.
Sing me a song of six crows and I shall hold court with you - ̡̰̺͖͈͇̹̞͖̻͐ͯ͊̃̍ͪ͗̋ͣ͗ͬͦ̚ͅͅͅ.̘̝͎́̂̊͒̍̽ͮ͌͒̇̈́̍̀ͪͯ̓́̀̀͌͡.̶̨̧̳̘̘̪̟̀͛̃̕͜ù̢̧̗͕̯̺̐̈́͊ͭͩ̏͐̔̏̔̃ͨͤ̊̂̂o̡̯̬̰̩͇͓͈ͣ̏̊ͤ̕͞͞͝ͅý̶̛̛̺̝̹͓ͫ̃ͩ̈̎̕̚ ̸̺̫̮̞̥̲̣̪̖͍̅̊ͦͫ̄̏ͤ̈́̏̐̍͋ͩͬ͗̏͝r̷̢̥̬̹̝̝͉̹̩͔͓̼͚͕̼͊̈́ͪ̂ͨ̋̉͐̅ͫͩ̔ͨ̓ͦ͌͊͑̿͘͘͡ͅo̵͉͖̹̞̺̘͍͔͙̻̳̖̖͕̹̩̺͂ͤ̿̃͘͠͡ͅf̤͎̼̱̹̭̭̯͕͢҉̷́ͦͤͩͬͤͬ̇̈ͩ ̷̛̜̱̤̠̟̠̭̯ͩ̎̊̽̈́͆̒ͪͤ̓̆ͥ̋̍̀ͬ̊͑ţ̵͎͓̯̱͎͈̗̐̈́̓̆̂͌̏ͯͣ͋͒͌̄͢s̸̷͙̱̥̼̜͕̖̘̭͓̤͚̦̱̠̕͏̏̆́ͦͩ͂̐͊̊͗͌ͩ̋͛̚r̵̸̷̼̗̫̟͓̗̯͓ͣ̏̾͌͛ͨ͋ͮ̈́ͪ̿ͥ̀̎̓̉̏ͥ̕͞i̦̱͕̣̘̬̜͔̙̰͇̦͔͚̠͏̷̡̛̆͌͊͗̆̅͒ͦ̍ͭ̓̑̊́̿̃̕F
'
Caged. Tormented beyond belief. This is what Twilight sees of her friends ahead. Adding to her sadness, at distance she did not notice the fallen scrolls beyond the walls of their respective prisons. Just out of reach, absurdly close. The same she'd sent in hope of contacting them. To have a means of communication so close to hoof and unable to so much as reach out and grasp it in any way can only have added to their torture. Why was this impossible thing, or whatever created it doing all of this? Her mind raced as the horrible ratcheting sound echoed and stopped with the otherwise grand puppet staring at her, it's head now on backwards. Glaring over the short thrones back, peering between it's own wooden wings. This could otherwise be amusing. Ridiculous to the point of hilarity even. Not now. Not here, like this.
Surrounded by the damp and pitch left her shuddering in the presence of this harbinger of pain and destruction. Coming near as she might dare only to hold outside what would be a normal ponies reach. The heft of the pressure all round was ever-present. Powerful as she was, this thing nearly exuded fear. What could this be? Never in all her life and learnings was something which felt so chill and hollow of feeling mentioned. No scary story, no night terror so intense as this once plagued her or others. Something about it felt forlorn. It spoke, regally, yet again higher pitched than seemed normal. Beyond the strange statement it made no further motion for the moment. Simply sitting there in repose.
Was this some kind of trick? Lulling her into a false sense of security was not something even remotely about to happen, so why? What did it mean by that anyway? This unworldly thing merely hanging to stare at her with those dull painted eyes was almost worse than being attacked. That would be clear intention. Doing nothing at all was somehow more concerning than were it to bring the entire place crashing down around them. The dead silence left still for ages felt as though broken by it speaking those words. This was a dead place. She shouldn't be here. None should. Conflicting feelings inside pushed forth. Twilight shook her head. This was so unnatural a dread she was now shaking throughout.
Her dear teacher and friend were so close and badly in need of help. No one could possibly stand up to this forever, not even them. Sneaking about in the heavy darkness proved entirely pointless. What to do now? Speaking with it was unlikely to resolve whatever was going on here, but what other choice existed? Summoning what faint prick of courage she could muster, Twilight hoped against hope to avoid a battle and spoke.
"Who are you?" She almost regretted saying it the instant it left her muzzle. For the briefest flicker she thought there was movement. No. Just imagining things. In that oddly regal tone it responded in a weirdly slow fashion.
"No. No, that shall not do at all. Thou art asking the wrong question and thus I give you a riddle." A response at least, but to receive it felt wrong in itself. A riddle? This entire situation was becoming stranger by the moment.
"What?" Was all she could manage to say. It must have taken this as invite to continue. Oh no.
"I once lived within the light but died when it shone on me, what am I and who killed me?" The strange caricature of life posed the question. Killed him? What? Twilight dare not blink as she pondered the riddle. That last part didn't seem to fit the style of the riddle preceding it. What kind of twisted game was this now? Should she take some other action?
"Hurry thy answer or face privy of me." That voice was jarring, authoritative and powerful. Disturbing as though something brushing softly past the ears so closely but more to be sensed than felt.
"You never said anything about a time limit, let me think." Twilight retorted. It's head tilted straight up as though she'd punched it or something to leave it contemplating the far above roof of the chamber. A moment later it slowly slid back down to glare at her in seeming malevolence once more. Was that a wise thing to say? She did not want to antagonize this ghostly construct.
"Granted, thou pediculous rakefire. Show me thy wits above yon fopdoodles or abscond ye rapscallion, lest facing doom thou seekest in fortune and spade." The..king? said, almost in scorn. What kind of speech was this? It was beyond antiquated and sounded insulting in tone.
"Come on Twilight, think. I learned so many lessons. What's the answer?" She thought to herself. The puppet remained motionless this entire time, lending to the already oppressive atmosphere the sense she might be leapt upon at any second. There was something else. As she considered, thinking hard, the answer came to her and it was disturbing.
"It can't be.." Twilight lost in thought finally decided she must act.
"I know the answer to your riddle." She stated confidently.
"Proof in puddings and deeds heralded, speak it in earnest." The voice alone was enough to bring shudders to the flesh. Cool, respectful and cajoling at the same time. It almost seemed wanting to hear her answer correctly. Did that make any sense? There was so much unknown here she might as well be forthright about it all. If this thing could be dissuaded from continuing the path so far followed then any risk must be taken. What if her answer was in fact, wrong?
"What you are is a shadow, and the sun killed you." Twilight said, apprehensively as it was spoken. At this the puppet once more raised it's head skyward and let out something more akin to a saddened heartbroken yowl than anything coherent.
"What in the world?" Twilight couldn't help but say as the puppet quite suddenly flopped off the throne on the ground in a heap like the dead thing it was, the head steeply tilted off to the side like it just died there. What was happening? She glanced about in fear as the echo of that horrendous screech died off to leave them in silence once more.
Those ethereal cables were still hanging above the thing to disappear into thin air. Was this some kind of weird ruse? What was that all about? Not knowing whether to attempt stepping near the thing, she could see the two sisters barriers flickering. She must take definitive action swiftly and soon.
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The king is in his counting house..