Gilda had quickly located the plans for the Stronghold itself, and unlike the Bloodpact Stronghold, the Stronghold of Loyalty (she had been as original in naming as Rainbow Dash) worked far differently. The mechanisms ran right to the ground floor, in her own words, this was to pick up and feed the loyalty between those whom lived in the tower to the element itself at the pillar.
But Gilda had also quickly pointed out that the beast at the top had spread through this mechanism, and it was likely there would be dead ponies, griffons and other creatures lining the halls, stairs and rooms. This made Applejack shiver, she should have been faster!
And much like the outside, the inside of the Stronghold was random. A set of stairs didn’t always lead upward, but Gilda showed the route they would be taking.
“There’s a fast way up there, even with my old age, we’ll encounter some of the mechanisms along the way, but more or less, we’ll advance up the stronghold and be at the top in half an hour.” she grinned.
“Ya sure yer up to it?”
“I’m not letting you go alone,” Gilda narrowed her eyes, “I owe it to Dash, and I’m gonna send that twisted version of her to Tartarus.”
“Alright then, let’s not waste any more time.” Applejack began to walk to the stronghold, allowing Gilda to catch up. At the doors, the pair pushed them open together, and were faced with the sight of what the beast at the top was doing.
On the walls were large circles, which Applejack quickly worked out were the mechanisms of the stronghold. From them, thousands of lines led directly upward, though at the moment, black clouds puffed from the circles, fed by sticky black goo running down these lines. And there were ponies and griffons, presumed dead, wriggling and crying for help. Applejack bit her lip, knowing she couldn’t help them, not right there and then. But hundreds of eyes stared at her, struggling to pull themselves up from the black void that was still trying to pull them in.
She hurried instead after Gilda, the pair avoiding as the black clouds tried to grab them from all sides. The stairway at least narrowed things down, giving them a chance to breath from the mad dash they had just done.
The next few floors were the same story, the claws of the cloud even pulling tricks to try and grab them both, or leaving a clear path to tempt Applejack into trying to save those still alive. If there was one thing Applejack was thankful for now, it was the very randomness she had dreaded about this place. The Bloodpact stronghold had been designed in an orderly manner, with only one direct way to the top. Gilda it seemed, had insisted on their being many ways up and down, so instead of eighty floors, they faced an eighty floor climb with no fewer than five landings. It was still technically the same distance travelled, but it zigzagged more than wound around in slow sloping circles.
Halfway up, Gilda held Applejack back, a look in her eyes.
“Tell me, how do you know Dash is fine?” she asked.
“Back in Irvest, Discord had me watch the others memories. Ah saw Dash being headstrong and flying into the seal to get to Ulysses.” Applejack replied.
Gilda didn’t react, not right away. She blinked a few times, and closed her eyes. She counted under her breath, a talon raised and closed as she shook it. With a calming breath, she lowered the talon and stared back up the next flight of stairs, each quickly becoming steeper and shorter.
“I’d seen somepony stupidly fly toward the seal many years ago,” Gilda finally began speaking, “I had asked Discord what happened, and he told me not to worry about it. If he knew.”
“He knew. It was what Dash did that alerted him to the fact that Ulysses was stealing the others one by one.”
Gilda again seemed to hold back her rage.
“I knew Dash could be headstrong, cloudbrain better be okay after all this.” she sighed, starting the climb back up the stronghold.
“Ah think it's time Ah knew, how do these here Strongholds work?”
“It’s simple, the mechanisms are key, they pick up on the aspect the element embodies, the more of it, the better. Only those with the most loyalty toward anyone can live in here, seems horrible I know, but it's what works best. The city itself, both in the air and on the ground also are surrounded by smaller mechanisms, which fill with the strength of loyalty, should a mechanism node go off for some reason, the orbs from those mechanisms can be fetched and temporarily replace it while it's being fixed.” Gilda replied.
“Do all the strongholds work like that?” Applejack asked again.
“I’d call you a bookworm except this is pretty important. But only this one needs the mechanisms. By itself, loyalty is not strong enough to fill the air to keep the element going. I’m not sure how the rest work, I know the Bloodpact one is pretty brutal, Sunshine Blaze has already shaved off decades of his life, you know he should have died at a hundred and forty? Now he’ll be lucky to reach ninety.”
Applejack shivered. She didn’t need to be told how many years of his life Blaze had given up just to try and defeat his brother. Slowly, Applejack walked to a window, looking out across the landscape of Equestria. The power of the Bloodpact stronghold itself seemed so weak on its own, as if Ulysses would overpower his younger brother with ease at any moment.
