A layer of dust flew upwards into Twilight's face as she forced the door open. It creaked loudly as it swung; years since it was last opened. But that couldn't be right...Celestia had said someone was waiting for her. There was no other entrance to this tower, so unless the pony never left their perch, it was impossible for someone to be in there. A brief scan of the stairs inside did little to restore her confidence.
Torches, long since burnt out to blackened stumps, were embedded into the wall with rusted metal holders. The dust and shadows from within seemed to mix and mingle into a deep mist that threatened to obscure Twilight's vision as she stepped inside. The light she summoned from her horn hardly made a dent in it. And something seemed off about the whole deal, like a thing unseen was lurking just out of vision. She could feel it, like a tingle beneath her skin.
"Do we really need to go in there, Twi? May...maybe some of the guard is still around to help us." Spike asked as he conveniently floated to Twilight's side.
"What would the guard do? We already have what I can only equate to an army coming with us, no need to endanger other ponies."
"You really think it will be dangerous?"
"This is Chrysalis we're talking about, give her enough love and she could take down Celestia. We just need to be careful, Spike. Careful and safe."
Turning around and stopping halfway, Twilight cursed herself. Why did she keep turning around, the knights were always in front of her. Now that she'd opened the door, they'd probably already rushed forward and left her behind.
Which is why she was surprised to see them out of the corner of her eyes, still standing behind her. With a confused gait, Twilight turned around, weakly motioning at the door. "Oh, you...uh, waited for me. I didn't expect that, sorry. Shall we go than? I'll lead the way."
Stepping back and pulling her weight until she was facing the door, Twilight took a careful step inside. The stone beneath her hoof was cold, deathly cold and the dust seemed to make everything quieter the deeper she walked. It was disorientating to say the least.
Her courage returned to her as she glimpsed the outline of the knights behind her, always willing to follow her to the ends of the earth.
As she walked though, higher and higher into the sky, with nothing but the light of her horn and the occasional broken window to guide her, she couldn't help but wonder. What could possibly be waiting for her up here? What had Celestia meant when she said someone was waiting for her specifically? No one had lived up here for years, that much was obvious. No pony would let their house fall into such disarray, it was just unthinkable. So who then? A pegasus that could avoid the walk up the stairs? Or a unicorn that could simply teleport to the top? Or maybe the creature simply lived at the top and never came down. Twilight had no idea, who in the light of the moon could be waiting for her?
A dim light shined down from the stairs in front of her and Twilight increased her pace. She needed to know who was up there.
Twilight stopped in front of the wooden door blocking her way. Behind her, she could hear the knights thump to a stop too; unable to continue even if they wanted to. There was something about this door that Twilight couldn't pick out, like someone was constantly shooting magic out of it. She hadn't seen something like this since...Sombra's door in the crystal kingdom. It was nearly certainly a trap, she knew that much. A trap like that could cause untold agony and pain to whoever set it off; she needed to handle this carefully and humanely.
"Spike, you go first."
"What, why do I have to go first?"
Twilight sighed. "Because Chrysalis has rigged the door with...something, and out of the six of us, you're the least likely to be hurt if hit by a sudden explosion of magic. Do you really want me to go in and risk injury when it's perfectly safe for you to go first?"
"I...guess that makes sense?"
No one said anything as Spike slowly gravitated towards the door, his feet never once touching the ground. His hands rested on the door silently until he finally gathered the courage needed to throw it open; bracing himself for any dangerous feedback or traps.
Pain exploded across Twilight's eyes suddenly, and she reeled backwards as if she was slapped. She couldn't feel her magic around her, couldn't get it gathered together in her horn. It was still there, she could hear her magic twirling and twisting in front of her, but she couldn't control it. She panicked slightly, fighting for control, but it didn't work. She started to feel a pull on the end of her head, something was willing her forward, but she wouldn't have that. Taking a step forward and throwing all her brain power into seizing back control of her magic, Twilight nearly sighed in relief when it returned to her.
Fighting through the fog of darkness obscuring her eyes, Twilight pushed forward. She'd be lying if she said the sudden magical attack on her hadn't scared her, but she didn't have time to focus on that. She needed to keep pushing forward until she found Chrysalis.
"Um, Twilight...we might have a problem."
Poking her head in the door after Spike, Twilight could only nod in agreement slowly. "Yes, we might have a problem."
The scene inside the room was...difficult to describe, to say the least. It was an illusion, there was no doubt of that, but that didn't make it any less dangerous. Illusions weren't normally dangerous in the first place, but Chrysalis had a talent with illusions; who's to say she hadn't developed a way to make them slightly more real? A sudden hot wind blowing her face was enough to convince her that, real or not, she'd prefer not to get to injured if she could help it.
