Azil

"Several voices cry out...save her...leave her...the panic of such a decision seeps in.

...though you are of a noble heart now, dear unicorn...the howls of the wind will always prevail in the end. The walls and fires are angry that you have not succumbed to the wrath of the holy fire you set upon this world...

...but no matter...

.....we'll get you.

....We always do, in the end."

Twilight's gaze was locked upon the marching formations of the ash ponies approaching her. Their true intentions were unknown, but it wasn't worth waiting around to find out. The lavender unicorn turned her body a full one hundred and eighty degrees towards the metallic door that led towards Administration, the frantic cries of Ditzy Doo echoing from above as the grey Pegasus saw her movements.

"Twilight!!!!" Ditzy wept with frantic, shrieking wails as Twilight disappeared from view, the unicorn abandoning the mail-mare to the small army of ash ponies and the growing intensity of the eerie siren and the near murderous roar of the wind. Where was all this wind coming from!? Did the siren belong to this prison-like place?? Questions and uncertainty plagued poor Twilight as she charged towards the Administration door, her eyes wide with panic and her lungs heaving for air.

She charged into the door, the metallic surface groaning as it was slammed with the sudden weight of her side. The unicorn yelped as a fresh wave of intense pain seeped through her body from her side, but nevertheless, the door opened slowly from her effort. She reared up on pained rear hooves, pushing her front hooves against the door and letting out a frustratingly loud, strained groan as she tried to push the metal open. The more she tried to push it though, the more and more solid it seemed to become. She took a few steps back in shock, her heartbeat thundering in her skull as her irises shrank, her eyes rolling wildly in their sockets as she tried to spot out where the problem was with the door.

It didn't make any sense, it had just opened slightly when she had run into- that was it! She looked to her rear, the ever-growing wail of the siren continuing to crash through the the large tower-room and muffling the already soft footsteps of the ashen assailants dragging and shambling onwards towards her. She couldn't even hear Ditzy's bloodcurdling screams anymore, the mare turning to face the door again. She sucked in a breath and braced herself for further jolting of her nerves, taking a few more steps back before leaping back forward into a sprint. She galloped straight for the door, yelling as she jumped and turned her side towards the metallic, unforgiving surface.

She crashed into the door once more with a painful yelp, sliding down to the ashen floor as pain wormed its way up her side, gripping into her skin like vicious hooks and jagged claws. She looked up, her body shaking as the door refused to yield anymore of its warm, inviting entrance. Twilight stood back up, her belly and legs covered in white ash, her head ringing with a roaring ache as the siren intensified. "STOP!!!!" She screamed, her ears pressed to her skull and her hooves pressing down upon those. She shook her head around violently, her pained screeching barely audible over the siren. "DEAR CELESTIA, MOTHER OF ALL EQUESTRIA MAKE IT STOP!!!!!" She looked around in desperation, her chest heaving for air, her lungs and heart pumping like mad.

She looked back towards the ash ponies, their distance no more than twenty or so feet away. Though they were slow, in her current predicament, they were gaining fast. Shed panted heavily, looking around her for a moment and gasping. Near one of the walls to her right, poking up out of the ash, was the ruined remains of what once looked like one of the picnic tables that made up a good portion of the first floor. A long, metal pole was the key piece that caught Twilight's eye, the mare wasting no time in rushing over for it. She let out a heavy groan as she tried to pick up the pole, growing even more frustrated. For a moment, just a BRIEF moment, it felt as if it would come up with ease. The moment it even neared a foot off the ground, its weight intensified by at least five, falling to the ground with a loud clank that felt as if it vibrated poor Twilight's bones.

"MOTHER FU-...SON OF A-...!!!" She tried to swear, tears spilling out of her eyes as she tore herself away from the pole. She felt heavy, her heart weighed and pressed as she paced back and forth in front of the door, the ash ponies now only a mere ten feet from her delicate, soft, tender flesh. Flesh she was sure the monsters were going to tear and pull apart the moment they reached her. She pressed her back up against the door, watching as they drew near to her. Her heart thundered miles a minute, her mind frantic and her thoughts in a mad state of panic. With the ponies only several feet away, Twilight was ready to give in for the second time that day. The mad frustration and painful torture this place was putting her through was too overwhelming, too crushing to the poor mare's soul.

