Collision Code

by SSJRandomMaster

Act 2 Chapter 8

Act II: Collision Course
Chapter 8: Step Up: Game Start
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Equestria Log – Day 9

You know, I’m having doubts that I’ll be able to do what I want to, but I’m not content with just sitting behind the lines. Even if it means I’ll be working harder than I ever have before. I can’t say what I’ve chosen to do is in any way sane or thought-out. But after what they’ve done for me, it’s the right thing to do.

For whatever reason, I was writing runes against that creature. Whatever I wrote or cast or whatever was enough to one-shot it. If I can figure out the mechanics behind the runes, I might be able to find a way to use that spell again.

So, today begins what is likely the first time I’ve ever done serious studying. Twilight seems to insist on getting together what we can find out about runes, if anything. I’m still going to be learning regular magic too, but I want to try to learn the runic stuff too; it could possibly be a greater asset than I think it could be.

I’m going to be a bigger help than before, Twilight. This much, I promise you.
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Twilight had to admit she never thought she’d be walking her way back through the Everfree Forest. It wasn’t exactly a place a pony could go for a pleasant walk even in the middle of the day. However, it was something that she felt had to be done, in the name of knowledge.

First thing in the morning, Twilight had gone to visit each of her friends, asking her which ones would accompany her on a trip through the Everfree Forest. All but one declined for various reasons.

“Gotta say, never thought we’d be back here again,” Rainbow observed, looking across the bridge she’d fixed so long ago, “You sure there’s anything worth lookin’ for in there?”

“Well, it seems like a good place to start,” Twilight said, “This is the castle that Princess Celestia and Princess Luna both grew up in when they were young.”

“And?” Rainbow asked.

“There might be something here that can give us some insight into the creatures we encountered,” Twilight continued, “And possibly contain information on runic magic I haven’t seen yet.”

“You think something like that,” Rainbow commented, pointing to the dilapidated castle across the bridge, “Would be in a place like this?”

“It couldn’t hurt to look,” Twilight said.

“Hey, what’s taking so long?!” Rainbow called out, her and Twilight’s heads turned to look back down the path. John was walking up to the group, looking maybe mildly annoyed if anything. A few steps behind him, dragging his feet, was Corey.

“It wasn’t that much of a walk,” John grumbled to Corey, turning to look at him.

Corey looked down, grumbling something that John either didn’t pick up or chose not to respond to. After a few more seconds the two reached the others. John looked up towards the castle, blinking when he realized where they were. Corey, however, continued to face towards the ground. And there was an odd noise coming from him.

“Are you—“ Rainbow blinked, looking over to Corey, “Are you out of breath!?”

“No,” Corey snapped, looking up.

Before Rainbow could comment on Corey’s response, Twilight stepped in.

“Well, it looks like we’re all here,” she said, attempting to end the conversation before things got ugly. Twilight took a step onto the old rope bridge, which creaked as she put weight onto that foot, “Let’s go ahead and go inside. Careful, now…”

As Twilight continued to make her way across the old rope bridge, followed by Corey, Rainbow hovered at eye-level with John.

“Touchy…” she whispered, earning a sigh from John.

“You don’t know the half of it,” he said, taking his first step onto the bridge.

The instant his weight shifted, the bridge let out a very loud creak. Twilight stumbled, reaching out for a rope to steady herself; Corey froze and grabbed both ropes for support. John too froze, looking down to where his foot had made the creak. The others were a bit ahead of him now. They all turned back to the start of the bridge, seeing John frozen in place on the bridge. Rainbow let out a small chuckle, but said nothing.

“John,” Corey groaned from where he was stating, “I don’t know if the bridge can take you like you are now…”

John blinked, re-checking himself. In that moment, he’d forgotten he was a dragon, and as such, had a much larger and heavier frame than he did back on Earth. More importantly, he’d also forgotten something else that came with being a dragon.

“Hey, who’s been training you to use these things?” Rainbow’s voice piped in, coming along with a very light tap on one of the very large wings that were on his back. She hovered next to him, a confident smirk on her face, “Here, I’ll show you what you gotta do…”

By now, everyone had pretty much made it across the bridge. Rainbow backed up a bit before flying across the gap, not even touching the bridge or even hovering over it.

“Just like that, John!” Rainbow called across the gap. Corey seemed confused, until he turned his attention back to John. He stood there, watching. Everyone was now watching him.

Gliding across the gap? John thought, looking across the gap once again, I could make it…Maybe I’ll take her up on it, see if I can do this.