Glancing in further and spinning her head round, Twilight noted that the door they were stepping out of had no back. It was just a door built into the air, like someone had anticipated exactly this would happen. In fact, there were no walls around her; or roof, or anything she'd expected to see. An angry dark sky glared down at her as she took another tentative step forward. In front of her was a 'bridge,' though she used the term loosely, of black, scorched rock.
Walking to the end of the bridge to her right, Twilight's face paled as she stared down.
A lava lake. They were in the middle of an active volcano. An actual, active, magma and smoke firing volcano.
The sound of foot prints behind her prompted Twilight to turn around and notice the knight's walking out of the door.
Twilight swallowed nervously. "Chrysalis must be trying to slow us down by placing these illusions in our way. If I'm correct, the illusion should disappear once we get to the door on the other side of this bridge. Just...don't step in anything dangerous. Just because this is an illusion doesn't mean we can't be hurt. I could go into a long rant about the specifics and magic behind everything here, but we don't have the time. Let's just get through this quickly."
The knight's kicked dust up into her face as they rushed past her; the word to go being all they needed to begin. Twilight could only watch as they shrunk into the distance. Before she could catch up to them though, a voice ripped through her mind, echoing amongst the confines of her head.
"The knights started out as a force of good, in the beginning. Silent in mouth and strong of body, the four of them defended the land from all that would seek it or its inhabitants harm. They were true in their goal and incorruptible in their power, a force of nature more than a group of simple creatures. But, you need to know the full story Twilight; not just what Celestia has told you. And there is much to learn, so hurry along now, I'll set out a table of tea for you at the top of the tower."
Twilight shivered as the words faded into the air around her. "Who said that? How did you say that?" Twilight shouted; though there was no one there to answer her.
The gears in her mind ground against each other in her head. She was a smart mare; the answer wasn't too hard to find. It was the magic on the door. It must have been a mind spell, or a memory spell or one of the many spells intended to send a message into her head. A pre-recorded message, which was slightly worrying, but a message none the less.
A loud explosion and a following rain of lava snapped her attention back to reality. There was a time to think about all this later; right now she needed to catch up to the knights. If she let them get too far ahead, she'd never be able to catch them again. They'd leave her behind! Or at least, wait around the door for her to open it, it didn't really matter. Twilight just didn't want to be left alone in the middle of a volcano.
There was time later to think about how Chrysalis didn't have time to cast such a complicated spell, or how the voice wasn't Chrysalis' at all.
Twilight felt like crying. This had all gone horribly, horribly wrong. This was even worse than when the orange knight 'died.' She swore she wouldn't let that happen again, not after the first time.
The wood of the door shoved into her back uncomfortably. The knights were gone; the three of them had rushed up the stairs. Not waiting a moment to mourn, or cry or rage, just a single goal and the lengths they went through to achieve it. They wanted to defeat Chrysalis, nothing, not death or injury would stop them.
That didn't make Twilight feel any better though. She was supposed to be better than this. Every time she closed her eyes, the scene was played back at her, again and again until it bored into her mind. They were gone. Her assistant was gone.
The volcano had started to erupt and illusion or not, the burning pain of the drips of lava raining from the sky were more than enough argument to escape quickly. The bridge crackled and broke under the pressure of the magma beneath it, launching the deadly liquid high into the air in huge geysers. It was all Twilight could do to avoid accidentally slamming into one and toasting herself to a crisp.
Her heart beat through her chest as she caught up to the knights. They'd stopped, surprisingly, and for a moment Twilight thought it was because of her, but a quick glance ahead destroyed the belief.
The bridge had collapsed in front of them. She could see the door on the other side of the break, but the literal lake of lava standing between them was impossible to pass.
The ground shook beneath her and Twilight glanced around at the faces of the knights. They were concentrating on something, though Twilight couldn't guess what. She couldn't guess a lot of things about these knights, maybe it was intentional.
The ground shook again, and the knights suddenly changed demeanour. All four of them crouched, bending their knees as far as they could in their light armour. Twilight didn't know what was happening, until green knight was kind enough to show her the answer.
In a sudden burst of green, foul smelling gas, the green knight launched himself upwards and forwards, essentially jumping over the gap. A magic powered rocket knight, sailing across the divide. He hung in the air for a moment as he reached the apex of his jump before firing another ball of gas and landing on the other side safely; simply waving at his friends to follow him.
Orange was the next to go over, as the rumbling of the earth intensified. The bridge couldn't hold much longer; already large chunks of it were breaking off and slamming into the lava, throwing huge buckets of magma into the air. But, with all the skill and grace of a leprechaun, the orange knight tip toed across the lava, seemingly unaffected by the intense heat. A swift high five signalled his safe crossing.
A thick arm wrapped around Twilight's midsection. Looking up, Twilight was greeted by the determined eyes of the red knight. But there was something...different about them. A shadow that lingered across them for a minute longer than it should before disappearing in a sudden crack as the knight jumped, pulling Twilight up with him.
