As Blizzard Underwood trotted away from the forest exit that he had just a moment before been trotting towards, blessed fortune screamed for him, weeping for the misfortune that he was bringing upon himself. With each and every hoof fall that he took, he was trapping himself further and deeper within a tangled web of tragedy from with there was no escape. Near black darkness was all around him, and the shadows within seemed to move around him as he trotted through it. Fantasy had grasped his mind, and the trees of the forest that he trotted through began to look as though they had faces. Faces that bared no other emotions but fear, and melancholy. He swore he could hear the mourning for him, as if he was trotting to his death, but he merely ignored it. The obsession, the pure lust he had formed for Hollow was more important to him than the feelings of the trees that surrounded him in that moment, for she was all he cared about.
He trotted through the woods for what seemed like an eternity, the amount of trees unending. It was not all for naught, however, as he saw a vision of something ahead of him through the foliage and the bark. As he trotted closer, however, he recognised just what it was. The fence, the gate, the outline of the structure, he recognised it all, for after all, how could he forget what his own house looked like. He stopped and stood before the gate, the black metal seemingly darker than it had ever been before. The steel seemed to let off a cold chill, a frigidness that was reminiscent of the kind that a corpse beheld, which was like virgin snow. He was baffled by the sight, and wondered for a moment why his house was in the middle of the Everfree, when normally it would be in Ponyville. After a few minutes, he decided to stop asking such questions, as he would only end up wasting time. Time that he didn’t have. He pushed the gate open with a hoof, the metal hinges grinding as he did so, piercing the veil of silence that was within the forest around him.
As he trotted up the black stone path, it was then that he noticed who was standing upon the front porch, waiting for him. It was Hollow, her figure calling to him. She had a hoof out, motioning for him to come closer. He did just as she wanted him to, and trotted up to the steps and in front of her. His breath was heavy as he was finally granted a rest from trotting, and he stared straight into her eyes, just as he always did, and became lost in them. It was that which was his mistake, however, as he did not notice when she placed her hooves upon his chest. She pushed him into the door, which was burst open as his body slammed into it. His body was in shock from the violent force it had just went through, and he had to catch his breath before he was able to stand up on all hooves again. He looked upon Hollow’s silhouette in the doorway, and he couldn’t believe what she had just done to him. He at first wondered what he had done wrong for her to do that to him, but then, he realised, just how had she been able to push him so fiercely. She didn’t look to have the amount of strength that would be required to push like like she just had.
Before Blizz could even say a word, however, the door closed on its own accord. It locked itself, and just after doing so, the lock and handle melted away, preventing anything inside from getting out, and anything outside from getting in. Blizz slammed against the door with his hooves as hard as he could, but with every hit that he made against the wood, the door only morphed further and further into the wall, as if it was sinking into water. Before long, Blizz was pounding on an empty space on the wall. Any notions that had about escaping from the house-shaped prison he found himself in were dashed away utterly and completely. He stopped pounding and let himself slide down the wall and to the floor, all the while completely perplexed at what was happening to him. What he was witnessing with his eyes had no reasonable explanation, and he was sure that to try and figure one out would only drive him mad.
As he lie there upon the wooden floor in silence, it was in that moment that he finally noticed the sound of ticking, emanating from the clock on the wall. It resonated throughout the room with every second that passed, and it was almost calming to him as it graced his ears. It was a constant sound, something that made sense, something that obeyed order and reason, and was not chaotic in nature. He stood up once more, and slowly made his way in front of it. He sat on his flank and stared at the hands of the clock as they pointed to the different increments of time. He took the time that he had to calm himself down, resting his body after the long way that he had come on his hooves. He looked at the second hand, watching it tick its way around the clock. But, as he watched it, something happened.
It began to speed up. Faster and faster it went around the clock, the other hands speeding up along with it. Seconds turned into milliseconds, minutes turned into seconds, and hours turned into minutes. But it didn’t stop there. It continued to speed up. And as it did, the clockwork gears inside it began to grind from being forced to turn so fast. The noise generated from the grinding of the gears was like that of a cat’s nails upon a blackboard. It violated Blizz’s ears, making him hold his hooves over his ears in pain. It became a whirlwind of metal, spinning so fast at that point that the hour hand was more like a millisecond hand. The noise only got louder, and as it did, Blizz turned away from the clock, trying to trot away from it on his hind hooves. He wobbled around as he did so, for he didn’t try trotting on only two hooves very often.
It was then that he noticed that the books upon his bookcases were shaking, as if they were caught in an earthquake. Suddenly, one by one, the books began to fling from their shelves, flying directly at Blizz as they did. He took his hooves off of his ears, which began to ring from the grinding of the clock, and dodged the books as best he could, bucking and throwing hooves at them when he needed to. When they dropped to the ground, however, they levitated back up, shaking just as they had been before, and hurled themselves at him again. It was a continuous cycle, a vicious circle, and Blizz knew that he would only wear himself out if he tried to keep fighting them.
