Rachel could not believe she got herself separated from the group and that group left her!
"Stupid, stupid, I'm so fucking stupid." Rachel growled at herself, smacking herself on the head. "Just had to get curious, I swear that's gonna get me…" she shook her head.
She then rubbed her belly, knowing that she couldn't get herself worked up. "Kid, you have no idea how messed up your mama is… let's hope I don't mess you up… " she doesn't know if it was developed enough to hear her or if it could hear her from the womb.
No use for just standing there.. Rachel bent down and picked the torch back up. She looked around, finding herself inside of a much enclosed tunnel system. The ceiling was just mere centimeters from her head and she was able to touch the walls encasing her half an arm length.
She picked up the axe and holstered it back to her hip and began making her way down the tunnel. Keeping her senses out for more of those Dwellers.
The tunnel stretched down a hundred meters before coming up to a stairwell and began the climb up. As she climbed, she began hearing voices. They were muffled at first but she got closer and closer, they began to sound clearer.
"Bravo 1, what's your status? I repeat, what's your status?" Sounds of a radio chatter. "Bravo 1, this is Base Delta come on back, what is your status?"
When Rachel got to the top of the stairs, finding herself on a small walking platform, she came to a rather familiar setting. She was on the platform high above the throne room. The Portal to Equestria opened, but this time, it looked unstable as more cracks formed around, spreading around the air like tendrils, moving and waving.
And around the room were several dead bodies, a mix of soldiers and scientists and other dead Dwellers, and large equipment marked Equestria Transport.
Damn a massacre happened here… Rachel thought as she looked ahead of the walkway to see another platform, leading into another tunnel.
"Okay Rachel… go nice and slow," she muttered to herself as she began slowly walking forward on the wooden walkway. The old wood creaked and groaned under her weight as she shuffled forward.
Each sound the wood made made her wince, muttering prayers for any God that was listening and/or she hasn't pissed off during her whole life that she doesn't take another swan dive if it breaks. She hasn't trusted herself to catch herself with her wings just yet.
When Rachel got a quarter across, she stopped when she heard footsteps approaching the room. She held her breath and waited.
Two soldiers in similar heights came in, one was wearing a helmet that covered his face, while the other… brought Rachel into a boiling rage and a twinge of fear.
The other being her father.
"Holy shit, these bastards didn't stand a chance." The large burly man grunted, kicking the feet of one of the dead soldiers. His ragged brown hair cut short in a buzz cut but still had streaks of gray, nose crooked and bent as if it broke way too many times - once by her. Cold green eyes with the right eye more milky white, meaning that he may not be able to see from that eye.
Her father went to the broadcasting radio and picked it up. "Base Delta, this is Sergeant Lockhart, Bravo 1 is down, along with the scientists."
"Was it those things, Sergeant?"
"Yeah, those monsters tore them apart." He said as he looked at the other soldier. "Make sure the area is secured."
"Roger." The one with the helmet responded.
"This is taking too long to clear,"
"We could go with what I suggested and bomb this place to hell and clean up after." Her father said to the radio.
Rachel slowly began to make her way down the walkway. Needed to get out of there before he spotted her. After a couple of feet, there were sounds of groaning from below. She stopped a moment to look and see what was up.
One of the bodies was moving, one of the scientists who aroused after hearing other voices. She raised a hand out. "H… help me…" she croaked. She was still alive but needed some medical attention.
Damian stopped and looked at her. He glanced at his partner before pulling out one of his large knives and stabbed the scientist in the head. "There, I helped," he spoke softly and smirked before pulling the knife back and the head and hand of the scientist dropped.
Okay, Rachel has two missions to do here now: First was obviously getting the Staff and closing this portal. The second one is making sure her father never crosses over. As much as she rather fight Sombra blindly, Equestria didn't need her father to abuse and torture them.
"What did you just do?" The one with the helmet asked, looking at the fellow soldier. His voice was beginning to sound familiar but the helmet muffled the voice enough where Rachel couldn't really tell.
"Thought one of these monsters were still alive, can't be too careful," he lied as he wiped the scientist's blood from her pants before sliding the knife back in its sheath.
Rachel resumed crossing the walkway. hopefully they wouldn't notice her.
