//------------------------------// // Tribulations of the Tower - The Fall // Story: The Last Hope of a Fallen Nation // by thehalfelf //------------------------------// Tribulations of the Tower (The Fall) Year One of the Takeover Day One: I came to in my bed, in the West Tower. Light fell through the curtains, casting the room in the fading sunset. The sunset. Thank Celestia, it was all a bad dream. My stomach rumbled, so I rolled out of bed and made my way over to the door. I reached for it with my telekinesis, to find it locked. “Huh,” I said, “Celestia hasn’t locked my door since I was a little filly... Wait..” I rushed to the window, and almost fainted. There was not a single pony in sight that was not chained. Changelings were posted at every street corner. Even the light seemed darker, though I doubt it had anything to do with the sunset.. It all came rushing back to me: the takeover, our imprisonment, escape, the fate of the Night Guard, and Shining... I couldn’t think about it. It was too fresh, hurt too much. My stomach rumbled once more, remind me that I had not eaten in at least a day, likely more considering the extent of changeling control. They can’t have locked me up here to die, would they? I think the fact that Chrysalis didn’t kill me outright to hurt Celestia, instead turning to hurting Shining to hurt me to hurt her means that I must have something that they want... Maybe they don’t want the risk of me dying, having the Element of Magic moving to a different pony. I walked over to the door, knocking on it with a hoof. After a pause, a gruff voice answered, “yes, Miss Sparkle?” “I would like some food, please,” I said in my best diplomatic voice. Just like Celestia taught me. She was so proud.... “Sorry, ma’am. Queen Chrysalis has ordered that you shall dine with her at breakfast tomorrow, and not before.” “Well, I haven't eaten since before the wedding, however long ago that was, and I’m hungry.” I couldn’t stop myself from complaining. I’m just trying to see how much weight I actually hold... Totally. Not complaining. “Sorry, ma’am, we have our orders. Good night.” After that, I faintly heard the sounds of hoofsteps, do changelings even have hooves like ponies, walking back down the corridor. Day 2: Today started fabulously. I woke up to a very, very loud pounding on my door. Apparently, I wasn’t fast enough, because before I had even managed to get out of bed a changeling was in the room, standing over me, yelling at me to get up. So much for the good mannered guard from the day before. “Let’s move, Sparkle. Chrysalis wants you to clean up and meet her in the dining hall. Right now. Come on, you lazy mare, move!” Without thinking I reached up with my magic and slapped him. It was too early and I was not in the mood for any trouble. As far as I was concerned, every single bucking one of these changelings were the reason everypony I cared about were either dead or missing. I didn’t even feel like myself today. Everything was tinged with red, and everything I did just felt pointless. It sounded like depression, judging from my studies into the pony psyche, but without the crippling sadness that should make me not want to get up. Maybe it was part of the stages of grief. I do recall something about anger being one of them. I showered, the once familiar room that was my bathroom seeming alien in this dark world. I dried myself with a quick burst of superheated steam, trying not to think about the pony who taught it to me, and walked into the hallway. Immediately, I was surrounded on all four sides by changeling guards. Unlike the ones who had attacked during the wedding, these changelings wore armor. It was black, and shared the design of that accursed thing Chrysalis had made out of the Crown of the Sun. At their sides hung swords, twisted things of metal, black as the void. Our procession walked down the hallways, and down the grand staircase to the great hallway. From there, they led me down a service hallway into the kitchen, and from there to an adjoining small dining room. I took in the surroundings. The small, cozy room where I shared many lunches with the Princess now had a much darker cast to it. It wasn’t actually changed at all, but the presence of Chrysalis tainted everything around. She looked the same as she had during the wedding. Same twisted horn, same holed legs, and same evil crown. Evil crown? Oh yeah, Celestia’s crown that she had dipped into Taint, whatever that was. (Noted for later research.) “Ah, Twilight Sparkle, please come in. Sit down and make yourself comfortable.” Chrysalis purred from her chair opposite the door. The chair Celestia always used to sit in. I warily