They were about to destroy the city, as their Goddess commanded, but it seemed as though fortune was on its side, as the first place they found themselves was a colossal library that undoubtedly had what they were here for in the first place.
Moving inside, they first encountered its librarian, the first mortal being that they've seen here. She was, clearly, fearful of them, and shook in their presence. When they demanded the location of the book they were looking for, she struggled to get her answer out, and told them that she didn't remember where it was. She even said that she didn't remember if she worked at the library or not. Upon hearing such a ridiculous excuse, Baron immediately beheaded the pony.
Now, they scoured the library in search of the book, ravaging through its contents, throwing books away carelessly if it wasn't the one they were looking for. Clearly, doing such a process repeatedly proved to be quite boring.
"Have any of you seen anything close to what we need to find?" Baron groaned, tossing away another book as he did so.
"I've got nothin'," Stiermann called out.
"Same here," Aurora sighed.
Baron ceased looking through the books, sighing, "We are never going to find this damned book, even if it is here!"
"An' what do ya want us to do, then?" Stiermann interjected, "Disobey th' Goddess?" He released a chuckle, "Like that's ever worked before, Baron."
"Well, unlike the time we found her, Your precious Goddess won't interfere with me putting my sword up your arse."
"Yea, well why don't ya see if ya can do it then, ya God-wannabe."
As the two began to argue, Aurora paid them no heed. She, unlike them, was focused on the task at hand. She continued looking through the books. She herself had started getting tired of looking through these things, but in the end she knew that it was absolutely necessary to do it.
"Anatomy... Encyclopedia... Art... World Mythos... Hist-"
Aurora did an immediate double-take. Luckily for her, she didn't toss books that wasn't the one she was looking for, she instead just put them back where she found them. After all, most of her early life was spent reading books, so she respected them far more than the other two with her.
Aurora once again took the book, analyzing it.
"The Mythos Chronology," yes, this had to be what they are looking for.
"I think I found it!" Stiermann and Baron, who now practically had their weapons out for battle, snapped their attention to her direction, so fast it made her flinch.
Baron began to stomp over to her, "You think?" He demanded.
"Give me that," and once he was in front of her, he snatched the book from her hands. He began to gloss over it, barely reading little. Nevertheless, it seemed to convince him that it was the one.
"It looks like we're done here," he announced, "Now we can destroy the city, starting with this library."
"That sounds like a plan t' me, Baron," Stiermann concurred, "But who's gonna get th' book t' th' Goddess? I'm sure she won't like us keepin' it from her."
"Oh, Aurora can do that," Baron said as he shoved the book back into Aurora's grasp, "she is the one who found it after all. And I know she's dying to gain some respect from the Goddess, so why not?" He turned to Aurora, addressing her, "All you have to do is not screw it up."
"That's easier said than done," Aurora commented.
"Yeah, and I don't care."
The two went off without another word, then started slicing through the library, destroying everything within their sight.
Aurora simply sighed, before running out of the library.
Aurora encountered notable things once she was out of the library.
First was that mortals were now occupying the streets, although in very small numbers. They all looked downtrodden, depressed. Aurora could see that they've seen horrible things done to them before their "Empire" disappeared.
Second was that the sky no longer seemed blue, more like a orange-ish color. Aurora didn't know what it meant, but with the mortals continuously gawking at it and running back into their buildings once they saw it, she assumed that it was bad, at least for them.
Despite this, she continued running passed all of them, paying nothing a mind. She had a more important task than to look at unimportant details.
In the distance, she saw the towering Crystal structure in the center of the city. She sped up, eager to get the book to her Goddess.
Then, just near the entrance, right when she was just about to enter, she felt something coming, fast. A speed she could only attribute to someone who was attacking.
She attempted to dodge out of the way, but was too slow for the rainbow blur that slammed into her side. She tumbled onto the ground, dropping the book as she did. After regaining her sense, she quickly tried to bring it back to her grasp, but she was beaten to it again, this time by a purple magic glow. She jumped up to her feet, enraged at who would dare to attack her.
A group of seven ponies, and a lizard thing that she assumed was a dragon of some sort.
The one who now carried the book in their magic, a purple unicorn, skimmed through it, possibly looking for a reason why Aurora had the thing in the first place.
The other six ponies looked at her with hostility (except for a pink one, who was doing her own thing, and a yellow one who hid behind the others). They took offensive stances around the unicorn.
"I don't understand," the unicorn said, confused, "why would you have this?"
"Because it belongs to me."
The book was suddenly snatched from the pony's magic, and into the magic of Zerstörung, who silently floated in the air behind them. The Goddess also took the dragon with her magic, grabbing it roughly by the tail, making it yelp in pain.
