Filly Fluttershy: Uprising

by Phazon

The Lightning Chariot

Chapter 19: The Lightning Chariot

Invasive plant life grew throughout and overran the length of one of the side hallways in Luna’s domain, from the heavy tree roots that bored through the stone floors to the slender vines and tiny purple flowers that clung to its walls. The rampant vegetation served to dampen the echo of Fluttershy’s hoofbeats as she ran through the passage. Toward the end of the hallway, on her right, was a pair of large, ornate doors wreathed with thick, thorny vines around its frame. She ran past those doors and came to a stop several feet away, in front of a much less assuming door leading into a walk-in closet of sorts. She opened the door and looked inside at the numerous shelves and compartments, some of which were empty, while others contained various weapons waiting for her to try.

“What to wear?” Fluttershy wondered aloud. “What to wear?”

She skimmed the shelves one by one, looking over the available weapons. She reached into one of the compartments with her hooves and pulled out a palm weapon. Pink thorns and heart-shaped rose petals swirled around the luminescent orb in her hooves, which for some reason depicted the image of a young blonde girl.

Fluttershy scrutinized the weapon, the Viridi Palm, twisting it in her hooves for several seconds before shaking her head and placing it back in its compartment. She reached into a second shelf and pulled out another weapon, a pair of tough, woody claws. A purple flower adorned the backs of both claws, and each of the woody talons on them took on a blood-red tinge towards the tip. Fluttershy studied the pair of claws, the Viridi Claws, with curiosity, though she eventually placed them back in their compartment.

The next weapon Fluttershy picked up was a jagged, purple blade. A red slit for an eye was carved near the blade’s tip, and a sharp tooth jutted out of its edge, making the weapon’s appearance resemble that of a venomous snake. A rattling sound began to emanate from the weapon. Fluttershy blinked in confusion, and then moved her hoof to try to touch the blade. A few gentle caresses from her hoof eventually calmed the rattling, and Fluttershy returned the Viper Blade to its shelf.

Finally, Fluttershy picked up one more weapon from the small armory, a somewhat jagged stringless bow made entirely out of crystal. Most of the bow was carved from a smooth, lustrous, yellow crystal, while the grip and sight were made from a rough, teal crystal. Fluttershy held the bow’s grip with her hoof and fetlock. She aimed the Crystal Bow down the center of the corridor, and a large blue gem shot forth from the bow’s arrow rest. The gem hurtled through the air for about a hundred feet, only to vanish abruptly in midair.

Fluttershy frowned at the short range of the Crystal Bow’s charge shot. She looked down at the bow, and then at the other three weapons she had tried out. After a few more seconds, she made her decision. She took the Crystal Bow out of her hoof and placed its grip against the cannon of her foreleg. The bow held in place, magically attaching itself to her leg.

The pair of doors behind her opened, leading out to what would be her next mission. “Okay, I’m ready to roll,” Fluttershy said. She galloped toward the portal, and as she jumped out, she spread her wings to take flight.

“Then let us rescue Celestia!” Luna said. Her magic spread throughout Fluttershy’s outstretched wings, enveloping them in blue light, and she guided her above a vast, hilly grassland on the other side of the portal. A full moon hung in the night sky, illuminating the scenery below and reflecting off of the many small lakes that lay throughout the grassland. Fluttershy’s eyes scanned the hills, lakes, and air, and she kept her bow ready for any Underworld troops that might have been in the area.

“Where do we start?” Fluttershy asked. “Do you have a plan to rescue her?”

Neither one said anything for several seconds. Fluttershy continued to watch for enemy troops, waiting for a response from Luna.

“First, we must break the force field protecting Celestia’s temple,” Luna finally said. “To do that, we will have to borrow the Lightning Chariot.”

“The Lightning Chariot?” Fluttershy said. “What’s that?”

“It is a high-speed battle carriage that travels the galaxy,” Luna said. “And it’s pulled by two very powerful unicorns.”

“And… that’s what I’m going to use to break through the force field?” Fluttershy said, a tinge of concern in her tone.

“Precisely.”

“So, you’re basically telling me to crash a horse cart into a brick wall.”

“If you wish to put it crudely, then yes.”

“Which means I might die…”

“Yes, that is a possibility.”

“Does the Lightning Chariot at least have airbags?”

“Airbags?” Luna asked. “What are airbags?”

“I change my mind!” Fluttershy murmured. “I don’t want to do this mission anymore!”

“I see,” Luna said. “So you have no intention of saving Celestia after all.”

Fluttershy groaned. She could feel herself being torn between rescuing her trusted goddess and avoiding a dangerous, high-speed crash with a powerful magic barrier.

“She could be in agony at this very moment,” Luna pressed on. “She could be trapped within a dungeon of madness, waiting, hoping, pleading for you to come and rescue her.”