John backed up a bit from the bridge. He took a step to his left, so he wouldn’t even need to worry about breaking the bridge if he missed. With a few steadying breaths, John prepared himself for the riskiest flight he’d ever taken.

Don’t miss! John reminded himself. With one last intake of air, he rushed forward, opening his wings to catch the wind from his running start. As soon as he felt he needed to, he took the biggest jump his body would allow him to. His wings caught the wind, and he gained a little height as he began to glide his way across the gap. He continued to clear the gap, the others looking on.

“He’s already gone this far?” Corey wondered aloud, watching John’s trajectory in the air carefully. It seemed like he had the height and distance down.

“Yeah, I know, I did a—“ Rainbow caught something, and instead let off an “—uh” instead of a brag. Now that John had cleared most of the distance, something else very important came up. John’s face had changed from a confident look to one of abject fear, and he was losing height faster than he was gaining distance.

John crashed hard into the rock wall chest-first, causing him to cough a little. However, his clawed hands quickly found traction on the rocks, saving him from falling down.

“John!” Corey called out, taking a few steps forward before rushing over to him, “Can you get up?”

“No, no, it’s cool,” John said, slowly maneuvering one of his clawed feet to try to climb back up. His first attempt did him no favors; he lost traction and slipped a little. However, on his second attempt, he managed to get a good grip and began making his way back him. Corey had his hand extended to try to help him up, but soon regretted it when he realized just how hard a dragon who’d just almost taken a nasty fall can grip his hand.

“Seriously, John,” Rainbow said, “What’s it with you and crashing into things?”

Soon as everyone had gathered around the doors following John’s mishap, Twilight got the group to re-focus on the goal at hand.

“Alright,” said Twilight, “Let’s see if we can find what we’re looking for…”

With that, she pushed the doors open, allowing the group inside. The castle interior looked no better on the inside than it did the outside. Walls were cracked, windows were shattered, and part of the ceiling above was caved in.

It was almost exactly as the show depicted it, Corey and John knew this. Even so, Corey and John stood in awe. It didn’t matter how many times they’d seen it in the show; it didn’t compare to seeing it up close and personal.

So this is where it all started, Corey thought, images of the battle between the Mane Six and Nightmare Moon resurfacing in his mind as he looked around.

“I take it neither of you have ever been in a castle before?” asked Twilight, noticing the looks of wonder on their faces.

“Not many castles close to where we lived,” said Corey. John merely nodded in agreement, still looking around.

“Doubt they could compare to this, though,” John added.

“And this is just the surface,” Twilight said, “Actually, this’ll be a first for all of us. The last time Rainbow and I were here we didn’t exactly have the time to see what this castle had to offer.”

John and Corey knew this much already. Twilight also gave herself a moment of pause, remembering that fateful night. How long ago was it? Still less than a year, she remembered that much. To her, it was far more than the night when Princess Celestia was reunited with her sister, Princess Luna.

It was also the night in which Twilight met the greatest friends a pony could ask for.

“Come on,” she said at last, turning to the others, “It might take some time to find the library here.”

“So where do we start?” asked Rainbow, looking around. The part of the castle they were in now had several entrances to different hallways. Directly in front of them was a staircase upwards which probably lead to more stairs.

“That’s a good question,” Twilight said, hand to chin as she began to think it over, “Probably isn’t worth wasting time on trying to figure out which to pick first. Probably best to go with the closest hall,” Twilight pointed to that particular hallway, “And go from there.”

No one had any objections. All three followed close behind Twilight as she made her way down the hall. Rainbow began to hover next to Twilight as she walked, eventually striking up a conversation. A little ways behind them, Corey and John did the same.

“So I take it you were told about the breakout too?” asked John.

“Yeah,” Corey said.

“How’d you take it?” John questioned. Corey paused as the memory of yesterday afternoon washed over him.

“Not so good,” Corey sighed, “Took all I could not to have another panic attack. It was just too much to take in. Yesterday’s attack was one thing…” Dropping his voice super low in volume so Twilight and Rainbow couldn’t hear him, he continued with, “You’d almost expect it, given this world’s track record…”

“But after hearing what could have been the cause,” Corey only raised his volume just a little afterward, “To find out the very gates that held back the worst of the worst were wrenched open,” Corey paused yet again, a small chill dancing its way down his spine, “The thought of it was terrifying.”

Can’t blame you, Corey, John thought, thinking back to when he found out about it, It’s a normal response. But what does that say about my own?

“How about you?” Corey asked, breaking John from his thoughts, “How’d you take the news?”

