//------------------------------// // 40 The Tower // Story: Errant Finale // by Doug Graves //------------------------------// Rainbow Dash snuggles next to Doug as the sun dips below the white capped mountains of the Frozen North. Her breath relaxes, finally feeling like the cloud of depression surrounding her has lifted. That mud blasted changeling, draining her love of Doug!? She'd probably hate it more, but she still feels kind of apathetic about the whole thing. It was kind of the point, letting Twilight inform Shining Armor without Chrysalis catching on, but still sucked. Speaking of which. “Shouldn’t they be done by now?” Rainbow Dash asks, looking up the sheer crystal walls at the spot the alicorn had entered. They had seen some flashes of color from the windows, and then it seemed like all the light left the room. But nothing has happened in a while, and she's starting to get worried. “There wasn’t that much to search for in the throne room.” “Maybe they found something.” Doug’s smile pulls against his face. "But I don't know if that's good or bad." He shudders a bit, gripping Rainbow Dash tighter, before he turns to Shining Armor. “How are you feeling?” Shining Armor closes his eyes, taking a long, deep breath. “I didn’t want to believe Twilight at first. That somehow Cadance was an imposter. But after keeping this shield going now, and how much I struggled with it before?” He sighs, shaking his head. “I can't deny it anymore. I just hope that Cady is okay.” “I believe she is,” Doug says reassuringly. “How do you know that?” Rainbow Dash asks, rubbing her head against Doug. Doug’s smile nearly fades as he purses his lips. “I don’t know for sure. But I can hope.” He ruffles her mane, glancing up as the rest of the herd makes their way onto the balcony. “Sup?” “The Crystal Faire was a smashing success, if I do say so myself,” Rarity says, wearing one of her crafted hats. “I don’t think there was a pony there who didn’t turn crystal!” She glances to her own plain white coat, sighing a little. “Besides ourselves, I suppose. Don’t you think I’d look just fabulous with my coat shining?” “I’m sure it’d look very nice,” Fluttershy says as she snuggles next to Doug, the human nodding noncommittally. “More to the point, though. Um, we might have mentioned the Crystal Heart and how we were searchin’ for it.” Applejack lays down, stifling a grimace. “Ah don’t suppose we’ve made any progress on that front?” “I don’t think so,” Rainbow Dash says, again tearing her eyes away from Doug to look up. “Oh. Well, there may or may not be a horde of disappointed ponies waiting at the bottom of the castle. So Ah really hope that we can find it.” Applejack glances over the balcony; many of the crystal ponies have pulled out folding chairs and mats to lay on. “Ah don’t suppose we have a way of keepin’ em entertained?” “You don’t need to ask me twice!” exclaims Pinkie Pie, pulling out a flugelhorn. She hops onto the balcony, serenading the audience with a somber horn solo. Many of the audience waves their heads back and forth, not quite lulled to sleep. Rainbow Dash gives Doug a quick kiss before she stretches her wings, Applejack taking her place at Doug’s side. “I’m going to fly up there and check, see how they’re doing.” She takes to the air, flying the hundred feet or so upwards. Nothing really stands out to her on the way, other than the shield is casting the whole city in a weird pink glow that is messing with her sight. “Huh,” Rainbow Dash says to herself as she gets up to the throne room. She pokes her head through the open window. Nothing inside. No weird lights or anything. The throne, basically the only thing in the room, looks the same as when she blitzed through the room earlier. The doors leading out of the throne room are closed. She exits the throne room the way she came in, eyes automatically scanning around her. Wait a second. She turns to the west, focusing on the edge of the wall. There’s a blackness up against the wall that she thought was just a lump of crystal or ground or something. But now it’s bigger. And, as she continues watching, growing. Rainbow Dash dives down, opening her mouth only to see Shining Armor wincing in pain. “You okay?” “Ugh,” is his reply, shaking his head. “Head hurts. Like something’s trying to break through, and in addition to wearing on my shield it’s wearing on me.” “I think I saw it,” Rainbow Dash says, motioning to the west. “There was something along the wall, and-” Shining Armor screeches in pain as his horn crackles with a bit of dark magic. The light disappears from all around them as his horn winks out. The lamps of the city still provide some illumination, and Rarity automatically sets her own horn alight. From beneath, worried whispers are exchanged, and it isn’t long before a chill wind sets everypony on edge. The streetlights from the west blink out, one after another. The sounds of cracking stone comes from all over as giant shards of dark crystal burst forth from the ground, toppling buildings and destroying the streets. Above, a large shadowy cloud quickly makes its way to the center of the city. Deep, guttural laughs echo among the few standing buildings. Maddening words, too quiet to make out but barely identifiable, linger in the back of everypony’s mind like a bump in the night. “What do we do?” Rainbow Dash asks, terror in her eyes. Shining Armor groans next to her, his horn occasionally sparking but not obeying his commands. “There’s no way I can hold him off alone; and with Shining Armor hurt, we’re basically sitting ducks.” “Good thing you aren’t alone,” Rarity says, though she can’t help but take a fearful step backwards. “Although, I would like to reiterate that fighting still isn’t really my thing, and if we can come to some sort of amenable solution then I would be, well, amenable to that.” High above - actually, well below ground - Twilight Sparkle forces