Chapter 269 - Dark Revelations
Ponyville…
It had become a twisted form of its former self, with the houses and buildings being worn and twisted, the roads dark and without foliage, and ponies wandering the street in a haze, mindlessly patrolling the streets. You and the girls had taken to hiding in barrels, slowly making your way towards the castle. There thankfully weren’t that many ponies roaming the streets, as they were either inside toiling away or moving without much purpose, it was easy to slip by whenever a group passed.
You all took a moment to regroup near a twisted set of buildings and lift the lids of the barrels to take a look around. “Hm, so far so good, Tirek doesn’t seem to be actively hunting anypony down.”
“Perhaps he doesn’t realize what is going on. Discord might be slowing the process down to give us more time to mount a rescue and make it easier for us to infiltrate.” Rarity surmised, looking around at the near-braindead ponies walking away.
“I dunno, I smell somethin’ rotten. If he took over so fast, why is he suddenly allowin’ Discord to slow down? It don’t make sense. Ah think he’d notice Discord suddenly slacking off.” Applejack said as she peered over at the castle. “Unless… Discord is just tryin’ to give us a way inside without lookin' suspicious. Maybe he can see us somehow.”
“That could make sense. If Tirek doesn’t know we can’t use the elements, then it stands to reason that he wouldn’t just allow us inside. But if Discord makes everything else look like it is according to his plan, then it stands to reason he wouldn't notice that his disgusting sewer would be clear of guards. Yes, I think you’re onto something, Applejack.” Rarity said with praise.
“Fluttershy, do you think that’s something Discord would do?” You ask her.
“Well, Discord does like ruining everypony’s plans. It might explain why everypony doesn’t seem to be paying attention, yet are doing what they are supposed to be doing? Gosh, I hope that's what they're supposed to be doing.” Fluttershy said.
“So, um, what does that mean for us? What if Tirek realizes we did break into his castle and tries to force Discord to stop us?” Pinkie asked, feeling confused about the situation. "I dunno, I'd think he'd be focused more on making sure his 'party' isn't crashed."
“That’s why we’re taking the sewer entrance, ain’t it? Besides, if Tirek does do that, Discord isn't actually gonna fight us. He’d probably just mess around and get us right where we need to be to save him and Anon.” Rainbow Dash lets out an arrogant chuckle. “This is what Tirek gets for thinking he can be as fast as me. There’s literally no way we can lose!”
“Don’t get too arrogant, Rainbow Dash. No mocking, no speeches, nothing. The moment we get into that throne room, we act. Got it?” You said, giving her a rather harsh look.
“Got it! Relax, Twilight. We’ve already gone over the plan a hundred times before we got here, I know what to do.” Rainbow Dash said in a huff.
You began to lower your head back into the barrel as you popped your legs through the holes to slowly sneak on forward. “That may be true, but you still need to focus. Now come on, we’re wasting time!” You practically barked as the rest of your friends followed you to the sewer entrance of the castle.
You stepped into the murky green water first, and popped your head out to see that the bars had been chewed through. Scrappy had made short work of these bars with his teeth, allowing safe passage without having to resort to magic to tear through them.
“Mmnngh, mmnn, eep, oooogh.” Rarity was letting out muffled noises of pain as she stepped into the grungy water. She hated it with every fiber of her being, but she didn’t hesitate to step into it, she knew what was at stake, even if it grossed her out profoundly.
Upon stepping inside the dungeon proper from what seemed to be a sewage dumping area, you came out of the barrel and lit your horn up with a soft green glow, taking a look around as the others followed suit, Rarity creating a soft blue glow for herself. “So this is it. Not a single pony in any of these cells.”
“Maybe Tirek is one of those weird guys who throws parties for himself in a dungeon, and puts all the party goers in the cells, so they can’t get to his cake.” Pinkie said as she let out a soft giggle before suddenly becoming heavily serious. “I don’t like that at all.”
