The Bill-inning

by EmperorDalek

Chapter 6 (edited and spellchecked version)

A little visit to the Crystal Empire wouldn’t hurt Part 2

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The halls of the castle were dark and the ambience of the night hanging prominent in the air. An eerie silence existing throughout every corridor and hallway that she passed through. While the torches illuminated some of the darkness, they still did not provide enough light to make it possible to see what awaited her.

While she was not too skilled in magic, she could use simple spells such as illumination and levitation. Looking back behind her at the darkened corridors, then back up at the darkness in front of her.

With a turn of her head, she looked around at the darkness all around her. The illumination from her horn shone down the corridors before her. But in the unmoving shadows there was nothing of life, so she continued on her way. The clips and clops of her hooves travelling down the hallways, surrounding her.

However, once she turned away from the corridor, one of the shadows started to move and went slithering through the darkness of the corridor. While the torches illuminated quite a bit of the castle's entryway and passages, they still did not shine upon every corner of those pathways.

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Behind her as she continued down through the hallways, black tendrils started to emerge from the castle walls. As the tendrils grew longer, they all started to turn and follow after her. Silently slithering through the air towards her.

In the all-enveloping darkness, she felt utterly helpless and exposed…fragile. Inside her, the fear of something lurking just behind her grew, her eyes continued to peer behind her…

But when she did look – quickly turning her head back around, and looking down the corridor that was behind her, there was nothing there. The hallway was still being vaguely illuminated by the torches along the walls.

The light from her horn illuminated the hallway, and she proceeded to check every last nook and cranny of the hallways to make sure that there was nothing there.

A loud sound of something clattering down onto the ground was enough to pull her attention back toward the dark space before her, down the hall.

Starting to run, she hurried down the hallway. Following where the sound had come from with great interest.

Up behind her, on the walls, shadows started to move, slithering through the 2-dimensional space they inhabited as they followed her.

After running through the castle hallways for a while, she eventually stopped upon arriving at something that looked to be a fork in the path. One corridor lead right, and the other lead left. With a simple turn of her head, she looked back and forth between both passages. Both corridors were dark, so nothing could be seen beyond where she was. There weren’t even any torches along the walls of these hallways.

"Hmm, I don’t remember hearing about any 'Separating Paths' in the books," she said to herself. "Either way I don’t like the looks of this."

She continued to look back and forth at the dark pathways ahead of her. But coming to no conclusion on which one she wanted to take.

Perking her ears up, she noticed something. A faint sound coming from the left corridor. It was not very loud, and it was... running, flowing, bearing close resemblance to a great ocean. There was also… something else, but it was not something she had heard before so could not pinpoint anything specific.

Giving a quick look back at the right corridor, she turned back to the left. Then, with an uneasy feeling, stepped forward, heading into the darkness on her left. Her body being quickly subjected to nothing but shadows. The only thing that was left untouched being her horn, which even then was only being illuminated from her spell.

Trotting through the darkness, she did not stop for anything, nor did she raise any questions about any of this for fear of stopping to think about them. It was not that she was afraid of taking the time to analyze what her eyes were seeing or what she was hearing. Occasionally, she would turn her head back, trying to look behind her. But she would stop herself each time, reminding herself of the water that lay ahead of her.

She had come too far to simply give up now, or lose herself to the fear of being all alone in the castle of one of the greatest kingdoms on this earth.

Eventually, she entered into a large chamber, which was still very much darkened, except there were torches on the walls so she could reduce some of the intensity of her light spell. The chamber looked to have been built from stone bricks, which was odd considering the whole castle was made out of crystal.

In the center of the chamber, there were three doors. One made of rusted steel, the other of a black, hardened substance, and the third one, which looked to be composed of two white trees whose branches were connected to one another – In fact, it was more of an archway than a door, she decided to save that for last. But the thing about them that got to her was that they were not connected to the walls. But the advantage of being a Unicorn is that one gets to experience all kinds of weird magic all the time. But doors? That was just plain weird.

