Convexa Tempus

Eleven

Dawn ran faster than she ever had in her life, the elements lent her new strength. From within the gates creatures began surging out, things she’d never seen before, things she could never have imagined. They were all teeth, scales, claws, tentacles, they charged and tore at the air. Spitfire and Scootaloo sped ahead in the air dodging those that leapt up scratching at their feet. They easily broke the line of monsters and disappeared through the gate.

Next was Shining Armour who charged forward using a combination of physical strength and magic to send creature after creature flying off his path, he too disappeared. She looked around wildly looking for Dusk but he’d already broken the line and was forcing his way through relying on his strength. Then the first creature jumped at her, its jaw stretching wide. She lowered her head and focused her power through the crown and sent a beam of light through the creature disintegrating it.

The beam continued ripping a hole in the crowd of monsters, seeing the opening she sped forward dodging the stragglers that leapt out at her. She barely registered the noise of all that was raging around her, she guessed the first creatures would have reached the line of soldiers and the battle had started. It seemed to take a life time but she finally reached gate, and she leapt the last several metres, her gauntlets allowing her to spring over the heads of the creatures just emerging from the passage. And she fell through the gate, into Tartarus.

It was the most peculiar sensation she’d ever experienced in her life. It was like she was being pulled and pushed, twisted and stretched, spun and flying in a straight line faster than she’d ever moved or hoped to move in her whole existence. It felt as if time stood still and was flying by her at the same time, until all at once all the feelings were cut off and she was falling through the darkness, and came crashing down onto a rock surface.

She felt somepony picking her up and she saw it was Dusk. She stood up in time to move for Zecora who came flying down behind her. The others were already standing and looking around, examining their surroundings. Dawn looked about, it was difficult to describe, they seemed to be standing in a city of bizarre rock formations on floating platforms. The air was distorted, made up of a variety of dark swirling colours. Looking up she saw a rectangular light impossibly high above their heads.

“We shouldn’t delay,” Shining Armour said, “we can probably make our way down here.”

They all approached where he stood and Dawn saw there was a staircase twisting through the city connecting the platforms.

“Ill scout ahead,” Scootaloo said, Shining Armour nodded approvingly.

“Alright, Spitfire you watch the rear,” he said, Spitfire nodded in acknowledgement. “We’ll take shifts, but we have to get moving if we are to catch up with Fate.”

They started descending the stairs, occasionally they were assaulted by a stray monster which delayed them briefly while they took it out. Dawn hoped Scootaloo would be alright on her own. They didn’t talk much; they were too occupied keeping an eye out for threats. The city seemed to go on endlessly, did the creatures live in here, surely not, but if they didn’t, who had?

“Are we getting anywhere?” Dusk asked in a hushed tone.

“I know what you mean,” Shining Armour said, “we’ve been wondering through this city for far too long.”

Then Scootaloo swooped in, panting.

“We’re going around in circles,” Scootaloo said exhausted. They all snapped around.

“How do you know?” Dawn asked.

“Because I flew straight, and came around behind you,” she responded.

They stood arguing about how to proceed, Shining Armour and Zecora tried every spell they knew but they could find a solution. Dusk took Dawn to the side for a minute.

“Did your dream give you any indication how to get through this?” he asked. She thought about it, first they were standing on the rock, the other five and herself, and then the gate to Tartarus broke through the frozen ocean. The next events were considerably more confusing. Though Tartarus was also confusing so that was one explanation.

“I’m not sure, once we entered the gate the dream became less clear,” she said still struggling to think of a solution.

“Perhaps the answer we desire, within these buildings we shall acquire.” Zecora said gesturing at the nearest cluster of stone houses.

“Alright Zecora, you, Spitfire and Dawn take a look, we’ll stay guard out here,” Shining Armour said. Dawn followed the other two up the stairs onto the floating platform where she went about searching the houses.

