//------------------------------// // Chapter 14 Part 1 // Story: Popcorn // by Popcorn Pony //------------------------------// Pocornia landed softly atop a black marble floor and listened, her ears greeted by silence. She looked around and saw two crudely shaped archways on both ends of the room ahead and a circular depression centered on the floor. She approached the archways and noticed a dim white film hung between the arches. she poked the film, shivering at the slimy texture touching her hoof. “More portals…” Pocornia disappointingly mumbled. Pocornia sat down and eyed the portal. Pocornia let her attention to her surroundings fade, choosing instead to focus on her thoughts. Her conscientious self had been in question for so long, the part of her that failed horribly some time ago. How long had it been since she set out on her quest, she did not know, but she wondered if things would truly return to normal in the end. “Why did I do that?” Pocornia sighed mournfully as she stood up. “Alright,time to go...” Pocornia leaped through, leaping into what immediately turned into a free fall against an empty white background. An unexpected surge of bliss flushed her senses as a tall and textureless white mare neared her. The mare whispered her name, the gentleness of her voice charmed her “Pocornia...Pocornia...Pocornia.” Parts of the mare started to show through the white backdrop surrounding them, Pocornia could see her. The mare stood high and firm, her beautiful multi colored mane off to one side. A pink gem embedded in her golden regalia twinkled, bringing her and Pocornia’s free fall to a sudden stop. She looked down, consoling Pocornia with her nurturing pink eyes. “I know you!” Pocornia exclaimed. “Your one of the princesses, Princess Celestia!” Pocornia blurted out with a point of her hoof. “But why are you here?” Celestia’s lips moved, Pocornia watched her speak, but Celestia did not make a sound for her to hear. Pocornia shrugged at her and tried to convey her confusion by tugging at her own ears, but Celestia kept silently talking to her, or at her. Pocornia stared blankly at Celestia, she had to get a message across, but she wondered how to do it. Celestia finally closed her mouth then blinked oddly. Pocornia unexpectedly resumed her free fall. Now panicking, Pocornia flapped her wings. She gained no lift, hurtling down a white nothingness until she landed with a thud atop a black surface. The force from the impact sent a painful shock through her head, she suddenly felt dizzy and her vision had jarred. Her ears began to twitch wildly at the perturbing sounds of rain, thunder and wind. She pressed her hooves to her ears, protecting them from blows of popping noises, things wheezing through the air and violent explosions boomed all around. One blast shattered a window. Pocornia ducked her head as shards of glass pelted her back. “Whoa!” Pocornia peeked over a chunk of rock, but could not wrap her head around what was taking place before her. She watched crossbow bolts zip by and spheres of magic fly the other way. She stood up while a blast of magic struck a nearby building, the blast launched bits of stone and dust in all directions. She dashed behind a concrete pillar conveniently left behind by a construction crew. A bolt of magic aimed at her hit the pillar, shredding the pillar’s side to little bits that peppered her face instead. Pocornia’s muscles went rigid, her mind had locked up on her, she succumbed to total confusion and could not think of what to do. Her eyes zeroed on a pony past her murky vision, she watched him run out from behind a building into the street. His head and body suddenly got stuck by a dozen crossbow bolts aimed at him. He dropped his weapon and fell dead, landing face first in a muddy puddle. “That guy just got shot!” Pocornia shouted in her head. Pocornia looked around, her survival instincts had kicked in. She knew she could not hide forever, the conflict surrounding her was too intense and she would inevitably be killed in the crossfire if she didn't do something. She threw herself to the ground as another sphere of magic flew near her. As she went to stand up, she threw herself back onto the ground and shielded her head as bolts zipped past her. She looked up as a young looking gray stallion wearing a strange green vest with a red handkerchief around his neck ran by her. Their eyes met, everything around them seemed to slow down to a crawl. Pocornia’s eyes were ripe with terror, the stallion’s eyes fraught with panic. “Get out of here!” He yelled as he ran. Pocornia darted out into the street, seeing all sorts of ponies dashing and ducking as they shot at each other. She was in the street, with them, in what reminded her of a ritzy neighborhood in Canterlot. Something caught her eye farther down the street, something small and green. She eyed it keenly, thinking it might be the orb. She ran faster, charging between two groups of ponies vying to kill each other. Pop, pop, Tewooo, bang, boom! The chaotic noises attacked her ears, the pain pushing her to run faster down the street. The orb came into her view, Pocornia smiled, it sat atop a small wagon pulsing vibrantly. The fog snakes slithered all around inside of it, hissing with glee as she scooped it up into her hooves. The light from it amplified until it consumed the pony