“Wait. This all started because of one pony with good intentions?”
Lance and The Doctor had been looking deeper into the files of the Clockwork Stallions. The recent file they uncovered told them about a single unicorn from hundreds of years ago named Cypher Clockwork, a genius who had created the stallions as a way to improve life for the ponies of Equestria. He was trying to make a utopia for ponies across the world by creating mechanised ponies that would change lives and to make the world a better place. But Cypher had made them too well. He gave them the ability to learn. The Clockwork Stallions believed that ponies were inferior and the world would be better without them. The robots began creating more of their own kind, more advanced and better equipped to remove what they considered to be an infestation. The Clockwork Stallions had killed hundreds of ponies before Celestia uses her unicorn powers to open a portal, banishing the Clockworks into a place called ‘The Void’.
“So that’s why they are trying to kill the princesses. But what’s that gotta do with the Elements of Harmony!” Lance said. “No wait. How did they even get back?”
The Doctor looked up a file that had information on ‘The Void’.
“According to this,” The Doctor began. ”The Void is like an endless barren world. No heat, no light, no life. Just endless. Once you’re in, there’s no way out.”
“So how did they get out? This entire facility has recent information on Fluttershy, Pinkie and all their friends.”
“It seems that their ability to learn is more advanced then we could have ever imagined.” The Doctor turned to face Lance. ”They copied Celestia’s spell.”
Lance looked dumbstuck. “What!? How?”
“I’m not sure how they were able to do it, but they sacrificed most of their own to build a machine that would generate the spell, sending them back to Equestria. But it didn’t work as planned. They tore through to another dimension. An alternate Equestria, if you will.”
Lance looked at the monitor again, as did The Doctor.
“The file says that the remaining Clockwork Stallions wiped out an entire city and then they started to build more of their own, creating an army that wiped out all civilisation. They even made Clockwork animals!”
“But if that was another Equestria, wouldn’t there be another Celestia?” Lance asked.
“According to this… There wasn’t. The Celestia of that world was already dead before the Clockworks arrived on that world.”
None of this news settled well with Lance. An entire world full of machines and pony civilisation wiped out. If the Clockwork returned to this world, would the same thing happen? Without Celestia, were we all doomed?
“So, why are the robots back?” Lance asked “If they’ve won their war on that side, why have they come back to our world?”
“Revenge. They want to take their vengeance on Princess Celestia.” The Doctor said, sounding annoyed. “They learn, Lance. They’ve also learned to hate and hold grudges. And that also means they’ve made technological advancements over the centuries that they’ve been trapped there, ready to fight Celestia.”
Trapped, wasn’t a word Lance would have used. They had what they wanted in the other Equestria. Why couldn’t they stay there?
“They knew ponies still existed outside of the world they conquered,” The Doctor continued. “And they want to wipe out all the ponies. And they knew we were still here. They think this world belongs to them.”
“But how did they get back? Maybe we can stop more of them from coming.”
The Doctor smiled at Lance and then brought up a file entitled, ‘The Gateway Generator’. He opened it and there was a picture of a large machine. There was a huge steel platform that had two poles apart from each other on it. Each pole had a green ball on the top of it. Between the two poles was a large black circle with wisps of black smoke reaching out across the room.
“That’s the…” Lance was at a loss for words. He didn’t even have a clue what he was looking at.
“It’s the gateway generator, or at least an older model of it.” The Doctor said to Lance. “Seems over the years they made smaller versions of it. One for each of the leaders of the Clockwork Stallions.”
“They have leaders? And how small are the generators now?” Lance’s couldn’t stop himself from asking questions. This could all be important information that the Princesses have to know.
“Well, the generators are now about the size and shape of an average unicorn horn. I just hope it’s not a real one.”
It was a horrible thought and Lance blocked it from his mind. The doctor was scanning all the remaining files for information on the leaders, but there was nothing on them at all.
“Well isn’t that just a buck in the face.” The Doctor said as he shook his head.
The brown pony returned back to the gateway generator’s file and began reading up about it. A loud scraping noise followed by a crashing sound echoed from the hallway.
“Doctor, I think we should go. We’ve been here a bit too long.” Lance looked anxiously to the doorway.
“So it is here!”
The Doctor wasn’t talking to Lance, but more to himself.
“What’s here?” Lance asked, curious.
“The gateway generator. It’s right here, under the facility. That’s why I’m going down there!”