Most houses were empty but occasionally she found something that indicated it had once been used for living in, a bed stripped of covers, a long forgotten toy. Then she came across an old desk, carved from heavily eroded stone. She slid a drawer open with difficulty and found a decayed bridle lying inside. Ponies had lived here! She left the house and went to find the other two, following the sound of their voices, but as she got nearer she quickly heard they were arguing.

“I haven’t said a word about your filthy forest habits, so don’t you complain about my showmanship,” Spitfire spat at Zecora.

“Filthy forest habits! If allowed your mind to wonder open, maybe you could see…” but she was cut off.

“And that’s another thing, why can’t you talk like a normal pony?” Spitfire demanded, “It’s always rhymes and riddles with you.”

Dawn cut in before things escalated.

“That’s enough, there’s no point getting at each other’s throats over trivial matters,” she said, they didn’t relax any, “we’re here for a purpose that goes further than any of us, and we have to work together.”

“Very well,” Zecora said bitterly, “for you Dawn, I will set my own feelings aside.”

“As shall I,” said spitfire storming out of the house.

“What was all that about?” Dawn asked, Zecora was about to answer but was cut off by Dusk shouting for them.

Twelve

Grim flew through the air, flanked by his personal guard. His eyes swept over the land, he was searching for a cave, not much to go on, but the search party he sent out after the remainders of the tribes had only told him so much. Then he saw Brutus galloping over the planes, and he swooped down to fly beside him.

“Any news?” he asked.

“There ahead,” he said simply. Grim looked up at where Brutus had indicated, it was a group of mountains.

“They’re up there?” he asked just to confirm.

“Yes, they seem to be tolerating one another,” Brutus said. So the last of all three tribes, the unicorns, the pegasi, and the earth ponies were all gathered in the one area. A foolish mistake, now they could eliminate them all at once.

Grim slowed down to wipe the snow from his face. It had been snowing heavily for a week now, since Nova had ordered him to hunt down and destroy the last of the tribes. It couldn’t be explained, but Grim wasn’t concerned, weather wasn’t his problem, he had his own job to take care of. As he and Brutus travelled the snow got deeper, the temperature was dropping even further the closer they got to where the tribes were supposedly at.

They didn’t speak to one another, there was nothing to say. Though Grim did not dislike Brutus like he disliked Davitt and Nova, he was too professional to make idle conversation during a mission. They reached the foot of the mountain range and were about to start navigating when all of a sudden there was an explosion of light from amidst the mountains. A beam shot into the sky then spread out swallowing the entire land.

When it faded Grim and Brutus stood completely unharmed. He was confused at first but then looking around he saw the snow melting and felt the temperature rise. He and Brutus looked at each other.

“Shall we proceed?” Brutus asked, Grim wasn’t sure. He hadn’t cared about the cold situation up until that point, but now he found himself worried he might be walking into something he didn’t entirely understand, but he shook the thought off.

“Yes, nothing has changed,” he said confidently, “we find the tribes, and we crush them.

Thirteen

Zecora walked with Dawn back out to where the others were assembled, it took only a few seconds to realise what they were supposed to be looking at. Craning her neck Zecora saw from high above her the floating city crumbling into dust, the wave of destruction steadily descending down wards erasing each platform and the buildings they held.

“We should get moving,” Shining Armour said, it would take some time for the destruction to reach them, but the more distance they put between themselves and it the more comfortable they’d be. Once again they began to descend the stairs, still unsure how they were to escape this city. Spitfire and Scootaloo flew ahead occasionally flitting back to confirm there was no end in sight. After several minutes of getting nowhere Zecora stopped and looked back up, the crumbling buildings were just as far above them as they were when they first saw them.

“To escape this place, up is where we must race,” she said, the others all halted and turned to face her.

“Are you insane?” Spitfire demanded, Zecora remained calm.

“Running gets us nowhere,” Zecora said still looking up, “our only hope, lies up there.”

The others glanced at each other, not sure what to do. They knew they’d wasted a lot of time here and if they continued the way they were, they’d waste even more, but nor could they be sure Zecora’s plan would be any better.

“I agree with Zecora,” Dawn spoke up, the others turned to her instead, “Fate could reach the vault and we’d still be running around here, we have to take the chance.”