He quickly galloped down the hallway, heading towards his bedroom. His door was open, and after he trotted through it, he shut it closed. He heard the books slam against it, before hitting the floor, and staying there. He sighed with relief, glad to be safe once again. He couldn’t hear the sound of the clock anymore as well, surprisingly, and the pain it had inflicted upon his ears slowly started to subside. He looked around at his room, seeing that it looked exactly the same as it always had, which surprised him. Even his pet raven, Nevermore, was still in his cage. He remembered that ever since Hollow had come to town, he’d forgotten all about Nevermore. He went over to the cage, and saw that the raven’s food bowl was still half full. “Sorry I haven’t been paying much attention to you, mate.” The raven cocked its head to the side, as if to say, ‘It is fine.’ Blizz looked back at the rest of the room once again. He expected something to happen, or something to be different, but there was nothing of the sort.
He trotted over to the window, seeing that a heavy rain had begun to fall outside, and was hitting the glass panes with slight force, the pitter-patter of it slightly loud. He then looked over to the mirror that lie unhung. He trotted over and looked at himself. He was a mess: His mane was ruffled, his vest and shirt had a couple cuts in them, most likely from the branches of the trees, and his eyes had bags under them. He also noted that he looked pale, almost as if he had seen a ghost. Just as he sat down to fix his mane, lighting struck outside, right by the window. And in that moment, the mirror was illuminated, not showing him anymore, but instead showing a figure in a dark cloak. The cloak seemed to absorb all the darkness around it, as if it was made purely out of the shadows themselves. There was an aura around it as well, that resembled a black flame.
The figure’s face was shrouded in the shadow of it’s hood, but Blizz could tell it was staring right at him, just as he was staring back at it. His eyes grew wide as the figure mirrored every move he made on the mark. He tilted his head, the figure did the same. He stood up, and the figure did it right along with him. What truly terrified him, however, was when it stopped acting as such. It was no longer a twisted reflection, it was its own entity. As he backed away from the mirror, the figure did something that shocked Blizz to his very core as he watched it. It climbed out of the mirror as if it was a pool of water, and stood there before him in the bedroom, a completely physical being. Just when Blizz had thought it couldn’t get worse, however, it did. The figure spoke, it’s voice sounded demonic in nature, as if the very shadows it’s cloak was made out of were speaking with it.
“The time has come imprisoned soul. You will face the consequences of the sins you have committed, the crimes you have enacted and executed over the years of your life. Judgement will be dealt upon you, and there is nothing you can do to stop it. You will suffer, and you will suffer silently. Your accursed tongue will be stilled, and you will be tortured for what you have done. Eternal damnation awaits you.” The creature’s voice boomed throughout the room, echoing off of the walls as it spoke. Blizz didn’t know what it had meant. What had he done that he deserved to be put through the hell he was in? What he did know, was that the creature before him wasn’t a pony. No, it was a fiend, a monster, a Demon. It was a horror from Tartarus, and it was there to kill him.
The Demon leaped forward at him, its hooves turning into shadowy blade-like appendages, reminiscent of the blades that scythes have. Blizz hopped out of the way as it did so, and it tore the bed to shreds in its wake. Blizz bucked the door to his room open, and galloped down the hall. He didn’t know what good it would do, but having a wall, or at least a door between him and the thing that was chasing him, would give him more time to escape. He bolted into the bathroom, shutting and locking the door behind him. After he did so, he stayed quiet, hoping that the demon had lost him. He listened carefully to the sounds of the house, and to his surprise, heard nothing. No hoof falls, no clock, no books, absolutely nothing. It was purely silent in his house once more, and he didn’t like it one bit, even if it did give him a slight peace of mind.
He found himself in his own personal hell, and he didn’t know why. The Demon had said that Blizz had committed sins and crimes, but Blizz couldn’t think of any that he had done. As far as he knew, he was being punished for something he just didn’t do. He sighed, and trotted over to the window. He pulled the curtains open, and pulled the blinds up. He saw the forest outside, illuminated in patches by the light of Luna’s moon, and raindrops as they fell to the ground and hit the glass of the window itself. He unlocked the window, and tried to push it open, but it was to no avail. It was keeping him in, just as the door had before, and he knew better than to try hitting it. He watched as the rain streamed down the window, and thought about how they resembled the tears of a mare whose heart had been broken. The thought brought a feeling of sadness to him, and he turned away, not wanting to think about something so sorrowful.
He trotted over to the sink, and took a drink before taking his glasses off and splashing his face. He dried it with a towel before putting them back on, and after he did, concluded to simply sit in the middle of the room. He was trapped inside of his own house, and there was nothing he could do about it. The walls around him seemed to be closing in, the bath and everything else disappearing in them. He almost felt like giving up, until he remembered Hollow. He thought about the feelings he had for her, and he knew that he couldn’t give up. Just as he thought of her, he heard a knock at the window.