walked over, taking a seat opposite Chrysalis. “What do you want this time?” I asked, irritation plain in my voice. “I just wanted to let you know what has been going on.” She smiled, a suspicious, overly-friendly smile. “Ok...” I replied, letting discretion be the better part of valor. “Well, after you passed out, Celestia was very very upset with me. She was so worried about you, and just wouldn’t be quiet. So I took care of that too.” She gave me a wolfish grin. I gasped, tears beginning to sting the corners of my eyes. “Oh, don’t worry. She is much too powerful to outright kill. No, I just banished her. To the sun.” I stared at Chrysalis in disbelief. “The...sun...?” “Yes, the sun. She calls herself the Princess of the Sun, well let’s see how well she likes her precious charge now.” I blinked. I couldn’t believe... No. This can’t have happened. I won’t let it. “You’re lying!” I shouted, jumping to my hooves. She just chucked, an infuriatingly light chuckle. “Now, don’t get so testy. I’m sure everything will be fine once you start working for me. Maybe I’ll even let you visit her sometime.” I snapped. I lunged for her, mentally flipping through the list of all the combat or dangerous spells I knew, as short of a list as that was. Before I had the chance to make up a new one, I was hurled back by two changeling guards. The held me up in front of a bemused Chrysalis. “Well,” she said, “that’s no way to treat your ruler.” She turned to address the guards. “Take her back to her room. Don’t let her out until she learns some manners.” The changelings saluted her with the hoof that wasn’t holding me. I was hauled back up the stairs, and tossed unceremoniously onto my bed. The door slammed shut, and bolted behind me. Day 5: Well, I guess I went and made her angry. Nobody has come for me in the last three days. No food, no water, no company. The door remains locked, as do the windows, and the doorway to the balcony. All I do is sit here and wait. Except for about an hour, while I was re-reading all the books I kept in here as a filly (my favorite was Celestial Magical Theory, by Star Swirl the Bearded, of course.) Oh well, guess I’ll just sit and wait. Day 7: Well, that wait wasn’t much. They finally brought me some food and water today, slipping it through the door before closing it quickly. I guess they thought I would try to slip out. Pity. They also slid in a book. The Complete Reference Guide to the War of the Council. It took me awhile to realize, but once I did it chilled me to the bone. During the War of the Council, the Council used mass control to get the necessary ponypower to fuel a wartime economy. For some reason, Chrysalis wanted me to study methods of mass pony control. Not gonna happen, cheese-legs. Come to think of it, I’m actually kind of tired. It’s getting harder and harder to concentrate enough to hold this quill... I think I’m going to take a nap. I-I’ll look it up, It...It will p-p-please Chrysalis. I-I just want t-t-to p-p-please Chrysalis... Day 13: I...I don’t remember much of the last few days. For some reason, I was possessed by an overwhelming urge to read that book, to memorize every detail of it that I could. I was studying so hard, I missed dinner last night. I woke up with a massive headache, and my mouth dry as the Badlands. I walked over to take a sip of water, but spit it out almost immediately. It had a twang to it. Just like Applejack’s accent changed how she spoke, something was changing how the water tasted, smelled, and even felt. This explains why I was studying like that. I was drugged. I just fear what I’ve already told her... Day 14: Chrysalis called me back down for lunch today, the first time since our last visit. Two guards came into my room, hauled me to my hooves (I had been lying in bed, trying to remember what had happened while I was drugged, still) and pushed me out the door. Once again, we were joined by two more changelings, and marched down the hall. Chrysalis was sitting at the table, in the exact same spot. I walked over and sat down, just like before. Subtle differences littered the room. The tablecloth that had once been the of a muted gold, now sat dense and black as the demon sitting across from me. I gave her a wary look as she took a drink from her cup before speaking. “Good afternoon, Twilight.” She grinned. I rolled my eyes. “So I’m just Twilight now, not Twilight Sparkle?” “Well, we became such good friends I was sad when you didn’t show up yesterday. I was really looking forward to more of your plans for controlling Las Pegasus. After all, your ideas were invaluable in capturing Cloudsdale.” I felt all the blood rush from my face. I...I helped her... do