The Conservatory
BloodinMyenam
"We're going to die in here, aren't we?"
Twilight Sparkle gazed up at her former guardian with a mixture of hope and resignation on her too-young face, huddling under the Princess's wing.
Princess Celestia looked at her student and sighed.
She proceeded to sit on her haunches, then spoke. "I don't know, Twilight. I've never lied to you, and I refuse to start now. We've currently been in here for five days, three hours and forty two minutes, save a few seconds. The water pump provides hydration, but we all must eat."
Twilight heaved a shuddering sigh, nuzzling deeper into Celestia's flank. Celestia continued to cradle her with that snowy-white wing, a look of grief on her regal face at the suffering of her young apprentice.
Twilight glanced outside, and immediately regretted it.
Below, pegasi, unicorns, and earth ponies alike mulled about, frothing from the mouth and covered in various bodily secretions, the likes of which Twilight dared not guess. Both alicorns jumped backwards as a familiar equine figure lunged at the glass.
Her mane hung flat and stringy, matted with filth and viscera. Her coat was similar, its native color almost completely obscured by bodily fluids. For the second time in her life, a pair of batlike wings flapped furiously on her back, the membranes shining in the moonlight, shot through in various places with bloody clusters of yellow feathers. Her fangs dripped blood as she spoke, her gentle tone belied by the demonic rasp in her voice.
"Hello, Twilight. My animals are incredibly hungry. Would you help me feed them?"
Twilight's body was wracked with shivers. Focusing her magic, she hurled Fluttershy towards the grass below, wincing at the crack and shriek that followed.
The action brought on a fresh wave of tears, and she turned on Luna in a rage.
The blue princess was busy consoling Cadance in the same manner Celestia was sheltering her, a wing around the rose alicorn, and head over hers.
"This is all your fault! You and your stupid 'True Nature' incantation! What were you thinking?!"
Luna made no noise, but inclined her head, acknowledging the verbal assault
Tired from her outburst, and the physical toll of such a small feat of magic multiplied tenfold by hunger and lack of exercise, Twilight sank to the floor, closing her eyes in defeat.
We are going to die in this place.
When Twilight awoke, she first noticed that she could not seem to get a full breath. She gasped, relieved to find that her chest would indeed rise and fall, though it seemed to be weighted by some large object.
Focusing her eyes, Twilight gazed into the air above her face, and immediately recoiled, striking her head on the hard marble floor, at the crazed smile of Apple Bloom's face, inches from hers.
That was not the worst of it. As soon as she recognized the filly, she heard a voice she knew all too well. It was squeaky and excitable, the genocidal mania barely distinguishable.
"Oh, good, you're awake! It's no fun butcherin' a crippled alicorn, ya know!"
The librarian recoiled as something warm and wet rolled against her flank. She looked down and saw, with a thrill of horror, that she was being glazed, and with something thicker than pineapple juice.
Suddenly, the weight left her chest, and the glazing brush her side.
Twilight got up, gasping for breath.
Looking at the wall, she saw Pinkie Pie and Apple Bloom held against the wall, legs close to their bodies. Looking behind her, she saw Luna herself stalk out of the shadows, a murderous glint in those yellow eyes.
"STAY. AWAY. FROM MY SISTER'S STUDENT!"
Twilight glared at the far wall, where Pinkie and Apple Bloom were pinned, writhing. She slowly, cautiously approached, a wary, bloodshot eye on the two earth ponies.
"Explanation. NOW!"
The pink party pony stopped writhing, then, and glared down at the purple alicorn. Then, a smile distorted her lips, not of happiness, nor even of insanity, but one of cynicism and spite, which she had only worn before when she had nothing to live for.
"Well, the sun rises because it's pulled around by the planet's gravity-" Twilight began growling, "-oooh, you don't like that, dooo yooou?" she continued, in a playful tone that implied anything but play. "Yeah, you just want to believe that your pretty little princess friends are responsible for eeeverythiiing!"
" You know what I meant."
" Oh, how me and Apple got in? Well, it's easy! The door wasn't even blocked! And that silly purple wall turned off while you all slept, silly!"
Twilight gasped. The barrier.
"Yep! Looks like your precious princess' plan didn't work out too well! But then again, it's those whores' fault we're in this mess, sooo..."
Her derogatory speech was cut off by a slight crick, and her head slumped forward. With a heavy thump, the former party pony fell to the floor, dead. The red-haired filly followed a second later.
Twilight stared at the limp forms in horror, and back at Luna. The alicorn showed no sign of repent, nor even sanity, and turned on her. Smiling in a perverted fashion, she advanced on the librarian, her horn glowing. Twilight felt herself rising off the ground and resisted, using her own magic to slow her ascent.
Suddenly, Luna's body was slammed into by her sister's, a blur of white.
The magic pulling on Twilight ceased. She dropped to the floor, smacking hard against the cold marble. She knew she should have gotten up, but she didn't have even a small fraction of the required strength.
Instead, she watched placidly as the two fought, hurling spells at each other, Luna using insults that she never would have under normal circumstances. She was too far gone.
Twilight watched with no more than morbid interest as Celestia pinned her sister, gathering her remaining magic strength into a killing spell.
She closed her eyes as she heard the splatter of blood.
Kept them closed as a drop of blood landed on her cheek.
Kept them closed as Luna's shallow breath turned to a rattle.
Kept them closed as the rattling stopped.
Finally, she opened her eyes when a pair of teeth nipped her neck. She gasped, only to realize that it was the kindly, firm grip of a stern guardian. Looking up, she saw Celestia's white body looming over her student, as she dragged Twilight towards Luna's corpse.
She stopped a few inches from Luna, gently letting go of the librarian.
Twilight sat up with a great effort, confused. Looking next to her, she jumped when she saw Cadence sitting nearby, looking scared and anxious, as if she was about to do something she knew was necessary, but was disgusted by all the while, and simply wanted to get it over with.
"C-Cadence? Wha-"
"She wants us to sustain ourselves."
Twilight stared uncomprehendingly at the princess, then gasped.
She can't...she wouldn't...
"Now come on, you two! Can't have you dying on me, now can I?" the sun princess said, in a much-too-loud voice.
Twilight, driven by fear, hunger, and an ingrained urge to obey her mentor, plunged in before thinking. Cadence shuddered, but followed suit. For several minutes that seemed like separate eternities they sat, doing the deed, while Celestia stroked their backs with feathers like knives.
Finally, Celestia grabbed them both, pulling them away from her sister.
She stepped up to the corpse and dipped her head, cueing Cadence and Twilight to turn away in disgust, lowering their ears and closing their eyes.
After everything had been seen to, the Princess moved over to the other two, wrapping them in a warm embrace. Regardless, Twilight shivered, choosing to nuzzle closer into Celestia's wing, which only caused her to shudder all the worse.
And then, Celestia started humming a lullaby.
Twilight snapped. Shadows danced in front of her, taunting at her helplessness. The insane, uncoordinated lullaby distorted itself into the demonic chanting of Death himself.
Twilight collapsed to the floor, crying, hooves pounding uselessly on the sides of her head. To her right, she could hear the former princess of Love doing the same, as anything worth loving had been stripped away long ago.
The two alicorns lost the last of their sanity that night to the sound of an innocent lullaby, as the smell of gore filled the air.
Author's Note
Well, here ya go...
Next up is gonna be an anti-bully fic! Can you guess who it's gonna be about? Can ya? CAN YA?!