Ever since these tests began, I have been feeling ill. Not the common ill of being physically drained, but mentally and emotionally ill. It's like my entire system was being overrun with pain and regret. The pain of feeling all of my lost emotions; sorrow, fear, and anger. I thought removed long ago. The regret of not knowing how I lost my way or how to cope with its return.
When I was done doing my usual routine of taking care of my girls and making sure that my prisoners were fed. I sat in the crew bar on my ship, trying to forget the never-ending guilt of those I've wronged by drinking till I forget the day that passed. The thousands of lives, I've killed. The war I started with Starlight glimmer. And the path I must walk to prevent the destruction of the world.
It's December first one thousand ninety-nine since I last checked my calendar a few hours ago. I have lived in Equestria, or rather, near for six months. Trying to ensure its survival from the communism of Starlight glimmer. Though, I suppose it's my fault for sticking my nose in places where it doesn't belong. Even though things have been going slow for the past week since Lusts test ended with me on top. I can't help but feel lost. Everything is in place for her downfall, but the timing is off to take any action.
I know I should get the things I need to stop Malice if he were to be released. I just don't have the energy. Maybe it's because I'm drinking the bar dry? But that can't be right.
I looked over to the clock above the bar door to see how long I've been drinking today. Today I started drinking at six P.M, but the clock now reads one A.M. I chuckled to myself quietly for a moment, for tomorrow I'll get another hangover. Just as I was about to go for another round of booze, a familiar sound entered the dimly lit room. I didn't pay any attention to it though. I was more concerned with my whiskey.
"Winter?" asked a concerned female voice. I didn't respond to it though. I knew it was Lily. She is usually up this late to use the bathroom. She must not have been able to fall back to sleep and decided to walk around for awhile.
"Winter?" she asked again while took another shot of whiskey.
"Yeah..." I whispered in reply. "...What do you want?"
"Are you drinking?" she gasped.
"Yeah..."
"Why? It's not like you," she said taking a seat beside me on one of the red round stools.
"Yeah..." I sighed knowing fully well of how I looked to her. It wasn't like me to drink at all. I didn't like it, I knew what effect it had on me, but it's what I need right now. To make me feel more like shit for the things I 've done, I deserved it.
"What's wrong?" she asked trying to meet my saddened, tired eyes.
"Nothing. I'm just tired."
"Tired? Tired of what? If you need a break, can't I help you?"
"I said it's nothing."
"No, it's not just nothing!"
"YES, IT IS!" I roared in her face. Lily winced from my explosion, but that didn’t do anything to remove her from my sight.
"Stop lying!" she argued. "If you don't tell me right now, I will force it out of you."
"Get lost Lily and leave me alone," I snarled back, clenching my glass hoping that she’ll leave me alone. She grabbed my wrist and attempted to pull me from the bar, but I didn't let her. I retaliated harshly by slapping her across the face as hard as I could. She quickly stopped her attempted unsure on what happened.
“Lily, I’m sorry. I-I didn’t mean too!” I said while she let go of my wrist, pushing me back to my stool.
“You want me to get lost and leave you alone? Fine then. BE ALONE!” she cried, as she ran out of the bar to God knows where.
I tried to follow her, but my drunkenness prevented me from getting close. I eventually gave up my pursuit after I fell to the ground grinding several times. Sore, tired, drunk, and more depressed than before from my stupidity. I dragged my ass back to my room to sulk some more for hurting a friend, one of my only friends in this world.
I slowly walked to my room back down the trail I took to follow Lily. I knew what I did to her, but my body just acted on its own. I didn't mean to hurt her, to push her away when she was trying to help me, but something clicked and now. Now Lily will probably hate me for as long as I live, that's just the way girls are. Just as I was passing the bar, half tempted to start drinking again. I saw Lily through a window, running through a raging blizzard outside to the center of the island. I turned on my detox spell and chased after her so that I can beg for forgiveness and to make sure she doesn't die from the cold.
