Beyond Madness Somewhere Past Depravity

Twilight liked books a lot. Oh who are we kidding, she loved books, ever since she was little filly.

Twilight giddily closed her eyes and savored the flavor of ancient, processed tree pulp. It’s aged one that tasted the most refined. She idly crunched on the treasured scrolls of Star Swirl the Beard with a cute smile on her face. She sure loved her books.

“Aye, lassie, ya done learn'n the spell yet!?”

Twilight looked over to the floating image a grey, white bearded pegasus in scuba gear. She nodded her head in delight.

“Gued, weer on a tiyme schedule heer. 'Membur the monster who has yer brother in her evul clutches!?”

Twilight tilted her head as she continued to munch on her reading material.

Star Swirl sighed and stood upright and started a strange dance.

“She’s an evil enchantress, she does evil dances! An’ if you look into her ey’s she’ll put yuh in trances! An’ then whut'll she dew? She’ll make an ev’l brew, An’ then she’ll gobble ya up, IN A BIG! TAAASTTYYYY! STEEEEEEEEEWWWWWWWWWWW!!!”

He came down and poked his head into Twilight’s face, shaking his hoof at her.

“So get off yer keester and go out save yer BBFBFD or whatever ya call that big lug of brother that’s about to marry a creature so mean it puts the lochness monster’s moth’r in law to shame!!”

Star Swirl was muzzle to muzzle with the purple unicorn, breathing heavily to catch his breath.

Twilight wordlessly jumped up in place and turned to trot to the door, an act that brought a sparkle to the eye of the floating gray horse.

“That’s mah girl. Yah go get em Twilight!!” He cheered.

All around her the stacks of books and wooden bookshelves started to decay rapidly with each step, dissipating until there was nothing but darkness around her. Yet she still walked.

It was finally the morning Canterlot had eagerly awaited.

The day of the wedding.

The early morning weather pegasi went to work placing clouds shaped as cute hearts up above the castle. The royalty gathered and talked amongst each other in the former throne room. The news reporters tried and failed at every turn in an attempt to smuggle a camera into the event hall. The guards were devout to prevent any risk of flash photography to ruin the perfect moment.

The chattering of ponies resonated through the halls with gossip and idle conversation. The birds Fluttershy had gathered together were being comforted by said mare, who was trying to calm their anxiety.

The ponies felt a bit part of this anxiety too, but this was put off as nervous anticipation for the big day.

The rest of the elements filed in their seats smiling and laughing together, except pinkie pie who was more subdued into just smiling and nodding than taking part in any of the talk. Shining Armor shifted nervously in place at his spot at the altar. His dad put a comforting hoof on his son’s shoulder, and its effects were instant.

“Thanks, I guess I’m a bit on edge”

“Don’t worry son. Believe me, I understand,” Shining Armor’s Dad gave a knowing smile.

Celestia smiled over at Shining who went from a tumble weed to a stiff board. He was in charge of guarding the Princess’s and all of Canterlot at all times and had never broke a nervous sweat.

Yet here he was almost teetering in place at his own wedding.

Her little ponies were quite the cards.

She sighed, before her thoughts drifted to her own student. The Night Captain did tell her that Twilight was locked up in the library having an episode, but she knew that Twilight would only come out of it in tears and sobs. There wouldn’t be enough time for her to be at the ceremonies.

So she instead put it off and would wait until after the vows to go get her student, that way it would be a bit easier for her to mix into the party, because everypony would be in good enough mood to let her.

When Celestia was told of Twilight’s state, she wanted to rush over to her side. But with wedding preparations being done all that morning, she didn't have the time to. Instead, she had to place some powerful wards over the library and ask Luna to look over Twilight’s dreams.

The poor girl, she hadn't slept all night in her distress.

Celestia's heart sank when she forgot the possibility that Twilight might have an episode after that. Honestly she felt rather guilty, not instantly comforting her, but even the princess of the sun can get caught up in the mood.

‘Blasted herd mentality, I should have been better than that.’, she thought to herself. She just hoped she could make this up to Twilight.

The chatter fell silent, the birds now calmed started their songful chirping and doors opened to let Princess Mi Amora Cadenza walk down red carpeted isles. A trio of fillies threw flowers as the mare of the hour took graceful stride down the aisles.

Cadance took her place by the altar and the song met its end.

Celestia smiled and began, “Dearly beloved, we are gathered here today for the sacred union between two young ponies. It has been over 700 years-”

A pause that lasted only a second came from the princess of the sun.

A pause almost all ponies wouldn’t recognize or see, but it was there.

She felt her wards shattered. Not tripped. Not dispelled. But shattered in an instant on a magnitude that would send lesser pony into shock. Her eyes widened in distress, but quickly overcame her fear by force, this wasn't the time to look scared. She was a ruler, she couldn't be.

Still, she had concern. She needed to handle this herself, but first she would need to just find a good stopping point that didn't look suspicious. She'd have to finish her part and then give the responsibility of handling the rest of the ceremony over to somepony else.

Perhaps Applejack. A country-fried royal wedding might give the nobles something to talk about.

Fluttershy’s birds fidgeted nervously.

Twilight had a skip in her step as she trotted at brisk pace down the castle halls. Humming gleefully to herself.

“...daaaa da da, beeeeee boo boo boo, boop baaaa da daa da, beep boo boo do...”

Behind her dragged the ragged, torn remains of ripped intestines and rotting limbs. Bits of golden metal could be seen as well, all held up by large black tendrils sprouting from her bleeding spine.

