Chapter 7: The Junk Room
The Elmheim Temple, Deep Jungle, Elmheim, Gaia, Winter, 1002 C.E.
Daring Do awoke to find a hard, stone surface beneath her and something heavy and alive lying on top of her. She quickly jumped up and the thing on top of her tumbled to the ground next to her. She turned and sighed upon seeing that what had been on top of her was an unconscious Clockwork. It was here that Daring got a good whiff of the air of the room she was now in. It smelled of dust and candles. Upon looking around the room, it wasn't hard to figure out why.
The room that Daring and Clockwork were in was filled with rows upon rows of wax figures. Earth ponies, pegasi, unicorns, alicorns, minotaurs, rabbits, dragons, zebras, mules, donkeys and any other creature that came to Daring's mind was represented by at least ten wax figures in the room. Daring wasn't one to normally get creeped out but the wax figures were doing a pretty good job at doing so. Their eyes were glassy and emotionless and glimmered slightly in the light of the lanterns that dangled from the walls like loose limbs. Daring soon found herself quickly looking in every direction. Everywhere she looked, there was a wax figure waiting to greet her with its frozen, dusty face. I think it's time to get out of this room and find the others, Daring decided in thought as she hastily slung the unconscious Clockwork on her back and started searching for an exit.
The room of wax figures was huge, to say the least. It was almost like a temple in itself. The thick smell of dust and candles lingered in every inch of the room and the glass-like eyes of the figures seemed to follow Daring wherever she went. "They're only wax figures. They're only wax figures," Daring mumbled to herself as she walked past a wax representation of a spider the size of six grown stallions. A series of cold, strong shivers shot up her spine and she silently wished for Clockwork to wake up so that she would no longer be practically alone in the room with the figures.
"Creepy? Aren't they?" chuckled a familiar voice from the shadows.
Daring quickly identified the voice as that of the crazy Rainbow Dash. "Let's just skip the taunting through the dark and you just come on out," Daring sighed. Rainbow Dash emerged from a cluster of pegasi wax figures and grinned sadistically at Daring. "So, we meet yet again."
"You talk as if that's a bad thing." Rainbow balanced her electrified rod in her hooves as she kept her focus on Daring.
Daring placed Clockwork on the floor and pulled a whip out of her backpack. "Let's just get this over with. I have some friends to find."
Rainbow laughed in response and stored her rod away. "Now, we could just go one-on-one again but that wouldn't be fun for me." The cyan pegasus reached into her cloak and pulled out what appeared to be a magical remote of sorts. "That nice unicorn gave this to me when I returned to the temple. Let's see how handy this proves to be."
Rainbow proceeded to click the button on the remote and every head of every wax figure in the room turned to look at Daring. Daring felt as if a rock had dropped into the pit of her stomach. "Oh you've got to be kidding me."
"You may tear her apart, wax minions," chuckled Rainbow as she smiled at the wax figures.
Daring gulped as the figures began to come alive and slowly surround her and the still unconscious Clockwork. As much as I'd normally love to go tearing through an army of creepy wax figures, I don't have the time. I need to find the others! Daring thought as the wax attackers drew in closer. Daring quickly slung Clockwork back onto her back and took off into the air. It was a little bit harder than usual due to the extra weight but Daring managed to get some good air. However, as soon as she began to fly her way towards the nearest exit, the wax figures with wings, such as the pegasi and the dragons, took flight and headed straight for her. Daring swerved away from a group of wax pegasi and just barely dodged the spiked tail of a wax dragon. A cluster of wax parasprites dived for her and she managed to get out of their way but grazed one of her legs in the process.
"What...what's happening?" asked a voice from Daring's back.
Daring gasped a bit at the sudden awakening of Clockwork. "Now?! You're waking up now?!" Daring asked as she flew under a pair of wax dragons.
"What...what's going on?!"
"Just hold on tight!" Daring increased the flapping of her wings and dived towards an exit at the far side of the room. Clockwork grasped onto Daring tightly as the dusty air blew through his mane. Daring dodged a few more groups of flying wax figures as well as avoided projectiles being thrown up by the figures on the ground. "We're almost there!"
"Good! 'Cause I think I'm about to be sick!"
