“Somehow...” Bard gulped, his ears folding atop his head. “I dun think that any of this is the seaponies' doin'.”
Wildcard nodded, his goggled eyes reflecting a bright blue sheen.
Squinting, Rainbow Dash shuffled slowly forward, her thin eyes darting left and right.
At the very end of a wide corridor, a cluster of enchanted ice clung to the wall. Misty vapors continuously wafted off the curved surfaces of the translucent material, slick with condensation. Icicles dripped in frozen grace from the granite ceiling, and snowy banks of white powder collected along the floor's edges. Age-old etchings and carvings of marine equines were swallowed up by this mess of icy crystals. Rainbow could instantly tell that the tomb was considerably older than the frost that had at some point blighted it.
“Verlaxion's Shrine,” Twilight murmured. She gulped. “This is what she left behind... after she visited to 'bless' the sirens' final resting place.”
Rainbow slowly nodded. “Again, Verlaxion's reached the Machine World before me.” She shuddered. “Somehow...”
“Huh?” Bard remarked, craning his neck.
Before Rainbow could respond—
“My goodness!” Rarity exclaimed. “I can't believe it! After all of our trials and efforts! The path is blocked!”
“Blocked?!” Twilight remarked.
“Just look for yourselves, girls!”
“It's not blocked,” Rainbow muttered. “Right there's the... door...” Her words trailed off even as she heard them.
“Door?” Bard repeated.
“Huh?” Rarity did a double-take. “Rainbow, all I see is a gold plate with curious circles!”
“Yes... I see them too,” Rainbow murmured, jaw agape. “Twilight, I see them this time.”
“Huh?” Twilight floated over.
Rainbow pointed over. “The symbol. Just like Theanim photographed underneath the Nealend Atoll. It was too bright for me to see last, but... but now I can.”
Indeed, before Rainbow, a rectangular plate of solid gold lingered—the only part of the wall that wasn't completely frozen over in glowing, enchanted ice. A curved line swam its way from the bottom right to the top left, wrapping around six large circles in the process. The bottom right circle glowed a bight blue, while the next two glowed lavender and white. The last three circles—positioned diagonally from one another—were blank and gray.
“You mean to tell me you've seen this here nonsense before?” Bard asked, approaching the seal with his hoof outstretched.
“No!” Rainbow hissed, forcing the stallion to jolt in place. “Don't touch it! Besides...” She swallowed a lump down her throat and slowly shuffled forward. “Only I can open or close the door to the Machine World.”
“Say what?” Bard's voice cracked. Beside him, Wildcard walked up, beak agape. The two Desperadoes exchanged glances.
Rainbow approached the door slowly. With flapping wings, she stretched her hooves out, coming closer and closer to the golden surface.
“Will... will it hurt to touch, darling?” Rarity squeaked. “I do not like the looks of that enchanted frost.”
“It's strange,” Twilight murmured. “Just from looking at this material, I know it's magical. But... b-but I can't quite sense it, Rainbow.” She bit her lip. “I-I don't even know what it might do to you... to us. Verlax's power is way beyond me.”
Rainbow took a deep breath. Her eyes squinted at the pulsing pink aura lingering just beyond the door. “Guess there's only one way to find out...” Then, fighting shivers, she made contact with the gold metal.
The sheer cold caused a terrible jolt to run up and down her spine, but she remained in one piece. Within seconds of touching the metal, a bright blue light emanated, running up the curved line that swam between the glowing and unglowing circles of the plate.
“Whoah dayum!” Bard gasped, charging forward. “Look out, Rainbow—”
“No. No!” Rainbow shouted, causing him and Wildcard to scuffle to a stop. “It's supposed to be doing this!” She took a deep breath, then summoned a deep breath. She smiled ever so slightly. “It's opening...”
Indeed, just as she said this, the blue line running up the plate widened. Then, with a deafening howl, the entire door slid open in two halves. The coldest wind Rainbow ever felt came fountaining outward, chilling her and the two Desperadoes to the bone.
“Guhhh!” Bard's teeth chattered as he hunched over. “Land's sakes!”
Wildcard gripped onto him and Rainbow until the full brunt of the wintry blast came and went.
Once the air was still, the trio looked up to see specks of snow hovering the air like a frozen snowglobe's.
“Goddess Alive...” Bard exhaled, his breath coming out in vapors. “You weren't kiddin' about this bein' Verlaxion's hoofwork...” He glanced behind them at the path they took to come down there. “Reckon this is way beyond us, darlin'.”
“If I used that excuse since the beginning, I'd never have made it to Wintergate,” Rainbow said firmly. She trotted forward. “Our best exit is on the other side, guys. But as for me and my business?” She marched bravely into the pink aura. “It's all right here. Waiting for me.”
“Somethin' tells me it's more than just business 'waitin' for ya,' Rainbow,” Bard said. Wildcard nodded emphatically.
