Azil

"Wake up my darling...shhh....that's a good girl. You had a nasty fall dear. Now, can you tell me what happened?" Twilight's mother whispered, her tender hooves caressing her young filly's face.

"I...I saw a monster!" Twilight cried, rubbing at her eyes and letting out another squealing sob. The sound of an annoyed groan made itself heard from the kitchen, the impatient calls of a husband expecting his readily made dinner. It was because of this fact that made Twilight cry harder. She didn't like upsetting her precious daddy.

"Oh a monster dear...of course." Came the gentle whispers of her mother as the young filly of lavender was pulled into her safe and loving hold. "Can you tell me what it looked like honey?" She whispered, running a hoof along her daughter's spine.

Many quiet moments passed, drawing a concerned look out of her mother's eyes as she once again asked "Twilight...? Sweetie...what did you see?"

"I saw...white."

~

Twilight coughed violently, her stomach heaving for air as her eyes rocketed open and a guttural gasp of raspy air rushed into and escaped from her lungs. Her body shook with heavy adrenaline as she struggled to sit up, her insides still aching from overwhelming water that had only moments before nearly killed her. Her vision was blurry and unfocused, the shaking unicorn pressing herself up against the firm wall behind her and trying her best to make herself as small as possible.

Alarm and alertness raced through her brain and blood as she felt the fur on the back of her neck stand on end. What in the hay just happened!? Did the door fall under the inequality of pressure? Did somepony open the door for her? She put a hoof to her head as her adrenaline slowly receded, the feelings of pain and icy cold beginning to weave their way back into her weakened body.

The broken unicorn let out a weary groan as she pushed a cold hoof against the side of her face, her stiff skin barely moving or even responding to her own touch. She ran her hoof over her cheeks, underneath her chin, and up to the base of her horn. She was indeed still alive...that or the afterlife was very, very cold.

Just as she started to run her hoof farther up the length of her horn, she hit nothing but air. Her eyes widened in terror as she frantically swung her hoof through the air where her horn was supposed to be. Glistening tears of sorrow gathered at the bases of her eyes as she gently bumped the broken stump of her once faithful companion. The ridges where bone and magic were snapped into abandonment and lifelessness.

Her horn had been torn off.

The unicorn let out a seething cry of anguish as her streaming eyes wandered around the grim, dusty hallway she found herself in. She could barely breathe or even think as her eyes fell upon twenty other doors to her right and left, each with iron-like cell bars on their windows. The hall itself was littered with mostly shredded paper, some surgical tubing, and a dusty, ashen chair here and there. White dust and ash seemed to float casually like lost snow through the air, moving in intensity only when being pushed away by the sobbing gasps and cries of a weeping, broken, and miserable Twilight Sparkle.

She pushed both her front hooves against her eyes as she broke down into hysterics, her wailing sobs reverberating off the walls loudly and swimming through the air like a school of overly frightened fish. She found her body growing heavy once more as she slumped over to her side, curling her back legs up and trying as best as she could to turn herself into a tiny violet ball.

Time passed for what seemed like an eternity to the air, its taste growing stale and metallic as it continued to plague the dangerous air of the unknown prison-like world that our heroine has found herself trapped in. Wails turned to sobs, then into whimpers, and finally with a slightly panicked breath, Twilight Sparkle opened her bloodshot eyes once more. She was never really effective when it came to emotion. Science and facts were her weapons of choice, and if those failed her, what else did she have left?

"O..ok Twilight...let's just calm down now," the lone unicorn whispered to herself, her sopping wet mane being casually slung back behind her neck with a quick whip of a hoof. Her mane made a thick 'schloping' sound as she got to her hooves slowly, being careful not to overexert herself too much. She didn't know how long she had been strung up in that straight jacket, but it had to have been for a good while. As she struggled to take her first few steps, testing her mobility in a circular motion, her mind started to bring together the obvious questions of her predicament.

First of all, where in the hell was she?

Where was Celesta, or her friends?

Why was she in a straight jacket and in a padded cell in the first place?

More and more questions started to flare up in Twilight's brain as the logical synapses of her brain started firing again, quelling the silly emotional strands that thought they could best her. "Alright Twilight...think," she said aloud, looking up and down the ashen hallway. The floor that hadn't been washed clean by the water in Twilight's cell was covered in a thick layer of what looked like hot white ash, like the kind smoldering in a fire pit.

It was an oddity to see such ash in a place like this, unless it had burnt down. Twilight looked around uncertainly as she dipped a hoof into the ash. "Definitely hasn't burnt down...unless I'm already dead and I don't know any better..." Twilight muttered, holding up her hoof to steady the ash.