“I can’t believe what I’m hearing,” Spitfire said unbelievably, “those buildings are turning to dust and you want to go to them?”

The others hesitated, then at once dusk and Shining Armour nodded. Scootaloo looked at Spitfire.

“It might work,” she said unsure. Spitfire glared at her, but she didn’t argue anymore.

Briefly they stood still hoping somepony would suggest another plan of action, but when nopony did they turned and began walking up the stairs the way they came. Zecora watched as the destruction crept closer and closer, she hoped this was right, if she was wrong they’d lose everything. Soon there were only a couple islands between them and the force causing them to crumble. They all braced themselves preparing for the worst, as it washed over them. The steps beneath their hooves exploded into dust and the world all around them disintegrated, soon they were left standing in a vast nothingness, suspended in the positions they’d assumed before the destruction reached them.

None of them could speak; Zecora began to wonder what was going on. Out of the corner of her eye she could see Spitfire who looked furious. Then all of a sudden the air began to warp and reform into a completely new structure. After a few seconds they were released from their stasis and found themselves standing in a long corridor with a high vaulted ceiling.

“I don’t believe it,” Spitfire said her mouth hanging open in shock, and the others smiled.

“Good call Zecora,” said Dusk giving her a congratulatory pat on the back, but Zecora didn’t respond, just let out a sigh of relief.

They continued on their way, running now as they’d fallen back a lot after that last escapade. The corridor was ornately decorated and they knew it wouldn’t go on forever as the walls were plastered in carvings showing some kind of history unfolding. Zecora would have liked to take her time and examine them in depth but they were in a hurry so she was forced to settle for occasional glances. She noticed a recurring theme in the images were hordes of ponies who looked as if they were worshiping a giant horse with wings and a horn.

Suddenly shining Armour came to a halt, they all followed suit turning to see what the problem was.

“Something’s coming,” he said turning to look back the way they came. Zecora followed his gaze and very quickly she felt it too, a gentle tremor in the ground. Straining her eyes she could make out something far in the distance. While it was too far away to make out she could tell from the way it was moving that it was charging in their direction.

“Run!” Shining Armour shouted, they didn’t need to be told twice. Zecora turned on her hooves and began running with the others as fast as she could. They only ran for a minute before a roar ripped through the air. Looking over her shoulder she saw what looked like a massive beetle stomping down the corridor, terrifyingly closer to them than it had been last time she looked. With ever step it took the corridor trembled and small bits of debris fell from the ceiling which they were forced to dodge.

“Exit just ahead!” Scootaloo called back as she was flying several metres in the lead. Zecora looked up and saw a narrow tunnel breaking away from the main corridor; the creature would never be able to follow them through. Calling all her strength she ran as fast as she could, the others did the same. They were easily going to make it, but then a large slab fell from the ceiling striking Spitfire who hadn’t seen it in time to avoid it.

She was thrown out of the air and came crashing to the ground, knocked instantly unconscious. Scootaloo was already too far ahead to have noticed but the others halted in their tracks. Zecora who was furthest back made a snap decision.

“Go, I will go to her,” Zecora said. Rather than coming to a complete stop and losing momentum she spun around and began dashing back the way she came.

When she reached Spitfire the slab had fallen off her, Zecora put her head underneath spitfire’s limp body and tossed her onto her back. The creature was now only leaps away, without digressing Zecora ran as fast as she could towards the others who were gathered at the entrance to the tunnel. Seeing they were on their way they darted inside. Zecora felt all time slow down, the tunnel was mere feet away, and yet she could feel the monsters presence as if it were only inches behind her.

Then everything accelerated as she came crashing through the gap in the wall. They both fell on the floor and she lay gasping, the creature smashed against the wall and screeched, but it wasn’t getting in. She felt herself being picked up by Dawn, but she assured her she was fine and instead made straight for Spitfire who lay unconscious where she dropped her. Shining Armour and Scootaloo were examining her, but Zecora made them leave.

