//------------------------------//
// Gateway 
// Story: Shadows of the Crystal Empire 
// by AdrianVesper 
//------------------------------//


Gateway


The heavy oaken negotiating table pitched onto its side, shattering chairs beneath its mass. The Grey Wizard’s scrambled back as it came to rest with a boom, forced into the narrow space between the tabletop and the wall.

Twilight stared at the underside of the table, her mind suddenly clear. With a surge of power, she lit her horn. She needed no spell to push it with all of her might. Contingencies flared to life when she smashed the wizards between table and the wall with a tremendous crack. She kept pushing.

“Dispel!” Twilight shouted over a shrill scream.

In her peripheral vision, she glimpsed a glow from Fluttershy’s eyes, then a wave of pale green light rippled across the floor and washed over the tipped table. Twilight briefly let up the pressure on her massive bludgeon. One of the grey-robed unicorn’s squirmed free and pitched onto his side. Before her could turn his head, Applejack pinned him to the wall with Truthseeker’s twin spikes. Light flared from behind the table.

Twilight smashed the table against the wall again. The light vanished, accompanied by the distinctive pop of a failed spell. More screams. She pulled back, and smashed again, and again, and again. The tabletop was her hammer, and the stone wall her anvil, and she kept striking until all she heard was the squelch of tortured flesh. Finally, she let her aura of her levitation fade. The table settled on its side with whatever was left of the Grey Wizard’s wedged between it and the wall.

A trickle of blood oozed out from beneath the edge of the table. Twilight snapped her gaze to the door. Fleur was gone, her chair empty. Twilight blinked, realizing she was still sitting, and eased herself out of her chair. “She got away,” Twilight said, unable to keep the disappointment out of her tone. “Wasn’t somepony watching her?” She looked at her friends.

“The... hell...” Applejack breathed.

“You didn’t even flinch,” Rarity said.

Rainbow glared at Twilight. “You could have told me that was the plan!”

A raspy, prolonged wheeze drew Twilight’s attention back to the table. She pulled it back, until it fell onto all four legs with a thud. Bodies came with it, slumping onto the floor and the tabletop. All of them lay still. Blood dripped down the wall.

Hearing Fluttershy gasp, Twilight winced. “It was... efficient,” Twilight murmured. Me and mine, she told herself. It’s not wrong. Even in her own mind, those words sounded dull and hollow.

One of the bodies, face down on the tabletop, wheezed, sucking in air as if it was breathing through a tiny straw. Twilight slowly approached. With her magic, she rolled the pony onto her back. A white rib poked out of her chest and through the grey robes. The shattered stub of a broken horn protruded above her flattened, mangled muzzle. The left side of her face was crushed into a bloody pulp. One of her eyelids opened. She tilted her head, staring up at Twilight with a single, sharp violet eye. She drew in another wheezing, tortured breath, her blood gurgling in her throat.

Twilight stared back at the eye. “I’m sorry,” she said, drawing Solstice. It’s not your fault, she thought. You have no shortage of ponies to blame: Fleur, Fancy Pants, this pony.

In her peripheral vision, Twilight saw Fluttershy approach. Twilight extended her foreleg in front of Fluttershy. The pegasus looked at her, then the wheezing pony, tears in her eyes. “I can save her,” Fluttershy said.

Twilight shook her head, and brought Solstice down.

Fluttershy choked back a cry. It’s not your fault your powerful, Twilight told herself as she pulled Solstice free of the corpse. It’s not your fault you were stronger than they were. “I’m sorry,” Twilight said, looking at Fluttershy. “We’re not out of this yet. We can’t afford to waste resources.”

Fluttershy nodded slowly. She closed her eyes tight and turned away from the body. Since when was a life a waste? Twilight asked herself. Focus, Twilight. Salvage this. Save Pinkie. She turned to face her friends. “Come on, this isn’t anything we haven’t done before.”

