King of Tyrants

by JeSuisLaPorte

4. Curiosity killed the Cat

Passing through the painting, Twilight found herself in the other castle. Its eerie atmosphere was still making her nervous which was, however, eased by the music on the piano. Unlike last time, the song that was being played sounded more peaceful yet very open to interpretation. Happy ponies would describe it as being depressing. Sad ponies, on the other hand, would describe it as being hopeful.

It didn’t really matter how Twilight viewed it; the song didn’t have an ounce of malice in it. Leaving the room, she still found herself surrounded by mostly darkness. The hall was still relatively unlit, forcing her to use her magic to illuminate the area since the torches weren’t doing a great job.

Going to the left, the mare arrived at the archive. Just like her previous visit, it was brighter in there, but not bright enough to feel cozy. This castle just didn’t seem to have a single room that felt comfortable to even be in. Retracing her steps, she trotted back to the room with the bookshelves. Much to her surprise, the book that she read was still sitting on the worktable she sat on yesterday. It didn’t move an inch.

I guess that mysterious pony didn’t care enough to put it back on the shelf. She thought to herself as she placed the book in her saddlebag. That’s one down. Judging by the size of her saddlebag, she could fit in maybe three books of the first one’s size. Yeah, that should be good enough.

Moving on to the bookshelves, Twilight skimmed over the various sections. The books were all placed in alphabetical orders which helped the unicorn in finding the exact kind she was looking for.

“Appleloosa...Canterlot...” There were books entirely dedicated around Equestria’s towns and cities! Curious, Twilight walked all the way up to the books in the P section.

“Pony anatomy, no... Ponyville! There it is!” although she spoke out loud, the mare did keep her voice down somewhat as to not alert anypony that might be around. She took the book off its place and read its full name.

“Ponyville: a comprehensive history. Oh come on, that’s nothing new to me...”

Then again, what was she expecting to see? Perhaps some sort of unexplained mystery about the town she currently resides in?

Remembering the strange writer of the ancient history book she read yesterday, Twilight wondered if this one had the same style of writing.

Sure enough, it did. That same belittling, detached feeling coming from the author was present in this book too. It mocked the effort of the earth ponies and most disturbingly, spoke of them like prey. She didn’t go far in her reading yesterday, which was why she didn’t truly get to see just how dangerous the books author truly was.

Their tone was rather aggressive and sinister all the way through. It was, in fact, more pronounced in this one. Whoever wrote this must be posing a threat to ponies in some way although Twilight wasn’t sure if this strange author had already been dealt with. After all, the castle seemed abandoned. That other pony she heard last time couldn’t have been the same being that wrote this eerie book. Maybe it was somepony like her who just so happened to have stumbled upon the magical painting.

Something changed, and it was subtle enough that Twilight didn’t pay any attention to it at first. The music sounded not quite right. Upon listening to it for a few good seconds, the lavender unicorn realised that it was actually playing in reverse.

Now, it’s not impossible to play a song in reverse. It can be done, but it requires a lot of time and effort to do so after you’ve learned to play it normally. The music wasn’t a recording, the sounds of the piano’s pedals were heard being stepped on because of the echoey nature of the castle. There was somepony playing as of now, most likely a unicorn as their magic allows them to play the piano better than the other races.

That was probably a good indicator that she should hurry up before whoever was in that castle spotted her. Twilight had no idea who could be in there, but she certainly wasn’t interested to find out. The archive started to feel oppressive, and that feeling only grew stronger by the minutes. That feeling was only reinforced by the fact that many passages in the archive were caved in.

The lavender unicorn moved up to the C section to retrieve the book about Canterlot. Princess Celestia would want to see this for this castle might pose a big threat to the capital of Equestria. Twilight reached out a hoof to pick up the book and carefully pulled it out. A sudden thud startled her as she felt something hit her in the hooves. Looking down, she saw that a book has fallen off the shelf by accident.

The music stopped. The entire castle went dead quiet. There wasn’t even the sound of the wind coming through the windows, no. The forest outside was completely lifeless too. No birds chipping, no crickets, nothing at all. Silence filled the air as Twilight sporadically looked around in fear. The pony on the piano definitely heard the thud of the fallen book and they are most likely coming to see what happened.

I’ve got to get out of here! Twilight quickly stuffed the book about Canterlot inside her saddlebag and ran out of the archive as fast as possible. The blinds on the windows were all closed. They weren’t closed a few minutes ago.

