Once Beyond the Gates

by Quill Scribe

Affliction of Self

Once Beyond the Gates

~Quill Scribe~

Chapter 10 - Affliction of Self

My eyes opened to a most unexpected sight. Wherever I was, there were rows upon rows of shelves filled to the brim with books. I blinked several times, shaking my head to make sure I wasn't dreaming.

I approached the closest shelf hesitantly, and pulled a book off of it. At least I tried to, but no magic came out. I frowned and tried again to no avail. I could barely even feel the magic that was normally inside the reservoir that every unicorn had.

I decided to cut out the middle-mare and simply pulled a book out with a hoof. There was no title on its faded binding. I opened it and gasped. It was full of pictures of my foalhood, as though somepony had taken a camera and somehow replaced my eyes with it. I slammed the book closed; startled at what I saw. I paused a moment to acknowledge it, and I moved on to the next shelf.

The books still had no titles, but the shelves began to show sets of numbers, almost like dates. I pulled down a book from a shelf that corresponded to my sixth birthday. Inside were pictures of a cake, foals with party hats, and Mocha sitting next to my bed, storybook in hoof.

This is just too bizarre. Wasn't I just captured by Sombra?

I looked out at the seemingly endless rows of shelves. A thick layer of dust lay over everything in view.

If I'm inside my own head, I've got some serious spring cleaning to do.

Out of the corner of my eye I saw a blur of maroon and deep purple. I whipped around and trotted quickly to the corner it rounded. Nearby I heard a door slam closed.

I came upon the oaken door next to the set of shelves I had picked the book from. Emblazoned on it was a cutie mark, a single coffee bean. I pushed the door open and peered inside.

There was a certain familiar comfort about the room I looked into. A bed, small enough for a young filly. Empty bookshelves, their books scattered about on a desk by the window, lined the far wall. Wonderbolts posters hung from the walls on practically every free section. It was all very dusty from disuse.

This was my room in Manehattan.

I walked inside and sat down at the desk. Staring at the books scattered about on it. These actually had titles, though none I'd ever heard of before. The one titled 'First Hearthswarming' had pictures of Mocha and I opening presents together and building snow ponies. The next one, 'Flight', had logs and pictures of every time we took to the skies.

This room is completely dedicated to my best memories of me and my mom. If I wasn't certain I'm in my own mind before, I sure am now.

Either that or I've got a stalker with a sick sense of humor and timing.

The sound of hoofsteps on the wooden floor dragged me out of my reverie. Walking out of the room, I saw a brief splash of purple against the constant brown of the shelves and books.

I continued to wander the stacks of this strange place, following the brief glimpses of brown and purple, occasionally picking up a book to see what memories it held. I soon discovered the books themselves had numbers printed on their bindings, seemingly like a time. As I walked, they became less old and ragged.

I heard another door slam, snapping me out of my observations. I came upon another doorway, this one with a pair of music notes on it.

Arpeggio and Claire...

I peeked inside. It was the den of our home in Canterlot, before it was burned down. I smiled sadly, the memories welling up inside me. Inside sat a well worn piano, the same one Arpeggio played for Lyra and I many nights.

Wherever this place is, there's certainly a peace about it.

I passed many more shelves and doors. One with a trio of Art Deco stars for Allie Way, one with a cluster of berries for, well... Berry Punch. I stopped at the next one. It was adorned with a golden lyre. I gently pushed the door open.

Inside was total chaos. Or, as we called it in the Heartstrings family, Lyra's bedroom. Only, rather than being full of Lyra's things, every surface had a picture laying on it. Ones of us studying together. Ones of the fashion show she had dragged me to. Still others of the four of us sharing a moment together as a family.

Things were so simple then.

My eyes were drawn to the far wall of the room. Hanging on it was a large framed picture. In it, I was curled up around a stuffed pegasus in my dorm bed, Lyra sitting by my side wiping away my tears.

That's where I finally realized how much you mean to me, Long Shot...

The light sounds of hoofsteps and wings fluttering broke my reverie.

