//------------------------------// // Chapter 41: Then We Said Hello // Story: Through the Aurora // by Starscribe //------------------------------// Summer settled down to bed with confidence. Opening the Doorway again wasn’t going to be easy, but now at least they had the magic for it. So long as she kept her head under pressure, she should be able to keep her friends. The hardest challenge waiting for her would be dealing with the awkwardness of their differences in sex. But in the end, she didn’t wake up rested with the dawn, ready to approach this last and most difficult challenge. Rather, she found herself yanked painfully upright out of bed, before she’d even fully processed what was going on. She gasped and strained, squeaking with protest—but the only result was a muffled yell. She squirmed and kicked in the dark bedroom, suddenly aware of many shapes around her. Something held her down, something as big and strong as Sharp but without any of his sensitivity and care. “Stop struggling.” Glass shattered, wood crunched, and things fell over, before finally she rolled over and got her first real look at what was going on. There were half a dozen figures in the room with them, with dark jackets and masks on over their faces. Worse, every one of them had a long knife, and a few of them had drawn them. “Sharp!” she squealed, reaching back towards the bed. But it was no use. She’d been bashed about so badly that she couldn’t say which way was up anymore. “Stop fighting,” grunted a voice. A second later, she felt something sharp press in by her neck.  She fell instantly still, holding rigid. “Alright, I’m done.” Her voice shook, but she managed to get those words out at least. “Smart bird,” the voice croaked. “Well, maybe not as smart as you should be. We shouldn’t have found you here. You could be living in luxury in Manehattan or Baltimare. But that’s not what you chose.” Another set of hooves wrenched her back, wrapping her wings in cord before hobbling her forelegs together. From the grunts of pain behind her, it seemed her friends were suffering the same fate. “Don’t hurt them,” she whispered. “Please, they have nothing to do with this. I’m the one she wants.” How did she know we were here? We didn’t stop anywhere!  Then again… they didn’t actually know Kate would’ve been waiting for them at any of the cities along the way. Theo had mentioned the experiment had a set time-limit. I’m a fucking idiot. “You’re going to follow,” the voice said gruffly. “If either of you get any ideas, the filly gets hurt. So play nice, alright?” Outside, the sun hadn’t ever quite gone down, and leered on the horizon like a disdainful eye. At least Summer caught a glimpse of Sharp following behind her. Curiously, he hadn’t been tied, and ponies around him didn’t have their weapons drawn. Must be an earth pony thing. The threat against Emerald is what keeps him from trying to escape.  And behind him, Emerald slunk along. Her wings had been tied, but like Sharp they hadn’t bothered restraining her. What danger was a child her age, who couldn’t even fly? Apparently none they were worried about. She caught one look at her desperation, before the pony escorting her shoved her into the deck. She slid along its icy surface, stealing any warmth she’d recovered the night before. “Keep moving!” they grunted. “Eyes front, bird.” Getting down was its own kind of adventure. Some of the earth ponies just leapt the entire distance, landing in the snowdrift without much effort. But without her wings, she could only struggle down the ladder, using her bound forelegs to cling desperately to each rung.  She didn’t land at the end so much as flop backwards into the snow and ice, shivering all the way. “You… didn’t have to take Emerald,” she muttered. That took bravery enough, even if the knife wasn’t at her throat anymore. “She didn’t do anything to you.” Out in the light, she could get a look at the pony guiding her. A massive earth pony stallion, even taller and thicker than Sharp. He wore a mask on his face and cloth over his cutie marks, but the rest of his brown body was visible easy enough. There were a half-dozen other grunts out here, each one dressed the same way. A few had jackets and scarves on as well—the single unicorn in the group was so thickly bundled she couldn’t tell if they were a stallion or a mare. “She’s the reason you aren’t going to do anything to us,” her guide barked. “Your friend there is Sharp Edge, I don’t want him hurting any of my stallions here. And you—you’re a shapeshifting predator. Can’t be sure with your kind.” “You work for one of ‘my kind’,” she snapped, before she’d had the chance to think about what she was saying.  The pony kicked her again, sending her sprawling into the snow. She slid half a dozen meters before finally coming to a stop, completely soaked and aching. “Stop it!” Sharp yelled. “We’re cooperating with you! You don’t need to hurt her!” She rose to shaky feet, hobbling weakly back towards the group. In the dim light overhead, she could see a path cut through the snow, probably made by the raiders as they walked towards the airship. They’d compressed the snow down into something traversable. She walked with a limp as she made her way back, eyes down.  