//------------------------------// // The Cathedral- Rain Crasher // Story: Catherine: Love is Over? // by _No_One_Remains_ //------------------------------// “Let’s go, Rain. You have a tower to climb, and a special mare to save…” Night 5, Cathedral “Ugh…my head. Why the hell’d you knock us out like that, Astaroth?” Rain pushed himself from the cold ground of the black void. He wasn’t surprised to find himself in the void for the fourth night. At least he could find comfort in the fact that this would be the last. He opened his eyes and stood up tall, taking note of the seven lights in the distance. He then focused on the single door a few feet away. Just as he took a few steps toward the door, a frightened voice called out, “Wh-where am I? What is this?” The voice made Rain’s brain kick into overdrive. It couldn’t possibly be… Cloud… No… She doesn’t deserve this hell, Astaroth! She’s done nothing wrong! He looked around to find the source of the voice. There, a few feet away, lying on the ground of the dark void was a Pegasus mare. A familiar mint coat and cyan mane greeted him as the light from the door made the mare barely visible. Rain was at a loss of words as he realized that she was, unmistakably, his marefriend. The very marefriend that had given him his single defining feature in the previous nightmares and had caused the uncertainty that ended up sending him into the nightmares. He approached her slowly and gently extended a hoof. He sighed, “Everything will be fine, Cloud.” The mare’s eyes locked on to him, trying to figure out who the stallion was. To her relief, she recognized him almost immediately in the dim light. She stood to her hooves and asked, “Is that you Rain? Where in Equestria are we?” She took his hoof with one of her own. “Welcome to the Cathedral, my little Pegasi. If you make it to the top of tonight’s tower, you’ll both be free.” The mysterious voice had a touch of venom in it. Noticing Cloud’s confused expression, Rain shouted into the void, “This isn’t funny, Astaroth! She doesn’t deserve to go through this!” The mare gripped his hoof tight and asked, “What’s going on, Rain? Who was that?” Rain sighed, “Listen up, Cloud. If we wanna go home, we have to go through the door. When we do, all hell is going to break loose, and we’ll have to climb. I need you to follow me up the steps, okay?” His eyes held a fire of serious determination. The mare nodded and gripped his hoof tighter. The two of them headed right for the door. A white light enveloped them and temporarily took away all of their senses. Once it faded, the area they were in came into focus. They rested at the bottom of one of eight block towers. Rain was fully ready to get started climbing, but his marefriend stopped to take in the surroundings. Marble pillars in the distance, glowing altars at the top of the neighboring towers, and two large demons climbing up respective towers. Rain recognized one demon from Fancypants’s description of his monster. The other demon appeared to be a filly, so he assumed it was Mr. Rich’s monster. Keeping that in mind, he stared into the dark void below to wait for his own demon. He wondered if Cloud would be able to realize that the demon was her. A roar echoed from below, followed by the front half of a Pegasus with bloody wings and a bloodstained wedding dress. The demon was identical to Cloud, aside from faded irises and needle-like teeth. In one hoof the demon carried a bouquet of knives, and in the other it held a saw blade ground to look like a wedding band. It swung its bouquet at the ponies before crying, “But we’re…perfect for each other!” Cloud looked back and forth between Rain and the demon. She scoffed, “I take it this is supposed to be me? A mare in a wedding dress chasing you? Is this the nightmare you were talking about the other night?” Rain bowed his head and nodded hesitantly. He sighed, “Yep, this is it. And yeah, that’s supposed to be you, although she’s a good deal uglier.” He took her by the hoof and climbed the first few steps up the tower, dragging her behind him. They climbed up a few levels before Cloud angrily mumbled, “If I’m such a nuisance that you actually have nightmares about marrying me, then why the hell are we still together?” She followed Rain up the tower, not out of love but fear. The stallion, as he steadily climbed up, groaned, “Because I love you, Cloud! I just don’t think I’m ready for marriage… And all this wedding talk has me going insane!” He continued pulling her up the tower as the demon thrashed its arms. A few blocks were crushed here and there, but it was nothing too serious for the ponies to avoid. The annoyed mare gasped between steps, “So instead of…talking about it with me…you’ve been letting this bitch…chase you every night?” She was slowly running out