enough ‘helping’ to last…an afterlife!” He gasps, having a slight spasm. Rainbow looks up at him in both worry and shock, and sees him open his mouth, a glob of blood flying straight into her face. She yelps, yanking a hoof off to wipe the blood away while pressing down way too hard, hearing something crunch as the stallion lets out the loudest scream she’s ever heard. He looks at her with a frantic panic, looking around as if the situation that some devil had tried to help him just hit home, and he locks on to something on Rainbow’s right. “HERE!!! OVER HERE!!! DH…IT’S HER…SHE DID IT!!!” He shouts, Rainbow looking over.

Running towards her is a squadron of Hemoran soldiers, about 30 of them, being led by a red hedgehog, his spikes radiating outwards. He starts giving orders, pointing in different directions as units from his squad break off to help the ones who are still breathing, as he and two other soldiers run over to Rainbow. “What the hell is a Pegasus doing here?! Imira, start first aid on this Equestrian, Jones, get this Pegasus away!”

“Yes sir!” A white hedgehog says, sounding like a rather young female, almost too young to be serving in any military unit, and her white robe flutters over her military fatigues as she kneels down next to the severely wounded stallion, taking out a first aid kit. “Don’t worry, we’re here to help…hold up your stump, please!” She says, the stallion doing so.

“I’ll have words for you later.” The red hedgehog says to Rainbow, venom in his voice. A green hedgehog with an almost warped discoloration in his spikes, resulting in a blurred mix of red and green, grabs Rainbow from behind and lifts her off the ground by her forelegs. Rainbow struggles in panic to get away from her captor before something flies into her stomach with shockingly massive strength. All the wind in her lungs is pounded out of her as she looks down, seeing the red hedgehog’s fist almost buried in her gut.

“You aren’t struggling your way out of this.” He hisses to her, turning around to the one he called Imira. “Lieutenant, how is he?”

“Dying sir, I’ve tried to stop the bleeding but there’s massive internal damage…” She says with a solemn sigh, trying as hard as she can to bandage up the wounds and stop the bleeding. The stallion looks slowly over at Rainbow, bloodshot veins running around his green irises. “You…m…mu…murderer…” He whispers out, just loud enough for the group to hear. He makes one final convulsion, curling slightly before collapsing against the wall, eyes shut as his final breath escapes the body.

“Oh Celestia…w…what’s going on?!” Rainbow says, her tears still flowing. The red hedgehog looks back at her with almost renewed identification, and he looks her up and down. “The famous Equestrian…huh, so the reports of a massive shockwave radiating outwards from here aren’t false after all…Jones, place her under arrest. General Trak will want to hear about this…and he’s not going to be happy.”

“Yes sir, Captain Tyrus, sir!” Jones says, Rainbow immediately recognizing the name. “C-Captain!? Wait, aren’t you a Maj-“ She gets cut off by a rough chop to the back of the neck, sending her mind reeling and numbing her body.

“Night night…” Jones says as Rainbow falls slack, and the black void takes her again.

“I sentence you to DEATH!” A gruff shout echoes out over the courtroom as Rainbow comes back into consciousness, looking around. “EXECUTIONER!!!”

“WHAT?! W-wait, wha-what’s going on?!” Rainbow shouts, looking around with renewed panic. The court room, all the Hemorans standing around her, the Judge…the Hemoran walking up to her with his blade drawn…it’s her nightmare all over again. “STOP! I-I DON’T KNOW WHAT I DID!!!” Dash screams at her executioner, the red hedgehog named Tyrus. He raises his blade over his head, staring down at her, nothing but fury in his eyes.

“Begone from my land, wretched monster…” He hisses, before a voice echoes out from the side of the room. It sounds familiar, but the words are muffled…but whatever he said, it caused everyone to look his way. Rainbow follows their gazes, her vision blurring, but just being able to make out a set of silver spikes on a head, and brown eyes looking back at her, before the blur descends into black, and she’s out again.

“AH!!” Rainbow shouts with a start, getting to her hooves and looking around. The smell of rot enters her mind, and the last of a siren echoing out dies away. She cringes as her body reacts from the jump, closing one eye while continuing her survey. All around her, that creeping flesh crawls along the fences, but the room seems to draw itself in a circle. A black doorway stands in front of Rainbow, with a statue standing next to it. The statue looks like an Equestrian with a dragon’s skull as a helmet, opened enough to see its closed eyes, and in its hooves are two axes, held upright.

Rainbow walks towards the doorway, looking around the brightly lit room, the light seeming to come from nowhere. She reaches for her knife, drawing it out of its holster as she approaches the door. She eyes the statue, slowing her approach and staying off to its side, unsure if this one would come to life or not, but it stays still as Rainbow finally comes to within a few feet of the door. The door looks like it’s the door to a castle vault, grand, imposing, and incredibly strong, but with no visible way to open it. She raises an eyebrow to it, walking up and putting her hoof on the smooth metal surface, looking over its design. It has a crest of two wings on it, a lightning bolt striking down between them, the wings colored gold while the bolt is cyan blue.

“…Why can’t this world ever be normal for once?” Rainbow mutters to herself as she looks up, the ceiling of flesh very clear to her. She taps her hoof on the flesh below her, sheathing the knife, the walkie talkie not acting up. She walks away from the door towards the center of the room, thinking of how to get out. “Locked in on all sides, the only way out blocked by a door with a statue next to it…no notes around…” She mumbles before turning her head to the statue, noticing something written at its base. She trots over to it and looks at it, throwing glances up to the statue to make sure it wasn’t moving.

Stand before us, and pay the price of Loyalty.

“Pay…the price?” Rainbow blinks at the message, stepping back from the statue. As she does so, something echoes into the room; a blood-curdling, high pitched screech. Rainbow immediately jumps into action, leaping to the center of the room and drawing her knife, looking all around her.

“AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!” The scream cries out again, jamming itself like a needle into Rainbow’s mind, forcing her to cover her ears. “DASHIE!!!” The voice cries out, and Rainbow snaps her eyes open. “Pinkie?!” She says, looking around, panicked. First Fluttershy, now Pinkie Pie!? Just how many are coming in to help her?!

“Dashie!!! Help!!!” She screams, the voice coming from every direction, fear and sadness pervading its every note. “Where are you, Pinkie?!” Rainbow shouts through her knife, looking around, hoping to see a flash of pink in front of her with whatever’s troubling her at knife striking distance. The pink mare never appears in Rainbow’s vision, and another voice joins hers.

“Rainbow Dash! For the love of all that’s HOLY, dear, HELP!!!” Rarity cries out, her regal tone immediately familiar, and Rainbow’s spirit only sinks. Three of her friends are in now, one’s already dead and the other two are in danger, and Dash is completely helpless in her cell of rot. “RAINBOW DASH!!!” Rarity cries out again, screaming in agony right afterwards, and Dash’s pupils shrink as she can hear a blade slice through flesh.

“R-Rarity! RARITY! ANSWER ME!!!” Rainbow screams out to the room, now reaching the end of her rope. “D-Dash…help…!” Rarity says, sounding like she’s just had the snot beat out of her. Rainbow turns to her right, the whimper for help sounding like it came from there, but all she lays eyes on is the statue and the vault door. “What can I do to help!? I-I can’t see you!” Rainbow shouts out, before another voice joins in the song of anguish.

“Dash! Help me! PLEASE!” Twilight screams out, “No, no, get away! Get away!!!” She screams to some invisible tormentor, before the sound of a blade being drawn pierces Dash’s hearing. “No…no…no no no, no, no no no no NO!!!!” Dash screams out, Twilight screaming with her before the sound of a body being sliced open echoes like an explosion in the room, and all the screams of her friends fall silent, Dash’s along with them, and she stares at the room, trembling. “No…oh Celestia, no…” She whimpers, feeling her tears roll once more, against all belief that she’d dried her tears since that horrid dream. She walks over to the vault door, looking over the wings and lightning bolt, and three marks join it, drawing a triangle design around it.

Three multi-colored balloons form the left point, three diamonds marking the right, and a purple-and-pink star marks the top point. The Cutie Marks of her three friends, the three voices that were silenced by that dreaded sound of steel. Rainbow simply punches the door with her foreleg, putting her head against it and punching it again. She keeps slugging away at it until her foreleg can take no more, and it falls slack under her. “Why…why do you all have to come and try to help me…?” Rainbow sobs, sniffling against the surprisingly warm steel of the door. She looks over at the statue, and its eyes have changed from their closed state, the helmet with them.

The center of the helmet seems to be adorned with a diamond, immaculate in its cut and design, and the eyes have turned purple and a bright blue. She walks in front of it, looking down at the inscription, reading it over in her head. “The price of Loyalty…” She mutters, and a voice echoes out in response.

“Dashie…”

“P-Pinkie?!” Dash’s spirit immediately lifts, and she looks around, nearly dropping the knife out of her mouth with a wide grin. “Where are you?! Are you alright!?”

“Dashie…we’re…we’re not alright, no…” Pinkie replies with a solemn sound that could only come up if she’d been stabbed in the back by somepony. “You…we came to help you…but now we’re stuck in here…” She whimpers, all the bravado of the pony whose now visited this fogged Hell three times vanishing into thin air.

“I know! I’m stuck too! How can I help?! I’ll do anything!” Dash cries out, desperate to help her friend. Rarity answers for her.

“Dash, my dear, it’s something…important…but I’m not sure if you’ll go through with it.” She says, coughing slightly, spitting out what Dash can only guess is blood.

“I said I’ll do anything! Just please, tell me you’re alright! Tell me you’ll live!” Dash shouts, every prayer in her heart going to the wish for her friends’ safety.

“We…we don’t have a lot of time…” Twilight answers in place of Rarity, the voice sounding much closer than before. Rainbow turns to her side, seeing nothing, but the voice is definitely originating from where she’s looking. “Twi’, for the love of Celestia tell me there’s SOMETHING I can do!!” Rainbow shouts to the empty space in front of her.

“Th-there is…but…after everything that’s happened…” She replies, doubt in her voice along with pain. Pinkie lets out a hard cough, sounding like she’s about to vomit.

“TWI’! STOP BEATING AROUND THE BUSH AND TELL ME!!!” Rainbow shouts with all the volume she can muster, the room echoing with it. Twilight simply replies quietly, unshaken by the shout, “You…backstabbed us, Rainbow…we’re stuck here because of you.” The words bounce around in Rainbow’s mind, stinging worse than being impaled by a heated sword, but she shakes her head. “I-I didn’t mean to bring you all into this! I want to help you, I really do! Never doubt that!! Please, tell me if I can do something, anything! I can’t…I can’t go on with all your blood on my hooves!” Rainbow shouts, her voice now beginning to tremble. Her eyes sting from the random bouts of crying, her cheeks burning with their trails. All three answer this time, in perfect unison.

“The price of Loyalty…the price to prove your loyalty to us.”

Rainbow suddenly feels afraid, the fear for her friends’ lives is certainly there, but another fear creeps up and sits just below it; what’s this price they’re talking about?

“…What…what’s the price?” Rainbow finally asks, the tears finally stopping their fall as she furrows her brow, staring at the statue in front of her. The purple eye lights up, and Twilight’s voice speaks to her from everywhere.

“It’s…what you hold dear to yourself.” The eye seems to shimmer as Twilight speaks, and the light fades to be replaced with the light blue lighting up.

“It’s…something you can’t live without.” Pinkie says, the eye glowing, and Rainbow starts to feel her second fear creeping ever higher in her throat, surpassing the one for her friends. The diamond lights up.

“The one thing you hold on a higher pedestal than us…” Rarity says. All three share the same tone; one of deep sadness and pain, as if asking Rainbow to pay this price was going to shave off their lives as well.

“I…I haven’t got anything that I think is more important than my friends…” Rainbow mutters, staring up at the statue’s head, and the purple eye lights up again.

“You do…we all know it.” Twilight says, coughing slightly, and blood begins to run from under the purple eye. The blue eye lights up next, the purple one staying lit.

“Yeah. Without it, you wouldn’t be with us right now…” Pinkie says, her crushed spirit like glass fragments under Rainbow’s hooves. The eyes stay lit as the diamond now lights up.

“You hold it higher than anything in the world, my dear…” Rarity says, and the statue begins to grind. It had been using the battle axes to prop itself up, but now it was beginning to stand tall, raising the axes above its head. Both eyes and the diamond stay lit, and blood begins to leak out of all three. “We’re…running short…on time…” All three say.

“J-Just tell me the price! If it means you’ll live, I’ll p-“

“It’s your ability to fly, Dash…” All three cut her off, and Rainbow’s eyes immediately widen and her pupils shrink. Her mind flushes completely, her second fear, the one of the price, now the only thing in her mind. “M…M-my…ability to fly…?” Rainbow stutters in a whisper, stunned.

“…I knew it…” Pinkie says. “I knew she couldn’t…”

“Don’t give up hope, Pinkie, Dash has never let us down before…well…except against Discord, but that’s understandable, right?” Twilight says, trying to cheer her up.

“Quite right, Twilight…Rainbow Dash will do this for her friends…r-right, dear?” Rarity says, and the blood streams only thicken, small drops beginning to pool under the statue. Rainbow simply stares up at the axe heads, unable to even move, let alone speak. The price for her friends’ lives was her own life, the only things that made her who she is; her wings. Every accomplishment, every worthwhile event, everything she lived for and dreamed of…they all rode on her wings.

“My wings…t-the price to pay…is…is my wings…?” Rainbow stutters, staring up at the statue, praying for some other price to be paid.

“Dash…we’re lost…we want to know…that we can still trust you…that we can still have hope that you’ll save us.” Twilight says, Rarity and Pinkie vocally nodding in agreement. “Rainbow…you care about us, right?”

“Of course I do! It’s just…I…my wings are everything to me…” Rainbow says to the statue, looking at the two wings on her sides. The price she’s about to pay is going to save her friends…and they’ll help her get through this.

“That’s why it’s the only price…please Rainbow. Just…open your wings, close your eyes…and it’ll all be over in a flash, I promise.” Pinkie says, sounding like something Twilight would say. Rainbow looks up at the axe heads one last time, then looks down at the flesh under her and opens her wings, closing her eyes.

“Good…thanks, Dashie…we’ll be waiting for you.” Pinkie says, finally sounding a little happier as the statue begins to grind again. Rainbow grits her teeth, repeating one thought in her mind, one sound as a continuous echo through her soul; it’s for my friends, it’s for my friends, it’s for my friends, it’s for-

CRUNCH.

Rainbow’s sides suddenly light up in the most intense inferno she’s ever felt, and she screams in near-death agony as both her vision and mind burn red and white. The room seems to shake under the cry, and the cry is punctuated by two thuds against the ground. Liquid runs down Rainbow’s sides, just under where her wings are, but she dares not look at what might have happened. She opens her eyes, seeing the statue with its arms around her, axes off to her sides. It begins grinding again, bringing the axes back to its base and using them to prop itself up again, the blood on the edges of the blades being all Rainbow needed.

The inferno dies down into a hot burn as the bleeding clots and Rainbow’s nerves calm down, but every muscle in her body is locked. Will she turn around, see the extent of the damage? Her friends haven’t spoken to her yet…maybe the statue missed…? Rainbow shivers as she slowly turns her head to the left, keeping her eyes closed. Two thoughts clash in her mind, warring over which is more important; that the statue missed her wings, leaving her with at least some ability to fly, or that the price was paid and she could move on to save her friends. What Rainbow saw as she opened her eyes confirmed the second thought.

A full Pegasus wing lies on the ground next to her, twitching and leaking blood, the stump on Rainbow showing a very clean slice from the axe, despite its old appearance. She trembles, her heart plummeting even further, beyond what she thought possible for depression. Her stunts, her job, her hobby…her dream, all gone with the single swing of an axe…Rainbow’s hind legs collapse under her, and her rear slams down with a wet slap, and she simply stares at the ground. She should tend her two new wounds…she could still feel them bleeding. She reaches over to her saddle bag and pops it open, pulling out the small medkit. Popping it open, the supply seems good for one more use.

The next six minutes are mostly Rainbow crying, either from the pain of having her wings cut off, or the disinfectant burning the open wounds, or simply having her life taken away without killing her. She stares up at the statue, seeing the light all gone from the two eyes and diamond, the blood also gone. Rainbow stands up, testing the last of the bandage wrap on her skin, making sure she can still move properly, before moving over to the door. On it rests a note, nailed into the vault impossibly well on a rusty nail. She wipes her eyes before reading it.

Thy price named by thy friends,
One most perilous to pay.
Thou hast made the ultimate sacrifice,
One short of ending thy own life for them.

A soul most valiant is needed,
A spirit most loyal.
Thou hast paid their named price,
And have earned thy chance to save them.

Rainbow simply blinks at the note with half closed eyes. So long as it meant she could leave this room and help her friends, no amount of weird riddles or stupid puzzles would stop her. She looks over the three marks creating the triangle, now seeing that the Cutie Marks have become incomplete. Twilight’s is missing the radiant center of hers, while Pinkie’s is missing the center balloon of hers, and Rarity is missing the right most diamond of hers. Rainbow looks over at the statue, moving over to its front, and looks at the eyes and diamond.

“Seems…ow…seems pretty obvious.” She mutters to herself, shivering slightly from a shock of pain from her side, walking closer to the helmet. “Now how do I get them out of the head…?”

Rainbow looks down at the knife on her leg, drawing it out of its holster and instinctively moving her wings out to fly up to the helmet, but no response comes back from the wings. She sighs, walking up to the base of the statue before climbing onto its arms, then placing her forelegs on the shoulder of the statue. The two strangely-colored eyes stare back at her from only a few inches away, catching the light that seems to refract inside the eyes. “Gems…so that’s why they glowed?” Rainbow mutters through the knife before lifting herself up further, looking at the diamond in the helmet.

“You’re first, Rarity…” She thinks as she turns her head to the side slightly, planting the edge into a groove between the diamond and the helmet. The edge slips in easily, levering the diamond out of its socket, and it pops out with a satisfying ‘click’, falling down and hitting the arm of the statue before falling to the base of it between Rainbow’s hind legs. “Hoo…Rarity’d kill me if I got any of her jewels dirty, ‘specially here.” Rainbow mutters, smirking as she turns her attention to the two eyes in the statue. “Alright you two…you’re coming out as well.” She says to the eyes, adjusting the knife in her mouth so the edge points up, and she takes aim with the point of the knife. With a quick jab, she sinks the point into the purple eye to her left, the edge slipping in behind it. Blood starts to leak out as Rainbow pulls, grunting with a bit of strain as the stone grinds.

The gem comes out with some effort, the pop being accompanied by a blood-chilling shriek of agony…Twilight. “Oh God, TWILIGHT! A-Are you OK!?” Rainbow shouts, looking around, the knife nearly flying out of her mouth as she does so. No response after the scream ends, and Rainbow returns her sight to the eye socket, blood flowing out like a fountain. “Oh...oh no, these…these aren’t connected to them, are they?” Rainbow’s eyes widen at the prospect of her friends’ eyes flying out as she pulls the gems out of the statue. “And Rarity didn’t scream when I pulled out the diamond…d-does that mean…?” She mutters, then shuts her eyes and shakes her head hard. “NO! I’m not gonna believe she’s dead until I see it…!” Rainbow thinks as she turns her attention to the blue eye in the statue.