“Let’s not waste anymore time.” she turned away and headed up past Gilda. The griffon smiled and began to follow with her.
It took another ten minutes before they finally reached the top of the stronghold, the black cloud swirling around the pillar. Now and again there were flashes of ruby red light, trying to pierce the thick haze and failing, it even looked as if the very Element of Loyalty itself were calling for help.
“Still you fight,” Ulysses spoke slowly, more measured and his voice no longer full of certainty that things were going to go his way, “why? This world is mine, why do you fight me apple farmer?”
“Cus while ya have my friends, Ah ain’t alone, and Ah ain’t fighting for just myself.” she huffed.
“Still this notion of friendship. Is friendship and harmony that important? Can you not see how dull each day is, being the same? You are not living. Give in to me, I will give this world what life really should be.”
“Buck you, Equestria is fine as it is!” Gilda shouted.
“I see you have brought the puppet that Discord placed here. Very well, fight for your worthless friendship and harmony, the world shall be mine no matter what.”
The black cloud began to swirl, dragging the Element of Loyalty into the air. It rested in the chest of the shape it took, that of Rainbow Dash. It, like the one she encountered before screamed once it had taken shape.
“Ready for this, Gilda?” Applejack asked.
“I was born ready.” Gilda licked her lips.
The Dark Dash rushed at them, both Gilda and Applejack rolling out of the way. It spun around in the air, aiming at Gilda first, despite their plan. Applejack stared and shook her head.
“Shoot, Ah planned for it to come after me.” she grumbled as Gilda flew narrowly ahead. It was clear what Ulysses had done, with Gilda nearby, he was aiming to kill the one Discord had picked to control this stronghold, so even if the beast fell, there would be no way to make the pillar operational again anytime soon.
Instead, Applejack ran as best she could after them, helpless whenever the Dark Dash grabbed Gilda who kicked herself free. She recalled all the times she had to make Rainbow stop flying for whatever reason, and when the moment presented itself, she lined herself up with the pillar, ran and jumped off it. She sailed in the air, and managed to tackle the Element of Loyalty free.
The beast screamed, losing its shape. Applejack struggled with the Element as it was tugged back by the beast, and attempted to get it to the pillar. She failed as seconds from the pillar, the beat threw her backwards and reclaimed the Element, once more reforming into the shape of Rainbow Dash. This time, spines formed on the front of the wings.
“I don’t like the look of that.” Gilda muttered.
The Dark Dash screamed, and spread its wings. Both Gilda and Applejack found themselves running in opposite directions from projectiles.
“Gilda, we need to stop it.”
“Tell me something not so obvious!”
Applejack sighed, and attempted to run back at the pillar. The Dark Dash anticipated she would do this, and had already aimed the second volley at her to prevent her getting the Element back out.
Though being made of cloud made the beast a literal airhead. In its focus on Applejack, it had stopped tracking Gilda, who had taken flight to aim herself and where the element was with the pillar. Gild flew as fast as she could, through the beast and slamming the element back onto the pillar.
The effect wasn’t immediately apparent. The Element of Loyalty spun for a moment before it began to spin at such a speed it was a blur. The top of the stronghold flashed a red colour and the beast was slowly torn apart, screaming in pain as light of harmony broke it apart. With a final loud scream, it dispersed into the air. Gilda shook her head as she stood up and slapped a talon against the pillar. A beam of light shot toward the seal, and grew in intensity as it pulled something out.
“What was that?” Applejack asked.
“I don’t rightly know, just Discord’s plan involves doing what you just saw.” Gilda replied.
Applejack trotted closer to the edge closest to the seal, and saw something happening. There was a green flame, and it was starting to spread thickly around the base of the seal, the green heat from it going directly up rather than pulling into a sphere.
“Ah meant that.” she spoke back.
In his castle, Discord stared at the appearance of the green flame, and tapped the paw against his chair. He seemed bored, but his eyes betrayed his true thoughts, that of curiosity.
“Just what are you up to?” Discord muttered. Pulling a chart from the air, he glanced at it, and where the words ‘END OF THE WORLD’ were right next to an arrow, it suddenly moved, and seven days that didn’t exist before filled the gap.
“Whatever you just did, whelp, bought us a lot more time than I expected. Now, which way should I send Applejack? Ponyville? No… I know the perfect Stronghold next, about time she caught up with that tree she loved so much.”