John wasn’t sure how to answer this, partly because he still couldn’t believe how little of a reaction he’d had at the time, and partly because he knew Corey could get a little…volatile. It was more the former fact, though; everyone else was afraid, all worried about what could happen. And yet all he did was shrug it off…

“I…had my share of problems when I found out too,” John said, “I had a hard time falling asleep last night.”

Corey looked over to John, seeing him rub the back of his head and look away as he did so. Though both of those seemed normal in themselves for John, it still didn’t seem right.

“John, are you sure you’re—“ Corey couldn’t finish his sentence. From ahead of them, a good ways ahead of them, there was a loud scream; worse still, Rainbow and Twilight were nowhere to be seen.

“What happened?” John asked.

“Don’t tell me…” Corey responded, remembering something very important about the castle from previous viewings. John remembered it too; both boys took one look at each other. Realizing both of them were on the same page, both took off into a full sprint down the hall.

“Twilight!?” Corey shouted back.

“Over here, hurry!” Twilight called back; her voice sounded closer than it did before. Up ahead, the two saw another door, “Sweet Celestia, I can’t believe it!”

The two pressed forward towards the door, still hearing Twilight the whole way. They were fifteen yards and closing from the door.

“There are…”

Ten yards.

“There are…!”

Five yards.

“So many!”

Corey and John burst through the doors, ready to help if needed—

“Books!!!”

Corey and John paused, finally taking in the picture ahead of them. Twilight stood in the center of the room, several books floating around her as she twirled around gleefully—were those stars in her eyes?

“What…in…the…” Corey asked, looking around for the first time.

“As you can see, she found the library,” said Rainbow, who Corey and John both only now realized was standing next to them with her arms crossed.

John and Corey continued to look around, the shock of hearing Twilight scream. What Rainbow said was true, they were standing inside a library; a rather large one at that. Putting two and two together, the two men realized they’d jumped to the wrong conclusion; the scream Twilight uttered wasn’t of terror, but of joy.

John sighed in relief, applying a palm to his face. Corey released his own sigh, but his palm went directly over his heart, which was still beating hard; more from the fear reaction than the run, Corey realized.

Should have known… Corey thought, But after what just happened, am I really wrong to have assumed something worse…?

“Well, don’t just stand there!” Twilight said; a few moments later, the others in the room were pulled towards her via her magic, “We have little time and a lot of library to search through! We’ll each take one of the four corners and see what we can find!”

Wasting no time at all, Twilight picked the corner that she believed had the most books and began her search.

“This is gonna be a long day…” Rainbow groaned, hanging her head.

“I’ll just…stand here and keep guard,” said John. It wasn’t like he hated reading, but from the looks of any of the corners, it seemed like too many books to sift through—

“Oh no you don’t!” Rainbow said, grabbing John by the ear, “If I have to, then so do you…”

Corey watched, mildly amused, as Rainbow began to drag John back towards the books. Quickly, Corey turned before anyone could see his smirk, and took in the corner closest to him.

“Hard to believe he’s a dragon sometimes…” Corey observed, taking a deep breath before walking over to the shelves.
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The library’s collection of material was vast. Even with each of them taking a corner, there were still a lot of books to go through. Each bookshelf held hundreds if not thousands of books of varying size and length. It was surprising to see that despite the relative condition of the castle and how long it had been since any of the books were last used, that the books themselves were in good shape. But even though the books hadn’t been lost to the sands of time, it only meant there were more books for the team to search.

Even after an hour of searching, they had only made a fraction of a dent to the collection. Worse, none of the books they searched through had any information on what they were looking for. After some time everyone was called towards the center of the room by Twilight.

“Any luck?” she asked.

“Whole lot of nothing on my end,” said Rainbow, leaning on one of the desks around them.

“Same here,” John said, “Lots of novels and stuff like that, but nothing close to what we’re looking for.”

Twilight bit down on the tip of her thumb; she was afraid of that. Turning to Corey, she asked him a simple question.

“How about you, Corey?” she asked.

“I-I actually found some reference guides,” he said. At first, everyone looked hopeful, until Corey added with a sigh, “But none of them had information on runes.”

The others let out a collective, small groan. So far, all their searching was utterly fruitless.

“Looks like this was a waste…” Rainbow said.

“We don’t know that yet!” Twilight interjected, “Let’s take a little break and try again. We’ll change tactics and all focus on the same side of the library. Since Corey was able to find some reference guides, we’ll start over there.”

Rainbow gave a dismissive scoff at the idea, but didn’t say anything else.

