Ciderfest 2023 Mane Story Friday Night - "Immersion"

by Sonicsuns

Villains

“Run!” shouted Barley. Caramel galloped as fast as she could while a horde of angry changelings chased after them. She didn’t dare look back, but she could hear the approach of their buzzing wings and their thundering hooves.

Heart pounding in her chest, Caramel approached the edge of the rocky cliff. As changelings approached from behind and the portal grew closer in front, she suddenly saw that it wasn’t at the cliffside at all; it was hovering midair ten feet further away!

“Barley!” she shrieked.

“Jump!” shouted Barley.

With her final hooffalls bracing against the cliff’s edge, Caramel lept with all her might. For one heart-stopping moment she thought that she might not make it, until suddenly Barley swooped down holding her in his forelegs just long enough for them both to rocket through the portal.

They scrambled to their feet on a stone floor in a dark dungeon.

“Come on” said Barley, “they’re almost-”

He looked back at the portal, only to see it vanish before his eyes.

They both took a moment to breathe.

Caramel looked back at the blank stone wall, still panting. “Do you think they’ll come after us?”

Barley hesitated. “If they could, they’d probably be here already.”

“Here’s hoping.”

“I guess the con’s gone a bit off-rails this year, huh?”

Carmel gave a dry laugh. “Yeah, a little bit!”

“We’re trapped in a book.”

“Yup.”

“We’ve got three factions gathering up pages so they can Write the Future.”

“Whatever that means.”

“And we still haven’t found Fizzy! What was going on with her, anyway?”

Caramel looked at him. “I…I don’t know.”

“Well we’d better figure it out, and fast.”

Caramel attempted a smile. “We’ll manage. I mean we survived the changelings, right? That was lucky.”

A deep, sneering voice echoed around them. “THERE IS NO LUCK.”

A terrible scraping noise came from the far wall as stone blocks magically reoriented themselves and slid to either side. The ceiling joined the wall in reshaping itself, and soon the two ponies found themselves in a vast stone hall.

Great cauldrons lit the room with mighty blue flames, sending shadows dancing wildly across the newly-formed walls. Ahead of them, in the center of the room, a staircase rose to a sinister throne. On the throne there stood a blue ram, glaring down at them. Magical Pages circled him through the air, shaded by the blue firelight.

Caramel turned to find an exit, but there was none. She tried using her magic on the stone walls but it simply bounced back at her.

“Stop trying” said the ram upon his throne. His voice was barely above a whisper, but it was magically amplified to echo throughout the room. “There’s no point.”

Barley stepped between Caramel and Grogar. “What do you want?”

“I had hoped your prattling would provide useful information, but apparently you’re just as ignorant as you seem.” He looked them over, like a butcher staring at a rough cut of beef. “Perhaps your bodies can be reshaped into something useful.”

“Twilight will stop you!” Barley shouted, trying not to let his knees shake too visibly.

Grogar stopped short.

And laughed.

“Your little alicorn princess? I am an Emperor. I am the Father of Monsters. She has only ever fought the distant descendants of my glorious creations; she has not proven herself against my glory.”

Slowly he stepped down from the throne and began descending the staircase.

“What about Discord? You think you can take him too?” Caramel shot back.

“The imposter? I shall take vengeance for his impudence in due time.”

He approached them and his voice grew harsher. “I am a very patient ram. I have waited untold eons for this moment. But now that I have my chance, I will not hesitate to act.”

Iron chains erupted from the ground, binding Caramel and Barley’s hooves. They struggled to no avail.

Grogar circled them slowly. “ It’s rather funny. The ‘guests’ of your little… event have been feeding me these pages. Even they recognize the inevitable. I have enough to begin my work, and when the book closes in two days’ time I assure you that I will be the victor. I would like to keep you here, to witness the moment when your hope turns to despair. Perhaps the nirik will serve as your guard, once I’ve found her. It is only a matter of time.”

He then looked them over again. “In the meantime, you might serve well as manticores…”

Suddenly a new voice echoed through the hall. “Don’t count us out yet, jerkface!”

“WHAT?!” Grogar snapped his head just in time to see Rainbow Dash burst through the wall, enveloped in a magical aura and scattering stones in all directions as she thundered her foreleg straight into Grogar’s face.

Grogar roared and stumbled back as Rainbow Dash called over her shoulder. “SUNNY!”

Sunny Starscout was right behind her, transparent wings glowing with alicorn might. Blasts from her horn made quick work of Barley and Caramel’s chains. “Quick, before he recovers!”

Grogar was already rising to his feet as Sunny conjured a portal to parts unknown. Dash shoved Caramel through the portal as Sunny grabbed Barley with her magic. The four of them tumbled through just as Grogar blasted the portal with his own magic.

“Watch out!” yelled Sunny. “He’s trying to-”

Suddenly all was silent. Sunny was gone. Rainbow Dash was gone.

Caramel and Barley found themselves in a brown barren landscape stretching out in all directions. A low wind began to pick up, and for a long time it was the only sound.

“Barley?” said Caramel.

“Yeah?”

“Let’s find Fizzy, and then let’s get out of here. Quick.”

Far in the distance, dozens of portals began to open.