“Okay, okay, fine!” Fluttershy said. She sighed. “I guess if this is the only way to save her, I don’t have any other choice.”

“My point exactly,” Luna said.

Fluttershy’s flight path continued beyond the disconnected grouping of small lakes, past a grass-covered valley, and over a patchwork of fields and sparse forest. Her altitude remained steady, ebbing only slightly with the rolling hills and the treetops on the ground. She looked up to see the scattered clouds in the night sky, and a slight frown formed on her face when she realized that she wasn’t flying any closer to them. She wasn’t getting any further from the ground either. “You said this was a galactic chariot, right?” Fluttershy asked. “So shouldn’t I be flying higher to reach it?”

“You should,” Luna said. “Unfortunately, this is not made any easier by those chicken wings of yours.”

Fluttershy scowled. “Celestia never had a problem whenever she flew me into space,” she said. “Are you sure it’s not your power of flight that’s keeping you from flying me up.”

“That’s not relevant,” Luna muttered. “And I do have other means of sending you into space.

“Have you ever attended the circus, Fluttershy? I have, and it is one of the few things in earth pony culture that I’m fond of. A favorite act of mine is the equine cannonball. It is quite the spectacle: so suspenseful, so exhilarating.”

“I don’t like where this is going,” Fluttershy said. Beyond the hills and trees, she caught a glimpse of a massive gray structure built over nearly an entire acre of flat ground. As she drew closer and got a better look at it, she saw a pair of pegasus statues with wings spread out as if in midflight, their hooves supporting a gargantuan cannon on either side. The cannon was aimed up at the sky, and much to Fluttershy’s dismay, the barrel was wide enough for a fully-grown pony to fit inside. “Oh no! No way! Absolutely not!”

As Luna led her up to the cannon’s muzzle, Fluttershy reached out with her forelegs and pressed them against the lip, pushing herself away from the cannon as hard as she could. Her front knees buckled as they fought against her beating wings. She soon added her back hooves to the lip, pushing back from the hollow artillery tube with all four legs. She felt her wings flap more fiercely as Luna channeled her magic through them in an attempt to load her into the cannon.

“Fluttershy, this is the easiest way to send you after the Lightning Chariot,” she said, gritting her teeth.

“Couldn’t you just open a portal somewhere above the atmosphere?” Fluttershy grunted.

“It is not that simple, but I assure you this is completely safe,” Luna said. “Now where is your sense of adventure?”

“Not in the barrel of a cannon!”

At that moment, Fluttershy’s wings reoriented and gave two strong beats, suddenly working with her legs and pulling her back from the cannon. Fluttershy felt confused seeing her hooves slip away from the muzzle and float back, but in the moment she lowered her guard, her wings propelled her into the cannon. Her body rolled several feet down the dark, hollow tube before stopping partway down. Unable to see, she moved her hooves in an attempt to stand up, hoping to climb back out. Gravity shifted for her as she felt the cannon tilt to a steeper angle, and she tumbled down the rest of the barrel.

“Three! Two! One!” Luna shouted. “Fire!”

A powerful, deafening blast sounded as Fluttershy rushed back up the length of the cannon and shot into the sky. Her body hurtled through the air, and the earth and sky spun around her in a blur of purple and dimly lit green. Her legs and wings were clasped tight to her body, and she refused to move them as her body rolled. If she was screaming, she couldn’t tell. Her ears were ringing from the blast of the cannon, and she shut her eyes to stop the world around her from spinning.

Eventually, the spinning began to slow down. Fluttershy’s wings unfurled and started flapping, slowly reorienting her in the air until she reached a stable hover. She opened her eyes, but everything in her vision still spun, even after she had stopped. Shapes and images blurred in her vision, and in her dizzy state she could barely feel her legs as she tried to move them. “I don’t feel so good,” she mumbled.

It took some time, but Fluttershy’s vision eventually returned to normal and she looked around. Blue and yellow bands stretched, twisted, and glistened as far as she could see. Some of them were wide, while others were narrower, more condensed. The translucent bands curved left and right, appearing as waves or air currents in space. Fluttershy peered through them and saw a sea of soft, glittery light rolling and fluctuating, like waves in an ocean.

“What is all this?” Fluttershy asked.

“These are patterns formed by galactic particles,” Luna said. “Beautiful, aren’t they?”

Underworld monsters floated in small groups through much of the area, each of them paying little mind to the scenery as they hovered in one direction as a whole. Fluttershy aimed her bow at them, taking out two Monoeyes with a charge shot. She fired several medium-sized yellow gems from her weapon, shooting down three Miks and another three Monoeyes. As she fired, two distinct clouds of purple mist drifted through the vacuum in her direction. Fluttershy caught sight of the clouds and eyed them patiently. They eventually condensed and changed color, each one forming into a white, spectre-like Zuree, only for her to promptly shoot both of them. She then turned her attention and aim back toward the multitude of enemies, her wings carrying her steadily forward.

