Silence.
Twilight looked around her, now having appeared in a new place, a new…plane of existence. She looked over herself, seeing her coat was now black with grey and white outlines. The world itself was nothing more than a black void, totally devoid of light.
She started walking forward, cautiously. She’d already performed this spell twice, and both times had her see something nopony should ever see. Complete terror, chaos in the mind. The nightmares that were pulling her friends apart were true horrors to perceive. She thinks back to a few moments ago, how passive Silver was about the nightmares. No worry on his face, no pain…not even a grimace when she mentioned she was going to look into his mind.
“Why do I think that’s so strange?” She says to herself, the voice echoing in her mind but her mouth emitting no sound. Every step she took was without sound. She quickly performs her light spell, emitting rays of light from her horn, but they reach out three feet before disappearing, as if being devoured by the darkness in front of her.
“Of course that wasn’t going to work…but still, why is it so dark here?” She asks herself, continuing forward, using whatever light produced by her spell to see where she’s going. She seems to be walking on what feels like very smooth granite. She stops for a moment, sliding a hoof over it, feeling no resistance, like ice. She continues moving forward, looking around, nothing but black around her.
Suddenly, a sound enters her head. The sound of metal, clanking and grinding with a rhythm similar to a colt walking, but it seemed out of beat. The footsteps didn’t count off in a quick one two three four, but rather a slow one, two, one, two.
Twilight stops, looking into the darkness, before a silhouette reveals itself. Unlike her and the void around her, however, this new entity seems to hold some color, some definition. The metal sound becomes clearer, the sound of plates of armor grinding. The shape comes closer, and suddenly lights up, as if it just stepped under a lantern. Twilight looks with surprise at its figure.
It doesn’t look Equestrian…rather, it looks like something she’s seen in an old book. Five spikes extending from the back of the head, contained nicely in a specially made helm of steel. Armor covering most of the body, arms ending in gauntlets who’s backs are covered in spines that curve forward, the fingers themselves looking as sharp as needles. The chest plate is decorative, yet looks thick enough to stop Rainbow herself from breaking through it. The chest plate looks dark purple in color, much like the other pieces of this new beings’ armor, and seems to spread out into spiked shoulder pads. The leg plates look thick with single spikes sticking out, the boots angular in design, shaped into a point. The armor itself looks more like a weapon than protection.
The figure is slouched over, but steps fully into the light. It slowly moves up into a standing position, but has its eyes tightly closed. Its eyelids are silver in color, and it has a tanned skin color around its mouth. It takes a breath in through its nose, and exhales, pitch-black fog coming out with it. It looks towards her, as if having always known she was there.
“…Name…intruder.” It seems to speak to Twilight without moving, the voice echoing within her mind. It carries the tone of a judge, deep, low and commanding.
“T…Twilight Sparkle…where am I?” She asks, instinctively backing away, feeling a force coming off the mysterious figure, a blazing heat. It seems to burn her eyes and torch her skin, yet it only seems to be the feeling of it.
“…Trespasser…” The voice comes through again, now much louder. Twilight holds her head, the words like an explosion in her mind. “…What are you doing here…?” The voice seems to calm a bit, but each word feels like a bomb going off.
“I…Silver was having trouble with nightmares…I came here hoping to find out what was causing them.” She rubs her forehead, looking towards the figure. “Considering I found you…that means you’re the problem.”
This incites a laugh from the figure, it leaning its head back and laughing heartily, the voice no longer echoing in Twilight’s mind. The laugh is a pitch higher than before, now a crazed, high laugh.
“Hahahahahahaha! ME, The problem? Please! I’m the solution here!” It brings its head back down, the eyes now open and the mouth curled into a sick grin. “I’m the solution to every problem he’s ever had!”
Twilight jumps back quite far, trying to widen the gap between her and the figure as much as possible. Something in his pitch black eyes seems to strike pure fear into her…accompanied by another emotion. She feels herself growing angry, sickened by being around this creature. The red irises with knife-edge pupils seem to dig into her skull with a mad thirst for blood.
“Feeling it now? I was wondering when you’d feel me creeping into your soul!” The monster opens his eyes wide, and his grin expands into a toothy smile, his teeth sharp white fangs. “How’s it feel, child?! To have someone prying into your chest without even being near you!”
“Quiet!” Twilight shouts back, severe rage burning in her voice. She has no idea why she hates this creature so much, only that she believes that it shouldn’t exist in this void, or any existence at all. She just wants to see it vanish, hopefully in severe pain.
“Oh look, the little unicorn’s telling me to quiet down! Too bad, sister, you’re in MY WORLD now!” He laughs again, the void quaking under the weight of it. “Ohhh, if only you KNEW the things I want to do to you right now…” His smile grows, and he begins walking closer to Twilight, and he reaches out to her from the light. “Come to me! I’ll make sure your last moments are WORTH IT!”
“Shut up and keep away from me, monster! I want nothing to do with you! Go die in a hole!” Twilight backs away, feeling her body shake from pure anger. Something was happening to her, and it was making her burn with a white-hot hatred she’s never felt before. Her eyes begin to glow as her rage fuels her magic.