“Anon? Discord?” Fluttershy whispered as she began to frantically scour the dungeon. “Please, say something. Cozy Glow, are you here?”
“Relax, Fluttershy, they ain’t here. Like Twi said, we gotta focus on getting to that throne room.” Applejack said as she put her hoof on Fluttershy’s side to comfort her. “Don’t you worry now, we’re gonna get ‘em out of here safe and sound.”
“So what’s the plan now, Twilight? We have a good idea of where the throne room is, but what about the ponies that are still patrolling the castle?” Rainbow Dash asked.
“If Starlight’s intel was correct, there aren’t that many to worry about. Stick to the shadows, and everypony keep an eye out. We don’t have long to go.” You said to them as you found a staircase that led to a huge double door. “That must lead to the main parts of the castle. After we step through those doors, there’s no turning back.” You told them as you slowly began to approach.
“We’re right behind you, darling.” Rarity said with confidence as she kept to your side, slightly behind to follow, and even to coordinate any evasive maneuvers if needed if you all were to be caught. “We’re all prepared for the worst of it.”
Stepping through the doors, you all entered a hallway with armor made for centaurs lining the hall with torches lining the walls. No guards at all, though perhaps none were needed for an empty dungeon. You all made your way through the halls, keeping in mind the path of the drone to help determine a way to the throne room. Across the castle, you all reach the main hallway. You look over to the vestibule of the castle and see two ponies mindlessly looking towards the giant gated entrance doors to the castle, they weren’t looking back at all.
You lead the group up a set of stairs. Given everything the drone explored, you knew the throne room wasn’t on the lower floors like a typical castle, Tirek clearly didn’t care to deal with his ‘peasants'’ problems or hold any festivals. It was likely higher up in the castle in a secure location.
Heading into the higher rooms, the population of guards once again becomes next to nothing. In fact, there wasn’t a single pony in the higher floors of the castle at all.
“How peculiar.” Rarity said as she peered down a set of hallways. “You’d think Tirek would have some defenses closer to his throne room. Twilight, excuse me for being worried, but are we sure he isn’t expecting us? Is it possible that he saw us coming?”
Even if he did, you all were quick to enter the castle, you’d have noticed ponies leaving in groups with how quickly you infiltrated. Even then, you could sense how the ponies were feeling as you passed by, caught in a trance of false friendship that to them, felt true. You’d have felt more of that if Tirek had caught on given it’d take a while to evacuate the castle for your arrival. “I don’t think so. Tirek, like Discord, thinks he can do no wrong once he sets his plans into motion. As said before, he’s probably trying to force Discord to expand his influence and nothing else, nothing else is important to him right now. I feel as if he’s trying to capture us in the ‘change’, that way he doesn’t have to deal with us at all.”
“Then we have to hurry! He might be torturing Anon right now to force Discord to do what he wants!” Fluttershy let out a cry as Rainbow Dash rushed towards her and holds her mouth shut.
“F-Fluttershy, calm down! We’re gonna make it, okay? But if somepony does hear us, then we lose the chance to sneak up on the guy. Fluttershy, we’ll save ‘em all. You just gotta stay calm.” Rainbow Dash was being serious, empathetic to Fluttershy’s plight. She looked into her eyes, almost like a caring sister, wanting her to know things would be okay.
Fluttershy nodded, and summoned all her will to calm herself. She then looked forward, and took a deep breath. “Okay, I’m ready.”
You all continued forward. And that’s when you saw it, the drone had fallen next to a set of double doors. You left it alone for now, as there was no reason to pick it up. It seems like no one had noticed it fall once Fluttershy destroyed Starlight’s crystal ball. You looked back at the group, and slowly opened the doors. They led to a long and sinister grand set of stairs with portraits of Tirek hanging along either side of the wall.
Pinkie Pie stepped up to take a look herself, looked at the pictures, and stuck her tongue out in disgust. “Yuck, who has so many pictures of themselves without showing off any of their friends?”
