//------------------------------//
// Chapter 6 
// Story: The Gatekeeper 
// by FanofAwesomeness 
//------------------------------//

	She laughed. Of all things she could have done, she laughed. And it was a very creepy, rasping, sinister laugh. “I accept your challenge, Gatekeeper.”
I took a slow breath as I looked at my enemy. Everything had fallen silent since my challenge and there were a few too many spectators for my liking.
“What is your weapon of choice?” I asked her.
She formed two swords out of pure energy and held them out toward me. “These are my weapons.”
I looked at her. I had no chance of winning this if I only used one weapon, but I would break the rules of the duel if I used more than the two she held now. Unless…
I reached back with my telekinesis and touched cold metal of the Red Steel Blade. I drew the Sword and my combat knife and faced my opponent. “My weapons of choice are these blades.”
We faced each other in front of the Gateway and faced off.
I attacked first, trying to head off any attacks she might have. I had to hit hard and fast if I had any chance of winning this fight. I brought the knife up and the sword around, trying as hard as I could to not tap the power within. I moved quickly, but not quite quickly enough.
I felt the blade cut over my injured shoulder. I could barely move my knife to intercept so I could keep it from cutting any deeper. I moved forward and felt gravity rearrange as I moved through the open Gateway.
I was holding the Sword and knife and brought them around in a swing that made a small slash across her chest, now that we were more equally sized. She moved through the portal to attack me, but was disoriented from the change to human and moved slowly enough for me to get in a clean attack.
I had done enough damage to her that she was actually breathing hard. I could see her moving a little slower with each strike.
Then she healed.
I could barely comprehend the regeneration in front of me. All of the hits I had made on her were healing before my eyes! She stood there with gashes closing rapidly.
And it gave me exactly the time I needed to get in one more strike.
I swung hard to bring the blade across her legs to cripple her, but it hit hard shell. She looked at me and I looked into her eyes. She moved her hand swiftly, already adapted to the new body, and threw me a few feet away.
“Yield,” she said in that same rasping voice. “While you still can.”
I stared at her and held her gaze as I pulled myself to my feet. I brought the sword forward and it was shot away by a beam of pure energy. I brought the knife around and my hand was grabbed and twisted to drop it. I could only watch as she stared into my eyes, mouth opening wide, showing razor-sharp teeth.
I could see the explosion and feel the heat. I could hear the ringing in my ears and the guilt in my gut. Everything was as if I was back at that explosion, maybe even the fight at the base.
I couldn’t fail again.
I reached deep inside me and brought my powers into focus to build a solid barrier in front of me. She hit the shield with enough force to bounce me off the ground. My vision exploded into stars and I could barely keep my focus on the battle.
All I needed to do, though, was reach down and bring the Sword up.
The upward slice was supposed to hit her hard enough to stun her so I could get ahead in this fight. What really happened was a backlash of energy from the Sword throwing me back and lashing out at my target. It hit her harder than I had imagined and she hit the ground with a thud. I could feel my head almost splitting from the impact against a wall.
I pushed myself to move forward. Step by step, I neared my enemy. I could see fear in those black orbs, somehow. I could tell she was done.
“You have won,” she admitted. “I honor my deals.”
Then I felt a rush of relief as power flooded through me. My vision sharpened and I could touch the minds of ever creature on the other side of the portal that was under her control a few seconds earlier.
I pulled out energy cuffs, knowing they would be the only things keeping her from destroying this world. She may not have control over the Changelings anymore, but she was still powerful.
The former Queen of the Changelings suddenly stiffened, looking at me. “You have not seen your last foe, nor you most powerful. You will soon face another such as yourself and a choice that will destroy you.”
“What are you talking about?” I asked her.
Before she could answer, the feds had shown up. They came in between us and started to move her towards a prison designed to hold enemies as powerful as myself.
I looked across the Gateway at my purple friend. “Any ideas what that was?”
Twilight looked at me, her left foreleg off the ground. “It sounded like a sort of prophecy,” she said.
“Didn’t I say something about those?!” I exclaimed. “Every time something really significant happens after another, there’s some prophecy about whoever was at both. I HATE prophecies.”
She chuckled lightly. “That’s what you normally look like?”
“Talk about a sudden topic shift,” I said. “Yeah. This is what I’m used to.”
“You look strange,” she said.
“Says the talking purple unicorn,” I said, earning a laugh. “Now you understand why I was laughing.”
“I guess,” she said, looking up at me. “You’re going to stay there?”
“I have to,” I said. “This is where I belong.”
“Then this is goodbye?” she asked.
“Nope,” I said, grinning. “I may have to stay here because it’s my home dimension and I have a specific job here, but that doesn’t mean I can’t visit you in yours.”
She looked at me with a smile on my face. “Next time I see you, I’ve got to introduce you to one of my other friends. You’re a lot like her.”
“I’ll take that as a compliment,” I said. “Until next time, Twilight Sparkle.”
“See you soon, Gatekeeper,” she replied.
I reached out and closed the Gateway with my abilities. Sealing the path cut off my control over the Changelings, so I really hoped they weren’t attacking again.
I walked up to one of the cars and sat on the hood. All I could do was waiting for my friend at the head of this government operation to show up so I could explain everything anyways.
It had been a long couple of weeks, and it was time to sit down and relax for a good, long while.