Twilight reappeared in the Crystal Empire, feeling more than a little drained. She collapsed onto the hard crystal ground, her chin hitting hard against the floor.
Groaning, Twilight rubbed her now aching head. A migraine was coming on as a consequence of using so much power. She, however, chose to ignore it, taking in an eyeful of her surroundings. Where was she?
Twilight forced herself to her hooves, looking around more as she did so. She appeared to be right in the middle of a group of crystal houses, unfortunately, none of which she recognized; she had an off feeling about the place though. Like she was being watched.
Twilight frantically peered back and forth; she, however, didn't see anypony, only the same houses that were there before. She was just being paranoid! This whole scenario was getting to her!
After just standing around staring for what felt like an eternity, Twilight decided the best course of action was to just start walking. She made her way away from the buildings, following the pathways until she reached what appeared to be a more major road. Following this road she ended up on one of the Empire's main "veins".
"Finally!" Twilight exclaimed. "Only a minor inconvenience," she told herself, breaking into a trot (or the closest thing to a trot she could manage due to her being exhausted).
She had to get to the Crystal Castle and warn her family before something disastrous happened! If some creature was really out to get them... She didn't even want to think about it!
It had to be Chrysalis! It would make sense for her to want revenge on Cadence and her brother after all that had happened at the wedding.
Twilight continued on her way until she reached the Crystal Castle. She slowed her hoof steps down, attempting to keep from making a racket. She didn't want to cause any panics amongst the crystal ponies until they knew for sure what they were dealing with. Right now she only needed to warn Cadence and her brother!
Continuing to creep around, she walked until she came to a fancy-looking door. Twilight opened it and peered in. Inside was the throne room. Not that door.
Twilight was about to turn around and leave before she heard something coming from deep within the room. It sounded like hoofsteps!
"Hello?! Twilight called into the darkness, beginning to walk in, "is somepony ther—"
Twilight was interrupted by the door she had just walked in through, quickly slamming shut behind her.
Before Twilight could react, or even finish her sentence, something charged at her, painfully hitting against her side. The violent force knocked her off her hooves, sending her flying to the floor. She collapsed into an agonized heap; her head already hurt without it being slammed really hard! And her wing she fell on... it felt broken!
Twilight attempted to hoist her head up to see what had struck her. Unfortunately, before she could get a good look, something else rammed at her from behind, causing her to fumble and tumble across the floor.
"Hello, Princess of Friendship," a low, raspy, male voice spoke up suddenly—it almost sounded like metal scraping against metal.
Twilight's pupils became pinpricks as she struggled to lift her head up, glimpsing over the pitch black room. There was no pony around.
"Those are some pretty wings you have there, Princess of Friendship, soon to be ex-Princess of Friendship," another hoarse voice echoed through the room, followed by the gross sound of licking lips.
"And that lovely horn," yet another creature spoke, "it looks...delicious." Twilight gasped. She swiveled her head, frantically peering about... until she saw them.
A pair of golden eyes glowed in the darkness. Each possessed a slit pupil that made them look even scarier than they would otherwise be. Then...
they multiplied; the one set of eyes became two, then four, then... Twilight didn't even know how many.
The eerie eyes were surrounding Twilight now and getting closer.
Twilight squeezed her eyes shut. She knew it would do nothing, but she didn't have enough energy to defend herself.
Suddenly Twilight felt something grab at her in the darkness. The rapid sensation of being dragged off the floor came on her as she felt the movements of being tossed into the air before something else quickly caught her.
Twilight could feel the muscles of whatever was clutching onto her pump faster; they were beginning to speed up.
The movement, after only a few seconds, made sense as she felt her back colliding hard against another surface, being powerful enough to knock the wind out of her, and then some.
Twilight didn't even have time to recover from this blow before she felt another one to her face... then another... and another.
These strikes were only halted by her once again being thrown into the air, this time dropped on her face.
At this point Twilight was disoriented, frightened, and in pain; all she could hear was the most unpleasant noises of slurping, lip smacking, and hooves stepping closer and closer; while all she could feel was the abuse from the creatures in the darkness.