"We can't bomb the Temple, can't risk any debris injuring our brothers on the other side of the portal. We're sending more men over in three hours, hold what you can for now, good luck, Base Delta out." The radio said before it clicked off.
"Fuck this shit," Damian grunted before tossing the radio aside.
"Those men are going to get slaughtered, we need to focus on trying to close this thing here and leave. I didn't sign up to get torn apart by demons." The helmet soldier said as he stood, motioning to the Portal.
"As much fun as it is to waste them, you may have a point, ammunition is low as it is," Damian said as he began collecting some more mags and bullets off of the fallen soldiers and pocketing them. He had thought of collecting their dog tags but decided not to and stood.
"Let's move o-'' a creaking sound caused them to stop talking.
Rachel, who was so close to the other platform froze in place once the board made that sound again.
Don't look up, don't look up, don't look up, don't look up. Rachel mentally pleaded.
Then a flashlight shined on her.
She looked down and it was her father shining a light at her.
The two of them stared at each other for the longest time.
"Oh crap," she muttered, eyes widened.
Her father stared at her before a crooked grin split between his lips. "Well I'll be." He then raised his rifle up and began firing rounds at her.
"Shit!" Rachel shouted and darted the rest of the way, dodging the oncoming bullets before she reached across the platform on the other side and slipped into the other tunnel.
The helmet soldier ran over and grabbed the gun. "What the bloody hell!?" He barked.
"Get a move on, Watson, we're going hunting!" Damian said with an eerie gleeful expression and started running off to begin hunting.
"Oh no… " the soldier muttered, holding onto his rifle and began following Damian.
Meanwhile, Elizabeth was having her own little adventure, while inside of the crack leading her to another place within the Temple, she waited until the Dwellers fully ran past her before she began to shimmy her body to the other side. Sucking in her belly as much as she could.
"Picked a very bad time to wear white," Elizabeth muttered. The once crisp white shirt and matching khakis was soiled from the quick swim, caked in grime and dirt and The Dwellers black blood and a bit of Serenity's blood. Fabric ripped and tirn
These stains were going to take forever to get out once this mission was over. In fact she's going to burn the whole outfit once she has a bath.
To prevent her from potentially letting her mind trick her and possibly get stuck in this crack, she began thinking of all the things she was going to do when they save the world.
Finish Kol's suit and meet his parents.
Throw Sofie a surprise going away to college party.
Most certainly take a break from dealing with Equestria magic and go on vacation. Maybe even go on a cruise with Kol.
When she reached the other side, she noticed there was a reddish glow and felt this intense heat. She looked and she stiffened, the crack brought her to a large open space where the ledge was very narrow, the bottom, large pools of lava, cages with bodies stuffed inside were dangling from the high ceiling.
There were a few living people inside some of the cages but most were not.
"Oh no," Elizabeth whispered, pressing herself up against the wall, trying not to let her foot slip. There was another tunnel just ten feet from her on the left.
She pulled her axe out just in case and began sliding her feet on this very narrow ledge, making her way.
"Don't look down, darling, don't look down… have these Dwellers not know what air conditioning is?" She panted as she began sweating profusely in this heat.
As she made her halfway point, she approached a cage where an injured man in his early twenties was inside, he raised his head up and gasped.
"Hello? Ma'am please you have to help me, get me out of here!" He pleaded, moving closer in the confines of the cage to reach her. There was a four foot gap between her and him.
Elizabeth nearly slipped from the edge, grabbing the wall to keep her upright.
"I'm trying not to fall darling but I'll do what I can." Elizabeth gulped. "Did those things put you in here?"
The man nodded. "They killed most of my men and got me pretty good. When one of them saw I was still alive, they put me in here. Been here for three days. Please, you gotta hurry before she comes back. She's picking off the survivors one by one!" He looks down and then looks at the other living prisoners.
"Who is this She?" Elizabeth asked before shaking her head. "Know what, nevermind, I'm going to help you. Lemme get to that other spot over there where I can get better footing."
The man shakingly nodded his head. "Please hurry."
"H-hey is someone there? Help!" Another living prisoner cried out and soon getting the others' attention and began begging Elizabeth to help them.
