//------------------------------// // Enemy Territory // Story: One Soul, Two Worlds // by Sparkleman //------------------------------// "How many of them are there?" I yelled fighting back three changelings at once. "A lot," replied Will from across deck, "and even more on there way." Damn it. We haven't even been in Prometheus's territory for more then ten minutes and already we have been fighting for our lives. As soon as we crossed some invisible line, an army of changelings attacked the ship. Without Hawkeye's warning, we would have already been overrun. The top deck has been littered with unconscious and bloody bodies of changelings. I'm not even sure how many made it below deck. Suddenly there was a loud thud on the deck behind me. I pushed back the three changelings I was dealing with to see what had landed. It didn't even phase me that Queen Chrysalis had landed. The fighting stopped as if the changelings were given a cue after their leader had landed. "So you are the ones that are suppose to stop dear Prometheus," Chrysalis spoke, "and I see some familiar faces in the crowd. How's my hubby doing dear Twilight Sparkle?" "He is not your husband," growled Twilight. "Pish-posh, I was almost his," Chrysalis replied, "but enough about him. Who is the leader of this group, and please say it isn't her." Chrysalis pointed at Twilight to make her point clear. "Sorry to disappoint you," I said walking up, "but I'm leading this group with Twilight." "Hmmm," Chrysalis hummed with what I presumed to be some lust as she looked me over. "Well, well, well. Aren't you something to look at dear." She began to circle me with an even more intense stare. "I heard that humans had returned to Equestria, but I haven't seen them yet. What a treat this is for me." I was a little surprised that she hadn't seen Prometheus's little hero pets. "So you don't even know that Prometheus has the heroes of old under his command?" I asked now circling with Chrysalis eyes locked. "No, I didn't," she replied calmly, "in fact, I haven't even come face to face with him." "That's surprising," I said with a coolness in my voice, "It seems that your leader doesn't have enough respect to show himself to his pawns." "I AM NO PAWN!" shouted Chrysalis stomping her hoof down, now glaring menacingly at me. "Ah the queen has a temper on her," I heard Trevor joke, "I'm so scared." "DON'T MAKE FUN OF THE QUEEN OF CHANGELINGS HUMAN!" Chrysalis shouted now turning her head to the joker. "Great, now she's throwing a temper tantrum," joked Will even further, "now I'm scared as well." "Twilight, Applejack, please shut our two friends up before I become angry at them as well, "I said gruffly without taking my eyes off Chrysalis. The two didn't even have to do anything since Trevor and Will shut up after my comment. "I see that you have the authority of a leader," said Chrysalis impressed, "I like." "Ooook, awkward," I said, "but I want to know, why did you join Prometheus?" "That's simple, for the power." "Excuse me?" Interjected Twilight, "what power?" "The power of all the love in Equestria the Prometheus promised me when he kills the princesses," Chrysalis crackled. "Not this again," said Twilight, "you already failed that plan once, being defeated by the power you sought out to take." "This time it's different," hissed Chrysalis. "Enough," I said breaking the death glares between the two mares, "I'm tired of this. Chrysalis, Prometheus is clearly lying to you, and I know you know it. Now, I'm not asking you to join us, but if you leave and don't get in our way I can promise you that no more of your subject will be hurt. If you stay to fight, I can't guaranty that you will survive." I stood inches from Chrysalis's face as she thought over my offer. I didn't lift my glare on her as she thought. I knew that my friends and the changelings were sitting on the thick air I had made. After almost a minute of thinking Chrysalis made eye contact with me. I didn't like the smug that I saw. "You're concerned about our safety human," Chrysalis laughed, "we outnumber you a thousand to one, you will not survive." With that she took to the air and her subjects began their attack anew. I just shook my head as I watch the army approach our ship. "They never learn," I sighed, "well, Twilight I think it's time we used that." "Let's do it," she agreed. Her horn lit up with it's purplish glow as my hands began to glow pink. A burst of magic shot form her horn towards me which I caught in my hands. They began to glow brighter as I channeled our two spells. Once I had equaled out the resonations I slammed my hands down flat onto the deck