I was a little surprised by the design of the stairwell. By all my experiences, most secret or hidden routes were small by nature to discourage exploration into them. Whoever designed this place, kept in mind the size of some of their residents despite hiding away a whole section of the church.

Yet I refused to question it beyond face value due to everything that had happened so far in this place, not to mention a hidden stairwell that went forward and down would have intercepted the other floor by now … but I refused to contemplate the nature of such a thing. Whatever this church was meant to be, it could officially hold the title of most confusing layout ever for all I cared. From a mysterious and invisible third floor to an intersecting stairway that didn’t actually intersect.

Oh how I wanted to be back in the Metro, at the very least it was designed by non-magic beings and only had dangerous enemies. This place held those and oh so much more.

“I wonder where this leads,” Shining muttered aloud, most likely talking to himself but leaving himself open to mocking.

“Down,” I replied simply, the snark in my tone making it all too apparent I was poking fun at him.

I didn’t look behind me but I was pretty sure that he was fixing me with a death stare of his strongest sorts. I simply chuckled loud enough for him to hear me, adding that extra bit to the mocking.

The stairway went down in sections, fifty to a hundred stairs at a time before reaching a flat surface for a few meters before continuing once more. So after the first section, I had to turn my flashlight on - and Shining his spell - in order to actually see anything in front of us.

The walls of the way down were engraved with deep lines that simply descended down into the secret passage with us. They all seemed to be perfectly cut and spaced out, an obvious sign of dedication to the creation of this secret place. It might not have been the most elegant artistry but I had to give credit where it was due; they were perfectly made.

Despite my Saiga being in one hand, I ran a hand along the smooth walls, amazed by how perfectly cut they were. With the level of tech this planet had they should not have been able to make such perfection, let alone however many years prior this building was built.

“I’m getting sick of stairs,” Shining muttered once more, this time earning approval from myself, instead of the typical snark. “I’m pretty sure I’ve climbed my allotted amount for my lifetime.”

“Al-lot-ted?” I asked.

“Given,” he replied with a huff. I simply sighed in response, some words still giving me trouble. “It’s like since I met you, there has only been stairs … I was perfectly happy with my non-stair filled life.”

“I know the feeling,” I replied as we continued further down. “Hardly as many stairs back home. Nothing but here.”

The clopping of hooves behind me stopped for a moment. I looked behind me to see Shining standing on the stairs with a rather wide eyed look, as though he had seen a ghost. Instinctively I turned around, ready to fire at what he was looking at but I only saw the ceiling. So I looked back to him, snapping my fingers in front of him to get his attention.

Which, in gloves, is an acquired skill, let me tell you.

He almost jumped on the second snap, as he finally came back to reality. He shook his head, ears splayed down in what looked like defeat. To say I was curious would be an understatement. “What happened?”

“I just realised how many sets of stairs there are in Equestria,” he stated with mild defeat. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen a single story house … ever.”

“Huh,” I replied before turning around to shine my light farther down the stairs. “We will think about life crisis later. For now, focus.”

I glanced over my shoulder just in time to see him nod, before continuing our trek down the stairwell. No doubt there would be a battle at some point and to have him dwelling on something as stupid as stairs could possibly get us killed.

Finally after what must have been five minutes worth of stair walking, we reached the bottom of the stairwell. I could only imagine having to climb those back up again … which was most likely going to happen, but we’d have to deal with it when we get to that point. Either way I was glad to finally be out of the stairwell and onto something else.

Unfortunately my relief at ending the long run of stairs was short lived as instead of stairs, we were greeted by a narrow - more so than the stairs at least - passage that just continued onwards into more blackness. Oh what a difference this made … at the very least it was flat ground mind you, but that hardly mattered.

Still, I felt like I was back in the Metro so at least there was that going for me. The cozy tight spaces of the place gave me a comfortable feeling despite being annoyed at the lack of change.

