Silent Ponyville: Duet Of Sorrow

by KillerSteel

Chapter 13: ...and Shadows Of The Future

“There…done.” Rainbow wipes her brow, looking down at the clouds before her. Four simple towers of cloud stand at the front of four piles of clouds, draped like a blanket over what lies underneath. She bows and closes her eyes, saying a prayer. “Even though he attacked you…everypony should get a proper burial.” She mutters, opening her eyes half way, a solemn look on her face.

“I’m sorry I wasn’t there to help you.” She says, speaking to the spirits of the four now buried, and turns to her left, seeing the door is now covered in haze once more. “Time to move on…” She says to herself, walking towards the field of static at the end of the street. She looks at her bag, the medallion still in her possession, and looks down at the medal hanging off her neck, still hanging on strong.

The street jumps with lightning, just feet away from Rainbow, the two side streets stretching off into hazy oblivion. Neither are sharpened, but both cross into proper areas. “Eeny meeny miny..ah to heck with it.” Rainbow says, walking down the left path. The sound of the rolling static fades behind her as she proceeds forward, the world itself beginning to shift and change around her…

A siren echoes off in the distance, quiet, and a smell of rot enters Rainbow’s nose. She freezes, knowing what comes next, and backs away from the bending fog in front of her, the siren fading away as she does so. “OK, right path this time.” She says with a tinge of fear in her voice, as she quickly turns around and runs back to the static field. A voice echoes out from behind her.

“And where’s the little filly running off to now?” It says, laughing.

“Away from here, that’s for sure. Now I’ve got more reason with you here.” Rainbow says, continuing her run down the alley. The exit seems to extend further and further away, something closing over it. Rainbow speeds up her sprint before seeing a flash of silver before her, three sharp blades flying through the wall. Rainbow stops just as they stab into the opposite wall, creating a wall before her.

“Please, this is easy…” She mocks the blades before her, trying to open her wings. They feel glued to her sides, and she just looks on. “…I hate this place.” She exclaims, staring at the swords, then turns back around towards the bending fog, sighing. “I really, REALLY, hate this place…”

“Oh, come now, Amanda! It’s so fun here!” The voice echoes out, surprising Rainbow.

“Wh-how do you know that name?!” She shouts into the void, stopping.

“My dear, I know a whole lot more than you give me credit for…but for you to find out exactly what, you’ll have to come find me. I’m even feeling generous enough to give you a hint as to where I am!” The voice exclaims in a sarcastic tone.

“And what’s that hint? ‘Dig till you hit lava’?” Rainbow smirks, looking around for the source of the voice.

“Aha, clever, but no. The hint is…” The voice echoes out, “RIGHT NEXT TO YOU.” It shouts, right next to Rainbow’s right ear. She spins around to see a shadow fading away. She stops breathing, stumbling a bit and colliding with the wall on her left, the static from the thunderhead jumping through her and starting her on an erratic breathing rate, collapsing to her belly with a stunned look of terror.

“PAHAHAHAHA! Oh, the look on your face…priceless!” The voice laughs, that sickeningly twisted version of Sehn. “I couldn’t resist, you see…this is a very bad pastime of mine. You’ll find your hint in front of you. Farewell…” The voice says with a vocal bow, and fades into the haze along the pressure on Rainbow’s lungs. She takes a deep breath to try and ease her lungs, before letting out a long sigh and standing up. Her eyes search along the path in front of her before they settle on a piece of paper nailed to the wall, it and some of the cloud around it clear as day. She walks up to the paper, spotting another window and looking into it.

Through it, she can see a bright, pink room, strewn with streamers, confetti, treats and presents. In the middle of the room, she can see Pinkie Pie entertaining her friends, her leg around what should be somepony…but instead just air. She can hear Pinkie’s laughing as she looks in through the window, feeling a sense of welcoming…but also foreboding. Rarity, Twilight and Applejack are all there, but she and Fluttershy seem to be missing. “…Life wouldn’t be the same without you guys…” She smiles, looking in the window. She looks to the note next.

To be viewing this means you’ve guessed correctly,
The question you sought matched the answer.
Further onward, your path only grows more treacherous,
Your pain more agonizing, your sadness more crippling.

To find your answer is to fight these emotions,
To find the one way home and follow it to the end.
Find your own way, using this answer as your guide,
‘Will’.

“Yet another cryptic riddle…” Rainbow sighs, taking the note off the wall and popping the tab off her bag, only to see that there are two notes in her bag instead of three. She raises her eyebrow, placing the note on the cloud in front of her, taking the other two out. It seems the one with the answer ‘Five’ has disappeared. “Weird…but at least it’s not threatening for me…I hope.” She thinks to herself before placing all three notes in her bag, staring down the path and into the haze, the window having faded from the wall. She wills herself to move forward, but her legs won’t budge.

“C’mon Dash, you’ve faced harder challenges in the past…the Sonic Rainboom, you saved the Wonderbolts and Rarity back at the Young Flyers Competition…all those stunts you invented…all of them were harder than taking a few steps into that world. So what’s holding you back now, right?” She says to herself, trying to steel her nerves and calm her mind so her legs will move.

“So move, Dash…everypony’s waiting for you!” She says to herself as she starts walking towards the fog, the siren sounding out again, becoming louder with every step she takes into the bending world before her. Before long, her hoof meets the familiar, squishy flesh of the iron fenced floor, and the smell of rot comes to her in full force.

“Feels just as bad, looks just as bad…and I think it smells worse now…” She says to herself, looking around at the walls. She reaches into her bag and pulls out the lantern, surprised to find it sitting in the bag, waiting to be used. It lights up the room around her, though not revealing a whole lot of the room itself. The darkness seems to expand much farther than the hall, or even the last fenced room she was in before, the floors covered in moving, dark red flesh, with columns of bone flying high into the room from them, the columns seeming to move upwards every few minutes, the floor constructing new bone.

Choir can be heard in the distance, an eerie opposite to the room in its near-angelic tone and soft follow-through. The sound bounces around the room, echoing over itself, almost syncing up yet falling apart. Rainbow shivers, looking at the room, before walking forward, revealing some more of the room. Figures can be seen standing along a stained red carpet leading up a stair well, all very still. Rainbow begins to walk along the carpet when her walkie talkie starts hissing softly, and she looks around while proceeding, wishing she had some kind of strap for the lantern so her knife could be used.

As she moves past the figures, what they are unnerves Rainbow. Dead bodies line the carpet, struck in heroic or tragic poses on marble pedestals, unmarred by the blood and flesh of the room. The left side showing Hemorans while the right side has Equestrians. They all seem to have inscriptions on the pedestals they’re all standing on.

