We Are The Sentinels At The Gates of Madness
"But, how did they write?" Rarity asked, and Twilight couldn't help herself. She burst into laughter which only intensified when Rarity's expression turned to a flushed look of outrage. Eventually, though, even Rarity joined in.
"No I'm serious! I'm genuinely interested in what they wrote on!"
"You know Hippogriffs can walk on land, don't you Rarity?" Twilight teased, and received a light swat on her shoulder with a rolled up magazine.
"Yes thank you, now answer the question."
"Jokes aside, it's actually fascinating. Hippogriff texts don't require any medium but the sea itself. Their magic could actually create permanent ripples in the water that they could then read. They literally decorated their whole world with stories and plays."
"Hmm," Rarity murmured through a mouthful of tea, "Sounds like it would be a nightmare to translate."
"Oh you have no idea. With how rare Hippogriffian works are, and all the legends surrounding this one in particular... Well, let's just say getting ahold of it wasn't easy, but this thesis I'm working on is worth it. Let me ask, do you think that a writer is an artist?"
"Doesn't everyone?" Rarity asked.
"See, this is the thing. Most ponies would probably say that, but how often do the great writers of history get listed among the greatest artists? I don't think they do nearly enough. Writing is art, and I want to show ponies that."
"I think that sounds wonderful, Twilight," Rarity said with a small smile. The one she always got when Twilight got passionate about her work, "You said there were legends about this piece?"
Twilight looked at the manuscript for a moment and considered how to put her thoughts into words without sounding alarmist. Or, even worse, superstitious.
"It's one of the best known hippogriffian texts, but for the wrong reasons… It's said that anyone who reads the story goes mad."
Rarity didn't respond for a moment, but rather took to studying the book on her table. Her eyes had turned from curious to unsettled; the room's atmosphere was cooler than before.
"...Obviously, it's not true," Twilight insisted with a roll of her eyes.
"If you say so."
"Rarity, there are plenty of scholars who have analysed parts of the text and they've all been fine. I think if there was some plague of madness that followed all of them I would have heard about it by now. I certainly don't think that the princess would have a copy in her archives."
"Okay," Rarity replied.
"Come on Rarity, I'm sure those scholars read the whole thing, not just the parts they've written about—"
"Twilight!" Rarity interjected, holding her hooves up, "It's up to you. I'm not the one reading it. I'm sure you know what you're doing."
"It's just... such a silly legend," Twilight huffed, looking at the book again, "And ponies reacting this way is just... there's no need for it."
"Reacting in what way?"
"Like something's going to happen!"
"Twilight, we've seen a night queen from legend come to life. We imprisoned a serpent of chaos in stone just a few months ago." Rarity replied, chewing her bottom lip, "I meant what I said; I'm sure you know what you're doing. But is it... totally ridiculous to believe something like that could be real?"
"This is different, Rarity. Someone wrote this, hundreds of years ago. I can't even find a name on record. What artist could be less appreciated in history than them? I owe it to them. And I'm not going to go mad."
"As I said, Twilight," Rarity said quietly, "It's up to you."
Queen Vynia stared out into the crowd, waving elegantly as they screamed with applause.
"The Queen is dead," Alyx muttered from beside her.
"Long live the Queen," Vynia replied.
Twilight pinched the bridge of her muzzle and yawned. She had been reading the story for hours now, ever since she got in. From downstairs, she could hear the sounds of Spike working in the kitchen. The piece was a political intrigue, following the young princess Vynia. Twilight had just reached the part where she had killed her tyrannical mother with the help of her close advisor, Alyx, and assumed the throne herself. The subtext was clear, and beautifully written.
A Queen who killed for her throne couldn't expect to hold onto it idly.
"Twilight!" Spike yelled from the doorway, making Twilight yelp in shock.
"Spike! What have I told you about doing that?!" she yelled through gasps of breath.
"Well, what have I told you about not listening when I shout you for dinner? I worked hard on this!"
"Okay okay," she acquiesced, "Point taken."
She stood up and stretched, noting all of her joints popping with satisfaction. She made her way down the stairs, and with every step the smell of Spike's cooking got stronger.
"Oh wow Spike," she said, mouth agape as she reached the table, "You're really spoiling me."
