Trixie groaned and slowly got up, her head swimming as if she had gotten drunk the previous night and passed on while laying on her back on the wooden floor of her wagon. She tried to use her magic, but for some reason her horn refused to listen to her. With another groan she pushed up the tip of her hat with her hoof and looked around at her surroundings after she barely opened her eyes. She was in a chamber with white colored walls, silver doorways scattered around the place, two other mares laying near her, and a stallion reading a book not too far away.
"Ugh, five more minutes," Trixie said, laying back on the ground before quickly getting back up. Five more minutes? Wherever did that idea come from?
"Oh, your awake," the red coated stallion said, causing Trixie to look over at him, "I wasn't expecting you or your friends to awaken for another hour or two. I guess I might as well welcome you to the Terminal and save the formal welcome until your comrades awaken from their slumber."
"Wait...the Terminal?" Trixie asked, her vision clearly as she focused on the strange doorways that littered the room. She wondered what the various doors were supposed to do as she got a better look at who was sitting close to her.
The stallion in question had a red colored coat as she had previously noted, but there were other aspects she had failed to notice while her vision was blurred. The fact that the stallion had both a unicorn's horn and a pair of large pegasi wings was new to Trixie. Even the stallion's cutie mark, a ring of silver keys, was unfamiliar and familiar at the same time. Trixie realized that the stallion could only be one thing; an alicorn.
"I thought there were only three alicorns in all of Equestria," Trixie said, causing the stallion to raise an eyebrow, "yet it is clear to Trixie that there is a fourth sitting right before her."
"Ah yes," the stallion chuckled, already amused by the mare's way of speaking, "I'm assuming you are referring to Celestia, Princess of the Sun, Luna, Princess of the Moon, and Cadence, Princess of Love. The three of them are powerful and rule Equestria, but I do not exist within the confines of Equestria. I exist within the Terminal, my domain that connects to all the worlds."
"Ugh, this is going to take forever," Trixie said, shaking her head, "I guess I can wait until my 'friends' awaken so you can tell us everything all at once. What's your name anyway?"
"That is quite simple," the stallion said, "I am known as the Gatekeeper."
Trixie looked over her friends, as the Gatekeeper called them, and was surprised to find that she actually knew the two of them. One of them, a gray coated pegasus with a yellow colored mane, Trixie personally knew because she had crushed her last wagon when he had been visiting Ponyville for the first time. During the accident with the Ursa Minor more than a year ago.
The other pony was an aquamarine coated mare with mint colored hair that had a white streak through it. On closer inspection Trixie discovered that the second mare had a horn like she did, so that meant she wasn't the sole unicorn to have landed in the strange world. Trixie sighed and wondered why she had to be paired up with Depry Hooves, a disaster on wings, and Lyra Heartstrings, a unicorn who knew almost no magic.
For the next hour, or what seemed like an hour, Trixie occupied herself by either getting a better idea of where she was or just reading one of the few books she could find. The books were nothing special in her eyes, just methods on how to create a key from the magical essence of the world and on how to find an already existing key. All the books she could find talked about keys and it was already driving her insane. Once an hour has passed, however, the other two mares finally began to stir as Derpy bonked heads with Lyra.
"Watch it will ya?" Lyra said, opening her eyes and finding that she had bonked right into Derpy, "On second thought, never mind."
"I just don't know what went wrong," Derpy stated, opening her crossed eyes. "Um, where are we?"
"Allow me to answer that question," the Gatekeeper said, causing the two mares to look over at him, "The three of you are in the Terminal, a world filled with gateways to other worlds. I am the sole citizen of the Terminal, the Gatekeeper."
"What are we waiting for then?" Trixie asked, turning her back to the Gatekeeper, "If there is a gate to so many worlds just point out Equestria's gate and we'll be heading home."
"First off, I can't just 'point out' which gateway belongs to your Equestria," the Gatekeeper replied, "mainly because it has already moved to some other section of the Terminal and would need to be summoned back here. Secondly, well you can see this one for yourselves."
Not ten seconds later a silver doorway appeared in front of Trixie, causing her to jump back before she realized it was even there. Unlike all the other doorways that contained a swirling mass of some light blue colored magic this one doorway was boarded up by metal and seven locks floated around it.
"Can any of you tell me why I can't send you back?" the Gatekeeper asked.
"Oh, I know the answer," Derpy shouted, her wings flapping excitedly, "Its because of the seven locks that you can't allow us to travel back to our home. Their combined magic is preventing you from doing anything to the metal until all seven locks are unlocked and removed from the doorway."
Trixie was surprised, how had Derpy known that without reading any of the books scattered throughout the Terminal?
The Gatekeeper laughed. "Correct Miss Hooves," he said, "thanks to the locks I cannot remove the metal frame that is keeping the door's magic trapped. It seems that you have an excellent eye for discovering the magical workings of things you do not fully understand.
Now then, these seven keys that can unlock the doorway to your Equestria are scattered throughout the worlds and they could have landed anywhere. Which seven worlds have the keys landed in I do not know. It could take years to uncover where the keys are located and retrieve them. Luckily you three have an ally who will be searching the worlds at the same time."
'Who is this pony that is helping us?" Lyra asked, now hopeful that they might not have to spend the majority of their lives stuck in the Terminal.
"I believe you know her," the Gatekeeper replied, "Her name is Vinyl Scratch, or the DJ known as PON-3. She'll be searching the worlds for the keys and will be marking off the doorways that she has already searched. I will summon the first doorway for the three of you, but after that you will have to choose one together. I will ask that you keep your identities and where you are from a secret from the denizens of the worlds you visit. Wouldn't want to trouble anyone.
I know you all have more questions that you want me to answer, but I will answer a few of them if and when you return with the first of the seven keys. Until then I wish you the best of luck and safety on your journeys."
Sure enough the locked doorway was soon replaced by another one, this time without the strange metal frame. Trixie sighed and ran through the doorway, leaving the other two mares behind to choose for themselves. Lyra, already jumping around with the idea of meeting new poines, quickly followed Trixie into the unknown. Derpy stared at the doorway for what seemed like a minute before flapping her wings and successfully passing through the magic energy without crashing.
The Gatekeeper sighed and allowed the doorway to return to where it had normally resided until he had called it.
"You can come out now," he called to the pony standing behind him.
Vinyl Scratch, still wearing her trademark sunglasses, stepped out of the shadows and approached the Gatekeeper. This time she was wearing a newer belt to replace the one she had brought with her.
"So my allies are Trixie, Lyra Heartstrings, and Derpy Hooves," she said thoughtfully. "Well, I know that Trixie can stand her ground during a fight and Derpy will destroy anything as long as muffins are either involved or mentioned, but I'm not to sure that Lyra should even be here."
"Give her time Vinyl," the Gatekeeper chuckled, "she reminds me of a younger version of you when you and your friends arrived here a yew years ago. Yet you are energetic as you were the first time I met you and she seems to be just like you."
"Pull up my door already," Vinyl said, "I want to get my search started as soon as possible."
"As you wish Miss Scratch," the Gatekeeper replied, a doorway appearing in front of the unicorn, "Remember the rules and find the key if you can. We don't want HIM to be released."
"I know I know," Vinyl stated, silently walking up to the doorway, "You don't have to remind me. I'll see you when I return."
In seconds Vinyl was gone and the Gatekeeper returned the second doorway to its resting place before he sat down. He pulled over a book that Trixie had been reading through and chuckled when he noticed what the subject was about. Creating Keys from the magical energies of a world. It was going to be quite a ride for the three mares that had winded up in the Terminal. The Gatekeeper knew that much without even waiting for the results of their first adventure.