Hellquill Central Castle
The Guest Chamber of Twilight Sparkle
Six hours after the arrival.
Twilight just had arrived at her guest room. And as soon as she got in, she began locking any possible entrances to the room, including the windows, she then closed down all curtains and started filling any holes that would be used to listen to her. After that, she started checking underneath and behind the furniture in the room in a calm manner, to ensure nobody has put anything there she wouldn’t want. This search would go on for a couple of minutes.
After realizing all is safe, she takes a deep breath.
The time was already late, the weather was dark, and with the curtains now closed, there was barely any light source in the room. Feeling that lighting up the lanterns in the room wouldn’t be alerting the fanatics outside, she approaches the switch on the wall and turns it on. Revealing excessively shiny lamps placed alongside the walls.
She starts pondering in the room while inspecting the objects on the wall.
There were multiple paintings, but one stood out to her; A medium-sized painting of an elderly Grover I, with his sons Grover II and Guto I sitting next to him, along with their wives and their children. It was a classical and usual painting of the Imperial Dynasty. Before Reformisten, the Hellquill Knights were perhaps idealizing these canvases like idols. But now, it was merely a placeholder on a guest room’s wall.
She looks at the elderly face of Grover I and sighs to herself:
“Ah, your majesty… if you could see what would come out of your griffins.”
She ends up staring at the painting for a while, seemingly mesmerized by it, or rather by the thoughts caused by it. She eventually starts wandering around thinking to herself, trying to evaluate the situation she’s in:
“Alright Twilight, you just got yourself stuck in a castle with couple thousand genocidal griffons in it that wants to see you dead more than anything else in life… you’ve been through worse than this…”
She sighs again:
“…I still refuse to believe that I was the one out of all people who just abandoned all their work and came here as if I had no other priorities… My country is about to lose a war and here I am negotiating with maniacs… I wonder how everyone is doing in my absence back at home…”
As she continues to look at the paintings on the wall, one of them caught had her attention; the painting of a ship during a turbulent voyage, as the climate depicted in the painting seemingly showed drizzly weather that just ended, resulting in a rainbow amongst the clouds that was oddly close to the sun. She continues to think to herself:
“Although… I can’t get over the things I just saw today and the things he talked about… Will I seriously see a day where I have to neutralize Celestia? I still refuse to believe but- Wingfried’s breakdown seemed almost authentic. But can a griff actually start all this insanity over a genuine fear?”
Her pondering was disrupted as she hears sounds of griffons outside of the castle at a distance, shouting in a rather ceremonial manner. Upon hearing the voices, she turns to the curtain-covered windows and calmly peeps through the curtains. She notices a couple of dozen soldiers alongside their commanding officers engaging in a routine ceremony at a distance far enough for them to not her. As she was on a high level of the castle, she was able to get a clear view of the ceremony, albeit it was pretty hard for her to distinguish things and the faces of griffons because of the same altitude and distance.
The ceremony itself was nothing special, and in fact, was quite reminiscent of the ceremonies of the royal guards’ of Equestria and the Crystal Empire.
One detail stood out for her shortly afterward; there were skulls on the ceremonial banners. And each of the banners had three skulls on them, alongside other bone fragments placed in various places on the banners (at least as far as she could see). And as there were at least a dozen banners in the sight, she might as well be staring at a necropolis.
It wouldn’t be long before she realized those were pony fragments. And they certainly didn’t look like historic artifacts. Judging by their pale white colors.
Realizing there’s nothing more to see, she closes the curtain and sighs again:
“They really know how to welcome a pony.”
She starts aimlessly wandering around the room again.
She then stares at the extravagant guest bed. She hasn’t slept for days for obvious reasons, but it was barely a problem for her by this point.
Due to the character of the castle she’s staying in, instead of sleeping, she hesitantly decides to stand in the middle of the room.
While standing still, her mind drifted toward potentialities and put contingencies that she could witness in the next following hours. Whether or not it was going to be an uneventful night or not was still uncertain.
After waiting for almost an hour, trying to ignore the effects of sleep deprivation, she ends up staring at the bed:
“Am I being Paranoid? Are the griffons outside even a threat to me? I mean they hate me but… are they even a threat?”