All of the ponies immediately turned their attention to the Goddess, all surprised by her sudden appearance. A rainbow one prepared to charge against her, but the Goddess spoke again.
"If you value the life of your dragon friend, then I suggest you all stay where you are. For if you don't..." she raised the dragon, as if for emphasis, "I'll make sure he suffers."
The ponies were frozen in place, unsure of what to do. Aurora decided to watch what would happen what was to unfold.
Cadence, that fool. Telling me that Twilight Sparkle and the other ponies who were immune to my magic were coming to destroy me. How cute.
Of course, I knew that I simply couldn't just charge in. I needed a bargaining tool to get to them. I luckily found one in a form of a dragon.
Now, with him in my grasp, the ponies below me were now in an uncomfortable position, unable to attack me and risking the life of their precious friend. They all looked at one another, unsure what to do.
"I'll make you a deal," I declared, my voice returning to normal, "leave this city, and never come back, and your friend lives, although he's going to have to stay with me."
"WHAT!?" They all screamed in unison.
"We're not saying yes to that!" The rainbow one shouted.
"Yeah, you big meanie!" The pink one agreed.
"I need my bargaining tool," I responded, "and if it makes you feel better, I promise that I won't inflict any harm to him."
I hate making promises. As a warrior (like I used to be), one likes to have honor. And breaking a promise was anything but honorable. So while I liked to inflict pain, I couldn't do it if honor was on the line.
After saying that, the Orange one was giving me a suspicious look. Twilight, meanwhile, looked as if she was thinking about it. Good. At least one of them seemed sensible.
"...Where's Cadence?" a male voice suddenly announced.
I looked over to a white unicorn stallion with a blue mane, who I assumed to be Shining Armour. There seemed to be some weird rocks covering his horn, but that was the least of my concerns.
"Oh, don't worry about her, she still lives and breathes. I even took her mantel in keeping a shield around this city."
Now why did I do that? Because Cadence also told me that the power hungry mortal was also making his return, and that he was quite powerful. I don't know about you, but I'm not one who likes to multitask. I'd rather focus on one thing and moving on to the next.
After my answer, the Shining sighed in relief. Gullible idiot. Cadence was alive, yes, but I never said anything about her atrocious physical condition.
"Now," I began to apply pressure, "come to a decision; leave, or your little friend, and Cadence, will perish. In fact, I'll give you five seconds. Five."
The ponies suddenly began to look at one another again.
"Four."
Now they began a heated conversation with Twilight, who I assumed probably cared about the Dragon more than anyone else in the group.
"Three."
Shining began espousing about Cadence and how he can't lose her.
"Two."
Now everyone began to interject the other, with no conversation being done. Mortals. Always when they're put into stressful situation they argue and fight, and get no work done.
"One."
"Alright."
...I stand corrected.
Twilight stepped forward, and begged, "We'll do anything, just... please, don't hurt Spike." Her eyes were filled with sadness, something which I thrived upon.
There was a stunned silence, at least for Twilight's friends. Shining Armour, on the other hand, still looked relieved.
"And I'm going to stay too," he then declared with confidence, stepping forward.
"WHAT!?" By the Gods, their shouting is about to destroy my ears.
"Shiny! You can't be serious!" Twilight shouted. This whole thing, by the looks of it, was breaking her. After all, not only was she losing one person who was close to her, but two others as well. I was delightful at that.
"I'll be fine, Twily. I promise," Shining assured her, "Cadence is still alive, and she promised not to hurt Spike, too. There's nothing to worry about."
"But-" Twilight attempted to argue more, but found nothing to go upon. No, I'm serious, absolutely nothing. She didn't bring up to question that I could torture him as I did Cadence, but then again, I said nothing about that.
"Alright..." Twilight finally yielded, turning to me with a depressed look, "is that acceptable?"
"I suppose," I accepted, "now move along, as you promised, and I'll do as I have."
Slowly, they began to walk along, with Twilight's friends doing their best to comfort the now seemingly broken pony.
Once they were far enough, I called, "Aurora."
She quickly ran over, "Yes, My Lady?"
I continued to stare over to where Twilight and her group of friends were, "The purple unicorn. She seems dangerously attached and committed to those I forced her to leave behind. I have my suspicions that she won't leave the city. Follow her."
"Yes, My Lady!" She said, before running off after them.
I turned over to Shining Armour, who had a worried look on his muzzle, but wisely didn't say anything.
"By all means," I smiled, "follow me."
As we began walking back to the tower's, I heard the dragon (which I had somehow forgotten about) speak.
"Uhh... can you put me down now?"
"...No," he groaned at that.
I may not be able to harm him, but that didn't meant I couldn't make him as uncomfortable as possible.