//------------------------------// // Chapter 14: Heartbeats // Story: Fragment // by Heliostorm //------------------------------// Chapter 14 Heartbeats “Some believe that outside the universe, there is nothing. This is what is known as wishful thinking.” - Starswirl the Bearded Twilight woke up. The first thing she felt was cold. She was lying on stone that felt like rough ice. As she opened her eyes and stood up, she looked first at her body. It seemed alright. What just happened? How was she not dead? She gingerly touched her face and chest and shuddered as the memory of the pain, so fresh, so strong, ran through her. It had felt so real… She stood up. The stone floor was the stone floor, the wall was the wall, the skeleton was back to where it had been, the platforms were there. There was, however, one new addition. There was second skeleton lying on the floor, still soaked in fresh blood, with little bits of flesh clinging to the bones. A unicorn skeleton. It was looking at her. She closed her eyes and knew that there would be a third skeleton, then a fourth, a fifth, an army as she would die again and again, trapped in this place to be devoured by her own corpses, forever. No. It didn’t make sense. It wasn’t logical. Magic didn’t work that way. Things had to come from somewhere. The dead could not be brought back to life, time could not repeat itself infinitely. Nothing was forever... Fear gave way to understanding. She sighed like a pony that had just realized they had been on the receiving end of a bad prank. It’s not real. “This isn’t actually happening,” Twilight said to the darkness. “I’m still probably back in that hallway with the roots.” She paced around the candle. It wasn’t real, but how was she going to get out of it? The roots might be excreting some kind of hallucinogen, but this was felt far too real and was far too specific to simply be an exotic drug. Magic, then, she thought. Unfortunately, she didn’t know much about illusion magic, just what she had read in those ancient texts from the pre-Discord era. She knew it wasn’t a mere apparition; the pain, the fear had been far too real. That meant there had to be some magical component in her, a virus inserted into the depths of her mind that allowed the user to take control of her senses. If she could destroy that component… She sat down and closed her eyes, taking deep breaths, and looked inwards. She had never done anything like this before, but determination made do where experience did not. Twilight followed the images, the fear, the pain through her mind, holding them in crystal clarity as she traced their paths through her soul. There. A malevolent mass growing through her like a cancer, infesting her unconscious, extending its dark tendrils through her mind. She channeled magic into her horn and directed it downwards through her head and into her body, a cleansing holy flame that incinerated all evil in its path. The tumor retreated and shrunk before finally burning in the psychic inferno. Then the firestorm reached reality. Magenta flames roiled out from her body, obliterating the roots that had kept her imprisoned. The conflagration rolled down the hallway in both directions, leaving charred ashes in its wake. Twilight Sparkle stood up and grinned. The dying embers of the roots gave her all the light she needed. She galloped onwards. ---------- Starswirl and Null walked into a large hexagonal chamber, with each of the six walls holding a doorway that led to yet another hall. Starswirl groaned. “We’ve been here before!” she cried, shaking her head. “We’re lost, aren’t we?” “No, we are not,” Null said. “Yes we are,” she said, rolling her eyes. “No, we are not,” Null repeated, a bit more forcefully. “We are merely trying multiple different paths, and some of them lead to the same place.” “So in other words, we’re lost.” “No. We are getting close to the original hall.” “How can you tell?” Null pointed to the walls of the chamber. “Look. Are the stones not more ancient?” Starswirl intensified the light from her horn and squinted. Indeed, the stones in the wall were worn and rounded, unlike the sharp, jagged walls of Erebus. There was no erosion in Tartarus—no wind or water to wear away at the rocks, which was why even the structures that were thousands of years old looked brand new. Either there had been some kind of erosive force here a long time ago, or... She shivered, and wondered how old these walls really were. How long had they stood in motionless vigil over the prisoners of Tartarus, watching the world beyond pass by, stars wheel overhead, civilizations rise and fall, species evolve and fall into the silence of extinction? She ran a hoof along the wall, and felt very small. “Let us go this way,” Null said, pointing down another hallway. Starswirl pulled back from the stone. “Why do we want to go to the original hall? I thought we were trying to find Twilight.” “Twilight will not have stayed where she was. Not unless she has grown weary of life.” “But how do you know she’s moving towards the hall?” “It is her nature. And yours. You will not turn back.” Starswirl had to admit the logic of this argument. The new hallway led into a vast, circular cavern with a lake of black water. There was another doorway on the other shoreline, but it was so far as to be barely visible. Starswirl bent down to examine the water; somehow, despite the blackness, it reflected her face perfectly. She squinted and prepared to dip her hoof in, but Null threw out his hoof in front of her. “Don’t.” Null turned around and gently let the tip of his tail fall in the water. There was bubbling and hissing as white smoke rose up from the surface, and when he pulled it back up the tip was gone. “Acid.” Starswirl glanced down at the hoof she had been prepared to dip in the water. “Um, thanks.” She looked at the far shore. “I could try teleporting across, but that’s really far. I’m not sure I can teleport the both of us. Maybe I could teleport myself, and then you can fly across?” Null shook his head. “No. It would be unwise to separate. I shall carry you.” He turned away from her and lowered his back. Starswirl stared. She had never ridden a pegasus like that before. “Can’t you… hold me, or something?” “I need my hooves to be free if we are attacked.” “Um.” Starswirl felt a drop of sweat drip down the back of her head. “Is that likely?” “I do not know. But if it is possible, then we must prepare. If we are attacked, you must teleport down to the shore as quickly as you can.” She nodded, then gingerly climbed onto the pegasus’s back and wrapped her front hooves around his chest. Pressing this close against an unfamiliar stallion