what? What did I tell her? “What did you do?” Out of everything, that burst through the barrier of thought to speech, making the changeling Queen laugh. “Just as you said. We started killing wives until the husbands submitted, foals when no husband was to be found. All the other ponies were just killed the minute they didn’t submit. It was rough at first, but we managed to capture the city with only about two hundred casualties. Much better than Manehatten.” “You... you’re terrible! How could you hurt ponies like that? And those you deem to call subjects at that!” She laughed, an evil laugh that chilled the soul. “No, I call them food. The changelings are my children, my people. This land is just so full of love, it makes such an excellent feeding ground. Besides, it was your idea, not mine. All I did was give you the book.” “And drugged me!” I couldn’t help it, I was beginning to get defensive. “The ideas came from you. All the drug did was make you more compliant. Pity that you caught on. Now I have to spend time coming up with another way to make you cooperative.” I jumped to my hooves. “I will never help you.” As I walked out the door, pushing past the guards, I heard her reply, tainted by laughter. “But my dear, you already did.” ***INTERMISSION*** REPORT FROM THE FRONT CHARLEMANE CONFIRMED LOSS OF THE SKY. VARMINTS ACHIEVED TOTAL CONTROL AT ROUGHLY 0850 HOURS ON THE 2ND. PLEASE CONFIRM RELOCATION TO LOST CAUSE. NIGHT LIGHT REPORTS COTTON CANDY, BOMBER, AND SPYRO MISSING. STILL NO SIGNS OF BUNNY OR THE SPARK. MOONFIRE REQUESTS THAT WE HOLD OUT HOPE ON THE SPARK. SAYS EVEN IF SHE LOOKS TO HAVE BEEN TURNED, TOTAL CONVERSION IS NOT LIKELY. SAYS SPARK IS TOO CLEVER TO JUST GIVE IN. PERSONALLY, I HOPE SHE IS RIGHT. NIGHT LIGHT IS NOT SO SURE. SAYS GIVING INTO THE DARK IS MUCH EASIER THAN DEFENDING THE LIGHT. CANTDANCE REMINDS US THAT THE ELVES COULD MARCH FROM THE NORTH POLE WITH FULL FIGHTING FORCE WITHIN THREE TO FOUR MONTHS DEPENDING ON WEATHER. SOURCES DISAGREE, SAYS SOMBRERO IS CAUSING PROBLEMS. PLEASE ADVISE FIRST LIEUTENANT: THE FAMILY. FAMILY RELOCATION TO LOST CAUSE CONFIRMED. TELL CANTDANCE THE ELVES SHOULD MARCH ON ETERNAL LIGHT BEFORE END OF YEAR. TELL THEM TO COORDINATE WITH US ON LOST CAUSE. ALSO REMIND THEM THAT THEY MAY HAVE A BIGGER FORCE FOR HEARTHS WARMING IF THIS GOES SOUTH. HOPE SPARK FINDS A WAY OUT OF THIS, BECAUSE COMMAND IS NOT ENTIRELY SURE THAT OUR PLANS WILL COME TO FRUITION. POSSIBLE THAT SHE TURNED ANYWAY? KEEP IN TOUCH WITH MOONFIRE AND NIGHT LIGHT AS LONG AS THE MIRROR BURNS, THEY ARE OUR BEST SOURCE OF INFORMATION. CHARLEMANE P.S. I miss you. ***END TRANSMISSION*** Day 20: The nice guard was back today. I know, because he actually came in and talked to me. He seems...different. His eyes don’t have that same malicious stare the others have. I don’t trust him, but he could be a good source of information. He said he was now part of my “personal guard unit.” Hopefully I’ll be able to keep up with events in Equestria using him. Anyway, he brought me food and water; not poisoned, I made sure to check. He also brought another book, Ancient Equestrian Warfare, with a note from Chrysalis inside Twilight Sparkle. I did not have your food drugged today, as you obviously noticed. I did, however, have this book sent in the hope that you would be a willing ally in this venture of mine. After all, whether you help or not may be instrumental in deciding the fate of your friends Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie. Hopefully, their punishment won’t be worse because you didn’t help. Chrysalis This was the first I had heard of any of the girls. The fact that she didn’t say anything about the other three filled my heart with hope, almost enough to counteract the despair that threatened to overwhelm me at the thinly-veiled threat to Pinkie and Rainbow. I will not help her. Tell the others that I’m sorry. Day 49: At first, I resisted her. Through the forced fasting, the sleep deprivation, the grueling forced marches through the city. I even stood firm when she had one of her guards slice my right foreleg from shoulder to hoof. But today... today she took me to the cell where they were holding Rainbow Dash. She was chained to the wall--hung from her wings. Chrysalis asked me again if I was going to help, after making sure Dash was awake of course. I instantly said no, as I had every other time she asked me. She then... She nodded to one of the guards, who walked over to Rainbow, and brought the hilt of his sword down on Rainbow’s wing. A loud crack echoed around the dungeon, followed quickly after by her blood-curdling scream. I crammed my eyes shut at the sound, frantically listing off the exponential powers of two to try and block out the sound. 