Pixel Bit stared at the cold crystal wall that had once provided his escape, quietly examining the quiet stone structure through the one good lens of his glasses. He was standing in a small crater of sorts that used to hold all of the earth that had cascaded into the catacombs when they blew the wall out, disrupted soil shifting beneath his uneasy hooves. The deep red stone seemed to taunt him with a quiet, smug satisfaction. Looking closer, Pixel could see the patterns of the clouded crystal shifting slightly, the dark magic within them flowing throughout the structure. He tried to search for any sort of crack or fracture in the wall, but it was solid as ever, possibly even more so. It seemed that even the breach in the rock resulting from the roots of the old tree outside had been sealed up, pristine and foreboding as ever.
This effort was futile. Pixel knew it was. Even if he had found his way back in, would he really have the courage, energy, or stupidity to set hoof back inside that blasted maze? No. Probably not. He just couldn't help thinking about what Sunlight was inevitably going through... Who knew what Twilight was willing to do? She was obviously far gone from the princess she once was, twisted by whatever magic was holding onto her with its malicious tendrils, slowly bleeding away every ounce of her equinity.
Though, a niggling thought kept rising to the top of Pixel's mental pool. Back outside Twilight's castle, she could have easily killed him and his group with relative ease, blasting them all to quarks in less than a second. It would have been easy, what with her powerful alicorn magic, natural affinity for spell crafting, and virtually non-existent restraint, yet, here he was, alive and mostly unharmed save for a couple minor flesh wounds and missing feathers.
And she could have easily slit everyone's throats while they were unconscious, but no, she had thrown them all down in the dungeons after confiscating their stuff. And hell, she could have just left them to starve, cold and alone! But no, instead, she had left them with sufficient food and water to sustain them, most likely with the intent of keeping them alive! As far as Pixel could gather, she had nothing to gain from keeping them as diplomacy seemed to not be much of a motivator for her.
And if she had really wanted them dead, she could have simply struck them all down while they tried to make their escape, but instead, she had let them go... And Pixel wasn't sure, but he thought that maybe he had seen Twilight hesitate, maybe for less than a second. It was simple, but it was there, and with all the information stacked against her, there was something that Pixel was sure of. Twilight didn't want them dead. There was something holding her back.
He guessed he should be thankful, what with the fact that without that mysterious force, he would have been blasted to Tartarus and back a couple times over, but he still couldn't help but feel the slightest bit uneasy at the concept of another piece in play...
Pixel felt a hoof on his withers, looking over to see Whisper standing beside him. "Pixel, c'mon. We're going." She said quietly, waving him towards the rest of the group, already on their way to depart. Pixel glanced back towards the wall for a second. He must have zoned out for a minute or two. "The princesses say they know a safe spot for us to rest for a bit." Whisper continued as Pixel followed close behind her. "They said it wasn't far, so we shouldn't be walking too long."
Pixel was thankful for that at least. Now that he was out in the open air, he could feel all his strength fading away, the idea of simply passing out for a while seeming reasonably appealing right now. Focusing on his breathing, he let himself go into autopilot, one hoof in front of the other, as the sounds of the forest blended into the background. He stretched out his wings, feeling a warm breeze filter through the blue-tipped feathers, letting all the craziness of the last couple days fade away, if only for a second.
Breathing slowly, Pixel overheard snippets of light conversation from the group in front of him, all the conversations melting into nondescript noise. He tried not to let it concern him though, as he followed loosely behind the group, folding his wings back by his sides.
Whisper glanced back at Pixel before focusing back on the loose path that the princesses were leading them on. She shielded her eyes with a wing, the thin membranes keeping most of the midsummer heat out of her eyes. Now that the sun was beating down on her like this, she almost wished she was back in the cool, dark labyrinth. Sure, she was being chased by a psychotic purple alicorn, but at least she didn't have to deal with this Celestia damned sun!
She kept her eyes on the ground beneath her as she weaved through the trees, following down the same unmarked path as the others before her. Now that she thought about it, she was starting to wonder how Pixel was navigating it all, all spaced out like that. Must have been some sort of weird pegasus thing… Flight instincts or something.
Regardless, weaving through the wilting greenery, sun shining brightly through the browning leaves, it made her miss her home, with her little cottage in the forest. Truth be told, she had never been away from her village before. Not really, anyway. Sure, she had taken the occasional trip into the forests surrounding the town, but that was about as far as she got. She could never really bring herself to leave the safety of the town, usually preferring to slink quietly back into the shadows of her home. Nothing could ever hurt her in there...
But now she was here... Away from home... Where there was danger around every corner, and a monster almost certainly breathing down her neck. It wasn't the best arrangement, but she guessed she would have to make do. She guessed she was relatively safe, at least compared to back in the labyrinth. She should have been happy that they were all out of there, but the fact that Sunlight had stayed behind, voluntarily or not, it made her question if maybe she would be the only one to meet the same fate, whatever that happened to be. There was really no way to know what was being done to Sunlight, but chances were it wasn't nice.
Whisper blinked, gazing skywards as her surroundings darkened. It seemed that as they proceeded further into the forest, the trees had grown thicker and thicker, eventually beginning to blot out the sun. She lowered her stiff wing, letting it fall unceremoniously by her side. She was thankful that the sun was a lot more bearable at least, but this sort of place really wasn't helping her nerves. At least she had these ponies with her. She hoped that they were at least faring better than she was. She had heard whispers of a name. Everfree, she thought. Whatever it meant, it undoubtedly wasn’t a good sign.
