"Nnngh!" Pilate grunted as he was shoved against the hard rock of the stone floor.
"Shell!" Dalton exclaimed, frowning. The old unicorn was being escorted at taser-point across the large chamber before the solid metal wall of Black Level. "You have what you need. Must you toss him around like he's some object as well?"
"Your sympathy is noble, but misguided," Shell droned over his shoulder as he strolled up to the struggling zebra. "I know you're feeling conflicting emotions right now, Dalton. But, if anything, you've done this equine a favor." His horn glowed brightly. "If it weren't for the part you played, his usesfulness would have culminated in a closed-off chamber of Department Blue."
Pilate gasped as he was yanked up to his aching hooves by bright telekinesis. Shell dragged him towards the immaculate metal sheet, forcing his wincing face to tilt up towards the reflective material.
"We're here, Mister Pilate," Shell said calmly. Two dozen unicorns formed a crescent circle of charged tasers around the pair. "Those hundreds of voices you heard along the way here? They're ponies who have submitted to the Council of Ledo, thanks to the guiding hoof of the Enforcers and myself. At this point, it would serve you will to do the same as them."
"If you think..." Pilate hissed through a bloody mouth. "That I'm going to cooperate in any fashion..." He spat. "After what you've done to Blue Shelf... After what you've done to my Belle—?!"
"I do not ask for your cooperation, zebra," Shell muttered, yanking Pilate harder so that he was facing against his own reflective sheen in the metal. "That orb of yours is fused to your nervous system; I simply ask that you stay alive. Once I've gained access to the heart of this world between worlds, then we'll discuss your competency."
"Is this what you had in mind for Rainbow Dash?!" Pilate grumbled. "Will you kill her off when you're done with her as well?"
"If this works, Mister Pilate, then I suspect that what lies beyond the door is something that only the subject can empower." His one eye narrowed coldly. "And if that's true, I intend to take her to the realm beneath Xona and activate what I find there."
"I... I don't get it!" Pilate stammered. "What in Spark's name would that accomplish?!"
"I'm quite sure you felt what was inside that sarcophagus before you put the pendant back on it," Shell droned. "I think we both know what will happen to Xona if that gains access to the basement of our enemies."
That said, Shell yanked the sphere loose from Pilate's neck and held it before the wall. The curved features of O.A.S.I.S. flickered brightly.
"You're... You're insane!" Pilate managed to wheeze.
"Correction," Shell said. "I'm alive, which is the least I can say about Xona or any other kingdom that thinks it can oppose Ledomare from here on out." His eye twitched as he saw a circle of illumination forming across the wall. "Ah. I do believe something is happening."
"It... It's responding," Dalton said with a gulp.
"Ughhh..." Pilate's face scrunched in pain as the runes on his skull plate strobed in alternating patterns. He sweated profusely and his limbs dangled in Shell's magic grip.
The soldiers gasped and murmured as dozens upon dozens of symbols appeared across the surface of the wall. They flickered in a counter-clockwise pattern, then all brightened at once. With a hiss of cold air, a firm slit of golden light ran down the wall. The cavern shook; pebbles littered the floor from above. With a great groaning noise, the door began to open.
"Hmmmm..." Shell took a deep breath as his beret blew off from an unnatural gale. He turned and glanced over his shoulder. "Has a nice smell, doesn't it?"
Dalton said nothing.