2, 4, 8, 16, 32, 64, 128, 256, 512, 1024, 2048, 4096, 8192, 16384, 32768, 65536, 131072, 262144, 524288, 1048576, 2097152, 4194304, 8388608, 16777216... After what felt like eternity, the screaming stopped, Rainbow had finally passed out. I let out a shaky breath, wiping away the few tears that managed to seep through the impenetrable walls of my eyelids. Chrysalis was smiling smugly. “Still wish to resist, foolish pony?” I just stared at her, the hatred burning in my eyes being the only answer needed. “Fine!” she shouted. “Take her away!” As the guards dragged me through the hallway back up to the room, past the cages of ponies of all shapes, sizes, colors, races, and talents, I heard another crack, and another mind-numbing scream echo up and down the hallways. As we walked, I could easily make out Dash say, “don’t give in Twi! Stand strong against this bucking--” and then the door slammed shut. Day 50: Today, we went back down into the dungeons, but this time to visit Pinkie Pie. We went down, down into the deepest parts of the dungeons, where they used to keep the most deranged and twisted ponies. At the end of a long, dark hallway, past two separate bastions of guards, sat a thick, steel door, with a small window crosshatched by bars. Inside, was Pinkie Pie, but not the Pinkie Pie I knew. Her mane was straight as a sheet of glass, and almost as reflective. She sat, eyes wide but unseeing, in the middle of the room. Chrysalis had the door opened, and had me thrown inside. “T-Twilight? Is that actually you? Mr. Dustie said you would never come for me. He said that I wasn’t your friend anymore.” She launched herself at me, squeezing me in a hug more constricting than one of Lotus’ mud baths. “I-I’m still your friend, right Twilight?” “Of course you are Pinkie!” I returned the hug, just happy to see my friend alive, and comparatively unharmed from the cyan pegasus still hanging from her broken wings in one of the cells above. “But..but I’ve been down here for a long time Twilight. A really long time. They said you were in the castle, but that you didn’t want to see me.” She let go and took a step back, her eyes taking on an accusative glint. “They said you hurt Dashie.” “Pinkie, I could never hurt one of you girls, especially Dash. You know how much stronger she is than me!” Her eyes softened. “I...I’m sorry Twilight. I...I’ve just been locked away so long...” Then she did something I never thought I would see Pinkie do. She started crying, tears running down her face. I reached her and wrapped my forehooves around her, continuing the hug interrupted before. I gently ran a hoof through her oddly-straight mane, trying to calm her down. “It’s ok Pinkie, I’ll find a way out of this, I promise.” “No, you won’t Twilight Sparkle. You will be too busy. Playtime is over fillies. Back to work.” A candy-coated serpentine voice slithered from the door. One of the changelings yanked me out of the cell, and slammed the door just in time for Pinkie to slam into it, screaming about how they couldn’t leave her alone again. Chrysalis turned to me, and posed the question she had asked every time I had seen her thus far: My answer did not change. “Have it your way then, we shall see what you say once you see this.” She turned to one of the guards outside of Pinkie’s cell. “Release her.” I was confused, until I heard the grinding of gears, and the rumbling of stone grating against stone. Pinkie screamed as she fell into whatever terrible trap Chrysalis had planned for her this time. “What have you done to her?” I practically shouted, on the knife edge of hysterics. She gave an evil chuckle. “Just sent her to the Crystal Mines, a place I’m sure you are familiar with after your stunt at the wedding, to live out her days. Alone.” I stared at her, mind completely wiped of all coherent thought. That is two friends that I have hurt by my stubbornness, but how many more ponies would suffer if I gave in? How could I live with myself if I caused pain and suffering to countless ponies, just to spare five? “But wait,” Chrysalis said in a sing-song voice as she led our procession back up the stairs from the squalid waste of the dungeon, “there’s more, little pony.” I stewed over those words for the better part of ten minutes, the trip from the dungeons back up into the castle. They became painfully clear as I walked into my room, with the Queen and her Celestia-damned minions following the whole way. “Twilight!” A familiar voice graced my ear. No, no she couldn’t have. “Twilight! Up here!” My eyes slowly, reluctantly drifted upwards, to the dome I called my ceiling. Suspended in a cage, in