“What’s the little unicorn going to do now? Bet she just wants us to die! Isn’t that right, King?!” The figure shouts to the void, no answer coming. “SHE JUST WANTS US TO DIE! Ohohoho, GLORIOUS death! But I’ll make sure we don’t go down without a fight! HIT ME WITH EVERYTHING, UNLESS YOU WANT TO DIE SLOWLY!!!” The monster screams at Twilight, reaching behind him as a black flame grows on his back. It quickly stretches out into a scabbard and blade, and he draws the silver edged sword.
All that’s going through the unicorn’s mind is a repeated message. A repeated message that has never crossed her mind before.
“Kill him.”
The words repeat in her mind, and she finds herself following it. Kill him? Why? The question quickly becomes ‘why not?’, and she focuses her magic into her horn, as much as she can manage.
“Burn, monster!” She roars at him, and without even thinking, she bursts into flames. She feels the inferno consuming her body, and looks over her, the anger quickly being replaced by shock. Her body is covered in black flames, the same that formed that monster’s blade.
“FEEL THE HATE DEVOUR YOUR MIND! Fall back to instinct! Strike me down like I know you want to!!!” The monster screams at her, the clanking of armor now marking a mad sprint at her. She looks up from her burning body towards the shape. He seemed so far away, and now he’s covered the distance in only a few seconds. She widens her eyes and tries to focus her power into an offensive spell when…
“Too late.” The monster says in a matter-of-fact tone, and with a shrug and a light grin, he impales Twilight through the back of the neck with his sword. Seconds of pain become hours, but death doesn’t come. Suddenly she feels herself being ripped out of the world and thrown miles, thousands of miles backwards.
She yelps and jumps back, slamming straight into a bookcase, knocking a ladder over with Spike on it. Everything crashes to the ground, numerous books falling from the shelf. Rainbow jumps a bit, while Sehn just sits there, not looking too surprised.
“W…w…wh…” She can’t seem to find the words, but all the rage she felt earlier seems to have vanished. ‘What was that thing? Was that the source of the nightmares…?’ Twilight thinks to herself, dumbstruck with what she saw.
“Guess I looked a bit too calm for the severity of the nightmares I’ve been having. Sorry about that, Miss Sparkle.” Sehn says with an apologetic smile, bowing slightly.
“I-it’s fine…just…I was surprised, that’s all.” She concludes, before moving over to Rainbow Dash. Her friend, the bravest pony she’s ever known, now has a look of fear on her face.
“Sorry about that. Now we just have to look into your mind.” Twilight takes a seat in front of her friend, the horn now glowing again. The spell seems to short out, though, and the horn loses its power. Twilight furrows her brow, looking up at it.
“Huh?”
“You were just surprised, right? Maybe your mind isn’t all in the right working ways yet. Give it a bit.” Sehn says, as if he has full knowledge of the spell and how it works.
“Alright…guess I’ll just go on with asking you two about the nightmares then. When did they start?” Twilight looks behind her at Spike, who’s now lying on the floor, dazed, Loki shoving him slightly on the shoulder, trying to get him up.
“Awww, my head…” Spike groans, rubbing his forehead. Loki helps him up into a sitting position, and he stands up. “Thanks…”
“Yeah, no problem. Quite the fall you took though, you sure you’re alright?” Loki asks, worry in her eyes.
“I’ll be fine. I’ve had worse happen to me.” Spike says with a smile, moving over to Twilight.
“Sorry…did I do that?” She asks with a grimace.
“Yeah, slammed right into the book case when I was at the top. Knocked the ladder back. I’ll be fine though, don’t worry.” Spike says with a nod, folding his arms.
“Alright. I need a notepad and pen, please.”
“Coming right up.” Spike runs off into another room to gather the supplies.
“Right…which of you wants to start?” Twilight turns back to the pair of ponies in front of her.
“I will, I guess.” Rainbow speaks up, Sehn looking over.
“Got it!” Spike runs back up to the group, carrying a scroll and pen. Twilight levitates them both and holds them in front of her, looking at Rainbow Dash.
“Don’t leave out any details. The more I know, the faster your recovery will be.”
“Right. The nightmares started about a month and a half ago. It started out alright, just small flashes of something chasing me. Nothing bad, right? I wake up, go on with my life like nothing happened. Then, two weeks later, they started getting…more real, I guess. The thing chasing me wasn’t just some black shape, it had a body, a face, four legs, mane and tail. It had a pitch-black coat with a snow-white mane and tail, and its eyes…looked like mine.
But the nightmare wouldn’t stay long. A few seconds after I looked at the thing chasing me, I’d wake up in my bed. I’d be shaken, sure, but I went on.”
“Alright…” Twilight nods, writing down some notes. “Go on.”
