The furious hissing and skittering noise of changelings in heated battle mixed with the pained yelps and scratching of claws on stone as the clamor of fighting filled the air and rebounded down the stone tunnels of the mountain. The changelings were managing to hold back the invaders for now, but everyone realized it was a losing battle. They were only delaying the inevitable, sooner or latter, the enemy would reach the Inner Sanctum and destroy it, obliterating any hope the equine races might have for victory in the war with it. Shining Armor deftly twisted his neck and dislodged his horn from the chest of the Diamond Dog he had speared it on, getting rewarded with yet another crimson flood down his front, staining his already quite drenched coat yet another shade of red darker. With a quick shove of his hoof, he pushed the corpse back down the corridor from which it had emerged, before turning and continuing down the hallway, gesturing for those behind him to follow. Without looking back, the clopping of hooves assured him that they were right behind him.
The many tunnels and corridors that they traversed were long and winding, most of them coated in copious amounts of blood of varying colors, the walls often times scorched and pitted with deep gouges. The noises of fighting and battle were ever-present and distorted greatly by the acoustics of the twisting stone halls they traversed, putting them all rather on edge as they walked, a subtle tension in their already hurried gait. It was far too difficult to hear if there was someone approaching them over the constant din for any of their comfort. Shining Armor in particular felling rather jumpy, no doubt a byproduct of the countless and seemingly unending string of battles he had personally fought side by side with his troops in over the last several years. He felt like his entire body was a coiled spring, tense and on edge, ready to explode and fly apart at the slightest prodding. His ears stood painfully erect as they swiveled back and forth atop his head, and he had been physically unable to lower them since they had come across the first enemy.
Thankfully, Shining’s tension and over developed sense of danger quickly served its purpose however, as he narrowly managed to dodge a swinging ax that would have taken the head off of a lesser stallion as he turned the corner and was promptly ambushed. The minotaur stood stooped beneath the low ceiling of the hallway, but was no less imposing because of it, its great horns coming considerable closer to Shining’s face than he was used to because of the hulking beast’s posture. The bull headed beast wasted no time, and quickly began swing its huge ax at Shining wildly, forcing him to back up and conjure a small personal shield to defend himself in the tight confines of the mountain corridor. His entourage was not exactly helpless however, and as he was forced against the tunnel wall, Princess Celestia used the opening to fire a brief and concentrated burst of sunlight from her horn at the minotaur. The lance of heat and light hit the beast dead on, cleanly separating its head from its shoulders, and the massive body fell to the floor with a heavy thud.
As a side benefit, the heat of the attack cauterized the wound instantly, preventing any arterial spray, something Shining Armor morosely took pleasure in. Turning to her he gave a wry grin that she returned with all the grace and composure she was famed for. Carefully stepping over the corpse, he continued to lead the group down the twisting hallways, carefully minding his surroundings so as not to be taken unawares again.
Thankfully, there were no more ambushes awaiting them as they made their way deeper into the mountain. More than once though, they came upon a group of diamond dogs and changelings locked in furious combat as the fighting in the tunnels spilled over into the path that they followed. Each time they came upon such a scene they were forced to fight their way through, and the result was a resounding success for the allied equine forces as the changelings were emboldened by the presence of their queen, as well as being supplemented by the powerful magics of the pony princesses she traveled with.
Not long after fighting their way through one such conflict, they finally managed to reach the heart of the mountain itself. The massive ornate doors took up the entirety of the huge tunnel they suddenly found themselves in, standing thrice as high as even Princess Celestia. The entire things was intricately and opulently decorated, every bit of space covered in a variety of gems, crystals and precious metals in a great and extensive mural that seemed to depict the whole of history, starting at the very beginning of the world’s Creation, leading all the way up to the present day. Every inch of the great doors were absolutely covered… all expect for a suspiciously empty space just where the events of this final campaign, this last desperate gambit, this very day would otherwise be.
Doing their best to ignore the ominous portent of the missing image, Celestia and Luna cautiously approached the door. With a quick glance and a nod to each other, they inserted their horns into the small circular holes on either of the massive doors, and simultaneously flared the spiraled edifices with their magics. With a creaking bellow and a rush of wind, the great twin portals accepted them, and each began to glow and shine with the colors of their respective auras, before ever so slowly opening inwards with a long groan and hollow boom. The others all quickly rushed inside and Celestia and Luna quickly followed suit, they doors closing behind them with a deep and subtle bang that resounded through the chests of everyone present. Looking around, everyone began to take in the huge chamber they now found themselves in, and each and every one of them in turn were awed at the sight.