“…Going down?” Lance looked at The Doctor quizzically.
“Everything is making sense now. I must come back here later with Derpy.” The Doctor was whispering to himself, but Lance could hear every word.
The ivory pony had about reached his limit with The Doctor and his weird and freaky knowledge. Knowing what was going to happen before things happened. First, there was the letter from him, warning himself about an immediate accident that was about to happen. He knew about Lance being in the incinerator as well, and was only there to get him out? Then there was Derpy. How’d he know she would be there to catch him as he jumped? He also knew that he was going to hit his head on a pipe. He had tried to avoid it but smacked his head anyway! Yet here he was and didn’t remember anything that happened within the last hour. Lance wasn’t willing to bet it was amnesia for the recent events. Something had always been off about this pony. Lance grabbed The Doctor and spun him around.
“Okay, what’s going on here?! Who are you? And I want the truth!”
The Doctor looked taken aback at first, but then smiled at Lance.
“You won’t believe me.”
“After today, I’ll believe anything.”
- - -
Rift was standing against a large assembly booth where the Clockwork Stallions would have been put together. Or at least pieces of them. Rift was breathing heavily with Moonlight and Cherry Blossom by his side.
“I told you that you need to take it slow! You’re lucky to even be alive.” Moonlight said, scolding Rift.
His flying had caused him a lot of pain from where he took a shot from Titan’s laser. The Metal monster was now lying buried under a ton of metal, crushed and broken. The danger was over, but Rift still needed urgent medical attention.
“We need to get moving. Cherry, go open the lift doors please.”
Cherry nodded and galloped over to the lift and had to stand on her hind legs as she pressed a hoof to the button. It opened up instantly and she waited beside it for the other two ponies. Moonlight stood on Rift’s good side and helped move him to the lift. The sound of metal scrapping against the floor caused all the ponies to look at the junk pile. Something under it was moving.
“Oh, you’re kidding!” Moonlight said, now dragging Rift faster to the lift.
He flapped his wing once and then yelped from the pain. He’d pushed himself too hard and was suffering for it now. Cherry jumped into the lift, her hoof over the up button, waiting for the others. The metal fell away and Titan emerged from under it.
The robot looked broken and damaged. Its body was split open, dented and its small tail was bent, pointing to the ground instead of pointing upwards. Its head was heavily damaged as well. The entire left side of it was broken off and they could see all the electronics, wires and circuitry. Even the part of its head where the eyebeam was, was horribly melted from taking its own blast, right to the face.
It began moving towards them, and there was no way they could stop it. Moonlight and Rift moved faster, with Titan beginning to make its way towards them. Moonlight panicked and harshly shoved Rift towards the elevator. Using her magic she moved a large empty crate in the way of Titan, but it didn’t delay it at all. The machine shoved it aside like it was cardboard and then raised a leg at her. She knew what it was going to do. She turned and dived into Rift, causing him to yell out in pain but they both managed to roll into the lift. Cherry pressed the button and the doors closed just before, something heavy hit the door as the lift went up. Moonlight breathed a sigh of relief. The door had just saved them all. The unicore mare leaned down next to Rift and held him back onto his hooves. Once the lift reached the top, they all got out, moving as fast as they could with Moonlight still helping to support Rift.
“Just… leave me.” Rift said, trying to breath. “I’m only… slowing you down.”
“No!” Cherry shouted, surprising the other two. “You may have left Spark behind to help us escape, but we are not leaving you behind. You don’t leave friends behind, no matter what!”
Moonlight stared down at the pink filly and then smiled gently. They kept moving along but Rifts eyes never left Cherry. He then sighed and looked down at the floor before speaking.
“I’m sorry we left him Cherry. He was a friend of yours. We should have done something to help him.”
Cherry didn’t respond. She just kept moving forward looking ahead of herself fiercely looking forwards.
“What happened to Spark wasn’t anypony’s fault.” Moonlight said, breaking the awkward tension. “He sacrificed himself to make sure that you two were able to escape. And if you two want to honour that,” Moonlight looked directly at Rift. “Then keep living!”
Rift nodded as he looked up again, Cherry looked back at Rift a little sadder expression on her face like she was regretting something. She was about to say something when a loud bang made them all jump. It came from behind them and was followed by a loud screech, followed by an even louder bang. Titan had just torn through the elevator. Its strength seemed to be unlimited. Rift then put more effort into walking fast. They were running out of time.