The armed soldiers, holding their blades with the tip stabbed into the pedestal, have armor and blade stained with blood, rusting slightly, while the unarmed soldiers are all perfectly clean. The Hemoran side is completely inhabited by bladed soldiers, all holding the exact same pose, staring across the red carpet at the Equestrian side, which is inhabited by armed Royal Guard soldiers, mages with horns lit, earth ponies ready to fight, but the final two corpses strike Rainbow with a sense of despair that could only be felt through stories…

The final two corpses, just before the steps begin, are Sehn and Fluttershy. They stand facing Rainbow instead of each other, Sehn covered in blood splattered black armor and wielding a silver long sword with a saw-like blade, while Fluttershy wears a pure white robe, hood draped over her back. They’re both frowning, looking down at Rainbow as if the one before them had made a wrong that could never be corrected. Sehn looks down with a venom that poisons the soul and cripples the heart, while Fluttershy simply looks down with a depressed look that would simply crush an individual. Rainbow’s hind legs collapse under her, sitting down with a thud, all strength gone from her body as she looks on.

“Oh my God…” She whispers, her bottom lip trembling as she raises a hoof to her mouth. The one friend who showed her any kindness during her time in the desert, and the one whom she loved so dearly now stand before her, all light gone from their eyes…and they look at her with a sense of disappointment. Tears begin to flow from Rainbow’s eyes, looking from body to body. “W-What happened…to you two…?” She asks, her hoof falling away from her mouth and landing with a splatter on the fleshy ground. She shudders, looking at the stair well, as a laugh echoes from the darkness…

“Well? How do you like it?” The darkness asks, as if wanting praise for an artistic masterpiece. Rainbow just shudders with depression and rage at the voice, unable to find the words to express her emotions without exploding into a crying fit. A shadow fades into view, sitting on the third step in front of her, something that looks like Sehn, but with yellow eyes with red irises and white, slit pupils, while his armor is jagged and sharp like the scales of a dragon. “I asked you a question, Dash. It’s impolite to not answer.” He says again in a matter-of-fact tone, looking at the two bodies before Rainbow.

“You…you did this…didn’t you?” Rainbow hisses, looking up, nothing but anger in her eyes.

“Well, I’m not going to say I FOUND them like this. I suppose I’ll let you derive the rest…” He says, looking at his left gauntlet’s finger tips in boredom, leaning his head on his right hand. He blows on the tips, rubbing them on his armor, and he looks at them again, a slight glint being shown in his eye from them.

“You monster…”

“Grade A sleuthing, Detective Dash. What will be your next great discovery? That what you’re standing on is flesh? That the room stinks?” He says, raising his eyebrows and smiling. “Or perhaps it will be simply that your friends are dead?” He says, moving his gaze over to Fluttershy, getting up and walking down to her body. He runs a hand along her mane, rubbing his chin with his free hand.

“Leave her alone!” Rainbow screeches at him, being ignored.

“That is hardly the way you speak to a Colonel, Miss Dash. But I’m feeling especially kind today, so I’ll let it slide just this once.” He says, smirking as he feels along the corpse’s chin, as if appraising artwork. “Magnificent build…very feminine, proportions are all correct…if only I’d met her first instead of you, I’d be rather happy.” He says, not looking away from the corpse as he places a hand on his hip.

“I SAID LEAVE HER ALONE!” Rainbow shouts with all the might she can muster, trying to stand up. Her hind legs feel numb under her, as if frozen from this man’s presence. He looks over at her, and his gaze immediately presses her spirit to the floor, the feeling of him a towering shadow above Rainbow.

“And I said you don’t speak to a Colonel like that…must I teach you a lesson?” He growls, furrowing his brow. He walks away from Fluttershy’s corpse and towards Rainbow, crossing the distance in a few steps. She looks down at the floor, trying to avoid his gaze by staring at his boots, and he kneels down in front of her. “You seem troubled, child…what could possibly be terrifying the great Rainbow Dash?”

“No-Nothing…” She stutters, moving her gaze to the left quickly. All she can feel is pure, bone-shattering terror and fear from this man’s simple presence and voice. He hasn’t even raised a fist and she already feels like running away.

“I’m certain there’s something…these eyes have never lied in the past. Every one of my victims…” he says, grabbing Rainbow by the chin and pulling her look to him, “…had the same, beautiful look of terror in their eyes…those little gems of light, a doorway into the soul…a doorway I happily jarred open…” he says, moving a hand up into Rainbow’s view, her eyes locking on it. “…and pulled their soul from…” the hand moves closer, “…Just to watch them die.” He hisses, finally shoving his hand forward, Rainbow immediately blacking out.

The hissing of the walkie talkie awakens Rainbow, her eyes snapping open to take in the environment around her. She’s still in that room with the red carpet, but all the corpses except for Sehn and Fluttershy seem to have vanished, leaving empty pedastals, covered in blood. Rainbow immediately jumps to her hooves, feeling the strength in her hind legs return, and she quickly picks up the lantern lying sideways in front of her. She looks up at Sehn and Fluttershy, both of them holding the same disappointed look.

“I’m…sorry I couldn’t be there for you two…you both deserve a proper burial when this is over…” Rainbow whispers through the lantern handle, slowly walking forward towards the steps. The drawing of a sword beside her forces her to jump back, the silver, saw-edged blade stabbing down into where she was just standing. Rainbow’s fear further increases by the sound of the walkie talkie emitting a banshee’s scream, alarming her to a danger she’s never faced before.

Sehn’s corpse draws the blade back from the ground, the eyes closed and blood trickling from the mouth, and he takes a heavy step off the pedestal. He brings the blade up to balance on his shoulder, and looks over at Fluttershy. He growls at it, turning to face it, bringing the blade tip up to her face.

“STOP!!!” Rainbow screams, launching herself forward into Sehn’s side, throwing him into the stair well with a mighty crunch. She plants a hoof down onto his sword arm, keeping the blade pinned to the stairs, and stares him dead in the face. “NO ONE desecrates her body! And after I’m done here, I’m going after your twin!” She shouts before being thrown off by a kick planted against her belly, it easily catapulting her across the room. The lantern crashes down onto the carpet, lighting several trails of fire leading across the room, the flames reaching up to the ceiling, lighting the entire room.

The flesh retreats from the fire as the sound of dangling, clinking chains finally enters Rainbow’s hearing. Both she and Sehn’s corpse look up at the chains, and Rainbow gasps at the sight of ponies being hanged from these chains, all completely immaculate. They were all executed, and not even a fight was put up…Rainbow takes a step back before the sound of clanking armor forces her view downwards towards Sehn, who’s now sprinting towards her, sword raised. Rainbow quickly draws her knife and jumps to the right out of the way of the simple vertical slash, running forward while bringing the knife in a horizontal slice across his gut. The knife grinds along his armor, and Rainbow feels him turn to the left…

Followed by the burning pain of a sword being jammed into her side, easily piercing her camo jacket and skin. She leaps to the side, blood spurting from the wound in the left of her belly, slowly skidding to a stop on the slippery, bloody flesh, looking at where she struck Sehn’s armor. Barely a scratch was left behind, a simple white line being the only discernible mark from the strike. “One exchange and I’m already wounded…” Rainbow thinks, her train of thought being interrupted by a quick stab of pain from her wound. Sehn slowly turns towards her, sword balanced on his shoulder, and he begins walking over. Rainbow swallows a bit of saliva, thinking of a plan. The head of the corpse is unarmoured, lacking a helmet, but the rest of the body is covered in that extremely hard armor. The sound is very distinct, and the body seems capable only of swift sword strikes.

