The last thing you recall is drifting to sleep in your bed, Fluttershy curled up by your side, asleep before you as usual. She’s been strangely distant lately, as though something you’re doing is bothering her. However, no matter how you ask, she assures you that nothing is wrong. You were planning on pressing the point once again at breakfast, but now you’re not certain you’ll have the chance.
You’ve found yourself outside the cottage for some reason, shivering slightly in the misty night. As you look around, wondering at what brought this about, you catch sight of something in the corner of your eye. A white shape flits among the nearby trees, almost blending in with the fog—looking almost like a windigo.
You spread your wings and bring some magic to your horn, preparing to confront it, only for the creature to vanish and instantly reappear in a copse of trees a bit deeper into the Everfree. Puzzled and concerned, you give chase, only for the creature to repeat the trick again.
Your pursuit lasts long into the night. In fact, you could almost swear it ought to be past dawn by now. Even the fog is sticking around longer than it should, seemingly the same bank still covering you and your prey, despite the distance you travelled.
Finally, you pursue the creature into a small cave opening. You land and fold your wings, but as you approach the cave entrance, the fog around you grows thicker and thicker. As you first set hoof into the cave opening, the fog suddenly becomes unbearably thick, and you find yourself becoming lightheaded from the cloying pressure of it and the ever-increasing difficulty in breathing.
By the time your second hoof touches the ground, you collapse.
You awaken with a groan, your entire body feeling bruised and beaten. You begin to push yourself to all four hooves, but the body you’ve grown accustomed to inhabiting since arriving here seems unwilling to respond—your limbs are stiff and numb, while your wings feel like nothing but heavy weights hanging from your back and dragging you down. Beyond the difficulty of moving your body itself, you soon become aware of heavy chains holding you in place. As you open your eyes and your vision comes into focus, you see they are affixed to the mirror-like floor of a vast crystalline cavern. You try to call up your magic to break the chains, but feel nothing in your horn. Confused at the loss of a power you’ve taken for granted since you awoke in this form, you once again strain upwards against the chains while trying to strike at the anchors with magic, only to once again feel nothing. A panicked attempt at teleportation fails as well.
“None of that will work here.”
You quickly recognize the voice as that of Princess Luna. You try to ask what’s happening to you, but only manage to mumble out a few strangled syllables of nonsense. You do, though, get a slightly better look at your surroundings as you attempt to communicate. The floor you are chained to is a round platform, encircled by some sort of chasm. Princess Luna sits on the far side of the gap, against the edge of the cavern. She raises a hoof, indicating that you be silent, her face remaining dispassionate.
“You are disoriented. This is by design. I could not possibly have begun upon this night’s endeavor had you been aware of my actions or intent.”
The strain of holding your head upright becomes too much to bear, and you allow it to drop onto the crystal floor. Something about this place is sapping not only your magic, but your strength as well.
“I would not normally explain myself in such a manner, but there is little left to do now but wait. As well, I do not believe you actually meant anypony any harm. For those reasons, I believe you deserve to know why this is happening to you.”
As you’re still bound and growing ever more exhausted, you have little choice but to listen to her.
“I know what you are. I’ve seen the memories of your home within your dreams. You are like the creatures beyond the mirror—the world that Sunset Shimmer and Twilight Sparkle travelled to. And yet, you are different. I do not know why, but you somehow wield great influence over our world. Events conspire to your favor. Other ponies find themselves agreeing to your ideas. They are drawn to you, and they do not know why. I know, for I have observed the dreams of others, and doubt lies within them—doubt that they find themselves unable to express or even think of in your presence.”
You manage to turn your head just enough to see her. Her eyes are closed and she is hanging her head, though you can’t guess if that’s due to emotion or simply the draining effect this place has.
“Your dreams held no thoughts of conquest, no desire for control. There was naught I saw within you but an innocent love of adventure and a search for love. Even with all the power you could have in that form you have taken in our world, the form of an alicorn, I would have had no concerns as to your existence or actions with such a foal-like view of the world. It is your other power that gave me pause and, eventually, brought us to this point.”
She looks up to meet your gaze.
“I’m certain you do not see the harm in what you do. However, were I to release you now, what would happen? You can change the lives and minds of others, and it doesn’t seem to be a conscious decision on your part. But think of what that means for them. They have lost their own free will in the face of your desires. The world will change to accommodate you, no matter how that may harm another. That is why we are here.”
She stands and spreads her wings, as if to indicate the entire cavern.
“This is the Nadir of the Crystal Spire, far beneath the Crystal Empire. The entire city at the heart of the Empire is one massive magical focus. Emotional energy is drawn along the crystal pathways to the Crystal Heart in the center, and from there up through the Spire to be directed as the Empire wishes. This place is a side-effect of that focus. Magic is impeded here, more strongly as one nears the center.”
Her wings fold back, and her attention returns fully to you.
“You are held in the precise epicenter of the chamber and the nadir. No magic can function in that place. Not yours, not mine, not even my sister’s or Twilight’s. Even special talents are suppressed, which is why your strange ability to influence others has not reached me. It goes beyond overt magic, as well. Pegasi wings struggle to catch the wind. Earth pony strength fails them. I am certain you noticed the extreme fatigue as you came to. That was initially due to the loss of the earth pony strength you had come to expect. Now, however…”
As she trailed off, she lights her horn, and when seems to be a large vase or urn floats up from the large piece of crystal that had been concealing it.
“Now, the nadir is sapping your natural strength as well, and your fundamental life force. Magic and life are closely intertwined, and now that one has been expended, the other will be drawn upon it its place.”
You make another desperate attempt to struggle free as the implications of her words set in.
“You understand, then. Yes, eventually you will die here, for the sake of Equestria. Do not fear, however. It may be a slow death, but you will feel nothing. It will simply be as though you fell into a deep sleep. To ensure your passing is as painless as possible, I have prepared this.”
She lifts the jar high up with her magic. As she returns her gaze to you, you finally catch sight of a crack in the cold mask she’d been presenting you with so far, for her gaze only remains on you for a moment before she looks away. Her eyes instead track downwards, seeking some distraction in the crystal floor, and her lips fall as well, slipping from the neutral expression she’d been wearing to a troubled frown.
“This potion will spread over you and cast you into a deep, deep slumber. Your dreams will be the only things that accompany you to the end of your life. I will try to ensure they are pleasant ones.”
She flings the jar outward with her magic, arcing towards you and sending its contents out in a billowing cloud of shimmering motes.
“Do not fear for Fluttershy. If your influence remains upon her, I will either find a way to remove it, or I will provide her whatever comfort I may if the effects cannot be reversed.”
The mist drifts above the entire platform you lie upon, beginning to slowly filter downwards to cover you.
“Sleep now, my little pony,” Luna says as the mist falls around you, and the last of your strength fails. “Perhaps you will awaken in the place you belong. I suspect, though, you will not awaken at all. I am sorry.”