Book 1 - The Behemoth came to Canterlot

by Equimorto

All That's Been

"Are you sure this is safe?" Starburst asked, looking suspicious at the starry sky above them. "I didn't even think this was a way out, the door being always locked and all."

"It's safer than trying to get out through the castle corridors," Twilight said. "There is a barrier here to detect movement, and potentially stop things from going in or out, but I can get through it."

"Without anyone noticing?" Sunlight asked.

"No one noticed me getting into the castle, did they?" Twilight asked back. "Just trust me and do what I say."

Starburst shrugged slightly. "She's got a point." He had another look around. "Do you think there are any guards around?"

"Not as far as I could tell," said Twilight, "but some might be there. The spells we have should be enough to keep us hidden."

"How far is the portal?" asked Sunlight.

"Not too far, but it'll take a few minutes to get there," Twilight answered. "It's in the forest, we wanted to make sure it stayed as hidden as possible. It shouldn't be hard to get back to it though."

"Sounds easy." Sunlight sighed. "An alicorn comes out of nowhere and leads us to safety. Sometimes I still think I just put the wrong reagents together and I'm drooling over a lab table hallucinating all of this."

"Considering what we expected things to be like, I can't blame her," Starburst said. He then looked at Twilight. "Did you have a look past the guarded entrance, by chance?"

"I saw it," Twilight said, "but I didn't go that way. I can stay hidden but I'd rather not push my luck."

"So you never saw the stain," Sunlight said.

Twilight shook her head, somewhat confused.

Starburst sighed. "There used to be another pony working at the lab, for a bit. Didn't really agree with the new direction we had to take research in. Tried to escape after a couple of cycles."

"They never bothered cleaning up," Sunlight finished. "That entrance is the official one for us, and a while ago I started taking the same path Star takes to go home. We saw that every time we came in and every time we left, twice every cycle unless we slept here."

Twilight looked down, undoubtedly bothered by the revelation. "That's awful. I know you've been through a lot of awful things here, but that's still awful."

"Honestly?" Starburst said. "That stain was the best thing we could hope to end up as."

"It would at least have meant we tried," Sunlight said. "Way better than getting disposed of inside the laboratory or in our homes when Nightmare Moon decides she's done using us."

Twilight breathed slowly in silence for a bit. "I think I understand that." She shook herself. "Well. Here we go then." Her horn lit up, and her magic aura wrapped around the two unicorns.

"Never thought I'd get a chance like this," Sunburst commented as his body was lifted upwards. Sunlight, meanwhile, just looked down at the ground with increasingly nervous glances, occasionally shooting one at Twilight's horn too. "Afraid of heights?" the stallion asked her.

Sunlight didn't immediately answer, still nervously looking at the ground as it moved farther and farther away while Twilight's wings beat. "Something like that," she finally said.

They quickly got high enough to see past the wall. There were trees there, and nothing but grass on the ground. No guards in sight either. Both the unicorns could feel the magical barrier they were nearing as their horns began to itch, but only a moment later a different sensation overtook that.

They could see as well how Twilight's magic flared around them, and where it touched the barrier. It was not a violent struggle however. The barrier instead appeared to naturally fold and slide ajar, to allow them undisturbed passage. "That's pretty neat," Sunlight commented as she watched it close behind them.

"I'm pretty good with magic," Twilight said as she headed towards the ground on the other side of the wall. She didn't land immediately though, flying a little distance before she touched down again and released the unicorns. "This way," she said, pointing a hoof and beginning to lead them towards the portal.

The two unicorns shared a look, turned one last time towards the castle, and then began to follow.

The walk was moderately short, and uneventful. Nothing caught sight of them along the way, as Twilight took care to lead the group around the more patrolled areas and away from the actual city itself. A couple of guards could be spotted occasionally, but never close enough to be a problem. Finally, as she reached the location of the portal, her horn lit again and the spells hiding it from view and perception came undone. "Here we go, then."

"So that's what it looks like," Starburst said.

"Yep. The ones you have in the Empire are pretty much identical, actually." Twilight turned briefly to the unicorns and smiled at them, then turned back to the portal and took a step forward. "You two should probably go first. Are you coming, then?"

"No."

The two unicorns spoke together, their tone almost mechanical. Twilight froze, and distantly felt herself swallow. She slowly turned. Their eyes were fully black.

"Did you think I'd really allow ponies working directly under me to have that kind of freedom?"

The words came from the unicorns, carried by their voices, and their mouths moved as they spoke, yet Twilight understood they weren't the ones talking to her. She turned fully, and took a shaky step back. She wouldn't have been able to tell what kind of expression was on her own face, not with how suddenly detached she felt from everything.

The two spoke again in unison. "I must thank you for keeping me informed of your findings, however. Not that your little incursion in the Empire's laboratories' archive wasn't fully documented as well." Aside from the movements of their mouths, the unicorns were otherwise immobile, like a pair of dolls being played with. "You have my compliments for eluding my security so well while you still did. But I don't leave things up to chance. The ponies of this town are my eyes and ears, I knew of you the moment you first arrived."

The two unicorns turned, their movements slightly unnatural and jerky, and both began to walk away at the same pace. "I don't always keep a tight leash on all of them, but the possibility to tighten it is always there," they said as they left. "Don't feel too bad about these two. They never actually had a choice."

Twilight knew then that her horn was alight and her magic trying, and failing, to stop whatever had taken hold of the two unicorns. Like the one speaking through them implied, there was nothing to be done. Its control over them was rooted too deep, maybe deeper than the conscious personalities she'd been interacting with.

"I look forward to the destruction of your Equestria," said Nightmare Moon through the two bodies as she led them back to her castle.

Twilight stood there, mouth slightly open, thoughts swirling in her head too fast for her to hold on to any of them. Then she ran through the portal. It closed behind her, leaving only her tears on the ground, in the forest under the moonlight.

Comments

[Speckle]

That bitch.
That complete and utter bitch

Twilight? Please kick her ass 😡

[Saix]

Well, I was expecting something terrible to happen the whole time, but I was thinking death rather than this. I guess those scars that were mentioned were scars from mind control implants somesuch. At least they're still alive, so there's still hope. Still sad though.