The wind caught in the back of her throat as they flew, and it was over before she could even really experience it.
Turning around, all that was left was for the blue knight to jump over and they could leave.
But then...the bridge broke from beneath them.
The blue knight reacted immediately; not wasting a second of his rapidly diminishing time. A huge spire of ice and magic welled beneath his feet, and he launched himself forward with all the haste he needed to escape.
Or that was the plan anyway. Someone forgot exactly where they were.
Merely a few seconds after the ice was summoned into existence, the heat and the lava began to melt it, devouring it tooth and claw until not even water was left, just a small cloud of steam that wafted into the stormy sky. The blue knight fumbled as his launch was cut short.
Twilight wanted to look away, she didn't want to see this. Everything seemed so slow to her. She could see everything but she couldn't stop it. Nothing she did was fast enough to try to save them. Her magic was too far away, the knights were stuck on the land, she didn't have wings and she just felt so helpless. She just wanted to do something. Anything!
The blue knight feebly shot downwards, hoping his magic was powerful enough to overcome the temperature in the air and for a minute, miraculously, it seemed to work. Two parallel jets of water fired from his hands at the last moment, hovering him just above the lava.
Twilight's sigh of relief caught in her throat however, when something she never expected happened. Something exploded out of the lava, something big.
A cyclops skeleton with the fire of life burning behind its empty eye socket. Before the blue knight could even acknowledge its existence; it had thrust a hand out, grabbing onto the knight's leg. And then gravity finally caught up to the cyclops and dragged it back into the mulch; the blue knight and Spike being pulled down with it.
She wasn't sure how long she'd stood there, just staring aimlessly into the distance. The same sentence kept running through her head, again and again, 'just another moment, they'll be back soon.' She just needed to wait a moment longer, they couldn't actually have died. Not like this. Not so anti-climatically.
Behind her, she could hear the knights chuckling to themselves. She couldn't even begin to fathom why.
And then her eyes were open again.
They took a moment to adjust to the darkness of the room she was in. The stairs still stood in front of her; a seemingly impossible challenge in her current state. It seemed so simple; all she had to do was stand back up and walk up the stone steps, one foot closer to her target. And to the answer of the questions raging in her mind.
It wasn't until the red knight appeared, carrying with him a fresh wave of dust from higher up, that Twilight truly realised just how uncomfortable she was. The wood of the door had dug a groove into her back, her backside ached from the pressure of her body, the horn on her head felt burnt out of magic and her eyes couldn't cry any more tears.
A hand reached out for her, and with it, the gentleness that could only be found in one of a distinguished class. The look behind the red knight's eyes, a strange mix of confidence and worry, spoke to Twilight more than any words she could have possibly heard.
Gripping the hand tightly, Twilight pulled herself back up. Everything was going to be fine, in the end. She didn't have a clue how, or what the leader of the knights was planning, but somehow, she just knew. In the end, everything was going to be fine.
Jumping up the steps two at a time, Twilight could only hope she wasn't trying to delude herself to what she was actually thinking.
Another door stood in front of Twilight. She didn't even need to check to know that this door was booby trapped in the same way the last one was. Without Spike though...she was hesitant to open the door normally.
It crossed her mind briefly that Chrysalis might be aware of the knight's weakness to doors, and such was the reason she was continually throwing them in their path. It was the only thing that made sense.
Shaking the wayward thoughts from her head though, Twilight set to work. And by set to work, I mean she took six steps backwards until she was behind the knights and lightly tugged at the door with her magic; a purple glow working just as effectively as flesh and bone.
The door swung open without a creak, and every knight there made a blind rush for the opening.
Twilight tried to catch up to them, but another stabbing pain through her head tripped her up. She struggled for a moment, failing to put one hoof in front of the other as the world faded and shook around her. The same voice from before called out to her, but louder this time, as if she was steadily getting closer.
So gather closer children, as I relay the story. They're like a fairytale, in many ways. The brave and heroic knight, sweeping down at the last minute to save the princess from the terrifying monster. They did exactly that for me once; it was a joyous day. The day the dark wizard came, I thought that I would never be free again. Thought I would be forced under his power for all of time. And then, they arrived.
Slowly, the voice drained from Twilight's head. Overall, she didn't know what to make of the strange voice that would continually broadcast into her head. It couldn't be real, that was just a ridiculous thing to think. Clearly, this was all a trick of Chrysalis' to try and pull her away from the knights, to try and trick her into abandoning the one advantage she had in the upcoming fight.
But...she still couldn't lay her fears to rest in good mind. Chrysalis couldn't have made these spells, she simply didn't have enough time. And the voice wasn't Chrysalis' at all. She ran through her mind trying to figure out who could possibly be behind this, coming up with blanks every time. Finally though, she came to a simple conclusion. Or several.