“The Underworld presence is very strong,” Luna said. “I sense many more of them.”

“Do you think they’re after the Lightning Chariot too?” Fluttershy asked.

“Wait!” Luna interrupted her. “There it is!”

Before Fluttershy could respond, a flash of white light twinkled off in the distance, then grew in size and intensity as it drew closer. In the blink of an eye, it shot across the heavens, crashing through patterns of space dust and scattering particles in its wake before disappearing almost as quickly as it had appeared.

“Whoa!” Fluttershy whispered. “It’s fast.”

“The chariot is returning to its home base,” Luna said. “We must pursue it.”

The Lightning Chariot reappeared and made another pass through the void, streaking by like a bright white comet. A bright blue vortex opened at the end of its path when it disappeared a second time, leading into a hollow, gaping tube. Several dozen Miks and Monoeyes converged on the newly-formed tunnel. They all passed through one after the other in pursuit of the Lightning Chariot. Fluttershy shot down several Miks with her bow before they could fly in, and with Luna’s magic flaring through her wings, she flew into the vortex.

Blue light shone off of the surrounding cylindrical walls, swimming by Fluttershy in a blur as she raced through the tunnel. The walls themselves appeared fluid if not completely intangible, as if one could slip through the boundaries and be ejected outside, wherever ‘outside’ just happened to be. The tunnel curved and bent into several twists and turns as it went along, all of which Fluttershy navigated while staying within its bounds. She managed to catch up to a few enemies, mostly Miks and Monoeyes, and shot down each with a yellow gem from her bow. Most were still much further ahead however, and she continued to fly after them and the Lightning Chariot.

“Well, hello again, friends!” droned a familiar, mocking voice.

“Discord!” Fluttershy said.

“Not you again,” Luna muttered.

“Just look at the two of you sneaking around behind Celestia’s back,” Discord said. “It’s classic.”

“What do you want, Discord?” Luna asked flatly.

“The Lightning Chariot, of course,” Discord said.

“Begone, Discord.”

“What? I can’t have an eye for a sweet ride?” Discord said. “It’s a veritable goddess magnet, don’t you know?”

“Goddess magnet,” Luna repeated sardonically. “Don’t think for a second that I or any self-respecting goddess would set hoof in it.”

“Well at least Fluttershy likes it. Don’t you, Flutters?”

“Is that why you’re here?” Fluttershy asked accusingly. “You found out we were looking for the Lightning Chariot, and now you’re getting in our way?”

“Oh please. My intentions are always honorable,” Discord said. “You know that.”

“Just ignore him, Fluttershy,” Luna said, showing very little patience for Discord. She steered Fluttershy past a few more Monoeyes and through the last few twists and turns of the tunnel. The end of the tunnel finally came, depositing Fluttershy into a dark, empty void in the middle of space. A mass of heavy clouds, purple and dark blue in color, swirled beneath her as a massive vortex around a single point of light. Fluttershy looked out at the light, where she saw a solitary island, a bright bastion rising above the eye of a storm.

Fluttershy glided toward the island, even as Underworld troops began to surround her. Monoeyes, Miks, Syrens, and Gyrazors all hovered in the air ahead of her. Behind her, three Komaytos emerged from the tunnel she had just come from. Before long, many more Underworld troops circled around Fluttershy as she approached the island, including Miks, Monoeyes, Octos, Gyrazors, Commylooses, Wave Anglers, and Komaytos. Fluttershy gave them all a cursory glance, then turned her attention back to the island. Underneath the island lay a massive, almost mazelike network, visible through the transparent floor. A tower stood high and needlelike in the center, with a magenta beacon shining from its highest point. Several wide, massive spikes jutted out of the ground around the tower and folded inward toward it, partially closing over its base. They might have looked like flower petals if they weren’t so flat and rigid, and if they didn’t barely reach halfway up the tower’s height.

“Both the Lightning Chariot and its master are in that tower,” Luna said. “I will set you down on the ground floor. From there, you must make your way up and find the Lightning Chariot.”

“Okay,” Fluttershy said, giving a quick nod.

“I should warn you though, the tower is very tall,” Luna said. “Expect an arduous climb.”

Fluttershy concentrated on the Crystal Bow attached to her hoof. She felt Luna’s magic flow from her wings and through her foreleg, and she raised her bow up in the air. An arrow of white light fired from her bow, shooting upward for a brief moment before exploding into a powerful shockwave. The wave spread for nearly a mile in every direction, and hundreds of arrows of white light rained down wherever it expanded.

It was another few seconds before the volley of arrows came to an end and Fluttershy finally lowered her bow. The skies around her, once teeming with Underworld troops, had been cleared by the rain of arrows, and when she looked back at the island, there was nothing left standing between her and the tower at the center. “Okay, I’m ready,” Fluttershy said. The power of flight flared through her wings, and she flew over the surface of the island and toward the base of the tower.