"I enjoy it," he laughed, "There's something about making something from all the different parts. Like, all these veggies are pretty boring raw, right? But like this, seasoned and arranged? It's like—"
"Art?" Twilight interjected.
"Uh, you really think so?" he asked, looking taken aback.
"Well, why not? A painter starts off with just separate colours, right? The writer starts with all these random words. But put them together right and it can make us... it can make us feel things we never thought of before."
He smiled at the praise, and turned to look at his meal. She giggled, he was never very good at accepting praise. The two of them ate in a satisfied silence, thick with contemplation and appreciation.
It was delicious.
Twilight turned over and groaned. Her stomach made another ominous noise halfway between a grumble and moan for the tenth time in as many minutes. The meal had indeed been amazing, but so indescribably rich. She might have eaten a touch too much, and now was paying the price.
After a few more minutes of silence spent in discomfort and pain, Twilight surrendered to the fact that she wasn't going to get to sleep. She pulled off her duvet and tiptoed over to her desk. Careful not to wake up Spike, she lit the candles and opened her book. She could at least spend the time being somewhat useful.
She'd read a bit more after her meal, and had left it with Vynia being taken ill after her coronation banquet.
Vynia finally lifted her head from the chamber pot when her stomach was, at last, emptied. Her handmaidens ran in immediately to damp her sweaty brow and clear away the foul smelling vomit.
"Bring me my chef," Vynia said, her breathing shallow, "I wish to speak with them immediately."
"Your majesty, I don't wish to speak out of turn but... it wasn't your chef who made the meal, remember?" said Astachi, the most experienced of her servants.
"What? Who was it then?"
"Alyx."
Twilight doubled over as a particularly painful groan shot through her stomach. Her eye twitched; something felt weird.
She set the book down and turned, slowly, until her eyes came to rest on Spike. He was fast asleep, a contented smile on his face. No doubt deep in sweet, honeyed dreams. How funny was it, that he was clearly feeling fine while Twilight felt like this. She continued to stare for a moment, until she finally laughed at the absurdity of it all.
Just too much to eat. That was it.
"Spike!" Twilight yelled from the doorway, "Can you please try to be more quiet? I'm trying to concentrate!"
She grumbled and trudged back to her desk. She'd been reading all day, and it hadn't occurred to her until now just how loud Spike was. All the time, before meals he'd make noise cooking, and after them he'd make noise cleaning. Then, he'd come to bed and make noise as he was sleeping. All the time, noise and noise and noise and noise.
Like he was trying to drive her mad.
"A thousand pardons again, my Queen," Alyx said, bowing her head low, "I have always loved cookery, and wanted to try to make your coronation night special. But that was no excuse, I should have left the more experienced chefs to do their work. My flights of fancy should never endanger the queen of all hippogriffs."
"Do not worry yourself, my closest adviser," Vynia replied, hoping the way her fins tensed went unnoticed, "Now, I was hoping we could change up our schedule today."
"In what way, my Queen?" Alyx asked carefully.
"Is it not important that I find a suitable match soon? Should we not be devoting time to this?" Vynia said, affecting a calm, dispassionate air.
"My Queen, your mother left the empire in a precarious condition. We simply must focus on more pressing things first."
"But—"
"As I said, my Queen, all things will come in time. But we have matters that must be seen to first."
Vynia nodded. Of course, had she wanted to overrule Alyx, she could have. But she'd already learned what she needed to know. Her stomach twinged again and she stifled a slight moan of pain. How curious, that the adviser that was currently her successor didn't want Vynia to be matched... and to produce a true heir.
"Twilight?" Spike asked softly, and Twilight shrieked.
"Sorry! Sorry I just knew you've been working and thought I'd bring your food up here."
Twilight's heart thundered as she collected herself. The whole time, she stared at Spike.
She'd just eaten too much.
"That's okay," she replied, mouth dry, "I'm not hungry."
"I feel so bad, I don't know what happened yesterday. Maybe I went a bit overboard with the spices,” he said, cringing with visible guilt, “Dragon stomachs can take the hit, and I wanted to experiment but... my experiments should never put you in danger."
Twilight's eye twitched.
Spike took the meal from her and started towards the door. The whole time, Twilight watched him. Some baseless feeling of panic scratched at the back of her mind.
