Chapter 16
Twilight wiped the blood and gore from her face, leaving a smear of red over her fur. A lump of bile had become stuck in her throat and it took all of her will power to keep it down. Beside her, Jean was shaking with shock. Ignatius let out a high pitched cackle as he danced around the ponies. The decapitated corpses of the rest of the griffin council continued to bleed out onto the stone floor as the chaotic scene played out in the dungeon.
“W-why?” Twilight asked quietly, utterly appalled at what she was witnessing. Ignatius stopped his mad dance and made his way up to her, caressing her face with his hand. She recoiled, his touch feeling like the dirtiest thing she had ever come across. A scowl came over the griffin’s face, and with one graceful swing of his hand, he slapped Twilight across the face, sending her barrelling into Jean, who fell over as though she were a statue.
“Come on Jean, get up! You said yourself, you’re no stranger to dead bodies,” she whispered sharply into Jean’s ear as she got to her hooves.
“Their heads… They just exploded,” Jean replied in a deadpan tone. Letting out a sigh, Twilight smacked Jean on the end of the beak, breaking her trance and making her eyes water.
“Ow! What was that for?”
“Pay attention, I need you,” she told her, as behind them, Ignatius was bouncing around the walls. Jean nodded, and together, they flipped their hoods back over their faces.
“Ignatius, for crimes committed against the people of this city, we are going to take you in for judgement,” Jean said proudly, standing up straight and doing her best to look him in the eye, despite his child-like antics.
“Judgement by whom?” Ignatius asked, as he did a one handed handstand on one of the pikes that had killed the councillors. “I am the chancellor of the entire city. I have the guards in my pocket and the royal family listens to my guidance. Who are you going to turn me over too? Please tell me, I am curious.” Flipping back onto his feet, Ignatius walked around the table slowly, carefully picking up an apple that hadn’t been covered in blood and taking a large bite. Twilight shot a look to Jean, looking for some kind of response, but she was just stammering in a feeble attempt to respond.
“Well then… Maybe we won’t take you in? Maybe we just leave you here?” said Twilight, not taking her eyes off Jean.
“Oh? And what does that exactly entail, my dear Dusk?”
“I’m sure you can guess,” she chuckled, turning to face him. Her horn was glowing bright magenta with some kind of spell, and her iris glowed white.
“I see, well then ladies, shall we engage?” he asked as he unclipped the cloak from around his neck.
***
With a flourish, he threw his cloak at them, but Twilight simply incinerated it with her magic. He leaped at them, talons flashing. The girls dived in the opposite direction to each other, surrounding Ignatius, before they attacked together. Twilight shot a bolt at his feet, while Jean lifted off the ground, extending her blade and aiming straight for his head. Ignatius simply sidestepped the bolt, before grabbing Jean’s arm right out the air and forcing her to the ground with a thud. He then placed his foot on her back, twisting Jean’s arm and pulling on it. Twilight immediately shot another bolt that only barely grazed the griffin’s face, but it did nothing to make him lessen his grip on the howling Jean.
With a yell, Twilight galloped at him, throwing all of her weight into her enemy’s side. He was shunted off Jean, who scrambled away with her one unhurt arm.
Twilight rained punches onto Ignatius’ head as he clawed at her hoodie. Throwing her off, Ignatius rose to his feet, with blood running down the side of his face.
“You aren’t going to win,” he growled, gingerly prodding the wound on his forehead. “I’m going to tear you both apart.” He took a deep breath and advanced on them, swinging his talons in controlled slashes the Twilight only barely managed to block. Ignatius was much faster than her, and she had to use magic to try and increase her speed to match him. She knew that it was only a temporary fix. It was putting an enormous strain on her body, and she was getting tired. Jean was still writhing around on the floor nearby, clutching the wrist that had almost been broken.
Ignatius faltered, his left foot slipping on a small pool of blood. Twilight ducked under his failed swing, before pushing upward with both hooves and catching Ignatius under the chin and sending him sprawling. Taking advantage of the distraction, Twilight dashed over to Jean to make certain that she was unhurt. She nodded to indicate she was okay and started to get up.
“Just give up Ignatius, nopony else has to get hurt,” Twilight panted, charging her horn up once again. The skinny griffin slowly got back to his feet and stared at them, breathing heavily as well.