She didn’t argue again. If there was a single mercy about this kidnapping, it was their destination. The brutes were taking them directly towards the Doorway. She might’ve asked about why, seeing as this was the one place Kate wouldn’t want them to be. Didn’t she hate this thing, and want it never opened? Why would she bring them to exactly the place Summer needed to be? As they got closer, a cluster of white tents came into view, surrounding a well-appointed high north camp. The forest all around had been cleared, and racks of logs were packed near a large fire as they dried. For each brute who had come to kidnap them, there were another few ponies here doing more mundane work. They seemed to be breaking down the camp before her eyes, packing away furniture and collapsing tents one by one, rolling them up onto the empty sleds. They kept their eyes down, pretending not to see them. You know what your boss is doing is wrong. But she paid well. Apparently well enough for these ponies to ignore their conscience. To her surprise, they didn’t walk into the camp, but straight towards the entrance to the Doorway’s inner workings. The ice had been completely carved away, and inside were a dozen powerful work lights, illuminating everything with a steady magical glow. “Get in,” her escort barked, and she dodged a kick this time to hobble through the entrance. She slowed a little as she stepped inside, eyes going wide with horror as she saw what Kate had done. The mechanisms were undamaged, the enchantments apparently intact and untampered-with. Instead, Kate had packed almost the entire space with explosives. She’d never seen the likes of those large barrels before, weeping an oily fluid from within. But the nature of those thick fuses left no doubt in her mind. Each was connected to a central bundle, marked with little red wraps every half-meter or so. A measuring device of some kind? Only the control area was clear, and it was there Kate waited for them. She sat on a comfortable-looking camp chair, wearing a downy jacket and sipping coffee. She didn’t seem the least bit perturbed as her guards shoved them to the muddy ground in front of her, even poor Emerald. She finished her glass, tossing the metal cup aside. “Well, Theo, I hope you’re happy about all this. I hope you realize how unnecessary this all was.” She wasn’t the only creature down here—a few folding tables were set up around the controls, with heavy-looking Feather electronics piled on them. Radios and speakers and other things Summer couldn’t easily identify. There were a few more ponies hunched around the machines, watching them carefully. Most of their escort vanished out the way they’d come. Only four of the guards remained, each one armed. One kept beside Summer, while the other three surrounded Sharp. They hadn’t even bothered leaving anypony by Emerald, who still lay face first in the mud. “Kat.” Sharp’s voice was pleading, desperate. “Please, stop this. I know how passionate you are, but… sending a ship to kill us? Dragging a filly through the snow? You’re better than that.” Her face hardened. “I wasn’t talking to you. If you’re so confident, say something like that again, and see what happens to her.” Sharp hung his head, and didn’t answer. Kate nodded approvingly, then turned back to Summer. “As frustrating as you’ve been, there are at least some positive outcomes to be celebrated here. This last month has been an absolute slog, studying this ancient machine. You wouldn’t believe how frustrating old magic can be sometimes. But now you’re here to make all that go away.” She reached out, extending a claw expectantly. “Give me your necklace, Theo.” She gasped, clutching at it with difficulty. “B-but… My Ponish is… barely grade-school.” She looked sidelong at Sharp and Emerald, pleading. But of course there was nothing they could do. They were only here because of her. Kate was completely unmoved. “Well, whose fault is that? You’ve been here for five months, and you didn’t learn more of the language. Pity. Now give it to me or I’ll tear it off. Your choice, Theo.” She doesn’t care about the necklace. It’s the pearl she wants. Theo whimpered, then lifted it up off her head, tossing it through the air towards Kate. There was no way to fight her, not with all these soldiers around. “What’s the point of taking that? It looks like you’re going to destroy the portal anyway. My pearl won’t work for you.” “I can’t transform with it,” she said absently—her English was smoother than last time, as though she’d been practicing. “Do I look like I want to be a fish? Honestly.” She strode towards the controls, removing the pearl from the necklace as she went. She tossed the metal aside like trash, then carefully settled the pearl into place. It began to glow brilliantly, light spilling from between the mechanisms all around the room. Above them, gears began to turn, shaking free of rust and dirt and raining down debris on them. But she didn’t actually turn the controls that would begin the process. “Why are you opening the portal?” she asked, tearful. “Are you going to send me back? Is that what this is about?” “Yes, actually.” She turned to the side, barking something to her technician. Summer caught the word “wait” and “talk” along with the untranslated “radio”, but the rest was just noise to her. The magic was stolen—she really couldn’t understand them anymore. With a few more commands, the guards snapped alert, ready for something. “You probably won’t enjoy the trip,” Kate went on. “There are certain steps we need to take, to make sure this door closes for good. Your meddling already drew too much attention. Since they wouldn’t listen to my warnings to shut everything down, we have to escalate.” She turned to the guards, and this time the command was simple enough that she could understand it. “Bring them.” Summer didn’t struggle, but little Emerald did, rolling past the guards and onto