//------------------------------// // Chapter 3: No win situation. // Story: The end of magic // by Brosparkles //------------------------------// In contrast with the rest of the village, the castle was rather opulent and plush. Blueblood was indeed inside, his long golden mane hanging down his shoulders. He sat down in an elaborate throne, one much too dignified for someone of his standing. “Greetings. Twilight. I see the beautiful Miss Rarity is with you.” He said, giving her a charming look. Or, at least, it would have been if Rarity wasn’t still filled with rage from the last time they met. But she didn’t say a word. “So, what brings you to my fabulous estate?” “We thought we would see the town, and Celestia said you would be more than willing to accommodate us.” said Twilight. “Why, of course.” he said, taking a slightly more serious tone. “You’re welcome to stay for as long as you like, being Celestia’s visitors. The guest rooms are behind us, through the hallway on the right. Please, enjoy your stay.” This didn’t seem right. Blueblood was never this respectful. But, so far, nothing glaring has stuck out. It would seem suspicious if they just waited around all day,and they were most likely to get information at night anyway. If this was something worth keeping secret, it wouldn’t be discussed in broad daylight. “Come on, let’s go see what’s around.” said Rainbow. “I know I could use some food.” “Everypony agreed, and they head out. There was a restaurant nearby, where they decided to stop in. The food was quite plain for the most part. Scroll ordered a potato and carrot dish, along with mug of cider, not wanting anything too extravagant. The food was rather bland, but the cider was...interesting. Twilight took a sip of hers, and seemed to have the same expression. Shock, then confusion. It wasn’t bad...just, off. Everyone had finished, and they paid and head off once more. The rest of the town was decidedly boring, but they had to make it seem like they were here for a reason. They checked out various shops, and found a few souvenirs of interest, but nothing too special. Night began to fall, and everypony seemed to be getting tired. Scroll felt himself drift off, well away from the palace. He managed to get back up afterwards, but was down for a few seconds. “Are you okay?” asked Rarity. “Yeah, fine.” said Scroll, not because he felt fine, but because he had no idea how to explain himself at the moment. They walked into the palace, and Scroll immediately headed to his room, followed by Twilight heading to hers. Everypony else soon followed, and sleep took them. Scroll drifted off instantly after hitting the bed, not even all the way on it He awoke, still very tired, to feel a sudden thump on the back of his head. Scroll opened his eyes as far as he could, which wasn’t even much of a squint. He could feel that he wasn’t touching the ground anymore. “What...what’s going on?” “Eh? He’s awake? That zebra must not have used enough. I told him, it takes a very specific dose!” he heard a male voice say. “Dose?” Scroll asked. Scroll felt himself slam into a hard stone floor, which woke him up further. still in a stupor, he could vaguely make out a couple of ponies standing above him as he lay on the floor. “So, you like sticking your nose in where it doesn't belong, eh?” Scroll heard a male voice say. “What’s going on?” Scroll said frightenedly. “Oh, we knew you’d be coming here. You think you’re so clever, don’t you?” Scroll felt a quick blast of pain across his face, from what he couldn’t tell. “Let’s see what you got to tell Celestia now.” He felt another sharp blast of pain, shocking his eyes open. A thin, lanky, unicorn, with a dark green mane, parted down the middle of his face stood before him. His body was a rather unattractive grey, with a slight tint of red. His mane and tail were both rather unkempt, and quite long. “So, you three of you thought you could stop me? Be the heroes? Not a chance.” “Three?” Scroll said. He looked over, and saw an unconscious Twilight, next to a beaten up, knocked out Spike. “That dragon gave me quite the scratch.” The unicorn said, gesturing to a large claw mark on his flank. “He was hard to take down, but the mare was no problem at all.” He looked over at Twilight again, and his anger grew. He began to thrash about, but it was then he realized he was bound with rope. “Go ahead! Flounder about all you like! Gives me something entertaining in this dead town.” The Unicorn took a swig of cider, and grabbed a sharp knife from a table, holding it right up against Scroll’s throat. Scroll looked at the blade in horror. “Hahaha..ahhh, I love doing that. But relax kid, I’m not gonna hurt you. I don’t want blood on my hooves, that’s what the blonde pretty stallion up above is for. Him and his armies might as well be mine. That idiot is so easy to manipulate. I’d say he’s like a dog, but dogs have to be trained before they’ll do tricks. All you gotta do with this idiot is tell him it’s for the good of Equestria. Being his advisor does have its perks, I suppose.” He took another big swig. “But how did Celestia know?” “I misinformed the informant! Brilliant, huh? She’ll think that Blueblood caused this, and undoubtedly take control of the situation. “The Tyrannical Celestia declares war on her own country!” It’ll ring though headlines everywhere. The best part is, she has no proof! SHe’ll be chasing after a rumor, nothing more. Once her rule is brought into question, that’s when we strike. Her reign will end, and I shall control Equestria!” “Why would you tell me all this?” “Because there’s nothing you can do about it! That’s what makes your suffering all the better! I’ll just tell Blueblood that you decided to leave late last night. He won’t suspect a thing.” “Why not kill me now? Why are you holding me down here?” “Ugh, there you go again with that kill word. I don’t kill, it isn’t what I do. If I was gonna kill you, you’d already be dead. I’m up to taking someone’s sanity, their mind, but not their life.” “Diadem?” a male voice called from above. “It seems I am needed, but I’ll have plenty of fun with you soon.” The stallion left through a wooden door, and headed up a flight of stairs. The blade was still left on the table, on the solution seemed obvious. But he was still quite groggy, and would have to do this perfectly. Time to see if Twilight’s training worked. He focused what energy he had on levitating the knife, and slowly held it to the ropes. He could barely keepIt straight, andthe knife got stuck several times, but eventually went though. He was bleeding a fair bit, but was free. He stood up, wincing in pain from the cuts. He shook Twilight and Spike, who slowly woke up. “What’s going on?” said Twilight. “I can explain once we’re out of here, but we need to go” Both of them nodded, and he gave Twilight the blade, who cut both of their ropes. The three of them headed out slowly to wake Rainbow and Rarity. “Let me sleep.” said Rainbow. “No, we need to go. Now.” said Twilight. Rainbow slowly got up. “Rarity, wake up!” Rarity got up, and headed with them. They all headed out to the main hall. Outside were Blueblood and Diadem. Diadem shot them a death glare, and Scroll shot him one back, but neither of them could act, and they both knew it. “We’ll be taking our leave now.” said Twilight to Blueblood. They quickly headed to the airship, and headed back on the way to Canterlot. Scroll told everypony what had gone down. “What? We have to tell Celestia!” said Rainbow. Twilight nodded. Scroll couldn’t help but feel that this was too easy. Leaving the blade was a mistake so glaringly obvious, it couldn’t have been accidental. He looked back to the face that Diadem shot him. It seemed...artificial. But he couldn’t think of a better thing to do but to tell Celestia. Everypony was stressed, the Whirlwind was silent. They waited until they reached Canterlot, and docked once more. They headed to the palace to inform Celestia. “Princess! We know what is happening!” Twilight said. Scroll recapped the events that had gone down, but Celestia seemed to be getting discouraged with every word. “This is worse than I thought. There’s nothing I can do. If I act against him, his cause only gets stronger. But I cannot let this go unpunished. Give me some time to decide, I will tell you when I have decided the best course of action.” Everypony agreed, and waited outside. Twilight nervously walked around for what seemed like an eternity. Spike burped up a small scrap of paper,signaling Celestia was ready. They entered, and Celestia looked quite grim about what she was going to say.