//------------------------------//
// What Lies Beyond 
// Story: What Lies Beyond 
// by Sparx 
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What Lies Beyond


Rainbow Dash opened her eyes, blinking a few times. She brought herself to stand and tried to spread her wings. They weren't damaged, just sore, she'd have to keep off of them for a while. "Where am I?" She looked around the new terrain, gathering in where she was. She looked down at the black and yellowy green soil, scattered about were roots that led to dead and twisted trees, contorted in multiple, disjointed angles. Not a single leaf hung from the branches, but brown and yellow flakes decorated the air as the wind blew by. The area around Rainbow Dash was open and wide, the trees seemed almost frightened of one another, keeping their distance. The wind whispered just enough to put Dash to an unease. The smell of the earth was something rotten and poisoned; and standing in it was difficult as she felt herself slowly sink. "Ooookay, definitely not Las Pegasus. Let's keep going, just stay on guard Iris." Dash continued to walk forward, dissecting the land with her eyes for any threat. In the distance, a sharp cliff face grew into Rainbow Dash's vision. As she stepped closer she could make out a cave carved into the cliff. "One of these things again." She swallowed hard. "Let's get going then."

Dash entered the cave, her hooves setting down on hard stone and moss, a welcome change to the unsteady, sinking mud outside. She continued to walk into the cave, every step down the stone hall echoed against the walls and rocks. It gradually became darker, harder to see, and even tighter in space. Eventually she saw a light appear in front her. It shined a rather uninviting red, but she saw no other way forward, and pressed on. As Rainbow Dash emerged into the light, she felt the cave become hot. She took in her surroundings once again, and what she saw was rather unsettling. The cave had opened up  to a much larger passage, the stone that formed it was sharp and jagged, the light bathed everything in a fiery red glow. From the right cavern wall to the left was a jagged stone barrier that nearly reached the top of the room, in the very center, the barrier formed a gate, but standing before that gate is what sent Dash into a violent quiver of fear. Sleeping in front of the gates was the three headed dog that had attacked the town, the one Twilight called Cerberus.

"So then, that must mean..." Dash looked back at the gate and barrier. "This place... Is Tartarus? If so, then this is the place that all of the greatest ancient enemies to Equestria are sealed." Rainbow Dash remembered the problems and trouble that Discord had caused while he was about. And he's kept out as a stone decoration. So what lies beyond this wall, must be something really, REALLY bad. Rainbow Dash trembled at the very thought. A story came to her mind, one that she heard about in school when she was but a little filly. The mythology of the titans that meant harm to the land before it was known as Equestria, and how it took the combination of the princesses at their prime to seal them away. "Oh shit! I shouldn't be here. I really shouldn't be here." Rainbow Dash panicked in a hushed voice. "I need to get out of here right away!" 

Rainbow Dash turned to exit the cave, but suddenly felt a shake at her flank. Iris was rattling in it's sheath, but only slightly. "What is it? Iris..." Dash looked over her shoulder and saw a figure floating by. It looked to be a pegasus flying over towards the gate. When if came above Cerberus' head, the pegasus stopped, Rainbow Dash felt a compulsion to warn her kin. "Hey! Be careful buddy, it's dangerous around here! Come on, let's get out of-" Before the blue pony could finish, the pegasus dropped at a high speed onto the center head of the lying dog, causing it to yelp loudly and cause an echo in the cave, then fall silent once more. "...here..." Rainbow Dash looked on in awe. The feat that she just saw, was both awesome, and horrifying. Iris rattled violently, much like it did back at the mirror. Dash took three steps back, her jaw agape in terror. "Nopony should be able to do something like that, not even AJ. Who... Who is that?" The pegasus gave a sinister grin from the back of the massive dog and the gates slowly started to crack open. "This is insane. Cerberus is out! The ancient enemies of Equestria are behind that gate!" In her panic, Rainbow Dash called out. "Stop! Do you have any idea what you're doing? Knock it off!" The pegasus, didn't respond. Instead, the gates opened and the unnamed pony walked through. Iris continued to rattle hard in it's sheath, but Dash didn't realize from all that had just happened. 