One: this was a trick by Chrysalis. She was smart enough to know that, in a straight fight, she could easily beat Twilight. Therefore, she needed to make sure she was in a fight with Twilight. This assumption was only strengthened by the fact that she was now down to only three knights. Any more, and things started to get dangerous for her.
Two: this was a spell set out by whoever was living at the top of the tower. The messages had mentioned the tower, and that's how they had introduced themselves, but why would the pony at the top of the tower want her to know this? What was the point?
Three: No one was behind this. It took a fair bit of denial, but it was still a valid option. It was all pure coincidence that the spell on the doors was still here, and that she was the one to open them. Just pure coincidence.
Trotting forward, Twilight tried not to let the words get to her. She was sure that, whatever was happening, would happen for the best. It would all be fine.
The knights had already rushed into the door as Twilight walked closer. The light shining from within completely blinded her to what was awaiting her; slowing her down noticeably before she decided to just do it. Without a shout or whisper, Twilight lunged towards the door, throwing herself through it.
Right into the open air. With a loud squeak, Twilight fell to the ground. She braced herself for injury, but that seemed pointless as the green knight swept into action. Moving with his same impossible speed, the knight appeared beneath Twilight, catching her gracefully in his arms.
She nodded slightly as he placed her back on her hooves, backing away once he did. Twilight wondered why, wouldn't it make sense for him to be near her?
Shrugging, Twilight scanned her surroundings. Another illusion, obviously. She was in a...shed, of some description. Or a mill. Though shed was a really basic term to describe where she was now. It was more of a constant hallway that dragged far into the distance. Huge bundles of hay, easily several feet taller than Twilight, lined the walls of the shed with nothing except for the occasional waterwheel separating them and preventing them from combining into the largest pile of hay in Equestria.
Flicking a small piece of dried hay from her back, Twilight raised her hoof up to her eyes to block out the sun as she stared deeper into the shed. Despite her best efforts though, all she could see was a thin haze of black and the vague outlines of more hay stacks. Just how far did this place go? Was there a door at the end of it too, like the last one? There would have to be, how else would the get out?
Turning around, Twilight finally noticed something which made her chest drop.
The knights...were scared.
After all they'd done together, Twilight didn't think she'd ever noticed a time when even one of the knights were scared. They were always so brash and direct; they didn't second guess themselves or question anything, they just went ahead and did what they wanted without a single thought. So if something about this illusion was making them scared...
Twilight swallowed nervously, her ears flicking back as something broke the ambient sounds of the shed. The steadily increasing clopping of hooves.
Glancing down the opposite end of the hall, the source made itself painfully apparent.
It took Twilight longer than she'd like to admit to recognize what they were. If it weren't for the shorter tails, or the much larger ears, Twilight might have confused them for ponies, however, she was more learned than that. She'd read about deers before, though she'd never actually met one before. Until today, of course.
With a flash of brown, the deer ran right past Twilight, close enough that Twilight could see the look on its face. And it was terrified.
Twilight hated to feel excluded. She needed to be in the know, that was just something she needed. It was a thing built into her very core; to examine and know everything. And as the ground beneath her feet started to shake and tremble, she only wanted to know more.
There was a feeling of dread rising in her stomach that she couldn't shake, and time seemed short.
Out of the corner of her eye, she could see more deers charging down the hall. About four of them, maybe less. Behind her, the three knights dropped their looks of fear and prepared themselves. A faint cock of the knees, a subtle flex of the fingers; just as the deers rushed past them.
Time seemed to slow down for Twilight as the knights moved. Green was first, travelling noticeably fast towards the nearest deer. Roughly, he grabbed the deer's long ears as it ran past, flinging himself up and onto the creatures back. Next to him, the orange knight pulled his deer closer to green and the two rushed past Twilight before she could get a word out.
It wouldn't have mattered much anyway, since two seconds later she found herself lifted from the ground by the waist and deposited rudely in front of the red knight.
Twilight bit her tongue towards this particular tactic of the knights. She wasn't sure whether deers were sentient or not, but it was still uncomfortable for her to ride on the back of what was essentially another pony. She kept her tongue bit though, not wanting to cause any unneeded drama.
Looking around, Twilight had noticed the knights had stopped moving. Entirely. Not a hair or muscle moved as they sat still, simply...waiting.
Waiting for what?
The shaking ground increased in intensity as heavy metal tools slipped from their holders on the wall. And it wasn't until Twilight realised the truth that the fear in her stomach got meaning.
It wasn't shaking, it was too rhythmic for that. It was...footsteps. Footsteps of something so huge that the entire forest shook as it took moved.
And it was coming right for them.
The entire half of the shed in front of Twilight exploded in a frenzy of splinters and metal as the creature smashed its foot through the roof. It retreated for a moment, and Twilight was too terrified to run, or think, or hide or do anything as the creature lowered its disgusting head into view.
Or...eye into view. An eye that took up the entire hall from wall to wall in its size.
