"Hello there. I am Anon."
You hadn't expected to feel as secure as you do speaking to the ponies for the first time, but the sense of glee coursing through your system stifles any anxiety you might've had about this, and your voice comes out intense and confident. The purple unicorn takes a tentative step forward. "Twilight Sparkle." she says in a frailer tone, and raises a hoof to gesture towards the other ponies. "These are my friends, the Elements of Harmony. Applejack... Rarity... Pinkie Pie... and Fluttershy."
You catch Sweetheart's eye(the one not hidden under her mane) and are taken slightly aback by the trepidation you can sense emanating from the yellow pegasus. For a moment, you feel like a dangerous predator hovering over another's pup and feel ashamed. "Uh... why don't you guys come in?"
Twilight frowns, seemingly weighing her options. Unlike you, the little ponies seem much more skittish now that you're able to talk to them. "It's perfectly safe-" you start before an earthquake distracts all of you. With loud rustling sounds, trees sprout out of the ground all around you like some absurd mushrooms, so unnaturally close together that you could not possibly squeeze out and leave the Castle entrance. You and the non-winged are effectively trapped.
The great Castle ruins in front of you warp and bend to form a grotesque, scowling face. Every entrance, crack and hole spews out demonic flames, terrifying all of you, particularly the yellow pegasus, who ducks down onto the ground and buries herself under her front hooves, shivering and making squeaky noises.
"Skinny, ah don't think Health and Safety covers this..." Applejack quips, and you would've been surprised to hear the distinctive southern twang in her voice were you not busy being scared. The tough farmer mare laughs nervously and hides her own face behind her Stetson to disguise her chattering teeth. "S-say, where'd you put the fluffle bat? Doesn't this..." she waves vaguely towards the fierce Castle-face-of-doom. "... sorta fall under his jurisdiction and whatnot?"
You gulp and slowly point towards the Castle as an answer, but the Castle squints right back at you and begins to speak in a reverberating bass tone: "Trespassers! You are unwelcome here! Return the Amulet you have taken to the Care Taker, and your lives... may yet be spared."
Bravely, Twilight steps up in front of the group. "As the student of Princess Celestia, I demand to know who you are!"
"Yeah! This Castle was a cutesy tenor the last time I was here!!" Cutie Pie adds indignantly, biting her lip in her best approximation of an angry expression.
The Castle grinned, the flames inside turning into a chilling blue. "I am the one that will destroy you all unless you surrender the Amulet now."
You're about to answer, but your attention is drawn away by the sight of Eris floating up next to a Castle window, chomping on a cigar. She puts the cigar right into the blue fire's way to light it, but it doesn't react at all, making her raise an eyebrow and spit it out. She shakes her head at you.
"... No." You say. "If you want the Amulet, you'll have to do your worst."
Sweetheart lets loose her loudest squeak yet. The rest of the ponies all stare at you in shock.
Rarity pulled on what was left of your sleeve. "Skinny, dear, I hate to be contrary, but could you please not encourage the evil castle to grill us all?"
"I think you mean roast us all." The pink pony points out. "Although, now that you brought it up, I think we'd taste better grilled." She tapped her pink hoof against her chin in genuine thought.
"We'll be fine." You say and daringly step closer to the Castle entrance.
"Oh, I hope you know what you're doing..." Twilight mumbles.
The flames turn a fearsome red in warning. "Stay back!!" the Castle yells. "I will burn your miserable hides to the bone!"
"Then get on with it!"
You jump through the doorway and the flames vanish without a trace. Outside, the trees disappear back into the ground as well. As you look around the Castle, you see that there are no burn marks anywhere. Even the royal carpet and banners are intact and not even singed black.
Twilight and the rest of the Elements trot in after you. "An illusion spell. I thought as much." The purple unicorn explains with a breath of relief.
"Oh? Then why were you shiverin' with the rest of us silly fillies?" Applejack asked with a playful smirk. "Got a cold?" She nudged Twilight.