herself to keep her wings flapping. How high can this tower next to her be? She knows she’s easily gone several hundred, if not a thousand, feet up by this point. But without any thermals to ride, and possible dark magic at play? It could be her eyes playing tricks on her. But still her horn shines, illuminating the spiral staircase on the outside of the tower they left however many minutes ago. “Maybe I should have studied more gravity spells,” Twilight remarks to Chrysalis, the changeling walking up the stairs next to her. Pony, she could take a break. She chances a look down, but the light of her horn doesn’t illuminate all the far. Though there is a slight blur of motion, like something small and dark is following them, blending into the red her horn colors everything in. “Explain,” Queen Chrysalis remarks, ponderously putting one hoof ahead of the other. She would have sworn they aren’t actually making any progress, like they are just turning on a screw. Except they keep moving on, so either it’s an infinite staircase (could Sombra do that?) or they would eventually reach the top. “You know, kind of like how levitation is just exerting a force on an object? It’s similar to creating a field anchored on a pony or object that exerts a force twice as strong as gravity but in the opposite direction. A well crafted one will diffuse the force through the object, like gravity does, instead of focusing it all at one point.” “So,” Queen Chrysalis says through clenched teeth, “we could have been spared the arduous climb by you remembering all of your abilities?” “Hey!” Twilight exclaims with a pout. “I said I should have studied them more. Meaning I don’t feel comfortable casting it.” “Was that before or after you became an alicorn?” Queen Chrysalis asks, “Because I’m perfectly happy with you testing that spell. On yourself, of course.” “Well, in that case,” Twilight says, her horn flaring. She yelps in surprise as she shoots upwards, wings flapping uselessly as she tries to right herself. “Hey! Get back here!” Queen Chrysalis shouts. Several seconds pass as she waits impatiently for Twilight to return. The alicorn eventually makes it back, panting heavily. “Cast the spell on me, too.” Twilight obliges immediately. Chrysalis’ eyes go wide as she raises into the air, less than a quarter second later bashing her head against the ceiling. She tumbles up, rolling end over end until she spills off the edge of the tower. Her wings buzz, righting herself and bringing her upwards falling to a stop. “Weee!” Twilight shouts as she zooms past the changeling, shoes scraping against the stone. How she manages to stay inside the spiral tower and not get ejected like Chrysalis is anypony’s guess, but she’s making it work somehow. Queen Chrysalis groans but follows after. After far too little time enjoying her new gravity spell Twilight yelps, her wings flaring and catching her from smashing into the roof. Well, one of the roofs; there is a portal in the middle of this roof that leads into a second room that also has a roof. It’s pretty dark in there, though, like it’s night outside. “Well?” Queen Chrysalis demands, standing on the ceiling. Or would that be the floor? She motions to the portal. “What’s next?” “Make sure it isn’t dangerous.” Twilight focuses for a second; nope, no traps. At least, no magical ones. On this side of the portal. “I think it’s safe.” “Then, after you.” Queen Chrysalis motions forward. “Okay,” Twilight replies, stepping forward. She falls up the portal, landing on the ceiling. It’s a spacious room, made of crystal. No furnishings of any kind. The walls have weird indents in them, like the entire place is made to camouflage into the rest of the castle. In other words, you’re not supposed to be able to see this room from outside. She can barely see outside, at least what she thinks is outside. Starry skies, but no pink shield. Whether that's good or bad? She's leaning towards bad. Floating in the center of the room is a medium blue heart. It doesn’t look like it is carved from a single block of crystal, like Twilight would have done. Instead, it’s crafted from hundreds of shards of crystals, fused together. After a brief scan to make sure it isn't fake - it seems real enough, and practically shines with energy, and not the dark kind - Twilight turns her attention back to the outside and where they are. It seems like the Crystal Empire, but it's hard to tell from the angle. And the dark. And the fields of black crystals littering the ground. “Go on.” Queen Chrysalis motions towards the heart. “Take it.” Twilight nods, pulling herself away from her scans and flying down. Far below, at the bottom of the castle, a dark cloud draws ever closer. Ponies warily glance one way or another, and several of the ponies who are shining brightly find their coat abruptly dimming as their hope goes out. “My Crystal Slaves…” King Sombra purrs out as his shadow form envelops the base of the castle. “How fitting for you to gather before me.” He rears up slightly. "Bow." Rainbow Dash chances a peek over the balcony, seeing only the back of King Sombra’s shadow head. None of the crystal ponies are standing against the unicorn, instead cowering or fearfully holding a hoof against their head as a pitiful shield. Many of them have followed his command, laying on the ground. Then his ears flick, and his eyes sink into the cloud, only to reappear on the other side. They stare right at Rainbow Dash, the pegasus’ limbs locking in terror. His wispy eyebrows narrow as his fang filled maw (what kind of pony has fangs!?) grins maniacally. He launches himself upwards, straight at the balcony. Rainbow Dash can’t even lift a hoof to brace for impact. Except he doesn’t slam into her, instead blasting further up. Higher and higher he climbs, leaving everypony gaping. He goes past the throne room, all the way to the very top of the crystal castle.