was… awkward. Then he took off, and she promptly forgot about the awkwardness. She had been carried by a pegasus once before, when a mare had caught her after her near-death experience from the tornado at the Wonderbolts Academy. That had been a gentle ride. Null was anything but gentle; he flew like he was trying to murder the air, and Starswirl could barely keep herself from falling. Then things began detaching from the ceiling, and suddenly murdering the air seemed like a really good idea. “Go!” Null shouted. Starswirl immediately teleported down to far shore. She turned around and saw Null being attacked by swarms of dark shapes. She lowered her head and prepared to aim a spell, but his distant shouts echoed forth. “Run! Get out of here!” She hesitated. Then some of the dark shapes began flapping towards her. Null breathed a sigh of relief as he watched her vanish into the hall, then turned his attention to his attackers. He swooped past one and dodged another, then brought his hoof up to the bell around his neck. A single note rang out, high and clear. ---------- Twilight Sparkle ran through the hall and into a large, square chamber. She shone the light from her horn around, scanning the room for any dangers. Seeing nothing, she closed in on the wall and ran her hoof across it. The stone was old, worn. I’m getting closer, she thought. Thump-thump. She froze. The heartbeat was back. Thump-thump. And it was getting closer. Her eyes were slowly drawn towards an open doorway. The sound was coming from down that hall. Thump-thump. She looked around. The only other way out of the room was back the way she had come. She clenched her jaw. No more running. She had defeated the roots and the nightmares, and she could beat this thing. Thump-thump. She pressed up against the wall, silently edging towards the doorway, horn charged and ready to blast the monster the moment it came around. Thump-thump. Thump-thump. THUMP-THUMP. Now! She leapt out into the doorway and fired a massive magical blast that tore through the air and hit the wall opposite, leaving a scorch mark. The hall was completely empty. She looked left, right, then up and down. Nothing but air. And then, behind her— Thump-thump. She bolted down the hallway, not even bothering to turn around, galloping as fast as her legs could take her, following the path’s twists and turns wherever it took her, looking for someplace, anyplace to hide. Thump-thump. Thump-thump. Thump-thump… The heartbeats gently fell away, but she didn’t stop running. Panic gave her speed she would not have imagined possible. She began to tire, her legs crying out beneath her, but she ignored them, fighting through the exhaustion, knowing that if she stopped there would be no escape… A door! She skid past a large metal gate decorated with ornate silver curls, then ran back towards it. She tried pressing against the portal, but it refused to open. “No! Don’t be locked, please don’t be locked!” She tried forcing it open again, and this time it gave way, the gilded double doors swinging back on their hinges, revealing… Her eyes widened. Her ears pressed against her skull. Her pupils shrank into tiny dots as she gazed through the door and saw… nothing. Just… nothing. She screamed, and ran away. The doors slammed shut behind her. She ran even faster than when the heartbeats had been chasing her, ran faster than should have been possible, than was possible, not even noticing the pain in her muscles, the way her heart thudded in her chest so hard that it hurt, exhaustion making her steps strange and uneven, until she tripped over her own hooves and fell, rolling forward several times before finally coming to a stop. And then she cried, pressing her hooves into her eyes. She wanted to tear them out, to unsee it, and the only reason she didn’t was because she knew it wouldn’t help, that she would never forget, that there was nothing to forget, not light, not darkness, not color or shade, not shape or form, not space or time, not concept or thought or emotion or life or death, and it hurt, it hurt just to think about it, to remember, the memory was burning a hole in her mind, searing her soul… “H- help,” her voice sobbed, barely coming through between the short, panicked breaths. “Help.” Hoofsteps echoed down the hall in answer. Then, a voice. “Twilight?” Twilight opened her eyes and looked up. There, standing at the far end of the hall, was Starswirl. She had never been so happy to see anyone in her life. “Starswirl!” she cried. “Thank goodness! Starswirl!” She rushed towards her with all the desperate strength she had left, the tears streaming from her eyes now tears of joy, running to her twin ready to embrace… Pain flared across her cheek. She was knocked aside, sprawling on the ground. Slowly, she looked up in shock, rubbing the spot on her cheek where Starswirl had punched her. Eyes like hers stared down in cold contempt. “The name’s Twilight Sparkle, you lavender WHORE!” She kicked Twilight in the stomach. “You think you can threaten to keep me away from my friends? You dirty, useless slut, you think I need your help? I’m smarter, more talented, more clever, I’m better than you in every conceivable way. You’re just a nerd with no talent, no father, and no friends.” She stomped down on Twilight’s chest. Twilight felt two of her ribs crack. She screamed. “You’re a disgrace to my name, nothing more than a worthless, stupid imposter. I’m here to replace you. Nopony’s even going to notice when you die because they’ll be too busy marveling at me, not that they’d miss you anyways, you useless pile of crap. I’m the only Twilight Sparkle.” She punched her again. Twilight caught it with her hoof. Eyes like hers stared down in cold contempt, and they were met by identical eyes filled with white-hot fury. “SHUT UP!” Magenta light surged, blasting Starswirl down the hall. The blue unicorn twirled, landing on all fours. Twilight stood up. Her chest heaved, sparking in pain with every breath, but she didn’t care. “You think I’m stupid? She would never say that. I would never say that. You’re not real, you’re just a fake, and—” she sucked in breath through her teeth “—I’m going to kill you.” A deliciously evil smile spread across the fake Starswirl’s features. “You’ll have to catch me first.” She turned and ran down the hall, her laughter echoing off the walls. Twilight grinned, a small, wicked upturn of the corners her mouth. At last, she had a target for her anger. She was going to enjoy this. ---------- Starswirl ran down the halls, pursued by three of the dark shapes. They were vaguely bat-like in appearance, with wings like collections of spider-legs and a multitude of eyes