So much blood… So much blood…
Slaughtered by that strange mare…
The memories of their corpses strewn about still haunted me no matter how far I flew, no matter how much I tensed up in some futile effort to purge the images out of my mind.
Those men had done horrible things, the pony Celestia told me of had proven as much, but this… not for my benefit but for Discord’s amusement because he’d changed his mind on whatever role he had for me in his two-and-a-half decade-long game.
The tears I’d shed had long since passed, and I could feel my wings tiring. I didn’t want to risk being seen but with the clouds too high up that I wouldn’t reach them without straining myself and risking a very long drop, I had no choice.
Descending into a grove, I let my hooves touch the brush-covered ground and slowly tucked my wings up. It was dark out, the moon and distant light of some manner of civilization providing the only illumination in these dark woods.
My ears twitched at the sounds of various creatures of the night moving about around me but while I doubted anything that could pose much of a threat to me was nearby, it didn’t do anything to alleviate the fear and pain I was feeling.
“Aunt Celestia… Aunt Luna… Alice…” I muttered softly, looking downward at the ground below me before collapsing to my haunches and laying down. Slowly, I curled up and looked around me. Trapped in who-knew-where, looking like this, I felt as I had in the mental institute; frightened, unsure of myself, and completely alone.
Alone… so alone…
I couldn’t sleep here, who knew if someone came across me. I wanted to go to civilization but it’d be too risky… yet… civilization meant people, there was at least a chance I’d find more like me, right? But who could say there would be. And if I did, who’s to say that mare wouldn’t come back and make a few more additions to the nearest graveyard.
My ears twitched again, my gut told me the overcast was going to break loose soon.
The first drops fell upon my head immediately after, followed by the rest, prompting me to get up and hide under some trees. Several moments passed as the rain pounded around me, soaking the ground and trees and making my situation feel all the more hopeless.
I cringed when I felt a pang in my stomach, and remembered I’d not eaten or drank anything since yesterday morning. Desperate as I was, I didn’t want to resort to eating grass and plants in the wild like an animal, but the rainwater would at least handle my thirst a little bit.
Slowly emerging from under my shelter, I approached some leaves that some rainwater had collected on and tried lapping it up. I guess in my situation, I had few other options but the water felt refreshing enough to quench my thirst. Hanging my head back I opened my mouth and let the falling rain pour in, swallowing it down after and ignoring the discomfort getting completely soaked was having on me. Once I was satisfied, I retreated back to my hiding place.
In seconds I began shivering. Even though I no longer felt thirsty, I was still cold, wet, hungry, and lonely. I wanted to cry but I couldn’t. How much longer was Discord going to trip me up every time things started to go in my favor? How much longer did I have to suffer? I just wanted to be somewhere safe, I wanted to see Alice and my family again.
Wanting what I couldn’t have only made it worse, though, and reminded me all the more of my situation. No. I can’t give up, and I couldn’t stay here. I had to keep moving… I made up my mind; civilization was risky but it was my only shot at finding a way to Iowa.
Stepping out from under my shelter, I began running, as fast as I could towards the faint light. My wings may have been tired but my legs were still strong. Just one of those perks of being an alicorn, I suppose, few as they were.
The rain beat hard on me as I ran, galloping as fast as my legs could carry me. I couldn’t stop now; I couldn’t give up when I knew there was at least a chance I could make it to where Celestia and the others were. I had a lot to tell them; about my meeting with my family, about what had happened to me and what happened with the mercenaries, and perhaps help them find Sunset and a way home. If I could find her…
What I found was rather unexpected, it appeared to be some kind of old stop point for trains judging from all the empty boxcars, and just my luck, there were a few open cars on one that was parked at the loading station. As I drew closer I noticed some people talking. Moving carefully behind the car, hoping the rain would drown out the clip-clopping sound of my hooves, I tried to get close.
“-Chicago... supplies…” I faintly heard from whatever the first man said.
The train was heading to Chicago and with any luck, I could find a way to Celestia from there. It was worth a shot... my only shot, it seemed.
Quietly I walked along the boxcars, looking for an open one to slip into before anyone noticed. Smiling when I found one, I quickly climbed in, sighing in relief to be out of the rain and shaking myself off. The men were still talking outside so I felt confident they’d not noticed me. Focusing, I tried to make my horn light up so I could see where I was.
From the looks of it, the boxcar seemed mostly emptied, with a few… I walked closer and noticed them to be a stack of hay bales. I guess that could handle my hunger but I really wasn’t interested in resorting to that just yet. In the meantime they’d make a suitable bed. Climbing atop the bales, I curled up and stared at the opposing wall for a few moments.
All of this… everything had finally started going okay and then those mercenaries… and that masked mare… and then being stranded. I could only hope things could finally start to turn up for me once more. The first chance I got I would try to reach Alice, and find out if she was okay, and Celestia.