“Bear with me, Pinkie…this might hurt…a lot.” She says under her breath, hopping off the statue and grabbing the knife in her hooves, turning it around so she can hold it in a different direction. She hops back up onto the shoulders of the statue, taking aim with the point of the knife. Her breathing quickens as she hesitates, the tip just centimeters away from the gem. “Please be ok, Pinkie…” She mutters as she closes her eyes and jams the knife into the eye, the tip slipping in behind it. She pulls hard, and way faster than the other eye, the blade almost bending under the strain. The gem pops out and flies away from the statue, blood bursting out of the socket as Pinkie’s scream echoes through the room, it almost quaking under her cry.

“I’m sorry, Pinkie!!!” Rainbow shouts, covering her ears to block out the scream. It quickly ends with a few sobs from Pinkie, before the voice fades completely. Rainbow takes a few quick, deep breaths before hopping off the statue, looking down at the base. The diamond and purple gem lie there in a pool of blood, and she looks around the room for the third gem. The blue glints against the red and pink of the flesh, easily identifiable, and Rainbow runs over while sheathing her knife, picking up the gem in her mouth. “Alright, got em…now we just have to tend to the door.” She says to herself before turning around, walking back over to the statue. Both of the eye sockets and the hole the diamond was lodged in are now leaking red, the blood slowly dripping off the helmet onto the base of the statue.

“Please be ok, guys…I’m coming.” She says, looking up at the blood before turning her attention to the door, looking across the symbols. She locks her eyes on Pinkie’s Cutie Mark in the bottom left of the triangle on the door, and sticks the gem into the socket with the missing balloon. It clicks in and begins glowing, and Rainbow nods to herself before moving back over to the two other gems. She picks up the diamond next, walking back over to the door and placing it into the socket, it beginning to glow. Rainbow walks back just as the light from the two gems dies out and they fall out of the door.

“What the? Oh, you sons of…don’t start messing with me NOW!” Rainbow shouts at the two jewels, now lightly spattered with blood from the fleshy floor. Rainbow growls, looking back up at the door, the note now having two nails in it. “Wait a minute…” Rainbow mutters, reading over the note, realizing it’s different from before.

The chance to save them has been offered,
The jewels you hold are the key.
Each one offers a want of salvation,
A savior to help each in need.

Place them in, one at a time,
To a new trial they will send you.
Everyone’s waiting for you,
The time to act is now.

“…Of course this is going to be a puzzle. The jewels are the key…guess they each lead to where my friends are. Just…one at a time, though…it means I can only save them one at a time, and I’m already short on time as is!” Rainbow growls as she looks at the two gems on the ground, then over to the last gem on the base of the statue. “Who am I going after first…? Twilight’s got magic, crazy amounts of it…she’s also really smart. But if I leave Pinkie…and she’s…really wounded like that…but Twilight’s just as worse off. Then there’s Rarity who will probably be paralyzed here…” Rainbow grimaces at her last sentence.

“So who’s first…? I should save Twilight and Pinkie first, since they sounded like they were wounded the worst…” Rainbow mutters to herself, walking over to the amethyst on the base of the statue. She picks it up, walking back over to the door. She sticks the amethyst into Twilight’s incomplete Cutie Mark, taking the other two gems and placing them in her bag. After a moment, tumblers begin to roll and slam in the walls, the room rumbling under the mechanical activity. The door slowly lowers itself like a draw bridge, chains coming from seemingly nowhere.

“Fancy.” Rainbow says with a raise of her eyebrows, staring off into the hallway before her. “Twilight’s first…better make this fa-“Rainbow stops herself as she stares off into the hallway, it looking completely different from the room behind her.

Bookcases upon bookcases line the walls, stretching off into infinity, perfectly lit. The flooring is green carpeting with wooden flooring surrounding the bookcases. Thousands of novels, books, volumes and dictionaries fill the cases, enough written information to make Twilight jump out of her skin in excitement…and way more than enough to make Dash just feel nauseous. She focuses on the darkness at the end of the hall, sprinting across the door and into the library hallway.

“Twilight! Twilight, are you here?!” Rainbow shouts into the hall, the bookcases blurring passed as she runs down the hall. Hissing comes from the walkie talkie and quickly rises in volume, Rainbow skidding to a stop and looking around, panting. The sound of armor clanging against armor catches her attention, and she quickly turns to the right as a zombie soldier approaches in a mad sprint. Rainbow ducks down, drawing her knife, the rusty blade cutting through the air in a horizontal slash.

“You guys really don’t learn ANYTHING!” Rainbow shouts as she draws the knife and brings it up across the Equestrian soldier’s throat, the edge easily parting its windpipe. Black sludge leaks out as it jumps back and feebly grabs its throat, gurgling before collapsing. Rainbow growls, looking around herself at the four halls stretching off into the darkness. “Oh great…which way did I come from again?” She groans in frustration, looking around. “This isn’t a good time for me to get LOST, darn it!”

A cry from the hallway to Rainbow’s right catches her attention, and she immediately runs down it. “TWILIGHT!” She shouts, running as fast as she can. She comes to another intersection, and skids to a halt, staring into the center of it.

A pool of blood has stained the middle of the intersection, the four hallways again branching off in their different directions, but there’s nothing in the center of the blood pool. A few drops of blood come down from the ceiling, and Rainbow forces herself not to look up. A small whisper comes from above Rainbow, too weak to be legible, which is followed by a cough. Blood comes down and lands on Rainbow’s head, but she remains still, afraid to look up. Another whisper comes, now just loud enough to be understood.

“R…ain…bow…” The voice says, a meek tone. Rainbow blinks, staring forward at the drops of blood falling down, a light plip as they land echoing through the room. “R…ain…bow…i…is…that you…?” The voice asks, and something else falls down into the blood pool. A drop of water, hitting the pool with the same plip as all the other droplets of blood, which is followed by a short sob. Rainbow slowly looks up, the blood dripping by her vision.

Her eyes first settle on the pommel of a black sword, streams of red covering the the handle. The guard seems to have turned completely red, and thin streaks of rust can be seen along it. Three other pommels soon join it, arranged in a cross pattern. All four pommels extend into handles, guards, and finally into their blades, serrated edges coated with new and old blood. Pink hair can be seen falling past the blades as they extend for about a foot before showing what they’re stabbed into; a light yellow body, coat stained with blood and showing numerous cuts all across it.

Rainbow stops at the belly of whatever’s stuck up there, afraid to move across it. “…Wh…what…this isn’t…” she stutters, moving her eyes down the body towards the rear. The fourth sword at the bottom of the cross is stabbed clear into the ceiling just below the body’s pelvis, and its hind legs are held up by its guard. Three butterflies adorn the hip of the left leg. “No…” Rainbow whispers, moving her eyes back along the body to the head, the color of the coat alone telling her who it is.

“Fluttershy…this…this isn’t real, is it?” Rainbow looks at her marefriend’s face. Fluttershy’s eyes are bloodshot from crying, and her cheeks are wet with tears. Her mouth and teeth are caked with her blood, but she still looks back at Rainbow with that same caring smile, seeming overjoyed with seeing Dash again.

“It…really is…you…” Fluttershy says, not moving. The four swords have her pinned to the ceiling about ten feet off the floor, two blades stuck in her forelegs and one just below her chest, right through the stomach. Rainbow shakes at this sight, eyes wide and pupils near pinholes in her eyes. She slowly shakes her head, unable to process what’s above her. “What’s…wrong…?” Fluttershy asks, that smile not fading from her face.

“No…this…this isn’t real…h-how did…why are you here, Fluttershy!?” Rainbow shouts up to the mare stuck to the ceiling, Fluttershy’s smile still spread across her face.

“I was…looking for you…Rainbow…” Fluttershy whispers out, coughing as another glob of blood flies out of her mouth and hits Rainbow dead in the face. She doesn’t flinch, simply staring up at her. “Th…there’s…something I have…to tell you…”

“Who did this to you…?” Rainbow mutters, her own tears beginning to flow again. “What…monster did this to you?”

“That’s what…I have to tell you…Rainbow…” Fluttershy gasps, coughing hard. She slips down the blades slightly, pain flying through her body and exiting her mouth as a banshee’s shriek, Rainbow sharing in it. Dash grabs her stomach and vomits, feeling a torturous burn in her gut, almost as if she was impaled. Fluttershy coughs hard, gasping for air, though luckily not slipping further down the swords. Blood flows anew from her wounds, now a more constant dripping, far faster than before. “I…I don’t…have a lot of time…Dash…”

Rainbow looks up in a panic, “NO! NO! Y-you can’t die! Not here, Fluttershy!!” She screams, as if her shouts will close Fluttershy’s wounds and remove the blades from her body.

“Rainbow…I’m dying…there’s…nothing you can do…but there is…something…” Fluttershy whispers, her smile twitching as her life begins to fade away. “Listen to me…”

“I’ll slaughter the monster that did this to you! I swear it!” Rainbow shouts, her pain replaced with burning indignation and fury.

“Rainbow…T…Twilight…”

“What about her?”

“She…attacked me…stuck…stuck me up here…and ran away…” Fluttershy whispers, her smile vanishing by the end of the sentence as she starts sobbing. Rainbow’s newfound fury disappears just as quickly. “I…ran into her…and she…she looked at me…started mumbling…when I tried to…” Fluttershy coughs, her voice growing weak, “to…talk to her…she…she did…this…then ran…she was bleeding…” She says, barely a coherent whisper.

Rainbow could feel her mouth contorting into a look of anger. Fluttershy was trying to help Twilight…and she answered by doing this to Fluttershy? Anger welled up and quickly clouded reason, one question flashing in her mind before being buried in the red; what’s wrong with Twi’? Rainbow furrows her brow, looking around the room for a way to get up to Fluttershy. She runs over to a book case and sees a gap behind it, jamming her foreleg into it before tugging. It shifts forward easily, as if rolling on something below it. She shoves it forward a good few feet, moving her gaze back up to the mare nailed into the ceiling, gauging distances.

After moving it forward about six feet, she moves around to the front of it, and with a mighty kick, tips the bookcase and slams it into the wall, cracking the ornate oak behind it with the impact. She tests the strength of her makeshift ladder, making sure it doesn’t slip under her weight, then starts climbing it. “What…are you doing…?” Fluttershy asks, only her eyes following the Pegasus as she climbs up the bookcase, spotting the bandages that cover her wings. “Wh…what happened…to you?”

“No time, I’m getting you down from there.” Rainbow says, looking at the blades stuck in Fluttershy’s body. The one in her left foreleg looks rather close, just within grabbing distance. Rainbow reaches out for it, just tapping the pommel, as the blade lets go of Fluttershy’s leg and the ceiling and falls to the ground, making a loud clatter of metal against stone, despite the green carpet flooring. The tearing of the teeth makes Fluttershy scream out in pain, blood flowing like a stream from her open wound, the other swords losing their grip as well with this new weight on their blades. The blades lose their grip on the ceiling and Fluttershy falls, Rainbow racing past her in a mad sprint to the bottom of the book case. She jumps down to the floor and lands with a thud, turning around and catching Fluttershy.

“Oof!” They both let out as Rainbow collapses under Fluttershy’s weight, Rainbow landing on her back with Fluttershy’s side on her belly. The two blades rust away and disappear, leaving two open wounds behind, coated slightly with rust. Blood flows out of the two newly opened wounds in a thin stream, and Fluttershy weakly raises her head and looks Rainbow in the eye. Rainbow simply lowers her own eyes to the wounds, grimacing. She used the last of her medical supplies when she got her wings cut off, it was a blessing that the med kit she’d found all the way back at the library had even lasted her this long.

Fluttershy simply lets out a single ‘heh’, knowing what Rainbow can’t do. “It’d…be a waste…anyway…”

“Doing something just to keep you here longer, breathing…it’d never be a waste, ‘Shy.” Dash replies, not able to look Fluttershy in the face. Her marefriend was dying in her hooves, and no miracle in the world was going to stop that blood from flowing down…all that was left was to get Twilight to answer for this, even if it meant beating her to within an inch of her life. “I…I wish I could do something…anything to keep you here with me...” She shivers, a single tear rolling down her cheek, the waterworks now completely empty after so much emotional and physical torture. “Everypony…dies…at some point…” Fluttershy whispers, trying to soothe Dash’s spirit. Dash moves her eyes back to Fluttershy with a quick smile, seeing the light beginning to fade. “…Which way did Twilight go?”

“That…way…” Fluttershy weakly replies, moving her hoof and pointing to the hallway off to Rainbow’s right, a trail of blood marking the way. Rainbow nods, looking to the hallway, then back to Fluttershy. She can’t save her…no reason she can’t at least be sent off on a high note. “Fluttershy…” She says, the mare looking back at her before Dash leans in and locks lips with her. Dash holds her tight, closing her eyes tight. This was the last time she and Fluttershy were ever going to kiss; it may as well be right up until the last moment. Fluttershy closes her eyes as well, and leans in to it as much as her remaining strength can muster.

The embrace ends after a minute, with a final twitch from Fluttershy’s body as she falls slack. Rainbow breaks the kiss, staring down at the fallen mare with a contorted face of pain and despair. “I promise…that she’ll answer for this…either that or I die trying…” Dash whispers, holding Fluttershy in a tight hug. She gently moves the body off of her, placing it on the floor, looking around for something to offer a proper burial. She simply frowns when nothing comes to mind, and she simply looks back at her lover’s corpse.

“Worst place to die…worst way to die…worst time to die…nothing…nothing seems to go my way here…” Dash says with a quiet sob, unable to shed any more tears. “My marefriend’s dead, murdered by my best friend…that freakin’ Hemoran who tried to protect me from those monsters, he’s gone…my friends come in to help me and they all get stuck in here, put through Celestia-knows-what kind of bloody torture! Why can’t things go right for once?! WHY!?” Dash shouts to the room, to the blood, to her marefriend’s corpse, to anything that might offer some kind of answer or consoling words…but only silence comes back. Rainbow sniffs, trying to put resolve before her despair, and looks down the hallway with the blood trail. She slowly walks towards it, steeling what’s left of her shattered heart, and stares down the well-lit hall, seeing the blood trail draw a clear path forward.

She takes a step forward before thinking that she should take Fluttershy with her, but if she got into a fight, it would only put her in danger…monsters have been rather rare but always dangerous, especially with the skill exhibited by those zombies. Leaving her corpse here would only give it to those horrid abominations…but she has no way of carrying it without putting herself in mortal danger, simply out of respect for the dead. What happens when somepony dies in here, anyway? Do their bodies vanish, or are they actually moved into this world, physical body and all? Too much of this world was an unknown…

She shakes her head and grits her teeth, deciding to leave the body behind. “I’m sorry Fluttershy…I would if I could…but you can’t come with me.” Rainbow says, turning her head slightly, staring at the dead body just at the edge of the red pool. “I’ll…give you a proper burial once I’m out of here…” She says, her voice quieting to a whisper by the end, and she sprints off down the hall, following the trail of blood through its twists and turns. By the second intersection, Dash runs into a monster, one of those shadowy things, but she ignores it and runs by at full speed, only one of its phrases stabbing into the back of her mind; “You’re a horrible marefriend…”

She keeps running, and two intersections later down the line, she runs into two zombie soldiers, Hemoran, and they both draw their blades. Rainbow draws her knife mid sprint and leaps, slicing across the neck of one of the soldiers as the other’s blade cuts through the air she’d be in if she didn’t jump. The world seems to move slower for her, the adrenaline in her system keeping her alive beyond the aching pain of her wing stumps. Her thoughts go through the situations that could’ve occurred between Twilight and Fluttershy, all of them making Twilight the aggressor. In one, she sneaks up behind Fluttershy as she turns around to lead the way, and stabs her through the gut with a sword, and in another, she backs Fluttershy into a corner, waving a sword delicately in the air before stabbing her through both hooves.

Six more roll through Rainbow’s head, and they all serve to only heighten her rage, and her vision begins to tunnel. The cries of the dying Hemoran echo through the halls as she now speeds along the trail of blood at nearly twice her speed, not questioning the state she’s in. This rage is going to be her fuel, her weapon to use against her once-friend, the powerful unicorn capable of performing any kind of magic in the world. She will answer for her crime, and if it comes down to it, Rainbow will fight in a bloody war in order to make her feel the same suffering Fluttershy did.

Several more intersections and fights later finds Rainbow at a new kind of intersection, this one is a square room with a single hallway stretching forward. The room is empty except for a single desk in the middle of it, the carpeting a very thick, luscious deep blue. Rainbow moves into the room slowly, her vision now partially framed in by moving black. She looks around at the room, seeing nothing, not even another monster. Walking up to the desk, she brings herself up using her forelegs to look at the top of it, and sees a note. “Fantastic, another puzzle…” She grumbles through her knife as she reads the note to herself.

Your paths once branched in four,
But now they recede to one.
Your battle here is long,
But it’s only just begun.

The friend you consider close,
Blood is now on her hooves.
Her life hangs in the balance,
Whether the blade strikes,
The choice is yours.

“Whoever’s writing these must be really weird…this one isn’t a puzzle at all. It’s just some message to me…or about me anyway…” Rainbow thinks to herself, raising her eyes to the hallway. It extends a short distance before ending in a massive black vault door, taking up the whole back wall. Rainbow moves around the desk and towards the hall, looking back at the desk one last time. “A med kit?” She says to herself, looking at the small, simple white box under the desk with the recognizable red cross on it. She sheathes the knife and sticks her head under the desk, taking it in her mouth and placing it in her bag, looking back to find there were two Health Drinks sitting behind it.

“Well…seems the world can be nice once in a while.” Rainbow says with a slight smirk, taking the Health Drinks and placing them in her bag with the medkit. She turns around once again and heads down the hall, cautious in her approach as she draws the knife again. She looks at the walls as she walks forward, seeing that they aren’t quite moving as quickly as the floor she’s walking on, but continues forward anyway. The door she’s walking towards quickly grows in size, and as she finishes her approach, the door is vastly bigger than what she first anticipated, as well as the rest of the hallway.

“Holy cow…” She mumbles, looking around at the walls that have now jumped up to fifteen times their previous size, the door a great monolith blocking her way. Twilight’s Cutie Mark rests on the center of the door, two cyan wings extending away from it. Rainbow turns to look down the hallway, the room at the end with the desk seemingly miles away. “Just how far did I walk?” She asks herself, turning back to the door. She places a hoof on it, squints her eyes, and gives the door a push. Something clicks behind it, and it falls backwards on two incredibly thick chains like a drawbridge, lowering itself into the next room.

Rainbow walks across the door and into the room, looking around at it. It looks like the interior for a massive guard tower at the castle, with white brick making up most of the walls, thin windows built into the structure that let in limited rays of light. Her hooves hit stone as she walks off the end of the door, her hoof falling a good foot or so in the process. “That’s surprisingly thick for a vault door…” She mumbles to herself as she walks off it and looks forward, the focus of her attention right in front of her. She furrows her brow and takes a few steps forward before stopping, the tumblers and chains moving behind her as the door rises back into the wall, a final slam of a lock falling into place noting its permanent closure.