Rainbow takes a deep breath before continuing, “Hoo…about a week or so ago, the nightmares took a jump right off the cliff. The thing chasing me had a sword in its mouth, and the irises were still rose-coloured like mine, but the pupils were slits, like Spike’s. She started speaking to me, whispering…I couldn’t make out what she was saying, but it definitely sounded like me. Then…last night…” Rainbow shuts her eyes tight, shaking.
Sehn puts a hoof on her shoulder, and Rainbow looks over. “Keep calm, Miss Dash. This is going towards getting rid of these nightmares, right? Your friend’s here to help us both. Right, Miss Sparkle?” Sehn looks back at the unicorn.
“Of course. You can talk to us without any worry, Rainbow, so just let it out.” Twilight nods with a reassuring look, and Rainbow continues, still trembling slightly.
“The nightmare last night…it…it was…” She shakes, her mouth slamming shut. Sehn sighs.
“Well…if she can’t say it, then you’ll have to see it. It’s been long enough for a mental recovery, I believe.” Sehn says, looking at Twilight.
“Right…alright Rainbow, bear with me for a minute. I’ll help you get through this.” Twilight closes her eyes, the horn beginning to glow again. The spell holds strong, and she brushes Rainbow’s hair away and taps her forehead.
The first thing that enters Twilight’s hearing is shouting. Mad shouting, as if from a tribe of barbarians. Wild growls and insane accusations from all around her.
“She’s the one!”
“KILL HER!”
“Put her to death!”
“Let the others deal with her!”
“We should’ve left her to die there!”
The roars seem to come from nowhere, yet everywhere. Twilight spins around, looking out into the void of white. Red eyes begin to form in the space, surrounded by shadows.
“Guilty! Guilty! Guilty!”
A mad chant begins to form from the echoes of the world. Twilight looks over herself, checking her body for whatever it was that was eating at her in the last vision with Silver. The flames weren’t present on her body though, and the burning hate in her soul hasn’t returned. The chanting becomes worse, and the pair of eyes in front of her, two shining, evil eyes, began to grow a body. The body built itself from the shadows, an inversion of the pure void they were all in.
It grew into the shape of the fiend she’d seen in Silver’s mind, except this one was solid black with blood red eyes, and blood seemed to be coming out of its eyes, instead of tears. The body solidified, but the skin seemed to move with the fluidity of flame. The thing held out an arm, and from it, a sword emerged. From butt to the tip, the blade was pure silver, the guard and blade encrusted with jewels. The shadow seemed to be saying something to her, but the sound was too low to understand.
It raised the blade above its head, egged on by the chanting around it.
“Kill her! Kill her! Kill the bitch! KILL HER!!” The chanting had kept going, on and on, but the earthquake of the noise seemed secondary to Twilight, staring down the shadow in front of her. The world fell silent as the shadow opened its mouth, the inside pure white…
“…I’m sorry.” Is all that is said before the blade comes down with blinding speed, and Twilight is pulled from the world once more.
With a sharp gasp, she jumps back from Rainbow, but manages to stop herself before colliding with the same book case as before, Spike once again at the top of the ladder. He grabs the shelf to keep the ladder from falling backwards anyway, though.
“Careful, Twilight! I’m up here!” He shouts down at the group.
“Sorry, sorry!” Twilight shouts back, turning back to the pair. She has a solemn look on her face, looking down at the ground. She simply sighs, looking over to the right, pulling out a single book from the bookcase next to the front door. She shows the cover to Sehn and Rainbow, on it was printed a simple title, written in cursive.
Dreams: A Psychological Understanding.
Rainbow could feel her spirit suddenly sink, and her pupils shrunk. The shock remained for a few moments before she shook her head, rubbing her forehead.
“Oh boy…I thought we all told you not to use that spell again.” Rainbow looks up past her leg at Twilight, worry on her face.
“Hm? What spell?” Sehn asked, looking between the two mares.
“A spell called the Mind Delve…hang on, let me look at the description again, been a while since I looked it over.” She quickly opens the book and flips through the pages, furrowing her brow, remembering all the trouble studying the spell caused her. “Ahem…”
“The Mind Delve spell is used in cases where the nightmare or psychological problems are not so easily discernible. This often means that the problem is rooted deep within the patient's subconscious and cannot be obtained through normal psychological methods without spending a very long time treating the patient. This spell allows the user to shorten the necessary time needed in order to bring the patient to a full recovery. Each patient the spell is used under experiences different results, as the subconscious is molded by the patient who owns it. No two patients will likely experience the same recovery under the use of the spell." She inspects the spell one last time before slamming the book closed, glaring at it before turning her sight to the two ponies in front of her.
“That’s the whole thing.”
“Interesting…” Sehn strokes his chin, squinting his eyes in thought. He closes them, gears grinding away in his head. ‘Well…this is troubling. This is the exact spell that the General DIDN’T want in Equestrian hands…not like I can take it away though. It seems to be in good hands, but…’ Sehn’s face shows a mark of worry as he looks at the book, thinking to himself.
“I know how the spell works…and where it sends you. Are you sure there’s absolutely no alternative?” Rainbow asks Twilight, brow lowered.