“Alright…so if I stick to speed…” Rainbow mumbles, opening her wings and flapping them a few times, “…No, Dash, it’s not Sehn…it’s some possessed corpse. Aim for the head…aim for the head…” She repeats in her mind, looking behind her quickly to see she’s right next to one of the trails of fire lighting the room. She moves left, the corpse following and walking straight to her. It leans down and leaps forward, grabbing the sword with both hands and crossing the distance in only a moment. It swings with deadly aim at Rainbow’s neck, which she ducks under, feeling the top of her mane be shaved off by the sharp blade. She looks up, seeing the body rolling in the air, and jumps forward as the blade comes down where she was, opening a large gash in the ground, cutting through both the flesh on the floor and the fencing that builds it.

“Jeeze that’s sharp!” She says through the knife, spinning around and skidding to a halt, the heat of an open flame coming closer to her from behind. She jumps, easily passing over the trail of fire, and hovers in midair, staring down her opponent. “Let’s see you touch me now!” She shouts, the corpse simply staring up at her. “Now to wow it with speed it’s never seen before…” She thinks, smiling as she throws herself forward to the corpse’s left side, spinning around him in circles, moving faster and faster as the wind builds up into a tornado. The corpse simply stands there, the sword held in two hands in front of it.

Rainbow breaks the circle just behind the corpse, and brings the knife up to the back of his right temple, and meets the steel of its blade as the knife skids across, just centimeters away from the target. She goes back into the wind and the corpse returns to his neutral stance. She tries again, bursting out right in front of him and aiming for the left eye, but the knife edge meets the edge of his own blade and glances off, completely missing the head. The trend of strikes continues, with Rainbow flying in from some random point in the tornado, and the corpse seeming to predict where she’s going to strike, blocking and glancing the knife off without effort.

“How is he keeping up?!” She thinks, speeding up her strikes to no avail. She flies straight up, panting from the thirty strikes she attempted and failed, the corpse simply looking forward with his sword in a neutral stance. She bites down on the knife and furrows her brow from frustration, before turning to the stairwell. It seems to reach up to the fenced wall in the back of the room, entering a hallway that doesn’t seem touched by the light of the room. Simply a black square marking the entrance. She looks back at the corpse, then to the door thinking of whether she should simply run away or fight.

“…The more time I spend fighting him, the exhausted I’m gonna be…and right now, I haven’t got the speed I need to beat him…” She thinks, looking back at Fluttershy’s body with a solemn look. “…I’ll come back for you.” She says, sheathing the knife and flying down to the ground, picking up the lantern from the floor and launching herself to the hall. Clanking armor can be heard as she makes her escape, the lantern lighting the hallway to mere feet in front of her, the steps flying past all covered in the red carpeting of the previous room. She looks behind herself, seeing the corpse only a few meters away, easily keeping up in its own sprint.

“Oh come on!” She thinks, looking forward and flying up faster, praying for an exit. No light appears at the end of this tunnel, the weak flame of the lantern being Rainbow’s only savior in the hall. The chase continues for another five minutes before the sound of the corpse’s armor banging to a sprint begins to fade. Rainbow looks behind herself, sweating and panting hard, the glint of the silver sword slowly disappearing into the darkness. The banshee’s scream of the walkie talkie quiets as the last of the shining blade is devoured by the dark, and Rainbow slows down, planting herself on the steps. She breathes hard, the adrenaline covering up the pain from her now torn wound, and the agony of it hits her like a freight train.

“Hngh…!” She wheezes, closing an eye, trying to block out the pain from her side. She slowly reaches around to her bag, seeing the blood from the stab has spread across her clothes and dripped down her left hind leg, drawing a red trail. She reaches into the bag and pulls out the medkit, opening it to reveal the small roll of gauze and the disinfectant spray, and she starts taking her coat off. She lifts up the shirt to reveal the wound, and takes out the small tin of disinfectant, spraying the wound. She grits her teeth from the burning sensation of the alcohol cleansing the stab, and she starts wrapping it up with the gauze.

“Hope I find some more supplies soon…” Rainbow thinks, her rapid breathing from both the pain of the cut and the burning exhaustion from that maniacal chase up the stairs preventing any words from coming out. She pushes her shirt back down and puts the coat back on, adjusting the cap on her head, surprised to see it’s stuck with her all this time. She places the gauze and disinfectant back in the medkit carefully, and places everything back in the bag before finally crashing on her right side against the wall, staring up into the darkness.

“I was flying so quickly, too…where’s the end to this?” She asks herself, her wings lying slack against her body, completely spent from the fight. She starts walking up the steps, each stair proving more difficult to climb than the last. Before long, she’s struggling to pull herself up one more step, the darkness unyielding around her. “The exit’s there…just…have to keep moving…!” She grunts, forcing herself to move forward. The stairs begin to blur in her vision, covered by the same haze as that town she was in before. “Hopefully this means something…” She whispers, her breathing finally balanced out.

Thirty minutes of climbing later and Rainbow’s given up, flopping down to her right side and lying on the jagged metal steps. Her legs twitch and burn from the constant stress of climbing the steps, now all but completely numb and useless, and her eyes wander down to the bottom of the steps. Darkness consumes both paths up and down, providing no discernible distance to each end, or even if she’s covered any at all. “I need to get out of here…” She whispers, the lantern hanging loosely in her mouth, and she tries to move her legs back under her. She pushes upwards with all her strength, but can’t seem to manage even getting herself off the ground.

Silence pervades the hallway, Rainbow’s breathing and the dripping of water somewhere being the only sounds to accompany her, the flesh creeping silently along the walls. The carpet at least feels nice under her, taking some of the stab away from the sharp metallic steps. Rainbow lays her head against the step just in front of her, planting her legs under her torso so she doesn’t start falling backwards, and closes her eyes, her drowsiness quickly dragging her into the void of sleep.

Weightlessness and darkness, no feeling of air or ground, existence itself not present around Rainbow. She stares off into the darkness in thought, looking back at what’s happened to her, the accusations from her nightmares, her efforts through the world amounting to nothing but it holding her hoof and guiding her along…the dead bodies of her friend and lover. Was it worth coming here, sacrificing those she cared about in order to solve her nightmares? Should she even go on, having already failed to protect them?

“Starting to cry now, are you?” A voice speaks out to Rainbow, her looking around before settling on an Equestrian in front of her, the one in front of her being Rainbow Dash.

“Is…is this another-“

“No, it isn’t. You and I are the only ones here.” The other Rainbow says, staring on at her double. She doesn’t have the camos on, or the cap, or even the knife. She looks at Dash with a look of pride on her face. “What’s got you down?”

“Wait, who are you, first off? Why do you look like me?” Rainbow asks her unclothed double.

“Why do I look like you? Shouldn’t I ask that? You seem too depressed to be Rainbow Dash.” She says with a smirk. “So why do you look like me, Cloudy Dash?”