The whole place was perhaps the very definition of beauty, and awe-inspiring. The cavernous chamber was absolutely enormous, stretching more than twice the length of the throne room back at Canterlot Palace and most likely could have housed a full grown dragon with room to spare. It was circular in nature, and in the center of the floor was a great hole at least a score and a half feet across, out of which spilt an ever changing pillar of prismatic light, constantly shifting through various hues of reds, violets, blues, pinks, oranges, and lavenders. Several hundred feet above their heads the domed ceiling opened up to sky, through which the twilight outside was visible, both Celestia and Luna having stopped their respective celestial bodies on opposite horizons. The walls and roof itself were devoid of color, being an utter black as deep as night and studded with countless thousands of massive shining diamonds, all arranged in accurate depictions of the night time constellations. The floors were comprised entirely of perfect flawless crystal in smooth, intricate, flowing patterns that were almost impossible for the eye to follow and of such a perfect reflective sheen that there almost appeared to be no floor at all, and instead was a second inverted version of the chamber just beneath their hooves. All around the room were a number of pedestals of varying styles and compositions, all of which were connected together with vivid green markings.
“Wha- what is this place?” Twilight Sparkle asked, slowly spinning in place as she tried to take in the awe and beauty on all sides, her jaw thoroughly dropped and wings fared at her sides. “I- I’ve never seen anything like this…”
Twilight was not alone in her wonderment. Everyone was similarly visibly impression, many jaws hanging loose and heads swiveling back and forth. The only one who seemed to retain their composure was Celestia, due mostly to her centuries experience of maintaining a perfect mask of serenity, no matter the circumstance, but even she was utterly awed by what she saw.
“Is… Is this what Heaven is like?” Fluttershy asked softly as she was overwhelmed by everything around her, her innocent nature briefly shining through.
The innocent question was enough to snap Celestia out of her brief revere, and she began to walk towards the center of the room, a soft smile on her lips. “Close, but not quite,” she softly answered, causing the timid pony to blush as she realized she had asked her question aloud. “Elysium has quite a bit more open fields.”
As Celestia made her way forward, her response managed to snap everyone else to their senses as well. They each began making their own way towards their own place in the chamber, following some sort of inexplicable instinct.
“I certainly hope for all our sakes that this insane plan of yours bears fruit, Celestia. I do not like the lives and futures of my subjects on such a risky gamble, especially over the mad ramblings of an insane stallion from more than a thousand years ago,” Chrysalis stated, hints of accusation and fear lacing her usual vibrato.
“None of us like this, Chrysalis, but if there was a better option – or even just about any other option at all – then none of us would be here in the first place. There’s no need to pick fights just because you are frightened,” Nightmare reprimanded, hints of irritation and exasperation in her regal tone.
“I am not afraid!” Chrysalis retorted sharply, green eyes flashing. “I am simply reiterating that this entire plan is absolutely mad. I have never before now heard of this ‘All Seeing Eye’, nor its keeper, and hanging the very future of our combined races on his word alone is utterly ludicrous.”
“Oh please, you should know better than to try and hide your fear from me,” Nightmare said, rolling her eyes. “Besides, StarSwirl’s prophecies have never yet to proven to be false in all these years. It is a considerably better course of action than following any of the foolish plans that you would suggest.”
“At least my way we would still have our pride, our dignity! If we fail here, that’s it, we’re finished, left to die pitifully like rats in a hole. Besides, I don’t see you coming up with any ideas or doing anything productive at the summits! I bet Celestia still hasn’t managed to replace the table after the last one.”
Nightmare’s starry mane and tail briefly flared up in irritation as she opened her mouth to retort before Shining Armor quickly stepped in between the two of them and pushed them apart with his broad white wings. “Ladies, ladies, you’re both pretty!” He exclaimed, his typical cock-sure smirk conspicuously absent. “I realize tensions are high and we’re all scared, but this is hardly the time to be fighting, we’ve come too far for this to fall apart at the last second. We’re already here anyways, so arguing about it now is kind of pointless. So kiss and make up, and let’s get on with it.”
The two mares briefly looked at the frowning stallion between them, then each other, before facing straight ahead and walking the rest of the way in silence, the faintest hint of blushes touching their faces.
“Nightmare does have a point. StarSwirl has never been wrong about something like this before, ever after all these years. I see no reason to begin distrusting him now.” Celestia said as she stepped onto a golden pedestal wrought with a figure of the sun, Luna stepping on to a silver sister pedestal inlaid with a figure of the moon. Celestia seemed to have the last word as everyone made their way to their respective pedestals and faced the center of the chamber without any further complaint.