“Tirek…” You said as you slowly began to ascend the stairway. “This has to be it…”
The six of you carefully stepped up and climbed the stairway, until you all came upon a huge set of double doors with Tirek-shaped knockers on both sides of them. There was no lock, it was free to open by anyone. You felt… Anxious. This was it…
You looked back at your friends, and readied yourself. “We only get one shot at this, girls. Are you ready?”
All of them prepared themselves, Rainbow Dash hovering up as Applejack tilted her hat forward. This was it.
You prepped your magic, ready to blast Tirek with no remorse, and shoved the doors aside as you all rushed in. You immediately blast a giant green bolt of magic towards the thrones in front of you… And hit nothing, you just leave a black burnt splotch on the wall.
“What in the? Where is everypony?” Rainbow Dash asked as she zoomed around the empty room.
The throne room was empty. The only thing inside were the two thrones, the torches, the red carpet, and a mysterious large white lamp glowing up on the ceiling. “What is this?”
“Hey, what’s that?” Pinkie pointed out as the floor began to open as a large screen began to rise from it.
“A television screen? What?” What was this?!
The screen came on, revealing Tirek. “Well, isn’t this surprising? I was only expecting five of you to show up at some point, but somehow all six of you decided to show up much earlier than expected. Either way, welcome to my castle, I apologize for the lack of accommodations, but as you can see, I’m in the middle of conquering Equestria at the moment.”
Much earlier? So this wasn’t even a trap? But then, how did he? “Where are you, Tirek? Are you afraid to face us?”
“Me? Not particularly. I’m actually quite intrigued by everything I saw through our hidden security cameras. I have to say, I’ve been learning more and more about this outworlder’s world through these tapes, and everything I’ve seen that they are capable of would make for quite the technological revolution. A revolution I plan to keep for myself.” Tirek said with sinister laughter.
Security cameras? So that’s it, he hasn’t just been using Discord, he’s been using Anon to learn more about the human world. He’s been using Discord’s magic to bolster his power through technology.
Fluttershy stomped over to the television, and began to yell, grabbing and shaking it. “Where’s Discord, Cozy Glow, and Anon, you monster!? WHERE?! WHERE ARE THEY!?”
“Ah, I remember you, the legendary Fluttershy.” Tirek said with a dark chuckle. “I’ll be happy to divulge their locations.” Suddenly, Tirek looked over at you through the screen. “If Twilight Sparkle decides to share a bit of truth of her own. But first, I want to make a guess as to why you’re not wearing your elements right now. They’re not working, correct?”
He knows…
“Truth? What do ya know about honesty, ya black-hearted rat!” Applejack shouted towards him.
“Not much, but I know a lie when I see one. But allow me to be an element of generosity as well and at least tell you that Discord, well, he hangs in that orb above you, supplying me with the magic I need to create the chaotic harmonic flux that will soon control everypony in Equestria. Now then, Twilight, the truth?” Tirek said as he awaited your ‘truth’, staring deep into you.
You began to tense up. Discord wasn’t using his magic. Somehow, Tirek was using him as a battery. But how? The staff… Was it the staff? Anon had told you that it was gone, so how? None of this was making sense.
“Twilight, what is he talking about? What does he mean by ‘the truth’?” Rarity asked as she looked over at you.
“He’s just trying to get into our heads!” Rainbow Dash angrily said as she began to shout at Tirek. “Come on out, you coward, so we can kick your butt! We can see you ain’t fully powered up yet! Afraid to get stomped by a bunch of mares?! Huh?!”
You looked at Rarity with growing despair. The truth…
Your truth…
He knew. But how could he know? Unless, the reason for her disappearance…
Was him…
Tirek ignored Rainbow Dash for a moment to address you. “Not going to say anything? Alright, then allow me to produce the next element, the element of kindness. You wish for me to come out, blue one? Alright, but prepare yourselves, I doubt you’re ready to see what I’m about to show you.”
