//------------------------------// // Beneath the Surface // Story: Once Beyond the Gates // by Quill Scribe //------------------------------// Once Beyond the Gates ~Quill Scribe~ Chapter 4 – Beneath the Surface "Alright class, today's lesson is advanced magical deflection. More commonly referred to as force-fields." An elderly stallion sat at a desk at the front of the tiered lecture hall. The seats in he room were filled with bleary eyed ponies. Excitement for the learning process having been stamped out of them long ago by repetition and rigid class schedules. I rolled my eyes. I mastered this manure last year. I surreptitiously slid my personal notebook out of my bags, flipped the pages to my desired section, and reviewed the sketches and diagrams inside. The numbers and figures stared back at me as I ran them through my head. All of my calculations are correct. I just need to find the materials, and for that I need bits. I flipped to the next section of my notes. I looked over the diagrams of the magically powered prosthetic limb braces and wings that sprawled across the pages. I had lived for three years at Celestia's school, biding my time. I attended every class and read every book, even the ones in the secure wing. This book was the culmination of the research I had buried myself in. Every modified spell I had learned, an amulet to absorb and enhance magic, and prosthetics to allow a crippled pony to walk or fly. Ponies everywhere would benefit from my work. And without the limitations I had woven into the spells that formed their backbone, they'll make me strong enough to crush the ponies who hurt me when I find them. "Sigil, since you seem so attentive to our lesson why don't you come up to the front to demonstrate a proper shield spell." Some of my classmates snickered while I put my books into my bags. With them safely tucked away I rolled my way to the front of the room in my wheelchair. I looked up to the spell diagramed on the blackboard in the front of the room. Its complexity would have boggled the mind of the average student. Fortunately I was no average student. Such a waste of magical power. No way could I muster the strength to cast this as-is. If I change this algorithm, move this diagram here... I erased parts of what was written and rewrote them based on some of The more obscure theorems I picked up from Clover the Clever's works. I concentrated on imagining the new magical circle in my head and ran my magic through my horn. A silvery bubble of force shimmered into existence around me, making a popping sound as it displaced a small amount of air. I smiled to myself and looked at my professor. He frowned at me, his lips pinched in annoyance, and said, "while I commend your ingenuity, in order to pass the end of semester examinations at the end of the month you will be expected to cast your spells as they were intended." Great, just another old stallion stuck in his ways. "Professor Spire, I've been in your class all semester. You know very well that I wouldn't have been able to cast this spell. Yet you called me up here anyway. So now that I've found a way to do so in a more efficient manner you are going to penalize me because it's 'not by the book'?" I narrowed my eyes at the fool as he and my classmates sat in stunned silence. After a few moments I spoke again. "I've aced every test given to me. I cast spells and understand theory at a post graduate level. I'm afraid you have nothing left to teach me." I turned to the door and rolled out of the classroom. I stopped partway down the hallway and took a few deep breaths, allowing the frustration that had built up to dissipate, and rolled down the cold hallway to my dorm room. # I sat at the cluttered workbench in my dormitory, my horn glowing faintly as I began to pass a complex series of spells into a clear gemstone in front of me when the door slammed open. "Hey roomie! Whatcha workin' on?" A tall, pale yellow mare pranced into the room. Her bed creaked in protest as she flopped herself down on it. My spell fizzled with a burst of static and the gem I had been working on cracked. I sighed in frustration, tossed it in the garbage, and turned to her while pulling out my last gem. "Allie, I put a do not disturb sign on the door for a reason. I make myself scarce when you've got your coltfriend over and a sock on the doorknob. I need to concentrate and this is my last gem." "Oh come on Sigil, you're always cooped up in here or the library working on something. Besides its not like I could walk in and embarrass you, you never have anypony over," Allie said as she rolled onto her back and looked at me upside down. "I know!" She exclaimed loudly. I nearly jumped out of my skin. "Come out with me and the girls tonight. We'll find you a nice, um, stallion!" I gave her a deadpan stare out of annoyance. "Allie, I don't have-" "A nice mare, then?" She cut me off. "Seriously Allie, I've got way-" "Gryphon?" She looked at me desperately. This has to be my own personal Tartarus. Celestia deliver me. "Fine Allie, I'll go with