//------------------------------// // Chapter Six: Sentinels (Unedited) // Story: Shadows of the Past // by Dr Atom Discharge //------------------------------// Shadows Of The Past Chapter Six: Sentinals Last Time: “You may have escaped the Library Twilight… but you can never escape me… I am a part of you forever…” The Defiler spoke in a deep, almost demonic voice. Twilight tried to move but her limbs were slow and sluggish. Then the Haze started to swirl and twist around her, tearing at her body, stripping away skin and flesh, until nothing but bone remained and she resembled the Defiler him/her-self. The Defiler then stepped closer and closer, Twilight couldn’t move, until he finally reached her and embraced her in the cold dark grip of his body. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The Next Day ~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Blade, Luna, Sabre and Twilight had been traveling for a good two hours already, they had set off early for the Conclave’s old sanctuary, despite the fact the base was meant to be relatively close they didn’t want to waste time, and so had decided to get moving quickly. The sun was just peaking over the distant mountains, colouring the sky a soft pink colour, and the ground they walked on was damp with dew. It was simply a nice day. They had been chatting on for the whole time, it had been a pleasant change of pace to recent events. “So, how can you two both be Captains of the guard? My Brother is captain” She said, a little puzzled, this brought a chuckle from Blade and Sabre, causing Twilight’s cheeks to flush “They were the personal guard Captains to my sister and I, while your brother is Captain of the City guard. They are separate divisions.” Luna explained to Twilight, who blushed more at not having realised that herself. Sabre marched ahead and swivelled around, walking backwards. “Yes, the life of the princess’s guard is one filled with peril and honour! A dangerous job not for the light heaaaaaH!” Sabre exclaimed in surprise, after his over exaggerated, silly spiel, until his rear backed into what seemed to be an invisible barrier, his rump sliding up it as if it were greased. His flank came up over his head and he ended up on his back looking up at the sky utterly confused. The other three fell about laughing. Sabre picked himself up and placed his hoof on the barrier “What the hay..?” he said testing it, Twilight was the first to recover from the group incapacitation. “I-it’s a shield stone” Twilight said still tittering, pointing at the large stone pillar in the centre of the clearing that seemed to outline the shield. “I remember reading about them… no one knows where they came from. Nor can they get close enough to-“ Twilight continued as she circled around it but stopped as she came across an irregularity, it was tiny barely large enough to notice. Twilight went closer, it seemed like a tear in mid-air she. Peered through and gasped. Through the tear in, what was apparently, an illusion, she saw a large stone structure resembling an ancient temple. She couldn’t believe it; an illusion that massive would take a huge amount of sustained magic. Evidently this was the Sanctum… and Evidently something powerful was waiting inside. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~ An Hour Later ~~~~~~~~~~~~~ It took Twilight and Luna a while to work out a loophole in the spell to allow them to gain access, in the end they had to use the slight fracture Twilight had used to pear in, they had expanded it to the best of their ability, letting them quickly slip in, but it had been rather strenuous and they both needed a minute to catch their breath before joining the two former captains in gawping at the immense size of the structure, evidently the illusion had risen up several stories, making it seem even more impressive. As for the structure itself, it seemed to be much too large for a simple small group of leaders; it seemed more like a fortress, perhaps a last fall back were the Conclave ever attacked, but they could only speculate. The architecture was like nothing any of them, not even Luna, had ever seen, it seemed ancient but in great condition. Two life sized statues guarded what seemed to be the main entrance to what was apparently the sanctum. The four of them slowly advanced towards the large doors, Twilight stepping forward to place a hoof on it and pull it open. The one she pulled, the left one, moved out slowly and smoothly, and the other door followed the same motion on its own. Twilight looked back at the group and they advanced together, the interior was lit with flickering torches. By all accounts it looked like it was still in use. The walls of the corridor were dotted with more statues. Stone statues of stoic warriors in such incredible details, they could have been real if they were not obviously stone, she shuddered, thinking back to her encounter with the Cockatrice. But what gave away that these had never actually been alive were the Rubies that were in place of their eyes. Even so, the torch light made it look like the gems gleamed with their own light. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Half An Hour Later ~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Despite the foreboding atmosphere in the Sanctum, suspiciously little happened, that is other than them getting completely lost. “I’m telling you we’ve been here before” Blade said to Sabre who had taken to leading them through the corridors “No. This corridor is different to that one. In this one all of those Statues are smashed up… see, there are bits on the floor, and they weren’t in the one you’re thin- Wait… isn’t that the kitchen we passed?” Sabre said with surprise. As the three others argued over whether it was, or could possibly be, the same kitchen they had already passed, Twilight leaned down and studied some of the stone strewn about the floor and gasped, running up to what was left of one of the statues, looking into what was left of its hooves and seeing an hollow outline. “G-guys…” Twilight started, cutting through the argument. “We have been here before… these statues were broken… recently… a-and… there was something inside… “ Twilight said nervously. Everypony froze, at the frightening realisation. Then, the silence was broken by a slight mechanical ticking noise and the sounds of gears turning from above them. All four of them slowly looked up, terrified of what may have been waiting for them on the ceiling. Above them, the ceiling was covered in a mass of mechanical, pony like machines, all staring back at them with glowing Ruby eyes. The four of them galloped down