Chapters Author's Note
This is just a random idea I had. Going to let it play out as far as I want to take it.
Chapter I : Arid
Chapter I : Arid
The series had ended but just a scant few weeks ago, yet it felt as an eternity already. Season five had already been confirmed in the first month of the year, sending echoes of joy throughout the fandom. It was just surviving the drought of ponies through the summer. Sure there were the fan works of fiction, the myriad of art and music in addition to the ultra rare presentation of fan animated original episodes. They were all good to help stem withdrawal, but nothing cured it like official weekly episodes.
Yes, My Little Pony. A world wide phenomenon of cotton candy horses that had mesmerized the public with it's solid writing, life-like relate able characters and truly honest lessons one could learn and grow from at the end of each episode. It was something amazing that anyone could relate to if they merely stopped to find the time and absorb it's message.
Work had been done and over for an hour now and the grueling traffic seemed to get worse everyday, the heat and humidity were no help either. Shoes off at the door, keys on the counter and cell phone on the charger. This was the daily routine that you had kept for several years now, as it made finding each of the pieces easier than bumbling through old pants and crawling under the bed to find them.
The apartment in which you reside is nothing special. Just a ten story building of bricks and glass, each unit made with decent space, faux wood floors and grey carpeting with bland beige walls and ceiling. Everything seemed average, furniture that was well worn but still visually pleasing, second hand appliances, just the minimum to live and devote any extra cash for savings or pony related merchandise.
You glance at the clock though you know it is roughly half past six, it was a habit to keep you on time, just a few more hours of the summer sun before Celestia puts it to rest for the night. Well, it wasn't her sun here, but relating everything on earth to that of Equestria made things much easier during the day. The relation of such made it much easier to see the good in the people around you and yourself, always chanting mentally 'What Would Ponies Do?' if things felt frustrating, angering or confusing. If you couldn't go to Equestria, you could at least bring Equestria here.
Dinner was another part of a ritual. Cook food for the week on Sunday so that there would be as much time as possible during the week for everything pony. Microwave the portioned out meal, consume and clean the dishes then pour a glass of tea as you retreat to the living room where your computer sits.
The entertainment center was odd, but modern. A large high definition television sat on a sturdy oak stand that was meant for the older cathode-ray tube tv's. Under the door-less bottom deck was a slick back desktop tower with cables leading to the TV, the usual tangled mess of peripherals had been solved with wireless devices.
As the TV is turned on and the computer is awoken from it's sleep mode you are met with the smiling main cast of My Little Pony, bringing a smile to your face as well. It was amazing that such a simple thing could brighten up anyone's day, if only for a few minutes.
You begin to go on the usual sites, absorbing the news, checking the links for featured daily music and art. It is the usual fan fair of amazing art and decent musical pieces, but nothing strikes a deep chord of enjoyment. It wouldn't be a day if you couldn't at least one piece to take with you to sleep. Perhaps the fan-fiction would offer something.
With a dis-content frown you again find mediocre to decent works, but nothing that jumps out at you. It is a possibility that the season four finale had set your hopes high, as there was not a fan on earth that could dispute it's badassitude. A thought enters your mind, perhaps there is a decent human goes to Equestria story. A small laugh passes your lips, those stories are always junk, save for a decent few.
Self insertion stories are a mindset of the ultimate fantasy. Who in their right mind wouldn't drop everything and permanently move into Equestria?, from a fan perspective in the least. The show made Equestria seem like a veritable garden of Eden, ponies everywhere, and with what you know from Earth, it could set you up for a very comfortable life there. Meeting the mane six and associated background ponies that had captured the hearts of fans. To make them your friends, real friends.
Most of the ones you view are not worth your time, new stories or updates to a long running series. There are good ones out there, but it seems they have escaped your voracious need for all things fluffy and pony. Perhaps this was good, as there was work in the morning and if there was a story that managed to captivate your mind, there would be no sleep for a day or two.
You thumb the side of your phone to check the time. Celestia had long since sent the sun to bed and Luna had brought her moon to bear. It was always a sad thing to say, but there had been enough ponies for the night and it was time to sleep.
It was sad to say, but the interior of your room was the only 'shrine' to the ponies in your apartment. Blind bag loot, custom mane six plushies, posters, bedding and original art pieces. There was nary a blank piece of wall that wasn't adorned with the Hasbro pleasing haul of merchandise. Soon you would have to start placing your ponies around the house, as room in short supply here.
Sitting on the flamboyant bed sheets was a nearly two foot tall Twilight plush. You pluck her from the laying position on the pillow and give her a hug.
"Sorry Twilight, it's Rarity's turn tonight."
You place the soft furred mare back on top the dresser, in line with her five counterparts and remove the marshmallow pony, Rarity.
"Rarity!" you exclaim, though in a bit of a hushed tone. Talking to yourself was one thing, but talking to stuffed pony toys was another. It wasn't from any bout of delusions or insanity, but just once again trying to bring what you love from the show to life here.
You shed your clothes, save for underwear and the tight fitting white shirt then climb between the sheets and clutch Rarity against your chest. Sleep quickly finds you.
Most nights what dreams happen dissolve instantly upon awakening, losing them forever. However in this night's dream scape you are treated with the rare blessing of a vivid, if not true to life dream.
As soon as your weighted eyelids collapse in sleep you are met with a thick fog. It swirls around your body, drawing the smallest amount of heat from your unclothed skin, it was cool, but not cold.
From an untold distance a tiny light appeared, seeming to cut through the haze. It floated through the haze, bobbing and weaving in a random pattern, but drawing closer. The light seemed to be searching, and once it arrived within arm's length from your body it stopped.
"Hello." the blue hued ball of light chirped, it's luminance increasing as sound came from it.
"Hello...?" you reply back inquisitively, confused as to what is happening. In dreams the scenarios tended to play themselves out, without any input on your part, as the ones you can remember were presented as a theme park ride or a movie where you held no control over what was brought forth.
"Oh, thank the stars!" the ball responded. "I'm here to make you a proposition. You see, I am from a world called Equestria-" Oh, another one of these dreams. Time and time again this same scenario had played itself out, being invited to take charge as a new pony in the world, meet all the characters, save Equestria for some odd reason. Do some pony pounding between the sheets. "-and I would like to make a once in a lifetime offer, to you."
The voice was distorted and unclear as to what gender it was, but it rode a tone of desperation and haste. Usually they were calm, ripe with a sexual undertone luring fans in with their siren's call. The promise of some sleepless nights ahead. This voice seemed out of breath, exhausted.
"I know how these dreams end," you reply back, "I get a decent talking to about what to expect and then I wake up disappointed." You are in no mood for any games or cock teasing of any variety tonight. But if this was going to be the dream for tonight, might as well take what you could get.
"I can quite assure you that this is not a dream. Should it be a dream, what would it hurt if you agreed?" the ball hummed out.
It had a point. If by agreeing you could get some sort of a decent dream from the usual talk, it could at least push forward from the fog hanging in the air to a more friendly area. If by the small margin this was some pony reaching out from Equestria offering a way in, lots would be gained. Perhaps if this was true, you could persuade the entity to pass something through as proof.
"What would I be agreeing to? And it would ease my mind if I could have some proof, a bit coin or something distinctly pony."
"You would be agreeing to a swap. I would change places with you, and you with me, a more than equitable trade on your part, as you would be inheriting the role of one of the Arcane Mages, rivaled only by The Princesses themselves!" the light boasted, the fast firm tone instilling a sense of authority in you.
"And proof that this is not a dream?" you remind the ball of the second part.
"I can send through a flyer from Canterlot and a single bit, should you require them for proof this is not a facade."
That sounded more than reasonable. After all, asking to meet face to face may have been impossible, as there are no cannon laws as to how this entire thing happens, just speculation and fantasy.
"That... sounds good. Is there anything you need from me for this trade?"
"I would ask that you wake immediately and transcribe a summary of who you are, who I will be trading with. Written or recorded form, something that would be easy to digest once I arrive. I have done the same as I have asked of you, to help transition." the light slowly swirled around your frame, sizing you up.
"I get to become a unicorn pony, and you become regular old me." The thought was very intriguing, but your enthusiasm is held under wraps by the fact that you are fast asleep. There was nothing to lose but a moment of sadness if you awake to find this was just your dream, but alot would be gained if this was a real situation.
"Yes, what is your answer?" the orb pulsed impatiently.
"I say yes." you reply.
"Then do as I have asked. I will contact you again shortly." the orb grows dull, then shoots out a wave of light that hits your chest, pushing you backwards far from the light. You can only hear wind whipping past your ears as you go sailing backwards into the fog.
With a sudden jolt you spring up into a sitting position, throwing the covers and Rarity from their place on your chest. Yep, it always ends before the good part arrives. You slip from what covers are left on your body and place the Rarity plush on the corner of your bed and mumble an apology to her. Disappointment and a dry throat haunt you in the darkness, one can be rectified at least.
The refrigerator still has half a gallon of iced tea left. As your arm stretches towards a large cup in the cupboard a heavy thud hits the bargain-bin faux-wood floor of the kitchen between your feet. You pause a second, fearful to move in case it was something containing liquid, or a glass.
It didn't shatter, it was a thud, as if someone had dropped a rock. In the dim light of the kitchen you catch a glint of a coin, probably a quarter that got loose when you took your clothes off and stuck to your skin in bed. The coin was heavy, heavier than any coinage that you are familiar with. As you heft it's weight in the shadows, lighting the area would help better identify the origin.
The light to the kitchen gets flipped on and you look closer at the coin. Your heart skips once you lock eyes with the all to familiar marks. On one face of the gold coin it had a cartoonish horse shoe cast into it, the opposing side had the seal of the Royal Sisters. Around it's edge were words, probably in some form of ancient pony you can't understand. 'For Sun and Moon, for friendship and peace, to all ponies.' are the words that leap to mind, though it probably said something else.
