The Castle in the Sky

Chapter 4 Pt. 1

The Castle in the sky was always inhabited by six ponies. The princess time master, the queen reaper, the tyrant king of the skies, and a cannibalistic, dragon-pony abomination were the known inhabitants to the rescue team. The other two were somewhere in the castle watching the disaster unfold. Shining Armor’s team was knocked unconscious, Twilight lost Fluttershy and ran into a secluded room, Trixie was thrown and locked in another room, Dash and AJ are fighting King Aero, Pinkie was taken and Luna was forced to sleep…

The halls of the castle were silent, emptied of the voices from the rescue team. The night was still upon the residents of Ponyville and all of Equestria as they awoke. They saw the left in the sky exactly as Princess Luna had left it. Ponies all around became frightened by this and wondered what had happened over the night the slept. “Where has the sun gone? Why has Princess Celestia forgotten us? Did Nightmare Moon take over?” These were some of the questions that plagued Equestrians all over.

In the depths of the castle, Princess Celestia was lying on the floor of a circular room. She was chained to the walls; each hoof to a different section of wall, her wings chained to the floor, a ring around her horn that restricted all her magic, and a muzzle to silence her voice. She was afraid herself of being in the position she was in. She knew all the members of the castle, their lives, and even her relationship with each of them. To put it short, the bonds between her and the six members of the castle were not friendly.

The door opened and Princess Chronos walked in with a cheerful trot around Princess Celestia. She almost reminded Celestia of Pinkie Pie. Chronos then walked up to Celestia from behind and stomped the back of her hoof. She snapped the tendon and caused Celestia to fall to her knees and scream to the best of her ability with a muzzle. Chronos giggled as she looked at Celestia in pain and walked up to her face. “Hi Tia! I’m so glad you are here with us today! Now, do your royal duty and raise the sun.” Chronos commanded. She loosened the ring just enough to allow Celestia to use her powers. Celestia used her power to raise the sun and lift it high into the sky. One issue was that due to Luna’s current status, the moon had not lowered. The result was a perfect eclipse. Celestia looked out and tried to resolve it but Chronos retightened the ring and bucked Celestia in the head, knocking off her crown and cracking it on the floor. She fell to the floor with blood dripping from her mane and mouth. She had an emotionless look on her face of lost hope. “No Tia. This is perfect for today.” Chronos said with a maddening facial expression. She looked out the window and smiled down on the residents of Ponyville. She turned around and yelled orders to every member of the castle. “BEGIN PHASE TWO!!!”

Queen Silhouette was carrying Pinkie in her shadow and phased through a multitude of walls to reach a room with five screens. Silhouette placed Pinkie in a chair and tied her tight. “Now… please enjoy the show.” Queen Silhouette said as she left the room. She signaled Chronos to tell her that phase three was ready. Pinkie woke up and saw Fluttershy asleep next to her, tied up like she was. “Shy! Wake up, Fluttershy!” Pinkie yelled. Fluttershy awoke to see the Pinkie and the room she sat in. Fluttershy looked ahead and saw the screens ahead and shrieked. “These… These are hers!” Fluttershy said, frightened as she always looked. “Pinkie asked, “Who’s? The reaper mare?” “Yes… These screens are what she would show to the weak hearted targets. It shows her killing ponies and it would break the viewers until they would kill themselves.” Fluttershy explained. As soon as she finished, the screens flipped on and it showed the other groups divided and trying to evade capture, “This is only the beginning… now watch your friends suffer.” Echoed Queen Silhouette.

King Aero, Rainbow Dash, and Apple Jack heard Chronos’ yell echo through the halls. “I see. Now the fun really begins.” Aero said, staring at Dash with malicious intent. “What’s phase two?!” Dash yelled. Aero grinned then stepped forward. Dash about to take flight and ram at him again, prepare to jump into the air. Before she ever took flight, Aero flash-stepped in front of Dash. She was shocked by the speed he had displayed and was astonished that she missed it. He lifted a single hoof and back-hoofed her across the face. She saw the hoof move through her face and she did not feel anything. Then, an inward tug on the check grew to immense pain and sent her flying through the wall next to them. Dash flew through the wall with chucks of it following her. She could not feel anything in her body in that second and she closed her eyes, almost at peace. Not a care in the world. She was imagining sleeping on the clouds above Ponyville, not worrying about the breeze coming in. Then she opened her eyes and saw herself mid-air, surrounded by debris and King Aero with two hooves on her stomach. He kicked down and she felt everything at once, a pain unlike anything she ever felt. She hit the floor and it didn’t break beneath her. Her spine took the entire impact and her wings contracted at the feeling. The sense of pain made her body tingle and flinch in pain induced agony. As Dash looked down at her body, it was badly damaged already and she realized only three seconds had passed in the process of her takedown.

