Twilight Sparkle's Anguish

by Trailblazer Rocker

Into the Abyss

Red Rover threw a sucker punch at Fluttershy and then kicked her to a nearby tree. She crashed into it, and then fell to the ground on her side, dazed.

"Finally, with you out of the way, I can get in and see what's going on," said Red Rover as he looked down at her. He then looked at the rock, but then got surprised. Trailblazer was standing at the lake edge, giving him a mean look.

"So, I really don't appreciate you beating on Fluttershy there," he said sternly. "Wait, was it you that was responsible for dropping that tree on me?"

"Uh... Yeeeaaaaaahh...?"

"Oh, really," Trailblazer said, a little bit surprised. "Well then, I don't appreciate that either."

He charged at the red pony, while Rover braced for the impact. Trailblazer stopped just before making a collision. Rover looked up to see what he was waiting for, only to see Trailblazer right in front of him. He got punched right on the nose. Red Rover stumbled backwards, clutching his muzzle with his right hoof. Trailblazer then ran up and kicked him to the ground, to which Rover landed with a loud thud. He got back up and ran towards Trailblazer, but he got jumped again. Trailblazer landed blows all over, taking advantage of faking Rover out. Another kick against his side knocked him down to the ground.

"Jesus, why so serious??" he yelled.

"Are you going to get out of here, or what!?" Trailblazer yelled back.

Red Rover picked himself up quickly. "All right, fine, I will! My God!" He turned around and ran away without looking back.

"Pfft. That guy can talk the talk, but can't walk the walk," Trailblazer said softly to himself. He turned to his right and saw Fluttershy shaking her head. He walked up to her and examined her.

"What do we have here?" he asked.

"T-Trailblazer?? But I thought-"

"Hey, Rainbow Dash came with the potion, and you fended off Red Rover long enough. So, how bad did he hurt you?"

"That mean Rover just wouldn't give up. I think he's the kind of pony that would kick one as the other one was down."

"Yeah, he's a thug, all right. Now, let me take a look at you..." Trailblazer looked all around her body, but found only a couple bruises. "Oh, hell, I've seen worse! You're gonna be fine!" He picked her up and got her back on her feet.

"Okay... Thanks," breathed Fluttershy.

As Rainbow Dash pulled Pinkie Pie out of the cave, Trailblazer ran up to her and stopped her.

"Whoa whoa whoa," he said.

"What?" Rainbow Dash asked.

"We can't pull out now, we still have a Sacred Star to find here."

She and Pinkie Pie looked back at the rock that they got out of. "Oh, right. Whoops."

"It's fine, let's just go back in."

Rainbow carried Pinkie back in, while Fluttershy flew Trailblazer back to the hole that was part of the ceiling that collapsed on him.

"Hold on, aren't we gettin' out of here?" asked AppleJack.

"Not for now. We still need to get the Sacred Star here," Trailblazer answered her with.

"Oh, right. Ah guess Ah fergot 'bout it with that, well, business..."

"Oh, yes, very much so. But... Where could it be?" Rarity asked.

"Hey, I just want to take a closer look at this plate on the wall." Trailblazer walked up to the writing on the wall at the far end of the room, and looked at it. AppleJack walked up to his side to see it for herself as well, knowing that they couldn't look at it beforehand due to the collapsing incident.

"Just like Twilight said..." Trailblazer mumbled, eyeing the tablet. "All these past heroes had to have a bond that brings them together. It also looks like they all had to be present and alive when they stopped it. And seeing how you six represent the Elements of Harmony, that brings you all together that way." He paused, then looked down, upset. "Now I just made myself feel like the odd one out."

"Aww, don't worry 'bout it none, sugarcube..." AppleJack said to him. "You would be the seventh one in my book, if only there WAS a seventh one..."

Trailblazer let out an unhappy sigh, then got back to the tablet. "Anyways, with that aside, it looks like we're the next set of heroes."

"Like I already said before you two got a chance to look at it," said Twilight.

"Yeah, right." Trailblazer knocked on the plate casually as he looked at her, but he heard an echo upon impact. He then quickly looked back at the writing. "Wait a minute... This part of the wall is different from the others."

"Huh?"

"The wall's hollow here."

"There could be something back there, but, do you really think we should break something like this?" Twilight asked. "I mean, this thing is technically an artifact."

"Hm, you're right. Well... What to do..."

As he started to ponder, the plate glowed from the inside. This immediately made it the center of attention. From what they saw, the plate sunk down into the wall, and then slid off to the side, inside the rock walls. Behind the now removed stone tablet, was a white Sacred Star.

"Well, wouldya look at THAT," said AppleJack.

"That's the last Sacred Star!" exclaimed Rarity. "And it's ours!"

"We're al most home free...!" Fluttershy called out. "I can't believe it, we're actually going to do this!"

"Well, yeah, it's great and all that we got this Sacred Star, but..." Twilight thought.

