//------------------------------// // Chapter Four // Story: Twisted Fate // by Evilhumour //------------------------------// Chapter Four Green. Luna let out a sigh of relief, Discord would be safe from her hooves for one more day. Before she could rest, her neck was again strangled by the stallion’s magic aura and she was slammed against the tree. “Tell me,” Shin- Scorching, she corrected herself, glared harder. “How the Tartarus do you know about my sister?” Luna bit her lip, trying to think. She had only one chance to make an ally here and now, but she had to tread carefully lest she risk awakening the demon. “How would you believe me if what I told you was the truth?” She kept her gaze steady, boring into his own eyes. He blinked, the hardened soldier briefly replaced by a confused young stallion. “Wh- what do you mean?” “What if I told you this was all but a falsehood, that everything here you see is but a dream?” Luna forced herself to remain calm, speaking in a normal, assured voice. “Wha-” “What if I told you, that whatever happened to your sister and family, is a cruel joke by an evil force?” Luna raised an eyebrow, holding out her right hoof. “You can either think I am lying to you and that this is a pitiful ploy or…” She raised her other hoof, wincing inwards as it was red from abuse. “That what I just said is the truth, and you are the one pony that can help me end this nightmarish world and save her.” She gave a small smile to the greatly confused pony. “The choice is yours.” He stared at her, studying her face. Luna had to keep her composure; she couldn’t flinch or he would never believe her again. After what seemed for an eternity, he reached forwards and grabbed her left hoof, causing a spasm of pain to soar through her body. “You had better not be lying to me,” he snarled out, his horn losing its magical glow. “Or I will let the entire Royal Guards rut you in a row, twice.” He grabbed her shoulder and shoved her forwards. Luna was barely able to keep herself from falling on the floor, her shaky legs managing to hold her upright at the last second. “Walk.” he snapped, sending a slap of magic against her flank. Letting out a tiny yelp, she tried to run ahead, but her legs failed her, causing her to crash into the ground. Hearing a huff behind her, she felt herself being lifted upright and her legs straightened out as Scorching walked up to her side. “Either you learned how to act or you are not lying to me.” He kept his attention focused to the front, moving at a slow enough pace that Luna was able to match it. She was also able to finally take in her surroundings, and it worried her greatly. She was in the garden of fallen foes of the Castle, if the sheer number of statues were anything to go on or the castle wall ahead. The grass and foliage were shoddy at best; clearly nopony cared or bothered to tend to them. As they walked through the statues showing a number of ponies from her past that were never there in the real world, she noticed something that nearly gave her a heart attack; Discord’s statue was nowhere in sight! “What are you looking for?” She shot him a scared look, his face was still harsh in his near draconic golden armour. “Di- Discord-” “That old monster?” He gave her a confused look. “You killed him with the Empress eons ago.” He huffed, rolling his eyes. “The only good you ever did.” “I see…” Luna muttered softly. “Wait, are you telling me that he lives in your so called real world?” He shot her an amused, smug look. “Yes, but Twilight and her friends have managed to stop him each time an-” “Wait.” He placed a hoof against her chest, gently. He stared at her, eyes pleading. “She has friends, a life?” Luna froze, wondering what horror that this demon had done to Twilight to cause this drastic and abrupt change in his hostile manner. “Ye- yes, she does.” He paused, closing his eyes. He did not speak for a moment, breathing deeply. “Listen to me carefully,” he spoke with a sharp tone, but there was some worry in his voice now. “Only talk to the Empress if she starts and only if you think it is a wise move. If you have the slightest of a doubt, do not say a word at all.” He guided her into the castle proper, casting a small soundproof and shield mixture around the two of them. “I will help you, but do not say anything to me. She will ask if you will take your punishment. You must reject it if I am to help you. Do you understand me?” “Why did you believe me all of a sudden?” Luna asked him with a raised eyebrow, seeing scared servants scuttling away from them, with guards glaring at her. “I do understand but I must know why.” “Listen to me carefully,” he stopped and stared at her, with pure indignation in his eyes. “If I had to choose between a world where I exist but Twilight is like what she is now or a world where I don’t but she has a life and friends, I will always pick the second one. And if I find out you lied to me, not even the Empress could save your hide from my flames.” Luna smiled despite herself. “Scorching, you just proved to me that you are just as real a pony as the Shining I know. He would say the same and do the same for Twilight.” She reached out to pat his shoulder, with him flinching at her touch. “I swear that I will do all that I can to help Twilight to escape this world, along with the others.” “What do you need to do, to get them out of here?” He raised an eyebrow at her, going down an empty pathway that Luna dimly noticed was the servants’ hallway. “I cannot say,” Luna answered sharply, wincing from his glare and glowing horn. “I cannot as there is no place safe for me to say until I know more.” His glare changed into a frown, although he still had a very dangerous, if not murderous, aura around him. “Can you at least tell me who we will be looking for?” “Her friends; Applejack, Rarity Belle, Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie, and of course Celestia, although I do not know where or how we will find the first five.” “What about this Celestia you mentioned? Who’s she?” That caused Luna’s blood to chill; fear and dread running through her mangled body. A disgusting, horrifying reason was forming for why the Empress had seemingly discarded her name if she thought the demon had done what it did to her sister in this false world. “Thy sister.” She barely managed to squeak it out. “In my world, she was Celestia’s student.” This caused him to be even more interested in what she had to say. “She, Celestia, is my sister, a kind and just mare that-” Scorching