The Spectre of Phalanxia

They kept walking for the next ten minutes whilst they followed a path the dwarves have given them. Whilst they traveled ahead, Caldor was busy trying to create the special Chisel that would allow them to open the gateway to Adularia, the realm of the First Ones.

Everypony and everyone traveled together and made sure they weren't seen, for it would probably cause a panic if the humans there found out there is another world full of talking ponies. Tempest, aka Fizzlepop, chose to travel alongside Thunder. It didn’t show, but they look like they were growing more and more closer together. At the same time, whilst everyone and everypony enjoyed one another’s company, Celestia and Luna observed him when they saw him work on the Chisel.

‘What are you working on Caldor?’ said Luna when she was curious.

‘Right now, I’m busy using this artifact to re-forge the chisel into something better,’ said Caldor when was almost done ‘With this we can use it to go through any gateway to any realm. This case, the one between this world and Equestria, you know, minus the human/pony transformations and all. I still can’t believe you didn’t get rid of that mirror in the first place.’

‘It…I wanted to keep it when Sunset decided to come back one day.’ said Celestia when she thought about her past.

‘Technically Starswirl forbade you into stepping through the mirror because of your overuse whilst you were busy visiting as kids on this world would say; your hubby.’

Celestia blushed a bit when she thought about her love affection with the alternate Sombra. ‘Wait,’ said Luna when she thought about something ‘How do you know about all that happened?’

‘See when I was younger,’ said Caldor when he explained the origins of his eyes ‘Galahad blessed my eyes with special abilities. When I use both my eyes they could help us open portals to new worlds. Handy, yes, but each of them have their one abilities. My uh, ahem, current right eye has the ability to open veils and see all the comings and goings of the world without being seen. But as for my missing eye, it can see the future. And my guess is, Eros removed my other eye and tried to destroy it so that I couldn’t tell them on how to defeat him. And I was this close too. But I was mostly heartbroken when I once saw how Luna became corrupted.’

‘Wait,’ said Celestia when she looked at Caldor again ‘You knew she became Nightmare Moon?’

‘Of course I did.’ said Caldor when he had almost finished. But he stopped and looked at the two of them, as they did him whilst the others stopped to have a break. ‘You see Celestia, a long time ago after you were born, your mother Faust was terrified that you would be corrupted by dark magic. So she asked me to place a spell on you so you would be protected. But…after when Luna was born, just when I was going to do the same for her…you sent me away.’

Celestia was surprised by that bit of news. She was so little, but she remembered of that day ‘You were…trying to help my sister?’

‘Of course, why did you think your mother begged me to help her. I could’ve saved Luna, and also her from her fate.’

Celestia was shocked when she realized something. She slowly looked at Caldor in shock ‘I…I did this to her?’

‘Hey now, you didn’t know,’ said Caldor calmly ‘You had no idea that any of this would happen. Although Nahmat did have a good point when she asked why you had ignored Luna’s suffering in her time of need. I know you were tasked into managing a kingdom. But look, I may not know all the royal responsibilities, but I do know about folks like you, and you needed balance in your life. That’s what you two have been depriving of yourself the whole time.’
The two of them felt down whilst Caldor continued.

‘And you two, back when Starlight was sent to help, you nearly ended up going through like you did a thousand years ago. So let me make it clear for you; you two are the only family you have left and you deserve one another’s respect. And you’re not mad at each other. You’re angry at yourselves because the two of you felt just as guilty about the whole situation than you realize, but your mother, the Princess Faust I knew, wouldn’t stand for either of you wallowing in guilt or beating at each other’s throats. What would she say if she could see you two right now?’

The two of them remembered, and were guilt written over what their mother would say. Celestia couldn’t help but smile whilst she looked at Caldor. ‘Even after all these years, you never stop becoming the voice of reason.’
‘I only do what’s right.’ said Caldor when he looked at the two of them with a gentle stare.
‘We could…barely remember our mother.’ said Luna when she thought about the past ‘But I do remember that you once helped her become what she needed to be.’

