//------------------------------//
// Rise From The Mountain 
// Story: Attack of the evil doors 
// by thetrapezoid 
//------------------------------//

	"Sombra's magic? I thought that huge crystal explosion disintegrated him," said Rainbow Dash.
"Well, he's back apparently. We must find out where he is and stop him," said Twilight.
"But Twilight. You already defeated King Sombra. This MUST be the doors acting on their own free will," blurted Pinkie.
"Celestia was sure that this was King Sombra's magic. It must be him that is behind this," replied Twilight.
"That is exactly what they WANT us to think. They're trying to trick us to into leaving Ponyville for the crystal empire, so we won't be around to stop them."
Twilight wasn't convinced with Pinkie's rebuttal. "Well, if we are going to the crystal empire, it's going to be a long journey."
"Can't we just take the train?" asked Applejack.
"We could, but what do trains have on them?" asked Twilight.
"Oh yeah, doors."
"Maybe we should go rescue Princess Celestia. If we free her from the door, she can use her magic to wipe out all the doors at once, teleport us to the crystal empire, or who knows what," suggested Rarity.
"Hmm, that might actually be a viable option," replied Twilight. "But Canterlot is a two-day walk from Ponyville."
"Well, we CAN still take the train. We just have to rip off all the doors first," said Rainbow Dash.
"Hmm, that is true. Anyone have any better ideas?" asked the purple unicorn.
The others just shrugged their shoulders.
"I'll take that as a no. To Canterlot it is, then."
The mane six began to make their way toward the train station. It had finally stopped raining, but most of the ponies were trapped in their houses by their own doors. When they got to the Ponyville train station, there was indeed a train there, but no employees or passengers in sight.
"Hello?" shouted Rainbow Dash.
A loud banging came from inside the engine.
"There are ponies trapped inside the engine," Twilight exclaimed. 
Why would a train engine need a door? Don't the engineers need a way to breathe from all that smoke? thought Rainbow Dash.
Twilight charged up her magic as she ran toward the front of the train. When she got close to the engine, she disappeared in a bright flash of purple light.
"Oh no! The doors have gained the ability to make ponies disappear altogether. AHHHHHHH!" The pink mare began to shout and run in circles.
A few second later, Twilight reappeared with the train's driver and engineer. "Calm down Pinkie, just a teleportation spell."
"Oh, I know. I just like being scared sometimes."
"Well, this isn't the time for the fun of being scared, let's rip the doors off this train and get to Canterlot."
"Sorry ladies," said the driver, "But the train is out of service. At least until this... occurance is over."
"We're sorry too, but we need to get to Canterlot to rescue the princess. Can we at least take your engine?"
"Wait a minute. You guys are the elements of harmony right?"
"Yes," they replied in unison.
"Then I guess I can give you the engine, but first, there are a bunch of passengers trapped inside the train. We need to get all of them out."
The band of heroes agreed. One by one, they began to rescue the prisoners of the train doors. Twilight teleported each of them out, one by one. Applejack and Rainbow Dash broke down the doors of various other cars. Pinkie apologized to each individual door that was broken down. She also began keeping track of each of those doors in a notebook, marking them as a war casualty. Rarity and Fluttershy escorted each of the refugees to the town square, away from any form of shelter.
After all the passengers were out of the train, the driver handed over control of the train engine to Twilight. He also unbuckled the engine from the passenger cars, so they wouldn't be slowed down.
"Wait, before we go, let's have a moment of silence to each door we lost in this battle." Pinkie closed her eyes, sat down, and clamped her front hooves together. Rarity got down beside her.
"What in tarnation? Ya don't actually believe her, do ya?" asked Applejack.
"I don't know. It's just... Pinkie saved me from these doors. Maybe she does understand them better than we do."
"Doors aren't alive, Rarity. Let's get in the engine," said Twilight.
Neither of them moved from their sitting positions. Twilight got frustrated and telekinetically lifted them up into the train engine. After ripping off the door to the inside, they started the furnace and the train was off.
"How do you know how to drive a train?" asked Applejack.
"Books!" said Twilight and Rainbow Dash in unison.
***
"There's the tunnel. We're halfway there." Applejack was looking out the open window.
"Race you to the other side," said Rainbow Dash. She hopped out the train and began to fly over the mountain.
"Wait! Come back! We have to stick together." But Twilight did not reach the eager pegasus.
"Calm down Twilight. This is our first break from fighting doors in a while," said Rarity, "Let's just have a little fun and we'll be at Canterlot in no time."
"Calm Down?"
"Yes. Deep breath in..."
Twilight inhaled deeply.
"And Exhale."
Twilight exhaled loudly. "Okay, let's tell ghost stories while inside the mountain."
"Great idea Twilight. Rainbow Dash is gunna be upset when she finds out she missed out on ghost stories," said Applejack.
As the train became shrouded in darkness from the tunnel, Twilight began her story.
***
Jewels were constantly sought after by the rich nobles of Canterlot. That is why the caves beneath it were created. Hundreds of ponies were hired to dig deep down into the caves to find all of those prized gems that were demanded. As they dug deeper and deeper to find more jewels, they unleashed a dark horror within. Workers returned with cannibalistic behavior and complete insanity. Eventually, their bosses decided to quarantine the workers down in the depths of the mines. They did this by encasing all of the lower levels in crystals. Those trapped down in the caves were never seen again. And no one else entered those caves, FOREVER.
***
SLAM
The train had crashed into something and sent the five ponies flying toward the front of the engine. After recovering, Twilight exited the engine to see what had happened, using her horn to illuminate the area. What she saw was something she should have anticipated. "Girls, I think I forgot about something."
"What happened Twilight?" asked Applejack.
