> Serpotics
>  by K_and_REDACTED
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

> Part one: Poisonous To The Touch
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

"An open mind leads to an empty head” Kenga Malaroy
“Thou hast not correctly prepared thine self to request court with the princess’! Leave now and nay return till thee are properly groomed.”
Someone mocked a palace guard in a dumb voice. As Twilight passed them, their conversation died and they stared at her as she walked, her distracted face had been coated with a thick layer of makeup. She had her most elegant gown on, she wore the best she had. She was absolutely striking, or at least that was what Rarity had said. Perhaps one day she would figure that diamond bearing *Unioid out.
She was unaware that she was being stared at, due to the fact that she looked as if she was not with them. Her eyes seemed lifeless, and her walk had an eerily perfect rhythm. She stared straight forward, her head cocked at a 450 angle, and she seldom blinked. She walked straight ahead with a purpose; a purpose that she seemed to be searching for, while, at the same time, heading straight to it (try not to think about that too much).
Spike, Twilights ‘pet’ dragon-boy, stumbled to keep up with the unworldly pace his mistress was so keen to keep for some reason. He knew better than to rouse her from this state, if he did, god knows what random chain of spells might be set off. These spells ranged from giving people stripes, to making it rain lemons (both of which had happened). They could also reach anywhere from the room she was in, to the whole house, to, in the worst cases, the neighbors houses.
“HALT!” A guard demanded, snapping Twilight from her trance
“Aspesndsi-Ascedas-Necorida!” she shouted. Her eyes regained light, her pupils contracted, her face regained color, her rhythmic pace disappeared, her posture, though only slightly, became imperfect. She was back.
Spike checked himself… still normal. The guard however, had not been so fortunate. He had become a toad, then turned purple, and vomited a rainbow.
“Oh my lord!” she yelled, then chanted something under her breath, her horn glowed softly and the guard transformed back to his original state, though he looked as if he may be sick. “A thousand apologies good sir! I am not in control of what I may say when aroused from the state of ‘open mind’.”
Above them, Dash looked down from her perch on a cloud and laughed. The **Pegsian laughed so hard, that her wings began to shake. They shook so much, that she propelled the cloud forward a few inches.
Mostly due to fear, the guards ushered her and spike into the castle, without requesting any identity, and lead them to the doors of the throne room where the princess sat. They were the only +Unisianoid’s in all of Equestria.
“I DO NOT!” Princess Luna yelled
“I never said you did!” Princess Celestia yelled back, staring down at her younger sister.
“YOU JUST DID!”
“I said you had the capacity to do it, I never said you did…” Celestia commented. “But I know that you do.” she added smugly
Twilight and Spike stood awkwardly at the head of the room, hoping one of them would notice her standing there.
“NO. I. DON’T!”
“Mm-hmm, then why have I heard sounds coming from your room?”
“Listen, sis, if I did, it would be un-princess like of me, and I am never un-princess like, and I also have a certain amount of self-respect, THAT WOULD BE DESTROYED, IF I EVER EVEN CONSIDERED TRYING TO MAS-!"
“-Ahem-” Twilight cleared her throat; there was a momentary awkward silence as the sisters collected themselves, while Twilight shifted her weight from foot to foot, and Spike pretended to look for something in his pack.
Once the princess’ had sat back down in their identical thrones, Twilight broke the silence.
“Y-you requested my presence?” asked Twilight.
“Um, yes Miss Sparkle, it seems a group of scouts have disappeared near Snake Head Mountain.” Luna informed her.
“So? Don’t troops disappear all the time?” she asked.
“That’s what I said, but-”
“-But there is something secret up there.” Celestia completed for her sister.
“Yeah, but ‘someone’ won’t tell me what.” Luna retorted stubbornly.
Celestia sighed; there was a low whistle from outside the room. The sound of wind blowing.
“Twilight, Luna, it is time that I told you the story,” her motherly voice echoed dramatically around the room “of the centuries old villain who calls himself… ‘The Master’.” 
The doors flew open and the windows smashed, as wind blasted through the room. Spike screamed. All lights seemed to cease to exist. The winds howled in their ears, blowing so hard, there was no comparison. Suddenly they were falling… or maybe they were floating… The floor might have disappeared, or they might have gotten picked up by the wind. Twilight wasn’t sure. They all screamed, like a chorus of demons, the wind added its own howl. Twilights’ feet touched ground as the wind swirled around her… then, it was still… and it was silent… and… it was dark.
-To Be Continued-

*Unioid: Unicorn-Humanoid: like a regular unicorn, but in a (general) human shape.
**Pegsian: Pegasus-Person: like a regular Pegasus, but in a (general) human shape.
+Alacanes: Alaicorn-humans (see above): a combination of Unioid and a Pegsian.