I teleported her back into the ship like the little cheat I was and handed her a blanket for her to warm up. I didn't bother to meet her eyes, nor to start asking for forgiveness for my actions from earlier tonight. I left her be slightly happy that she wasn't running through the blizzard anymore, even though it was for a few short seconds. I turned around leaving her be in the crew lounge to get some sleep.
"Winter?" Lily asked. I stopped just as I was about to leave the room and turned towards her awaiting further punishment.
"Yeah?" I whispered.
"Why did you bring me back?"
"Isn't it obvious? I didn't want you to get sick or die."
"Well, you should have let me!" she screamed. "You don't care about me anyway," she whimpered.
"Don't say that, you know I care about you. I-I didn't mean to hurt you. I swear..." I sat down on my haunches feeling the terrors coming back to torment me some more. The very horrors that have been plaguing me since Lust left. The reasons why I have been drinking myself to wits end to make the pain go away.
When I’m sober all I could see is blood and ash filling the very path I walk, but that’s just the beginning of my misfortune. After a day past to the night, they would appear, carrying the very bloodcurdling screams of people being burned alive for all eternity, begging me to burn along with them. I tried to ignore it during the day, but the more I did, the more painful it became. The room eroded away around us replacing the warm atmosphere with scorching hate. The walls peeled away like burnt scabs and the floor melted into a river of blood. Then, just behind Lily, they appeared. Three black deformities with empty bleeding eyes staring straight into my soul. Just like they have been for several weeks now.
“GO AWAY!” I screamed while backing away from the things as their mouths start to open. Lily noticed something was wrong and searched to where I was looking at.
“What are you yelling at Winter?” Lily asked, but before I could respond, they started their screaming. I broke down after a minute of their screaming. I clenched my ears begging them to stop, but no matter how hard I press down on my ears. The sound pushes through un-altered.
“Make what stop?!” Lily asked exasperated, but I couldn’t answer.
Without any reason, I ran from my horrors to a place where I can be safe from them. I ran through the ship with a screaming Lily chasing after me, but they weren’t fast enough to keep up. Within seconds, I was in my sanctuary; a pitch black hiding hole where the light couldn’t hope touch. Once inside this little nook in the ship, the blood stopped flowing over me, the ash vanished from the air and the deformities stopped their unholy singing.
Lily was quick to find me in my hiding place, but she couldn’t enter. She had to stay behind an iron door that was locked from the inside. I knew she was there because of my eye. The very eye that is causing the living nightmares that could only be tamed by darkness or booze. She knocked on the door begging me to come out and to tell her what’s wrong with me?
“Winter! Open up, please! What is wrong? And don’t you dare say it’s nothing!” Lily cried banging on the door.
"No," I replied in her mind. "They would return, and I can't bare their screams any longer."
"Whose screams? Why are you acting this way? What's wrong!”
"Will you leave me be if I tell you?" I begged.
"...Only if you tell me what's wrong."
"Fine then, but don't try to help me. There is nothing you can do."
"I don't know what's wrong with me, but for a while now, I've been having these day terrors and I don't know why! Every day it's the same thing. Blood fills me path like a river and ash from the burning corpses trying to escape their torment, always calling out to me for help with their soundless cries.
Then, during the sunset, these three deformities would appear to scream. Their screams didn't hurt me for the first few instances they were here, but day after day, it would get louder and with more heart-wrenching intensity.
The only way these day terrors would go away is if I'm in this room, or drunk to the moon. I tried to find a way to cure myself of this torment, but I couldn't find anything. The only thing I could do to ease the pain is with a bottle of scotch or a safe haven that I could retreat to." I explained. "So please leave me alone when I ask you too. I don't want to hurt you again."
The next day Lily gave me some distance. Not that I blame her. After what I told her last night. My explanation must have frightened her to some degree. Her friend that she doesn't admit is slowly go insane with an ungodly sound bellowing through his ears. I would have scared for me too. I left the girls alone after breakfast to check up on the prisoners. Having my prisoners kept in relative solitude for a long period of time, must have started something to effect their sanity. I took a swig of my favorite whiskey to ease the day terrors, then left for the prison deck.
