I could tell that Twi and I were getting dangerously close to the core. It wasn’t that I could hear or see it – it was the kind of thing for every other sense in between. The air was getting difficult to breathe: it felt thick and greasy, almost as if Discworld magic was at work, and it tasted ever so slightly like metal.
Moving onwards though, it started to get weirder. It tasted like sunlight, smelt like yellow and sounded like wet dog stink.
“Ugh,” I said. “You smell that?”
“You mean the smell of yellow?” asked Twilight. “I do. And the taste of sunlight – this is getting really strange. We’re definitely getting- this could be it!”
She stopped at a single door at the end of a long corridor, opened it with a burst of magic, and revealed the group of white-clad soldiers who immediately started gunning us down.
One of them fired an energy ball, and I watched in horror as it headed straight for Twilight’s face, but I needn’t have worried because she caught it, twirled it around her head to keep the momentum going, and threw it right back in their faces. And get this: it rebounded around the room and killed every last one of them!
I… honestly, I couldn’t think of a single thing to say.
“Where the smeg did you learn to do that?” I demanded.
Twilight shrugged.
“This old dog learned a few new tricks while you were gone,” she said with a smile. “But I don’t get why they’re still hanging around here. What were they doing?”
I approached a console and examined it critically.
“If I didn’t know any better,” I told her, “I’d say that they were force-feeding data into the core. They were deliberately trying to blow it, but… why?”
Using another console, Twilight opened the blast shields which had kept the core hidden from us.
The chamber beyond was glowing with unnatural, bright blue light which seemed to be emanating from the very walls. Or maybe it was coming from the radioactive bubble which was throbbing right in the centre of the chamber, expanding and shrinking at the same time while glistening like the surface of a soap bubble – you know, how it swirls and shines and you can see the colours of the rainbow? It was like that, but it was different shades of greyish blue.
More vertical channels of energy balls stood in every corner of the huge Toblerone-shaped chamber. I could see doors and hard light bridges, and power outlets too – plus four huge turning rotors right above the core. I took in as much as possible because I had a feeling I would need to use more than half of those things.
“Wow,” said Twilight. “It looks pretty far gone. I really hope the Doctor was right about this. Let’s see if we can find a way through the control room.”
I watched the core moving. The way it pulsed and throbbed in the metal rings surrounding it was almost hypnotic, and in the strangest way beautiful. I managed to drag myself away from it long enough to hook my HEV suit up to a charger on the wall.
“Oh my gosh,” cried Twilight, “These readings are off the chart! Hang on, there’s a lift; let me just call it. I really hope it’s not too late to reactivate the containment field. Good thing you know what you’re doing.”
She looked round at me as my HEV suit reached 200% charge (I guess the confiscation field affected it as well as my horn clip).
“You do know what you’re doing, right?” she asked nervously, clearly anticipating the answer to be negative.
I shrugged as I removed the cable from the charger and stashed it in the special cavity in my suit’s collar.
“More or less,” I said.
With a small ding, the lift announced its arrival.
“Here it is,” said Twilight as I stepped in. “I really wish there was more I could do to help.”
“There is,” I told her. “You could try to find out exactly why they’re trying to blow this thing into orbit in the first place.”
She nodded.
The doors slid closed, and she tenderly placed a hoof on the glass. I did the same, so that we were just as we had been when I was going to battle Trixie. I must admit I knew this would be a little more pleasant, because the pulsating core was less likely to gloat at me.
“Hurry back,” Twilight said.
“Don’t worry,” I said soothingly, “I’m gonna do what I do best.”
And with that, the lift shot downwards like a bullet.
Every passing nanosecond led to the temperature rising by about a tenth of a degree, and by the time I reached the chamber I was sweating like a pig in an electric blanket. Not just that, but the air was glowing blue.
There was a control room across a chasm to my left – if I had a portal gun, I could do this whole thing in ten seconds flat. I snagged an energy ball and shot it into a waiting receptacle. It activated a hard light bridge which I gratefully crossed.
Bit of random trivia while I think of it: hard light bridges are made from sunlight pumped in from the surface and concentrated. If you were to rub your cheek on one, it would be like standing outside with the sun shining on your face.
It would also set your hair on fire.
Once I reached the other side of that particular bridge, I activated the next one, but the same thing happened as it did with the lift earlier: a Stalker deactivated it. I had no choice but to put the poor thing down. When that was done, I turned on the bridge and crossed to the control room-
-which contained a single button.
