The Rainbow Portal

by Thunder Quill

Chapter 12

The darkness was oppressive as Jason, Silver Spoon, Diamond Tiara, Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle, and Scootaloo walked through the cave, the five fillies staying as close to Jason as they could.

Jason kept moving forwards, his changeling eyes allowing him easy sight in the darkness, something he was grateful for. "OW!" Scootaloo screeched, "THAT'S MY TAIL!!" everypony winced at the sudden echo of her cry.

"Sorry..." Sweetie Belle muttered apologetically.

Not so much for the girls, "I can't sense anything else, but that doesn't mean there isn't anything here, so can we please try to be quiet?" Jason sighed, putting a hand to his head.

"Sorry," The girls said at the same time.

Jason didn't respond, instead holding his hand up, causing the fillies to stop short. He closed his eyes, seemingly concentrating on something. "Can you hear that?" He asked softly, "That metallic clanging sound?"

"A-ah think ah can..." Applebloom said softly, her ears twitching slightly.

"I can't hear anything, but something reeks." Scootaloo said, her nose scrunching in disgust.

"Oil..." Jason murmured, his eyes opening, "Metal clanging... We need to keep moving." He said to the fillies as he moved forwards, the fillies following him closely.

They walked in relative silence, the only sound made that of the girls hoof-falls on the rock, and the now audible sound of metal against metal, until one of the fillies spoke. "Is it me," Diamond said, "Or is it getting brighter?"

The group looked around, surprised that they could see. "Where's this light coming from?" Silver Spoon wondered, gaining shrugs from the others.

"This can't be right..." Jason muttered, walking around a corner, freezing at the sight of a circular object, a foot in diameter on the smooth stone wall, a big difference from the rocky walls of the cave. It was raised in the center, maybe six inches high. Every two inches, a two inch strip of a bronze like material ran along the surface, leaving six two inch strips bare.

Inside the circle was a glowing green gem, which lit up the entire hallway with the help of seven others, four along each side, each five feet apart. At the end of the hallway, a large door, taller than Jason by a good five or six feet, made out of a similar material as the wall lights, and very ornately decorated. "The Dwemer..." Jason whispered.

The five fillies turned the corner and froze at the strange sight. "What is this?" Diamond asked, confused at why there was a carved hallway in the middle of a mountain.

"The Dwemer came here?" Jason said in disbelief, "Of all the places in the multiverse, and the Dwemer came here?!"

"What's going on Jason?" Sweetie Belle asked, a slight hint of fear in her voice.

"The Dwemer, masters of technology, who vanished millennia ago, from the world of Nirn." Jason said softly, beginning to walk forwards. The fillies followed him as he continued speaking, "None knew where they had vanished, or why they left. Some say they took to the stars, others say they were hunted by the other races of nirn, but none were certain..." He stopped as he reached the door. "Maybe they traveled the multiverse, and ended up here?"

Applebloom stared at Jason, confusion clear in her eyes, "How do you know about the Dwem-whatsits?"

Jason smirked, "I've played enough Skyrim to recognize this décor," He said as he opened the door.

---

Applejack and Filthy Rich raced towards the mountain, Luna's moon lighting their path. "We're almost there!" Applejack yelled back to the stallion.

They had been running at the same pace since they had started in late evening, and it was starting to take it's toll on Filthy Rich. "Excellent..." He wheezed, sweat pouring down his muzzle.

Applejack looked back to the stallion, "We can slow down a mite, Jason can take care of himself and the fillies."

Mr. Rich shook his head, throwing some of the sweat off of his muzzle, "Can't... Do that..." He panted, "Diamond... might be... In trouble..." He pumped his legs harder, overtaking Applejack slightly as they reached the base of the mountain.

They stopped for a moment at the base, both of them looking around as they heard a screech from above. "What in tarnation?" Applejack exclaimed as a gryphon dove down from above, her golden eyes narrowing as she spotted them.

The gryphon landed with a loud thud, her purple feathers low over her eyes, "Where's Jason?" Gilda snarled at them, "He went into the mountain hours ago and he hasn't come back yet."

Rich and Applejack glanced at each other, worry etched onto their faces, "Were some fillies with him?" Applejack asked her, "A pink one with a tiara and a yellow one with a red bow in her mane?"

Gilda nodded, her eyes softening slightly, "And a white unicorn, an orange Pegasus, and a grey earth pony wearing pearls."

"Scootaloo, Sweetie Belle and Silver Spoon..." Filthy Rich said softly, before turning to Gilda, "Where did they go? Can you show us?"

Gilda nodded, pointing toward one side of the mountain, "The fillies said there was a staircase over there. It should be easier to get up the mountain that way." Her wings opened up as she shot into the air.