"Hey Spike," Twilight called out, "How would you feel about culinary school? In Canterlot? I mean, if you really love this cooking stuff... maybe it would be good for you."
"I dunno Twi', I mean... with what happened today. Who's gonna run the library when stuff happens to you?"
"Happens to me?"
"Yeah, like if you get ill again?"
"Again?" she whispered, never breaking eye contact. Spike shuffled around for a second, clearly uncomfortable and confused.
"I'll just... let you get back to it. I hope you're feeling better tomorrow though. I ordered some Nightshader apples!"
"What are those?" Twilight asked, her pulse quickening.
"Oh, you've not heard of them? They're these insanely rare apples. Only grow in the polar north, you know, where there's no sunlight! They're jet black, and supposed to be amazing. I thought we could have them for breakfast; they're gonna knock you dead!" he laughed, before heading out of the room.
Twilight stared after him for a moment, the feeling of panic returning and intensifying. It was so stupid, so ridiculous...
And yet.
She turned back to the book, feeling drawn by something she couldn't describe.
Vynia watched Alyx leave the room. She gave it a moment before calling in Astachi.
"Please fetch the captain of the guard. I believe there might be a plot on my life."
The handmaiden looked stricken, but she kept her decorum. Wordlessly she bowed and began to leave.
"Oh, Astachi," Vynia called after her, "Please make sure this information doesn't reach Alyx."
Twilight was underwater, but she wasn't drowning.
It wasn't that she couldn't breathe, it was more that she didn't have to.
The palace of the hippogriffs was a marvellous thing. All spirals of coral, encrusted with jewels. She was high, up near the ceiling. And beneath her, as the rest of the palace slept, a single cloaked figure rushed through the halls.
Twilight glided after them, watching as they snuck around corners and ducked through doorways. The whole time, Twilight kept her pursuit. Neither walls nor speed nor sight was an obstacle; wherever the assailant went, Twilight followed.
Finally, they seemed to reach their final destination.
It was Twilight's cellar, an exact replica of it. But that didn't make any sense.
On the table, near Twilight's glassware and reagent stores, were two apples. Black as midnight.
Twilight's eye twitched.
And when the figure took a syringe and filled one of the apples with poison, the one on Twilight's favourite plate, finally could Twilight feel the effects of all that water around her. Finally did it feel like she was drowning. And before she slipped away, when the hood was lowered, it was no hippogriff. No, beneath the cloak was a small dragon. Purple, green, and laughing.
Twilight gasped for breath as she awoke from the dream.
She threw the bedclothes off and clambered out of bed, heart hammering. She left the room and hurried downstairs.
Sure enough, on the table, already set up were two jet black apples. Tears clouded her vision, sadness competed with fear, and both fell victim to rage, eclipsing everything.
The last thing she'd read in the story was how Vynia had made moves to capture Alyx. Wasn't it funny? How art was so indebted to real life? If the author was here she would have laughed and cried and praised their work and asked them about it and strangled them to death and screamed.
Twilight shook her head.
Vynia had made moves to capture Alyx.
Twilight took the apples and made her way to the cellar.
"Vynia! Think about what you are doing! We are sisters! I would never hurt you! Have you gone mad?!"
Twilight listened to the clanging downstairs and she took in the writing on the page. The plot culminated, the book revealed it's horrific climax as the executioner took Alyx's head. Her despicable, duplicitous, murderous, traitor head.
"Twilight? I brought your apple," Spike said uncertainly from behind her, "It's on the purple plate. I know that's your favourite."
He placed it on the desk and the two of them were silent for a moment.
"Should I bring mine up and we can have it together?"
She turned to him and her eye twitched.
"No. I have work to do."
"Oh," he said, giving her a moment to change her mind before finally turning to leave the room, "Well just give me a shout if you need anything?"
For a moment, as she watched him go, a tiny part of her felt like she should call out to him. But the majority of her felt nothing at all. She took her apple and bit into it as she carried on reading. And, as she digested the words. Something began to twitch in her stomach.
"My Lady," Astachi piped up, disturbing Vynia as she tried to read, "Your soldiers, they found poison in the chef's quarters. He admitted it was he who tried to assassinate you..."
"Are you saying? You mean... Alyx?" Vynia said, feeling sick to her stomach.
Astachi didn't respond, and the room felt enormous all of a sudden
Twilight's stomach dropped, she placed the apple on her plate and closed the book.