that glittered silver. And they were fast, faster than her despite being large enough to fill the entire hallway, the flapping of their wing-legs creating a droning buzz that echoed in the deeps. Without breaking stride, Starswirl turned her head and blasted magenta beams over her shoulder. A loud shriek told her she had hit one, and the droning buzz grew angrier, closer. It was no good. The blasts never seemed to do much more than annoy them, and no matter how many turns she made within the labyrinthine tunnels, she couldn’t throw them off. Then suddenly, salvation came in the form of a doorway too small for the creatures to get through. She teleported through it and turned around. The monsters stopped by the door, scrabbling to get through, and she blasted one in what she thought was its face. It screamed, a multi-tonal screech bordering on the inaudibly high, then tried to tuck in its leg-wings to scramble through. Then it froze, its half-dozen eyes seeming to blink, staring at or perhaps past her. It gave a shrill, frightened screech and flew away. The other two followed. Starswirl breathed a sigh of relief, turned around, and jumped. Null put his sword back in its scabbard. “My apologies for frightening you,” he said, relaxing from his battle stance. Starswirl tilted to the side, peering around him. There was a side doorway that he could have come through, but… “What happened?” Null frowned. “I killed one, and the rest flew.” Starswirl tilted her head. “That’s… odd.” “Yes. I know not what to think of it. I had expected more fight within them. Are you unharmed?” Starswirl furrowed her eyebrows, but nodded. “Yes. Um, let’s keep going.” She was just about to start running when another Null tumbled out of the side doorway, panting heavily and covered in silver blood. “Starswirl!” the he shouted, “Get away from him! It’s an imposter!” She froze mid-stride, staring at the second pegasus, then the first, then the second again. She opened her mouth. “Wh…?” The first Null merely narrowed his eyes. “I see. So that is why they fell back so easily.” “Do not believe anything that he says,” the second Null warned. “Please, you must trust me.” The first Null focused his eyes on her without turning his head. “Well, Starswirl, whom shall you choose?” Starswirl backed away from both of them, eyes flickering between the two pegasi. Sweat dripped down her forehead “Um… Normally in books when this happens the characters would ask each other something only the real one would know…” She wracked her brain, but could think of nothing. She had known the pegasus for all of one day, what secrets between the two of them could there possibly be? “I know you were fighting with Twilight last night,” the second Null said, the one covered in silver blood. “I heard the shouting when I was carrying water.” The first Null stiffened. Starswirl backed away from him. He paid no attention to her, and instead walked towards his twin, a grim expression on his face. “I wonder. You can imitate my form, my personality, my memories. Can you also mimic my power?” The bell on his neck rang. Starswirl didn’t understand what happened next—all she knew that red lines came out of nowhere and surrounded the first Null, then he was just a crimson blur, and a second later he was standing there, back to normal, and the other pegasus was lying on the ground in several large pieces. “It appears not,” he finished. He cautiously prodded the corpse, which crumbled into dust and blew away. He then turned to Starswirl. “It is safe now.” Starswirl stared. “What… what just happened?” “I destroyed my imposter. Cutting the knot, as it were. It would appear those monsters had been working with this fake, trying to fool you into going with him, perhaps.” She blinked and shook her head. “So… you’re real?” Null nodded. “Then… what was that… that, thing you did?” She waved her hooves around in the air, gesticulating wildly. “That was my power. The power of this.” He gestured to his bell. Starswirl narrowed her eyes and snorted. “Ok, you have some serious explaining to do, mister.” Null sighed. The expression on his face grew weary, instantly gaining several decades of age. His entire body seemed to sag and shrink, until one could hardly imagine had just cut a pony into a dozen pieces in the space of a single second. “This bell,” he said, his voice as slow and tired as his appearance, “belonged to Domitian. With it, I can summon his power to aid me in battle.” Starswirl took a step back. She had had bad experiences with evil magical artifacts worn around the neck before. “Ok… so how did you get it?” There was a long pause. “I sold my soul.” The way he said it, he might have been admitting to eating the cookies from a jar. The unicorn blinked. “Literally, or figuratively?” “Literally. When I am dead, I will join those spirits you saw in Domitian’s prison to serve him for eternity.” Starswirl closed her eyes and rubbed her head. “Why?” “It was the only way.” Null’s eyes grew distant, lost in memories. “That day, years ago… I was given a choice. I could watch my brother and my best friend die, and I along with them, or I could take his cursed bargain and gain the power to save us. And though I can never again feel the love that drove me to that decision, I shall never regret it.” Starswirl opened her mouth. “Huh. Ok.” It wasn’t exactly the most profound of replies, but she couldn’t think of anything else to say. It was the kind of revelation that ought to have been made in the most dramatic of settings, like on a cliff in a thunderstorm with figures silhouetted by lightning, and the words being shouted over the roar of thunder while tears streamed from their eyes to be lost amidst the rain. Null was so matter-of-fact about it he might have been confessing to having not followed a diet. Maybe it was a side effect of having no soul. “I do believe Twilight still needs our help,” he said quietly. “Yes…” Starswirl trotted towards him and took a deep breath. “You are the real Null, right?” “Yes.” There was nothing but open honesty in his eyes. “Ok then.” The two ran on down the maze-like halls, Null leading the way, and Starswirl still casting furtive glances at the black pegasus. ---------- The fake Starswirl’s laughter rebounded off the tunnels, echoing from wall to wall, building off of each other until the sound came from every direction, a maddening, unreal torture chamber of cackles that shook the psyche until it no longer recognized reality from mere perception. Twilight Sparkle was too angry to give a damn. “Show yourself!” she shouted at her unseen enemy, adding her own voice to the echoing laughter. She twisted and turned in the dark corridors, unable