“Help I can provide, but first you must move aside,” they obeyed her and she crouched down opening her saddle bag as she did.

Spitfire wasn’t badly injured, the trauma to the head she could recover from, but during the ordeal she sustained a deep cut to her midriff. Zecora immediately set about cleaning and disinfecting the wound using a variety of herbs and tonics she packed. Dawn stayed close and offered assistance, Zecora preferred to work alone but conceded to let her cradle Spitfire’s head and check her vitals. Once she was satisfied the wound was clean, she began stitching it closed, this wasn’t difficult as the bleeding stopped quickly enough after she applied pressure, luckily none of her major blood vessels had been severed. Lastly she bandaged her up, then instructed Dawn to help her drink some water and alert her if she came around.

She then went and sat with Dusk and Shining Armour, Scootaloo having gone to stay with Spitfire.

“She will recover,” Zecora said simply, they both relaxed.

“Thanks Zecora”, Dusk said, “I don’t know how we could get by without you.”

Several minutes passed, Zecora saw the others shift uncomfortably and knew they were worried Spitfire wouldn’t recover as shed said, but Zecora wasn’t worried. Then when Scootaloo looked on the verge of a panic attack Dawn called over excitedly announcing she was awake.

“What happened?” Spitfire asked weakly.

“You were injured trying to escape, but Zecora saved you,” Scootaloo informed her. There was an awkward silence as Spitfire looked up at Zecora, then down at her bandaged injury, and finally back up at Zecora looking thoroughly chastised.

“Thank you Zecora,” she said sincerely, “could you ever forgive me for the way I acted before.”

Zecora smiled, she never had anything against Spitfire to begin with, “apology accepted Spitfire.”

The mood rose significantly in the group, they made their way slowly, shining Armour using his magic to help Spitfire who was already taking it in her stride being a professional athlete. The tunnel continued for only a short distance opening out into a larger network of caverns. Not knowing which path to choose they reverted back to their old policy of going down. Zecora turned to check up on Dawn who was currently watching the rear, and was surprised to see an odd look on her face, almost like she knew something was about to happen, and it terrified her.

Fourteen

Grim stood unsteadily on his shaking legs, blood dripping from his open wounds. Next to him Brutus stood tall, completely un-phased by his own share of cuts and bruises. Finally he looked up at Sullivan standing over him, fury emanating from him.

“You dare return to me,” Sullivan said his voice shaking with anger, “to tell me that you failed in your duty.”

“My eternal apologies my lord, but there were unforeseen variables,” he began, but he was cut off by Nova who stood at Sullivan’s right side.

“You dare give our lord excuses,” she exclaimed, but Sullivan silenced her with a look.

“Explain your failure, otherwise I shall have you flayed alive,” he said, his voice chilling Grim to the bone.

“We tracked down the last of the tribes to a cave in the mountains,” he began, “however something strange happened as we arrived, there was a brilliant light and the snow melted.”

Nova looked appalled that Grim was using weather as a reason for losing a battle but Davitt, who was standing to the side cut in.

“Interesting, my lord I may have a theory as to what happened, but go on with your story,” he said, bowing in apology for his interruption.

“When we found the tribes we began the battle just as we had the previous times, but this time it was different,” Grim said, he was angry with himself for having to report any of this, “they were organised, they worked tactically with each other, exploiting our every weakness and counter every attempt we made to get the upper hoof. It was like we were fighting an entirely different army.”

Sullivan looked to Davitt, permitting him to propose his theory.

“My lord, recently I observed the peculiar drop in temperature,” he said, “it correlated perfectly with when the tribes first crossed our borders. After some research I discovered the tribes had brought something with them to this land.”

Nova, Grim and Brutus all looked curiously at Davitt, Sullivan just waited for him to finish.

“it appears a number of Windigos were feeding off the tribes hatred of one another, so that when they arrived in our land, the Windigos followed them causing this land to freeze over just as their previous one had,” he adjusted his spectacles before continuing, “it appears that in their desperation the tribes joined forces, which would explain the sudden change in weather as well as their new found fighting skills.”