When he looked up, he saw her. She stood right outside the window. She stared at him from beyond the sacred glass, and just the sight of her calmed him, and made him feel at peace. Her eyes glowed bright, mesmerising as they always were. She was completely dry, as if the rain didn’t dare touch her. Blizz’s heart began to beat faster as he looked upon her vision. His bleeding heart beat only for her, that much was obvious. He started to sweat profusely, and his breathing became ragged, as if he could barely breathe. The effect she had on him was intense. She raised a hoof, and beckoned for him to come to her. She slowly trotted away from the window, until he could not see her anymore. In that moment Blizz knew that she was the only one who could lead him out of the hell he was in. He could feel it. The window looked loose, as if by some sort of magic, Hollow had made it breakable. He stood up, and with a burst of energy, galloped at the window, and jumped through it, breaking it. Shattered glass and wooden framing flung around him as he did so.
When he stood back up from the ground, he noticed it was no longer raining. All that was left of it was the fog from the humidity that it left in the air. He looked ahead of him to see that a path had formed that was not previously there before. He saw Hollow standing in the middle of it, just on the edge of the fog. It seemed to stop short of her, as if she had some kind of invisible barrier was around her. He was breathless as he looked upon her, taken away by just how beautiful she was in that moment. It was as if time itself had stopped, just for them. She beckoned for him once again, and he trotted towards her on command. He would do whatever she wanted him to do. Her lips begged to be kissed, and as did her hips. The sway of the latter when she trotted was as hypnotic as her eyes. He loved everything about her, through and through. She was his temptress, his Seductress, and she was the only thing he had in the hell he was in.
He stopped right in front of her, and she spoke to him, her voice like sweet honey upon his ears. “Follow me, my love, to a place where we can both be free. It is a place where we can escape all of the pain and problems of the world. It is a place so peaceful that even the sun is silent above it.” She began to trot, leading him to the mystical place she spoke of, and he followed eagerly. She spoke again. “But as we make our way there, my love, tread carefully, for the path I trot is paved with thousands of unmarked graves.”
Blizzard was confused as to what she meant by her last comment. “What do you mean?” He asked, just before the answer hit him in the face. The whole time he’s known her, he’s never once asked her about her family, or where she came from. “Are you talking about your family?” He trotted next to her at this point, his face one of curiousity.
“That I am, my lover. Everypony I loved or ever knew is dead. My family is no more. I am the last of my line, and it is a burden that I must carry with me for the rest of my life.” Chrysalis spoke the truth, albeit in a disguised way for the sake of the mask that she wore in that moment. The graves she spoke of were the graves of her changelings, the subjects of her kingdom, all of which were dead, solely because of her. She was the last living changeling, and it was her fault.The guilt hung heavy on her heart, but the knowledge that she would one day soon avenge them, starting by driving Blizz to insanity, was what kept her going.
Blizz noticed the sorrow upon her face, and he extended a wing over her back, like one would place a hoof. “I’m so, so sorry... Nopony deserves to have to suffer through something like that. That is a sadness that nopony should have to behold.” He nuzzled her neck, comforting her as best he could. He knew how he would feel if his whole family was dead. His mother, his father, and his brother. All of them meant so much to him. And the very thought of them dying panged at his heartstrings in a way he just couldn’t bare. He nuzzled her once again, and kissed her neck, letting her know that he understood how she felt.
Chrysalis blushed at the pure affection he was showing her. It didn’t just feed her like it normally did, it made her feel something else, as well. It made her feel... happy. How much he truly cared for her made her happy, and she realised she was making a mistake. No, no! What am I doing, I’m falling for him all over again! Just like back in Trottingham. I’d told him about how my mother treated me, and he consoled me, and made me feel better. He’s doing it again, and I’m letting myself fall for him, just like before! She yelled at herself in her mind, cursing at her mistake. She physically shook her head, and began to trot ahead, leading the way once more. If she was going to go through with her plan, she would have to have no feelings at all for him, which would be hard, because of the history that they shared. “We are almost there, I can see the bridge.” She galloped ahead up the path, and across the rope bridge she had spoke of seeing. She turned back to look at Blizz, who was only a quarter of the way over.
Blizz was being careful. He didn’t want to fall through any of the planks. The cut in the ground that the bridge spanned across, which ended in a river far below, would be a hard place for a pegasus to recover from a fall from. Even Rainbow Dash would have slight difficulty doing it. Blizzard was by no means as good at Rainbow Dash at flying. If anything, he was only half as good as her at best. If he fell, he could potentially run face first into one of the sides of the ravine, and knock himself out. It was a long way to the river below, and he didn’t want to take that chance. Why he didn’t just fly across the gap was beyond him, but it didn’t matter. He was already halfway across, and if Hollow could make it over, he could as well. He kept that thought in his mind until he heard a horrified gasp. He looked up to see the Demon standing before Hollow. How did that thing get out here?! I thought we left it behind at the house!