of the ship. A barrier sprang forth surrounding the ship along with blowing off any changelings. "This should hold for a little while," I yelled to the others," but I have to stay focused on it with Twilight if we want to maintain it. It will keep the changelings out, but any projectile can go through it with ease, so keep you eyes open." As if on cue several bolts of magic burst through the makeshift barrier. Rarity, Trevor and Will were able to deflect them with ease though. "Twilight, we need to get out of here fast," I said as more and more bolts of various kinds of magic came through the barrier, "we're going to have to do a mass teleport forward and leave the ship." "But we can't hold the barrier and prep the teleport at the same time," she replied. "It's going to be tought but I think I can hold the barrier by myself for a few seconds while you prep the teleport," I said. "I'll gather everyone around you guys," said Andy who had been listening in. Once he had successfully gathered everyone in a tight circle and explained what was going to happen the changelings had decided to begin targeting the ship. "Twilight, you ready?" I asked. "Yea," she replied before turning to everyone else, "we'll be teleporting about four or five mile ahead of us. It's a rough estimate and I'm going to have to use a sight spell before the teleport to make sure we get there in one piece. Dylan, I'm dropping my focus from the barrier now." I grunted as I felt twilight's support stop along with my own magic reserves dropping quickly. After ten seconds of holding the barrier I knew my limit was reaching it's peak. "Twilight," I began, "you have about five more seconds, then I can;t hold it anymore." "OK, ok," I answered distracted, "almost, almost, THERE!" As if on que I dropped the barrier as a pink bubble surrounded our group followed by a flash of light. When the light receded we were on the side of a mountain. I could faintly see in the distance behind us our airship fall down to earth on fire. As I watched our ship fall I felt my stamina leave me as I fell to the ground, lucky Applejack and Hawkeye caught me. "You ok partner?" Asked Applejack. "Yea, just used a little bit too much magic," I said, "I'll be fine in a sec." I looked up as a final explosion was heard from where our ship had crashed. "Heh, we don't have the best of luck with ships, either sea of air, do we?" I asked jokingly. "Yea," replied Alex, "we better keep going before Chrysalis catches up with us. Grunts of approval where heard as the group gathered together and continued to march North. Twilight casted an invisibility spell to help cloak our presence in case the changelings flew by. As we walked, I used Will as a support. Apparently I had used more magic than I thought. We continued on like this for a while. I had regained some strength and was able to walk alone after the first couple minutes, and since have been using most of my concentration on absorbing the magical energy around me. I had entered a trance as was paying very little attention to the others. "Dylan...Dylan...Dylan you there? Hello equestria to Dylan." "Huh, what?" I said snapping out of my trance, "something wrong Twilight?" "No, nothing's wrong just wanted to let you know that the we're in the clear and I'm dropping the cloaking spell," she replied. "Ok then," I said taking a look around for the first time in a while. I noticed we were slightly behind everyone else, "how long have we been walking?" "About three hours. Have you really not noticed?" Twilight responded. "Not really. I've been pooling magic and kinda lost my senses for a bit. I just kinda followed the presence of the group." "Rarity and I noticed an influx of magic around you a while ago. It seems you've gathered quite a bit up." "Yea, I think we're going to need all the power we can get, and I don't want to run out again like with the changlings." Twilight responded with a simple nod and caught back up to Rarity. I quickened my pace to catch up with Andy. "Hey, welcome back to Equestria man," said Andy as I walked up. "Thanks, you think we're almost there?" I asked. "I'm not really sure, I feel a large complex tunnel system underneath us but I can't find a central chamber." "How did you," I began before catching myself, "right Son of Hades and the underworld. At least you seem to have honed your abilities pretty well." "Yea, but something is bothering me." "What is it?" "These tunnels, I can't feel anything past a few feet inside of them, like their wrapped with cloaking magic or something." "Well that's odd. Anyways do you feel any openings or caves we can camp in for the night? I