After assessing her own damage, she saw AJ being chocked mid-air by Aero’s magic. “S-Stop… please.” Dash pleaded. Aero noticed Dash and replied, “You’re still alive?” He threw AJ over next to Dash who had suffered choking and various beatings to the ribs and her back legs. Dash knew AJ couldn’t take that bad of a beating, regardless of her farming lifestyle.  Aero walked towards them and chained Dash to the ceiling so she was hanging above the ground, her wings were stabbed through with rings and chained to the floor, and each chain was taut so she wouldn’t try to fly away. AJ was left on the floor as she was already immobile. “Ready to move to Phase three.” King Aero reported to Chronos through telepathy.

Crossfire had Spike and Shining Armor tied to stone chairs. Shining Armor had a muzzle and a ring around his horn to prevent magic use or random outbursts. Spike had a flame resistant muzzle and metallic chains to keep him in check. Crossfire had Rarity and Princess Cadence tied up on the bed enough to not walk away. Spike and Shining Armor had awoken to find their two loves tied up on the bed in front of them and were unable to move or speak. Crossfire came up to them and said, “Wake up lover boys, I’m about to rip your dreams from you and fuck it dead.” Shining Armor looked at Crossfire as he knew of his true intentions. Unable to say a word, he thrashed about and tried to call Cadence’s name to stop Crossfire. Spike was unsure of what was going to happen but saw Shining Armor’s expression. He was furious and yet sad at the same time, crying his soul to pieces. Spike saw Rarity and looked up, hoping for a miracle. “Yeah, Celestia isn’t gonna help ya, dipshit.” Crossfire arrogantly said. He then head-butted Spike and caused him to become dizzy. Crossfire yelled, “Phase Three is ready!” His voice echoed to the chamber of Celestia, where Chronos was waiting.

Twilight, alone and shuttering, walked in the quiet, empty room. It was a silence only matched by the dead. The ringing in Twilight’s ear was the only sound that let her know she was alive, and not in purgatory. There were only two doors in the room. One that led to Fluttershy’s captor and another that led to the unknown. Her mind and heart were racing with thoughts of what would happen to her friends, brother, and the princesses at the rate things were going. Things looked grim and she didn’t know what to do.

A rather loud thud came from the door she had not been through. Twilight contemplated what it could be that made the noises. Her heat began to beat faster as her fears grew. Then, she heard “Let me out you savage brute!” It was Trixie’s voice; Twilight was overjoyed and busted through the door. “Trixie!” Twilight said as she ran towards her.  Trixie was very surprised and said, “Don’t be oblivious to the rest of us, Twilight Sparkle!” Twilight stopped in front of Trixie, slightly saddened. Trixie continued, “Rainbow Dash and Apple Jack are out there fighting an Alicorn king that I didn’t even know existed! He’s much stronger and faster than both of them. Since the door is locked, I can’t get out there to help them.” An explosive sound came from behind the locked door that surprised the both of them. They ran towards the door and a magical aura began to radiate from the door. Twilight stopped and said, “I’ve seen this spell before! The door is switching!” Trixie opened the door and it opened to a wide hall with a glass window that had a view over all of Ponyville. The center of the room was the white goddess mare, Celestia. Twilight gasped, seeing her teacher and idol defeated and chained to the floor was something she never thought she would see. Her leg was busted from before and her body already covered in scratches and bruises. Twilight ran to her princess’ aid and was blocked by a magical force field. Twilight used shield breaking spells and found them useless. “Princess Celestia! Please, wake up!” Twilight said, to no avail from the sleeping princess. She was sound asleep and the force field around her was sound-proof. Before Twilight could even begin to wallow in her own despair, she felt something tap the back of her head and she blacked out.

