//------------------------------// // Chapter 14: The Second Gate // Story: Silent Ponyville: Duet Of Sorrow // by KillerSteel //------------------------------// “I can’t have betrayed my home!” Rainbow shouts, lying down on the platform, holding her head in a panic. “I’d never help ponies who only want to hurt those I care about…!” “Oh for the love of Celestia, pick yourself up…you’re pathetic…” Simon says, turning away from his sobbing daughter. Twilight slowly walks over, leaning down to Rainbow. “Rainbow…” “No, don’t say anything! I can’t…I can’t possibly stick a knife in everypony’s back…I’m the Element of Loyalty, a living symbol of trust! Something like this…I just can’t do it!” Rainbow sobs into the grating below her, eyes tightly closed. She was the cause of all this…of their deaths, of Cloudsdale being taken over, of Equestria being in the sorry state it was in…she betrayed them and brought the enemy in. Twilight sighs, backing away, looking up at the approaching shadow of the Factory. She looks down, defeat settling into her eyes, as Simon looks forward over Rainbow. “And so comes our doom…wasn’t expecting things to end like this.” He says with a gruff sigh, sitting down with a clang from his armor colliding with the metal flooring. He shakes his head, staring down at Rainbow. “So why aren’t you thinking of anything, Rainbow?” “…Huh?” Rainbow sniffs, looking up from under her hooves at her father, him making a grimace and furrowing his brow. “Stand up and start thinking of something! You said you were going to help us!” He shouts, his daughter immediately shooting up into a standing position. “I-uh…r-right, thinking of a plan! Ok…so we all go into the Rainbow Factory…Dad, can you carry Twilight on your back and fly?” Rainbow asks, looking at her father. “You’re looking at the leader of Princess Celestia’s personal strike force. If I can’t do it, you’d drop like a rock.” He says with a smirk, gesturing for Twilight to hop onto his back. She does so, settling into a comfortable position so she doesn’t get thrown off. “So what’s the plan?” He says, stretching his legs and testing his wings. “The plan, the plan…well, I have to get you two past the guards and out of Cloudsdale, that’s for sure. We’ll have to go down through the Factory’s basement for a transit route down to the ground. Heading down now would just land us in that lightning field below us.” Rainbow says, pointing down with her hoof, Simon nodding. “Alright, so how do we get there?” “Don’t worry, I know the way. Just follow me and try to keep up.” Rainbow says with a smirk, turning around. Simon simply grimaces at the taunt, crouching slightly. “I’ll lead the way and do all the talking. If anyone asks you anything about Twilight, say that you’re carrying her because I can’t be bothered to.” Rainbow says, taking a deep breath and letting it out slowly, opening and flexing her own wings. She focuses on the shadowed entrance now consuming the trolley and its passengers, the rumble of a motor within the facility echoing through the tunnel. The trolley stops before a massive set of steel double doors, slowly creaking open. They reveal a brightly lit transit station, a few armed Hemoran soldiers walking around, not having caught whiff of the three that just entered. Rainbow’s walkie talkie starts going off, causing her to turn towards it with a look of fear on her face. “What’s wrong?” Simon asks, looking at her. “Something very bad. Just focus on the plan…” She says quietly, turning back around. She opens her wings one last time to make sure they’ll work in an emergency, then walks off the trolley with Simon close behind, focusing on an open tunnel of cloud to the far right of the station. One of the Hemoran soldiers walks up to Rainbow and moves with her through the tunnel. “Welcome back, ma’am. Base renovation on the second floor has been proceeding smoothly.” He says with a quick salute, Rainbow nodding. “Good. Anything else to report, soldier?” “Nothing at the moment, ma’am. The gate at the core of the facility is still being a problem…we may need to requisition support from Home.” He says with a slightly worried look on his face. “Request what you need, I’m sure the Colonel will want the gates opened ASAP. Continue with your duties.” Rainbow says, dismissing the soldier. He quickly salutes and turns around, walking back down the tunnel. Rainbow lets out a heavy sigh, glad to see her ploy worked. “Not bad…spoken like a real soldier.” Simon