With how the others were spaced, Elizabeth knew she may not be able to reach them, as some were hung too far for her to get. It broke her heart that she may not be able to save them all.
"L-let me have a moment, I'll do what I can, dears." Elizabeth comforts them as she begins moving towards a wider edge near the tunnel. All of them begged her to hurry and to get them out.
Once she made it to the platform, she removed the rope from her belt, knelt down and tying it to the axe. "So love, what's your name?" She asked the man in the cage as she worked. Trying to keep him calm by small talk.
"Henry… Henry Edler." Henry whimpered.
"Henry, good name. I'm Elizabeth. Do you have any family? Children?"
Henry nodded. "M-my wife is about to have our first kid next month. I'm having a girl. Get me out of here and I just may name her after you."
That brought a smile to Elizabeth's face. "A friend of mine is pregnant as well. Don't worry, I'm going to get you out." After tying the rope and making sure she got the knot right, she stood back up. "Okay, I'm going to throw the axe at you. Try and catch it and I'll pull the cage close. Ready Henry?"
"Ready."
Elizabeth held the axe by the rope and began spinning it, getting into the right speed, not trying to hit herself, holding onto the other end of the rope.
"One… two… three." She throws the axe at the cage.
Henry had his arms sticking out and barely caught it by the pointy tip. It did cut him a little but he didn't care. "G-got it!" He laughs in joy.
Those watching cheered and applauded them. Some shouted "Us next!"
"Good, try and hook it to the cage and hold on." Elizabeth instructed. When he did, she began pulling on the rope.
The cage groaned and creaked as it was slowly moving. The high chain rattled as it was being pulled to one side.
However, it wasn't enough when the rope ended up slipping from Elizabeth's hands and the cage began swinging.
"Drat!" She hissed, pressing her hands to her sides, feeling the burn and something wet. When pulling the up and examine, her right fingerless gloves, the fabric had ripped and the rope sliced the palm of her hand, causing her to bleed, her fingertips burning and pulsating.
"D-don't worry, you can try again! You got this!" Henry said as the cage swung, grabbing the rope and axe. Once it stabilized, he tossed the items back to her. It landed at her feet.
Elizabeth tore parts of her shirt, making it a makeshift crop top, using the torn fabric and wrapped her hand up. Once she patched herself up, she grabbed the axe.
"Could you try to turn the cage to where the door is facing me? We'll try breaking it and go from there." She asked him.
"I can try." He said as he began moving his body, trying to use the momentum to get the cage to turn.
Suddenly, sounds of loud drums booming and Henry turned pale white. "Oh no, She's coming!" He yelped and kept trying to turn the cage.
Before Elizabeth could ask what he meant, her blood ran cold when she began hearing what sounds like… chanting?
Varuta Volka, Varuta Volka, La Rúna!
Varuta Volka, Varuta Volka, La Rúna!
Woopings and roars echoed as many Temple Dwellers filled the rocky platform below, none of them bothered by the heat of the lava. Adults and children filled some of the area. Some of the adults did hold weapons of spears, swords, a few having shields along with them.
Along with sounds of the low rhythm drums banging somewhere where Elizabeth couldn't see, some of the spear welders were banging the blunt ends of their weapons to the beat of the sounds and those with swords and shields banged them together in rhythm, the children where echoing the banging sounds by hitting the rocks with their hands. All of them chanting the same words, never breaking the synchronized.
Chanting in harmony.
"Oh my… these aren't as mindless beasts as I thought… " Elizabeth whimpered. These things were somewhat organized.
She quickly began spinning the axe. Time wasn't on their side.
As Elizabeth was getting into the speed, a blue light emerged in the mix of the red glow of the lava, having a color mix of purple in the room.
She looked down, the chanting had halted and noticed a figure coming into view. A blue crystal staff with a black thin streak in their left hand, the Dwellers were on their knees, bowing down. It was a female dweller but she looked different than the other females, her horns were shaped differently, it instead curved over their head and the tips pointed up to the ceiling, her chest piece was black and had feathers with a crest center piece, red sash over it. Her loincloth was like them. Her hair wasn't as stringy as the others but fuller and was a shiny black. The mix glow of the lava and the staff caused her golden eyes to glow. One her head was an eight pointed, black obsidian crown with three blue stones embedded in it
The Blue Celestial!