It was odd, the voice said it was sending a bit, and in your hand that is what you are holding. It had to be real, as you cannot recall ever buying a mock copy of a bit, and the bronze stamped reproductions were not as heavy as this, it was real gold.
The coin in itself was enough to send your heart into a pulsing race. In a partial thought that it was still a dream, you give yourself a stern slap, but you do not wake up. This was real alright, or some bit of insanity that had crept inside.
'Where was the flyer?' you ask yourself. After a quick search of your blankets, you find a thick piece of parchment, ink scrawled over it's face. It was an advertisement for the 'Ponytones' in Ponyville. No one used this kind of paper for a flyer, it was not heavy card stock but appeared as if it were made of pressed wood pulp. The face was a bit uneven, bumpy and thicker in some areas. It was hand, or rather, hoof made paper.
Hastily you grab a stack of lined paper from a drawer in the kitchen and begin to scribble down everything you know. After five minutes, it becomes clear that writing was a painfully slow way to get information across, an audio log on the computer would serve better.
Twenty minutes pass, and you spill as much about yourself into the microphone, secrets, passwords, relations and how to operate the phone, as it had voice activated features in addition to the ability to ask it questions and get an audio reply. With that done, you save the recording and open it to play on a loop through the speakers. Hopefully you had done enough.
You retreat back to bed, lightheaded from the exhilaration that you were going to Equestria. Caution was thrown into the wind and you were on what seemed like a free ticket to every My Little Pony fan's ultimate dream. Instantly you understood what others had been writing about, for better or worse. It was a total moment of euphoria, imagining meeting Twilight, Rarity, Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy and on from there. The reality that in a short while you could be having lunch with them stirred up emotions of joy.
The audio recording you had made played softly from the living room as you waited. Excitement faded into disappointment as time ticked by, there had been no time frame set other than the vague term 'shortly'. You check the alarm clock, noticing that an hour had passed since you had woken up, but also that only an hour and ten minutes had passed since you had gone to bed. Maybe it meant nothing, but being asleep for ten minutes didn't seem like-
Your thoughts were cut off as a wind whipped through the bedroom, rustling posters and blowing your hair about. Shielding your face from the light appearing in the center of the room. The same fog as in the dream appeared, in growing thickness with the light. Soon the room was lost, and it was you and the light again amidst the fog.
"Is it done?" the orb asked.
"It is, I left instructions for most things along with what you need to at least try to pick up my life."
"Good." the voice said in a fashion that sounded like whomever was talking had a deep smile.
"Then let it be done." The orb boomed.
From the fog you begin to hear muffled voices, a chanting of sorts. The words were foreign, not something you would have ever heard. The orb blinked out, then the symphony of voices began to grow louder and louder, chanting, repeating.
A rush of excitement spilled from the depths of your stomach, a million butterflies flapping gently inside. As the tone of the chanting began to penetrate your body, it lifted you from the ground, each syllable pulsing across your skin with warmth.
The voices stopped, and then there was nothing but blackness.
A pounding headache began to ring it's telltale pain as if it meant to split your skull in two. You ignore it to fling your eyes open and see this new world you are a part of now. As the haze slowly lifts from your vision it reveals a rather grim sight.
The scene before you is one of a horror movie. Five candles are the only source of light, and what they illuminate makes your stomach churn. Drawn in chalk on the ground were concentric circles with what appeared to be runes of some sort dotting the edges of each. To you it means nothing at the moment, but a guess would tell you it was meant for a ritual involving magic. A logical guess would be that it is the reason that you are now here. The unfinished stone floor looked as if it had not been used in ages, dust collecting across it's face. But amidst the dust were the markings of horse hooves, and it was more than one set. There were others here.
"We shouldn't stay here, it is not safe anymore." a male voice speaks from the shadows.
"Agreed, they will be here soon." a female voice responded.
"What, why?" you ask into the darkness, struggling to stand in your new body.
"What about the Arcane Mage?" the same male voice asked.
"The deed is done, leave the interloper." the female again responded.
"Hello!" you shout out. "I can hear you. What is going on?"
"Make haste, this foalish pony will be done for soon."
The voices, along with several others that stayed quiet left the shadows to run across the circles in a flurry of hooves, knocking over candles and opening a door to the light. Five of them all together, clad in brown robes with hoods pulled over their heads, but all clearly ponies.
This situation you have been brought into was at the least, confusing. Who was coming, and why? If it was something bad, there was no reason to stick around and find out. Other than finding the pages as to enlighten you as to whom you switched with.
You carefully head towards the light from the open door, remembering that you are now on four legs. With a bit of concentration you manage to ascend the stairs and now feel confidant that you can at least walk slowly.
The top of the stairs reveals a stunning house interior. Carved marble, rich wood furniture, thick shag rugs with a rainbow of colors stared from the floor that wasn't blue veined marble. Windows flanked with a beautiful silver threaded set of curtains, outside the windows were the faces of other buildings, a cobblestone street and ponies of all color spectrum outside traveling to their intended destinations. You had arrived in Equestria!
Before departing the house, it was best to seek out the instructions that were left. There are a few questions running through your head: What do you look like, what is your story and most importantly what gender you are. The gender question was most important, as no trip here was complete without knocking together some horse shoes.
The house was filled with valuables, room after room had exquisite paintings, vases and tapestries. Yet room after room had no books or even papers to check. As well off as it would appear you are now, there were no books.
The last place you come upon is a bedroom, a deep red bed that would easily sleep five ponies, complete with enough pillows and covers for them as well sat in the center of the room. The walls were papered with blue daisies on a white backing with flank high molding at the floor and ceiling that bore a mural of open skies. Several large armoire lined the wall opposite the door and between two of them there was a full body mirror.
Upon trotting in front of the mirror you see what you look like for the first time.
Staring back at you from the mirror is the face of a unicorn mare. It was a bit of a, well, never mind. Pony parts were unique to them, stallion or mare, both of them would be unique experience-wise when it came to that. But a mare. Yea, that is something you could live with. You entire coat was a blue, not quite royal blue, but darker than normal. The best way to describe the fiery red mane with yellow highlights was to let it grow past ones shoulders, then remove half of the length. Subsequently the rear mane on your neck sticks up nearly horizontal, from the lack of weight a full mane provides.
Looking back at your flank, you see a black piece of jagged coal cracked in the center with yellow flame consuming it. What did flaming coal mean anyway? Well, now with the appearance issue sorted out, it seemed best to find the book or papers and leave, as the other ponies seemed to think that it was a good idea too. But why?
The entire house had been searched by now, there wasn't even a scrap of paper laying about. Aside from the furnishings, it appeared that no one lived here with regularity. The kitchen was quiet, not even a fire kindled in the earthen stove, no food anywhere. Everything did have a fine layer of dust over it.
Was it possible that what was in the basement had diverted you here, or perhaps it was an accident? It would seem that doing magic in the basement of what appeared to be an abandoned house was not on the level. Something was amiss here, and it did not bode well.
You feel something tingle down your horn and into the center of your skull. It is hard to describe, but it dropped the pit out of your stomach. Something was heading this way, and you shivered, as it's intentions were not pure. It was like per-conceptual feeling, not quite a vision, but the knowledge that if you don't leave, the house may fall in on you.
As adrenaline kicks in and you head towards what looks like the front door, there is a swell of energy behind you, from it you feel a form pushing through it. With a poof the energy coalesces to a center point then dissipates in a fraction of a second, some pony is behind you.
"Stop... Right there."
It was the voice of Celestia, and it was not her normal tone, it seethed of anger.
Slowly you turn around to face her. Her brow was furrowed, her lips tensed back to bear gritting teeth. The Alicorn's horn was a light in magic, what she was holding sent your heart into overdrive. A pale yellow sword, engulfed in the same color as her magic aura, hanging outwards, ready to attack.
"Give up. Now." she barked.
Stunned as to what was going on, your mind swims in thoughts, mainly to get away and sort out what happened. Surely crossing between worlds would not draw the wrath of the Princess, if anything make them pause to muse over your situation. But an armed Celestia minutes after arrival was concerning. No Royal guards, just the most powerful Alicorn in the world.
Teleport away. That was a logical decision, with Celestia bearing down with a sword, staying seemed the last thing you wanted to do. Quickly you realize that you know nothing about unicorns and magic, the show never did anything past having them use it. Couldn't be too hard, a bit of concentration perhaps.
Think of someplace... Ponyville! Now concentrate, the middle of the town, near the mayor's building. Nothing happens. Damn! Someplace safe, just safe, make it safe.
With the thought of safety, your head begins to feel warm. Though the carotene the horn is made of is supposed to be like a nail, or hair, you feel it surging. YES! Make it safe, make it safe. You concentrate on that thought, feeling everything in the room, the carpets, drapery furniture tingle in your mind. Safe.
Within the blink of an eye every inch of the room that is not made from stone bursts into flame in a bone rattling whump. The windows rattle and as flame spread in an instant combustion, they melt into white hot slag, spilling across the stone floor like water from a glass.
Celestia gasps, and in the blink of an eye she teleports away as the rug she was standing on began to lick at her body with white hot flames.
The room instantly heats up, followed by thick clouds of billowing smoke that burn your lungs when inhaled. It was a good bet that you had just set the entire room on fire, and now needed to leave. Dropping to the floor you slowly crawl to the door and push it open carefully with a hoof and move to safety.
The fresh air felt good, but you dare not pause as Celestia may be nearby. As the passer by's gather in a sick form of wonderment at the building that suddenly combusted you use this as a chance to run down the street. It doesn't matter where, just to get away.
You look up for a second to determine where you are. The tall towers of the Royal Palace look different from street level, but there is nothing else in all of Equestria that look like them. Canterlot, that would explain why Celestia was there so fast. It was beginning to look like a bad idea coming here. Not quite the dreams one would imagine.