She nervously approached the first door (rusted one), using her magic to turn the knob, and then pushed it open with her hoof. Its hinges creaking as it moved inward away from her. When it was all the way opened, she gently trotted forward. Disappearing on the other side of the door.

Unexpectedly, the darkness that had once surrounded her quickly disappeared. Being unfortunately replaced with a sudden bright, white light. Averting her head away, she quickly brought a hoof up in front of her eyes in order to shield them from the blinding light.

Gently lowering her hoof, she dared to look back out at the sight that awaited her.

Taking a step forward, her hoof touched down against a steel surface. Evidenced by the obvious sound of her hooves against its hardened surface. She lowered her head, looking down at the floor of whatever place she had come to. She tapped the steel floors, hearing it clatter underneath her hoof.

All of a sudden, the floor started to shake. Moving from one side to the other. The floor creaked underneath her.

"Wha-... W-where am I?" she muttered, narrowing her eyes to try and get a better grasp on the world surrounding her. However, this world was nothing but pure darkness. But eventually it did let up, and the world came into focus.

The blackness transformed into more defined imagery before her eyes. Skies, water, and dark-red steel.

When a sudden spurt of water came up from underneath the edge and the floor creaked, rocking to one side again, she finally understood where she was. It’s not every day she gets to see one, but she knew that this was a vessel frequently used by the Equestrian armed forces to contest the rogue Ponies on the seas.

"By Celestia, I am on a ship." she said aloud to herself.

All of a sudden, the side of the ship is hit by another wave, causing it to rock slightly. The sudden rocking causes her to lose her grasp, and she slides down to the left side of the ship, hitting the steel gunwale.

As she rises to her hooves, she is accidentally bumped in the back by somepony. But when she turns around she does not have time to see or what it is. But there is nothing behind her.

She turns and trots towards the nearest spot where she can stand. With her hooves, she grabs hold of the edge, and lifts herself up onto it.

Turning around, she looks out at the large sea that had been just out of her vision behind all the steel. Her jaw dropped, and her eyes grew wide with shock.

"No!" she protested, shaking her head in defiance of what her eyes were seeing. "It cannot be."

But as much as she shook her head or spoke out against it, the truth of the matter was that what she saw was definitely real.

"Catapults!" a voice suddenly called out.

With a sudden glance to her left, she watched in sheer horror as large siege engines thrust upward and forward, hurtling large forms of fire up through the air. She quickly turned, looking to where the flying objects were landing. But as with everything that she had seen, this sight also troubled her.

"No!" she called out as she watched the flying fire crash into the strong walls of a large castle and causing them to collapse until nothing but large gaps remained. Throughout the entire city, flames started reaching up from behind the walls as screams of pain and cries for help echoed far into the distance as the ships continued to approach the now burning harbor. The city’s fleet had been destroyed long before the siege had begun and was now nothing more than an open gateway for the invading fleet to seize the city. From up high on the mountainside, the foundation of a tower became so weakened that it could not maintain stability. It fell, crushing the inhabitants who could not escape in time.

"Prepare to dock!" a gruff voice shouted out once again. The winds around the thousands of ships started to fill their sails, increasing their speed, and greatly reducing the travel time it would take for their enemies to get reorganized to mount a suitable attack upon arrival. The skies above darkened, blotting out what little remained of the sunlight.

She turned her head back away from the terrible carnage that was taking place. She was refusing to bear witness to such death and destruction. Choked sobs made their way out, and despite her desire to look away, her eyes were drawn to view what was happening. Maybe the citizens of the city would be able to mount a suitable defense against the invaders, and fight back. But no great charge came, no banners of noble colors, no giant tidal wave that would destroy the entire fleet. No victory came for the Ponies.

While the invaders fought the Ponies on the beaches and in the forest, the ship’s siege engines started up again. Releasing another terrible barrage upon those still trapped behind the walls of the burning City of Temples, which was once known for being the location where the first real pyramid was built… Now, a burning ruin that will fade with time.