A lavender unicorn sits in the middle of the tower room, looking up. Spots of blood cover her coat, and she appears to be sitting in a small pool of blood. She doesn’t seem bothered by someone entering her room, but acknowledges Rainbow’s presence by looking down and to the wall in front of her, staring at the marble brick dimly reflecting the already limited light from the windows. “Twilight.” Rainbow says, the determination in her voice only barely cloaking the anger just below. “Do you know who I ran into on my way here?”

“I know exactly who you ran into…” Twilight replies just as directly, as if she doesn’t really know what Dash is talking about, despite saying she does. “Just so we’re on the same page though…enlighten me.”

“Fluttershy, stuck to the ceiling by four swords…you put her there.” Rainbow says with a growl, biting down hard on the handle of her knife.

“I did. And?” Twilight replies with a shrug, causing Dash to recoil in shock. “What of it, Rainbow Dash?”

“What the…what’s WRONG with you!? YOU MURDERED FLUTTERSHY AND YOU’RE JUST SHRUGGING IT OFF!?!?” Dash screams at the unicorn, all her restraint blowing away like a wooden wall in the face of a hurricane.

“I’m not shrugging it off, I’m deciding to not be sad about it. I killed her, end of…so what of it?” Twilight answers, not shaken by the display of anger, and not turning around to address Dash directly, as if she were on a different level of standing than Dash.

“I want to know WHY you did it! Just listening to you right now…it…it makes…”

“Makes what?”

“Makes me want to tear your leg off and beat you to death with it…” Rainbow hisses, the black tunnel closing in further. The world didn’t matter to her anymore, why she came to this world in the first place didn’t matter anymore, her nightmares, her Hell, all her worries and pains…nothing mattered when there was a pony sitting in front of Rainbow, the same one who killed her one real love in the world.

“That’s rather brutal of you, Rainbow…but why am I so guilty here? That’s what I want to know before I tell you why I killed her. Why is murder so bad, eh?” Twilight asks with a genuine sense of curiosity.

“Why is…what the hay are you on about?! You know EXACTLY why murder is as bad as it is!” Dash shouts back.

“Alright, but why do YOU think it’s so bad?” Twilight replies, her tone unchanged during this entire conversation, as if she were simply asking Spike about what he thinks of breakfast.

“Murder takes a pony away from everypony who loves them, who hangs out with them, and cares for them. An act done by some monster out of a want for revenge or some other stupid reason like that, or simply for fun. Murder takes somepony close to you out of this world, puts up a wall between you and them…just like what happened to me and Fluttershy because of YOU!” Dash shouts through the knife in her mouth. “So why’d you do it, huh?!”

“…Why did I do it…? Fluttershy is the kindest pony I’ve ever met…kind of pathetic with how shy she is, but I suppose that’s what makes her so likeable…she’ll just roll over and let you do whatever with her.” Twilight says with a verbal smile, and she chuckles as if she’d just heard a rather good joke. “Ahh, she didn’t even scream when I drew that blade from the zombie’s corpse…thought I was going to help her, when really, all I wanted to do was hear her shout out in pain for help…just like I did for you, Dash…she screamed your name at the top of her lungs as I slowly jammed the blade into her stomach, lifted her off the ground, and stabbed her into the ceiling…

She looked down at me, tears flowing freely, face twisted up in pain. It was like ecstasy, Dash…a real sense of control in a situation…magnificent! So yeah, I suppose that’s why I did it…” Twilight says, slowly turning around. “I killed her for fun!” She shouts as she fully faces Rainbow, Rainbow staring back at her with a new found sense of shock. Her right eye was missing, the eye lid closed over it but completely flat…blood trickled down from it. “Now guess who did THIS to me! Bet this is REALLY FAMILIAR TO YOU!” She shouts, her horn glowing with a new aura – her usual purple aura, now outlined with a bloody red – as a black sword fades in from seemingly nowhere.

“Y-your eye…! Then that scream…that was real?” Dash asks, her rage not completely gone, but rivaled by confusion.

“Yes, that WAS real! I could feel a knife digging in behind my right eye, and it just kept digging and pulling and moving…until…POP! OUT IT CAME, ALONG WITH THE CONTENTS OF MY BLADDER, IT HURT SO MUCH!!! The pain was UNBEARABLE…yet I LOVED it! The agony was something I’ve never felt before, and I wanted to bring it to everypony I met!” Twilight shouts, a sick grin spreading across her face. Her one good eye didn’t have that recognizable purple iris anymore, it seemed to be shifting between a sickly green and her typical purple, and the pupil had a red slit running down the middle.

“Then…that jewel I pulled out…”

“Oh! That was you? I was wondering why I heard a gem hitting stone when I saw my eyeball bouncing along the ground! I don’t wear false eyes, after all…thanks Dash! All thanks to you, I was able to experience the joy of mind-splitting pain…along with Fluttershy!” Twilight shouts, spinning the blade in the air as she looks over the edge, making sure it’s sharp. She scrapes it along the ground, the sword cutting through the stone flooring like a red-hot knife through warm butter. “And now, I’m going to give you the same pleasure, Dashie…” She hisses, looking up at Dash.

Rainbow’s confusion melts away as she grips the knife harder, lowering herself into a pouncing position. A lot of things seemed to point back to her in this place for some reason, but right now, she had a crazy unicorn to deal with…but could she do it? Could she really fight with her friend, a pony she’s known for so long? Was there no way to help her? Twilight murdered Fluttershy…that should be reason enough to send Dash headlong into a fight…but her eye, the gem, ‘the same pleasure’…no, she’s too far gone now. She can’t be helped…

“What’s wrong, Dashie? Afraid to charge head first into everything like you usually do? Or are you calculating a plan in that pretty head of yours, like some murderer stalking their prey?” Twilight says with a smirk, holding the blade just in front of her.

“You need help, Twilight!” Rainbow shouts through the knife, moving to the left. Twilight watches her move, keeping the blade between her and Rainbow, though not moving her own body. “And what makes you say that? I just found something that makes me happier than reading a simple book or learning a new ‘magic trick’! You should be proud of me, I’ve found something that suits my talent!”

“This isn’t right, and you know it! You killed Fluttershy, your FRIEND, in cold blood, for Celestia’s sake! How can you say that’s good?!” Rainbow shouts back, feeling her body begin to burn. Something flashes in her vision, surprising her slightly as it sends a light zap through her mind.

“Easy! ‘Killing Fluttershy was good!’ There, I said it. And you know what? It felt better than anything else to see her writhing in pain…it was like ECSTASY…but she just didn’t fight back. It was too easy, like butchering a fly or a mouse! At least you’ll fight for your life, right?” Twilight smiles, moving her sword as she cuts up Rainbow’s face in her mind, her smile growing with sick glee as she imagines her dear friend screaming in pain as the sword edge makes its way through her cheek…

“You’re sick, Twilight…and if…if…” Rainbow stutters, twitching slightly, images flashing by her vision. Flames, loud and high, an inferno surrounding a black shadow staring back at her, bleeding eyes staring straight through her soul. She blinks and the images vanish.

“If? If what?” Twilight raises an eyebrow.

“If…if I have to drag you out of here…a-and drag you to Canterlot myself…I’ll get you the help…you need!” Rainbow stutters, her mouth shaking. ‘What’s happening to me?’ She thinks, quickly looking over herself, finding nothing out of the ordinary besides the blood spatter on her fatigues’ ankles.

“Canterlot? What, you think Celestia is going to help you? Nah, she wouldn’t help…know why? I don’t need help! I’ve always WANTED a sensation like this, to discover something beyond simple magic! I finally have it, and you aren’t going to take it from me!”

“Calm down, Twilight! You…y-you need help! Something’s wrong with you!” Rainbow shouts back, something climbing from the back of her mind. Illegible whispers move through her head.

“I am calm, Dashie…” Twilight half-closes her eyes, smiling, and the blade rears back over her head. “Just how do you think you’re going to ‘help’ me anyway? I murdered a pony, something that’s not been heard of for over a hundred years, and you expect some psychiatrist to be all ‘Ok, let’s see what we can do about that!’ to me?! No. This choice has already been made, and I’m standing by it with all the glee in the world…” Twilight says, the blade rising into the air. Dash watches it go up, the purple aura intensifying around it, the sword seeming to shiver under the pressure of Twilight’s grip. “After you, everypony is going to feel this pain! And when I’m the last one standing, when all of Equestria has experienced my joy, I will join them!” Twilight shouts.

Rainbow keeps her eyes locked on the sword, as hooves slamming down onto the stone ground catches her attention. She looks down just as Twilight comes within inches of impaling Rainbow on her horn. Rainbow jumps out of the way, Twilight flying past her. Twilight turns her head, sneering, as the black sword comes slicing in just under Rainbow, flying between her legs. “I could have killed you there, so easily! Wake up, Dashie, this won’t be fun if you fall asleep!” Twilight shouts, continuing her sprint along the edge of the tower room, the sword flying along beside her, the back of the blade just above her shoulder.

Rainbow runs back into the center of the room, keeping her distance. Even without her wings, she was the fastest on the ground, matched only by AJ and Pinkie, and Twilight couldn’t even sprint a long distance. As long as she could watch the sword and anticipate any movements it made, the fight was hers. Twilight continues her run around the room, slowing to a jog as she watches her opponent, flipping the sword around beside her before flinging it up into the air. The aura disappears from it, the sword simply flying up higher and higher, Dash throwing a glance up to it before smirking and charging at Twilight.

Twilight smiles as the air beside her starts to warp, and her horn lights up again. Dash casts a glance up to the flying sword, and continues her charge. “What’s got you so happy?” Rainbow whispers to Twilight and herself, thinking. The bending air gives way to matter, forming from a bright white line into a black sword, the aura closing around it. A flash of purple catches Rainbow’s attention off to her right, and she immediately throws her eyes to it.

A blade cuts into her side, a deep slice through her skin, and she shouts out in pain, stumbling. She holds her footing stable and leaps to the left as a black sword cuts through the air just next to her. “So that was her plan…! Then…” Dash thinks to herself, looking up. Sure enough, the sword that was flying through the air is now mere meters away from her face, screaming through the air in a thrust. Dash leaps back as the sword comes down, slamming into the stone, crushing it and embedding half its length in the floor.

“Pretty good, wasn’t it?” Twilight says with a laugh, yanking the blade out of the ground. Dash watches it float back over to Twilight, three swords now assembled around her. Two of the swords are held in a cross in front of her as the third is held out in front. “Fake em out, injure them, then stab em through the spine. Nice little maneuver I came up with just now…much more fancy than just bringing a sword up and through somepony’s stomach.”

Rainbow twitches, biting down hard on her knife as another shock runs through her brain. Images flash through her vision, the inferno returning with the shadow at its center. It stares back at her, speaking in her voice without its mouth moving.

“Why do you hesitate?”

“Wha-“ Rainbow widens her eyes, Twilight watching her stare off into space. She tilts her head to the side, raising an eyebrow.

“Why do you hold back?”

“I’m not holding anything back! And who the hay are you?!” Rainbow shouts to the shadow, furrowing her brow. “Are you another enemy?!”

“I’m no more an enemy than you are an enemy to yourself. If you are not holding anything back, then why is the unicorn not a bloody smear on the wall yet?” The shadow asks, tilting its head slightly to the left.

“B-bloody sm- why would I do that to Twilight!? She’s my friend!”

“No she isn’t. She murdered your love, didn’t she? Not only that, she didn’t do it out of self-defense or a righteous cause, it was just a game to her.” The shadow replies in a matter-of-fact tone.

“She’s still my friend, and stop dodging my question! Who the hay are you?!” Rainbow shouts. The world is suddenly torn out of her vision, replaced with the tower room as two black swords race at Rainbow, both already raised to make a vertical slash on her head. She leaps to the side, both blades coming down into the stone. The right one stops half way through its swing and turns, moving towards Dash at a high speed. “Can’t dodge…!” Dash mutters, planting her hooves on the ground. She waits for the sword to come within feet of her, and moves quickly to the right, gliding the edge of her knife along the sword. She pushes up and angles the knife down to the left, pushing the sword away. The guard slams into the knife’s edge, the recoil from it forcing the handle out of Rainbow’s mouth. The knife gets torn away with the sword, flying away from her.

“Oh crap!” She shouts, watching the knife fly. She quickly turns around to the other sword as it flies into her leg, stabbing just enough to cause massive pain without ruining her calf muscle. She screams, the sword turning in the wound forcing her screams louder and higher, Twilight’s crazed laughter the only other sound in the room.

“How does it feel!? Magnificent, right?! I knew you’d enjoy it, just like she did! SCREAM FOR ME!” She shouts, and her laughter continues as the sword is removed from Rainbow’s leg, the leg collapsing under her. Dash crashes down onto her belly, gritting her teeth as the pain courses through every inch of her. She watches the sword fly back to rejoin its master, and its brother soon flies past Rainbow’s vision to join it. Twilight walks up to her, holding the swords around her, two on her sides and one on her back. She smiles with great satisfaction at the state she’s put Dash in, her eyes half-closed.

“That felt amazing, Dash. Hearing your screams after the fight…way better than Fluttershy.” She whispers, giggling. She leans down, looking Dash right in the eye as the sword on her back levitates off, the purple aura warping slightly into a green. “Let’s see…how else should I do this? I’ve already wrecked your leg…cut your side open…you already cut off your wings for me and the others.”

“Others…? Rarity…Pinkie…you…didn’t do anything to them, did you?” Dash asks, fighting through the cloud of red pain that is her leg.

“I haven’t had the chance to, no…but once you’re dead, I’m pretty sure this place will take me to them. I’ll just fake my way through it…maybe I’ll start with Pinkie!” Twilight grins. The visions return to Dash, fully taking the previous world from her sight, possessing it with the inferno and its shaded master.

“…Why isn’t she dead?” It asks, furrowing its brow.

“I said…she’s my friend…I’ll never kill a friend…I can’t…” Dash replies, cringing as another wave of pain moves up from her leg.

“You don’t have a choice in this situation, do you? Why not just let the hate flow, Rainbow Dash? Just let your soul go…release your thoughts…Fluttershy was murdered by her. You’ll never see her again…never hear her laugh, never be able to soothe her when she cries…” The shadow says, walking up from the center of the flames, reaching the edge. “Never see her smile or feel her touch again…”

“…Shut up…” Dash says, rolling onto her belly and standing up, tears once again flowing as the sting of Fluttershy’s death comes back to her. “I don’t need to be reminded about that…not now! It’s hard enough knowing I have to fight Twilight…hard enough that she’s hurting me and LAUGHING about it!”

“So why not retaliate? You have the power, and you know you do. You gave up your wings for Twilight, and how does she return that favor? With a ‘thank you’ and a hug? HA! No, she answers by trying to kill you!” The shadow laughs, as if this whole situation was a joke.

“I CAN’T KILL HER! No matter what she’s done…no matter what happens, I can’t kill one of my friends! It…I don’t have it in me to do that!”

“Oh, but that’s where you’re wrong. Every single one of your friends has their own hidden power…AJ in her absurd strength, Pinkie in her capability to defeat any darkness with but a laugh, your love’s ability to reduce any creature to tears with only a look into her eyes, Twilight in her vast intelligence and magical prowess, and Rarity in her charm. But what do you have? Nothing? Right, you gave up your wings and everything you were just to be cut down by Twilight! How ironic! The price you had to pay to save them is what’s going to get you and them killed…”

“What are you talking about, and why do you sound like me!? I’d…I’d never…” Dash squints her eyes, feeling something crawling up inside her. Her vision begins to tunnel again, the black creeping up around her eyes. “I’d…n-never…never…” Dash stutters, unable to finish her sentence. Thoughts begin to plague her mind, visions of Twilight being brutally massacred by her, Dash’s revenge being taken out on her in a thousand different ways. Dash recoils from the thoughts, shaking her head.

“There’s no need to be afraid, Dash…this is a normal reaction in everypony. The simple fact that something dear to you was taken away…you want revenge. So why not let it happen? Just let me help you…” The shadow whispers, now inches away from Dash’s face. Dash looks back into the shadow’s eyes, her fear ebbing slightly. “That’s it…just calm yourself…”

The world is suddenly torn away by a flash of red and a great searing pain from Dash’s side. She screams out, moving her eyes down to where the pain came from, seeing a sword sticking out of her wing stump. Her eyes widen at the sight of it. She shakes in pain, her legs flailing as her cut right side grinds against the stone floor, sending even more agony through her.

“Jeeze, get out of Wonderland, Dashie! I’m trying to think of something fun while you’re just shouting at thin air!” Twilight grimaces, tapping Dash in the forehead. Dash looks up at her, furrowing her brow and gritting her teeth, and Twilight leaps back in shock. “WOAH! What the-“ Twilight stutters, dragging a fourth sword into the world as she rips the blade stuck in Rainbow’s wing stump out and brings it back to her side. She moves two swords in front of her in a cross, holding the other two spread out, and she stares at Dash with new fear.

“I can help you, Dash…you just have to let me.” Dash’s voice echoes in her head.

“…No…I don’t need your help…I just need a bit more strength…” Dash replies to herself in her thoughts, moving back towards her knife. Twilight doesn’t budge an inch, content with just watching her opponent pick up her weapon. Dash shakes slightly as pain shoots from a loose tooth in her mouth. She sits down, taking the knife out with her hooves and starts nudging the tooth with her tongue. After a bit of a fight, she yanks it out with her tongue and spits it out with a bit of blood, sucking on the wound slightly to get the healing going. She puts the knife back in her mouth and stands up.

“Strength? Either you accept my help or you’re on your own. Which is it going to be?” Dash asks herself.

“What…what’s going to happen if I accept it?” Dash asks back.

“All your anger will be released, all your hate will be focused. It will be up to you to control it. I just make sure the rage flows evenly in a flood.” Dash replies.

She blinks, considering the offer from her other side. She looks back at Twilight, the unicorn shaking and moving backwards slightly. Dash squints her eyes, shaking her head.

“No…” Dash thinks, staring at Twilight. “I…I can do this…I just have to make her snap out of it…”

“Hmph. Alright, you’ll come crawling back to me later, I’m sure.” Dash replies as the voice fades away. Something lifts from Rainbow’s spirits, and the tunnel recedes from her vision slightly. Twilight moves her swords, keeping the cross guard up while raising the two swords further off to her sides. “I don’t know what that was, but it seems it’s gone now…guess it’s time to finish this up, wouldn’t you agree?” Twilight smiles, furrowing her brow.

“Yeah…I’ll make you snap out of it, Twilight, even if I have to hurt you in order to do it!” Dash shouts, lowering herself back into a fighting position.

