JTHW: Journey To Hearth's Warming

by Lighttone GryphonStar

S4 Episode 33: The One Being Above All

Deep within the reachest of the mindscape Twilight found herself lying upon a soft familiar bed of her. A peaceful smell all around her and a sense that everything was perfect. She couldn't remember how she got there. Nor could she remember the last time she got this much sleep.

She took things slow, admiring everything around her as it blurred into clear view. The blanket was her favorite color, the crystal pillar entrapped her perfectly around the plushies, and the books crowding over her. The background showed thousands upon thousands of shelves where more books sat. She didn't feel the need to read a single one nor the ones laying all over her. It was as if she knew every detail, they could possibly ever tell her. Their whole was open to her entirely to where she could not only count the number of pages in each book but also recount each of her favorite pages with but a glance of the spine.

The view, the memories, the placement. Everything told her this was straight from the Castle of Friendship itself.

Her time in this realm was almost up. And yet now she had tested the limits of this realm she didn't know what to do next. She had been told this realm could bring her greatest memories and dreams to life if she let it. So at this moment, she let it all out, her hopes, dreams, desires, and matters. She leaned back in bliss, letting her mind wander.

"I'm uncertain shaping a bed from your mind is testing the limits of anything." Twilight's eyes shot open and went wide at a voice she hadn't heard in a long time. Her eyes traced down to the blanket and a shape moving under it that wasn't there before.

A dark lavender stallion popped out from under the covers. Before she could say a word, he pressed his head against her. At first, she was confused as his face was still blurry, but as the image became clear tears traced across her face as she said the name, "Crimson."

"Yes, that's my name." He stopped her with a kiss on her lips. It was so tender despite the shock and up frontless of the embrace. Twilight wanted to ask what was going on but found herself melting into his lips. Her eyes closed and returned the kiss.

As it lasted, she started to moan softly. His hands carefully traced over her body. She didn't even realize she was naked until now. He was naked too. The crudeness of Rarity's voice echoed in her head. An echo of cheering from Rainbow Dash. Afirment echoed the voice of Applejack and a soft giggle of Fluttershy was only muffled by Pinkie Pie's louder one. His body pressing around her drove her crazy. She didn't know how to react, what to do next? Should she stop? Desire more? Crave a touch that ripped away from her so violently long ago?

Her mind told her this couldn't be real. Yet her desire wanted this more than ever. Crimson was dead, long gone from her life. She never had such a moment with him. She never had such a moment with anypony in a long time. Was this the mindscape's doing? Was this her doing? Was this a gift from another? Was this a gift to herself?

The more her thoughts raced the more they faded to the scene around her. She moaned softer as she felt his face leave her, drifting back down to her... She bit her lip and prepared her body.

Her eyes shot open as intense cold covered her flesh. Her eyes dropped onto the blanket. It was gone, and Crimson was too. Her naked body lay there now covered in blood. It soaked into the bed so deeply and slew all the previous smells. The only thing that remained was the thick stench of decay.

"What's wrong? You look so beautiful..." The light faded from her body.

Her eyes raced upward at the sound of a familiar voice that sent chills down her spine. The massive figure of a wendigo descended upon her. Blood dripped from his mask. The same blood of the stallion that she had longed for. He put himself in the same position as the previous and dragged his cold hands over her flesh.

She wanted to back away. She wanted to scream. She wanted to fight him off as he traced over her. But instead, she found her hands reaching out to him. No, pale blue hands reaching out. The Pale Mare, her voice, laughter mixed with a moaning desire for him. "No, Pale Mare!" She screamed at her hands. Yet they fought back against her, demandingly giving him to her.

Her mind squirmed and twisted in absolute fear as her body pressed against the wendigo's naked form with such joy and vigor. He kissed her neck and rubbed her flesh. Her eyes widened at the sounds of moans coming from her mouth.

"No!" Her thoughts screamed out. "Crimson!" He stopped and lifted his mask. The face underneath was an empty void for only a moment quickly changing into Crimson.

"Yes, Twilight," He leaned in for a kiss. Only to be stopped as pale arms gripped him by the neck. The remaining images of the wendigo faded to only be Crimson completely once more. The Pale Mare's hands squeezed his throat tightly.

