Steel's Chapter Dump

The knife crashes straight into the horn and cuts through, severing the unicorn’s pride from her body. The knife flies off behind her, embedding itself in a wall as Twilight grabs the stump of her horn, crying out in hellish agony. Dash grabs one of the Health Drinks, running forward and popping the cap.

“Stop screaming and drink this! Hurry!” Dash shouts at Twilight as she grabs Twilight’s head with her wing, the flames curling around her forehead. Twilight stops her screaming, shaking uncontrollably, as Dash takes the bottle in both hooves and tips the open top into Twilight’s mouth. She drinks it quickly, and her shaking seems to subside a bit. “Lemme get another.”

“N-No…I’m fine…just…”

“Now isn’t the time to act tough, Twi’. You just cut your horn off; the pain isn’t going to go away that quickly.”

“No…it’s…punishment for…what I asked you…to do…”

“You…wait, YOU asked me to do that, not the crazy Twilight?”

“I’m…I’m still missing my eye…aren’t I? I felt…” The words fall away as Twilight groans in pain, holding the stump of her horn. “I…felt something…clawing at the back of my mind…making me say things, making me do things…”

“That doesn’t really help answer the question, Twi’. Did you, YOU, ask me to cut my wings off, or did Crazy Twilight do it?”

“…I wish I could answer that honestly. I saw what you did, Rainbow, to Cloudsdale…I thought it was retribution…” Twilight rubs her forehead, pushing herself up into a sitting position. “I thought…I guess I thought it was payback for everyone that died.”

“Revenge? You asked me to cut off my wings for revenge? It’s not like you, Twilight. Cloudsdale was like that when I got there!” Dash says, sitting down as well.

“How? I know I saw you marching in with that Hemoran force! You were commanding them, giving them orders…joining in the massacre…”

“It wasn’t me, Twi’. You know me better than anyone; how could I have willingly ordered soldiers to kill Pegasi? It’s not like me, I’d never do that.”

“True…she still looked like you, and wore the same fatigues as you.”

“She was wearing a beret instead of this cap though, right?” Dash adjusts her hat, surprisingly undamaged from the fight, though splattered with blood from her ear.

“…Yeah, she was,” Twilight nods, thinking back. “That…’Dash’ was…how do I put it into words? She…well, she was like a one-man army; for every Pegasus that one of the Hemorans cut down, she’d kill six more. She didn’t show mercy or regret, not even a hint of pain at the screams…she just enjoyed herself, shouted out point totals for every Pegasus that fell to her blade...!” Twilight grits her teeth as she recounts it, shivering. “She has to pay for this…that monster has to pay…”

“She will, but our friends come first. We need a way out of this tower and back into that other room,” Dash says, looking around the tower. The structure looks just as impenetrable as when she first entered, despite the cracks, scratches, and debris left behind by the fight that took place within. Taking in the details more clearly, the bricks seem as big as Dash’s house.

“Do you think we could fly out of here?” Twilight asks, Dash bringing her eyes up to the darkness above them.

“Well, it’s worth a shot…I can’t see a ceiling, and the walls would take forever to get through…wait, the drawbridge,” Dash turns to the wooden impurity in the tower’s otherwise impeccable stone walls, running over to it. It looks like a regular wall, besides the black steel reinforcement holding the wooden bridge together. “I know this leads back into the library…and I left something behind in there. Help me get this down!”

“Right!” Twilight runs over, and they both place their front hooves against the bridge and shove as hard as they can.

“C’mon, you stupid wall! GO DOWN!” Dash shouts as she opens her wings, shoving as hard as she can. Blood starts rushing to her head as the red tunnel returns, and the wood begins to buckle under her hooves. Something cracks in the stone barrier as the bridge begins to move, the grinding gears and machinery trying to keep the bridge where it should be. “GO DOWN!!” Dash screams at the door, pushing harder. Twilight moves away from the furious Pegasus, realizing her efforts aren’t contributing, and simply looks on at her friend.