Wait... Long Shot!

My thoughts came to a grinding halt. I charged out of the room as quickly as I could, nearly tripping over myself as I did. I barreled down the rows of shelves, knocking books off of them in my careless charge. I skidded to a halt in front of another door. This one emblazoned with a shot glass with a red crosshairs etched into it.

With a shaky hoof I opened the door. It let out onto a cloud in the open sky. In the distance I could see Canterlot, the sun perpetually setting behind it. Looking around, the clouds reenacted scenes that I held close to my heart.

The day he won me that little stuffed pegasus that reminded me so much of my mother. Next was Long Shot cradling me in his hooves right after I had saved Allie and Berry. Then there was the scene right where I sat now, when I left my best friend sitting on a cloud, heartbroken. I closed my eyes, my heart ached in my chest.

I tried to fix things Shotty, I really did. I let you down again, and now I'll never get to make it up to you.

I felt a small shift in weight as the clouds at my hooves moved slightly. I opened my eyes and looked down. Just within my reach was a pegasus doll. It's maroon felt body and dark purple string hair pulled at my heart. Sewn onto a tag were six words.

'I'll always be there for you.' Just look where caring for me got you.

Maybe I'll see you again on the other side... Sooner rather than later. Maybe then I can tell you...

I curled up in a tight ball, clutched the memento to my chest, and buried my face in it.

Cast it all to Tartarus... it even smells like him!

That's when the tears came. My shoulders heaved as I wailed away my sorrow. I know that some ponies say eventually you run out of tears and just can't cry anymore. Those ponies are dirty liars.

I could just stay here... Forever...

My eyelids grew heavy. I was so tired from the stress of pain and heartache. I finally fell asleep, tears still leaking from my eyes before I sank into blackness.

#

"It's time to wake up Sigil."

I opened my eyes and found myself laying on the wooden floor at the center of the shelves once more. I groaned and sat up.

"Who said that?" I searched around me but found nopony there.

"Sigil, you have to hurry. I've bought you as much time as I can."

The voice sounded familiar to me. I could almost place the speaker, like it was a voice I'd heard all my life.

"Hurry to do what? Bought time for what?" I asked the open air.

"The darkness is upon us. Find me and set me free before it consumes you."

Alright, this is going way beyond creepy.

I searched around for several minutes, but everything seemed to be the same as before. That is, until the candles that lit the rows of shelves began snuffing themselves out.

Menacing shadows began to creep along the floor, around the bookshelves, and down the walls. Inching steadily towards me. I desperately tried to cast a light spell to banish the darkness, but my horn produced nothing.

"Hurry, this way!" The disembodied voice said; candles along the rows of shelves began to relight.

I whirled towards them and ran as fast as I could, trying to stay within the relative safety of the light. The shadows were persistent though, following me around corners, always just one misstep from overtaking me.

I began to pass the memory rooms once again. I took a chance and dove through into Mocha's room, slamming the door closed behind me. Just as the door shut, something big slammed into it. There was a wretched shrieking as the door was jarred by multiple impacts, then all was quiet.

"Why hello, subject forty-two. Won't you let me in? This is what you were made for, after all." A deep voice said from the other side of the door.

I peered through the crack where the door met the doorjamb. The darkness had coalesced into a midnight blue unicorn, its sickly yellow eye peered back at me.

"Peekaboo." It laughed menacingly.

I tumbled backwards in surprise, tail over head, into the desk by the window.

"W-what do you want from me?"

"Well my dear, we just want what's ours of course. Now, you just come out of there and let me get this over with."

"To Tartarus with that. Why would I do something so foolish?" I spat.

"Because if you don't, I'm going to start rooting through your memories and destroying them. Bit by bit, until you are nothing but an empty husk. Then I'll just take what I came for while you drool in the corner."

My blood ran cold. I sat in still silence for several minutes.

Can it really do that?

"Very well then, I think I'll start with your foalhood."

I heard the sound of the shadow unicorn shuffling off towards the shelves. I peeked my head out the doorway and watched it settle down and pull out a book.