‘Then may I offer some guidance to the two of you,’ said Caldor when he told them what he wanted them to do ‘At least an entire weekend once a month, let both Cadance and Twilight help look after Equestria for you. Whilst you two take a break, see and explore Equestria, even take a trip to your favorite spot up at the mountains with the garden and waterfall. I’m sure Equestria wouldn’t mind to let you two have something to do with your lives.’

The two sisters looked at one another when he made them that offer. They ended up looking at him with a smile. ‘I think that is a wise and sound plan.’ says Luna when she liked the idea.’

‘On one condition,’ said Celestia when she smiled and was gentle with him for once ‘We would like for you to come back to the castle. It would be wonderful to have someone who knew our mother, as well as one who was like family to us, reunite with us after all these years.’

Caldor was surprised that Celestia made him that offer. He ended up smiling gently. ‘I’d be honored.’ said Caldor when he accepted their deal.

They continued on to their destination through a different section of the forest, until they were able to finally arrive at dual pillars standing close to one another as if it was a door itself. ‘Ah, we’re here.’ said Caldor when he looked at it.
Rainbow Dash and her counterpart ended up flying and running around trying to find the door, but couldn’t see anything. ‘Are you sure it’s here?’ said Rainbow Dash when she couldn’t find it.

‘See those pillars,’ said Caldor when he pointed at it ‘The one with a special seal to the left, that happens to be the gateway to the realm of the First Ones.’

‘That’s the gate?’ said Rarity when she looked at it ‘Although I was expecting something far more impressive.’

‘Looks can be very deceiving Rarity,’ said Caldor when he explained ‘See when the gateways were created, the creators ensured that they would disguise the gates so that no one would be able to recognize them. For if any world like this one, what with its modern technology, they would tamper with them and would unleash untold chaos upon a world like this.’
‘Hmm,’ said Starswirl when he thought about something ‘Are there more like this out there somewhere?’

‘Plenty, like the quicksand from that island that leads straight to Equestria, there are plenty of concealed entrances to other worlds,’ said Caldor when he explained the gates to them ‘But if you’re asking me if there are other portals like this one that leads straight to Adularia, then I’m afraid not. They didn’t trust the other worlds to contain their secrets, so they decided to only create this one, seeing that they would somehow know that this world’s historical society would preserve a place like this.’

‘Thus having it protected,’ said Twilight when she thought about it ‘So that no one would remain curious.’

‘Wow, that’s pretty ingenious.’ said human Twilight when she agreed.

Caldor did some tweaks, and finally finished with the chisel ‘Ah, there we go, all finished.’ and handed it over to Invictus.
Invictus held onto it whilst he looked at it, then to Caldor ‘Now what do I do with this?’

‘See that special stone slab against one of the pillars,’ said Caldor as he pointed at it ‘Move it around, and it will burn bright. The moment it does that, tap it against the slab as hard as you can. Once that is done, the rest will unfold itself.’

Invictus walked over and held the chisel over the stone slab. As he moved around, the tip of the chisel shone, allowing him to tap it as hard as he could. After tapping it on four corners and then the center, the energy instantly flowed through the pillar, allowing it to activate the pillars as it opened a gateway to another world, to the world of Adularia, the Realm of the First Ones. Many had gathered around and stood near the gateway, making them realize that they had finally done it.
‘There it is,’ said Knight when he smiled with joy ‘We’re so close.’

Thunder stood there nodding, for he agreed with his little brother. But just as he took a step forward, Invictus instantly saw something and quickly pushed him out of the way as he said ‘Boy, watch it!!!’

At the same time, he was grabbed by the neck and thrusted against one of the pillars as he was raised in the air, struggling to move. Many were shocked to see Eros again, this time wearing different attire to make him fit in more often.
‘So, I finally caught up with you.’ said Eros with a sneer as Invictus struggled to get lose.

‘But how?!’ said Yin Sid when he saw Eros ‘We had spells all around us, there’s no way you could’ve found us!!’

