> Moonlight > by Sealcake > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- > I.- Dungeon > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Twilight's ears perked up at the sound of hoofsteps echoing the stone walls, lifting her head, she tried to change her position, only to be stopped by the handcuffs in her fetlocks, which maintained her attached to the wall in an uncomfortable position, but anyways, she was not in the best of scenarios. Her two forelegs were pulled backwards and chained to the stone walls, making her barely capable of sitting in the nasty floor, stained with her own fluids. A golden ring preventing her for doing any spell to attempt escape. Sighing, she looked up to the mare that had brought her to this nightmare. Her bloodshot and dry eyes indicating her state of insanity she has gone through to. Many bruises and cuts, some of them covered with dried blood, were in all her deteriorated body, even her messy mane and tail were stained with dried blood. Twilight's ribs were visible everytime she breathed, emphasizing her malnutrition. Twilight coughed, more blood than saliva, and gave Nightmare Moon a defiant look. "Came...for more torture?" she said, voice trailing off. She has been defiant since her kidnapping, normally challenging the Princess after the torture was done. Nightmare knew in the first moment she saw her that Twilight was a, probably, unbreakable mare. Probably. Nightmare licked her lips in delight. "What...what is this t-time? T-the whip? H-hot...iron? Electric s-s-shock?" "Not even close," replied Nightmare, teasing the poor unicorn. Twilight shuddered. "T-t-then...what is it?" "Something new." "What...is...IT?!" she half yelled-half pleaded. "Consider, Miss Sparkle, that you are a really smart and powerful mare, having you by my side will make the Empire grow in all ways; economically and politically, benefiting all its inhabitants. Your wisdom will guide our path through time and change our destiny. Are you sure you don't want to help?" "No," she nearly murmured. Suddenly, her back arched in pain and she let out a scream of agony, spitting a mix of blood and saliva. Twilight remembered this as one of Nightmare Moon's electrical spells, one which could make a pony suffer the sensation of being electrocuted without suffering any physical damage. After what felt like hours, Nightmare let Twilight go. She was breathing desperately, trying to catch air, she lowered her head and tried to make her chained forelegs comfortable. One of her hindlegs still twitching for the pain. "This is no use." "Y-y-you d-don't say," replied Twilight sarcastically. Her defiant tone still present. "Then, I shall move forwards and skip to the interesting part." "W-what?" Twilight's mind began a race to find the meaning of 'interesting part'. Was not all the torture of the seven days before interesant in any depraved way? However, Twilight's thoughts were erased when she saw the Princess' horn glowing with dark magic and expelling a sticky substance in the tip. Nightmare Moon lowered her head to the floor, giggling at what was going to happen. The black substance started forming a pool of goo beneath Twilight's hindlegs, making her cringe in her small space. The slimy thing got glued to her hooves, to which the unicorn clenched her teeth in disgut. But after a few moments, nothing happened and Twilight found her opportunity to mock Nightmare again. "And...that was all?" she inquired. "Of course not, now is when the fun part begins," Nightmare Moon grinned so mischievously that Twilight shrugged in her place for a moment. When Nightmare's horn stopped expelling the black and viscose substance, this last started glowing weakly with a light blue color, maintaining the black color in some parts. All of sudden, the goo appeared to have life on its own and started to go up Twilight's hindlegs. Twilight let out a groan of disgust and tried to kick the goo away, discovering that it was sticking itself to her legs and, at the same time, restricting her movement. She frowned. Then the pain came. Twilight screamed at the top of her lungs as she felt her bones breaking and cracking, only to grow larger and weld again, reconstructing her skeleton's structure and forcing tendons, veins and arteries to grow, along with other things. Her skin tore apart every moment that happened, growing later to cover the exposed bones seconds later. As the substance advanced, muscles and fat appeared in places where they weren't before due to the malnutrition and the abuse suffered. Twilight held her tears, not daring to make Nightmare see her tears of agony. She