Several minutes of running later and you have to stop. It would have been easy in your human body, but unicorns seemed to lack the endurance. All the ponies around are looking towards the sky, at the plume of black smoke filling the sky. Quiet murmurs and stern looks pass through the crowd as the building began to burn without warning.
This wasn't the Equestria you had in mind.
There was that feeling again, the swell of energy from a teleportation spell. Instead of Celestia appearing, Twilight Sparkle appeared instead, her face twisted in anger hooves planted outwards, ready to attack. She scans the crowd and locks eyes with you, eyes that bore the pain of betrayal that had turned into vengeful wrath. The mare bore her teeth and ran headlong towards you.
Out of breath, you quickly slip into the crowd that was intent on watching the smoke loom in the sky. You put your head down and pass back and forth between the ponies, trying to lose the one who you should be overjoyed to meet. This Equestria was looking less and less friendly.
Near the edge of the crowd you turn to see if the mare is still following you, but the telltale lavender mare clopping about is far from you. Quickly exiting the crowd, you turn your head forward only to run into the very pony you were trying to avoid. You pause and sink lower on your legs, ear flattened. She looms over you, appearing a bit taller than what you expected the real. Being this close to the wrath that played out in the season four finale sent a shiver down your spine. The real Twilight is terrifying. Around her body was an invisible aura, bearing down on you with the anger of a riled hornet's nest.
"Ember." she scowls, bringing a hoof up to the side of her head, then releasing it down upon your skull. The world goes black for a few seconds, and you find yourself laying back to the ground, Twilight straddling your chest, her hooves gripped around your neck.
"I should lay you down right here," she barked, her eyes starting to cloud over into pure white, a bad sign. "I'm going to take you to Celestia and you will rot in the dungeon for months."
The situation felt like a scene from a movie, the good guy about ready to deal the killing blow, and you were not the hero. Twilight was growling in anger, her hooves pressed tighter and tighter around your throat. You want to fight back, but it seems futile. She has mastered every spell she has come across, defeated foes ten times as powerful as you are and you don't know anything about magic to at least keep her off of you. Helpless.
"Then I'll get to drag you from your hole. Haul your flank to the gallows. String you up myself and watch as you twist in the wind. This would only alleviate a portion of the pain you caused. I'd have to do this to you a thousand times for what you did to me. For what you did to my friends."
You wanted to cry out, ask a question, plead for mercy. The uneasy jitter returned, the unsettling feeling that somehow the switching had been beneficial only for the previous occupant of this body. Twilight's hooves pressed in further and further as black spots spark across your eyes. As your mind spirals into it's final heaves of consciousness you mentally laugh, at least you met Twilight, even though she seems content to choke you to death.
Twilight seemed ready to do it, push you over the edge and continue. But as she bore down strait into your eyes there was a pause that turned into a full stop. Hopefully she was witnessing the confusion pass over the darkening orbs that you viewed the world from. She raised her hoof and dealt a knockout blow, sending you into blackness.
Something has gone wrong. We don't seem to have an archived copy of that chapter. Author's Note
Hold the rage... this is NOT OVER yet.
Chapter IV : Inferno
Chapter 4 : Inferno
You didn't want to wake up. If you stayed a sleep it would mean that tomorrow would never arrive, you wouldn't have to face the inevitable. There was going to be no white knight, no release. Nothing to aid in escape. Just an entire day of waiting for the guards to show up and take you to the gallows where it would all end.
The lack of windows and the constant level of light was infuriating. Normally you would sleep for eight hours at night, but with no clock to track time it could be noon for all you know.
You stood up, having slept strait up with your back in the corner it ached for movement. Ponies were not meant to sleep like that. A slow walk around the cell removed the twinge of pain, but left a subtle burning sensation to let you know it still needed some recovery from the stiffness.
The shackles felt heavier, though they remained the same. it became harder and harder to lift each hoof off the ground, letting them drag over the surface instead. The collar felt heavier as well, and with it's weight you lowered your head, making it horizontal with your torso.
Maybe this was acceptance? Everything giving up and slowly shutting down as there was no reason left to carry on, leaving just a withered husk that had very little strength to fight back. You went back to the corner and sat down, looking out through the bars.
Breakfast had been served, or was it lunch? The tin tray and pewter mug had already been pushed through the seperation near the floor into the cell. It was two pieces of toast that had been wetted with butter, a pastry with yellow goo inside and the mug held orange juice. With a small nibble on the side of the pastry, you determined it was lemon custard inside a doughnut of sorts and was halfway decent.
The orange juice was the last to go. It was fresh and pieces of pulp clung to the bottom of the cup from squeezing. That was definitely breakfast, but the food was cold, indicating that it had been there for quite a while. You set the mug back down near it's origin on the tray and nearly covered up a piece of paper folded on the tray. It had been sitting perfectly under the mug.
You heart shot into your throat. Was this it? Had Luna actually pulled through and secured your release? Carefully you folded the paper out to reveal the note on it. The letters were written rather carefully, not a hasty scribble. It read:
Dear Traveler,
I hope that this news is not met with anger, but the realization that there are many more that go against my judgement. I inquired at Ember's residence, finding exactly what you had said, and became clear that it's purpose was used as an exfiltration point for Ember.
I spoke with both Twilight Sparkle and my sister, Princess Celestia. While they acknowledge that the possibility of her having escaped is just as good as her ability to fabricate a lie to save herself, they both remain adamant that Ember is to expire at the end of the day.
I believe firmly that you are not Ember, and would stake my life in your stead if it was allowed. There is nothing more I can say to express my great sadness as to this turn of events.
The stallion you had mentioned, Private Arrow, will be bringing by a gift during his shift.
Everything will turn out fine,
With regret,
Princess Luna
"GOD DAMMIT!" You shout, tossing the letter to the floor and sending an angry hoof towards the tray, sending it clattering across the room and into the opposing cell's bars where it rang out. No guard came in to see what the noise was, as there were none stationed at this early in the morning.
Fuck Luna, fuck Celestia, fuck Twilight and all her fucking friends. Fuck all these fucking ponies. They were more concerned with their own goddamned feelings than actually getting the one responsible for all this mess. Content with just murdering you because you looked like her.
You begin to slam your body up against the cell door, screaming in rage. Still no guards came and you kept beating and beating against the door. There was no pony there to stop you, and the door was not going to move. You just screamed out until there was nothing left and slid to the floor, your side hurting too much to carry on.
Once on the ground, the rage seemed to disappear and turn into tears. Everything was set in stone now. Luna was the last beacon of hope, and instead of doing what was right, she was just going to ignore the facts and go along with her sister and let you die.
NO, you stomped your hoof to the ground. Luna had to have something planned, something up her sleeve. If there was any pony who knew what this was it was Luna. She wasn't going to let herself get railroaded like Twilight, she was going to stop this, in a clandestine way if need be.
The note said that everything would turn out fine. Truth be told it was a little vague, but there was no reason to put something like that in there if nothing was going to happen. You were going to live and that was the end of the story.
With the tide of tears stemmed for now, you go back over to the note, there was one last part you had glanced over. The unicorn guard was going to be bringing a gift by. That was a bit puzzling as well, whether the gift was part of the salvation, or he himself was the gift remained to be seen.
When was his shift? Last night he had been working rather late in the evening, not the night shift, but during the normal dinner time. It would be cutting it rather close if that was the case. Maybe he was going to be the way out. Not much time left though. It may be halfway through the day already.
You began to pace nervously around the cell, the chains between the shackles rattling noisily off the floor. If you were gone before they came down to drag you away, there would be ample time to escape out of the city. If plans were to make an escape available during the transportation, it would be much harder, if not impossible to do.
Again, the only thing you could do was wait. The pacing stopped after several minutes and then you retired to the corner to watch out through the bars to watch the nothingness around you happen. Not knowing the exact time it was, and when the execution was scheduled was bothersome, irking you to no end, as every minute that ticked by was time lost from an black hourglass.
Losing track of time in an environment where the only steady way of tracking it was mentally counting off the seconds, and that can become greatly skewed very quickly, what seemed like an entire day had passed before there was any noise not of your own.
It was muffled set of hoof-clops, no way of telling if the time had drawn near for escape or if it was all over. They approached closer and closer, finally entering the door. With a bit of relief the unicorn guard from last night entered the room, though completely without the golden set of armor, wearing a saddle bag instead.
"Hello." he said, closing the door as he entered and levitating the saddle bag from his flank to the floor in the center of the room.
"Hello." you replied back. You wanted to ask him right away if he was the way out, what gift he was bringing, but thought not to. If the rescue was was going to be low key, it would be a jeopardized by the mention of it if he were not involved. It was best to let things play out as they happened and play dumb in the mean time.
"Hey, I'm sorry about last night. I realize that it was a moronic thing to do, and I let my body make decisions and put you in an awkward position." You lowered your tail between your legs and never made eye contact while saying this.
"It was." he nodded slightly "I am here on Princess Luna's behalf."
"Oh?" You ask, waiting for the sweet words that will whisk you away and to freedom.
"I'm here for your last request."
"Oh... Any anything else?"
"No, not at the moment." he answered. "Did you reconsider and want to change your request?"
"I-" you paused for a second, considering other options. "I'm guessing to go free is not on the list?"
The unicorn shook his head no.
"If it is a question what what I need, then that would have been the only thing, freedom or to go back where I belong. Those are the only things I need. If it is something I want, the only thing that comes to mind is what I requested, as selfish and as completely uncalled for as it might seem."
Private Archer, wasn't it? Nodded. He seemed a bit more confident than last night, but still was reserved, holding back.
"This isn't uncomfortable for you, is it? I don't want it to seem that it is all I care about. It's just that I have never done such a thing, and with options as limited as they are, I just think that it's something I would like to experience before the end." Of course you knew that it wasn't the end, a plan was in motion to avoid the reaper.
