//------------------------------// // The Cathedral- Rough Charger // Story: Catherine: Love is Over? // by _No_One_Remains_ //------------------------------// “A man punished for his lover’s sins. How unusual. But if the Cathedral is the only thing that will show you how wrong you are, then so be it. Wake up, Rough.” Night 5, Cathedral Rough coughed as he pushed himself from the ground. The cold air reminded him of the previous night’s nightmare, and he knew that he had been sent back. He searched nervously over the ground, hoping to find his pack of cigarettes and lighter. He had no intention of climbing the tower without a cancer stick between his lips. They relieved his stress, if only slightly. He coughed as he lit up a cigarette and took a puff, “Dammit Astaroth, you coulda warned us before dropping us.” He looked around the dark expanse only to find seven doors in the distance with an eighth beside him. He sighed and readied himself for the climb that would soon come. A confused voice rang out into the void and caught his attention. It groaned, “What the fuck is this place?” The figure of a mare squirmed in the darkness a few feet away from Rough. The voice sent shivers down his spine. You gotta be kidding me! Why is she here? He walked slowly over to the mare’s side to examine her. He was greeted with familiar eyes and a frightened voice, “Wh-what’s going on?” He examined the mare in the faint light the door was putting off. She was without a doubt his marefriend, though he hadn’t doubted that fact upon hearing her voice. She had the same dark purple coat and yellow mane he’d seen every day for nearly five years. All of this led Rough to wonder exactly what she was doing in this hellish place. Rough helped the mare to her hooves and sighed, “A whole lot of shit, Sugar. Look, we have to get out of here. The sooner we head through that door, the sooner we’ll be home.” He grabbed her hoof and started heading for the door. She planted her hooves firmly on the ground and scoffed, “I’m not going anywhere until you tell me where the hell we are!” Her face was twisted in anger and annoyance. He groaned, “I told you I’ll explain everything once we’re outta here! Now c’mon, it’s not smart to hang around too long.” He tried once more to pull her to the door, but she wouldn’t budge an inch. The mysterious voice took this opportunity to butt in, “Trouble in paradise, ponies? I wonder how long it will take you to realize just what your problem is, Rough. I would think it was obvious, but someponies are just too blind. Tonight is the Cathedral, where your lesson will be learned, no matter the cost. I would suggest you hurry and start climbing. The sooner you reach the altar, the sooner you can lift your burden.” It faded away with a laugh. Sugar sent a frightened glare at Rough before joining him at his side. She gasped, “Okay, I’ll play it your way. Let’s go.” She followed as he led them up to the door. It opened and embraced the ponies with its bright light. Once it had faded, they found themselves on the bottom of a relatively small tower of blocks. In the distance they saw seven other towers. Four of those towers had monsters climbing up and destroying the bottoms as they went. Rough ignored the other demons as a roar echoed from below his own tower. He looked over the edge into the void and watched as a demonic body materialized below him. Tonight, for the second time, he would be facing a demon he recognized all too well. The demon’s white coat and red mane, mixed with the golden breastplate and helmet, let him know that he was his own demon. It leaped through the void and stopped level to the two ponies. With a chuckle it roared, “She doesn’t love you, dumbass!” and thrashed its hooves at the tower. Rough took a puff of his cigarette and laughed, “You keep telling me that, but I ain’t gonna believe it!” He turned to Sugar and took her hoof. He led her up the first couple of steps before sighing, “Stay close and watch out for that thing’s hooves. It’s a killer, and won’t hesitate to do its job!” With a nod, she followed close behind him as they climbed the tower. As they continued going up, both ponies started to quickly lose their energy. Where they were pumped up with adrenaline in a race to the top of the tower, they were now struggling to climb a single step. With each step they had to stop and catch their breaths. Rough hadn’t had this problem the previous night, so he knew it could only be one of two things causing the struggle. Either Astaroth was being a dick or escorting his lover was draining him worse than he would have imagined. This is a fun game you’ve made, you sick fuck! Just let us get to the top and end all this bullshit. Isn’t that what you want, anyway? “You seem to misjudge my intentions, Rough. You have to learn your lesson before I can send you back.” Oh yeah? And what lesson might that be? That you’re a complete and total prick to be killing us so cheaply? “Alas, you could never understand the beauty of what I’ve done. Why don’t you forget about that unfaithful marefriend of yours and hurry on your way? No matter how drained you feel, she is definitely worse off than you. You could easily leave her behind, like you should have years ago.” So all this is because she doesn’t wanna get married? What kind of bastard would punish a person for not wanting to be married?! Ain’t this a problem I should work out on my own? “You’re wasting your time with her, Rough. There are so many other mares that would be more than happy to settle down. Spending all of your personal time with her is taking the chance for a real relationship away from you. Surely you don’t want that?” Do I look like I give a damn?! If she ain’t ready to settle down, then so be it! But I love her, and I ain’t abandoning her! “If that’s how you want to play it, then I simply can’t allow you to leave this place alive. Good night, Rough Charger…as much as it pains me to do so.” With that final comment, the demon reached the area level with the two exhausted ponies. It roared, “You just can’t take no for an answer, eh?” and sent one hoof flying directly into the few blocks below Sugar. Mustering up all of his energy, Rough darted to the edge of the undamaged blocks and latched on to the mare before she could fall into the void below. The half of the tower that had been struck continued to crumble to pieces while the stallion used all of his remaining energy to try and save his lover. Rough coughed as he spat his cigarette away, “I ain’t letting go of you, Sugar! I don’t care what happens, I love you, and that’s a fact!” The mare looked up at him with a mixture of sadness and regret in her eyes. She sighed, “That voice isn’t subtle, is it?” Rough shook his head and asked, “You heard what he was saying, didn’t you?” The mare nodded her head and mumbled, “So…this is my fault, right?” The weakening stallion shook his head violently and groaned, “No way! You can’t blame yourself! There’s nopony to blame except for the guy that sent us here…” The demon let out another violent roar. The two ponies turned to see it draw its hoof back once more. With a sigh, Rough readied himself for the attack that would surely end him and his lover. The hoof went flying, shattering the blocks at the top of the tower, which started a chain reaction that sent every block below them tumbling into the dark void. Even as they fell to their deaths at the hooves of whatever waited at the bottom of the void, Rough refused to let go of Sugar’s hoof… “You were a fool. You could’ve easily saved yourself and been free from this prison. But no, you had to try and save a woman that was simply wasting any potential you truly had. You were a complete idiot, one of the few I can safely say I do not regret killing in this place. I can’t begin to understand your reasoning, but then again, I don’t need to. ‘Rough Charger and Sugar Heart died together in blissful romance’…I can already hear the obituaries…” “Love without return is like a question without an answer.” --Unknown “Love is the flower of life, and blossoms unexpectedly and without law. It must be plucked where it is found, and enjoyed for the brief hour of its duration” --D.H. Lawrence *A/N: This is the official end of the Cathedral Chapters. Big Macintosh and Doctor Whooves will be explained in the next chapter of the story. I hope you enjoy. Also, the two quotes I've used here are for the sake of covering all the Cathedral chapters, not just this one.*