to find the source of her frustration. “Oh come now, little pony,” the voice—her voice—said, laughing. “Why so angry? Is it that hard for you to find me? I don’t think the other Twilight Sparkle would have so much trouble...” “Shut up!” she shouted, only to be met by more laughter, trailing off into the distance. Twilight scrunched up her eyes, trying to shut out all distraction. Her ears flicked and turned, following the sound. On the left, she thought, and raced down that path. The laughter continued, and twice more she had to stop to listen for where it was coming from. The voice’s last words kept haunting her. What would she do…? Was there some magic in her repertoire of over two hundred spells that could find the voice? Or maybe was it just something simple, obvious, that she was missing and that the other Twilight would have noticed? Her ears picked up hoofbeats and hard breathing on her right. She ran down that path, but before rounding the corner, she pressed herself against the wall and waited. The hoofbeats were coming closer, then they were almost around the corner, and then— She saw Starswirl emerge. There was just the briefest moment of surprise. “Twilight?” Twilight fired a blast from her horn. Starswirl twisted underneath her, just barely avoiding the beam as it left a scorch mark on the ground. She thrust out with her hooves and pushed Twilight off. “Twilight, it’s me!” “Nice try!” Twilight snarled, and fired another blast. As she let loose with the beam, however, something shoved her aside, causing her shot to hit the ceiling. “Twilight, whatever it is you are doing, stop!” Twilight blinked, staring at the black pegasus standing above her. “Null?” “Yes. Why are you attacking us?” “I- I…” She looked at Starswirl. The unicorn was confused and frightened. She swallowed. “I’m sorry, I thought you were—” Pain shot through her head as Null kicked her in the face. Starswirl’s expression split into another wicked smile, and her insane cackles echoed once more through the halls. “You are so stupid!” she laughed, and the two ponies ran away again. Twilight lay there on the ground, unmoving. Then, she began to tremble, every fiber of her being quaking against their restraints, convulsing so hard she had trouble standing back up. She screamed, a thundering, guttural shriek that reverberated off the walls. There was no language behind it—it was a sound from before language, nothing more than pure, primordial fury in sonic form. The inferno of her rage melted down the chains of reason as her mind tore free of all thoughts but one: Finding that thing that looked like Starswirl and tearing off its head. ---------- “Wait,” Null said, suddenly coming to a stop. “Hmm?” Starswirl asked. They were in a great hall, much larger than any of the others they had been in. The floors were decorated with what looked like floral patterns, if flowers were entirely made of straight lines and sharp edges, and the vaulted ceiling rose up like that of an ancient temple. Null inspected the wall. There were a series of large, rectangular slabs sticking out of it, looking almost like giant stone buttons. He pressed his hoof against one, but it didn’t budge. He tried the one next to it. Still nothing. “What are you doing?” Starswirl asked. Null pointed to a crack between two stones. “Turn off your light.” Starswirl stopped the light spell. The room immediately became pitch-black… except it didn’t. There was a soft yellow light emanating from the crack between stones, forming a rectangular shape just wide and tall enough for a pony to walk through. “Some kind of secret passage?” Starswirl asked. “Perhaps.” Null frowned and continued down the wall, pressing the buttons. Starswirl cast her light spell again and walked up to the wall, tapping her hoof against it. It sounded solid. She walked along the wall, continuing to tap at regular intervals, until she found one stone that sounded higher-pitched than the rest. “Aha!” She pressed the button above it. It sank into the wall, and then… Nothing happened. Her ears pressed against her head. “Aw…” “Oh.” Null’s voice echoed from far down the hall. “Did you do something?” “I pressed a button, but it didn’t seem to do anything.” “It did something over here, I—” There was the sound of grinding stone. The section of wall between the cracks pulled back then slid aside, letting warm whitish-yellow light shine through. The two ponies exchanged glances. Null stepped through, then Starswirl followed. “Woah…” They were in a huge, rectangular chamber, the ceiling above them rising so high it faded invisibly into the darkness. The walls extended out and forwards, seeming to stretch on into infinity. And on the floor were massive rectangular slabs of varying types of stone and marble, each of different sizes and uniquely decorated with intricate hieroglyphs. The whitish-yellow light was coming from a straight horizontal crack in each slab that ran all the way around near the top. Null was the first to recognize them. “Tombs. They are tombs.” “There must be hundreds! Some of these are huge!” She walked up to the closest one. Each tomb was covered in inscriptions, most faded and unreadable, but on the ends, near the top, were always two lines written in modern Equestrian. Darion the Deathless Increasingly Inaccurate Albion Alastacar, Lord of the Third Dragonflight Chew Before Swallowing Moonrise Gloom, Creator of the Philosopher's Stone You Have Failed Princess Aestiva Yes, Optimism Has Killed Somepony Demise, Spirit of Death Irony They all seemed to be significant names, followed by a snide epitaph. Some of the names Starswirl recognized from history or mythology. Most she didn’t. There were a lot of princesses, but nothing appeared to be in any particular order, chronological or otherwise. The tombs seemed to all be of varying ages and states of decay. Some, especially the ones belonging to dragons, were the size of buildings. It took a long time, but eventually the pattern revealed itself to her. “They’re all immortals,” she whispered. The words echoed several times in the dark. “What did you say?” Null asked from the other side of the tomb. “They’re all immortals,” Starswirl said again, louder this time. “Every tomb. They all belonged to somepon— sorry, someone that was immortal. That could have lived forever if they hadn’t been killed.” And as for the sardonic epitaphs… evidently whoever made these enjoyed laughing at their fates. A shiver ran down her spine. Some of the names on these tombs had been immensely powerful… “Starswirl, I believe I have found something of note.” She walked over and shone her light on the tomb Null was standing by. Discord, Spirit of