How had everything gone so wrong? Pain filled every inch of Twilight Sparkle’s body, from her horn to her hooves; fiery, needles-drenched-in-lava agony that sent her into screaming hysterics when she dropped her focus for the slightest moment. The lavender alicorn was tied tightly to a tall beam of inscribed oak, her wings bolted into place by iron spikes, cruelly pierced through the shanks; any twitch sent lightning bolts through Twilight’s spines. Her hooves, fore and hind, were shoved into magically heated restraints, the only thing keeping them from destroying the tough appendages being Twilight’s magic. But even then, the Caribou sorcerers surrounding Twilight Sparkle constantly pounded with their oily, slimy magical fields of their own, trying to bring her own down, to continue the torment.
Princess Twilight dared not open her eyes, lest her concentration be interrupted again. The Caribou had managed that once before; Twilight bore a brand across the muzzle, in the shape of a broken lightning bolt and the other of an apple core, that one burned into the soft fur of her chest. She knew very well what they meant, and who surrounded her. She could still hear their pleas, their threats, their cries for Twilight to save herself. She had teleported them all home, but had not been able to do so for herself. The Caribou were quite… frustrated.
“You cannot last forever, pony.”
The voice was deep and smug, just as slimy as the dark stream of magic his antlers gave off, trying to batter away her defenses. Velvet Tongue, the supposed ambassador of the Caribou Nation. The deceitful snake who had orchestrated all of this. How naive Twilight had been, believing the Elements of Harmony would be enough to keep herself and her friends, and the diplomatic party, safe should anything go wrong. Nothing they could do if their Bearers were subjected to poisoned wine, waking up with their necklaces gone and halfway to the Caribou capital, their own bodies chained tightly to posts. But regrets were past, now, no time for present times. Pain took that place.
A stream of magic, feeling all the world like a snapping eel, jerked past one barrier of Twilight’s magic, and she screamed anew, lungs burning and overtaxed as the agony ripped through her with each lash on her stomach. S… l… With a roar of pure, primal rage, dark magic combined with Twilight’s arcane reserves, cutting the magical tie and sending the offending Caribou stumbling away in pain of his own. Twilight hung her head, sobbing weakly, feeling the corruption of the dark entwining as a ring along her horn, joining three others. It felt good… in the way Buck felt good after the needle pushed it into your veins. Good, and sad, and hollow…
“Perhaps another?”
And now Twilight’s screams were joined by another, and her sobs redoubled, knowing the scene that would be playing out. The Caribou had been secretly raiding villages for weeks, and in their fortress deep in the forest, they had dozens of innocent ponies locked up in the same posts that Twilight and her friends had been in. They had pleaded with her, with shattered voices and hollow eyes, to send them away like she had done her friends, but Twilight simply didn’t have the strength for it. She was tapped out.
The voice was young and female, most likely a simple farm filly who had no business enduring this.
“No, please Celestia no, I-I AAAAH!”
Twilight grit her teeth tightly, sure she could feel her bones shifting and cracking in horror. She already knew that begging for the monsters to stop would do nothing but redouble their efforts to penetrate her barrier, and they’d hurt the filly all the more. The Caribou began to chant in their strange, sylibant language, calling out over and over to something called Ash’ei. Twilight’s analytical brain had described it as likely some kind of god, with a symbol of a great, unblinking eye. She knew this because they have burned it against one of her spiked wings, and all those of her diplomatic party and the kidnapped villagers had it on them somewhere. There was a meaty, metallic slice and the filly screamed again as something hit the floor with a dull thud.
The hate began to fill her, even as the Caribou around her began to press the advantage, magic hissing and sparking against the violet barrier. Hate, pushing away the friendship and Harmony that had been her life for so many good, wonderful years among her friends in Ponyville. Hate against the Caribou, hate against this Ash’ei, their reasoning for taking them all. Hate, no matter how illogical, against the ponies that had told them the Caribou were safe, if somewhat fanatical, religious creatures interested in dialogue with Equestria for the first time. She could fell the black tendrils of hate magic sliding up her wings and arms, boiling up towards her sparking horn, ready to blast out and destroy her enemies, to burn the Caribou and tear them apart and-
The ceiling exploded. It was such an unexpected sound that Twilight’s eyes snapped open, bleary from the tightness of her clench. A pink and blue earth pony was hanging in the air, screaming and sobbing, missing a good two quarters of her fluffy pink tail. The oily magical field around her suddenly disappeared with a pop, and a dark blue aura took its place, surging her up into the waiting arms of a comforting Luna, her silver armor and dark fur radiating the brilliant silver of moonlight. But Twilight’s eyes were not focused on her at that moment. She, like the rest of the stunned Caribou and the relieved, sobbing captives, were drawn to the Solar Diarch, floating above them all.