“Cloudy- my name’s Rainbow Dash! And…well…” Cloudy Dash looks down, her knife glinting in some kind of light, feeling depression boil up in her gut. “…I feel like I…I failed somewhere down the line…and now it’s all catching up to me…”, She shakes, feeling tears start to roll, “And…and now that they’re dead…I don’t know if I should go on or not…”

“Wow, I picked a good nickname then, Cloudy. You’re like a rain cloud, putting a shadow on everypony’s sunny day. Buck up, smile, shine with that pride you always do!” Rainbow says with a big smile, putting a hoof to her chest. “You already know this world, this is your second time being here! Things don’t happen without a reason…so didn’t it seem kind of weird seeing them?” She says, tilting her head to the side and raising an eyebrow.

“I know what I saw, I know what I felt…I know who tried to kill me then…t-they were both dead! Sehn died because I got separated from him, and Fluttershy died because she was too worried for me to let me do this alone! I got them killed, me!!!” Cloudy Dash sobs relentlessly, finally letting her emotions just boil over. Rainbow sighs looking at her depressed twin, and walks over, putting a hoof on Cloudy’s shoulder.

“Are you really certain they’re gone?” Rainbow pats her twin’s shoulder, Cloudy looking up at her. “Sehn’s too tough to go down that easy, and Fluttershy may be a scaredy cat, but she can hold her own. So why’re you letting it get you down now? Think of how they’d feel if you gave up now.”

“They’d…resent me…they’d want me to keep moving…but I can’t. Them being dead…it makes all this useless…I’m the reason they died, Rainbow!” She shudders, the tears still falling, and her voice joins in the depressive cycle. Rainbow brings her close into a hug.

“If they are really dead, then you just have to accept that and move on. If they can’t live their lives, you’ll have to for them…don’t forget they joined in this fight fully expecting what could happen. Show them what you have that all the other ponies don’t, Cloudy…” She smiles, moving away from her twin and letting go. “Show them that pride, that iron-strong will that you show to everypony every day. Stand strong.” She nods with a big smile, pounding her chest with her hoof in a salute before fading into the void, and Cloudy stares into the darkness that once contained her…or what she was before; The great flyer that saved the Wonderbolts, the proudest pony that ever lived.

“…You’re right…well, I’M right. Of course I’m right! It won’t be the same without them around…but I have to press on, for them.” Rainbow says, the depression melting away and turning into determination, strength. Visions of the two fallen appear before her, Sehn with his usual coy smirk while Fluttershy has a gentle smile on her face. “I promise the both of you, I’m making it out of here. I will live!” She cries into the void, the spirit’s smiles growing as the void closes in around her…

The sound of dripping water enters Rainbow’s hearing, her body and head in the same spot she’d left them before falling asleep. She lifts herself, the stab wound still stinging a bit but far better than before, and her legs move with new strength. She looks up into the darkness before her, and furrows her brow. “Well, after that pep talk I gave myself…I can’t let me or them down now!” She says into the shadows, smiling, and she picks up the lantern and begins walking forward. Only a few moments later, hissing from her walkie talkie enters her hearing, and she quickly looks around for anything that may attack her.

“Again…and again…and AGAIN! Why won’t you give up?!” A voice, sounding like a twisted version of her own, rings out in frustration. “Just lie down and die! They’re gone, you’ve got nothing left to live for!”

“Well don’t you sound angry?” Rainbow smirks, sounding pompous in her new confidence. “I’m not gonna just lie down and die now! I promise them that much!”

“Stupid child…you’ve just pissed off the wrong pony.” The voice growls, the sentence dripping with venom, and the entire stair well shudders. The walkie talkie quickly rises in volume as a silhouette appears down the stair well. Rainbow looks behind her to see a wall of living flesh, piles of it stretching off into wildly swinging tentacles, charging straight for her with surprising speed.

“Oh come on…” Rainbow says with a sigh, and she opens her wings and launches up the stair well, beating her wings harder and faster. The wall continues chasing her, the fencing that makes up the hall bending and squealing, trying to contain the mass moving through it. Both bodies accelerate through twists and turns in the hall, Rainbow allowing her body to do the flying while she did the steering through the sharp turns and corners, every turn followed by a wet smash of the wall running into it.

“DIE! DIE DIE DIE!!!” The voice screams out, the wall accelerating even faster.

“Nah, this is too fun now! I missed this thrill!” Rainbow cries back, moving through the hall with more speed than ever before. A corner comes and she turns through it like an easy bend in a race track, every collision having her look behind to see the wall slowing down. “Can’t keep up, can you?!” She shouts, mocking the wall, as one of the tentacles quickly grows and swings past her, impaling the flesh below. “Feisty!” She whispers, raising her eyebrows as she rounds more turns to the left. The lantern flails in her mouth, the handle squeaking from the strain of holding itself and the lantern together and in Rainbow’s mouth.

“C’mon, freaky wall thing, keep up! Betcha can’t touch this!” She mocks, rounding a hairpin turn, leaving the wall in her dust. She looks forward to see tentacles leaping out from the walls, trying to bar her path. “An obstacle course…” She whispers with a smirk as she easily moves through the tentacles, the turns quickly becoming sharper as they move closer together. The wall catches up, crashing through the flesh, tearing it to pieces as it all gets ground into the fencing and added to the wall. “And here comes the second part of it. Well, I always love a challenge!” She growls with a smile, moving through the tentacles. Two more tentacles from the wall lash out at her, stabbing into the ceiling and walls, one moving past Rainbow far enough to see they have blades on the end of them.

“And one of those actually came…woah, that was close!” Rainbow thinks, raising her eyebrows at the close shave she had with the first tentacle. She looks behind herself, barrel rolling through another wall of tentacles as one from the wall rips through the air just over her belly. She straightens her neck so her chin isn’t impaled, and the tentacle flies into the ceiling as Rainbow completes her roll. “Felt some of my coat come off with that one…” She thinks, continuing to fly forward. A wall of flesh grows across the hall, attempting to block her path. Rainbow speeds herself up and braces for impact, slamming straight into the wall and bursting through it, torn flesh and blood coating every inch of her. “OH WOW that smells bad!!!” She says through the handle of the lantern, blocking her nose.

The rumbling of the hall continues on until a light appears at the end of the tunnel, and Rainbow uses every last bit of her energy to explode forward towards it.

“YOU ARE NOT GETTING AWAY FROM ME!!!” The void screams out, every bit of the flesh on the walls reaching out to Rainbow, trying to snag her, grab her, impede her way, doing everything it can in order to drag her down and get her killed. Wires of flesh grab onto her body but get ripped off from the force of her flying, all her energy going into a final, break-neck sprint to the light. The fencing bends and rips around her as the wall speeds up, and she looks behind herself, the wall only twenty meters behind her.

“C’mon, c’mon…!” She looks forward, moving even faster, until something lights up inside her. She begins to feel her wings burn, and she looks back before a sudden explosion throws her towards the light at maniacally fast speeds, leaving everything behind her. “WH-“ Is all the void can manage to get out before Rainbow flies out of the tunnel and into the world beyond.

“WOAH!” Rainbow screams, flying out of the tunnel and into a nearby wall, the black thunderhead feeling cushiony yet painfully shocking as she collides with it, and she bounces off, falling into the street. She twitches from the static still coursing through her, eyes spinning in her head.