The screen sunk back into the floor. Suddenly, the wall behind the thrones began to open up, revealing a mechanized room with security screens all over the walls. Everyone in the room gasped in horror, not from the screens, not from Tirek revealing he was watching them from within the room, but from a pony floating asleep in a tube. An alicorn in all actuality.
It was Twilight Sparkle…
“H-how? How is Twilight there… And here?!” Rarity said in utter shock.
“What’s going on here?! What is this?! Tirek, what in the hay are you up to?!” Rainbow Dash screamed in sudden raging anger, utterly baffled and enraged by what she was seeing. “Who is that?!”
“Why, don't you recognize her? That’s Twilight Sparkle herself. I must admit, I was confused as to why nopony seemed to have been trying to find her after we captured her. But seeing THAT Twilight Sparkle, it became quite clear. How do you even think I was able to control the citizens of Ponyville? Oh, you must have thought with simple hypnotism. No, I’m afraid that wouldn’t keep those Wendigos away. But to manipulate the purity and magic of friendship, to control it without destroying it, it’ll allow us to control Equestria forever!” Tirek said as he laughed triumphantly before reaching behind himself and pulling out the staff. “And with this, you have no chance to stop us!”
“Twilight…?” Fluttershy looked back at you, crying, scared.
“This has gotta be a trick! There can’t be two Twilights! That’s a fake, like that one Chrysalis made of Anon! Nice try, Tirek, but you ain’t fooling us! Come on, girls, snap out of it! If we don’t stop him now, Equestria is doomed!” Applejack cried out as she tried to rally up her friends.
Suddenly, everyone heard an adorable yawn come from behind Tirek. Cozy Glow began to climb up from his back to the top of his head, and looked down at him. “H-hey, Mister Tirek, did I miss anything?” She then looked forward and saw all of you. “Awww, were you doing the big reveal without me?”
Tirek slumped forward with a groan. “I was… You do realize you need to be asleep to spread our reach, right?”
“I know, I know, I’m the catalyst and stuff, but I can’t sleep every hour of the day! Especially when all my professors are here!” Cozy said with a tired giggle.
“Cozy Glow?!” Your group let out with utter shock.
“Tirek… Forcing foals into your plan. That’s unforgivable. You disgusting, immoral, putrid monster! Do you have anything to say for yourself?!” Rarity demanded an answer, this was detestable to her. She could no longer hold back her feelings.
“I can say this is my representation of the element of loyalty. When I said ‘us’, I meant my partner, the one who orchestrated all of this. No need to introduce her, as you all seem to know her already.” Tirek said with an arrogant smirk.
“Yup yup! Hi, everypony! I’m your new empress of friendship, Cozy Glow! And you already know the emperor of hatred, Mister Tirek! Oh, and let me give a very special howdy to Chrysalis! It’s nice to finally meet you!” Cozy said with a wave towards you.
Everypony gasped, it seems it was finally making sense to them. You wanted to make a move while Tirek was speaking. But Anon was nowhere to be seen. He was smart enough to keep him captive somewhere, perhaps in a space you couldn’t get to, to make sure you didn’t outright destroy him.
“Chrysalis?... No… You wouldn’t.” Fluttershy looked over at you, as tears began to flow from her eyes. “Tell me you’re not her…”
Cozy’s sunny smile began to become more sinister as she looked over at you. “Awww, poor Chrysalis. Leeeet me guess, you thought you could take us on with just raw power and save your friends, huh? But you can’t do that, not until you know where Anon is, right? I bet you thought he was with us, and you’d use Twilight’s friends as distractions to save him and stop Mister Tirek. Golly, you can still try, you could even possibly win right now! But then you’d never know what we did with Anon, and you don’t even know what would happen to Twilight! What’s wrong? Do you care enough that you wouldn’t risk Twilight too? Don’t you hate her?” Cozy Glow began to cackle evilly “Pathetic! You’re worse than Anon AND Discord!”