"Spike?!" she called out.
But the library was silent.
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This story is haunting; truly one of your best stories yet. Very deserving win, and thank you for letting me edit it.
Very worthy winner, and an absolutely amazing entry! Congrats on the dub!
I absolutely love Twilight Horror stories, and this was really good!! I love the way she slowly goes insane and doesn't even realize until the end.
That ending...yikes. Bad move, Twi.
I feel so stupid for not understanding this, but I just don't. Is Spike trying to kill Twilight? If so, why? If he's not, then why is he acting so shifty and why are all of his actions lining up with the events of the book? Is the book forcing Spike to act like that, and if so, how is it doing that? How and why is the book driving Twilight mad (if that's what's going on) when it apparently had no effect on the other scholars who read it?
There's something here, I can't deny that, but I'm failing to see the logic behind it.
EDIT: I think I get it now—disregard this post.
10275186
Spike is not trying to kill Twilight. The implication is that the book mirrors the nature of the reader's reality while sending them mad. Spike was worried about Twilight since she was behaving strangely, but otherwise he was normal. In regards to the other scholars, the implication is that the book didn't have an effect on them since they only read parts of it. Since Twilight was reading the whole thing, it had its effect.
I enjoyed this as a speedfic and it's still good here. You did a good job showing Twilight's fall into suspicion. My one complaint is that the cursed story feels pretty normal. It's a straightforward tale, there aren't any oddities that could push Twilight's mind in certain directions when trying to understand it. That makes it a bit harder to accept that it would drive Twilight mad.
Wow. Dark. Good story.
That's a pretty good take on "texts that make you go mad" thing.
Twilight, weak-willed and simpering, falls to a basic mind-altering incantation laid upon a book. No different than subliminal messaging in movies that the primitive, undeveloped minds are subject to.
Element of Magic, my ass. A first-year at Hogwarts would know better! Bah!
10276182
And yet a first-year did fall to it ;)
Everyone saying this story is cursed is looking at this the wrong way: It's a political intrigue story that ends on a TERRIBLE note for the protagonist. Twilight's weakness here is that she allowed her readings to color her perspective.
10276405 I was wondering if someone would pick up on that.
Now we can start speculating that the book has Voldemort in it.
10276488 That rather paints Twilight as incredibly stupid.
I would say that'd be like believing Daring Do was real, but... yeah... thanks for destroying the internal immersion, TV show.
It's more akin to the very old Simpson's episode of Maggie imitating Itchy and Scratchy. We can postulate the dumb children will believe what they read in a fictional story and then instantly mimic it in real life... like hard core "Twilight Saga" fans drinking clamato juice.
But an educated, intelligent adult doesn't read a Hercule Poitot mystery novel and decide everyone on a train is trying to kill them.
Unless... they ARE trying to kill me! … nahhh, that's silly. (turns around just in time to see all the passengers swiftly hiding a ton of weapons, and whistling innocently)
I suppose that the implication is that Spike ran away from home after feeling really unappreciated again, but realistically, there are few places where a Dragon could run away to that he couldn't be found by four immortal horse-goddesses.
Also, Dammit Twilight!! You believed the old prophecies about Nightmare Moon, you learned first-hoof that hexes are real from Poison Joke, and you also even accepted that there are things that cannot be explained with science from Pinkie Pie! Why the tartarus would you not believe that a story designed to drive you mad, would actually drive you mad?!
th.bing.com/th/id/OIP.tZL9UmgIZtSrGgSTH-PodQHaFj?w=288&h=216&c=7&o=5&pid=1.7
So is the implication that Twilight poisoned Spike? It's a bit vague, which may be the point.
I... when I clicked on this story I expected something different.
Now I just fell sad and empty inside...
...good job???
10276945
I guess it could be. Her poisoning Spike would mirror Vynia executing Alyx in the story. I didn't think that she would take it that far, though.
10276904
10276945
Seeing as there's some confusion, I figured I'd offer up my own (possibly incorrect) inferences and the official "Word of God" (see an earlier comment by Seer) to help explain what might be going on:
As Twilight reads the book, its text "warps" to reflect the goings-on of her real life. These "coincidences" convince Twilight that Spike, like the younger sibling in the story, is trying to kill her, and she thus misinterprets his usual snarky quips and concerned remarks as sly allusions to his "true" intentions. After she dreams of Spike poisoning her apple, she recalls that "Vynia had made moves to capture Alyx" and decides to similarly get the jump on her own supposed would-be assassin, taking the apples up to the cellar and presumably poisoning Spike's.