“Actually, I’m going to search a little longer,” Corey said, already moving back towards his corner, “Hey, John, could you help me?”

John followed Corey after a couple of seconds without giving a vocal response. When they were a ways away from the girls, Corey stopped, appearing to inspect the shelves.

“Where are we starting?” John asked.

“Actually, John,” Corey said, turning to look past John to make sure Twilight and Rainbow hadn’t followed; they hadn’t. With that in mind, Corey dropped his voice in volume just a little, “I just wanted to get out of earshot.”

“And why do you want to do that?” John questioned, raising a brow. Corey motioned for John to come closer. John followed the non-verbal command; only then did Corey speak again.

“I was thinking, you remember the episode where we saw the inside of the castle, right?” Corey whispered, “From the…current season? And Inspiration Manifestation, too?”

John nodded. He remembered very well; Spike found a hidden book in the library and took it to a struggling Rarity. Needless to say, things spiraled out of control from there.

“Yeah, I do,” John said, “What about them?”

“The information Twilight had on runes were limited to just basic things about them; that is, what they were and what they were used for in the old days. She said there was nothing else out there…all the information seemingly vanished. I don’t think something like that would just vanish without a reason. It’s got to be hidden somewhere in here, in those passageways we saw…or ones like them,” Corey explained, keeping his voice low.

John looked around, scanning the covers of all the books on the shelves. Slowly, John began to understand exactly what Corey was trying to say.

“So you think it’s hidden?” John asked, “Like that book? It’s possible…something like that being removed from public view? You wouldn’t want just anyone to find it. But what are the chances this library will have something?”

“I’m not sure,” Corey said, “But you know what?” Corey paused, as though trying to choose his words, “It’s gotta be worth a shot if--!”

“Okay, okay,” John cut Corey off, knowing full well where that tangent was going, “It might be worth a shot, but how are we going to go about this?”

Corey looked back to the bookshelves, a dour expression on his face.

“Check everything that works,” Corey said, as seriously as if he’d just reported on a terrorist attack, “If we use every haunted house cliché we can think of, maybe we’ll get lucky.”

John understood well enough what Corey was getting at, and gave him a nod.

“Keep checking the shelves, I’ll check other things,” said John, already moving away to do whatever. Corey turned back to the shelves, and began resting his hands on the tomes that were lined up there. However, Corey began to tilt each book, one by one to see if something was holding.

Biggest cliché of all, book switch, Corey thought, haphazardly testing any books that he felt looked suspicious.

Snap!

“What was that?” Corey asked, whipping his head around to the sound. John stood next to a headless statue, clearly hiding something behind his back.

“Um…there was no switch to be found under the statue’s head…” John said, bringing the broken head into view.

Corey groaned and applied his palm to his face, shaking his head in disapproval. Corey turned back to the books once again while John tried to find a way to hide the stone head. Eventually, John gave up and very clumsily rested it back on the statue as best he could.

That’s hardly noticeable… thought John to himself, looking at the askew, cracked head on the bust.

The two continued to search for hidden switches for a few more minutes; nothing turned up.

“John, you found anything?” Corey asked, annoyed, having moved a few books aside to look behind them at the shelf itself.

“Nothing,” John said with an annoyed sigh, “Guess clichés just don’t hold up like you’d expect.”

“Dammit,” Corey sighed, “Really hoping they would have…”

“Still no luck, huh?” The sound of Rainbow’s voice got their attention. Both Corey and John turned to see her and Twilight walking up to them, having no idea of what the two boys were trying to invoke.

“Well, hopefully, we’ll have better luck together,” Twilight said, turning to Rainbow, “Rainbow, how about you check the top shelves?”

“Sure thing,” Rainbow began to float upwards towards the top of the bookshelf. The search continued from here, the team tackling the shelves from two different points. It looked like it would be a long day of searching, with a lot of doubt if they’d find anything at all in the old library. However…

“What the hay?” Everyone looked up at the sound of Rainbow’s question. They saw Rainbow, whose hand was clenched tightly around a book, pulling on it. However, the book seemed to be superglued to the shelf.

“What’s wrong, Rainbow?” asked Twilight, calling up to her.

“Stupid thing won’t budge!” Rainbow shouted, putting her other hand on the book and beginning to tug even harder on it. This didn’t work. Eventually, she began to move into position.

“Rainbow, don’t do that!” Twilight called out, seeing Rainbow putting her feet on the shelf just below the offending book for leverage. Rainbow didn’t listen, her focus entirely on the book that refused to budge. In this position, Rainbow gave the book one last hard pull back. Only then did the book finally come out of its place.