mumbles, walking up close behind Rainbow. “So where’re we going?” “Down this tunnel is going to be a stairwell to the Core, and below that will be the emergency transit routes to the ground. Don’t ask me how I know all this...it all just came to me.” “Don’t ask, don’t tell. Just lemme know when I can get Twilight off my back.” Simon says, adjusting himself so Twilight is better supported. “Can’t put her down here, obviously…” “Just try and stay quiet.” Rainbow says, the hissing from the walkie talkie still quite audible. She looks around in the tunnel, taking a right before facing a short walk leading to a stair well heading down into the dark. A note hangs on the clouds next to Rainbow as she rounds the corner, and she looks up at it. Four questions are written on it. “Here we go again…” She mumbles, reading the first one aloud to herself. The number of guard towers. “Six.” She says to herself, looking down at the next one. Those still loyal to you. Rainbow looks behind herself at the Pegasus and unicorn, grimacing slightly before looking back at the paper. “I’ll come back to that one…” She whispers, looking down to the next question. How many who still stand in your way. “Next…next…” Rainbow mumbles, looking down to the last question. The way to unlock your path exists in how many pieces? Rainbow looks back at her bag, popping open the pouch with the items she’d been picking up. Four pieces lie within, two metal plates, a thin rod and a medallion surrounding two wings. “The way to unlock my path…?” She mumbles, closing the pouch and looking back at the paper. “I can take out the first question…but the other three are tough…I want to say five to the second question…” She says to herself, looking down at the floor, lowering her eyelids, “But I don’t know…” “What’ve you been staring at this whole time?” Simon speaks up, Rainbow turning to look at him. “Aren’t we going somewhere?” “Right…right. Listen, I need to ask you something.” Rainbow says, turning to face her dad. “Um…how do I put this…would you follow me into a fight?” She asks, her father moving back in surprise. “Wha…? You’re too young to be leading me into battle. And besides that, you haven’t got the tactical knowledge of a warrior or the strength of one.” He says with a straightforward tone. “I-I would…” Twilight says, raising her head slightly to look over at Rainbow. “I’d follow you…” She twitches slightly in pain, Simon turning to look at her. “If it means I could protect you, then I’d follow you to the ends of the earth.” She coughs, lowering her head again onto Simon’s neck. “I can’t say I’d do the same…family goes a long way, but not far enough for this.” Simon says, turning his eyes away from Rainbow. She looks down at the ground, dismayed but at least certain of the answer to one of the questions. “Well…that’s one, at least.” She mumbles, looking back at the questions. “How many still stand in my way…?” She tilts her head, thinking back. “They’ve been showing up pretty often…” Rainbow nods, moving down to the last question. “Now is this one talking about the things I’ve been picking up? They do seem to be pieces of a key…and I already have three, so…” She takes a deep breath, looking back up at the third question, saying outloud. “Two still stand in my path.” The note bursts into green flame, taking Rainbow by surprise as she jumps back, putting her leg in front of her eyes. Simon seems to react to this as well, jumping in shock. “What in the?!” He shouts, waking Twilight up in a huff. “W-what’s going on?!” “Calm, calm down!” Rainbow hisses, looking at the hallway behind them. The walkie talkie doesn’t seem to increase in volume, and she turns back to the note, seeing a loop of metal wire with five spikes on it, hanging on the rusty iron nail that held the note. “Guess it was right…” She takes the loop off the nail, stuffing it into the pouch with the other three pieces, and looks down the hall towards the stairs. “This stairwell should take us to the travel route. C’mon.” Rainbow gestures for Simon and Twilight to follow as she starts walking down the steps. The shadows quickly consume the steps, forcing Rainbow to take her lantern out and switch it on before proceeding. Sparks run along the walls, but the metal steps of the stairwell seem out of place in the Factory. The clanging of hoof against metal fills the hall, followed by the quick, quiet rumble of thunder from the lightning jumping along the walls. “Doesn’t make sense…why isn’t this stair well