Twilight lit her horn, casting Spell Immunity: Abjuration, and moved toward the door. She pressed up beside the archway and perked her ears – nothing. There has to more, she thought, drawing Celestial Fury. Where would I be? she wondered.

Applejack and Rainbow Dash shifted up, positioning against the arch opposite Twilight. Rarity and Fluttershy moved up behind her. “Some ambush,” Rainbow Dash scoffed. “Where are they?”

They’re invisible, Twilight realized, cursing her own stupidity for not reaching that conclusion sooner. She almost shouted, but bit her lip. She had a chance to catch them by surprise while they were still getting into position.

Focusing on a point on the floor just beyond the doorway in the corridor, she brought another spell to completion. A magenta pulse rippled outward from her target and flowed back into the room and out into the corridor. It struck something directly in front of her, stripping away a shroud of invisibility.

A grey-robed unicorn stood defenseless before her, his eyes widening with horror. As his horn flared with light, she plunged Celestial Fury into his forehead. The point of her blade emerged from the back of his skull, and his horn went dark.

Twilight turned around as she ripped Celestial Fury up and out of the pony’s skull. All around her, the chamber erupted into chaos. Two wizards were already in the room with them. Rarity hit one in the eye with an arrow before he could cast a spell, and Rainbow Dash cut down the other. Three Magic Missiles launched from beyond the door and struck Applejack. Two rippled off her magic-resistant dragonscale armor, but one struck her solidly in the face. She grunted and whirled, bucking Truthseeker through the door.

Twilight glanced back out the door. Seeing only a corpse impaled by Applejack’s chain, she breathed a sigh of relief. “They must have been the backup,” she said. “There’s going to be more.”

“How in Equestria are we getting to Spellhold now?!” Rarity cried.

Twilight swallowed, forcing herself to remain calm. “There’s a way,” Twilight said. She cast Truesight, and her perception of the world shifted. Fortunately, she saw no signs of life out in the corridor, or in the room other than her friends. The only movement was Applejack reeling in her chain. That’s no guarantee, she reminded herself. They could protect themselves from magical detection with a spell.

“Twilight?” Rarity said.

“We need to find a gateway,” Twilight said.

“Don’t you need to know where we’re going?” Applejack asked.

“Yes,” Twilight said, keeping an eye on the corridor. “But, I should be able to feel my way around their network of gateways. If I find one that’s an outlier, it could be Spellhold.”

“Why didn’t we do that before?” Rainbow Dash said.

“It could be,” Twilight repeated. “I’m assuming Spellhold is remote. And even then, it’ll be a blind teleport. I’ll have a sense that the gateway is spatially different from the others, but I’ll only have a vague idea of its location. When we were coming here, I knew how far away Canterlot was, and I could picture it. I may not connect to the Spellhold gateway correctly. The teleport may dump us out miles away from anything, or a thousand feet in the air, or under the—”

Applejack snorted. “I think we get it.”

“Is this our only option?” Rarity asked.

“Maybe,” Twilight said. “Maybe not. Maybe they wrote the exact location down somewhere. But they’re hundreds of them, and soon they’ll be all over us. We need to do something now.”

“Then let’s move!” Rainbow said.

Twilight nodded. “I’m going to check the corridor.” She quickly cast Non-Detection, refocused, and cast Invisibility. Cloaked from vision, she stepped out door.

Twilight looked both ways. To the left, the hallway narrowed and terminated in a winding staircase. To the right, it widened, opening out into a grand hall that they’d entered through with Fleur. A formation of at least fifteen glowing souls stood out in the large room, looking her direction. Auras of magic ebbed around them.

Twilight ducked back into the chamber. “They’re waiting for us,” she said quietly. “As soon as we set hoof outside this doorway, if they’re even halfway competent spellcasters, they’ll obliterate us.”

Applejack hissed through her teeth. “You’ve got a plan, right?” The glowing shape of her head turned, like she was looking for Twilight, until her nose pointed straight at her.

