Outside the Border Tower
Ponies and griffins everywhere.
Griffins with black feathers and blood red eyes were circling the tower like vultures circling a dead animal. These griffins were wearing silver armor from head to talons.
While the griffins were occupying the skies, the ponies were busy on the ground. These ponies had jet-black coats, black tails and mane, and, just like the griffins, had blood red eyes.
What these two species had in common were the symbols on their armor and their blank faces. The symbol on the griffins was a head like theirs only it was colored gold while the symbol on the ponies consisted of a blue crescent moon with a curved ending and an identical colored broken wand on the middle.
The ponies busted holes in the wall and entered through there to get inside the tower while the griffins were flying inside by entering the open windows on the third floor.
A single griffon was currently floating above the black griffins with a stony look on his face. This griffon was different from the others however since his feathers on his chest to head was white while the rest of his body was colored brown. The griffon was currently wearing a black armored suit but he didn't have a helmet on and his talons were bare. The griffon narrowed his eyes and floated there, waiting.
Without any indication, the griffon pressed a button on his suit and talked on it. "Are you sure that they are here?" the griffon asked in a very feminine voice.
A second voice sounded from the griffon's suit but this one sounded machine-like. "Affirmative. I can still trace their magic signatures all over the place. Your task is to at least get one of them. Understood?"
The female griffon grinned and her yellow eyes stared at the tower maliciously. "Crystal."
With the dimension travelers
Currently, the dimension travelers, one brown pegasus stallion, one blue unicorn mare, one male alpha wolf, and one hybrid mechanical pegasus mare were resting as they were walking for the past hour or so. The blue unicorn failed to mention that running inside the cave was both risky and stupid since they could easily get lost because of the darkness and because of all the other passageways that goes deeper inside the cave system.
The dimension travelers, the mares specifically, were about to have a very serious conversation concerning a mare and a stallion.
"So Pinkie..." Twilight started. "What are your plans with Berry Bubbles, if you don't mind me asking."
Pinkie just smiled at the purple unicorn. "I don't mind at all, Twily. So what do you mean about my plan about Berry Werry?"
Twilight just ignored Pinkie's nickname for the pink stallion and continued. "Well... It seems to me that you two are serious about this... relationship... and I want to know what you two are going to do in the near future."
"About what?" PInkie tilted her head in confusion.
Twilight sighed. It should probably be better if she got to the point. "I'm asking what are the two of you going to do if we get home."
Pinkie just scoffed and waved a hoof at the unicorn. "Pfft that's easy! I mean, duh! I'll just visit him whenever I can and he'll do the same! It's not like we're always busy since the Cakes usually gives us a week off when we ask! Easy as pie!"
Twilight just raised an eyebrow at Pinkie's simple logic. "Uh-huh... and how, per tell, are you going to accomplish that?"
"Weeelll... we could... uhmm..." Pinkie furrowed her eyebrows as she couldn't think of anything. "We could ride the train? No, wait... there's no train that leads to other Ponyville. I know, we could-wait, that's also not possible..."
Pinkie was lost in her thoughts for about a few minutes before her mane deflated and she looked at Berry sadly.
"Y-you're right, Twily... After all this... I won't be able to see him again..." she sniffed as tears were gathering in her eyes.
"Oh Pinkie!" Twilight gasped as she hugged the tearful pink party mare. "I'm sorry! I shouldn't have asked that! It was not right of me to ask that question."
Pinkie shook her head as she rubbed her nuzzle with her foreleg. "No, it's ok... I-I should've realized this from the beginning... I-I need to talk to him about this."
Twilight sighed sadly as she once again hugged the pink mare tightly "I just wish that I didn't have to bring that up but it's for your own good, both of you. I... I just don't want you two to get hurt. You're are my friend, my best friend to be exact, so it's in my best interest to see you smile. And I know that you will also do the same for me."
Both Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash joined in the hug after Twilight's little speech and all of them wished that both Rarity and Applejack were with them at that moment.
The dimension travelling stallions were watching the mares curiously.
"What's with fillies and their hugs?" Blitz asked as he rubbed a hoof on his mane.
Dusk Shine shrugged his shoulders. "Don't ask me. For all I know I think it has to do with miss Pie."
"Why do you say that?" Blitz asked again.
"For starters, she's in the center, and the most obvious clue is because her mane flattened just like Berry's when he feels sad."
Berry looked at the pink mare worriedly. He should probably talk to her later.