“Absolutely certain. Both your visions were different from the others I’ve seen…they were less automatic. Yours especially, Silver.” Twilight turns to Sehn, and he breaks his focus on the book to look back at her.
“Hm? What was so special about mine?” He asks, raising an eyebrow.
“Something in there…whatever it was. It spoke to me. Told me I was a ‘trespasser’ and ‘intruder’…and I know I’ve seen something that looked like it before…” She looks off to the side in deep thought, the pile of books behind her now finally cleared away, Spike clapping the dust off his hands.
“Spike!” Twilight turns around, the dragon now facing her. “Can you grab me the book on Equestrian history, covering the events of the Eastern War? There’s an illustration in there that I need to see.”
“Roger!” He quickly replies then runs over to the bottom shelf of a bookcase to the back of the room, quickly looking over the book spines before pulling out a thick book. It begins to glow and levitates up into the air, taking Spike with it. “Woah!”
The book quickly moves over to Twilight. “Sorry, you can let go.” Spike lets go as she opens the book and flips through the pages. Reaching the entry on the Eastern War, she looks over a drawing of two whole armies charging at each other, one side comprised of the Equestrian Royal Guard, and the other side, a force of strange, armored beings. The same design of spikes on their heads, the same spined armor, but the weapons all looked different. None of them held the same shape as that silver, slightly curved long sword that she saw in the visions.
“Yeah…I thought they looked like that…creature.” She turns the book to Sehn and Rainbow, Rainbow raising an eyebrow while Sehn takes a quick look at it, then looks away. He mumbles something.
‘Not my best memory…’
“You say something?” Twilight asks Sehn, and he quickly looks back at her and the book.
“Sorry, nothing, got sidetracked…what are these?” He asks, even though he already knows the answer.
“I know I’ve done some studying on this war, and the other side called itself the ‘Hemorans’…” This causes Rainbow’s eyes to go wide from shock.
“Wait! Did you say Hemorans?” She quickly blurts out.
“Y-yes…why?”
“I was being chased by one earlier today!”
“Wait, what? What do you mean ‘chased’?” Twilight asks, both curiosity and worry on her face.
“He was trying to make me go somewhere with him, but I managed to outrun him. Hid in AJ’s orchard, out of sight. He seemed to run off when he couldn’t catch me.”
“Oh dear. Spike, can you take a note? This is really important.” Twilight turns around to face her assistant, who already has parchment and pen in hand. “That was fast…”
“I always keep spares lying around.” Spike smiles. Loki walks past him and jumps onto Sehn’s back.
“Right. This is the note then. Dear Princess Celestia, I’ve been speaking with Rainbow Dash and a new pony here in Ponyville today, and a subject has come up that I believe is of dire importance. It concerns a race that the Royal Guard fought with three hundred years ago, calling themselves the ‘Hemorans’.”
“Hemorans…Hemorans…can you spell that out?” Spike asks, stopping his writing after the H.
“H, E, M, O, R, A, N, S.” Twilight says each letter to Spike, which he quickly writes down.
“Got it.”
“Alright, continuing on. Rainbow Dash has said that she ran into one of these Hemorans, and mentioned that she was being chased by him with intent to capture her and take her somewhere. I can’t place any suspicions yet, but I’m worried it may relate to the Elements of Harmony.”
“Your Faithful Student, Twilight Sparkle.”
“Aaaand…done!” Spike says with a nod, rolling up the parchment. He holds it out in front of him, before lighting the parchment with his emerald flame, it becoming a bright mist that quickly heads out the window of the library. “Now we just wait…”
About two minutes later, Spike immediately puts his hands on his mouth, as if holding something in. Letting go, he belches out a mist that quickly re-forms into a scroll.
“That was fast…” Sehn states, brow raised.
“The Princess has always been punctual with her answers. Alright Spike, read it off to me, please.” Twilight says to her assistant, sitting down while he opens the scroll.
“Alright then…ahem…”
‘Dear Twilight Sparkle, I have read your letter and I share in your worry. There is much we don’t know about this race, but I will send word to our border guard to keep watch for any intrusions. Keep your wits about you, and observe the new…pony…along with any other new faces that may cross into town. Do not raise suspicions, this is simply cautionary.
Your Trusting Mentor, Princess Celestia…’ Spike blinks a few times, slowly looking over at Silver.
“…Wow. That really nails me to the wall, doesn’t it?” He says with a matter-of-fact tone.
“D-don’t worry, I’m sure she doesn’t mean you and you alone. It’s just, when things like this happen, we worry, right?” Twilight says with a worried grin and a chuckle.
“True, true. So…regarding this ‘Mind Delve’?”
“Right! There was a variation on the spell that I did to allow Rainbow and Pinkie to enter another of our friend’s nightmare, and I think doing so this time around will allow for a single treatment to cure you both…but I don’t want to put you through it.”
“Darn straight! There’s no WAY I’m going back there!” Rainbow shouts, standing up. “I’ll live with the nightmares if I have to. I’m not going back to that fog-filled…monstrosity of Ponyville!”