"Don't you dare-" Daring let out a scream of pain as a massive, electrical shock unexpectedly coursed through her body. Her muscles went numb and she proceeded to fall to the ground below. She and Clockwork hit the ground hard just a few yards from the exit.
After a series of rolls on the ground, Clockwork stood up and got his senses back. "Daring!" He ran to the weakened pegasus's side and was grazed by an electrical burst. He looked up to see the crazy Rainbow Dash approaching him and Daring, her electrical rod at the ready, and the army of wax closing in.
"I think it's time we finished this," chuckled Rainbow Dash.
"Clockwork...run," croaked Daring.
"No! I'm not leaving you! Besides," Clockwork stated before looking back towards the exit to see that a group of wax gorillas was blocking it now, "I don't think I could if I wanted to." Clockwork gave a hard gulp. He pulled Daring closer and balanced the injured adventurer in his forelegs as the army of wax drew in closer.
Suddenly, there was an explosion of purple smoke that seemed to emanate from the center of the room. As the smoke spread out, the wax figures melted into pools of liquid mush. Within seconds, Clockwork, Daring, and Rainbow Dash were situated in the middle of a thick sea of melted wax. "What...WHAT THE HELL?!" snapped the crazy Rainbow Dash. A giddy laugh echoed through the room and the three ponies turned to see a strange creature approaching them.
"That turned out a bit messier than I had expected," chuckled Rumplestiltskin as he approached the ponies. Rainbow aimed the rod at Rumplestiltskin but he simply sent it flying away with a wave of his hand. "You're going to have to try harder than that if you want to hurt me, dearie."
"I'm just getting warmed up!" Rainbow flew towards Rumplestiltskin but he waved his hand again and she froze in place.
"I'm in a bit of a hurry so I don't really have time for a fight. Since I'm feeling a bit generous, and the deal doesn't include me killing you, I'll just send you back to your little master." Rumplestiltskin waved his hand one last time, a vortex opened up in the mush of melted wax beneath Rainbow Dash, and the frozen Rainbow Dash fell into the vortex and disappeared. Rumplestiltskin let out another chuckle as he turned his attention to Clockwork and Daring. "Your welcome."
"Thank you?" Clockwork replied. Although he was happy to have been saved from the crazy Rainbow Dash and the wax figures, he still couldn't help but notice a dark power emanating from his rescuer. "And you are?"
"Rumplestiltskin!" replied the magic man. "You can thank your friend Matilda for making the deal with me that encouraged me to save your lives."
"Matilda?"
"Yes! Oh and speaking of her, we best be getting back to her now so we can wait."
"Wait? For what?"
"For your other little friends to get what I asked them to get. Off we go!" Rumplestiltskin gave a childish chuckle and, before Clockwork could ask anything else, the three of them disappeared in a puff of purple smoke.
After passing through a hallway of nothing but yellow wallpaper, Colgate and Bright Eyes entered a classroom filled with dusty chairs and piles of old school equipment. The room was dark and the only source of light was the luminous moonlight pouring in through the old windows. The wooden floor creaked with every step they took and various critters scuttered across its surface. "Creepy," said Bright Eyes.
"This whole temple is creepy," Colgate added. "The way its rooms change. It's like we're walking through a blender of rooms and hallways from different realities." She approached one of the windows and peered outside. A castle spread out before her and a vast lake could be seen glimmering in the distance. "Sometimes, I forget we're even in the temple. It's almost as if we're in these other worlds altogether."
"Actually, you're in both," came a voice from the shadows. Colgate jumped and swung around. Her jaw dropped as she saw herself emerging from a dark corner in the room.
"What the hay?!" gasped Bright Eyes.
"Don't worry! I'm not a threat," explained the other Colgate.
"Then...what are you?" Colgate asked as she awkwardly examined her double. "A clone?"
"No. I'm you from a few minutes in the future."
"What?"
"I know it's confusing. Trust me...er...yourself. I'm...er...you still don't quite get it."
Bright Eyes's eyes began to spin around like tops. "My head hurts," she sighed.
"You'll understand once you get to the junk room...hopefully," said the future Colgate.
"The junk room?" Colgate asked.