electrified?” Simon asks, keeping his voice down. “These thunderheads should easily arc to it.” “I don’t know, but the Hemorans have to get around somehow. Maybe it’s made from a special kind of metal?” Rainbow asks, turning her head slightly. Simon comes up beside her on her right, looking at the stairs below them. “Construction choices aside, why are there no railings? For a pony to walk down here without being a Pegasus, it’d be suicide. Those bastards must have it worse off, so why put their own lives at risk…?” Simon asks, aggravated over being concerned for the monsters that destroyed his home. “I don’t know how these guys work, Dad, all I know is where we need to go…where you need to go.” Rainbow says through the handle of the lantern, looking over at Simon. “…This really got under your skin, didn’t it?” She asks quietly, Simon glaring at her. “Oh, I’m not sure how I should feel…first I find out that my home city’s been taken over by a race that hasn’t been heard from for 300 years, then I find my bloody DAUGHTER wearing their uniform. I don’t know if I should be depressed, angry, or just breaking necks right now.” He growls, staring forward into the pale light of the hallway lit by the lantern. Rainbow simply looks forward with him. “…I’m sorry…” She says quietly. “Apologies wore out days ago…” Simon sighs, looking at the walls to his right. The silhouette of a door begins to come into view, a dark shape at the end of the stairs. Rainbow speeds up her descent down the stairs, reaching the door a couple steps in front of Simon, and she puts her hoof to the massive locked steel. She gives it a shove, not budging an inch, and starts pushing harder. Soon she’s shoving at it with both hooves, flapping her wings to give a bit of extra force against the door. “Gah…these are usually unlocked when I get to them…!” She grunts, getting off the door and sitting down. Looking over the door, there’s a wheel in the center connected to two angled bars leading into the frame. She puts her hooves on the pegs of the wheel, pushing against it as hard as she can. It gives with a high shriek of rusty metal against metal, and slowly unlocks the door. The bars come away with a loud slam, the door already leaning open slightly. Rainbow pants slightly, gathering up her breath, thinking about what could be on the other side of the door. She looks behind herself, seeing Simon and Twilight looking back at her. “Well? Push it open, this kid on my back is getting heavy.” Simon says to her, and she turns around and places her hoof against the door. Pushing lightly, the door silently swings open, revealing something completely unlike anything she’s seen within the facility, or even the city. The room is massive, far larger than any other location in Cloudsdale, and the walls and ceiling are a pure white instead of the typical dark thunderheads outside. In front of them lies a gigantic blue gate, two statues standing to either side of it, just as massive. The one on the left is a statue of a Hemoran soldier wearing armor covered in spines like dragon’s scales, while the other is an Equestria wearing a robe. Rainbow walks towards the center of the room, the statues and gate barely shifting in size as she grows closer. “Incredible…” Twilight says, looking down below Simon to see that him and Rainbow are walking a massive metal platform, easing herself off his back to stand on her own legs. She stretches slightly before walking towards the statues, Rainbow walking beside her. “I’ve never seen statues like these before.” “Me neither…they look familiar, too…” Rainbow says, still walking forward. The sound of stone grinding quickly fills the room, and the platform begins to shake with crazed ferocity. The statues begin to move, the Hemoran placing his hand on the sword on his back, both statues moving their eyes down to Rainbow. A deep voice rings out into the room, a loud explosion. “Thy quest has led thee through despair.” The voice seems to come from the Hemoran, but it’s hard to tell with the sound bouncing around the room. “Thy quest has led thee towards an answer…” Another voice speaks out, gentle and familiar. “One question lies within thy path, the truth lies beyond, cloaked in shadow…” The Hemoran says, gripping his blade. The Equestrian produces her own blade, drawing it from under her cloak. “I…I recognize these voices…” Rainbow says, her eyes widening. Twilight looks over at her before looking back at the Equestrian statue. “F…Fluttershy?!” She