As the song ended, the cloud floated away again and the yellow pegasus came through to the opposite side of the cliff. It was actually a hollowed-out mountain with the top knocked off and a castle built in the middle. The crack in the cliff led right up to the massive front door.
The castle was covered in clouds, shading it from most of the sunlight. The structure was made of a dark gray stone with black mineral vein deposits running all over it, giving the impression that the stone was cracked and fragile.
The windows were all covered by black curtains even though the frames were painted a stark white. The glass of the windows was clear and unbroken, but dusty. The castle stood over a dozen floors tall, with many old towers in disrepair.
The front door stood slightly ajar. The yellow pegasus reasoned that Angel would most likely go inside.
She poked her head inside and called out, “Angel? Are you in here?”
She heard the echo of a calm squeak. Walking inside, she looked around. Strangely, she was in a throne room, with plush red carpets and a golden throne of red velvet cushions. The inside was light by hundreds of golden candles on candelabras and chandeliers. Twin spiral staircases led upstairs to the rest of the castle.
Fluttershy said to herself, “I’ve never seen a castle built like this before. Walking right into the throne room? What if an army attacks? The ruler would be captured right away.”
After checking behind the throne, she called out, “Angel?! Where are you?”
The front doors slammed shut behind her. BANG!
The yellow pegasus’s courage shattered and she began to shake.
An eerily familiar voice sounded from the staircase. The sound of something heavy being dragged and then dropped echoed up and down the throne room.
“Hello, dearie.” SCRAPE, THUMP.
“It’s so nice of you to come by for tea.” SCRAPE, THUMP.
“We’re going to be the best of friends.” SCRAPE, THUMP.
Fluttershy looked up to see an Earth pony. She had the same coat, the same mane, and the same eyes as Fluttershy. She also dragged a huge weapon. It looked like a long pole with an axe blade on it. She had seen weapons like that depicted in the artwork of Canterlot castle in the portraits of ancient warriors. It was called a halberd.
The armed mare had wild, bulging eyes, a patchy coat that revealed spots of skin infections, and was breathing very heavy. Her forelegs were visibly more powerful than her hind legs. She also smiled a wide grin that somehow showed relief.
Fluttershy immediately galloped up to the throne and stood opposite to the armed mare with the throne in between them. The armed mare began to circle the throne, dragging the halberd with her. The halberd screeched as it was dragged across the smooth stone floor.
The yellow pegasus began to circle the throne, trying to get away from the unbalanced pony.
Fluttershy asked, “Wh-wh-what do y-you want?”
The armed mare hissed a laugh and bared her teeth, which were each filed to a sharp point.
She answered, “You’re coming with me to the tea room. We’re going to have a nice cup of tea and a chat. You’re going to stay with me a long time. The others didn’t stay, but you’re going to stay.”
Unwisely, Fluttershy asked, “They d-didn’t s-stay? Where did the others go?”
The crazy mare lifted the halberd above her head and declared, “They left the tea room without permission. I had to punish them…then put them in the closet!”
She slashed downwards and diagonally at the interceding object. The throne shattered into pieces that scattered all across the floor.
In a panic, Fluttershy commanded her mind not to figure out how multiple guests could fit into a single closet after they’ve been ‘punished’. She then galloped at full speed at the near staircase.
As she reached the fifth step, the staircase creaked, cracked, and then collapsed to the floor. She didn’t have time to contemplate anything as she heard the fast-moving sound of metal on stone behind her.
SCREEEEEEECH!
She leapt up on her hooves and raced away from the sound. Looking over her shoulder, she saw the crazy mare swing her halberd at the pile of debris.
SMASH! Pieces of staircase flew in every direction. A large piece of stone struck Fluttershy in the right hind knee. The pain was searing as she felt the joint twist and swell. Fluttershy limped backwards up against the wall for protection.
The insane pony frowned intensely and ordered, “Don’t run away from me! Everypony ran away from me and they were bad! I never did anything bad and THEY LEFT ME!”