Twilight blinked. “Can you see me, Applejack?”

“Huh?” Applejack said. She turned her head slightly, and her nose stopped pointing at Twilight.

Twilight peered at Applejack for a moment and said, “My plan involves killing them all, and I need Fluttershy’s help.”

Fluttershy swallowed audibly. “They’ll kill us, won’t they?”

Twilight nodded, then realized they couldn’t see her and said, “Yeah, I think so.”

“What do I need to do?” Fluttershy said.

“Can you picture the grand hall we came in through?” Twilight asked.

Fluttershy nodded.

“I’m going to cast an Invisibility spell on you. I need you to target a dispell at the point where the corridor meets the grand hall, then duck back into this room. I’m betting at least one of them has Truesight active, so expose yourself at little as possible, and wait for the count of three,” Twilight explained. “The spell has to be cast on three.”

“Okay,” Fluttershy said. Twilight detected a hint of confusion in her tone.

Focusing, Twilight brought another Invisibility spell to competition, her own falling away the moment her horn flared, disrupted by the magical energy. She leaned her head forward and touched Fluttershy’s forehead with the tip of her horn. She pulled back and watched Fluttershy’s glowing form. With a quiet gasp, Fluttershy raised her forehoof.

“Alright, hold on,” Twilight said. She sat on her haunches, then folded her forelegs and laid down on her belly. “Step two.” She closed her eyes and cast another spell.

When Twilight opened her eyes, her body lay on the floor in front of her, by all appearances fast asleep. Her mind occupied an illusory double. It was the same spell she’d used against Pyros the Everburning months ago. Unfortunately, the Truesight spell stayed with her body.

She looked at Applejack, Rainbow Dash, and Rarity. Speaking through the mouth of her illusion, she said, “I may not get them all. I need you three to follow up. The master wizards will see right through this thing with Truesight, but the novices will tear it to shreds. As soon as it gets destroyed, attack.” They nodded an affirmative.

Twilight focused, casting a spell as she slowly stepped toward the door. Power surged on the tip of her horn. She left her swords behind; all she needed was her magic. She held the spell as she prepared to leap out into the corridor. 

“One,” Twilight said.

Rainbow Dash’s skymail clinked slightly as she dropped into a crouch. Rarity drew her bow, a crystalline arrow appearing on the string. Applejack loosened Truthseeker from around her tail.

“Two,” Twilight said, gritting her teeth with the effort of holding the spell. She crouched, preparing to send her illusory double leaping out into the corridor.

“Three!” she shouted, lunging. 

Fluttershy peeked around the doorway, her eyes glowing, as Twilight rushed past her. As soon as Twilight was out of the room, she galloped down the corridor. She had all of a split second before they reacted. Without Truesight, she could only see a handful of them. She launched her spell anyway. A black bolt shot from her horn, headed for the Grey Wizards.

Fluttershy’s Dispel Magic hit first. In a wave of green light, it revealed the entire group of grey-robed ponies and washed away shimmering barriers. Horns flared. A host of magical projectiles, brilliant orbs and hissing conjured arrows, flew directly at Twilight.

Before anything could reach her, Twilight’s spell hit. A black shadow of death pulsed in the midst of the Grey Wizards. A Magic Missile tore into her, and she winked out of existence.

Twilight opened her eyes with a gasp. A surge of exhilaration coursed through her. She’d unleashed a Death spell on her enemies, and it ripped their souls away. She tried to beat back the satisfaction rising within her like a wave and lock it away, but it crashed over her. She shuddered giddily as she rose to her feet. It was so easy.

She turned, trying to focus. Her friends stood out in the hallway, staring down it. “What’re you doing!” Twilight shouted, picking up her swords. “Move!” She rushed out to join them.

Applejack pointed down the corridor. “There’s nothing left to do.”