"But what?"

"Why did it open just now? I don't see any switch or button or lever or something to cause it to move out."

"I think the real question here is, 'Why does it matter?' We have the last Sacred Star in our hooves!" Rainbow Dash shouted with glee.

"And it's ours for the takin'!" AppleJack reached into the hole and pulled the star out of it.

"Okay. Now that we got this last star, we can head back to Merlow's place." said Trailblazer. "Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy? You have the honors."

"You got that right." The two pegasi flew them all out of the hole, just to see that evening was upon them. Once they all got back on the ground outside the lake, they looked at the sky, and the Sario Hole that was occupying it.

"We might want to set up our camp. We're gonna spend the night," said Trailblazer.

"Yeah, we're not going to make it to Merlow's place at this time," Pinkie added. She dug into her saddlebag and pulled out her tent bag. It unzipped itself as it was flung into the air, and then unfolded into a tent in a matter of a second. It landed back on the ground with stakes planted into the ground as well.

Trailblazer looked at her with awe, then opened his mouth to ask. "Uhh,"

"Don't question it, Trailblazer," said AppleJack. "If ya do, you'll find yerself more confused than before."

"What a fun little college course her antics would be," joked Trailblazer in response.

When the night hit, and all of the ponies were sleeping in their individual tents, Twilight began to think even more about her condition.

In her dream, the colt she liked as a filly was separated from her. After those events, she lived a life without him. Then, when it came to the present, Steel Sword reappeared in her dream. A flashback came, with them all at the research facility. The happening that was her talking to Steel Sword played back in her memory, right from her perspective. And his words echoed back into her memory as well: "Joy and happiness was voided without 'Twilight'".

The more she thought, the more anxious she got. Steel Sword's appearance was only slightly different from Mineral Mage's. The visuals and repeated quote seemed to be more than a coincidence.

Twilight abruptly woke up. She stared at the tent ceiling for a while, and then got out of her tent. She walked outside to think some more.

The rustling canvas woke Trailblazer up. With his tent between Twilight's and AppleJack's tents, he could easily pick up the noise. He got out of his sleeping bag, quietly unzipped his tent, and poked his head out, only to see Twilight Sparkle sitting down with her back turned on him. She seemed to be staring blankly into the vista around her.

"Oh, no..." said Trailblazer, softly. He shook his head and got back into his tent to try to continue sleeping. To his surprise, Twilight was not hoping for comfort from him, or even weeping to herself. This time, he knew something was really amiss. He got back outside and walked up to her, trying to figure out what was going on.

Upon getting a look at her face, she looked quite worried instead of sad, or even with a blank stare. Trailblazer wanted to know what was going on.

"Hey, Twilight," he said once he sat down next to her. "What's wrong?"

"It's Mineral Mage," she answered. "Do you remember that name?"

"Yeah, you told me about him back in Sagastrome."

"Right, well, the thing is... I can't help but think that he's still alive somewhere..."

"Wait, if I remember correctly, you said that he was, gone... Was your definition of 'gone' at that time, 'dead'?

"Yeah, but it was a vague term. It could've meant that he was missing, or away, or, with another mare."

"Don't you think that you would've heard about him passing away, or something?"

"Well, I guess you're right. But let's get back on topic here..."

"Right, right... Well, what gave you the impression that he's still around here?"

"He and Steel Sword..." Twilight swallowed before answering. "Look almost identical. His coat, his mane, his mane style, his eye color... He's almost a cutout."

"That's quite the observation. But still, you might want to consider this."

"What is it?"

"There are only so many colors in this world, and only so many color combinations. You said that you met Mineral Mage when both of you were in Canterlot, correct?"

"Yeah?"

"And this Steel Sword pony is in Inyomaid, which is where we all are now."

"Let me guess... Just because they share a similar color scheme, doesn't make them identical... Right?"

"Yeah, exactly. Also, what really defines a pony's identity, is his or her cutie mark. Do you know what he had for one?"

"Actually, he didn't have his at the time either."

"Oh... Well, I guess we'll scratch that."

"Uh-huh..."

"But like I said: I've seen plenty of ponies that share a similar color scheme as mine. But they're not me. See what I'm saying?"

Twilight looked back straight ahead of herself, thought, then looked back at Trailblazer. "Yeah, I do."

"Okay. So. You say that these two ponies share similar color schemes, but they're not identical."

Twilight thought a little more before responding. "Yeah, I guess you're right. Mineral Mage and Steel Sword ought to be two separate ponies after all." She let out a nervous giggle. "What was I thinking?"

"Okay then. But let's shelve the thought that he's still around now, okay? That Sario Hole is what we need to take care of."

"All right, I will," Twilight lied.

They both got up on all fours again.

"Hey, Trailblazer?"

"Yeah?"

"Thank you for talking to me. I feel a lot better now."

Trailblazer showed a small smile. "Yeah, you're welcome."