“Finally gotcha, you little—“ Rainbow’s gloating was cut short when the only thing holding her up shifted, and she began to fall, caught off-guard…

“Gotcha!” John called out, placing himself under Rainbow with his arms held out in front of him. It wasn’t too hard a catch to make; Rainbow pretty much fell right into his arms. With this in mind, John unleashed his next statement, “Had a nice fall?”

Rainbow let out a groan, smacking him over the head with the book that had been so hard to pull out.

At that moment, there was a loud sound; one that matched the sound of a latch coming undone. Suddenly, the bookshelf in front of them started to move up, taking the wall with it. Everyone watched in awe as this happened. Eventually, a hollowed out path was revealed to be behind the bookcase. John’s eye twitched as he took that in.

Oh sure, but when we want to find one, it doesn’t pop up… John thought.

“Hey, you can put me down now,” Rainbow said flatly. John looked down, only now realizing he was still carrying her.

“Maybe I don’t want to?” John joked, smirking down at her.

“Don’t make me hit you again,” said Rainbow as she held up the book again to show her threat was not idle.

John chuckled a little at her response, which earned him the promised whack over the head. With that, John finally put Rainbow down. All four of them began to enter the passage. Once they’d entered, they could see it wasn’t a hallway, but a path to a spiral staircase that lead downwards. Along the stone walls were strange green crystals that lit up the passageway with an eerie glow of the same color. But even with the help of the light, no one could see the bottom of it.

“Wonder what’s down there…” John whistled, his curiosity at its peak.

“Only one way to find out,” Twilight said, taking the lead as she began to make her way down the stairs. Corey followed soon afterward; John and Rainbow going down after him. However, the group didn’t get too far down before Rainbow, looking down the middle of the spiral stairs, spoke up.

“You know, I could just fly down there and bring whatever I find back up here,” Rainbow pointed out.

“And if you couldn’t, we’d still need to go down there,” Twilight said back.

“Okay, but we still have wings,” Rainbow argued, “We could just fly down there, it’d be a lot faster.”

“Not all of us,” Twilight said, motioning towards Corey, “Not going to leave him behind to go down alone.”

“Oh, come on,” Rainbow groaned, “All the spells you know and you’re telling me you don’t have one that would help him down?”

Twilight halted, pondering it for a moment. However, she eventually thought of a simple one that would work.

“Actually, I think I have just the thing,” Twilight said, raising one finger up.

“Perfect,” said Rainbow, already beginning to hover in preparation for her flight down, “I’ll see ya when ya reach the bottom!”

“Bet I can beat you there,” said John.

“You’re on!” Rainbow shot back.

With that, John jumped off the stairs and made use of gravity to take him down. Rainbow flew downwards under her own power. Soon as they were out of sight, Twilight put her focus into a spell. A magenta platform soon appeared in the center of the spiral stairs.

“And here I thought that Applejack was the only one who shared Rainbow’s competitive nature,” she said, stepping onto the platform.

“You don’t know the half of it,” said Corey, deadpan, as he joined Twilight. With a flash of Twilight’s horn, the platform turned into an elevator and began to descend.
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When the platform finally reached the bottom, Corey and Twilight were immediately greeted by the sight of Rainbow performing a victory dance as John watched with a slightly annoyed look on his face.

“I take it you beat him?” Twilight asked of Rainbow.

“I don’t wanna talk about it…” John said flatly.

“He chickened out and opened his wings before we reached the bottom,” Rainbow gloated.

“Didn’t you say you survived a thirty foot fall?” asked Corey to John.

“Doesn’t mean I want to make a habit of it!” John shouted back, “Anyway…we found something when we get here too.”

John pointed down the path as he said this. All heads turned ahead, down a corridor with more of the luminescent crystals. At the end of it was a large wooden double door with a large amount of details. Also, there were two alicorns, one on each door.

These alicorns on the door, Twilight thought, They don’t look like how the Royal Sisters were depicted in ancient texts!

“Have you tried opening it?” asked Twilight.

“Yeah,” Rainbow said, “But it’s locked.”

The group moved towards the door, Twilight going slightly ahead to inspect it. She placed her palm on the wood. As soon as he did, she sensed something was off about it.

“You’re right, it is locked,” said Twilight, turning to the others, “But not in the traditional sense.”

“Magic?” asked Corey.

“Most likely,” Twilight responded, turning back to the door and putting her palm back on it again; her horn alight with a magenta hue, “Give me a second. I should be able to undo it.”

Everyone watched as Twilight’s horn began to glow brighter, her magical hue starting to coat the door.