“What in the hay was that…?” She asks herself, shaking her head to stop the world from spinning in two directions. She looks around, seeing she’s in a small room with two tables at the sides of the room, two notes above each, and a large steel door at the front of the room. The world has that same haze except for the two sets of notes, and the tables they stand over.

Rainbow sighs with relief, finding herself in a quiet room, her breathing being the only sound accompanying the quiet sound of static jumping from mound to mound on the black clouds around her. She turns off the lantern, putting it in her bag before moving into the middle of the room. She takes out the note, spotting the newspaper sitting next to it, and pulls it out as well before walking over to the left table and laying them out. “’Will’ is this one’s answer…and…” She looks from the note to the newspaper, seeing it more clearly but still blurry. “Equestria…Hemora i…liv…st…” She reads it off to herself, furrowing her brow and stroking her chin. “Something to do with Hemora and Equestria?”

She looks up from the newspaper to the two notes over the table, reading the one on the left first.

One of your friends.

“That one’s out of the question, I don’t have a friend named Will.” Rainbow nods, looking over to the right note next.

An unrelenting drive.

“…Closer…but I dunno. What do the other two say…?” She mumbles, putting the note and newspaper back in her bag before walking over to the other table. “Hm?” Rainbow looks at the set of notes before her, then back at the other table. “Why are they different colors? This set’s red…and the other’s gray…” She looks back, rubbing her chin before shrugging. “Nah, can’t mean anything…I’m looking for a single question with a single answer.” She quietly says, looking to the left note at this table.

Intense determination.

“Now that sounds more like it…still, don’t want to make the choice without reading the other note.” She looks over to the right one, reading it to herself.

_son.

“Blank son? Then…well, it relates to ‘Will’, maybe it’s Willson. But ‘Wilson’ is spelt with one l, not two.” She turns back to the note on the left, “Leaving you and that other one…” She turns around, seeing only one note, the other having vanished. A scorch mark is left on the table below where the left note used to hang. “An unrelenting drive, and ‘Intense determination’…which one has the answer of ‘Will’?” Rainbow asks herself, walking into the middle of the room before sitting down, a bit of static running up her spine and through her muscles, causing a quick twitch before they relax. “Woo…that felt kinda nice.” She thinks, raising her brow before returning to her usual train of thought.

“An unrelenting drive…intense determination…one of those has the answer…a drive to move forward and complete what you start…that’s willpower, isn’t it? So if that’s true…” She rubs her chin, facing the note on the right wall, seeing it standing on its own. “Intense determination is will.” She says, and the note immediately bursts into green flame, an ember shooting across the room and touching the other note. They both burn with a bright green, lighting up the room, and pull off the walls, floating towards each other. The green flames get pulled into a singularity just in front of Rainbow, and as the notes disappear, an object builds itself from the flame.

Rainbow covers her eyes as the light intensifies, and something lands on the ground with a thud in front of her. It looks like a thin, blue rod, two tiny fins extending off the end of it. Rainbow raises an eyebrow at it before turning to her bag, popping open the pouch with the winged medallion inside, and she takes it out to look at it. The hole on the bottom near the roots of the wings has two small notches ground into it. “Hmm…” She looks down at the rod, placing the medallion next to the rod, and she tries pushing the rod into the notched hole. After fumbling with it for a bit, she gets it into the medallion, and turns it. She lifts up the medallion, and the rod falls out.

“Did I guess wrong?” Rainbow asks herself, a saddened look growing on her face. She looks up at the door, seeing another note nailed into it. Placing the rod and medallion into her bag, in the same pouch so they don’t get lost, she walks over to the note and expects a message of failure.

You who look upon the door to your destiny,
Observing this note implies your success.
Another piece to the grand door is in possession,
Another step towards your freedom has been taken.

The path from here on shall be dark as pitch,
The strength to press on shall be tested.
Allow this answer to be your guide,
‘Two’.

“And again…well, at least I got it right. ‘The grand door’…” Rainbow thinks, pulling the note off the door and placing it in her bag, before putting her hoof on the door and taking a deep breath. “Alright…you’ve made it this far, you aren’t going to stop here.” She says to herself, making a quick nod before shoving open the door. The world reveals itself in its typical haze, but something seems different. The rolling thunder of the static field is definitely closer, but it’s coming from another direction…Rainbow looks out the door, first to her left, seeing an empty street with branching paths, then to her right, seeing the static field.

“I’m…on the other side?” She says, walking out of the room, allowing the wall to close once more. She hears tumblers thud into place beside her, locking the door permanently. She looks around, the buildings seeming taller now, and starts walking away from the static field. Three paths stretch off in front of her, separated by two triangular structures shooting high into the red sky. As she walks forward, the central path lights up with electricity jumping from the two structures, massive bolts of lightning barring the way. Rainbow stares wide-eyed at the light show, backing away.

“Ok…DEFINITELY not going that way!” She shouts over the incredible sound of thunder and electricity arcing through the air, looking to the two paths beside it. One stretches a short distance to a house, while the other is cut off by the horizon of haze, turning red as she looks down it. “The short path seems like a good choice…” She says to herself, moving down the left path to the house.

A short walk reveals the house as a large, rolling cloud, with a simple wooden door and two circular windows. Light shines out of the windows, a bright yellow stretching out to the thunderhead of the ground in front of the house. A note stands by the window on the left, the haze clearing away around it. “…Wonder what I’m going to see this time…?” She says, steeling her nerves for what’s about to be revealed to her. She walks forward to the note, staring into the window, hearing voices.

“…But sir, we haven’t received our orders yet!” A voice cries out, sounding like a young colt. “She needs time to read over all this data!”

“You think I’m going to stand here and let these rats crawl around?!” Another voice shouts back, a commanding roar. “This is our city, and we’re going to defend it, with or without her go ahead! Gather your weapons, we move out in thirty!”

“But sir-“

“NO BUTS! Captain Sparkle can do as much thinking as she wants, I’m not sitting here any longer, and neither are you two! Is that understood?!” The roar cuts the young voice off, and clattering can be heard inside. “Wait, Captain ‘Sparkle’?” She whispers, moving to the door and pushing it open, finding three soldiers standing around a table, all wearing the armor and crests of the Royal Guard. They all turn to the door, a blue Pegasus in gold armor opening his eyes wide.

“What the?!” He says, turning around to face Rainbow fully. “What are you doing here?!”

“I heard you say Captain Sparkle-“

“I said what are you doing here?!” He roars, demanding an answer.

“I’m not completely sure myself, alright?! Now who’s this Captain Sparkle you’re talking about?” Rainbow shouts back, walking forward, feeling nothing wrong about intruding on this. The other two soldiers simply stare at her, a sense of fear coming over them, as their leader steps back.

“None of your business…” He hisses, staring at her, a gleam of anger in his eyes.

“What do you mean, none of my business?! If she is who I think she is, I’ve been looking all over for her!” Rainbow shouts, facing the older Pegasus.

“Oh you have, have you? I don’t suppose I need to ask why…” He growls, looking at the door, then back to Rainbow.

“I’m glad we’re on the same page here. Now is her name Twilight Sparkle, first off?” Rainbow asks, staring him dead in the eyes.

“…Yes, her name is Twilight Sparkle…” He growls, frowning.