Chaos Hell Hath No Fury Like A Pony Cornered She put her hoof on the lid. The temptation to push it off and see if there was anything inside was great, but a little voice in her head told her that would be a terrible idea. She walked all the way around the tomb, looking at the inscriptions and hieroglyphs, but couldn’t make any sense of them. True to form, the tomb’s decorations were very haphazard and random. Then, when she was on the other side of the tomb, she turned around and froze. Princess Cadance Love Makes Fools of Mice and Mares A feeling like cold ice rushed over her. “No…” The word was a quiet moan. “No…” Null looked up in alarm. “What is wrong?” Starswirl didn’t hear him. She took off, running through the rows of tombs, eyes searching wildly from epitaph to epitaph. Thump-thump. Null heard the heartbeat, but Starswirl didn’t seem to. “Starswirl?” he asked, chasing her through the rows. She ignored him entirely, searching with abandon through the graves, rushing from slab to slab, reading each inscription then immediately moving on to the next. Thump-thump. Then, she stopped. Her eyes widened and her ears pressed against her skull. She collapsed onto the ground in front of the tomb, whimpering, one hoof pressed against the epitaph. “No… it can’t be… it can’t…” Princess Celestia Forever Sets the Sun Thump-thump. Null had no idea what was happening, no idea why the unicorn was so distraught over this particular tomb. A foreboding feeling crept up his spine. “Starswirl. We should go.” There was a short pause in which her heavy breaths were the only sound filling the graveyard. “No...” she finally moaned, “she couldn’t have… not her…” Thump-thump. The foreboding feeling was crawling up his neck now. “Starswirl. We need to go. Now.” Starswirl shook her head, eyes distant as though in a trance. “Princess…” “Starswirl! Twilight still needs us!” The name snapped Starswirl from her reverie. She looked at him, as though for the first time, then looked down. “Yes. Of course, yes. Sorry. I’m sorry.” “It’s fine,” Null said, but the hairs on the back of his neck were beginning to stand up. “Let’s move. Now.” They had just taken a single step when a tremendous, rage-filled scream issued forth from the distance. The two ponies exchanged glances. “Was that…?” Null asked. Starswirl nodded. “That sounded like Twilight.” They took off, racing through the rows of tombs, shot through the doorway then down the hall in the direction the scream had come from. Twilight exploded from around the corner, surrounded by crackling purple lightning. Starswirl’s face momentarily lit up in delight, then confusion, then terror. Twilight’s face was murderous. “YOU!” she screamed at the top of her lungs, then leveled her horn at the other unicorn. The spell went off like a cannon as a gigantic magenta beam erupted from the tip. Starswirl leapt to the side as the column of light roared through the space she had just occupied, singeing her tail and blowing an enormous crater in the opposite wall. There was no time to breath a sigh of relief, however, for a second later Twilight was on top of her, punching and kicking and foaming with rage. It was everything Starswirl could do to avoid getting hit. “Twilight! What are you doing? It’s me!” “LIKE I’M GOING TO FALL FOR THAT AGAIN!” Twilight fired another blast at point-blank, barely missing Starswirl’s head. At this point Null burst into action, slamming into the crazed Twilight and knocking her to the ground. He pulled out his sword and stabbed downwards at her chest— “Wait!” Starswirl cried. The moment’s hesitation this caused was enough for Twilight to pick him up with magic and slam him against the wall. She charged Starswirl again. “Twilight! Stop! Please! Something’s wrong with you!” “ME? There’s something wrong with ME?!” It took Null a while to recover from having his head bashed against the wall with enough force to leave cracks in the stone. When he did, he saw the two unicorns locked in hoof-to-hoof combat, Starswirl desperately trying to keep Twilight’s magic surges contained. She was on top of her, wrestling the purple unicorn to the ground while Twilight had been reduced to trying to bite her leg. “Starswirl! It’s another fake! Kill it!” “I’m the fake?!” Twilight screamed. “No!” Starswirl shouted. “She’s real, Null! I can te—AH!” Twilight had used the distraction to knee Starswirl in the stomach, knocking her off her back and rolling around to sit on her chest. She immediately brought her hooves down on the other unicorn’s throat, trying to throttle her. Null clenched his jaw. There was no time to think. Only decide. He leapt through the air, flying through the twenty meters between them in an instant, pulling Twilight off Starswirl and pinning her against the floor in a headlock, fighting through the pain as uncontrolled magical lightning surged through him. “Let! Me! Go!” Twilight tried to blast him, but Null shoved her head aside so the beam missed and hit the wall. “Twilight! Please! Calm down!” Starswirl cried. For the first time in his life, Null was at a complete loss. One of the ponies he was supposed to be guarding was trying to murder the other, and the obvious explanation—that one was an imposter—was unacceptable to the very pony whose life he was trying to save. Twilight managed to twist her way around in his grip so she was facing him. “Let go of me!” she bellowed right into his face. He stared into those large, rage-filled eyes that had just been but half a day ago overflowing with tears, the face that had seemed so broken, so aggrieved, that had instilled so much pity in a heart sold long ago to evil and death but now only knew fury and hate. He didn’t know what to do or think. So he did the unthinkable. He kissed her. Sheer bewilderment kept Twilight from resisting for all of two seconds. Then she kicked him in the chest so hard he flew up into the air. She staggered up, spitting and wiping her mouth with her hoof. Starswirl ran up to her. “Twilight?” Twilight stared at her. The inferno behind her eyes slowly faded away. “S- Starswirl?” Starswirl nodded, smiling. Twilight blinked and looked around as though having just woken up from a dream. “Are… are you real?” Starswirl slowly reached out to her. Twilight closed her eyes, cringing as the hoof approached her face. Then Starswirl stroked her cheek, and she collapsed into the blue unicorn’s hooves. One by one, tears began to drip down her face. “Starswirl! I’m sorry, I’m so sorry…” “It’s ok, it’s all going to be ok,” Starswirl murmured, cradling the mare’s head, rocking back in forth. Twilight looked up at her in confusion and fear, as though still afraid she was going to hit her