Something changed in the hall. The torches were all blown out like candles, casting everything in an abyssal darkness. Just like in the archive, there was no sign of life anywhere. No wind, no critters, no bugs, nothing. This is wrong. All of this is wrong. Nothing can be this quiet, it’s simply impossible. The only sound that filled the air now, was Twilight’s ragged breathing.

Ragged, yes, for she was starting to slowly give in to fear. She couldn’t see more than a mere hoof away from her. Something could just... jump out of the darkness and rip her to pieces.

Monsters in the dark, normally you’d just chalk it up to your vivid imagination playing tricks on you. But in here, what’s to say that there isn’t a monster hiding in the dark, waiting to pounce on the mare should she drop her guard.

Horribly nervous, Twilight moved at a snail’s pace, constantly looking over her shoulder as she did just in case a creature was sneaking behind her. The stairs to her left led to the room where the piano was being played, there had to be something coming to her now. It was inevitable simply based on the layout of the castle.

Twilight looked at the seemingly bottomless stairs with dread, expecting to see a horrifying monstrosity burst from the shade, sprinting up the stairs to tear her to pieces. Her breaths were intensifying, her legs shaking with growing intensity. But nothing came, no sound, no eyes in the dark, nothing... for the moment.

The unicorn moved to the side; eyes locked on the stairs as she reached out a hoof to open the door leading to the room with the painting. It touched the cold stone walls of the castle, but no wooden door.

Finally adverting her eyes away from the stairs, Twilight looked behind her but found no door.

“Wh-What?” she blurted out in a crying voice.

Her eyes darted left and right. There was no more door, no more painting room. She froze in place as she realised something terrible; she was stuck here with no way to leave.

“No no no no no no...” Her heart was racing as she spun around several times in hopes that she’d somehow find a door leading to the painting. Tears fell down her face as she was starting to feel hopelessness settle in. There was no way out, she was stuck here for good. “I never should have come here. I should have stayed home with Spike.”

“Hey.”

Twilight froze, the voice came from the bottom of the stairs. It was a deep voice, most likely a stallion but what's to say it belonged to a pony? There’s something below, and it knows she’s here. Once again, her eyes were locked on the stairs as her mind drew various different monsters that could be lurking down there.

“Turn off your light. It’s drawing attention onto you. You don’t want them to know where you are at all times. They’re everywhere in this cursed place. Stay hidden if you want to live.”

Her heart began to slow down, the voice didn’t sound threatening, but rather concerned for her wellbeing.

Twilight finally mustered up the courage to talk to the voice. “Wh-Wh-Who are you?”

Silence, then it was broken by the being downstairs. “It doesn’t matter who I am. All that matters is that you leave as quickly as possible.”

“B-But how? The painting’s gone!”

“It isn’t entirely gone. The painting can move around the castle. It’s in the apple cider cellar now. It’s to your right at the bottom of these stairs. Go quickly, and don’t waste any time. If the King finds out you’re here; you’re as good as dead.”

Twilight’s heart began to beat faster. “Th-The King? Who’s that?”

The voice didn’t respond; it was gone. She was on her own again, but at least she knew that not everything in this castle was a threat. There was some comfort in knowing that though it was overshadowed by the fear of what the “King” might be. Something tells her this King and the strange author might be related in some way but that’s not important right now. She had to get out of here.

The hard part was to climb down the stairs, to descend in the darkness. After an agonising descent, Twilight reached the bottom safely. Her horn was no longer casting any light like the voice wanted. Her eyes were slowly adjusting to the environment which allowed the mare to somewhat see where she was going. If there’s any danger lurking around, she’d have to rely on her ears to locate the danger.

The voice said the cider cellar was to her right, and so, she trotted in its direction. But then, she spotted something in the corner of her eyes, and she instinctively jumped back, charging her horn in the process.

There was a giant bipedal beast standing on a pedestal, easily five to six times her size. Twilight could only see its bottom half, mainly its tail and its shoes. But upon closer inspection, it was just a statue. A big and imposing statue.

The unicorn breathed a sigh of relief before she resumed her walk. After a few more seconds of moving, she arrived at the cider cellar. The door was right there!

Then, something broke the silence of the castle. It was a loud sound of something crashing down on the floor followed by big stomps. This cacophony lasted for a couple of seconds before it abruptly stopped.

Afraid, Twilight charged up her horn and condensed all her light into a floating orb that she then moved forward with magic. The orb flew by, illuminating everything near its path. It flew by an empty pedestal. An empty pedestal.