"Oh crap! What do I do, what do I do, what do I do what do I do what do I do, OH CELESTIA WHAT DO I DO?!" Dash could feel the various parts of her mind working themselves to the point of exhaustion, she was almost certain she was going to lose her mind. "Alright Dash, calm down. Think about this, you're an adventurer now, what would Daring Do?" Dash thought hard, wracking her brain on what would be the appropriate course of action. If she were her hero, how would she approach this? After a moment, Rainbow Dash looked back to the gate. "I have to stop them. This could mean trouble for Ponyville, no, ALL of Equestria. I can't let that happen!" Dash gathered herself and started galloping towards the gates to Tartarus with Iris strapped and ready. 

After she passed the gates, Rainbow gazed upon the prison of the titans. Instead of the red stone like behind her or the fire and magma she was expecting, she saw something rather different. The ground at her hooves was clean green grass and various flowers watered to perfect health. Trees and a red road were the only other things visible, the top of the room was too far to be seen. "What the hay is this? Not any prison I'd think of. Unless maybe Fluttershy ended up blowing her top again, however incredibly rare that would be." Dash continued to walk down the road, keeping alert for anything suspicious. Iris was still shaking but not as violently as before. Dash tested her wings, still sore, she wouldn't be able to get away if she wanted. After five minutes of walking, Rainbow Dash found herself at what she assumed was the halfway point in the road, she was able to see another gated wall up ahead, in the same fashion as the one she passed through. "An entire passage without any sign of titans. I don't know if this is a blessing, or something I should be nervous about..." She continued ahead carefully, keeping her eyes wide and aware before she noticed something off about the ground she was walking on. She felt the ground begin to shake, and Iris' steady quiver became a harsh quake. "That's not good." Dash darted her head left to right to try and look for the cause of the sudden tremor, what she saw threw her off a little. By the gate, the very earth was swirling and standing up by itself, a literal tornado of soil and grass. 

The mass of twisting earth continued to grow taller and wider, sucking in the plants and dirt until all that was visible was the red stone seen on the road. Eventually the twisting and churning came to a stop, and the giant mound of green and brown stopped it's movements for a moment. Dash couldn't take her eyes off of the incredible structure, whether it be the power of the titans or a titan itself, it was amazing to see. Then the mass began to move once again. From the very top, a lump formed, pushing itself out in a round ball. The ball took shape as it filled itself with holes and formed a face, giving out a deep, intimidating roar. The mass reformed where it's shoulders should be two long stretches of earth erupted, forming arms, hands, then fingers. Dash looked up at the creature in terror, Iris clattering like mad at her flank. But the monster ignored her, letting out another roar and looking towards the gate. "What they hay has that guy's attention?" Rainbow Dash turned her attention to where the earthy monster was focused and saw the same pegasus that had taken down Cerberus. "That pony. Is she planning to take down this thing too?" Dash watched as the other pony floated in place before the gate, staring the monster down, face to face. The monster swung it's giant arm towards the pegasus, clasping it's massive fingers down, causing Dash to lose sight of the pony. 

Surprise after surprise was happening for Dash today, for the next thing she saw still managed to amaze her after all of what had happened. The titan's hand began to give off a strange black smoke, and eventually the hand began to blacken as well. The "Infection" as it seemed to be, was spreading down the creature's arm, and it let out various groans that sounded like pain. The smoke began to billow forth from wherever the black touched. Once the entire arm was engulfed, it began to rumble and shake separately from the body. Eventually the rumbling gave way to cracking and crumbling, and the arm fell to the stone in large black boulders, smashing against the red stone. 

Once the hand crumbled away, Dash saw that the pegasus was still floating where she was, wings flapping just like before. "Oh my Celestia... How in Equestria did she do that?" Rainbow Dash was quivering almost as hard as Iris was in it's sheath. "That pony... did they just use magic, or what? What the hay? Am I losing my mind? Is this a dream?" Rainbow Dash smacked herself in the head with a forehoof, using the pain to verify the reality of her situation. "Alright, so what I'm seeing right now... is either very dangerous, or... something else." Rainbow Dash's breath became quick and shallow, she was hyperventilating. "I think I'm going crazy!"

The mass of earth roared at the floating pony before it fell back into the ground it emerged from, filling the red stone with grass and flowers once more. The gate cracked open like the last one, allowing access for the strange pegasus to fly through. Rainbow Dash could only gather herself to shake off what she saw and follow after. What the hay do they have planned?"