Sullivan pondered this, and then turned his attention back to Grim and Brutus.

“You return to me to tell me of this failure,” Sullivan said, Grim’s heart sank, he knew what was coming, so he kneeled down, bowing his head respectfully.

“I accept any punishment you bestow upon me,” he said resigned to his fate.

“But up until this day you have served me well,” he continued, Grim’s heart leapt and he looked up and saw Nova’s eyes widening in shock. “I grant you a second chance to wipe out these parasites, you know now the source of there strength, this time you will annihilate them once and for all.”

Grim stood bowing

“I swear to you my lord, I will not fail you again,” Grim assured him, confident now.

“No, you wont,” Sullivan said darkly, “otherwise you will wish I had granted you a quick death this day.”

Grim nodded understanding, Sullivan turned and began descending from the platform into the dark depths of the cavern, but as he did his voice echoed one last time.

“Nova, Davitt, you will also undertake this task, use whatever resources are necessary.”

Fifteen

Spitfire was recovering well, she was used to getting injured and needing to bounce back, this was nothing new. Still, she apologised to Zecora but still felt bad, after being so arrogant she still risked her life to save her. Tartarus was easily the strangest place she’d ever been to, ever step they took it seemed to change so that it was never one thing for too long. The caverns and tunnels they navigated easily enough and soon they found themselves in an area similar to the stone city.

It consisted of ornately carved bridges criss-crossing in mid air, held up by nothing it seemed. And all around were rivers, not always flowing beneath the bridges but sometimes defying all logic by flowing upwards over them and twisting around so the entire area was filled with streams of shadowy water flowing all around them, it was really quite beautiful.

“I think I can walk on my own for a bit,” Spitfire said to Shining Armour, who agreed. She didn’t want to drain him of magic and she felt strong enough that she could take care of herself and give him a break. As they walked the bridges seemed to converge into a single pathway, which divided into sections each descending to a different height so they were now walking down a long stair case, the rivers twisting around them so they walked through a tunnel of water.

Then Spitfire heard something snap, she turned and saw the tunnel of water shatter, cascading down upon them. They were all picked up and churned into the waves; even Scootaloo couldn’t out fly them and was dragged in. Spitfire tried to swim but the current was too powerful, it was almost like it was consciously trying to grasp them, refusing to let them go.

Then just as spitfire opened her mouth unable to hold her breath any longer, the tide was forced away, a bright bubble forming around them. She stood soaked to the skin and turned to see Dawn with her eyes shut tight, the elements shining brightly.

“Can you hold it Dawn?” Spitfire asked tentatively. Dawn nodded but looked to be in pain. Dusk picked her up and set her on his back.

“We’ll move as fast as we can,” he assured her.

They ran faster now, Spitfire noticed that every minute that passed Dawn’s protective bubble got smaller and smaller. It wouldn’t hold for much longer, but then at last the path levelled again and they arrived on a flat stretch of rock. Dawn’s bubble shattered and the water fell all around them, but this time it flowed off the island they stood on. As it washed away it took the stairs with it, they were now stuck on the rock surrounded by water.

“Will you be alright?” Shining Armour asked Dawn concerned, she nodded.

“I just need a minute,” Dawn said weakly.

“Of course, Dusk you stay with her, we’ll figure out how to proceed,” Shining Armour said approaching the rest of them. Spitfire walked around the edge of the island, the water level looked to be getting lower ever so slightly.

“I think it’s draining somewhere,” she informed Scootaloo who was standing next to her, “maybe I can swim down and take a look around for a plug or something.”

“No, not with your injury,” she replied, “I’ll do it, give me two minutes just to take a quick look.”

Spitfire agreed and crouched at the waters edge patiently counting the second for Scootaloo to resurface. Two minutes passed quickly and she was beginning to get worried, she called the others over to ask one of them to check on her, but as soon as they reached her, the surface broke and Scootaloo appeared swallowing large mouth fulls of air.