Just...simple white ash.

Twilight frowned, dropping her hoof to the floor once more and approaching one of the cell doors. With her now unrestricted mobility, Twilight found it a lot easier to rear up and peer through the iron bars of the cell door. Her eyes flicked this way and that as she surveyed the empty room, noticing that it looked like a mirror image of her own cell. She dropped back down on all fours, trotting briskly to the next cell. With another rearing and another peak, the same lifeless answers met her curious gaze. Another empty cell, clean and without occupant.

The unicorn frowned as she dropped back down, pushing a questioning hoof to her chin and staining it with the white ash. She pushed her side up against the chilling iron door, narrowing her eyes as she went into deep thought. Padded rooms, iron doors...was it some kind of solitary confinement section of a prison? Her thoughts sifted through the possibilities until she remembered that one word...the word that for some reason, would not dislodge itself from her mind. That mysterious word that she swore was whispered into her watery ear as she was ripped free from her icy grave.

"Azil..." Twilight whispered, the unicorn's eyes widening slightly as a sudden gust of wind rippled its way through the hall, grazing her fur with gentle fingers. She looked around quickly as the wind dissipated, wondering if there was some kind of eerie, wayward magic at work in this place.

She let out a small sigh through her snout as her eyes turned back forward towards the iron door at the end of the hallway, a small crack of light beaming through its narrowly open entrance. "That's good news," Twilight muttered as she trotted towards the small opening "At least not all of the doors in this place are locked up tight." She reached the door in moments, pushing a hoof against the door and letting out a grunt of pressure as the door barely moved. "Duh...iron," she muttered to herself, rearing up and pushing both her front hooves against it. The unicorn sucked in a huge breath and grunted as she pushed with all her might against the grey surface. Slowly but surely, the door opened with a near ear-splitting creak, swinging on rusty pins and hinges as Twilight was granted access to the areas beyond the hall.

As she dropped back down and trotted through the entrance, a new sight met her eyes. It was that of a shattered security window over a sort of counter, like one you might find at a pharmacy. Two sets of iron gates were in place near the counter, with a moderately large area opening up just beyond them. Twilight trotted up to the gates, peering through at what lied before her. It was a massive, towering like room, surrounded by several floors of iron gates. It was a prison-like complex, with the bottom floor littered with smashed and heavily damaged picnic tables. The unicorn counted at least seven floors of cells before turning back to the window.

Her stomach did a flip as she approached the shattered window, her eyes widening in shock as she staggered back for a moment. She didn't even notice the decaying stench of death until she had come within its disgusting reach. Blood had been splattered about on the floor, a bone or two plus a thick layer of red-stained feathers being all that remained of some poor soul. It was a grueling mess with a definite sign of struggle. Twilight gulped as she put her two front hooves up onto the counter, minding the broken glass around the edges of the shattered window.

No pony could have done this, Twilight thought as she stared at the carnage on the floor. This pony was mauled by something...something very big. The door that led into the checkpoint had been chained up tight, no keyhole, window, or any sort of doorknob was present. It was staring at this door that led Twilight's heart to start thudding as she slowly started to piece the meaning of such a thing together.

Somepony locked the door...something completely tore this pony apart...whatever did so could have been locked in with her. She did a double-take of the giant cell room, her eyes wandering carefully over each floor as if to spot such a murderous creature. She turned back after a good while, making sure that the monster wasn't lying in wait for her just beyond the gates, and went back to the window. She peered inside carefully, trying her best to breathe through her mouth only. Looking down upon the desk, she discovered the usual assortment of office supplies. Pencils, some notes about lunch dates and other worthless information, and some paperclips.

Looking to her left, however, her eyes chanced upon three interesting sort of items resting along a back crevice of the inner counter. The first of which was a pair of dusty, worn saddlebags. The second was a worn looking map with several notes scribbled on it. The last item was a red button on the wall with a panel surrounding it that read 'Gate -> Checkpoint'. Twilight hastily grabbed up the saddlebags, checking through its pouches and frowning as it turned out empty. She donned them regardless, she didn't know if she'd need to carry something but just in case she needed to, she could. Without magic...she'd have to start operating like an Earth Pony. She grabbed up the map next, noticing immediately that the map had no official title, and that a few spots on it had been splotched with blood, making some areas unreadable. The notes scribbled on various points of the map read 'Blocked', 'Locked', 'Safe', 'Unsafe', and there were even a few X's slashed here and there upon several cells and rooms.