Henry's cage began groaning and was beginning to lower.
"No, no no! Help me!" Henry cried out.
Elizabeth throws the axe to try and hook it to the cage but she misses, hearing Henry screaming and pleading.
She looked down and hopelessly watched. The other survivors cried and yelled, seeing the other one going down.
When Henry reached the bottom, two of Dwellers matched up to him, one of them opened the cage door and both entered the cage. There was a slight struggle before both Dwellers dragged the human by the arms.
Henry pleaded with them to let him go but they did not understand him as he could understand them.
The two Dwellers brought him to their leader, forcing Henry to get on his knees and let him go. Backing themselves to the rest of the others.
The black streak of the staff shifted to the man as the glow died off. It pulsated in sight of him.
When the leader began speaking, Elizabeth could not understand it, no one in this place but other Dwellers could understand her. The Leader gave a radiance of pure authority, anger. She stared at the human with disgust and hatred.
"I-I don't understand you, but w-whatever I did, I'm sorry!" Henry begged. He was afraid and has every right to be. He begged that he'll do anything for her if it means letting him go. Trying to delay the inevitable.
The black streak narrowed at him, darting back to the leader and back at Henry.
The Leader twisted her hold on the staff and it glowed again. The lava pools began boiling and rippling as orbs of lava raised up.
Henry gazes at them in terror as one of the orbs was thrown at him. Hitting his right arm, instantly the fabric burst into flames and his skin instantly began blistering and peeling off. He screamed in agony as more lava orbs were thrown at him. Orbs hitting parts of his body, his flesh sizzling and melting off of him. He tried to protect his face with his arms but it did little to no good on him.
Elizabeth and others watched on in horror, knowing that there was nothing they could've done to save the poor man, tears running down the girl's face as she watched the flesh melting off of him. Burning the muscle off and exposing the bone underneath.
The screams and cries lasted roughly a minute before it stopped. Henry was now completely black and burned, his bones underneath exposed and looked unrecognizable, laying limb before the leader and others.
The other Dweller belts out in victory to see the human had perished. The Leader roughly kicks the pile of bones into the pool of lava below where it sank. The leader lifted the staff in the air and let out an ear piercing roar.
Elizabeth frighteningly shuffled into the tunnel behind her, covering her mouth with her hands as she shivered and softly sobbed. However she couldn't sit there and risk being spotted, she had to keep on going.
She couldn't save Henry…she won't be able to save the others…
Then sudden quick bursts of gunfire echoed through the temple. The Dwellers began making the clicking sounds again before they all took off after the noise.
Rachel's feet picked up dirt as ran down the corridor, the sounds of the Dwellers pounding in her mind as they chased down her. They were beginning to swarm sometime after the guns were going off.
Knowingly that her and her father have some unfinished business to attend to. Seeing him physically once more brought back unsettling memories. Moments of dealing with his abusive hand, the many bones broken and eyes blacken, times where she had to reset her joints. The anger she felt every time they faced each other.
The moment when she grew so angry of the pain he caused was when she made the ultimate mistake that killed her mother.
He should've died that day…not you…
To try and get away from them, she entered a room, a library of sorts . Though a lot of scrolls and books scattered on the floors and haphazardly on the shelves. Some chests and other treasures were also scattered about but lay untouched.
That was until Rachel ran in. She could see cracks and holes in the walls but there was no time to run to them as the Dwellers followed her.
Snarling, she tossed the torch to the ground and held the axe in her hands.
The Dwellers loomed at her as they circled around them. Hissing and growling, watching her moves as they surrounded them.
With so much anger coursing through Rachel, she was ready to release it upon these things. Making her own hissing and growling, matching theirs, the Dwellers attacked her.
With every swing she made, it made contact with The Dwellers. Swinging the climbing axe with vicious intentions, smashing into heads, and chests. Letting out a blood curdling roar each time Rachel swung, black blood splattered, covering her face, her clothes, bursts of flames erupted each time she touched them, turning them into black charcoal.
When several piled on her, hitting and clawing at her, her whole body burst into blue flames, blasting them off of her, dragon-upped. Her new form did cause some of them to be confused and startled but it made little difference as they began fighting her once more.