Twilight looked. Her spell had turned the phalanx of Grey Wizards into a pile of lifeless shapes. There was nothing left. She swallowed. Death spells were not irresistable. Some ponies should have been able to hold on, she thought.

“This way!” Rarity said. “Gateways!” She pointed at a sign across the grand hall. With her Truesight, Twilight couldn’t read it, but it seemed familiar. She remembered seeing the sign on their way in. Without a moment’s hesitation, she headed for the doorway marked by the sign at a brisk trot.

As Twilight crossed the great hall, she kept her eyes up, doing her best to look in all directions at once. The place was deserted, except for the bodies. Too easy, she thought.

“Erie,” Applejack murmured, alongside her.

“That group of wizards must’ve been all they could muster,” Twilight said. “But where are the servants. Did they flee?”

Applejack hesitated and fell a step behind. “You don’t see ‘em?”

“No,” Twilight said. She stopped, her ears perking. “Where?”

Applejack pointed. Following Applejack’s hoof with her gaze, Twilight spotted greyish lump on the steps at the head of the hall roughly twenty paces away from the epicenter of the Death Spell. Applejack moved her hoof, indicating another further up. They blended in with the lifeless material of the floor.

Twilight gulped as she picked out more bodies. She’d targeted the spell near the back of the group of wizards to ensure the effects would not reach her friends in the negotiating chamber, but she bathed far more of the Great Hall in death than she’d expected.


If I’d been more careful, there would be less bodies here now. I could have used something else: a different spell, smaller area, less collateral.

She shook her head and put one hoof in front of the other, moving forward. This isn’t right, Twilight thought. They beat Sunset Shimmer. I shouldn’t have been able to sweep them aside so easily. The Grey Wizards should know spells I’ve only heard of. She knew even powerful mages weren’t unbeatable, and she had strong allies, but she couldn’t chase away her doubt. It could have gone very badly, she reminded herself. She hadn’t given them a chance to use their magic.

Briefly, she wondered why they didn’t bombard the doorway to the negotiating chamber with spells, destroying them and everything else in it. Maybe they were hoping some of their own were still alive, Twilight thought. She winced internally at the idea. It meant she’d won because she didn’t hold back, and they did.

She reached the sign and pushed open the double doors. The doorway lead into an empty alcove with three chambers coming off of it. In each, she perceived flows of magic coursing around an array of anchoring gemstones mounted on a stand. Behind each gateway, a broad, tall window stretching from the floor to the ceiling looked out on the city. Outside the window, a torrent of water flowing from beneath the castle plunged into a large reservoir pool that fed three aqueducts.  Everything further away than the first few buildings beneath the Castle faded into an impenetrable grey shroud that marked the edge of Twilight’s altered perception. 

“Perfect,” she said, heading for the alcove straight across from the doors. She stopped directly in front of the gateway and dropped onto her haunches. “Watch my back.”

“Let’s get these doors shut,” Applejack said. “It could buy us some time.”

Hearing the slam of wood behind her, Twilight glanced over her shoulder. Her friends took up positions beside the closed door. She turned back to the Gateway and lit her horn.

Twilight sensed a web of tunnels that reached beyond the horizon. She closed her eyes, trying to picture them. Instead, she saw the violet eye of the mare staring up at her – bright, intelligent. What sets us apart? she wondered. How was she different from me? Did she believe she was doing the right thing?

They took Pinkie, she reminded herself. She forced her mind back to the web of gateways. Pinkie was out there somewhere: alone. She raced across the tunnels, imagining places as she went. Fragments of information about the Empire’s cities she remembered from books, Fillydelphia, Baltimare, and more, flitted through her mind. She focused on each destination in turn. Each had at least a dozen gateways. Any of them could be Spellhold.

Then, an isolated thread floated past her. She snatched it with her mind and followed it. It lead north and east over white peaks. The mountains faded, and she could feel the churning depths of a frigid sea. Ice gripped a lone, rocky island. She fixed the location in her mind’s eye.