"No, don't hurt him!" her mind screamed as the life faded from his face.

"Yes, don't hurt me. Love me..." Crimson's face raced forward and was replaced again by his wendigo killer. Twilight's eyes shot as wide as possible as his arms pushed her down and his body bucked forward. Her whole mind went numb as her inners opened up... Her face fell to the side as all she could do was watch onward as the bed bounced back and forth.

The moans of the Pale Mare soon faded. The wendigo's cold embrace leaked away with each passing second. Her dream, no, her nightmare was ending. Twilight lay for hours even after everything had faded completely. Her mind was barely able to process what happened and completely unknown to how it happened?

She was alone, no bed, no covered. She wasn't even naked anymore. Taking the cold embrace of her armor as solace that horror had ended. She wanted to know why such a vision took place, but she was too horrified to go any further.

"Blending dreams and nightmares. An amazing feat I don't think has been matched since Cassandra and Morpheus themselves."

Twilight found her way out of her trance and looked to the source of the unfamiliar voice. She half expected an enemy but found something else altogether. A pink stallion of unknown species in a fine green suit. He sat in a floating throne of metal and magic.

"Who are you?" Twilight wanted to question more intensely, but she found herself grabbing her mouth. Breathing slower she was glad to have regained control over her own voice.

"I am the master of this realm." He sipped his wineglass and leaned back in his floating chair. "And I want to know why you are defiling it with your twisted fetishes."

"What are you talking about?" Twilight tried to rise but her body was still wracked with a mix of joy and agony.

"That little sexual experience. Had it gone on any longer, I would have to puke," the stallion gave a gagging motion.

"You saw all of that?" Twilight asked.

"Yes, and too much." He snapped his fingers and the senses in her body faded. Her body's movement returned, so she sat up to hear more from this master. "Frankly, I should kick you out. Please, when wondering my realm, keep those desires in check."

"What?!" Twilight raced up. "You're making it sound like I wanted that."

"Don't accuse me of lying!" he hissed back. "I saw the joy in your eyes, the savor in your grin. The motions of your hands urging him to go faster and harsher."

"No, no, no, that wasn't me!!" Twilight screamed in horror. "I don't want that. I don't want him, that monster, anywhere near me!"

The stallion seemed unfazed by her words. It was clear he didn't believe a single one. "Right? He's the monster then what are you?!"

"He is a monster?!" She argued back. "That was never in question!" She raised her dagger. "The question lies here is who are you?"

"I told you, I am the master of this domain..." With a simple wave of his hand, the dagger and Twilight's entire arm pushed away from him and toward her own throat.

"What?" Twilight struggled to be free from her position but only found the strange grip controlling her hand increasing in strength.

"Stop, Hollow Prince!" Another voice spoke up, and the grip faded. Twilight fell back only to be caught by the owner of the voice. She stared at her hand for a solid minute before the voice repeated, " Are you okay, Twilight?" The alicorn turned around to find herself in the arms of Cold Blue.

Twilight quickly pulled away and apologized. "Yeah, I'm completely fine." She waved her hand back and forth. "Wait..." She turned back to the intruder. "Hollow Prince...I heard that name before..." She stopped as she couldn't find the memory of when she heard of it. The realm around her concurred, not altering its shape at all.

"It's a shame you don't remember because I remember you." Hollow Prince smiled at her answer. He stood up from his chair bowed to them both. "Sorry for the roughness. I needed to know if you could be trusted. If you are with... Cold Blue then you have nothing to fear from me." He presented his hand to Twilight.

"Okay..." Twilight hesitated but soon enough took the hand. "Wait, we've met before."

"Yes, but I never revealed my name so how you heard of it is a bigger question." The realm revealed a chessboard between him and Twilight.

Twilight's eyes widened at the arrangements of the pieces. "Wait, this was from the towers... the other personality within Blood Diamond--"

Cold Blue laughed, "Not quite another personality, a separate entity sharing--" He stopped by Hollow Prince's own interruption.

"Unfortunately, I didn't show up here to talk about backstories," Hollow Prince snapped his fingers and the chessboard shook erratically, followed by everything else around them from the floor to the walls and soon the very air itself.

"What are you doing?"