Spitfire pulled her out, and shivering, she told her what she seen.

“We’re standing on a tower, pretty tall,” she said, her teeth chattering, “There’s a spiral staircase surrounding it which can take us all the way to the floor bellow.”

“Is there any way to drain the water?” Shining Armour asked.

“Yes, its already seeping away through grills in the wall,” she confirmed, “but I saw a mechanism that could allow us to open them further, thus draining the water faster.”

Spitfire sat again at the edge rapping her hoof on the stone floor to measure how long they’d been down there. Shining Armour had swum down with Scootaloo this time, leaving Spitfire alone with Zecora. Neither of them spoke, she figured it was still awkward between them. She desperately wanted to break the silence and to tell Zecora how sorry she was, but the words got stuck in her throat, so she just sat in silence staring at the lapping water.

After a few minutes, Spitfire could hear the sound of gears shifting and then the rushing of water as all around the tower the water began draining away. Within seconds it was all gone and she looked over the edge and saw Scootaloo and Shining Armour standing far below them drenched. The four started walking down, Dawn now walking unaided by Dusk but still a little shaky.  They were nearing the floor when Spitfire stumbled. Dusk reached out and caught her, she was a little embarrassed and was about to apologise when the top of the tower explode.

Spitfire was thrown off her feet and fell the distance to the ground. All around chunks of rock rained down, as she neared the ground she spread her wings desperately, ignoring the pain, and slowed her descent so that when she hit the ground she only had the wind knocked out of her. She looked around to see what had happened to the others, but she struggled to see through the dust cloud that formed over her head. As it cleared she could make out Dawn and Zecora suspended in a purple aura being lowered to the ground by Shining armour, and Scootaloo carrying Dusk. Once they were all safely on the ground, they looked around wildly to find the cause of the explosion.

Spitfire was still looking up at the top of the tower where it had occurred, but it was completely obscured in smoke. But as it thinned and cleared away, she saw the tower was spouting some black liquid which was slowly dripping down its sides. Then her stomach turned over when she realised that like a giant ant hill, it was ejecting millions of black insects which were now crawling down towards them. Without explaining to the others who hadn’t yet seen it she just screamed a single word.

“Run!” and as she galloped ahead the others followed suit, either realising what she was running from or not wanting to stay and find out. She made for another corridor which looked stone and ornate like the area they’d just been in, but as she passed through the threshold, the air shimmered and it transformed into something different entirely. The walls became organic and began pulsating; it was like they were standing in a giant set of intestines.

Trying not to let this phase her she continued running, the others at her side. She couldn’t go at full speed as it was impossible to get a secure footing on this surface. More than once she almost fell over, which would have been the end of her considering how fast the swarm was catching up to them. They emerged from the tight corridor into a much wider room, still made of the same putrid material, but here there was a chasm slicing through the room, and like the walls it was pulsating so it stretched from being impossible to jump to being nothing more than a leap away.

“Quickly get over!” Dusk shouted over the deafening sound of billions of tiny legs clattering across the fleshy surface. Spitfire was first at the edge and without hesitating leapt forward, spreading her wings again trying to ignore the pain. She landed easily on the other side, running a few metres before turning to see if the others had made it. Dusk jumped after her and cleared it easily thanks to his workers horse legs.

Then came Scootaloo and Dawn who made it across easily enough, Scootaloo flying, and Dawn shifting through the air using the elements. Finally Shining Armour and Zecora jumped, the swarm only feet behind them. They were going to make it, but then the chasm expanded. Shining Armour flailed his hooves desperately and only just caught the edge, digging his hooves in so as not to slide off, but Zecora hadn’t a hope.

She wasn’t even close to the edge when she fell, it happened so quickly none of them were able to react. One second she was suspended over nothing, and then she was gone, vanishing into darkness. The swarm poured in after her, and the last thing any of them heard was a far away scream quickly cut off. Spitfire stood frozen, she couldn’t move a muscle, could form a thought. She barely even acknowledged the others rushing to the edge to pull Shining Armour up and scream into the abyss.