Just as she was ready to sink to the floor, ready to offer herself to the monstrous onslaught upon her...she heard her once more. "Twilight please!!! Don't do this! You're a good pony, a GOOD, PONY!" Twilight's gasp tumbled through her throat loudly as her mind snapped back to reality. "Momma!!! Momma help me! Don't torture me like this! Let me come to heaven with you mommy!" Ditzy wailed from the floor above. Twilight felt a thudding in the back of her skull, her eyes narrowing as she felt herself growing....angry. She let out a furious scream and roared as she got to her hooves, her eyes narrowing with a sinister glare towards her would-be attackers. What in the hell was WRONG with her!? Ditzy Doo was in danger! A mare who was as kind as Fluttershy and as delicate as a flower, how could she even CONSIDER abandoning her!

Twilight let out a thunderous shriek as she catapulted herself forward into the ashen ponies, the door behind her groaning loudly and swinging inwards slowly. As she crashed into the mob of ash ponies, her skin reacted in the most violent way imaginable. The ashen ponies burst from the contact of Twilight's body, but the remains that touched her singed her fur and seared her skin, a blood-curdling scream bubbling out of her in response. It felt as if the ash that made up their forms came directly from the bottom of a roaring fire, its essence that of the hottest white fury. She dipped her head, her back and sides taking the brunt of the impact as she desperately tried to avoid getting splashed in the face with that ruinous ash. Smoke trailed from her body as she pushed through the mob, her cries and wails echoing out around her but quickly being snatched up and lost in the storm of the siren.

She burst through the rear line of the mob, tears spilling from her eyes as blood ran down across her belly and dripped onto the floor below. She looked back across herself, choking out a sob as she beheld the fur on her sides and back. It was blackened and burnt, and it was still unsure if the flesh underneath had suffered the same fate. She staggered forward, moving towards the stairs as the group of ashen marauders slowly turned towards her at a Zombpony's pace, moving forward with the same sluggish, taunting speed. Twilight began her ascent up the stairs leading to the second floor, her legs and hooves weary and the pain in her body making her entire form throb and ache. She had made it halfway up the stairs when her front left hoof slipped on the edge of the next step, the unicorn going down face first into the cold, unforgiving stone.

Her snapped off horn hit the stone first, the unicorn recoiling backwards in utter anguish. The cry that escaped her lungs was chilling to the bone, the pure, crystal sound of complete and utter pain rumbling out of her battered body and her tormented soul. She gingerly held onto the base of her horn and wept, crying loudly and heavily as the ashen mob slowly surrounded the base of the staircase. The first hoofstep had Twilight looking downwards towards her enemies, her breath coming out in ragged heaves as she tried to get herself under control. She turned, groaning loudly and trying once more to ascend the staircase. One hoof after the other, Twilight trudged up the stairs, hoping she wouldn't be grabbed from behind by the ashen ones. It seemed silly to think about since she knew they were agonizingly slow, but she couldn't help but shiver from the feeling that they felt as if they were always behind her, inches away from her tender hide.

She reached the top of the stairs, panting and wincing with every step as her head throbbed with immense pain. She looked to the right, then the left, her eyes widening as she saw Ditzy's little grey legs flailing about in the air between the prison bars. She galloped over to the cell quickly, Ditzy's voice, grateful and relieved, floating through over the heavy scream of the siren. "Oh thank you, oh thank the stars and their mother, thank you!" Ditzy cried, taking Twilight's hoof in two of her own and clutching onto it for dear life. Tears streamed out of her eyes as she said "I knew you wouldn't leave me!" She looked around the cell, panicked as she shouted "You...you didn't press the checkpoint button! Twilight I can't get out unless you press the button!!!"

Twilight shook her head, her head aching as she shouted back "Ditzy we don't know who or...or what else might be lurking in the cells above or around us! It's way too dangerous to open ALL of them up!"

"But what are we going to do about me?!" Ditzy cried, pounding her hooves against the metallic bars of her cage "How do I get out?!"