Back on the ship, she watched with horror in her eyes at the massacre that she had just borne witness to.

"Hurts, doesn’t it?" a voice suddenly spoke up from behind, making her turn around to face whoever it was that had spoken out to her. What she saw was a tall dark, hooded figure standing by the door that she used to get here. It stepped forward with the movement of its legs visible behind the robes that obstructed any direct view of its legs.

"The pain, the sorrow, the loss of one you care about," it said, and she frowned back at it, fresh tears still running down her chin.

"I don’t care about one Pony, but all of them." She turned around, directing her eyes back at the city in flames. "It’s not fair…" she sobbed, "Pointlessly destroying lives for what? Conquering lands?"

"There is not a single nation, creature, dead or undead, whose mind is not defiled with the thought of conquest. It is a natural desire that resides in the heart of every creature in this realm of creation."

"Well, it’s something I don’t approve of. Wars accomplish nothing, only making those caught in the crossfire suffer for no reason."

"Precisely" it said. Her head lifted, her eyes narrowed, and a stern frown settled on her face. She turned her head, looking back at its hidden face behind the hood.

"What do you mean?" she asks it, obviously confused.

"You finally understand the consequences of your actions" it declared.

This only confused her even more, adding some element of hostility into the mix.

"What are you talking about? You’re talking to me as if I'm in need of learning something". She backed away nervously, fearful that she would fall off the edge of the ship.

"I am… And if not for your sins, I would not be here" it replied with a cold tone to its voice.

All she could do was stare at it, paralyzed with fear from every word it spoke.

"You, my dear, can still be forgiven. Your crimes can be claimed by history as nothing more than mistakes, and abolished all together. Everything can be forgotten…"

It raised an arm, extending something that looked to be a claw out at her.

"The souls of the dead, the tormented, and the suffering will be at peace…"

A flesh-less, bony claw reached out toward her from behind the large sleeves around the figure's arm, extending itself further and further until it was only an inch away from her nose.

"...once you are dead!"

Before she could react, the claw tip pushed lightly against her chest, and while she was standing securely on the ship, the deck underneath her seemed to vanish away, fading into nothing!

With a mighty splash, she landed in the water, and her body started to sink down beneath the water regardless of her efforts to stay at the surface.

Further and further down she went, the dark waters enveloping her more and more as the light from the surface became weaker. Soon, the entirety of her was submerged by the dark waters.

Some bubbles escaped from her mouth. But right in front of her, a large red eye with a slit pupil opened, staring out at her. Without hesitation, her jaw dropped and a loud scream could be seen to be uttered, but not heard! The eye only blinked as it watched her freaking out in front of it...!

Her real eyes shot open, and she fell forward, landing against the soft pages of a book. She was still screaming her lungs out, but stopped when she realized where she was. She was back in her bed, in her bedroom in the Crystal Empire.

Panting and grasping her chest, she left her bedroom, her eyes wide with horror at the things that she had witnessed in that apparently crazy dream.

Her mind snapped back to reality as she heard the sound of muffled panicking coming from outside the house.

"What in the heck?" she asks confused.

With all the speed her little hooves can manage, she rushes for the door, opens it with her magic, and runs outside. To her surprise the streets are crowded, as Ponies are hurrying towards the Crystal Castle.

"Oh no! This cannot be good!" she thinks to herself. Her eyes momentarily trail down towards the wall, falling upon her shadow. But wait-something is a little…different about it today. It's triangular with strange arms and legs, and a hat on top. A sudden red slit pupil opening, catching her off-guard.

"Gah!" she exclaims, jumping back in shock.

She turns around and starts to run in the direction of the Crystal Castle with as much strength as she can muster.

On the wall of a nearby building, the shadow of a triangular figure with arms and legs and wearing a hat appears.

It is holding what appears to be gem. With a simple snap of its fingers it vanishes, laughing as it disappears.

Comments

[001101598730]

Wat was that

[Even Evil Has Standards]

Aw nuts! The link broke