"So..." Blitz looked at Berry with a knowing grin. "When are you going to pop her balloon?" he waggled his eyebrows.
Berry looked at him in confusion for a second before his eyes widened and his blushed while he shook his vehemently.
Dusk Shine once again raised an eyebrow. "What? What does a balloon have to do with their relationship?"
"You know... uhmm..." Blitz said while scratching his head. "This is harder than I thought... Berry, a little help here." but to his dismay, the pink stallion was still blushing wildly and was in no condition in helping him explain to their innocent purple unicorn friend about the bees and the bird. "Scotch?" Blitz asked the yellow pegasus and to his relief he nodded his head.
"U-uhmm... Dusk... I-if you could come here for a second, if you don't mind..."
Dusk Shine shrugged his shoulders before he walked a little way with Butterscotch while he whispered some things to the curious unicorn. It wasn't a minute later when the two of them went back to their little group and the purple unicorn eyes widened and had a visible blush on his face.
Dusk coughed on his hoof awkwardly. "Now that I'm properly debriefed... I guess Blitz does have a point. I mean, if you two plan to take this relationship to a new level..." he trailed off as he looked at Berry expectantly.
Fun fact: Their dimensions might be the exact copy of each other but being the opposite gender has its... quirks... So it can't be helped that even Twilight's Sparkles, the most innocent of all the Mane 6, other dimension self sometimes thinks with his other horn.
Berry scratched the back of his head. "Uhmm..." Much to his friends' surprise, he starting tapping his hooves together. "Me and Pinkie already talked about that and... well... we both promised each other that we won't do those kinds of things until we've dated for a few months and know each other a little more."
The stallions sans Butterscotch looked at him like he grew a second head.
"You do realize that the two of you are near identical to each other, right?" Dusk Shine said slowly.
Berry shook his head "Actually, no. In their Ponyville, Pinkie is not a part-time construction pony and she doesn't lift weights. Another thing, colts doesn't swarm her like mares do to us in our Ponyville. Lastly" he looked at Blitz straight in the eye. "Rainbow Dash didn't play with a stallion's heart and stole their purity."
Dusk Shine's eyes widened. That was a word he knew. He looked at Blitz and hoped against all hope that Berry was just joking but to his dismay, Blitz glared at Berry and grounded his teeth.
"You said you weren't going to tell anypony." Blitz growled.
Berry glared back and stood to his full height, completely dwarfing the cyan pegasus by a head. "You forgot, I didn't Berry Promise."
Silenced engulfed the four stallions as Berry and Blitz continued their stare down, neither one backing out.
"Well?" Berry asked, breaking the silence. "Aren't you going to tell them who you done the deed to?"
Blitz's glare intensified. "They don't need to know."
"Why not?" Berry challenged.
"Because... because it's none of their business!" he shouted, loud enough that he caught everyone's attention.
"None of their business?! Are you hearing yourself?! Either you tell Dusk Shine or I will!"
"Me? Tell me what?" Dusk Shine alternated between looking at Berry and Blitz. "Blitz, what is he talking about?!"
Berry grinned humorlessly "Dusk, tell me, when was the last time you talked to your sister?"
"Why are you bringing that up now?!" Blitz shouted, clearly pissed off at the pink stallion.
"Because you told me months ago that you were going to tell Dusk and I think this is obviously the perfect time since we won't know what will happen to any of us in the near future!" Berry shouted back.
"I told you that I was going to wait for the right moment!"
"And like I said, you said that months ago!"
Blitz gritted his teeth and was about to pounce on the pink stallion when Dusk Shine suddenly stood in front of them.
"I know what you two are talking about, at least, I think I do." Dusk sighed as his gaze fell on Blitz. "Blitz, Glistening Shield told me about it. About you two."
Blitz, shocked from the news he'd heard, fell from his hovering position on to his haunches. "Sh-she did...? Dusk... I-" he was going to apologize when, once again, Dusk interrupted him.
"I know. It was an accident. You just got rejected from being accepted in the wondercolts, Glistening Shield broke up with her fiance, prince Cancer, and Berry celebrated his 21st birthday with some apple cider. You two were an emotional wreck while also being drunk." Dusk Shine once again sighed. "I can never find it in my heart to get mad at you. You were just there trying to comfort her."
"Still... I just want to say sorry for taking advantage of her. It may have looked like I did it because I pitied her but the truth is, your sister is pretty hot."
"Uhmm... thank you? I guess..."
