"So what was all the digging for?"
The was the single question that Princess Luna had asked when she and her army had returned to the Terminal and then entered the reconstructed gateway to Fluttershy's world. Right now the company of over four thousand warriors was stationed all around the remains of what had been the fortress and the Pit of Torment. It was exactly three hours after they had simultaneously attacked both the World of Arrogance and the Fortress of Anger, effectively destroying both the Hatebolts and the makings on Fluttershy's army.
"We still do not know the answer," Shining Armor answered, pulling out a scroll and unfurling it to reveal a vast underground cavern they knew nothing about, "Our ally, the Grand Commander Trixie, has discovered that Fluttershy has been capturing ponies from across the universe and forces them to dig in the pits. From the amount of rock, ore, and gemstones they removed from the ground it is clear that they might not have found whatever it is. One thing is for certain though, the explosions from Trixie's attack have dislodged the walls and ground at the lowest level of the pits, but we are still trying to figure out how that happened."
Luna sighed; it wasn't easy trying to piece together the mess of the army she had helped build after a couple of years being away from them. Most of her trusted lieutenants had gone and gotten themselves killed, taking a few hundred warriors to their deaths at the hooves of Oblivion's army. Right now they were dealing blow after blow to the seemingly impenetrable network that consisted of Oblivion's assets, namely the Elements of Hatred, the Hateful Six, the Cupcake Factory, the World of Arrogance, and now the Pits of Torment.
Her eyes lingered on Vinyl Scratch, the true leader of the Warriors of Purity and the one who symbolized the Harmony that still existed in the universe. She had allowed her hatred to get the better of her a thousand years ago, resulting in the creation of the Rider of Death, but now she had taken down one of the Riders. Oblivion would be suffering from the setback; losing one of his final four weapons was something that would lower the moral of his troops and, hopefully, cause destruction amongst the remainder of those loyal to him.
"That isn't exactly true, is it Vinyl?"
Vinyl sighed, wondering if what she remembered would even be of any help to discover what Oblivion was searching for and what he was planning. She knew that withholding the information would land her in hot water with Princess Luna, so she decided she would have to reveal what their enemy could be searching for.
"Yeah, it ain't exactly true," she admitted, hanging her head out the window of their room, "When I was in Oblivion's army over a thousand years ago he told me and my fellow soldiers that we would be searching for something he had invented. That something was supposed to be some legendary machine he called The Omega00-5X, or Vegna as he called the mysterious thing. He said that Vegna was supposed to be a set of living, hateful armor that increased the wearer's own natural abilities.
The only problem with that is the suit is supposed to be worn by those blessed by Oblivion, those turned into the dreaded dragon ponies that we have been seeing for the last thousand years of war. I know not the size of the dreaded machine, but Oblivion did say that the creation would be huge and was likely in pieces. I do know that some of the Elements of Hatred have pieces of Vegna, such as Pinkamena wearing the chest section and Twilight wielding the right arm piece."
"Wait, Twily's got a piece of the machine?" Shining asked, using his pet name for his sister on accident.
"Yes, a piece that contains part of the machines magic," Vinyl replied, shaking her head, "What Fluttershy has been searching for is the most vital component of the entire machine, one that Oblivion created and lost before he could use it. A power source of uncontrollable hatred that would power the machine and its wearer, creating an unstoppable monster that none of us could defeat. That's what's waiting for us if we find it in the pits, an evil crystal that needs to be eradicated before Oblivion knows it still exists."
~World of Darkness~
"I cannot believe you did something so stupid Rainbow Dash."
Twilight was annoyed; the cyan dragon seriously thought that she, the mage of darkness, was able to resurrect the dead without so much effort on her part. That part was true, she could easily bring back the Rider of Famine and restore her to perfect health before they were required to meet with Lord Oblivion. Lucky for her that Twilight had a spare heart for every major pony in Oblivion's army, so if one of them died unexpectedly she would be able to bring them back. What actually annoyed her was that she had been wounded, had her entire army slain in battle, had lost her key, and was expecting Twilight to help her.
Rainbow was lucky that Twilight was willing to help her friends still, otherwise the entire situation would have been a bust for the evil dragon. Lord Oblivion had made it so they were still friendly towards each other, but he had also changed them so they wouldn't help each other more than necessary. So Twilight was willing to help the dragon mare out, but only because Lord Oblivion would have their flanks if he discovered that the Rider of Famine was dead and they did nothing to save her.
"Hey, don't blame me Egghead," Rainbow spat, her body curled in front of the bed where Spitfire was resting, "I was caught unaware on my day off. We were outnumbered and underpowered to deal with Princess Luna and her army. Sure, I lost my key, but so has the majority of the Elements lost their keys. All I really care about right now is getting to Lord Oblivion's world before he shuts down all the gateways besides one."
"Oh my, I cannot believe I had forgotten what time it was," Rarity commented, looking at the clock on the wall, "the gateways will be shutting down any minute now."
"It seems that Vegna is about to be awaken from his slumber," Twilight said, just as both the Hateful Lyra and Spitfire joined them, "and now that we are all assembled it is time to be going."
~The Terminal~
"Oblivion is going to shut down all the gateways in the Terminal," Vinyl continued, watching the last bits of her army enter the realm before the gate closed itself, "all except the one that will lead us to his true base. The gates closing means that he has found all the pieces of his legendary machine and has begun to restore it's power, awakening the dreaded hatred deep within it. What he has planned for such a machine is even beyond me."
According to the Commander the gates would be closing any minute, so to make sure they had all their forces she had begun pulling them out of every world. Warriors poured out of each of the working gates in perfect order, marching in line exactly like they had been trained in the past. Soldiers from the various worlds, such as cruelty, greed, and arrogance, gathered from across the universe in the one place that they could feel safe in.
Octavia was amazed; the mare she had spent most of her time with was the commander of hundreds, if not thousands, of ponies from all across the multiple worlds. Ponies wearing all sorts of armor and carrying all sorts of different weapons, they were equipped with the dangerous tools needed to combat the enemy. They were going to need all the tools they could get so they could defeat the levels of evil that Oblivion had constructed to stall them.
"An impressive army you have created," said a voice from behind Vinyl, a voice that turned out to be an armored Celestia, "An army that could turn the tide against our enemy. So commander, how do you feel with four alicorns standing at your call?"
"Fine," Vinyl answered, equipping herself in her finest armor and her best sword, "We should be ready for when the gateways close, for that is when the way to his secret world. Trust me, if the weapon known as Vegna is awakened we will have minutes to defeat Oblivion before the two merge. The union of Oblivion and Vegna will make him untouchable, so if we want to best him we need to destroy his army and crush the machine.
Of course that means if the prison opens then a godly Oblivion and a dangerous Vegna will merge together, making him both untouchable and unkillable. If we want to beat him we need to prevent that from happening at all costs."
And that was when the entire Terminal shut down.