* * * * * * * * * *

Fluttershy’s hooves touched down on the smooth, glassy floor of the tower’s entrance hall. The blue magical aura faded from around her wings, and she took in her surroundings. Blue-tinted marble formed the surfaces and structures of much of the circular hall. The entrance stood directly behind Fluttershy, and on the other side of the room, at the top of a small set of stairs, stood a pair of heavy blue doors. The room offered very little else in décor, and Fluttershy had already taken a few steps forward in the direction of the doors.

“Who dares trespass on my domain?” a deep, gravelly voice boomed throughout the walls of the chamber. “Leave before you get hurt!”

Fluttershy let out a sharp yet soft gasp and stopped in her tracks. Her eyes searched the room a second time, looking for the source of the voice. “Who’s there?” she asked.

“I’ve had many names in my life,” the voice echoed again, “but now I am called the Chariot Master.”

“Oh, then you’re the one I’m looking for,” Fluttershy said, her ears perking up a bit along with her voice. “Listen, um, I…” Her voice demurred as whatever confidence it had quickly drained from it. “… I need to use your chariot for a little bit, and I was hoping you wouldn’t mind letting me borrow it… please?”

“Your foolishness is matched only by your rudeness,” the Chariot Master barked. “How dare you charge in here, flinging unreasonable requests at me? I have half a mind to turn you into galactic roadkill!”

“Eep!” Fluttershy squeaked.

“I doubt you’ll be able to acquire the chariot through diplomacy,” Luna said.

“I have to meet this Chariot Master face to face, don’t I?” Fluttershy said. Steeling herself, she lifted her hooves and began to make her way to the end of the room. The pair of heavy doors flung open on their own as soon as she reached them, and she found herself standing outside. A transparent, glassy walkway extended to her right, rising up the side of the tower. Fluttershy stepped out onto the walkway and gazed upward. Unfortunately for her, the tower rose high above her, and even after taking a few more steps out, she still couldn’t see the top of it. It was impossible to tell how many floors it had, and she dreaded the thought of walking each and every one of them. “I don’t suppose there’s an elevator in this tower,” she said.

“No, this is the only way up,” Luna said. “I suggest you get started.”

Fluttershy let out a deep sigh and frowned before starting up the tower. Two Miks and a Skuttler appeared over the walkway one by one, only to be shot down as she made her way up. The walkway stopped at the second story of the tower, where Fluttershy reentered through another door.

The second floor contained a large circular chamber similar to the entrance hall of the floor below. The only difference between them was a number of holes in the floor of this room. Three Octos rose out of the holes and faced Fluttershy. Two of them immediately spat rings of acrid black smoke at her, but because of the size and trajectory of the rings, Fluttershy harmlessly passed through the center of them without moving an inch in any direction. A large blue gem fired from Fluttershy’s bow in retaliation, taking out one of the Octos. The other two were shot down similarly seconds later. A Wave Angler and four Miks emerged from the holes to replace them. They hovered around the room, but lasted only a few moments before Fluttershy shot them down and made her way to the end of the chamber.

Once Fluttershy was outside again, she started up another walkway that ascended along the side of the tower. Already her hooves and knees were beginning to ache, the journey up taking its gradual toll. Three Monoeyes hovered ahead of her along the way, but she had much less trouble with them as she fired at the first two. The third Monoeye fired a shot back at her, but she jumped left to dodge and fired back. With the third Monoeye down, she continued to make her way up.

On the third floor, Fluttershy stood on a ledge overlooking a huge gap in the floor. Another ledge was built into the other side of the gap, where the exit was. But without a bridge or any proper flooring, there was no way to reach the other side of the chamber.

“You will need to take that platform to the other side,” Luna said.

Fluttershy turned to her left, where she noticed a flat, square platform hovering nearby. She walked over and stepped onto the platform, which shuddered beneath her hooves as it began to move to the other end of the room. Two Skuttler Cannoneers and a Ganewmede appeared on an elevated balcony off to the side. Fluttershy took aim with her bow, shooting one of the Skuttlers. She sidestepped a beam of energy fired by the second Skuttler and fired another gem from her bow. Her shot knocked the second Skuttler off of its platform, but four more Skuttler Cannoneers appeared out of thin air to take its place. “How did Discord get so many of his troops here?” Fluttershy asked, dodging fire from all four cannoneers. “We’re only on the third floor.”

“What concerns me more is the tower itself,” Luna said. “There don’t seem to be any proper defenses.”

“Any riffraff can just waltz on in,” Discord chimed in. “After all, Fluttershy here had no problems. But I must admit I adore running amok in other people’s homes.”

“Another uninvited guest?” the Chariot Master growled. “Very well, at least show your face… so my Lightning Chariot can erase you from existence!”