‘Only question is…how? I can’t beat her up, not with those four blades around her. It’s hard enough for me to get a proper attack in, and I don’t have the air as my advantage. How do you attack a unicorn brainiac with four swords and a lust for blood…?’ Dash thinks to herself, staring down her opponent. ‘Maybe…no, no, that isn’t an option! Her death…me killing her, it can’t happen…I’d never live it down. But…maybe it’s the answer? This world has always pointed me in the direction of the most pain I could possibly endure…’

“Just think…is there a weak spot? Using four swords just means she has to divide her focus.” Rainbow mumbles to herself, looking over Twilight’s weaponry. She’s simply sitting there, with two blades crossed across her front in a defensive form, while the other two are extended outward, their tips pointed at Rainbow. The crossed blades seem to be a good distance away from Twilight, and the two swords off to her sides are kept close to her, a good two feet or so from her forelegs.

“She has a proper guard up…” Rainbow mumbles through her knife. Twilight smirks, staring at her.

“Squaring me up?” Twilight says, raising her nose with a confident smile.

“I know there’s some way to snap you out of this, Twi’. You know this isn’t just fun and games…you killed Fluttershy, something that nopony would ever do.”

“I did, didn’t I? I thought I already told you I killed her to hear her scream, to hear her cry…you’re smarter than this, Dash!”

“Smart enough to understand why Celestia’s own pupil would kill an innocent pony?! NOPONY is smart enough to understand that!”

“I am! And I’ll tell you why as I’m driving these swords through your legs…” Twilight says with a sick smile, and the two blades hovering off to her sides grind together, throwing sparks into the air. “Now come, Dash. We did say we were going to finish this…I’ll paint the walls with your blood as your screams echo out into a magnificent symphony of ecstasy…”

With a flick of her horn, one of the swords breaks away from the ear-piercing grind of steel and flies forward towards Rainbow. She leaps out of the way, the air ripping apart as the sword passes by, and it embeds itself in the stone wall behind her. The sound of a jet stream catches her attention as the second blade enters her sight. She ducks under it, the blade slicing through her mane, and it embeds itself in the wall. Rainbow manages a little smirk at the state of her opponent’s offense.

“Guess she isn’t as sharp a shot as I thought…” Rainbow says to herself, looking over at Twilight. The confident smile on her opponent’s face is the opposite of what Rainbow was expecting. “Something funny, ‘Twi’?”

“Just the fact that you look like you’ve won. I’ve still got two swords left, and I don’t need a defense against somepony at such a disadvantage…” Twilight says with an attitude many would regard as pompous, as the two blades crossed in front of her lift away. The purple aura surrounding these two blades grows stronger, brighter, seeming to cast rays of light to the stone around it. “Let’s see you dodge THIS!” She shouts as the two blades launch forward at an impossibly high speed, crossing the 20 feet between Twilight and Rainbow in mere moments.

Rainbow ducks under the first blade, and it slices through the edge of her ear. The pain is quickly replaced by the crash of her chin hitting the cobblestone flooring as the second blade meets her foreleg, crashing through muscle and bone as if it were simply air, and yanks her leg out from under her as the guard slams into her leg. The tip of the blade stabs itself into the front of her left hind leg, locking the movement of her left legs together like shackles and chain.

Rainbow lets out a dire scream of pain, Twilight screaming with her. The screams end with sobs from Dash and a hearty laugh from Twilight. “How was that?! Glorious, wasn’t it? You can feel your soul melting in the inferno, can’t you?! I know I can feel it…magnificent, isn’t it?” Twilight punctuates her words with laughter.

‘Can’t move my left legs…barely able to stand…been fighting for so long already…’ Rainbow thinks to herself through the red veil of searing agony from her legs. “Can…can I really win this?” The words fall out of her mouth and crash into her mind like a runaway train. Turning down that shadow, fighting without her wings, using a knife against Twilight’s magic and weapons; this was a fight she could never win. “I…I can’t win…”

”No, you can’t.”

Rainbow darts her eyes around, looking for the source of the voice. The black tunnel begins to circle her vision, and the images of the inferno return. The heat of the flames beats back her pain, and the veil of red leaves her. Calm sweeps over her as the familiar shadow comes forward from the destructive flames.

”You never could win this. You knew that…”

“I...I thought I could. I thought I could win without help…”

”Silly foal…put aside your pointless pride and let me help you. We can win this…we can still paint the floors with her blood…we can still take revenge for Fluttershy!”

“No! Killing her is the last thing Fluttershy would want!”

”Are you sure? You weren’t the one pinned to the ceiling out of the blue by your best friend…you weren’t the one leaving your marefriend behind for something you had no chance to stop. Would Fluttershy really not wish the same fate upon Twilight?”

Rainbow grits her teeth in anger at the shadow, snorting. “I’m 100% sure that she’d never even want me to HURT Twilight, let alone kill her! I’m only trying to bring her back!”

”You’re trying to SAVE Twilight?! Are you insane?! Look at what your efforts have done to you! Your loyalty has blinded you to what must be done!” The shadow shouts as it stomps the ground, quaking the world. “Are you so loyal to your friends, that you would sacrifice your own life in a useless attempt to ‘save’ her, and release her into the world?! THIS MUST BE DONE, DASH!”

“NO! I’m not going to kill her! I…I’m not going…to take this knife, and drive it in her heart, or slit her throat. This isn’t about loyalty, or pride, or any of that stuff! This…this is me trying to save my friend. Twilight would do the same for me if she were me right now,” Dash replies, furrowing her brow. “If you think that killing her is the only answer…then so be it. I’ll die here, knowing I tried to bring her back.”

”And you throw your friends to the wolves in the process. Stop being so damned naïve, Dash, your chivalry is only going to get you, Pinkie, Rarity, and everypony else KILLED. Celestia HERSELF will have to bring the headstallion’s axe down upon her neck, and it will be YOUR FAULT for not sparing everypony that fate! Think beyond yourself for FIVE SECONDS, you stupid foal!” The shadow roars, the earth under it rumbling under the weight of its voice. ”I ask you again…will you let me help you, and sacrifice her life for hundreds of others? If she dies here…”

“Then I’ll save lives…” Rainbow completes the shadow’s sentence, and looks at the ground. It’s right…if Twilight escaped in the state she’s in; she wouldn’t stop until every pony was dead under her hoof. She wouldn’t stop in Ponyville, or Manehatten, or Canterlot…”I bet she even wants to grind Celestia under her hoof…”

”You’re beginning to see the truth. It’s about time…what is your answer, Dash?” The shadow asks, its voice becoming clear, gaining a familiar gravelly tone, rising in pitch.

“I…I accept your offer…help me, please.” Dash says, and the world fades away, the flames growing in intensity.

”Ye shall ask…and ye shall receive.” The shadow says, Dash’s own voice clear as day, and the flames become a blinding red wall in her vision. The flames part into a tunnel, and her eyes lock with Twilight’s. “Alright. I’m done playing…letting you get away from here, when your mind is already so messed up…that’d be a selfish mistake.”

Twilight steps back, her horn glowing with intensity as metal grinding against stone quickly fills the room, the last sword ripping free of Rainbow’s leg. The four swords assemble themselves around her, assuming that perfect defense once more. The blade covered in Rainbow’s blood is almost melting, the edge white-hot. Behind the anger of Twilight’s eyes, behind all the confidence and pride, is a feeling that betrays all she’s thought during this fight; fear. “What…what happened to you…?” She asks, her voice shaking, her eyes and mind focusing fully on Dash.

“I realized the truth…that’s what. I still want to bring you back…and I’m not going to try and get you to forgive me, but letting you get even CLOSE to my friends is something I can’t let you do. Either you go back to normal, or so help me Celestia I’m GOING TO CARVE YOU UP AND SPRAY YOUR BLOOD ON THE WALLS!” Dash shouts, the tower quaking under the force. Her wounds, her lack of wings, the pain in her mouth, everything melts away to this blinding force of rage. She killed Fluttershy, she tried to kill Dash, she’s going to kill everypony Dash ever knew if she dies here. That. Can’t. Happen.

“Me? Die here? That skull of yours is more thick than I could’ve thought possible in a Pegasus! I’m going to be the one doing the carving here, and it’s YOUR blood that’s going to paint the walls!” Twilight shouts back, the shaking in her voice betraying her menacing words. She squints her eyes in concentration as the two blades grind a sparking circle in the ground. She flings them upward with a flick of her horn; Dash watches them as they go up for a good thirty feet before they sweep down in a slicing motion, aiming straight for her head.

“It won’t be my blood on the walls…” Dash whispers as she grips the knife in her mouth, and motions her wing muscles in a flap. She suddenly flies backwards, her hind legs crashing against the wall. She kicks off lightly, flying upwards. “And it won’t be yours either, so long as I have something to say about it! I’m going to bring you back, or we’re both gonna die, here and now!”

“How in the world did she get her wings back?!” Twilight asks in disbelief, her jaw falling. The Pegasus before her looks like a fallen angel from some story book, her wings of black flame holding her aloft; Her eyes are rimmed by thin black flames, and her pupils are split by a white line. Even her Cutie Mark has changed, the thundercloud having turned pure black, and the lightning surrounded on the sides by two silver blades. “This…this isn’t happening…growing her wings back, changing her body…those eyes…this isn’t Dash, this can’t be her! This can’t be the headstrong Pegasus I was going to kill!” Twilight shouts, and she pulls all her blades in. “Screw playing with you! I’m going to stick you to the ceiling and keep stabbing until I can barely see THE BLUE IN YOUR COAT!!” She shouts with primal rage, and with a strong swing of her head, the four swords launch upwards towards Dash.

Dash moves out of the way with a flap of her wings, the swords crashing into the wall behind her, and with another flap, she explodes forwards. The wind rips past her ears in a roar as she closes the gap to her prey. Her mind begins to race, images of Twilight’s death moving past her eyes, memories of the past behind them. “I’m going to kill her…she needs to die…for Fluttershy, for everypony…I have to kill her, or she’s going to kill them! I have to!” She whispers to herself in a last ditch effort to kill these second thoughts. The world seems to slow as Rainbow nears Twilight’s shocked look. Those purple eyes, all manner of confidence and anger drowning in a black sea of terror, her jaw slack as her killer approaches, her neck perfectly exposed. Decapitation would be easier than breathing.

Twilight closes her eyes as her Angel of Death approaches. Her mind flashes back through her life…the first time she ever cast a spell…the day she was admitted into Celestia’s School for Gifted Unicorns…the test she thought she’d failed before becoming Celestia’s protégé…the day she reluctantly to Ponyville and first met the insane ponies that would be her friends…the times she helped Pinkie and Fluttershy through their nightmares, yet learned nothing of the Mind Delve spell in the process…coming here…

Meeting him. A gust of wind flares across her face, pulling her away from her final thoughts, and she looks down at the light pressure against her windpipe. The edge of Rainbow’s knife lies against her neck; a single twitch would end Twilight’s life here and now. Her mind moves back to meeting that Hemoran…being dragged into that screen, thrown into this tower…her eye being torn out to the sound of his sick laughter. “Oh Celestia…” Twilight whispers, a realization sweeping over her.

At the same time, Rainbow shivers with her own internal battle. “I…I can’t do it…! I can’t kill her…not after all we’ve been through!” She whispers to herself, eyes closed tightly, the inferno daring to overtake her and reduce her to nothing but ashes.

”You’ve come so far! One draw and it will all be over! Kill her! She murdered Fluttershy, and unless you kill her now, she’s going to kill everypony else! She’ll bake Pinkie into cupcakes, she’ll jam Rarity’s needles into her eyes and watch her writhe in agony, denying her death! She’ll break the Cakes necks and LAUGH about it!!” The shadow with Rainbow’s voice shouts in her mind, pushing her to press the knife edge deeper against Twilight’s neck, two forces waging war over control for the body.

“Shut up…just…shut up!” Rainbow grunts, shaking, and she pulls the knife edge away from Twilight’s neck. “I can’t do it! I’d never kill my friends…trying to hurt her like this is already too much…! Her blood on my hooves, revenge…I’ve never considered myself a good soldier, not before Hemora, and not after!” She says, shaking her head, memories she could never consider her own coming back in short flashes. Sights of Sehn and her, crossing a desert; Tyrus training her to use a sword; being inducted into the army by their General.

A hoof wrapping around her neck and pulling her into a tight hug breaks her from her unstable trip down somepony else’s Memory Lane, the surprise nearly slackening her jaw enough to drop her knife.

“Oh Celestia! Rainbow Dash, wh-what happened to you!?” Twilight shouts in panic, tightening her grip, tears falling on to Rainbow’s back.

“Wh…what…?” Dash blinks a few times, trying to process this sudden change in her personality. “Twi’…are you…?”

“I-I don’t know what I was doing!” Twilight pulls Dash away to look her in the eyes, tears streaming down her cheeks. “Please, tell me what happened! I-I don’t remember anything after being thrown in here! I-oh please, tell me I didn’t-“ Twilight stutters, looking down at the stumps that were once connected to Dash’s wings. Dash follows her sight, still blinking in complete disbelief.

“N-No…that…that was something I did,” Dash replies, turning back to look Twilight in the eyes. “So…you aren’t still trying to kill me?”

“Kill you…? No, no, I-I’d never try to do that! Something was wrong with me, Dash, you have to believe me!” Twilight shouts, now even more terrified, thinking Dash may turn on her.

“C-Calm down, Twi’! I…” Dash stutters as Twilight shakes her in some attempt to either convince her she’s the real Twilight, or smash her brain enough to stop her from not believing her. “Can you stop shaking me now, please?”

“Sorry…” Twilight says, still shaking Dash a bit. She finally lets go, staring at her friend. “So…you…believe me, right?”

“Of course I do…just…it was sudden, y’know?” Dash says, raising an eyebrow as she takes a step back. “Really…really sudden.”

“I swear, I didn’t know what I was doing, Dash! Please, just trust me!” Twilight shouts, sniveling like a lost child.

“…Prove to me that I can trust you…” Dash says, taking a seat and taking the knife out of her mouth with her hooves. She lays it on the ground and looks across the small gap to her friend. “Prove your loyalty to me, just like I did for all of you.”

“W-What?” Twilight tilts her head, catching a view of the wing stumps once covered by the torn bandages strewn about the battlefield. “Wait…your wings…yo-“

“I cut them off.” Dash says, looking at the ground in frustration. “Because…you guys didn’t trust me enough to save you…”

“That’s insane! You could’ve died from blood loss, Dash!” Twilight shouts, running over to Dash’s side to inspect the stumps. She gets stopped by Dash’s hoof to her chest.

“Please, just…stay back. I wanna know if I can trust you, like I tried to make you trust me…I gave up my wings, because I put my friendship above my ability to fly…”

“Are…are you asking…” Twilight stutters, pointing to her horn.

“…The evil Twilight is just looking for a chance to kill me. The real Twilight would think of a way to prove herself to me, by giving up something that means a lot to her…”

“Well, what can I give up!? I can’t give up my horn, I need my magic!”

“And I needed my wings. We both have things we can’t give up, because it means our dreams will fall through, right? I needed my wings to be in the Wonderbolts and keep on being the best flyer in Equestria…and you need your horn to keep on living life and continue your research, learning new spells to impress Princess Celestia…I surrendered my dream in order to get your trust back, Twi’,” Dash says, and she furrows her brow. “Now you need to do the same.”

“Y-You’re asking the impossible, Dash! Even if I WANTED to take my horn off, I don’t know ho-“ Twilight cuts herself off as an object hits her hoof. She looks down, seeing Dash’s knife just below her. “But giving me this…it gives me a weapon, why?”

“Because if you do anything that’s hostile, it’ll be the last thing you do,” Dash replies, Twilight looking up to see her friend with two new black wings curled against her sides, her eyes rimmed by fire.

“How…”

“Not sure, but right now it’s only helped me. Take the knife and cut your horn off,” Dash says with an air of finality, “I want to trust you again, Twilight…but after this, it’d be crazy to without some kind of proof.”

Twilight blinks a few times, looking back down at the knife at her hooves. She grimaces, using her magic to pick the knife up and hold it in front of her eyes. “It’s sharp, right?”

“Like a brand new razor.”

“…If…it’s to gain your trust again, and if I really did ask you to cut your wings off in order to gain mine…it’s a fair trade, isn’t it?” Twilight says with a smirk as she brings the knife up towards her horn. “Can’t quite see it, and if I miss, it’s gonna hurt…”

“I’ve got a set of painkillers ready to go,” Dash says, placing her medkit on the floor and popping it open to check its supplies. She takes out the two Health Drinks as well, and lays them next to the open medkit.

“Alright…goodbye, magic…it’s…it’s been fun…guess I can always have AJ train me when I’m back home,” Twilight says, turning the knife in the air so its tip is pointed at the base of the horn. She slowly brings it up to tap at the horn, making sure she doesn’t miss and kill herself. “Ok…three…two…one…” Twilight taps the horn with each count, bringing it back further and further, before thrusting it forward with as much force as she could manage.

Chapter 3: The Trial Of Shadows and A Fated Meeting

An uproar. Shouts of anger from all around. They all seem to be shouting at someone, someone in the center of the grand courtroom. Upon a small stand, before 30 shadowy, red-eyed figures, stands a small blue Equestrian with a rainbow mane, looking around completely confused.

“Guilty! Guilty!”

“We demand the death sentence!”

“Revenge for what’s been done!”

“KILL HER! KILL HER!!!”

The shadows scream across the room at each other, the stands next to the central podium before the Equestrian filled with them. They all demand one thing; her death.

“Order! I will have order!” The shadow on the central podium speaks up, silence conquering the room once more. His stare at her seems blood-chilling, like every vein in her body just froze up. She can’t break his gaze, as he leans his head on his hand, eyes half-closed. He speaks with a voice indistinguishable from a demon’s.

“Equestrian, how do you plead?” He asks her, as if she knew what this entire event was about.

“P-plead?! Plead for what?! I didn’t do anything!” She shouts back, the shadows all standing and shouting back.

“How could she just blow this off?! Indescribable idiocy!”

“Cruel Equestrian! You’re all the same!!!”

“We should have left you there!!”

“Let the others sort her out!”

“Death! Give her death!”

“I SAID I WILL HAVE ORDER!!” The central shadow shouts, the room shaking under the mighty boom of his voice. All the shadows stop and stare at him, their angered eyes not yet quelled, as they all take their seats.

“I do not take your previous response as an answer, ‘pony’. I asked, how do you plead?” He says, rage slowly quaking up in his voice as he stands.

“Plead for WHAT?! I’m not answering until I know what’s going on here!” The blue Pegasus responds, anger prevalent in her voice and confusion in her eyes.

“How could she not know?! This was a tremendous crime!” Says one shadow upon the stands to her left, standing with his fist raised.

“I’ve never committed any crime! What are you all shouting about? As if I’m going to DIE for something I don’t know about!” The Pegasus screams back at him, causing the shadow to change his look from anger to bewilderment.

“She…how…” the words cannot be found, instead replaced with a low growl.

“ORDER! One more outburst and you’re all going to be burned!” The judge shouts at the surrounding shadows, causing them to look over at the standing shadow, before he sits and they all shift their gaze back to the Pegasus.

“I’m impressed I’m still calling you by this title, Equestrian. It is no longer fit for someone of your stature.” The judge states, his head still laid on his hand in a bored look.