“Now where is she?”

“Like I said before, none of your business.” He looks to the two soldiers standing behind the table, Rainbow following his gaze. They both look at the two pegasi before them, frozen, shifting their looks back and forth. “S-Sir…y-you don’t expect us t-“

“You’re both soldiers! Don’t tell me you’re backing out now when you’re needed most!” He shouts, both the soldiers shuddering under the force.

“Exactly! Now tell me where she is!” Rainbow also shouts, the soldiers shifting their gaze to her.

“Don’t, she’s too important!”

“Tell me!”

“Don’t say a WORD!”

“SHUT UP!” Rainbow shouts at the older Pegasus, turning to him. “Shut up now and tell me where she is! I need to know she’s safe and sound, and listening to you is ticking me off!”

“Same to you, you just BEING HERE is making me feel SICK!” He shouts back, the soldiers starting to move around the table.

“What’s wrong with you?! We’re both Pegasus, and I’m just trying to find my friend!”

“FRIEND?! How DARE you even call yourself a Pegasus after all that’s happened!” The older colt shouts back, fuming with rage.

“Wh-what the hay are you talking about?! What happened?!” Rainbow shouts, just as she’s grabbed from behind by the two soldiers. She gasps as she’s lifted up by her forelegs, and begins to flail and struggle to break their grip.

“What the hell do you mean ‘what happened’?! I oughta ask you that question!” The soldier shouts, walking forward, before a calm ‘ahem’ is heard from the corner of the room, a door squeaking open. All four ponies turn to face the door, a robed unicorn walking into the main area. “Twilight!” Rainbow exclaims, all too happy to see a friendly face again. Twilight lowers her hood, flicking out her mane, and walks into the center of the room.

“Captain Dash, I heard all the commotion out here. What’s going on?” She says, walking to the group.

“Wait, Captain? I’m not a Ca-“

“We had an intruder walk in, started yelling at me to tell her where you were, Twilight.” The older Pegasus answers, cutting Rainbow off. She looks at him, dumbstruck.

“W-wait, wait wait wait, Dash? The-“

“Then that makes my first name Simon, doesn’t it?” He says, looking back, just as cross as before. “And I couldn’t be more surprised to see you show up.”

“Dad! It’s been way too long!” Rainbow shouts with glee, smiling.

“Yeah, it has been.” He growls, walking over to Twilight, both of them moving away. “So, did you finish your analysis?” The conversation carries over to Rainbow and the two troops.

“Yes…I’m afraid they’ve set up their base in the center of the city.”

“That puts them at-“

“Yes, it does. Due to the chaos around here, the clouds have gained a crazy high electric charge. All the currents seem to be running back into their base, creating a form of natural wall.”

“Any way to get past it?”

“Not as far as I can tell. All the routes are blocked off, that means the entrances as well. The clouds are all charged, so it’s suicide to try and break in through the walls…”

“Let me help, then!” Rainbow shouts, both Twilight and Simon turning around.

“Let you help? That’s crazy!” Twilight speaks up, raising an eyebrow.

“Why?”

“You know exactly why.” Simon says back, both him and Twilight turning back around. “Chuck her outside and guard the entrance. If she tries to get back in…” he lowers his voice, “Kill her.”

“Yes sir.” Both the soldiers reply, walking over to the door with a shocked Rainbow in their grasp. The door gets pushed open and she’s chucked outside, crashing onto the ground, and the two soldiers take up a defensive position at the door, drawing their swords. Rainbow gets to her hooves, looking at the ground, completely awe-struck at what just happened.

“K…kill me?” She mumbles, looking back at the guards. She starts walking back to the door when they cross their blades over it.

“The Captain’s orders are absolute, and unless overruled by Captain Sparkle, you will be taken down if you approach any closer.” The soldier on the right speaks up, sounding a bit older than Rainbow, a mare. Rainbow simply looks at the ground, then over at the note. She walks over to the note, not being stopped by the two soldiers, and she looks in through the window. Both Simon and Twilight are talking to each other, but the conversation is too muffled to make anything out. They seem to be leaning over a map of some kind, the name of this place cut off except for a lonely ‘C’ at the beginning.

Rainbow simply sighs, looking at back of her father. It’s been a year and a half since she last saw him, and before that it was rare visits between his military service at the castle and running flight patterns with his team. Rainbow furrows her brow, looking over at the two guards. “Hey, mind if I ask you two a question?” Neither of them look over, the mare speaking up. “Go ahead.”

“Are either of you in the Thunderstrike unit?” They both seem to be surprised by this, looking over at Rainbow. She stares back, raising her eyebrows.

“The Thunder…?” The soldier on the left mumbles, a young colt, then he shakes his head. “We aren’t to speak on that.”

“Well…ok…” Rainbow nods slowly, turning back the note, already knowing the answer from the three dead bodies she found before. She looks over the note on the wall, reading aloud to herself.

The number of members in the Thunderstrike Unit.

The number of paths already travelled.

The number of pedestals in the Throne Room.

The number of ‘you’s currently present.

“Four questions on the same paper…?” She says to herself, the female guard speaking up.

“What are you looking at?”

“Oh, um…this piece of paper here?” Rainbow replies, placing her hoof on it and looking back at the two guards. The mare raises her eyebrow.

“There’s only cloud there…” She says, before leaning back, raising her eyebrows and rolling her eyes like Rainbow’s crazy.

“Oh…” Rainbow says back, looking over at the paper. The four questions are clearly written out, a rusty nail holding the paper in place. She rubs her chin, thinking back. “Number of Thunderstrike units…there were four in that room counting Twilight…and the fifth that came in was my dad. He’s leader, and he called them all ‘Thunderstrike’…but the unit is exclusively Air Force. That means the answer is 1.” Rainbow nods, moving her eyes down to the second question.

“Number of paths travelled already…too many to count, honestly. Though in this…area, anyway, I’ve already gone down more than 2. Way more if you count the rest of my travels.” Rainbow says to herself, keeping her hoof on her chin as she looks down to the third question. “Number of pedestals in the Throne Room? Way more than 2…” She shudders, thinking back to that horrid room, then moves her eyes down to the fourth question. “Number of ‘you’s currently…present…wait, this is the last question…” Rainbow opens her eyes wide, slowly looking into the window. A shadow stands just under it, and a glint of steel shines next to where the head would be. “Oh Celestia, DAD!!!” Rainbow screams, jumping through the window, the shadow quickly charging forward out of the way. Rainbow makes a grab for the shadow before it swiftly moves out of the way and kicks her in the head, knocking her out.

“Oh…my head…” Rainbow thinks, rubbing the side of her head where the monstrous kick was placed. She opens her eyes, taking in the room, the haze having settled back In, blurring the environment. The map is left on the table, torn into unrecognizable shreds, and the table is splattered with blood. Fear sinks in as she sees the red dripping off the table, and she gets to her hooves, looking around. Scars from a sword fight are present all over, a chair lies in sliced splinters on the floor. The door squeaks open slightly, a light breeze flowing into the room, carrying the smell of blood.