don't want to light a fire outside with changelings everywhere." "Yea, there is a cave a mile or so ahead of us and to the right. Do you want me to let everyone know what's up?" "Em hm, thanks Andy." "No sweat." With that Andy increased his pace to talk to the others ahead of us while I fell back to let Twilight and Rarity know what was up. They acknowledged that it was a good idea and soon the group was heading towards the cave. As we approached the cave I heard a buzzing in the air. I turned right to see a group of changelings flying by. "Twilight," I whispered, "area concealment spell now." We channeled our magic quickly and casted the spell. The changelings flew overhead continuing in the direction we were heading. Twilight and I kept the spell up until everybody was inside of the cave. Once the changelings had passed overhead we dropped the spell. "Ok everybody," I said turning, "we're going to set up camp here for the night. We need to set up a guard shifts in case any more changelings fly by. I'll take the first shift with one other, who wants to join me?" "I will," answered Trevor. "Ok, now that first shift is settled lets get a fire going and figure out the rest." Will and Applejack got a fire going in no time. The group gathered around to recall the events that took place earlier. As the fired burned down to coals everybody head off to sleep. Trevor and I headed toward the mouth of the cave to start first watch. As we sat there looking up to the sky something dawned on me. "Hey Trevor, what happened to Coldfire?" "Now that you mention it," replied Trevor, "last I saw him he was fighting off changelings below the airship." "I'll see if I can reach him telepathically." I put my right hand to my head and begun channeling magic. I casted the spell trying to hunt down Coldfire. After a few moments I found him. "Coldfire, is that you?" I asked mentally. "It is I Dylan," replied the dragon, "I lost sight of you after the airship fell." "Ok, this is how it went down," I began. I continued explaining what had happened to the party since the airship was lost. Coldfire just listened without any questions or comments. "I see," Coldfire replied," it seems there is a great distance between us." "How far of a distance?" "I can still the airship's wreak." "Do you think you can make it to us?" "There are changelings waiting in ambush. They know that I am waiting, but they dare not to attack. There is a way I can travel to you without them knowing though." That last bit perked my interest. "How?" "Since I am bound to you, you may summon me through the void if the area allows it." "Wait wait wait. I can summon you through the void? Why did you not let me know this before?" I asked angrily. "I did not see a need for it before. I did not believe we would be separated this far." "Fine, what do I need to do?" "All you need to do is channel conjuration magic into you hands, touch the ground and chant Et qual uve throran void, koom KuldFirage as such." "I call you through the void, come Colfire. Not to long and not to short, but does it have to be in draconioc?" "Yes, or else the portal does not open to your location." "Thank you, I will call upon you when I need your help. For now stay put and rest, I think you will need it." "Agreed. It is good to know you are well." "Likewise." with that I cut my communication with Coldfire. Turning I saw Trevor staring intently at my face. "What?" "Nothing," he replied, "just that you were going through a hell of a lot of faces and emotions during your little mental chat. Everything alright on his end." "Yes." I quickly explained what the two of us went over in our mental conversation. "I see, at least he's well and keeping a few changelings off of us." "Yea," I answered looking back up to the sky. "Trevor." "Yea?" "Ever wonder, why us? What really made us so special that we where summoned here? Why were we chosen to be heroes?" "Sometimes, but I just come to the conclusion that if it had to be someone, why not one of the few Greek followers that know of this world and his friends." "Yea, but still..." we sat there until Pinkie and Alex came to replace us with that thought. I set up my sleeping bag near Twilight, Rarity and Andy. I fell asleep as soon as my head hit the pillow. ------------------------------------------------------------------------- "Dylan, wake up darling. Wake up Dylan!" "Five more minutes," I replied waving my hand randomly in the air. "One moment Rarity," said another voice I made out as Twilight, "I'll handle this. DYLAN WAKE UP NOW!" Twilight yelled ramming my side with her horn. I woke up jumping back," I'm up I'm up. What's