The Gatekeeper

by FanofAwesomeness

Chapter 5

5/15/2058
1:49 pm
I looked around my repaired room. It had been a while since the last attack, and I was starting to grow paranoid. I thought a little bit, then tried the ‘spell’ Twilight had shown me to find Changelings. When nothing came up, I relaxed a little, but not enough to put my knife away.

I heard a knock at my door and spun to face it. I trotted up to it and opened it to see Twilight standing in front of me.

“They’re moving,” she said.

“Where?” I asked.

“They’re coming up all over Equestria,” she replied. “We can’t even slow them down!”

“They have everything ready, then,” I said. “We need to set up an attack on them, right in the heart of their base. It’s happening today.”

“I’ll tell everyone,” she said.
2:27 pm

I stood in the room, waiting for someone to tell me it was a bad idea. There was always someone.

“Let’s do it,” said one of them.

Twilight got up and started to open the walls. “So you did take my recommendation on the wall armories,” I said.

“It was a smart idea,” Twilight replied blandly.

I pulled her into the hallway for a moment. “You are acting odd,” I said. “Not only do you seem unfocused, but you’re acting even more boring than usual.”

“War isn’t something fun,” she said.

“No, it isn’t” I told her. “But that’s why we have to have fun outside the warzone as much as possible. Not only do we have an enemy to fight, but we don’t know when we’re going to die. So at least lighten up a bit.”

She looked up at me and gave a small smile. “I might just have to have Celestia take away all your books,” I said jokingly. “Then you would have no choice but to come to me in your free time. And you really don’t want to know what I do in my free time.”

She gave a small chuckle at that and hugged me. “Thank you.”

“I am not a huggy person,” I choked out as she squeezed tighter. “Too much hugging, too much hugging!”

She let go and gave me a smile of, Joke’s on you. “You’re good,” I said. “I’ll get you back, just you wait and see.”

We might die in the next few hours, but if that was so, then we would die with a smile on our faces.
4:58 pm

I could feel my heart thundering in my chest. My breath came in quick rasps as I fought my way through the army of Changelings outside their base. Each one was a kill, but that didn’t affect me as much as it did when I first started.

I heard someone scream and I blasted a shot of raw energy straight at the top of their base. The scream told me there was no direct way in, so I had to delay the attack on my world for as long as I could.

I was already starting to feel the strain on my body, and I was the one with extra resistance against wear and tear, physically. Mentally, my mind was screaming at me to stop using my abilities so much. There was too much going on and I had to do something.

So I shot the ground.

I flew through the air as the force threw me up. I pushed myself up and tried to steer my way toward the towering base, but was shot down after a few seconds. I hit the ground and could barely contain a scream as my shoulder dislocated.

I pulled myself up and tried to focus on my knife so I could use that, but my shoulder was too much. I ran up to one of the many large boulders and pushed my foreleg back into place, letting out a scream.

One of the ponies looked at me in confusion. “It hurts more when it goes back in,” I explained. I then sent another bolt of energy at the Changeling behind him. “And you should stay aware! This isn’t training!”

I spun around and faced a half-dozen before hearing the explosion. I gathered up some energy and shoved it all at them in a wave, taking them all out at once.

When I reached the opening, I saw what we were really up against.

There were tall Changelings, all facing the doorway, all with various dark colors as their underlying power. I could barely hold myself together from the onslaught of mental attacks. I was barely holding up to their torment.

And they weren’t even breaking a sweat.

I pulled out my revolver and shot at them. This was the best chance to use the few bullets I had left. I put one in each of them and began to move forward.

And one stood in front of the Gateway.

She was easily taller than the previous ones, towering over me. She had a green glow behind a bluish shell with dark red pits where her all-black eyes were. I could see the sheer power shedding from her hide as she stood there, waiting for me.

“Stop this,” I said, barely able to get my normal voice heard. When she didn’t react, I tried something a little different.

I focused on my vocal cords and spoke with simple intent: demand. “Stop this,” I bellowed. “While you still have the chance.”

The Changeling looked at me with those black eyes and spoke with a rasping, but still loud, voice. “You dare threaten me? I am Queen of all Changelings! You are nothing but a speck to be blown away. You are a fool for such demands.”

I looked at her and changed my posture, standing straighter. “I am the Gatekeeper, of the Human world you are attempting to take, protector of all paths to and from my world. I have the power to turn you to dust so do not make an attempt to intimidate me. I warned you to stop, yet you persist.

“I hereby challenge you, Queen of all Changelings, to a one-on-one duel for the fate of not just one world, but both. If I win, you will surrender your control over the Changelings to me and accept punishment for your crimes. If you win, I will turn in my duty and give you this world as well as my own.”