“Yeah, calling me a ‘pony’, all sarcastically, that isn’t very nice, y’know. Show some respect!” She shouts back with a smirk.

The shadows all gasp in unison, growing wide eyed, as if she’d just committed a crime worse than what she was being put in here for in the first place. The bored look disappears from the central shadow, his solid red eyes growing a black flame where his pupils and irises would be.

“…You will learn of what you’ve done. By the power vested in me by the Highest, I sentence you to DEATH! Executioner!!!” The judge’s hand forms a gavel from the shadows of his body, bashing it against the pad on his podium, each wooden smash echoing louder in the room.

The pegasus’ eyes grow wide. Sentenced to death? For what? She looks down from the judge, where another shadow stands before her. A tall shadow, though his features are more distinct. The shadow seems…familiar. He holds a sword balanced on the ground, laying his hands on the butt of the handle.

“Guilty! Guilty! GUILTY! GUILTY!” The jury rises in their cries, the unified screams of them echoing louder in the room with each iteration. The Pegasus begins to back away from the armed shadow, as he places his hands around the handle, and draws the blade from the ground. He spins the sword upwards into a proper stance, and the edge of the silver blade begins to burn with a black flame.

“GUILTY!!! GUILTY!!!” The cries grow louder, more excited, as the executioner begins to step forward towards her.

“Don’t do this! I’m innocent! I don’t know what you’re all talking about!!!” The Pegasus, consumed with fear, lowers her head, looking around at all the shadows that cry for her death, scream for her blood to be spilled before them all. The judge simply looks on, his blood red eyes like red-hot spears through her soul. She levels her eyes with those of her executioner, as he raises his blade. He only utters a few words…

“…I’m sorry.”

Everyone falls silent as the blade is swung, right onto her head. Time begins to slow as her mane is split between the blade, the heat of the edge reaching the top of her head. The blade falls closer, the Pegasus beginning to scream for mercy, the end of her life only seconds away. The blazing edge touches her skin, burns through it to her skull, the pain is excruciating.

Everything goes dark…

Her eyes snap open as a loud shriek is sent into her pillow. The scream is muffled, only a quiet whisper to the room. She quickly looks around, taking in the environment.

She quickly takes a hoof from under her pillow and feels along the top of her head, checking for any wounds. Nothing seems to be there, besides a damp feeling of sweat. She shakes in the bed, terror consuming every thought.

“What…just happened?” Is all she can say into her pillow, before rising from it slightly, shaking her head. Another nightmare? And this one had been far more terrible, far more real than any she’s had over the past month or so. Thirty shadows, all shouting for her death, for judgement of some crime she’d committed. What were they talking about? And why did that shadow with the blade sound so familiar?

She lets out a sigh and collapses back into her pillow. It’s just a dream, nothing more…why should she lose sleep over something like that? It’s not like she could’ve died or even been hurt. Just your imagination going crazy during sleep, normal thing that happens to everypony. Rainbow raises her head and yawns, before laying back down into the pillow, trying to finish off the sleep she started.

Sunrise brings a headache and a slight queasiness as Rainbow rises from her bed, rolling slightly before falling off of it and onto the floor.

“Oof! Ngh…ow…” She grunts as she gets back on her feet, her eyes still half closed from a rather fruitless sleep.

“Mmm…what am I doing today…something about…AJ I think…” She rubs her forehead, everything about her feeling slow. “The farm…umm…yeah, I said I was gonna help out at the orchard today…what time is it?” She looks out her bedroom window, the sun still quite low.

She yawns, “Barely morning? Well, a good flight would do me some good…maybe it’ll wake me up.” She thinks to herself before heading to a nearby mirror hanging on a wall made of clouds. She looks at herself in the mirror, the surprise kicking her brain into a higher gear.

Her hair’s a mess, her rose-colored eyes are bloodshot, the veins reaching half-way to her irises, and her color is a color much closer to grey than usual. “What the hay happened last night?” She asks herself, looking at the wake-up call of her looks in the mirror. “Well…least I’m awake now.”

She takes a comb and quickly fixes her mane, squinting her eyes, trying to focus on how it looks before simply nodding and heading for the door. She exits into her living room and towards the kitchen door, staring inside.

“When was I supposed to head over…ahhh, usually not this much of a mess.” She looks around, the kitchen a blurry mess. “Maybe I should just go back to sleep? If I’m this out of it and I go flying, might end up hurting myself or someone else…maybe a few practice stunts, get the blood flowing.” She nods, heading to and out the front door. Sitting down on the porch, she takes the horizon in, deciding on where to go.

The sky before her, simply clouds dimly lit by the red light of the rising sun, show a light pink, and the blue sky is still trapped in dusk. She rubs her eyes, mulling her flight plan over in her head.

“Allllright…couple loops, then I’ll head into town, maybe buy some breakfast. Fly around town, move some clouds, then I head over to the farm and help out. Solid plan.” She tilts her head to the side, tapping her chin, before nodding. Rainbow stretches out her wings, flapping them a few times before jumping off the porch of her cloud house into the empty sky before her. Easily she bursts forward, and with a few easy flaps, already begins to ascend into a first loop.

Reaching the apex of the loop, she closes her wings and does a quick backflip before falling into the rest of the loop, dropping altitude to pick up some speed. She dodges through groups of clouds, barrel rolling and rapidly ascending and descending, treating the sky like an obstacle course.

“Already starting to wake up! Air this frigid always gets the heart going. Bit cold, but if I don’t want to fall asleep half way through helping AJ, then I may as well do something fun instead of sleeping all day.” Smirking, she boosts forward, quickly picking up to her top flying speed, and launches herself into a straight ascent. As she begins to feel gravity take hold on her, she angles down and launches towards the earth below, quickly picking up speed. She flaps her wings to help gravity’s pull on her towards the ground. Faster, faster, she begins to see the cone of air forming around her.

Something feels strange about this though. She starts to slow down, almost instinctively, a good 1200 meters above the ground. She had plenty of distance to cover, so why’d she stop here?

“Usually I can pick up speed until I hit the tree line, then I change direction…why am I stopping all the way up here?” She raises an eyebrow, thinking about this new sensation now charging through her mind, that sharp fall in her stomach before she began to slow down.

“Did I get scared? I’ve done this plenty of times, why am I getting so scared about it?” She looks down towards the earth below, nothing but a flat green plain in sight, thin shadows drawn by the puffy clouds above it.

“You’ve gotta be kidding…must’ve been a fluke. Ground looked closer than it was, or something?” Rainbow asks herself before shooting back into the air. She keeps rising past her previous start point, before stopping again, reaching the limit of her breathing capacity.

“Air’s getting too thin…can’t go much higher. Now or never!” She says to the skies as he blasts downwards, a powerful flap taking hold before gravity. Now she accelerates even faster towards the ground. 2500 meters, 2200 meters, 1700 meters, 1200 meters. She flies past her old stopping point, every creeping tentacle of this new sensation gripping at her mind, trying to stop her. 200 meters.

The ground suddenly flies straight at her, shocking her out of her descent, causing her to madly try and slow down. She stops, her pupils growing smaller from pure shock. “D…did…that just happen?” She blinks a few times, taking a few deep breaths to try and calm herself down.

A good 150 meters separates her from the ground, a fall from this height could seriously injure even her. Plenty of room to speed up and change course…

“Something’s wrong with me…” Rainbow thinks as she rubs a hoof on her face, closing her eyes, trying to sort her mind out. The scare certainly woke her up better than any morning exercise, so that’s a plus, if any. She starts heading towards town, going noticeably slower than normal.

Walking through the streets of Ponyville, a sense of unease can’t be pulled away from Rainbow’s thoughts. She wobbles slightly, still feeling drowsy, the adrenaline of her scare now gone. “Maybe I should’ve slept longer…” She thinks to herself. Some ponies turn to her with confused looks on their faces, seeing the Pegasus they’re so used to seeing rocketing through the skies now walking amongst them.

“And now everypony’s staring at me…great. Was hoping I could get through today without any strange looks.” She blinks hard, trying to get the sleepiness out of her eyes. She’d just gotten a sandwich from a nearby shop, hoping the food would put some energy back into her, but it just didn’t seem to work. None of her friends had shown up either, which seemed especially strange.

“Bet Pinkie could get my blood flowing better than anypony. Usually she finds me though…well, I’ve got a job to do anyway. Now…guess I should check which way I’m going.” Rainbow thinks to herself as she leaps into the air, launching back into the sky. She ascends high above the town, looking around for the orchard. She begins to head towards it before noticing something else, or rather, hearing something else. It sounds far away, but seems to be catching up at a very high speed.

“…gaaaaAAAANGGGWAAAAAYYYYYYY!!!!!!!!!!!” A male voice screams at her as she spins around, seeing a black…comet-like thing heading straight for her. She throws herself out of the way, the black object slashing through the air she used to be in.

“SOORrrrryyyyy…!!!” The voice cries out again, disappearing into the distance.

“What the HECK was that?!” Rainbow tilts her head, eyes wide with both surprise and shock, as the flame heads straight for the farm. “Oh no, that thing’s headed straight for the orchard!” She thinks as she explodes forward, quickly picking up speed.

Just before the boundaries of the orchard, the flame seems to immediately die, revealing a silver-haired hedgehog. He’s dressed in a camo vest, black short-sleeved shirt, and cargo pants with heavy boots. He looks around, spinning around in the air, getting a cross look and folding his arms before falling out of the sky. Rainbow charges down towards the ground, catching him before he hits the ground.

He holds his cross look, staring straight ahead, as both him and Rainbow land on the ground. She managed to catch him by flying under him and letting him land on her back, but the impact was pretty rough, knocking some of the wind out of her. The hedgehog slips off her back as she falls to her knees, panting.

“Man, you’re heavy…you know that?” She looks over to the new male, his back still turned to her.

“Well, can’t say I was expecting to fall right out of the sky like that…” He says, turning his head slightly. “Thanks.”

“Yeah, yeah…just watch yourself next time. I’m only one pony, can’t be around to save...every…um…” She squints her eyes, looking at the hedgehog, taking in his profile. “Wait…what DID I just save from that fall?”

He turns around fully to face her, having the same confused look. “Whadya mean ‘what did you just save from that fall?’ Y’saved me, kid! Well, can’t say saved…more like ‘convenienced’. Could’ve survived that fall easy.” He says with a sniff, rubbing his nose with a smile. “Now then…where am I?” He asks himself, turning back around, taking in the scenery.

Both him and Rainbow are in the middle of a track between trees, a single road heading through the forest towards AJ’s farm. He rubs the back of his neck.

“Hey um…do you know which way it is to Canterlot?” He asks, smiling with a slightly embarrassed look on his face. “I was headed over that way on a um…errand. Kinda got lost.”

“Canterlot? Why’re you heading over there?” Rainbow asks, getting to her feet, still staring at the hedgehog with a slightly suspicious look.

“It’s ahh…kinda secret, y’see. Just heading there to meet up with some family. My dad’s a stickler for timing, so if you could just help a guy out…eh?” He crouches down to sit level with Rainbow’s eyes, eyebrows raised with a smile. “Whadya say?”

Rainbow backs away a bit. “I dunno. You seem weird…and that’s in more than one way.” She looks him over, causing him to follow her gaze along his body.

“Weird? Hey, lady, just cause you look different from me, doesn’t mean I get to call you ‘weird’. Now are you gonna help me or not? I’m short on time…here…” He lowers his brow, blinking a few times, before cocking his head to the side. “Wait a sec…don’t…don’t I know you…?” He says, squinting his eyes and rubbing his chin, looking over Rainbow’s figure.

“Hey, watch where you’re looking, bud! And how could you know me? We’ve never met!” Rainbow backs off, moving around to face him. “And what exactly ARE you? I’ve seen different looking ponies, but I’ve never seen anypony that looks like YOU.”

“Well aren’t you rude?” The hedgehog says with a grimace, his eyes half-closed. He stands up straight, pulling a pair of aviator sunglasses out of his front pocket.

“Well, if you must know. I’m Sehn, a Hemoran. Guy from outta country, if you really wanna get into that. And you, little miss Equestrian…your name is right on the tip of my tongue, I know it is!” He scratches his chin, looking down at Rainbow.

“Listen to me when I said I’ve NEVER MET YOU. Now, I’m sorry, but you’re starting to creep me out, and I’ve got a job to do for a friend. So if you’ll excuse me…” She starts to walk off, before Sehn seems to appear right in front of her in a blur, in a crouching position.

“No…I definitely know you. Blue coat, rainbow mane…bad attitude…Pegasus…starts with an Rrrrr…c’mon, think.” He shuts his eyes in deep thought, gloved hand on his chin.

“R…Ra…Rai…Rainnnbow…Rainbow. D…d..d…da…das, dash, yeah. Rainbow Dash, that’s your name!” He snaps his fingers, smiling, seemingly proud he remembered her.

“Wait, how’d you guess my name?!” Rainbow seems to hold the opposite reaction, definitely freaked out by this discovery.

“Wow. You really don’t remember me? I’m hurt, Miss Dash. Honest. Then again, what I came here for would probably be better off forgotten…listen, that job you had to do for your friend, mind calling it off? You and I gotta go somewhere.”

“As if I’d go anywhere with YOU. Just because you know my name doesn’t mean we’ve been anything close to friends.” She stomps off around him, shooting an angry look behind her before looking forward with a ‘hmph’.

Sehn sighs, rolling his eyes, before hopping backwards, throwing himself a good 10 meters in front of Dash. He skids to a halt, blocking her path.

“Alright lady. I’ll drag you there if I have to. This is important to us both, alright? Just trust me on it.” He stretches out his arms, creating a road block with his body. Rainbow just stares at him, rolling her eyes, before launching up into the air and flying over him.

“Oh come on!” Sehn shouts as he starts chasing Rainbow, his sprint keeping up easily with her flight. They lock eyes, both growing angered by each other’s persistence, and pick up speed down the path. Before long they’re racing down the forest path in a blur, changing directions through the forest, Rainbow trying to lose her pursuer while Sehn tries to keep her in sight. Sehn dashes up a tree, throwing himself into the air several feet above the tree line, before kicking off the peak of a tree towards his target, jumping across the orchard.

“Just listen to me for a second, aright?! This is important, I’m serious!” Sehn shouts over the racing wind past his face, trying to keep up with the Pegasus.

“I’m done listening to you, weirdo! Just leave me alone!” She shouts back before flying up into the air, straight through a low-hanging cloud, putting a good 30-meter diameter hole in it.

“Bloody hell…” Sehn grumbles, closing his eyes. ‘Loki, I need our wings. Seems Dash has taken off above the cloud cover.’

‘Got it. Any particular memory you want me to dig up?’ The familiar dragon’s voice calls back.

‘Nah, just channel the hate. I’ve got enough already dug up.’ Sehn thinks as he snaps his eyes open, taking on Loki’s eye color and pupil shape, before the two flaming wings grow on his back.

“Alright, Dash, you’ve always been faster than me…but that was two years ago. Let’s see you keep up with THIS.” He shouts into the sky before blasting off a tree top, the wind generated from the single beat of his wings causing the trees to whine and quake in the typhoon. He quickly ascends into the hole his target created, ripping the cloud to pieces.

He holds in the air on a platform of black flame, looking around. He closes his eyes, trying to track her.

‘…Ahhh, this isn’t working…I can’t force enough hate in order to create a good trace. Loki, can you see her anywhere?’ Sehn thinks, pivoting his head, trying to see that familiar black tendril extending from his soul.

‘I’m trying too, but she’s an evasive girl. You’d think it’d be easy with our combined senses.’ Loki replies.

‘Considering we’re tuned to only one side of emotion, I’d go against that thought, honestly. Keep looking, I’ll fly around.’ Sehn sighs, opening his eyes. “Now…if I were a Pegasus trying to get away from a Hemoran…where would I go?” He says, folding his arms and stroking his chin.

“C’mon Sehn, think…where would she go if she were being chased? Further up? Or would she go below the cloud line into the orchard?” He rubs his forehead, talking to himself. “She said something about having a friend to help…someone named ‘AJ’? That could be any combination of names! Arrrgh!” He growls, moving his hands back and forth over his hair.

“Heh…guess I gave him the slip.” Dash smiles to herself, hiding in the branches of an apple tree, looking up at the shredded cloud her pursuer crashed through. “Still…that’s a lot of force in that jump. And did I see wings on his back?” She squints her eyes, her smile becoming a frown.

“I don’t know any kind of pony that can fly besides the Pegasi, yet he doesn’t seem to belong anywhere in Equestria…where’s he from? He said he’s a ‘Hemoran’…Hemoron, more like.” She chuckles at her little joke, as she jumps down from the tree and starts walking away, keeping under the shadow of the trees. “No way he can find me down here…hmm. Nah, if I start mocking him now, he’ll just follow my voice…still, so tempting!” She giggles, staring up at the silver hedgehog. The clouds have moved away from under him, revealing two leathery wings on his back, massive and armored with purple scales. He stands on two small black planks of fire under his feet, and he looks around.

“Wait…why are his eyes closed? Is he trying to find me using sound?” She covers her mouth, keeping quiet. ‘Maybe that is what he’s been trying to do…’ she thinks to herself, creeping under the trees towards the farm.

‘If I can just get away from him, and get over to the barn, I can hide out there…warn AJ. She’ll get the word out.’ Thoughts roll through her head, thoughts of something terrible waiting for her if she’s found by the one who called himself Sehn. Dash picks up into a run through the orchard, keeping under the cover of the trees, hoping she can make it to the house before he does.

“This still isn’t working. Why can’t I hate her?” Sehn asks himself, as if expecting the answer to form right in front of him.

‘You do like her, don’t you?’ Loki responds, slight clattering sounds following the echo.

“I guess I do. She’s probably the one Equestrian I can respect, even if she did some terrible things in the past. But respect has nothing to do with it…I use hate for others in order to help them, to find them in case they get in trouble.” Sehn rubs the back of his neck, turning around, the flames under his feet moving with them. He starts walking across the sky, his dragon wings folded up behind him.

‘Well, you have to think that the connections we made have always been two-way. We make the person we’re trying to help angry with us, and that starts the tether. Then, we just hate them back, and that completes it, basically creating a rope between us and them. She’s more scared of you than anything, Sehn.’

“That’s…rather explanatory of you, Loki. You been reading in my head?”

‘I pick things up. Even pretty girls like me have to learn some things about the world.’

“Well…yeah. Everyone’s gotta learn what they can about the world, about themselves. Still, this educated sound to you, it’s weird. Out of your character if you ask me.”

‘What, I’m not allowed to be smart? You have so many books in here though, I get bored sometimes.’

“Never meant that, and…wait, books? I have books in there?” Sehn raises his eyebrows, looking up towards his forehead.

‘Yeah, you do. Lots of books, mostly about military guidelines, rules and fighting techniques and stances. You read too much about the physical arts, nothing about increasing your…ahem…’ The sound of pages flipping in a book can be heard, ‘Meennnntaaaallll faacultiiiiieees…yeah. Mental faculties!’