She looks at the well-shut door of her room, thinking about what type of tactic they could possibly use to attack her behind it. After pondering for a minute and trying to listen to the sounds coming from the corridor, she concludes there isn’t a threat present against her. But just to make sure, she places a chair against the door’s lock to prevent anyone from entering.
Shortly after, Twilight hesitantly enters the bed, takes a last look around the room, and then turns off the lights. She then proceeds to lay her head on pillows with the hopes of a dreamless and refreshing nap.
She falls asleep almost instantly.
She opens her eyes to a dark and hazy environment, standing in what seems to be an endless sea. But the fact it was barely a meter deep makes the nature of it, or even the very existence of it, pretty ambiguous.
Twilight slowly comes back to her senses, and as soon as she feels the liquid covering her legs, she looks down, and couldn’t distinguish anything due to complete darkness. Still dizzy, she then looks up, just to see nothing. It seemed as if the sun didn’t exist in this place, and the only light sources around were a series of dim lights in the air that somewhat resembled stars.
After shaking off the dizziness, she silently protests:
“…What is it this time? <sigh> Haven’t I been through enough already? …Great, a Nightmare was just what I needed.”
She looks down again and tries to figure out the liquid below.
After looking at it closely again, she realizes the liquid she is in is red:
“Blood…? Barely surprising. I guess the experience I’ve gone through today really has taken its toll on my mentality… I think I should get used to seeing blood in my… -wait… what’s that smell?”
She leans in, sniffs, and then she then quickly tips her tongue in the liquid:
“Cherry Juice?!”
She raises her head, and takes a gaze at the seemingly endless sea of cherry juice, accompanied by the also seemingly endless but yet fake-looking night sky:
“Well, not the weirdest thing I’ve seen in a dream, but… It’s sure something.”
She continues to look around, and couldn’t help but smile:
“Never knew I was this much of a cherry fan. <chuckles> But I almost think that this was something more-”
Her thoughts are interrupted by quiet noises coming from her behind. She turns around and sees the bubbling of the cherry juice. Although it was mild at the start, bubbling suddenly gained intensity in mere seconds. Twilight widens her eyes in surprise, unsure what zany thing she is about encounter now.
Despite her bracing for an impact, the bubbling of the water suddenly ceases. It seemed as if everything was back to normal.
Twilight was puzzled again:
“What was that for? Is this normal here?”
She starts waiting, and ends up staring at the spot bubbling had occurred:
“I guess it really was nothing. The inner mechanisms of a mind are sure a-”
An entity rapidly and suddenly flies out of the liquid, shaking off Twilight in the process, as she struggles to stay on her hooves.
After successfully standing on her cherry juice-covered ground, she looks up, and sees an unknown figure, mysteriously levitating in the air.
There was simply no way of her making out who this person or thing was for certain. But this wouldn’t prevent an awkward standoff from occurring between the two.
After striving to observe the creature, despite the darkness surrounding it, Twilight concludes that the creature in question was most likely a male griffon of great body structure, almost reminding her of the magic-infused Katerinburg she saw today. After pondering about it for a while, she ended up terrifying herself with the idea of her now starting to see Wingfried in her dreams. She tries to get that thought out of her head as quickly as possible, and she yet again ended up staring at the creature levitating in the air.
…
Eventually, Twilight, after having enough of staring at the shadow-covered figure, calls him out:
“Excuse me… sir, if that’s what you are, but are we waiting for something here?”
…
She calls him out again:
“Sir? Are you okay?”
The Griffon talked in a deep and calm voice:
“Thinking…”
She was yet again bewildered, but she would gather herself to ask again:
“…About what?”
“…On how to save this conversation.”
“Then, sorry to break it to you but… I believe you would’ve achieved that if you’d just… well… levelwith me.”
He laughed in a low voice:
“…I understand what you mean.”
The Griffon started to lower his altitude, as his features became clearer.
And as he finally reaches Twilight’s level, her eyes go wide, and she screams in confusion:
“King Grover I?!”
He quickly corrects her:
“It’s Emperor Grover I for you, but as you are a member of your realm’s royal dynasty and as this is your first time seeing me in person, your error can be excused in my presence.”
Twilight looks at Grover I, baffled:
“Well I… apologize… your majesty.”
