“Okay, Sweetie, are you calm enough to explain what happened?” Twilight asked very gently as spike came back into the room with a mug of hot chocolate for Sweetie in his claws. Sweetie Belle sniffled and nodded slowly. She had been curled up, crying and shivering on Twilight’s couch for almost ten minutes. During said time, Twilight had sent Spike to bring her hot chocolate and make sure that Twilight’s Sabre and Armor were ready to go. She hated having to ask that of him, but she’d had no choice…
“Y-yeah, I… I think so. Th-thanks, Spike.” Sweetie mumbled, taking the mug in her magic and sipping lightly.
“No problem, Sweetie Belle.” Spike said softly, hopping up onto the couch and sitting next to her. “I’m really worried, though. What happened?”
Sweetie Belle shrunk down at the question, hiding from the world behind her tail. A tremor passed through her small body. “It was horrible… a… a fiend came…”
“A fiend?!” Twilight sat bolt upright before looking to Spike. “Spike, letter. Now!” she barked at the purple dragon, who saluted dutifully and swiftly sprinted to retrieve the needed materials.
“NO!” Sweetie Belle all but screamed out, reaching up with her hooves and grabbing Twilight by the face. “Don’t! Don’t tell anypony! It will… It’ll kill them if you do!”
Twilight recoiled from the abrupt shout, but nodded at her and Spike. “Okay. no letters… start from the beginning.”
Sweetie sniffled again, shuddered and then began. “A… there was this ringing sound outside of Applejack’s house while we were having an early dinner with her. It… It caught our attention. Applejack and Big Mac went to investigate, and... and it... Big Mac, he…” Sweetie curled up and shivered uncontrollably at the memory.
“It’s okay, Sweetie. I’m here.” Twilight whispered soothingly, wrapping a wing over her and pulling her slightly closer. “You’re okay. Take your time.”
Sweetie hiccuped and nodded. “R-right. It knocked Big Mac out first… Applejack c-came back to warn us about it, said that she’d never seen anything move so fast… then it showed up.” Sweetie paled as she remembered the creature’s arrival. Silent as a gentle summer breeze and fast as lightning.
“Can you describe it for me, Sweetie?” Twilight asked carefully, giving a comforting squeeze with her wing. “Every little bit helps, here.”
“S-sure… um…” Sweetie bit her lip as she thought. “It was tall… taller than Big Mac. It stood on four legs, like a pony, but it’s face was… like a coyote’s. It had the most horrible teeth I’ve ever seen… they were crooked, twisted and… uuugh…”
Twilight soothed her again, waiting patiently for her to continue.
“It… uh, had spikes or something all along it’s back… it also had a really long snake tail with a glowing bulb at the end. Um… it’s claws were long and sharp, too.”
“Alright… what happened next?”
“It hurt everypony else… everypony but me. It hurt Applejack, Rarity, Applebloom, Scootaloo… and… oh my gosh…” Sweetie Belle shrunk down even more. “It told me to tell you and only you… this fiend took them away to the Everfree forest... he’s going to kill them if anypony but you shows up...“
Twilight bit her lip and nodded slowly. “...and it’s possible that it already killed them to tie up loose ends…”
Spike looked at her and wilted at the look on her face. He had seen Twilight get angry before, but never to this degree… he had not once seen the intent to kill shine in her eyes with such ferocity. If he was being honest, it was terrifying to see.
“What was this fiend’s name? Did it have one?”
“I, uh… I think it called itself Skeintooth…”
“...This ‘Skeintooth’ is waiting for me in the Everfree Forest, you said?” Twilight asked simply in a dark, cold voice. Sweetie didn’t seem to notice the underlying venom with which she spoke, and merely nodded. “Fine, then. Spike,” Twilight looked to him with a hard stare. “Stay here and keep Sweetie Belle company. I’m going to take care of this…”
“Twilight?” Spike asked uneasily as she stepped down from the couch. “Are you okay?”