Twilight awoken to find herself sitting in a corner, tied down and restricted from movement. From the ring around her horn to the shackles on her back hooves, she was completely immobile. She looked up and saw Trixie on the floor lying in front of her, beaten and in a small pool of her own blood. “Why? You saved my life… to end it here?” Trixie said as she was sobbing. Twilight looked ahead and saw a pony with wings as broad as Celestia’s, red and black dreadlocked mane, and leather brown skin. He wore a green, militia coat like that of the royal Pegasus army and had a broad guillotine blade on his side. He was a Pegasus whose stance alone could bring someone to their knees in fear of his next move. “Wait, you know who this pony is?!” Twilight explicitly asked.  Coughing up blood in-between her stanzas, Trixie replied, “Yes… Before I ever came to you, he saved my life in Manehattan. He even…” “That’s enough, Trixie. We both know what happened.” The Pegasus aggressively said. He turned his head to Twilight whom had given him a fierce look of disgust, unbeknownst of the events in Manehattan. He flapped his wings and ascended into the air, bringing forth a powerful gust across the room. He then declared, “I am Rolling Thunder, second in command of this operation.”

“Wait, second? Then who-” Twilight asked but was cut off by a magical surge through her horn. Streams of magic flowed into her horn and her eyes glowed brilliantly. She was seeing a flow of memories from the magic entering her horn and she experienced every emotion and pain that came with it.

She fell to the floor, nauseas from the memories forced into her mind. She stayed on the floor shuttering from what she saw flew through her mind. She looked up at Rolling Thunder and said, “What the hell… did I just see? There was a bird’s eye view of Manehattan, watching down on Trixie running. Then I saw, someone walk into Luna’s room and disrupt her dreams. I even saw the lightning fast filly-napping of Princess Celestia.” At that moment, a grin grew on Rolling Thunder’s face. Twilight looked down at the ground and continued, “After that, I saw Ponyville in despair. Dash was walking away from a crying Scootaloo, Rarity was screaming for Sweetie Belle… All of my friends were suffering and I was seeing it firsthand. Then I saw Luna…” Twilight stopped and began to shed tears herself. She tried to lift her body but she was stunned by what she was seeing. “Who did it to her? And why isn’t Celestia…” Chronos appeared before Twilight in the blink of an eye and bucked her in the abdomen, knocking the wind out her. Twilight began wheezing, and then vomited on the floor from the impact to her stomach.

“That’s enough, Miss Twilight.” Chronos said. She smiled as she watched Twilight in a small puddle of her bowels. As Chronos walked around the room, she continued, “You saw the past, how we started this madness. Influencing Luna’s dreams is not that easy since she watches dreams normally. And Celestia’s abduction was a team effort and it was fun how quickly it went. As for Trixie, we needed to tie up a loose end.”

Chronos looked behind her at Rolling Thunder throwing Trixie at the wall. Trixie was lying on the floor against the wall. She was cut and beaten all over. Blood gushed from her mouth like a fountain as she begged for mercy. Her cries fell upon deaf ears as she was dragged up the wall and was held in place by Chronos’ magic. Her head was lower to the ground and flesh against the wall. Rolling Thunder jumped slightly in the air and curb stomped Trixie’s horn, breaking it in half and causing a tremendous amount of pain to her skull. Trixie screamed in agony as the piercing pain of her horn removal left her without the words to describe her pain.

Twilight was horrified of the sight and turned her head away; Chronos came from behind Twilight and cupped her chin. She pulled upwards on Twilight’s chin and pushed the head against her stomach. Chronos began punching downwards on Twilight’s face and beat her senseless. Chronos’ smile brew bigger with each punch brought down on Twilight’s face. Twilight’s snout had been badly beaten, some of her teeth cracked, and bled profusely from the mouth. Twilight was losing the feeling in her face when she began to fall out of consciousness when Chronos slapped her, grabbed her by the mane and said, “I can’t have you falling asleep on us…especially now that we can finish Trixie. See?” Chronos pointed Twilight’s face toward Trixie being beaten to death. Trixie screamed and cried as she took a brutal battering and various throws towards walls. Her blood had stained some of the walls she was thrown against along with a small indent from her body. Chronos used her magic to pin Trixie to a wall, chest exposed. Rolling Thunder, looking at Trixie’s body, said, “Now for the coup de grace.” He pulled out the blade from his side and slowly drew an invisible line up Trixie’s chest. Trixie cried and pleaded, “Please Thunder… Don’t do this.” He ignored her cries and stabbed her through the stomach and began to raise the blade up through her sternum. The blood spilt from her body covered the floor below, tainted it crimson. Rolling Thunder pulled the blade from her stomach and watched her bleed. Trixie held on as along as she possibly could and looked towards the ceiling above, counting the mere seconds to her death. He then threw his blade high into the air, spinning vicariously. He picked up Trixie’s nearly dead body and threw her on top of Celestia’s magical barrier. The blood from Trixie’s wound trickled down the sides of the small dome and she saw the flying blade. “Goodbye, Patricia.” Rolling Thunder said. The blade fell and struck Trixie’s chest, above the heart. Trixie, still alive, felt the sting of the blade as its tip was only an inch deep into her chest. Trixie, losing her sight slowly looked above and saw an angel, gracefully flying above her. She raised her hand for the angel to release her from this pain. Then, the angel descended rapidly and plunged the blade deeper into her chest, through her heart, out her back, and past the barrier. Trixie coughed up a mouthful of blood and her sight began to return. She looked at the angel again and it was Rolling Thunder ending her properly.