He replies in a quick manner:
“I accept your apology, Princess. But now, I must explain to you the reason behind this visit, I’ve been-”
Twilight interrupts him:
“Wait, you are telling me that you’ve come here?! What’s next? Is this not a dream too?”
Grover I sets his tone in a frustrated manner:
“I do not relish in being interrupted, Princess… And yes, this is not a dream. Via forces beyond your comprehension, I’ve been sent on a mission from the Gods to warn you that the great clouds of terror are setting on the realm of the living. You must listen closely to what I say, the future of all life depends on it.”
Twilight continues looking at him with a bewildered face:
“Huh. Must be a reflection.”
Emperor ended up sharing her looks:
“…A what?”
“A reflection… of the things Wingfried told me today. Yes… There’s a perfect parallel of you two trying to convince me into believing something so farfetched.”
“What you make of this then?”
“You are simply a mirror image of the psychological trauma I’ve been through today. Nothing more. Just like how this… sea of cherry juice draws its own parallels with the red fields I saw today. I mean, just give me one reason to take you seriously.”
Grover I looks at her peeved, he looks down and sighs:
“…So, what do you need in return to take me seriously?”
Twilight points at the juice below her:
“For a start; why are we in the middle of a Sea of Cherry Juice exactly?”
Grover I continues his stare, and responds in a completely calm manner:
“I like Cherry Juice.”
“Well, I do too but… Oh come on, I don’t even have to ask you! What is this?”
Grover I sigh:
“The Gods asked me if I wanted to welcome you in any way specific, so I told them that lots of Cherry Juice and a beautiful nightly sight would do the job to convince you… But now with the witnessing the fruits of my ignorance, I think I should’ve been clearer with the scene I’ve intended before volunteering up for this.”
Twilight chuckles:
“Believe me, I know exactly what getting into something without asking questions first feels like.”
“Ah yes, I understand what you mean by that, we’ve been observing you for a while recently.”
“Then you would understand why I am not exactly keen on taking dreams like this seriously.”
“Yes, yes… I- We do understand. But still, I only need to let you know that Wingfried von Katerinburg you’ve seen today wasn’t the griff he claimed to be.”
Twilight tries to take him seriously for a moment:
“Is that so? Then what is up with him then?”
The Emperor looks dubious, uncertain how to continue:
“I… I must address to you there are things that… we should not talk about.”
Twilight gets suspicious:
“Why? Are there rules now?”
The Emperor starts to look somewhat anxious; he gulps before talking:
“Princess, you are in a different realm now, and you have no idea how things function here. The words aren’t just soundwaves caused by verbal communications here, it’s a bit more… meaningful… in a somewhat troubling way for us. There are… entities here, that might become aware of your presence the moment we speak about them, let it be directly, or indirectly. Please, consider thoroughly before saying anything.”
Twilight thinks for a second:
“So… why don’t you just tell me what is up with Katerinburg?”
“He isn’t himself. That’s all you need to know. I cannot show you the evidence here, or anything else regarding him.”
Doubtful, Twilight asks again:
“Then, what are we even doing here? You, or whatever is behind you, wanted me to do something?”
The Emperor stares at Twilight before waving his claw in the air once, making the ocean of red liquid vanish in mere seconds, leaving only darkness and stars behind.
Now completely alone with Twilight, he calmly points out to a seemingly random location:
“I want you to look over there…”
Twilight hesitantly turns to the location he was pointing at, unsure what to expect. She was surprised when she saw two figures at a moderate distance, enlightened by a light seemingly coming out of nowhere.
Without any instructions coming from Grover I, she starts moving towards the two figures, driven purely by curiosity.
Walking through almost absolute darkness, she finally distinguishes what the two figures were; they were the young Grover VI of the Griffon Empire serenely sitting on a wheelchair, with Archon Eros VII, the Imperial Regent, looking after him.
After grasping their appearances, Twilight abruptly stops, as she was mesmerized by the fact that how real the two seemed to her. It almost felt like she could’ve simply walked over and joined them. It started to feel less like a dream for her.
Grover I talks to her from behind with a firm tone:
“I won’t bother explaining to you who these two are since you already know who and where they are. Go to Griffenheim. Archon Eros shall tell you everything you need to know, including the things I cannot tell you here…”
Twilight, however, still fixated her eyes on the young Emperor in the wheelchair:
“…I didn’t know he was using a wheelchair. How long has it been like this?”
