Soon, she will feel that her nightmares are real...
Where Demons Hide
by The Princess Rarity
The surface was cold, damp and bone-chilling. Twilight Sparkle felt her chest contract with every breath she took as she slowly opened her eyes. There was a dull throbbing in the back of her head, and a groan slipped past her lips as she reached back to rub it. The scenery around her was slightly familiar, but her weariness caused a lagging memory. Wherever she was, it most certainly was not her bedroom chambers. This was a cavern of sorts, and the only question that came to mind was how she had ended up here. She stood up on shaky legs to get up and explore when she suddenly felt something freezing and solid around her fetlocks. A soft clink was heard, and she gasped when she noticed chains wrapped around her back hooves.
Now, her worries were skyrocketing at a mile a minute as questions sparked in her brain.
Where was she?
What was she doing here?
How did she end up in this place?
Why was she chained like a prisoner?
Twilight began to buck and struggle against the chains, but it did no good. She fired magic blasts against the metal, but it refused to break. She heaved out breaths and blinked rapidly in shock. Her front forehooves and wings were free, so she had some chance of escape, yet her powers were useless. It was a catch twenty-two: she was damned either way.
Her gaze traveled all around the area she was trapped in: but she found no evidence as to who was holding her here, or what they wanted. She was completely alone, and now, she was clueless.
There had to have been something -- anything -- to help her get out.
She hoisted herself up against the wall where the chains were connected, and she gripped onto the jagged rockwall with one of her front forehooves. Perhaps if she climbed or flew a few inches up, she could see more than absolute darkness. Maybe there was a secret key somewhere or passageway out…
...but that was a fool’s hopeless dream, she realized.
No escape could ever that easy--
--and she was proven correctly.
A sudden shock traveled through her body and soon, electrical shocks of magic flowed through her veins. She shrieked in pain, and whined as she fell to the stone flooring. Twilight curled up into a ball and unfurled her wings into a shield, but surprisingly, no more attacks hit her.
What was even stranger was that no one was in sight: nor pony or monster.
Twilight tried her hardest to shake off the pain from the strike, and she ran a hoof through her mane. Now was not the time to panic, this was a moment to apply logic.
If she was going to get out alive, there had to be a plan.
Impromptu escapes would probably leave her dead, if the recent event was any indication.
“Think, Twilight,” she whispered to herself. “How do you get out of here undetected?”
Much to her dismay, there was only a single answer: and it was the one she had dreaded to even consider. There was no way possible to escape without being noticed. She knew that she was being watched -- by who or what, she had no idea -- and that destroyed whatever strategy she could make. But there was always something, there had to be. Twilight felt her brain physically hurt from trying to process information in such a short amount of time, but there was no room for error here.
“There has to be something,” she mumbled.
“Or perhaps you aren’t smart as you’d like to think, Princess,” a voice spoke up.
The tone was taunting, dark, spine-chilling and simply sinister. It sent a shiver up Twilight’s spine and she backed towards the wall, looking all around for the being that it belonged to. No one could be seen in the pitch-black darkness, but even when Twilight illuminated her horn for a bit of light, there was nothing. She found it baffling: how there was no one around, yet there were magical bursts to harm her and voices could be heard.
She walked forward, as far as her binds could allow her. It wasn’t far, perhaps five feet and no more, but a gasp escaped her when she noticed a silhouette dancing on the walls.
“W-who is it?” she rasped.
A huff was heard -- and Twilight could detect that it definitely was not the same voice as before.
“You would think that she would remember,” the second voice crooned.
“Perhaps she needs her memory refreshed,” the first voice spoke up.
“Wh-what?” Twilight stammered out.
She felt her breath catch in her throat when she found herself locked in a tight grip. It wasn’t quite forelegs holding her, it was a much thinner grasp. Curled appendages tightened over her mouth, silencing her screams. Light surrounded her horn, and she looked down, immediately noticing the color of the fur.
A blood red. Followed with that raspy, rumbling voice…
...no.
Not again.
Twilight let out another shriek, but it was muffled by the grip around her muzzle.
“Nopony can hear you--”
“--oh, save for the monologue for when she’s on her deathbed, Tirek.”
“You’re one to talk, Chrysalis,” he muttered.
Twilight could have sworn she felt tears prick at the edges of her eyes. This was beyond impossible. Two of Equestria’s worst enemies: both of which she had defeated, they were back. She could only guess that revenge was the only thing on their minds. She inhaled the musty smell of Tirek’s grasp, and felt repulsed when he grabbed her by the throat and breathed down her neck.