“Alright, now one little spell and—“ Twilight was cut off by a surge coming not from her, but from the door, one that shot out and knocked her off her feet, “Ack!”

Twilight fell backwards, on to the ground.

“Twilight!” Corey was, surprisingly, the first to respond, already moving towards her, “Are you okay?”

“Yeah…” Twilight groaned, sitting up, “The lock on the door was more powerful than I thought. It rejected my spell and repelled the source of it; unfortunately, it was me.” As Twilight got to her feet, Rainbow did a double take.

“Um, Twilight,” she said, “You might want to take a look at this…”

Twilight looked to Rainbow first, but then took a look back at the door when she realized not just Rainbow, but everyone regarded the door with a renewed sense of wonder. As soon as she saw it, she adopted a similar expression.

“It can’t be…” Now there was something on the door that wasn’t there before Twilight had attempted to unlock it. There was something written in white all across the doors, and it was glowing brightly. But it wasn’t in English.

“Runes…” Twilight mumbled, in complete disbelief, “It can’t be a coincidence…”

All this time had been spent searching on the runic language; now a door was covered in similar runes to what Corey had written the day before.

“Think what we’re looking for is behind those doors?” John asked, walking up.

“Maybe,” Twilight said, “But it doesn’t matter, I don’t know anything about runic magic, so I can’t unlock the door.”

A feeling of frustration began to settle in at this point; they were so close, but a barricade separated them from what they wanted to find.

“Well, this is under the Princesses’ old castle,” said Rainbow, “You think any of them might be able to?”

“It’s possible,” Twilight said, “But even if they do, it doesn’t change the fact that we won’t be able to open the doors, for now, at least. Let’s head back. I’ll send Princess Celestia a letter as soon as we get back to Ponyville.”

Already Twilight had begun moving back towards the stairs, already composing her report as she went. However, the mention of someone’s name caught her attention.

“Corey?” This was John’s voice, “What are you…?”

Twilight turned. Corey was standing up a little straighter than normal, walking towards the door, looking right at the runes that marked it.

“Careful, Corey,” Twilight warned, fearing it would only knock him back too, “You don’t want to get too close to it.”

Corey didn’t even seem to hear the others. His attention was solely on the door now, as if he were in a trance. As soon as he was in front of it, Corey raised a hand and placed it on the door. At first nothing happened; not even a repelling force.

“Does it only repel magic?” Rainbow asked, just before something changed.

The runes on the door changed from pure white to a bright green shade; without any warning at all. Then, the runes began to move. Corey looked up to the runes, now clearly looking confused.

D—Did I…? Corey thought to himself, his palm still firmly pushing against the door.

Everyone stared, their mouths hanging wide open, as the runes eventually began to circle around the door. Soon, the runes began to slow down. The very moment they stopped, the runes vanished and the doors opened automatically. Only now did Corey finally lower his hand.

“I…” Twilight asked, walking up to him, “How did you do that?”

“I…I don’t know,” Corey said, looking to the hand that had done the job, “I just touched it, and…”

Twilight was speechless; when she had tried to unlock the door, she was knocked to the floor. But Corey; without even being aware of what he had done until after the fact, had caused a reaction in the runes that granted them access.

But why… Twilight wondered to herself. However, she soon managed to force the question into the back of her mind. Right now, the door was open. So, they were free to see what was so important that it required ancient magic to lock it away.

“Come on,” Twilight said, walking through the doors. The others followed her into what was a very small room. In the very center of the room, they spotted a pure white podium. And on top of it was what they believed they were looking for, a book, and a rather large one at that. Twilight studied the cover of the book; however, she noticed something important.

It had no title. However, the runes that decorated the front of it was proof enough.

“Is this…?” Corey trailed off, pointing at the book.

“I think so,” said Twilight, using her magic to levitate the book off the podium. This time, there was no magical backlash to accompany it here. She looked to the book as it floated in front of her, “Looks like we’re getting more information than we bargained for.”

“Think we’ll be able to cover it all?” wondered Corey aloud.

“I’m sure we can, and besides,” Turning to face Corey, Twilight offered him a confident look, “We’ve got plenty of time…”
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Princess Celestia sat alone in her throne room with a piece of parchment levitating in front of her via the use of her magic. The parchment was the latest letter from her former student, Twilight Sparkle, and it detailed the events of the day before. How many times had she re-read it? Celestia had lost count by now. Ever since she learned of the breakout from Tartarus, Princess Celestia had been wary of an attack. But the one Twilight had described in her letter was not what she had expected to hear about.