As soon as her platform made it to the other side of the chamber, Fluttershy headed for the door, ignoring the remaining Skuttlers. Like before, she made her way up another walkway that spiraled up the side of the tower. She took a second to fire a charge shot at an Underworld enemy in her way before continuing up. By the time she reached the next floor, her legs were feeling a little tired. She lifted her hoof to wipe a few droplets of sweat from her face before going back in the tower.

The flooring of the fourth floor chamber was evenly divided down the middle, with blue panels on one side of the chamber and red panels on the other. Fluttershy walked onto the red side when she entered the chamber. She could see light flashing underneath the blue panels on the other side. A second later, electricity crackled across every blue panel, sending sparks into the air of half of the chamber.

“That current will alternate between one half of the floor and the other,” Luna said. “You must move accordingly.”

Fluttershy turned her attention toward two Splins hovering above the floor. Holding up her bow, she shot down one of the floating creatures with a large blue gem. She turned her weapon toward the other Splin and fired a few smaller yellow gems.

As soon as Fluttershy shot down the two Splins, an Underworld Shelbo appeared above the center of the room. Fluttershy also caught sight of a purple mist floating around the room, telling her that a Zuree was nearby. Meanwhile, current stopped running through the blue floor panels, and the red panels underneath her started flashing. “It doesn’t do much to enemies that don’t touch the ground,” Fluttershy said. She quickly made her way toward the blue panels on the other side of the floor.

“That’s a known issue,” the Chariot Master interjected. “It’ll be resolved in the next version of the tower.”

“Um, next version?” Fluttershy said, raising an eyebrow. Electricity surged through the red floor panels, but it had no effect on the floating Shelbo. The Zuree was also unharmed when it emerged from its mist, though it was promptly shot by Fluttershy and her bow. “I think somepony needs a better QA department.”

“I am no pony, little mare,” the Chariot Master said.

The Shelbo opened its mouth, revealing rows of sharp teeth and its single large eye, and sucked in air to pull Fluttershy toward it. Fluttershy fired at its exposed eye, cutting off its attack and tossing it back. She headed toward the end of the chamber, making sure to avoid any electrified floor panels along the way.

As usual, she walked up the ascending walkway outside the tower to reach the next floor, taking out three Miks along the way before reentering. Several rectangular pillars rose out of the ground of the fifth floor chamber. Numerous cracks spread throughout the sides of each pillar, and it looked like any one of them would collapse with enough force. Fluttershy noted the cracks in the unstable pillars before turning her attention up, where two Zurrets were perched on top of them. She aimed the Crystal Bow at one of the Zurrets and fired.

While her shot took out the first Zurret, the second one fired three spiraling energy shots down at her. Fluttershy ducked under the shots and ran toward the pillar the Zurret stood on. She split her bow in two at the grip, and with a sharpened bow limb held in each hoof she stabbed the pillar’s side. She quickly pried both halves of her bow out of the pillar, dislodging several chunks of stone debris. As soon as her bow was recombined, Fluttershy scurried away from the pillar. The base of the pillar fell apart first, while the rest of the structure collapsed downward. The Zurret at the top swayed for a moment before eventually falling backward. Fluttershy shot a blue gem at it, making sure it was defeated before leaving toward the end of the chamber.

As soon as she stepped out onto the next walkway, Fluttershy stopped for a moment to prop her hoof against the tower’s exterior wall. Her legs were beginning to noticeably ache, and she spent a few seconds trying to catch her breath. She looked up at the sky, but the tower continued to rise high above her without any visible peak. Even after five floors of climbing, the top of the tower didn’t seem any closer than before.

“I really didn’t train for this,” Fluttershy panted.

“Aw, someone sounds like she wants a piggyback ride,” Discord mocked.

“Um, how tall are you?” Fluttershy asked hesitantly. “I mean, if you’re really offering… never mind.” Her voice trailed off by the end, and she decided to just drop it and continue up the walkway.

On the sixth floor, Fluttershy stood at the bottom of a walkway suspended over the rest of the chamber. The walkway sloped gently up toward the chamber’s exit, making a few 180° turns along the way. Fluttershy traced its path, noticing a circular jump pad in the middle of one straight section, before looking over the edge. Instead of a solid floor, or even the fifth floor, a thick pink haze blanketed the area below.

Before she could wonder what was down there, a crash sounded from higher up on the walkway, causing the rest of the walkway to shake. When Fluttershy looked, she saw a giant boulder rolling toward her. She jumped back from the boulder’s path, letting it roll past her, off the edge of the walkway, and into the haze below. A few seconds later, Fluttershy watched another boulder land on the walkway and follow the same path as the first.

“Rolling obstacles…” Fluttershy scrutinized out loud. “… and jump pads. Something seems familiar about this.”

“I guess the Chariot Master has played Donkey Kong,” Discord said.