let out a snort, shaking his head. “That is not the Empress. The Empress is a cruel, twisted mare who only cares about satisfying her own desires and making sure everypony knows exactly what she’s like. Beyond keeping you in your cell, there is not much to admire. But isn’t she powerful,” he let out a sigh, shaking his head. To Luna, it looked like he was somehow being both truthful and sarcastic at the same time. “It is the work of what is making this dream world,” Luna said. “The creature responsible delights in its victims’ suffering; it twists everything into a mockery of its victims’ true lives. But some small part of them remains aware of how wrong things are.” She shuddered. “The enemy feasts on the torment that they feel, along with their magic, and the more miserable they are, the more powerful it becomes.” “That’s if you are telling the truth,” Scorching snorted at her, dragging her along the halls. Luna frowned inwards, wondering if she should do what she had in mind. It could backfire horrifically, alerting the demon of her presence and causing so many issues but she could use an ally, she had to take the risk. “Scorching, if you will allow me,” she said, tilting her head towards his. Before he could react, Luna placed her head against his, binding him to her ever so slightly. Snorting loudly, he slammed her into the wall and glared at her. “What did you do?” “I widened your eyes, Scorching,” she told him. “You were a part of this world, unable to see the truth behind it. You will be able to now.” He glared at her for a long time before snorting and letting her fall to the ground hard. “Move,” he growled. “The Empress is waiting and we are late as it is.” “Very well,” she said, forcing herself up onto her broken legs and following the stallion down the halls, passing more and more guards that were glaring acidly at her. Finally, they reached the throne room, and as she heard Scorching Armour announcing the arrival of “the Empress’s prisoner”, Luna raised her head. Then, her eyes went to the mare in the golden throne and she felt her stomach drop. If she had to describe the Empress in one word, it would be decedent. She was adorned with jewels on blindingly gold armour over each joint of her wings and legs, and wore a thick necklace with an absurdly sized ruby sitting the middle, surrounded by smaller emeralds. Luna had joked that eating so many cakes would fatten her sister up, but this pony was plump on purpose; showing that she ate well enough to be noticed by all regardless of whether or not they had enough for a simple breakfast, let alone were starving to near death like she had been in this false world. Done on purpose to rub in the fact that she was on top and they were not. To show how greater she was than her sister. Looking up at her face, Luna bit her lip to keep from crying out. There was a pretence of kindness that was over another face; the real pony had a face of kindness with only kindness beneath it as well. It was the eyes that sold Luna to the truth; her sister’s eyes had love and warmth for all but this pony’s only had cold, heartless steel. Scorching knelt before the throne, bowing before the Empress. Luna stood where she was, refusing to give this mockery that satisfaction. “Kneel before your better.” The Empress spoke with the same voice of Celestia, but there was a sharpness in it that would cow any other pony hearing it, making them fall to obey and serve her. Luna did nothing, simply looking over the pony on her sister’s throne - she nearly flinched when she saw the tentacle. Looking upwards, she saw the unconscious form of the dream demon hovering above her head, with a few tentacles still attached to the Empress’s horn and head, enough to keep it in control. This was a mockery of everything her sister was, and at that moment she felt a hatred for the creature responsible that was greater than any she had felt before in her life. “Kneel,” The Empress spat, food falling out her mouth. Luna flicked her eyes back to the Empress, remaining quiet and upright. “The Empress told you to kneel,” Scorching spat, kicking her legs out from under her and causing her to fall to the floor. The Empress chortled at this, more food falling down her barrel and staining her coat. Luna’s eyes darted over to Scorching and she saw a bit of unease in his eyes which calmed her as it showed her plan was working. “So have you decided to accept the punishments for your many crimes?” she asked Luna, with the mare remaining stoically silent. At that, The Empress let out a disappointed sigh, shaking her head.  “I wonder how you can stand her Scorching, after she killed your beloved Cadance.” “The daily beatings I give her help ease the pain,” Scorching replied in a dark tone. The Empress laughed, a chilling laugh that sent shivers up Luna’s spine. “That is always a pleasure to hear,” she said before turning to look at Luna. “Your death would make so many happy, should you face the executioner's block and rid of us your loathsome presence at long last.” Luna narrowed her eyes, staying silent when Scorching stepped forwards. “My Empress; she has been locked away for years; how is she to know how much better off your ponies will be without her alive?” The Empress raised an eyebrow at this, tapping her chin. “How true,” she said, ripping off another piece of… whatever it was she was eating, Luna couldn’t quite tell, and shoveling it into her mouth. “I have an idea in mind; Scorching, as you are the only competent guard I have here along with being the only one that keeps her alive while my eye was not on her...” “My Empress?” he asked, raising an eyebrow. “I am ordering you to take her out to show how much happier my ponies will be without her remaining alive and how much they despise her.” “Your will be done,” he said, bowing low before glaring at Luna, using his magic to create a lead around her neck. “Come.” Luna made no effort to resist as he led her out of the room; the sooner she was away from that… thing that her sister had been turned into, the better. Scorching waited until they were alone before he looked at her. “I saw that thing on her,” he spat at her. “You were telling the truth. This world is nothing but a construct of a monster…” “As I sa-” “I do not care what you have to say; as long as you can give my sister back that life you claim she has, I will help you,” he growled at her. “Now come, we have to move quickly before she changes her mind.” Nodding her head, Luna followed him down the hallway.