Sehn lowers his eyes, “You just learned that, didn’t you.”

‘I’m young! Don’t speak to me like I’m some newborn!’

“You practically are though, even though you’re still a hundred years older than me.”

‘I’m not a baby anymore.’

“Arguable.”

‘Shut up and keep looking, spiky-head.’

“Fine, fine…” Sehn looks down, having walked for quite a while, and sees a large farm below him. He raises an eyebrow, seeing a small blue streak heading towards the front of the large house in the center of the farm land. “Guess I didn’t have to look for long. Lucky me. Still…hmm, she did mention helping her friend, maybe her friend lives here?”

‘Worth a shot. Going to head down looking like you are, or are you going to take a more…covert look?’

“What do you mean? My use of this fire is kinda limited, even with you helping me out. Is physical change really all that easy?”

‘Wellll…no, not really…we’d both have to concentrate pretty hard, but once the disguise is on, it just takes a small memory in the back of the mind to maintain it.’

“Well? Concentrate on what is the question here, I think. And I think with my body and hair color, this disguise is going to look really out-of-place.”

‘You could always base the design on my colors.’

“And make myself look like a deep purple target? I think I’ll chance it with the ghost look.” Sehn sighs, “Sometimes looking this good is almost a bad thing…” He smirks, before the flames below his feet disappear, allowing him to freefall into the orchard. Branches break under him, and he lands with a thud on the ground below, and a thin circle of flame is cut into the ground around him.

“Well, no one’s around…let’s get this started.” Sehn says, taking a seat and putting his hands together. A slap is heard in his head, as Loki takes the same pose in her own little mental pocket in Sehn’s mindspace.

‘Alright…focus on yourself, and the form you want to take. Doesn’t have to be really defined, just make it as clear as you can in your head.’

“I don’t need a lecture, Loki. I asked if it was going to be easy, not if I needed a refresher course on one of the first things you learn in the Dragons.”

‘Alright, you walk me through it then, since I actually do need a refresher.’

“Right. Focus on the form you want to take…make it as dark as possible on the white walls of the Void in your mind…allow your soul to attach to the image…then, form the flames around your body, and forge yourself into the form you imagine. Simple…just the visualization has to be exact, even if it isn’t defined.”

‘Well, you have me here!’ Loki cheerfully replies, ‘So buck up and let’s get this done. Give it too much time and the whole process falls apart, right?’

“Right, right, or someone comes along and breaks my concentration…and considering I’m actually changing my body type, not clothing or anything, this much flame would…well, we’re both aware of what would happen.”

Sehn closes his eyes, as the flames around him intensify, reaching out to his arms and legs. A shadow watches him from the edge of the small clearing Sehn made during his descent.

“Darkness of the mind, void of the flame.
Absorb this form and grant it change.
Fool my enemies and confuse my friends.
A cloak to disguise all.”

Sehn quietly chants to himself as the flames begin to tie themselves like rope around his arms, legs, neck and torso.

“Going under…!” Sehn mutters to himself as the black ropes tied around his body begin to drag him into the circle of flame under him. He grits his teeth as the flames eat away at his flesh and bone, the pain like sitting within an inferno.

“Gah…forgot how much this hurts!” He grunts to himself as he falls up to his neck into the circle. Soon his face up to his eyes is gone, and a few moments later, nothing remains of him, simply the blazing circle in the center of the clearing. The shadow simply sits there, watching, nothing but confusion on his face. Gears turn in his head, grinding, trying to process what just happened.

A male he’s never seen before, never even seen his species before, just sank into a circle of burning…something. He’s not coming back up, and he looked like, during his last moments, he was letting out a scream of pain.

The half-closed eyes of the shadow blink slowly, the gears not churning hard enough to call this anything but a weird hallucination. “Been workin’ too hard…” the shadow says to himself before trudging off back to the farm and his family.

Several minutes pass. The circle of fire seems to have expanded to cover most of the clearing, the flames now liquid ooze, boiling. Small puffs of steam come up from the bursting thick bubbles, like tar over a geyser. The center of the circle begins to bulge, folding on itself, before some rips through the surface.

The leg comes out and slams down onto the surface of the flames, dragging out the rest of its body. Every part that emerges is covered in the tar-like liquid fire, before a head emerges, sputtering. It lets out a mighty roar of agony, as if it had just emerged from the torturous depths of Hell itself.

“AAAAARRRRRRRRRRRGH!!!!! Bloody HELL that HURTS!” The voice is a tone higher than the being that entered the circle. It drags the rest of the body connected to its leg out of the circle, standing on the circle.

The shape is that of an Equestrian, a bit bigger than average. As the tar begins to return to its flaming state, and burn away, it reveals more of the body. The Equestrian has a gray, shiny coat with a silver mane and tail. The silver seems to shine in the sunlight coming down through the trees. The eyes are a deep brown.

“Oyyy…no matter how many times I’m gonna end up doing that, I doubt I’ll get…used to it…” The pony squints his eyes, looking over himself.

“Well look at that…it worked.” He says to himself, rather impressed. ‘Hey, Loki! It worked!’ He calls out in his mind.

No answer.

“…Huh?” He lowers his brow, looking around him. The voice in his head is usually very responsive in emotional situations, especially considering how awake she was before he’d gone into the circle. He calls out in his mind again.

‘Loki! I know you’re in here, this isn’t funny! Answer me!’

Still no answer.

He grits his teeth, stomping the ground. The hoof splatters into the tar, spreading it onto his legs and belly. “Where the heck is she? That change shouldn’t’ve done anything to her…” The words are a slight slur, as he closes his eyes and focuses on his memories. His vision begins to turn purple, the environment showing itself as black and white silhouettes in the purple background.

He lowers his vision to his chest, where a black tendril has begun to emerge. It searches around, as if having a mind of its own, before plunging into the tar pit below its host.

“How’d she get down there?” The pony wonders to himself, opening his eyes, the tendril disappearing from sight. He waits for a moment, before a claw bursts out of the tar in front of him. The claw quickly extends into an arm, which slaps down onto the circle and begins dragging out the rest of the body. The small dragon emerges from the flames, slouched over, coughing.

“Aww, my poor lungs…being down there is like suffocating.” She says to herself, looking up at the Equestrian before her. She opens her eyes wide in shock, and begins looking around, backing away.

“Oh no…Sehn, where are you?” She says, staring up at the pony in fear.

“Uhh…Loki. The disguise isn’t THAT good, is it?” Sehn tilts his head, shifting his weight onto his left foreleg.

“Wait, YOU’RE Sehn?” Loki raises her brow, surprised. “I knew the spell would work…but I never figured it would work THIS well. It’s like you were born and raised as one of them!” She says gleefully, quickly returning to her usual bubbly self, before jumping onto Sehn’s back, taking a seat.

“So, you know why you managed to get out here? I didn’t send you out.” Sehn looks behind himself to the dragon.

“Not sure. Maybe there isn’t enough room in your head for me anymore, so I got kicked out here during the conversion.” Loki says with a shrug, just as confused as Sehn.

“You’re going to have to get back in my head, then. Not many Equestrians have a dragon riding them…” Sehn lowers his eyelids.

“Aww, c’mon though! I’ve never ridden an Equestrian before! Giddy up!” She says with a big smile.

“You’re a hundred years too young to be riding around on me, kid. Off y’get.”

“Party pooper!” Loki says with a pout as she jumps off. She turns around, looking over Sehn’s new body. “I’m serious though…I never would’ve thought the spell would work like this. Not a single feature of your old body is left, besides your colors. The silver mane and grey coat make you look like an old geezer though.” Loki says, stroking her chin, as if appraising a work of art.

“Stop staring at me like that, and if you think about it, I am pretty old. Youthful as a twenty-year-old though, and I plan to keep it that way.” He says with a smirk, wiping his mane back, it shining in the light.

“Careful with that hair, you’ll blind someone.” Loki shields her eyes.

“Anyway, back to it, eh? We’ve messed around out here long enough, and Dash is likely finishing up at her friend’s. Hopefully she doesn’t think I’m still out here…” Sehn crouches down, closing his eyes. After a few seconds, his face curls into a grimace, and he opens his eyes.

“Shoot…can’t use Dragonflight. Can you try getting back in here?” Sehn taps his head, looking at Loki.

“I could try, but I’m not guaranteeing anything. Open the door up.” Loki walks up in front of Sehn as he closes his eyes, a small black flame appearing at the base of his neck. A tendril extends from it, expanding into a small hole in space.

“…That…is really small.” Loki stares into the hole, it barely being big enough to fit her arm. “There’s no way I’m going to jam myself in there, not even with a plunger.”

Sehn opens his eyes, the door disappearing, and sighs. He stomps the ground twice, the tar grabbing onto his leg and climbing onto his body, being absorbed back into his soul.

“Guess we’re winging it then. Just have to think of how to approach this.” Sehn says, stroking his chin, as Loki jumps onto his back again.

“You don’t really talk to others much, do you? The only conversations you really have are with me, your brother, and the General whenever he calls you up to the war room.” Loki grabs onto Sehn’s neck, pulling herself up to the top of his spine.

“True. Never had to use this spell for any kind of spy work where conversation was needed. Should I just head up to the farm house, ask for Dash, say I’m from some organization wanting to recruit her? Do I just wait out here, since she’s sure to come over this way? If I waited though, it’d make this disguise a waste…and I don’t think I’m going to be able to go back to normal anytime soon anyway.” Sehn sighs, “Better make use of it then…here goes nothing.” He starts walking out of the orchard, moving slowly to get used to having to use all four legs, occasionally stumbling.

After about ten minutes of walking, Sehn comes up to the treeline overlooking the farm. He looks over the landscape, the first thing coming into his sight being a massive, red barn. “Well doesn’t that stick out like a sore thumb…” Sehn mumbles to himself as he continues looking over the land. Several ponies are running around, doing chores and chatting with each other.

“No Pegasus…is she somewhere in the orchard?” Sehn takes a seat behind a nearby apple tree, watching everyone go about their daily business. “I really don’t want to just walk up there and say ‘Hey, I’m looking for this girl, Rainbow Dash, you know where she is?’…massive chance I’ve already been talked about.” He mumbles, tapping his chin, trying to think of a good plan of attack.

“Alright…I’ve got about 300 yards of absolutely unknown territory, and I have to assume my prey has the entire landscape figured out like the back of her hoof. Not only that, but there’s about ten ponies wandering around, all who likely know what I look like. Given how I-“

“Hey, whatcha doin’?”

Sehn leaps a good three feet into the air, spinning around to face whoever it was that suddenly popped up behind him. “GAH!”

“Ah!” The small pony jumps back.

“Don’t scare a guy like that! You’ll give someone a heart attack!” Sehn shouts but keeps his voice down, putting a leg to his chest to check his heart hadn’t just exploded.

“Ah’m sorry. Ya looked lonely, so I thought I’d come over and talk to ya.” The small pony walks up to Sehn, the light showing off a bright red ribbon on her mane, a bit bigger than her head.

Sehn just kind of stares, and thinks ‘Wow, so this is what one of their kids looks like?’, and he crouches down to look her level in the face.

“So…you see a colt sittin’ in your orchard, staring at the farm, and you introduce yourself by scaring him? Very kind of ya.”

“Ah said ah was sorry! Ah didn’t think ya’d get scared that easily!”

“It’s fine. The scare’s gone.” Sehn gestures a sweeping motion with his leg. “So what’s your name, kid?”

“Yer new around ‘ere?”

“Yeah, you could say that. Definitely new to this town.” Sehn nods, Loki hiding behind his neck, claw on her chest, her heart still racing.

“Too bad ya didn’t run into Pinkie Pie first, she’d give you a real welcome.” The filly smiles.

Sehn doesn’t return it, instead cocking his head to the side, squinting his eyes with a small frown growing on his face. “Pinkie Pie, you say?”

“Yeah. Somethin’ wrong?”

“…Nah, thinking of someone else, probably…” Sehn clears his throat, “So yeah, who’re you?”

“Name’s Applebloom! What’s yers?” She replies, leaning in.

“Oh uh…my name? My name is…uh…” Sehn stutters, looking around, trying to think of a name that’d help him blend in.

“S…Si-Silver Rush.” Sehn looks at her, raising his eyebrows, praying the name didn’t come out as obviously bad as he thought.

“Oooo, cool! Matches yer mane!” Applebloom says cheerfully.

‘WOW, I thought that came out terribly…thank goodness she’s still a kid.’ Sehn thinks to himself, letting out a light sigh of relief.

“So what are ya doin’ out here, Mistah Rush? Seems weird that yer staring at mah sister’s farm, mumblin’ to yerself.” Applebloom raises a brow, staring at Sehn.

“Oh, you know…I was just wandering around, got bored, figured I’d stand here, see how a farm worked…I come from a big city off in the West, so I never really got to see how all the produce was made and sent out.” Sehn nods, happy with his lie.

“No kiddin’? Well why didn’t ya just come up to us and talk? We’d show ya the ropes!”

“No! No, I wouldn’t think of disturbing this work! Livelihood of the town rests on what you pick from here, right? The farm’s massive!”

“Well, Ah guess we do help the town out a lot with all this. Still, ya shouldn’t just sit there and stare out at us! It’s kinda weird, y’know?” She tilts her head, staring at him.

“Yeah, that’s true, I just don’t really like ta-ow!” Sehn moves a hoof up to the side of his neck, feeling a pinch.

“Somethin’ wrong?” Bloom asks, looking at where Sehn was grabbing his neck, a slight show of worry on her face.

“Nah, definitely fine. Nn…” Sehn rubs the area where Loki grabbed him just a bit too hard, and he feels a bit of blood. “Ah, great, now I’m bleeding…”

“Bleedin’?!” Bloom shouts, stepping back.

“Wh-what? It’s nothing serious, just a bit of a wound, that’s all! It’ll heal by itself, no need to start screaming.” Sehn puts pressure on the small scratch, a small trail of blood having seeped down to his shoulder before stopping.

“Ah think that’s a bit more than just a small wound!” Bloom starts walking around to Sehn’s side, trying to get a better look at the wound. Loki jumps off Sehn’s back and moves around to his other side, crouching beside him to stay out of sight. She winces as the feeling of Sehn’s growing hate creeps into her mind.

“Sorry…guess I twitched…” Loki whispers. Sehn lowers his leg, letting Bloom get a good look at the scar. The wound isn’t very deep, but is definitely bleeding pretty badly.

“Ya, that isn’t any small wound I ever saw. C’mon, we’ll take ya to Applejack, she’ll getcha fixed up.” Bloom tugs on Sehn’s leg, trying to get him to move.

“Tch, c’mon kid, I said I’ll be fine! Just lemme relax here for a bit, the scratch will scab over on its own!” Sehn grunts, finally getting to his feet from the constant tugs on his leg.

“It’ll just take a second! C’mon now!” Bloom moves around to Sehn’s back, Loki running off into the trees in front of him, taking cover behind a large trunk. He starts walking forward, getting shoved.

“Ah, jeeze…I’m not good with…ah, ponies, y’know?” Sehn walks out of the tree line, looking back at the filly shoving him along. “I mean look! It’s already started healing!” He points to the dried wound.

“Ah said it wasn’t any small wound! Now come awn, quicker we get you taken care of, quicker you can get back to studyin’. Ya wanted to know how farms worked, right?” Bloom keeps shoving him along with her shoulder, staring up at his chin with a contorted look of effort on her face.

“Well yeah, but I prefer studying from the sidelines, written texts and that…quit shoving, I’m gonna trip!”

“Then mah sister’s the best pony t’go to when it comes to runnin’ a farm. Just trust me, everypony here’s a good one!”

“Alright, alright! Now seriously, quit shoving, or I’m gonna trip and give myself another ‘small wound’.” Sehn grimaces as the filly quits shoving at his back leg, and he takes a seat at the gate to the barn. “Sheesh…looking at it from here…this place really IS big. What’re you and your sister living in a giant house like this for? All of it storage?”

“Whadya mean just us? We’ve got tons of brothers and sisters!” Bloom smiles.

“Oooof course you do.” Sehn looks off to the right, a small smirk growing on his face.

“Maybe this really isn’t the best thing for me. I don’t speak well with others, I’m trying my best with just you. What’s going to happen if a crowd starts to gather?” Sehn looks down at his

“Then ya buck up and put some confidence in ya. Not gonna get anywhere by being all ‘lone wolf’. Besides, ya’ve talked pretty well with me, haven’t’cha?” Bloom smirks, looking up at the towering figure beside her.

“Yeah well…guess that just means I’m good with kids, eh?” Sehn looks back down at her, before shifting his gaze to the sound of footsteps in front of him. ‘Oh crap…’ is all that goes through his head.

“Well now, who might this be?” Says the approaching pony, a deep orange coat with blond hair and tail, and a ten gallon hat on her head.

“This is Silver Rush, he’s new around here!” Bloom says a big smile.

“Y’don’t say. Well, howdy, Mistah Rush. Name’s Applejack, pleasure to meet’cha.”

“Ah, pleasure’s all mine. Ahem…” Sehn dodges her look, staring at the ground in front of him.

“What’s wrong? Can’t talk to a girl?” Applejack grins.

“T-that’s not it! I’m just not very social usually. Normally just stay up in my bar-be-bed. Yeah. Usually just stay cooped up in my bed with a book.” Sehn stutters a bit, still looking around at Applejack’s hooves.

“Uh huh. Y’know, ya remind me of a friend a mine who oughta get out a lot more.” She chuckles.

“No kiddin’.” Sehn replies, finally bringing his gaze up level with Applejack’s eyes.

“So, what brings ya ‘round here, Mistah Rush?”

“He was watching the farm from the orchard! Said he was studyin’ how farms worked!” Bloom immediately blurts out, causing Sehn to look down at her.

“Ah. Applebloom, maybe we should let the colt speak fer himself, eh?” Applejack looks down at her sister, eyes half-closed.

“Right, sorry Applejack.” Bloom pouts. Sehn sighs, rubbing the back of his neck and nicking his wound, causing him to twitch in pain. “Dh…”

“Hm? Somethin’ wrong?” Applejack looks up from her sister to Sehn, spotting the wound. “Where’d ya get that?” She says, walking up closer to inspect it.

“I uh, got it while walking through the orchard! Branch must’ve slashed me as I walked by. It’s nothing serious, see? Scabbed over nicely!” Sehn points to the wound, now a black gash with some red still seeping out.

“No, no it hasn’t actually. Still bleedin’. How long ago did ya get this?” Applejack looks up at Sehn, inches away from his face.

“Um…five, ten minutes ago?” Sehn moves his head back from the mare staring him dead in the face.

“Not a lotta time for the wound t’properly heal. I got some disinfectant and bandages in the barn, wait here.” Applejack turns and walks back down the path towards the barn, a slow canter. “Oy! Rainbow! I need you t’grab somethin’ for me!” She shouts to the barn.

“What?! I’m busy!” A blue Pegasus pops out from behind the barn, flying over top of it. Sehn looks up, smirking slightly. ‘There you are!’ He says to himself.

“Huh? Y’say somethin’, mistah?” Bloom looks up with a raised brow.