However, in both the novel and Twilight's reality, it all turns out to be a tragic misunderstanding. As the protagonist of the book realizes that their now-deceased younger sibling never meant to harm her, Twilight comes to a similar realization about Spike, who is now heading downstairs to eat the apple she had poisoned last night.
But by the time Twilight has come to her senses, it's too late—the damage has been done, and an innocent life has paid the price.
10277065
Ah. Dark, but it is horror. Yeah I saw the author's comment but it still left things vague. Again that may be intentional.
Oof, that's one mistake that's going to bite one in the butt real damn hard. Short but oh so thrilling and chilling. It's going to be hard to explain how Spike kicked the bucket and not succumb to madness from the guilt.
Guess the cursed book continues to live up to its reputation.
Eh
Well written tale in the horror genre of olde before people were so jaded.
Man, poor Spike does all that work for twilight and still gets mistreated.
Seriously though, there a good lesson here of not allowing things to lead you on blindly, whether it be a book mirroring your life or the news trying to tell you a certain view . Question everything, poor spike
Woah, now that was terrifying o_O
Dark yes but not really horror.
Can someone explain to me how a pony does this?
10279115
No, it's definitely Horror.
10280991
How so?
¨girl go crazy and poison guy¨ This is dark, not horror.
There is nothing scary, nothing malicious, nothing disturbing, no gore, no greater stakes. Anything that would warrant a horror tag simply isn't present in the story. Its a good dark story, but if it is attempting to be horror then it is clearly failiing.
if death is synonymous with horror to you than yeah i guess, but it objectively isn't
10281098 There's several types of horror, dude. This is definitely in the realm of psychological horror. Also, you came here to read about a book that fucked with people's heads, and now you're complaining about it because you got exactly what was advertised. And "nothing malicious"? It's a cursed book! It's very CLEARLY malicious! Let's not forget, that it's supposedly a HISTORY book, as in, not fiction. So that means that everything in that book actually happened, and from what I can tell, the spirit of the killer from the story, starts to make the reader see everything as they did.
That's definitely horror.
10281235
First of, i am not complaining, i even said its a good dark story, just not a horror one.
And thats the thing, The ¨curse¨ is not prominent enough to even be sure its there in the first place, a non-cursed story could have had the same effect on someone with just the right events.
The story is dark because someone went crazy, the story is not horror because it didn't go far enough to deserve that tag. For the same reasons a murder-case police story is generally considered dark and not horror.
10281240 The fact that your definition of horror is "Gore, disturbing, and malice", tells me that you think a horror movie isn't good unless there's blood and guts every 5 minutes. That's not horror, that's just gross.
10281241
Horror is when something is taken a step further than merely being dark.
This story don't do that, it gets dark, but does not build up anything to warrant being called horror.
Edit: ¨and from what I can tell, the spirit of the killer from the story, starts to make the reader see everything as they did. That's definitely horror.¨
That is an enormous stretch, if making a stretch like that is necessary to make it horror, then the actual story isn't.
10281247
That's a flawed definition. Some of the best horror I've ever seen only shows you the dark parts, but leaves the more gruesome shit up to the imagination. Sometimes what you DON'T see is a hell of a lot more terrifying than what you DO see.
10281281
Exactly, and in this story, there is nothing you don't see.
10281288
There's a LOT we don't see. We don't see Twilight poison the apple, we don't see what happened to Spike, we don't see if Twilight was ACTUALLY free from the curse, or if her getting her mind back was only temporary, etc. There's a lot here that wasn't shown, because the suspense of not knowing is scarier than if the author had shown us what the aftermath was.
10281304
What exactly is scary there? we already know what the worst case scenario is, if anything, not knowing this is reassuring because he might not even be dead in the end.
Not seeing things as trivial as ¨in which shop the murderer bought his knife?¨ is not ¨mystery¨
if the only things we don't see are so tame, then as i said, not horror.