What- that’s it? That’s a bit disappointing, to say the least!
Oh well, I might as well see what it does.
When I pressed the button, the bridges rotated until they were facing the core. They led straight to it. And there’s a ladder leading up the first ring, near the base of the throbbing bubble. I think this place is trying to tell me something, don’t you?
So I left the smeggy control room and ascended to the next level. Careful not to actually touch the bubble, because I was worried it would melt me, I made my way across another hard light bridge and into a real control room, complete with real soldiers guarding it.
They weren’t too hard to take out, though.
This room had a receptacle on the wall, so I ran back to the main chamber and grabbed an energy ball. When I shot it in, a machine rose out of the floor. Part of the wall opened, revealing the still-throbbing core, and the strange mass of electric mechanics fired a black beam right into its centre.
That’s the containment field? Or at least, a third of it. From what I saw from where Twilight’s waiting, there’re two more of those things.
Not too hard.
Mind you, if I know this kind of thing – and I do – it’ll only get harder from here.
Rather than heading back out into the main chamber, I instead headed through a gate which had opened the same moment the containment thingy had activated. More troops and a few ponyhacks appeared and made an attempt on my life, but again, they weren’t too difficult to dispose of.
I kept following this corridor, and I found a long chamber, blocked off by an access panel, through which energy balls were travelling. Closer inspection revealed that they were in fact being created here… or something. Please don’t tell me I have to go through here- smeg it! It’s the only way through! The only other door I can see is right down the other end, where the balls are being spawned. It looks like I’ll have to weave like crazy to avoid getting hurt.
This wouldn’t be so hard if I was Twilight. Knowing her, she’d just teleport over there and think nothing of it. But I’ve tried it before and let me tell you that teleporting is rather difficult. The reason she wasn’t able to teleport both of us straight to the core is that you have to visualise almost every detail of the location you want to go to in order for it to work, and we had no idea what this place would look like. For all we know, it could have been orange with blue polka dots with pink starts in the middle of them, and the core could have looked like a giant eyeball.
Dear sweet smeg, that would be creepy! I think I had a dream like that once… nah, this is way different. For one there’s no sheep.
Here I go. If I had a little music this’d probably be a bit easier. Then again I was never any good at dancing. Still, it wouldn’t hurt to lighten the mood a little.
Okay… duck, left, right, duck, right, duck, duck, left, duck, right, left, right, duck, left, duck, duck, right, duck, left, duck, right, left, duck… you can see where this is going.
So anyway, I finally reached the other end and when I exited the long chamber, I followed a walkway and hopped out onto a ledge. I followed this particular path until I came across a second access panel, which I punted off and quickly took out the troops left in the room. Then I snatched an energy ball from where it was powering a shield and headed back to the main chamber.
I couldn’t really tell if the one working containment device was doing its job properly. All I knew was that the tips of my mane were starting to blacken and smoke, and the air was getting thicker and greasier all the time.
I crossed the next bridge and was once again right next to the pulsating core. Waiting until it contracted again, I ran around to the other side and onto another bridge, killed a few troops who came out of a corridor and grabbed another energy ball in preparation.
Sure enough, there was another receptacle, and I set up the second containment device.
Two down, one to go. Good thing too. If I sweat any more my suit’s going to slide right off my body and slither away to start a new life.
A door opened to yet another corridor, so I followed it and took out more troops at the next junction. I continued along the corridor until I reached a balcony, overlooking the still-throbbing core which now had two black beams piercing its heart. Another balcony was on the other side of the room – the other side of the smegging room – and I could tell I would have to use those rotor things to get across. I’d have to ride them like a merry-go-round.
When the nearest one was available I jumped aboard, and almost immediately a swarm of ponyhacks descended from the ceiling. With my supercharged horn clip and the huge open area, they were a lot easier to take out than most of the earlier ones, but still highly annoying and painful. Especially when one of them grazed my horn.
I reached the next balcony and jumped down, then followed the corridor (taking out more foolish soldiers along the way) until I reached another access panel. I yanked it away and found myself in the same situation as earlier, only this time it was reversed. I went through the ledge, the walkway and the energy ball chamber until I found the third and final control room.
After slaying the guards – seriously, they’re starting to get annoying now – I snagged and energy ball and threw it into the receptacle-
-which promptly rejected it, and I had to jump around to avoid getting disintegrated.
Oh smeg, what now?