Twilight turned a look on him with a furious scowl before shaking her head. “No, Spike. No I’m not. Can you name a reason why I should be right now?”
Spike shrunk away slightly from the hostility in her voice, saying nothing. Twilight, after a moment, sucked in a deep breath to calm her boiling nerves. It didn’t work.
“Spike… Applejack, Rarity, Big Macintosh, Applebloom and Scootaloo have all been wounded and abducted. Sweetie Belle was traumatized and sent to our doorstep to bring me a message from their assailant after seeing all of it happen. For all I know, they could all be dead now just to tie up loose ends!” Twilight began in a low growl, but by the time she had ended the thought, she was yelling. “I am not okay, Spike! I am not okay because several of my closest friends are hurt and possibly dead!”
From where she sat, Sweetie Belle shrunk under the alicorn’s rage, whimpering fearfully at the outburst. “Twilight, calm down… please…” Spike said carefully, putting his claws in front of him in a calming gesture.
“I don’t know how you can be calm at a time like this!” Twilight snapped, slamming a hoof down into the crystal floor with a enough force to dent it. “Rarity is one of the ponies at risk here! I figured you’d be having a panic attack over this!”
“Twilight, I’m just-”
“So please, tell me how you are managing to stay calm! I would really, really like to know your secret right about now!!”
Spike pointed behind Twilight, and she looked. The color drained from Twilight’s face when she saw how terrified Sweetie Belle was, looking up at her with wide, frightened eyes. For several moments, silence dominated the room before, finally, Twilight closed her eyes and took in several deep breaths, putting a hoof to her chest.
When she opened her eyes again, she seemed to have collected herself, though one could easily still see the furiously raging fire and fear inside her eyes. “I am so sorry, Sweetie Belle…”
“It’s… it’s fine, Twilight.” Sweetie whispered quietly, hiding behind her tail and hugging it close to herself. Twilight wilted before turning to face Spike.
“...I’m going to get ready to go.”
“Twilight…!” Spike called after her as she began to leave the room. She paused by the door and looked back at him solemnly.
“Yes, Spike?”
“Just… be careful… please.”
“I will. Don’t worry.”
Spike nodded in understanding as Twilight left before slumping down next to Sweetie Belle on the couch. “I can’t help it, Twilight… I’m worried for all of us.”
A blizzard was raging outside, the blasts of snow and frozen air creating ominous howls and whistles through the cavernous structure embedded into the mountainside. All along the numerous natural and artificially dug walls, growing pods were pumped full of raw matter by the countless tubes running through the entire structure. Fiends were hatching by the dozens every hour. All of the defects were taken by their functional brethren to be returned to a feeding pod for recycling. Often, they would only live for a few minutes, kicking and screaming the entire time.
At the highest point of the cave system was Horizon’s makeshift throne room. Carved into the stone by him alone, it was rugged, ugly and malformed. The thousand years of erosion from moisture condensation and the long dried mold of gardens of the past had done little more than make it even more unnatural looking. Atop his throne of broken stones, Horzion sat with closed eyes. All of the fiends in the structure knew to leave him alone right now. All that had interrupted him when thinking in the last two months had met swift, horrifying ends.
Horizon scrunched his eyes shut tightly as the voice came again. “Lumen… please, look at me.”
“Stop. Just stop.” He snarled out, refusing to open his eyes. She wasn’t there. She was dead in Canterlot. He killed her himself.
“I can’t stop and you know it, Horizon. I can’t let you go down this path any further.” the gentle, motherly voice said from his side. Horizon felt a hoof touching his shoulder, but he knew it wasn’t there. It couldn't be.
“It’s too late for that and you know it!” Horizon seethed, opening his eyes and glaring towards her. She wasn’t there.
“I don’t believe that, Horizon.” her voice sounded behind his throne. He got up and whirled around, bladed tentacles bursting from his back and shattering the seat into dust. There she was. Princess Celestia stood in the cloud of dust, covered in blood and wounds, just as she had been when he had last seen her in Canterlot two months ago.
