//------------------------------// // The mirror shows not // Story: The Broken Crown // by Inspiration //------------------------------// The princess of the Sun was back in her castle after the whole ordeal. She was mad. Very mad. She had too many underlying problems with no way to fix them. She could be easily angered. She could normally control herself until later, when she could vent it out on some poor prisoner she kept secret from her subjects, her dear sister, and even from the Royal Guard. But this time, her most trusted student, her favourite pony in the land, and her link to partial sanity, had managed to break her with a simple word within her reasoning for denying a once-in-a-lifetime offer. "No." And that was all it took for her to snap. From the moment she was back, she ran directly to her hidden prison, and threw open the first cell containing life. The caged mare already feared the celestial goddess, but this time, she could see the anger and insanity in her eyes. That was only for about 3 seconds, though, as she was immediately thrashed against the walls. Repeatedly. As for Celestia, she didn't know what she was truly doing do the poor mare. She could see the blood come from her mouth and broken limbs. She could see the pain and fear in her eyes. She just...didn't feel anything. She didn't feel remorse, or pleasure, or anything. She didn't know why, and she got angrier. She continued slamming the mare around the room, onto cobblestone walls and steel bars. The mare, however, felt that this was her final day. From the moment she had woken up that day, she had a feeling that she would feel the torture of this prison no more. She just wasn't sure how. Now, though, with the injuries of Celestia's wrath, she knew that this was it. With limbs broken, brain concussed, and blood dripping, she knew it. She agreed with the terms of death as she was levitated in front of Celestia for the final blows. Celestia hovered the mare just high enough for the worst pain she could make with her own body. She kept the mare in one place, and charged at her. Her horn collided with, and penetrated, the mares body. The incredibly sharp, incredibly long horn of the Sun-raiser tore through her vitals, making her cough up even more blood. Celestia levitated her off of her horn and put her down in the corner of the room to die. She turned to walk out, when she heard the dying mare speak. "You...you think tha...that killing...me will...help...you?" The mare said, stopping for breath every other word. "That...that killing ev...everypony will...save your m...mind? It w...won't." Her voice was fading with every word, but she kept speaking, making every word sting. "When I'm in...in the afterlife...I vow tha...that I will ha...haunt you. Remember th...the last w...words of B...Berry Punch: Fuck...you...bit..." Berry Punch couldn't get out the end of her sentence, as she saw the light and ran towards it while speaking. With that, Celestia goes to the next cell to do the same deed. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Twilight has been having nightmares ever since she was sent back home. She would constantly wake up screaming, and check her stomach and limbs for puncture wounds. The nightmares were always different, but would always end in the same way: the last moments of her life. And once she was up, she would rush down stairs and start reading every book she could get her hooves on about psychology and nightmares. But nothing truly came up that could help her. Because of this routine, she was sleep deprived, only receiving 2-5 hours of sleep a night, with that number decreasing constantly. This particular night, she had just finished her plans. "Plans," however, meant secluding herself while she studied her psychology books more. She put her book away and went up to her bedroom, fearing the horrors that awaited her in her subconscious. She lied down in her accursed bed, pulled up the covers, and drifted off into the realms of her mind. She was in a large, white room with her friends. For some inexplicable reason, they were arguing over nothing. Fluttershy, as quiet and reserved as she is, was somehow the loudest, and Pinkie's hair was straight, so she knew something was wrong. Even though she knew they were arguing, she couldn't understand anything they were saying. Except for one thing. And this "thing" was directed at her. "WE HATE YOU! GOODBYE!" She just stared at her friends as they walked away from her. They had nowhere to go, but that didn't stop them. They just...walked. She didn't know what was happening between them, but she knew something did happen. Suddenly, however, her friends just...dropped. They all seemed to die where they were. Blood began to slowly stream from their eyes, almost like tears. That's when Celestia appeared. "I warned you." That's all she said as she destroyed the bodies of Twilight's friends in a flash of light. Bodies crying blood turned to ash and fell through the floor of the room, leaving no reminisce of the Twilight's loved ones. All that Twilight could do was sit there, staring at the pony she looked up to, that she admired. She couldn't do anything but that, and cry. She woke up in a cold sweat, as usual. This dream was different for some reason. It was usually her dying or getting tortured. Never her friends. As per her new routine, she ran down stairs and got her books. This time, however, they proved helpful. She remembered her friends bodies crying blood as she read her books. "To see or find a bloody dead body in your dream refers to a situation or issue that you can no longer avoid. You need to make an important decision and act on it immediately." She knew what she had to do.