"I would have to admit, it is a bit uncomfortable to jump into such things as suddenly as this."
"We can call this off, I don't want you to do something because I'm being selfish." You felt like a complete jackass for letting this go any further. It was something that should be called off, Archer seemed to be here on Luna's accord and not of his own volition.
"If this was something I was not comfortable with, I would have turned it down, and would not feel ashamed to do so." He said firmly, sensing your want to dance around the issue.
Pushing the lingering guilt about him being stuck in this situation, unable to refuse an order from the Princess, you nod and begin to wonder how to get things started. Last time he had walked in on your activity, reacting to the situation. It would seem that at the moment neither of you were going to get anywhere, as you were both on the starting line with cold engines.
"Well, I guess we should get started..." you mumbled.
Archer nodded and unlocked the door with his magic, stepping inside the cell.
"How does this work?" You ask, a bit unsure of how things went from a dead stop between to ponies.
"Turn and expose yourself." he said coolly, taking charge of the situation.
You turned your plot towards him and shifted your tail off to one side, pulling the chain between the shackles taught, ready for him to immediately jump upon your back. What happened next took you by surprise.
A warm pair of lips met yours in what felt like a kiss. You tensed up and jumped in your skin at the touch, releasing a small gasp. Last night he was hesitant and seemed to withdraw from the room once he knew what you were doing, but now he had dove right in, inhibitions gone.
The unicorn's lips ran slowly on either side of your folds, tracing a slow circle, following the dry outline with his fine furred mouth, letting his hot breath blast from his nostrils onto your floor chilled nether. This was much less barbaric than what you knew went on with the equines on Earth, it felt tender and natural.
As a bee was drawn to flowers for their nectar, the stallion hovered his lips over your part, hoping to find some sustenance as well. You remained there, standing still and enjoying the attention he was giving you. Of all the times you had done such things, it was only you, the touch of another attempting to bring forth the same sexual arousal felt alien. You knew where to touch, where to stroke and pull, but at the mercy of another left a bit to be desired. By now you would have been feeling relaxed and the onset pleasure wave that would have been the first of many seemed absent. You let him continue uninterrupted, he was still feeling things out and gauging a reaction to the attempts.
You gasped as his tongue slipped from his mouth and licked a path clear between your mound, making a small separation that went no deeper than the the protrusion from your body. The action sent a shiver of pleasure through your muscles that he picked up on and ran his tongue several more times in the same motion. This whetted the dry folds of your plot, making each subsequent pass glide smoother and smoother, pulling less skin away from it's intended location and leaving only a hot piece of flesh working it's way inside.
His focus shifted. No longer sliding between your lips he placed his lower lip below the boundary of your part and the upper lip right on top the clitoris. He gave a gentle tug with his lips, pulling the button from it's resting spot between the mound and into his wet muzzle, suckling the piece as if it were a teet. He drew more of the malleable flesh into his muzzle through a vacuum and then released slowly, letting the sensitive piece glide across his lips in a stimulation that caused a squeak to emerge from your mouth.
You were not sure about him, but any second thought you had about doing this faded and was quickly replaced with an overpowering urge to satisfy the itch he had scratched. It became all you could think about, getting him to climb on your back and bury himself into you plot.
You were wet, each time his nose moved across your mound it let each side slip across the liquid estrous that had painted itself on your part. He pressed his nose against the wetness and inhaled deeply, drawing in a sharp cold with it.
Archer backed his muzzle from you and took several deep breaths, pushing the air drawn into his lungs out in a heaving effort. It sounded like he was trying to clear an obstruction in his sinuses, but rather the estrous has begun to do it's job, arousing him into a wild state bent on reproduction. He as doing his best to refrain from it's purpose and maintain a level head.
You looked backwards to see his white painted muzzle gleaming with a thick liquid. His stallion-hood had broken from the sheathe, revealing a white and brown mottled shaft hanging in a half flaccid state. It grew larger with each heartbeat, turning the graceful curve into a strait length the longer he stood stationary to breath through his nose.
He passed a smile to you and it made your muzzle turn up in satisfaction as well. Both of your faces turned into a stupor as you knew what was going to happen next.
The stallion pressed a nose to your back and shifted forward, propping himself nearly upright with hooves planted on your flank sides. He scooted his rear legs in closer, bringing what you wanted to bear right at your part.
He paused, arching his hindquarters out and moving his rear hooves almost side by side with yours. The un-flared head on the end of his shaft met your separation and you braced yourself for what came next. It was warm, the head, waiting right outside, leaning against the opening, ready to go inside.
You gasped in a mixture of pleasure and pain. With one quick motion he had pushed his way inside, your heart skipping a beat as your track was expanded from closed to fully open. You eyes began to water and you just wanted him to pull out, the sudden influx of pressure forcing out in all directions from the inside was too much to bear. It was a new feeling, to you and this body you inhabited, forcing shallow quick breaths to your lungs.
As the stallion pushed in further, taking it slow so that the mare flesh had time to stretch to is maximum, you felt over full, as if he were too much. His nose was pressed at the base of your neck and you could feel the short ragged gasps blasting heated air under your mane. He began to withdraw, the pressure began to vanish and was replaced with the sensation of being drained, as if his member had gotten stuck and was dragging out your insides with him.
The bout of discomfort had passed and had been replaced with that of pleasure, your body having adapted to his size as the flexible nature of the mare was always meant to do. Inside you thanked that he wasn't as large as you fantasized Big Mac was, otherwise you were sure your pelvis would have been torn apart by the limb deep inside you. Whatever his size, average or above, it was a bit more than you had expected.
Both of you were panting as if finished with a marathon, him grunting with each exhale and you gasping lightly with each inhale. He was slowly sliding in and out, the bottom of his cock that formed a bit of a ridge and constantly brushed up against the very tip of your clitoral button, turning your knees weak and head in a dizzying array of over stimulation.
You felt bad, as he was doing all the work, thrusting his hips to the echo of wet flash sliding across each other rang through the room while you merely stood there. You began to flex internal muscles intent on slowing him down for a break of the fast pace.
He took this as a challenge though, feeling that you were bent on forcing him out and depriving him of a well earned orgasm. Archer began to dive in more powerful strokes, overcoming any resistance you put up with sheer force. His ragged breathes became deeper and deeper as his effort increased.
This was far from the minute long ordeal equines on earth had, as ponies had human like intelligence that came with the added bonus of endurance. You lost track of time, but swore that at least five minutes had passed, maybe more.
A slow fire had been building, first in your legs and then spreading upwards, it was the beginning signs of an orgasm. The warmth spread to your mound, now fully engorged with blood, began to tingle as muscles tightened. If you could get the stallion to orgasm along with you, it would avoid the unpleasantness of screaming for him to stop before you passed out from too much stimulation before he was satisfied.
He must have been feeling it too, as the thick head deep inside your plot began to expand, pushing outwards with even more pressure than before. With each thrust he paused after bottoming out for a fraction of a second. Archer's light grunting noises began to sound more intelligent, like actual speech. He was nearing the apex, grunting a shallow 'aawwhh' each time he thrust forward. You stopped any vocal interaction, breathing without stifled speech, and remaining nearly silent.
You couldn't hold it any longer, you had stemmed your muscles long enough and they now held you in the grip of an orgasm. You wanted to scream, let all of Equestria know that you were having the time of your life, but instead reared your head back, drew your front hooves together and let out a single long moan that exclaimed your finale.
Everything tightened up, stomach, hooves, pucker and face as the orgasm washed over you. It let go and everything buckled, lost in a wave of uncontrollable pleasure. You front hooves collapsed and you could no longer control them, your rear legs locked into place from the weight of the stallion, but ready to fall once he removed his weight.
You shook, every part of your body was rocked down to the bone, euphoria exploded in your brain and washed out over your body to the point where you swore that your mane quivered in the orgasm. Back behind you, your plot pushed inward and then out separately from the thrusting stallion. You heard a wet smack hit the ground, the fluid stringing in soft tendrils between your plot and its mess on the ground.
You couldn't feel your gender anymore, it had become momentarily numb, along with most of your senses. Your ears rang, your eyes had a thick white peripheral that seemed to swallow the cell floor in front of you. So much of an over load followed that you couldn't make out what you were saying, if it was intelligent and not the squeaks from before.
Archer finished just as your senses started to come back, his loud whinny was the first thing you hear clearly and his thrusting slowed to several weak pushes before he stopped. You felt your innards swell, his load had been deposited and began to fill every inch that was empty.
He pulled his cock out, with it came an avalanche of thick white batter that streamed out onto the floor. His torso stepped backwards off your rear end and it collapsed down to the ground, legs off to one side, as far apart as the shackles would allow. Completely exhausted by the ordeal, you just laid on the ground, letting everything leak out onto your inner thighs.
Archer stood at your side, his shaft had already gone limp and collapsing back into his body, letting anything left in his urethra spill out with no care as to where it landed. You just lay there on the cool floor, it was a blessing after the activity.
He trotted up with unsteady hooves alongside your prone figure and his horn lit up, picking up something off the floor behind your head. You paused to see exactly what it was, a small cone of sorts.
Your heart seized in terror. It was the studding that had been locked to your own horn, now obviously free from your head and no longer stifling the magic, free to use it was you wished.
"When did this happen?" he asked, though his voice didn't sound alarmed, but rather concerned. It was as if he expected it to happen, part of a scripted piece of drama mean to cast you in a shadow.
"NO! I didn't do it, I swear! It must have fallen off!" You shout weakly.
His mouth straitened then he placed it back around your horn to lock it in place again.
You remain silent for a while, pondering what this meant. Did he think you had removed it on your own? Would this affect anything with the plans for later this evening?