The bridge continues to creak against the pony shoving it, the squeal of unoiled gears matched by Dash’s own laborious shouting. Deciding that a steady push isn’t going to bring it down, Dash pushes off and throws herself to the back of the room with a flap of her wings. “Fine, you don’t wanna cooperate?! We’ll play this the hard way then!”

“Dash! Wait, think for a second!” Twilight shouts, realizing her friend’s typically stubborn plan; if it stands in your way, knock it down. “What if the door’s stronger than you think?! You could injure yourself!”

“I don’t care, I have to get back to Fluttershy!!” Dash shouts back, and with a flap of her wings, she crosses the distance between her and the door in a moment, slamming full force into it. She flies through like a cyan bullet flying through plywood, the drawbridge exploding from the impact, as wind tears through the open hole from Dash’s own speed. Twilight shields herself with a foreleg, shrapnel from the door flying in every direction.

“Jeeze…has she gotten stronger…?” Twilight asks herself in disbelief, blinking a few times as she lowers her foreleg. “She got rid of the door, at least…”

“Twilight, c’mon!” Dash shouts from the other room, her voice fading as she sprints away.

“Coming!” Twilight shouts back, exiting the tower and following the Pegasus already a good distance in front of her. “Same old Dash, charging into everything head-first…” She whispers to herself with a smirk.

Twilight finds herself running down a single pathway, a trail of blood drawn clearly, even in the red carpeting of the hall. “Rainbow! Slow down!” Nothing answers her cries, and Twilight growls to herself in frustration. “She knows I’m not athletic…”

Within a few moments though, a blue wall consumes her view as she runs into something. Both her and the blue thing fall to the ground with a thud. “Ow…why’d you stop so suddenly, Dash?!” Twilight shouts, rubbing her muzzle as she looks at Dash’s collapsed form.

Instead of answering, Rainbow simply gets to her feet and walks forward, her breathing raspy. Twilight follows her, looking forward, and spotting what Rainbow is so freaked out about; a pool of blood with a single sword sticking out of it. “It’s…blood. Why is this here?”

“Where is she?” Rainbow steps forward, quickly moving into a sprint to close the distance between her and the pool. She stands at the rim, looking over it for something.

“Rainbow, what’s with you? It’s just blood! Well, blood and a weapon…but sti-“

“Fluttershy was here…” Rainbow slowly turns around to her friend, pupils small and breathing quick. “Fluttershy…I left her dead body here…and it’s gone. GONE, TWILIGHT!”

“What?!” Twilight squeaks before Rainbow runs up, grabbing her by the shoulders.

“Who could’ve done this?! Who’d take her body?! WHO!?” Rainbow shouts, standing on edge of losing her mind.

“I-I don’t know! You know this world better than I do!” Twilight shakes her head, shoving Rainbow back and stepping away, holding her forehead. She looks past her hoof to see Rainbow sitting at the edge of the pool, shivering. “Rainbow…”

“Where is she…? I…I said I’d get her out of here…I’d bury her…” Rainbow sniffs, bringing a hoof up to her eyes. Were those tears falling from her face? Twilight steps forward, looking at the pool that once held the corpse of her friend.

“You’re sure she was here? This blood could be somepony else’s,” Twilight says, walking up to the edge of the pool. There was no certain way to know this really was Fluttershy’s blood, unless there was some blood-scanning spell out there that could tell Twilight who the owner of this blood was.

“I’m sure! S-She was here…I left her here, saying I’d be back to get her out of here, but…”

“Is there any way to look for her?”

“…This world…it hates me, Twi’. Hates me with a passion that I’ve never seen before…i-it’s always looking for some way to stomp on me, kick me when I’m down…whenever a friend’s in trouble, I’m always a split second too late…whenever something’s threatening me, I always hesitate just long enough…whenever I’m wounded, the world gives me supplies, just so it can hurt me later! I don’t wanna be here anymore, Twi’!” Rainbow quickly spins around, grabbing Twilight by the shoulders. “End the spell! End it NOW!”

“S-Spell!? Rainbow, calm down! I…I don’t know how to end it!”

“What!?”