When Rachel retaliated, she was proved stronger in this form, slashing and hacking with her axe and claws, using her wings to flap her once in the air to dodge but swung the weapon back down when she fell to the ground.
What seemed to be forever, the attacks stopped for a moment. Everything became eerie quiet as Rachel stood still. She panted and growled, her nerves completely shot.
When she smelled a familiar scent and heard them quickly coming at her from behind, she let out a shout, spun around and swung the axe with intention to kill.
Elizabeth screamed, catching her arm and narrowly dodging the attack, the axe nearly coming to contact with her head. "ARE YOU INSANE?!" she shrieked, the light from her miner's hat shining on Rachel's face.
Exposing the raw, primal rage in her face. The murderous look in her eyes as she stared at the smaller girl. Rachel hissed, baring her sharp teeth at her. Looking very similar to the Temple Dwellers she was just fighting with.
Elizabeth and Rachel stared at each other before Rachel took her arm back. Her body once again was consumed in the blue flames, returning to normal.
"Friendly fire, sorry." she grunted, still on an adrenaline high, pushing elizabeth aside and made her way to where Elizabeth came from.
Elizabeth snarled before raising her hands, it glowing blue. She raised her shields up, blocking the path. "No! You don't get to walk away after you nearly killed me!"
"We don't have time to just sit here. More of them are going to come." Rachel snapped.
"We're going to make time, right now." Elizabeth then pointed at her. "You've been nothing but rude and cold to me since you came here when I had not done a single thing to earn this harsh treatment. I can see you had some sort of traumatic event happen to you in Equestria, but it has nothing to do with me!"
"You don't know a damn thing about what happened to me. Don't just sit there and say you do!" Rachel snarled, walking up to her.
"Then tell me!" Elizabeth threw her hands up. "Since your anger is directly at me, I'm assuming you have rage towards Rarity. What did the other me do that was so terrible that you're taking your frustrations out on me?!"
"Oh! You wanna know? You wanna know?!" Rachel yelled. "Lemme tell you! First off, she had never liked me since the moment we met, she sent three ponies after me and as a result I nearly got raped by one of them, poisoned my mate and I once and I ended up in the hospital. Poisoned my mate again and he ended up turning into a 50 foot and went on a blood thirsty rampage, killing and burning everything in sight. In the end he left me BECAUSE OF HER!" she ended up screaming.
Elizabeth's eyes widened in horror as Rachel told her.
"All because she could not fucking stand me being with Spike when she had never cared for him in the first place! Spike used to worship her every move before meeting me, even so much that he asked her to marry him. She basically took his love, threw it back in his face and told him to piss off without much caring how it'll impact him. When he turned his love to someone who actually reciprocated it back to him, giving him the love and care he so deserves, she could not stand that! Rarity didn't care about anyone but herself and ended up dying for what she did! If she was alive, I'd fucking make sure she suffers every, waking, moment for the rest of her fucking life FOR WHAT SHE DID! In death, she tore my family apart!" By then, fresh hot tears just cascaded down Rachel's face, her voice crackled, body trembling. "If she had just stayed in her lane and not butt in and left well enough alone, I wouldn't be going through this pregnancy alone!"
Rachel then gripped the sides of her head, grabbing fistfuls of her hair, wanting to rip the hairs off of her head. "I hate her, I fucking hate her so much, I can't even stand you! Your voice, the way you act, everything about you makes me so sick to look at!"
Elizabeth stared in silence for the longest time. Letting what Rachel said sink in. Purely disgusted with what the other her has done to Rachel and so many others.
She looked at the ground, taking deep breaths before speaking up. "I'm… so sorry for what you went through. What Rarity did to you and your family. Her actions were appalling, revolting. Cannot believe I'm tied to that travesty… but darling, I am not her, I am not Rarity. I've been Elizabeth much longer than my friends and I go by our pony names. We do that since we were able to use magic." She looked at Rachel, trying to be calm and considerate to her. "My friends and I help those who need it here. I do own a clothing store and do designs but the profits I make help to fund my baby sister Sofie's college. She's going to Harvard in the fall and we can't be any more proud of her. I make clothes and give them to the homeless. And trust me, you have no clue how much a difference it makes on a person when they have received a whole new set of clothes. With a good wardrobe, they can go out, get a respectable job in society and improve their lives."