The Demon looked at him, and Blizz could feel the sinister smile from within the darkness of it’s hood. It looked back to Hollow, and formed it’s scythe blade appendages once again. Blizz’s eyes were wide with extreme horror as he witnessed what happened next. The Demon cut Hollow’s throat, striking her down to the ground. “Filthy tramp!” It yelled as it did so.
Blizz could only yell in shock. “NO!!!” Just as he was about to galloped, however, the Demon placed both of it’s blades upon the ropes of the bridge, and cut them with a light pull, like a knife cut through hot butter. Blizz was almost to the edge, and when the bridge began to fall, he did as well. He bucked off of the falling wooden planks below him, and flapped his wings a couple times, just barely catching the ledge. He started to try to pull himself up, but both of his hooves were impaled by the Demon’s blades. He looked straight up into the Demon’s shrouded face, tearing up from the dual pain he was feeling, emotional and physical.
The Demon yelled in Blizz’s face, and Blizz could feel the force of the Demon’s voice full on. “You will suffer eternally, of this I will make sure. I am the punisher, the torturer, and the reaper, and I will be the one who kills you. I am going to give you a fate worse than death, for there is hell to pay, and it will be paid in full.” He took a blade out of one of Blizz’s hooves, and stabbed through one of Blizz’s wings. Blizz was just barely able to scream in pain before his other hoof was un-impaled, and he fell to his doom.
Blizz couldn’t save himself from the fall even if he wanted to. His wing was out of commission from being stabbed, and there was no way it would be able to flap strong enough to keep him up in the state it was in. As he fell down the ravine, bumping off of the walls every now and then, all he could think about was what had happened to Hollow. She was dead. The Demon had killed her to get at Blizz. Her death was Blizz’s fault, and it dwelled on him with extreme pain. What did I ever do to deserve this? What did I ever do? At that point, he didn’t care anymore what happened to him. The only thing he had in the hell he was in was gone, and he knew there was no way to get her back. He might as well be dead, too. He closed his eyes, and straightened his body, speeding up his descent. When he finally hit the water, it only slowed him down a bit, and he hit the bed of the river head first, getting knocked unconscious. His body was carried by buoyancy and the flow of the water, and he surfaced, his unconscious form able to breathe, but unable to move, as it floated downstream.
&&&
High up above, an unmasked Chrysalis looked down at Blizz as as he floated down the river. Everything was going according to plan. The illusion of her false form’s death had taken it’s toll on Blizz, and he was all the more closer to the brink of insanity. Yet... She couldn’t smile. In a normal situation such as the one she was in, she would be smiling wickedly, laughing darkly and proudly at the work she had done. But this situation was different. She felt somehow, sorry, for him. He didn’t know why he was being punished, and the only crime he was really punishable for was loving her so much. Chrysalis growled, baring her teeth as she slammed a hoof against a tree, putting a dent in it. Curse him, the fool. His love is corrupting me. I feel almost as strong as I did when I took over Canterlot, but at the same time, I feel weak. I feel as though I am tied to him. How can I still have feelings for him after what he did to me?!
She began to trot through the forest, in the direction Blizz’s body was heading, thinking along the way. She thought back to those moments they had shared all those years ago. How he accepted her for who she was, even with the way she acted. He had truly loved her for who she was, but... She then thought back to his reaction when he had seen what she was, and remembered the pain and sorrow she felt, being looked upon by him in shock and fear. She had thought that the next emotion that would come out of him was hate, and that was why she ran out of his house on him. She didn’t want to feel that emotion from him. She loved him too much to want to suffer through that.
...But then again, what really would have happened, had she stayed in his bedroom? What would he have said? Would he really have begun to hate her, or would he have accepted her, just as he had done before? After all, she was still the same personality that he knew and loved, she just wasn’t the pony that he had thought she was. She was a changeling. But really, would that one fact have been enough to make him hate her? She had to know. She didn’t know why, but she just did. She thought about the next trial that she had planned for him: The Island of the Decayed. It was to be the halfway point, the point at which everything was supposed to start turning against him, even her. But because of the questions that she needed answers to, it would have to be the end.
She would reveal herself to him as the Changeling Queen, and get answers for all of her questions, no matter the cost. And when she finally got them, she would permanently entrance him, just like she had done to that fool in Canterlot. She galloped through the forest, towards the Island. Little did she know, the plan that she had just come up with would be her undoing, for the events that were to take place upon that island would not only answer her questions in full, but they would also be her downfall.
“Caution must be obeyed, on an Island of the Decayed...” - Alesana