“Not a word, kid.” Sehn replies. The smirk stays on his face as he watches the Pegasus fly back into the barn. A few minutes later, she comes back out and flies down to Applejack who’s waiting between two fields, and she takes the supplies then starts walking back. She has a medical kit in her mouth.

She speaks through clenched teeth, “Aright, here y’go.” She puts the kit on the ground.

“Are you sure you should be using all this on a tiny wound like this? Seems like a waste of good gauze.” Sehn says, moving the right edge of his mouth up.

“It’s fine, I restock at the clinic in town. Now move your head so Ah can do this properly.” She shoves a hoof into his face, moving his head to the side as she starts to open the kit.

“Kinda forceful, ain’t she?” Sehn grunts, looking over at Bloom.

“She can be, yeah.” Bloom nods.

“Hey, Ah’m not the pony who ‘erself cut. Ah’m the one tryin’ t’fix it.” Applejack interrupts, a bit of a cross look on her face. “And stop pushin’, Silvah, yer makin’ it difficult.”

“Ah, we’re on a first name basis now?” Sehn smiles.

“Keep dreamin’, mistah. Yer a couple years too old for me.” Applejack smiles back.

“You wound me, miss.” Sehn chuckles, then gets shoved further to the side as the disinfecting ointment is applied. “Woo, feels weird. Mind not pushing so hard?”

“Yer the one pushin’ back that hard. Relax and Ah’ll lay off.” Applejack squeezes the disinfectant out of the tube in her mouth, wiping the tip gently on the wound. “This is pretty exact work, so stop shakin’ so much.”

Sehn relaxes his neck, and the push gives up some of its force. Applejack leans down and puts the ointment back in the kit before taking out a roll of gauze. Sehn keeps his head leaned back as she begins wrapping up the wound.

“There y’go. Didn’t take much now, did it?” Applejack smiles at her patchwork.

“Yeah, not bad. Bit tight…but I can still breathe. Kind of.” Sehn takes a deep breath, stretching the bandages out to make some room for his windpipe. “So who was that Pegasus? Never saw her around when I came into town.” Sehn says, looking up.

“Oh, her? She’s Rainbow Dash, friend a mine from way back. She’s helpin’ out at the farm t’day. She works hard but she’s a bit too prideful.”

“Don’t I know it…” Sehn says under his breath, looking back down at Applejack. “Thanks. I guess the wound’ll heal up nicely now, and hey, now I can say I’ve been in a fight.” He chuckles.

“Where y’from, Silvah? Never seen you ‘round here.” Applejack takes a seat next to him, the sun starting to set.

“I’m from out West, one of the cities out that way. Been moving East, studying how each of Equestria’s exports work. Once I got to this town here, I heard talk of this farm…though I couldn’t quite catch the name.” Sehn rubs his chin with his foreleg, thinking.

“Sweet Apple Acres.” Bloom speaks up.

“Ah, yeah, that’s it. Though it doesn’t seem like you guys would export from here…the orchard’s big, sure, but it doesn’t seem like it’d be big enough to have left-over stock for sending to other towns.”

“Yeah, true. We’re happy with keepin’ business here though, money’s helpful, but it don’t make the sun shine, now does it?” Applejack smiles.

“Pretty good outlook on things, yeah. So, how much does this farm mean for the town here?” Sehn looks over at Applejack, raising a eyebrow.

“Y’must be new if y’keep callin’ Ponyville ‘the town’. Wasn’t it on a sign when you came in?” Applejack cocks her head, raising an eyebrow.

“Guess I missed it. Wasn’t focusing much until I heard a lot of shouting in the streets.”

“Anyway, yeah, this orchard does mean a lot to Ponyville. Biggest apple export we’ve got, and the bits that come in just help it grow.” Applejack smiles with pride at the farm, the sun setting behind the barn.

Sehn stares up below the sun, watching the shadow extend from the barn towards his group, as a black dot shoots up from the orchard behind the barn and comes racing towards them. It takes a few seconds before the shadow closes the gap and slams into the ground on her hooves, skidding to a halt a couple feet in front of Sehn.

He whistles, “Not bad.”

“Yeah, yeah, I’m great. Anyway, I’m done for the day, AJ. Tell me if you need help again.” Rainbow says.

“Ah’ll be sure to.” Applejack says back, as Rainbow moves her eyes over to the new pony between Applejack and Applebloom. She tilts her head slightly, staring at him. She squints her eyes, as if in deep thought.

After several seconds of intense memory digging, “Nah, nothing’s coming to mind when I look at you. You new around here?” She raises her eyebrows, looking at Sehn.

“Yeah, I am. Came from a city off in the West, crossing the country and studying it’s major exports. Arrived here and heard about Sweet Apple Acres from a pair of ponies at a local shop.” Sehn nods, pretty content with his lie now.

“So Pinkie Pie didn’t find you as you came in?” Rainbow smirks.

“Who?”

“Yeah, she didn’t, obviously. Pinkie’s a friend of mine, real energetic, loves throwing parties for whatever reason she can think of. Pretty sure the entire town would’ve come to your welcome party.” Rainbow giggles, thinking of how it would’ve gone.

“Considering I’m not the most talkative, I doubt I’d make that good a center of attention. Anyway, allow me to introduce myself. My name is Silver Rush.” Sehn says with a bow, the name fitting him like a second skin.

“Nice to meet you, Mister Rush. You’ve already met AJ and Applebloom, I see. I don’t think Ponyville does a lot of exporting though, so what brings you here?”

“I was passing through on my way to the Eastern border. Got interested in the farm so I came by, met these two fine mares.”

“Yeah, I found him standing at the edge of the orchard, watching us work! Said it helped him study if he was left there, but I dragged him out here to meet everypony!” Bloom speaks up, causing Sehn to shiver slightly.

“Wow. That’s…a little weird, actually.” Rainbow says, tilting her head and squinting her eyes.

“Anti-social doesn’t begin to cover how bad I am with ponies, believe me. I prefer just staying secretive and observing, rather than getting up in ponies’ faces and interrupting their lives. Makes things run more smoothly, I figure.” Sehn looks down, scuffing the ground.

“Ah, it’s fine. Yer new, o’course you’re gonna be uneasy meetin’ new ponies, right?” Applejack taps him on the foreleg, smiling. “Just as good ya ran into us instead of Pinkie Pie then, the way you are, the party woulda been kinda borin’, even with Pinkie runnin’ the show.”

“Ooooh yeah, you don’t know the half of it. Anyway, I’m gonna head back into town and grab a bite to eat; I’ll let you get back to the rest of your day. Pleasure meeting you all.” Sehn bows to each one of them before turning down the path and walking back to the orchard.

“Nice guy, think he’ll fit in with wherever he ends up.” Applejack says with a nod, before patting Bloom on the back and them both heading back to the barn. Rainbow flies over to Sehn and joins him as he walks back to the orchard.

“Need a show around town?” She asks.

“I can find my way, don’t worry about me. There’s enough light left that I can take everything in before heading back out in the morning.” Sehn replies, looking at her. ‘Who am I kidding? My objective is right here! I should just tell her about the mission and take her back with me, forcefully if I need to. So why isn’t that option clicking in my head right now?’ Sehn thinks to himself, before he spots a shadow moving through the trees. It steps on a branch, snapping it, and catching Rainbow’s attention.

“Who’s there?” She says, walking up in front of Sehn, putting herself between him and the shadow. It looks back at the duo, before leaping out of the treeline and sprinting up to Sehn, grabbing him by the neck and hugging him. He goes wide-eyed, staring at the small dragon now glomping on his neck, constricting his breathing. He pats it a couple times on the back before pulling it off with both his hooves, and stares it dead in the eyes.

“Don’t say my name! It’s Silver Rush now! Ok?!” He whispers to the dragon, making sure Rainbow can’t here.

“Ok, ok!” Loki replies in the same quiet volume, sending glances to the Pegasus staring at them both. She raises her voice, “Silver Rush! I missed you!” She shouts into his face, proceeding to grab him by the neck and hug him again, though less tightly so she doesn’t strangle him.

“Yeah, you too.” Sehn replies, worried about this extra wrench that’s been thrown into his plans.

“Is…is that a dragon?” Rainbow asks, tilting her head, staring at the small purple figure.

“Yeah, I am! My name’s Lokiria, but you can call me Loki!” She says cheerfully, swinging around Sehn’s neck and landing on his back, taking a cross-legged seat. “What’s your name?”

“Uh, Rainbow Dash.” She stutters a bit, staring at the dragon.

“What?” Loki asks, raising her eyebrows.

“Oh uh, nothing. Just kind of rare seeing dragons around, and none of the ones I’ve seen were as small as this one. Reminds me of Spike, Twilight’s assistant.” Rainbow squints her eyes as she replies, before looking back up at Sehn.

“Oh! There’s another dragon here?! Oh, we have to go see him! Can we, Se-s-Silver?!” Loki sputters, almost revealing Sehn’s identity. He looks back at her, a bit freaked out.

“Ah, I…I guess. Miss Dash, would this ‘Twilight’ mind visitors at all?”

“She should be fine with it, but I don’t know if she’d be cool with a new guy just walking into her library.”

“I wouldn’t want to crash into her…wait, she lives in a library?” Sehn asks, kind of surprised.

“Yeah. Bedroom, kitchen, everything’s there. It’s just full of books too. Ponies sometimes go there and take them out, but it’s usually impossible to find what you want in there with how much frantic studying Twilight does.” Rainbow smirks, looking down the path through the orchard in front of them. “C’mon, sun’s coming down, we’d better get going.”

“By all means, lead on, Miss Dash.” Sehn replies as they both start running down the path, Loki holding onto the back of Sehn’s neck to make sure she isn’t knocked off. Dash takes to flying and speeds off, and Sehn keeps pace with her.

“You’re pretty quick! I thought nopony could keep up with my flying besides Pinkie! How about a race?!” Rainbow shouts back, wind ripping by between them.

“Oh, you’re on! First one to the gates wins!” Sehn shouts back, and bursts off into a full sprint. “Huh, maybe this form isn’t so bad after all…I’ve got four limbs with my leg strength now instead of two…hehehe, shouldn’t be too hard to beat her this time.” He says to himself, a big smile growing on his face as he runs like never before down the path. Rainbow immediately comes up beside him, then races off, Sehn watching her as he tries to keep up.

“She always was faster…alright, how about this…?” Sehn mumbles to himself, before turning his head. “Loki!”

“Yeah?” Loki shouts back, the wind flying past them. “What’s up?!”

“I need you to channel the flames! Can you do that without being in my head?!”

“I…should be able to! Why, what do you need?!”

“Let me worry about that, just be the channel for now!” Sehn shouts as he closes his eyes, letting his body automatically run forward. A black line begins to grow on the outside of his legs, expanding into a black fire, and it reaches down to his hoof, covering the bottom of it with fire. This repeats for all four of his legs, and now each of his strides is accompanied by a small bang, as explosions from the fire help push him along. He quickly catches up and passes Rainbow.

“Woah!” Is all he can hear her say as he flies past, the wind now an all-consuming tunnel of noise, Ponyville coming into view. “Ohoho, baby, this race is ALL mine!” He smiles to himself, his irises turning purple, the same as Loki’s. “Just gotta keep this speed and-“ Sehn is cut off by the sound of a jet screaming past him, and he looks up to catch a swift blue silhouette explode past him.

“Where the hell did she get all that speed?!” Sehn shouts to himself, shocked. In one final stride, he blasts himself off the hill towards the gate, now running along the air on platforms of black. The gate comes into view, Rainbow sitting below it and looking back at, eyes wide.

“Oh shoot, right, I don’t have wings…” Sehn says to himself, immediately killing the fire below him and dropping to the ground. “And I misjudged the heeeiiiIIIIIGGGHHHHT!!!!” He slowly begins shouting louder as he falls faster, before faceplanting onto the ground, fourty feet below him.

Rainbow sprints over to him, Sehn’s face buried in the dirt, not moving. “Silver! You alright?!” Rainbow shouts at Sehn, shoving him on the shoulder. It takes a bit, but he starts moving, a low groan coming from the ground. He puts his legs next to his head, and shoves a couple times before his head pops out of the ground. He puts a hoof to his nose, blood coming out.

“Ow…ohhh, that hurts a lot…” Loki says, coming out from behind his neck, holding her own nose. “You’ve got a really hard spine, Silver…”

“The ground’s pretty hard, too.” Sehn replies, both of them rubbing their noses with synced action. Sehn blinks slowly, staring past the gate. ‘She beat me again…’ Sehn thinks as he sighs.

“Hey, don’t be so down! Not many ponies can keep up with me like that! Though I never lose any race, you made a good effort!” Rainbow says with a smile, nudging Sehn’s shoulder.

“Yeah, good words. I’ll race you again sometime, Miss Dash, and I won’t lose when I do.” Sehn says with a chuckle, holding his nose to stop the bleeding.

“You alright?” Rainbow looks at the blood dripping out of his nose.

“Must’ve broken it when I landed…ahh, how do you fix this?” Sehn takes his hand off his nose, blood streaming out. “Yep, that’s pretty messed up!” He covers it again, the bottom of his hoof red with it all.

“We’ll get you to the clinic, get you fixed up. You can walk, right?” Rainbow asks, a slight sigh coming out.

“Yeah, I’ll be fine. Clinic first or your friend’s?”

“Definitely clinic. I don’t think she’d do too well seeing all that blood on your face.” Rainbow leads the way into the town, the streets now pretty empty, the sun fully down. Sehn looks up at the night sky, the moon just starting to rise. He stops and takes a seat, hoof still up against his nose.

“Something else break in you, Silver?” Rainbow asks, causing Sehn to look down.

“Nah…just I’ve never seen the moon in such a clear sky before. Must be nice living out here, where things are just ‘take it day by day’, instead of being worried about deadlines and projects…” Sehn says, looking back up at the sky.

“Yeah, we do have it pretty good around here. But it does tend to get boring. Wish it were, lately…” Rainbow looks down, a look of fear entering her eyes. Sehn looks down, lowering his brow.

“You wish it were? Things seemed pretty quiet when I got here.” Sehn states, tilting his head slightly, wincing in pain when his hoof twitches against his nose.

“Well…nah, I shouldn’t be worrying you about it. We’ve gotta get you fixed up anyway. Clinic’s just down the road here, off to the right.” Rainbow turns and leads on, Sehn slowly following, having to prop himself up on one foreleg. He looks around at all the buildings, all of them looking far more rustic than back home. “Wonder if I’ll be able to live in a place like this when I…mm…nah. People like me don’t ‘retire’…” He says to himself, Loki looking rather solemn overhearing his conversation with himself.

“You’ll get out sometime, Silver. We’ve been at it for a while though, haven’t we?” She asks, looking kind of sad.

“Sometimes I wonder if we’ve been at it for too long. It’s difficult work, this…and now we’re here, just another job to do. We get breaks, of course, but I never get to spend them outside-“

“Something wrong?” Rainbow pops up in front of Sehn’s face, causing him to jump back a bit.

“Gah-jeeze! Don’t scare a colt like that! You’ll give em a heart attack!” Sehn nearly shouts at Rainbow, moving the hoof covering his nose down to his chest, feeling if his heart just exploded.

“Déjà vu…” Loki mumbles, looking at Rainbow.

“Sorry, sorry. Still, something wrong?” Rainbow says with a smirk, a curious look on her face.

“Well…” Sehn sighs, sitting down on the dirt road, “I dunno…my job has me running all over the city, and I’ve been doing it for a long time, never getting outside unless I’m on vacation. All this just…well, makes me wanna retire, move here. Everyone so far has been very kind, innocent, caring. All the ponies back at the city are condescending or greedy, always wanting a bit of your money with each passing day, like some parasite attached to your wallet. It’s rough living out there…but I make a living I suppose. The nightmares don’t really make it any better, though…” Sehn looks down, exhaling.

“Wait…nightmares?” Rainbow says, lowering her brow. “You say you’ve been having nightmares?”

“Yeah. Started about a month and a half ago, been a never-ending assault against me and my sleeping patterns. Waking up randomly in the middle of the night, waking up my co-workers, one time making a late-night visit to the local doctor. It’s all messing with me…” Sehn looks back up, a rather depressed, worried look present in his eyes.

“That’s weird…I’ve been having nightmares too, and they started a month or so ago as well. What were yours about?”

Sehn goes wide eyed, sputtering a bit, “T-d-ah, b-believe me, you don’t want to hear about me. It’s pretty…well, graphic…” He looks down at the ground, letting the blood stop flowing on its own, planting both his hooves on the ground.

“Believe me, I do need to know. This sort of thing has happened before and…well, I know how we could fix it…but…” Rainbow seems to slow down a bit with each word, shaking.

“I’ll live with it, it’s fine. Seems the bleeding’s stopped in my nose anyway…think it’ll fix itself or should we still go to the clinic?”

“Yeah, we’ll go to the clinic now. Then we’ll visit Twilight, and hopefully take a look at those nightmares.” She says before turning away from him, proceeding the road. “And hopefully mine as well…” she mumbles to herself.

With a few minutes of walking, they come up to a large, white, wooden building. Above the door is a simple red cross, and a single window off to the right of the door. Rainbow walks across the small stone path between the green lawns in front of the clinic and opens the door, Sehn quickly following behind her, and he looks around.

The room inside the clinic seems too big for what you can see from the outside, containing three benches, an operating table, and several medicine cabinets over a sink and tool case. The room extends back to a door, a sign saying “Doctor Healesten” over it, leading to his office. By the benches are several small books, reading material for patients awaiting treatment or examinations. A nurse with a purple coat, cyan eyes, and a red mane and tail, wearing a white nurse’s coat and hat stands by the operating table, taking stock of the tools and supplies in the room, before looking over at Rainbow and Sehn. On her flank is a simple red cross.

“Jen?” Sehn immediately says, spotting the purple nurse. She looks back at him with a confused look, before he stutters out a response, “D-oh, um, sorry, must have confused you with someone else. There’s a friend of mine back home who looks a lot like you do, heheh!” The laugh causes a bit of pain to shoot up from Sehn’s nose, causing him to twitch and close one eye, and a small trickle of blood starts flowing again.

“It’s quite alright, but what happened to you? Did you run face first into a wall? A couple of ponies have come in looking like that, and Rainbow is usually with them.” She chuckles, causing Rainbow to blush slightly and look away.

“Some of the races got into some of the alleyways and…well, at least I got em here, right?” Rainbow speaks up, smiling with a bit of an embarrassed look.

“You really must take these things outside Ponyville though, dear. Somepony’s going to get badly injured doing these races with you.” She says with a motherly tone, before looking back over at Sehn and his injury. “Now then, sir, if you would come over here? I’ll tell the doctor you’ve come in for treatment.” She smiles and gestures to a small chair next to the operating table.

“T-thank you, Nurse…erm…”

“Crossia.”

“Nurse Crossia, thank you.” Sehn makes a quick bow before moving over to the chair and sitting down in it, holding his nose.