so important that I need to be..." As I finished my sentence my eyes adjusted to the darkness. I noticed that we weren't in the cave anymore, but a tunnel. I couldn't see more then five feet ahead of me but I noticed that only Twilight, Rarity and Andy were with me. "Where are we?" "I have no idea," replied Andy, "but I can't sense anyone else. That annoying magical barrier thing is all around us. It's almost like the ground swallowed us while we were sleeping and transported us somewhere." "That's crazy," I said. "That's what we said darling, but it seems to be the only reasonable explanation." "Ah," I groaned while shacking my head, "well, lets get moving. Andy can you tell if either way leads to a dead end?" "Yea, we got to go left, right end in about 100 feet." "Thanks. Twilight think you could provide some light." "No problem," Twilight replied lighting up her horn. We began walking down the tunnel two by two. Twilight and Rarity were in the front, with Andy and I tailing behind. "Andy, you said that these walls have a high concentration of magical energy right?" I asked. "Yea, why?" "I'm going to continue absorbing to stockpile my reserves." I extended my left arm towards the wall until my hand was gliding across it. I begun to absorb the energy and pool it into the amulet that Twilight gave me. We continued on like this for a half an hour or so felling an occasional tremor or quake. "Wonder what's causing these tremors?" Andy asked after the tenth or so tremor. "I don't know but the dirt they release is ruining my coat," replied Rarity. Just as she finished another quake accurred causing a large displacement of dirt from the ceiling to fall an Rarity. "AHHH, not again!" "Is it just me or do these tremors seem like they are getting closer," Twilight pointed out. "Yea, they do," I replied," Andy can you check the walls again. I think I've absorbed enough for you to see something." "Maybe," he said before putting his right hand against the wall as we walked. He slide his hand on the wall for three mroe tremors, each stronger then the last. Suddenly he shot his had back and turned, "Watch out!" Suddenly the ground opened up underneath us and we fell into a black void. The surprise had made Twilight lose focus of her spell making it impossible to see anything. As I fell the ground begun sloping upward into a slide. As I begun sliding now down through the darkness I yelled out to the others receiving no reply. After a minute of sliding my feet hit solid ground making my legs buckled underneath me. As I stood back up I head footsteps. "Who's there?" I asked raising my left hand up and dropping my right down to my rapier. "Oh goodie! I got Mr. Leader," said a feminine voice with glee. I conjured a purple flame in my left hand only to be greeted by Atlanta's a little more then ten feet in front of me. "Hello Atlanta," I said unpleasantly, "come to kill me off, or just be a little fan girl?" "Oh don't be like that," she teased, "I'm just happy I got to be with me favorite new hero." "So you could do what, tease and flirt with me?" "Oh no, so I can finally kill you with my own two hands after the humiliation you gave me back in the Griffon Kingdom," She said turning her tone into a old pyschotic war-hungry bitch from before. "There's the Atlanta I know," I said half joking, "but there are two problems with that." "Which are?" "First, I'm a lot stronger then I was in the Griffon Kingdom." "Ha, yea right like anyone can strengthen up in that sort of a time." "Yea I can, and second is that I have a fulled prepared fireball in my hand." "What's that suppose to..." she began before it my fireball hit her right in the face. "AHHHHHH!" She screamed in pain bringing her hands up to her face trying to put the flames out. "Gods curse you, curse you to the depths of Tarturus," She screamed frantically trying to put out the flames. "You're not going to put that out," I said, "it's Greek fire. It can only be put out by magic or magically infused water. Good thing is I'm not going to let you suffer for long." I unsheathed my rapier and tucked it under my right arm aimed towards Atlanta. "Wind Glider," I whispered as I cast the spell. I shot forward and lunged at Atlanta. I felt my blade pierce her heart and the warmth of her blood on my hands. "Aquas Litunda," I said dosing the flames on Atlanta's face with conjured water. When the flames were fully doused she looked down at the wound I had inflicted. "Well, by Zeus you did get stronger," she said looking back up with a smile. "Why are you smiling?" "Because you final set my free," She replied laughing, "I'm free of his curse. Free from