Archer said nothing, and removed himself from the cell and retrieved his saddle bag. He lifted a flap and levitated what appeared to be a decanter from inside. The bottle looked odd, it had one side that was neary flat, the opposite rounded, as if it had been cut in half and re-sealed to hold liquid.
Inside the corked container was a liquid, one of a pink hue. He passed it through the bars and removed the stopper.
"You need to drink all of this." he said.
"What? Why? What is it?"
"Something from Princess Luna." he answered.
You eyes flew open, knowing that this must be part of the plan. You take the bottle and pour it's contents into your muzzle.
It tasted like shit, a gritty texture as though sand had been mixed with moldy pink lemonade. You swallowed what your could before removing the bottle from your lips.
"What the fuck is this? It's gone sour." you sputter, feeling the remnants that were not swallowed sticking to your tongue, it's flavor began to rumble in the pit of your stomach.
"Just finish it." he commanded.
You once again take another drink from the glass container nestled carefully between your two front hooves. The second taste was no better, each gulp seemed to stick to your esophagus before giving up and sliding down. It was like swallowing wet sand and it twisted your brain as to what it really was and had to fight down bile rising in the back of your throat.
The unicorn removed the empty bottle from your hooves and placed it back in the saddle bag. Without a word further he went to the door and opened it only after your cell door was shut and locked properly.
"When is..." you ask with a pause, not wanting to think of what was going to happen.
"After dinner." he replied abruptly, then vanished from the room.
What just happened? You asked yourself. The entire aftermath was confusing, some how the studding that prevented you from using any unicorn magic had fallen off. You didn't do anything to the device, but it still fell off. This entire 'Ember' ordeal was beginning to feel more and more like a set up.
Since you arrived in Equestria, it was clear to any pony that took a but a few seconds to watch you, that you were clearly not the antagonist in the drama that was unfolding through you. Twilight, Princess Luna and even Archer, the stallion that had just taken you had to have seen something, thier gut feeling telling them that Ember as they knew was long gone. Leaving just a shell of some new personality that was confused. This all seemed like a set up.
How could they not see? How could the once proud and head strong 'Ember' turn into a quivering mess of a pony and not raise a flag? Some one that had lived most of their life as a self absorbed, egotistical... The thought stopped, as it was beginning to sound like your life. After all, if you hadn't been so anxious to leave everything behind and join in the fantasy of a lifetime, you wouldn't be here. You would be at work, waiting for the day to end and get back into the fake world of MLP where you could view it vicariously without danger of life and limb.
You were here now, and the dream of interacting with the personalities you had grown to love was vastly different. Twilight was hell-bent on destroying you, the Princess sisters were not as understanding as you had believed. You half expected the rest of the main six to have their own real-world flaws. Rainbow Dash would be a speed freak, with the scars and stories of many crashes to share. Rarity would be even more vain, a self critical artist of the fabric that would fall to pieces at the slightest hint of dis-satisfaction of her products. AppleJack would be a flat out red-neck, as country as a hundred miles from civilization would be. Pinkie Pie would be the party animal, with a pocket full of secrets as to why she is always hyper active.
You had your taste of ponies, as they really were, and you just wanted them to leave and make this just a bad memory to write down and share with the rest of the human world. If they would swallow such a dark version of the ponies they loved. Such a tale would be shunned and marked as half truth of a sick mind. It wouldn't matter, as what happened here, you know was real.
Still, if this situation wasn't as grim as it seemed, you could deal with this pseudo human world, filled with ponies instead of humans. Any drama and hardship would be easy to bear as it paralleled your human life, but as a pony. For whatever reason, being a pony would seem to make any situation you encountered feel better, because ponies made everything better.
The guard unicorn mentioned dinner, and not lunch. Was it really that late in the day? If it was, time was of the essence, as Luna's plan was soon going to take effect and it would be time to run.
You picked yourself off the floor, still feeling weak kneed from the sexual events that had transpired. You would need your full strength when the plan came to fruition. It was possible that you would need to gallop many miles before you reached safety.
Enough time had passed for the guard to bring dinner to your cell. Carrots, bread and water, but you couldn't bring yourself to eat. Any hunger that would have been felt was suppressed by the anxious tickle in your stomach, feeling an internal bleeding that would be stemmed but rescue. She hadn't forgotten about you, did she?
After dinner, is what Archer said. After dinner it was going to happen. Guards would come to take you to the gallows, where things would end at a length of rope. Convicted to die for an act you did not commit, innocent in all of this.
Again the thought of death washed over you. Hangings were performed by uncivilized countries on Earth, and the victims of legal or illegal acts usually did not survive. If you weren't rescued, what would it feel like? You didn't know, as it was never something that you looked into. From anything in the papers or select articles online it was fast, a drop and then blackness, the rope long enough to break the neck instead of strangling.
It wasn't going to happen, you told yourself. Even if the guards had come to take you, she would be there, Luna. To save you from the grip of death, you had expected it from her message in the letter. The liquid had to play a part in all of this, why else would have it been passed onto you to drink?
The wire was here, pressing ever closer. Seconds ticked by, and yet there was no flash of light, no flurry of hooves coming down the hall to your cell. Dinner was here, and time had passed. You began to mentally plead for Luna to show up, take you away. Minute after minute passed and she did not arrive. Damn her, damn these ponies. Why weren't they here?
Questions came fast, faster than you could think of an excuse as to why things were going in this direction. The pacing started again, chains noisily dragging across the stone floor as your hooves stepped as far as they would allow. Why? Why hadn't she arrived? Dammit.
For a brief second your heart skipped, as hooves began to clack against the stone floor, muffled through the door. This was it! She was here! You stood stationary in the cell, remaining quiet as they came closer. The time was here.
The door swung open, and to your horror, five golden armor clad ponies walked inside, all unicorns, Princess Luna was not among them. They lined up around the room and a crimson red guard opened the door.
"Please come with us." he commanded.
No, NO! This was it, they were here to collect a debt of flesh, your flesh.
"Where is Princess Luna?" you shout, confused that she was not here.
"Come with us." the guard again stated, his face turning sour, turning from the sedate expression he bore when entering the room.
"NO! Princess Luna is supposed to help me!" You shout, brow furrowed in anger.
"Miss Ember, we can do this the easy way, or the hard way. We can drag you from your cell if necessary." he informed you.
Anger built, towards the Princess, she had lied. Lied after she promised to find the truth, the truth should have set you free.
"You can go fuck yourself." you asserted through barred teeth.
The unicorn guard opened the door and enveloped you in a cloud of magic. There was no way to fight back, he was too far away to strike him and you had no use of magic to counter his own. Your body floated in a weightlessness, hooves kicking out in any direction that seemed to help. They found nothing to contact except the air.
"Stop it! Please! I'm not who you think I am!" you shout, but it sounded more of a plead than anything else. Swirling in no direction in particular through the cloud, you fought as best you could, but to no avail.
For the first time, you can see the rest of the dungeon. It was deep under ground, the level you were on was the lower most. As the staircase wound up, it stopped on five other levels, each one getting larger as the surface approached, hallways branching off in the cardinal directions. At the top of each landing, there was a rusted iron gate, screeching harshly in your ears as they were unlocked and swung open. There was no way you would have escaped on your own with all this security.
If there was a time for Luna to arrive, it had to be now. Your body was being carried against your will to the end. At the top of the circular staircase there was a heavy steel door, followed by an iron bar door that seemed to be flush with the outer wall beyond it's face.
It led into a small courtyard, still in Canterlot, as the towers of the castle stretched to the sky above out, flags of the Royal Sister's waving above the ground that bore the marks on their flanks. The light from the sun blinded you, as the past days were spent in a dimly lit prison.
The small yard was empty, aside from the wooden structure erected in the center, the gallows. It was brand new, built just for Ember, as telltale piles of sawdust lay heaped on the ground where the fresh wood was cut.
The gallows were all you could concentrate on. The raised platform, three times as high as any pony you had seen was a grim sight. A staircase led to the top deck, where a lever and the L-shaped arch stood, a trap door directly under the tip of the arch. A rope would be thrown across there, a noose on one end with the other died off to a cleat or wrapped around the wood so that the drop would tug it's hug tightly around your neck.
You knew Celestia wasn't going to be there, she was waiting to lower the sun in the already reddening sky. There was no pony else here, the yard was bare aside from the five guards and yourself. No crowd, no Royal balcony, no pony to watch you leave this world.
"NO!" You screamed out, echoing across the yard. "Please PLEASE! FOR THE LOVE OF GOD, LISTEN TO ME!" You kicked out in vain into the magic cloud that engulfed your body. "I'M NOT HER, I'M NOT EMBER!"
The guards merely let your words fall onto deaf ears, they were here to see a job to completion, not rush off to tell the Princesses that you were innocent, and to stay the execution.
From the corner of the yard, you see a pony dressed all in black, robes. He came forth from the doorway opposite of the dungeon and proceeded towards the gallows.
"FOR THE LOVE OF CHRIST! NO, STOP THIS!" You screamed, no doubt it was loud enough for the rest of Canterlot to hear, as if they cared. As the guard who carried you started up the staircase, your clear screams began to turn into blubbering wails.
"I'm sorry, I didn't..." the exertion and panic caused your body to crave oxygen, your speech hindered by the deep breathes. "I didn't... mean... to... I'm... please!" The ponies ignored you, as every pony had done since you arrived. None of them seemed to care for the truth, they just wanted you dead.
"God... I... don't... want... Luna... to... NO!" Your words became less clear between the heavy chested heaves. It was here, it was going to be over soon.
Things became surreal, as if you were watching all of this unfold from a viewpoint in the sky. The guard set you down on the platform, holding your hooves in a bright light so that you couldn't move from the position on the center of the trapdoor.
You watched, from this vantage point in the air, as the cloaked pony slowly ascended the staircase to take a position beside your quivering body. This couldn't be real... the mare before you looked pitiful, wide eyed and short of breath. It was the same mare you saw in the mirror days ago, it was the body you were in.