It was then everyone present there heard a deep growl. They turned towards the sound and were shocked to see that Lone Claw was currently crouched down with a deep sneer on his face. He was completely still except for the occasional twitch of an ear or tail.
It was Trixie who recovered first and shook her head "How many." It was a command.
Lone Claw didn't show that he acknowledge her question. "Too many." his growls deepened and became more animalistic. "Grounders"
Derpy growled as she raised her right foreleg and released the giant sword earlier. "We can take them. There's nopony out there who can take me!"
Lone Claw looked at Trixie intently and said coldly "They're getting closer, fast."
Trixie's eyes widened. "Shit! We've got to move!" she turned towards the dimension travelers since it was obvious that they were still entranced by the growling alpha. "NOW!" she shouted and everyone there snapped from their trance and followed her lead as she ran as fast as she could towards the mouth of the cave.
Hooves could be heard as the unicorns and earth ponies started running as fast as they could while the pegasi flew at the sides. In the lead was Trixie since she was the one who knew the way out.
Trixie needed to slow down though since some of the ponies with her were slow like Derpy because of her sheer size. Derpy may be the strongest pony there, being able to punch a hole through a wall like it was paper, but she was also the slowest. With all the metal over her body, it was no surprise that they were wearing her down.
The cave wasn't a simple one. It was a cave system. It branched out at every direction. A different pathway leads to other pathways and anybody can get lost easily inside. Not to mention that the sides of the caves were pitch black. It was a spiderweb where a path could lead to certain death.
"Ok ponies and wolf! We need to pick the pace up because I dropped an overloaded gem back there and it's going to blow up in a minute!"
"How long is it gonna take us to get to the entrance?!" Twilight asked currently calculating their chances of survival.
Trixie turned to her with a grin. "Longer than the time for the gem to explode!"
"Seriously?!" Blitz shouted as she flew as fast as he could but he still was slower than the running blue unicorn. "Why would you do that?!"
Trixie slightly turned her head towards Blitz and glared at him "So that they won't have a chance to follow us and reveal our location! It's also to lessen their army. The more grounders we kill the better."
Pinkie Pie gasped "B-but... but that's so..."
"Brutal?" Trixie mocked asked "Well... That's what happens when you live in a world where your friends die left and right..."
"They're almost here!" Lone Claw once again shouted as he ran behind them.
"What?! That's not possible! There's no way somepony could run that fast!" Dusk shouted hysterically.
Ace laughed at his naivety "It's possible alright! As possible as bringing the dead back to life!"
Before Dusk Shine could retort, they could hear hooves galloping behind them followed by a huge explosion and the whole cave started shaking.
Trixie gritted her teeth "Right on time. Come on everypony! Pick up the pace!"
Fluttershy screamed as a spear whizzed past her head.
"Evasive maneuver!" Ace shouted as another spear flew at them.
"They're catching up to us!" Berry said as he jumped, barely dodging the spear that flew under him.
"I'll distract them!" Ace shouted as he turned around.
"Wait, don't!" Trixie stopped on her tracks and ran towards Ace. "Don't you dare! We're almost there!"
Twilight also stopped as she turned towards the blue unicorn "Trixie?! Come back you guys!"
"They're going to catch up to us and you know it!" Ace shouted back.
"I order you to get out of here now!"
Ace shook his head as he rubbed a hoof on Trixie's face. "This is the only time that I'm going to defy your orders."
Trixie leaned on his hoof as she said "If that's what you want then I'm staying with you."
"Hurry up!" Twilight shouted frantically with wide eyes. "They're almost here!"
Ace glared at her. "No! You are going with them and that is final!"
Trixie smiled grimly at him. "I outrank you. I'm staying and there's nothing you can do about it."
Ace sighed as he turned towards the approaching Grounders "Fine. If we're going down then I'm happy that I'm going down with you."
Twilight looked at them for a few more moments before she shook her head and turned around to exit the cave.
"Actually" Trixie said which made Ace turn to her. "Only one of us is going down and it's not you."
Ace didn't know what she was talking about before her horn started glowing. Ace's eyes widened when he realized what she was going to do. But what really surprised him was "Y-you can use magic?!"
Trixie smiled sadly "Tada..." before Ace could argue, he was surrounded by a blinding light and when he opened his eyes, he was already outside with everyone else.
"Trixie?" he turned his head around frantically, before turning his gaze back at the cave, eyes alarmed "Trixie!" he ran back to the cave but was stopped by Lone Claw when the mouth of the cave collapsed on itself. "No! NO! Trixie!"