the hallways at full speed, skidding around the corners full speed, the cacophony of metallic claws scuttling over the ground followed close behind. The four looked at each other as a junction approached and split off into two groups, Blade and Twilight, Sabre and Luna. Twilight ran with Blade, trying desperately to keep up with Blade, but her injury from the Timberwolf flared and her knee buckled making her tumble to the ground. In an instant Blade had skidded to a stop and turned back, planting himself between Twilight and the creatures. “RUN!” Blade shouted back before being completely engulfed in the massive swarm of mechanical contraptions, Twilight scrabbled to her hooves, around the next corner and into the nearest door, closing it in an instant. A few moments later she heard the scrabbling, scratching and ticking pass by the door as the swarm raced down the hall, she sunk to the floor… she had lost Blade… But she couldn’t allow herself dark thoughts, by all rights he could be okay… right? Twilight knew she couldn’t sit there and guess, she had to keep moving. She saw another door on the other side of the room, which seemed to be a barracks of some kind, bunk beds lined each wall, all freshly made as if everyone had just tidied up and left earlier that day. But Twilight shook herself off; there were more important things to worry about. She made her way to the door, seeing a set of stairs she slowly made her way down into the room bellow. She wandered down into what seemed to be a spell firing range. It was a small room to begin with, another door in the other side, but there was a low wall beyond which the room expanded out, there were several standing targets, and some were on tracks embedded in the floor, obviously meant to be used as moving targets. Twilight turned around to a book case which held books with titles such as ‘Famous War Spells’, ‘The Basics Of Combat Magic’ and ‘Magic In Battle’. This was not the kind of magic Twilight was interested in. She had studied it a little, but it hadn’t interest her much… violence wasn’t usually her way… unless someone threatened her friends that was. But Twilight still skimmed over the titles. There was a very faint shuffling sound behind Twilight, who swivelled around just in time to see Princess Luna’s surprised expression as she flew through the air, having jumped out from behind the low wall. “TWIlIGHT!?” Was all the Princess of the moon was able to shout before she collided with Twilight and they rolled together into the bookshelf, making the books topple down on top of them. Luna was on top of Twilight pinning her slightly. “Oh my… I’m so sorry Twilight.” Luna said apologetically, moving off Twilight “I thought you were another of those terrible machines... t-they… they took Sabre, I couldn’t stop them… even my magic doesn’t affect them…” Luna said, obviously rather shaken. Twilight got to her feet and tried to comfort Luna a little. “Don’t worry princess, I’m sure they are fine… they wouldn’t try to kill us outright, they’ll be trying to capture us.” Twilight said as convincingly as she could. Though she didn’t really believe it herself after, not after the way they swarmed over Blade, but she tried to put it out of her mind. The Princess tried to shake it off. “Yes… you’re right… and we need to keep moving before they catch us, I doubt we can hide for long.” Luna said moving towards the flight of stairs Twilight had come from. “Wait, it was swarming with them up there before, we should go this way.” Twilight said pointing to the other door, but Luna nodded. “No Twilight Sparkle, it was the same story for me… we should look for another way out.” Luna said, looking around the room but not seeing anything at first. Then Twilight spotted what seemed like a service door at the back of the firing range. “Over here Luna!” Twilight called back. They climbed the stairs that were behind the door, Twilight going first, finally they came out, through another door, into the main corridor they had split off from before, in fact from there they could see the junction, the hall was empty. They looked in the other direction seeing a large wooden door at the end, just in site. But then the two of them slowly turned back as they heard slow clacking of the metallic claws against the stone floor. Stood at the junction was now one of the Mechanical Monsters. There was a quick ticking as its head slowly, awkwardly twisted to the side to look at them. It seemed much less active than they had before, more awkward and clumsy in its movements as its head clanked to a stop and its moth opened. Suddenly, the Sentinel’s eyes flashed and a loud alarm like noise rang from its maw. Suddenly a surge of noise came from the corridors and side rooms as the sound of scuttling drowned out every other sound. At the same time Twilight and Luna turned about and ran for the big wooden doors at the end of the corridor. They galloped with great speed as the Mechanical creatures burst out of the side rooms as they passed, spilling out into the corridor behind them as they ran. They ran barged into the door hoping it would open, but it simply shook and rattled, it was locked on the other side. They pounded and pounded on the door, the swarm of mechanical terrors growing closer with every second, until suddenly, with only seconds until Collision they froze perfectly still, then suddenly they all formed into orderly lines and turned around, marching down the corridor, some going to the closest Plinths, the bits of stone flying up to seal around the machines once they were in place. Both Twilight and Luna looked at them, completely perplexed, and then the doors swung inwards with a blue glowing aura. “You two certainly know how to make a racket… now come on through… I need to talk to you two intruders.” The male voice said echoing down the hallway. “I… I know that voice…” Luna muttered to herself, making Twilight look up at her. Soon came out into the light of the small Library that seemed to have doubled up as a Study for the Mysterious figure at the desk, facing away from them. The room was tall, the walls covered with books except for an area to the right which indented into the wall, showing a stained glass window with a desk filled with scientific equipment slowly working away, with a few notes. Further into the room was a short set of three steps leading up to a small alcove in which the desk the figure was sat at was located. The Figure turned around and regarded his two guests. “YOU!?” Both Luna and Twilight shouted in shock and awe. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Authors note: can you guess who it's going to be?