closed her eyes shut and hoped that whatever deity was up there, it would help her. Unluckily, it didn't. A tickling sensation washed over her body, her purple and dirty coat was replaced with a brilliant and soft black fur wherever the goo went, the black fur emitted a weak silver shine when found itself exposed to the moonlight that was entering for the small window in the dungeon. Twilight bit her lower lip when the substance reached her cutie mark. It was like millions of small drills were piercing her skin, twisting a part of her very soul. It was not a superficial change, the thing was changing her cutie mark, her special talent, heck, it was changing her destiny. Nightmare Moon smiled when she saw what Twilight's new cutie mark was. A full moon surrounded by a blue aura, then a light blue one. Near the full moon, there were small circles of the same colors of before, replacing the white sparkles of her previous cutie mark, though some of them remained. "See, my little pony? Your destiny was to help me all along!" "Make. It. STOP!" Twilight cried before throwing her head backwards in pain. Twilight felt numbness in all her body below her chest. Her legs, pelvis, and, well, anything that the goo had managed to reach, were much bigger than before, just smaller than Nightmare Moon's respective parts. Thinking of it, she looked like a medium alicorn, she was just lacking the wi- Twilight let out the most horrible scream she could do at that moment, ripping her vocal chords. She spitted blood after she found that she was speechless for the moment. The sound of skin being torn apart echoing in the dungeon, if that was even possible. Two large bones appearing in each side of her body, growing. After a few minutes, the would-be wings were being covered with nerves and flesh. Twilight refused to watch and closed her eyes during all the process, when she opened them again, a pair of black wings were happily positioned in her sides. "Please..." she begged. "No," was the stern answer of Nightmare. The unicorn didn't even look at Nightmare Moon, Twilight knew that Nightmare was smiling ear-to-ear. Instead, she just looked at the floor and started crying softly, the goo making its way to her head. She hadn't noticed that her fetlocks were horribly damaged by all the movement of before. She didn't notice the sensation of her eyes burning when the substance reached them. She just gave up. When the transformation was complete, Nightmare liberated Twilight from the handcuffs (which were quite small to Twilight's new forelegs), a expression of extreme satisfaction plastered in her face. Twilight just stayed there, on the floor, without daring to get up. She murmured something, a question. "Why?" "Why?" Nightmare Moon repeated, mockingly. "Because I need you, the Empire needs you. You were Princess Celestia's prized student for a reason, Twilight. You are smart and powerful, even with your capability of magic you don't abuse of it. You know how to guide others without using violence. That's the reason why I tortured you, as cruel as you see it, I was trying to put you in our side, in the right side." Twilight didn't say nothing. "I was planning your transformation for when you were ready. But when I saw that you were too stubborn due to being loyal to your friends and your mentor, I decided that the moment was now. And if you keep attached to them emotionally, slowing my plans, I will have to do things here..." Nightmare Moon put one of her hoofs in Twilight's deep blue mane, which has growth during the transformation, the mane itself didn't flow in the air like Celestia's or Nightmare's, but the pink and purple highlights were 'waving' in the part which was blue, looking ethereal. Nightmare patted the area near her horn, like a mother would do to her child, and leaned closer to Twilight's defeated form. "...you wouldn't like it if I mess with your mind." Nightmare removed her hoof and went to the door, ready to go. But before she could, a tinny and shy voice interrupted her in her tracks. "I will never forgive my friends, you monster." She looked back to Twilight, and sighed. "Very well then. I will see you tomorrow." Nightmare Moon closed the dungeon with her magic and went upstairs to her castle, to her empire. Far away from Canterlot, in a cave in the Everfree Forest, five ponies lied unconscious on roughly-made beds. They were being cared for a white mare, much more taller than any of them, a gray zebra and a small purple dragon. No matter how long they waited, the former Elements of Harmony didn't wake up. Until that day. One of the pegasus opened her eyes.