‘You forgot about one of you.’ said Eros when he pointed at Thunder, which made them realize that they had forgotten to place a barrier around them ‘So should I just go through the portal or finish all of you off for intervening with my plans for the last time?’

‘Enough of this Eros,’ said Caldor when he tried to reason with him ‘You have no other purpose or nothing else to fight for, why would you…?’

And just like that, Eros back handed Caldor as he was smacked in the face and launched against a rock, which shocked Celestia as she shouted ‘Caldor!!’, allowing her and Luna to run towards him to see if he was alright.

‘Alright, that does it!!’ said Rainbow Dash when she darted towards Eros, only for her to be grabbed by the throat and tossed aside, but she was able to regain momentum whilst she was in the air.

‘Rainbow Dash, stay out of this!!’ shouted Invictus whilst he tried to get lose.

‘No way, I want some payback after what he did to me back at the monastery!!’

She flew towards him again and was grabbed again as he said ‘You really are dumb, aren’t you?’

Eros threw Rainbow Dash against Invictus hard, destroying the pillar and closing the portal to Adularia, which shocked many as their journey had now been in vain. At the same time, not only was Knight angry at Eros for hurting Rainbow Dash, but for ruining their only chance to fulfill their mother’s wish. ‘You’re gonna pay for that!!!’

Eros ended up swatting Knight and grabbed Atreus and tossed him against his siblings. But to many of their shock, they saw Eros grabbing Yin Sid and Merlin by the throats, which shocked them when they saw what was going on. ‘Merlin!!’ shouted Twilight in shock.

‘Yin Sid!!’ said human Twilight when she felt the same way.

‘Seeing that they’re the brains around here and also the only ones that ever studied in the ancient arts,’ said Eros whilst he stood there smiling ‘You two will help me get what I want.’

At an instant, a large mindless dragon like creature came flying down as Eros jumped on it for a ride. But unknown to him, Invictus jumped up and grabbed on, but whilst he also shouted out at Twilight ‘Princess Twilight, you know my aura, use your magic to teleport to my location!!!’

They all watched as Eros and Invictus disappeared beyond the horizon. Invictus, whilst holding onto the dragon as he was able to climb onto its back. He saw Eros and pulled out his swords. He used it to pull Eros towards him. The two of them stood close to one another, prepared for combat. ‘Oh, so you finally got some new weapons. No matter. No matter how hard you try, I will always be on top.’

‘Let go of my sons.’ said Invictus as he gripped onto his swords, whilst their fires grew madly on them as his rage had now returned.

‘Then by all means,’ said Eros when he taunted him ‘Come and get them!!!’

Invictus attacked head on as he screamed in rage. The two of them began to clash as punches and kicks were exchanged, along with a few head butting and also some heavy muscle. Invictus swung his chain swords plenty of times, but so far nothing he tried was working. They fought long and hard at one another, until Eros kicked him off the creature. When he landed, he realized that he was at the center of the bridge, that led straight to the Rainbow Bridge. He stood up slowly as he tried to stand on both his feet, until Twilight and many of the others appeared and quickly gathered near him.

‘Are you hurt?’ said Mistmane when she quickly used her magic to help him stand up.

‘Where are your sons?’ said Somnambula next when she helped him.

‘They went in there.’ said Invictus as he showed them the Rainbow Bridge.

They looked at it and saw the Rainbow Bridge, with Applejack asking ‘Why in tarnation would they come here?’

When all of a sudden, the Rainbow Bridge began to activate itself, shocking Rockhoof when he realized something ‘They’re gonna travel using the Rainbow Bridge!!’

‘Quickly, we must stop them before it’s too late!!’ shouted Starswirl when he made haste.

Invictus, his sons, Sunset Shimmer and friends, along with every pony around him, ran towards the entrance of the temple with what speed their legs could carry. They barged into the door and ran inside.

‘Hey,’ shouted Brock when he and his brother Driskle stood near their table ‘Who activated the Rainbow Bridge?’