Dash waited by the gate for a few minutes this time. If there were any more titans, she didn't want to get involved, and this pegasus seemed to know what they were doing at the very least. It was only five minutes before Rainbow Dash felt herself grow bored and peer through the doors of the gate. As she approached, she began to feel the air heat up fast. The next room was the first thing that Dash found herself actually able to predict. The room was identical to the last one in shape, however, it couldn't have been further from the atmosphere. Magma and fire coated the floors instead of flowers and grass. "Glad I decided to sit this one out. Phew, I don't know if I'm glad or terrified to see something I could expect today. I'll just keep the rest of my ideas to myself." Dash trotted through the doors and down the red road. Her hooves burned to the touch but there wasn't much she could do while her wings were recovering, the best she could manage was using them slightly to fan herself as she walked. Iris had calmed down to a slight wiggle. Ten minutes of the heated trot and Rainbow found herself to the next gate. "Finally, I don't think I have enough sweat to go through this much longer." Passing through the next set of doors, Dash saw no sign of a threat as she continued, Iris was rather silent compared to how hard it was shaking earlier. The next room was rather eventless, but full of gold, gems, food and a scent of musk. Every time Dash would step towards a bit of food or something shiny, Iris would rattle like mad, and Dash would pull away. Strangely, while stepping through this room, Dash couldn't help but feel in need of some sexy mare to be around, all she could think about was sex and it wouldn't leave her mind through the whole walk. 

She noticed the rooms were growing gradually smaller as she managed through the room in only three minutes, and thinking about it, she would have gotten through the magma room a lot faster if she hadn't been sweating so hard. However the next room changed things. Walking through, Dash felt her energy drain, and the very force of gravity increase. "Oh hell..." Dash panted as she walked down the road. It took her a full fifteen minutes to drag herself to the gates of the rather unimpressive, plain, white room. "I've never... felt so... exhausted before..." Dash pulled herself through the gate as quickly as she could, regaining her stamina and energy. "Much better, now let's move on to-"

"SLAUGHTER!" A large, armored alicorn shouted as an axe embedded itself into the ground in front of Rainbow Dash. She looked up in horror and saw the titanic creature with blades, axes, hammers, and various other weapons floating around it's body. It looked down upon a pegasus floating in front of him, cocky and unimpressed. The pony Dash was following. 

"You no longer hold your position! I've come to remove you from this place." The pegasus called out. A sword came swinging at the floating pony, but the blade vanished into a black mass, much like the arm of the first titan. The pegasus flew over towards the alicorn and simply placed a hoof onto his fore head, and he too deteriorated into a black, crumbling solid, until all that was left was a few black boulders. Dash felt her heart race and Iris quake. The gate opened quickly, allowing access to the unnamed pegasus and Dash. The unknown pony flew through with Dash silently peeking behind one of the giant doors. The room beyond the gate was small, but completely pitch black, four marble steps led up to a slab, where what looked to be a scythe was stuck.  "At last, welcome back old friend." The pegasus grabbed the wooden staff in their mouth, and tugged the blade from the marble. The instant this happened, Shadows and screams flew from the marble, tainting it a deep violet. 

The unholy shrieks from the stone forced Rainbow Dash's forehooves to her ears. No longer was Iris simply shaking, it was literally forcing Rainbow Dash back where she had entered. Without any objection, Dash busted out into a full sprint. "This is ridiculous, that pony is trouble! I have to get out of here! My wings!" Dash spread her wings. They were ready to go, at least enough to get her out of here. She took of like a bullet, forcing herself out of the gates. In her adrenaline, Dash didn't take notice of the amplified gravity, the urge to fuck anything that moved, or even the heat of the magma, she simply flew as fast as she could manage, forcing the air to break and give her way, a sonic rainboom. She fired out of the cave like a live canon round, and didn't stop flying. Her pain may have flown her this far last night, but her fear flew her faster. "I have to warn everypony. This is very very bad!"




In the cave, Mono Dash rested the scythe against her neck as she watched after Rainbow Dash. "Poor child. Looks like I've scared her off. No worries. It's not everyday a pony observes a titan's takeover. Now... I'll need replacements." The violet pegasus snickered as the shadows crawled up behind her, following their returning queen. "I'm hoooo-oooome. Should have stayed in your peaceful town, 'Dashie.'"