entirely. Pocornia blinked, the world around her had changed drastically. She now sat in a dark octagonal shaped room made out of black marble. To her surprise, she had left Canterlot and no longer held the orb. It had inexplicably vanished. She trembled nervously as a loud grinding sound emitted from a strange pillar lowering into the ground hurt her ears. She watched two archways rise up from the ground at the farther end of the room. She stood up and approached them, giving each of them a steady look over. Both looked identical to the archways she had previously seen. “So...something happened. Wait, no?” Pocornia stood quietly to thoughtfully consider her situation. “I did something in Canterlot, that must be it. Then...the thing went into the ground and two more portals showed up.” Pocornia nodded. “Is that how I get the key?” Pocornia hummed. “Right or left…”  Pocornia stepped towards the left portal, feeling a strange sensation pulse in her head.  Pocornia materialized. The landscape around her reminded her of Everfree Forest yet the sticky feeling in the air gave the greenery around her a tropical feel almost like what would be felt in a jungle. High humidity, thick air, tall trees, all the things Pocornia thought of as the works of traveling. “Gonna have to hoof it.” She mumbled. Pocornia made her way down a path, her eyes wandering all around as she noticed gargantuan cobwebs weaved around the trees. She felt ready now more than ever to meet the challenge that should present itself shortly, but the daunting size of the cobwebs impressed that they belonged to a unbelievably large spider. Her kitty came to mind, Pocornia remembered having been bitten before yet those bites would not compare to what might inhabit this area. “I really don’t wanna know…” She nervously mumbled. Pocornia’s ears twitched, she had heard a raspy hiss above her. She looked up, a spider the size of an adult stallion descended overhead of her. She sprinted forward, running fast as several large spiders emerged from the trees. They pursued her, their beady red eyes instinctively tracking her every move. Pocornia winced, she had a hungry mob in tow and she needed to lose them. Out the corner of her eye, she saw another path down a slope. She quickly rolled to the side, her body hitting every stick and rock along the slope. She ignored the pulsating pains in her body and ran down the new path. The new path led Pocornia to a welcomed sight. She smiled, feeling new energy in her gait. She skipped over to a freshwater oasis mostly shielded by a long stone hill that could help her hide. She dunked her head under water and gulped down as much as she could.  Nearby, a small tiger struggled against restraints. It yelped meekly, trying to draw attention to itself. “Hello?” Pocornia inquired. Pocornia followed her ears towards a small tiger held by a statue. “Is that?” Pocornia suddenly felt alarmed. The figure of a motherly tiger sat with panicked eyes looking every which way. It held the small tiger tightly with its stone arms. The lively cub energetically wiggled against its mother’s arms. Pocornia was not sure what to make of the sight, a spell, hex or a curse. “Oh…” The mother locked her eyes upon Pocornia, making her feel ill at ease under her piercing gaze. Pocornia shuddered as if the look itself cut through her like claws.   Pocornia’s ears quivered at a rustling sound. She checked behind her and saw a lone spider skitter away, presumably to alert the others. Anxiety washed over her, she needed to go, but the cub also needed to escape or it would surely be consumed by the spiders. She watched the cub struggle in a now more lethargic manner. She nervously searched the area for a bowl shaped object, filled it with water and fed it to the cub. She felt her face turn pale as she started stammering. “What do I do, what do I do?” Some mud stuck on the bowl gave her an idea. She scooped up some mud then coated the cub in it. “Lets go!” She yelled as she slipped the cub out of his mother’s grip. The cub affectionately tucked himself into Pocornia’s chest as she fled the Oasis. The sun lowered past the horizon, covering the jungle in total darkness. A single strobe of light flickered on a mountain, Pocornia sat with her back against a bumpy cave wall near a campfire’s warmth. She absentmindedly stroked the purring cub with a blank expression on her face. “Why am I here, what is the challenge, what do I do?” The thoughts repeated absolutely in Pocornia’s mind, leaving room for nothing else. The cub growled at the cave entrance. “Shhhh, be quiet.” Pocornia emphasized. The kitten sat up. Pocornia anxiously looked and saw an approaching figure from the dark. To her disbelief, it was the same mother lion she saw earlier. It must have freed herself from the enchantment. It greeted her with a threatening bellow. Pocornia grew timid, shaking nervously as the mother aggressively brandished her teeth. The cub jumped out of Pocornia’s lap, running up to its mother. It pawed at her like it was trying to convey a message. The mother halted her advance, giving the cub a questionable look before returning her scrutinizing gaze to Pocornia.  