“You won't be the first ponies to enter this domain besides me,” Rainbow said, looking left and right as she spotted the first tell-tale signs of pistons, pulleys, and pendulums frozen in the darkness. “Just stick close and try not to—”
“Rainbow Dash...!”
“Guh!” Rainbow twitched, nearly collapsing as she gripped her head.
“What?!” Bard did a double-take. “What is it now?”
“Camellia...” Rainbow hissed through clenched teeth. “Not so friggin'... uh... loud, Your Highness.” She nevertheless stood up straight, eyes darting around the golden domain. “What's the matter?”
“There's been a breach.”
“Huh?! What kind of breach?!”
“What? A breach?” Bard and Wildcard jolted.
“Revan, Jeryn, and his stallions have rounded up a terrible mob. They've overpowered the guards on the other side of Verlaxion's Shrine.”
“No friggin' way...” Rainbow Dash exhaled. She glanced at the Desperadoes. “The Syndicate's busted their way into the tombs.”
“Awwwwww Hell...”
Wildcard gestured.
Bard nodded. “Then the jig is up for them varmints. Can't Camellia wrangle them up?”
The siren's voice was already echoing through Rainbow's skull: “I've sent the rest of my forces in to retaliate, but I fear they've holed themselves up too deep.”
“Then how in the heck are we supposed to get out of here, Your Majesty?!” Rainbow gnashed her teeth. “There's not enough oxygen in the suits to swim back the way we came!”
“Fear not, Rainbow Dash. I am calling upon the assistance of a distant ally to help in this matter...”
“H-huh...?!” Rainbow Dash gawked. “A 'distant ally?' What the heck are you talking about?”
“A siren is friend to more than just seaponies, Rainbow Dash...” As Camellia broadcasted her words, her “voice” became more and more faint, as if dwindling down the far end of a long tunnel. “Do not... …. … Austraeoh, there... … … yet for... … … and your friends...”
“Camellia...?!” Rainbow Dash stammered. “Camellia! You're... you're fading out! What's going on?”
“Damned if I ain't havin' one helluva time keepin' track of yer invisible friends,” Bard droned, rubbing his scalp.
“Hush!” Rainbow hissed, then spun about. “Camellia! Can you hear me?! What kind of help are you sending?! I need to know if we have a way out or not—!”
“Rainbow Dash...” Twilight stammered, looking all around.
“Huh?” Rainbow spun, suddenly teetering. A dizziness spread through her body out of nowhere. “Unnngh...”
“Oh no!” Rarity shrieked, pointing. “Look!”
With a loud swish, the gold plated door behind them slid shut, glowing symbol and all.
“Huh?” Bard and Wildcard spun. The stallion grimaced. “Awww hell!” He whipped out his staff. Cl-Clak! “Dubya-Cee!”
Wildcard was already gliding like a feathery missile towards the seal. THUD! It was too late. The door closed completely, locking them inside. The griffon slammed the golden surface multiple times with his nighsticks, showering the floor with sparks and specks of frost.
Bard trotted in a circle, gripping in his staff. His ears twitched to the sound of crackling ice and settling metal joints from beyond the darkness. With chattering teeth and vaporous breaths, he said, “I ain't particularly favorin' this situation. Rainbow, I thought you done said only you could open or close this here door.”
Silence.
Bard and Wildcard looked over. “Rainbow Dash? Darlin'?”
“Guhhhh...” Rainbow shuddered in pain, rubbing her head. The lightning bolt of her pendant pulsed with ruby light. She struggled to open her eyes, and when she did they were pulsating red-on-yellow.
“Rainbow!” Bard rushed over, resting a hoof on her shoulder. “What's happenin' to ya? Speak to us!”
Rainbow panted and panted. She stared into the fringes of the round golden platform suspended over the gaping basement of the Machine World. It was then that she took notice of the ivory-white sheets of ice and snow hanging all around them. As her pendant's light swam over the drooping icicles and snowbanks, she finally saw Yaerfaerda. The beacon lingered atop a pedestal, but that pedestal was located deep... deep inside a solid block of translucent blue ice. What's more, the ice, the snow, in fact every frozen structure that lingered invasively inside that chamber was filled with a coarse white powder, like bone dust.
“Chaos...” Rainbow Dash whimpered, her eyes pulsing red-and-yellow again. “All chaos...” She gulped. “No wonder you couldn't sense anything, Twilight, it's beyond magic.”
Silence.
“... … …Twilight?” The pegasus looked up to her left.
She saw nothing.
She jerked her head to the right.
Still, nothing.
“Twilight?!” Panting, hyperventilating, the mare spun and spun, eyes wide and wider. “Rarity?!”
“Uhhhh...” Bard and Wildcard stood in place, shivering, helpless. “What's the matter now, Rainbow?”
“Rarity?!?” Rainbow shrieked, her breath fogging and her bulging eye sockets close to tears. “Twilight?!?!” She buckled, heaved, then hollered: “Where are you?!?”
The haunting sound of groaning metal...
With a gasp, Rainbow and the Desperadoes spun towards the center of the frozen realm, facing a glowing blue light.