- - -
The Doctor trotted alongside Derpy. His head still hurt from where he had banged it. They reached a pair or large double doors that were sealed and marked with caution signs, warning personnel that they shouldn’t enter. The Doctor reached up into his hair and pulled out his Sonic Screwdriver, then pointing it to the access panel on the door. A moment later it opened with a hiss and a familiar sight greeted The Doctor.
“Is that the machine Doctor?” Derpy asked, craning her head up to see the top of it.
The entire room was pure white. Before them were two sets of stairs, one on the left and one on the right, with both going up to the same platform where the large machine was. The machine had two poles with large green spheres on the top of them. The Spheres were dark currently since the power was off. There was a large space between them where The Doctor knew the portal would appear once it was switched on. On the edge of the platform, between the two stairs, was a large console for operating it.
“Yes, that’s it alright. That’s the gateway generator. Now we must hurry, we don’t have long.”
Derpy flew up to the console while The Doctor ran up the stairs on the left side. Derpy was already looking at the buttons as she hovered above them.
“Careful assistant.” The Doctor called out as he reached the console. “Don’t go pressing any buttons at random or we could be in trouble.”
The earth pony looked over the controls carefully but most of it was as he expected.
“Okay, now if we active this, we can start the entire process. This will destroy the gateway generator and overloading the portal with power that’ll start a chain reaction to destroy this facility, preventing the Clockwork Stallions from using this gateway to enter our world. Now Derpy, I’ll give you this option again, even though I know the answer. You can still back out and leave. You don’t have to do this.”
The grey pegasus mare with the blonde mane landed next to The Doctor and placed a hoof on his.
“You’re not leaving me behind again. We’ll do this together.” Derpy said, smiling at the pony before her.
The Doctor smiled, and then together they activated it. The spheres lit up, turning a pale green colour. Black energy began to pour out from both of the spheres like smoke and they drifted towards each other. They met in the middle and began to spiral clockwise as more of the black energy poured into it. It began to take on a more stable form every second as the wisps of energy continued to poor out, making the portal larger. The Doctor nodded at Derpy and then they increased the power from the console.
The portal grew even larger at a faster rate. If they kept pushing the power, they could overload it and completely destroy the gateway generator. The Doctor knew that after that point, it would begin to destroy the facility from the inside, preventing any more of the Clockwork’s from returning and retrieving any data relating to Twilight Sparkle and her friends. Spark had it all wrong. When his brothers left him, they didn’t leave exactly. They went to the other world. A dimension where the Clockwork Stallions had been banished to, centuries ago by Princess Celestia.
Celestia believed she had banished them for an eternity to a place known as ‘The Void’ filled with nothing but endless dark. Not an eternal night like her sister once wanted to shroud Equestria with, but an eternal world filled with darkness. No moon, no stars, no so much as a cool nights breeze. Just a dark, barren rocky landscape where life couldn’t survive.
But the Clockworks found a way out. They were smart. They had seen the princess’s magic and found a way to copy it, killing most of their own kind for parts to build a machine that would get them back out. ‘The Gateway Generator’. They had broken free into a world just like Equestria. Only it was different. It was a world of fear and hatred. A world ruled by a tyrant king known as King Sombra. For the ponies living there, it was hell. For the Clockwork Stallions… It was a chance for revenge.
They had taken over. Tyranny fell to the might of the Clockwork Stallions. The ponies believed they were saved. But instead found their daily lives had changed from misery and slavery, to hiding and survival. The machines eventually took full control of the other world, rebuilt their army and created a way to travel back to the world that Celestia had banished them from.
The Clockwork Stallions were on the final phase of their attack plan. The Doctor knew what had to be done. But he couldn’t do it alone. The wisps of the gateway began to unravel, freeing themselves from the portal and crawl about the room. Derpy saw the energy explore the room like little tendrils reaching for something to grab hold of. There was nothing in this room except the walls, the machine… and the two ponies operating the machine. They began reaching for them and Derpy took flight. She was going to provide a distraction while The Doctor finished the job.
- - -
Lance had stood there and listened as The Doctor told him everything. He was sure that the earth pony was just making up a story to mock him or he truly was insane. Lance never had time to come to a conclusion because at that moment, an alarm sounded.
“What is that?” Lance asked as the room flashed red.
“I dunno.” The Doctor said, moving to another computer. This one had a warning flashing across it.
WARNING: GATEWAY GENERATOR REACHING CRITICAL STATUS! OVERLOAD IMMENENT!