you." I winced as she looked at me with a gleeful grin. "On one condition." "Anything!" Her blue ponytail twirled and slapped her in the face as she rolled onto her stomach. "Just name it!" I sighed and rubbed my temples with my hooves, feeling a migraine setting in. "Just be quiet for a few minutes so I can finish this project." She clamped her mouth shut and made a zipping motion with her hoof. She's a strange pony, but I suppose I could have a worse roommate. Besides, who am I to judge strange. I returned my full concentration to the task at hoof. I knew I'd regret making that promise to Allie Way, but I needed to get this done. My horn once again glowed as I imagined the multilayered spell diagrams in my head. I pushed my magic through my horn, projecting the diagrams into the cut gemstone. It began to glow softly for a few seconds until the light faded. "That was it? Seemed kind of anticlimactic." She said with a raised eyebrow. "Trust me, the effects are less than subtle when in use." I said as I snapped the gem into an empty socket in a mass of metal and cloth that sat on my desk. My horn glowed as I cast a quick spell. "Vocal dictation begin. Magic emulation project, earth pony, stage one. Beginning phase one, attachment." I buckled the harness around each of my legs and my midsection. I reached out to the apparatus with my magic. I felt its artificial ley lines and carefully attached each one to the gemstones and myself. I yelped in pain and grimaced as I felt the strange magic flood my body's natural ley lines. As the magic connected my dead nerves I started to feel a tingling sensation in my hind legs. Allie looked at me with worry. "Sigil, are you alright? What are you doing?" I ignored her and continued, "Phase one completed successfully. Begin phase two, connection test." I looked down at my hind legs. Like my front, they were firmly strapped into the brace and harness I had made. I concentrated on a feeling I had nearly forgotten from my foalhood. My right hind leg twitched, then bent at the knee. Next I tried the left. I tested each joint slowly in succession as feeling slowly returned to them. "Phase two completed successfully. Begin phase three, implementation." I placed my front hooves on the ground and braced myself lightly on the desk for support. I shifted the majority of my weight onto my front hooves and began to lean forward. On shaky hooves I stood for the first time in six years. My atrophied muscles screamed in protest, but the braces and the trickle of earth pony magic kept me upright under my own power. I closed my eyes and smiled blissfully. I opened them and took a single shaky step forward, then another, and another. I began a slow walk in a circle in our small dorm room's free space. "Phase three complete. Standing and walk cycle tested successfully. Stage one status, successful. End dictation." I turned to Allie Way. Her eyes were wide and her mouth agape as she stared at me, then my abandoned wheel chair, then back to me. "Sigil! You're walking! I can't believe it!" A wide smile burst onto her face. She danced around me and then threw her hooves around me, practically tackling me into my bed. "Whoa there Allie, what do you think you're..." I trailed off as I felt her shoulders heaving and heard a light sobbing. "I was so worried about you. I know we were never really friends before, even though we've practically lived together at school for three years. You always seemed so angry and lonely though." She looked at me sadly. "Now it'll be different! Nopony will make fun of you for being stuck in a chair, we can hang out, you'll be happy now right?" She smiled at me expectantly. Yes, I could definitely have a worse roommate. I half smiled back at her and returned her hug. "Sure Allie, whatever you say." Today wasn't such a bad day. Makes that promise I made her totally worth the aggravation. I just wish you all could have seen this. # It was dark in the musty building we stood in. The familiar smell of pony sweat, among other less savory things, hung in the air. There were ponies everywhere. They kept bumping into us, some grinding up against us in an unwanted attempt to dance. I stood awkwardly in between Allie and her friend. The music at the club Allie and her friend dragged me to blared loudly. Behind the thumping bass were several noises I could only describe as a printing press jamming and being crushed in a trash compactor and a cat yowling while being hit with a tennis racket. I was wrong. Nothing is worth this. Never again. Allie's friend sidled herself up next to me, leaning in close to my head. "Having fun, Sigil? Isn't DJ P0N3 the best?" The best at what? Singlehoofedly murdering an entire art form? Lyra would be having a fit if she were here. My face contorted in pain for the brief moment I thought of Lyra. She had moved away shortly after our parents died. Some of her family had come to take her away to Celestia knows where to live with them. I hadn't spoken to her since. I had gotten several letters but never opened them. Always telling myself I