The thing’s already come up and moved into position, the lift which brought it up has descended again and the shield covering it is offline. Something must be wrong with what’s underneath.
I jumped down and saw three things for holding energy balls. Each one of them was empty and glowing red. Knowing my luck the lift will go back up and the shield will close with me still down here. I’ve got to find a way to get energy balls into those things, because now I don’t have any other way up.
Let me just… yes! There’s a hole in the ceiling, and through it I can see that chamber with all the energy balls rushing across. That’s one… two… I’d better stand on the lift thing…
THREE!
Phew.
Okay, now to activate this thing and get the smeg out of there. Back to the main chamber, getting an energy ball, taking it through- YES! I did it!
A black beam shot out of the machine, the core shrank down to a more normal size and refrained for further throbbing. The rotors I had rode on earlier descended as well, effectively containing the bubble for good. Almost instantly the radiation trickled out of the air, which became see-through again and I was able to manoeuvre with far more ease now that I no longer felt like I was running through hair gel. Severely overheated hair gel.
There was another lift nearby, and when I stepped into it, it took me back up to where Twilight was waiting for me. The moment she saw me she pulled me into a hug.
“You did it!” she cried joyfully. “The containment system’s back in place!”
“Yeah, but it won’t last forever,” I pointed out. “It’s only a matter of time before more smegheads come and disable it.”
“But by then we’ll have bought enough time to get pretty much the whole city evacuated,” said Twilight, and she released me and turned back to the console. I noticed she had plugged her horn clip into it, and it was glowing.
“Looks like you did a little poking around while I was busy,” I commented.
“You bet,” said Twilight. “The Combine was trying to start a chain reaction and destroying the Citadel was only a side effect. Since we destroyed Trixie’s reactor, this is the only way they have to send a transmission packet to wherever it is they come from. I can’t tell what it contains-”
“-but it must be something juicy,” I finished for her. “They wouldn’t just sacrifice this whole, massive building for nothing.”
“Exactly,” said Twilight. “We need to get this thing analysed right away. I’ll try to find a way to send it to the Doctor. I’ve been copying it onto this,” she tapped the clip, still in the console, “and I have a feeling that it’s bad news for all of us.”
She’d been looking worried before, but suddenly there was another thoughtful side to this anxiety.
“I’ve got a feeling there’s something else,” I said.
“You’re right,” said Twilight. “It’s… it’s Rainbow Dash. Take a look.”
She pressed another button and the familiar face of a blue coated, pink eyed and technicolour maned pony appeared on the screen, looking uncharacteristically nervous. It probably had something to do with the muffled explosions which appeared to be right outside the corridor she was standing in.
“Okay Rainbow!” shouted the voice of Soarin’ from off-screen. “It’s rolling, now go! Quickly!”
“Okay,” said Dash, “so we're pretty sure we've pinned down the location of the Archives. It's hard to say how much of them might be left or if there's anything that could compromise our mission if they were discovered by the Combine. We're gonna have to take a closer look, but we should be able to give a better opinion in a few hours. If the site's where we think it is, it shouldn't be more than-”
There was another explosion – this one a lot louder than those before.
“Rainbow!” yelled Soarin’. “We’re gonna have to cut this short, we might’ve been spotted!”
“Gotcha!” cried Dash. She turned and galloped away from the camera, a stallion that could only have been Soarin’ following in her wake, and the tripod holding the camera fell over.
It then showed a hole being blasted in the wall it was facing, and another stallion entered. His entire body was covered in armour which was such dark blue it was almost black – including the spike which had been pressed into the mask, presumably to house a horn – except for his eyes, which were the most brilliant, chilling shade of blue I had seen in my whole life.
The camera cut out.
“What in Equestria are they doing?” asked Twilight.
“It’s obvious they need our help,” I stated. “We need to get that to the Doctor as well.”
“I can do that,” said Twilight, putting the clip back on her horn. She pointed at it and said “I’ve got it right here.”
Heh. A USB function? Clever.
“What do you say?” she asked. “You want to get the buck out of here?”
“Buck yeah.”
Less than a second later an alarm blared through the building, so loud that I was afraid my ear tubes might have melted.
“I think they felt that,” I commented.
“Don’t worry,” said Twilight. “I secured us a lift. It’s this way, come on!”
She led me to a lift, which started taking us in a predominantly downwards direction.
“I don’t think they want us reading their mail,” said Twilight. “Rather than taking it to the Doctor in person, I think it would be best if I sent it to him right now.”