Prometheus. Thank you." Atlanta began tearing up as she spoke, "thank you for sending me back to Elysian." "You're welcome," I said heavily, "and I am sorry." I drove the blade further into her chest causing her to cough up blood. I jammed it once more with a slight twist just to finish it off. "Thank you," she said once more before her eyes closed. I pulled my rapier out as her body collapsed unto the ground. I stood there overlooking the one who had just a few days before spewed such vile remarks. One who was considered a great hero and warrior, defeated in seconds by what seemed to be luck. I closed my eyes and took a deep breath. As I opened then I said, "you can come out now Twilight." "How did you know I was here?" She asked appearing behind me with a light spell. "I'm still absorbing the magical energies around me, so I felt your invisibility spell disrupting the air around you." "I see," she said walking up, "I didn't think she would fall that quickly." "Neither did I," I said cleaning my blade before sheathing it, "you don't happen to have two bits on you do you?" "I do, but why?" "You'll see." Twilight handed me two bits as I conjured up a small pyre of wood. I picked up Atlanta's body and laid it on the pyre. I placed a bit on each of her eyes before stepping back. "What's that?" Twilight asked. "A funeral pyre. It's an old Greek way of burial for warriors lost in battle. The fire helps release the soul from the body for it to go to the underworld. Usually two Drachmea are placed one the eyes, one fore each to help pay Charon from passage into the underworld." "Oh," she replied, "well, there's only one way to go, should we head out." "Yea, go on ahead. Just, just give me a moment here for a second." "Ok," twilight said before turning and going further down the passage. As twilight walked away I remembered what Theseus had told me, that none of the six heroes of old wanted to return from Hades's realm. That they were corrupted into serving Prometheus and that death was there only freedom. I lit the pyre with a small fireball at the bottom before turning around to join Twilight. "Rest well Atlanta," I murmured before catching up with Twilight. As we walked down the tunnel in the only direction we could, I continued to absorb the magical aura off of the walls. Twilight and I walked in relative silence for a bit, myself humming along as I walked. "So," Twilight said breaking the mild silence, "are we even heading in the right direction?" "I think so," I replied, "if not why would Atlanta try to stop me?" "Good point. I guess I'm just a little worried." "About what?" "Andy and Rarity. If Atlanta was waiting for us I wonder what or who was waiting for them. If they were separated or are still together like us or if they fell into a death trap or if they..." "They're fine," I said cutting Twilight off, "they can both handle themselves." "I know, I just get over paranoid sometimes." "Yea, I've seen." We stopped talking for a little bit focusing more on what was ahead of us. I decided to turn my I-pod on low for a little background exploring music.Exploring music I could tell Twilight enjoyed the extra sound instead of just listening to our foot/hoof steps. As we walked I took a better look at the surrounding walls. I noticed every now and then a glowing stone would appear. "Hey Twilight," I said stopping to look at one, "do you know why these stone are glowing?" "Not sure," she said before getting a closer look, "well, I'll be. Dylan these are legerdemain gems. They're stones that hold great quanitites of magic in reserve. The necklece I gave you had one of these gems in it. They're very rare. "Well not quite, they're everywhere look," I said pointing the several that surrounded us. "Woh," twilight said mouth ajar, "I never seen so many." "Want to go mining?" I said. "Yea, these will help when we get to Prometheus." "Well," I said creating two pickaxes, "lets get these things out." We mined out fifteen gems each, ranging from the size of my thumb to fist size. Every single one of them had a large amount of magical energy already stored in them, probably from the enormous amount of magical energy already pooling in the cavern. Once we had acquired what seemed enough we continued our way down the cavern. A while after our little mining adventure we came to a fork in the tunnel. "Which way?" Asked Twilight looking down both tunnels. "Not sure," I replied shrugging, "but I can send a sound spell down and see if it picks anything up like a bat's sonar." "Yea, do that." I took my hand off of the wall to cast the spell. I sent one pulse down each passage and stood with Twilight