“…For quite a long time. Archon Eros shall explain everything about it to you in detail, among other-”
The Emperor’s speech was interrupted by music, coming from a distance.
Twilight turns to the Emperor in confusion, as she witnesses the anxiety on his face:
“Your majesty? Is something wrong?”
Grover I however fixated his attention on the music:
“No. No… It can’t be…”
“What happened?!”
The music gets cheerful in a strange way. Grover I waves his claw, and the vision of the young Emperor and Archon disappears, while he starts talking in a tense tone:
“He knows we are here!”
“He? Who’s ‘he’?”
Grover I ignores her protests, as the weirdly cheerful music increases its volume:
“He’s trying to make this dream seem as ridiculous as possible, so you won’t take it seriously when you wake up!”
“I thought you told me that “this was no dream”, haven’t you?”
“It’s not the time for that! Now listen Twilight! I want you to listen to me very carefully!”
As the desperate attitude of Grover I intensified alongside the music, their conversation was yet again interrupted, now by the screams of a Yeti on a surfboard, riding a massive ocean-sized wave that appeared out of nowhere.
Twilight immediately shifted her focus to this extremely absurd scenery that appeared out of nowhere.
The Yeti starts shouting at them from the wave:
“Hey losers! How are you holding on? Lemme say; can you do this?”
The Yeti pulls out Juggling balls out of nowhere and starts throwing and catching them in the air while continuing his surfing by making *rad* moves.
Twilight couldn’t help but chuckle at the scenery unfolding before her. Grover I tries to scream at her to divert her attention, but despite being right next to her, it seemed as if he couldn’t let her know his intentions:
“Princess listen! Don’t pay any attention to him, look at me!”
Twilight, however, was looking at the Yeti in amusement, she starts laughing:
“Wait. Is- Is that the Storm King?! Now that makes it better!”
Out of frustration, The Emperor makes a hasty move using his whole body; seemingly making a massive shockwave that drove away the entire wave and the surfing Storm King on top of it. And as the shockwave throw the Storm King away, he made a comical scream airborne, causing the Twilight to chuckle. Grover I however was still very much serious:
“Now, I want you to listen, Princess-”
His speech was yet again interrupted by another loud voice, now by an entire horde of yaks, all dressed in ridiculous costumes of all kinds, running circles around them. But before the two could even focus their attention on them, all zany types of buffoonery seemingly started to appear out of nowhere; a massive orchestra composed of cats playing a dramatic piece, Clowns of all types surrounded by cheering kids of all types, Dragons flying around in costumes having sword duels in the air, the whole scenery basically became a freak festival, appearing out of nowhere.
Grover I starts screaming at her:
“Princess! Princess, please l-”
He ceases as he realizes an oddity in his voice, it sounded far higher pitched than usual. He then notices the funny look on Twilight’s face, it seemed as if she was trying to hold herself from laughing at him:
“Sir, you are…”
She was still doing her best to hold herself back, but to no avail. Twilight finally bursts into laughter.
He goes wide-eyed the moment there was more to him than just a change in his voice. He looks down and realizes that he is now at a far lower altitude than before. After coming to his senses, he screams to himself:
“Wait, am I a chick? …HE TURNED ME INTO A CHICK!”
While Twilight was amused and dying of laughter by the inexplicable yet hilarious scene revolving around her, Grover I was about to have a stroke out of the level of fury he was in, he raises his head to the sky and starts screaming:
“DAMN YOU, YOU BASTARD! DAMN YOU! IS THIS HOW YOU WANT TO PLAY?! THEN LET’S PLAY!!!”
Grover I suddenly grabs Twilight by her head using both of his claws and yells at her at a volume that could be heard despite the intense amount of loud voices around her:
“YOU WILL TAKE WHAT I SAID BEFORE SERIOUSLY, AND IF YOU DON’T, THEN THIS WILL BE YOUR NEW EXISTENCE!”
…
Darkness.
She suddenly opens her eyes in a dark environment yet again, almost like the scenery that she was in before all the lunacy swooped in. She felt as if she was now getting used to this.
But unlike before, this one wouldn’t start off in a peaceful manner. Instead, almost instantly after her arrival, a grotesque figure slowly emerges out of the darkness.