Twilight's numb shocked brain fired into overdrive, even if it couldn't send messages to her body, and she mouthed the name of the creature in front of her.
"Ursa Major." she said, because what were you expecting?
Twilight was forced to flick her ears against her head as a loud scrapping invaded her space. With much difficulty, the Ursa Major pulled itself to face the knights. Its body was entirely hidden behind the size of the creatures head, but that alone was enough to make it intimidating. Its two large tusks pointed forward as the celestial bear roared, shaking the entire hall again.
The knights, however, were ready this time. With a wordless cheer of their own, the knights urged their mounts to charge forward.
In the opposite direction.
The clatter of hooves echoed down the hall as the knights ran; fleeing into the darkness of the mill to escape the ursa major.
The ursa, seeing its only prey escape its grasp, roared again. The building shook again as the ursa punched its arms into the mill and pulled. The roof and walls, too small to contain the beast, cracked open as the ursa charged down the mill.
The fear building in Twilight's stomach started to rise with every bump and jump the deer beneath her pulled off. She wasn't sure what to do, or what she was supposed to do or anything. She was supposed to guide the knights, not panic for them. She needed to stay calm. "Green knight!" she shouted.
Twilight's lunch nearly leapt out of her chest as the deer managed to jump over a humongous crack in the floor, but it settled as the green knight pulled up next to her; loyal even in danger.
"Shoot it or something! You're the archer, pepper it! Slow it down, anything! Do something!"
For a brief second, Twilight could swear she saw something odd flash through the green knights eyes. It might have been fear, but it was gone long before she was given the chance to truly decide. Replacing it was the same care free gaze that the green knight regularly employed; unwavering as he pulled back behind Twilight and the red knight and drew his weapon.
The ursa roared again as the green knight moved closer. The deer beneath him jumped and weaved through the hall without his assistance, freeing both his hands and letting him begin his assault.
The knight disappeared for a moment as Twilight weaved through a wall built into the middle of the hall.
An angry roar shook through the mill again as the ursa realised something was attacking it. The transformation was nearly instant as Twilight realised that the only thing worse than being chased by an ursa major was being chased by an angry ursa major that was half blind.
Veins of blood built up around the ursa's eyes as it pushed itself to run faster. The green knight was barely able to get out of the way in time as the beast loomed closer, slowly but surely inching its way towards the knights.
A bright flash caught Twilight's attention, and she needed to take a few more seconds to realise everything that had changed.
The mill had come to an end; a sheer drop of several hundred feet into an overflowing river. Nothing could survive a fall like that, regardless of how large it was. And at the rate they were going, with no time to turn and no way to stop without becoming ursa food? Not the best circumstances.
Yet, there was still a glimmer of hope. Suspended in the air above the drop sat the exit. A plain wooden door built into nothing.
Twilight knew what she needed to do. "Aim for the hole, aim for the hole."
Orange knight shot her a look of 'just like old times,' before rushing into the front of the group. He was barely in the air for a second before the red knight jumped after him, Twilight tightly grasped under his arm.
They hung in the air for a second, not high enough to reach the door.
Twilight started to panic until the red knight kicked down, pushing himself higher and the deer beneath him lower. With the extra momentum, the pair sailed forward towards freedom.
Until Twilight realised they still weren't high enough. At the rate they were going, they were going to just miss the door by a fraction, passing under it instead of through it. Her mind started to buzz with a million thoughts as time slowed down around her.
Maybe she could cast a teleportation spell into the door? Or lift herself? Or dispel the illusion or something?
The wind was knocked out of her as she suddenly stopped mid flight. Glancing around in a panic, Twilight quickly locked on the cause; an orange glove caught in the grip of a red one. And then the orange knight pulled, lifting Twilight and the red knight into the door with him.
Twilight could kiss the ground she was so happy. She never thought it was possible to love the ground as much as she did right now.
The sound of hoofsteps stopped for a moment, and Twilight spun to see the green knight making the same jump that she just made.
With the only difference being that she didn't have an ursa major weighing her down.
It was so close too; for a moment it looked like he could have actually made it. Then the ursa major brought its arm down on top of the knight.
The door slammed shut in her face without warning, cutting Twilight's view of the knight instantly. Twilight jumped backwards in shock to avoid slamming her nose against the door, but recoiled nearly instantly. A purple haze surrounded the door; digging into its every crack and hole in search of a way to open the door again.
The two remaining knights simply walked past her, fist pumping each other as the wandered up the stairs.
Twilight couldn't find the energy to move.
She'd...she'd lost another one.
Four knights, from all the walks of life. The leader, an eye striking red, who fought tooth and claw against both his friends and his enemies, if only to get the two fighting for a fraction of a second. The magician, a serene blue, wise beyond his years and drawing his power from his spells. He never needed a weapon, or a tool of death, his mind alone was honed enough to cut his enemies. The archer, green like the forest, wild as one too, if I remember him right. Nothing can stop him, only slow him for long enough for him to acknowledge your existence. And the jester, orange as the flame. He wasn't sure how he got caught into things, or what to do when the shots were down, but he faced each one with a smile; even if he did fail from time to time.