10276182
It didn't control her. It played off her paranoia
10287909 *sigh* And these days, the minds of the readers are so weak they can't even pick up on obvious silliness, even with a Trollestia emoji at the bottom and a blatant reference to Harry Potter.
Foolish Purplesmart.
Good story.
10290563
Alright, rude. Trolllestia doesn't always mean it's a joke, it just means "Ha!". It looked like just you last line was a gag, not the first half.
You only specified material in the last half, even. It's possible to have a funny line in a serious paragraph without implying the whole thing is a joke. If you meant to imply the whole thing as a joke, it was unclear.
10281098
It is not that exciting a piece, but it is horror. Psychological and tragic.
The stakes are, to Twilight, she could die to Spike or wrongly kill him. Since this is tragic, she ends up choosing wrong. It's mystery because she (and the audience) are uncertain if the parallel between the advisor and spike is true or not(and what that parallel could mean).
10291321
Psychological and tragic Is not Horror, its Dark.
Edit: imma rephrase it since no one puts it in context it seems:
TAME Psychological and tragic Is not Horror, its Dark.
10291658
Both can be horror, and it seems to function as horror in this instance. Horror is not just terror, pain, gore, and death.
It could just not be horror to you. There are stories on this site that some see as horror but is not made with it in mind, or labeled for it.
Horror is often paranoia. Some good horror has only a threat within, and the only danger was the shadows in the corners of their eyes.
If the piece is framed from a outsider's perspective, it may just be dark or sad.
For the one suffering, it becomes horror.
10291704
You do realise we are not Twilight right?
A story must be classified from the view of the reader. from our view there is no horror to be found.
By your description, The Lion King should be classified horror, afterall from Simba's perspective he saw his father die and even believed he was the cause.
10291764
you do realize that we are seeing from her perspective, right? We're not literally Twilight.
10291932
And we saw the Lion King from Simba's perspective. Your point?
10291933
Oh ffs, you're still going? You're WRONG. Just to put in my 2 cents before I block you entirely, here's a list of Psychological HORROR games, since you're so damn adamant that psychological horror doesn't exist.
Alan Wake
American McGee's Alice
Amnesia: The Dark Descent
Anna
Corpse Party
Cry Of Fear
Darkwood
Dead Space
Doki Doki Literature Club
Eternal Darkness
The Evil Within
Fatal Frame
F.E.A.R.
Higurashi:When they Cry
Layers of Fear
The Last Door
Soma
SILENT FREAKING HILL
Finally, before I go, Ahem.
"Psychological horror video games are a subgenre of horror video games. While such games may be based on any style of Gameplay they are generally more exploratory and "seek to instigate a sense of doubt about what might really be happening" in the player."
If that wasn't enough, then here.
"Psychological horroris a subgenre of horror and psychological fiction which focuses particularly on mental, emotional, and psychological states to frighten, disturb, or unsettle its audience. The subgenre frequently overlaps with the related subgenre of psychological thriller, and it often uses mystery elements and characters with unstable, unreliable, or disturbed psychological states to enhance the suspense, drama, action, and paranoia of the setting and plot and to provide an overall unpleasant, unsettling, or distressing atmosphere."
There. Now goodbye. For the sake of my own sanity, I'm blocking you.
10292036
Wow. what a blown up reaction.
If you are so fragile that a simple debate about ¨what is horror¨ is enough to drain your sanity then i feel sorry for you.
Of course i am still going: someone, who isn't you by the way, talked to me, i won't just not answer back
Why did you even post all these horror games? None of them contradict my point, and my point have never been ¨psychological horror does not exist¨, my point is that this story ISN'T psychological -horror-. Just compare this story to SIlent ¨FREAKINGGG¨ Hill and you will easily see the difference between a tame dark story and a true horror story.
The very descriptions you give just prove my point about this story merely being dark, and does not warrant the tag horror.
10292083
"Psychological horror video games are a subgenre of horror video games. While such games may be based on any style of Gameplay they are generally more exploratory and "seek to instigate a sense of doubt about what might really be happening" in the player."
It's horror. Bugger off.
10292371
It's not, and acting like a rude asshole will not encourage me to bugger off.
When it's so tame, having doubts about something does not make it horror. Learn to put quotes into context.
If mere doubts were enough to make something horror then every MLP episodes, and 95% of every fictions ever would be horror.