She removed her horn clip, slipped on an extra and her first one disappeared in a flash. I should have known she could master remote teleportation while I was gone.
“This lift will take us straight to the Citadel’s train platform,” she told me. “If we can hitch a ride we can get out of this place and to safety.”
“I think my horn clip’s gone back to normal,” I said.
“I think it has,” said Twilight after examining it. “It was fun while it lasted.”
The lift arrived and we ran out into a corridor. Guards began pursuing us, and Twilight closed a door in their face, but it wouldn’t hold them for very long. Long enough for us to get away, though.
Eventually we found a room where one wall was made entirely of glass – through which was some sort of control room with guards at all the consoles – and roller mines poured in from a pipe in the ceiling.
“Bring them over here,” Twilight commanded. “I’ll reset them!”
I brought them over to her, and one by one the glow switched from pale blue to bright orange.
“I wish I could see their faces,” I said with a smile, “’coz I’m sure they won’t be expecting this!”
Then the PA started up again.
“Warning,” it said, “counter-stability force detected. Deploy internal stabilization teams; diagnose.”
“You ready?” asked Twilight, as the mines bleeped in anticipation.
“Ready,” I said.
Part of the glass wall slid aside and the roller mines charged in, bouncing around off the understandably alarmed guards. You should’ve been there, it was actually really funny!
“Priority warning: stabilization force disengaged.”
“Oh shut up,” I said to the tannoy as we entered the control room.
Twilight ran over to a console, and after looking it over she said “Okay, this is our train. Let’s get in before more guards show up.”
Another door opened, leading to an underground train platform. One of the carriages had a door open, and the two of us leapt inside. The door closed, and the train started to vibrate under our hooves.
The carriage we were in was lit with a dim red light. Pony sized, opaque cages lined one wall, and there was yet another console at the far end.
“I love a nice clean getaway,” I said, “don’t you?”
“Definitely,” said Twilight. “I’m not entirely sure what was in that transmission package, but they’re definitely not very happy about us copying it. But you know, all things considered, we-”
She stopped talking.
One of the cages had opened at the lid, and the burnt face of a Stalker poked out and gave an unearthly growl.
“Oh no,” Twilight whispered. “It’s a Stalker car.”
Without a word, she reached up and stroked the creature’s cheek. It shied away from the warmth of her touch, so she lowered her hoof and closed her eyes, a tear trickling down her face.
“I-I can’t believe the Combine,” she said, her breath catching in her throat. “This is what they do to you if you try to resist! Or… or if you’re just in the wrong place at the wrong time…”
She reached up and closed the cage.
“I hope you don’t remember who you were,” she said quietly.
“Are you…” I wanted to ask if she was okay, but I wasn’t sure if she’d be able to answer in her present state, so I decided to distract her. “Do you want to see where this train is heading?”
She nodded, wiped her face and started hacking the console. I could tell she was in need of comfort, so I walked up behind her and placed a hoof on her shoulder. She acknowledged my presence with a grateful smile, and turned back to the console.
“Alright,” she said after a few seconds. “We’re in luck: this thing is heading straight to Canterlot. We can meet up with Dash and Soarin’ once we get there.”
She was trying to avoid something. I could tell.
When she turned away from the console, Twilight walked to the other end of the carriage and sat down on the floor.
“We might as well try to get some rest,” she said. “We’ll need our strength if we’re going to survive.”
She glanced again at the row of cages, and turned away.
I walked over to her and sat down next to her.
“There’s something about the Stalkers, isn’t there?” I asked. “Something personal. Something you’re not telling me.”
Twilight’s one of the emotionally strongest ponies I’ve ever met, so if something’s upsetting her this much then I need to do something about it. She needs somepony to talk to. Now.
“Is it your family?”
Without turning around, she nodded.
“Were they…” Better tread carefully here; this is tender territory. “Were they turned into Stalkers?”
She nodded.
“My mom,” she said quietly, “my dad… my brother…”
I laid a comforting foreleg around her shoulders, and she turned around and pulled me into another hug. Only this time, she was sobbing into my shoulder.
“I hadn’t seen much of my parents since I began studying under Princess Celestia,” she told me. “What with going to school and all the time I spent in libraries I barely had any time for them. Shining Armor, though…”
“Your brother?”