They kept running with Driskle asking ‘What’s going on?!’

Knight shouted ‘Eros is activating the bridge, we gotta stop him!!’

They barged into the room and saw Eros still holding them down, with Invictus charging head on and pinned him down, allowing both Merlin and Yin Sid to get loose. ‘All of you have lost,’ said Eros as he struggled to get loose ‘Soon my world will be opened, and with the secrets of the Adularians at my disposal, my kind will rise again!!’

Caldor overheard and was surprised to hear what he had said, until Rainbow Dash flew towards the pedestal and tried to stop it ‘Don’t worry, I got this!!!’

Merlin saw what she did as he shouted ‘No, no, no, don’t!!!!’

Because of the wrong thing she had tampered, the pedestal ended up malfunctioning and opened a random portal, sucking all of them in as Starswirl shouted ‘Brace yourselves!!!’

All of them ended up getting sucked into the void, teleporting them straight to the clod depths of Tartarus. All of them got deeper and deeper into the cold, not knowing when to stop. Eros still held onto Merlin, until Invictus punched him away as they were separated. Eventually, all of them had found a large bit of rock that would be a good place for them to land, but it was a rough landing as all of them crashed.

After they landed, all of them were groaning and moaning of the pain they’ve experienced, for they had never been hurt this bad before.

‘Is…everypony alright?’ said Twilight when she got up.

‘I…I think so.’ said human Twilight when she and her friends got up.

However, all of their attention was focused on Rainbow Dash, for it had been twice that she had put them in danger.

‘Rainbow Dash,’ yelled Applejack ‘What in tarnation were y’all thinking?!”

‘Yeah,’ said Starlight when she also got angry ‘You nearly got us all killed!!’

‘Hey,’ said Rainbow Dash when she told them why she did it ‘I was only trying to help, so I…!!!’

And within a split second, Invictus punched her in the face, grabbed her mane and picked her up as she struggled and groaned in pain, which shocked the others in the process ‘You will listen to me and not speak a word!!’ said Invictus with a sneer as he looked at her angry, whilst she struggled to look at him ‘I didn’t want you here, and you are not in your right mind. You are too quick to temper, you are rash, arrogant, impulsive, insubordinate, and out of control. This will not stand. You will aid and honor the boys’ mother, and abandon this ego you have. And it is not too late…

‘Dad, come on.’ said Knight when he gained his father’s attention, which he remembered that he was also like that once.

At the same time, Invictus threw her hard onto the ground, causing her to look at him whilst she was holding her ribcage in pain, whilst he looked at her angrily as he said ‘This discussion is far from over. We are in this mess because of you bitch, do not forget that.’

Invictus left as he was now angrier. Rainbow on the other hand was hurt, with Knight helping her out. ‘Sorry about that, you get used to it.’

‘Why?’ said Rainbow Dash when she was slightly angry ‘Did he lash at all of you too?’

Knight was silent for a few moments as he looked at another direction, as did his brothers, which shocked them in the process. ‘Wait,’ said human Fluttershy when she was surprised ‘He was like that with all of you too?’

Thunder spoke out loud as he looked at them ‘Who do you think broke my horn?’

They were shocked by what he had said, with Fizzlepop remembering it differently ‘But you said…’

‘Half of it was a Manticor and Hydra, the other part was dad when he was training me. Mother…didn’t got over of what he did.’

‘Don’t remind me.’ said Don when he remembered ‘That explosion nearly got half of us killed.’

‘Alright, enough now.’ said Caldor when he got their attention ‘We can talk about this later, right now we need to leave this place. The longer we delay here, the more we’ll likely doom ourselves in this place.’

‘He is right,’ said Luna when she had the shivers of this place as the fear was slowly consuming her, for now she partially remembers of what happened so many years ago ‘This place feels…terrifying.’

‘Then let us leave immediately.’ said Celestia when she agreed.

All of them quickly left their spot together, or it will soon consume them, before all is too late.