again. “I’m sorry… I don’t… I don’t know anything anymore…” Null slowly stood back up, watching. Starswirl was stroking Twilight’s head. “It’s alright, I understand. You’ve been through a lot.” “You… you aren’t going to hit me?” Starswirl shook her head. Twilight broke down completely, sobbing. “S- sorry, I- I thought… s- so many times…” She was still looking at her in fear, like a foal that had only ever known abuse being shown kindness for the first time. Starswirl looked up at Null, who only shook his head. He had seen ponies descend into the darkness and come out catatonic, raving in gibberish and utterly unresponsive to anything, but nothing quite like this before. “I’m s- sorry for everything I s- said about you,” Twilight moaned softly into the other unicorn’s chest. “I was w- wrong… You didn’t deserve those words... I’m despicable… I’m so sorry…” “No, no, you were right,” Starswirl murmured softly. “I shouldn’t judge you so harshly. After all, I wouldn’t be any different if I’d been through what you have.” They sat there in silence for a long time, Twilight quietly sniffling into Starswirl’s coat. Then, in an almost dream-like trance, the blue unicorn began to sing. “Hush now, quiet now, it’s time to lay your sleepy head. Hush now, quiet now, it’s time to go to bed. Hush now, quiet now, close your sleepy little eyes. Hush now, quiet now, my how time does fly.” The notes faded into the distance, reverberating off the walls to give it an almost choir-like tone. The ponies stared into the air, then Starswirl looked down embarrassedly. “... I forgot the rest.” Twilight looked up at her and wiped away the last of her tears. “That was lovely. Where did you learn that?” “My mom used to sing it to me when I was a filly.” Twilight drew away from Starswirl’s hooves and stood up. “I’ve never heard anything like it.” The two stared at each other for a long time. Then Twilight seemed to notice Null again for the first time. She turned towards him, and something sparked behind eyes. “And you!” Null stood there trying to look as innocent as possible as Twilight stormed up to him. “You! What was that?! In Canterlot we’d consider that sexual assault!” “... My apologies.” “What made you think that was ok?!” The voice was angry, but it was a light, airy anger, nothing like the guttural rage that had filled it before. She wiped her mouth again. “You’re lucky you just saved my life, or else I would…” Her voice trailed off. She turned around and muttered to herself, “and it was my first kiss too.” “At least it was with a stallion,” Starswirl offered. Twilight glared at her, and she grinned sheepishly. And with that, everything was back to normal. “Perhaps we should turn back,” Null suggested, a little nervously. “No,” Twilight and Starswirl said simultaneously, then looked at each other oddly. “We’ve come too far to turn back,” Twilight said. “I agree,” Starswirl added. “And besides, we’re together now. Nothing can hurt us when we’re together.” Thump-thump. “... I would not be so certain,” Null said as two unicorns looked around in alarm. He turned around. “Come, let’s go.” Behind them, the heartbeats faded away. And as they ran on through the dark tunnels of Erebus, hoofsteps, too many to be mere echoes, followed in their wake… ---------- “This has got to be it,” Starswirl said. Twilight looked up at the gigantic doorway built in the style of Tartarus’s outer hall. It was far more ornately-decorated than anything they had yet seen in Erebus and big enough for a whole family of dragons. “How can you tell?” she asked sarcastically. “It is in the proper location,” Null answered, completely missing the sarcasm. “Across the bridge of the void and past the field of razor thorns.” “Oh yes, I completely forgot about those.” “Speaking of the razor thorns, thanks for saving me back there,” Starswirl said. “Don’t mention it.” Twilight glanced at the other unicorn. “Shame about your tail.” Starswirl glanced at the shredded remains of her tail and brushed her tattered mane out of her face. “Oh, it’s no big deal. Though I think Rarity would have a panic attack if she could see me right now.” Twilight frowned. “That’s the one that’s obsessed about fashion, right?” “Yep.” “Ah, I see.” They walked up the stairs across the doorway. The temple itself was larger even than the Hall of the Immortals, filled with massive columns that rose up to support a ceiling so high it could have been a gray-colored sky. The columns had once been lavishly engraved, but time had eroded the carvings into a uniform roughness. The floor had better withstood the test of time, and was so highly polished it formed a near-perfect mirror, giving the ponies the impression they were walking in midair, with the gargantuan columns stretching equally above and below them. And unlike every room they had seen in Tartarus thus far, every inch of the wall was covered in murals of alien scenes from untold eons ago. The colors had long since faded away, leaving just the slightest hint of pigment, but the forms remained. On the other side of the room were three titanic archways that opened up into the main Tartarian cavern. Erebrus stretched its way around the cave walls while the white tree loomed above the Pit of Tartarus, its light filtering into the ancient temple, illuminating the murals, and the darkness of the Pit itself crawled up the sides, biding, always biding. “Are you kidding me?” Twilight cried. “We could have just flown here!” Starswirl shook her head. “I don’t think so. The inscriptions in Domitian’s chamber said the hall was protected. If you try to fly through that way you end up in some twisted space-time and get lost forever.” “Oh.” Twilight narrowed her eyes. “I guess that makes me feel a little better.” “Let’s take a look at these murals,” Starswirl suggested. Null stood quietly on watch as the two unicorns inspected the walls of the chamber. He had an uneasy feeling. The shadows of the pillars were dark and numerous, and could be hiding any number of enemies… “What are these creatures?” Twilight asked. Starswirl shook her head. “I don’t know. They don’t look like anything I’ve ever read about.” Twilight shook her head, frustrated at the atrophic state of the murals. The strange aliens were in every single painting. The decay made it impossible to make out much detail—Twilight couldn’t even tell how many legs they had, or which end was the head—but they clearly weren’t ponies or dragons or any other species known to ponykind. Given their omnipresence, however, they must have been important. “Maybe they’re the ones that made this place.” “Could be.” Twilight turned around to look at the doorway they had come in and jumped a