The Path of Absolution - Punishment

by Morningstar1337

xli - Hercules, the Laborer

In the memories of Ponyville, Twilight Sparkle went outside. She saw the sun as it rose above the horizon. She was wearing some saddlebags with the keys inside.

Applejack saw Twilight and approached her. “Twi?”

“Applejack?” Twilight asked. “Something wrong?”

“It’s just...” Applejack said. “I’m a bit worried about how Apple Bloom might react.”

Twilight knew what Applejack was talking about. She had witnessed the Crusaders’ hostility at the wedding a few days ago. She said, “You have to tell her.”

“I know,” Applejack said. ‘But I’m scared of what might happen if I do tell her.” Applejack knew that the Crusaders, like various other ponies at that time, were not themselves. She feared that her sister might react badly upon knowing that she once attacked her sister.

Twilight noticed that Rainbow Dash and Rarity had similar concerns.

A few hours later, everypony else awakened. Rainbow Dash went out and asked Twilight, “So did you find out anything ‘bout those keys?”

Twilight recalled that she examined the keys the previous night. “I have a theory. You said that the gate wasn’t at the station?”

“Yeah,” Rainbow Dash said. “And Rarity went to the marketplace.”

“I didn’t see any gate in the west field,” Applejack said. “What about Sugar Cube Corner?”

“The gate was not there,” Twilight said. “That leaves the Everfree Forest.”

“Why the forest?” Rainbow Dash said.

“I’ve been thinking about it,” twilight said. “And I think that the gate might be in Tartarus.”

Applejack and Rainbow Dash were a little freaked out. “Did you say Tartarus?” Applejack said.

“Well,” Twilight said. “The gates may have replaced the door to Tartarus here.”

“Okay,” Rainbow Dash said. She was slightly relieved.

Twilight said, “We need to prepare, wake the fillies up and meet me at Fluttershy’s cottage.” She went towards the forest.

Applejack and Rainbow Dash felt the air grow more unsettling.

---

Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle, Scootaloo, and Silver Spoon were eating some breakfast. The others were preparing for a trip into the forest.

After the fillies were done with their food, Silver Spoon said, “Remember what you asked me last night? What happened to Diamond Tiara?”

Apple Bloom recalled asking that. She said, “Uh-huh.” The three Crusaders knew that something had to go wrong to change Silver Spoon’s attitude towards them.

Silver Spoon said, “It happened one day. I saw Diamond Tiara acting strangely. She went into the Unicorn Range during a snowstorm.”

Scootaloo snarked, “Well, it kinda fits.”

Sweetie Belle said, “Scootaloo! Be nice.”

Silver Spoon continued. “There were some windigos in the storm. Diamond Tiara just followed them to the highest peak.”

“Wait,” Apple Bloom said, “You mean to tell me that Diamond Tiara seriously went into a blizzard and that the windigos were there?”

Silver Spoon nodded.

“Come to think of it,” Sweetie Belle said. “The figure that put us in that loop resembled a windigo.”

Silver Spoon said, “Diamond Tiara went to the peak and the windigos did something to her.”

“What did they do?” Scootaloo asked.

“I don’t know,” Silver Spoon said. “They put her in a cocoon and the next thing I knew she called herself a queen. She had a horn and wings too!”

The Crusaders were a bit skeptical. Silver Spoon knew that her story was a bit incredulous.

By that point, Applejack asked the fillies to come with them to find the gate. The group left the library and went to Fluttershy’s cottage. The Crusaders still wondered if any part of that story was true.

---

Twilight was at Fluttershy’s cottage. She looked around and noticed something different about the area. She saw that the cottage itself became a dark violet, the grass became a burnt crimson, and even the sky above her was locked in a vermilion and magenta sunrise. The only things here that were their normal colors were the nearby Everfree Forest and Twilight Sparkle herself.

The other ponies had caught up to Twilight. They were surprised to find the changes to the area.

Fluttershy was horrified to see the changes to her home. The area felt more unnatural than the forest.

“What happened here?” Rainbow Dash said.

“We have to hurry,” Twilight said.

They heard a noise in the distance and looked back to the town. They saw a stampede of ponies galloping towards them. The mob was shrouded in a veil of dark mist and their features obscured, the only light came from their torches. They were wielding pitchforks and some familiar signs.

The town itself now has an unsettling inverted color scheme mixed with its usual colors.

The ponies had no choice. They galloped into the forest while the mob gave chase.

---

Diamond Dust, Legion, Apple Bloom, Scootaloo, and Sweetie Belle descended near the Everfree Forest. Diamond Dust lifted the frozen Celestia with her magic.

Legion noticed that the Sword of War, Scales of Life, and Scythe of Death emitted a faint glow.

‘So, you think that you can save them, you art fools.’ Legion thought. ‘You hath doomed yourselves to share their fate.’ He conjured up a small ball of cold air and it flew into the Crown of Conquest.

Diamond Dust noticed that Legion had put something into the crown. She said, “What was that for?”

“A reminder,” Legion said.

Diamond Dust gulped.

Apple Bloom knelt on the ground in pain.

“Something wrong?” Scootaloo said. She and Sweetie Belle helped Apple Bloom up.

“I don’t know,” Apple Bloom said. She felt something change inside her but she couldn’t figure out what it was.

The group went into the forest.

---

Within the memories of the Everfree Forest, Twilight, Rainbow Dash, Rarity, Fluttershy, Applejack, Pinkie Pie, Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle, Scootaloo, and Silver Spoon were chased by a mob shrouded in an unnatural dark mist.

Applejack tried to block the path by causing the trees to fall behind them, but the mob phased through.

Rainbow Dash saw a gate, adorned with thirteen symbols, in the distance. The gate towered over the forest.

“This way!” Rainbow Dash shouted. She flew east and the other ponies followed. The mob hadn’t noticed the ponies sudden change in direction and went straight.

The group took some time to catch their breath.

“That was a close one.” Applejack panted.

“We’re not out of the woods yet,” Twilight said. “They’ll be back.”

The mares went to the giant gateway.

After a few hours, they were near the gates.

“So we get through this and we’re free, right?” Apple Bloom said.

“I don’t know, sugarcube,” Applejack said.

“Well,” Rarity said. “Anywhere got to be better than this icky forest.”

Everypony agreed.

Twilight tried to open the gates with her magic. “They’re locked,” she said.

Everyone looked back and saw two glaciers veiled in darkness heading towards them.

Rainbow Dash tried to ram the gates, but they still won’t open.

They had to hurry. The wall of ice and shadows and ice inched closer and closer.

Twilight remembered the four keys. She searched for a lock somewhere. She found four at the center of the gates. “Rainbow!” She shouted as she pointed to the center.

Rainbow Dash saw the locks and realized what Twilight needed. She went and lifted Twilight up to the center.

The dark glaciers moved forward.

Twilight levitated the keys out of her saddlebag and tried to place them in the locks.

Rainbow Dash said, “Hurry!”

Twilight put the silver and crimson keys inside two of the locks.

The glaciers grew closer at unprecedented speed.

Rainbow Dash was getting tired of lifting Twilight. Twilight placed the black key in the third lock and was ready to place the final key in.

The glaciers were a few yards away. Everypony prepared for the worst.

Twilight placed the viridian key in, and then concentrated. The gates opened and let out a bright light as Rainbow Dash and Twilight went to the ground.

The ponies went into the gates and a few seconds after, they closed. The glaciers collided with each other and the gates.