“You’d like that, wouldn’t you?” he snapped, spitting a glob of blood onto the ground. “You’d love for use all to go our separate ways, whether it’s me going to prison, or the gallows, or you going back your little troupe of assassins. But you are just too darn nosy. Even if I were to escape, you would just keep hounding me, never letting up, not even for a moment. I can’t let you keep going.”
“You can’t stop us! Even if you were to kill Jean and I, you’ll never be able to get all of us,” Yelled Twilight, as Jean took up a defensive stance beside her.
“Are you sure? I’m the one responsible the deaths of almost the entire council. I’ve done more for this city than you guys have,” he jibed, smirking slightly. Letting out an exhausted sigh, Twilight attacked again, with Jean jumping to the side so as to try and flank him. Together they began to assault Ignatius with blows, working in sync to deliver the most amount of pain. Ignatius, to his credit, barely showed any indication that he was in pain, instead, he weakly attempted to block the oncoming attacks. Twilight smiled when she realised they were starting to wear him down.
***
With one final punch to the end of his beak, Ignatius knelt over backwards and fell to the stone floor, becoming silent. The girls dropped to their knees, exhausted. After a moment, Jean let out a breathy laugh, which soon turned into a full fit. Twilight joined her, relieved that it was finally all over. All of a sudden, there was a brown flash the whipped past her, colliding with Jean and forcing her up against the wall at the opposite end of the room. Jean screamed as Ignatius twisted her arm all the way around, forcing her face into the ground.
“Ignatius! Leave her alone!” screamed Twilight, scrambling to her hooves as he put his hand on her arm and started to put pressure on it.
“Too late,” he said as he pushed on the arm with all of his power, breaking the bone in her upper arm just above the elbow.
Shiny white bone punctured the flesh, along with a spurt of blood, as Jean howled in agony, crying all the while. Twilight leapt at Ignatius, hoping to throw him off before he did any more damage, but he reached out with one hand and caught her by the throat. With a powerful beat of his wings, Ignatius was launched across the room, Twilight still being held firmly in his talons, before slamming her up against a wall with such force that Twilight was certain she heard one of her ribs break. She looked into his eyes, to the fire of rage and the chaotic tempest of insanity that dwelled within, feeling a great wave of terror overcome her.
“I’m going to kill you, then I’m going to eat you, and leave your remains strung up in the middle of town square for all to see,” he told her, his voice full of venom and hatred. “Or perhaps… something else. Why should I be so selfish? Why don’t I have you both hanged as an example to any who would take up arms against me? That should break the spirits of the people a bit, force them back into line.” Twilight’s eyes went wide, another wave of fear overcoming her.
‘He’s got us, he’s won, and I can’t do anything about it, unless…’ she thought, formulating a plan that might save at least one of them.
“Jean! Run! Tell the others!” she called out hoarsely and Jean just nodded weakly in response as she started to pull herself forward on her belly using only her one good arm. Ignatius let out a low chuckle.
“I admire your spirit, but let’s be honest, there’s no way she’s going to make it up the stairs like that.”
“Probably not, but she doesn’t have to make it all the way there. She just needs to get a little closer.”
“And why is that?” he enquired calmly, a small smirk spreading across his face.
“I need an easier target,” replied Twilight as she poured all of her remaining energy into her horn, charging it with a purple glow, then let loose toward Jean, who vanished in a flash of light. Ignatius growled, making Twilight smile in sheer spite.
“Fair enough,” he said quietly, and then punched her in the side of the head, knocking her out.
***
Twilight snapped upright, taking a deep breath as she did so. Taking a moment to explore her surrounding as her eyes slowly got used to the low level of light, she found herself in another dungeon, this one considerably smaller. A small beam of light hit the floor in the middle of the room from a window near the ceiling. A chain tethered her right back leg to the wall behind her. Her throat was dry and the skin around her neck was tender from Ignatius squeezing her throat. A bowl of water rested nearby and after trying multiple times to bring it toward her telekinetically, she reached up and felt her horn, and the magical inhibitor that rested there. Silently cursing to herself, she crawled over to it and took a long drink, sating her thirst. Twilight let out a long sigh, rubbing her eyes with exhaustion.
‘Well this is just great. This is only going to end badly,” thought Twilight as she leant up against the wall, resigning herself to doing nothing until somepony came for her.
It didn’t take long however, until the sound of the door unlocking filled her ears. Her head snapped around to see Ignatius garbed in a red cloak as he swished into the cell. His right eye was swollen and miscoloured, which gave Twilight a strange sense of satisfaction. Reaching into his cloak, he retrieved a brown paper package and dropped it in front of her; before he crouched down to look her in the eye.
