//------------------------------// // Chapter Eighteen: Enter the Door // Story: Paper Spike and the Thousand Year Door // by Sakunyan //------------------------------// Chapter Eighteen: Enter the Door "Alright, Spike. Let's make sure we have all the Elements now." Twilight set all the Elements out on the table carefully, one by one. She lifted each one of them with her magic and set them into her bag while counting them. "The Element of Generosity… Element of Kindness… Element of Honesty… Element of Loyalty… Element of Magic… and now, the Element of Laughter!" Spike breathed out in relief. "Finally! That means we can go to the Thousand Year Door and open it!" The group cheered, exempting Fluttershy who was a bit nervous about the idea of entering the door. "So now that we have all of the Elements, you're coming with us, right Twi?" "Of course I am! I'm sure you'll need all the help you can get!" "Is the Princess coming to help us?" Fluttershy asked timidly. "She said she'll come to our aid if it's a dire emergency. She's still trying to track down Discord in Equestria, so she and Luna are a bit busy. Don't worry, Fluttershy, I'm sure we can do it on our own!" Twilight looked over at Cheerilee. "Are you coming with us?" "No, I'm afraid not. I really have to stay here in the laboratory while I finish my work here in Rogueport." She glanced over at Angel, who was napping on her couch. "And I'm sure Fluttershy wouldn't want him venturing down with you, either." "Oh, not at all, but really, we should probably head back to Petalburg so I can check up on-" "Nonsense! We're in this together, Fluttershy! Let's go!" Underground Rogueport was as decrepit as ever when they ventured down to the Thousand Year Door. As they walked, Sweetie Belle and Twilight had been examining the map, trying to figure out how it knew the locations of the Elements. Spike finally took it from them once he got fed up with their talking. Spike began removing the Elements from Twilight's bag, setting it on the ground around him. They began floating into the air and shining, the ones that weren't already colored in on the map glowing with a bright light. Once the map had been completed, it floated above the Elements, which formed a circle around it in the air. The markings on the door which corresponded with the shapes of the Elements lit up as well, glowing with bright colored lights. Once the entire door had been lit up, the large room was filled with a final flash of bright light and the Elements fell to the ground, the map disappearing. The adventurers gazed at the door in awe as it began parting in the center. Before long, they were standing in front of a dark abyss that lie beyond the open doors. Their chance to celebrate was cut short, though. "Well, well. Long time no see, blank-flank." The group immediately whipped their heads around to find Diamond Tiara surrounded by a group of body guard stallions. "And look at that, Scootaloo's here too? It's charming that you've got your other little friends to help you with this! But where's Apple Bloom?" "Where's Rarity?" Spike said, stomping towards the filly with balled fists. The body guards immediately encircled her. "Now, now. Be patient, you can have your precious Unicorn soon enough. However, you never complied with our offer, so I'm afraid this will take longer than it would have. If it helps you at all, though, we actually have her with us!" Some of the body guards parted to reveal Filthy Rich, father of Diamond Tiara, standing next to a frantically flailing Unicorn being held back by some of the stallions. "Spike? Twilight! Help me! Please, help!" She attempted to use her magic to free herself, but the stallions themselves were Unicorns and were able to stop her. "Rarity!" Twilight's horn began to glow as she sent out beams of magic at the stallion guards. Her magic hit them, causing one of them to stumble, but new guards approached and blocked the view of Rarity, making her efforts useless. "Let her go, you monster!" Filthy Rich laughed. "Twilight Sparkle! I'd just like to thank your little friends for helping me get the Thousand Year Door open! It's much easier this way then having to take the Elements all by force." Twilight glared at him, flaring her nostrils in anger. "Ahh, I'm afraid, though, that we must be on our way. Not that I'll stop you from following us, but I can't have you constantly on our tails attacking us, now can I?" He looked over at the Unicorn stallions, whose horns began glowing. After a bright light, the group was laying on the ground, laying unconscious. "Come now, Rarity. This won't last much longer now." After ten minutes, the group awoke in a confusion. "What? Rarity? Where are you?" Spike rubbed his head, looking around. "No! They got away!" Sweetie Belle cried out, struggling to get up. Scootaloo crawled over to her friend to support her. "Don't worry, guys. We just have to catch up to them. Let's hurry now, before they make it too far inside." Spike hopped onto Twilight's back as she took the lead through the set of doors. The group had no idea as what they were about to face inside of the chambers ahead. The chambers of the Thousand Year Door seemed physically impossible to fit underneath the city of Rogueport. The ceiling was higher than they had even thought they had traveled underground and they couldn't even see the back wall of the chamber, despite the fact that torches were lit everywhere. Twilight sense some obvious magical properties to the chamber, some stronger than others. "Let's just take the path straight ahead. I can't imagine there can be much of a riddle to this place… although I could be wrong." Twilight gulped as she began walking forward, crossing a small bridge towards the front of the chamber. Just ahead of them in the shadows was soon revealed a large building. It was larger than any house they had seen, larger than even the castle of Hooktail. "Think there are any dragons inside that thing?" Spike said, only half joking. Fluttershy laughed nervously, beginning to worry feverishly. They approached the doors of the building, finding them partially open. "They must have come in here. Let's go, quickly." They gazed around the area they were in, finding it to be tower-like. "I think I've heard of this place… it's called the Palace of the Shadow." Sweetie Belle said, gazing around the room. "But I only read about it in an old book of lore Cheerilee had. I think this area is the Riddle Tower." Spike gulped, knowing he wasn't the best at riddles. He assumed that wouldn't be much of a problem, though, with Twilight there. "You got this, right Twi?" The Unicorn gazed around at the room, noticing