Cutie gasped. "I forgot to bring cough syrup! Do you think Zecora might have some?"
Twilight groaned and rolled her eyes. "Okay, okay, I got scared too!"
"Nuthin' to be ashamed of, sugarcube."
Sweetheart's eyes darted around. "A-are we sure it's... safe?"
"An illusion spell is just that." Twilight explained in a reassuring voice. "We should be fine."
As the ponies talk amongst themselves, you take a good look around the hall. You're starting to have a good guess of what's been happening to you since you arrived in the Castle, and you're becoming quite angry. "Where are you, Care Taker?! Come out!" You roar, the voice echoing down the corridors.
The only answer you get is a dazed thestral that falls through the roof. Twilight immediately trots towards him, poking at his face with her snout. "Crimson Star?! You okay?"
Rarity was right behind him, staring at the bat pony's grimy bandages. "Oh, look at his poor hooves! We must take this young stallion back to Ponyville post-haste!"
Shaggy mumbled incoherently, his eyes rolling around in their sockets. "Eight Twilight Sparkles...? I'm good. Just need a nap." He briefly loses consciousness, only to immediately wake up again, recovered. "The Alicorn Amulet! Miss Twilight, Skinny's got it. He could be dangerous!"
"We noticed that." Twilight says, and frowns towards you. "But first I want to know what it was doing in the Castle to begin with."
Applejack nudges her. "Stop that!" Twilight snorts. She nudges her again. "What?!"
Twilight looks in her direction to see an old white-maned blue earth pony that she'd never met before, standing in a doorway. His cutie mark is that of an elaborate snowflake crossed with an axe.
"Hello, ma'am. I am Care Taker. I... apologise for trying to deceive you. I suppose my old circus tricks don't hold up in this day and age."
He walks up to Twilight and bows courteously. "It was a rather embarrassing last ditch attempt to retrieve the Amulet from this creature." Care Taker says, pointing a hoof at you.
"Why was it with you to begin with?!" Twilight demands loudly. Using her magic, she creates a two-dimensional screen depicting a young blue mare with a dark cape covering her flank. She has the Amulet around her neck, and fearsome red eyes to boot. "After we retrieved the Alicorn Amulet from 'the Great and Powerful' Trixie, I gave it to Zecora for safekeeping." The image shifts to show the zebra dude who'd taken you, Shaggy and Angel in yesterday. "Did you steal it??" she glares at Care Taker.
"And why would I do that?" Care Taker asks in a droll voice. "I'm an earth pony. The Amulet doesn't even register me, much less let me take over Equestria. In fact, Zecora gave it to me, for safekeeping. And since I thought nobody but superstitious thestrals would ever come here, it seemed the perfect place to keep it."
Twilight discards the spell.
You snarl. "I don't appreciate being fucked around with like it was pinball. You knew Shaggy- I mean, Crimson Star was a Guard." You hold up a finger to accentuate your words. "With the Princess's authority, no less. You could've told us the truth."
Care Taker is unmoved by your fury and gives your finger a dismissive look. "Oh? Were you looking for the Amulet? I'm so sorry, sir, I wasn't aware." He deadpans.
"Neither was I." Shaggy mumbles, still lying on the floor because of his damaged hind hooves. The bat's ears drooped. "The Princess ordered me to find out anything I could about Skinny. When he ran off, I figured I'd follow him and try and get some insight into what he wants. I had no way of knowing he was after the Amulet..." He shook his head sadly.
"Alright, now hold up!" You say angrily. "What's with all the long faces? I can finally talk to all of you because of this Amulet! I mean, we should be having a party here!"
Silence.
"Where's Angel? My bunny, I mean." Sweetheart suddenly asks. You feel a wave of resentment coming over you at her lack of reaction towards the gift you think the Amulet has given you. Clenching your teeth, you pat your body over to check where the damn rabbit had gotten to. "He, uh... well, he was around here somewhere..." you burn hot with embarrassment.