wasn't ready to face her or that she was better off without me. It's okay. She'd just be in danger around me anyway. At least until this is all over. My attention snapped back to the plumb colored earth pony. "Oh yeah, she sure is... Something, alright." I said , trying to be loud enough to be heard over the cataclysm of noise. I looked around the dance floor and spotted a relatively calm spot in the corner of the room. I pushed and shoved my way over to it and sat down heavily on a white couch. After a few minutes, Allie and her friend stumbled their way over to me. "You alright Sigil? You look lonely. We don't have to stay here if you want to go somewhere else." Allie said to me, her brow knit in worry. "It's alright, I doubt there are any libraries open this late at night anyway." I laughed a little when she rolled her eyes at the word library. "You girls have fun, I'll be alright." They wandered back to the dance floor. I sat there, alone in the crowded club, pondering my next move. I pushed my goggles onto my forehead and pulled out a thin notebook. I suppose I should finish those prosthetic wings. Then I can either sell the rights to them, or use my notes to wrangle myself a research grant. My thoughts drifted for the next hour as I sat at the nightclub. I ran magical theory through my head, trying to finalize some equations for another stage of my project. Finally, images of those midnight blue ponies wound their way into my mind. Maybe if I can get some extra bits I can pay somepony to track them down, and then- "You know, a cloak and goggles are very strange attire for a club. You'll attract all kinds of weirdos wearing that." A voice sounded from next to me, jolting me from my thoughts. I turned my head. Next to me sat a young pegasus stallion. His maroon coat and dark purple mane looked almost black in the poor lighting. He smiled at me. "Eep!" I squeaked. I instinctively pulled my goggles down over my eyes and hid my face behind my mane. It was a foalhood habit I just couldn't seem to shake. I hated it. He chuckled and shifted a little further away from me. "I'm very sorry if I startled you. That was quite adorable though." My face burned in a combination of embarrassment and annoyance. "I'm not exactly looking to attract anypony. I'm just here waiting for my, umm, friends. Besides, if I'm going to attract weirdos then what does that make you?" I said, taking a moment to compose myself. The stallion laughed. "Quick wit and cute? I better watch out for you. My name is Long Shot. What's yours?" "Sigil," I said, trying to be polite and hoping he'd get bored and go away. I looked out at the dance floor and saw Allie wink at me and her plum friend wave. To my surprise Long Shot waved back. "So you know my cousin Berry Punch? Small world, huh?" Ugh. He knows them? He'll be hanging around all night. "So how do you know Berry?" He asked nonchalantly, sipping on a glass of water. "She's friends with my roommate Allie Way. I just met her tonight." "I gotcha. Me, Berry, and Allie all know each other from way back in Ponyville, so I guess I understand how you never met her before. Where are you from? You don't seem like one of those stuck up Canterlot unicorns." "I'm from Manehattan. My mother brought me here." I frowned slightly. I wasn't really a pony suited for small talk. How'd I get roped into this? "Oh, a big city pony huh?" He smirked a little. "Since you're here with Allie, I assume you're going to Celestia's school. I'm just here for the weekend taking the physicals to join the guard. What are you and your mom gonna do when you graduate? Move back?" I don't think this stallion really wants to hear about me, and I don't really feel like talking about myself. I've had about enough of this. "Look, like I said before, I'm not interested in meeting anypony. I'm sure there's plenty of other ponies here looking for a good time. Why don't you go bother one of them." I said crossly. "If that's really what you want, I'll leave you alone." His ears flattened and his wings sagged a bit. He looked down at the tile floor, and started to get up. Wow, he looks really... disappointed? Did he actually want to just get to know me? "W-wait," I said. I placed a hoof on his shoulder to guide him back to his seat. He looked over at me with a look of mild surprise. I looked away from him. "Look, I'm sorry. I'm sure you are a very nice stallion. It's just that most stallions try their luck with me thinking I'm an easy target because of how I look. I'm just not interested in anypony. I've got too much... baggage. I didn't mean to hurt your feelings." "That doesn't mean we can't be friends." He said as he gave me a faint smile. No, we can't. Ponies I'm close to get hurt. I shouldn't even be here with Allie. I opened my mouth to tell him when a commotion, different from the normal nightclub commotion, brought our attention to the dance floor. A trio of unicorn stallions were crowding around Allie and her friend. "C'mon legs, forget about that coltfriend and come home with a real stallion." The large orange one