a spiral staircase leading up to another floor. "Hmm… we'll see." She began exploring the room until she found an inscription on a wall. "Four stones… twin stones…" She looked over at the four stones in the room. "Do we… just break these?" She used her magic to lift the stone, dropping them onto the ground. Two of them shattered. "Huh…" As she studied the stones closely, they suddenly shattered. "Scootaloo!" "I didn't mean to do it, I promise!" The ones down below looked at the staircase, the heads of the fillies popping out to see them. "She broke something…" "On ACCIDENT!" "Were they stones?" Twilight asked. Scootaloo nodded, looking confused. "Great! You helped solve the first riddle!" "I did?" The Pegasus still looked confused as Twilight picked up a key which had been buried in the rock rubble. "Uh… right! I did!" They hurried up the stairs to the next room. "How, exactly?" Twilight ran to the next inscription. "I already read it. It says something about touching it to pass through." Twilight rubbed her chin, looking at the wall that cut the room in half compared to the room below. She held out her hoof to the wall, which slipped through instead of hitting solid stone. "Perfect!" She passed through the wall and returned holding another key. "What's next?" "Geez, Twilight. You're too good at this." Spike said, feeling slightly jealous that Twilight was able to go through the riddles so quickly. "Beyond, beyond, beyond…" Twilight muttered to herself, already reading the inscription in the next room. She began hitting the buttons on the floor in a specific order. Once she finished the pattern, a key appeared out of thin air before her. "Haha! I did it!" Spike rolled his eyes, feeling his point only further verified. "Let's go!" He followed her up the steps again, nonetheless. "The unseen may yet be felt?" She wandered into the middle of the room, only to be stopped by an invisible force. "Huh?" She attempted to use her magic, but to no avail. "Hmm… let me think about this." She paced the room, looking for another clue. Spike approached the force, tapping it with his claw. "Well, let's see how this works." Twilight turned to see Spike taking in a deep breath. "Spike, what are you doing?" He let out his fire breath on the form, covering it in the flames. "Spike!" When the flames disappeared, a key remained on the floor. "What? Spike, you did it! Good work!" Spike smiled triumphantly as Twilight picked up the key, which was rather hot, and quickly placed it in her bag. The group managed to get the next three keys easily, finally reaching an eighth room whereupon they reached a standstill. "The shy one hides his face… what are we supposed to do? I don't get it!" Twilight stomped around the room, wracking her brain for answers in frustration. "Does anyone else have any ideas?" "Um, I might have an idea. I'm not sure if it's any good, though." "It doesn't matter, Fluttershy. Any idea is better than nothing." "Oh, ok. Well, what if the key's just too shy to come out and will only come if no one's looking?" The group went silent. "…Is that it?" "Um, yes." "So… what do we do then?" "Close our eyes so it can't see us?" Fluttershy cowered back, her face turning a bright read. "I-it's probably too silly of an idea, though. I'm sorry I suggested it." Twilight sighed. "No, I mean, we can give it a try. Ready guys?" They agreed, although skeptical of the plan. "Alright, on the count of three. One… two… three…" The group stood there, all with their eyes closed. After about five seconds, Spike shifted uncomfortably. "Um, how long do we have to do this?" "We don't really have to do this. I was just… kidding. I was joking." Fluttershy's voice was at a quiet hush now. "Alright, well, we can just open our eyes now, I guess. No use in standing around with our eyes closed forever." Twilight opened her eyes and gasped, staring at the center of the room. "It… worked? But how?" She trotted over to the key and picked it up, placing it in her bag. "You're a genius, Fluttershy!" "Oh, I am? Thanks." She blushed modestly and followed Twilight as she ascended the stairs to the top of the tower. There she found a single pedestal with a keyhole in it. "Only one lock? Oh, well, we'll just have to try all the keys." Twilight tried all of the keys, but none of them worked. She groaned as she put away the final key. "Why isn't this working?" Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle pointed at the ground beside the pedestal. "It looks like there are supposed to be other pedestals here. Look, there's indented spots in the ground." "Eight of them, too!" Twilight put a hoof to her face. "You mean, there's another key somewhere that we're missing? Where in Equestria could that be?!" "Maybe outside of the Tower? It looked like there were other places beside the Shadow Palace outside of here." Spike pointed out. "Fine, fine. We'll go look for another key. Who knows how long that's going to take, though." The group felt a bit disheartened at that thought, but knew it was the only way. They traveled down the spiral staircase and exited the tower to search for the final key. They had only just stepped outside, though, when they were confronted. "Twilight Sparkle! We came here to help you since we knew it was a dire emergency." "Princess Celestia! Princess Luna! Cadence! It's so good to see you again!" The mare bowed before the three. "But what about Canterlot? You said it was too busy there to give up your duties!" "Uhh, yes. But I thought it was more important to help my pupil on her mission. It is a duty as a Princess to help my pupils and citizens, of course." Twilight tilted her head, finding the Princess's speech to be a bit off. Spike tapped her on the shoulder. "Uhh, Twilight. That's not the Princess." "What? What do you mean?" As she was turned, the Changelings morphed back to their original state and pounced on the Unicorn. "Give us back our Queen!" one of them hissed at Spike. He punched the Changeling in the jaw and pushed it off of Twilight. "Fluttershy, look out!" Sweetie Belle cried as one of them had jumped behind Fluttershy and was cornering her. She covered her head and squeaked as Scootaloo ran and jumped, tackling the Changeling. With only three of them, they were rather easy to take down, and began fleeing quickly. "Better luck next time, jerks!" Spike said childishly. The fillies cheered as Twilight watched them leave. "Why would Changelings come here? And what did they mean when they told us to give them back their Queen? Are they talking about Chrysalis?" Spike patted Twilight on the shoulder. "That's something I can explain later. But let's just get a move on, for now."