The cloaked pony took a hoof under the long cloak and brought forth a piece of black fabric. It was a hood, and with a bit of luck, the figure tossed it on top of your head and it landed perfectly, despite being a unicorn, it used it's hooves. The out of body experience was cut off, bringing you back into what your eyes were actually seeing, pin holed light through a black burlap bag.
You still couldn't move, your hooves locked in place by the magic of a guard. You would have run, how far was unknown, but being speared by a guard would have seemed a better fate than what was about to transpire. Your voice remained quiet, as even with it roaring, it was just wasted energy on those unwilling to hear it.
Your breath was coming in shallow gasps, unable to calm yourself with any fantasy of being rescued, it was far beyond that now as the world seemed blackened by the hood. It wasn't much of a hood, but a square of burlap sewn on three sides.
Tears began to stream down your face, breath quivering as tiny whines paused it's exhale.
"Please..." you whispered, hoping that somewhere out of the world of black around your head, Luna was listening, still vigilant to your peril. As the sound of rope smacking limply on the wood floor filled your ears, it cause your heart to skip.
There was no sound of rope being dragged across itself, but rather silence that bore into your ears, torturing your soul.
"Please." you muttered again though tears. This wasn't happening, this wasn't real. You were asleep in your bed and having a nightmare about all of this. Soon you would wake up and all would be fine, this would make a great terrifying story.
Something brushed against the bag, what it was became apparent. A loop of hempen rope closed in around your neck, the unicorn executioner tugging it tight, leaving the coil of rope at the dead center on the nape of your neck.
"Please..." you whisper again, trailing off as the word was finished. There was nothing left to say, nothing left to do. The noose was tightened and the time was near.
The loose end of the rope was passed over the top of the beam above you and tugged tight, so that the loop around your neck was pressing in tight, already offering a bit of constriction. Another tug nearly lifted you from your front hooves, your muzzle sputtering out a breath of resistance at the sudden act.
"Ember, Arch Mage, " A strong male voice called out, as if proclaiming to a crowd of thousands. "You have been sentenced to hang by your neck until you are dead. The crimes you have committed against all pony-kind are beyond measure, and no justice here can be served in equity of your crime Rather, we are sending you to final judgement of those that can better serve out your punishment. Do you have any last words?"
What good would that do? You had pleaded already, begged already, cried already, told the truth already and there was nothing short of ripping open a hole in space to your real life to prove to them that you were innocent, and this was an injustice.
"I hope... you know the t-truth... one day. And you c-cannot live with y-yourselves." It was best you can do, curse them to madness that you eventually would be proven innocent, that they would find a fitting end at their own hooves in the same manner you were going to go.
"Then let the executioner begin at their discretion."
Fuck, fuck, this was it. Come on MoonButt, do something. A familiar voice rang in your ears.
"For PonyVille." it whispered from off to your right side flank. It was Twilight.
No.
There was a loud wooden slam and your body began to free fall. You hear stopped, there was still time to be saved before your neck was snapped into pieces.
Far be it you from asking how this was supposed to work, but the free fall should have been longer, there should have been an echo in your skull of bones separating, the last thing you should have heard. You fore hooves merely sank down a few inches and your flank swung under you into a vertical position.
There was no snap, no blackness, just a down ward jerking as the rope clenched tight around your neck. A horrified sound came from your muzzle, it was not clear, just a string of hard consonants consisting of 'C' and 'K' grinding past the noose's embrace.
This was not going to be quick, the noose was pulled taught as you were standing there, leaving no room for your body to accelerate and generate the force needed to separate vertebrae and your spinal column from each other. This wasn't an execution, it was a murder, meant to make your pain last as long as possible before death.
The sudden pressure that built inside your skull made you head pound. It felt like wrapping your finger in tight string until it pounded in a plea for oxygenated blood. You muzzle seemed stuck open, a bodily attempt to suck in oxygen past your collapsed trachea, but none arrived.
Your rear hooves began to flail wildly, pedaling in mid air to find a ground that had been dropped from under you, never to return. Your front hooves found their way to your neck, to try and remove the ligature strangling your life away. They were unable to do anything, lacking the fingers and even the strength to pull it way from your neck, but they still searched for a way.
Your head felt as if it were going to explode, the blood unable to escape in the volume it needed to. It was enough to sustain consciousness as long as your heart kept pumping. Your cheeks felt inflated and fat, like you were blowing into them without letting the air pass. The pressure pushed against your eyes as well, they felt ready to roll from their sockets into the black burlap covering your head.
The chains between your legs jingled as they continued to find ground in the air. Deep within your lungs a burning sensation seized hold, the oxygen of your last breath was depleting, with new air unable to enter. You lungs were heaving uncontrollably, thirsting for life that was unable to flow into them.
From the gaping muzzle, saliva flowed in copious amounts, a natural reaction to try and lubricate the object your body thought was stuck inside your throat. It spilled from your lips, rolling out in torrents and wetting the bag beneath your chin. The thick and heavy tongue flopped out to one side of your mouth, unaware of the events taking place, it had become limp.
The burning began to feel like a vice, as the carbon monoxide began to tingle the oxygen receptors, another alarm your body was ringing that you needed to remove the noose. You hooves were still working on finding a place where they could slip between it and your neck, but the rope had squeezed tight enough to roll a layer of skin over to top to protect it from even prying hooves.
Every self preservation alarm bell rang. Tiny bursts of oxygen depleted air spurted from the grip of the rope, splattering saliva pooled in your throat across the inside of the sack. Where the fuck was Luna? You had to get free of this.
In the blackness of the bag you began to see small spots of light across your vision, they sparked randomly like tiny fireworks on the fourth of July. You entire head felt swollen, numbing as the seconds passed, begging for relief from the crushing pressure. You hooves began to slow down, the rear ones kicking lower and lower, your front hooves no longer clutching at the noose, but rather pawing at the air in front of your neck aimlessly.
You chest heaved, sucking in nothing and quickly falling back down just to try and suck in more unavailable air. The tiny sparks of light became white droplets echoing across a black pool, lighting up brighter and brighter with each thundering heart beat.
For all of the pain, the pressure and the ten tons of weight crushing your lungs in a white hot fire, it was all fine. An overwhelming sense of peace passed over your body. Your fore hooves dropped down onto your stomach, your legs no longer kicking wildly in the air, they just twitched slowly. Luna was going to save you... she was already here.
Luna was taking you away. There was no noose, no execution. No pain. Just you and her in stillness. She smiled at you, said that things would be just fine. And they were. She began to fly away, into the white, leaving you alone. The peace continued and the white world began to fade into black.
Chains stopped rattling, the choked sounds of strangulation ceased, every part of the pony was now limp. The mare was still, only slightly moving from the previous struggle. Twisting in the wind.
There was only peace now.
Something has gone wrong. We don't seem to have an archived copy of that chapter. Chapter 2 : Kindling
Questions float through your head. Questions as to what happened, what would make Twilight angry enough to be willing to strangle you in broad daylight. Through her tone you could tell that something horrible had happened, something to her friends and that you had done it to them. But was she talking about the rest of the main cast? As the rest of everything in Equestria had taken a darker shadow as to what is familiar in the show, there was no way of telling who her friends were.
Who were you? Twilight had called you Ember and the voice that spoke with you before you arrived said that she was an Arcane Mage. It would reason that any pony with a natural ability to use magic beyond the simple levitation and manipulation powers would have been tutored under one of the Princesses or perhaps Twilight herself. But these were all guesses. Who ever Ember really was had made a very convenient exit, to a place where no pony would ever look for her.
By now in any other of the stories, you should have been having lunch with one of the mane six or chasing around one of the more obscure ponies to learn as much as you could about them. It should have been something of a great trip, perhaps even getting some flank. You should have been happy.
Twilight had done a real number on your head, the first blow right near the eye had started to swell. As your eye opened it became painful to try and force the other open as a great pressure was holding it shut. It didn't help the matter either that it felt as if your skull had been broken open, all the joy had leaked out and now only pain remained. A thick throbbing pain that stabbed inward with every heartbeat.
Pushing your body up from the position on the floor, a metal rattling stung the ears. Every limb felt heavy, heavier than the first time you had woken up like this. Through the single open eye you peer down at your hooves. Wrapped around each fetlock was a massive shackle, a metal pin creating the hinge through bent metal with thick iron studs rusted by time held the locking clasp. The locks themselves looked as large as an apple. With the chains that ran between each pair of shackles, they had to weigh close to fifteen pound each. From the front shackles, a large loop held a third chain that ran up to your neck, connecting a collar that hugged tightly.
You brought a hoof up to the tender area on your head, the short chain between the two fore hooves pulled the second one limply with it. The area had crusted over with dried blood, whatever was not caught in the fur had trickled down the side of your face and solidified in lines there.
The eye was tender as well, stinging in pain as you gently prod it. Moving a hoof to the horn atop your head it is met with a tube of metal. What did they call that? The magic nullifying cap, 'studding' wasn't it? That was the only thing you wouldn't argue with, as when you had tried to use your magic, an entire house caught on fire. The entire situation told you that there was probably no way you would learn to use it properly.
If the shackles were not enough, the stone windowless room with a series of steel bars facing a room in the center told you that this was a prison, or perhaps a dungeon. Two other empty cells followed the room in a circle, exactly identical to your own. The space where a fourth cell should have been was walled off with a wooden and steel banded door. There were no beds here, just piles of hay that had seen too many bodies and needed a change, but if the bucket in the corner was an indication of maintenance, there was none. The bucket itself looked as if it would leak, only being held together with the wash of dried sick inside. There was no smell from it, as it had passed ages ago, leaving only the dried remnants of the previous occupant.
The cell was surprisingly bright, brighter than any torch could do. Hanging in the center of the room was a steel-wire cage holding several crystals who's phosphorescence was enough to make out the walls and floors, but not cast any harsh shadows.