Shining continued to be quiet during our trek, a few glances back told me he was contemplating what he had and was seeing. He would examine the walls from time to time for whatever reason. I believe there is a saying that tells about the walls knowing more than anyone else but never talking … or something like that.

As much as I would love to hear their tales, the end goal of me returning home was on the forefront of my mind. The rest of me was running over possible things that could go wrong during this, hopefully final, stretch.

In all my time spent inside this weird set of ancient ruins, this one hallway was by far the oddest. It wasn’t ot in that it pulled any of the same reality distorting events or proceeded to mess with us via magic. Instead, it held its spot because of the sheer fact it didn’t. In the back of my head, I was counting all the missed opportunities for something to happen yet nothing ever did.

The only oddity is that it seemed to stretch on forever, even more so than the previous ones. Perhaps I was simply missing that we were looping over and over and didn’t realise it? Or possibly, it wasn’t the hallway that was pulling the reality bending stuff? Perhaps when I was right in believing that when I got teleported down to the ground floor of that building, I had also indeed been sent into another dimension or something. As much as I didn’t want to think about it, it was quite possible and perhaps the scariest of all things.

Still, I bit my tongue on bringing up such a thing. Who knows if I was even right, let alone what could happen if I did in fact bring it up. Instead, I marched on down the hallway in silence just as Shining was already doing.

As little as I spoke, I honestly dislike the concept of silence. If at the very least a book itself could speak in the place of a person. Yet even in the darkest of depths of the Metro, there was always another along with me that would provide the commentary that my life almost needed.

Just as I was about to start lamenting on the many figures that had been missing in my journey, something in the hallway changed. At first it was subtle; a slightly darker series of hues to the walls appeared, nothing more. Then as I started to pick up on the changes, the entire structure of the walls began to change shape from a roughly cut variation of stone architecture to a solid stone and mortar style. I glanced down at Shining to confirm I wasn’t seeing things and already he was carefully inspecting the walls with scrutiny.

Yet it didn’t stop there, for a few more meters of walking brought about another change to the walls, this time taking a much more drastic shift in materials; concrete. The same concrete that I could find all around me back in the Metro. It was then that I couldn’t keep my mouth shut any longer as my walking ground to a halt.

“This feels familiar,” I muttered as I ran a hand across the smooth wall, the cold touch bringing back all too familiar feelings.

“How so?” Shining simply asked, the question coming loaded. Was he looking for something to tell the Princesses about? Was he trying to understand me? I wasn’t sure, but at the same time, my focus on the concrete drove those thoughts to the deep recesses of my mind.

“You know my story,” I reply at first, before walking a little bit more, finding a piece of rebar sticking out, the concrete it held in place long since disappeared. “I grew up under city, in a station in old Metro. No sun, only light from lamps and bulbs; closed in all around by walls of this.”

Shining was silent for a bit as we moved forward at a slower pace, the walls beginning to become more and more tattered around us. Somehow the hallway had gone from immaculate to downright devastated. Eventually he managed to find a question to ask me.

“Do you know what is going on here?” he spoke softly, an oddity for him. Once again a loaded question. Though I knew the reply before he even thought up the question.

“I hope not,” I replied.

Just as I spoke the hallway changed once more, yet in a way that was worse than before. There in front of us stood a door; one, that once again, looked exactly like the many that the Metro had. An ancient looking sheet of solid steel that had a generic grey colour with brown flecks of rust to it. If there was anything to fear in this place, whatever was behind this door would be that.

Perhaps not fear in the same way that we had feared the crystal monstrosity in the caverns below the Crystal Palace. It was more akin to finding the answer to a question you desperately wanted answered, yet what was presented was not what you wanted to hear.

“The show must go on,” I muttered, remembering watching that one show at the Bolshoi Theatre. Such words were the epitome of my life.

Hesitantly I reached for the single handle that the large steel door had, the cold touch somehow seeping through my gloves. It was a different feeling then all the other doors that I had ever opened and that is saying something, considering that I had opened a lot of doors in my life.