“Just hold it up like this and the bleeding will stop.” Crossia puts her hoof up to her nose and leans her head back. Sehn copies this action, and breathes through his mouth. “Good, just like that. Now wait here while I go get Doctor Healesten.” She says with the same tone used on Rainbow.

“Aye, ma’am.” Sehn replies, kind of nasally with the hoof covering his nostrils. Nurse Crossia walks off into the back as Rainbow comes up beside him.

“Well, tack on another injury caused by my racing. How’d you jump so far, anyway? I’ve never seen anypony cover even a quarter of the distance you did!” Rainbow asks, surprised.

“Loooots of practice and exercise. Running all over the city as a gopher for your team is a heck of a job. Your legs naturally get pretty strong. I could cover Long Street in about twenty seconds, and that’s a good half mile, heheh.”

“Twenty three point two six seconds, Silver.” Loki speaks up, Rainbow looking at the small dragon latched onto the back of Sehn’s neck.

“Completely forgot you were there. You’re quiet, aren’t you?”

“I’ve been with Se-Silver for a while…I picked up some of his less wanted traits.” Loki says with a small giggle, looking up at the back of Sehn’s head.

“Yeah, and I’ve picked up a couple from you, like your stubbornness…” He replies, lowering his eyelids.

“That’s all you, Silver. Don’t pin that trait on me!” Loki pouts, raising her nose, as if she’s too high up to have a bad trait.

“Yeah, whatever, Princess.” Sehn says in a mocking tone, closing his eyes and moving his head around so his nose is up towards the ceiling. Footsteps catch the group’s attention, Rainbow looking over and spotting the doctor, an aged looking pony with a brown coat and a mane strewn with grey hairs. He has a beard that stretches a bit off his chin, and he’s wearing a spotless white coat with a nametag on it saying “Doctor Healesten, M.D.”, beside a stethoscope and pen in his pocket. He slowly walks up to Sehn.

“Well now, sir. Seems you went and got caught up in one of Miss Dash’s races.” He says with a smirk.

“That I did, sir. I was running through the orchard near the gate to town, racing Miss Dash here before I faceplanted into a tree trunk…I think I messed up my nose.” Sehn leans his head down and moves his hoof so the doctor can look at it.

“Hmm…” Doctor Healesten puts his own hoof on Sehn’s nose, moving it around. A few slight cricking noises can be heard, and a tear rolls down from Sehn’s eye, his face contorted in severe pain. “Indeed, I’d say you managed to break your nose.”

“AhahahahahahOOOOWWWW!” Sehn shouts out in pain as he puts a leg over his nose, more tears of pain rolling down from his eyes. “Is this how you treat broken legs, Doc?! Move around till you hear bones crunching?”

“Not at all, usually a broken leg is a lot more obvious to tell than a nose bleed or a broken nose. I was checking to see if it really was broken or if you’d just burst a blood vessel in there somewhere.” Doc replies with a matter-of-fact tone, rubbing his beard with his hoof.

“That REALLY hurt, too!” Sehn says through clenched teeth, one eye closed. The doctor simply chuckles.

“I’ll give you some painkillers if it’ll calm you down. Now, let’s get you fixed up, shall we? We’ll need to stabilize the nose so the cartilage can re-form nicely…hang on.” Doc says as he walks over to the medicine cabinets, and starts digging through the supplies. He pulls out a tray of ice from a cooler, and walks back over to Sehn.

“Now then, my boy. Simply take one of these and hold it on your nose. Sit there for 15 minutes and don’t take it off till that time has passed.” Healesten says as he cracks the tray to loosen the ice blocks, then taps out one onto his hoof before handing it to Sehn. He takes it between his two hoofs and holds it on his nose, the cold hitting him harder than the pain.

“Woooohoho, that’s cold…kinda numbs the pain but gives you brain freeze at the same time…” Sehn says as he shivers.

“Oh come now, it’s just one block of ice. Simply do this hourly for a day or two so it doesn’t swell up.” Healesten says with his eyes closed, giving his beard a stroke.

“Aright doc, whatever you say.” Sehn replies, balancing the ice on his nose, moving a leg down to keep himself propped up.

“And be sure to keep your head up! We don’t want the bleeding to start again.” Healesten says as he pushes Sehn’s head back up.

“Oy, careful! Nearly dropped the ice.” Sehn shouts, adjusting himself so he doesn’t fall over or drop the ice, moving his other foreleg up to hold the ice in place, and he leans into the back of the chair.

“Alright. I’ll tell you when fifteen minutes is over.” Healesten says before wandering off back to his office, Nurse Crossia taking the ice tray from the operating table and putting it back in the cooler.

“My apologies if Doctor Healesten doesn’t seem like the most caring person. He is a very good doctor and does care about his patients, but he tends to be a bit grumpy with late night visits.” Nurse Crossia giggles.

“Yeah, it’s fine…believe me, I deal with enough guys like him back home to last a lifetime. How long’s it been? Starting to get frostbite here.”

“Five minutes.” Crossia replies, looking up at a clock at the other side of the room.

“My skin’s gonna be black and dead before long…great.” Sehn mumbles to himself, Loki now standing on the back of the chair. She looks out from behind him, and Crossia looks back at her.

“Oh my, a baby dragon! I’ve never seen one besides Spike!” She puts a hoof up to her mouth in surprise.

“…Am I really that rare around here? I mean, I am amazing but…really?” She asks, kind of weirded out by all this attention she’s getting.

“Well, ponies do come through our town here but none of them ever have dragons with them.” Crossia says, lowering her hoof to the floor.

“Guess I’m one of the lucky few, eh…now just tell me why it had to be her.” Sehn says with a chuckle, inciting a sharp prod in the back from Loki. “Ow!”

“Don’t mock me, it’s not nice!” Loki pouts, folding her arms.

“It’s only cause I love ya, kid.” Sehn says with a smile.

Seven more minutes pass with small talk being exchanged amongst the group, before Healesten comes out and tells Sehn that fifteen minutes are up, and to take what’s left of the ice off his nose, the block being a small shard of what it used to be. Sehn eats the ice, figuring it’d be better to not waste the water, and he wipes his face off to get the cold water out of his eyes and nose.

“Alright…fixed my broken nose and replaced it with frostbite. Thanks a lot, doc.” Sehn says with a smirk.

“My pleasure, Mister…”

“Rush. Silver Rush.” Sehn completes the sentence.

“Mister Rush, then. Just remember to apply the ice hourly for fifteen minutes, and your nose will fix itself.” Healesten says with a nod, looking at Sehn.

“So can I lower my head?”

“Fine, just don’t lower it too far or the bleeding is going to start again. Take a paper towel and keep it covered.” Healesten gestures to the sink, where a roll of paper towel is sitting. Sehn hops off the chair and walks over to the roll, pulling off a piece and rolling it up before jamming it up one of his nostrils. He repeats the process for the other one, and walks back.

“That should do it.” Sehn says with a smile, Healesten responds with a slight roll of the eyes and Crossia with a smile. Rainbow just kind of stares at him, the left edge of her mouth moving up.

“Have a good night, Mister Rush.” Crossia says as both her and Healesten bow before the doctor moves back to his office, and Crossia walks past Sehn to return to her work.

“As to both of you. Thanks for the help.” Sehn says with a smile before coming back over to Dash.

“Finally. I was thinking we’d be here all night. Just had to go and fall all that way and get your nose smashed in, didn’t you?” Dash says, obviously annoyed.

“Well excuuuuse me, Princess. I’m sorry if my nose can’t survive slamming into the ground after a fourty foot fall.” Sehn says with a smirk.

“Yeah, yeah. We were heading to Twilight’s after this, so come on. She’s probably tidying up with Spike before going to bed now.” Rainbow says, quickly heading for the door. “Thanks for the help, Nurse Crossia! We’re heading out now!”

“Goodbye dear, and try not to bring in any more injured ponies!” Crossia says back as Rainbow and Sehn head out the door, Sehn laughing.

“So, where’s this friend of yours live anyway? You said a library but I haven’t seen any place so far that looks big enough for one.” Sehn asks, the paper towels in his nose slowly turning red. He leans his head back before sneezing. “Achoo! Ah…stupid paper towels tickling me…”

“She lives in a big tree on the main street. Believe me, you’ll know it when you see it, even in this lighting.” Rainbow says to Sehn.

“Yeah, kinda hard to miss a big tree when I just ran through two miles full of em…where’s this main street?” Sehn asks, Rainbow turning her head towards him.

“Just up ahead. Keep walking and we’ll be there in no time.” Rainbow says before jumping up into the air and flying slowly next to Sehn.

“You seem to like flying a lot.”

“It’s that obvious, huh? Yeah. I’ve got a dream to join the Wonderbolts after all, so flying is my favorite thing to do. That and perform stunts to amaze ponies.” She smiles.

“Wonderbolts, eh? Sounds like quite a team. What do they do?” Sehn asks, as Rainbow looks at him, eyebrows raised with a look of shock in her eyes, and she falls slightly from the shock locking up her wings. She pulls herself back up before she hits the ground.

“What? What do you mean ‘what do they do’? You’ve never heard of them? They’re Equestria’s elite flying team, the best of the best! They perform shows all over the country!” Rainbow says to Sehn, him squinting his eyes.

“Heh, sounds like quite a team. Sure you’ve got what it takes to join them?” He says with a smirk, turning his gaze down the road. They both take a turn left as Rainbow replies.

“Absolutely! I am THE BEST flyer there is, my spot in that team is set in stone!” She says, folding her forelegs and looking away with a grimace. “Can’t believe you’ve never heard of them…”

“Yeah, yeah…anyway, this the place you were talking about?” Sehn says, sitting down next to a large tree.

“Yeah, this is it. Twilight’s library. Wait here, I’ll go knock on the door.” Rainbow says before flying past Sehn and landing in front of the door. She bangs on it a couple of times, but no answer comes.

“Did we just miss her?” Sehn asks, as Rainbow bangs on the door a couple more times, harder.

“Hang on, hang on!” A muffled voice comes from behind the door, obvious irritation in it. The door cracks open to reveal a small purple dragon with green spikes. “Rainbow? What’re you doing here so late at night? Twilight’s in bed already.”

“I need her to get up, Spike. We’ll explain once she’s awake.” Rainbow says to him, Loki coming out from behind Sehn.

“Oh! So that’s Spike! Cool, another dragon!” Loki says with glee as she jumps off Sehn’s back, and he grabs her with his foreleg, dragging her back next to him.

“Woah there, kid. Let’s not go sprinting at the baby dragon who hasn’t even seen us yet.” Sehn rolls his eyes, waiting for Rainbow to call him over. Spike and Rainbow exchange a few more words before she gestures for them to come over and heads inside, Sehn and Loki following closely behind.

“…Wow. This place is a LOT bigger than it looks from the outside.” Sehn looks around the massive chamber, at all the books stacked on the cases. “Not a bad collection you have here, though the knowledge base back home has a few more cases full…”

“Wait, who’re you?” Sehn looks down at the small dragon in front of him, who seems to be staring back up, arms folded.

“Me? Name’s Silver Rush. And I think it’s polite to introduce yourself first before asking another’s name, kid.” Sehn replies with a smirk.

“My name’s Spike. Sorry, was just wondering since we don’t have many new faces who look quite like you do.” Spike replies with a rub of the neck.

“After all the ponies I’ve seen here, I really can’t say I break the norm all that much.” Sehn replies, sitting down, and Loki jumps off his back.

“Oooo, another dragon! Hi!” Loki says with a huge grin on her face, while Spike just stares at her.

“Another dragon?” He says, lowering his arms and turning to her. “Well that’s pretty cool. What’s your name?”

“Lokiria! But you can call me Loki.” Loki tilts her head slightly to the side as she lowers her grin into a light frown, putting a claw to her chin.

“Something wrong?” Spike asks.

“Isn’t a gentleman supposed to introduce himself first to a lady?”

“I am? Oh, uh, name’s Spike. Sorry.” He rubs the back of his neck, a small grin on his face.

“It’s alright. So what do you do around here? Can’t imagine there’s very much excitement in a town so small.” Loki asks, placing her hands behind her, a curious look on her face.

“Oho, you have no idea how much excitement the town can get into. Believe me. Wait till you run into Pinkie Pie. She’s the definition of ‘excitement’.” Spike says, rolling his eyes.

“I’ve heard that name before, what’s she like?”

“Hmmm…imagine…a cake, where one bite of it sends you into a high where you can’t stop partying with other ponies. That’s what she’s like, I guess…can’t really put words to her.” He says with a chuckle.

“Yeah, that didn’t make much sense. I’ll take your word for it though, she sounds pretty fun to be around. More so than Silver over here.” She thumbs over her shoulder to Silver.

“Probably because I’m around you too much. Having a kid riding around on your back for the better part of a decade would make anyone sick of fun.” Sehn says with a smirk, looking around at all the books.

“Hey! I told you I’m not a kid!” Loki looks over her own diminutive body in comparison with Sehn, and looks back to Spike who easily sees her at eye-level. “Well…I’m not a kid, darn it!”

“Yeah, yeah, keep tellin’ yourself that. It’ll come true one day.” Sehn laughs. Loki looks up at him with anger and a growl, stomping off towards one of the book cases in the back of the library, Spike following behind her.

“What’s his deal?” He asks, stopping beside her as she starts pulling out a large tome from the bottom shelf of the book case.

“He’s been like that ever since we met. A real worry-wart who thinks too much of his work and not enough about having fun. Any party he goes to dies immediately, pretty much, so I don’t think Pinkie would much like running into him.” Loki replies, opening the cover and flipping through some pages in passive boredom.

“If she does run into him, she’ll try and make a party of it. Not much has stopped her before.” Spike looks over Loki’s shoulder, seeing what she’s reading. Some pages are related to old legends in Equestria, one remarking about the “Eastern War”.

“Huh?” Loki raises an eyebrow, looking through the entry in the history book.

“Ah, yeah, I’ve seen Twilight reading up on this. Apparently, three hundred years ago, there was a big fight off in the Eastern mountains. A massive force of soldiers suddenly appeared at the border and started attacking the guards there. Not a whole lot is written about it though…this entry is only three pages long, I think.” Spike says, looking over the scrawled words on the page. Loki just lowers her eyelids, sighing lightly before closing the book. She looks depressed, as if the vague events spoken of in the book felt all too real to her. She closes her eyes and, with a ‘hmph’, she puts the book back on the shelf and reaches out for a new one.

Sehn still seems captivated by the sheer volume of books in the room, starting to walk over to one of the cases when he hears some talking from above.

“So that’s the gist of it. Think you could come help?” Says one familiar voice.

“Yeah, I’ll come. Let me get ready.” Says another, though this one rings new to Sehn.

“Must be getting her friend up…” Sehn mumbles to himself as he sits down in front of the book case, looking over the spines of old tomes in front of him. He rubs his chin before pulling one out, using the top of the spine to tip the book out of the case. He turns it around, reading off the title.

“Beginner’s Spells; Telekinesis and Transformation?” Sehn raises his eyebrows, cracking the book open, then goes wide eyed in complete confusion at the complex magic algorithm presented before him, filling half the page. “How the heck is this a beginner’s spell? Looks like some doomsday thing that’d rip a country out of the ground…” He tilts his head to the side, furrowing his brow and wracking his brain to understand all the cryptic symbols.

“Is that him?” Says the unfamiliar voice, causing Sehn to turn around. He widens his eyes slightly, a memory hitting him. A lavender unicorn stands in front of him, her head tilted slightly to the side.

“I heard that you needed some help?” She asks, unease in her voice.

“Um uh, yeah. Guess Miss Dash here already explained the situation to you?” He can’t remove the strange stunned look on his face, his brow furrowing slightly, as if expecting something bad on the horizon.

“Yeah, she did. My name’s Twilight Sparkle, and I guess you are…Silver Rush?” She asks, rubbing her chin.

“Yeah, I am.” Sehn says with a nod.

“Alright. Well, I’ve already done this twice, so can you and Rainbow go over to the table there? I’ll grab some books. Been a while since I’ve done this spell.” Twilight points over to a small table in the middle of the room, and wanders off to one of the book cases as Sehn and Rainbow move over to it. They sit down, watching Twilight pull books from the case and toss them to the side, giving quick glances to the covers.

“Does she always do this?” Sehn asks, looking over at Rainbow while raising an eyebrow.

“Yeah, she could pull the whole library apart while looking for what she wants and not really mind. Spike always cleans up after, and she helps him out sometimes.”

“Sounds rough for the kid, honestly. This many books and she could pull em all off just to find the one she wants?”

“He doesn’t mind, usually. Guess he’s happy just helping out with her studies and keeping the place clean. Speaking of Spike…” Rainbow leans down and looks past Sehn at the two dragons reading books. “Seems he’s already made a friend.”

“Yeah, Loki seems to get along with anyone just fine. Wish I had that trait sometimes…” Sehn says, a grin on his face. “Dunno why, but it’s always been troubling having friends. Never had one beyond her for the past few years…”

“Really? No one at all?” Rainbow asks, surprised.

“Not a one. It’s not all bad though, Loki gives me all the friendship I need, even though she gets a bit annoying sometimes.” He replies, the grin on his face growing as he watches the two dragons exchange words and opinions, Loki sometimes getting up to bonk Spike lightly on the head with her fist. “She can be a bit…controlling, I guess. But she’s got a heart of gold.” He says with a chuckle.

“She does seem pretty nice. Poor Spike’s gonna have a real lump on his head if she keeps hitting him like that though.” Rainbow says with a giggle, leaning back up to look at Sehn. “Besides, if you need some friends, just stick around here. Ponyville may be small, but we’ve got a lot of ponies who would love to know someone from the city. I bet you’ve got lots of stories too!”

“Naaah, my stories would just bore you. A desk job isn’t too exciting. Must be way better being able to fly through the sky like that, though.” Sehn says with a smile.

“Got it! Finally!” The exclamation from Twilight catches the attention of everyone in the room, and they see a massive pile of books surrounding her, a loud sigh coming from Spike.

“Come on, Twilight, do you have to rip the place apart to find what you need every time?” Spike gives a pat on Loki’s shoulder before running over to the pile of books, quickly looking at the covers before jumping onto a nearby ladder to put them back.

“Right, sorry, just had this buried away on the third shelf. Right then…let’s see.” Twilight says to herself, opening the book and quickly flipping through the pages, the magic from her horn holding the book in front of her. “No, no, no, no…”

Sehn shifts his weight, watching the pages flip by, raising his eyebrows. “You sure you didn’t miss it? You’re flipping through that thing pretty quickly.”

“My eyes work just fine, thanks. I can read quickly enough to get through these books in a few minutes.” She goes back to mumbling ‘no’ over and over with each passing spell.

“Alright, whatever you say, Miss Mage.” Sehn says with a shrug. Twilight starts flipping back through the book, going through a few pages slowly before quickly nodding.

“Right, here it is.” She says as she comes over beside Sehn, placing the book on the table. “Alright, I need you to clear your mind. This spell will let me see what’s giving you these nightmares, so just be calm, alright?”

“No problem.” Sehn nods, as Twilight’s horn begins to glow. She taps Sehn on the forehead.