“Seven clay-like creatures, each with markings and eyes that glow red,” Celestia repeated the description of the creatures as it was written on the parchment. Off the top of her head, Celestia believed it to be some form of puppeteer magic.

This kind of magic is not unheard of, but it is not something just anyone can master, Celestia knew of one who had the power to control, but she needed to be in constant contact with her victim in order to sustain it. But the magic behind the creatures that attacked Twilight and her friends was on a level of its own. It didn’t just give motion to several inanimate objects but also simulated the movements of a living creature—a feat that not many magical creatures, living or dead, had been able to accomplish.

Is it possible that someone in Tartarus is behind this? Are the escaped prisoners already making their moves? This was a thought that had haunted Celestia since the count of escaped prisoners began. She knew that they were out there, plotting. And nothing could tell her exactly how far their sanity had gone in their years behind bars.

“What do I do now…?” Celestia asked herself, “If I continue to keep this from the public, then no one will be prepared if the prisoners should finally reveal themselves. But if they do know of what happened, it could cause a widespread panic, one the prisoners could take advantage of.”

The amber light around the parchment faded, letting it flutter gently to the side. Celestia ran her hands through her mane, which even now continued to flow as if wind were blowing through it despite her mood.

I do not know where I should go from here… Celestia thought to herself.

“Frustrating, is it not?” Celestia sat up straight as the sudden voice echoed all around her. She searched her surroundings, but found that no one else seemed to be in the room with her, “All the years you’ve ruled over this land, all the conflicts you’ve handled personally…you’ve gained quite a lot of experience under that crown of yours…”

By now, Celestia was on her feet, walking down the steps of her throne room as she searched everywhere she could think of for the source of the voice. All the while, it continued to talk to her.

“But now you’re faced with something you’d never expected to face. The very gate constructed to protect your followers from darkness had just set them free. And now, you find that you haven’t the knowledge required to fix it.” The voice capped off its round of mocking with an amused-sounding laugh.

“Show yourself,” Celestia demanded of the voice, only to be met with more mocking laughter that seemed to echo all around her.

“Very well,” said the voice. At first, Celestia was met with silence, seeing no signs of anypony around her. But then, she heard something. A slight noise, sounding like the tiniest shuffles of feet. Her eyes searched the room again.

“Down here, princess,” The voice directed; Celestia looked down and was met with a strange figure. At first glance, it looked like an ordinary rat. But when she looked close, she saw it was far more. This rat was not made of flesh, but clay, but that wasn’t all. The creature’s eyes and the markings on its body both were glowing bright red, just like Twilight had described with the creatures in her letter.

As the rat stood before her its body began to glow brighter, a small ray of light erupting from its back. Celestia found herself taking a step back in anticipation for what would come. Looking up, she took notice that something was formed in the light in front of her. A figure had projected itself inside of the light; tall, definitely, but that was all Celestia could distinguish for the figure’s body was covered by a red cloak; matching the glow on the rat below it. And even though it was just a projection, the figure gave off an aura of power and control.

“Greetings, Princess Celestia,” spoke the figure. Despite the deep tone of the voice, Celestia had reason to believe that it was being altered. Whoever this was had taken steps to preserve his or her identity, “Tell me, how are things in Tartarus?”

At this, Celestia felt a chill run down her spine. Though the figure hadn’t said it directly, the way it spoke of Tartarus, she knew one thing for sure.

“It was you, wasn’t it?” asked Celestia, “You broke open the gates of Tartarus?” she demanded of the figure.

“Indeed it was,” said the figure.

“How?” Though the figure’s face was covered by the hood, Celestia saw the smirk that had spread across it.

“Come now, princess, do you really expect me to share my secrets so easily?” asked the figure, “If you wish to find out the means, you will have to figure it out yourself.” Celestia expected as much, but it still frustrated her. This figure had come to her and revealed its hand in the opening of the gates; however, Celestia felt there was something more to it, something unsaid.

“What is it that you want?” asked Celestia.

“I have been away a long time princess, trapped alone in my cell. What I want…no, wbat I demand is entertainment,” the figure said, “So today, I wish to extend an invitation, an invitation to join in my little game…”

There was something off about the way the figure used that last word.

“Game?” asked Celestia, completely flatly. She couldn’t see the face of the cloaked pony in the hologram, but taking in everything; the magic that was being used to animate the rat, the magic used yesterday, the almost business-like tone the hologram took with her…and of course, what seemed to be a disregard for how many lives were involved, “What game is this?”