"You have it in reverse. I've been stabilizing things for the last hour," Hollow Prince corrected. "While I don't mind one's like Cold Blue and my beloved Blood Diamond to use my realm, it seemed others are twisting it to their advantage." Another snapped of his fingers and the realm shook more violently.

Twilight jumped back at her sight twisting again. "No, what's going on?" In an instant, standing in Hollow Prince's place was Blood Diamond. More shocking, standing in Cold Blue's place was Indigo Frost. "Blood Diamond... No, Frost, stay back?!" She held up her knife only to hear Cold Blue's voice come from the wendigo's mouth.

"Twilight, what you are seeing! It isn't real." The image flicked showing Crimson Magic standing in the place of Cold Blue and in the place of Hollow Prince was a figure she didn't recognize at all. Most horrifying of all was Crimson was walking toward her with a gaping hole in his chest and the unknown figure was missing his eyes.

"Hollow Prince, stop this now!!" Cold Blue's voice roared. "Make their images fade, now!!" Another flash and the forms of Cold Blue and Hollow Prince returned. Twilight was so scared, but she was also perplexed to see Cold Blue just as frightened. Cold Blue rushed over and grabbed Hollow Prince by the throat. "Never do that! Don't make me see them ever again!!" The siren roared with greater rage.

"Both of you saw distinctly separate figures, right?" Hollow Prince questioned. Slowly they looked back at each other before answering him in agreement. "Damn, the distortions are getting worse."

"Distortions?"

"Listen," Hollow Prince pulled himself free and cleared his throat. "I am the master of this realm. What you saw just now was not my doing. I..." His voice strained. "I have been trying to stabilize it. Your dreams, nightmares, figures of past, present, and future, they aren't supposed to appear unless according to your will."

"Stabilizing," Twilight realized, "This realm is becoming unstable. Why? It can't be the spell?!" she argued, "It's not even been the full fourteen hundred years yet?!"

"Thirteen hundred and ninety-nine actually," Cold Blue answered. "The spell shouldn't be responsible, anyway."

"If it was the only one active," Hollow Prince pointed to Cold Blue.

"Aitym..." Twilight mumbled out.

"Who?" Hollow Prince dropped his accusation. "That being is responsible!"

Twilight grabbed her mouth. "How--"

"How could I hear you? No secrets are hidden in my realm unless I decided so." Hollow Prince held up his hand and a translucent orb appeared. He gave it to Twilight as three red dots appeared on it. "This is a base model of my realm. While before, you could go anywhere now, you are confined to a select path due to the distortions." He waved the orb to show all three of them within it. "There are two other spells active. You must either find them and make them leave or find the one casting these spells. This Aitym."

"Why should we help?" Cold Blue questioned. "Can't you keep the realm stable for the remaining year?"

"No, the longer this continues the harder it will be for any of us to stay in this realm," Hollow Prince dismissed him.

"Can't we all just leave then?"

"Hollow Prince lacks a real body, so that would mean..."

"I... I understand." Twilight smiled bravely. "We have time to fix this. We just need to find Aitym." She bowed back to Hollow Prince. "Lord of this realm, please forgive us for bringing you pain. Where can we find Aitym?"

"Just find a memory connection to him and not either of you." With that, a line appeared on the orb and a door followed, twisting the room around it. The door was a mix of blue and purple. "Enter and start your journey." Hollow Prince slowly vanished, "I will give you what time I can. But be warned, this place under the right powers can bring forth both your greatest fears and greatest joys! But most of all, as the distortions get worse you see things that make sense and things that won't. No matter what you see, know they are all connected to both of you. You will find your past, present, and future mixing again, with far worse outcomes."

******

Somewhere else deep within the mindscape, a lone unicorn ran for miles on end. She kept going without stopping, running until her feet bleed beneath her. A twisted and cruel image played around her, and it wouldn't fade no matter how fast she ran or how far. They consumed every part of her sight and played over and over as if on some sort of endless torture.

A snowy mountainside, three warriors facing off through a field of corpses and giant crystal stakes. The naga racing forward to save his princess. A flick from the attacker's hand, the spell channeled out, not through the princess's head, but right through the naga's chest. A beam of pure light magic ripped him right open.

A loud boom echoed out, and the thud of the naga's body hit the ground. The naga was unmoving, a gaping hole where his chest was. His blood stopped flowing and his mind was in pure blind shock as death took him.