Shaking in fear, Fluttershy asked, “Well, why did they leave?”
The crazy mare leveled the head of the halberd at Fluttershy’s chest and snarled, “They wouldn’t wait for me! They were all off doing these amazing things…and they wouldn’t wait for me to get ready! I just…”
The yellow Earth pony hiccupped and trembled.
She finished her thought, “I just wanted…more time…to get ready. Couldn’t they understand? I just…needed…more time…more time. They were all so courageous. They could do anything.”
She stood up boldly on her hind hooves and gripped the weapon powerfully. The muscles in her forelegs bulged out menacingly.
She screamed, “Anything but WAIT!!!”
Fluttershy desperately wished that she could fly away from this crazy mare, but her dress prevented her from flying. She didn’t want to ruin her pretty dress. She had made this dress with a lot of hard work. She wanted to be presentable. She wanted to be respectable.
The insane pony swung the halberd powerfully horizontally at her head.
Fluttershy ducked, feeling the air rush just an inch above her. The stone wall cried out in a wail of metal grinding against stone. Sparks showered the pegasus, burning her coat down to the skin.
She panicked and raced along the wall to escape. After a few hoof beats, she came to the corner of the room. She turned to race along the next wall.
CRACK! The head of the halberd chipped the wall in front of her. Fluttershy backed up, her flank bumping against the corner of the room.
The crazy mare blocked any means of escape and readied her halberd to swing horizontally again. This time, she aimed for the waist. The swing would be too low to duck.
The yellow pegasus looked up into the eyes of her tormenter. Her own eyes glared back in hatred. The crazy mare seemed to hate her for being too scared to obey. The yellow pegasus thought about the choice she had been avoiding since she arrived in this twisted world.
Fluttershy stated flatly, “Screw this.” The yellow pegasus reached up and ripped her dress off her body. She flexed her wings powerfully and shot upwards into the air. The halberd swung powerfully and imbedded itself into the stone wall.
The crazy mare tugged and tugged but could not pull the weapon from the deep cut into the wall. She wailed a hellish scream of frustration.
The kind-hearted pegasus looked down with pity. The insane pony looked to be in all kinds of distress. Her coat was slowly falling out, her skin was irritated from infections, she looked like she hadn’t slept in days, her strings were all knotted in the joints…
Strings?!
Fluttershy’s gaze traveled up the strings to the ceiling above. There was the cloud that had been following her through her adventures. The Cutie Mark Crusaders each had a pair of the strings gripped in their hooves and were jerking and twisting the strings wildly.
Sweetie Bell waved her hoof and said, “Hi, Fluttershy! Isn’t this fun?”
Scootaloo griped, “It’s about time you figured it out.”
Apple Bloom explained, “Now normally this would be too weird to remember, but we think you need to remember this one.”
All three fillies glared at Fluttershy with intense faces of determination and shouted, “Now DON’T forget what you learned here!”
The cloud sped downwards and moved under Fluttershy. It began to rise, catching Fluttershy on its surface. The castle disappeared entirely. All three ponies rode the cloud higher and higher into the sky. The cloud began to emit loud drumbeats as the Cutie Mark Crusaders surrounded Fluttershy with mean looks on their faces.
Sweetie Bell chanted, “Up, up, up, don’t you think to fall,
Hey, ‘Shy this is your…” Apple Bloom and Scootaloo shouted, “Wake-up call!”
Scootaloo stepped forward and rapped, “Re-call all you saw here to-day,
“Or else you’ll be back…” Sweetie Bell and Apple Bloom shouted, “Here to stay!”
Apple Bloom rhymed, “Don’t think you’ll harm your-self ne-ver.
“You’ll have your cas-tle…” Scootaloo and Sweetie Bell shouted, “FOR-EV-ER!”
Sweetie Bell crossed her front hooves in front of her chest and declared, “Word.”
The cloud suddenly disappeared and the yellow pegasus felt the sensation of falling. She began to panic and scream.