“This may be the third time I’ve used the spell, but it’s the first time I’ve actually SEEN this world! None of it makes sense, and my magic doesn’t work as well as it does outside! I…we have to make it through whatever trials this…place throws at us. When we get back home, we’ll…bury Fluttershy,” Twilight looks down, feeling the effects of Fluttershy’s death creeping into her. First was denial, next comes sadness…

“…Right,” Rainbow lets go of Twilight, moving back a few steps before sitting down. They both stare at the floor for what feels like a week, simply searching the crisp green carpet for some kind of answer, some hint to saving their friend…but no such clue appears. The cloth remains static, just like the world’s intent to destroy the souls of those who cross into its borders. Rainbow breaks her gaze to look across the pool and down the hall, the black vault door in view. “Well…there’s the exit. Once we go through there, we’ll be back in the room with the statue, and I can use the next key. We…we should get going.”

“Right,” Twilight breaks her own stare with a nod, looking at the pool. She instinctively tries wrapping her magic around it, but to no avail. “Right…no more horn.”

“Just grab the sword, I’ll head back and get the knife,” Rainbow sighs and turns back to the hallway. Twilight simply nods to her back as Rainbow walks off, and turns back to the sword in the middle of the blood pool.

“Of course it had to be in the middle of a sea of red…nngh, this is gross,” Twilight quirks her mouth as she looks down at what used to be the life blood of another pony. Why was it still red, anyway? Shouldn’t all the cells be dead? Or was it just the world itself breaking the reality Twilight was so used to? And was this really where Fluttershy was? “So many questions, so few answers…I wish I knew this world better. Why didn’t anypony tell me about what they saw?”

Twilight walks forward a few steps, raising a hoof over the blood. “Sorry, Fluttershy…if this really is what’s left of you…” Twilight mutters as she steps down, the floor taking her step like a wet sponge. The splatter of blood sent trembles down her spine; the blood still felt warm! “Somepony really was here…” Twilight grimaces and slowly proceeds forward, every step seeming to her like walking all over Fluttershy. It wasn’t right…

A short while passes before Twilight finally reaches the blade in the center of the pool, looking over its design. It seemed familiar to her, but alien as well; the sword was a typical design, colored black with red wrappings around the hilt. A sheen along the darkened blade catches her eye though; somepony had etched something into the side.

“Diamond…Esmerelda?” Twilight furrows her brow, whispering the words. “Did somepony name this sword?” Deciding to get out of the blood before investigating further, Twilight clamps her jaws around the hilt and draws. The sword rips out of the ground with a sound too much like a blade tearing from flesh, and a short whimper echoes through Twilight’s mind. “What was that?” She quickly looks around. Was somepony here with her?

“Twi’!” A familiar voice breaks Twilight from her search, and she turns to see Rainbow running down the hall towards her. Clanking armor could be heard from behind her. “Run, Twi’! Something’s after me!!”

“W-What?!” Twilight shouts back, moments passing before she sees what’s chasing Rainbow. That had to be the ugliest stallion in armor she’d ever seen, but the sword in its mouth seemed large enough a threat to run away from. She turns and runs as quick as she can down the hall, but even at top speed, Rainbow overtakes her as if Twilight were standing still.

“C’mon Twi’, pick it up!” Rainbow shouts, Twilight trying to keep up; she wasn’t all that athletic, but Princess Celestia did say she should work out more once or twice…maybe she should’ve heeded that advice.

“I’m trying, Rainbow! You know I’m not that fast!” Twilight gasps between breaths, turning slightly to check if that monster was still after them. It sure as heck was, and every step brought it closer to them, brought Twilight closer to the edge of that rusty blade. Adrenaline pumped through Twilight’s system as quickly as panic crushed her mind, and she turned around, every step throwing her further and faster. She has to run, run faster, run harder, run like she’s never run before, or else the last thing she’s going to see is that monster tackling her to the ground and-

“Twi’, the door! There it is!!” Rainbow’s shouting breaks Twilight out of her worst-case scenario, and sure enough, the light at the end of the tunnel was there in the form of a black vault door. Happiness was fleeting for poor Twilight as she feels something cut through her tail. She yelps, nearly dropping the sword she walked through so much blood for, and clenches her teeth harder as another swing from that abomination just misses her tail.