> Part two: Snake Head
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

“The world we live in is influenced by-
Our dreams
-influence the world we live in.”
“Twilight!?!?” Spike yelled through the darkness.
“I'm rite here Spike.” She replied.
“Oh good, then we’re all- wait where are Luna and Celestia!”
“I'm ok!” Luna called, her flowing blue hair, which floated around in the air, cast a faint blue glow on her face.
Suddenly, the world became bright, blinding them for just a moment. When they could see again, the world looked like an oil pastel painting. Celestias’ voice projected and bounced around in a nonexistent space somewhere above them.
“Do not fear, tis just an illusion, an enchantment cast upon the room. We are in the land of things that do not exist, and yet, are more real than anything; tis The Land of Dreams.”
The painted world rushed by, a blur of colorful brush strokes. They slowed a little after approaching a vast mountain range. They pushed through trees, and as the mountains began to disperse, they slowed to a halt at the base of a mountain that had coal black soil. The soil looked blacker still as the one entire side of the mountain loomed in the shadow of a grand castle… in ruins.
“This,” Celestias’ voice echoed, she addressed the dark, volcanic cone, that lay in front of them, “is Snake Head Mountain.”
“It's so beautiful…” Luna said under her breath, starring at the castle, “What it must have looked like in its time…”
“It was, indeed, magnificent my sister. Tis the *Castle Crystal Tooth… or, it was.”
The sun began to creep east, and then faster, the moon rose, and then set, the whole time getting faster. The progression reached a steady pace as they watched time run backwards. Vines descended the walls, weeds shrank and the seeds flew away, bricks tumbled up the hill in into the walls, glass un-shattered (it made a very unpleasant noise while doing so), the roof un-caved, the chipped designs and features filled. The castle restored fully, and the progression slowed, went back a few, well, Twilight wasn’t sure, months perhaps, it was difficult to tell.
They were slowly moved up to the top. From the base, you would have never guessed that the castle was resting but 2 to 3 meters from the end of a ledge. And yet, here it was.
“This was the site of many small, yet great things, but also, of one big horrible thing, that caused a chain of smaller bad things to happen…” Celestia paused for a moment, and made a soft sound, as if, perhaps, she was holding back tears, she took a deep breath, and then continued, “It was here that Luna was born. This was going to be our palace, until…”
They swept past the grand doors, and into a dim chamber, a young 9 year old Celestia sat weeping at a bed side, an older woman, Celestias mother, stood by her side, one hand on her daughters shoulder, the other, wrapped around a small child, with flowing blue hair.
Though she did not remember this event, Luna knew what it was. The man in bed, looking very weak and ill, motioned for Celestia to come near. Luna watched, her eyes wet, her heart cracking… slowly…painfully. The man grabbed Celestias’ hand and pulled her close. Then, with what seemed like a great effort, whispered something into her ear. She nodded, he smiled, and then his arm… went limp. Luna watched as Celestia stood for a moment, then fell to her knees and sobbed hysterically, screaming nonsense un-discernible through the sound, of her heart breaking. Luna stared in shock; she had never heard her sister scream like that before.
“I'm, sorry, I should have not started here, let’s move back a bit, to before the horrible thing shall we?”
They simultaneously flew through the castle and time. Into a back room. Within it, was their father, perfectly healthy, and not on the verge of death. He was showing Celestia a large blueprint tacked to the wall.
Time slowed, time stopped, the entire world disappeared, except for the blueprint. The blueprint shimmered and shined, and the oily look of the paint disappeared, the picture was clear now.
“What… what is it?” Twilight asked.
“Our mother called it witchcraft. Our father called technology. But I… called it Serpotics.”
It looked like a snake, but, more like a chain, or a series of hinges.
“Before father passed, he whispered to me. He said two simple words I will never forget, he said; ‘finish it’, and I knew exactly what he meant.”
The world was restored and time shifted forward, they watched clips of time pass by, in each one, the Serpotic device was more completed than in the last. Finally, it was just missing one thing: the head. Time resumed, and the room was empty… and dark… had perhaps the princess gotten too sad to continue, did she need a break? Or maybe-
The scream of a heart broken girl pierced the air… again. They flashed forward.
There sat a girl, whose hair too black to be natural, and who had her own angry sorrow radiate around her.
“In my despair, I had become a very dark person. I reprogramed it to… to hate. I did not release the consequences of this decision until it was too late.”
They flashed forward again… the end of the Serpotic device which was attached to the floor was extended… but the rest of it was no ware to be seen.
Then there came yet another scream…
-To Be Continued-