Sehn just looks up at her, raising an eyebrow questioningly. “She did say there was no other alternative, right?”
“Well…yeah…but that doesn’t mean we should use it. The way that place messed with me…I never want to go back there.” She looks at the floor, depression sweeping over her face as she remembered her own inability to protect Fluttershy during her treatment.
Sehn thinks about how his own variation on the Mind Delve worked, his and Loki’s Soul Dive. A black void with voices echoing from the darkness, moving around in the patient’s mind as he interrogated them. The technique was primarily used to extract information, not to cure nightmares though. Maybe this would be different?
Loki hugs Sehn around the neck, looking worried. “You’re totally certain this is the only way, Miss Sparkle?”
“Yes, I am…” she lets out a long sigh, “well…let’s get started. I wrote down that combined Mind Delve spell under the description, hang on.” She quickly reads over the formula before nodding and closing her eyes. Her horn begins to glow again, this time with a more intense color. She opens her left eye slightly, looking first at Rainbow, then over at Sehn.
She seems to be deciding which one to make the source.
“Send me in, too!” A high voice cries out behind Twilight, causing her focus to break and the spell to dissipate. All three ponies move to face the source of the outcry.
“Say what?” Sehn asks, raising an eyebrow.
“I said, send me in too! I’m not letting you take this on alone, Silver!” Loki shouts in reply, walking over to Sehn and jumping onto his back, holding his neck. “I’m not letting you charge into something we don’t know anything about without me there to help you.”
“Mighty sweet of you, kid, but I think this is something I have to take on, on my own. I’ll have Miss Dash with me…at least, I think I will.” He turns to Rainbow for some reassurance.
“Yeah, the last time we did this, me, Fluttershy and Pinkie all started out together.” Rainbow nods, recounting her last experience.
“There, see? I won’t be alone.” Silver turns his head to face Loki, a smile on his face.
“I’m still not letting you just go in there without me! You need me there to help, Silver!” Loki tightens her grip on Sehn’s neck, causing him to throw a hoof onto one of her claws before something important is cut. “Sorry, sorry…”
“Be careful with those things. You’ll hurt someone.” Sehn’s smile quickly changes to a frown, and he rubs the red area where Loki’s claws dug in.
“I said I was sorry…anyway, Miss Sparkle, can you send me in as well?” Loki turns to Twilight, who still seems to be trying to recall the spell. She picks up a book, oblivious to what’s been asked.
“…Miss Sparkle?” Loki asks again, Twilight still ignorant of her surroundings as she flips through the book. Loki rolls her eyes and jumps onto Sehn’s head, before taking a deep breath and blowing a quick shot of black flame at Twilight. The dark line strikes her in the forehead, snapping her out of whatever reading she was doing, causing her to jump out of surprise and slight pain.
“H-hey! What’s the big idea?! I’m trying to get the spell ready!” Twilight rubs her forehead, a light burn mark present. She groans in annoyance and pain.
“Sorry, but you were so absorbed in the book that you didn’t hear me. Can you send me in as well, with these two? Silver’s a klutz as it is, even with me around. I don’t think he’d be able to keep his head on straight without me.” Loki says with a proud smile, folding her arms. Sehn flicks his head back, knocking her off her balance, and she tumbles down his back to the floor with a thud.
“Teach you to stand on someone’s head while you insult them.” Sehn says with a chuckle, turning his head. “Have a bit of faith, eh? I’m not a complete idiot.”
“I try, you know. I really do. I just…” Loki rubs the back of her head, sitting cross-legged. “I don’t want to be separated from you, unable to help.”
“Guess she’s pretty loyal for a troublemaker, eh, Silver?” Rainbow smiles, looking over at Loki. “I wouldn’t really want to do it, but it is possible for her to come along. Who knows, maybe three heads will be better than two?” She says, looking back up at Sehn.
“I don’t want a kid following us in. Just us two will be enough.” Sehn replies, furrowing his brow and frowning, clearly showing he wants to move past this subject.
“I’m not a kid, darn it!” Loki screams behind Sehn, an exasperated groan coming from him.
“It doesn’t matter! You’re not following me in, end of! Now stop screaming, ponies are SLEEPING around here.” Sehn shouts back, causing Loki to immediately fall silent. She gets a depressed look on her face and looks down at the floor.
“Anyone ever teach you to treat a lady properly?” Spike walks by, the comment seething with venom. He sits down by Loki, patting her on the shoulder. “If she wants to go in, and if she really can help, then I say why not.”
“Because she isn’t going in. I don’t expect another kid to understand this.” Sehn turns, and his iris turns a slight shade of red, his pupil crushing inwards into a more slit shape. “I suggest you keep out of it. This is something beyond her.” He blinks, his eyes returning to normal as he turns to Twilight. Spike simply stares up at him, and then shakes his head. Was that his imagination?
“Miss Sparkle, weren’t you going to send us in?” Sehn asks, annoyance in his voice.