Twilight scrambled to get the door open, and she bolted through without a second thought.

Thankfully, the apple cider cellar was better lit than the hall. There were a few torches and candles here and there casting the darkness away. There were windows but no light came through them. The forest outside was just as dark as the interior.

Compared to the hall behind, the cider cellar wasn’t stuck in complete silence. The mare could hear liquid dripping onto the floor, most likely apple cider, but that was it. Still, it was better than nothing.

The unicorn gathered all her courage to proceed further down this nightmarish castle. The wooden floorboard she was walking on creaked with every step. They felt very unstable, like they could break if she put too much pressure on them.

Twilight stopped when she was faced with wooden rails, there were stairs leading underneath her current position. So, with nowhere else to go, she followed the rails until she found the steps.

Once again, the bottom of the stairs was in complete darkness. All the lights in the cellar were located on the stairway and not where it mattered for poor Twilight.

Ok, Twilight. Just take a deep breath and go. You can do it.

Greatly hesitating, the mare took her first step, and then her second. Slowly but surely, she was descending, constantly having to chase away the fear that something will pounce on her when she least expected it.

Stay calm. Stay calm. Don’t panic, there’s nothing waiting for me at the bottom.

Each step resulted in an ear shattering creak coming from the wooden steps, Twilight became more and more uncertain if the stairs could even hold her weight.

Her doubts were confirmed when her hoof broke through one of the steps, nearly causing her to tumble down. As she pulled back her hoof, the sharp edges of the broken step scratched her leg. Twilight groaned while she examined the damage; it was bleeding, but thankfully, not a whole lot. She needed to be more careful around this unstable infrastructure.

A deep growl echoed throughout the cider cellar, though it did not sound like an animal. It felt like it came from a pony’s mouth! Whatever is out there heard that sound, though it wasn’t coming for her as no footsteps were heard thereafter.

Twilight finally reached the bottom and was met with a long room filled with big barrels full of apple cider huddled close to the walls. In the middle was a counter that spanned a big portion of the room with boxes, candles and tools placed on it. The candles were unlit, but a little magic was more than enough to light them up.

With a bit of light, Twilight felt more at ease in this dark environment. The apple cider cellar didn’t look too big, which in turn, made the task of finding the painting that much easier. Although, there was still the problem of the thing inside the cellar. The unicorn couldn’t pinpoint the location of the sound so it could be anywhere.

Twilight Sparkle tried her best to move as quietly as possible, ducking behind the counter just in case there was something on the left side. As she reached the end of the counter, the mare was faced with a choice. To either go to her left where a single door waited, or to go to her right where the hall broke into a single narrow corridor.

Of course, the unicorn chose the left. She twisted the doorknob and pulled, but the door was locked. Just as she was about to turn around, something violently banged on the door, causing Twilight to lose her balance and drop to the cold stone floor, letting out a surprised scream in the process.

The banging continued and only ramped up in intensity until a part of the wooden door shattered, leaving behind a hole big enough to see what could be on the other side though Twilight didn’t stay long enough to see. The thing growled again; it was the same sound that she heard earlier.

Her heart was pounding as she ran in the only other direction that could contain the painting. The corridor was barely big enough to fit a pony through... What was that?

On the far end of this claustrophobic space lied a singular door. There was light protruding underneath it. The painting, it must be there! It had to! Despite being terribly tired, Twilight pushed on and opened the door.

Just as she had hoped, her salvation was there. The room was small and cubic in shape. There was nothing but a single shrine where the painting stood surrounded by dimly lit candles. The room was eerily red in color as the fire that emanated from the candles were bloody in color. Despite that, Twilight only really paid attention to her way out of this nightmarish castle. She cracked a relieved smile as her eyes lit up. She made it.

Then she heard the thing growl behind her. It was the same thing that had broken down the door earlier. Caught by surprise, the mare had no time to react as she felt something hit the back of her head with tremendous force.

The world spun around, and her face collided with the floor. Then, her vision began to get blurry as she lost control of her body. The mare saw blood dripping down the floor, her blood to be exact. The last thing she felt before passing out was a metallic object grabbing at her hind legs to pull her away from the painting... away from her only salvation.

The castle wasn’t going to let her leave this easily. Not until the King finds out somepony’s been snooping around his domain...

Author's Note:

Things got quite spooky back there. Let us hope that this King just wants to have a tea party with poor Twilight...

"How about a pony barbecue?"

Oh shut up.