I think Shining said something from behind me, but I didn’t hear it as my focus was entirely on whatever was going to happen next. It was as though my hearing had completely faded out the moment I touched that door.

Yet in distance I heard a faint voice, “why him.”

My head turned around, somehow figuring that the voice was coming from behind me, but only the white pony that was mouthing words stood behind me. Then another voice came in reply, “he was a friend. He deserved better.”

The reality snapped back on me as my hearing returned and I suddenly pulled the door open, my arm moving on its own for the briefest of moments. Shining’s words finally reached my ears.

“... and it seems you’ve made the choice. No turning back now, Artyom,” he said, his voice fading in, like on some of the old recordings from before the war.

I looked at him from behind my mask for a moment before pulling it, a nagging thought telling me that I should witness whatever I was about to with my own, unshielded eyes. Without a thought, I hooked my mask in its normal place before walking forward into the room.

My first thought was that it was oh so similar to that main chamber I had found in the catacombs, but yet it all felt more personal. A closer space, and the concrete chamber felt more … homely to me.

Yet there was more to it than just the general design, as if the air itself was something I had breathed before. It was if something was trying to make me recall something or to connect dots that should have been obvious to me.

In a trance like state I walked to the far end, where there was a large cut out and a sarcophagus lying inside, sealed and untouched by time. Pristine even more so than the others I had seen. Above the cutout was raised lettering, this time in a language that was lost on me; the letters themselves looking beyond foreign.

Shining trotted up beside me as I came to a standstill in front of the sarcophagus, my eyes never leaving the pristine stone. “What’s inside, I wonder.”

His statement wasn’t directed at me specifically but I knew that he was speaking what was on my mind as well. The size to it was wrong … different than all the ones I had seen before. It looked like something I could lay in.

“We will find out,” I muttered as I grabbed a corner of it, my gloves gathering a nice layer of dust in the process. Shining nodded as well before his horn flared and he grabbed the far edge. With a strained grunt we managed to open it up in one go, the stone making a sickening grinding sound as it moved. Though the worst was that it somehow kicked up enough dust to make a small cloud, obscuring the contents of the sarcophagus. Of all the times to take off my mask.

Barely managing to fight back a hacking cough, I waved the dust away from my face, finally giving me the ability to see what was inside.

Never in my life had I regretted opening up something before, even when I knew the danger on the other side. Yet right then and there … I regretted seeking my answers. Even when working alongside Khan, I had at least been able to find clarity amongst the confusion. Here … there was only more confusion and questions.

Laying in the sarcophagus, was the body of a Dark One.

I rubbed my eyes, hoping to just be seeing things, that in fact I was not looking at something I shouldn’t be. Yet it was clear as day when I looked back. Laying dead in the sarcophagus was indeed a Dark One. Though there were subtle differences to this one.

For one, the colour of its leathery skin was much darker, taking on an almost pitch black look to it. Secondly, the arms and legs looked less gangly somehow, as though they were more in proportion than I remember. And lastly, a feature which definitely was not a part of the Dark Ones I remember, there was a mouth to it.

From this alone I knew that perhaps I was mistaken and that this was another fluke that I had found similarity in this world to our own. Yet every time I tried to accept this logic, my mind rebuked it and told me that there was no way in hell that this was just some fluke.

As I stood there, the pieces began to fall into place in front of my face. I could connect them in the air in front of me, the lines obvious now that a single part had been revealed.

“What the buck is this thing?” Shining asked, his words breaking me out of my revelation.

I looked down at the body once more before looking at him. A large part of me wanted to tell him right then and there. To let out everything that I knew, if only to get it off my chest. Yet I held back. “No clue.”

His magic flared up as he lifted the dead body’s limbs slightly before letting them fall. Eventually he gave up with a huff, nothing making sense to him apparently. That was preferred in my case, less chance that the Princess would interfere with what I was doing … especially with my realisation about everything.

If anything, I had a lot of internal thoughts to process before I could even begin to vocalize them to someone else.