waiting for a return wave. In a moment the right passage returned with the left seconds behind. The left though had two pulses return, which made Twilight and I look at each other in puzzlement. "Want to go left?" I asked. "You don't think it's a trap?" *Suddenly Admiral Ackbar appeared in my head yelling his famous line* "No, I don't," I replied, "lets go check it out. It might be the others." As we walked down the tunnel, I sent out another pulse, only to be greeted by two returning pulses. As we approached a slight bend we saw another light. We quickened our pace and I turned off my I-pod. As we reached the bend we saw a fifty foot doorway adored with two proportional torches on either side. "Was not expecting that," I said looking up. "Me either." "Should we open it?" "Maybe." "Well, here goes nothing," I said taking a step forward. I lifted up my arms as Twilight joined me charging her horn. We casted a telekinesis grip on the handles. We slowly pulled the doors open wide enough for us to get in. Once the doors were wide enough Twilight and I walked on in. Once we passed threw the doors they shut behind us putting us in total darkness. We jumped a little bit in surprise. After a moment or so in darkness I heard Twilight grunting. "What's wrong?" I asked. "I can't activate my light spell." "Why can't..." Before I could finish my sentence I sensed a large wave of magical energy flooded towards us. When the wave hit the density of the magical power was so thick that I had to brace myself to not be thrown back onto the door. I could hear Twilighting grunting as she did the same thing. After the wave washed over us I could sense a large magical energy was emitting before us. As my eyes adjusting I saw a gigantic silhouette in what seemed to be an equally gigantic cylindrical room. The shape began to rise and as it did torches surrounding the room begun to light up. I had to cover my eyes as the sudden flash of light besieged them. "Ah," I heard as I covered my eyes, "it seems you two are the first to arrive." I took my hands off of my eyes to let them adjust to the light. I noticed that there where eleven other doors in the chamber identical to the one behind us. The being in the center was now easily recognizable as Prometheus. Easily over four hundred meters tall, yet he look strangely human. The major differences though was that his skin looked like the surface of a rock and he had no reproductive organs that I could notice. What I did notice though was that both his arms and legs were chained with what seemed like a hundred foot thick chains, probable forged by Hephaestus, keeping the titan god in place. Above him was a large crack that ran the entirety of the chamber. "What to do you mean the first?" Asked Twilight stepping forward. "Precisely what it means, you are the first to arrive in my chamber after I sucked you into my tunnels. Though two of you coming from the same door means that the seconded separation didn't work out as I had hoped." Prometheus seems to think about the other outcomes. "So it was you who separated us," I said breaking my gaze around the room. "Of course. I tried to separate your party to overcome the final trial before facing me. I wouldn't want to be disappointed about those trying to stop me. Although I thought that Atlanta would hold that passage longer. That's what I get for sending a woman to do a mans job. But she begged to kill you and how can I refuse the annoying cries of a female." "What do the other passages contain?" Asked Twilight holding in her anger from that last remark Prometheus made. "Oh the usually, a hydra here, a manticore couple over there, a few dozen harpies through that door and the other five heroes I have under my command." As soon as he finished a second door, three to the right from out door opened and in walked Alex with Theseus. We began to run over to them. Once they saw us they begun to meet us mid-way. "I thought I had lost control over you Theseus," said Prometheus noticing the new addition, "but I couldn't tell when. Mind explaining how you broke my power over you." "You never had power over me, I resisted from the beginning. I knew that the gods would send new heroes to stop you. I have been helping them as soon as I could." Theseus spoke without a hint of fear in his voice. "you are indeed a marvelous hero Theseus," Replied Prometheus chuckling, "but your time in this world is over, along with your accomplish Perseus behind me." Two doors on the other side of the room began to open. Applejack and a badly wounded Hawkeye walked in through one with Perseus and Trevor from the other. " Prometheus