Filthy Rich glanced at Applejack, one eyebrow raised, "Staircase?" He asked her, "Is that how you got up the mountain to face the dragon?"

Applejack shook her head, "No, ah didn't even know there was one." She gave a shrug, "Let's keep moving." Her and Rich began to climb the staircase.

---

Jason gazed in wonder at the Dwemer ruin, "This is incredible... I've wanted to see something like this since I raided my first Dwemer ruin in Skyrim..." He said softly to himself, before jumping as a piston pumped up next to him, "Forgot about those..." He muttered as the fillies crowded around him.

Scootaloo was gazing around in wonder, her gaze finally locking on a circular platform with a lever in the middle. There were four gears, each an equal distance away from the others. On the other side if the gears were four pieces of metal with ridges cut into them. "Jason," Scootaloo asked, pointing at the strange contraption, "What is that?"

Jason turned to where she was pointing and a small smile came to his face, "That would be the exit lift... If I'm right, and I usually am about this kind of thing, that should take you up to the surface." He said, before freezing at hearing metal clanging and steam hissing, "You need to go, now!" He exclaimed, reaching out towards a metal pipe and his body turning into the metal.

A tall metal monster lumbered into view, the same type of metal that Jason's body was made out of currently. One hand was in the shape of a giant war hammer, while the other was a five foot long blade. "What is that?!" Sweetie Belle screamed, the fillies gathering around Jason.

"Dwemer security guard, top rank, centurion." Jason said, "The Dwemer made them to guard these cities. Get to the lift, NOW!" He roared, making a spear out of his right hand and a shield out of hours left.

The fillies screamed as the centurion slammed his war hammer into Jason's shield. "Run!" Silver Spoon screeched, all five fillies getting onto the lift. "Pull the bucking lever!" She yelled as the centurion used his sword to break Jason's spear, causing him to roar in pain.

"JASON!!!" Diamond screamed as Applebloom kicked the lever with all her strength, sending the lift screaming upwards.

Jason changed his broken spear back into a hand, which was missing the top halves of his fingers, "Fuck you bitch..." He growled, green blood pouring down them. "These had better heal..."

The centurion said nothing, only drawing his right arm back for another smash. "Not today!" Jason yelled, jumping backwards and spewing flames out of his hands.

The flames washed over the centurion, heating up the metal but doing no damage. The metal monstrosity slammed Jason with its hammer, sending him into a pipe, the breath whooshing out of his lungs.

Jason groaned in pain, curled up on the floor, blood pouring out of his chest. "Note to self..." He muttered, "Using flames against a centurion is a really bad idea."

The centurion stood over Jason, his blade raised over Jason's broken body. As the blade began to descend however, Jason heard a loud cry, "WWWWRRRRRRRRRRYYYYYYYYY!!!!!" A tan and white blur flew down the lift shaft and slammed into the centurion, making it stumble and fall backwards into a large machine.

"Jason!!" He heard Gilda's voice cry out, before her soft fur and feathers enveloping him, "Please tell me you're alright." She whimpered, tears falling onto his shoulder.

"What are you doing here?" Jason managed to whisper to her, "How did you know where I was?"

She sniffed, more tears falling into his shoulder, "The fillies came up from a lift in my alcove. The floor opened and they came rushing out, screaming about a metal monster." She sniffed again, "So I rushed down and came to help." Gilda whimpered as she hugged him tighter.

Jason wrapped his arms around his lover, doing his best to comfort her, "Thank you... I would have died is you didn't help-" A loud bang came from the machine that the centurion landed on, the machine beginning to smoke. "You need to get out of here..." Jason said weakly, "You can't carry me, and I'm not strong enough to move..." He fell silent as Gilda pressed her beak against his lips, staying like that for a full minute, before pulling away slowly, "I'm not leaving you again..." She said softly, pulling him close.

Jason could only smile as he held her close, the machine making a loud bang as it exploded, surrounding the two with a bright green light.

Comments

[Thunder Quill]

5127379 true... I was using a major hyperbole

[Rain Nero]

Hm... still in the reading process. So far it's a pretty generic HiE, but what caught my interest was Imloch. From the descriptions you've given even up to chapter 3, he's definitely based on the Dungeons and Dragons magic system, which is enough to keep me reading to see what you do with him.

[Thunder Quill]

6342998 Thanks!

[Thunder Quill]

6343003 Yep!

[Thunder Quill]

6343047 No. He's based off one of my dad's DND/Neverwinter Nights wizard characters.

[Thunder Quill]

6989833 I will warn you, it gets really,really rushed at the end.

[Blaze the draconic mage]

Pls make more

[Thunder Quill]

8881638
Probably not, sorry.

[Thunder Quill]

9053703
Yeah, this story had a severe case of rush to get new stuff done, and honestly I don't care to fix it up or finish it if I'm honest.