A unicorn guard trotting by had enough time to get a good look at her and lets his eyes widen in a mix of disgust and shock before a spike of marble jutted upwards from the floor. The spike went easily through his underbelly and left him handing there, wordless, as the unfazed purple mare skipped happily by him.

A pegasus guard, witness to the sudden impaling, took flight and began a dive from the air. He aimed his spear at the purple menace with just intentions. To be a hero in the face of horror and danger.

Though, his sudden flight took an unexpected  and equally sudden decent. His body hit the ground at unheard of speeds that would make even the fastest fliers envious.

He splattered onto the ground at an astounding speed and turned into nothing more than a thick and chunky red paste before Twilight, who only altered her path of trotting as to not get her hooves messy.

"They should really invest in some wet floor signs here." She chirped, turning a corner at the end of the hallway she had been walking.

One could look down the hallway the purple mare had trotted through and see something disturbing. Limbs, blood and innards scattered around the floor like confetti.

Not to mention the bodies of which they belonged to, each of them all subjected to a equally creative and brutal death. Some were impaled from marble spike, other were on the flat end of a pillar that Twilight had raised from the ground and into the ceiling. Others had their own limbs telepathically shoved into their torsos.

All by one mare, who was now happily skipping to her own  humming that followed no rhythm.

“-Canterlot had seen another alicorn. That is, until Cadance shimmered. And so it was with great privilege that I invited Cadance from her home in Manehattan to my own doorstep here in Canterlot to study with me. It warms my heart seeing her find enough love in somepony else as to share her life with them.” Celestia continued without a hitch.

She turned to the captain of the guard.

“As for you, Captain Shining Armor, I have always applauded your bravery on Equestria’s frontiers, but it was when you asked Princess Cadence's hoof in marriage did I truly grasp the fullness of your audacity. I commend you, Shining Armor.”

She took a second for the audience to chuckle at her banter and think of a way to transition this over to Applejack, though her thoughts were broken when the double doors of the throne room slammed open and a bitter air rushed in.

The forced silence and awe struck all the ponies in place. The birds scattered out the window as glass shattered around them.

Everypony saw an unhinged purple unicorn, in a state of prowling with the look of a deranged child on her face. She looked left and right with swirling irises, a disturbing smile, and a crooked neck. Behind her was splattered blood painted on the wall. And she emanated a magical aura.

Everypony had an aura, showing the color of their magic and the power behind it. It was invisible and intangible, but it was there, and sometimes ponies could feel off each other.

But here, it was something different. It was so potent, so powerful; it was visible to the naked eye. From the floor to the ceiling, a mass of black with violet hues and swirls stretched out from the open flesh wounds scattered all around her body of the slightly successful attempts of subduing her.

Within seconds, the bloody mess in the hall was covered by the sheer volume of Twilight’s dark twisted magic, festering in on itself. The wood on the doors started to show signs of rot. The banners and red silk carpet started to shrivel up and wither. The very stone walls started to crack under the force her presence.

There was something in everypony that forced them still. A pulse ran within them through each and every fiber of their being, trying to push itself to the forefront of their mind.

A long forgotten message buried under million years of genetic Darwinism, passed down through ancient coding buried within since the dawn of life.

Extinction.

Twilight rose up like a rag doll and looked over to Candance. Every fiber of the poor mare screamed for panic in what she saw, but her hooves wouldn’t move and her horn wouldn’t light.

Even her lungs were having trouble completing their task.

A breeze rolled in from outside, one that chilled the ponies in the room to their bones.

“There are two ways to fertilize your lawn,” Twilight started, breaking the silence like glass.

Her voice was calm and levelheaded despite her outward composure, “the first way, the way you do it Zordinox, and also the reason you will not win, is you go out and you buy the fertilizer. Not necessarily the cheapest one either - buck, you might even buy the premium fertilizer - then you pour it on your lawn. You get moderate results, nothing spectacular, but you're content with it.”

Twilight took a deep breath before returning to her speech, her voice surprisingly lifted proudly.

“The second way to fertilize your lawn is, while you are out fighting for something noble, something bigger than yourself, you accidentally shit yourself during the immense effort you put into achieving your goal. That shit gracefully runs down your leg and makes contact with the soil. From that contact blossoms a lushness rain forest. That is why I will be victorious.”

There’s a pause, everypony absolutely flabbergasted. Nobody was sure whether or not to chuckle awkwardly or take the sentence seriously. Their bodies screamed to them that the figure in front of them was death itself, yet their eyes suggested it was just a unicorn who was sick in the head.

“My student how far gone have you-“ The Sun Goddess began to ask.

“Zordinox, I have just shit myself!" The purple mare interrupted suddenly, her horn sparking rapidly.

At the first sign of Twilight’s horn glowing, before Celestia could even react, a spiral of flames danced between the two. Out from the fire flew a familiarly mismatched body in a coiling serpent like manner.

What followed was a snap of their fingers.

At an instant Twilight and the darkness around her was replaced by a small plush replica of the purple unicorn,  the darkness covering the area  now gone completely.

It revealed the stone that had been being eaten away  under where the plush stood.

Discord looked intently at the doll before he turned to Celestia with a look rare to find on him. In a hardened, serious face, Discord the Avatar of Chaos and Disharmony gave her a dreadful look and an even more dreadful claim.

“My dear, Celestia, we have a very big problem.”