closed his eyes and let out a deep breath. As he finished Theseus and Perseus gave a sudden jolt. "It is done," said Prometheus opening his eye, "I hope that you enjoy your stay back in the underworld as traitors to the gods." Theseus began to fade away, as if his existence was being erased. He looked down and back up with a slight grin. "It seems like my time here is done," Theseus said, "I only have one thing to say Dylan." "Yea?" "You're one damn fine ancestor." "Thank you. If you happen to see Atlanta down there, tell her I'm sorry." "I will. Goodbye." With that Theseus vanished, leaving not even a trace of his being behind. "Come on, lets go meet up with the others." We walked around Prometheus meeting with the others, excluding Perseus. I kept one eye on Prometheus the entire way. As we came closer I could finally tell how bad of shape Hawkeye was. His back right leg was twist in a full 180 and his tail was burnt off. "Applejack," I said once we got together, "what did you guys run into?" "Ran into a chimera, and a real nasty one at that," she replied. I nodded before turning back to Prometheus. "So, are you toying with us now by just letting us do what we want?" "Oh no," Prometheus said with a sly grin, "I just want to have an exciting fight, that's all. I haven't had fun in ages and would just like to face the new heroes all together. Give you more of a fighting chance." *He has the power to kill us anyway. Why wait till we are all together when he can just send us to the underworld like Theseus and Perseus?* I thought. "That is simple Dylan, I can only send those that I have control over to their immediate doom." "How...what...did you just read my mind?" I asked Prometheus. "Of course I did. Why did you think I answered your thoughts?" "Hoooow?" "I have a strong connection with every human, since I was partially their maker and early helper," Prometheus replied nonchalantly, "I can read almost any human mind if I truly wanted to and I could see them." "I see, so are you just going to let us wait here until or friends arrive?" "Yes, enjoy your final moments. Also two more are here." The two doors to our right opened letting in a bruised up but proud Will from the further and Fluttershy from the closer. Fluttershy seemed to be saying goodbye to something/one before the door closed. When she turned around she squeaked and tried to fly back through the door. I whistled to get their attention and they made their way over to us, Fluttershy against the wall the entire way. "What's going on?" Asked will once he got close enough, "are we going to fight him?" "He's letting us wait for the others to arrive before we fight." I replied to Will before turning to Fluttershy. "Fluttershy, can you take a look at Hawkeye, he's in rough shape." Flutteshy nodded quickly before heading over to Hawkeye. I sat down and once again pooling magical energy around me until the others arrived. After about an hour or so the rest of the gang had arrived, with Dash being the last to arrive. Once she reached us I stood and faced the group. We had a silent nodded agreement before I turned back to Prometheus. "Prometheus!" I yelled, "prepare yourself for your journey to Tartarus." I cast a fireball in each hand, one purple and one white. I hear my friends behind unseath their weapons and prep spells. "So it has finally come down to this," Prometheus said sighing, "and I so wanted to talk some more." "We're done talking," I replied beginning my charge. I took three steps before the room began to shake. I stopped to look up at Prometheus who was grinning like a madman. "What are you doing!" "Oh nothing, just finishing the connection of your world and this one through the void so I can extract my vengeance on the gods who imprisoned me here," Prometheus replied nonchalantly. ""That's impossible," I yelled back, "It should be at least two more days before the portal should of been opened." "That would be true, if I hadn't let out false information. I knew someone within my ranks, ahem Theseus, wasn't under my control so I planted my own agent into your ranks to learn who it was." "What do you mean you planted an agent to spy on us," Twilight replied, "I checked everyone we sailed with when we left Sacramareto." "Oh little Twilight," Prometheus replied with a chuckle, "he didn't even know he was under my grasps. By not knowing he was a agent and by me peering into his dreams, he made the perfect spy. I must congratulate you Hawkeye, you did superbly." All eyes turned to Hawkeye who face could only be read as pure shock. I knew from just a glance that he was horrified that he had been helping Prometheus, if