“Let’s get out of here already, it’s obvious this place bucking hates us if it’s going to give us nothing for all that work,” he said in disgust before stomping one of his hooves on the ground.

I was about to agree with him in mock fashion before I noticed something in the sarcophagus alongside the corpse. A piece of ancient looking paper, parchment I believe. Carefully I took it in my hands, and unrolled it just enough to actually see what was written on it. In perfect cyrillic it read ‘Venture north to Halitus Ignis, Artyom.’

“What did you fi-” Shining spoke up from behind me but was cut off as the entire room began to shake violently, the concrete around us beginning to crack and separate.

I instantly made a dash to the door but was thrown backwards as the ceiling outside of the room came crashing down, the entirety of the doorway had collapsed and left us trapped inside the room. Hurriedly I stood back up, my head whipping in all directions, hoping for something to open up and lead us out.

Yet as the walls started to crumble, leading closer and closer to collapsing, nothing appeared. A blue shield surrounded us as pieces of the ceiling began to fall around, the concrete separating from the rebar. Shining had come through again but it would be short lived unless he had another trick under his fur.

“Buck, buck, buck!” he all but yelled, his horn’s glow faltering in and out. “Something’s zapping my magic! I can’t hold out for much longer!”

“В пизду это место! Ну давай, чего ты, блядь, ждёшь?!” I yelled out, knowing full well that if this small scroll was the cause of this, then there was going to be something that would come out of nowhere and save our lives. And I knew that when said thing happened, I better be prepared. So I casually slipped my mask back on and another filter in place … then proceeded to flip the room the bird.

Without warning my vision flashed white, and next thing I know my body impacts on something that I had slowly become more used to in this place; grass.

Despite my spinning head, I manage to look up and see that we were once again above ground, and by pure luck, no farther than a handful of meters away from the stationary sky chariot thing, and a pair of gryphons looking at us, and behind us, in complete awe.

Shining who was groaning louder than he rightfully should, was lying a few feet from me as I spun myself around to look at whatever had caught the breaths of the gryphons.

When I was young, I always dreamed of changing my world in a profound way. After going through everything I had, I knew that I had altered the Metro in a way that was subtle if anything. Now, I was looking at a literal, in every sense of it, way that I had changed a world.

The massive fissure that once held the entrance to the ruins of Alfasia slowly but surely closed up, the ground itself somehow reconnecting and leaving nothing but a small brown scar across the ground. No hint that the place even existed anymore … just simply gone in but a matter of seconds.

There was little I could say, but I needed few words to describe the sight. “Блядь.”

If anything, I was glad to be heading home finally. Perhaps not to the Crystal Empire just yet, but at least back to Equestria. The Gryphon Empire is a place that has always made me nervous, but that is to be expected from a race that almost idolizes war and violence.

As the final preparations were made for the ship, I couldn’t help but look at the city we were leaving. My nerves were finally calming down from their high. Usually I only ended up feeling tense and nervous when I knew something was coming or when I felt out of the loop.

In this case, it was because I felt a mixture of both. Something was happening and I had no clue what it was, which unnerved me more than the silence that Artyom had taken up

Immediately after our sudden reappearance above the ruins of Alfasia, the gryphon charioteers rushed us back to the capital. We hardly had time to orientate ourselves before being more or less shoved in the carriage. It sucked for Artyom who once more had to sit on the floor, but even for me the ride was unpleasant.

When we arrived back at the castle Galba didn’t even deign to see us, instead sending Quintus to escort us secretly back to our ship. I admit that it was not the oddest thing I have ever seen in the empire, or for that matter in all my time as a guard. Yet even Quintus was unusually quiet. He was always the first to make a quip when it came to knowing something that I didn’t.

Yet even when the ship left port, Quintus stayed on the deck, standing near the rear, his eyes never leaving the mountain and the castle inside it. I admit, I was bucking tempted to go over and question him about all the secrecy and why we were forced to go as soon as we were. Even Admiral Galleon was caught by surprise at the sudden departure.