said, putting a foreleg across Allie's back. "Hey there baby, what say you and me go find someplace private like." The smaller brown one leered at Berry suggestively. "Ew, get lost creeps." Allie shoved the stallion's foreleg off of her. I trotted up behind the trio with a frown and said, "I've been having the first night out with other ponies in a very, very long time. I think you three should leave before somepony does something to ruin it for me and makes me very angry." "Sweet Celestia, what's wrong with its horn?" The orange one recoiled. "Look at how it's dressed!" The brown pony sneered at me. "Look, we're just tryin' to have a nice chat with these mares here. Now scram. Unless of course you're looking for some fun of your own." A white unicorn winked at me. Long Shot scowled and trotted up next to me. "That is no way to speak to anypony. I have half a mind to..." I held a hoof up to his mouth to silence him, then took a step forward towards the unicorn trio. "I've been insulted, bullied, and called names my whole life." I stared them dead in the eyes through my goggles. "I don't care what you inconsequential twits have to say about me, but you will leave my roommate and her friends alone." The orange one adopted a sloppy grin and took a step towards me. "And what are you gonna do 'bout it runt?" I sighed and smiled. "I was really hoping you'd be this stupid." I pushed a simple spell through my horn. "Vocal dictation begin. Magic emulation project, earth pony, stage one. Beginning phase four, overcharge." I released one of the containment spells on the gemstones woven into my harness. The gems glowed faintly. The glow suffused into my body, tracing the ley lines all over me briefly. The stallion and his companions gave me looks of bleary eyed confusion typical of their inebriated state and began laughing. The smallest of the trio, the brown pony, sauntered up to me. "This'll be a lesson you won't soon forget." He whirled around on his front hooves and bucked me squarely in the face with his full weight. I slid backwards about a foot, my head whipped upwards sharply and my goggles shattered, but I never broke my gaze. He collapsed in a gasping heap in front of me, clutching one of his hind hooves. "Sweet Celestia it's like bucking a brick wall!" He wailed, "I think my hoof is broken!" I brought my head down to face them straight on. A small trickle of blood ran down my cheek where the broken glass from my goggles had cut me. "I don't want to waste my strength on you. You aren't the ones deserving of my wrath. Leave. Now!" I stared into them with my hourglass eyes of ice. The two left standing scowled at me. The large white idiot spoke. "I don't know what kind of trick that was runt, but you'll be sorry for this!" As the trio hobbled out of the nightclub I sank back into reality. I began to realize that all the eyes of the crowd nearby were on me. There were hushed conversations throughout the crowd that I couldn't quite make out. "I'm sorry everypony. I'll... I'll just go." I turned to leave and found my way blocked by a certain maroon stallion. He stared at me with a disconcerting intensity. "I've just gotta know, how'd you do that? You're about two thirds my size and that stallion barely made you budge." "I'm just made of sterner stuff than most, I guess." I said with an unsteady lopsided grin. His expression softened a bit. I felt a hoof on my shoulder. I turned to see Allie standing next to me. "I think we should get you cleaned up back at the dorms," she said, her brow furrowed in concern. Long Shot nodded in agreement. "I'll walk you girls back." We stepped out into the cool Canterlot night and slowly made our way down the dimly lit cobblestone road towards the school. "So, Sigil, what do you think of my cousin? Quite the marekiller eh?" Berry sidled up next to me and whispered clandestinely. I mock gasped. "He kills mares? I thought he was creepy." Berry rolled her eyes at me. She turned her attention to Allie. "Okay Allie, I want the scoop on that coltfriend of yours. Does he have any..." My attention was tugged away from the conversation when my ears perked up at a sound. A set of hoofsteps, out of sync with any of ours, sounded from somewhere nearby. "Psst, Long Shot!" I hissed, trying to get his attention. He looked over at me. "I think we're being-" Suddenly, an orange glow enveloped Allie and Berry. They screamed in surprise and were dragged into a nearby alleyway. Long Shot and I dashed after them. As we entered the dark alley I watched a rather large brick wrapped in a brownish aura impact Long Shot in the temple. He collapsed against a nearby wall. I winced as a strong set of forelegs pressed me up against the wall. "Well, well. If it isn't the runt. No tricks to save you this time eh?" A orange pony sneered. The other two unicorns were holding down an unconscious Berry and Allie. One of them seemed to favor his right rear leg. These are the same lowlifes from the club. The white one, obviously their leader, smirked at his companions and said, "take what you want