*The Castle Crystal Tooth: **The Castle Crystal Tooth was built by +Jac Courts in 989 A.D.
** {not a real place}
+Jac Courts: not a real person.
> Part 3: Scaring Memories
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

“Dreams are just remnants, of our past life” 
They flew through the castle and into the court yard where the deeply depressed 12 year old Celestia sat, throwing rocks at birds.
The scream, one of a woman, rang out from the castle.
“Mother…? Mother!” Celestia shot to her feat, rounding corner after corner, following the body of the Serpotic device, she smashed through the doors and into the library, her heart skipped a beat, her mother lay dead, then it stopped all together, the body of the Serpotic device led strait into… the nursery.
Suddenly, the screams of a child rang out, her sister was about to die… 
“No…” she said softly “no…” she clenched her fists and an angry tear rolled its way down her face. “NOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!” she smashed through the door into the nursery. The beast was about to strike. She sprinted towards her sister, and grabbed her. The Serpotic device flung a coiled row of spikes at them. It left a deep gash in the younger girls’ neck.
Luna rubbed the scar on the back of her neck. Celestia never told her where it came from… but now… she knew.
She ran, and ran, and ran.
The device gained on her slowly. She sped up, adrenaline coursing through her veins.
Her little sister held in her arms. Faster, faster.
The fainted castle rushed past them as they trailed behind, the Serpotic device drew back… then it flew out at a T up ahead, she ran through a door. She needed a plan…
They watched, she ran, a young girl spilling out blood in her arms.
She ran into a door, and waited. The sound of metal sliding on stone sounded outside. Celestia laid her sister down. They were safe, at least for the moment anyway. Luna lay on the floor, the back of her neck bleeding horribly. Celestia stared at her sister, she had seen the medic fix wounds before, and there was no harm in trying. She looked around for something to wrap it with… there was nothing. She looked back at Luna; her eyes began to lose life.
Celestia would not let this happen. She took off her jacket, and, with the remnants of adrenaline powered strength, tore the sleeve clean-off. She wrapped it around Lunas neck. It would do for now. She searched the cupboards franticly, the sound of metal on stone sounded back down the hallway, slowly approaching. She searched for a potion, or a medicine, something, anything!
There! She grabbed the bottle-SMASH!-the machine smashed through the door. It made an odd whirring noise.
“Princess…” its voice was oddly musical… it should sound more mechanical… and yet, her thoughts drowned in the sound of its voice.
“Princes-s-s-s-s… Just drop the bottle, and come…”
Her eyes were motionless, she took a step forward… Then she began to walk forward. 
“Yes-s-s-s-s, that’s right, just forget about your s-s-s-sister and come hither…”
Sister…? She thought sluggishly.
Sister… she pondered it… what was it again?
Sister! Suddenly she snapped back to reality.
“Luna!” she yelled.
She stopped, and ran towards her sister, in a useless effort to save her. The device charged at her. Celestia stood and faced the machine. She kicked, her large black boot smashed into the head, the smell of burning rubber filed the room. She severed wires sending sparks flying. She scooped up the head, grabbed her sister, and ran. But without a head, would it still work? She didn’t know, and she wasn't about to find out.
She ran past the (possibly stunned, but hopefully dead) body of the device, down several halls, and into her room. She fumbled with a lock and opened a trunk, and then she threw the head inside and locked it.
Trying to run to the main exit would be too risky. She looked out the window, looked down…. A second floor room… it had seemed like a good idea at the time…
“Well,” she said taking a deep breath, “here goes nothing…” she jumped
-To Be Continued-