But I withheld my tongue until we were far enough away from port, that Artyom could safely walk on the deck without being noticed. Only then did I approach Quintus, mainly because I knew that if something was being planned, Artyom would be able to deal with his fair share.

Yet as we approached in silence, Quintus looked over his shoulder at us, a smile on his beak, before turning back to watching the retreating view of his home.

“What’s going on, Quintus? Why are you still here, and why did Galba shuffle us off so quickly?!” I nearly shouted, my mounting frustration even a little bit of a surprise to me. Yet Quintus said nothing, forcing me to step forward and approach him. I’d look him in the face if I had to.

KRACKOOM

In the distance, a large, combined, ball of fire erupted from the windows in the mountains. The sound echoing louder than I could have imagined. Even at the distance we were at, the shock wave reached us - albeit greatly diminished - before the ball of fire tilted up into the sky and more or less disappeared.

“Plans were pushed up,” Quintus said before turning back to us with a smirk. “It has been fun seeing you again, Prince Armour. Emperor Galba sends his warmest regards for helping him in a much needed situation.”

Before I could even reply, the gryphon took off in a quick wingbeat. I frantically looked around, my mind preparing plans for a counter-attack of some sort, but instead I saw crew members looking at the smoking mountain in disbelief, and a certain human staring at it with cold eyes.

“Artyom, what in Celestia’s name was that? What just happened?!” I shouted, the cold eyes never looking at me.

“Treachery,” was all he said before shaking his head and walking back towards the cabin.

I could only groan at his response and everything in general. There was no doubt in my mind that when I got back to Equestria, that I would be chewed out by a certain alicorn over the importance of staying out of other nation’s politics. Yet it would be short when I told her what we found.

I glanced back at the retreating human, a sudden thought causing me to frown more than ever. He was hiding something, something that I wasn’t sure I wanted to find out. Yet, thanks to all my years of having Twilight as my younger sister, I knew that no matter what, I would be dragged into this mess head first.

I took my time in my quarters; the standard vestments for the senate were lying on my bed but I hardly gave them a passing look. Instead I was more interested in a little device sitting on my desk as well as a small dossier sitting beside it.

I had flipped through the pages more than once before having to put it down with a smirk. Everything had worked out, just as planned. Well, aside from the fate of two certain individuals that were in the process of leaving the country. One most likely for good, the other would be sitting just across the waters for the next time we’d meet.

I decide to sit in the chair in front of the desk, one claw grabbing and opening up the dossier while the other rolled the small device around, being more than a little careful of it. After all, I was told it was a very important device.

There was a knock on the door, a specific set of knocks that told me exactly who it was. I looked over my shoulder as the door opened despite my word not being given. A black furred and feathered gryphon in plain clothes entered quietly before approaching me at the desk.

“They are ready for you,” was all he said before stepping away, his eyes staring tiredly at a spot on the wall.

“Excellent,” I say with a smile on my beak, finally walking over to slip on my vestments. It is an ever cumbersome task to have to lead this country, especially when there are those who would steal the power out from under me at the slightest hint of being weak.

It just happened to be pure luck that I acquired access to such a skilled individual in that human. Why, if it hadn’t been for him, then that whole mess in Usaaly could have gone any number of ways. Instead everything ended up perfect; this ‘Korbut’ character was killed efficiently, the Red Line dispersed, with not a single human remaining alive, that we know of.

Oh, and I can’t forget about my daughter, who, while still disgusted with me, is at least safe at home. Perhaps she just needs to spend time away from the country. I believe she has a friend in Equestria that she hasn’t seen in a long time. Perhaps it would be for the best to send her over there again.

I sigh out loud before moving to my desk and grabbing the device. I look at it once more, a simple one at best, a little button to push whenever I wanted. And right then was the perfect time to push it.