The Doctor tapped a hoof to the screen, making the warning disappear. It was replaced by a black and white video, showing the gateway generator. The orbs on top of the poles were shining very brightly, like they were on the verge of an overload. The portal itself was warping and spreading, reaching out as if with hungry claws, climbing up the walls and trying to spread to everything in the room.
“It’s growing?!” Lance said, watching as it slowly spread around the spheres, absorbing them into itself and then continue to grow. A pegasus flew past the camera being chased by a black wisp of smoke.
“Derpy?” Lance thought aloud as he recognised the grey mare with the blonde mane.
She was flying high around the room, attracting the attention of the gateway’s outstretched wisps. Lance saw on the platform with the portal was another pony. An earth pony who’s combed back mane was a little spikey and he had an hourglass for a cutie mark. He looked exactly like…
“Doctor?” Lance turned to face the pony that was to his right. The Doctor only sat there with a sheepish grin on his face. “How can you…? When you’re…? What!?”
“I told you already, did I not? However, that is bad news.” The Doctor said, taking a serious tone to the situation. “There shouldn’t be two of me. It’s creating a paradox.” They watched as The Doctor on the screen pressed a button of a keypad. The gateway shifted and began to wobble. Wisps of it were breaking off and dissolving into the air.
“This is bad. The portal will suck him in!” The Doctor said aloud.
The Doctor on the screen then looked directly at the camera and gave a wave. He knew he was being watched by himself. Derpy then flew over the earth pony and grabbed his waving hoof, pulling him into the portal. The Doctor beside Lance stared in disbelief. His eyes had shrunk to tiny dots. His future self was going into the gateway leading to a world of horror, where the Clockwork Stallions had taken full control.
But why?
They continued to watch as the gateway expanded and then began to glow a bright purple. Small sparks of electricity shot about the room as they watched. Soon there were explosions from all the equipment, then a massive one from the portal itself. The entire facility shook as the alarms continued to wail from overhead. After a few seconds, the screen cleared, showing several fires still burning from the debris of the gateway generator. But there was one other thing. The portal was still open.
It was much larger now and was slowly expanding, sucking everything into it. The burning equipment, electronics, tiles from the walls. Even the walls themselves were beginning to crumble.
“You’ve got to get back to the others and get out of here!” The Doctor yelled over the sounds of the alarm. “I’m going to reroute the energy supply to overload the main power generator. Blow this entire facility to Tartarus.”
“You can do that from here?”
“No, there’s another place I’ve seen on my way here where I can do it. Just get out and lock down this facility. Make sure Titan doesn’t escape. Make sure this place blows with him inside it!”
“Right! Wait, what about you?!” Lance yelled back as the ground at their hooves started to shake.
“Don’t worry about me. You’ve got family here who you need to protect!”
“Cherry…” Lance turned on the spot and ran to the door. He stopped and looked back to The Doctor. “If everything you’ve said is true and that really was you on the monitor. Is there any way back out from the other dimension?”
The Doctor looked away for a second before looking back to Lance.
“There’s no way to get back through that same portal. Judging from these scans, that portal is unstable and now only works one way. Nothing’s going to be able to get through it from the other side. And knowing what I know, I knew that before I went in.”
Lance and The Doctor stared at each other for the longest few seconds before a crack from the computer brought them both back to their situation. Lance nodded to his friend and then rushed down the hallway, silently praying that he’d see his friends again.
- - -
The control room shook as did the rest of the facility. Fire Wire was panicking as she stayed at her position, waiting for the others to get back to her. She had seen the warnings on the monitor and watched the footage of what happened at the gateway generator. She didn’t know the two ponies on that monitor, nor what they were doing, but that didn’t matter. Another warning had flashed up on the screen, warning her about an overload in power. The entire place was coming down and if the portal didn’t pull them all in, then this facility would blow itself up along with everypony inside.
Fire Wire held her ground. She was scared but she waited for the others regardless. She wouldn’t leave without them. With the camera’s all down, she didn’t know where they were or even if they were still alive. She told herself repeatedly that they were fine. They had to be.
A loud bang caused the unicorn to spin around on the spot and look behind her. One of the computers had just overloaded and sent the screen crashing to the ground. She let out a sigh, thanking Celestia it wasn’t Titan.
“Fire Wire!”
Cherry ran into the room, looking terrified.