On the way there I checked up on the people I was going to visit with my eye. Iron Maiden was sitting comfortably on her cot in her cell thinking about how she was going to escape. And the zebra was exercising. Both of them still believed that their cult master Starlight glimmer was going to save them. I'll give them some credit. They are hard to break, but the truth breaks everyone.
I arrived at their cells eager to see if they can escape an island in the middle of the northern arctic ocean during a blizzard. I opened both of their cells turning on an invisibility spell to study their reactions. I need to know how well they can adapt to their environment if they were to become a part of my crew.
Iron Maiden walked out of her cell, checking down the barren hall to see if anyone was waiting for her. To her surprise, a zebra strode out of his own cell, unbroken, unafraid. Unsure of he was an enemy. She thought of a pass phrase that Aqua Marine herself had told her.
"The heart is strong if the..." Iron Maiden said.
"...If the herd is one," the zebra finished.
"So you got locked up in this dastardly place as well?" she asked taking a quick look down the hall.
"Yeah, by a fucking diamond dog with our weapons," he growled unhappily. "But that doesn't matter right now. How did you get captured?"
"I was hired and my employer found out about our cause."
"Were you THAT careless?"
"Oh heavens no! He used a mind-reading spell on me when I wasn't paying attention."
"No matter. Right now, we need to get out of here. Wherever here is."
"Right then. Lead on."
Iron Maiden and Brimstone the zebra, ventured through a section of the ship that I purposely force them to follow. I made them go through this path to keep them away from Lily and Azura as a precaution for their safety. I kept a safe distance from them, hidden by my invisibility spell. Iron Maiden and Brimstone quickly moved through the ship, thinking that this was some advanced prison used for the most dangerous of prisoners, but this was not the case. They would soon find out that they air in the air, several miles above my island.
Iron Maiden enters the final room behind Brimstone, ending their journey to freedom. Now, because I'm drunk. I'm, going to give them a very demented prank. The door closed behind them and another in front. They were trapped in an empty room with a letter I left for them to interpret at the center.
"Hey, what's going on here!?" Iron Maiden shouted.
"I don't know! It's probably a trap."
"Well, get us out of it," she ordered. "You can start with that note over there."
"What note?!" Brimstone shouted back.
"That note!" she pointed to the piece of paper on the ground. He reluctantly picked it up and read it out loud to her.
"A couple is trapped within a room of truth. Who is the liar of royalty and who is the non-believer."
"What the hell is this supposed to mean?" Brimstone asked.
"Well, figure it out, but I warn you. If this room becomes darker than night, then you both will die. Hehehehe," I purred menacingly through my invisibility.
"Who's there!" the both shouted in unison. I didn't answer.
They searched around the room for a way out while I slowly dimmed the lights. The tried to open the doors, but they wouldn't budge. Iron Maiden tried a few of her smithing spells to attempt to melt the dragon scale walls, but that also failed. Brimstone just watched his companion fail over and over again knowing that they cannot escape the room.
Brimstone read the note again. trying to figure out who is the liar and who is the non-believer. He knew with all his experience that the best way out of any situation is with complete calmness. Then just as Iron Maiden was about to give one final effort at the doors, he figured out who is who from the note.
Brimstone stopped Iron Maiden from wasting any more of her magical energy and called out to me. "I know what you are asking for!"
"Well, let's hear it. I'm all ears," I replied.
"I'm the non-believer and Iron Maiden is the lair. I'm I right?"
"Yes."
"So let us out!" Iron Maiden chimed in.
"Only if you want to hear the truth of your cause, and let me tell you. It's not pretty," I said. They both looked at each other confused, before coming to a silent agreement to here what I have to say.
"Fine, tell us oh no one," sassed Brimstone.
"As you wish."
I created a magical screen on the wall to show them what their fearless leader was going to do. I showed them a land of burning fields, starving civilians, enslaved; zebras griffins, diamond dogs, and their leader on top of a pile of dead bodies with a castle sized demon behind her.