Now is my chance. Those are all from before mom took me away from Sombra. I don't care about them.

I turned down the rows of shelves and took off at a full gallop. My hooves carried me onward for several moments before I heard the rushing of displaced air behind me. I looked back and saw the pony had dissolved into shadow again and was pursuing me.

What is it that it wants from me? I don't understand!

I began jumping into shelves to my left and right as I ran, toppling books off of them and onto the ever approaching semi-solid shadows to slow them. I had gained a little ground when I noticed the shadowy menace was no longer behind me. I slowed and came to a stop in front of a set of iron doors with the ouroboros engraved on them, my own cutie mark.

"Quickly, go in! Keep moving!" The disembodied voice spoke again, its voice laced with worry.

Ignoring the part of me that screamed for me to run, I pushed the doors open and stepped inside. I stopped dead in my tracks. Before me stood the cursed archway that kept dragging me back into the world of the living. I felt a tendril of cold worming its way into me.

"You should have listened little mare." The shadow stallion said from behind me.

I tried to pull away, but I suddenly felt very weak. Like I had run a full marathon and dead-lifted a mountain with my magic. Silver tendrils began to leak from my body, drawn out by the living shadows.

I've got to move.

"That's it, just accept it. There's no getting away now." He said as he drew closer.

I tensed, saving what little energy I had left. Once I felt him close enough, I bucked my legs back. There was a satisfying thump as I connected. I dove, using the buck to propel myself towards the gate. My hoof touched the gate's doors just as the shadows slammed me into the ground.

"That's much better." The voice said.

The doors swung wide open revealing a blinding whiteness. A pair of ice blue, hourglass eyes stared down at me... My eyes... In that moment I knew why I couldn't place the voice; it was one that I'd seldom heard from an outside perspective.

The "other me" stood firmly before me, a smirk graced her lips. Her horn glowed with a mighty silver light that cast the shadow unicorn out of the doorway and into the wall beyond.

"Come on Sigil, we need to get there before he does." She commanded, lifting me to my hooves.

We barreled out the door and through the stacks, the light from her horn guiding the way.

"Get where? Who are you!?" I called out to her.

"Time for that later! Just run!" She exclaimed breathlessly.

We had barely gotten ten meters when the shadow unicorn was behind me again, reaching out for me. I jumped, tucked my legs to my body, and barreled through a shelf to the other side. He raged and began climbing through after me, but I was already putting on a burst of speed to escape.

I spotted a hallway coming up on my left, the ghostly glow of the "other me" lighting my way to it. Desperate to get away, I charged down it, following my doppelgänger guide. My heart pounded in my chest, I heaved for breath as we poured on more speed.

The wood of the floor and walls blurred around me. I rounded a corner and spotted a set of double doors at the end of the hallway emblazoned with the mark of the sun goddess. With no time to spare, we burst through, slamming the doors shut behind us.

I lay breathless for several minutes, my chest heaving from all the exertion. After a few moments the doors to the room shuddered from an impact.

"Come on Sigil. We don't have a lot of time." My double nudged me to my hooves.

The room itself seemed to be made of some kind of marble, almost like Canterlot Castle. The ceiling, like the rest of the room, was solid marble. It was held up by eight marble columns, each imbedded with an expertly hewn crystal. It was in stark contrast to the rest of the rooms that made up what seemed to be the inside of my mind.

Finally my eyes came to rest on the centerpiece of the room. A large octagonal hourglass rested on a short pedestal, the glass accentuated by writhing dark magic. Each of its sides was etched with a spell circle.

It was the contents that took my breath away. Inside was a swirling mass of what could only be described as sunlight. The darkness seemed to be pulling the golden light into itself in thin strands.

"Sigil, you've got to hurry. We need to get through the door on the other side of this room before the sentry-"

The writhing dark magic seemed to take on a life of its own. It coiled like a serpent and lashed around like a cracking whip, sailing through the air mere inches above our heads.

"Too late! Take cover!"