gasps, staring up at the statue before her. “Sehn and Fluttershy!” Rainbow shouts, the statues drawing their swords and holding them away from the door. “To every answer belongs a question…but to every question, an answer must be created. Thou must answer our question, and find your own definition for what lies before you.” The Hemoran says, the two swords leading off towards the walls left and right of Rainbow. “Answer correctly, and you move one step closer to the end…answer incorrectly…” He places his other hand on the sword’s hilt, “And thy quest ends here.” Rainbow simply stares up at the statues, the gigantic blue gate between them, jaw hanging. Terror filled her veins and invaded every piece of her mind. Standing before her was her death, absolute and undeniable…and all she had to do was get a single question wrong. She swallows her saliva, breathing quickly. “Rainbow, calm down…” Twilight says beside her, placing a hoof on the shivering mare’s shoulder. “I’ll stand with you…no matter what happens, you’ll always find me by your side.” She smiles, Rainbow looking over, fear still in her eyes. “H-How can you say that so…calmly?” She says, her voice trembling. “Getting scared now…after all we’ve been through…we can’t die now, but this is how we have to proceed. There’s no point in being scared now, since if we stop here, Equestria’s done for.” Twilight says, her smile turning into a frown. “Prove yourself, Rainbow Dash…prove you’re as true a Pegasus as you were before all this happened.” Rainbow turns back to the statues, swallowing again. All that’s happened, all that’s befallen Equestria…it was her fault. Restoring Equestria now wouldn’t bring innocence back to her name…the trust she’d gained through her years was shattered now. She closes her eyes, looking down at the ground with a furrowed brow, frustrated with herself. “How can I prove I’m still…still a Pegasus…I let Cloudsdale be taken by the enemy! What am I after that?!” “A Pegasus who simply lost her way, that’s all. You can still redeem yourself.” Twilight says, Rainbow looking over at her. “You…we, can still make things right. All that’s between us and rescuing Equestria from the Hemorans is one gate…one gate that you can open.” “Gather thyself, Equestrian, for your path begins now. Answer our question or be silenced under the falling blades of judgement.” The Hemoran statue says, both he and the Equestrian statue crossing blades over Rainbow’s head, the swords colliding with a heavy bang of metal. “Thy question is one of countries, nations. One of soldiers and great heroes…” The Equestrian says, “One will bring unison to a broken state and be regarded as a savior. The soul of that hero carries on for a thousand years, acting as the body that binds the country together.” “Thy people have a term for such a spirit. They call her ‘Princess’, thy great saviour and prosperous monarch…” The Hemoran speaks up. “She leads us through the dark and prepares us the storm…” Rainbow continues, looking like she’s in a trance, “A disaster awaits us the horizon, one that cannot be stopped by any one existence…” “What’s she going on about?” Simon says, walking up between Rainbow and Twilight, looking at his daughter. “Hey! Snap out of it!” “The storm will consume us, darkness everlasting…” She continues, staring up at the crossed blades over her head. “The answer to a question of nations…all nations require one to unify them…one to bring them together under a single banner…” She snaps out of her trance, shaking her head. “W-What happened to me?!” She says in a panic, putting a hoof to her forehead, looking around. “You…you were hypnotized, I think.” Twilight says, looking over at her friend with worry in her eyes. “Are you alright?” “Yeah…yeah I am…just, really freaked out, that’s all.” She sighs, looking back up at the gate. It’s a massive double door structure, overpowering and impenetrable. Very small scars line its surface from the Hemorans’ attempts to open it, small white lines along the shining blue surface. An inscription of a lightning bolt lines the center of the doorway, spanning nearly the entire height of it. Rainbow stands up and walks towards the statues, the cross of swords following her. She looks at the pedestals of the statues. The left, the armored boots of the Hemoran seen just above, reads CONVICTION while the other, the Equestrian standing upon it with her robe draping over the sides, reads KINDNESS. “Describes them pretty well, I’d