“I know, and I will…it’s just, both of you have been having nightmares. I’m trying to decide who’s going to be the patient.” Twilight squints her eyes, her horn glowing with the same intense light of the Multi-Mind Delve spell.
“I’ll be the patient.” Rainbow speaks up. “If I go first, I’ll be able to get a refresher on how this all works and I’ll be able to help Silver better with his nightmares.” She nods.
Twilight nods back, and the light grows more intense. As she leans forward, Sehn feels a familiar feeling stab into his back. He twitches slightly, no pain though, it simply feels…intrusive. Twilight taps Rainbow’s forehead, creating a blue line between her forehead and the horn, and she then taps Sehn on the forehead.
Just as she does so, Sehn gets shoved off a cliff…or at least it feels like he did. Time seems to slow down as he watches his own body simply sit there, on a ledge in the darkness, and he begins falling. Faster, faster, the wind ripping past him, he tries to right himself but ends up throwing himself into quicker barrel rolls and flips, not even the typical sky diving position he takes before Dragonflight is enough to force him to stop spinning.
“Hoooooollyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy CRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA-“ Sehn’s scream is cut off by an extremely hard impact with something solid, immovable. All the wind gets blown out of his lungs, and he falls unconscious.
“Ohhh…my head… I’m never gonna get used to that…” Rainbow sighs, holding her head. She hasn’t opened her eyes yet, but the floor creaks under her rolling body. She rolls onto her belly, and a board under her right hind leg gives way, snapping in two. Out of instinct, her wings immediately open and throw her into the air, and she hangs there trying to get her senses in order. Slowly, her eyes blink open, and she takes in the environment around her.
The library, it’s definitely Twilight’s library…but it looks significantly older than it did before. Dust clung to the walls and floor in thick blankets, and the room held a color of grayscale, like an old film.
“…Just like last time…hopefully things won’t go like they did last time.” Rainbow shivers slightly, remembering everything that happened to her, from the dragon to the Shadowbolts. She shakes her head, casting the memories aside. “I’ve got something more to worry about right now besides that stupid nightmare...have to beat this so I can go back to her with more than just blood shot eyes and a messed up mane.” Rainbow furrows her brow in determination, slowly lowering herself to the floor.
There seem to be sounds coming from the kitchen, footsteps…though not matching that of a pony’s walk. She tilts her head, then immediately remembers what this world can bring about. She jumps up, flying above the door frame leading to the kitchen, about ten feet up, making sure she can’t be seen. She waits for whatever’s in the kitchen to emerge…
And several moments later, it does. The thing has a silver color to it, spikes leading off the back of its head, two bangs leading down past its eyes and ears. It looks around, and then quickly moves to the center of the room, looking around almost in a panic. Rainbow lightly puts her legs to the wall, smiling. “Gotcha before you even knew I was here…” she quietly says to herself, and she launches off the wall, making a beeline for the thing.
Rainbow slams head first into the tall figure, and they both roll in a deadlock into a wall. The impact breaks Rainbow’s grip on the thing, and she jumps back, getting a better view of it. ‘It’ appears to be a he, and he’s wearing military fatigues over a black short-sleeved t-shirt. The fatigues are a zip-up combat vest with several pockets along the right side, and camo cargo pants that seem to bunch up near his heavy boots. He wears leather, fingerless gloves on his hands, his fingers a dark-tan color. He groans, holding his gut and rubbing his head.
“Ahhh…what’s the big idea?! Flying at a guy like that!” He shouts, looking at her, and then his eyes immediately shrink out of shock. “Oh boy…” is all that can escape his mouth.
Rainbow looks back in just as much shock, stuttering as she backs away. “Y-y-y…i…it’s you!!!” She lowers herself into a charging position, hate filling her eyes. “What’d you do to Silver Rush!?”
“S-Silv...I didn’t do a thing! I swear it, Rainbow!” He holds out his hands in a position wishing for mercy, shaking his head.
“Oh that’s a load of crud and you know it! Where is he?! Answer me!” She roars at him, wings spread for a flight-assisted charge.
“He’s right here!” Sehn shouts, pointing at himself. He leans back against the wall, rubbing his chest from where Rainbow slammed into him.
“Wh…what? He’s in your head?”
“No, you dummy. I AM Silver Rush.” Sehn rolls his eyes. “My cover wasn’t that bloody good…”
Rainbow simply stares at him, tilting her head slightly to the side. “You…you mean…YOU were that city-pony I was hanging out with…?”
“One and the same, yeah. I’m not that bad a talker, am I?” Sehn says with a cheerful smile, chuckling.
“Oh this is so WRONG! What the hay were you doing with a pony’s body!?” Rainbow seems even more freaked out by him, thinking he’s some kind of body snatcher who stole a poor pony’s body for his own use.
“Well…it was my body, actually. I’d explain the whole process, but I doubt it’d help much…where are we?” Sehn asks, trying to change the subject away from him.
“Don’t change the subject on me! Why did you look like a pony, huh? You steal it from somepony else?!” Rainbow shouts at him.