of energy, and was uncertain of how much longer she’d be able to climb. It seemed that the tower was draining her of her will to continue. Rain screamed, “I didn’t want to worry you, okay?! Now just shut up and save your breath for climbing! We’re not even half way there yet!” The mare followed his directions, finding it the best course of action. She followed him up the tower ever further, still dodging the demon’s attacks. A little ways further up the tower, the two of them listened to a stallion’s voice echo through the dark void. Suddenly, almost every tower had a demon climbing up the bottom, knocking them to pieces. Finally, they reached a point on the tower that proved inconvenient. The tower had completely drained Cloud of her energy before they reached the top. In fact, there were only about a dozen steps left before she simply collapsed onto the ground. She found herself unable to get back up, and her breath was heavy. The tower was determined to not let her go on. Rain stopped and tried to help her to her hooves. He groaned as he pulled her up, only for her to fall back down, “C’mon honey, we’re almost at the top! You can’t give up on me now!” Cloud scoffed in heavy breaths, “It’s not like I’m…trying to die here… My muscles just…won’t work…” Rain hit the block beside them with an angry hoof. He screamed, “Dammit, I’m not leaving you here! C’mon, we’re getting the hell out of here!” With a burst of angry energy, he pulled her off of the ground and placed her on his back. He held one hoof on her side to help her maintain her balance as he struggled to climb up the first step. The exhausted mare sighed, “This is stupid… If you keep this up…we’re both gonna die. Just leave me alone…and get the hell out of here.” The stallion stomped a hoof and shouted, “That’s not happening! I’d rather die here with you than just leave you for dead! We’re either getting out of here together, or not at all!” He climbed up the next step with just as much trouble. The demon in the void drew back its bouquet and readied it for a quick thrust into the ponies. It screamed, “If you won’t love me, then you won’t live!” It thrust its knives directly at them. Rain spun around and screamed at the monster, “If I have to die for wanting to save my woman, then go ahead and kill me! But just know what kind of mistake you’re making by taking an innocent mare’s life, Astaroth!” He closed his eyes and turned so that Cloud wouldn’t have to see the impending doom heading for them. Just as the knives were about to completely destroy the targeted section of the tower, an agonized roar rang out from the demon, and it suddenly burst into dust and fell into the oblivion below the tower. Opening his eyes, Rain barely caught a glimpse of a white ray of light extending out toward the walls of the void. He turned and focused on the altar of the landing, and watched the beam retract into it. He let out an over-relieved sigh, “I guess the voice has a heart after all. You still with me, Cloud?” He craned his neck to look at the mare on his back. She sighed, “Yeah. That was...scary. Can we go home now?” Rain nodded and continued his struggle up the last ten or so steps to the landing at the top. As he reached the solid surface of the platform, he dropped Cloud gently on the ground and plopped down beside her. He laughed, “I guess you never know what you really want until it’s about to be ripped away from you…” He placed a hoof on the necklace hanging over his chest. He gave Cloud a loving glare and sighed, “You still wanna tie the knot, right?” The mare giggled, her energy starting to return, “Can we talk about it after we get out of this place? I think I’m catching a cold here…” She let out a deep breath, which formed a cloud of fog as it left her muzzle. “Right…” Rain groaned. He continued with a chuckle, “…we better get going. There’s no telling how long this landing will stick around. He took Cloud by the hoof and gently lifted her to her hooves. The two walked side by side up to the welcoming light of the altar. It swallowed them as they approached, and the cold air of the nightmare quickly drained away from them. The mysterious voice sighed, “You have guts, standing up to your demon like that. Congratulations.” Rain Crasher was a hard-working stallion that loved his job as a guard. He also loved his marefriend, Cloud Tumble. But despite his strong feelings for her, he was hesitant to marry her and start a family. He was sent into the nightmares because of his hesitation, and he was judged to see whether his doubt could be erased or not. His Cathedral challenge helped him see just how much he loved her, and he realized that as long as she was by his side, he’d be ready to face anything head on. He decided he would propose once all of this Woman’s Wrath nonsense was over…