boys." My eyes widened and my pupils shrank to pinpricks. Take what you want boys. I started shivering, my mind was racing. The voice was unfamiliar but the words and intent behind them were the same. Take what you want boys. The fall with Mocha, the fire, Arpeggio, Claire, it all came crashing back to me. Every scene, every feeling of pain and loneliness. Take what you want boys. I felt myself slipping. Emotions lost their meaning. Conscious thought became difficult. They're the same, taking ponies away from us. End them. We're stronger than them. It's our right. I leveled my gaze at the unicorn holding me against the wall. "You ponies are in for a whole new world of hurt." I snarled, my lips curled in a predatory grin. My horn glowed softly as I released three of the spells sealing the gems. The gemstones sewn into my braces and harness glowed brightly through the fabric in response to my command. The earth pony magic surged through my system. The pain was immeasurable. Poorly maintained ley lines were forced wide open to accommodate the influx of alien magic. At the club, I had felt strong, here I felt like a force of nature. I looked the unfortunate soul pinning me to the wall dead in his eyes. "Goodbye." I said flatly. Bracing myself against the wall with my forelegs, I tucked my hind legs up to my chest and bucked them forward as hard as I could. I felt a satisfying crunch beneath my hooves as they impacted with his chest. He rocketed through the air past his shocked comrades and into the far wall, cracking the masonry. The two remaining unicorns glanced at each other and spread their legs wide, bracing themselves. I felt a wave of magic build up above me. I grunted in pain as a wave of telekinetic force drove me down to the cobblestones and held me there. I struggled to get to my hooves but couldn't fully stand. As the stallions began laughing me I saw movement from the entrance of the alleyway. Long Shot was getting shakily to his feet. I've got to get him out of here. "Long Shot, go get the guards!" I screamed. He looked at me over his shoulder and hesitated. I pulled some magic into my horn and pushed him out of the alleyway before the two standing unicorns could turn on him. "Poor little pony, all alone now. No knight in shining armor is going to come rescue you or your friends in time." The white unicorn grinned at me. "Friends? I have none." I let magic flow into my horn again. "A knight in shining armor? I don't need one." I released a fourth sealing spell. "I just... Didn't want him to see what I'm about to do to you." The magic overflowed my ley lines. I screamed. My nerve endings frayed and my skull felt like it would crack open. I felt my heart skipping beats. Ruin them. Let me help us. I began to laugh, slowly at first, ramping up to a maniacal cackle. I stood easily in their telekinetic field. They looked at each other with uncertainty and began to back away. As I stepped forward my breathing became heavier. I have to end this soon. I leapt out of the field towards the stupefied unicorns. My forelegs caught the big one in the shoulders, pushing him to the ground. I spun, using my momentum and torque to buck the brown one as hard as I could. I heard a sound like air rushing out of a thick bag and the shattering of tree limbs when I connected with his gut. He skidded along the cobblestones and out of the alley. "Never again," I said as I gave White a hard stare from my position on his chest. He looked up at me in fear as I brought a hoof down hard on the base of his horn. The cobblestone underneath shattered from my hoof's impact and the windows and doors in the alleyway shook. Being merely hardened keratin and bone, his horn never stood a chance. I stepped off of him, breathing heavily. I trotted over to the unconscious Berry and Allie and gathered them onto my back. As I stepped out of the alley I saw Long Shot returning with two golden armored pegasi and a brown pony in a lab coat. I breathed a sigh of relief. I could see his mouth moving, his face twisted in panic, but I couldn't hear anything. I was so tired. My heart beat painfully slowly in my chest. I collapsed to the ground as they got close to me. I couldn't breathe anymore. Long Shot's mouth was moving again. He was looking at the coat wearing medic. The medic held a stethoscope to my chest and shook his head slowly. Long Shot looked like he'd been stabbed in the gut. Tears were streaming down his face. I felt him lift me up and hold me tightly. Why is he so sad? Allie and Berry are alright. Everypony made it through this time! I leaned my head against his chest and looked up at him. Whiteness was encroaching on my vision. I felt my heart stop in my chest. I held a hoof weakly up to his cheek so we would have to look me in the eyes. "Don't be sad," I said weakly as I smiled. "I'll be right back." My last sight was his pained and confused face mouthing something desperately at me. My world went white and I felt a force tugging at my being. I fell backwards through the open doors of the gates into the blackness beyond.