The four knights swept down at the last moment to save me, and for that...I betrayed them.
"Shut up shut up shut up, I don't care who you are any more, just stop talking!"
The two knights were at her side instantly; weapons drawn and muscles ready. Red was staring at her like she was crazy, though he would never say it. Maybe she was a little crazy, it certainly wasn't a healthy thing to be hearing voices in her head.
With a half hearted wave of her hoof, Twilight urged the two knights on, suddenly remembering why they had stopped.
Another wooden door, like all the ones before. Just how many of these doors were there?
Breathing audibly, Twilight simple trotted forward. If she was going to go through another one, she may as well get it over with as quickly as she could.
Carefully, Twilight pushed the door open. She wasn't surprised to see that it didn't lead to another room in the tower; she was expecting an illusion after all.
Stepping forward onto the hard packed dirt, Twilight looked around. The sky was stained a dark red, like the first illusion, except now it was completely clear of clouds and other obstructions. The ground beneath her was brown and dead; only the sickly patch of grass poking out from the puddles and mud staining its surface. A strange smell hit Twilight's nose, a near-but-not-quite coppery smell that she couldn't put her finger on. It was on the tip of her tongue, she knew it, but it just wouldn't come forward.
Then the sound of the illusion caught up to her, and she looked around again. She could hear fighting; somewhere in the distance, but she couldn't see it. Maybe it was all the smoke that had suddenly popped into existence, or the dust that had been thrown up into the air, but she couldn't see a thing; now that she thought about it.
A gloved hand placed itself on her shoulder and Twilight was reminded of why she was here. To find Chrysalis and save her friends. Nothing more, nothing less.
Her horn shined a brilliant purple as she focused and a great wind was summoned forth from behind her. Mane and tail flapping in the breeze; the dust and debris parted for a moment in front of her, revealing exactly what she was looking for.
The exit; the tired and true door set into the air.
Despite the circumstances, Twilight couldn't hide her confident smirk. She still had it.
She had barely made it three steps towards the exit before a new sound graced her ears. The words to describe it were hard to come by. Animalistic, loud, mechanical, repetitive, loud, hypnotic, loud, angry, joyous, loud and loud. Why was it so loud?
The next set of actions happened so fast that Twilight still isn't sure about what happened, to this day.
From what she can remember, something came charging out from behind and over the exit; something huge, angry and dangerous. The ground shook as it rushed closer, and then Twilight was on the ground; looking up at the knights. Two seconds later, a mechanical goat the size of a building smashed into the two knights, sending them flying into the air. Red recovered in mid air, a small ring of lightning bursting around his feet as he jumped backwards back onto the ground.
Orange wasn't so lucky and fell onto his face again. He hung there for what seemed like hours, before collapsing onto his stomach and lying still.
Ears flicking back as the screeching suddenly filling the air signalled the turning of the goat. Pushing herself back to her feet, Twilight was able to get a proper look at the contraption.
It really did resemble a house that someone had stuck wheels on to. Two huge tread wheels, but wheels none the less. It was mainly featureless, except for a large wooden goats head that was nailed to the front; and, judging by the light shining out from behind the head's eyes, also served as a large fireplace.
And then it was charging at her again.
Dirt and dust flew out from behind its treads as it pressed forward, intent on simply crushing its target.
Glancing around, Twilight was distressed to find that both the knights were gone. Not a single hair or print of them remained. It was like they had simply vanished. The realization that she needed to face this challenge alone hit her heavily and quickly.
Twilight wasn't a stranger to fighting. She was the bearer to one of the elements of harmony, so of course she had gotten into a fight or two in her time, what she never realised was that everyone reacted differently in a fight. Rainbow Dash ignored everything except for herself and her opponent, Rarity focused on precision over power, the knights followed the basic rule of 'win' and Twilight...well, Twilight thought.
It was so easy to do, after all.
The ram grew closer, and facts and figures sprinted through Twilight's mind at the same speed. A quick teleport at exactly 49 degrees to the right to dodge and she was well out of the machines range, followed by a quick wind spell set at a speed of 30 metres a second to whip the sand into a veritable screen and she was nearly invisible. Finish with either a magic bolt with a magical gravitude of 96, which needs to be followed up by a basic levitation of 24 and a transparency spell of medium strength to eliminate counter attacks from a radius of five feet in front of her, or cut out the laser and levitate at a strength of 56 to lift the ram off the ground and rotate it 30 degrees to successful cast the detachment spell (with a magical aptitude strength of 6) and remove the treads to render it helpless.
All this happened in the span of about five seconds, and Twilight wouldn't have it any other way.