"Well...that's what I decided to name it." A look of realization appeared on future Colgate's face and she began making her way towards one of the desks. "Let's see. Ah! Here it is! The desk with the drawings!" Colgate looked at the desk that her future self was approaching and saw that a great number of scribbles had been drawn on its surface. Future Colgate stood in front of the desk and smirked at Colgate and Bright Eyes. "Don't worry, Colgate, you'll get everything right. And, Bright Eyes, I hope you're waiting on the other side."
And, with that, future Colgate lifted the lid of the desk. A bright, white light emanated from within the open desk. Colgate watched as her future self jumped into the light. The lid of the desk slammed shut and the light vanished. "What the hell?!" Colgate asked as she ran over to the desk in question and lifted the lid. There was nothing inside the desk aside from some old paper, used chewing gum, and a family of cockroaches. She let the lid fall back into place and walked back to Bright Eyes.
"I'm guessing the junk room's going to be an interesting place," the pegasus deduced.
"Yeah...I'm just a little nervous about what's waiting for me on the other side of that desk portal."
Using Rumplestiltskin's map, Colgate and Bright Eyes safely made their way through a few more rooms on their journey to find true love. One room they ended up in was filled to the brim with stuffed animals and quilts. Bright Eyes enjoyed the room until the toys began to come alive and say threatening things, which encouraged the two ponies to get out of there.
The next room was nothing but a simple, gray, concrete basement with fluorescent lights on the ceiling emanating a bright shower of white light. However, the two mares weren't alone in the room for moving about were more echoes of ponies, people, and creatures from other times and worlds. The echoes were blurry, disfigured, and muffled. Soft fragments of dialogue moved with them.
"Because you're my friend, Seaweed-"
"See, I'm not a monster. I'm just ahead of the-"
"The evil time will be over and-"
"My friends are my p-"
"We're in a land without magic-"
"This one knows me as I know him. The killer of his own-"
"Now, look who's a liar. Anypony can plainly see that I'm not-"
"I will only truly have left this school when none here are loyal to-"
"I am that male. Artemis the Hunter. I hunted-"
"I met this six year old child with this blank, pale, emotionless face, and the blackest-"
"Let's move on," Colgate said suddenly as several chills traveled down her spine.
"Agreed," Bright Eyes added with a quick nod.
A puke green hallway waited for them following the concrete room of echoes, a simple temple-like chamber came after that, and a room filled with sunflowers and roses was after that. Colgate made sure to carefully follow Rumplestiltskin's map and, with each room she and Bright Eyes passed through, she could feel herself growing closer and closer to the room that held what the magical man needed.
After exiting a room filled with photos of creepy dolls and maps of strange countries, Colgate found herself getting smacked in the face with a branch. She pushed the branch aside to see a small forest spread out before her. "A forest?" she questioned aloud as she walked her way into a small clearing in the center of the forest room.
"What else does this temple have?" Bright Eyes asked in wonder as she stared up at the starry sky above them. A blue, electronic wave phased across the sky and Bright Eyes gave a disappointed sigh. "It's fake."
"Obviously." Colgate examined the map closely. "The room we're in has several exits but the exit we're looking for is the one on the...right!" Colgate took a step to the right when she noticed something appear on the map.
"What's wrong?"
Colgate took another look at the map and gave a confused stare. "That's weird."
"What is?"
"A message just appeared on the map."
Bright Eyes stepped closer to Colgate and examined the map. Just off to the side, a simple sentence had appeared: Look out for temporal separation, dearies. "Temporal separation?" Bright Eyes asked as she took a look around the room. "What do you think that-" Bright Eyes froze as she turned back to Colgate only to see that the blue unicorn had vanished. "Colgate?" Bright Eyes began to panic as she spun around in a circle and proceeded to yell in every direction. "Colgate? Colgate?! COLGATE!"
"Sweetie, calm down," said a familiar voice. Bright Eyes turned to see Matilda emerging from the left side of the room.
"Matilda? How did you-"
"I don't have time to explain. I just need you to know that everything's going to be okay."
"What about-"
"Colgate's fine. She'll be back in a moment." Matilda's face suddenly grew very somber. She slowly and awkwardly approached Bright Eyes and gave her a quick, yet tight, hug. "No matter what happens, everything's going to be okay. Don't forget that." Bright Eyes looked deep into Matilda's eyes and nodded. Matilda smiled back. "Good. Oh and thanks for the heads up on that chandelier."
