Chapter Six
Those familiar claws were clawing up a not so familiar surface now. It seemed like a mix of stone and ivory. Something that you wouldn't expect out in the mountains where you knew they hid. What were they up to? In your state now, you could only watch as they scrapped towards whatever laid above.
It stopped at a window and you finally realized it had been ascending up a building, but what kind of building, you didn't know. The thing loomed its head over the window, obviously trying to get a look at whatever laid within.
There was a room, a familiar looking one at that, and single figure laying on a bed. You wondered what was interesting this demonic creature. It had to be the figure laying in the bed.
“Look familiar to you..?” The creature's voice suddenly asked.
It turned its head so you could get a better angle at the figure laying in bed. It was you. Holy crap that thing was right outside your window, and could easily get to you.
You needed to wake up, but you found yourself unable to. You continued to struggle to regain consciousness but obviously it wasn't working to any extent, as your body still laid peacefully in slumber on the bed.
“Don't worry.” The voice said, with a tinge of amusement. “We have no quarrel with the human that delivered us to this land.”
The claws finally continued ascending what you now knew was the tower in Canterlot castle that you resided in. They stopped at the pinnacle of the tower and you could finally look over the entirety of the castle from the highest view you had ever seen.
“We're here for other reasons...” Your view shifted to the highest tower in Canterlot castle where you could only guess Celestia resided. This was going to go very badly, you just knew.
The creature made a leap of faith, practically flying over to the other tower, digging its claws into the tower's surface. They reached and grabbed, pulling itself higher and higher. Eventually a balcony came into view and the unseen creature pulled itself up onto it.
The curtains behind the glass doors obscured anything from view within. You had a feeling that that would do little to keep the demonic thing at bay.
“Pay witness to fate, human.” And the claws jumped forward, not shattering the glass or anything of the like, but simply threw the glass doors open without making the slightest of sounds.
The room was surprisingly well lit despite the veil of night. The room was actually quite messy, with an excess of papers laying on areas of the ground that was not a common place to tread. Rotund bed was empty, but the covers were rustled, obviously indicating that someone had recently been resting there.
A certain princess sat at a desk lit by a single candle, enthralled by some literary device upon it. You prayed that Celestia would notice the intruder before it was too late. To your dismay, whatever was upon that desk was apparently too captivating for her to even spare a glance in the creature's direction.
You tried desperately to wrench yourself out of this state, and back into your own body. It was the only thing you could do. You felt like you were throttling around violently, but no change of scenery or state indicated otherwise.
“It seems your stuck with us for a bit longer, human.” It laughed. “Enjoy the show.”
The creature made a sudden leap and Celestia finally turned to notice her attacker. You tried to scream but couldn't. Right before an impact was made, you felt the world around you go black. You were no longer bearing witness to any evil act. You were simply stuck in some kind of mental void now.
But different sensations finally came back to you. You could feel a soft surface now and you finally were aware of where you had finally ended up.
You opened your eyes slowly and you found yourself back in your own body. You got up out of bed and looked at the window where the creature had been watching you. Some time had passed since the sun was already in the sky. You cursed as you realized that whatever that creature had done to Celestia must have done it hours ago since you nearly witnessed it.
As much as you knew you shouldn't, your curiousity was sparked, and you wanted to find out what had happened in that gap of time that you drifted in darkness. You went to the door and opened it slowly, sliding out when there was enough space.
At this point, you had a rough understanding of how the winding halls worked and you found it much easier to navigate through them on your own then previous attempts. At some point, you were so caught up in your fear that you almost did not notice the purple unicorn that was heading towards your guest quarters, trotting along happily with several books.
You ran right by her, and she turned to see what was happening. “Hey, what's wrong? Why are you running?”
You were finally pulled from your single track thought process to notice who you had completely ignored. When you realized who it was, you were slightly relieved. She would be at your side for this. You just had to explain it was all.
You ran back to her, where she was eying curiously, waiting for you to answer her question.
“Those things!” You exhaled. “I think they got Celestia!”
“What?!” The books surrounding her nearly dropped to the ground as the jolt of surprise caught off her magic for a single second.
You described what you had saw and experienced down to every detail, so that there would be no way she wouldn't believe you.
“That must be why she hasn't show up to the throne room today!” She exclaimed.
“Exactly!” You said with satisfaction.
A silence fell over you both as you continued to wrap your head around the situation.
“We need to see if she's okay.” Twilight finally said, making up her mind.
You opened your mouth to ask how, but were cut off.
“I know the way, just follow me up to her quarters, okay?”
You gave a hesitant nod. Everything was happening way too fast. You were still new to all of this, but you needed to assist in anyway you could. It was your own moral duty that compelled you to follow after her as she took off in a gallop.
You went into the throne room and found what Twilight had said to be true: the throne was vacant, and even the guards seemed a bit confused by the situation. Twilight ignored everything and kept galloping across the throne room to where the other hall began, containing the stairs leading up to the other tower.
You almost regretted telling her anything as you were having a hard time going up the winding staircase that wrapped around and around. How often were you going to be reminded of your bad shape in this world?
You were nearly on your knees when it ended. The door was locked tight, and Twilight was waiting patiently for you, still surrounded by her many books.
“Are you okay?” She asked.
You really wanted to say no, because you felt like passing out. But you didn't because you knew better. So you assured her that you were fine, and she turned her attention to the door.
“Princess?” She asked quietly. “Are you there?”
She gave a slight knock on the door with one of her hooves, but there was no answer. She gave you a worried look and you knew that she was scared.
