The first thing Cloudchaser saw when she woke up was a wall of color.
Or perhaps, a better description would be a complete lack of color, which she saw when she woke up for a second time. With a somewhat unsteady hoof, Cloudchaser threw back her covers and slowly trotted towards the windows.
The view outside was a very desolate one. A huge mass of gray greeted her eyes as she slowly absorbed her surroundings. Spread periodically was what she assumed (and hoped it wasn't) was blood.
Cloudchaser took a step back in fear. What had happened out there? Had Discord escaped from Fluttershy's care again? Or some other villain escaped from the farthest depths of Tartarus on the loose again? Or did something even worse happen?
She decided that she needed a break from seeing whatever it was out there. Slowly backtrotting, she did a quick turn around. What instantly struck her attention was how lavish the room was. It looked like a really fancy one, like it came straight out of Canterlot Castle. A very pristine chandelier hung from the center of the ceiling. Numerous bookcases lined the walls and ran up almost to the ceiling. Taking a closer look at one of them, Cloudchaser noted that they consisted of titles like Tyranny 101: How To Successfully Rule Your Empire TODAY, The Complete Guide To Equestrian Torture, and a whole bunch of other disturbing books.
A few tapestries hung on whatever parts of the wall the bookcases hadn't covered. They consisted of what she took to be two lavender ponies holding the decapitated heads of what looked like Princess Celestia and Princess Luna.
A small pile of vomit almost escaped her mouth as she took in the full details here. She managed to catch it, but it nearly succeeded again when she saw that the two lavender ponies were herself and Flitter.
The opening of the door caused Cloudchaser to slowly turn around, somewhat afraid of what would step through the threshold. She breathed an audible sigh of relief when she saw Flitter step through the doors, almost as uncertain as Cloudchaser was.
"Cloudchaser!" Flitter exclaimed, embracing the former in a tight hug. "Am I glad to see that you're here! I've been wandering around this place for hours and haven't seen anypony in here."
Cloudchaser returned the hug. "And I'm glad to see that you're safe here. Wherever here is."
"I have no clue." Flitter responded, heavy confusion and fear evident in her voice. "All I know is that this place is pretty much empty."
"Well, with me by your side, we'll figure it out." Cloudchaser said, trying to keep her voice steady although she practically felt like if she heard anything else, she'd jump right out of her hooves. "Come on, let's see what's out there."
"All right." Flitter whispered, fear of the unknown beginning to set inside her brain.
And with that, Cloudchaser and Flitter left the room and began to explore the place outside the door. Outside was the more luxurious feeling Cloudchaser had seen when she first woke up in this unknown place. Fancy columns stood high and rigid, each decorated in a twisted ribbon whose design was of their cutie marks repeating over and over again. There were also a few stained glass windows throughout the place, although their scenes were somewhat horrendous. One repeated the same thing Cloudchaser had seen on the tapestries, another had the two princesses with their heads threaded through guillotines, and yet another one held the two ponies who looked like them holding some sort of weaponry drenched in some red color. They were standing on a mountain made up of what looked like other ponies' bodies.
It was easy to tell that Flitter didn't want to see the artwork. She had her ears folded back and her head hanging freakishly close to the ground that it was a mystery as to why she wasn't dragging her own head.
About a few minutes later, they came across what looked like the set of doors that led to Celestia's and Luna's throne room. Except this was lavender in color and also had their cutie marks etched onto the door. Cloudchaser pushed open the door quietly, praying that there was nothing dangerous in there. When she did get it fully open, she carefully stuck her head through the doorway, she made a check of her surroundings. Nothing dangerous could be seen as far as she could see.
Bravely stepping through the open doorway, they could see that it led to indeed a throne room of sorts, although Celestia and Luna were nowhere to be seen. In fact, the only other living ponies in the room were two sets of stallions and a few mares dressed in lavender armor and holding what looked like spears that had been recently been sharpened to a point where one could see their reflection even without sunlight.
Cloudchaser and Flitter instantly stopped in their tracks, not wanting to end up on the wrong side of those spears. Before they could turn around and hightail it through the door, the guards noticed them and exclaimed in the same exact monotone, "All hail Queens Cloudchaser and Flitter!" This was soon accompanied with the sound of hooves striking metal and a clang which vibrated in the room for a few seconds before stopping entirely.
Cloudchaser flashed the bravest smile she could muster at the moment. "I-I'm sorry, b-but you must be mistaken. W-we're j-just ordinary pegasi." she said.
One of the mare guards stepped forward, and Flitter chose this exact moment to completely hide behind Cloudchaser. "No, we do not, Your Highnesses. You two have been our reigning queens ever since you two stopped the tyranny of the two forbidden ones."