What in Equestria is-

My thoughts were interrupted when a beam of icy darkness projected out from the darkness encompassing the hourglass towards me. I dove to my left, barely escaping the deathly cold magic, hiding myself behind a marble column. "Other me" dove to the right and did the same.

"Give yourself up, subject forty two. Mine is a magic older and darker than you could comprehend." A deep, gravelly voice called out from the darkness swirling around the hourglass.

Sombra!?

"Isn't this all in my mind? What is he doing here?" I shouted over the sizzle of magical blasts.

"Yes it is, and that's not him. It's the guardian. We've got to find a way around it." My doppelgänger ducked her head back behind the pillar; just barely in time to avoid another blast.

Dark energy surged between the pillars, splintering the room's double doors. The shadows spilled through the opening, coalescing into a shadowy unicorn. He was on me in seconds, pinning me to the ground. My stamina was drawn away from me by his cold magic in streams of silver.

"Sigil! Fight it!" My doppelgänger shouted as she left the relative safety of her hiding place.

A tendril of the guardian's dark magic lashed out, grasping at her and lifting her into the air.

"Submit, subject forty two. You have no recourse. Just let me take everything that you are so you can be with your coltfriend again." The shadow unicorn's voice purred in my ear.

Maybe that would be best. At least this would all be over.

"Sigil! What about your friends? What about Lyra!"

Images of a distraught mint green unicorn flitted through my mind. Her life wasted desperately searching for me. A world where Sombra ruled over the night and day, enslaving the ponies I loved.

I turned my head just enough to look my doppelgänger in the eyes. She gazed back with an emotionless stare.

"I've been your protector ever since you first called out to me. You asked who I am. I am a construct, you made me to face what you can't. I am you. I am the Pale Pony. Let me be your armor one more time."

Visions of events past flashed before me. The fall that took my mother from me, the fire that stole my family, and the realization that I'd never see Long Shot again. Tears streamed down my doppelgänger's face. I felt my emotional attachment fade away into her.

"Remember."

My ears perked at the familiar voice.

My friends... No, my family is counting on me.

The streams of magic reversed direction, flowing back into me. My horn glowed a bright silver, my strength having returned. I stood and turned in the shadow's dark magic.

This is my mind, my memories rest here, so does my place of power.

The crystals on the pillars glowed brightly. Each projecting a magical circle into the air in front of them. One by one the circles pulsed silver and became dark.

"You made a serious error in coming here. This is my mind. I control what happens here." I stated evenly.

Fear swept across the shadowy unicorn's face. He tried to fade into shadows again, but I had him grasped firmly in my magic. Streams of shadowy magic began to flow into me. He howled in pain and frustration as the last of him drained away.

Still held in the guardian's dark magic, the Pale Pony and I fought back with a sudden burst of silvery power. Magic pulsed from her horn, conjuring a translucent dome over herself.

"Sigil, I'll stave off the guardian. You've got to get to the next room! Their spell is almost complete." She said in between sobs.

I looked over at her, almost feeling sympathy. She was taking on all of my pain and anger for me.

"Go now!"

A wave of silver pulsed from her shield, throwing me bodily across the room and into a set of doors that had been hidden from view behind the hourglass. A pulse of darkness emanated from the guardian towards me. Just as it reached me I threw the doors open and stepped through into the whiteness beyond.

#

I opened my eyes to the frantic beeping of machinery. My glass prison rested in the center of a silvery glowing spell circle etched into the ground. The circle was surrounded by several collapsed unicorns. I could feel the magic that was being siphoned out of me reaching up towards the stars, nudging some of them out of place.

My blood began to boil as the magic I had freed flowed through my ley lines. The silvery strands they were drawing out of me began to intensify. The machinery in the room shuddered from the increased input.

"We may have a problem, sir. Her magical readings should be dipping down but..." The unicorn at the control panel trailed off, fear etched plainly on her face.

"But what?" A pegasus stallion prompted.

"It's going up. The first meter just pinned at ten." She stared at the equipment with wide eyes.