“Get out of my head!” Horizon screamed, his horn lighting up with writhing, tainted blue magic. Celestia didn’t move as the acidic beam shot through her. She was unphased by the attack, it passing right through her as if she weren’t there. Horizon reminded himself yet again that that was because she wasn’t. Her body was in Canterlot, beneath seven feet of stone and magical wards with a statue of her presiding over it.
“I am not leaving until I’ve saved you, Lumen.” Celestia said sadly, sitting down and looking at him with tired, sorrowful eyes. “Please, just… just remember what it was like.”
“I remember, you delusion.” Horizon growled bitterly before turning away. “I also remember that I started down this path because it was so violently ripped away from me!”
“I know… and I can never truly apologize enough for allowing things to get so bad for you.” Celestia said gently, settling down next to him. He knew the warmth he felt from her wasn’t real, just a fabrication of this damned illusion. “...I want to make it up to you. I want to make amends for my mistakes.”
“You’ve done your part already. Allowing me to claim my retribution on you was more than enough.” Horizon spat out before standing and trotting away from her.
“Horizon… Lumen, please.” Celestia called after him weakly. “What about the night before?”
Horizon froze in place. He didn’t look back, or move in any way.
“You showed me who you really are. Even if only for one night, you let your true self break through the resentment and malice that was smothering your heart.” Celestia came up next to him again, rubbing her wounded body along his affectionately. “You told me you loved me…”
“I remember that night… and I remember that it was the last time the me you claim to know saw you. That lumen died wrapped in your embrace.” Horizon said coldly, looking away and closing his eyes.
“No. He is still in there. I know he is.” Celestia said firmly before nuzzling his neck. “I wouldn’t have let you kill me if I thought otherwise…”
“Shut up...”
“I know you, Luminous Horizon. I know the pony that you are trying to bury beneath all of this anger and resentment… and he is the pony I fell in love with that evening in my chambers.”
“Shut. Up.”
“Do I need to remind you?” Celestia asked sadly before nuzzling into him again. Then, she whispered into his ear. “I love you.”
“SHUT UP!” Horizon screamed, turning around slashing the air where she had been just moments ago with his claws. “SHUT UP AND LEAVE ME ALONE! I KILLED YOU! JUST STAY DEAD!”
Master Horizon! Skeintooth’s voice suddenly called into his mind. Horizon blinked and stumbled slightly, his delusion fading swiftly.
“Skeintooth… you tread a fine line by contacting me at such a time, and even finer by using my name.” Horizon seethed between clenched teeth.
Forgive Skeintooth, but Skeintooth needs master’s attention for a moment.
“Tch. Fine, speak.” Horizon growled before turning to his throne, reassembling it with magic.
Princess of friends is taking a long time. Skeintooth is so hungry… please, master! Can Skeintooth eat one of the fillies?
“No, Skeintooth. Show some discipline. Your objective is Twilight Sparkle’s flesh and blood. If you kill her during its acquisition, feel free to kill her friends and eat them, too, but otherwise let them live. You could use the leverage to your advantage in the fight.” Horizon instructed simply before cringing in response to Skeintooth’s miserable whines. “If you are starving, then go eat some wildlife or something. Just make sure to leave your lure where you intend to fight her.”
“Yes, master…” Skeintooth whimpered before turning back to his captives, all of which were pinned to trees by the same fleshy substance that made up the tubes of the gardens. The fleshy prisons secreted powerful sedatives to reduce the resistance his prisoners could supply to inconsequential levels.
“Wh...what are you doing… you… ruffian?” Rarity mumbled drowsily as Skeintooth made his way to the center of the forest clearing.
“Hunting.” Was the fiend’s only response before stabbing the tip of his tail into the soil. The glowing bulb came loose and embedded itself into the ground. Skeintooth grinned with maniacal glee as it began to glow even brighter alongside a gentle, rhythmic ringing sound. With a cackle, Skeintooth vanished into the woods at a sprint. Soon enough, the ringing sent all of the captives back into the realms of unconsciousness.