Fortunately, the pitter-patter of small paws running towards Sweetheart out of the gloom of the Castle corridors saves you.
"Ohhh Angel!" Sweetheart exclaims and gallops past you to hug the happy bunny. "Don't EVER run off like that again, do you hear?! I was so so so worried!!"
You roll your eyes at the melodramatic reunion and turn back towards the other ponies. Care Taker gives you his usual stern expression. "The Alicorn Amulet is amongst the darkest magic ever known to Equestria." He explains. "The fact that you're able to use it in any capacity means we're expecting you to try and kill us all any second now."
Behind him, invisible to everyone but you, Eris makes petty devil horns behind his head with her paw and claw, snickering to herself. It forces a smirk out of you. "Well, I guess it's just lucky I don't feel like going on a rampage." The ponies take your joke literally, all taking one step back and gasping. You facepalm, and rub your tired eyes.
"Guys. I don't know how else to put this, but I'm not evil."
The pink pony rushes over to you and sniffs around your ankles with a comically large magnifying glass held in front of her. "Hmm... I say... Chaotic Neutral!" she declares with a self-satisfied smile to the rest of the group, who give her blank stares in return.
Finally, Twilight shakes her head. "Okay, okay, we need to prioritize! The longer we stay in this damp Castle, the worse Crimson Star will get. Applejack, I need you to find some wood and build a quick stretcher. We can use part of the carpet for canvas."
"Right! Be back in no time." The farmer mare says and gives a military salute before dashing off to the woods outside.
"Rarity, you and I will levitate him back to Ponyville." Twilight instructs. "If we follow the main road and gallop, we should be back there in about three hours."
Rarity strokes the now-shivering bat on his furry head and says to him in a sweet, motherly tone: "Now-now, Crimson. You just hold steady and we'll have you in a..." she pondered for a second. "... a nice cozy cave in no time at all! Oh, Twilight, I do think this bat has got a fever! Don't you think Zecora's hut might be a better option for him?"
Twilight shakes her head. "She might've patched him up, but he needs a real nurse." She glanced through the open doorway. "Pinkie, go find Applejack and tell her to hurry!"
The fluffy pink pony(who'd busied herself with building a surprisingly pretty mini-Castle of the Two Sisters out of rubble) perks up. "Oki-dokey!" Bouncing lightly on her hooves, she hops away.
"We should move him to my room until you get the stretcher ready. There's a brazier there. At least it'll keep him warm." Care Taker suggests. Twilight nods and looks at you expectantly.
Trying to be as gentle as possible, you pick the sickly bat off the floor and follow Care Taker back to his hideout, with Twilight, Rarity, Sweetheart and Angel trailing right behind you.
"Miss Sparkle..." Shaggy groans as you put him down onto a pile of hay, gaining the purple unicorn's attention.
She trots over to him, with a very reassuring and slightly apologetic smile on her snout. "Just try to relax."
"Miss Sparkle, I... I left it... over there... I..." he runs out of energy to speak, and gestures vaguely towards a pile of wood near the burning brazier. On it lies the now-dried out saddle bag that you'd found.
Twilight frowns. "Is that...?" Using her magic, she levitates the bag to herself. "It is! That's my bag! What's it doing here? Did you steal this?!" She glares at you.
You hold up your hands defensively. "No! No, me and Shaggy here, we found it in the forest. I was looking for the spot where I woke up at when I first got here. And it was just kind of... well, there. I noticed it looked like your, uh... well, those pictures you got on your butts..."
"Cutie marks." Twilight interrupts.
"Yeah, those... anyway, I noticed it was yours so I thought maybe you lost it."