Fluttershy waited for another boulder to roll past, and then headed up the walkway. She came to a stop in front of the jump pad, and as soon as the next boulder crashed onto the walkway, she stepped onto the jump pad. She catapulted high off the floor, enough for the boulder to roll right under her. She landed back on the walkway and continued up, eventually reaching a turn in the path.

The rest of the walkway was split into two sloping segments connected by a 180° turn. Jump pads lay in the middle of both segments, and just as before, boulders rolled down either section of the walkway before falling into the haze below. Fluttershy walked up the next section of the walkway, using the jump pad to leap over the oncoming boulder. She did the same thing for the last section of the walkway and reached the door at the end of the chamber.

After a brief climb along the outside, Fluttershy reached the seventh floor of the tower. Inside, the entire floor of the chamber was covered in a solid layer of ice. Though initially surprised, Fluttershy began to take a few cautious steps onto the ice. She held up her right hoof, trying to aim at a Tortolunk and an Underworld Snowman at the other end of the chamber. Unfortunately, her other three hooves slipped on the ice, and she nearly hit the ground as she scrambled to keep her footing. She tried to aim at the Underworld troops again, frowning at the icy floor while checking her footing.

“There’s an Aether Ring nearby that will let you hover above the ice,” Luna suggested.

Fluttershy spotted the inactive Aether Ring floating above the floor, off to the side of the chamber. Carefully, she made her way across the ice. “Why does the Chariot Master have a vehicle of the gods?” she asked.

“Isn’t it obvious?” the Chariot Master said.

“Are you saying you’re a god?” Luna asked.

“I’m not saying anything,” he answered.

“Then why raise the subject?” Luna muttered.

The Aether Ring activated as soon as Fluttershy stepped inside and placed her hooves on the controls. She aimed its short-range gun and fired at the Snowman and Tortolunk, easily shooting down both. The Aether Ring hovered above the ice-covered floor without any issue, and Fluttershy piloted it to the chamber’s exit. The vehicle was too wide to fit through the door however, and when she tried to bring it through, it jammed in the doorway instead. With a small sense of disappointment, she gave up on the Aether Ring, disembarked and continued up the tower on hoof.

As Fluttershy made her way to the next floor, she peered over the edge of the walkway. After climbing nearly seven floors, she could barely make out anything on the ground below. The entrance to the tower was completely invisible from where she stood. She turned away from the walkway’s edge and once again stared up the side of the tower. As usual, the tower seemed to rise up almost endlessly. “Are we there yet?” Fluttershy said.

“No, you’re not,” Luna said, rolling her eyes. “You are nowhere near ‘there yet.’”

Fluttershy let out an exasperated sigh. She headed up the rest of the walkway and went inside the next chamber. On the eight floor of the tower, Fluttershy saw two Syrens circling around the chamber, as well as another Zuree hiding within a cloud of purple mist. Four glowing red devices were placed on the floor in a large circle around the center of the chamber, completely undisturbed by the monsters that occasionally flew over them.

“Take care not to step on any of those land mines,” Luna said.

Fluttershy paused while taking aim at one of the Syrens. She looked back toward the four red devices on the ground. “Those are land mines?” she asked, raising an eyebrow. “Shouldn’t they be buried so that nopony can see them?” Fluttershy looked up to see a Syren hover directly over one of the mines. She fired her bow, taking out the creature. She then glanced at the second Syren as it too flew over a land mine.

“They don’t respond to airborne foes either,” Luna added.

“Yes, yes, I’m quite aware of that,” the Chariot Master responded.

“Defense isn’t really your strong suit, is it?” Discord said. “Oh well. Defenses are for the weak and insecure.”

As soon as the Zuree emerged from its purple mist, Fluttershy shot it with a blue gem. With the other Syren having already been taken out, she walked toward the other end of the chamber, stepping around two of the land mines along the way. Once outside, she saw a pair of blue rails extending from a section of the walkway and ascending up the side of the tower. In fact, the rails appeared to be there in place of the walkway, much of which wasn’t there to begin with.

“Oh good, grind rails,” Fluttershy said. She hopped on to the rails, eager to let them do the climbing for her and give her legs a quick break. Sure enough, the rails’ magic spread to her hooves as soon as she stepped onto them, and she was carried up along the side of the tower. As she went up, she saw several chunks of what may have once been the original walkway still holding in place. There was little if any sign of damage to this side of the tower, so it was hard to tell if the walkway collapsed on its own or from an attack. Fluttershy looked below the grind rails, toward the nearest walkway underneath. Any rubble from the walkway’s collapse had long since been cleared away.

Before long, the grind rails came to an end and deposited Fluttershy at the entrance to the ninth floor. She headed inside, where she found herself standing on a balcony above a largely empty chamber. An incline led from the balcony to the lower level, and at the top of the slope rested a huge, black, spherical boulder. Fluttershy cautiously approached the boulder. She traced its likely path down the slope, where it led to six Underworld troops standing perfectly still and arranged in a triangle.