“Cherry Blossom! Where’s…?“ Fire Wire stopped and as she saw Moonlight helping Rift up the stairs.
Fire Wire instinctively went to help but then recoiled as she saw the burn mark on Rift’s side. It was turning a sickly orange and he had to keep his wing extended to stop himself from touching it.
“What’s going on?” Moonlight shouted over the sound of the alarm.
“This whole place is coming down.” Fire Wire shouted back. “Everything’s overloading and something else is tearing it apart from the inside.”
“Then we have to lock the whole factory down!”
“What? No! My brother-“ Cherry started to protest but Moonlight cut her off.
“It’s okay, Cherry.” Moonlight said gently. ”I’m sure the facility has a safety feature to make sure that nopony, or robot I should say, would get trapped inside. We’ll just put in the codes and then wait by the exit. We won’t active the lock down till Lance reaches the door.”
Cherry looked up to Moonlight, smiling a little. Moonlight gave her a bigger smile back.
“But Cherry... we need that code Spark gave you.” Moonlight said.
“What? Umm… I-I don’t remember…” Cherry looked down at the ground but felt a hoof against her chin, lifting her face up.
“Cherry. It’s important that you remember. I know a lot has happened since then, but if you don’t remember… then…” Moonlight slowly stopped talking. Cherry knew what was at stake. She closed her eyes and thought back. It was such an easy code to remember. They all stood in silence, trying not to break the filly’s concentration. The alarm sounded continuously and the factory the factory was shaking every few seconds. Cherry bit her lower lip in concentration. It was just three numbers. Six digits.
“I think…” Cherry began slowly. “Ten… eleven, twelve! Yes, #10-11-12!”
Fire Wire turned to the computer and a flare of sparks burst out from it, almost hitting her in the face. The computer was still running, but if they waited too long and the console blew up, it would be all over. Fire Wire put the code in and a message came up on the screen saying,
CLOCKWORK FACILITY LOCKDOWN.
Once the entrance closes, all facility doors and exits will be closed off permanently.
Do you wish to proceed?
Fire Wire pressed the Y key and they heard the entrance directly above them open up. They only had to press one button and Equestria would be safe forever. Once they closed the entrance from the outside, the facility would enter permanent lockdown. They just had to keep it open until Lance arrived. Moonlight agreed to wait by the door but first they had to help get Rift outside. Moving him carefully, they began to make their way to the lift.
- - -
Lance galloped as fast as he could, but between dodging hanging live wires, fires burning at his coat and smoke choking his lungs, he’d gotten himself lost. He had to find the stairs, he knew that the higher he got, the closer to the exit he’d be.
- - -
Moonlight and the others almost fell from the catwalk as the facility shook. Fires were breaking out all over the place. Huge chunks of wall were crumbling from a combination of the factory being torn apart and the overloading of the generator. Fire Wire watched with a pang in her heart as the control room burst into flames. Her heart ached for the loss of technology, but the sounds of Moonlight shouting brought her mind back into focus. Cherry was at the lift, holding the door open. With the facility shaking like it was, it would be a miracle that the lift didn’t break loose and fall. They stepped inside, with Moonlight still supporting Rift as they ascended to the top.
- - -
Lance had found the stairs, only to be annoyed that they had collapsed and fallen to the floor below. Smoke floated up from the wreckage, making it harder to breath. There was only one way he was getting up the next floor, and that was by jumping. He took a few steps back trying not to inhale the smoke too deeply, and then he heard a noise to his left. Lance dared a look.
Titan was walking among the flames, unaffected. Smoke blocked the view of its whole body but Lance could see it was heavily damaged. Why wasn’t it chasing him? Surely it could see him. Titan then charged at Lance, moving awkwardly as it did. He swore, cursing his luck and then ran for the broken stairs. The ivory coloured pony jumped as hard as he could, putting more strength into his back legs then he fought he had left.
Lance just reached the other side, but not all the way. His lower body was hanging over the edge but he didn’t look back. Wriggling, Lance quickly began to pull himself up as bits of the stairs crumbled under his weight. He got to his hooves but didn’t even stop to take a breath, Lance darted up the rest of the stairs as fast as he could.
CLANG!