Rainbow runs to the door, looking outside, seeing some drips of blood leading off down the road. A note sits in the middle of the road between the two trails, and Rainbow runs up to it, seeing it’s the note with the questions on it.

“The number of ‘me’s present is 2!” She shouts at the paper, it bursting into green flame. The paper quickly burns away, revealing two pieces of blue metal under it, and Rainbow gathers them up and puts them with the blue rod and medallion in her bag. Twilight’s vanished again, along with Simon and the guards…but what was wrong with them? She was best friends with the unicorn, what made her act so strangely?

“Gah, no time to think about that right now! I have to find them!” She says to the air around her before sprinting off down the short path, quickly arriving back at the street with the wall of lightning blocking the central path. She sprints down the right path, racing into the darkness, seeing the two trails of blood spread into four leading down it. “Oh, please be ok…please be ok, Twilight, Dad!” She thinks, sprinting forth into the darkness. The trails of blood suddenly end, a massive steel structure appearing in Rainbow’s view, stretching upwards into the red sky. She looks up towards the top, unable to see even half way up through the cloud cover of the red sky, as the grinding of steel doors catches her attention, and she looks down. Two Hemoran soldiers walk out, suited up in cloth uniforms, dropping one of the Royal Guard at the step of the door, the mare. They both look up at Rainbow, tilting their heads.

“Uh, may we ask why you’re out here?” The one of the left asks, a red hedgehog with green stripes along his spikes which radiate outwards, him raising an eyebrow. He sounds older than Rainbow, but not by much, having a deep tone.

“W-wh…” She can’t find the words, looking at the two soldiers standing out on the clouds, something only Pegasi can do. She walks forward, looking at them suspiciously. “What are you two doing here?”

They both snap into a quick salute. “We’re standing guard outside Outpost Delta, one of the six guard towers around Base Alpha.” The one on the right answers, a white hedgehog with black stripes running along her arms, sounding about the same age as Rainbow. They both hold the salute, facing Rainbow.

“Why is this structure here?” Rainbow asks, wanting to avoid one of her critical questions for as long as she can.

“This structure allows us to stand upon the clouds, ma’am, by generating an EM field which our boots react with. The thunderheads are a natural side-effect to the generators running in the guard towers.” They both break their salutes and stand to the side. “You’re expected inside, ma’am, unless you’d prefer direct transit to the Base?” The white Hemoran asks.

Rainbow looks down, spotting a note next to her feet. “Hang on a second.” She says, still looking at the note, reading it quietly to herself.

Beyond the haze and clouds,
Passed the anger and hatred,
Freedom is but a stone’s throw away.
Steel yourself, for the truth approaches.

The second Gate is just within your grasp,
Two pieces remain, of which to one,
This answer shall prove to be your guide.
‘One’

“Cryptic, cryptic, and more cryptic…but at least it makes more sense than before.” She whispers to herself, picking up the note and putting it in her bag, noticing the previous question note has vanished. “And that keeps happening…ah well.” She turns back to the two guards, them now standing at attention beside the gate. She starts walking forward passed the Royal Guard member, before a hoof lashes out and grabs her by the chest. She looks down at the soldier, rage in her eyes. Before she can say anything, a boot comes down on her head, a heavy stomp that causes her to grunt in pain.

“NEVER lay your hands on the Major!” The man shouts at the guard, grinding his boot into her face. Screams come out from under it, and the female troop comes over, placing a hand on Rainbow’s shoulder. “Wait, stop stomping on her!” Rainbow speaks up, the soldier immediately stopping and backing away, lowering himself into a deep bow.

“Very sorry, ma’am!” He says into the clouds below him. Rainbow looks down at the wounded soldier, the grip on her chest still strong. Rainbow turns and sits down in front of her, a solemn look on her face. “Why’d you stop me…?” She asks.

“B-Because…you…Simon…” She wheezes out, spitting out some blood. “T…Tra…Trait…” She whispers, before the hoof falls away from Rainbow’s chest and crashes to the ground, the mare closing her eyes as the light fades from them. Rainbow quickly leans down, pushing the mare, trying to wake her up. “Wait, what? What were you going to say?! Tell me! What about me and my dad?!” She shouts at the dead mare, the blood pooling out to her hoof.

“I’m…I’m sorry, ma’am…I didn’t-“

“You idiot! You killed her!” Rainbow shouts at the soldier who stomped on the Guard, him stepping back in terror. “You complete idiot!!!”

“I-I’m sorry ma’am, I am! I didn’t mean to kill her!” He crashes to the ground in a deep apologetic bow on his hands and knees, forehead to the ground. “I’m sorry!”

Rainbow walks over, fury taking over, and she spins around, giving him a hard kick in the side. He rolls away across the clouds, his whole body except for his hands and boots falling through. He screams as the other Hemoran runs over to help him up, Rainbow looking at herself in shock. She nearly killed him…a scream coming from the door catches Rainbow’s attention, filling her with dread. “Oh Celestia…Twilight!” She says, blasting off through the door in flight, leaving the Hemorans and dead Pegasus behind.

The inside of the outpost doesn’t have any of the features of the world outside. A small steel cell covered in metal walkways leading up and down the tower, the floor Rainbow standing on being a simple metal grating, stretching far down. The quaking thunder of an electric generator comes from below, the screams overtaking it. Rainbow quickly turns to her right, seeing a path down, and starts running before leaping off the side and diving down through the center of the tower, beating her wings occasionally to make sure she doesn’t fall too fast and crash into the ground.

The metal walkways blur past, a few having one or two armed Hemoran soldiers walking up and down them, all turning and saluting as Rainbow falls past. The screams continue to grow in volume, and the Hemorans walking around Rainbow begin to change in look.

Instead of typical camos and caps, they all wear black robes and carry large blades across their blacks, hoods lowered. Their eyes are cold, soulless, and they salute by putting a fist to their left pectoral instead of the typical salute shown by the other soldiers. “Those robes and swords…why are they so familiar?” Rainbow mutters, asking the wind ripping past her as she falls. A metal floor quickly comes into view, and she stops herself just above it, a banshee’s scream knocking her off balance and onto the grating with a hard thud. “Oof!”

The massive thunder of a generator rumbles the air around Rainbow, as she looks down to see a gigantic green structure taking up all the space under her, the platform just inches from a massive turbine. She looks up, widening her eyes in shock to see Twilight and Simon lying on tables, four robed Hemorans standing around them. A fifth standing at the end of Twilight’s table, near her head and wearing a red robe, seems to be giving them orders. “Increase voltage to five thousand!”

“Sir, we’re getting close to killing them!” One of the black robed Hemorans speaks up, holding two metal plugs in his hands.

“I don’t care! It’s the information or their lives!!” The red robed soldier shouts back, before he turns to his left, seeing Rainbow and lashing into a quick salute. “Greetings, ma’am! I apologize, but the information we need has not yet been retrieved!”

“What the HAY are you doing?!” Rainbow screams over the thunder of the generator, running forward to the two tables. All the soldiers stand back, surprise and raised eyebrows on their faces. All their colors are white with black stripes along the spikes, and the red robed soldier has scars across his face, his right cheek having a cross-shaped scar on it. “W-What, ma’am?” The Hemoran to the left of Rainbow asks, as she hefts herself up to Twilight’s table, staring at her body. Her robe has been torn away and most of her coat is covered in burn marks from the torture, and her cheeks and eyes are red from crying in pain. She looks back at Rainbow.