They were stunned, too shocked to even move their eyes away from the screen. Iron Maiden trembled at the sight of the walking castle killing entire armies with a single swing of its arm. Brimstone was appalled to see his own kind treated like common filth. I cut off the spell to let them realize what they were a part of, what they were trying to do.
"That is the truth of your beloved leader. She plans on unleashing the worst demon from Tartarus and use it as a weapon against the country for her own selfish gain. So I ask you. Will you join me to prevent the entire destruction of Equestria?"
Brimstone didn't take too long to answer a "Yes", but Iron Maiden didn't want to believe anything that I showed her. She raved against what she saw calling me the liar and calling Brimstone a betrayer. I didn't let this go on for too long. So I decided to show myself to them.
I stood behind them in my griffin form slightly buzzed. Brimstone was quick to notice my appearance, keeping a slight distance away from me. Iron Maiden, however, took my sudden arrival with hostility and made an attempt on my life. I blocked her spells until she ran out of energy, but that didn't stop her from using brute for to try to get me to release her from her prison. I used my eye to stun her in place, only allowing her to move her head.
"I'll kill you, Winter! You can fool that zebra bastard, but you can't fool me!" she raved. I looked towards Brimstone, curious on how he was reacting to Iron Maidens sudden mood change.
"Hello, Brimstone. How are you today?" I asked politely. "I see my friend Lily has been treating you nicely. I do hope that you will be polite to her when you two meet." Brimstone took my civilized manner with more confusion.
"I'm, ah. Fine, I guess?" he replied awkwardly.
"That's good. Anywho, Iron Maiden. I will give you one final choice. If you don't join, I won't just kill you, I'll hand you over to Celestia. And trust me, banishment to the badlands isn't what you want."
"Why should I join you? You're nothing but a liar!"
"Because Iron Maiden. I know the future, I've seen what happens to you cause. It fails, everyone dies, and your leader runs away like the little coward she is."
"No that can't be true!"
"Face it Iron. I could easily stop her right this instant, but the only thing that is stopping me is her barrier and that demon she is trying to release. I know how to stop it and utterly destroy it, but things take time. One of those things is your blindness to the truth. I'm giving you the chance to free yourself from the guilt of your wonderous smithing work meant to protect your comrades. That is only being used to murder the innocent."
"Stop lying!" she raged.
"Why would I lie? The only time I lie is to protect the feelings of others and to tease my friends. I will sometimes bend the truth to prevent any misfortunes, which is very few these days, but in your case. The truth is what you need to free you from your growing guilt."
"You're a monster! I am not guilty of anything!"
"I may be a monster, but at least I take my punishment for those that I kill. You don't, so who is the real monster?" I said pointing to her.
"You are." She finally gave up her belief's and accepted the facts, even though it took a while. Brimstone didn't dare intervene because he was too worried that the diamond dog was watching. Iron Maiden, like Brimstone, decided to join to atone for her sins. To punish herself for every weapon she made that ended a life.
I lead them out of the room to the crew deck where Azura and Lily were reading. When they saw my two followers, Lily jumped up and prepared for an attack. Azura, on the other hand, could care less.
"Winter? Why are the prisoners doing out of their cells?" Lily asked, going into her battle stance.
"They're free under my terms. So put your sword away. It scares people," I yawned.
"Why?! Never mind," she growled sheathing her crystal sword. I left Iron Maiden and Brimstone in Lily's care for the day while I went to collect one of the pieces I need to beat Malice. The pride of the griffins. She resisted this order for a while, but I decisively made sure that she accepted it.
I went to my room after my talk with Lily to grab certain things that I might need while I'm gone to Griffinstone. I told Lily and the others that I might not come back for a while, maybe a couple of days at the most. This didn't go so well with Azura. I promised her that I would bring back some souvenirs for her when I returned.
I put on my two shoulder satchels. A dagger made of white dragon scales, shaped like a mini straight edge katana sheathed in a simple scabbard over my left shoulder. And filled one satchel with money, the other with a flask filled with whiskey. Once equipped with my few things, I teleported to the edge of Griffinstone, ready as can be.