A grappling hook had just missed Lance by an inch, hitting the wall. He looked back at Titan and it was now about to make the same jump as Lance just made, but with something to help pull it across. The hook was in the wall and Lance didn’t dare miss an opportunity like this. He bucked at the cracking wall, and the hook wobbled a little. When Titan jumped, the hook pulled against the wall and then tore away from it. The Clockwork Stallion hit the stairs as it fell to the floor below, landing with a heavy crash. Lance smirked as it laid below, unmoving. He didn’t think for a second that it was actually finished, so he turned and ran up the stairs, taking him back to the other side of the facility.
- - -
Moonlight tapped her hoof impatiently on the ground as she waited for Lance by the entrance with Cherry by her side. They had all made it out safely and her friends were resting beyond the barn that was being used as a cover for the Clockwork’s factory. She wouldn’t wait outside and the unicorn knew better than to leave the filly where she couldn’t keep an eye on her. They both watched and waited for Lance, keeping an eye on the catwalk below. If Lance wasn’t here by the time the facility began to crumble, she’d have to close it and run.
“Please...” Cherry whispered under her breath.
Moonlight looked at the filly.
“Please big brother. You have to make it.” Cherry said a little louder.
The white unicorn looked down into the facility. The button to close it all down was right beside her.
“Lance. Hurry.”
- - -
He made it! Lance was in the control room but no pony was in here.
“Cherry!” Lance called out.
The room was burning and sparks were spitting out at him from everywhere. Wires hung lose from above him. One screen was still active in the room. Lance walked over to it and looked closer.
LOCKDOWN ON STANDBY!
Awaiting final procedure to be completed.
Lance could only guess that that meant everypony was already outside. They were holding off the lockdown, waiting on him. Lance couldn’t see a thing through the smoke, but by memory he knew where the door was. He charged for the door, smashing into it with his side and found himself on a familiar catwalk. He started coughing. His lungs taking just about all the smoke they could handle for one life time.
“Big brother!” Cherry’s voice shouted from above.
Lance looked directly above him and saw Cherry looking down at him, beaming a huge smile. He’d never seen such a wonderful smile in all his life. Just then the sound of tearing metal filled the facility as it again shook violently. Lance had to steady himself on the railing. He looked down and beyond the fire he could see that the portal had moved into this side of the facility and was beginning to eat away at the foundations.
“Lance!” Moonlight shouted down to him. The factory was now getting to a critical point. He didn’t have long before this whole place was gone. Lance quickly ran for the lift and jumped inside it. It had already been send down to his floor, most likely Moonlight sending in down after everyone was up so that Lance wasn’t slowed down waiting for it. The lift groaned with protest as it took him up to the top floor. Everything was coming apart, bolt by bolt.
- - -
Cherry was holding onto Moonlight’s leg, excited that her brother had made it but at the same time terrified that something bad was about to happen. They watched as Lance climbed into the lift and began to make his way up. The lift struggled during its ascent to the top but it was going to make it. Moonlight let out a sigh and then opened her eyes to see the last thing she ever wanted to see.
Titan was on the catwalk below. It fired its grappling hook leg at the above catwalk, trying to take a shortcut. The lift doors opened as Titan was half way up. Moonlight motioned to Lance’s right and yelled for him to run. Lance looked to where she indicated and saw Titan rising fast. Lance then moved as quickly as he could, the facility was shaking again, sending chunks of the ceiling falling onto the catwalk, making Lance dodge the falling debris.
He was only half way when the sound of Titan climbing onto the catwalk got his attention. Lance didn’t look back. He focused on going forward. Then the catwalk, groaning under the extra weight of Titan, began to bend. The bolts in the walls supporting the catwalk snapped and the entire thing bent tipping down below. Titan fell down and Lance lost his balance, sliding down towards the far end of it. Lance reached out, wrapped his forelegs around the railing, just holding on.
“Come on Lance!” Moonlight shouted.
Lance pulled himself up, climbing to the door. The facility continued to shake as flames burst out at them from all directions and the portal continued to grow in size, pulling everything into it. Lance could see that the grinder at the bottom was now gone, swallowed by the portal. Flames continued to burst from every direction, debris continued to wall around him. Lance couldn’t hold on anymore, he could barely keep his forelegs wrapped around the railing of the catwalk. There was a loud bang and the facility shook again, making the catwalk almost break away from the wall where the exit was. Lance lost his grip and slid down, almost falling over the edge. Cherry screamed out for her brother and then he felt himself become weightless. He stopped sliding. He was glowing.