Bright Eyes eyed Matilda curiously. "What chandelier?"
"Yeah. That's an odd phrase," stated a voice behind Bright Eyes. The confused pegasus turned around to see Colgate standing there, holding the map. "Temporal separation...it sounds like some more of that-" Colgate felt the air knocked out of her lungs as Bright Eyes lunged forward and wrapped her forelegs around her. "Whoa! What's all that about?"
"You disappeared!" Bright Eyes exclaimed.
Colgate gave a confused look. "I did? When?"
"Just now! You were here and then you were gone!"
"Really? I don't remember."
"Matilda saw it too. Right, Matilda?" Bright Eyes turned around and was shocked to see that the mare with the brim hat had vanished.
"Matilda? What about her? I thought she was with Rumplestiltskin."
"But she was just here! She appeared when you disappeared."
The two mares looked around the forest room and gulped. "I have a feeling that this temporal separation had something to do with what you saw and I believe it's time for us to continue on our way," said Colgate.
"I'm with you on that one," Bright Eyes replied. The two mares then hastily made their way towards the designated exit.
After passing through a few uneventful rooms, Colgate and Bright Eyes entered a room that sent a few shivers down their spines, especially Colgate's. It was a large room that was covered in an orange haze, which was being created by the dozens of yellow ceiling lights. It was also filled with tons upon tons of broken and/or forgotten objects. Old toys, torn books, ripped dolls, aged pictures, burnt tables, smashed crates, rotten food, and almost any other type of leftover junk that one could think of was stacked about the room. Bright Eyes turned to Colgate and gulped. "This is it, isn't it?" she asked.
"I think so," Colgate replied as she took a few steps forward. "The junk room." The sound of shuffling papers could be heard and one of the smaller stacks seemed to fall over on its own. "Keep your guard up."
"Don't worry. I am." The two mares turned to each other, nodded, and began to make their way into the depths of the room.
The room proved to be much larger than either Colgate or Bright Eyes had expected. It seemed to go on for eternity in almost every direction. Bright Eyes flew up to try and get a better look but it didn't help for there seemed to be powerful magic working in the room that prevented her from flying too high. "What does the map say?" Bright Eyes asked as she landed.
"Just keep going straight," Colgate replied. "The room we're looking for is after this one."
"At least we're almost done with this side quest."
"Something tells me that finding the source of the rifts isn't going to be that much easier."
Bright Eyes nodded and sighed. "You're probably right." They paused for a moment before continuing on their way. "I hope the others are alright."
"They should be."
"I dunno. I don't entirely trust that Rumplestiltskin."
"Me neither. Celestia knows why Matilda would ever strike a deal with him. But, he did save us from Thalia and Jeff."
"Thalia...I've heard that name before."
"Haven't I told you about her?"
"No."
"I thought I had. I guess I was focused on other things."
"And for good reason."
The two mares chuckled. "Yeah. Anyway, I think I know where you heard that name. It was when we were in that girl's room that collapsed and the girl mentioned a Ms. Thalia."
"Oh yeah! I remember! Who exactly is she?"
"According to Matilda, she's a future, evil clone of Twilight."
"Oh...wait a minute. When did Matilda tell you that?"
Colgate gulped a bit. "Earlier this morning."
"Why? Did you see her before we entered the temple?"
Colgate exhaled deeply. "Yeah. I saw her and Jeff last night. That's how I found out that they were waiting for us somewhere in the temple. I told Matilda about it in the morning."
"But neither of you told me, Clockwork, or Daring Do? Why?!"
Colgate froze. "I...I don't know. The only reason I can think up is that we didn't want to worry any of you anymore than you already were."
"Well that's a dumb reason. A little heads up would have been helpful!"
"I know and...listen, Bright Eyes. I'm sorry about not telling you about Thalia, but I'm not sure this is the best time to be discussing this."
Bright Eyes rolled her inverted eyes and agreed. "Fine. We're continuing this later," she scoffed.