“I got you a present,” he told her gleefully as he put his head in his hands. Twilight reluctantly took the parcel, gingerly peeling back the paper to reveal a white hood and cloak. “Oh don’t worry; it’s your real one. I got that Archangel pony to drop it off in town square. You don’t need to know the details.”
“Well it’s very lovely, what’s the occasion?” Twilight asked playfully, not wanting to give him the satisfaction of seeing her uncomfortable.
“Oh it’s quite simple; It’s for your hanging, isn’t that exciting?” he exclaimed gleefully, clapping his hands together as he talked. Twilight felt her heart drop as he laughed. She always knew that she might die in her mission, but she wanted it to be on her own terms.
Ignatius took the cloak back off her, giving her a warm smile as he tucked it back into his cloak.
“I’ll just keep that safe until tomorrow, we’ll get you all cleaned up in the morning so you look awesome as you dangle,” he told her, and Twilight just smiled in response. Ignatius stood upright and left the cell with a smile plastered across his face.
As soon as he was out of earshot, Twilight put her head in her hooves and struggled to hold back the tears that were threatening to break through. Eventually she couldn’t hold it anymore and simply broke down, starting to cry as the weight of her current situation pressed down on her. She was going to die, and what was worse, she didn’t feel like she had truly accomplished anything yet.
***
That night, Twilight was awoken by an intense light that filled her tiny cell. She had to shield her face against the heat that the light was giving off, as it dried out the air and made her eyes sting. Then a sweet voice that she never expected to hear again filled her ears.
“Hello again my faithful student,” said Princess Celestia.
“Princess Celestia! But how? I thought you were dead?” Twilight exclaimed as she tried to hug her former mentor, only to be stopped by the chain the kept her attached to the wall.
“Oh Twilight, I will always be there when you need me, regardless of what barriers lie between us.”
“So why are you here?”
“To tell you not to be afraid. You accomplished so much in your time that you should be proud.”
“You’re telling me that I should just give up? To let myself go to the gallows and die.”
“I’m not saying that at all. I just want you to remember that when your time does come, that you need to be ready to face it in the exact same way that I expected you to face any adversity in the past,” explained the ethereal Alicorn. Twilight looked at the ground, trying to process everything she was hearing.
“I didn’t realise I was so afraid,” she said quietly, ashamed to reveal that to the princess.
“Can you keep a secret Twilight?” she asked and Twilight looked up, puzzled. She nodded once, indicating that the princess could trust her. “I was afraid as well.”
“You were?”
“Yes, but I’ve understood for millennia that when my time came, that I needed to accept it and put others before myself. Don’t let yourself think for a moment that your death will be end of things. You have been too influential for that to happen. I must go now Twilight, but before I do, just remember one more thing; don’t let opportunities for happiness pass you by, when you get home, make sure Pinkie knows how you feel.”
“I will, thank you Celestia,” said Twilight and with that, the cell lit up again, brighter this time, and burning even hotter. When it dissipated, the room was dark and empty, apart from Twilight, who just watched the space where Celestia was. A moment passed, and Twilight sat back down to reflect on what had just occurred.
***
Morning came around all too quickly for Twilight, as three guards entered her cell, unchained her and dragged her to the guard house. While she was there, she was given a shower, food and groomed. When she asked why, she was informed it was because Ignatius wanted her to look her best. She was then dressed in her hood and cloak, complete with hidden blade, which didn’t help her in the slightest as all four hooves were immediately shackled.
The whole time she was being handled, Twilight kept a stoic face, not letting them know how scared she was. A few hours later, Ignatius sent for her and she was led through the streets, heading for the centre of the city and the gallows that had been erected there overnight. One of the guards that were escorting her she recognised as the guard who she and Jean had almost fought in Panadol’s clinic.
“How is your friend?” she asked and judging from the surprised look on the griffin’s face, she had caught him off guard.
“H-He’s fine, thank you for asking,” he said, visibly relaxing slightly. “I have to say, you’re taking this a lot better that I would have thought.”
“Thanks, I realised that I’d better face my death with some form of dignity,” replied Twilight flatly. She shot him a look and the look of contemplation on his face made her smile. She was stopped at the base of some wooden step that led up onto the main platform, waiting for Ignatius to introduce her.