“This room seems to lack defenses of any kind,” Luna mused. “Though Discord has donated some of his forces for use as bowling pins.”

“My troops are a worthy sacrifice for the sport of kings!” Discord said. “But I suppose Fluttershy can play here too.”

Fluttershy turned her gaze from the Underworld enemies and looked up at the enormous boulder towering over her. She wondered for a moment how much it would take to push the boulder, and then worried that it might roll after her instead, especially if she was on the ramp.

“I don’t really bowl,” Fluttershy said. She gingerly stepped around the boulder, making sure not to nudge or disturb it in any way. As soon as she took a few steps down the incline, she took a nervous glance back at the boulder. Not wanting to spend too much time in its path, she moved toward the edge of the ramp and jumped down to the lower level. Ignoring the Underworld enemies still posing as bowling pins, Fluttershy continued toward the door at the end of the chamber.

As Fluttershy continued up the walkway to the next floor, she came across a large gap in the walkway that rendered it impassable. The gap was largely uneven, and pieces of the walkway’s crystalline building material still hung from the structure, indicating that this section had crumbled away. However, there was also a jump pad placed in front of the gap, right next to where Fluttershy stood. She stepped onto the pad, which propelled her over the gap and onto the other side. She then made her way up the rest of the walkway, using another conveniently placed jump pad to clear another collapsed section, before going back inside the tower.

On the tenth floor, Fluttershy found herself standing on a ring-shaped walkway suspended over a large chasm in the chamber. Gale force winds blew through the center of the chamber, blowing in from one side of the chamber and cutting across two sections of the walkway before going out the other side. A second walkway was suspended above the rest of the chamber, with the winds blowing across a section of it.

Fluttershy’s gaze shifted from the upper level walkway and turned toward two Skuttler Cannoneers that were running against the winds on the lower level. The Skuttlers managed to fight the headwinds for a while, only to slip and be tossed backward. They nearly flew off the edge of the walkway, but managed to get back up and start running again.

“You will have to overcome those winds to reach the end of this chamber,” Luna said. “Try not to fall.”

Fluttershy scanned the lower level walkway. After it crossed the path of the winds a second time, she noticed that the walkway continued up a set of stairs to a raised platform. The platform did lead back to her starting point, but only after dropping down a ledge that was several feet high—too high for a pony to climb.

“Sky Jump,” Fluttershy said. One of the powers equipped to her Crystal Bow activated, propelling her into the air and landing her on the platform. She found a jump pad in the center of the platform, and as soon as she stepped onto it, it launched her onto the upper level.

Three Monoeyes floated above the upper level walkway, directly in the path of the winds. Just like the Skuttlers on the lower level, the Monoeyes were traveling against the wind toward the other side of the chamber. Fluttershy watched as they came close to reaching that side of the chamber, only to be tossed back one by one to the opposite side and start all over. Though initially bemused, she brushed it off and started down the walkway.

The winds buffeted Fluttershy from the side as soon as she walked into their path, pulling her mane with it and pushing her toward the edge of the walkway. Fluttershy ducked her head and picked up the pace, breaking into a gallop to fight against the winds. Her hooves almost slipped a few times, but before long she reached the end of the walkway and exited the chamber.

Outside the tower, the path leading up to the next floor was gone, instead replaced with a pair of grind rails. Fluttershy hopped onto the rails, allowing them to carry her up the side of the tower. As she went, she saw a few pieces of the original walkway still hanging from the tower’s side, two of which were large enough for Skuttler Cannoneers to stand on. Fluttershy lifted her right foreleg off of the rails and fired her bow at the first Skuttler, knocking it off of its ledge.

“I don’t suppose these rails will take me up more than just the one floor, will they?” Fluttershy asked. Even though she didn’t realize it while directing her aim at the second Skuttler, Luna narrowed her eyes at her in that moment. Fluttershy fired a few smaller gems from her bow, taking out the other Skuttler.

Sure enough, the grind rails dropped Fluttershy off at the entrance to the eleventh floor. She went inside, where she saw that this chamber had a much different layout from all the previous ones. Instead of an exit door on the other side of the room, a large, spacious ramp sloped up along the walls and led back outside. At the bottom of the ramp sat an Exo Tank.

“The Chariot Master has an Exo Tank too?” Fluttershy said.

“It’s possible that he collects these vehicles,” Luna said.

“Then that would make this tower his garage,” Discord chimed in. “Think he’ll let us use it?”

Fluttershy climbed inside the seat of the Exo Tank. She placed her hooves on the controls, and as soon as it came to life, she pressed on the accelerator. She drove up the ramp, steering left along the road until it led through an opening in the wall. Once outside the tower, the ramp led out onto a path of lustrous blue light. The path was solid, easily supporting the Exo Tank as Fluttershy drove onto it, but was largely uneven with several sharp turns in it.