“Did you miss us?” he said, with a chuckle that was positively wicked.
He wasn’t as strong as he normally was with magic in his system, but he still had enough power to hold her down. Magic sparked on Twilight’s horn, and she was about to strike back when her eyes met the cold, neon gaze of the Changeling Queen.
All confidence and fearlessness melted away when Twilight saw Chrysalis.
“Look at you!” the Changeling cackled. “Some Princess.”
“M-more of a ruler you’ll ever be,” Twilight choked out through her restriction.
“She has a fiery spirit,” Tirek pointed out.
“You learned that one the hard way, didn’t you?” Chrysalis smirked.
“Weren’t you the one who told us not to mess around?” he spat.
Chrysalis scoffed, and sashayed around, as if everything was in her hooves. And from the looks of it, that most certainly was the case. Twilight felt her heart ache and she didn’t know what to do. Never did she find herself with such a terrible predicament. Her magic was slowly flickering back to life, but just as she was about to try and hit Chrysalis over the head with a rock, a shock coursed through Twilight’s body.
It was the terrible, familiar feeling of being drained.
Everything she had ever known, the birthright of magic, was stripped out of her veins.
She looked up hesitantly, and felt nothing but horror when she noticed Tirek smirking devilishly. Of course. She should have expected that to happen. Now, she was right again: doing before thinking resulted in horrible consequences. She was completely powerless, with nothing strength of muscles to rely on.
Twilight used every ounce of stamina to try and slither out of Tirek’s grip, yet it was futile.
“Wh-what do you want?” Twilight said breathlessly.
“I don’t think that it’s a matter of simple desire,” Chrysalis laughed. “No, it’s more than that.”
She whipped around to face Twilight and she literally spit right onto the alicorn’s face. A cruel sneer crept on the Changeling’s expression and she continued--
“Suffering. You did that to us, and now, we are giving back what you deserve.”
Tirek slipped his grip off of Twilight’s mouth, but kept his hold on her neck firm.
He could kill her very easily in a chokehold, if he wanted…
But all she could do was stay silent.
A soft gasp slipped out of her as the room lit up: and Twilight started to shake in fear at what she was seeing. More villains were in front of her, the enemies she thought were long gone. To make matters worse, she had no defense against any of them. King Sombra’s freezing shadow form swirled in mid-air, and beside him was clearly the chaotic evil Discord. But what hurt Twilight the most was seeing Nightmare Moon, chained up as well.
“Ooh, I can smell the love you have for that sick, twisted soul,” Chrysalis murmured as she leaned in close to Twilight. “You really think that you can tame the beast?”
Twilight managed a weak nod.
“Fool!” Chrysalis cackled.
She raised a hoof and was about to strike Twilight upside the head, when a bright blue burst of magic hit her in the chest, thus sending Chrysalis to the floor. She moaned, and clutched her body, which was now bleeding.
“Tirek, you fool!” she groaned. “Can’t you do anything right?”
“Perhaps I could be of some assistance?” Discord spoke up, with a flourish of his talons.
Just by looking at him, Twilight could tell, he wasn’t on her side…
Chrysalis sneered. “You’ll only make it worse,” she grumbled.
King Sombra hissed out some sort of unintelligible nonsense, which caused a flame to ignite in Chrysalis’s gaze. She managed a weary smirk, and nodded. Twilight felt scared for her life yet again, and was about to scream when the smoky form of the King entered her body.
Once again, Twilight felt the numb sensation of corruption.
Her brain froze, her eyes started to cross and her entire body seized up. He was trying to play his twisted mind games again, and she wanted to fight against it so badly…
...yet with no magic, she was useless.
Memories started to fuse with darkness and a vision began to form--
--but Twilight soon felt the wind knocked out of her, along with Sombra’s spirit as she fell to the ground. The possession was gone, but she was weaker than ever. She wanted to do something to try and fight back, but the lack of magic and the sudden corruption was too much to handle. She could barely process thoughts, and for a moment, she thought that the sight before her wasn’t real either…
Nightmare Moon had escaped her prison, and was battling it out against Discord, while Tirek attempted to suck out her magic. It was two against one, yet she seemed to be winning…
Twilight could barely keep her eyes open, and breathing soon became a struggle.
Whatever they had done to her must have done more than take away her magic and energy.
“L-Luna,” she choked out.