“Oy! Don’t go accusing me of stealing a body from some poor soul! I’m not that much of an ass!” Sehn gets to his feet, walking over to Rainbow, staring her dead in the eyes.
“Oh I bet you would, just so you could get close to me! I oughta beat you senseless!!” She shouts, their eyes now inches away from each other.
“Oh you can TRY, kid, I’m sure you’ll be leaving with a lot more than just injuries!” Sehn leans in closer, now their foreheads shoving against each other, eyes full of hate.
“Body snatcher!”
“Egotistical!”
“Idiot!”
“Mule!”
“HEMORON!”
“WHAT’D YOU SAY TO ME?!”
The exchange of insults seems to carry on for a full ten minutes, by the end of it they’re both panting, both their reservoirs totally clean of clever insults and quips.
“Haa…haa…slowpoke…” Sehn grunts out between breaths.
“Huff…knucklehead…” Rainbow replies, just as tired. They just stare at each other before Sehn smiles, backing away. He laughs slightly, crashing onto the floor with his rear. Some of the boards screech out from the impact, splintering slightly. The boards hold strong under Sehn, though.
“Hehe…heh…just like old times…” Another few laughs escape him, and he coughs a few times to clear his lungs of the dust floating around the room.
“What do you mean by that…?” Rainbow asks, still having a suspicious look as she sits down.
“I mean exactly what I said. This is just like old times…” Sehn smiles happily, reminiscing about his time with her two years prior.
“I knew you before…now?” Rainbow raises an eyebrow, tilting her head.
“Yeah…well, I’ll tell you about it. For now, we should start looking around here, shouldn’t we? What’re we looking for?” Sehn asks, getting to his feet.
“Ah…right. Look for anything that doesn’t really belong here, anything that might seem new or polished compared to everything else. Anything you find, bring it to the table here.” Rainbow looks over, pointing a hoof at the table, before noticing a saddle bag lying on it. “Like that. Looks useful.” She moves over to the bag and checks its contents, while Sehn starts wandering around the library, looking for anything that seems new.
Rainbow gives a quick glance at the numerous bookcases for something to point out to the hedgehog now with her, before looking down at the bag. It’s a simple brown bag with four small pockets on the sides, and is colored green, the pin keeping it closed a yellow lightning bolt. She pulls on the pin, popping it off with a click, and looks inside it. She spills the contents of the bag onto the table, pulling out whatever was left inside.
The contents of the bag seem to be a piece of paper, a small handheld device, and several pieces of gold. Rainbow tilts her head slightly at what fell out, moving the gold pieces into a pile. They don’t seem to immediately form any kind of object in her mind, just some small chunks.
“Weird…why would these be in here?” She asks herself before turning to the paper, looking it over.
“Blank?” The page’s white surface seems all too useless. “Oh, wait…” She flips it over, revealing writing. Footsteps coming back from the kitchen snatches her attention away, and the dropping of a pile of books in front of her makes her jump.
“Woah, what are all these for?!” She shouts, looking over the 30-something book tall stack in front of her. Sehn takes a seat next to it, taking the first book off the top.
“You asked me to find stuff that seemed new around here. I grabbed a couple books, figuring something could be in them.” He says with a matter-of-fact tone, flipping through the pages with a bored look on his face.
“Alright, apparently I wasn’t clear…I meant things that were new around here, and at all USEFUL. Like this bag and stuff here.” She points to the objects that fell out of her bag, Sehn following the hoof to them.
“Huh, that’s an old model…” He fixates on the walkie talkie, getting up and walking over to it. He picks it up, and looks it over, clicking the button on the left of it, creating a click. He starts speaking into it.
“Hello? Anyone on the other end of this thing?” He lets go and listens for something, while Rainbow just stares at him.
“Wait, what do you mean ‘other end’? What is that?” Rainbow asks in confusion, never having seen the device before.
“This? Medium range communications device, used to talk to squadrons based all over Hemora. And hang on, what do you mean ‘what is this’? You should know what it is.” He says to her with a grimace.
“What? I’ve never seen that thing before, or anything that could possibly be like it. Ever. Don’t know why you’d think I have.” She rolls her eyes and shrugs.
“I’ve got a looooot of talkin’ to do with you then.” He puts the device back on the table and walks back over to his pile of books. “For your information though…” he says before crashing onto his rear next to them, “we call it a ‘walkie talkie’, because you can speak into it during routine patrols without stopping your march.” He picks up the book next to his feet and continues reading.
Rainbow goes back to the note, looking over the scrawled writing. Seems like whoever wrote this had a bad twitch in their neck, because the letters sometimes sprawled out into random lines. She reads it out loud to herself.
The gates of Destiny don’t open for all
For some, they are a grand iron wall.
Only those of us who are of sufficient worth
Are allowed beyond the gateway’s berth.
Rainbow furrows her brow. “…What?” She asks the seemingly meaningless riddle, scratching the back of her neck.
“Hm?” Sehn looks up from his book, raising his eyebrows. “Something wrong?”