She located her area easily enough, and the large cell room adjacent to her. Just beyond the cell room were a few other hallways and office buildings, all of their paths eventually leading to a room marked 'Administration'. Twilight looked at this particular room with interest, as a note had been made upon it labeled 'Her'. "Might be worth a look...if there's somepony else alive here I could use some answers...and maybe some help."

Placing the map in the saddlebags, Twilight reached towards the button, pressing it firmly as a loud 'RIIIINNG' sound echoed across the dusty halls, the two iron gates opening with guttural clangs. Wasting no time, Twilight quickly made her way through the two iron gates, looking up and noticing that there were in fact eight floors, not just seven. Two winding staircases made themselves known in two far corners of the room, along with a door at the end of the hall. "That leads to administration..." Twilight whispered to herself, her hooves carrying her over towards the door.

Just as she started to make it halfway, however, a noise echoed out from the silence. A noise that Twilight could not believe existed in this dreary place. It was something she was not expecting, but boy did she feel a wave of relief pass through her as it reached her ears.

A voice.

"H..hello!? Is anypony there!?" A voice echoed from a floor above, a nervous, terrified tone in its voice "You're not all white are you!? Hello!?" It called again, drawing Twilight to look up slightly at a cell along the floor above. A grey leg and hoof was waving about, a pair of bright yellow eyes rolling every which way in their sockets as it tried to focus on the area below. "Hello down there! I...I can't see you very well, are you a nice pony?!"

Twilight felt her jaw drop as she saw those eyes, that bright yellow mane and that grey fur that she had often seen every morning when greeted at her mailbox. "Ditzy Doo!?" Twilight shouted in surprise, drawing a squeak out of the mail-mare.

"T...Twilight Sparkle...?" Ditzy answered back, a confused tone in her voice as she cocked her head slightly, her eyes still trying to focus on the lavender unicorn.

"Yes, it's me!" Twilight answered back, the unicorn relieved that there was another, living pony here with her. Although...why she was even here was still a complete mystery to her. "What are we doing here Ditzy!? What is this place?"

The Pegasus looked around nervously as a low gust of wind started to pick up in the area, the mail-mare's wings shivering and shaking as her eyes widened and her teeth clenched "I...I don't know but you have to get me out of here! Now!"

The unicorn frowned in confusion for a moment, shouting up at her "What's going on!? Is something wrong!?"

"TWILIGHT!" Ditzy shrieked in sudden terror as the wind grew in intensity "You have to get me out of here! Please don't leave me here!"

Twilight opened her mouth to say something, but her first words were drowned out by a sudden whirring of sound...followed by a noise so terrifying, it made the fur on the back of her neck stand on end.

A dreadful...wailing...noise.

"Twilight get me out! Hurry! HURRY!!!" Ditzy screamed as the siren wailed loudly all around them.

"What's going on?! Ditzy what's happening!?" Twilight screamed as a deep rumbling sound vibrated through her hooves.

Ditzy squeaked as several loud, distant booms and explosions met both of their ears, causing her to scream once again "No time! Please Twilight, there's a button back at the checkpoint, it's under the counter it will unlock all the cells in the room and mine! Please don't leave me here!"

Twilight didn't know what was going on, but whatever it was...it was dangerous. She turned to move back to the checkpoint, her intentions clear on saving the poor Pegasus above. As she turned fully around, however, a throaty gasp and a small scream ripped its way through her lungs as shapes began to materialize out of the ash that coated the ground. The wind howled as hooves formed, followed by legs, a white body, and a mane-less, expressionless face.

A pony of pure ash stood before her, its form twitching as it took a careful hoof forward towards her. Twilight had to suppress another scream as more and more shapes rose from the ashes, blocking her way to the checkpoint. A wave of fear tore through her as she chanced a look towards the door that led to Administration. "Twilight please!!!" Ditzy screamed, thrashing her body against the bars "Don't leave me! Please!"

There was no telling what these things could do to her, Twilight thought, and it would be an easy sprint to an escape. If she waited any longer the ashen ponies could easily block her path.

There was no telling what was going on, why she or Ditzy Doo were even there in the first place, or what these sudden, rising creatures were. Ditzy continued to screech in panic as more and more shapes materialized in front of Twilight, the large crowd of at least twenty to thirty strong slowly marching towards her.

The unicorn could do nothing except stand, petrified as the lumbering masses came towards her. The only thought that could register in her mind at that moment was 'Fight...or flight?'

Stay...Run...

Rescue...Abandon...

"What do I do?!"

What will she do .....?