"I'm counting on it," Colgate replied with a guilty, sad smile. Suddenly, Colgate caught a strong whiff of something. Up until this point, the air in the junk room had smelled surprisingly bland. However, now there was an incredibly strong and disgusting odor in the air. It smelled like a combination of rotting fish, body odor, and a public restroom that hadn't been cleaned in months. Colgate and Bright Eyes clenched their noses and coughed. "Dear Luna! Where the hay is that coming from?!"
"I don't know but it's making me sick!" Bright Eyes replied. Just then, something appeared in Bright Eyes's line of sight. It was a figure. Shaped like a pony. Slowly approaching them. Blurry at first due to how far away it was. "Somepony's here with us." Bright Eyes cautiously took a step in the direction of the approaching figure. "Uh...hello? Who are you?"
At first, there was hardly a response. Then there was a loud, sick groan. As the figure drew closer and closer, Colgate and Bright Eyes realized that it was no friend to them. It appeared to be a stallion with torn, brown hair and a faded, tan coat. Bits and pieces of its body were missing and it had a look of uncontrollable hunger in its rotting eyes. "Is that what I think it is?!" Colgate gasped.
"I think so."
The zombie pony let out a loud shriek and Colgate and Bright Eyes watched as several more trudging figures began to emerge from the various stacks of junk. "I think now would be a good time to run."
The two friends turned away from the zombies and began to gallop as quickly as possible towards the designated exit on the map. With every junk tower they passed, more and more zombie ponies seemed to appear and begin following them. The once silent room of junk was now filled with the groans, shrieks, and screams of zombie ponies. "How many of them are there?!" Bright Eyes asked.
"I don't know and I don't want to find out!" Colgate replied. She took another look at the map as she ran. "This way!"
Colgate and Bright Eyes turned a corner only to see a sea of zombies marching towards them. "Where did they all come from?!"
"How are we supposed to get past them?" Bright Eyes extended her wings. Colgate looked at her and shook her head. "It's too risky. You might not be able to get enough air."
"What other options do we have? You can't teleport and we're being surrounded. I have to fly us out of here! Now grab onto my hind legs!" Colgate didn't take up much time to agree to Bright Eyes's plan. She hastily grabbed onto her friend's hind legs. Bright Eyes then jumped into the air and flapped her wings vigorously. The foreign magic in the room didn't allow them to get too high but they were able to get high enough to fly straight over the hungry zombies.
There's so many, Colgate thought as she looked down at the hundreds of screaming, rotting faces. This whole place is a living nightmare.
"Are we getting close?" Bright Eyes asked as she turned around a corner.
Colgate quickly glanced at the map, which was currently being held in her teeth. "Yeah. We're nearing the door," she replied through her closed teeth. She looked past Bright Eyes and could see one of the walls of the junk room drawing near. A feeling of hope and relief began to rise up within her when, out of the blue, something flew up and smashed right into Bright Eyes. It had been a chair that one of the zombies had picked up and thrown.
Everything seemed to slow down as Colgate felt her grasp on Bright Eyes's legs slip away. The map flew up out of her shocked mouth and got caught on the zipper of one of Bright Eyes's bags. Barely a second and a half after the chair had hit Bright Eyes, the two mares slammed into separate towers of junk. While Bright Eyes landed on the stable top of one stack, Colgate collided with the side of another and, along with a small avalanche of various objects, began to fall towards the zombie horde below. Colgate could hear Bright Eyes screaming her name as she fell but it was blurred and distant. An old mattress broke Colgate's fall but it didn't stop her from getting weakened by the recoil. All she could manage to do was look up as the zombies closed in around her. How can this be it? This certainly can't be the end. I've survived so many near-death encounters already. I can't die here in a zombie horde. It...just doesn't make any sense, she thought. Suddenly, something above her caught her eye. A sparkling, red robe was falling down towards her. It seemed to give off a warm, welcoming aura that discouraged the zombies from coming any closer to her. As if being instructed by an outside force, Colgate reached up towards the robe. After what felt like an eternity and then some, the robe concluded its descent and wrapped itself around Colgate. Instantly, the cries of the zombies and Bright Eyes's screams faded away. All Colgate could hear now was the sound of her own heart beating. A refreshing chill washed over her before she proceeded to fly away into the darkness.