“Yeah, this note. It doesn’t make any sense to me, just sounds like somepony got suddenly inspired and wrote about a wall they were staring at for too long.” She taps the note, reading over it again to Sehn.
“Those of us who are of sufficient worth…hmm.” He mumbles, his head on his hand, sitting in a cross-legged position next to Rainbow, staring at the note. “Yeah, does seem kind of weird. Where’re these ‘gates of Destiny’?”
“Beats me. Did you find anything besides that pile of books there?” Rainbow looks over at Sehn, raising an eyebrow.
“Well, I guess besides some good reading material, I found this.” He walks over to the pile of books, taking something off the top. He shows the leather sheath to Rainbow, a metal guard and handle sticking out one end. The handle seems to have a metal loop running from the guard to the butt, the front covered in small, very sharp, polished spikes. The sheath has an adjustable leather strap running from one end to the other.
He pulls on the handle, revealing a shining blade, eight inches in length. He looks it over before putting it back in its sheath. “Equestrian combat knife used before all your soldiers switched to using long swords and armor. Seems like a step backwards in combat effectiveness if you ask me…but I guess the gold armor does make the Royal Guard look good.” He puts the knife back in its sheath, before seeing something on the side of it. He smirks, tossing it down to the table in front of Rainbow. “It’s yours.”
“Wait, what?” Rainbow asks, looking down at the green knife holster. On the side of it are the initials ‘R.D’, and a worn drawing of a rainbow-colored lightning bolt. “R…D? And that lightning bolt is my…” She looks back at her flank, comparing the drawing to her Cutie Mark. “Why the hay does this thing have my Cutie Mark on it?!”
“Because, obviously, you’re meant to have it.” Sehn ends his sentence with another crash onto the ground, the boards under him crying from the impact with a loud creak of wood. He cracks open the book again, now reaching the end of all the pages. He seems to close his eyes with a sigh, before closing the book. He tosses the book behind him, taking the next one off the pile, cracking it open and starting to read.
“Gates of Destiny…” Rainbow asks herself, turning back to the note in thought. “What gates…?” She takes a look around the entire library, not having checked the full scene before tending to the bag.
The library looks like it’s seen far better days, covered in a thick blanket of dust that makes it almost impossible to see that the walls are, in fact, colored purple and not grey. The boards under her hooves have caved in slightly, just from her standing on them. She gets up and begins walking around the library, first noticing the front door. The door seems normal, no lock on it like when she last came here. The window catches her attention next, but something about it makes her jump a bit.
“D-did something just move outside?” A shadow moves away from the window, and Rainbow runs over to the window to see outside. The next scene that hits her makes her heart sink.
She was in Ponyville, if the only reason that suggested this was the library, and the fog definitely was out there. But the streets weren’t barren…they were full of shadows, barely discernible from the darkness of the fog, all of them completely stationary.
“Oh no…” She backs away from the window, lowering her head quickly to get out of sight. She slides back over to the table, and Sehn looks up at his now-scared companion. He simply raises an eyebrow.
“You look out of it. See a ghost?” He says with a smirk, a questioning brow being raised.
“More like 20…” Rainbow replies, sitting down at the table, “Give or take a hundred…”
The smirk and brow raise quickly disappear from Sehn’s face, now turning into a determined furrow and frown. He gets up, putting the book back on top of the pile, and moves over to the window, looking outside. Rainbow looks at him for a bit, before turning back to the knife on the table. Something flashes in her mind while looking at it and the thought of it burns the back of her head. She quickly closes her eyes and holds her forehead, repressing the pain.
The sound of a window shattering and a loud shout makes her jump and turn her head, now immediately wishing she hadn’t looked.
The thing that broke the window was a knife, and now it was stuck in Sehn’s palm. The blade was mere centimeters from piercing his forehead and ending his life, and he leaps back from the window, another knife spinning into the room and impaling itself on the wall. He hits the ground with a thud and another shout of pain, gripping the knife in his hand.
“AHHHHH THIS HURTS!!!” He shouts as he grabs the knife handle, Rainbow sprinting over to him. Sehn grabs her by the neck and yanks her to the ground, one more thrown knife spinning through the air where her neck had been.
“Holy…!” Is all she can manage to say before a spatter of blood hits her in the face from Sehn yanking the knife out of his hand. She stares, stunned, at all the blood. This didn’t happen during the last time she was here…rooms were meant to be safe from everything outside.
Sehn holds up his arm, squeezing his upper arm to try and stop the bleeding, and sits up. He slides out of the way of the window, and looks at Rainbow, pain in his eyes. “Find me some bandages or…something to cover this wound!” Rainbow just stares at him. “I SAID FIND ME SOME BANDAGES, PRIVATE!” He then shouts right in her face, Rainbow immediately responding with a salute.
“Y-yes sir!” She blurts out before sprinting off to the kitchen, looking for anything useful. Unbeknownst to them both, the walkie talkie on the table has been buzzing, and the buzzing was getting louder…