The bolt of magic travelled through the air swiftly, slamming into the side of the battering ram. The force of the blast was enough to rock the machine just slightly, but enough for Twilight to grab it within her magic. She could only compare it to lifting an Ursa Minor, but she'd accomplished that easily, so this was no problem. With a final flick of the ground beneath it, the ram was lifted into the air, where Twilight was overjoyed to discover where the knights had gone.
That is to say, she saw the two of them clinging to the back of the battering ram and tearing into it with all the force of an angry griffon.
For a brief second, Twilight lost her concentration and the ram wavered in the air, before she found herself again and doubled her efforts.
The ram itself though, wasn't looking so good. If anything could be said of the knights, it was ruthless efficiency. Several large holes were punched into the back, one of the treads was ripped off and Twilight could see the glow of the fire from deep within the machine.
Then a splitting pain rocked through her head as the machine broke free from her magic. It waned and flowed like a bucket of water down her horn, before condensing into a solid form once it hit her skull and exploded. The blast was enough to stick her mane backwards and singe it black.
Already she was running through more figures and simulations in her head, but it was obvious that there was nothing she could do. With a loud boom, the second gas canister strapped to the inside of the machine went off, propelling it forward even faster then before. Twin flames of fuel leaked out the back, pushing it forward as the ram disappeared into the storm.
Twilight had to take a moment for the ache in her head to subside before she could continue. The black lines on the edge of her vision couldn't be a good sign, but she was sure that they would vanish in their own time. For now, she just needed rest.
When she finally came to again, a few seconds later, the red knight was sitting next to her.
He was more relaxed than he had any right to be, considering what had happened in the last few minutes, but Twilight would be lying if she claimed it wasn't reassuring.
Coughing the dust out of her lungs, Twilight asked the first question to come to her mind. "Where's...where's the orange knight?"
With a simple raise of his hand, the red knight pointed into the distance, at the slowly shrinking ram. If Twilight squinted her eyes hard enough, she could just make out a small, blocky figure sitting on its roof, two hands stretched into the air in a silent cheer.
She chuckled to herself; never could resist a good joke. At least the jester was doing his job.
Pushing herself back to her feet and wobbling as the magical backlash rocked her system, Twilight headed towards the door. She was close to finishing this, she could feel it.
With a wordless push, the knight followed behind her slowly. He wanted to move faster but...he didn't want to leave Twilight.
And he'd done this before, and he knew who was next.
"Do you know who's waiting for me up here?" Twilight asked.
She wasn't expecting an answer; at least, not a vocal one. But it was enough to push the question out of her mind so that she wasn't obsessing over it any more. She chuckled as she remembered that it was usually Spike's job to make sure that she didn't get too crazy over questions like this, before she was reminded of what had happened, and why Spike wasn't with her right now.
The knight walked forward slowly, seemingly not hearing Twilight, until he turned and nodded once. Just a small thing, barely noticeable.
"But...how do you know? Who is it?"
She realised her mistake when the red knight simply glared at her, unable to answer.
"Right, right, yes or no answers only then."
Twilight though for a second, running through every possible question like a computer before arranging a list of importance. "Is it another alicorn? Like Celestia's mentor or something?"
The knight shook his head.
"Alright, not an alicorn. It couldn't possibly be...Chrysalis? Am I supposed to redeem her?"
The knight shook his head again, as if chuckling.
"So who is it then? Discord? Who?"
Everything slowed down for a minute, and as Twilight gazed into the knight's eyes, a single word was summoned forth in her head. A word she couldn't contain just in her head, a word she needed to say out loud. "Princess."
The knight nodded in agreement while Twilight's head was reeling with questions again.
Before she could ask them though, the end of the stairs captured her attention first. Another door. The final door. She didn't know how she knew, but she just did. After this, she wouldn't have questions. This was her last challenge; her last obstacle. Then, she would be certain. She would have her answers.
Without even waiting for the knight to move forward to protect her, Twilight pushed the door open; bracing herself for the magic impact at the same time. It came just as she suspected.
"For the wizard, I gave him a place where his magic would fail.
For the archer, I slowed him with a speed that wasn't his own.
For the jester, I gave him the crowd; the world on a platter.
And for the leader, I saved the cruellest of all for the leader.
For the leader, I have him the tiniest glimpse of hope.
I gave him a purple unicorn, who would in turn, betray him."
Twilight stepped into the room without a word. She'd already come to expect anything other than simply another room in the tower, so it came as no surprise to her when the sunlight started to stream through the stained glass windows of Celestia's throne room, or when she found herself at the base of Celestia's own throne.
The stranger's words were already draining from her mind, as she couldn't be bothered to remember them. They were just trying to trick her out; cause her to make a mistake. And she wouldn't let that happen.
When compared to the other illusion rooms, this exit was by far the closest. Looming over her like the princess herself, the door was embedded into the back of Celestia's seat; only a single iron door knocker causing it to stand out.