I smile as I stare at the button that was now blinking red. I toss it to the nameless gryphon who was still standing there without a single expression on his face. “You know what to do.”

“Yes, Emperor,” he says with a small bow of his head.

“Time to put on a show,” I say with a smirk before leaving my chambers, heading directly to the assembly hall. A trio of guards that were posted outside followed directly behind me, silent the entire way.

Oh it was too bad Quintus wasn’t here, but he needed to make sure that our guests were seen from the country. It would do no good for something to happen and thus bring down the wrath of the Sun Bringer and her nightmare of a sister.

I intentionally walked slow, taking my time to admire the drapery and decorations of the hallway. They looked in need of replacement; while red is a nice colour, I always had more of a thing for purple of all colours, specifically purple and gold. Perhaps it was time for a change of pace around this place after all.

Oh who am I kidding, I was already in the process of changing the pace around the place. In fact, the pace would change in …

3.

2.

1.

As I stepped through a set of doors that opened up to the hallway leading to the assembly hall, a large force threw me backwards as an explosion blew the assembly hall doors outwards, managing to nearly hit us at the other end. Thick smoke and dust curled out from the room, ascending to the ceiling before disappearing out of the windows.

Rubble from a multitude of cracks in the structure of the hallway littered the floor which I got to inspect for a moment before the guards hauled me up. They were shouting something but I admit to being too close to that explosion, so my hearing was shot for the meantime. I brushed them off and moved forward, putting as much concern into my facial features as I could.

I felt myself limping as I made my way down the hall. I looked down to see a piece of metal embedded in my hind leg. Of course I couldn’t help but smirk at how perfect that was. Such an easier sell.

As I reached the doors, I saw the state of the assembly hall, which looked more like a impact crater than a place to debate politics. Spaced around the outer rim of the hall were the collapsed forms of senators; some seemed to have some life left in them; they were instantly being attended to by first responding guards and nurses. In the center I saw nothing but blackened stone and a massive crater.

It would seem that things truly went according to plan. There was no sign of a certain household, who usually had front row seats; ones that no longer existed. Of course it would seem some supporters also got taken out in the blast, truly unfortunate.

Two guards carrying a stretcher flew past me, with a familiar face laying on his back. It would seem my brother had managed to escape the blast, his body taking the brunt of it and coming out looking extremely mangled, yet he was alive

Unfortunate.

Though I think the fact I was wounded myself helped to add to his look of relief that I lived. Perhaps after that he won’t question me as much.

In fact, I believe that there won’t be enough of a senate to question my actions. Perhaps a state of emergency and a hunt for the ‘terror cell’ responsible would help to make the populace agree that I need to stay in power.

I do know what is best for my Empire, after all.

Author's Notes:

I will say this right off the bat. I do not feel satisfied with this chapter. Usually I am content with how each chapter shapes up and is done, but at the end of this, I looked back and thought to myself , "this feels subpar." I've looked over it so many times my eyes hurt but I can't find anything to add. Still it just doesn't feel right.

Hopefully the next chapter, part one of two or three "interludes" before the final act. The only good thing from this chapter is we finally finished the Gryphon Act! Yay, also Galba was fun in a scary way to write.

Now, lastly I apologize for sitting on this chapter for as long as I did ... honestly, I've been in a bind to writer considering I have like 5 projects going on for writing. This, Over the Hills and Far Away, a new project, 1 collab, and Word Worthy's Imperial Equestria still.

Russian Translation Time:
В пизду это место! Ну давай, чего ты, блядь, ждёшь?! - Fuck this place! Pull your bullshit already!
Блядь - Fuck. (There is tooo many variations xD)

Time lapse icons/Page breaks
+++++ = Dream Skips (can change perspectives)
~~~~~ = Time skips (can change perspectives)
***** = Immediate Perspective Changes
##### = Immediate Flashback

Thanks to all the peeps who have and/or are helping to make this story as awesome for me as it can. You're all awesome! And thanks to the readers for being awesomer! I refuse to believe can't use that word.