I heard the train starting up again, and soon my unsuspecting transportation was on the move once more. With the gentle rocking of the boxcar, I could feel my eyelids grow heavy and I slowly drifted off to sleep.
~
“Drink up, sweetheart!” I said, floating a bottle with some milk in it to my foal as she giggled in her seat. Shining stood beside me, smirking.
“Think you’ll get it into her mouth this time?” he asked, looking down at the puddles on the floor.
“Hey, I’m trying,” I said, smiling to him and returning my attention to our daughter.
“That’s right, that’s right.” I gently brought the bottle to her, and after a moment, she grasped it between her hooves and began to drink. “Great job, Skyla!” I said, walking over and nuzzling her. “I love you so much, sweetie.”
I continued to watch the memory play out as I stood nearby in the castle dining hall. Two ponies I’d never met, yet felt a deep attachment for, with a version of me from long ago. My heart ached once more, seeing the happy family I once had, that I had helped create, that Discord had both taken away and taken me from.
Suddenly, it all became dark, till I was surrounded by pitch black. Looking around, I made my horn light up again, but it did little use, like lighting a match in a vast basement.
“Hello?!” I called out, seconds later wishing I hadn’t when suddenly, a pair of massive green eyes with purple smoke trailing from them appeared in front of me, prompting me to scream and back away, only for them to vanish as quickly as they’d arrived.
Once more, I was in the crystal palace, except now it looked as though I was alone.
Or so I thought.
“So sweet, isn’t it?” Discord’s voice asked. I turned and he was hanging upside-down from right in front of me. “Your life’s quite the roller-coaster, isn’t it?”
“What was… what was that all about?” I asked, wondering about what I’d seen a second ago.
The draconequus shrugged. “Hmmm, somepony knows you’re somewhere? It seems fairly familiar somehow…” he stroked his beared a moment. “Oh well! Did you enjoy the little treat I gave you?”
“Why make me remember things from the past?” I asked. “Is there some point to helping me remember who you took from me?!”
“All in good time, my dear. A game’s no fun if I don’t give at least SOME concessions to the other players!” the chaos god sneered.
His claims didn’t make me feel any better, instead making me all the more worried about what his endgame for me was.
“Honestly, aren’t you familiar with want it, need it, have it? The more I dangle what you desire, the more rewarding it’d feel for you to get it back if you can, am I right?” he asked, grinning.
My eyes widened. “You mean…?”
Discord turned right-side-up and folded his arms, turning away from me. “I mean nothing more then what I said, my dear Princess!” he said, his face emerging from the back of his head and blowing a raspberry at me. "I told you a game's no fun when I don't provide some form of a chance, at the very least to give me a chance to see what you'll do with it."
A trickster to the end, clearly, and all it did was make me angrier. He wanted to bait me, to make me more driven so he could laugh even harder when... if he won. “When I catch up to you, I swear you’re going to learn the meaning of ‘love hurts’, Discord!” I snapped lividly.
“Sticks and stones, Princess!” Discord taunted. “That poor, lost daughter of yours, forgotten all these years, still waiting for you to come back. It’s the stuff epic tales are made of, isn’t it?” he asked with a laugh before checking a watch that suddenly began beeping on his tail. “Oh dear me! I think you’re going to be waking up very shortly! Have I given you enough to think about? I sure hope I have, because over these last few days this little show has gotten just a little…” he began, vanishing, and suddenly my legs started moving on their own. Looking up, I could see the draconequus towering over me, holding a marionette stick that he moved about, causing me to dance helplessly in place. “…more… interesting…” his terrible laugh echoed all around me as everything faded to black once more…
~
I awoke to the sound of voices outside, all around the train, prompting me to sit up and carefully climb down the hay bales to avoid detection. I was still hungry, and wouldn’t have a lot of energy but I didn’t want to risk being seen by someone who could be a threat to me. My ears twitched as they grew louder, alerting me that whoever was out there was on their way to the boxcar I was in. I was just reaching the door when I heard something about ponies, causing me to pause and look back for a moment.
“Freeze!” a male voice suddenly ordered from behind me.
“S-sorry… I…” I began nervously, turning my head to see who had threatened me, only to stare in shock when I saw it was a pony wearing some kind of armor.
There was a pause before he spoke again. “You are to come with me at once, on his Majesty’s orders."
“His Majesty’s?” I asked, confused.
“He sensed a powerful magic on board the train as you passed through the barrier. He instructed to me to find out who and what was carrying such powerful magic,” he answered, before giving a wave and several unicorns and armored humans suddenly stood outside the open doorways aiming at me.
Seeing the guns quickly reminded me of the mercenaries, and I felt a sense of alarm quickly overcome me and a sudden “fwump!” sound came as my wings instantly flared out. Nervous, I slowly attempted to tuck them back into place. “I-I… guess that’d be me,” I said. “I’m sorry, I had no idea. I was just… hitch-hiking, I guess.” I added, unsure of how to explain myself.