“My BBBFF. Big Brother, Best Friend Forever. He was promoted to captain of the royal guard not long before I moved to Ponyville, which meant he was at the castle pretty much all the time. We were so close, and I-”
She fell silent, and lay down on the cold metal floor. I lay down next to her and she put her hooves on one of mine. I put my other hoof on top of hers, and the gaze of her gorgeous purple eyes connected with mine.
“When I moved to Ponyville, we vowed that we would keep in touch. I wrote to him every week, and he would always write back, but I didn’t get to see him. Not even at the Grand Galloping Gala: he was too busy making sure the guards were all doing their job properly. And I… I haven’t seen him in over seventeen years. It’d be an absolute miracle if he was still alive after all this time.”
I tried to wipe her tears away, but she lowered my hoof and put it back where it had been.
“You’ve still got your friends,” I pointed out. “And the Doctor… and me. And you should know I love you – although, not as a brother, so-”
I was cut off by her lips connecting with mine. The kiss lasted for longer than I can remember, and when we broke apart all we could do was look into each other’s eyes.
Eventually she found the courage to speak again.
“I know you love me,” she said. “And I… I feel the same… I think. I spent months studying friendship, but I never took the time to learn about love.”
“Well then,” I said, “you may find me to be a more than capable teacher.”
I know, it’s one of the lamest lines in the history of romance, but can you come up with anything better to say?
Didn’t think so.
She kissed me again, and I permitted her entry when she ran her tongue along my lips. It was one of the most magical occurrences in my entire life, and one I had been waiting for since I had arrived back in Equestria. When we broke apart, I lost count of how many minutes we spent gazing into each other’s eyes, simply delighting in the comfort of just having somepony else with us.
“We should sleep,” she repeated. “I haven’t had a chance since I was drugged in that pod in her office. And anyway, Canterlot was the first place the Combine conquered, so I highly doubt it’ll be safe.”
I knew exactly who she meant by “her”.
“Then sleep,” I told her. “I’ll be with you.”
She nuzzled my cheek and rested her head on my shoulder. It wasn’t long before her breathing became slow and quiet, and she practically stopped moving altogether. She was fast asleep.
I stroked her mane, which was still silky and soft, even after all this time. The silver stripe was shining, even in the dim light of the carriage and what little starlight came through from outside. I should probably sleep too, but for some weird reason I don’t feel tired anymore. I’ve got far too much on my mind, and now I’m wide awake.
If Canterlot had Rainbow Dash as scared as she had been in that video, then I wonder what it’s actually like. The biggest cities are always the worst when it comes to invasions and alien occupation, so why the smeg would she and Soarin’ leave their son to set themselves up in the capital city of Equestria? Did they ever tell Lightning what they were doing up there?
I must admit, the low rumble and gentle shaking of the carriage is very relaxing. It’s no wonder Twilight was able to fall asleep so easily.
But… but who was that pony that turned the camera off? He was a unicorn, and definitely big, but I went to the Grand Galloping Gala once – well, snuck in and hid in the castle foyer, actually – and I lost count of how many male unicorns there were. And how many of them were built up with muscle. There were loads! And how many of them do you think had blue eyes?
Still, I can’t remember the last time I saw any two eyes so icy.
Wait…
Was that the Blue Demon? His armour was blue – almost black, but still blue – and his eyes were blue, so there’s every chance he was.
I hope Dash and Soarin’ are alright, because that video made it look like he was attacking them. If he’s hurt them in any way…
I closed my eyes and tried my best to drift off.
When I opened them again, daylight was streaming in through the thin slits in the carriage door which served as a window. It was a few minutes before I felt Twilight stirring under my hooves. She looked up at me groggily.
“Morning,” she said.
“Morning,” I replied. “You sleep alright?”
“Like a log,” she answered. “How about you?”
“Like a log that’s just run a marathon,” I said. Sure, it was a white lie, but it was better than saying I’d been thinking about what might await us in Canterlot.
“If you let me get up I can check how far away we are,” said Twilight, so I released her from our night-time cuddle and she examined the console.
“It looks like we haven’t got far to go,” she reported. “In fact, we should be entering Canterlot just about-”
BOOM.
“HANG ON TO SOMETHING!”
She galloped back towards me and threw herself onto me as the train derailed and the carriage rolled over and over, deafeningly loud, and the Stalkers screamed until it stopped.
Great. Just our luck that somepony would blow up the rails. I-I can barely see a thing; I think there’s something over my eyes. I’m buried under something, I can’t move!
I can see now. Somepony’s uncovered my eyes, but everything’s started to go dark...
I blacked out.