say…” Rainbow mumbles to herself, looking up at the door and spotting a note. Thy quest leads thee to one final door, Freedom but a single step away. Two questions remain unanswered, A concept left not understood. One is a question of nations, Of great heroes and prosperous leaders. All look to these souls with hope, To guide them, to ____ them. “To guide them…to…blank.” Rainbow rubs her chin, the answer seeming obvious, but the threat of death hanging fifty feet above her head makes it a dodgy guess at best. She stares at the note, then at the seam of the two grand gates just to the left of it, thinking. “Our question remains unanswered, young one. Thy time runs short.” The Hemoran booms out. “Our concept remains unknown…we require our answer, young one.” The Equestrian follows. “I’m thinking, I’m thinking…! If I didn’t have these blades hanging over my head, this would be easy…A question of nations…the Princess…monarchs and heroes…everypony looks up to these figures with hope…a hope for a leader. To guide them…to…to…!” She taps her forehead, before the grinding of metal above her shocks her out of her stumped trance. “Time for thee runs low…answer now, or forever be lost…” The Equestrian says, sadness reverberating in her voice. Rainbow looks up, her pupils quickly shrinking to the sight of the two blades, their edges now pointing down at her. “To guide them…to guide them…think of something, Dash!” Rainbow whispers to herself, terror clouding her thoughts. The blades grind slowly down towards her. “RAINBOW!” Twilight screams out, starting to sprint towards her friend. The blades let go of each other, falling freely. “Thy time is now…farewell, young soul…” The Hemoran booms out, finality in his voice with a sense of bitterness. The Equestrian simply sobs, letting her blade fall with the other. “TO LEAD THEM!” Rainbow shouts out, now or never for the answer. The blades slam into the platform, easily cutting through it, and the edges stop short of Rainbow’s ears, mere inches away from slicing her cleanly in half. Twilight falls to the ground, breathing heavily, still ten feet away from her friend. “Oh…oh Celestia…Rainbow, Rainbow!” She shouts, tears rolling down her face. Her friend turns around, a big smile on her face. “I did it…” She chuckles, still scared slightly, but happy that her time wasn’t cut short here. She turns back to the gate, seeing the note burst into green flame. “We are satisfied with thy answer…thou shalt not fall here.” The Hemoran says, bringing his blade up out of the platform. “We are also satisfied…relief fills our soul.” The Equestrian says with her usual quiet tone, bringing her blade out of the platform as well. Two giant scars rest next to Rainbow, the fencing easily split by the extremely heavy swords. Both statues plant the tips of their blades into the pedestals, and place hand and hoof on the gate. “Withdraw thy key, and speak the phrase that will unlock your path!” The Equestrian says with loud determination in her voice. Rainbow nods, turning to her bag and pulling out the four items she’d picked up before, laying them next to the new piece that fell from the green flames; a small blue jewel. The pieces begin to levitate in front of Rainbow Dash, and combine themselves into a key. The spikes rim the medallion as the rod locks itself into place, the two small plates locking into the rod as teeth, while the jewel locks itself in between the wings. The wings expand outside the medallion, flowing outwards, as if taking flight. “Right…now the phrase…” Rainbow strokes her chin, thinking back to anything that might hint at it. “What could be a key phrase…?” She thinks hard, looking down at the platform, seeing a note nailed into the floor. Thy conviction rests as a relief, Thy soul stands strong against the wind. Before thee are the gates of Destiny, Through these, thou shalt find the truth. Steel yourself, for your future is dark, Your past fraught with shadows and terror. Hold true to yourself and your friends, And speak the phrase of the five. “Phrase of the five…?” Rainbow whispers, her mind locking on ‘five’. “The five…the five pieces of the key…the five answers!” Rainbow taps the ground, nodding, and recalls the five answers. “’Lead’, ‘Will’, ‘One’, ‘Two’, ‘Five’…those were the answers…” She says to herself, thinking. “What’s the phrase…?” She says, looking up towards the gates of her Destiny, determination filling her soul, while something dark creeps forth from the depths of her mind…