They both headed back into their tents to get to sleep for the rest of the night.

"Good night, Trailblazer..." said Twilight, meekly.

He stopped halfway into his tent, then backed up outside to look at Twilight. "Yeah, good night, Twilight." After saying that, he got back into his tent, zipped it back up, and laid back down in his sleeping bag to sleep.

Twilight got in her own tent as well, but stayed up. She neglected to tell Trailblazer that back at Mt. Terabolt, Steel Sword knew her name. That was the crucial clue to whether it was truly Mineral Mage under another name, or just some other villain. It was more than just a coincidence to her now.

The next day, the seven ponies packed their tents and headed back out of the woods that surrounded Lake Oxpow. In the mid-afternoon, they got back to Merlow's place.

"Welcome back! How did everything go back there?" asked Merlow once they all got inside.

"Unpleasant," Trailblazer said.

"Oh, is that so..." the unicorn answered back. "I was wondering how you were doing once that earthquake hit yesterday..."

"I was on the verge of dying because of that..."

Merlow recoiled. "OH MY! That, really WAS a terrible time you had there then!"

"Well, I'm fine now, so, the past is in the past, and we should get going."

"Are you okay with this?"

"Yeah, I'm fine now..."

"Well, if you say so..."

"Anyways, I think you'll need to see this now." Trailblazer turned to face AppleJack. "AppleJack?"

The cowpony reached into her saddlebag and pulled out the white Sacred Star. It floated up above the table where Merlow's crystal ball rested upon.

"Excellent! Now, the way to Steel Sword's lair should be opened! We just need to know where, and how." Merlow let the gemstone float above the crystal ball. The imagery that showed up was all five Sacred Stars, forming the shape of a perfect pentagon. They glowed and revealed black double doors, right outside of Merlow's enterance to his house.

"So, we need all the stars to open that black door of death..." said Rainbow Dash.

"That's welcoming," said Trailblazer, sarcastically.

Fluttershy giggled, and the rest of the six started to chuckle after the comment.

"Wait, where are the other ones we collected?" Rarity wondered.

"I have them in storage right here," Merlow said. He opened a foot locker that he had in the back of the room, and the other four Sacred Stars floated out of it.

"Great! Now let's get the black door of death revealed!" Twilight joked.

All of them walked outside and faced Merlow's place. He held up the Sacred Stars above him. The stars rotated in a circle, gradually getting faster. Then, as they continued to rotate, they all started to transform their horizontal rotation into a vertical one. They slowly stopped spinning around each other, and then stopped when they formed a pentagon. In the center of the shape, black double doors emerged from the ground. It stopped once it was completely unearthed, and the Sacred Stars started to levitate freely.

"The black door of death has been revealed!" Merlow said, playing along with the joke Rainbow Dash started. He gazed at the door, then at the hole in the sky. "Prepare for the fight for the fate of the planet, and then come back."

"Good idea, Merlow." Rainbow Dash turned around to face the other six. "Let's get ourselves some supplies."

"And some first-aid kits," Trailblazer said, with an indifferent look on his face.

"Oh, yeah, definitely."

Six of them walked away to shop around for supplies that they needed. Twilight Sparkle stayed behind, silently staring at the Sario Hole.

"Is there something bothering you, Twilight?" wondered Merlow.

"It's, well..." stuttered Twilight. "Do we have to stop Steel Sword specifically to close the Sario Hole?"

Merlow lowered his head and closed his eyes. "The Sario Hole was opened, and Steel Sword is the one responsible for it. So, stop him we must. But why do you ask?"

"It's just that, I feel like I knew him from..." But she bit her lip and didn't finish her sentence.

"Did something happen between you and Steel Sword?"

"N- No, nothing happened! I'm fine, really. Well anyways, I'd better get some stuff myself." Twilight trotted off towards the shops and browsed around with the rest of her friends.

After all of them gathered all the supplies that they felt they needed, they all gathered back at Merlow's place again. The sage looked up at the Sario Hole.

"Beyond that door is the path to Steel Sword's lair. He is hidden somewhere in that void we call a Sario Hole." Merlow turned around and faced the group. "Are you all ready?"

Six of them said their "Yes"'s, while Twilight Sparkle still looked worried.

"Twilight, if you don't feel okay, then feel free to stay behind," suggested Merlow.

"No, I'll... I'll go in! I shouldn't leave my friends behind here. Besides, they'll need my magic to get through the place."

"Then I will not stop you. Head on through once you're ready."

Twilight looked once more at the Sario Hole, the imminent threat to the world. She then looked down with her eyes closed, then looked at the black double doors with determination, exhaling through her nostrils. "I'm going in."

"Let's do this," said Trailblazer. He walked up to the doors, and they opened on their own once he got near. One by one, they walked through. When they all got on the other side, the doors closed on their own as well. Leaving them to figure out what they were up against. The fate of the planet was in their hands, and there was no room for error.