There was no way of telling how long you had been in here, or how long you would be alone. Twilight had mentioned months.
It was going to be hard to convince them that the real Ember was gone, possibly to the point where she could never be brought back for justice. As far as any one here is concerned, they had Ember.
Your head bolts up as a metal hinge screeches in the stone room. The reinforced door swings open and two pure black coated guards, clad in the golden armor and holding shortened spears, as the larger ones would not fit through the small passageway where they came. The two stood on either side of the door, shortly there after Twilight Sparkle passed through it.
As she approached the bars to your cell her muzzle lifts in one corner but turns quickly into a joyous grin, seeing you locked up and bloodied. Twilight really hated you, or who she thought you were so much that your pain offered her a slight reprieve from hers.
"Do you know how long I have waited for this day? How long I have wanted to be able to take you into a room, alone?" She asked, her fore hooves on the bars to help her stand on her rear legs.
"Twilight, please. I need you to listen. I-"
"SHUT UP!" She yelled, slamming her hooves against the bars. "You have NOTHING worth saying that I want to hear. You have done nothing but lie to me from day one. GUARDS! Bring her from the cell, I want to speak with her alone."
"Twilight, Twilight, please!" You beg, trying to rock her from the one track mind of revenge she was headed down. Whatever Ember had done to her, it was enough to push her to- well it was your hope that you wouldn't find out what she was going to do.
She didn't listen, rather as the guards came to pick you up from the floor she turned her flank towards you. The mare walked from the room and with shaking hooves you stood up and slowly shuffled after her, the chains between the shackles were short, forcing small strides.
Down the hall there were no windows anywhere, just the lingering stink of mold. The were other doors wrapped in steel bands, but all were open as you appeared to the the only prisoner in here.
Sandwiched between two guards, Twilight led you to the end of the hall where a thicker door made from all wood was already open. In the room was a central drain, fuzzy with rust having eaten at it for what appeared to be centuries. The entire floor was made of the same cobblestone as the walls, but stained a dark rust color. Blood.
In the center of the room was a set of wooden stocks banded with iron for strength. Aside of the stocks was a table covered with a cloth, underneath the shapes of tools silhouetted. Ice crept up your spine, terrified that Twilight was going to use them.
The unicorn motioned to stocks, the guards began to remove the shackles and collar from the front portion of your body. Everything inside wanted to seize this opportunity to run, but that would have looked bad, and if there was anything that was needed, it was to show Twilight that you were not the Ember she knew.
Without the guards guiding hooves, you walk slowly into the wooden restraint, placing each fore hoof into the small wells and putting your head into the proper place. Twilight twists her head in intrigue, thinking that it was a ploy to gain favor, let her guard down. She shuts the top half of the restraint and places a padlock through the hasp.
The guard move to unlock the rear shackles and place your legs in the spread position against the rear of the restraint. This puts you in an awkward position, unable to move with your flank exposed. You hope that some of the larger tools on the table are not related to the medieval counterparts for ruining certain... reproductive organs.
"There is lots I have left to learn about our 'friendship', as much as I would love to end it." Twilight grinned. She then waved the guards away and closed the door.
Nothing of any value comes to mind to say, nothing beyond 'please don't torture me', as it may be promptly dismissed and it merely urge her into doing what she is going to do anyway.
"Where should I start?" She chided, rolling back the cloth covering the tools. Just as you thought, razors, scalpels, saws, hammers and a long iron rod. She paused, looking over the tools, turning around to glance at your expression from time to time, but you remain steadfast not to enrage her.
"Do you know what is the best part about this?" She grabs a scalpel from the table with her aura, lifting it right in front of your face. "Princess Celestia taught me a new spell, one for you." she ran the blade delicately across the side of your cheek, separating the skin, but not enough to cut into the muscles, creating a massively painful paper cut.
Blood started to slowly weep from the wound. With the initial sting past, it just left a pounding sensation. You gritted your teeth in preparation for her to just sink the blade in, but became relieved that it was just a flesh wound.
Twilight closed her eyes. Where the cut had been made began to feel warm, the pounding disappeared and the trickle of blood stopped. She had repaired the area back to new, aside from the bits of soft fur that had been shaved away.
"As long as you do not die, I can cause as much pain as I want. Cut you down to the bone, remove your hide or break any bone I see fit. Then repair any damage and do it all over again." she giggled.
There was something off about her. As much pain as she had experienced in the show, never did she want to cause physical harm to any one. Not Discord, NightMare Moon and even Tirek was merely placed back into prison. It was just another reminder that perhaps Equestria was not as the show had made it into. Maybe it was just like Earth, and as everything played out on television, it had to be censored, cleaned up so that it would not offend anyone.
Twilight's face twisted in anger at your silence. She placed the scalpel back on the table and swung a hoof at the side of your head. It hits the side of your muzzle, grazing your lips across the teeth and opening them up to bleed. You grunt from the blow, but still look away.
"Where is your big mouth now? Always saying that you were the better mage than I am? Why are you not gloating at the fact that everypony I love is in the hospital? WHERE?"
She hit your again, inside your skull you feel a crunch and a molar rolls onto the top of your tongue. Tears begin to form at the corners of your eyes. You want to spit the pool of blood from your muzzle in her face. This was not YOUR Twilight. You just sniff in through your nose, and let the copper taste roll out of your mouth onto your chin to splatter on the floor, the tooth fragment clattering to the ground.
"Twilight," you whisper. "Can you please listen to me."
She responds with another blow to your face, uprooting the rest of the molars on the right side of your mouth, springing forth a new well of blood.
"Is it possible to transfer consciousness between two ponies? To be someone else?" You ask the question, even though she may ignore it.
She pauses from another punch, letting her hoof fall to the floor.
"You know it is possible, but forbidden." she growls.
You force a weak smile. The seed had been planted. Hopefully it would bear fruit. You tongue the broken teeth out of your muzzle and try your best as to not get any blood on Twilight.
"But you are NOT going to escape this. You have been studded and it will not be removed until the execution is over. But until then, I am going to make you WISH it was tomorrow evening and you go six feet under."
It was so close. You have at best just twenty four hours before they take your life.
"She has already left." you tell her.
"Who?"
"Ember? Was that her name? I'm not her. She talked with me, I have no idea how but she did. We changed places just a short while before you brought me here."
"Oh NO! You are not going to play this game. Push this off on somepony else, stay the execution and have another Equestria wide hunt for another six months!" she yelled, getting upset at this potential turn of events. "You are here now, and I'm not going to make it easy for you."
Twilight moved to the side of the stocks so that she was out of view, maybe selecting a new tool from the table.
A sudden pain racks your side as the mare squarely planted two of her rear hooves in a bucking fashion into your ribs. You squelch in pain as several of them crack, the sickening sound echoing in the small chamber. The thrust of pain sending a mist of blood from your muzzle as you expel what air was forced out.
You want her to stop, scream out in pain and cry, but you feel compelled to keep your composure. It may not be the best idea, as she may take it as defiance, but there are a few more things you must say, and breaking down into a blubbering mess would not be the best thing.
"I know-" the pain of breathing in or out causes you to pause and let it pass. "-that you think I'm lying." another pause. "Go to the burnt out... house. See the magic circles. There were... other ponies there."
"What magic circles?" her ears perk up. "Were you trying to destroy Canterlot as well?"
"No. It was Ember's... escape. Please go see them. Then take... your new healing spell to your... friends." You wheeze through the pain.
Twilight moved to the front of the stocks and looked into your eyes. You can't help but to turn your gaze away from her, sniffing as a tear rolls down your cheek. She doesn't speak, but rather watch, peering into your eyes. You hope she sees past them, sees a bit of truth.
Twilight's lips straighten from rage to anger. Again she closes her eyes and her horn lights with the aura of magic. The bits of broken teeth raise from the floor and into your painfully agape muzzle. Pain shoots through your skull as the teeth dig through broken gums to seat themselves into their rightful place. The blood stops pumping and the gums heal up back to the way they were before the were ripped open.
She moves to your side and completes the spell again, moving the broken ribs back into alignment and healing them back to new. The mare trots to the cell door, leaving your wounds from earlier in the day alone.
"I'm going to be back. Pray to Celestia that you are not lying or I will fillet you alive." she opens the door and turns to the guards and whispers into their ears, they both nod and turn back to facing outward from the door. Twilight runs at full pace to the end of the hallway and disappears.
Time passes and you begin to feel thirsty, most likely from the blood loss.
"Could I have a drink?" You call to the guards.
One of the guards turns and enters the room and goes back behind your field of vision.
"Sorry, I'm thirsty." you apologize. There was no way the guard was going to do anything, but the fact that he approached the table was alarming.
"Sorry, sorry, I won't say anything again."
The guard returns with a tangled mess of leather straps holding what looks like a small leather pouch. He loosens the mess with his magic and slides a brass ring tethered to the pouch over the top of your horn. He swings the pouch over your mouth and pulls it tight to the back of your head. He moves to adjust the neck strap and pulls the muzzle tight.
His actions spoke louder than words, the muzzle strapped to your face was proof of that. The unicorn returned to his post and you let out a sigh through the holes in the leather.
It was true that Ember was a very powerful mage, but not as powerful as Twilight. It would take more magic than she could use to force a transition and put herself inside another pony's body. It would require a team dedicated to learning the spell, then complete concentration for hours for it to work.
Twilight had a doubt in her mind, it was not that Ember had transferred herself into a new pony, but that she was acting odd. For some reason she had changed. She should have been spouting exposition, saying 'I told you so', offering to fight her in a Unicorn on Unicorn match of magic. Maybe it was from defeat and she was trying to earn salvation. That wouldn't change, tomorrow evening her light would fade with the setting sun.