little. Over the portal was a painting so huge that she didn’t know how they had missed it—or perhaps it was the very hugeness that had made it hidden, for they might have mistaken it for a mere pattern in the stone. Even in its advanced state of deterioration she could tell it was hideous, an image of some enormous monster with legs like hundreds of viper coils, manifold arms that ended in horrible claws like impalers, and a hundred dragon heads and a thousand eyes of burning fire. It was impossible to tell the scale, but she knew what it depicted was huge beyond imagination. Her frustration vanished; she was suddenly very thankful that the murals were so decayed. “Do you think that’s what they imprisoned down in the Pit?” Starswirl asked. Her voice was very small. A shiver ran down Twilight’s spine. “... I think so.” Starswirl looked around. “That one has the tree… and I think that one is showing the creation of Tartarus… I think these murals are telling a story, but I can’t figure out what order they’re supposed to be in…” Twilight walked up and down the hall, looking from mural to murals. “Perhaps it’s like a zig-zag pattern,” she suggested. “The first one might be that painting of the forest landscape, and then it goes across to the landscape with the giant storm clouds…” She paused, noticing that the storm clouds had thousands of flame-like points, almost like eyes. “And then it continues in the zig-zagging pattern.” Starswirl followed the movement of Twilight’s pointing hoof. “I think you’re right. Ok, so this one might be something like ‘the destruction of the world by storm’...” As the two unicorns delved deep into the mysteries of the hall, Null found himself increasingly drawn to their conversation. Slowly, his attention drifted away from the shadows of the pillars. Twilight paused at one mural. “Does that look like the Elements of Harmony to you?” Starswirl tilted her head and squinted. The painting depicted five colored shapes around a sixth, surrounded by what might have been flames or clouds. “Could be, but… the colors are all wrong.” Twilight looked at her, and Starswirl continued. “The colors of the Elements are purple, pink, blue, red, orange, and magenta, representing Generosity, Kindness, Laughter, Loyalty, Honesty, and Magic, respectively.” She jabbed a hoof at the painting. “The only one that’s the same here is red.” Twilight rubbed her chin. “Well, it could be that the paint has changed color over time.” Starswirl shook her head. “The other paintings are all the right color. The trees are green, the skies are blue, all that. What are the odds this is the only one that would change?” The two unicorns stared at each other’s hooves. Twilight was the first to speak. “I don’t remember what the six colors of the Elements of Chaos were, but I don’t think they were the same as what you just said…” “Hmm. Well, I suppose it wouldn’t be unreasonable for Discord to have changed the colors of the Elements when he corrupted them. Then again…” Her ears perked up and she looked at Twilight, eyes wide. “Wait a minute! The Elements of Harmony from the book! Those were different! Those were magenta, red, blue, purple, yellow, and green!” Twilight gave her a confused look. “What book?” “The first place I learned about the Elements of Harmony was in a book with about the myth of Nightmare Moon…” Seeing Twilight’s blank expression, Starswirl added, “Don’t worry about who that is, just bear with me. Anyways, the book had a picture of the Elements of Harmony, and those were the colors. But those colors weren’t what my friends and I received when we actually summoned them.” Twilight looked back up at the mural. “So maybe the Elements change colors over time?” “Maybe more.” Starswirl pointed to another mural. “That one seems to show the creatures using the Elements to defeat the monster…” She pointed again. “And that one shows them using them to create Tartarus around the tree. The Elements are the strongest magic known to ponykind, but I don’t think they’re that strong.” She stopped, suddenly aware of several uncomfortable implications of her theory. “So if the Elements can change colors over time,” Twilight continued for her, oblivious in her excitement at having potentially solved the mystery, “then maybe they can change their nature, too. Maybe our Elements are some kind of descendent of these.” She gestured to the painting of the Elements on the wall. “Well, if that’s the case, then we can probably use the Elements to heal the tree, whatever’s wrong with it!” Then she too stopped, enthusiasm giving way to realization. “Right… so all we need to do is that thing I’ve been trying to do, and can’t,” she finished miserably. Starswirl gave her a small smile. “Well, you’ve never had my help before.” Twilight smiled back. “That’s true.’ “I failed.” The two looked up at Null. The Shadow Guard was in full battle stance except for having his sword drawn, staring at the shadow of a pillar. “I’m sorry. I was distracted.” “What are you talking about?” Twilight asked, and was immediately answered by the sound of hoofsteps. Thirteen ponies stepped out of the shadows. Twilight blinked—no, they weren’t ponies, but they looked like them. Tall, elegant, terrifyingly beautiful ponies with fangs and claws on their hooves, and not one, but two horns, slicing upwards from their foreheads in a wicked curve like the blade of a scythe. The largest smiled, showing off her canines. “Vell, vell,” she said in a thick accent, “zat is most perceptive of you, little slave of Domitian.” Strangely, Null seemed to relax. “Oh. Bicorns,” he said to the two unicorns. “They are not very dangerous.” The leader smiled again, this time opening her mouth to reveal rows of teeth that extended back like a shark’s. Suddenly, hoofsteps echoed around them, building into a veritable stampede as the darkness seemed to undergo mitosis, revealing a sea of bicorns. “Oh.” “I thought you said they weren’t very dangerous…?” Twilight asked, stepping closer to the other two ponies. “Yes, thirteen would have been of little regard. Hundreds is a different matter.” Null turned again to the leader. “Why do you come with so many? There is not enough to share amongst all of you.” “You misinterpret us, little pony,” the leader said, gesturing grandly with her hoof. “Ve are not here to devour zese two children of Astra. Ve felt the power from zeir battle. Such magic! I vould hardly have thought it possible had I not felt zeir power myself.” She lowered her head and stalked forward. “Vith zeir magic, ve can free our brood mother from her chains, and at last be free of zis accursed place!” Null bowed his head. “This was my mistake,” he said to the