Moonlight had wrapped him in her telekinesis, bringing him slowly up the catwalk as it began to collapse. Lance looked up to her, a look of great relief across his face. Moonlight smiled back at him. Cherry had a look of relief in her eyes. Then they filled with horror. Titan’s grapping hook came out of nowhere and attached itself to Lance’s leg. He screamed as the hook cut into his leg. The ivory pony bucked his leg as he was dragged out of Moonlight’s telekinetic pull. She barely kept a hold of him, putting all her focus on his forelegs. Lance hit the catwalk with a hard thud. It bent under his weight and the weight of Titan, pulling itself up.
It was like his leg was being torn off, ripped from his body. It was a pain only made worse by the fact Moonlight was still holding him, trying to pull him out. Titan’s head appeared at the broken end of the catwalk. Lance couldn’t get free. Cherry was on the verge of tears, calling out for her brother, begging him to climb up, begging Moonlight to pull him up.
Everything slowed down at the moment. Lance looked at Moonlight, right into her eyes. She stared back, then realised what he was thinking and began shaking her head, telling him no. Lance looked to his sister.
“I love you, little sis!”
Cherry’s eyes widened as Lance pulled himself from Moonlight’s telekinesis and slid down the catwalk as great speed.
“No! No, big brother!” Cherry screamed loudly, as her brother fell.
Titan’s weight pulled Lance down faster and he tucked in both his hind legs and then drove both of them into Titan’s exposed face. The circuitry cracked and split as the pair of them fell down, beyond the fires below into darkness.
“NO!” Cherry screamed trying to jump down to her brother.
Moonlight held her back as the filly screamed and fought, tears running down her face. Another explosion from inside signalled the worst. It was about to blow. Moonlight used her magic to press the button, closing the door.
- - -
Lance’s head was spinning, black smoke stung his eyes as the flames surrounding him licked at his coat. He had landed on the lowest catwalk and couldn’t see the entrance anymore. The fall itself should have killed him, yet fate seemed to like the idea of Lance being burnt alive. His sister was safe at least. Lance closed his eyes and let sleep take him as he felt himself slowly fall into unconsciousness. A noise drew him back, like a cat hissing with a sore throat. It repeated several times and then a bright light shone in his face. Lance was having a major case of déjà vu. Opening his eyes he saw an outline of a pony reaching a hoof out towards him.
“Come with me.” He said.
Lance reached a hoof out to him and then everything went white.
- - -
Cherry was banging her hooves on the door. Her eyes filled with tears that were streaming down her face.
“Open it! Open it, open it, open it!” She screamed between fits of tears. “Open it! Please! No… No please! Open it!”
The ground began to shake more violently than ever before. Moonlight grabbed the filly in her telekinesis and ran up the stairs. Cherry was fighting with every ounce of strength she had left but she couldn’t get free. They made it up the stairs, onto the barn floor. Moonlight saw Rift lying down next to Fire Wire.
“Move! It’s about to blow!” Moonlight shouted to them. Fire Wire helped Rift up and then they all ran into the woods. They didn’t get far before a large explosion from behind launched, all four ponies into the air. They fell down the ground as the debris from the barn and house landed around them.
After a few moments, Moonlight slowly got up and turned to make sure everypony was okay. Rift was looking the worst for wear. He was coughing and wheezing heavily. Moonlight checked him, but as his breathing steadied, it seemed he only got winded. Fire Wire moved next to them, trying to keep off of her front left hoof. Moonlight wanted to check her but was waved off. Fire Wire looked worried about something else.
“W-what happened?” Fire Wire asked. “Where’s Lance?”
Moonlight’s eyes shot open wide as she spun around looking for Cherry Blossom. She wasn’t far away. She had re-entered the clearing and was now staring at a massive crater that was in the ground, still smoking. The ground was badly torn up, trees had been uprooted and at the very heart of it was the crater. It was nothing but a giant hole. A seemingly bottomless pit. The white unicorn didn’t dare move, or breathe. Cherry seemed rooted to the spot. Her entire world had been destroyed in the blink of an eye. Moonlight’s heart broke for the filly.
“C-Cherry… I’m-” Moonlight started to say, unsure of what to say.
Cherry fell to the ground, crying into the grass. She buried her head under her hooves. She could only think that this couldn’t be real. This was all a horrible dream. Moonlight tried to put a hoof over her but Cherry quickly batted her away.
“LEAVE ME ALONE!” Cherry screamed, the sound echoing through the woods. Cherry continued to cry loudly, calling out for her brother. She couldn’t believe that she was alone now. No pony moved or said anything. Moonlight slowly looked up and her mouth hung open.