“Ladies and gentlefeathers, today is a historic day. Today the pony that murdered our ruler will pay the price. And due to their heinous crime, we are forgoing the usual hundred days of torture. Instead, we are going to hang her, eat the flesh and send the bones back to Celestia! So without further ado, I present to you; the assassin,” he shouted, eliciting a wave of sound from the other side, but it wasn’t the sound she was expecting.
It was cheering. She walked onto the platform and was greeted by happy and smiling faces that were all calling out her name in elation. Ignatius walked over and stood next to her, a scowl contorting his face. Gripping the back of her hood, he wrenched it down, revealing her face. The sound of the crowd grew as they cheered louder for their hero. She gave Ignatius a tooth grin, which only served to make his scowl grow even wider.
The noose was placed around her neck and the shackles around her legs were taken off. The executioner, an extremely large griffin dressed in a black hood, took up a position next to the lever.
“Any last words?” Ignatius enquired smugly.
“I’ve made my peace,” said Twilight, giving Ignatius a warm smile. He nodded at the executioner and walked away, standing near the edge of the platform. Out of the corner of her eye she could see the executioner gripping the lever, and she tensed up, holding her breath for the inevitable drop.
The lever was pulled, and Twilight could feel the trapdoor giving way beneath her hooves. Her sense of time seemed to slow down as she fell, giving her the opportunity to look at the faces of the crowd as they looked on, horrified. Something caught her eye, something fast, heading straight for her. Time sped up again as Twilight hit the cobblestone road beneath the platform, the noose still around her neck had been severed a foot above her head. Angry shouting erupted from above her as Ignatius called for guards to apprehend her liberators.
A second later, Ignatius dropped through the hole, meeting Twilight in the enclosed supports of the gallows.
“You are far too lucky for your own good,” he snapped, drawing a dagger from between the folds of his cloak. Twilight said nothing; instead, she just extended her hidden blade in response.
***
The two agile warriors clashed in the underside of the useless gallows. Diving and sliding through the support beams in a furious battle of blades and wits. Ignatius seemed to get the better of her at one point, tackling Twilight and trying to stab her, only to have her grab his head and slam it into a beam. It eventually devolved into blows, as each of them threw everything they had at each other. Brutal impact after brutal impact followed, with neither combatant wanting to lose, because they both understood the cost. Last time they fought, Twilight had been exhausted, her magic reserves had been depleted, and her injury had been giving her trouble. But now she was refreshed, her horn was sparking with excess power and she was at peace with the world. Nothing was going to stop her. Ignatius got the upper hand again, gripping Twilight’s throat firmly. She filled her horn with magic, her white iris beginning to glow and pulsate in time with her horn. The colour drained from the griffin’s face when the realisation of what was about to happen hit him.
“All the power in the world and there’s one thing you can’t do,” she grunted as she let loose with the bolt, blasting him off his feet and through the wood on the opposite side of the platform out onto the street. Moving quickly so as not to get caught under the collapsing gallows, Twilight jumped through the hole where the trap door was and leaping off the platform just as it folded in on itself.
Her head whipped around in search for Ignatius, and a smile crossed her lips when she saw him. He was crawling away from the scene on his hands and knees, smoke wafting off the charred feathers that covered his face. Twilight walked calmly over to him as he tried to escape, and as she got closer, she noticed the foot long piece of wood that had pierced his side.
“G-Get away from me pony!” he begged as Twilight approached. Pity briefly entered her heart, but was pushed away as memories of all the terrible things Ignatius had done drew themselves to the forefront of her mind. She kicked him in the side as hard as she could, making him cry out in pain and turn over onto his back, where he lay there staring at the sky in pain.
“Is there anything you want to say before…?” Twilight asked, purely out of obligation.
“Just that… When you play the game of thrones, sometimes there are sacrifices,” he replied, closing his eyes as Twilight extended her hidden blade and pressed it against his neck, hesitating before she pressed it in and severed his carotid artery, thereby causing his blood to seep out as every beat of his heart forced more out of the wound.
‘Right,’ thought Twilight as she retracted her blade. “Time to find out who saved my life.”
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2041929 I just went back and read it and all i have to say is...........THIS NEXT CHAPTER IS GOING TO BE SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO AWESOME!!
There's an extra 'days of' in there.
I was also confused when Ignatius gave Twilight her outfit. It said he took it off of her. I read that several times thinking it meant the literal sense, which confused me cause it never mentioned her putting it on. Only later did I realize maybe you meant he took it from her?