“I think I found it,” Twilight announced and opened her eyes. She noticed a warmth against her side, emanating from the pouch she’d stowed her watch in. No different from last time, she thought.

“Can you get us there?” Applejack asked.

Twilight looked over her shoulder at her friends. “I think so.” She did her best to sound confident. “It’s not like I have a better idea,” she added.

“Well, it’s now or never,” Rarity said.

Twilight nodded and focused her magic on her horn. As she pieced the spell together, she reached for the location. An intangible barrier resisted her, like a thick curtain that had suddenly been snapped shut. Her destination winked out. Quickly, she stopped casting the spell, before she lost it entirely.

Twilight’s heart jumped into her throat. Why isn’t it working? she thought. Her heart thudded in her chest as she stared at the gateway.

“Come on, Twilight,” Rainbow Dash said. “We don’t have all the time in the world here!”

“Not helping!” Twilight snapped. She blinked – time. The watch! she realized. She’d had it around her neck last time, and the barrier yielded to her. She yanked it out of the pouch and slipped the chain over her head. When it settled against her chest, its warmth ebbed through her coat.

“Sorry,” Rainbow said.

Twilight grinned. “Actually, you’re a genius.” She cast the teleport spell again. With her magic, she confidently pushed against the barrier and completed the spell. Feedback rippled down her horn like a bolt of lighting.

The next thing Twilight knew, she was lying on the floor. She saw colors again, and painfully bright light. Squinting, she rolled onto her belly and lifted herself onto her forelegs. A blurry rainbow smeared across her vision. She heard distant, indistinct voices. A burning, scorching heat pressed against her chest.

“Are you okay?!” Rainbow Dash shouted, her voice shattering the fog in Twilight’s mind.

Twilight blinked, her vision suddenly clearing. Her friends were gathered around her. Rainbow Dash waved a hoof in front of her face. Her Truesight was gone; she’d lost it in the feedback. Something had blocked her spell. She swatted away Rainbow’s hoof, saying, “I’m okay.” Wincing, she pulled the watch off her neck and held it in the air. Smelling scorched hair, she sniffed and rubbed the tender spot where the metal had rested.

“What happened?” Rarity said.

Twilight turned around to face the gateway again. The gems gleamed on the surface of a stone pedestal. Without bothering to close her eyes, she focused on it. The same barrier blocked her, impenetrable. “No...” she gasped. She took a step back and dropped the watch. Her pulse thundered in her ears. If the Grey Wizards could give access to their gateways with a license, they could take it away.

“Twilight? What’s wrong?!” Applejack said.

“They must’ve...” Twilight said, hesitating. “They blocked me out!” Stamping, she turned around. “They blocked me out!” she repeated, shouting. “We were so close!”

As soon as the words left Twilight’s mouth, the double doors exploded inward. A wave of fire rushed towards Twilight and her friends. The world slowed as she watched the blast wave lift Rarity and Fluttershy, then Rainbow Dash. Applejack stayed rooted, the fire washing over her armor. She closed her eyes on reflex as the wave of heat hit her.

Her Contingency fired. Layers of Stoneskin protected her. The stone pedestal brought her to a sudden stop when her back impacted it, but all she could feel besides the loss of sense of motion was a searing pain in her face, her chest, and her forelegs. The Stoneskin spell protected her from impacts and weapons, but not the heat of a Fireball.

Twilight opened her eyes. Three grey-robed figures stood in the doorway, each protected by grey skins of stone and a shimmering Globe of Invulnerability. Beside Twilight, Applejack picked herself up off the floor, looking largely in-tact. Her dragonscale armor had protected her from the worst of it.

With a roar, Twilight clawed her way to her feet. She pushed past the pain to cast a spell: Improved Haste. The world slowed around her, allowing her to see the ray of the Breach spell that impacted her chest a moment later. It shattered the remaining layers of her Stoneskin. She triggered the Sequencer in Solstice and dove to the side.