Trixie felt nothing; She no longer felt the blade pierce her heart; only the coldness of death. The memories of her magic career, her life on the road, her struggle back to power, and her days with the mane six flashed before her eyes. As she exhaled a cold breath from her lungs, she found herself unable to inhale from the blood filling her left lung. She could hear the faint sound of Twilight calling her name but didn’t turn to find out. Instead, she closed her eyes and slept.

Elsewhere in the castle, Pinkie and Fluttershy watched what had transpired on the screens before them. Fluttershy was horrified of the sight and tried to turn away. Pinkie found herself unable to feel any emotion outside of sadness. The color began to slowly fade from her body and her mane straightened itself. She said to herself, “Those bastards…They’re torturing my friends. I will make sure they feel their pain.” With every word she spoke, her skin became darker, she developed more malicious thoughts, and her cutie mark began to fade from her body. Fluttershy looked towards Pinkie and saw a beast growing. Fluttershy, afraid of the pony sitting next to her called her name, “Pinkie?” She turned her head and said, “Who the fuck is Pinkie?”

Fluttershy tried to hop away from her while tied up in the chair and fell over instead, knocking her head on the floor. It caused a small gash in the side of her head the bled out onto the floor. Pinkie saw that she was tied to the chair and began to wrench her arm. She removed her arm from the ropes tied around her and untied herself with ease. She slowly walked over to Fluttershy on the floor. Fluttershy tried to scurry away and saw Pinkie’s hooves close to her face within seconds. She kneeled down to her face and said to her, “My name is Pinkamena, got it?” Fluttershy fearfully nodded with saying a word. Pinkamena untied Fluttershy and then looked around the room. She saw no door in sight and only the screens depicting her friends’ suffering. She stared intently at the screens while Fluttershy wept in the corner saying to herself that none of it was real. Pinkamena stared at the screen of Apple Jack and Rainbow Dash chained and furiously grinded her teeth. She said to herself, “Dashie...”

Rainbow Dash was chained to the floor tightly and Apple Jack hanging from the ceiling by shackles on her forward hooves. King Aero stood by and heard the cries of Twilight echo through the vents. Silhouette had risen from Aero’s shadow and whispered in his ear. He responded, “Phase three is ready now? Finally, let’s get to work on these two then.” Dash and Aj looked at Aero and Silhouette with angst. He walked over to the two restrained ponies and a devilish grin streamed across his face.

He began, “Everypony, this is Queen Silhouette. She is an expert magic user like your friend Twilight and she has a plan for you two.” Silhouette walked up to the two of them and started up a spell. Dash and Aj were dazed by the spell and were in a form of stasis, unable to move. “Now what she’s doing is simple. She is looking for who you value most in all of Equestria. It could be a lover, family member, or a family lover if you’re into that type of shit…” Aero rambled on and noticed Silhouette’s spell stop. “Wow that was quick. So, who was it? Who do they love most?” Aero asked. Silhouette looked at the two of them silently. Aero looked and said, “Oh, it’s like that huh?” Dash and Aj looked away from each other, realizing that secret was out in the open.

Silhouette teased Aj saying, “Imagine how the family… would react to hearing… you have a girlfriend. Big Mac… might say ‘Eenope’… Apple Bloom and Granny Smith would… be in shock.” Silhouette giggled as she messed with Aj.