Twilight examines the bag under the light from the brazier. "It is definitely mine... it has my name written in it. But I know for a fact that all of my saddle bags are back home and accounted for." She tapped her chin in thought. "Yes, Spike and I reordered the library just two weeks ago, and I'm positive I haven't been to the Everfree Forest since then... was there anything in the bag?"
You think back. "Uh... some dead fruit, some feathers and a few soggy papers, I think."
Twilight's eyes lit up in a really freaky fashion. It's like she gets stars in her eyes. "Scrolls?!"
"Yeah, could've been."
She blinks, her happy expression hardening. "Could've... been? You... do still have the scrolls, right?"
You take a step back. "They were soggy... so, we didn't..."
Twilight takes a step closer. "You didn't... what?" Madness gleams in her eyes.
"... We-we threw them away." You finally confess.
The purple mare growls and tramples her hooves against the floor in frustration. Still, better than the mental skewering she was doing to you a moment ago. "Nnnngh! I don't believe this! I could've dried those out and gotten a clue!"
Sweetheart rubs her on the back. "It's okay. I'm sure we'll figure it out once we get back to Ponyville."
"I know, but..."
"Twilight?" Applejack calls out from the hall.
"We're in here!" The unicorn shouts back.
The sunburnt-looking farmer mare trots in with Cutie Pie right behind, dragging a stretcher made out of dark green wood and royal deep red. Despite having been made in a hurry, it looks almost professional. "This here stretcher is ready and raring to go!"
"Right." Rarity says and encapsulates Shaggy in her magic. "Twilight?"
"I got it!" With nowhere else to put it, Twilight holds the saddlebag with her teeth and then uses her own magic to levitate and stretch out the stretcher. Carefully precise, the fashionista floats the barely conscious Shaggy across the room and onto the stretcher, at which point her magic began to share the weight of the stretcher with Twilight.
"We'll meet you all back in the library once we've gotten him to the hospital!" The purple unicorn says as she and Rarity carry Shaggy out of the room.
As ponies with a good physique, Applejack and Cutie Pie had no issues being able to keep pace with the running unicorns, but Sweetheart, Angel and you were left behind at the entrance of the Castle, Care Taker declining to accompany you. "Thanks to you, sir, I have my own business to attend to now." was all the irascible old pony would say. Not that you're surprised, you did kind of ruin his gig.
Despite being convinced that you did the right thing by coming here, you still feel terribly guilty for having put Sweetheart through such stress, and are unsure how to approach her.
"Skinny?"
Oh dear, she's doing it.
You force yourself to look directly at Sweetheart's soft blue eyes. "Yeah?" Your body tenses up.
"I wish you'd trusted me more. It really hurt my feelings."
Oh, don't draw this out. Just get to the point...
"I wanted to be able to talk to you." You say. "I couldn't risk any of you stopping me."
The yellow pegasus looks positively mournful. "I know, but I still didn't know whether you or Angel were safe or even alive. And I had very little to give to the other animals for breakfast after you took the food... it was very inconsiderate of you." She shakes her head, ears flattening back. "I'm sorry, but I'm going to have to ask you..."
You bite your lip. Fuck, fuck, fuck...
"... to clean the dishes this month." She smiles faintly. "I-if you think that's fair..."
"Huh?" You stand there, dumbfounded. "You're not kicking me out?"
Sweetheart gasped. "Oh no, I could never do that! I know you mean well." She strokes your hand with a soft hoof.
With no further ado, you pull the caring pegasus into a tight warm hug, inadvertently crushing poor Angel between the two of you. "It's okay..." she whispers. "I'm glad I can talk to you now."
Overcome with a feeling of joy, you kiss the beautiful pony on the cheek, her fur tickling your lips. Sweetheart's face turns from yellow into an adorable red, and she pulls back, her chin digging into her chest as she smiles demurely. Angel plops to the ground, dazed and giving you a thumbs up.
"Let's go home." she says and rubs her side against your foot like a cat as you stand up. Together, the three of you head onto the road to finally return to Ponyville and start over.