In a flash of magic, Stoneskin, Improved Invisibility, and Non-Detection cast simultaneously and protected Twilight.  With a crack, Applejack bucked Truthseeker at the figure in the center of the doorway. Predictably, the twin spikes passed through the Globe of Invulnerability harmlessly, it protected against spells, not steel, but to Twilight’s astonishment, they sunk deep into their target, punching through all the layers of Stoneskin protecting the mage.

Hidden from view, Twilight took her brief moment of respite to try and spot her friends. Other than Applejack, she was alone. All that remained of the window was a few fragments of glass clinging to the frame. They fell, she realized. She hoped they’d landed in the reservoir she’d seen beneath the window. But if they didn’t— Twilight snapped her attention back to the mages in the doorway. Both of their horns glowed.

She launched herself at the mages, drawing her swords. The blades would be visible as soon as they were out of their sheaths, but she already on top of the Grey Wizards. She whirled her floating blades through the air. Sparks flew as each spin struck her enemies’ Stoneskins. Layer after layer shattered in the blink of an eye. Their horns flared as their spell completed a moment before Twilight’s swords cleaved into them.

The razor-sharp edges of Celestial Fury and Solstice swept effortlessly through their flesh, leaving deep slices in both of their chests. As they collapsed before her, a scratchy, parched sensation crept into Twilight’s mouth and nostrils, then down into her throat. She coughed, looking up. Her eyes stung, inexplicably dry. Out in the great hall, she spotted more grey-robed ponies, at least twelve of them. She heard Applejack coughing behind her.

The horn of one of the Grey Wizards in the great hall flared with a completed spell. A wave of dispelling magic washed over Twilight. When her invisibility remained in-tact, she silently thanked Star Swirl.

Before she could react, a vice gripped her lungs, and wracking coughs shook through her. A thousand needles of pain drove into her chest. She tasted blood. Wilting, she realized. She’d heard of the spell. Every bit of water her body was being pulled out. The wizards must have finished it, together, a moment before they died.

While she coughed, another spell exploded over her head. Flecks of shining dust coated her, revealing her invisible outline. She closed her eyes against the bright light and stumbled back into the room. Yet another spell struck her, and she was aware of her immunity to Abjuration being ripped away. A second wave of dispelling magic hit, stripping her Stoneskin, Invisibility, and Haste. She spat blood and gasped for air as the coughing fit eased.

She glimpsed a glow of magic from out in the great hall. A red spark launched into the air, heading straight for her. She turned and ran. Applejack hunched near the pedestal, coughing, blood dripping from her lips. Behind her, Rainbow Dash landed on the lip of the broken window. Severe burns blackened her coat, especially on her back.

“Dive!” Twilight croaked, trying to shout. She crossed her swords, and pushing with the flat sides of the blades, barreled into Applejack. Together, they tumbled off the edge.

Twilight flipped head over heels through the air. Above her, a wave of fire exploded out of the shattered window. Rainbow Dash dove after her. The pool rolled past beneath her.

I’m not going to land in it, Twilight realized. She’d tried to jump straight, but pushing Applejack had knocked her further to the left than she would have liked. She caught a glimpse of Applejack. It looked like she was going to make it, at least. A paved street drew closer beneath her.

Rainbow Dash hit into Twilight’s side. She locked her forelegs around Twilight. Her wings thudded as she beat them furiously, and she cried out with the strain. Charred feathers stripped off and fluttered in the air behind them. They angled toward the pool, but they were still going terribly fast.

Near the edge of the reservoir basin, they crashed into the water. The impact ripped them apart and knocked the air out of Twilight’s lungs. She plunged beneath the surface. Her jaw cracked against the bottom, snapping her to the side. Stars exploded across her vision. Her lungs screamed, and reflexively, she inhaled. Water flooded her parched lungs. Her world went dark.