“It’s a thriller,” the hologram’s lower face was visible; a smile appeared on the mouth that was visible, “A game that pits the ones cast into Hell, against those who supposedly walk in the light. The game that will show just what kind of creature a pony is when pushed…”

“How can you treat something like life as a simple game?” Celestia demanded of the holographic projection, “It’s something that’s meant to be precious…something that shouldn’t just be treated as—“

“Save me the lectures, Celestia,” the hologram snapped, the smile only slightly fading, “Believe me, you say that now; that is certainly why Tartarus has no…capital punishment. But trust in me when I say that we do not share the same views.”

“We?” asked Celestia.

“The other escaped prisoners and myself, of course,” the figure explained, “Who do you think has kept them from making themselves known?”

Celestia did her best to remain calm, but it was hard now that she knew someone had taken up a leading role among the escaped prisoners.

“But that will change very soon. Both sides have already set their pieces. All that remains is for the kings to make their move…”

“Kings? Pieces?” To Celestia, this figure was describing a chess game; however, once the figure raised its hand and swiped it, she was immediately assaulted by the sight of several other projections; not other figures, but movies, in a sense—clips of yesterday’s battle between Twilight, her friends, and the creatures that had attacked them.

“I expected as much out of the Elements of Harmony to attend,” Next, the figure snapped its figures, two more images appearing, “But these two were a surprise.”

Celestia’s eyes grew wide. In one of the new screens, clear as day, was John, fighting a couple and doing reasonably well. One of them, though hard to make out for some reason, still featured Corey fighting one of the creatures alone.
“No!” Celestia snapped, “You have no right to command who is involved in this!”

Her anger began to peak; in the wake of it, her body began to steam. Ignoring Celestia’s outburst, the figure continued on.

“I have that and more,” the images around the figure began to shift into something else. In several, she could still see the Elements. However, she could tell this wasn’t a back recording—it was a live feed! It was showing them, in real time, just going about their lives.

“As you are aware, my little friend here was able to sneak past your guards without being spotted. It would be a simple matter to get to anyone else.”

“Even them,” The images shifted again. Some came from the hospital; Celestia could see the guard that had barged into her castle that fateful night along with his friends. Others revealed ponies that Celestia knew, some workers in the castle. Other revealed ponies close to the Elements; their family, friends, even their pets. Celestia’s fist tightened as her fur began to glow.

“I see you understand now,” said the figure, “But I can promise you that they will be untouched, so long as you follow my set of rules.”

It took every ounce of self-control Celestia had amassed over the centuries she’d been alive to not erupt in fury then and there.

“Speak…” she commanded, her voice making no effort to conceal the anger she felt.

“At any point in time, I will send out any number of my pieces. You can feel free to respond with any number of your own,” said the hologram, “A piece is no longer valid if it, for some reason, drops out, or, if it is destroyed in a significant way. ‘Destroyed’ need not imply death, but think about who you’re up against before you make your move…”

“Naturally, I will not be announcing any of my movements; I don’t expect to hear anything from you regarding yours at this point in time. You may make preparations to engage my forces, but I’d be careful about leaving your loved ones unguarded…” This figure was doing everything it could to push Celestia, but she wasn’t going to give it the pleasure of seeing her snap.

“Is that all?” she asked.

“One more thing, the only ones allowed to engage my pawns are yours. I’ll even allow your guards to join in. But under no circumstances are you, your sister, or the lord of chaos himself allowed to intervene in this confrontations, or else there will be a suitable punishment.”

With one more snap of the figure’s fingers, all the images around it shattered away from view like panes of glass.

“I hope you are quick to remember, because I will not be stating the rules again. I recommend you inform your pawns. They’ll need to get ready before my next assault. Which may be sooner than you think,” as the voice faded away, so did the projection of the cloaked figure, leaving behind only the small rat.

The small artificial creature might have run away or evaporated into dust like the others, but it didn’t have the time. As Celestia stormed past it, its body was quickly reduced to nothing but ash that blew away by some unseen force.

Making her way to the door, she opened them with nearly enough force to break them right off the hinges. As she made her way down the hall, she could no longer her the guards that were calling out to her.

“I don’t have time to waste,” she said to herself, “I must prepare them for what is to come…”

Author's Note:

And here's where we see the big plan to what's about to happen. I'm not quite sure what else to say. Until next week.

Comments

[EnderHooves]

she could no longer her the guards that were calling out to her.

No longer hear.

Things are getting intense.

[dyedquartz]

Welp, the crap is slamming the fan.

[Luna is back]

Called it, chess. This will be intense.