Sunlight followed closely behind Twilight, who had just begun back up the staircase to the ground levels of the castle. She was tense, and she had every right to be. She was being held in a mazelike castle by a veritable goddess that could tear her to shreds in a million different ways the second she got on her bad side. Following that lavender tail through the winding halls of the corrupted castle of friendship, she could only wonder what the deranged princess could possibly have in store for her.
"You're probably wondering what I could possibly have in store for you."
That was fast.
"I… yes…" Sunlight admitted. "Why keep me? I'm not useful to you."
Twilight chuckled as they reached the main hall of the castle. "My subject, Sunlight was it? You're going to be very useful to me, Sunlight. You just don't know it yet…"
Twilight's answer made Sunlight fidget uncomfortably. She still didn't really know what was going to happen to her, but she could only hope that her friends would return for her.
But would they? They had only known each other for a few days at most. She had spent a lot of time with them, sure, but they had never really gotten to know each other. And for Celestia's sake, Bass clearly hated her. It made her wonder if she had found a group of true friends that would go to the ends of Equestria for her, or if they were only putting on a show, hoping to appease her long enough to ditch her when the mission was over.
The thought was scary, the concept of being taken advantage of, ponies pretending to be someone that you could confide in before getting what they needed and moving on. Was that what she had with the others? Were they just working with her because she had been assigned to them, or did they actually care for her, despite their short time together? Was the sacrifice she made worth it?
Well, she guessed it didn't matter now. She had been taken by Twilight, and by some sort of miracle, she had decided to spare Sunlight's life. It didn't really matter if she was saved or if she wasn't, she was most likely going to die here anyway.
She looked up, realizing that the gigantic doors to the throne room were slowly being wrenched open by Twilight's magic, crystal grinding crystal as the door refused to budge, but opened anyway, compelled by Twilight's sickly green aura.
Inside, a crystal table stood, a map of greater Equestria projected onto it. In the center, a dark cloud hovered over their current position, tracking Twilight's influence. Luckily, it didn't extend past the outskirts of Ponyville. Behind the table, a singular throne stood, bearing the cutiemark of the princess. Around the table were six piles of blackened rubble, what remained of six identical thrones. Even the stained glass windows were shattered into a million tiny shards, swept haphazardly to the edges of the room, the beautiful patterns lost to the ages.
But what Sunlight saw at the edges of the room was what shocked her the most. Standing tall in clouded formations of solid crystal, stood the other elements of harmony, faces contorted in rage. Their widened stances and thrashing hooves, locked in a single instant were a telltale sign of a fight, one which they had obviously lost.
"W-what happened to them?" Sunlight asked, her voice quivering.
Twilight frowned, stepping into the center of the room. "They forgot their place."
Sunlight continued to stare, stunned. "D-did you... Are they-"
"Of course they're still alive..." Twilight snarled. "Not much use to me dead." She paused, taking a moment to recollect herself, staring off out the broken stained glass window. "They were my friends. They don't deserve to die. Besides, what kind of queen would I be if I had killed my most faithful subjects?"
Sunlight turned to Twilight. If she hadn't been scared of her before, then she certainly was now. But she still felt a sort of understanding. This Twilight was the same as she had ever been, but… different. She wasn't quite sure how to explain it to herself, but it was like a switch was flipped that had changed her moral alignment. She still wanted the best for everypony, but she had a different way of going about assuring that.
"Are you going to do the same to me?" she asked, glancing at the five ponies, frozen in crystal. "Are you going to take me as some sort of twisted trophy?"
Twilight smiled sweetly, which given the circumstances, didn't tend to be too comforting. "No Sunlight, you're going to help me." The phrase sent chills down Sunlight's spine. "I wasn't able to get through to my friends. They all rejected my gifts of power. They had said I'd changed, and they were right. I'm not too foolish to not know that I've been corrupted. But I was rash. If they wouldn't join me, to help me expand my empire, to bring me into a new age of prosperity, I would just have to… convince them… You see, I gave them a portion of my insight. A portion of my magic. And it would seem that they were not able to bear this gift of mine, and lashed out, their minds much too far gone."
Sunlight quivered. "But what does this have to do with me?" she asked, voice uneven.
"Over time, I have perfected this spell," Twilight said carefully, lighting her horn. "worked out all the missteps, the little kinks in the incantations that would keep me from my goals."
"You mean-?"
"Let me into your mind, Sunlight Bliss. Into the corners that you hide even from yourself. Let me see your secrets, your fears, your doubts. Let me in, and I will change you, moulding you into the perfect specimen… Let me into your mind…"
Sunlight felt a searing pain run through her skull as Twilight's magic took hold, her magical aura arcing between their horns, each unicorn's power battling for domination. It wasn't long before Sunlight gave out, her aura dissipating as she fell limp to the floor. Her vision began to blur as she felt Twilight's influence in every aspect of her being. She could feel Twilight's rage, her pride, and the evil energy melding Twilight to its will. And Twilight was letting that energy into her mind. She could feel herself slipping away from the mortal realm, her only thoughts being of her friends, and the frightening cackle of the corrupted alicorn.
"You will make a wonderful ally, Sunlight. A wonderful ally indeed…"