//------------------------------// // Chapter 26: Army Of One // Story: The Bridge Between Worlds // by Artemis Orion //------------------------------// Army Of One "Oh god, this is just creepy..." Keep calm... just don't let them control you again... It was difficult to just prevent myself from screaming out, and even if I did, the Mane Six were probably too far to hear me. Even then, I was too afraid to move. A bead of cold sweat ran down my neck, while I just stared. Wide-eyed at the numbers of people that surrounded me. A little boy stepped forward, his plain white face expressionless. He didn't smile, and his naturally chubby face made it look like he was frowning. He looked up into my eyes, but before he could come forward any further, a woman with long white, messy hair, pulled him back. Her eyes never left mine either. None of theirs did. Every person was of a different size, different age, and different appearance. But they all looked similar. They were all different, yet they were the same. You traitor. A single whisper reached my ears. There was no telling who had said it. It could have been anyone. Where have you been all this time? Another voice, but louder this time. None of their mouths moved. It is too late for repentance. Multiples of them spoke now. Some asking questions, some whispered and some shouted in pure rage. Yet all of them stood emotionless. "What are you saying?!" I cried out. Give it back! "What are you talking about?!" My head began to spin, the voices filled it. They were everywhere. I had to block it out. Stop it. Stop it! I put my head in my hands, trying to push out the thoughts, and the accusations they pushed onto me. You don't deserve it! SHUT UP! The blue vision faded, causing the silhouettes to fade, along with the voices. It was all over in the next instant. I was alone again, in the darkness, only to be interrupted by that one ray of light that pierced though the ceiling. "Their blocked. You did what you could, but I'll hold it." That's great. I don't want a sever case of schizophrenia anytime soon. "Easy for you! I'm forced to constantly look at them!" I focused, channeling Aura through the pendant and emitting light. It had become easier to do, once I found out how. But its rays didn't get very far. In the dark, I wasn't sure how big my surroundings were. Or how small they really were. I was cut off, on almost all sides, by old, dusty stone walls. The yellow stone blocks seemed immovable, and moving back up was impossible. On one side, the wall extended, making a tunnel. It was descending, like a tunnel down a mine, only the mine was man-made. I held up the pendant in its direction, squinting to see further down the line. It went deeper, but it turned off sharply. I couldn't see any further from where I was. I gulped, took a deep breath, and headed downwards. It was in the opposite direction of where I was meant to go, but anywhere was better than being stuck here. All the while, ignoring the fact that thousands of souls were watching. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- "This way, girls! The landmark should be just up ahead!" Twilight determinedly galloped at a pace, leading her friends to the landmark. "We're not lost are we?" questioned Rarity. "Of course we're not! There's no time to be lost! The more time we waste, the more time we might be putting Keith could be in danger!" "Relax, Twilight! What could he possibly find down there?" Rainbow Dash shrugged at the thought. "How many times have we said that so far? And how many times has something happened?" She turned to look at each of the others. Twilight silenced her friends. It was a silent agreement. "Even so, we can't risk it. We would be failing Princess Celestia, and disobeying her orders! Now let's keep moving!" The galloped onwards, keeping in mind what their Princess had told them before they left Canterlot just a few days after they found Keith. But could they really keep to it? The road widened, leading into a clearing The buildings fell away, only to be dwarfed by one. A longer, more grand-looking structure stood in the center of it. It wasn't as tall as some of the others, but it was definitely bigger. A dome sat on top of its cross-shaped based. The shape was held up by old pillars. Some had crumbled away, others still held strong, but for how long, nopony knew. "Looks like we're here." Applejack raised a hoof above her eyes against the sun, staring up at the dome. "But it looks like he ain't here yet." "We'll just have to wait." said Twilight. "But I'm going in to find out more about this place." She began to trot into the domed building. "Uh oh." Pinkie Pie stared glassy eyed into blank pace. Her expression was one of surprise. "Pinkie senses kicking in!" "What is it Pinkie?" Pinkie Pie's whole body vibrated vigorously. Something almost all of them had seen before. "Yee-e-e-e-e-eeee!" Pinkie Pie came to a halt almost as quickly as she began. She recovered, but she was more worried than happy. "That was a doozy!" "But we're all here, and fine... so far." Rainbow Dash said. "It's not going to happen to us, Dashie!" "Well, then who?" Another silence. There was no need to ask. Rainbow Dash threw a hoof to her face. "It's Keith isn't it?" ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- It felt like hours, just walking down the old tunnel. It could have been endless for all I knew. It just descended further and further, twisting and winding in passages. But it soon ended. The tunnel walls came to an abrupt stop, along with the tunnel. In front of it, a barred, rusted gate blocked the way. The metal gate's pattern of metal squares covered the whole thing. The square holes in the door were just wide enough to stick my hand through. I raised the pendant through the bars. There was a blackness beyond the gate, too far for the light to reach. Beneath it were stairs, that lead down further still. "Yeah, head down further, why not? It could be a total trap..." I muttered to myself, rearing back, getting ready to kick down the gate. Taking a step back and applying leverage on one leg, I swung my other leg forward, raising it and, finally, slamming it foot first into the center of the obstacle. The gate gave way, falling backward. The impact of the metal resounded throughout the darkness, making it echo in its fall. It continued to tumble down, until I could no longer see it in the dark. The only way I knew it stopped was when I heard the final, distant bang. The rusted hinges hung loose from the force, an empty space where the gate was. I could go down further. "You people are leading me somewhere... right?" I asked the souls that I knew were watching. There was no response, just as I expected. I looked down, watching as I took the first step onto the stairway. As soon as I put my foot on it, it glowed. A warm, yellow light emitted from the stone. I looked up to find that the following steps did the same. Human glowstone? As I continued the journey downwards, we stopped at a platform. A plain, big, square block that seemed to float. In its center, there was a rod. It stood upwards, and its tip was made of metal. But the metal looked different. It wasn't rusted or old. Out of curiousity, I raised a hand to touch it. At this point, what else could go wrong? I wrapped my hand around the thin rod, and it burst into light, just like the steps. A channel of energy raced through my hand and up my arm with a humming noise. It passed back into the rod, draining me slightly, but what I saw shocked me too much for me to notice. The rod had transferred my energy. It was powering other things. Blocks of supposed glowstone burst into light in the darkness. One by one, pillars and pillars of the light-producing rock shed more light in the dark, revealing more than I could have expected. The glowstone pillars were separated, but stretched on for miles. For underground, lay another town, similar to the one on the surface. It was smaller, and its buildings were closer. I was only one more stairway away from becoming level with the underground part of the Lost Civilization. I descended for the last time, my eyes never leaving the structures that rivalled a lot of Earth's modern structures, buildings and architecture. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- I had found a few more rods that stuck out of the ground, and I activated them. It wasn't long before the whole of the underground city was lighted up. The ceiling was a few hundred meters away, but the underground still was an open space. At a rally point, I saw four gigantic pillars, carved out of the ground. They stood from the underground to the surface. I assumed that these four pillars were what held up the surface city from collapsing in on itself. I wondered how all of this could have stayed in place for a few thousand years. In my world, It would be thought impossible, yet here it is. Maybe there were things to be learnt from these people. I continued to wander around. I had changed my objective to finding a way back up. I imagined that there would have been other entrances to the underground, like the one I had used. I walked past one building, but its shape was strange. On the outside, it was curved inwards, a small dome sat on the inside. On its side, as I came to realize, was a rustic anvil. I