what he said was even true, but that didn't stop Rainbow Dash from darting forward and punching him. "You traitor! We trusted you!" She screamed landing punch after punch causing more pain to the already badly injured pony. Alex and Trevor pulled he off of him, Luke and Fluttershy going back to treating his newly acquired bruises. "Dash stop," Trevor said, "he didn't know. It's not his fault, plus it doesn't matter now. Focus your rage on Prometheus." I nodded before facing Prometheus once again, this time noticing the crack on the ceiling opening. "Guys, I think the portal is opening," I said pointing towards the opening rift. As the other turned to see what I was pointing at Prometheus begun laughing madly. "Well, I would love to stay and tear you party apart some more but I have an appointment with Olympus," Prometheus said as he broke all four of the chains that tied him to the earth. He squatted down before giving a mighty leap through the now fully open portal. In less then a second he had disappeared into the rift. "Come on!" I yelled tot he other, "We got to follow him!" As our group began to make our way to the middle, with Luke carrying Hawkeye over his shoulder, the twelve doors into the room burst open. From them spewed every mythological creature know to man, whether it be Greek, Norse, Egyptian or Eastern. Within seconds we were surrounded by an army of beasts. "Looks like we're fighting our way out," Will said catching up to me." "No, we're not," I replied erecting a barrier around the group. As we ran towards the middle the wall was pounded by hydra heads, kyuubi fire, harpy talons and the like. Once we reached the center of the room I had to tap into one of the crystals I took form the cavern walls to hold it up. "How are we going to get out?" said a frantic Pinkie. "Twilight, mass levitation spell, how long?" I asked quickly. "Thirty seconds," she replied her horn already aglow. "Everyone, I've adjusted the barrier to let projectiles out. Get some pressure off of it." As if on cue everyone began throwing created spears, arrows and even a chakrams from Andy. It didn't seem to have that much effect except for the harpies and succubi. "It's ready," Twilight yelled over the screams of monsters. "Good, everyone, get ready," I said. "Wait," Hawkeye said before Twilight casted the spell, "We'll never make it out of here without taking a few of these thing right behind us. Somepony has to stay behind to stall them a little bit." "No one is being left behind," I replied. "I'm not suggesting, I'm telling you. I am staying behind to give you guys a little bit more time," Hawkeye replied sternly, "I don't think I have the strength the make it through that thing anyways. What I do know though is that you twelve need to get through there and you won't unless some covers you asses." I got into a deadlock stare with Hawkeye. After a few seconds I sighed. "Fine," I said, "but I'm going to make sure you have some defense for yourself." I casted a personal shield around Hawkeye along with a touch to his quiver. "You now have your own shield for as long as we are in this plane. Once we go through the portal the shield will disappear. I also enchanted your arrows to have explosive tips when you pull them out of your quiver." "Thanks," he said sincerely smiling before going back to the stern face he always has, "now get going. I'll keep them off you." "Twilight now!" Ascending Twilight's horn flashed purple, then we began to rise towards the portal. I was the last one before Twilight to take off as I was the furthest. As we rose the others continued to hinder the creature below us. I focused on keeping the barrier stable as I watched Hawkeye take a deep breath before unleashing arrow after arrow onto the enemy. At about halfway I noticed that the creature which could fly begin to fall left and right from Hawkeye's arrows. I watched as Hawkeye fight desperately using the last bit of strength to doudge what he could to keep his barrier up as long as he could. At three quarters of the way up the first of our group began to reach the portal, yet I couldn't keep my eyes off of Hawkeye. One by one the others went through the portal until only Twilight and I were left. Hawkeye noticing we were almost through stopped his fight and lied down on his back, eyes closed looking peaceful. He opened them to look me in the eyes one last time. "Goodbye, and thank you," I mouthed to him smiling. He replied with a simple salute before Twilight and I crossed through the rift. The last thing I saw was my barrier failing and Hawkeye being swarmed over by the beasts. Then everything went black.