“I don’t believe it.” She said as she looked over the crater. “Lance?!”
Cherry Blossom’s head jerked up out of the grass, looked up at Moonlight and then over to where she was looking. Beyond the smoke and between the trees on the other side was the ivory earth pony with the light blue mane, though he was mostly black now, covered in soot.
“W-what...?” Cherry keep staring in disbelieve as her brother came into the clearing, limping badly as he started to move around the crater. “Big Brother!” Cherry shouted as she leapt to her hooves and galloped around the crater to reach her brother. She had tears in her eyes all the way around before finally jumping into her brother and knocking him over. She wrapped her forelegs tightly around his neck, choking him a little as she hugged him as hard as she could, refusing to let him go.
“Hey, blurg-” Lance choked more as the filly cried out with her brother. “C-Cherry! Air!” She slowly pulled out the hug realising she was hurting him, then a heartbeat later she threw herself into the hug again, though not as tightly.
“I thought y-you were… d-d…” Cherry tried to speak between sobs. Lance hugged her back now that he wasn’t being strangled.
“Come on, you know me. I had a promise to keep.”
“B-but I saw you fall. How’d you get out?” Lance was about to answer her when a large group of pegasi flew down to meet them all. It was early morning and the medical ponies had arrived at the train’s crash site. They had seen the explosion and came to investigate. Fire Wire was directing them over to where Rift was lying in the grass between the trees.
“Cherry, it’s time to go.” Lance said to his little sister, settling her down onto her hooves. She smiled up at him and walked by his side as they headed to the medical ponies. Lance looked behind him to the forest again. There he saw The Doctor watching them, before he turned around and headed back between the trees. If Lance told the others what he saw, they’d swear he’d gone insane.
“Lance!” Moonlight ran up to Lance and gave him a quick hug before backing up. “Thank goodness you’re alright! How did you even get out of there? The place went into lockdown!”
Lance smiled at Moonlight.
“I guess I was in the right place at the right time.”
Lance walked past Moonlight leaving her a little confused as he smirked to himself.
One week later
It was late in the afternoon. Dark clouds covered the sky as the lights from the city of Los Pegasus were starting to light up. The field outside the city was filled with headstones, each marking a final resting place for a loved one. Lance and Cherry stood in front of a pair of graves. The Tombstone for the freshly dug one read:
Pike Angelswift
1974 - 2012
“Please be happy now that
you can be with mommy again.”
Cherry had learned that her father was a better pony before her mother had died. She hoped that he could be happy once again. The next gravestone read:
Cherry “Blossom” Angelswift
1976 - 2007
“We love you mom.
You’ll always be in our hearts.”
Cherry stepped forward and placed two flowers down gently on each grave. She had never known her mother, but she had given her daughter her own name before she died. She wanted to be more like her mother and live up to the name she had been given. A kind and loving pony that always looked out for others. As Cherry stepped back beside her brother, Lance gave her a one legged hug. Drops of rain began to fall from the sky but they both stayed there a moment longer.
The squeak of a wheelchair brought Lance’s attention to behind him. Fire Wire stood with a black umbrella, held in her telekinesis, covering up herself and Rift. Rift was sat in a wheelchair, heavily bandaged around his waist. Moonlight trotted over to Lance and Cherry with an umbrella of her own, holding it in her own levitation magic. Lance gave a grateful smile to her which she returned.
- - -
Cherry leaned into her brother as they rode the train back home. Moonlight, Rift and Fire Wire had each returned to Los Pegasus after they all had said their goodbyes. Lance had said to each of them that they were welcome to come visit them in Ponyville if they ever wanted a little ‘Less’ excitement in their lives.
Lance held his sister close as he looked out the window. He remembered riding this same train when they first ran away to Ponyville. It was raining that night too. Lance looked down at his little sister, as she rested quietly against his leg. He thought maybe she had fallen asleep. He didn’t want to check, in case she was. She needed a little shuteye after this whole week of events. No pony had believed a word about the Clockwork Stallions, believing the explosion was simply the result of a gas leak, which was preposterous. Rift’s injury was supposedly a result of the explosion too.
They couldn’t press the matter any further, they were lucky to be alive after everything that had happened. Lance hadn’t been sleeping though. The Doctor and Derpy were on the other side of that portal. Trapped in the Clockworks world. One day, Lance swore to himself, he would find a way to get them home.