You came to the door and gave a slightly heavier knock. “Celestia?” You asked hesitantly.
There was still no answer and with every second that passed, you believed in the events that had occurred last night more and more, and it seemed to be the same case with Twilight.
“We have to find a way in.” She decided.
You had no idea how to force the door open without causing yourself harm. But your time watching the show back on earth allowed you to think a bit outside of your own limits.
“Do you know any sort of lock picking spells or anything?” You asked innocently.
“I'm no thief!” She said, obviously offended you would even suggest a lock picking spell was in her repertoire.
“That's not what I meant!” You pleaded.
“Never mind, it's okay.” She gave you a look up and down. “Exactly how strong are humans?”
You couldn't lie about this one. “There's a huge diversity regarding that.” You said, your eyes dropping to the ground.
“Okay, let me clarify. How strong are you?”
“Average.. I guess.” You mumbled.
“Would you please try to get this open?” She asked politely.
Your stomach knotted up at the prospect, but you gave a weary nod. You had to try. You gave a guessing glance in Twilight's direction, and backed up several lengths. The door seemed bigger than you remembered it. That was just great, you fumed.
Threw your shoulder forward and began your lengthy charge at the door, hitting against it roughly. You felt a surge of pain shoot up your arm and you stepped back rubbing your shoulder and looking sadly at the results of your charge.
Nothing changed. The door was still the same as it had been and you felt like an idiot. That was definitely not worth the effort you had put into it and now you were sore. You felt like muttering some curses, but there was a purple unicorn sharing your presence and you really did not feel like using anything in your vocabulary that would be considered 'guttural.'
“At least you tried.” Twilight said encouragingly.
“Yeah, I know.” You said sadly.
Something popped into your head. You brought a hand up to your face for not thinking about it earlier.
Twilight seemed intrigued by your self punishment. “What is it?”
“Don't you have a teleportation spell?” You asked.
Her face lit up. “Oh, yeah! I do! Great idea!”
You through a hand behind your head in embarrassment. But nodded in acknowledgment of the compliment.
“Stand back.” She warned.
You did just that, backing up to the previous length you had been before you had taken a crack at the door.
Almost effortlessly, a pop of bright white sparks blinded you and she was gone. You stood there for a second, your mouth agape. You wished you could do stuff like that, it would be so much more easier then.
You waited patiently on the stairs for what seemed like forever until a scream tore through the tower. You shot up and raced to the door. Something bad must have happened, and you were afraid that Twilight was in danger.
You banged violently on the door, and surprisingly, it opened up. As you looked into the room, you soon noticed both Twilight and Celestia looming over her, a disappointed look in her face.
“To think you would go to such lengths for a human you barely know!” You heard Celestia say in a powerful voice.
“He meant what he said, I promise!” You heard Twilight plead.
“Oh, I'm quite sure he meant for you to do this, Twilight!”
You felt like you had just put yourself in the worst possible position, and you had brought Twilight along with you. You were still shocked to see Celestia was perfectly fine. But was that really that great when instead of in danger, she was piping mad?
Celestia saw you standing outside her door and marched on over to you.
“Human! What compelled you to convince my faithful student that I was in some imminent danger? Was this some prank? Some strange human trial?”
You shook your head, horrified at what you had done. You wanted to make a case for yourself but you couldn't find the voice when Celestia's was so dominating.
“I was simply feeling under the weather. But apparently a temporary moment of reprieve from the torrent of questions and formalities I have to put up with was too much to ask for.”
At this time, Twilight had retreated out of Celestia's quarters and went to your side as you were both being scolded by the princess.
“If you wanted to make a good impression of the human race, I don't believe you have done it.” She said, her eyes drilling into you like a power tool.
She turned her gaze back to her student. “I don't remember you being so gullible, Twilight. What is it you see in this human to make you believe everything he says, right after you've just met him?”
She was blushing from embarrassment and disappointment in herself. You couldn't help but feel bad for her, as you got her into this situation.
“Perhaps you should make your leave back to Ponyville early, Twilight.” Celestia finally said. You felt like a string had just broken as the situation's tension had reached its high point.
Twilight was on the verge of sad and embarrassed tears when Celestia returned her attention to you.
“I think it would be best if your presence was no longer in Canterlot as well, human.”
Now you knew what had really broke in the heat of the moment, your vocal strings. You couldn't find a word to say in your protest, and simply stood there, shattered.
Celestia took a step back into her quarters, ready to be done with both of you. Twilight suddenly regained her composure and brought her voice up to ask Celestia a single question.
“Can he come to Ponyville with me?”
Celestia eyed her with disbelief. She was obviously disappointed that her student would continue to sympathize with what she now believed was nothing more than a mischievous rapscallion.
“You would put yourself through this even further, Twilight?” She asked, her voice shaking with anger and disappointment.
“I'm not putting myself through anything. I'm asking you if I can take him with me back to Ponyville.” Her voice showed nothing of her previously shaken state.
Celestia finally sighed. “You're only going to bring yourself misery by doing this.” The door began to magically close. “Now begone.” Was all you heard as the door finally shut with a thump.
Twilight gave a sad smile and turned to you. “I'll take that as a yes.”
You weren't as relieved as her to have the permission to accompany her back to Ponyville. Now you were going to have to meet all the ponies you had seen on the show, and that wasn't something you were up for.
With a nervous gulp, you followed Twilight slowly back down the stairs, giving one last look at the door to Celestia's room.
What had caused her to be so bitter since your arrival? What game were those creatures playing at?