Not knowing how to react, Twilight stares at the creature with odd looks.
But as the thing got closer, she started to get disturbed by the physique and moves of the creature. She couldn’t help but gradually move backward.
The creature was four-legged like a pony, had somewhat elongated limbs and its moves seemed mechanical and artificial, and since the creature had a cape on it, Twilight couldn’t see its face or any other physical features of this creature. It reminded her of the creature that broke through her window to deliver Wingfried’s letter.
Twilight convinces herself to stand up against the creature, as since she was in a dream, or a Nightmare, there was no way for the creature to actually harm her. Driven by a sense of curiosity about what would happen next, she presses forwards to meet up with the creature. She felt as if there was something she was supposed to accomplish here other than just being there.
As Twilight got closer to it, she tried to pay attention to its features, the hood on its head made it impossible for her to dissect.
It wouldn’t be long before the creature stopped and raised its head and started to stare at Twilight, releasing its grotesqueness in all of its glory.
Covered in stitches and metal implants, it seemed as if the creature’s facial structure itself was unstable, and only could be held together through unorthodox methods. Its lack of eye pupils, pale skin, and messy hair made it look as if this thing was in a grave just recently.
Realizing certain features on the creature’s face and hair, Twilight’s jaw dropped, and started to struggle with breathing.
While the creature muttered in an artificial-like voice:
“Impossible…”
The creature’s purple hair color and somewhat familiar yet paler skin made Twilight’s head filled with horrifying conclusions.
Out of confusion and horror, she screams at the creature:
“YOU ARE NOT ME!”
The creature continued its soulless stare, it seemed as if the creature wasn’t even able to move its mimics.
Without even barely opening its mouth, the creature spoke to her:
“Who said I was you?”
The creature continues its advance towards her, while Twilight stands firm and stands her ground.
And even though she was able to gather all the courage she had in her, when the creature stood right in front of her, she felt fear at a level she never thought to be possible before. The creature looks down at her, as it had a physical mass at least twice the size of Twilight.
She felt tiny, humiliated, just by its presence alone. Her instincts ordered her to run away at once, as any other living being would.
But her determination overcame, as she was determined to analyze the creature before she could wake up.
After inspecting closely, she notices an object on the creature’s collars, what looked like a small and simple round badge; a white three-headed sword on a black background. She felt as if this finding of hers would matter a lot later on.
She looks at the creature’s face again, it seemed as if the creature was looking back at her.
A standoff that feels like an eternity ensued.
Twilight calmly waited to wake up from this nightmare.
After a while, the creature silently laughs to itself:
“You still think this is just a nightmare, do you? Good. Keep thinking like that. You’ll enjoy it… trust me. You are going to thank me when you are done…”
The creature quietly turns its back on her and walks away in the same fashion it came.
Now all alone, she merely stares into the darkness.
A moment later, the sound of knocking was heard.
Twilight finally woke up; somebody was knocking on her door.
Dizzy, she wasn’t able to instantly comprehend her surroundings. She raises her head and takes a look around the room, everything was the same as she left.
Not wanting to make the person behind the door wait, she quickly gets out of bed and moves towards the door. She removes the chair she placed prior and opens the door.
It was Wingfried von Katerinburg:
“Good Morning, Princess. I hope you had a restful night.”
Twilight looks at him with an exhausted and unsure stare:
“Yeah… I think it was.”
“Well, that’s nice to hear. So, I thought I’d wake you up in person since not even I really trust any other one here to wake you up. They might’ve tried to plant a plastic explosive trap on your doorknob, who knows.”
“Yes, yes. That… that makes sense.”
“So, whenever you are ready to leave, just exit the room and go to the lobby through the way you came here, I’ll be waiting for you there to accompany you through for your departure.”
“Yes… thanks.”
“No problem, and by the way Princess, while on your way, please consider the things we have discussed yesterday, would you?”
“…Don’t worry, I will.”
“Great. I’ll see you soon.”
Twilight merely nods and closes the door as Wingfried leaves.
She sighs and walks towards the windows. She then opens it, enlightening the room drastically.
She looks at Hellquill, no sign of any unrest, it was obvious that the city had finally settled down following the chaos of yesterday.
However, it wasn’t the condition of the city she had in mind…