The unicorn put a hoof to her head, trying her best to think and to sort out some kind of quick plan. Working under pressure was something she prided herself in sometimes. Whether it pertained to a crunch-study session or a highly complicated weaving of an advanced spell, Twilight knew she could get it done. She looked back towards the staircase, watching as a white hoof pressed gently at the floor at the top of the staircase. The first of the ashen ponies had reached their floor, turning its head and looking at Twilight with empty, soulless pits that were supposed to house eyes but instead seated a maddening abyss of piercing vacancy. She looked back across her own body, her form shivering and partially burnt. A stroke of mad thoughts raced through her head as she looked slowly into Ditzy's cell, towards the ruined bed that lay crumpled in the far corner.

There was a pillow.

A soft pillow.

There was a solution.

A mad solution.

"Ditzy, give me your pillow, NOW!" Twilight screamed, drawing several startled blinks out of the muffin mare. She opened her mouth to say something, a confused babble of questioning 'Huh..whaaa?' bubbling out before Twilight cut it off with another shout of "PILLOW, GIVE ME, NOW!" Ditzy whirled around, rushing back into the cell toward the bed and giving the unicorn waiting outside another chance to think if this was really the best idea she could come up with. As the ash pony drew closer and closer to her, she decided that it didn't matter if it was the best idea...it was the fact that it was the only one.

"Here!" Ditzy cried, pushing the faded green, slightly torn pillow through the bars towards her. Twilight took it in between her two front hooves, taking in a few deep breaths and locking her eyes on the shambling form approaching her.

With a quick flick of her eyes towards Ditzy, she opened her mouth and shouted "Get back Ditzy! Huddle by the back of the wall, try not to get any of this thing's ash on you!" Ditzy Doo nodded, retreating to the rear of her cage.

It was a maddening minute for Twilight Sparkle, watching as the ash pony staggered in front of Ditzy's cell. It reached out towards her, cocking its head and twitching as Twilight heaved the pillow back. She threw it back forward with a maddening scream, smacking the ashen pony across the face with as much force as she could muster. Its head exploded into a cloud of ash, some of the dust floating into the bars. The unicorn's heart fluttered with delight as tiny tendrils of smoke floated gently off of the bars. With renewed fury, Twilight jumped to the right of the headless ash pony, shoving the pillow against its side and pushing it up against the bars. It flailed and thrashed about as its body was dissolved against the bars, Twilight screaming and swearing loudly at the beast. She started to shriek however as the pillow dissolved from the heat of the ash pony, her hooves pressing into its crumbling form.

A long, drawn out "FFFUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUCK!!!!!" echoed out of Twilight Sparkle as she threw her burning, smoking front hooves up in the air, the sounds of clanging bars and broken metal reaching her ears. Miraculously, the siren had started to quiet and lower in volume as the ashen pony was pushed up against the cage, all drowned out sound now returning to the world. Twilight screamed as her hooves burned, her body twitching and convulsing as she backed up violently, trying to get as far from that beast as possible. She gave a startled yelp as her back hit metal railing behind her, her momentum tipping her backwards and sending her over into the air. She let out a savage scream as she tumbled through the air, landing back-first upon once of the picnic tables below.

A thunderous crash echoed off the tower-room, all air escaping Twilight's lungs and dissipating into the air from the impact. She staggered for breath as the bars of Ditzy's cage rolled away from its once fixed position. Three of them rolled right off the edge of the walkway in front of the cell, flying down straight for Twilight. Two stabbed down to Twilight's left, one mere inches from Twilight's skin on her right. A fourth bar rolled off soon after, tumbling down straight for the unicorn's skull. She didn't even have time to gasp as the thick steel smacked Twilight's forehead, striking her with heavy force.

Reality gently scooped Twilight into its arm, wrapping her in a warm cocoon of black warmth and senseless emptiness. It placed a gentle kiss against her forehead, and, without another word, gently placed her into a loving, rocking-chair-like embrace of darkness. It swayed too and fro, cooing to her and nuzzling her soft, sweet skin. It eased her into sleep like a mother slipping her foal into a warm, comforting tub of water.

It was there that Twilight floated, swimming in the blackness.

Time no longer mattered. Nothing mattered. Not even Fluttershy....

Not even Fluttershy....

"Fluttershy...."

...somewhere, the wind howled.