The mother started to smile... The campfire blackened, the cave went dark. Pocornia suddenly appeared in another circular room, greeted by the familiar mechanical thunking sound of a pillar lowering into the floor while two more portals rose up from it. “I guess that's it…” She stated as she stepped into the next portal. "The pillars must mean something." Pocornia found herself afloat in open skies, the moon overhead of her. Pocornia glided along the wind’s currents, flying high off the ground felt good to her. She breathed a sigh of relief only to tense up again as the mausoleum’s champion flew up alongside her. “Hey there pony!” The doppelganger greeted. “Oh for the love of…” Pocornia ranted. “Go away!” The doppelganger nonchalantly rolled onto her back, wrapping her hooves behind her head while she glided. “You know i’m not gonna do that.” She teased. “If you're not going to go away, why are you here?” Pocornia promptly questioned. “Because I need you to go get something for me.” The Doppelganger answered while slightly leaning her head back. Pocornia looked forward, presumptuously deducting that the large black cloud ahead was the indicated location.  “Oh yeah...where at?” Pocornia asked. “Come on Pony…” The doppelganger chastised just before folding her wings against her body. Pocornia eyed her doppelganger as she fell from the sky, disappearing in cloud covers below. “Go figure…” Pocornia muttered, feeling unimpressed by her clone’s vanishing act. Pocornia readied herself, directing her flight straight towards the cloud. “Alright…” She nervously mumbled as darkness surrounded her. Soft carpet bristles sent a fuzzy feeling up Pocornia’s legs. She looked around, her eyes captivated by countless rows of books on shelves that spiral all around her. “Um…A library?” “You're not a bookworm, but you’ll learn!” Taunted Pocornia’s evil Doppelganger.  Pocornia glared angrily. “You brought me to a library?” The Doppelganger laughed hysterically. “Silly pony, you’re the one whose supposed to figure this out.” Pocornia eyed the doppelganger, writing her off with a huff as she turned towards the shelves. To her, the books did not look categorized in any discernible way, not by genre, by height or alphabetically. “Didn’t any pony teach you how to sort stuff.” Pocornia hissed back. The doppelganger chuckled meekly, as if she were disappointed in Pocornia. “What's the matter? Goody two shoes, stuck on it?” Pocornia scowled, finding it increasingly difficult to tolerate her doppelganger's constant pestering of her. “What would you know about being good?” “I know it would have been good for me to watch that tiger mommy tear you up.” answered the Doppelganger. Pocornia slammed her hoof against a shelf, redirecting her eyes to her Doppelganger. “I am getting sick and tired of listening to you, why are we here?” The Doppelganger smiled widely. “You’re gullible…” Pocornia returned her attention to the shelves, skimming across book after book. “Find a book, okay fine, does it have something to do with me?” The Doppelganger kept quiet, wanting to let the silence annoy Pocornia. She eagerly watched Pocornia perused the bookshelves, knowing that the power ruling over them both made their progress inevitable. “Try history…” “Why?” Pocornia curtly asked. “Pony, just do it…it is the only freebie you’re gonna get from me.” The Doppelganger answered. Pocornia resumed her search, her eyes meeting a book titled History of the Monarchy. As she took the book, she noticed odd marks on the cover that glowed green. A familiar color, she thought. “What's so special about this one?” “Hey!” Pocornia turned around. “I asked…” Pocornia choked on her words, her doppelganger was nowhere to be seen. She sat down with her book and started to read. The letters pulsed a soft green color, gradually reaching out to her like bony little fingers poking through soil. Her eyes widened, the light having had some sort of affect on her. She sat completely still, not moving even slightly for the light captured her attention. “That's not how it happened…” Pocornia continued, talking out loud. “What...I wasn’t taught that in filly school.” Pocornia held her book tightly. “No, the princesses wouldn’t lie about that…” Pocornia slowly closed her book, resting it atop her lap. To her distress, her eyes only saw a green hue that would not relinquish her vision. She was stuck in a blank daze, a bit of spittle falling from her lips. “Huuuuummm…” Pocornia fell backward in her chair, the book slipping out of her hold. Pocornia felt weightless, standing atop a white floor with a dark backdrop in all directions. She looked around, but saw nothing except distant darkness. She carefully listened, but heard nothing except total silence. She rubbed her hoof against the ground, but felt nothing except a slick gray marble like surface. “I...don’t get it.” She pondered her thoughts for a moment. “They couldn’t lie about that...it would change everything about Equestria...” Pocornia jumped, the ground beneath her had violently fractured. She dared not move as she fearfully watched the floor break apart. “Would they?” A bright flash blinded Pocornia. She once again appeared in a dark room identical to the previous ones. The pillar in the center lowered as two new portals were raised. “Wait, I don’t know what I did!” She shouted as she threw her hooves up. Pocornia grumbled, frustrated with the constant and confusing ambiguity of her situation. “This keeps getting weirder and weirder…”   she thought as she entered the next portal.