"I forgot that these tunnels have sliding metal doors to the entrances. They were supposed to prevent the tunnels from getting flooded in case of a rainstorm, but now they are preventing us from getting out," Twilight explained. 
"Wait. So we are *gulp* trapped in this here tunnel?"
"No, of course not. I'll just teleport us to the other side. Let me just check to make sure this is the exit."
Twilight lit up her horn and disappeared from the cave. The piercing sunlight from the exit temporarily blinded her. The pegasi have finally cleared up the clouds. Those doors can't stop my magic. It took a second for Twilight to realize that she wasn't standing on anything. She looked down and saw nothing but a giant cliff below. The ground seemed so far away.
"AHHHHHHHHHHH!"
Twilight was falling and completely in shock at what had happened. How come there were no train tracks from the other side of the door? After taking a second to get over her panic, she charged up her magic and prepared another teleportation spell, but the ground was approaching fast. She blinked back to the cave just milliseconds before impact.
"There is nothing but a cliff on the other side!" shouted the terrified unicorn.
"NO WAY! The doors have gained Discord's powers. They can now manipulate the terrain at will." Pinkie became both terrified and impressed. "Is there no limit to your powers?" she shouted at the metal door.
"I highly doubt that Pinkie. Let's put the engine in reverse and go back the way we came. There will be a door at where we came in, but I can just teleport us out that way."
As Twilight hopped on the train, Rarity put the engine in reverse. This time, Twilight kept her horn illuminated the whole time, so she could see where they was going. Eventually, the train came upon a solid rock wall, upon which Rarity stopped the train.
"Uh, Twi. Is the door from where we came in supposed to be made of rock?" asked Applejack.
"No, it's supposed to be made of metal, like where we came in." She tapped on the rock wall. "It's hollow, I'm going to see what is on the other side."
Twilight telported to the other side. Her hornlight showed train tracks running parallel to the door, as well as a branch of tracks leading into the door. "So, the train splits off the path to Canterlot, and goes off on a path to nowhere blocked by this rock wall. But that would mean that this rock wall is actually a..." Twilight tried to grasp the stone door with her magic. Despite it's resistance, it slowly began to swing open. Twilight saw her friends in the passage that the hidden passage revealed.
"A ROCK DOOR? That's what led us to the track to nowhere?" Rarity's voice was cracking as she was yelling. "These doors are everywhere! WHY do we need rock doors?"
"I"m trying to figure that out myself," said Twilight.
"Um...I think I know why."
The ponies turned to the shy pegasus.
"I heard that the train company wanted to extend the train to Cloudsdale, but the cancelled the project when they found out that floating train tracks were too expensive. Rainbow Dash was especially upset when she heard the news."
"Ohh, so Cloudsdale must be where this track was originally headed for," continued Applejack. "And after cancelling the project, they sealed the branch line with a stone door."
"Well, that solves that mystery. Let's get going, shall we."
Twilight hopped back in the engine, and the train started moving toward the entrance again. The rock door attempted to smash the engine as it passed through, but Twilight was able to negate it's movement with telekinesis. Eventually they came across what they thought was where they came in. As suspected, it was blocked by a steel door.
"Okay girls. Let's get out of these caves."
Twilight lit up her magic and teleported the five of them and the train engine to the other side of the door. Unbeknownst to them, it was another cliff. After falling for a second, Twilight teleported all of her friends back inside the cave. The train engine continued to fall to the depths below. 
"Another cliff. That means that this isn't the way we came," panted Applejack.
"There was probably more rock doors along the entire line, all deceiving us into going in the wrong direction," continued Twilight. "Who knows how many times our course had deviated. Rrrrrrgh, I knew we shouldn't have calmed down. We should have been on alert the entire time."
"Are... we going to be stuck in this mountain forever?" asked Fluttershy. "Are we going to end up like the miners who were never found because no one went looking for them?"
"YYEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEESSSSS," shouted Pinkie Pie dramatically.
"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO," replied Rarity dramatically.
"OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOHHHHHHHHHH YEEEEEEEEEEEESSS WEEEEEE ARRRRRRRE STUUUUUUUCK INNNNN HEEEERRRREEEE."
"I know, i meant "NOOOOOOOOOOOO" as in "OOOOOOOHHHH NOOOOOOOOOO"."
Suddenly, the metal door burst open. From outside came a familiar white ram.
"SAM! You came back for us," said Pinkie Pie. She ran over and gave the guy a hug.
"Took you guys long enough. Thought you might need some help." It was the voice of a familiar blue pegasus.
"Rainbow Dash, Ah thought ya left us," said Applejack, who ran over to give her friend a hug. "Alright, we got out. But we still can't go anywhere. Rainbow Dash can't carry all of us to Canterlot."
"Oh, I'm carrying nobody. Sam, show 'em how awesome you are."
Sam the ram walked back toward the entrance. His wool coat slowly began to get larger and larger. It looked like he was going to burst, but instead, he started rising up into the air. "I came up here by myself. Your blue friend just showed me the way to where she saw you guys falling."
Five jaws fell to the floor as they saw the ram fly, all on his own.
"Ya never told us you could fly," said Applejack.
"When you exert your authority over others, you prevent them from exercising their full potential. Oh, and because there are five of you, I brought friends."
Four other sheep floated up in front of the entrance. Each of them tossed a rope into the cave, for each of the ponies to hang onto.
"Good thing you guys remained loyal to us, unlike the treacherous entrances," said Pinkie Pie.
"But why do ya wanna help us after all we've done to you?" asked Applejack.
"We were always willing to help. All you had to do was ask." replied Sam the flying ram.
After much more apologies, each of the ponies (except Fluttershy) grabbed onto a rope and continued their journey toward the city of Canterlot by inflatable sheep.
"Looks like we will rescue the princess after all," said Pinkie Pie, who was finally back to her cheerful mood.