The unicorn turned away from the image as it started over once more.

A snowy mountainside, three warriors facing off through a field of corpses and giant crystal stakes. The naga racing forward to save his princess. A flick from the attacker's hand, the spell channeled out, not through the princess's head, but right through the naga's chest. A beam of pure light magic ripped him right open.

A loud boom echoed out, and the thud of the naga's body hit the ground. The naga was unmoving, a gaping hole where his chest was. His blood stopped flowing and his mind was in pure blind shock as death took him.

The lone unicorn screamed in horror as the image landed the corpse right in front of her this time. The sheer shock knocked her to the ground as his face fell in her direction. The fading light in his eyes, the paleness of his flesh, and the sinking of his muscles told her what she continued to deny.

Dimitri Dusk, her loyal naga guard who had stood by her side since she was a child... was dead. Princess, no, just Mira Platinum now, was utterly and completely alone. No guard to protect her, no army to stand with her, no kingdom to stand behind her.

"No, this isn't real..." She pulled her limbs in close as his blood poured toward her. "This is a lie." She banged on her head, making the image flash back and forth between the repeats and blank emptiness. "He's strong, he's brave... He can't die... he can't... he can't... he... I... I can't fail!!" She trembled evermore as the image replayed again and again. This time louder and louder, more real with each passing second. "Stop it, stop lying to me. Please..." She begged. "Tell me it's not true... Mom... answer me." She stared hatefully at the shadow watching this all play out.

Despite everything that had happened, the alicorn form couldn't compose herself against her daughter's rage, malice, and above all, denial. The truth was here to choke the life out of both of them. The war they wanted, had arrived, and neither was truly ready for the sacrifices needed to happen.

******

In another place of this realm, another figure ran, but there was no fear in this one's eyes. The umburm instead, was a mix of joy and shock. Practically jumping around at the sight of everything. At first, he didn't want to believe it, then he didn't want to accept it. But far faster than either of the others he desired it to be real, accepted as the only perception. This had to be reality.

"Rex, this can't be real, right?" Clover questioned. "Why is everything so different?"

Rex was utterly confused by what he was seeing too yet there was a smile clearly growing on his face. Without warning he increased his speed, getting further and further away from her. He searched the buildings, the roads but particularly the ponies.

Jumping for joy when he saw their knife-like horns and they're flowing Mane. They replied back to him with so much cheer and joy. He never felt such exhilaration in so many years. They didn't treat him like a stranger, welcoming him with open arms.

Finally, Clover caught up to him only to catch his headwrap as it flew towards her. She looked up only to see him proudly displaying his umbrum horn. "What is this place? Please tell me, Rex?"

"They're all here?! Every single one of them."

"Where did the Dark Alicorn Amulet take us?" Clover's voice strained as the stress got to her, made more abundant with his laughter.

"We haven't left the city at all!" Rex raced over and lifted her into the air. He swung her around before hugging her tightly. "We're actually here!" He ran his hands through her hair and practically danced with her for a solid two minutes. Everypony cheered and whistled them on.

"What? What are you talking about?!" Clover found herself more mixed with emotions. Never had he been open around the public. Heck, he wasn't even this open when they were alone. "What's comes over you?"

"Nothing, nothing at all." He stopped and took a moment to admire everything a bit more.

"Rex..." Clover didn't know how to process any of this but she knew he was happy, the happiest she had ever seen him. However, one thing had to be clear before things went any further. "Where are we?"

"No, not where, but when?"

"What do you mean?" He turned her to an all too familiar direction. Her eyes widened to see the same church they were just in front of. Only it seemed almost brand new. Where the before it had appeared to have been rebuilt, this version appeared as if it never fell. The building shined brightly with umbrums all around it.

"We never left this spot. We went back to the moment when everything was so different. So much better!!"

"The umbrums? The church..."

"Yes, before the batponies, this was their capital, the center of the Umbrum Empire." Rex cheered louder and threw his hands in the air. "This is Întuneric, ten thousand years ago."

******

Author's Note:

Yes, we are back on track. Sorry for another short chapter, but this was a fun chapter to write, full of all kinds of spooks. So much to cover in so much time, I am so pumped to be back.

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