The clank and crash of tumblers and locks letting go echo through the hall like explosions, and the vault door screeches open. “Run faster, Twi’! We’re almost there!!” Rainbow shouts, rushing ever further ahead of her friend.

“W-Wait up, Rainbow!” Twilight shouts back, no longer worried about the monster catching her, instead she starts panicking about being left alone in this damned world again. She could at least fight the monster with her new weapon, but being locked up here again after a taste of freedom? No, that couldn’t happen, she wouldn’t be able to stand this place again. She pushes herself further, harder, as the light of the room ahead slowly envelops her. A final leap and swing from the monster throws her past the threshold.

What she wasn’t expecting was the floor to be made of flesh and fencing. She splatters face-first into it, the sword flying out of her mouth from the impact, and she eats some of the floor. The next few moments are filled with Twilight’s gagging on something horribly salty and hot, tears finally falling from the prospect of Fluttershy dying in this Celestia-forsaken world, and vomiting from the horrible taste of whatever the heck ended up in her mouth.

After clearing her mouth of the vile concoction with a mix of bile and her breakfast, she pulls her eyes away from the red streak drawn in the ground by her face to look at the room. It looked like they were in somepony’s stomach; all the flesh was moving as if it were alive, and the rusty fencing peeking through flesh gave Twilight a good view into whatever was outside, the darkness beyond the fencing making her feel isolated from the world. This room…where was it in the world as a whole? Was it isolated from everything, or was it part of a greater landmass?

“That stuff doesn’t taste too good, does it?” Rainbow’s surprisingly-happy laugh pulls Twilight away from her inspection of this new hellhole over to the Pegasus.

“No…no, it doesn’t,” Twilight spits again, poking around in her teeth with her tongue to find any pieces of meat or blood stowaways that were still in her mouth. “It tasted like burnt leather with three-year old daisy heads…”

“That was a pretty face plant you made,” Rainbow smirks, another chuckle rocking her body. Guess she was trying to cheer herself up…how long was she in here for? And where’d she get the knife and clothing? And what about Fluttershy?

“There’s a lot I need to ask you, Rainbow,” Twilight wipes her mouth with her foreleg, looking at her friend. Rainbow simply stares back with a grimace.

“Ask me once we’re out of here, Twi’. We’ve got ponies to save,” Rainbow’s grimace disappears as she shakes her head, turning away and heading over to the door. Whatever happens, and if they live through this, Twilight’s going to have to find out about this world sooner or later. May as well save the questions for when they’re back in the library, hopefully safe and sound.

“Alright, door, what’re you gonna show me next?” Rainbow mumbles as she approaches the black monolith. This world’s torn into Rainbow in more ways than she can count, the worst trials being everything she’s seen Fluttershy go through; being kicked off the cliff, seeing Fluttershy stuck to the ceiling…her dying in Rainbow’s hooves…”C’mon, Rainbow, focus…you can bury her after. Dying here would make all your efforts useless,” Rainbow whispers to herself, shaking her head. The only direction left was forward, since Twilight couldn’t undo the spell.

“First was Twi’, now Pinkie…sorry Rarity, but eye injuries come first,” Rainbow reaches around to her bag, taking out the sapphire and holding it in her hooves. She looked down at it as if she were holding Pinkie’s right eye, rather than the gemstone. She looks up at the Cutie Mark symbol at the top of the door, seeing the starburst has been completed. It looked like it was simply drawn onto the door, the gemstone at the center having vanished.

Rainbow looks over her shoulder at Twilight, who still seemed to be fighting physical sickness from her collision with the ground. “Twi’, we’re moving on. Come over here.”

“Right!” Twilight shouts back, grabbing the sword in her mouth before running over. She takes the sword in her hooves and spits out the blood that she managed to get in her mouth. “How’d the knife search go?”

“It was stuck too high up the wall, and before I could think of a way to get it down, Mr. Ugly showed up and started chasing me.