Celestia, Goddess of the Sun, Crown Princess of Equestria, Lady of Warmth, floated on massive white wings, her mane a wreath of flickering, smoldering flames, her eyes burning with the light of her own sun. Her fur, shining with the heart of plasma core, was wrapped in the molten gold armor of her station, a halberd hanging at her side that promised death. When she opened her mouth, the heat and passion of millenia of rule and power raced through the hearts of all, and the Caribou cried out in shock and pain as their antlers burst into flames, melting atop their heads and dripping down to sizzle and cook their fur.
“You dare.”
It was no accusation, but a simple statement of fact. A statement of pure, unbridled, righteous wrath. And with a roar, she descended. The Caribou in a circle around Twilight screamed and cried out for Ash’Ei as a white-hot blade ripped through their bodies, sending them spiraling in mists of flash-fried blood across the torture chamber. Velvet Tongue, acting fast, had doused his burning antlers into a bucket of some kind of dark liquid near the door, teeth gritted in pain. He spun towards Celestia, a beam of oily magic tearing raggedly from his antlers. To Twilight’s horror, it wrapped around Celestia, and her muzzle tightened slightly, golden blood beginning to drip from dozens of cuts that began to open on every inch of exposed flesh. As her blazing eyes turned to him, Velvet let out a wan smile.
“E-even your Goddess can bleed, Twilight Sparkle.”
“SILENCE YOU CURR!”
The fury of a blazing sun roared from Celestia’s very horn, the heat and light keeping Velvet from Twilight’s sight, and she was forced to turn her head. The walls about and around them all trembled and collapsed, but a dark blue aura kept the rubble from crashing down on the trapped ponies. The beam lasted for minutes, the smell of atomized and roasted earth reaching Twilight’s nostrils. And when it finally let up, the Princess of Friendship stared in awe. Velvet Tongue stood in place, his body the glittering clearness of diamond. Celestia strode towards the glimmering, beautiful statue, and with a swipe of her halberd, the diamond shattered into dust itself, lit afire, and drifted off as ash.
And as Celestia quickly turned back to her pupil, Twilight managed to get a glimpse of her eyes, even as the blackness of unconscious and exhaustion gripped her mind. There, in their beautiful, pink depths… was pain.
******************
Luna, Warmistress of Equestra, Keeper of Dreams, Soul of Equestria, scowled darkly as she looked over the remains of the Caribou camp. Her Night Guard had left little to chance; the batpony soldiers and knights had swept in silently, wing-blades slicing necks and spines before sentries could make a sound. Most of the Caribou fit to fight had fallen before the Solar Guard had made their charge, wiping the camp clean. But it was not enough. Tracks heading north spoke of a second caravan, likely having left several days prior. They had not found the Elements of Harmony with Twilight or any of the Caribou, so it was likely that they were with the caravan. And sadly, Luna did not have the pony-power to send a second expedition after them, not without intelligence on numbers and weapons. Intelligence had already cost them too much.
Twilight Sparkle had been badly tortured, that much was true at the smallest glance. Her muzzle, chest, and stomach had been branded, and her wings would take months to properly heal. One ear was tattered, and all four hooves and legs had been severely burned. A dream-meld had shown Luna… horrific things. Things she hadn’t the heart to tell her sister. Celestia was utterly distraught, having not left Twilight’s, nor the other kidnapped ponies, sides since the fight. Their flying frigate would head directly back to Canterlot Castle. Luna, however, had other business first.
“Captain!”
“Mistress?”
The batpony captain Silverwing was never far from hoof, a trait Luna was grateful for on the battlefield, and somewhat annoyed with in her private life. Now however, she was quite grateful as she turned to him. Silverwing floated serenely on the breeze- as serenely as one could look, wings soaked in drying blood, golden eyes locked on his Mistress with reverence.
“I wish a personal guard for myself, and a chariot to head for Cloudsdale. The army will burn down this structure, then march post haste back to Fort Manehatten.”
Silverwing bowed his head obediently, but fixed Luna with a curious glance. She smiled faintly in return. While Celestia preferred quick, snap obedience from her Guard, Luna liked her noble Guards to be curious, if the situation called for it.
“I must speak to Pegasi Intelligence Service. Either there is grave incompetence among their ranks… or we have a leak.”
The Warmistress of Equestria hissed faintly, glaring out at the glimmer of auroras to the north. The Caribou had made a grave mistake, hurting her fellow Princess. They would come to regret it, Luna was quite sure of that.