My magic began sparking from my horn with motes of silvery power. The ring they had placed around it began to crack. I narrowed my eyes with exertion, forcing more magic than I had ever channeled before through my straining ley lines.

"That's still well within natural ability-"

"The second meter just hit ten!" The unicorn interrupted, her voice rising in panic.

"T-that's just the upper end of the scale. I-I'm sure its just malfunctioning, we'll get a repair pony down here to-"

The air around me began to heat up. I could feel my mane lifting off of my shoulders and neck, writhing in the air, buffeted by a nonexistent wind. The horn limiter shattered and crumbled into dust.

The machinery let out a high pitched death whine as the third meter pinned its needle at ten. All at once, the meters sparked and imploded on themselves. The siphon exploded, raining crystal shards down on the two ponies. The magic that had been stored within hung in the air like a silver haze. With my seals undone, it was drawn into me with great force. My glass prison shattered from the heat my horn was putting out.

The unicorn and pegasus screamed in terror, covering their heads to protect themselves from the debris. I stood and walked slowly towards them. Silver tendrils of magic whipped around me, digging furrows into whatever they touched.

I stumbled as I felt the familiar touch of the gate. The magic I was channeling was much greater than I was used to and had accelerated my degeneration greatly.

I'll hold the doors open as long as I can Sigil. Go do what is necessary.

Having been given a temporary reprieve, I continued my advance. I focused the wild magic around me into a roiling circle at my feet.

The pegasus interposed himself between me and the unicorn. He clenched his eyes shut and spread his wings protectively.

"W-we were just following orders. I don't care what happens to me, just don't hurt her!"

I stared at him in silence for a few moments. He opened his eyes and stared back, shaking like a leaf in the wind. I could see the resignation and desperation in his eyes.

With no small effort I pulled the magic that was spilling out of me back inside. The scene before me reminded me of somepony important. I sat down nose, to nose with the pegasus, and narrowed my eyes.

"You will tell me where the rest of Sombra's army is, where Sombra went, and what your plans are. Then you will leave this place, forget about your loyalty to Sombra, wash away that dye, and give your mare the love and protection that your king denied me."

"Y-you're letting us go? Just like that?" The unicorn stared ad me in disbelief.

"Don't make me regret it. Now get to the information before I change my mind."

The unicorn levitated a scroll and quill from a nearby table that had mostly survived the earlier explosion. She unfurled it and began drawing a map, marking locations on it. When she was finished she rolled it up and passed it cautiously to me.

"That's everywhere I know of. Sombra wanted to use you for some ritual that you obviously interrupted. That's really all I know..." She said, her voice quavering.

I watched the two ponies leave, ensuring that they didn't fetch others, and walked over to the fallen wings of my friend. I heaved a fatigued sigh and began gathering up the maroon feathers as quickly as I could. My magic fashioned a crude bag out of the white cloth they lay on and I placed the feathers and remaining wings inside.

"I finally have a place for you in my heart Shotty. I'll lay you to rest with my mom. Maybe you can keep each other company until I'm done. She'd like you, you know." A single tear rolled down my cheek. My eyes remained as hard as stone.

"First, I'll take away your army! Then, I'll take away your beloved! Then, Sombra, I will find you... I will break you, and show you what true despair tastes like. I'll bring you to the brink of death over and over again. Only when you truly beg for death will I set your spirit free!"

I braced my hooves against the ground and released the magic I had been holding back. Stone, masonry, and metal gave way when touched by the writhing silver tendrils. I magnified my voice so anypony within miles could hear me.

"We behold a pale horse, a vision of things to come! The armies of Tartarus follows in our wake! Tremble Sombra! We come for you!"

Author's Note:

Alright ladies and gents. This wraps up act 1 of the fic. Stay tuned for act 2 in July! Same Quill channel, same Quill time!

Comments

[Quill Scribe]

2690452
Yeah, I plan on taking a break for a month or so and revising a whole lot. I'm not super pleased with it and what I've written doesn't match up with what I've got in my head.
I really appreciate the input, and given time I'll iron out the kinks found.