The red knight appeared next to her, eyes also locked on the door at the top of the steps.
Or rather, whatever was beneath them.
From all around the room, the shadows moved. Twisting and sliding like snakes, they slithered over the windows and snuffed the light, wrapped around Twilight's feet, gathered in her eyes and mouth, weighed her down and shimmered, just shimmered on the seat of the princess.
And from the darkness, a figure rose. He resembled the knights in many ways; short build, toned body and other features, but differed from them greatly in the shape of his head. A near perfect triangle, with two sunken eyes that disappeared far into his skull, leaving only pin pricks of light against the darkness shining forth from his skull. Two spiked ears also protruded from the side of his head, neatly contrasting the single line of dark red painted down his front. On his chest, like all the knights, was a symbol. A crescent moon.
Twilight felt herself pushed back by something she couldn't see, maybe it was the knight, as the creature on the throne pulled a pulsing, fire red sword out of the air. The blade was a single crystal, engraved with the face of a dragon and radiating magic at an alarming rate.
And then he leapt forward, flying much further than Twilight thought was possible, directly at Twilight.
Twilight stumbled backwards, losing her footing but it didn't matter as the red knight leapt into action. His steel sword sliced through the darkness as it parried the dark wizard.
The two looked into each others eyes the way only life long rivals could, before each took a single step back. Their swords were raised at chest height, primed and pointed at each other; all it took now was for one of them to break the stalemate first and begin the fight.
Twilight righted herself quickly, just in time to see the knight tell her to stay still. Just a split second wave of his hand to stay still, before focusing back on his opponent.
Who had taken advantage of the slight delay to strike first. Shadows trailed off the end of his blade as he swung forward, slamming down on the knight. Red buckled back slightly, still managing to raise his sword and block the next attack.
Twisting his sword arm sideways, he slipped down the length of the wizards blade and pulled in close. The two wrestled for a second, as the knight mashed his X button to overpower the wizard.
Despite the display though, something else caught Twilight's eye. Something she couldn't look away from.
There was something at the top of the stairs.
Something... familiar. A pony with a purple coat and a streak of pink running down her mane.
She was at the top of the stairs?
Looking down at the two fighters, Twilight felt something deep inside her. Something was tugging at the back of her mind, wasn't she just at the bottom of the stairs? This wasn't right, she shouldn't... but she couldn't feel it over the huge wave of disgust that flowed through her.
Look at the two of them down there, fighting like insects. One of them barely had the attention span to walk down a straight hallway, and the other wielded his magic like a club. Why hadn't she seen it before, how they bickered and squabbled with each other. She was the element of magic; the protector of harmony, and she couldn't do that while something so...so unharmonious was alive.
She could see everything now, everything. It was all so obvious, why hadn't she seen it?
The knights could never be allowed to reach the top of the tower. They just...couldn't. The creature up there; it was trying to protect them. To save them from their fate by swapping it with another, by running them through the motions. If the red knight was allowed to reach the top, everything would be lost.
And she'd brought him here. Her, the protector of Equestria, had brought it's greatest threat right to where it needed to be. She'd brought the destruction of harmony directly to the heart of harmony, and was wondering why it was fighting back. How could she be so stupid?
But...maybe it wasn't too late.
Twilight aimed her horn.
And took a deep breath as she looked up at the stairs.
What just happened?
Twilight spun around hastily, trying to find some explanation for what was going on. But...the room was empty.
It was just her, standing alone in the middle of the palace throne room.
Her first instinct was to panic. Had she just...killed the fighters? That didn't sound right coming out of her mouth, but it seemed so...real. Everything seemed real. Her train of thought, the magic building in her horn, the attack, it all seemed real, but it couldn't be. It just wasn't possible.
She calmed herself quickly. It was just her mind playing tricks on her, everything was fine. Trotting over to where the knight was, Twilight searched for him intently; not leaving a single stone out of place. But there was no sign of him ever existing. No marks on the floor, no scraps of cloth or smears of paint. No sweat or blood or anything. Just Twilight and an empty room.
And the beckoning door.
With a nervous chuckle, Twilight ascended the stairs. Each step she took seemed heavier than the last; weighed her down far more than any pony or magic could. She was scared.
Scared that maybe...she'd screwed up. Scared that maybe she was making a mistake. And with no more knights to protect her, who could blame her?
Glancing down the stairs one final time, Twilight pushed the exit door open and walked in.
"And what's there to say about what happened next?
Twilight stood in front of the last door, turmoil in her heart but strength in her soul?
Twilight pushed it open at long last?
Twilight entered without hesitation or fear?
Twilight prepared herself for what she would see, and yet was still shocked to her core?
And at the end of the chapter, there was no kiss; for there were no knights, no princesses and no kisses to spare anyway.
Yes, I suppose that is all there is to say."