Ember was a very talented unicorn, if not a bit dangerous. From a young age she was capable of great feats of magic, ones far surpassing those who had been trained for years in the art. As her magic was unfocused and un trained, it caused problems. Most unicorns spells would fizzle out and end in a small bang if they failed to complete a spell, harmless as worse. Ember was different, when her spell failed, it caused every object within sight to burst into flame.
She was taken into Celestia's school for the gifted unicorns at a young age by very relieved parents. Twilight became an instructor there shortly after Queen Chrysalis' demise and took great interest in the young filly.
For years she tutored young Ember, and helped her learn how to control the spontaneous combustion that happened when her spells floundered. She became honed to perfection and her skill increased.
Ember was an offensive unicorn, favoring spells of destruction and combat over the 'mundane', as she called them, spells of restoration and life. She trained under Twilight's metaphorical wing to become an Arcane Battle Mage, even against her wishes. But even destruction had it's place in Equestria. Incineration spells had many uses, clearing fields, ebbing the fires away from buildings and controlled burns. Ember was able to create and manipulate fire, she was even able to extinguish an entire volcano that began to threaten the Crystal Empire.
Twilight ran from the dungeon under the Royal palace. It had not been used for many decades, but Ember couldn't be kept near any modern places made mostly of wood, as if she was able to remove the studding the entire place would burn in seconds.
The mare ran through the courtyard and out into the city proper, rushing past guards and the citizens living there. The streets were busy with the usual activity, vendors, merchants and the visitors trotting about. In minutes she came upon the smoking ruins of Ember's house.
The stone remained standing, but the windows and furniture had burnt away, leaving thick black ash clutching to exterior. It probably wasn't safe to enter, but she did anyway. Twilight found the entrance to the basement, the door had burnt away. She called upon a light spell and headed forth into the darkness.
The was no wood in the basement, just stone supporting floor overhead. It was not a surprise that it was empty, as Ember spent a majority of her time in the college, even sleeping there. The floor was blanketed in a layer of ash, turning the grey stone black.
Twilight was drawn to the open center of the room, where five half burnt candles lay scattered around. This was not looking good. If there was an incantation circle under the ash, it was sure to be wiped away if she tried to reveal it.
There was an aura in the air, a very powerful spell had been cast here, as it had drawn her and the Princess to Ember. Twilight began to grow concerned, perhaps there was some truth into what she had been told. Pausing in thought, she walked the perimeter of the large space, trying to find away to leave the chalk, but remove the ash.
She let the light spell fade away and began to focus on the air, using a spell to whip up a slight wind to brush the ash aside. The breeze worked and moved the cover aside, leaving small remnants of chalk, enough to discern it's purpose.
It was a mandala, a series of circles and squares. At the centers of the outermost square were temples, gateways to represent the universe, and all but one were drawn with closed doors. It was a focusing inscription, meant to channel energy from across the universe to bring one to peace, but this one had been modified to focus on a particular place, to draw and send energy.
Ember, or who ever Ember was now, had been right. Celestia need to know that she had escaped and that there were several other ponies that had aided her. The Princess needed to know, if this was true, Ember was still out there.
Twilight returned down the hallway, her hooves clopping loudly to cover it's length in mere seconds. It bought a small amount of relief that she appeared to have calmed down. Once inside the room she removed the muzzle and tossed it to the floor.
"Tell me that it's not true, that Ember hasn't escaped." Her eyes spoke of desperation, not wanting to believe that she was so far from revenge.
"I'm not her, she brought me here, we traded places, traded lives. She seemed impatient, wanted to do it as fast as possible. I wrote down everything about my life so she could take control of it, and she was supposed to do the same. But I arrived and a bunch of cloaked ponies ran from the room as soon as I got here." you explained, happy that she was no longer going to harm you, for the time being.
"Where are you from? Las Pegasus, ManeHattan, DeTrot? I need to know where you live."
"I'm not from this world, I'm from a planet called Earth."
Twilight slammed a hoof on the ground, cursing under her breath. She paced around the room grumbling and kicked over the table, sending the instruments clattering to the ground. She trotted back in front of your vision, tears had welled up in her eyes.
"I want to believe you, but you have done nothing but lie to me from the beginning, since we met. You are possibly the worst sort of evil in all of Equestria. I want to believe, I really do..." she began to cry. "I talked with Celestia about this. She reminded me that you were dishonest, and not to be trusted. That you had set all of this up as a distraction, to keep us looking for something that isn't there while you escape. Just a way to play with my mind, as you had always done."
"I'm sorry, I was brought into all of this. I'm just scared and would like to go back home." You explain to her.
She needed a hug, some one to tell her that things would work out. You couldn't stand to see her in such a state, the fact that she wasn't with her friends in this time was concerning, she had mentioned they were in the hospital.
"Could I at least ask why I am here? What Ember did?"
Twilight trotted over to the door and closed it, then took a seat on the floor in front of the stocks.
"You were a good student, punctual, eager to learn, eager to please me, your instructor. You always had a problem with starting things on fire. But I took you in and helped you control that. Over time you gained experience and a focus to avoid future incidents, changing into a very promising and powerful assistant."
"You felt proud, that you had taken control of yourself and could use magic without fear of hurting anypony. That pride went to your head. You began to boast, showing off to the other students. I just let it be, brushing it off as a phase that you would grow out of, being a young thick headed mare."
"I urged that you take up a secondary skill, something along the lines of Restoration, as you were focused on Destruction. You said that was for the weak, and Equestria needed stronger unicorns to defend the Princesses. For a few years you found other unicorns and taught them what your had learned, and were still learning under my tutelage."
"You excelled in lessons and I realized that you could still be of help even with an offensive oriented skill set. You approached Celestia with a presentation of creating a special guild of Mages, ones who could defend her with the group of unicorns that together would rival her abilities. She rejected the idea, saying that Equestria does not need those who are best suited to attack, but rather defend."
"It was very unpleasant, your conversation afterwards. It was more of an argument. She then banned you from the College, continuing your studies, even at my request that you stay. You left the college, and swore to me that you would show her that Equestria needed what you offered. Most of the students you taught left with you as well."
"It was a few months before we heard anything from you. But when we heard, it became a concern. A large portion of the EverFree forest burnt to the ground, fire being your signature area of focus. A letter to Celestia arrived, stating that such a thing could have been avoided if there were unicorns dedicated to this area of focus. She ignored you, against my pleads that she reconsider."
"Then it happened. The event. Two weeks after your letter was sent, and six months ago from today, a fire started."
Twilight paused, a fresh set of tears welling in her eyes.
"PonyVille caught on fire. It wasn't one that started small in one area. The entire town caught flame in seconds. It wasn't an accident. It was midnight, everypony was asleep."
"There was nowhere for them to go, those that could ran into the river that divides the town. Walls of flames kept most from escaping the town, those that tried wound up with burns all over their body. The pegasus tried flying away, but the heat singed their feathers and they fell back down to the ground, or into the burning buildings. Unicorns were trying to extinguish the fires and pulling up flaming rubble to free those underneath."
"I tried my best to get everypony I could out, teleporting from building to building, clearing the trapped ponies. I could only do so much, all the voices screaming for help, buildings collapsing around them."
"Rainbow Dash sped to CloudsDale and gathered up as many pegasus and all the rain clouds that they had, but this was not a fire that could be put out with water. Got caught in a back draft when once it became clear that the only way to save everypony left alive was to go building to building and pull them out. I'll have to try and see if I can reverse any damage done, but it's possible that it's too severe."
"Rarity saved her sister, and did what she could. I can't blame her, she is not good under pressure."
"Fluttershy managed to get most of the animals to safety, she is doing fine, just some minor burns and manes go grow back out."
"AppleJack did her best, pulling out those she could, getting badly burned in the process. She is strong, and won't let it get to her, a bit bull headed to admit she is not going to be who she physically was before."
"Pinkie Pie got the worst. It's amazing she survived, third degree burns over her entire body."
"It's been six months. We are still pulling bodies from the ashes, the foals are the worst. PonyVille is never going to recover, most of the surviving residents have moved on to other towns, those that aren't in the hospital."
Twilight hung her head, hiding the wave of tears streaming down, but they began to darken the ground below her.
You say nothing, there is nothing you can say. It wasn't your fault this happened, but still there is some level of responsibility you feel. If you hadn't come here, they would have gotten the real Ember and been able to punish her accordingly. but now you are involved in this, forcing Twilight to question the face she wants to destroy, to save the pony she wants to tear apart.
"Get back to your friends, heal them up. I can't fix this, I can't offer any help. You need them now more than ever Twilight." tears well into your eyes as you say this, hoping that in some way it would help.
Twilight nodded and stands up from the floor.
"I hope you can understand. I look at you and all I can see is pain, all I can think about is revenge. For me to question who you are now, if that is true, I can't. You, Ember, whatever you are now, I can't put this behind me. Something like this cannot be forgiven... You need to die, hopefully this feeling for revenge will with die with you." Twilight sobbed.
She then lit her horn and directed the healing spell towards your face. The inflammation around your eye began to recede, allowing it to open and releasing it's pounding pressure from your skull. She healed the split on the side of your head as well, taking away all of the pain that remained, leaving only the pain of guilt left. The aura remained on your head a little while longer after you were healed.
"I need to speak with Princess Luna before I leave. We are never going to see each other again. I'm sorry." Twilight apologized, turning away and leaving the room, voicing to the guards to return you to the cell.
This was it. You first foray into a Pony fan's wettest dream and you were going to die. Would you really die, or would 'dying' here send you back to Earth, your original place of origin. Either way was horrible, as you first had to die here, hung at the gallows. There was no resistance as the guards removed you from the stocks and placed the shackles back around your limbs. There was a great need to cry out, plead with them. The fact that the guard had placed a muzzle on you for asking to drink was enough to stop any thought of it. There still had to be a way out of this, ponies couldn't be this bloodthirsty.