two unicorns. The three were back to back now, watching the bicorns close in, the circle of empty space around them gradually growing smaller and smaller. “No it wasn’t,” Starswirl said. Twilight swallowed. “If I’m going down, I’m going down fighting.” “Bicorns prey especially upon unicorns. You cannot use magic against them. They feed off it. It will only make them stronger.” “What?!” Twilight risked a glance at Null. “What are we supposed to do then, gore them with our horns?” “As good a tactic as any.” The two unicorns simultaneously looked up at the stubby, rounded little cones on their head, and then at the long, wicked blades that belonged to the bicorns. “Can you take the six directly behind us?” “Yes!” the two answered together. “Good. I will take the first hundred in all the other directions.” The bicorns continued to close in. The circle contracted like the loop of a noose. Twilight swallowed again. Well, at least I already know what it’s like to be eaten alive. “Tell me,” she asked, figuring if they were about to die anyways there was nothing to lose “were you the ones pretending to be fake versions of us?” The leader laughed, a sound like razors scraping together. “Zat vas most likely ze Aetheliacht. It enjoys breaking little ponies like you.” “Oh. And the heartbeats?” The bicorn’s smile vanished. “Heartbeats?” Thump-thump. The circle stopped shrinking. The bicorns were all looking at each other. Even as monsters, their expressions were as clear as crystal: Did you hear that? Thump-thump. The leader’s pupils shrank into tiny dots. “Azlbach!” she shouted, rearing up into the air. “Knalak! Knalak mas fleugnen!” In an instant, the circle of predators turned into a herd of frightened prey. Where moments ago was an organized army of zealots was now a terrified swarm of confused animals. The bicorns ran scattered in every direction, all thought of releasing their accursed mother gone, trampling each other in their desperation to get away. Starswirl’s ears pressed down. “Somehow, I think things just went from bad to worse…” Thump-thump. Null snapped around. “Run!” Thump-thump. They took off through the temple, weaving through pillars. Null and Starswirl leapt down the stairs, covering the entire distance in a single bound. Twilight followed, but the shock of the landing sent bolts of pain through her injured chest. She cried out and bent down on one knee. “Twilight!” Starswirl shouted. Thump-thump. “I’m fine!” Twilight wheezed and stood back up. “What about the field of razors? We’ll be too slow moving through it!” “We don’t have to!” Starswirl shouted. “Look!” She pointed to a small herd of bicorns that were retreated through a hidden trapdoor down into secret tunnels. Null flew forward, knocking aside the last bicorn before it could close the stone door. “Quickly!” Thump-thump. The other two ponies jumped through the door, sliding down the long slope before the tunnel finally leveled out. Null followed, then slammed the door shut before the bicorn could follow. Thump-thump. The tunnel was a long, straight shot through the rock, roughly hewn from the stone—it looked as though the bicorns had slowly carved it out over the centuries. As they raced along it they occasionally raced past entrances into side tunnels, and through these they saw glimpses of more of the monstrous pony-like creatures fleeing, shouting in their guttural tongue. And screaming. At first they were but distant echoes that came occasionally, but gradually they started moving closer, louder. The ponies didn’t discover what they were screaming about until they ran across a crossroads with a bicorn—or rather, four hooves and a splatter on the ground of more blood than any creature of that size had any right to have. Thump-thump. Their hooves splashed in it as they passed by, leaving behind red hoofprints as they continued. Thump-thump. Pain shot through Twilight’s chest with every step now; she could feel the two ribs that the fake Starswirl had cracked shifting ever so slightly as she heaved every breath. Exhaustion battered her body. She was starting to fall behind. “Twilight!” Null shouted, “faster!” She had no breath with which to answer. She tried to shake her head in response, but the act threw off her balance. She stumbled. Thump-thump. “Twilight!” Starswirl cried. “I… can’t…” she wheezed, trying to pick herself up off the ground. “Just… g—AH!” Null swept one of his wings underneath her and flung her up onto her back. He looked at Starswirl. No words were necessary. Thump-thump. More and more screams sounded, the echoes of the last not yet having faded before a new one cried out, becoming a ceaseless, shivering, shrieking din. Thump-thump. From the darkness behind them tiny rivulets of blood raced across the floor, trickling in straight lines and turning at right angles. Thump-thump. The screams cut off, as suddenly as if someone had shut off a speaker. The blood was at their hooves now, overtaking them. Thump-thump. The tunnel began to melt, the stone softening beneath their hooves, every step leaving circular imprints in the ground as they ran. Thump-thump. The walls and ceiling dripped liquid stone, running down their backs and forming pools in their hoofprints. They were ankle-deep in the soup now, and slowing. Thump-thump. “AHH!” The ground beneath Starswirl’s hooves gave way, the stone sucking her in like quicksand. In seconds she was up to her neck. Thump-thump. “Starswirl!” Twilight grabbed the unicorn with her magic and wrenched her free of the floor, pulling her through the air towards them. Thump-thump. Null lifted off the ground, his wingtips almost touching the walls as they melted around them. “Almost there!” Thump-thump. Twilight swung around, grabbing Starswirl with her front hooves and wrapping her hind legs around Null. In that instant she gazed into the darkness behind them, and would forever wish she hadn’t. THUMP-THUMP. “Blast upwards!” Both unicorns simultaneously unleashed on the ceiling. A purple column of light erupted upwards, and the stone melted away from it like ice. THUMP-THUMP. “Hold on!” G-forces slammed the ponies as Null went vertical, wings clawing through the air, desperately digging for height. They soared through the hole made by their magic and burst out from the top of a stone cliff and into the open cavern of Tartarus. THUMP-THUMP. Thump-Thump. Thump-Thump. Thump-Thump… Null crashed onto the closest available roof. The three ponies were strewn across across thirty meters of stone tile. Twilight picked herself up and groaned. “Is it finally safe to say ‘We’re not going to die’?” Null rubbed his head and blinked several times. “As safe as one can be in Tartarus.”