the middle of the dome, was Spike. “Twilight, thank goodness you are here. I knew you would find a way out of...” his voice trailed off as I was followed by Chrysalis and her entourage. His voice dropped into an icy spear, aimed directly at me. “No. You did not team up with her.” “No, not yet,” Chrysalis said from the door, a sad inflection to her voice, “but I think I might be able to change her mind.” With that, she shot a bolt of energy at Spike. The power coursed through him, igniting all of the nerves in his small draconian body alight with pain. He screamed, the fourth scream from a good friend in two days, and something inside of me broke. As the agony worked it’s way out of his body, she laughed and exited the room, shutting and bolting the door with a bang. ***** I thought long and hard that night, as Luna’s gift hung high in the sky, bravely trying to do it’s best in the sun’s absence. I didn’t want to help her. I didn’t want to have the suffering of hundreds of thousands of ponies on my consciousness, but at the same time... I already had the suffering of Pinkie, Dash, and Spike, and it hurt almost as bad, if not worse, than what I imagined Chrysalis would do. Maybe...Maybe if I help she would come to trust me, and I could use that trust to destroy her, and bring Celestia and Luna back. Celestia... I could feel my mind wander at the thought of her name. No, have to focus. I...I don’t know what I’m going to do. I’ll sleep on it, maybe I’ll have better luck in the morning. Day 51: I awoke in a state even worse than I went to sleep. My mind was torn in half, each side vying for a different option. “To hell with everypony else. You have to give in, to save your friends.” One part of my mind said, the Emotional side. “No! You can’t turn over the entire nation in lieu of your five measly friends. It would not be ethical,” the other part countered, the voice of Reason. “What does the whole nation matter!? You don’t know all those ponies, but you know your friends and Spike.” “Just because you know them doesn’t make them any more important than everypony else.” I could practically hear the other side sigh. “Fine then, what about your family?” My family... “Yes, your family. What if she has Daddy captured, and locked in the dungeon, and makes you watch her cut off his horn or something?” Emotion... she was really starting to make sense Tears leapt unbidden to my eyes. Even Reason did not counter that. No matter what happened, I couldn’t let Chrysalis hurt my family. “Aha!” Reason again, “what about Spike? Isn’t he family?” “If we help, she won’t hurt him, duh.” Emotion was becoming more and more rational as time went on... Day 52: I asked to see Chrysalis today, said I had something to tell her and her alone. They led me down to the grand entrance hall, between the two great, curved staircases to the second floor, and down the long hallway where at one time diplomats and commoners alike vied for attention from the Royal Sisters. The first thing I noticed of the throne room: they fixed the pillar Celestia fell through. They also hung black banners with the changeling sigil from the giant marble pylons. We stopped before the new throne; a massive, twisted thing made of black marble with twisted spires reaching for the ceiling. Flanking her sides were two enormous changelings, easily almost twice the size of Big Macintosh, Applejack’s older brother. Changelings bustled around one of the windows, obviously to put up one of the stained glass monstrosities that Celestia chronicled the history of Equestria with. I noticed it was the one of us and Nightmare Moon. “Ah, Miss Sparkle. What is so important that you had my guards bring you down here for?” she asked with a self satisfied smile. I had a feeling that she knew exactly what I was going to say. “I’ll help you Chrysalis, but you have to promise me some things first.” She laughed derisively, making the hair down my neck stand on end. “I really don’t think you are in the position to name your terms of service.” I continued, ignoring her. “First, you will not hurt any more of my friends. Second, you will not treat the ponies any worse than absolutely necessary. Third, you will find some way to heal Dash’s wings. And fourth, you give me access to the Royal Canterlot Archives. I think if I am to research for you, I will do it better on my own discretion.” “Yes, fine, I suppose, and no.” I nodded. I wasn’t really expecting the fourth one, not yet anyway. “You will begin tomorrow. Good day, Miss Sparkle.” With that the guards led me out of the hallway. Chrysalis returned to...whatever it is the dictator of an Equestrian state has to do. I hope I haven’t made a grave mistake.