was at a Blacksmith's. I looked for any intact contents, though I felt there would be none. Rusted tools, old chunks of coal and crumpled papers were dug up. On one wall, what seemed to be pinned to it, were pieces of paper. Damaged scrolls that were hung up on one side. I stepped over the other objects to get closer and examine the scrolls. One scroll had fallen to the ground, but it wasn't too badly torn or burnt. The words were faded, but it brought me excitement when I read the big block letters of it. CROSSBOW The image was even more faded then the text, but I could slightly make out its shape. It was an old blueprint that had survived a few millennia! I smiled to myself. Maybe there was more to be found here. I slowly placed my hands on the scroll, trying not to damage it. Surprisingly enough, it was strong enough to roll back up. I carefully placed it in my backpack, hoping it would be fine till later. Unfortunately, the other documents weren't so intact. Some had fully torn, or burned or faded. With new hope, I turned to leave. Following the underground path, I came to what I thought was the center of the underground part of 'Old Town'. It was a single dome, almost like a stadium. But even a stadium couldn't have been made of stone. In awe, I walked through its entrance, entering the darkness of the dome. I felt another energy rod on one wall, and channeled more power to it. The dome lit up, lines of light circled and travelled up the crumbling stone. At certain points, light was angled. Multiple rays aimed at the center of the dome, concentrating at the center of the large empty space. My eyes followed the rays, and my jaw dropped when I saw what it concentrated at. For in the center, another sword, bigger than mine, dug into the elevated ground of the dome. Behind it was a big glass casing, and inside it was a set of armour. A full set of golden plated armour, complete with helmet and sheath. and a sword. I wasn't sure whether it was my lucky day, or the opposite. Either way, I was smiling with glee. I walked up to the sword. It was bigger and longer than the one I had. The handle was better carved, and its gold-plated hilt bent outward before sharply turning upward, in the same direction as the blade, into a half-square. The blade was silver-centered with a gold outlining on its sides. Two holes went through the blade near its hilt, stopping at the same length the hilt's extended hilt. The whole thing was up to my hip in length, all of which was in mint condition. But what really got my attention was the emblem on the sword. I leaned into it. It was also a Harmony Symbol, but instead of it being embossed onto the hilt like mine, it was carved out of the hilt, making it poke out of the handle and hilt. It could have almost been a replica of what I was wearing around my neck. For reasons unknown, five gems stuck out of the symbol, like mine. And in the same way, the center gem was missing. I was now very eager to get my hands on the sword. At the back of my mind, there was a sense of doubt, but it didn't bother me much. The sword was jammed into the rocks, and I figured I had to use both hands to try to pull it out. That was exactly what I intended to do, but when I tried, I never accomplished it. When I placed both my hands on the weapon, an unexpected channel of energy ran from my arm. But it was different from the energy rods. The Aural magic didn't return like it should have. It was just sucking at it! My face turned to a grimace, feeling myself getting weaker. I gasped for breath, while trying to remove my hands. But as much as I tried, I just couldn't. Let... go...! I gritted me teeth, in an attempt to pull my jammed hands off the weapon. I noticed the center purple gem materializing in the weapon. But there was something else... ...someone else. Behind the sword, in the set of armour, wisps of mist and smoke swirled in the chestplate. "Keith, their materializing! Get your hands off that thing, you're feeding them!" I'm... trying...! With a final and forced effort, my hands fell free of the sword's handle, getting thrown back in the process. I fell onto my back for the second time, but there was no time to catch my breath. Almost instinctively, I pulled out the potion of Truesight and finished off the rest of its contents. As soon as my vision went blue, I saw what was really happening behind the sword and the armour. The thousands that I saw were watching were getting pulled into the armour, and the armour was fed a line of magic from the sword. The white ectoplasmic line of human magic fed between the people, the sword and the armour. Inside the set's chestplate, a single being was formed. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The Mane Six climbed upwards. The dome itself was its own room in the building, and the only place that had something in it. But they couldn't believe their eyes at what they saw. In the concealed dome, was a single statue. A grayed statue of an Alicorn. They stood there, staring at the stone figure. It was posing majestically. It was on its belly, eyes closed and sleeping. "Okay, I'm officially confused here!" exclaimed Rainbow Dash. "This is impossible!" Twilight said in amazement. "There are only three recorded Alicorns in the present. Why is there one here?" As Twilight stepped closer, her horn began to glow. The magenta hue of magic pulsed uncontrollably. Twilight couldn't do anything about it, but watch it happen, along with the rest of her friends. "Twilight, what are you doing?!" "I... I don't know! But look!" She raised a hoof at the statue. The grey figure began to glow as well. And like a layer of cloth, the stone slowly faded off the Alicorn. The colour of its mane and coat could now be seen. The Alicorn's eyes remained closed, and the Mane Six just watched in shock, when the Alicorn did speak. "If you're here to plunder, I can tell you there is nothing left. So please, leave!" The strong voice of wise stallion came from the Alicorn. The elements of harmony didn't now how to respond. Fluttershy cowered behind Applejack. Rarity swayed onto Twilight's shoulder, while Rainbow Dash jumped in front of all of them, a serious look on her face. All except for Pinkie Pie. "Good afternoon, Mr Alicorn! I'm Pinkie Pie, nice to meet you! And we're-" "Wait... Pinkie Pie?" The Alicorn's eyes shot open, and he sat up immediately. "Twilight... Rarity... Rainbow Dash...? You're all here! You're all alive, thank goodness!" The Alicorn jumped up and hugged the Mane Six, all of which had now submitted to complete confusion. I missed you all so much... His voice cracked In the middle of the embrace, Pinkie Pie suddenly broken into vibrations once more. "Pinkie senses are back!" The rest of the group broke the embrace, even the Alicorn. "What is it Pinkie?" "Twitchy tail, eye flutter, shoulder ache, knee twitch, ear flop..." It all stopped again, Pinkie Pie landed in a sitting position. "Uh... we haven't seen anythin' like that before Pinkie..." commented Applejack. "What does all that mean?" Pinkie Pie gulped, a stern look on her face. "An epic battle is about to go down." "Oh no..." The Alicorn spoke up again, causing the Mane Six to flinch. "You didn't happen to come with somepony else did you?" "We have, Sir..." Twilight said shyly. "And... is it a... human by any chance?" "Yes, Sir. And how did you know that?" "Aw crap..." The Alicorn paced back and forth, in deep thought. "The time has come... this is bad. Real bad." ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The glass shattered to a thousand pieces as the new human figure broke through it. Materialization was complete, and through the effects of the potion, I watched as all the souls and auras of all the people formed into one being. But the potion was no longer needed to see it. The other human was real. A big man, donning the armour, trudged up to the sword. Standing at the stand, he looked at the blade, and then at me. I rushed up to my feet, and fearfully placed the hand on my weapon. "Foolish traitor!" The souls had taken the form of a man. He looked middle-aged but was clean-shaven and strong. His voice was low, almost to the point of growling. "You return, after all this time, and you think you can face us?!" His voice bellowed, echoing throughout the cave. In one swift motion, he one-handedly raised the sword from the stone. He held it in one hand, swinging the blade at the ground. The rocks suffered more than a slice mark, giving way to the sharp blade. "When we fell, we fell as many. But we have learned from our mistakes. We shall not die divided!" The man stepped down from the stand, the ground shook slightly with each step. I inched backwards slightly, pulling out my own sword. He could have resonated power for all I could tell. He brought the sword up, in two hands, to a ready position. Pure fury was in his eyes. "But you ran, you coward! You abandoned your people!" "I did no such thing!" I shouted back. "LIES!" Voices again, from every direction, shouted at my direction. I cringed when it actually produced a draft of wind. "THERE IS NO ESCAPE NOW TRAITOR! FOR MORE THAN A THOUSAND YEARS, WE WAITED! WAITED FOR THE ONE WHO TOOK WHAT WASN'T RIGHTFULLY HIS." He raised his arm and pointed at my chest. "AT FIRST WE WERE MANY! NOW WE ARE ONE! I AM ONE! I AM LEGION!!"