“Shut up! SHUT UP!” You were fooled! Dammit! They had Twilight all this time! You had thought she went to get help without telling anyone. Perhaps seeking Starswirl even. But no, somehow these two, they managed to capture her on the same day as Discord and Anon. You began to lose focus on your form, as you began to change to your original self, seraphic wings and all.
“I-it really was Chrysalis.” Rarity said in shock.
“Chrysalis! What are ya doin’!? Was this a set up?! Are you workin’ with them?!” Applejack began to accuse you of betraying them, basically setting them up to be captured.
Ngh, no, everything was falling apart! “Don’t be a fool! All of Equestria is at stake here! Get off your high horse and focus!”
“Then what’s going on here?! How did they capture Twilight?! Why did you pretend to be her?! Huh?!” Rainbow Dash shouted out towards you.
“Stop!” Fluttershy cried out, calling the attention of everypony, including yourself. “C-Chrysalis was just trying to help! She’s good, remember?! She only wanted to save Anon and Discord!
“B-but… Ngh. I-if we attack now, w-we’d be hurting… Our best friend.” Pinkie said in a whine as she suddenly began to fall back, holding her head.
“Pinkie Pie?! Whatever is the matter?! What’s wrong?” Rarity cried out, before suddenly tripping forward, holding her head as if she was in pain. "Ngh, my h-head!"
“Nmmngh! S-something’s wrong! I-I can’t think s-straight!” Rainbow Dash began to fall and roll in pain as she held on to her head.
“R-Rainbow Dash?! Ngh, w-what’s goin’ on?! NGH!” Applejack fell forward, her hat falling off, groaning in agony.
“Girls! Girls! What’s wrong!” Fluttershy cried out to them as they rolled on the ground yelling.
“Look, Mister Tirek, looks like now that they’re so close to us, and not focused on that fake Twilight anymore, that they’re realizing who their true friends are.” Cozy said with a giggle.
“Amazing, despite all the risks, it really is working. Oh yes, now, now nothing can stop us!” Tirek said as he gripped his fist forward in triumph.
“Chrysalis, what’s going on?! What’s happening to them?!” Fluttershy rushed over to you, scared, not knowing what's going on.
It was the ‘change’. So that’s how it worked. This, Cozy Glow. Anon… You heard that name before, Anon accused you of working with her once. She was the mastermind behind all this?! Dammit, this flux, it is causing the ponies strongest to friendship to change, that’s what’s going on. And they’re using Twilight, the princess of friendship herself. Everypony loves her, any connection to her in any way, that’s what causes the ‘change’, as their love is transferred to be controlled to the ‘catalyst’, that Cozy Glow. “Get out of here, Fluttershy. You're not affected! Get out of here, fly away before you succumb! I’ll deal with them alone!”
“I-I can’t! I can’t leave you! I can’t leave Anon!” She looked up at the orb on the ceiling as she began to sob. “I-I can’t leave Discord!”
Cozy groaned at those words, becoming annoyed that Fluttershy hadn’t succumbed and was still whining about Discord and Anon, and that Chrysalis seemed more boring than she thought she’d be. “Wow, you are all super boring. Bla bla Anon, bla bla Discord! Yuck! What’s so great about them anyway? Discord is just a big meanie, we did Equestria a favor trapping him. And Anon? Let’s be honest, he made Equestria worse for everypony. Putting friends in danger, being a jerk, never really hanging out with his other friends. If anypony was gonna cause those nasty Wendigos to show up, it was gonna be him. So, Mister Tirek got rid of him.”
What?...
You suddenly froze up. Fluttershy wasn’t much better. The sounds of anguish from the others disappeared as suddenly everything felt like nothing.
“Got r-rid? W-what do you…” Fluttershy gasped as she brought her hooves to her mouth. “Y-you didn’t… You’re lying!”