Aj harshly responded, “Ah won’t be havin’ my family know about this until Ah’m ready to tell’em! And for one, how do ya'll know about tha family?!” Silhouette stopped laughing and said, “I read your mind… simple as that. Now… Here comes… the fun part.”

She used another spell the placed a seal on Rainbow Dash and Apple Jack’s necks. Aero walked over to Aj and bucked her in the back legs. Dash and Aj both flinched in pain. Dash realized that she felt Aj’s pain the second it happened. “You’re very observant Rainbow Dash.” Aero said. “Any physical pain inflicted on either of you will be felt by the other person.” Dash looked at her wings and panicked. Aero smiled and said, “Yes Dash, those will go.”

Dash screamed at the top of her lungs, yelling and swearing off Aero. She went on, “…No way in fucking hell is that going to happen you king-sized piece of shit! I'll shove my hoof so far up your ass, you’ll be shitting rainbows for weeks. I’ll…!” She kept going on while Aero was building up his own magic. He opened a portal on the wall behind him. It was a black void that was used as a limitless, subspace storage. “I got this little thing from one of the worlds I visited.” He pulled out a heavy chainsaw. Using his magic to carry it, he crept over to Dash and said, “I can’t imagine what it was originally made for… but I know one way to use it.” He pulled the cord and the engine inside started. It roared to life as its spikes revolved on its chain axis. He was near Dash and said, “Drop dead, Rainbow Crash.”

He revved the chainsaw and began to cut through Dash’s left wing near the base of it. As Dash screamed in excruciating pain, Aero glided through her wing with the chainsaw like a knife through warm butter. Blood splattered on Aero’s face and body as he cut deeper into the flesh of the wing. Aj, who felt the same pain as Dash, had no wings in the first place so she felt pain on a whole other level. They both cried in agony. Aero was careful to not cut the bone completely and left it out in the open. He pulled the chainsaw away for a moment and kicked the wing repeatedly. Eventually, it broke off and Dash let out one final scream before throwing up a mouthful of blood and puke. Aj was mentally drained from feeling pain and not bearing a scar. She looked over at Dash and saw her bleeding from the base of her wing. Dash kept an angry expression on her face as she stared at Aero, even when she cried.

Aero, ready to start cutting the other wing, was stopped by Silhouette. “You want to take the other one? Fine by me.” Aero stepped back from the two captives and Silhouette walked forward. She, once again, pulled her scythe from her body and hooked the blade around Dash’s right wing. She pulled the scythe back slowly as it slowly phased through Dash’s wing. Dash felt no pain when the blade went through the wing and looked at her wing. She saw a black line where the blade had passed. Then, at the tip of the wing, it ignited with a black flame. Dash felt the burning and tried to blow out the small flame. The flame did not wither and grew all across her wing. It enveloped the entire wing up until the cut in black flames. Dash’s wing was burning to a crisp and the flame was unforgiving. Dash thrashed her body from the pain she was feeling. Aj felt the burning sensation and yelled, “This feels like Ah’m getting’ branded!”

Five minutes of continuous burning caused the wing to deteriorate and eventually reach the bone. Then, silhouette walked behind the exasperated Dash and raised her scythe. She slashed in the exact same spot as when she first cut Dash. The wing fell to the ground and burned to ashes. The fire cauterized the wing and made it a burnt black wound. The other wing base was slowly bleeding and Dash did not have the energy to keep a facial expression, let alone speak. Silhouette and Aero walked to both sides of Aj. Aj, after experiencing Rainbow Dash’s pain, was drained. She did not have a single scar on her body but felt ten small deaths happening in her body.

“The prized legs of Apple Acre’s number one bucker…” Aero said, starting up his chainsaw once again. Silhouette readied her scythe simultaneously. The put their weapons behind her legs and counted. “1… 2… 3!” They cut the tendons on Aj’s back legs and she screamed. Blood dripped from her legs and before knew it, she stopped feeling the pain. Aj knew what that meant; she had just lost her legs and they were now useless. Aero released the shackles from Aj and she hit the ground hard. She was unable to get up properly and looked up at Rainbow Dash. Dash was staring forward with a depressed expression and tears running on her face. Apple Jack knew it was over for both of them. Apple Jack could not work on the farm and Rainbow Dash would be forced to leave the Wonderbolt Academy. “I think we’re done here, let’s go Silhouette.” Aero suggested. He and the Queen walked out of the small room and locked the door behind them.