the floor near the controls. She ran desperately, like she was going for the doorway on the other side of the building. Without success. None of the guards were watching her at first, but that soon changed. One of the pegasus ponies leapt for her, pinning her to the ground with a tackle and holding her there until she stopped struggling. Summer didn’t understand his threat, but the tone was obvious enough. They dragged her at the head of the group, dripping with snow and mud, finally out into the opening. “At least there’s poetry in it,” Kate went on, as they circled around towards the bottom of the ramp. “You created this nightmare by drawing attention to Equestria. You contaminated our worlds. Now we end the loop. If I’d thought to bring one, I’d send you back wrapped in a pretty bow. Shame, but it wouldn’t survive the explosion anyhow.” They began climbing the ramp. Summer soon saw exactly what Kate meant—there were more crates piled here, near the edge of the platform, with their own fuse. Oh god. Kate’s plan came to her in an instant. “You’re going to… send us back with a bomb, destroy the experiment on that side. Then destroy the Doorway on this side too.” Of course, there was one obvious flaw in the plan, something that Summer wasn’t going to point out. It might be the only loophole she could use to escape. She couldn’t see the point to sending them through. If she wanted them dead, wouldn’t it be easier just to make sure herself? Kate smiled with satisfaction, nodding to her. “Pity you couldn’t apply that intelligence to something more productive, Theo. I could’ve used an electrical engineer. In another fifty years or so we’ll have our first computers, and it would’ve been nice to have you around. You could’ve been my Wasniak. Now you get to be giblets instead.” Fifty years? But there were much more important things. The guards didn’t seem interested in getting anywhere close to the ramp. They shoved them forward, then backed away once they were on the stone. One had a crossbow, and he waved it threateningly in Emerald’s general direction. The message was obvious, even if he didn’t say it. Kate alone was unafraid of the Doorway’s magic, and began to advance towards them, forcing them to retreat towards the bomb waiting near the top.  “I changed my mind,” Summer snapped. “I’ll do everything you say, Kate. I’ll forget about Earth, give you all my stuff. You can blow up the portal, I won’t stop you. Just don’t kill my friends. Let them walk away, please.” Kate clucked her tongue. “Too late for all that. Your boyfriend here has friends who could be… inconvenient for me. But I’m not unreasonable.” She gestured, and said something to Emerald. Summer couldn’t understand it exactly, but the message was clear. “Come back. You don’t have to go.” Emerald didn’t listen, instead backing towards Sharp. He yelled something incomprehensible in response, eyes streaming with tears… but Emerald ignored him. Soon enough she had settled between them, close enough to touch a hoof to Summer’s claws. When she lifted her hoof again, she left the necklace piled there on the ground, intact. No pearl, but… it hadn’t ever needed the pearl to work. Summer snatched it with a claw, concealing it there as best she could. But they were still hobbled together, restricting her movement. “Well, I tried,” Kate said. “If it’s any consolation, know that you die to make Equestria safe. The world I’ll bring will be one that guides its ascension into a technological future. Ponies will have lights in their homes, without smog in their lungs and poison in their rivers. People have died for worse.” She turned, shouting over her shoulder. “Do it!” Summer didn’t need to put the necklace on to understand that. Nor was she confused when she started yelling at another technician, holding a sputtering torch. She gestured at the slope, and the pony took only faltering steps.  When the ground started shaking under her hooves, she knew exactly what was happening. The air all around her felt suddenly charged, her feathers lifting with the static. All at once, the aurora came crashing down around them, spectacular greens and blues and purples in a ribbon that went from one end of the horizon to the other. And in that light, an opening appeared. There was a tower, covered with machines so massive and complex that Summer gasped. There was not one tower anymore, but three, connected together with cables as thick around as a truck. The ripple in the air tore wide, from a few feet across to fifty, then a hundred. Wind roared around her, a torrent pouring upward. Snow fell into the sky, spiraling around in a whirlwind.  The incredible force didn’t care what it grabbed. Crates of explosives, chunks of rock, or birds.  Summer dug her claws into the stone, and her wings were tied closed—Kate was fighting over a torch, and her wings were spread around her in her frustration. She squealed in horror, flapping futilely as she was drawn up into the air. The torch fell away, landing with a hiss in the snow. Emerald went next, much too small to resist. Sharp tried to grab her, and soon he was lifted up into the air too. He might be incredibly strong, but there was nothing to hold onto, nothing strong enough to protect them from the vast rift swirling overhead. Summer relaxed her claws at last, pushing off up into the air after her friends. The Doorway was already shrinking, the vast energies they’d summoned closing in as the light of the aurora faded. Summer kicked out desperately beneath her, as though it would make a difference… and she passed through into eternity.