“Oh no, she’s telling the truth.” Tirek said with an evil grin. “Letting him leave was too dangerous, it already seemed like he would be immune to our spell. So the only smart decision to make was to destroy him, quite literally.”
…
…
They killed him.
Anon, the annoying runt, the idiot who saw more than just evil in you, the moron who stayed by your side, even after you tried to kill him. The easily manipulated fool who gave you all that you could want with his magic. The wonderful human who would indulge in your evil thoughts, and cared about how you felt, even if what you felt was cruelty. Who laughed with you, and even cried with you. The one who brought you out of the brink of darkness and insanity.
He was gone…
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Chrysalis is going to take this as poorly as Fluttershy is.
11517985
Yea, and its going to snap the others out of not trusting her I imagine, but after that, well its clear that Tirek is somewhere else so maybe they can get away, but then we get to my favorite part....
PROCESSING that revelation.
11518036
ah, perhaps i didn't make it clear enough, let me rewrite it a bit because Tirek is in the security room
11518042
Ah, fair enough. When he said he was out conquering Equestria, that's when I got confused.
11518052
oh, because at that moment, he was talking through the screen. basically, how it works is they captured Twilight pretty much right after shattering Anon. Twilight's friendship and harmony is being corrupted by chaos and using Cozy herself as a catalyst to turn it into a spell that forces ponies to treat her as their best friend, corrupting the magic of friendship in the sense that she is their new 'best friend'. Her sleeping slowly spreads the influence through dreams, essentially, through the mind. Tirek reveals himself in the room once he decides to confront them
oh boy you fucked up tirek, chissy is gona snap now
Huh...so Chrysalis was pretending to be Twilight...hrrrrrmmm...well then I am sorry Twilight you didn't swallow the idiot ball. As for Chrysalis...I thought she knew tropes...I get her not listening to anyone cause her team work and taking others input skills are near zero but hrm.
Whelp lets hope this makes Chrysalis pull a Broly.
11518157
you have to understand Chrysalis is somewhat blinded by her friendship with Anon, and convinced herself that if she assaults Tirek quickly and as a group (Something she'd be used to as it would be something she would have done with her hive), she'd be able to save Anon. She didn't need to destroy Tirek, just rescue Anon.
11518164
Fair enough, she's still working off Soviet Union tactics of drowning the problem in bodies.
11518679
I know, but I feel thats what she would have done
11518731
Old habits die hard.
11518679
Hehe, she used to have a lot of bodies to throw.
But yes, thats basically it. The art of writing a character is doing what they'd do over what the author would do. One of the reasons i don't like youtube critics is they always do this thing where they point out that a character could of done this or that to resolve the situation, without realizing.
1. Hindsight is 20/20
2. They are not the character, and what would be obvious to one character wouldn't be to another. For example:Disguised as Twilight, despite the warnings a misinformed Spike gave her, she used her disguise to win out any argument and rally Twilight's friends to her own selfish plans.
I know at this point i have gone on a tangent. But the most important thing to me when writing this story is the interactions between characters. I actually did not expect to have this much fun writing Cozy and Tirek. Cozy, deep in her beliefs that she has everything figured out. And Tirek, full of doubt and uncertainty, buy revelling in crushing his opponents.
Okay, i'm done rambling now
Mind control spreading through dreams reminds me of Kathool Atchoo in Dragonfable.
Now for potential errors:
near-braindead
The first comma should be a period. (?)
a while
Tirek-shaped
"The only things inside were the (...)" (?)
Missing question mark. ×3
The period should be a question mark.
what's
any way (?)
Appropriate to give AJ that line.
Yea, I was wondering about Chrysalis, but thought she'd be doing a plan of her own, alone.
Imagine the team walking into the throne room to find Discord sobbing beneath Anon’s glass shards.
Damn.... damn... I was expecting more shock value, which usually lessens the blow for me but also adds an extra punch... But damn...