//------------------------------// // Faltering Light // Story: Terror Puppet // by Windrunner //------------------------------// ' Be scattered like falling leaves.. - Sadness. Sorrow. Regret. Wrath. Cold. That scratching sound you heard at night. What you thought was there outside the window that one time. Something just out of sight behind a tree, making for distrust over what the senses present to you. The sort of cold that silences the world when it falls. This is in feeling what seems to emanate from the chamber ahead which Twilight surveys, approaching with all the apprehension one about to face a rising storm head on might build inside. That sweeping chill unlike any encountered before. If cold could take manner of physical form, it would be in this place. Far from light and warmth. All goodness in this vile breach of reality having been sucked away as if by some great confluence of malignance. Three daises stood in the center of the chamber upon which resided two cages on either side, containing both Celestia and Luna. Both appeared to be continually casting magic that placed clear strain upon even them. On the center directly between them both stood another of those horrific constructs whose origin still remained an unknown. It did not look to be representing anypony she knew, but an alicorn in aspect. More surprising to her, clearly a stallion whose height possibly overshadowed Celestia herself. Something about seeing it there unmoving set off alarm bells deep inside. Enough to make her shudder. So far each had been an obvious imitation of someone she knew and was real. Was this pale imitation of life a copy of a stallion who actually lived now or in the past? How could it be she was unaware of such an alicorn? Her knowledge of history and royal lineage denoted nothing of anyone who looked like this. If it was a true copy as the others then she was facing something far more dangerous still. An all out fight between alicorns was enough to destroy entire buildings or easily end each others lives. He or rather it held an oddly regal air about it. Above as before, those twisting ethereal cables she was unable to trace back to whoever or whatever was controlling them. The lack of movement was somehow more concerning. Twilight nearly gasped audibly seeing all of this. That would have been a quick giveaway. It for all intents and purposes was doing nothing whatsoever. Guarding her friends perhaps? She was unnoticed for the moment, giving time to take in the vastness of the chamber. It must be at least a couple of miles in diameter. Very unusual. The twisted looking cages appeared to be made out of some unrecognized metal and some color as if void of it. The bars translucently shimmering, they looked to be shifting around their captives. Both prisoners spells were obviously barriers consuming so much power they could do nothing else but focus on holding them up or be crushed by cruel steel. A disturbing prospect. Were they trying to kill them? Did any alicorn ever die in such a manner? An unnerving thought. As Twilight went to step into the room she immediately fell on her side as some great pressure pushed down on her like a mountain. "Oof! What is this?" She groaned and strained under the weight of it. The first to take note of her presence was Celestia. She'd definitely seen the motion. It did not appear the puppet or whatever gave them to motive action had. Celestia said nothing and almost looked to be trying to point, unable to so much as lift a hoof off the floor of her cage. The frustration present on her face was such that Twilight never saw a sight like it before. Everything else, but never like that. Not from her. Luna was in no better shape. Perhaps worse. Never having been quite as powerful as her sister the strain was obvious. If either let their focus break they would stand no chance of survival. Why would anything do something this reprehensible? Surely, neither of them deserved this. They were pleasant and decent rulers, as prone to error as anypony else but admitted to any fault in the past and now. Slowly, Twilight managed to regain use of her hooves. It was not quite possible to acclimate to the strange pressure throughout the chamber. She must find a way to reach and free them from their torment. This was unthinkable. Further, even if she could get there then what about the puppet? Did it actually have an alicorns power? Certain that the two roving about the castle like they owned the place did have such power, this one likely had just as much. It might have even more. Was it responsible for the surrounding feelings, of the weight and sense of suffering? Did anything this powerful actually exist? Enough to hold not one but two alicorns prisoner through sheer force on its own and nothing else? It defied belief. Twilight found herself wishing another alicorn were with her. On her own even she, the once representative of magic itself was struggling just to remain upright and move forward. Could she even engage in battle this way? If that thing made a move, could she really hold it off like this? This was dangerous. Still lacking her friends, she worried over whether they were coming. Rainbow did promise after all. There was no time to wait for them, even if they were heading straight to her at this very moment. Should those faltering barriers collapse she would bear witness to her mentors horrific execution. All alone it would be only through a great deal of skill and the will to free loved ones that she might stand the slightest chance against something with perhaps more power than herself. Mentally bracing for very rarely engaged in direct combat and fighting back tears against the surrounding feelings of fear and sadness, she took those slow heavy hoofsteps into the dark of the immense chamber and towards whatever fate awaited her within. --- Terror is best dressed in silence..