“A road made of hard light,” Luna mused out loud. “What an intriguing design flourish.”

“No, it’s a practice track for the Lightning Chariot,” the Chariot Master said. “It’s not for amateurs!”

Fluttershy banked sharply left as she navigated a 180° turn in the track. Almost immediately after, the road took a sharp right turn. Fluttershy steered right, trying to pull out of her left turn, only to overcompensate and steer toward the edge of the track. She would have driven off the road, but instead the Exo Tank hit an abrupt stop at the edge and bounced harmlessly back. Fluttershy looked over the vehicle, her eyebrows furrowing as she stared at the boundary. “Are you sure this track isn’t for amateurs?” she asked. “I mean, it has invisible walls.”

Fluttershy backed the Exo Tank up a few feet, and then tried to take the right turn more slowly. She navigated along the path’s bumps and turns much more slowly, even going gingerly around a sharp left turn to avoid a collision with one of its boundaries. Before long, the road led back toward the tower, this time one level higher than where the road initially started. It took Fluttershy to a small balcony at the end of the room, where she finally stepped out of the Exo Tank. Leaving the vehicle behind, she headed toward the door and left the chamber.

As she headed up the next walkway to the next floor, Fluttershy once again found herself gazing up the side of the tower. After climbing up about a dozen floors, she was dismayed that she still couldn’t see the top of the tower, and that the end of her climb was still nowhere in sight. It was hard to remember how long ago she had arrived at the foot of the tower, whether it was half an hour ago or much longer. It didn’t help that Fluttershy herself had lost track of how many floors she had traveled since arriving. “Are we there yet?” she sighed.

“You’re not going to repeatedly ask that question, are you?” Luna asked irritably, her voice gaining a considerable edge to it. “No, you are not there yet, and bemoaning your climb will not help you reach the top any sooner. I assure you if there was some means to hasten your progress, I would have tried by now!”

“About that…” Fluttershy said. “When you dropped me off at the bottom of the tower, you said that the Chariot Master was at the top, right? And half of the climb up has been on the outside. So wouldn’t it have made more sense to drop me off on a higher floor? Or maybe on the roof?”

“I…” Luna stammered.

“Even if the Chariot Master was on a lower floor, it still would’ve been easier to climb down then up,” Fluttershy added.

Luna let out a frustrated groan, and for a second, Fluttershy thought she heard her smacking her hoof against her forehead. “Very well,” Luna said, sounding exasperated. “Complain as much as you like.”

“Actually, that was all I had to say,” Fluttershy said.

Fluttershy reached the next floor of the tower and reentered. Inside, she saw a round blue pillar rising from a hole in the center of the chamber. The pillar continued through a second, equally large hole in the ceiling, and when Fluttershy looked closer at it, she noticed a white jewel protruding from its side.

“What’s that gem supposed to do?” Fluttershy thought out loud.

“Well don’t shoot it or anything,” Discord said. “It’s not like that’s what you always do these days. Oh, but before I forget. Elevator’s out of order. Sorry, Flutters, looks like you’ll have to come back another time.”

Fluttershy spotted a Monoeye floating around the pillar. She lifted her right foreleg and fired a blue gem from her bow, shooting down the creature. She then turned her aim toward the jewel in the pillar and fired a yellow gem. The force of her shot pushed the jewel further into the pillar, inserting it into a slot in the pillar’s side.

Almost immediately, the pillar dropped further into the floor, coming to an abrupt stop after several feet. With it came a second Monoeye, which floated around the room just as the first one had. After taking a second to shoot it down, Fluttershy walked around the pillar, keeping an eye on it as she went. Her search led her to a second white jewel behind it. She pushed it into place with a shot from her bow, causing another section of the pillar to fall.

A third jewel hung from another side of the pillar when it came to a stop. With it, a Mik hovered down from above the ceiling and floated around the chamber. Fluttershy fired at it with her bow and made her way to the jewel. She shot the jewel into place, causing another section of the pillar to fall. When the pillar slammed into place again, the hole in the ceiling was closed by a circular platform that had fallen along with it. The platform also pushed a Specknose down into the room. Fluttershy fired at the Specknose and searched around the pillar again, where she found one more jewel.

With the last jewel pushed into its slot, the platform dropped from the ceiling, crashing into the floor and closing up the hole in the center of the chamber in the process. Fluttershy took a few steps forward, scrutinizing the new addition to the chamber floor. As soon as she walked into the center, the floor momentarily shook. The platform slowly came up from the floor and began to rise toward the ceiling. Above her, Fluttershy saw a tall, cylindrical shaft spanning just a few floors. She took a deep breath and exhaled as the platform took her further up the tower.

Comments

[KaijinZero]

oh how i hated this level...with a PASSION...

[TSLsmokey]

4557814
Moreso than chapter 23?