“Come to continue this…yourself…?” She hisses out, furrowing her brow.

“What?! No, I came to get you out of here! Both of you!” She shouts back, all the Hemorans gasping in surprise.

“Ma’am, this is crazy! The Colonel is coming here from the Base, he’s expecting them to be transferred!” The red robed one speaks up, Rainbow quickly turning to him.

“Then I’ll transfer them myself! Undo the restraints, NOW!!!” She screams, and all the Hemorans quickly run about, cutting the restraints on Simon and Twilight. Simon shoots up to his legs and starts kicking at them, the soldiers quickly avoiding and drawing their swords. Twilight twitches slightly, unable to move, and all the Hemorans begin to gang up on the wildly kicking Simon.

“STOP! ALL OF YOU!!!” Rainbow shouts with a commanding tone, every single one of them stopping dead in their tracks, including Simon. “Move these two up to the ground floor, and do it now! Do not wound them, but if they begin to lash out, restrain them as best you can!” She shouts her orders, and all the Hemorans immediately grab Simon by his appendages, the armed soldiers sheathing their blades and helping out. The red robed soldier picks up Twilight in both his arms and starts walking to the walkway leading up. “Move it!” Rainbow shouts, all of them starting to run up the steps while she lifts off, flying up through each level as they run up.

“What’s the Colonel going to say?!” One of the black robed soldiers shouts to another, six of them restraining Simon as they run up. “He’s gonna have us for lunch!” Another shouts.

“All of you shut up! The Major’s orders are paramount right now, worry about the Colonel later!” The red robed soldier shouts, all of them shutting up. Simon starts shouting now.

“What the hell are you doing?! Where are you taking us?!” He shouts, facing Rainbow.

“Out of here, that’s where I’m taking you! I’m personally transferring you to Base Alpha.” She shouts back, smirking with a wink. Simon just seems aggravated by this, “I’m not letting you take me alive!”

“You don’t have any CHOICE!” One of the soldiers shouts, smacking Simon in the back of the neck, him falling limp as he passes out. They all struggle to hold him up as they run up, already having climbed four of the eighteen floors Rainbow fell. Twilight twitches slightly, looking up at Rainbow.

“…Why…?” Is all she can manage, a quiet whisper that’s quickly drowned out by the roar of the generator below them. The floors quickly pass by Rainbow and her small squadron, and the roar of the generator quiets down to the rumble of the ground floor. All the soldiers pant and heave as they heft Simon up to the ground floor, the red robed soldier following close behind, with Rainbow popping up from the walkway in flight.

“Where can I get transit to the Base?” Rainbow asks, landing next to the red robed soldier.

“Top floor, ma’am. But are you really sure you want to do this?” He asks, Rainbow’s determined stare all the answer he needs. He nods, “Also, expeditionary teams investigating the structure we took over as Base Alpha have reported on finding a large blue gateway leading to the second floor. All attempts to open the gate have failed.” He says, and lays Twilight gently onto the ground, her slowly getting to her hooves, wheezing in pain. He backs away, gesturing to the ground to his other troops, them just dropping Simon onto the ground, the impact waking him up. “Gah…which one of you bastards hit me?!” He shouts at the soldiers, and they all reach for their blades.

“Please, Dad…just go along with this. I don’t want anyone to get hurt more than they have.” Rainbow says calmly, both Twilight and Simon turning to her. Simon grimaces, his armor a tattered mess of metal and chain mail, “As if I’d go along with anything you came up with…” He growls, spitting through the grating before turning to the walkway leading up. He flexes his wings, finding them not strong enough to carry him, as Twilight slowly follows behind, limping slightly. Rainbow runs over to her and puts a wing under her, holding her up.

“Why…are you doing this…?” Twilight asks, her voice a meek whisper, most of her coat torched and blood showing through her lavender coat. “I always help a friend in need…I’m sorry I couldn’t be there for you earlier though…” Rainbow says, leading her to the walkway and starting the walk up, looking at the grating below her. “I…I wish I could’ve stayed with you when I first saw you. I was worried I’d never see you again after that…” She says, looking at Twilight.

Twilight returns the gesture with a simple ‘hmph’ and turning her view to her front, looking at Simon. The walk continues in silence for the next thirty floors before they reach a pair of steel doors, far bigger than what’s required for an Equestrian or Hemoran, as one pair opens up revealing a trolley on a wire. Someone is standing in the trolley, and he looks over.

“Major. I assume you came to deliver the prisoners to me?” Sehn’s twin steps off the trolley, his hands held behind his back. A smirk grows across his face, “Punctual as always.”

Rainbow furrows her brow while taking a deep breath, trying to find the right words. “I’m here to deliver these prisoners to the Base myself…sir.” She says, moving up in front of Simon and Twilight, who is now moving on her own. “I also heard about a large gate leading to the Core?”

“Ah, yes, that…I’ll show it to you once the prisoners are delivered. I have some business here and at Beta, so go on ahead.” He thumbs behind him to the trolley before walking by Rainbow, her quickly saluting him as he passes. She looks up at his face, seeing a dark smile grow across it. “Come along then, prisoners. Get on.” Rainbow says, walking onto the trolley platform, followed by Twilight and Simon. A motor roars into gear behind them, and the trolley begins its slow movement through the large double steel doors, revealing the area outside the tower.

Rainbow looks around herself, seeing the ground far below the thunderheads drowned in shadow, but grassland can easily be made out. Looking up, she can see five massive guard towers extending both down and up equal distances. Huge walls of lightning spread between them, creating bright blue natural walls behind the thunderheads, some of the gigantic bolts arcing to the structure in the center. Rainbow looks up at the central structure herself, gasping in shock as Simon simply looks down and to the side, Twilight looking down in shame.

“You’re kidding me…” Rainbow says, walking forward a step, looking at the massive structure. “The Rainbow Factory is Base Alpha?!” She shouts, staring at the three huge towers, a single rainbow spread between the central tower and the shorter one to its right, storm clouds being sent out from the shorter left tower. Spectra runs from the pools on the cloud down to the ground, vaporising and spreading into the atmosphere from the bolts of lightning that arc to the fall.

“Of course it is…” Simon says, looking up at Rainbow as she turns around. “That structure belongs to Colonel Darksol…and you’re the one who allowed him to take it.” He says, staring at her with nothing but fury in his eyes. “My own daughter…betraying her country…unthinkable.”

“WHAT?!” Rainbow shrieks, shock running through her. “I’d never betray Equestria, or my home city!! What the hay is going on here?!”

“It’s just…as you see it, Dash.” Twilight says, holding her left foreleg as she sits, Rainbow looking over. “You lead them here…”

Rainbow simply collapses to the platform, stunned. She was the Element of Loyalty…this sort of thing was impossible for her, the mere thought of backstabbing Equestria and letting Cloudsdale fall to another country…

It wasn’t possible!

Comments

[KillerSteel]

Wasn't expecting all my comments to vanish...that's not good.