She reached out and touched Rachel's shoulders. "Dear, you have pretty much the weight of both worlds on your shoulders. You feel like your life is completely falling apart, especially when the love of your life is gone. Fearing he may not come back, especially in your time of need. Dear heavens, the thought of going something like that with my love Kol scares me. I do hope your love comes back to you. However, I hate to say it, but in the end, he won't matter. Nothing else will matter, not the war, not ruling a kingdom. Nothing will matter but this little one." She placed a hand on Rachel's womb. Feeling the baby.
Rachel shuddered by her touch, letting go of her head and looked at Elizabeth.
"This baby is the most important, beautiful thing in your life. The first words they'll say? "Mama, mama."." Elizabeth smiled genuinely at her. "The baby won't look for daddy when they get sick or scared, they'll call for you. It'll cry for you and be so happy to have you as their mother. You will be a good mother. It may not look like it now with how things are going, but when they are born, you will be great at it. D-do you have anyone back in Equestria? Friends, found family?"
Rachel slowly nodded. "Three…p-plus his side but I'm still iffy with one of them…. Brimstone, Ruby, Gemcity…" she muttered.
Her family when she came here.
Oh Gods, they don't know. And Rachel knows that they are going to give her such an earful for neglecting them. Before Spike, it was those three.
"Then you aren't going to be alone in this. There is a phrase, "it takes a village to raise a child' it does take a whole village to raise one." Elizabeth smiled. "You have those back home that will help you. Plus you're going to be in some castle, those who serve you will help as well because this bundle is going to be a handful."
"Not that kind of castle but yeah," Rachel let out a soft laugh. "And if it's anything like me, yeah it's going to be a tiny gremlin."
"My little sister and I were like that. But we're doing good. And you're going to be great."
As generous were her words and the fear of them coming true, Rachel didn't want it to be true.
"Spike, my Spike is in trouble." Rachel whispered. "I don't know what got himself into but he sent me a distress signal."
Elizabeth smiled then. "Then you go save him. That itself is a sign that he wants to go home… we'll help you get him back." She said with determination.
Emotional, Rachel wrapped her arms around the smaller girl and brought her in for a hug. Elizabeth let out a small laugh, holding her.
"There, all we needed was to talk it out." She said, patting her back. "After this, spa day is on me." Causing Rachel to snort for the offer.
It might be the last time she could before being thrown into the war and searching for her mate back home.
"Let's catch up with the others," Rachel said as she pulled from Elizabeth and began making her way back to where Elizabeth came from.
"Oooh you don't want to go that way darling." Elizabeth quickly stopped her. "I saw your staff, but it's in the hands of their Leader."
"Leader?" Rachel stopped her approach and turned to her. "You saw the staff?"
"And part of its magic. Oh I wished I could have documented it, but the leader has it and she's ruthless. There was a lava pit where I just came from. These Temple Dwellers are more organized, they are chanting." Elizabeth whimpered. "I know we need that staff but back there is nothing but death, we'll get it another way."
"Chanting…? Do you know what they were chanting?" Rachel asked. Her eyes turned back to the dead Dwellers.
These things could talk?
Elizabeth frowned. "So many things were happening at the same time, I didn't know how to describe it I'm afraid. Something on the lines of…Varuta Volka, La Rúna."
"Varuta Volka, La Rúna?" Rachel repeated. She muttered the words, recognizing the words as it was being spoken. Her eyes widened. "Hail the Mighty Queen Rúna." Rachel translated.
"Excuse me? Rúna? As in your ancestor Rúna?" Elizabeth questioned. "Unless this name just had been passed down into this generation of this breed, I don't see how it's the same for centuries ago."
Queen Rúna… no that's not possible… Rachel thought. "You're probably right…then again, we're dealing with forces we don't understand. Magic is wanky at best."
"Especially with different types of magic. Let's go find our friends." Elizabeth said as she and Rachel left the library. However, thoughts began invading Rachel's mind as a mystery was beginning to slowly unravel itself in front of her.