“Now, does everyone know what they’re supposed to do?” Celestia asked, looking at everyone in the room in turn.
“I… yes, I… it’s strange but I do. I don’t know how I know, but I just do.” Twilight Sparkle responded haltingly, looking around at her fellow Elements of Harmony and receiving similar perplexed nods.
“It is quite alright, my faithful student. The magic of this place is very powerful indeed, it is nothing to be concerned about,” Celestia assured her, a serene smile on her face. “Is everyone ready?” she asked, looking about the room and receiving a chorus of various affirmations. “Very well. Shining Armor, please begin.”
With a nod, Shining Armor lit his horn, the platinum pedestal he stood upon thrumming in response as a transparent magical shield formed around the walls, floor, ceiling and the light emitting from the hole in the floor, setting a contained framework for the complex ritual. After several minutes of perfecting the barriers until their settings, strength and dimensions were absolutely perfect he nodded, his face a mask of concentration.
At his signal, Twilight Sparkle turned to her friends, each one of them standing on a pedestal matching the color of their coats, and gestured for them to begin. Slowly, the all began to rise into the air as their respective Elements of Harmony activated, channeling their massive magical forces towards Twilight, which she then gathered and directed towards the polychromatic lights in the center of the room, unleashing the full power of the Elements. As soon as the rainbow hit, there was a great flash, and the pillar of lights began to become opaque and tangible.
Once the solidity of the multi-colored pillar reached the opening to the sky, Cadence and Nightmare took that as their cue. They lit their horns, their crystal and onyx pedestals shining in response as the walls, floor and ceiling all began to glow and shine. The countless diamond embedded in the walls and ceiling began to glow and emit minuscule beams of pure white light that converged at a single point within the solid pillar of chromatic light at the center of the chamber. The crystalline floor began to shine with a light blue aura that lit everything from beneath in an ominous light.
Seeing her turn had come, Chrysalis lit her jagged horn, her emerald pedestal glowing in response. The various acid green markings that ran between the many pedestals in the room shined in response, connecting the magic and efforts of everyone present.
Seeing that at last the time was upon them, Celestia and Luna turned to face each other, Luna offer a small smirk and Celestia a wink. Turning to face upwards, they began to extend their powers to the heavens. Slowly, the light inside the room began to increase, as the sky began to get brighter. After several moments the reason for the increase in natural lighting became obvious as the sun became visible within the small section of sky shown by the opening in the chambers roof, the moon joining it not long after. Slowly, the two great celestial bodies converged in the sky, coming together to form the first Solar Eclipse in hundreds of years, directly over the pillar of solid harmonious light. The sky darkened, turning day into night, and night into day, and the stars shined from the heavens during daylight hours for the first time in eons.
For a moment, everyone stopped and stared. The stillness was absolute – it was as if the very world itself was waiting, holding its breath for what was to come.
With an almighty boom and a cataclysmic shaking of the earth, a beam of light launched itself from the fabled celestial event, raining down from the sky and joining the solid pillar of multi-hued light coming from the center of the chamber, the two meeting in a massive resounding boom that rumbled in the chests of everyone present. Slowly, with a sound like the rippling of cloth and the grinding of stone, a hole in the very fabric of reality opened, forming a great open and glowing doorway before the two Alicorn sisters.
Turning towards each other, they both sported grins disproportionately large for the dire nature of their situation. Slowly, they clasped hooves, and stared deeply into each other’s eyes. “What say you, sister? Will you follow me once more, into the depths of the unknown and beyond?” Celestia asked, massive grin never leaving her face.
“I’ll follow you to Tartarus and back, my sister. Once more unto the breach?” Luna answered, matching Celestia’s maniac grin with one of her own.
Throwing her head back, Celestia let loose several loud peals of laughter, filling the enormous chamber with a sound not terribly unlike the pealing of golden bells. “Yes, once more unto the breach my oldest friend and dearest sister,” She responded, maniac gleam never leaving her eyes. Slowly, both Alicorn sisters turned to face the hole in reality. With a single nod to each other, they both leapt through the doorway into another state of being.
They knew full well that they might never return. They knew that this plan was a long shot, foolish, perhaps even suicidal. They knew that no matter what the outcome, the very fate of ponykind, of the changelings, of the entire world itself hung in the balance. They knew it all boiled down to this, the events of this last campaign, this final gambit, this very moment.
Most of all though, they realized that after the events of this day, this horrible, horrible war, with all its death, and all its destruction, would finally come to an end. One way – or another.