“It's quite alright Princess Cadance,” the guard stallion said as though this were normal for him. “Chicago is safe haven for ponies,” he continued, before noticing several humans and ponies; myself included, were staring at him. Did he just address me by name? Even he seemed surprised by it.
“I-it is?” I asked, recalling something about Chicago in the news, then remembrance of that he’d addressed me by name quickly returned. “You know who I am?” I asked, before facehoofing from realizing the most obvious explanation. “Right, not a stranger to the show I imagine?” I asked, more then likely anyone who made it past season 2 should have had a pretty good idea who I was.
“Show?” the guard asked, rubbing his head with his hoof clearly not knowing what I was referring to. “Oh you mean My Little Pony. The king told me that show was somehow tied to what's been going on. I've been told my character only appeared once in the fourth season. That is, if you believe that. I mean, it's a girl show,” he said before looking me over again. “Though I got to say. I feel like I know you…”
I slowly began to relax again, but then noticed his coat was a little… shinier then the usual pony’s. “Wait, you're a crystal pony? Then that'd make sense... In the show I was the leader of the Crystal Empire, and that all seems to be real…” I narrowed my eyes, looking him over and getting the oddest sense of déjà vu. Not in the sense that I knew him from the show, but like someone I’d known personally before. “You seem familiar, too,” I said.
“Either way, none of that matters now. Please come with me and my men. We are to take you to the kings mansion to make sure you are not a threat to the Empire. Should you refuse we are to take you there by force. It's nothing personal, but this city is no longer part of the United States.” The guard pony explained. I suppose I didn’t have much of a choice, even if I was an alicorn princess with more power then the average pony, I had next to none of the skill available to unleash it, nor was I in any state of mind to tap into whatever power my special talent provided from what I could tell. Princess Cadance’s power came from the love in her heart, something that had been broken in me for some time now.
Lowering my head, I conceded defeat. “I-I see...” I took a deep breath. “Very well.”
~
The trip was not especially long, I’d been escorted in a police car along with the crystal pony and several other guards to a large mansion on the outskirts of the city. I suppose whoever this city’s de facto mayor was, he’d want to live large and in charge and admittedly I’d never seen a place this… huge in person. As I was led out of the car, I noticed a few odd rock formations here and there, but that did nothing to prepare me for what came next. As we entered the front garden I found myself staring up in shock at a towering statue of King Sombra, looking as he did in life. Any questions I’d had as to who now ran this city had quickly been answered, and part of me wanted to run immediately but I knew that’d be comically futile at best, especially now.
I felt the guard pony… I swear I felt like I should have known his name, as though it were on the tip of my tongue… place a hoof on me. "Is something wrong?" he asked.
“Y-yeah... I-I'm... I'm fine. I've just been through a lot.” I said hurriedly, deciding the best to do was get this over with before I had a heart attack. If it was in fact King Sombra who resided in that mansion, I’d have to tread lightly.
As I was brought into the mansion, I got a look around and couldn’t help but marvel a little at the luxuries that filled the place. I didn’t know if its current owner had seized it from someone or inherited it but it was the sort of place that Cribs did episodes about. It was beautiful, yet that sense of unease still hung in the air around me. I noticed from the corner of my eye a young boy playing video games in one of the nearby rooms. He seemed happy enough and from what I understood Sombra preferred those under him to be miserable, so it seemed out of place. Was he different somehow? Was whoever he used to be a better person then the unicorn tyrant had been?
I watched the boy for a moment in curiosity before being lead up a long set of stairs, passing a window where I caught a glimpse of two pegasi playing outside in the back gardens. They didn’t seem unhappy either… what was I getting into?
Finally, I was lead to what appeared to be a plush lounge of some kind and left by myself while my host was presumably being notified.
Falling to my haunches, I stared down at the floor, unsure of what to think of all this. Was this King Sombra? The same King Sombra who had made crystal ponies suffer and cower at his very name? Was it some kind of false utopia were freedom was exchanged for security? The boy and the pegasi didn’t seem unhappy at all, and I doubted Sombra to be the type who normally expected such behavior in his presence. If anything I’d have expected to see Chicago in ruins with countless human and equine slaves toiling away in his name. It brought me back to what I’d wondered about earlier. My life, or what I’d thought had been my life, had changed me as Cadance so drastically. Princess Cadance was a kind, loving pony, content with her life and always there to care for and support others when needed. I was jaded, suffered moments of pessimism and uncertainty, and felt the weight of the world on my back.
Had Sombra grown up differently here? Where I’d experienced a painful, negative event that had left me as I am, had Sombra experienced a positive one before he regressed to the shadow king? What kind of person… or pony… was he now?
My answer was certain to come to me as I heard the door open again…