Nightmare Moon didn’t even flinch. She was acting as if Twilight wasn’t even there…
...she simply kept fighting.
But her temporary victory was melting away. The aura of turquoise was sucked out and she was thrown to the ground, limp as a ragdoll. She was picked up by Tirek, and slammed against the wall a few times. Twilight looked away, and began whimpering. How was this happening? She had to get out: one way or another, but she found that the deck of cards was not in her favor.
“Now that we’ve gotten rid of her, it’s time for you,” Tirek said, with a sinister hiss.
He picked Twilight up, holding her around the neck and pinning her against the wall.
Twilight couldn’t meet the gaze of either villain: and while she weakly tried to kick and flail, it did no good whatsoever. Everything about her was wiping away, and she felt useless.
She was thrown against the brick wall and she suddenly had the feeling of something wet began trickling down her throat…
...blood.
This was it.
She was being abused, spat upon, and insulted, now it was the end.
So many times, she had felt like she could never win, but there was no way to win this fight.
Her wings were being pulled at, and feathers were yanked out of their positions, while her horn was yanked on, almost to the point of feeling bent. She was slapped, thrown around and blood began to soak into her fur. She wanted to plead and beg for mercy, offer forgiveness or something of that sort, but her voice was lost from lack of energy. Nothing even came to mind: she didn’t know what to do. Her mind was a blank slate as she was beaten.
Then, when she was tossed onto the stone ground, her eyes could barely stay open…
...but she caught a glimpse of Nightmare Moon, barely breathing…
...and the only word on her lips, very faintly, was--
“Twilight.”
Twilight’s eyes fluttered close, but in her mind: Nightmare Moon saying her name was echoing in her mind. She tried to make sense of it all, but she felt the spell of exhaustion pulling her away--
“Twilight.”
.
.
.
“Twilight!”
.
.
.
“Twilight! Wake up!"
“Wh-wha?”
“Thank heavens you’re awake,” Luna said, with a sigh of relief.
Twilight blinked quickly, and rubbed at her eyes. “A-awake?” she stuttered. “You mean that it was all just a dream?” She was still shaking, and she felt around -- on her neck, back and wings -- to find no trace of any harm at all. She was completely fine.
Luna was just as equally shaken up. “Of all the nightmares I’ve seen in my years,” she mumbled.
Twilight felt her voice catch in her throat and she managed a weary breath.
She was alright.
The villains who had harmed her were long gone: this was reality, and she was okay.
“It was only a dream,” she said breathlessly.
“I can tell it certainly didn’t feel that way to you,” Luna murmured.
“You--”
“--I was startled awake by your screaming.”
Twilight went pale. She was lost, and confused, but most importantly, shocked. Who would have thought that dreams had so much power? She was actually convinced that everything in her mind was real. That her friend and lover had betrayed her, the villains had come back for vengeance and there was nothing she could do…
Luna nuzzled her affectionately, and almost beckoned for an answer, but instead, Twilight burst into tears.
“I was so scared, Luna,” she muttered. “I… I thought that--”
“I know,” Luna whispered. “I saw everything.”
“It wasn’t a vision, was it?” Twilight choked out.
Luna shook her head. “Definitely not,” she assured. She let out a sigh, and placed a reassuring kiss on Twilight’s forehead, just below the horn. “Twilight, my love, dreams are the worst sort of manipulators. Never think that they are real. They’ll consume your soul if you allow them that power.”
Twilight weakly nodded, and tried to enjoy the comforting embrace of her lover.
“After everything you’ve been through,” Luna sighed. “I expected for this to happen.”
“Will they keep happening?” Twilight said shakily.
Luna hesitated, and let out an uneasy breath. “I only have power in foals’ dreams,” she admitted. “If I could handle adults’, I would have helped you as quick as I could.”
Twilight sniffled. “So, y-you don’t know if--”
Luna looked into Twilight’s gaze, and held onto her lover. “--I will do all in my power to keep you safe from those night terrors,” she vowed.
“Thank you,” Twilight muttered. She wiped away a tear. “I-I’m sorry, I’m acting like a child, I--”
“--everyone suffers from nightmares,” Luna assured. “And worry not, I will always be there.”
Twilight’s bittersweet smile said it all. She knew what Luna mean: whether it was a vision or a dream, together, they could rely for each on support. Since the beginning from when they had first met, even when all hope seemed lost, there was always a small glimmer of light in the darkness…
~ la fin ~
